2013 is approaching and what better way to be forward looking than to list down the release dates all the blockbusters we've been anticipating? Here's a handy guide for everyone to refer to over 2013 ;)
Somehow, Christmas eve always seems alot more special than Christmas day itself. That's true at least for me. Maybe it's because of the gifts we are anticipating or that it just seems like a day in which something special could possibly happen. It seems like only yesterday that I was at Disneyland in Florida watching the fireworks go off in the shape of Mickey Mouse! ^^ MAGICAL... But that's a story for another time.
This year, the boy and I decided to pamper ourselves with a night at
Shaw Premiere @ NEX for the Les Miserables sneak preview
which I've been waiting so eagerly for ever since I heard Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman were going to be singing in it. The Les Mis review will come a little later to do justice to this film (:
Starting from the dedicated queue (or non-queue) to collect the shiny silver Premiere tickets, the service at Shaw Premiere was impeccable!
SHINY SHINY TICKETS
I really loved how there was a special entrance into the theatres through a lounge, and the butler service that came along with it. Throw in the fresh, clean blankets and the leather reclining chairs in the theatre, and all I can say is that it was an experience fit for a Queen. Only issue was that the ground staff at the first level didn't seem to know how to answer my questions for Shaw Premiere. We made it up to the Premiere lounge anyway, where my issues could be resolved, thankfully, and I started feeling like a Queen.
Specifically, I chose the Sparkling Christmas Set because I reasoned that the Premiere tickets were going to cost close to $30 per person and all decent restaurant fare would be overpriced on Christmas Eve anyway.
From Shaw online
We started with a glass of white wine and some salmon appetizers! Reclining on my leather seat and munching made the usual pre-screening advertisements so enjoyable I momentarily forgot which movie I was watching.
Sorry, super bad lighting!
After which, we got them to serve our main course, a dish of turkey (or chicken?) with mushy beans and sweet potato. That was a little too much like baby food for our liking :\
Towards the end of the movie, a dessert of Christmas pudding and Oreo ice-cream came. We both hated the Christmas pudding (no fault of Shaw's; it's a personal taste) and would have much preferred the entire dish to be Oreo ice-cream. However, even as I was groping in the dark, I could make out the careful plating of the dessert with garnishing of fresh fruit and a thoughtful little Merry X'mas sign on it!
Besides the food, what I really enjoyed about this Premiere experience was the free flow of warm water! ^^ It sounds like such a minor issue now, but most of us have probably experienced being freezing cold in the middle of the movie; a warm beverage feels absolutely heavenly at that point when we are most vulnerable.
Oh and also, there was a gift which came with this mystery set... which they almost forgot to give us.
Mary Chia Voucher & Bose Projector Alarm Clock
So all in all, the Shaw Premiere experience was wonderful because of the impeccable service, blankets, comfy chairs and privacy (the seats are in pairs). On hindsight, however, the Sparkling Christmas Set was not really value for the price I paid. The bf and I would have liked a choice of appetisers/mains/desserts because not everybody has the same palette and there wasn't alot of information on the food served. Also, it wouldn't hurt to have a free flow of wine as well, as one glass seemed really sad. We might have been better off ordering the ala-carte dishes which seemed pretty affordable. That said, there are other promotions which seem really value-for-money such as the weekday brunch set, so we look forward to returning or trying out similar experiences at other cinemas.
At first look, It Takes Two may seem to be a show in which there is alot of mindless chasing for a 发财米桶 [Fortune Rice Bucket] , but just like the humble Singaporean hawker centre where the show is set, the characters and plot start to grow on the audience gradually throughout the show. It Takes Two revolves around a group of hawkers in this hawker centre, as well as their hopes and aspirations.
If you are looking for a slice of how the everyday Singaporean lives and goes about his daily business in the HDB estate, this show would be it. Underlying this show is a theme of how Singaporeans are trying to keep up with the ever-rising cost of living and the increasing competition. Almost everybody in It Takes Two was trying to get rich, some through orthodox ways like Hao You Cai, a poor fishball noodle seller who eventually starts to make fishballs by hand to recreate his Master's taste, but most through unorthodox ways, like B-Niu, a 22 year-old who hoped to get rich through becoming a male social escort, Kopi-soh, the drinks seller and resident gossip of the hawker centre, who sidelined as a runner for the underground bookies etc.
Last Friday, It Takes Two 《对对碰》came to a heartwarming end. The ending was nothing to shout about, but I feel that the value of this drama lay in the subplots which unfolded throughout the season. I haven't been keeping up with Singaporean dramas, but I must say that this has been one hell of a funny show (mostly), with endearing characters like Zhang Yang, a loveable half-wit who ended up in Singapore as a loanshark runner, Niu Wuyin, a rival fishball noodle seller and a lustful, greedy man who is taught a lesson, and the not-so-lovely Vivian, a hilarious member of the loanshark syndicate, played by Ann Kok.
Zhang Yang (right)
Vivian while eating :O
SPOILER ALERT
This rant by BNiu was particularly memorable as a hilarious summary of the financial concerns of the 20+ year olds in Singapore.
"This is a time when you can make $1 billion overnight... and that's what I call success."
But what was so interesting about this show was that beneath the portrayal of chaotic lives led by characters, there were also other themes about Singapore's growing pains, such as how citizens treat the elderly and online witch hunts which we see all too often these days.
Treatment of Elderly in Singapore
Niu Wu Yin's grandfather deliberately let his whole family mistake him for being a rich old man, citing fears that his children would abandon him if they found out he was poor. Right he was about that though, for when two of his children found out he was not that rich after all, they immediately disappeared and left behind nothing but broken promises. That got me thinking if Singaporeans were as callous towards the elderly as portrayed ... and with the recent comments made by the residentsabout how the nursing home built behind their block would affect them [41-year-old Bernard Lau said to ST that 'the old folk will be groaning right into my home']... this sub-plot hopefully provided some food for thought for fellow Singaporeans.
Online Witch Hunts
Luo Na, the foul-mouthed wife of Hao You Cai and a filial daughter, was caught on video by her youngest daughter shoving the Fortune Rice Bucket into the arms of her mother-in-law, causing her mother-in-law to slip and fall. Subsequently, her youngest daughter uploaded this video online for kicks, sparking off an online witch hunt for Luo Na as the 'vicious daughter-in-law.' Interestingly, this episode took place after the racially-insensitive Facebook posts made by Amy Cheong which led to her dismissal from NTUC.
Living in a connected world like ours, hopefully this episode reminded Singaporeasns that sometimes, people do things in a folly which unfortunately went viral online. Hopefully, it also reminded us to take what we see online with a pinch of salt, as such videos may be a misrepresentation of what had transpired. With the rise of social media, such videos and images could make its rounds around Singapore within a day or two, making the situation uncontrollable.
Conclusion
All in all, I would say this show is worth a watch for everyone living in Singapore for a taste of life in the heartlands and even as a dinner conversation with relatives, because the characters portrayed in the show are so reminiscent of people we've come across in our daily lives. While certain parts were a little too draggy for my liking, most episodes were funny enough for the 45-minute-ish screenings to pass by in a flash. One thing I noticed was that the standard of Mandarin spoken by the younger generation of actors was a far cry from the veterans, with the exception of Ryan (played by Jerry Yeo). That's probably one thing MediaCorp could work on for future Channel 8 dramas.
*Pictures credit to their respective owners.
Update: Yay my submission to ST Communities was published! This is encouraging for my second post. Thank you ST! ^^
I don't claim rights to the pictures (unless otherwise stated), so please leave a comment if you would like me to remove the stated picture or insert credits to you.
Posts
