Mamma Mia! The Musical

Went to watch Mamma Mia! The musical on 3 December.  It is a heart warming musical that based songs by ABBA.  Set in a Greek Island called Calicos, a 20 year old girl named Sophie tries to find her dad that she've never met to walk her down the wedding aisle and give her away.  This comes in a dilemma as she discovers that she has 3 potential 'fathers' so she invites all 3 of them to her wedding in hope of finding her real dad between the three.

The musical was adapted into a film in 2006 and was premiered in July 2008.  As of 19 August 2009, it is the 13th longest running Broadway musical of all time with 2,343 performances surpassing famous musicals such as 'The Sound of Music' and 'The King and I'.

Mamma Mia! Is currently on show at the Lyric Theatre Star City.  Tickets could be booked through Ticketek.

Photos that I sneakily took during the performance!

I noticed someone sitting just two rows infront of me and tried to find him during the scene break but failed.  I managed to take a photo of him at the end of the show. Hoho.

It's Geoff Field from 104.1 2Day FM!

He was with his husband Jason Kerr. How sweet :3

Oh! and I just realised that Geoff is following Tony Abbott on Twitter.  Reminded me of a little mishap a while ago when my mum was picking me up from uni at 11pm.  She parked her car at the entrance to the ABC building which is next to my faculty but that was Mr. Abbott's car space! LOLOL.  The security was staring at the car but didn't make a move as it was the same car brand but still thought it was suspicious.  It was not until Mr. Abbott's car arrived and he realised that my mum's car was not his.  Poor Tony had to park elsewhere but my mum drove off 2 minutes later since I arrived.

But yes...I'll try to blog more frequently...

UTS 2009 Graduate Design Show - Republic of Design

1 December was the opening night of the Graduate Design Show at  UTS.  After 5 years of  studying design, I finally finished my course and put my project on display along with 231 other creative citizens.

Citizens include:

80 Visual Communication Students

68 Interior Design Students

55 Industrial Design Students (one being me XD)

60 Fashion and Textiles Students

13 Design Research Students and

124 Designing out Crime Exhibition (from both 3rd and 4th year students)

My page from the Industrial Design Graduate Collection Booklet of 2009

Being an exhibitor, I was entitled to 4 free drinks!

My Display Panel

My plinth has became a bar table =.=

I went to uni to pack up my design today and it ended on a sad note. Alot of our works has been damaged or even stolen. Some of the works has been rapid prototyped which means it costed hundreds even thousands to make and all of the works has been created with the most care and passion.  We have dedicated alot of effort into this and clearly some people just don't appreciate it.

Many has chosen to take their models away before the show was finished because they do not want further damage or feared of it being damaged during the show.

My model was severely dented from people touching and poking it but it wasn't anything too serious though, I was quite upset from the lack of morals of some people.

Britney Concert - The Circus

I have pulled this blog out of the grave!!!!!!!!! It has been a longgg time since I've touched this blog because I have been very active on my food blog Sugar's Sweet Blog and it gets quite tiring managing the two.

I am going to fish out some past event and slowly catch up...if ever.

Anyway, went to Britney's Sydney Circus Tour on Tuesday 14 November 2009 with some friends.

Row 3 Section 9!! It's like...wowzers spot

DJ Havana Brown got the party started

After she left, the screen showed this...

WTF....

At first, I thought they were joking but the time went from 25 minutes to 19 minutes second by second...so we walked around to get some churros only to find they are sold out :(

Came back to our seats for some cam whoring time

Lucy and Me

When the show started, the acrobats did some pretty cool stuff

A guy spinning himself in a big metal hoop

Britney finally came out at like 9:30pm

Ringmaster Britney

I didn't take alot of photos and certainly none of them are good as she was always dancing and the pictures always came out blurry.  Alot of recordings but I couldn't show it here :(

Britney dancing in (and on top) of a cage

Dancing in a frame hung in mid air

Alot of ending photos because that was the only time she didn't move around

Despite what critics and other people say, I think she did a massively impressive job in making this successful. 

The Circus Concert is a 360 degrees stage located in the middle of the arena. During the show, Britney and her dancers prances from one corner to the other for a full on 1.5 hours so I don't know why other people are not impressed with her efforts.

It was a clear fact that she lipped synced except for 'Everytime' because the audio sounded completely different.  Um...let's see YOU sing and dance perfectly at the same time. Give her a break people!

It's time to PARTYYYY (well almost)

It's the end of the year and that's when everything starts to be hectic.  School kids have exams, uni students have assessments and I will be graduating from my dreaded 4 year Bachelor course in 2 weeks.  Putting the stressful part aside, it is also a time of celebration.

Melbourne Cup Day is the closest one that comes to mind.  I have been invited to the Melbourne Cup Day exclusive Luncheon on 3 November 2009.

The invitation is so pretty!  The cover has a gloss print of horse and horseshoe canvas on thick wax paper.  True professionalism.

Unfortunately, as my assignment due date draws near, I am unable to attend such event.  Oh what shame :(  But I will be at the Cocktail Cruise on 'The Blue Room Vessel' on 8 Novemeber 2009.

It just so happens that the event is held on my birthday. YAY!  I shall be 23 in just 15 days.  Only two more years till I can't say that I'm in my early twenties anymore.  It seemed like yesterday when I turned 18 and partied like a wild animal.  Now I'm just old.

It is a known fact that my photography fails so bare with me.

The Blue Room – Sydney Harbour features:

Top entertaining deck with retractable roof and bar perfect for pre dinner drinks and canapés.

Dining Room featuring 360 degree views of Sydney Harbour, with ceiling to floor glass, dance floor, lounge area and full air conditioning.

Contemporary décor throughout the vessel.

Lounge area with ottomans.
(Description and image copied from http://www.harbourfunctionsrus.com.au/v92-MV_Blue_Room.php) 

Blue Room Vessel

Dining Area with panoramic views of the Sydney harbour 

I've been invited last year but didn't go for reasons I cannot recall so this year I have to make up for it by eating twice the amount of canapés (and also eating for...you know who you are XD). 

Checking the Blue Room website, the cocktail menu is $48.00 per head! 200 guests would be $9600. I guess thats quite cheap considering how most Sovereign Room members lose that much in 20minutes.

I have been slacking in updating this blog simply because I have nothing interesting going on in my life apart from eating, uni, chatting on msn and skyping.

My food blog is much more active and that shows how much I spend on food (THAT MEANS GO HAVE A VISIT - Sugar's Sweet Blog).  It's quite depressing where I am struggling to find $2000-$3000 to rapid prototype my model but I'm still eating out so much.

Star City

Website: http://www.starcity.com.au/

Blue Room Vessel

Website: http://www.blueroomsydneyharbour.com.au/

Lancome Gift Set - Exclusive to Myer

I was buying lipstick with my mum at Myer when we saw the Lancome Gift Promotion.  Spend $70 or more at Lancome and you'll recieve a 9 piece gift set (your choice of skincare)!

Here is my feeble attempt to photograph this at night...

Compared to a professional finish...

The package contained:

Intensive Reinforcing Anti-Wrinkle Cream 15mL

Intensive Reinforcing Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream 5mL

Intensive Reinforcing Anti-Wrinkle Serum 5mL

Bi-Facil Eye Make Up Remover 30mL

Hypnose Masacara 2mL

Colour Fever Lipstick

Colour Design Palette (4 shades of eye shadow)

Hypnose Snese EDP 5mL

Lancome Cosmetics Bag

To be honest, I find the anti-wrinkle creams quite useless as they are currently non existent on my face.  My mum chose this skin care~not me. The bag is butt ugly but very big so it may be good for travel and you can stuff everything in one bag.

My makeup remover has just ran out so it was perfect that the pack contained it and although small, the Hypnose Mascara has always been my favourite. It makes your lashes 6 times thicker and does not clot or run down ur eyes!

Overall I think it is a good deal when you need to refill your make up bag with something.  In our case, mum needed lipstick so she bought 2 which costed around $100.  *Side note* the sales consultant was extremely helpful and knows her products well.  We showed her an empty lipstick container from a different brand and she matched the colour so perfectly that it was identical.

This promotion is on from 24 September 2009 - 25 October 2009 so girls you still have 2 weeks!!

Play Yiruma if you want a girl

A couple of days ago, my friend told me his secret in getting girls.  You need a TALENT or at least something to impress a girl with.  For him, his method of 'impressination' is to play the piano.  Although he had never had any piano lessons nor he could read notes, he memorised all the keys and learnt a piece in 2 months.  

Yes, he learnt piano just to hit on chicks.

Nothing can beat a live demonstration.  He quickly hopped on the piano and played the piece for me.  Having to fail for the first 5 times, the 6th was a success.  Considering that he never had any training, he played pretty well with minor mistakes which can pretty much fool any girl who does not have a musical background.

The piece he played is called River Flow Into You by Yiruma who is a Korean New Age artist that married Miss Korea Son Hye-im!!! Lucky duck. 

Hear the original here.

It's actually Edward's Lullaby from Twilight! Some say it's not but oh well~

Good music combined with gorgeous looks? WINNER!!! 

I have summarised this equation to this ~> (GM + GL = W)

Addicted, I quickly Googled the sheet music and started to learn the piece.  It's not that hard and anyone that have a Level 4 or above in Piano should play it with ease. Having only completed Level 3 in Piano (Oh the shame), I'm still in the process of coordinating both my hands to work at the same time.

Heard the piece? Loved it?
Now... PLAY IT!

 

Learnt it? Good :)

Now boys~ you switch on your girlfriend searching radar, find a girl and play that piece for her.  Tada!! You got yourself a girl :D

Just don't forget to thank me when you do.

A series of (Wonderful) Events

October 2009 has so far been an excellent month.  1 October was the 60th Chinese National Day where the whole nation celebrated with pride. The advantage of having a huge satellite dish is that I can watch everything broadcasted in China live (minus the laggy download via the internet).  I got up nice and early and glued myself to the TV. 

The military parade was the highlight of the extravagant celebration. I heard the minimum height of each person is 1.83m! Sorry dad, 1.81m doesn't make the cut.  It might sound cocky but seeing China being so powerful has brought tears to my eyes.

Being an Chinese born Australian, I am very proud of my heritage and background. It might be my upbringing, my parents doesn't let (or at least attempted to) me and my brother speak English at home. Until now, after 16 years of white washing, I can still speak, read, listen and write in fluent Chinese.

During the parade: the boys...

and the girls.  Their uniform is so pretty.

After the military parade, it was followed by beautiful floats with the first one being the portrait of Chairman Mao, the founder of the Republic of China. Others resembled different stages of growth in the nation, Mao's famous quotes, our 56 different nations, children, our provinces, SAR and many more.

The night was filled with a National Day's evening musical party with many of China's celebrities and cultural displays.

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Another thing that happened on the 1st was the birth of my little niece.  When you reach a certain age, friends around you start to get married and have kids.  It's not the first time that I have been slapped with the 'aunt' status but being blood related to one of them is something I've never experienced before.

Meet my little niece...Camilia! (Strictly speaking she is my cousin's daughter but I'm still an aunt).

This is my cousin Vicky pinching her cheeks.

I met her for the first time today after just returning from the hospital.  She is such a cute bundle of joy.  I can't believe my grandad is now a great grandfather.  He would've been ages ago if my eldest cousin could settle down. Camilia is still waiting for a Chinese name.  According to Chinese traditions, we need to find a fortune telling master to give her a nice name to fit with her date of birth. 

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3 October is the Moon Festival!  Our family celebrated with a lovely dinner of steamed scallops, barramundi, fresh oysters, stir fried beans and cabbage followed by a surplus supply of mooncakes!

I've been stuffing them down my throat for the past 2 weeks or so.  Do you know how many calories these babies have? I certainly don't want to know. I'm currently on Mooncake overdose and my waistline is already feeling the dangerous side effects. People just keep sending them to our office! How could I resist?

I love those Icy Mooncakes where you have to refrigerate them and eat them cold.  They come in pretty colours too like pink and purple.  They even have abalone and ginseng mooncakes!  People in China love giving these elaborate mooncakes away.