I was invited to The Pinwheels, a content creators’ award show by MediaCorp / BloomrSG .
Spoiler alert: No, I was not nominated for anything.
Nonetheless I was curious on the winners and how the show for content creators would turn out and it was pretty fun? I’ve had my share of award shows but this one is much funner than the regular ones I’ve attended.
The dress code was smart casual with the theme yellow or/and black. So I totally expected people to turn up like they were a typical student designer or for a funeral.
Cause that’s what you usually get if you put ‘black’ in, everyone’s gonna just reach for the basics.
It was ok though, it didn’t look like a funeral for content although the aesthetics were still dystopian-like with the grunginess of the entry way? I do like the decorations.
Early morning, I travelled all the way to the west to an abandoned lubrication blending plant. What’s surprising is that it’s actually behind some HDB blocks, just hidden away in a neighbourhood. (And that the HDB blocks had something interesting on it too when you realize where you are but I doubt I should post what it is. It’s just a bonus if you do get on this tour or manage to figure out the exact location of it.)
By the way, photos are from my Ektar H35N with a 400 iso Kodak Porta film or from my phone since there’s some locations that’s too dark for my film.
For now, you can get on the tour by following or contacting Hidden Heritage Singapore on their instagram.
It’s that time of year again where we get a Hololive x Aniplus cafe collaboration in Singapore!
This time it’s with the GAMERS and Hololive Japan Generation 3.
As usual, do book online at the Aniplus Cafe website for seat reservation. You can do walk ins but there are peak hours/days where it is simply not possible to do.
This collaboration begins on 4 October 2024 to 12 December 2024. Which is in the timeline if you’re coming to Singapore for Anime Festival Asia in November too.
You can’t pick your coasters as it’s ‘gacha’ based and the 2024’s quality of coasters has improved from the 2023 version!
No tablemat for 2024 but instead we got photo covers instead! Unfortunately I didn’t get Marine in the Aniplus collab goodies but I got her when I bought a polaroid gacha card in the merch area anyway. These photo card holders are way nicer than the table mats of 2023 and easier to keep!
Cheers to you guys anyway!
We chose Korone’s Choconana and Mio’s cola drink since it looks good.
I had Marine’s fish and chips with calamari rings.
Mio’s rice is limited per day apparently. It’s stated in the fine print there.
And there’s Pekora’s curry rice. It’s pretty cute.
This time we didn’t try the desserts so we can’t review it. I can definitely say the food has improved from last year.
I realized what would make things better is if Aniplus Cafe had a condiments station. Perhaps some chilli sauce, salt, pepper shakers and such might help too.
Oh the staff ARE friendly and polite and the chef did ask us on the food too.
The World of Studio Ghibli is at The ArtScience Museum from 4 October 2024 to 2 February 2025. Firstly, remember to buy your ticket from ArtScience Museum itself or where the ticketing page might lead you to Klook if you don’t have an MBS membership.
There will be timeslots available so do pick one and don’t be late for your session since it’s a pretty popular exhibition.
When the announcement of Badoque was closing was out on Instagram, I had to book it with my friends to eat there one last time.
It had been there for 18 years at Simpang Bedok and on 15 September 2024, it is set to close.
Yes, this post is not really a review post unless you’re from the future, you read this and had a time machine to go back to taste all the good restaurants in Singapore before it closed.
Being one of the first famous Halal western/fusion restaurants in Singapore, Badoque had been so iconic in the East side.
This is their mojito and their cups were really jug sized and value for money.
You need to understand, this wasn’t a thing amongst restaurants back then when it started. Having a huge cup that was more like a jug for a whole drink and at such affordable prices? Mixing sodas were also not a thing when it was first released.
You either get a drink that’s just a soda not a mocktail and definitely not at these sizes in regular restaurants.
Kepak bing bing. It’s a pun on the sound you get when you play the kompang. And kepak is ‘wing’ in Malay. It’s a spicy chicken wings appetizer that goes really well with that squeeze of lime on it.
Breaded oysters. Can you guys tell me where else can I get breaded oysters at a reasonable price now? And done well with their chilli sauce and just a bit of a salad and lemon squeeze for bit of acidity.
There was once we thought “Huh, breaded oysters, maybe it won’t be that much, let’s get two” and it was too much because we ordered other appetizers too for the group. We didn’t think it was going to be a lot but as most of the Badoque’s menu.
The portions are always just so generous.
I ordered a lamb shank because their beef ribs were already sold out by the time we were there. According to the server, everyone had heard of the announcement and had booked it to Badoque.
We were going on a weekday evening so I would imagine the last few days and even last day to be the busiest for goodbyes.
Maybe we can’t order again, but I’ll always remember this lamb shank to have the most delightful sauce with the lamb shank itself being so soft and tender. You didn’t need a knife, you can even use a spoon with it.
Lamb Bukhari is another lamb shank but with rice and the sauce. Can you see how portions are big and the TASTE was always flavourful with spices and the chef knows how to have it all balanced with just a bit of acidity too with the fattiness of the meats.
Other stuff we ordered was Lamb Bamia (comes with a lot of bread for their sauces), breaded chicken steak and fish and chips. Mind you, even their fish and chips weren’t the regular ones but 4 individually breaded fried fish. None of that tasteless sutchi fish either.
So howlah.
They have such high quality food and drinks.
All I can say is thank you for the memories.
Food places in Singapore, when they’re good, they’re good but they always seem to have an end either due to rental prices or life or anything.
But it just means we should always appreciate it when they are there.
If you do actually have a time travel machine, I think it’s your mission to try out all the hawker shops and restaurants that have closed in Singapore. Badoque should be in one of the lists.
After all, I don’t think visiting food places would make too much of a difference in the time continuum, would it…?
Hello friends, if you haven’t been updated by now, I’ve been doing some pro-wrestling at Grapplemax. And what’s better than getting 1 prestigious golden belt?
Tag team belts made by Paul Martin Belts (Photo by Najwan Noor)
You got that right, it’s getting 2.
So I entered the Dual Destinies Tag Team Tournament with my tag team partner, Xtian! Our team name is Ships Ahoy. And since you’re reading this now, you’re automatically a Friend Shipmate.
If you’re also wondering who helped make our outfits, it’s Joey.
Hailing from Chocopro (Japan), we have Mei Suruga and Baliyan Akki. They’re called the Best Bros and if we got to defeat them, then it’s us for the semi-finals. OHOhOhOHoh.
The last time I attended Hirzi’s show which wasn’t a “regular” comedy type show was the Munah & Hirzi Curtain Call in 2018. So when I saw this was going to be a:
A Hari Raya Open House
An Eid It All – Raya Buffet
A Renaissance Concert Parody
A Concept Comedy Show
A Cultural Extravaganza
A Love Letter from Hirzi
I figured I should try get ticket especially when there’s going to be a buffet too (lol). Just know this isn’t a post of a review of the show but mostly for memories cause this Raya-naissance happened during our raya in the year 2024.
This event was held Lagun Sari. Which is pretty hyped. For those who don’t know Lagun Sari, it’s a wedding venue mostly for Malay weddings and their food is good but besides that, I was more intrigued cause that means the decor would really be fancy too.
It’s not often you can be a food reviewer at a comedy show but I got my friend to come with me cause I wanted her to try out Malay food and know the culture too cause I was more than sure Hirzi would be able to draw it out easily in his content.
The pengat pisang was delicious and I had to introduce that to her cause either it’s only home made or you had to get it at caterers like these. There was an instagram post saying that the menu for the last encore show would be “Nusantara” themed and then as I queued up…
I saw Ngoh Hiang and was ?????????????? It was next to gado-gado so ok, I guess (it was also punchline somehow in the show too).
As for the show itself. I won’t post segments, since you had to be there and it was truly a safe space for comedy and observations. The VIP guests were also pretty “woah” to me cause you had theatre practitioners (to say the least!), noteable journalists and other significant “serious” media types that knew how to appreciate a show like this.
The flow was so good, the drag queens were wonderful and the comedy segments did make everyone laugh. The lipsync dance segments was entertaining and you know, why I wanted to bring my friend to this show is that through the comedy segments I know there will be educational or moments of reality.
Of the (not so) subtext of our Malay culture in Singapore and the people.
The ‘final’ punchline though, if you would call it that. The whole theme about Raya really was hard hitting. It’s close to the heart and it’s one of those things where, you can’t really write about but if you do have a chance to go to a grand Hirzi show, you’ll feel it.
This was apparently Dew Francis’ second time doing stand up comedy and I have to hand it to him cause he’s pretty funny. There’s some stand up comedians that make me wonder if my sense of humour is broken but no, he’s good at timing and the payoff too.
For the record, to Dew and Hirzi. You guys are so right on the hijabsters having totally interesting hairstyles.
While the Munah & Hirzi Curtain Call show had a wedding and kompang performance, 6 years later we finally had the reception at Lagun Sari with dikir barat.
Hey guys, I saw an ad on instagram and it was saying “From Noob to Not so Noob” and I thought that was the most accurate ad ever because you can’t promise that you’ll be an expert after a class. So I was intrigued on what it was, and it was…
Trifecta’s pretty obvious when you arrive at Somerset MRT too.
Trifecta at 10A Exeter Road. Where is Exeter Road? I googled it and was like “Oh”, it’s that spot next to Somerset MRT and across Orchard Gateway. If you’ve been in the area, it’s now directly in front of the old skateboard area.
It’s fortunate that we had some official Hololive events in Singapore and I managed to attend them!
Anime Festival Asia 2022 in Singapore had a hololive meet and the event was from 25-27 November 2022. There was a special holomeet postcard for Singapore but of course it’s super limited and all the fans got it so I didn’t get one.
I did get to stand next to the standees and take a picture with them!
That and I was there for AFA Night Live! With the hololive Meet concert. Buying a VIP ticket for that was so worth it.
No photos or videos of the actual concert but you can have a picture of Ash the translator/emcee of the evening.
We played games with the HoloID girls like Moona and Anya. It’s really nice to know hololive friends from all around the world especially South East Asia came to Singapore to attend this convention. Everyone was trying to help each other because we wanted to listen to Moona being a tsundere during the batsu.
Then after, Calli and Gura sang some songs. Look, I know this was mostly a Hololive MEET and a Watame Live concert but I didn’t expect they’d go all the way for us. They sang songs in turn. As usual the HoloEN curse happened because of the audio though it’s expected especially if you’re a Deadbeat (like me) and know it is a thing.
With that they also talked with Watame too. We did have a little talk with Watame but basically with Moona, Anya, Calli and Gura they entertained us all in between while Watame was getting ready with the concert (Watame Night Fever).
This is her first live concert out of Japan and wow.
And yes, Watame was there in real life in Singapore. We know from her actual pictures on twitter. But wow, if the technology was like this to bring Watame to a concert in Singapore and that’s impressive, imagine how it would be in Japan when you have an actual set up stage with everything in it.
I will never forget how she sang Blue Clapper and everyone in the audience knew what to do. It was one of the most tiring concerts I’ve ever went to since we all did the light stick movements for so many songs.
BUT IF IT WAS TIRING FOR US, imagine how it was for Watame because she was singing it all by herself non-stop!! We needed to cheer for her and to support her with our energy too.
If there’s another Hololive Meet/ concert in Singapore, just spring for the VIP tickets really. It’s so good that you get to sit in front and all. Plus we got an autographed poster too.
Hololive x Aniplus Cafe 2023
Next up was the Hololive x Aniplus cafe that I went on 25 Feb 2023.
We had booked our timeslot over their website. When the announcement was out about this collaboration, within a few minutes it was in the hundred plus range of people in the ‘waiting’ room of the booking system.
Anyway this was the menu list which we could order while waiting outside before the previous slot people would leave.
Just slide to the next picture to see the official menu items there. It is what it is.
These were the free items we could get at random when you bought food and drinks from the menu too.
Unfortunately we got some duplicates so we didn’t have the “full set” though we got both placemats!
I had Risu’s Nutty Milk Tea and my friends had Kronii’s Blue Lagoon Ade and Baelz’s Cream Cherry Ade.
My friend had the IRyS potatoes & meatballs. So it was a BaeryS pairing. We got the table with a little maid Hakotaro standee too!
I had Fauna’s pesto pasta. It was a lot… (It could do with a little more salt but I know the standards of Aniplus’ food anyway.)
For dessert, I had Mumei’s Salted Caramel Cake. This was pretty nice.
Basically, if you ever went to an Aniplus collab with anything, just don’t expect super wow food. Their drinks and desserts are good but their mains have always been average. It’s not the most spectacular of mains but it’s not bad either.
Besides food, you could get the collab goods. I just got a keychain and file for myself. With that, I got a free sticker. Those who spent above a certain number got some other special free ticket thing but I don’t know what it looks like since I didn’t buy that much.
Isn’t Kronii just perfect?
And there were standees you could take pictures with at the front of the cafe.
I was invited by a friend to go to one of the trial classes and that the theme currently they were teaching was “Gladiator”.
Which totally fits me because I’m still into Kassandra of Assassin’s Creed.
Anywho, Sandbox Training Ground does fight choreography, wireworks and much more. You want a dramatic fight scene? You can learn from there.
At the time of this post, they’re at 10 Raeburn Park which is nearish Outram. It’s a clean and quiet place. I like the spring floor of Sandbox’s it’s very springy (duh) but if you know how to do acrobatics and stuff like that, it’s a fun floor to bounce off.
With my background of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and pro-wrestling, fighting for film is totally different!
I had to reverse my usually steps which made me confused until I got it somewhat. Usually I really WOULD hit a person with my sword and the twirl while it looks dramatic in film and is so cool, it’s totally something I would not do in tournaments because it’s the best way to get stabbed quickly.
And fight choreography is safe, but you have to “sell” it which means you have to do the acting too. Which seemed odd the first time for me because in fight choreo, it looks great in FILM but it’s all “air”. It is so, soooo different from when I get smacked or something.
Did I enjoy the session? Yeah. The community there seems pretty neat and the instructor does have safety as an important thing.
Check them out if you ever want to learn how to do stunts or fight choreography, more info on their website because they’ll have the ‘fight’ of the season of teaching and you’ll be able to see what it is since they’re constantly trying to improve their syllabus.
Also, their instagram, @sandboxtrainingground is very updated so you can have a looksee too.
