Through Groovy Glasses...

It's my last day flying solo ~ for this stretch, at least ~ and I had two really interesting interviews lined up. I could barely sit still all morning!

I've always been a movie buff, and I love film festivals! Nothing beats sitting in the dark, escaping the realities of life, if only for two hours. So hearing that an international film festival was coming to town made my tail wag! What sets this film festival apart though is that all the films featured will be in 3D! Yes, this is the world's first 3D Film Festival ~ and it's held right here in Singapore!

What's more, all the biggest guns in Hollywood will be flying here to our little island city to be part of this red carpet event. And who are the Who's Who? How about this: Director James Cameron, Brandon Fraser, Christopher Lloyd, and the CEOs of Dreamworks Animation, 20th Century Fox, IMAX, Walt Disney Motion Pictures.

As Jim Chabin (one of my guests today) puts it, the closest you'll ever get to seeing this gathering of the world's leading directors, producers, thinkers and talents is at the Academy Awards!

And Jim should know. He was President of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the US. He produced the Emmy Awards for prime-time television! As it turns out, Jim is Executive Producer of Singapore's 3D Film Festival, or "3DX Film & Entertainment Technology Festival 2008" ~ a project one-year in the making.

Also in the studio was David Glass, Managing Director of Golden Village. GV VivoCity will be one of the main venues for public screenings during the festival ~ including the World Premiere of Walt Disney's new animated film "Bolt" in 3D. I felt a surge of pride when David shared that Singapore's GV Max will be the largest screen on which a 3D film will be projected.

Me in groovy plastic 3D glasses, with Jim Chabin & David Glass of GV. 

Don't miss the 3D Film Festival when it hits town 19 to 23 November. You can expect to watch 3D films in a myriad of different genres: From cartoons to documentaries, even a U2 rock concert! To find out more, visit www.3dxfestival.com.

Oh, here's a picture of the folks from Noise Singapore 2008.

(From front to back): Candi, Sock Hwang, Abdul, Nick, Rachael and Kevin.

Noise Singapore is not new to me. I did some interviews with past-year mentors when I was still with Vanilla magazine. One being Jessica Lu, a really happenin' Sanxian player from China. You can google her and watch her in action on Youtube. She was classically trained in the Sanxian, but when she joined New Asia band (a Singapore-based band), she branched into jazz improvisations etc. ~ with the Sanxian! It's damn cool lor!

Noise Singapore is a wonderful initiative by the National Arts Council ~ It's an arts festival for young people, by young people; a platform for them to express themselves and showcase their works. They also get paired up with mentors who are industry experts under The Apprenticeship Programme (TAP).

Sock Hwang, Asst Director of Arts Education with NAC was down to tell us more about the initiative, as well as two Noise music mentors, Kevin Mathews and Nicholas Chee. With them were their apprentices: Rachael and Abdul Qader (from local band, S.P.O.N.G.E). Rachael even performed an orginal song for us 'live' ~ that girl has an amazing voice! Find out more at www.noisesingapore.com.

By the way, have you heard our Living Room Blog trailer? Stan and I want to know what you think of it, so do drop us a comment and let us know if you like it... or hate it... it's hard to stay impartial, I reckon!