Of Wacky Superheroes & Broken English...

Today is the 2nd day MediaCorp is shut down this week due to cost-cutting measures. Everyone's on forced leave and our office floor (where all the radio station DJs are) is a ghost town. But of course, The Living Room team is still dishin' out your daily dose of 'live' interviews! 

Today, we had director Beatrice Chia and actress Karen Tan in The Living Room to tell us more about Toy Factory's upcoming musical Sleepless Town. It's the one where singer Debbie Gibson was supposed to be in! Yes, yes, it's been resurrected and hitting our town on 27 Feb. 

Here to spill the beans on Sleepless Town: Beatrice Chia & Karen Tan.

Personally, I'm excited not because the musical's filled with wacky superheroes, but that the costumes are created by celebrity designer Federick Lee! *lol* I mean, what are superheroes without cool costumes? And wait, Mark Richmond debuts as scriptwriter & Don Richmond as music composer? This, I gotta see... 

Also on our couch this morning was Heather Hansen, a language trainer from California. We had such a good time guffawing at the things we Singlish speakers say without realising how ridiculous we sound to foreigners. 

"Your pipe is choked," said Heather's plumber. She could not, for the life of her, understand how a pipe could "choke". Did the plumber mean...... "clogged"?  

Then there was the immigration officer who wanted to "chop" her passport. Heather was horrified as she envisioned him with a butcher's cleaver... 

When we told Jason & Esther - our listeners now living in Sydney - about our Singlish session over lunch, the couple had a good laugh. Esther added that once she remarked to an Australian colleague, "He's so blur!" and the poor guy had no clue what she meant! 

My jaw dropped. Aussies don't understand what "blur" means? *gasp* 

 Lunch with our listeners from Sydney: Jason, Esther & their adorable kids.

Well, after an excellent zi-char lunch off Eng Neo Ave and a free flow of good conversation, we adjorned to Ben & Jerry's @ Dempsey for some ice cream. It's always wonderful to meet our listeners outside of work. What a lovely way to end the week! 

Spice It Up!

Spices, Spices, Spices. Although Singapore food uses lots of it, how much do we really know about the various types of spices? how to store them? cook them? 

Lucky for us, we had the Spice Queen of Singapore in The Living Room today. She's no stranger to those in touch with the culinary scene here. Devagi Sanmugam is a renowned food columnist, cooking instructor, entrepreneur & author of 16 cookbooks! 

I loved listening to her ~ she talked about spices with such passion. For instance, I learnt from Devagi that if you listen really carefully, different spices give off different crackling sounds when they're cooked, so you can always tell - by listening - when they are ready. Only a Spice Queen can speak of spices like that!

 Queen of Spices: Devagi Sanmugam spices up our morning!

Well, 30 minutes was too short to have all our questions answered. A few listeners called in with queries but we couldn't air them all. The good news though is that Devagi runs a Spice Appreciation Workshop at her cooking school, Epicurean World. And if you're keen to taste her cooking, drop by her newly-opened restaurant Spice Queen @ Race Course Road!

Guess who else spiced up our day? Pierre Png. And if I dare say so myself, he is handsomer in real-life. *wink* 

Pierre came to tell us about a CNY telemovie he's lead-starring in, called A Kucinta Reunion Dinner. We chatted too about his Peranakan roots, his love for food (especially his dad's home-made ngor hiang) and his plans for the Lunar New Year. 

Be sure to catch Pierre, with Mindee Ong (881 fame), on the 2nd day of CNY @ 10pm. Only on Channel 5!  

Corrinne May on The Living Room!

You've heard her sultry voice on the radio, on soundtracks of movies & TV series. Her latest album 'Beautiful Seed' became Singapore's #1 best-selling album on the very week it was released!

We're of course talking about singer-songwriter Corrinne May, who was our guest on The Living Room today, together with hubby Kavin Hoo. But while it appeared that we had 2 guests, we actually had 3... 

Yes, Kavin & Corrinne are expecting their first child - a girl - come April this year! *grin* And if you're wondering how a 6-months pregnant Corrinne May looks like, here she is: 

Match Made in Heaven: Corrinne May & hubby Kavin Hoo. 

Kavin & Corrinne met at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, and moved to Los Angeles to embark on a music career upon graduation. Corrinne has since released 4 albums: Fly Away, Safe in a Crazy World, The Gift & Beautiful Seed; while Kav started a successful music production company, Earthtones Studio. His instrumental albums have sold over a million copies to date. 

We got Kavin to share about his latest album 'A Moment in Time' (now out in major music stores) which features Corrinne's vocals on 2 tracks. Find out more about what the dynamic duo is up to by clicking on Corrinne & Kavin's websites. 

Well, it seems we won't be seeing as much of Corrinne May once her little bundle of joy arrives ~ at least not for a while. We will surely miss her angelic voice and beautifully-penned songs. But she'll be back! In the meantime, we wish her all the best as she embarks on a new journey... to motherhood. 

Kavin & Corrinne with old Berklee friend, Tong Jen of Symphony 92.4FM.

Hungry Go Here!

Today, Stan & I had a lunch date with HungryGoWhere.com's Dennis Goh, who was a guest on The Living Room recently. The die-hard foodie & founder of Singapore's No. 1 food website had promised to take us out for makan, and well, TODAY is the day. But where's he taking us? We didn't find out till this morning. And this is where... 

 Ming Ji Bak Chor Mee @ Blk 1A coffeeshop, Eunos Crescent!

As you can see, there's a queue snaking all the way to the stall. But hey, no one seemed to be complaining. So was the wait worth it? The verdict: A resounding YES! *grin* 

While this bak chor mee is not the vinegar type that I like, I loved the springy meepok, the tasty mushrooms & ah! the chilli mixed into the noodles. But the highlight for me was definitely the fish maw soup. It's one of the best I've tried. My take: Get the bak chor mee + fish maw soup combo for $6. 

I love this job because we get to meet so many people from different walks of life, and sometimes these friendships are extended beyond the Living Room. 

Beyond The Living Room: With HungryGoWhere.com's Dennis Goh. 

We're already planning the next stop on our makan trail ~ char kway teow @ Bedok! 

Rhythm of the Middle-East

What a treat to have sizzlin' rhythms in The Living Room on a Monday morning. No better way to shake out the Monday blues!

We were shocked when percussionist Amit Gilboa came in lugging gargantuan bags filled of percussion instruments of different shapes and sizes. He tells us that the most widely-used drum in the Middle-East is the Darbuka, which can be played solo (like accompaniment for a belly dance performance) or in a band with string instruments like the Oud. 

Well, Stan & I got to roll up our sleeves and have a hand at playing the Darbuka. Here we are, trying our darnest to keep in rhythm while Amit added a layer of percussion solo over our base rhythm. It wasn't that tough lah, and we had a blast! 

 

Getting into the Groove: Stan & Pam play the Darbuka!

But hey, nothing compares to seeing the Master in action. So here he is:  

This (soon-to-be) father of two formed a band called the Al-Bedouin Middle Eastern Music Emsemble in 2004. You can also find out more about what he does here. Or if you're keen on some 'live' Middle-Eastern music, head down to Shiraz @ Clark Quay on Friday & Saturday nights to catch Amit in action. 

We also found out about Singapore Polytechnic's new Diploma course in Creative Writing for TV & New Media from three lecturers and veterans in the media/broadcast industry. They are Frederick Sui Tan, Lee Sher Lin and Gamar Aziz (pictured). It was a very lively and informative discussion ~ but what would you expect when you thrust five media people together in a room? *grin*  

Find out more about this very exciting course here or at Singapore Poly's website. I truly believe the journalist of the today needs to be effective in multiple platforms, especially New Media ~ this is where it's heading with MediaCorp's Newsplex, so this course is surely timely. 

Miami Ink's Chris Garver Visits!

I've been waiting for this for weeks... actually since I found out from my sis last year that Singapore will host its 1st ever tattoo convention in Jan '09, and more recently, that Chris Garver of Miami Ink is coming down to our sunny island.

The talented team from Miami Ink: Chris Garver on extreme right.

I'm a fan of the show for two reasons: Firstly, the people who step into the shop requesting for tattoos each have a story to tell. I'm personally fascinated by these real-life stories, which have opened my eyes to the myriad of reasons ordinary people get tattoos. With Miami Ink, I started to see tattooing more as an "art form", a mode of self-expression.

Secondly, I am mesmerised by the artistic flair and raw talent of the tattoo artists on Miami Ink. I see people trickle in to the shop earnestly sharing their ideas, sometimes armed with a sketch or photo, and then I see how these guys transform these ideas into pure works on art. It's like bare skin is their canvas. The final product always blows my mind!

Miami Ink's Chris Garver & Kirby Lian on The Living Room.

In my opinion, one of the best tattoo artists around is Chris. This man is seriously GOOD at his craft. And I hope to one day be inked by him. He tells us though that the waiting list as of now is 15,000...

"15,001," I remind him, pointing to myself. Expectantly. But no such luck.

I must say it was a real pleasure chatting with Chris. He's warm and down-to-earth, and when he listens to you, he looks you attentively in the eye. When we were snapping the blog photo, he jokes, "So, do you want us to take off our shirts?" I was like OH. OKAY. But he just laughed it off... DARN.

Also on our couch this morning was Kirby Lian of Utopia Studio - the visionary behind the Singapore Tattoo Show 2009. It's undeniable how passionate this self-taught local tattoo artist is about his profession. He took a leap of faith by organising this convention, which will bring together tattoo artists from around the world.

It's truly an international platform where cultural ideas, styles and expertise will be exchanged. It's even garnered the endorsement of the Singapore Tourism Board. Kirby tells us that he plans to make this an annual event, which is exciting I think!

Well, I'm looking forward to checking out the convention this weekend. Who knows? You may just spot me with a brand new tattoo next Monday?

Singapore Tattoo Show 2009

9-11 Jan '09

11am - 10pm (Fri-Sat) 11am - 8pm (Sun)

Singapore Expo Hall 6B

$18 (1-day) / $50 (3-day)

www.tattoo.com.sg