Centerstage - Dance Clips

Centerstage is a movie about young dancers at an american ballet school. Basically, its one of those movie that every dancer HAS to watch, and every dancer recognises songs and dancemoves from.

This is the final dance sequence...basically, what the entire movie builds up to. Haven't heard of anyone who doesn't love this dance sequence. It's love, sex, rock&roll, ballet, violence and heartbreak all rolled together into a supercool choreography.

Michael Jackson - The Way You Make Me Feel
2 instrumentals
Ruff Endz - If I Was the One
Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

This is a scene from one of their dance trainings in school. This one is cool because they use a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Higher Ground (We've been dancing to this song in Jazz class lately. Funky choreography by Sam, with air guitar strumming and crazy headbanging.)

Cool things for the home

Wallpaper that looks like light is coming through the window, seen at Apartment Therapy: San Francisco. Cool concept huh, and it really looks like it works.

Abduction Lamps!! How cool is this! It takes some crazy people to come up with this one, haha. I love this Bovine Abductee one, it's hilarious! They're still in the prototype stage though, as you can see here.

Features and add-ons below:

Alien Abductors

UFOs are not known to fly 'unaliened', and this one is no exception.

A wide array of aliens are available in different poses.

Bovine Abductee

We know that martians abduct hundreds of cows each year. We also know that Elvis lives on Mars.

Put these two facts together, and you'll realize that the Martians are busy collecting Earth cows to keep Elvis with a steady supply of hamburgers.

Human Abductee

It is well known that Martians abduct humans. We also know that Martians have useless hands.

Combine these facts with the previous conclusion, and it becomes clear that humans are abducted to serve as burger flippers to keep the King happy on Mars!

Multi function Antenna

The antenna has more functions than the obvious function of being an intergalactic communication device.

Pressing the antenna turns the lamp on and off. Turning the antenna enables the pulsating beam feature.

Cherry Tart with frangipane

Today we made Cherry Tarts from Giorgio Locatelli's Made In Italy. It was a great success! The start of many more tarts to come, haha. While the frangipane was a little too sweet, the tart itself and the cherries were fantastic, adding the right amount of sweetness and tanginess. Tarts are so fun to make! They're small and cute, and pretty, and interesting enough to not get bored. And if you make small tarts, the baking time isn't very long. Although it does take quite some preparation time, so you have to set aside half a day for it.

The cherries, halved and pitted. The cherries we bought were really sweet and yummy, we kept sneaking so many off. Fortunately we bought an extra 100g, haha.

The sugar didn't really caramelize at the top, you can see it sprinkled on. We just added it for fun, but I think we can do without it next time, the tart's sweet enough.
Where did all the tarts go??? Haha, as you can see, they came out of the pan pretty well, even without greasing or anything. I need to buy tart tins, I think those shallow tarts ridged edges are so pretty! Haha, till the next tart escapade!

Bagel Day

We made bagels last tuesday. I realise this is quite late, but I was lazy to switch on my comp for the last few days, haha. Looks pretty huh, haha. But don't be deceived! It was fun to make, but the bagels didn't turn out great =( The cream cheese saved the day, in my opinion. Oh! Chan brought rhubarb and ginger jam from M&S, it was pretty cool. Gingery, mostly. I couldn't really taste rhubarb, so I still don't know what rhubarb tastes like. Wouldn't advise you to buy it though haha. I still prefer the more traditional jam flavours.

Rows of bagels waiting to be boiled then baked. They looked quite cute on the tray, so uniform! And shaping the bagels are quite fun =) just that it's hard to keep them perfect looking!
Boiling the bagels. Apparently this makes them chewier on the inside, and better at the crust, but all it did was make our bagels ugly =(
The bagels from hell.
Haha, nah, they weren't that bad =) But we forgot salt, so it was really tasteless. And really super duper chewy, in the rip-with-your-teeth sense of the word. I have no idea why the bagels were so tough. Oh well, if we ever try this again, we definitely need a different recipe. Lucky they still look cute in the photos. And lucky there were three of us (chan came too), cos then we only had to take back 3 bagels each, hahaha.

Portraits from MAAD July

We went to check out MAAD July last weekend (7th and 8th), the one that Maddy advertised. And as we went on Sunday, there were artists from the Organisation of Illustrators Council drawing portraits. So we decided to get ours drawn =D While I would say that they were all great artists, I wouldn't say they were all good at portraits. I know I can't draw for peanuts and so should prob not comment, and I'm not saying that they can't draw, but most gave us very generic faces that didn't look like us at all. Well, you can see for yourself below. And our photo's on the sidebar, so you can see that i'm not exaggerating. But at 8bucks a portrait of your choice, I'd say it's pretty cheap. They should be there next month as well, and probably as regulars, so go check it out =)
Maddy's the only one who got drawn in the left picture cos I wasn't facing her. It was a pretty good drawing too =( Well, anyway, she bought this one =) You can see how we totally don't look like us in the right picture, and I (on the left) look kinda like a guy. We look like the starring characters of primary school Moral Education textbooks! Well, but he did make a lot of effort colouring in the background. And our hair's not bad.
Another one that totally doesn't look like us, but she didn't mean for it to so it's alright. It's cute that she got our clothes right. This one's cute though not very exciting, and feels like we could colour it in. Maddy bought this too =)I think this one got the closest, but still isn't that close? The bottom halves of our faces aren't really correct, but the top halves do feel like us. I look manly here and Maddy looks evil, haha. It's done in watercolours, which is pretty cool. I bought this one, cos it resembled us the most, and the artist was the cutest, hahaha.Um, we look like really old here. And I don't mean mature old, I mean elderly.
We look like transvestites.
This looked artistic but doesn't really feel like us at all. Watercolours too. It reminds me of that artistic who made all his subjects short and round, who was he again?

Have you noticed how all the drawings have a very Singaporean style and feel? I wonder if it's because the artists are Singaporean or because the subjects are Singaporean?

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Trailer from 1989

I never knew Keanu Reeves had a funny side...

The trailer sucks so much, it's good! Most heiniously!!

New Playlist

New music...at long last!

And I put it to shuffle mode, so you don't keep hearing the same song everytime the page loads.

Ann Siang Hill

So recently, the madegg duo (yes, us together again) finally got down to exploring the Ann Siang Hill district. The shopping guide from fashionisspinach.com was pretty helpful. Though I would have much preferred if it came with clearcut maps and pictures...hmm..you know what? It'd be an interesting new project to work on! The Illustrated Guide to ____(insert cool place)___ in Singapore.

Rather than taking a gazillion majillion photos of touristy landmarks or nonsensical candid shots, we decided to have a photo-theme! As you might have already guessed from the image below, our theme was Patterns! So we set off on our little tour of this mysterious neighbourhood (well, mysterious to us goondus anyway), scanning up and down for eyecatching patterns to snap pictures of.

Enjoy the visual feast... We found patterns everywhere! On vegetation, building designs, wall-tiles, floor-tiles, posters, notebook covers, drain covers, furniture, door grills...etc. ! It certainly gave our aimless tour much more meaning and some short-lived excitement, haha.

We managed to find all the suggested places, like The Asylum, Style:Nordic, Front Row, Vanilla Home and even had sparetime to drop by the much publicised independent bookstore BooksActually at Telok Ayer Street. There's something very special about being in these places and just soaking up the atmosphere. It's like an open invitation into the enigmatic mind of the owner. A quick glance would leave you wondering why the heck all these random objects are being sold in the same store (e.g. local literature and polaroid cameras in BooksActually, vintage children's books and apple corers in The Asylum). But once you start to soak up the atmosphere, you begin to realise that there's a very personal and unique invisible thread linking up every item in each store.

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Eggy: Which is not to say we didn't take any touristy/nonsensical candid photos at all =) But most of the places we visited were no-cameras-allowed, so this isn't quite the comprehensive guide we were hoping for =(At Starbucks, pre-exploration, where Chan and Maddy engaged in yet more origami. Unfortunately Chan had to go off to a secret rendezvous, so no exploring for her.Ixoras along the way to Red Dot Museum below. An attempt at more 'zine-worthy photos, haha.
I really like how Red Dot has such a great colour. Eye-catching, but not headache-inducing bright and flashy.But after all that, we are still nowhere near Ann Siang Road -_- I don't really get that 'winner only!' thing. Spot reserved for winners to stand in?Big temple along the way that looked really new and impressive.
Halfway there! Some Chinatown-looking place.
Ann Siang Road! Actually, not really. This was taken at the end of our journey, at some other road. But you know, a row of shophouses looks like another haha =) What made the Ann Siang shophouses different from the rest, in my opinion at least, was that they all had very Peranakan-looking tiles decorated on the outside. Okay, i don't know if Peranakan's the word i'm looking for, but you know what i mean, you've seen the collage. And they had such a variety of designs and were really well preserved. I thought that was pretty cool, a slice of historical Singapore in a way =)The cafe on the first level of Front Row. They have these boxes of cute candies, I thought the lego ones were very cute. They sell a lot of English-looking jams and teas prettily packaged too, but the guy noticed us at this point and told us no-pictures =( I guess we didn't pass off as tourists. It's a boutique on the second and third level, expensive clothes and interesting accessories.Part of the second floor of Style:Nordic. I think this is his interior decorating office. He has swatches of fabrics and carpets, as well as different setups on the same floor. I wish there were pictures to show, but we were afraid he had hidden cameras around, haha. It'd be cool to be able to live an an apartment like this though, all 3 floors included, the decor felt cosy yet spacious. It's pretty cool cos he leaves you entirely alone even as you browse through the upper floors. A little unfriendly, but less embarrassing to ooh and ahh over his stuff. Clothes, accessories and kitchenware on the first floor, all imported from Scandinavian countries, but definitely feels different from Ikea.I've never seen a guild before!

And that draws a close to the Ann Siang Road journey =) One major spot we missed was The Patissier though! It's been strongly recommended for its cakes. Definitely a must-visit for the next time!

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Couple more pictures from Maddy's side:






Never seen a guild either...

Street Art

Some interesting street art, as seen around the Ann Siang Hill area.

Marzipan Knits

VeganYumYum made really cool yarnballs and knits with marzipan =) I'm amazed, they really look knit! Tutorials and more pictures on her website.

Paula Sanz Caballero

Paula Sanz Caballero is a really cool fabric artist based in Spain. She does fantastic embroidery and illustrations. I can't show any other photos here because she uses macromedia flash to show her work, but you guys have GOT to go check it out! It's really really cool. I love how she does the hair on her figures, as you can see in the photo above. Her illustrations are really good too, in the same style as the embroidery. Remember to click on the pictures on her websites to see closeups okay, the details are amazing!

Italian Orange Biscuits

Italian Orange Biscuits from Sophie Braimbridge's Simply Italian. I made these last night =) Haha, change one letter and she's brainbridge! Baking alone at night is so therapeutic. Nothing too complicated of course, not after a long day. Something easy and organised. Did I mention that this is a one-bowl recipe? And non-sticky dough? I love it =) And orange smells so fantastic baking! But while it's tiring, it's still sort of relaxing at the same time, you know? And it makes the whole house smells so nice at night =D I mean sure, it smells great during the day too, but it just ain't the same.

My first time with semolina, I was excited! A little dry, but it's alright for a tea biscuit. Needs a little more sugar too, for me at least. Maybe light icing. But what I really like about these are that they are crunchy cookies! I've been looking for a good crunchy orange biscuit recipe for years. While this may not be as buttery as other recipes, the crunch makes up for a lot. A lil more experimenting, things can be worked out!

A step closer to Crabtree & Evelyn's Butter Orange Cookies!! They're my absolute favouritest cookie in the whole wide world! Honestly, I may be little miss fickle, but they are definitely no 1 on my cookie love list. Oh, to be able to bake those citrus-y slices of heaven *swoons*

Apricot Raisin Oatmeal Scones

Another recipe from "Mom's Big Book of Baking" with simple foolproof recipes. I wanted to do something with the leftover dried apricots from the Fruity Tooty You Tea Party. So I diced them up and added them to an Oatmeal Scone recipe I found in my birthday baking book.


Now, let me introduce you Larry. He's an apricot raisin oatmeal scone, with 2 burnt raisins for eyes, and half a cashew nut for a mouth. He enjoys reading, cycling and long walks along the beach. He's a happy guy, most of the time.

He gets sad when people eat him...

I have no idea if oatmeal scones are supposed to look like this...I've never had an oatmeal scone. My oatmeal scones look like chinese pork buns.

Thankfully, they looked like normal scones on the inside, and tasted and smelt like real scones!

M. Ward

Here's my recent musical discovery...Matthew Ward, or more commonly known as M. Ward.
He makes the kind of music you grow into. Not instantly catchy and memorable, but after a few repeated listens...you realise that you're unconsciously singing along. And now, he's high up my list! I like how his songs have the storytelling-type lyrics...like 60s popsongs. Perfect background music for a lazy Sunday when you're bumming around at home.



M. Ward - Chinese Translation (cute video!)


M. Ward - Chinese Translation LIVE on Letterman (gotta love the maracas-wielding Chinese guy who's sitting on the drum...and the girl drummer! Girl power!)



M. Ward - Requiem (not so cute video)

HEADLINE: Maddy Discovers How Jesus Walked On Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHlAcASsf6U

Don't ask me how I find these stupid videos...

Mr Blue Sky

Song of the moment! 'Mr Blue Sky' by Electric Light Orchestra. This song was written in 1977, can you believe it?? It really doesn't sound out of place at all today. It makes me so happy just listening, I really love this song! And the lead singer, Jeff Lynne, reminds me of Hyde from That 70s Show, hurhur. ELO's cool cos they were originally from another rock band. Then they formed this trying to give rock music a new direction, so they incorporated the light orchestra (a smaller orchestra popular in Britain then) into their music. Cool huh! Which actually makes their name a lil geekier than you would have thought. Cos they're literally an electric light orchestra -_-

UK really comes out with the best bands, the Beatles, ELO, Stereophonics, it goes on and on. ELO's other songs are a bit more obviously 70s, cos of the weird electronics =p but the other song down there, Strange Magic, is pretty nice too. Okay, listen now!!



Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey,hey

Runnin' down the avenue
See how the sun shines brightly in the city
On the streets where once was pity
Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey

Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race
A celebration, mister blue sky's up there waitin'
And today is the day we've waited for

Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you

Mister blue sky, mister blue sky
Mister blue sky

Mister blue, you did it right
But soon comes mister night creepin' over
Now his hand is on your shoulder
Never mind I'll remember you this
I'll remember you this way

Mister blue sky please tell us why
You had to hide away for so long
Where did we go wrong?

Hey there mister blue
We're so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do
Ev'rybody smiles at you

MAAD

Hey sexy, this is what i've been talking about...

Non-Children-Friendly Children's Book

The wonders of Photoshop...




...even more friendliness at Children's Books.