October 24, 2011
inSingapore: Oh the shame of it!
Last weekend, I attended a free seminar series at Raffles City Convention Centre. It seemed like a great opportunity to find out about liver and colon health. And indeed all was fine – good speakers (specialists from local hospitals), comfortable venue – until … we broke for tea.
The guests at the event, many of them older folks, rushed at the food … crowding round each tray as it was replenished, each stabbing at multiple dumplings with their forks, some over the shoulders of others. It was ferocious!!! And the thing is … none of the people looked anywhere near Survivor-level starvation!
SHOCKING!!!
February 4, 2011
inSingapore: Shopping Trolley “Thieves”, or rather, “Borrowers”
Now, I’ve heard of shopping trolleys being taken home by shoppers, leading to supermarkets having to send their staff to surrounding blocks to look for stray trolleys, and I’d seen these abandoned trolleys just left around the housing blocks. And I’ve always wondered: why haven’t I ever seen anyone wheeling their trolley home? Well, I finally spotted a family blithely pushing their trolley home today!!!
February 19, 2010
Free gift for attending church???
Well, that’s what happened after I visited my friend’s church. I got a couple of vouchers for tea/coffee in the mail. The last time I received beverage vouchers like that, it was a thank you from a bank for listening to their talk on a “savings” plan (which turned out be an endowment plan, but that’s another story).
What next? Reward points every time you attend service?
February 2, 2010
Matthew and the Mandarins “Remembering Johnny Cash” Feb 1st 2010
It was heartening to see Matthew and the Mandarins back at the Esplanade Recital Studio again, this time with a one-hour set dedicated to Johnny Cash. And a packed set it was too, with the band singing over 17 songs in the hour:
1. Folsom Prison Blues
2. Guess Things Happen That Way
3. Long Black Veil
4. If I Were A Carpenter
5. I Still Miss Someone
6. Jackson
7. I Heard That Lonesome Whistle
8. I Walk the Line
9. A Thing Called Love
10. Give My Love to Rose
11. Tennessee Flat-top Box
12. Why Me Lord?
13. Sunday Morning Coming Down
14. Ghost Riders in the Sky
15. My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You
16. Ring of Fire
17. Me and Bobby McGee
Encore: Singapore Cowboy
Matthew was not at his vocal best. His singing was not as effortless as the previous time I saw him at the Esplanade. Maybe Johnny Cash songs are just not his forte.
I thought his best moments came with songs where he used the warm resonance of his lower range, like the mournful I Heard That Lonesome Whistle. Matthew also showed he can sing a story really well in Give My Love To Rose – his rendition moved me.
His best moment was definitely the encore, when urged on by the audience, he sang Singapore Cowboy.
Note: Matthew mentioned that they’re performing at the Serangoon Country Club on Fridays.
Crooked Turret 