The UrbanWire

Tucked away snugly in a quiet corner between a bubble tea store and comics café at newly revamped 4th level of Suntec City Convention Centre is Cottage Waffles. True to its name, the European-like eatery has a cosy interior with its red brick walls and the tantalizing scent of cooked waffles.

The recipe for these mouth-watering waffles hail from Chatelet, a town in Europe. The enterprise idea struck when the business owner from Hong Kong took a liking to the sweet delights and bought over the recipe to start the first flagship store in Singapore. From there, Cottage Waffles was born. (Read more)

In the celebratory yuletide season, feast on Goodwood Park Hotel’s Christmas Epiphany that is made up of 12 different dining events from Dec 1 to Dec 31 which are be available at The Deli. Here’s UrbanWire’s take on some of the specially selected delicacies, just for you! (Read more)

Next to the burger, fries often play an overlooked supporting role when it comes to the standard fast food meal. Seldom are they recognised for their importance when it comes to nutrition (or the lack of it). (Read more)

Remember Jocie Guo the cartoon figure, who belted out the Chinese song ????? (“The Mouse So Loves The Rice”) 2 years ago? After echoing the streets for the longest time, Jocie introduced another critter into the Chinese music scene – the cockroach – with her debut album ???? (“Not afraid”).

Her cutesy voice and catchy tunes had the locals humming and blasting her songs from every possible speaker at home but this time, her latest album takes on a mechanical approach by going techno.

Coming back into the music scene with her latest album this year, ???? (“My Darling”), UrbanWire speaks to Jocie about her darlings and going techno Mandopop.

UrbanWire (UW): My Darling is your 1st time experimenting with techno Mandopop, do you personally listen to techno Mandopop songs?

Jocie: I don’t really listen to techno Mandopop. So it is really my 1st time trying out this particular genre. I kind of liked it because it is techno and when you listen to it, you feel like dancing along to the tune. (Read more)

Joining the line of after-dark restaurants in place of Gelare along Holland Village is Olio’s new outlet. In addition to a spanking new menu, they have also spruced up their carte du jour with several new items. (Read more)

Good news if you haven’t yet been spotted by a major music label or simply resisted “selling out” to them, especially if you’re based in the Asia-Pacific. The Independent Artists Club (IAC) has been created for you by mobile phone giant Nokia to be heard by people all around the world.

With more than 200 million music-enabled devices in the hands of people across the world, Nokia is not only able to provide a platform for new artistes to showcase their work but also offer them one of the world’s most compelling and personal distribution opportunities– the mobile phone.

Launched on Oct 25, IAC will be rolled out progressively across the region, including countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand over the next 6 months. The local roll-out will be signalled in each country by the launch of a localised website where artistes will be invited to upload their tracks, and have those tracks rated, consumed and downloaded by music lovers. By mid December, artistes can upload their tracks themselves. Music lovers can start voting in the last week of December.

Artistes who accumulate the most votes for their tracks via the IAC website will be listed in the Nokia Independent Artists Club Chart, which will be distributed to the industry and various media bodies.

Speaking at the launch at the Esplanade, Recital Theatre, Mark McCallum, Director of Marketing, Asia Pacific, Nokia, “Music is an important pillar of our Consumer Internet Services Strategy, so it is important for us to nurture the local music industry, which will ultimately be the catalyst for great local content to be discovered and appreciated by consumers.”

Invited bands have already begun uploading their music, while all other bands can begin uploading their tracks to the site by mid December. Music lovers can check out the IAC website and download music at www.nokia-asia.com/iac. The localised site for Singapore is already live, with other local sites all around the world going the same way in coming weeks.

During a chat show hosted by wacky local host Najip Ali, leading local acts like the Great Spy Experiment, Firefight, and West Grand Boulevard performed their numbers.

A demonstration on how to go about downloading these local tracks legally was also conducted by Lim Wee Khee, Senior Marketing Manager for Nokia Singapore.

Launched on Oct 17 at the Singapore Management University (SMU), the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA)’s Anti-Drug 07/08 campaign is targeted at youths today.

Emphasising on the detrimental effects of synthetic drugs such as ‘Ecstasy’, nimetazepam (street name – ‘Erimin-5’), ketamine (a.k.a ‘K’), metamphetamine, more commonly known as ‘Ice’ or ‘Ya Ba’, the message for this year’s campaign is – “Drugs. If you play, you pay”.

According to a report by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), the number of synthetic drug users has already shown a steady decline. Although this is so, synthetic drugs still form the largest proportion of drug abusers arrested last year. The threat of synthetic drugs will remain a challenge as new synthetic drugs can emerge with the rapid advancement of science and technology.

(Read more)

Walk into Yhing Thai Place and be greeted by the plush red drapes that do not reveal the Thai heritage the restaurant hails from. Looking more like an Arabian restaurant, the signboard hanging above the main entrance doesn’t help much as the words imprinted could be easily mistaken as “Shanghai Place”.

Located behind the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, Purvis Street is home to both Yhing Thai Place and Yhing Thai Palace, and is a 10-minutes walk from the nearby Bugis MRT Station. (Read more)

Sammi Cheng is an enigmatic and an undisputedly talented artiste. With a portfolio of singing awards from all over Asia attesting to her vocal quality, she also has a phenomenal stage presence. Should there be any doubt, it’s probably because you’ve missed Sammi Cheng’s Show Mi concert Oct 13 held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Barely an hour before the start of Show Mi, a crowd pumped up with anticipation had already gathered outside the Indoor Stadium waiting for the gates to open to a night of aural and visual entertainment by the pop diva. As the countdown went into the final 15 minutes, the looming crowd grew increasingly excited and it is not hard to understand why.

The comeback concert tour, held almost 2 years after Sammi left the stage, already made a big bang with concerts in Hong Kong, the United States, Canada and Malaysia. So it’s no wonder how the buzz about her 1st concert tour after her much-too-long break reached our reclaimed shores and the ears of her loyal fans.

(Read more)

Wilber “Will” Pan’s latest album Play It Cool contains no surprises for his diehard fans. Even though this is his 7th album since Gecko Stroll in 2002, Will’s style remains adamantly constant throughout the years. There’s the standard medley of American influenced R&B numbers and love ballads.. It isn’t such a bad thing that Will has been singing within his comfort zone because the fans are still lapping it up. After all, that’s what they love him for!

However, you’ll definitely be impressed with the latest line up has to offer whether you’ve been his ardent fan or otherwise. Will generally has catchy tunes, and with, the songs are brought to a new infectious level. Although he has been swimming in familiar territory, it is nice to note that his vocals have made improvements and are more emotive.

Through the album title and a song shares the same name, Will encourages everyone to live the way that they want to, without restrictions. Only by doing so, people can develop their own attitude and become the urban dictionary’s definition of “cool”.

From lyrics like, “The rules are in my own hands and Life is a game. I’m weaving through the different levels of Life the way I want to” and the trademark American R&B style fans have come to associate Will with, rebels without a cause would relish in his angst.

Towards the song’s end, Will’s rapping, however, leaves much to be desired and still has major room for improvements. It isn’t bad per se, but neither was it as impressive as the previous stanzas.

If you have a taste for soppy love ballads, “Say You Love Me” gives a moving delivery about a man lamenting the loss of his ex-girlfriend. The song takes you through his memories when he opens a letter from the ex. Depicting his helplessness in trying to get her back, it is a refreshing twist from the other pulsating numbers.

While most of Will’s songs in the album seem custom made for him, other tunes like “Daydream” and “Glory” betray his vocal flaws and accentuate them as his change of pitch is strikingly conspicuous.

Last Saturday saw a huge line of people waiting to gain admittance into the newly opened Lunar Asia Fusion Bar under the scorching sun. And the reason for their perseverance? The chance to meet the rising Asian superstar, Kelly Poon.

Since the release of her 1st album, Love Me, Kelly, Kelly has been a force to be reckoned with in the competitive Chinese Pop industry. Love Me, Kelly hit platinum sales when it was released in Singapore last year and during her Project Superstar days, she has been lavishly praised by the judges. 1 of the judges, Ye Peifen, even referred to Kelly as “Asia’s new Superstar”. That is why “At The Center of The World” remains one of the more anticipated albums in the industry.

But her road to success was by no means easy. She was originally ousted in Project Superstar due to having the least number of audience votes – a feat thought impossible even in retrospect. Though she managed to make a glorious comeback in the revival round, she did not take her win for granted and worked even harder to prove her worth.

Today, as she stand under the spotlight amidst the myriad of flashes from photographers and journalists from all over Asia, it is evident that her hard work has finally paid off. Even producer, Yao Chien, who’s worked with veterans like Coco Lee and Elva Hsiao, affirmed Kelly for the hard work that her status of stardom today can be attributed to.

“The Taiwanese media hail Kelly as the next Elva Hsiao because of her astounding dance moves but it’s her voice that is phenomenal. Her dance and rhythmic abilities today are the result of a lot of hard work. When I first saw her “Shakalaka Baby” music video, I was taken aback by the improvement she’s made in her dancing.” Yao Chien praised Kelly in Mandarin.

Her legion of fans today is a further testimony to the rising star’s appeal. During the press conference, a representative from Kelly’s fan club presented her with a huge soft toy of Mashimaro (a Korean cartoon character), hoping that her career would grow as fat as the Mashimaro character. Even her record label, Universal Music, presented her with a Louis Vitton travel luggage, which probably would translate into wishing that her career would travel far and wide.

The fans got more than just a glance of their idol as Kelly belted out 3 numbers during the meet-and-greet session. She started off with “Shakalaka Baby”, hyping up the atmosphere with the Mandarin adaptation of the Bollywood hit single, wearing a large t-shirt with a pair of hot shorts. She shared that during the production of “Shakalaka Baby”, she was expected to sing the song with different expressions before settling on one. Once, she even had to put on Disney’s Donald Duck’s voice and jump around like Pikachu in Pokemon, a daring act that received praises from producer Ah Di Zai who previously worked with Jolin Tsai.

Following “Shakalaka Baby”, Kelly sang the album’s title track. Inculcating French poems and traditional Chinese instruments, among many other influences into the song, “Love Me, Kelly” is a well mix of diverse cultures. Fans who are looking for something different would definitely enjoy this song.

Kelly disclosed her magic number of having 4 ex-boyfriends and dedicated “A Second Of Forever” to one of her previous boyfriends. “The song is about loving and losing. It’s also about relationships not always having to end badly.” Kelly explained.

With that, she ended her performance for the day, much to the sadness of her fans. After a hiatus from Singapore, it was long due for Kelly’s return to our shores.

Check out the exclusive video of Kelly’s hit single, “Shakalaka Baby”!

Rarely do people who’ve interacted with Channel U’s Project Superstar inaugural champion Kelvin Tan WeiLian end up disliking him. There’s just something about the chap that is endearing and genuine that makes talking to him such a delight.

He’s not your typical smooth-talking artiste who responds as if he had crammed a few weeks’ worth of public relations speeches prior to the interview. Having said that, there are even fewer who have heard of his songs and are not touched by the emotional undertones of his songs and the clarity of his voice.

That’s why it came to no one’s surprise when Kelvin’s 1st solo debut album All I Want Is… Chen WeiLian, which was released last year in January, hit triple platinum status in Singapore and platinum status in Malaysia.

Following on the success of All I Want Is… Chen WeiLian is Kelvin’s latest album that is named I-WeiLian. “The Taiwan side… thought that it would be a good idea to name this album I-WeiLian because it’s like introducing me [Kelvin] to the Taiwanese market,” Kelvin said in Mandarin.

The 10-track album was released early August in Taiwan and was recently launched in Singapore on Sep 18.

Although sales were nowhere as good as the previous album, Kelvin is keeping his hopes and expectations relatively low.

“I want to be practical about this. Following the recent market trends, I would be happy if this album could perform as well as the previous one did,” the visually challenged star mused humbly.

“The Taiwanese market is not that much different compared to Singapore’s. Maybe it’s because Singapore’s music is largely influenced by Taiwan.”

Fans of Kelvin, who are dying to hear their idol croon more original songs and less covers, would be happy to note that his 2nd album consists of considerably less covers as compared to its predecessor.

“The most memorable song has to be “Leftover”. There were many high notes in this song that I had to work on this song a lot longer than others. Personally, I really like “Dear, have a good dream”. When I sang this song, I put myself in the shoes of someone who is in a foreign land and is contacting his girlfriend overseas. The lyrics are very simple and personal.”

I-WeiLian, however, will not offer fans any surprises. Although there are fewer covers, I-WeiLian feels like an extension of the previous album rather than a spanking new one for local tastes in terms of Kelvin’s style. Nevertheless, as we have come to expect of Kelvin, the songs are pleasantly soothing and pretty much still within his expertise of love songs.

The music breakthrough this time round has to be “Mistake”. It’s the first time Kelvin dabbled in rapping. As rap is a totally new genre to him, Kelvin admitted to not knowing what to do when he first stepped into the studio. “The producers told me to just sing like how an angmoh would speak in Mandarin,” Kelvin laughed at the fond memory. Those who are comfortable with Kelvin’s style of music will find the upbeats a tad overwhelming.

All in all, I-WeiLian is a pleasing experience aurally. The songs are rather catchy, especially perennial favourites, like “Voices Of The Heartlanders”. Buy it if you’re not sick of sappy love/break-up songs or if your therapist recommends something to jerk your tear glands.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I-WeiLian can be found in all music stores now!

As the crimson sun shrank into the horizon of honey-coloured pools, leaving only a trail of golden speckles in its wake, this idyllic backdrop marks the end of the Singapore Wakeboard World Cup.

Held over the last weekend, Bedok Reservoir welcomed international wakeboarders from all over the world to compete for the prestigious award. Up to USD 60 000 (SGD 90,032.33) cash was offered as prizes and the finals held on Sunday determined the winners of the stash.

For Pro Men’s, Philip Soven walked away with USD 15 000 (SGD 22,510.02) while his female counterpart, Dallas Friday, was USD 8 000 (SGD 12,004.91 )richer by the end of the entire competition.

It was a day of winnings for the United States (U.S.) as both contenders were from Florida. Together, they beat 28 of the world’s top athletes and earned their spots as the leading wakeboarders of the world.

A competitive free ride format was used and the riders were judged on 3 style categories: execution, composition and intensity. To prove their worth, the riders also had to perform complex maneuvers off the boat’s wake. By the term complex maneuvers, it’s more than just flips and turns. Each competitor performed stunts that were hair-raising and truly an eye opening experience.

To sum up the Singapore Wakeboard Cup, it had indeed been 2 full days of non-stop water splashing fun!  The competition might have been the highlight of the entire event but there was also a carnival happening concurrently to cater to the families that had headed down to the reservoir park for a get together. Free banana boat rides were also offered to allow the public to enjoy themselves.

Singapore’s wakeboarding scene is up and coming but it seems to be set for the long haul. People had started wakeboarding for the first time in Singapore during the days in 1991 when waterskiing was still the predominant water–towed sport.

But gradually as waterways became populated and the calm water required for waterskiing became increasingly hard to find, wakeboarding began to replace waterskiing for the top position in Singapore’s local water sports scene.

Today, it has become the fastest growing water sport, increasing over 30% in participation over the past 3 years.

For more information on picking up wakeboarding as a sport, log on to www.pssa.com.sg.

Starring 4-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Scarlett Johansson, as the confused fresh graduate out of college with barely an idea of who she really is, The Nanny Diaries seems set to make it big in the cinemas. 

Indeed, what can go wrong? After all, the movie was adapted from the New York Times number 1 bestseller which shares a similar title. It is also directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman who brought to moviegoers American Splendor  in 2003 that was honoured with the nomination of the Best Adapted Screenplay in the Academy Awards that very year.

Perhaps it’s the comfort of formulaic filming that drove documentarians Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman to present The Nanny Diaries in the form of a diary.

The film begins with an exploration of femme stereotypes that makes up the socio-DNA of Manhattan and a succinct timeline of the difference between women then and now, fixating on the definition of their roles as mothers in society. Voiced over by Johansson herself, the narration soon explains that the movie will take on the approach of a case study.

With such an intriguing introduction, it is hard not to be drawn within the story. As the plot reveals with much predictability, Johansson is cast as Annie the fresh graduate out of Montclair State University who was mistaken to be a nanny under some bizarre circumstances that largely involves the coincidental rhyming of “Annie” and “nanny”.

She thus begins her first job while keeping her mother in the dark. She moves in with the X-ers and began her stint as a nanny to her young charge, Grayer X. Like the way names have been changed to protect the privacy of test subjects during any research study, X happens to take the place of the family’s actual last name.

In fact, all the characters during the course of Annie’s research had pseudonyms. Take for example, Harvard Hottie (played by Chris Evans ) who chances upon Annie’s (almost) naked posterior and eventually becomes her love interest. Even Annie herself was called Nanny.

That piece of trivial information aside, what had initially started off as a temporary stint so as to allow Annie to find out exactly what she wanted out of life, becomes something more of a permanent nature as she makes a promise to Grayer, sealing her fate as an employee to the X-ers.

It was heartwarming to see how Annie struggles with the choice of staying or quitting. Every time she decides to throw in the towel, she finds that she could not, out of love for her young charge.

Perhaps towards the end of the movie, the movie might have seemed to veer off focus by concentrating the X’s family drama, but in truth, it hadn’t. 

In the course of her work, she had been given the opportunity to peer into the very lives her mother wished for her to lead. She saw how it was all about money and the putting up of appearances and the decision lies within her to assume the life that she ultimately wants to lead.

Though The Nanny Diaries leverages heavily upon the stereotypes portrayed, the ones depicted had at least an ounce of truth in them and added on to the movie’s overall entertainment value.

Scarlett Johansson’s performance was mediocre but the movie’s redeeming grace was really Mrs X (Laura Linney) and Grayer (Nicholas Art). Both delivered their parts believably. Truly a delight to watch!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Movie Details:

Opens: Sep 27

Running Time: 106 mins

Cast: Donna Murphy, Laura Linney, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans

Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Remember the first-ever female champion of the inaugural Project Superstar made popular by local television station Channel U, Kelly Poon? She should be no stranger to the local audience, having shot to fame purely by the show of support her local fans showed her during her competition days.

After being spurred on by the humongous success of her debut album Love Me, Kelly which hit platinum sales last year, Kelly’s fans should be more than happy to know that the rising star will be releasing her 2nd album, titled In The Center Of The World on Sep 28!

For those who can hardly wait, pre orders will start on the 17th island wide and, with that, fans will get to bring home exclusive Kelly t-shirts! Not only that, those sporting the limited Kelly t-shirts will get a chance to hear Kelly live at the following event!

Event: Kelly <In the Center of the World> Asia Press Conference

Date: 29th Sep

Time: 2pm

Venue: Lunar’s Asia Fusion Bar @ The Cannery

In The Centre Of The Earth is worth looking out for as this time round, Kelly managed to enlist the help of Yao Chien (who worked with the likes of Coco Lee, Elva Hsiao, Rene Liu and Vicky Zhao) to help produce her 2nd album, through the recommendation of famous local music producer, Lee Wei Song.

Although Kelly is famed to be the next Stefanie Sun of Singapore, Kelly begs to differ. According to the superstar, “Every singer has her own unique quality. As a Singaporean, I am very proud and supportive of Stefanie Sun’s success but I can’t be the next Stefanie because our styles are totally different! What I do hope to achieve is her astounding results and she will always be a benchmark for me to work towards to!”

With In The Center Of The World, Kelly will be trying out different approaches to music. For example, there will be a unique mix of songs that will definitely stand out in today’s Chinese pop industry.

Just to list a few, there are some songs in the album that incorporate the use of traditional Indian instruments and other light-hearted ones which leverage upon the relaxing nature of the violins to help sooth listeners. As for those who prefer soppy romantic songs, In The Center Of The World will also feature Korean love songs that will undoubtedly move you to tears.

With this smorgasbord of songs for your aural pleasure, what else are you waiting for? Pre order In The Center Of The World at your nearby music store now!