I went to the event damn early(abt 4 hours earlier) to get a good place. Ended up in the first/second row near the center ^_^
But I think I went a bit too early because people only started coming in about 2 hours before the event starts :(
The artists performing included 羅志祥、張韶涵、5566、K one、蔡旻佑、蔡淳佳、頭號人物、盧學叡、Style、羅美玲、魏如萱 and Soler. Enough of the background story, on with the photos !





Angela 張韶涵




WOW 頭號人物

Let me give a short introduction about WOW. This group consists of a guy and a girl. They trained under 建寧老師 of FIR. The guy is a DJ and the girl specializes in dance. They were sent to Korea for training and their style are very kpop-like, which suits me just fine :p

K One



蔡淳佳







5566 without 王紹偉

       My parents and my sister came over  to Taiwan last week with a tour group. I really enjoyed the time spent with them over here. And I get to stay at the hotel with them. Way better than my own room. Too bad I didn't get to spend more time with them, as I can't follow them on the tour bus because I'm not covered by their group insurance. The result is me meeting them at the last stop of the day, and following them back to the hotel for an overnight stay, then going back to my hostel alone the next morning. My sister's "hotel roommate" was a classmate of mine from secondary school. Talk about coincidence!! She is also working in sg now.

  Bought original Korean edition of 2007 Winter SMTOWN album when I went over to 西門町 to meet my family. For those of you who don't know, SMTOWN is the group of artists under SM Entertainment which includes BoA, Super Junior and my favorite, Girls' Generation, just to name a few. They are kinda like 喬傑立巨星 in Taiwan or Johnny's Juniors in Japan. And did I mention I like Girls' Generation? ^_^ Their leader, Tae Yeon (the userpic I use), is sooo cute!!!! Speaking of which, I'll change the userpic to an even cuter picture of Tae Yeon soon  :p

    Pictures of 16/12 卓文萱幸福氧氣改版簽唱會 coming as soon as I have the mood to process the photos, probably Tuesday or Wednesday, along with the userpic change. Damn camera ran out of power halfway through the event and I forgot to bring the spare :(
 
  Also, there will be a free mini concert this coming Friday. But judging from the star power of the performing artists, I will have to be there very early and be really lucky to find a place where I can get a clear view of the action. I must see 5566 and K-One!!! Which reminds me... My exchange is ending soon and I haven't seen 小小瑜 yet. I sure hope she got event soon, or else my whole time her is for nothing @.@

I just got back from Show 羅志祥's 2nd concert of his world tour series, which includes a stop in Singapore sometime in December. It is held at the 台北小巨蛋 (literally translated as Taipei Little Giant Egg), officially called Taipei Arena. The first concert was held yesterday at the same place. I bought a mid-range seat, which is relatively near the stage, but at the side.



First things first. I didn't take any pictures because I wanted to enjoy the performance as much as possible and not looking at the camera screen. I also think that I wouldn't be able to get any nice shots anyway, given my distance from the stage and the lighting conditions, plus someone complained about the other autograph sessions pictures I took in broad daylight and at a shorter distance to be "not clear enough" (yes, I'm looking at you senpai). Well anyway, not photos. Before entering the Arena, I noticed a lot of enterprising businessman/women selling all kinds of glow-sticks, small hands(for a louder clapping sound), and mini-binoculars.

Well, on to the show! If you have ever watched any DVDs of concerts before, I can tell u this, the atmosphere and excitement of being there in person cannot be captured sufficiently in recordings. The interaction with the performer, the shouts and screams all around you, the singing along, and the highly charged atmosphere, is something that you have to experience for yourself.

The concert itself was very enjoyable. The entrance was dramatic(as all concerts are). He performed most of the songs from his new album, which was released on 16th November(2 days ago), and also a lot of the songs from previous albums, including classics like 小丑魚, 戀愛達人, 真命天子. But the main reason I went to the concert is not his songs, its the dance moves, and man does he know how to dance. There were a few songs that have strenuous dance routines that resulted in him panting and trying to catch his breath after finishing the songs, especially the chair dance part at the end of 精舞門. He also danced to Billie Jean by Micheal Jackson, and sang a canto song by Aaron Kwok.

The guest performers were great too. One of them was Rainie Yang (one of my favorite), and the other one was Elva Hsiao. Rainie performed a dance with 小豬 and also sang her own song, 帽子戲法. Elva did a duet with Show called 敗給你, which was a song in his new album, and also performed her own song, Honey Honey Honey.

羅志祥's mom appeared during the concert also. According to him, he never expected it because she was hospitalized a few days ago. The organizers did a similar thing during the first concert yesterday, but it was just a VCR recording of his mom cheering him on, and so he thought the same would happen today.  He was speechless and cried for a minute or so. The whole scene was very touching.

The encore song was Twinkle, in which he invited his friends who were in the audience seats to go up on stage and dance together with him. The gang was known as "Party Boys", but among them, I only know 小鬼.

After the concert ended, people were queuing up outside the Taipei Arena to buy the concert merchandise. There was a cap that I quite like, but it was sold out and I had to pre-order it if I wanted to buy, so I gave up. In the end, I just bought the album which comes with an autographed poster. I'll put up the photo of the poster if I feel like it. :p Other things on sale there include key chains, T-shirts, autographed cloth posters (which are bigger than the normal plastic-y type), and a Swarovski diamond necklace in the shape of an 'S' (which was the most expensive item at NT1500 which is about SGD 70).

Got my 卓文萱 CD autographed today!!! Just wanna share the joy. (Ok ok, I just wanna show off) And its personalized too.

Went to 西門町 for 楊丞琳任意門魔幻慶功改版簽唱會, since I didn't buy the 改版 version, this was supposed to be just a "look look see see" trip. The event starts at 4pm. But since I'm bored in my room anyway, I went at around 1pm. Which was a good/bad choice depending on how you see it. The good part is that 羅志祥 is having a 簽書會 at the place, and I just in time to see it. The not so good part is that they are also selling 羅志祥世界巡迴演唱會 tickets there, and I was unable to resist the urge to buy it :(
So now I'll be going to his concert, alone, at 台北小巨蛋 on 11-18.



There was an incident during the book signing event. A fight broke out between 2 middle aged (30 something I think) guys. Never knew what it was about. After that was the Rainie autograph session.



I loved this part where she imitated guys doing the 斜嘴 expression


Here are the rest of the photos

As I was leaving the place after the event, I ran into some Hong Kong celebrities recording a game show. I can only recognize 錢家樂(the guy in white) and 洪天明(The guy on the right in the first pic). The girls look familiar but I can't put a name to the face. And I think 衛詩 was there too, but I can't get a good picture of her. If anyone knows who they are, tell me please.

卓文萱幸福氧氣預購簽唱會was held today at K-mall. She was signing the posters from the pre-order version. As the poster was so big, and I have already hung in up on my wall, I just went empty handed to watch. Below are the photos from the event and a partial clip of her performing a new song 小脾氣 from the upcoming album.





































And the clip:

           Went to 五分埔 fashion district to do some shopping yesterday. And now I am penniless. Spent a few thousand NT dollars on some clothes and a pair of shoes. Although I can't say that I didn't enjoy the money splurging experience, this is not something that I can/will afford to try again anytime soon.

      Oh ya, and about the 卓文萱 pre-order limited edition poster, here it is:

                                              

Was a little bored today, so I went to SOGO pacific for some window shopping. But turns out that I did some "real" shopping after all. I was unable to resist buying Girls' Generation's debut single - Into the New World, although I have already downloaded the songs quite awhile ago. This is the first korean CD and the first single that I have bought. I hope I won't regret it when their full album comes out.

This new Korean girl group is great!! They are called So Nyuh Shi Dae, SNSD for short, which means girls' generation. They currently have 1 single called Into The New World and a remix of that song.

Quote from Wikipedia:
The members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, while a select few were also trained in acting and modeling. Many of the members already made names for themselves through their participation in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which of the female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group.

Their style is a kind of upbeat mainstream pop. So for those who think themselves "above" mainstream music, now is a good time to stop reading. It just so happens that I like commercial mainstream pop music.

I like their leader TaeYeon because she has nice vocals, plus shes also cute ^^


Their main dancer, Hyoyeon, is really good. This is a clip of her dancing with Jaewon of BlackBeat


And here's a Youtube link of the MV for their song "Into The New World"

If you are interested, you can find out more about them on AMBITION .
The full album should be available at z-degrees.net or bww2 forums

    I joined 2 CCAs in NTU Taiwan, the magic club and the video gaming club. The magic club had a welcoming magic performance on Thursday, and people were queuing for tickets one hour before. Luckily I was passing by the area then and managed to get a seat. The performance was quite well done. Some of the tricks were very entertaining, but a few tricks were too obvious. I'm am not officially a member of this club yet as there are too many applicants, so they need to see your participation. If I go to the next 2 開放授課, then I will be accepted.
   Now about the video gaming club. When I went to their welcoming tea, turns out that there were only 2 person interested - me and another gal. They even screwed up the booking of the classroom for the welcoming tea and had to take us back to the club HQ. But looks aside, the club has some serious "firepower". The club HQ turns out to be a large office which is shared with other clubs. But our part of the room is very obvious, as there are 6 TV/monitors there. The drawers of the desks are filled with games, and the cupboard contains 4 PS2, an XBOX 360, a PS3 and a Wii. Whats more, there are free food and drinks in the cupboard !!! The only drawbacks are that 1)Most of the RPG games are in the original Japanese versions, and 2) The place is damn far from my hostel, about 20~30 minutes walk. If it wasn't for the distance, I would be there everyday ^^

I went a few places during these 2~3 weeks, but I haven't have the time to update this blog. By now, I had already forgot the exact date that I went to each place, just the relative order.

First off is the tourist night market called 饒河夜市. We went there because the girls wanted to go to the bargain fashion area called 五分埔 and the night market was just nearby, so us guys left the girls to their shopping and went to 逛夜市 instead. It was fun. The whole street is fitted with PA systems and an announcement was made around 530 asking all the motor vehicles to leave the area as the night market was about to start. We watched as the stall owners start to come and set up their stalls. Most of the stalls sell 小吃, but there are also mini-arcades and clothing shops. We had dinner together with the girls at a 關東煮 shop.















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Last Monday, us exchange students from Singapore met up with a full time Singaporean undergrad of NTU Taiwan and took a trip to 九份, which is a mountain town outside of Taipei city. We took a train ride there, and man was the ride packed. I don't know how long I stood in the train as all the seats were taken. But the trip was worth it. The view at 九份 was spectacular.











At one time, we saw a ray of light shining through the clouds. The effect was awesome. I don't know if these photos can capture the 震撼力 of the moment








I also had a chance to try out 九份's famous 芋圓






Well, thats all for now. Lets see when can I make myself do another update :p

There was an autograph session for Rainie at 西門町 today. The event starts at 4pm, but I went at 1030am to get an early queue number. Apart from that, Shin and 小豬 also had autograph sessions in the area.




And finally, a few pics from the rainie event. More pics can be found at rainieday.com

Its been a while since my last update. The main reason was that I was back home in Malaysia and my freakin broadband isn't working yet. Stupid Malaysian inefficiency. But now, I'm finally in Taipei, Taiwan to start my 1 semester of exchange. I'll try to get some pics soon, but I still need to settle some admin stuff and get to familiarize myself around here before doing so. Oh, and I have a Thai roommate, not that I have met him yet. Seems like he left the place for a few days. Lets see how fast I can adjust ^^

Finally finished watching .hack//sign today. Yeah, I know its a pretty old show, but I haven't got the time to watch it before.
 
For those of you that doesn't know, this series came out way back in 2002. The main plot revolves around the character, Tsubasa, who is trapped inside an online game called "The World" and is unable to logout. The anime also explores some pretty deep issues. For those that haven't done so, this is definitely a must watch.

Its been a few days since the release of last sem's exam results. This time, I got:

xam Yr	Semester	Subject Code	Exam Grade
2006	2	CPE205	B+
2006	2	CPE206	A
2006	2	CPE207	B
2006	2	CPE208	A-
2006	2	CPE279	A
2006	2	HW210	B+
2006	2	LJ81	A-

Which honestly sucks by my standard @.@
This stupid result pulled down my CGPA by 0.1X, getting nearer and nearer to losing my 1st class honors....
But luckily, that semester was supposed to be the "killer sem" because of all the lab projects. Next sem only 3 core subjects !! ^^
Speaking of which, its been a long time since I heard anything from IRO about my INSTEP status. Most of my friends already received their acceptance package. And IRO never reply to my email :(
Looks like I might have to go down personally next week or the week after.

And lastly, my URECA project finishing soon... So sad cannot milk more money out of it le...

Oh, nearly forgot. I got hall 7 for next sem. 5th floor. Sucks. Its like year 1 all over again... Pray and hope nothing wrong with my INSTEP so that i can go to Taiwan and not live in that ~!@#$ Hall 7....

Wow. Today can only be described as amazing.....

As I mention in my previous post, Rainie Yang is coming to Singapore today(29/5/07) to promote her new movie - Spider Lilies. As the meeting time of the fan club is 10am at Changi Airport, I had to leave NTU at 8am. The situation at the airport was not much.. we just saw her walk past and into the waiting limo. But this is where this started to get interesting.

We had already booked a maxicab beforehand, and as soon as Rainie was in her car, we started running towards our car to chase her. We followed her all the way to Fullerton hotel and waited there for her. After she rested and finished her conference and interview stuff, our fan club "big shots" actually managed to get us to have a group photo!!! <10person + Rainie!!!! OMG!!!! And after that, we get to shake hands with her. Too bad i never brought anything for her to autograph. After tt we followed her to bugis for the tatoo competition. There was a crazy guy at Bugis who keep disturbing one of our female members, but we were able to chase him away. One of my friend from the club managed to get 3rd prize.

After that was the gala at the Cathay. But unknown to Rainie, we had already arranged a surprise bdae party for her. The fan club gave her a club tee, a cake, and a big dog doll that looks like her dog Yumi. After that, we had another group photo!! Although there was more people this time, I was able to stand directly behind her. I never went to watch the premier, instead, me, We followed her to the interview at mediacorp radio, and back to her hotel. Haiz, ended up having to take a cab back to NTU from Chinatown.

Most of the pictures I have in my cameraphone sucks. Need a few days to tidy up before posting

   Two more days till rainie's arrival in Singapore!!! I really can't wait.

  Went for the fan club meeting in The Cathay today. Seems like there are still a lot of things that need to be done before Tuesday. I feel bad for not being able to help.

  After e meeting, we went Coolzone. Coolzone is a shop that specializes in importing stuff about Taiwan idols. I have a feeling that this shop will suck a lot of my money in the near future.... I preordered the new 5566 album and bought a sweety poster. After that we had dinner at Fish & Co. next door. Met a junior from NTU concert engineers working there. The food there was not bad, although a bit on the pricey side.

  But once again, 2 days left!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!