Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 in Singapore

The cuties have finally landed in Singapore to do a full concert on Friday and Saturday! :) I'm not a fangirl but I just had to watch some of my fave songs being performed live, right? Not to mention, it's a nice interlude from my boring life of work, work, drama serials, sleep and then work.  Enjoy the photos!

 The stage above. Below, you can see one of the band (as in playing the musical instruments) coming out, which caused a ripple of screams among the crowd.

 Big Bang has landed!!  Poor T.O.P had injured his right hand so it was in a cast.  He looked as if he was flapping a wing when he was just um...'flapping'.  Would've looked cooler minus the cast.  The poor thing had difficulty pushing his glasses up with his right hand while holding onto his mic with his left hand.

 Above is Seungri, Taeyang and Daesung (left to right) who were teasing each other and greeting the crowd in English.  They then broke into an impromptu beatboxing and rap of 'Knock Out' which then saw the entrance of GD and T.O.P with...'Knock Out'!

 Above is Seungri's solo and he wore this gorgeous set of wings that were freaking HUGE.  I want them wings.

 It wasn't intentional but I managed to get a shot of the transition between T.O.P and GD.  Quite a cool effect.

 T.O.P was the only one with the bombastic hat in this set.  Hmm...was it the same hat used for 'Fantastic Baby'?

 Guess who the sponsor for the tour is....

 Scream if you're a Taeyang fan! He removed his T-shirt and was topless for almost the whole encore session! :)

They sang most of their hits which of course, made the crowd go wild.  I was really glad that GD and T.O.P sang 'Knock Out' because I'm obsessed with that song. Loved Taeyang's solo of 'Wedding Dress' as that is also my next song of obsession.  Lol.  Just thought that it was such a shame that they didn't sing 'Tell Me Goodbye' and that the transition between songs were a bit too long.  This is the first concert where I could sit in between songs. (0_o)

Another big question mark was...why did they have the start the concert at 7pm? It was a mad dash for me from the office and thank goodness I work near Esplanade MRT station.  The 2.5hr concert ended wayyy to early...but at least the boys HAD a concert! Looking forward to more tunes from them and to their next concert!!

My Birthday Wishlist 2012

Hehehe...it's that time of the year again...days before I turn a year older (officially) and more white hair grows.  As per tradition, below is my wishlist. Kinda short this year since I don't really want anything except more salary?

Mel's 2012 Birthday Wishlist:

1. Black make up brush holder (foldable for travel and easy storage) - taken
2. Maroon 5's latest album - taken
3. Butterfly wings necklace from Swarovski
4. Beats earphones
5. White leather strap watch
6. Ticket to James Morrison's concert on 2 Oct
7. Sponsorship to AniSong/Anifest in November 

*Updated as of 7 Oct

Nails for the week - 25 Sep 2012

I finally have time for my nails!! I saw a similar design in a mag so I decided to try it on my own nails.  This was a bit time consuming but I quite like the results although my lack of practice kinda of shows...anyway, this is what I used:

1. Base coat followed by 2 coats of OPI's Donkeeyyy purple
2. In a diagonal fashion, dot the top or bottom with alternate white and silver nail polish. You can use a dotting tool but I used Faceshop's Nail Dot pens.  Do this ONLY when the purple coat is 90% dry
3. With a toothpick or fine brush, swirl the white and silver nail polishes together.  Let all the coats dry totally
4. Choose a glittery nail polish (preferably clear, without any tinge of any other colour) and dab at preferred areas.  I like to do it at the tips of the swirls. If you have larger glitter like stars or just round ones, this is a good design to use them with.
5. Add in crystals. I used orange, light pink and dark pink crystals to finish the look
6. End with generous amount of top coat to seal in the crystals and to smooth out any kinks from the swirls and glitter

When doing the swirl, don't be afraid to make it bumpy because the eventual top coat layer will smooth things out.

Have fun!

Singapore F1 Grand Prix 2012 Experience

I've always avoided F1 because it's crowded, noisy and I simply don't really bother much about racing.  I'd rather be the one racing than watch cars do laps in front of me while I wear ear plugs.  Anyway, I decided to go to this year's F1 race simply because I wanted to watch Maroon 5 perform. :) Thanks to my friend, who is a marshal, I managed to score a pair of tickets to Sat's race/ performances! Thank you H!! :)

 The view from the Bay Grandstand...also known as The Float @ Marina.  My first time on this floating stage so I just had to sit there and soak in the view.

 

Great graffiti art at the Bay Grandstand! I wasn't expecting this but I really like the carnivalesque flavour of the whole afternoon/ evening so far.

 View from the Bay Grandstand aka The Float @ Marina. This is my first time here so I decided to sit and just soak in the view before the race began.

 

We went to MOF at Marina Square for dinner and I thought I'd try their Japanese Pasta so the above is Salmon and baby scallop spaghetti in a teriyaki based sauce.  Verdict - don't bother.  Go to Yomenya Goemon or Pasta de Waraku for better Japanese-style spaghetti and at almost the same price of $15.90.  What a rip off.

 After dinner, we headed to the Esplanade Outdoor theatre and people were already seated at 7pm, waiting for The Pretenders to perform at 8pm!!  Instead of waiting, bro and I decided to just walk around the track and see what other sort of entertainment there was.

 There were several large screens dotted around the track and during this period, we caught a clip of Max Loong checking out the various F1 merchandise.

 You probably can't see it too clearly in this photo but I thought that it was rather cute that there were laser light 'shows' of F1 cars driving up the Marina Bay Sands.  Bro thought it was tacky.  Ah well.

 The glorious track all lit up! Everyone was starting to go to their seats and watch the drivers go through their qualifying rounds.

 While waiting, Samba girls were there to entertain the crowd as they danced and roved around.

 Vrroooom......After 15 minutes, I was bored to tears but Gor was sleeping thanks to his jet lag so we didn't move off till about 9.45pm so that we could start getting a good spot in the Padang stage area.

 On our way, we met dancing hippies on stilts.  There were 2 of these dancers and a DJ too.  It was quite cute.

 Love the gorgeous flower lights that hung on the trees lighting one's way to the Padang entertainment and food area.  Really apt since we are approaching the Mid-Autumn festival.  Nope, there were not any stalls selling mooncakes.  They only had a lot of burgers, hot wings and alcohol.

 Check out the crowd!! Mind you, this is only HALF of the Padang area and soon, we'll be skipping and hopping our way further front ;)  THIS is what I really came for...

 MAROOON 5!!!!!!

 Awww...he's so cute and he can really sing! He definitely moves better than Jagger and man...what an entertainer!!!

 The energy from the crowd was great and everyone sang along to all the songs which I think really pleased the guys as Adam kept smiling.

Maroon 5...please come back to Singapore for a full length 3 hour concert!! I will definitely buy a ticket and scream my heart out while singing along.  :D More concerts please!!!

Now that I've seen the actual cars doing their rounds, I think from next year onwards, I'll go to F1 just for the concerts.  Haha...and only if I have free tix! Ladidadida

Restaurant review - San Sui Contemporary Japanese

It's one of my bestie's birthday so we decided to celebrate it at San Sui, located at Clarke Quay.  Sing had been there previously for a corporate tasting and said that it was good and she also had some discount vouchers.  So...off it was to San Sui.

They were having a DBS/POSB card promotion for their set menu so all of us decided to go for it.  The starter was a watermelon 'soup' which tasted more like a watermelon soda shot to me.

 We also ordered a Foie Gras Bamboo Sushi, which was absolutely delish! But then...foie gras alone is delish...

 Our 2nd course is Roasted Pork Belly (烧肉) on watermelon and sprinkled with peanuts and a drizzle of sweet sauce.  It was quite good but I really don't get the watermelon.

Moon & I ordered the same main of Salmon with miso paste and rice crackles on a bed of roasted mushrooms and corn.  It was cooked to perfection and the butter sauce that went with the mushrooms and corn was very yummy.

Sing's main was the Negima or chicken roulade.  This was very yummy too! The chicken was a layer of thigh meat followed by a layer of breast meat and rolled together before being roasted.  It was tender and very moist - important when cooking breast meat.

 Our dessert was Matcha cream with vanilla ice cream on azuki bean paste and topped with a couple of caramel coated nuts.  Quite yummy but this dessert kinda lacked the 'wow' factor that the previous dishes gave.

The overall ambience was cosy and had that expensive feel, so guys...you can bring your lady here to impress them.  Our set meal cost $50/pax before taxes and there's a 50% discount for the 2nd person (not valid for the 3rd as they count in pairs).  Their entrees are called 'large plates' and it starts from $30 and goes all the way to $90 for the steak while their appetizers are called 'small plates' and ranges from $16 to $18.  Their teas are $7/pax but the water is refillable. Mocktails are $14 while Cocktails start from $18.  What's missing from their drinks menu is SAKE! It's a Japanese restaurant but I could only see Kirin beer on the list. どうして日本酒はないの？

Would I go back there again? I think I would, if I'm feeling really rich and want fusion Japanese.  But for that kind of mood, I might be more tempted to go to Iggy's or one of the restaurants at MBS.

San Sui Contemporary Japanese Dining & Bar
3B River Valley Road
#01- 06
The Foundry, Clarke Quay
Tel: +65 6336 7737 
Website: www.sansui.com.sg