National pride

I have to admit, when I first heard Singapore was building its very own Universal Studios, I was pretty darned skeptical. I guess I've just never had a very good impression of this tiny red dot on the map, in comparison to all the other great countries in the world and the beautiful things they have to offer.

So when I made a visit to the almost-completed Universal Studios this week, I was very much pleasantly surprised. The entire Resorts World was simply impressive. I felt like I was in another country or something. From the rows of elegant shops to the majestic hotels to the beautiful infrastructure to the theme park that gave its sister in LA a run for its money. And... I couldn't help but feel a pinch of patriotism.  

That's right - I, the Americanized girl, actually experienced a tremendous wave of national pride swelling up and engulfing my entire being.

Such an unfamiliar emotion. Well, I guess I do feel patriotic from time to time at National Day Parades, but that's about it. So this is probably the first time outside of August 9 that I feel like patting my country on its back and saying, 'good job, good job.'

Maybe Singapore isn't so bad after all. It's safe, clean, there's good food everywhere, shops don't close till 9pm, movies are cheap, and I have a house to stay in for free. Of course, it has its flaws, but this is a positive post about Singapore, so I'll stop here and finish off with photos from the theme park.

Happiness on a platter

Holding the boom mic yet again, this time at Tas' shoot last weekend. You would think I've become an expert grip, but nope. One of the actors actually came up to me and taught me how to hold it. And can I just say, never again. The 'real' way to hold a boom is gripping it WAY above your head with arms extended all the way. like a real workout!!


SIX FLAGS -- X2, BEST RIDE EVER.


Vertical Superman ride!!


I LOVE THEME PARKS!


I seem to have this fetish with photos of myself in 'jail'


If you look past the blond's big head, those creepy creatures did the Thriller dance.


I refused to pet the goats at the petting zoo because they looked like they were going to EAT me. Doesn't this goat look dangerous??


With the Six Flags man!


YAY we made it to SIX FLAGS after weeks of anticipation and excitement :)

Video-making while bored

Me and Faith bobbing our heads to 'Butterfly' in the computer lab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PXRPGNhICQ

Me and Faith (and Jeffrey) reading 'The Adventures of Brutus' -- this weird story we got from the screening of 'Gentlemen Broncos'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ4WACCYMfk

Yes, we were pretty bored :)

All the above

On the search

On Friday, we all piled into faith's car and went on route to find the 1 out of 3 Olive Gardens here in California, only to find ourselves stuck in a ridiculous traffic jam on Hollywood and Highland ave. Why? No idea, there must be some huge concert going on at the Hollywood Bowl. Seriously, we moved slower than a sleeping snail. There were probably ants crawling along the sidewalk, snickering at us as they passed. So after an hour, we gave up and went to the next nearest Olive Garden (faith was determined to get to one cuz it was her birthday celebration, and birthdays in the midwest usually means Olive Garden/Flattop/Cheesecake Factory. there isn't much variation with the traditions).

So we happily arrived at 9.30pm, starving half to death, parked the car, and walked around the block 1000 times before asking someone where on earth this legendary Olive Garden was. And they laughed and told us it closed down TWO YEARS AGO. great. so much for breadsticks. we ended up at California Pizza Kitchen, which was pretty good too, but it wasn't Olive Garden. so that was the end of that.

Oooh funny quote of the day: 'why am i sitting next to the two food coma patients??' -- Dana
Because Hani and i were slumped over in the backseat of the car, ready to fall asleep after stuffing our faces. haha.
Also, i was cleaning my side of the table with a napkin before we left, and josh was like, 'whatcha doing?', in a really confused and amused way. i think i've given off the impression that asians really love cleaning. and then he was like, is it true that it's bad luck to stick your chopsticks straight up in food? i was like, um, no, i don't know where you get this kinda information from. haha

More Flags, more fun!

Sat we went to SIX FLAGS!!! it was completely awesome and totally exceeded my expectations. the park was HUGE! i think it's one of the bigger Six Flags in the US.
we got in for only 10bucks 'cause of some discount coupon, and paid 30 more to get the FlashPass! totally worth it, because we waited in line for like 5 mins for all the rides, except those without Flash passes. so while everyone else was in the hour-long line, we flew right by and went on all the rides!!! it was one after another so fast that i actually got a little dizzy from non-stop rollercoaster rides.

the Superman ride?? it shoots you right out of a tunnel, and you go straight up in the sky, VERTICALLY. and there's a Superman figure waving at you in the sky on the top of the ride. COOLNESS.
the Tatsu ride was awesome too. you're strapped into a harness, with your legs dangling, face and stomach toward the ground, so it's like you're flying. i was actually kinda scared, cuz if the harness were to give way, there'd be nothing to stop me from falling and splattering all over the pavement.

But the best was definitely the new X2 ride. OMG. you get on, and it flips you so you're lying on your back, facing the sky, and then you go up this slope, and it plunges you down backwards, headfirst!! and then it spins you around so you're upright again, with your legs dangling in the air, and throws fire at you, and spins you 360 degrees at least 5 times!! it was totally INSANE and i've never been this scared on a ride before, but it was also definitely the BEST RIDE i've EVER been on, and i've been on a ton of rides!

If you wanna see the X2 ride from the rider's point of view, here's the link (start from 2:30min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrVO1wiFmw




CRAZINESS! :)

And then since Halloween is approaching, the park got all decked out when the sun set, and they had people dressed up as scary creatures prowling the park, jumping on people and chasing them around. it was pretty intense! and they had a Michael Jackson Thriller dance off, and a huge stage, and crazy music and lights. it was so awesome!!! they had tons of haunted houses and mazes too, but i was too chicken. haha.
SO fun though. i love six flags and all 10++ rollercoasters and crazy rides they have!! we were there from 10.30am till 9.30pm :)

Mondayyy

Today was another slow day at the office. lots of shredding paper again, which was actually kinda fun. i got to read a book, a magazine, and play my DS while waiting for the stupid shredder to cool down every few mins.

Watched the movie Rear Window for class tonight, it was interesting. the first Alfred Hitchcock movie i've ever seen. i always thought Hitchcock was known for his scary movies, but this was not scary AT ALL. i think maybe we've become so desensitized to violence and gore that a movie from the '50s hardly even raises our eyebrow.

My golden birthday

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! apparently turning 22 on the 22nd equals a golden birthday. so that was cool :)
it's been a pretty long and crazy week, so get ready for another super long post. haha.

Universal Studios

cartoon and i went to universal theme park on monday, and it was pleasantly not-so-crowded. yayyy :) it was totally how i remembered it 3 years ago, when i was there with the fam. same rides, same shows, except for some new rides. like the simpsons virtual simulator which had a huge screen and totally felt real. but i was kinda surprised they only had like 4 rides in the entire park. the mummy and the jurassic park rides were fun though. i screamed my head off, and cartoon was so silent i thought she died of heart attack or something. that's how we were for all the rides we went on -- i'd be shrieking in terror/happiness, and she'd be pale with her eyes closed. hahaha.

anw the tours/shows were cool. we waited in line for a long time and finally got to tour around the universal lot. they were actually filming desperate housewives on wisteria lane, but we couldn't go in to see it, of course. so near, yet so far!!! we saw the sets from hitchcock's psycho, dr. seuss' whoville, the princess diaries, war of the worlds, and lots more.
and then they had cool shows like the sound effects and shrek and all that. it was the same as i remembered, but it's been 3 years, so it was still fun :)



jurassic park water ride = awesomeness


spongebob!!


the plane crash from war of the worlds


fake central park at universal studios. it's tiny. amazing how the camera can deceive us.

Premieres!

monday night we went to the premiere of The Invention of Lying at the chinese theatre in hollywood!! we saw jennifer garner on the red carpet, and she was gorgeous! and then free popcorn and drinks in the theatre again :) and then jennifer garner came in and sat several rows BEHIND us!!! totally cool! ricky gervais too!! (he's in the movie also)
so the movie wasn't that great (it was kinda blasphemy i thought) but the concept was interesting -- a world where lies don't exist and everyone tells the truth.
and then we saw rob lowe (who's also in the movie) on the red carpet after that!! and then kenny g walked by us numerous times on the escalator!! i think he knew we recognized him, and he was probably disappointed we didn't approach him for an autograph or something. haha. he kept smiling at us.
AND THEN my friend was in the toilet and peed next to matthew perry!!! so jealous!!! and matthew perry sat behind them!!!! UGH i wanna see him. but it was cool and it was the most number of celebrities we've sighted in one day so far :)



this guy looks totally like johnny depp in pirates of the caribbean


at the premiere


one feet away from Rob Lowe!!!


we freakin' LOVE free premieres!!!!!!

Thursday night we went to the free screening of Surrogates, but it was just a screening, not a premiere :(
the movie wasn't that great, it was like any other clone/robot movie, so i was glad i didn't waste 12 bucks on it.

Magical Disney

Tues we went to Disney California Adventure!!! it was right opposite Disneyland, and the difference in the number of people waiting to go into either parks was incredible. there were 10times as many people going to disneyland than cali adventure. which we were totally grateful for, cuz that meant NO LINES and NO WAITING :)
so i got in free cuz it was my bday :) and they gave me a badge to wear that said 'happy birthday benita'. and lots of random people wished me happy birthday. haha.
the rides here were fun too.. tower of terror?? TOTALLY AWESOME. it was like a giant drop but inside a building. this little girl sat next to me, and when we suddenly dropped a few stories, she clung on to my arm in terror and would not let go. it was so cute. haha. california screamin' (the rollercoaster) was awesome too. i remember going on it many times with my dad and bros. but then the mickey ferris wheel was like the most TERRIFYING THING ever. it seemed so innocent, a ferris wheel. but NO. the little container we were in swung back and forth violently, and there were no seat belts or anything to grab on to, so we just gripped the seats in terror and screamed for our lives. seriously, it was awful. here's me terrified. don't laugh.



but we got to take pics with disney/pixar characters, so that was fun. really tiring though. we got to the park an hour before it opened, cuz we got a ride from cartoon's friend (whom she randomly met at an airport a few months ago).


mr. and mrs. incredible were incredibly frisky. haha.


the terrifying mickey ferris wheel. don't let its innocent looks deceive you.


cars!


i love free disney!

Birthday craziness

It was kind of a really crazy birthday. we didn't make it to the jimmy kimmel show in time, but we did see David Duchovny and some famous basketball player in the alleyway, cuz they were going into the studio. so that was cool :)
then we wandered around Hollywood for a while before going to this restaurant called Saddle Ranch on Sunset strip. it was pretty cool -- they had a mechanical bull and a karaoke stage. andrew got to ride the bull for free - it was entertaining. haha. and then they made me sing 'barbie girl' on karaoke IN FRONT of the ENTIRE RESTAURANT. it was pretty embarrassing but i did it. haha.


at saddle ranch

and then after that.. partyyy all night. no details necessary. haha.

Circus

wed was our long-awaited britney spears concert!!! cartoon's first concert ever!!! she was pretty dang awesome. it was like a circus performance, not really a concert. i'm pretty sure she lip synched the entire time, but her dancing was fabulous. and there were crazy acrobats and dancers and magicians the entire time. it was pretty crazy. and jordin sparks opened for her. there were hundreds of screaming girls in the stadium, and the only guys there were either gays or boyfriends forced to attend. haha.


britney's fantabulous circus performance

Casting call

So we've been going out every day and night this week, i totally had no time for homework. heh. lots of last minute scrambling. but oh well.
anw i got to help josh with his casting call for his video project, and that was pretty fun!!! we auditioned several actors for different roles in his script, and i read the other part with the actors. it was a cool experience, cuz the actors were like reacting to me and looking at me as they said their lines, and some of them were pretty dang good. it was intimidating. haha. and then they had to do a crying scene, which was a little awkward. all these grown men crying in front of us. haha.
but it was fun. i like casting :)

Weekend!!

Today was day 2 of work. i was told to shred loads of waste paper, but the shredder hated me. i was having fun at first, laughing maniacally when feeding the papers into the machine, but then it overheated, and it got stuck and wouldn't work. oops. so i went back to filing. haha. but then i got to work on breakdowns and pick out the most suitable headshots of actors (cuz apparently they all have lots of different 'looks' for different parts) for roles in the new drama 'three kings'. so that was cool.
and now the weekend's here!!!!! :)

Crazy hectic day

Today i ran around like a headless chicken, trying to find a place that offered notary services, so i could notarize my oath to be a singapore citizen till nov 2010. yes, the appeal went through, so i'll still have dual citizenship till next year! :)

but man, it's hard finding a notary in this town. the bank said they couldn't do it, and that i needed to go downtown to find a certified notary. then i walked all the way down wilshire blvd and finally found one. it was like a sketchy post office, and there were lots of hispanics and dogs in the place when i walked in. i timidly asked where the notary was, and this bulky unfriendly guy led me up the elevator to a tiny office, and i totally thought i was going to be kidnapped or something. the whole thing just seemed so shady. and then the door opened, and the nicest lady greeted me with a bright smile. and i realized the office was filled with lovely ladies, and i relaxed. haha. so i got my stuff authorized and good to go! and now i'm 20bucks poorer. it's such good money to be a notary! you just chop your stamp on a piece of paper and sign something, and people pay you 10bucks automatically! that's 10bucks in 5mins.

So i was running (ok, brisk walking) everywhere today and finally made it to class in time. thank God. class was so overwhelming. remember how excited i was to be chosen as a producer for one of our films? well i take that back! i'm now stressed to the max, and production hasn't even started. i realized that producers are actually in charge of the whole dang film. there's SO much to do, i don't even know where to start. but thank God i have jeffrey as my partner producer. we have tons of forms to start filing out for pre-production - casting lists, insurance, permits, breakdowns, budgets... the list goes on. and half our film takes place in an office, the other half in a mall. HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND A MALL THAT WILL LET US FILM IN IT??? i have no idea. jeffrey and i spent minutes searching for a place, but it's so hard. and it's doubly hard to get permits to film in malls. plus our director wants a colorful mall, complete with carousel and all. kinda worried about that.

but i'm super duper psyched for CASTING! we (the producers + the director) get to cast actors for our roles!!!! YAY! our film has 3 roles - the boss, the office employee and the kid. i can't wait to see cute little kids audition :)
we learned a lot about casting today, and got to see how an audition is supposed to play out. it was so interesting. i'm so excited for that!!!!

Anyway, here's a funny pic danielle took of us on the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland. we were cheapos so we didn't buy the image. we secretly took a pic of it on the computer screen instead. everyone looks terrified except for the guy in front, who's having a jolly good time. haha.

Weekend wowza

I had the longest weekend break ever. No classes from fri to tue. Loving it!

Friday

Helped my friend, faith, out for her video project. my very first time watching the entire filming process unfold! it was fun and long and exhausting... we filmed from 4pm till midnight. her story was about this handyman who witnesses a murder, and so we filmed outside at the park, then in her apartment, then in the basement. at first i was just helping out fixing up the lights and sound and camera, but then she wanted me to BE in her film, so i ended up acting as the typical asian stereotype who cannot speak good English and wants the handyman to fix my air-conditioner. it was ridiculously hilarious. we cracked up so many times, we had to do multiple takes. the other actors were so funny, they started speaking with an asian accent after that. it was just a lot of fun acting ridiculous. haha. although i was supposed to be mad 'cause my a/c wasn't working. anw they liked my role so much that faith decided to make me the murderer instead. hahaha. crazy stuff. can't wait to see how the short film turns out.

although filming in the basement late at night was totally creepy, especially since we weren't supposed to be there cuz we didn't get a permit to film there. but the cop who found us said it was okay, so we were there, breathing in the smelly air from the dumpster, for 2 hours. poor esther actually had to climb INTO the dumpster, which was full of trash and glass and what not, to act as the dead victim. gross. totally exhausted after that.

Saturday

Went to Santa Monica beach to lay out in the sun. i'm getting really tan. YAY!! i think we were in the wrong spot, cuz there were couples being all affectionate around us, and it was weird. then we went and walked along the Santa Monica pier, where tons of movies were filmed (like Iron Man, Hannah Montana, and more.. i can't rem), and it was sooo cool. tons of shops, restaurants, rollercoster and ferris wheel rides, a carousel, and lots of people chilling on the boardwalk. totally wanna go back at night to ride the rollercoaster and see the view. omg the view of the ocean and all the houses along the beach was SO beautiful. i'm loving this whole sunny california thing.

In the evening, we went to the legendary Hollywood Bowl, an outdoor concert arena, to see John Williams in concert. No idea who he was, but apparently he composed the soundtrack to tons of major movies like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Superman, etc. we got seats in the nosebleed section.. the cheapest, furthest away from the stage. haha. but it was okay, cuz it was seriously the most boring concert i've ever been to. not a fan of classical music and never will be. it was just an orchestra on stage playing. but the place was PACKED. hundreds of people! i don't know why they pay to hear movie soundtracks! i can just sit in my room and listen to it and it would be more fun. so after 1001 harry potter songs, i couldn't take it anymore and left with some friends. we went to Hollywood blvd and browsed through the shops and watched street performers. definitely more fun than sitting through another 2 hours of boring music.

Sunday

DISNEYLAND, here we come!!!! drove an hour to get there with danielle, my funny apartment mate. got lost, cuz there was a marathon going on, and no signs to direct us to alternate routes. but we finally got there at 10, an hour after the park opened. and it was wonderful! exactly how i remembered it when i was there 3+ years ago with my family. nothing changes! it was still the magical land of disney where all your dreams come true! haha. danielle and i were like little kids, prancing around the park with joyful sparkles in our eyes. we went on all the rides, from kiddy ones like Peter Pan (her fav) and Snow White, to crazy ones like Space Mountain and Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.

ooh and there was a new ride, Finding Nemo! it was SO cool. we went into this submarine, which took us on an underwater tour of the 'ocean'! and Fantasy Faire was also new, where we waited an hour in line to meet the Disney princesses. haha. took pictures with Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping beauty and Mulan. Sleeping beauty was a little cranky. and then, just as we left, our VERY FAVORITE princesses came out. SIGH! Belle, Jasmine and Ariel!!! sadness. then we went to see the Disney parade, which was different! they changed it to some 'Celebrate' parade, with random teenagers dancing around and forming congo lines! that's SO NOT DISNEY! WHERE ARE MY DISNEY CHARACTERS??? that was disappointing. but all in all, still fun :)


danielle suggested we blow kisses for the camera, and sleeping beauty was like, (in a fluffy voice) 'oh, my lips hurt from blowing so many kisses!'
i was like, you're getting paid for this! shut up and smile! haha.


Cinderella wanted us to do the 'princess pose,' where we clasp our hands together like that. well... i look like i'm doing the 'gong xi fa cai' pose. haha.


Mickey and Minnie at the parade.


Sleeping beauty's castle


Me and danielle on the Finding Nemo underwater ride.

we left around evening time, cuz we were totally exhausted from little sleep and too much sun, so didn't stay for the fireworks. but thank God we left early, cuz we got lost going back, and exited the freeway at the wrong turn. so we ended up at this totally SKETCHY and SHADY and TERRIFYING town and we had no idea where we were. seriously, at 8pm, the streets were PITCH BLACK, all the shops were closed complete with METAL GATES, NO ONE was on the street except for a million homeless people, pushing their carts full of random things and chasing plastic bags down the street. everytime we stopped at a traffic light, i was so scared one homeless person would come up to our car and shoot us or something! it was THAT scary, not even kidding.

it's funny now, but we were totally in panic mode and didn't know where we were going, and there weren't any cars around, cuz obviously that's a neighborhood no one wants to be in when it's dark! the only lights came from street lights and this ridiculously bright 'topless dancers' sign. not cool! so after minutes of shrieking and driving really fast to get out of there, we finally hit downtown LA. a little better. then we came across koreatown.. then finally found our way back to our apartments. crazy adventure. hopefully that's the last time we get lost.

and then we came back to 20 people hanging out and playing games in our apartment. i was like, great. i'm so tired, the last thing i want is to hang out with people right now. so i went to faith's apartment and hung out with them.

Monday

went to Chinatown today! and ate at the restaurant, called Foo Chow, where they filmed Rush Hour with jackie chan!!! it was so small though and different from what i expected. but the food was good and the people were fun, and i taught them some chinese. hahaha. then we walked around, and most shops were closed since it was labor day, but we went into this market, which was full of ah ma clothes... and i found some asian snacks, which made me really happy :)

at night we tried to walk to the La Brea Tar Pits, which are apparently one of the things you have to see while you're here. faith was like, 'let's go see the tar pits! they have fake elephants dying in the tar!' hahaha. i was like, that does not sound fun. but oh well, sure. so after an hour of walking around at 10pm at night, we realized the park was closed. oh well. evening exercise.

probably should go do some homework now. classes tomorrowwwwww....

Spring break FUN :)

Me, jo, steph, wen eu and sung ah! childhood friends, college friends and new friends :)
At the cool, funky organic restaurant.

Us at the Bento Cafe. waiting for yummy fried rice and noodles and bubble tea!!

Rainy days=wet jeans, soaked shoes, squishy earthworms on the sidewalk and hoodies :)

Sitting around... trying to find something to do.

Nemo look-alikes at the aquarium! so cute.

The overhead aquarium thingy. pretty cool.

Look at that disgusting fish. I was in a tunnel behind the fish tank. being at the aquarium really made me wanna eat fishies! especially stingray.....

At the World of Coca-Cola!

With our 3-D glasses waiting for the Coke movie to start.... and... it ended up being really lame.

Free flow of Coke and all kinds of Coke products!! awesomeness.

The guy who created Coke. cool, huh. i got to 'meet' him. haha

The weird Coke mouth thingys that the guy made us hold to take a picture. haha

Coke advertisements from all over the world, from all over the ages

Awesome Coke pants! I so wanted one

Waiting by huge Coke bottles to go into the introductory Coke movie

Jo, me, sung ah. oh fun times :)

SIX FLAGS!!! at the NINJAaaaa

Still at Six Flags..random pose.

another random pose

Got to meet Batman!! he was kinda pudgy though. ahahaha. and a little intimidating

The Georgia Scorcher!! the rollercoaster ride where we had to stand up throughout. awesomeness

Bugs and Tweety :)

On the subway..the MARTA. i love public transportation :)