A short press conference was held today for the opening of AKB48′s official merchandise store in Singapore and their first permanent theatre outside of Japan. There was also a short photography session with Misaki Iwasa, Mika Komori and Miho Miyazaki from AKB48 who were present for the opening ceremony.

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Read the rest of AKB48 Singapore (403 words)

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Post tags: akb48, idol, singapore

AFA X, the third Anime Festival Asia, will be held on 13 and 14 November at its usual venue at Suntec Convention Centre. As per usual, a small press conference was held this morning to announce some of the details. Here’s the quick low down on the most important bits that I sat through two hours for:

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Read the rest of AFA X — Press Conference (The Important Bits) (290 words)

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Post tags: afa, afax, singapore

I missed the EOY (End Of Year) cosplay event last year as I was in Japan for a month. Little did I know that it was to be the last EOY ever, as the organizers had run out of people to keep the thing running.

Fortunately, the event name was acquired by a new group of people and given new life. Under the new administration, a lot has changed from the familiar practices of past EOY events, some for the better.

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Read the rest of EOY Cosplay 2009 (476 words)

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Post tags: cosplay, eoy, national library, singapore

I just woke up with a throbbing headache. I feel like I’ve spent the past two days walking. Of course, this comes nowhere close to the time when I queued overnight in the winter rain for Comiket 73 and fell asleep on Big Sight’s ice-cold wet concrete floor. That was just crazy.

AFA 09 has finally come and gone. I went for both days of the event and managed to get a decent feel of the whole thing, though I did end up spending most of that time chatting with people and taking pictures of cosplayers outside the event hall. I also managed to catch the concert by May’n and Yoshiki Fukuyama, a pretty worthy climax for my AFA experience.

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Read the rest of Anime Festival Asia 2009 (1,099 words)

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Post tags: afa, afa09, danny choo, may'n, singapore, suntec city, yoshiki fukuyama

Having been to similar conferences in the IT industry, I didn’t have high hopes for this one. Often, it’s a bunch of really boring people in suits talking about how Asia is an emerging market and Singapore is poised to be a regional hub. AAC on the other hand turned out to be a rather pleasant surprise.

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Read the rest of Animation Asia Conference 2009 (1,786 words)

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Post tags: aac, afa, afa09, crunchyroll, danny choo, mamoru hosoda, singapore, sunte, suntec city

This is one of those rare posts I make about my personal life so that one day I may look back at this blog and realize that I was once a young and naive idealist. It is the cumulation of a train of thought that has been running on and off for the past six months and a snapshot of me at what I consider to be the first major crossroad in my uneventful life.

I was offered the Public Service Commission’s Overseas Merit Scholarship (Open) earlier this year (2009). While it was an honour to be given one of the most prestigious scholarships in Singapore, I ultimately resolved to turn down the offer. It is a decision that few of my peers (and perhaps even myself) fully understood at the time.

Seeing as we are once again approaching the end of the year and a new batch of A-level graduates will soon be going through the same things I did, I thought it’s about time I finally put my thoughts down in words.

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Read the rest of Why I did not accept my PSC Scholarship offer (2,208 words)

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Post tags: life, psc, scholarship, singapore

So all the cards are finally on the proverbial table. In addition to whatever was announced during the first press conference, the final details for Anime Festival Asia 09 was released this Wednesday (or last Wednesday depending on your preferred usage) during a blogging conference (hurray new media?). Being really short on free time these days, it naturally took me three whole days to write this post. You know you are getting old when you no longer care about first post.

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Read the rest of Anime Festivial Asia 09 – Preview (256 words)

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Post tags: afa09, event, fire bomber, hatsune miku, k-on!, macross, madhouse studio, may'n, singapore, tatsunoko productions, yoshiki fukuyama

My last post turned out a lot heavier than I intended. Rest assure that while it is probably not an isolated incident, it will be some time before I recharge my energy enough to churn out a similar piece.

So anyway, Animation Nation is upon us once again. An annual event organized by the Singapore Film Society, Animation Nation showcases animation (duh) from around the world to a local audience who only watches Bleach and Naruto. I kid, I kid.

Of course, Japanese animations, the elephant in the metaphorical room, are always a stable for the event and this year is no different.

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Read the rest of Animation Nation 2009 (220 words)

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Post tags: animation nation, barefoot gen, genius party beyond, mamoru oshii, musashi, singapore, singapore film society

There’s a pretty good essay on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong‘s call for young Singaporeans to “dare to dream” over at The Online Citizen. The gist of it is that this statement is highly ironic when interpreted against the realities on the ground, much of them the results of government policy. Predictably, the comment section is filled with comments that miss the bigger picture of the issue and see this as another scheduled anti-government ranting session, with the few thoughtful comments voted down.

The government is no doubt a part of the problem, but it is the mentality of Singaporeans at large that has created a hostile environment for socially deviant dreams to take hold, and the same can be said for many Asian societies.

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Read the rest of Dreams are not for Asia (1,463 words)

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Post tags: consumerism, dreams, education, meritocracy, singapore, society

I just got home from the press conference for the second Anime Festival Asia and got a feel of what this year’s AFA09 will feel like.What feels like not too many daybreaks ago, a young innocent boy travelled through time all the way from 1989 to witness history unfold one fateful September day yesteryear with the birth of Singapore’s first anime convention. Now we are all grown up. *Sniff* It’s all so beautiful — a quintessential coming-of-age story.

But I digress.

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Read the rest of Anime Festival Asia 09 – Press Conference (402 words)

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Post tags: afa, afa09, event, may'n, singapore