If you’re planning a Getaway in New Zealand too, read on for more!

(1) Group-buying Sites

As some of you know, I really like group-buying deal sites. So it must come as no surprise when I tell you that I totally embraced the idea of scouting on deal sites for travel discounts!

The idea was first put up to me by a family friend, Debra, who lives in Christchurch. She told me of this site called GrabOne.co.nz, which offers discounts on various types of deals ranging from food, to accommodation, to cruises, to products and fun activities!

So far, I’ve bought the following deals from GrabOne:

1. A 4* hotel accommodation with breakfast for two at NZ$ 99 per night (value $203)
2. Lake cruise and homestead roast farm dinner for NZ$ 75 per pax (value $95)
3. Tandem Paragliding with photo and video package for NZ$ 135 per pax (value $189)

There have been others I wanted to buy, but the timings just didn’t suit me. Today, they are offering a deal on a Milford Sound cruise (NZ$37) as well as a dolphin swim experience (NZ$69). There are really fantastic accommodation deals, like a Queenstown service apartment at NZ$215 for 2 nights.

Also, I must say that the support provided from the GrabOne team is super fab. They not only answer the questions you may have on the discussion pages of each deal, they also get the merchants involved to answer questions there, so that folks who are buying the vouchers can be assured of issues like availability, what the T&C includes, etc. Totally transparent. Worried that something you buy may not have availability on the day that you want to redeem it? Check with the merchants before you buy. Great service.

Really glad that our friend told us about this site! Of course, there’s also GrouponNZ.co.nz, but I personally feel that the deals offered on that site are much less attractive.

(2) Travel Deals: Activities & Attractions

No NZ South Island holiday is complete without tandem sky diving, bungy jumping, whale watching, tandem paragliding, jetboat rides, cruise, Lord of the Rings tours, and such! And there’s no better site to seek out discounts for these, than BookMe.co.nz!

I stumbled upon this site by accident while searching for good deals on activities in Queenstown (which can be quite costly, I assure you).

These activities are discounted for up to a month prior to your redemption date, and is a simple to use site that offers immediate booking and confirmation with credit cards. Unlike GrabOne, there is no need to buy the voucher then contact the merchant to redeem the vouchers (which gives me a bit of jitters – what if they don’t have any more slots for the day I want to go?).

They also have flash sales for ridiculously low-priced deals. As I write this post, they are getting ready to launch a Shotover Jet flash sale on 10 March, for NZ$1! This is usually priced at NZ$119. Super awesome and highly recommended by friends who have been there. Unfortunately I’m not going to be in Queenstown on 10 March. Will probably have to buy it at full-price, then.

So far we’ve only bought a hot springs discount voucher for Tekapo, but will be booking more deals soon, as the March dates have just been released this past couple of days. Super excited!

Being an environmentally-aware tourist: I really wanna go swimming with seals in Kaikoura but we’re a bit worried about the impact it would have on the fur seals – does it stress them out? We want to travel and see the animals that Kaikoura is famous for (whales, dolphins, seals etc) but definitely not irresponsibly.  Will do more research about that before buying the vouchers.

I read a whole research paper on the effects of tourism on the dusky dolphins in Kaikoura, by the way, and decided not to go swimming with the dolphins.

While the study was inconclusive about whether it actually affects their reproduction and population numbers, and their rest times which is from late morning to early afternoon, it seems that the dolphins are actually curious animals and they would forgo rest to cavort with humans if they are visited during rest hours. Not good. I’m sure in the long run there would be negative effects on them! Whales, on the other hand, never completely rest as they may drown if they go into deep sleep. So we actually booked a whale-watching tour for 7.15am, in hopes that we won’t be disturbing the dolphins, which we will also see during the whale-watching tour.

(3) Accommodation Options

I know many of us have concerns about staying at hostels. The typical initial impression would be that hostels are bug-ridden, noisy, dirty, dorm-style rooms with shared toilets. But this is not true of the YHA New Zealand hostels, it seems!

The hostel rooms look pretty decent from travellers’ photos and reviews on TripAdvisor, and for about NZ$80 per night (member price) you can get a private double room with ensuite bathroom! (Way cheaper than 3* hotels/motels that cost at least NZ$130 a night and have lousy reviews on TripAdvisor). When I travel, as long as the rooms are clean and comfortable, I’m good. I don’t actually spend a lot of time in the rooms, after all.

This photo of YHA Wanaka Purple Cow is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Membership: At NZ$42 a year, you get access to discounted rates at YHA hostels and member discounts, which include things like car rental, and the activities I mentioned in the previous 2 sections.

If you live in Singapore, you can apply for the HI membership (which is also recognized at YHA hostels) for only S$15, to be eligible for discounts at YHA.

If you would like to stay with local hosts who rent out spare bedrooms or whole apartments (great price, good solution for a group of friends travelling together!), check out the following websites:

1. Roomorama.com (My personal choice! Read why here and here)
2. Airbnb.com
3. Wimdu.com
4. 9flats.com

If you prefer more luxurious accommodation, these are the hotel-booking websites I use. I do suggest checking out the hotel listings on all these websites before you book, as this ensures you get the best price!

1. Booking.com
2. Wotif.com
3. LastMinute.com

(4) Car Rental or Hop On/Off Bus

At the start of our planning, we contemplated whether we should buy a hop on/off bus tour (like Kiwi Experience which costs about NZ$600 per pax just for the bus ticket) or rent a car and do a self-drive tour. In the end, we decided to go with the car, as this means we don’t have to adhere to bus schedules, and can stop any place we like.

The Kiwi Experience bus tour seems to be a great way to meet young travelers, but a lot of reviews on travel forums say that it’s also better for people who wanna party. Um, not my kind of thing, and especially not on my honeymoon!

We managed to book a car from a company called Shoestring Rentals which is a small company that offers discounts to YHA members. Our total rental (car plus GPS) for 13.5 days was $611. We expect to spend about $400+ on fuel for the entire trip. The car rental option is probably the best if you travel in a group of 2-4 pax. Rental costs can then be divided, and amazingly, it works out to be a really economical way of travelling!

Communicated with Cameron McKenzie (owner of Shoestring Rentals), who is just about the most helpful guy I’ve dealt with from NZ companies so far! Obviously I can’t comment on the car itself yet, but this guy has been a great help, offering advice from driving routes, places to visit, route planning, maps, and more! He’s also offered to send the car to our accommodation at Christchurch on the first morning of our rental, and drop us off at the airport after we send the car back to them on our last day (this will be at 4am!). So helpful and kind of him. It really is true when they claim on their website: “We’re a small company that’s BIG on service”.

(5) Prepaid Internet and SIM Card

Thanks to Isman (GroovyGenie) I found this wiki site that contains lots of information about prepaid mobile services in various countries! Awesome for travelers. Do bookmark it!

Unfortunately, there is just no cheap way around it in NZ, nor any reliable way. I’d love to try out the 3G and broadband services there since NZ started talking about next-generation broadband and ultra-fast broadband even earlier than Singapore did, but seems that it’s spotty in towns and smaller villages. I heard that speeds are okay generally in places like Christchurch, Queenstown, Auckland and Wellington, but everywhere else it’s just not reliable. I don’t know about that.

In any case, I think it’s going to cost me at least NZ$80 for 2 weeks of connectivity. Is it worth it? Here’s a summary or breakdown of the different telcos’ prepaid plans:

2degrees: $19 Prepaid SIM Card Starter Pack + $20 for 1GB data usage within broadband zones + $10 for 100MB data outside of broadband zone (and this is definitely not enough because most of our travels are outside their broadband zone).

TelecomNZ: $29.95 Prepaid SIM Card Starter Pack + $50 for 2GB data usage.

Vodafone NZ: $29.95 Prepaid SIM Card Starter Pack with $15 stored value + $30 for 500MB data usage.

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If you want more information on planning your travels around the South Island in NZ, do drop me a message below. I’ll be happy to help if I can, especially with names and comparison of reputable tour companies for the various activities, your options, and more. Happy Planning!

For now, I shall start my own countdown… 8 days to NZ!

So here are the 3 winners of the little giveaway I had a couple of weeks back!

1. Roxanne
2. Yanjun
3. Lyndsey

Congrats, y’all! I will be emailing you soon to get your mailing address so I can send you the vouchers! Do go down to the FRANK stores and get your card soon. Let me know which one you’ve chosen, okay?

By the way, look at what the awesome folks at FRANK by OCBC sent us on our wedding day! That’s really a very sweet gesture. Thanks for the gift and well wishes!

I bought this charger from Deal.com.sg at S$39.90 last month, when local company Andino Holdings launched their new product, the Andino PowerPlus™ Xtreme 5000mAh. Nearly 1000 people in Singapore grabbed the deal over the few days it was running.

To me, it was a good deal, at S$39.90 what more with the S$18 in Deal credits that I had. I was considering buying the Sanyo Eneloop Mobile Booster, which was being sold on eBay for $65 but hey, this is half the price!

With the Andino charger rated 5000mAh, and my Nexus S being 1500 mAh, this means I can get at least 3 full recharges with this device. Pretty awesome.

My only gripe is that it didn’t come with a micro USB cable (which they said would be included), which my phone uses. Gonna write in to the company to ask about it; hope they can send me a micro USB head! Currently using my own cable with the charger.

Oh yes, and the device is pretty light too, at 140g. The surface is glossy and a total magnet for fingerprints, but that’s okay.

It has 2 USB ports, as you can see from the image below.

I’m currently using a 3-pin power plug with a USB connector to charge up this thing.

Anyway, I read that Andino is going to have another sale for this item soon on Deal.com.sg, so if you want to sign up for a Deal account and keep a look out, please use my referral link.

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A word of caution: Beware of what you buy. Do not buy fromDealshop.com.sg or any other deal sites that do not list Andino Holdings as the merchant, cos Andino has already declared that the pics and text of the ad was copied from theirs, but the product is not theirs. Weird eh. I wonder who the 11 people who bought were. I guess they might have gotten scammed.

I still clearly remember how we first met.

Some time in January this year, I was complaining on Twitter that London hotels and even budget accommodation were so exorbitantly priced, and that the ones within my budget were dingy, dodgy and disgustingly flea-ridden (according to tripadvisor reviews).

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I received a Tweet from you, asking me to consider the various apartments available on your website for rent.

My initial thought was: “Pssh. Property agents!” – But after checking out your Twitter profile page, I was surprised to find that you were not a property agent!

And so I clicked.

And there I was, transported into a world full of amazing properties available for rent as holiday homes, in over 250 cities around the world!

My first impression of you was instantly dispelled, and I was immediately drawn to the exhilarating possibility of finding an accommodation in London that was affordable, clean, and homely!

How Roomorama.com worked just blew my mind – it was a platform that helped match hosts (people who have rooms or apartments to rent), and guests (who are looking places to rent).

It’s kinda like a hotel booking site, except I get to stay at apartments in non-touristy neighbourhoods rather than in hotels. Like this one, Doughty Street in Bloomsbury, London:

I found that Roomorama.com answered all my needs as a traveller! I usually prefer to stay with locals, interact with them, instead of staying at hotels.

I found that hosts on your website usually offer free use of the apartment’s kitchenette where I could cook meals if I found eating out too expensive, boring, cumbersome, etc. Many hosts also offered wi-fi internet, washing machines, etc. That’s brilliant! Although I don’t cook, at least I can microwave. Hehe!

After searching searching through a pretty impressive list of hosts and their homes, I finally settled on getting a room in the Bloomsbury area in London.

Still within Zone 1 of London, this apartment was, as the host promised, within a short walking distance to the Russell Square Underground Tube station. Perfect!

Plus, the host (Jeffrey) was really really friendly when we corresponded through Roomorama.com‘s private message! His rates were listed at £42 a night, for 2 persons! Seriously, how do you beat such prices with hotels? We ended up paying £70 a night for 3 persons (we asked him for the extra sofa single bed for my sister) including a small Roomorama.com admin fee. Very reasonable prices, indeed!

So thank you, Roomorama.com for bringing to us such an awesome service, and definitely, for answering to my frustrated call of help that fateful day in January. Without you, my London trip and stay in May 2011 wouldn’t have been as wonderful, as homely, and as amazing.

Much love from,

A super Roomorama.com fan
(who has booked yet another Roomorama.com listed property in London for the trip next month!)

Read about my latest Roomorama stay in Kensington, London, in July 2011! Nothing short of fantastic.

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To my readers, here’s what you should do if you see a room or apartment on Roomorama.com that you like.

Roomorama.com Booking Instructions

1. Click on “Inquire Now”.

2. A pop-up will appear, as below. Select your dates, and drop the host a message, asking if he would accept your booking. (Be nice, this is not a hotel booking, and hosts can reject dubious characters – after all, they are inviting you into their homes!) Feel free to ask any questions you may have about the apartment/room that you want to book.

3. Wait for a response from your host. If he accepts your inquiry, you will be notified that you can make a booking. The dashboard below is what you will see when you log in to your account.

4. Once accepted, you can make the booking, and pay. What happens is that you’ll pay the total booking amount to Roomorama.com, who will hold the funds for you till you check in to the apartment. This is to prevent errant hosts from running away with your money! So you see, it’s completely safe with Roomorama.com!

5. After you have made the payment, you will receive a “Secret Code” by email. Do not give this code to the host yet. Store it somewhere safe, and after you have arrived at your apartment and have inspected that everything is in order, do pass the code to the host, so he/she can get claim payment from Roomorama.com.

The Roomorama.com fee we paid was only a total £24 for 3 persons, 3 nights. So convenient and reasonably priced!

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Perhaps you’re now wondering: Okay, the booking process seems simple enough. How was the actual stay itself?

A review of my stay

We arrived in London on 17 May, and after some delays at the airport, we got to Jeffrey’s apartment safely. Armed with a 3G data-enabled SIM card and Google Maps, we found that the apartment was a mere 12 minute walk from the Russell Square Tube station. Jeffrey was already at the apartment, waiting for us, when we rang on his doorbell.

It was a little unfortunate that we had been shopping so much all over Europe prior to arriving in London, and we had really huge heavy luggage. Unfortunate because most London apartments, town houses and budget hotels don’t have elevators! HAHA!

Anyway, we managed to get our luggage up into the apartment, and I must say Jeffrey and his house mate Chris keep a cozy, neat and clean home.

We settled in quickly enough, with Jeffrey showing us around the apartment, the stuff we could use (like the washing machine, Wi-fi, kitchen, glasses, food we could help ourselves to, etc.) during our stay. Jeffrey also had a whole stack of maps, guide books, and even Oyster Cards for us to use as we made our way around London! That was really a nice gesture on his part.

We chatted for a bit, and he shared with us that he’s an American expat artist and a social worker (actually I had read that on his Roomorama profile page already, hehe). Anyway, he was really a lovely host!

I have no photos of his apartment, unfortunately, because I was too excited. But I can say that all his photos are accurate representations of his place, except he moved the furniture in the room around a bit.

All in all, it was a great stay, and we totally appreciated the fact that it was so accessible, and just minutes away by Tube from 2 of our favourite places in London – Covent Garden and Leicester Square / West End!

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A video about Roomorama.com

You might also want to check out their blog for featured properties, promotions, and new cities that have been added to their listings!

If you like this post, please click on my Facebook like button below, and also Tweet it!

Last night, thanks to Sony Pictures Singapore and Qais Consulting, I was privileged to be one of the first seventy (or less) members of the public in Singapore to attend an exclusive preview where we were treated to a screening of the highly anticipated fall movie “The Social Network“ (also commonly referred to as “that Facebook movie”), which is loosely based on a novel “The Accidental Billionaires“, featuring young billionaires.

Except I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg’s success was accidental. The man is brilliant, and you have to give him credit for building a website platform like Facebook. Read the many articles online about Facebook and Zucks, and you will see that the development of Facebook was in no way an un-calculated move, nor an accident.

The movie, directed by David Fincher, was simply brilliant. It offered an insight (albeit some dramatized), to who Mark Zuckerberg was, and is. Zucks has told the media that he has no plans to watch the movie (in fact, he did not turn up for the screening of the movie that was organized for all staff members of Facebook Inc.) earlier this month.

He may not like that he was portrayed as a “backstabbing, conniving, and insensitive” (The New Yorker: 2010) or an egotistical and greedy (Mashable: 2010) individual, in the movie. But beyond that, I believe it does correctly portray Zucks as a socially awkward geek, a brilliant individual, who is complex and closed to outsiders (i.e. anyone but himself). I don’t believe there are many people in this world who may understand Zucks himself, nor predict his next move. And that, in itself, is brilliance.

The character study of Mark Zuckerberg (played by the aptly casted Jesse Eisenberg) is only one part of the movie. The rest of it tells of how Facebook came about (some of it may have been exaggerated), the development of the social networking site, the people involved, and the lawsuits that arose. I also must say that Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (founder of Napster) was a surprisingly good choice, and the part about the Winklevoss brothers (or the Winklevi, hehe) really made Zucks look like the prototypical millenial rockstar and badass geek. I loved it!

I loved the flashback scenes between the two legal discussion meetings and the scenes back in Harvard (which weren’t shot in Harvard, by the way) (Wikipedia), the geek scenes with all the hacking and coding (*hyperventilates*), the snarky/cocky answers (what an awesome script, kudos to Aaron Sorkin!), and yes, most definitely the intense opening scene where Zucks and his girlfriend Erica have a heated argument that ends with her breaking up with good ol’ Zucks and telling him,

“Listen. You’re going to be successful and rich. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”

EPIC! (Intense scene portrayed below)

The reality, though, is that Erica Albright might just be a fictional character (nobody really knows for sure, as far as I can tell from a Google search, although some sites say that her real identity is NYU alumni member Erica Bern-Cohen), and dear socially awkward Zucks in real life, is in a very stable relationship with American-born Chinese Priscilla Chan, whom he has been dating since 2003, even before Facebook was born.

In the face of the release of this movie, Zucks has been followed around by paparazzi, and an article which contained pictures of Zucks and Pris was widely circulated on the internet (and a lot on Facebook itself).

Now Zucks is a billionaire (the youngest in the world, in fact) and he can have any girl he wants. He may not be extremely dashing, but his geek and his brain turn many women on, I’m sure. Priscilla is no head-turner, and in fact, the pictures in the article showed her to be a frumpy, pudgy, plain-faced girl with little sense of fashion. I must admit that my initial thought upon seeing the photos were “this must be true love”. And yes it was mean, but hey, like I said, Zucks is a billionaire with girls falling all over him, I’ll  bet.

But moving on, after reading The New Yorker’s article “The Face of Facebook” (which is an awesome supplement to the movie, by the way), you find that Zucks and Priscilla have a pretty stable relationship that’s lasted longer than any of mine so far, to be sure. And she’s probably stuck by him through thick and thin (well, from rags to riches) from pre-Facebook till now. And just last month, Zucks updated on his Facebook that “Priscilla Chan is moving in this weekend.” Must be pretty serious! It’s kind of heartening to know that relationships can and do last even if you suddenly find yourself the CEO of a company valued at US$25 billion. I also like how in the movie, Zucks still dressed in his usual slacker hoodie even after Facebook achieved milestone successes. So typically geeky!

About Facebook privacy:

In the last 1-2 years since Facebook literally became a global phenomenon, the company has been under a lot of fire for simply being in line with Zucks’ vision of Facebook and the internet: open. But I see where Zucks is heading (an article I wrote back in May 2010 which sparked a bit of a discussion in the comments section). I have heard and read arguments against my own, saying that Facebook needs to respect people’s privacy beyond just what their friends can see but what Facebook and its partners can access from their profiles through apps and default settings, but I still believe that the internet should be open.

On the issue of Facebook privacy issues, Mark Zuckerberg says:

“We realize that people will probably criticize us for this for a long time, but we just believe that this is the right thing to do.”

And I feel that it is the people (the users), who need to be in control of themselves, their own sharing, their actions that may cause backlash on the internet, etc.

Anyway, it’s an argument that will go on and on and on, even though Zucks and Facebook have undertaken to deal with the privacy issue in coming months. But as the movie’s tagline says:

“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”

This hasn’t turned out to be much of a review, has it, with my rambling about Zucks, his life, his character, bits and bobs about the movie, about Facebook and its direction, etc.? But here’s the final conclusion:

You should watch “The Social Network”:

• If you’re a Facebook user
• If you’re a Social Media geek
• If you’re a geek
• If you’re an entrepreneur
• If you’re a movie buff

Actually, I think everyone should just watch it.

In the boyfriend‘s words: “It’s a major geek bitchfest.” If nothing else, the scandal is worth the watch. And hey, everybody loves a scandal!

I’ll probably be re-watching it when the movie is released in cinemas all across Singapore come 28 October 201o, with friends who are just as huge fans as I am of Facebook, and we’ll have another round of discussions then!

Other interesting articles:

• [Mashable] “The Social Network”: Mashable’s Complete Movie Review
• [Mashable] How Has “The Social Network” Changed Facebook’s Brand Perception?
• [ReadWriteWeb] Did You Love or Hate “The Social Network”? Don’t Worry – It’s Generational

[All images in this post have been provided by Sony Pictures]

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It’s been a while since I watched a locally produced reality show, because many of them simply do not appeal to me, what with the more prominent reality shows in recent years being that of scantily-clad bimbos, and of a seductress getting hunky men to fight over her, etc. It may be good entertainment, but it definitely holds no value if you are looking for real content.

Then came along ‘The Rookie’. This internet-popularized reality show shown online is actually a Nokia campaign aimed at promoting the Nokia E72 executive phone. This handset is definitely a sleek-looking, high performance mobile phone, that will appeal to a range of audience, from business owners, to yuppies, to social-networking fans, to gadget-loving youths! The Nokia E72 comes in 4 classy colours: Zodium black, Metal grey, Topaz brown, and White.

Fashioned in a similar way to Donald Trump’s ‘The Apprentice’,  this show, hosted by Bobby Tonelli, caught my eye because of the set of challenges that the Rookies had to complete. The challenges put to test their business acumen, strategic planning skills, creative talents, interpersonal relationships and team play. The 12 contestants, grouped into Team Alpha and Team Bravo, had to work together to complete the challenges, while also trying to shine as individuals. Perfect setting for organizational politics? YES!

While I’m not saying that  ‘The Rookie’ or Nokia promoted politics within work teams, I thought that this was a pretty good portrayal of what real work life is all about. The contestants, some of whom were undergraduates or even fresh grads (and the show’s viewers alike) were spared no disillusionments, nor were they dished sugar-coated scenarios of what working in an organization might be like.

Many-a-time while watching the show, I found myself agreeing or disagreeing with what contestants did, and thinking about what could’ve been done better, or what I would do instead – now did someone say engaging and intellectual? One thing that I’m surprised with, however, is that none of these contestants were actively participating in online conversations, despite the many who were talking about them on Twitter, using the #rookiesg hashtag. But that’s probably just the social media consultant in me speaking.

With tight budgets, looming deadlines, difficult ‘client’ demands, and clashing ambitions, the contestants each tried to impress the judges, and also garner votes of confidence from the audience, who had chances to interact with the show by predicting the eventual winner of this reality show. Audiences who predicted the right winner would stand to win themselves a set of the drool-worthy Nokia E72, which was also used by all the contestants in their communications during the show.

Now tell me you don’t already feel empowered by just looking at this phone! With the Nokia Messaging instant messaging feature and its business communications solutions, it takes only 3 simple steps to sync up as many as 10 email accounts (it supports Google Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, MS Exchange mail servers and even Lotus Notes!) so that you can always be connected via email. A dream come true for all workaholics who like to travel light without notebooks! Also awesome for social networking lovers like me, cos the Nokia E72 allows you to download apps that support your social needs, such as Skype, Snaptu, Gravity, Facebook, and many many more!

Voted Editor’s Choice for Best Lifestyle Mobile Phone by HWM and HardwareZone.com, and also CNET Asia’s Reader’s Choice, the  Nokia E72 is definitely a strong contestant in the arena of business mobile phones.

Oops, pardon my inner geek for gushing about this phone - ‘The Rookie’ has concluded its final episode, and has crowned the winner at the finale held at Zouk last Saturday. 6 finalists appeared at the finale, with 4 eventual winners crowned and awarded highly-coveted internships at major brands and companies like Nokia, Microsoft, Standard Chartered and Zouk.

Find out who the four are, and follow the drama, the adrenaline highs, the challenges, the business ideas, the politics, and the kanchiong-ness at ‘The Rookie’ . There are also clips from ‘Behind the scenes’ online, at the website, so don’t miss out on what everyone’s been talking about!

[This advertorial entry was written in support of Nokia's The Rookie Campaign, and may contain statements that are of the author's own opinions, which neither reflect that of Nokia and its partner companies for this show, nor that of her own employer or its clients.]

Here are the results:

Winner of Fame OST CD:

Justin Lee of justinlee.sg

Winner of Fame mystery prize:

Sharon Chow of Hougang Ave 4!

All winners will be contacted via email, and I will arrange for posting of prizes! Thanks to all who participated! Keep watching this blog for more giveaways!

Enjoy your prizes, and if you have not managed to watch the Fame movie, please do go and watch the movie at Cathay this weekend!

For more information on the soundtrack, please visit Universal Music.

After collecting the tickets, we headed into the cinema. I met StephieTan from Fashion Nation / Stephie Says and she was seated right beside me! Also met Jerrick some rows behind!

Before the movie began, we were treated to a dance performances to songs from the Fame soundtrack album, that strangely reminded me of National Day Parade dance performances. I know that’s slightly mean, especially since NDP dancers I’ve seen are definitely much more coordinated and synchronized than the dancers last night were.

The whole dance that seemed to me like a contrived attempt at being sexy, modern, and hip all at the same time. And it failed. All of them. To be fair, they probably had a week of rehearsal prior to the performance last night, but for a movie focused on performing arts and with dance as one of the stronger points of the movie, I just expected better. It felt like I had ended up spending a couple hours on www.wptcasino.com after expecting a big trip to Vegas.

It felt like I had ended up spending a couple hours on WPTcasino.com after expecting a big trip to Vegas.

After the dances ended, lights were dimmed, and we were transported into a world of flurry depicting performing arts hopefuls preparing for their audition day, to enter the New York City High School of Performing Arts.

Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed the movie, and do highly recommend it to readers of this blog. However, there were bits and pieces of the movie that was unsatisfactory to me, and I will begin by highlighting those, and end with the bits that I enjoyed.

Of all the scenes, I probably loved the opening of the movie most, with short glimpses of students’ auditions – perhaps the one I loved most was that of Joy’s monologue for her theatre major. I had goosebumps listening to her for that one minute or less, so do look out for it! Fame starts on a high note – with success stories of aspiring artistes making the cut to entitle them their first step towards stardom.

Moving on, the movie got darker and darker, and I felt that there were a lot of stereotypes about artistes and performing arts, like how people have to suffer before they can truly be masters at their own art, etc. But one thing that struck me was what theatre teacher Alvin Dowd said to theatre/rap music student Malik, that essentially meant (I don’t remember the exact words): We need actors who can’t play angry people, but we don’t need angry actors. Do you know the difference?

The characters in the movie were all underdeveloped (perhaps due to time restrictions, but that’s quite a lame excuse for not developing a character, imo), and you don’t see how they’ve progressed or developed themselves in their art, except perhaps lead character classical pianist turned singer, Denise. Her development was rather dramatic, but it lent a positive note to the entire movie. I felt that there were too many focal points, too many characters, and too little depth to the characters.

The movie never reaches a climax, but is overall, a wonderfully entertaining movie that follows the typical literary plot of the quest, where the protagonist(s) set out on a search for something, and attains experiences that develop his character (except the characters don’t really develop much in this case), and after some inspiring incident, the protagonist finally arrives at what he was looking for, although it may not be what he intended initially.

I couldn’t find the key message in the movie. It was lost beneath all those disjointed scenes that seemed like random short stories, and they never really contributed to any overall story line. In fact, if you’re looking for either key message or storyline, you probably won’t find it in Fame.

Indeed, I found myself asking: What was the key message? Do not give up your dreams no matter what other people tell you? Or, you may not always be cut out to do the things you like to do? Always have a Plan B?

In the movie, we also see at least 2 students dropping out of the high school to pursue careers in the real working world of performing arts. However, I kind of sit on the fence with regard to that – while it’s awesome that they sent the message that educational qualifications are (in some cases) not as important as talent and passion, I don’t think the message will sit well with parents and educators.

This feel-good movie’s strongest point probably lies in the performances, but there was a huge imbalance. For example, I felt that dance, song and theatre were given more screentime than others (although in theatre, Jenny and Malik’s stories were tiresome and cheesy), perhaps for theatrical and dramatic effects, as they are easier to portray and better-received by audiences of this generation? The orchestra and classical music performers were rather underrated, only making a real appearance for about 30 seconds, at the graduation performance. I loved the artistic cinematography, the music, the dance choreography, and the glimpses of passion that you could see within the characters.

Do go and watch the movie at Cathay this weekend! It’s definitely one that you should watch on the big screen if you love dance, drama, and music!

And now! For the giveaway!

Who wants Fame goodies?

I have one Fame Original Soundtrack CD and one mystery Fame merchandise to give away to two lucky readers!

To win this CD, just answer these 3 simple questions:

1. In what year was the original Fame movie released?
2. How many songs does Asher Book sing in the Fame OST album?
3. Why do you think you deserve this CD? (most creative answer wins)

Contest Terms & Conditions:

All entries must be emailed to contact [at] daphnemaia [dot] sg before Saturday, 26 September 2009, 2359 hrs.

All participants must be residents of Singapore (with a local address for me to send the prizes to).

Winners will be announced on this blog, on Sunday, 27 September 2009. All winners will be notified by email. Good luck!

A reinvention of the original Oscar®-winning hit film, this 2009 film definitely has a lot to live up to, especially in the arena of the movie’s soundtrack, which won two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award for its music, while receiving an equally impressive number of other Oscar®, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.

The movie soundtrack of the season is out in stores now, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy, thanks to Universal Music.

Checking through the tracklist, I was glad to find that 2 of my favourite tracks from the original movie (Fame and Out Here On My Own) were included in this 2009 re-make, and that it contained a whole load of new songs, too!

What a great way to psyche myself up for the movie’s gala premiere this Thursday! I listened to the album with much anticipation, and I just have to say that it doesn’t disappoint at all!

Tracklist:

01. Welcome To P.A. – Raney Shockne
02. Fame - Naturi Naughton
03. Big Things – Anjulie
04. Ordinary People – Asher Book
05. This Is My Life – Hopsin, Ak’Sent, Tynisha Keli & Donte “Burger” Winston
06. Out Here On My Own - Naturi Naughton
07. Street Hustlin’ – Raney Shockne featuring Stella Moon
08. You’ll Find A Way (Switch & Sinden Remix) – Santigold
09. Can’t Hide From Love - Naturi Naughton & Collins Pennie
10. Black & Gold – Sam Sparro
11. Back To Back – Collins Pennie featuring Ashleigh Haney
12. I Put A Spell On You - Raney Shockne featuring Eddie Wakes
13. Get On The Floor - Naturi Naughton & Collins Pennie
14. Try – Asher Book
15. You Took Advantage Of Me - Megan Mullally
17. Too Many Women (Damon Elliott Remix) – Rachael Sage
18. Someone To Watch Over Me – Asher Book
19. You Made Me Love You - Raney Shockne featuring Oren Waters
20. Hold Your Dream - Naturi Naughton, Asher Book, Kay Panabaker

The 2009 movie soundtrack is really an awesome album that injects a variety of new flavours of today’s music and allows me to update some scenes from the 1980 movie in my mind, with partial re-writes of my own. *The Power of Imagination*

Well-balanced with ballads and in fast tracks, this album hints at a movie that will please a range of audiences. The beats on the fast tracks are mostly sexy hip-hop, and it pleases me, because that makes me want to dance!

It was difficult for me to pick out favourite tracks, but here a few choice picks (bar songs from the 1980 movie):

(Track #7) Street Hustlin’
(Track #8) You’ll Find A Way
(Track #11) Back to Back
(Track #14) Try
(Track #15) You Took Advantage of Me
(Track #18) Someone to Watch Over Me

Definitely an album that’s gonna be on my playlist for this entire week and maybe beyond!

Check www.getmusic.com.sg to find out more about the soundtrack.

Fame 2009 is a remake of the original musical & soundtrack made popular in the 80’s. The album features stunning tracks by the cast and other popular songs from the incredible film.

The movie opens worldwide on September 25, 2009.

This desktop app, called Statuzer, is a pretty nifty app that can possibly rival the hugely popular Tweetdeck once it’s got a few of its bugs ironed out.

Tweetdeck users probably won’t have much trouble switching over to Statuzer, because your Statuzer screen, when expanded, can be divided into three, just as Tweetdeck can – Latest Tweets from people you follow, Replies / Mentions, and Direct Messages.

Here are some things I like about Statuzer:

1. Ping.fm integration: Statuzer allows you to update both Twitter and Ping.fm, which opens up the possibility of updating so many other social network sites simultaneously!
   a
   How to do this:
   a. Set up a Ping.fm account,
   b. Set your Ping.fm account to update Twitter and Plurk, by default

   c. Go to ping.fm/key and copy the ‘Desktop/Web key’ that you see on the screen:
   
   d. Go to your Statuzer app > Settings > Prefs > Accounts > Ping.fm user key, and paste the ‘Desktop/Web key’ you just obtained in step c into the “User key” box. Click “OK”.
   
   e. To make sure Statuzer updates your Ping.fm profile, ensure that the is highlighted, as below:
   

   a

2. Twitpic and YouTube preview: If someone posts a YouTube or Twitpic link, you’ll be able to see a decent-sized picture within your Statuzer app, without having to click on anything.
   a
   
3. Check whether a person is following you or not: Click on someone’s profile pic in Statuzer, and you will come to a screen on the app itself, which looks like this:
   a
   
4. Differentiating Replies and Mentions: Under the “Replies/Mentions column”, there are markers to tell you whether a Tweet is a Reply or a Mention.
   a
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5. Search Tweets: You can search Tweets of people you follow, your Tweets, and even direct messages, by keying in your search term into the grey box (with blue highlight) at the top of each column. Although it still seems a little buggy, it will work out fine once they’re out of Beta, I’m sure!
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6. Option to not play sounds: Tweetdeck doesn’t allow this at the moment. Highly annoying.
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7. Statuzer minimizes to Taskbar: Less distracting. ‘Nuff said.

Here are some buggy things about Statuzer:

1. After using the search feature on Statuzer, I can’t seem to revert to the original column. Then again, Tweetdeck’s Search function is also buggy. Once I search for a term, it keeps notifying me of new Tweets that match my search term. And I can’t seem to switch it off!
   a
2. Statuzer doesn’t allow me to have up to 100 updates in each column, which Tweetdeck allows.

I’m sure there are other bugs, but I’ve just begun playing with Statuzer tonight! Despite all the bugs, I’m just glad that I can use it to update Plurk and Twitter simultaneously!