HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012 is HERE

Best wishes for 2012 everyone!

How were your NYE celebrations? Mine were great! I was in Melbourne CDB with my cousins. We watched the fireworks display in Alexandra Park. It was a buzzing atmosphere filled with laughter, glow sticks and live music. This year, the fireworks display was a bit different. Instead of using a variety of colors, the fireworks were mainly gold. For me, I prefer a choca block of colors because it makes the night sky so pretty.

The Arts Centre had a fireworks display but shockingly, it caught on fire from the fireworks. Check out my photos below. The flames from the top of the structure fell on to the building to cause more fires in the building. The flame grew and the crowds were gathering to witness this. It was scary. After 40 minutes, the flames were diminished by the firecrew. The crowds cheered the firecrew's efforts then disbanded.

That was an interesting way to start the new year - to watch an iconic building catch on fire.

How were your NYE celebrations? Did anything out of the ordinary happen? Love to hear from you.

R U OK? Day Australia 15th September 2011

Thursday 15th September, 2011 was R U OK?Day in Australia. It is a national day of action which aims to prevent suicide by encouraging all of us to connect with people around us and see how they are going.

It is important to remember that the smallest gestures can make the biggest difference in a person’s life. Showing someone concern lets them know that there are people that care about them.

When a person feels isolated, their emotions can spiral out and it can lead to depression and other mental illnesses. If no help is provided, it can result in suicide.

Suicide rate in Australia is not falling. According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), over 2000 Australians took their own lives in 2009.

If you know someone going through a hard time, reach out to them. Talk to them and help them see that the current situation they are in is temporary - Things will get better, will improve.

Life is hard, we need support from each other on this journey.

I want to share inspiring and important words that Will Smith said in an interview. (I’m paraphrasing): There have been so many people that have lived and died before us. All the problems that you have now - have been experienced by someone before you and they written a book about it. No one experiences new problems. Go find that book and read about it.

I think that is important advice. Many times we can feel alone and don’t know how to cope with it. We feel that no one truly understands us. We can see that people try to understand, but they aren’t living it, they don’t know how we feel. If you go and find that book that was written by the person that has been in your shoes; their words and advice will connect with you.

R U OK? Day is one day in a year to raise awareness of mental health. But it is important to apply it to your everyday life.

For more information about R U OK, click here

The Series Finale of Iconic Aussie Music Show – Video Hits

After 24 years on air, the music show that we all grew up with Video Hits is coming to an end. The final episode will air tomorrow - Saturday morning 6th August 2011, 10am on Ch10. Hosts Faustina and Dylan will bid farewell to us all. It will be a truly sad day in television.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to have a chat with Faustina this week about the end of VH. The interview will be broadcasted next Friday on CherriiPOP’s season 4 premiere. I also had the chance to talk to Faustina about uni, Asian pop and so much more. She’s amazing! So you all must tune in to Radio Monash at 7pm, Friday 12th August.

Here are some photos of the final VH episode that Faustina shared on her facebook fanpage

For me, VH was the coolest and I mean the COOLEST show on earth growing up. Back in the 90’s, the only way to watch awesome music videos was on TV. Hard to believe right? Today the media landscape has completely changed; now with the internet, music videos are easily accessed on our phones and any tech gadgets. VH was the biggest and coolest show that I grew up with.

My Western music knowledge wasn’t that good when I was young. An example, I learnt who Bon Jovi was when I was in grade 2. I felt like an alien for being the only person in class to not know who he was. In my defense, I grew up listening to Vietnamese music since I was a baby. So my knowledge in VPOP was quite good, but I couldn’t talk about the artists I liked in class because no one knew who they were.

From my school friends I started to get exposed to Western music and they told me to watch this ‘super cool’ music show – Video Hits. When I watched the show, it opened up another world for me. I became huge fans of Janet Jackson, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, The Corrs, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Kylie - All because of Video Hits.

Each week I had to watch Video Hits for new music videos from my favourite artists. It was a huge deal! At school, my friends and I will talk about music videos, cool songs and new bands. At home, I would record my favourite music videos on video tape (very old school). When taping a music vid on video tape, I had to sit by the TV to wait and wait for my song to come up. There was no playlist posted online back then, or link to download the Music Vid. The remote must have been broken, because I don’t remember using it to record. I always had to sit next to the TV to record music videos from Britney, BSB.

During my teen years, I appreciated the interviews with the artists more. I became interested in the stories behind the songs, meaning of lyrics, how artists got their inspiration. The interviews made me appreciate music more as an art form of expression. It wasn’t all about music videos for me anymore, it was about music.

Now in my 20’s, I have followed Video Hits for close to 2 decades. VH has been apart of my life for so long, expanding my music knowledge. I still can’t grasp the fact that it is all about to end. Yes, I know watching the artists music videos can be easily done on the internet. But, it’s just not the same! Video Hits sometimes had shows dedicated to an artists career like Michael Jackson. In that show you can watch all his music videos and learn about his career in the show.

Watching Dylan and Faustina on weekend mornings have been a joy and it will be greatly missed. I have really enjoyed learning from their music brains and watching their interviews. It will be up to them to farewell the Australian audience; and all the young adults who have grown up with the show.

Thank you for all the music Video Hits! You will be missed greatly.

Tune in 10am on Ch10 tomorrow for one last VH show!

His Holiness The Dalai Lama on Masterchef this Sunday

Aussie TV Show Masterchef, will have a very special guest appearing on this Sunday's episode - His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama recently visited Australia for his tour. His schedule was packed with interviews, seminars, appearances. He found some time to be a guest on the popular show Masterchef. The episode was filmed last month, will air this Sunday 10.

In the episode, the 7 finalist prepare a special meal for the Dalai Lama.

It is a huge honour to have the opportunity to cook for the Dalai Lama - I wonder how the contestants will handle the pressure?

It is well known that monks are vegetarian. What original dishes will they serve the Dalai Lama.

Another big question is, what is the Dalai Lama like as a food critic?

Find out by tuning in this Sunday 7:30pm, Channel 10

You can subscribe to the Dalai Lama's newsletter by clicking here

In a tweet - Miranda Kerr wearing Korea's Han Bok

There is always something interesting happening in twitterverse. Well this week, Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr tweeted that she was going to Korea for work. While she was there she did an interview on MBC wearing Korea’s traditional dress the Han Bok.



She looks really pretty wearing the Han Bok. You can follower her tweets @MirandaKerr. Watch out for this interview on youtube.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

When I was in Korea last year, I wore the Han Bok for photos. While wearing it, I felt like a little girl because the skirt is so big - like a princess’s dress. The Han Bok is very comfortable to wear. I took about a zillion photos around the palace wearing the Han Bok LOL!

Aussies Love Oprah!!!

Everyone is so excited that Oprah is in Australia! Oprah is here to film 2 special episodes for her show at the Opera House next Tuesday. She arrived on Tuesday last week and has been travelling all over Australia with her lucky 302 audience members. On Friday – she spent a day in Melbourne!!! Melbournians came out in full force to welcome her at her only public appearance at Federation Square. When she addressed the crowd she commented on how friendly Aussies are. We love Oprah!

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have arrived in Australia to be guests on Oprah’s Aussie episodes. Prime Minister Julia Gillard will also be a guest on her show. I wonder what other surprises Oprah has in store for her fans!

Commonwealth Games 2010 Week 2 and Wrap up

Delhi The Aussie Team have been absolutely brilliant at these Commonwealth Games. Many triumphs were witnessed.

One of these stories include Geoff Huegill’s gold medal win! His road to these Commonwealth Games is truly inspirational He retired from swimming in 2004, he gained some weight and lost his athletic physique. In 2008 he announced that he will return to competitive swimming so he worked diligently to lose the excess weight and trained to be an elite athlete again. To compete at this year’s game at the age of 31, he is considered quite the veteran in the sport. Maybe this win will make him eye the 2012 Olympics in London.

Another golden story from this year’s game is Sally Pearson’s. She got the fairytale ending that she deserved, winning the gold medal in the 100m hurdles event. Last week she won the gold medal in the 100m sprint event but after protest from the English team, she was disqualified of her medal due to a false start. What a nightmare for Sally to go through. It’s truly admirable that she overcame all that and was able to focus on her 100m hurdles event win the top prize.

Following the Commonwealth games was really exciting because Australia won gold medals everyday. Absolutely incredible! One of my favourite events is the Rhythmic Gymnastics and it was awesome to see that Australia won gold medals in this event at these games. That win reminded me of the Canadian Commonwealth Games in 1994 when Australia’s Kasumi Takahashi won an incredible 5 gold medals in the different Rhythmic Gymnastic events. She was just flawless in all her routines!

Did anyone stay up last night to watch the closing ceremony? You know I tried but like the opening ceremony I fell asleep and did not catch any of the action. So this morning I had to read about the event in the news and have a look at the photos. It looked incredible especially the laser show. On the news this morning I heard that they booked the European Laser company only last Tuesday! The Laser company somehow scrambled in the short period of time to put on a great laser show for the Comm Games. Kudos to them.

The Final Medal Tally Update


1 Australia G74 S55 B48 Total: 177
2 India G38 S27 B36 Total: 101
3 England G37 S59 B46 Total: 142

Ref: The Age

Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 Week 1

Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 Week 1

The Australians have been making quite an impact at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.



Geoff Huegill, he made his spectacular comeback in the pool winning a silver medal in the event 50m butterfly. His road back to the swimming pool wasn’t an easy one. He retired from swimming in 2004, he relaxed out of his strict training and diet regime and he put on a fair bit of weight. In 2008 he announced he would be making his comeback to the sport and it was a battle for him to lose the weight. He had to discipline himself with his diet and intense training. It was reported that he had lost more than 40 kg (from 138kg) for his Delhi Commonwealth Games comeback. Geoff Huegill’s race was so close, it did look like he could have taken the gold, it was not neck and neck; it was more like fingernail and fingernail.



There has been a lot of drama at the games with a few Aussie athletes causing quite a stir by throwing a birdie (rude finger gesture) to the umpires/judges. Yesterday Sally Pearson was faced with every athlete’s nightmare; she was stripped of her gold medal in the 100m sprint event. Pearson was told of her disqualification hours after she did her celebratory victory lap. Her disqualified false start comes after a successful protest by the English team. Australia launched an appeal but it was rejected by the jury. England’s sprinter Laura Turner was disqualified due to her illegal start and it appeared Pearson had also jumped the starting gun. Awful outcome to Pearson’s fairytale win. She still has one more event to compete in the 100m hurdles, I hope she can triumph in it and take home her gold medal.

Medal Tally Update as of Friday 8th October:
The Australians are experiencing a gold rush at the games sweeping an incredible 32 gold medals so far and that puts them at the number 1 nation on the medal tally. A total of 70 medals have been won. The events that Aussies are dominating in include swimming and cycling.

India comes in at No 2. on the medal tally with 14 gold medals, England is third with 12 medals, then Canada with 11 medals.

Ref: SMH, APP

Daylight savings notice

Remember this weekend due to daylight savings we lose 1 precious hour on Sunday. So Melbournians & Sydney Siders turn your clocks and watches one hour forward.

The rocky road to the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010

The Delhi Commonwealth Games begin this weekend on Sunday… It is actually a HUGE weekend for sports! We’ve also got the re-play of the AFL grand final and also the NRL grand final. Sport fans will be glued to the tele this weekend.

Back to the Commonwealth games. This year’s games have garnered a lot of negativity from the press in its lead up with safety concerns, infrastructural issues, hygiene in the athletes’ village… Building projects were behind schedule with many facilities still incomplete with only days until the Commonwealth games begin. An estimate of $3.16 billion was spent on this event and India hoped to overshadow China’s brilliant Olympic game. They haven’t made such an impressive start.

There were so many issues with the athlete’s village, they found a snake in there this week and the condition of some rooms were horribly unhygienic. Some countries stated that this accommodation were ‘uninhabitable’ so they organised their own accommodation. Some of the better rooms were shown on TV and they were ok, quite standard rooms, it looked like a three star hotel accommodation. It had all the basic requirements, nothing flash. Organisers made a reference to the ‘cleanliness’ reports and stated that 60-70% of the residences were completed and everything else would be finished in the next 36 hours. A large team of cleaners were sent in the village to make the place sparkly clean.

The athletes have started arriving this week, yesterday the Aussie swim team landed in India. They looked really happy at the airport, because of that I’ve started to feel some enthusiasm about these games. Prior to that, there were so many concerns and issues about these games that it was hard to get behind it.

Security fears has resulted in many high profile athletes making the tough decision of pulling out of these games. I can’t imagine how hard that decision would be: it takes years of preparation, training for these major sporting events, then they have to qualify for the national team, when they make the team it is their goal to do themselves and their country proud at the games. Some prominent Aussie athletes won’t be competing, I wonder if they will still watch the games or would it be too difficult for them to. I don’t know if they would think, I wish I could be there competing too.

DFAT (Dpt. Of Foreign Affairs) has issued the new warning of security of at the Games, saying terrorist attacks could happen at any time with little or no warning. Indian authorities are on high alert and they aim to provide a safe games for the everyone at the games.
The opening ceremony will air this Sunday, and it is a huge opportunity for India to showcase their culture to the world. Unlike the build up to the games, I hope this runs smoothly with no bumps in the road. The opening ceremony is so important because it inspires the athletes and gets everyone excited about the games. I wonder what they have up their sleeve, will the event be as epic as China’s Olympic opening ceremony? China’s opening and closing ceremony were brilliant. You can’t describe it any other way, it was truly brilliant.

I hope the Dehli Commonwealth games are safe and runs smoothly for everyone.
Of course I hope the Aussies dominate on the medals tally. Australia usually does since, America and China are not part of the Commonwealth lol.


Ref: News.com.au, abc news

The art of COSPLAY

Cosplay is short for Costume roleplay, where anime and manga fans dress up as their favourite anime, manga characters. Cosplay is not limited to anime, people can dress up as JPop, JRock stars, characters from classic novels. The term cosplay was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of the Japanese studio ‘Studio Hard’ while he attended the Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon in 1984. He was really impressed by the event and how fans wore costumes of there favourite characters.

Devoted cosplayers will copy every detail of the anime character they want to portray. From hair color, hair style, accessories like tools or armour. Not only do they get the appearance right, they also embody the character and act like them. Cosplay costumes can be bought. Lots of fans like to make their own outfit and they put in a lot of time and dedication to their outfit.

In Japan, you can find cosplayers at public events such as anime trade shows, cosplay parties or theme parks. Also it is normal for teen cosplayers to just roam around Harajuku district. Some workplaces that have cosplay uniforms e.g. in many cafes, waitresses are required to wear maid costumes.

Outside of Japan, cosplay is mainly done at large manga and anime conventions. Cosplay competitions are usually held at these conventions. Cosplay caught on with the rest of the world in the late 1990’s.

Aussies are also Cosplay enthusiasts. The largest anime convention ‘Manifest’ was held in Melbourne over a week ago is held for 3 days. It was held at Melbourne Showgrounds, it was previously held at Melb Uni. The huge event is run by a not-for-profit organisation Manifest Inc and is staffed entirely by passionate volunteers. You will discover all you want to know about anime at the convention! With cell painting workshops and drawing classes. You can by merchandise like dvds, anime plushies. And Cosplay Competitons! Check out my interview with a devoted cosplayer!

Australia Iron chefs have been found

Last week I told you guys that they were making Iron Chef Australia! Well, yesterday they announced who the Iron Chefs are. They are (drumroll please) Guy Grossi, Neil Perry and Guillaume Brahimi. I think they will each specialise in a cuisine, like french, italian. I don't think any of them specialise in Japanese or Chinese so will the third cuisine be Australian? Will they be wearing bright colorful silk chef clothing? I'm anxious to find out who the host is, I hope he is comedic and flamboyant like the Japanese Host! It adds more entertainment. Iron Chef Australia will air on Channel 7 but it hasn't been announced when. Keep an eye out for it.

Aussie Iron Chef is coming!

Iron chef, the phenomenal Japanese cooking show where two famous chefs battle it out in kitchen stadium to win the title of Iron Chef, is getting an Australian make-over. Casting has begun for Aussie version of Iron chef. The team behind Iron Chef Australia 'Shine' also produced the ratings winner Masterchef. Shine are also hoping for a runaway hit with Aussie Iron Chef. They have a very tight time frame to find their iron chefs because filming of the series is scheduled to begin next month in Melbourne. The format will be loyal to the original where two chefs battle it out in kitchen stadium, making dishes based on the unveiled ingredient. Their dishes are then judged by a panel of three celebrities.

The original Japanese series aired between 1993-99. A staggering 300 cooking battles were filmed in kitchen stadium. America and Britain have also made their own versions of the show. The original Iron chef currently airs weekly on SBS Saturday nights at 8:30. I'm a huge fan of Iron chef because it's such great entertainment! It's incredible watching them come up with original dishes on the spot then race around the kitchen to finish their inventions in one hour. What I love about the Japanese show is the host's flamboyant fashion sense. He wears bedazzled matador jackets and funky coats. The other reason I love the show is the animated english dubbing. All the voice actors are so enthusiastic and entertaining, it's fabulous! It’s like they are dubbing a kung fu show or anime because it’s so lively and comical. I've watched the American Version of Iron Chef and I didn't enjoy it as much as the Original because it didn't have a fancy dressed host or funny english dubbing. I'm not sure how the Aussie version will be, will it be a ratings giant like masterchef? We'll have to wait and see.