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.

KOFFIA – Korean Film Festival – Melbourne

The Korean Film Festival begins Saturday 10th Sept and runs until Tuesday 13th Sept. The festival is at ACMI in Federation Square.

For the opening night, the blockbuster film ‘The Man from Nowhere’ starring Won Bin will be showing. This film was Korea’s highest grossing film in 2010; it is a great choice for opening night. I reviewed this film earlier this year – if you’re a fan of action, drama, suspense you should go see this film. Click here to read my full review.

Other films showing:
- A Barefoot Dream
- Bunt
- JSA: Joint Security Area
- The Show Must Go On
- Secret Reunion
- Earth’s Women
- Shim’s Family

On Sunday there is a special Industry Forum that you can attend for free. Here, you can listen to industry experts discuss Korean films. Some experts include:
- Dr Adrian Martin, Monash University
- Christian Were (Madman Entertainment)
- Al Cossar (MIFF, Melbourne International Film Festival)

If you have trouble deciding which film to watch, I definitely recommend ‘The Man From Nowhere’.

Check out this great event this weekend. For more details, visit the KOFFIA website

MANIFEST 2011, Aug 26-28th

It's that time of year again, when all you Melbourne cosplayers can roam the city streets - It's Manifest weekend. The venue for this year's Manifest is the Melbourne Showgrounds.

There are many devoted cosplayers in this city. I shared some amazing pictures from last year’s manifest that my friend took. Serious cosplayers put a lot of effort in their costumes, trying to get every detail perfect. Cosplayers also become the character when they are in costume. They take on the character’s mannerisms. It’s cool to watch them. None of my friends are cosplayers. Some are anime fans, I found out some friends will be attending this years Manifest. They will be going tomorrow.

You know, If I were to do cosplay, I would dress up as L from deathnote. Partly because the costume would be easy to put together. L’s outfit is so simple compared to like sailor moon, naruto. To be L, I would just have to wear blue jeans and a white top. Mess up my hair and wear a lot of eyeliner. The other thing I like about L is his mannerism, his hunched over all the time and behaves kind of oddly. I find it fascinating.

At Manifest, there will be competitions for best cosplay outfit.There will be anime screenings.

For more details visit www.manifest.org.au

I’d love to post up your pictures from the event. If you are cosplaying or taking pictures with cosplayers, send them in to me on facebook.

My Favourite Restaurants in Melbourne

For the best sushi in town, I recommend this sushi restaurant in South Yarra:

Uta Sushi Bar
31 Chambers Street, South Yarra VIC 3141



Everytime I think of this place, my mouth waters. They make the best california rolls on earth! It contains salmon, crap, cucumber, carrot, avocado, jap mayo... it's tastes devine! The fish is delivered fresh each morning, so you can expect the sashimi to melt in to your mouth.

I highly recommend the california rolls, sashimi, tamago. They are my personal favourites. All the sushi they make is delicious.

I have recommended this place to a lot of my friends, and they all agree that this is the best sushi in Melbourne.

They added 2 hot dishes to the menu: unagi (eel) on rice, seafood udon noodles. I was curious about these new additions to the menu, so I tried the udon noodles. It was quite underwhelming. I have a feeling that it was instant udon noodles. This place specialises in cold food, there isn't a hot stove on all day. I guess you can't expect a fantastic hot meal if the chef isn't working next to the stove.

But do try the sushi! It's brilliant.


The Best Korean BBQ Restuarant:

Sut Korean BBQ
Address: 970-972 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill VIC
Phone: (03) 9899 5900

Why is this place my fave? They cook the meat on coal. mmmm.... delicious. You know, when I went to Korea last year, I ate Kbbq almost everyday. You can imagine that when I returned home to Melbourne, I was sickkkk of it. I couldn't eat kbbq for five months. This was where I went to eat after my korea trip. It's really delicious. Because it was cooked on coal, it took a bit longer. There was six of us so we were waiting a while for the meat to get cooked. lol. If you love kbbq, you must check out this place too.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama arrives in Melbourne

HH Dalai Lama arrives in Melb (110610) by CherriiPOP


The Dalai Lama arrived in Melbourne today. Interestingly, my friend went to the airport to pick up a friend and she saw the Dalai Lama there. I’m quite envious of her because I would love to meet the Dalai Lama.

One of my favourite books is ‘The art of happiness’. The book is very fascinating. I read it when I need to put things in perspective. The book is a blend of Buddhism and science.

In the book the Dalai Lama says that our purpose in life is to be happy. Happiness is a feeling of deep satisfaction. The benefits of being happy include better health, a better immune system. It’s hard to summarise the book in a few minutes. I highly recommend this book to everyone - it is a life changing book.

Last year during the Dalai Lama’s Melbourne visit, he granted Hamish and Andy an interview. This year the Dalai Lama granted Dave Hughes from the 7pm project an interview. It was very funny. The Dalai Lama has a brilliant sense of humor. Hughesy asked the Dalai Lama to bless his football team to win the footy final. The Dalai Lama said yes I will bless the team but there is no guarantee.

The Dalai Lama is here in Australia for a series of teachings and talks. If you would like to attend, you can visit his website www.dalailama.com for more information.

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!