Popular otaku celebrity Shoko Nakagawa, popularly known as Shokotan, will be performing at Anime Festival Asia (AFA) in Singapore on November 21-22, 2009.
AFA is one of the the biggest anime-comic-game conventions in South East Asia; first held in 2008, the event is back again in 2009 following last year’s success.
Besides Shokotan, other celebs that will be performing at the I Love Anisong concert are May’N, Aniki and Yoshiki Fukuyama. Other sections of AFA09 include cosplay, toys & games exhibits, and maid cafe etc.
The organisers held a press conference on September 1 to officiate the 2009 event; check out the coverage by blogger Darkmirage, Alafista and Double.
More details and updates on AFA09’s official website or Facebook.
Anime Festival Asia
Previous: Anime Festival Asia 2008
Singaporean actress and TV host Fiona Xie has resigned from Mediacorp, sparking marriage/pregnancy rumours.
With Mediacorp’s dominance, quitting the company is as good as quitting Singaporean showbiz altogether.
Naturally, wild speculations will slip in when an artist decided to quit at her prime without explanations… marriage, pregnancy or breakup are among those, but pretty much baseless at the moment.
A probable reason is that Fiona is seeking opportunities overseas. Hollywood is a possible destination; but is she good enough to go west? That’s another question to ponder.
Regardless, wish her well in her future endeavours, whatever it’s going to be.
Acclaimed Malaysian director-screenwriter Yasmin Ahmad died on late Saturday at the age of 51 from a stroke she suffered on Thursday.
A great storyteller whom I personally admired, and a wonderful filmmaker adored by people regardless of races or religions. Rest in peace.
Sharing one of her last works, “Funeral”, a heart-warming TV commercial for Singapore’s Ministry of Community Development…
Singaporean actress Fann Wong and Malaysia-born actor Christopher Lee are getting married after more than six-years into relationship.
The couple will register their marriage on May 16th and hold their wedding ceremony in September in Singapore, followed by a wedding dinner in Malaysia in October.
Congratulations to Christopher and Fann, best wishes.
There are debates running on some Singapore forums lately about the revealing dress of actress Joanne Peh on a cooking show [more on Divaasia]
The actress was dressed in a low-cut halter-neck print dress on the TV show, which at first glance kinda looked like a bikini (because of the apron)…
While some netizens were criticising her outfit as distracting and too revealing, there are others who cheered it on, saying that Singaporeans are being too conservative.
Personally I think it’s not a matter of sexy or revealing, but appropriateness. I wonder if she would wear similar outfit if she’s cooking at home… and that’s probably the answer to whether the dress was appropriate for a cooking show or not.
I know there are lots of cooking shows where celebrity guests would don in revealing outfits on consistent basis, especially in some cheapskate Japanese and Taiwanese variety shows. But when it comes to a genuine culinary show, I would rather have the guests focusing on their cooking skills (or no-skills) instead.
Am I being too conservative? Hmmm…
Chinese actress Gong Li is officially a Singaporean after taking an oath and collected her Singapore identity card last Saturday (Nov 8).
The 43-year-old actress was supposed to collect her identity card on August 23, but failed to show up because she was filming a movie overseas. Her no show irked some Singaporeans who felt that she was disrespecting her new country… but it’s all history now.
Gong Li is married to a Singaporean businessman since 1996, so the switch of citizenship is not entirely surprising. Both China and Singapore do not recognise dual nationality, which literally means that she would have to renounce her Chinese citizenship.
Chinese netizens are generally unhappy about the news… lots of them are criticising Gong Li’s decision, while some are sharing concerns that this would become a trend among popular artists and younger generations.
Some netizens are showing support Gong Li though, stating that it’s her freedom to choose her own path; a few also stated that they would also like to migrate out of China if given the chances.
Chinese MV of “Not Mature Enough” (不够成熟 – Bu Gou Cheng Shu) by 16-year-old twins group BY2. The song is featured in their debut album “16 Under Age” (16 未成年) which was released a couple of months ago…
The public responses seem pretty encouraging for the Singapore born sisters, Miko and Yumi Peh… but it’s still too early to tell how popular they could be.
Their vocals still need some brush up, but I think they are already singing better than lots of the pop idols these days; and apparently they can dance a bit as well.
Japanese pop starlet May’n will be performing live in Singapore at the Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2008 on November 23 [more on AFA and Darkmirage]
The 19-year-old singer is one of Japan’s hottest rising star. She made her professional debut in 2005, and her breakthrough came in 2008 as the singing voice for Sheryl Nome in hit anime “Macross Frontier”. Her two latest singles have both made it to the top 3 spots at Japanese Oricon chart… quite an achievement for a young talent.
While not exactly the same class (yet) with the likes of J-pop divas Ayumi Hamasaki and Namie Amuro etc… May’n’s performance is quite anticipated in this region that is so deprived of J-pop act. Besides, Japanese anime is getting huge in South East Asia these days; and Macross Frontier happens to be one of the most popular animes of the year. Plenty of otakus are awaiting her arrival for sure.
