The inaugural Anime Festival Asia was held last weekend (Nov 22-23) at the Suntec International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Singapore. Was planning to travel south for the event but couldn’t make it; had to attend a wedding dinner.
Republic of Singapore
Gong Li officially a Singapore citizen
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.
BY2 – Not Mature Enough music video
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.
Miele Guide 2008/2009 – Asia’s top 20 restaurants
Singapore’s Iggy’s is Asia’s best restaurant according to the Miele Guide which made its grand debut last week. The guide is claimed to be Asia’s first truly independent regional restaurant guide.
The Miele Guide 2008/2009 edition evaluates restaurants in 16 Asian countries… Brunei, Cambodia, China (Hong Kong, Macau), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The top 20 restaurants according to the Miele Guide 2008/2009…
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Korean Festival and K-Pop concert in Singapore
A star-studded K-pop concert will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on November 4 as part of the Korea Festival 2008 (Nov 1-18) organised by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.
The concert will feature some of the hottest K-pop stars, including the Wonder Girls, Shinhwa’s Andy & Junjin, Jewelry, Chae Yeon, and V.O.S etc.
The concert tickets will not be sold through the usual outlets, but will be given away over the next few weeks through the key sponsors.
Other events during the festival are food fiesta, traditional dance performances, taekwondo demonstrations, film festival and contemporary art exhibition etc.
[Extra Note] For those who are buying/selling tickets via the comment section… kindly trade at your own risk.
Singapore tops Asia in competitiveness report
Singapore tops the Asian ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 conducted by the World Economic Forum (and partners) using both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey.
The annual report assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens, which in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources. Thus, the index measures the set of institutions, policies, and factors that set the sustainable current and medium-term levels of economic prosperity.
The top 10 overall ranking are USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Germany, Japan and Canada.
The top 10 Asian economic entities are Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China and UAE.
