David Seow's Blog, page 23

SCBWI Singapore August Meeting

Supersheroes & Society

The next day, Rilla, Kenneth and I attended Supersheroes and Society, a panel discussion of cartoon female superheroes with Adan, Felicia and Soefara. 

It was two hours of animated discussion about how the super heroes have evolved over the years.  After the discussion we adjourned for a chicken rice supper before calling it a night.

An Evening with Rudy & Rilla

Courtesy the Rudy & Rilla Facebook page.
If you didn't already know,  Rilla is a TV star! Yes, she is the co-host of the highest rated talk show Rudy& Rilla which is aired live every Monday evening.

Rilla's been in showbiz since she was a kid and was one of the stars of Mat YoYo, a popular Malay children's TV program that I had to watch to improve my Malay when I was in school. In fact, Amelia was on the show too and that's how they met.

Anyway when Rilla invited us to the taping of the new season of her show, Auntie Susanna, Claire, Amelia, Ken and I jumped at the chance to watch her 'Live!' I have to admit that I was also keen to go back to my old workplace, a place which originally held so much promise but turned into something of a horror experience for me thanks to my ex-boss.


We're in the front row (Courtesy the Rudy & Rilla Facebook page)
Mum and Dad gave Amelia and me a lift to Caldecott Hill and Auntie Susanna, Claire and Ken met us there. Quite a few audience members were already waiting in the lobby when we arrived. I surmised that they must have been die-hard Rudy & Rilla fans.


At about 7:45 we were ushered into the studio for the live taping. Rilla arranged for us to have front row seats and the producers asked questions and gave out prizes for those who answered correctly. Amelia was momentarily stumped when she was asked about Rilla's day job but she eventually answered correctly.



Then Rudy Marican, Rilla's co-host walked out first and then Rilla came on moments later. Rudy kindly  explained what the show's topic was to be about - the pros and cons of investments.
The show was conducted in Malay and surprisingly I managed to catch on relatively quickly. My Malay has been dormant since my secondary school days, so I was shocked when it came flooding back.

Amelia, Ken and Auntie SThere were two staged segments about the pitfalls of investing with a spouse and the actors were really, really good. The actress managed to cry on cue. I suppose the thought of losing her life savings must have been too much for her to bear.



Rudy had Rilla and the rest of the audience in stitches with his quick wit and say-it-like-it-is manner. After the show,  audience members scrambled to have their picture taken with the two hosts. We waited until they were done before taking our photos. 

Rudy seemed disbelieving that I could actually understand what was being said until I told him that I took Malay as a second language in secondary school.

Then it was time for them to take down the set and we had to clear the studio. Claire had to take her leave after that but the rest of us headed to town for supper at Newton.

Thanks for another fun evening, Rilla! I can't wait to be a guest on your show!

Book Club: Shadow Hero @ Rilla's

Rilla kindly agreed to host our last book club meeting at her house and so we all arrived at her place for a lovely dinner of nasi jaggung, ayam masak merah and sambal goreng, achar and lots of other goodies. Ken and I were the first ones there and Amelia arrived shortly thereafter so we didn't bother to wait for the rest and we just dug in. Everything tasted as good as it looked. Good job, Rilla! You're such a good cook and I'm looking forward to the our next meal.


Rilla's Ayam Masak Merah

Karen's Sambal Goreng

Rilla's Nasi Jagung



Claire, Myra, Felicia and Adan turned up before we could polish everything off - darn!

So with dinner done we started discussing the book of the month - the graphic novel, Shadow Hero. As usual we had a very animated discussion about the book and the general consensus was that we all loved it!


Then we all just spent the next few hours chatting and nibbling on Claire's amazing cherry pie for dessert before agreeing on the book of choice for August. Thanks for hosting a fun evening, Rilla!

Book Council AGM

After another highly successful year of promoting the book scene in Singapore, the book council held it's Annual General Meeting at the end of last month. Here are some photos of the event.

Hamleys Store Review

Remember back in the '90s when the Disney Store was at B1 of Takashimaya and the Warner Store was at Wisma Atria?  The atmosphere of those stores were as close to the ones that I had visited in the States.



They were well-stocked with up to-the- date products in the Disney and Warner catalogues.  Sadly, those stores closed down after a couple of years with the promise that they would reopen, but sadly they never did.

So I was expecting a lot when I heard that Hamley's was opening  right here in Singapore at Plaza Singapura. When I was a child growing up in London, trips to Hamley's flagship store was a magical experience. I had a set of toy soldiers from the queen's cavalry like the ones pictured below.





And as an adult my trips to the stores have been no less magical.
Being a royal fan, my mum got me a limited edition Princess Diana paper doll back in 1995. I should have kept it in the box, but I couldn't resist opening it for my niece. On subsequent visits I found Will & Kate royal wedding dolls and Dr Who action figures.







So to say I had high expectations of Singapore's store would be an understatement. As I stepped through the entrance, my giddy head was pounding with anticipation of what would be on offer.

The ground floor had signature Hamley's products like drones, and an assortment of stuffed teddy bears and other animals, toy cars, cabs and busses and paper airplanes.











But there were no toy soldiers. The only toy soldier was a playmobile soldier which was most definitely not what I was looking for.

For the boys there was a huge wall of lego sets  but most of these you would be able to find in the lego store at Takashimaya or any Toys R' Us stores in town. There were a selection of toy cars, Nerf guns.










The selection of action figures is limited to Dinosaurs,  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers and the Avengers. DC would have something to say about the lack of availability of their action figures. There were no Dr Who action figures or GI Joe figures either!



For girls there's a small buffet of fashion dolls ranging from  Barbie, to Elsa and Anna from Frozen to the popular Monster High dolls. But where were the One Direction dolls which will undoubtedly be a hit with the teen fans of the boy band? The Zayn Malik doll would have undoubtedly sold out within minutes.




In addition the fashion dolls there was a cosmetic section for  the little ladies to practice their make-up skills well in advance of when they'll actually have to use any.





With teddies dangling from parachutes from the ceiling, and demo stations, the store does boast more character than the clinical and sterile environment of Toys 'R' Us or any department store toy section.




I didn't pay much attention to the baby to toddler section, but from what I saw there were puzzles and blocks and a lot of educational toys.



Hamleys Singapore boasts a range of 10,000 toys, including toy soldiers.  Most of the toys I saw there were the Hamley's stuffed toys and magic tricks. The Irony is that the trip to  the store was far less magical than I expected. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely got a lot more character than our other toy stores in town, but it's got a long way to go before they match the magic of Hamleys' flagship store in London.

I sincerely hope they add a wider range more toys to their inventory that you can't find anywhere else in town and I do hope they manage to survive the curse of the fad stores that Disney and Warner Brothers were unable to.

Hamleys in Singapore

I was beside myself with anticipation when Mum told me that my favourite store would be opening a branch in Singapore at Plaza Singapura. 

Yay! Hamleys was my childhood toy store and when we were living in London we made frequent visits there. Founded in 1760 something, the place is just magical for kids and adults alike.


Press coverage said there would be over 10,000 toys ranging from toy soldiers to teddy bears and even toys for adults.  I envisioned tin soldiers of the Queen's Household Cavalry and action figures from iconic shows such as Dr Who and perhaps dolls of members of the Royal family. Basically a lot of stuff that you won't find in any other generic sterile Toys 'R' Us type toy store. Basically my expectations were pretty high.

Twilight Tales: An Evening with Josephine Chia

#ThrowbackThursday Art and Stories at the National Geographic Store, KL

Emma's Elephant Story Telling