After all the fevered anticipation, Final Fantasy  Distant Worlds concert made its Asian debut here in Singapore over the weekend.. 

For the uninitiated, the Final Fantasy series is one of the most influential and most successful video game series around.. (Rumour has it that what FF 7 was realesed, students were so engaged in playing it that a good number failed their exams in north america!) 

I don't usually play computer games, but the Final Fantasy is so amazing, that for me, it is not only video game.. FF is a harmony of beautiful artwork, a triumph of imagination, fantastic storytelling, CGI designs way ahead of tand of course, captivating music. 

The music in the series, written by Nubuo Uematsu, is also propably the most recognised, and most popular video game music in history, spawning many albums, and live ochestral concerts in North America. 



The FF Distant Worlds concert is one of such performances.. where game music has been arranged to be played by a full ochestra and choir. 

When news spread that the concert  was coming to Singapore as part of the Singapore Arts Festival, it sparked off a frenzy;

When the tickets first went on sale, the Sistic online website was flooded and jammed with people trying to buy tickets - and in less than a day, tickets for both concerts were snapped up, urging organisers to put in a 3rd show. Tickets beearing exobitant prices started showing up on the black market. 

Yes I was one of those frenzied fans clicking on the "Buy Tickets" button incessantly for more than an hour that night.. and manged to get tickets for the 2nd show on Sat night. 


Pre concert Photo- whoring


How was the concert?

The Orchestra played famliliar pieces spanning the entire series, such as "To Zanarkand", "Eyes on Me", "Aerith's Theme". 

Backed by a choir and soloists, the choral pieces were powerful and enigmatic.  

Although the Singapore Festival Orchestra was not great-- Timing was out of sync at times; Intonation was off here and there; the music flowed, and still, the performance was immensely enjoyable.. 






But what was truly amazing about the experience, was that the music composer, Nobuo Uematsu, was present at the concert! He was seated amongst the audience during the performance, made a little appearance on stage towards the end, and even joined the choir for the encore performance of "One Winged Angel"! Now that was one hip music composer! 

For all of us present, the concert certainly brought back memories. Scenes from the game series played seamlessly on a projector screen as the music flowed, marrying visual and audio artisty. The crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative; Arnie Roth, the conductor, was engaging and playful.. The whole experience, was, magical, just as the Final Fantasy games were.  =) 

This is a poignant and beautiful Final Fantasy theme, from FF X, titled "To Zanarkand". It is one of my favourite.

I flew in to San Francisco first.. then went down south to Palo Alto, Silicon Valley first...
The town was really charming... small, low rise... idyllic, with many students from nearby Stanford..

  But meals were lonely..







And Chewie (or his twin)  pops up even in Palo Alto!! =D 





Andy arrived on 6 August...  Thats Stanford university behind us..



( Doggie Digression...  )

In August 2008, Andy and I made a trip to the west coast of USA.
We started off in San Diego, then San Francisco, and Los Angeles..

My closer friends will know that the trip meant alot of me.. in fact, it was/ is the important trip I made..

These posts are long long overdue, but better late than never...
There are a series of 8, so stay tuned!



Planning started way before...

Here's Pot, with us at the tailor's...








To do the fitting for the suits...












And to take photos while Andy and I did the fittings..

 

Dave, our tailor was in fact really nice.. He managed to rush the suits for us in less than 2 weeks.. in a peak period... Go to him for shirts!  =) 

After the clinic opened, its been harder to cook.. .
But we managed to over the weekend! 

Spent the morning in Mustafa picking out some ingredients for dinner.. and tada! 


The Ingredients... well, some of them.. 
The white gluey thing is the Thosai mix....
The hunk on the right is the cook.. (the other hunky person is busy taking pictures..) 



Chick Peas boiling away...  and Thosai cooking cooking..



And the final products! 

Masala Chickpeas! 


Served with Thosai! 


With Brown Rice salad and Guiness Beef Stew! (ok.. these stictly do not adhere to the title..) 

Oh man, this is terrifying....



http://www.newsweek.com/id/147790&GT1=43002.

But still always ready for a pose!
 


That is, until Daddy decides to heat up some yummy food in the microwave..  *Woof!*
 

Now, grand_mal, can you tell who that is in the picture? =P

Nope we have not forgotten about Nugket despite the arrival of the little one..
In fact, these days, it is Nug who keeps us sane.. while the little terror destroys everything in its path!!

Enjoy these pictures while I go clean some more Chewie Poo!

Nugket stays smily despite the competition.. in food, affection, and living space! 
grand_malcan you guess whose chest that is??  =P




.. And remains calm and composed... must look beautiful all the time mah!