The first ever AKB48 Cafe held a soft opening for public and major media on 25th June 2011.
At 12.30pm that day, 3 members from AKB48; Takeuchi Miyu [MiyuMiyu], Shimazaki Haruka [Paruru] and Abe Maria [Maria] were there to open the doors from inside the cafe and let the media and guest in for a closed door session.
If you pay a little more attention, you might be sitting on one of the chairs that the girls autographed on.
Public queued outside the cafe and registered their bookings to enter the cafe at 3.30pm for Tea-Time slot.
My friends and I queued for the cafe after we got our photosets that day, and managed to secure the first wave of customers to enjoy their meal in the cafe.
Not long after we enter the cafe, the 3 AKB girls had a walk along Orchard Road to give out flyers for the AKB48 3rd Stage falling on the next day, fans are spotted following the girls to give them support and interact with them.
After the girls return to *Scape from their walkabout Orchard, they were invited to the cafe stage to give the first wave of cafe customers a few words before leaving the compound.
The food is generally nice and the service crew are all very friendly. I have personally visited the cafe around 3-4 times after its launch. Its a good place for studying, mixing around if friends and the televisions are always showing AKB related stage performance, music videos or TV programme.
So whats next for the Cafe, if you have a soft lauch that means the GRAND OPENING will be up soon. YES, the grand opening of the cafe will be within the next few weeks and insider information is that more popular members might be gracing the Grand Opening. Do stay tune to AKB48 Singapore Official Homepage for more details.
Announces New Guests, Exclusive Comics & First Singapore Artist to Draw for Marvel
Singapore, 30 June 2011 – The Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) and Marvel Comics – home of X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, The Avengers, and Thor – will be joining forces again to thrill fans at the 2011 STGCC. Marvel’s international talent scout, C.B. Cebulski, will be back this year to conduct portfolio reviews and spot talented artists.
He will be joined by writer Kieron Gillen, who has penned stirring storylines behind Marvel titles including Journey Into Mystery, Generation Hope, Uncanny X-Men, S.W.O.R.D and Thor, and regional artist Harvey Tolibao, who has worked on Marvel titles such as Darkhawk, Ultimate XMen and The Mighty Avengers, and has drawn an exclusive Merlion Variant Cover for Captain America #1 that will only be available at the Marvel booth at STGCC.
STGCC will be held on 20 and 21 August 2011 at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibitions Centre.
First Singapore Artist to Draw for Marvel Comics
Marvel is proud to reveal that they have signed on Singaporean artist Mr Benjamin Ang, 27, who made the shortlist in Marvel's Portfolio Review at last year’s STGCC, to work professionally with the comics titan. Mr Ang is the first Singaporean to be signed to Marvel and was handpicked from hundreds of aspirants from around the region.
“It is truly a dream come true to be able to work with Marvel and alongside some of the most renowned writers and artists in the industry. It is great to have platforms like STGCC where local artists can showcase their works. I aim to add a signature touch to my work and hopefully inspire more Singaporean artists to chase their dreams.”
C.B. Cebulski, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Creator and Content Development, who conducted the Portfolio Review at 2010's STGCC, is hoping to discover more new talent at this year’s event. He says, "As I scout talent for Marvel, I only revisit events in countries where I find the level of artistic talent extremely high, and given the amazing comic creators I met in Singapore at STGCC last year, I knew I'd be back before long and hopefully making it a regular recruiting stop!"
Mr Ang’s success story is thrilling news to all aspiring artists in Singapore and in South East Asia, says Ms Yeow Hui Leng, Project Director of STGCC. "We are elated that the convention provides a springboard for budding artists in the region to take their craft to an international level. We hope to see more Asian talent making their mark in the pop culture scene in both the East and the West."
Mr Ang will be working on projects beginning later this year, and aspiring artists eager to pick up a few tips from Mr Ang can meet him at STGCC’s Artist Alley, where he will be exhibiting his works. He will also be joining Mr Cebulski on one of Marvel's forum sessions. For more information on portfolio submission, go to www.singaporetgcc.com/whatshappening/PortfolioReviewByMarvel .
Marvel Exclusive at STGCC 2011
For the first time, Marvel Comics has created an exclusive STGCC variant comic. With a limited run of 1,000 copies, this comic features a specially designed Singaporean cover to Captain America #1 by Ed Brubaker and Steve McNiven. The cover is drawn by regional artist Harvey Tolibao with colors by Chris Sotomayor and features an iconic image of Captain America in front of Singapore's emblematic Merlion statue. Only 500 copies will be available at the Marvel booth each day. Further, artist Harvey Tolibao will be making appearances at the Marvel booth, signing the STGCC variant.
Up Close and Personal with Marvel Writer Kieron Gillen
Marvel and STGCC are proud to reveal writer Kieron Gillen will be appearing at STGCC 2011 as a Guest of Honor. Based in London, Gillen's Marvel work includes Journey Into Mystery, Generation Hope and Uncanny X-Men. Gillen is currently writing Uncanny X-Men and will pen the book's final issue, #544, due out this October.
This epoch-ending issue will send shockwaves through the Marvel Universe, and Gillen is the man trusted to write it. Gillen will be appearing at STGCC on 20 and 21 August. He will be meeting fans and signing autographs at the Marvel booth and STGCC’s Walk of Fame as well as speaking on his work at forums. Before Marvel, Gillen was the founder of the respected video game blog Rock Paper Shotgun (www.rockpapershotgun.com).
"I've never heard anything but fantastic things about STGCC, and I'm grasping the chance to experience it for myself with both hands," Gillen said. "I'm looking forward to Singapore and the fans there enormously!"
Tickets Available Now!
In addition to Marvel Comics, fans can also look forward to the latest offerings from popular brands including Hot Toys, Tokidoki and Nintendo. Tickets for STGCC are now on sale via www.singaporetgcc.com/buy-tickets. For the latest updates, follow STGCC on Facebook (facebook.com/singaporetgcc) and Twitter (twitter.com/singaporetgcc).
STGCC, co-produced by Reed Exhibitions Singapore and ReedPOP, the US-based organisers of the New York Comic Con, is a popular culture showcase for the latest and greatest in comics, anime, toys, collectibles and games.
On 22nd June 2011, the media conference were held at *scape warehouse for the media, and the youth bloggers. Kitsunesuki were very honoured to be one of them attending this conference.
A video preview of the activities installed and performing guests were being shown shortly into the conference.
The tag-line of this year's festival is: "ENOUGH TALK, JUST DO"
The Chairman and Co-chairman of the steering committee were brought onto the stage to share with us about this year SHINE Youth Festival.
[Co-chairman - Mr Eric Chua(left), Chairman - Mr Martin Tan]
Eric started with the highlights of the opening of the festival.
One of them is the pillow fight, you didn't see wrongly. On 2nd July 2011, there will be a pillow fight activity happen at *Scape!
The festival this year will be a multi-level concept, he added: "SHINE will be anywhere, everywhere at *Scape."
Other then partying, there are workshops for DJing, photography for participants, fund-raising and more.
Eric : "What we wanted this year is to get the young people to be involve.", "What we do is to be provide with the mentoring, we open up doors that they can't.", "The month of July is the month of youth, is the month of Shine.".
Eric also added that the youths have provided them with great ideas and the Facebook game "Power to Shine"
The four pillars of SHINE is: Community Service, Sports, Environment and Youth Culture.
Martin: "We have always looking for a platform where everybody can work together"
Despite having busy schedules with their work, studies and personal time, the youth of the committee are still full of energy even as they work into midnight with the planning works.
The reason of having multi-leveled activities is the youth may be interested in different things in different time.
The preview of the performances started with Bryan, a member of JUZ B, doing Beatbox.
followed by JUZ B
The trailer for THE BIG GROVE are shown to us.
There will be workshops and dialogue session for hip hop dance.
Singapore Street Festival has come to celebrate its 10 year anniversary with their opening under SHINE Youth Festival at *Scape. There will be performances and workshops at *scape. To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, they will be coming up with a concert and launch the album featuring the bands and the hip hop at the concert itself happening on the 24th July 2011, 7pm at Vivocity Amphitheatre.
the Roses are brought onto the stage to give media a preview of the performance.
COSMO Youth Parade as known as Mascot Parade will be back this year under the umbrella of SHINE Youth Festival with the theme : "COSPLAY I LUV". The parade will start at Orchard Central and end point will be at *Scape. Fear not if you do not have a costume of your own, there will be costumes for rental.
Some cosplayers invited to give media a sneak peek.
SMU students under the Inspirar project also gave media a demonstration of the seat exercise that they design for all ages to do at their own comfort. This event will be held at Kampong Glam Community Centre on 30th July 2011, 9am – 12noon.
to end of the Media conference, the comedian magician Kiki Tay was invited to perform for us.
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For the opening of SHINE Youth Festival the featured artistes lineup are :
Derrick Hoh
Ever since attaining 2nd Runner-up in Project Superstar, Derrick has won several local and overseas awards and accolades. His album sales reached Gold status in Singapore and his debut album hit No. 6 on Taiwan Best-selling Album Charts. Recently awarded Most Popular Singapore Artiste, Derrick also performed in various renowned events such as the various Torch Relay Venues of the 2010 International Youth Olympics Games.
DJ Koflow
Wayne Liu aka DJ KoFlow has been spinning music in numerous festivals such as the Youth Olympic Games, MTV Pattaya music festival, Floorskillz, Battle of the year, Beatnik, F1 Racing post parties, Siloso Beach Party, Chingay and The Asian Hip Hop Festival in Bangkok. Truly DJ extraordinaire!
Jack and Rai
Jack and Rai need little introduction as they have been performing regularly as an acoustic/pop-rock duo at popular clubs and nightspots since 2002. Their radio-friendly covers attract a large and loyal following. In 2006, they released their debut album of original songs.
Tay Kewei
Kewei started her career backing up and touring with some of the region’s biggest pop stars: David Tao, Wang Leehom, Amei and JJ Lin. Mandarin pop aside, she is also active in the English pop-jazz scene. In 2010, she launched her debut album, ‘Come Closer With…Kewei” with renowned record label S2S.
Bloco Singapura
Bloco Singapura is Singapore’s most spanking musical collective where their swinging samba and throbbing batucada beat has entertained many at numerous events including Zoukout ‘08, Chingay ‘09, Worldwide Festival ‘09 and the National Day Parade ‘09.
Juz B
This all-Malay acapella group caught everyone’s attention when they sang Mandarin songs throughout their tenure in Channel U’s Superband Competition. Known for their soulful performances and on-stage antics, the award-winning group is also a much sought-after act at local and overseas events.
Event Highlights of the opening as follows,
Pillow Fight
Just come and have fun and engage yourself in our massive pillow fun!
Percussion Workshop
Get into the groove as our street percussionists bring enjoyment of music to a whole new level!
Magic Workshop
Spot our magicians roaming around and surprising you with their fascinating magic tricks!
Photography Workshop
Get tips from professional photographers on how to achieve beautiful pictures!
Flea Market
Join us and grab all the cheap bargains before they are gone!
Once Upon a Mikshake Food Eating Competition
Challenge yourself and finish up the desserts as fast as you can!
Cosmo Youth Parade
Be there to witness the magnificent sight of 1,000 cosplayers parading down the street of Orchard!
Beatboxing Workshop
Challenge yourself to manipulate your vocal organs and project the beats and rhythm of a drum machine.
DJ Turntablism Workshop
Learn how to cut, scratch and spin from DJ Koflow, voted as the “Best Turntablist 2010”.
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SHINE Youth Festival 2011: BIGGER AND BOLDER
Annual SHINE Youth Festival set to encourage 250,000 youths to “Just do”
SHINE will be back in a spectacular way come 2nd July, with a launch event featuring Singapore’s first-ever multi-decked concept party in the heart of town at *SCAPE. Organised by the National Youth Council (NYC) as an annual youth for youth festival to celebrate and showcase youth talent, SHINE 2011 continues to be a platform for youths to indulge in their passion, demonstrate their energy and grow their skills and talents. The launch of SHINE 2011 does just that, featuring a wide array of top-notch offerings such as a mega mascot parade, quality dance master-classes by American choreographers and community service projects, finally culminating in a night concert featuring local and regional acts.
Bigger Party and Festival Line up
2 SHINE 2011 will be launched amidst a transformed*SCAPE, which will see four levels dedicated to 13 activities, spread throughout the building. The party radiates outwards, with a 1,000-strong mascot parade spanning *SCAPE and Orchard Road (Orchard Central), a launch concert at the Playspace @ *SCAPE, the Singapore Street Festival’s 10th Anniversary festivities and an Official Chill-out Corner by KIT KAT® for that much needed break during the mega party.
3 Youths will be treated to a star-studded show filled with successful local acts that could inspire them to follow their passions and take action as singing sensations Derrick Hoh, Tay Kewei, JuzB and Jack and Rai take the stageat the night concert. O School, a renowned hip-hop dance school, will also provide an exclusive peek into the groovy moves at Asia’s most awaited hip-hop convention -The Big Groove 2011.
4 Showing its commitment to continuously expand the platforms and opportunities available to youths at SHINE, SHINE’s line-up this year includes those by its fifth, and newest, marquee partner, *SCAPE. “*SCAPE is happy to be the newest addition to the list of marquee partners for this year’s SHINE Festival. As a home-base to diverse youth communities of interest, *SCAPE is excited to present events that can echo the Festival’s objectives of community involvement and showcase opportunities. Two key events presented by *SCAPE include the inaugural Street *SCAPE project, which invites all youth to come forth and show the part of themselves which represents their personality and life role; and the Art Park, which is a part of *SCAPE’s efforts to expose young people to various forms of art,” said Ms Lynette Lee, Managing Director of *SCAPE Co. Ltd.
Bolder Approach and Projects
5 SHINE is also about youth development. Mr Eric Chua, Co-Chairperson of SHINE 2011 Organising Committee, shares, “The Organising Committee has always been formed by youth leaders and representatives. This year, we were guided by highly experienced Steering Committee members hailing from youth sector organisations like the YMCA, People’s Association Youth Movement and the National Youth Achievement Award Council,” The mentorship model adopted by the Steering Committee allowed the youths access to their mentors’ network of resources and contacts, and helped them better exercise their ideas. The outcome? A bolder launch event concept, a wider array of activities and events throughout the month-long festival and, for the first time, the presentation of SHINE on a new platform. (Please refer to Annex A for a list of SHINE 2011 Steering and Organising Committee Members).
6 SHINE will be presented on a specially-designed Facebook game - power2shine.“July is the month for youths—the month for SHINE. SHINE is about encouraging youths to adopt the “Enough Talk Just do” attitude. The online platform is the preferred platform to act on amongst youths, therefore we pursued their idea of bringing SHINE to Facebook without hesitation,” said Mr Martin Tan, Chairman of SHINE 2011 Steering Committee. In power2shine, gamers have to overcome obstacles, challenges and zombies (or Tokkies) to gain the power to SHINE.
7 SHINE has also enabled youths to showcase their passion for the community. This year, students from the Singapore Management University (SMU) will take their community projects further by attempting to achieve two firsts during the Festival. In project Inspirar, SMU students will introduce the elderly to a self-defence routine-cum-workout session specially-designed for the elderly that matches their physicality and lifestyle. Another group will be setting a new Singapore record for “Most Number of Cars Washed in 6 hours” to raise funds for My Buona Vista Place. (For more information on projects and activities by SHINE’s Marquee Partners, refer to Annex B.)
8 SHINE Youth volunteers have also upped the ante, taking it upon themselves to brainstorm ideas to raise the profile of SHINE throughout the month. They have clearly demonstrated their energy and passion, picking up a performing art just to do this. Every weekend during the festival, the advocates will put up living-statue performances along Orchard Road.
9 This is SHINE’s 7th year, and it is targeting to encourage over 250,000 youths to adopt the “Enough Talk, Just Do” attitude through a host of youth events and activities, organised for youth by youth, throughout its run from 2 to 30 July 2011. For more information on SHINE, visit www.shine.nyc.sg.
On 10th June 2011, Friday, the sister group of AKB48; SDN48 held their first ever live outside Japan.
As part of the promotion for the concert, the SDN48 girls went to the Merlion park, and thereafter *Scape and walked along Orchard Road from *Scape to Ion with their SDN48 concert boards and gave out flyers to passerbys.
Photos are provided by AKB Singapore.
The girls are joined by a huge group of fans during the walk about and fans have chance to interact with the members. I was surprised when informed that they were about to walk along Orchard Road for promotion!
Photos taken by me with my mobile phone.
The concert queue started outside *Scape as early as 11pm the night before according the the fans in the front of the line. Many of them prepared boards for the girls too.
Below are the setlist of SDN48 1st Stage
00 SDN Overture [different from the usual AKB, SKE, NMB overtures, it contains a bit of seductive voice of the members]
01 Saturday night party
02 Never!
03 Black Boy
ＭＣ01 (Members introduction in English)
04 愛よ動かないで
05 誘惑のガーター [some lucky fans caught the garters that the girls threw out!]
06 I'm sure
07 オールイン
ＭＣ02 (Sayaka､Mami､Konan､Kohara)
08 ガンバリーナ [my favourite song of the set]
09 逃避行
10 佐渡へ渡る
ＭＣ03
11 愛されるために
Encore
E1 孤独なランナー
E2 ポニーテールとシュシュ
ＭＣ04
E3 誰かのために
ＭＣ05
How can the concert end without their Singles cover songs?
E4 GAGAGA
E5 愛、チュセヨ
Thanks to Animax for the pair of ticket for me and Kippei to attend this concert. I choose to enter the venue last to experience and observe the fans.
The concert was so great throughout the Warehouse that even the fans at the far back enjoyed and warmly respond to the members.
I would definitely like to see the other sister groups in Singapore to perform too!!
Heres the chance to get your tickets if you haven't for this Sunday; AKB 3rd Stage, Animax are having contest to give out tickets for AKB48 concerts.
From 6 June – 26 August, Mondays to Fridays, 8pm – 12am, a name of any of the AKB48 members will be shown on Animax (StarHub TV Ch532). Viewers can submit the name displayed each day atanimaxtv.com to stand to win the following prizes:
1. Up to 2 pairs of tickets to be won each day (S$50 per ticket)
Today (9th June 2011) marks a very important date for the girls of AKB48 family and their fans.
After a few weeks of voting, today its finally the result show.
Voting ended on 8th June 2011, 3pm Japan Standard Time.
And the result show is schedule to start on 9th June 2011, 6pm Japan Standard Time at Budokan.
Around 36000 fans around and outside Japan are able to catch the result show by being in the Budokan or watching it through the live broadcasts at 80 over cinemas.
This is the 3rd running of Senbatsu Sousenkyo also known as General Election. The top 21 positions will secure a place in the 22nd Single of AKB48 which will be release on 24th Aug 2011. From 22nd – 40th position they will form a group called the undergirls who will be feature on the other track of the new single.
Over the years the fanbase of AKB48 have grown and so do their sister groups. There are 152 members from AKB48, SKE48 and NMB48 fighting for the 40 spots. And all of this are decided by fans voting. The reach of AKB48 have spread far and wide, have Singapore as their 2nd base of regular AKB48 theaters, and AKB48 shops in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and the upcoming AKB48 Café which will be opening at *Scape at the end of the month.
The show at Budokan starting with overture, Banzai Venus (SKE48), Zetsume Kurokami Shoujo (NMB48), 1 2 3 4 Yoroshiku! (SKE48), Ponytail to Shushu(AKB Team KKS), Heavy Rotation (Undergirls), and Everyday, Katyusha (AKB48)
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