.: ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery :.

Donna, an independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, is about to let go of Sophie, the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends--practical and no-nonsense Rosie and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tonya--from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own.

I have to say I like this new 'movical' genre, it's not strictly a musical as there is dialogue and not everything is sung...and it uses all the songs from one band.

The last one I watched was Across the Universe, which used songs from The Beatles, it was a fantastic movie but I somehow didn't blog about it...anyway the next one is this, based on the music of the legendary ABBA we present you Mamma Mia!

The story is cute, pretty straight forwards but oh wow is it entertaining, I haven't been quite so entertained the whole way through, you want to laugh, cry and sing along. Of course it'd be better if you're familiar with the songs of Abba, but then most people are especially though *cough* of my agegroup.

The cast is good with Meryl Streep coining the term GILF (work it out please) and yes she is 59! If you are offended by wrinkly boobs on a 30ft screen then please don't watch this show. I don't think I've really seen Meryl Streep in a funny movie, but boy was she hilarious, especially with her two cronies and her performance of 'The Winner Takes It All' was moving.

Julie Walters is absolutely fantastic as usual, her closing rendition of 'Take a Chance On Me' had me in stitches. Obviously no-one in the movie could pass for a trained singer but it didn't really matter, the singing was incredibly real and emotionally charged and the performances were superb. Pierce Brosnan obviously can't sing for nuts but who wouldn't pay to see Bond sing 'SOS'.

The use of the extras during the songs was really really funny too and the Greek scenery was simply breathtaking. It was a beautifully filmed movie and the pace is fast, really fast...do try and keep up.

Plainly speaking this movie is cheesy and sassy and very very silly, it's just fun, plain and simple fun, the singing isn't technically good, the jokes aren't very advanced or subtle and the plot isn't complex..if you don't like ABBA please give it a miss...BUT if you hear an ABBA song and you feel like jumping on the dancefloor or singing along do go and watch this movie.

For me personally it's one of the most entertaining movies I've seen for a long time, I shall watch it again...and probably again and again. It shall be filed next to Friday, Clerks II and Jay and Silent Bob.

I give it a Dancing Queen 9/10.

I joined Hannah Tan and many other familiar faces over at Somo last week to check out her live acoustic session, just her and a keyboard! No dancers, no fancy production, no backup, no live musicians.

It was a little quiet at first but got busier as the night went on, Hannah arrived and settled down to start her performance.

The banner you see on the left..yes that picture was taken by me!

The audience were a little shy at first, but she soon got them warmed up.

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Coming Soon!

Very nice performance! A lot of familiar faces too.

So after James Taylor Quartet at Live and Loud 2007 came Hannah Tan!

Thanks so much Hannah for getting me access to the stage, backstage and the chance to mingle with the stars. It was an awesome experience!

To all the detractors Hannah CAN sing, even Suanie said so and she's brutally honest (mentioning Whitney's belly).

The setup was good, nice choreography, some piano work and some up-beat songs.It was a shame it was still daylight though as the light was rather flat and she had some good AV stuff and lighting.

She came on initially amongst a flurry of dancers decked in Blue and White.

Working the small but enthusiastic crowd (Plenty of shouts "Hannah we love you").

After that she got a bit warm and took her coat off - much to the crowds delight.

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Ah so Live and Loud 2007 - the most anticipated music event of the year! The largest stage to hit Asia - the same one used for Live Aid.

It had a pretty start studded line up with International favourites like Whitney Houston, K-Ci & Jojo, James Ingram, Kool & The Gang, Mint Condition, Dionne Warwick, Shaggy, Elliot Yamin, Lil’ G of Silk, Rick Price, James Morrison, James Taylor Quartet and more of course.

Alongside well known local talents like Hannah Tan, Dayang Nurfaizah, Jaclyn Victor, Joe Flizzow, Anuar Zain, Adibah Noor, Hazami, Noryn Aziz, Zainal Abidin, Nikki, and Dina (of Malaysian Idol fame).

I managed to catch the first night which was An Evening with Dionne Warwick in Shangri-La.

But Turn on the Pop was the big day with all the big stars and my friend Hannah Tan of course.

Hannah managed to get me full access so I could wonder around on the stage, backstage and basically wherever I wanted to. This went for ALL acts apart from Whitney Houston - but more on that later.

I went to explore around the stage and see what it was like, sadly the light was a bit flat in the beginning - we reached there about 4.30pm, Hannah was set to go on at 5pm. There was hardly anyone there so early. The weather was pretty nice though so it was good just to hang out.

Some dudes were playing when I first arrived but I had no idea who they were, shortly after that James Taylor Quartet came on and rocked it up with some jazz.

James Taylor himself tuning up.

The rest of the quartet strumming away.

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Ok so here we are, the full write-up! When I mentioned Dionne Warwick at the Shangri-La - Kuala Lumpur there wasn't much response, so sadly I can assume not many Malaysians know WHO Dionne Warwick is?

Well read this for a start: Dionne Warwick at Wiki

She's pretty much the second best female vocalist of all time after only Aretha Franklin and also note that out of the Billboard Hot 100 top pop singles from 1955-1999 she's #20 out of 200 artists.

Anyway, that aside - on to the event! We arrived about 7+ for the 'cocktail' reception - yeah with no cocktails only sirap ais or water. And this dinner is RM1000 per head, for the cheap seats! Apparently seats in the middle were about 3k per head and I hate to think how much the front row of tables cost.

So what else to do while waiting, pose a bit la!

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For 67 years old she sure does know how to rock the show. She can really work the crowd.

I was right at the back corner, so not a great view...and I didn't take a telephoto so no decent pics of her I'm afraid.

Here's one of me tho!

Yes I can look smart...ish.

Siti was there too with Datuk K. Here's Siti and some other hot chick.

I really enjoyed it, anyway just got back so will update properly later in the week.

So last week a couple of friends and I headed off to the new club at 1-Utama (Mardi Gras) to check out a private live session from our local star Hannah Tan commemorating her new album launch apparently.

The place was pretty packed, and we got there a bit late, but thankfully I managed to sneak to the front and get some shots in. I started out with a wide lens (17-50mm f/2.8) but it was too wide and not fast enough even open all the way at f/2.8.

So I switched to my 50mm f/1.4 which gave me enough light at f/1.8 and was about the right focal length!

She had back-up dancers, vocalists and a full band (with Alda on bass), it was pretty cool!

This guy was rapping too.

The lights were tough for photography, changing every second or so to a completely different colour...sometimes the same picture would have 2-3 colour casts. It surely made for interesting ambiance though.

I chose to use the available light rather than blasting it all away with high powered flashwork.

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