Yahoo! Singapore Answers blog

Well, not me, me. But if I were Princeton, the main character of the musical Avenue Q, it would definitely suck to be him! Talking about Avenue Q, the Singapore Repertory Theatre is bringing this naughty musical to our doorsteps starting 30th October at the Esplanade. Why do I call it “naughty”? Well with song titles like “The Internet is for Porn”, “If You were Gay”, “I’m not Wearing Underwear Today” and “You can be as Loud as the Hell You want (when You’re Makin’ Love)”, you can just imagine how entertaining this show will be. This musical is one of the top shows on Broadway and London’s West End. But what makes this musical different? Imagine watching an adult version of Sesame Street on stage…

Some of the cast members and puppets.

Avenue Q was first conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and won several Tony Awards when it was staged on Broadway. Most of the characters are puppets and the main lead is Princeton, a fresh college grad on a search for the purpose in his life. While looking for a place to stay in New York, he stumbles onto Avenue Q and meets Brian, an out-of-work comedian, internet porn addict Trekkie Monster, kindergarten teaching assistant Kate Monster, Lucy the Slut and others. They are mostly in their twenties and thirties and face adult problems about life, work, money and relationships.

Felix Rivera as Princeton.

Well I’m happy to say that we’ve got onboard Yahoo! Answers 3 of the casts from Avenue Q with us this month! First up is Felix / Princeton, the university fresh grad. I’m sure all of us have wondered at some point in our lives what our purpose in life is. When we’re fresh out of school, we wonder, what do I do now with my degree? What do I really want to achieve? When we’ve worked for some years, we’ll think again, do I really want to work like this for the rest of my life? Where is the satisfaction in my life? What kind of mark do I want to leave upon this earth?

What do you think is your purpose in life?

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And in 3 more days, Singapore will see the dust fly from beneath the spinning wheels of the sleek F1 race cars.

A McGregor Car

Yes, Singapore will be hosting the world’s first Formula One Night Race! It’s like watching Daytona, Gran Turismo or Need For Speed come to live. I used to love playing these racing games (even though I always crash into the walls) and the image that remains quite deeply in my mind was the scene where I “drove” my race car through the city streets at night. And it’s finally coming true! Though if you take a look around the designated route in Singapore, with all the spotlights blasting down, I think it’ll look more like “day” instead of “night”!

Padang Grandstands

Glitz aside, there are a lot of firsts in this race. It is the first night race, the first time F1 is hosted on Asian city streets, and the first time Singapore will be mentioned on the “global sports map“. The self-named “Monaco of the East” is hoping to attract an estimated 40,000 overseas visitors and expects a revenue to the tune of 100 million dollars. The Yahoo! Singapore Editors have posted up the question to all of you: “How excited are you about the F1 coming to Singapore?” Are you excited about this historical first in Singapore? Granted it’s the famous F1 (and we don’t have to go to Malaysia for F1 now), and it’s happening right at our doorstep. But, look at all that traffic congestion due to the road blocks! Personally, while I may like to play car racing games, I find the actual car races a total bore. So to me, I’m not really that excited about F1 coming to Singapore, I’m more concerned about the traffic jams and buses being routed to spots far away from their original stops.

The traffic jam along Nicole Highway.

And to think that Singapore has the race contract for five years, with an option for another two. Oh dearie-me. Well to each their own. So here’s wishing Singapore that the F1 will go with a bang this weekend! As for me, I’ll be hiding away comfortably in my hidey-hole away from the crowd. What about you?

Watch out for the F1 Grid Girls!

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You know how we’ve been having these “Taking a breather” pages lately right? I know it has been very annoying for some of you, sorry! But the Yahoo! Answers Team would like to inform you that while we’ve been taking a “breather”, *pant pant*, we’ve also fixed the following outstanding bugs!

(Photo many thanks to Wesley Sng Photography)

• Emails - these are now sent to your contacts when you submit a question. And when you receive an email about a new answer, the text properly describes the answer.
• Dictionary - there are now more words in the spell check function! So when you ask or answer a question, and need help with the spelling, the correct word should appear.

We will keep fixing those pesky bugs and develop more new features for all of you. So whenever you see a “Taking a Breather” page, please be patient! We’re just trying to make Answers better for you. If you have any other suggestions, comments etc., please leave a note!

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A very good friend of mine got married on Saturday. As is common in Singapore, there was a flurry of events: from the Sabotage-the-Groom Games, to the tea ceremony, the church wedding and then the grand dinner at night. As it was the first time I was one of the “sisters” of the bride, the whole experience was a big eye-opener! We had a very tame Hen’s Party as my friend refused to have a stripper around (Why not, right? How many of you married girls out there had strippers on your Hen’s Night?), so what we did was a total pampering session for our feet and hands. Yup, a manicure and pedicure session! It had to be one of the longest pedi & mani sessions I’ve ever been though, we finished everything nearly about 11pm! Perhaps due to the elaborate design my friend had on her nails. She had to wear gloves after that to protect the designs! (o.O) The price of beauty. Hehe!

On the actual day itself, I must say that the bride’s “Sisters” really look forward to the part where we get to sabotage the groom before we allow him to come into the house and fetch the bride. But according to the groom’s “Brothers”, we were very nice to all of them. We only made them sing and dance, that’s all. The only highlight was the pole dance the groom had to do JUST before entering the bride’s bedroom. And all to the tune of the “Brothers” singing ‘Mary had a little lamb’. In fact, it was the “Brothers” who egged the groom on to dance sexier! LOL! What about the married men out there? What crazy things were you made to do before you could fetch your bride?

While these are the fun parts of the wedding day, the most touching moment would have to be the wedding mass itself. As both parties are Catholics, they celebrated their holy matrimony in church. It has to be one of the most nervous moments in my life as I was tasked to make the announcements and such. What if I fumbled and said something strange in front of all their relatives and guests? Her mom would kill me! (o.O)

But thank goodness everything went beautifully well. What about for those of you who are married, how was your big day like? Maybe you can share any funny or touching stories with us?

p/s Charlie Yeung, the HK actress and singer, was there at the wedding dinner, but I didn’t manage to see her! Dang it!

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It has been many, many moons since I was a food critic under the Wine & Dine magazine, but looks like it’s time for my inner foodie to emerge and comment! We organised a special by-invitation-only flickr food tasting event last evening at the Yan Ting restaurant at St. Regis hotel. As next Sunday is the Chinese Mooncake Festival, what better than to have a few slices of mooncake and sip fragrant tea?

Well, I’ll tell you what’s better:

1. 6 different and innovative types of snow skin mooncakes! Exquisite and oh-so unique.
2. Pairing that with multiple cups of fragrant and delicate floral and traditional teas.
3. A super knowledgeable host explaining the different tones of tea, whys and hows of the various mooncakes paired with the recommended teas.
4. An elegant setting at Yan Ting.
5. A small intimate group of flickr food bloggers who are really passionate about food!

It was the first time that we’ve thought of bringing flickr food bloggers together: food, photography and community; what can be a better combination? Hence our first partnership with St. Regis, specially inviting a select few flickr users, who also blog, to come for a food-tasting session: mooncakes! It was held last evening, at a private and cosy corner in Yan Ting chinese restaurant.

We were all given a very warm welcome by Wye Leng, the Director of Marketing Communications at St. Regis, who told us a very interesting fact that the St. Regis hotels worldwide have their own versions of the Bloody Mary, which is their signature drink. Can you guess what the Singapore version is? It’s made with chili padi instead of tabasco sauce! How interesting! So with such creativity at hand, aren’t you curious as to what kind of mooncakes they can conjure up? Well I shall just highlight 3 out of the 6 different types they had which left a deep impression on me.

1) Almond Snow Skin with Premium Bird’s Nest and Custard Paste

The Almond snow skin with premium bird’s nest and custard paste was also their most expensive mooncake. Perhaps due to the edible gold on top of the mooncake? Yes! Gold! I should have secretly scrapped it off for sale. The combination of fluffy custard, creamy snow skin infused with almond milk and strands of Bird’s Nest brings to mind the light and airy clouds in the sky. A light chrysenthmum and wolfberry tea complimented the whole package perfectly.

2) Almond Snow Skin with Advocaat Egg Liqueur Truffle and Black Sesame Paste

If you look at this mooncake carefully, doesn’t it remind you of a bright full moon in the darkest of nights? What you are seeing is actually rich, black sesame paste with a special egg concoction in the middle. I say concoction because this is no ordinary salted duck egg yolk! It’s mashed salted duck egg yolk, mixed with liqueur and wrapped in a chocolate truffle shell. Hence your senses will be assaulted with sweetness and saltiness all at the same time. The black sesame paste can be a little overpowering, but it goes really well with the St. Regis’ Dammann Freres’ Paul & Virginie blend of tea which hints lightly of caramel and vanilla.

3) Bloody Mary Snow Skin with Custard Paste

Yes, you read it right, it’s really Bloody Mary, the drink! I had reservations upon hearing the name of the mooncake. Keeping in mind that I’m a traditional sort of girl, I’m queasy enough with snow skin mooncakes, but bloody mary snow skin? However, I have to admit that this has to be the most interesting mooncake I’ve ever tasted. Interesting because it doesn’t even feel like I’m eating a mooncake, instead, I feel like I’m eating a complete meal with each bite. Perhaps it’s the eggy-goodness in the custard, perhaps it’s the slight savoury taste of the skin (with a spicy tinge as an after taste), I really don’t know. But this is one mooncake you just have to try for yourself.

I must say that overall this was a successful event. The flickr users had a really good time taking lots of photos of the mooncakes and rows of tea cups. We had great fun trying them and learning so much about the different Dammann Freres tea and the various mooncakes. Many thanks to St. Regis, and happy mooncake festival!

The chefs and our host, Danny Chan.

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Last evening I did the impossible. I completed the 10km Nike Human Walk Race! 10k may not be much, you may say. But to someone who has not been to the gym (and didn’t do any body warm ups, argh mistake!) for more than half a year, it was an extremely long and painful journey. But this is not purely just a race, though there are a few superhumans who completed the whole F1-worthy route within 30 minutes (they are not human!). As you will see from the photos below, it’s also about friendship, personal perseverance, and comradeship. I spotted many couples either walking or jogging along each other, giving constant encouragement. I saw friends, laughing and supporting each other. There were Nike volunteers standing at every few hundred meters cheering us on. It really felt as if there were no boundaries between strangers, we were all in the same boat, and together we can do it.

The Running Kit provided by Nike.

All the Yahoos preparing to run!

Getting into positions.

Warming up in front of the Spiny One.

All pumped up by the Rock music that was blaring from the speakers.

When the runners are tired, it became the Human Walk. LOL!

Cheerful Nike Volunteers cheering us on and providing directions to the lost sheep.

Happy friends running on.

We had different bands at different parts of the route reviving our energy and spirits with music!

This, unfortunately, was not a pretty sight. I wonder how many trees were killed for all those paper cups used.

Another couple running steadily on.

First Aid on a Bike!

Friends @ 5km!

As with all races, one will see “corpses” along the way.. this was the remains of someone’s unlucky shoe. LOL!

Jubilant friends doing the final sprint!

Was that the Nike Human Race mascot or a fellow runner???

At the Finish line!

And after the long, arduous journey, time to party!

And this is what you receive after running / jogging / walking 10km, a commemorative wristband!

If you spot yourself or any of your friends in these photos, leave a comment! Till the next one… Thanks Nike! I managed to do the unthinkable and finished the 10km route.

p/s Check out the Nike Human Race Flickr Group!

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What are the similarities between Yahoo! Answers and your loved ones? No, your loved one is not a walking Q&A. No, you can’t hug Yahoo! Answers while you sleep. The similarity is…. we sometimes take both for granted! You know how sometimes when we take our loved ones for granted, we can be quite rude to them? Well, we can be rude because we know that deep inside, they love us, so they will forgive our rudeness. But of course there is a limit to how rude we can be before we actually hurt them. So similarly for Yahoo! Answers, we take each other for granted and will sometimes forget and reply questions with rude answers.

So here we go with Community Guidelines 101 - Be Courteous! “Courtesy helps foster a respectful and knowledgeable community, and that benefits everyone.” Don’t forget that Yahoo! Answers has a huge diverse community of people with different opinions, so it’s up to us to be polite and treat each other with respect. I’m not asking you to be a stuffy old shirt, but please refrain from insulting the other members and calling them or their replies to the same question “stupid” or worse. That’s not very pleasant nor mature. I’ve seen some of those instances in Answers and I shall not name any names, but do bear in mind that rude and offensive replies will be reported and deleted. Let’s just make Yahoo! Answers a pleasant place for all of us to share our knowledge, experiences and opinions by following the simple Community Guidelines.

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As with anything new and trendy in Singapore, one must be prepared to queue. Singtel will be launching the long-awaited iPhone in Singapore starting tomorrow! Yes, the iPhone has finally arrived at the Little Red Dot while other choice countries (*ahem* Hong Kong *ahem*) have already seen, touched and *gasp* used the finger-happy communication device.

(Photo thanks to Jakrapong)

Many folks in the office have been asking around wondering if it’s really worth parting with a huge sum of money per month to Singtel just to have the opportunity to own THE 3G iphone that seems to be taking the world by the storm. A colleague of mine is already using the older version of the iPhone and even though I must admit the photo-taking function on her phone is much better than mine, I still don’t see what the fuss is? Call me old fashion, but I prefer my phone to be simple - easy to send sms, can personalise my ringtone, can take simple photos - ok!

I feel that a mobile phone should never try to be more than just a phone. If I want a portable music device, I’d rather buy a professional portable music device. If I want a camera, I may as well buy one with 8+ mega pixels and a great optical zoom. If I really want to surf the net, I’d even rather get one of those mini laptops than increase my eyesight by squinting into the tiny screens. Think of it this way, we can definitely do all that on a mobile phone this day and time, but would you rather carry a slim and light phone or one that’s starting to look like a flat piece of ciabatta bread? I’d rather stick to my slim phone, thank you very much. What about you? Will you be there at Singtel’s shop bright and early tomorrow morning?

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Thanks to all of you out there, the question posted by Yahoo! Singapore Editors, “How proud are you of Singapore’s female paddlers securing an Olympic medal?” has received 1025 answers! Hip hip hooray!

This is the first time we’ve received more than 1000 answers since the Yahoo! Singapore Editors started asking the community questions in the last week of June. And I think this is just incredible! Thank you and keep up with the great answers! But I’ve noticed that some users have been abusive and insulted other fellow users. Please refrain from doing so as everyone is free to voice their own opinions (but not insults!).

We’d appreciate any feedback on the questions we’ve posted so far, for instance, are the questions asked interesting? What made you want to answer them? etc.

In the meantime, enjoy the next question, “Do we need to resort to matchmaking to increase birthrate?“!

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… the Table Tennis ladies! Singapore’s hopes for an Olympic medal (after waiting for nearly 5 decades) could finally come true. At 2.30pm Singapore time today, we will take on South Korea in the table tennis semi finals which will be shown live on Channel 5. While Malaysia’s Olympic hopes are banked on their Badminton shuttler (who thrashed our own Ronald Susilo quite badly), all of our eyes will be focused intently on Li Jiawei and her table tennis team today.

So far Singapore has done quite alright (besides a few which one shalt not name). Tao Li has done us proud by being in the Swimming finals and Bryan Tay rewrote the national record. What do YOU think of Singapore’s performance at the Olympics so far?

(Photo thanks to geckoam)

So cute! Why don’t we have Animal Olympics?

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