Blog Posts by Fann Sim

K-pop singer PSY got local fans to gallop for "Gangnam Style". (Photo from Marina Bay Sands)

Over 4,000 fans came from all corners of Singapore to see the man of the moment, Psy, in the flesh and they certainly didn't go home disappointed.

Young and old, male and female and from teens to parents who brought their young 'uns to see the "horse dance" master himself, every one rocked out to the free three-song showcase from the "Gangnam Style" master himself.

Safe to say, by the end, Park Jae Sang aka PSY, 34, had the crowd eating out of his hands by the end.

Dressed in his trademark black suit and sunglasses, Psy launched into his three-song setlist with rap number "Champion", to which he got the fanatical audience to chant "Champion, Champion" with him.

The audience were supercharged with PSY's catchy music and dance. (Yahoo! photo)

"Show me energy and I'll show you energy. I want every single person to jump!" he yelled midway into his second song, "Right Now" as he stopped the music to get people to dance.

Maybe it was because the audience were saving themselves for the best but they finally exploded into life as Psy, by now transformed into a sweaty,

Fans do "Gangnam Style" dance when they collect tickets. (Getty Images)

There were no long queues and some came on their own or in groups.

But it's clear who and what they came for: a prized ticket to the free one-hour showcase performance by Korean superstar Psy this Saturday evening.

The 4,000 fans who were lucky enough to land a free ticket through Marina Bay Sands' (MBS) Facebook page promotion came to collect their coveted ticket in person on Wednesday at Marina Bay Sands' Expo Convention Hall from 12 to 9pm.

When Yahoo! Singapore was there from 11am to 1pm, mostly teens and some working adults turned up for ticket-collection process, which was largely quick and hassle-free.

Eugene Lim, a 21-year-old student, said he will be attending the showcase alone as he was the only one among his friends who managed to get the tickets.

"I'm not a K-pop fan but I like the song and dance, so I attended a dance lesson just to learn the 'horse dance'," Lim said.

Watch as some others had a go at doing the Gangnam Style. Lucky for them, they've got a few more days to

The movie, and now the song, is going down well with Singaporeans.

The catchy, uplifting melody that is "Recruit's Anthem" -- the theme song of Jack Neo's latest production -- is going viral.

Composed by YouTube personality Tosh Zhang, who goes by the stage name Tosh Rock, the song was written specially "Ah Boys to Men", a comedy about all male Singaporeans' famous rite of passage -- national service.

The 4-minute song has garnered almost 300,000 views and over 450 comments on YouTube over the past two weeks.

Zhang raps:

As a boy in Singapore
you gotta do your thing
step up and serve the country
gotta do your thing
5 BX
every morning has
become a routine
wonder why I gotta serve
once I turn 18

Zhang told Yahoo! Singapore that he was inspired by his own memories and experiences as a recruit in Tekong back in 2009. He spent a couple of weeks writing and composing the song and most of it was written on set in Tekong. In his own words, Tekong was the perfect songwriting environment for

Felix Cheong, author of Vanishing Point, thinks that youths will eventually get sick of the social media buzz. (Photo courtesy of Felix Cheong)

Felix Cheong, one of Singapore's best-known poets and authors, believes that youths will eventually get tired of the social media trend and develop "Facebook fatigue".

"At the moment, young people are more interested in things like social media, texting and posting irrelevant stuff on social media. After a point, they will find that it is not fulfilling," said one of the featured writers at this year's 10-day Singapore Writers Festival.

Cheong, 47, is the author of eight books, including four collections of poetry, two young adult novels and an anthology of interviews. His latest work is a collection of short stories about missing people in Singapore titled "Vanishing Point".

Hopeful that that the younger generation will return to reading books in a big way before distractions like social media came into the picture, he said writing a letter is far more tactile and emotionally-engaging than a text message.

He also believes that reading is still relevant to young people because of a

Ugly, violent fan behaviour at concerts. (Photo courtesy of Sim Xuan Wei)

Kicked, elbowed, pushed, scratched in the face and tufts of hair clawed out.

Certainly not what you'd expect from a concert but this is exactly what two fans at last weekend's Big Bang concert got for their money's worth.

20-year-old students, Wendy Wong and Sim Xuan Wei, were first-hand victims of extreme violent fan behaviour during the full-house show at the Indoor Stadium.

Having paid S$231 each for the mosh-pit where fans can get up close to the stage and band members, they said they expected some pushing and shoving, but never in their life were they prepared for what happened.

When one of the band members, G-Dragon, threw his black jacket in their direction at the mosh pit, about 20-30 fans launched themselves towards the jacket to grab it for themselves.

"The jacket flew towards me and I was covered by it. The next thing I knew, I got pushed onto the floor as the group of fans around me fell," Sim said.

"For a while, I lost sense of what was happening and grew breathless,

Singapore Portraits wants to explore questions such as "What do Singaporeans fear?" and "What do foreigners fear?" (AFP file photo)

A multi-disciplinary art project involving photos, video and a play seeking to bridge the local versus foreigner divide will be travelling through five Singapore heartlands next month.

Called "Singapore Portraits", the art show is based on 1,000 conversations with Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners alike over issues such as inflation, housing, foreign talent competition, foreign student quotas and national service.

Presented and organized by LASALLE College of the Arts, the project is a collaboration between LASALLE alumni, lecturer-artists and industry professionals and will travel to Boon Lay, Woodlands, Toa Payoh, Marine Parade and Bedok.

It seeks to answer tough questions such as "What do Singaporeans fear?" and "What do foreigners fear?" in a way that will shed light on each other's identity, perspectives and sense of belonging.

Mr Rashid Saini, Project Leader of Singapore Portraits and Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts said, "Through art, we hope to foster

Join #CookForFamily and start bonding with your family through food! (Photo courtesy of Daniel Ang)


Up to 100 Singapore food bloggers are cooking up a storm this month by encouraging ordinary citizens to cook for their families.

The objective of the month-long initiative in July? Simply to get more people — other food bloggers, their fans and the wider online community — to start bonding with their family through food.

"Many of us are too caught up [with] work that we forgot about spending time to bond with the family," said local food blogger and Radio 100.3FM deejay Daniel Ang, who first thought of the idea.

"The meals don't have to be very complex and elaborate," Ang told Yahoo! Singapore. "It can be as simple as a plate of fried bee hoon with vegetables," he added, a dish he himself cooked for his mother for lunch.

To date, Ang has gathered 100 bloggers for the mini-fete. The participants — such as actress Silver Ang and pageant queen and aspiring singer Cheryl Wee — will pick a day in July to cook a meal for their loved ones and blog about the experience on 6 August with the