Blog Posts by Fann Sim

Army Daze turns 25 this year and marches back with a new cast! (Yahoo! photo)

Remember the five 18-year-old recruits who made Basic Military Training (BMT) look so fun in the Michael Chiang's comedy "Army Daze"?

To celebrate the play's 25th anniversary, Malcolm, Ah Beng, Johari, Krishna and Kenny will put on their green uniforms again and return to the stage at the Drama Centre Theatre in August.

Joining them in creating military mayhem will be Singapore's most talented comedians Dennis Chew, Chua Enlai and Norleena Salim.

And the person charged with turning these boys -- and girls -- into men (and women) will be director Beatrice Chia.

Songwriter-producer Don Richmond, Chia's real-life brother-in-law, will also refresh the much-loved play with his original compositions.

Army Daze "4G"

At the production's press conference on Thursday, Chiang said audience can expect to see fresh jokes and materials in the new Army Daze, because, well, the army has undergone several changes since the 57-year-old enlisted for national service in the 1970s.

"Right now things are

Vasu (Pulkit Samrat) is besotted by his childhood muse Meera (Pallavi Sharda) and sets out on a journey to find her and express his undying love. (Photo courtesy of De Ideaz)

Hop aboard the Taj Express and experience an India that is bursting at the seams with energy and life.

The 120-minute musical chugs through Mumbai, the city of dreams, to Agra, home of the greatest symbol of love -- the Taj Mahal.

The audience will witness a love story between Vasu, a street-smart thief with a heart of gold, and Meera, a girl who is on the run to unite with the man of her dreams. Fate leads them to the Taj Express where the hero tries to win the heart of Meera.

Produced and directed by Shruti of the famous Merchant family, the musical showcases a variety of performances including drama, traditional Indian dance and quintessential Bollywood, and beautiful moving sand paintings shown on a big screen.

"It's as good as watching a Bollywood movie on stage. There's high drama, it makes you want to dance with it, cry with it, laugh with it, makes you want to have all possible human emotions with it, and that is what we try to achieve with this shows, to trigger those

(Photo from her Facebook page)

One of Singapore's leading lights in the arts and theatre community has gone out.

Emma Yong, better known as one-third of musical cabaret group Dim Sum Dollies, died from stomach cancer late on Wednesday night at the age of 36.

Yong had suffered a relapse of stomach cancer late last year and had to pull out of Dream Academy's annual year-end show Crazy Christmas.

She had earlier been diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer in January 2011. It was reported that tumours were found all over her spine, womb, pelvis and kidney.

While she responded to the first course of chemotherapy and beat the cancer into remission, it relapsed last September and she soon had to resume aggressive chemotherapy sessions.

Yong is survived by her husband Jerry Lim, whom she married last year.

Fellow theatre actress Neo Swee Lin broke news of her death on Twitter at 12.26am on Thursday morning when she tweeted, "RIP darling Emma. Angels bear you aloft. Our performing family has lost one of our greatest

21-year-old Ukrainian model Valeria Lukyanova resembles a Barbie dolls. (Photo from VK)

"I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world, life in plastic, it's fantastic" line sung by Norwegian group Aqua could easily apply to 21-year-old Ukrainian model Valeria Lukyanova.

She appears to have doll-like facial features, long blonde hair, a tiny waist and huge breasts that are disproportionate to her figure. In most of her photos, she puts on a vacant stare and her skin looks flawless with a waxy finish.

Valeria Lukyanova has been called the real-life Barbie. (Photo from VK)

On her blog, the "real-life Barbie" claims to be the most famous woman on Russian websites, and is interested in new age music and "astroplaning".

The model gained popularity online over the past week as her photos generated much discussion online. Many people questioned whether she is indeed a real person who has gone under the knife or someone whose images have been edited through Photoshop.

As of Friday evening, she had 161,350 followers on her VK, the European equivalent of Facebook. A video spoof of her has also been produced by Taiwan's New Media Animation (NMAtv) and uploaded

More beers and entertainment at the biggest ever Beerfest Asia. (Photo courtesy of Timbre)

Over 50 new beers will be making their debut at this year's Beerfest Asia, including a special "world's favourite" Früli strawberry beer brewed with pure strawberry juice from Belgium.

That's right, Beerfest Asia 2012 is back to delight the palates of beer enthusiasts from 7 to 10 June at the Marina Promenade.

The four-day lifestyle and trade outdoor festival, currently in its fourth year, will showcase over  350 labels of beers from Asia and the rest of the world.

Music will also feature heavily in this year's Beerfest, with the world famous all-female AC/DC tribute band Hellis Belles from the United States and Australia's all Star SuperGroup, which plays rock cover hits by Oasis, Dire Straits and ZZ Top.

Festival go-ers can also look forward to having their funnybones tickled as Comedy Club Asia returns with a line-up that includes funnymen Colin Cole, Matt Price, Jonathan Atherton and local comedy trio The Sons of Singapore.

Tickets from S$15 onwards are on sale from SISTIC (

Russell Peters adds second night in Singapore. (Getty Images)

Good news for those who missed out on tickets to hit comedian Russell Peters' Singapore gig on 5 May.

The Canadian funnyman has added a second night, the 6 May, to the Singapore leg of his "Notorious" World Tour to cater to the overwhelming demand.

Tickets for the second show at the Indoor Stadium are priced at $178, $148, $128 and $98 and will be on sale from 19 April onwards.

Russell Peters has spent the last three years setting attendance records around the globe. In 2008, he had the largest comedy show in UK history at London's O2 Arena with 16,000 fans. He repeated that same feat in 2010 at Sydney, Australia's Acer Arena, where he had the largest comedy show in Australian history with over 13,000 fans.

In March of this year, Peters became the fastest selling concert in Dubai history. His two shows in Dubai sold‐out in eight minutes ‐ faster than Madonna.

The 41-year-old shot to fame after his rip-roaring stand-up performances on Canadian TV comedy series Comedy Now! which were

Evac, the new Autobot created for this ride. He is stationed on Earth and has never been in combat with the Decepticons before -- a bond that he shares with the latest human recruits of NEST. (Yahoo! photo/Fann Sim)

Step into the world of Autobots and Decepticons when you visit the new "Transformers The Ride" at Universal Studios Singapore.

At the world's first theme park ride based on the Transformers movie, you will be recruited by the defense facility NEST to help the Autobots protect a remaining shard of the AllSpark -- a powerful energy cube that breathes life into the Transformers.

[See pictures of the Transformers ride launch here!]

The facility is attacked by the Decepticons and these fresh recruits hop onboard a new stealth transportation Autobot called Evac, a new character specially created for the ride, to evacuate from the city with the AllSpark.

The four-and-a-half minute ride takes up to 12 recruits each time. Recruits donning 3D glasses will zip through subway tunnels, down city streets and across rooftops with seven Decepticons (Megatron, Ravage, Sideways, Grindor, Devastator, Bonecrusher and Starscream) hot on their wheels.

If you are planning to go for the ride, however,