Kidzania - C's first visit

Last Saturday, more than one year after Kidzania's launch in February 2012, Caitlin got to experience this kid's edutainment indoor theme park that everyone in town has been raving about. Firstly, the entrance fee was quite a deterrent for our single-income family -- RM60 for Malaysian kids above four years, RM35 for adults who are required to accompany children below eight years, higher fee for non-Malaysians. When it first launched, I felt that it was rather pricey but now I can see why and feel that it is quite justified considering that other theme parks here and overseas also cost as much, if not more. If C had not pestered us for it, I don't think I would have made a conscious effort to take her there as to me, this place is not a must-see, must-go kind of place.

Secondly, I kept hearing that due to its popularity, it's always very, very crowded, especially on weekends, school and public holidays, and I simply hate going to crowded places. That meant that there'll be queues everywhere all the time -- queue to enter, queue to participate in the activities, queue at food outlet, maybe even queue at the toilet. Having to queue for everything just takes the enjoyment out of going to such places and wastes a lot of time. The opening hours during non-peak periods (weekdays, and if you're lucky, certain weekends) are between 10am to 5pm, while during peak days, there are two sessions i.e. 10am-3pm and 4pm-9pm. I guess this is to help them manage the crowd and capacity for each activity.

According to its website, "KidZania Kuala Lumpur is an indoor family edutainment centre which offers an interactive learning and entertainment experience for kids in a kid-sized city to deliver the first-of-its-kind edutainment fun. The KidZania experience is about real-life experiences, empowering, inspiring and educating kids through role-play."

Kidzania has over 90 interactive and fun learning activities at more than 60 establishments. What the kids do is go to the various establishments they would like to try their hand at the particular career offered there, for e.g. the dental clinic to be a dentist, and get paid for the work they did, in Kidzania's national currency, kidZos (notes) and Zents (coins). They can also spend their 'money' at the establishments, for e.g. at the hair salon where C got her hair tied into pigtails.

We were lucky that last Satuday was not a peak day in Kidzania's calendar. I had purchased the tickets online a few days before (you can buy it there too if you don't mind queueing) so when we arrived, we headed over to 'Air Asia terminal" (main lobby entrance) to get the 'boarding pass' and wrist tag.

Kidzania Kuala Lumpur International Airport showing locations of other Kidzania cities around the world

 

 Ticketing counter

 

Wrist tag

Among the careers C participated in were news reader, dentist, bricklayer, secret agent, baker (made real Oreo cookies), chocolatier (Cadbury chocolate factory), supermarket cashier, security guard delivering money to the bank, and telecommunications engineer. After earning and spending her money, she went to the bank to open an account and deposited the balance. They gave her an ATM (which actually works apparently) so that the next time she visits Kidzania, she can withdraw her kidZos from the ATM and use it. In between the activities, she took a lunch break at the 'food court' there. You pay with real RM currency when you buy food there. Food sold is kid-friendly. To give you an idea of pricing, a plate of spaghetti costs RM15.

 A little firefighter working hard at putting out a blazing inferno

She spent a total of about five hours there. For peak days where they have two sessions, you are required to leave one hour before the next session begins.

C enjoyed herself that day with two of her cousins and would like to go again to try out other activities, one of which is to learn how to drive a car. You can also go to medical school to get certified as a doctor. If you do that, you earn more kidZos when you work as a doctor at the clinic/hospital.

In my opinion, Kidzania is an interactive fun place for kids to experience role-play in an environment that is as real as it can get, which will be hard to replicate at home. There is a little bit of learning involved although at a superficial level. I guess that's because each activity is limited to a certain period of time for a limited number of kids each time.

Note the capacity, duration and height restriction for certain activities

 

Like many theme parks, they take photographs of your kids participating in the various activities and offer them for sale. You are not obligated to purchase any but if you wish, one picture costs RM15. After purchasing the picture, they provide you with a link to download soft copies for free, as stated in the brochure they give you (see picture below). That's quite a good idea. I wish other theme parks offer this benefit so that we could at least have a soft copy saved in the event the expensive hard copy gets torn, fades or lost.

 



Children's theatre, adult's movie

On Sunday afternoon, C went with two of her cousins, uncle and aunt, to watch a children's play called 'Kleting Kuning and the Giant Crab'. It was held at PJ Live Arts at Jaya One. She enjoyed herself . I was told there was some audience participation and she volunteered and got chosen to be the 'scroll bearer' and ended up getting all wrapped up in the scroll it seems. I guess the theatre people tried to make things fun and funny for the kids to enjoy. From the PJ Live Arts website, the synopsis for the play says this:

Kleting Kuning is often bullied by her sisters, who jealously compete for the hand of a mysterious stranger. A fierce giant crab threatens to destroy their dreams but the quick-thinking (and quick-moving) Kleting Kuning with her MMA (Martial & Magic Arts) skills has some surprises for him! Find out if her dreams come true in this interactive stage adaptation of a classic Javanese folk tale!
Box of Delights Theatre for Children strives to entertain, educate and inspire young audiences by drawing from legends, literature, and historical lore of different cultures from around the world. Directed by Marina Tan, each show offers interactive, energetic, playful performances featuring wholesome, inspiring, sometimes thought-provoking and often wildly entertaining dialogue and song.
Box of Delights: KLETING KUNING & THE GIANT CRAB is performed in English and runs for approximately 45 minutes.

 

While C was at the play, E and I killed time while waiting by catching 'Life of Pi' at a cinema nearby. The movie was good but like most screen adaptations of novels, there was some artistic licence used. Some scenes which were not in the original novel were included, and usually it's some romantic scenario, which in this movie it was. We felt it was not quite necessary as it didn't impact the entire movie that much.



Bieber fever

Caitlin's interest in Justin Bieber (JB) has waned a little compared to the earlier days of 'Baby, Baby' and other songs in his earlier album (or albums?) as JB has been overtaken by boy-band One Direction (OD) recently. She will belt out OD's 'What Makes You Beautiful' and 'One Thing' in the car when it comes on the radio, and even in the shower....

However, when MTV held their MTV World Stage 2012 concert here in KL on July 14 with JB as the opening act, the 'Belieber' (his latest album is 'Believe' and popular hit is 'Boyfriend' -- that's as much as I know), she said she wanted to go to the concert. She was lucky as E managed to get passes (no tickets sold) as his company was one of the sponsors.

The concert was a standing-room only type at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach.
We got there on time and the place was super-crowded. The weather was good but being Malaysia, it was terribly humid, and out in the open, with thousands of bodies inches away from each other, you can imagine how much heat and sweat were produced. E had to piggyback C on his shoulders most of the time for her to see the stage or large screen on either side.

The crowd, as expected in popular concerts, were hyper with their cheers and screams, and there were many carrying posters bearing crazy-fan messages like "I love you Justin", "Will you marry me, Justin?" etc etc. Being among the crowd made me feel old .....and I had to resist rolling my eyes (at least my hairs didn't stand!) with all the young girls screaming everytime JB said something cool like "swag" or flipped his hair.....

JB sang for quite some time, then the other performers, K-pop girl group Kara, Korean singer Jay Park and our own Mizz Nina, took over.  After two hours watching JB and Kara, C said she had enough so we left the concert and headed over to the mall for dinner. C was happy :)

And this is what I meant about all the crazy screaming fans....found this (there's many more) on YouTube.



And this is the 10-year-old crazy fan:

Family Fun Day with the MPO

Every two months or so, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra showcases a weekend of performances called Family Fun Day. There are usually three concerts -- one on Saturday afternoon and two on Sunday afternoon. This one-hour performance is tailored for families, and young children including pre-schoolers can attend. It is a good opportunity to expose children to music as it allows them to experience first-hand the orchestra and classical music.

Yesterday, ACE attended the MPO's latest offering which featured two composers who lived around the same period in the 19th centry, Tchaikovsky, a Russian, and Smetana, a Czechkoslovakian.

The guest conductor was Nicolae Moldoveanu, from Transylvania (the land of vampires, he joked), who had a thick accent which made it a bit difficult for C to catch what he was saying. It was also a bit difficult for us adults to catch his jokes while he interpreted and explained the musical structure of the two compositions the orchestra was performing. Nevertheless, it was an educational experience for me as well, learning the interpretation of the various sections of the pieces, the stories behind the music so to speak. After a short explanation, the conductor would make the orchestra play that particular part he had talked about, and he went on from one part of the piece to another till the end. Then finally, the orchestra played the entire piece for us to enjoy.

The Tchaikovsky piece was the 1812 Overture, while Smetana's was his well-known and popular Vltava.

While Wikipedia may not be the best source at times for information, it is usually a convenient one. You can learn about the 1812 Overture here, the musical structure section is similar to what the conductor described. And here's a sample of the piece I found in YouTube.

Meanwhile, this excerpt from Wikipedia is similar to what the conductor explained about Vltava: The composition describes the course of the Vltava, starting from the two small springs, the Cold and Warm Vltava, to the unification of both streams into a single current, the course of the Vltava through woods and meadows, through landscapes where a farmer's wedding is celebrated, the round dance of the mermaids in the night's moonshine: on the nearby rocks loom proud castles, palaces and ruins aloft. The Vltava swirls into the St John's Rapids; then it widens and flows toward Prague, past the Vyšehrad, and then majestically vanishes into the distance, ending at the Labe (or Elbe, in German).

Listen to the piece and see if you can pick out from the music the various scenes described above.

London - The Summer Musical

This musical is currently showing at the Sunway Lagoon Amphitheatre until 8 July and the good news is if you have a Maybank credit/debit card, you get 50% off all tickets which are priced at RM80, RM100 and RM150, with additional RM3 admin fee per ticket. You can purchase the tickets online via a ticketing website but if you want the discount using your Maybank card, you can only get it at the ticketing booth at Sunway Lagoon theme park.

ACE enjoyed the show. It was C's first experience watching a live musical. We got the tickets earlier in the afternoon from the theme park ticketing booth and proceeded to Sunway Pyramid mall for dinner before the show at 8pm. Entry to the amphitheatre is via the Surf Park entrance. We had to walk a bit and take a few escalators downwards before arriving at the point where they ferry you to the amphitheatre on a tram. The tram ride was also fun for C. It was our first time entering the theme park. The amphitheatre is open-air with high roofs and gigantic fans to circulate the air. Luckily, that evening was not too humid and there was a slight breeze blowing.

The storyline is simple. Three air stewardesses from New York are on a 48-hour stopover in London and they had plans to paint the town red. In the process, they found friendship, rekindled love and reignited their passion for singing. There's enough song and dance to keep you entertained throughout the entire two-hour performance, with a 15-minute interval in between.

According to this review, six of the main actors are from London's West End. The set and lighting are well done for a relatively small stage in my opinion. And the choice of songs quite good, ranging from old and new songs including those of Bruno Mars, One Direction, Lion King, Abba and James Bond 007.

Non-flash photography is allowed but flash photography and videotaping are prohibited.

You are also not allowed to bring outside food and drinks. They check your bags before taking your tickets and we had to finish up a bottle of juice I had in my handbag before being allowed to enter. Luckily C was allowed to bring in her own water bottle. There is a concession stand at the entrance selling some snacks and drinks. There are also sellers carrying trays with food and drinks walking around in the theatre but mind you, one canned drink cost E RM5 (normal price from a shop is RM2) and a small cup of sweet corn for C was RM6 (normal price RM3)! I don't mind paying a little more but double or ridiculously-beyond-reasonable is just too much. I just don't get it with these places and the companies that bring in international entertainment. This always happens, overcharging on food and drinks....and souvenirs too at times.

Dolphin Tale

Movies these days are jumping into the 2D and 3D trend bandwagon. There's a new movie that's just been released (in the US that is...) that has been reported to even top other new ones this season.

The movie I'm talking about is a family-friendly one, based on a true story about a dolphin that was rescued. The dolphin lost its tail when it got injured and infected from being caught in a trap, but was eventually fitted with a prosthetic one (amazing!), all these in the backdrop of a budding relationship with a young boy who was very attached to it. The actual Dolphin named Winter stars in the movie alongside one of my favourite singers who also acts -- Harry Connick Jr., and Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson and Morgan Freeman.

I'm looking forward to catching this movie with my family when it opens in Malaysia. Caitlin would certainly love it as she loves animals and animal stories. Some of her favourite animals are dolphins, cats, dogs, tigers and other big cats.

Here are two trailers for Dolphin Tale.

Harry Connick Jr

I like Harry Connick Jr. He's a good singer and musician/pianist, and he acts too. Some of the moives he's acted in are Memphis Belle, Independence Day, Copycat and New In Town.

Check him out here singing and playing:

Spotlight on the drummer girl

C's drum teacher has been making videos of his students playing their favourite song and it's no surprise that our Justin Bieber fan chose 'Eenie Meenie' to perform in her video, posted by teacher via YouTube.

Bieber bleah!

This worldwide frenzy about Justin Bieber has reached my doorstep! While popular mass media coin it as 'Bieber fever', I feel a bit hot in a different way about this teenager that's got all our young ones bopping to his tunes. It goes without saying that his genre, if it can be considered one (how do I classify his songs? Rap? He says here that it's not a specific type of music, 'just good music'... *eyes rolling*) is meant for generation Z, not the old soul in me who prefers pre-80's music. But still, what are his songs promoting or teaching kids of this generation? Look at what's portrayed in this video and its lyrics for instance.



Eenie meenie miney mo
Catch a bad chick by her toe
If she holla (if, if, if she holla) let her go

Shes indecisive
She cant decide
She keeps on lookin
From left to right

Girl, cmon get closer
Look in my eyes
Searchin is so wrong
I'm Mr. Right

You seem like the type
To love em and leave em
And disappear right after this song.
So give me the night
To show you, hold you
Dont leave me out here dancin alone

You cant make up your mind, mind, mind, mind, mind
Please dont waste my time, time, time, time, time
Im not tryin to rewind, wind, wind, wind, wind
I wish our hearts could come together as one

Cause shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lova
Shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lova
Shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lova
Shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lova

Let me show you what your missin
Paradise
With me you're winning girl
You dont have to roll the dice.....

C enjoys his tunes and the rhythm but I doubt she gives much thought to the actual meaning of what she's singing along to. But with repeated viewing of such videos and repeated singing of such lyrics, what's the subliminal effect?

She discusses with her classmates about this babyfaced-perfectly-coiffed-hair boy every now and then, and they probably get their latest info from one of the girls' older sister who together with her own classmates are also very likely suffering from the fever.... talk about viral marketing!

While we can't entirely prevent (and we're not being realistic if we do) our kids from enjoying the likes of Bieber or other negative influences, we need to prepare and strengthen them to have the right view and values relating to the opposite sex, boy-girl relationships, proper dressing and behaviour, etc.

So the fever rages on and C has asked her daddy to compile a CD of Bieber's songs (together with another new collection of Christian songs, mind you, haha!) for her to listen to in the car. Meanwhile, daddy (are you reading this, daddy?) and me have to look out for teachable moments to remind her about what's right and wrong....

Parenting, parenting, parenting - the joys and sorrows of it all.

Girls' afternoon out

Last weekend, E was away in Penang for work so on Saturday, I took Caitlin to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was the second movie we've watched in 3D this year. The first was How To Train Your Dragon which till today she is still raving about. We both thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Caitlin was screaming, chuckling and exclaiming very loudly at all the funny and exciting scenes i.e. almost throughout the entire movie. Luckily, the cinema was dark (read: mommy will not be recognised and be embarrassed by her loud kid!) ) and everyone was too engrossed in the captivating movie to stare or glare at us for the noise she was making!

It was an enjoyable movie, with a rather touching scene towards the end. A number of friends who had already watched it told me to be prepared with some tissues. Luckily we didn't have to use the tissues! Amidst the humour and fun of the story, there was the underlying message of loyalty, love, sacrifice, family bond, courage, optimism, faith, true friendship and acceptance.

Caitlin's favourite part was when Buzz Lightyear had been accidentally switched to Spanish mode. It was very funny indeed actually.


Check out the official site here for more info, trailers and online games for children (and adults too, why not?). There are quite a number of fun online games plus activities to play and do.

One, two and three years ago on video

Since I opened the 'time capsule' of Stories of ACE, I thought it'd be fun to open the one for my YouTube account too. As I don't post videos as often as I blog, I've chosen the clips that are circa the relevant periods. The video clips are not very clear as they were taken using my mobile phone.

About one year ago, Caitlin performing with her Yamaha JMC classmates:


About two years ago, Caitlin doing an impromptu 'dance':


And about three years ago, Caitlin dancing and singing to her then fave song:


And compare them with this rather recent one of Caitlin and her classmates performing at her school concert. She is the fourth girl from the left, in the checked mini skirt

Countdown to the parties

The past few days has seen me busily finalising stuff for the two parties on Friday and Sunday. Yesterday, I received the bulk of gifts and stuff contributed by parents for the children's hampers for Children's Day at school. The small bag for each child that I got using part of the PTA's sponsorship allocation was too small to contain the generous contributions, so luckily E brought home some freebie non-woven bags (the recyclable type that's so popular these days as corporate giveaways) for me and last night, we packed all the things into the bags. I'm expecting a few more packages today and on that day itself. The kids will be so happy to get them I'm sure. They'll be getting a lunch bag (with Ben 10 design for boys and Princess ones for girls), an activity puzzle book, a Rubik's cube, some stationery, toys and assorted snacks. The day will start off with entertainment (organised by the school) for the kids in the school hall. After that, we'll have the class party with food and games contributed and organised by parents.

As for Sunday's birthday party, we're expecting a very good turnout from Caitlin's classmates. Almost all of them (20+) will be coming based on the RSVPs. That will add up to about 30 kids (including cousins and friends) dancing and jumping around!I've also finished packing all the party packs and have just to finalise the food for that day. I should get it done by tomorrow as whoever I decide to get the food from will definitely need some notice. It shouldn't be too difficult as I'm not planning a large spread since it's around teatime. Some finger food for the adults and children alike plus drinks should do. Anyway, the venue is a dance studio and does not cater for proper sit-down functions.

Good morning

E and C left two hours ago for school and work and it's all quiet now after the initial morning rush. Next, I've the day's chores ahead. While I slowly work up the motivation to get moving along, I have these to accompany me this quiet, gloomy (due to the haze) morning. Makes it even harder to get moving with such soothing music!

He looks like a girl

Caitlin, being born only seven years ago, did not have the slightest inkling of who MJ was until last Saturday when she saw me watching follow-up programmes on tv about him. Her first comment when she saw him was "He looks like a girl".

And yesterday, at drum lesson, she played to his song "Scream". She also told her teacher that he looks like a girl.

Bye bye MJ and Farrah

I'm a few days late in jumping on the MJ-Farrah-death-comment bandwagon. What was MJ to me? I am not a huge crazy fan but I liked some of his songs. And his dance moves were great. I was surprised to learn of his death when I chanced upon the breaking news on CNN as I was channel surfing last Friday morning. Another music great gone. Saying that he did impact the global music scene during his 40-odd years career is an understatement.

As far as I remember, my kid brother JK and I were first aware of MJ when he got the Grammy in 1983 if I recall correctly. We got the Grammy awards cassette compilation which included hits like Culture Club's 'Do you really wanna hurt me", and a Cyndi Lauper song which I can't remember its title right now. I think it also had MJ's Billie Jean. And JK would play that cassette every morning without fail and we were getting ready for school to the sounds of 'Beat It'. And it was every morning indeed for quite a long time after the Grammy awards heat subsided. What a way to start the day. Ha ha.

Then during my early working days in the early 90's, Black or White was a prominent feature in most clubs when some friends and I used to go out once awhile to let our hair down. And when MJ was in KL to perform, he stayed at Concorde Hotel which was right next door to the office building I worked in then. I remember the traffic outside was crazy as people were slowing down to see if they could catch a glimpse of him. And the window of ladies' washroom of my office looked out to the windows of the hotel rooms so everytime I went for a pee I'd look out the window to try my luck. I read in the papers that the suite that MJ stayed in that hotel is now named the MJ Suite.

As for Farrah Fawcett whose life was taken by anal cancer, I kinda feel the loss as she featured quite prominently in my primary school days when tv was still black and white then. My classmates and I used to love watching Charlie's Angels and we had lots of pictures of her (among other then tv and music stars) in our 'entertainment' scrapbook. In Standard Three, my classmate AMC, was the first to start a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine cutouts of pictures of these stars and the rest of us followed suit. We'd compare and check out each other's scrapbooks every now and then. Her hairstyle was "wow" and I think her iconic red swimsuit poster with her dazzling smile was regarded as scandalous then for a smalltown nine-year-old girl like me. Although she was not my favourite angel (it was Jaclyn Smith cos I thot she was the prettiest among the three), I did like her as she completed the trio.




A 1983 pic - this is how I remember MJ to be before plastic surgery changed his face.

Lost

I got tired of listening to Caitlin's Barbie Prince & Pauper CD in the car. She's been listening to it for two weeks straight and singing along with it like she's practising for Malaysian Idol. So yesterday, instead of leaving the CD in the player and listening only to our commercial-packed radio stations, I stuck in our bootleg version of Michael Buble.

Some people like him. Some people don't. I'm neutral. This song is nice.

Wild West vs Bollywood

Compare the Best Original Song in the Academy Awards of 1953



and this year's

Autumn leaves

This is an eight-minute video worth watching which combines the unique styles of jazz and classical by two great Singaporean teams - Jeremy Monteiro and T'ang Quartet. Such effortless and flawless playing.

O Holy Night

Various versions of one of my favourite Christmas songs. Always gives me goose bumps. The one by Mariah Carey does not allow embedding so you need to watch it here.

The Rose

Some say love, it is a river
that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger,
an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower,
and you its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance.
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance.
It's the one who won't be taken,
who cannot seem to give,
and the soul afraid of dyin'
that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long,
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong,
just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed that with the sun's love
in the spring becomes the rose.

- sung by Bette Midler