NDP '07

Went to the NDP at Marina Bay today. I'm part of history sia cos this is the first time NDP is being held at Marina Bay, on the world largest floating platform. Also this is the first time I went to the actual parade ground....

After leaving CityLink, I headed towards Marina SQ, expecting to see a lot of direction signs to the entry point... But I guess, there is a lot of improvement to be done in this area. I can only see two signs: 1 at the escalator after you left CityLink and another almost parallel to Starbucks (telling you to turn at Starbucks!!!) and it's hidden at the far left side of the corridor.

Went in at around 4pm cos the ticket said be seated before 4.45.... But it turns out that they have lots of performances before 4pm... Anyway, admission and security check is quite fast, except for the goodie bag collection point... It's quite messy there, no order at all.. You can see people jumping queue, cluster themselves at the collection point. Hey, why can't they just queue up properly? There will always be enough goodie bags to go around, no need to scare will be out of stock mah. Maybe next year, the organiser should enforce a 1-man lane at the goodie collection point.

One thing I don't understand is how people are choosing their seats at the grand stand. They just simply cannot make up their mind on where they want to seat and in the end, causes a lot of trouble for the people behind, resulting in a jam. Oh ya, the uncle sitting beside me is ultra enthu!!! Enthu at flagging the flag... Enthu at shouting out... Enthu at taking photos... Enthu at donating to ComChest. ComChest donation boxes will be passed from another side, but he so enthu that he drop his dollar into another box meant for another column. His companion (think his wife) even chide him, telling him dun need to be so gan chiong, the box will be passed around and reach him eventually...

The performance is great, kudos to those who put in the hardwork and time to bring us the unique performances. The only thing I'm disappointed at is the one whereby the commandos glided down Sheares Bridge. The pyrotechnics display totally cause the commandos to be invisible. The pyrotechnics is shown when before the commandos glide down and still showing even after the commandos have achieved their mission. I really wonder if there's any cockup in the timing as the pyrotechnics really 喧宾夺主. The defence segment is also quite chaotic and messy to me as 1 segment follow another within 1 sec, maybe even overlap each another, have to seach high and low for the next part of the segment sia. I know the planner dun wan any gap, in order to maintain the tight and fast pace atmosphere, in order to let us have a feel of urgency. But to me, it's just too fast for me to enjoy.

The rest of the performance is great as I've said. The most special of all is the water screen behind the stage, whereby different images are being created. Make full use of the fire and water. But hor, most of the time, I duno what's the meaning of the show, can only seat back and enjoy the dance nia. Cos, different from watching from TV, there's no live commentary. Your only source of info is inside the info booklet given out at the goodie bag collection point.

The fireworks is great, but still not as beautiful as the one that I saw in HK disneyland. This year a bit different cos you can see some some ones being let off from those commercial buildings. The songs part is abit strange. The orchestra played a Chinese piece, but it's Jacky Cheung's 想和你去吹吹风. No link leh. The choir also quite 废, think they only sing 1 piece nia (Stand Up for Singapore). Then some songs like Di Tanjong Katong, Chan Mali Chan etc sound so unfamilar cos they did a remix and add in new elements (think is R&B or hip-hop). No wonder I dun feel anything when Juz B and Sheikh Haikel were singing it, just simply feel that duno what kind of rubbish they were singing! Childhood memory wiped out for the sake of introducing new elements. No wonder we have to keep on searching for a Singapore Culture, cos they were wiped out when there's new things. Sorry, I'm just simply too old fashioned liao. Things that accompanied me in my childhood should be left intact. Memories are not meant to be insulted... The Dim Sum Dollies' performance is really great. "Singapore Town" still sound like what it used to be, though with some updates like reference to Esplanade. With doses of Singlish here and there, it's easily the most entertaining performance before the parade marched in. Really please when they get Kit Chan in to sing at the Earth segment. Her voice is really nice. Too bad, they didn't get her to sing "home"...

When "We are Singapore" is sung, and the pledge is taken, it truly make me feel proud to be a Singaporean... Truly 感动... To see everyone of us so united together... I guess you can only feel it at the actual ground itself...

This post seem rather negative hor, but I guess it's just a reflection of : "People only see and remember the bad things; Whatever that were done right is expected"...