THE 2011 ACADEMY AWARDS

So here's my thoughts on tonight's ACADEMY AWARDS:

BEST PICTURE: The King's Speech

Although I don't agree with the new 10-picture nominee system for Best Picture, I am glad that King's Speech won. It's a great intimate film that focuses on the relationship of two different men amidst the backdrop of royal politics and WWI. See it if you haven't yet, it's magnificent!

BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper for The King's Speech

Great film but not an astounding achievement in direction in my opinion as the acting and writing really make the film for me. In my opinion, Fincher got robbed!!!

BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman for Black Swan

Agreed, she was awesome, fragile, violent and haunted all at once!!!

BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth for The King's Speech

Well, well deserved. Firth knocked it out of the park in this role. Fantastic!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo for The Fighter

Can take or leave this one. Leo was good but not as memorable as Bale and his performance.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale for The Fighter

Agreed, Batman was amazing in this part. One of the strongest performances all around this year!

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: David Seidler for The King's Speech

Agreed, this was a fantastic script that focused on the relationship between two very different men from different worlds.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network

Well deserved, this is a fantastic film with deep characters and riveting dialogue. I never thought I could enjoy a movie about Facebook but I was wrong plus Sorkin is a proven writer (The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sports Night)

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE: Toy Story 3

Wow, this must be the political win of the evening as How To Train Your Dragon is clearly the more original and far superior film over this cashgrab threequel!

BEST FX: Inception

Agreed, any awards this film picks up are worth it!

BEST SOUND: Inception

Agreed, any awards this film picks up are worth it!

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Wally Pfister for Inception

Agreed, any awards this film picks up are worth it!

BEST ART DIRECTION: Alice in Wonderland

A beautiful looking film indeed! Rich in color but dark in tone, it's like Tim Burton's mind exploded and the Art Team put back together the pieces to create this world.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland

See above. Very cool costumes and reimaginings of those classic characters!!!

BEST MAKE-UP: The Wolfman

Say what you will about the overall film, the practical Wolfman make-up were dynamic and frightening. Award well deserved.

There you have it, I can't comment on the job Franco & Hathaway did as co-hosts as my Oscar experience was based on updating IMDb in Singapore from time to time rather than being at Wally & Geo's house in Vancouver for an Oscar Party. Until next year...

DREAM JOB PART 2

While it has been well documented that I am living the dream by working for Lucasfilm, Michelle has finally been given the opportunity to live one of her dreams as well. A few weeks ago Michelle started a full-time 5-month contract with WWF SINGAPORE. No, not the wrestling federation but the World Wildlife Fund. As a Project Coordinator for this International Team she will focus on Outreach on a bunch of different topics including sustainable seafood and saving the Sharks (it's shocking how many are left to die simply for the fins to be part of Shark Fin Soup - yes, sharks are endangered). I'm super happy for Michelle as this new job is challenging and exciting and now it's true when we say "we are living the dream"!!! Congrats Michelle and save those sharks!!!!

SPRING CLEANING

Chinese New Year has come and gone but with that, I've given the Blog a new paint job for the new Lunar Year. Same great CORSIWORLD taste but with an all-new package...

BATALI TIME

I was excited when Singapore opened a Vegas-style Casino with the Marina Bay Sands. I was really excited when word came that some "Celebrity Chefs" would open restaurants at said Casino. Then, I became super excited when I found out that one of those restaurants would be MARIO BATALI'S MOZZA. I've been a fan of this Iron Chef since I tried his eateries in Vegas at the Venetian but I never tried his legendary Pizza. So when Mozza opened, we checked it out, dined like gods and loved every bite of it. Me thinks that the Batali name would be very popular in Singapore!

A few weeks later, we were eating Valentines Dinner at the DB Bistro Moderne (which was great as well) and as we walked out, lo and behold, there's the man himself, Mario Batali, talking on the phone. Turns out, he was in town for the week to check out his new place, he was extremely pleasant, we chatted about Vancouver and Singapore and then I was lucky enough to grab a quick pic. Michelle got to meet him as well but before a second pic could be snapped, he was off! At least we got to meet one one of our favorite chefs in person, a great way to end Valentines Day! Thanks Mario Batali!!!

RUN TO THE HILLS!!!!

Since 1975, the Heavy Metal band known as IRON MAIDEN has been rocking stages all over the world and in 2011, I finally got the chance to see them live! I've been a fan of Maiden ever since I heard their single 2 Minutes to Midnight off their fifth album Powerslave in 1984 (thanks to Michael Arnold for introducing me). I then went on to hear some other works by the crew including their '82 album The Number of the Beast and one of my all-time favorite Maiden tracks, Run to the Hills.

You see, I was a little chubby rocker back in the day as I was a fan of bands like Van Halen (still am), Kiss & Motley Crue and I considered Iron Maiden the last member of my "Metal Fearsome Foursome". I've seen both Kiss and Crue live once, Halen live three times and now I can add Maiden to that list. My fearsome foursome is complete.

So anyway, Maiden is on "The Final Frontier" tour promoting their grammy winning album and they came to the Singapore Indoor Stadium which was completely sold out. Guess what, they were awesome! They kicked ass and the crowd loved them, for 120-minutes of old and new metal. They have definitely aged but they are still rocking out and lead singer Bruce Dickinson can still belt out the hits including 2 minutes to Midnight but not Run to the Hills (I guess he cant hit those high notes anymore).

This little metal head finally got to see some childhood favorites live and I for one am extremely happy I got that chance. They lived up to the hype and they gave it their all and yes, I would gladly see them again!

THE LOVE OF LAGNAA

As you faithful Blog readers are fully aware by now, Michelle and I love good food. We love to read about it, we love to cook it and we love to try out new restaurants in whatever city we are hanging our hat in. But whenever we find a really good one, we make sure to become repeat customers and whenever we find one that we truly love, we make it our second home.

Such is the case with LAGNAA BAREFOOT DINING. Now, this name should not be a mystery to you if you've seen our photos or have come to hang out with us here in Singapore, you've most likely seen pics from our adventures or had the pleasure to dine there. Michelle and our friend Brett stumbled upon this place in 2009, when they were showing my parents around Singapore and we've been going back since! Lagnaa is an Indian restaurant like no other, it's located in the aptly named Little India district on Upper Dickson Road, nestled between a bunch of historic buildings with extremely subtle signage, so blink and you'll miss it. When you walk in, you are greeted by bright yellow walls adorned with the comments of happy customers past singing their praises about the amazing food, the amazing service and the amazing memories they had. The bottom floor is mainly comprised of the kitchen and a handful of tables with a trophy wall of survivors from their monthly "Chili Challenge" (more on that later), while the other wall is decorated with pictures of happy customers and signage promoting all their activities and there are a lot of them. Upstairs is the namesake of the eatery, barefoot dining. Shoes off before going up the stairs and there you will find a relaxing room in muted tones with low tables where everyone sits on cushions on the hardwood floor. It's casual, pleasant and all around relaxing.

What makes this place work is the staff, it's a small core crew of familiar and friendly faces that do all of the hosting, cooking, serving and cleaning (They share all the duties). SHANTI and KUMARI, the two ever-pleasant hostesses and ofcourse the energetic Head Chef and owner of the place KAESAVAN (known as K7). These three not only make each experience at Lagnaa memorable, they have also become friends of ours here in Singapore. They are always open to letting you ask questions, share a joke and sometimes they will even take you into the kitchen to experience the heat of the tandoor oven. They treat their establishment like their home and they treat their friends like family.

Like I said, the family at Lagnaa is more than just about serving food, they offer a whole host of other experiences as well:

• THE FULL MOON PARTY & CHILLI CHALLENGE: A monthly party where K7 cooks up some amazingly spicy Masala and a friendly competition is held to see who can eat the spiciest dish. Put it this way, there are 10 levels of heat, no one has done level ten, only one person has done level nine and only five people have done level eight. I am personally a level seven and don't know if I can go any higher but that doesn't mean I won't give it a shot one day - it tastes that good.
• MENU TASTINGS: Each month, Lagnaa does specials and in an attempt to find out which special dishes are worthy of going on the menu, they hold a tasting night. Regular customers are informed of the date and time and the first 10 people to respond to the call are invited to the tasting. Each chef comes up with a few dishes, the customers taste each one, votes are tallied and the winning dishes make the cut. The chefs love it, the customers love and in the end, our bellies love it.
• SLAVE LABOUR: Volunteer for a few hours of service at the restaurant and be rewarded with a great meal - seems fair to me! Michelle has done this and loved it, she got to hang with the staff, serve some tables and indulge in some tasty food.
• COOKING CLASSES: Every few weeks a cooking class is held where K7 teaches the secrets behind his awesome food. We've done this before and will definitely do it again!

Which brings me to the real reason we frequent Lagnaa so much, the food. Spellbinding!!! The Indian dishes that K7 and his team come up with is just astounding. Traditional delicacies with a hint of flair, modern takes on classics and just some really fresh, really flavourful comfort food. We always try something off of the specials menu but then we always order our favorites as well: Cranberry Naan, Chili Cheese Naan, Dahl Makhani, Prawns Goa, Butter Paneer, Fish Curry, Aloo Gobi, Mutton Masala - the list goes on and on and no matter how many times we dine there, each time we taste it, it tastes absolutely fantastic.

So thanks Lagnaa, thanks for the continued hospitality, thanks for making us welcome, thanks for feeding us with hearty goodness and thanks for the memories old and new. See you again soon!

LAGNAA BAREFOOT DINING

No. 6 Upper Dickson Road

Little India, Singapore, 207466

+65 6296 1215

JANUARY 2011

After our trips to Vancouver and San Francisco, we settled back into life in Singapore with our friends. Good food, good times and ofcourse lots of memories. In January, we found a kick ass BBQ place (finally as it only took 1.8 years) called Smokey's. Brett celebrated a birthday with a visit from his mom and a great homemade Southern-style Breakfast. John & Lisa moved into their new place on the 43rd floor! We tried out Mario Batali's new place Mozza at the Casino! Stuart held a Scotch Tasting and we ended the month with a great night of Rock Band.

All in all, a strong end to the month that started on the other side of the planet! Enjoy the pics HERE!

THAILAND BOOKED!!!

We are going back to KRABI for a weekend in March! Why?

1) Good deals on flights

2) Michelle really wants to go rockclimbing

3) Relaxation

4) The food

There are other countries to explore and other parts of Thailand to see but when you find a good deal, you take it and thus we did! See you in a few weeks Krabi!!!