First of all, a very big Thank You to Shaw Organisation and Channel 5 for giving me this chance to go to Los Angeles, for this very rare and once-in-a-lifetime experience to see my favourite stars from The Twilight Saga.

In short, my experience there was very awesome! It was my first time going overseas alone to a faraway place, going to an event like this, and having such a close up experience with my favourite stars!!! It is so freaking awesome!! Although the weather there was very cold, it didn’t dampen my spirits for the event. First of all, I got to make a lot of new friends from all over the world at the event. And I even had the chance to meet one of the casts, Casey Labow (who plays Kate Denali in the ‘Breaking Dawn’ movies). I got to take pictures of her and managed to get her autograph too!

She’s an absolute beauty! And we hung around at the reception area for awhile more, and we were being ushered to the long and beautiful black carpeted area for the red carpet experience. The fans camping out there around the red carpet were crazy! But if it was me in their shoes, I would be just as crazy or even crazier as them because I absolutely love Twilight! And of course Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner! Woohoo! J

And so, we took photos with the backdrops (the movie posters) and the awesome BREAKING DAWN carpet. The awesome fans. The huge crowd of the media there. And then we were being ushered again into a VIP area of our own to join in the red carpet frenzy! We waited there for 1 hour or so before the stars started arriving and the fandom started! Screaming everywhere, boards and posters and signs full of the stars’ names were held high up in the air. It was the greatest atmosphere ever!! Definitely way more awesome than from what I imagined watching it on the net or on TV.

Then we got the “news” of the casts reaching the venue by hearing the fans outside by the road screaming every time a car pulled up and the actor or actress alighting from the car. Looking at the big screen right in front of us to know who they are (casts like Gil Birmingham, Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Kellan Lutz (SCREAM!), Michael Welch, Justin Chon, Booboo Stewart and lots of other heartthrobs!) and listening to their interviews. (I even saw Bruno Mars walking past!) Then when the main casts finally walked to our side, our cameras went flashing away and taking pictures of them. Our books or papers went right into the front to get their signatures. But it was another hard thing to do because the press is right across from us. And the stars had to run there for their interviews and run back to us again for our pictures and autographs. But sometimes, the cast won’t be able to get back to our side because their assistants or bodyguards with them will be pulling them away to more reporters waiting down the aisle. But we were lucky that the lovable stars are really nice to come back again just purely for us after all their interviews.

And finally, the most important people of the night. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner! The three of them arrived last and they brought the atmosphere to yet another climax. And the other fans (including us who won the contest) were so warm-hearted and enthusiastic that the camera flashing and autographs took such a long time that it delayed the premiere time for up to 1 hour! I managed to snap pictures of most of them, but the most wasted and most regretful incident is that I didn’t manage to snap any full frontal pictures of Taylor Lautner and any pictures WITH the loves. (crushes wall) But nevertheless, I still managed to get Taylor Lautner’s signature and pictures OF the casts! That’s considered a small consolation I guess. J

Then we saw the stars and the special VIP guests being ushered into the Staples Center and we followed but we went through another entrance. Got our bags checked for no recording devices and then went in to the HUGE theatre which is almost as big or even bigger than the Indoor stadium of Singapore. And the huge screen. Settled myself down and started watching the show. I was sucked into the show from first sight until the movie ended. Throughout the movie, there were cheers, applause, and “awww” sounds, and “woo yay” sounds coming from the crowd and it was so awesome. I bet the director, Stephienie Meyers and the cast who were sitting in the theatre too felt our excitement and happiness. We could feel ourselves at the wedding itself and there was a scene when Jacob cried in the show, I teared up abit too (sniff!), I think some of the other fans must have teared too. And there were shouts of “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob” sounding out through the whole hall. And cheers for Kristen Stewart too!

When the movie ended, there was a huge round of applause as if it was a live performance. My new friends whom I met there even saw Robert Pattinson’s father over at the venue and took pictures of him. The souvenirs from this trip are really very precious to me. The cups printed with the Breaking Dawn promotion picture. The magnet sets and the bookmarks. The chance to go to Los Angeles for the world premiere! It really was a once in a lifetime experience. Although the flight was really long, it was worth the while. To be able to see my Twilight loves and take photos of them and get their autographs. I still cannot get over the excitement and I really wish I will be able to win again for the part 2 premiere haha! Thank you Shaw and Channel 5 for this wonderful experience and for giving me the opportunity to share this with my fellow Twilight fans! ♥

The cheer of the crowd could be heard across London. Trafalgar square had been home to a riotous and abnormally loyal group of fans for the past 3 days and 2 nights… the day had finally come for the cast and crew of Harry Potter – The Deathly Hallows Part2 to walk the red carpet, and not just any old red carpet. Its one of the biggest red carpets the world has ever seen and I was lucky enough to be right in the middle of it all!

As we walked in through security along the media end of the red carpet towards the grand staircase outside the National Gallery, the squashed bodies of the fans became apparent. It was an endless sea of lighting scared foreheads and Hogwarts scarfs, screaming and ponging from their (for some) 2 nights out on the streets under the wet and cold London weather.

Some of the fans I spoke to had travelled all the way from Argentina, Australia, America, Belgium, Sweden and other obscure destinations across the world where Potter mania shone brightly. It was a forced to be reckoned with, at one point whilst I was interviewing a group of girls, to my right there was a lot of commotion coming from the security and a lady in her 50’s or so. Next thing I hear is “I need to get out!! But all of you guys can go to hell if you think im giving up my space at the front as I’ve been here since Monday!!” … It was Thursday today. I was in disbelief at how much of an impact this franchise had on people. Especially it being the last ever premiere of the movie. 7 books and 8 movies all bottled into one evening, all that emotion filled to the brim about to be unleashed on the expecting young starlets.

We arrived in the square at 2pm, we were lead into the press pen and allocated our slot on the red carpet by 3-30pm, 4-30pm the shrill scream of thousands of die hard fans were heard around the world as they signaled the arrival of the first actors. It was Rupert Grint, but that’s Ron to you. It wasn’t until 6pm did the first celebrities reach us… it took them one and a half hours to walk the carpet, that’s how epic it was.

Watch the madness on the red carpet here!

Luckily we had the one on one interviews earlier on the week as it would have been disastrous if we only had the interviews from the big day as everybody was soaking in the atmosphere and meeting their fans. Which was completely understandable, it was such an amazing scene and ambience about the place.  A mix of excitement and sadness and sheer disbelief. 

Here’s my interview with the cast and director as we bid Harry Potter a final farewell…

I think the actor Jason Isaac (Mr Lucius Malfoy) put it the best when I asked him how he thinks the crowd feels, are they sad that its at an end? He told me “ well you have to look at it this way, its been 11 years in the making. Nearly everybody has been on this journey with us from the begginnng they’ve become apart of our lives as much as theirs. Harry potter will never be finished not in their eyes, we all carry it in our hearts.” 

Truly a day I would never forget.

 The Blockbuster Sunday, Slumdog Millionaire is finally coming to Channel 5!

Jamal Malik, a boy from the slums is just a few steps away from winning the coveted prize of 20 million Rupees (438,000 US Dollars) from the Indian game show of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’!

The question is, how can a slumdog possibly know so much?

Well tune in to find out!

But before this movie hits the local screens, here are some interesting information about this movie and its stars!

 Dev Patel (Jamal Malik) and his co-star Freida Pinto (Latika) are apparently dating. They were seen at a restaurant in Israel snuggling together!

Freida Pinto is featured in People magazine’s “Most Beautiful People List” and “List of World’s Best Dressed Women”. She was also featured in the “Top 99 Most Desirable Women” poll conducted by Askmen.com in 2010.

Freida co-starred in Woody Allen’s comedy drama film ‘You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’ with Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins

In the year 2011, she appeared in 2 significant movies. The first movie was the science fiction film, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (the prequel to the Planet of the Apes 1968). In this movie, Freida acted opposite James Franco, playing the role of Caroline, a primatologist, who studies primates in the movie.

Her second movie was however abit different. Instead of a science fiction movie, she appeared in was the fantasy-action-drama movie, ‘Immortals’ where she portrayed the part of the oracle priestess, Phaedra.

But before you catch all her exciting movies, you have to catch the movie that made her name so well known! Our Blockbuster Sunday. Slumdog Millionaire!

Awards Galore!

This film earned a total of 118 awards and 126 nominations. The awards come from distinguished places like the Grammy’s and the Golden Globe Awards.

The film also won seven of the eleven BAFTA Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Film. All four of the GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS for which it was nominated, including Best Drama Film and five of the six CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS for which it was nominated,

They received awards like the best director award, best screenplay award, best original soundtrack award etc, Well there are just to many awards to list down.

Seriously! It’s 118 awards!!!

Don’t forget to catch this multi award winning film on your Blockbuster Sunday on the 3^rd of July, Sunday at 7pm on Channel 5!

It’s definitely worth watching

No, we’re not kidding! Sign up to be a contestant of Channel 5′s Million Dollar Money Drop and you can walk away with up to SGD $1million cash prize!

The enthusiastic crowd who turned up at our roadshow at Square 2 last Sunday are the first to hear about the identity of the host of this brand new game show. He is none other than the up-and-coming half Greek, half Chinese actor and model -George Young.

Host of Million Dollar Money Drop, George Young

George, together with our emcee Shawnrick, gave the crowd a quick heads up on how the game is played. A few lucky audience were also chosen to participate in the Game Section, walking away with a crisp $50 note and a special Channel 5 goodie bag.

So you want to be a millionaire? Here’s how the game goes:

1. A pair of contestants start off with a million in hard cash.
2. Answer 8 MCQ questions by physically putting the money on trap doors representing the options.
3. Win a million dollars if you get all the questions right!

Here’s a video of how the game is played in the U.S.

Looks easy? Have a go at the game by joining our walk-in auditions! Just show up with a partner at the MediaCorp Reception with both your entry forms completed on Sunday 19 June, from 2pm to 4pm.

Find out more about the show here!

All the best to all you potential future-millionaires!

I was excited to not only be one of the first to watch the show, I was also super psyched that I will be meeting Blake Lively (sorry, Reynolds)!

All Green Lantern-ready, we headed down to The Oasis, a lovely area of the hotel where the interviews were to be held. 

  They’d really gone all out with the decor; the area was all decked out in Green Lantern stuff.  Fan boy heaven, I say!

Trying (and failing miserably) to do the Green Lantern ‘arrrrgh!’ pose.  Ryan Reynolds looks all fierce and cool; I look like an auntie carrying imaginary plastic bags, very pleased that I’d just snagged a bargain at the local supermart. Ah well. We try.

Just ‘hanging out’ with ma pal, Hal Jordan, aka Green Lantern…

The whole gang!

Right. Lest you think all I did was play, enough goofing; I really did meet the man himself, Mr Ryan Reynolds!

He’s a lot taller than I expected, with a slightly kooky sense of humour.  When I asked him to say “hi” to Singapore, instead of addressing the camera with a “hey there, Singapore”, or something similar, he looked me straight in the eye with an emotionless expression and simply said, in a deadpan voice, “hello, Singapore”. I really wasn’t sure how to take that!

Also, perhaps he was tired that day, or it was a case of art mirroring life (or really spot-on casting?), but almost like his character in the film, Hal Jordan, is a somewhat unwilling hero; so too Ryan Reynolds seemed a little the reluctant movie star who longed to be doing something else instead of talking about himself and the movie he made.

Also, Peter Sarsgaard, who plays an extremely convincing Hector Hammond in the show. Yes, he actually looks very normal (pretty good, actually) and when I told him this he joked that that was a perk in playing an ‘ugly’ character; that people are always pleasantly surprised at his looks – “I probably get told how handsome I am a lot more than Ryan does!”.

Very, very sadly, I didn’t manage to get a picture with Blake Lively (her manager flat-out said “NO”; boo to you) but here’s a screengrab of Blake from our interview and I can tell you that she is even more stunning in real life (and yes ladies, her hair gives new meaning to ‘crowning glory’), and very chatty and warm, to boot. 

Check out what rating Ryan Reynolds gave Blake Lively for their on-screen kiss below!

And find out what goes into the making of GREEN LANTERN with Ryan Reynolds!

About GREEN LANTERN

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries.  Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps.  But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds).   A gifted and cocky test pilot, Hal have not harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before.  With the encouragement his childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax and become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

 

WWE Experience! Fridays, 11pm only on Channel 5!

 Did you know………

Well that’s all we have for you! Hope we manages to surprise you with these interesting facts about your favourite WWE Superstars:)

Anyway, be sure to catch WWE Experience every Friday at 11pm only on Channel 5!

Based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer, Twilight revolves around an ordinary girl named Bella and a not so ordinary boy/man/really-old man named Edward (p.s. he doesn’t age). Then you throw in some hot vampires, a hint of werewolves, some gripping action scenes and a love story and voila! You have Twilight!

It never fails to amaze us how the movie managed to garner such a huge fan base and made vampires cool again. Gone were the days where vampires freaked you out like Count Dracula! Nowadays, they seem to charm people and sweep us off our feet. Plus, look at how many vampire-related shows have sprouted out since [e.g. The Vampire Diaries, The Gates (showing on Saturdays, 10pm on Channel 5 by the way) & of course, the spoof Vampires Suck]

In Twilight, you have the good vampires and the bad ones. We wonder… if we were vampires, would we rather not drink human blood like the Cullens? Or would we rather be bloodthirsty vampires like James and his coven? Hmmm…

The Cullens:

From left to right: Jasper Hale & Alice Cullen, Rosalie Hale & Emmet Cullen, Carlisle & Esme Cullen, Edward Cullen & Bella Swan

James’ Coven

From left to right: James, Laurent, Victoria

And just a fun fact before we sign off, did you know that there’s actually a scene in the movie that makes reference to the original book cover? Look out for it!

So, be sure to catch Twilight in your Box Office Showcase this Sunday, 10pm!

Plus, 3 lucky viewers can stand to win a brand new camera worth $399 each!

Click here for more details

How do you keep those dueling divas in line?

In some ways it’s easier because I’ve lived with them longer, and in other ways it’s challenging because Deb’s not new anymore into Jane’s body. The first season was a lot of news and firsts and a lot of things were happening to Jane. Now it’s challenging to keep her moving and keep her interesting and to keep her developing and keep the audience still wanting to see that.

Well what fans really want to see is Jane with Grayson (played by Jackson Hurst).

I hope it happens!  (laughs)

So, you’re rooting for them, too?

I aaam! I aaam! Well, partly because I play Deb-Jane, so I know how it feels. (laughs) I know how much Deb loves Grayson.

 But wouldn’t Grayson have to fall in love Jane, not Deb, for it to really work?

It’s one of the things that I believe is a huge crux for Deb. She came from such a shallow place and such a place of judgment on people who didn’t look a certain way. Now that she doesn’t fit what her mind believes is perfect, that’s a huge thing to change the way you think about something — and Grayson’s going to have to develop in the same way for (he and Jane) to actually really belong together in the end.

From the very beginning, the show has had plenty of A-list guest stars. Was there anyone who left you star struck?

I was really star struck with Liza Minnelli, and yet she was so warm that that kind of like came down very quickly and I was astounded that I was just sitting there talking to Liza Minnelli like I would talk to anybody! And Delta Burke, I was a little bit like, Delta Burke! With all of them I’ve been a little star struck I have to admit. Gregory Harrison was so fun, and I used to have the biggest crush on him when he was Trapper John MD. We were sitting in the hair and make-up trailer, and I was like, I was really in love with you when I was ten. (laughs)

Your background is in musical theater. How different is it doing song and dance numbers for TV?

It’s been incredibly different because in theater you rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse, and then you put up that show polished. In TV it’s so funny the little rehearsal time. At first I was like, Oh nooo, we rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse! (laughs) But it’s been fun to learn the differences.

Of course, no diva is complete without her wardrobe – do you have input on Jane’s drop dead gorgeous looks?

Actually, I do hold very strong opinions about what she wears, and there are certain places where I want her to be sexier and so we lower the cut on things. On her blazers, I like little ruffles on the skirts. We have this one, I call it the kicky skirt, and it’s got a little billowing thing in the back —  I looove my kicky skirt! And I like her to have those little embellishments that make her Deb in Jane’s body, and not just Jane because Jane was rather plain in her choices and so while I still need to wear suits because I’m a lawyer, I like Deb’s influence on that.

And your fashion influence as well?

I’ll admit I am a girly-girl. I like my makeup and my hair things and my fun little girl thing. So that’s a part of Deb that I’m completely one-on-one with.

Catch Brooke as Jane with Deb’s soul in Drop Dead Diva; it airs on Thursdays at 11:00pm. Live love and love life as the show takes you on a journey called life!

Named by USA Today as one of the ‘fabulous female performers of 2009’ and by Entertainment Weekly as a ‘breakout TV star, Brooke Elliott will capture your heart with her winning performance as a shallow model-in-training, Deb, who dies in a sudden accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, plus-size and recently deceased attorney, Jane.

At the close of last season, Deb was ready to let go of her past and embrace her new life as Jane. But the unexpected arrival of Jane’s “secret” husband Ethan at her doorstep left her with more questions than ever. To make matters worse, Jane may be disbarred after breaching client attorney confidentiality when, against the firm’s advisement, she reported her client for fraud.

Faced with a new love triangle and the uncertainty of her career, Jane must, once-again, chart out a new future for herself. Why must life be so unfair to the beautiful people?

Catch the premiere of season 2 tomorrow at 11:00pm and feel free to unleash your inner diva!

She will be joined by fellow judges Travis Payne and Kimberly Wyatt. Travis is famous for working on Michael Jackson’s, This is It, while Kimberly is known for her stint with the larger than life girl group The Pussycat Dolls. Kimberly also has had some panel experience on the UK series of Got to Dance, which is a similar format to the upcoming show. Australian Andrew Gunsberg will host the show after he appeared on Australian Idol, Take 40 Australia and The ConTest in his homeland.

Get ready for more Paula Abdul kookiness along with some great dance performers. Live to Dance premieres tomorrow at 10:00pm.