SRT's "Forbidden City: Portrait of An Empress" 2017: Diva's Interview with Costume Designer Yang DeRong

A musical extravaganza about the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, "Forbidden City: Portrait of an Empress" will return to the stage for the 4th time at the Esplanade beginning 8 August 2017.

The SRT production, developed by Stephen Clark, Dick Lee and Steve Dexter, was first staged in 2002 as part of the Esplanade's opening. Since then, the play has another two sold out shows in 2003 and 2006. The star of the show, Kit Chan, will return in the main role of Cixi for the 2017 production.

With an epic spanning over decades, "Forbidden City" is a large set with several period costumes hailing from the last dynasty in China. This is a huge undertaking for any costume designer, and that's where talented local designer Yang DeRong comes in to the picture.

Veteran fashion designer Yang DeRong spent several years abroad working with names like Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and fashion group Esprit. He is now back home and has been involved in many high profile international and government projects, including being SG50 NDP Art Director and Costume Designer.

Yang loves the theatre, and his craft has been seen in productions like Theatreworks "The Elephant Man" (1987), SRT's "The Dresser", NUS Cultural Centre's "Man of Letters" and "Beauty World" (2016) by Singapore Street Festival.

He was also designer for SRT's previous run of "Forbidden City" in 2003, and will return to work on this year's production.

Toy Photographer Sunny Ang Shares About Telling Epic Tales in Tiny Worlds

A couple of years back, while bashing through the jungles of social media, scouting for interesting Star Wars toy photos, Red Dot Diva found an Instagram account called zekezachzoom.

She browsed through his feed and could not help chuckling at the eye-catching images, usually featuring action figures or Lego minifigures in funny and sometimes very localised situations. The best part of the photos were the accompanying witty one-liners. Even now, those amusing photos help brighten up her day. Like, giant smiles guaranteed.

Since then, Red Dot Diva has gotten to know Sunny Ang, the owner of the Instagram account, in real life. He is chatty, amiable and Red Dot Diva gets the sense that he has a stream of creative ideas buzzing in his head.

As they say, when one finds good stuff, one must SHARE the good stuff. So, world at large, here's an interview with hobby toy photographer Sunny Ang.

Winter Is Here! New Game of Thrones Season 7 Trailer and Posters Offer More Hints

While gazillion "Game of Thrones" fans have been waiting impatiently for Season 7 to arrive, a new trailer was released by HBO. The cable channel had sneakily usurped the summer solstice with the battle cry that #WinterIsHere.

Needless to say, the action-filled trailer got the GoT fans going Stark crazy.

Red Dot Diva herself spotted a huge grin on her face that looked somewhat like this (minus those awesome sharp teeth):


via GIPHY

Any hardcore "Game of Thrones" fan must have watched the new trailer multiple times by now, trying to piece together the sneak peeks of various characters in different locations. There are a host of geek websites and podcasts that have broken down each teaser scene in detail, so Red Dot Diva is not going to rehash that.

All she is going to say is, not only #WinterIsHere, #WarIsComing also. Massive, fiery, bloody wars that seem to be the focus of the season, as the various houses and their alliances begin to converge.

Here are scenes that Red Dot Diva is eager to watch in Season 7:

Ubisoft Singapore Sails the High Seas with New IP Pirate Game "Skull and Bones"!

 

At a celebratory cocktail event held at KC Arts Centre last Tuesday, 13 June, game developer Ubisoft Singapore's team was in extremely high spirits.

That mood was expected, of course. The passionate team - some of them were at Los Angeles attending The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017), while others at base camp had stayed up till past 4 AM watching the E3 Ubisoft conference  - was elated over the official announcement of their two biggest projects.

The highlights of the E3 2017 conference about these game titles were shared with the press and invited guests that night.

The first title to be unveiled by Creative director Justin Farren at the E3 conference was the big budget AAA online multiplayer pirate adventure called "Skull and Bones". This is the first new IP created by the talented Ubisoft Singapore team, and it is something that the studio has always dreamed of building ever since it was heavily involved with "Assassin's Creed: Black Flag".

STGCC 2017: First Few Guests Announced - Frank Cho, Arthur Adams, Joyce Chin, Leon Chiro and More!

The Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention is celebrating its 10th birthday this year, and the 1st batch of guests has already been announced. The local pop culture event returns at MBS' Expo & Convention Centre, Halls D to F, on 9 & 10th September 2017.

The weekend coincides with another event called Chara Expo, which is held at Suntec Convention Centre. However, for those who are more interested in designer toys and Western-based stuff, STGCC is still the place to be!

The first few guests officially announced by STGCC will please many local and regional fans.

Heading his way to Red Dot Island is writer/ artist Frank Cho. Frank Cho has drawn for several comic book titles, like Marvel's "Mighty Avengers" and "The Hulk", DC Comic's current "Harley Quinn" as well as worked on creator-owned projects like "Skybourne" published by Boom! Studios, and "World of Payne" together with writer Tom Sniegoski for Flesh Publications.

Known for his mature, cheesecake style art, Frank Cho has stirred up a series of controversies lately. There was that feud with writer Greg Rucka concerning the censorship of his Wonder Woman Rebirth variant cover art, and his questionable depictions of teenage female superheroes, like Spider-Gwen and The Unstoppable Wasp. Still, Red Dot Diva is pretty sure that would not stop his fans here from swarming his booth for sketches and autographs.

RDD Wonder Woman Day Giveaway: 4 Sets of Posters, Paper Tiara/ Bracelet Sets and Pins!

Did you pop by GnB Comics today for Wonder Woman Day?

Red Dot Diva was not able to be there when the shop opened at 12 PM but she heard that there was a good sized crowd waiting to celebrate the occasion! The first 200 folks at GnB were also able to pick up a "Wonder Woman" movie poster each!

Red Dot Diva did manage to drop by the shop after 2 PM to buy a Wonder Woman comic (if you are wondering, it's the anthology "Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Vol. 1" by Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver and many more creators) as well as collect her fun freebies.

If you were not able to make it there today, Red Dot Diva has four sets of "Wonder Woman" movie posters, paper cardboard tiara/ bracelet sets and pins for to give away!

Thank you to GnB Comics for sponsoring these wonderful items.


To join the contest, simply:
1. Follow Red Dot Diva on Twitter and/ or Facebook
2. Share the contest post on your timeline. Please ensure the post is public.
3. Tweet or post a photo of yourself together with your own real life Wonder Woman (i.e. it should be an actual person!) and elaborate as to why she is a Wonder Woman in 35 words or less.
4. Do ensure that the person in your pic has given you consent to post her photo.
5. Open to Singapore residents only, of age 16 and above. Entries to be submitted by Tuesday, 6 June 2017, 9 PM
6. Winners will be chose by Thursday, 8 June 2017, and notified via Twitter or Facebook Message/ Comments section.
7. Winners must be willing to email Red Dot Diva with more information (e.g. mobile number) to facilitate prize collection. Prize collection will be at Shaw Centre during working hours from Monday to Friday.
8. Red Dot Diva reserve the right to make changes to the contest terms and conditions, as well as replace or change prizes at any time without prior notice.