The Garden of Evening Mists Movie Premieres on HBO Asia and HBO Go, 13 September 2020

Those of us who were fortunate enough to have met our grandparents might have heard tales of how life was like in Malaya during World War II. It was a harrowing time, particularly during the Japanese Occupation where thousands of civilians died from the atrocities of war.

Many of the World War II survivors would have already passed away by now. Red Dot Diva's own maternal grandmother, who was a young girl at that time, died last year at the age of 94. The only way generations born during or after the war could imagine how it was like then, was either through oral storytelling, books or movies which depicted that era.

One of the most nuanced and beautifully told story about World War II in Malaya and its aftermath is the critically-acclaimed novel “THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS” by Malaysian writer, Tan Twan Eng. The book has been adapted to a movie by Astro Shaw and HBO Asia, with support from the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) in association with CJ Entertainment.

Singapore Comic Con (SGCC) 2019 - Artist Alley Booth Highlight on Versatile Illustrator Soefara Jafney

Freelance illustrator Soefara Jafney may be based in Amsterdam, but there is no denying that there are very recognisable South-east Asian touch points in many of her drawings. More importantly, Soefara has a special skill - she is able to depict various women characters in history as well as in pop-culture as interesting personalities in their own right.

Having worked in the commercial world as an art director, her versatility is evident as she her work is seen in various forms, including children's books illustrations, designs for headscarves and leggings, and also high-end collectible toy statues.

It was wonderful to know that Soefara will be having a booth at Singapore Comic Con's Artist Alley this year. Red Dot Diva recommends that the geek ladies (and of course, men too) should head there, get to know her and her art, and show what woman power can be and do!

Here's a Q&A with Soefara, where Red Dot Diva chats with her about the art scene, representation for women, and her dream project.

Red Dot Diva: How is it like being a Malaysian artist living in Amsterdam, and now, in Singapore? Do you think there's hope for Singapore's local arts scene?
Soefara: Hmm.. what can I say about the art scene here? It is glorious! The level of artistry is eminent. From their Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh to other forms of art such as ivory carving, cheesemaking and Taxidermy, The Dutch seem to have mastered their craft beautifully. Take for example Taxidermy, there are courses available here for those who are interested to learn but the wait list is 2 years and the course is pretty hefty. That itself shows how much commitment they’re willing to atone to advance in a skill. Having said that, the Netherlands have had the economic and art boom since the 16th century. That gives them one big head start compared to Singapore. And time is a precious commodity when it comes to mastery in any field. Singapore is one melting pot, reminds me of London on a smaller scale ( But Singapore has better train system heh..) The buzz and the speed of the city is inspiring. Singapore has always welcomed talents from around the world, hence there is a lot of transfer of technology and ideas to inspire the local art scene. But like I've mentioned earlier, the path has been made, perhaps what we need is just time to see it bloom.

Singapore Comic Con (SGCC) 2019 - Artist Alley Booth Highlight on Malaysian Artist Alan Quah

Malaysian artist Alan Quah has been a regular participant of STGCC's Artist Alley for many years, and he will be back again this year in the re-branded Singapore Comic Con, held this weekend at Marina Bay Sands.

A brilliant and versatile artist, Alan has worked with a range of comic book publishers, like Image, Titan, Zenescope, Valiant, Boom! Studios, IDW and yes, even DC Comics! His drawings of comic book characters look dynamic and powerful. They seem as if they might pop out of the page and step into reality any minute!

His artistic skills are also showcased in concept art for Royal Selangor's current line of Marvel and DC figurines.

Here's Red Dot Diva's quickie interview with Alan Quah: 

Red Dot Diva: Hi Alan! Nice to know that you are coming back to Singapore Comic Con this year! Is there anything different from your artist alley appearance this year, compared to previous years?
Alan Quah: It is always great to be back to Singapore and visiting Singapore Comic Con again. Even more so this year because I am coming with my family, the founders of Scott's Collectibles Alan and Daniel Scott, the people who were instrumental to getting me on mainstream comics and also with my buddy and colleague the talented Kael Ngu. This will be Scott's first year visiting Asia and we hope it will be the beginning of a larger presence with more of our colleagues joining the fun next year. And personally I am looking forward to see all my local friends again.

Red Dot Diva: You have done artwork for several comic book publishers - DC, Image, Titan, Valiant, just to name a few. Is there a particular project that resonates with you in a very special way?
Alan: I like to think that when I accept a project it will one that I am totally invested into and I will give my all to it. That has always been my approach. But if I have to pick one, it has to be my 1st mainstream DC Cover, Tales of the Dark Multiverse, Batman Knightfall. To those who followed my journey, know that I have gone through a lot trying to break in over the past 9 years. I came to STGCC in 2010 as an amateur artist hoping to get a break via the Marvel talent hunt, got shortlisted but eventually rejected multiple times over the course of the following years. Until this year, I got the DC call, thanks to my gaffer, and the 1st gig is a Batman cover. So yeah, that was something special.

Michelle Yeoh Joins the Avatar Sequel Movies

Michelle Yeoh has joined the cast of Avatar in the sequel movies! Her role will be of a scientist named Dr. Karina Mogue.

Avatar 2, the first of the sequel movies, is set to premiere in December 2020, with actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi and Joel David Moore from the first movie, as well as child actor Filip Geljo, Kate Winslet and David Thewlis.

“Throughout her career, Michelle has always created unique and memorable characters. I look forward to working with Michelle to do the same thing on the Avatar sequels,” said James Cameron.

Michelle Yeoh is such a fan favorite, especially in this region, where she has flown the Malaysian flag high and shown how a talented actor is able to gain international recognition even with a Malaysian accent (very similar to the Singaporean one). Through her memorable roles in Hollywood, fans here feel represented to the world at large.

Currently, Michelle Yeoh has all the best snarky lines on CBS' scifi series “Star Trek Discovery” as the ousted Emperor Giorgiou, now an agent of a black ops called Section 31. There will a spin-off based on her character which expects to be released in 2020.

As for the big screen, Michelle Yeoh in her next movie Paul Feig's “Last Christmas”, together with Emilia Clarke and her "Crazy Rich Asians" on screen son, Henry Golding.

May the 4th 2017: Special Greeting from Ray Park for Star Wars Fans in Singapore

Pic from Ray Park's Twitter

Even though his moments as Darth Maul were quite short in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace", a heavily made-up Ray Park owned and stole those scenes with his graceful, acrobatic wuxia-style stunt moves wielding the Sith Lord's iconic double-blade lightsaber. And with those few minutes, he earned himself gazillions of fans across the globe.

He has since acted in "X-Men", two G.I. Jones movies, in TV series "Heroes" amongst many other productions.

Red Dot Diva has a huge huge crush on Ray Park ever since she saw him in Episode I, and she was over the moon when she found out that he will be attending Star Wars Celebration Europe, held in London last year. Of course she had to get the photo and autoraph ops with Ray!

The actor is super-friendly to his hoard of fans, and he interacts with the RP Fandom regularly on Twitter and Instagram.

Meet Benjamin Chee, Writer/ Artist of Comic Book Charsiew Space!

As someone growing up in Red Dot Island, where most people are food-crazy, reading Benjamin Chee's self-published comic book "Charsiew Space" was like nomming on comfort food. To be more exact, it was like savouring yummy local dishes while nonchalantly trotting about on a wild space adventure.

In a sector of a certain galaxy, pork including the traditional roasted version called charsiew, has been banned. Sow, a shrewd elderly Ah Mm (i.e. "old lady") teams up with a space smuggler and his robot to bring the delicacy back on the menu, but not without re-pork-ussions from the citizens of Pig Planet.

Red Dot Diva thought "Charsiew Space" was such a lively and hilarious comic that she recently sent a copy of it to Paul Levitz (formerly the president and publisher of DC Comics) as a small birthday gift . He thought Benjamin's art was "charming".

Today is #PaulLevitz's birthday. If you could sit him down to talk about the history of comics, especially in DC, and in other various general topics, you will learn and be enlightened by so many things and information. He is a rare kind of man (so far in my short life) who lights up thousands of my brain cells at one time. I sent Paul a copy of my friend's little self-published comic #CharsiewSpace as a small birthday gift and he said, "Benjamin's art is charming, and it's making me itch for a local NY restaurant called Pig Heaven..." Happy birthday, Paul!! 🎈🎂 🎈 🎉 Wishing you more fun and happy birthday years to come! #Comics #Singapore #Malaysia #artist #writer #CharsiewSpace #books

A photo posted by Red Dot Diva (@reddotdiva) on Oct 20, 2016 at 7:10pm PDT

She also wants to share the love for this delightful piece of work to the comic book geeks out there, and enticed Benjamin (via a portion of fragrant charsiew) to answer a few nosy questions:

Speech Bubble - A Celebration of Comics in Singapore, 2 to 30 September 2016

Next month, the Red Dot Island comics scene will be given the spotlight in a special almost month-long event called Speech Bubble held at Basement 1 of the National Library, from 2 to 30 September.

Organized by media company Potato Productions and local comic book artist Sonny Liew. Sonny has also been in the spotlight in recent times, mainly due to the accolades he received for his brilliant brainchild, "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye". "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye" won the Singapore Literature Prize for fiction this year - the first graphic novel to receive such a recognition!

Speech Bubble event consists of an exhibition of original works, books and comics-related collectors items, like those by featured artists Johnny Lau, who is best known for the iconic Mr Kiasu comic series, and pioneer Malaysian artist Nora Abdullah, who published her first comic called "Cik Siti Wan Kembang" in 1955. Other creative works on display include those by Sonny Liew, Eric Khoo, Troy Chin, Otto Fong, Koh Hong Teng, Colin Goh, Gary Zhu, Cheah Sinann and many, many more!

Nanoblock Exhibition at Liang Court by Christopher Tan - 21 & 22 November 2015

Nanoblock lovers, there will be a special exhibition by Christopher Tan at Liang Court, this weekend, 21 to 22 November 2015.

Based in Malaysia, Christopher is an award-winning, full-time Nanoblock artist with an international cult following. Recently, Christopher was conferred the title of "Tatsujiin" (Master of Nanoblock). His detailed masterpieces range from the tiny to large-scale sculptures, and cover a wide range of subjects from everyday items, buildings & structures to pop-culture icons.

Christopher's Nanoblocks were recently showcased in exhibitions held in Hong Kong and Malaysia. At the Hong Kong show in 2014, he constructed the largest Nanoblock piece - a staggering 250,000-brick recreation of the city of Rio de Janeiro.




Now, fans who have previously only managed to admire them through photos on social network will now be able to admire these actual pieces in real life as well as meet Christopher in person!

Ubisoft Set To Open Theme Park in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

This just in!

And what exciting news this is!

Fans of "Assassin's Creed" and other games by Ubisoft will be able to indulge in the imaginary worlds that they are familiar with as the game company targets to develop a next-generation theme park. The first of such parks will be an indoor establishment with an expected area of 10,000 square metres, and is set to open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sometime in 2020

STGCC 2015: Gilamon Studio's Lefty Will Be Swinging By With Some Very Limited Edition Art Goodies!

STGCC has become a bonding time between many of the region's artists and fans, especially if they only get to see each other once a year or so!

It's also Red Dot Diva's opportunity to be able to catch up with Lefty from Gilamon Studio again. She has always liked his art style, and she has to blame him for always tempting her with his art goodies. Bad, Lefty! Very bad! ;)

If you have been to Penang's Georgetown in the last few years, you would have noticed that there are notable street art located in several places. Lefty has contributed many pieces, including this steel rod sculpture based on this artwork called "Win Win Situation".

Pic found on Pinterest (Source unknown?)

This year, Lefty will be dropping by local store GnB Comics this coming Friday as well as roving around STGC. He has VERY LIMITED pieces of his art available for pre-order! Most have 10 pieces or fewer left! (Scroll down toward the end of this article for the description and prices.)

Red Dot Diva last did an interview with Lefty about 3 years ago. Wow. Time sure flies. (Check out the article here.) She has bumped into him at conventions between then and now, but since he has some really cool stuff available for sale this coming Friday, she grabbed him for a quickie online Q&A.

Unisoft's "Art in Video Games" Exhibition To Make Its Way To Malaysia!

Calling all video game fans and art lovers across the Causeway!

You will soon have the chance to enjoy Ubisoft Singapore's "Art in Video Games" exhibition held later this month.

The exhibition, hosted by leading art & design college - The One Academy, is the first time Ubisoft will be showcasing their video game art in Malaysia.

Like the Singapore version of the exhibition which opened last November, there will be a gallery of art for pirate fantasy-based "Assassins Creed IV Black Flag" and "Ghost Recon Online", but with 21 additional art concept displays.

Book Launch at MPH Parkway - Cheeming Boey's "When I Was A Kid 2"

Looking at Cheeming Boey promoting his new book  "When I Was A Kid 2" at the MPH Parkway store on Oct 6th, Red Dot Diva found it difficult to imagine him as a "fat kid" described in his blog and books. For in contrast, the adult Boey standing before her was quite the handsome, lean and muscly specimen.

The Malaysian writer-artist was back in the Red Dot Island that weekend to promote his second book with a series of book signing sessions at the Kinokuniya flagship and JEM stores.

And because the MPH Parkway store had opened its doors only a few days before, Boey was also specially invited to hold his book launch there.  

STGCC 2013: Whips And Chains On The Horizon (Toysetc Exclusive!)

This year's STGCC is set to be a pretty WILD one!

Red Dot Diva says that you cannot deny that compared to last year, the balance toward Western comics or pop-culture is at a more respectable squee-worthy level, with guests like Joe Madureira, David Mack and Adi Granov. Plus, the toy folks are probably still trying to unravel their minds (and purse strings) over a slew of designer guests which include the guys from Army of Snipers, Luke Chueh and Nathan Hamill in addition to regular guests like Simone Legno from Tokidoki and DevilRobots.

So, in order to get as much convention coverage as possible, Red Dot Diva (and Dude) have formed an alliance with Toysetc and SGCollect Forum to share their interviews and still have Geek-Hot Fun this weekend.

This piece by Toysetc is Red Dot Diva's first article Kope (Note: Singlish for "steal or pilfer").

It is about something Evilicious (*slurp* coz EVIL PEOPLE are TASTY!!) found under the umbrella of a cheeky Malaysian-based merchandizing setup called Monkeys & Minions (STGCC booth F44)!

MGCC 2012: Comics and Cosplay Fun For Malaysian Geeks!

Red Dot Diva thinks it is high time fellow comics/ cosplay lovers across the Causeway get their share of creative geeky fun!

The Malaysian Games and Comics Convention (MGCC) is all set to kick off on May 19th and 20th at the Damansara campus of KDU University College (KDU)! And some pretty cool guests and activities have already been lined up for the weekend.

Homegrown comic artist Billy Tan has been announced as one of the VIP guests. Billy began working with Marvel in the 1990s, and his various artwork can be found in the "Thor Vol.1", "New Avengers Vol.1", "Marvel Knights: Spiderman Vol.1" and "Uncanny X-Men Vol.1".

The other VIPs are Marvel artists Leinil Yu and Carlo Pagulayan, famous cosplay/ lifestyle photographer Jay Tablante as well as popular international cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao.