TULIPMANIA 2015

panoramic view from South American Garden

This was the last burst of tulips Fairy Tales display before the change to Nursery Rhymes and my goodness, the tulips looked drop-dead amazing! These photos were taken before the crowd came in.

The kaleidoscope of colours was mesmerizing and the new varieties such as the frilly ones were eye-popping! 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Cinderella

Little Red Riding Hood

the Snow Queen

Tulipa 'Red Riding Hood'

Hansel and Gretel's Candyhouse

the Ugly Duckling

almost black tulips

yellow-orange Tulips

Tulipa 'Queensland'

the white frills lend a unique look to the conventional Tulips

this is the first time I see the Dicentra spectabilis

I didn't expect it to be so small in stature

nature produces so many hearts in a plant

windmill

yellow Daffodils (Narcissus)

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES

I caught the movie and must admit that I enjoyed it more than "Elysium". Based on a young adult fantasy novel, this movie is the first story out of six books. So if this movie does well, sequels would be made to capitalize on the success.

Lily Collins is not one of my favourite young actresses, especially after I saw her in "Mirror Mirror" as Snow White, but she was alright as the lead protagonist Clary here. The cast included the long absent Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who acted as her father, and the taiwanese actor Godfrey Gao, who mesmerized me with his height and eye liners. Interestingly, there was a gay shadowhunter played by Kevin Zegers, and this is a sign that the movie industry is becoming more liberal and is slowly weaving such non-main-stream minority groups as some of the key characters.

Having said that, I must say the storyline was a tad too convoluted in the sense that there were too many things happening at the same time that there wasn't much time for viewers to digest the story. There was never a time when the pace was too slow that it put the audience to sleep, even right from the beginning. But that could be bad too because I think a movie needs moments of fast action and moments of brief respite.

Anyway, I wonder when the next part would be out.

SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL 12 PART 2

Today's weather - sunny

It's the fairy tales garden, a gold award winning display, created by Damian Tang. It got people curious to seek out the fairy tales and characters in the exhibit. I certainly was.

First, I was captivated by a huge but beautiful spider. Interestingly, I was told it is not part of any fairy tale and was there to create interest.

Alright, I saw the dwarfs from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Why were they all facing inwards without revealing their faces, I wondered? Then there was Pinocchio but it wasn't just one or two puppets of him. There were quite a couple everywhere, including one in a bird cage, one lying back on a Bird's Nest Fern and I was amazed and intrigued by the Pinocchio shrine.

On the other side, there was the little red riding hood and the wolf, if only one can see it. Once again, the girl in the hood was hiding her face away from the masses. Around the turn was Tinkerbell, I think, sitting at the base of an Olive Tree.

So what's the reason for getting the characters not to face the crowd? Other than creating curiosity, was the designer's intention merely for us to imagine the characters' looks on our own? I don't know.