Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Cirque Mother Africa in Manila 2012

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 12, 2012

Cirque Mother Africa in Manila

We travel to discover different cultures and watch local shows to enjoy each country’s unique performances. If you don’t have much time to travel, you’re in luck as world-renowned Cirque Mother Africa will be performing for the first time in Manila!

We’ll get to enjoy African music and dance through a series of 2-hour performances from April 19-22, 2012 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila (which BTW is my favorite events venue).

The unique show combined the talents of 40 famous artists from African countries Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Benin, Zimbabwe, and Guinea. Expect to see items spun through the air, bodies contorted into mind-boggling shapes, and performers balance on other performers, percussionists beat up a storm of sound, tap-dancing and traditional dancers tell their own stories.

Cirque Mother Africa will be a refreshing show to see that will make us appreciate the modern, fresh and dynamic culture of the new Africa. With sold out shows in Germany, Italy, Romania, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Spain, we are assured of great entertainment!

Dancers, percussionists, singers, acrobats and contortionists will take the stage in a celebration of the culture of the traditional and modern African continent. I can’t wait for next week to watch this!

Cirque MOTHER AFRICA
A joyous adventure into the wonderful
& magical world of an African human circus.

Tickets are available at Resorts World Manila Box Office and TicketWorld outlets. Here are the prices & seat plan for your reference:

VIP – Php 6,095
Category 1 (Premiere Left & Right) – Php 5,090
Category 2 (Deluxe Left, Right & Center) – Php 4,065
Category 3 (Balcony Left, Right & Center) – Php 3,025
Category 4 (Upper Balcony) – Php 1,500

Cirque Mother Africa in Manila Seat Plan

Schedule (April 19-22, 2012):

Thursday/Friday/Sunday – 8 PM
Saturday – 3 PM / 8PM

Do catch Cirque Mother Africa as they only have 5 shows here in Manila! I surely won’t miss one of them! See you there! 🙂

UDPATE:

I caught the evening show yesterday and I must say I was totally blown away! The show started exactly 8PM with the clown host convincingly making us be more energetic. He repeated his welcome with us pumped up and with smiles on our faces! 🙂

Mother Africa Clown

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures during the show as I was apprehended when I took a picture of the funny African host. I sat back and just enjoyed the rest of the show.

One by one, we got to see different circus acts. We also got to experience African music and dances in between the heart-stopping circus performances. I must admit my jaw dropped in every circus act, my golly, they were so dangerous!!! I was extremely worried that if one of them makes a mistake, they’ll surely hurt themselves. It’s nice that Cirque Mother Africa made a nice line up wherein songs & dances were injected in between the stunts, or else, I might have had a heart attack hahaha!

Here are some of the acts we saw during the beautiful show:

Hula Hoop – I can’t even hula hoop well but the performer did tons of it while standing and yes, walking while on top of a ball! While I was impressed with the act, I was really, really worried that she might fall off. Of course, she didn’t! It was great!
Unicycle – this was one of my favorite acts. The performer was very animated! He was cracking jokes through his facial expressions while doing those dangerous acts! Imagine riding on different kinds of unicycle, balancing on it, and smiling his way through it. Do catch his cute little act on the mini unicycle. It was hilarious and impressive!
Balancing on Top of Multiple Chairs – imagine putting multiple chairs on top of one another and standing on it. The performer did it and more!
Ramadhani Brothers – these guys were huge! They were able to do multiple stunts using only their bodies and most especially, their hands.
Rolla Bolla – this must be the act that I had my mouth completely opened. It was just too scary to look at. The guy was wobbled on a balance board, placed on top a stack of four rolling cans. My most unforgettable act on Mother Africa show.
Contortionist – it’s like watching an out of this world performance. This guy is FLEXIBLE (in the truest sense of the word). Catch him lighting up a cigarette in a most unusual mind-boggling way!
Icarus Foot-Juggling Act – 51 back flips while being tossed up into the air by another acrobat’s feet. A must-watch!!! 🙂

Having watched Cirque Mother Africa felt like I was transported to Africa. I got to experience their culture through beautiful traditional African music, dances and outstanding circus performances. They will have their last show tonight at 8PM. I strongly suggest you get your tickets now and catch Cirque Mother Africa tonight at Newport Performance Theater in Resorts World.

Mother Africa Finale

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Cirque Mother Africa in Manila
April 19-22, 2012
Newport Performing Arts Theatre, Resorts World Manila, Newport Boulevard, Newport City Cybertourism Zone, Pasay City
Resorts World Manila Tourist/Visitor Hotline at +63-2-836-6333
TicketWorld at +63-2-891-9999

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Wrath of the Titans Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 12, 2012

Wrath of the Titans

After two years, the sequel to Clash of the Titans finally came out. The film Wrath of the Titans stars Sam Worthington (Perseus), Rosamund Pike (Andromeda), Liam Neeson (Zeus), Ralph Fiennes (Hades), Edgar Ramirez (Ares), Billy Nighy (Hephaestus), Toby Kebbell (Agenor), Danny Huston (Poseidon) and John Bell (Helius).

I’m not really a fan of Greek mythology but since I enjoyed the first movie, I assumed I would likely enjoy the sequel.

After a decade of defeating Kraken, Perseus (demigod son of Zeus) opted to live a normal quiet life as a fisherman and a father to his son, Helius. One day, Zeus appeared before Perseus to inform him that gods are losing control of imprisoned Titans. Tartarus, the place where Kronos (Titans leader) was imprisoned. It was breaking down due to humanity’s lack of devotion to gods. If it continued, then that will be the end of gods and also of humanity. Perseus, however, wasn’t interested in helping out.

But Perseus ended up embarking on the quest into the underworld when his father was captured. Apparently, Hades (Zeus’ brother) and Ares (Zeus’ other son) made a deal with Kronos in order to stay immortal. Ares and Hades squeezed Zeus’ power in order to revitalize Kronos. As Zeus was getting weaker and weaker, Perseus sought the help of friends andromeda and Agenor to rescue his dad.

I honestly can’t pinpoint why I didn’t enjoy Wrath of the Titans that much. The effects and action scenes were good. I loved Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes’ characters there and their acting were superb!

Maybe the story didn’t cut it for me. There wasn’t strong character building. Or maybe the main characters just didn’t show as much emotions as they should be. I loved Rosamund Pike but I think the role didn’t suit her or there wasn’t any material for her to work with. Sam Worthington was emotionless all throughout the movie. He had the same expression even in scenes that would need him to emote. Maybe Perseus was really a man who hides his emotions and not the expressive type. I really don’t know.

If you just wanna sit, watch and relax then you can enjoy Wrath of the Titans. Don’t expect long discussions with friends after watching the movie though.

My Rating for Wrath of the Titans: 3 out of 5 stars

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Crazy Katsu

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 10, 2012

Crazy Katsu

Somewhere along Maginhawa street rests a small restaurant named Crazy Katsu. We didn’t plan to dine at Crazy Katsu but destiny brought us there. As we drove along Maginhawa street looking for a place to dine in, I exclaimed that we should try out Crazy Katsu as soon as I saw their signage. From the outside, the restaurant looked promising. It piqued my curiosity and I was glad that my friends agreed to try it out.

Crazy Katsu was a small restaurant but it certainly has a homey ambiance. The place was filled with wooden tables and benches. I liked the simplistic design.

Crazy Katsu Interior

Crazy Katsu is owned by musicians Shinji Tanaka (drummer, Gaijin) & Bryan Kong (drummer, Taken by Cars). It explains the list of CDs displayed on the restaurant. We were too busy taking pictures that I wasn’t able to browse through the list of albums. I should check them out when I go back (yes, I plan to!).

Crazy Katsu Group Shot

The wall piece at Crazy Katsu was really eye-catching! The lighting made it look much better so it’s not surprising that we used that as background for most of our pictures there.

Crazy Katsu Design

The restaurant had simple interiors, and their food menu is just as simple. They had a one-pager straight to the point menu that listed down Crazy Katsu’s specialties. There were just 5 of us, but we almost ordered everything that Crazy Katsu had, hahaha! So here is a list of things we tried out. Everything was delicious and it made me glad that we took a chance in trying out the place.

Gyoza (Php 120)

Crazy Katsu Gyoza

Do you know that Crazy Katsu would everyday make their gyoza from scratch? That explains why I enjoyed this dish very much! We ordered gyoza for appetizer and it was the first dish that we tried out. It paved the way for more exciting dishes to try out.

Fish & Vegetable Tempura (Php 140)

Crazy Katsu Tempura

All Crazy Katsu dishes are served with a cup of rice. I guess they were meant to be eaten by 1 person. However, we wanted to try out all food items we ordered. Whether you decide for them to take out the rice, the price would be the same. So, we kept the rice for the fish & vegetable tempura.

Iced Tea (Php 30)

Crazy Katsu Iced Tea

Their iced tea was home-brewed! I still thought it was a bit on the sweet side though.

Chicken Katsu (Php 145)

Crazy Katsu Chicken Katsu

The house specialty is Chicken Katsu. I must agree! Crazy Katsu’s chicken Katsu was unique. The soy-sauce that they poured over the dish plus the spiciness of it made it a winner in my book. If there’s one dish that you should try out in Crazy Katsu, this must be it!

Katsudon (Php 150)

Crazy Katsu Katsudon

I wanted to have Chicken Katsu but I saw that everyone ordered Sukiyaki for themselves. I wanted to try out as many dishes as possible so I went for Katsudon. It’s pan-fried pork cutlets, onions, and egg on top of rice. I didn’t like the dish that much. I guess it has something to do with my lingering taste for their chicken katsu.

Sukiyaki (Php 190)

Crazy Katsu Sukiyaki

Oh, the sukiyaki! The only beef dish that Crazy Katsu serves. This was definitely a hit! I was able to try it and I must say it was tasty and oozing with flavors.

Pudding (Php 80)

Crazy Katsu Pudding

I LOVE Crazy Katsu’s pudding or shall I say, ‘Leche Flan’. The chef made this perfectly and I’m not exaggerating! It has the right amount of sweetness and texture. We ordered for sharing because we were too full already. It’s a good way to end an excellent meal.

There are certainly lots of reasons why I want to go back to Crazy Katsu. Aside from the yummy and affordable food that the restaurant serves. Crazy Katsu also has a pool of friendly staff! Service is definitely top-notch. Kudos to the owners for training them well 🙂

Crazy Katsu Friendly Staff

For huge fans out there, Crazy Katsu sells its own T-Shirt designed by Team Manila for Php 500.

Crazy Katsu Shirt

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Crazy Katsu
#81 Maginhawa St. UP Teacher’s Village, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines
+63-2-435-0030
Mon-Thurs 11am-10pm, Fri & Sat 11am-11pm & Sun 5pm-10pm

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Hunger Games Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 9, 2012

Hunger Games Movie

I never heard of Hunger Games until a week before The Hunger Games opened in Manila. There was a lot of hype! I learned that the movie was based from a book of the same title by Suzanne Collins. I rarely read fiction so when I entered the movie house to watch The Hunger Games, I had no idea whatsoever what the movie was all about.

Panem, formed from a post-apocalyptic North America, was composed of 12 districts that were controlled by Capitol. The Hunger Games was a televised battle created by the Capitol as a brutal reminder of the districts’ failed rebellion. Each year, one boy and one girl (aged 12 to 18) are randomly selected from each of the districts to compete in the annual deathly battle. When Katniss Everdeen’s younger sister was chosen as one of District 12’s representatives, she volunteered to be the tribute in her place. Pitted against 23 other tributes, Katniss relied on her hunting instincts and her training from former winner Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) to emerge as the games’ sole victor.

Hunger Games is part one from the trilogy (Catching Fire being the 2nd and Mockingjay as the 3rd & final one). It was nice that one of my friends that I watched the movie with, had read all three books. I was practically bugging her about the story after.

I must say, I enjoyed the movie very much. This was the first time that I had the urge to read the books after watching a movie adaptation. I immediately got myself copies of all three books by Suzanne Collins and read all of them during the long weekend.

Actually, if you haven’t read the book, you can still understand the story altogether by watching the movie alone. There is no need to understand it further by reading as the movie makers did an excellent job! They made a perfect adaptation. I realized that after reading the book.

One of the reasons why I think the movie was successful was the casting. Jennifer Lawrence was stunning and extremely effective as Katniss Everdeen. All supporting cast were perfect too! They were all in character. It’s not surprising for the viewers to feel affected by each moving scene. I felt that especially when Rue died, I shed so much tears during that scene.

The movie didn’t concentrate on the love factor which was quite refreshing in my honest opinion. I liked that the female lead was strong and doesn’t rely on men to survive. A good welcome change from the usual teeny-boop movies. That’s why I think The Hunger Games was successful not only for the young audiences but also adults (both men and women)! I can’t wait for the next installment of the movie, which is Catching Fire. It bums me out that it will come out November 2013 which is like 1.5 years wait! Too long, too long..

Oh well, may the odds be ever in your favor.

The Hunger Games is a must-watch, don’t miss it!

My Rating for Hunger Games: 5 out of 5 stars

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Cafe France

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 9, 2012

Cafe France

Sunday is Lord’s day for us Christians. Yesterday, we decided to have breakfast at Cafe France before attending Lord’s day. It’s funny that in spite of Cafe France running for more than 1 year, I haven’t heard of it. However, as soon as we parked the car in front of its U.N. Manila branch, I noticed that it must be Delifrance rebranded.

Apparently, I was right! Jollibee who used to own Delifrance franchise in the Philippines sold its Delifrance assets to Euro-Med Philippines last December 2010. Since then, existing Delifrance branches were changed to Cafe France, giving it a new image. Filipinos love to hang out at Cafes and rebranding Delifrance into a coffee shop will tap more customers in the Metro.

Cafe France Counter

Cafe France Ambiance

Cafe France still served French style baked products like croissants, baguettes, etc. You can either buy those products for take out or order for dine in.

Cafe France Pastries

We decided to order some of Cafe France’s breakfast sets for dine in. Price is a bit steep for my taste but my companions seemed to like the restaurant. Service is good though. Without asking for water, we were even served it. Servers were easy to call out for any requests.

Cafe France has decent ambiance too with refreshing colors and well-maintained interiors.

Egg Salad Sandwich (Php 155)

Cafe France Egg Sandwich

Brother Joseph ordered egg salad sandwich. It looked like a club sandwich with potato chips on the side. I’m not fond of sandwiches but I really liked that Cafe France decided to put potato chips with their sandwich sets instead of the usual french fries. Suffice to say, I took some of my friend’s potato chips 😛

Ham and Cheese Omelet (Php 185)

Cafe France Ham Omelette

Sister Shilo ordered Ham and Cheese omelet. With a whopping price of Php 185, I’m not really sure if it was worth the price. I guess the whole brand and quality of preparation attributed to the tag price. It was basically ham and grated cheese wrapped in scrambled egg, served with 2 pieces of bread on the side.

Rice Meals

Siobs Debbie and I ordered rice meals. I ordered beef while Debbie ordered fish. Cafe France’s rice meals had several options. You can either order a la carte, with soft drink (+Php20) or with juice/coffee (+Php50). I’ve always enjoyed Delifrance’s orange juice so it didn’t take much time for me to decide to order the one with orange juice.

Cafe France Drinks

Breakfast Beef & Egg (Php 175)

Cafe France Beef

I was expecting tapa (Filipino-style beef) but was surprised that it actually was Japanese-style beef. Fatty beef strips that were cooked in butter – unhealthy but oh so tasty! 🙂 My order came with salad, two sunny side-up eggs and rice.

Fish Fillet in Tartare Sauce (Php 175)

Cafe France Fish

I almost ordered fish fillet and I was relieved that I have chosen beef over it. Cafe France gave generous servings of the fish. However, I guess I didn’t appreciate that they cut thinner strips of fish as usual. I prefer the bigger rectangular cut but I think this all boils down to preference. Still, a successful dish as my friend enjoyed her order and finished it!

We had breakfast early in the morning and I looked newly awake. Still! hahaha! Anyway, I had a great time with church friends. I’m especially glad because I get to spend more time with Debbie as our barkada don’t go out that much anymore since most of them got married recently.

Cafe France Roch and Debbie

As I write this post, I remember that yesterday I saw three different Cafe France branches. So funny that I decided to immediately write this review over other stories that I need to write quickly. We had breakfast at Cafe France U.N. branch, saw another branch when we visited a church friend at Metropolitan Hospital in Manila and lastly, saw another Cafe France at MOA while we were strolling around the mall.

So, that was my experience yesterday with Cafe France. Oh, and by the way, the U.N. branch is open 24 hours daily.

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Cafe France
U.N. Ave. Maria Orosa St., Ermita, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63-2-523-5555

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