Mama Mia!

Mama Mia! The movie





Mama Mia! The musical

I have watched the Mama Mia! the movie this afternoon. It was an adaptation from a musical of the same name.

Mamma Mia! is a stage musical with a book by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It is an example of a jukebox musical, and is notable for popularising the genre.

I have always wanted to watch the stage musical but never have a chance. The soundtracks are all songs from ABBA, such as "Dancing Queen", "I have a dream", "Mama Mia", "The Winner Takes it All", "Take a Chance on Me", "Voulez-vous" and many more. I am sure on the live stage musical, the audience will stand up, sing and dance with the music. But in a movie, one can only sit there and hum away. The movie was filmed in Greece - again one of the highlights of the movie.

Overall, I would say the movie was entertaining and hilarious.

So, is this movie only for ABBA fans? I would say, if you like musicals or ABBA songs, it definitely helps you to enjoy more.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

(Picture above): The red building under the bridge is the hostel

Town Hall with marching soldier guard at the background.

When we think of Europe, we always think of the larger countries such as Germany, Italy, France etc. There are however 6 micro-states in Europe, i.e. Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Vatican City and San Marino. I am surprised of how some of these states were formed.

In September 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Luxembourg City, enroute from Paris to Germany. I decided to stay only 2 nights as I didnt think of anything to see in this small country.
How wrong I was indeed.

I arrived at Luxembourg City train station and was told by the Tourist Information guy that the hostel was 15 minutes walk away. The first impression of the area outside the train station made me think twice if I wanted to stay in this boring city for 2 nights. The area around the train station had the usual chain stores found in almost every European city.

Then I was dragging my luggage crossing the bridge. Gosh, that was a HUGE bridge with valleys underneath. Then I walked up a slope,down another slope, passed a square, crossed another bridge (with another valley again), down another very steep slope; and voila that was the hostel located by the river underneath a giant railway bridge - a 30 minutes walk away.

So the first impression deceived me. Luxembourg City was fantastic. Lots of beautiful scenery with bridges, hills, rivers and a toy town city centre. The hostel was the best I have stayed in MY LIFE. I merely touched the surface of what I could do and see here.

More pictures here

Dedication to my Exes

What will you say to your ex when you meet him/her?

Will you ...

- Avoid and shy away him/her

- Greet him/her like a normal friend and stay as friends

- Or tell/show him/her just how good you are without him/her in your life.

This Hari Raya, I only visited 4 houses so far; and I met 2 of my exes at 2 of the houses respectively. We didn't greet and I am sure they saw me. I was wondering why on earth I was so head over heels in love with them in the past. Maybe when the feelings are all gone, this is when I could see more clearly what the whole fuss was. And I was actually proving to them how good and happy my life is without them.

So if I have chance to talk to them, I would say "Thanks for the memory!", as if they really care lol