When the Nintendo Switch was first released to the public, it came with only a handful of games. Not a great start to a hotly anticipated console, and certainly not enough to draw potential buyers, normally. But one of the launch titles was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Switch went on to sell millions.
It is no mystery how immensely popular the Zelda franchise is and now, Zelda fans will have the opportunity to enjoy the series’ soundtrack live – right here in Singapore.
To be held at the Mastercard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands, The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses will come to live for one day only on August 26, 2017.
Celebrating 30 years of stirring virtual adventure and memorable soundtracks with live orchestral renditions with oversight and approval from the game’s developers and composers, The Symphony of the Goddesses is now in its fourth season.
The two-hour concert comes to life with a 56-piece orchestra, 20-person choir and a reimagined score that draws from requested Zelda games, including the Ballad of the Wind Fish from the original programme.
The concert’s five-movement symphony regales ears with original music from Nintendo composers, including Koji Kondo.
It will be conducted by Jessica Gethin.
Fans can expect a video collage that will sync up with the adventurous tunes to feature exciting moments from the franchise, like moments of the protagonist Link conquering dungeons in Hyrule, running through forests, defeating Ganon, and saving Princess Zelda.
Tickets are available for sale from May 15 and will start from $115.
MANILA – The Philippines has been forced to turn to China and Russia for arms supplies because of conditions imposed by its long-time ally and former colonial ruler the United States, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.
The United States has provided its defence treaty ally with most of its major hardware, like ships, fighters, helicopters and small arms, but the Philippines was now looking to China and Russia for drones, planes, fast boats and rifles to fight Maoist-led rebels and Islamist militants behind an unrelenting spree of piracy and kidnapping, he said.
Lorenzana said acquiring weapons and equipment from the United States had become difficult because the process was slow and there were conditions tied to sales. “That’s why we are discouraged from getting from them because of these conditions,” Lorenzana told reporters in Beijing. “We need airplanes, we need drones, we need fast boats,” he said. “We need them in the south so that we can deter kidnappings and bring about development.”
Weapons procurements could also be complicated by bipartisan attempts by some US lawmakers to ban the transfer of arms to the Philippines that could be used in a war on drugs that has killed thousands of Filipinos, and has been condemned by Western governments.
At the sidelines of a Belt and Road summit in Beijing, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday met several Chinese state-owned corporations, including a defence contractor blacklisted by Washington for selling to Iran items that were banned under US laws.
Duterte, who is working hard to strengthen ties with China, has admitted he has a grudge against the United States and complained at what he says is useless US “hand-me-down”merchandise.
Lorenzana confirmed China’s Poly Group Corporation and Poly Technologies were among companies which called on the firebrand leader, and the defence ministry would send a technical team to look at the Chinese equipment.
China has offered to donate US$14 million (S$20 million) worth of military hardware to the Philippines, plus a soft loan for $500 million in Chinese arms.
He said the Philippines had only planned to use China’s money if the military’s five-year 100 billion peso (S$ 2.8 billion) budget for modernisation was insufficient.
He is due to sign a defence agreement with his Russian counterpart next week for possible purchases of weapons and drones. The Philippines is also acquiring drones from Israel.
TOKYO – Japan’s defence ministry sent planes and helicopters to search for a military aircraft with four crew members aboard that went missing earlier Monday.
The LR-2 reconnaissance plane disappeared from radar near Hakodate airport on the northern island of Hokkaido while flying to pick up a patient in Hakodate at the request of Hokkaido’s governor, a ministry spokesman said.
“We have sent four helicopters and two airplanes to search for the missing plane,” the spokesman said.
“So far we have not found any clues,” he said, adding that the weather was poor, especially in the mountains.
The propeller aircraft was scheduled to take the patient from hospital in Hakodate to Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital city, for special medical treatment.
Former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya mentioned the name of God at least three times during a Senate hearing on Monday to defend the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 contracts the government had entered into during his time.
It was under Abaya’s leadership when the then Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) awarded short term contracts to alleged “dubious” maintenance providers like the Philippine Trans Rail Management and Services Corporation or PH Trams.
“Sa amin po ginawa namin ang aming makakaya (For us, we did all we could do). We think we did the right thing and our conscience was clear. When we finally face our God, I could answer all the things that he would ask me,” Abaya said during the hearing of the Senate committee on public services.
The former transport official was responding to the committee chair, Senator Grace Poe, who asked how he felt when he saw the sufferings of MRT riders every time the trains broke down.
Abaya first mentioned God when responding to Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito’s queries.
“Ginagarantiya ko ho sa inyo na wala hong nakinabang dito , walang kalokohan ho ito, above board lahat at malinaw ang konsensya namin. Kaya kung sagutin ang ating Panginoon na ginawa amin ng maayos ito,” he said.
(I guarantee you that no one made money out of this. There is no truth to the allegations. All these actions are above board and our conscience is clear. I can answer the Lord and tell him that we did our jobs well.)
And when Poe grilled him over the maintenance deal with the PH-Trams, Abaya again uttered the name of God amid insinuations that he was just trying to cover up his predecessor, former Secretary Mar Roxas.
Abaya earlier admitted that he was not aware that the PH-Trams only had a P625,000 paid up capital and was just incorporated two months before it was awarded the maintenance contract in 2012.
“…Kasi alam mo Secretary Abaya, sundalo kayo, inaako nyo yung mga bagay na maaring hindi naman talaga sa inyo dapat nahulog (because you are acting as soldiers, Sec. Abaya, you are shouldering things which should not have been your responsibilities)…” Poe said.
“Hindi po. Mabuting sundalo po ako pero sa Panginoon po ako sumasagot, hindi po kanino man (No. I am a good soldier, but I’m only answerable to the Lord and not to anyone else),” Abaya said.
Soon, Railways will offer an array of popular films, TV serials and sitcoms in premier trains for its passengers to watch on their laptops, mobile phones and other devices.
However, the entertainment package will come at a price as the public transporter aims to monetise the service based on captive eyeballs at rail premises as part of its stepped up efforts to garner more non-tariff revenue.
Passengers have to pay a bit extra to avail the content-on-demand service in select trains including Rajdhani and Shatabdi to begin with and it will be extended to more trains and stations later.
“Popular TV serials, films, musicals will be on offer in trains to make the journey enjoyable while at the same time the Railways will also earn,” said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.
Besides films from Hollywood and Bollywood, there will be offers from regional cinema also. Many overseas serials and comedy shows have good viewership and they will also be part of the content-on-demand offer, the official said.
Content on demand video service will be available on all personal devices like smart phones, tabs or laptops.It would cost about Rs 25 lakh to equip a train with the content-on-demand service.All Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto and Humsafar trains will have this facility in the first phase, the official said.
RailTel, the telecom arm of the Railways, will execute the content-on-demand project and accordingly float the tender shortly for awarding contracts.Besides video, content-on-demand will also offer radio service as audio package in trains and stations. But the audio service will be available for free.
Railways, which enjoy maximum eyeballs and footfalls at rail premises, has finalised the content-on-demand policy. The policy envisages a service contract for a tenure of 10 years.
Two weeks on and news surrounding the death of young novelist Lin Yi-han have yet to cool down.
Social media has turned into a battlefield where netizens comment, argue, and debate the rights and wrongs of nearly all parties involved: the Chinese literature cram-school tutor who allegedly seduced the novelist into sexual relations; public figures who have spoken up for or against him; and even Lin’s parents, who are under a state investigation for withholding the secret of her alleged rape for the past eight or nine years and possibly playing a role in her suicide last month.
Lin herself is at the centre of it all, with curious onlookers combing through her novel and debating questions like what she had wanted out of the book, how much of her writing reflected real life, whether she had wanted the world to probe into the details of her narrative, and whether she had truly loved the abusive tutor at the novel’s heart.
Also up for debate is whether frenzied attention from mainstream society, government agencies, to politicians and legislators were a disgrace to the novelist rather than a delivery of justice.
But the answers to these questions should at this point be less of a priority for us.
What Taiwan’s media, politicians, and more importantly its public should be concerned about most right now is what we want from society and what we can do to achieve it.
A sexual assault case involving a 7-year-old victim late March shocked the country when the court sentenced the perpetrator to just four years in prison when the maximum sentence for sexual assault against a minor under 14 years old is 10 years.
In the verdict, the judge wrote that the sexual relation was “consensual” and that therefore the Civil Code’s Article 228 applied.
The article stipulates that the maximum sentence is five years in prison in cases where the abuser receives the victim’s consent by means of seduction or authority.
A High Court interpretation of the Civil Code in 2010 stipulated that only children under the age of 7 cannot consent to sexual encounters. In other words, the current law finds that victims between 7 and 14 years old are capable of consenting to sexual relations.
The public was infuriated when the abuser of the 7-year-old victim “got away” with just four years in prison.
The public is once again infuriated that the current law may not be able to indict, let alone convict, the cram-school teacher in the case of the novelist.
Both cases lead to this question: Are children mature enough at the age of seven, eight and nine and even 14 able to agree to participate in sexual relations?
If not, are the laws flawed? Or is Taiwan’s education system poor at providing children with sufficient knowledge about sex? Perhaps the answer is a combination of the two.
Parent groups, many of which are supported by religious organisations, have protested the inclusion of sex education in primary and secondary schoolbooks over the past year.
Many claimed that sex education being taught too early would result in children eager to “try out” sexual relations.
Ignorance is one of key factors that produce sexual trauma in children.
How can anyone identify danger when they don’t recognise the signs? How can we expect a child to think about the consequences of sexual relations when they were never taught about it?
How do we expect a victim to cry for help when society still leaps to analyse the victim’s appearance, behaviour and motivations before looking at the perpetrator?
Respect for oneself – the body, soul and mind – is instilled through clear education.
The courage to not internalize trauma, to speak up, and to really move on from tragedy requires confidence in the judicial system, the laws, and even the public.
While the death of the novelist has triggered a rash of debate about her story, it is about time to move away from the protagonist – the one in the book and in real life. Let’s start focusing on ourselves and what needs to be done to build the society we want.
It isn’t everyday that we get to see A-list Thai stars in the Klang Valley. So, when online streaming service dimsum brought the U-Prince Series: Handsome Cowboy stars to the country, hundreds of lakorn (Thai term for TV drama series) fans thronged Sunway Pyramid in Petaling Jaya to catch a glimpse of their favourite leading couple Puttichai Kasetsin (aka Push or DJ Push) and Esther Supreeleela.
The two easily charmed fans with some Malay words they picked up upon their arrival in Malaysia like, “Apa khabar?” and “Aku cintamu”.
Push, who has been filming in China lately, also added his favourite Chinese phrases, “Ni hao ma?” (How are you?), “Wo ai ni men!” (I love you all), “Ci bao le ma?” (Have you eaten?).
Handsome Cowboy is the first of 12 parts of the U-Prince Series Thai romantic dramas, which revolve around the love lives of undergraduates from different faculties of a Thai university.
In Handsome Cowboy, Push and Esther portray a mismatched couple who starts off on the wrong footing.
Push, 30, plays the dashing yet arrogant cowboy Sibtit who is a university student majoring in agriculture. He meets his match in a down-to-earth girl named Prikkang, who is played by Esther, 23.
Like their names suggest, Sibtit (10 directions or 10 times) is a rich playboy who is full of himself while Prikkang (chilli paste used to make Thai curry) is a feisty girl who prefers to keep her distance from him due to his flirty reputation.
During a recent interview, the two recalled their most challenging experiences shooting Handsome Cowboy. Since there were scenes involving horseback riding, Esther admitted it was quite a challenge as it was her first time doing so.
The actors found horseback-riding to be a painful experience. Photo: Dimsum
“It was quite scary and a rather painful experience, and even quite dangerous. The crew had to be on standby to ensure our safety,” the actress recalled.
Being new to horseback riding, as well, Push revealed that their two-day training session barely prepared them for the shoot.
“The scene was shot using a different horse, which we were not familiar with. We rehearsed the scene while riding another horse during the training sessions,” Push said.
Despite their experience, when asked to describe their biggest challenge, Push replied that it had to do with fleshing out his character. “It was more of a challenge playing Sibtit because he is such a playboy, while I am nothing like that,” said Push, who described himself as a one-woman man.
“But when Sibtit meets Prikkang, he tries his best to change himself to show that he truly loves her.”
As for Esther, who describes herself as a girl of few words, she said it was different playing a character who’s feisty.
“Prikkang may be a beauty, but she is not like the other girls. Since, she was already aware about Sibtit’s reputation, she initially does not want to have anything to do with him.”
Apart from that, Push and Esther shared that their most memorable moments were their time shooting on location.
Esther said she enjoyed the scenery and quiet surroundings: “We loved spending our time on the farm. It was very beautiful and peaceful, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.”
Push and Esther enjoyed the beautiful scenery and peaceful surroundings of a fruit farm at Ratchaburi while shooting U-Prince Series: Handsome Cowboy. Photo: Dimsum
As for their dream roles, Esther said she hopes to push her boundaries by playing a psychopath in a horror movie while Push looks forward to acting as a secret agent, or playing an effeminate man or cross-dresser in a comedy.
Also, Esther professed an interest in the action genre, as it is something she had never done before. But, she reasoned that it would take some work to prepare herself for such a role. “I am too skinny right now. I have to build up my body first,” said Esther.
With Thai dramas gaining traction in China and Taiwan as well as Malaysia, Push has been getting acting offers outside of Thailand.
So, apart from his acting, deejaying and charity work in Thailand, Push
is also busy with overseas projects, mostly in China.
Last year, Push starred in China drama Stairway To Stardom alongside Chinese actress Song Yi (Detective Dee The 5th and The Disguiser).
“I was really happy to shoot the drama in China with famous film actors,” said Push, who got the chance to star alongside Orlando Bloom, who had a cameo appearance in the mainland web drama.
As for his next Thai project, Push will be seen in the rom-com Game Maya along with his real-life girlfriend Warattaya Nilkuha (a.k.a Jooy). In the drama, she plays a big star in Thailand who hires him as her bodyguard to protect her from a mysterious stalker.
Esther’s schedule is packed as well as she will star in a couple of new Thai dramas that are remakes of popular Asian dramas.
One of it is the remake of the popular 2008 Taiwanese series Fated To Love (starring Joe Chen and Ethan Ruan). This series was so popular that it spawned a South Korean remake in 2014 starring Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara.
She will also star in the Thai remake of the South Korean drama My Girl (starring Lee Dong-wook and Lee Da-hae).
Both Push and Esther made their names in an earlier Thai idol series titled Ugly Duckling Series; Push starred in Perfect Match while Esther appeared in Boy’s Paradise. Both titles are also available on dimsum.
The House of Representatives justice committee on Monday dismissed the two impeachment complaints lodged against President Rodrigo Duterte for insufficiency in substance.
This was the result of the first hearing conducted by the justice committee on the two impeachment complaints filed against Duterte filed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano.
Alejano filed the two impeachment complaints against Duterte for his alleged role in state-sponsored killings and the Davao Death Squad, as well as his alleged inaction to uphold the country’s sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea, Panatag Shoal and Benham Rise amid the administration’s cooling of ties with China.
The justice committee is tasked to determine whether there is form and substance on the impeachment complaints.
After the committee held an executive session due to ambiguity in rules, the committee voted and found the impeachment complaint sufficient in form.
But the committee later found the complaint insufficient in substance.
The committee had a heated debate following Majority Leader Rudy Fariñas’ statement that Alejano’s impeachment complaints were based on news reports and testimonies of other witnesses, which means the impeachment filer Alejano had no personal knowledge on the matter.
Fariñas said it is clear Alejano had no personal knowledge on his allegation over 8,000 drug suspects have been killed in the administration’s brutal war on drugs.
He added that Alejano also had no personal knowledge that drug suspects were extrajudicially killed by the Davao Death Squad formed by Duterte when the latter was Davao City mayor.
Fariñas said Alejano himself admitted no personal knowledge by quoting other persons in the complaint, such as self-confessed Davao Death Squad members Arturo Lascañas and Edgar Matobato.
“Clearly, it’s not in his personal knowledge. That is the defect here… You are introducing statements under oath, these are not your own. Lalabas hearsay po ito,” Fariñas said in a heated debate with Alejano.
Alejano insisted that he had personal knowledge when he believed in the authenticity of the official documents and the news reports.
“I culled from important records including the news reports regarding the authentic records. I understand we are not here where we would present the evidence. There is no marking of evidence yet,” Alejano said.
“My allegations are based on authentic records… In proper time we will present the authentic records, Mr. Chair,” he added.
But Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said Alejano committed misrepresentation when he made under oath about the allegations of other witnesses and not his own personal knowledge.
“At best, this is misrepresentation, at worse this is a falsity… This is patent falsity. I believe this should be dismissed on the basis of form,” Roque said.
1-Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta said the complaint should be dismissed for relying on electronic sources such as news articles instead of being based on Alejano’s personal knowledge.
“Considering this is a very important political process, we have to determine and dispose properly. I cannot find justification to continue because the admission itself is strong that the complaint does not rest on personal knowledge,” Marcoleta said.
Leyte Rep. Vicente “Ching” Veloso however said Alejano’s complaint should be approved for compliance of sufficiency of form and that merits of the complaint should be discussed during the discussions on substance.
Veloso said Alejano’s complaint complied with form because the complaint was duly endorsed by a member of Congress, in this case, Alejano himself.
“We go ahead with the impeachment complaint. Huwag naman patayin agad dahil lang sa insufficiency of form. There is substantial compliance, form-wise, in the complaint,” said Veloso, a former justice at the Court of Appeals.
Just when the members were expecting the committee to put the complaint to a vote, committee chairperson Umali suspended the hearing to hold an executive meeting to discuss their vote on the sufficiency of form of the complaint.
Umali said the committee has to discuss the ambiguity on House rules that a complaint dismissed due to lack of form may be returned to the Secretary General who will then return the complaint to the complainants.
The Rules state that a complaint may only be dismissed outright if is not sufficient in substance.
“We have heard the different positions of members. We would like to discuss the case in executive session so we will have a second chance to look into the aspect of the ambiguity on rules,” Umali said.
SINGAPORE — Motorists may soon say goodbye to the hassle of tearing parking coupons, with a new mobile application for the payment of parking fees in the works.
The app, developed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech), will be tested among public-sector officers from Tuesday (May 16) to June 16 at selected public car parks in the city that currently use paper coupons. The plan is to expand the trial to the general public later this year, the agencies said in a press statement on Monday (May 15).
More than 80 carparks will be involved in the trial, comprising 70 URA carparks in the Central Business District – such as in the Tanjong Pagar, Bugis and Chinatown areas – and 14 HDB carparks in estates around Bugis and Tiong Bahru.
If successful, the app – which uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) and is meant to be an alternative to paper coupons – could be rolled out to the 1,150 or so public car parks that use paper coupons now.
The agencies said the app will provide greater convenience for motorists who will not have to return to their vehicles to replenish coupons to extend their parking, for example. Its features include enabling motorists to key in their vehicle number, choose a car park, indicate the duration for which they want to park, and pay via a credit or debit card. The app calculates the parking fees automatically, based on the length of time a car is parked on a per-minute basis. A refund will be given if motorists decide to leave the car park earlier.
The app also allows motorists to monitor the validity of their parking session, and they may extend this at any time. Enforcement officers, who have been trained to “identify digitally parked” cars for the trial, will issue an offence notice for parking without a valid coupon if a parking session has lapsed, for instance.
The initial trial will involve putting the app through the motions, particularly its payment module, to be “confident of its robustness” before the public test is rolled out. “With the feedback gathered from the trial, the agencies will improve the app for better user experience,” the URA, HDB and GovTech said.
The Republic is not the first to introduce app-based payment for parking. In New York City (NYC), for instance, the local government in December last year introduced an app that allows drivers to pay for street parking through their mobile phones. For drivers who do not want to use the service, however, meters in the NYC continue to accept coins and credit or debit cards.
Transport analysts interviewed by TODAY said the app-based system would be more cost-effective than the Electronic Parking System (EPS) installed in some public car parks. In February, then-Senior
Minister of State (National Development) Desmond Lee told Parliament that about seven in 10 public off-street car parks managed by the URA and HDB are operating under the EPS, and the plan is to eventually phase out coupon parking altogether. On-street carparks, such as kerbside parking with site constraints and carparks affected by impending redevelopment, are unsuitable for EPS. Mr Lee, who is now Second Minister, said then that new parking technology was being explored.
Photo: Government Technology Agency of Singapore
Dr Walter Theseira, a transport economist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), noted that the EPS, which requires fixed infrastructure and servicing, costs much more than an app-based system.
Nevertheless, he noted that a large number of transactions in bigger carparks “would justify installing the EPS”, he added.
Dr Park Byung Joon, also a senior lecturer at SUSS, said that the roll-out of the next-generation satellite-based Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system would render this app “a bit redundant”. Under the new
ERP system, which will be operational from 2020, an On-Board Unit — about the size of a smartphone — could also be used to pay for expenses, such as roadside parking fees and checkpoint tolls.
Nevertheless, Dr Theseira noted that the new ERP system may not have the resolution to capture a car’s location in dense areas, and the app-based system may still be needed as an alternative.
In a joint response to TODAY’s queries, the URA, HDB and GovTech noted that the next-generation ERP system will “only be implemented in a few years’ time”. In the meantime, there has been “public feedback and requests for paperless payment”, they said. “The digital parking app will be used as a transition step and provide important learning points for us as we move towards the Next-Generation ERP system,” the agencies added.
Even after the paperless payment options are rolled out, Dr Theseira said he expects paper coupons to be retained for “a number of years”, since there will be users who may not take to app-based payment.
The agencies said the app is designed to be “as user-friendly as possible”, and this will be improved upon during the trial. Alternatives will also be explored to cater to motorists without a smartphone or data plan, for instance.
In terms of convenience, Dr Theseira noted that the EPS was “less troublesome” to motorists than the app, since it is fully automated and drivers “don’t have to do anything”.
Motorists said they welcomed the increased convenience but also had concerns over data privacy, and potential technical or network glitches.
Banking professional Claire Seng, 23, said app-based payment would benefit the more technologically savvy “digital generation”, making it easier to tabulate the amount spent on parking fees monthly. But administrative manager Adeline See, 49, said she was worried about the security of personal data being shared, noting the trend of systems being hacked. “Sometimes, if the app (or) if the telco fails, how are we going to extend (our parking)?” she added.
