AstroBanana Get Their IKEA Catalogue 2010! And It's HUGE!

Two days ago, AstroBanana received an invitation out of the blue via a comment on this very blog itself. Apparently, it was posted by "Karen" from IKEA Singapore who invited them for the media launch of the Singapore edition of the IKEA Catalogue 2010. After verifying that it was not a hoax and that there really is a “Karen”, AstroBanana accepted the invitation happily and showed up for the media launch at the Botanic Gardens this evening.

The theme of the launch was tied to nature, which explained the venue. As AstroBanana approached the reception counter, they were asked for their namecards, probably to verify that they were really members of the press. In such a situation, Eric Banana’s first instinct was to turn around and make his escape. Fortunately, an IKEA staff member recognised them and went, “Oh I know who you are.. you are Eric Banana, and you are Astro Girl!” Then some other staff members also seemed to kinda recognise them – “No wonder you look so familiar.” Hmmm... Anyway, AstroBanana got to meet Karen , who is IKEA Singapore’s Assistant Manager for Public Relations. She was a really nice and friendly gal!

The event started with a presentation by Lars Svensson, the Country Marketing Manager for IKEA Singapore. As he talked about the upcoming catalogue, he mentioned how some Singaporeans are really excited about it… and to AstroBanana’s horror, they saw their faces on the screen - it was a screenshot of their blog. Lars was trying to illustrate that bloggers’ opinions do matter in today’s context - as it turned out, a colleague in IKEA’s headquarters in Sweden had come across AstroBanana’s entry about the upcoming IKEA catalogue and alerted the folks at IKEA Singapore, who then decided to fulfill their wishes by inviting them for the media launch. Lars also quoted an extract from Eric Banana’s blog entry (the second last paragraph).

Next, AstroBanana got to preview some of the new products in the IKEA PS collection. Each product was placed next to a tree species. During their short walk in the Botanic Gardens, they got to find out more about the tree species from Jenny Chua, a horticulturist who works in the Botanic Gardens. After Jenny’s introduction at each juncture, Lars gave a good background on the new IKEA PS products.

Of course, AstroBanana took the opportunity to take some photos with Karen and Lars:

Since every IKEA staff member they met seems to have read their blog, AstroBanana would like to thank them again for inviting to the event and making them feel at home. Congrats on a job well-done!

And yes, AstroBanana are now the proud owners of a jumbo-sized IKEA Catalogue 2010 (limited edition, with only 1,000 copies in print) and they get to read it two days before the rest of the general population.

To get a feel of how big the jumbo-size 2010 catalogue is, here's a picture comparing it to the normal-size 2009 catalogue:

In addition to the limited-edition catalogue, AstroBanana's event passes will also allow them to obtain a one-time 15% media rebate on their purchases in the month of August. Whee!

Eric Banana really did not expect IKEA to contact him. Astro Girl was really funny though - "How come you blog so much about Tiffany but they never invite you for any media launch?" Eric Banana's only response to that - "Business too big and too good liao lor."

A Sneak Preview of IKEA 2010 Catalogue

Eric Banana is not a "waiter" - he hates to wait for just about anything. It goes without saying that when he found out that the IKEA 2010 catalogue will only be available on 1 August 2009, he started to get really restless. And when he gets restless, he starts to find ways to reduce that mounting internal dissonance - in this particular case, getting his hands on a copy of the darned IKEA 2010 catalogue will most certainly help...

... and help it did, even if it's the faraway U.S. edition, and a virtual copy at that. After all, it can't be all that different, can it? Hmmm...

Eric Banana has been a fan of IKEA catalogues since he was a kid. Somehow, flipping through pages of amazingly well-taken pictures of Swedish furniture is a therapeutic experience. It's something IKEA has mastered to perfection, never mind that the material and design of some of its furniture are suspect.

IKEA's online catalogue is also a joy to breeze through as it has no or minimal lag. The Straits Times Interactive should take a leaf from this technology. Reading ST Interactive via its E-Reader is a big pain in the donkey. By the time it finishes loading a page, Eric Banana could probably finish reading ten pages on the print edition.

After a quick flip of the U.S. IKEA 2010 catalogue, Eric Banana has ascertained that the IKEA furniture he is eyeing have not been discontinued. Yes, IKEA has its own way of detraining unsuspecting consumers' home furnishing plans by discontinuing certain product lines. And very often, some of the popular items will be temporarily out of stock or oversold. Interestingly, there is no way to make a reservation order for a particular piece of furniture. Business too big and too good liao ah?

On a side note, Eric Banana spotted something funny in one of the IKEA stores today... a gal was using the IKEA measuring tape to *erm* measure two of her vital statistics. Hmmm, maybe checking out the furniture wasn't really what she was there to do... She later turned to her male partner and screeched in an irritating voice, "YOU DON'T KNOW... YOU DON'T CARE!!" Well, Eric Banana doesn't know and is unlikely to care either, but he was half-tempted to make the connection between unidentified hard object and her cerebellum.

As Time Goes By

Eric Banana took the day off work today and stayed at home. It has been a giant pressure cooker at work for the past few months and some decompression was in order. Astro Girl had to work in the morning but joined him to chill out together in the afternoon. Sick of going out all the time, they decided to watch Casablanca at his house. His boss lent him the DVD sometime last year, but somehow they only got to watching it today. Maybe it was a misconception that old films will bore them to tears.

Directed by Michael Curtiz, Casablanca is a beautiful movie that featured a stellar cast - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid. It won three Academy Awards in 1943 - Best Picture, Best Director and Writing Adapted Screenplay. Eric Banana was captivated by the movie - after all, he's a romantic at heart. He could see why it was considered one of the greatest film classics of all time. That infectious "As Time Goes By" tune is still twirling in his head. (Side note: Eric Banana was also captivated by Ingrid Bergman's timeless beauty - that got him in a bit of trouble with Astro Girl. Oops!)

As they did not feel like travelling to town, they decided to grab their dinner at Holland V, settling for Yoshimaru Ramen Bar, which just opened a few months ago. Interestingly, Yoshimaru Ramen Bar is operated by Jumbo Seafood. He ordered the Shabu-Shabu Pork Ramen while she went for the Toasted Garlic Ramen. Surprisingly, both ramen actually tasted quite good, although hers had more flavour. They will definitely go there again.

It was a simple yet enjoyable day for the two of them. If only more days are like this day...

Harry Pottery

AstroBanana watched the latest installment of the Harry Potter movies - Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince - this evening. It was a screening that was specially for Mercedes Benz customers. Thanks to Eeky for passing them the tickets :) Thankfully, presenting the movie ticket was all one needed to do to gain entry. If asked to show his car key, Eric Banana was ready to say that he left it with his chauffeur. Well, he figured that no one would be too impressed if he said he took a Merc cab to the cinema :P

It was the first Harry Potter movie for Astro Girl and she found it quite okay. Eric Banana has not read any of the books but he has watched all five previous movies. Maybe the interval between each movie was too long - Eric Banana always found himself struggling to remember what happened in the preceding movies. That is what happens to people who watch too many movies.

Eric Banana is looking forward to the grand finale but they had to go split Book 7 into two movies. Joy, joy.. more waiting :(

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

From 97 To 52

AstroBanana went back to My Bridal Room today for Round 2 of the photo selection process. Somehow, they ended up taking much more time than they did during the first round - 3.5 hours versus 2 hours!

They systematically went through all the 97 photos shortlisted in the first round and managed to whittle them down by 45 percent to 53 photos. From that point onwards, it became very difficult to weed out any more photos. The highly disciplined Astro Girl wanted to reduce the total number of photos to 33. Eric Banana was simply holding on to all 53. In the end, they cut another nine photos to bring the tally down to 44. Astro Girl gave up the 8R table-top photo and the 24 pieces of 4" x 5" photos that were part of the original package to exchange for two additional photos. That worked out to a top-up of 44 - 33 - 2 = 9 photos. That would have cost them $9x. Abbie tried to persuade them to add more photos - a top-up of 12 photos (for a total of 47 photos) would have cost them $12y, which is only $120 more than $9x. Furthermore, Abbie was willing to round the figure down to $(12y -40). Eventually, she convinced them to increase the total top-up amount to $18z (which is $160 more than $12y) and offered them another five more photos (for a total of 52 photos) plus the re-inclusion of the 8R table-top photo. By then, AstroBanana were already very tired. Eric Banana was fairly okay with the final top-up figure as it was two to three times lower than his mental budget. As for Astro Girl, *hmmm* she was last spotted looking for other corners to cut :|

So the question is - "What are the values of x, y and z?" :P

The design and layout for the photo album will take about 1.5 months. AstroBanana have arranged to review the design and layout on 5 September 2009. Hope the end-product will turn out to be nice :)

Fly, Butter Fly!

Astro Girl received a surprise from Eric Banana this evening...

... a sterling silver butterfly brooch that was fashioned after the original riding pin worn by Arwen in the LOTR movie. Eric Banana had planned to get it for Astro Girl one day but that day came earlier than expected as he thought of a possible use for her. Yes, "paper weight" is a good answer. "Projectile weapon" is another good one too.

The only problem? She doesn't seem to quite like it. Oh well...

3 Months To Go!

9 July 2009.

Wah, only three more months are left before AstroBanana's big day! In the past month, Astro Girl has gone for her second fitting and trial make-up, and AstroBanana have had their bridal photoshoot. It was done over two days as it was raining the first time round. Not wanting to spoil their outdoor photoshoot, they adjourned it to another day, and the end-product turned out very well. Too well, in fact. AstroBanana are facing a headache trying to select the photos - right now, there's a huge top-up risk.

AstroBanana had their delayed food tasting session last weekend, and their parents met for the first time. Originally, they did not plan to make any changes to the menu. However, after some deliberation, they decided to change a couple of the dishes. Also, having found their wedding solemniser, they are able to officially file their Notice of Marriage from today onwards.

There are still many many things to be done. AstroBanana will hopefully shortlist their photos from their bridal photoshoot this sunday. They need to work on the guest list for their wedding dinner. They also need to print the wedding invitation cards. What else? Argh, so many things, so little time!

Wedding Solemniser Found!

Come tomorrow, AstroBanana would be able to file their Notice of Marriage with the Registry of Marriages. Actually, they are being on the kiasu (read: afraid of losing) side of things because they would be filing at the earliest possible date. Then again, it makes sense to get some things done as soon as possible because there will be many other things that demand their attention in the next three months.

A couple is able to file their Notice of Marriage as early as three months before or as late as three weeks before the solemnisation date. For AstroBanana, that means 9 July 2009 at the earliest (3 months expiration date) or 19 September 2009 at the latest (21 days notice period). Before they can file their Notice of Marriage, they would have to find a solemniser first. This involves poring through a list of licensed solemnisers (which include religious leaders, grassroots leaders and Justices of the Peace), invite him/her to solemnise their wedding, send him/her the completed Solemniser Consent Form and obtain his/her signed consent either via fax or in person.

After some discussion, AstroBanana decided to invite Mr Phang Tai Heng, JP, BBM(L), PBM, who agreed to solemnise their wedding. Yay! Actually, they have met him before - he solemnised Ee Huei's and Ying Chien's wedding last year. In addition, online reviews about him are mostly positive.

Next, to file that Notice of Marriage...

A Taste Of What Is To Be Served

AstroBanana had their food tasting session at Club Chinois this evening. It went okay, except for some minor fine-tuning needed for a couple of dishes. Anyway, the food quality was probably as good as it gets. A lot of people commented that the food served during the actual wedding banquet will usually not be as good as the food served during the food tasting session. AstroBanana focused on savouring their food today because they won't get to eat much of it during their actual wedding dinner.

Astro Girl: So what do you think of the food?

Eric Banana (in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone): Me? I am a vacuum cleaner lor. I don't think, I just eat.

Astro Girl (lost for words): ...

Today was also the first time Eric Banana's father met Astro Girl's parents. Thankfully, it was nothing like the Ben Stiller movie Meet the Parents II. Then again, Eric Banana is no Gaylord 'Greg' Focker either. Hmmm, silence can be deafening sometimes though...

From 392 To 97

AstroBanana went to My Bridal Room this evening to choose the photographs for their wedding photo album. Hmmm, they seem to be going there quite a bit these days - today was the fourth time within two weeks!

Anyway, Weijie took a total of 392 photos of AstroBanana from the studio and outdoor photoshoots. As they went through the photos one by one, AstroBanana could see that Weijie is an outstanding photographer. The photos turned out very well even before any editing. Of course, credit must also go to Dily for her excellent make-up skills.

Actually, it's not difficult to take great photos of Astro Girl 'cos she's very photogenic in the first place. Eric Banana, on the other hand, is not photogenic at all - it's therefore an uphill task to take good photos of him. A colleague who saw a picture of Eric Banana in his wedding outfit would disagree though - she commented, "其实你蛮上镜的。 你真人没那么好看。" (Read: "Actually, you are quite photogenic. You are not so good-looking in person.") *BLEAH*

AstroBanana spent two hours selecting the photos they want. They managed to weed out about 75 percent and shortlisted 97 photos (36 outdoor; 61 studio). As part of their package, they are entitled to 33 poses for their album.. To avoid any top-up expenditure, they would have to weed out another 64 (or about 66 percent). Tough task. While Astro Girl is adamant about not topping up, Eric Banana has already cleaned his neck and gotten it ready (read: 已经洗好脖子准备被砍).

They will go back to MBR on 12 July 2009 for the second round of photo selection. Wish them luck.

AstroBanana Got Shot Again!

And yes, AstroBanana are finally done with their outdoor photoshoot!

When it rained in the afternoon on Monday, Eric Banana was concerned that the weather for the week will be unforgiving. He was also concerned about his karma points. Yesterday morning, the weather forecast on the NEA website didn't bode well either - "Showers with thunder mainly over northern , eastern and western Singapore in the afternoon. Partly cloudy at other times." As it turned out, it was AstroBanana's lucky day - it did not rain. Guess NEA was Not Exactly Accurate after all.

The contact lens curse struck again as Eric Banana faced major problems putting on his contact lenses, resulting in an unnecessary delay. He doubts he will become a big fan of contact lenses in the near - and distant - future. AstroBanana ended up taking a cab to My Bridal Room, where Dily worked her magic on Astro Girl.

Astro Girl - Hairstyle #5, Wedding Gown #2

After they got ready, AstroBanana and Weijie then set off for the outdoor photoshoot. They reached their first stop - HortPark - at about 4:30 p.m. It felt more like Hot Park! When the weather is too good, it's sometimes not a *erm* good sign either - AstroBanana were perspiring like mad. They next skipped over to Hyderabad Road, which is just nearby. Weijie made AstroBanana go through a lot of poses and took most of the shots here. When they left to set off for Changi Boardwalk, it was already 6:00 p.m.

They reached Changi Boardwalk at 6:45 p.m., just in time for sunset. By then, AstroBanana were already very exhausted - the long journey didn't help. A huge cloud was blocking the sun, which meant no sunset pictures for AstroBanana :( Thankfully, a while later, the cloud decided to go play somewhere else, allowing Weijie to take some pictures of AstroBanana with the sun setting beautifully in the background. The photoshoot ended at 7:30 p.m. after Weijie took some shots of AstroBanana lying on the beach. They managed to get back to MBR slightly after 8:00 p.m.

At the end of it all, AstroBanana wondered how a typical couple could survive both the studio and outdoor photoshoots all in one day. They did theirs over two days - and they were damn tired on both days. Hopefully, the photos will turn out well!