ntv7 personalities fill us in on their merry holidays
Shuhaidah Saharani
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 16:02:00
IT'S a mad dash for present shopping now that Christmas is here once again. With only a few days to go, we can see a sea of people at malls and bazaars, hoping to pounce on special bargains.
A cheerful bunch
But really, Christmas must mean more than just presents? To get to know more about the merry holiday, we asked seven ntv7 personalities to share with us their Christmas celebrations, and what they'd be looking forward to.
"This year, I'm looking forward to attending the Christmas Eve mass in Church Of The Divine Mercy in Shah Alam by Rev Father Paulino Miranda," said senior newscaster, Charles Mohan.
"He is really cool and attracts parishioners to sit, listen and apply his homily. And of course, apart from the presents, I also look forward to various special dishes made by my mum and sister."
"Christmas has always been about family, so that's what I look forward to most," added Joanne de Rozario.
"Every year, my mum opens our home to my friends from abroad living in Malaysia who can't celebrate Christmas with their respective families. So our house is one big gathering of families and 'adopted children' on Christmas Eve! We all usually don't leave till 4am or so. Oh, and the feast that my parents put out - turkey, ham, pie, lamb, stollen, fruitcake, pineapple tarts - you name it, we've got it."
For MayJune, besides the food and family, she loves Christmas for the 'exercise' that she gets while spreading the Christmas cheers. "I'll be joining the church members for carolling or gathering. I think carolling is a good way to assemble all friends and church members to walk around the city to sing freely once a year. It is the most joyous way to work out on Christmas!"
For others, the Christmas holiday is a good excuse to travel like Melissa Ong and Grace Ng who will be spending Christmas in Singapore.
"This year, Christmas Eve would be spent at Universal Studios," said Ong. "I'm looking forward for a day of adventure, fun and thrills while reliving favourite moments from blockbuster movies and the famous Dreamworks animations. I'm also excited to see the amazing decorations at Orchard Road."
"I'll be presenting the news on Dec 23," said Ng. "Then, immediately, I'm taking off to Singapore with my family to celebrate Christmas with my sister and her family. I've never spent Christmas in Singapore before. And we'll also be doing something different this year - a Korean Barbecue!" said the presenter who will also celebrate her 24th birthday on Christmas Day.
"What I'd most look forward to this year is to see my nephew dressed up in a Christmas outfit! He's only 16 months old and he's the cutest thing ever," gushed Hansen Lee.
Christmas means different things to each person. Each personality summed up the celebration in a word.
"'Family', because that's what it has always been about in my home. If you gave me two words, it would be 'Food Coma'!" joked de Rozario.
"The one word for me is 'PARTY'!" said Melvin Sia. "My friends and I usually hold a theme party for Christmas. We've done all kinds of themes over the years, from pyjama party to sports and Shanghai themes."
• Thanks to 1 Utama Shopping Centre for providing the location.
New year, new hopes
Hansen Lee
Now what about his hosting stint?
"I think it's two very distinct sides of me and I love to do both. Fortunately in Asia, it is quite acceptable to juggle these two professions. But someone once told me, there would come a time where I might have to choose, but for now, I don't feel like I have to so I just hope that I can continue to do both and get better at it."
Melissa Ong
"Year 2010 has been a sweet ride. I could see improvements in my quality of work - I was shortlisted as top three finalists in Best TV category under PETRONAS Malaysian Journalism Award 2010 (MPI) and won consolation for the Health Ministry Award for my H1N1 special report.
"I am still learning and growing. I thank my bosses for their guidance! On career development, if given an opportunity, I would like to host a programme and champion human interest causes. Besides that, adopt an organisation like an orphanage home."
MayJune Tan
"I am both a TV host and an actor, but not yet a commercial singer. As Women's Zone host I aim to become a fashion icon; as a TV actor I am working hard to be nominated in the prestigious Golden Awards and to become a commercial singer. I am now undergoing professional vocal lessons.
"I am in the midst of recording a Gospel album in Singapore which is in the works to be released in May and also to go on a musical tour around Malaysia and Singapore. In the meantime, I am still carrying on with my acting career.
"For 2011, I hope to make Women's Zone an iconic TV programme. My new year plan is to take an image-consulting course."
Grace Ng
"Hosting Cube on ntv7 has been great. It's definitely challenging being an assistant producer for the programme and hosting at the same time. I'm blessed to have a great producer, Azlinda Salim. She's been in TV production for a long time and she's got a good eye for what looks and sounds good for TV, so it makes it easy for my co-host Adrian and I to do our jobs.
"Adrian and I click really well so it's a breeze hosting with him. We are always on the same page without even having to verbalise it. It's also fun to be able to chat with young people all the time as part of my job. And since one of our segments is about hobbies, we get to try lots of fun stuff that we wouldn't normally do such as paramotoring, silat and tap dancing."
And her theatre work? "Well, I recently helped out a friend, Chen Yih Wen (winner of BMW Shorties 2010) with a short film called Shades of Grey for the KL48-hr film project. You can check it out at satoo.tv.
"I am putting theatre on hold still. The time is not right yet."
Melvin Sia
Sia is starring in Tribulations of Life and The Super Match-maker, both new serial dramas airing on ntv7.
"Tribulations of Life will premier on ntv7 on Dec 30, from Monday to Thursday at 10pm. While filming, I dislocated my shoulder during an intense fight scene with William San at Broga Hill. William was mortified and drove me all the way to Cheras to a traditional Chinese bonesetter. It took six people to set my arm straight again!"
"The Super Match-maker is a Chinese telemovie airing on Feb 3 next year. I had a lot of fun playing an Ah Beng character with MayJune as my girlfriend. I had the typical blonde Ah Beng hairstyle, jinjang clothes, the works! As it was a comedy, the shoot was quite funny and fun for the cast.
"Next year, I hope to expand my career abroad to countries like Taiwan and China, and go on a long winter vacation. I also hope the house I designed and built will be completely and perfectly done up by next year."
Charles Mohan
"I have seen my friends venturing into entertainment actively, but for me entertainment is not for me. I have been in the industry for the past 11 years moving into my twelfth year in the next few days. My forte is doing hardcore news, I have been trained to come out with lots of news coverage on politics, social and human interest stories. So I believe this is the right fit for me.
"The next thing I want to try out would be politics. I like being among the rakyat and I want to be a contributing factor in changing their lives and representing their voice. A strong platform in the political party will be an advantage to me.
"2011 is the year of the rabbit, which is my year of birth. I do hope it'll bring me more luck. I hope I will be blessed financially so that I can continue with my charity works, and maybe to settle down in life. Hmmm..."
Joanne de Rozario
"I'm the last person you want to ask about resolutions because I've never had them!
"But my first task next year would be, together with my parents, to get my sister's wedding organised and for that, I'm going to need a lot of patience with vendors! So if I were to have 2011 resolutions, I'll say 'be more patient' and finally make my two-wake jump (a water sport trick with the wakeboard) because I didn't achieve that last year," said the sporty girl, who also loves reading and travelling.
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