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Prom Night '08: The Review

The ladies strutted in their ravishing gowns embellished with captivating accessories as they entered the grand ballroom. Some opted for a scanty outfit, a clear sign of the effects of the economic downturn. The men encapsulated the formality of the event with their coats, ties and leather shoes. It was a resplendent masquerade night to be remembered for the rest of their lives.



















TPJC 22nd Student Council. (Picture courtesy of Nazurah Atiqah)

The Prom Night was a culmination of the hard work and determination of the 23rd Student Council. The students, including me, had high expectations for the event. In this review, I will sum up the thoughts and feelings by members of the audience. Therefore, be prepared for the criticisms too.

The emcee for the night was Mr Richardo from Adrenalin Events. On a scale of one to ten, I think he deserved a six. Firstly, he managed to host the event smoothly with only one or two slips of the tongue. Secondly, he was very enthusiastic. He passed the energy to the audience with his humourous lines and consistently tried to maintain the level of enthusiasm by encouraging us to scream and support our team members during the games.

However, as the night turned colder, the energy started to wane. Our short attention spans got the better of us and we soon began to ignore the games and took pictures with our friends instead. The emcee's jokes started to turn lame as he blathered on and started to create name jokes. In short, although he did try to keep the zealous crowd alive, in the end it was just an ephemeral fervour.

If I could pick the most entertaining performer for the night, I would definitely choose Ami Yousoff as the winner hands down. In fact, most if not all of my friends agreed that he was the star of the night. No one expected him to krump vociferously on stage during one of the games. It was hilarious and he was deservedly rewarded with a standing ovation. And oh, his awkward gait while imitating Indiana Jones was amusing too. This funnyman sure has guts, I told myself.

I think the food and beverages served were all right. Overall, I would rate a B+ for them. My personal favourite was the fish dish (I can't remember the exact name of the dish). The jellyfish dish was unexpected and we were thrilled to taste it for the very first time (Haha). However, I have to agree with some of my friends that knives should have been provided so that we could cut the meat with ease and avoid a situation whereby the meat might jump off the plate suddenly!



















TPJC Canoeing Team. (Photo courtesy of Koh Han Jie)

I thought the door gifts were reasonable. I received many complains that they were inadequate and unattractive. To me, the greatest souvenir that I brought home from the night was the set of photos that I took together with my gorgeous best friends. Door gifts do not really matter to us.

Now here comes the (nasty) criticisms...

Firstly, there should have been more transparency on how the nominees for the Prom king and queen were selected. I received two versions of the voting process - one told me that a team of councillors chose them but the other informed me that only one councillor had the power to choose the nominees. Which is true I do not know, but whatever it is, it sure made some attendees slightly unhappy. I am not disputing the winners of the Prom king and queen because I believe they looked amazing and truly deserved it. In fact, my whole table voted for them. However, there is another huge group of people who felt that they should have been given the right to nominate the Prom king and queen. Anyway, congratulations to Hafiz and Mae for winning the Prom king and queen contest respectively that night!

Secondly, the event was not filled with heart-pumping or spellbinding performances. Most of the musicians who took the stage were accompanied by acoustic guitars and a soothing voice. The pace of the event was a bit too relaxed. Perhaps, the event organizers were trying too hard to retain the serenity of the masquerade night. Nevertheless, it would definitely be a lot better if a powerful voice or the sharp sounds from a violin would suddenly overwhelm the entire ballroom. A lucky draw segment would help too. Overall, the entertainment value was low.

Thirdly, several members of the audience were displeased that some students (the minority) actually walked around and took pictures in the middle of the ballroom, therefore blocking the view of the rest of the attendees seated at the back. I believe they were too eager to take a group photo together, so much so that they forgot that there are people seated at the back who wanted to view the performances on stage (especially during the Prom king and queen segment! Oh boy...). Not too much of a problem I agree, but still a little courtesy would make a huge difference.

Next, I think masquerade masks should have been provided during the event. This suggestion was actually brought forward by my classmate as well as one of the readers in this blog who mentioned how masks were provided during his graduation night which coincidentally used the same theme as ours. In my opinion, we have to be realistic when it came to this. I am pretty confident that the councillors intended to do so, but the lack of funds did not permit them to provide the masks. Nonetheless, a special counter to loan a few masks for photo shoots could have been set up.

Finally, some of the attendees commented that the the dance floor should have been opened for a longer period of time. They argued that the time allocated for the final segment was too short and therefore unsatisfactory. I believe the event organizers had no choice but to end the dance segment early because the ballroom was booked for a specified duration of time and they could not exceed it.

It was definitely a fantastic night, but to describe it as magical seems superfluous. Nevertheless, (most importantly) thank you to the 23rd Student Council for making the event happen.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...
on

Hopefully next year's will be better?

Honestly after reading your review, I don't feel like going for my prom, if there's going to be one even next year.

-J1 girl

Anonymous said...
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the only good thing about prom 08 was when we were taking pictures with our friends.

- peeved

Anonymous said...
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Yeah, same here... reading this review sort of made me feel like not going to mine next year. =/ I hope the organisers read this post!

-Another J1

Anonymous said...
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yeah totaly agree, i am now half hearted to go to mine next year.
my secondary sch was at conrad hotel. i bet every one know where is conrad.
as for prom for the j2 this yr,i dnt even know where the venue is.( never heard of it lol)
o well. i hope it will be much better nxt yr ;)

-yet another j1 guy Lol

Anonymous said...
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I believed that this prom is done well enough, considering that the group of organisers are J1 and doesn't have that much experience.

I think that it's not the host or the quality of food that will leave good memories behind but the quality time spent with your friends and classmates before each of us go separate ways.

I agree that the food served is not that fantastic and the dance floor should be opened for a longer period of time. But if you people want to have good food, go to a restaurant. If you want to dance, go to a club after your prom. Find alternatives, don't complain.

J1s, let me tell you that going for prom is very worthwhile. Trust me. This may be your last prom as when you go university, it is very unlikely for a faculty to hold a prom.

Think twice or thrice before you regret it next time. I didn't regret going for my prom. The time spent with my friends from getting our prom stuff to preparing for prom and post prom partys.

Last but not least, I thank those who organised Prom'08.
-ding geng

Anonymous said...
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only taking of pictures with ur frens are the highlights of the whole event.

well, ding geng sums up everything that needs to b said.

its the memories and pictures that u bring back, nt e food etc.

or u may regret nt goin prom...
(but if u really no $$$ u can still crash...alot ppl did tt. haha XD )

Anonymous said...
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Agreed. It was really about taking pictures with your friends in their beautiful outfits. That was the only thing that made Prom memorable.

As for the food, the rating was really appropriate. It was really all right - delicious and filled the stomach. But to say it is 'fantabulous' is a bit 'over'.

Prom was for us to enjoy dinner and take pictures together. Nothing interesting really. Nevertheless, it would be better if a moment of magic suddenly filled the ballroom. That would have made it extra-memorable. Ahh...

But please go for your Prom next year, my dear JC1s. It is your last night together.

Anonymous said...
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And please don't crash! -_-

wanwanwan said...
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I think it's really stupid to say "I don't think I'll attend next year's prom because this year's sounds like its bad". It's just like saying you won't watch a movie because some movie critic gave it a bad review.

Events always have a good and bad side to them. Some reviews focus on the former, others on the latter. There are also some people who found prom night boring because they did not actively take part in any of the activities like bingo or the table games. My table, for one, at least tried to do our part in the fun and games, and the experience became so much more fun for us. I'm sure for people like Ami, or those who got on stage as well (and their friends) it was enjoyable and memorable as well.

If you're going there without the mentality of someone who can have fun, you'll never have fun.

One problem I see is how everyone expects something *spectacular* to appear. I mean, come on, it's a night for us J2s, if there was something spectacular to happen, it should have happened because of a J2. Like when a J2 went on stage to dance because of a game, or had to strut down the middle as "james bond" and went "The name's Bond, James Bond", or when the prom king/queen candidates made their catwalk. It is as much dependent on the people ATTENDING the party as the people PLANNING the party to make the party a good one.

-ww

wanwanwan said...
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with that said, I enjoyed it, so I'd at least give it a 7/10.

Anonymous said...
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Yup i thought the prom king and queen part ought to be be more open
Like they how are they actually nominated.
No offence to the nominees
But i thought there are some people who deserved to be nominated but were not

MiloDino123 said...
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hi, i appreciate your efforts in providing the highlights of prom night to all tpjcians alike, but can you please refrain from giving personal ancedotes next time? unless this is a personal blog then my comments here shall be invalid.

Anonymous said...
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it is all abt taking pics, pics and pics.

like what the writer said, not really magical.

and those who complained that the hotel is unknown or wadeva, COME ON! =.=

Anonymous said...
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@jocelynnnn

He's not just providing the highlights, he's giving a personal review. Ups and downs, pretty balanced if you ask me. As a critic, I'm sure he can say what he wants.

Anonymous said...
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ya wonder how they nominated e prom king/queen.. haha

Anonymous said...
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yea. kinda wondering too how they nominated. was it before hand, or on the spot?

Anonymous said...
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I thought it was damn fun. And smart to play games in between courses. I actually had a better time than I expected.

I liked the lighting and the whole romantic set up.

I'm ok with the prom kings and queens. I mean, its just a 'for fun' thing why take it so seriously, whoever was nominated?

only complaint - no ice cream or cake for dessert?! :(

other than that, food AND service was pretty good!

I was sad that I didn't see a lot of people's outfits. Haha maybe next year should have some runway thing where everyone can gawk at everyone else.

Anonymous said...
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just a qn.how do you get hold of the pictures taken by the several professional photographers that were ard that night?

Anonymous said...
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saw the prom queen making out at the STAIRCASE AFTER THE PROM !!photos leaked.blowing hard.

Anonymous said...
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haha so funny.

TOC Analyzer

Anonymous said...
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Honestly I don't think Prom night is all about entertainment value?
I think the best value stems from the experience of finishing A'level and seeing your close pals in so OH!!! costumes!

Also every Prom night is different. Gotta be looking forward to it!

Geez. !!! Haha ! May all J1 attend Prom next year : )

Anonymous said...
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of course its not ALL abt entertainment.

but since its supposed to be a big night, we shld be WOWed.

its nt abt the no. of performances. its abt the quality of them. if they are forgettable, wads the pt of inviting them?

we dun even care who performed there...nth interesting hahahahaha

poor performers

Anonymous said...
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well said people
anw the prom wasnt that bad really.
the waitress stationed around my table was not bad man. just a little dao =D

Anonymous said...
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Firstly, I do believe people should have a little tact by not insulting the 23rd Student Council's efforts, indirectly or not.

Secondly, if you do not care about the 23rd Council's efforts, then dare to show your name. Don't be a wuss and hide behind anonymous titles.

Thirdly, don't be swayed by only the bad things. Letting the bad things lead your life will screw your life up. Living life that way, you might as well look forward to your funeral.

Fourthly, I'm being a bitch. I didn't attend prom, but with regards to all the things I stated above, I know I'm right. :)

-gisella :)

Anonymous said...
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prom was pretty great! kudos to the organisers! food good, ambience good, photo-taking with friends good! it was the people you spent it with that made your memories memorable =)

but yeah, it wudda been much better if the dancefloor be opened for longer. the games were funny and fine but what people want really is the chance to enjoy & party! am i right?

if i recall, zouk was already at max capacity by the time prom was over and people were just making their way over there. so even if you were on the guest list, it was impossible to get in anyway...=(

Ariel said...
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hai, i'm currently organize a similar event as this prom night. so any guideline that u would provide me for running this event smoothly? or u can email it to my mail, arielchong89@hotmail.com

thanks, and have a nice day. =)

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