My 9-Hour Karaoke Marathon At Redbox

I love to sing although I am not a good singer. And I am pretty sure I am not alone. Luckily for all of us who like to sing but can't sing well, there are karaoke outlets to satisfy our cravings for belting out hit songs unabashedly.

I have not been going to karaoke for quite some time, so imagine my excitement when I heard that Redbox Karaoke offers a Dinner Buffet package that starts at 6pm and allows you to sing till 3am in the morning! That's a whopping 9 hours of singing!! The price was only RM48++ per person* so it was a good bargain.

So early this week, my two friends and I ended up at Redbox Gardens. We were there right on the dot at 6pm. After registering ourselves at the counter, we were led to our private room.



I like that the room was spacious and clean.

There were some pretty new songs for us to choose from, but I was disappointed that some songs that I wanted to sing were not available.



Songs like Paradise (Coldplay), Count On Me (Bruno Mars), Arms (Christina Perri), Someone Like You (Adele), I Wanna Go (Britney Spears), Summer Rain (Matthew Morrison) and Louder (Charice) were not available.

I was actually quite irritated when I found that they had the song My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson but without the lyrics!! How was I supposed to sing?

I was however quite happy they had songs like Fall For You (Secondhand Serenade), Wish You Were Here (Avril Lavigne), Pumped Up Kicks (Foster The People), Cheers Drink To That (Rihanna) and Right There (Nicole Scherzinger).



As expected from a karaoke outlet, the buffet food were nothing to shout about. Here are some of the food I ate.

Sushi, oyster, sausages, chicken meat ...



Butter prawn, vegetables and garlic rice...



I had to spit out the butter prawn after biting halfway as I found that it was not fresh at all!

Scallop, beef, vegetables ...



The scallop was actually not too bad.

Beef, fish, crab, prawns ....



The fish was OK but I'm afraid the rest were below average.

Vegetable salad with various dressings ....



There were also ice creams, fruits and freshly made temaki but I did not take any photos of them.

Oh well, I was there to sing first and to eat second, so I was not too particular about the food. Besides, I did not have any high expectation of the quality of the food there so it was OK.

Since it was my birthday month, I made full use of my birthday vouchers. I redeemed one voucher for a free bottle of sparkling juice.



Thank goodness for this sparkling juice! It helped soothe our throats singing non-stop for 9 hours! Well, not exactly 9 hours as we spent the first hour eating actually. Haha!

I also used another birthday voucher which is a Buy 1 Free 1 voucher. Since there were three of us, we only needed to pay for two people. That's a good deal especially when we could sing all the way until 3am, don't you agree?

*The price RM48++ is only for dinner buffet from 6pm - 10pm (Mon - Thurs only). You can stay on to sing till 3am but this offer together with the price is subject to change from 19th Dec 2011 onwards.

FIRST COMMENTER

Loud Speaker Vs Redbox Vs Neway Karaoke

I love to go karaoke and sing my heart out! How about you?

Not that I am any good at singing, mind you, but isn't that what karaoke is all about? If I can sing like Adam Lambert or God forbid, Justin Bieber, I don't need to go karaoke, do I?

Last December, I went to Loud Speaker Karaoke in Kota Damansara for the very first time.



I usually go Redbox or Neway for my karaoke haunts, but I wanted to try this new kid in town.



The only thing I like about Loud Speaker is their touch screen unit where you can choose and key in the songs you want to sing! You can choose by country, language, top hits, new releases and many other categories!



I opted for language. Look! They have a wide variety of songs in different languages! OK, why is the word "English" spelt as "Englisd"?



OK I admit other karaoke outlets like Neway and Redbox also have all these options but they don't have touch screen units.

My problem with Loud Speaker is that their song selections were not as updated as Redbox or Neway. I tried to select Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are, a relatively new song at that time, but I could not even find Bruno Mars in the male singers category! What a disappointment!



Now Redbox (picture above) may have the most updated songs compared to both Loud Speaker and Neway but I think their service sucks! The counter staff is rude (most of the time) and they like to disable the karaoke machine before your time is up! *

If you have ever been to Redbox buffet, you will know that their food sucks big time! If you are more into singing than eating, my advice is don't go for the buffet.

However, if you are more into eating than singing, then it's better to go to Neway as their food are much better. But seriously, if you are more interested in eating, why bother to go karaoke at all? Haha!!



Nowadays the newer karaoke outlets have wireless microphones. This is great because I hate all those wires hanging around that might cause you to trip over them!

But I hate it when I get screeching sounds from the mike! It's so irritating when I am singing my favourite song! Do you know how to prevent the screeching sound?

I was told that when the microphones and the speakers are too close to each other, they will cause an echo resulting in that loud irritating screech! So the solution is to move the mikes away from the speakers. Problem is, most of the karaoke rooms are too small for this, so perhaps you will need to turn down the sensitivity of the mike.

Well, I tried but it didn't really work!



Ok, I shall mention about the tidbits. Oh yes, I am never ever happy with the tidbits in karaoke outlets!

Now I am not complaining about the quality of the tidbits although they are not of high quality. Whether it is Neway or Redbox (I don't remember Loud Speaker has tidbits!), the tidbits are compulsory. Yes, like it or not, you are charged anywhere between RM12 to RM20 for the tidbits!

So when you enquire about the price, the counter staff will tell you the price per head, but that does not include the price of the tidbits! Why can't they just include everything in the price per head? Many people do not know about these hidden charges until they see the bill.

Would you like to hear me sing? I have recorded a small part of my own singing and would like to share it with you. I'll be singing my favourite Mariah Carey's song of all time, We Belong Together. Let's listen to it, shall we? Click below to play...(now don't puke!!! haha)



So how do you find my singing? Good? Bad? Pukey?

Of course it is not me singing! LOL!! It's actually Mariah Carey herself! But using this amazing iPhone app called Ringtone Maker Pro, I managed to change her voice into a male voice! Haha!!

This is my iPhone screen showing the fun Ringtone Maker Pro app.



Using the original song, I can create a ring tone for my iPhone. But instead of just creating a ring tone of the original song, I can speed up the song or change the pitch higher or lower to suit my fancy!

Notice the "pitch" buttons at the bottom of the screen? Mariah Carey's voice is at the "zero" level. To make her sound like a man, I tuned it down three notches to "minus 3".

That was fun!! Haha! I guess it's too late for April Fool's Day, but I hope you enjoyed this post! Now who wants to go karaoke?

*Based on my experience at Redbox The Curve

FIRST COMMENTER

A Day In My Life With Witch, Saucer And Merryn

I had a fun time last Sunday meeting up with fellow bloggers Witch and Saucer for a karaoke session at RedBox at The Curve.

I was looking forward to sing my heart out for 3 hours but my expectation was dampened when the counter girl at RedBox told us we could only sing for 2 hours. I was like, what the......!!

And guess what's the reason? RedBox's policy for the morning hours - 3 hours are only for 4 people or more, and since there's only 3 of us, we were only allowed a measly 2 hours.

If that's the case, RedBox should have informed us of this rule when we called in earlier to book! We were quite pissed off!! I could not help but felt cheated.

And this was not the first time I felt short-changed by RedBox. Oh well, that would be another story for another day! Should we go Neways next, Witch and Saucer?

Anyway, we didn't waste time and quickly key in the songs we wanted to sing. 2 hours can pass real fast while you are in the karaoke room, you know. I have spent more than 6 hours in a karaoke room before and I can tell you it felt like just 3 hours! LOL!

Too bad karaoke was not in existence during Einstein's time or he would have figured out how time got distorted in karaoke rooms!! Haha!

OK. Lame joke : )

I was eagerly waiting for Saucer and Witch to sing the song Endless Love which they sang during their wedding dinner. Oh, goodness! I was impressed with their singing! Applause!! The song really suited them well.

Now, I am not saying they sang as good as the original singers - just in case those who have heard them sing during their wedding dinner happen to be reading this now. I'm just saying they sang it pretty well - good enough for me to say "Well done!" Of course there are a some...hmmm, pitchy parts here and there.... but I better stop here before I sound like Randy Jackson of American Idol! Haha!

Besides, it's better to praise them so they will continue to go karaoke with me. And who knows, maybe they think my singing sucks big time so better not say anything remotely bad. Keep up the good singing, Witch and Saucer! Haha!

Oh, here's a photo I took of this beautiful couple singing. Too bad the lighting was not conducive for a good photo so this is the best I could come up with.



Since all three of us are bananas (and I don't mean the fruit) we sang only English and Indonesian songs. It was fun!

Alas, 2 hours passed quickly and before we knew it, our karaoke session was over! That cost us about RM17 each inclusive of a set lunch and drink. Not too bad you say? Well, it was OK but 3 hours would have been more worth it!

I did not even bother to take photos of the food because what can I say? They were lousy!

After that, we decided to go to Dragon-I for lunch. Yes I know, we just had lunch in RedBox right? But both Witch and Saucer wanted to try its RM1 chicken promotion. There was a queue and we waited. Luckily it was not a long wait but when we got to our table, we discovered that the RM1 promotion was only available from 6pm-9pm! What a bummer!

Being rather thick faced, we just left. Haha! And off we headed to IKEA for its hotdog and curry puff. Guess what? I forgot to take a photo of that hotdog! This was my first time eating IKEA's hotdog (OK, say I'm ulu if you want to!) and it was nice! Maybe that's why I forgot to take a photo of it! Haha!

You can add in your own fillings (no limit) and the price was only RM2!! Pretty good deal, no?

After that we returned to the Curve and visited the Sony shop on the 1st floor while waiting for the arrival of Merryn. Why were we waiting for Merryn? Because she was supposed to meet up with me so that I could pass her the piggy bank I bought from Bali.

Now this piggy bank was actually won by Tekkaus in one of my contests, but he was so kind hearted and donated it to Ethan, Merryn's son! Now wasn't he nice?

Don't worry, Tekkaus! For your kindness, I have got a gift for you and it's on the way to Melaka right now....provided Pos Malaysia is as effective as I hope of course! : )

When Merryn came, we pulled off a prank that made her almost fainted! If you had not been following me on Facebook and Twitter, you would probably not know what prank we pulled off on Merryn.....and what's worse, Merryn later joined us to pull off a prank on our readers!!!

So to keep this post short, why not hop over to Merryn's blog and read the full story?

There is one very important reason why I wanted to meet up with Merryn. It's because I wanted to meet up with Ethan too! And finally, on that very Sunday afternoon, I got my chance to meet that cute, cute little boy!

Look! I took quite a number of photos of Ethan. Ain't he cute?



Now some of the photos here are a bit blurry because I was too excited and my hands were shaking. Also, Ethan kept moving away from me and I had a hard time taking his photos!


Ethan having a heart to heart chat with his new found piggy friend!


Finally! After much effort, got this shot!


Ethan's dad


Ethan enjoying his ride with piggy

Look! Ethan was so shy with me and Witch he hid behind that piggy! So cute!!!!



But I did not give up and kept snapping away! It's not everyday I can see Ethan, you see.



And I think I was quite happy to finally get to meet him although he refused to talk to me! Hmmmph!!



Oh well, we had a good time chatting at Starbucks in Borders and the topic ranged from nuffnang, to AdSense, to irenelim, to gossip about fellow bloggers.



Merryn, Witch and Saucer, let's do this again soon! : )

FIRST COMMENTER

Red Box at The Gardens

Last month, I received a letter from Red Box announcing the opening of their new 13th outlet at The Gardens in Mid Valley City on 30th October 2008. As a token of appreciation, I was given an invitation card to visit the new outlet to enjoy a 30% discount off the total bill.

I thought, wow! That's great! It's been some time since I went for karaoke sessions with my friends and this was a good time as any to exercise my vocal chords again. I quickly called to book a session for 8.30pm last Tuesday after work.

Now the night karaoke session comes with a buffet dinner, so it's just perfect for some good relaxing fun after work. Actually, I prefer not to eat during karaoke, but this time, I wanted it to be more like a relaxing time rather than seriously singing my heart out. Furthermore, I've not been singing for some time and my voice would just sound terrible, if it was not already.

Anyway, I and two other friends reached Red Box which was located at the fourth floor opposite GSC Signature, right on the dot. We were greeted warmly at the counter, which was good because the last time I encountered really rude staff at another outlet at The Curve.



When I enquired how long we could sing, the female staff told us normally we were allowed to sing for 3 hours, but if there were not many people coming in after midnight, we could continue singing till 3 am! We were like, wow! Is that a good deal or what?

In case you think the 3 of us could not sing that long, let me assure you that I've once sang for 8 hours straight. Not that I am a very good singer, mind you. What the heck, if I were good, I would have already participated in Malaysian Idol or some other singing contests! What would I be doing singing in a karaoke room, right? Karaoke is meant for people like me who can't sing well, but who just like to sing for my own enjoyment.

Anyway, we were led to our room. It was rather small but I guess there were only three of us so that's OK. One reason why I was so eager to visit this outlet besides the discount offer, was because it was a spanking new outlet and that means everything would be clean and in good working condition.

However, I did not like the TV screen. It was too small for my liking. Why couldn't they fix a bigger screen? Look, the frame is so much bigger than the TV screen. What a waste of space!



And I have another complaint. I did not like the sound system! The bass sounded flat all the time. Seriously, I think my laptop speaker is better than this!

I have been to other karaoke outlets like Neway Karaoke and Songbird KTV, but I still find Red Box has the best sound system of them all. So it was a bit of a surprise to me that this outlet at The Gardens did not quite live up to my expectation.



Well, what to do? Just make the best of it! I have never really tried buffet dinner at Red Box before. This would be my first time. I have had buffet dinner at Neway before, and I would say they had quite good food and lots of varieties too.

So how did the Red Box buffet fare? These were what I ate.


Fish, lamb and some vegetables.


Prawns and mussels


Crabs and corn


My favourite - salad with some sushi and a prawn in a glass.


A plate of goreng pisang


No buffet is complete without ice cream, so here it is!

Actually, I almost did not get to eat the ice cream, as we were so busy eating and partly singing we forgot the time! The buffet's last call was at 10pm, and it was 5 minutes before 10pm that I realised we have not tried the desserts yet! So I rushed out of our room and got the ice creams! My two friends did not even bother!

I did not find the food all that nice and there were not many varieties available. Red Box buffet certainly could not measure up to the buffet I had in Neway. So I guess if you like to eat good food, head to Neway but if you are more for singing than eating, go to Red Box.

One thing I like about Red Box is that they have the latest songs. I searched for Jay Chou's Dao Xiang and Leona Lewis' Better In Time and found them! I doubt I would find such new songs in Neway or Songbird.

Some of you may know that I don't speak Mandarin, so you must be wondering how come I could sing Chinese songs. Well, that's easy. I have learnt hanyu pinyin before, that's why! Look, I have a collection of Chinese song lyrics in hanyu pinyin - all nicely placed in a file.


The lyrics from one of Tank's song.


Another hanyu pinyin lyrics from Ivana's song


Here's Jay Chou's duet with Lara from his November's Chopin album.

While everyone look at the screen and sing, I have to look at my file on my lap to sing! It's a bit cumbersome really, but that's the only way I could sing in Mandarin!

Carrying the file containing the hanyu pinyin lyrics, nobody would have thought I was going for karaoke! People would think that I am a direct selling agent or something, about to meet up with my prospects.



Now if you go to Red Box and see a person holding this file, you can be quite certain it's me!

So did we sing until 3am? We could but we didn't. Both my friends need to go to work early the next day. Only I alone did not need to wake up early, so I guess majority won. But we still ended up singing until 2am! Well, it's pretty addictive especially when there were so many songs we wanted to sing after having not singing for some time. I did not know how my friends were going to wake up the next day, so the best of luck to them. Haha!

The total bill came up to RM34 per person after the 30% discount.

When we left, I took a picture of the front entrance. Notice it was rather quiet as most people had left.



Well, at least it's still open. The GSC Signature opposite had already closed its doors!

By the way, anyone knows the differences between Red Box, Green Box, Red Box Ria and Red Box Plus?