Over the weekend, I was invited to check out the exclusive, by-invitation-only Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge Singapore 2012 – part of an F1 weekend celebration, at the Flower Dome in Gardens By The Bay. I had never been to a Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party before and I gotta say I was most impressed by all the fancy schmancy party activities that Johnnie Walker provided for party guests!
When you’ve lived in NYC for twenty years, chances are you’ve been to plenty of parties. (Or maybe it’s just me.) I used to party Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays weekly for a few years, memories of which I still hold fondly to this day because I have enjoyed my twenties to the max.
I don’t particularly care so much about clubbing anymore in recent years. I dunno… maybe coz I’ve been there, done that for too many years and frankly, the partying days were especially fun for me only because it was a group social thing that my friends and I all enjoyed doing together. Like, all fifteen or twenty of us would meet up for dinner beforehand, then hit the club, had lots to drink, did the bump and grind, made out in dark corners, then stumbled out of clubs to head for supper (midnight dimsum in Flushing! *wootz*) and swapped stories of mackers and being macked on during the party. Hah, those were the days.
And then as time went by, everyone naturally settled down, got married, had kids and clubbing together as a group became a thing of the past. Instead of 3AM dimsum, we all congregated over siew mais and hargows on Saturday or Sunday mornings instead, sometimes even with babies in tow. And when we drank, we either did so tamely at house parties or in very small groups at bars (like, after work happy hours + have a couple drinks and then quickly went home to family and kids). Getting crunked was no longer a weekly affair. All’s well and good. :)
I guess this is why after I moved to Singapore, I wasn’t very inclined to check out the clubbing scene so much. But occasionally it’s still fun to let my hair down and be with friends, meet new ones, have a drink in hand and groove to the music.
The geek in me did a happy somersault inside upon finding out that the official invitation to Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge came in the form of a sturdy pass card embedded with a unique ID, which requires an online activation/registration. Oooooohh, so high-tech. According the Chrispytine, my ‘date’ that evening at the party, these invitations were so highly coveted that people were putting them up for sale online for $1k each. O_o?!
I activated my pass card by registering via my phone. It linked up my unique ID on the Johnnie Walker pass card to my Facebook profile, and you’ll see why later.
As I have stated before, the Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party was at the Flower Dome in Gardens By The Bay. My first time at this spot inside the Gardens and it was very beautifully lit up at night. Borrowed the Johnnie Walker signage from one of the ushers and posed for a shot before entering the party. “Keep Walking”… ^^
When I got to the Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge venue, admission was done via swiping the pass card at the entrance. Look at the custom welcome message that was displayed on the monitor at the entrance. *sprinkle fairy pixel dust* The geek in me rejoiced once more.
I think we can all agree that 1. photo booth has already established itself as a common party/event activity because it’s fun and interactive, and 2. I *heart* photo booths. At Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party though, “photo booth-ing” has been kicked up a notch and you’re looking at a razzle-dazzle digital version.
Aas demonstrated here by Christine and Jon, First, you swipe your pass card into the photo booth digital interface before you pose for your photo. Then, the photo gets displayed onto a large monitor and grab on to your panties coz here comes the exciting bit: you use a digital stylus to sign your photo before it gets uploaded and shared via Facebook. The stylus doesn’t touch the screen, you have to wave it like a wand in the air and produce your most beautiful autograph via wireless transmission. Oh, everyone in the photo (if it’s a group pic) gets to swipe their individual activated Johnnie Walker pass card to ‘tag’ themselves onto Facebook.
SUPER DUPER GEEKY COOL AWESOMENESS OR WHAT!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D
Here’s my attempt. :P If you’ve been using a stylus on your tablet like me to create art doodle, this is really very fun!
The second Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge photo booth (a different one) that utilizes the same pass card identification mechanism to publish the snapped photo onto Facebook. This photo booth is much smaller as far as screen size (compared to the earlier one which you can ‘air-sign’ on) and were scattered here and there at the venue to provide plenty of interaction amongst the party guests.
The above are the resulting images which I snagged off the Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge Singapore Facebook page. FUN-NESS!!!!! The only glitch I can see is that all these photo booth images should have been inverted prior to uploading; sorry I’m OCD like that when it comes to visual orientation – it’s a professional hazard. :P
The third Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge photo booth occupied a large walk-in space, clearly designed for group shots and you can choose from a handful of F1-related backgrounds to superimpose yourself digitally in front of. I have no idea who this particular fella is, but he looks kinda like Nick Lachey to me, hahahaha! :x
Posing with Christine’s friends who flew in from London just to watch the race and join in the festivities. LOL at her funny antics on screen.
Another cool interactive feature at the Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party was this glass table with a digital display of a simplified race track curves. You interact with it by placing your glass onto the line and a swirly bright yellow digital coaster appears under your glass. Cool beans. Meaningless and there’s no point to this, but simple enough idea and it’s bells and whistles worthy for a hip-happening party hosted by a large liquor brand.
Speaking of hip-happening, the Johnnie Walker party featured international DJs and I thought the mixes were very Billboard Top 40-ish until Clinton Sparks hit the deck. He played an awesome set which I liked a lot. :) There were free flow drinks that night, I think most of the men drank whiskey on the rocks. I asked for cocktail instead and even though I didn’t get the name of it, I got a nice refreshing whiskey-based cocktail mixed with yuzu juice that was delicious.
The funny thing about ordering drinks at clubs sometimes is how it got so loud usually, I wonder if bartenders actually could really hear what was being ordered. Maybe they are good lip readers or something. Haha.
Ran into the girls from The Cambelles – Carrie and Rachie. We share the same hair sponsor Salon de Choix; apparently earlier that day the girls went to the salon just to get their hair specially styled just for the party! :) And my oh my, look at Carrie’s dress. *nose bleed* I could never pull off a dress like that.
Anyway, the outfit I wore to the Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party was a bareback top from Stolen and Rihanna-style peekaboo/ripped leggings. You can’t see my back but err yah, it was bare. Thank you Stolen for designing such beautiful clothes. I ❤ ❤ ❤ local Singapore designers. :)
Btw, I still don’t get how all these girls carry itsy-bitsy clutches and teeny weeny bags. I, for one, have a crapload of stuff that I need to carry and can’t get used to stuffing only the essentials into an envelope-sized purse. And because I’m a mermaid (harhar!) I can’t stand to be in heels for too long so I must carry an extra pair of flip flops to change into when the night’s over. Comfort over style, man… that’s my ghetto-fabulousness/mermaid-ness. Kekeke!
I was at the Audi rooftop party last year during F1 and this year got invited to Johnnie Walker Circuit Lounge party. *charmed* See you at a different F1party next year 2013, wherever that may be! Keep Walking and Cheers. ;)
xoxo,
-MB.
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