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Video On-Demand streaming services such as iQiyi have become a staple of modern love. Today, you'll be hard pressed to find any couple not spending quality time streaming their favourite films and TV series together.  

iQiyi commissioned a survey across four markets — Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand — seeking to track how streaming behaviours and habits corresponded to different stages of a relationship.  

We speak to Dr. Angela Tan, Intimacy Coach and Co-Founder at the Academy of Relationship and Sex who shares her thoughts on the results, and explains how streaming accounts help to advance, and influence, relationships today.

Singapore-based digital learning technology company, Kydon, recently launched ZilLearn Plus (ZilLearn+) an extension of the company's learning platform, ZilLearn. 

Kydon is one of Asia's leading digital learning technology companies and a key partner in Singapore's Alliance for Action on EduTech.  ZilLearn+ builds on the ZilLearn platform first launched in January 2021, which provides adults with personalised skills analyses through the use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven skills analytics tool and a vast resource of diverse international courses.   

We speak to David Yeo, Group CEO of the Kydon Group and ZilLearn about how the pandemic has changed the manpower sector and the nature of employability and job success.  

David also touches on how ZilLearn benefits individuals looking to upskill, its AI capabilities and how is it different from other learning platforms.   Following the launch of ZilLearn+, Kydon looks to continue expanding its services across the region to tailor solutions for the individual needs of each market.   

Priced at S$198 per annum, the annual subscription costs can be offset with SkillsFuture Credit for Singaporeans aged 25 years and above. No upfront cash is required upon subscription payment.  

ZilLearn+ courses are available on the ZilLearn app for learners to access quality learning anytime and anywhere, and pick up new skills at their own pace and convenience.  

https://www.justsaying.asia/ep-23-justsaying-with-david-yeo-zillearn-taking-digital-upskilling-to-the-next-level/ 

#ZilLearn #Education #Skillsfuture

We speak to Singaporean filmmaker, Nicole Midori Woodford, whose Folklore episode, The Excursion, deals with family trauma and loss. 

Nicole is a film director, writer and editor and an alumnus of Berlinale Talents as well as the Asian Film Academy in 2010.  Her short film For We Are Strangers competed at the 20th Busan International Film Festival. Permanent Resident, her latest short film, was selected in Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2018, Busan International Film Festival and SeaShorts 2018 amongst other festivals.  

Nicole's Folklore episode 'The Excursion' centres around a troubled mother who has to cope with depression, chronic insomnia, an absentee husband... and a ghost that might threaten the life of her only son.  

We speak to Nicole about the inspiration for 'The Excursion' and her experience making the movie, as well as her take on what makes Asian horror different from its Western counterpart.  

Season 2 of Folklore is now available exclusively on HBO and HBO GO, with new episodes every Sunday. 

The Excursion by Nicole Midori Woodford premieres on December 19.  

#Folklore #HBOGO #AsianHorror 

https://www.justsaying.asia/ep-22-justsaying-with-nicole-midori-woodford-asian-horror-and-folklore-the-excursion/

Mobile gaming is no longer just a form of entertainment, it is becoming a culture of its own. There is a lot of untapped potential in terms of using gaming as a platform for brands to reach out to consumers.

Yet, brands are hesitant to do so because of the lack of measurability and concerns that advertisements will interrupt gameplay.

Brands typically use an interstitial ad model when it comes to in-game advertising, where a full-screen ad is played halfway through a game. With the advent of gaming, brands are discovering the potential of the digital gaming space and creating a blended Video Out-of-Home (VOOH) media environment to engage with gamers.

In Asia, AdColony is synonymous with leading the gaming space. Gaming is the fastest-growing category, surpassing movies and sport due to changing behaviours from consumers.

AdColony offers blended in-game advertising solutions across both display and video to brands and agencies in SEA.

We speak to Tom Simpson, Senior Vice President, APAC of AdColony, and one of Singapore’s most prominent entrepreneurs and business leaders. He has been described as a mentor in the start-up space, a serial entrepreneur and a futurist. He has predicted and driven many of the large consumer and industry shifts such as big data, programmatic, the rise of gaming, esports and the metaverse.

Tom shares how advertising has evolved over the years, and what the future holds for the industry with the rise of gaming and as the metaverse starts to take shape.

Compared to the rest of the world, Asia has taken a much more cautious approach to the resumption of travel, while countries in the other regions have already been experimenting with the reopening of borders much earlier.  

We speak to Rachael Harding, Club Med's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of East and South Asia & Pacific (ESAP) about the outlook and impact of reopening of APAC with the new VTL implementation and the lessons that Club Med took from their successes and failures.  

Rachael also shares how Club Med is refining processes to ensure a stronger and safer environment for travellers from enhanced hygiene processes and flexible booking and refund policies, to vaccination and regulatory measures and considerations, and its plans for expansion in the regions to provide travellers even more options over the next 5 years starting with their first greenfield beach resort in South East Asia.  

Club Med targets a full re-opening of all its resorts in APAC by the end of 2021.  

https://www.justsaying.asia/ep-20-jus... 

#ClubMed #APACTravel #TravelNews

Award-winning television series such as Game of Thrones, Disney's The Mandalorian and HBO's Westworld have all relied on groundbreaking virtual and real-time technology to create their stunning visual effects. 

While green screen and CGI technologies aren't new, virtual production tools are proving to be a gamechanger for the industry — enabling faster production workflows, in-camera visual effects, and collaborative post-production processes, all in real-time.

These technologies are fast revolutionizing the traditional filmmaking process and have already proven to streamline workflows, as well as reduce resources, with significant time and cost savings for filmmakers. 

In fact, virtual production also proved critical in 'saving' the film industry during the pandemic. Production hurdles, which were tricky enough to navigate under regular conditions, were further exacerbated when Covid-19 halted most in-person shoots and productions on location.

However, virtual production enabled film crews to resume shoots remotely, and build and walk-through sets, and work more creatively and collaboratively than before. So, it's little wonder that these next-gen tools are seeing rapid adoption across the media and entertainment sector.

We speak with Epic Games Tech Evangelist, Arvind Neelakantan, who shares his insights on how the evolution of game engines and technology have benefited the media and entertainment sector as well as the opportunities this presents for filmmakers.

Epic Games also sees the future of immersive media and entertainment further evolve through a Metaverse - an online world where creatives come together digitally, to develop, and work on media in the future. 

With Esports quickly gaining traction amongst the youth of Singapore, Esports talent management agency, EMERGE Esports and Mediacorp, Singapore's national media network, have announced a partnership to develop budding esports content creators under Mediacorp's Bloomr.SG network.  

Aiming to further evolve Singapore's Esports content creator community amongst Asia's competitive e-gaming industry, EMERGE Esports' talents will receive sponsorship, cross-promotion opportunities and get the chance to work with local and regional celebrities to produce content by tapping into Mediacorp's wide range of resources and facilities.  

We speak with Roy Kek, CEO and Founder of EMERGE Esports about the talent management aspect of Esports - from finding the right talent and platform (game), to commercialization and how corporate sponsors are getting into the game.  

#Esports #TalentManagement #ProGamer

https://www.justsaying.asia/ep-18-justsaying-with-roy-kek-emerge-esports-the-talent-management-perspective/

Where once investing in Art was limited to an exclusive club, we speak to Troy Sadler, Managing Director of Art Works, who explains that there are a lot more opportunities available now than before.   

Art Works is a leading fine art investment gallery in Singapore. Established in 2011, Art Works' fine art consultants specialise in providing comprehensive, independent advice to private investors and art collectors who are seeking to capitalize on the fast-appreciating art market.  

With more than a decade of experience in supplying art in Asia, Sadler speaks to us about Art investment trends, such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) gaining popularity in Singapore and how it has shaken up the contemporary world.  

He also shares his thoughts on the return of investment of NFTs versus physical contemporary art, and which is a better investment for art buyers, and how investing in art is no longer just for the wealthy, but has now become accessible to a much wider demographic.

Marvel Studios’ Loki, an original live-action series created exclusively for Disney+, features the mercurial God of Mischief as he steps out of his brother’s shadow. The series, described as a crime-thriller meets epic adventure, takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Loki Creator and Head Writer Michael Waldron is no stranger to time travel with his work on Rick and Morty. We have a chat with him about where the show picks up, Loki's journey and who he thinks might be the next breakout character in the MCU.

#justsaying #justsayingwith #loki #disney #disneyplus #marvel #mcu #mcuphase4 #lokiseries #tomhiddleston #michaelwaldron #interview #podcast #avengers

Since 18 March “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” has aired across Asian TV networks featuring 16 candidates, handpicked from around the world to compete in a high-stakes competition involving business and physical challenges, for the top prize of a US$250,000 job offer to work directly under ONE Chairman and CEO, Chatri Sityodtong, for a year as his protege in Singapore.  

As fellow candidates were sent home along the way in the search for The One, Russia's Irina Chadsey proved to be a tough competitor and made it to the Top 4.  

We have a chat with Irina about her journey to the competition, the unique format and the circumstances that were faced during The Apprentice, as well as life after the show.  

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