Less than two months after Sabah Fest 2008 in May, Shenanigan’s Fun Pub came out from around the corner with their very own beauty pageant, Miss Shenanigan’s 2008. The competition spans six weeks, and they broke down the elimination rounds into four separate weeks, with each one named after a season: Winter and Spring for the first and second heats, Summer for the semi-final and Autumn for the final and crowning of Miss Shenanigan’s 2008.

We went to see the second heat of Miss Shenanigan’s 2008 in July, and we went there for two reasons: firstly, one of our friend is in the competition (and as friends it is our sacred duty to come and give our morale support) and secondly, we wanted to see the contestants. It is, after all, a beauty contest.

This year marks the third year this beauty pageant has been running, and the organizers have a twist for their high-heeled lady competitors this time around, as you will find out below. It is this twist that makes Miss Shenanigan’s 2008 different from other beauty pageants.

A beauty pageant for any women

The most common criteria a beauty pageant contestant should possess is physical beauty. A pageant often times incorporates personality and talent demonstration, but the competition is based mainly on physical beauty, if not entirely. One of the most restrictive qualification however, is that you must be single. But that is not the case with Miss Shenanigan’s 2008; in this beauty pageant, they broke the tradition by allowing women of any background, marital status and wardrobe size to enter, as long as you are of legal age. That was the twist.

“And the next contestant is… “

And so it boils down to the next question: how does the competitors look like if the organizers implemented such a rule in their beauty contest? Not bad, actually. There’s Miss Bonnie, dubbed the ‘hot mama’ by the announcer and for a very good reason too. Miss Bonnie is 20 years old, sports a long dark hair, possesses a slender, sexy frame and is also a proud mother of one.

A mother of one, ladies and gents. The moment the announcer mentioned her maternal status, the whole crowd immediately burst into awed applause - a reaction I myself wasn’t expecting. And she was indeed beautiful, which says greatly about Miss Shenanigan’s 2008; if it weren’t for the organizers ruling, she wouldn’t even qualify to enter such a competition. It was a welcomed twist, one that doesn’t play on the stereotype that only single, unmarried women are beautiful (and thus are eligible to enter a beauty contest).

The Beauties of Spring

Here they are, ladies and gents, photos of the competitors of the second heat of Miss Shenanigan’s 2008:

Above: Miss Joanna Lye, our bold beauty friend (who is a gamer chick, by the way)

Summer is where all the birds gather

Although our friend didn’t make it to the next round, we still commend her on being such a bold lass. It takes fortitude to endure the rigors of a beauty pageant, and not just physically but also emotionally.

The finals of Miss Shenanigan’s 2008 will be on the 30th of July, 2008. We are eager to see the outcome of the competition, and hope to see more events such as this one to beautify the nights in Borneo.

Where the catwalk got its claws, all you fashion know-it-alls,
With your underground malls in the world of Harajuku,
Putting on a show, when you dress up in your clothes,
Wild hair color and cell phones,
Your accessories are dead on.

- Harajuku Girls by Gwen Stefani.

Being a guy who grew up through the 80’s, I honestly thought the world was going to be that way for years to come. Enter the 90’s, and suddenly everything changed: fashion, music, trends, lifestyle, hygiene. Everything. The colourful era of the 80’s - wild hair-dos, glam make-ups, outrageous oufits, leathers - disappeared, just like all the other eras before it.

Well, maybe not entirely.

Harajuku Night…

Wednesday night last week was Harajuku Night at Hyatt Hotel’s Shenanigan’s Fun Pub. Just in case any of you had a blank stare upon reading the word ‘Harajuku’, it’s actually a name of an area around Tokyo’s Harajuku Station in Tokyo, Japan. The area is famous for its extreme teenage cultures and fashion styles, and it’s regarded internationally as one of Japan’s defining pop culture identity. It’s like being in the 80’s, but better, wilder and with the world’s craziest fashion nation at the forefront. Shenanigan’s Fun Pub - Shani’s or Shan’s to the locals - brought a little bit of Japan to KK for one night last week during Ladies’ Nite (which is probably the main reason why my friends and I went there to check it out).

… at Shenanigan’s

Shenanigan’s Fun Pub is, without a doubt, one of the most popular night spots in KK. It set the standards for bars, pubs and clubs in KK since the early 90’s and it endures to this very night. It is KK’s longest running pub-slash-club, and famous for its nightly live band performances. It had changed very little over the past decade, yet the legendary club still attract loyal followers through its entrance almost every night, especially during Ladies Nite.

We were more than eager to see what will come out when you bring in Japan’s latest and most extreme teen fashion onto the floor of KK’s most classic and veteran of all clubs.

Welcome to Shenanigan’s, D-sama

It was raining that evening, but we were determined to see this Harajuku Night. At around 9:00PM, as the four of us made our way into the age-defying club, entering Shan’s was like seeing long-time friends and families; a live band performance was there as usual (a Filipino import called Passionista) playing a mix of old time hits and latest chart toppers, with the DJ spinning dance tunes in-between each play. Business as usual.
Earlier on, we counted only four ladies dressed in Harajuku stylee, one of which was a friend of ours. Then we caught sight of a group of wildly-dressed youngsters.
They were dressed in attires fit for a Japanese rock show or somewhat. Despite our (abysmally) limited lore in Japanese fashion, we were able to identify influences of punk, goth and Victorian maids which was, coincidentally, the same style as what one of our Harajuku lady friend was wearing. Regardless, their style of dress was striking.

“Harajuku Girls … You Got The Wicked Style!”

The events unravel as the night played on, and soon our group of four became six, then nine (three of which were dressed-up for the event). Those group of wildly-dressed youngsters that I mentioned just now were actually models from Fairuz Modeling Studios, and they got some wicked outfits in their line-up. It soon became apparent that Shan’s had planned a Harajuku fashion show for its visitors. Shan’s and the Harajuku models treated the audience with a barrage of Japanese attire, all colourful and wild.
They also invited those from the audience that don Harajuku-style wear to come up to the stage to show their stuff. Towards the end of the night, the host would give away prizes to those mentioned previously for being outrageous and wild in their J-Style fashion.

Old and New, J to KK

Shan’s is one of KK’s old time favourite night spot. So when they brought in an event as wild, young and extreme as the Harajuku culture, one would expect a night totally different from any other regular clubbing night. But that was not the case for Shenanigan’s Harajuku Night. Shan’s management was adamant in maintaining the club’s long-time image; despite the fact that they were having a Japanese-influenced event, they didn’t put on Japanese-pop (or J-pop) music when the models went on stage. The DJ played the hottest dance tunes and remixes, yet none of those tunes were Japanese clubbing music. Instead, all the music that were played that night was characteristically Shan’s - live band performance, playing a mix of old time hits and latest chart toppers, with the DJ spinning dance tunes in-between each play. Business as usual.

Good Night Tokyo, Good Night KK

We walked out of Shan’s with a few things: First, two of our friends in Harajuku outfits walked away with a prize each (one won Most Funky Hair, while our Victorian-Maid lady friend won the Most Funky Make-Up). Second, Shan’s is still the same old Shan’s. Third, KK is slow to pick-up new trends. That aside, my first local experience of Harajuku was less than stellar, but it’s good to know that KK isn’t rotting slowly in the fashion race. The future night of KK (and perhaps the whole of Borneo) lies in the hands of our trend-embracing youngsters, whether the world likes it or not.

Final Note: The Victorian Maid outfit our lady friend wore is called a Loli dress. It’s a rad-looking dress, more so if you’re a cute lass. Being a maid is not a pre-requisite. And check out LifeInBorneo.com on their post on Shenanigan’s Harajuku Night.

Anyone who has ever been to Blue Note for the past couple of years or so will know that the place hasn’t change much. The stage went through a lot of re-designs over the years (depending on the event in promotion) but the looks and the crowd have always been a familiar sight and sound: cozy, wood-brown, pub-ish, live-band and typical Sabahan patrons. That’s pretty much it, until my friends and I went there last April to check it out - after they had a complete makeover.

Facelift
Blue Note is the long-loved night spot of Shangri-La’s Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa. Over the years it has garnered its own loyal following - both local and from abroad - and the recent facelift has only increased the number of night owls coming in every weekend.

When we went there for the first time after the record-setting makeover (it took them four days to reconstruct and refurnish EVERYTHING), the first thing we noticed was the presence of a lady attendant by the entrance. Dressed in white top and white skirt, she smiled at us and coyly told us that we must pay for the cover charge before we are allowed to enter the club. They usually would only impose cover charges during special events, like on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. But this was just a regular weekend. So we knew immediately that something was up.

A brighter shade of Blue Note
As we made our way inside, we were treated to a completely new Blue Note.

Click to Zoom

The walls were painted bright white, while the seatings, couches and tables were of similarly white and bright colours which in turn gave the interior of the club a more spacious feel to it. Candles of artistic arrangement adorned the club’s walls and pillars casting a warm, intimate glow upon the surrounding.

Clear white and cozy candles are central to Blue Note’s fresh new look. Additionally, the dance floor features a stylish and petite new bar complementing the hi-tech visual stage. They even flew in DJs from some of best nightspots in KL to spin the latest tunes (which I believe, at the time of this writing, is the club’s latest crowd magnet).

They made a new section in Blue Note, where a small section of the club was walled behind crystal-clear glass panels, floor to ceiling. We didn’t went in there to check it out of course, since we were reluctant to leave the ‘hot’ dance floor (and also probably because we could see what was going on inside). But we figured that patrons prefering a more intimate and private corner to socialize could do so behind those see-through barriers. Only the addition of a curtain (which they didn’t install) could’ve made it more intimate and more private.

The clean, white looks of the walls and furnishing gave the club a new, stylish feel totally different from the club’s former appearence. The glass-walled private-section was a welcomed addition, as the former Blue Note lacked such an offering. The techie-looking stage is the club’s focal point, pulling in the masses with a line-up of today’s most buzz-worthy DJs, every Fridays and Saturdays.

White is the new blue
We went to Blue Note with a mix of curiosity and skepticism, but left Blue Note that night with amazement and a sense of awe. Blue Note has set a new standard to what clubs in KK should be like. The night will never be the same.