When’s the last time you’ve been to Haw Par Villa? In the 1930’s there were two very flamboyant and very rich brothers, famous from their tiger balm products, decided to build a park where everyone could enjoy and at the same time learn about Asian values. As a child, my family would bring me out there and we’d spend time together picnicking and just having a lovely time together. At the time, entry to the Haw Par Villa was free. It was bustling with people strolling about. I’d always have a blast in my imaginary world, believing that I was interacting with the statues there. Then came the 90’s when the government took over and did a number of changes to the park. The attractions were developed, and they started to charge money for entry. Though the place seemed well taken cared of, the entire feeling was different and commercialised. The number of visitors dwindled. This is possibly inspired by Antonio Ligabue It was only several years later when Haw Par Villa became a public park again. Some of the segments being adopted by various organizations for its continued upkeep. Unfortunately, the number of visitors did not go back to its heydays. Reasons cited ranging from being unaware that Haw Par Villa was opened to lack of interest. Regardless, I’m missing Haw Par Villa a lot. Even more so when realised how close it was by the company headquarters. A sense of yearning keeps coming back to me. The following months could possibly be the last time that I could visit it freely. Hence, I asked a couple of blogger friends who might be interested in visiting and last Saturday, and eventually, we visited the amazing Haw Par Villa. It was a rainy saturday morning. Fortunately, it did not last for too long and I was able to ride out and reached the Haw Par Villa Carpark safely. After parking my scooter in the designated motorcycling parking area, just as I stepped on the entry steps, I saw Nicole, Chillycraps, Xizor and Endoh coming out of a taxi cab. Together, we walked up the hilly entrance where Mintea was already waiting. Xizor is pointing to the disappearance of a large dragon While passing through, it did not take too long for me to feel a deep sense of nostalgia. There were heaps of figures that I can remember from my childhood - it was as if I stepped back in time. We stopped by the signature pool and Nicole decided to get some fish food to feed the fishes there while waiting for DK to arrive. I was amazed at how the group were intently looking at the pond animals - In the hustle and bustle of life, its been a while since I’ve seen anyone stop to admire nature’s work. Normally seeing turtles swimming around brings me a sense of calm. But that day, it was really funny to see the turtles pushing each other to get to the food, while the fishes shyly swam underneath. And thats when we noticed something very mysterious swimming by. It was rather large and it had whiskers! It was a catfish! I’ve never seen such a large catfish in real life before. And I was entralled when I spotted some. It was strangely captivating. Feeding the fishes at Haw Par Villa from rinaz on Vimeo After emptying the 2nd pack of fish food, finally DK arrived and together, we went to search for a sheltered area for picnicking. We stumbled upon a large and colourful sheltered area, and shortly after we played a couple of classic games such as Snap and this odd game called Indian Poker. It was quite amusing for me to see the losers having to eat the lovely food from our potluck as punishment. When can it be punishment when you get to eat yummy food? Such as Mintea’s Curry Puff, Dk’s nuggets, Malique’s Cupcakes, Nicole’s Chips and my Chiffon Cake. I loved it all! But at one point of time, poor CC had to stuff himself with the food as he lost as much as 5 times in a row! I hope he does not have a phobia of currypuffs now! After stuffing ourselves silly, what better way than to ease the feeling with a little dancing :D Malique and CC being silly from rinaz on Vimeo We then explored the area, where I re-explored monuments that I can still remember from time back. I remember posing by this very display when I was a little girl! In the background there is a flower vase with a human hand. Mintea thought that it was creepy. But I guess I’m used to it. DK tells me that the guy in the middle is a priest and he was caught in the middle with some spider spirits disguising themselves as women. They believed that by eating his flesh, they will become immortal. Personally, I thought that this diorama was strange as it was entitled ‘Gambling causes you to lose a life’ since the boy died from being careless at not looking at where he was going on the road rather than his father’s gambling habits. And before we know it, it was already nearing the closing hours at Haw Par Villa already. Time really does pass by quickly when one is having fun. We took a group picture to remember and cherish our moments in the future :) Taking a picture for memories from rinaz on Vimeo I really enjoyed myself at the Haw Par Villa a lot. And I do hope that it’ll still be around for more years to come. Have you been to Haw Par Villa? When was the last time that you went there? What did you think of it? Related links : More pictures in the gallery More information about Haw Par Villa How to get there via gothere.sg Links to other blog posts : Mintea Endoh DK Chillycraps Xizor Sidenote : Shaun thinks that I am down to earth and thinks I’m a winner! *flattered!* El Sheikh Restaurant - Delicious Lebanese food I want to eat again! It was a little ironic El Sheikh was given a lower rating compared to rival cafe according to a review website. But I really enjoyed my dinner at El Sheikh. It was very good food indeed. So much more superior than the rival cafe which I probably wont ever go again. The place El Sheikh is situated in the beautiful and historical area of Kampung Glam. Before reaching El Sheikh, Nicole, Mintea and I had a blast of a time exploring the Malay Heritage Center, playing with the props there before reaching the place. Just as we reached there, we met up with DK who just arrived at the same time as we did. The cafe already looks charming from the outside with the rustic two story shophouse where it was housed. Inside, it looked very cosy and rather condusive with its homely arabic styled decor all around. The service There were only the four of us there when we entered. We were greeted by the staff and were lead to our seats where we were given our menus. As it was my first time in having Lebanese food and I was not sure what to eat. We asked for recommendations from the staff. Finally we made up out minds and ordered the Sheikh Mezze as an appetizer and Shawarma Plate, Mixed Kebab Grill, Riyash Ganam Lamb Chops and El Sheikh Beef. Suddenly, a huge lively crowd of about 15 people suddenly came in. Things got a little helter skelter with the confusion of where to place them and ordering of food. When the food came, it got mixed up with the other group and they got served first. The staff looked frazzled when they realised their mistake but they remained as composed as they could. The food First, we had the appetizer - the Sheikh Mezze which consisted of a generous portion of a mix of most of the cold appetizers. Everything was so rich and flavourful that till now, at this point of writing, I’m still craving for it. This is hummus, a famous dish made of blended chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice and sesame paste. I like the texture of the hummus and its rustic taste. This is Motabbel and is an instant favorite for me. Its like the Hummus but it uses baked eggplants instead of Chickpeas giving you a unique taste of sweet, rich and smooth paste. Its really delicious! We also had Tabouli which I thought was pretty good. It had a good mix of ingredients with no one ingredient overpowering the other. Although I think it would be better if the parsley were chopped more finely. This is the Mosaka’ah. It was mainly minced meat in tomato sauce but I liked it a lot. We were also given a plate of Cheese Rolls which looked very much like curry puffs but had a cheese filling as well as Falafel which is smashed chickpeas shaped into a small cake. We ate them all together with pita bread. And all in all, it was quite filling! It actually made us rather full at the end of the appetizers. But we still had our main course to go! This is Mintea’s Mixed Kebab Grill. It had a portion of each grilled meat so that want to have a taste of each. Nice! This is Nicole’s Shawarma Plate which is marinated chicken which is shredded into small pieces, eaten with rice. Nicole seemed to enjoy it very much. This is DK’s Shish Kebab which is marinated beef, cooked over charcoal. It was a strong taste without being overpowering. I saw DK really enjoying his meal. And this is my lamb chops. I don’t usually eat lamb but this were good. It was probably marinated overnight as it did not have the overly lamby taste and it was tender. Shari Lewis would probably be angry at me :P And it was all washed down with : Mango Ayran - a type of yogurt Mint tea served in a beautiful pot. And Bavarian Beer! Yes! I drank beer! Ok fine. It was a non alcoholic type. But it was quite underwhelming as my beer tasted more like zapple than anything else :P Regardless, all in all, I enjoyed myself heaps there! And I really cannot wait to eat there again! Want to go to El Sheikh with me? OM NOM NOM NOM! Related link : El Sheikh Restaurant You may also be interested in : Eating Tulang Taj Samudra - Indian Buffet Egyptian Cooking Workshop Siam Kitchen Korean BBQ Chicken I loved the Toy and Comic Convention! I was at Suntec City 2 Saturdays ago to visit the first ever Toy and Comic exhibition to be held in Singapore. I loved toys! Unfortunately, I only knew about it last minute when I saw several of my friends plurking about it. By then, it was too late for me to be an early bird registrant and I missed my chance in getting a Happy Tree Friends goodie bag! Yes, Happy Tree Friends is a violent cartoon series, but the characters are undeniably cute :) I met fellow blogger, ChillyCraps who was my fantastic date plus one for the day. He patiently waited for me at the foyer and together we bravely swam through over the sea of humans who were already there. It was already crowded just 30 minutes after the event started. It was really scary! Nevertheless, it was all worth it because as soon as we entered through the doors, it was like being in another dimension altogether. Wonderful displays of toys were all over the place. CC and I instantly hyperventilated over the sheer awesomeness of it all! The first thing that caught my eye was the Wii fit. Having already watched the viral video of the Wii fit girl, I was very curious to experience it for myself. rinaz on the Wii Fit from chillycraps on Vimeo Above is a short video CC took of me while I was trying out the Wii Fit. It was a very interesting experience and actually curiously fun! I was so tempted to get a set for myself, but a Wii unit with the tablet would cost about $900 altogether, is a tad bit steep, I think. Regardless, I do like seeing myself shake my bootie ;) Someone buy me one! :D Pretty soon, guess who I saw? It was Darth Vader roaming around the convention. And the interesting thing was that there were loads of people clamoring over him trying to get a picture session with him and his soldiers. The picture is a little bit blur because CC and I had to be really quick before someone else pushes us away for their photo-op! I looked pretty happy looking even with Darth Vader looking like he’s about to chop my head off with his lightsabre :P CC then stumbled upon one of his favourite characters - Ultraman! The both of us, along many others grew up on ultraman! :) We then explored around the different toy displays. The wierd Like the popular but creepy Blythe dolls. With those type of eyes, its easy to imagine that they’ll come to life when you are sleeping and do bodily harm to you. We were fortunate enough to see some of the artists at work. One of them was Mori Chack, famous for his Gloomy Bears as seen as in the pictures below. Actually, I thought that those bears are kind of creepy with the blood stains on the mouth and claws. Its probably an acquired taste to get one of these, perhaps. For some reason I was quite fascinated by these toys. Partly because they are gold perhaps, but also because they were sort of like transformers, but instead hide themselves as golden lighters instead of cars. Its hard for me to imagine the cartoon series for this one. The cute Here are a couple of Kubrick and especially Tofu dolls that CC and I were rather crazy about. It looked simple, just a rectangular head over a plastic body, but owners are able to do their own customizations by drawing over the head - which I thought was pretty cool :) And these are rather cute too. Tofu dolls with them holding up their noses! They are smelly Tofu! Hahaha! And before going to the Toy Convention, I’ve never heard of Monsterism before but I love these figurines very much! They are so kitsch! I love the retro design as well. The website looked pretty spiffy :) Woot! And I love this giant plushie by dooodolls! The plushies are easily recognized by their boogly eyes. But I like this one specifically because it is big and smooshie! It feels just like cuddling Cartcart :) The wonderful I quite liked this Homer Simpson action figure, spoofing Thor! The clerks must have had a sense of humor as they put Homer and Thor side by side! There was also the very popular Tokidoki! Over here in Singapore, it has been extremely famous that it has been inspired and even copied in many designs, especially bags and purses. Unfortunately for me, the entire counter was extremely crowded! I could not even see what was on display. The only thing that I could see were the heads of the clerks running around busily attending to their customers. Regardless, I managed to capture these pictures. Aren’t they adorable? There was also a booth which showcased some displays from many famous movie scenes. Can you recognize which movie these came from? The old school I was amazed to see Lau Fu Zhi being exhibited. Its so old school! I used to read these comic books dedicatedly during my primary school days. Most of the cartoons were wordless which made it simple to understand :) And who doesn’t know Astroboy? The famous robot boy who has graced our television and magazines since childhood :) The interesting While roaming around, we stumbled upon a kiosk and I noticed loads of bread. I called out to CC. “Look! There is even a refreshment stall here. Lets take a bite!” And I proceeded to hold one up. It looked like bread. It smelled like bread. It even felt like bread to the touch. It was only when I squeezed it repeatedly and the bread did not disintegrate was when I realised that it was not true bread. What cool stuff! I got one for myself, for the novelty factor. Besides, I could use it as a stress ball :) These are stickfast. One of the popular Singaporean made toys. CC mentioned that he used to collect them before. And I thought that, it was very well done as well as affordable. I wonder where Stickfasts can be bought normally, does anyone knows? Then we explored though the other side of the convention where there were heaps of artists displaying their works. One of them was this lady from C.D.S who is showing off her manga illustration. Looking through the portfolio, the works looked good enough to rival even commercial ones from Japan. I also saw a digital artist doing a live demonstration of how he works, drawing on his tablet using Photoshop. This guy here was from Imaginary Friends Studios. I admired his skillful and deft touch. Digital artist at work at the Toy & Comic convention from rinaz on Vimeo I also saw a couple of wacom products which facinated me. Having worked on a wacom tablet myself for my artwork, they can be quite useful. But drawing in such a small tablet can be quite cumbersome and I’ve always wished that they could integrate it to the monitor instead. And thats when I saw this : Sweet … Drawing directly on the monitor itself … I like! After spending about two hours in the convention, CC and I reluctantly left for our appointment. Regardless, I love the Toy Convention! Even with the amount of people there, even though the both of us hyperventillated in a claustrophobic environment. I enjoyed myself thoroughly :) So I didn’t get a Happy Tree Friends Tshirt in the end. But I guess posing with a display works too :P I wonder if there is a Toy Convention in Italy. Have you been to the Toy and Comic Convention? What did you think of it? :) Links : Toy and Comic Convention 2008 CC’s blog post If you enjoyed reading this entry, you might also enjoy Gundam seed cosplay meetup Mint Museum Museum of Shanghai Toys P.S. After we left the convention, we saw Darth Vader queuing up for a bowl of noodles. I guess even a fearsome evil ruler like Darth Vader needs to eat. Even Darth Vader needs to eat from rinaz on Vimeo Bloggers having fun with the HP Touchsmart - And how you can win one too! A couple of weeks back, I was invited by Waggener Edstrom along a group of other bloggers at Brozeit for the launch of the HP TouchSmart, one of the latest range of Multimedia PC by Hewlett Packard. Already there were a number of bloggers who have reached there when I arrived. It was a relatively packed night at Brozeit, considering that it was only a Tuesday night. I saw a number of units around the area being covered with a purple cloth and Claudia cleverly decides to immediately sit next to one of them. After a quick introduction by the organizers, comes the unveiling of the HP Touchsmart. My first look upfront! At first glance, I thought that the PC looked very sleek with its shiny black look. It looked really nice indeed. This is the front of the HP TouchSmart with its large 22 inch screen. I see a webcam! Definitely useful for people (like me) who likes to do videochats via msn. This is the left side. What is nice that there in an inbuilt tv tuner as well as a tv out. I could connect my cable tv and watch cable! And this is the right side, there is a DVD burner along a card reader. Its great that I would not need so much external devices unlike my current settings with my current pc setup. More on the specs here It was when Winston, one of the product manager did a quick demonstration which was really made it look quite impressive. Using his fingers, he pressed on the monitor to navigate and flip through different applications. Actually, I thought that it was really cool! It was like seeing an early version of Minority Report! Pretty soon, it was our turn to play with the unit and boy did we have so much fun! I saw Nadnut scribbling on a notepad using her fingernails, Hisham trying to play 3D chess and I was facinated with Zen master Daniel - who looked very professional using the touch screen. Smoothly he manouvered the navigation and even played with the applets in the tablet and made poor Peter have clock eyes like these! Here is a quick video : Bloggers having fun at the HP Touch from rinaz on Vimeo. What do you think of the TouchSmart? Pretty cool right? You have a chance win one! Post in the comment box with what you think “What will your life be like with HP TouchSmart?” Comments with the most creative, innovative and interesting ideas has a higher chance of winning. The contest ends at 0000hrs, 12th July so it gives you time to think for a really good comment! Apologies! Contest open for Singaporeans only *hugs* Links : Official HP site on TouchSmart HP Touchsmart Specs Links to other bloggers posts Nicole | Vantan | Precious | Daintyflair | Daryl Tay | Suyuen | Bleong | Sheylara | Fabrikade | Litford | Claudia | Nadnut | Hisham | Peter Sidenote : The ping blog awards is out. Do vote for the most deserving! :) Rinaz is a finalist in the Omy Blogawards! Truth be told I wasn’t really keen on promoting the Omy blogawards. First of all, the website was really hard to navigate. Moreoever, I’m not Chinese. It seemed kind of a juxtapose to be in a mainly Chinese website. And looking through the list of the people that I’d be competing with, these people are really the big guns! Eastcoastlife? Sheylara? Ohmyblog! They have got like a zillion fans! *shivers* But after thinking for a while, I realised that I was picked out of a list of over 100 nominees. Plus, Mintea revealed that it was she was the one who nominated me. It would be disappointing if I didnt even try! So here I am, fighting for your love! Please vote for me if you think that I am deserving :) Who knows, you might win a chance to Bangkok, Ho Chin Minh or Phuket! Here is how to vote : 1. Click on this link 2. Fill in your particulars as below 3. And click on my icon and hit on vote 4. Done! You can vote once everyday till the 31st of July so I do hope that you vote for me … Thank you so much :) Sidenote : I’ve been so busy lately that I didn’t have the chance to blog as much as I wanted to. Oh gosh! So many backlogged entries to be written! Here is a sneak peek :-) Meeting Yasmin Ahmad - Award Winning Director Remember my post about the adorable Tan Hong Ming and thoughts about Interracial Relationships some while back? Recently, I was privileged to meet acclaimed director, Yasmin Ahmad, the director of the Tan Hong Ming as well as various other notable videos. She was here to grace the exclusive screening for MCYS on an advertisement entitled, ‘Family’ Charming view from the rooftop of the screening room I reached the Screening Room, rather late after a staff day out, being unfamiliar with the area, my sense of direction gone and rather traumatized by the after working hours road conditions! Rinaz poses by a wall featuring Federico Fellini When I finally entered the theater, they were already halfway through playing Yasmin’s other works, such as How do you spell Dinosaur and The little Indian Boy. To call the videos emotional would be an understatement! Mintea, who was sitting beside me and I were already fighting hard not to tear up through the showcase. Mintilicious, Yasmin Ahmad and Sexeh Rinaz When the lights came on, I finally saw her - Yasmin Ahmad right across me, sitting like a regal queen. She started sharing her experiences on being a director. How she faced prejudices from many because of her being a Woman as well as being a Malay. I immediately related to that, being a Malay Woman myself. I started wondering how she was able to stay strong in such adversities when Yasmin quoted a beautiful sentence “The Thicker and Deeper the Mud The More Beautiful The Lotus Grows” Which I thought was elegant and profound at the same time. Soonafter, the screening of the new commercial started - it features a doting single dad, raising up his daughter. Yasmin mentioned that a family unit does not always have to be perfect and complete unit and asked the bloggers on our opinion of the video. The reaction of the bloggers were mostly positive. There was one blogger (I think it was scarlett) who said that being raised up by a single parent and is now a single parent herself, she could relate to the video. Ian Timothy is a little shy for pictures, so here is Brian and Mintea doing their best toothpaste commercial smile :) Personally for me, I thought that the choice for the location was a little strange as it seemed a little dated. But that was when Ian Timothy mentioned that the location was a good choice as he emphatised, growing up in the lower class family. There was a particular blogger who mentioned that because the majority of the population has a complete family unit, they may not be able to relate to the video - to which Yasmin humorously replied, “I watched ‘Finding Nemo’ … I laughed and I cried … But I’m not a fish!” Here is a quick video montage of the interview : Bloggers meet with Yasmin Ahmad from rinaz on Vimeo Doesn’t she sound so queenlike? I think I could listen to her talk all day :-) And what do you think of the advertisement video? Do you think that its okay for being in a single parent family? Are you able to relate to this video? Links : Yasmin Ahmad’s Blog Interesting interview I found on youtube Ian Timothy’s Blog Post Mintea’s Blog Post Sidenote : Mum was so excited when she read an article about Yasmin Ahmad in the Malay Newspaper. She rushed to show it to me, but I was groggy and almost going to sleep. The net has gone bonkers If it isn’t my webhost going down for hours, its the ISP slowing everything down. I haven’t been able to access rinaz.net till this afternoon … This is agony! Lets go have pizza! Being made up by a celebrity mekap artist - So exciting! Some weeks back, Nadnut and I were chatting on msn on the events that we were invited to. Though we both loved tech, we lamented at how nice it was if we were invited to beauty and fashion events as well. I believe that all women, regardless of shape and sizes, love to look and feel good. Thats why it is always exciting for us to try out something new, be it clothes, or shoes. One of them being Taaz.Com where you can play with virtual make up. Hence, when Nadnut invited me to tag along with her to the Revlon makeup launch, I was so excited that I could not say no! I love Mekap!!! I arrived at the Halia Restaurant in the Singapore Botanic Gardens where I saw a number of bloggers that I recognized as well as many other media representatives. There was an opening speech by the Managing Director, Mr Art Miller and soonafter, we were introduced to Bree Sharpe, a Senior Trainer for Revlon who talked about the new ColorStay Mineral Collection and did a demonstration on one of the models. The foundation had many nice features - it was long lasting, up to 16 hours, it had SPF of 10, as well as containing minerals such as rose quartz, mother of pearl and topaz. But what I loved about the foundation the most was that it was non irritating and even people with acne prone skin could wear it. I listened to Bree retell her experience of travelling to different countries and how easy it was for other types of makeup to melt off in our tropical climate. The foundation, she said, lasted long enough for her jetsetting lifestyle and was gentle enough not to give her breakouts and it even healed her skin. Coincidentally, I was at Watsons the day before and I noticed that it was already on sale, and Watsons is having a 20% sale off their cosmetics. So the foundation will cost about $26 instead of $29.90 :D Next, it was time for celebrity make up artist, Andy Lee, to do a demonstration on using the 2008 Limited Edition Collection. Watching him was like seeing a talented artist at work as he skillfully dabbed about the cosmetics on the models face and chatted amiably with the guests and shared with us the different make up techniques. Doesn’t these look very pretty? I’m enamored by how beautiful the design of the eyeshadow collection are. Its like an artwork by itself! I thought the packaging rivals higher-end brand names but at a more affordable price. I observed the other bloggers getting make up tips and impromptu eye make up from Andy and I desperately wanted to be made over too! But suddenly, I felt rather shy as all of the other bloggers were young, attractive, slim things … and I’m not :p But Aaron was so gracious that he broke the ice and introduced Andy to me! Andy Lee and a very smiley rinaz I took a liking at him instantly as he was friendly and sweet man, who was generous in imparting his knowledge. Here is a video (with thanks to Aaron as videographer) of Andy doing makeup for me! Rinaz being made up by a mekap artist from rinaz on Vimeo It was the most exciting experience that I had in a while. Me! Being made up by a celebrity make up artist! I was so enthralled! The day could not be any better. Me, Feliza, Sabrina, Fidelis, Jessica, Art Miller, Esther, Nadia, Peggy and Averal And thats when we had a goodie bag at the end of the day and uncharacteristically, I squealed out in delight. Because in the bag, it contained : A ColorStay Mineral Foundation A ColorStay Mineral Blush A Renewist Lipcolor A 2008 Limited Edition - Floral Affair Blush A 2008 Limited Edition - Make a Sheen eyeshadow How very generous! With that, I’ll be reviewing these makeup in a later post ahead :-) Do you like mekap make up? What are your experience with them? Related Links : Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation Revlon Limited Edition Collection Celebrity make up artist - Andy Lee’s Blog Sidenote : I met Kenny Sia! Kevin Mathews and the Groovy People - spectacular! Recently, Brian was plurking about what we thought of local music. And the first thing that came to mind was ‘My one and only’ which was my ultimate favourite local song - I loved it for how romantic the song was. Remixed by the beautiful Lum May Yee I started typing out the lyrics and before I knew it, Brian invited me to attend the Rock the Sub at Timbre Substation to listen to Kevin Matthews, the original singer of the song. And I was glad that I went! Shiny (literally) happy people - The friendly Thomas, guitar player of the groovy people and me Although the Timbre was dizzyingly full of people, I found myself enjoying the music tremendously, the band was really tight and sounded really good! Here is a quick video overview of the event : Kevin Mathews and the groovy people from rinaz on Vimeo And of course, my favourite song :) My one and only from rinaz on Vimeo Do you listen to local music? What do you think of it? Related links : Kevin Matthew’s Myspace Timbre - Host to Local Music You might also be interested in : WOMAD - International Music Sojourn - Classical Music Klenengan - Gamelan Music Ministry of Bellz - Handbells Music Sidenote : Saw a very beautiful sunset over the Clark Quay river yesterday. How to do a lipdub How to do a lipdub from rinaz on Vimeo You will need : 1. A music player. 2. A video recorder Step 1 : Choose a song for your lipdub. A happy and upbeat song would be great while a depressive song might not be the best choice. Step 2 : Choreograph the type of moves that you want to do for your lipdub. There are a number of moves that you could try such as the dance, the lip sync, the actor. Feel free to experiment with different styles and remember you could also use props in your lipdubs! Step 3 : Now that you have decided on your moves, video yourself with the video recorder at the choice of your location. Step 4 : Upload your video and give your self a pat on the back for a job well done. Done! Sidenote : We did our first lipdub session yesterday and it went great! I hope that you join in. We need more footage! Below is a work in progress to get you inspired :-) Lipdub Project - Draft 1 from rinaz on Vimeo What do you think? Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by Harlie I’ve heard of Arnolds but have never made the trip to City Plaza! I’ve had Popeyes- you’ll be happy to know the buns there aren’t fried :) Do the Arnolds VS Popeyes review! (oh and I bloghopped here from Twitter. Twit-hopped.) Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by Attilio This is probably the most unhealthy food possible. I always avoid eating at these places and cast a gaze of pity on those indulging on it. You know you are not making a big favor to your readers advertising this junk right? Hugs Marina, Attilio Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by rinaz Nadnut Alamak! At least do let it cool down a little … hehe … but yeah, I was like you too, kept tearing at it and risking my fingers be burnt cos I couldn’t wait to eat it up! Myztika Yeah, its in Geylang! A good 30 mins ride from home … double the time if by public transportation … eek! But Geylang does has wonderful food, worth travelling to :-) Bernard Woohoo, I cant wait to try out popeyes too, the nearest one to me is probably at the Singapore Flyer, I saw one branch there! Christina Oooh … I’ll try that the next time I go there :-) Which is probably next week, hopefully … hahaha Was there a KFC vs McCrispy fight? I dont remember it. But I dont mind this type of rivalling … more choices for consumers like us … hehehe Ison Yes, I saw Banana Split under their menu, so I guess its still there :-) And its always good to treat yourself after doing a good deed ;) Musxart Which one? Popeyes? I dont mind. I’ve heard good stuff about the place too … Hahaha! Maybe we can do a Arnolds VS Popeyes review! Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by musxzart you should also try Popeye chicken at the airport. its damn nice. the mash potatos is to die for.. we go next time? Comment on First glances at the HTC Touch Diamond by hopes saw on sntradersonline they were selling it 749$… but US version isnt yet out and who is gona pay for this triband phone it shud not be that expensive waiting for its us version then will see and hope after they 3g iphone its price will drop Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by ison Omg my childhood food! They still have banana split there, right? Used to go to the Woodlands one often before they closed. The last time I ate at Arnold’s was at City Plaza (where you are) in Sec 4 [2005] during my volunteer work. What. Holding metal cans is tiring s***, OK? =D Comment on If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds by Christina Btw, Arnold’s chicken kicks Popeye’s white lily ass chicken flat. No fight. If you like Fried Chicken, you’ll love Arnolds One of my favourite things to eat is Fried Chicken. It might not be the healthiest food to eat, but the moment Juli asked me out for Fried Chicken, I could not say no! The place Arnold’s is located on the 2nd floor of City Plaza - which is quite recognizable by its very retro sign at the top of the yellow and orange building. We went up to the second floor where there were already a few people who were queuing up for their food. The place looked looked nothing extra-ordinary. There was no decoration to speak of, with simple orange plastic chairs and tables. Nevertheless it was full of diners enjoying their meal. This was a popular place! The service We queued up for a bit and upon reaching the counter, we took a look at the menu before finally deciding on the 2 person combo meal. We made an order to the enthusiastic crew at the counter. After waiting for a few minutes for a table to be cleared, we eventually had a table. The food took another few minutes later. The food We had the side dishes first. The side dishes were pretty good. I’ve always liked coleslaw and this one was no exception. As I’m not big on fries, we managed to change it with mashed potato. Juli thought that the mashed potato was very good. The consistency was thick and tasted robust with the flavourful gravy. I’m not fond of fried potatoes, but the criss-cross fries were pretty good being crispy and hot. I did not touch the fried buns, so I’m not sure how this tastes like. Its just me … The idea of eating bread fried in oil is a little scary to me. But the highlight of the dinner was definitely the fried chicken! Its not exactly fast food restaurant here, having to wait for at least 10 minutes for your food to arrive. But when it does arrive, you would have been glad that you waited! My chicken was wonderful! Its came out hot and delightfully crispy. The meat was tender and you could taste how amazingly fresh it was. Oh my gosh! My only qualm is that our meal isn’t exactly cheap having to spend about $10 each, especially when the presentation of the food could be be much nicer. Regardless, Arnold’s was one of the best fried chicken that I ever had. Here is a quick video response at the end of our dinner : Arnolds Fried Chicken from rinaz on Vimeo Do you like fried chicken? Whats the best fried chicken that you’ve had? Related links : Official Website Other reviews by Yebber.com Click here to see a bigger view of the menu with price You may also be interested in : BBQ Chicken at Cineleisure What is Ayam Penyet? Social Media Breakfast 2 - The meeting of minds It was a last minute decision. After wrestling with the “lazy virus”, I eventually went headed to Cafe Domus where the Social Media Breakfast 2 was held and I was glad that I finally went! Cos I got to meet sexeh ladies like Christina and Priscilla SMB is basically a get together where people can exchange ideas and interact over a meal. I enjoyed it as there were plentiful of interesting people there, and many of them were open to discussing about Social Media. In both of the SMB that we attended, we were given a sheet of sticky tapes where where we were supposed to tag other people according to what we perceive them to be. Plaktoz gets tagged I thought that it was a great way to interact and get to know people. It also helped that the venue was smaller and cosier too - forcing everyone to interact with everyone else :-) Personally for me, I find social media a rather interesting subject. In simple terms, social media is basically a two way communication using web 2.0 - such as blogs, forums, networking sites, vlogs, Secondlife and loads more. Two handsome, smart and charming men, Litford and Preetam Social media isn’t really something new, in fact even celebrities are increasingly using them as an another avenue for them to win more supporters by publicly interacting with people. Hence I was very nonplussed when Cart was amazed to see that even celebrities like Jessica Alba willingly uploading a video of herself on youtube. He seems even more impressed when told that a big probability that she will be paid according to the hits that she brought in. Nicole and Mr Mindef But coming back to the SMB, it was nice to meet new people as well as to listen to differing takes on Social Media. One of them was Wanlyn (pictured here talking intently with me) who was quite perturbed of the social networking site, Facebook - She believes that although facebook was useful in organizing events, we should not be too attached to Facebook to the point that you forget your real life, to which, I agreed with her. Rinaz and Claudia I also met Hun Boon whom was a wary of e-learning upon learning that I am currently working with an e-learning company. It was through his personal observations as well as interactions that made him believe that the use of technology does not equate to a better learning. To him, aspects such as social human interaction was more important. I don’t quite agree with him, but I respect his point of view. Ridz seems to have multiple personalities There was also Ridz who recently posted a very good article about cliques in the web community, we chatted a while together and both remarked at how we tend to meet the same people in events such as these and he remarked, ‘Are there more people who are interested in social media or is this as good as it gets?’ And we both pondered for the longest time. For some reason Dominic and Juzzywuzzy don’t look like they are in Singapore All in all, I rather enjoyed myself, as simple as the event was, it was really good to have an exchange of information over a topic that we were all interested in. I liked that Sweetheart Jayden drew this as my tag! Thank you organizers for organizing this lovely event. Non surprisingly, I’m looking forward to the next tone :-) Are you into Social Media? What do you think of it? Do you think it is over hyped? Links to other blog posts : Ladyironchef Sheylara Dominic Daphne Maia Uniquefrequency Miccheng First glances at the HTC Touch Diamond Last Thursday, a group of bloggers as well as tech-forumites, journalists and various media were invited by Gina of The Right Spin to the HTC Touch Diamond unveiling at the swanky Shangri La. Before going to the event, in all honesty, I was quite nonplussed about the phone, seeing as to how homogeneous phones are becoming, with similar functions and even similar physical looks. How can this one be any different? But the more I learn about the phone, the more enticing it is. The feature which I liked a lot was the graphical interface of the phone as compared to the current phones that we have now which are in 2D, the Touch Diamond has a 3D interface which makes it aesthetically simple to get to different functions.   Naturally as a heavy internet user, it was not so much as the camera function nor the mp3 player that impressed me, but I’d have to say that the internet function of the Touch Diamond was very impressive. According John Wang, Chief Marketing Officer of HTC, the Touch Diamond uses HSDPA technology which makes internet connection 16 times faster than regular 3G. And it was visually apparent as watching a youtube video - it was very speedy. Unfortunately the demo version of the phones came out blank when I tried going to Vimeo as well as trying to view the video on my site, but it was explained that the phones will be updated to allow viewing of flash embedded videos. A couple of other cool feature of the phone is how there is an autoflow function which would solve the problem of having to move the directional key countless of times. There was also a character optical reader where you take a picture of a namecard and it recognizes the character and store it into the address book. And the body was sturdy enough to withstand a drop without even a scratch mark to it. This is a really sweet phone indeed. At $1098 dollars, it might seem a little steep, but I think that its worth it considering the very spectacular functions of the phone. Here is a quick video clip of the event : Unveiling of the HTC Touch Diamond from rinaz on Vimeo Have you used a HTC phone before? What do you think about it? Links : HTC Touch Diamond Webpage Claudia’s Blog Post Hillary’s Blog Post Hardwarezone Review I feel good To cope being in a long distance relationship, food naturally became the source of comfort for me to fill up my emotional void. And then the signs started - not being able to fit in clothes as well as before, feeling even more lethargic than I had before. Can’t fit into my beautiful white dress anymore :( A recent blood test I had completely shocked me when the results came out saying that I was overweight. Overweight! I’ve never been overweight before! This was shocking to me as I’ve always grown up being skinny. Rinaz at 12 years old. The true stickrinaz And when Cart left to go back to Rome early January this year, I started to get very stressed out and my zits started to awaken from their dormancy. Pretty much like the last stress-attack I had two years ago. I probably was undergoing one of the most unattractive lows in my life. Overweight and zittified. I could not just let this continue. I knew that I had to do something. But what? One thing I knew was that I did not want to undergo drastic measures like diet pills. And yet, I cannot give up the food that I like as I still love food so much I guess the doors opened when a friend asked me to join her for a cardiomix session at the sports Complex - at that point, I was keen to get my fitness level back. And though it was really tough at the beginning, I still enjoyed my sessions, especially with the company that I had and eventually, I just fell into wanting to feel the adrenaline rush that I get after each session. I loved the feeling! As for the zits, I decided to see a private doctor whom prescribed me Diane-35. At first I was a little doubtful as it was an oral contraceptive which will affect my hormones but the doctor reassured that it was safe and worldwide used pill. After several months of consumption, I have to say how liberating it is to be able to post a picture without having to photoshop the zits away! And it was only recently when I noticed this : It might not be a 6 pack like what Uncle Sha has, but I can see something forming. And this really makes me motivated. The funny thing is that my weight is still the same. But I do feel better about myself than ever before. Did you ever feel unpretty before? What do you do to feel good? if you liked this post, you might enjoy : I am fat Cardio? No sweat! Evolution of face Sidenote : If you were from Claudia’s looking for the HTC video, its not up yet :-) Rinaz the accidental coffee genius Bon Jour! Salut! I had zee most lovely time last Thursday night, being with friends over coffee. What better way to spend zee time together? Oui? I was initially surprised to receive the invitation by EastWestPR but after hearing the Carte Noire commercial on 938live for some weeks, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to attend the event along with my friends, Mintea, Chillycraps and NTT who were all coffee lovers themselves. I just realised at how multi-racial this picture is Thus, last Thursday, I attended the Carte Noir press event at the beautiful Old School building at Mount Sophia. Carte Noir is a leading coffee brand in France. Which explains why I’m wearing a beret - for that French feel :-P Old School is such a beautiful place. I could not help but to admire how charming it looked with its bold black lines over white washes. If NTT had not mentioned that the place used to be the Methodist Girl’s School, I really could not have guessed it. Now it houses many Art and Design institution. I should really come here again to see the place in more detail. At the registration counter we saw Aaron as well as Sabrina and after registering, we headed inside where I saw Chillycraps and Mintea already sitting down on a bench which seemed rather curious to me. Why sit there, when there are proper tables and chairs to sit on? Chillycraps : Thats because we are at a school and we should sit on a bench like students! In any case, the Managing Director of Kraft Foods, officially started the event with a short speech and the fashion show featuring the Paris-trained Cambodian designer, Romyda Keth started. It was a little hard for me to see the fashion show though, with the guests and the photographers standing up, taking pictures of the models that we could not get a clear view. Regardless, looking at her dress collections from the website is beautiful, elegant and most definitely wearable. After the fashion show, each of us were given a cup of Carte Noire coffee for a taste test. Personally for me, I thought that the taste was very light, almost airy like. I preferred my coffee strong but I can imagine how this coffee will be very popular with the masses because of the light taste. Mr Paris Arnold, the Managing Director for Kraft joins us for a chat session, where he seems genuinely interested in knowing more about us bloggers. I think that companies are starting to open up to bloggers which I think is great as it is a direct way of getting feedback from the very people who consume their products. Sabrina started asking Paris, why a fashion show for a coffee launch. And with enthusiasm he replied : “The French embodies style and sophistication and a fashion show brings that to our coffee to reflect that especially with a Paris trained designer” Ah! Later on, we proceeded to enter a room where we saw our favourite barista! Danny Pang! Danny was there to do a demonstration on how to create coffee as well as how to make coffee art. He makes it look so easy to make that perfect blend of coffee and with his extremely sexy, manly voice, I could just go on to listening to him for hours! Later on we went to our seats to have our own go at creating coffee art. At first it was quite daunting as I’ve never done anything like this before and I had the feeling that my coffee art is going to turn out bad. But I gave it a try anyways and swirled the milk foam and it turns out that the outcome wasn’t bad - it was quite decent actually considering that it was my first time. Maybe I’m a coffee genius without knowing it! :-P Its not perfect but its not bad right? This makes me want to learn more about coffee :-) Here is a short video on the coffee demonstration : Making Coffee Art from rinaz on Vimeo We had so much fun talking about coffee that before we knew it, it was already 8pm! A whole hour after the event has ended. Time really does goes by really quickly when one is having fun :-) And at the end of the day, we were given a door gift consisting of Carte Noire Coffee as well as their beautiful gold trimmed cup and saucer for us to continue enjoying a cup of coffee-love :-) Do you drink coffee? How do you like your coffee? Related links : Carte Noire Press Release Romyda Keth collections Danny Pang’s blog entry Chillycrap’s blog entry Mintea’s blog entry Sidenote : While on the topic, I won a Coffee Card thanks to Nicole’s contest! I couldn’t possibly drink 11 cuppas so let me know if you want to go to Geek Terminal with me :-) I love my new namecards! It looked pretty cool when it first came out in 2005(!) but as time goes by, it started to get a little embarrassing to go around with my old namecard. Being the cheapskate frugal person that I am, I thought that I’d just use a marker pen to cancel out the outdated information like the job title and the phone number. It was only when I was at an event, handing out my cards that I realized at how unprofessional it was. Finally I decided to design new cards. I got them from the printer last evening and I love it! This is the front : I wanted the front to have a simple elegance to it. I used the pic (which I love) Farinelli took of me and omitted the phone number as well as the job status to make it evergreen. I didn’t want the typical namecard, hence I tried to made it more warm by being conversational. And this is the back : My favourite colour is green :-) Here are some of the cartoon characters that I drew and am very proud of - Cart and Rinaz cartoon as well as the characters from the Nimmo and friends series I printed the cards at Tommy’s Print after reading Claudia’s post. At $24 for 200 pieces, I think the price is even more competitive than the ones at Bras Basah Basah Complex which is a hot spot for digital artists. So what do you think of my card? :-) Sidenote : Would you be interested in a lipdub project? A stupid commercial Last week’s episode of America’s Next Top Model has completely inspired me to do this : Lipschtick from rinaz on Vimeo If you enjoyed this video, you might also enjoy : How to be pretty (or at least try to be) Sop Tulang - So messy to eat, but oh so good! Recently, my family and I went to the Ayer Rajah Food center for some local food delights. One of the food that we ordered was the Sop Tulang - cow bone marrow cooked in savoury sweet tomato sauce. Its not the healthiest thing to eat, and you risk having your mouth stained in red sauce, but its oh so good to eat! Eating Tulang from rinaz on Vimeo Have you ever eaten Tulang before? How was your experience like? Related link : Sup Tulang demystified Sidenote : This is what my new namecard would look like. What do you think? Vespa Ladies Day Out! On my trip to the Bike Asia a while back, I took a copy of the Freewheeling Magazine and while flipping through, I noticed a small article inviting all lady vespa riders for a day of fish spa. Having already been to the fish farm about a month ago and thoroughly enjoying myself with the Vesporeans, I was definitely interested in attending this convoy. Plus, it is always nice to meet new people :-) I reached the Piaggio Showroom pretty early and watched the people streaming in one by one. I saw familliar faces like Leonids and Moon_Star from the Vespa Club as well as many other new faces. I’m actually a little surprised at how naturally easy it was for us to bond with each other even though many of us are meeting each other for the first time. One of the first ladies that I met was Azizah, whom I admired the embelishments on her ET8 Scooter. It looked so royale! Azizah tells me that it was a handmade job where she bought the stickers at DIY shop and sticked the embellishments herself. I also met Glynis, whom was one of the winners for the Coke contest. The flowery decoration on her blue LX scooter was quite recognizable. We headed in the showroom for the registration of the event and I looked around the area with all the Vespa related items. After registration, we got a free goodie bag! It was pretty nice loot, considering that we only paid $10 for the fish spa admission alone. Free perfume vials! Free Vespa notebook! Spa voucher! Awesome Vespa Tshirt! Woot! I couldnt wait to change into it :D The organizer of the event, Sera, later briefed to all of the participants on the itenerary following a short message on the procedures of the convoy. And soonafter we were off! It was such a beautiful morning, blue skies and fluffy clouds made the journey lovely. For some reason, we were also accompanied by the media crew of Asia One which made me feel as if we were part of a reality series. Not sure if you can see it, but the dude on the right is carring a humongous video camera I couldnt help but notice them whizzing along crazily on the road. Slowing down at one point and then speeding up. Good thing there is no traffic police working on the day :P In any case, in no time at all, we reached the Qian Hu fish farm:D This is what happen when ladies get together. We take pictures! We did not explore much of the fish farm area due to time constraints. Instead, we proceeded immediately to the fish spa area and waited for our turn to use the facilities. As it was a public holiday, the area was more crowded than usual, with families spending time together. I saw dads trying to catch little fishes in the pond, children looking at the turtle pond and even more people at the fish spa area. We dipped our feet in. For some reason, the ticklish feeling was not as strong as the first time that I was here, even with the larger nibble fishes. Maybe I’m used to the sensation already? Regardless, I did not even hear anyone screaming, which made it anticlimatic :P After the fish spa, we proceeded to convoy to the Bollywood Veggies Farm where we were welcomed by the owner, Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim. What a treat! She was larger than life with her crododile dundee outfit, complete with a huge hunting knife. It was scary! She joked that she was the reason as to why Mas Selamat would not dare to hide in her farm. We were treated to such a sumptious lunch. I’m not sure whose treat it was, but thank you so much! There were so much food that my eyes boggled at the sight of everything I felt so stuffed at the end of it and we were still given desserts after that. It was a mix of various types of cakes. One of my noted favourites was the Banana Cake as well as the Jackfruit Cake. They were both so rich and flavourful. You could tell that it was homemade. Lucinda immediately bought 3 loaves of Banana cake for herself! After lunch, a couple of us proceeded to enter the farm area to take a look around. I’ve never been inside here before, so I was most excited to explore the place. There were plentiful of different types of plants and crops around. The area was divided into different plots of crop. There were many signs showing the names of the plants. There was even a eco-toilet. But I dont recommend that you enter the place. Its a little … ehm … As we explored, we stumbled upon plentiful of props there that we had so much sillyness and fun with! Rinaz, Glynis, Deanna and Azizah salutes Bollywood Veggies Meichun and Azizah playing on the mini-tractor In the end, we were just chilling around and enjoying the scenery. I think that it was a most tranquil place. Even with the sun shining harshly at us, the surroundings still looked serene and peaceful. I bet this place would look gorgeous when the cooler season comes and the red lillies bloom. It was such a spectacular day. I find myself bonding with the others as we spent the day together that we were sorry to leave each other at the end of the event. Thank you so much organizers and thank you everyone! I’m definitely looking forward to our next convoy! :-) Have you been to the Qian Hu Fish Farm and Bollywood Veggies before? What do you think of it? Related links : More pictures in the gallery My first time at the Fish Farm and Bollywood Veggies Qian Hu Fish Farm Website Bollywood Veggies Website Vespa Club Website Other convoys joined : Roadtrip to Pengerang TAA Charity Ride 2007 Roadtrip to Malacca Big Bike Fest 2006 Updated : The web-video on the ride is up on Asia One :-) My experiences at a marriage preparatory course According to Statistics Singapore, the number of divorce rates has been on an increase. There was a stage when 1 out of 3 marriages will end up in a divorce. This trend was a concern for the Muslim organization bodies in Singapore such that for the past 15 years or so, they implemented a compulsory marriage preparatory course for all Muslim marriages in Singapore to prepare and educate future marriages for the prevention of divorces. Recently, I’ve attended and completed the marriage preparatory course at the Assyakirin Mosque. Prior to this, I did not realise that it was mandatory till only recently. I assumed that that the course was for knowledge for keeping a happy marriage. Thus, I did not have much expectations. When I attended my first lesson, early Sunday morning, I was greeted by the staff-helpers at the mosque and was handed a schedule, a bridal magazine as well as the course textbook. I flipped through the textbook and though it was not thick, it looked comprehensive with the different modules laid out. In my book, there were 8 modules altogether which was presented and discussed in depth by our various coaches from Kasih Sejati. Personality analysis Knowing the in-laws, money matters and wedding plans Understanding solemnization and responsibilities of a wife and husband The meaning of love, sex and intimacy Challenges during marriage Preparing for a family Communication and the language of love Conflict and resolution I thought that the lessons were interesting and I realised at how unprepared I was before. I learnt a fair bit of information which I think will be useful in preparing myself for my future. The entire course ended with each of us writing a love letter for our partners with words of affection, hopes and encouragement for our future. I thought that was very sweet. I found out later that it was a requirement for all Muslim Marriages to be certified with a marriage preparatory course certification regardless of what nationality they are. Hence Cart arrives here in Singapore in December, we’ll be taking it together before our solemnization. I think it will be a learning experience for the both of us. Have you heard of the marriage preparatory course before? What do you think of it? Related links : Steps in appying for a Muslim Marriage in Singapore Kasih Sejati training center Find statistical data regarding Singapore Assyakirin Mosque website Canihascanoncamcorder? On Friday, the 18th April and for the first time ever, I was at a press conference thanks to the awesome Brian and Tania of Ogilyv for remembering how much I love Canon products. Many of the pictures and videos in this blog itself are captured with the Ixus and 350D. It was a classy event from the start at the regal Asian Civilisations Museum, being ushered in by the smartly dressed security guard to going up the charmingly vintage staircase. And then being greeted by a bevvy of pretty ladies in red dresses. Soon-after, I reached the hall where the event was held. There were already a number of people mingling around. It was kind of a strange experience and somewhat daunting being surrounded by editors of credible magazines and newspapers. Whereas I was representing the bloggers. Nevertheless, I tried to be as sociable as I could be and just smiled at the people that I saw. I spotted out Tania who was sitting down - she was very recognizable with her short spiky hair. Lynette, whom I met earlier, swooped in and introduced me to her. Tania was friendly and really cool we chatted briefly till the emcee stood up on the platform and announced the start of the event. It was glitzy! It started off with Mr Andrew Koh, the director of Canon Singapore explaining about the features of the new camcorders. AND THEN there were 5 extremely tall catwalk models strutting around with the different camcorders. They were so tall that I had to crane my neck trying to look at them. But the cherry on top of the cake was when Andrew announced the ambassador for their camcorder was what made me nearly gasp out loud. It was Wong Li Lin! I was so floored to see her. In front of me was an acclaimed actress! I throughly enjoyed her performance in Leap Years. Unfortunately, she slipped out of the event pretty quickly that I don’t think that anyone had a chance to interact with her. At the end of the event, the guests were invited to try out the new camcorders. I had a ball of a time, having a hands on session with the 5 different camcorders - The HF 10, HF 100, FS 11, FS 10 and FS 100. Personally, I thought that it was rather impressive. All five of the models were lightweight and small. I can seriously stuff all the five models in my handbag and run away with it but my sense of propriety and conscience says no :P It took me about 15 mins of fiddling to get used to the interface but after that, it was relatively easy to use. It uses a mini joystick rather than a touch screen which would probably make it preferable for people who do not like to smudge their screens. Having been used to working with camcorders using mini-DV tapes, I liked how it uses internal built in memory which makes it faster to transfer to the computer as well as to a SD-card directly. Cool beans! And ultimately what was the best feature of the camera was the video and audio quality. I did a quick test and recorded on my SD card. It was so clear that you could see every pores on my face. Oh my! Screenshot from video. No photoshop edit apart from resize and additional text I’m amazed why many the other journalists did not grope the camera models as much. They were like just touching it, flipping it around and thats it. I guess that was great cos I had ALL the time to examine and grope the equipment in close detail. I was most excited. Here is a quick video clip of the event : Canon Press Conference from rinaz on Vimeo And my final conclusion? I love it! I want one! It makes the video from my camera seem so dinky now. Canihascanoncamcorder? Please? *stares at you with big eyes* Related links More details in the Canon website Review of the camcorder by CES Rinaz and Cart in the Sunday Times :) About two weeks ago, I was quite surprised to check my statcounter to find out that someone from the local newspaper surfing through my site. Soon-after, I received an email from a Ms Sandra Davie for a face to face interview. I wasn’t sure if I should meet her because sometimes some journalists tend to skew the article to fit their own point of view. But in the end, I thought to myself, why not? And last Wednesday, I made an appointment with her at Geek Terminal and met her for the first time. And I was so glad to find out that she was very nice. I had a casual and relaxed interview that before we knew it, two hours had passed by. And this is what materialised out of the interview : Cool! Its interesting to note that the article is very romanticised to the point of mushyness. And I’m not 31! She made me older than I actually am. Eeek! Regardless, I’m totally going to laminate this. I wonder how my family and friends would think :-) Related links : Read the article online What started it all - Video of Cart and Rinaz SL home An Italian Vacation The Engagement Rinaz in the papers 2007 Updated : It was really funny to see Mum’s reaction at her first view of the article. The next day at work, a number of colleagues and even the heads were asking about the article. One student even came up to me and told me that the article was being passed around during assembly period. Oh my! :P If you love cats, you’ll love the Catopia Exhibition It was one of the most uplifting art gallery that I’ve ever been to. There were so many gorgeous paintings of cats, that it just made me feel so happy. Last evening, I was out with Juzzy Wuzzy, Weiren and Check in Chinatown to visit the Catopia - Oasis of Calm exhibition at the Forth Gallery.. After walking for a while, Juzzy just stopped and said that we’ve reached the place. But I did not see anything remotely gallery-ish about the area. It was very nondescript, being hidden behind this! Nevertheless, we went up the stairs to the second floor and we were transported to a new world altogether. There were a number of people already there, admiring the different paintings being displayed. And immediately, I was taken in by the beautiful cat paintings. There were two artists being featured there - Gwen Lim and Ng Ling Tze and it being opening night, both of the artists were there! I was fortunate enough to bugger meet them. Below is Gwen Lim and me posing next to this incredible piece called, “Haven” I asked Gwen, how long it took for her to paint this piece and was amazed to find out that it took her only a week to complete this. The leaves, she added, took her one morning to do. Gwen Lim’s pieces were very expressive and focuses on the subject. I asked her, what inspires her to paint in the style that she does and she replied that she was a calm and easy-going person that takes things nice and slow, thus it reflects in her paintings, in soft, muted colours. I love her paintings. It was very easy on the eye and for some reason, it induced calm and serenity when looking at it. It was just beautiful. There was another artist called Ng Ling Tze and she’d done this amazing piece called, “Sweet Revenge” Her pieces had more intense colours and it was more surrealistic - one of the genres that I love. This piece in particular, is a take on cats judging back humans who were cruel to them in real life. Ling Tze tells me that her works were inspired by what she sees and her perception of what the cats were thinking. There were a number of cats that were living in the area that she lived and she observes them to have inspiration. I loved this piece, “Day Dreaming”. It makes me feel as if I were lying down in a field of flowers, looking up at the sky and getting ready to float in the air any time soon. Gorgeousness! This piece was pretty trippy! I loved how the fishes are flying out of the elevator. This piece is called, “Lift Watching” and it describes how Ling Tze would observe a group of cats, living near the lift. And every morning at about 9.30, they would always be transfixed, looking at the elevator, moving up and down. It was an amazing evening and I enjoyed every bit of it. Its not every day that you get to a beautiful gallery such as this as well as meeting the fantastic artist behind them! If you are a cat lover, I’d urge you to go as seeing the pictures in this blog-post really doesn’t do justice to seeing the real thing. Thank you Juzzywuzzy! If it weren’t for you, I would not even know of this gallery!  And thank you Justin and Eva for kindly allowing me to use these beautiful scans :) P.s These would be great as a wedding present! *hint hint nudge nudge* Forth Gallery 69A Pagoda Street (2nd level) Singapore 059228 Links : Forth Gallery Website Ng Ling Tze online portfolio You may also be interested in : Singapore Art Museum Museum of Shanghai Toys Sidenote : Do check out the Sunday Times tomorrow. Amanda has a sneak peek!