Marina’s Bloggariffic

Just too adorable for words!

I first saw this clip from Precious and later on, I found out from Mintea that the clip was directed by Yasmin Ahmad - an acclaimed film director. She also told me that Yasmin Ahmad directed the Petronas ads that never fails to make me feel so sappy in the end.

“Do you want to come fowwa date? To a womantic dinner?”

*melts*

Oh yes Tan Hong Ming! *I’ll*definitely go out with you.

—

Seeing how easygoing their innocent love for each other made me ponder if we as adults putting in too much emphasis on race?

Here in Singapore we would have our annual Racial Harmony Day each July 21st which is supposed to make us more appreciative of each other’s races.

Racial Harmony Day 2007

But somehow along the line, this has made each other more aware of their differences and ironically now, people would rather stick to their own. Its odd as time ago, before the implementation of racial harmony day, we were already mixing around naturally, happily.

For me, I believe that people should mix around with the people that they enjoy being with, rather than focusing on their skin difference.

Like the little girl in the video clip, I had a best friend back in primary school. His name was Micheal and he was a Chinese. Being in the same class as well as neighbours, we’d always roam around the neighbourhood together.

And I remember the first time when I celebrated Lantern Festival with him, holding candle lit lanterns in the playground and then eventually a group of Malay girls came up and chided, “You’re not a Chinese. You shouldn’t be playing with Lanterns!”

I was lucky in the sense that mum was open minded about letting me celebrate the mid-autumn festival. I can imagine that in my naive 9 years old self that I could probably listen to the Malay girls and stopped befriending Micheal right there and then.

But really. What is the big deal about our race differences?

As the world advances, naturally it is so much easier to socialise with different people. Its funny how I can still remember a section in my geography book that I read at 14 years old at how there are countries that has a homogeneous population like Italy and Japan. And we know that that statement is outdated with different countries having a diverse population.

This is inevitable. Now even interracial-relationships isn’t something new. As I read through blogs and printouts, and hear from friends at how they are involved with someone of a different race.

Truth be told, before I’ve met Cartcart, I’ve always assumed that I’d end up having a serious relationship with a Malay guy and settle down here in Singapore - same race marriages makes it all the easier and more convenient.

Sure, interracial-relationships does has its own problems. But doesn’t all relationships has its own problems? To me, the most important part is the person rather than his race. Does your partner make you feel warm inside? Does your partner makes you smile and feel happy?

That is the question :)

Having already attended various talks such as the Nexus 2007 as well as the E27 Unconference, and finding it interesting, I was most keen in participating in the Interesthink event. It was promoted as a local version of TED which I am enamored with as TED conferences revolves about ‘Ideas worth spreading’. One such presentation that left me floored was the one done by Marjora Carter, where she talks about how to create a sustainable environment.

I arrived at the National Library early Saturday morning and went up to the elevator into the POD where the most spectacular view of the city can be seen. From the glass panels, you could see various landmarks like the Shaw Towers, Suntec City and the Esplanade.

I met a couple of blogger friends whom were already there - Farinelli, NTT and joined by DK, Claudia, Preetam as well as several other attendees.

In due time, the event was declared opened by  the organizers and the speakers stepped up to the podium.

The first person to do his presentation was Dr. Larry Francis who presented about ‘Malay culture, musical practices and Islam of the Malay world’. He asked the audience why it was that music seemed to be discouraged in Islam currently when there were so many musical instruments in the Islamic Golden age.

Next was Mr Grant Pereira - an enigmatic man whom was extremely passionate in environmentalism. He talked about his work in Greenpeace and how there were many things that were happening in Singapore that was hurtful for the environment. One of them being the issue of land space for housing and yet there were many golf courses being built.

The next speaker was Mr Alex Au who spoke about The pros and cons of prostitution. His was a rather strange presentation, with him walking here and there. Personally for me, the topic was not something new. And I found out that there are a number of the audience were still not comfortable about the issue of prostitution.

Next up was Ms Lim Choo Hin who is a cancer survivor. She talked about the issues that she faced while having cancer and candidly showed some pictures with patients who lost one or both sides of their breasts to cancer, “Ah, this is me!” and finally she closed by saying, “If you feel defeated, life is over”

And one of the final speakers was Mr Kan Lume, an acclaimed filmmaker. At the first glance, it was interesting for me to notice his right hand. It had the words ‘Film Maker’ in black ink and I realised later that it was actually a tattoo. It was to remind and motivate himself in the path that he has chosen. He narrated a story about his childhood and how it inspired him to become what he is today.

All in all, I thought that the event was a good way to spend a Saturday, getting to listen to a number of fascinating speakers, surrounded by friends in a beautiful location. Here is a quick video snippets of the event :

Snippets of the InteresThink event from rinaz on Vimeo

Amazingly, at the end of the event, I felt mentally drained out trying to absorb all of the information that I heard today. There were many other people who felt the same way too! It was kind of like the same feeling doing maths sum for an hour straight :P

In the end, the Interesthink event isn’t exactly like TED, but it was still a pretty good start. I enjoy talks such as these and the interesting side to it is that, for some reason, it reminded me so much of a Secondlife event - meeting other avatars, listening to the speaker, in a nice environment.

Did you attended the Interesthink event? Have you ever attended in events such as these?

Sidenote : Come and join me this saturday for the Social Media Breakfast as well as the Web 2.0 - Emerging Industry Series. Both of them are held at the same time though. Can I clone myself into two?

Links :

• Interesthink Website
• Links to other media
• Ian Dravid blog entry
  

And huge credits to the wonderful NTT for recording the audio of the event :)

Disclaimer : This is not a sponsored post nor am I obliged to blog by any parties.

Last week, I was invited to the launch of the new LG KS20 thanks to Sabrina as well as the PR Company, Fleishman-Hillard. After the successful bloggers meet with Phillips in December, I was definitely interested in attending this event to have first hand experience of LG’s new smart phone. Personally, I think that it is great that companies are opening up to bloggers. This allows regular people to have a feel of a product in real life situation.

I arrived at the Corduroy Cafe, relatively early. One of the first person that I recognized from the crowd was the beautiful Sheylara, whom I’ve respect for, for her artistic talents. We chatted over dinner and one by one, fellow bloggers streamed in - Claudia, slightly flustered due to the after-office rush hour madness aggravated by the drizzle, DK, who was celebrating his first day of freedom, and finally the ever charming Farinelli.

At long last, the event started. The emcee did a quick warm up and then a stoutly man started an introduction on the features of the KS20. It was a little hard for me to hear over the din. I did not remember him introducing himself and I kept wondering who he was and he ended his presentation rather abruptly, perhaps to let us have more time to try the phone out.

The emcee then introduced a bevy of LG models, one of them I recognized as Peggy Heng - another fellow blogger! Thats her in the middle. What a surprising encounter.

The LG models then went around the different tables and started to demonstrate and after which, let us have a hands on try out on the phone.

This is Nicole, one of the LG models on her demo rounds. For me, I think that she stood out from the pack with her friendly demeanor and her personality. Smilingly and without losing a nerve, she answered our questions. I’m not too sure about the other tables but ours were a tough audience!

“What is the functions?”
“What kind of camera does it have?”
“How much is the cost?”
“What is the battery life?”

We shot like bullets.

I watched the phone being passed around and being played with, excitedly. Everyone seemed to hog the phone that without anything else to do, I started to video each person’s reaction. All of a sudden I had the phone in my hands and I started to fiddle with it. At first glance, it was a very beautiful phone and I loved how sleek it was. The functions looked clear cut, with large buttons that one can touch to get to the various functions.

But most importantly (to me that is) it can connect to wifi. Already I was envisioning how convenient it would be connecting to wireless@SG. And that was when the phone was snatched away from me! *Stares daggers at Nic* At that point, I retreated from having to fight over the phone.

Regardless, it was unanimous that we all found that it was a very attractive phone, personally for me however, as I only had first hand encounter with the phone for less than 15 minutes, it is very hard for me to give a proper review.

Here is a short video of our first impressions of the KS20 :

Bloggers first impressions on the LG KS20 from rinaz on Vimeo

And that was when I finally noticed the other bloggers. One the sofa, I saw Jayden, Nadnut, Iz, Ice Angel and Princessa conglomerating together. I went over to have a quick chat with them. Jayden, whom I’ve met previously from the Phillips event went about his friendly, affable self while Ice Angel seemed a little shy. Princessa was very friendly though she was busy at the same time, flying here and there.

This was the first time for me, meeting Iz - a fellow competitor in the 2007 Weblog Awards. Cheekily, I asked him, “So how does it feel to get your ass kicked by me?” Momentarily he was flustered, but after a chat with him made me see that he was a cool and a passionate person. And Nadnut! If I thought she was adorable in her blog, she was even more adorable in real life! I could just squeeze her and eat her up!

At back of the room, was the lovely Estee, nearly hidden away by the small crowd around her. It was she who noticed and called me out first! Quickly she interrogated me about my upcoming wedding, about Cartcart, as well as Secondlife, where we first get to know each other. It was such a lively discussion that Farinelli and DK came over and we proceeded to debate about the metaverses.

Being a blogger, naturally I took out the camera to have a snapshot. Quickly I reviewed the pictures. I was in disappointment as thats when I was in realisation that I was surrounded by younger and more attractive people and I felt so inadequate.

I could probably photoshop myself to perfection but covering my face with a paper bag is much faster.

Me and the youthful bunch of Nadnut, Jayden, Sheylara and Ice Angel

Me with the very beautiful Estee

Me and the handsome geek Nicholas Aaron Khoo

Me with IZ, DK and Sabrina who is looking super hot here.

I felt fat and unattractive and I felt wierded out.

But that was when dear Farinelli sent me a picture he took of me and instantly I was cheered up.

Its one of those moments when I was relaxed and at ease and had a natural smile. I like this picture so much that instantly I changed my avatar on msn, facebook and vimeo. Hehehehe!

Recently, I saw this ad in the digital life newspaper :

I think they should consider running with this one :

What do you think?

Sidenote : First she awarded me the Slackiest Latecomer award and now she awards me the Most Insane Award. Sheylara must really love me. :P

Related links :

• Official LG Website
• A review of the LG KS20

Blog entries by fellow bloggers :

• Claudia
• DK
• Farinelli
• Geekonomics
• Ice Angel
• Izreloaded
• Jayden
• Nadnut
• Peggy
• Princessa
• Sheylara
• PPCSG Forum Thread

Recently, I’ve been lusting over the iMovie. But I did not want to spend 2k to aquire a macbook solely to play with iMovie alone.

That was until I stumbled upon a website which hailed Adobe Premiere elements 4 to be THE window answer to iMovie. And at long last, I finally acquired a copy and man, it was heck loads of fun to play!

Here is my quick demo :

Premiere Elements 4 is fun! from rinaz on Vimeo

Woot! Rinaz Vloggariffic, here I come! :D

You may also be interested in

• My first look at the EEE PC
• Vimeo - Cooler than youtube!
• Comiqs.com - Fierce competitor to Comic Life
• A demo of my Logitech Quickcam Fusion Webcam

I was in desperate craving for chocolate and I hauled my sis and I, over to the Esplanade for a dose of Max Brenner goodness. I was joined with the lovely Mintea and her sister.

Enthusiastically, we ordered a number of items from the menu :

It was all good, but we did not feel the high yet and we ordered more! :D

Mintea had the Italian thick chocolat served in a hug mug. There are no handles, so the drinker would have to wrap their hands and hug the utensil to drink it. Doesn’t the colours of the chocolate look absolutely beautiful? I think I’ll get this the next time I visit :)

And this is my Dark Chocolate Suckao. The utensils were clear cut enough, I poured the milk in, and then stirred the chocolate buttons in to melt it. But for a few moments I was clueless at how to eat the chocolate.

Upon close examination, I saw that there was a hole in the spoon which doubles up as a straw. Henceforth, the reason why it was called, Suckao!

All four of us in unison : “Aaaah! I see!”

And that was when the high kicked in and that we finally got our euphoria from the heavenly chocolate. It was really really good. Pure happiness slipped down my throat and radiated through my body.

And we all just sat there for a full 10 minutes, grinning at each other, being all happy and contented.

LE SIGH!!!

After our chocolate trip, we said our goodbyes, sis and I headed up to the esplanade library. I think that this could easily be one of the most beautiful libraries in Singapore.

Photo credit by Night86mare

It was a lovely place to hide away in the tranquility, by the beautiful sea. By then, Cartcart was already online and I walked around the library surreptitiously with the eee pc opened facing outwards and skype webcam on to show Cart the surroundings.

Already some people were staring at me strangely as I walked around. But I’m learning to be a little more thick skin :P

And that was when I heard the most beautiful voice emanating from the library cafe and was instantly drawn to it.

Olivia Ong at the Esplanade from rinaz on Vimeo

She sounds so beautiful.

I found out later that that she is Olivia Ong, a 23 year old Singaporean singer who went to Japan to further her career as a singer.

She was here for the annual Mosaic Music Festival which features artists from all over the world and all sorts of genres. There are so many exciting lineups. I love it! I want to go!

Shamelessly, I asked for a picture with her :

And smilingly, she said yes, and she hugged me! Olivia Ong hugged me! My euphoric feeling went up another notch :)

After the encounter, sis and I headed towards the carpark where we encountered an acapella group singing and they sounded really good.

Nanu at the Esplanade from rinaz on Vimeo

And I started dancing :

What an awesomely spectacular day :)

Esplanade related posts :

• Max Brenner with Carcart
• Mosaic Festival 2006
• Trip to esplanade in 2005

Yesterday, I had lunch with my colleagues at Siam Kitchen at Jurong Point. At the end of the lunch, my appetite was so contented that for the next few hours, I felt blissfully happy.

Being a Jurong girl all my life, Jurong Point was certainly one of my stomping grounds. Which made me quite surprised at why I’ve never visited Siam Kitchen prior to this. I’ve always assumed that the food here would be rather expensive.

But upon close examination, it did not seem to be that expensive after all. With the service charge and GST, I don’t think it would cost a person more than $22 per person for their lunch buffet.

I think that it was value for money considering all the spread of sumptuous food that we had :

That is a lot of food!

Nevertheless, I enjoyed savoring the different platters. Being Thai food, the dishes were very spicy. The mango salad for example, it looked deceptively mild that I was surprised at how hot it was when I took a bite out of it!

Some of the food did not interest me, regardless, out of the list there were two of the food which I enjoyed completely. One of them, the Green curry chicken as it tasted delightfully rich and spicy. It was much different than the curries that I was used to. I also enjoyed the pineapple fried rice. The combination of savoriness and the sweetness of the raisins made it just lovely.

Theoretically, we were able to order more food from the list as it is a buffet. But we were all quite stuffed after the first round already!

Here is a quick video of a very contented rinaz :

Buffet Lunch @ Siam Kitchen from rinaz on Vimeo

Ah … wonderful food. Aroi mak!

Link :

• Siam Kitchen

Sidenote : I seriously believe that carparks are a hazard for motorcyclists after a rain. I fell in a carpark again when turning and I was going at a safe speed of 30-40km/hr.

Truth be told, I had no intention of watching Leap Years if it was not for Malique whom was so impassionate in recommending it to me.

Hence, I went to watch it with the lovely VanClaire at Plaza Singapura last Sunday. And it was such a tear fest! In the end, I think I washed away my make up clean!

Leap years based upon the novella, Leap of Love by Catherine Lim, (whom I believe is Singapore’s most talented writer). The story revolves about the main protagonist, Li Ann (played by Wong Li Lin) whom by a stroke of inspiration decides to ask a handsome stranger (played by the hunkylicious Ananda Everingham) on a date and takes advantage of an Irish Leap Year custom where a woman’s proposal must be fulfilled.

Spurred by her spontaneity he accepted. Eventually, Li Ann and Jeremy realised that they had a connection with each other. However Jeremy had a mysterious issue haunting him, and was able to stay in Singapore for a short while before flying off. However he promises her that he will wait for her every February 29th.

With that pledge, viewers will share the journey and find out if this relationship would continue.

I enjoyed the movie, cinematography wise, it was picturesque. The director has effectively made Singapore look very romanticised - the lights of the skyscrapers from across the Singapore river, the bustling sounds of the colourful food centers, the tranquil shophouses, lulled by the melodious Corinne May.

However I do have minor qualms on how very different our landmarks look like as beautiful as they were, it just did not have the Singapore ‘feel’. In some of the scenes I looked hard and wondered if it was really Singapore.

Storywise, it was deeply engaging, and there were a number of twists that kept me wondering. One of them being the identity of the man, lying in the hospital while a 48 year old Li Ann looks most concerned. There were a number of plots which was easy to figure out, such as the revealing of K.S’s girlfriend. (whom by the way, I think had the most unfortunate name ever. K.S = Kiasu? Kiasee? Kanasai?)

At the same time, there are some parts which are illogical, like the part when Jeremy takes Li Ann to meet his grandmother on his first date. She commented to Li Ann that Jeremy would make a good husband - a true grandmother would have known her grandson’s marital status, wouldn’t she?

And why on earth would anyone promise to wait 4 years to have a date with someone? Thats crazy man. I meet Cartcart every six months and its already immensely hard. If we had to meet every 4 years, I think I’d probably die from heartbreak.

Regardless, being a romantic sap, I enjoyed this movie thoroughly. And like Malique, I clapped at the end of the movie :)

Have you watched leap years yet? What do you think about it?

P.s. I don’t know about you, but Paula Malai Ali, the actress who played Kim, is so hot. Speaking of hot, the song below is sexeh too :)

P.p.s. I read in some reviews that Wong Li Lin and Ananda Everingham had no chemistry with each other. But I was too busy imagining that I was Li Ann to take notice :P

Links :

• The Leap Years Official Website
• Dr Catherine Lim’s Blog

You might be interested in :

• I am legend
• Il Mare
• Chronicles of Narnia