My best friend Hema was in Rome for the past week and a half and we had such a lovely time together beautiful places in Rome as well as Tuscany and Florence. There are so many gorgeous places in Italy and I sorely wish that I could visit every region before it is too late.
I may blog about it soon, but in the meanwhile here is a toon to tide us by
Rinaz : This Italian exercise is too difficult for me
Rinaz : Would you help me, please?
Cart : Ok. Let me see it.
Cart : Come on! It’s simple! Bla bla bla. Have you understood?
Moral of the story : Teaching others is a noble thing to do. But explaining too much at one go can be very confusing
Moral of the story. Always appreciate your wife. Lavish her with compliments once in a while, like, “You did a fantastic job!” or “You are so beautiful!” or “You made my life so much better” … It doesn’t matter if you said it before. SAY IT MANY TIMES! And trust me, your life will be so much more easier.
A couple of days ago, I had my hair cut at the hairdresser near my house. It wasn’t bad, but it was just meh. Because the price was quite expensive, but quality was like the same as what you can get in those $10 haircut in 10 minutes.
Anyway to show my discontent, I shared a picture online while my best “meh” face.
What I didn’t anticipate was that there were quite a number of comments saying that I’ve lost weight, look slimmer … *coughs* It feels wierd typing that out. I sound like a braggart praising myself, but here is pictorial proof
But in reality, I just think that it was the angle of the camera, the hairstyle and the fact that I wasn’t smiling was why I looked slimmer. The truth is, I haven’t been losing weight dramatically. In fact, my weight has been plateauing for a while, regardless of how much I’ve been exercising. But hopefully I’ll get to my pre-wedding weight one day
Nevertheless, the response has kindled my amusement and so I thought that I’d share with you some simple tips on how to look slimmer that you can use the next time you take a picture!
1. Pick a hairstyle that will make your face slimmer.
Remember how we’ve been told that wearing vertical stripes will make you look longer while horizontal stripes make you look wider? The same technique applies to hair too. In my opinion, having long, straight hair will make the face look slimmer. While short hairstyles like bobs aren’t very flattering on a round face.
Which is why I prefer having long sideswept fringes as without this frame at the sides, my face almost always look quite round. Like this :
2. Angle your camera above eye level
It is more flattering to the face to have the camera positioned slightly above eye level as this makes the face look more elongated and slimmer. Although taking pictures ala “The Dog” can be a little too extreme
I’m digging this swim cap by the way, despite how “auntie” it may look.
3. Pictures taken as a 3/4 profile will make your face slimmer
Same reasoning as above, with you turning your head about 45 degrees to the camera (pick your best side, left or right) instead of looking directly in front, will make your face look elongated.
4. A wide smile can make your face rounder
While a big, toothy smile (I tend to do that a lot in pictures) can make you appear more friendly, the negative bit is, it can make your face look rounder. And so, if you want to avoid that in pictures, simply tone down the smile.
And as Tyra Banks will say, “SMIZE!” Smiling with your eyes.
5. Cover part of your face
With all things said, if all things fail, a prop can be very useful in camouflaging the face into looking slimmer. There! Quick and easy! Don’t I look thin here?
Anyhow, that is some of my tips on how to look slimmer quickly and easily. If you have any other suggestions, I would love to read about them in the comment box below!
Keep in mind that original conversation was in Italian.
I’m really quite annoyed because though I’ve a long way to go before becoming fluent in italian, I’m not that incomprehensible! Its frustrating and sometimes I wonder if people just pretend not to understand me when I speak Italian.
At least have the courtesy to listen to me and try to understand what I’m trying to say before cutting me off. Urgh. Nyampah.
At least this this guy was amused at my attempt to speak italian.
Which is a cuter version of me with the layered hair and the Eva Mendes like mole
Anyhow, it stuck with me since. I used the image for my blog banner, as my avatar for almost every website that I register with, and eventually took it to the real world.
This is my very first Rinaz Item. My Rinaz badge!
Just for the fun of it, I made this for to wear for the Nexus Event. It was pretty simple to make, basically its a colour printer cut out and stamped on a badge press. I was really happy at how it turned out.
It was really interesting to see the number of people who recognized me from the badge!
I couldnt help but to use the lovely picture that Fari snapped me for the front. The back are some of the characters for my award winning book if I ever stop procrastinating.
Anyway namecards are very useful for during events such as blogger events for exchanging information with each other, rather than using a scrap of paper and pen. And it looks much more professional when you whip out your card, arch your eyebrows and say suavely, “Here is my card!”
I’ve since updated my namecard to this one
It’ll take a while for to run out of these ones since there are hardly any events that I go to in Rome, but I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that someday I’ll be femes in Italy too
About two weeks before the wedding, I was still pondering about which cake to get till a friend suggested that cupcakes could be a good idea. By this time, it was such a last minute idea but I gave it a try anyway.
I was very lucky that Izah was willing to accept and rise up to the challenge. She did such a lovely job with the decoration and tiers, that the cupcakes were such a hit!
I wish I had a couple extra to be frozen in the icebox for future generations to come though.
It was just a few days after the wedding, so I had a lot on my mind and was a little muddled on the design. In the end, I submitted a repeating image. The skin wasn’t cheap, but I’m really happy with how it turned out since it looks so personalised
After living in Rome for a while, I didn’t think that I’d have any more Rinaz stuff. But it was a pleasant surprise that I still did.
My friend Lynn, who is a talented craftsmaker made this badge for me.
Oooh! Much loves! I love it as its an exact replica and it looks so 3D! I wore it practically everywhere with pride. Unfortunately I accidentally left it in the washing machine and the varnish is scratched. Luckily its not broken, and its now in Lynn’s good hands at the moment.
Nevertheless, I had a peek at Lynn making a Cart badge too. I wonder if Cartcart would be willing to wear it around
Finally I stumbled upon Beading and Beyond – a website making customised jewellery and upon looking at her works, I ordered a set and was really excited to see it when I reached Singapore.
Personally I wish that the figurines look more true to the image, but nevertheless, they look really cute and well made
In any case, I love my Rinaz stuff! If you or you know anyone who can craft me a Rinaz stuff, please let me know. I’ll be looking forward to seeing them
When we reached Fiera Di Roma (which is something like Suntec City where expos and events are held) there were already a large amount of people there. But we were still wondering if we were at the right place. It was only when we found out that there were a number of people in costumes streaming in was when we felt more assured.
I noticed that while queuing in, the cosplayers were lining up in a separate line. We found out later that people who were in costumes got to enter in for a cheaper fee. If I knew that, I would have dressed up … or maybe not
After queuing up for the tickets, we entered inside the event hall, and at first sight ,I already knew that the experience will be something similar to the one in Singapore.
Like swimming salmons! There were so many people! I took a deep breath and started to do dance the shuffle. To look at every individual booth.
The Comics
Obviously being a comic convention, there were a number of publication houses on display. One of the biggest names that I could spot out was Panini Comics.
Panini Comics is probably best known for their character, Ratman. Ratman is interesting because the character was conceived as a parody to all the comic superheroes – with his Mickey Mouse’s ears and his cape. He was wierd but yet, amusing. Kind of like how 2gether was a satire for the overflow of all Boybands.
I also had the chance to seeing a couple of artists doing works in progress, drawing and singing autographs. And I admired a few artwork and wished that I had half the artistic talents that they had. I should learn to be more familiar with these artists!
This particular guy was so diligently doing watercolour on the first page of his comic book. I was a little too shy to approach him. Also, my lack of Italian is of another hindrance, but oh well
Looking closely, I see a name tag and saw that his name was Luca Russo – Of course, I had to google it out, and I saw a couple of his artwork. Its so lush.
What a pity that I couldn’t communicate better. I would have liked to know his inspiration and process for drawing! Well, maybe next year, when my Italian is probably slightly better
Naturally, Cart being crazy about reading comics and collecting them, bought for himself a nice pile of comics to add to his shelf dedicated to all his comic books
I looked around and I saw a number of Japanese comics that I recognized like Love Hina, Battle Royale, Evangelion.
And I was pausing for the longest time pondering if I should get a Domokun Comic. I love Domokun! Its a charming singing brick. But its in Italian! So its probably no point to get it. But yet, I keep wondering if I should.
The Toys
There was not as much toys here as compared to the convention in Singapore, and the World Cybergame section seems to be very subdued. There was hardly any console games like Nintendo Wii or X-Box consoles, Playstation and such but there were still a couple of interesting collection of old-school toys to be seen.
Like these figurines of characters from the movies. I think that it was really well done. The joker really looked like Heath Ledger.
I quite like the top row with the “Movie Set” smurfs.
Did you know that in Italy, smurfs are known as Puffi? There are even Puffi flavoured ice cream in Italy, but that is another story altogether
Stewie, from Family guy, probably the most evil baby in the world. And also one of my favourite cartoons that I watch here.
A couple of stuff from the Lord of the rings. I snapped this picture because it reminded me of the crown that Yanni crafted not too long ago. The lady behind the counter offered to let me try it on, but I think that once I try it on, the longing feeling would start to feel stronger
And this was a nice figurine of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Coming up in the future, we will have a nice figurine of Hang Tuah.
Oh and this is a very interesting figurine.
Which reminds me, I even saw a booth dedicated to Hentai, with a tv display for all to see. I was momentarily stunned. But the interesting thing is that I didn’t see any horrified faces around me. Europeans are really liberal about this, I suppose. The person manning the booth was amused to see my flabbergasted face.
The Costumes
For me, I think that the highlight of the convention was probably the cosplayers. There were so many! I think that there were probably about an equal ratio (or perhaps even more) regular outfits to the cosplayers. Regardless, they were all pretty nice. And if you asked for a photograph, they would always oblige
There were characters that I could recognize like :
Flippy from Happy Tree Friends. Hohoho! I lurve happytreefriends, I think that they are the most adorable critters. The irony is that I dont have the heart to watch an episode since they always die violently.
Bender and Doctor Zoidberg from Futurama. Another one of my favourite cartoons! But where is Leela?
Luigi and the Princess … Which is a little bit scandalous because Mario was supposed to be the Princess’s boyfriend. Maybe they broke up
And at one booth, I spotted out something interesting. A storm trooper playing a Clone wars game! A very dedicated and loyal staff
This is one piece – It seems to be very popular judging from the amount of people dressing up as Luffy. I like the middle cosplayer’s boots! Quite well done! But the actual anime annoys me though.
But as much as there were many that I could recognize, there were many more that I could not. Anyone could help spot them out for me? Like this character below.
Could it be Cardcaptor Sakura? Also, she never gave me my free hugs (Abbraci Gratis means free hugs in Italian)
Oh! So there where Mario was! Hanging out with the Milk and the Mushroom
Seriously, I wouldn’t have the patience to sew this and they both coordinated their outfits well!
And this is another fantastic costume. With the black face and the red eyes and all. Too bad that the flash of my camera flashed out his teeth.
But after spending some time spotting out costumes, the following would be in my top 3 :
I think that this guy here did a very good job in his zombie outfit that I had to peer closely at his make up.
Scary! And it wasn’t just his neck, but his entire limb had wounds and such.
This guy probably took at least 3 days to make his costume.
Also, he’s the first person to have the initiative to really pose when you ask for a picture. Seems like a professional cosplayer. Regular people would be frustrated after the 5th person I think.
And lastly, I’m not too sure what character this is, but I think that this costume was one of the most well made and the most intricate one that I’ve ever seen.
If he really did that, I think that, that was such an amazing job. Also looking like Heath Ledger isn’t bad either
Anyway, interestingly enough, while I was there looking at the different costumes, a little boy came up to me and peered at me as if I was wearing a costume myself. That was so amusing. Maybe it was because I was one of the few Asians there so its like wearing a costume!
Alright, alright, maybe the hat that I was wearing could have played a part in that. So next year, I could probably go as a catosaurus!
We are almost at the end of this blog post. But before I end, I just have something funny I had to share. Cart and I were looking at a comics display when suddenly the crowd parted into two.
There was this ferocious looking golem walking through. And everyone was transfixed at the sheer awesomeness of the golem. Everyone was afraid!
Except for this little girl who seems to make it her duty to smack the Golem’s butt.
