Nuffnang

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Singapore Kindness Movement '11

Last weekend, I spent my Sunday morning doing something meaningful by participating in the Singapore Kindness Movement 2011.

Volunteers at the flag-off for Singapore Kindness Movement

This event was held as part of the annual Singapore Kindness Movement.

Daniel Ong is the Kindest host (his own joke)

I do think that Singaporeans (yes, including myself!) need to create a kinder and gracious Singapore.  I am also learning to be more understanding towards others and I do believe courtesy is the simplest form of kindness.  Sincerity is important too, so I’ll make sure that the future generation (my kids) will be genuinely kind towards others.  

Just the other day, I was annoyed at this teenage girl for tapping my shoulder to make known to me that she wants to get out of the bus.  She was listening to music (headphones) and couldn’t even mouth an “Excuse me” or “Sorry, could you kindly let me pass?”  She just expected me to move for her.  What she didn’t know was that I wanted to get off too. 

In other scenarios, the seat I was eye-ing was snatched up while I was about to sit down, and usually this is what goes on in my head:
“BITCH!!"

But sometimes, the person who took the seat might really need it more than me, or was just completely unaware that I wanted the seat. 

I guess we just got to be more tolerant towards others sometimes.

In order to create public aware for acts of kindness, the organising committee this year made a microsite for Singaporeans to dedicate their appreciation towards those who have been kind to them. 

I gave them flowers!




Makesomeonesday.sg is an interactive “Kindness map” to track the number of kind acts that took place across Singapore.  You can log on and submit an act of kindness though photos and videos or simple say thank you to someone who deserves it.  Each submission will contribute a yellow daisy to bloom on the Singapore map.



As part of World’s Kindness Day celebrations, the committee has engaged bloggers and volunteers to give flowers along Orchard Road in an attempt to make someone’s day. :)


Though a little cheesy, it’s sweet that these yellow gerbera daisies were handed out to the public for the kindness to “blossom”.



Dr William Wan is the General Secretary for SKM gave an introduction on what this whole activity and campaign is about.



Charlene was my partner that day, and I also helped her distribute her daisies.  Other than the T-shirts, we also donned the Daisy Pins.


Singa the lion is the icon for this campaign to help foster a more gracious society.




Altogether, all the volunteers had given away 30,000 flowers!  My friends on social media platforms had commented that they saw many people yielding a yellow daisy that day! :D



Associate Professor Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, and Adviser to Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) was the Guest-of-Honor and officially initiated the event.  He watered the pot of daisy on stage and the flower slowly rise above the pot.  It’s cute!



More than 500 volunteers were present, and some even joined in last minute upon knowing that we were giving out flowers to spread the message. :)


Lydia & I

Rachel & Stefan

Me & Leonny



The goodie bag also contained a series of thought-provoking postcards (that you can grab from cafes at Orchard), Popeye’s clapper and pop-up kindness card (cute!).
 


Throughout the month of November, there’ll be a “Say Thanks, Make Someone’s Day” online activity where you can make and upload videos of how you’ve ambushed a deserving indivdual (ie. colleague, classmate, neighbour) and show your appreciation for his/her kindness.  Winners will win one-year unlimited cable car ride and other prizes!  The contest will end on 30 November 2011. 


So do your part by spreading kindness too! :D

Saturday, November 19, 2011

My Nuffnang Story

Over the past few years, I have been an active supporter of Nuffnang. It has been a fulfilling year for me, as the year started with me being nominated as Vice-President for Nuffnang G+.  I have been part of the group ever since its launch, and  I’m so grateful to those fellow bloggers who have voted for me, it really came as a surprise for me.  :.)  Following that, I also made new friends and we attended numerous events together. 


Occasionally I have friends who ask me how I managed to get tickets for movie premieres, or how I got invited for parties/launches, I figured that it is simply because I blog with Nuffnang.   

Though I was no early adopter,  but my decision to hop on the bandwagon was justified.  I got really fed up with the previous blogging community where they never pays.  Unlike them, Nuffnang treats bloggers right.  Well it is embarrassing for me to admit that I did not begin my blogging journey with Nuffnang, but I have been with them ever since. 

Other than movie premieres, there were also the fashion showcases...
G2000 S/S 2011


Being involved with the local community -
NEA Environmental Design-A-Bin Contest

+
World Kindness Day (next blog entry!)

Other parties & events -
Whisper Girls' Night

 
Puma Social Club

Johnny Walker Black Party

Pizza Hut Food Tasting

 
McDonald's Food Tasting

 

...and even CNY dinner with Nuffies!  In November, I’ll even be joining ladyironchef for lunch along the Circle Line, along with other Nuffies.

There are good friends I made through Nuffnang.  We share similar interests in fashion, travel and food, and even give each other advise to our personal problems.  Some of these great Nuffies include Tracy, Janessa, Joanna, William, and Genevieve.

It was having the power to share some information and photos of events that I’ve attended that really piqued my interest in blogging, and I'm glad I have friends to keep me company along the way. :)


Now what’s left is to be able to attend the Blog Awards to highlight my Nuffnang journey.

Next month, Nuffnang will be holding its second Asia-Pacific Awards in Kuala Lumpur, with 500 bloggers from the region gracing the event. The Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards [NAPBAS] is giving away awards for 13 categories:

Region’s Best Blog

Most Influntial Blog

Best Micro-Blog

Most Original Blog Design

Best Entertainment
Blog
Best Food Blog

Best Travel Blog

Best Photography Blog

Best Fashion Blog

Best Geek Blog

Best Parenting Blog - Leonny is one of the finalists!

Best Lifestyle Blog

Hidden Gem


Aside from attending the blogosphere’s event of the year, they will also get the opportunity to tour the city and experience the unique Malaysian culture (!!).


Despite having attended many events invited by Nuffnang, this is the ONE event that I really really want to go.  Ever since its first Christmas party held at the old DXO and having met some of the most interesting regional bloggers, I've always been inclined to attend the blog award ceremony!  Somehow, that one costume party had left a deep impression and I want to be part of it this time.  
(Previously I was there as somebody else's +1, so yeah. :( )

The most influential, interesting and competitive regional bloggers will vie for the Best ___ Blog and that is just so exciting!  I want to meet my favourite bloggers in person, and even if I don't get to interact with them in person, I'd still get a chance to see them and take pictures...  It would bring me such joy just to be 'star-stricken', really.

So it's going to be like a congregation of the funnest, funniest and fun-inducing group of people you can get out of a huge party as such!

It sounds like such an adventure and I wouldn’t want never miss an opportunity to travel and meet new people.   Being with Nuffnang for the past four years have at the very least, taught me to me more thick-skinned and sociable, where you just say hi and make friends!

Besides Malaysia, Nuffnang has offices in Singapore, Philippines, Australia, China and Hong Kong. More importantly, I believe that as Nuffnang grows, us Nuffie bloggers have also grown with them too.  

Thank you Nuffnang!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

N.E.mation! Bloggers' Animation Workshop

This was my first time being part of the annual N.E.mation! challenge in search of talented youths as they express their patriotism on Total Defence through animation.  This year marks the six years of success in the program, and was invited by Sara to attend the N.E.mation! 6 Bloggers' Animation Workshop!

It was held at Nanyang Polytechnic in the the evening and we were given a short presentation before getting our asses to work.  To understand animation better, first we were introduced to two traditional toys/tools that was used before the invention of computers.


Here in my hand is a Zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of "moving images" from a rapid view of static pictures by spinning the wheel.  


You're supposed to look through one of the slits while spinning the wheel, and you can see the image "come to life". 



The second toy is the successor to Zoetrope, the Praxinoscope, which replaces the Zoetrope's narrow viewing slits with an inner circle of mirrors, placed so that the reflections of the pictures appeared more stationary in position as the wheel turned.


I actually bought one of these in a thrift store when I was in Berkeley, but because it took up too much space in the luggage, I couldn't bring it back.   Mine doesn't quite look like this though.


Flashed on the screen was a short clip played on loop as our reference to what we were going to make that evening, of how air pollution causes acid rain and in turn killing us humans. 



We were also given model sheets to help us with the paper cutting process.  It was a project from scratch.  We draw the clouds, buildings, characters... outline them and start piecing them together on our work desk. 
I did my best at the clouds, skull head and skyscrapers, but my favourite is the car. :D
Many bloggers were present too, and I paired up with Tiphanie for this project.  We spent a lot of time deciding our color scheme.  Haha, girls! 



While we were still doodling, the other groups have already begun!  And this was already 9+ at night! 


This was the work desk I talked about earlier and the kind folks at Nexus had already set up the camera for us.  :) 



 And so the story goes... 

My skyscraper is a combination of different signature buildings, like err Taipei 101 and the Flyer? 


The animation program we used was AniMaker, one that we learnt how to use it in merely ten minutes.  It really is the simplest animation program I've ever came across. Hehe. 

The character has no head because we were in the midst of changing to the X_X face after being poisoned by the acid rain. 


That's us hard at work; but I was feeling very tired. Heh.


Tiphanie was in charge of the super annoying rain drops so I slacked while she worked on them. :X


That was the final scene and it's a wrap!  For every tiny move we make, we have to take at least 2 shots using the webcam so that AniMaker could capture the impression. 



The quick (and tragic) death.   On a unrelated note, I adore the bow so much (made by Tiphanie)! 

After I was done I walked over to Carrie's table, where The Cambelles were, and look at their creative entry for the animation! 

 
Anyway, here's our final animation clip:




Who knew a 10 second clip would take us three hours?!  I was lethargic by the end of the workshop so I just hastily named it 'She Dies'. Heh.  

The night ended with a group photo:


 The theme for N.E.mation 6 was "NS: From Father to Sons", and you can check out the students' work on their Youtube channel.

100 groups of touths who took part in this competition will be handpicked by the judges and the winner will get to go to Dreamworks Animation in USA.  That's really uber cool.  Looking forward to outstanding work by the students!




 

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

[Win!] Tickets To Singapore Hit Awards 2011

Do you want to win tickets to the Singapore Hit Awards 2011 that will be held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium this Saturday?  You still have the chance to!

In order to win those tickets, all you have to do is this:

1) Log in to your Facebook account go to this page.   F&N Fruit Tree Fresh is holding an ongoing contest and are giving away 50 pairs of tickets to the award ceremony this weekend!



Who you can expect to see:
  • Olivia Ong
  • 孙燕姿 Stefanie Sun
  • 林宥嘉
  • 丁噹
  • 严爵  Yen-J (!!)
  • 胡夏  (!! Shall take picture for my BF!)
 And more regional artistes!  

2) Vote for the artist you would like to see at the Singapore Hit Awards!  Choose from:
  • 王力宏 Wang Lee Hom
  • 孙燕姿 Stefanie Sun
  • 林俊杰 JJ Lin
  • 田馥甄 Hebe Tien <<-- This is my vote!
  • 萧敬腾 Jam Hsiao <<-- I <3 his quirky character and powerful vocals but I'm already gonna catch his concert in January, so yeah, I wanna see Hebe instead! :)

3) Send an email along with your name, mobile number, NRIC and the name of the artiste you are voting for to FTFSHAContest@gmail.com by TODAY 2359hrs (9 November).

And you're done!

Unfortunately, the votes you cast may not influence whether they actually attend the award ceremony or not.



全城焦点所在、年度音乐盛事! 由新传媒属下电台Y.E.S.93.3FM主办, U频道联办的 <<第17届新加坡金曲奖>> 将于11月12日 (星期六),晚上7点半,在新加坡室内体育馆举办.

今年的音乐盛事汇集了中国,香港,台湾,马来西亚和新加坡的歌手, 其中包括:

  • 孙燕姿
  • 林宥嘉
  • 丁噹
  • 严爵
  • 胡夏 


你想不想赢取一对《第17届新加坡金曲奖》的入门票,一起感受歌手的得奖心情, 支持你的偶像, 感染现场的紧张气氛? F&N Fruit Tree Fresh 正在举办一个Facebook 活动, 送出50对入门票! 

上网到这个Facebook Page,  然后投选你最想在金曲奖看见的歌手:
  1. 王力宏
  2. 孙燕姿
  3. 林俊杰
  4. 田馥甄
  5. 萧敬腾

然后,把你的选择、姓名、手机号码、和身份证号码发送到 FTFSHAContest@gmail.com

截至日期是今晚 (11月 9月,11.59PM) ! 祝你好运!

See you this Saturday! xoxo

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

adidas x Stella McCartney F/W 2011

Leading fashion designer Stella McCartney has created a highly functional sports apparel range for adidas this Fall/Winter.  Her latest activewear collection comprises of fashion-forward outfits for running, yoga and tennis

The fashion line was launched last month (October 2011), held at Marina Bay Sands The Shoppes. 



It was a wet evening so most of the guests were late, including myself, but I was still one of the few who were there early!


While settling into our seats, we were served canapes.  :D



Kui Jien was the host for the evening.  His wife, Sarah, was also present.



The showcase opened with the following video clip, displayed on two wide-screen televisions:



Not sure if you're familiar with it, but you might have seen it in the cinema before a movie.  This commercial is part of the "All In" campaign, but this one particularly featuring successful women including Katy Perry (!!!), Caroline Wozniacki, Staatsballett Berlin ballerinas, Sneakerqueen, Baby G, Li Bing Bing and Wei Qiuyue.  

I am very drawn to this video.  I have watched it more than 10 times and still find it captivating. 



Anyway, I digress.  Heh.


Mediacorp artiste Jeanette Aw was invited by adidas to the event to speak about her exercise routine and her experience as a ballet dancer.


She was donned a light grey slouchy parka and pastel yellow pleated skirt (which is from the Tennis range), hair tied in a high ponytail. 

I was very distracted by her flawless skin. 


Channeling the Caroline Wozniacki vibes



Later, local stylist Martin Wong was also invited on stage to give good advice on how to dress fashionably even when working out. 


Martin is wearing the graphic panda big tee shirt in collaboration with Jeremy Scott, from adidas Originals.   Cute.  And very oversized.

In this Fall/Winter11 season, we look at three ranges - Running, Yoga and Tennis.

From the Running range:


These pieces include the Running jacket, Monogyna Runner in footwear and the Bum Bag in accessories. 

I didn't really like this look, but prefer these pieces instead:
The stylish snakeskin print on a running tank

And I'll pair it up with this pair of Stella McCartney shorts.




From the Yoga range:






 I really adore the palette of lime green and grey hues of the top and the Yoga Zip Hoodie. 

From the Tennis Range:





I love the pastel yellow pleated dress and the blouse with multiple buttons (but the armhole was too wide for me).


Other than the three ranges, there is also the Winter Sports collection that boasts some bold apparels, such as the quilted jacket, Ski Jumpsuit and the Corylus Boot.



After the introduction, a MAC Cosmetics beauty expert was there to teach us how to put makeup for workout.  I didn't know that we can put makeup for exercise!  He thought us the appropriate amount and type of makeup and the procedure of applying.




The showcase ended with a shopping spree for all guests, and although I was very close to buying a tank top from the Katy Perry series, I bought an adidas Originals jacket in the end.  Haha.



On a totally unrelated note, this was what I wore for the preview event:

Completely non-sporty

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