mel in the milkyway

Switchfoot in Auckland on March 8th 2012!

2012-01-30T00:01:00.000+13:00

currently: SO EXCITED I CANNOT SLEEP.

I have a friend currently at the Parachute Music Festival in Hamilton who has confirmed to me that Parachute are selling cheap tickets to a Switchfoot concert for March 8th 2012 in Auckland!

No venue has been confirmed yet, but my friend says that 500 tickets for $45 are being sold specially at Parachute 2012. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he gets one for me, but either way - I will be going to that concert!

So expect to see these faces in Auckland this year!

And expect to see my face like this:
:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Also, Switchfoot are confirmed to headline Parachute 2013 next year, with Jon Foreman rumoured to be playing a set on his own!
SO MUCH SWITCHFOOT in NEW ZEALAND!

[/explodes with excitement]

Happy Chinese New Year Eating!

2012-01-29T23:20:00.000+13:00

currently: carrying so many food babies I will soon give birth to dumpling children and name them after the members of Switchfoot and Doctor Who characters.

Even though Chinese New Year started like a week ago, I feel that it is still valid to say Chinese New Year until the 15 days are over. Or at least before I explode by the end of these holidays. Which is probable. My efforts to keep exercising have been taken over by the time that is needed to keep eating.

It's like I have have Audrey II in my stomach going:
"FEED ME SEYMOUR. FEED ME ALL NIGHT LONG."
(Youtube Little Shop of Horrors if you don't get the reference...)

Anyway, here's a post to explain to you what exactly I have been so busy eating, and why in a week's time I will have gained another five kilos.

Kuih Kapit: (pron: kway ka-pet)

Also known as Love Letters, are tasty and crispy biscuits which are so thin and sweet, one bite and they shatter in your mouth. So delicious and addictive, they're made with a simple batter and poured over a specially made mold which imprints the design onto it:

Pour, cook, peel and fold. Done :)

Cashew cookies (or traditionally made as peanut cookies)

If you enjoy shortbread, you'd enjoy these. They're not as dense as shortbread, but they have the same 'melt in your mouth' texture. Typically they're made with peanut but when you're allergic to peanuts, you find substitutions. Delicious substitutions.

Dragon Cookies

I used to think of these like little worms, but these little melt-in-your-mouth custard things are called dragon cookies, fitting for 2012's "Year of the Dragon". The red eyes btw are done with red food colouring - just two little dots to give it a face.

Kuih Bangkit (pron: kway bahn-kit)

These are bite sized coconut flavoured biscuits. These are normally put in molds and baked, however these ones didn't really retain any shape. They look quite solid, but you'd be surprised about how light and crumbly they can be when you bite them. Can't eat too much of it cause it's dry and crispy and will leave no moisture in your mouth.

Long Yook (pron: long yeook)

It may look strange, but this is flattened mince meat that has been sweetened and barbecued. Kinda like a sweet jerky, it can be really moist or really dry depending on the person that's cooked it. It's great in sandwiches too - sandwiched with white bread, some lettuce, maybe slices of cucumber = tasty :D

Pineapple Tarts

This I have been eating HEAPS of. They're bite sized soft biscuits with pineapple jam in the centre and just taste so FANTASTIC. It's like eating a shrewsberry, but softer and with pineapple. YUM.

Yee Sang (pron: Yee Sahng)

This is a very special salad that we have every Chinese New Year, and only for Chinese New Year. Vegetarian and full of flavours, this is all grated and sliced up vegetables, fruit and a bit of salmon. For ours, we have carrots, turnip, pickled ginger, fresh ginger, preserved ginger, kaffir lime leaves (I think), salmon, plum sauce, oil, sesame seeds, spring onions, nashi pear, grapefruit and coriander (that's all I can remember at least). We also put cornflakes cereal instead of deep fried won-ton skins, and there's meant to be jellyfish, but we didn't have it this year.
You spend a good amount of time prepping this salad like meal, making it look presentable - only to do the New Year Toss:

This is where everyone pitches in with a pair of chopsticks, and we mix it all. Which is good cause I don't think I'd enjoy eating a whole mouthful of ginger. It's messy, but it's fun. It's what we do :)

And that's just PART of the food I've been eating. There is just so much stuff to eat that our fridge has constant leftovers. Fattening, but fantastic.
Happy Chinese New Year Feasting!

Fossil and Foon #4

2012-01-19T22:02:00.001+13:00

currently: drinking Yakult. Cause I'm Asian.

Wow, his grandpa is really old.

Fashion Breakdown - Cut Out Cuffs

2012-01-16T01:35:00.000+13:00

currently: in bed, looking at my Steam account (yes, I'm nerding up. More on it later.)

So I've noticed this small trend occurring in the world of accessories - and I like to think that I'm being ahead of the curve on this one in picking it out (Ha, me ahead of any trend. That's a laugh.)
It's cut out cuff bracelets. And I haven't personally seen any in the common jewellery stores (eg. Diva, Equip etc.) But I have seen these appearing around online. And they cost a painful half day of working just to afford (I always price things that way, it's why I'm too afraid to buy a fancy DSLR camera.)

Anyway, thought it's about time for another Fashion Breakdown on this, and I've taken inspiration from two different bracelets. One from an NZ company, Iko Iko:

[see site here]

And one from an international store, Nordstorm:

[see site here, and other examples here and here]

These examples are made out of different materials (rubber and resin) but where you can get those yourself I don't know.
So my example uses leather (you can always use faux leather/pleather) and gives you creative licence to design and personalise your own cuff! And if you get the leather cheap, it shouldn't cost more than $10. Enjoy!

Time for bed and for work in the morning! (>_>)
If you have any suggestions for other Fashion Breakdowns, let me know! I could afford to use my brain more often these holidays.

Adventures in Baking part two - the best cupcake?

2012-01-08T22:27:00.000+13:00

currently: watching Cupcake Wars. Fitting for this post.

[read part one here]

I believe cupcakes are a gift to fix world problems.
This is for the following reasons:
1) They are like cakes. And everyone likes cake.
2) They are a miniature version of cake. And people find miniature stuff adorable.
3) They taste delicious. And delicious food makes people happy.

So for a week during work, I looked forward to my final break of the day where I would indulge in a delicious iced cupcake. Eight hours of work goes faster when you have something to look forward to. It was also nice to end a couple of my working days with me and Boyfriend sharing my cupcakes as we walked to the bus stop.

My "Quest for the ultimate cupcake" was to attempt to bake different cupcake recipes till I could find something close to delicious as the SPCA cupcakes that I had tasted. This was because my original plan had failed.

My wonderful friend Monique is a fantastic baker. Or maybe I can call her a certified pâtissier now since she's finished her year studying. Either way, she had access to the recipe I was looking for.
It was her pâtisserie class that took part to make hundreds of cupcakes for SPCA's Cupcake Day. Specifically, this chocolate cupcake:

Moist, soft, chocolately....This was the oh so delicious cupcake I desired to make. And so when she offered to get me the recipe, I was ecstatic.

But then...

Monique's lecturer had failed to remember to give her the recipe. So to stop the risk of looking a bit loony and obsessed over this one cupcake recipe, I made my first batch of vanilla cupcakes; the recipe from our kitchen calendar.

The next day, Monique Facebooked me the "Chocolate Awesome Cupcake" recipe. She had finally got it.

I think I benefited from not diving straight into the chocolate cupcakes as it gave some practice and some learning experience. For one I knew not to overbeat the mixture, and the process of mixing wets and drys separately first. But of course, there was still much to learn.

It was the week before Christmas, and the buttermilk my mum got for me to use in the recipe was close to expiration. I hadn't had spare time earlier as I was busy with Christmas preparations, and most days after work you just don't feel like doing anything (a habit I need to break). But I chose that day to finally take the whisk and go for it.

I followed the brief but precise recipe as it said, being as accurate as I possibly could. But straight away, I made errors.
Apparently, I had been told before (but never remembered) that in baking, you are meant to use certain types of sugar. There's white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, and caster sugar; and in baking, caster sugar is what you are meant to use.
I however did not think of this. Sugar to me was whatever was labelled "sugar" which in our house was the packet of white sugar in our pantry. I was halfway through measuring and sifting all the dry ingredients when my mum came in and suggested I double the recipe (to use up most of the buttermilk). So when I went to grab the white sugar, she questioned what I was doing. Confused, I said I was getting the sugar as the recipe said. She then went to correct me that white sugar is not baking sugar. I then realised why I had found it so difficult to get the white sugar to sift...

I don't know if white sugar makes a massive difference (other than through the process of sifting), but I continued on, since the white sugar was mixed in with the flour. The other half of the sugar in the doubled recipe correctly used the caster sugar. Close enough.

I began to combine all the wet ingredients together. It's a bit different to the vanilla cupcakes I had made earlier as that recipe used butter, and this one oil. The buttermilk was slightly chunky-like when I poured it in, and I not so elegantly put the eggs in the mix. The recipe also asked for a bit of instant coffee which at my mum's advice, I mixed in with hot water before mixing it with the oil and buttermilk. I was slightly confused, and grossed out, when this final "wet mix" result appeared.

The oil was not mixing into anything and the egg hung off the whisk like... well like snot to put it plainly.

"I don't know if this is right," I told my mum, "but I'm just gonna hope it cooks a lot better than it looks right now."

Well I didn't need to jump to conclusions about my baking. Because once I put the wet and dry mix together, it began to look like decent cupcake mixture. Maybe a bit runny, but maybe it was suppose to be like that.

Finally, after making sure I didn't overmix, it came to putting the mixture into the cups. I don't know what's with me and having cupcake mixtures close to overflowing too, but I seem to always end up with almost "too much" mixture. Mum suggests that cupcakes should be filled two thirds of the cupcake. I don't know how I do it, because I use the same amount in the ice cream scoop to fill the cups, but I had cups that only left 1/5th of growing room. Which made some of my cupcakes grow and spill over the top a bit.

But thankfully, most of them turned out perfectly. Some obviously got a lot more heat than others, but they looked so nice all cooling. 24 chocolate cupcakes. The cutest things ever.

And when I finally dared to open one up and try one...

It was delicious. Not perfect because I feel mine were not as chocolately as the one I had, but they were moist, delicate, and just tasty, which made me surprised in myself. Maybe there is a chance for me to be domesticated after all!

I did very little to decorate it this time. Mainly because my mum said I could use these "icing pens" or something, where premade icing in these little paint-like tubes can help you write and draw stuff in icing. So with leftover icing that my mum made for my sister's birthday cake, I simply decorated four cupcakes for friends I was visiting that week. Each one had a little Smarties on top (they're like M&Ms).

Unfortunately my drawing skills with icing are not fantastic. The blue one was meant to be a flower but after seeing the failure it was becoming, I turned it into a butterfly. And then I ran out of ideas for shapes so I made the green one into a 'splat' like it was a squished spider or something. I don't know why the blue icing looked so runny, but I couldn't really salvage it.

Since it was close to Christmas, I gifted those four cupcakes in small cupcake-sized boxes (the design which I found off the net but cannot remember where from...). My mum was even nice enough to cut up some gold card (leftover from a fancy chocolate box - thumbs up for recycling!) and lined the bottom of the boxes so they weren't weak.

I chose the red paper since it looked "Christmas-y", then decorated with black ribbon so it stayed closed and looked presentable (which you can see in the very first image of this post.)

I like to think that when I gave it to them, the wrapping made the present look better and possibly taste better than it did. My one friend was shocked that I had even made cupcakes and was actually willing to feed it to other people. As you can see, my reputation for not being a domestic kitchen goddess precedes me. But my friends found them delicious, as did my family and Boyfriend who declared them as being the most amazing cupcakes I've made - which doesn't say a great deal considering I've only made them twice. But still, the compliment is appreciated.

I don't know what is next in my cupcake adventures. Trying to perfect the craft perhaps? Trying different sorts of icings? Actually having something to take to a bake sale should the issue arise? Who knows... But hey, now I don't always have to wait around for someone else to make cupcakes. Cause I can make some pretty decent ones myself.

And they don't smell like playdough. ;D

(special thanks to Monique who got me the recipe despite my crazed desperation. And to my mum for getting the ingredients, for making sure that I don't poison anyone, and making sure I didn't burn the house down.)

Party rock in the new year

2012-01-07T02:01:00.000+13:00

currently: listening to 'Coming Home' for the twentieth time while lying in bed.

Well hello you, and hello new year.
Sorry for the lack of posting since Christmas. I've just been so busy hanging out with people and partying lots like a fool.
Here's proof:

Yup, it's just been going off.

Anyway, let me just start off my first post for the year by saying I have made no resolutions other than to make it through this year as best as I can. I mean I can't entirely say I'm looking forward to the possible events of this year; it being the last (and toughest) year of uni, with a difficult time table and painful workload ahead. That and the fact I will be turning the eventful Two One (21). Oh and there's some stuff bout Mayans not buying themselves a new calendar for next year. But I'm sure that won't end up catastrophically.

I do plan to be posting regularly this year still. Whether or not it is as lousy as this post will be debatable. Even when I'm not posting, I'm still always thinking about posting. I have a lot of posts lined up, just need the time to get them written out.

So do expect more soon! I'm gonna take a break eventually from all this party rocking to share more tales, fashion, reviews and stuff that you never really needed to know about in the first place.

Till then, everyday I'm shuffling.

Christmas Eve Feast!

2011-12-25T01:56:00.000+13:00

currently: Christmas!

Merry Christmas to your lovely virtual faces :)
Today I hope you'll get off the computer and share some good times and good food with the ones you care about and are stuck being related to :P
The tradition in our household here in sunny Auckland is to celebrate Christmas over two days. First day is always with the fam, having a big feed at dinner time and opening a few presents at midnight (or as close as we can get to midnight...)
And then tomorrow is spent going to church in the morning and celebrating with our church family friends.

Christmas should always be spent with the ones you love, never alone.
So I hope you have a wonderful Christmas celebration, remembering the birth of the Lord Jesus, and the importance of family and togetherness :)
And to celebrate, here are pictures of our family feed, because my mum is an amazing cook. Hope you get your share of tasty treats too!

Much love for this Christmas :)

The ever delicious dinner!

Our version of "stuffing"

Roast potatoes, courgettes, carrots and kumura

Sparkling grape juice - only for special days :)

Turkey!

A heaping plate of delicious :P

And for dessert - homemade strawberry sorbet with grapes. Love you mum!

New look. And Fossil and Foon #3

2011-12-21T23:16:00.001+13:00

currently: full of cupcake and ice cream.

So I was getting a bit tired of seeing the old design. Too winter like for some reason. New season, new look. All refreshed :)

Unlike myself at the moment who has been working all week and unable to post anything. But don't worry your pretty heads. There will be more stuff lined up! I promise this. I actually had all these posts lined up in the lead up to Christmas. And then it didn't happen.

So to make up for it, here's a new cartoon for you to enjoy cause I've been slack.

I do the exact same thing with my chocolate milk.

Lights - Siberia album review

2011-12-10T14:57:00.001+13:00

currently: so glad for weekends.

This girl is gorgeous.

Boyfriend thinks it's funny that I always admit to having a girl crush on musician Lights. But I can't help it, I admire her music and her style. She used to be my small Canadian secret that no one else really knew about. That is until this new album Siberia dropped. Now everyone seems to know about her. I'm a bit jealous - it means she's getting shared by others. But in other ways, I'm glad cause she deserves to be listened to (even if that place may be somewhere like clothing store Glassons...I hope I never have to hear her played in Supre.) Anyway, waiting for November 7th took ages for me (darn NZ and it's delayed shipping date) and since the weekend I got it, I've been playing this album ever since. It's just that good.

Lights - Siberia
Rating: A-

Canadian synth electric princess, Lights, is a sweet powerpack of sound. No longer holding to the clean electro-pop sound that showcased on her first album, The Listening, Lights now evolved with her second album roughened up with a bit of grit and grunge. A heavy influence of dubstep, Siberia welcomes a better layered and more daring sound. With this, the development of vocal strength and confidence from the (current) Miss Lights Poxleitner elevates and defines this album from her debut.

From the start, the title track Siberia punches sound in loudly with the bass. An abrupt start, Lights contrasts this, bringing in smooth melodic vocal musings. Lyrically, Lights can be a bit repetitive, and melody wise it can be a bit thin, but the drive for this song comes from the heavy bass. It sounds fantastic through a set of loud speakers, and is pretty catchy to listen to.

The following track, Where the Fence is Low, is a stellar song. It’s tripped up intro and poetic lyrics compliment each other into something mesmerising, with the main lyric “the fence is low” so distinct and resonating. The layers of synths and the chorus’ dub step uniquely stand out. Lights knows when to hold back the dub step in the right places too, playing with the song’s natural rise and fall.

This then smoothly transitions to the ever so catchy Toes (featuring electronica band Holy Fuck). Strong beats, catchy melody and happy lyrics makes this song the album’s anthem track. The layers of synths and drums again compliment Lights’ vocals, which feel much more varied and stronger with confidence than her last album. Holy Fuck definitely seemed to have contributed a positive influence over this track.

Holy Fuck also contributes in the song Everybody Breaks a Glass. A real gritty dub step track, so many contrasts are playing and working together. From Lights’ strong vocals in a dub step heavy verse, to the soft melodic vocals in a light, fantasy like chorus, and then to hip hop artist Shad and his crisp rap – all suit perfectly together and make it stand out. Shad also appears in the fantastic song Flux and Flow where Lights vocal strength really shines amongst the heavy bass.

On the other end of the electronic spectrum, Cactus in the Valley is the closest to being an acoustic track on the album. With soft vocals and a slow delicate melody, it’s a refreshing break from the all the heavy dub step and bass tracks.

While I really enjoy and love many of the songs on this album, there are a few I don’t particularly favour as much. And Counting… is a track I’d consider as “energy sucking”. A bit dreary, repetitive and forgettable, the melody and singing just feels a bit flat and tired. This emphasised especially when it follows punchy beat strong songs like Flux and Flow and Fourth Dimension.

I’m also unsure how to feel about Day One, the last track on this album. While I believe all albums should have peaks and dips in beat for variation, it should never end on a dip but on a strong finishing track. Day One isn’t really a strong track, and frankly I don’t even consider it a song. Recorded live in an eight minute synth playing session, you would need to be a major synth/dub step lover to appreciate this track. And I am not one of those lovers. It’s not horrible, but it’s also not really necessary to listen to.

Despite this, the positives outweigh all the negatives. The choice to use dub step and heavier bass is well fitting and provides more dimension to her music. The way Lights’ vocals have evolved has given her a better varied sound and (thankfully) lacks the auto tune she had in her last album (she doesn't need to use it). She’s come miles from her debut; I’m going to be very excited when she releases her next album.

Stand out tracks: Siberia, Where the Fence is Low, Toes, Everybody Breaks a Glass, Flux and Flow
For people who like: Owl City, Deadmau5, MGMT, Zowie, The Naked and Famous

Lights - Toes Official Music Video

Lights - Everybody Breaks a Glass Official Lyric Video

Lights - Live performance of Where the Fence is Low

(I love her little gangster moves in this live performance)

Nerd up!

2011-12-07T23:20:00.000+13:00

currently: in bed

So I finally got this in the mail today. Paid $10 all up for this (shipping included) so I could give this to my workmate for the workplace Secret Santa. My first workplace Secret Santa! And I know she got an iPhone 4S (had it delivered to the office while we were at work).
Anyway, from what I've seen she doesn't have a cover for it, but maybe she could use this...

It's a soft case iPhone cover, in the shape of a Gameboy!
Is this not awesome?

Super detailed too, right to the tiny indent arrows on the buttons.
Hope she likes it!

Adventures in Politics - why the old and dull vote

2011-12-03T23:27:00.000+13:00

currently: forgive me that this post is a bit late. Trying my hardest to keep updated, I swear!

Politics is not the sort of subject that people typically admire. I for one knew that it was something only old people in their 50s seemed to enjoy. They'd be the sort of people that whinge and whine over taxes and welfare and all that boring stuff. And whenever they say something like "I like talking about politics", they're instantly labelled the boring guy of the party.

I avoided enrolling to vote until I was just a few months over 18. In New Zealand, you're allowed to enrol at 17, and required to by 18. If I had the choice, I wouldn't have enrolled at all, but when my mum tells me I have to enrol, and when the Government tells me I'll be fined $10,000 if I don't enrol - well you enrol. (It's cause I ~~fear punishment~~ 'respect' these groups.)

Anyway, enrolling did not provide any joy to me. Firstly I did not like any of the candidates in the Supercity mayor elections, nor support the Supercity idea for Auckland. So I didn't vote.

And then in January I got called up for jury duty, thanks to my enrolment providing fresh meat to the jury list. The only perk I received from that was receiving pay for sitting around in a cold windowless room for six hours.

As you can see, enrolling seemed to provide little benefit to me.

Then I started working at an Australian news company* where I spend hours following Australian news on a daily basis. I hear all the annoying whinging and moaning about carbon tax this, or Federal budget that**. So not through my own will, I was learning about politics.

With that being said, you'd think I'd hate NZ politics more. Listening to it at work for eight hours, then listening to it at home for another two hours could sound like a torturous day. But it's not anymore. Why? I don't know; maybe it's cause NZ problems don't stack up to Aussie's problems. Maybe it's cause two hours of NZ is better than eight hour of Australia (this is most likely the reason). Either way, I got interested. While at work I'd read up on policies, study info graphics - essentially become a political nerd.

If you told me six months ago that I'd actually bother to vote, I'd laugh. But last Saturday, I actually did it. As I stood in the polling booth, I realised that my vote was going to to contribute to how we in New Zealand lived. That I was going to be part of the statistics. As I stared at my voting sheet, I suddenly had a moment where I I thought to myself, "well I better not stuff this up now..."

I watched most of the election coverage that night. It's kind of fascinating to see the results come in, especially when you have results like that "dead heat" in Christchurch Central (really, what are the odds that two people can have 10,483 votes each?) The results brought joy to some people, yet disappointment to others. And even though one million people in the country didn't bother to vote, for everyone else, the one vote contributed to something big.

So you know what? I'm glad I voted. It gives me the right to have an opinion on what goes on in our government, and it gets me to understand what's happening in the world around me. To essentially understand that things are bigger than myself. This is probably why voting in elections is more an adult thing, cause let's be honest, majority of young people are pretty selfish and don't care for the wider picture. I know cause I was like that at times.

With all that down in the past, I'll know I'll vote again. I know I'll need to. Cause if no one does - it's not democracy, it's plain not caring. And I do care about my future.

But that being said, I don't want to be called up for jury duty again.

(*not actual name.)

(**this is nothing against Australians. It's just not pleasant to repeatedly listen to their issues).

Fossil. And Foon Too! (#2)

2011-11-27T18:41:00.000+13:00

currently: Bit sleepy.

It's a soupcuzzi.

Matthew Mayfield - Now You're Free album review

2011-11-21T23:50:00.000+13:00

currently: FREE MUSIC

As I've said many a time before - who doesn't love great free music?
Recently, I've had some American friends boost this music video, featuring the gorgeous Brittany Snow.

Currently this official video has a link for the first 10 million people to download Matthew Mayfield's album for free (it's all legal, don't worry). So I suggest you get the album and give it a listen - cause what will it cost you? (other than some broadband usage.) If you need more convincing, have a read of my album review for Now You're Free below :)

Matthew Mayfield - Now You're Free
Rating: B
'Now You're Free' seems to be more than a fitting title to Matthew Mayfield's first album release. With the chapter closed on his previous band, Moses Mayfield, the former lead singer has taken his talents down the solo route. And with this album, he's forging his own identity with a guitar, delicate lyrics and a great voice at hand.

The first track, Come Back Home sets an uplifting tone for the album. With the building of drums, piano and guitars in the intro of the song, the mood is a mix of playful and sweet. His voice, sounding like it had a couple of hard late nights, has a rawness and grit that give a texture to the track. As it builds into the bridge, all the layers of harmonies, melodies and the drum beat fit well together.

And while the next track, Missed Me is a surprisingly happy and upbeat tune (despite what the name would suggest), the following song Fire Escape is a complete contrast. A stand out track, this song feels like every painful resentment and heartache has been wrung into this song. The lyrics too feel like they've been squeezed from a fruit full of emotions, and stirred with Mayfield's raw gritty voice. Again, his layering of sounds with the soft vocals and the different drums work fantastically as well.

However, my favourite song from this album is the title track, Now You're Free. With a playful guitar and piano, and the hints of violin accents, the melody is captivating. Teamed up with strong lyrics and vocals, the chorus gives a punch of inspiration. And though for a couple of weeks I loved the chorus lyrics "Your breathing just sets you apart", it turned out to be the actual lyrics "You're free and it sets you apart" (which makes more logical sense). Despite my false lyrical assumptions, it didn't deter me from how fantastic and inspirational this song is. What is beautiful and unique about Matthew Mayfield's album is how individual instruments can be singled out when you are listening to his songs. Whether drums, guitar, piano, cello; each instrument can be listened into, which gives a great sense of how each sound contributes to the song.

Lyrically he is quite imaginative, but had it not been for his vocal talents, the true depth and meaning would be lost. For example, in the track Element, his lyrics are sold due to the intensity of his vocals. The softness in the verses, then crescendoing in the verse, then the build up in the bridge just gives a real emphasis and movement of his words.

My criticisms however lie in the second half of the album. While the songs are good, it is however a bit average and forgettable, not having as near an impact of its first half. Then towards the end of the album, the tracks begin to have an almost "folky" vibe that felt odd to have introduced so late in the music.

Despite all this, the stand out tracks are worth getting over the average fillers. With strengths in raw vocals, music production, and general atmospheric style, this album has a lot that he can offer for your listening pleasure. It may not be as overall strong as Moses Mayfield was - but Matthew Mayfield can sure hold his own.

Stand out tracks: Come Back Home, Fire Escape, Now You're Free, Element
For people who like: Coldplay, Jon Foreman, Mat Kearney, The Panics, The Fray, Avalanche City

(this video is pretty adorable too.)

Meet Fossil and Foon

2011-11-20T21:22:00.001+13:00

currently: watching 500 Days of Summer. I LOVE this movie! :D

Work can be a bit dull at times. So this is what I did at work this week:

Oh you crazy dinosaur. That spork can't be your mum. That's a boy spork.

Adventures in Baking - the desire for cupcakes

2011-11-13T14:59:00.001+13:00

currently: have cupcakes on the brain.

I've never been very domesticated in the kitchen.
When I was little, I'd often sit on the kitchen counter top and watch my mum prepare all sorts of delicious dishes. One time while watching my mum I put my hand on a hot stove plate, unaware it was on. I blame this as the reason why I dislike the kitchen and let my mother do all the cooking.

When I am forced to be in the kitchen, the food I make often turns out terribly. In the pass I've messed up instant hollandaise sauce, made horrible ice cream that only a dog was willing to eat, and the last time I made cupcakes was when I was 13 for food technology - and those cupcakes tasted like pink iced chocolate chip play-dough.

So what spurred me to make cupcakes so willingly this time? It all stems back to a love of the SPCA Cupcake Day. I loved those moist chocolatey delicious cupcakes....I'm drooling now just thinking about them.
Anyway, the thought of having to wait an entire year for these cupcakes made me sad. I craved great cupcakes - ones that didn't have come once a year, or cost me $5 in bakeries. I had no choice but to make them myself.

My mum says that's how she got into baking. She loved to eat and needed a way to get the food she wanted. And every time she baked, her skills got better. I personally doubt that, because I think skills were instilled in her from the beginning, as opposed to me - last September I stuffed up a pancake recipe.

Anyway, I knew it would take a long time to find the perfect cupcake recipe. And I'd need a lot of practice. So last weekend, I started with an easy cupcake recipe: vanilla cupcakes. I took the recipe off our kitchen calendar.

It sounded simple enough, because we all know vanilla is like the food captain of simplicity. All the recipe basically needed was for me to mix the ingredients one at a time. But remember - the last cupcakes I made smelt and tasted like play-dough, so I went slowly, carefully and thoroughly through the recipe.

Apparently though, you can be too thorough. Somewhere along mixing the butter, sugar and eggs together, the mixture started looking clumpy and not smooth batter like I had seen in all those cooking shows. According to my mum, I had curdled the butter. I wasn't even aware that one could even curdle butter, but I did. Inside I thought all hope was lost for me and my journey for cupcakes.

But I persevered, only because my mum said you could still bake the mixture. And I did, all the way to the stove, or at least the muffin trays. According to people who know how to bake, cupcakes are meant to fill two thirds of a cupcake liner. Mine were almost overfilled (call me generous.) Twenty minutes in the oven later though, and these glorious things emerged, fully cooked and not smelling of play-dough.

Hooray! Successfully cooked cupcakes.

Then of course when it came to icing, that was something else. I mixed some premade/leftover vanilla buttercream icing my mum already had in the fridge with melted chocolate, then attempted to make my own icing bag out of greaseproof paper.
Noticed how I said "attempted"? Making your own piping bag is messy. If not done correctly, icing can go everywhere and the piping will not be consistent and well-shaped. But I did my best to cover up my mistakes. Thank goodness for icing :)

And that was it. 10 cupcakes all happy and iced. And when I took one for work the next day, they tasted pretty decent too. A light but dense cake at the same time - not moist but not dry. A good first time. And one step closer to making the best cupcakes ever.

(btw - there were only 10 cupcakes iced cause I left two un-iced for my sister who is allergic to buttercream icing. They still tasted great.)

Fashion Breakdown: Wild Pair Fringe Top

2011-11-05T16:29:00.000+13:00

currently: thinking about cupcakes. Nom.

HOLIDAYS.
Yup, I have finished my exams, which means I am officially on Summer Break! *throws confetti*

Dancing Bacon knows where it's at.

Anyway, now the plan is what to do with this four months worth of time.
One part is working on my Christmas presents. In fact, I have been working on one specific Christmas present since August. I have been THAT on to it (and that slow at finishing it.)
Another part will be working full time now. Hooray for the fact I can actually WORK somewhere for decent pay.
And another part will be dedicating myself to all the art projects I've been dying to do since... well since University started. Those unfinished sewing projects... so ashamed that they've still been sitting around.
But chances are I'll be doing this with my free time. Just not the unemployed part.

And of course I intend to blog heaps, which is why I have created another "Fashion Breakdown" of this top:

Again I turn to Lippy/Wild Pair which seems to be the criminal of overpaid clothes.
Check it out below:

Hopefully that makes some sense.
What's great about doing this top yourself is:
1) You can choose how long you want the fringe to be. If you're like me and hate crop tops (I find I'm too short to pull them off) then it doesn't have to stop at your waist.
2) You can CHOOSE your colour. Doesn't have to be black if you don't want it to be. Make it bright pink, or blue! Bright colours are in this season.
3) You don't need to buy a new top - thrift one! A new top is $10 brand new, but you can use existing clothes in your closet, or buy a cheap 2nd hand for less than $5! Even more savings, and you'd be recycling!
4) It doesn't require you to be a top sewer. All you need is a sharp pair of scissors, and for you to cut straight and neatly.
5) You can also do this in front of the TV ;D

And if you don't like the thickness of the fringe when you cut it off the tee, you can buy specific tassel fringing at a local Fabrics/DIY store, sew it to the bottom for a more elegant fringe. And you'd be able to plait it the same way.

So if you have any suggestions on what I should do a breakdown of - let me know :) Always love encouraging some DIY in your life.

Fashion breakdown: Lippy Cape Dress

2011-10-30T14:42:00.000+13:00

currently: lying in a chair, not studying.

Happy Weekend!
I have yet to do much studying this past couple of weeks. Last week was taken up editing my last digital media assignment for the year. This last project was to create a blood donation PSA (public service announcement), and I spent hours slaving over After Effects to get it done by Friday morning. Here are some images from the ad:

Thanks anyway to my friend Courtney who appeared in my project, and to Boyfriend for letting me use his computer :)

So I haven't had a lot of time to get out lately, except for work and going to Boyfriend's computer, all thanks to some health issues. But I've had many ideas for new post ideas that I can't wait to share with you, maybe once I've finished exams. So stay tuned/logged on for them!

For today's post though, I want to start up a new type of "segment" or something that I want to showcase more on my blogs - cause I spend a lot of time doing this!
Now the story behind this goes.... me and Anne-Marie (from thriftlovelife) are big clothing shoppers who spend time around uni shopping around Queen Street.
One lunch, me and her went past the Lippy store on Queen Street (in Auckland City) where she noticed this $80 dress in the shop window.
As she rushed in, the following conversation went along the lines of how amazing she thought the dress was, and how overpriced it really was where I began breaking down it's garment construction to the point where I stated that the dress could be made for LESS than $20.

After we left and I went home, the ludicrous pricing of the dress stuck in my mind to the point where I decided to draw out visually WHY I thought this dress was so expensive, and how it could be made for a quarter of the dress's full retail price at home.

So, for the first time, I give you my fashion breakdown on Lippy's "Cape Dress":

(click to enlarge)

See? So simple! Who said that fashion had to be so expensive?
And I've officially dubbed Lippy as the Retail Ripoff due to it's overpriced clothing. I'm waiting for them to post a picture of this other top that I saw in their shop windows, so I can do another fashion breakdown on that.

So do you like this possible new feature on my blog?
Let me know if you're wanting a fashion breakdown on something and I can try my best!

But first, I should be finishing these exams!

Reasons why we should love Australia (or at least stop giving them a hard time)

2011-10-23T01:12:00.000+13:00

currently: chilling after an awesome night.

So yesterday, me, Boyfriend, and some of my good mates headed down to 'The Cloud' at Auckland's Waterfront to watch the Aussie vs Welsh rugby game.It was real good, even though it was incredibly windy down there. People were mainly Welsh fans at the big screen, so they cheered whenever they scored a goal:

It was a great time there though - and tonight, the big final! NZ vs France - so excited!

Anyway, I wrote this for the last 'debate magazine' issue for this year. First full page article for a while hahah. And it was written before Aussie's semifinal against NZ.But I guess this can be dedicated to their Bronze finish in this year's Rugby World Cup :)

Reasons why we should love Australia
(or at least stop giving them a hard time)

Aussies. We see them like the annoying big brothers who always go to mess up our hair and remind us that our place is meant to be in their shadow. At the time I write this, NZ and the big island of Oz have yet to go into their epic ANZAC battle over the distorted ball. And right now we’re all ready with our slam talk and verbal smackdown. But it needs to be remembered that whatever the result is on Sunday (hopefully a good All Blacks result), we still have many reasons to appreciate our Tasman bro. Cause us Kiwis can share some love (but not our Cup if we get it.)

Koala bears:
They’re the adorable grey bears we want to carry on our backs and cuddle the fuzz out of them. Have you seen a picture of a sleeping koala? This article should be filled with pictures of sleeping koala bears. It’s like looking at cute cat pictures, except they’re fatter.

Home and Away/Neighbours:
I don’t watch either of these shows. To be honest, they sound exactly the same to me – a show about good looking high school kids and their families that live near a beach or something. But I’ve heard people here like watching it, so that’s another plus for the Aussies.

Steve Irwin:
Rest in peace you daring and iconic ‘Crocodile Hunter’. No one can ever hate your khaki uniform, or the “crikey” catchphrase, and your love of wildlife cannot be denied to the world. However, we can deny those who try to do very bad impersonations of you. There’s only one Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter.

Gold Coast:
Sorry Rainbows End. We know that you try hard to be a decent theme park for New Zealand, but you lose out to the Gold Coast. Dreamworld, Sea World, Movie World – there may be no Disneyland, but at least it doesn’t come with a $2000 plane ticket to California.

It’s hotter there:
Admit it; you’re over the cold weather here. Just when it seems like it’s getting warmer, the temperature drops and suddenly it feels like winter again. Well right now in Sydney, temperatures are reaching the mid-20s. And as an added bonus, if you also hate the “green grass and forest” look, you will enjoy the over 40% of desert that covers the surface of Australia.

Danger factor:
Australia is filled with big poisonous snakes and ugly spiders. Dangerous. So imagine how you’d impress the ladies when you share stories of how you wrestled poisonous snakes and survived life-threatening spider bites while in Australia. It sounds better than telling a story of how you beat up a weta with a gumboot.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman:
They are good looking and talented Australians. It can’t be denied.

Upsize:
Australia is a big island. The population of Sydney alone is predicted to be bigger than New Zealand’s entire population. So if New Zealand just feels to be a bit uneventful, your upsize is just a plane trip over the sea. Australia has a bigger history, bigger shopping, bigger beaches, and a big fat red rock in the middle of the country. It’s all upsized.

Forever connected by the Anzacs:
No matter how much we slag off the Aussies and criticise everything they do, you can’t break the bonds between New Zealand and Australia. We stood together through not one, but two world wars. And since then, they’ve always been the first to help take care of us in a state of emergency, and we send what we can to take care of them. Our country may be treated like Australia’s little brother, but Australia knows how to be the caring big brother when it counts. And we can share those tasty Anzac bikkies together.

So Aussies, we look forward to finding the result of this epic World Cup clash. If the result is you winning, we’ll try to support you to the end. But if we do win the game, give us a bit of credit. We just want to be seen as just as good as our big brother.

Homegrown Banana #6 – World in Union

2011-10-17T16:02:00.000+13:00

currently: WOO ALL BLACKS!

If you've been living in a cave that has no power, or if you don't live in NZ - you may have not heard that the All Blacks (aka the New Zealand rugby union team) bet our "rivals" the Wallabies (the Australian rugby union team) in the epic Semi-Final game yesterday night. It was AMAZING.
I was watching it in the comfy of my home and cheering at the TV every time an All Black was bolting for the try line. Fantastic!
Anyway, I wrote this before the game and was printed in last week's debate magazine. My last Homegrown Banana column for this year! To read the previous five columns, check it out here.

Homegrown Banana #6 – World in Union
The Webb Ellis Cup - last won by NZ in the first Rugby World Cup in 1987.
I’ll admit it; a couple of weeks before the Rugby World Cup had even started, I already felt I was over the whole deal. At the time, it had felt that the news was always filled with “preparation this”, “waterfront that”, “transport so-and-so” or “Jersey price whatever”. It had become so tiring to listen to, that “Captain Buzz Kill” in me wanted to ignore the World Cup and all its associations for the seven week length.

But like most people, I got sucked into the all the activity. By the time the second All Blacks game came around, I found myself following rugby scores, knowing match timetables, criticising Sonny Bill Williams whenever I could, and using rugby terminologies I didn’t realise I knew. Even my assignments have to be put on pause so I can dedicate 90 minutes of my life to watching people cheer for bulky men throwing themselves on top of a ball. I know my interest in rugby union will be fleeting, but I’m glad for the disruption the Rugby World Cup has put on our lives.

Today, you can’t seem to go down a single street without seeing at least an All Blacks flag or two. Town centres are decorated with signs supporting their adopted second teams. Cars can drive by with as many as 4 flags attached to their windows. Or if you’re a Tongan who owns a van, the whole exterior is covered in red and white flags, and so is your house, and your fence, and your face…and probably your cat. And though we joke about how full on and overdone some supporters seem to be, it is inspiring to see people being openly enthusiastic and supportive of their home roots, whether it’s New Zealand or not. Because let’s face it; Auckland, as ‘large’ (large meaning within New Zealand) it appears to be at times, it is not a very exciting city. Our holidays are few, our festivals are small, and we’re prone to click attending to events on Facebook that we don’t intend to go to. So when ever do we get to see so much country pride and celebrations at one time? Well, barely ever.

What needs to be remembered is that this event will not last for a long time. Those people who complain that we’re performing too many haka flash mobs – well what’s the chance you’ll see them again after the World Cup? Or those who whinge and say we were being racist and unfair by supporting any team that plays against Australia – well when do those minor teams ever get the chance of attention, let alone have the chance to encounter it? And to those still going on about the transport issues on Opening Night – get over it please, because there is all this other positive activity going on that you should focus on and let go of the issue. We’re finally in the centre of all the action, seeing other cultures come to us, seeing different cultures being showcased in our own backyard, and at the same time everyone is getting a worldly experience within one event. You can try to avoid it, but as a New Zealander, we’re still involved in this memorable part of history.

So you know what Rugby World Cup? I’ll forgive your overpriced food costs. I’ll excuse the excess traffic around the stadiums. I’ll let go of my issues with you changing my bus on Friday afternoons. And I’ll ignore you hiring back Wayne Barnes. Because what you and the odd-shaped ball brought to New Zealand is an excuse to celebrate who we are. And hopefully, to show the world we’re not actually an Australian state.

Switchfoot - Vice Verses album review

2011-10-11T20:55:00.000+13:00

currently: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this album.

Originally I wanted to post up this review of the album as soon as I had written it. But of course, I prefer to wait at least till Friday to post it because I write these reviews for debate Magazine. This review was actually written before the album's official release. I originally hoped to had the album by the Monday 25th, but my music guy told me it got delayed :( So I ended up streaming everything online, breaking my own "I'm gonna listen to the entire album when it's released!"
But who cares now. I LOVE this album. My favourite album for the year - for sure.

I have to say though, at the moment I saw this album cover a few months ago - I was ready to dislike the album and be super tough on them for it. Why would you go and do a sharpie/marker drawing for an album cover? In the history of Switchfoot covers - it had to be one of the worst.
But I've changed my mind. I'm open now to it's boldness having heard this album. I embrace it's simpleness. I just love this album. Review away!

Switchfoot – Vice Verses
Rating: A

Californian rock band, Switchfoot, have been in the game of music for almost 15 years. By this stage, one would hope that they would know what the difference is between making a bad song and making a good song. Thankfully, Switchfoot have gotten this down to a precise art. Their latest album, Vice Verses, is twelve track album filled with gritty guitars, solid drumming and poetic lyrics that satisfy any tortured rock loving soul.

First track, Afterlife, opens up the album with the fantastic crunching of guitars. As that pulls you in, lead singer Jon Foreman starts to sing “I’ve tasted fire; I’m ready to come alive.” The guitars bring a real roughness to the sound, and with the addition of the solid drum beat, it grabs your attention and sets a bold tone for the album. Most of this album is heavily guitar dependant, especially with the louder rock tracks.

Another strong heavy rock track is the song Dark Horses. With an intro full of gritty and distorted electric guitars, the aggression makes you want to start cheering on any underdog. Accompanied again with some solid drumming, subtle bass notes, and emotionally empowering lyrics in the chorus, the song screams at you to pay attention. I could see this type of song sitting nicely in any sport/action movie soundtrack.

One of the oddest additions to Vice Verses is the track Selling the News. No band usually thinks about using beatnik verses on a rock album. However Switchfoot dared to stretch their sound to include this, with the vocals passionately speaking about the media consumed society like an aggressive poem. With this contrasted with the sung chorus and bridge, and driven with its strong rhythm, the result works surprisingly well, creating a fusion between spoken word and alternative rock.

The strengths in this album are more in the slower and more melodic tracks than the heavier rock. Songs such as Restless, Blinding Light, Thrive and (my favourite track) Souvenirs are all memorable and even paced songs, written with heart-tugging lyrics and moving harmonies. However, one track that must be mentioned is the final song on the album, Where I Belong. Longer than other tracks on the album, this final piece sets off a dream like melody accompanied by soft echoes of a harmonious vocals. The drumming and bass act like a strong and steady heartbeat through the song, and the guitars add in playful accents every once in a while. But the combination of the vocals and lyrics are the highlight of this piece, where one verse that sings “This skin and bones is a rental, and no one makes it out alive” is painfully memorable. As the song finishes with the words “I still can believe we can live forever now”, this track has all the elements working fantastically together.

The only (minor) letdown in this album is the track The Original, which in all irony, doesn’t sound very original and doesn’t sound as polished as the other tracks. The vocals feel a bit too forced with the sing/screaming and the melody feeling a bit generic, giving a sense of déjà vu to Switchfoot’s earlier music back in the early 2000s.

Overall, Switchfoot’s latest offering is well crafted, with inspiring lyrics and fantastic melodies. Vice Verses successfully combines all the elements of a rock album, and stretches the boundaries and expectations of their music. Over the 15 years of this band’s existence, this eighth album is a true testament to their success and longevity.

Homegrown Banana - Epic Kai Time

2011-10-02T21:16:00.000+13:00

currently: cosy in bed :)

Oh New Zealand :) I love your food, and how I can pick a meal from so many cultures, just on Queen Street. This post is dedicated to you, you overpopulated food eatery. See it in Debate Issue 22.

Homegrown Banana #5 – Epic Kai Time

This year, I went on a nice holiday to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Food is of massive importance to that country, and the extended family I have there are prone to eat a lot of good food (emphasis on a lot). My cousin wanted to do a comparison between our countries, so he asked me what’s good to eat in New Zealand. I managed to name a few things off the top of my head.
“Well in New Zealand, you can get New Zealand lamb and beef, good milk, great ice cream, and pineapple lumps, which are chocolates with this chewy pineapple centre,” I told him.
He cringed at the thought of Pineapple Lumps. “Okay, but what is the best New Zealand dish?”
I didn’t know how to answer that one.

New Zealand does not seem to have an actual iconic meal. People say New Zealand is known for their fish and chips, meat pies, and sausage sizzles. But they’re not distinctively New Zealand dishes; Australia and England have the exact same thing. But that isn’t stopping some food joints from creating their own “Kiwi food” to sell to the tourists here for the Rugby World Cup. McDonalds, for example, has been marketing their “Kiwi Menu” everywhere, which includes bringing back the Kiwiburger, and creating new products like the Kiwi Brekkie McMuffin, Kiwi Pav, and Frozen L&P.

My friend and I were curious to give the Kiwi Brekkie McMuffins a try one morning at the new Britomart McDonalds (which I too feel it’s unnecessary to have when there’s a Maccas opposite the street inside Westfield, but I digress). We opened up our Kiwi Brekkie McMuffins and looked at the oozing tomato relish on top of the potato rosti (a glorified hash brown) and the bacon strips hanging out underneath the egg and sausage patty. Though it was decent tasting, we failed to see what made it so Kiwi when it was a priced up Massive McMuffin with a hash brown. The “Kiwi Pav” wasn’t much better; it was more like lime jelly on top of soft serve, with a small squishy bit of pav underneath.

McDonalds is not the only one with mini pavlovas and beetroot in burgers. Wendy’s too have their own Kiwi menu they’ve labelled the “Tight Five.” This meal consists of their own burger with beetroot and egg, sweet potato chips, pav, a hokey pokey shake and a soft drink (which sounds like a massive meal, but the pictures could make their sizes deceptive).Though it sounds more creative than the Maccas menu, I’m unsure whether I’d want to order fast-food versions of our culture’s cuisine. (However, if anyone wants to buy me lunch there so we can give it a try, I will not say no.)

I don’t know whether to call it a clever or deceptive move to create these “Kiwi Menus” especially for World Cup. The fact is that tourists (whose knowledge of this country probably stretches from All Black hakas to Lord of the Rings) will be more swayed to buy up any product labelled with “Kiwi” or “New Zealand” if that’s what they think all us locals do. I can’t necessarily agree though, I find that at university I’ve taken more trips to eat sushi and Burger King than I have to go eat a roast lamb meal in my lifetime.

So what are we meant to feed tourists then? Well, again I don’t have an answer for that, unless someone wants to build a big hangi pit in The Cloud, or make the country’s largest chocolate fish. But it would just be nice to know that there’s some good Kiwi food out there for the tourists to enjoy, whether it’s a good meat pie, or a slice of lolly cake. I’m sure New Zealand could offer more than a squishy excuse for a pav.

Album review: Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday (Deluxe edition)

2011-09-29T08:05:00.000+13:00

currently: in class, quite tired - lousy daylight savings.

Well good morning world :)
Today's review is in this week's Debate issue 22, done on the deluxe version of Nicki Minaj. I usually avoid hip hop music, but I got really addicted a while back to the song 'Superbass'. Now I'm kinda over it, having listened to it multiple times over the holidays, but it's still a good album. If I ever do bother to listen again. To be honest, all the good Nicki Minaj tracks play on the radio already, so unless you're really committed to get the whole thing - just buy the good tracks online.

Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday (Deluxe NZ Edition)
Rating: A-
I’m not one to ever listen to hip hop or rap music, let alone choose to review an album of that genre. But I am fascinated about what makes Nicki Minaj different and interesting. She’s eccentric, a bit quirky, bold, and dresses strangely as if like she’s the hip hop version of Lady Gaga. And with this 19 track deluxe version release of Pink Friday, there are more tracks to reflect the unique character that is Miss Nicki Minaj.

The album begins with the less than humbly named track, I’m the Best. Although having a song about an artist’s journey from ‘pain to fame’ seems to be turning into a massive cliché, Nicki Minaj makes it somewhat amusing. As she raps and sings about “which world tour should I go on to take?” she makes a mockery of her “haters” by saying she’ll get millions of shoes and hang out with Lindsay Lohan just to prove how she’s risen to the top. With a solid beat and playful electric violins, the repetitive lyric of the chorus of her saying “I’m the best” establishes her identity in a playful yet obvious brag of her successes.

Nicki Minaj has a large collection of collaborating artists on this album, ranging from Kayne West to Natasha Bedingfield. One of the most successful collaborations is with the always angry Eminem, featured in the song Roman’s Revenge. In this track, Nicki Minaj plays up her eccentric characteristics by taking on the personas of Roman Zolanski and Roman’s British mother, Martha; while Eminem’s angry alter ego, Slim Shady, raps with her. Though I am a bit tired of always hearing Eminem wanting to angrily beat women up, some of the nonsensical rap (such as “Rah rah, like a dungeon dragon”) are entertaining to hear coming from Minaj and Eminem. But the song’s true strengths come from the dominating string group and the rough aggressive tone, which builds the drama and theatrical elements of the track.

Another memorable collaboration is between Minaj and Will.i.Am in the track Check it Out. Sampling the ever so catchy “oh wah oh” from the 1979 Buggles song, Video Killed the Radio Star, this song becomes stuck in your brain with its repetitiveness and its insistent lyric for you to “check it out”. The sample is given new life with its hip hop beat and once again witty lyrics, “step up to the party like my name was Mr T”. However, hearing this song on repeat may begin to get a bit tiresome.

For a different change of pace, Right Thru Me brings a slightly softer and more melodious side of Minaj. With no signs of her eccentric alter egos or over the top character, this shows her more vulnerable and emotional side as she sings about the one she loves having her all figured out. While the change of rhythm is refreshing to have, and the bass of the song is very strong and defined, the chorus lyrics of “You see right through me, how do you do that shit” feels completely out of place for a so-called love song.

Of course, one of the tracks that stand out in the deluxe version of this album is the very popular song, Superbass. The song is incredibly catchy with its light upbeat melody, captivating bass beat, and Nicki Minaj’s strength in her rapid rapping skills. For anyone to successfully rap along to this song is more than impressive. Her witty lyrics as she calls boys “pelican fly” and saying they have “got that super bass” makes it so playful and fun-loving. I’ve heard a theory that the phrase ‘Super Bass’ could in fact mean “Superb Ass”, which if it’s true, I have to applaud Minaj’s clever creativity.

There are so many tracks in this deluxe version, with so many hits, that it’s hard to cover all of them in detail for this review. But what makes a Nicki Minaj track good is her treatment of the song to be clever and entertaining, and not daring to hold back from being bold. She may be unusual, and change her hair colour more than a mood ring, but Pink Friday show how it cannot be denied that there’s a reason why Nicki Minaj calls herself “the best”.

Album review - The Muppets Green Album

2011-09-26T11:36:00.000+13:00

currently: listening to LIGHTS - Toes (her latest album Siberia will be released October 4th)

I felt quite lucky to be able to review the Muppets album for debate magazine. I get to hear some great new music and write about the experiences, and listening to the Muppets just brought back memories of sitting in front of the big boxy TV, watching Kermit and Miss Piggy on screen. I greatly enjoyed this album, and even though I'm 20 years old, I'd suggest it to anyone of any age.
Read the printed review in debate issue 21 or down below here!

Various Artists - The Muppets: The Green Album
Rating: A-

When people think of a Muppets album, no one expects the album’s target market to be for anyone over the age of seven. However, The Muppets: The Green Album is not like this. Full of classic songs that have been remade by modern day bands, it should prevent anyone born before this millennium from feeling ashamed by listening to these tracks. Each artist has applied their own style and mix to this album of favourites, turning this children’s album into a suitable album for the big kids too.

The album fittingly opens up with the Muppet Show Theme Song, covered by the creative treadmill walkers, Ok Go. Though Ok Go is better known for their outdone music videos, their cover of this iconic song is equally admirable and creative. Layers of trippy synths, a heavy bass, and echoy vocals from lead singer Damian Kulash mature the song for the older generation, far from the original’s playful showbiz style. But if you’re not familiar with Ok Go’s own music, you may not appreciate their treatment on this track.

A fantastic pairing was with Alkaline Trio covering the song Movin’ Right Along, originally done by Kermit and Fozzie Bear. From the original plucky banjo version to the pop-punk twist, Alkaline Trio makes this song fun, upbeat and playable on any mainstream radio station. It also keeps the banter that happens between Kermit and Fozzie Bear, maintaining the humorous side of Muppets songs.

There is always some hesitance to accept anyone other than Kermit singing the iconic ballad, Bein’ Green, especially from anyone who was not a physically green coloured being. But singer Andrew Bird does a pretty decent job at it. He keeps the folky vibe like the original, but adds in his own smooth and soft spoken tone. Include the lively violin solos and it becomes its own delicate and charming track.

One of the most unlikely pairings for this album is The Fray with the song Mahna Manha. Having The Fray stretch from anything other than their emotional piano crooning ways seemed a bit unrealistic at first. However, The Fray pulls this Mahna Mahna and the Snowths cover off fantastically. It remains cheeky, catchy, and humorous, with that extra bit of jazzy soulfulness on the side. Amy Lee (from Evanescence fame) was also a surprising and unlikely edition to this album. Her cover of Halfway Down the Stairs was done in her hauntingly beautiful vocals, which gave the track a ghostly like vibe (but not too much to sound like a child’s disturbed nightmare.)

Unfortunately not every song was given its true justice by their tribute artist. Rock band Weezer with Paramore’s lead carrot top, Hayley Williams, was a great idea of collaboration in theory. But instead, their rendition of the beautiful and emotional Rainbow Connection left me a bit disappointed. With Williams power vocals, and Weezer’s rock quirks, a lot more could have been done with this track, but the end result was nothing more than nice and average.

Although I really enjoyed this album, for others it could be a case of ‘love it or hate it’, depending on how dedicated you are to the original Muppet versions. Nevertheless, be expected to be shot back into nostalgia when you listen to these songs. Those memories of watching Muppets on your giant square TV screens will come flooding back to you.

Check out the video for The Muppets Show Theme Song, as performed by Ok Go and the Muppets

Tripping with thriftlovelife

2011-09-23T22:49:00.000+12:00

currently: streaming Switchfoot's latest album - Vice Verses (to be officially released 27th September)

Thanks for being patient while I tried to finish all my homework :)
Life is getting a bit busier now, I'm into the last stretch of uni for this year, and I'm looking into a new job opportunity. But don't worry - I'll try not to let this disrupt the posting any more than it already does haha.

Anyway, before uni break finished, me and my friend Anne-Marie from thriftlovelife (I suggest you check it out, once she posts more) took a trip around the North Shore of Auckland, checking out thrift stores and outlet sales. She was unimpressed with Browns Bay op shops (I told her there were heaps of small thrift stores, but filled with old people's stuff) but we did go check out SaveMart in Northcote where we got a couple of pieces each.

Now the thing to note with SaveMart in Northcote is that it's quite large. It used to be an old New World or Foodtown - in fact it still has it's old aisle signs hanging from the wall. But with the large size comes a SUPER selection of second-hand clothing with aisles as long as you can see (well within the walls of a New World).

one long rack of many.

Anyway, I think we spent a decent hour and a bit there. Anne-Marie has a different shopping style to me. While I like to consider the clothing and the quality and the look of the piece of clothing, if Anne-Marie likes the look of it, she automatically chucks it into the cart and will decide later at the fitting rooms whether or not she'll get it.
In some ways, it makes it faster to go through the racks. Though I still like to be pretty thorough looking through each piece of clothing so I don't miss out anything.

But in the end, after she collected a whole trolley's worth of stuff (I only had 5 pieces at the end of searching the whole store), we gave our stuff a try on. And in the end, we bought two pieces each, coming to under $20 each.

Now, normally because I'm a frugal person who doesn't actually have a lot of her own money - I would rarely spend that much for two items. But I've been craving shopping so bad, I kinda went a bit looser with the wallet - and I think it was worth it.

Unbranded blazer, fully lined, unsized (probably a 8-10): $11.99

"Fun Fit" Liberty tee, size L, long length, thin material: $6.99

Close up of the print, with "liberty" written in silver.

So thanks Anne-Marie for the good times, arguing with Karen the GPS, and driving me around the Shore. Gotta do it again soon!
(Also, for more advice and admiration of thrifting, check out

Album Review: The Panics - Rain on the Humming Wire

2011-09-13T16:23:00.000+12:00

currently: working on a few projects :)

Here's my album review on Australian rock band 'The Panics', found here in issue 20 of debate

The Panics – Rain on the Humming Wire
Rating: B

Perth indie-rockers, The Panics, have been in the music scene for almost a decade now. However, they have only managed to stay lingering under the mainstream radar. With songs that have appeared in television shows like Underbelly and Ugly Betty, along with their last album giving them an ARIA win, The Panics have been trying hard to make their name known. And with their latest album, Rain on the Humming Wire, this may finally be the chance where the band will be able to make a name for themselves.

Setting the tone of the album, the opening track, Majesty, draws you in with the building introduction of solid thundering drums. They continue through the song to march you into the (somewhat political) poetic lyrics ''Who needs advice from cardinals? Who votes for governor-generals? Who'll offer those fellas an amnesty? Who's been touched by Her Majesty?''. Add a backing of softly lingering vocal harmonies, and this bold track can only be summed up as being a song that is ‘majestic’ (yes, I went there.)

As the album moves to the second track, Endless Road; it successfully combines the drums with the piano to create a defined, march-like beat. This give the chorus lyrics “You take me down so slow, I should not be living in this house alone” an extra drive of power and lyrical strength. A background of drawn out trumpet accents and lasting synth sounds help to support the song with a richer melody.

The strong drum beat that showcases through most of the tracks of this album becomes a quirky element about how well one could walk up the street in time to the song’s rhythm. The song Creatures can give your walk a Latin like swing, thanks to the use of the drum beat with a jazzy bass; while Walk that Mile Alone would be the perfect backing track to a rushed walk up to uni. This album is full of songs that could be successfully marketed to people who are power-walkers.

And for a song of quintessential “Australian-ness”, you cannot look further than the track How Long. With an intro that feels reminiscent of Waltzing Matilda, How Long feels like the sort of song that men in bars would sing along to completely drunk while a guy leads them away on the piano.

Rain on the Humming Wire is an album that unites defiant drum beats, rich melodies, poetic lyrics and lustful harmonies together into a blend of carefree indie-rock. The only thing missing from this album is a bit more variety, like a slower or less drum reliant song. But this album still has a lot to offer, and could finally be the album that defines The Panics in the industry.

Homegrown Banana #4 - We don't talk like Sims do

2011-09-12T12:58:00.000+12:00

currently: working with lots of stuff even though it's uni break. Sigh.

So much is going on in this big little city that is Auckland.
If you haven't heard, or if you don't really care much about New Zealand, Rugby World Cup is being hosted by our country, and Auckland (being the largest city) is in the centre of it all with increased traffic and people.
Pretty crazy. But I still welcome it. This sort of excitement never happens in Auckland.

Anyway, at the moment I'm working on some new reviews and a new column piece for my uni mag. I forgot that in the last week before the break, I had a column and review printed out that I hadn't yet shared with you! Written in the midst of my assignment procrastination, I bring you column four of my Homegrown Banana column you can find in debate issue 20.

Homegrown Banana – We don’t talk like Sims do.
Column #4
Llama? No llama.

It was a bad move for me to start playing The Sims Social game on Facebook. The Sims is just that type of game that you can play hour after hour; a fantastic (and too addictive) procrastination tool. I myself have been wasting time trying to keep my Sim happy so I can buy them the large screen television I will never own in real life. But I’ve noticed something special about Sims, and that’s how easy it is to talk with other Sims. It’s all very straight forward. You just click one of the talk options, and they just chat themselves in their Simlish language. If it all goes well, your Sim gets the green plus marks. If it doesn’t, then it’s a big fat red negative mark for you.

It’s just a shame real conversations cannot be as straight forward as it is in the Sims world. Very often I can find myself in the uncomfortable position where I can’t even talk to the person I’m with. This can be due to a various amount of reasons.
One: They don’t speak enough English and I don’t speak whatever language they speak.
Two: Their accent is so strong I feel myself having to stupidly ask them to repeat themselves.
Three: They don’t even look at me in the first place.
Four: It’s all of the above. And then it feels awkward.

Unfortunately all the above has happened to me before with a woman I had met from China. I occasionally work as a host for a social events company, and ninety percent of the time I’m perfectly fine talking with people I’ve just met. When they’re chatty and friendly, I know I can keep a conversation going on because they’ll contribute back. But when someone does not want to talk back to me, I will be prone to mentally panic and try to talk about the first subject I can think of, all done to desperately prevent any void of silence happening between us.

Now if this were the Sims world, awkward silences wouldn’t happen. One click of a button and suddenly we’d be launched into a talk where my speech bubble would have a picture of a toilet roll and yours would have a picture of a llama. However, it wasn’t easy at all for me to talk to this Chinese lady. I took the Sims approach and started talking about whatever topic subject popped up around my head; asking about her job, where she was from, her interests, the weather, 3D movies, the rugby, and how nice I thought her shoes were. I But for what ever reason, she seemed to prefer to sit in silence and not look up at anyone at the table, only glancing at her phone every once in a while.

I wish I could tell you there was a resolution to this all, that there was some magic code word that made her open up and tell her life story to me. But there isn’t. She remained quiet for almost the whole night, sharing more eye contact with her phone than with the others at the table. She did however tell me at the end of the night that she did enjoy herself and was interested in coming again, which I guess you can call ‘success’. But the resulting fact is there is no great formula as to how to master the art of conversation with everyone. And trying to talk to someone of a different culture, call it a good challenge instead of a big struggle. All you can truly do is secretly hope that what ever you’re saying, it results in some green plus marks between you two.

Look out tomorrow of my album review post. :)

New Zealand Fashion Week Saturday (super post!)

2011-09-09T03:15:00.005+12:00

currently: listening to The Muppet's 'The Green Album'
Note: This blog post is REALLY long and has a lot of pictures. You've been warned :)

It was a hard last week at university with a difficult assignment due the week before break (don't you hate it when they do that?). So it was fantastic to launch my mid-semester break by going to NZ Fashion Week with my best friend all day Saturday.

It was a beautiful (and cold) Saturday 3rd of September, down at the shiny and new Viaduct Events Centre. A great improvement on the previous NZFW venue, the Viaduct Shed. Which was an actual shed which was next door to the VEC.

Oh and what did I wear for the event? If you can tell from the first picture, I was wearing a yellow/black strapless short panelled dress with a sweetheart neckline (made by myself), with a black leather jacket ($15 on sale at The Warehouse), plain black tights ($5 from Shantons), a black waist elastic belt (12RM from Malaysia), and black sequined flats ($12 from Kmart).

On a side note: Why flats and not heels/boots? Even though I'm only 5 foot 2, there was no way I was going to walk ALL day with heels; a lesson I learnt at last year's NZFW Saturday where me and the bestie lasted from 10am to 3pm in heels last year. Couldn't imagine going through that again.

Me and bestie arrived just at 10am, perfect timing just as they opened the doors. As we flashed security our $80 Premium tixs for the 12pm Designer showcase on arrival, we got QVS goodie at the door. Freebie bag number 1 - containing a makeup brush, nail scissors and a nail file.

Once we found our way round the venue, we decided to skip the seminars and go straight for the Fashion Week Garage Sale. Some great labels, but a very limited range compared to last year. No Stolen Girlfriend Club (to my friend's horror), no Huffer, no Federation - it was all very small shops. Last year it was many rows of fashion stalls which took us almost 2 hours to go through everything (without trying things on) - but this year, we covered most of the bottom floor within 20 minutes. Disappointing.

I did however manage to get my FIRST NZFW purchase. I usually never buy anything from NZFW because everything is SO out of my price range, and I thought this year would be even more so, because I had spent $80 on getting into NZFW, but at the Kagi stall, I gave into temptation.

While at the Kagi stall, I was only casually looking at the jewellery when this necklace caught my eye. I was trying to check out the price of it (acting all casual like I can afford everything when I really can't...) when a guy comes up to me and goes "$20."

Me: Sorry, what was that?
Guy: We'll sell you that necklace for $20.
Me: uh I don't know...
Guy: What's the price of that? *picks up necklace and looks at the tag* Oh $39.
Me: Oh *expecting a change of price*
Guy: We'll still sell it to you for $20. *hands me necklace*
Bestie: *checks out tag* It's really good, down from $99 originally
Me: Ohhh I'm tempted...
Guy: Don't be tempted, you should just get it!
Bestie: Go on Mel, it's a great deal
Me: *acts hesitantly while thinking, then gives in* Oh okay, I'll get it hahahah.
Guy: Great! *Waves at sales girl* This girl is getting this necklace for $20.

And that was it. I got the necklace. I only picked it up after the NZ Wedding Show, but when I did pay for it, the cashier gave me a MASSIVE goodie bag, just for buying a $20 necklace (Freebie bag number two!). Brilliant! It contained a large bottle of ZeroWater though, I had to carry that for the rest of the day...

Anyway, while we're speaking of the NZ Wedding Show, the long line appeared out of no where for that. At least now that everything was inside the VEC, there was no waiting outside in the cold weather. We still got seats near the back, in the front of the tier, and two bridal magazines on our seats.
Here are some of my favourite dresses/shots at the Wedding show:

(click to enlarge)

(left: the catwalk. right: what I called 'Vegas Dress)

(left and right: I love the long layered veil.Gorgeous dress too.)

(left: don't get why the model has to look moody and hold her bouquet like that. right: these kids are so cute!)

(left: gorgeous bridesmaids, love the matching shoulder strap/flowers, right: I would LOVE to wear that dress and look like a floating organza princess)

(left and right: unconventional brides dresses. Brown and of course, a finale dress in black.)

After the Wedding Show, me and the bestie got to use our $80 premium tickets for front row seats at the Designer Selection Show. Some great things about being front row: One, no big heads in front of you. Two, you feel like a VIP. Three, you get VIP bags. (Freebie bag number three if you're keeping count). Some of the items in this Front Row bag included 5 different magazines (one of these being the MASSIVELY THICK Remix mag), women's products (perfumes, deodorant etc), multivitamins (a bit odd) and a Cherry Ripe. Oh and a large glass bottle of mineral water. Another heavy bottle to carry around.
Oh and another surprise at our Designer show: Bianca, the 16 year old model fresh from the New Zealand Next Top Model Season 3 finale World Show the night before, was at the same Designer showcase as us, rocking headphones, nerd glasses and fluro yellow pants. I took a stalker picture of her:

Anyway, the Designer Selection Show is one of the shows look most forward to cause it's a sampling of everything that's coming up from most NZ designers. Here are some of the memorable pieces:

(left and right: the opening of the showcase had people in Bonds underwear. It's hard to figure out where you're meant to look when you see people in their underwear walking in front of you. No one wants to seem pervy.)

(left: Feels like a 90s flashback when I see denim dresses. right: Not a fan of this guy looking like he isn't wearing pants underneath the white trench coat...The description sounds dodgy already.)

(above: WHAT is THIS!?! ROMAN SANDALS on the catwalk? I despise those shoes after having to wear them for 5 years during school and would have never called them fashionable.)

(left: cute MisteR blazers! right: Love the print and the black/white striped cardi by Trelise Cooper. )

(left and right: these dresses are amazing because they're made out of TOILET PAPER. They were done for a Kleenex competition. Must be like 8ply toilet paper if it has to withstand being wearable.)

(left and right: the third toilet paper dress. It's amazing how they're structured, because from a distance you wouldn't be able to tell that it's a toilet paper dress.)

(left and right: I would wear either one of these dresses. I just love the one bold colour amongst all the neutral tones. Blue blazer on the right is such a beautiful accent piece too. I love the blazer trend!)

(left: another gorgeous dress, though the hemline is a bit too high of my liking. Look at her shoes though! How does she manage not to fall? right: I wouldn't wear it, but I think it's cute!)

After the Designer Selection Show, me and bestie grabbed lunch down at Westfield Downtown before we headed back to the next runway show, the Phoenix Makeup Show. By this stage it was 3pm, and the crowd was MASSIVE. We stood in line for ages and only got seats at the very back corner. Pretty crappy view considering this was a makeup show. Plus there were drunk guys behind us. Not so fun to be around.

(This show was pretty much full capacity.)

What was great about the Phoenix Show was the theatricality they had. There was this burlesque 1920s theme to everything. The intro started up with this mob gangsters robbing people with these police chasing them. From there, things were just spectacular, its a shame we could only get seats at the far back.

(intro of the show - the mob chase scene)

(left: gold painted girls holding up a ball, and don't worry, they're not completely naked. right: flapper girl)

(mid show performance with burlesque dancers and singing)

(left and right: some of the models. And yes, the ones on the right are wearing powder puffs.)

(left: another burlesque model. right: yes, that woman is wearing bananas as a skirt. Can you imagine the bad pick up lines? "Are you wearing a banana skirt or are you just happy to see me?" Yeah that was bad.)

(left: something meant to resemble some butterfly/angel/flower thing? right: the finale piece and what I assumed is the owner of Phoenix makeup)

Straight after the Phoenix show, we had to re-line up again to get into the Ellerslie Race Day Show. We were standing on our feet for about 20 minutes holding up goodie bags that weighed at least 8kgs altogether. It was really quite draining, but we were so determined to go.
We got somewhat better seats this time, a tier down than before. And another goodie bag too - just with some promotional packs and a bit of perfume. Nothing too over the top (Yes, this is Freebie bag number four. Though I pretty much took everything out and made it fit into my other goodie bags.)
The Ellerslie Race Day show wasn't as exciting as the show before, so it was hard to be amazed as models just walked up and down. But there were some nice dresses:

(left: can't go wrong with a red dress. right: it is standard to have a headpiece bigger than your head at Race Day.)

(left and right: don't know who this model is, but she was so smiley, it was refreshing to see. Plus the dresses were adorable.)

After that show, me and bestie decided we could hack one more wait in line to watch the Raise Up 'Walk The Line' fashion show for high school kiddies. I'm glad I watched cause a friend of mine had an outfit in the show and won her category. So proud :D I won't go criticising or commenting on any of the designs though, or the running of the show - since it was all done by high school kids, but I will mention one stand out, and that was this Bollywood dance troop:

They were just awesome with their flips, throwing other kids up in the air, and just general coordinatedness (not a word but I stand by it). Once they opened up the show, all the other entertainment paled in comparison (no offence to the other acts.)

So when everything finished and our passes were no longer usable for anything else, me and bestie left the Viaduct Events Centre by 6:30pm, with heavy bags, sore shoulders, and tired feet. But it was totally worth it with what we had managed to collect, experience, see and keep in terms of freebies:

When I got home, this was the contents of ALL my bags. There were three categories of items. 1) Advertising material and promotional books. 2) Vouchers were you needed to spend something in order to get a discount. 3) Everything else that I could keep cause it was given to me. So I got two bottles of water, a stack of magazines, and a massive list of free products ranging from shampoo testers to whitening toothpaste, deodorants to perfumes, multivitamins to chocolates, eye creams to hemp cream, and coffee to a pack of snack food. My mum reckons the value would be getting close to $100 (especially since Remix is already $17) so I think an $80 ticket to NZFW Saturday has been well spent.

However, I did learn a few things this year that I will have to remember for the next:
1) Earlybird tickets are the only way to go. Preferably front row.
2) Get there early. Stay there as long as you can for as much as you can. But don't buy the pricey food.
3) ALWAYS wear comfortable shoes because you will be standing all day. No heels.
4) Carry a small light bag there, cause it will get heavier. Preferably not a handbag too.
5) Don't buy on impulse, unless the deal is FANTASTIC and the discount is more than 70%.
6) Don't bring water. Because you'll probably get some for free.
7) Get seats in places where you can get good photos. Only sit at the front of tiers and as close to the catwalk as possible. Unless you have an epic zoom lens.
8) Charge your camera battery. And phone battery.
9) Take photos of the fashions you like or find memorable.
10) Say yes to anything being given out, even if it just looks like promo material. You never know what's on it.

And there you go! That is my NZFW Saturday post for this year. I really hope you appreciated how much detail I put into this year's post, which is why it has taken me so long to post. Last year's post was picture heavy with not much content, so I thought I'd improve it. So I now think I have created my longest blog post ever haha. Congrats if you've read the whole thing! Btw- if you're interested in attending next year's NZFW - we should meet up there. I'll let you pay for the tickets :D

Happy Anne-Marie day! And Blog Day! And Father's Day!

2011-09-04T23:34:00.001+12:00

currently: sorting out NZFW pictures.

To show that I do have friends in real life (I use that term loosely...)

Happy birthday to my friend Anne-Marie!
Who supports my blog, reminds me when I haven't written in my blog, and tells me to take photos of her to put on my blog.

Here's a picture of her at last week's Japan Rugby Team Welcoming Ceremony at Aotea Square. We got paper flags and stayed around to hear Japanese drumming till we got too cold outside, and decided to get sushi.

She's a bit nuts. But aren't we all?

Also, let me take this time to say a belated celebration to my blog.
I feel like the bad mother who forgot her kid's birthday, but my blog's first post was back on the 1st of September, 2008. Oh how the years have past. Well 3 years to be exact. :)

And lastly, Happy Father's Day to my Dad :)
Part of my gift to him (other than leaving others to make this morning's waffles when I kept stuffing up the recipe) was the Richard Castle book, 'Heatwave' - the actual books that are mention in the TV series. He loves Castle, so I couldn't help but get the book for him. And I may read it too while Castle is on hiatus. I need something to fill the time while I wait to hear what happens to Beckett after she got shot and Castle said 'I love you'! Oh that cliffhanger!

Anyway, I'm working on a coverage post on NZFW Saturday that I got to go at the Viaduct yesterday with my friend. There's almost 500 pictures I need to sort through! So hopefully I can show you soon.

Stay tuned/logged on for that :)

SPCA Cupcake Day!

2011-08-29T08:28:00.000+12:00

currently: in the university library, smuggling in cupcakes :P

Some of you (well if you've been following my blog for a long time) may have remembered this amazing cupcake that I tasted last year and bought off the street.

Well these cupcakes are back again!

Cupcake 1 (Mint Choc from Albany Bus Station. I ate it on the bus....)

Cupcake 2 (Chocolate shavings from Britomart)

Cupcake 3 (I think it's Banana cupcake with icing - made by Icing on the Cake. Came in these cute pink boxes too!)

Yes, I have bought THREE cupcakes. I can't help but buy so many cause I love these cupcakes and I love the SPCA Charity. It's a win-win for both of us!

Anyway, these last two cupcakes I will be saving for lunch (maybe sharing one with a friend, cause that would be nice). I also heard that my friend from AUT's Catering course was the one that made quite a few of the cupcakes, so I will be trying to get the recipe from her :D
You've got till 10am (I think)to buy what's left of these amazing cupcakes! So go grab them from Albany Bus Station, Britomart, Queen Street/Vulcan Lane and in front of ANZ/Opposite Whitcoulls on Queen Street. (Get them before I buy even more. I picked a great day to carry coins :P)

Why I won't be moving to Tumblr like everyone else

2011-08-27T15:25:00.000+12:00

currently: on Blogger.

So lately, everyone has been moving their blogs to other sites. If you look at my blog roll, I'm sure about 70% of them have moved onto Tumblr, 15% onto Wordpress, and the rest forgot they even had blogs.

But I won't be moving. Why not you ask?

[And then I realised my name was Tom from Myspace.]

Follow! Accidental Alliteration

2011-08-24T12:38:00.001+12:00

currently: in class. DON'T TELL MY TUTOR....shhh...

I hope you're having a lovely day today. Right now my class is arguing about presentations. My class seems to be confused as to what we're meant to be doing. Highly amusing.

Anyway, I'm entertaining myself by reading my university friend's new blog, Accidental Alliteration. I've spent a few bus rides harrassing her to start up a blog, so this shows how the power of peer pressure can be done positively :D. And she's actually a .com, so she's committed (other than me who is still poor and still uses good old blogger.com. Thanks Blogger :D)

So check out her cute blog and follow her posts! She's a nice person, and a pretty red head. :) What more reasons do you need?

I don't have much else to contribute to this post right now since I'm meant to be paying attention, so here's a picture of Hipster Kitty grafitti I found at my university:

HIPSTA KITTEH

Okay, back to learning ;D

Album Review: Time of My Life - 3 Doors Down

2011-08-18T16:25:00.000+12:00

currently: listening to 'Superman' by Moi. LOVE this song, and the video is quite cute :)

So I had a lot of fun reviewing this album. If you follow me on Twitter (*plug@mellienzplug*) you may have a hint as to what I gave the album, but if you haven't seen it, or read it in issue 18 of 'debate', feel free to read it all below. :)

Time of My Life - 3 Doors Down
Rating: C
I was quite eager to listen to 3 Doors Down’s latest album. Their previous hits, Let Me Go and Here Without You, gained a large play count in my iTunes throughout my high school years. So I imagined that listening to them again would be like having a memorable reunion with an old high school friend. However I didn’t expect that our reunion would have been as dull as it was.

I’m going to be blunt here and say that Time of My Life seems to show that 3 Doors Down is well past its time. I’m not too sure what happened since their last album in 2008, but in an album that the band felt was “up to another level”, this certainly missed that mark. The album starts off strong with some punchy aggressive guitar at the beginning of the album’s title track, Time of My Life. However, everything begins to fall once the vocals come into play. Already at the first verse, the guitars and the vocals of front man, Brad Arnold, are struggling for centre attention. And although the lyrics sound powerful when being screamed over guitars, in actual fact the words are uninspiring and a bit amateur, which is disappointing for a band that is meant to have four albums’ experience under their belt.

Their second track, When You’re Young, drops the pace quite quickly, which feels a bit strange to do so early in the album. But the song is a bit of an improvement to the previous track and in a song trying to do some soul searching and melancholy begging for younger times, the tone is reminiscent of their (better) previous work.

And after that track, everything starts to feel a bit predictable and forgettable. Lyrics soon begin to feel repetitive and amateurish, with the third track Round and Round having the oh-so-cliché chorus singing “Round and round and round and round we go. Where we’re gonna stop no body knows.” (You can imagine by the end of the song it was really irritating to listen to.)

Out of the 12 tracks on this album, very few are memorable. While writing notes on the songs for this album, I got too tired writing the same comments for each track, which either said "predictable lyrics”, “full of clichés and repetition”, and “sounds like Nickelback”. The last track Believer however does some last minute redeeming for this album with some much needed energy through strong guitar rifts, hard guitar solos and some gritty vocals. The lyrics are also much better for this track, it’s just a shame the whole album couldn’t have been more like this song.

Time of My Life is not necessarily a bad rock album; I wouldn’t have given it a passing grade otherwise. It fulfils the criteria and ticks all the needed boxes for strong lead guitars, solid drumming and having a guy with a rough voice adding a bit of toughness to the tracks. However, all the album does is follow the generic formula for a rock album, not bothering to test the boundaries or breaking the rules, which is what an A+ rock album needs. This album is all too average. So if you need rock music to blend into the background, look to this album. If you’re looking for a good 3 Doors Down album, don’t choose this.

On a separate related music side note: if you're a big Switchfoot fan (like me :D), Switchfoot are giving away an advance copy of their upcoming album Vice Verses (released 27th September!). Learn about Switchfoot's #ViceVerses Twitter Campaign and tweet to the world what your vice verses are (so you can share the album with me!) :D
My vice verses?

Enter away!

Cheesecake, velvet cake, and souvenirs

2011-08-17T22:23:00.001+12:00

currently: eating lemon cheesecake:

Welcome to Mel in the Milkyway. Or what it is becoming now, a picture collection of tasty things my mum makes.
Above is the lemon cheesecake I have now devoured.
And below is the red velvet cake with a meringue icing. Which I also devoured and finished.

I'm thankful that in winter I can pack in the cakes. :)

Hope you've been having a great week. In Auckland, it's been cold. Not like "Ohmygoshwhyisitsocold!" but "itscold! but it isn't enough to decently snow". And unfortunately, from the Auckland CBD upwards, there was barely any snow. I touched one "graupel" of snow at 2pm. And that's the closest I've gotten to snow falling.

Anyway, this week's 'debate' has two pieces from me this week. My column, and an extra review I did (which you can see tomorrow if you wait :D) For now, read my third column in "online print" here, or read it below. And if you have any suggestions to other column topics - leave a comment!

Homegrown Banana #3

In most common dollar stores, there’s a section where they sell paua shell pendants labelled as “genuine New Zealand souvenirs”. Typically, this is where you’ll see silver and sea blue paua shell pendants in the shape of a kiwi bird, butterfly, dolphin, or something that is meant to represent a traditional Maori fishing hook. But there’s one new design I’ve been seeing recently that’s caught my attention, and that’s a paua shell souvenir necklace in the shape of the Auckland Sky Tower.

Now, despite its cheap $3.50 price tag, I cannot seem to understand why someone would want to wear an Auckland Sky Tower paua pendant around their neck. I have as much pride for our city as most other JAFAs (Just Another Friendly Aucklander), but I would not feel compelled to buy the pendant equivalent of our city’s tallest building. The Auckland Sky Tower is no where near worthy enough to become a romantic accessory charm like the Eiffel Tower jewellery I find; and when shaped into its paua pendant form, it resembles more of a small deformed soldering mess than a classy cultured item. In my mind, it is something that gets your attention for all the wrong reasons.

Seeing ugly looking pendants in the dollar store had me thinking about all the other terrible souvenirs I’ve collected myself throughout the years. Nail-clippers moulded with the image of the Malaysian Petronas Towers, snowglobes with cartoon dolphins from the Gold Coast, a big fuzzy Koala head attached to a pencil case from Perth, just to name a few. Although these souvenirs represent the iconic symbols from their native homeland, they remain closed in a box, hidden somewhere out of sight in my room. Why? Because they don’t hold much value or purpose, and they’re just darn tacky, just like cheap dollar store souvenirs.

Rugby World Cup is all ready to start in less than a month’s time (yes, it is happening that soon). Hundreds of tourists will look to find souvenirs they can take home to their friends and families, the reminders of the culture they encountered on the other side of the world. Are they going to buy items like badly crafted paua pendants, or glow-in-the-dark purple tikis, or temporary Maori tattoos sold cheap in stores along Queen Street? Our country has such a unique culture and history, but it is going to be represented by plastic mass-produced trinkets of tackiness. What kind of impression is this for tourists when a large percent of our culture is produced overseas? One can only think of the disappointment little Sally will have when Uncle Bevan goes back home to hand his niece a keychain/bottle opener in the shape of a tiki head (which I’m sure would break many sacred values).

When visitors buy souvenirs from our country, they should be buying pieces of our culture that are worth displaying, not items that devalue the country’s traditions. There are artists that create items that are filled with heritage and are authentically produced in New Zealand, but are rarely seen because badly crafted souvenirs are all too accessible. We really don’t need badly shaped Sky Tower pendants to symbolise what New Zealand’s culture offers the world. Maori designs, Kiwiana art, and tastefully done paua jewellery – this country has so many worthwhile items that aren’t being valued enough. Maybe if they were seen more in stores, our country’s better souvenirs won’t end up being hidden away in a box in people’s rooms.

These are 'edibles'

2011-08-10T23:48:00.002+12:00

currently: should be going to bed soon.

Thanks to my mum last weekend, we made macaroons for my Digital Media assignment:

They are much harder to get right. And incredibly sweet. Though that may be because of the recipe we used.

But finally I've edited and finished the montage for class.
Enjoy the following baking images and nice tunes:

Fingers crossed for a high grade :)

Traditions and advantages of burqas

2011-08-04T20:43:00.002+12:00

currently: eating caaaaake. :D

Isn't cake lovely? I ate it too fast to take a picture. But I can assure you that cake+cream+mangoes is good :)

This week's issue of debate, issue 16 you can find my latest column. I'm quite liking writing a column. It does get me thinking about what to write more often. Cause I have to now haha. I'm not sure yet as to what my next column will be, I've got till Monday to write it. So if there are any cultural issues you'd like my opinion on, let me know.

Homegrown Banana #2
Let me pose a question to you. What is better to follow – the traditions of your people or the traditions of the country?
It’s fair to say that there will be a part of our heritage which is foreign to this country. Somewhere along the lines you’re bound to have a great, great, great grandparent that came to New Zealand on a boat, or plane, or some other sort of ocean crossing transportation. And with that ocean crossing transportation, they brought their own traditions to this land. Sometimes their cultural traditions contributed well to the country, but at times they can clash into one big controversial mess.

No doubt when you think of the country’s current cultural controversial conflicts (say that five times) the whole burqa argument comes to mind. Let’s face it; the black full body covering can bring so much attention onto the individual, it would be as obvious as seeing Batman walking up Queen Street in broad daylight. It is understandable though to why some New Zealanders don’t like the idea of burqas. Traditionally, Kiwis (and western countries in general) are used to seeing someone’s face. We like seeing smiles and nice teeth and cool haircuts. But the concept of covering one’s face is associated with someone who goes and robs the local dairy, someone who is protecting themselves from swine flu, or is someone that will make you feel that they are stalkish and suspicious, all of which is intimidating. Banks have a reason why they don’t allow caps, hoodies and sunglasses to be worn inside the building; because they want to identify your face.

But that’s the tradition in New Zealand. The reasoning behind wearing the burqa for some Islamic females is that they don’t become judged or tempt other men, which I think is a good reason. Imagine all the positives about wearing a burqa. For one, all women could suddenly have an even playing field and not be judged on whether they’re dressing like “sluts”. Make up and hair products wouldn’t take out such a large part of the living costs because you wouldn’t need foundation, conditioner, hair dye, or even concealer for pimple breakouts. Plus you’d probably never have to think about shaving your legs as often if no one other than you can tell how hairy they are becoming.

But despite all the positive reasoning I can think about burqas, traditionally it’s not something people of our country would ever decide to do. It’s just not easy to radically change the ideas set by tradition and the society most of us have grown up in. And I guess that’s where I sit in terms of the question I gave you. While some may believe when we live in New Zealand we easily follow the ideals and traditions that we’ve accepted as we grew up here, we cannot expect immigrants to instantly conform to our ideals of society. We should ultimately be thankful of the free choice we have as a country, along with being granted the rights and equality between the genders. So honour those who follow their traditions, whether they wear a burqa or not. Because either way you look at it, they’re allowed free choice in this country too.

It all becomes better with cake

2011-07-27T23:45:00.001+12:00

currently: about to go to bed.

You know, no matter how old you get, there's always room for cake on your birthday.
My mum makes the best cake - chocolate black forest cake. It's a chocolate layer cake with cherries, cream and chocolate sprinkles :)
I'm meant to be twenty now, but I will never be too old for my mum to make me a birthday cake :P

My mum put in 5 candles, each one representing 4 years of my life.
You know what my friend said? Twenty is the decade where your career, marriage and kids happen.
I don't know how exactly I feel about all that, but I know that long as my mum will always be there to make me my birthday cake with love, it will all be good :)

(present wise, all I asked from my family was black forest cake. seriously, only the cake. I was happy :))

Oh hello. A new look?

2011-07-09T15:36:00.000+12:00

currently: chilling while watching The Bounty Hunter. I don't know how I feel about the movie...

Well hello again.
Do you like the new look?

Since holidays started about 3 weeks ago, I've been working on this blog redesign. New colours, new header (well two new headers, but I didn't like the last one), and no more chat box down the side because it kept getting filled with spam. (so feel free to comment in the comment boxes instead)

Oh and I have some exciting stuff planned for this upcoming new semester that I can't wait to share! (But I can't yet. So you gotta wait.)

Stay tuned...

Focus, focus, focus.

2011-06-11T16:10:00.000+12:00

currently: going to focus. Soon.

Notes: Check.
Highlighters: Check.
Raisins to snack on cause it's much more healthier than chips: Check.

Playing Angry Birds on Chrome - Fail.

Exam studying is not going as it's planned right now.
Call it Assignment wind-down, but after staying up till 3am on Friday morning trying to perfect my design assignments, it is like all motivation and strength has gone.

Food label and Icon design by ~Marshmellowpuff on deviant ART

Altered Origami Reality by ~Marshmellowpuff on deviant ART

What has frustrated me is that I have not gotten a single A grade so far this semester. So you'd think that this would motivate me to study.
It isn't.

So I'm playing Angry birds. Maybe I'll hope that I'll get angry enough myself that I will start tackling the 6 topics I need to study for.

Till then, pigs will be crushed (on Angry Birds...)

A $600 university paper leads me to do this.

2011-06-08T01:14:00.000+12:00

currently: full of cereal.

ORIGAMI CAT.
This took me like an hour to do today watching this video multiple times.

Apologies for the lack of posting again. It's like when you return to normal life, nothing is interesting anymore.

Unless you count this interesting:

SAILOR MOON!

Yup, the Asian that I am made a Sailor Moon costume for a party I went to.
Made this within 4 hours that morning using scrap blue fabric, red satin, my white v-neck tee and a pair of $3 white gloves.
I also bought a $10 blonde wig which made me realise I shouldn't be blonde.

I don't know why though, but when I put on a blonde wig, it's somewhat exciting. Maybe it's because I have black hair which is difficult and expensive to dye, or maybe it's just the new instant look I love. I think I'm quite into wigs now :)

And now I leave Malaysia

2011-05-03T01:09:00.001+12:00

currently: at the airport in kuala lumpur.
In 20 minutes I board my plane to go back to NZ. It's hard to believe that my holiday is all over now. I don't have much time as I'm typing this up on my cellphone but I just wanted to say to Malaysia "thanks".
Thanks for not robbing me, not hitting me with a car, for giving me many things to buy at generally great prices. Thanks for the views, for the hot weather and the cool mall sanctuaries. Thanks for the family I have here, all the great food you have. And also thanks for not giving me food poisoning.
Thanks for the good times :) now I can't wait to go home to my bed. See you soon New Zealand :)

Day 19 of Malaysia - Aku berharap aku melihat Switchfoot tapi ...

2011-05-02T05:19:00.003+12:00

currently: telling you to google translate the title.

My ideal post for today would feature something along these lines:

But no, it doesn't.

You see, I had NO IDEA that Switchfoot was coming to KL the night before I hop back on a plane back to NZ. So when I found out a couple of weeks ago that they were making an appearance here the exact same time as me - I was excited.
The only problem is, I wasn't prepared with money for the tickets, nor did I have a ride to get there.

One of my relatives here though had plans to attend the concert, and was willing to take us there if we were going to buy tickets - so good news!

And then the front section tickets sold out.
And then my relative's mum got sent to hospital.

So there went the plans. To be honest, I'm okay with it. For some reason, if I was going to listen to my favourite band, I'd much prefer to 1) be prepared for it with money, and 2) be around people who speak the same language as me. I mean Switchfoot do speak English and all - but everyone else around me pretty much doesn't. So in case of like a tsunami or fire or something - I wouldn't have a clue what to do.
This of course would be a different scenario if I was to travel to California for example and hear them perform there. Cause I know the Californian word for Fire. It's Fire.

One day, when I do have the money and understand more Malay than I do right now (other than Selamat Datang - which means Welcome), then maybe I will get the chance to attend a concert overseas. For the meanwhile, I don't mind waiting. Mind you, this is both Jimmy Eat World in Auckland, and Switchfoot in Malaysia I've both missed. But I won't dwell on that (anymore.)

Anyway, I don't have a great deal to share with you today. Most of it was spent either sleeping, eating fish for breakfast, and having a sore stomach from something (I don't know what...).

This afternoon (when my stomach was fine) I had this:

This is the Rainbow Lolo I had, from the Fruitworld restaurant or something. Sorry the picture is blurred - ran out of camera battery on the fancy camera (you can see another one in the background.)
I have to say, this was pretty refreshing to eat. It's like ice kachang with the shaved ice and all, but with sliced up fruits. So it has cubed watermelon and melon, sliced strawberries, sliced mangoes (and typically sliced kiwifruit but I'm allergic), on top of this shaved ice mountain that has been infused with sweet yam/taro - so the ice is purple. It's all pretty tasty (and normally I don't like sweet yam stuff.) Malaysia is great for all these cold desserts - frankly though, they need it in this overwhelming humid heat. Heat which I will be leaving in 24 hours time...

Day 18 of Malaysia - The best free things come from the most expensive of places

2011-05-01T06:26:00.000+12:00

currently: should be asleep.

It's currently 2am now. I really should be asleep, but with all the late partying (ha.) and the large amounts of food (urgh) its been getting really hard to sleep on time. So this is why I'm still awake, able to send you a blog post about today before I fall completely asleep.

Today was probably the last time I'ld ever be able to go to KL City on this trip. There are only a couple of days left before I fly back home :) I really miss my bed...

Anyway, today's trip was to The Pavilion in the city central, near Sungei Wang and Times Square

I've been to the Pavilion before on a previous trip - it's great if you want high class/designer brand stuff. Many American shops are here too, like Forever 21 and Paul Frank.

What I want to point out today was this one section in particular that was really fantastic today.
In the Parkson's department store, one accessories area called Club 21 happened to have their reopening launch in the store.
So they were giving out these card that invited people to it, and offered them a chance to get a free mystery gift.
I got a lousy mystery gift (a 20% off voucher for their products - this was compared to free tote bags and $50 Parkson vouchers) but what was really amazing is the big event they had to open the store:

It was like an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party! There were free drinks (both alco and non-alcoholic), free tea treats (I ate two macaroons), lots of lollies and jellybeans - and such an adorable set up!

I didn't have my fancy camera with me, but I got a bit snap happy taking shots on my cell:

I have to award them for having such a great event. I really enjoyed myself, even though I didn't buy a single thing. You rarely find stuff like this happening in NZ. Wish it would every once in a while...
It would be nice to live off free special event macaroons :P

Day 17 of Malaysia - weddings, western tarts and wet markets

2011-04-30T05:38:00.000+12:00

currently: getting ready to go to bed.

Well today was definitely a big day in history.
Like many others, I too watched today's Royal Wedding between Prince Will and Kate Middleton. I didn't intend to at first, but curiosity to watch the big moment got the better of me. I think I wasted 4 hours sitting in front of the TV...I wish I watched the highlights reel instead of sitting through all that, but at least the memory counts in some way.

Not a great deal happened today other than watching the wedding. Today for lunch, I had KFC. And though I should be criticised for making the choice again to eat crummy western food - I did get something unique from there: KFC Egg Tarts.

I have always been one to enjoy a good egg tart when I get the chance, and KFC had these vouchers for 1RM egg tarts - so I thought I may give it a try. It wasn't bad. Very buttery in terms of pastry, and the egg itself was very custard like. Still pretty decent for a fast food egg tart.

Oh and if you wanted to know: KFC chicken seems bigger here in Malaysia, their spicy chicken isn't as spicy though, their potato and gravy has a lot more pepper, and their coleslaw is pretty terrible. :)

Tonight we also made a special trip to go to one of the night markets that happens a lot here in Malaysia. I've been wanting to go to one for the past few days, but because of the cruddy weather in the late afternoons/nights it has made it pretty impossible to go. Tonight any expected rain didn't occur from this morning to 8pm - so we got the 'all-good' to go.

Night markets are fascinating places to see.

There you can experience all sorts of sights, sounds and smells (not necessarily all pleasant mind you.)
At a night market, they normally have set days where they will close of some streets so people can set up stalls along the block off roads. You can see people selling different foods, ipod protectors, clothing, accessories, lingerie, toys, pirated music and movies, and sometime people try to sing on the streets, or offer services where they can scrape the moles of your face (not kidding.)
They're always such busy and crowded places, because most people know you can be bound to find good deals here. Mind you, not all this stuff will be guaranteed to be good quality. I mean, you're buying it off the side of a road - it's all at your own risk.

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend as much time as I would have wanted there. Didn't get to buy anything too. This was all thanks to the spitting of rain that began while we were halfway through the markets. When the possibility of rain starts here in Malaysia, people just start fleeing because you don't know when or how hard the rain will fall. So pretty much at the first warning that another down pouring may begin, all the vendors began to throw things back into their vans and cover all their merchandise.

I should have thought to buy an umbrella from the umbrella stand I saw earlier in the markets...

Day 16 of Malaysia - When (heat) knocks you down

2011-04-29T05:17:00.000+12:00

currently: by the air conditioner.

One of the hardest parts of being in Malaysia is dealing with the heat.

You see, in Auckland where I normally reside - weather at its hottest during summer can be about 30 degrees Celsius - its a very dry heat. That's when the ice cream, ice blocks, electric fans and the need to sit inside the freezer come along.

In Malaysia - that same sort of temperature is outside too but very hot and humid, so being inside (whether in the air conditioned mall or inside a cool house) is always a better option than being outside.
But inside, you always need the air conditioner or fan on, otherwise you will feel the need to fall asleep in the heat.

That's what I did for most of this afternoon - either feel sleepy or actually asleep because of the heat.
Today there was no rain until late at night. Afternoon rain for the 13 out of the previous 15 days meant that it was thankfully a bit cooler during the day. Not today though.
After 20 minutes after lunch, while sitting in the room trying to get some assignment done, I fell asleep in what I like to call the "Mattress starfish" position.

The idea is to try and find as much cool space as possible on the bed to earn ultimate coolness. Normally I start face down but then have to flip over because breathing into the mattress becomes too hot. But I'll maintain Mattress Starfish just so my body is able to cool down. And normally while doing so, I'll fall asleep.
Humidity here is like it's own blanket.

It becomes an annoying balance at night. I have to share my mattress, so there is no possibility of a mattress starfish because of the lack of space. And then the fan (which is pretty noisy) has to stay on ALL night in order for us to stay cool and not overheat while sleeping. I sit closest to the fan, and so often during the night, my face and shoulders will get cold, but my legs are really warm. The best way for me to stay cool is to move half my body OUT of the mattress, and onto the marble floor to cool. The in the morning I find myself waking up in semi-sore positions, having a cold face and stiff legs from them lying on the floor.

The need to achieve ultimate comfort is just so hard to achieve in Malaysia. I don't know how the residents get used to it. But to be honest, I am a child that grew up in colder Auckland, and I actually prefer cold weather to hot. It's going to be a shock to the system once I go from 27 degrees Kuala Lumpur to 17 degrees Auckland.

Anyway, before I go to bed, here's something I want to share with you:

Milo ice cream!

Okay, so one of the better things about Malaysia is how much they LOVE Milo. And I LOVE milo too. I can't drink coffee, can't handle alcohol - Milo is pretty much what's left. Anyway, found this at Jusco today - 5.50RM for 4 tubs of Milo ice cream. And it comes with free spoons inside! Delicious :P
(Oh and if you don't find Milo ice cream fascinating, the other day I saw a TWO KG bag of Milo selling for 27RM. TWO KILOGRAMS! That is a MASSIVE load of Milo. I would love to pack some but I wouldn't have a clue how I would fit that in my suitcase back to NZ.)

Day 15 of Malaysia - How you be talking lah!

2011-04-28T05:38:00.001+12:00

currently: lying on the bed.

This last week is where we seem to be slowing down and taking our time with everything now. Not much time is left till I hop back on a plane to NZ, but now I think all my budget is spent, and all the stuff I've wanted to find shopping I mainly have.
Everything is just more relaxed now, and we take the plans as they come.
(Originally the big plan for today was to go for one of the night markets - but it began to be stormy once again late this afternoon so no one wanted to walk around when it's wet.)

Today I went to the local mall where we did some shopping at Jusco, and ate lunch at this place called Secret Recipe they have here in Malaysia. Now that Swensens (this fantastic ice-cream place which had this famous sundae called "The Earthquake" which can be seen here) seems to have disappeared from KL, Secret Recipe may be one of the better dessert shops around.

Unfortunately their service is totally crap. The waiters don't really seem to pay attention to you, no matter how many times you wave at them or call at them. Waiting for my chicken curry puff (that I had to order in replacement for the shepherd's pie that wasn't available) seem to take over 20 minutes - and this is for a 6RM curry puff that is about the size of your hand. Ridiculous. (Thankfully it tasted pretty good.) And they just aren't organised - they almost gave one of our dishes to another table.
And stupidly enough when we ordered our dessert from the display window, it took another 15 minutes to get a slice of cheesecake - and the cakes are already displayed to be cut in the window. I don't know what they were trying to do in between cutting the cake and serving it - couldn't have been baking it cause it was already done for them.

Rant about the bad service aside, I love cheesecakes and they make pretty decent ones at Secret Recipe.

Today's cheesecake was a 'White and Dark Chocolate Cheeze' (I don't know why they spell it with a Z, and sorry for the unfocused shot - I took it with my cellphone.)
It was pretty filling to eat - not as fantastic as the 'Cheeze Choc' I had the other day while at Petaling Street etc. But still it was pretty nice to indulge in.

Anyway, the rest of the afternoon I spent looking at books in a bookstore, trying to think of ideas for my digital photo assignment (yes I still think about uni while on holiday.) While at the bookstore (think it was called Popular) I stumbled across a book which gave phrases and dictionary meanings in Singlish aka Singaporian English.
Flicking through the book made me realise all the phrases I had heard, and never really knowing what they all meant and how they truly speak. It's all quite fascinating as a foreigner looking in.

Singlish is pretty close to the Manglish that goes round here. So I thought I'd try and share some Manglish phrases I hear, and what they mean (to me anyway.)

The most common word that's used around here is the word lah.
Lah can be used at the end of every sentence, as if you're drawing a massive full stop or exclamation to emphasise your sentence.
eg. "You eat that lah!" - "You should finish that dish!"
That sentence gets tossed around a bit, specially when trying to deal with leftovers and people who are not wanting to be responsible for clearing the food on the plates.

Lor is another one, much like lah, but for trying to prove something.
eg.
Person 1: "Here can drive to the city?"
Person 2: "Can lor." - "It can be done." or "Yeah, duh."

Nah here doesn't always mean the word 'No' here. It is also used when you are trying to get someone to take something but they don't necessarily want it.
eg. "Nah, I hand to you" - "Here, you can take this."

I think one of the most confusing Manglish words is the word what (or "wat")
They seem to add it at the end of sentences, as if expecting the rest to be filled in by the person they're trying to have a conversation with. I've been really bad at picking this up...
eg.
Person 1: "We didn't go eat what".
Me: "What?"
Person 1: "Never mind lah."

So there is your (very) basic 101 class in Manglish. Tune in for the next lesson where I try to analyse what sort of road rules they have here (they have none...) :P

Day 14 of Malaysia - High to see city skies

2011-04-27T06:27:00.001+12:00

currently: sleepy

Everyone needs one of those days to relax.
For me, it was today.
After spending the last week or so having full on 14 hour days out and about, today was the day to just sleep in and take it easy. I really needed it, but I relaxed so much that the whole day just passed by with nothing happening. I felt incredibly tired from just doing nothing.

My cousin nicely offered to take us somewhere where I could get snap happy with the camera. And so despite having nothing accomplished today, I decided to tag along and see this mysterious place we were driving to.

We were taken to a place thoughtfully called the Ampang "Look Out Point" in Selangor.

And to get where we wanted to go, we needed to walk 100 stairs up the side of the mountain.
100 stairs isn't too bad. We got given encouraging messages up the stairs:

(what would have been more encouraging is to see an escalator, but I digress.)

The view from up there was just amazing. I'm really surprised not many people know about this sort of place.

It was just fantastic up there.
From the photos, you can clearly see KL's Petronas Towers (and more blurred by the fog; KL Tower)

We decided to sit at one of the like 6 restaurant/cafes up that mountain for some late night snackage. They're all competing to get you to sit at their food place, appearing kinda desperate as you pass them while they call out how great their food is.

At the one cafe we went to, I got myself a smoothie/icecream blended thing called a "sleeping beauty" - made with chocolate and blueberries.

It tasted fantastic at first - a lot like a berry Trumpet icecream or something. But somewhere along the way, as I reached the halfway point of the drink - it started tasting terrible. I could not finish it because of some strange after taste that was making me feel sick. So I left it up there as my cousin used the smoothie liquid to kill ants. In return, I got to see an excellent view. Wished the food was worth it though, otherwise it could have become one of my favourite spots in Kuala Lumpur.

Day 13 of Malaysia - It's not a rich man's world, it's a great exchange rate.

2011-04-26T06:18:00.002+12:00

currently: still awake and not tired.

So you know how I said I'd try to post earlier?
I lied.
And surprisingly enough, for 2am KL time, I'm not tired.
But I'm going to try and post this as fast as possible, otherwise I'm gonna knock my body clock out of synch with KL time, and I don't need to do that until I leave Malaysia next week or so.

Today's trip was back to the city again, but this time to the area of Sungei Wang.
There's some great shopping areas around KL city, such as Sungei Wang, Lot 10 and the Pavillion (known to be incredibly pricey).
I took this photo outside Lot 10 at about 12pm today:

When I came out again to go catch our ride, it was about 9:30pm:

That's how long I pretty much stayed in the city.
Well actually, by the time I had left, it was 10pm.
And you could see the KL Tower pretty clearly:

What's great about places like Sungei Wang is that there are so many stores all laid about on about 5-6 levels, and they're all incredibly cheap.
Well incredibly cheap if you think about it in terms of NZ dollars.

Here's what I bought today:

if 1NZD=2.39RM then this necklace costs $2.71NZD!

12RM=$5NZD

RM25=$10.44NZD

RM16.50=$6.89NZD

So when I say how great shopping is in Malaysia - one of the main reasons is because everything in comparison to buying stuff in New Zealand is really cheap. I mean lace dresses can costs like $30 in NZ, and that type of necklace maybe $10-15NZD.
To be honest, I'm still a complete cheapskate though - I wouldn't pay 40RM for a piece of clothing.
At times like this, I wouldn't mind earning Australian money...

Day 12 of Malaysia - Dim sum? Dim sure.

2011-04-25T04:57:00.000+12:00

currently: really exhausted.

Today was another very full on and long day. I don't know how many more of these days I can take before I really collapse from exhaustion. This is why I'm so ready to fall asleep, but not till I post - so this will be quick.

Today started off with going to church, especially since it's Easter and all. The church I went to today was a rellie's church, which was thankfully (mainly) in English. Asian churches are awesome - these people were so upbeat and cheerful, and were so enthusiastic about pretty much everything. Made me wonder why my church back home wasn't like this.

Anyway, once church had finished, we went out for a dim sum breakfast.
What I love about dim sum is all the stuff you can have - and it's not overfilling because its like appetisers. The menu for lunch today consisted of:

Some salted egg pumpkin thing, and grilled Japanese cucumber.

Mango fried spring roll - this was my favourite. So sweet and crispy.

Soup dumplings - when you bite into it, you get soup and meat :)

Pork fried rice - I love fried rice. Seriously, would eat it all the time if I could.

Prawn dumplings - these were adorable. It's like little parcels, and they also had soup :)

Pork bun - aka Siu Bao in Chinese.

This stuff was really good. And the chefs themselves actually deliver this food to you. I don't know why they're not focused with just cooking - but okay, if they want to get out of the kitchen I won't stop them (long as they have my food.)

Today's purchase comes from the store F.O.S (which means Fashion Outlet Store)
They had a deal where it was 3 of these "Scribble" branded tees for 45RM. Which isn't too bad - 15RM for each. So I got 1 tee, my sis got herself two. I just thought mine was awesome :P

Okay, off to bed now. Hope to share more stories at an earlier time tomorrow.
Night :)

Day 11 of Malaysia - I can't afford anything here.

2011-04-24T05:13:00.000+12:00

currently: getting really cold thanks to the air conditioning.

Can you guess where today's trip was to?

If you picked the tower on the left - you'd be wrong!
Today's trip was to the towers on the right: Suria KLCC aka the mall in Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers. (Previously known as the tallest towers in the world. Think now it got replaced by something bigger in Dubai or something.)

I got all artsy while looking up the Towers

And then while inside looking up again.

I think I counted 6 floors in KLCC. But of course these floors stretch out a massive length between the towers. They're all filled with expensive branded stores like your Gucci, Calvin Klein, and even a fabric store where they sell mainly Korean Silk at RM100 per metre. (That's like $50NZ).Even though KLCC is a massive tourist attraction - it's just so darn pricey to buy anything there.
What was for free however was the fashion shows they've been having, and there were quite a few I managed to catch today:

You can see most of the 6 levels crowding round to watch. They were all from stores or designers within the store, such as Harley Davidson.

Anyway, while outside the doors KLCC, there's this area where all the tourists like to take photos by the fountain. So I took a picture of the fountain:

And here's a panoramic I took by spinning in a half circle with the camera on continuous shot, and then having my awesome Photoshop CS4 put it together for me :)

I'm getting quite sleepy now, so here's a quick recap of what I did while in KLCC.
-I went into different shops, looked at stuff, didn't buy anything. Like I said, the fabric store that was there had RM100 per METRE fabric. Which is ridiculously expensive.
-We went to an art exhibition, inside the mall. It was all stuff from the university kids here in KL.
-Watched a few fashion shows that happened every couple of hours.

Ate Tiramsu for the for first time I can remember:

Didn't really like it. It's just not my thing...

Ate some of the sorbets my sister ordered though. They were awesome - it came in its own fruit shell:

I don't remember how much the sorbets were, but the tiramsu slice costed bout 12.50RM. Not really worth it - should have picked the cheesecake.

And after all the window shopping and fashion watching...we left just as it was get darker. I took photos as we left KLCC.

Purrrrdy.

And then I was really tired on the way back.
But I saw a durian stand on the street while we were waiting in traffic, so I took a photo.

Road Durian. Fun.... :/

Day 9 and 10 of Malaysia - Shop till you drop, or are in absolute pain.

2011-04-23T04:16:00.001+12:00

currently: soooo tired.

I was so tempted in skipping another day of blog posts because of my lack of energy. Look at my dedication now. It's currently 11pm KL time and I've been up since 5 something, having only slept 4 hours last night because I was working on an album review (which is also why I didn't post last night - by 11pm the internet on my laptop stopped working.)

Anyway, my exhaustion is due to the amount of shopping I've finally done in the past couple of days. Whoever says shopping isn't a sport obviously doesn't know the endurance required to walk up hundreds of stairs, kilograms of shopping bags, and the agility and speed to move through large crowds. This is definitely more exercise that I really need (or exercise that I desperately need.)

Day 9:
Yesterday's trip was to a Jusco cardholders sale where we were from 10am to 5pm. Jusco in Malaysia is like the equivalent of NZ's Farmers - except twice as big. Jusco has designer and clearance clothing, make up, bags, shoes, lingerie, homeware appliances, stationary, curtains, bedware, CDs, DVDs, books, groceries, and even free salad. It's ridiculous and utterly fantastic at the same time. This department store is just so huge that from 10-5pm we were somewhere in Jusco's the three floors (except for the 1 hour we may have taken to get lunch. Either way, we were in there for AGES.)

I didn't get any pictures there during the sale though. Cause 1: I didn't think I was allowed to, 2: There were too many people and its gonna look weird to bring a big camera out, and 3: I was too busy shopping. After 7 hours though, I bought only ONE thing.

One vest! Half price from Agenda at Jusco (so from about 60RM to 30RM / $24NZD to $12NZD.)
You know, if it wasn't for the great exchange rate, chances are I wouldn't buy this stuff. It was disappointing I didn't get more though, but still great to experience. Except for experiencing achy and sore feet. That was terrible.

Day 10:
Today, we got up REALLY early (5am something) to go into the city and go shopping. So painfully tired already after only going to sleep at 12:45am. It's been really hard to keep up with uni work etc while I've been here due to the lack of time I get.
Anyway, we went to the city so we could experience some shopping, where I was hoping to get some good bargains and cheaper fabrics.

This is Petaling Street - famous tourist place for market shopping.
Excuse the quality of the photos, I took this with my cellphone.
I didn't take my big fancy camera to the city today which I'm very glad about. In the city, its hard to take these sort of things because then you become a target for thieves. Mind you, there were many tourists around with their big fancy cameras - but I'm tiny so it makes me an even easier target.

This is the first fabric shop I had gone to. So many Korean fabrics for some reason. And they were pretty decent priced - 10.50RM per metre / $4.30 NZD.

So I bought all of this:

Except it wasn't meant to be all of that. It was only meant to be the blue and red fabric. But the sales assistant spoke Malay and threw fabric at me. Overall: spent 83RM in that one store, half on fabrics I didn't want. :/

After the fabric store, we went to a shoe/clothing store. I found this really awesome top (which didn't really fit well), abd I had wanted to buy I didn't want to buy it cause it was about 40-50RM ($20-$30 NZD.)
If anyone knows where to find this top:...

...in NZ for real cheap, let me know ;P

But what I did get from that specific store was 1 beaded necklace and the other a beaded broach.:

Both together: 5RM! (like $2 in NZD.)

The rest of the day was just a blur, going in and out of shops, having feet ache so much, and desperately wanting a place to sit.
So this is one of the places where we sat:

I stuck my feet into a fish tank. Not kidding here. I paid 5RM (about $2 NZD) to stick my feet in a special fish tank for 10 minutes, where the fish would supposedly eat the dead skin cells on my feet.
Strangest experience I've had a in a long time. But its really quite enjoyable, once you get over the initial fact that fish are eating your feet. It kind of feels like your feet are being put on vibrate, they just nibble away. Although the bigger fish you feel them more when they bite. It doesn't hurt at all though, but it tickles quite a bit.

Anyway, I'm getting seriously tired now, so here's some more other stuff I had bought today:

Overall, this shopping day has been more successful - but I've lost track of how much I've actually spent. And the craft stores here are fantastic and cheap - just wish I didn't have to travel in all the way to the city to get it. Cause it's tiring to walk so many hours to get to the stores. *sigh*

I also really miss my sewing machine now... should have bought the 15RM portable sewing machine that looks like a stapler. You know, it amazes me what sort of stuff is sold on the streets here.

Day 8 of Malaysia - Back to KL

2011-04-21T04:27:00.001+12:00

currently: getting ready for bed.

So for today, most of it was spent in Genting Highlands.
We didn't do a great deal though. I woke up, packed up my suitcase, had pizza for breakfast, then went shopping in Genting's "First World" Plaza before coming back to KL to have a late lunch and even later dinner. Then I posted the blogs for previous days I had missed, since in the Genting Highlands hotel, there was no free wireless (or free internet at all. Lame.)

Didn't buy anything either today. I got close to doing so a few times...Here in Malaysia they have market sales, and a Cotton On. But nothing cheap and high quality enough for me to fork out some cash for.
(and yes, that is a hard balanced but I'm into sales and saving etc.)

So anyway, there are no real photos today. You pretty much got your dose of photos from the 20 or so I uploaded in previous posts.
But today I will share with you one photo.
What I had for my dinner:

You're probably wondering why out of all things would I buy myself a Big Mac for dinner in Malaysia when I can get it anywhere else.
Well that's why I bought it (and because it was faster to get that than roti).
You see, Maccas (aka McDonalds) can be found EVERYWHERE. But not all Maccas/McDonalds are the same.
At this Maccas, they have a different menu to cater for the Malaysian crowd. There's no healthy choices menu, no salads, no morning bagels. But the Big Mac is universal.
It was just a choice to compare how Big Mac Malaysia is compared to Big Mac NZ.
And well, Big Mac Malaysia - the size of it is MUCH bigger than Big Mac NZ, which always is so scrawny and can be eaten in under 4 bites. But Big Mac NZ has nicer beef - NZ beef is always nicer.
And what's most unique about Big Mac Malaysia - it comes with a McD's chilli sauce packet for your burger.

Now I'm not one that enjoys spicy food - but as they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". So I put it under my top burger bun - and it's not too bad. The sauce is spicy on it's own, but it blends pretty well into the burger so it's pretty unnoticeable.

But overall - NZ Big Macs are better. Just wish they were the size of the Malaysian ones because after eating their Big Mac - I was plenty full. NZ Maccas, take note of that.

Day 7 of Malaysia - Theme park fun!

2011-04-21T01:41:00.000+12:00

currently: bit too exhausted to really go and write detailed descriptions under all the photos.

Because I'm too tired, here's a massive photo uploading of today's afternoon at the Genting Highlands Theme Park :D

A day at Genting Highlands:

View from the hotel in the morning

Breakfast! Buffet with a mix of Western and Asian food.

OMG. Yellow Watermelon. The stuff is like red watermelon, but a bit sweeter. Not as juicy though.

Into the theme park! The Big Swing.

Big (fake) chocolate bunny at Chocolate World.

Merry go round!

White fish says: "Wut?"

Games where you can win pink seahorses and bulldogs.

Ring toss! I watched everyone fail.

Ferris Wheel :D

RAWR. I eat your face at Dinosaurland.

BAM! I kick your face dinosaur.

Looking up the ferris wheel. Arty :)

View of the theme park from the ferris wheel.

On the monorail train, cruising round the theme park. That's the rollercoaster which I went on and screamed like a tiny girl thinking that I was falling forward. Not a pretty picture.

The Pirate Ship is to the right. Didn't go on that cause the line was MASSIVE. Even for a Tuesday afternoon.

"The Flying Coaster" - it's where you lie on your stomach like you're superman, and you're swung round the coaster. Costed an extra 10RM to go though - and I didn't have the cash on me.

A high view inside the indoor park.

From the ground - crazy colourful hotel painting colours.

ICECREAM! Baskin and Robin's Peanut Butter Chocolate icecream to finish off the theme park rides.

And the purchase of the day: a 12RM brown waist belt from S&M.

Day 6 of Malaysia - Over the hills and not so far away

2011-04-21T00:36:00.000+12:00

currently:this post was written on the 18th of April when I had no internet in the hotel room.

So instead of the usual post about what I ate today, followed by the pictures of what I ate, today's post is about the trip I have taken to Genting Highlands, outside of Kuala Lumpur.

To drive to Genting Highlands from KL takes less than an hour - depending on how fast your driver is. I say that because the hardest part of getting to Genting is going up the mountain, going round and round and round and round and round... So if your driver is fearless - they'll take you up the mountain pretty fast.

Up in Genting it's a different atmosphere. I think I've seen the first white tourists on my trip so far since I've left the airport. It's also much cooler up here thanks to the higher altitude and the constant mist, so the weather becomes more like Auckland City in Autumn.

The reason why most people come up to Genting is for the theme park and resort. Genting has quite a large theme park with quite a few rollercoasters and other rides. It beats Auckland's Rainbows End by heaps. No offence Rainbows End.

I went to Genting last time I was in Malaysia, and I took photos then too. But here are more photos anyway!

Today's highlight was (not food but) the performance we went to at the end of the night.

Glitz is considered this big spectacular show featuring this American magician, a Ukrainian sand artist, this group of Chinese acrobats, and these "Glitz" dancers.

The stage was pretty spectacular looking. But for me and my sister, it took a while for us to be impressed by the acts. The dancers weren't exactly captivating ("Oh look, we can can-can this way, we can can-can that way. Oh and now we can-can in a circle!"), and the magician took a while before he impressed us ("Oh it's a rope." *get bored*). The sand artist was pretty skilled at what she does, but her backing music was irritating. The one that impressed us the most were the boys from the Chinese gymnasts group who were really daring and had us capitivated during their pieces. Plus the tiny little Asian boy who striked superhero poses at the end of ever stunt was adorable :D

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos during the show (the ushers would shine their torches in your eyes and give you the finger "x" while telling you to put the camera away), but I did get this of the sand artist as we were leaving the show.

She did this whole Michael Jackson tribute during her performance, so that was pretty cool.
And so overall, was a pretty nice day. And don't worry, there may be a food post soon if you'd rather read about my daily meals haha.

Day 5 of Malaysia - A health inspector's nightmare

2011-04-18T04:13:00.000+12:00

currently: preping for another mini trip. You'll find out soon....

So I didn't get to do a great deal today. This morning I woke up with my ear ache being more irritating and sore than the night before. So I spent most of the day staying in.

For a late night treat though, we decided to go out and eat at a open restaurant.

This is the sort of place where you won't see health inspectors hang out cause they'd run away in fear. Around this area (like right in the carpark) you'll find stray dogs, cats, rats and large roaches amongst the tables. Which, for me having been used to NZ food grading systems and watching many TV3 Target episodes, isn't the most comfortable place to be.

All the food here is cooked openly so you can see what is going on. That stove/cooking area (where the yellow shirt guys are) is where the roti is cooked, and its cool to see how everything is done. So while you're sitting at your table, you can watch as they toss and throw around everything.

I didn't really feel like getting a roti tonight though. It has been incredibly hot today so all I was looking forward to was something cool to drink or eat. So I got some lychee fruit with shaved ice, grass jelly, jelly balls, cendol and peanuts. So cooling to drink. Not incredibly relaxing though when I saw a roach crawl nearby our table. I may know that there are large roaches and stuff in KL, but I'm not used to it at all.

We also ordered for the group one roti tisu.
This is like a dessert roti. It's like an extra thin and crispy wafer, covered in margarine, sugar and condense milk. And this thing is really tall. Well if you call a 30cm tall roti tall.

Tomorrow I'll be tripping off somewhere else for a couple of nights, so you may not get many postings from me as I'm unsure about net access. But you'll soon see what I'll get up to as soon as I get the chance to share. Stay tuned ;)

Day 4 in Malaysia - Floors, food, face.

2011-04-17T05:03:00.001+12:00

currently: stretching.

So once again, it was another day of shopping. :)
Cause in Malaysia, one of the easiest hobbies to do is shop (and eat).

Today's trip was to Cheras Leisure Mall, which is quite a massive mall - probably not as big as yesterday's The Mines - but they have more of a dedicated area to shopping and clothing (and the other half mainly for food. You have to cross a bridge to get to the other half.)

Oh and apparently some pop star or something called Della Wu was there. I have no idea who she is but she drew a big crowd on the bottom floor in this part of Leisure.

Anyway, when we entered Leisure Mall from the parking lot, there was this cool thing screened onto the floor where kids could jump on it and interact with the floor/screen.

I don't really know what the point of it is, other than entertain the kids. And entertain people like me who is fascinated by that sort of crap.

Anyway, today I managed to make my first (non-food) purchase in Kuala Lumpur.

(I would have taken photos of the actual stores, but I got told a few times that my camera wasn't allowed to be used.)

This ring (brand This & That) was bought for 8RM (about $3.50 NZD)from a store called F-Force or something (the store is a lot like NZ's Valley Girl or Glassons). The ring is this cute little silver bow that fits on the pinky.

Today's bought meal was of an egg tart, a bun, and red bean smoothie.

The egg tart is so cute and tiny! I was going to post a picture of me eating it - but it's a highly unflattering shot.

The bun was like a speciality of the store. The bun was plain but it was buttered and hot and sweet and crispy all at once. Yum :)

Red Bean is big in Asian countries. Normally its thrown into ABC or something, but this was a while blended drink with ice and coconut milk added.

That was what was eaten and bought today.

And just to finish of:

I saw this flower. It has eyes and teeth and everything.
Strange.

Day 3 of Malaysia - Ice, ice, mango baby.

2011-04-16T04:35:00.000+12:00

currently: sleepy

Today has been a long day of shopping, and ice monsters.
We took a trip to The Mines today. You may remember this name from my first round of Asia blog posts where I talked about the Mines and the cool lantern/lights things they had around at the time.

Well this time, there was no outdoor lantern/light festival. Instead today was about going to shop through the 5-20 levels there were in this thing. (I don't know accurately how many levels there are. But there was a lake.)

Despite shopping around there for 5 hours or something - the only thing I had bought the entire time was an icy treat for lunch.

This is what we had gotten between our group. 1 ABC, 1 Mango Monster (which was mine) and 1 Cendol.

ABC is known as Ice Kachang - which really means shaved ice. This is pretty much the most traditional Malaysian Chinese dessert - because its good for horrible humid weather. It contains shaved ice, rose syrup, jelly, lychee, red bean, corn, coconut milk, condensed milk, and other stuff that this store put in specifically as their style.

Cendol is another traditional dessert which I'm not the biggest fan of. Mainly cause the green stuff is a bit tasteless, and they look like weird leeches. I mean look at that thing. It looks like there's these weird bright green slug like creatures eating into this. But its alright - they're not real leech like green things. I think they're made out of rice flour and food colouring or something. This is also served with shaved ice, red beans, sago, coconut milk and palm sugar for sweetness.

And then we come to what I ordered.

so this is the store's special called "Mango Monster". And it really was a monster mound when it was given to me. I love mangoes, and mangoes grow really well in Malaysia (it being part tropic and all.) So my "mango monster" featured cubed pieces of mango on top of a shaved ice snowball, covered with mango puree, a bit of coconut milk, and sago.

It was actually really tasty because it was nice and sweet and cooling for the humid weather (though when I got to the end of it, I was pretty cold.)

For some reason while I was eating it, I was digging into the snowball and kept going till it made an ice cavern. So I took a picture.

It looks like some weird melted frog.

And then my sister copied and made hers look like a monster too.

Looks like something out of Monsters Inc.

Won't get these sort of things in New Zealand.

Day 2 of Malaysia - Food, glorious food?

2011-04-15T06:04:00.001+12:00

currently: too warm to think properly.

It's easy to go and eat out in Malaysia. And when I say easy, I mean you could walk down the street in the suburbs here and grab hot food 24 hours a day.

On the streets and the sides of the roads you'll often find food stalls selling stuff from fruit to hot dogs. (I'm not too sure who would want to buy a hot dog right next to a busy intersection - but hey, people are into this sort of thing.)
Their food also comes at ridiculously cheap prices when you buy from the side of the road - though I may be finding them cheap just because $1 NZD equals to 2.30RM here in Malaysia. So $2NZD is about the price of a meal in Malaysia.

The trip I took today was a short drive from where we were staying, to a place that serves Indian Roti. Now roti is fantastic because it can be eaten in so many different ways, as either a sweet or a savoury - and for all meals.

Today's meal of the day was a variation of roti called roti telur - which is roti with egg. This was served with dal (the yellow stuff) and some sort of spicy curry thing which I've forgotten what it's called. And then a can of soya bean on the side.
In some ways, roti is like a pancake. But it starts of as a dough which stretched and folded before it's cooked on a hot plate, so it's not like the liquid mixture of pancake. What's also different is that I could eat the roti plain if I wanted to because the dough is nice on its own, I couldn't do the same for a pancake.

And one minor thing I did try today was something I have previously avoided...

The durian.
You see, the durian is considered a delicacy and a very royal sort of fruit. But its prickly and smells disgusting. You don't even have to crack that baby open to get a whiff of its potency (which means yes, the smell does become worse when you cut into the durian). I was more forced to try some rather than try out of my own will...and the taste thankfully isn't too bad. The texture is quite creamy and soft, a bit like eating a ripe mango or something. And you don't smell it too much while eating it. But yeah, being around a durian means the smell lingers on your clothes for ages - so if you do get, bring air freshener with you.

Day 1 of Malaysia - Asia Strikes Back

2011-04-14T03:14:00.001+12:00

currently: going to fall asleep soon.

So yeah, I'm in Malaysia again.
And the bug bite count so far: two.

I felt like the title needed some bad Star Wars reference or something as I now return to blogging about this trip back to Asia, 3 years later. The non-existent people who have read my blog from the beginning may remember my first round of blogposts from 2008 where I spent about 11 days in Malaysia and Singapore.
Well this time, it's just a Malaysia trip. And I'll be here for the next 20 days (almost 3 weeks for those who are too lazy to figure it out.)

Not a great deal has been done since I arrived here in Kuala Lumpur at 7am this morning. After an uncomfortable (but smooth) midnight flight where very little sleep was done, I have been too tired to do much. It's that sense of being present - but not being mentally present anywhere. A dazed like state.

I try my best to take everything in. The scenery looks generally the same as I remembered it - maybe just a few more tall buildings chucked in and around the place.

And so is the rain. Pelts you hard and fast, and quite loudly too.

Being in Malaysia, I'm a bit hesitant to take out my camera a lot of the time unless it's safe to do so. I wished I had gotten more pictures but safety comes first around here.

Well food, followed by safety. Today's buy of the day comes from the local mall where they have this place called "J-Co" where they serve donuts and coffee with a logo that looks too similar to Starbucks.

12 Donuts with original names but with slightly strange flavours. I haven't actually eaten one yet, but they do look pretty decent in the box. Durian however I will not try. The smell from that annoyingly lingers on for ages.

Anyway, I am exhausted, so better rest up for whatever tomorrow has in store.

Why sharp pointy items at 2am are not ideal

2011-04-09T01:51:00.000+12:00

currently: feeling...

...stabby

I admit, sometimes I can get a little frustrated with assignments. [/end understatement]
So close to holidays I could almost hug it. If the big fat wall called ASSignments would get out of my way.

Early morning encouragement

2011-04-04T09:28:00.000+12:00

currently: sitting in the uni library.

So found this book next to me just as I started to work on my assignment:

You can imagine how inspired I am, especially at 9:30am in the morning.

I'm ready to go back to sleep now...

My Wedding and Other Secrets (Film Review)

2011-03-29T09:29:00.002+13:00

currently: awake and cold.

EDIT: Thanks MyWeddingAndOtherSecretsMovie.com for linking my review on your blog site. Appreciate the mention :D

Good morning world and those that inhabit Auckland as it is 13 degrees celcius right now. Seriously though, who turned on the air conditioning? I broke out my tights today to wear with my skirt, and I wish I had lace gloves cause my hands are freezing right now.
Anyway, my favourite student mag, debate (yes I'm bias) have printed my review of Roseanne Liang's film 'My Wedding and Other Secrets' which I had gone to see last Saturday with Boyfriend which was quite interesting to do. If you consider the fact that I'm a Kiwi Asian with a white boyfriend, we are able to relate well to the story. Minus the nerd Dungeons and Dragons game. And the fact Boyfriend would rather eat pancakes and waffles all day instead of Weetbix.
But yeah, I consider you go see it. Don't watch Red Riding Hood like some of my friends want to. It's directed by the same person who did 'Twilight'. So its bound to be ~~crap~~ not as good as Liang's film.

You can read online on the AuSM site (just look for "debate issue 5 2011"). Or for your convenience - it's here too. Enjoy :D

My Wedding and Other Secrets
Directed by Roseanne Liang
Grade: A

There was one word that ran through my mind through most of this movie: Awkward. The characters are awkward and the situations are awkward, but it is this awkwardness that gives the movie its strengths, making it a captivating and charming Kiwi romantic comedy.

Directed and co-written by Kiwi Chinese Roseanne Liang, this film is based on her own complicated cross-cultural love story that was originally showcased in the 2005 documentary, Banana in a Nutshell. Set in Auckland, the character Emily (played by Michelle Ang) is an ambitious but geeky film student with large nerdy glasses and a dream to make a spectacular Kung Fu feature film. Liang’s real life husband is recreated as the white and nerdy, cereal-loving James (Go Girls’ Matt Whelan). Put these two characters together and it becomes an awkward situation where both of them “don’t know how to kiss,” but quickly fall into love.

Both unfortunately were unprepared for the reality that Emily’s traditional Hong Kong immigrant parents (played by Kenneth Tsang and Cheng Pei Pei) would disapprove of Emily’s relationship with a man who wasn’t Chinese. Emily, with fears of becoming disowned, pulls James into a Romeo and Juliet romance, trying desperately hard to hide their relationship and still remain the obedient Chinese daughter her parents want. But as Emily’s plans to keep everyone happy end up pushing them away, she begins to realise that there is a deeper meaning to love she had not seen before.

This film is filled with so many different conflicts as it deals with the issues of love, relationships, families and ambition. Ang and Whelan portray their respective characters with great comedic personalities, entertaining the audience through their range of odd and awkward mannerisms. However, when the story does get serious, their frustrations on screen feel so painfully personal that an audience can’t help but sympathise, relate and feel emotional at their situations.

There are also many references to the cross-cultural differences between Pakeha and Chinese. At times it is very comedic, such as James’s disturbed encounter with a cooked chicken head, or his Mandarin conversations with a Chinese female grocer. But there is an underlying truth that in reality, both cultures can still fail to understand and accept one another, something which was interesting to showcase to a multicultural audience.

The only flaw I find with this movie is the lack of screen-time some of the secondary characters got. James’s flatmates, Neil (also known as big-haired Cash Convertors Guy) and Tom, were two really entertaining comedy characters that I wished had more to say throughout the film. Same with Emily’s sister, Susan, who had an interesting back-story, but not much said about her current situation through the film. Also, Eric, Emily’s filmmaking ‘frenemy,’ gets a drastic haircut in the middle of the film where his hair goes from a long Kurt Cobain hairstyle to a short hipster cut. When he had reappeared in the middle of the story, I didn’t recognise what character he was, which had me momentarily distracted.

Ultimately, My Wedding and Other Secrets provides a new take to the merging cultures of the European and Chinese that hasn’t previously been seen in a New Zealand feature film. Though the storyline of complicated relationships is not something new to cinema, Roseanne Liang’s true life story brings a fresh, funny tale in a familiar Kiwi setting. For a true love story, this is a story that shows love in its truest form.

www.myweddingandothersecretsmovie.com

10 people I don't want to sit next to on the bus.

2011-03-28T20:36:00.000+13:00

currently: half-watching Community

So an event on the bus home today made me think of people I don't like sitting next to on the bus. So here is 10 types of people I always hope I don't get stuck sitting next to. Because when I do, the bus ride suddenly becomes less enjoyable.

10 People I don't want to sit next to on the bus. (Or in any public place for that matter.
1) The Lunchbox: They are the person that will sit next to you with Burger King, chips and a dozen donuts in their bag when you're most hungry. Even a simple half hour bus ride becomes torturous as you jealously starve while they stuff their face.

2) The Big Time Talker: The person who thinks it's convenient to hold an hour long conversation on a bus that is already noisy. And no matter how loud you turn your mp3 player - it still isn't loud enough.

3) The Stinker: Self explanatory. They're the person who smells bad and makes you want to jump out the bus or stick your head out of the emergency door just to get fresh air. Smokers fall into this category too.

4) The Disguised Stinker: They're the one that likes to cover up their bad smells with the suffocating smell of too much deodorant. Kill me with your Lynx why don't you....

5) Sweat Shop: Much like the stinker, but uncomfortably moist.

6) Cuddle Buddy: The one who thinks it's okay to invade your personal space and take up one and a half of the 2 seater seats. Dude, I can't move any further before I plaster myself to the window.

7) The Scratcher: Balls. That's all I'll say.

8) Noddy: You're sleepy. I get it. But I'm not some cushion to lean on. Either stay awake, or go and sleep in the middle of the bus - not on me.

9) The Walking Boom Box: They come onto the bus with their music blasting for everyone to hear. Hey, guess what? No one wants to hear it. Specially if it's cruddy hip hop music with too much autotune.

10) Germ Blob: You're the worst. I don't want to get sick, and I don't want your sick germs on me, so learn to cover your face. And don't touch me.

So if you take Auckland public transport and you fall into one of these 10 categories - go sit somewhere else. Please. For my sake, and probably everyone else's.

Why I am more a panda than undead zombie.

2011-03-23T01:34:00.001+13:00

currently: panda-like.

Sorry once again for the lack of posting this month. I was reminded that I haven't done it in a while... That's because Uni has been treating me really well.
(and when I say treating me well, I mean giving me lots of work and assignments so I get $5000 worth of learning for this year.)

Just wanted to say, that I am still well and am probably not an undead zombie.
And this has been drawn from the following conclusions:

My current state:

From this illustrated image, you can see pasty white skin, large eyes, and dark circles around the eyes (caused by mascara smudges and the fact I haven't slept yet).
This can be understood as a being caused by staring at a computer for too many hours, staring at too many bright colours, and staying up late to try and finish assignments.

To compare, here is an undead zombie.

Qualities of undead zombies involve shaggy hair (possibly mullet shaped if it was previously a bogan before turning into a state of undead), large eyes with dark circles, pasty skin, a hunger for human flesh, and a lack of presentable appearance to wash off said human flesh off undead skin, resulting in an appearance that could look kinda "drag queenish/kid that got into mummy's lipstick" look.

Though I may have qualities that are very similar to the undead zombie, it has been recognised that I am more like a panda:

This is due to the same pasty white appearance, with the dark circles around the eyes, and the lack of need to eat human flesh. Also, pandas are from China, and somewhere in my family tree, I'm part Chinese too.

So that concludes that I am more a panda than an undead zombie.
Or that pandas are one bite-of-a-human away from becoming zombies.
Either way, I'm still somewhat alive. :)

An early morning in Auckland city

2011-03-03T09:49:00.000+13:00

currently: half an hour early at uni.

The current view:

I caught the direct bus to uni so I got here much earlier than I need to be. So I thought I'd come and relax for a bit before class.
It's still the same view from the window - The Metro to the right, Aotea Square down in the centre, and the Auckland Town Hall's flag at half mast.

I haven't talked about Christchurch. Mainly cause I feel talking about Christchurch on my blog just feels...difficult for me. It's one thing to post a facebook status telling people to hope and pray for a broken city, yet when I post it on my blog, it's another dimension of personal. This has been the reason why I haven't blogged recently. If I write a blog post, I feel obliged
to talk about it. Eight days better and I feel I'm in the right place to say something.

When the earthquake happened, my boyfriend did not understand why I felt so distraught about it. Never in my life have I lived in Christchurch. In fact, I've only travelled there twice to my knowledge, the last time being 2007. I don't have family living there, I don't have close personal friends there. Yet the day of 22 February I didn't move from my seat in the living room as the coverage unfolded in front of my TV screen.

8 hours I think I sat in front of the tv, constantly refreshing news sites for new updates.

My boyfriend said it wasn't worth it to feel the way I did, that I shouldn't let it get me down.
'Well what else am I suppose to feel?...seeing my country broken the way it is,' I told him.
He didn't really have an answer for that.

Boyfriend meant well. He cares for me in the same way I care for my country, never wanting to see it hurt. The faces of victims are permanently displayed on the front pages of news sites. I don't think I ever imagined to go through something like this before.

I'm blessed to live in the country that I'm in. New Zealand, where I've lived for 19 years, has always been my home. From a Christian perspective, I know that this difficult time for our country will be overcome. The Devil always finds ways to tear us down. New Zealand is too strong to take down the city. There;s a reason why it's called Christchurch.

And that city, which I always thought could be my second home if I ever left Auckland, will be on my mind always. Christchurch still remains to be one of the most beautiful and cultural cities to be in.

So to Christchurch, I love you. To New Zealand, stay strong. While I sit in the heart of Auckland city, opposite the New Zealand flag, my thoughts are about the city that is broken, but never gone.

Lantern Photo Fest

2011-02-21T02:28:00.000+13:00

currently: in bed.

So over this weekend in Auckland was the annual Lantern Festival in Albert Park. (You may remember last year's post.) I love lights, night time in the city and taking photos. So you can imagine that I was pretty stoked to go this year again. However, I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked to this year. We had a bigger group tagging along, and so bigger groups means you don't really get much of a say in stopping by every lantern display to take photos. Oh well, no big deal. I may just be very select with who I go with for next time.

Anyway, here are some of the photos I took. Enjoy!

Skytower in the background :D

Auckland Uni Cathedral thing...

I swear half these lantern sheep are giving the *evils*, along with the cow. One sheep however is giving more a snobbish look than an evil one.

Skytower in perfect sight amongst the lanterns and people.

There was a stage where stuff went on. Performances that were Chinese related and what not. (though half the time I was listening, someone was singing Maori...)

This was after we left. Corner of Queens and Wellesley I think. I was getting all arty.

I got arty with the long shutter speed on the ride home too. :P

Can't touch this.

2011-02-12T15:55:00.002+13:00

currently: lying by a fan.

Stop. Hammer Time.

I spotted that while I was walking with my friend in the suburbs. It just amused me so :D

So far on the sewing front.

2011-01-31T01:51:00.001+13:00

currently: lying in bed

So I haven't really posted much about my current projects that I've been doing this summer. Mainly cause I've done squat. But to prove to people that I do sometimes act productively, here's the proof:

One denim vest made out of the legs from jeans (the makings of which were previously shown here) and one purple skirt with elastic waistband. (similar to the skirt here)

So the denim vest is pretty much two legs from denim jeans unpicked, then sewn together. That seam in the middle is the back of the legs of jeans. They were similar colour, thought it was best they be fitted together. Added a slit just for ease and junk, though the slit could be a bit smaller as my mum pointed out.

The ONLY thing I spent on this vest were the two buttons. Two buttons= 80cents all together (40c for each button.) So this denim vest only costed 80cents to make.

Bam. Lining. Which I'm glad I put it cause it looks better with it. The lining is this gorgeous peachy satin which I originally used to make my sister's friend's costume for Shakespeare. I got to keep all the offcuts. I only lined the front part of the vest since I didn't really have enough for the back.

This is probably one of the bigger flaws - the two toned join at the shoulder. Since these jeans were cut off at the knees, they had that faded look on the front and not the back. Oh well. A bigger problem is the fact that one strap is also bigger than the other. No one really notices though.

This is a skirt I made from chiffon lace print material, black lining and a black piece of elastic. Originally the chiffon and black lining were cut out and sewn for the skirt piece of a dress top I was making. But I stuffed up the bodice, so here's for recycling!

I love this material btw. It's just a great pattern.

And here's something that I've kinda just played with, I've been wanting to try this out for ages and now:

Smocking! Using this tutorial from Threadbangers you put elastic thread in the bobbin and regular cotton in the top. Then you just sew lines.

It gathers up itself and just looks awesome, transforms the material :)
The test I did wasn't as gathered as I thought it would be, but I'll play round with it a bit more, see what happens. It's really so easy to do :D

How an ant caused destruction to my laptop (temporarily)

2011-01-18T01:05:00.000+13:00

currently: sitting in my room, watching for ants.

So my house has been having a bug problem lately. Maybe it's the summer weather and the sudden influx of ants and sandflies. Maybe its the fact that because our house was probably built by 1970s tripped up builders leaving it unprotected with various holes and cracks for ants to crawl through. Where ever the problem lies, I've been getting ants crawling into my bedroom from somewhere.

We bug bombed the house recently, so I'm not suppose to get the occasional ant crawling across my walls, but somehow, one managed to bypass all the fumes and started crawling on my laptop.

I thought "Oh naive ant. You must die for invading my house and now touching my stuff."

I went to squish it. But I missed.
And that's when the ant did something I didn't expect to happen.

It went "Muhaha!" then crawled under my ALT key.

Well okay, I didn't hear it do an evil "Muhaha" laugh. But I'm sure it did as it crawled under my ALT key.
So now I had a black ant, crawling under my black keys on my keyboard. Camouflaged. And it wouldn't come out.

Drat.

I turned to Facebook, seeing if I could get some help or support.

Hmphf. Should have seen that coming.

I took matters into my own hands. With a piece of cardboard, cutting it into something sharp and pointy, I started poking under my keys, hoping that maybe the evil and invasive ant would come crawling out for mercy.

Instead, I break my spacebar.

With my blind stabbing attempts, I had taken out the centre rubber button of my spacebar. My spacebar was as flat and lifeless as Myspace.

It's a good thing I have the great skill of being able to fix things with my hands. Seriously, I'm like a female Asian version of MacGyver sometimes. Broke your necklace? I can fix it. Fan strangely blowing air the wrong way? I'll get the wires fixed the right way. Your zipper broke and you have to dance on stage in half an hour? Give me 5 safety pins and a bottle of red facepaint. Bam.

(It's also a good thing I have a boyfriend that knows how to fix laptops, and access to Youtube where there are instruction videos on how to repair stuff.)

So after half an hour later, a bit of superglue and Boyfriend reading my texts accusing the ant for my current problems, I finally fixed my laptop.

Me: Finally, laptop is all fixed now. Thanks for the help.
Boyfriend: That's great. Hope the ant got it's punishment!

No it didn't. I still can't find the ant.

Drat.

Love this summer sun

2011-01-16T11:47:00.000+13:00

currently: bit too dark for my liking.

So my New Year's Resolution was not to stop posting on my blog. So sorry internet, I'm cluttering you up again.
I've been spending my time since New Years with friends, at the sewing machine, or outside shopping.
Or if not, playing on my new cellphone I had to get after I broke my old one by dropping it on the concrete and breaking the LCD screen.

Not the best start to the year.
But it has been an amazing summer so far.

Yesterday, got to go to Wendelholm, north of Auckland. Me and Boyfriend went kayaking in a family friend's kayaks, and had a picnic along the shoreline with our families and friends. I got to see my family friend's daughter in the sundress I had made for her.

She looked so super cute :)

Using a free BurdaStyle pattern, it was made out of scrap Stage Challenge material (yellow gingham cotton and yellow satin) and re-used lace from an old denim lace mini I had made when I was younger. The buttons were the only things I bought so all together the cost is 60 cents: 20 cents for each button.
She is only 14 months, so I had to take a size 2 pattern and shrink it a bit. It's still a bit big but she'll grow for sure. :)

I think what's great about living in New Zealand is how amazing a view can be just from an ordinary hilltop.
These was taken on the way to Orewa

Even driving is so peaceful and relaxing in the summertime.
I was driving the car, so I got my sis to take this picture in the mirror.

I love the colours in the sky on a clear, cool summer's night.

It's nothing short of fantastic :)

Oprah's dead. WHAT?

2010-12-31T17:39:00.002+13:00

currently: really warm. The weather here is only 20 degrees at the moment, but I have a laptop on me breathing out hot air. Uncomfortable right now...

So I had a bit of a WTF moment while I was checking NZ Herald just before.

I had misread it. Thinking "Oprah Winfrey is dead" and preceding to go "WTF WTF WTF (What the face)" in my head.

But no, they were talking about how her show is ending.
Anti-climax. I saw that coming.

Anyway, today is the last day of 2010. And it's gonna go down how it normally goes down. I'll go to my friend's place tonight. They'll do a bit of drinking, and I'll be on a Vanilla Coke sugar high bouncing on the trampoline. It's pretty much tradition for me (though one year I had Lemon and Lime Bitters instead of plain soft drinks. That was nice)

(Obviously 5 years of graphics and art didn't seem to teach me much in terms of drawing...)
I also made my lemon cheesecake for tonight. Let's hope no one pukes cause of it :D

Now normally people go and talk bout their resolutions and talk bout what they accomplished.
I won't do that. Cause I failed half of it. And there were only 4. (you can see it here anyway and take a guess which ones I didn't do. Though to be fair, I did sorta complete them all. Just not really.)

What I do plan is to sew more, starting with this vest I'm doing on my brand new sewing dress form :D

It's currently not sewn together, just all pinned up. It's made from the legs of jeans my sister had cut off to make shorts (which she didn't end up using because the jeans didn't fit her in the first place.)

So I've got myself a pair of short shorts, and am making a denim vest out of the leftover legs so there's no waste. (-That really sounded like the strangest sentence ever.)

Anyway, better finish off what's left of this 2010. Kiwi BBQ tonight (though to be fair, my family's BBQ involves Chinese fried rice so it's not completely Kiwi) then party to the new year with my good friends (while I use my friend's trampoline. Yeah I'm that sort of person.)

Sweet as. :D

Lenore - a story about a poem.

2010-12-29T23:23:00.001+13:00

currently: chilling while people on the Food Channel cook with carrots.

You find some strange things while cleaning out your computer.
One of the more surprising things I found while looking through my old files was this story I wrote for class in year 10/grade 9/age 15

When I started NCEA, I was pretty lousy with creative writing. At intermediate, I was ACE at it. But something about NCEA English Creative Writing always stuck me with just passing grades. So when I resat this for Level 1 Creative Writing, I was so happy when I got an Excellence grade for it.

I thought I had lost this story forever. The only E I got in creative writing, forgotten in piles and piles of uncared for student work, slowly eaten away by moths. So I was pretty glad when I found it again. And I thought I'd share. Call this a short bedtime story (though not the most pleasant story you'd want to read at bedtime.)

This was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's poem, 'The Raven' which I was studying in class at the time.

Lenore

Her head laid on the velvet cushion. Weary and spiritless, she shifted herself to glimpse the time on the clock that hung above the mantle of the fireplace. The time was only past dawn, but she felt unwilling to escape the comfort of the silken sheets. She turned to rest on her back and face the ceiling, observing the marbled décor that she herself has specifically chosen, each magnificent design overflowing with detail. Each unblinking gaze upon the swirling cream colours let herself slip into a memory of the night before.

She stood in the doorway of the hall, looking towards the front entrance. The grand door was open, letting winter’s cold wind to pass through. He stood there. A man of great stature and wealth, he glanced in his reflection in the nearby mirror. Wearing a long coat and neatly pressed black pants, he finally placed his top hat above tidily brushed dark hair. Without turning to her, he headed towards the door.
“I shall return in the morrow”.

She blinked. The sun was now brighter, streaming through the cracks in the purple curtains. She stretched her arm across the bed, her hand sweeping over the bitter sheets where he normally slept. She felt sadness at the sight of the untouched cushion, brushing it like a delicate feather. Gradually she got out of bed. The lace of her dress swept across the cold floor as she carefully walked.

The moon in the night sky shone through the blanket of clouds. She walked up to him, full of mixed emotions. Grabbing his arms, she looked hard at him with a longing gaze, unable to say words, holding him back. He took her hands and pushed them harshly away from him.
“Is time now. I must leave Lenore,” he said in a rough voice, his head low.
Quickly, he turned to grab his bag and leave in haste. The moonlight followed him down the cobblestone footpath to the carriage waiting for him. He gave one last look at her, before quickly shifting his gaze towards the driver. He mumbled some words and with his head facing away from her, the carriage rode off. And at the doorstep, she dejectedly stood, rotating the ring on her finger till he left her view.

She stared at her image in the elegant mirror. Long blonde hair waved down the small of her back. Marble skin and piercing sapphire eyes placed on a heart shaped face. She wore a milk coloured dress that showed off her curved silhouette. And on her left hand was her ring. She began to rotate her ring again, slowly sliding it off her finger into her right hand. She felt chills as the air became dense. Her breathing grew deeper. Little by little, crystal tears began to run like a waterfall as her reflection crumpled before her. She placed the ring on the floor, and with one last look, she ran out of the house.