Posts filed under 'Reviews'
okay, this is the post on the cute hotel i stayed at in Bangkok! i’ve been getting so many emails asking about this hotel after i mentioned it in the Chatuchak post, and now i’m feeling quite regretful that i didn’t take pictures of the hotel properly. haih! but i will try my very best to do justice to the cuteness of this hotel, ok? :P
Reflections is a place that would typically be classified under boutique hotels, but i think a better term for it is ‘art inn’. converted from a few shophouses into one of the coolest travel accommodations i’ve ever stayed in, Reflections resembles an inn more than it does a hotel because of its size, layout, amenities and location. with its lobby doors opening right out onto the streets of Pradiphat, Bangkok, it is distinguishable from its neighbouring pharmacies and grocery stores only by the bright turquoise colors of its walls.
i thought it was a little strange to find such a striking boutique hotel/inn nestled amongst these common and drab shophouses, but i later realized how much it added to the overall charm of the place. your balcony opens up to life in the midst of non-tourist Bangkok, and you cant help but feel extremely welcome and at ease in a place that is so genuine and down-to-earth.
Reflections has only 30 rooms, and the reason why i think it should be called an art inn is that each and every one of its 30 rooms has a theme and design unique to itself. no two rooms in Reflections are alike, and they are all conceptualized and designed by different artists. isn’t that so cool! eeyang and i had a lot of fun browsing through their website and picking out which rooms we wanted.
here are pictures of the rooms we stayed in!:
ROOM 409
Price: 1850 baht /night (RM 185)
#1 this is Eeyang’s room - Room 409. the theme here is positive energy-meets-nature. the room is actually not as warmly-lit as the pictures imply, and it can get a bit gloomy in here because the lighting isn’t very powerful, but overall it’s clean, simple and very spacious.
#2 we had a good giggle looking at the shower, because it opens right into the bedroom, and there’s no door to the bathroom/toilet space :P this room was quite uninteresting to us because there really wasn’t much relevance to the theme, and nothing quirky to poke at :( the other rooms, as you shall soon see, are less spartan and have a lot of very interesting touches.
#3 eeyang posing on the bed. isnt that stool with the phone so cute! oh and the notepads in this hotel are pads of multi-coloured post its :D
ROOM 203
Price: 2250 baht /night (RM 225)
#4 this is the door leading into Room 203, which was my room, and located on the ground floor of the block next door (Reflections takes up two blocks of shoplots), and they’re separated by a small walkway compound. we were SO lucky that someone canceled their booking and we could get this room upon check-in, because it was one of our first choices :D
#5 this room is huuuge and very cheerful! after the gloom and barrenness of Room 409, i was glad to come into this homey and cozy room. aptly, this room is themed ‘Wish You Were Here’ and has tones of nostalgia and old charm.
#6 this is the bathroom of Room 203. the wooden part is where the shower area is. i like! bigger bathroom than the previous room, although also separated by curtains and not a lockable door.
#7 the artist of this room really knew how to bring out the theme of nostalgia. lots of interesting old-school toys and dolls to poke around with in this room. i really liked it in here :)
ROOM 202
Price: 2250 baht /night (RM 225)
#8 Room 202 is an EXTREMELY CUTE room!! it’s the room next to mine, and when we came back from breakfast, the housekeeps were in there cleaning up, so we asked if we could go in to take a look. i was so enamoured by the little details of this room that i forgot to take a shot of the whole room :( but you can click here to see what it looks like
#9 this is a sink right in front of the bed, where you can use those paints and brushes and paint onto that mural next to the sink. damn nice right! it was very cool seeing all the arty additions by all the people who’ve stayed in this room before and left behind a little bit of themselves on the mural :)
#10 this is the clothesrack. haha two big birds!
#11 the mirror that’s been painted on, too. check out the lockers behind me that serve as drawers!
#12 this is the sofa-bed. eeyang and i originally wanted this room for the sofa bed because we could have saved on the double room costs :( but oh well. such is thy fate if thy booketh thy hotel room only 4 days before trip!
GENERAL OPINION ON ROOMS:
i really prefer the latter two rooms to the first; the extra RM 40 really makes all the difference. all rooms in Reflections have free wifi access (an extremely strong deciding factor for me when choosing hotel rooms!!!) but the rooms in the second block get stronger connectivity. we couldnt get connectivity in Room 409 at all, which was another reason why i didnt like that room.
note that ALL rooms in Reflections have double beds; there are no single or twin bed rooms. this posed quite a problem on this trip, hence we had to book 2 rooms and spend a lot of money. haih. so this is a hotel best for couples or friends who don’t mind sharing the same bed. there are some rooms with sofa beds though, and i think there is one room that actually has a single bed next to the double bed. OR, you can do what we realized WAY too late we could do, which is purchase one of those extra beds for 500 baht (RM 50) per night and have it wheeled into your room :) *tries not to grumble at amount of money that could have been saved*
besides 202 and 203, our other first choices were Room 303 and Room 402.
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#13 our room keys!
#14 stairs leading up to the rooms in the first block. every wall and corner of the entire hotel has some form of art splashed on it.
#15 the broadband-enabled computers in the lobby. thai broadband is faaaaaaaast. there are also lots of books and bangkok travel guidebooks next to the computers. you can borrow the books :)
#16 this is the hotel cafe, where you have your free ala carte breakfast. like the rest of the hotel, it is extremely cute and happy, and has a lot of quirky artistic touches :)
#17 … like this curtain made out of neckties! eeyang and i were goggling at the creativity of this. though it would look much nicer if there were more neckties on the bar!
#18 .. and this super cool chair with little toys glued all over it :) it’s so creative and comfy that i wanted to bring it back home with me T____T
#19 funny drawings like this one are placed where the overhead menu boards usually are
#20 sofas in the cafe for you to read or just chill
#21 eeyang and i with the big teddy bear in the very small hotel lobby. on our last day, both the couch and the bear were gone, because they are apparently the props for the newest room redesign
#22 the extensive DVD library in the lobby!!! you can take any of them back to the room because each room has a DVD player!!! did you know that i found Singing In The Rain and The Seven Year Itch in their collection!!! oh my god!!! but we ended up getting Romeo + Juliet but fell asleep watching it :(
#23 adjacent to the hotel lobby is a space where the hotel owners sell original-design bags and notebooks and clothes and stationery and lots of other stuff. i never managed to ask the hotel staff who designed these things, nor did i get to buy anything :(
#24 CDs at the shop space
#25 clothes and art for sale
#26 very cute notebooks that i wanted to buy back as souvenirs!!! but our ride to the airport came so early :(
#27 funky bags for sale. see the luggage bags behind, in the display window? I WANTED ONE SO BADLY. why did the cab have to come so soon!
okay no more pictures. lemme just give a quick summary of the main facets of a hotel stay :
Rooms: absolutely creative and so much fun to stay in, very clean and comfortable, wifi-enabled, double beds only (but you can purchase additional beds), bathrooms have no door, good beds and pillows, nice towels and bathrobes. room in the first block can be gloomy. book early because there are so little rooms in this place! Rating : 4/5.
Service: top notch. it is a small establishment run by a small handful of people, and each and every one of them were very kind, polite and hospitable. eeyang found a smoke buddy in one of them :P they are extremely helpful, especially with directions, and they don’t hesitate at all to go out and hail a cab with you to tell your cabbie where to go (many cabbies cant speak English). 5/5.
Price & Booking: all rooms go by 4 rates - A) 1850 baht, B) 2250 baht, C) 2950 baht, D) 3450 baht. these prices are just right for boutique hotels. but of course this is Bangkok, and you can find cheaper hotels anywhere in the city, but none as unique, comfy and cool as Reflections :) bookings can only be made via their website and phoning in.
Amenities: no pool or gym, though this was no problem for me as i never use either when traveling. there is a hotel cafe with ala carte breakfast, open 24 hours with room service delivery. hotel shop selling those bags and stuff. hotel is wifi-enabled (though some rooms have very weak connectivity; check with concierge prior to booking). two broadband-enabled desktops at lobby. dvd library and a dvd player + tv in every room. air conditioner and hot water in all rooms.
Location: Reflections is located in Pradiphat, which is a 10-15 minute taxi ride to the city center (Sukhumvit, Silom and all) if traffic is good, and that costs about 50 - 70 baht (RM 5 - 7). it’s a 10 baht (RM 1) tuk-tuk ride or a 8-minute walk to the nearest Skytrain station, which is the Saphan Khwai station. in Bangkok, any hotel that’s near the Skytrain = GOOD; very convenient to get around. Reflections is also extremely near the Chatuchak Weekend Market (hehe!) and it costs about 30 baht to get there via tuk-tuk. it is very easy to get taxis from the hotel, and the hotel staff will help you with this. ALSO, there are lots of money changers here - on the same road as Reflections - that give very good rates. change your money here, trust me :D
thus ends my happy review of Reflections Rooms in Bangkok :) it is a lovely, kitsch, quaint place that i’m so glad to have discovered. yes, i would definitely recommend this hotel, and it is definitely where i will stay from now on whenever i go to Bangkok.
feel free to ask me questions if you have any :) charge you i will not, obviously, but if you would like to offer me a Clarinase pill, it would be very welcome. the last of my Clarinase stock was confiscated at the Freedom rave :( runny-nosed and feverish i am now. sigh!
May 13th, 2008
today i’m going to blog about the best - and also my favourite - place to shop in the whole wide world : the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok :)
no trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to the huge and famous weekend market that houses a vast labyrinth of shops and stalls selling just about anything a shopper could ask for. some 20,000 shops are tucked away haphazardly in this market, separated into 26 different sections according to their 9 categories of wares - books & collectibles, plants & gardening, home utensils & decor, pets and animals, antiques, clothing and accessories, handicrafts, furniture and miscellaneous; somewhat systematic but still thrillingly chaotic.
not only does Chatuchak have the most mind-boggling variety of products for sale, but everything is also CHEAP like nothing you’ve ever seen before!!! so cheap that every weekend in Bangkok, resellers and business owners from all over the world descend onto Chatuchak to stock up wholesale on super-cheap clothes, furniture, accessories and jewelry to bring back to their shops to re-sell for triple the price. (read: Bangsar and Hartamas boutiques ;) the rest of us holidaying shoppers can also share the joy of finding bargains in every nook and corner of the market. dangly earrings for RM 1 per pair? little wooden stools for RM 3? sundresses and original artist-designed tshirts for RM 15? a whole box of beautiful glass jars for RM 8? only in Chatuchak :)
upon touchdown in Bangkok, eeyang came to ask me : “so where do you wanna go first?” and i instantly screamed “CHATUCHAK!!!!” please, as if he even needed to ask. sigh i seriously believe that my birthplace is actually Chatuchak. there is no other place on earth in which i feel more at home and ALIVE :D and so we spent the first 4 hours of our time in Bangkok trawling Chatuchak and scavenging for the best buys. we emerged happy! very very tired and sweaty but happy.
pictures! :
#1 little bags and clutches going for 59 baht (RM 5.9) and 100 baht (RM 10)
#2 this is a shop selling art materials; there is a whole area in Chatuchak just for handicraft stuff. i go CRAZY buying materials everytime i’m here! sieutheng, ginny and vvens, you guys would love it too. ink pens, marker pens, all kinds of paper, string, ribbon, buttons and all kinds of craft items for super cheap!
#3 bundles of tissue paper for so cheap. i remember how when we were doing that Valentines’ Day roses project back in Form 5, and i was so happy to find tissue for RM 30/bundle at SSF in Jalan TAR. here in Chatuchak it’s RM 10, without bargaining yet. sigh!
#4 adorable puppies for sale :) there was a REALLY cute pure-breed pomeranian that cost only RM 200!!! wtfish! in KL it would probably sell for RM 1,600.
#5 this is my attempt at taking a The Dog picture, hehe. it’s a quasi-milo dog!! :D
#6 handmade postcards that i bought for RM 2 each after bargaining. i was so attracted to them because the postcards featured a lot of teddy bears that i actually have! see that monkey, and that Tigger and Piglet? i have them too! the photos in the postcards were taken by the shopowner’s sister - she’d take all her soft toys along with her and drive around the rural areas of Thailand to do her photoshoots, then make cards out of her photos. so creative! i bought a whole bunch back to use as birthday cards :)
#7 earrings for RM 1 a pair. i bought a dozen :D hello!!! it’s RM 1!!!
#8 this shop color-coded all their earrings. the girl in the photo is Malaysian too, and she kept going, “aiyo die lah how could i have spent so much money buying all those earrings from The Curve when it’s so cheap here!!”. i totally know how she felt because i kept seeing at Chatuchak all these dresses that i bought from Bangsar.. but at one third the price i paid :(
#9 happy mugs!
#10 happy clips!
#11 lots of little shops like these that sell pretty clothes. even though they’re quite cheap, the problem is you cant try the clothes on. unless the shop happens to have a makeshift dressing-room; usually just a pinned up cloth. works, nevertheless! the blue dress i’m wearing in the McDonalds video is from Chatuchak - cost only RM 10! i bought the same dress in pink too.
#12 haha this is eeyang eating some chocolate donut thing. he’s wearing my heart necklace -___- he just came into my room, picked it up and threw it around his neck. i didnt even realize he was wearing it until i took this picture. even then, he didnt want to give it back -_____- haih sometimes i worry about him.
#13 REALLY PRETTY FLIP FLOPS FOR ONLY RM 5!!!! it’s not even the strawy/beachy type of flip flops that are so native to Thailand. sigh. i was so smitten i bought 3 pairs. that’s my finger pointing at a pink pair that i bought. i wanted the orange one at the upper left corner but no size :(
#14 eeyang thought i had to have this shirt because i am actually a cat ^___^ i should have bought the piggy one at the back because i am also a pig :| the shirts here are slightly more expensive (RM 20) cos they’re original designs.
#15 handwoven Moccasin-type shoes! so cuuute. but one rainy day and it’ll be all ruined :|
#16 me and the best drink that Thailand has to offer - the orange juice! they use these oranges that are very very much like mandarin oranges, and the drink is just so mind-numbingly good. SIGH. i miss!
#17 we bumped into Jack Sparrow hahahaha
#18 bags! but after trawling all of Chatuchak, i didnt find any that i really really liked :\
#19 this shop looks like it belongs in a mall, doesnt it? Chatuchak has loads of these. very quirkily-designed shops with quality products.
#20 so cool, right? a bag made out of an empty rice sack
#21 pouches and pencil cases for RM 9.90. i bought that colorful one underneath the sign, and also a red faux croc skin case for my make-up. contentment!
#22 gorgeous tribal-design earrings! RM 8 per pair, also original designs. no other shop in Chatuchak had these earrings.
there are soooooooo many more things quaint items in Chatuchak that i didn’t take pictures of, and also that i wish i bought :( eeyang and i went back to Chatuchak again the following day because we felt we just HAD to buy more stuff. haha. my biggest regret was not buying this beautiful oil painting from this artist who had a most unique and dreamlike style. but it cost RM 150, and i didnt have enough cash on me :\ by the time i got more cash, i couldnt find her shop again.
which brings me to …
PINKPAU’S TIPS FOR CHATUCHAK MARKET!
1. if you see something you like, buy it right away. don’t even think of walking around to compare prices and then coming back, because chances are you won’t be able to find the shop again. that’s how big and messy Chatuchak is
2. if you MUST move away from a shop but want to come back, ask them for a business card or the section and soi (street .. or in this case alley) of their shop. most merchants in the market will know how to direct you back to your intended shop just by looking at the section & soi.
3. dont stray too far from your friends!! it can be a REAL pain in the butt to locate each other again, even if you have phones. if you are in a big group and it’s just impossible to shop together, designate a place to meet-up again at a certain time. one good spot to do this is the Clock Tower. there are buggies in the open-air areas that will ferry you around for free, but you must ask them to take you to your intended spot.
4. wear comfortable shoes. i’d suggest something like flip flops, which are comfy but also easy to remove in case you want to try on or shop for shoes
5. dress lightly and appropriately for the hot sticky weather, and also for lots of shoulder-rubbing and body-grazing; the Chatuchak crowd is not to be underestimated :P
6. try not to use the bathrooms if you can help it. the bathrooms are few, overly crowded, dirty and faaaar away.
7. yes you can bargain at most shops!
8. have fun exploring Chatuchak!!! here, only the fittest will survive and emerge victorious :P
oh, chatuchak. oh, cheap shopping. oh, wonderful smorgasbord of hodgepodge and bric-a-brac. my heart longs for you so! hey if anyone wants certain kinds of things from Chatuchak, lemme know :) i may be going back there sometime in June or July, so can help you folks buy.
i’m going to write about my hotel in Bangkok in the next post. oh it is the CUTEST hotel you will ever lay eyes on, and i’m so excited to write about it!! :D
May 7th, 2008
it is a good time for the internet junkie! guess who just got a free Sony Ericsson k660i to go online with to all her heart’s content? yesssss, lucky me :D actually no lah, i don’t get to keep the phone forever; i only get it for a brief period so that i can learn the ropes of this phone to write this short review about it.
after discovering the wonderful world of 3G and getting myself one of those unlimited data browsing plans, all i really care about now is surfing the internet on my mobile phone :P so this phone came JUST at the right time, because apparently the k660i’s focus is all about its internet browsing charm. score!!!!! there is nothing an internet addict loves more than a phone made just for internet addicts :D
two reasons why i like the k660i : the HSDPA-enhanced browsing and the desktop feed ticker.
HSDPA, or also known as 3.5G, is an evolution of 3G that greatly increases data download speeds. it’s broadband-like speed right from your mobile phone :) it’s great. streaming American Idol straight from Youtube has never been better or smoother. i’ve also been happily showing everyone within reach all my favourite Jeon Ji Hyun commercials from my profile in Youtube, because all the videos load so quickly with HSDPA, and Jeon Ji Hyun is only like the cutest and hottest creation of God, EVER. watch the Giordano and KFC ads that i have on my profile and you’ll see what i mean! and while you’re at it, do watch the other ads i’ve got there because they’re all really good… hahaha especially the one titled ‘Best commercial ever’ :D hehehe le giggle.
the k660i also has this really awesome ticker function that brings your news feeds automatically to your phone’s desktop. yup, breaking news headlines from your favourite news sites straight to your desktop without you having to search for ‘em, complete with thumbnails of accompanying photos. and after some tinkering around i found that i could get automatic update flashes of blogs from this feed widget too :D see, i’ve got a masak-masak.blogspot.com update on my desktop.
my brother tells me that the k660i is the cheapest HSDPA-enabled phone on the market, and it retails at around rm890. quite cheap right? my brother’s friend actually wanted to buy the k660i off me to give to his girlfriend. sooooo nice :\ why nowadays all the school kids so loaded wan, can buy mobile phones for girlfriend :\ chow eeyang why last time you never buy mobile phone for me!!!
thus ends my very n00b review of the Sony Ericsson k660i. thank you timothy for arranging this for me :)
this blogger supports the writing of truthful and sincere reviews/advertorials :)
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i had a really good time in Bangkok (and rushed like crazy from the airport to the Malaysian Dreamgirl finale!) over the weekend. i’m back home now, and suddenly there seems like a lot of things to do in too short a timespan, but i look forward to the upcoming preoccupation. it will be good to soak myself in BOTH happy and exciting things, before i commit myself fully to only one or the other in time to come. the truth is, i want to be happy; it was very obvious from the way i chose to flip my coin at Suvarnabhumi today. but then ‘exciting’ sounds too good to pass up. and maybe excitement will breed a different brand of happy.. who knows.
oh and for the curious, Cindy won Malaysian Dreamgirl. Adeline was the first runner-up. Hanis was the second runner-up who looked visibly shocked that her name was called first, and who also had her own fanclub posse all decked out in red ‘Vote Hanis!’ tshirts and cheering for her incessantly at the finale. no, i didn’t manage to take a picture with Cindy’s dad :\ but i did manage to take many funny pictures with many funny people, mostly involving the recent loss of my epidermal perfection. under my nose, to be exact. hahaha. kawan kawan sekalian, please send me all the pictures, ok!!! i want to put them up :P
April 30th, 2008
and so the Top 3 of Malaysian Dreamgirl has been decided upon :)
it was interesting to see that Jay, Nadia and Hanis won Kenny’s catwalk challenge last week, with Hanis getting replaced by Adeline after she was disqualified. i think a lot of people are of the opinion that this challenge was a good barometer of the talent in this competition, and that Jay, Nadia and Hanis deserved the most to emerge as our Top 3.
the Couture Batik photoshoot in the same episode is my favourite shoot to date - exquisite dresses, gorgeous hair and makeup, and the floral-themed graphic design was a lovely touch! below are each of the Top 6 girls’ pictures along with my commentary; please read on only if you have watched the latest episode and already know who the Top 3 are :)
1. HANIS
Hanis’ pictures is absolutely stunning and my favourite of the bunch. it is flawless in my humble opinion - face, posture, dress, mood are all 10/10. yes, i do think she deserves to be in the Top 3, and i wasnt surprised when Andrew of Andrew’s Models singled her out as his favourite and the one with the most potential in the Top 6. like Cheryl Samad and Sazzy Falak, Hanis has the young and sweet look that has proven to sit very well with the Malaysian audience. she’s pretty, chatty, has presence and a beautiful personality to boot. if she decides to further her career after the show, Hanis can go SO far as a tv host and presenter. can’t you just see her hosting the next One In A Million or Akademi Fantasia? :D
contrary to what some of her detractors (and there aren’t many) think about her complaining about the other girls too much, i believe it is important for people to have opinions and to be brave enough to speak up. and i also think even when she’s complaining about other girls, Hanis still manages to be sweet and likable! haha. a remarkable ability. Hanis is going to make waves in the coming years :)
2. JAY
ah, Jay :( i know a lot of people think that she should be in the Top 3, but unfortunately she didn’t make it. at the beginning, Jay was eclipsed by some of the more eye-catching girls like Eyna and Jean and the more controversial characters like Cindy and Nadia, but as the show went on it became obvious that Jay was a force to reckon with. she was hardworking, kind and had strong beautiful features that she knew how to use to her advantage. so many people support Jay and think that she’s the best of the Top 6, but this was a support that either didn’t translate to votes, or just wasn’t enough to top the votes of the final three girls. haih. i voted several times for Jay this week, too :(
but Jay’s picture is only just alright. when i was watching her pose in that episode, i thought that her final picture would turn out really good, but strangely enough this was the one they picked at the end. why! surely there were nicer pictures. her arm in the photo looks slightly disproportionate, and it would have made better composition if we could see her other arm behind her. her facial expression was very obviously mid-twirl because it’s neither here nor there. where the other girls’ pictures looked etheral, Jay’s didnt.
i really like Jay and wished she could have made it to the final 3, but i suppose that is not to be :( when the four of us went to visit the Dreamhouse that one time, she was so very kind and polite to us. i watched her at MIFA and i thought she looked absolutely fantastic on the runway. she totally owned it :) Jay if you are reading this, i hope you take all the opportunities that the show has given you and pursue your dreams to the very end. you belong in this industry.
3. ADELINE
Adeline sure surprised everyone last week! she really broke out of her shell and did such a fantastic job in the Escada commercial shoot. she was smiling throughout the shoot, and like i mentioned before, her smile truly is her best asset, second only to her huge eyes. she’s also visibly a lot more comfortable with the camera and is a lot more expressive than she used to be, and so her progress is quite obvious in that arena. but i still think she needs a lot more work when it comes to photos; the doped blur look she’s had from the start is STILL there :(
her Batik picture is definitely her best picture to date, though still far from great. Adeline really looks like a fairy in this picture and her skin looks sooooo good. but like Jay’s, this photo would look much better if we could see her other arm, as well as more of her dress. i think she mentioned in the previous episode that she was told to do certain poses, and this often resulted in her having bad angles.. well, if the Wella shoot was anything to go by, she should not do as they say, then!!
with some polishing and training, Adeline can do very well. Andrew of Andrew’s Models mentioned that she has the potential to pursue acting, and when he said that i was a little bit surprised, because acting requires the kind of expressiveness that Adeline doesn’t have cos she’s so blur all the time! but then i thought about it and recalled the Escada commercial where she totally kicked butt, and i realized that Adeline DOES indeed come to life when she’s acting. so, Chinese tv show producers out there, what are you waiting for! :) here’s your girl.
4. RINGO
her elimination was seriously the shock of the century. i think nobody expected it at all. i believe her downfall was her previous remark about how she didn’t know where her votes were coming from. a lot of her fans must have felt slighted and stopped voting :( haih to be honest, i actually think that comment was blown out of proportion. i suppose it was only humble to say ‘i’m really surprised that i’m still here’, and she also said twice that she was grateful and thankful for all her votes. why did everyone choose to disregard that.
and also, it is the truth wat that her mom is her only family. many weeks ago, Mr BBQ and i were talking about Ringo’s chances in the competition. i was of the opinion that if the votes were left untampered (which they can’t be, because they’re externally audited), Ringo was winning the competition for sure, because she has SO MANY fans. but then Mr BBQ pointed out that fans will only vote two or three times at the most, but it is family members who will vote for you a few hundred times in one go. doesn’t that have a lot of truth in it? my votes in this show never exceeded 5 for a single girl. but i know that if my sister (if i had one) or even my cousin joined, i would be voting for her rabidly and campaigning like crazy. so i’m sure that’s what Ringo meant when she said she doesnt enjoy the privilege of having a huge extended family like the other contestants. however, yes, she does have her fan base, which she should have acknowledged. but yknow, she did say she was grateful and thankful to whoever was voting for her :)
so to me, Ringo’s biggest downfall was not the comment she made, but that she’s too quiet and like Adeline, hasn’t made much progress since the start of the show. her photo in the Batik photoshoot is good - i actually really like her face in this photo because it connected so well with the camera. (yaya i know the look was supposed to be ‘blank’ and everything but i think that’s such a bad direction to give. ‘faraway’ look would have been better than ‘blank’) even though her face looked a bit small in the photo, it’s still gorgeous, and she definitely made good use of the features in her dress, like propping up one leg to show the layers and holding up the veil at the back. to Ringo, if you are reading this, it’s good to have you back blogging :) come out next week ok, Stewie buy us dinner!!!
5. CINDY
this picture of Cindy is pleasant and all, but a little bit lifeless. her face, hair, collar area and that arched foot looks goooood all put together though. the one thing i would do to improve this picture is to see some life or movement in it; maybe stretch out the right leg and arch her back.
is it just me or has Cindy suddenly become a lot more likable? i see that she’s dropped her accent for good and that makes me very happy, you kneow :D it was quite painful to watch everytime she put on that accent. she did a great job in the Escada shoot, but her catwalk is still quite bad. i dont know about the robotic part, but i do know that she walks way too fast for the runway. on another note, the model from Andrew’s Models who was with Elaine Daly in the latest episode, the one called Tini? she was at MIFA too, and oh my god her runway walk is FAWESOME. she has a superstyle stomp :D i couldnt help but gape.
Cindy is a very pretty girl and many think she’s hot, but with looks alone she cannot do much. so i think she needs a lot of honing before she can make it big as a model. i think she’s made a lot of improvement from the start though, which is good cos it shows she’s learning. i’m quite excited to watch her at the Malaysian Dreamgirl finale this Tuesday, just to see if she’s getting better on the runway :)
6. NADIA
no i dont like this picture. it’s mid-jump, the posture is bad and her facial expression is lost. her dress is magnificent but is not showcased properly in the photo. and you know what i think, i dont think it’s Nadia’s fault. she looked like she was doing a good job posing through the video, and i’m sure there were better pictures to pick from, but for some reason they chose this one.
even Ringo has commented that the photographer takes a few shots of her and calls it a wrap. i don’t understand why, when you can spend a few more minutes with each girl and try to draw a perfect picture out of them. a nice picture in the first frame doesn’t mean you can’t get the perfect shot in the 6th frame. yes, the model plays the biggest part in making a good photo, but so does the photographer i believe.
Nadia is capable of much more than this picture, and a lot of people know it. but one thing with her is that she can get too technical. during this shoot, she was actually counting the number of koi fish in her dress? i mean, why! the knowledge of the number of fishes in your dress won’t help your performance any. she reminds me of Allison in this season’s ANTM, the one who was overly calculated and over-thought all her poses. and she’s also got a bit of Melrose (season 7) in her ;) very cili padi. gorgeous girl too. my heart went out to her when she was eliminated this episode, because if there is anyone who REALLY wants to win this thing, it is Nadia. Nadia if you are reading this, don’t give up :) you heard Andrew… take your gorgeous self, go out there and kick butt!!!
———–
and so we have our Malaysian Dreamgirl Top 3 - Adeline, Cindy and Hanis - and they will be competing to the very end this Tuesday the 29th of April at the Finale show in 1 Utama. i am extremely excited and i hope this involves runway :) hopefully they bring back the other 8 girls for a HUGE Malaysian Dreamgirl runway show! see you all at the finale.
p/s : i’m in the midst of switching hosts right now, so some comments (and this post, occasionally) may get lost :(
April 23rd, 2008
so 6 girls remain in Malaysian Dreamgirl after this week’s elimination, and i must say that i am extremely extremely disappointed that my favourite Dreamgirl was eliminated this week. sigh. regretfully, i didn’t vote for her this week, because i chose to vote for Jay. i should have voted them both or something - my favourite really had the potential to win the competition if only she had survived this week :(
last week the shoot was themed White Summer, where all the girls were dressed in white and the shoot was all sunshine and smiles :) i really liked how the photos turned out - so sweet! this week it was the Wella Inspiration shoot, where the girls got some really dramatic hair and loud makeup. mmm, i have mixed feelings about the mood of the pictures; in all honesty i didnt think any of the photos (except for Fiqa’s and maybe Jay’s) were nice at all. they made all the girls look like men and the lighting was just so tak ngam. too much shiiiiine on the skin!
visiting the Dreamhouse
my humble opinion on the Dreamgirls so far:
(read on only if you don’t mind knowing, or already know, who got eliminated this week!)
ADELINE: the thing is, her english actually isn’t so bad off-camera - it just sounds conversational and totally Malaysian. Adeline’s very quiet and never really has much to say. a very stunning girl in person cos of her height and her looks, but i always feeling like smacking some emotion into her expression during photoshoots. there is absolutely no intensity at all in her eyes - she looks either bored or stoned in all her pictures :( haih donno why after so many week still no improvement on her part. i wish she would smile more - she looks soooo super cute when she smiles!
CINDY: haha Cindy Cindy, the most controversial girl in the house. she’s a babe by most standards, and many of my guy friends who watch the show are absolutely crazy about her. i get the feeling she’s very used to people fawning all over her, and that’s why she’s just falling apart in the house because all of the girls cant stand her. the tomateoows incident was such a mountain made out of a molehill, you kneowww :P Cindy claims Nadia was mean and overreacted (called her pukimak!) about her small mistake of eating Nadia’s tomatoes, but Nadia tells us that when Cindy apologized, it was rude and flippant - “aiyahhh sorry lahhhh i pay you back lah okay??”. i think Cindy is definitely a very pretty girl, but she isn’t doing as well as i expected in this competition. for someone who’s so defensive and competitive, she seems to be paling in comparison to the others.
FIQA: i’m so depressed that Fiqa was eliminated :( Mr. BBQ and i were anxiously looking out for her at the MIFA showcase, but when we didn’t see her on the runway, we instantly knew what had happened. i couldnt shut up about how the show has no meaning for me now /dramatic T___T she was my favourite from the very start, even before that chun makeover, because she was sweet yet sexy, smart, bold and eloquent. she had this versatility about her that i thought would bring her very far in this competition. and summore when i arrived at the Dreamhouse that day, she was outside sweeping the leaves in the compound. so hardworking!!! T___T
it is VERY VERY unfair that she was eliminated during the one week where she trumped all the other contestants in the photoshoot. this is why i think the judges need to play a bigger role in the competition. they ought to TELL the audience who did well and who didn’t, tell us what goes on during the shoots that the camera never seems to capture - that way we know who deserves our votes. otherwise all of us will be just sitting back and not voting because we don’t have a compelling reason to vote for any of the girls.
HANIS: i loooooveeee Datin Hanis she is so adorable and i want to keep her in my pocket!!! her face is absolutely gorgeous and i love her bubbly personality. she’s one of those girls that you cant hate no matter what; you see lah even when she complains about the other Dreamgirls it’s so freaking cute :\
she is going to go very far. she has a likable face that she is slowly learning how to chameleon-ize. very nice! at MIFA, she appeared on the runway about 4 times for 4 different designers, and was even a muse for one designer :) i was so happy to see that. she’s got a great walk for a beginner and the right look for commercials and TV. here’s a rising star, everybody :)
JAY: like Hanis, she was chosen by designers to model their designs more times than any of the girls during MIFA. all the other girls (except Jay and Hanis) appeared only once - but Jay appeared 5 times for 5 designers, and each time, she worked the runway like a PRO :) Jay looked absolutely stunning that night - tall and elegant and refined. where her strong features can be a tad masculine for print modeling, it absolutely WORKS on the runway. sigh you had to have been there to marvel at how good she was. i really hope that she makes it big in the modeling scene after Malaysian Dreamgirl :)
Jay in red, strutting her stuff!
she’s got a great personality and nature as well. when we were visiting the Dreamhouse, it was so clear she was the one all the girls were comfortable with and looked up to. Jay’s very warm and mature, extremely articulate and polite - i liked her the moment i stepped into the house. and she introduced me to the nicest brand of crackers ever!! Jacob’s :D the little ones, then topped with tuna mayo. yum yum.
NADIA: it was very interesting chatting with her during the Dreamhouse visit :P in my opinion, she’s just a very misunderstood person. what comes across as bitchy and anal, is really just someone who has principles and sticks by them fastidiously. i told her that most viewers are of the opinion that she’s bitchy and unlikeable, and i asked her if she would change her personality if it was getting in the way of people voting for her. and she said no, she wouldn’t, because then her friends and family - the people whose votes mattered most to her - wouldn’t vote for her or respect her very much. it was nice to see that side of her :)
i think Nadia’s damn sexy, i really do. her infamous ‘garang’ face looks really good on the runway. like Tyra Banks would say (while wagging her finger) - fiiiiiieeeeeerce! i also appreciate how honest she is, though of course in a reality show where other girls are involved, this can come off as mean. also, this girl can really talk and talk and talk :P
RINGO: in all honesty, if Ringo wasn’t a celebrity blogger, she’d disappear into the shadows of this show. she and Adeline are the quietest of all the girls.. but even Adeline has something to be remembered for - her spoken English. it looks to me like Ringo is so afraid of committing another faux pas, that she’s trying not to do anything that would put her in the slightest of difficult situations. i don’t think this is working in her favour at all. instead, it’s giving people the wrong impression that she’s not willing to work hard to earn the votes she’s getting. right now all it looks in the show like is that she’s just existing; no passion, no verve, nothing :\ le sigh. she needs to let that fun personality of hers pop on-screen, even more so in her pictures.
me with the Dreamgirls :)
i’m glad to see that with Episode 11, there has been a lot of improvement in the show - less of the pointless things like girls eating, girls working out, girls getting spa treatment (all while random background music plays), and more of the interesting bits. things are picking up, yes? am also happy to see that they started displaying the photoshoot pictures during elimination - it’s good to have some reference when Sazzy is doling out her judgment on each girl’s photo.
but for some reason, the judges are STILL not playing the role of a panel at the moment. why are they called judges if they dont judge! and Sazzy is still a little bit irrelevant save for elimination time - which i believe would be infinitely more exciting if the judges handled it :\
all that said, i can’t wait for this Saturday’s episode - i hear the girls are going to be modeling Carven Ong designs!!!!! w00t. let’s see how this goes. pssst SSGers! Joanne was at MIFA too, modeling a gorgeous red dress by Carven Ong :)
this week, i’m voting for Hanis, because i think she’s shown the most improvement throughout the show. how about you guys - who are you voting for?
April 12th, 2008
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