Cy Twombly dining room

Trad-modern at its best...

This dining room looks like it was designed around the Cy Twombly painting, and it works beautifully. The graphic patterned fabric on the dining chairs juxtaposes nicely with the handwriting in the artwork, along with the subtle patterns in the rug and wall treatment. It's light and airy yet warm and inviting.

modern gardening

From top to bottom: Ecospheres, garden sculptures by Paula Hayes, planters by Better Living Through Design, glass birdhouses by Eva Solo, and modern birdhouses by Neoshed.

Swarovsky

All images from Swarovsky, the world-famous crystal company. The store shown is in Tokyo, Japan. The red skull is "Vanitas" by Nicola Bolla.

Health and Hovid

Advertorial

I've been sent a bottle of "Anti-oxidants" by Hovid, the leading pharmaceutical manufacturers in Malaysia.

Quite frankly, throughout my life I've never taken health supplements before! When I was a kid maybe I did chew on those orangey robots vitamins, but that was it.

Mike, however, is always popping vitamin pills.

While I look at him, politely puzzled, he always just says "our bodies don't get enough vitamins".

I guess what he says has some truth in it, coz with all the junk we are eating nowadays, I think it is highly unlikely I am hitting my vitamins quota, and neither are you (if you are not some health nut).

Therefore, health supplements!!

This little bottle that they sent me says "Maxi Bio Absorption" and claims to have this thing called "Coenzyme Q10" in it. What? I don't understand what that is!

Fortunately trusty wikipedia is always around for things that matter (ahem therefore I'm on it, ahahaha!), and I was quite shocked to see how awesome this Q10 thing is!

Skipping the boring parts, in short, it helps:


Mitochondrial Disorders - Dunno what it is but I hope I don't get it.

Migraine headaches

Cancer - as a relief for cancer treatment side-effects and being investigated as a treatment.

Brain health

Cardiac arrest

Blood pressure

And even increased the lifespan of rats who take it!



It's like a miracle thing leh!!


But actually, this Q10 occurs naturally in our bodies (as well as in other things such as chicken leg/pork heart), just that most of the time we don't produce enough, or do not absorb enough of it.


This is where Q10 Supra-Bio comes in. It's absorption formula makes it easy for our bodies to absorb loads and loads of Q10!!


Wait, I hear something...

The pills want out!




These little yellow pills are chockful of Q10 goodness...




I'm gonna eat them!

Ahem.

Today I am going to teach you how to take your vitamins!!






Pose with your pills. No reason. Just do it.




Open bottle. Smell it a bit. Is it moldy?
Check expiry date. 1989? No? 2011? Ok good.




Pick your favourite pill of the lot!




Pop it into mouth! Don't bite, swallow!




Water to flush it down. Plus water is good for you!!




Task finished!




Show love or it won't work for you.

True story.

OK la, those were just lame excuses to cam-whore.



But seriously though... I watched Money No Enough 2 (very sad show leh...), and those of you who have seen it are probably also reminded of the importance of health.

Taking care of one's body is really crucial and people should not take a back seat and take good health for granted.

It is true! If you can't be bothered to exercise, then health supplements should be taken - after all, they are so easy... No effort needed whatsoever.

(Unless of course you are in some desert and water is very scarce so you can't swallow your pills.... But then again people in deserts probably don't take health supplements.)


So, where do you go to if you want to buy some vitamins?

HOVID.SG of course!!

It is no secret I am a big fan of online shopping, and I can't believe now you can even buy health products online!

The steps are really easy - choose your product, register, pay, and if you are in Singapore, you will get your products within one day!

Now that's what I call awesome shipping!

If you have any enquiries, the best thing is, there is a live desk of Hovid staff who are more than willing to answer your questions immediately!

No more need more long emails and waiting for replies (only to realise the person misunderstood your question. Always happens to me).


Hovid's website is exceedingly easy to navigate, and their products range from Teas to Women's Nutrition to Cardiovascular... Got a lot la!


Of course, you have to be very careful and stringent when purchasing consumable items.

Who can forget the Slim10 incidents?!

Therefore, only purchase from the most trustworthy companies!


Hovid Berhad is a listed company based in Ipoh, Perak, and has been around since 1945. It first started when Dr. Ho Kai Cheong founded Ho Yan Hor tea.

Familiar?

It's this one!






My dad and mom love it.

The company has since then grown into one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world with over 300 products and distributing to over 40 countries.

I've personally had the pills and I am feeling fit as a fiddle!!

So get your much-needed vitamins today, you couch potato!

If not, get it for your elderly parents/grandparents, you unfilial person!

Click here to buy!

(Also I suspect it is cheaper to buy directly from the production company...)


POSTNOTE: Since so many of you have asked me, my lip gloss is from Chanel and its colour 106. It should cost either $40 or $30, I forgot!

Siao one

Short post before I go sleep.

I ordered Mcdelivery.

Suddenly I received 5 smses!

Yes, I got it, you "be reching soon".

Before I even have time to read all the (grammatically incorrect) messages on my frazzled phone, he called me and announced that he is at the door.

When Mike finally got the to door, he (Mike) told me that the delivery was giving him this du lan face.

Like hello? You rushing go where sia??? Deliver more shit?

And isn't it dangerous to be sending out smses on a motorbike?

AND AND........ WHY MUST I STANDBY AT MY DOOR FOR YOU AH??? I take as long as I want to answer the doorbell, goddamn it!

Actually I am not angry lah... I'm just quite amused. Why 5 smses?

Maybe within Macs also got F1 race, then the delivery guys were all competing to see who can deliver the most McNuggets within 61 trips?

my new blog

See: http://lovelierandlovelier.blogspot.com/

knitted chain necklace

Talk about bold jewelry! This necklace is definitely eye-catching.

lace face

blue angel

Gown by Monique Lhullier - Spring 2009

cat cocoon

for scratching & sleeping...made of 83 rings of cardboard and water-based glue...designed by Warren Lieu

COLLAPSING DISTANCE and OPTIMISM

It has been awhile since I posted on my BLOG. The last time was my birthday on the 13th.

So much whirls through my head that I am not sure where to start today. However, this notion of collasping difference to unveil fundamental similarities opening up the potential for compassion is taking up much of my thinking time. By 'collapsing' I am not necessarily meaning a literal collapse of distance, but a rethinking of distance as separation. The 'space between' is not an empty space because in a sense everything is 'one'. The macro and micro are connected by being variations of each other so any distance between is not a separation but merely a process of variation. The local and global are connected because they are integral parts of the other. They exist simultaneously thus closing any perceived separation of distance.

The underbelly of post modernism reveals an insidious attempt to create an empty distance through a lack of compassion which is perpetuated by PM's devotion to simulacra and narcisistic tendencies. Post modernism has been able to manipulate its empty distance to separate the extremes and thus heightening the potential for oppositional and paradoxical tendancies.

Compassion is a quality which is shared, respectful and with all parties in the compassionate space feeling equal. Whereas sympathy is given [and can be taken away] and received and can be manipulated for self satisfaction and perpetuating power and powerlessness. I am not saying sympathy is not helpful. It is, especially in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. But how do we escape from it being used to emotionally colonise the underprivaleged? Sympathy can also be simulated whereas compassion, to me at least, is far more difficult to simulate because it is not constructed on giver and receiver, but a much more complex indentification of humanity within. I suspect the language of sympathy and compassion are different...would be an interesting study.

Compassion is a more confident quality, but it does take some bravery to share. However, this is where collapsing difference to reveal fundamental human similarities can help create the safe place for sharing to occur.

Art's agency is its potential to assist in creating safe places for people to share. Agendaless but not directionless conversation I believe is the key. Art [albeit not all art!] has the ability to stimulate conversations which take people places where humanity's fundamental coding, which is shared by all, recognises itself.

So, I am optimistic about the future. Like any point of change there is more often than not a period of dilemma and chaos, but seeing it as sign of change rather than the death of the 'safe' known is a more purposeful approach. The implosion of the financial and banking world, particularly in the US, is a sign that simulacra [ie: poor loans made with no gurantees, derivatives made up of nothings etc] and narcisism [ie: need I explain!] are in their death throws. Post modernism's play with simulation and shifting/slippery guidelines is no longer seductive. Deregulation was part of the 'game' and now there is an opportunity to create new ways of regulation which care for the collective and the individual both existing in a global world and living locally at the same time. It will not be an easy task to create new foundations, but hopefully they will be forged on more than nothing.

The image above was taken at the inaugural "LAUNCH: Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship Award" exhibition. I was one of the 25 shortlisted artists. My painting Shared Destinies is currently hanging with the other shortlisted works at Clayton Utz's office in Brisbane's CBD.

brocade skirt

(Dolce Vita brocade skirt $168 at Urban Outfitters)

I love the fabric, the silhouette, and the hidden pocket of this skirt.

Eros

Simply sublime.

Eros bag by Rebecca Minkoff

The bestest blog entry

With regards to my latest Plasticzilla entry, I've basically received these (bad) remarks:


1) Xiaxue you are just jealous. Because even without plastic, Dawn looks better than you.


Ans:

You are 100% right. Ok la maybe 80%, because I am not actually jealous. The point is, so? At least, I can safely say I never tried as hard as she did. :)


2) Omg you are so mean! How would you like it if someone also dug up your old ugly photos and posted them?

Ans:

Honestly, I don't care.

I don't!

You think to yourself, what the fuck man, you are just saying this because nobody has exposed your ugly photos.


In order to prove how much I don't give a shit about what you people (and that includes 30,000 of you) think of my looks, I am hereby going to show you an array of my ugliest IC photos - with a timeline from 13 years old to 23 years old.


If I don't care about what people think of my looks, why do I photoshop? Because 1) it is an art that I enjoy doing and 2) it makes ME happy to see prettier photos.

What is appearance? What is image? I cannot be arsed as long as people I love love me... shortness, squatness, lumpiness and all. As for looks, as long as the man I love is attracted to me, that's all that's enough. :) Plus,I am satisfied with the way I look! Not 100% mind you, but it's good enough.


However, just posting goddamn ugly photos does not constitute a bestest blog entry - just a mildly entertaining one.

Therefore, I am additionally going to PHOTOSHOP these horrendous photos into fake but gorgeous versions of me!! MUAHAHAHAHA

Prepare... TO BE IMPRESSED. And horrified.

Age 2

A joke lah! This is obviously not ugly.

In fact, here I am, zhao-genging happily, and I think, relatively cute!

I don't know what happened to me during teenage years to become so goddamn ugly.

How did my mother love me???

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Age 13, Sec 1

Single eyelids, humongous nose, centre-parting and a flabby jawline.

To add insult to injury, there are also green ink splotches staining the picture.

Could you blame me for wanting a nose job with that nose? HONESTLY??

Photoshop magic:

Woah! Suddenly got chio blue eyes!


The eyelids are a bit fake-looking though, coz for this pic I actually DREW it on. Just to try and see how it will turn out.

Got tiara somemore!

Side by side:






************************************

Age 14, sec 2

Bah. My act ah-lian age.

Eyebrows shaved into a thin, straight line...

Fringe cut by myself, and one side of hair tucked behind ear. To create what look, I don't know. Maybe lop-sidedness was in?

Anyway I wore a SHIRT coz ah lians wore shirts then. :D

At this point, trying very hard to get double eyelids by sticking tape everyday.

Photoshop magic:

No more asymmetrical hair! Got ribbon somemore!

I like what I did to the lips.


Side by side:





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Age 15, sec 3

Wah lau eh cannot stand it. Sibeh act chio.
Eyes really opened to the max.


Photoshop magic:




Nothing photoshop can do about the "act chio"ness.

The hair looks spastic but better than before...


Side by side:





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Started to get bad case of acne...



Age 16, sec 4

Yikes.
Nothing photoshop can do to save this eyes-half-closed photo, you exclaim.
You are wrong!


Photoshop magic:



I had to liquify the eyes until I almost died.


Side by side:







************************************



Worst of the lot:


Age 16, sec 4

Greasy, sallow and pimply... I look so dirty! Reminds me of Professor Snape with the curtains of oily black hair... Eww!!

Don't blame me, blame the hormones, ok!

How come last time when I look like that still got people wanna be my friends?? Eekean!!!!!!!! *Leans close to Eekean with pulsating pimples*

Photoshop magic:



How did I do it?! I am so bloody talented!
Got healthy glow leh!!

Side by side:




Finally got out of secondary school!


Time for make-up!!


Age 17

You all saw this already.
Is it possible to save the eyes?


Photoshop magic:



Look a little startled but still much better than before!

Cloned my hair so that it doesn't look like some weird wind blew it to one side.


Side by side:





************************************




Age 18

Finally, after years of painstakingly sticking on double eyelid tape almost daily, I developed double eyelids!

I also found out about mascara and started abusing it.

ZA's foundation, however, does not seem to be able to cover my zits...

Photoshop magic:



Chio!

Side by side:





************************************

A few months later, with my hair a tad longer, I went back to the same place to take another picture.

Age 18

I fucking HATE my huge nose! Thank god it's like heaved into half now. I love you Dr Huang!!!

Somehow my eyebrows became nicer though, and I learned that you could shade your nose bridge... (although that didn't work out coz it made the nose look larger than godzilla's ass)

Also, I think I look like someone who will steal your husband. Why ah? Is it the chubbiness and slanty eyes?

Photoshop magic:



Much easier to edit with make up on. Reduced nose by 20000%.


Side by side:





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Age 20

This is not an IC photo but somehow it's inside my pile of IC photos so I included it in!

Complexion cleared up and I now have long hair! Yay for long hair!

Photoshop magic:



Nothing much, just made jawline sharper and nose smaller.


Side by side:





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Age 22

Still pre-nose job... Except now I have better eye make up.

What is it about IC photos that makes your nose so big??!

Photoshop magic:



Much chioer!

Side by side:





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Age 23, Year 2008

Post nose job. I know it still looks kinda big, but it is already much smaller!!!

This is an unedited photo taken with my digicam for the purpose of my expiring passport!

I just so happened to have a glorious tan that day. Woohoo!

Photoshop magic:




Made nose smaller and jaw sharper as usual.

So... The question you all have been dying to ask me:

"HOW DID YOU DO IT?"

Pure talent! Hahaha... No lah... I mean, yes, I am awesome at photoshopping (people), but of course, 90% of the credit goes to the tool liquify!

I also use burn around the eyelids... dodge to create the "coloured" eyes. I change the hues and contrasts, and add lash and hair brushes...

For rouge on the cheeks I simply use the brush tool (colour pick the lips). See? I am so nice, I share!

Let's have a little contest!

Let me pick my ugliest photo...

Ahh.... this one:




Can you try to also photoshop this
and make it chio?!

Send me your work and if the response is good enough I shall post up your artwork (plus link, if you wish) on another blog entry!!

Please don't be childish and make it uglier hor. It is already so ugly, don't need your help, thanks.

Send to xiaxue@gmail.com!

Credits to the various photoshop brushes of hair, accessories and eyelashes I downloaded from deviantart.com. I am sorry I can't credit the real creator as I have so many brushes I don't know who created what!

UPDATE:

83 PHOTOSHOP ENTRIES RECEIVED!

Please stop sending in anymore as I am compiling them up. Thanks for the effort guys!! :) :)