Thursday, October 30, 2008

Vanilla Cover Girls on 938LIVE!

Just to let you know that we're having Rosalind Ng (Feb 08) and hubby Yu Seung on The Living Room tomorrow to share about their Enduro Africa experience! They just got back this week, and I'm sure have loads of tales to tell. I'm looking forward to meeting them and giving voice to their stories once again. *grin*

That's on 938LIVE, 11.10am till 12noon, You can catch the interview via our website too: www.938LIVE.sg.


Just added! Ros & Yu Seung in The Living Room!



Pam posing with Ros & Seung's bikes outside Caldecott Broadcast Centre


Also, come 18 November, we'll have Kheng Hua (July 08) and her hubby Yu Beng + 2 teenagers come in to talk about "It's My Life!" teen musical. We'll be chatting about the teenagers' journeys of self-discovery as well the preparation that went into this very unusual and very "real" production. Should be a fun chat cos these are wonderful people to simply have a conversation with!

Just a heads-up for all of you lah. Our Vanilla cover girls still rock!

And Karen Tan... oi... welcome to Vanilla Survivors. Glad you are blogging with us. I miss your Pinch of Salt column. Always made me laugh and laugh! Especially the cross-stitching one, and the National Day "When I grow up" one. Hilarious!

Where is Ee Weun? Can we invite our food columnist to come blog here too? *wink*

I just started reading the news on air today. Seriously, It's sight-reading. They shove the print-out into your hands just seconds before you go on air! *faint* I have a new respect now for news presenters...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tell Me Lies



Today, I heard an ELLE staffer say "Real women don't shoot well."


Boy did THAT bring back a whole download of memories.


At ELLE, we were taught "Real people are UGLY." "We don't shoot real women unless they are celebrities." That was so ingrained in me that when I left ELLE, it took me a long time to get back to "normal".


A loooong time. It was a good 5 years before I came to Vanilla, and wasn't Vanilla just the anti-thesis of that ELLE adage!


Last week Fongfan (Vanilla's beloved executive stylist who can make Minnie Mouse look like Gisele Bundchen) came to visit and she gave me a hug. Boy, I missed Vanilla more in that single moment than in all the 5 weeks that have passed. Can you believe it's been 5 weeks since Vanilla died?


Real women - we are beautiful. We can be fashionable, we can be stylish. And as Fongfan has proven, we can shoot well - more than well! Look at all the beautiful real women who graced our fashion pages and our covers! Think of Grace Park from our March 2008 issue - who had everyone saying "Hey who is she? Is she a Korean superstar?"


That real women are lesser than 7-foot amazonians like Gisele, is a TOTAL and ABSOLUTE LIE. I'm sorry, that poor ELLE girl probably doesn't know it, she's just repeating a fascist truism that has been put into her brainwash spin cycle. I know, I've been there. But to say that real women don't photograph well, is just untrue.
I've put the Dove Girls up here - two of them tied together would make the height of Gisele. Now tell me, who's the freak, haha! (I love Gisele - don't get me wrong. I think she is so unfussed by her own celebrity that she really is a real woman who decided to humour the world.)
Don't mean to vent - just that I had an ELLE moment, know what I mean? :)
Back to normal now, back to normal.


...wah finally...

hullo Mana Vanillas!!
i asked Threez to let me write on this blog (my first contribution ever, in my entire life...) ages ago, but for the longest time, i really didn't know how to do it. i just forgot my password, which is the same password i use for everything but for some reason...

every once in a while, i shock myself by thinking that i missed the deadline for my article again. then i remember i no longer have one. 

sucks.

but you guys are terrific, just moving on and getting on with it. me...still cross stitching hahaha, but this time, it's something for me.

i loved writing for Vanilla cos it made me feel part of some people's lives in a normal way, not in the usual unreal setting of the theatre, where i'm always someone i'm not.

it's true, the Vanilla ice-cream did melt, but as they say, though, there's more flavours at the creamery...

thank you for letting me in here...
love
Karen

ps: Threez...Lydia Look played my daughter once...she was 18 and had to play 9...whatever...

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Vanilla cover girls are meeting up tomorrow...

It's a lazy Sunday morning and I'm back from my morning shift (6am to 10am) on radio. Yes, I work on weekends now, and get just one weekend completely off per month. On these work days, I'm up at 4.45am... zzz. So girls, count yourselves lucky!

I still see Vanilla on the newsstands and it saddens me that very soon, we won't find them anymore. So whenever I see one, I still buy a copy. For old time's sake. Did you know that circulation recycles unsold magazines after 6 months? So copies of Vanilla older then 6 months can't be retrieved anymore... like FOREVER. *gasp*



Anyway, the Vanilla cover girls are meeting tomorrow evening for a potluck dinner! Yay! Grace Park has opened her home to us all, and I'm really looking forward to it cos it's at Keppel Bay, and she just moved in to a ground-floor unit with a patio. I hope we get a cool balmy evening, so that we can all sit outdoors! *grin*

Ros and Yu Seung are still in South Africa ~ doing Enduro Africa. Have you checked out their blog lately? It's linked to ours and they've been updating regularly. There are pictures posted too! They look like they are having fun. I am so proud of them! No pictures yet of Princes William & Harry though... *pout* Rosalind Ng! If you are reading this.............

Anyway, I'll take lots of pictures at our Vanilla cover girls gathering tomorrow and post them up on this blog. So watch out for it!!! Girls, if you wanna join us, please come. We can meet up and go together ~ will be fun to catch up with these amazing women once again! *beams*

Have a great Sunday & long weekend! Happy Deepaval! *wink*

Friday, October 24, 2008

Obama For Yo Mama


I first saw this T-shirt on my boss. She also had one that read "Hillary is my Homegirl".


Frankly I'm dismayed at the way the trunk is trundling towards what looks like an inevitable SlamBam. Okay - I get that McCain is that that unsavoury Uncle who's always looking for an argument. So I guess, at least if the POTUS is a suave guy who appears to be hip, calm and cool (hence has a better temperament for solving problems without pushing the red button every time?) that might be a good thing for us right now ... when it looks like the end of the world, as far as the economy is concerned.


I hear some Republican Christians are calling Obama the Anti-Christ. Maybe because his name rhymes with Osama.


In any case, any entertainment -- including a tongue fight between an Uncle and a cosmopolitan black dude who wouldn't look amiss in a Prada suit -- is welcome these days.


Wednesday, October 22, 2008

No Time To Bleurrgh






I'm missing my, missing my Vanilla ice...



Pam is wondering where all us sorry Publishing people have gone. Woman, not everyone has a glam job like yours, okay?! :)



My past week has been spent working for two sets of clients: one, the advertisers (some nice, some nasty). Two, the editorial teams at MPB.



The editors are lovely - but stretched. Don't I know how it feels. Everyone pulls their weight - more than their weight.



Sales are working their bums off. But (can I say this in public) sometimes not very efficiently because everyone's after the same piece of meat (no wonder my Vanilla ice cream melted). Dessert comes after the main meal, after all.



I love them all - I know everyone here wants this to work. There are people here who can well afford not to work - they're doing it because they love the magazines. And if the structure weren't so messed up -- we should actually be moving forward and not running on the spot!



Me... I'm missing Jenn (she's on holiday in Melbourne - bless her). I miss Pam and her "Eh Threez" followed by some incredible you'll-never-pull-it-off idea that she proceeds to pull off. I miss Shaan and Ad - even though they are a 1-min walk away from my desk. I miss Alvin, even though I'm on his back daily about mockups for XYZ clients. I just miss our team - our little Vanilla corner of the world.



Bright spark of the day: Lydia Look comes to visit!!

We featured Lydia as one of our global girls from Singapore - she lives in Hollywood, married to a Taiwanese American stuntman (who sat in our Osim chair for a while as she chatted with me). Lydia's passing through Singers to Taiwan for a family thing, and then off back to LA. She's just done a guest role in Bones, and she's wrapping up post production for Wendy Wu 2! So honoured to have someone so famous in my little roadside office...

Okay it's back to the grind. Thinking up ideas for clients. Finding ways to skirt around tricky issues. Writing advertorial copy.

Bleurggh.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Hullo? Hullo?

Hey girls, how come so quiet? I've been back in our blog a few times and keep seeing that "urgh" photo Threez posted of me. Quick write! So that the photo will disappear down, down, down the page.......

Are you all very busy these days? You don't know how much I'd love to hear what you've been up to in your little corners of the world. I miss you all..... Hope to catch you at media events some time. Please write!!!

Anyone going for MediaCorp D&D next Tuesday? I'll be there.....

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Living Room Scribbles

I'm having so much fun with this blog thing that Stanley and I have also decided to start our own blog for The Living Room on 938LIVE.

Like Vanilla, we get a fair share of fascinating people on our programme. I've learnt so much from them, and wish I could share my experiences and reflections somehow. If not, like wasted lor!

So Stanley suggested we blog, and I thought "Yeah! Cool!" If you have time, come visit our new baby, "Living Room Scribbles", at livingroomscribbles.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Check out the New Glam Pam!

Look who came to visit us ordinary folks at Publishing today! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: GLAM PAM!

Seriously, girl, you should dress up like this every day. You're hotter than Jean Danker and Jamie Yeo put together! Phooooowaaarrr!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Me and Mr Jones

Last night, my fave Mr Jones (the Grocer) turned one and he threw a major birthday bash. I brought my friend, who is nuts about Jones too (the cheese room is her must-go-to-without-fail-everytime-she's-there corner). Obviously, she was super thrilled when she found they were dishing out Beaufort and parmesan-- paired with honey truffle oil (which is like yumm-meeeeee; $59.50 for a large bottle) and crackers and fresh cranberries-- as part of the tapas selection. We were permanently parked where the cheeses were practically the whole night! I couldn't move her cheese, or rather I couldn't move her away from her cheese.
We're going Down-under! Can't get any more Aussie than this.

The highlight of the night was the auction, which raised about S$40,000 (don't quote me on this because I had a bubbly, a martini and half a bottle of pale ale on an empty stomach when all of it was going on) for Jones' adopted charity, the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

So it wasn't only a roomful of party-goers who went home merry and contented; so would the three kids whose wishes--to party with Dora and Barney, to visit Hello Kitty Land in Tokyo and to have a MacBook computer to hone his design talents-- were granted. So kudos and shout out to Amanda Osbourne (thanks for inviting the Vanilla team!) and Bruce Chapman. It was really nice to finally meet you both. :)

And in case you're heading down to the store anytime soon, I hear there are some fantastic Christmas coffrets you can get. The prices range from $72 to $480. Though from their names, seems to me you don't have to use xmas as an excuse to get 'em (read: Cheese Lover's Delight, Jones BBQ, Chef's Selection, Weekend Picnic etc.)

My personal fave is the Platinum hamper because it's jam-packed (no pun intended) with triple berry jam and awesome buncha treats like Prestat champage truffles, sicilian choco biscuits, white truffle glaze and a Babero Hard Torrone-- great for any truffle-chocoholic. You can email dempseyhill@jonesthegrocer.com or call 64761512 to find out more.

Meanwhile, have a good weekend!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Sponsor a teen girl to watch a teen play!



Remember July cover girls Valerie & Kheng Hua shared about their upcoming teen musical "It's My Life!"? Well, time flies man and tickets are already on sale ~ through Gratecrash (www.gatecrash.com.sg).

Musical debuts 27 Nov, and the Vanilla cover girls are thinking of going together cos there's a group discount if we can get 10 pax. So far, we have 6. Anyone interested to go? [Followers of this blog can also join us! You're most welcomed!]

Val & Kheng will meet us after the musical, so I think it will be fun! We can all have supper together nearby! =P

Anyway, Hai-Yen is thinking of bringing the teen girls from Andrew & Grace Home (www.aghome.org.sg) to watch the musical, and we thought it might be a good idea to "sponsor" a girl each. Group discounted ticket costs only $21.

Anyone keen to join me to sponsor a teen girl to watch the play? :) I think it will be a very moving & powerful experience for them... and it may even open possibilities for them. Who knows?

"It's My Life!" is done entirely by teens and for teens. And the amazing thing is that the kids share their own real-life personal stories, struggles, hopes, fears, dreams... through song. I think Corrinne May contributed a song too! ;P



So if you'd like to (1) go watch the musical, (2) sponsor a teen girl from Andrew & Grace Home, or (3) both..... let me know. I will gladly help coordinate.

I think it will be fun if we ALL went together! :D A Vanilla outing... Shall we? Shall we? Followers of this blog are welcomed too!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A Sleepy Lunch and Fresh-Baked Bread

Yesterday Jenn, Lindy, Adlena and I decided that the food at Techpoint was just too daggy.

I decided to drive us out to an old, old eating spot my former colleagues at Female (waaaaay back when it was still published by MPH and our office was in Tagore) introduced to me in 1997. It's called Salt & Pepper Cafe and it's situated at the Singapore Teacher's Union building in Teacher's Estate.

Amazingly, it was not only open, it was packed! The old aunty who used to take orders wasn't there anymore but there was the younger lady who was either her daughter or daughter in law.

We sat down and she flittered over and said, "What do you want? What do you want?" and we were like, "Um... one hor fun... does anyone wants mee goreng?"

"Excuse me can you hurry up? Got other customers!" she said.

Jenn's face was a picture of shock and Lindy looked like she couldn't believe her ears. We wound up ordering:

1 x hor fun ("You must say seafood or beef!")
1 x mee goreng ("Eh, if you're sharing you must say or else I give wrongly!")
1 x mixed veg ("You want to try our yong tau fu?")
4 x chicken wings
1 x seafood ngor hiang ("Get one seafood ngor hiang lah!")
1 x egg fuyong

It was too much food, maaaan. We were eating fit to burst. But the bill only came up to $41.

After that, we drove to this traditional bakery on Kalidasa Road - they still make the good old "skinless" loti that we all grew up with. The mere scent of fresh-baked bread tugged at my car wheels till we were parked just outside and bread fiend Adlena was the first one there asking for her "skin-on" loti. We each bought a loaf (except Lindy) and I added one pandan "ice-cream" loaf.

Damage:
1 huge, feed-family-of-8 loaf = $1.80
1 pandan loaf = $.90

Jenn is now saying I'm making her hungry ... Where shall we go for lunch today??

Vanilla clinches 2 Journalism Awards!!!

GREAT NEWS!!!

Although Vanilla is shut down, it is still not forgotten. We are still winning Awards for our stories! :D



For Apr-Jun quarter, we won:
1. Story of the Month (Apr 08) ~ "Woman, Save the Earth" (Earth Day feature)
2. Creative Series of the Month (Jun 08) ~ "Fighting Fit" (Dee Dee's cover story).

Thanks Joel & Fongfan!!! :-* If you're reading this, I so miss working with you two on the cover shoots. I cannot believe I will never, ever get to do that again... *sob* We were just starting to have fun, weren't we? :(

I was down at Publishing today to settle some stuff. The office felt so different without all of you around. It's like the place is familiar, yet foreign. Like a dream gone wrong.

Anyway, I dropped off some dark chocolate with whole cherries & brandy, and chocolate marshmallows for you. They are with my chocolate buddy, Diane. Pick 'em up from her tomorrow, OK? [Diane - thanks for the caramel chocolate fix!] =P~

Miss you all so much.......... let's meet up SOON.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Contest answers

Drumroll please....

1 - Cas
2 - Theresa
3 - Pam
4 - Ad
5 - Shaan
6 - Jenn

So, was William spot on? :p The debate begins now. And most importantly, who got the most answers right? Come claim your bottle of bangkit from me!!! Congratulations:)

Friday, October 3, 2008

Desperately Seeking... Writing

It's funny. Now that writing is "taken away" from me, I feel the sudden compulsion to write - about everything.

Other than contributing to this blog, and starting my own personal blog, I've started to keep a journal again.

I carry this red journal in my bag everywhere I go - like in the old days - and if I have a few moments, I write.



I used to journal regularly for years. Well, until I became a full-time writer. Then it stopped. But now that I've stopped writing, the journalling has come back.

It tells me one thing: Writing is, and always will be, my natural choice for self-expression.

If there is anything I want to say, to put out there, it flows most naturally through the written word. And somehow, writing will find a way to bob up to the surface, even if I try to press it down like a beach ball in an ocean.

So what does it say about me being a... er, radio presenter then??? Hmm.

Don't forget me if you have interesting story ideas or writing projects... I will write for FREE.

Is Sarah Palin a Vanilla Woman?


I know I'll probably be shot, grilled and eaten in strips for saying this but I love Sarah Palin. I'm not sure she's as sincere as she ought to be and yeah, she's definitely big on the power trip thing but she is 44, she is smart, and she is nowhere as dodgy as Obama. Oh and she has a VERY VERY cute baby. Sorry, I'm an emotional voter.

If Vanilla existed, we'd definitely be running a story on her!

Watch her ping-ponging barbs and bites with Joe "Old Guy" Biden here.

Happy (belated) Children's Day

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Whose writing is it anyway?

***UPDATES (as on 3 Oct, 530pm): Wow, a very enthused response, I like. As such, I'd like to extend deadline to 5 Oct, Sunday, 6pm. Besides, yours truly won't have access to her comp nor internet over the weekend, so you've got more time to response! Have a good one folks.-- @

Ooh... I'm writing the first entry for October. :)

I wanted to share this with the team but completely forgot, no thanks to all the craziness of the past weeks.

OK. About a month ago, I took the liberty to get the Vanilla-iens handwriting analysed by an expert. It was supposed to be part of Nov issue's "Useful Last Page" but since that won't happen, I thought it'd be fun to share the "findings" here. It makes for a good insight (maybe) to the Vanilla-iens, and a chance to create some kinda reader participation-- if you (like to) believe in this stuff :)

Ok, Shaan, Jenn and Cas wrote a couple of lines for me but others were based on some rough notes (Theresa) and what Pam wrote on her x’mas card (last year) to me. The expert was Mr William Pang, handwriting forensics scientist who was at a Faber Castell event I went to (with Shaan) at Elephant & Coral at Wheelock Place.

He was very helpful, and super patient-- I say that because the moment the PR person announced we could all get our handwriting analysed by him, a loooooooooongggggg queue immediately snaked and I was the last few with SIX sets of handwritings for him to analyse at one go!!! I learned a lot from him. William's the go-to guy when the courts need someone to detect forgery in documents etc and has recently published a book on the subject (which alas is sold out, so contact him if you want to know how to get your hands on a copy). For more about William and what he does, check out http://www.graphology.gq.nu/

So... here's how I'm fun-ning it up for Theresa, Pam, Cass, Jenn and Shaan: Instead of telling you straight up which is yours, guess which's actually describing you! It's all verbatim to what William said. Or, you can also guess which describes who. Shaan, you already know yours, so shhhhh…Sorry ah Alvin, missed you out 'cause I was in a hurry and couldn't find any doodles you made and you weren't in the office at the time!)

**Contest closes on 3 Oct, Friday, 11.59pm Singapore time. Submit your answers through "comments". Readers/ followers are welcomed to participate... for fun!

p.s. Any resemblance to any persons or situations, past or present is merely coincidence or a cruel joke disguised as a coincidence.

==========

  1. Thrives on systems/ methods to do work. Good sense of concentration. Friendly but needs a lot of personal and emotional space. Decision-making is not based on logic alone, but also on experiences and gut feel. Best job: admin/ training/ HR/ accounts.
  2. Sensitive personality, usually affected by mood changes. Opportunistic in many ways, not patient to the non-essential, talkative to like-minded people. Needs to be prepared to listen more.
  3. She's most comfortable when she knows what she's doing. Instructions given to her must be clear. She likes things to be secure-- no surprises. The mind matters over the heart; if something needs to be done, it needs/ will be done. A lot of artistic talent and appreciates the arts. She'd rather settle conflicts with tact rather than fight, is physically active, cannot sit still or just wait for things to happen. Is persistent, determined and critical at times. A one-way traffic type of person who has a generally formal nature.
  4. Appears to be discipline about things she does. Comprehensive thinker, learns quickly. Good in communication. Strongest traits: analytical and investigative. An ambitious person who dares to take a fair amount of risk.
  5. Fairly easy-going person who is definitely socially active though selective (to certain people). Decisions are made by intuition although routine work is acceptable, she'd like an amount of variety instead of just bekng glued to the table e.g. some hours in the office, some outside. A bit of a sensitive person who will not survive well in hard-selling/ high-pressure jobs.
  6. The way she thinks is clean cut, likes a simplified lifestyle. She hates non-essentials and gets irritated quickly. She needs a lot of independence and will be the happriest if given a chance to express creativity. She doesn't like to be told more than once. She ensures that responsibilities are met and is non-negotiable in her final decisions.