Gaga heels by Japanese Designer

When you think of Lady Gaga, what comes to mind first? Her meat dress? Her balloon dress? If you step back and think about it, all these images are related to fashion. We tend to think about her fashion before her music. She has crafted a signature look to cement her brand. Part of her look includes those crazy high platforms that have no heel. Lady Gaga has bought fame to the man behind those unconventional heels, shoe designer Noritaka Tatehana.

For the past 2 years, Tatehana has designed over 20 pairs of heels for Lady Gaga; which has helped him make his work become an icon. The story of how he and Lady Gaga started to collaborate is kind of cool.

Tatehana wanted to modernize the traditional Japanese ‘greta’ shoes that were worn by geishas, he designed his first shoe for his thesis. They were eye catching, pink leather with a reptilian texture. He sent out mass emails to people in the industry and he received 3 replies; a blogger, a journalist and Lady Gaga’s stylist. And the rest is history.

As for the future, Tatehana hopes to expand his brand to clothing, accessories and hopes to raise the profile of his Japanese heritage around the world.
Reference: Korean Herald

DigitalRev TV: Cameras, light & action

For the past few months, I have been researching seriously about what DSLR camera I should get. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a DSLR for over a year. I’ve been learning a bit about the mechanics of a camera and lenses, TLR, SLR, mirrorless, ¾, full frame. But I'm still having great difficulty on deciding what I want.

In terms of cameras, my family has always owned a canon camera – we use to shoot on film. Then I got 2 canon point and shoot cameras, the ixus and ixy. I love my canon cameras; it’s easy to use, produces great colored pictures, has some nice art filters. So naturally, I would stay loyal to the brand and get a canon DSLR like the 60D, 600D right?

Well, that’s what I initially thought. After going to camera stores and picking the brains of experts, my friends and watching DigitalRev TV my mind has changed some what.

Let me tell you about DigitalRev TV, well it’s a show about cameras. It’s one of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen, I’m absolutely obsessed with the show now. Think of UK’s TV show Top gear but instead of featuring cars, the show features cameras. Like Top Gear, DigitalRev TV has 3 hosts: Kai, Lok and Alamby.

Kai is the frontman of the show, his humor is similar to Jeremy Clarkson’s – it’s blunt and he comes up with some classic one liners. In one video he referred to Justin Bieber as a singing foetus. His humor is bloody brilliant.

From the show I learnt that Canon cameras are large plastic things and the lenses are cheap plastic. Olympus OMD M-5 has a magnesium alloy body with weather sealing. All the features of the SLR are in a more compact size in the OMD M-5. The smaller camera is more ideal for the traveler. Currently I'm leaning towards the Olympus M5, but I shall ponder a tiny bit longer about it. I want to be 100% happy with my purchase.

Back to DigitalRev TV, some of my favourite moments include Kai and Lok painting DSLR cameras (they are not cheap) PINK! Such as a canon 600D, Nikon D7000 even a Leica M8 camera!!! I enjoyed their smoke photography tutorial (let me mention they nearly burnt the apartment down!! Don't worry, they had a bucket of water lying nearby LOL!)

I’ve posted one of my fave DigitalRev episodes below, check it out =) This is where they just abuse a canon 7D camera to test out its durability. You'll be surprise at how much the 7D could handle.

Odd Things I saw - Toilet signs

I was browsing around on the web and came across this photo that actor Peter Ho posted on his weibo (China's version of twitter).

Clever toilet photo sign yeah? lol!

SBS Bollywood Star

My new fave Aussie show this year is 'Bollywood Star'. This delightfully entertaining family show is on the search to find  Bollywood's next superstar in Australia.

In this 4 part series, contestants go through a grueling audition process to discover who has the talent, star quality, appeal to succeed in Bollywood.

A diverse group of contestants of different backgrounds went to Sydney to dazzle the judges. Amongst the good, the bad and the ugly auditions, the judges uncovered remarkable talent that shined through the crowd.

In the second episode (aired 9th June), the contestant pool was narrowed down to the final 6. The 6 include G-Luv, the only male to make it to the finals. His personality is huge, unmissable on the show, making him one of the most memorable faces on the show. He is what I would describe as Bollywood meets hip hop. He has a lot of hip hop attitude, the way he speaks and poses. The way Bollywood is modernizing for the younger audiences, G-Luv may as well find a fanbase in Bollywood.

The final 6 will now fly to Mumbai for the next round of auditions. Tune in next Saturday on SBS at 7:30pm to see what happens next!

Odd Things I saw - Miniature art

I'm a huge fan of art and I came across this unique form of artwork that I wanted to share with you all. Artist Chen Forng Shean expresses his creativity on a microscopic scale, his masterpieces are the size of a needle eye. If you don't look hard enough, you probably won't realise it's there.

Chen has been dubbed as 'the founder of miniature art in Taiwan', he has been creating miniature masterpieces for 30 years. He never needs to worry about running out of space to store his artwork! LOL!

When working on a small scale, there are quite a few challenges. For instance, a shaky hand is of no use in this type of artwork.

"If the hands shake a little bit, the work will be destroyed, " Chen said, "my job is dealing with very fine things, so I learned to breathe and hold my breath. When I take a breath, I can hold it for 60 seconds, and then I can engrave every stroke with the rhythm of my pulse." Reference: Sina english

Employees refuse to take tattoo survey in Osaka

Do you feel it’s OK for a workplace to make you declare if you have a tattoo? In Australia tattoos isn’t an issue in the workplace. On a professional level, they may ask you to conceal it while at work but they certainly would not sack you over it.

In Japan, the mayor of Osaka Toru Hashimoto forced all employees in the public sector to declare if they have tattoos in a survey. If an employee owned up to having a tattoo, they could meet some unfavorable consequences such as relocation or dismissal. Not a win win situation for inked employees.

So why all this fuss over employees having ink? Well, in Japan tattoos are frowned upon in society - because they assume that person has an association with the yakuza.

 Recently another tattoo survey was conducted and 15 employees refused to fill out the form arguing that it violated their privacy. Displeased with their response, the government replied that they will take disciplinary measures that include salary cuts and other reprimand.

Mayor Hashimoto strongly feels that if people want or have tattoos they don’t belong in the public sector and should find work in the private sector. If you think about it, how does having a picture on your skin affect a person’s ability to do their job. Having ink doesn’t take away a person’s qualifications, skills or experience. Why so judgmental Mr Mayor? Don’t you feel that you are discriminating against people with tattoos? Doesn’t the public sector in Japan have work laws such as Equal Opportunities.

What do you think of this story?

EUROVISION WEEKEND BEGINS

It's that time of year when the biggest song contest in the world, Eurovision, begins.

Spread over 3 epic nights, the highs, the lows, the good and the ugly of Eurovision will make highly entertaining television.

During the Eurovision broadcast, twitterverse always explodes with tweets from viewers worldwide - sharing their opinions. 

This year's Eurovision is held in Baku, Azerbaijan watch all the European countries battle it out on stage.

Hosted by Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang, this epic music events starts tonight on SBS at 8:30pm and continues tomorrow and Sunday.

Broadcasters MBC and YouTube join forces

Kpop Singers held a special concert near the Google headquarters, California to celebrate the content sharing deal between korean broadcaster MBC and YouTube.

The concert featured major artists that included TVXQ, Girl's generation, and Kara. It was also broadcasted live on YouTube for fans worldwide.

More than 20,000 kpop fans attended the free event at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. The fans that missed out on tickets were able to watch their idols from outside the theatre.

This is a valuable partnership between Korea's MBC and the largest video sharing site YouTube. YouTube was one of the main platforms that helped Kpop reach an international audience.

Viagra generics enter the Korean market

Pfizer's blue pill 'Viagra' has gone off patent, which caused a lot of excitement amongst Korean pharmaceutical firms as they are allowed to make generics of Viagra.

One day after Viagra's patent expired, Korean pharmaceutical company CJ released 'Heragra' in to the market. They sure didn't waste any time at all. They are certainly giving Pfizer a run for their money too by pricing Heragra at one third of its price. One pill of Viagra costs 13.60USD whilst one pill of Heragra costs less than 5USD. As a patient, the pricing difference will sure make Heragra the more appealing and cost effective option. (NOTE: Heragra is a terrible name, it doesn't roll off the tongue easily).

However, Pfizer came out with a statement:
"Pfizer held two different patents in regards to sildenafil. One was for the compound and the other for it's use in the treatment of erectile dysfunction."

This means CJ or any other Pharmaceutical company can manufacture sildenafil but they can't make health claims for erectile dysfunction for their products.

CJ were unsatisfied with this so they have filed a law suit against Pfizer.


Reference: Korean Herald

Odd Things I Saw - Toilet mural

To all you  love birds out there. When you want to do something romantic for your partner, what would you do? Wine, dine, buy some flowers or maybe jewellery.

Well, Chinese artist Wei Hua came up with an innovative idea and gift for his future wife. He created a wall of toilets and arranged roses in the toilet to form a love heart. I don't entirely understand how toilets came in to the equation of a romantic gift for his beloved.

The art piece is appropriately named the 'toilet waterfall'. A total of 6,000 roses were put in the toilets. 

Me personally, I think he should have just given her the 6,000 roses (that''s like a florist shop) that is romantic. I think the addition of toilets is overkill, but it definitely will leave a long lasting impression for her and the whole town. lol

Film release: Careless Love (2012)

A new Australian film 'Careless Love', starring Vietnamese Australian actress Nammi Le was released nationally in selected theatres this week.

The film is about a Vietnamese Australian uni student who moonlights as an escort in order to help out her family's financial struggle.

For more information check out the film's official website.

Mickey Mouse supports gay marriage, Japan

After much talk in US politics about gay marriage, President Obama has finally expressed his support for gay couples to tie the knot. Another high profile person has also expressed their support for gay marriage is Mickey Mouse in Japan.

Same sex couples are able to have their dream fairytale wedding at Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan. However, the unions are not recognised legally.

Having a same sex wedding at Tokyo Disney does come with a few conditions.

Firstly, couples are required to be dressed 'like a man and a woman'... Doesn't this restrict the couples freedom and expression to get married? What if they both want to wear flowing wedding dresses or tuxedos. Staff explained that the same sex marriage would create 'repercussions' among the visitors when they saw 2 brides or 2 grooms... Again... what the? Doesn't this take away from the whole point of allowing gay couples to wed?

Soon (after realising their "support" was actually  not supportive), they revised their policy to allow couples to wear what they want.

Then, to further outrage couples, Disney staff said gay couples are not allowed to exchange marriage vows at the onsite chapel 'because of Christian teaching'. How is that support for gay marriage?

It's like they are saying:

"Oh yes! You can have your wedding at our venue. We support gay marriage. But your marriage will not be legal, we'll give you a hard time about what you can and cannot wear, PLUS! You are not allowed to exchange marriage vows at the Disney chapel 'because of Christian teachings."

Share your thoughts on this. Love to hear from you.


Reference: AFP

Odd Things I saw - Ice Pack Bra ?

This week, underwear firm Triumph Japan launched a novelty bra that has built in ice packs in an effort to keep women's chest area cool during the hot summer.

Yes I am serious, and it seems Triumph Japan are serious too. Some of the features of this 'cool' bra include gel padding that remains soft even when frozen. LOL!

Would you want to wear 2 ice packs under you clothes everywhere on a hot sunny day? I don't see how practical this cool bra is and what kind of market research they undertook to come up with this idea. Who exactly is their target market.

When you start to ponder about this idea a bit more, I wonder how long the bra stays 'cool' for and what their user feedback would be like. But hey, let's not forget Japan did also invent the Man Bra... so maybe this ice pack bra will be a hit.

This bra is Triumph's contribution to the Nation's 'Cool Biz' campaign, where companies are finding innovative ways for Japanese people to conserve energy.

 Check out the photos

Kmovie review – Mother (2009)

Its mother’s day this weekend, so I thought it was fitting that I review the Korean film ‘Mother’ on today’s show. This film is a thriller so not the type of film you would watch with your mum on mother’s day (LOL!).

‘Mother’ stars Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin as mother and son. Kim plays an unnamed widow who works as a herbalist in a small town in order to support her only son Do-Joon, whom has an intellectual disability. Mother smothers Do-Joon with affection causing dislike from Do-Joon because he wants his independence. Do-Joon’s only friend is Jin-tae, a bad apple in the small town who always gets Do-Joon in trouble.

A high school girl is discovered dead on a building's roof and evidence found at the crime scene points to Do-Joon. Unable to defend himself, police find’s Do-Joon guilty of the crime and throws him in Jail.

His mother believes Do-Joon has been framed and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove his innocence. She constantly asks Do-Joon to remember details of the night the school girl was killed. Do-Joon has trouble recalling because he was drinking earlier in the night.

With no lead to follow, she did unethical things in an effort to collect evidence that will clear her son’s name. The question begs, how far will she go to protect her son?

One of the most fascinating aspects of this film was questioning everyone’s involvement in the crime. Things aren’t what they appear to be, and it was hard to determine who was good and who was bad.

Kim carried the film, moving us when she was vulnerable, frightening us when she was angry. Won Bin proved himself as a serious actor taking on this role. He delivered a compelling performance, especially in the ending scenes.

Interesting and compelling film. 5/5 stars.

America’s Next Top Model – Nicholas Tse

Hong Kong superstar Nicholas Tse guest starred in this week’s episode of America’s next top model.

5 finalist remain in the competition and they were flown to Hong Kong for the last part of the competition. For this week’s challenge, Nicholas Tse had the girls act in fight sequence. The winner of the challenge would get to star in an upcoming music video of his.

Nicholas did some demos of fight sequences, displaying his professionalism and skills. The contestants were very impressed with  him. The entertaining part was when the girls had to learn the fight sequence. It was obvious the girls are no Maggie Q or Angelina Jolie. A lot of the times the girls looked rather awkward or un-coordinated. It just shows that it’s hard to do action sequences and make them look natural and not rehearsed or contrived.

It was really cool to see Nicholas Tse in America’s Next Top Model.

Kmovie Review: Actresses (2009)

I’m a huge fan of documentaries and ‘Actresses’ is the first Korean documentary I have watched. ‘Actresses’ follows 6 leading ladies of Korean cinema at the Vogue Korea Magazine Photoshoot.

The 6 leading actresses are Choi Ji-woo, Yoon Yeo-Jeong, Lee Mi-sook, Ko Hyeon-jeong, Kim Min-hee and Kim ok-bin. The documentary focuses on the 6 actresses and how they interact together on set.

There are a few elements that make the documentary interesting to watch. The generational tension that is seen between the actresses was evident; whose ages span from 20s to 60s. In addition, a lot of drama was seen amongst the young actresses arguing who is the 'bigger' celebrity. Things got quite catty, but in comparison to American reality shows, it was rather tame.

Rumors had it that this film was scripted. It actually wasn’t, however, the director said each scene had an outline (similar to how TV show ‘Curb your enthusiasm’ is made). The outline required the actresses to improvise in the given scenario.


The director wanted to show the women’s character in real life. When I was watching the film, some sections felt contrived – like the actress was putting up a performance. Which reminded me of the quote shown in the opening credits of the film:

'There are 3 types of people in this world, Men, Women and Actresses'.

There were some delightfully funny moments between the actresses when they start to warm up to each other. 

I was most surprised about Choi Ji-woo’s diva antics. We’re so familiar with her girl next door image in movies and TV dramas, so it was surreal to watch the ‘real’ her being a diva and having a whinge. She’s a convincing actress, however ironically in this film she comes off as over acting.

This documentary doesn’t feel authentic. I would actually label it as a mockumentary. I'll give it 3/5 stars.

Check out the trailer:

CMovie - Insperable starring Daniel Wu & Kevin Spacey

Daniel Wu and Kevin Spacey star opposite each other for the first time in the Chinese film 'Inseparable', which is released today in China.

It is an exciting project, having two of the biggest stars in Asia and Hollywood on screen together. The film is bilingual with both english and mandarin dialogue.

In this black comedy, Daniel Wu plays a young man dealing with problems at work and at home, who is befriended by a mysterious American expat (Kevin Spacey).

Check out the trailer:

Odd Things I Saw - Hello Kitty Couture

I do have to say that sometimes I indulge in reality television (if a dessert isn't on hand). They share a lot of similarities, they are deliciously bad for you and surprisingly enjoyable.

On this week's episode of America's Next Top Model, the contestants had to wear Hello Kitty Couture for a photoshoot.

All these gowns took around 3 months to put together. The dresses are amazingly creative. One of my favourites was the kimono made out of hello kitty pencil cases - too cute.

I love how one of the dresses was made out of tin hello kitty lunch boxes.

I felt the models didn't use a lot of creativity to model in these unique creations. If Coco Rocha wore these dresses, she would own it and model the hello kitty out of the dresses.

What do you think of these hello kitty couture dresses?  

Students protest against Lady Gaga's concert in South Korea

 A group of college students have announced that they will stage a protest outside Lady Gaga's Seoul concert this Friday.

They are protesting against what they describe as her 'abnormal', 'obscene', 'sexually perverted acts' on stage. The students are trying to launch an 'anti-gaga' campaign online through (yep, you guessed it) social media. They also stated they they will boycott companies that support Lady Gaga. Churches in Seoul have planned group prayers against Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga will kick off her 2012 World Tour in Seoul, so this is not quite the welcome an artist would hope for.

In the article, they interviewed Professor Mathieu Deflem, an expert in sociology at the University of South Carolina. He suggested a reason for the protests, “Mainly because Lady Gaga uses religious symbols and because she is a supporter of gay rights,”

“However, I think these groups are not very well-informed, because Lady Gaga herself is very religious and not out to destroy young people,” he said.

Lady Gaga has remained silent over this issue and declined to hold a press conference in Seoul.

I wonder how this affected her preparations for her world tour?

Reference: Korea Herald

Odd Things I Saw - Sushi for your iPhone

Are you a sushi and iphone lover?

Well, Japanese brand 'Tsukasa Sample' has created a special sushi iphone cover that retails for 42USD.

'Tsukasa Sample' are known for their realistic plastic foods that are displayed in Japanese restaurants. They have adapted their designs for apple products.

You will see the fine detail in all their designs, from the crinkle in seaweed, to individual rice grains.

It will sure make you crave sushi when you are working in the office and looking at your sushi iphone. It's mind control I tell you! lolz.

If sushi doesn't take your fancy, you can get dessert iphone covers such as strawberries and ice cream.

You can check out their iphone food case menu online.

Bon Apetite!