Asia's Next Top Model, Cycle 1- Episode 2

Moving on from my previous post, there were 13 girls remained. Last episode, Kyla from Singapore was eliminated.

I could not really recognize her most of the time. She was not really a model-like type in my opinion. Her face was almost blank in all her shots. So I quite agree with the judges.

This episode, for the 1st challenge it was also something to do with runaway catwalk but this time, it was in a dining restaurant and again, the judges were presented to scrutinize the contestants.

Trang, who was the most experienced in catwalk was generous & kind enough to all the girls for giving them a bit of a catwalk lesson & help to improve them. Sophia was a bit unsure about the lesson, she said something like, "Everybody thinks Trang seems to know runaway better, so I guess I would also need to join the girls & learn some lessons from her." But she was such an ignorant person & couldn't really agree with Trang's comment on her catwalk style.

Earlier in the model house, Joey gave a surprise visit with a celebrity runaway coach, Adam William & taught the girls on a proper catwalk. Adam was really funny & I enjoyed his presence. He really likes Sophia's catwalk & praised her, making her said "Trang definitely made me kind of doubt myself, so .. not anymore.." - Seriously? Trang was just helping out.

The winner for this challenge was Trang & she got to pick 2 of the girls to go for a dinner. It was Helena's birthday & she was upset that Trang didn't choose her but her disappointment was redeemed back by a surprise gift from the other girls in the model house - she got a card, cake & kisses from them. Aww that was nice!

2nd challenge was a group shoot for Harper's Bazaar magazine. Filantropi was the worst, she had a very blank face although everything else about her were working quite ok.

She & Melissa were both kinda weak in this challenge. 

The best individual shot was won by Aastha while for group, was won by Group 2- Aastha, Bei Si, Sophia & Trang. I thought Sophia's one was the best.

Sophia was standing in the middle

During the elimination, my favorite Helena was a number 4 person being called by Nadya. Gee & Steph were in bottom 2 but fortunately they were both save as Monica from Thailand had left the competition due to her father's health condition.

Didn't really have much chance to see her talent... Mmmm...

I feel it wasn't fair that Thailand got 2 representatives.

Anyway, Rachel fainted at the end of the elimination & she was brought to the hospital. Apparently it turned out it was due to her heart unusual fast-beating.

Nursery@Sungai Buloh

Last Friday was a public holiday in lieu of Federal Territory Day. My husband and I were both off from work & we decided to spend some quality time together. We went out from the house as early as 9am & headed to Sungai Buloh.

There are tons of nurseries in this particular area in Sungai Buloh & we planned to buy some plants & pots for our little garden at home. I was so excited, anything that includes spending time with hubby is the thing I look forward to the most.

So, we began our journey with a breakfast at Bukit Indah Food Corner, my all-time favorite Mamak's restaurant. I had a Murtabak Ayam while my hubby with his usual dish, Cappati. They served the best roti canai in Bukit Indah, my childhood neighbourhood.

After breakfast, my hubby went straight to Sungai Buloh. It was about 30 minutes drive & we finally reached the famous nursery area. It was my first time here. But for hubby, his parents had brought him here several times.

This place is famously known even to the foreigners. I even saw them while I was there. In fact, this place was mentioned in Kosmo! newspaper and The Star

I was ecstatic! Women and flowers cannot be separated, and if women are responsive to the sensual, then flowers are the perfect drugs. I was so thrilled to see all those beautiful plants and flowers all over the places. There was not one, but too many nurseries along the roadside.

I brought our camera along & managed to snap an ample amount of photos to share in my blog.

There were lots of widely-known flowers from different species such as Orchids, Roses, Sunflowers and Chrysanthemum. Some of the photos I snapped:-

Assorted flowers

Yeap Nursery

Series of Roses

The unique Pitcher Plant

Purple Orchids

Chrysanthemum flowers

Sunflower

Seriously out of clue what these are

Red and yellow roses

No idea .... Mmmm... Saw bunch of these in IKEA store too

Not sure....

I fell in love with the cactus species. Most of the cactus I've seen in my whole life were green color but over here I saw some yellow, pink and red 'plants' on top of the cactus. Were they flowers? Could they produce flowers, I don't really know...Mmm? The assorted colors thingy were looking just like flowers. So I bought 2 of them which were red & pink. It cost RM5 per/pcs.

Mmm.. Gorgeous right?

 My hubby was really into Bonsai species. So he got one of those for himself, which cost me RM30 but it is so gorgeous I don't really mind the price. We got some pots for those plants & some soils. With all those purchase, we went back satisfied and happy :-)

Besides Flowers, I saw some veggies too!

Tomatoes

Capsicum

After the nursery activity, we went straight to Pavilion KL & my hubby gave me a surprised treat-a purse! Oh I just love it so much! It was from Fossil, my favorite brand & it matched my Fossil's watch :-) Oh hubby, love you!! ^_^

Tired of the day's outing, we went for lunch at the food court. Those were my treats for hubby, a lunch set of BBQ chicken rice with wantan for 2 :-) They were gorgeous <3

After Pavilion, we went to IKEA in Damansara. Wow, so much of activities in 1 day! In IKEA, we got ourselves a shoe rack, a bedside table for our bedroom & a steel rack for our 'little garden'. We were both so happy & planned to return back to IKEA on this CNY to purchase a dining table as now we are still sitting down on the floor during meal time. So, I just can't wait! <3

Asia's Next Top Model, Cycle 1- Episode 1

I had planned to catch up with all the past episodes of AsNTM which I had missed, from episode 1-9 and finally managed to watch all of them yesterday and the day before. I am soooo head over heels with this TV show & enjoyed watching them so much. I can't wait to watch the future episodes & finally to find out who is the winner.

I really hope it would be Jessica, who represents Thailand.

Remember my past entry on this topic, how I highly praised Helena?

As I had already watched the full episode, it turned out I kinda understand now why all the girls felt the way they did towards her. I admit as I was watching the show I couldn't help feeling a bit annoyed with her myself BUT that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to win! I still think she should be the winner all the same, based on her pure determination and talent. Oh! and she was representing Hong Kong.

So on this 1st episode, I got to learn the 1st prices!

Just a recap-they include a modelling contract covering UK & Europe with London base Storm models including a 3-months all expenses paid working trip to London, cover shoots for Harper's Bazaar magazine,

a cash price of Sing.Dollar 100,000, a contract to become the face of Canon campaign 2013 & drive away a new Subaru XV.

Wow! That's GRAND!

Meet the Judges 

❤"Singapore Most Gorgeous Woman"- Nadya Hutagalung

❤Fashion photographer- Todd Anthony Tyler

❤Model mentor- Joey Mead King

❤Fashion Director- Daniel Boey

Meet the Contestants

❤Aastha - Nepal

❤Sophia - Japan

❤Melissa - Malaysia

❤Bei Si - China

❤Stephanie - Philippines

❤Jessica - Thailand

❤Trang - Vietnam

❤Kate - Taiwan

❤Jee - Korea

❤Rachel - India

❤Monica - Thailand (2 person representing Thailand - is it fair?Mmm..)

❤Filantropi - Indonesia

❤Kyla - Singapore

❤Helena - Hong Kong

~The 1st challenge was a runaway challenge which put Trang as the winner. As the reward, she received a 5000 Sg dollar to buy a whole new wardrobe. Oh God, I would be so ecstatic if I were in her shoes! So she went shopping & generously bought some things for the rest of the girls - wow that was very nice of her. And I thought she is beautiful too, she has this very unique model-like face & her runway catwalk-it was phenomenal. Unfortunately her English was very bad & it didn't really help her that much. Btw, she was representing Vietnam.

~On the 2nd challenge, the girls were instructed to give some quirky looks in the photo shoots. Quirky to me was never before heard, and it was not use that often so I was also confuse as much as most of them. Lucky for Helena, she got it right in her shots & won the challenge - she knew what quirky means, alright :-)

I thought her shot was the best & agree with the judges for their decision. The others just had some normal model-pose & didn't really deliver quirkiness.

Check out my updates on the next episode! ^_^

A Desirable Residence By Madeleine Wickham

                                         

Title: A Desirable Residence

Author: Madeleine Wickham (also known as Sophie Kinsella)

Published Date: First published in 1996 & published by Black Swan in November 2004

Format: Paperback

Genre: Fiction

Sneak into this book:

Liz and Jonathan were stuck with 2 mortgage loans & were struggling to sell their old house in order to settle one of the loans. Marcus came into their lives offering a solution by promising a tenant who would rent their house, husband and wife Piers & Ginny. In the middle of the arrangement, Liz & Marcus were accidentally lost in an affairs & Jonathan was left alone to struggle and keep their financial save. Both of them didn't notice that they had abandoned their one and only daughter, a 14 year old Alice. On the other hand, a lonely Alice was developing a passion towards the new tenant & was entangled with their lives. Everyone was preoccupied with everyone else until they begin to realise the whole situations were a mess & were trying to keep it back on track once again.... -Read more to know the ending.

First of all, it was my first time reading her writing using her original name, 'Madeleine Wickham'. Before it, I collected Sophie Kinsella's only & never came across her originals.

I was not surprised when it turns out to be as good as Sophie Kinsella's but I never expected to find a different way of writing. As Sophie Kinsella, her books are more like those silly yet funny and enjoyable reads. As Madeleine Wickham, I find it more serious and detailed but enjoyable still. After all, she is one of the best-selling authors in 'New York Times', so I never doubt her productions. Again, she delivers a very good story and ending in 'A Desirable Residence'. The only thing I don't like is that she portrays most of the characters with low attitudes and morals, but in a way, I suppose that is positive for her, as it shows how good she is in making such impact to her audience in order to deliver the actual purpose of the story.

So here are my personal opinions on this story:

- I hate Liz's character. She is dishonest to her husband and child & always get away with all the bad things she did. At one point, she even plans to leave her husband & assume that Marcus will want to end their flings and marry her. She is disloyal to such a very kind husband and at the end she is still with her husband. He really does not deserves her at all.

- I like Alice, my heart goes for her when she seems to be abandoned by her parents who are so busy keeping their lives together. The way she brings her life everyday just to find peace and happiness in the little garage of her old house, really makes me feel sad & mad at her parents especially her mom who is so busy screwing Marcus. But I REALLY hate the fact that she has Liz's bad habit of being dishonest & disloyal by secretly having crush on Piers despite what Ginny have given to her.

- I love Jonathan's character. He is the kind of husband most women dreams of. He is loyal, committed, considerable & so much more. He still works very hard even when he knows their real financial situations. Towards the end of the story he tells Alice not to spill anything as it is best to keep some secrets to ourselves & let the situation sorts itself out. I personally think he knew what kind of 'horrible' thing Alice is going to tell him but he just doesn't want to know and doesn't want to ruin everything that is why he let Alice keep the secret of her mom's cheating episodes. Again, Liz got away with it.

- I understand Anthea's character, she is the kind of mom who would give anything just to see her children's success. She might be a bit hard to her children but she means well & I don't agree that she deserves to be treated the way she is by her husband. I think eventually Marcus realised how great his wife is and he saves their marriage & ends the affairs between him & Liz, but that doesn't mean I like Marcus, he is still a cheater and that is unacceptable.

So all in all, I give 5 stars/5!! :-) Enjoy!

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

"What if the woods were full of them? And of course they were, the woods were full of everything you didn't like, everything you were afraid of and instinctively loathed, everything that tried to overwhelm you with nasty, no-brain panic."

Title: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Author: Stephen King
Published Date:06/04/1999
Format: Paperback
Genre: Horror/Survival

Sneak into this book:
During a hiking trip with her mother & brother, a 9-year old girl named Trisha wandered off the trail to take a bathroom break when she was suddenly unable to find her family again. With failed attempts in using wrong short-cuts & trails, she ended up lost & hopelessly heading deeper into the forest, alone by herself. All she had were a bottle of water, a small amount of food & a Walkman. In order to keep herself from panic attack, she listened to her Walkman every now and then, hoping to hear any news of the search for her or to listen to the baseball game featuring her favorite player who was also her crush, 'Tom Gordon'. As she was struggling for survival, her mother & brother returned to their car & lodged a police report and start a search. As the polices started searching the night, Trisha rested underneath a tree & finally started to hallucinate due to the combinations of hunger, thirst & fear. She imagined a few people in her life came to rescue her, as well as her 'Tom Gordon'-Read more of this book to know the ending.

The girl who loved Tom Gordon is my second favorite Stephen King's book after Christine.

I discovered this book about 5 years ago but still remember the story clearly. This is one of the books that I will most likely to read again someday.

I love the cover. There are a few of other version as well. 

 I love the main character. She was very brave & tough despite her age.

The book is not boring & not long-winded, it keeps the readers in full suspense.

 I love the happy ending

This book deserves my stars of 5/5!!