Category: Lifestyle

My Virtual Makeover… What do you think?

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 2, 2009

I was seriously planning to cut my hair really short last week. I wanted to get my friends’ opinions so I posted in my plurk about my question (Plurk Thread).

I think about 90% of them disagree with me cutting my hair short so I decided not to continue with my plan.

There were also some suggestions like try to go online and do a virtual makeover. I actually wasn’t aware that there is such a thing! And thanks to those who shared.

I tried Taaz (www.taaz.com), it’s so cool, promise! You just have to upload your picture and then you can do your makeover.

There are 4 sections there:

Face
Eyes
Lips
Hair

Various selections on each part, and it’s somewhat a lil realistic. For example, on the eyes part, they created a simulation of the contact lens (take note, there’s even an existing brand that they patterned it to). I think it’s also their way to help market their products.

So the first step is to upload your picture, next is to choose which section you want to do the makeover with and choose and preview… you can also save it once you’re done.

Here is me if I put on a very black hair & gothic makeup hehehe

After you finish your virtual makeover, you can compare it with your original picture. On the left is the original picture and on the right is the one we created via Taaz. In this picture, I just changed the hair that’s all.

If I want to see myself in short hair, I will need to upload a picture wherein I’m wearing a ponytail. I’ll do that soon.

I am Legend Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On April 2, 2009

I was watching HBO last weekend and this was the movie that was showing that time. I’ve watched this already before, I’m not sure though if I watched it in a movie house or also on HBO or DVD but I decided to watch it again. There’s nothing else to watch anyway on the television. And besides, it’s Will Smith!!

It was a movie about a cure that was made for cancer (altered measles virus). Unfortunately this cure mutated into a lethal airborne strain. It infected 90% of humanity. The remaining uninfected people are either being hunted/killed or committed suicide.

Will’s character (Neville) is left as the last healthy person in New York City. His family was killed in an evacuation mission when the helicopter exploded.

Neville spents his days with his dog (Sam) & experiments on the cure of this disease as well as finding survivors. One day, he sets out a trap to capture an infected woman to test the cure that he has made. The leader of the infected group saw this and try to attack him but since infected people are intolerant of sunlight & uv rays, Neville was able to escape.

One time, Neville was victimized by a trap created by the infected group, they set out infected dogs to attack Neville and Sam. After Sam and Neville was able to kill the dogs and get back to the laboratory, and try to cure Sam unfortunately, he was infected with the disease and try to attack Neville, poor Neville, all he can do is strangle his dog and bury him… now he’s totally alone… with this.. Neville try to seek revenge by attacking the infected group, I guess also his way of giving up as he’s all alone now..

Fortunately, he was saved by a woman and a boy who was on their way to a rescue camp. They all went back to Neville’s laboratory. The infected group found a way to Neville’s laboratory and starts to attack them. Then, Neville noticed that the cure he made was working! With this, he took a sample and gave it to the woman and asked her that this is the purpose why they met and let them escape.

Neville sacrificed his own life and put up a bomb killing him and the infected group. The woman & boy was able to escape and arrive at the rescue camp and gave the cure that Neville made. With this, he became a legend.

Nice, meaningful.. I notice that Will Smith movies are really worth watching. This is one of them

My rating for I am Legend: 4 out of 5 stars.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

Unborn Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 29, 2009

I watched this movie with friends, Jo (call out to Jo) has chosen this over other movies like watchmen, taken, race to witch mountain & you changed my life. I really was hoping we watch watchmen but they already watched it. My 2nd choice was also Unborn so I was kinda happy that Jo has chosen it.

I’m fond of horror movies but I get really scared when I watch them. Weird but true… I can’t explain it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like this movie. Must be the story…

Unborn’s story revolves around a young lady (Casey) being haunted by a dybbuk. A dybbuk is a spirit that doesn’t want to leave in the human world and ended up inhabiting the body of a person.

Apparently, it started with her grandmother (Sofi) wherein her twin brother was killed in Nazi experiments when they were still kids. A dybbuk used Sofi’s twin brother’s body and he was brought into life. Due to this, Sofi killed her twin and the dybbuk is now haunting her whole family (including Casey, her granddaughter).

Sofi referred Casey to Rabbi who can perform exorcism to remove the dybbuk from the human world. While they were performing the exorcism though, the dybbuk tried to stop Rabbi and ended up killing lots of people. The movie ended with Casey being pregnant with twins!

I honestly don’t get it, is the dybbuk back? or is it just ironic that Casey is having twins..

My rating for Unborn: 1 out of 5 stars.

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

Bloggers Night Out by Playboy Philippines

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 27, 2009

When I hear the word “party” all I can think of is “it’s going to be fun, fun, fun!”. I immediately signed up after Azrael released the registration form to everyone

I wasn’t able to meet the bloggers during the 1st 2 events I attended so I was kinda determined that this time around, I’ll meet at least 5 bloggers. I’m glad I was able to! whopeeee!!!!

Anyway, the purpose of the party is to celebrate the new image of Playboy Philippines as it tries to move away from the usual men’s magazine to something more sophisticated. When I hear about this, I wonder what kind of change it is. Coz when we hear Playboy, all we can think of are pretty, sexy, naked ladies & playboy bunnies So I wonder how they would change that, are they going to change the concept like the one Cosmopolitan or Metro Magazine has?

I wasn’t able to get the answer in the party, coz I still see the same playboy bunnies, playmates wearing overly sexy outfits and the new cover they unveiled are extremely sexy as well. I guess I just have to buy their 1st anniversary issue and read through it to see what has changed. Let’s see….

The party was well attended, lots of bloggers were there… ready to mingle and party with everyone. I’m super thankful to Jennie as she was kind enough to give me her number so I can join them once we arrive. And with that, I did not feel out of place and I really enjoyed the party.

All guests can take pictures with the playboy bunnies and the playmates. There were also some games wherein prizes are given.

Early Bird Blogger (1st one who arrived the event) wins a GNC Php1,000 Certificate
Female & Male Sexiest Blogger of the night (voted by how loud the applause are) wins a Tequila Bottle
Anyone who brought the 1st issue of the magazine won a free invite to the exclusive Playboy anniversary party on April 2.
Jagermeister drinking contest (the winners won Php1,000 each)

I had fun, thanks for Playboy Philippines for the event. Hoping for their success. I’m thinking that organizing events like this can really help market their magazine. As for me, I really didn’t know that there is a local version of Playboy Magazine here. And us blogging about it can also help spread the word. It’s the original men’s magazine after all

You can find the pictures here.

Bloggers Meet BB Gandanghari

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 27, 2009

This is the 2nd bloggers event that I joined in. I find the events extremely interesting and it just doesn’t evolve on one certain topic/personality. Since I really blog on almost everything, I’m glad that I could join in and learn at the same time, also share my thoughts on those.

I’ve always wanted to meet BB Gandanghari. He was like my celebrity crush when I was young (when she was still Rustom Padilla). Having attended this event gave me a chance to understand her more. I admire her for being brave enough to admit and stand for what she believes in.

This event was organized by POC (Philippine Online Chronicles). POC is an online publication that captures moments in politics, sports & entertainment. Pretty cool concept. You can visit their website at http://www.thepoc.net.

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We were given some printed handouts with some facts/trivia about BB. Let me share what was written in one of the sheets here:

10 things you have to know about BB Gandanghari

BB made her 1st public appearance at the 31st Gawad Urian on October 1, 2008, when she presented the Best Actor Award. She was then simply “Gandanghari.”
Gandanghari is a real name. According to BB, she once saw a girl in UST who was named Gandanghari and she liked the name so muchshe decided to use it for herself.
The name BB is short for Binibini. It is also a contraction of BB’s motto: “Be all that you can be.”
BB loves white wine & fresh fruit.
During photoshoots, BB loves to have mood music playing in the background. She especially likes sentimental music by Basil Valdez & Rey Valera, and the song “Alipin” by Shamrock.
Because she believes that taking the stairs in her high heels is a way to lose weight, BB doesn’t like to use the elevator.
BB’s height is 5’11” and she says her vital statistics are 36-25-26.
Iman, BB’s labrador, is named after a famous Somali fashion model.
Audrey Hepburn is BB’s favorite fashion icon and style inspiration.
Updates on BB’s activities may be found in gandanghari.thepoc.net.

BB graciously answered all the questions that we had on topics like family, love, religion, fashion & career. I still would want her to be Rustom rather than BB but ofcourse we have to respect whatever she decides on and just wish her well

Aside from being able to meet BB face to face, I was able to win a book about Jose Rizal! I wasn’t really expecting it coz I know that we’re just going to attend the event and meet BB Gandanghari and this is a nice bonus. One of the organizers even mentioned that a lot of sweat and blood was put in the book so it made me appreciate the book more.

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You can find more pictures here.