Monday, January 27, 2014

爱 L O V E @ 2014

Its another year filling with LOVE.

After a hectic schedule of weddings in 2013, it is going to be another year of weddings. Thankfully, it should not be as many as last year. This year, I will be seeing two cousins tying their knot. It is a blessing to see people around me living blissfully, finding the right one, especially since I do not have the fate to meet 'the one'.

Reed & Zahirah
I thought I should blog a post before I started to forget what are the wedding this year. Anyway, I had already attended one! =)

Let's see...

Attended:
4th Jan : Fareed & Zahirah

Coming Up:
10 May : Yuan Bin & Shiau Yinn
7th Sept: Guoxin & Quinn
7th Sept: Bernard & Natalia
23rd Nov: Keith & Regina [solemnization's photos]
(TBC): Derek & Elynda


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Jian Hua, my Ukelele instructor

My Ukelele instructor appeared on Singapore's national television channel, Mediacorp's OKTO.

Not a supporter of OKTO since I have passed that age, I saw the post on Replugged Music's FB page!

He performed the song "Over The Rainbow" which was also taught in class. I thought the version is closer to Matthew Morrison's album version. Anyway, it is nice to see your instructor on TV, right?

I wasn't a hardworking student of his but he is patient and clear in class. Hence, I do enjoy my lesson there. By the way, I finally can sing and play to the simple tune of "Last Christmas"! Super happy even if I am not perfect yet.

The homework from this lesson is the chorus of "Right Here Waiting", with a new style that was taught today. Hope I don't get rusty over the Lunar New Year~! =D


Click here for more photos

Monday, January 20, 2014

2014 Shopping

I am not someone who often shop for clothes but if I do, it can be quite a lot.

This year, I have bought 3 items (costing $200+) in a week and I have not even started shopping for new clothes! I guess I can safely say that 2 of the items are what I needed (more than wanted) while the other is a small mistake but its over now! haha. =D

I got myself a 504 Levis jeans at $94.50 (UP: $149.90), after trading in an old jeans and using member Jay Gee card. I often have doubts getting jeans from Dockers, Levis or Lee as their cutting at the thigh are usually tighter. So I can consider this is a little different from my usual ones. I tried on and the material is comfy. Let's hope it last for years then I will not feel so much pain! haha. I usually shopped at Giodarno or Bossini for jeans.

I also bought a backpack and a jacket at Adidias. Both items are with a 40% discount! Isn't that cool??! I took a while to decided on the backpack... yes I took a long while... pondering... but glad I made the decision - BP Active 2 at $65.40 (UP: $109) The colours of the bag & jacket are similar... haha...
Simple but super nice backpack with a laptop slot!
Apart from the bags, I also shortlisted 2 jackets, while trying one that I know I will never get. haha. The 'rejected' jacket is more of my friend's style. I tried, and confirm it doesn't suit me well!
The 'rejected' one
The shortlisted black one looks cool on me and I like the yellow/white stripes. There is another classic design with black/white stripes. The green one does look similar to the one I wanted to replaced.
Shortlisted Jacket #1 & #2
While I am sharing and asking my friend for advice... I saw this baseball-style (below) which I find it nice and unique... So I ended up getting this. haha! It has similiar colours and I like the collar.

FLEECE VSTY at $83.40 (UP: $139)
So I guess it is time to say goodbye to the one that serve me so many years! 
Goodbye, my friend...

Friday, January 17, 2014

I am everywhere, almost

I just created an 500px.com account. A photography sharing website.

Then, I realised I have an account in Wix.com. It is rather empty though, which I think I may find it a hassle to create one (in 2010). But with Facebook page easily created and maintained (although less flexibility), there is little reason for me to maintain it. But I did edit the names and used JarWee Photography instead, so that I can easily identify if the account is mine. =)

500px.com is quite an amazing website! Really! If you take a look at my Favourites, you will get to see an amazing Russian photographer, Elena Shumilova. I love the composition, the story each photo tells, the moment of capture, the kids expression etc. I can go on and on...! haha... Now I am again inspired to work on my photography! =D

Here are the list of websites that I have an account in (there might be more!):

  1. 500px.com
  2. Blogger.com (Food / Travel)
  3. Instagram
  4. Facebook.com
  5. Flickr.com
  6. Tumblr.com
  7. Twitter.com
  8. Weibo.com
  9. Wix.com

Monday, January 13, 2014

JEUNESSE® - RESERVE™

Source: http://jarwee.jeunesseglobal.com
Recently, I went to a health (and business) talk and was introduced to 2 main products. Yes, the first product is what I blogged earlier today, LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum. This is the second one. To be honest, despite the logical business model initially, I had been quite sceptical about the MLM business structure that was introduced at the later stage. Hence, I decided to focus on the product itself. =)

I was given to test a package of Reserve by my friend. What's better than testing the product yourself. Anyway, since its a 'free sample' (paid by my friend), I decided to test and taste. It tasted like some berry juice and it may taste a little sweet if you had it early in the morning. We were told to drink it before we brush our teeth as our body are 'hungry' and will be in the best state to absorb all the nutritious ingredients and nutrients in the drink. This is also likely because I do not have the habit of having a fruit juice early in the morning.

Reserve is said to have help quite a number of people on their health conditions and balance what their body needed. Some reduced their blood pressure, sugar level, while others recover from white hair and showing signs of black hair at the root, near the scalp. Since my friend's dad is one of the example and the price is ok per pack (if I used member price), I decided to give it a try for a month and monitor my health condition.

Being a Chinese, this year is not that good for those who born in the year of Rat (Chinese Zodiac). It might be good for me to take extra care of my body. If it is good, I do not mind sharing with friends who needed them. Those who know me well enough will know that I have white hairs, so if it can really turn white hair black after a while, I will be a good testament for the product, isn't it? =D Oh for my own monitoring purposes, I started drinking yesterday (12th Jan '14).

Anyway, in case any reader passes by and wanted to look at some explanation, feel free to take a look at these clips or google it (use scholar.google.com for scientific papers).





Note: Below product information is extracted from JEUNESSE® product website.



RESERVE™

With a botanical blend of antioxidants that super-charge your internal systems, RESERVE™ is a naturally sweet supplement bursting with exotic fruit juices. It contains a host of powerful ingredients that repair free radical damage and protect cells against future harm. Your cells stay healthier, live longer, and leave you looking and feeling great.

Formulated to provide you with all the protection you need, this delicious and nutritious gel will infuse your body with youthful vitality and a feeling of overall good health. RESERVE’S™ superstar ingredient, resveratrol, is accompanied by a supporting cast of other powerful antioxidants like açai, pomegranate, blueberry, dark sweet cherry, aloe vera, grapeseed, and green tea. This incredible supplement will jump-start your day.

BENEFITS
  • Antioxidants resist oxidative stress and premature aging
  • Anthocyanins support healthy cardiovascular function
  • Essential fatty acids assist in digestive tract function
  • Reinforces a healthy immune system
  • Helps maintain a healthy metabolism
  • Helps boost energy
  • Supports healthy joint function
  • Positive cap-e test results indicate that RESERVE™ penetrates and protects live cells from oxidative damage*

INGREDIENTS'
  • Water
  • Dark Sweet Cherry Juice Concentrate (Prunus Campanulata)
  • Blueberry Juice Concentrate (Vaccinium)
  • Concord Grape Juice Concentrate (Vitis Labrusca)
  • Pomegranate Juice Concentrate (Punica Granatum)
  • Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis Miller)
  • Resveratrol 
  • Grapeseed Extract (Vitis Vinifera)
  • Açai Extract (Euterpe Oleracea)
  • Green Tea Extract (Camellia Sinensis)
  • Citric Acid, Natural Flavor
  • Potassium Sorbate (preservative)
  • Xanthan Gum
  • Carboxy Methyl Cellulose.

For more information, check out the product here.

Check out other posts on my blog on Jeunesse products here.

LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum

Source: http://jarwee.jeunesseglobal.com
Scarring is always one of my major issue when I look into the mirror. Even though I may received positive comments about my looks (don't laugh!), I still feel insecure as my skin looks dull and ugly with the facial 'potholes'. Hence when I come upon this product, I decided to give it a try.

Dr. Nathan Newman is the innovator of Stem Cell Lift™ - cutting edge cosmetic surgery, without cutting. This stem cell technology allows the cells to rejuvenate and recover, naturally. If I am to explain, it may take hours and I may missed out many points too. Hence, I will recommend you google about the technology and products by yourself. Trust no one (especially salesman) but the scientific information. haha! I will go read up myself too!

For now, I started to use this product (since last night) and hopefully, I can be more hardworking in documenting the progress through my blog and so I can see the difference and share with those who are curious and wanted to see progress of a user, more than those 'Before-And-After ones.

Note: Below product information is extracted from JEUNESSE® product website.



LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum

This silky serum has the highest percentage of growth factor complex possible to encourage cell renewal. Use it twice daily after cleansing and as a primer for the daily moisturizing complex or advanced night repair. Its corrective properties make this the most popular product in the LUMINESCE line.



Based on the latest available technology, LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum makes a powerful debut as the first anti-aging product that supports your body’s natural ability to restore and rejuvenate the skin. Using an exclusive patent-pending formula derived from adult stem cells that contains over 200 key human growth factors and cellular messengers, LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum gently transforms your skin and minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Look younger, healthier, and more radiant as this revolutionary serum helps you restore life to tired skin.

BENEFITS

  • Helps even out discolored and blotchy skin tones
  • Provides a youthful luminosity to the skin
  • Minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
  • Refreshes collagen and elastin
  • Helps maintain smooth skin texture
  • Replenishes skin’s natural stores of proteins to sustain a youthful, firm appearance
  • All natural, hypoallergenic, and paraben free

INGREDIENTS'

Adipose Derived Adult Stem Cell Conditioned Media, Purified Water, Glycerin, Saccharomyces Lysate Extract, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Gluconolactone (and) Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Xanthan Gum, DL-Panthenol, Sodium PCA, Allantoin, Superoxide Dismutase, Sodium Hydroxide.

For more information, check out the product here.

Check out other posts on my blog on Jeunesse products here.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Lies & Betrayal

After watching "青春如期" on Youtube.com, I realised that I can totally feel for Xiao Hua's (小华). I am someone who values friendship a lot and the more I trusted someone, the more I am unable to accept lies and betrayal. I am sure everyone been through this, felt being betrayed by someone or simple keep hearing lies from someone.

Hence I know it take a lot of courage and determination to forgive and forget, and get back to your friends. Not the best directing skills or producing, the actors did a commendable job and the plot is interesting though predictable. It gets me thinking about how I should deal with things in that situation. It happened before, it will happen again. This is also what make me grown and no longer put my 100% trust on these people. They may just take you for granted, easily.



Thursday, January 09, 2014

Article: When you are not at home

In the modern world today,  we often take people around us for granted. The closer they are to us, the more easily being taken for granted. When I came upon this illustration, it kind of hit home with the message within them. I am not sure if you feel the way I do.

I always look highly to and love my parents very much but I don't say it out. Probably because we are guys, we are not as expressive in this term. Hence, when I see the illustrations, I can imagine my parents doing that too. They do. T.T

I translated the bottom two in English while you may take a look at the rest in Chinese. [Click Here]

*When You Are Not At Home*
Daddy: "Dear, no meat ah?"
Mummy: "Kept all for our daughter.
Aiya, It's healthier to eat more veg!

*When you are at home*
You:"Mum! Enough dishes, faster join us!"
Mum: "Left 1 more. You guys start first!"
Dad: *Drunk*

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Checklist: Checked

8th day of 2014

I made sure I did what I plan to and what I wanted to. This is to prevent myself from creating more backlog. I may not complete all I wanted. At least, I completed most.

Checklist:
- Present (Kre-Os) for my friend - Done
- Tune my Ukelele - Done
- Read Manual of Equipment (Work) - Incomplete
- Have a gym session - Done

I bought transformer Kre-Os to give my friend (from a group of us). I have always been a rather last minute person for present. Hence, a new year, a new self. I try to settle it earlier and so I have more time to prepare other stuff. Now left a display box and, maybe, wrapping. =)

Returning home late doesn't suit well for me to practise my Uke. You don't expect me to create 'noise' in the middle of the night, don't you? Hence, at the very least, I tune my Uke to season it as advised by my friend/teacher. 

I am supposed to have a gym session with my trainer, but unfortunately, he was down with food poisoning. But nevertheless, I went for BodyPump class instead. Don't want to give myself more excuse for skipping gym, especially since I am freer in January. Good job! Keep it up!

As I always mention, I wasn't doing that well at work. Today, I seems to have antagonise my friend. I have no idea why I could not get the USB Serial working for my MacBook Air. It is not as if I didn't try, but it just did not work. Guess I have to continue to try tomorrow. I understand the necessity of getting it working, so I am not running away. As for the manual, it is the new equipments that we are going to use. I should do some reading. But guess it is a little too late now to read, so shall leave it till later 'today' (Its almost 1am!).

Keep it up, Jarron! =)

Sunday, January 05, 2014

A new year, A new blog

Finally, my blog has seen some 'light'. I mean I finally revamped my blog page to a brighter one. Ditching the dark colours (like finally!), I went for white and brighter colours for the page! Hope your eyes will feel much better! =D
The Unspoken Voice (2004 - 2014)
Guess my blogging style will continues what I did in 2012. Slowly evolving over the years, I think it is not hard to observe the difference if one had read my blog for years. So I shall not elaborate on the changes! haha! Might change the title of the blog when I think of one (soon).

Recently, I have been focusing more on my food blog, Critic's Critic, as compared to this blog. A food blog is something I wanted to do in 2011! Hence, I am glad that it has been running for a year. Not like the usual professional, full-time bloggers, I am more like someone who have an alternative views to offer to the places people went. I love desserts & coffee especially! So, it is not surprising that I covers more cafes than restaurants... I also try to make my own when I am free!
Anyway, the travel blog is ongoing too. But I am not someone who can do a good job in multitasking, I engaged a friend to help me too and she is more active in blogging there than me! The blog name is not confirmed yet, but the tentative address is this... Since we are not ready to show the blog to the world, we are keeping it under wrap. As for photography, I created a Facebook page to share my photos to more people. But as my laptop is down for a long time, I am not that active there too. =D

I was shock to see that I am into blogging for more than 10 years, evolving from ranting to a more objective oriented blog. I hope that I can keep this going, even though I do not have any followers! haha. The Unspoken Voice has been around for more than 9 years! It is time for some good changes... =)

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Frozen : Review

Synopsis


In “Frozen,” Anna (voice of Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and save their kingdom from eternal winter.

From the studio behind 2010’s “Tangled” and this year’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” Walt Disney Animation Studios presents “Frozen,” the coolest comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, a funny snowman named Olaf, Everest-like extremes and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

The film is directed by Chris Buck (“Tarzan,” “Surf’s Up”) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, “Wreck-It Ralph”), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Winnie the Pooh,” “The Princess and the Frog”). Featuring music from Tony®-winner Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (“In Transit”), “Frozen” journeys into theaters November 27, 2013, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Source: Disney Animation

What I Think

If you think that the Snow Queen is the main character of the show, I would think that her sister Elsa steal most of the limelight. The story unfold with romance-seeking Elsa finding her true love among the two main male characters, while finding her sister and saving their Kingdom.
Frozen's main characters
Anna, the Snow Queen, on the other hand appears more often when she was a kid. The animation was made so beautiful that I couldn't let my eyes off the screen. The flakes, the snow, the ice castle... amazing. The music of the show is also amazing. Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) and Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel) had great voices and immediately nailed the songs in the mind of the audiences.

 "Let It Go" is one of my favourite and  "First Time in Forever" is another amazing one. Disney didn't disappoint with their fairytales revolving queens and princesses before, and they definitely didn't disappoint now either. If you have not catch the movie just yet, go catch it before the movie ends.

Till then, enjoy the music "Let It Go" from the movie...





Photo Courtesy of Frozen's Facebook
Official Website : http://movies.disney.com/frozen
Follow Disney Animation/Frozen on FacebookTwitterTumblr and Youtube!

Movie Trailer:


Movie Teaser:


Disney's Frozen "First Time in Forever" Trailer:

Critic's Critics

I must say that I am not a hardworking food bloggers. I have many backlog (drafts) in my blog and not yet publish. It doesn't help when my laptop is down and I am trying to find ways to get and organise my photos for the blog (Critic's Critics). But I still have something to offer - an alternative view.

There are many foodies out there full-time or even did a great extend to research, talk to the owners, chef and understand their background. Some paid, some not (yet). I am aiming to produce a most objective or independent view on the food I had, be it hawker food or snacks, and not get sway by temptation. Like means like, dislike means dislike. There is no point of hiding it.

Service and ambience is just as important as the food. Of course, the food need to be of a certain standard to keep customer from coming, but do you know that the service and ambience are now very important in the modern world? Who will want to have something good and get served rudely? I won't!

Anyway, I finally uploaded some photos and completed the following reviews. Do check them out! =)

  1. Just Want Coffee (Everton Park)
  2. Hummerstons (Robertson Quay)
  3. Mr Bean (One North)
  4. Grub Singapore (Bishan Park)
  5. Pho Street (Jurong East)
Reviews underway: D'Good cafe, Lady M, Spathe Public Bath, Ootaya and RakuZen.

Friday, January 03, 2014

Article: "20 Common Grammar Mistakes"

Yesterday, I saw an article shared by my friend via Facebook. Titled "20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes", this is a column by Jon Gingerich back in Jan 31, 2012. Quite an interesting article, especially for those who wanted to improve their English language. Even if you are good with the language, there is no harm taking a look and see if you agree with the article.

From the list, how many common mistakes have you been committing without realising? =)

  1. Who and Whom
  2. Which and That
  3. Lay and Lie
  4. Moot
  5. Continual and Continuous
  6. Envy and Jealousy
  7. Nor
  8. May and Might
  9. Whether and If 
  10. Fewer and Less
  11. Farther and Further
  12. Since and Because
  13. Disinterested and Uninterested
  14. Anxious
  15. Different Than and Different From
  16. Bring and Take
  17. Impactful
  18. Affect and Effect
  19. Irony and Coincidence
  20. Nauseous