Disney • Pixar’s BRAVE film & Musings about Mom

Disney • Pixar’s new animated film, BRAVE, takes on the classic trope of the unconventional and brave heroine who defies custom, brews chaos but ultimately emerges independent and successful at the end of her trials. Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald), the protagonist and heroine of BRAVE, is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus  (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson) of Scotland. Defying tradition through her actions, she angers the lords of the land: Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane), causing chaos to erupt. Merida has to contend with bad decisions, troublemakers and difficult obstacles to her attempt to undo a beastly curse that she inadvertently brings upon the land through an ill-fated wish granted by the eccentric old Wise Woman (voice of Julie Walters).

Merida's bravery brings to mind a heroine in my own life: my mother. While her story is not as exciting as Merida's, she is in her own way a heroine worthy of respect. She survived the ravages of WWII due to the goodwill of her neighbours, set up a family in Singapore, and once her children were born, bravely quit her job to take care of them. She has been unemployed for 20 years and counting, but this is false. Where are the records to show for her full-time job as a mother?

Featured: Kwerkee.com - Your Daily Design Sauce

The queer, the peculiar, the bizarre... for up to 70% off! Me gusta.

Reebonz, the popular local online shopping portal, has just rolled out another of its initiatives. The last I heard, Reebonz City, a Reebonz sub-portal which featured lifestyle, food and entertainment deals, is ceasing operations. A moment of silence for Reebonz City, please. I still remember with great fondness the free pair of tickets to Korean flick The Housemaid (2010), the excellent lunch/tea for two at the Heart Bistro (formerly located at Palais Renaissance) and the make up workshop conducted by Guerlain in 2011, all of which were enabled by Reebonz City. It certainly contributed to my memories of the past 2 years with my loved ones, and I'll be sad to see it go.

In lieu of Reebonz City, Reebonz presents a quirky kwerkee new addition to the Reebonz family. Looking for interesting knick-knacks? Craving some hard-to-find design pieces and everything else arty farty? Kwerkee has them all. If that doesn't sound tempting enough, everything at Kwerkee is featured at up to 70% off retail prices. And with that, I'm in already.

No, literally. I'm able to login to Kwerkee without creating a new account because this convenient feature is a privilege extended to existing Reebonz members! I was quite excited and immediately went in to explore the site. The Kwerkee portal works in the same way as Reebonz, with a list of current campaigns that you can enter to purchase items featured, and a list of future campaigns that you can schedule onto your calendar. Each item is listed with clear pictures, a description, the current and original price, as well as a 100% guarantee of authenticity. The only caveat for a college student like me is the price, which tends to be on the steeper side, as expected of designer items.

Currently, there are four campaigns open: Neivz wooden jewellery, Mimobot designer USB flash drives, artwork from Polish-American illustrator Marta Spendowska and Lady Gaga inspired t-shirts and accessories! If that doesn't sound awesome enough for you, upcoming campaigns starting on this Wednesday (18 April) and Friday (20 April) include N2 luxury costume jewellery, typeface products (this is where I squee), something to do with cute and creepy monsters, and quirky stationery. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new campaigns that Kwerkee has in store for us (pun fully intended). I'll definitely review any products that I purchase and receive them from Kwerkee, so watch this space!

... Well, what are you waiting for? Just sign up already!

Featured: Marvel's The Avengers film

Everyone's been waiting for 1 May 2012.

Because that's when the insanely awesome looking new movie, Marvel's The Avengers, is released! Just check out the trailer below. Does it look awesome or what? Unless you're completely not into action movies, comics or Robert Downey Jr. (for the ladies)/Scarlet Johanssen (for the guys), I seriously doubt you'd be missing this blockbuster.

Featured: SG Nails - Don't Panic, Don't Blink, just buy now!

I am breaking my "hiatus" of writing proper posts to do this because I just couldn't stop myself.

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Oh gosh oh gosh as I speak bottles are flying off the... (metaphorical) shelves!

There's a new kid on the block and boy is he ever so tempting.

SG Nails is so many kinds of awesome I cannot even start without gushing on about it. Helmed by a husband and wife team, SG Nails has brought in a collection of custom-blended nail polish made by the talented Amanda of NerdLacquer fame at 25 SGD a bottle (excluding 3 SGD for registered mail) that reminds one of Lynnderella's glitters.

Everyone knows just how hard it is to get ahold of NerdLacquers because they keep selling out. Harlow & Co. has a wide range of NerdLacquers too, but they sell out very fast! That is where SG Nails steps in to help us local polish addicts.

SG Nails' nail polish offerings from NerdLacquer include polishes named "Don't Panic", "Hyperspace Bypass", "Entirely Unlike Tea" and "Regeneration". If those references just went over your head, I'll explain for your benefit: The first three make not-so-subtle references to Douglas Adams' cool, wacky, crazy book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the last makes a very obvious reference to Dr Who and the regenerations of the different doctors. When I first saw the lovely colours sitting in their geekily labelled bottles, I almost cried for joy. Here at last, someone who understands the needs of geeky nail polish lovers and brings such an awesome range of polish!

If you were wondering, I just bought a bottle of "Hyperspace Bypass", described as

a massively glittering big yellow something that hovers on your fingertips in exactly the way that bricks don’t. Packed with pale gold glitter, medium and large golden hex glitter, and small and medium black glitter, plus a sprinkling of holographic hex sparkles, it’ll disintegrate every other polish in your collection.

The description brings a tear of geeky joy to my eye. I am so upset I can't snag "Don't Panic" and "Exterminate" as well, in addition to currently out of stock nail polishes "Don't Blink" and "All of Time and Space", partly due to my current lack of funds and also due to the fact that there are so many nail polish lovers out there grabbing those lovely bottles.

Here is "Hyperspace Bypass". Feast your eyes upon it (it looks like a yellow kiwi to me hm)!

 Credits to SG Nails

Credit: SG Nails

Just look at that. Convinced now? Visit SG Nails without further ado and be transported to a world where nail polish and geekdom coincide. But like I said, do it quick, because many of the most gorgeous colours are already sold (within the same hour of the store's opening) to people who either appreciate 1) awesome local small businesses 2) awesome geekiness 3) awesome nail polish colours or all of the above. I snagged the third last bottle of "Hyperspace Bypass" so that's one less beauty for you to grab. Oh and there's a discount ongoing - just use the discount code of "WELOVESGNAILS" when you checkout to get 10% off.

Final thoughts: I just adore the selection at SG Nails, and I can't wait to get "Hyperspace Bypass" on my nails. I guess no matter how much nail polish and girly make up implements I have, I'm still a huge geek at heart. Remember: Don't Panic, just grab the bottles you want that are available, and Don't Blink - you may not live to regret not getting these beauties.

P.S. Like SG Nails on Facebook as well to show your appreciation :)

EDIT: SG Nails is selling NerdLacquer at 18 SGD per bottle now. Yay for more affordable polish! Amanda is currently missing in action and no longer produces NerdLacquer, so grab all the available bottles you can before you don't have the chance to!

Disclaimer: This was not a paid advertorial. The views expressed in this post are 100% my own.