談談圖，笑笑口

你認為圖畫最大的趣味在哪兒呢？

歡迎踴躍留言。

Dove said you are more beautiful? or less beautiful?

How to make a domestic egg bomb blast:

How to make a domestic egg bomb blast:
1. Put three eggs into a container on the fire
2. Add in water and turn on the fire 
3. Forget about the fact that you are boiling three eggs 
4. 30 min slipped away and there is a strange smell filling all around your apartment
5. You suddenly recall the things about the boiling eggs
6. You rush into the kitchen and throw away the cover of the pot
7. The pressure inside the eggs is high so the eggs they blast bomb when the container is given extra air upon the moment that the cover was opened

P.S. it will turn into a pot bomb blast if amnesia goes on another 30 min.

Vintage Hermes

Sonialogy' collection of Hermes pieces get ready for shooting tomorrow. Stay turned for further updates of these eye candies and practical bags. Prices and buying channel will be shared in due course. Have a nice week end.

38cm Hermes Togo Sac a Depeche in ruby red

Styling insight: let the vivid green jumpsuit contracts with the 38cm Hermes Sac a Depeche in ruby red.

Girls' lips are getting bigger as they are so aroused - introducingS.Nine by Susanna Soo

S.Nine by Susanna Soo is a poetic creation which embraces practicality and romance. It is a womenswear label that was created by Parsons Fashion Design alumni Susanna Soo in New York in 2009.

S.Nine by Susanna Soo answers to modern women who appreciate clothing that is classic yet modern, romantic yet functional, and luxurious yet understated. The collection is a modern take on traditional foundations creating elegant silhouettes with the designer’s signature draping techniques. Ultimately, each piece is created to make women feel uplifted and inspired, allowing her to go about her life in her unique ways.

S.Nine by Susanna Soo

Being a true Libran, Susanna Soo has always had an appreciation for beauty. Following her dreams, she worked at Diane von Furstenberg and LaRok in New York while sketching up her own

collection in between.

After winning the Arts of Fashion Award 2008 from SFMOMA, she traveled to Paris to apprentice under the French couturier, Anne Valerie Hash – the designer fell in love with the atelier and the work behind it all. With the combination of faith and dedication, Susanna launched S.Nine by Susanna Soo in 2009.

Source: http://snineonline.com/about/

It's not the winning

To plagiarize Tolstoy - all winners look the same, all losers lose uniquely.

There is no revelation in winning, no lesson to be learnt. A winner has just done what we EXPECT, HOPE and DREAM OF. A winner has fleetingly been best at a mere game this once. Losing and how you lose and how you cope with loss is the drama and the lesson of sport. It’s the fist-full of character you have to summon up, the avalanche of acceptance, the dashing of expectation, the public truth that others are better than you.

You haven’t just to live with this truth, but to overcome it, to COME BACK from it and DO IT AGAIN. Look at a defeated boxer’s battered face – that is to really glimpse our shared humanity. The victor is just a child who’s won a fight.

-  This beautiful and meaningful text is written by A.A.GILL and is published by Hermes on her latest catalogue. 

- Picture of mine took on 26 May 2013 at Discovery Bay, Hong Kong

Third Girl by Agatha Christie

我是個膽小鬼，大部份時間不能受驚嚇。但女人是矛盾而呢樣果樣的，所以我雖然蛇gwaai，卻又喜歡緊張大師希治閣及謀殺天后亞嘉莎。

[第三個女郎]橋段不新奇，簡單來說就是掩眼法，但因為內容圍繞「三個」獨立在倫敦找生活的女孩子，所以我有特別的體會。

話說回來，雖然橋舊，但讀者很受，這就是阿嘉莎的魅力了。

睡前讀阿嘉莎，我又發惡夢了。

Why you should apply vigorous business-school methods to your morning make-up routine

This article first appeared on eFinancialCareers

Business school equipped you with the fundamental knowledge to achieve operational efficiencies at work. Have you ever thought that you can apply the very same concepts to manage your daily make-up routine before work?

Optimisation

Morning isn’t the ideal time for attempting new things, hence perform your experiments and try different styles of make-up at night or during weekends. You may then replicate your “target operating models” in the morning minutes. If you find Chanel’s daring eyes make-up fascinating and you believe Bobbi Brown’s pretty flushed cheeks will give you a pop, spare a night to get well versed with layering and painting before you put them into use in the morning.

Streamlining

At your workstation, you employ a number of streamlining solutions to improve the efficiency of your business processes by eliminating unnecessary steps. At your dresser, you can re-engineer your make-up processes and arrange them in the right sequence to achieve the same level of simplicity. You might also want to combine some of the steps to kill two birds with one stone. For example, Laura Mercier’s Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer can deliver the functions of a face lotion, foundation and sunscreen in one go.

Prioritisation

Give some thought to the priorities of your make-up routine as the clock always ticks faster when you are getting ready for work. Identify the critical tasks and decide which of them should be done first: moisturizer, concealer, blush and gloss are my top-four objectives in the morning rush.

Outsourcing

There are some tasks that can be outsourced to someone else to save you the time and effort of doing the same thing every day in front of your dresser. Mascara is important because it makes you look much more awake, but it can be time consuming to apply before work. Kesalan Patharan’s eyelash extension service, for example, can help you to manage the mascara step and save you time.

Guest Comment: Ten things to do in Hong Kong to achieve a better work-life balance

This article first appeared on eFinancialCareers

“Work-life balance” has become a popular term in the workplace. Sometimes it is overused, especially at job interviews when the two parties are discussing benefit terms.

The definition of work-life balance may be vague and vary among different people, but the spirit behind the concept is simple enough: it’s about how you prioritise the many facets of your everyday living. It is also about how you see and attribute achievement and enjoyment because they are the real translations of work and life respectively.

Hong Kong is a city with plenty of choices. Here are 10 things you can do to free up your time and enrich your life:

1) Schedule a chat with a genius at the Apple flagship store at the International Finance Centre shopping mall to understand how technology can streamline your emails, meeting arrangements and office tasks.

2) Automate your bill payments with your bank.

3) Adopt a dog from SPCA and let it walk you for 30 minutes every evening after your stressful office hours.

4) Visit the Hong Kong Central Library. Get a funny picture book by Anthony Browne. Then take a seat at the outdoor cafe next to the library and start reading.

5) Sip a glass of Bellini at Mo Bar at Landmark Mandarin Oriental.

6) Plan a day trip to Hong Kong Geopark to feel the power of Gaia.

7) Swim at Pak Lap Wan, a remote but beautiful beach in Sai Kung.

8) Have Sunday brunch at the Brunch Club and think about nothing.

9) Shut away all the noise and relax in silence at St John’s Cathedral.

10) Shop for dinner ingredients at Graham Street outdoor wet market and cook for your loved ones.

The Body in the Library and The Jackie O in the Tribunal

We were watching on the TV how Jackie O was accused of murder and finally found guilty at the tribunal. I opined that the Jackie O showed up at the tribunal was a fake one. My boyfriend burst out laughing. He wrapped me with his strong arms and whispered "Sweet heart, you are way too creative."

I am not creative. I am just educated by Agatha Christie over her novel "The Body in the Library". A swap of identity is a common trick.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_in_the_Library

Plot summary

The story starts with Mrs Dolly Bantry waking up from a pleasant dream, and noticing that the maid has not been in yet. Suddenly, the maid, Mary, dashes in, tearful and breathless, and informs Dolly that there is a body in the library, before running out again.

Colonel Arthur Bantry then goes downstairs and learns from his butler, Lorrimer, that there is indeed a body in the library, sees it, calls PoliceConstable Billy Palk, and then Mrs Bantry calls her friend, Miss Marple (revealing that the victim has been strangled).

Miss Marple is picked up by Mrs Bantry and her chauffeur, Muswell, and taken to Gossington Hall. There she sees the body. It is a very young girl withplatinum blonde hair, with lipstick and painted nails like a gash, wearing a old but glittery, satin, cheap, black and white evening dress of rather poor quality, with silver sandals. The girl is also wearing a considerable amount of make-up. Soon, the police arrive, the senior officers being DetectiveInspector Slack and the Chief Constable of the County, Colonel. Terence Melchett. Nobody in the household recognises the body, though.

Miss Marple states to Mrs Bantry, that a good suspect in the Bantry's neighbour, Basil Blake, the son of an old school friend of Mrs Bantry's, who is mutually disliked intensely by Colonel Bantry. Basil is well known for dating a young platinum blonde girl, called Dinah Lee. Colonel Melchett visits Basil, but soon discovers that Dinah is not dead, as she comes and argues with Basil.

The autopsy arrives, revealing that the girl was strangled with the belt of her own dress, and that death took place between 10:00 and 12:00 at nighttime. She was also heavily drugged first. Despite her appearance, she died a virgin.

Finally, the body is identified as "Ruby Keene" (her real name being "Rosy Legge"), an 18 year old dancer who worked at a hotel called the Majestic in Danemouth. The body is identified by Ruby's great-cousin and colleague Josephine "Josie" Turner, who explains that she is dance and bridge hostess at the Majestic, but required Ruby to fill in a as dance hostess, due to Josie suffering injuries sustained to her ankle, whilst sunbathing. Ruby would just do the dancing with men, and the exhibition dances with Raymond Starr, the tennis and dancing pro. But the previous night, Ruby went missing, and Josie was forced to do the dance.

After Josie has visited Gossington, Mrs Bantry realises that the one who called the police was Conway Jefferson, an old friend of the Bantry's. Conway had a wife, a son, and a daughter (Margaret, Frank and Rosamund) all of whom were killed in a plane crash. Conway had both legs so badly injured, they were amputated. He lives with Frank's widow, Adelaide, Rosamund's widower, Mark Gaskell, and Peter Carmody, Adelaide's son from her first marriage. And then there is Edwards, Conway's valet. Mrs Bantry then decides that she and Miss Marple will go to Danemouth, stay at the Majestic, and find the killer.

Meanwhile, Melchett has appointed a new assistant, Detective Superintendent Harper. Together they interview Conway and discover that he was going to adopt Ruby, disinherit Mark and Adelaide, and settle £50,000 on her. Despite this, Mark and Adelaide both have alibis. They were playing bridge watching Ruby dancing.

Melchett and Harper interview George Bartlett, who was the last one to see Ruby alive, and who has had his car stolen.

Conway, now tired, orders Edwards to call Sir Henry Clithering. When Sir Henry arrives, Conway asks him to investigate. Sir Henry tells him about Miss Marple. Later after dining, Miss Marple tells Sir Henry that if the case is not solved, the Bantry's lives will be ruined forever.

The police suspect that Ruby went to change to meet a boyfriend, who found out about her and Conway, making him panic and strangle her, leaving her at the Gossington library, and drives away to London. Sir Henry interviews Edwards, who tells him that he saw a snapshot of Basil Blake fall out of Ruby's handbag, making Conway and the reader suspect that Ruby had a lover.

Then, Bartlett's Minoan 14 car is found burning in Venn's Quarry, with a charred and blackened corpse inside. With a few scraps of clothing surviving burning, it is identified as Pamela Reeves, a 16 year old Girl Guide reported missing a few days. Pamela was last seen going to Wallworths. Miss Marple interviews Pamela's friends, and discovers that Pamela was actually going to a hotel, for a film test, after being approached by a "film producer", but Pamela never returned from this appointment.

Miss Marple then goes to Basil Blake's house and informs Dinah Lee that she has discovered that she and Basil are married and that Basil will be arrested for killing Ruby. Basil returns and confesses that after getting drunk and fighting with Dinah at a studio party, he returned and found Ruby lying strangled to death on "his" hearthrug. Panicking, he dumped Ruby in the Bantry's library. The police arrive and Basil is arrested.

Miss Marple, Sir Henry and the Bantrys once again book into the Majestic (they had briefly left), but this time with Colonel Bantry, Melchett and Harper. Miss Marple makes a quick trip toSomerset House (something about marriages) and ask Conway to tell Mark and Adelaide that he is leaving the money to a hostel for young dancers in London, and that he will visit a solicitor to finalize the details tomorrow. Conway does so, and they ask Det. Supt. Harper to keep a watch on people, with his men. Then the Bantrys and Miss Marple (along with the staff and other guests) retire for the night.

At 3:00 in the morning, someone breaks into Conway's bedroom, via the window and balcony, and tries to murder Conway by injecting him with poison, through a needle, but the attacker is stopped by Melchett, Harper and Clithering. But the intruder is not named.

Miss Marple then reveals all to the Bantrys, the Blakes, Melchett, Harper, Clithering, and the Jeffersons. Although nail clippings were found in Ruby's room, the girl in the library had bitten hers, which meant that the body in the library was not Ruby's. When Dinah mentioned Somerset House-marriage, Miss Marple found out that Mark was married to Josie. Upon finding out about Conway and Ruby, they decided to murder her and frame Basil. Mark and Josie approached Pamela regarding a film test, and when she accepted, they bleached her hair, put make-up on her, varnished her nails, put her into one of Ruby's dresses, and drugged her. Mark then slipped away to write letters, and drove down to the sea-front. But that was when he drove Pamela to Basil Blake's house, and strangled her. So when the doctor said the time she died, Mark and Josie had solid alibis, they were playing bridge watching the real Ruby Keene alive and dancing, and they did not leave the table until after midnight. Josie told Ruby to go and lie down in Josie's room. Ruby, as well, had been drugged. When changing for the dance, Josie murdered Ruby, either by strangulation, a poisonous injection, or a blow on the back of her head. In the early hours of the morning, Josie dressed Ruby in Pamela's Girl Guide uniform, stole Bartlett's car, drove to Venn's Quarry, and incinerated the lot.

Catch me if you can... browers and OS

This is the traffic statistics about my blog last month counting by types of browers and OS. I have never heard about some of the browers and OS, which should be some emerging technologies.

Are you the one using any one of them? Why and how are their performances?

I would love to hear the comments from you.

Cheers and have a nice weekend.

Blogging to make a living

From a cup of jo

Joanna of NYC talks about her story on blogging- how blogging as a hobby finally turned into a career.

When did your blog start making money?
As I said here, shifting from blogging-as-a-hobby to blogging-as-a-career was a very slow transition and one that I had never anticipated. After a year or so, I started featuring a few ads on my blog to earn some pocket money. And after a couple years, I quit my job to focus on freelance magazine writing and grow my blog, so it became about half my income. But only about a year ago did I finally realize that my blog had officially become my full-time job—both financially and time-wise. And I was happy and surprised. (Also here's my work/life balance post, if you'd like to know more.)

What are your favorite parts of blogging?
* Having a close relationship with my beloved readers. Starting the Motherhood Mondays column took the relationship to a new level, because we started discussing marriage, breastfeeding, depression, infertility, everything. Having these conversations has been an incredible, eye-opening, heartwarming experience.

* I LOVE LOVE LOVE when readers stop us in the street because it's so awesome to meet readers in person. Blogging can feel isolated sometimes, since you work on a laptop at home, so it's amazing to meet people. (And everyone is always so nice and cute!:)

* Writing about a bunch of different topics. If we do a bedroom makeover or I read a fascinating parenting book or I'm itching to write a guide to NYC, I can just do it. That's great, since when you work for a magazine, your "beat" tends to be much more limited. And the great thing is, if I start feeling in a rut, I can just shake things up. It's a real gift to have editorial control.

* Working with photographers, designers and illustrators. Now and again, I've worked with super talented people, like Jamie Beck, Jenny Komenda and Gemma Correll. It's been such a pleasure and honor. I'd love to do more collaborations in the future.

* Alex being awesome. Alex helps a lot with my blog, not so much in the nitty gritty, but just overarching conversations about ideas, worries, etc. He jokes that I'm the CEO, but he's the chief strategist, director of communications, personal chef, mailroom guy, and psychotherapist for Cup of Jo. :) And he's written a couple posts, including 8 confessions of a new dad and his side of the birth story.

Connecting all the tools for the purpose of connecting

I attempted to connect all my social media accounts which would lead to an ultimate automation of synchronisation of my every publishing piece on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and Wei Bo. I came across this post which further directed me to this post. I followed every step to create the Google Talk robot. Unfortunately, robot told me" 很遗憾的通知您，围着脖子推已于2010年9月25日下线，

感谢您的支持，望谅解。"

真是你有張良計，我有過牆梯呀。

T_T

Can anyone give me a hand?

Blogger 70thfloor's Top 7 Tips for Video Interviews

Hello World.

I just have done my first video job interview. The interviewers showed up on my iPad on time and we spoke (I spoke) for 30 minutes.

I have given a lot of thoughts to get myself best prepared for this video chatty time. Here are some of my considerations which might be helpful for any video interviewees.

1. Get your Plan A ready and have a Plan B
Upon being notified about the video interview, decide which equipment and video conferencing programme you are going to use. Make sure you have everything. Check all hardware, software and network to see if they are working fine 30 minutes before the interview is going to be on air.

Make a Plan B, in case your Plan A fails. A Plan B should have the exact components as Plan A. So Plan B should consists hardware, software and network.

2. Set the scene
Donald Tsang or Victoria Beckham always sit or stand in front of a good background when they are portrayed in interviews. Make sure the things behind your back appearing on the screen that your interviewers will see are cozy and nice.

Set up the camera so it focuses on you. Apart from your face, it is good to include your shoulder, desk, and a little bit background in the view.

Optimize your scene setup by closing the windows to shut away noise from highways and neighbour. Remove any motion objects. Lock your dog in the bathroom (>_< as a matter of fact I DIDN'T). Turn off your voice devices. Turn off your phone in particular.



3. Get dressed
You may wrap yourself with a boring black suit when you attend face-face interviews. But depending on the nature of the job you applied, you can dress down a bit at video interviews. (Of course if you are taking the video interview in the office then you are already in your normal business attire) But no matter it is a shirt or a good quality cotton tee, it is wise to choose solid conservative colors, e.g. black, Royal blue, brown. White colour will reflect lights on screen and it does not look good.

Never wear something with stripes or lousy patterns. They make the camera mad because it is busy reconciling these patterns when you move, resulting in a subtle delay on the screen. Then your outfit looks like they are "vibrating".

3. Manage the microphone
Use a headset which is equipped with a microphone (aka the iPhone headset) to listen and speak. This enables clarity for both sides.

4. Keep an eye on yourself and look into the eyes of the interviewers
Monitor your appearance in the "picture-in-picture" screen from time to time. Be conscious about your body language.

Besides, make sure you maintain constant eye contact with the one whom you are speaking with and you pay attention to his/her facial expressions.

5. Simon, I have a question for you...
Simon, Peter and Sam. All these threesome are your interviewers at the video interview, but when you want to address Simon, you cannot "turn your head towards" Simon. Likewise, you cannot make direct eye contact with Simon when you are speaking to him.

It is therefore important to get the names of the interviewers beforehand, and to use the names to address the person when necessary.

6. Handy props
Plan about the interview flow. For example, if you are applying to a job at a fashion brand, you might show your most favourite dress from the brand when you are talking about your passion about the company.

7. Smile and make sure your smile is nice
Smile when you pause. Smile when you finish an answer. Smile gracefully when your interviewers are thinking about their next questions

Wear a bit China Red lipstick when you attend a video interview. So your smile speaks for yourself even when you are not speaking.

Thank you for visiting me. Good luck!

Eng Write-up 黃碧雲 小資產階級 Rene Magritte 失眠

((( Breaking News ))) Hero turns his Golden Retriever and Girl Friend into silly billies

 Source: Bedside Bloomberg

The Master of this spacious seaview apartment is a great man. He provides shelter protecting his woman and dog from storm and rain. He gives them love. And he feeds them.

His Golden Retriever is a lovely big dog. He has a black nose. Pitched on the upper half of her face is a pair of large eyes in dark brown. When you get closer and look straight in her eyes you will find her eyes become a bit light and transparent. She wears a golden coat which is dense and wavy.

Most Golden Retrievers make good watchdogs. But the dog featured here will hide behind her mistress's dress when a stranger approaches. And the mistress will hide behind his boyfriend, the master of the dog, when the situation is found at odds.

Obviously both the dog and the woman are very relaxing and mindless. This is because the Master is a superman that he is so capable to take care of every thing that his dog and woman have nothing to worry about

This man is a super hero.

Crying in the day and smiling at the dawn

Frustration continued. Tears took a race on my face when it was sunset time. That's my way let go the frustration.

Contentment continued. Fancy dreams occupied my sleeping hours. I saw a shark watermelon so I smiled. Then I woke up. It was 5:30 in the morning.

And you slept like a baby aside. 

When there is a will, there is a way

I believe I will get what I want. Eventually.

Intensive Job Interviews, Intensive Failure

Normally I wake up at 12pm noon unless there is a job interview appointment scheduled in the morning. One day I woke up at 9am and managed to get myself sitting in front of this Private Banker who was about to open the Far East branch of the PB in three months' time.  This Private Banker is coming from all the way from the Balkans. He has a pair of blue eyes and talks with a strong accent. His first question was" Do you dance?"

-_-!

Then I went to the airport to attend another interview. It was 5pm and the girl from the recruitment team showed up several times at the room where I was abandoned for some very useless writing tests.  I thought she wanted to rush me because it was about time for her to call it a day. Anyway the writing was done and the hiring manager showed up. She took a glance at my resume and attempted to confirm with me a very basic and hardcore fact :" you said you last salary was HKD 3X thousand?" She continued :" 如果我知道我就唔會麻煩你黎. "

... just to name a few.

Killing Silly Billy

我懷疑因為我是潛意識的信徒，所以我跟 Hitchcock，Dali, Rene Magritte，以至 Anthony Browne 一見鍾情。唔係咩？近日給母親煩得要死，勾起很多童年陰影，昨晚發惡夢母親把我的 Omega 胡亂交託給人修理，手錶拿回來，錶面的寶石都給人盜去了。

多麼 symbolic 的一個夢。夢中驚醒後一身冷汗，不知所措，只有連忙沐浴穿戴整齊上班去，但成天都心事重重，不能自己。

下午開完一個 WebEx 會議，曲終人散後我按著自己的心口跟自己說：「喂，焦慮發洩左啦。Let go 啦。」

我不知怎說。但這情況就像我失眠，然後擔心自己失眠，結果剪不斷理還亂，失眠的問題更行更遠更深。

很 Silly Billy 呀可？！

"Billy used to be a bit of a worrier." Billy worried about everything from hats, shoes and clouds to rain and giant birds. Both his parents tried to soothe and reassure him, but Billy still worried.

One night, while sleeping over at his grandma's, Billy confides in her. Grandma says, "Well, my goodness, dear. You're not silly. When I was your age, I used to worry like that. I've got just the thing for you." She returns with Guatemalan Worry Dolls and tells Billy to share his worries with them then put them under his pillow and they will do the worrying for you.

Billy does this and has quite a few restful nights until he begins to worry about the burden he is placing in the worry dolls. It doesn't seem fair, he thinks. Browne resolves the problem in this way, "The next day Billy had an idea. He spent all day working at the kitchen table. It was difficult. At first he made lots of mistakes. He had to start again many times. But finally Bill produced something very special..."