Can You Pass The Smile Test?

She has a nice smile :)

Samples! It's all free!

Holy crap she talks fast! Their website is FR3B.
Looking at the website it seems to be some kind of points system or membership fee to get the good stuff. Looks interesting, I'd like to get pick a few free items, like makeup!

Hong Kong: Ani-Com and Games

Source: Calgary Herald

Young fans of anime and comics pose in their costumes during the Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong (ACGHK) fair at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on July 31, 2009. Cosplay, which combines costume and roleplay based on characterisations in Japanese manga, graphic novels and video games, is popular among youngsters in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.

Once a year Hong Kong kids get together to go crazy on the latest in the world of comics and plastic figurines at the Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong. The kids with fertile imaginations let them run riot in the (mostly Japanese-inspired) world of super heroes and cartoon characters, whether that be in 'graphic novels' or computer games, or both. Looks like any other anime convention. I need to get my ass to Calgary's Otafest one of these years. I went like 10 years ago and am still a little scarred.

Olivia Munn Topless in Playboy - Sort of. BLAH

Meh. I think her in the Wonder Woman outfit is hotter

Source: Moo News

Olivia Munn, the co-host for G4’s Attack of the Show, has been featured in the July-August issue of Playboy, which was on store shelves on June 19. Although she wanted to pose for the cover of the men’s magazine, Munn didn’t want to get totally naked.

She said that she told them ‘no’ immediately about going nude. Unless someone is 40 and they need to prove something, Munn continued, she didn’t think that she needed to be naked for the shoot. She thought it would be a sellout on her part if she did, but she turned out to like telling everyone that she got the offer to pose - she was very excited.

Soon, Playboy called her back to confirm that they would agree to do a non-nude photo shoot. In the photos of the spread, Munn appears naked, but her hair is covering her breasts. Despite the fact that there is nothing showing, which is totally odd for Playboy, the pics of Munn are still very hot.

The topless, yet non-topless photos, which look like something out of a Maxim magazine, leave a little to the imagination - something that her legions of fans certainly have. Although they wish that Munn would bare it all for them, they may miss the mystery later if she did.

Munn said that even though she didn’t want to do the spread nude, she doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with the other girls who do. She added that she is very proud for being on the cover of the mag.

The July-August Issue? When did playboy go to once every two months an issue? They must be hurting. Also, when has playboy agreed to have someone topless but not showing anything. If there's no titties it don't count.

Plus it makes no sense for Munn. She's says only washed up celebs do it so what's she saying about herself? If I were to be on playboy, my dad would kill me, and I'd have to go all the way or not at all. This partial covering up nudity is pretty lame. What a cop-out.

There are hotter pictures in Maxim!

Japanese Playboy No More?

Source: Mainichi

Naked blondes, interviews with celebrities, hardboiled detective stories ... Up until it disappeared from newsstands last November, the Japanese version of American men's magazine Playboy -- Monthly Playboy, published by Shueisha -- was crammed with Japan's vision of the U.S.

The first issue of "the men's magazine of the world" went on sale in May 1975. Just 11 years after restrictions on foreign travel were relaxed, the U.S. was still something of a mystery in Japan, with just 750,000 people travelling there a year. Its 440,000 first print run sold out in a few hours; and after six months, it had a circulation of around 900,000 copies.

Chin Naito, 68, former writer of the famous column "Yomazu ni Shineru ka!" misses those days.

"Back then, anything from America was news. The pin-ups, the hard news, they were all 'letters from America.' That's why it sold."

For Japanese, America in the mid-1970s was far from ideal. Following the Watergate scandal of 1974 and the ignominious end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the rotten side of the nation that had inspired both yearning and fear during the 30 years following World War II was revealed, setting the stage for fighting out against traditional authority and values.

Among the young people of Japan, who'd been defeated in the university riots of 1968 and the political crises of 1970, there was both an affinity with the poor side of the United States, and a yearning for the vital idea of America. The content and production of Monthly Playboy reflected the deeply mixed feelings of the era.

.....more

Mystery always creates intrigue. The more you don't know about something the more you want to know about it. The Japanese knew nothing about the US but could get a sense of it through playboy. Blonde naked girls? WOW! American articles about sex? WOW!

The equivalent in Canada would those old CCCP guys! Remember them? In 1972 we heard that the Soviets had a decent hockey team that won many amateur tournaments. Let's have a friendship series that promotes the game and we can teach them a few things and improve them. The two teams nearly killed each other. The US miracle on Ice was the same too. It was our way or living against their way of living. Now what is there? Canada-Russia doesn't have the same impact. I'm sure the CCCP girls were hot and mysterious too behind the iron curtain. Now, not so much.

I guess North Korea is the mystery now? If you sent playboy to North Korea it would be really popular! And North Korean girls are mysterious to us too right?

Green Tea Coca Cola!

Source: SF Gate

Forget "Classic" or "New" Coke. In Japan, you can soon have your cola flavored with green tea or basil.

Green tea-flavored Coca-Cola will hit Japanese stores June 8, Coca Cola (Japan) Co. spokesman Katsuya Sato said Thursday. It contains tea antioxidants called catechins, leaves a slight green tea aftertaste and is mainly targeted at health-conscious women in their 20s and 30s, Sato said.

"We wanted to cater to people who are looking for something that tastes good but is also good for health and beauty," he said.

Coca Cola is the leader in Japan's cola market but faces stiff competition from non-carbonated bottled drinks such as tea, coffee and fruit juices.

Rival Pepsi Cola is countering with another exotic cola - Japanese basil-flavored "Pepsi Shiso," which hits stores in late June.

Too many variations. I still like Coke Classic! Green tea is bad enough on it's own, let alone combined with coke.

First China, then Vietnam... now Myanmar brides?

Source: Asiaone

MOVE over, Vietnam brides. Here come the Myanmar maidens.

Aged between 20 and 35, they are ethnic Chinese who can speak Mandarin and cook Chinese meals.

So they would find it easier to adapt to life in Singapore, said Mr Mark Lin of Vietnam Brides International, who's offering his customers a wider choice of brides.

Mr Lin, who had specialised in Vietnam brides since 2003, said: 'I have to teach Vietnamese girls Mandarin if they don't speak it. But these Myanmar women are already fluent in the language.'

He said the women are keen to marry Singaporean men because they want better lives outside Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1988.

While agencies offering Vietnamese brides charge between $6,000 and $8,000, Mr Lin charges $8,800 for Myanmar brides.

....more

I wonder what contry will be next when men get bored of Myanmar brides? what's wrong with Singaporean brides anyways?

Related: Don't treat Vietnamese brides like consumer goods

Jay Chou breaks Asian celebrity endorsement fee record

Source: Yahoo

The economy is dipping by the day, but artistes'endorsement fees are still soaring. Recently, Faye Wong was reported to have received about S$4million for her endorsement of a shampoo, breaking the Asian celebrity endorsement fee record. Less than a month after Wong set the record, Jay Chou broke it with S$6million received for endorsing a motorbike.

The motor vehicle company said they have been discussing the endorsement deal for more than a year, but started working on it only recently.

"Jay Chou is very cautious about what he endorses and will only agree to it after fully understanding the brand," the company's spokesperson said.

Within the contracted period of endorsement, the company will invite Chou to design a series of motorbikes in conjunction with the conceptual elements of his songs.

The commercial will be shot in Beijing in mid-May. The company will also be sponsoring Chou's China concerts.

No matter how bad the economy is, the rich get richer and people still buy luxury items. Jay Chou can sell anything. He literally has to beat girls away with a stick!

Dole Bananas

Youtube Link


Youtbe Link

*Speechless*

UMPC/MID, the LLUON Mobbit PS400

Source: Akihabara News

The Korean manufacturer TG (Trigem) just announced their new UMPC/MID, the LLUON Mobbit PS400. Powered by a 1.33GHz Z520 ATOM CPU, it features a nice little 4.8” touchscreen (WSVGA) LCD, 1GB of RAM, 30GB of HDD (or 16GB SSD), the Korean Wimax equivalent of Wi-Bro, the Wifi, Bluetooth, a digital TV tuner, a 2Mpix camera and Windows XP Home.

This nice little fellow weighs only 375g at a size of 166x88x21mm, making it almost a big as an average PMP.

YAY! A cute guy on a tech ad! :)

16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc

Surce: Engadget

Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. A 1TB disc is on track for 2013.

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She has NO IDEA what she's holding :)

Samsung's new touchscreen LCDs for your public smudging

Source: Engadget

The new touchscreen from Samsung. It's part of its new TS series of Magicinfo LCDs targeting businesses and digital advertising markets. The LCD panels measure 32-, 40-, 46-, 70-, and 82-inches and can be linked together to form a massive touch experience.

Men: Lots of things to touch here!

Hanging Dummy

Source: Ananova

I've done marketing before and even on my worst and most evil-thinking days I couldn't even think of a idea like this. This is just pure evil.

Jiang Chengpu, the creative director behind the ad, says the aim was to catch people's attention, not to terrify them.

"We are making fun of the depressing stock market here. And the place the mannequin is hanging is right next to the stock index line," he said.

People committing suicide because of the stock market is no laughing matter. The stock market seems to crash every decade and I know many sad stories of people losing it all and committing suicide.. sometimes even murder-suicide!

In a reference to the global financial crisis, it reads: "It's better to invest money here than put it into the stock market."

All of sudden the ING "SAVE YOUR MONEY" ads don't seem so bad.