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There’s no questioning Joe Wright’s incredible talent in directing films. If you’ve seen at least Pride and Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Anna Karenina (2012) and Pan (2015)…

Joe Wright is a brilliant director. He has a keen eye for composition and everything else. My review on Pride and Prejudice (2005) regarding his artistic interpretation of a classic up on my blog.

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Sleep Well With Laneige Sleeping Masks | Review

We can all agree that everyone needs a beauty sleep at night. With all the variety of activities we do everyday, the overall schedule of people have dramatically became extremely hectic throughout …

My two favourite skin care products, review up on www.mikaelasong.com

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Skinue: The Secret to Acne-Free Skin

Starting good skin care habits is important in anyone’s life. My mom introduced me to skin care as early as 11 years old and that includes a proper facial wash, toner and moisturizer twice a …

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Calligraphy Kit for Beginners

Calligraphy Kit for Beginners

Winter is almost over down under and I found myself learning calligraphy lately. The joy of challenging oneself to try on different art forms feels liberating. Calligraphy is definitely one of those art forms that I have neglected to pay attention to when growing up. I have tried on different tools to learn and realised that the most important material does not lie on the quality of tools. The…

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Bookon x MikaelaSong

Hi guys! I recently joined this Australian site for book lovers, called Bookon. It’s basically a digital marketplace for books. It’s similar to Ebay’s concept without auctions and specifically made for books. It’s currently the largest book marketplace in Australia where you can find thousands of study notes, textbooks, novels, references, study books or any kind of books. Whether you are…

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NGV: Whistler's Mother

NGV: Whistler’s Mother

Portrait of Artist’s Mother (1871), one of the most iconic paintings in the world, was exhibited in NGV, Whistler’s Mother, along with the artist’s and other Australian painters’ works that were highly influenced by Whistler’s art. The original title of the famous painting is Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1, which refers to the exploration of form and colour rather than the portrait of his…

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Milkshake Wallpaper

Now that winter has officially come and it’s relatively freezing down here in the Southern Hemisphere while the rest of the world is enjoying the summer heat, it’s easy to say that people here are craving for a tall glass of milkshake. Cheers to everyone! Whether you’re enjoying your summer or waiting for winter to end, this Downloadable Milkshake Wallpaper 1280×800 or 2400 x 1800 size are free…

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Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur (KL) has a variety of architecture within its area. A fusion of its cultural heritage, their dominant religion and architectural advancement in contemporary designs. The majestic Petronas Towers or Petronas Twin Towers stand high in the middle of the city bearing its iconic post-modern architectural design that identifies KL among any other city skylines. It also remains to be the…

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Printable Thank You Postcard

Printable Thank You Postcard

As a sign of appreciation to everyone who remembered me on my birthday, I made a printable Thank You Postcard which I designed for everyone to use. It’s easily printable at home and doesn’t take up so much ink. ;) Download the templates here >> A6 Thank You Postcard Template – Front Side and A6 Reverse Side Postcards are A6 in size. Thank you everyone!

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I’ve recently launched my Etsy shop for affordable pre-designed themed digital packages. This idea came to me when I was planning for my little one’s monthly name day celebrations. I had a lot of trouble looking around local shops and online stores for birthday packages that I can easily download and print on my own.

So I decided to design birthday and baby shower packages which parents can instantly download at the comfort of their own homes. I also offer customized designs and accommodate any other requests that you have in mind.

Kindly visit and browse my products at my Etsy shop  > Quirky Little Puppet

  Birthday packages include the following:

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner 2. Blank Invitation **Customized invitation can be ordered on a separate listing 3. Cupcake Toppers / Circle Tags 4. Cupcake Wrapper 5. Straw Flags 6. Food/Multi-purpose labels 7. Thank You cards 8. Favour tags 9. Water Bottle Wrapper

    Baby Shower packages include the following:

1. Blank Invitation (Customized card can be ordered on a separate listing) 2. Advice for mummy-to-be card 3. Wishes for baby card 4. Flag Banners 5. Food/Multi-purpose labels Small 6. Food/Multi-purpose labels Large 7. Favour tags 8. Multi-purpose circle tags / cupcake toppers

*Customized and printed versions are also available upon request.

    Etsy – Birthday/Baby Shower Packages I've recently launched my Etsy shop for affordable pre-designed themed digital packages. This idea came to me when I was planning for my little one's monthly name day celebrations.

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Use Bloglovin’ & never miss a post from the blog mikaelasong.com by Mikaela Song.

Follow me at Bloglovin :>

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Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei

It is such a privilege and a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness a major international exhibition featuring the late pop icon Andy Warhol and political artist Ai Weiwei. Being the two of the …

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Continuously Seeking for Greater Understanding

I’ve been obsessing over historical Korean and Chinese dramas lately as one of my learning methods in further understanding the politics of dynasties in East Asian History. For seven whole months, I’ve seen over 10 dramas (4 of them are more than 50 episodes each) accompanied with historical readings in attempt to grasp the realities of political strategies during that time.

It’s mind-boggling to admit that my short-term pursuit of knowledge in the subject has drastically changed the maturity of my political understanding. I have eventually developed empathy towards each historical character; For every royal family member and their relatives, maidens in waiting, scholars, and other influential people from all walks of life - From the internal politics of the palaces to the ordinary people’s struggle to survive within the kingdoms during those times, I ended up crestfallen to the fact that hundreds and thousands of years later, nothing much have changed in society.

Ultimately, the foremost influential culprit is still survival - Which is basically human instinct to sustain a living no matter what the condition of environment provides. Greed and ambition eventually succumb people as their driving forces for further advancement of their power, political standing and societal class.

I’ve come to a genuine realization and acceptance that it may be factually greedy to act animalistic in constant pursuit of survival but human beings really do not have any other choice.

My thoughts suggest that a perfectly harmonious way to live is very idealistic but it stays and ends in the theoretical sense. It sounds quintessential for everyone to submit themselves acting according to virtues of fairness and goodness, but sadly, at some point along the way, people will break free of this philosophical way of living and inevitably put someone else’s fate at stake in attempt to survive and advance their power.

Growing up in a society following an orthodox of Roman Catholic, I was taught to be be good and do good amongst other people; That goodness is the only way to live and hence the path to be rewarded. And so, life has become a reward-driven consciousness for me. Upon studying other beliefs, ten years later, I have come to a realization that the most basic foundation of every ideology present in different historical times are all the same. Imagine a 15-year old innocent and ignorant teenager shocked upon opening her thoughts to the other wonders of the world only to find out that her religion is not only common, but is pretty much very identical to any other beliefs out there.

My whole world turned upside down. Everything that I believed in drastically changed and I found myself lost, astray and I questioned everything. I entered college the following year and out of seven theology subjects, I had one professor who challenged my faith. She stayed in the convent for ten years until she decided to free herself to further seek learning of other beliefs. At the beginning of the semester, she made a bet that she will definitely break our faiths to whatever beliefs we used to have.

It was a very challenging time of my life. I promised myself that I won’t lose to her but I maintained an open mind to seek knowledge while hanging on to the one and only faith that I have. Afterall, my favourite history teacher in high school once said, “A man without religion, is a man without path.” And so I began reading on other philosophies and religions.

Before the semester ended, I began to question myself; Everything that I know and believed appeared to be one big lie; One big conspiracy or political propaganda. It’s eccentric to say that I thought it’s a form of mass hysteria for the government’s way of mind control. From then on, I questioned my way of learning. I picked up my 6th grade Science teacher’s advice again, which is to be very skeptical in comprehending and accepting teachings. From then on, I carefully filtered information and ensured I sort out facts from assumptions and opinions. Until I reached to the point where I questioned facts beings classified as “facts.”

Through this journey, I earned consciousness of my progress in comprehending that all philosophical disciplines and religious doctrines exist not for humans to avoid being astray but to accept to ourselves that life is all about balance and harmony. This may sound cliche and I know that everyone is perfectly aware of this: There are always two sides in a coin. There’s the good and evil, the yin and yang, the light and dark, day and night, the alpha and the omega, and so on. But sometimes, it takes considerable amount time to wholeheartedly accept this factual reality and actually apply it in our lives.

PS This post is such a mess and my thoughts seems to be going in different directions. It may be a definitive example of where I am right now regarding my journey in seeking greater knowledge.

[mikaelasong]

QuirkyLittlePuppet

Welcome to my newly opened shop in Etsy! I do customized orders for a living and decided to offer my pre-designed services in a more

Hi guys! I recently opened my Etsy shop for instant download themed design baby shower and birthday packages. I’ve yet to add more products. 

Feel free to browse around and let me know if you need any customized orders for any occasion and I’ll be very happy to create a new listing for you. :)

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Pondering on “Facebook Depression”

I woke up today like any other day and like any other person in the planet. A laptop in front of me or a smart phone in my hand scrolling between Facebook posts for the recent happenings of my friends on Facebook. Today, I only bothered to read one post until I came to a realization.

It happened to be a post from my former officemate, a cheesy birthday greeting  accompanied by photos like any other posts in the platform. Suddenly, my empathy towards today’s generation has been realized. I’m rarely an empathic person but my thoughts regarding what “Facebook Depression” was all about dawned onto me.

Expressions of affections have become too commercialized because of social networking. It’s such a pity to see that the lives of people in this time succumb to the fact that the act of posting recent activities are nothing but mere entries for such undeclared social competition. Thus, everyone's pitfall is the continuously expanding bottomless abyss of depression, self-loath, and resentment. 

The enemy is unreluctantly vicious and judgmental with undeniably high expectations - no one but our own selves. As we silently scroll between posts of our Facebook friends, regularly everyday, for years, we have inevitably developed covetousness for someone else’s sense of happiness and satisfaction.

At some point in time, we reticently want to be like them. There’s no other way of putting it into words. We want to do what they’re doing, to feel what they’re feeling, to have the spending power they have, and to have the means and freedom to travel around the world. 

And since we keep on thinking about these kinds of thoughts, the law of attraction suggests that we actualize these negative self-loathing and longing to the point that it affects the way we psychologize our thoughts, self-disposition and our daily lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that the social media as a whole has an optimistic objective in providing such platforms and it’s commendable for them to do so. But somehow, there’s always the yin in yang, the darkness in light and the evil in goodness. 

The best thing I could think of to counteract such negative effect of such privilege in utilizing social media is to use it in moderation. Keeping in mind the entire purpose of such platforms, which is to inform, to connect, to reach out and be reached, maybe our best option for now. After all, life is an endless journey of self-realization. Must be the same for all these platforms we accompany in our lives.

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For the Love of QVB Heritage

For my long forgotten trip to Sydney way back in September 2014, I’m dedicating this entire post solely to the majestic Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Primarily because of my deep passion and appreciation to anything with precious historical value.

QVB is situated in the heart of Sydney’s central business district. The entire building covers the whole block between George, Market, York and Druitt streets. Just across the other shopping districts.

It is highly recognisable amidst the modern skyscrapers and flashy contemporary shopping malls. Its very presence speaks a lot of history. It was built in the late 19th century exhibiting Victorian Romanesque architecture by a Scottish architect migrant who moved in Sydney in 1884. The presence of columns, arches and great attention to details shows the influence of the American Architect Henry Hobson Richardson in the said era.

Let me introduce my next passion, timepieces!  QVB has two unique huge mechanical clocks with outstanding technicality and complexity. Australia’s history is carefully handcrafted to these masterpieces while figures circumnavigate the clocks. In addition, most of it has annual calendar features too!

Here are more photos of my visit at QVB:

The precise and uniform archeways are truly admirable. The depth seems like to portray infinity. Just like how QVB is carefully preserved throughout time. On the side, the phot may be cropped but it can be clearly seen how the spiral staircases are maintained, though most of it are off limits to anyone.

Dome ceilings are very distinguished in this building. 

Arches and glass windows’ intricate designs. 

Aside from columns, arches and other details engraved on every corner of this building, the tile work of the flooring is very notable too.

QVB is definitely one of those heritage sites never to miss out when visiting Sydney!

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Road Trip Down to Mornington Peninsula

In the midst of Winter’s break, we drove 75km South East from Melbourne CBD to the famous Mornington Peninsula. The entire peninsula is divided into four areas: Northern, Western, Southern and the Peninsula Hinterland (Mid Land). 

It’s a huge area to explore and different activities varies from season to season - From enjoying costal water activities (boating, fishing, swimming), to camping, horseback riding, trail walking, farm gating, wine tasting and fruit pickings. The land is also preserved for golfing and the natural hot springs are its best tourist attraction. So, for this particular day trip, we decided only to explore along the coastlines of Southern peninsula and visited the most visited lighthouse - The Cape Schanck.

A little trivia about this peninsula. At the tip of Point Nepean, Australia Prime Minister Harold Holt mysteriously disappeared while swimming in the coastal waters of Chevion Beach near Portsea way back in 1967. His body was never recovered up to this day. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to reach that point since it’s far off the road and takes a long time to walk to get there.

We started our trip at Dromana’s coastline to look at the historic colourful bathing houses - For they are no more than a shed, with no supply of water nor electricity, these make the peninsula famous for. It covers the long stretch of southern area’s coastline - From Mount Eliza, Dromana, Rosebud to Pointsea.

Next, we crossed the Peninsula and headed straight to Cape Schanck Lighthouse. It was built in 1859 as the second coastal lighthouse in Victoria. Built from limestone standing at 21 metres high, situated 100 metres above sea level. It is considered as one of the first buildings ever constructed in the state.

The entire ground covers the lighthouse, a museum in the old assistant’s quarters and accommodation in the old residence of the lighthouse keeper.

This trail naturally hollowed by trees is the entrance to the lighthouse’s grounds.

The view of the sea is stunning from this height. The majestic sea between the states of Victoria and Tasmania is enthralling to think that looking from this point, you are basically looking at the bottom of the earth. That only a ship ride away, you will be reaching Antartica!

Then we headed to the traveller-friendly Blue Mini Cafe! Famous for both locals and tourists, this is my favourite part of the trip! Because along the hours-long drive from the city, far away from home, is unbelievably THIS place! A cafe-restaurant with vintage items for sale; Decorated in rustic, uncoordinated sets of furniture with superb fine menu to indulge.

Upon entering the place, you’ll find this vintage fridge full of old-school kitchen tools, which are all for sale! 

Their dining tables are made of vintage wood signboards which added to the homey atmosphere of the place.

There are metal scrap arts in one section made by Melbournian artists - Definitely locally made!

And for the love of stationery - This cafe offers a wide selection of different kinds of - well - STATIONERY!

Aside from vintage items, metal art scraps and stationery, there are local products for sale. And for those people with OCDs, this cafe arranged the products by colour!

This is the orange corner packed with a variety of locally-crafted items for sale.

Upon leaving the cafe, I found this interesting piece of art. A pair of boots growing organic things! Pretty, isn’t it?

Our last stop for the day was the village of Sorrento. I was not able to take photos of the heritage buildings along the area but I was able to capture a few shots of the coast! Oh, hi there little brother!

In this village you will find antique stores passed on from generation to generation and a good bargain hunting for rare treasures!

Along the coastline of the Peninsula are these century old trees preserved by local tourism! In general, everywhere you look, Mornington Peninsula is definitely a place worth visiting. Next time you decide to drop by the State of Victoria, don’t miss out this place!