Of CosPlayers & Clubbers for Cause!

Her name is Fazylah, but you can call her Fuzzy. She holds a Masters degree in English Literature from the National University of Singapore. Clad in traditional baju kurong and looking every bit the intellectual in her glasses, it's hard to imagine this soft spoken young lady is a CosPlayer.

In the fascinating fictional world of CosPlay ("Costume Play"), Fazylah is known as Fuzzylogic. And there's no doubt this girl takes great pride in her hobby - or shall I say, craft.

I was intrigued when she revealed how she researches her various characters, takes great pains to sew her own costumes so that they match the characters' to the minutest detail, then suits up and takes on the persona of these manga & anime characters.

Is it a form of escapism from reality? "Maybe at the beginning," she admits. "But there's so much more to CosPlay than just costumes. It's a whole array of skills you pick up if you do this well."

I couldn't for the life of me imagine how Fazylah would look like as a Cosplayer, so I handed her my name-card after our chat and begged her to send over some photos. Well, she did. So Feast Your Eyes.

pic 1: (white coat, black braid)

character name: Unohana
series title: Bleach

pic 2: (pink hair, black dress)
character name: lacus clyne
series title: Gundam Seed Destiny: Final Plus

pic 3: (blue hair, red jacket)
character name: Misato Katsuragi
series title: Neon Genesis Evangelion

pic 4: (couple shot)
character names (from left): Lacus Clyne, Athrun Zala
series title: Gundam Seed

Well, if you'd like a glimpse into the world of CosPlay and would like to rub shoulders with fictional manga & anime characters, head down to D'Marquee @ Downtown East this weekend for CosFest VIII. You'll be treated to a real visual spectacle! *wink*

Also causing quite a stir in The Living Room today was another lady by the name of Kendra. She's a 6-year-old Labrador who also happens to have a pretty cool job. She's a Guide Dog!

Although there were some concerns about bringing a dog into the studio, Kendra was one of the most well-behaved & endearing guests we've had. She made sure her master Kua Cheng Hock - who incidentally is the Honorary Secretary of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Singapore - was always within sight. She gets stressed if he isn't!

Did you know that Guide Dogs have free access to all public areas? Wherever we can go, they can! And they're so well trained, they're allowed to move around freely without muzzles.

The problem though is that the general public is still very much unaware. They see Guide Dogs as "pets", and so Cheng Hock has been turned away from restaurants & other public areas countless times. I can sense his indignation, and I hope our chat today managed to help raise awareness for Guide Dogs and their rights in Singapore.

Clubbing For Cause, in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind Singapore:

[L to R] Kua Cheng Hock, Edvarcl Heng, Samuel Seow.

I'm touched that a group of young Singaporeans are changing the way charities are funded. Through an initiative called Clubbing for Cause (CFC), they're resorting to an innovative concept called "incidental charity" to help raise funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind Singapore

Edvarcl Heng and Samuel Seow from CFC came down today to explain to us how incidental charity works. For example, we know how young people enjoy clubbing. WHAT IF 100% of the ticket price of an event is channelled to charity? What happens is that these clubbers incidentally aid in charity by simply partying! I like what Sam said, "Fun & philanthropy need not be mutually exclusive."

These guys challenged me to think out-of-the-box. I've been involved in NGO work for years and funding has always been a challenge. These guys also shared how their entire marketing campaign is done through social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter. Food for thought indeed, especially in these tough economic times.

And if you were one of those who called in during our Ready-2-Go Travel Kit interview, I'm sorry I couldn't take your calls due to time constraint. But I'm providing the info & links here! *wink*

Trusling Communications has come up with a telco travel kit that includes an overseas SIM card + forwarding card so that you can now save on your overseas phone bills by as much as 85%!

Founders William Soo and Jenny Yiu came by to tell us more. If you missed the chat, you can get the details here. I'll be heading up to Bali for a friend's wedding next weekend and was excited to purchase a kit. But alas, there's none for Indonesia yet.. *pout* "Soon!" William promises. I'm crossing my fingers!