I thought it was a great read and I cried and laughed and cried again until I finished the book at 4am in the morning. It was an easy book to understand although we all know, we seldom get straightforward answers to questions about faith. Yet, his Rabbi’s answer to all of life’s questions were simple and they made perfect sense.

The last few sentences of the book resonated in me and I think it is really relatable to all of us right now.

“God sings, we hum along, and there are many melodies, bit it’s all one song - one same, wonderful, human song.” - Mitch Albom

Just forget about all the different definitions of your God or my God, because He is one and He is our only Creator. Peace and Love people!

Love, Bel

However, we do still go to the club next door, Rootz, once in a while. It’s like the hottest club in town right now and all my friends can’t get enough of it. They’re there every Saturday night! Perhaps I’m just getting a little too old for the entire clubbing scene because I think Rootz is a little too jam-packed for me. I don’t mind going early but after midnight, it’s just crazy packed and I can’t stand the smoke, there’s no space at all to even move, let alone dance! And every time we leave, there’s still a long line of people waiting to go in!!! But seriously, I wonder how we can start rallying for all clubs in Malaysia to be smoke-free, just like in Singapore? That will make it much more enjoyable for people like me who do not want my hair and clothes to reek of smoke every time I go out to have a bit of fun with my friends.

Anyways, I guess you guys must’ve noticed that I’ve been updating pretty regularly. I’ve been relatively free since I left the Quickie. But things are starting to pick up, and I am working on a project by myself right now which I’m really excited about and hopefully I’ll be able to share it with everyone soon. I want to know though, what kind of posts would you guys like to see more of on my blog? Please do comment.

No pictures this time around, will upload more soon. Leaving for Singapore tomorrow for the weekend. Have a great weekend ahead people!!

Love, Bel

So my first Mandarin TV series ’Love in Seoul’ has finished its run on 8TV. If you missed any episodes, you can watch it online at http://www.8tv.com.my. You have to sign up first to be able to watch any shows online, so just sign up, it’s free!!

I’ve wanted to blog about my appearance on another mandarin TV series before it went on air, but I was so caught up with work that I totally forgot. It was on last Sunday on 8TV at 8:30pm.  Just one episode on the insurance-related crime-fighting series ’The Adjusters’. You can watch it by clicking here.

I actually shot this episode before going to Korea to shoot ‘Love in Seoul’. And to be honest, it is one of the most challenging roles I’ve had to play ( I haven’t acted in a lot of shows but yea….you get my drift). Some people might think it’s easy because of the state of the character, I didn’t have to emote much at all, but everything I had to do to be this character went against my natural instincts and I’ve had to fight off showing too much emotion on my face, not to mention, do a really forced fake/scary smile and speak at an unusually slower pace (my mandarin already isn’t that good to begin with!)

But I’ve received quite a number of comments and so far, it’s all been pretty good. This episode touched quite a number of people and made them cry, which was good I guess, means the story was realistic enough that people can relate. :) I credit it all to a great script and Li Ye, who’s the scriptwriter, actually went to speak to several autistic people to get a clearer picture of this disorder, she shared her experience with me and gave me great tips on how to make the character seem more realistic. Also, the director was a great help as well. He managed to tone my hyper self down and get all the non-emotion out of me. hehehe… Anyways, do go and watch it if you haven’t and comment away!

In other news, this week is my final week hosting The 8TV Quickie. My contract has come to an end and I’ve decided not to continue. 2 and a half years of great fun, silly moments, ups and downs, stupid mistakes, great laughs, fantastic work assignments, even more fantastic work travels, meeting my co-hosts and developing great friendships with them, crazy colleagues, money can’t buy experiences…. it’s hard to let go, but I know I have to, to move on and move up…. somehow…

Hopefully you’ll get to see me host other shows on 8TV in the future. Maybe more acting gigs?:) Truth be told, I don’t have much lined up at the moment, but all I know is I’m not done with this industry yet. I’m going to take a couple of months off, do some traveling - I’ve already planned to visit a couple of places in the next few months, spend more time with my family (I can finally spend Christmas and New Years with my friends and family and not at work!! :)) and just enjoy the instability of being a freelancer again. Wish me luck!!

Love, Bel

For the next 2 months also, our slots on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday have been taken over by One in a Million 3 Diaries, so we’ve been relegated to 4 days a week. If you wanna catch your favourite hosts on the Quickie, then, well, you have to watch the Quickie everyday! hehehe….

On another note, my site has been bombarded with spam comments! I get an average of 70 comments a day, mostly spams! I’m really sorry for those of you who’ve left me legitimate comments because in my haste of deleting all the spam, I might’ve deleted your comments. So frustrating!! But, I’m in the midst of upgrading my site again. Hopefully after that the spam won’t be as bad. I’ve scanned all my appearances in the media and it’ll go up under my media link soon.

In terms of work, things are a bit slow, I’ve been pretty free from work but I guess it’s no secret now that I am planning a wedding, two in fact, one in my hometown of Kuching and the other here in KL, so things are pretty crazy right now. Colour themes, invitation cards, entertainment, gowns, photographers….it’s a bit much really, even with the help of a wedding planner, I’m a little overwhelmed with all the decisions I have to make. I need a bit of help with locating emcees and live bands for my Kuching wedding. And I’d like to loan a vintage car as my wedding ride in Kuching. Anyone out there knows anyone or perhaps you want to sponsor your products/services for my wedding?? Please do let me know, send me an email, instead of a comment because you know… comments=spams=delete. 

By the way, did anyone catch the Oscars last night? All the ladies did well in the fashion front this year I thought. Some of my favourites….

Kate Winslet in Yves Saint Laurent. I was really happy for her winning the Best Actress award. She’s earned it, in my humble opinion.

Natalie Portman in Rodarte. Love the pink and the intricate details on the bodice. Love Natalie Portman. 

SJP can do no wrong. She’s in Dior Haute Couture. 

I actually like Melissa George’s Dolce&Gabanna Mermaid dress although the Fashion Police on E! thought the dress was just so-so. 

Anne Hathaway in Armani Prive. She’s one rising star! And this girl can sing!!

How can 2 people be so good looking?? They look almost mannequin-like. Love Angie’s Elie Saab dress! Brad’s in a Tom Ford tux.

I tried on an Elie Saab wedding dress recently just to feel a little bit ‘Hollywood’. But when I found out that it costs RM36k, I nearly fainted and took the dress off as quickly as I could!! :) 

I think I better end here for now. Getting a bit random. Will write again soon. Take care all!

Love, Bel

I haven’t been on the Quickie this week because guess what? I’m sick…..again… I just got well from swollen tonsils and high fever early this month and now I have a bad case of flu/sore throat. I didn’t want to go on any more antibiotics because the last dosage caused me a horrible bout of gastritis so, on my mum’s encouragement, I went to a Chinese Sensei. I haven’t been to a chinese sinsei since I was a little girl so I was a bit hesitant, especially coz the medicines are usually drunk not swallowed and they’re usually vile tasting. But since CNY is around the corner and I’ll be travelling again, I wanted to get rid of any bacteria, virus and sicknesses once and for all. According to the sinsei, my ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ is off balance and that I have too much ‘yang’ in my liver. He prescribed me with 4 big packets of herbs to cook as medicine. I don’t think I need to tell you, for those of you who’ve had chinese medicine before, you’d know it tastes nasty!! It stinks up the whole house too when you’re cooking it!!     

They included a couple of plum sweets for me as well to counter the gag reflex. In a way, I’m lucky my nose is blocked so I can’t really smell the thing when I drink it. 

He gave me 8 different type of roots, leaves and what looked like 2 bunches of dried grass. Honestly, I’m impressed with the sinsei for being able to remember the many different types of herbs coz they all look almost the same to me! And they still weigh the herbs with a traditional string and weight weighing stick. 

And this bottle of ‘bullets’ are for my tonsils. I have to eat 10 everyday after I finish my ‘cooked medicine’ course to help curb my tonsillitis. 

I really hope I’ll feel better by 1st day of CNY, I really don’t want to miss out on all the food!! That’s why for this new year, I especially want to wish everyone good health. Because if you don’t have your health, you won’t be able to properly enjoy all the prosperity and wealth you might encounter this year.

Speaking of which, I will be going to Singapore for Chinese New Year this time around. Going with my parents to spend it with my sister and her in-laws. After that I’ll be going to Macau/Hong Kong for a short holiday with Joe and family. Not going to spend money gambling but I guess I’ll spend some shopping in Hong Kong! Have to bear in mind that this is the final year to collect ang pau, next year have to give already….;P Can’t wait to see the Oriental Las Vegas for the first time though! 

Well guys, till my next post, once again, here’s wishing everyone a healthy, happy and safe Chinese New Year celebration! Gong Xi Fa Chai!! 

Love, Bel

Seriously, which part of this girl looks like me? Certainly not the ‘chest’ area. Should I even be taking it as a compliment? Perhaps this girl’s name is also Belinda Chee. But, i doubt it, because if you look closely, she’s actually wearing the letter F pendant. Anyways, just thought I’d share this with all of you, just in case you received this email and had a nagging suspicion that it’s not me, well, it’s not!

Love, Bel

Bel

Miss you already!!

Bel

Asha (8/22/2008 1:37:12 PM)
but I guess the most disappointing part is that our entertaining industry has lost sight over talent and looks. when I first saw Belinda host, it gave me an impression that mediocre looking girls with not much talent can make it on TV. there is no consistency in her english..we miss people like Marion or Aishah

noturaverageviewer (8/23/2008 1:06:42 AM)
You know what is the real disappointing thing about our ’supposedly’ M’sian entertainment industry? It’s infiltrated by pan-asians/eurasians with slangs and accents and fancy last names. So when a chinese girl with M’sian english comes along, everybody’s not used to it! Thank you Quickie for keeping it M’sian with Belinda, Rina and PhatFabes.

I knew when I first joined this industry that it’s a tough one to crack into and ‘noturaverageviewer’ spoke my mind exactly! I’m not saying it just coz he/she defended me, but it’s true! How often do you see a non-mixed person on your TV screens, especially if it’s an urban show e.g. English speaking show. Now I’m not trying to diss the mixed-bloods who are in the industry, they are bloody gorgeous and bloody talented, but they’ve spoilt the market for the rest of us not blessed with exotic blood-mixes! Like ‘noturaverageviewer’ said, everyone’s gotten so used to seeing eurasians/pan-asians on screens that when someone who doesn’t fit the ‘TV Host’ mould comes along, someone who probably is an average Malaysian, they cannot accept. Or maybe they’ll think, “Hey, that girl is not that pretty, and she speaks like any other girl on the streets, why is she on TV?” Honestly, please name me one pure-chinese or pure-indian or pure-malay who has done well in the Malaysian urban industry, specifically hosting. I can only think of SerenaC and Daphne Iking(but I think she’s also Kedazan-Chinese or some exotic mix like that)

I mean, ok, I understand the marketability of being pan-asian, you can pass off as a local in most Asian regions. And I can understand the logic of hiring a pan-asian if the show is regional- as in it’s shown asia wide, but for free to air Malaysian TV, shouldn’t we be showcasing more Malaysians? And what’s wrong with speaking Malaysian English on Malaysian TV? It’s not exactly bad english, it may be wrong grammatically, but that’s how WE speak english!!

It’s so bad that kids nowadays are speaking with accents because they think that’s how it should be, and faking their ethnicity and their background (e.g. I’ve lived overseas- padahal they’ve only been out of the country for a couple of months) just to fit in. Look at Dawn Yang, she claims that she’s a mix of Thai, Japanese and Chinese. Soooo exotic-kan? If she told you she’s pure Chinese, would you still find her as appealing? Maybe yes, but then you’ll think, how can a pure chinese be so gorgeous? She has to be mixed! It’s like colonialism all over again!!

I don’t really know where I’m getting at here. This was just something I’ve had in my mind for a while. And now that I’m a bit emo, i’m pouring it all out! It’s a disadvantage mediocre people, like me, have and also one of the reasons why we cannot be the best that we can be because we’re not given the opportunity. Beauty regins over talent in this industry and that’s a fact. And if you’re mediocre in both aspect, like Asha said I am, well then, I guess I’ll have to re-think being in this profession. Nevertheless, I’d really like to thank 8TV for putting me, Rina (have you ever seen any one else with glasses on TV?) and Fabes on the Quickie. We might not have a long way more to go now, but I’m glad I got the chance to fulfil my dream.

Bel

I need your help. I need your opinion on something I’m going through right now. Put yourselves in my shoes for a moment. What if you were offered a hefty sum of money to change something, physically, it’s a good change, but it might affect your image and people’s perception of you. You’ll most probably be perceived negatively after the change. Would you still do it?

Bel