Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Spotted: Diva's Top 5 OffBeat (or Cute!) Festive Sightings in 2014

Did somebody's tree escape?
It's that time of year again!

The air(con) gets a few degrees chillier. More commuters attempt to burrow in their hoodies, trying to escape from the wet monsoon season. Little human monsters run recklessly afoot at malls as if they were specially bred to trip people up.... And to add insult to injury, the vapid Christmas lighting dangle all around Orchard Road like are cash registers made of gold.

There's simply no better time (*snark*) to channel your geekiness in other ways so that the year-end holidays are More Kapow, Less Humbug.

Here are Red Dot Diva's Top 5 Weird (Cute) and Offbeat Things she spotted during the Christmas season. 

5. Tang Yuans Go Geek

OK, so culturally, this is not actually about Christmas, but the Chinese celebrate the solstices too. During the Winter Solstice, one of the favourite sweets that is made as a family dish is Tang Yuan (汤圆) because of how the word-phrase sounds like "reunion" in the language.

Originally (in Southern Chinese style), the Tang Yuan are round dumpling balls made of glutinous rice that are usually filled with treats like gula melaka, peanuts or sweet bean. These days, they have been updated to include all sorts of base ingredients and colours as well as different fillings like chocolate!

The cutest ones Red Dot Diva have seen this year were the little Totoros by MOONMoon's Kitchen! The blogger probably made it some time ago but it popped up again on Diva's Facebook timeline, thanks to geek buddy Rachel Teh. The recipe has been transcribed in Chinese here.



For an English version, based in Singapore blogger Little Miss Bento has made her own version of the Totoro Tang Yuans as well. Click here for her recipe!

And if you thought you have seen it all, here's another pic gone viral - this slightly bruised Baymax of a Tang Yuan! So big!!!! O_O But soooo cute!! How to EAT?!?!!



Diva has no idea who is the owner and source of this giant sweet thing. If you know who originally made this, drop her a tweet!


4. Writhing Cthulhu Wreath

One of Red Dot Diva's fictional character is Cthulhu because he has such a ugly-cute mug. (Seriously, there are not many kind of faces that remind her of a dish of yummy deep-fried baby squid.) Plus, he's an elder god!

This year, someone awesomely creative named Maika Keuben has made a very writhe-y Christmas wreathe made of craft tentacle parts, LEGO Octopuses, tinsel, and LED lights. Her process and more of her photos are documented in imgur.

Diva simple loves those icky-feely tentacles so festively straining to reach out at you.


It's sheer horrifying magnificence!


3. Alex Solis' Naughty Christmas Finger Series

Red Dot Diva got to know Threadless artist Alex Solis when he was a guest at this year's STGCC. Not only is Alex super-friendly and talented, Diva notices that he spots a constant mischievous glint in his eye.

In the few days leading up to Christmas, Alex decided to play naughty (with his finger no less! tsk tsk!) in a short Christmas illustration series that features Santa, Rudolph, hapless Christmas Elf and Frosty the Snowman.

Here is the first one. Check out the other three on his Instagram feed!




2.  George R.R. Martin's Christmas Countdown

For a guy who kills a lot of fictional characters with nary a teary eye, George R. R. Martin is a wonderful personality to meet in real life. When Red Dot Diva met him at SDCC 2014 and thanked GRRM for all the beautiful deaths, the rotund bearded one roared in laughter. He totally made her day!

GRRM made the 12 Days of Christmas even better this year with a series of Westoros-styled holiday cards from the different Houses that he posted on his Twitter account.

Red Dot Diva's personal favourite is this one:

Er..... Still too soon?

Maybe, you might prefer something classier, via House Tyrell.....


Or be thankful that over here in Red Dot Island, we don't get as cold up North as the Starks (how many of them are there left anyway???!!)


1. Santa Charlie the Carnivore

Before Red Dot Diva met Charlie, GRRM's Christmas greetings were at the top of her list. But Charlie manages to steal Diva's heart away with his carnivorous charm, despite of his lack of biceps.

Presenting..... Charlie the Venus Flytrap getting his Santa-groove on!!!




And on that note....

Red Dot Diva (with special guest E.T.) sends Hot Bicepstuous Greetings and wishes Happy Festivities to Everyone!


*MWAHS*




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