mrbrown: L'infantile terrible of Singapore

the mrbrown show: lekuasimi

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iPhone 3GS up close and personal

I went to to see the crowds at Singtel's launch of the Apple iPhone 3GS and it was quite a carnival atmosphere.

I finally got a chance to play with the 3GS for a while and I must say, I am impressed. Speed of both the 3G and the set itself was fast and responsive. The camera was decent though I wished it were at least 5 megapixel. Hey, better than the previous iPhone cameras for sure.

Video recording, copy-paste and sms forwarding were all nicely implemented (finally!)

Here's a look at the queue at Comcentre tonight. You may wanna pop over on Saturday and Sunday to get your own 3GS.

iPhone 3GS comes to Singapore!

I'll be popping by the Singtel Comcentre at Exeter Road to check out the iPhone 3GS and plans tonight. The launch lasts till Sunday.

I am told there are new iFlexi plans that might be relevant to me and that people who show up dressed up as a hardcore iPhone fan may be allowed to jump the queue.

I am going down to at least play with the iPhone 3GS itself and see what deals Singtel are throwing in (I heard got free mobile tv channels thrown in leh). And to check out the crowds too.

16GB or 32GB? Black or White? Decisions, decisions...

I know, I know. The 3GS got video, copy-and-paste and MMS later than everyone else. But I can still lust, right?

the mrbrown show: S.W.I.N.E.

Drastic times require drastic measures from citizen warriors! Join the fight at mrbrownshow.com!

Dahon Curve SL special offer

Remember the 16-inch Dahon Curve SL bicycle I rode on so many of my trips? Well you can get one for S$1599 instead of the usual S$1850 if you can answer a simple question related to the bike and my travels at Speedmatrix or its dealers (like Song Seng Chan, my fave bike shop at Joo Chiat). The offer price lasts till the end of the Great Singapore Sale so hurry.

This is one of my favourite folding bikes ridden overseas so far. It's light, has a 9-speed Shimano Capreo system and folds up really small.

And no, I get nothing for this mention. Just thought I'd share this cool promotion with you and because I love this bike.

NMP Siew Kum Hong does not get second term

I am sorry if the conspiracy theorist in me kicks in when I read that Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong did not get a second term.

Some say that it was because of his involvement in the AWARE saga. Others say he pissed off some religious groups with his support of repealing 377A. Some other folk even suggested that he may have spoken too much and asked too many uncomfortable questions.

Personally I feel it could it be his lack of hair.

Dude, look at Eunice Olsen! She is gorgeous, intelligent, AND has long tresses! No wonder she had two terms as NMP and you didn't get reselected lah!

Must be the Gahmen see the shine on your head as very glaring and a possible danger to others in parliament! Wait other MPs get blinded by your pate and cannot make any speeches or ask hard questions, then you know!

Anyway, thanks for two-and-a-half years of intelligent debate in parliament. You were the best MP we never had.

ANA Merlion commercial

Update: This is a clearer version with subtitles, courtesy of reader "Browned".

Original Youtube version here.

When you want the total Singapore experience, I suppose you have to come to Singapore.

Funny as heck.

(Anyone can do fansubs for the video and translate?)

Four-Oh

In the middle of the week, the wife suddenly said to me, "I want to eat at Fish & Co".

Why, I said.

"You haven't taken me out on a dinner date for a long time."

Can't argue with that, I suppose.

As the weekend approached, the wife asked again, "Are you free on Saturday?"

I told her I couldn't make it because I was out on a shoot till late. She had a worried look on her face when I told her that.

"Sunday, then. We have dinner on Sunday."

"How about the kids?" I asked. We usually go to my mother-in-law's on Sundays.

"Oh, my brother will pick them up on Sunday and take them to my mom's. We can go on our date then."

So Sunday came and it was a flurry of activity. I had a few hours of sleep the night before due to the Saturday shoot, and we were on duty in church on Sunday itself, so we had wake up at 6.30am. By the time we were done at church, it was 2pm.

We grabbed a quick lunch and I crashed for the afternoon, completely zonked out.

At 5pm, the wife woke me up. Time to go, says she.

Another 5 minutes of sleep please, I asked, thinking of how I could convince her to postpone our dinner date so I could sleep some more.

But it did not look like I was going to get out of this one. The wife even put on a fancy outfit, a brown dress.

I said goodbye to the kids and told them to enjoy their visit to grandma's. I wondered why the kids look particularly dressed up for their Sunday grandma visit but thought, maybe I was just imagining it.

As we drove to Novena, I told the wife I wanted to buy a Polly Pocket for Joy because I already bought a Bumblebee Transformer for Isaac and it would be World War 3 in the house if I just gave a present to one kid. She was totally fine with us going to Toys R Us.

"Why do you wanna go to Novena anyway?" I said. It was not a mall we usually go to. "Isn't there a Fish & Co somewhere nearer our place?"

"I heard the Fish & Co there is nicer," she replied, "And besides, I want to shop at the Espirit there."

I drove into the awful carpark at Novena Square, famous for its narrow Ramps of Destruction (you can see the many scratches on the pillars, remnants of vehicles that did not survive the ramp unscathed), and started looking for a parking lot. As I was about to reverse into a lot I found, my wife declared, "Hey, how about parking over there!"

I looked at the lot she pointed at and said, "Aiyah I already have this lot, why shift?" and proceeded to park.

When we got out of the car, my wife stopped me again, and said, "I need a pen! Help me find one in the glove compartment, ok?"

Muttering to myself, I dug a pen out for her, wondering why she would need a pen at a mall.

We made our way to Toys R Us and I picked up a Polly Pocket for Joy and the wife patiently listened to me while I extolled the virtues of the Transformers Animated series toys compared to the less-than-superior Transformers movie toys.

Then I followed her to Espirit and told her to shop for her thing first while I checked out the gaming shop in the basement.

She looked a little concerned and agreed reluctantly.

A few minutes later, as I took the escalator down, she called me and said, "I'm done."

"What? So fast?"

"Ya, they had no new season stuff, so I will come back another day," she explained.

That was a fast shopping trip for her. I shrugged my shoulders and we went to Fish & Co for our dinner date.

As we approached the restaurant, I spotted a close friend inside, and my sleep-deprived brain went, "What a coincidence, they are having dinner at the same place as my wife and me!"

Then I spotted another friend and another, and then I saw my kids, the maid, and a long table of people I know...

Then a cupcake with a candle on it was whipped out, and the whole lot of them starting singing, "Happy birthday to you..."

I was in shock for quite a few seconds. It still hadn't sunk in that I've been had.

And to top it off, the lot of them came something brown. Even my kids were in brown. I just did not notice it enough.

Apparently, they had been planning this for a week, plotting with my wife. Even my maid was in on it, because she knew the kids were going to the restaurant and not my mom-in-law's.

My friend Dave also got a mini-muffin cake because this was his birthday month too. He blew the candle with Isaac.

The plan was not without its share of hiccups. They had to do it a week early because they did not want to clash with any potential family celebrations planned.

They had planned to do it on Saturday until I told the wife I could not make it due to work. That meant a mad scramble to shift it to Sunday.

Then the wife had to distract me because one of the guys drove up to the same car park level as we did, hence her suggestion to change lots and the pen request.

Then the wife had to keep me occupied until everyone had arrived at the restaurant which explained her sudden change of mind at Espirit.

The only other time this many people showed up wearing brown was the City Hall Flash Mob incident when people gathered to protest the suspension of my newspaper column.

I jokingly told my friends, you all better be careful, wait kena plainclothes police take down your names.

In the 40 birthdays I've had, this is my first surprise party. And I was utterly and completely taken by surprise.

I should have suspected my wife was up to something when she let me browse in a toy store for so long. And even listened to my views on toys.

A man is blessed to have friends and family who care enough to go through all this trouble to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Thank you for this. You guys put the Care in the Care Cell.

I need to wipe this tear off my eye now.

The Vendor Client relationship, in real world situations

Too good not to share. The only thing missing is the line, "Think of the exposure/traffic we can bring you."

mrbrown at NDP 2009: Guard of Honour

We meet the Guard of Honour and Colours Party guys and I kinda sow some seeds of discord between two elite units. Heheh.