mrbrown: L'infantile terrible of Singapore

me in 8 Days magazine

I was interviewed Twitter-style for 8 Days, the Mediacorp entertainment magazine that features movies and their tv listings.

They got my mrbrown name spelling correct (one word, all lowercase) but got my offline name wrong. Er, "Lee Kin Mun" lah. Not "Lee Kinmun". LOL!

And I didn't work in advertising lah. I worked in the profitable part of the agency business, the direct marketing and interactive arm.

My favourite question and answer in the piece was this:

Q: In 2006, you were rapped by the government for your column in Today newspaper, and the column was suspended. Are you scared of the gahmen now?

A: No lah. Gahmen is kind and loving one. Where got scared? Hey isn't your company the same one that suspended my column?

Look Pa! I'm Spidey!

I didn't know whether to be proud or mad at Isaac, so I took his photograph, uploaded it to Twitter, then told him, "Next time don't do that in the middle of your lunch, ok?"

Mas Selamat's "improvised flotation device" revealed!

Seen online (so it must true), this is a shot of the "improvised flotation device" Mas Selamat used to escape Singapore's "long coastline" (to quote Wong Kan Seng):

Alleged device #1:

Alleged device #2:

I still think those "Selamat Datang" signs in JB were a stroke of genius on Malaysia's part.

If I were Malaysia, I'd ask for the Crooked Bridge at the Causeway in exchange for Mas. One crooked idea for a crooked man. Fair trade.

Seen in the SilverKris lounge at London Heathrow airport

This is what happens when you don't get internet for 13 hours because you were on a long flight. Bring back in-flight wifi!

We shall never ever let you forget... VR Man

Just when you thought you have pushed this into the deepest recesses of your memory, someone on twitter reminds you of the greatness that is... VR Man!

Thanks @eadwine. I really need the laughs on a Monday.

Lovely rainbow against an orange sunset

The rainbow made my kids and I very excited. Like it's a promise of something good coming our way. That's how I see rainbows.

Riding a newly assembled vintage bicycle on East Coast Park

Took my new old bike out, a Columbia "Made in England" Sports tourer made in the 1960s. The dark green chromoly-steel frame was found brand new in the shop, still covered with oiled brown paper. Columbia is an old American brand of bicycles but it seems they had some frames made in Birmingham, England, in the olde days.

The bike has a 1978 3-speed Sturmey-Archer hub with a vintage lever switch (hard to find nowadays). Uncle helped me find as many vintage parts as possible to outfit the bike. I think only the rims, tires and crank are not old.

For example, the front hub is an old Shimano hub, the pedals are MKS Quill 2k pedals from the 70s, the brakes are old centre-pull caliper brakes from Japan, called Cherry, which were popularly found in sport bikes of the 1960s and '70s.

The seat is some old padded Japanese saddle with some obiang diamond pattern. Even the lights are old. The rear light is a Cat Eye TL-550 2.5V halogen red light, while the front is a Sanyo LK-H203E 2.5V halogen lamp. Both were new out of their yellowed boxes, at least two decades old. The TL-550 uses four AAs and looks like something out of a 60s space movie, and the Sanyo lamp uses two C-sized batteries. I mean, who uses C batteries on bicycle lamps anymore?

To top it off, it was a lovely cool evening to ride this piece of history out for the first time.

It's the end of the week, time for batteries to be recharged

This is the weekly line of some of my bicycle lights queuing to have their rechargeable batteries charged. I use mostly Sanyo 2700mah AAs for the high drain front steady lights, and Sanyo Eneloop AAs and AAAs for the lights that blink.

The Eneloops have lower power than the 2700s but do not discharge as much when not in use, perfect for blinkers.

From left to right, the lights are a pair of Fenix L2Ds, three Cat Eye TL-LD610s, an S-Sun SL310 Eaglefly, a Cat Eye HL-EL320, and a Maxxon wireless brake light.

The Maxxon is quite cool. Using G-force technology similar to the Wii controller, it knows when you are applying the brakes of your bicycle and will emit a brake signal.

On Sunday nights, another queue starts. This time the bicycles themselves queue to get their tire pressure checked and tires pumped.

Severe flooding at TPE

This photo was sent to me by my friend Faith T. There seems to be flooding at the Punggol exit. Poor brown car was stuck in the middle of the flood. All the cars had to go by the right most lane to avoid getting stranded like it.

Few things make a wife happier than a new dress

The wife was pleased to receive a few dresses from online store Famescape (famescape.livejournal.com). We were not obligated to blog about it but the missus liked their stuff and told me to mention them.

I twittered it some time ago, and a friend ended up shopping there as well, so I guess their stuff is pretty good.

For me, I am just looking for any excuse to post my lovely wife's photo on my blog. Swee hor, my wife?

President: Why I Said Yes

And across the land, Singaporeans collectively said, "Please lah."

Bicycles at Jalan Besar

A moment of bicycle zen.

Obrownma sez, Yes We Can!

Having fun with obamicon.me.

New Youth Olympics logo got a lot of meaning

The new Youth Olympics logo has been revealed and it is loaded with meaning.

As you can see from the logo, there is a purple bird with its head on fire. It represents young people who are suffering from heatstroke.

Below the purple bird, there is this green swoosh. This swoosh is necessary in all government logos as it represents dynamism. Also, it is a reminder that the grass is slippery after rain, so be careful when you run on it.

The informal handwriting symbolises the careless yet vibrant penmanship of young people.

The five rings below represent unity, all-roundedness, the unbroken circle of trust, international global-ness and a personal pan pizza.

Talking about The Webbys on Prime Time Morning, CNA

This morning, my friend Melvyn, Creative Director of OgilvyOne, and I were on Channel NewsAsia's Prime Time Morning program to talk about The Webby Awards.

The last time I was on the show was in 2005, with Miyagi, to talk about the Singapore Writers Festival.

I tried to talk as if I knew a lot about the Webbys but to be honest, I just got asked to be a judge recently. So I decided heck, I will go in there and make stuff up.

I did get to play with my Creative Vado HD camera though, and shot a little video of our brief time there with hosts Steve Chia and Joanne Leow, who were very nice.

This time, I remembered not to wear blue.

How to do Christmas shopping without a parking problem...

Ride a folding bike with two empty panniers. I am shopping for the kids' toys at China Square. I have my wallet, my phone, a 1GB Sony mp3 player, and the bike.

All set.

Peter Schiff was right on the coming US recession

Former Ron Paul Economic advisor and author of the book "Crash Proof", Peter Schiff, hit the nail on the head, in 2006.

As a commenter said, if he were to watch himself in his old clips, it would be like watching the economist porn. It must feel good to have been right all along, while everyone was whacking his ideas and predictions before.

Here is another collection of his clips, from 2006 to 2007.

Another commenter said, "Just goes to show you how very few people who profess to know what the heck they are talking about... actually do.

In the December 2007 clip, Peter Schiff says, "I think certainly by November (2008) it'll be obvious to just about everybody that we're in a pretty severe recession. I think a lot of the voters already know that. But some of the people here on Wall Street haven't figured it out yet. But I think that the recession and the economy in general is going to be a much bigger issue."

The Straits Times says US media biased politically

Today's ST proclaims, "(McCain) had some good ideas, but the liberal media was against him."

You tell 'em, ST! Teach those western media types a thing or two about political media biases!

Sometimes, I wonder if Singapore is the last bastion of media objectivity in politics, I tells ya.

Some of my favourite Presidential campaign videos

John McCain Gets BarackRoll'd. (And how it was done)

Paris Hilton for President

"I Got a Crush...On Obama" By Obama Girl

Worst McCain photo so far

McCain certainly likes his karaoke.

Via