mrbrown.com

Cowboy Caleb on building a blog audience

Cowboy Caleb, whose tongue has been noticeably absent from the Sexyblogger project, has some tips on How To Build An Audience For Your Blog.

Listen to the man, he gets it.

Excerpt:

Nobody can make you famous. Not mrbrown, not miyagi and certainly not me. The most we can do is link to you one time. You will be famous for that one brief moment when the whole asian blogosphere descends upon your blog to read that one post we linked to. That one moment only. And after that you’ll remember with great happiness the day you got a few thousand hits. That’s right, you’ll be a one-hit wonder.

Unless you build your own audience.

It’s important to note that I’m not going to talk about how to blog. Tony Pierce has already covered that and although I disagree with him on several points, he’s got it covered pretty tight.

There are thousands of blogs out there. What makes yours so special? You can sit down and think all night if you want, but there isn’t an easy answer. So what’s a poor ignored blogger to do then?

Short Flickr Tutorial

Some of you may be wondering how to get unto Flickr, and I thought this short tutorial by Preetam would be helpful.

Also, I notice that many of you did not set your URL in your account page, resulting in the default random number URL. Being the neat freak that I am, here are the instructions to fix this travesty:

1. Go to your account page at: http://www.flickr.com/account/ (login if you have not yet done so)

2. You should be able to see a Set URL option at the bottom right hand corner of this account page.

Once you set it, you will see that the "Your own Flickr web page" section shows your new Flickr page URL.

So instead of a URL like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124481424@N01

You will have a nice one like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smellysocks/

We oso wan our own t-shirts

Zhiyang, who has too much free time in his hands was very creative, decided to come up with some other shameless knockoffs exclusive blogger merchandise, and offering to sell them.

Eh, got kopi-right one leh! Cannot suka suka make mr brown T-shirts one, ok? But nice effort nonetheless. Heheh.

P.S. mr brown is spelled all lowercase. Please see the Brand Guide.

Reactions to my browncasts so far

So far, the response to my browncasts have been really positive. Thank you all for your support.

In fact, my friend, Dr Bob, had to ask me to move my files from his server because in two days, the period when the latest browncast went live, traffic on his server hit 8GB. That is 4GB a day. That's incredible.

I have moved that particular browncast to a new location, but it will be transparent to you, so no worries.

Here are a few reactions so far:

Johnny M thinks he should get his own podcast.

Wannabe Lawyer wrote a great piece on why code trumps law

Excerpt from Wannabe Lawyer:

Love his shows. Compared to the boring and staid radio stations run by the state-owned media, the browncasts are a breath of fresh air… or at least, a taste of freedom.

The main reason why mr brown’s shows are so entertaining and funny, is because there aren’t any restrictions on what he can or cannot say. They talk about anything under the Singapore sun. mr brown talks about "pung sai" and "pussy… cats". Pipples doesn’t hold back on his "f**ks" and "b***hs". Hilarity ensues.

Compare and contrast that with the furore over Sheikh Haikel and Daniel Ong talking about panties and sex over free-to-air radio, resulting in Haikel losing his job and Mediacorp being fined for breach of the Radio Programme Code.

Sexy discount

Savvy Localbrand, for whom Xiaxue is Brand Ambassador, is offering an impromptu offer:

Go into any of our retail shops, show them facial expression as demonstrated by XiaXue on the left and you automatically get a 20% discount on all LocalBrand shirts. This is our little contribution to an ongoing local (and possibly ’grober’) Blogging community phenomenon titled, "I’m too sexy for my Blog project" started by local blogging phenoms, Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Brown, and ’inspired’ by our very own brand ambassador, XiaXue.

This impromptu sale ends on March 31st, 2005.

So go and tongue your way to a 20% discount, and tell them brown and Miyagi sent you.

Technorati tag: sexyblogger

Tony Pierce thanks Xiaxue

And he explains to Xiaxue, why he used her photo (which started my "I'm too sexy for my blog" conga line.

He also has a great piece on How to Blog.

Excerpt:

yes, it's true that i posted your picture the other day and i didnt link to your site or mention your name. im a very bad man and somewhat rude, and i want to change that behavior because i know the rules of blogging and i know better than that.

Technorati tag: sexyblogger

I'm too sexy for my blog: Part 2

And so it has begun.

Within hours, Jim and Faith-T have joined me and Mr Miyagi in the mighty "I'm too sexy for my blog" Project, and they have their own "I'm too sexy for my blog" tongue shots. Adri kinda did hers, but she took hers in the dark (much to her rabid photo-collecting fans' dismay), so it doesn't count. (Update: she did a great one finally.)

Do your own sexy tongue photo and post it on Flickr or your blog, and send the link to me (post it in the comments section here) and I will compile the links on this page.

Better yet! Tag your Flickr photos with the tag "sexyblogger" so that the whole world can see at one glance just how many sexy bloggers like Xiaxue we really have! You are allowed to mask your face if you are a chicken-shit anonymous coward want to maintain your anonymity.

See the sexyblogger shots in Flickr.

"I'm too sexy for my blog" Blogger links:
The Original Sexy Blogger, Xiaxue
--------------
Sexy gongzgal
Sexy Kenny Sia (check out his Xiaxue spoof!)
Sexy Dark Prince
Sexy High Levels
Sexy sillcelly

I'm too sexy for my blog

Wah lau eh, Xiaxue is really going place sial! First, got T-shirt endorsement deal. Now, spotted by pervy alert Mr Miyagi, Xiaxue's big big pair of... eyes are seen on Tony Pierce's blog. You go, girl!

Not to lose out, I oso took my own sexy picture.

And Mr Miyagi did one too!


P.S. Please do not start Xiaxue flame wars on my comments section, ok? Go fight somewhere else. Thanks.

Technorati tag: sexyblogger

A telemarketer calls

From supertsar's blog:

Today while watching the game (by the way we beat UNC - the #2 team in the country – to advance to the final of the ACC tournament) the phone rang, and I picked it up.

– Hello.

[Pause. Damn it, has to be a telemarketer.]
– Hello, is M at home?

– Uh, he’s asleep [meanwhile, M who had been sleeping on the couch stirs, and opens his eyes]... Uh, wait [M looks at me and asks, ‘is that a telemarketer?’]... Uh, are you a telemarketer?

– Yes.

– Ok, then he’s asleep.

browncast: mrbrown and Pipples unplugged and unleashed

Sometimes, low-tech hi-tech just works better. Forget laying down the digital tracks in Garageband, man. Just find a funny friend, hit record on your iPod with an attached iTalk mic, and talk non-stop, unscripted, and totally uncensored, for 22 minutes on anything and everything. And viola voila, the longest and probably funniest browncast evar.

I hang again with Pipples (first identified in Cowboy Caleb's blog and now famous for his Hokkien singing in a previous browncast), and we talk about everything from buying luxury cars, to Xbox game Star Wars Kotor II (Knights of the Old Republic) to Aksi Mat Yoyo (a Malay children's program from long ago), to smoking being banned in too many places.

Small warning: this browncast has a smattering of swearing because Pipples is a foul-mouthed gangsta.

Audio file for the mrbrown show 22 March 2005
(MP3, Filesize: 5.2mb, Time: 00:22:14)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

2,171 subscribers and counting

littlecartnoodles points out, ST Interactive boh liao, and like littlecartnoodles, many of us are going to change our daily web surfing routines.

As of March 17th 2005, there has been 1,679 individual paid subscribers to Straits Times Interactive, and 492 group subscriptions. Out of the reported 280,000 registered users. (Update: they hit 2600 in total, individual and group, just before the wall went up.)

Why? Registered users like stupididea and mochacha from Bugmenot.com never subscribe ah?

The rest of you 277,879 registered users all better run, don't walk. Quickly go and subscribe before STI runs out of Ingterneck. You think Ingterneck is infinite one ah? Emu them now!

A new browncast

Cowboy Caleb actually beat me to mentioning my own podcasts.

This was my little Garageband experiment, complete with background music stolen from Junkie XL and recorded in the famous recording studio called "brown's Living Room".

Check out the latest browncast
(Filesize: 1.9mb, Time: 2:46).

The feed for the podcast here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Glimpses of Light

Venue: The Atrium @ Orchard
Date: 16 March 2005 to 30 March 2005

Featuring the photographic works of Ernest Goh, Darren Soh, Ming and Terz. Don't miss it. The Aceh photos are better experienced "full-sized and as part of a larger narrative".

But one gentle reminder, please don't poke the photographs. As his wife, Tym (who also experienced Suntec Parking Hell) put it, "Terz delicately mounted each photograph with a plastic bag over his hand to keep the photograph surface pristine", so please, mr brown he say: see, no touch.

And if you see anyone doing it, bitch slap that person for me.

Newater poster

Nick sees a Newater poster at the notice board of his lift lobby with his hand on it.

More iTalk silliness

Another quick and dirty podcast done with an iTalk and iPod.

In the first part of this podcast, my friend Tones was fooling around with a prank arm (seen getting friendly with me, in the photo here), and trying to scare me with it.

Here is the 1.6mb audio file (1 min 43 seconds). I am working on improving the compression, so you will see smaller files in future.

Use this URL to subscribe to my podcast feed.

At this rate, I am so going to bust my monthly server bandwidth limit.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

3Fast3Furious

So the Police Security Command evaluated SUVs like Volvo's XC90, the BMW X5 and VW Toureg before settling on the Toureg for escorting and protecting VVIPs such as Cabinet ministers and senior foreign dignitaries.

Don't know if this is true of not, but MrHung of Sammyboy says:

Actually, they even evaluated the BMW X5.

Turns out that they smashed it during a test drive. Know what the stinkers did? They returned it to Performance, stating that the X5 was "not up to standards".

Upon investigation, it turned out that they hit the kerb during a reverse defensive maneuver, and flipped it. The whole roof caved in.

This was told to me by a friend of mine (who felt ashamed to be part of the TP evaluation team that day) who saw the whole thing.

The cheek.

The least TP could have done was to offer to pay for the repair. No such thing. No honour, these people in white.

Give mr brown an iTalk and...

...he will do a low-tech podcast, plus annoy his colleagues.

Point your iPodder to this link to subscribe to my podcast feed

Or, download the 1.93mb mp3 here.

Forgive the crudeness of my first attempts. I promise to include the slick music next time.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Tak Giu

Update 2: You can now access the Tak Giu files at the mirror site.

Update 1: You all ah, one go all go. The site is currently down due to bandwidth limit exceeded. People know good stuff when they see it, I suppose, and news travels fast.

From Jacen: Hi guys, takgiu.rantx.com is down for the moment, due to overwhelming traffic. We hope to fix it soon, do check back again =) (thanks to mrbrown for spreading the word too)

The multi-talented Jacen Tan wrote, directed, produced, acted, composed the music, and edited this indie short film, Tak Giu, about three boys, a ball and no place to play.

Go to the film's website (currently down, go to the mirror) to download the 42mb WMV file or two of the film's songs in MP3 format. The film is in Singlish/Chinese with English subtitles.

Very slick indeed. And some parts made me laugh out loud.

Oh, and stay for the credits for a hilarious bit at the end.

via Cowboy Caleb, unearther of quality gems like this.


From the site:

"Tak Giu" (15mins, Singlish/with English subtitles) is an indie film which follows the journey of 3 soccer-crazy boys. Having taking up the challenge of a friendly soccer match, the boys realize that it is not easy to find a good, free public soccer field in Singapore… if there’s any at all. Through their journey they encounter obnoxious care-takers, locked-up fences, deterring weather and a persistent policeman. Will they be able to find their dream soccer pitch?

Bad hair day

via Hikikomori at Cowboy's Bar


A woman went to her doctor for a followup visit after the doctor had prescribed testosterone (a male hormone) for her. She was a little worried about some of the side effects she was experiencing.

"Doctor, the hormones you've been giving me have really helped, but I'm afraid that you're giving me too much. I've started growing hair in places that I've never grown hair before."

The doctor reassured her.  "A little hair growth is a perfectly normal side effect of testosterone. Just where has this hair appeared?"

"On my balls."

TODAY: Bangkok Rocks!

Latest TODAY column: Bangkok rocks!

Excerpt:

I JUST got back from holidaying in Bangkok, where I spent a few days with my wife and another couple. This was our first holiday together without our kids and, I tell you, it was not easy planning it.

There was much crying and bawling, and temper tantrums thrown due to separation anxiety. Oh, and our kids cried and bawled a lot too.

I have to say, after having been there, that in the regional shopping stakes, Bangkok will kick Singapore's ass (oh no, was that unparliamentary language?).

Not even KL or JB can compete, I feel, with Bangkok. They may have the Mega Malls, but not Bangkok's variety. JB may have petrol at $0.66 per litre, but how far can that competitive advantage take you?