mrbrown.com

Leaves in the Playground

Isaac is at home, cranky from his flu and from having to take his five medicines. Mommy is resting after an afternoon with me at a seminar, where Wendy Lawson was speaking. Wendy is an autism expert and who has autism herself.

The littlest one is making Mommy tired a lot these days. So Faith and I go to the park again, to get out of her hair, and to enjoy the breeze after a long, hot day.

Faith was fearful at first, the loud opera music from the cassette player belonging to the old men in the void deck, overloading her fragile senses.

But when we got to the playground further away from our home, Faith calmed down and began to pick up leaves and branches to play with.

I became her leaf fetcher, picking one leaf after another for her, subject to her approval. When the leaf I picked up was not what she wanted, she would push my hand away, and point at the ground again.

Sometimes, she got tired of waiting for me to get the right leaves, and went to get it herself

I think it is time to go. Enough playground for the evening. Faith is starting to get on her knees and rock herself.

Bedtime.

Wait kena sue then you know

I, mr brown, would like to apologise to the Anonymous commenter who left these comments on my blog post on Kenny Sia's haircut:

Comment 1:

this is happening to the singapore blogosphere. and all mrbrown, mrmiyagi, xiaxue et al can do is talk shop.

sad.

Comment 2:

this is happening to the singapore blogosphere. and all mrbrown, mrmiyagi, xiaxue et al can do is talk shop.

you have a voice. use it.

Please forgive me, because I know very little about defamation laws and getting in trouble because of blogging. I am only a simple man writing all this infantile stuff about government policies, special needs and autism, Aids and education. And doing it for the last eight years on this site, with my full name and photographs of me, my family and my pet fish plastered all over my blog.

Perhaps Mr Miyagi can take up this topic, because he more clever one.

To make up for not championing the cause of human rights, freedom and free speech as I should have, I have created a T-shirt for the occasion, so that the free world can rally around poor little oppressed Singaporeans like us.

Not just any old T-shirt, mind you, but a T-shirt that stands for freedom, justice and not getting sued. Available in Small, Medium, Large and Extra-large.

Kenny reviews Alan's Salon (not Alain Delon, ah)

I blog my glamorous haircut outing, Mr "Fragile Spot" Miyagi also blogs his lagi stylo hairstyling salon (Aircon) visit, but Kenny Sia goes all the way, and gives us the blow by blow of his visit to Inspiration Alan Salon, the largest hair salon chain in Sarawak.

Excerpt:

See, usually when you get your hair washed, the hair salon throws in a complimentary a head, neck and shoulders massage as well - and that's exactly what I'm after. Its true, getting your (upper) head massaged at the hair salon by some sweet young pretty sexy girl is the closest thing you can have to an affair, without actually committing adultery yourself!...

C*** C***B** THEY GAVE ME A GUY INSTEAD!

What the foot?! Don't they know that is a no-no to have a guy massaging another guy's head?! Yalah yalah, I know I'm lucky because at least he's massaging my upper head and not my lower head. BUT STILL! This is BLASPHEMY!

You know what the freakiest thing is?

He had the audacity to ask me, "So how? Is it hard enough for you?"

I almost ran away with shampoo still on my head.

TODAY: When Mr Flu pays a visit to the kids

Latest TODAY column: When Mr Flu pays a visit to the kids

Excerpt:

The flu bug seems to be visiting us again. I met Mr Flu a few weeks ago and we went our separate ways. He dropped by again a week ago and my kids and wife all made his acquaintance. He has been at my house for a week now and doesn't seem to want to leave.

So, between the maid and myself, we are looking after three sick kids: Faith, Isaac and my wife.

I remember the first time Faith fell seriously ill, when she was six months old. She had an allergic reaction to egg white (very small children do not have the enzymes to break down protein like that found in eggs) and it panicked the whole family to see her red rashes.

Then there was the time she developed bronchitis, also before the age of 1, and she had to be hospitalised because she was throwing up and refusing to drink. She had to be placed on a drip so she would not dehydrate.

I don't know about you but there is nothing more heartbreaking to a parent than seeing his kid sick in a hospital bed, her arm swollen from a needle, curled up miserably in a cold metal hospital cot and unable to tell you how she feels.

But we can see it in their faces and we know. No words are needed.

New podcast show must have new kit

Ahem. Please say hi to my new mic, the tried and tested Shure SM-58, a new Griffin iMic USB adaptor and a new Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer.

Never go Sim Lim to just look-look this kind of thing. Heng never stay longer, or else a professional Mixer also buy liao.

From left: My Sennheiser HD470 headphones, 15-inch G4 Powerbook with GarageBand and Skype open, 40GB iPod with Griffin iTalk and Lapel Mic, Shure SM-58 Microphone connected to a Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer via XLR cable.

Finally, the UB802 Mixer is hooked up to the Powerbook via a Griffin iMic USB adaptor.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Voices from a little island

Update: Shortphat remembers his Grandma's stories with fondness and the Postmaster General thinks I may be the next Studs Terkel. I not that old, right? But thanks anyway. :)

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about memoirs. I saw in the news that MM Lee is on a four-day visit to KL and met up with Dr Mahathir. They talked about a good many things, and the Channel NewsAsia clip featured Dr M talking about writing memoirs.

"(We) talked about how to write memoirs. How he, Colin Powell and George Bush did that. I told him I'm very slow. I write in long hand," Dr M told the reporters, referring to MM Lee's much-feted Memoirs.

Strange that I should see this news item now, because yesterday, a friend said to me, "Our history is being systematically and selectively erased."

I am not sure if my friend was being too extreme in his views, but I can see his point. The history of Singapore seems to be coming from a very small group of people.

I am sure MM Lee's memoirs are very important and significant to our understanding of Singapore's past. After all, the man has been there and done that. In fact, he is not done doing. Love him or hate him, he is the Father of this nation, and worthy of respect.

But Singapore was not created by just one man or one party alone. Many hands, both Singaporean and foreign, built this city. My father, who is the Father of me, has many stories to tell. In fact, it is hard to get him to stop when he gets started. He is normally a quiet man, but when you get him to tell you about the time he had to sell curry puffs with his youngest brother, to make ends meet, you see a fire in his eyes. And he doesn't have any two-volume hard-cover memoirs on sale in Borders.

This got me thinking. What if we could record the words of this older generation, so that our kids and our kids' kids, can know, can understand, can remember? Many of our parents and our parents' parents were immigrants, coming in Singapore to make a better life.

If I spoke to your fathers and mothers, what stories will they tell me?

The other thing that has struck me lately was the number of Singaporeans overseas.

I got this email from J:

"Just wanted to thank you for starting the podcast thingy... cos I'm stuck in bangladesh for 6 months.. (ok not stuck, my own free will lah) and being able to hear you all crap and talk nonsense is very comforting haha... I'm very tired of listening to perfect English!"

My first thought was, wow, my little podcast project is touching a fellow Singaporean in a foreign land. Who would have thought a few guys talking cock and making dumb jokes in Singlish would have such an impact? It is a very humbling thing.

My second thought was, what on earth is J doing in Bangladesh?

It seems ironic to me that as a nation built by the hardworking hands of immigrants, and now, even foreign talent, we are beginning to export ourselves to other countries. Perhaps our immigrant genes never really go away.

This then brings me to my second idea.

If I spoke to these Singaporeans overseas, what stories will they tell me?

I am interested in why they have made their journey from our island's comfort zone. Or discomfort zone. I want to know, if they have migrated overseas, whether they found their greener pastures there, or whether Singapore is really where they should have stayed. I want to hear this in their own words, unfiltered by any agenda to persuade our overseas brethren to come home.

So, two groups of Singaporeans, the older generation with their stories of old Singapore, and a younger generation who have left our shores, either permanently or temporarily, to be somewhere else. Both groups with stories I want to hear.

An oral history of Singapore, if you will. Told by ordinary Singaporeans,

Now if that isn't an idea screaming to be done as a podcast, I don't know what is.

I am so going to need a bigger server.

browncast: bust enhancement

Mr Tan, Miyagi and mrbrown analyse the scientific basis of bust enhancement ads, especially the one endorsed by actress Lynn Poh.

Audio file for the mrbrown show 27 April 2005
(MP3, Filesize: 3.2mb, Time: 00:18:04)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Running day

Week 4... Slightly better new shoes.

And working muscles I never knew existed. Ouch.

Adobe buys Macromedia: FAQ subtitles

Daring Fireball translates portions of Adobe’s FAQ regarding Their Acquisition of Macromedia into English.

Excerpt:

Why is Adobe acquiring Macromedia?

Adobe’s mission has always been to help people and businesses communicate better. Macromedia’s mission has been to provide a rich media experience. Together, we share a vision for the future and with the combination of the two companies — our products, technologies and people — we will enable the creation and delivery of compelling content and experiences across multiple operating systems, devices and media.

Dude, we just bought the only significant competitor to several of our flagship applications. We didn’t buy Macromedia, we bought the market.

Why is this good for customers?

This transaction will benefit customers across all segments the two companies serve — creative professionals working with web, print, and video; application developers; business users and enterprises; the mobile ecosystem, hobbyists and consumers. Combining the passion, creativity, and operational excellence of two leading-edge companies, will allow us to better serve customers by accelerating innovations that change the way that people everywhere are experiencing and interacting with information.

This isn’t good for customers at all.

browncast: results may vary

Mr Tan, Miyagi and mrbrown talk about Steph Song, Vanessa Mae and Taufik. And slimming ads.

Audio file for the mrbrown show 26 April 2005
(MP3, Filesize: 3.9mb, Time: 00:22:18)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Give me RSS or give me death!

Preetam "The Sensei" Rai is at it again, with a new tutorial on how to use Bloglines to read all your favourite sites and blogs easily.

The man is a fountain of useful information. You can also learn how to get into podcasting, and how to convert your LPs into MP3s.

You may know Preetam from films such as "How to use Flickr", "How to use Technorati" and "The Erotic Adventures of Hercules".

And also from such automated information kiosks as "Welcome to Springfield Airport" and "Where's Nordstrom?"

Ok, I am starting to channel Troy McClure and his filmography.

I need to get my coffee now.

Baluku or Buah Duku

In my post about Isaac's baluku, reader Journeyman said the following:

you meant buah duku? please for once, could you singaporean chinese - or chinese singaporeans - get your malay words right? like "otak otak" shortened to and misspelt as ota*H*. good grief.

Actually, no. I meant baluku. I know the root word is from the fruit "buah duku" but a swollen bruise is called "baluku" by most Singlish speakers, especially Chinese Singaporeans.

In the same way, we call bread "loti", even though the root word is "roti". The same goes for "otah".

From an NUS EL2111 course (Historical Variation in English) webpage on The non-Anglo Englishes (NEs):

The ‘internal system’ within a speaker is partly the result of the external input available to that speaker. This exposure might therefore lead to a ‘Mandarin’ system, a ‘Standard English’ system and a ‘Singlish’ system within that speaker. These systems can potentially influence each other, obviously; but when this speaker refers to, say, someone’s baluku (‘a bruise’), he/she does it because he/she has been exposed to other CSE speakers who use the lexical item – not because he/she knows Malay (baluku comes from Malay buah duku – the fruit).

Language is a living thing. It evolves with usage. Finicky Feline may disagree with me though (to which I say "pffft", heheh).

Read this little post by Malaysia's funniest satirist, TV Smith.

Although TV Smith wrote the above for Malaysia, it applies to us in Singapore too. And as TV Smith says, "this linguistic mixture is a living testimony of our nation's colourful and diverse cultural heritage."

Gosh, I so love discussions on Singlish, the glorious Singapore tongue. "Pffft" to the puritans at the Speak Good English campaign too.

Learning from her brother

Faith doesn't like taking her medicine, but with her brother and her Mommy all down, she has company.

Faith used to fight us when it came to taking medication. Her autistic reflexes made her frightened of the experience, and whenever she was ill, the administration of medication was the added ordeal to being sick.

it would take up to three adults to give her medication. That was how hard she struggled.

She even learned, very early on, to gargle, so that the meds would not go down her throat. Many a time, we had to close her mouth to prevent her from spitting it out, and sometimes, we had to hold her nose to make it go down.

You can imagine the titanic struggles we have been dealing with for the last 3 years of her 4 years on earth so far.

But this time round, she has been a brave little girl. She just stood there, and let us feed her the medicine. She made a face, and swallowed it, and then took a big sip of water. Then ran away to play.

There is a reason for her newfound calm. She has been watching her brother take his medicine (all four bottles) and he has been a trooper. He probably likes some of the sweetness too. Isaac has been a brave and cheerful boy in the face of a flu.

He had no fussing, very little crankiness, his flu merely slowed him down a touch. And he took his meds with no fighting too. It must be his sunny disposition.

Regardless of the reasons why her little brother Isaac takes his meds so well, it has taught her that it is nothing to fear. And judging from these photos, you can tell she has learned a new thing... from her little brother.

So she does observe him after all.

A brown music moment: Tim Perez sings Angels or Devils

Update: Tim would like to thank you guys for your support. In her own words...

Hello! I just want you to know how surprised I am by the response! When my friend (da flava) was telling me that people liked it, I thought that she was pulling my leg. Then I went to your site myself and I am floored! I wanted to post a thank you to everybody who commented on it but was a little embarassed to do so. Maybe you can thank them for me? hehe.

Those of you who were mesmerized by Tim Perez singing an acoustic version of Dishwalla's Counting Blue Cars, and were wondering if she will ever record another one of her living room recordings, well here it is. Her friend, da flava, persuaded Timz to record it, so go and kiss her feet.

This time, Timz sings Dishwalla's Angels or Devils.

From da flava of sarongpartyfrens.com:

Because you all wanted more…
Because you were all curious about the woman behind the voice
… I had to persuade her to record a new acoustic song…
this one’s called angels or devils by dishwalla
ladies and gentlemen- timz perez with her latest single…

Live from the doctor's: a moody Isaac

I have a fever, a cough, a running nose, and two baluku on my forehead from two falls. I am a moody boy.

Differences between Malaysians and Singaporeans

All hail Eddie G, for bridging the great Singapore-Malaysia Divide with his hilarious analysis of the differences between Malaysians and Singaporeans.

Excerpt:

ECONOMY
Malaysian: Trade Union owned by rich, pretentious bastards who don't know shit about the struggles of the working class

Singaporean: Trade Union owned by the government

LEADERSHIP
Malaysian: Former Prime Minister retires and goes off to enjoy life while calling the shots from behind the scene

Singaporean: Former Prime Minister retires... oh wait, no he doesn't.

via Cowboy "Secret Agent Man" Caleb, Tomorrow.sg and Lancerlord

Live from Mohd Sultan Road

We Ah Peks upgrade liao. Last time beer garden, now kopi tiam at Mohd Sultan Road. Hip dudes sial.

More pictures in this Flickr set.

Update: Our photos bring back memories for bohemianphilosophy

Funkservice International

Funkservice International is from Sweden and they do jazz-influenced dance music. Their debut album, A Post Modern Life, rocks (in Singapore, you may see it as The Wine Bar 2 - More Cool Music for Chilled Glasses).

And I listed it on my music typelist on the left. Guess who dropped me an email?

An email from Adil of Funkservice:

Hi !

Cool that you like /"Rastafari Kharma Space Dub" /We had a lot of thinking to do before we decided to put the track in the album , but now my wondering is answered , thanks MrBrown !

Best Regards /
Funkservice International / Adil

Help Steve find more mature blogs than this one

Steve of Singabloodypore laments the lack of mature blogs in Singapore and wonders where he can read blogs besides the infantile ones like Xiaxue's and mine. Blogger Anthony wrote a post about it. And so did Big F**k.

Stung by Steve's charge, I travelled all the way to the British Club to take this regal photo of myself, to prove that I also have a serious and mature side.

Link to Steven McDermott's post. (via tomorrow.sg)

Excerpt:

After reading the comments left over the last few days I have re-read the article and it appears to me that Singapore hasn't changed.

Yes I am aware of some very mature blogs written by anonymous bloggers, to name just two, the likes of Wannabe Lawyer, Singapore Commentator stand out but go read the likes of MrBrown, Xiaxue and other certain blogs that shall not be named, and it is full of infantile concerns or pulling silly faces.

TODAY: To IR is human

Latest TODAY column: To IR is human

Excerpt:

I am looking forward to the coming casinos. They say that the casinos will make Singapore a truly Global City with a buzz.

And I would like to visit these casinos to experience global-ness, being the unhip heartlander that I am.

I also notice that many officials have started referring to the casinos as Integrated Resorts, or IRs.

That certainly sounds more moral, I think. It is hard to think of an Integrated Resort as something evil.

Integrated, leh.