Found this Hokkien "folk song" left by an anonymous reader in the comments section of Rockson's infamous NKF-CB post, now containing more than 750 comments (crikey):
福建民谣:
有个杜莱真老兰
六十万元作无兰
被判不对还兰兰
样子不知西密兰
踢他出去干那兰
如今不敢再怪兰
名字改成真度兰
最好改行去甘兰
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Found this Hokkien "folk song" left by an anonymous reader in the comments section of Rockson's infamous NKF-CB post, now containing more than 750 comments (crikey):
福建民谣:
有个杜莱真老兰
六十万元作无兰
被判不对还兰兰
样子不知西密兰
踢他出去干那兰
如今不敢再怪兰
名字改成真度兰
最好改行去甘兰
Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 05:31 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Looks like someone does not like streetdirectory.com.sg very much. Full screen capture of the page in my Flickr.
And no, this was not photoshopped.
Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 04:27 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
Gamer site 1up.com's editor, John Davison went for a TV show recording on Donny Deutsch's show on CNBC, "The Big Idea", and walked off the set when he realised he had been set up.
via Joho the Blog
Excerpt:
I've never walked off the set of a TV show in disgust before, but this week I did. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I was in the studio for a live-to-tape session of the Donny Deutsch show on CNBC, "The Big Idea" on Tuesday morning this week. After enduring it for about 10 or 15 minutes it was clear that the whole situation had been a set-up from outset.
Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2005 at 03:59 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 09:01 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
I am dazed. I am not fully recovered from Saturday's bloggers.sg Conference. I think I used up all my energy reserves for that day.
It is Monday, and I am still not completely well, but Sunday was good.
All of Sunday, I did not touch the computer until after 11pm.
Just couldn't blog. Did not know where to start. And more importantly, I wanted to spend time with the family, especially the missus. I think she really appreciated my restraint.
珍 was just happy to see me. I had been so tied up with work and this Con, that we hardly saw each other.
We slept in on Sunday, and went for breakfast with my parents and Isaac, while Faith had her ABA.
It was Celia's day off. So we were a little apprehensive about the kids. But they were angels.
We fed them their lunch (珍 gave me the honour of feeding the rascal boy) and they ate quickly. They had their naps, which gave us some time to watch Gangs of New York on DVD.
And then mom offered to take them off our hands for two hours. So 珍 and I drove to Heeren at 4pm, and spent some money on CDs. It was so nice to just shop together. We also bumped into Laureen, whom 珍 taught in Junior Sunday School. The little toddler she taught is now 17, time flies so fast.
Dinner was at the in-laws, and then we returned home...
At the lift lobby just outside our gate, Faith looked up at me, and so very softly, said "Pa".
It sounded like a loud breathy "Peh" than a "Pa", but it was more than good enough. My daughter calls me for the first time.
Like I said. Dazed.
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 06:37 PM in Musings | Permalink | Comments (36) | TrackBack (0)
Warning: this post contains some swear words unsuitable for children.
Straits Times Digital Life cover the Bloggers.SG conference fairly extensively and I have to say, it was a good read. Cowboy Caleb thinks so too, and Lancerlord has the whole thing available on Flickr for your reading pleasure. Worth buying today's paper for, I tells ya.
As the eloquent Cowboy puts it:
"Just goes to show how much difference a little research, hardwork and friendliness gets you when you talk to bloggers. Now our bloggers seem like real people with real lives and interesting hobbies - not some reluctant reticent introverted geeks that the Sunday Times would have you to believe."
But the thing that made me laugh out loud was Joel's writeup, where his name was listed as Big F*** and his blog URL as http://bigf***.blogspot.com/. I think this is going to be a real challenge for mainstream media as they cover sites or blogs with swear words in their URLs or names. To asterisk or not to asterisk, that is the question.
At the same time deeper inside the Digital Life supplement, there was a reference to NKF blogs and Rockson's infamous post, complete with the URL, http://rockson.blogspot.com/2005/07/nkf-boss-got-cheebye-12-months-bonus.html.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing the first time the CB word is used in a local paper. For international readers, "cheebye" is a hokkien vulgarity that refers to a woman's genitals. The bizarre thing is that Bigfuck's URL and name were asterisked, but Rockson's use of CB was not.
Also funny was the unfortunate way the Rockson URL was truncated.
I can also imagine the the frustration of readers as they try to type Bigfuck's URL using the three asterisks and getting nothing. In fact, I think Joel is livid that people will not find his site typing the "starstarstar".
At least they will get to Rockson's post correctly.
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 02:29 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)
yes of course we’ll need space to walk. great you’ve widened the stage. can you shift the whole platform back all the way, so the cable can reach the last seat and the front row audience don’t have to strain their necks to much? yes i’m mr ong. oh the food is here already? jay, can we move the tables outside for the refreshments? are there enough chairs to fill up this area? ok we’ll have the refreshments inside. excuse me, can you open that door so that they can push in a trolley? can we have someone open the rooms upstairs please? where are the power points? where are the microphones? oh you’re mr low, nice to meet you. can we go through the food checklist? so the pizza is the vegetarian dish? the food is very cramped don’t you think? jay, can we use this portion of the bar counter to put the refreshment drinks? mr low, go ahead and put the drinks here. hey jean you’re early! you can put your stuff there and wait for the rest to come. who said we have to move the drinks away? let me speak to him. sam, jay told me we could use the bar counter - we really need the space as we don’t have enough space on the table - it’s just the drinks don’t worry your bar will be safe.
I saw this photo in Daryl's photoset from Bloggers.SG and felt that it captured the very essence of tinkertailor's role in and contribution to the success of the bloggers' conference.
Choosing to be in the background, tinkertailor was the anchor for the thousands of decisions and activities that happened throughout the day itself. Something many of us did not see as the Conference played itself out almost effortlessly.
Dude, we could not have pulled this off without you.
Read the rest of his stream of memories here.
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 01:59 AM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
After weeks of work, sweat and blood, the first Bloggers Conference in Singapore is done. It didn't help that I was sick on Thursday and Friday, and desperately trying to get well in time for the full day affair on Saturday.
I started the morning at 7.30am, joining Preetam, and Wendy for the morning session at Woodlands Regional Library. Our superduper photographer Terz, and his temporary assistant and general monkeyboy Alvin, was also there (Al was a cousin of James' from Malaysia, and a blog groupie whom we all love). We had a lot of fun teaching parents and educators about blogging, and I believe we even converted at least one new blogger.
Then it was off the DXO for the afternoon sessions. We got caught out by the crazy NDP road closures, and had to park at Raffles City, then hike all the way via the City Link Mall to the Esplanade. Xiaxue gave me a beating for walking so fast, because she was in heels.
Tym bought us lunch, the sweet person, and I gulped down the wrap as I rushed into the place with a queue already forming outside. The other editors and volunteers had their work cut out for them, and everyone was hustling.
The afternoon whizzed past like a blur. I think I was holding up by sheer adrenaline alone. But it was such a blast. Aside from the sessions, we had:
-a great IRC backchannel running (next year, bring your laptops to join in this fun part, ok?)
-a remote-control helicopter fly-past, and remote-control tank wars upstairs
-bellydancing
-three hours of free flow of house pour for the post-event party (the bloggers drank so much during the post-event party that DXO ran out of whiskey)
-much mingling of old friends and making of new friends
-Kenny Sia up to no good with Sarong Party Girl
-and to top it off, we had a great fireworks display courtesy of the NDP rehearsal, which we viewed from the open area of DXO, as the night skies lit up to complete a great day.
Blogger geroithe took a damn funny and candid pic of Miyagi and me acting cute between shots for the press cameras.
Thanks to all who were so kind as to take pictures with me, I am sorry I did not have time to chat with all of you, because I really wanted to. To the volunteers, you guys rule. We will have an outing with the editors soon, and I will buy all of you the first round of drinks. Thanks to the sponsors MSN, Lexmark and SHINE. Thanks also to all who came, without you, the Con would not have happened.
The highlight of my day that started at 7.30am at Woodlands and ended at 1am at Que Pasa, had to be seeing my family show up. I was sitting onstage during the tech session, and saw a minor commotion behind the place caused by the arrival of my wife, my helper, Faith and Isaac.
(Thanks to Stephanie for escorting my poor bewildered wife to the baby room and for the photos you took, one of which I am using here.)
They headed for the baby room upstairs, and my two little ones caused more commotion when they went to the glass panel to look down at us on the first floor. I could see Isaac's lips saying "Papa" and I smiled.
You can be part of the most exciting bloggers' event in Singapore but it isn't complete if you are not sharing the moment with your family.
My Flickr set of the event and you can also see all the public photos in Flickr tagged as bloggerssg (I also tagged mine bloggerssg05).
Here is a roundup of the blogs that have covered the event so far (I will add the latest ones on top, and move the older ones to the extended body):
Preetam: Blog event at NLB and Singapore Bloggers Conference
MercerMachine: The Big 'Yawn'
Idle Days: Post Bloggers.SG 2005
fayeth: bloggers.sg 2005
hyperger: Non-Complaint #31- Bloggers.SG - a Total KnockOut!!
Sassyjan: Bloggers.sg 2005
LMD: Weekend in brief
Shion: Blog Con ? What ??
Anthony: Perpetuating a Stereotype
Luvphoia: Bloggers.SG 2005 @ DXO
Tym: My very first blogger con
non sequitur: Top Ten Things You Don't Really Wanna Hear At The Bloggers.sg Party
Yuhui: Bloggers.SG
Sheena: Bloggers.SG Photos Galore!
Posted on Monday, July 18, 2005 at 02:26 AM in Musings | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (7)
Posted on Sunday, July 17, 2005 at 11:53 AM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)
Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 06:06 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 05:18 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (1)
Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 04:15 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 10:26 AM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)
Latest TODAY column: Presenting the new mr brown fund
Excerpt:
I AM inspired by the recent turn of events to start my own charity. I shall name it the "mr brown fund" or mbf.
However, I had some trouble looking for a good cause, since in Singapore, many of the charities already have more than one version.
For example, there are two kidney foundations and two cancer funds.
So I thought and thought and thought, and finally found a cause that needed help.
I am going to set up a mr brown Gold Taps Fund (mbGTF)
Posted on Friday, July 15, 2005 at 11:16 AM in Musings | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)
Reader Lavender sent this link to the blog of Rockson Takumi Tan, which has been making the rounds in the Singapore blogosphere and forums.
The language is coarse, and the content is politically incorrect and very unsuitable for the young (which is why I took so long to decide whether to post this), but this Ah Beng blogger and his eloquent rant on the NKF incident, obviously struck a chord with Singaporeans. Judging from the comments left in his post, more than 300 in two days, most people felt he said what they wanted to say themselves.
I have been reading his blog with a mix of secret glee and guilt myself, since his Finicky Feline days. One or two people even claim to have seen him in person. Others believe he is not a real person, but the figment of an active imagination. Some say he is really Cowboy Caleb (who vigorously denies it). Some even believe that Lawrence, his computer-savvy friend who helped to set up the blog, and Rockson, are one and the same person, ala Fight Club. Conspiracy theories abound.
But love him or hate him, the guy is funny, crude, insightful and astoundingly clueless, all at the same time.
And his formerly obscure blog has gained overnight national fame (or infamy, depending on how you see it). He even appeared in today's Straits Times, who did not print his URL, but just referred to it by its name, Talk Rock, alongside Tomorrow.sg.
I have been keeping an eye on his counter, and his blog has seen more than 60,000 page views in two days, which means he averaged 30,000 page views a day! That is more traffic than my own blog has ever seen in one day.
As testament to his strong language, I had trouble finding a paragraph I could use as an excerpt that did not have a vulgarity in it. This one below was the best I could find.
So, Singapore, please meet Rockson. Rockson, meet Singapore.
Excerpt:
I do not hate charity organisation, I think people must help other poor and sick people. But f**k lah, you mean when on the tv the people who earn $1000 a month donate and the number on the NKF tv show jump $100,000 to $200,000 to $300,000..... when reach $600,000 of donation, is only cover this CEO salary?
No wonder Zoe Tay have to do so many ch**b** stunt!!!
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 08:31 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (37) | TrackBack (0)
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 07:06 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (30) | TrackBack (1)
Jerry Lim shows us that there are peanuts, and then there are peanuts. (via mrs budak)
Agagooga says the current public outcry over the NKF reminds him of Communist China.
Mr Wang Zhen, whose opinion I also respect a lot, says I missed the point, and also gives a great tutorial on legal procedure.
Lancerlord discovers the NKF is really hot, so hot that on Technorati, it is now in the top ten searches.
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 05:25 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
Hecate learns just how much her parents love each other.
Excerpt:
I was talking to my parents just now, and I heard the sweetest conversation ever in my entire life..
Basically my dad confessed that throughout their 23 years of marriage, he has never really given my mom a good life. Yet my mom, upon hearing this, just said that she doesn't mind, and that she has been there with him through the good and bad times, and that whatever they have, be it good or bad, its always shared between the two of them, and that she never regret her decision to marry him.
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 04:26 PM in Random Rants | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
I saw this KDF (Kidney Dialysis Foundation)) donation box at my coffee shop today.
It was sitting on a folding table, parked in front of the aluminium coffee counter. It was sharing the table with a wet folded dish cloth and a flask of water.
There were no celebrities manning it or performing stunts, or car and condo prizes to be given away, and no 1-900 numbers to call.
Just a cheap plastic box, with a slot on top.
I took a photo of it and put my money into the box, and as I walked away, the kopi auntie looked me in the eye, gave me a knowing look, and smiled.
I think I will be putting more money into this box in future.
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 03:57 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
I don't usually put banner ads on my site (let alone animated ones) but I will make the exception this one time. This banner is for the Bloggers' Conference at the club DXO (near Esplanade) this coming Saturday, on the 16th of July, 2pm onwards, and it was done by volunteer Yuhui. Thanks dude!
Feel free to grab it for your blog. Cowboy even put the code up for you to copy.
There is also an FAQ at Tomorrow.sg.
Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2005 at 03:25 PM in Gallery | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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