mrbrown.com

Live from the TODAY 5th Anniversary Gala Dinner

My long-suffering Editor, Yvonne and me at the dinner. 5 years of TODAY... how time flies. It has been a heady last 2-plus years for me too.

Happy Birthday TODAY!

So this is how "the mrbrown show" looks like on an iPod nano

Kenny Sia caves and gets a white 4Gb iPod nano from Perth (because he is "pure and innocent like a virgin") and this is a shot of the mrbrown show on his new iPod. Thanks Kenny! I am flattered.

And by the way, congrats for making the Technorati Top 100 too! 93rd in Da World leh!

Pink Ribbon Treasure Hunt 2005... Results!

7th place out of more than 120 cars! Yay to Team Bosom Buddies! We rock! Not bad, last year we were 10th. Heheh.

The Small Fry Podcast: some great Singapore independent music

Bringing you the best sounds of local music, The Small Fry Podcast just blew my mind at how much good Singapore music there is out there. Produced by Hwei Shan, the show is such a breath of fresh air.

I stumbled upon this puppy in Odeo (I later found it in Jimmy's site as well).

Listen to the latest episode, Episode 10 here.

Subscribe to the The Small Fry Podcast feed.

Live from the Pink Ribbon Treasure Hunt 2005

Two cars, one message: "Regular breast screening saves lives". I hope you appreciate the sweat and sacrifice we put into supporting breast cancer awareness (we woke up at 6am on a Sunday morning leh). Our rubber chicken from last year did not make it this year, team mate Ming said the rubber got sticky. I don't wanna know how.

Tally ho!

PodAsia.net podcast on how to shop in Sim Lim Square

Matthew Holden of PodAsia.net has a great 29-minute podcast on how to buy from Sim Lim Square and Funan IT Mall. This was done 2 weeks before the National Day Parade 2005, and you can hear the tanks rumbling by in the middle of the recording. The show also has some neat music interspersed throughout the show (Duran Duran!).

Listen to Matthew's 29-minute podcast here.

Subscribe to the PodAsia.net podcast feed.

Sushiradio podcast on Singapore "night zoo"

Thomas Wanhoff, German journalist, of sushiradio.com does a 13-minute podcast walking tour of "Singapore night zoo" (The Singapore Night Safari).

I loved the bit when he commented on the bad people using flash photography and frightening the animals:

"So the guy heard what I say and he is running away now, because there are always some safety guards here, and if they see that you are using flash light, they will catch you... and maybe bring them (you) to the tiger area."

Listen to Thomas' 13-minute podcast here.

Subscribe to the sushiradio podcasts feed.

Date Night: sliced fish beehoon soup

Big, thick and fresh slices of fish and good chilli make Lee Kwang Kee Seafood's sliced fish beehoon soup to die for. $4 for a huge bowl. We also ordered a side of sambal kangkong and a lime juice each. Good dinner dates don't have to cost a lot of money. The place is at 413 River Valley Road.

Short silly World of Warcraft moment #1

So Commander Althea of Darkshire says to me, go kill the undead dude Mor'Ladim and return his skull to me. He is "following a strange and meandering path through the cemetery". Mor'Ladim is Paladin who fell to the supernatural plague of the Scourge and came back undead. That must suck.

Being the noble Elf Warrior that I am, I say, sure, I'll go rid Duskwood of this scourge. Being the smart Elf Warrior that I am, I also sought out a party to help kill this Elite because the last time I met him with 3 of my Guildmates, he killed two of them.

I found a party consisting of a Paladin "Seph" (the healer and resurrector in our team), a female Elf Warrior "Grape" (who is in real life an American stay-at-home mom of one), and a Rogue "Ver".

We waited by the cemetery for the Rogue to arrive from town, staying just a little away from Mor'Ladim's path because we wanted to be at full strength to jump him.

Suddenly, Mor'Ladim detects my Elf Warrior lady friend and me and charges at us. Must be my body odour, I forgot to bathe since the last quest.

Grape: "I guess we're not waiting for Ver to arrive, LOL"

Me: "Looks like it, we must've attracted Mor'Ladim by mistake."

Ver (not with us but in on the conversation): "LOL, yeah, he is sneaky that way."

Me: "Ok, Grape and I will have to fight him then. Seph, stand by to heal us, ok?"

Frantic clashes of swords we two Warriors try to take our accidental monster down.

Me: "Seph! Heal! Heal! We are dying. Oh shit I'm dead."

Grape is dead too. And Ver could not arrive on time to save us.

Seph: Wow, I just went to the toilet for a while and I come back and everyone is dead.

Me: "hahahahahahahahaha! It's ok, dude, just rez us and we'll do it again."

TODAY: All hail the Super Long Weekend

Latest TODAY column: All hail the Super Long Weekend

Excerpt:

BY the time you read this column, thousands of Singaporeans are already on their way out of Singapore by air, by sea, and by road, to take advantage of next week's Deepavali and Hari Raya Puasa holidays, which fall on Tuesday and Thursday — and which allow you to create a super long weekend with a few careful leave applications.

Okay, by the time you read this column, some folk are probably still on their way out of Singapore by road, trying to clear the expected Causeway jam. But I am sure they will be in Malaysia by Saturday.

How much is your blog worth?

My blog is worth $934,313.70.
How much is your blog worth?

If it were real money, that would be nice. Haha. Oh, and Daryl analyzes its geopolitical significance.

(via Lancerlord, Lord of the Links)

More from my guest blogging on Miyagi.sg

In case you didn't go over to check Miyagi's blog, I have added a few updates in the last few days (his RSS feed is acting up and not updating, so it will have to wait till he returns).

Don't miss a chance to see Miyagi looking miserable with underwear that won't dry, and looking like Darth Helmet, failed Sith Lord. Also check out the Aussie idea of an army canteen and the latest shot, Miyagi's fellow reservist Down Under, Corporal David Tan sending a sweet hi to his darling Renee of mintia.blogspot.com.

For that last post, Miyagi was bribed incentivised with a beer. Eh, send MMS to Singapore for mr brown to post it on his blog cost marnie one leh. One beer already very cheap liao.

Quick go and sms your hubby or boyfriend in Australia reservist with him to give him their photo (and a beer) for more blog dedications. Er, you should probably do that 5 days later, because the men are moving out again for another 5D4N exercise and are unlikely to have any mobile signal until they return.

Running Day: nice cool evening

Zeus got his "brother" Apollo to stop the rain.

And Zeus must remember not to run too fast fast at the beginning. Wait he pang chet and end up having to walk with she who is recovering from surgery, who joined us for a walk.

Almighty Zeus tells brother to stop the rain

Almighty Zeus, aka Cowboy Caleb (he got his own Wikipedia entry leh, read the much-edited entry before it gets deleted!), on SMS with me on the Tuesday run, because he is joining us again after a long hiatus:

Cowboy: I follow you go jogging today ok?

Me: Sure

Cowboy: Whoa look at the rain

Cowboy: Wait I go tell my brother Apollo to bring back the sunshine

Me: Apollo was Zeus' son lah, bodoh

Cowboy: Don't blog this ok?

Me: Muahahahahahaha!

Cowboy: Oh no

Gahmen circular about blogging

Update: I have removed the actual extract from the memo. Better safe than sorry, right? This is Singapore, after all.


This is a memo entitled "Guidelines on Public Communication", sent to public servants.

So hor, technically, does that mean public servants cannot come out and say "Casino idea sucks!" on their blogs?

And given that the Gahmen is the biggest employer in Singapore, that's a lot of Singaporeans who cannot, without permission, "comment or provide inputs on public policies" and have to "do so via internal channels".

I understand the need to not blog about work, and for a public servant, gahmen is your boss, but "public policy" is a very broad term, isn't it?

What about teachers, for instance? They are civil servants too. So if a teacher cannot comment or criticise public policy via blogs or any other form of public expression, then what do they teach their kids?

"'Cher 'cher! Can I write about how much I hate NS on my blog?"

"No child. We must consult the Instructional Manual (IM) first. Or better yet. Wait, better ask the Permanent Secretary."

"Orh."

"Now stop asking such seditious questions and go back to your Knowledge & Inquiry lesson."

Here's another thought. How do we create a nation of engaged citizens when the bulk of them can only comment publicly on their "personal experiences, hobbies, etc"? Also, can a civil servant comment on a policy publicly if it is not part of his ministry's work?

Learned comments welcome.

And in case you are wondering, I found this circular on the road on the way to work. No civil servant sent it to me. That may violate Official Secrets Act (OSA) and it would a Very Bad Thing.

Baby head also can go in

Speaking of the mrbrown show's Zhng My Car episode, you know, when Johnny says "car must exhaust BIG then can got power", he really wasn't making that shit up.

Image taken from Dukester's blog.

the mrbrown show episode gets 10,000 40,000 downloads!

Just fyi. the 10th October 2005 Zhng My Car episode of the mrbrown show hit 10,000 downloads as of Sunday, 23rd October 2005 40,000 as of Wednesday 9 Nov 2005!

10,204 to be exact. And probably more over the next few days.

Wow.

We just want to let you guys know we are touched by the love. We'll let Johnny know you lub him deep deep too.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Maybe I will write my novel later

An ode to procrastination, something every writer has probably faced.

(via Enigmaya)

Excerpt:

i write everyday

i'm been working on my novel

here's a typical 'session' of me working on my novel

Date Night: Mario Kitchen

Mario is a new Korean place along Liang Seah Street. There was a slight queue for tables when we were there. We ordered the Gam Ja Tang (the waiter explained that it was Korean Bak Kut Teh) and a BBQ Beef side.

The menu described the Gam Ja Tang as "Pork Born soup with potato and vegtable". And extra "nuddle" is $2.50. Spelling aside, the food was excellent and reminded us of the authentic Korean food we had in Seoul. The meat on the pork ribs just fell off the bone. With 2 lime juices, our bill came up to about $50. Which was really reasonable considering that our portions could have fed 3 adults.

The polite waiter told us it was an unexpected crowd tonight, and laughed when he said maybe it is because the two of us were sitting near the door with our sizzling hot dishes.

Dessert was at Ah Chew's across the street, where we met Johnny M and his friend. The cold Fresh milk steamed egg I had was divine. Wifey had the cold Honeydew Sago.

Later my wife commented that she was the only pregnant woman on that street of young people, and joked that maybe she should be home instead. The wife says the darnedest things sometimes.

TODAY: Journey of a car-crazed toddler

Latest TODAY column: Journey of a car-crazed toddler

Excerpt:

We are just lemmings. We know this happens every time. COE drops to some new low, and car-obsessed Singaporeans rush to the showroom to order their new cars (I am sure some even wrote their orders on little pieces of paper and threw them into the crowded showrooms at the salesmen). Then yes, the low COE becomes high again.

And yet, we rush to the showroom anyway. Thinking maybe, hey, the idea didn't occur to the other 2 million car-obsessed Singaporeans.

Will my son be like this too? I am seriously thinking of getting him interested in buses and trains. Then he will grow up thinking highly of public transport. Unless the new MRT station near his future housing estate gets Buangkok-ed.