mrbrown.com

Captain Capitalism: To bleep or not to bleep

Captain Capitalism teaches the kiddies why cussin' is bad for you.

Quite a funny clip from Atom Films.

Video game toilets

When you play enough games, you will start to notice how many of them feature toilets. This is the Doom 3 one. I hated it for what it did to me (frightened the heck outta me).

Here are a few more from Fresh99 (via Unscathed Corpse).

In other news, Engadget had at look at the alleged Xbox 360 power supply, and damn that sucker is big. As one blogger said, maybe they are hiding part of the Xbox 360's processor in there.

How many ways do I love thee?

I added a little post to Miyagi's blog, as part of my role as his guest blogger, while he is away on reservist.

I decided to try my hand at writing a love story.


Excerpt:

Her lips said she didn’t want to see me anymore. But her eyes told me something else. I could tell from the way her pupils dilated, that her eyeballs were saying “Stay, please!”

Halloween 2005 in World of Warcraft

I was just minding my own Elf business, hanging out at the bank in Darnassus to deposit my latest haul, when this nice lady Elf, Auwora, offered me a Halloween costume. Being new to this game, I cautiously asked, "What costume?".

"For Halloween" said the bubble over her head.

So I thought, what the heck, let's try this, and she made me into a pirate with a spell that would last an hour!

I did a little dance for her, to show my gratitude, and skipped my merry way away to show off my new look. Everybody I met did a double take or laughed. One player asked me where to get it, and hopped on a ship to seek Auwora out.

Together with my pet Tree Frog, Ribbit (seen here at the bottom left of the shot, waiting patiently for me to bob for apples), I hopped onto a ship (where I met a skeleton-costumed player) and visited the newly Halloween-decorated inn at my base city.

Maybe if I am lucky, I can get a Ninja costume next. I've always wanted to be a Ninja.

See a few more shots from my Halloween Flickr set

My first World of Warcraft photos

Moonlight in my hair. Reef Axe on my back.

This is my Night Elf Warrior at the moment. He is Level 25, and is a young noob. I don't have all the nice shiny and glowy stuff yet, but I am quite fond of that Tortoise Armor he has on, courtesy of my first BFD run.

I am sure you guys have way more stylo and higher-level toons, but this young fella is mine. Heh.

More obligatory WoW photos here in my Flickr set.

browncast: Beep! The Censored Edition

Miyagi and I talk about the poor who own their own homes, Miyagi's upcoming reservist, and how un-homophobic Singapore really is.

In case you don't understand the Straits Times podcast reference in this episode of the mrbrown show, Miyagi referenced our involvement in it and this was the result of our ST interview. The retro da-dadada-da intro music they used is going to be my next ringtone.

In other news, I am guest blogging at Mr Miyagi's blog while he is on reserbit. I am so going to have fun with this.

Audio file for the mrbrown show 17 Oct 2005
(MP3, Filesize: 5.2mb, Time: 00:14:58)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

browncast: dancing son video

Just a test of iTunes 6's new video functionality. And since my son just turned two, I thought it would be fun to feature him.

This is a 35-second mobile video clip of my son, Isaac, aged 2, grooving to some bad techno music at the mall.

The music was not clear, so I added a small sample of Groove Armada's "I See You Baby (Fatboy Slim Radio Edit)"

I thought the music went very well with his dance moves. Heheh.

If you are subscribing to my podcast show within the latest iTunes 6, this clip will play in your iTunes. Cool, right?

Video file for the mrbrown show 17 Oct 2005
(MOV, Filesize: 3.3mb, Time: 00:00:35)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Party Animals

It's a busy busy day preparing for a little boy's mini party. Even the animal hats are excited.

Date Night: Big Fish

The food here is stupendous. We ordered the soup of the day each (cream of tomato), and shared a grilled seafood platter. The platter had the works - prawns, Morton Bay bugs, fish skewers, crayfish, scallops and squid, with yellow rice and fries. All washed down with a Hoegaarden (me) and a Peach Mango Fuze (wife).

The seafood was fresh and well-grilled (I even ate the crunchy prawn tail). I really loved the juicy scallop too.

Don't know if we can manage dessert. But no matter, we shall return to try the other fish dishes.

TODAY: Home, cheap home

Latest TODAY column: Home, cheap home

Excerpt:

I read in the papers recently that 9 in 10 poor Singaporeans own their homes. That is encouraging news indeed. In many other countries, the poor don't own their homes! Unless you count the refrigerator box they live in.

The poor in Singapore must be very excited to hear this news.

Poor Person 1: "Eh, dear wife! We are not poor, leh! We actually have this HDB flat we own!"

One outgoing US envoy's speech: Two headlines

Outgoing US envoy to Singapore, Frank Lavin, gave a speech at his farewell dinner.

Headline from MSNBC's Financial Times section:
"US envoy slaps Singapore over freedom of speech"

Headline from Straits Times, Wednesday 12 October 2005, Home page 3:
"Singapore resilient: outgoing US envoy"

Excerpt from MSNBC's piece (not found in the ST coverage):

The ambassador told an audience at a farewell dinner that he was "embarrassed" when police asked him if he wanted to press charges against six demonstrators protesting the Iraq war in front of the US embassy in 2003. Singapore bans demonstrations of five or more people.

"I said 'no.' I mean, go ahead, hold the signs and say something if you want to," said Mr Lavin, who will become under-secretary for international trade at the US Commerce Department.

BCF Pink Ribbon Treasure Hunt 2005

It's October again, and time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month! And for my mates and I, it is also time for the Breast Cancer Foundation's (BCF) annual BCF-Mazda Pink Ribbon Treasure Hunt.

Last year, my quick-witted team, Buxom Buddies, came in 10th, missing the grand prize by just a bit.

My wife, designated driver for the ladies team last year, will not be lending her Schumarcher-like driving skills to her teammates this year. This is because she has trouble reaching the steering wheel, and also with the date of the treasure hunt so close to her Expected Delivery Time, it is probably not wise to get her excited.

We don't want to have to make a detour to Mount Alvernia Hospital. and miss our shot at the 42-inch Plasma TV first prize.

We are still deciding how to best share the Plasma TV when we win it (them is fighting words!).

The pic above is from our 2004 outing. As you can see, it is a very tasteful rubber chicken attached to the grill of our teammate Studman's car. I was responsible for attaching it with a clothing hangar shoved up its... er, never mind (this is a pic of me doing unmentionable things to said rubber chicken).

Believe you me, it is one of the most enjoyable things you can do (participate in the treasure hunt, not shove things up a rubber chicken). We had much fun making cock jokes in the men's car (MMS to the wives: "Look! Our cock is still standing!"). The wives were not as tickled as we were by this allusion to the resilience of our rubber chicken mascot.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer affecting women in Singapore and 1 out of every 20 women in Singapore will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. And early detection saves lives saves breasts.

Places for the Treasure Hunt are limited to 150 cars and registration closes on Monday 24th October 2005. For more details, go to the BCF website.

In case you are wondering, yes, we chope our places for the treasure hunt liao. Wait I tell you on my blog then I ownself cannot join, how?

Halloween party by the Barflies

Cowboy Caleb and his Barflies are organising a Halloween party, called Virtual Insanity, on Sunday, 30th October 2005, at Coco Latte, to raise funds for their Liquidblade server and their adopted charity, Women Make a Difference's (WMD).

Yes, the mysterious Cowboy will actually be there so you can finally meet him and kick him in the balls. Surely that alone is worth the SGD$15 entry fee. I recommend being inebriated before trying to unmask Cowboy. He is not blessed of countenance fair but I am told he looks better when your mind is clouded with strong drink. Rumour has it that he will be coming dressed as a sexy succubus.

If that doesn't scare you this Halloween night, I don't know what will.

Details available at the party's official website (not bad hor, party also got own website).

How to be a Successful Evil Overlord

Never be a failed Evil Overlord again. Make sure you read How to be a Successful Evil Overlord by Peter Anspach.

My favourite ones:

5. The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragon of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.

56. My Legion of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.

70. When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of quizzically peering around a corner.

84. I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite sex.

90. I will not design my main control room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.

Excerpt:

Being an Evil Overlord seems to be a good career choice. It pays well, there are all sorts of perks and you can set your own hours. However every Evil Overlord I've read about in books or seen in movies invariably gets overthrown and destroyed in the end. I've noticed that no matter whether they are barbarian lords, deranged wizards, mad scientists, or alien invaders, they always seem to make the same basic mistakes every single time.

You can never have too much hard disk

Update: This guy is even more hardcore, he posted his photos and instructions for installation. And yes, caveat emptor: even brand new hard drives can fail, and poorly-designed casings can kill your drive too. James the guru points out that poorly-ventilated cheapo enclosures can kill your drive due to overheating, especially if you let it run all day. The man speaks from experience (he has a server rack in his house, for goodness' sake). I make no guarantees for this enclosure (I am trying it out myself). but so far it is running cool (the thing has an 8-inch cooler fan inside).


Found this neat 3.5-inch enclosure (Zoom Xtreme MS-35CB) that supports USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800 at Funan. I put a Maxtor 200Gb IDE HDD in it and backed up everything I had on the Powerbook. I haven't seen many enclosures that support the faster Firewire 800 port that is found on all new Powerbooks and Mac G5s, so this was a nice find, though it cost $30 more than the version with just USB 2.0 and Firewire 400.

It also comes in Graphite colour. There are several versions of this case, I believe, the cheapest being the USB 2.0 only. There is also a USB 2.0/Firewire 400 version, a USB 2.0/Firewire 400/Firewire 800 version (mine) and a SATA to USB 2.0/SATA to SATA version.

Casing is aluminium alloy, has an 8-inch turbo fan inside for cooling, on/off switch, and comes with a vertical stand, power supply and all the data cables you need.

I formatted mine for "Mac OS Extended" but you could format it as FAT32 for PC and Mac usage too.

Backup your stuff, or lose it. Hard disk prices have dropped so much. This 3.5-inch external drive cost me less than the 40Gb 2.5-inch portable external drive I bought a year ago. And that same portable drive now costs less than half what I paid.

Zhnging is a way of life

After reading blinkymummy's overview of Zhng and listening to our Zhng My Car podcast, Vandice remembers a friend who spared no expense in zhnging his Yamaha YZF-R1 bike.

I used to zhng my ride too, but it got too expensive to continue, and I found that it added very little to the price I sold my car for when it was time to get another. My other zhng obsession was my mobile phone, and I had more covers for my Nokia 8210 than anyone I knew. My favourite one was a green transparent one that had liquid inside. Combined with the white LED lights that blinded everyone in the cinema when the phone was touched, my 8210 was a sight to behold.

Excerpt:

Other than bragging rights to owning the most fanciful bike in the group, I failed to see how he was going to benefit from all the expensive mods, especially the extensive work on the engine and exhaust. HHF wasn't a Pasir Gudang racer-type. In fact, law-abiding HHF was positively gentle with his queen. We lost him during one outing because he refused to break the speed limit to catch up with the rest after missing a green light. And he was riding a beast that could easily hit 100 km/h in 2nd gear!

browncast: zhng my car

We're back! In today's mrbrown show podcast, we introduce Johnny, host of the popular car makeover reality show, Zhng My Car!

Will Mr Miyagi get the advice he needs to zhng his ride? Download the podcast and find out.

Zhng My Car was an idea that Daryl Sng had when he was DJing drunk one night. Please direct all questions, especially what "Zhng" means, to this brainiac blogger. Thank you. (image of tmbs trailer courtesy of reader Alan. Thanks dude!)

Audio file for the mrbrown show 10 Oct 2005
(MP3, Filesize: 6.8mb, Time: 00:19:38)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Date Night: Menotti

It was weird to walk through Espirit Raffles City to get to the restaurant. We ordered the lasagne (filling dish, we couldn't finish it) and the pasta with crabmeat in a tomato cream sauce. We also had a Strawberry Frappe and Chinotto drink.

"Leave room for dessert, the gelato is good," Tym helpfully sms-ed. So leave room we did. For the gelato truffle (last one left) and the mini puff pastry filled with gelato. Eat until cannot move liao.

TODAY: It's the season of the Great S'pore COE Sale

Latest TODAY column: It's the season of the Great S'pore COE Sale

Excerpt:

THE COE has recently dropped sharply to between $11,000 and $12,000, much to the delight of many motorists.

If a foreigner were to see our faces now, he would ask, "Why are you Singaporeans so happy?"

"Because the COE dropped to the $11,000 range, so cheap! It used to cost as high as $35,000!" we would reply.

the mrbrown show is back

We know, we know. It has been a long time since our last podcast. But we finally found some time to do a show.

We have a new episode, recorded with new equipment (almost professional, with mixer and good mics and all) and even new podcast album art. Now all the new iPods have colour screens, so our podcast album art must also upgrade lah.

Heck, we even have a mrbrown show teaser movie trailer, that Miyagi shot with his iSight webcam, without telling me the damn thing was recording.

If you have not subscribed yet, this is the mrbrown show podcast feed. The podcast will be up next Monday morning.

Incidentally, Miyagi also has a podcast feed, called Multimedia Miyagi. He has some interesting stuff from our other recordings, like his WKRZ interview and our recent ST podcast interview (the retro intro music alone on that one is worth the download, and we have an unedited version of the interview coming soon).

In the middle of our studio recording (studio being Miyagi's room), Cowboy Caleb called Miyagi and interrupted us. And got a bit worried when we said we were recording a show.

Sure Cowboy, we will make sure we edit out the part when you told us how much you like to wear women’s underwear, especially red G-strings.

Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us.

Speaking of which, hey Cowboy, what happened to your promised Magic Pony Hour? Play electric guitar one time on your pre-podcast show and then that's it ah?

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting