mrbrown.com

Date Night: Sliced fish soup at Hon Da Eating House

Located near Serangoon Junior College, at Block 703, Hougang Ave 2, the sliced fish soup here totally rocks. You can order it with rice, mee sua, or Koka noodles. They have it in tasty clear soup or Tom Yam soup (warning: spicy). You can also try the mixed seafood style.

I had the fish in clear soup with rice and the wife had the fish in Tom Yam with Koka noodles. The fish was thick and fresh, and so good, that we ordered a second bowl without the rice. The coffee shop used to have a 煮炒 stall but it closed down because everyone who ate here at night came for the sliced fish soup stall.

TODAY: Call 1900-MPIDOL to vote now!

Latest TODAY column: Call 1900-MPIDOL to vote now!

Excerpt:

But I understand the apathy. After all, watching the Singapore elections is like watching American Idol with just one very good singer and 11 other tone-deaf ones.

Or, some may even argue, it is like watching the show with only one contestant.

Perhaps the answer lies in making the elections more entertaining. We already have so many American Idol knock-offs such as Campus Superstar, Star Idol, Project Superstar and other assorted idol format shows to choose a host, a rock band, and also stars for the MediaCorp TV channels Suria and Vasantham Central.

Why not make the Singapore elections into a reality show too?

Let's have MP Idol!

My princess is 5

Update: more photos in this Flickr set

I am 5 today. There are many things I cannot do yet that other 5-year-old little girls can do, I cannot even talk yet, but that's ok. Papa and Mommy and Isaac and baby Joy and Grandpa and Grandma and Aunties Celia and Ning, they all love me. They know I take longer to learn stuff and they won't hurry me.

My little brother, Isaac helped me blow out my candles because I didn't know how to. We sang the Happy Birthday song. Isaac kept calling the cake "Happy".

I kept jumping and laughing and pointing at the cake. I have cake to eat. I love cake. It makes me happy.

A little boy and his new train set

Thanks to Uncle Jason, Isaac has another Thomas the Train to play with. Now the one Thomas & Friends toy he had will have company, and this one even has its own tracks and moves on its own!

Time to teach him to play with this new TOMY Thomas train set without the battery.

The kids don't know it yet but Mommy is taking them to the beach for a picnic because it is a special day. Papa even bought a cake for the special girl.

Funky MICA Building

I have always admired the colourful old-school Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts building from the outside, usually when I make my Funan gadget runs.

Never knew the inside of it is so modern and new. But that glass skylight which lets natural light into most of the ground floor must make aircon bills high. Haha!

Love in Warcraft

Never pick up "chicks" in World of Warcraft. Funny as heck, even if you don't play the game.

Excerpt:
From January to February, for three weeks in game I had my Warrior, Looks, offer herself as a Girlfriend to anyone pathetic or gullible enough to take me up on the business. To my surprise, business was good.

My goal was to see how many "boyfriends", for lack of a more demeaning term, I could maintain at one time. The rules I set for myself were not to spend any gold at all on the loves of my life, and never implicitly ask them for gold or items.

Adidas Yellow Series

Check out this particular model from the Adidas Yellow series, which has a slanty-eyed bucked-tooth image on the tongue and the word "Fong" on the back of the shoe.

I can't wait for the Adidas Niggah series to come out.

via tian

Loose Change: a scary 9/11 documentary

Scary shit.

browncast: Singapore Gaga

We interview the folks from the Singapore documentary, Singapore GaGa! Director Tan Pin Pin, Publicist Teng Qian Xi and renowned pianist Margaret Leng Tan are our guests!

Miyagi has more photos (because limpeh was busy with the sound engineering and couldn't reach for my camera).

the mrbrown show for the month of March 2006 is kindly brought to you by Okamoto Condoms. There is even a contest with cash prizes! Just head over to www.condomcontest.com.

Audio file for the mrbrown show 13 March 2006: Singapore GaGa
(MP3, Filesize: 14.4mb, Time: 00:29:33)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.
(Or click here to subscribe via iTunes)

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Kids dressed up as celebs

This is just creepy and cute all at the same time. There is even a mini-Kanye and mini-Diddy.

via ohnotheydidn't and concreteloop.com

In case you cannot identify them all in this photo, from left to right, top to bottom: Kelis (though I think she looks like Lauren Hill), Gwen Stefani, Lil Jon, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Missy Elliot.

TODAY: Kopitiams united?

Latest TODAY column: Kopitiams united?.

Excerpt:

Without suitable checks and balances, before you know it, coffee shops may decide to charge $3 for a cup of "Americano" (cannot call it kopi-oh anymore), citing the need to "upgrade" their service and product.

The auntie who takes your order will be called an associate. And the Ah Pek who makes your kopi-see, sorry, latte, will be called the barista.

Singapore GaGa Premiere

Update 2: By popular demand, The Arts House is adding screenings — every weekend, in addition to the 4.30pm screening, they are adding a 3pm screening as well, all the way until the end of the run on 16 April (except April Fools Day, no screenings that Sat).

Update 1: Margaret's recordings are now available at Earshot, the bookstore at The Arts House in Old Parliament Lane!

This is the lovely Margaret Leng Tan performing on her toy piano and her collection of unusual instruments at the premiere of Singapore GaGa, the documentary by Tan Pin Pin.

After watching it with Miyagi at the Press Preview screening last week, I knew I had the take the wife to see it too.

Watching Margaret perform at the premiere tonight was an added bonus. Groupie that I am, I bought two of her CDs (Litania and The Art of the Toy Piano) and she autographed them.

In the audience tonight were two other members of the cast, Auntie Joyce (Margaret's mother) and one member of the "Latin Boy Band".

Do yourself a favour and catch Singapore GaGa too. It's a documentary made with a lot of heart.

Singapore GaGa opens at the Arts House on March 11 to 16 April (Except 1 April), 7.30pm on Wednesdays and 4.30pm on weekends. Tickets are at $6 and $8, Ticket hotline: 6332 6919. More info here.

Tym has a review, and so does popagandhi.

THE Date Night of the year

Thank you for spending more than half your life with me so far, and nine years of that being my wife.

老夫老妻了！

Hahaha!

the mrbrown show: Podcast Studio v5

We outgrew our Behringer Eurorack UB802 Mixer, and the iMac G5 iSight (upgraded with 1.5gb ram) is waaaaay faster than the Powerbook G4 when we use it with Garageband 3 from iLife 06.

The MG12/4 mixer gives us up to six mic inputs, which is handy.

It always a bad idea to follow the guys in the office to Sim Lim Square.

From left: Audio Technica AT-897 Shotgun condenser microphone, Yamaha MG12/4 Mixer, M-Audio Mobilepre USB (USB Bus-Powered Preamp and Audio Interface), Sennheiser HD 280 Pro studio monitor headphones, Apple iMac G5 iSight, M-Audio Nova studio condenser microphone with Stedman Proscreen 101 pop filter and Samson stand, and Shure SM-58 dynamic microphone.

Not in pic, the iPod 40Gb Clickwheel with Griffin iTalk and lapel mic.

If you are interested, here's the link to the previous incarnation of our podcast kit.

No loser bikes allowed

Fine $20.

browncast: return of the condom heroes

The first sponsored mrbrown show! Kindly brought to you by OKAMOTO CONDOMS (no really, we are not kidding). brown and Miyagi have an excuse to talk cock and make random condom jokes, and comment on the news.

For the month of March 2006, not only is Okamoto Condoms sponsoring our show, there is even a contest with cash prizes! Just head over to www.condomcontest.com.

Incidentally, this podcast also features a new jingle for the mrbrown show done by old friend, musician and studio engineer, Hasan, of rastAsia™ Productions, based in the Netherlands. Thanks mate!

Audio file for the mrbrown show 6 March 2006: return of the condom heroes
(MP3, Filesize: 11mb, Time: 00:29:54)

Subscribe to the podcast feed here.
(Or click here to subscribe via iTunes)

Technorati tags: singapore, mrbrown, podcast, podcasting

Sometimes 家姐 needs a hand

Usually it is the older child leading the younger one, but for Faith, she will always need her younger siblings' help. Good to see Isaac starting early.

In other kid news, I have discovered that my littlest one, Joy, likes to be held upright, so she can see more. She would squirm and agitated if left lying down. We've been having a few good Father-daughter chats (or gurgles, in her case), with her on my lap, and quite enjoying it. For a three-month-old, Joy certainly has a lot to say.

Date Night: Stonegrill

At East Coast Road, opposite Katong Village. We had the Dory fish, Portobello Mushroom and the Prime of the Land.

The hot stones really grilled the beef nicely without any additional oil. My fish had a nice crispy layer after it was seared on the stone.

We had to make a reservation because the place was busy despite being new. Word spreads fast when the food is good, I guess.

TODAY: Welcome to voiddeck.net

Latest TODAY column: Welcome to voiddeck.net.

Excerpt:

CRIME among youth is up, and like many parents, I am concerned. The police are also concerned, and they are going to take action. In fact, they plan to kick ass and take names.

Then tell the kid's parents after taking names.

My first instinct was to suggest that the Government intervene and ban teenhood. Every child that hits puberty will be deported to an island nearby, but preferably not Pulau Pawai, Pulau Senang and Pulau Sedong because the Singapore Armed Forces conducts live-firing exercises there. They will only be allowed to return to the mainland when they are 21 and suitably socialised and schooled in the ways of polite society.

My princess

Photo taken by popagandhi when she and some of the Tomorrow Editors dropped by my place to see Joy in January.

Taken with a Yashica Electro 35 GS with Fuji Reala 100.