mrbrown.com

Twitter is cool

Update: Oh, I forgot to mention there is even a RSS feed you can subscribe to. Mine is here.

As usual, Popagandhi, the one who lives on the bleeding edge of the New and Cool, tries a cool thingy and I see it on her site and end up trying it.

So I caved and signed up for Twitter (my page is here), which is a cool doodad that lets you tell your friends (or the whole world) what you are doing at the moment. You can update via the web, via chat (like GTalk, .Mac, AIM or Jabber), or even via SMS on mobile phone (but this is some overseas number, so your SMSes will cost more, use with caution).

I added the Twitter badge to my left sidebar too.

I set mine to display my friends' updates to my mobile and started receiving tons of SMSes from Popagandhi because she is such a prolific Twitterer. In the end, I realised you can change the updates to only be sent at certain hours, or to your chat or to your Twitter page only. But getting Twitter updates via mobile is fun.

While you can use it to tell people what you are doing now, I reckon it is a cool way to micro-blog, blogging in short bursts of text, which is how I am using it. Try it yourself. It's pretty addictive.

Silly meme time: If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

What would a New Year be without a silly meme to blog about? Ok, so if your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be? (Got the idea from Trixy's blog.)

So, here's how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Don't lie

Here's mine (ok, I am the album-art-crazy kind of iPod person, you don't have to include that if you are lazy, just do text):

Opening Credits:
Everlasting Love by U2, All I Want Is You (Single)
This is a bizarre cover of Robert Knight's Everlasting Love. Most have heard the recent version sung by Jamie Cullum. "Open up your eyes/ Then you'll realize/ Here I said was my/ Everlasting love"

Waking Up:
Can U Handle it by Usher, Confessions (Special Edition)
Nothing like some love groove to wake up to, I suppose.

First Day At School:
Brand New Girlfriend by Steve Holy, Brand New Girlfriend
Ok, I don't know how this kitschy country song got into my iPod, but seems like a fun song to be playing while I go to the first day of school. Except my first day of school was at a BOY'S school.

Falling In Love:
The Engadiner Suite - Summer by Ahn Trio, Ahn Trio: Groovebox
Wah, so cheem. Er, some expert got say that this piece was inspired by the magnificent Engadine valley in Switzerland: St. Moritz, Silvaplana, Sils Maria, and Maloja at an altitude of 2000 meters - the changes of color of the mountains through the year were a constant source of inspiration.

Fight song:
Sweetest Goodbye by Maroon 5, Songs About Jane
Hahaha!

Breaking Up:
Old School by Bran Van 3000, Glee
"Cupid had an arrow/ For the pharaoh/ So he shot."

Prom:
Interlude: Living by India.Arie, Testimony, Vol. 1: Life & Relationship
Short but cool piece by the soulful India.Arie. "In the face of the unexpected/ You never know what's gonna happen tomorrow.../ When I wanna live/ I wanna live/ I wanna live"

Life's OK:
Will You Remember Me by Corrinne May, Fly Away
"So I'll leave this kiss wet on your face/ My first born son/ And pray the wind won't ever blow it dry"

Mental breakdown:
I'd Love You by Sonya Kitchell, Words Came Back to Me
"Oh, I feel like I'm a puppet tinkling on a string/ And I hate the way that you can make me do anything"

Driving:
Playground Do Brasil by Imada, Hotel Costes 4
Chillin' music to drive to.

Flashback:
Autumn Tactics (Thrillseekers Mix) by Chicane, Guy Ornadel Slinky (Disc 2)

Getting Back Together:
This Is How We Bite The Dust by Q-Unit, Greatest Hits
Mash-ups are fun, and Q-Unit does Queen and G-Unit so good in this album.

Wedding:
Mama by Spice Girls, Spice
Who doesn't think of Mama at one's wedding, right? No, I do not know how I got Spice Girls in my iPod. It's a mystery, I tell ya.

Birth of Child:
Jump (For My Love) by Girls Aloud, OST Love Actually
Jump. That was kinda the feeling when Faith was born.

Final Battle:
Stoned Is The Way Of The Walkby Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill
Bad-ass fightin' music right here. "I’ll smack ya ass like my name was Al Pacino"

Death Scene:
Don't Want You Back by Ellie Campbell, Funky Divas 1
Not sure I want an angry love song at my death scene, haha!

Funeral Song:
If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys, Unplugged
You said it, Alicia. "And some people want it all / But i dont want nothing at all/ If it ain't you baby/ If i ain't got you baby"

End Credits:
Orange Wedge by The Chemical Brothers, Surrender
Cool way to end the movie, I reckon.

2006 to 2007: A lovely long weekend

It was the longest holiday stretch I've had all year, four full days, and it was good.

We went to two old friends' new homes for cozy housewarming cum Christmas/New Year parties with the kids. It was so good to catch up with buddies and their families.

I also got to hang with the kids, sitting for long stretches on the sofa with Faith, taking Isaac to his first movie (Night at the Museum), and getting to know little Joy, who has gotten really good at walking and "chatting". Oh, that photo was taken when the kids were going home from Grandma's, and it just rained, so the maids decided that it was warmer for Joy if she wore something on her head. We did not have her cap with us, so the next best thing was a clean cloth nappy for our little Nappy Ninja Girl.

The wife and I also caught up on our movie and DVD watching, which was nice. Movies watched:

1. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest — watch the making of the Kraken and Davy Jones, very good.

2. Stealth —what was Jamie Foxx doing in this stinker? And EDI shooting off the refueling cone to refuel? Hello!

3. Crónicas — John Leguizamo rocked in this Spanish movie. Very disturbing to watch, this.

4. Æon Flux — Charlize Theron was hot, but what have they done to my Æon?!!!! Everybody is in pastels and you wear black vinyl and you say, "I am a monican but no one knows who we are."?!!! wth. Maybe I have a lot of Æon Flux baggage because it was the first cool thing I watched on cable when cable first came to Singapore. My wife's Tampines block was one of the earliest flats to get the cable TV trials and I spent late nights watching Wings on Discovery and Æon Flux on MTV, in the early days of cable in Singapore. What they did to this animated series was sacrilege, I tells ya.

5. Umizaru — Japanese "Top Gun" movie about elite Coast Guard divers. Switch off brain, watch hunks and babes in training and adventure movie. We have the sequel. Umizaru 2: Test of Trust, on hand too, (called Limit of Love outside of Singapore).

6. You Got Served — Righteous Crew vs evil white-dude Crew in hip-hop competition. You've seen the plot before, like in Bring It On and countless other dance movies. But damn the dancing is hawt so don't be hatin' on dis movie. And dammit, stealing dance moves is just dead wrong, man.

7. Night at the Museum — Silly fun for the family. Something to take the kids and Grandma to. You could do worse, like stay home to watch that pathetic excuse for a New Year countdown show at Vivocity.

8. Commander in Chief: Season 1 — It ain't The West Wing, but this ABC series with Geena Davis as the first female President of the United States, was quite engaging. I am reaching the last few episodes of the 18-episode Season 1. Watching this between episodes of Family Guy is just weird though.

We also have on standby the French movie, 36 Quai des Orfèvres. Hopefully it will be good. And dammit, that season break for Heroes Season 1 and Battlestar Galactica Season 3 is really annoying.

Ok, back to work, and hunting for a nursery for Isaac! The latter is a whole other story for another day.

I am on FRONT tonight

My spicy segment with Kumar will be on the series FRONT on Arts Central tonight (1st Jan 2007, Mon) at 9.30pm and on Sunday, 7th Jan 2007, at 11.30pm. Chekkit!

Happy New Year from the browns! (Youtube)

We just finished watching the fireworks from our kitchen window. Oh, the kids would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and a blessed 2007!

(Youtube text link)