mrbrown.com

the mrbrown show: so hot (boomz remix)

Dedicated to our favourite beauty queen! Boomz down to mrbrownshow.com!

The power of ST captions

ST caption: "NTUC secretary-general Lim Swee Say was at the launch of Going Solo, a book for single mums, on Wednesday."

I have to say, I like union chief Lim Swee Say's new look.

via @lucian

the mrbrown show: men in white

Listen to the OTHER untold stories at mrbrownshow.com!

mrbrown goes to the Grand Prix: Episode 4, Fly a plane and go to a party

There are many fun things to do during the Singapore GP Season, with offers for ticket holders. I check out a flight simulator and talk to Mari from Zouk about some of these promotions.

Mummy, some company put words in my mouth

Sure, put the words in the kid's mouth. It's not some faceless corporation telling you that you've got to pay if your kid is taller than some arbitrary height. It's your own kid telling you that you need to. Clever.

Lovely cover of Wonder Girls' Nobody by Jillian-Marie Thomas

Wow. What a voice Jillian-Marie Thomas has. This was circulating on Facebook and after I heard it, I had to look for the rest of her songs. You can see her stuff on her youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/jillianmariethomas.

I also like her cover of My Time with You (by David Choi and Kina Grannis).

Insing column: mrbrown and the long pants

Latest weekly Insing column is "mrbrown and the long pants"

Excerpt:

I hear that the latest fashion trend in Singapore is to wear Lepered Prince and Zip-bra Prince. And that you can even wear Lepered Prince with Duck Gins. That's what I hear they are wearing in international beauty contests anyway.

I am not much of a fashionista, I am afraid. I don't even own A Piss of Rat Pekinese. Not that I think I should. Because I don't have the figure to be Miss Singapore of Anything. Not Miss Singapore Global or Miss Singapore Worldwide Freight Forwarding, or Miss Singapore International Chinatown. (cont'd)

Wash Your Hands Too video playing in-store

Spotted this display HP Touchsmart IQ528D PC in a Best Denki playing the music video of our little Wash Your Hands Too spoof of the Wonder Girls hit, Nobody. I am flattered, guys, haha!

mrbrown goes to the Grand Prix: Episode 3, Roadworks

You may not realise this but some of our roads have been redone to make the coming Formula 1 race at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix even more exciting. My guest Kevin shows me where bits have been improved.

ST Blogs: Internet steals minister's thunder

Update: You can see a pdf of the original article taken off Google's cache. (Download pdf of "Internet steals minister's thunder") In case you need the revised article for comparison, here is the pdf too. (Download pdf of "Pre-empted by the Internet")

Originally, there was a Straits Times blog post by Christopher Tan about the leak of the OPC changes entitled "Internet steals minister's thunder". The original link (now dead) was a blog post with a very interesting look at what happened when news of the enhanced off-peak car (OPC) scheme leaked online, despite an embargo, before the transport minister could announce it officially.

When I revisited the link. it was dead but I managed to find a revised version of the blog post, now entitled "Pre-empted by the Internet"

The most significant change to the blog post, besides the lamer headline, was this missing paragraph where an LTA person told off the reporter who was asking if they could break embargo since the story had already leaked:

A new and fairly senior LTA executive was rather curt when The Straits Times asked if the newspaper could run the story on Saturday. "You cannot run the story, you cannot break the embargo, you cannot do anything!" she ordered a reporter over the phone. But eventually, the LTA, together with the Ministry of Transport, decided to lift the embargo on Saturday.

This was the revised version:

When asked if The Straits Times could run the story on Saturday, LTA initially said no - only to lift the embargo eventually, together with the Ministry of Transport.

Other changes include the blurb which originally said:

"Christopher Tan discusses the red faces and frayed nerves of a recent news leak."

The new version just says:

"Christopher Tan discusses the frayed nerves surrounding a recent news leak."

This passage from the original was also changed: "After all, the leak had stolen the thunder from a Minister's Sunday speech. A mortal sin in the civil service."

The revised version did not have "A mortal sin in the civil service."

Aiyah, why change the blog post so much? The original was so much more entertaining to read leh.

I liked this quote from the Straits Times blog post itself:

"But with the Internet, a leak takes on a life of its own. Within minutes, it is literally all over town."

Not only does it apply to the OPC leak story and pointlessness of an embargo that the journalist talked about. In this age of the Internet, it also applies when you try to change or revise something you've already published online.

As written by Christopher Tan, "within minutes, it is literally all over town".

You may as well be trying to catch mist.

Health Promotion Board: Stay positive even if you are paid peanuts!

But hor, our peanuts not the same as some other people's peanuts leh.

(Chinese version here)

Update: Reader anonymouse left this wonderful interpretation of the commercial:

Friend of mine said that the ad is a reflection of the 3 classes in Singapore society:

1. The monkey represents the low-income, which has no choice but to accept peanuts for wages.

2. The elephant represents the middle-income, which has limited contact with the lower class but cannot connect with their struggle to make ends meet, hence the suggestion that they should think positively.

3. The giraffe represents the upper-class, which is completely oblivious to the struggles of the middle and lower classes. Once in a while, they stick their heads down from the clouds and have a look around, but are not bothered by the economic crisis in any way.

The commercial deserves an award for its deep insights into Singapore society.