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Results! mrbrown Giveaway: Spread the Love at Esplanade Mall

Here are the 10 winners of the pair of $8 Esplanade vouchers! Congrats to the winners and thanks to all for playing!

@mynameisakbar: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is like Polaroid, instant!"

@HarnHam: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is seeing my boyfriend's belly and embracing it for the pillow it is. =D"

@blackawfee: "Hey @mrbrown, love is not something I can describe in 140 characters, if at all."

@leetucksing: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is like eating durian with without the durian seed."

@blondielass: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is not having the words, but not needing them anyway."

@williamzhuohong: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is when the girlfriend is studying abroad, you fly over and surprise her with a birthday cake in person."

@srilankancrab: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is when I get home at 3 am and Mom asks me, 'Have you eaten?'"

@SwinginSixties: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is sitting together in silence and still feeling it was the best conversation you ever had."

@clifton: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is when you wait patiently for him/her to come back home to chat about the little things in our lives."

@janeangliling: "Hey @mrbrown, Love is what Harry Potter used to defeat Lord Voldemort! :D:D"

If any of you winners haven't emailed or DMed me your email address yet, please do so asap so we can arrange for the vouchers to be mailed to you! Thanks!

An Early Valentine's Day dinner at the Esplanade

The wife and I had a lovely evening at the Esplanade, to celebrate Valentine's Day early. I know, I know, it is very early but 14th of February is also Chinese New Year this year so I thought I'd get a headstart.

Full disclosure: Esplanade arranged for this evening for us. But I will let you know my honest feelings about the food and drinks, don't worry.

We start off with dinner at Barossa. We started with their crab cakes as an appetizer. We quite enjoyed the nutty bits mixed with the generous helping of crab cakes.

Then for the main course, we had the ravioli and a half-and-half pizza. Half of it was a Four Cheeses pizza and the other half was a Kurobuta ham pizza.

I liked the Kurobuta ham a lot. Wife liked the ravioli.

We could not finish the pizza, or more accurately, we chose not to, because we wanted to make room for the dessert. So we got them to doggy-bag the pizza for us.

For dessert, it was an ice cream dish surrounded with cone-shaped marshmallows and set aflame with liquor, then doused in chocolate.

The dessert was big enough for three, really. I liked most of it but the marshmallow cones were a little too sweet for my palate.

Then it was time to have after-dinner drinks (wah so atas!) at Orgo's, on the Roof Terrace of the Esplanade. The view, I have to say, was spectacular. Our Twitter and Foursquare friends told us to try the Apple Shiso Martini and the Frozen Mango Daiquiri, and they were right, both were very good. We also had a Pomelo Martini and a Long Island Iced Tea, which is a favourite drink of my wife's.

I liked Orgo a lot. I think we'll come back again. I bet it is even nicer when there is a performance at the open air theatre below.

Esplanade is having a promotion now for Valentine's Day, check it out at their website: www.esplanade.com/vday/

mrbrown Giveaway: Spread the Love at Esplanade Mall

The wife and I are having an early Valentine's Day dinner tonight at the Esplanade Mall. In conjunction with the Esplanade Mall, I am giving away a pair of $8 Esplanade Mall vouchers to 10 winners. These vouchers are normally given if you spend $50 at the mall.

All you have to do is to complete this sentence via twitter: "Hey @mrbrown! Love is…"

Entries close at midnight, Friday the 29th of January 2010.

I will pick the ten winners by Saturday, 30th of January. The $8 vouchers can be used at selected Esplanade shops. You can see the promotion at www.esplanade.com/vday/.

Send your "Hey @mrbrown! Love is…" tweets now!

the mrbrown show: creepy Apple love song

True Apple fans are Believers! If the iPad is what Steve wants us to buy, we buy! Sing the love song at mrbrownshow.com!

Apple's iPad is a giant iPod Touch

By now, the world has already seen the tablet that Steve "Moses" Jobs has shown off and we can finally get on with our lives.

It is essentially an oversized iPod Touch (or oversized iPhone without the phone calls).

The nice things? Very thin, has iBooks (Kindle ain't the only game in town now), has long battery life (10 hours, one month standby, but probably a lot less if you use the 3G version), and some cool accessories like the keyboard dock above. Also all your iPhone apps work on it (until you cannot take it any more, cave in and buy iPad-resolution apps).

The not-so-nice things? Still no multitasking, no Flash support, no camera, no phone calls, no USB port, and no GPS.

I think most of us were a little underwhelmed. Pricing is US$499 for 16GB iPad. 32GB is US$599, 64GB is $799. 3G models costs US$130 more. Not quite netbook prices, since you can get one for less than 500 Singapore dollars these days.

iFixit has this shot of the new Apple A4 chip inside the iPad:

In America, Land of the Expensive Data Plan and Locked Phones, AT&T will sell a special iPad prepaid plan, unlimited 3G data for US$29.99, which I am told is a Very Big Deal.

I think the iPad will spur a big spike in oversized iPhone cases and XXL screen protectors.

My advice? Save your moolah and get a 13-inch Macbook Pro. Or stand by for the sudden surge in used Kindles.

Or better yet. Wait for iPad 2.0. I hear it comes with Wings.

CNNGo column: An early look at Resorts World Sentosa

Latest CNNGo.com "Say What? with mrbrown" column: An early look at Resorts World Sentosa

Excerpt:

I ride my Dahon folding bicycle across the new causeway linking the mainland to Sentosa island, for a preview of the hotels at Resorts World Sentosa before the resort opens to the public on January 20 (check out the gallery of first-look photos above).

Most Singaporeans call it the Sentosa Casino but, as we are constantly reminded by the Singapore Government, we should call it the Integrated Resort. After all, the casino is just one part of the IR, along with a mix of hotels and a theme park.

"$2 please," says the gentleman at the admission booth.

Yes, I need to pay $2 to ride my bicycle into Sentosa. It may well be just a visitor charge, and not a fee for my vehicle. At least I am not in a car or cab, who have had their surcharges and entrance fees increased in conjunction with the opening of the IR. To encourage carpooling, we are told.

Such a strange way to encourage people to come to your troublesome-to-get-to island though. But Resorts World Sentosa is, to their credit, absorbing the admission fees for visitors to the resort's hotels and restaurants. (cont'd)

Sometimes you should bend over and take it?

Such an unfortunate image from Fairemployment.sg.

the mrbrown show: Singapore no world cup?

(image by hradcanska)

No need to scared! A big local sports outfit steps in to help us get the World Cup tv rights! Watch at mrbrownshow.com!

Reply from MFA on Singapore's generous 50k donation to Haiti

You all ah, stop blaming the gahmen for their Haiti donation lah. They give 50k, already very kind liao.

As this letter from the MFA points out, "the amount or type of humanitarian assistance given by the Singapore Government is not intended to match the scale of a disaster".

A responsible gahmen, according to this letter, has to "consider the nature of our relations with the affected country".

Haiti so far away and not our friend or trading partner, so their massive disaster we can only send a token "white gold", you see.

But if some neighbour like Indonesia or, God forbid, China, has a disaster — maybe someone falls down and sprains his ankle — of course our gahmen will send a Super Puma and a big donation to help with relief efforts. Friend and neighbour mah!

Compassion must be based on guanxi one! Not say our gahmen no heart. They are just very pragmatic and responsible.

MFA Letter to ST:

Disaster relief - the S'pore way

I REFER to last Saturday's commentary, 'Is Singapore doing too little for Haiti?' by Ms Chua Mui Hoong. She criticised the Singapore Government for not making a bigger contribution to Haiti after the earthquake when we had contributed far more to disaster relief and humanitarian assistance efforts after the 2004 tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

As a responsible member of the international community, the Singapore Government has consistently made contributions to international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in our region and beyond. Singaporeans are familiar with the contributions we have made over the years, especially to the many countries hit by the tsunami in 2004, and after the Sichuan earthquake.

Last year, we provided humanitarian assistance in the form of cash, supplies and equipment after Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan; Cyclone Aila in Bhutan; Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; the Padang earthquake in Indonesia; the cyclone in Fiji; the earthquake and tsunami in Samoa and Tonga; as well as for victims of the civil war in Sri Lanka; and food aid for internally displaced people in Pakistan.

As a responsible government, we have to examine the considerations and priorities when deciding how much and what type of assistance Singapore can provide after each disaster. Singapore is not in the league of major donor countries, nor do we aspire to be one. Among other things, we have to consider the nature of our relations with the affected country and whether we can provide aid which will add value to the relief efforts when deciding what to contribute, as we have limited resources and cannot respond to every disaster in the same way.

Hence, we had responded with more significant contributions when Indonesia suffered the devastation of the tsunami and various earthquakes - because it is a neighbour with longstanding and close ties and we were in the position to deploy our military and civil defence assets so that they could carry out effective missions.

The amount or type of humanitarian assistance given by the Singapore Government is not intended to match the scale of a disaster. In the case of massive disasters in countries beyond our own region, our contributions often cannot be more than a show of moral support and a gesture of sympathy to the affected country.

The support from Singapore for Haiti need not be demonstrated just by the Government. Singaporeans who want to make a contribution can do so through the Red Cross and other groups, and indeed many have. The Singaporeans who have gone to Haiti on relief missions amply demonstrate their compassion for the victims of the earthquake.

Sudesh Maniar
Director, Public Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Insing column: mrbrown and the vampire movies

Update 2: Links are working again.

Update 1: We are experiencing technical glitches with the Insing.com site and so the link is broken at the moment. Will let you know when the page is back up. Sorry for the trouble.


Latest weekly Insing column is "mrbrown and the vampire movies"

Excerpt:

I am a bit of a vampire movie fan. I've partaken of the lot: Blade 1 to 3, Underworld (yes even the disappointing prequel) and recently, even the Twilight Saga.

Twilight: New Moon contained some of the most ‘emo’ vampires I have ever seen. I don't care if I get torn apart by angry teenage girls foaming in the mouth with their love for Edward.

The movie was as insipid as a piece of cold abalone left out in the open for too long. The only reason I did not sleep during the movie was because of the screaming women in my hall who shrieked at every opportunity, even the credits. I am not making this up.

Even the werewolves in that movie were lame. I am not surprised Bella chose to go with Edward instead of Jacob. Brooding and buff, Jacob could only manage to become a giant dog. I know a werewolf when I see one, ok?

That's no Werewolf. That's a Very Big Dog. (cont'd)

Campus Superstar loses face

Taxi sticker fail.

Unless the idea is that YOU can be the face of the next Campus Superstar.

(via @figsley)

Town Council spends $200k on tight holes

Bukit Panjang residents recently complained about the Town Council's newly installed bamboo holders for drying laundry. The new holders, being 2.5mm smaller in diameter, meant that the older poles used by the residents no longer fit.

I applaud the Town Council's kindness in spending the money for the new pole holders which, according to them, "comply with HDB design requirements".

But you do know there is a simpler way to check if the pole holders were the right size, right? It's called Ask the Residents to Lend You Their Pole for a While.

YPAP Member: I changing new car, you still squeezing in MRT!

The fight between Young PAP member, Eric How aka Mr "Karma and Forefather" continues on Facebook and this time, Eric fires off his latest salvo to his kopitiam detractors:

Kojak & Gang,

Do you really think that you can bring me down so easily by drafting a mail to my company? Fat hope I must say, my family are very supportive of me and I did nothing wrong by telling you guys the truth. Stubborn donkeys like you just do not wanna hear the truth. I am still enjoying myself and busy doing my own business rather than doing unproductive stuffs like nagging on the forum anonymously. If you guys dare then you should come out like a man and not hiding like a keyboard warrior. BTW, I am changing my car again and so what? I made those money and I have the rights to spend it anyway I like. All you whiners can carry on squeezing inside the train while I am enjoying my new ride. My advice to you is to be more productive then to nag continuously without making any drastic change to your own mindset.

Do take note that I will be taking action against all of you if I find any offensive posting in that kopitiam forum. You think it is fun posting other’s personal information on the internet? Your kopitiam will be close down one of these days. Mark my words.

YPAP Chairman Teo Ser Luck must be proud.

I Can't Book dot Com dot SG

This is supposedly a new website from the gahmen so that you can book stuff like Singapore Sports Council

But judging from this notice, it may have some problems fulfilling its purpose for existence:

"With immediate effect, the booking of SSC soccer facilities is temporarily suspended. The Advanced Search function will not be available from 6 am to 8 am and from 12.30 pm to 2 pm."

So let me get this right. Your site is called icanbook.com.sg but I can't book right now. And secondly, your Advanced Search function, which you call Advance Search, goes for breakfast and lunch breaks every day.

I have a solution for the first problem. Just call yourself iCANTbook.com.sg, problem solved!

And while you're at it, maybe fix the eye searing colour scheme? Everything I see after visiting the site is now in a yellowish haze.

CNNGo column: 7 ways that Taipei beats Singapore

Latest CNNGo.com "Say What? with mrbrown" column: 7 ways that Taipei beats Singapore

Excerpt:

Singapore likes to think of itself as a modern and high-end Asian city. We are cleaner, greener and leaner than our Asian neighbors, we are constantly reminded by our media and our government.

In subtle ways, our media draws attention to the flaws of our neighboring countries. Look at Malaysia and their church burning religious zealots! Look at Thailand and the instability caused by the Red Shirts versus the Yellows Shirts! Look at Taiwan and their politicians who constantly fight in Parliament!

"Aren't you glad you live in Singapore, where things are better?" seems to be the message.

It was the mental image of chair-wielding politicians that I carried with me when went to Taiwan recently. The wife and I and some friends flew to Taipei (on Singapore Airlines, of course, because it is better than any Asian airline) and spent a week there on holiday.

I was surprised by what I found. Let me share some ways Taipei kicks Singapore's behind. (cont'd)

What happens when Papa is a fan of Chuck

I downloaded the Chuck app for iPhone and played with it a bit. Too much fun. Also happy Chuck Season 3 is back.

I think the wife looks hot as an agent.

Stuff you come across in the house when you have kids

I walked into the living room recently and discovered this pillow and blanket on the floor. I was about to go into Annoyed Parent mode and ask which kid left his/her pillow in the living room when I spotted the user of said pillow.

I guess even Wonder Woman needs to rest from time to time.

I bought this for Joy, together with the Flash and The Question for Isaac (it came in a three-pack and we all know nobody would buy The Question if it wasn't part of a cheaper three-pack). The first thing Joy asked me was, "Why does Wonder Woman wear her panty outside, Papa?"

It is a difficult question to answer since we always tell the kids not to run around the house in their underwear.

On top of that, Wonder Woman flies around in her invisible/transparent jet so she is not shy about being seen in that outfit.

Still, I'd rather Joy had a strong role model like Wonder Woman than some airhead Barbie. At least Diana can kick some serious butt.

Donations for Haiti Earthquake via World Vision Singapore

You can make your donations for Haiti Earthquake Relief through World Vision. Their website accepts credit card donations.

Click this link for the Haiti Earthquake Relief donation page.

Insing column: mrbrown and the first day of school

Latest weekly Insing column is "mrbrown and the first day of school"

Excerpt:

"You took leave, right?" the wife said.

I nodded. The wife had been reminding me of Isaac's first day at school since November, and January the 4th was the day we would join the great parenting rite of passage known as Kid Going Primary One.

I remember my own first day at Primary One. Stand by as I use one of those phrases that old folks use... In MY day, my mother or father could not come to school with me. They had to work and so mom took the school bus with me, and then halfway, told me "You are going to be ok, right? I am going to get off the bus here and go to work."

I told her I was fine and went to my first day at school alone, spending the day wondering why so many parents were there and why so many classmates of mine were crying.

Fast forward decades later, and it was now my turn to take my son to his first day. (cont'd)

Singapore Government donates whopping US$50,000 for Haiti relief efforts

I would like to commend the Straits Times for finding a red line thin enough to print, that represented the Singapore Government's donation to the earthquake victims of Haiti.

You can see the line if you squint hard enough at this chart comparing the donations of various nations. It is that 0.1 point hairline my finger is pointing to in the photo.

In fact, I think the line for Singapore may even have been rounded up because you can't print half a pixel of a line.

100,000 estimated deaths. US$50,000 from our generous government. That's 50 cents for every dead soul. US currency, ok? So it is almost a dollar Singapore money for the Haitians.

Why ah? GIC lost too many hundreds of millions in that Manhattan project ah?

I have two words for you, Singapore Gahmen: Cheap Bastards.