mrbrown.com

#thingsweusedtodoaskids

Over a bowl of fishball noodles, I thought it would be fun to recall some of the things we did as kids. So I started the twitter hashtag #thingsweusedtodoaskids.

Looks like the meme took off because an hour or so later, the hashtag trended on Twitter and we started to see tweets from the rest of the world as well. Neat.

Of course, my childhood will differ from yours (we had NO PS3 or Dragonball cards during my time) but let's see how many things we have in common:

@mrbrown Save the fishballs for last. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@GutsyKlutzy Have tissue paper eating competition #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@notaboutwill Openingly pee in public drainage, like whenever. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@meiting07 Making sure not to step on the lines of the square tiles in shopping centres! #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@mrbrown Wash then paint our Bata school shoes white every week #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@hoksirhc Or use chalk to cover up the stain.

@mrbrown Play one-leg during recess. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@IamAnneJee Play galah panjang at the field opposite my house with my Malay friends #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@contrabandkarma Skip eating during recess to play football, annoying the teacher who had to teach a class of sweaty boys after that. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@seraphically Read Enid Blyton books! Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers & all the short stories #thingsweusedtodoaskids (or was i the only nerd?)

@shenheng Get high from inhaling fumes from those tubes of gooey balloon with tiny straws #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@heanluen Make ice-cream stick gun to shoot rubber band. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@agentshoots Throw one country flag eraser over another to win it #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@vixlew Bully the boys into giving me their chocolate milk. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@Falchion Purposely get the strawberry milk so that the pretty girls would try to "bully" it from me :P #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@ericeptional: buy 20-cent mamee monster & 10-cent pong pongs from the nearest mama shop when the school bell rings #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@mrbrown Play Risk for days, in the classroom, during exam marking week. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@JoeAugustin I would stick my head out the car widow with my mouth wide open. Later I would throw up. My mum said it was wind. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@dzus77 Flying plastic bags like kite from our flat's window #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@mrbrown Brush our teeth over the drain after recess #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@skinnylatte Whole sch sat down to massage eyes together after singing national anthem and saying the pledge. Damn weird #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@mrbrown Buy junk food like "Rat Meat Satay" from the school bus driver #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@merylzhanyee Throwing parachute man down from the second floor. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@goingwithmygut Buy pencilboxes that had more secret compartments than a James Bond car #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@YoghurtLemon Wrap our school books with plastic cover #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@heanluen If you friend him then I don't friend you. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@Moxy_Tod Sit around in blissful ignorance of the soul-crushing, meaningless waste our lives would eventually become. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@hanshoots Playing cards with specs of cars/planes on it to see whose specs are higher #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@jeffcheong Buy 20cents fishball dipped into chili sauce & then drip onto school shoes. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@lovelyloey Eat 10 cent syrup popsicle in a tube #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@jeffcheong Accidentally sing a 'ma' when the national anthem ended. #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@eisen Do multi-racial problem sums - Ali, Bala, Sumei and John always needed help dividing their fruits and marbles #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@peterteo Using 小明 for everything in our 造句 #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@rumpledoodles Refusing to pack our schoolbags every day according to the timetable but instead, just bringing every damn book #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@sashizoso Carry an OP wallet-the one with the metal plate in front. and using it to keep checks on our center parting hairdo #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@nicseah Queuing for too-sweet Milo from the Milo vans at Sports Day. And discreetly refilling our waterbottles with it #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@goingwithmygut Eat gao-zhang-gou (nonya rainbow kueh) one peeled layer at a time #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@MelodyChen_ That's it. The husband just dug out his old pack of cars and planes playing cards. @mrbrown it was all because of #thingsweusedtodoaskids

@FakeSTcom Breaking: Singapore's entire Twitter-using adult population caught in mind-numbing nostalgic grip of #thingsweusedtodoaskids hashtag

@Lord_Voldemort7 Try & take over the world. Maybe that was just me.... #thingsweusedtodoaskids [that's how you know the hashtag has gone international -mb]

mrbrown presents: Balls Are Forever: an iMovie '11 trailer

The guys I share my studio/office with were fooling around with iLife '11 and shot this little trailer for fun. Jennyson, mastermind of this little project, shot the footage with an iPhone 4 and edited it on the new iMovie 11.

The very funny Derrick is a regular voice on the mrbrownshow and I also got my 10 seconds of fame in this production (they turned down my request for my own trailer).

I hope you enjoy our little silly moment in the office.

The kids in Chinatown

A few weeks ago, we took the kids down to Chinatown on a little trip to the jewelers. My aunt needed something done to one of her pieces and we gatecrashed her outing, piling into her MPV.

We wandered through the streets and alleys of Chinatown and finally settled down for some dessert.

The best way to keep kids occupied while the adults are running their errands? Paper and pencil.

Sure beats taking the kids to the mall all the time.

Shot on Fuji Neopan 400 with a Voigtlander R4M rangefinder and CV 28mm f2 lens

the mrbrown show: i got a fewling MUSIC VIDEO

For your singalong pleasure.

the mrbrown show: i got a fewling

Image by @timbremusic

The smell in the air… I got a fewling… something is back. Fewl it at mrbrownshow.com!

Play "the mrbrown show: i got a fewling"

Look like Anderson Cooper or not?

Me in a formal monkey suit. Rare thing, ok? But the PM was speaking at the St Regis, for CNN's 30th Anniversary, and my usual "Ironic T-shirt and Bermudas" dress code would probably have been a tad casual.

the mrbrown show: run bear bear run MUSIC VIDEO!

Yo! We got music bideo too! Real one, not fake like some bears!

Got hawt SNSD, got lyrics, got dancing bears even!

SONE members, please don't kill me! I love SNSD a lot myself, ok?

the mrbrown show: run bear bear run

Screen capture from video uploaded by Youtube user, Mr79coaster

Was it a real bear we saw? Or was it leading us on? Find out how at mrbrownshow.com!

Play "the mrbrown show: run bear bear run"

TVC: Disconnect to Connect

I quite liked this. So very true. I am going to tell my friends about this video via my Facebook for iPhone right now.

Tokyo Day 11: Asakusa, Ginza and Shibuya

We went on a whirlwind personal tour of some of the key districts in Tokyo, beginning with Asakusa. Getting off the Asakusa station, we walked through the rather touristy Nakamise shopping street.

You can buy all kinds of snacks and souvenirs here in this street that felt like a day time pasar malam.

For some reason, everyone likes to look under the giant lantern at the gates to the shopping street.

At the end of the street is Sensō-ji temple. Here folks wash their hands and mouth before entering to seek blessings.

Behind the temple, old looking shops line the street. There was even outdoor seating and for the first time, I saw something that looked like kopitiams in Singapore. The prices though were more like beer garden prices.

We hopped onto the train again and it was Ginza next. I wanted to show the wife the fancy shops and the famous buildings there. The wife spent quite a bit of time in the Uniqlo store. It had a lot of variety though much of the clothing was for the coming autumn and winter seasons.

It was soon night time (and by that I mean around 6pm as the sun sets earlier these days) and we decided to check out bits of Shibuya that we did not see the last time, like Shibuya 109. We felt very old and unfashionable walking in that mall.

After walking about, we decided to go back to the Tenya tendon and tempura fast food joint at the Tokyo Metro Shibuya station, where we enjoyed their cheap and good tendon so much. In fact, all in, we visited Tenya three times for dinner. The girl who served us was from China and she was chatty and helpful when she found out we spoke Mandarin. That helped with the food ordering a lot.

The wife was most patient as I took my photos, especially the crazy traffic junction at Shibuya. I used up all my film I carried along. Good thing Yodobashi camera has a section that sells all manner of film there. The chillers filled with rolls of film are so inspiring to a film buff like me. I would have bought all kinds to try if I had money.

Seen in Tokyo: visit Miyagi

Saw this in the Tokyo Tourism office, a flyer admonishing me to discover the wonders of journeying in Miyagi. I am not sure if I want to discover anything in Mr Miyagi's person, no matter how wondrous it is. Haha!

Tokyo Day 9: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

The wife and I spent a quiet day at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, or Tokyo City Hall. The Observatory is famous for the views on a clear day and also for being free. I even overheard an Asian American guy commenting that he read about this building in one of those "Free Things to Do in Tokyo" articles.

The day was a little cloudy so we didn't get to see Mount Fuji from there. We did however find the Tokyo Prefecture tourism office and got ourselves some brochures for things to do here.

Strange, this kind of tourism help would have been useful at the airport instead of at this government building. We found the staff helpful and spoke to us in good English.

We still had presents to buy for the kids so it was off to Akihabara Electric Town. I wanted to show the wife what the place looked like. We mainly checked out the toy and hobby stores, since my missus was not into the gadgets.

I think she was sufficiently impressed. She has never seen so much Japanese pop culture in one place.

I kept her away from the adult section of some of the book stores we went to though. I think she'd be a little taken aback at some of the manga sold there.

Tokyo Day 8: Staying at the b roppongi

We are staying at the b roppongi now, in Tokyo. Roppongi is one of the expat entertainment districts in Japan.

The rooms here are bigger than the other "b" hotels I have been to. The location is quite accessible and less quiet than Akasaka.

Love the view!

Here's a little video of our room:

Tokyo Day 8: DisneySea

At 5800¥ for a full day passport per person at DisneySea, plus the 500¥ per person monorail ride both ways, and the theme park prices for the food, I'd say Disney made the most money out of me this trip so far.

Still, DisneySea was a pleasant way to spend a full day out, even for a jaded theme park vet like me.

I tried most of the major rides. Because the wife is no longer the young fearless adrenaline junkie she used to be, I had to make sure the rides had no major dips that would render her nauseous. Once I verified that the rides were wife-safe, we queued again to ride it together.

Some rides were pretty obvious and safe, like this Sinbad ride which was like It's a Small World but with an Arabian theme.

Others were named to spell the scare factor out for you, like Tower of Terror. I did not find it very scary and wished the free fall lasted longer but it was pretty much the scariest ride in DisneySea. Besides, Disney rides are usually tame anyway but you have to give them credit for the packaging and experience.

DisneySea is lovely to behold by night. The attention to detail for the architecture is a treat too. Even if the rides don't interest you (and it can get annoying when almost everything is narrated in Japanese), it is fun just to admire the beauty of the park.

Foursquare down for hours: stalkers inconvenienced

Looks like Foursquare, as one twitterer put it, "has ousted Facebook as the Mayor of Downtime".

Down for more than nine hours, stalkers and random creepy friends had to return to the old-fashioned way of stalking their prey, by physically following people, instead of relying on Foursquare's services.

I am rather miffed because I was about to the Mayor of the toilet in my Tokyo hotel. Now I have to start all over again.

I am told that Foursquare users desperate to check in had to resort to calling all their friends by phone every few minutes to announce every move.

the mrbrown show: 100,000 talents

Singapore may have a fighting chance at another kind of Olympics! Find out how at mrbrownshow.com!

Play "the mrbrown show: 100,000 talents"

Tokyo Day 7: Harajuku and Meiji Jingu

We spent the afternoon at Harajuku and thought we could catch the cosplayers there on a Sunday.

Instead, after snacking on some Takoyaki (octopus balls, ok that sounded wrong) we wandered into Meiji Jingu, the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shōken.

One moment we were in the busy Harajuku shopping area, and the next, we were strolling in a park in the heart of the city. It was a very pleasant find and totally unplanned.

The park around the Meiji Jingu is lovely and some people were taking walks there, while others went to the shrine to seek blessings. There was a fellow posing like he was walking against the wind, and people dropped coins into his hat for his performance.

A couple dropped some money into his hat and joined him for a photo op. They were very funny, posing with a bottle a wine.

Before entering the Meiji Jingu shrine, you perform an act of purification by washing your hands and mouth at the stone basin.

Inside the shrine, people tossed coins into a box, bowed, clapped twice and prayed.

Some were writing wishes and prayers on wooden votive plaques, called Ema, and hanging them on a rack under the wishing tree.

We spotted a mother and her two lovely kids dressed in kimonos and I could not resist taking photos of the littlest one in her red kimono. She seemed very pleased with the attention from so many tourists and posed for our photos.

Someone from Singapore spotted me taking photos of the little girl and tweeted:

"Just saw @mrbrown taking pictures of little girls at meiji shrine. naughty naughty"

How small is the world indeed.

Tokyo Day 7: Staying at the b akasaka

Our next Tokyo hotel is the b akasaka, located in Akasaka. It has a quieter character, being in a business district.

Once again, the room is simple and straightforward. Nearby, there is the TBS Building and it seemed like many people hang out here to see their TV stars.

The mall nearest to us, Biz Tower, has a bunch of nice eateries that open till 11pm. We even saw a restaurant called Singapore Hainan Chi-fan, complete with its own Merlion.

Here is a video of our room:

Tokyo Day 6: A day at Nikko

We woke up really early, 5.30am to be exact, to take the subway from Ikekuburo to Asakusa station. From Asakusa, we planned to catch the 7.15am train to Nikko on the Tobu line. It was a two hour ride to Nikko via the Rapid train (two and a half if you took the non-Rapid) and it cost us 1320¥ per person, one way.

There is a special All-Nikko pass you can buy too (4,400¥) but we chose to rent a car with our friends instead. It cost us about 9000¥ to rent the Prius Hybrid for a day, and I heard it only costs 2000¥ to extend it another day.

With more people, a car is more worth it, and you get to see things on your own terms. Nikko has a theme park, temples and shrines, and waterfalls and shrines. We only had one day, ideally you should spend two days here, so we focused on the nature side of Nikko.

We also visited the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, with its fascinating Jizu statues. My friend said if you counted them on the way in, and then counted them again on the way out, it would not be the same number. That creeped me out a little.

The waterfalls and lakes in Nikko are to die for. I am told it is even lovelier here in autumn, when the leaves turn a colourful red, yellow and orange. We didn't pay to cross Shinkyo Bridge but took some photos of it. It is just next to the road so that took away some of the mystique.

We enjoying trekking through the forests and enjoying the cool air. It was a perfect day, sunny but not hot, cool but no cold winds. Lake Chuzenji was gorgeous.

I think it was one of the highlights of our trip to Tokyo so far. It was a lovely change to see this side of Japan, instead of just tall buildings and crowds. I think I like the nature side of Japan more.

Tokyo Day 5: Staying at the b ikebukuro

The wife and I have moved to our hotel at Ikebukuro, called the b ikebukuro, courtesy of Wotif.com. I was told that the b chain of hotels (there are several) were some of the earliest hotels listed under Tokyo hotels on Wotif's site.

It is not the largest room in the world but it is functional. I love the location, being just 3 minutes walk from Ikebukuro station (get out the East exit, turn left, see the BIC Camera store and walk down the street). It is in the heart of a city centre so food and entertainment are all nearby. Ikebukuro station is just a few stops from Shinjuku and Shibuya via the Yamanote line too.

The toilet is a little small but everything is there. The showers are like the bridge of the USS Enterprise: three different shower heads for your showering needs, a little complicated but you'll figure it out.

I also appreciate the laundry room where you can wash your clothes with the coin-operated washing machine and dryer. Pay TV is a 1000¥ a night: you buy a card from the machine in the corridor, stick the card into the TV slot, and voila, pay tv.

Oh yes, and there is free internet in the room. That rocks.

Here is a little video tour of our room at the b ikebukuro:

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