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the mrbrown show: the iPad army (video)

Audio of the mrbrown show podcast, 30 June 2011 episode: the iPad army. Easier to share on Facebook!

Turn on CC for subtitle fun!

Youtube link: http://mrbrwn.co/jYDse7

China's Huili County Photoshop Epic Fail

An over-zealous worker in the Huili County of China took some photos of
County mayor Li Ningyi and vice-mayor Tang Xiaobing inspecting the newly constructed country road at Lihong Town and decided to photoshop them against a nicer background. The poorly done job was spotted by an online forum reader and ridiculed (read more here).

The photo has since created a viral meme online, and people are photoshopping the officials into all kinds of photos. Hilarious stuff.

the mrbrown show: the iPad army

Time for BMT for you new generation iPad soldiers of tomorrow! Fall in at mrbrownshow.com!

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Seven unintentionally suggestive screencaps from 警徽天职 C.L.I.F.

This last one needs no subtitle.

CNNGo column: For one night only: mrbrown lives it up at Marina Bay Sands

Latest CNNGo.com "Say What? with mrbrown" column: For one night only: mrbrown lives it up at Marina Bay Sands

Excerpt:

The wife and I had a chance to stay for a night at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) recently. It was a rather pleasant experience as our room was the Orchid Suite, which is one of their junior suites.

I've never even been to that part of Singapore. It is like another country altogether. There is no MRT station there yet, and no buses that I know of. So we took a cab to MBS instead.

After looking at the iconic building from afar for so long (yes, one of our most iconic buildings is a casino hotel), I finally got to look inside.

The wife wanted to bring the kids along but I told her, let's make this two-day one-night staycation something for just the two of us. I was away in Sydney for a week before this and really wanted to spend a little "us" time.
Living it up at MBS

The view was the first thing that struck us. From our suite on the 52nd floor, I could see the Fullerton Hotel, the Esplanade "durians", the Marina Floating Platform, and pretty much the entire CBD. It was pretty breathtaking.

My wife pointed to the tiny little white statue below and asked, "Where is the regular Merlion? I only see a mini one."
"What do you mean? That IS the regular Merlion!"
"Oh," she said sheepishly, "But it looks so small!"
"We are on the 52nd floor, dear. Everything looks small." (cont'd)

Dear 16-year-old Me

This made me laugh. And cry.

Please please please, be careful in the sun, especially if you are a teen. Melanoma can kill.

#ipadsforsaf: SAF gives iPads to recruits?

Recently Apple loaned me an iPad 2 to play with and I have to say, I like it very much. The iPad 2 is thinner by a few mm compared to its predecessor and lighter too. I particularly liked the responsiveness, in large part due it the new dual-core A5 processor, which meant everything felt faster, especially browsing.

I didn't get to use the front-facing camera much because not many of my friends are on FaceTime but I did enjoy using iMovie (perfect for iPad), Flipboard (read shared links from Facebook and Twitter like a magazine!), Echofon (for Twitter) and Garageband for iPad (which is actually BETTER than the Mac version). Also fun was watching my videos streamed via Air Video on the large screen, propped up with the clever Smart Cover.

So you can imagine my great excitement when I read that the SAF was going to give recruits and servicemen iPads, according to this headline: "The SAF soldier's latest weapon - the iPad", "to sharpen their fighting skills". 8000 sets were to be acquired.

I was like, woah! iPads for recruits? What next? PS3?

On closer reading, the report actually said, "a handheld touchscreen device SUCH AS an iPad" (emphasis mine). But no matter. My caffeine-infused mind had already gone into overdrive and I began to imagine an SAF world with iPads in it. Thus began my #ipadsforsaf tweets:

1. @mrbrown: SAF planning to issue iPads to recruits to sharpen their fighting skills: http://mrbrwn.co/jkilpR Train with Angry Birds ah? #ipadsforsaf

2. @mrbrown: "Recruit! You see that tree over there? Aim your iPad at it, touch it & take photo then upload to your Facebook!" #ipadsforsaf

3. @mrbrown: "Son, you think your BMT very shiong ah? In MY time, our iPads only had 64gb memory & weighed a freaking 600 grams!" #ipadsforsaf

4. @mrbrown: "Gennermen, remember to blacktape your iPad until can only see a small hole of light! We must be tactical!" #ipadsforsaf

5. @mrbrown: "Gennermen, dun say SAF no welfare for you. Tonight you chao recruits can FaceTime your mother father gerfren for extra 5 minutes." #ipadsforsaf

6. "Sergeant! My app hang, Sergeant!" RT @BB_See: "Recruit! Cut 100 fruits on Fruit Ninja! Why are you not counting? Start from 0!" #ipadsforsaf

7. Wait a bit, maybe SAF give PS3 next year! RT @ShunfuMart: Might ask my son to apply for NS early. He has been wanting an iPad #ipadsforsaf

8. @mrbrown: NS song: "…Have you ever wondered? Why this must be? Because we love iPad, and we want it to be free, to be free!" #ipadsforsaf

9. @mrbrown: "Recruits, make sure when return your iPad to the armskote, you oil all the hole ah! Lim! Why your touchscreen got elephant?" #ipadsforsaf

10. @mrbrown: "Tap 1 time only! 1 time! Not tap & hold! You chao recruits accidentally delete any app, I will make you sign twelve-oh-six!" #ipadsforsaf

11. Stress sial RT @BB_See: When the commanders come in the night during field camp, will the trainees protect their SAR21 or iPad? #ipadsforsaf

12. @mrbrown: "Gennermen, if you PES A or B, you get iPad 2. If you PES C, iPad 1. If you chaogeng PES E, you will kena JooJoo." #ipadsforsaf

13. @Fake_PMLee: You know you are really sick when the MO gives you "Attend C bunk, without iPad". #ipadsforsaf

14. @mrbrown: Gennermen, ask yourself, when u meet the enemy FaceTime to FaceTime, do you have what it takes? #ipadsforSAF

15. @mrbrown: "Chan, launch your foursquare app & let OC know our current position. If we take this hill a few more times, we will be Mayor." #ipadsforsaf

16. @mrbrown: "Let's play Wars With Friends. My username is 'ExcuseGrass'". #ipadsforsaf

17. @mrbrown: When M1 launched their new faster network, recruits sighed with relief because now they can truly be a 4G Army #ipadsforsaf

18. @mrbrown: I cannot wait till my son does National Service. At the rate we're going, he'll get Optimus Prime for BMT #ipadsforsaf

19. @mrbrown: Good news: Recruits will receive iPads. Bad news: Your training island has no wifi & yours is not the 3G model. #ipadsforsaf

20. @mrbrown: Good news: Pulau Tekong has wifi for your wifi-only iPad. Bad news: It gives you SAF intranet. Only. #ipadsforsaf

21. @mrbrown: Good news: Recruits can use eMart credits for iTunes. Bad news: The SAF iTunes store only has army songs & training videos. #ipadsforsaf

22. @mrbrown: Good news: Recruits can use FaceTime on their iPads. Bad news: It can only connect to their CSM's FaceTime account. #ipadsforsaf'

Protesting against protesting…

Malaysia, you is teh win.

Link to news item: http://mrbrwn.co/iul5hM

My Dr Tony Tan tweet makes it to the papers

Who would've thought a bunch of tweets about the Dr Tony Tan press conference I attended would end up in two newspapers?

This particular tweet was mentioned in The New Paper and Straits Times:

"Personally I think the white combed-back hair of Dr Tony Tan already win as #sgpresident 50% liao. Opponents have to beat his hair first."

While this is not my first time covering press conferences (I've done my share of them, mainly overseas, usually interviewing movie directors and actors), this was my first "gahmen" one, I suppose.

Glad to entertain everyone.

I kinda feel bad in the New Paper photo above. It looked like I was photobombing Dr Tan's photo op.

And in case you are curious as to what my yellow tee says, it is this Threadless t-shirt.

the mrbrown show: the race for president

Photo by moonlightbulb

A new light shines on the presidency at mrbrownshow.com!

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Went to Elections Department today

No lah, not to collect papers for myself (I don't qualify because I am not 45 years old yet). I was invited to Dr Tony Tan's press conference announcing his presidential bid, along with others like The Online Citizen team.

Will file a story soon (wah machiam like News Wire service liddat). You can follow my tweets under the #sgpresident twitter hashtag (the, ahem, official Singapore Presidential Elections hashtag, according to @miyagi and me).

Everyday Life 16

Bridge over River Kallang.

We watch over our city.

"We do the work you cannot do without." Bridging pioneers rule.

The Leopard spotted the elephant and a battle was joined.

Made with my iPhone and shared on Instagram.

mrbrown at NDP 2011: Robots and Bomb Suits

Join me for this year's National Day Parade as I take you behind the scenes once more.

In this episode, we check out the cool robots and suits used by the bomb disposal unit of the 36th Singapore Combat Engineers. Their Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) vehicle is seen in the D3 display.

Watch it in 720p HD!

Youtube link: http://mrbrwn.co/nstfPw

the mrbrown show: I wanna go JB (music video)

Thanks to Cityhousefly for the music video of "I wanna go JB"!

Youtube link: http://mrbrwn.co/lfaYTI

Everyday Life 15

These walls and this sky, my canvas to paint on.

I don't care, I'm going my way.

Marina Bay Sands, Orchid Suite room with a view.

Looking at Dali with childlike wonder.

Made with my iPhone and shared on Instagram.

the mrbrown show: I wanna go JB

Photo by jk+too

We really wanna wanna wanna go JB. Chop passport at mrbrownshow.com!

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警徽天职 C.L.I.F.: The Many Faces of Tay Ping Hui

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at a comic poster.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at yellow police tape.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at a police colleague.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at a pen.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at his wife and telling her he has to intensely take the call.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at his watch.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at some jewelry.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely at a bullet casing.

Tay Ping Hui listening intensely to his headphones.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely angry.

Tay Ping Hui looking intensely VERY angry.

And the scariest look of all:

Tay Ping Hui smiling.

Of course, we all know that in a firefight, the best place to take cover is behind some LPG cylinders. And to do it intensely.

警徽天职 C.L.I.F.

This has got to be my favorite screen capture from police drama/recruitment ad 警徽天职 C.L.I.F. on Channel 8.

My other two favorites are these two anti-smoking messages:

"TAN is the new LEE"

photo by steph4rl {via}

@Fake_PMLee said it best when he quipped "TAN is the new LEE". It seems like we are facing a Presidential election that is a battle of the Tans: Tony Tan, Tan Kin Lian and Tan Cheng Bok.

I can hear you asking, "Got non-establishment candidate or not?"

Got! "Tan Koo Koo"!

@kellchan called it The Clash of the Tri-Tans.

I heard the ruling party considered fielding another Tan for President but Mah Bow Tan fell short (cue: rimshot)

I hear that new candidates have stepped forward to be Presidential candidates: Tan Kah Liow, Tan Dua Lui, Wang Pa Tan, Chou Chee Tan and dark horse, SR NaTan.

Personally, I feel the Merlion should stand for
President. I vote for the big one at Sentosa. Since the Presidential role seems to be played down so much by the ruling party, to the point of being just an icon, what better choice is there than the Merlion who stands there doing nothing?

He is used to receiving foreign guests and even though his mouth is always open, he doesn't say anything.

Rubbish idea

I am not sure how creating a dustbin that looks like the Earth is supposed to remind me that the Earth is NOT a dustbin.