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Social Media Lesson One: ROTATE dammit!

PAP Social Media Lesson One: Rotate your photos before uploading to Facebook.

Social Media Lesson Two: You can ALSO rotate AFTER uploading to Facebook.

No fees will be charged for these two lessons. You are welcome.

PAP MP shows up at Halloween in Woodgrove, mistaken for playing a PAP MP

This blog post by feline was hilarious. Read the whole thing at her blog.

Could the MP have been this guy?

Excerpt:

"BEST COSTUME had to go to this young dude who came around smiling benignly and shook everyone's hands. omg he was so in character, i knew what he was immediately - with all the General Elections that just took place this year it's not hard to guess - HE'S ACTING AS A YOUNG PAP MEMBER. he even gathered his friends to behave as his minders, WOW. WOW WOW WOW.

that, ladies and gentleman, is EFFING BRILLIANT.

i just gaped at him and told the others to check his mind-blowing act & 'costume' (light short sleeved shirt tucked into chinos; that is elegant execution - he doesn't even need to buy a costume!). even the rest noted how awesome his character was and we all agreed he should get more treats. yay, we finally have someone really deserving of our Reeses pieces!

he finally came around and i was so excited i yelled, 'HEY YOU LOOK GREAT MAN!! so who are you supposed to be?'

he shook my hand - well, all of our hands, actually, and said a name which i didn't catch. well, no matter, must be somebody in GRC or parliament that he resembles with his crew cut hairstyle. SO COOL LA, WAH LAU.

the rest of my pals were smiling and keeping up with the hoity-toity act and since i was the candy-giver, i offered him our best candy."

Khaw Boon Wan: PAP's Perceived disconnect with the people

Khaw Boon Wan, speaking at the PAP elections post-mortem conference for cadres, on what went wrong for PAP at GE 2011: "a perception that the PAP has become disconnected from the people."

PERCEPTION?

In other news, this drink was apparently served at the event, the PAP Mocktail (taken from PAP Facebook page):

So when you drink this, does that give you a perceived sense of a cocktail?

VW Golf GTi 35 Party night

What a blast the VW Golf GTi 35 Party was! Miyagi and I met up and headed straight to the makan. But most were there to see the GTis on display. And ok, the lovely ladies too.

That's the Golf GTI E35 above. It's a special edition version of the GTi that marks 35 years of Golf GTI, and is also their most powerful GTi ever.

This is the first ever GTi, the Mk 1, and it was displayed as part of a convoy of GTis from the first to the latest generation model. I thought it was quite cool that they got the legendary Mr Giorgetto Giugiaro, designer of the very first GTi, as their Guest-of-Honour. They even had a big birthday cake in the shape of the car. I didn't manage to get a bite of the car cake though.

I wandered around the vast premises at Stadium Link trying to soak it all in. There was an entire food area, booths for manicures, temporary tattoos, driving simulator machines and wide range of activities. It was like a mini-carnival.

There was a fashion show, a Miss Golf GTI Pageant and to my surprise, the band 53A performed too.

53A is Sara Wee on Lead Vocals, with Alvin Khoo, Bani Hidir and Irwan Shah. The band really rocked the house down and was an unexpected treat for me.

Folks clamoured to take photos with the various GTis, especially the new E35. Miyagi and I were happily snapping away on the stage when I said with a laugh, "Eh, we seem like the only fellas on stage taking photos, and there is an audience gathering at the sides. Wouldn't it be funny if suddenly got hot girls walk on stage and we're still here? Very laokui one leh!"

Moments after we got off the stage, the Miss Golf GTI Pageant started. That was close.

Oh, that's Miyagi on the left of the Mk 1 below.

Do come down to join the festivities over the weekend, on the 26th and 27th of November. There are shuttle buses to Stadium Link from Midpoint Orchard and Marina Bay sands. Details and a map can be found at the website: www.gti35.sg/

I had a good time at the party but I think Miyagi and I ate a little too much food. I am a little jealous that the GTi had such a fancy party at age 35. Miyagi and I are older than the GTi leh. How come we don't get parties like this?

Everyday Life 23 (West Coast USA road trip edition)

Just some images from our road trip in the West Coast, taking us 1500 miles through California, Arizona and Nevada in a Hertz rental car (thanks again for the lovely Volvo S80, Hertz!).

Objects in the mirror

Old is Gold, along the i-215 near San Bernardino towards LA

Lake Mead, near the Hoover Dam.

Little Barn on the Prairie, on the i-40 towards Kingman, AZ

Red Rocks State Park, Sedona

Sunset over Arizona

Windmills of LA

Rainbow across the Glendale CA, sky.

Another shot from our recent road trip in West Coast USA

Made with my iPhone and shared on Instagram.
Sunset over the i93 freeway near Boulder City, Nevada.

the mrbrown show: drink your way to smartness!

Photo by hddod

Those of you who aced your PSLE, congratulations! You are now on the through-train to an exciting career in Chicken Essence ads! Get schooled at mrbrownshow.com!

Play "the mrbrown show: drink your way to smartness!"

Everyday Life 22

The overly friendly duck made him nervous.

The canal captured the sky again.

He sat there like the Prince of the Dresses.

Made with my iPhone and shared on Instagram.

I <3 Animal from the Muppets!

The "watch" I am wearing now is an iPod Nano (PRODUCT) Red with a red LunaTik strap.

The only downside is I have to remember to take the watch off when I take a shower. Nanos don't like water very much.

I can't wait for the all-metal Lynk strap to come.

这首歌说出我心里话!

Something for those of us still struggling with Chinese but trying hard to improve!

YouTube link: http://mrbrwn.co/rp0whS

Chinese NUS student: There will always be Singaporeans who will perform worse than us.

Parry Liu, a Chinese student from NUS, on the social networking site, Renren, allegedly said: "There is a principle we can learn from the recent Singapore vs China soccer game to apply in our final exam. No matter what, never give up, because there will always be Singaporeans who will perform worse than us."

Original Chinese text:
刘沛宇： "国足告诉我们一个道理，可以沿用到我们的final。不管什么时候都不要放弃希望。有新加坡人给我们垫底呢。"

Ouch. Hard truth?

He must be very popular in NUS now.

[via edmw]

Everyday Life 21

View of #F1 Practice session from the Sky Suites.

He took another drag from his last cigarette. A light breeze took some of the care away.

The pinnacle of progress?

After the rain, the fish will come.

Sleep, the best thing to do on a long bus ride in the rain.

Made with my iPhone and shared on Instagram.

Our Army of (All) Leaders

Excuse me, you leader, he leader, who follower?

Every Day Party: The Idiot's Guide to the People's Dialogue with the LTA

This was written by one of the fine writers at the Every Day Party Facebook page (full disclosure: I am one of the admins but I didn't write this gem. And no, I don't know who wrote it):

LTA: Bukit Brown has to go. We are building a road.

SINGAPOREANS: What? You never told us!

LTA: We are telling you now, right?

SINGAPOREANS: But you never told us earlier!

LTA: We sat on this for a long time. You think we're being random?

SINGAPOREANS: The point is, you never told us!

LTA: OK, the next time, we will tell you. Happy? But, for this case, it's too late.

SINGAPOREANS: Why too late? You haven't even started. This is our heritage!

LTA: We say too late means too late. We've already made plans.

SINGAPOREANS: But we want consultation!

LTA: Look, we'll be nice. You can take photos and document until we send in the bulldozers. Happy? Go on then.

SINGAPOREANS: What? Now?

LTA: We’re already very flexible. But please don’t take your time.

SINGAPOREANS: Sigh.

LTA: And, by the way, Rochor has to go. We are building a road.

SINGAPOREANS: What? You never told us!

LTA: We are telling you now, right?

SINGAPOREANS: But you never told us earlier! The last time, you said you would!

LTA: You're not listening. We said then that we've already made plans.

SINGAPOREANS: We want consultation!

LTA: You want more money, is this it?

SINGAPOREANS: We want consultation!

LTA: OK, you can have consultation. Feel free to talk now.

SINGAPOREANS: And you will listen?

LTA: Of course. We always listen.

SINGAPOREANS: Wonderful!

LTA: But, after that, we build our road, OK?

(Yet Another) Book by LKY

Lee Kuan Yew launches yet another new book. This time about his struggle with the Chinese language.

The man is a book-writing machine. I heard the National Library may be giving him his own Dewey Decimal Classification number.

Look for the shelves under Books by The Old Man.

Bread and Butter issues…

This person probably thought the True Religion store at Marina Bay Sands was a place of worship too.

I'm going to the VW GTI 35 party!

Got an exclusive invite to attend the VW GTI 35 launch party next Friday, 25th November 2011. Quite excited since this is one of my favourite hot hatches and it is the iconic car's 35th birthday.

The event is open to the public next Saturday and Sunday (26th and 27th November).

There will be a 35-car GTI convoy, Best GTI Competition, Miss Golf GTI Pageant (heard they were scouting for pageant participants at Zouk a few weeks ago) and special band performances.

There will also be stalls selling food and beverage such as German sausages, nachos and even a specialty GTI burger too, just for the event!

Go to www.gti35.sg to find out more and to register for the free food vouchers.

Looks like it's going to be a packed Stadium Link at Old Kallang Airport on the 26th and 27th.

Eh, VW! Give me a GTI to play with leh. I also got birthday what. I accept belated birthday presents one! Vroom vroom!

Joy and her tooth

My wife found this at her side table the other day, from our littlest one, aged 5 (going on to 6).

I think we'd better give her the money. I wouldn't want anything to happen to the tooth fairy if Joy doesn't get what is due to her. The next note may be a horse's head instead of a tooth.

the mrbrown show: hey hey hey

Photo by Yabby

Kena have to move house because of new road? Sing along with us! An original mrbrown show song at mrbrownshow.com!

Play "the mrbrown show: hey hey hey"

Bye bye Rochor Centre

Photo by linkway88

In view of the Rochor residents & shops who have to make way for the new N-S Expressway, I propose 梧槽路 be renamed 无草路。

LTA chief on the new highway:

"Speaking at a press conference yesterday, LTA chief executive Chew Hock Yong noted that the city centre is “very crowded” and there are MRT lines and a canal running through the affected area. Mr Chew added: “The road has to be of a certain level of straightness because the cars would have to travel at a certain speed. So taking all that into account, that was the alignment that we have to settle on.”

I didn't realise that the LTA cared so much about our straightness.

Nanyang Pho Leng Building, Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home, and Victoria Street Wholesale Centre will also be gone.

Many of the residents in the colourful and iconic Rochor Centre flats are senior citizens. While they will be offered newer flats and compensation from the Gahmen, how many will be able to cope financially and mentally with a move like this?

First it was Bukit Brown, now it's Rochor Centre.

Singapore: No space for the old and living, no space for the dead and buried. But always time for more highways. For cars that have become increasingly out of reach for most of us.

And since we are talking about roads, our LTA will raze homes and buildings to feed a car culture, but will not even discuss bicycle lanes for the safety of riders.

Klipsch Image S4A for Android smartphones

After hearing so many of my readers and Twitter friends recommend me the Klipsch range of headphones, I decided to give these new Image S4As a go. Got them before I left for the US trip and they did not disappoint.

When you go on a work trip (with some side recreation) that involves as much driving as ours (we drove from California to Arizona to Nevada in the space of 10 days), you get a lot of downtime. Ryan was responsible for the driving and I was the navigator. When I was not busy navigating (leaving that to the "lady" in the rental car's GPS), I put on my Klipsch S4A earphones to listen to my music and podcasts, without disturbing my driving buddy.

After listening to the S4As for so many days and so many hours, I have to say, yes, my readers were right. These are very very good earphones. What did I like about them? Well, the sound, first of all. For a pair of earphones that cost about S$169, they sound way above their price point, doing very well against headphones that cost twice their price. The bass was nice and tight, without overwhelming the rest of the music, and there was lovely clarity.

There is a balance in these earphones which I like a lot, and it played my very wide range of music competently.

The ear tips are oval in shape, which is unusual. Most other brands use round tips. Apparently, Klipsch found that our ear canals are oval, not round. And after wearing these oval ear tips for long periods, I have to agree with them. The comfort is better, the sound isolation also very good. I wore them on the 20-hour plane ride to LA from Singapore, in place of the free headphones that Singapore Airlines supplies, and found that they were snug and kept most of the sound out. Even the crying baby in the aisle across from me was only a distant annoyance.

Still, don't expect the isolation that you get from noise-cancelling earphones. Though frankly, the only time I find noise-cancelling earphones useful are on planes.

The Image S4A comes with a remote for controlling Android phones. The control allows you to answer and end calls, mute the mic, use the voice commands, play and pause, change tracks and control the volume of your 'Droid. It worked nicely with my Motorola ATRIX.

It is rare to find earphones designed for Android phones, since the market is full of earphones designed for iPhones (there is an Image S4 for the iPhone too, called the S4i). So I am sure you Android lovers will be happy to have something like this.

Despite the remote on the S4A, the earphones worked fine on all my other devices, as long as the jack was a 3.5mm standard headphone jack. I also like the little black pouch that you can carry the S4A earphones in. The Klipsch S4i had a little silver tin can, also cute, but the S4A black pouch is more compact.

The earphones come in black and white and Tat Chuan Acoustic is the sole distributor. There is a contest where you can win S4A and S4i earphones if you LIKE their Facebook page and submit your particulars to: www.facebook.com/KlipschSEAsia

I reckon if you like listening to music even a little, you should chuck the free earphones that come with your iPhone, Android or mp3 player and get an awesome third-party pair like these. You don't have to break the bank to do it too.

Do remember to let your new Klipsch earphones (or any new earphones for that matter) "burn in" for about 50 hours first. By that I mean you play music through your new earphones at slightly higher levels, when you are not using them. It loosens things up inside and makes them sound at their best.

And in case you are wondering, yes, that is my cheap Las Vegas motel room in the background.