BE WARE !!! of the picture below. it could happen to...errrr...

I was in orchard paragon for lunch( no i'm not talking about eating....er.. okie i ate Ribs La Mian*grin*). A usual busy, crowded day in orchard. But wait, no it's different. everybody was seen with bags and bags with this "GREAT SINGAPORE SALE" tagline on the bags. today is the 1st day of the SAAAAaaaaaaalllleeeee. saw a lot of tourists and that thanks to Singapore Tourism Board for spreading the words around almost the whole world. GOOD JOB! with both forces, our economy will pick up this 2nd quarter( do i sound like somebody?), at least for this GSS period.


while waiting for my food to be readied. my colleague and i went walking around and saw this wonderful Nokia 7200 limited edition at Kenzo, Paragon. above is the pix. it looks cool. and a lotus flower lookalike charger. we just drool at it. and to tell you, i got a soft spot for white colour.

walked among the rest of boutiques, and something caught the eye of this gender. lotsa people in Burberry's. after much persuasion from me, we went in and saw this 40% discount tag on the shelves. She went crazy. the demon in her is unleashed. wahhahaha... she went accusing me that it's all my fault to drag her in. perhaps for these 1st two weeks of june, if you noticed your girl friends, girlfriend, wifes, mothers, aunties; or even grandelders have a bruise or a cut on anywhere of the body. it's likely to come from squeezing , pushing, shoving, digging or catfighting in departmental stores/ boutiques.

Guys! guard your wallets! guard your credit cards! ON GUARD! Be prepared to see a extended list or pages of bank statements end of/next month.

ok, i exaggerated.

My Latest Watch Craze


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below is yet another article quoted from TODAY. another article from Mr Brown. i still love his writing.

If only I were younger, I could be a singing star

By the time you read this, you would already know who the "American Idol" is. Yes, it's "Donald Duck" Barrino. Hey, if it looks like a duck, talks like a duck and sings like a duck, it is a duck, okay? And Diana DeGarmo is "Miss Piggy".

My wife and I love the show and every week we play armchair critics. Never mind that we cannot sing anywhere near the contestants, we are the home judges of the show, I am Simon "brown" Cowell and she is a meaner version of Paula "mrs brown" Abdul.

"Simon": "I think that part was off-key, leh."

"Paula": "And I think she was having trouble hitting those lower registers, even though I felt her pitching has improved."

"Simon": "Ya, and this time, I felt she did not connect with the audience. And that dress? Horrendous!" As if we knew how to judge the quality of a singer's "connectedness" with an audience.

Still, we soldier on, doing our thankless task of judging the contestants week in and week out and lamenting the poor taste of American voting audiences. With the show ending, we are a little sad because we now have to go back to watching rental DVDs, for which we pay enough in overdue fees to buy the movie twice over. But wait! There is hope! Singapore Idol is coming. We used to have something similar a while ago — called Talentime.

This time though, we, the discerning public, get to vote. That is probably the most fun part for me. And we will also see some serious losers too. Admit it. Who doesn't want to see the next William Hung Ah Huat of Singapore discovered in a show like this?

A few unresolved details bug me though. In American Idol, those who made it past the auditions would often be seen screaming, jumping and shouting: "I'm going to Hollywood!" As if they had won 4D.

In Singapore Idol, what will the qualifiers shout?

Further, in American Idol, host Ryan Seacrest has his signature sign-off phrase "Seacrest out!" What will our Singapore Idol host Gurmit Singh say? "Singh out!"?

I wish I were younger and could start a musical career. The world belongs to the young, man! The only way I can hope to become a star at my age would be to have my church folk buy my album. You know how you can tell age is catching up on you? When you go to a car showroom ... and start looking at the seven-seater MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles).

Sure, a convertible looks nice, but the MPV can sit mom, dad, the wife, the two kids (in their car seats) and the maid. That is one hot MPV, man. Where you once asked how fast that coupe will go — fuel consumption be damned — you now ask if there are rear aircon vents for the third row of seats and if the car has airbags for everyone. Where you once would pay the moon for the extra $4,000 bodykit, you now prefer the model with the built-in DVD player and LCD TV so that the kids will shut up, watch Barney and stop bugging you. You know you have sunk to a new low when you have to ask your friends in the media industry if they have any lobang or kangtow to get tickets to the sold-out live show, Barney's Big Surprise.

Incidentally, if you try to buy tickets for Barney's show on the Sistic website, you will find that the search box asks you to "Enter title/artiste/venue". Look, Barney is not a freakin' artiste. He is a freakin' purple singing dinosaur who sings freakin' cutesy songs. Songs that parents cannot get out of their freakin' heads. Okay? Okay? Sheesh!

Besides making you cranky about little things like purple singing dinosaurs, being in your 30s also makes you think a lot about your mortality. Look, don't laugh. You will be afraid too, should you see companies asking only for applicants below 40 (Why? Will there be heavy lifting involved in this administrative position?).

It is even worse for gamers like me. You now have the money to buy your video games, but try going online with your Xbox, Ah Pek, and play against kids and you will know how lame and old you are.

Where did your reflexes go? How was that snotty kid — who calls others a "loser" and a "fag" — able to make his robot run around your robot, while shooting and jumping continuously? While chewing gum at the same time?You can't even play as long as you used to. Either your joints give way to carpal tunnel syndrome after 30 minutes of intense jerking of your joystick, or you decide to go to sleep because it is 9pm and "late already, tomorrow have to go to work".

You know how else you know you are not a young punk any more? You join an online race against seven players from all over the world, and you choose the MPV instead of the Ferrari ... Because it sits seven, has airbags and an LCD TV.

mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He would win more frequently in driving games if his wife doesn't keep asking him to help change his kid's nappies in the middle of a race.


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