harmless? bananas!

this blog is no more

2009-07-01T01:01:00.001+08:00

i have moved operations to http://litford.wordpress.com

now with more...

redeployment and reinforcements

2009-05-21T18:35:00.002+08:00

i'm currently working on a migration over to litford.wordpress.com simply because i think it's time for a change.

there's a certain excitement in the air as i embark on quite possibly one of the biggest blogging overhauls in my six year stint as a blogger. it's gonna be bigger, it's going to cover a range of themes that have been swirling in my head, and i hope to bring them to fruition.

it's how i envision the future of establishing a presence on the web, and brings together the footprints we leave behind on the web.

ahahaha, but i shoot myself in the foot by building up these expectations, so i'll just leave it as "when i make the port, you'll know."

what has love become?

2009-05-10T23:57:00.004+08:00

it was Mother's Day today, and i love my mom. i love my family, and i'm incredibly blessed to have them around me.

in some sense, i grew up without the dysfunction, or the abuse.. and while i might think these are the ideals, there are plenty of people who don't grow up with that sort of nurturing.

and call me idealistic, but to me, all it takes is just one story of un-love, and the reality of this crazy mixed up world hits me like a tonne of bricks, that no matter how safe we are, we live in a fallen world.

now i understand that not everyone feels this way, but i do.. and it grieves me, and yet i know i'm hypocritical when i bury my head in the sand and pretend that it isn't there.

i guess i'm rambling and i'm not trying to change the world or anything. but i am trying to change my world, and my sphere of influence.

curse this rain, it blinds my eyes

2009-05-10T03:07:00.000+08:00

as i was driving home in the rain just now, it felt very unfamiliar. not because we haven't had any rain in Singapore for awhile, but i think it was because of the modern convenience of always being under shelter when it rained.

sure it was an unearthly hour of two-thirty in the morning, when usually i'm nestled in the warmth of my bed, but this 'being in the rain' episode left an impression on me.

how we manage to carve our space in this modern life apart from the natural elements of this atmosphere. rain isn't a bad thing, plants and animals thrive on it. but we've somehow seen it as an inconvenience and hide ourselves from it.

yet we know that rain is a valuable contribution to our ecosystem, yet we put a distance between us and it. as long as we harness the might of torrential downpour and don't have to deal with the perceived 'ill' side effects, we're happy campers.

and i suppose the modern condition is one where instead of going with the flow, it's ingrained that we can shape this world to our specifications. we can shape this world into our own image. but what happens when six billion people believe in the same thing?

six billion self worshiping gods on one tiny planet that is covered by seventy percent water that we have yet to inhabit.

there is so much we still don't know.

the ebb and the flow

2009-05-09T21:48:00.004+08:00

So while i haven't been updating much these days, mainly because i don't see a need for this blog to be a diary of sorts anymore. i suppose my blogging habits have changed, as perhaps my lifestyle and thinking has shifted too.

i've been noticing a similar trend with my friends as well, and maybe with the entire ecosystem.

i think there will always be bloggers, but one thing i've notice is the rise of blogging networks that behave more like online publications (Mashable, Techcrunch, Readwriteweb), and really have achieved a sort of critical mass for influence and timely news.

i find personal blogging to be mainly more of a niche now, and yet they will maintain their audiences because of the opinions they have and share.

the entire ecosystem is so vibrant and fragmented at the same time, that i wonder if it's near humanly possible to ever join those dots.

maybe those dots will never all really be joined, as much as we as people will never all really meet every single person in the world.

yet we all add to this ecosystem we call The Net. we all leave our footprints in this virtual world, we breathe its same air of ones and zeros, and exist as people or ghosts. interacting or watching, this is a medium that increasingly doesn't act as any physical comprehension, but virtual opportunities abound.

the question is, if you die in The Net, do you die in the real world?

satalite transmission

2009-05-05T14:20:00.000+08:00

Just pinging the blog just to let it know i'm still alive.

Busy juggling work, life and blogging. i think i've been failing miserably. Still trying to get my other blog up to speed too, but that's failing miserably as well.

Ah well, such a miserable existence. my bit of pessimism to the Net.

so i'll grow up, just to have you here with me

2009-04-22T01:33:00.000+08:00

Everybody has a price. Today i found out what mine was. It's called the negative value..

You can't buy me if you haven't appeased my soul, but you can definitely make me feel like wanting to put myself up for sale.

i dipped into my savings to pay off some of my bills. i was supposed to have savings this month, but now i don't. it's not a good place.. i know the next few months of my salary's going to go back into my savings.

it also means taking stock of where that money goes. all those little things i overlook when we pay bills together, that little extra i cover when someone's short, those lunches i help pay.. they all add up.

and now that i need to be accountable to my own accounts, i'll need to grow up and do what i need to do, for those days when i have no one else to rely on but myself.

i give a lot, it's just part of my nature.. it's how i value the fleeting tangible in sacrifice for the eternal intangible. but even that has taken its toll on my maturity, and i'm stunted to being who i think i should be.

grow up i must, value my own value more i shall.

slow media to be enjoyed by the wayside

2009-04-19T11:53:00.000+08:00

The world spins on its axis in twenty four hours.

We expect our news much faster than that these days. While i'm on Twitter, i get real time updates from my fellow human beings halfway across the world. I am twelve hours ahead of them. Not counting the things I get to read of blogs, news sites, video sites and pictures.

I guess it can be perceived that the world is getting smaller, or as Thomas Friedman says, The World Is Flat.

I say, learn to slow down every now and then. While the earth keeps spinning, perhaps twice as fast these days in the social media universe, there is a whole other world that still sticks to the same 24 hours we've always had.

You want to achieve work life balance, unplug yourself and start appreciating the world as you know it, not just through the social media's lenses.

Social media is best utilised to achieve a pulse on trends, communities, ideas, connections. but it backfires when you face an information overload. I think our brains can take it, but..

you also have to train your brain to not just consume information, but actually derive some value from it.

It's not just about how much you consume, it's how you interpret data, apply it, make it work for you, your counterparts, your businesses.

And that's why i still value "slow media". when you sacrifice speed for a great media product. a craft, where time and energy has been invested to make something easily understood so that MORE may understand and enjoy.

So what is slow media?

Image credit: Crackskullbob

For now, I'll define it as media that has large investments in time, energies, manpower, conceptualisation, production and even channel planning to maximise exposure to said media product.

Slow media can be social media. Slow media is purposeful, intricate cuisine, as opposed to fast food.

Fast food's a quick fix, fills your stomach, perhaps rough around the edges, not made from the best ingredients, perhaps even for mass consumption but with little value.

You just feel satisfied, and better about yourself and your surroundings when you consume slow media without rushing through it. when you come out of it, knowing more, eager to tell your peers just where you had this gastronomical epiphany.

And that my friends, is how i see "slow media". I guess the fact that i'm about to start looking for lunch had something to do with this post.

no pictures in the cloud

2009-04-13T13:26:00.002+08:00

surreal. how i haven't typed in here for so long. it's so easy to just shrug it off really. after a hard day's work, or just the whizz bang of too many rehearsals going on, or the day to day meeting ups with friends.. and the ever pertinent question "what do you read this blog for?"

this blog doesn't really have a niche, so in that sense there really isn't a target audience. and in that sense, i guess you don't really grow an audience when your content isn't constant either.

i'm sorry if you've been visiting regularly the past six years and all of a sudden, i just make the excuse of being too busy to blog.

but 'tis the truth, it's hard to maintain a blog when you're spread thin. there are ways to discipline yourself to blog regularly, but i guess i'm not that disciplined. though i ought to be.

and i never thought it'd be this way, but typing in your has sorta become unfamiliar.

updating twitter on the other hand is super simple, and i think i've been maintaining my online presence through the use of facebook and twitter more than this blog.

but i suppose there's a lesson in all this, and that is.. there are pros and cons in whatever channel you choose to engage with your audience in, but if you want to be a good social media practitioner, you have to keep engaging in some form or another.

point form #2

2009-03-22T20:11:00.000+08:00

Argh.. somehow i can't think of any better way to send life updates to the web except through point form. Too much Twitter? Anyway, i hope to be disciplined again and come back to long form posts. but here are some highlights from the past two weeks

1. Hosting another Open Room, this time more as our way of giving back to the community. Really glad people enjoyed it

2. Attended Blogout 2009 and met Joel Postman and Yongfook IRL! (in case you don't know, Yongfook was one of two original inspirations to start blogging.) Kudos to The Digital Movement for organising a great conference for social media practitioners and bloggers alike -)

3. Leeson appeared on Live n Loaded, Season 1 Episode 8. Great catching up with The Fire Fight

4. Leeson have also started sharing our music online, you can stream or download the Speed Dating EP tracks for free at our Bandcamp page. The banner was designed by Patlaw, so thanks and hearts for that!

5. I started working with a great team for publicity for my church's Easter celebration. We've put out two pieces of guerrilla content and one video. Also trying stuff online with our blog: 3 Days

6. Also trying to get church project management with the use of a wiki. Seems to be working out.

7. 23 Ogilvy-ians in Singapore we selected for Masterclass. It's a 360 Brand Stewardship training programme meant for juniors. We just went through week 1, so that's about six more weeks to go. I like it, and my group mates, so just hoping to have fun, learn lots and do our best.

8. Also accompanied Unfluff to SMU on Thursday who presented on research tools for social media students and had a fruitful QnA session that tackled what we do on a daily basis.

9. Getting up to speed with season 2 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Started loving a Shirley Manson song and have an uber crush on Summer Glau.

Things to love - let's start a movement!

2009-03-12T01:39:00.001+08:00

so i tweeted just now, and i realised that my hashtag #thingstolove is pretty unique. No one's used it yet (me first!).. and i thought maybe i could start something with my online peers.

instead of complaining, let's create a Twitter repository of the things we love and hashtag them!

So here's the deal, every time you tweet about something you love, remember to add a #thingstolove behind it!

i think it'll be a rather healthy way to spread joy on teh internetz

point form.

2009-03-09T02:24:00.002+08:00

1. attended Blogout 2009 on Friday. learned a lot.

2. coffee and shopping on Saturday. bought two new Muji shirts.

3. big family lunch and jamming with Leeson on Sunday.

the last place in the universe.

2009-03-09T02:14:00.002+08:00

y'know what? i love my blog. it's not the best designed, nor does it come as the authority on any given situation. it's nothing like the blogs i recommend to clients that perhaps have a specific communications goal in mind, but at the end of the day, it's mine.

even if this blog does not take part in discussions that shake our industries, or enlighten readers with recommendations, this blog first and foremost, is me exercising my voice.

i don't expect you, the reader, if you happen to be passing by, to be influenced by my writing. there are other blogs for that, but this might not be the one. some days, it is, when i discuss pertinent issues, but on other days, this is my black text on white. it's me creating meaning from nothing but my personal take. my experiences that have shaped the day, week, month or years. this is simply me, attaching meaning to a portion of the internet, this is me renting a room from google. if google grants my existence, then i simply exist as a reflection of my physical self.

leaving footprints in this virtual world, finding a way home, leaving a mark, signs of life that i do exist, even if it's an avatar.

and that my friends, is what no one can take away from you. whether you have an audience of 6 billion, or just yourself, if you blog true to yourself, you'll always have something to blog about.

human beings make meaning, it's how we exist, for if the mind is naught, then save us for empty husks.

it's a mixed up journal

2009-03-08T20:12:00.003+08:00

my light is still blown. i actually replaced the bulb, but it still won't light up. my guess is something to do with the circuits. probably ask my dad, he's the engineer in the house.

learned a bit about life while climbing the ladder fixing my light bulb. i actually have a fear of heights, and between the last rung and the final flat portion of the ladder, there was a psychological barrier preventing me from stepping on the top of the ladder. however, pragmatism forced me to step onto the last step, and.. while at the same time breaking past my fear, i also found that the highest point of the ladder had the largest base area to rest my body weight.

i guess some things in life, you just don't get a sense of. there's fear in the shaking, in the unknown, but only when you put yourself into that experience, in some cases, there was nothing to be fearful of in the first place.

my little vampiric crush (Review of "Let The Right One In")

2009-03-02T23:25:00.000+08:00

few films leave a lasting impression on me. i love film and movies.. and by an impression, i mean i start to remember quotes, watch it multiple times and study a scene's lighting, mis-en-scene the film's post production quirks rather carefully that might boarder on maniacal.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In dir. Alfredson, T, 2008) was one such film.

Overall the film was just what my heart needed, about a somewhat morbid, yet pure and fatalistic love between a 12 year old boy, Oskar, and a 12 year old looking girl, Eli, who's actually a 200 year old vampire.

innocent proposals by Oskar asking Eli to be his girlfriend, unknowing of the painful baggage carried by a being such as Eli. Eli, a creature fraught with a secret so terrifying that it's a miracle that she allows herself to actually love him too, despite the consequences of such selfishness.

in the end, what really stood out for me, is how vulnerable the two lead characters are. in a gripping scene where Oskar mocks Eli's vampiric limitations as a means of coping with the betrayal of not being told her dark heritage earlier, Eli demonstrates her own determination to make them work out, and quite literally exposes herself in such a vulnerable and imperfect manner, following their reconciliation.. only a master film maker like Alfredson could evoke this much emotion in the span of a three minute scene.

little nuances like playing on the vampire lore that these creatures are unable to enter a person's home uninvited, Alfredson uses such common knowledge to poetic effect by demonstrating the precarious glass wall that separates the two young lovers, only to tear it down and leave you gasping at the frail beauty that ultimately weaves this entire piece of filmic art together.

in a brief image of Eli, bleeding from her eyes and ears, a creature so powerful yet surrendered to the idea of loving a mortal boy, it was a moment when i fell in love with a character so fatally wounded by previous hurt and injustice and yet strong enough to try again. to me, this is what the film is ultimately about, not happily ever afters, not about having the right recipe for love to work. this film takes the worst of the human heart and what it's capable of, puts a frame around it and let's you find beauty in the brushstrokes.

Oskar and Eli are just two young lovers trying to figure it out for themselves. as their relationship grows through the film, you grow with them, laugh with them, cry with them.. and feel afraid with them. i cannot think of anything bad to say about this film. the gorgeous swedish winters, a soundtrack that is another piece of art by itself.. it's so profoundly beautiful that you get beautiful fan-made trailers like this:

3:16 - 3:22 was the moment i fell in love with Lina Leandersson, the eleven year old actress who played Eli.

five outta five.

things that have been keeping me busy

2009-02-27T02:22:00.003+08:00

1. i changed the width of my blog, sidebar and header wrappings. now my youtube videos do not get cut at the edges, and i learned that the body wrapping of my blog is 500pts, my sidebar is 230pts and the buffer is 10pts. my header also has a width of 740pts so it's flushed. Read This to do the same.

2. i changed my blog header, and i edited the image using Picnik. the image i used was an old photo i took when i was in Melbourne in 2005. it looked like this:

to this.

i think it gives the blog a bit more character, soul and creative direction about what it's all about.

3. Busy uploading Leeson tracks to a secret project

4. Watching 1938media. visionary who sees past the "social media" echo chamber.

5. Jamming with Suchness re-incarnation tentatively called "Shelves". Training the ability to play bass and sing backup at the same time.

6. observing a Twitter revival in Singapore. Possibly due to the prediction i made in May 2008 about the iPhone.

7. discovered "Technoviking" and youshouldhaveseenthis

The New Public Relations Agency

2009-02-25T16:26:00.001+08:00

originally posted on The Open Room

Here's an interesting report done up by ZDNet, a news site / blog that covers the beat in the Technology industry. It's called "Is Social PR For Real? Which Agencies Get It?"

A timely article, with some great research insights from internal PR directors / managers followed by chief marketing officers / vice presidents of marketing and small business owners as some of the world's major economies start slowing down and anybody in a decision making position is held even more accountable on the budgets that they spend.

More than ever, Return On Investment (ROI) will be a deal breaker and a key tenet to effect real change to any business or organisation.

Do good communications practices ultimately affect your bottom line? You bet it does! In today's increasingly mass commodified and audience fragmented world, reaching your audience and having a relationship that transcends transactions builds customer loyalty, advocacy for them to tell others about you. You want to be that 'go-to' resource when a customer has a need, and you want to sell them the best possible product that you have to better their lives.

But this isn't really about that.. we're going to talk more about some of the insights found in the ZDNet article.

These were some of the key points i picked out from the report:

1. Agencies do not fully follow through with what was promised during a new business pitch.
Only 20% strongly agreed and 18% agreed that their agencies achieved this. A vast majority 30% somewhat agreed and a good 26% agreed with the claim.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

I suspect this also comes from the 'fluid' nature of social media, or perhaps a lot of it comes from over-promising and making unrealistic strategies and tactics. While everyone is hungry for new business in these times, more should be done to keep both clients and agencies accountable on deliverables with accountable measurement.

2. Agencies do not necessarily understand how their communications work past getting news coverage and actually affecting a client's business
Yes, something we can all be guilty about. Good public relations is more than just generating news coverage (quantitative), but it is about projecting a positive image of the clients you represent (qualitative)

Credit: www.zdnet.com

In our line of work, both qualitative and quantitative share equal importance. But as audiences become extremely fragmented, it's harder to see media as mass communications anymore. I think a smart move any of us can do, is to think very strategically and produce quality content to the publics that matter first and foremost, before trying to reach the world. Pool your resources together to communicate the things that matter, to the people that matter.

3. Clients really expect agencies to know social media

This is great! 78.8% of clients understand the importance of having a social media campaign and expect their agencies to know it as well! While I hesitate to say that agencies should know more about social media than their clients, I'd like to think that it's not the knowledge gap in a new medium that allows an agency to work with its clients, but MORE about how the agency is a valued partner and comes up with workable social media campaigns that understands the industry their client is in, what drives their clients business and then HOW social media can work for them and their customers.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

4. Clients know enough about social media to get by
This is another good sign. About two years ago, clients and agencies were starting to experiment with social media. Today, a good 39.8% know enough to get by, and 37% have a good grasp about how social media will contribute to their business. Nothing gets me more excited when I speak to clients who do not just name drop social media buzzwords, but are actually talking about strategy, credibility, transparency and forming relationships with their people that matter.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

5. Clients would like free social media training
A good 46.5% said they would attend if they didn't have to pay for it, and a good 35.4% said they would attend regardless.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

While ZDNet recommends it would be in our best interest to not charge for training sessions, from an agency point of view, media training for clients usually comes at a cost. I believe social media training is equally important. Public image isn't nurtured overnight, same thing as a social presence. Your avatar can be considered your public image on the social net, and such training is a worthwhile investment and accelerator if you don't have time to pore through all the myriad of "How-To" posts from blogs.

But, i'm willing to see the flipside to this. It's just one more thing to pay for isn't it? Perhaps possible ways forward is to package this as part of a programme, keeping costs lower. In business, I guess most things are negotiable.

(And who says we don't give away anything for free? Check out Ogilvy On Recession, a free resource of insights and thought igniters on how to work smart in the downtime.)

6. Most agencies recommend the tools to drive social media
Worrying. 29% of clients agree somewhat that agencies make the tools the centerstage when it comes to social media / PR campaigns. Add 14% that agree and 8% that strongly agree, that's almost a total of 51% of agencies who are trying to pull a fast one with shiny, free applications created by other people to get new business.

Credit: www.zdnet.com

Once again, it's not the tools that drive social media, they are the means to an end. What ultimately makes a campaign successful is the strategy and content that netizens get, and perhaps a close second, the relationships that at least get you into the door to pitch a story or idea.

Summary
In closing, it's great to see more clients stepping up and understanding social media. Having that knowledge allows you to see through an agency's smokescreen of buzzwords, fancy charts and overwhelming statistics.

Then it's the agency's turn to show clients just why we're so great to work with. Whether it's through strategic acumen, industry knowledge, media relations, creative ideas, professionalism and accountability. A working relationship doesn't have to be purely transactional, but a valued relationship that sees both parties growing as our audiences continue to grow as well. Y'see PR2.0 isn't about the social media, it's about the culture adopted by both clients and agencies responding to a changing audience.

time, all the long red lines

2009-02-24T01:25:00.005+08:00

So my bass playing duties have seen me going back in time. one playing with the ever excellent kevin mathews whose past work included the watchmen and popland. now if you didn't know, Kevin's an accomplished songwriter who was at the forefront of Singapore's english music scene in the nineties, and the best thing is that he still pursues it after all these years.

he currently plays with his band "The Groovy People", of which i share bass duties.. and i think it's a great privilege and honour to be a part of this group, where we get to listen to Kevin's stories about the scene before, and his extensive knowledge of pop culture.

donald so kindly took pictures of the gig we played last saturday, and more can be found at his multiply site.

And since we're on the subject of Singapore music from the nineties. i recently started jamming with a guy called Noel who used to be in a band called Suchness.

We're forming a sort of re-incarnation of that band, and are currently rehearsing a bunch of songs that have not been recorded for more than ten years. it doesn't sound like any of today's music, but probably closer to the alternative music scene of the nineties. it's nice, i grew up listening to such music, and.. i feel like i'm a teenager again, helping to write and arrange songs that are representative of that era.

and so.. some people wonder why i busy myself with playing in so many different projects? do i get paid? where's the reward in pouring yourself into projects like these?

the reward my friends, is meeting and befriending you wouldn't otherwise meet.. speaking a certain musical language and ultimately contributing just a little bit more to history and writing some bits of it.

slow down idiot, slow down

2009-02-20T18:54:00.003+08:00

the weekend's finally here! i'm so happy.. perhaps it's got something to do with playing a gig with kevin mathews tomorrow at the Esplanade Outdoor Theater. and although i've played a fair amount of shows and this one should be no more different or special (because they all are), i'm looking forward to it for the simple reason that we've been practicing as a band for about six weeks now, and playing a show is almost like giving birth (or so i imagine).

the birth of ideas, the fruition of your labour.. in a simple life these things do give me some element of joy, and i want to look forward to things like that.

Who: Kevin Mathews and the Groovy People
Where: Esplanade Outdoor Theater
Date: 21 Feb'09
When: 8:45PM

Listen, Listen, Listen

2009-02-19T02:09:00.000+08:00

And even if the words don't sound right,
I will love you till the day my heart dies,
till the day my heart dies.

And even if this ain't the right light,
you're prettier than anything,
you're prettier than anything that I'd
prettier than anything that I'd write.

There's something in the way our lips touch,
there's something in the way we're stuck together
and they don't build love like that no more.

You said you'd like it when the thunderstorms came,
said you'd like if the thunderstorm just
pulled you piece by piece away.

- wintersleep

Video: Thesis by gotfuji
Music: Listen Listen Listen by wintersleep

artificial lights

2009-02-15T19:30:00.003+08:00

the sun is setting, and i was just staring out my window. i don't get a view of the sunset, but if i turn my head to the right, i can make out its brief shape as it sets over the highway that sits outside my room.

in the distance, there are children playing, and they remind me of my childhood, when i used to play with my cousins and parents.

we don't do that much these days.

we're all grown up. my cousins, my parents and myself. i don't know if i miss it. i have my toys, i have my friends, but they're such brief moments of respite because i know the responsibility of adulthood is still out there, out of my room, out of the gate that protects my apartment. it's out there.

and as the sun starts to set and i finish looking out the window, i crawl back into my room filled with artificial light, music playing from the iPod. a momentary reminder of a band that recorded some brilliant music in a studio somewhere in the world, yet i've never seen them perform live.

i do wonder what this world holds in store for me, and i do wonder if i'll ever grow up to be what i was supposed to be.

supposed to be. that's a bit of a conundrum isn't it? it reveals that i don't think i'm doing what i'm supposed to be doing. perhaps so, but life is getting shorter and shorter for second chances, and society isn't too forgiving of people who haven't really found their place in life.

i suspect a lot of us feel this way, yet we give in to what present society expects of us. but what do we expect of ourselves? for some of us, there is a higher calling, or some of us are our own gods. but at the end of the day, we tend to give in to self-preservation.. but i'm beginning to wonder if there's something in sacrifice.

if we were to sacrifice the safety and predictability of those that have gone before us, and best practices, and all the things that made our societies great and followed our own path.. where would we end up? how far does this rabbit hole go?

oh, and if i fall asleep, never wake me up..

comfort in the sound

2009-02-15T18:57:00.001+08:00

i've been playing bass for more than ten years now, and if you know me enough, i've got quite a collection on my hands. none of the rare stuff, but enough to let you know that i take this hobby very seriously.

some of that joy stems from rendering my services to multiple people. whether it's with leeson, my main band, i am involved with church, Kevin Mathews and his groovy people, and quite recently, a power-pop band called 'Shelves'. i think more than ever, in the last 5 years, bassplaying has allowed me to meet some very awesome people, and it doesn't look like it's gonna let up.

a lot of that joy comes from playing with these folks.

Jamie.

Gerald.

Mark.

Thomas.

They're my band mates since 2004, some of them i've known since 1998.

if music defined my life, then these guys have played an integral part in allowing me to express myself.

music is a strange wonderful thing. for some, it's in the background, for others it's identifying with what's coming out through the words and lyrics. for me.. well, it's all that, and more. it's friendship, catharsis and discontent all rolled into one. i won't say it's given me reason and purpose in life, but it's at least offered direction, and a lot of joy. and maybe that's enough.

different and not the same

2009-02-13T23:31:00.003+08:00

it's a warm stuffy night in Singapore today, but i have the air conditioner running. it feels good, sitting on my bed, typing this out while listening to Ryan Adams. i'm only doing this because i have to, before the clock strikes midnight and everything falls apart.

it's been a massive week, with work and picking up my bass for three consecutive days that started on thursday and ending tomorrow. just glad i finally have a day to sleep in, recharge and feel better when the week starts again on monday.

defining moments x worthy of love.

2009-02-10T00:55:00.000+08:00

we all have something that defines us. i guess this became apparent after i did that "25 things" meme, because in some sense, i was trying to find stories that would help define who i was to you.

but i guess we're all trying to do that in the things we do. if i were to think of a few things that would help define me to you, if say you met me for the first time, i'd say something like:

"i play bass in a local band, leeson. i also have a job with Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence Singapore. i think media, technology and design and three key elements to a more enlightened future. i'm interested in the tension between digital and analog, and here are some pictures to show you what i mean."

and so you see what i mean. what happens when you take all that away.. do i still have any value to this world, this society, this group of people i call my friends and family? is my intrinsic value any different if i had a different set of interests that defines me?

i'd like to think that we're all worthy of love, despite how we choose to define ourselves, despite what the world says we are, despite the perceptions that people heap on us when they meet us, despite who turns the other cheek or who loves us back.

i'd like to think we're all worthy of love, because it's the only way we can let love in, and define our response.

making sense of it all.

2009-02-08T22:57:00.002+08:00

did you ever get the feeling that this world was stark raving mad?

suddenly i am envious of my parents, and the people from that generation.. as they get closer to retirement, i wonder if there are less things they worry about. they've earned their keep, they have a home to nest in, they're covered by insurance.. by all accounts.. life begins after you're sixty.

but those of us here.. it's just beginning. we're starting to leave the nest, we're fending for ourselves. we're slaving to the machine just so we can build toward a future that is uncertain.

there's so much doom and gloom with the recession, with what everybody's saying about the future. everyone's so concerned about the markets, where the next opportunities are, where we should invest in, where we should commit our time. i'm starring as they rush past me.. i'm deciding too where the next big thing will be.

and we shuffle on, whisking our feet into the concrete pavement, keep spinning with the world, yet the world itself is oblivious to us.

how did it end up like this?

Rehashed - Twenty Five Quirks

2009-02-02T21:10:00.000+08:00

Seeing that there's a content drought on my blog, i decided to rehash a meme i did on facebook last night.

1. I have 4 basses. One's called Oren Ishii, and another is called Isobel. Then I stopped naming them because it felt weird giving names to my instruments and I was afraid of being labeled a loser.

2. I actually started playing guitar first, but was asked my my church leader to switch to bass because I couldn't keep time with the guitar. Yes.. it's ironic.

3. The first non-worship song i learnt was Wonderwall by Oasis. I think the Ryan Adams version is so much better.

4. I'm such a tech geek now because i grew up without broadband or a console after the Sega Megadrive. I think I'm either overcompensating or making up for lost time.

5. I've always had a thing for thick glasses and checkered shirts way before any of this became popular.

6. I secretly wished I were a cowboy who could play really good country music.

7. I studied science all the way till university, where i switched to an arts major in media studies. I think that's why i have such an empirical approach toward humanities based theories.

8. i believe that art cannot be created or destroyed, and can only be transferred from one form to the other. Another piece of evidence toward my science based education.

9. I still haven't written a complete song. They're all just bits and pieces of guitar riffs, chords and lyrics in different parts

10. I used to be 10KG lighter

11. I used to swim in Junior College

12. I finished my SOC in 9:35 after i fractured my toe at the balance beam.

13. I've been out of course from OCS twice. I eventually became a signaler.

14. I really like Hardcore music, and i might have gotten full sleeves if I didn't rebel against rebelling. (like how you rebel against the status quo by being alternative, i rebelled against rebellion by sort of being part of the status quo with very subversive thinking and ethos.. break the system from the inside.)

15. i really wished there were giant robots.

16. i would be a giant robot pilot.

17. have i mentioned that i love giant robots?

18. Regardless of the medium, i tend to choke up whenever i see planes fly off into the horizon. Especially if they're war birds.

19. i also choke up when the cavalry arrives just in time.

20. John 17 is my favorite passage in the Bible.

21. My dream is to open a little Italian restaurant with red checkered tables and 7 tables of 4. Business would be constant and self sustaining.. and i'll form a jazz band in my retirement and write great songs like Joe Henry and Ryan Adams.

22. I came close to trying Acid when i was in Perth because my singer asked me if i wanted some. I told him I was driving that night.

23. Reading "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" changed my life and the way i viewed literature.

24. I have a very low brow sense of humor which is very very very dry. It's my big up yours to pretentious farts who only believe in laughing at intellectual jokes.

25. Two statements i've taken on as mantras in my approach to music. Both were mentioned at a SubC 2000 gig during the Anaconda set.
- "You don't have to dress punk to be punk!"
- "Less talk, MORE ROCK!"

everyone is going home.

2009-01-28T01:50:00.001+08:00

so the lunar new year came and went. i had a good break.. it was a good time to catch up with a lot of family and friends.

in time, so many of us are leading our own lives, we don't have the luxury of being in school anymore and being constant in each others lives. what's more, with my friends who live or are going overseas to continue their studies, we're all gonna just keep growing and i can't be a part of it.

i don't know what's making me keep this blog alive.. i know i won't share the intimate details of my life, i'm posting more thought provoking stories on singularity industries, and i'm definitely getting lazy when it comes to typing in here. maybe i'm just tired..

maybe at it's heart, i just don't seem to think that typing in here reflects my life anymore. you know? that feeling that what you're doing on the outside doesn't represent the inside.. it's such a fake sensation. i wonder how some of us do it though, not just with blogging, but with life.

that we use this world as a stage and act out facets of our lives that we hope for the desired response from the audience around us.

"i want to be beautiful.
i want to be smart.
i want to be accepted.
i want to be free.
i want to be loved.
i want to change.
i want to be respected."

and there is no real response to all these slices of life. we're always looking out for ourselves.. yet at it's heart we're constantly looking for that validation from an external source, or from our loved ones.

i guess what i'm grappling with right now, is a purpose to this life. it's a new season of being in my late twenties i reckon. back when i was in school.. it was relatively simpler, the stakes weren't so long term as well. pass my exams and projects, do my best when it comes to bass playing, in the worship team and band.. and in that regard, it was "easier" to see what God's direction and purpose for my life was.

then suddenly i've graduated, and spent the last two years working. but for what gain? what profit? and the thing is, this doesn't end till the day i retire.. does it?

the world tells me to work for the future, for my family even perhaps.. noble aspirations definitely.. but my zest for life is fading at an alarming rate.. even if it has been on the backburner for awhile.

even when i play music, either listening or making music.. there's a part of me that goes.. what's the point? it'll just be a hobby, we'll never make it big.. the joy of creating new sounds just becomes an unrewarding two hours spent with my friends in the studio. don't get me wrong, i have a great time hanging out, laughing, and for a moment, these brief glimpses of joy distract me for a while.

but ultimately, i feel myself fading fast and increasingly disconnected from what my purpose in this life is.

i know i could make myself feel better by sharing photos of my new supersampler application for my iPhone , or talk about the fun interesting bits about my life.. but this goes beyond that..

i guess i really am looking for a sort of validation and direction in life. that this will be alright, everything will be alright.. everything's going as planned.. some things are still worth fighting for..

i think too much, and i have lots to be thankful for. I KNOW THAT, and i am.. but there's always something more, something deeper that gives this life meaning. and i'm either blessed or cursed to have to think that way, to unlock this mystery or break the meaning of existence down to it's most empirical form. i can't help it, it's the way i was wired.

Ozymandias: "I did the right thing, didn't I? It all worked out in the end."
Dr Manhattan: "In the end? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends."

i suppose i was born with an infinite gap in my soul that only eternity can fill.

so this is the new year, i don't feel any different..

2009-01-25T23:34:00.000+08:00

maybe my age has caught up with me. i don't know, but i've been caught in situations where i have to reveal my age quite a fair amount of times just this month. not that i'm hiding behind anything, but the frequency of this social play makes me think of what the numbers mean.

twenty. seven. this. year. well. actually. in. september.

i'm really still twenty six. you might think it's just a number.. but twenty seven is a rather iconic number when it comes to rock and roll history:

kurt cobain, jimi hendrix, janis joplin, graham parsons, jim morrison.. they all passed away at twenty seven. and i used to joke that i too would go like these icons at the grand age of twenty seven.

and now.. i'm just nine months away from actually being that age.

i guess i used to associate being twenty seven with a sense of accomplishment. people who were at the peaks of the musical careers.. that when they passed, history can't help but remember them for their stunning contributions to culture. in a sense, i also misplacingly see them as somewhat lucky, that they don't have to deal with the come down after such a high. but then again, so many of them killed themselves in one way or another.

but back to "success". i guess there have been some. working in one of the best worldwide public relations agencies, specialising in a relatively new field of communications, Leeson has already played Baybeats, i'm sort of meeting and making friends with people in the local music scene.. and yeah.. wow.. i'd never thought i'd be this "grown up".

but i couldn't have done it without the grace of God. it's not that i was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, for every single one of those moments i'm proud of.. it's involved a lot of work and dedication, struggle even.. with people and even wrestling with God to make sense of way i was in life.. when i couldn't really see how it was all gonna end up. but the refreshing thing about completing your journeys and trials, is that you can look back, take stock.. see what you did or didn't miss out on. but to be able to complete a journey, to be encouraged when it seems like you're the only one facing struggles, when you're alone in your fight.. those are times when God's with you.. through the good and the bad. in fact, you don't keep fighting because you want to get something out of it.. but you go through it because it seemed to be the right thing to do.. and you felt compelled to get through it. i think that compulsion comes from knowing God, and having faith that what you're doing is the right thing.

all the kings men.

2009-01-12T02:46:00.004+08:00

after yesterday's bout of catharsis, it feels a lot better to "own" this space again.

blogs are great communication tools, but ultimately, if they aren't personal.. they aren't really engaging.

i think different blogs serve different purposes, and for the purpose of harmless? bananas! it'll always remain my personal communications tool.

if you know me, at least in the past year or two, you'd have noticed that i love a genre of music called "alternative-country". in fact, two of my favourite artistes would be Ryan Adams and Joe Henry.

there's something about America that's always fascinated me.. probably because of all the cartoons and TV i used to watch, add to that, the music, literature, fashion and culture.. and you might have gotten an American-phile in me. unfortunately for would be marketers who try to sell me stuff.. i tend to be rather subversive in my lifestyle choices. hence, it's always been a case of sticking it to the man, and then developing into a loathing of mere hippie / empty punk rock promises.

but somehow, this genre of country music has captured my imagination. i can only speak like an outsider looking in, for i never grew up on a farm, or the suburbs, nor have i seen or lived the mountain ranges or the iconic streets and hole-in-the-wall bars that these singers croon about. yet, perhaps it's because of that fishbowl i constantly peer into, that i'm so enamored by it all. the undue love i place upon this piece of art, only because i cannot identify with it.

still, they sing songs that are so ridiculously universal.. emotions down to the commonest denominator, that even a city-dweller like me longs for the yearnings that these singer-songwriters sing about. some place in the past that they still hold on to, or brings them happiness.. some place in the future that they hope for.. all the while that while i will never be a part of it, they always invite me to keep on observing.

and with that i am content.

Time is a lion - Joe Henry

If you fear the angels above while you sleep
Then I'll be the blood, you paint on your door
Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep, but
time is a story and there will be more

Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep,
but time is a story and there will be more

and death in disgrace can seduce anyone
that needs to believe there’s judgment at hand
or God may be kind and see you like a son, but
time is a lion when you are a lamb

Or God may be kind and see you like a son, but
time is a lion when you are a lamb

The years see the best of intentions and greed
they come without shame, they'll leave you with some
men become old when their hurt becomes need, but
time is a lover and your time is young

Men become old when their hurt becomes need, but

time is a lover and your time is young

The sun is a soldier, out crawling the hills
setting fire to every house that’s in view
lighting the ruin of my hope and my will
till I’m like a shadow and I’m falling on you,
crawling on you..
Oh you know how I do..

So sleep here with me and I’ll keep you close
for now while i try to live up to you
You can’t see the challenge of this I suppose, but
time is a dare and I’m trying to

You can’t see the challenge of this I suppose, but
time is a dare and I’m trying to

time is a dare and I’m trying to

Fix it - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

What makes them walk away, after all these years?
These years are burning in the hard way by the lessons from the tears
I know it’s not a game
But it feels like losing when someone you love throws you away

I’d fix it
I’d fix it
I’d fix it
I’d fix it if I could
And I’d always win
I’d always win
So you can always win the in end

How easy was it for you making those plans you made?
Before I became someone for you you know to try to dislocate
But, I know it’s not a game
But if feels like losing when someone you love gets up and walks away

I’d fix it
I’d fix it
I’d fix it
I’d fix it if I could
And I’d always win
I’d always win
And you’d always lose

Look what I did to you
Look what you did to me
Fixed it
I’d fix it, id fix it if I could
And I’d always win
I’d always win
I’d always win in the end

Let it Ride - Ryan Adams

Movin' like the fog on the Cumberland River
I was leaving on the Delta Queen
I wasn't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
Twenty-seven years of nothin' but failures and promises that I couldn't keep
Oh lord I wasn't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
Let it ride
Let it ride easy down the road
Let it ride
Let it take away all of the darkness
Let it ride
Let it rock me in the arms of strangers, angels until it brings me home
Let it ride
Let it roll
Let it go

Loaded like a sailor
Tumbling off a ferry boat
I was at the bar till three
Oh Lord, and I wasn't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
Tennessee's a brother to my sister Carolina where they're gonna bury me
And I ain't ready to go
I'm never ready to go
Let it ride let it ride easy down the road
Let it ride
Let it take away all of this darkness
Let it ride
Let it rock me in the arms of strangers, angels until it brings me home
Let it ride
Let it roll
Let it go

I wanna see you tonight
Dancing in the endless moonlight
In the parking lot in the headlights of cars
Someplace on the moon
Where they moved the drive-in theater
Where I left the car that I can't find but I still got the keys to
Let it ride
Let it ride easy down the road
Let it ride
Let it take away all of this darkness
Let it ride
Let it rock me in the arms of strangers, angels until it brings me home
Let it ride
Let it roll
Let it go

respectfully, i decline.

2009-01-11T04:00:00.001+08:00

this evening had me feeling rather out of sorts. if you were on plurk, i mentioned that i was feeling hostile.

i wonder why, was it the throngs of people younger than me dressed in fine indie-threads (maybe not fine, but arguably indie-styled)? what was the insight or pre-disposition i was gleaming from their collective flocks?

i dunno, maybe there was a bout of self-loathing, of the empty reassurance we get from hanging out with our friends, and dressing ourselves a certain way to express our identity while not rocking the status quo. even if it's the status quo of our social circle.. it was the need to belong to something, or some people. and it was in the myriad of different cultures and groups of friends that i saw a reflection of my own weakness.. for dressing up a certain way, for being accepted a certain way.. for being acknowledged a certain way.. and while i wasn't active in my self-loathing.. it was there passively, eating away at my psyche..

how worthless i was, and what i feel i am for still trying.. everyday.

i don't think we were meant to live like this, yet like the air we breathe.. we find ourselves social creatures, and need to feed this frail ego of social status, and we draw our confidence in the acknowledgment of men.

i've talked about this before, and with God's help, i've also not lived my life like this, not always. yet i think at various points in our lives, we grapple with this again. not because the problem never went away, but at different stages in our life, we're being shown more and more where we need to surrender, places deep in our hearts that have not been surrendered to that one perfect love.. that we are either always changing, or learning something new.

i'm not afraid of the emotion i face, but i am afraid of the stagnation and atrophy of the heart. i don't want to be unfeeling.. because it is a lonely place, where love nor hate exist. it is a plane of "un-love" and stagnation. it is an absence of God, not the burning fires of hell that scare me.. and put me in my place. in fact, it's not fear that paralyses me.. it's an infinite sadness that spirals without end like a bottemless pit.

no. we were meant to live.

a series of self-titled debuts

2009-01-09T18:21:00.001+08:00

a little brain fart came to me the other night as i was walking home from the bus stop.

as some background, i love to think of new band names.. i don't know why, but i think of possible band names more than i think of possible album titles. i guess it's got something to do with the inconsistency in which i record material.

anyway, i was thinking of a band name, ohaiyo. i guess it was a play on the American city, Ohio, and also a reference to the Japanese greeting for "hello". yes, stuff like this excites me.. it shapes the sound i want to come up with.. and ultimately who i might be able to work with if i were to ever record or perform with such a collective.

and then it dawned onto me, if i love playing with different kinds of music, but instead of maintaining a different band for each of my interests.. why not just have a revolving door of musicians, songwriters and performers?

we wouldn't be a band.. but more a collective or record label called "a series of self titled debuts" and each band incarnation is basically the title of the album!

it's frickin' genius i tell you.. or possibly the most stupid thing anyone could think of.

but i like it, i'd like to write music for an incarnation of ohaiyo, or the ghost of anna karina, or attaboy! or whatever ludicrous names i've come up with.

why should music always be categorised in only one way?

the new year, it's not all that bad..

2009-01-08T17:41:00.000+08:00

2009. why does a new year bring us so much promise? new budgets for the new financial year? opportunities? resolutions? another chance to get it right?

hahaha, don't mind me, it's just rhetorical. i too feel some of that joy, but the natural cynic in me is just.. "meh, it's just a perception of time."

but maybe that's what we need as humans, or at least being part of society.. it's common ground for all of us, we're all given the same 24 hours as the person next to us.

so yeah, i'm starting a new year.. and i'm writing in my blog only one week after the new year's kicked in.

you'll have to bear with me as the tone of this blog begins to change.. and this will basically be my self-indulgent space of expression.

all i can say, is that if you're interested in the misadventures of brian leery, then by all means, keep checking back here or subscribing to the RSS feeds. most of my thoughts on social media and public relations will be moved to www.the-open-room.com, and my observations and theories about media, technology and culture will be taking place at singularity industries.

i'm not making hard and fast rules to control where the conversations take place.. it's just gonna be fluid, and you might see certain topics crossing blogs. but it's all part of an experiment, and how i want to reignite that passion in blogging.

there's no real theory surrounding this, just a used-to-be passionate blogger trying to find his voice again.

i guess this is a year of new beginnings, whether it's in music, blogging, interests, friendships and life.. i'm just trying to be more positive. i think toward the end of last year, i felt like a dark cloud was following me, and i felt i shouldn't share that because i didn't want my clients or bloggers to think i was goinig nuts.

but i think i came out the other side, and maybe i'm not gonna be afraid of what other people think of a little jaded-ness in my life.

if anything, i think that's what i enjoyed about blogging, and reading blogs.. those little insights and glimpses into another person's life. and i'm not saying that all blogs should follow my example of candor, i just think you gotta know what voice works for you. and i think this works for me.

so to recap, i'm maintaining three blogs now.

harmless? bananas!
singularity industries
the open room

so yes, 2009 will be a year where i blog more!

flying.

2008-12-15T23:58:00.003+08:00

considering that i haven't been on a plane ever since i came back to Singapore over two years ago, it seems rather apt that i've entitled this post as it is.

two years ago, at about this time, i finished my final semester in uni, got on a plane from perth and landed in Singapore. subsequently, i got on another plane and left for Hong Kong to do mission work with my then churchmates from Perth. we went around Hong Kong during the festive period doing street acts and performances in school, to tell the story about God's love for us all.

coincidentally, two years later at about the same time in December, i'll be leaving on a plane again, this time to East Timor. it'll be different from the urban sprawl of Hong Kong, and i don't really know what to expect this time. in some sense, i haven't had much time to think about what i'll be doing in East Timor. I've just gotten back from the office, and i need to pack, head to church and write a script for a short skit that we can perform for some community outreach that we're doing.

do. do. and do more.

that seems to be the mantra for this year.. not taking time to pause and reflect.

but i'm still leaving.. to what, i don't really know. and while it may seem blase.. a part of me is also filled with faith, that this was a deliberate act, and choice.. and to also get behind the reason for the season.

see y'all when i get back this Saturday -)

i am a huge nerd.

2008-12-12T15:35:00.000+08:00

i think i'm spiraling from geek-dom to n3rd-dom because i laughed myself silly watching this video:

awesome shortcuts from alpkan kirayoglu on Vimeo.

taken from the Rhode Island School of Design Blog and contributed by one of my heroes, John Maeda

Does The Net Encourage Good Reading?

2008-12-11T22:34:00.000+08:00

i did something rather unfamiliar today, i bought two magazines, Wired and Fast Company to be exact.

in an age where print mediums are going extinct as fast as dinosaurs, many are moving online, finding an 'afterlife' in the cloud, the net, the web.. whatever you want to call it.

"all print goes online" as akin to "all dogs go to heaven"

but i bought two magazines, on the strength of their cover story. take a look at these two cover stories for the month of December:

Wired: Saving Microsoft - Can Ray Ozzie fix the house that Bill Built? By Steven Levy

Fast Company: CISCO Gets Radical - How CEO John Chambers is turning the Tech Giant into a Socialist Enterprise. By Ellen McGirt

if online is the afterlife for print publications, why did they die?
- falling circulation numbers
- falling subscribers
- they all lead to falling advertisement revenue and as a business, print cannot survive.

And yet i picked up these two magazines, and i'm going to make it a habit to read habitually from this medium for the following reasons:

1. the strength of their journalism
- aggregated content, not just an opinion, but a valued piece of content from some of the best writers, best editors, who can spot trends, aggregate information and cut through the clutter. in other words, i value the opinion of the writer the same way i value my web heroes, so what else is there?

2. the reliability of the medium
- as long as the publication stays in business, you can expect it in your news stands at the stipulated date each day / week / month. furthermore, i'm not reliant on connectivity, power.. if i see something worth reading, i pass the magazine to my friend (without needing to tag it on delicious, or any other "share this" option.)

3. the form factor of print
- until the day we develop electronic paper, what i have in my hands is not something as cumbersome as a desktop, heavy as a laptop, but something light i can fit in my bag without needing to squint my eyes on an iPhone sized screen. it's portable enough to take anywhere, and i can still interact with it in a variety of non-digital ways.

- content also comes into play here. good, incisive writing that has been trained or designed to be read slowly and carefully. not the haphazard plageristic or schizophrenic writing style that plagues so many dime-a-dozen bloggers. in the speed it takes to beat someone else to news, we just don't take our time to carefully measure our words for maximum impact. it's a celebration of everything that made writing great to begin with! slow reading on a sunday afternoon with a book, newspaper or magazine just isn't the same if it were on a laptop (but you might argue that as my personal preference.)

4. only the best survive
- i sure hope this is true. that good publications stay in print so long as collectively we deem them worthy to be read by the masses (though i will argue that sometimes the masses just aren't always right.) but so far, we've undeservingly lost some great publications, but there are plenty that are still in circulation.

- my contention is that we have so many newspapers, magazines, blogs, videos, microblogs and social networks.. that we've inflicted this tough competition of media channels on ourselves. human consumption and consumerism has bred so many magazines that should never have been published in the first place, and on a more amplified level, the number of online publications and blogs. Anyone can publish - i won't take that right away.. but i sure as hell am keeping my right of reading what i want.

my closing thoughts are these, learn to enjoy reading and making meaning of what you read. maybe print isn't for everyone. i don't know if my children will grow up without ever knowing what print is.. but i think there's a cultural price to all this.. to not take your time to read AND write. if we don't make meaning from these basic forms of media, will the quality of media suffer drastically? so what if you have the power of hyperlinks or multimedia if content suffers?

as a special feature, you can read the Wired cover story here, and if you do get your hands on the magazine, you can tell me if you find it any different -)

Wired: 16.12 Ray Ozzie Wants To Push Microsoft Back Into Startup Mode

unplugged

2008-12-08T23:49:00.002+08:00

so i was at a retreat over the weekend. somewhere in the western part of singapore, Neo Tiew Road to be exact. if you need a reference point, it's where all the cemetaries are are further down.

but it was rather good.. i won't bore you per se with the lessons i've learnt whilst there, but not having jumped online for about 2 days.. i feel kind of 'lost' now that i'm back in the land of broadband.

now that i'm connected again.. it just feels rather unnerving that the 'rest' is over. it's like being online almost reminds me of work.. and i don't really like that.

What did you do on World AIDS Day?

2008-12-02T13:28:00.001+08:00

AIDS has always been a bit of a taboo subject, after all, it is a disease often associated with drug abuse or casual unprotected sex, activities often going against the status quo of society.

But i think something needs changing, more light needs to be shed on what is ultimately more than just taboo or what we think we know. In countries like Africa, the disease has become an epidemic, due to lack of education on protected sex or the dangers of drug abuse. The disease is often passed on to children, and you know what? there is no cure yet.

and whether we contracted the disease due to our own negligence, or we were an innocent victim, do we all not have a right to treatment that can help such victims that has claimed so many lives? regardless your moral judgment (which so many of us tend to have.) this is more a cry out for compassion and love, values not bound by prejudices.

back in the 90's, AIDS was much more fearsome, people died within months. but advances in medicine can help HIV victims survive and be a part of society. and this is the sigma i'm talking about, sometimes perhaps we still cringe at the thought of someone with AIDS. vestiges of the stories we were told before as kids perhaps?

i'd like to highlight this video that World Community Grid (full disclosure: World Community Grid is a client of mine.) put on youtube on World Aids Day to share more about the stigmas and facts regarding AIDS, and how we can help in research projects like FightAIDS@Home and find a cure to this disease:

i hope you can join us. ridz has already started a team called "small changes" where you can join other Singaporeans in making a contribution to help the world.

Interesting links
World Community Grid website
World Community Grid Youtube Channel Learn more about WCG and its other projects)
Action For Aids
Love Amplified - World AIDS Day Concert

the need for a cause.

2008-12-01T14:24:00.001+08:00

it's been awhile since something arrested my thoughts, and jolted me to truly want to understand the state of the world we live in.

more than my thoughts on social media, corporate values and even introspective catharsis.. in my world, they pale in comparison to what's really going on in the world today.

as the business world continues to revolve on its own axis, and the gears of our economy start to slow down, the recent terror attacks in mumbai, india have gripped me with a sort of "what is going on in the world?"

9/11 happened when i was sailing on a ship in the middle of the south china sea. to a certain extent, it never happened, although the ripples of such an act affected my way of life.

today, the death of a singaporean, Lo Hwei Yen, as a direct result of terrorist activity bursts the bubble, that singapore is safe.

even if singapore were safe, does that mean we put our heads in the sand and pretend that it doesn't affect us? i think i voice a rather singaporean condition of "minding my own business".

i'd like to offer a second opinion, that it is my business. when you hurt one of my countrymen, it could well have been one of my own family members, because they might have been the victim when a terrorist decides to attack.

the need for a cause, the terrorists have theirs, albeit misaligned. as dk intelligently mentions, neither should our cause.

what is this cause? that we should never forget, that we will rise above, that we can change the world around us. and why should we speak out against the evils of the world? because we all share the same planet, because we all co-exist, whether terrorist or not. no one is better than the other, no one should be oppressed or be trapped in fear like that.

we need a cause, to rouse us up from our slumber of "minding our own business". we need to care, we need to know, we need to get involved if we're ever going to make this world a better place, a place we would bring our children into, a place where we can love each other.

Lo Hwei Yen is perhaps the first of more Singaporean terror victims. things might get tougher, so will our fight, to live a life worth living, and a death without regrets.

you can leave message at Lo Hwei Yen's memorial here. LINK

why do we have blogger events?

2008-11-28T00:15:00.000+08:00

it was gonna happen sooner or later, but i think people might be starting to get sick of reading about blogger events, or at least start making fun of them. -)

but Shelly does make a very important crtique about the state of the way social media is being engaged in Singapore.

if you're wondering what this means to the PR practitioner, new social marketer, the digital advertiser, blogger or all-in-one communications extraordinaire, have a read and we can always discuss -)

Singapore's social media landscape background: agencies and corporations in Singapore probably started experimenting with blogger engagement in early 2006. i remember Fleishman Hillard's LG Blogger seeding programme quite well. Seed bloggers with LG Shine phones, no strings attached and invite them to write an honest review.

2007, i joined Ogilvy Singapore's Digital Influence practice, and promptly got started connecting and engaging with some of Singapore's bloggers. Other agencies and marketing managers also started their own engagement programmes, and blogger events became the 'standard' way of engaging bloggers.

engagement is one thing. what about community building? what about building the relationship between brand and blogger?

i guess these are the signs of Singapore's blogosphere maturing. as communications practitioners, we should be ready to meet the present and future needs of communications.

what are such future needs?

1. community building / involvement
- whether you like it or not, the net has brought us closer together. some bloggers have chosen to maintain their privacy, let's respect that. but there is also a growing community of well.. communities. Ping.SG, Singapore Plurkers, fans of local bands, political advocates, social media enthusiasts, photography groups, driving enthusiasts, food reviewers, travel writers, philanthropic bloggers, technopreneurs.. etc.

is your BRAND getting involved?
and as a blogger, what is your PASSION?

2. the cutting edge of communications
- i'm never satisfied with doing what everyone else is doing. call it divine discontent. if you look right, i look left. and because i've always been critical of the media, i decided to study about it in university, and found myself working a job in the media industry.

- the net has given everyone a voice, but some voices are louder than others. but the net has also connected people, and made it easier to communicate, spread information, organise events, and where i find a lot of value, bringing people together.

- this means, i meet like-minded people who talk about social media, who see it as more than just events, and coverage, but the walking together of owning your own community. not that you're the leader, but you're a part of. in church, we talk about taking ownership of one's ministry, or responsibility. it's the same thing, taking ownership of your community, is to work to build, improve, and make each community you're a part of, the best that it can be.

- having said that, we have to be on the cutting edge, laying a good foundation that "social media" has helped empower her users, and not merely be a house of cards or dot.com bubble 2.0

3. Your audience matures
- there's only so much longer before people become more media literate. my parent's generation didn't necessarily grow up with a television

- i grew up with the television, and to a certain extent, the Internet.

- there's a whole generation that is now growing up with mobile broadband Internet. if i think i'm so great with my suite of web2.0 tools, i cannot begin to imagine what we'll see in the future.

- as hardware improves, so will software, so will communications, so will how we make use of technology

- growing up in a mediated environment might naturally make us more cynical and skeptical of what the mass mediums put out. today's underground is tomorrow's mainstream. people may find it harder and harder to believe something they've read, watched or heard. they need to make their own truths, and to believe in something, means they have to publish it themselves.

- i forsee an explosion of content producers in less than five years, as today's 14 year olds develop tomorrow's new web platform.

- as a communicator, will you mature along with your audience?

no shame in asking.

2008-11-22T19:42:00.003+08:00

we ask "why" because we do not know.
"what if" because we live in the present. because of what happened in the past.
we ask a lot of things, because we are only human.
because we are only one person, because we have limitations.
yet we ask. as if it were a very part of our instinct. we were born, to ask questions, to make meaning, to learn.

to have fear, to have doubt, to question the consequences of our actions. to be "weak" and "ignorant" by not knowing.

yet, it seems we have placed the mantle of "God", "omniscience", "exhaustive knowledge" as measurements of success. but we are only human. mortal. and we extinguish off the face of the earth. nobody cares, nobody should. life and death, the endless cycle. what's past is past, what we do today or tomorrow will never change that. what we do tomorrow, is not what we would have done today.

if we knew it all, we could never learn.

good boys don't make mistakes to learn from.

how Apple will continue to pwn the recession.

2008-11-21T02:14:00.002+08:00

this is two good not to share.
taken off wired.com (possibly a geek's tabloid of unnecessary information)

the little things.

2008-11-21T01:51:00.003+08:00

i'm happy. Gundam 00 Season 2, every character is finding more resolve, and by episode 7, Allelujah and Mary.. well.. -)))

I found the Monocle podcast and my iPhone is now pimped for awesome. Feed here

if you were wondering, Monocle is one of the most informative and exciting design publications in these modern times. So if you have an interest in the art, science and business of anything design related, feed your need!

Rolling Stones and The Who have also been added to my iPod. i guess i'm happy with the new "old" music.

oh! and a slew of extra blogging gigs. i'll be posting a regular column over at waking up to... and gonna title it "sporeradic saturdays (or sundays) as a spotlight on local music. my current joy, a vacant affair. loving their new material, and their album launch on 26 December. save the date!

also, my guest post at sisterhoodftw! SisterhoodFTW is a blog that sheds some light on Christian living for women. it's not some self-help guide (heaven forbid), but just some real opinions about the Christian faith in these modern times, and how we're all really struggling with the same themes of acknowledgment, atonement, love, guilt, struggle, mistakes and ultimately, how we make sense of our faith. my guest post was Man-day Mondays: Of Monsters and Men have a read!

till next time, break on through!

take this cup from me

2008-11-11T02:07:00.003+08:00

listening to pedro the lion is like having coffee with a long lost friend. cheesy as that sounds.

it was a constant companion to my playlist back in uni.. though i didn't have a girlfriend, nor was i breaking up, nor going thru any emotional upheaval, there was something about the song 'options' that was both tragic and hopeful at the same time.

"... i could never divorce you
it's always good to have options...
but for now, i need you..."

the simplicity in songwriting, arrangement, accompaniment, melody.. they all somehow found a frail place in the universe, took root and somehow.. spread their tendrils into the corners of my heart.

B-roll footage from David Bazan's upcoming "Alone at the Mic" DVD

once a blood red moon, twice i turn my back on you

2008-11-09T23:22:00.003+08:00

i remember a time when blogging was familiar, and cathartic.

tonight.. im rediscovering some of that joy, but in a different light.

blogging used to mean, capturing the present, but tonight as i read entries of old, both friends and myself.. it brings a bit of joy, and accomplishment.. that we've all come a long way.. we've given up on some of our dreams.. we've faced setbacks.. but we've also made it this far.

some aspects of my life seem unfamiliar, some still ring true. it doesn't really matter because all we have is now.. and it's not like the past was always the correct path.

if we've deviated from what we were originally meant for, it's a sad thing.

but if we moved from things that were destroying us, it's a happy thing.

somewhere in between all of that.. the thing that pricks me the most is that i think i've been moving away from something i was originally meant for.

but what a great 2008 it's been. i started on the brink of adulthood with starting a job, i've been really blessed to keep it.. and do so many other great things like playing baybeats, recorded an EP, and still jamming with many more musicians.. and making new friends and meeting new people.

it's still a hard life, and figuring out who i am as an adult, but these little things, they make it easier, and perhaps even worth struggling for.

i really should update this more often..

2008-11-08T18:22:00.004+08:00

greetings fellow mortals.

i have been away from the familiar blank pages of blogger, and it's not like i missed it entirely. hmmmm.. i don't know why this is the case.. one or two years ago i could never stop blogging, but now.. now it seems like the furthest thing on my mind. well, not exactly the furthest, but maybe it's got something to do with doing more things not related to blogging.

for starters, i'm playing fallout 3, and it's a massive massive game. it's an RPG (Role Playing Game) that is so extensive in terms of character development that between my friends and i, we've all had different experiences interacting with the non-playable characters of the game.

another big part of the game is it's supporting online universe. while it isn't multiplayer, there's a wealth of information like the Fallout wiki and viral site, prepare for the future.

i absolutely love this game, it's story and universe they've created.. currently i've set myself up as a good guy and known as "ranger of the wastes". i love the post apocalyptic steam punk elements in everything! from the vast wasteland, to intricate details like propaganda material in a future that looks like it was stuck in the 1940s.

la di da.. what else? i've been super busy jamming every sunday with kevin matthews who will be recording a 15th anniversary EP of The Watchmen. i count it as an honour to be playing alongside one of Singapore music's stalwart icons, and he's just an incredible human being as well. i learn so much in our conversations, and the wealth of experience Kevin has! omigosh, this guy's a walking encyclopedia and history book of all things pop culture AND singapore.

so that's it, two weeks without any updates and you get this brainfart. and that's discounting all the other things like multiple projects in the workplace and.. hrmmm.. i dunno..

see you next blog post!

Who says nothing good ever comes out of using vulgarities?

2008-10-14T11:48:00.001+08:00

We got a freakhog distinction for shooting this documentary back when we were film students in murdoch university in 2004.

the idea came out from nowhere, with some unconventional titles. "!" was chosen because you couldn't really say it, and yet.. as a punctuation mark, it means so much. After that, the content naturally flowed..

what were we comfortable with?
what's uniquely singaporean?
does it make us special?

i think this documentary shows how language is a cultural force so many of us take for granted. And in even more extremes, cussing and swearing are language tools we use to connect with each other!

Enjoy!

! from Brian Koh on Vimeo.

this week in harmless? bananas! 04/10 - 11/10

2008-10-11T22:11:00.003+08:00

i'm gonna try and maintain a weekly log at least, to remember the highlights that happened. it's increasingly difficult to maintain a daily log, and seeing some folk like uniquefrequency and vantan doing it inspired me to do the same. at least, it gives me the discipline to keep blogging, and maintain relationships. or whatever it is we do online these days.

4/11 (Sat)
i attended Social Media Breakfast 4. it was organised by claudia, derrick, daryl, sheylara, shermeen and dorothy.. and i was commend everyone on a great job. i met many familiar faces, and many news ones as well. mainly PR and Marketing people. there's been a lot of buzz around social media breakfast, and great to see more people interested in what social media is all about, and how we can make this a great experience for everyone. i share my thoughts in the video below.

Special Report: Social Media Breakfast 4 Breadcrumbs #1: Metrics Vs. Relevance from Brian Koh on Vimeo.

i was also rather blessed to attend 2008's Active Ager Awards where the Council for Third Age recognises senior citizens who embrace life, and lead fulfilling and healthy lives even in their senior years. did you know that some of them blog, climb mountains and are even rollerblading instructors? and they're all above sixty! Lordy!

5/10 (Sun)

i remember going to church, having practice with kevin matthews and recording a 'lil special something for pat law and her love. i think she does a better job explaining, so do check the link out if you wanna see what leeson's been up to. Link

7/10 (Tues)
Finally met up with some uni friends and it was great catching up. think i should do it more often!

8/10 - 10/10
Working late in the office. a bit of a bummer.. but at least things got done.

11/10
catching up with Battlestar Galactica. I watched episodes one till seven of season four. wow. and now i'm blogging.

the problem with over-thinkers

2008-09-27T19:36:00.002+08:00

so here's how it is.

i think too much, maybe waaaayy too much.

a thinking man is not sexy, in fact it's a curse, because we tend to think about all the evidence and possible outcomes that it paralyzes you.

and a man who doesn't act.. is really not much of a man at all.

it's good to have faith, but faith without works is dead. the good intention, the brilliant strategies, the things that make the world a better place, don't get implemented.

i don't know if one can stop the mind from racing too far ahead before the body can catch up. the mind is capable of so much more, that surpasses human and physical limitations. the mind, does not always live in the same reality as the physical body.

it is able to dream, imagine, prophecy and predict either the utopia or the apocalypse

but everything is meaningless if it does not come to pass.

LitfordTV Episode 2: The one about Hellboy Comics, Cookies and Swedish Electronica

2008-09-23T12:34:00.003+08:00

LitfordTV Episode 2: Hellboy comics, cookies & Swedish Electronica from Brian Koh on Vimeo.

Hey! I'm back with the second episode!! More goodness in the form of comic books, finished cookies and another awesome music recommendation: little dragon

Also, have yourselves a laugh with my BAD Jack Bauer jokes and never getting the framing right when i try to show you something..

Beyond Blogs

2008-09-22T14:23:00.000+08:00

This post has been brewing inside my head for about one or two weeks, and i thought, i might as well whack the initial thoughts out while they're still fresh, so here goes:

Beyond blogs, there's more to it right? i mean, afterall, it's only been the last two to three years that communications and marketing people are starting to take blogging more seriously. Already in Singapore, we see more and more bloggers being invited for press events, blog advertising is becoming more sophisticated, going beyond banner ads into more community centric events, or at the very least advertorials.

but make no mistake, we have not arrived, all this is just birth pangs and teething problems. blogging will continue to evolve, or the blogger will. and along with it, communication, marketing and advertising practices.

yongfook talks about the evolution of blogs into lifestreams. We interact with the internet so much, that lifestreams will basically aggregate our online experiences, a somewhat centralised point where people can be kept up to date about our activity on the net. kinda like leaving virtual breadcrumbs. all picked up by RSS readers of course.

friendfeed and sweetcron are the possible first manifestations of this future. you can check my friendfeed on my sidebar. everything also gets aggregated to my tumblog

So what do i mean by "Beyond Blogs"? Well, as the communications industry and corporate entities start paying more attention to bloggers, recognising us as part of the communications ecosystem, inviting us in their conversations, activities, press conferences, product reviews.. etc. we're already seeing how blogs and bloggers are evolving.

this is where some of my fear and paranoia lie, especially as a communications practitioner. what sort of blogging culture are we breeding with our media activity? do we see the blog as a tool? or the blogger as the tool?

there's a stark difference in this. i value the blogger. i think the blogger and their ideas, conversations are what i'm interested in when we conduct media activity. the blog in that sense, should be the least of your concerns. there are so many ways BESIDES the blog to share information and have conversation, and yes.. these conversations are increasingly happening online.

and with communications practitioners constantly reaching out to bloggers, what culture are we perpetuating? i won't go into much specifics, but i hope it won't become a festering pool of product placement, fake shakey-cams passing off as "reality", or ungenuine reviews and reporting. what's the point in all that?

communication that matters, is when it's genuine, transparent and meaningful. but i think that's too much of an ideal, there will always be some corporate matters that stay corporate matters. Maybe if we all thought carefully of what our businesses are about, we would know how to communicate it to the media, to the people.

by starting on the this train of thought, the concept that goes "beyond blogs", is to perhaps envision a future where media and public life are asynchronus. where press events can become public events, afterall.. everyone has a media capture device these days. and we'll get our share of professional media, and personal media.

it's earstwhile to highlight this post by Chris Anderson, who champions the passionate amateur, as opposed to the bored journalist. LINK

he's a bit biased, but i agree with him. but i believe thie bored journalist happens when they've lost their lustre to write. we still have great journalism today, and some very memorable ones in the past. and good journalist deliver a value that sometimes even the most passionate amateur may not be able to deliver. perhaps a skill, a flair, a trained insight, the kind of thing that only professionalism can give you.

but i'm not discounting passionate amateurs, who go out of their way to find the information that makes the most sense to micro-audiences, and sometimes, very wide audiences... increasingly, this line is getting blurred.

different motivations for very different writers. in that sense, whether paying a blogger is something we want to discuss, i say that as more journalists find themselves blogging, and as more bloggers find themselves being credible, responsible and professional, there's a middleground where both meet to be writers/bloggers/content producers that get paid.

in the future, we HAVE to see more content producers, as audiences get increasingly fragmented, post modern, searching for different facets of the truth, that there will be a breed of digital natives that are credited, and regarded to present that truth, or at least a facet of it.

will it go beyond eyeballs and readership, subscription numbers? i don't know per se.. but i'm very interested in any conversation around that.

but the media network of the future will be far more interesting, more brazen, more truth seekers.. but it'll also be harder to tell the truth from lie, from signal vs. noise.. it could go either way. i don't know if i dare predict utopia.. i envision more happening, but whether or not it ends up as a good thing, depends on how we wield our tools now.

today.

spelling out your soul.

2008-09-19T01:02:00.003+08:00

interesting now that i'm making time to blog, and learning to let the words flow again.. i don't feel as if i carry certain burdens.

blogging is definitely cathartic for me, especially when i'm not trying to prove anything. just pure, unbridled passion when it comes to putting words together.

sometimes you blog to communicate an idea or message. this is not one of those times.. it's just pure, unbridled hurling of language, broadcasting, publishing, remembering how to live

it's all a bit self indulging, i'll be the first to admit that. but this is more than just publishing, online reputation management, or whatever it is we blog for these days.

this is the self-indulgant side of the writer, not to whinge or unfairly criticise someone else to vindicate one's injustice.. this is the manic, fervent side of writing.. the part that doesn't really get filtered and you trust your instincts, skills and own character when you go straight from brain to screen.

this is how i started, and what i want to remember, to retain, or retrain that essence.. the character of the writer, the ideal of the auteur.. the paradox that in being so open with my thinking.. it's actually a barrier to other people.. because maybe only "i" truly understand what i'm typing.

being a good writer requires a certain kind of discipline and talent.. both of which i think can be cultivated. i see this excercise as developing that raw discipline and talent.. to start good habits, carve yourself a groove so that when you need to pull the skills out, you can. you don't have to wait for inspiration to hit you.. rather, you're always inspired.

the way your words flow, the pacing you use with punctuation, the tone based on what words you use and how your string them together.. language and writing is truly one of the conerstones of any culture, any clue that our humanity is more than cells, mitochondria, dna, hormones, chemical imbalances, subatomic particles.

the ghost in the shell.. as if it were from another world, keeping it all together..

concert going

2008-09-19T00:55:00.001+08:00

i will be watching three of the most awesome bass players of our time tomorrow!

The absolute most embarrassing thing i have done online: LitfordTV Pilot Episode

2008-09-18T12:17:00.000+08:00

LitfordTV Pilot Episode: Who, Why & Black Mountain from Brian Koh on Vimeo.

My first solo vodcast appearance. I talk about who's influenced my vodcasting, why and i sneak in a great band i discovered recently: Black Mountain

Okay. first things first, this is a very big Work In Progress as i struggle to find out what works, and what doesn't. by that i mean, the mis-en-scene, content, length of the video, even my "errmmmms" and nervous pauses.

but that's the fun part! my first.. vodcast about my life? i welcome all comments, be honest but don't be a hater!

my first thoughts about vodcasting, is that it's rather unnatural and narcissistic, talking to yourself, and having a conversation with yourself. there are no other talking points to pick of!

It would also help if i had a specific thread or theme that i wanted to comment on. initially, i wanted it to be like an MTV host sharing videos and bands. it MIGHT evolve into that, but that means no to Youtubes 10min hosting, and using more Vimeo. Well, if you like my music programme, i might make it that -)

tired.

2008-09-17T20:08:00.002+08:00

i am tired. not of anything (in particular). but more so physically. i really could leave the office now, but somehow, i just thought i'd come into my blog to tell you that.

i'm looking forward to my bus-ride back, packing in the ipod. already know i'm going to be listening to wintersleep, and continue reading rohit's Personality Not Included.

wished i'd find more time to read, but even when i go back home, there're a thousand and one ways in which i could chill out, that i'll never be able to chill out enough. it's like i have a whole warehouse of chillout, that i do not look forward to the next day of work because i didn't finish what i set out to do.

and that's when chilling out becomes another task to strike off the list.

i hate that.

it makes no sense, does it? that relaxing activities become another list of tasks. i have no idea how it spiralled into this.. so maybe i will just.. not think about it. turn it off like a tap.

well, i'm glad i wrote this here, i wouldn't do it if i got home because.. i'd be doing something else. i still haven't mustred the discipline to blog regularly.

Lehman Bros. In Denial

2008-09-17T18:41:00.000+08:00

I wanted to do more research about Lehman Brothers right after the declared bankruptcy, but i couldn't resist highlighting this when it came up 3rd in Google searches.

I guess the last thing you want to do is invest in online corporate reputation management when you file for bankruptcy.

if there is a hell for people who tell jokes in bad taste, i fear i may end up there.

but from the bottem of my heart, my condolences go out to you if you have lost your job. it's not an easy time, and i don't want to make fun at any of you.

beyond buzzwords

2008-09-17T00:15:00.000+08:00

if traditional media enabled us to connect, by informing us about the world around us and gave us a common stage to have the same knowledge. then social media has enabled us to participate by allowing to publish anything, from text to multimedia.

participation requires connection, it is a step up from merely being in the same room, you need to say something in order to be heard.

that's the main difference i see between the media we used to have, and the media we currently have. and so, you need a new media strategy, not because you want to exist in the mindshare of the public, but because you want to participate with them in their conversations.

simple enough?

one of my best friends

2008-09-16T13:56:00.000+08:00

why my good friend, masamania gets along so well with me:

masamania says:
man they have this "who's who of x x x company" display at the reception

masamania says:
my "favourite saying" is damn cock!

masamania says:
"jump kick low kick forward forward heavy punch katsu katsu unagi don!"

brian. causing pimply adolescents to face melt since 1982 says:
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

brian. causing pimply adolescents to face melt since 1982 says:
that's awesome dude

masamania says:
other ppl is things like "Walk the talk"

masamania says:
"It's the journey, not the destination"

masamania says:
and mine appears

masamania says:
its damn cock la

masamania says:
hahahhaahahahahahhaa

uploading my thoughts, being part of the greater whole. (we exist)

2008-09-11T01:49:00.003+08:00

i first pushed "publish" more than five years ago. it was the thirty-first of january 2003 (i checked). i was still in the army then, and i had no idea that i'd see myself this far down the future.

call it a bit of a retrospect, but so much has changed since then (i was 21 when i started the blog) and i just turned 26 two days ago. add the time between finishing national service, 3.5 years studying in murdoch, perth and almost a year and a half in an agency, i'd say things have pretty much evolved from when i was just a wee lad in my early twenties.

for starters, coming full circle, i started this blog as an extension of myself, then i got embroiled in turning this into a professional mouthpiece, but now, i'm inclined to return to my roots. That this blog is me. it's gonna be a meepok blog as uniquefrequency describe diarist style blogs. why is this important to me? well.. i do my professional blogging elsewhere, namely the open room and i'd like to keep this space my little broadcast to the interwebs. a space where i can remember, and converse without corporate strings tugging.

i think this is essential to maintaining some sort of personality and identity to my craft as a blogger (if i can even call it that). futurebureau explained it nicely when he IMed me this morning, saying that'd he'd blog to benefit a user's online experience. for me, that's partly where i'd like to take my blog to, and also.. to help you see the world through my eyes. not that i have anything better to offer, but that's why i started reading blogs in the first place, to see things through your eyes.

i refer to this video from ghost in the shell: stand alone complex. tachikomas are wondering why we humans still use words to communicate with each other. why indeed? for starters, as sophisticated as language is, it really is rather primitive, only in terms of how it can be transferred. if what the tachikomas say is true, then if you and me formed a data link, you would instantly know how i was thinking, feeling, tasting, seeing.. my five senses would be uploaded to you straight away. but still, here we are on blogs, evolving as blogs are, larger data packets, more multimedia, audio, visuals.. but we're still limited by what we can do, or what our abilities are.

you can watch the video now:

but that's exactly what keeps us human perhaps. that even in a data link, i'm still me and you're still you. even if i experienced in all five senses what you experienced, i cannot put it into the context of you. in other words, i can't transfer my soul to you and vice versa. as human beings, dare we say we are more than experiences, cells and subatomic particles?

i know i majored in mass communications back in uni, but it's this other side of our non-professional selves that i'm interested in. what do we share with each other that makes us human? i do think that one of the reasons that we share, whether online or not, is to elicit a response for something or someone else. to validate our existence, that proves we are not just a figment of imagination, not just a passing of time in the vast cosmos.

and we do that by sharing things. social media has made it easier, it's been used effectively by entities and people to better understand where we're all coming from. i don't know if it's the fulfilment of the dialogue, but i believe we've only taken a step forward in terms of communicating, or finding new ways to communicate. we can now have threaded conversations and everyone can crowdsource and be part of a discussion. we are no longer bound by geography, language (language bots), audio visual aids and etc. the gift of the internet is unbridled communication tools. but the beauty and mystery of conversation and dialogue, still lies with the human. who moves like a reed in the wind, fluid, taking the story wherever he goes. to those who will listen.

What my friends think of me

2008-09-03T19:37:00.002+08:00

According to Facebook's Superlatives application, my friends think that i am most likely to...

1. get arrested for streaking
2. end up in prison
3. achieve nirvana
4. live happily ever after
5. save the environment from global warming
6. have the best personality
7. have the best pick up lines
8. become famous
9. see the good in (almost) everyone

however, they do not think that i am most likely to...

1. succeed
2. have the best laugh
3. sing in the shower
4. say something perfectly innocent and sound dirty
5. have every facebook application
6. love puppies
7. need therapy
8. take entirely too long to get ready to go out

mmmmmmmmm... pretty insightful, hahaha.. guess i'm one of those 'nice guys' who finish last.

Blog title...

2008-09-03T19:17:00.001+08:00

Back to moblogging on a regular phone that surfs WAP. Remarkably simple and backwards compatible which is what i'm all about even though i'm a technology freak. How do we empower the every voice? Technology that benefits mankind should be as simple as possible, but have maximum results. Only then will it become ubiquitous. Service that is ubiquitous, then new markets are created, and then hopefully providers will start selling us what we need, then it involves to what we want.. And then everything gets saturated and then something new comes along.

the pairing of twins in the twilight

2008-09-01T02:15:00.001+08:00

it's creeping somewhere in the dark corners of my heart, this discontentment that life is more than material posessions, packed out crowds and the emotional tingling of fancy and fleeting companionship

no, this is the void, the blatent scream for a love that does not fail, does not disappointment, and gives life. offers rest to the weary, puts a new song in your heart, makes you fall in love over and over again

love is a powerful thing, it's more than an emotion, it's more than a state of being, it's more than i love you's and wedding rings.

love is a sacrifice that you will be heartbroken, that the more you love, the more it might cost you, and yet... love exists

a new day, another brick in the wall

2008-09-01T02:10:00.003+08:00

it's september. eight months since the start of the year, and we're starting the ninth month from now on.

it was gestation, the seeds that were sown at the start of the year are now in their last month before birth. is this what it's like? to have life growing inside of you?

i gave birth to stillborn dreams

My Band Is Playing At The Esplanade Tonight!!!

2008-08-29T14:45:00.001+08:00

If you've heard of Baybeats, good for you! It's the region's largest indie rock festival, and my band's playing there tonight!

Where: Esplanade Outdoor Theatre (Nokia Arena)
When: Tonight! 29 August 2008, 8pm
Why: You and Leeson, we make HAPPY FUN TIME!
Web: www.leesonband.com

I've been playing in this band for about four years now, and I'm just really stoked that we're getting a chance to play at Baybeats this year! We're playing a killer set of all originals which you can sample at our myspace, www.myspace.com/leesonsg. It's really easy poppy music, and you can download music there. If not, you can also buy our EP at our show tonight at only $2!!!

It's called Speed Dating:

Here are some pictures from our soundcheck yesterday:

View of the stage

My side of the stage

Kickass drum platform to show the drummer

Some stage banter, telling everyone to come for Baybeats!!

If i looked down, this is what i'd see.. also the most awesome bass pedals in the world!

Hope to see you there, and come say hi! -)))
Peace and Rocks! \m/

oh sleep the light away

2008-08-29T03:50:00.003+08:00

i'm still awake. not that it matters, i'm on leave tomorrow. or rather, i'm on leave today. i'm content. playing a big show tomorrow, having people around me that matter, i am not in debt, slightly hungry but i'm already dreaming of kaya toast for brekkie and a good lunch.

it's not that i've arrived, but the joy that all your hard work these past twenty six years have somewhat paid off.

it's been ten years since we formed the band, four years since we formed Leeson and we're finally playing baybeats. it's an achievement four years in the making, and then what next? i don't know.. it feels great to be here already, let me savour this for a bit more -)

the future can scare and delight all at the same time, what lies in store? yet we give in to our fear most of the time instead of living each day as a gift. all we have is now, rings true then, rings true now, probably rings true tomorrow. i'll be glad if i wake up tomorrow, please don't let it rain

What is your art?

2008-08-27T19:15:00.001+08:00

Counter-Terrorism
Originally uploaded by folkstar.

I'd almost forgot about motivational posters, so i did one of my own with the first thing that came to mind.

Xbox Xperts Yes, But Social Media No?

2008-08-22T16:27:00.001+08:00

I'm just doing my rounds around the web, and came across sheylara's latest foray as a gaming blogger. i'm glad for her and proud of her that's she's worked (and blogged) hard to be given the title as an Xbox Xpert. (if you must know, i do approach her for some PlayStation stories as well. - and she's been ever so kind)

here's the thing i don't understand though, she has a successful blog, and blogs about gaming on her blog many times, in some sense, that's sort of what you go to www.sheylara.com for. so why go through all the hassle create a brand new Xbox blog and in some sense, fragment both Sheylara and XBox's media channels?

i understand that xperts.com is meant to be a help channel for Xbox n00bs to ask Sheylara for help, but all i see on that blog are game reviews and contest details. No real help-line there.

so far, i'm guessing they're only doing this for brand enhancement, perhaps adding organic relevancy to searches.. but those are rather long term goals. in the short term, all i see is further fragmentation of the gaming channel to convey messages.

here are some key points.

1. I agree that having a page dedicated to help newbies is important, i think it serves as education and breaks down barriers to entry. just look at get satisfaction - however -

2. i don't know if this blog (or even using a blog as a channel) is the most effective way to communicate the message. here's what i mean, blogs tend to spark conversation, but the newbie needs information. shouldn't the proposed new media channel be somewhere along the lines of direct communication or customer service?

3. i'm also concerned about continued fragmentation of new media channels to a point where there is no longer a critical mass that makes social content.. well, social at all! (ie. if you're a digital strategists, blogs aren't your only answer, or the only product you can sell to clients who need a communications solution)

4. lastly, i think they've identified the need. i don't think they've met it by starting a blog, would a forum have better sufficed?

5. -update- i stand corrected, there are dedicated help channels, but feedback from XBOXers tend to come from comments. i think threaded conversations ala forum archtecture better serves the purpose of getting up-to-date help.

overall, i guess i was hoping for better use of a blog. as it stands now, i think Sheylara is more popular than the Xpert blog, it'd be interesting to see if one supercedes the other.

well, what do you think?

We're launching our new EP!

2008-08-21T02:45:00.001+08:00

local music fans rejoice!

it is my distinct pleasure to announce that you'll soon be able to take a piece of Leeson home with you!

After two internet-only releases available on our Myspace, we will now be selling a 3-song EP entitled 'Speed Dating' at our live shows! this EP will feature two crowd favourites, 'Absolute Beginners' and 'Some Girls' and also a brand new single, 'Mr & Mrs' that we recorded with the very brilliant Kamal from Sound Advice

i think we've only played 'Mr & Mrs' twice, but people are already starting to like it, and we hope to do a lot more with it.

everything's in it's early stages, but i'm really psyched for baybeats which we're playing next Friday @ The Esplanade and that there'll be more opportunities to share our music with everyone -)

Thanks for all your support thus far! I hope you like the music.

you can listen to it all here: www.mysapce.com/leesonsg, and do check us out next friday!

it's not the night that cleanses your soul

2008-08-21T02:10:00.002+08:00

i'm out! out of reservist and back to work in about 7 hours time.

what a massive three weeks it's been, literally unplugging myself from Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, Blogging and the like.

and you know what? it was good. there's more to life than social media.

i think i got lost somewhere along the way after being hired to do public relations around social media. i think i had overburdened myself somewhere along the way with trying to do too many things at once, trying to add a large number of tools at my disposal so that i could reach out to influencers.

but they're just tools. at heart, it's not the constant state of being 'plugged in' that keeps me in touch with the bloggers i've met. nope, rather it's the friendships and interactions with them that make this part of the job worthwhile. i've gotten to know more people, and it's not just inviting bloggers and journalists to make up numbers, but getting to know them, what their interests are, and what their publication's interests are.

i'm also not saying that that it's because of relationships that i do more job, i think as professionals, it's important to do a professional job that is somewhat devoid of pulling favours from your contacts, but letting your outreach and events speak for themselves. that way, no one's keeping score, and no one should need to feel awkward in a social media situation -)

being away from media has also started me thinking about a lot of other things, namely the balance between work, life, hobbies and spiritual health. i've come back to the corporate world, hopefully with more zeal, excitement and perspective. the things that are important to me, and the things i can let go off.

Local Band Leeson Makes 'Some Girls' More Popular Than Others

2008-08-18T02:31:00.001+08:00

Local Singaporean band, Leeson (www.leesonband.com) have been making music since 2004, releasing a critically acclaimed EP 'Hero Music' in 2005 and have continued to wow audiences with grittingly fun pop music playing in venues such as the Esplanade, Stasis and Home Club.

By early 2008, they shifted gears by releasing their first single 'Absolute Beginners' on their myspace (www.myspace.com/leesonsg). This was the first inkling of new material by the band and was praised as wonderfully poppy by fans and would-be passer-bys.

After more than four months, Leeson releases its latest single "Some Girls"

Download the single by clicking here

Already hailed by fans as 'swirling melodies and choppy rhythms with a life of their own' and having evident 'britpop jauntiness', Leeson sets itself apart from her counterparts by writing songs that will only seem to cast the warm sunshine on your carefree face. Yes, all is right with the world when you're bopping along to music like this.

Upcoming Gigs
Leeson will be playing the very splendid Baybeats indie music festival! Catch us on te 29th August from 8pm at the brand new Nokia Arena! Join us and other stalwarts in local and indie music! (www.baybeats.com.sg for more details)

Official 'Making Of' Video

Reviews
Waking Up To by Morgan C. Hoax
Power of Pop by Kevin Matthews

For more information:
www.leesonband.com
www.myspace.com/leesonsg
www.twitter.com/leesonband
Facebook: Leeson Page
Email:info@leesonband.com

Reservist: The Other Story

2008-08-18T00:56:00.003+08:00

Going for reservist is like getting shingles. They are both 2nd stages of a dreaded disease (in the case of shingles, it's chicken pox). Nobody tells you that at the end of your Full Time National Service Liability, you still have to complete 3 low-key in camp trainings and 7 high-key in camp trainings.

i'm currently in the middle of a high key ICT, and i've just spent 6 days out in the field with no electricity, telecommunications, basic amenities or sanitation. the only thing i had to accompany me through idle moments were a book by Loren Cunningham and my journal.

i guess being away from modern life's creature comforts made me painfully aware about how dependent we are on today's modern conveniences.

not that there's anything wrong with clean, running water, or electricity at the flick of a switch or even a toilet that flushes. but we have set these as the standards of the basic necessities of life in an sprawling urban city or developing sector of town.

without them, we complain, jeer, start thinking about the better life.. i don't know, but life without modern convenience seemed like such a horrible scenario that i wondered how anyone could live without it.

but you know what? people do live like this everyday. i don't know if it's up to me to say if what they're experiencing is acceptable or not, but it did make me think of something else.

sometimes people worry if they'll even have the most basic of these necessities, but i worry so much more about privileges, rights and other luxuries, while others worry about tomorrow, i have long term financial concerns.

and also, not that we should any problem, regardless of social status, but i think we can all learn something from a lesson of the things that really matter, perhaps the things that could make our community a better place.

oh man, i know im not making much sense, but being away from so much has actually made me re-think and re-look a lot of the things i've currently been doing. it wasn't a life changing moment, but it was a welcome juncture in an otherwise on-going life that was losing direction.

Outfield was still tough though, i did not enjoy being unwashed, eating bland rations and not having any contact with the outside world for six days and nights.

Absence Without Leave

2008-08-05T21:39:00.002+08:00

I will be away for reservist from now till 20 August 2008. Hence the lack of updates.. but the Internets will be fine without me. -)

me and the fly

2008-07-27T12:21:00.002+08:00

was sitting at pool deck of my estate, and i was looking at this fly on the table. flying around from point A to point B, and i thought how cool it would be if us humans could be granted the same privilege.

but then it started walking, and it wouldn't travel very far. but we could, with our bipedal biological design, we were designed to walk vast and great distances.

and there was a purpose to everything, the way it was designed, to do certain things, and perhaps certain things alone.

What humour are you?

2008-07-22T23:55:00.002+08:00

Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...

Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.

Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barr

the Shock Jock

(57% dark, 50% spontaneous, 53% vulgar)

your humor style:
VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARK

go do a test now. like this one!

SPREAD IT! (ideas that spread are like an STD)

2008-07-15T17:21:00.000+08:00

okay, so what makes a piece of content shareable? almost everyday, i reach out to influencers, but is my content influencing? or even spreadable?

marketers like to call ideas that spread, the viral effect. it's like a disease, and then it becomes an epidemic. scary init?

but it still doesn't address that magick that makes you wanna go tell someone else, or in this case, infect.

let's look at the disease analogy more closely. in fact, let's look at it imagining it to be a sexually transmited disease like say.. syphyllis. (or genital warts)

so you suddenly find yourself with gential warts, you have an itch that needs scratching, and you don't sign yourself into rehab, in fact, what you still want to do, is sleep around regardless of the consequence.

okay, i exaggerate, but what i want to drive at, is this desire to fulfil your own needs, and in the process, you spread your disease. (unknowingly perhaps?) and your infected victims unknowingly spread it to someone else.

see, the idea is not genital warts (no one would sleep with you if you had them. note: make sure your ideas are not genital warts), the idea is desire.

you're sharing the desireability of your idea, that could be:

1. making someone else laugh
2. helping someone solve a problem
3. making someone more money
4. lifehacking someone else's processes
5. making myself / someone else extremely popular

we all have an itch that needs scratching, and that's what makes us want to spread it.

Trivia: how many times i've said "genital warts" in this post - 5

Inane MSN conversation with Nadnut

2008-07-04T18:34:00.000+08:00

so sue me if i'm borrowing nadnut's awesome star power to draw some more attention to my blog. but this was rather cute and i had to share it:

nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
actually i think most men are scared of me
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
weird
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahaha, srsly?
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
yeap
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahahaha, this is a potentially trapping question
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
if i say you're not.. you might think i dont give you enough credit
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
if i say you are.. then you might so im spineless and can't stand up for myself
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol this isnt a trapping question
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
im just wondering some men are scared of me
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
aside from squeezing manboobs, i think im rather harmless
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
even more harmless than your bananas

hevaens no! nadnut, you are absolutely adorable -)))

nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
but seriously, do i seem fierce
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
nono.. heaven's no
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
you're adorable
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
o.O
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
that's new
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
hahaha
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
i have a wide vocabulary
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
and i try to choose my words carefully
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
damnit
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
adorable is like cute = ugly but adorable
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
eck
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
AHA!
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
but in the equation
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
cute = ugly + adorable
brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:
adorable = cute - ugly
nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:
lol

Touching Is The New Secks

2008-07-01T14:14:00.000+08:00

You see it everywhere these days, many mobile devices are moving toward touch interfaces, from the Apple iPhones, HTC Touches and Samsung (I can't remember).

Design-wise, i think this is a good thing. handheld devices and touch technology go hand-in-hand, because i think it's intuitive. check out this video of firefox mobile for the iPhone if you need any more evidence that touch is more than just a fancy marketing gimmick, but it changes the way you interact with your tools:

Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

So imagine my eyes-widening when uniquefrequency and melvin invited me to their HP TouchSmart Blogger event. Now, this is interesting, i've always been organising Open Room events for bloggers, now it was a chance to finally be a blogger. And a tech event no less!

this is what we all came to see:

I hope I'll be honest and objective here. I do like the HP Touch Smart, i think HP have gone a long way to design a desktop that is intuitive to use, is a speaking point in any home or as a living room feature. this is a very sexy lifestyle product.

it runs on a special version of Windows Vista, so the aero interface goes very well with the physical black aesthetics, and it has the main entertainment features in play, coverflow for your music and videos, 22" HD screen to enjoy your digital photo albums, all at the touch of your fingertips. it literally causes you to rethink the way you approach a personal computer, especially when you're brought up using a mouse or keyboard. HP have included these peripherals, but i think if you want the true experience, you'd be touching. *ahem*

but i think beyond that, it's a regular PC with some touch technology (which in itself interesting, i learn there are cameras all over the screen that track the movement of your fingers - it aint pressure sensitive though.)

for something that looks like an apple imac (which starts at 24"), sustainable graphic cards, wireless mouse and keyboard, and in itself a space saver, yet offers enough power to edit videos and images without much hassle, the HP TouchSmart has found itself a worthy competitor.

But you can't touch an iMac, and i think that is enough of a unique proposition that might sway your decision. Could this be the first step toward new desktop based products that will be more intuitive to use, not just in terms of aesthetics and usability, but the backend programming that makes using such touch-focused products easier rather than more difficult?

as i maintain, i'm a big fan of the aesthetics, i'd get it if i had money to burn, but it ain't no desktop replacement. not at this point at least.

Apart from that, it was nice to see how other agencies approach blogger engagement. my personal experience was that I was well attended to, met up with old and new friends, and it was social, not some marketing babble schpwel. if any, it was kept to a bare minimum.

if I can refer any client executives to the way the HP reps conducted themselves in blogger-produced vodcasts, check this example out from the fine folks at the Geek Goddess Show:

intelligible, simple, clear and articulate. and use of visual aids! anything to help us understand your product or service better -)

of course the food was stellar, and the beer was *muackz*

i'll leave you now with some pictures because i'm too lazy to fit them contextually into this post:

Bloggers are not an unruly bunch! they listen to what you have to say!

bitbot streaming live to Qik:

bitbot and me

now with the incredible nadnut

clicktokill is another rock grrl

Nicole always smiling when i see her

and my homies, beatmastermark and uniquefrequency

More photos at: social media misadventures

Other posts:
uniquefrequency
nicole
clicktokill
clauds
bitbot

All Your Livejournal Are Belong To Us

2008-06-23T17:00:00.000+08:00

Here's a funny Error 404 page from the folks at www.livejournal.com

And to put this in context, here are a couple of videos to help you with your sense of humour.

all your base are belong to us

zero wing rhapsody

thank me later.

Jean.SG Says She Was Molested, And We Say She Deserves It?

2008-06-20T00:43:00.001+08:00

"seems to me there's somethin' you don't know about men, an' that's we can't help this shit.

i mean, i dunno if it's genetic, or if it's to do with what we get taught, of if it's just 'cause it's expected of us -- but it's what we DO, ok?

'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17

it's just the right, goddamned thing to do.

i don't know why this post link here is bothering me so much, or i think it's more the comments from anonymous pass-bys that irks me more. link here

Before we go any deeper into this, please read these links to get some context to what's going on.

the girl's account
a local tabloid's report
asiaone's news story
and countless other people who have spoken for and against this girl for either leading the guy on (accepting a $48,000 'gift'), putting herself in an awkward situation (sharing a bed together) and inviting trouble.

Yes. Yes. and Yes.

but still, what gives the guy ANY RIGHT to snuggle up next to her in the dead of the night, start stroking her back with his fingers, and when she was too terrified to do anything, whip out his big dick (it must be big if his brain was there and not in his cranium) and stroke it at her buttocks?

No seriously, what gives him the right to assume the stage has been set, the gift ($48,000 mind you) has been given, the circumstances were ideal (what? he thought she planned the 'one bed' dilemma?) when there is no clear sign of consent?

i'll admit, i think sex is a special enough act that you remain faithful to your partner to, even before you are married. but that's just me, and even for people who don't share the same view and are more versed in this act of sleeping with anyone they wish, isn't there some sort of 'teasing' or acknowledgment that they want to have sex with you?

i hardly think a dead log not making a noise to your stroking fingers is communication that screams out 'YES! TAKE ME NOW!'

i think i've made my point, who was clearly, more in the wrong for assuming too much.

the final thing that irks me, are all these anonymous people who leave comments behind saying that she had brought it upon herself, saying money had changed hands, justifying this course of action. well if it does, it clearly shows how you treat women, they're nothing more than things that can be bought.

women are humans just like us. i think it sorta shows what kind of person you are. the selfish type who looks out only for his/herself, or you respect your peers, regardless of where they come from, and their well-being is of concern to you.

it's funny how such anonymous commenter's can say such things, and although www.jean.sg has chosen to remain anonymous, at least she has a source blog and is contactable via email and willing to go public. how many of these other unverified commenters are willing to be spotlighted by public opinion, and actually broadcast what they really want they say and put it on record, while taking full responsibility for the words they use.

not many i can imagine.

big empty words. forever resigned to anonymity lacking any credibility.

my identity on this blog is public and transparent for a reason. i'm taking responsibility for anything and everything i say here, and i cannot speak for anyone but myself.

in closing, the blame that we heap on www.jean.sg will come full circle. if we are unwilling to give her quarter and benefit of the doubt for such a hideous action, when it happens to one of your loved ones, or to yourself and you are powerless to do anything about it, we have only wrought the hurt upon ourselves, because we allowed and justified such a thing to happen in the first place.

why am i speaking out about this? i'll share two of my favorite quotes, because it's pushed my buttons and these quotes belly my own principles as a man, and mortal.

'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17

once a man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. never pretend it doesn't exist. no matter who orders him to look the other way. we do not do this thing because it is permitted. we do it because we have to. we do it because we are compelled." - rorschach, watchmen issue vi

Brian Morgan Productions Pilot Vodcast: The Muxtape Episode

2008-06-17T10:01:00.002+08:00

without much fanfare, production values and a brand new blackbook, i present brian morgan productions a first look at music you should be listening to and all the other cool DIY things you could be doing.

who we are: brian leery, bassist & inquisitive social media practitioner and morgan c. hoax, indie music guru, photographer & brains behind the skinny fists

why we started vodcasting: we're both recently mac-enabled. i wanted to show how easy it was to begin vodcasting. for content, we both love music a little too much, and we hope that through the use of video, we can share the cool things you ought to be listening to and what's out there in the world of music + intertubes

links mentioned
muxtape
morgan's muxtape
brian's muxtape
pitchfork
morgan's blog
brian's blog: you're reading it now!

songs and/or albums mentioned
1. Follow The Lights (EP) by Ryan Adams
2. The Greatest (LP) by Cat Power
3. He War (Single) by Cat Power

dashing all your hopes and dreams

2008-06-14T19:30:00.003+08:00

it's been awhile since i last stepped into my blog. it's scary, knowing that it's there and i should type in it ever so often. but really, sometimes i'm human and i don't really know what i want to say.

but oh well, we all have to grow up sometime right?

EXPOSE what's all this fuss about Plurk anyhow?

2008-06-04T09:55:00.000+08:00

by now, some of the more active new media movers in Singapore have tried out the latest web application, Plurk.

what exactly is Plurk? well, if you aren't even using Twitter, this post might not make much sense to you.

Twitterers jumped onto Plurk when Twitter kept having outages that really made following conversations a hassle. While Twitter and me have not parted ways, i am sort of having a friend with benefits, if that is my relationship with Plurk.

So let me share step by step, what's working out for me and Plurk, before i add a wishlist of what would perhaps, make it even more plurking awesome.

1. Plurk iz pretty

the timeline user-interface (UI) takes a bit of getting used to. but once you do, following conversations and taking part in them is insanely easy.

2. Plurk makes it easy to participate in conversations of interest
see a post that you like? click on the drop down option, and plurk a response instantaneously! it reminds me of the way people post replies to threads on forums. in fact, it's like "threaded conversations" if i may quote @uniquefrequency or @yuhui. i cannot remember. in one of my more popular plurks i got 43 responses, although more than half came from @uniquefrequency and myself, it proved the ease in starting a conversation on any topic, and anyone can join in.

here's an example of that Plurk's permalink. the fantastic thing, is that you can now join in that conversation by just registering yourself and continuing that conversation!

3. RSS Feeds
this was rather overlooked. or didn't appear in any of my current conversations. but i've started subscribing to various Plurkers on my GReader, if i see anything that interests me, i can click on that link in my RSS Reader that takes me straight to a Plurk's Permalink, and i can take part in the conversation without needing to go thru the hassle of checking my timelines.

it's a bit of a hassle, but this will help manage updates if and when Plurk becomes too busy for its own good.

you can also try subscribing to Plurk responses, but i think that's overkill.

[Note: you can only subscribe to public plurks, plurkers that are private will not produce a feed. My feed is in this link if you wanna follow me: link]

wishlist
1. SMS integration like Twitter. but that might not be necessary if WIFI becomes ubiquitous for mobile internet devices, or if you have a good 3G data plan. i hear good things about their mobile site.

2. convulated timeline will have to be addressed sooner or later.

3. easier UI to keep track of conversations that are happening. as someone suggested, plurks with responses should perhaps be aggregated to a sidebar for you to comment on. by doing so, this might render the RSS+GReader method unnecessary and require a shorter learning curve to using Plurk.

4. more 3rd party apps or blog widgets to make Plurk more integrated to a lifestream.

closing thoughts
Plurk and Twitter are different animals. Plurk has made it great to start and follow up on conversations. but it doesn't have the ubiquity of Twitter that truly excels on an SMS platform. you probably won't see someone using Plurk to plurk a cry for help when he/she gets arrested in Egypt. SO don't throw away Twitter yet! Twitter might be quiet for awhile as more of us play with Plurk, but i think Twitter will be back with a vengence WHEN it sorts out its backend engineering.

if you'd like to see it for yourself, take part in the conversation and join my Plurk network here: link!

my life in point form

2008-06-04T03:15:00.000+08:00

1. played with plurk.com

2. left work

3. listening to matthew good

4. discovered fail blog
- what is the culture of "fail"? [please watch video]

5. ate durians at geylang

6. met friends from perth whom i've not seen in a year

7. still hearting oceansize
[please watch videos]
women who love men who love drugs
[emo spaz moments at 1:58 and 4:17]

Serial killer
Lifeus Exitus
So don't dare
Kill her
It's on me
It's on you
Yeah

So Don't You
Believe
Women
Who Love
Men Who
Love
Drugs
Yeah...

unfamiliar
[love the arrangement of this song, mindblowing vocal melody at 3:40]

During the laceration all you wanna do is cry
At last that realization how quickly fresh blood dries
Needs little explanation, 'sgonna take a lot of time
Ideas above our station are below the fog in my mind
When I see I see my signs
It's the same face presenting the same lie
If you keep walking sideways, if you keep changing your mind
When i see i see my signs
And obsolete your voices are
They say that silence it sometimes pays
In war silence it sometimes pays
Souls and windows stops existing
And holes where his eyes used to be
Needle and thread hold together his love for the dead
And all who sail in her
Saw the seashore, unfamiliar
The water and oil, unfamiliar
Success and toil, unfamiliar
Unaccustomed, unfamiliar

8. playing a gig with Kevin Matthews and the Groovy People on Saturday 930pm @ Timbre for Rock The Sub!

why you need a social media strategist like me

2008-06-02T22:48:00.002+08:00

okay, purely off the bat, i'm not moonlighting my services, but this is an example of how being rather connected helps your cause.

it all started with this:

direct link here

An innocent tweet about the new socialite, an upcoming blog that seems to be covering the new media scene / blogosphere / twittersphere around singapore.

and they quoted me! linked my blog. AND! deemed my friend @ambarvalia crush worthy -)

oh, the wonders of having me as your friend will do wonders for your brand!

you can read the article here.

well, in my defence, i never "accused" anyone. for further evidence, please refer to above image and notice the tone of my "non-accusing" tweet. i mean, how harmless is that? -)

anyway, i don't think the new socialite means any harm, and i've already subscribed to its feed. if someone else has got the pulse on singapore, you've already got me hooked as a reader.

i've also yet to join the Facebook group that nadnut invited me to for sweets.sg. i saw the trailer, and looking forward to what these new players in the vodcasting scene are gonna show us!

revisiting the madness

2008-06-02T01:27:00.001+08:00

my oh my. what a tragically long absence away from my blog. for a variety of reasons, i had avoided penning down my thoughts because as fatigue took over, i didn't want to post incoherently.

unfortunately, as the week progressed, more and more things amassed, and my lack of a draft system meant that i wasn't taking note of what i wanted to blog about.

there were a few highlights:

1. social media breakfast 2
i had fun as usual, and was always good to touch base with one of the more prominent blogging communities in Singapore.

2. www.podfire.sg and www.treats.sg part ways.
accounts from the usual suspects here:
michael cheng [podfire]
aaron koh [blogger's treat]

3. byzantin3 posted some highlights from vinton cerf's keynote address. [vinton is part of the team that created TCP/IP protocols that are the architecture the Internet is built upon]
here.
her department, Ogilvy One also posted an interview they had done with him online. chekkit out, it's 5 morselly minutes of goodness:

4. there's a new commoncraft show: social media in plain english

5. but do checkout the hacked version by kommonkraft for the new media douchebag.

i wish i had more input to the things i've just shared, but i'm a bit swamped with the way life is catching up with me. countless rehearsals for church, gigs and weddings make for a busy month. but things should lighten up after this week. *hopes meekly*

in other news, the new Baybeats 2008 website has been launched. My band Leeson will be playing at "Asia's largest indie rock festival" so do pop by and check out the video teaser they've put up for our band and the other 10 as well -)

www.baybeats.com.sg
my props go out to you and whose army? anna judge april. silhouette and cardinal avenue!

Freakhog Cool Cadbury Egg Crushing Machine

2008-05-22T01:02:00.001+08:00

This is so freakhog cool! plus i think it makes a great "user-ad" for Cadbury eggs, much like what Coke Lite and Mentos were in a past life.

you've found your answers, i've found mine

2008-05-20T10:30:00.000+08:00

if only we could laugh like the way we used to
sing for those that love us so
and love those that loved us first

Applying Maeda's First Two Laws of Simplicity to My Daily Living

2008-05-20T01:37:00.003+08:00

It was a public holiday today, and i did the one thing that was most pressing on my to-do list:

clean my room.

quite literally, this is another of my attempts at thoughtful reduction, and i must say, it's a success. i have a bed to sleep on, my basses are nicely tucked in a corner, my computer space is neatly marked out to handle my macbook, midi keyboard, amplifiers and power points to house all my stompboxes.

this also brings into play simplicity law number two: organization, and by doing so, living in my room seems so much simpler and enjoyable, and in due time, productive.

yes. i also finally filed all my financial statements that had been accumulating, and my financial planner is going to be so proud of me.

70 Millions Blogs and Growing.. Influencing The New Generation

2008-05-20T01:33:00.001+08:00

I used to wonder if i had Attention Deficit Disorder, now i know.. the markerters have given me a label. I'm part of Generation Y (Why?)

I'll be blogging in direct response to this post:

Great, I now have a label to explain everything that's wrong about me, we're Generation Y with short attention spans, we want a balance in life. Work and our careers are everything to us (in that we want to be successful), but it's not everything (in that we want a social life, friends and all the trimmings that life has to offer.)

Great by-product of the generation that grew up on Cable, Video on Demand, Broadband Internet, MTV, Mega Malls, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Designer labels, Ecstacy, Blogs, Review Sites, Amazon, EBay and heaven knows what else.

Can you really blame us for not giving your brand the time of day when you try to reach out to us with your ads, pamphlets, sales promises and emotional brand experience?

How then is the best way to get your message to the people that matter?

I've probably already failed to influence in the length of this particular post. If you've given me the time of day to read this far, then maybe we've arrived at something.

connection
if for some reason, you feel that what i have to say is important, it might be because of a mixture of knowing me, we've interacted in some way, and your life somehow benefited after coming in contact with me.

attention
i still read yongfook.com to this day. his blog has evolved into a well designed lifestream.

he captures my attention with great content, short blurbs and funny videos & monologues. meaning i don't have to spend more than 5 mins on his site to hear what he has to say, and decide for myself if it's important or not.

too many times, important things are lost in a sea of noise, or they're not very popular things to begin with. (take a look at ping.sg and hazard a guess at what the average pingster finds important in the "top 10 posts for the last 24 hours".)

now of course, all great brands want to be popular, and they'd like to be in that top 10 posts of pingsters.

community
but we have to remember that ping.sg is not the only community group there is. it's a sizable community, and they've done some really great things, built on uzyn's API platform to aggregate the most popular posts in their community.

but what about social networks and forums that house already existing brand advocates? how about other separate undiscovered blogs that might serve, 20 - 50 committed readers daily? what can we do as brands to help their lives and connect connect with them?

merely reading information online rarely influences a reader. Gen Y is a bit more savvy to believe everything they read. but i think we will consider the expert opinion of someone we know, close to us or at least in our social circle.

fragments
with this amount of choice and clutter, is it in fact possible to have your message carried by every single one of these different voices? let's remember that when someone tries to tell us something in a language we don't understand, it's garble, noise, meaningless and ultimately spam.

is that how you want Gen Y to remember your brand?

Do you really care about social media?

2008-05-17T22:17:00.001+08:00

Slightly more than a year ago, the term 'social media' was foreign to me. I had no idea that

1. chatting with my friends online was considered 'Word of Mouth Marketing'
2. uploading blog entries, photos and videos was 'user generated content'
3. connecting with friends and other local bands on Friendster and Myspace was 'social networking'
4. downloading a Radiohead album would change the way the recording industry saw itself
5. sharing knowledge on wikipedia and forums would be 'crowdsourcing'blo

i was just a user, and i'm still a user. i find it strangely hard to accept terms like 'social media strategist' or that this blog will end up being a 'guru' blog that will tell you how to do great 'blogger relations' and that my opinion could be seen as an expert opinion.

i just happen to be in this space, where the tides of information are changing at such a rapid rate that people are becoming increasingly connected that i don't really know what to expect, except an explosion of signal and noise.

more wisdom will be shared with the rest of society, we'll be able to put our brains together and come up with solutions much faster. information will travel at the speed of light, that today's news will be yesterday's news.

and the murky depths of the human condition will also be more apparent as we upload all the filth that has accumulated in our unplugged lives, and everyone's opinion will seemingly matter. everyone will suddenly become an 'expert'.

i think signal will be harder to find, so hold on to the current signals that you have today, i think they'll come in handy tomorrow.

Predictions of the iPhone's impact in Singapore

2008-05-16T23:08:00.000+08:00

So here's what i think.

i think that the iPhone will make social media tools more ubiquitous to Singaporeans when it's finally officially launched in Singapore.

why do i say that?

1) seamless wireless coverage around Singapore and 3G connection.

2) people will have near 24 hours connection to the net on a mobile device that has true web experience and user experience (screen touching! how intuitive can you get?)

this means that people will (hopefully) start subscribing to RSS feeds, receiving content via the iPhones, using Twitter a lot more, and actually blogging more on the go.

And one other reason why i think this will be so, is because so many of us travel by public transport, and there'll be a lot of downtime. traveling, waiting for friends to show up.. etc. i dare not think when WiMax becomes a part of all this.

The recipe is this.

ubiquitous network coverage + ubiquitous mobile internet device = ubiquitous net usage and a need to aggregate information faster, and on the fly.

we'll see come september

My little blackbook

2008-05-10T12:55:00.000+08:00

Say hello to my little friend:

okay, what i really meant to show you was this:

they really know how to tease you when you open the box.

everything in it's right place.

many purists don't like the blackbook. i however, am sold on black tech.

pr0n

this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship

call it a mild obsession.

sparingly incredulous reminiscing from a sea change that we all have grown up

2008-05-07T19:56:00.000+08:00

not the usual title you might have expected of me if you've only been reading my blog for the past year.

however, if you started reading me back when i started in 2003, this might seem vaguely familiar, something like a past life. Brian before he started in all this Social Media hullabaloo.

things changed in April 2007. i was blessed enough to find a job in Ogilvy's Global 360˚Digital Influence team, and have been working there ever since.

as i reflect, what a great ride it's been! ups and downs, but it truly is one of those things where i can say, i learn something new everyday. and the people i've met! colleagues, clients and bloggers! i really value the lessons that have been learnt, how much i've matured, and actually better manage my time.

don't ask me how i manage to work a full time job, play in a band, dabble in currently 3 side projects for music and serve in church.

something's got to give, i haven't managed to lose the 10 extra kilos i put on in my my last year studying in Perth. just check out my friendster profile if you don't believe i wasn't this size before!

thing's really came full circle in what i believe to be engaging bloggers. we launched The Open Room last week, and actually got bloggers to meet clients in a social setting. this isn't for us, but for bloggers and clients, to know where each other is coming from, to see down in the trenches, what's changing and taking place in the market place.

some see the value, some don't. to those who see the value, i know we'll be having a lot more valuable conversations as we enter the new communications and information age together.

well, from 2003 - 2006, you'll get a sense of what this quirky little blog used to be. in fact, it was a wonderful colour of purple and pink! it kind of reflects the colours in my mind, because it mixes different base colours to form something extraordinary, something different from the norm, something like "red makes my car go faster" sorta norm. zzzzzz. if you want to know the guy before he donned his corporate colours, this will be an interesting journey for you, the reader.

so i'm a little dichotomised right now, just where does harmless?bananas! stand in the grand scheme of blogging with a purpose..? well, i think i finally have the opportunity to go back to being a bit more personal, and definitely the place to experiment new applications that get launched everyday. i think, this blog is finally me once again.

i'm just taking something i found off uniquefrequency's blog. it's a meme, but it's been awhile since i did one, so here goes -)

7 Things You Didn’t Know About My Social Media Journey
1. i started blogging because i admired two bloggers: styra and yongfook

2. my ICQ number was 5635761. 7 digits. only 5 digit people rule more than me!

3. i used to go into mIRC as |PhaseR|. i was 16 and i'm 26 now.

4. after napster died, i found solace in soulseek and found tonnes of great music there.

5. my first website was actually everlasting peace, but the link is dead. my second website is single scene evolution that contains poetry i had typed in HTML from the years 2000 - 2004

6. harmless? bananas! was birthed from a night of playing Counter Strike, the words seemed to rhyme and i was drawn to the use of symbols. call it an early lesson in linguistics and semeotics

7. litford has absolutely no meaning apart from the acronym i gave to "laughing in the face of death" and added an 'R' to make it look not so ridiculous and actually phonetically pronounceable.

and if i may add an eigth point.

8. my spelling still sucks after all these years.

feel free to continue the meme! and thanks for stopping by! feel free to contact me from a variety of methods in the side bar -)

No rest for the weary

2008-05-02T01:46:00.000+08:00

Sometimes the powers that be, make it really difficult to fully express yourself, and you find that change is not something that people look upon willingly. I was really excited about a new concept on Tuesday, a way of doing things, but by Thursday, i find my enthusiasm waning at the uphill task it'll be to convert the masses.

maybe that's a key insight into Social Media, and rings true for the prophecy of Loren Feldman, that the most important voice on the Internet is always your own voice, not those that you follow.

Nobody likes to be told what to do, we're pulling in the information that shapes our worlds. Why then do establishments still bombard us with their truths, when everyone has already established their own?

These are troubling times indeed.

New marketing, but are we ready?

2008-04-30T12:03:00.000+08:00

I really should be plugging our blogger social event that just happened last night to launch The Open Room, but i'm just so suitably buzzed up right now about something that i just have to type it down first. Yes, it's that important, but don't worry, The Open Room is somewhere a part off all this.

i'm currently attending the IAS Graduate Diploma in Digital Advertising, it's on every Tuesday from 7pm to 10pm, and it's taken considerable strain. In fact, things weren't going so well because, every body was rehashing the same thing over and over again. New marketing, new media, new advertising, basically everything was X X & X with a 2.0 behind it.

you get my drift, you've heard it all before. we've been telling it to you till no end. 2.0, digital, social and post- become great things to put in your product and service offerings so that clients will bite.

but it just won't work because you're just doing the same crap with a 2.0 stuck to it. so what you get is:

crap2.0
digital crap
social crap
post-crap

crap in, crap out.

and what do i mean by crap?

trying to service, sell products and services that worked on a unified mass media platform on what we see today in mature markets as a increasing fragmented media landscape

here's an illustration. in mature and connected markets like the US, Japan and even Singapore (super high broadband penetration) think about the choices you have:

Cable TV
Broadband (Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, Netvibes, RSS)
Magazines
Advertisements
Newspapers
Forums

The list could go on forever, and that's the media fragmentation we see, coupled with the insane amount of choice we have today.

What brand of toothpaste to buy? what type of toothpaste? whitening? more calcium? 12 hr protection? 24 hr protection?

Basically, we as consumers wanted choice? the marketers gave us choices. and i guess in the process, a lot of crappy choices, and we were at their mercy. choice became clutter.

now, with the Internet, we research what is relevant to us, we try to pull the information that is relevant to us, but it's hard work. And the offers and unsolicited information that finds themselves to us, is SPAM. marketers, advertisers and PR practitioners should take a look at the world's spam folder one day. we can only be positive that its digital, for i forsee worldwide deforrestation if spam was still paper.

So my point is this.

The old way of selling doesn't work on the new breed of consumers.

Marketers, PR and Advertising have become complacent in the way we engage consumers. we don't! we expect one way messages to work, or pseudo interactivity disguised as feedback, survey or clicking on a link..??

I used to be scared of this barrier. This barrier into the consumer space, this natural resistance to the things that we try to do.

Today in class, talking with like minded people, i think some of us felt that we had to change the way we did things. We had to find not just a new way to sell things, but genuinely connect with consumers, be their partners that make life better for them, we go down to their level, or we bring them up to us. Either way, don't take it the wrong way.. the idea is that we should all be on the level playing field.

bring back the days when i wanted something, and went to the small independent shop near my place.. rekindle the joy of having a genuine service that served a customer need or want.

what am i talking about?

about the idea of building shelters or sleeping bags for homeless people sponsored by advertisers or clients. perhaps you could do something good with your ad or presence?

how about the food stores that took your grocery list for a party you were organising, and helped you calculate how much each person owes you? and perhaps helped you collect that money?

how about building an online tool that genuinely helped solved information overload problems?

what about that branded shoe that you designed yourself?

what about that computer that you put together yourself, but they built and delivered to you?

what about that mp3 player that you got engraved, for yourself or a loved one?

NOW, all this doesn't just happen overnight, corporations are process driven, and different departments have goals to meet, but slowly.. once people start understanding this key insight on the difference between choice and clutter, something will change.

and change is exactly what i'm talking about. change in the way we as marketers, PR and advertisers do things, in the way we service our clients and our communities.

instead of being the agency, we become their partners, and we help join the dots and form long lasting business relationships with their customers and their brands. in fact, consumers should not be seen as such statistics, but as stakeholders, or business partners who enter a business-client relationship.. you get the idea. VALUE THEM as part of your company!

and that's where The Open Room comes in. i could have started this post telling you all about it, getting myself a media hit for it. but i hope you can see that The Open Room is just a small part of this ecosystem of change. We did it to connect brands and bloggers together, as if they could be business partners or colleagues.. and foster a natural, casual, fun, relationship or transaction. To have each other understand that we're all a part of this, and we'll make our business work together. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and detracters to one brand, will find solace in other. hopefully that other brand will welcome them with open arms.

maybe we'll then see that the pie is big enough for everyone. *shrug* (i sound like a non-profit don't i?)

so in closing, our market has changed gears, we need new marketing to connect with new audiences. why are we hoping and praying to the unseen god of materialism that our old methods will work on a truly different consumer. A consumer just like you and me, and yet.. so intrinsically unique.

simplicity, choice and news sources

2008-04-23T14:38:00.000+08:00

a rather interesting micro-phenomena has been going on in my life. twice in the past week, my good friend napture has been informing me of new media (NM) trends and stories as they were reported in traditional media (TM), or blogs that he had come across.

The first story was coming across uniquefrequency's blog post "Why Generation Y Doesn’t Read The Newspaper And Can They Do Anything?" Now, i posted this about three posts earlier, and actually was blogging live on the IDC conference when uniquefrequency first made his comment. so in some sense, this came as 'old' news even though he informed me one day later.

The second story was when Digital Life ran the story of how Twitter helped a UC Berkley undergrad escape incarceration in Egypt after being arrested. @Techcrunch first posted it on Twitter (of which i subscribe to) about the article that he blogged on Techcrunch. This news comes one week late to me.. and it's interesting because journalists are following the same bloggers / new media evangelists that i follow. which is somewhat natural.. wisdom rises to the top and becomes influence.

we really live in a world of decentralised information, where no breaking story is really breaking for a very long period of time. i'm also reminded that my perception of the world is shaped inherently by the media i choose to consume. which also lies my diellema of choice. there is no way we can read all the sources of information online, and thus doomed to only shape a fractal truth of something that really happened. it's the post-modern state where everything is nothing at the same time.

so how i live my life, is based on the choices i make everyday, what i read, consume and spit back out into this world. just one more blip in the pulse of the intertubes.

but anyway, i digress.. the point of simplicity that i'm a trying to make is that, i have simplified my life with the use of RSS feeds. at a glance i can see all the news and information that i choose to subscribe to. some are more useful than others, some are entirely useless, but at its heart, i chose to subscribe to them.

mass communication models are breaking down, they can no longer hold the control of one way information via broadcast, print, radio.. everything is splintering apart, everything is fragments. media people, corporations and the consumer have to recognise this. that the old way of doing things, the old theories do not hold true anymore in a connected world. new theories have to be thought of, something to explain the things we see.

the vague and loose point that i'm trying to make about simplicity is my own natural evolution in the way i aggregate information. i'm trying to apply John Maeda's laws of simplicity to my own aggregation of information, and the first law, reduction, are wise words to live by.

"The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction."

you can download laws of simplicity wallpapers here

so, do have a rethink of the way you consume information, what you can leave out, and what you can't do without. then think of the process in which you consume that information, and if you have a need to aggregate that information, find out what tools you'll need, if not.. don't bother -)

Hillarious Korean Drummer (Not Drama)

2008-04-22T15:56:00.002+08:00

Oh man, this cracks me up so much. It's a tape found in a studio when a Korean band seemed to be shooting a music video (probably in the 1990's)

Just pay attention to the drummer, his expressions are the things that legends are made from!

Omigosh... i soooooo want this!!!

2008-04-22T15:02:00.001+08:00

a space invaders tumbler? it really doesn't get any better than this. ah! the simple things in life!

via link

After thoughts of IDC's Directions'08 Panel Discussion

2008-04-18T16:40:00.000+08:00

A big topic was the idea of "paying bloggers" from a public relations standpoint, we can't pay bloggers, because that's like paying journalists.

unfortunately, journalists get paid for the writing, and bloggers don't get paid for their hobby.

what we do see is blogs like Techcrunch paying their own writers. Hence, the blog needs to attract enough attention (can you beat TC's readership of 700K++ RSS sunscribers?) to attract sponsorship, or advertising dollars, or some way to sell content and pay their staff writers. not really different from a regular Traditional Media (TM) publication / broadcaster, but i see the business model of information bloggers evolving to something new. something more along the lines of a workable meatball sundae

with reference to "do bloggers have a code of ethics?" it's interesting that Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence open a discussion with bloggers in USA to hear what they had to say.

read their responses here: link and our own code of ethics as Digital Influencers / PR practitioners here

i also thought Uniquefrequency's comments about Twitter were awesome. the example of the airline contacting customers directly via Twitter as an instantaneous, anywhere, anytime feedback channel HAS to be a good thing. i refer also to this post of how Twitter helped save a journalist from incarceration

Finally, advertising should evolve past static banners or even microsites. PR helps connect bloggers and brands together by being real, Digital PR NEEDS to evolve as well, it's not about using traditional methodologies and just treating bloggers like journalists and expecting certain things of them.. at it's heart, if you are only interested in a 'media hit' your bloggers become nothing more than statistics and you're doomed to failure. Brian Solis writes expertly about the concept of PR2.0

embrace the social element of SOCIAL media, understand the communities, be a part of it, add to it, find out what help bloggers need from your clients and join the dots! We're launching The Open Room to do just that, and i am oh so psyched!

Live Broadcast of IDC's Directions 2008

2008-04-18T15:53:00.010+08:00

Today's Discussion: Generation Y and the Emerging Power of User-generated Content

On the panel

Uniquefrequency (UF)
Hong Kong Phooey (HKP)
Kenny Sia (KS)
The Compulsive Confessor (TCC)

Qn: Do corporate blogs matter?

Uniquefrequency: You can connect with others and it gives a personal touch to your corporation

Kenny Sia: Some blogs are cooler than others.

Paying off bloggers?
Hong Kong Phooey: We bloggers have to be careful as well, not to cross a line. doesn't put ads on blogs. Readers respect that, if they respect you, they keep following you.

The Compulsive Confessor: I'm open to money

UF: i don't mind taking stuff, but i would disclaim that i am not obilged to say something good about your product

KS: always been brought out for drinks, came to a point when i can make a decent amount. bloggers should not be hard up to receive money or advertising. blogging for money is akin / similar to newspaper advertorials.

is there a blogger code of ethics? can bloggers remain uncorruptible like editorials?

KS: open to reviews, but if you're paid off, its hard to maintain your own credibility

UF: questions about motivations behind the piece

TCC: i think my readers trust me, that's why it might be effective. won't work as a random cold review.

What cool factor do you look for in products?
HKF: usability. Using the Meebo widget, i am available to readers and PR proposals and can find out what might work.

is online the only way forward now?
KS: for me, this is it, but i think it's not the only way forward.. online alone may not work for an ad campaign

TCC: for gadgets, it works because you go online to read reviews

HKP: corporations are spending more time online. but people are not putting money online.

UF: for me, this media is defintely it. i dont read papers. people are the new ones online who are passing information online. younger demographic will replace current traditional media consuming generation.

does new media widen the generation gap?

UF: a month and a half, grandpa got on facebook. grandad read TM to figure facebook out. TM helped connect grandad. but if you don't embrance NM, the gap will then widen.

HKP: family is savvy

KS: Family could not understand why you would live a public life. blogging boom, 2-3 years ago. After malaysian elections, people accept it as a good form of communication.

TCC: most email from folks her age.

online qn on microblogging. will regular blogging take a hit?
KS: Twitter is annoying. finds it too noisy. it might complement it, but it wont kill it.

UF: huge fan of twitter. i think it helps. not gonna replace blogs. Twitter only uses 140 characters, limits. gives example of airline connecting with customers who Twittered: airline sucks!! but responded "how can we help?"

- panel ends -

Perhaps why Xiaxue is more popular than you

2008-04-13T11:16:00.005+08:00

you've got to hand it to her. Xiaxue really puts Singapore on the map of the global blogosphere.

by now, you might have seen this video floating around on the Internet:

and if you haven't, well, there it is. it's an iphone "review" by Xiaxue because the producers of her vodcast, Xiaxue's guide to life played a "prank" on her by giving her a fake iphone to review, and when given a real iphone, she completely disses the much heralded holy grail of consumer geek tech.

i won't claim to be a media expert, but i've done filmmaking, studied mockumentaries and probably have an above average media literacy level. there are many clues that suggest that Xiaxue was not at all serious when doing this video, and it's amazing how many people think it's real.

notice an imac in the background? if that isn't meant to be irony and sacarsm, i don't know what is. Xiaxue may type bimbotic and exude that personality on her blog, but you'll actually realise she's pretty sharp when it comes to social commentary, choosing to blog about the little cracks in Singaporean culture, there is no way in hell she would not have known what an iphone was.

even if you don't want to take my word for it, she gives us the expose of the little prank she pulled in her own blog post

and the reason why she's popular is not just because she's just controversial, but also because she totally plays on the personality she's carved out for herself, and is willing to stake her own reputation on the line, and not just get pinged, tomorrow-ed, but also gizmodo-ed and fake steve job-ed now. how many singaporean bloggers can claim that for themselves? she's not in the technorati top 100 for nothing. (last i checked - 6 months ago)

in fact, her real strength doesn't lie in her content, but in her ability to not take herself seriously at all. i think she enjoys getting the attention, but not so much as doing what she likes, when she likes it, and has people around her to appreciate her not for what she does, but who she is. so i guess it's a sort of self-confidence and freedom to do whatever the hell she likes. i d think she'd still blog what she wants to blog, even without the media attention. ie. she's not doing it as a favour to anyone.

Another blogger that has gotten my attention lately is Loren Feldman. he has insulted America's top bloggers and social media strategists (if we can even call ourselves that), for example Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Michael Arrignton and Jeremiah Owyang. Like Xiaxue, he gets his kicks targeting trends and people who take themselves too seriously. He's not as entertaining as Xiaxue, but he comes across as Mr Angry to everything, but it's a good counter balance to all the hype your friendly neighbourhood social media evangelists (like me) seem to perpetuate.

my point is, if i wanted to read good reviews, safe material, objective material.. i'd read what my old skool PR skills feed to publications and bloggers who are too lazy to write good stories.

and now that my brief analysis of Xiaxue is done, i'll comment a little on what uniquefrequency has blogged about Xiaxue's disservice to the Singaporean social media community.