CNN's unflattering headline for Singapore

Great! We've made it to CNN. And with a headline like this, I'm sure everyone worldwide will think that Singapore is a bunch of morons.

Seriously, how can we trust our government now to keep us safe if they can't even hold on to a t3rror suspect that is already under their custody? And worse, how can the authorities let him escape while he goes for a damn toilet break? Crikey! And did I mention that he has a limping leg?

In Parliament yesterday, several MPs asked DPM Wong Kang Seng how this could have happened and why the public was only informed four hours later. Wong's reply was that based on the assessment by the security agencies, Mas Selamat was not of any imminent danger to the public.

Hello?!

Isn't this the same guy who plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Changi Airport? Isn't he the same guy who was also suspected of being behind the plans to attack the U.S. Embassy and a government building?

If that's not a dangerous man, then I don't know what is. Maybe if the government had alerted the public earlier, someone would have spotted him limping his way to freedom. Come on, how far (or fast) can a man with a limping leg run?

Anyway, its already Friday night now - Mas Selamat escaped on Wednesday afternoon - and they are still searching for him. Maybe they should just concentrate on searching the sewage system under the detention center where he was kept before his toilet escape. Who knows, he could have flushed himself down the toilet. Now, that's what I call a prison break.

Today's Singapore News

1. $115m set aside under phase 3 of Renaissance City Plan
2. Protests may be allowed at Speakers' Corner
3. More and more jobs created but not enough S'poreans to fill them
4. Escaped JI militant seen running up slope to Malcolm Park
5. Schools beef up security at all levels
6. Man who claimed to be JI escapee arrested
7. Singapore widens hunt for inmate
8. Singapore, facing EU pressure, says not a tax haven
9. Changi Airport to run central Vietnam airport
10. Singapore unveils climate change strategy

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

How to start your own country

Here are four easy steps to start your own country. Step 1: Make sure you're eligible. Step 2: Declare independence. Step 3: You must have a government and lastly, Step 4: Join the club. Everybody, go get busy now. From Foreign Policy:

Applying for U.N. membership is a breeze. According to U.N. rules, all you need to do is write a letter to the secretary-general requesting membership. These letters are remarkably short and simple. For a handy template, check out the successful application of Montenegro, the United Nations’ most recent member.

You can mail your application to:
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
The United Nations
First Ave. at 46th St.
New York, NY 10017

Swatch and Beyond

When I was in my teens, everyone I know that is around my age has a Swatch watch. I probably had three. It's amazing that Swatch is still as popular today as it was back then. I was just browsing Swatch and Beyond, an online store that probably has every Swatch watch from 1983 and beyond, and also those hard to find limited edition ones. Interesting to see all the different designs that go into these watches.

Vintage Japanese Public Health Posters

Public health posters produced by the Industrial Welfare Association which was set up in 1925 by Japan's Bureau of Social Affairs to promote healthy lifestyle among Japanese workers and their families. This poster says, "Sun tanning is paradise, catching a cold while napping is hell... Beware of catching colds from napping. It is an illness which originates from incaution." I didn't know you can catch a cold while having a nap.

Japanese Craft Books

This cute Flickr photoset of Japanese Craft Books makes me wanna go to Kinokuniya bookstore - where I'm sure they have lots of Japanese titles there - and spend the entire evening browsing through those books.

X-Files 2 Werewolf Disinformation

Blogger thinks that the producers of the X-Files 2 movie are sending him a fake photo of Mulder transformed into a werewolf as part of a disinformation effort to prevent him and others from finding out the truth about what the movie is really about. I hope he is right because I don't really want to watch another werewolf movie!

Previously: X-Files 2 teaser trailer and release date

Wooden Postcard

This postcard made from wood allows you to carve your own special message to the recipient. The surface of the wooden postcard is soft enough that you can easily use a key to scratch your message on it. And it's lightweight too so no worries about adding extra postage to send it to your loved ones.

Blythe Highschool

Dude photoshops pictures of Japanese girls in school uniforms and replaces their heads with the heads of Blythe dolls. Creepy? Sexy? You decide. Check out his Flickr photoset here.

Today's Singapore News

1. Tan Tock Seng Hospital to use maggots to treat festering wounds
2. Wong Kan Seng says JI detainee's escape due to security lapse
3. SAF soldiers join island-wide manhunt for escaped JI leader
4. Manhunt for escaped militant suspect in Singapore
5. MPs raise concerns about Singapore's monetary policy
6. Sellers forced to dump pricey China veggies
7. Govt extends fee freeze till end of year
8. Voting made easier for S'poreans abroad
9. Singapore woos travellers from India, its hottest tourism market
10. High-tech shopping carts to be deployed in Singapore

Read them all at Topix Singapore News.

We Are The World performed by Celebrity Impersonators

Celebrity impersonators in an epic performance of We Are The World for a Japanese TV show. Really good aye but I think Michael Jackson needs a tan and a new face job and Stevie Wonder really needs to go on a diet man. My favourite among all the impersonators is... Cyndy Lauper!

Chocolate Ferrari F1 Replica

This life-size Ferrari F1 replica is made entirely from Belgian chocolate by Italian confectioners and costs a whopping £12,000. I think the Singapore F1 organisers should commission these confectioners to make a similar chocolate Ferrari F1 replica for the race here.

Japanese Monster Paintings

Edo period paintings of Japan’s traditional monsters and apparitions by Sawaki Suushi. His work known as Hyakkai Zukkan which is a collection of picture scrolls, was completed in 1737. This is his painting of Uwan, a disembodied voice that inhabits old, abandoned temples and homes.

Baby Catapult Shower Game

Found this picture on Flickr of a Baby Catapult shower game that catapults miniature toy babies up to 15 feet. Love the little note that says: "Real babies should never be catapulted or thrown."

X-Files 2 teaser trailer and release date!

Visitors to WonderCon were treated to the teaser trailer for X-Files 2 during a Q&A session with stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson who plays Agents Mulder and Scully. Gosh, I miss them both. Watch it above. Oh, X-Files 2 also gets a release date: July 25, 2008. Woooooooh! *IZ jumps up and down*

Update: Pics and videos of Gillian and David at WonderCon.

Earthquake in UK? News broken on Twitter

Twitter has just demonstrated the power of social networking and blogging related services by being the first to report a moderate earthquake hitting the UK. From ReadWriteWeb:

It would appear that an earthquake was just felt across the UK (hopefully not a major one!). Where did the news first break? Well, we heard about it over Twitter. It's all over the site, including being broken on Twitter-based news organization BreakingNewsOn, which is reporting a 5.3 magnitude earthquake in the UK with minimal damage reported so far. Where didn't we hear about the quake? The mainstream press.

This story broke over Twitter in the past half hour, and nothing is up yet on the BBC sites, the Guardian, or the Telegraph. This story is breaking live on Twitter.

The 5.3 magnitude earthquake was the biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years and was felt by people across the UK.

(Thanks Sir Thomas)

Today's Singapore News

1. Singapore inflation rises to a 25-year high
2. SingTel SMS Shootout hits a new record of 41.40 seconds
3. NEA says haze situation set to improve
4. 66 MRT disruptions in 3 years
5. Watchdog to probe schools with low standards
6. Nearly 1 in 5 drivers injured in accidents in 2006 was under 30
7. Singaporean and her 10 firms under US Myanmar sanctions
8. Singapore retailers clearing out stock of HD DVDs
9. Singapore emerging as Asian hub for cruises
10. Record 883,000 tourists visited Singapore in January

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

I've been kicked out of YouTube!

As they say, three strikes and you're out. That's what happened to me last night after some of my readers told me they couldn't view the YouTube video I posted yesterday.

Yup, I've been kicked out of YouTube!

When I first checked my YouTube account to find out what's wrong, it says: "Your account has been permanently disabled." WTF! And all the videos that I have uploaded are gone too. Sux! I checked YouTube's Help Center and this is what it has to say about accounts that are disabled: "Accounts determined to be repeat infringers may be subject to termination."

So far I have received two DMCA notices from YouTube claiming that two of the videos I uploaded in the past have infringed copyrights. The first one is a clip of ESPN Sportscenter HotDog Challenge and the other is a clip of an Ossim iGallop ad. Both actions by YouTube and the copyright owners are unfair and stupid, imho.

I guess the video I posted yesterday could have been the last straw. I don't get it. How can a one minute clip of a long suffering fan cheering and shouting for his team in front of the TV when it is showing his team being presented with the trophy in an important final be infringing any copyright? If I want to be a copyright infringer, I would have posted the entire match you dimwits!

Argh!!!

The Soundwave Toy Collection

I was browsing a Transformers fan forum and came across a thread by DJ Soundwave who posted pics of his truly awesome collection of Transformers and other toys. Remember to click through the other pages in the thread if you want to see all the pics. Too bad I think DJ Soundwave is a guy. If he is a gal, I would marry him!

Barack O'Bollywood

Barack Obama stars in his very own Bollywood music video. No wonder he is ahead in the US Democratic race for President. Go Barack!

Howl's Moving Castle Papercraft

Dude spent 72 hours over three weeks to make this incredibly detailed Howl's Moving Castle papercraft. I'm just speechless. Time lapse video here.

(via MeFi)

Darth & Droids

I love Darth & Droids, a funny online comic that spoofs all six Star Wars movies and features the characters playing one of those massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Singing Kittens by BankWest

This is a message to Australian bank BankWest: Next time if you guys want to get some cute singing kittens to be a part of your viral campaign, please train them to at sing out my name - not spell it!

Sisters In Arms

The Telegraph has an extract from the book, 'Sisters In Arms: British Nurses Tell Their Story' by Nicola Tyre, which is about military nurses who came under Japanese attack in the Far East during the Second World War. From Telegraph:

'The wards were quickly filled to overflowing as one after another of the hospitals were hit, till eventually No 20 (ours), Alexandra and BMH Johore were the only military hospitals functioning… We had many shell-shocked patients, who were, I think, the most pathetic of all. When the din had worked up to a crescendo of shells whining overhead, bombs bursting and our AA guns banging away, one found them in all sorts of odd corners and it was difficult to prevent them running out into the open…'

The fall of Singapore was just a matter of time, and on February 15 General Percival, the Commander-in-Chief Malaya, surrendered. Before he did so he ordered the evacuation, not just of thousands of civilians, but of military nurses too. The order to abandon patients was seen as unprecedented.

Sister Hartley at the Alexandra Hospital expressed the general consternation. 'We felt as though the bottom had fallen out of our little world. The hospital was full to overflowing - everybody was working at top speed - our poor boys lying all over the floor and they were coolly saying we must go. The faces of those boys watching us leave, were saying, "It's all up now".'

Spurs win Carling Cup 2008!

As you can tell by looking at the photo above (oh btw that's the lovely LG 42LB7 HDTV behind me, courtesy of the LG Blogger Review Program.. hehe), I was overjoyed to see my beloved Tottenham Hotspur beat Chelski (er, I mean Chelsea) 2-1 in extra time to win the Carling Cup.

Many thanks to the fantastic performances of the Spurs players and of course the tactical masterstroke by the manager who had me jumping up and down and dancing all over my house like a crazy man last night. Sorry neighbours if I was a little too loud.

It was a lovely moment. Hope there are many more to come. Come on you Spurs!

Update: Video that I posted originally of me celebrating in front of the TV showing the Spurs team receiving the Carling Cup and their medals has been taken down by YouTube. WTF!

Today's Singapore News

1. Singapore to have world class heartland sports facilities
2. Private schools in Singapore have shockingly low standards
3. Smoke from Indonesian fires worsens air quality in Singapore
4. Singapore Airlines reports engine trouble, lands safely in Japan
5. Singapore professor caught stealing panties from dorm
6. Cheating wives on rise in Singapore
7. FairPrice to extend discount on 500 housebrand items
8. Government to proceed with HDB estate upgrading
9. Singapore Airshow attracted 120,000 public and trade visitors
10. Nokia forced to cough up more than $1,000 over faulty phone

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

YouTube hacked?

I wanted to upload a video but damn, YouTube is down. Its DNS may have been hijacked. From yelvington:

YouTube has disappeared from the Internet, apparently the victim of hackers who managed to gain control of its root DNS record. My wife and I were just moments ago watching some videos and suddenly YouTube became unreachable...

... and all packets destined for YouTube are disappearing into the network of PCCW Telecom of Hong Kong.

Update: YouTube is back online after a 2 hour outage. Pakistan censors may be behind this.

Star Trek Star Charts

Here are some Star Trek star charts for you to bring along next time when you decide to go where no man has gone before. Try not to get lost aye.

(Thanks GeekGod)

Garfield minus Garfield

Some dude thought it would be fun to remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips and that unfortunately makes Jon look like a mad man talking to himself, as if talking to a cat is not mad enough.

Star Wars according to a 3 year old

Girl age 3, explaining the plot of Star Wars Episode IV. Great for those of you who have absolutely no idea of what happened in Episode IV. Duh! Where have you been? Oh, I love it when she said "Obi Kenobi". So cute!

Space Kimchi

The Space Kimchi is the result of South Korean scientists' attempt to find a way to prevent kimchi from fermenting when exposed to cosmic rays in space. I'm sure the first Korean astronaut will be glad to know that his Space Kimchi will not bubble out of control and burst all over his spaceship.

Hello Kitty Hotel Room

Picture gallery of one of the "too-cute-I-can-puke" Hello Kitty rooms in Grand Hi-Lai Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan.

(Thanks pinkdior)

Space Invaders Boxers

Next time when I'm buying new boxers I will look out for this Space Invaders boxer briefs by Ted Baker. How can a gamer geek not want to wear icons of one of the most influential video games ever created, pasted all over his crotch! Hope it's available in Singapore.

World War Poster Collection

The UNT Libraries Digital Collections have over 600 original World War I and World War II posters - some of them drawn by famous artists. The WWI posters include a number of French examples, while the WWII group consists primarily of American home front posters.

Hello Kitty Contact Lens

There is an enormous amount of Hello Kitty products out in the market - too many of em', I would say. Most are made to look and be cute but once in awhile you will come across one that is really scary like this Hello Kitty contact lens. I'm just hoping that this is a photoshop job. Please don't tell me they are real.

Stunt Kitty: Professional Stunt Kitten

Stunt Kitty is a professional stunt kitten and knows what he is doing so please girls and boys don't try to recreate his stunts in anyway k.

(via Drawn)

Twenty-Six Types of Animals

Twenty-Six Types of Animals is Jeremy Pettis' senior thesis at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. He uses original lettering styles to capture the essence of 26 different animals. Very creative!

Ceramic Pinhole Cameras

Steve Irvine combines his love for pottery and photography into a new hobby - making ceramic cameras that have no lens, light meter, viewfinder, or automatic shutter, and yet they can produce gallery quality images.

Hitchcock Movie Stills

The website of lecturer Dr Glen Johnson who teaches Hitchcock to his students, contains a collection of stills from some of Alfred Hitchcock's movies such as Psycho (1960), Vertigo (1958) and Frenzy (1972).

The Pig Phone

Anybody wants to buy a desk or wall mountable Pig Phone that has a pig snoring sound as a ringer? I think not.

(Thanks ilustrix31)

What The World Eats

Selected pics taken from the book "Hungry Planet: What The World Eats" by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio, about how people feed themselves in 24 countries around the world. This one shows a family in Mongolia and their $40 worth of food that will last them a week.

(Thanks Sir Thomas)

Singapore or Moscow?

Interesting article about how the 105 International Olympic Committee members might have voted for their choice of the host city for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. From Channel NewsAsia:

The host city's culture, food, distance and weather can become big tipping points. In fact, Russia had pointed to Singapore's hot, humid weather as a negative factor that can hamper many young athletes' performances. Then, there is the spillover theory, which makes IOC representatives want to pick a city that is near theirs, so that they can enjoy some benefits, such as a boom in tourist arrivals.

How the votes swung this way and that in deciding which city should host the 2014 Winter Olympics is one celebrated case study.

In Round One, South Korea's Pyeong-Chang got the most number of votes (36), beating Russia's Sochi (34) and Austria's Salzburg (25). But in Round Two, in a straight fight between Sochi and PyeongChang, a significant number of voters (possibly Europeans) who had earlier voted for Salzburg threw their support behind the Russia city to make it a winner with a score of 51-47.

If such a scenario prevails in the postal voting for the Youth Games, Singapore is likely to get 21 votes from Asian members and five from Oceania countries (Australia, New Zealand and Fiji). And if Europe's IOC members make geography and culture their main preoccupations, then the scorecard will read like this: Singapore 26; Moscow 43.

The remaining 36 votes — 17 from Africa, 14 from North America and five from South America — could make the difference. This is where Russia's political and money muscle would come in to make the difference.

My heart tells me Singapore will win the right to host the Games but my brain tells me Moscow. It is the first ever Youth Olympic Games and I think most of the Olympic traditionalists would prefer to have a Olympics powerhouse nation like Russia to host the Games. I think if this is the second or third Youth Olympics, Singapore would definitely be chosen. Anyway, we will find out at 7pm tonight.

Update: Amazing stuff! Singapore has been chosen as the host for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. I can't believe it. Congrats Singapore! The people over at the Padang now must be celebrating like mad while there must be a lot of shock and sad faces in Moscow after hearing the announcement of the IOC.

Today's Singapore News

1. Made-in-S'pore firepower smart and lethal
2. Car distributors predict tough times ahead
3. Edison Chen VCDs for sale in S'pore heartlands
4. Singapore, Moscow brace for Youth Games verdict
5. UK university to create campus in Singapore
6. Media in HK, Taiwan give S'pore Budget wide coverage
7. World awaits Singapore’s selection of advanced jet trainer
8. Singapore aviation show bans "Taiwan"
9. Old age: Many women may not have enough savings
10. Govt seeks greater protection for the mentally ill

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

French Nuclear Test Pics

Pierre J. scanned and processed four pictures of the French nuclear test codenamed Licorne, which was fired on July 3rd, 1970. The images of the nuclear explosion are so stunningly beautiful - and it really pains me to say that since these bombs are nothing more than a dreadful human invention.

Steampunk Racecar

Dude built an awesome steampunk racecar based on a car named "Il Tempo Gigante" which was featured in a popular Norwegian animated film. His full scale working replica comes with two engines - a V8 engine and a helicopter turbine! The video above isn't in English but who cares! Just go watch it. The car is a real beauty.

(via Brass Goggles)

Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Movie Posters

An online archive of classic horror & science fiction movie posters. You can find a lot of gems there such as this poster for Fire Maidens Of Outer Space, a 78-minute 1956 black-and-white science fiction feature film about a dying woman civilization on one of the moons of Jupiter, whose leader wants to hold the male astronauts who discovered them captive so that they can be used as mates. Must be some movie aye.

R2D2 Hat

This R2D2 hat is so cute that I would wear it. Really! I know a lot of other Star Wars fans would too. Instructions on how to knit it can be found here.

(via MAKE)

1st ever Summer Youth Olympic Games: Host Announcement tomorrow night!

I got an email earlier today from Ivan Gn of SGYouthOlympics.com saying that Singapore will learn tomorrow if it is successful in hosting the 2010 Youth Olympic Games:

We would like to remind you that the results for the postal vote will be announced on Thursday 21 February 2008, 7pm Singapore Time, 11am UTC. The winning city will be announced by IOC President Jacques Rogge in a live web cast on www.olympic.org from the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The direct link to the web cast will also be available on our website.

There will be a gathering on the Padang in the City Hall area, from 6pm to 8pm where the webcast of the live announcement will also be broadcast. I strongly urge all of you to turn up, show your support and join in the celebrations if we win the bid. I humbly suggest that you dress in the colours of red and white! If you cannot turn up, the results will also be available from Channel News Asia at 7pm.

I hope we can win the bid, but whatever the results, Singapore has already won in a different way. I have met people when I first started out who were very much skeptical of the support I would be able to garner. The support for the bid has been overwhelming and exceptionally strong, proving our critics wrong. As of the 19th of February, we have 4709 members on our Facebook group, and 137 registered websites and 159 registered email addresses. We have seen the surge of activities on the community front, with businesses, social groups, schools and people from all walks of life converging for the sole aim of supporting the bid. I doubt there has ever been another event that has drawn us Singaporeans together like this. I am proud to be part of this, and to be a Singaporean.

The Live webcast will be available here. Good luck Singapore!

Update: Singapore wins it!

Today's Singapore News

1. Eyes on Changi's runway could prevent disaster
2. Not only for show, Black Knights serve and protect
3. More top O-Level scorers choosing polytechnic route
4. Singapore plans YOG celebrations regardless of bid's outcome
5. Estate duty removal will draw foreign and local funds into S'pore
6. Private jet operator to run luxury flights in Singapore
7. Rodents are favoured pets in Year of the Rat
8. AWOL soldier booked prostitute after leaving camp with rifle
9. Massive 275,000 hits for MDA video
10. SIA cancels A380 flight after pump defect

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

Mini Ms Pacman Arcade Machine

Two brothers who have a lot of experience restoring arcade machines as a hobby and repairing them as a business, built this cool 48-in-1 Ms Pacman arcade machine that stands at only 4 feet tall! They are selling it on eBay. Some of the games included in this machine are Pacman, Galaga, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. I want this for my home! More pics here.

Here, have a brain jelly!

This plastic mold allows you to make an anatomically correct, life-size human brain out of jelly simply by filling it with a customised gelatin mix. Ewww!

Scooter Postcard

Vespa lovers will love this! You can cut out the pieces from this postcard and then glue them together to make a cute little Vespa model with oversized headlight and short wheelbase. More pics here.

(Thanks Ray)

Found: The Banana Keeper

Remember the Banana Bunker that I blogged about eons ago? On Sunday, I spotted a similar product that can protect your banana called the Banana Keeper at Daiso, the Japanese $2 store in Plaza Singapura.

Man, this thing is huge! I guess you can fit in even the world's largest banana.



Remember, this ain't a sex toy!

My Chicken Little Numa Numa video is hot on YouTube

I was looking at all my videos on YouTube and realised that the Chicken Little Numa Numa dance video I posted in November 2005 has so far received more than 850,000 views, 1169 ratings, 717 comments and has been favourited 2956 times! Amazing!!

Star Wars Mini Scale in LEGO

Dude builds mini Star Wars vehicles using LEGO. I especially love his recreation of the Grand Army of the Republic on the move scene. Totally insane!

(Thanks GeekGod)

Today's Singapore News

1. Singapore faces up to stagflation
2. Passengers stranded by A380 glitch
3. Black Knights are Singapore’s pride
4. No pressure on SIA, MAS to slash S'pore-KL fares
5. Record year for S'pore aerospace industry in 2007
6. $500m deals to be sewn up at S'pore Airshow
7. 'No' to ring fencing residential areas in Geylang
8. Singapore's largest CNG refuelling station opens at Mandai Link
9. More bicycle parking facilities at MRT stations, bus interchanges
10. AVA says beef supply in Singapore unaffected by US recall

Read them at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

Mashup of the 25 most popular songs of 2007 in the US

DJ Earworm took 25 of the most popular songs of 2007 in the US according to Billboard and mash them up into one insanely amazing track called United State Of Pop. It's really damn good. Go download the mp3 and try to identify all the songs used in the mashup.

Vintage Paperback Book Covers

The BookScans Database has an amazing collection of scanned images of vintage paperback book covers. My favourites have to be their Sexy Digests and Sleaze collections. And one particular book caught my attention. Any book that tells a story of a professor inventing a super sex machine has got to be an interesting read.

Quake 2 ported for Nintendo DS

Some dude has successfully ported the Quake 2 game (every single level in the game is playable!) for the Nintendo DS handheld game console and you download it for free. Darn! Now I want a Nintendo DS right away.

1990 Gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge

You have four days left if you want to bid for this 1990 Gold Nintendo World Championships cartridge. It is one of the 26 Gold Nintendo World Championship carts ever produced. Only 12 are known to survive at this moment. Bidding starts at US$15k.

(Thanks falconops1)

Vintage Condom Envelopes

A gallery of 21 paper-based condom envelopes from the late 1930's and 1940's. According to the collector, they are "very rare to come up these days since people didn't keep them around and were too much embarrassed to keep them despite their beautiful graphics, hastily discarding them after use."

(via Hugo Strikes Back!)

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party: Pics and Videos!

Last night, the beautiful IndoChine at The Forbidden City at Clarke Quay hosted the AXN Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party. More than 400 invited guests including me, attended the party and watched the season finale of the Amazing Race Asia which was shown to us one hour before the actual broadcast. Cool!



Watching the Amazing Race with 400 others was totally a new and exhilarating experience for me. Everyone in the crowd was cheering for their favourite contestants. There were 3 teams left challenging to be the Amazing Race Asia champion - from Singapore, Colin and Adrian, Pamela and Vanessa from Malaysia and the Philippines team of Marc and Rovilson. The loudest cheers of course went out to both Colin and Adrian when they were crowned the champions. Check out the video below. The crowd was ecstatic! It's like watching the World Cup when your favourite team just scored a goal.



Here's host Allan Wu taking the stage at the end of the special screening.



And soon the final three teams were up there with him for the prize giving ceremony.



More videos here, here and here.



And here's me looking so happy after my favourite team won (and after my drinks).

Everyone at the party went home with a goody bag from AXN.



Inside the goody bag, I found these...



Love the Amazing Race Asia T-shirt and Passport! Many thanks to the AXN folks for organising a great party and also thanks to the lovely WH for bringing me along and Lawrence from AXN for hosting us and lastly congrats to both Colin and Adrian - you guys did Singapore proud!

(All pics and videos taken with the LG Shine)

Today's Singapore News

1. Motorists fume - pumps yet to reflect drop in oil prices
2. Most would opt for CPF Life scheme payouts from age 80
3. Singaporeans are the biggest spenders in Asia for Valentine's Day
4. Another Orang Utan dies at Singapore Zoo
5. Singaporeans living longer
6. Go for frozen food and cut up to 50% off bill
7. Food prices up 4.3% but some dips too
8. Singapore jumps into most expensive office market league
9. Singapore's Formula One night race tickets go on sale Thursday
10. Income gap widens in Singapore last year

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

A Star Wars Valentine's

Valentine's Day is not complete without one of these Star Wars inspired Valentine's Day cards. My favourite has to be this Han Solo card. Love the pose Han and the line too: "Baby... tonight I won't shoot first." Shoot what? lol.

Vintage Valentine's Day Postcards

You can find more than 600 vintage Valentine's Day postcards and collectibles in this Flickr photoset. Dude who collects them says, "I collect all holiday postcards, Halloween postcards are my favorite but I enjoy the Valentine's Day postcards too - great art work and those wacky Cupids make them my second favorite type of holiday postcards and they are cheap for now."

Star Wars: The Clone Wars coming to the cinema in August

I was excited when George Lucas first announced last year that he's going to make the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series for television. Now I'm ecstatic to learn that he will be premiering an all new animated feature film in the cinema this August. This will be followed by the TV series to be shown over at Cartoon Network. I've watched the sneak peek many times and I'm already in love with The Clone Wars. Watching it on the big screen will definitely be a blast. Hey it's Star Wars after all!

Crazy Nail Art

Pics of really crazy nail art that may provide good inspiration for you ladies before you head off to your nail salon.

(Thanks Diego)

Everything you want to know about the Edison Chen photo scandal

I got to hand it to Wikipedia for providing a pretty good round-up of the Edison Chen photo scandal - great for those of you who only like to see dirty pictures but don't know the full story. From Wikipedia:

In November 2006, Chen allegedly purchased a pink PowerBook from eLite Multimedia, a computer shop in Hong Kong's Central district. According to the police, Chen's "Cotton-candy Mac" computer was sent in for repairs, and an estimated 1,300 intimate photographs of Chen and numerous celebrities may have been accessed and copied by one or more of the shop's employees without consent. Chen's photographs were reportedly taken sometime between 2003 and 2005.

One close friend of Chen indicated that he liked to take photographs during intimate moments with his sexual partners, of which 14 were celebrities, and privately showed these to a select group of close friends.

And if you want the whole shebang, Hollywood Grind where no secret is safe, has everything - and I really mean everything! (Link not safe for work)

Michael Bay has written Transformers 2

Transformers fans all over the world will be pleased to know that Michael Bay has said that he has written the story for the sequel of Transformers. Yay! From Rotten Tomatoes:

"I've been writing Transformers 2," said Bay. "We've got our characters all designed. I always write all my scripts, my movies anyway so at least I've got something to give the writers. It's like a template. We have a really good outline so I worked on that...

When you do your first movie, you break the back of it. Now we can have a lot more fun. We can actually make the depth of these characters more fun and a lot more interesting characters. To see actually what you can achieve visually, you never know. When you go into a movie, you never know visually. I think I've got a lot of fun, interesting, funny characters."

Now please give me Hotrod/Rodimus Prime in the new movie and I'll be extremely happy.

Previously:
Transformers Beginnings
I'm officially a crazy Transformers fanboy
Autobots, transformer and roll out!
Singapore Gala Premiere of Transformers

Thriller dance on the tube

Michael Jackson's Thriller turns 25! I've posted a clip of Thriller performed by Filipino inmates and another of an Indian Thriller remake with crazy lyrics in the past but here's something new, the Thriller dance performed by a bunch of people inside a train which I think is commissioned in the UK as part of Thriller 25.

Today's Singapore News

1. Banks in Singapore paying more attention to bloggers
2. CPF members to choose Lifelong Income Scheme packages at age 55
3. Total Defence campaign stresses individual's role in defending Singapore
4. Tourism a big hit with poly students
5. Safety is top priority as work starts on $12b Downtown Line
6. NTU to raise tuition fees by 4%
7. Onslaught of dengue cases in Singapore prompts high alert
8. HIV Ignorance Is No Defense in Singapore
9. Singapore budget to tackle 25-yr high inflation
10. 'Jesus' cosmetic row in Singapore

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

How to cook deep fried Mars bar

Here's how you can learn to cook Scotland's national dish, the deep fried Mars bar! No wonder the Scots are so unhealthy. Wikipedia has more on the dish. I wonder if it tastes better with Snickers instead. Makes me wanna try it out over the weekend.

(Thanks Mr Big)

No more cheeky Jesus cosmetics at Topshop

You won't be able to get the Looking Good For Jesus cosmetic line anymore in Singapore (darn it!) thanks to some irrate customers who complained to Topshop for selling the products but hey, you can still get all those Jesus' goodness direct!



For those of you who ask what's the big fuss about, here's one of the products, the Looking Good For Jesus Mini Kit which contains a mirrored Jesus statuette, vanilla nectar lip balm, Easter-Lily hand & body cream (with sparkle!) and a folding mirror compact.



And this is what it says on the reverse side. I wonder if Jesus himself would approve these.

Spongebob actors dub classic movies

A must watch! The voice cast of Spongebob Squarepants (Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass) show us that they really do have a pretty impressive voice talent by dubbing some of the greatest films ever made. Now I can't wait to watch the entire Casablanca movie dubbed using their voice.

(via Cartoon Brew)

LEGO Chess Set

Dude makes a really cool chess set out of LEGO and here's how he did it. I like that he tried to give the small chess pieces as much detail as possible.

(via Geekdad)

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination

Pics taken at the opening of Franklin Institute Science Museum's Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, a cool exhibition that showcases costumes and props from all six Star Wars films and explores cutting-edge research and modern technologies that could one day make the fantasy world of Star Wars a reality. I wish the exhibition comes to Singapore.

Also read: Singaporean dude has 400 Star Wars action figures!

Blogger wants to end her life in 90 days

Jane intends to kill herself in 90 days. Crikey! So she blogs about it. Her daily posts receives hundreds of comments - she sure is getting a lot of attention alright. Will she really kill herself? And how will she do it? From 90 Day Jane:

I am going to kill myself in 90 days. What else should i say? This blog is not a cry for help or even to get attention. It's simply a public record of my last 90 days in existence. I'm not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to? I mean, as an atheist I feel life has no greater purpose. My generation has had no great depression, no great war and our biggest obstacle is beating Halo 3. So, if I feel like saying "game over", why can't I? Anyway, I hope you enjoy my thoughts as the clock runs out. Also, if blogspot takes this down before i'm gone just go to www.90dayjane.com. Please don't attempt to "help" me. If you want to truly help, please send me ideas on how to do the deed.

I hope this is just a sick joke or a form of viral marketing for some crappy cult religion like Scientology. Just wait and see. On Day 1 (her last day of existence), I bet she will reveal that that she has found a new meaning in life through Scientology and founder L Ron Hubbard is a genius and that Scientology has saved her from taking her own life.

Pics of Ah Meng's Memorial at the Zoo

I'm so pissed off with myself for waking up late and missing Ah Meng's memorial at the Zoo on Sunday. Argh! But anyway, both melisateo and screamingsnapshots took some really beautiful photos that capture the really sad occasion that morning. More shots here and Deon remembers Ah Meng in this picture of him and his cousin posing beside the famous orang utan taken way back in 1998. And lastly, for those of you who want to share your memories of the late Ah Meng, you can do so here.

Previously: Ah Meng is dead

WIKISKY is the mother of all free star maps

I have been craving for a good but free online star map for a long time and today I finally found one. WIKISKY is a non-commercial project with the main purpose of consolidating astronomical, astrophysical and other information about different space objects and astrophysical facts. It has an exceptionally detailed map of the night sky and can display about 500 million space objects.

The site is so easy to use and navigate - kinda reminds of Google Maps. Clicking on the SDSS button at the left upper corner generates a real high resolution Sky Survey image of the area that I am browsing - which is really neat - and I think the map shows stars down to magnitude 9+. WIKISKY is so god damn good that I get occasional cosmic orgasms just by using it. Yes, it is really that good. No wait, it's better than good!

Car Cut-Aways

A nice collection of cutaway, ghosted or phantom view illustrations of cars by some of the most talented artists in the automotive illustration business. The detail that goes into these works are really amazing.

The Secret Museum of Mankind

Read all 564 pages of Secret Museum of Mankind, a mystery book published in 1935 that has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers and no index. Advertised as "World's Greatest Collection of Strange & Secret Photographs", it is marketed mainly to overheated adolescents and it consists of nothing but photos and captions with no further exposition. Just strange.

Tattooday

Flickr photoset of a dude who draws temporary tattoos on his arm every day. These tattoos could be a saying, a phrase or lyrics that are meaningful to him and will stick in his mind if he looks at them all day.

Ben & Jerry's Scoop Truck spotted!

I get all excited everytime I see anything that is Ben & Jerry's related, for example its ice cream and Scoop Shops. I love Ben & Jerry's! On Friday while on the road, I spotted this Ben & Jerry's Scoop Truck near Raffles City. It's so damn cool!







Makes me want to stop the car in front of the Scoop Truck, hijack it and see what's inside.

This Weekend's Singapore News

1. Mini bikers just want a place to rev up
2. Meet Maximus Ng, age five. Pre-school fees: $9600 a year
3. When it comes to money, S'poreans plan for the future: survey
4. Average hongbao rate is now $10, up from $4 last year
5. More restaurants, hotels holding Valentine's Day events for singles
6. Singapore Airshow 2008 will set new benchmark for future shows
7. Number of Catholic priests, nuns plunging in Singapore
8. World's biggest observation wheel set to spin in Singapore
9. Ah Meng gets private farewell and quiet resting place
10. Memorial service for Ah Meng

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Classics

The Vanity Fair March 2008 issue has a Hitchcock Classics special featuring stars like Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts in iconic moments from Alfred Hitchock's greatest hits.

(via MeFi)

Ah Meng is dead

Sad news coming out from Singapore Zoo. The celebrity orang utan Ah Meng has died yesterday because of old age. Singapore (and the world) will miss you Ah Meng and the zoo will never be the same without you. Rest in peace my dear primate. From Reuters:

Singapore Zoo will hold a special memorial on Sunday as a tribute to the orangutan, a star at the zoo for the past quarter-century after the "breakfast with Ah Meng" programme was launched, the zoo said in a statement.

"She has touched the hearts of everyone who has met her and contributed immensely in helping promote awareness of how each and every one of us can play a role in anti-poaching, anti-deforestation and conservation matters," said Fanny Lai, group chief executive of Wildlife Reserves Singapore...

She leaves behind two sons and two daughters, as well as six grandchildren. In human terms, she was 95 when she died. As a tribute to Ah Meng, the next newborn orangutan at the Zoo will be named Ah Meng Junior, the Singapore Zoo said.

(Photo above by Flickr user Leon Huang)

Back To The Future Time Machine in LEGO

I love this Back To The Future De Lorean Time Machine (complete with a hover conversion!) created by Justin R. Stebbins in LEGO. View Justin's other LEGO goodies here. He's a LEGO god!

I Love My Vintage Electric Appliance!

I just found this gem of a Flickr pool of vintage advertising images of women and men with a more than friendly enthusiasm for their electric home appliances. These images are taken from old magazines, newspaper ads and product packaging.

Teddy bears turned inside out

Bears is a series of portraits by Kent Rogowski of ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed. Their fasteners now become their eyes, their seams become scars, etc. Kent has managed to turn the cute cuddly bears into disturbing and hideous creations.

Retro European Posters

Over at Bob Staake's site (remember him?), you can find a nice collection of posters made in the period between 1930 to 1960 by artists in France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and other European countries.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all who are celebrating the Lunar New Year tomorrow and do enjoy your reunion dinner later today. Have a great Chinese New Year holidays and remember, party hard but please don't drink and drive, and watch out for the road blocks if you are out partying.

Nokia Global Animation project wants your help!

This looks like fun. Take part in the Nokia Global Animation collaborative project by submitting photos of yourself, friends, family, etc holding a piece of white card in A4 or A3 size to its Flickr pool. The organiser of the project will then draw cell animation onto each frame (the white card). The photos will then be used in an ever-growing social piece of video art, shown on the video walls in selected Nokia Stores and related public displays around the world.

Homemade Star Wars goodies from Etsy

Club Jade has a list of Star Wars goodies found on Etsy, a favourite site of mine where you can buy and sell things that are homemade. I like these Battle Droid earrings - but I'm not wearing them!

Lasalle College of the Arts campus pics

I would like to visit Lasalle College of the Arts at 1 McNally Street after looking at its campus pics here. What a radical architecture! In all, the campus has six organically shaped seven storeys high buildings that feature inroads and alleyways running between them designed to look like lava flowing through a valley and canyons created by natural geological processes. The buildings have facets of glass on the inside, and an external cladding made of stone and aluminium.

Moldable Mouse

The Moldable Mouse is made of non-toxic lightweight modelling clay, covered with nylon and polyurethane blend fabric. It can be kneaded into any shape the user prefers allowing maximum comfort and grip, and the shape is self-retaining. The click buttons and touch-sensitive scroll pad of the mouse are stick-on parts.

(Thanks Steve)

Extortr

Extortr is really a neat idea by Tom Scott. With it, you can blackmail anyone in Web 2.0 style. Say you caught a hold of a very hot and scandalous pic/video of someone. Upload it to Extortr, set a price then email the anonymous threat to the person. If he doesn't pay, the upload goes public! Too bad it's just a joke because I can see it doing pretty well.

How to solve a Rubik's Cube

I really suck at Rubik's cube but after reading this Instructable on how to solve a Rubik's cube, hopefully I will suck less. But then again.

Unboxing the Apple IIc photoset

Dude bought a "brand new" vintage Apple IIc computer on eBay: "On Thursday night, Kathryn and I unboxed my latest Ebay acquisition: an Apple IIc. There are many vintage Apple II computers available for auction, but this one is special: It's never been opened. Ever. It hasn't seen the light of day since before it was shipped on May 5th, 1988." Pics of him unboxing the Apple IIc here.

Vivocity Shop Finder Service booth oozes style!

I was at Vivocity on Sunday when I noticed one of their many Shop Finder Service booths.



It has a sleek looking keyboard.



And a magnificent looking display.



Even its search engine is pretty good too.



When I looked at the back of the display, I found out that it's actually an Apple HD Display! And the keyboard is also by Apple. No wonder the whole damn thing oozes style.

Today's Singapore News

1. Opening up the public bus industry in Singapore
2. More black-and-white homes for rental, spurred by keen response
3. StarHub axes seven more analog channels in digital move
4. Singapore primary school reverses ban on non-halal food
5. House brands are flying off the shelves
6. S'pore resident population stood at nearly 3.6m as of June 2007
7. SM Goh says important for S'pore to put 4th generation of leaders in place
8. Not so cheap! The market rate for hongbao has gone up
9. China amputees beg to get quick money
10. Cupids come to the rescue of single Singaporeans

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

This is how you teach sex in Hong Kong

Tak Tak and Kar Kar are a pair of bizarre sex education dolls designed to help parents, teachers and sex educators in Hong Kong teach children about sex and family planning. These dolls standing at 23 inches tall, have removable clothes and sexual organs. The female doll even has a pair of babies (twins I suppose) that can be pulled out of her fibromuscular tubular tract with pink strings that look like umbilical cords.

Super Mario Adventures Series comic scans

The Koopatorivm has scans of all seven volumes of Super Mario Adventures Series comics that were published in Nintendo Power magazines in 1992.

PaperBird

Download, print, cut and play with your free PaperBirds. There are four little birdies to choose from and you may even want to try to hatch a little PaperBird of your own design.

Pencil sculptures that look like sea urchins

Jennifer Maestre uses hundreds of pencils, cuts them into 1-inch sections, drills a hole in each section, sharpens them and then she sews all of them together to create these fantastic prickly and colourful pencil sculptures inspired by sea urchins.

The World's Smallest Cinema

Cinema41 is the smallest cinema in the world - with just one seat! Located in a decorated micro-space in a housing complex in downtown Amsterdam, the cinema offers a fresh programme with all sorts of movies to watch at a price of only 3 Euros which will also get you some free popcorn and Coke for company.

(Thanks Bobby)

Congratulations to Boing Boing's Cory!

My warmest congratulations to Cory Doctorow - who has linked to this humble blog of mine gazillion times on Boing Boing - for the birth of his baby daughter, Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow. Yup. That's her name. Really! Hope she grows up to be just like her blogging superstar dad. I'm so happy for you, Cory!

Today's Singapore News

1. 590 HDB blocks to be upgraded
2. Should female teachers in Singapore have a dress code?
3. F1 Ferrari, McLaren to have parties at St James Power Station
4. Costume Play gaining much attention in Singapore
5. Most hawkers refrain from upping prices
6. Prices up everywhere, but inflation rate for food low here
7. Relief for morning rush hour MRT commuters
8. Singapore wealth fund takes long view
9. PM sees five percent or more inflation
10. SIA plane returns to Singapore after losing cabin pressure

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.

NASA to beam Beatles song into space

"Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens." That was Sir Paul McCartney's remarks when being told that NASA will be beaming the classic Beatles song Across The Universe into space this coming Monday. Boy, I sure hope those aliens will fall in love with the song like I did when I first listened to it many years ago. From NASA:

The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.

The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

Re-painting a kid's room from Pooh to Superheroes

And the award for the coolest daddy goes to this man for re-painting his 5 year old son's room from Pooh to Superheroes. Check out the transformation pics! Hmmm, why didn't I get a custom painted Superheroes room too dad?

(Thanks Mr Big)

Rob Jan's Fantastique Badge Cloak

Rob Jan who runs Zero-G, a science fiction, fantasy and historical radio show on Triple R FM Radio down at Melbourne, made this amazing Science Fiction and Fantasy trophy cloak full of badges that are either drawn in the computer, obtained online or hand drawn and painted by him. His Flickr photoset is a little treasure trove in itself and I've spent more than 15 minutes so far looking at all his badges.

Illustrated Catalog of Acme products

Pictures and info of all the products and services by ACME, the fictional corporation in the Looney Tunes universe that makes almost everything from aspirins to DIY Tornado Kits.

Cheeseburger in a Can: Pics and Review!

Someone from the Something Awful Forums actually bought the Cheeseburger in a Can that I blogged about few days ago and he posted pics of it and a short review. From Something Awful:

I'm not sick and I say I would eat this thing again if it weren't so expensive. And I really must say that this probably is faaaar better when you're many kilometers away from civilization on top of some mountain and you can whip out a cheeseburger with nearly the same quality as a McDonald's cheeseburger while your friend eats dry bread or power bars.

The Man of 200 voices

Dude shows that he has an amazing voice talent by impersonating 100 characters in 5 minutes (video above) and then he tops it all off with another 100.

Today's Singapore News

1. Lucasfilm fulfills the dreams of animation and digital artists in Singapore
2. Myanmar nationals in Singapore remember demo victims with 'Rambo' screening
3. Singapore 2010 - Newspaper Looks For Business Support
4. First budget flights take off on Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route
5. Taxi Operators' Associations concerned over higher ERP rates
6. Analysts mixed on more ERP gantries and higher rates
7. Most car owners stand to gain from road tax cut
8. Annuities panel calls for a more flexible scheme
9. Singapore starts to build residential colleges
10. Sentiments low in Singapore services, manufacturing sector

Read them all at Topix Singapore News, edited by yours truly.