Random Quotes Random Scenarios

Random coffee quotes for your musing. Enjoy!

"Internet Trends and Psyche are inversely related to US foreign policy."

"Internet Royalty is all about Reach and Loyalty."

"Branding is about knowing when to keep quiet."

"Design is about adopting someone else's problem and dealing with it."

"If you're a bit uncomfortable and so is the opposition, its a good deal."

"Everyone online is searching but what are they really looking for?"

"The customer is always right. Good customer service is humouring him when he isn't."

"You are what you eat also applies to websites."

"First meetings are about listening not talking."

"On the internet, Brand is a dirty word, so please whisper."

"Digital Designers are now better referred to as Relationship Managers."

"Mom and Pop shops - the next big brands from Asia."

"Internet communities and online socialising were invented for Asians who are, by nature, shy."

"Everyone will have the tools soon but not everyone should be using them."

"Established Brands have as much Baggage as they have Claim."

Asia's 1st No Frills Hotel

Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian man behind the no frills carrier Air Asia and the tagline "Everyone can fly", has just announced what is claimed to be Asia's 1st No Frills Hotel - Tune Hotels. Rooms are at a flat rate of 9.99 Malaysian Ringit. That's five bucks a pop for Singaporeans. Bargain! That's about 15 times more bang for the buck than Hotel 81 in the friendly merlion city! Taking a sneak peek at the Tune Hotels branding, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Richard and his virgins had a tune in this some way or another.

Five bucks a pop: Tunehotels.com

Billionaires Of The World '07

Forbes.com's Annual List of The World's Billionaires is out. William Gates III still has No.1 vista spot with (USD)$56 Billion net worth, and for the 13th consecutive year. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs is way down the list at 132, $5.7 billion. (hmm. And to think Apple was once the PC market leader. go iPhone go go go). Mr. Oracle Lawrence Ellison is at 11, $21.5 billion. PC Man Michael Dell is at 30, $15 billion.

The highest rated Asian on the list at No.5 is Lakshmi Mittal, $32billion, an Indian Steel titan. There are 3 Indians in the top 20. Hong Kong Boss Li Ka-shing is the only other Asian amongst them at 9, $23 billion. The top from China is, funny enough, a self-made woman in paper manufacturing, ranking at 390, $2.4 billion. Top Malaysian Robert Kuok, a self-made trader, at 104, $7 billion, beat top Singaporean, Ng Teng Fong, a real estate mogul (but of course), at No.118, $6.1billion. There are 4 Singaporean billioanires. Top Thai is Whiskey & Beer King Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi at 264, $3.6 billion. Japan is no longer the kingdom of Asian billionaires and USA is still the land of dreams with 5 in the top 20.

The filmmaker with the jedi power is Mr. Star Wars George Lucas at 243, $3.6 billion. The highest rated Muslim, at No.13, $20.3 billion, is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, a self-made nephew of the Saudi King. Top politician and Italian on the list is Former Prime Minister and Media Mogul Silvio Berlusconi at No.51, $11.8 billion. Youngest is 23 year old German Albert von Thurn und Taxis at 488, $2 billion.

Top woman on the list is Ms. L'Oreal Liliane Bettencourt at 12, $20.7 billion. Top Asian woman (who travels with 50 bodyguards) is Nina Wang, a real estater at 204, $4.2 billion. Other top women on the list are Ms. Heineken Beer herself - Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, No.102, $7.2billion, America's mama Oprah (as usual) and Harry Porter's mama J.K. Rowlings (Ah. A creative writer type on the list. There is hope...)

Internet billionaires include Google guys Sergey Brin, 26, $16.6 billion, and Larry Page 26, $16.6 billion, and Eric Schmidt, 116, $6.2 billion; Amazon.com’s CEO Jeff Bezos, 188, $4.4 billion; Yahoo’s co-founder Jerry Yang, 432, $2.2 billion; Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, 243, $3.6 billion; and eBay’s founder Pierre Omidyar 76, $8.8 billion. (New Kids On The Block Rock. There is hope yet again!)

If you go by the list, the top ten billionaire career choices would be 1. Software, 2. Investment, 3. Telecommunications, 4. DIY Furniture (Ikea), 5. Steel, 6. Casino & Gambling (Try your luck with IRs) , 7. Luxury Goods Retail, 8. Fashion & Apparel (Zara), 9. Plastic Flowers Retail (ahem), and 10. Media & Entertainment.

Read more and dream on... Forbes.com: "The World's Richest People"

1st YouTube Video Awards!

YouTube has just announced the winners of their first ever Video Awards, as selected by their vhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifoyeuristic community. And the Yoscar goes to...

Most Creative : Here It Goes Again / OKGo

Best Comedy : Smosh Short 2: Stranded / Smosh

Best Commentary : Hotness Prevails / thewinekone

Best Series : Ask A Ninja / digitalfilmmaker

Best Music Video : Say It's Possible / TerraNaomi

Most Inspirational : Free Hugs Campaign / PeaceOnEarth123

Most Adorable : Kiwi! / Madyeti47

Read more: YouTube Video Awards

Vote for the New 7 Wonders of the World

There were 7 wonders of the ancient world. Now, 2200 years later you can vote for New 7 Wonders of the World. All structures built or discovered before 2000 are eligible. Vote online: www.new7wonders.com/

Muse: Ifs and Duds...

If a distinguished gentleman had business to discuss, a golden opportunity perhaps, and invites you to a serious dialogue at an impressive country club up in the skies so high, where it was compulsory to wear a jacket, perhaps even a tie, then high chances are its a dud.

If that same distinguished gentleman wore a spankingly colourful tie, that he later mentions he painted himself with his own two hands, then high chances are that he micro-manages, and higher chances yet that he has had one too many buds.

If that same gentlemen mentions he was once the youngest recipient of some national art award, then highest chances are its not just a dud, but a big dud.

Coca-Sek: The "Real Thing" from Columbia

"Indians in a remote mountain village in southern Colombia are marketing a particularly refreshing soft drink "Coca-Sek" that harks back to Coca-Cola's original formula, when "coca" was in the name for a reason. Advertising posters here describe the carbonated, citrus-flavored Coca-Sek as "more than an energizer" — a buzz that just might be provided by a key ingredient, a syrup produced by boiling coca leaves...."

More on : Los Angeles Times

Quote Of The Year 2006

"One can never expect the wind, but should always keep one's window open,"
Quote from aclaimmed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai after being invited to head the jury of the 59th Cannes film festival from May 17-28, 2006. He will be the first Chinese president in the history of the Cannes Festival.

We say top it off with beautiful wind chimes so you don't miss it when the wind does come.

Self-Actualization

A great quote from Dr. Abraham Maslow on Self-Actualization:

"A musician must make music, a designer must design, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This is the need we may call self-actualization ... It refers to man's desire for fulfillment, namely to the tendency for him to become actually in what he is potentially: to become everything that one is capable of becoming ..."

Our 5 Lines Of Strait Times Fame

A little self-indulgent horn-blowing if we may...

Our humble little blog got a mention and a rating (7/10) over the weekend in The Sunday Times (Oct 2, 2005). If you have a copy, read articles : "Blogs go Corporate" and "On the corporate blogging bandwagon". (We would have preferred a spunkier article title but we're not gonna complain.)

Other blogs mentioned were: XiMnet Malaysia, Virtual Office Singapore and General Motors.

An excerpt:
"Splogger successfully strikes a fair balance between company news and unrelated issues. The writing style is unpretentious..." Read more online at The Straits Time Interactive (subscription)

Toot. Toot.

Red Table in Pudong

Check out these latest additions to the Shanghai skyline... compliments of China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong. Expect more and a China version of Trump's The Apprentice soon too.

RED TABLE (Where the master sits)

The Pickled Organ

The Pickled Organ: shot in our studios with a Nikon D50 and lit with the Lomo Colorsplash Flash

Itadakimas!

Take away a mega-bite of freshly-made sushi: kappa-maki or cucumber roll, ikura or salmon roe, tekka-maki or tuna roll, uni or sea urchin, maguro or tuna. This SushiDisk (top) is a USB flash-memory device: life-size, hand-finished, and good enough to eat. Comes in a soft plastic body, which slips over a tiny USB flash-memory module powered by the computer's USB port. 100% compatible with any Mac or PC. Hmm... Overnight shipping with dry ice pack available??!!

*******************************
Okay, here's the real thing.

No time for lunch? Introducing the new self-heating bento box (below) available in Japan. Just by one pull of a cord, you can enjoy instant steaming teriyaki chicken within seconds. Tada! Can someone tell me how this actually works???

A Sugar Coated Morality Yarn

Watching Charlie & The Chocolate Factory brings us back to a time when candy means more than anything in the world to a young child. The chocolate factory is like the realisation of all the hopes and dreams a child can ever have.

Naturally, every child in the world can't wait to his hand on one of the only 5 Golden Tickets to visit the chocolate factory. Charlie is the boy who keeps hoping and dreaming no matter what the odds are. But more importantly, only Charlie, through his loving family, realises that the golden ticket, or even all the candies he can find in the factory, are only the means to an end, but never the end.

The liberty that Tim Burton took on the little background story of Willy Wonka worked out quite well. Here, we get to see why Willy Wonka grew up to be that socially inept, eccentric genius chocolatier, a character played to sweet perfection by Johnny Depp.

Memorable characters in a timeless Roald Dahl classic, beautifully designed, great music, just a trivia, the oompa-loompas' songs were voiced by Danny Elfman, the long-ime Burton collaborator who had composed such classics as Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and even the Simpsons' theme.

Not to be missed. 5/10.

Red Wind : A Nikon D50 Perspective

Red Wind : A flowing perspective from our first digital slr - The Nikon D50.

Fugitive smokers

The Smoke Screen, a.k.a Urban Hookah, is a clever solution by Boston based Moskow Architects for smokers on the streets of North America. These pre-fabricated screens can be fixed onto most lamp posts and come complete with a leaning cushion, built-in lighters, air filtration system, heaters and ashtrays. Hitting many birds with 1 stone, it keeps the butts off the streets and the smoke from atmosphere.

How thoughtful. If only we could have a few of these over here, perhaps the ban wouldn't bother me that much. *shrug*

Attention! All You Uncircumcised Men

Well, there you have it. Study has shown that circumcision is effective prevention against AIDS infection. The results are quite encouraging too, showing 7 out 10 infections can be prevented. I'm just wondering how on earth did the scientists come up with such an idea for research. What inspired the genius scientist to see a connection between foreskin and AIDS. It's like he's sitting there one day with his fellow genius colleagues, and said "hey guys, let's try foreskin".

The wonders of science and modern medicine. Brilliant!

So, guys, sunat?

The Half Blood Prince

The expected sales of The Half Blood Prince and the phenomenal success of the entire Harry Potter series illustrates just how potently worthy the figment of one's imagination can be. Lets not even get started with Lucas and his Star Wars.

Character Sketches

Olympic 2012 Fever

Olympic Fever hits Singapore. Feels like the oscars with stars, celebrities and powerbrokers abound. The one that bends, the one that floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee and the first female president of USA to name a few. Amusing it is that the cause of all this hooh-hah are a couple of fellows who will be runing and jumping around in spandex in almost a decade's time from now.

Some torching highlights...

Flashiest Olympic Bid website:
New York City
Have a look at this nice little add-on: Share Your Dream

Classiest Olympic Bid website & Logo:
London City

Most Cut-n-Paste Olympic Bid website:
Moscow City

Olympic Bid website with most language options:
Moscow City is the only website with Chinese and Arabic versions. (Ironically Paris and London only have French & English - See Most Olympian Jibe below)

Most Olympian Opening Statement:
"Russia is eternal, yet Russia is new." (Hmmm)

Most Olympian Jibe:
Chirac on Britian: "One cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad. The only thing they (Britian) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease."(Smirk)

Most Likely New Olympic Sport:
Golf

Results in a few hours - My Bet:
Viva Paris