My Blog

So it’s official- the rumours have been confirmed. My business group is being evolved once more to the next step in response to the needs of the organization. I think I have been most fortunate working with a team of amazing people who always inspires me to want to go further and explore new possibilities and create new horizons.

Having said that, in the mean time, it’s a new chapter in my career and let’s see what happens.

P.S. New iPods came out today and I am gaga over them.

So this evening I was going to the gym earlier than usual given that Vic and I had arranged to go attend this class- Pain and Pleasure. For some strange reason i thought the class starts at 6:30pm and so I left the apartment a quarter before.

As I walked towards the gym on 23rd street, I could hear the sirens blaring, and a crowd in the distance. As I approached closer, I realised the commotion was coming out of the gym. Firetrucks were stopping outside, parked across the Chelsea Hotel and a crowd of guys were all crowded outside watching the scene, laughing and giggling, as if it were a street party.

Long story short, something blew but not serious. Shortly, we were all given clearance to go in. As I was heading through the entrance, the manager was standing by the stairs announcing loudly that the cardio part of the floor will be closed, but the upstairs and downstairs weight area will remain opened. At this point, I heard someone behind asking loudly- “Is the steam room open? ”

That’s when I know how gay the gym affectionately dubbed- Dolly Parton - is.

Last Friday- August 17, on that rainy evening, i attended what was supposed to be the final Out magazine party for the season. Being the final party, it was definitely much better than the others in terms of crow, good looking people and of course the alcohol- Kettle One, being the sponsor. So as usual with these magazine parties, there are a bunch of sponsors with their booths trying to entice party goers with their products and services as well as sweepstakes entries etc.

Amongst the prizes raffled away that evening was a $5000 worth of plastic surgery of your choice. I didn’t think much about it and since the company I was with decided to fill up the form, I thought why not? So I entered my name and contact info etc. As it was Kevin’s birthday that day, after a couple of apple martinis, followed by a few Kettle One vodkas with tonic, we decided to leave the party- albeit elegantly happy.

i thought nothing about the event till yesterday afternoon, I received a call in my office from a chap named Keith. According to Keith, I had won the $5k plastic surgery prize. For a moment I was gobsmacked, I mean huh? I won what? I supposed I was so lost in the amazement of the moment for winning something I never thought about that my response to Keith over the phone was less than enthusiastic. I think I am the worst prize winner ever. I wasn’t shouting or jumping up and down; nor was I doing the OMG! I cannot believe it and have tears running down my cheeks. In fact, I did very little.

I politely thanked him while I processed the news in my head. Just to be sure I wasn’t being on camera, I took down his information for verification, and asked if I can gift the prize to someone. He said he will check and get back to me about it.

Now, i haave to admit this is the first time I have won a prize that huge in amount. It was totally unexpected like the way a surprise is meant to be.

That evening, I went to the gyym and lifted since my butt is still sore from spinning the night before. I looked at every Chelsea queen around me wondering what I want to do with my prize winning. Iit wasn’t till I was done and was standing in the shower when I had an epiphany. I am actually happy with the way I am now- the way i look in particular. Unless the prize has a 10 year expiration date, right now I am considering about gifting it to a child who needs some work done so that he or she can lead a normal life.

To tell the truth i am actually happy to realise that i am happy with the way i look. Of course I can find whatever flaws i want to find, but I like my flaws. They define my humanity.

This will have to be a thought I need to revisit in 10 years. Who knows by then, I may actually want to go under the knife?

So it is spring finally and while it is pretty nice out it is also major allergy season for me. I have been sniffing and blowing my nose stop and teary-eyed for the msot parts. It sucks but it is a rite of Spring.

Anyway, work is still going steady and getting exciting. I am lately more passionate about what i am doing and I am excited for the most parts though there are times when i am mentally blank- and when I do that I still deliver, I feel that the work is sub-standard, if not crap.

Lately I feel in love with Dash Confessional again. i think Chris Carrabb is such a hottie and so talented. I liked him when he started out and kind of lost track of DC for a couple of years till last year’s album, Dusk and Summer, which i thought was great. Bought a couple of tracks off iTunes and somehow it got lost in that period where I was adding music faster than i can actually take the time to enjoy them.

Anyway, Dusk and Summer is a newly rediscovered gem. Another bloke worth listening to is Mika. Grace a Kevin K. who introduced me to him. I found the CD in the office from the talent.

Ok as i am writing this, a bang was just heard outside followed by a owman’s scream. A kid just got hit by a cab. I can see his body lying unconsciously on the street. His mother is screaming and immediately she is surrounded by passer-bys. Long story short, the kid is alive. a couple of gay doctors from the hood- according to my flat mate Jose, who saw the cute one, is attending to him while I see people calling the ambulance I hope and not The Post. The poor kid, he is screaming the living day lights out of him. The ambulance came but what made it a spectacle was that the kid’s daad ran and punched the cab driver. Clearly it is not the driver’s fault, but I guess in a situation where your kid is hurt and perhaps due to carelessness on the parent’s part for allowing him to dash suddenly across the street, he had to push the blame somewhere. Of course the father was immediately pinned by 2 NYPD cops.

So, Mika is lovely. Go check him out on iTunes.

Okay so i just finished last week, after working more than a month on it, my team’s entry for the Cannes Lions 2007. It was one of the most challenging projects i have undertaken in terms of creativity. God knows how many reiterations we went through just to get it perfect. Granted the ending wasn’t quite the exact vision i have in mind, but nonetheless it evolved into a common vision we can all agree on.

So far the response internally the company has been favourable- they range from “Holy shit” to “Incredible.” It’s all been very positive so far. getting internal accolades is like the icing on a cake. Now if only we can win the grande prix; that to me is the cherry.

So barely a day after everything ended, I am already booked for my next big project. On one hand I cannot complain about the demand, yet I think I am mentally a little exhausted. But I think the scope and spread of the project is pretty cool so i am willing to push myself but just not sure if I am in the best condition at the moment.

So I have been following Apple stocks for a bit lately especially now that I am an actual investor. I still want to own Google but doubt I can afford any number that will make significant gains if they continue to rise.

Anyway juding what Steve and Co. have been planning and the product roll out over the next few weeks- Apple TV, the highly aniticipated iPhone, new Mac Pros I think Apple’s stock value willl increase. And if their product road map were to be as follow, more multi-touch products (not just limited to the iPhone) I think we have the promise of a technology company will revolutionise the way we intereact with computers in the future. Having dropped the word “Computer” from their name, I think Apple will will redefine personal computing very much the way they first did with the introduction of the Macintosh.

So as of now, Apple stocks stand at 91.13. I won’t be surprise to see another surge with the release of the iPhone in June.

Since my birthday is in June, I think I just dropped a mega hint as to what i want for my birthday. Personally, I would rather wait for the second generation of iPhones. I figured I would let the early adopters work out the kinks. I am pretty happy with my Nokia 7373 for now, besides I get virtually no or spotty, at best, reception here in my office building with T-bloody Mobile.

Thinking about switching to Cingular or the new (old) AT&T Wireless just for the iPhone. Sigh.. it did get me at hello.

So the company formerly famous for getting on every copyrighter’s nerves (aka Hollywood) is finally becoming legit. BitTorrent after a year of negotiation with Motion Picture Association of America is rebranding themselves as BitTorrent Entertainment Network. I think this is a positive step for the MPAA given that in my previous rant, studios and broadcasters have got to keep up with technology. Embrace it instead of shrinking away from it.

Personally, I greet this rebranding excercise with a yawn. I mean how different is BitTorrent’s offer going to be from existing online services? I.e. Amazon.com’s Unbox (pay service) or Joost’s partnership with Viacom (tentatively free I think)? The only thing that BTEN is doing differently than in the past is the stamp of approval from Hollywood. In other words, we are not going to sue your ass off, which seriously makes this whole venture a yawn. I mean with Hollywood (Disney) promoting PIRATES of the Carribean like crazy three years in a row, I find it ironic that they are clamping down on pirates.

Anyway, here’s some stuff about BTEN:

1. They are using Window’s DRM. Which one? There’s Plays for (I am not so) Sure, the new one for the Zune Marketplace, Janus, several versions of WDRM…

2. They are entering a crowded market place. Unbox, iTunes store, Joost, Xbox 360, Zune, Wal-Mart, Netflix and presumably Blockbuster as well.

3. It is still based on a P2P concept. Meaning as you pay to download the movie, you are distributing it as well to someone else who may want the movie. That person pays BTEN. Not you. So your bandwidth is eaten up and you are helping BTEN to offload a potential server overload.

in the meantime, i will wait for AppleTV whose shipping date has been pushed back to March. I like the simplicity of iTunes store though i find that given the latest version with its inclusion of CoverFlow has somewhat made it a slight piece of blogware. Granted it looks pretty but I think CoverFlow should be offered as an optional plugin-in instead.

Found this great rendition of Cole Porter’s classic by La Lennox. She makes it sound so wistful…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLec1yl_fOs

Anyway juding from what Jack Myers just released last week in the trades, doubt my company is doing a cirque du soleil upfront this year which personally I am privately glad about.

On the negative side, as in the trades et al, P&G don’t see to be growing their spending in innovation this year. They are cutting back and I think other than a few brands here and there, mostly the spend is going to be in traditional media.

Word has it also that my group may move offices yet again. This time to a lower floor which I am ambivalent about. I kind of like where I am now though being so high up still makes me nervous on some days.

So it it the Lunar New Year again. I know it should be called the Chinese New Year but sincec the Chinese are not the only ones celebrating it- i.e. Koreans, Vietnamese, I think the Lunar new year is a much more appropriatwe term.

Anyway since I have been in this country for the past 8 years, i have completely stopped celebrating the event. The closest I do to commenmerate it is to go to Nonya restaurant on Grand Street and order Yu Sheng. No pineapple tarts, no bak kua, no “love letters” etc. In some ways i do miss it, in others not really. I have gotten so used to not celebrating in a big way that it has become a non-event for me.

While watching CCTV last night, I couldn’t help to note the change in my sense of aesthetics. It was the typical New Year’s eve variety show on any Chinese network across the world. Pop stars, big song and dance numbers, endless rounds of well wishes from people on the street. blah blah… and the thing that struck me about the change on my part is how I view the whole thing as somewhat gaudy. I mean who designed the costumes? What’s more for a man who is probably in his late 40s, he shouldn’t have his hair sprayed with glitter or sequins on any part of his attire. Women in their 30s shouldn’t be talking either in a squeky voice resembling the late Anna Nicole Smith. I am not sure what is the message these television personalities are trying to convey. To me it just lacking in taste and self-awareness.

Okay maybe I am becoming the Singaporean version of the Scrooge but on the other hand no one is complaining about the show, as far as I know. I am not even complaining. It is just a different sense of aesthetics I supposed. I grew up with it. I never thought of those variety shows in those terms till now. Even so, there are some shows here in America that I find completely awful. Despite that, they are somewhat entertaining and that at the end is the goal.

So it is the Lunar New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai. Have an amazing year of the Pig/Boar/Hog/Swine…

Okay now that Carrie Underwood has won the Grammys’ I have a little confession to make. I don’t listen to country music (unless they are the crossovers that you cannot help but to hear them). In fact the only reason I knew of her songs is what I see listen on iTunes. Her first album had a hit not too long ago entitled Jesus Take the Wheel.

This is probably a little too late and probably stale to most country music fans out there, but the song is relatively new to me. I knew of the song title cause it was on for weeks in the top 10 on iTunes, and for the longest time, I have always thought that the song has something to do with her driver. Given how creative country song ttitles can be- i.e. Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight?

So naturally by just looking at the song title, I assume it is one of those creative country song titles where the song writer probably got a little tired of driving and told his or Carrie W’s turn, her driver to take the wheel. It did not occur to me for a second that someone would associate our Lord Savior with an automobile. They did not have cars back then in his time, they drove chariots. Even so, chariots do not have steering wheels. Presumptiously, I thought of song has something to do with an immigrant driver where Miss Underwood, probably tired after a long day of recording and losing weight asks Jesus to drive her home.

Of course when I finally heard and saw the lyrics to the song, I realised what a blunder that was. Still you cannot blame me for thinking that way. I think it iss a rather cultural thing and in all honesty, I admit that I have never felt comfortable with someone named Jesus. It kind of felt sacrligeous to me which is why I never thought of Miss Underwood’s song something more akin to a prayer than an order.

Oh well the things we learn.