Web of Win (an original poem)

The glorious twenty-first century. People are entranced, sixteen hours a day, in a relentless barrage. A spell weaved by a web:

A web of looping GIFs and spinning texts, and RAWs and JPEGS. By X-PROs and filters, like SUTROs or #nofilters.

A web of waves contained, in MP3s, produced in production lines of broadways. Production lines of coarse tarmac and smoky causeways. In repeating drills and psycho pills, in retailer tills.

A web of videos and post-production, of film, of MP4s, and thumbnails shipping products to doors.

A web of gladiators on fire, on line, shooting MP5s. On black steams shooting lightning beams.

A web of spurious deceit, in markets rigged, spawning new riches.

A web of vain conceit, in blogs and vlogs, with niches and bitches.

A web of vying, trying, for follows and likes, and uploads and tweets, and news and lies before it reaches the streets.

A web of bits, of humiliation and tribulation, but also bytes, of science and knowledge, of creation and information.

A web of glorious distraction.

A web of

- original poem by The Yak Knight

Butter XLB!

dinner with audit team...i took the yellow one... turned out to be BUTTER XIAO LONG BAO! naise!

Animax Commercial Epic Win!

"Behold the Story of Love

The Story of Passion

The Story of Courage

The Story of Honour

The Story of Magic

The Story of Fate

The Story of Adventure

The Story of Redemption

The Story of Awakening

The Story of Rebellion

The Story of Faith

Expecting the Impossible

Transforming Ordinary People

Into Legends

Capturing the Hearts

Of Millions

Some Stories

Need to be Told

Anime-style."

-Animax

Let's just say that one of the most rewarding things to do is to succeed in finding the name of a very nice song of which you originally did not know the name of. Caught this commercial on Animax yesterday and the music fits the video like a boss. The music is so ultimately epic and after almost 24hr of searching (sleep included), MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

This was the commercial! EPIC to the MAX!

At first, thought the music was from a Hollywood production house (i.e. Immediate Music/Audiomachine etc.) but that would mean searching through hundreds of songs!

But few hrs ago, thanks to Youtube, managed to find this commercial! Someone uploaded the commercial in FULL! Helpful comments is helpful.

It is almost unbelievable, that this type of epic instrumental music could have originated from a K-pop piece :O

would never have guessed it. Once again, THANKS YOUTUBE!

The full song is here! EPIC WIN! SONG SEARCH MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

I don't listen to much K-pop but this one is nice! 

btw, USEFUL TIP here! If you need to find a song for which you know the tune of, but not the name, do a reverse search on http://www.midomi.com/. Free tip. You're welcome! XD

Do you like this commercial too!?!? Comment below!

Do you believe in Forever?

This question was asked on my Formspring by Shine, and coincidentally I read an article earlier on the concept of Time which was very related to this question. My reply as follows:

Metaphysically speaking, in my view there is "Forever". The general view of "time" is as if it were a travelling arrow moving towards infinity. In other words, time ticks along in a fixed manner like the periodic clicks on a metronome. In this case "forever" is possible as time moves towards infinity. This was the view of Newton and his Newtonian Mechanics. Einstein's relativity frames time together with space, as an endless four-dimensional fabric, suggesting too that "time" is "forever".

What if there is no such thing as "time"? The works of Barbour take Einstein's relativity to a whole new level, being essentially a theory of pure relativity. This was what I read this morning. According to Barbour, a "Theory of Everything" is possible without the variable of "time" in a purely relativistic theorem, based on the idea of Mach's Principle. (but this is another issue).

The point is, even with the absence of "time", "forever" is also possible, following the absence of the limit that the contraints of time imposes.

Alright! Conclusion: Forever is Possible.

Do you believe in Forever? Comments appreciated! Thanks!

lunch!

din tai fung for lunch! theres a nice statue outside the restaurant

Yak eats SNICKERS

Eating Snickers :)

IN ONE TAKE!

Mini Snickers are addictive!

My Cousin's Food Blog

A promotional blogpost and analysis (for FREE):

My cousin, who is known on her blog as #tumtianhui, has started a new food blog which I really think has the potential to become a big player in the so-called "blogosphere" that some SG bloggers like to call it.

Click on the picture link above to go to her blog!

What are the highlights of this blog? What differentiates it from the other food blogs out there?

Analysis

1. Blog Authors

The profile of the the blog authors puts them at an average of 20yrs old. They are all exchange students studying overseas. In one segment of the blog, in the "Origins" page, there was an explicit statement targeting young exchange students. This reiterates the second point.

2. STP

Segmenting and Targeting: The blog authors might not know it but they have segmented their market by age group unknowingly. The targeting is obvious. The age group being targeted by their blog is the "young adult" segment. To be even more specific, there is a sub-category of "young adult students studying overseas" but that is minor because food is a common topic.

Positioning: Its difficult to determine the values of this blog yet. The most obvious would be the reference to a 9gag meme from the blog title. This invokes thoughts of "internet", "9gag:","memes","trolling" etc. As food is a common topic, even older adults who are not so internet savvy might be interested in this food blog. But I have no doubt the "9gag" generation would obtain more value from this blog. 

Advice

9gag

This blog is very new and I feel that in order to reinforce on this positioning, the authors should include more memes and 9gag references in their posts. If this is not done, there is a risk that this blog would be unable to put forth the "unintended value proposition" to its target market of "9gag/internet young adults".

The current style of this blog is a safe and conservative one that I often see in other food blogs. How can it differentiate itself? This is not difficult given its unique positioning. My advice?

Puking Rainbows...Awesome comes in 7 colours

Maybe do some posts in 9gag fashion and rage comic-styled. There's also the possibility of uploading these 9gag-styled blog posts onto 9gag itself! One very obvious meme that could be used here will be the "puking rainbow" meme that usually goes well with food-related posts.

By now its obvious this is turning into a marketing essay. Maybe imma trollin? or maybe...

IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZER!

OK enough of memes for now.

TLDR? (aka TOO LONG DIDNT READ?)

Visit my cousin's blog by clicking the link above!

Mt Faber

doing stocktake! lol

Chicken Rice at RWS

chicken rice with chicken rice balls! unique BUT pales in comparison to many other chicken rice stalls

LUNCH

guess where's lunch today!?!?

cant take the red bus

sian missed the bus at seah im! but look at this nice blocky red antique bus. looks like its from minecraft lol

ok sweet talk, u r vindicated a little

seriously, sweettalk has always been literally too sweet to talk about. usually 2 scoops of crappy syrup is added for their bubble tea.

today i saw this new drink they have called green apple milk shake, so i ordered one with less sugar, thinking that they will only use one scoop of that crappy syrup.

so the staff went ahead and prepared one scoop of green apple and was going to put in another when i reminded her again i wanted less sugar

and she asked whether i want the fresh version. "huh!? ok" whatever that is

she took an apple from the fridge. AN APPLE! one scoop milk powder, ice cubes and water into the blender.

great stuff. its like fresh fruit juice! the milkshake part wasnt obvious though, probably could request for more next time.

its not amazing, but good enough, and the flavour of this drink is refreshing, for sweettalk.

Venice of Punggol!

was what the newspaper called this new man-made waterway in Punggol! Its not fully completed yet...this part of the park is near the MRT (or LRT) station. There's a cycling route and waterways for the moment and I think they might be extending them to the shore.

nice fountain!

quite a big bridge

super huge field there!

Overall it should be a good place to get some fresh air and relax! It is less likely to be overcrowded since its at Punggol which is the farthest stop in NEL.

Rec Club Appreciation Night!

As mentioned in an earlier post, there was a Rec Club Appreciation Night at the clubhouse for the sportspeople. Free food and drinks!

shepherd's pie was quite nice!

gin tonic!

Free Ocean Pack for the sportspeople!

Wow! but non-rec club people can't get this bag.

the live band was good!

Blog Entrance Poster or whatever its called

I'm considering making a Blog Entrance Poster (or whatever its called) for this blog. A lot of the more popular blogs have it. Could this mean having a poster will make your blog popular?

Mr B****

Probably the most famous Singaporean blogger, he was there when the blogging craze was "in". He has a simple poster there, just a horizontal banner. Gives quite a sporty impression at first, like its for a cycling blog.

X*****

 She's probably another blogger that comes to mind when you think of SG bloggers. Nice girly poster that covers the whole screen when you enter the blog. She has good photoshop skills too.

D*** Y***

Given that "correlation is not equal to causation", its not yet proven that having a blog poster/banner will increase blog views. But its no harm giving it a try. A nice poster could glam up a blog, just like those ads (maybe not).

But I don't want something flashy...maybe just something nice...guess I might have to do some design work then.

Also, plans to sort out my pics from Europe which is about 7000 pics or more. Maybe can start a travel blog after that!

Audit Adventures!

Lunch at Plaza Sing! This was last week's audit adventure. Kopitiam card comes in very handy for that 10% discount. Adds up to quite a bit if you lunch at Kopitiam almost every weekday for about a month.

Le Marche Francais!

There was this French Marche fair thingy going on at level 1. btw marche is french for market. As usual I like to grab some free samples XD tried some jam which was quite sweet. On another visit to this French Marche I tried some olive tapenades which is sort of like bread dips, and which tasted quite good! The marche sold other stuff too such as absinthe :O and spoons :S

If you like French stuff (especially food), you might want to head over to Plaza Sing to check this out!

Ultimate Ramen Champion! Episode 3: Ikkousha Ramen

Episode 3: Ikkousha Ramen

Noodles: 9/10 slim and smooth noodles, right out of the textbook, small serving

Meat and Egg: 5/10 meat was basic, slightly below expectation, but egg was better

Soup: 11.5/10 EPIC!!!!!1

Service: 8/10 rather fast and no fuss

Overall: 8.5/10

Quick links here to the other blogposts in the Ultimate Ramen Champion! series
Ultimate Ramen Champion! Prologue: important info including address, opening hours, voting etc.
Ultimate Ramen Champion! Episode 1: Bario Ramen!
Ultimate Ramen Champion! Episode 2: Gantetsu Ramen!


Was back at Iluma for another round of Ultimate Ramen Champion during office lunch hours! This time Ikkousha Ramen is put to the test. I wanted to try this stall as I remembered the first time I ate at Ultimate Ramen Champion this stall (which is located beside Bario) this stall had already sold out their menu while I was queuing for.

Here's a picture of their main ramen! Its called the Hakata Ajitama Ramen.

THICK SOUPZ

Noodles
Slim and smooth noodles yeah! This could really be right out of a noodle textbook! My advice is to go for the large bowl as it seemed more like normal serving to me. Two words to describe this type of noodle - Just Nice. To be exact, normal serving has 100g of noodles and large has 150g.

Meat and Egg
ONLY TWO SLICES OF MEAT!? SERIOUSLY? Bario has FIVE! Not like the meat is that nice too. Its adequate but far from amazing, and slightly on the hard side. You could probably find pork of the same quality in a hawker centre. The egg was much better. Overall, the ingredients were below expectation.

Soup
DAM NICE! This soup reminds me of the thick mushroom soup that Marche has (imo one of the better mushroom soups. sry but i don't like those light and creamy type). I've got no idea what they put into the soup, as the ingredients are prepared far from the counter. But the taste is strong and full, and there's a good base of pork that you can deduce from the soup. It has a thick texture as well. Definitely on par with Bario's soup. Both are good, but in different ways.

Service
The preparation was fast. I think I've waited no longer than a few minutes for my ramen.

Here's a picture of the restaurant chef, acting LIKE A BOZ! But the chefs were all not there that day, probably at the new outlet in Changi Airport?

LIKE A BOZ!

Overall, this stall is recommended if you want to try some really nice and thick ramen soup and good noodles. If you want something more filling, stick with Bario.

Check back this blog for more updates and reviews on Ramen Champion!

HLB!

back at HLB! They've upgraded the lobby substantially with a xmas tree!

Lunch was at City Hall today! Lunch set meal at Handburger goes for $10.80 for a burger, side and drink!

Chicken Caesar with Seasoned Fries!

Original Handburger!

The one thing that Handburger does well is the addition of sweet onions to their burger!

Original Handburger with Salad!

Epic Shark's Fin Soup

Warning: If you are against consumption of Shark's Fin please stop reading NOW. If youre not then scroll down abit...

scroll down somemore...

its either shark's fin or cabbage, with chicken

super thick soup! at first i thought it was cabbage soup, theres so much cabbage in it!...but the taste was so thick and awesome it CANT POSSIBLY BE CABBAGE RIGHT!? the soup comes with chicken inside which still contained some flavour...which means probably the soup did not reach its full potential, or the chef did not want the chicken to overpower the whole soup.

took the pic only when the soup was almost finished...i seriously thought it was cabbage at first.

rec club appreciation night!

yeah free food, drinks and ocean pack (but the bag for sportspeople only)

more picture updates coming soon!