Saturday, March 31, 2012

Pet Projects

Okay, just in case you are wondering why I haven't blogged since November last year - first, the Christmas festivities in December and then Chinese New Year in January. The usual parties, meeting up with friends and Chinese New Year visits. After that I undertook a number of Doggie Projects - A Pet Care Talk at NUSS, a "How to Train Your Dog" TV program by Ngee Ann Poly's  Mass Communication students and earlier this month shooting an episode of "Xiaxue's Guide To Life" on Dog Training. These have kept me really busy.

NUSS workshop
The Pet Talk at NUSS was a bit of a challenge, mainly because they don't allow dogs on their clubhouse. I mean how are you going to interest your audience without a dog? It can potentially be boring. And then I did my presentation with Powerpoint for the first time where in the past I have given talks mostly utilizing whiteboard and transparencies. You see, a lot of my IT knowledge are self taught. Fortunately I found someone, a poly graduate who is an animal lover and passionate about animal behavior to help me with the Powerpoint Slides as well as take care of running it during my talk. In the absence of a dog, I decided to play the part of a dog for the purpose of demonstration and audience participation.

Everything worked out fine. I also managed to secure sponsorship of goodie bags from Royal Canin - dog products, food, treat, toy and souvenir. Participants were very happy as the free gifts were worth more than the fee they paid for the talk. Registration exceeded the targeted 20. Everybody had a good laugh with me acting as a canine for participants to practice training on. The talk ended right on time.






Ngee Ann Polytechnic TV project - Alpha Dog
For this project I brought along Rolo, a parti color labradoodle. Rolo is a really people-friendly dog, not overly attention seeking. Students of Mass Communication are involved in the different aspect of TV production - Producer, Floor Manager, Cameraman, Host, Control Room and Post Production. They all adored him. The most difficult role must be that of the host. She was a bit nervous and had difficulty remembering her lines. Slides show :
https://youtu.be/-cxiGDwhxYA












Xiaxue's Guide To Life (http://clicknetwork.tv/guidetolife
Early this month I did a video shoot with Wendy Cheng, Singapore Blogger Queen better known by her pseudonym Xiaxue, a celebrity blogger who posts about her life, fashion and local issues. Her blog, which attracts about 50,000 readers per day, has won prestigious blog awards and earned her sponsorship deals, as well as stints as a columnist and TV show host. However, she is a contentious figure in the Singaporean blogosphere, with some of her offensive posts sparking national controversies.

Shooting an episode of  "Xiaxue's Guide To Life" at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. "Xiaxue's Guide To Life" is an online tv program of Clicknetwork.tv which is owned by TV celebrity Irene Ang. It was supposed to be titled The Dog Whisperer. In this episode Wendy (Xiaxue) learns how to train a dog and teaches some simple tricks. I am very comfortable in front of a camera but I wasn't sure what it would be like working with Wendy. I have a certain impression of Wendy having read some of her blog posts. I must say I don't approve of her frequent use of the "fxxx" word and her overly cosmetic look but that doesn't mean I condemn her. It's just the way I feel and I don't pass judgement. It was a pleasant meeting I must say and she wasn't crude like I thought she would be and with no airs. Best of all, no "f" word was uttered!




 






Is your dog driving your nuts? Dog problems - Aggression, Barking Incessantly, Begging, Biting/Mouthing, Chasing, Chewing, Digging, Hyperactive, Jumping on People, Pee & Poo all over the place, Pulling while Walking, Separation Anxiety, Submissive Urination, Whining. I can help you. http://www.petzcentral.com Email me for time schedule.



Monday, November 21, 2011

More ways to "Chope"

 
Recently, there has been much discussion and debate about the uniquely Singaporean behavior of "chopping" seats at Food Court and Hawker Centres. "Chope" is a term used in Singapore to mean seat is taken, It is a simple, unwritten rule. Simple because you simply place a packet of tissue paper on the seat you want to reserve. I must say I've never done that myself. Ddoes that make me less Singaporean, I wonder? Whenever a discussion is generated in Forums you get lots people expressing unhappiness about such encounter. I am of the view that the people who does that isn't selfish even if they appear to be so. I mean we all know how crowded the popular Food Courts are during peak hours, especially at lunch time. Now if you don't do the "Chope" thing before you buy your food you'd be walking around or standing carrying your food tray for awhile. So this is an invention out of necessity. Nothing to be ashamed of. 

"Chope" is also used in the context of reserving something or booking the services of someone. One thing for sure is that when demand is more than supply the "kiasu" Singaporean is likely to "Chope"!

Here is a funny video of a victim of "Choppin". No not in Singapore but a foreign country USA. Maybe some of us can learn a thing or two here. Enjoy!

Headache - Finding a Seat

Definition of “chope”