Posts Under: Blog

Sandy Beaches, Windy Cliffs and Artistic Rocks

August 23, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

One of the most amazing things about Kangaroo Island is its vastly varying landscapes and breathtaking environment. From one end of the island to the other (which is at least a two hour drive considering the distance), you can experience the South Australian wilderness in a wide spectrum of rustic surroundings – sandy deserts, craggy cliffs, luxuriant forests, sparkling rivers, to rolling hills and scenic bays. Drives along the winding roads of the island are always pleasant as there are very few cars around, plus the fact that virtually every square kilometre of the island is bursting with gorgeous scenery.

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Our first scenic stop was the renowned beach at Vivonne Bay, which was once voted as the best beach in Australia in a survey of 10,000 beaches on the continent and its islands.

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Addressing the Absence of Attention

August 19, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment


I love this pie chart! (Courtesy of Creating Passionate Users)

One of the most prominent phenomena in this present age is its move towards slicing and dicing everything down to its simplest and most fundamental parts. This relish for reductionism has resulted in an ever increasing number of people who acquires information in a vast number of areas without ever dipping below the surface.

The latest I read was that mini-MBAs are now growing in popularity. Who has time to spend 1 or 2 years of their lives pursuing a fast ubiquitous qualification these days – other than the few oddballs like me?

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Celebrating Singapore’s Birthday @ Melbourne

August 9, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

Thanks to the efforts of the Singapore Students Society at the University of Melbourne, together with counterparts at RMIT, University of Monash (Caulfield & Clayton), more than 500 Singaporeans and friends of Singapore had the chance to celebrate our country’s 44th birthday tonight. Held at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne (along Swanston Street), the party was a great way to rekindle passions and emotions in one’s homeland.

While I haven’t been away from Singapore that long (my last trip back was in mid July 2009), I still feel the pains of homesickness occasionally creeping up on me (especially since my family is there). Which was why I think that its a great idea to have celebrations of Singapore’s birthday in cities with significant numbers of Singaporeans. Special thanks must go to Wan Hua who helped made this gathering possible.

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No prizes for guessing what this ticket to the event resembles! I thought it was a great stroke of creativity.

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An Aromatic Afternoon

August 8, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

As a pristine pastoral paradise, Kangaroo Island boasted of farms offering various primary produces. One of the first places which we checked out during our first afternoon on the island was the Emu Bay Lavender farm, a family owned property located beyond the Kingscote area of the island at its Northernmost tip.


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To give you a sense of orientation, I have included a Google Map above which shows where the place is. From Penneshaw where the ferry landed, it was a breezy drive through the largely empty roads through the farms and wilderness to reach this field of fragrant flowers.

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How To Generate a Good Following

August 7, 2009 • Blog • 3 comments


Having great photographs always help (courtesy of the highly talented Nay aka tranquil niche – a friend from Graduate House)

Why do we return time after time to a favourite blog, Youtube channel, web forum, or Flickr group? What makes it seemingly easy for an individual to attract hordes of Twitter followers while you have problems breaking past the 500 barrier?

The answer lies in what I call the degree of interestingness of these user generated content creators. In other words, the quality of their writing, photography, videography, music making capabilities and how these can help to sustain an audience.

Of course, being able to build relationships are also important, but you can’t just befriend your way to blog superstardom if your blog posts, facebook updates and tweet feeds are complete bores.

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Hoppin’ Happily to Kangaroo Island

August 2, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

The greatest highlight of my family’s trip back in April to South Australia must be the one to Kangaroo Island, a sprawling sanctuary for nature and wildlife offering some of most spectacular sights I ever saw down under.

While it is seven times the size of Singapore, Australia’s third largest island (after Tasmania and Melville Island) is pretty sparsely populated with close to 4,300 residents. Almost all of its economy is agricultural, tourism (it hosts some 140,000 visitors a year) and fishing oriented. The charming farms on the island boasts of primary produce like honey, milk, wool, meat, fine wines, and eucalyptus oil.

Of course, the greatest thing about Kangaroo Island is its abundant wildlife, both freely frolicking the vast bushes or living in parks and reserves.

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Why Alcoholic Ads Are ‘Belly’ Funny

July 27, 2009 • Blog • 3 comments

Being one who don’t mind an occasional tipple (or two or three), I have always wondered about why alcohol advertisements – particularly those touting beer – have always set the benchmark in terms of humour and hilarity.

Targeted at largely men, alcohol ads often tackle the lowest denominators of male desire. It is little wonder then that sexy scantily clothed females, outright sillyness and football/soccer/footie (or any combination of the above) are often used as themes. Somehow the idea of having a good time, getting a beer buzz and laughing till you drop seems to flow beautifully together. Oh and of course celebrities like the sensational Jessica Alba and the whimsically whiskered George Lam, amongst others.

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