Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff &#038; random mischief

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Most Definitely Enjoying ‘Mad Men’

‘Mad Men’ is the smash television series set in early 1960 something, New York City. The name ‘Mad Men’ refers to the Men who work at Madison Avenue in the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency and centers on Don Draper, a high-level executive and the other folk working there.

This television series is a delight to geeks and detailed-oriented freaks. The sets are definitely genuinely 1960s, from the clothes down to the xerox machine. Everybody smokes, all the time - even pregnant women (they didn’t know smoking caused lung cancer back then). Oh and everybody f87ks around, all the time.

Welcome to my latest obsession.

Right from the onset, I noticed that the opening credits (watch the video above) were not only stylish. They depicted a man that knows his world is falling apart, that has lost control and is falling deeper and deeper until he finally spirals downwards to the realization that this is the way things must be - and calmly accepts his fate.

The protagonish Don Draper is successful and admired. He’s got everything a man could want. And yet he is deeply disconnected from his wife, his kids and his friends. Something is not right. Why is he so discontented that he needs to find constant solace in booze and the arms of different women? In fact, he only seems to be happy when he’s working. And even stranger, Don Draper seems to have another life in which he goes by a different name - Dick Whitman.

I think it doesn’t matter if it’s 1960 or 2008. We all have a lot in common with him.

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The Lady Melissa was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and St John’s College, Cambridge. She is a member of the global aristocracy and spends her time mostly on another planet. Oh and she happens to be a Singaporean blogger. #

Metallica’s ENTER SANDMAN…. with LOLCATS #

Was iPhoneGirl A Phony? That means fake, not horse. #

Local Blogger Tym On The problem(s) with Palin - very insightful. I hates the MILF already. #

Posted
6 September 2008 @ 1pm

Tagged
Funny Shit

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Massive Fail - Antibiotic

This conversation actually happened last evening with an England-challenged person - do you get it?

By the way, I poisoned the food

We both ate the food, so both of us will die then?

No, only you

Why only me?

Because I’ve taken the anti…anti…antibiotic!

The antibiotic?!!

Yes, and since you don’t have any antibiotic, you’re a goner.

HAHHAHAHAHAHAH

What’s so funny? The poison can only be cured by the antibiotic!

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Finding Work-Life Balance, the best of the best. #

Posted
5 September 2008 @ 1pm

Tagged
Blogosphere

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How to be an irritating Singaporean blogger

How to be an irritating Singaporean blogger. I made a list.

List also applies to any nationality.

Using a micro-blogging tool like twitter/plurk to mainly announce your latest blog post when you should be using it to provide more insight to readers into your blog.
Blogging in the third-person perspective. Cowboy Caleb feels this is a really bad thing. Cowboy Caleb feels this is not good because it makes you seem retarded and bimbotic
Offering advice on how to increase your web traffic or be a better blogger despite the fact that your own traffic is pathetic.
Offering your readers an incomplete RSS feed that only …. [click on more to read the rest of this post on my blog]
Value attending blog meetups, blog events, blog outings, blog sex orgies even MORE than actual blogging anything unique and interesting that you came up with yourself.
Do not understand that a sentence is not a paragraph. Geddit?
Have terribly misleading blog post titles that are sensationalized.
More advertisements on your blog than actual content. Don’t be a whore.

Some background. I felt I had to write this post because the quality of local blogs has gone from bad to awful. I can hardly ever find any good local blogs to plug these days. In a way, blog advertising has caused this decline with more and more bloggers obsessed with fame and fortune instead of doing what a blogger is supposed to do in the first place - connect with their audience.

So to all of you who seem to think the success of your blog depends on which blogger you know or how many blog events you attend - you’ve got a rude surprise coming your way.

Singaporeagnestan and Jialat are 2 examples of local blogs that connect very strongly with their audience. They blog regularly, offer compelling content that’s localized and have their own opinions. While they won’t win any points for being overly brainy, these are the kind of blogs that build loyal and lasting audiences.

Compare that with the other crappy blogs that keep trying to tell you how wonderful they are, how wonderful their blog friends are and how wonderful their advertisements are. Nobody gives a shit.

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My Intern Is A Miss Macau Contestant!!!
#

The Beach Boy’s “God Only Knows”- remixed into 8 bit format. Horrendously wonderful! #

Fat? Stinky? Facebook ads hit where it hurts - Social networking site’s ads target your psychological soft spots. #

Busting the Malaysian (and therefore Singaporean as well) GPS Myths #

WTF: “I accidentally a fleshlight” - make sure you know what a fleshlight is before you read… #

Racism in Malaysia Reaches New Heights - or should I say new lows! #

WHAT HAPPENED
AFTER I LOST MY
GUARDIAN ANGEL:
A TIMELINE. #

AirAsia’s mercurial CEO, Tony Fernandes now has his own blog. It’s updated by him (only time will tell) and has (gasp) comments enabled. So now you can tell him how much the roti jala sucks on his flights and query why every other AirAsia flight is always delayed. To be frank, I’ve flown AirAsia and I’ve found it to be a notch below other budget airlines like Tiger Airways but on par with the ridiculously overpriced Silk Air. But that’s just me. #

A better SBS Transit’s iris NextBus site - for those of you who take buses in Singapore. #

Hey Jiawei, Why So Glum? Cruzteng sure does funny comics.. #

Posted
4 September 2008 @ 11am

Tagged
Blogosphere

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Lenovo Is Watching The Singapore Blogosphere

Feeling rather annoyed at my new Lenovo T61, I complained about it to my mates on Plurk (full plurk thread here). What I forgot was that, all my plurks are public, which meant that the whole world could view anything I plurked.

What I did not realize was that Lenovo watches the blogosphere. Within a couple of hours, I received an email from Derrick Koh, the Communications Manager for ASEAN/Korea who seemed to be concerned about my sudden outburst.

Derrick Koh 4 September 2008 01:30
To: cowboycaleb

Hi Cowboy Caleb,
How’s it going? I understand that you may be experiencing some issues with your Lenovo ThinkPad. Is there anything I can help with, perhaps?

Best
Derrick

Derrick Koh
Communications Manager, ASEAN/Korea
Internal Communications, Asia Pacific
Lenovo (Singapore) Pte Ltd

This is very surprising and of course very very impressive. To respond so fast shows superior understanding of the blogosphere and the Intarwebs.

I’ll update you more later on what happens next after I bellyache to him…

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Rich Man’s Burden - the rich are working longer hours than the poor now. I never should have gone to that darned university. #

Posted
3 September 2008 @ 9am

Tagged
Funny Shit

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Batman & Joker Discuss The Gyllenhaals

Posted
2 September 2008 @ 11pm

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Questions I fear waking up to

Where the hell am I?
What’s that smell?
Why can’t I feel my legs?
Who the hell is that? or the even more frightening variant Who on earth are these people?

A Japanese producer of extreme pornography, Natural High, has embarked on a quest to save poor African orphans, by sending a porn star and a film crew to make “anthropological documentary” porn of the Japanese lady having sex with various tribesmen, with the proceeds earmarked for donation to the only aid organisation which would have anything to do with them. #

Seventh graders describe scientists before and after a visit to Fermilab. #

Posted
2 September 2008 @ 2pm

Tagged
Blogosphere, Cowboy Recommendations

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A Quick Review Of SweetCron

It’s hard to describe what Sweetcron is. Apart from the fact that it’s the baby of partially Singaporean Intarwebs rockstar Yongfook, there’s very little I can tell you about it because you have to see it in action on Yongfook’s website to understand.

Blogs are evolving. You’re looking at my Lifestream, a real-time flow of my activity across various websites, with the occasional blog post for nourishment.

Basically, you throw a bunch of (your own but not necessarily) RSS feeds together and SweetCron will serve up something nice to look at. You can see my own SweetCron installation - what I’ve done is I’ve gone and told it all about each of my twitter, flickr, blog and delicious feeds.

The installation of SweetCron is not recommended for the non-websavvy. While it isn’t difficult, it’s not exactly easy as well. You’ll be needing your own server with PHP and mySQL installed. Once you’ve got it installed, the admin interface is pretty bare.

SweetCron is still very young, which explains why there isn’t much functionality available. But it’s pretty much bug-free and an elegant piece of coding. I see great things happening here if more people adopt it.

Give it a go.

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I YAM A SINGTEL GRID GRRRRRRLLLLLL. I AM BOOTIFUL. I AM TEH LIVEWIRE OF THE PARTEH. #

Posted
1 September 2008 @ 8pm

Tagged
Travels

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Lulu, Here Is Your Underwear

Every Friday night, the pub in China where Jaywalk and I hang out at, holds a lucky draw. For every drink you down, you get a ticket. With each ticket, you get a chance to win. There are a multitude of prizes consisting mainly of alcohol (I won 4 bottles of any beer of my choice one Friday). But there’s also one booby prize that’s usually something to do with the staff tht work at the pub.

Anyway, the booby prize last week was Lulu’s underwear, which unfortunately was won by another lady.

Here is Lulu’s underwear, framed up on the wall for all posterity.

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Women get massages with ‘happy endings’ too #

Her father commits suicide (he also sold all his world possessions) after failing to help her meet Andy Lau in person. A China blogger criticizes her, so she sues him. #

All Your Chess Are Belong To 17-year-old chess player Magnus Carlsen #

Tiny Houses - an awesome roundup for tiny houses around the world. #

Posted
1 September 2008 @ 11am

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Should I Get A Kindle?

My father, is an afficiando of newspapers. When we go on short holidays, he delights in reading the newspapers left under the hotel door. When I travel, I try to bring back newspapers for him. He simply likes to read newspapers. And I kind of understand, because newspapers are different in each part of the world.

Do any of you own the Amazon Kindle?

I’m thinking that this is the perfect device to buy for an elderly person to ensure they keep their brains active by reading everyday.

160,000 books plus newspapers, magazines, and blogs available for download, and all delivered wirelessly to the Kindle.

If any of you own one, please tell me if it’s a good buy or not? You can leave a comment or email me.

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A very happy birthday to my imaginary friend Patlaw who happens to run the runaway smash hit of a blog, Blankanvas. Do check her out if you’re into social media and interesting urban counter-culture. #

Singapore Grand Prix F1 Race Queens… FAIL!!! #

Bogus Degree Holders exposed by Straits Times Singapore - finally some news from the ST that’s worth 5 minutes of your time. #

WTF Happened To Jolin Tsai? #

Is Cat, Not Magic Pony!!! #

Confessions of a porn addict pastor - HOLY SHIT!!! A pastor who inspired hundreds of thousands of people with his fight against terminal cancer has admitted he faked his illness to hide an addiction to porn. AN ADDICTION TO PRON. WTF?!!!
#

Posted
31 August 2008 @ 9am

Tagged
malaysia

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Happy Merdeka Massive Fail Day, Malaysia

Happy ~~Merdeka~~ Massive Fail Day, Malaysia.

All your neighbours are laughing at your joke of a prime minister, his son-in-law, sodomy accusations and rampant corruption. The people are going to take back the power and put it in the right hands again.

May the uncaring, corrupt and unholy alliance of Barisan Nasional rollover soon when Anwar Ibrahim takes over the government.

Let all the people of Malaysia join hands in overthrowing the evil regime that has blinded us with racist policies for far too long.

The Malaysian diaspora will do their part!

Makkal Sakti!

Singapore Female Blogger Vs Molesterer - blogger wins of course #

Posted
30 August 2008 @ 1pm

Tagged
Blogosphere

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Cowboy Caleb’s Inspiring Fanmail

It’s days like this, when I receive this kind of email - that I realize why I keep blogging everyday.

Click on more below to read the full fanmail.

[Read more →]

The Big Book Of Lesbian Horse Stories. No I’m not kidding. #

The Second Most Beautiful Girl in New York #

Posted
30 August 2008 @ 10am

Tagged
Blogosphere, Cowboy Recommendations

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The Omnivore’s Hundred

The Omnivore’s Hundred (meme picked up from Tym) is something all of you need to blog about NOW!

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
~~7. Cheese fondue~~
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
~~25. Brawn, or head cheese~~
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
~~42. Whole insects~~
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth US$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
~~62. Sweetbreads~~
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
~~68. Haggis~~
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (rabbit counts!)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Wow, so as you can see I have had nearly everything on the list. No wonder I’m such a fat bastard.

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Cakes Gone Terribly Horribly Wrong #

Posted
29 August 2008 @ 3pm

Tagged
Fear & Self-Loathing

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Burning Questions That Keep Me Awake At Night

What the hell is wrong with me
What is the black smoke monster on the Lost Island?
Would Batman be able to kick Ironman’s butt?
What the hell is wrong with her?
If I wake up early tomorrow, would I be able to go jog or swim?
What was that thing I was supposed to have ready by tomorrow?
Assuming I continue like this, when will I be able to retire?
Why do women keep swarming me if I’m ugly?
What the hell is wrong with us?

Posted
29 August 2008 @ 2pm

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Found A Reason To Buy An iPhone

so I just found out that the perennial Evernote (a multiplatform application that captures, links and stores information) now runs on the iPhone.

I say that’s a pretty compelling reason to buy an iPhone now. I might just head out to Mongkok (HK) this weekend to buy myself one.

How to be a good intern. I wish this was mandatory reading in Uni’s and Poly’s. #

Buying an iPhone in Shanghai - READ THIS SINGTEL ASSHATS. Only RMB4000 (about SGD800) gets you an iPhone that’s unlocked and ready to use. #

Ten Truly Underrated Sci-Fi Movies #

How I Learned to Love Middle Managers - I hoped to create a utopian workplace. Instead, I caused an employee revolt. #

Posted
28 August 2008 @ 7pm

Tagged
Blogosphere

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Cowboy Caleb Doesn’t Want You To Go Blind From Being In His Divine Presence lah

In a nutshell, BlogTV (some show on Channelnewsasia) asks me to be interviewed to answer some painfully obvious questions. The problem is that I’ve noticed in the past that people (the general public) tend to go blind from being in my divine presence.

Technically, the only way to ensure people remain safe is to make them read my blog or listen to me whisper (if I speak normally, people develop urinary tract infections, hence the hushed tones).

Update: somebody emailed to ask what happens if a blind person is in my divine presence - the answer is that blind males gain another 2 inches of penile length while blind females obtain the ability to ’see’ through male bullshit.

Click below to read the full email conversation

[Read more →]

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Posted
28 August 2008 @ 12pm

Tagged
Blogosphere

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Hiralious Parady of Dawn Yang by Xiaxue

I YAM GOING TO SIT KNEE TUMOROW!!!

Xiaxue +100

versus the original

I AM GOING TO SYDNEY TOMORROW

via Cakie