Subscribe to my blog feed
Cowboy Caleb recommends 
Almost Daily Interviews part 5 (IZ Reloaded)
IZ is such a hamsem boy
He has been slashdotted, boingboing’ed, nominated for 2 Asian Blog Awards and was runner up for best Singapore blog in 2004 - ladies and gentlemen; the one and only IZ Reloaded. His blog is a phenomenon, providing a plethora of links and information on topics ranging from sex, gadgets, news and local happenings every day of the week.
Also interesting is his female fanbase, affectionately dubbed “IZ Rabid Fangirls” although from the photo above, it’s quite easy to see why he attracts the opposite sex (the dude is rather hamsem, right?). I personally have been following his blog for some time now because IZ is not only good at finding new and interesting links, he’s also a marvelous writer and a fantastic photog.
In this interview, we learn more about the man behind the blog. He has an interesting job, fascinating hobbies and shares tips on how you can make your blog more popular. Click on ‘more’ to start reading the interview.
Why did you start blogging and when did you start? Please share with us the background/history of your blog.
I started blogging on October 11 2004. Come to think of it, it is not even a year. So I guess I’m a newbie when compared to those who have been blogging for years but I’ve been reading blogs since many years ago. I think they were called online journals back then. And I
have always wanted to try blogging because I always love to write and I’m an information junkie. So I guess blogging serves two purposes for me, to write and at the same time share with others the information that I have gathered. Another reason that sparked my interest in blogging is because of work. We were interested in blog related tech companies to invest in. So I guess the best way to understand blogs is to start a blog myself.
Tell us more about yourself since your blog totally fails to mention much about your private life. How old are you, are you married, hobbies etc.
Well, I’m 28. Married? Hmmm, never been. I’ve been in private equity/venture capital industry for a few years now. I’m planning to take a long break from that and maybe do some other stuff like writing. I am currently involved with a few writing projects. One is a movie script titled Romancing Romania. I’m actually quite excited to take a break and write since this will be like going back to my first job as a writer many years ago.
As for hobbies, there are plenty. The problem is trying to find time for me to do the things I like regulary. Work and blogging takes a lot of my time daily. But when I do have the time, I would stargaze. I’ve always love the night sky. I caught the bug pretty young, I guess thanks to my dad. But I have been too lazy to assemble my telescope to look at the stars nowadays. It takes a lot of effort to pack and unpack a telescope that weighs quite a lot. Other hobbies worth mentioning, well bodyboarding and surfing which is almost like a religion for me back in Australia. You can’t surf here in Singapore but Bintan offers some nice waves to bodyboard. Acceptable, I would say. And I love watching National Geographic, Discovery Channel and CNN. Someone did ask me once what is the secret to a good knowledge, I answered, besides going to school and reading books, it has to be Nat Geo! I’m now trying to increase my time spending with my friends, chilling out, drinking and clubbing since they have been complaining that I haven’t been doing much of those lately.
Your blog is one of the biggest blogs in the region. It resembles Boing Boing much more then Tomorrow.sg. How did become so popular?
One of the biggest blog in the region?!! Oh you’re too kind mate. Well, I’m glad people read it. I mean I don’t expect everyone to like it. I would say it got to a higher stage when it was nominated for two categories in the Asian Blog Awards last year. Being a runner up to Mr Brown in the Singapore category ain’t that bad. And I was boinged a few time on Boing Boing (thanks to Cory) and some of my entries were on other popular blogs like Slashdot so they brought a lot of readers. Of course I would have to thank the faithful readers who read the blog daily especially the IZ Rabid Fangirls. Ha! They are one crazy bunch. I think it was Zhiyang who coined the name for them and it just stuck ever since. And also thanks to the other bloggers who linked to me and read my blog.
Where do you get your content from? Do people submit it to you, or do you harvest it daily?
Well, like I said earlier I’m an info junkie. I read tons of stuff daily and I surf a lot. I have hundreds of sites/blogs on my bookmark that I try to go through everyday. Some of the content are also sent to me via email by readers. So I’ll put them up if I think they are interesting. I usually receive around 30 emails per day by readers who recommend sites or blogs to me. It is really time consuming going through all those stuff but I try to put up most recommendations.
I will guess that you are a wildly successfull investment banker type yuppie. How on earth do you find the time to blog? How often do you blog and what part of the day do you do it?
Wrong guess mate. I’m not an investment banker type yuppie. I’m in private equity! And I don’t think I’m successful. I think success is when I’m in my late 40s looking back and see what I’ve accomplished in my career and life. I’m 28 now, so I still have some time to go before I can term myself a success or a failure. I know a lot of my friends think that I blog more than I work. Well, I would think it is more of how someone spares some of his time to do other things besides work. I take anywhere from an hour or two or more to blog. There’s no particular time but lately Ive blogging in the afternoon. You know, there’s more to life than just work, and errr blogging too. I’m trying to keep that in mind.
In view of the recent furor over linking- do you have a linking policy? What are you thoughts on linking policies with regards to blogs and metablogs?
Well, yeah I read about that. My policy is this. I link anything that I find interesting. And if the owner of the site or the blog that I linked to doesn’t like it and they email me to remove the link, I will do so. But I won’t be emailing the owner before I link it, as it is too damn time consuming man. I think as bloggers and editors, we also need to be sensitive when it comes to the type of content which the link has. For example, I mean anything that is racially sensitive is a no-no!
Despite being popular, you are still hosted on Tripod. Any reasons for not getting your own domain and server to blog?
Oh, don’t you know that tripod pays me to use them? Haha! Seriously, I’ve thought of getting my own domain and server plenty of times but I realised that Google is very kind to my Tripod host and gives me a good search rank on certain items. Maybe I might move to my own server but i’m not too sure if it is going to be anytime soon. I remember when I was slashdotted sometime ago, some of the slashdot readers were saying that a tripod site like mine would die in a few hours after it gets slasdotted. Well, it didn’t.
Do you think it’s getting harder and harder to get your voice heard with so many new blogs being created in our blogosphere now? What
advice do you have for newbie bloggers to help them get started on the long road to building an audience.
I like to think blogs as being smiliar to newspapers and the general media. It is an overcrowded space but I guess when there are good voices, no matter how crowded it is, they will be heard.
Here are some advice for newbie bloggers,
- photoshop your photos and write like Xiaxue
- include as much singlish and vulgarities that you can think of in your entries
- befriend as many famous bloggers you can and hope that they will write about you.
- put up yor naked photos like SPG did!
- talk bad about your celebrity blogger and then start a war between yourself and the legions of fans of the celebrity blogger
Ok I’m only joking. Some good advice, be yourself. Write anything that you feel comfortable about. Important is to start your own little community. Get your friends, work mates, etc to read your blogs. Beg them. Force them. Seduce them. You will need a bunch of faithful readers. Get featured in other blogs. Tomorrow.sg I think is a brilliant platform for bloggers to attract new readers. As I said before, good voices will always be heard.
What is your opinion on the recent Blog Celebrities phenomenon?
Actually I’m all for blog celebrities. You know we have tv celebrities, movie celebrities, music celebrities so what’s wrong with having blogging celebrities? I mean bloggers like Xiaxue, Mr Brown, Mr Miyagi have quite a following. I remember being so excited or was it too drunk at that time, when I met Mr Miyagi at an event. I just approached him and gave him a hug. I think some people there were little shocked. I’m sure Miyagi was. Ha! But it was a good hug. Really!
Recommend some blogs that are interesting to you.
Boing Boing is one that I read often besides Tomorrow.sg. I recommend Slashdot, Metafilter, Power Line, Micro Persuasion and Good Morning Silicon Valley. I also recommend Cowboy Caleb. It is an enjoyable read. Hehe.
Is Miyagi gay?
Is Miyagi gay? Well, considering that he hugged me. Ha! No seriously, for someone as likable and handsome as he is and with a name like Miyagi, I’m sure he has a hot japanese girlfriend or two. Or maybe he is a Bi. Hmmm.
5 Comments