Short trip to Singapore

I just got back from a short trip to Singapore. It was great times, I’m really glad that I went, and I hope to have occasion to return later in the year.

I was originally expecting to go to Freeplay last weekend, but Heidi had a workshop in Singapore and wanted some company. Plus, the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) was on and I figured that I could check it out.

I got to wander around by myself during the day and then hung out with Heidi at night. I made a little check-list of things to do and got through most of them, so it felt pretty productive (note that most items were food-related).

Anyhow, here are a bunch of photos. Let’s start with this one of a place near Chinatown with awesome Chicken Rice set meals for AU$3.50:

The apparently well-regarded (although that one guy gave them 7/10) Song Fa Bak Kuh Teh was also pretty good. This European guy next to me got all sorts of intestines, and a Japanese couple nearby seemed to have heard about it online.

While I took the opportunity to touch up on my Singlish, I found that some groups were discouraging it entirely.

This photo was taken near the Riverside hi-so area. It’s some sort of outdoor cooler… but why would you make it look like that? Why?

STGCC was a pretty seamless mix of Western and Eastern comics, art, and games. I suppose that it was a lot like Singapore, but with more rangers and storm-troopers.

For me, the highlight of the convention was the talk by Simone Legno, the artist behind tokidoki. He spoke about building a lifestyle brand over the course of 10 years, delving into his personal history, artistic influences, product development, and rising corporate profile. It was a fantastic talk.

Here’s a photo of Simone signing the panels of the tokidoki booth:

Hmmm, yeah so that was my trip. I want to go back later in the year for more of the food. Maybe a group trip. Let’s do it! 😀

Thai Life Insurance’s youtube channel brings more tears to the Internet

Thai life insurance ads are pretty popular online and now Thai Life Insurance have started their own channel, featuring this new video:

Growing up in Thailand in Australia, I can appreciate the very different approaches to television advertising between the two countries. In Australia, the same advertisement can be on television over a number of years, but runs are much shorter in Thailand so there’s always something fresh and they seem to put a lot more effort in.

via chinasmack (with interesting commentary on the response in China).