有话就说 - Recording at Tiong Bahru Plaza*

I had a busy Friday nite & Saturday.
Feel the need to record everything, but there is just too much information.

Since Saturday is still fresh in my mind. Let's start with the 1st Saturday activity then.

I was invited for a Channel U programme called 《有话就说》 or 'Shout'. From what I can remember, this programme seems to be a kids' programme, where a panel of 'experts' will be invited to debate certain youth-related topics with a bunch of youths.
The most significant people I can remember are the hosts, 许振荣 and 权怡凤.

Anyway, I was to turn up at Tiong Bahru Plaza at 11.30am on Saturday, so 'Good Fren' and I did.
Dunno why, I started craving for a teh-peng.
Coffee Bean didn't have teh-peng leh.
But the cashier girl was such a great service provider, she stared at her cashier machine for a while and said,"I take your order as a tea latte, then add ice to your drink, ok?"

Then she made the drink herself, added the ice, and gave me an extra cup of ice. "Just in case, the tea is not cold enough," she said.
COOL!!!
In most cases, frontline people will just tell you a big 'DUN HAVE'!!

I digress... Back to the programme...

It's spilt into 2 segments.
The first with a blogger (Blinkymummy) and the 2nd with a Channel U News Producer (I didn't catch his name).
Here is the Channel U News Producer guy getting his face made-up.

I guess the point of the programme is to discuss the existence of blogs and how blogs will affect mainstream media.

By the time I got there, the set up had oredi been completed.
There were wires EVERYWHERE!!!
The tech people have a really tough job, man!!
How they remember which wire goes where?!


They told me to hang around while they filmed the intro bits, so I kept myself busy by taking pics.



You see the hosts getting briefed.

Ok, this 2nd season of 'Shout' is slightly different.
Apart from the usual hosts, panel of 'experts', guests, they included a panel of Project Superhost Finalists, who sat behind in a row, and, most of time, not saying much.
I was asking the Research Writer, who they were.
She looked a little surprised.
I dun have a tv mah!! How I know??

I didn't get the point of their existence.
They mostly acted as 'Points of Reference' to answer questions like 'Do you have a blog?', 'Do you read Blinykmummy's blog?'
Of which, only one guy did for both questions.

I love the hosts.
They are so cute and warm people.
Someone cited an example of better parent-child communication after the parent read the child's blog.
权怡凤 thought that it would actually worsen the poor communication. I like the fact that she is able to (i) reflect on a topic she is unfamiliar with on the spot and (ii) express her thoughts coherently.

And of course, I like her even more now because before the programme started, she arranged my hair for me.
FWAH!!!

Ok, here's what the set-up looks like.
You see the pathetic plastic highchair in the foreground?
That's where I sat.
Alone. Without a table like the others!! =_=
I had wanted to take pics during the recording but I had to hold the mic and answer the questions in MANDARIN!!!
Too many things going on at the same time!! Cannot multi-task!!
I is lousy!!


The 'discussion' was quite funny.
They started off by harping on the vulgarities on my blog for the longest time.

The 2 hosts showed the 4 junior hosts a printout of my blog, pointing out my profile with the 'nabehcheebye'.
And the 4 junior hosts were like,"*GASP* WAH!!!"
Actually, I was a little surprised at their reactions. You mean these youngsters do not swear?? Or maybe, now that they are 'public figures' that they cannot be seen/heard swearing in public, nor been seen/heard condoning swearing in public.

The 2 'experts' even asked me to swear there and then.
I said,"不可以！", and they were out in full force to corner me, suggesting that I am not who I am on my blog.
I said something like 'there isn't anything to swear about now', or something to that effect.
HAHAHA!!

These 2 uncles were the 'experts'.
The one on the left is an Adviser from Marina Parade Family Centre, while the one on the right is one of the big shot editor from Zaobao, aka Singapore's biggest Chinese Newspaper.
Here you see them patting their made-up faces with tissue paper because of the heat. It was really freaking hot!!!

During the swearing discussion, the one on the right said he couldn't accept swearing in public because he 读圣贤书的.
FWAH!!! I started laughing!!!
Maciam I didn't 读圣贤书!!

[By the way, this uncle has a blog.
And he kpkb about how nobody reads his blog.
Heh Heh Heh...
So I went to his blog to have a look.

(He wanted me to link his blog mah!!
Actually, my blog not that many people read. Few thousand only.
Maybe get XX to write an entry and link better.)

WAH LAU!!! His blog ah...

It's in Chinese.
It's full of text.
And I had problems with leaving a comment because I had to sign on using a hotmail account.

Like that how to have many people reading?!!

Eh... 这样你懂了吗？]

After the programme, the uncle on the left came up to me and apologise for coming down hard on me about the swearing and probably for the bit when he suggested that the objective of my blog was to 骂政府 (criticise the government).
He said it was necessary for the programme.
If even such an 'open discussion' type programme is orchestrated in this manner, what else is not orchestrated??

After my segment, the 2nd guest came on and they started bombarding him about the replacement of mainstream media with blogs.
That guy, being a News Producer, had to defend the integrity of news programmes. At some point, he said that news were produced by doing research.

FWAH!!!
Like that means blog entries are written without much research?!!
Eh Hallo...
Who produces news? Some human beings, right??
Who writes blogs? Some human beings as well, right?
It's all about the human beings doing the work, and NOT the medium, i.e. mainstream media or blogs.
Some human beings just exercise more control and responsibility when they write, and they do not have to be the media.

By the way, I have 1 suggestion which I didn't have a chance to highlight during the programme. If the mainstream media wants to engage its audience by means of blogging, it doesn't mean the people in the media must start blogs.
The newspaper is already a blog.

The next step is for all new articles online to come with a comments section.

Of course, the management will have to decide whether censorship/moderation is required, because anonymity breeds irresponsibility.
...................................................

*Afterthought:

It's actually quite strange for Channel U (Variety) to invite a Channel U News Producer to be 'questioned' by a SPH Chinese Newspaper Editor on a Channel U programme.

One of my readers highlighted that the 2 'expert' uncles have a talk show with some radio station.

Eh???

These 2 uncles are like the Mr Brown and Mr Miyagi of the mainstream media hor?!!
Middle/Upper Middle Class Singaporean Chinese Males in their late 30s trying to get their share of the limelight in any medium which they have access to!!!

Radio = Podcast
Newspaper = Blog
TV programme = Vidcast!!!

HAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
...................................................

Anyway, after the recording, I was very hungry.

GF: Let's go the French Stall in Upper Serangoon.
BM: One of my readers left a comment and said it's not there anymore.
GF: I'm sure it's there! I saw it recently.
BM: Orh... Ok lor...

Then it wasn't there!!
HAAHHAHAHAHAAH!!!

So 'Good Fren' brought me to this famous stall in Balestier to have 猪什汤 instead.

FWAH!!
It's very good leh!!
How come I didn't know about this earlier?!!


Suddenly, 'Good Fren' said that we should try to improve our Mandarin.

I totally agree.
I had such a hard time during the recording.
I stumbled and fumbled.
权怡凤 asked me, instead of blogging, why I couldn't just say the stuff I wanna say, I told her I could write faster than say it.

And it made it worse, when I have to say it in Mandarin.
All because I think in English.
Conceptual terms are only in English.

I don't know how to explain things like 'Swearing is a Social Construct' in Chinese.
When one of the experts said blogging was like graffiti, I couldn't defend serious bloggers by highlighting that his misconception was ingrained in the fact that blogging was still very much viewed as an informal means of mass communication.
It has nothing to do with the message of the blogs.

RRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!
I is lousy!!!

Oh... btw, I wore my infamous pink-striped T-shirt for the recording.

Heh Heh Heh...

Look out for the programme.
I think it'll be aired on Thu, 8 Jun 06, 8pm, Channel U.