How many crabs can a crab shack shuck if a crab shack could shuck crabs?

The BMers, all 13 of us (not everyone could make it), trooped over to Eng Seng Restaurant for Pepper crabs. There are plenty of things to blog about this particular excursion, so I'll keep the report snappy.

Ok, how many crabs do you think 13 people can eat? 8 girls + 5 boys. I was thinking... Seven, so that's what I ordered when I got Jole to call them the day before. And then, today when I told the BMers what I'd ordered, this was what they said:

Liru: "...."

me: "what? we going to eat crabs right? I ordered seven leh! Too many ah?"

Liru: "..."

me: "don't tell me too little"

Liru: "yeah, I eat two crabs on my own."

me: *Stunned face*

So, in the end, we re-ordered another 5 crabs, bringing the total up to... 12 crabs! A DOZEN! WTH!! And then, when we reached the place at like, seven, the queue was already snaking outside of the 50-plus seater coffee shop. Amazing man!

Anyhow, here are the much-vaunted crabs + mee goreng


Awesome stuff man. The pepper crab that is. Oh oh, remember the soup nazi from Seinfield? Man, he died and came back in the form of this damn anal auntie manning the queue! Wah lan! Damn rude lor!

She will point one stubby finger at you once, then at the seat your are supposed to take, and shout "GO!" or "STOP!" or "SIT!", in various stages. I can't stand these arrogant hawkers. Much as I loved the pepper crabs, I won't be browbeaten into taking her swishing finger one more time.

Anyhow, more pics!

The greenlanders doing our best crab impersonation

All's well that ends well

BM Silent Library

Rocky does media monitoring

From Greenland to Poland

Moved from the interns' corner to the other side of the ocean. It happens.

New desk.

New view

Two in a week, sigh

And so we bade farewell to yet another colleague. It was good knowing you Eve, even though you sat all the way over on the other side of the office, your charming British lilt will be missed. You are, after all, one of our own - our CS superwoman.

Donatello's girl.

I didn't touch the wine, nor the snacks, Man. This detox thing sucks. It's also the reason for the decreasing number of food posts. Gah. I figure I've eaten in 24 years, more than enough for this lifetime. So it's time to give it a rest. For awhile.

Ireallylovedanny is taking a sabbatical from food critiquing until he finds out how to reconcile healthy food with awesome grub. Otherwise, I'll just be wasting your time. Peace out.

On the crest of a new wave

No other industry is going to see as much revolutionary change as that of public relations in the coming years. And it's all because of you. Yes, you. Mr Blogger. Mr Blog Reader. Mr Anti-establishment-who-doesn't-trust-newspapers-anymore.

It's no longer going to be enough to stick five PR people in a media monitoring room every morning, flipping through major newspapers for news concerning their clients. Because the nature of news is that it deliberately excludes the personal voice, values conciseness and treasures timeliness.

Now, they are waking up to the fact that people want to hear the personal voice and not that of the establishment; that people want to read what they want to read; that people want to be more involved in the news than ever before.

And I'm glad that where I am, people are taking the initiative to remain on top of this wave. Because they can see beyond an extra hour of work or research today that will be invaluable tomorrow. Because they're curious. Because they like being on top. (or maybe because its the geek's default mentality to question)

What PR firms can do to stay ahead of the Web 2.0 wave, which has already claimed some victims, is to begin spreading their tentacles online, as well as off. Begin by monitoring sites with a direct influence on your client's audience. Follow up by making contact with these bloggers and influentials. Profile them. Treat them like journalists.

Because, like it or not (this is also for all the journos reading), the requirement to be a scribe fell astronomically when Web 2.0 came along. MrBrown is a better journalist than many ST journos, I reckon, because he gives his audience exactly what they want.

And what do they want? They want not only to be told the news, but for the journalist to make sense of the news for them. Critically, they want to be told the news, the unvarnished news. Non-edited, save for grammar, written as it is spoken, off-the-cuff and full of heart, the anti-thesis of news-writing, in summary.

Most of all, they crave for truth. Truth they now don't trust the major papers to report. Can it sometimes get out of hand? Yes. It can. But that is not the point of this entry.

The point is, that the job of a PR executive just got harder. Or, from a positive (some might say PR) perspective, challenging. It's no longer enough to understand the journalist. To think like a journalist. What goes into a story? How do I help him with his pitch? How can I help the client make his event more newsworthy? What is the return on investment for the client?

These are questions that have to be answered with the blogger in mind. Because blogging is here to stay. For us, it means re-interpreting what it means to be in PR. and at the top of the game.

The winds of change are blowing. Will you fly?

*******

Yes, I know that was a complete 180degree (thanks M.) deviation from the usual, but I was thinking while I was running. Yes. Two things you can't imagine me doing. Together.

At B*M, Everybody's on the table...

So it's a bluesy Monday at work in a PR agency. You've just heard the most infectious song to hit your eardrums in years. What do you do? Create a campaign to promote the song of course!

Before that, here's the view from my own little (ok, not so little) spot, which is next to a hugeass window.

Yep, if you look hard enough, you can see the merlion.

Cosy corners make work much more fun!

A view of the rest of the office people hard at work.

Cam-whoring in our corner.

And again.

And again. EH! Wah lao I just realised Jolene macam become
office tourist attraction! How come we all take with her?? Strange.

And now, the long-awaited campaign for the techno song The Book Is On The Table by DJ MP4. I kid you not. It's helluva catchy song.

Yup, so that's how I spent my half-hour break today. How did you spend yours?

Oh. before I forget, this machine wasted two dollars and 5 mins of my life:

Wah lao. Damn addictive sia. Simple concept, attractive prizes (PSP, iPod), one dowlar per try. Damn. But Jolene says cheat money one. Aiyah, just try lor. Again.