On the last trip to China, I remember there was a big story about CCTV remaking Dream of the Red Chamber 红楼梦. The last Dream of Red Chamber made by CCTV is in 1987.

For those who don’t know, Dream of the Red Chamber is like Romeo and Juliet for Chinese. It is a Chinese classic and millions of Chinese girls (and boys) read the classic for at least two century. The main characters in story are Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 (“Romeo”) and Lin Daiyu 林黛玉 (“Juliet”) and Xue Baochai 薛宝钗 (“Juliet #2”).

Because of the special place the story has in heart of the Chinese, the selection of the actors and actresses for the remake become a hot topic. So “America Idol”-like competition was held where everyone can vote for their favorite actor and actress.

Today, my wife asked me how goes the competition (she is a big fan of the classic) so we check it out.

Seem like they have selected Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai but not Jia Baoyu. Sigh, I thought Wu-Ting would win. :-(

Lin DiaYu

Xue Baochai

My favourite for DaiYu.

My wife now looks forward to the remake. In the meantime, she is watching the 1987 version.

This is probably a good time to disclose that I was recently asked to serve on Internet & Media Advisory Committee (INMAC*) under MDA. INMAC is the new committee formed in April 2007 to advise MDA on ongoing media literacy initatives, industry co-regulation policies and other regulatory operational issues.

Chaired by Stephen Yeo, the other members comes from various media and academic background. I am probably the youngest member.

We had our first meeting today. It is very nice to finally meet Cherian George. I dont think I should talk about what goes on in the meeting so no details right now.

* Yep, no longer the corny IMAC :-)

Happy is when I receive a call from a reporter who wanted to do a story on Citizen Journalism a few weeks ago.

Excited is when I see a Special Edition on today Straits Times titled. “For the People, By the People“. I even bought a copy for the first time this month!

Shock is when all I see is pages and pages of self-promotion of Straits Times own online forum STOMP. How much self-promotion do you need when you have STOMP icon on almost every page of Straits Times everyday?

Sad is when I realized the opportunity for the mass to understand Citizen Journalism became a shameless self-plug. That all significant online activities that references to STOMP “competitors” was conveniently left out in the reports.

Irony is when I see the paper declared “STOMP – Singapore’s one and only Citizen Journalism”.

Realization is when I SMS mrbrown “This Special Edition just prove why we need real Citizen Journalism in Singapore.”

Would the real Citizen Journalism in Singapore please stand up?

ps: Jennifer, no disrespect to you. You have done great work for STOMP but this report is just so sad …

SharedCopy.com is in the news again, this time on Wall Street Journal

Now, eight years on, another Singaporean is back doing much the same
thing. James Seng has set up a service called SharedCopy, which allows
users to take a snapshot of a Web page and add and share comments and
even doodles on it. These pages can be public, or just shared with a
few friends. Mr. Seng isn’t alone: I counted at least a half-dozen
similar services, including zpeech, Trailfire, Stickis, i-Lighter and
Protonotes. All offer some variation on the idea that a Web page can
be commented on and those comments can be read by others.

Particularly, I am humbled at the quote: “SharedCopy, in my view, works the best of the bunch, but they’re all worth a shot. ”

Yes, we have a lot of competitors. We have a lot of things to do…and we arent hiring fast enough. Damn, I wish we have done the website revamp. We have the ugliest website of the bunch right now :-P

Lately, I have been meeting with a lot of young entrepreneurs. As for why so, it is a story for another day. Anyway, I met one gentlemen for lunch yesterday and I said:

“I know people who are more successful than me at my age. They are not necessary smarter than me but they are definitely nicer than I am.”

Speaking of which, I really enjoy my dinner with the founder of happytxt.com last night. He might not be the smartest or the most knowledgeable, he is definitely the most passionate I have met so far.

He really love his work. To him, happytxt is not just a project, or a business or something that will make him rich (it didn’t even cross his mind).

To him, it is his work of love. And he enjoys every minute doing it.

Yesterday, I was talking to a Chinese reporter. At the end of the phone call, she suddenly complimented my Chinese, as she is surprised. This also happens a few months ago, while I was doing a Chinese radio show.

Now, I am not trying to boost here. I being to China and Taiwan enough to know kids there speaks better than I do.

What concerns me is that if the reporters complimented my Chinese, I wonder what Chinese standard do they get from average Singaporeans?

As I was telling my wife (who was an ex-Chinese teacher) last night, if my Chinese is considered good in Singapore, there is no hope for an average Singaporeans to ever do business in China.

For the Singaporean out there, lets do a simple test to see if you can translate the following sentence without to resorting to mixing it in English. Common phrases, you would likely to use in everyday life.

1. Can I have the bill?

2. I will send you an Email later today.

3. Please call for a cab for me.

4. My name is David and I represent Microsoft.

5. I will upload the document to the share folder later.