Sleeping like a Chipster chip? Here's how...

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a potato chip? To have your skin rub against metallic-plastic foil wrapper? Well, I think I might have just found out.

It all began with the challenge from NuffNang Malaysia to member bloggers to post the 1) picture with the most Chipster packs in it 2) Quirkiest post 3) Best pajamas ever.

I realised I could probably not afford to buy enough Chipster packs to challenge anyone in that category, or be quirky enough to win the Wii.... so.... last category left - make the best darn pajamas there is.

After spying what the competition had to offer, it made natural sense to do what they didn't do (see, there's a strategy to this) and do it better. So, I spied and I spied and then... *aha* "Potato Chips have to sleep too, don't they?"

So I went to the store and bought ablout 16 Chipster Large packs. Couldn't find one single flavour, so had to go mix and match.

Went home and started doing:



First step was to cut out all the Chipster packs VERY CAREFULLY and keep the foil wrapper intact. Then, once all the foils had been cut:



You have to dump all the Chipsters into TupperWares. Wife and I actually tried to makan the Chipsters on the spot, and failed. You can't imagine the amount of Chipsters 16 packets hold. Lydia says: "I think can keep till next Chinese New Year." On to the next step:



Each Chipster foil had to be scrubbed clean. Otherwise, it'll be super oily and definitely not something you'd want to soak your skin in. *Health Tip* I read somewhere that too much direct contact with salt is bad for your skin. Once it's clean, you can move on to:



Putting the pieces together: this step requires a plan. Which I did. In my head. Serious! Anyway, this step by step is starting to put me to sleep so I guess I'll jump right to the end. Ta- Da!



Some glam pics of myself posing:


Front - Who's the REAL Chipster man now?


Back - I am too sexy, too sexy for my...

The Sleep Test

After spending the night in Chipster Wrappers, like a potato chip, this test subject can confirm that Chipsters-made pajamas are indeed snug and warm, best for climates. I guess that's how those potato chips are kept so crispy!





Last, but not least:

My wife, Lydia, would like to thank Chipster for organising this contest as she now has 16 bags to go through. She has one request, though, as her eyes light up when I mention the NuffNang Chipster Pajama Party ("Will there be lot's of Chipster to eat?") - can she tag along for the party? Here's her pic, on my blog:



Please say yes! :)

Coming Soon...

Guess what? Check back tomorrow night.

When virtual and real collide...

There was a story recently on the BBC news about scientists who predict that computers the size of blood-cells will be here by 2033 leading to "fully immersive virtual realities." Lead inventor Ray Kurzweil predicted "Virtual will compete with reality."

That, Mr. Kurzweil, is already happening in Malaysia. Check out Jeff Ooi's post:

On Page A14 of Guang Ming Daily (Feb 27, evening edition), my opponent whipped all bloggers in a broad sweep by stating that "bloggers hide behind computers and live in a virtual world".

I laughed out loud at this comment.

There are more people than just bloggers who "live in a virtual world." Today, virtual is real.

Many, many, many, people live in the immersive virtual world of emails, websites, blogs and forum. You talk to people you don't know IRL (in real life) who have funny names like "CyborgBoy" or "Haxxergurl." You chat with colleagues from halfway across the world whom you've never met except on Instant Messaging and email.

You make use of this virtual world to share, communicate, transmit, discuss and interact. But you know that this virtual world is just a conduit, because unless you fancy talking to a bot, these are still real people you are interacting with.

The reason why social networks like Facebook and MySpace are so popular is in fact, because you are really connecting and making friends with real, breathing, living people.

Sure, there are bloggers or virtual personalities who prefer to remain anonymous, but there are just as many who prefer to merge their real-world identity with their online presence. Jeff Ooi is a prime example - his mobile number is listed on his blog for goodness sake. I wouldn't call that hiding.

The truth of the matter is, especially for the industry I work in, the virtual and the real are colliding. We don't need to wait for another 25 years and for micro-computers to be injected into our blood. Identities are unifying.

Remember the first time you signed up for a Hotmail account? Then your first Geocities account? If you're like me, you used different sign-in names. In stark contrast, people are now using the same identity again and again online - I'm davidlian on most sites and forums I participate in - and with more and more relevance to their original identities.

Movements like the OpenID initiative are going to unify our identities even more creating a stronger association with our "real-world" alter egoes. You going to need to be authentic online as much as you're authentic offline.

That's what I'd want my MP to be.

EDIT* Nigelsia had a great pic to illustrate this post, stolen shamelessly off someone's Flickr:

Elections Brand Plagiarism

There's a sub-culture in urban states (like the US and even here in Kuala Lumpur) called "Brand Plagiarism or Logo Culture" where you take the logo of a known brand and turn it into your own message.

Some brand-guardians think this is flattery, others are mortified by such butchery of their brands.

I'm just wondering how Celcom is feeling right now:



Was driving past this yesterday night. They even used the bird symbol! LoL!

Worth Surfing: malaysiavotes.com

For all of you interested in following the Malaysian Elections through an independent news site that's not biased to either side, you really should check out www.malaysiavotes.com.



The people running this site were journalists from The Edge and an ex-colleague of mine (who happened to be their colleagues in The Edge) has vouched for them. Personally, I've worked with at least one of them in the past (part of my job) and they are credible, intelligent and decent people so I'd vouch for them too.

Hooray for Online Journalism!