My interview on CNBC

I got a call last week from CNBC reporter Cris Prystay, wanting to interview me for a story on CNBC.com.

It was nice. We spent about 20 minutes chatting about my blogging career.

I feel quite lucky that, so far, all my interviews have been quite positive. I mean, I haven’t gotten any reporters trying to wrangle nasty stories from me or purposely misquoting me just to make me look bad.

(Okay, except for that little thing in Maxim, but that was probably my fault for reading the question wrongly, and partly their fault for phrasing it badly. But it wasn’t like a deliberate sabotage.)

This CNBC interview was for a business story, anyway, so I wasn’t expecting anything nasty, although I didn’t know the angle of the story when we were chatting.

Turns out I’m a case study for a bigger story on how blogs are today a dominant influence in consumer markets. I feel quite amused. And somewhat flattered, I suppose.

Anyway, what the report didn’t mention is how thankful I am to have supportive readers who enjoy reading what I write. That’s what keeps me happy and inspired.

 

Click here to read the full report on CNBC.com.

CNBC report

 

So, I just wanna take this opportunity to once again thank my readers for reading. You’re the reason for my existence!

And thanks for the mention, CNBC!

Chat with me on SAFRA Celebritalk

Wanna chat with me, people?

Come join me at the SAFRA Celebritalk on Facebook tomorrow at 2 pm!

 

SAFRA Celebritalk

 

I will be heading down to SAFRA Yishun where we will do a “live” video streaming of me chatting with fans on the SAFRA Facebook fan page.

Whenever I think of SAFRA Yishun, I think of rock climbing. Haha. So miss it. Nanny Wen and I haven’t gone climbing since we did our Level 1 certification cos it’s a bit hard for us to coordinate our timings, especially since we’ve both been travelling a lot recently, sometimes with each other, sometimes without.

Anyway, please come join in the chat tomorrow! :) You get to ask me all the questions you’ve been wanting to ask!

But be kind, okay? LOL.

Behind the scenes: CLEO photoshoot

Remember my CLEO magazine-Coke Zero interview and photoshoot?

CLEO interview

I thought the photo made me look like I was actually really high up on the wall.

But I was only about one metre off the ground. Haha.

CLEO photoshoot

We were at SAFRA Yishun, the place where I had my first rock-climbing experience.

I was really excited about getting to climb rocks again, so I was a bit disappointed that they only needed me to climb a few steps.

What happened was that because this wall was a little challenging for me, my belayer (also a rock-climbing instructor), decided to demo the route for me. He went on the wall himself and showed me where to step on.

When he got into the position where you see me in the photo, the CLEO crew said, “That’s it! We want that position.”

So, for the next two hours, they shot me in that position endlessly, only tweaking the lighting and camera angle as well as small shifts in my body, head and expression, every so often.

Of course, I didn’t stay on the wall for two hours. After a series of shots, I got to come down and rest while the crew looked over what they’d shot to determine what they needed to change. So it was up and down, up and down.

Even though I didn’t get to climb higher, it was still fun.

Although very, very hot.

I think I tanned two shades darker after the two hours. And I had sunblock on.

CLEO photoshoot

To get the shine on my body, the makeup artist first rubbed some oil on. Then it was sprays of water at every break. He also had to wipe sweat off my face every so often, heh.

Did I mention it was really hot?

But I guess the sunny weather was great for lighting.

During the breaks, I chatted with Nanny Wen (who was acting as my manager and personal photographer) and my belayer (can’t remember his name). He was the one who told us about the Sport Climbing course which Nanny Wen and I eventually took up.

In that course, we learnt how to belay, use the safety equipment and climb more efficiently, so we can go climb rocks together now without having to hire belayers.

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

Anyway, the shoot was over way before I expected. Disappointing, as I said, cos I wanted to climb somemore. Haha.

Oh well. Here are more photos for your viewing pleasure!

Getting makeup and hair done while being interviewed:

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

Putting on my climbing shoes:

CLEO photoshoot

Gearing up for safety:

CLEO photoshoot

Setting up the camera:

CLEO photoshoot

Hooking the belay device on. Ready to climb!

CLEO photoshoot

Shoot starts!

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

Crew checking the shots:

CLEO photoshoot

CLEO photoshoot

Taking a break:

CLEO photoshoot

Spraying water:

CLEO photoshoot

End of shoot and a rewarding cold drink!

CLEO photoshoot

My CLEO magazine interview

I really wanted to blog the last two days, but I was bedridden and could only do very simple things on my phone, like plurk and read e-mails periodically.

If you haven’t been following my plurks or tweets or facebook, then let’s just say that on Friday, I was bedridden thanks to my overenthusiastic friends celebrating my birthday on Thursday night. And Saturday, I was kept in bed by a major stiff neck and strong painkillers which also gave me gastritis despite antacids.

I’m a bit better now so I managed to get this scanned. It’s a special interview by CLEO magazine and Coke Zero (now out in CLEO August issue). I’ll share behind-the-scenes photos after I’ve fully recovered!

CLEO interview
(Click picture to enlarge.)

Watch my very short TV interview

Okay, I’ve posted my interview on YouTube. (Read about the trauma I went through for this.)

It’s not as bad as I expected, thanks to clever editing by MediaCorp, but I could have done better, really.

I only appear for 30 seconds, answering two questions. I said more at the recording, but maybe those were so bad they couldn’t include them. :P I seriously can’t remember. When I’m undergoing traumatic events, my brain kind of goes into a daze and stops functioning. Haha.

Anyway, the video here:

How amazing is it that, out of the three minutes of clip, YouTube has chosen to freeze this very particular retarded expression of mine to be the video thumbnail!

(Yeah I know it usually takes the mid-point of the video. Just my luck! T_T Or maybe I look retarded all throughout anyway cos I was struggling so much with my words.)

Oh, and you can hear that my voice is a little hoarse, right? I was still recovering from laryngitis on that day!

Anyway, after watching that, please go pledge your support for POCC! It’s a good cause! Don’t let my bad Mandarin fool you! :)