| Written by Deborah Choo,
on Monday, 8 December 2008
|
Published in : Culture, &*@!(% |
  It's official: Singapore bloggers are smarter than their Malaysian counterparts.
Okay, so we don't speak for everyone, and not gloating here (Youth.SG has certainly came across dumb Singaporean bloggers, though we're not telling who... SHHH!), but it's true, going by the inaugural Brand's Blogger Challenge that took place last week. Singapore held its head high to emerge as the winner of the competition, which saw Singaporean bloggers pitted against Malaysian bloggers.
The fair boost came in the form of regular consumption of Brand’s Essence of Chicken for two weeks for all members of both teams.
Representing Singapore were Wilfrid Wong, star blogger and recent Xbox ambassador Sheylara, East Coast Life's (ECL) Jayne Goh, Mr Endoh and Aaron Ng.
Malaysia’s blogger team included team leader KK, Malaysia’s most popular blogger Red Diva, entertainment broadcast journalist Muzaffar, and lifestyle bloggers Susie and KY Speaks.
The idea of the competition was conceived after a regional survey spanning across eight Southeast Asian countries pertaining to individual’s mental performance. Survey respondents were targeted between ages 22 to 45. Topping the chart for level of satisfaction is the ability to imbibe, followed by clear thinking, mental alertness, and four other aspects measured. Singaporean respondents polled a 63 per cent satisfactory level versus Malaysia’s 61 per cent. Thailand registered the highest at 64 per cent, while Japan scored the lowest at 26 per cent. Malaysians were found to undertake activities to improve their mental health as opposed to Singaporeans.
TEAM MALAYSIA: TAKE A DEEP BREATH, FOCUS...
Anyway, going back to the challenge, opening the challenge with a bang was Singaporean blogger Jayce with the word “Abilities”. Round one “Buzz Words” ended with Singapore enjoying a one point lead. Round two “Mental Targets” saw the contestants fumbling over mental addition, and eventually ended with the score remaining at status quo of three to two.
The third round, “Movie Clips”, came with a screening of Brand's latest Taiwan commercial starring Wang Li Hom. The contestants were tasked to rearrange the sequence, given snippets of the commercial. Both teams grew more anxious as the time trickled by. This round had Malaysia propelling to a four point lead.
“Sentence Trivia” had contestants befuddled guessing the acronyms in a sentence. An epitome would be “12 S of the Z”, with the Malaysian team delivering a humorous answer “12 stripes of the zebra”. Singapore tailed behind at eight to four.
Round five “Boogle Your Mind” emulates Facebook’s Word Challenge. Both teams had noticeably different strategies of teamwork. The audiences were painstakingly listening as the judge arduously counted the words, who finally announced Singapore had successfully garnered a four point lead at 44 versus Malaysia’s 40.
TEAM SINGAPORE: ADMITTEDLY LOOKING QUITE STONED HERE
In a humourous move of gulping down Brand's Chicken Essence on the spot, the Singapore team poised themselves to claim greater territory.
“Spot the Chicken”, had the contestants’ eyes crossed at the sheer speed of spotting a chicken under one out of three cups by the fourth round.
The contest pinnacled at the last round “Test Your Memory”, testing the minute details of the advertisement shown. Tension hovered in the air. Contestants dug into the memory, extracting details such as the words in the backdrop, the number of friends on the bench to which hand did the star use to open the bottle. Singapore was finally crowned the winner!
The Singaporean team demonstrated a positive attitude and ferocious tenacity. Wilfrid Wong, leader of Team Singapore, reminded the team to “stay focused”, drawing a parallel to that of Singapore’s table tennis team.
Despite their marginal loss, the Malaysian bloggers bowed out of the scene graciously, keeping their smiles.
While many bloggers endorsed the value of Brand's Chicken essence, Malaysian blogger KK noted: “You have to look in totality.” He added that mental health is heavily dependent on one’s overall health status and emphasises a balanced diet.
Jayne, mother of a 17 year old son, spoke in accord, adding that she keeps herself active and young to keep her thinking.
Most contestants gave the contest a thumbs-up, encouraging more of such events in the future. DC
Deborah
loves reading, writing, and playing the violin in her free time. She
absolutely loves talking to people, but she's usually quiet when she's
thinking - so just leave her alone at that time, she'll appreciate it.
THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF DEC 8-14 :: The Long Break Issue
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