Hamlet's Hero - The Questionnaire

I've just been quite busy with school and with my (not so) secret project lately and have been really not been updating this blog enough.

I did a really long questionnaire to try to be shortlisted for an interview for an upcoming reality TV programme and I just thought that it will be really interesting if I posted it up.

I didn't get selected but I just hope that you guys will enjoy reading my responses to the questionnaire!

My Completed Questionnaire

Questions for bloggers:

1. Profile

1. Which school/university did you go to?

I’m currently an undergraduate business student in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, doing a double major in marketing and law.

2. What is your dream job?

Ideally I would like to be self employed and create a business that allows me to be both creatively express myself as well as contribute to the betterment of society.

3. What was (or still is) your day job?

I’m still a student, but blogging for competitions these days comes close to a job.

4. What/how/who made you go into blogging?

I have always been one who needed to have his opinions heard, and I love to write from time to time. I had no reason not to blog when I was on my long break after my A-level papers, and I have never looked back.

5. What is your interest / passion that you blog about?

I like doing crazy, crazy things from time to time and that has become something that I try to treat my loyal blog readers from time to time with. However, if you look beyond the humour, wackiness and occasional rant, you will see that there is a strong self improvement theme running in my blog. I love self improvement and motivational literature and I always hope that what I write may benefit my readers out there.

6. How did you come up with your nickname?

I have a really dear friend whom I affectionately refer to as Hamlet from time to time. We once joked about being rock stars and having our own band and we thought at that point that it would be just awesome to name our band Hamlet’s Heroes. We never ended up forming that band, but it struck me as an awesome name to go by when I started blogging.

2. Blogger’s home

1. Show us your workstation / work area (Where do you live ? Do u mind us coming to your home ?

Sure, you guys are free to come over to my place. I live in Kota Damansara, quite near the Mutiara Damansara area, when I am not studying in Singapore.

2. Introduce to us your housemates / family members (Who would be available to be in our show? Really would love to speak to all your family members)

This can be arranged. My mom’s quite shy in front of the camera but my Dad is quite sporting. In fact my dad starred in my very first YouTube video for an advertorial I did with Nuffnang for Mr. Potato crisps!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usXZe7EmM_M

I also have a brother who is in secondary school and a youngest brother who is still in primary school.

3. Show us your wardrobe and share with us your style ? Any fashion tips for us?

Sure thing, if you don’t mind looking inside my travel bags. I like to dress simply but classily. A fitting black tee, nice jeans and the correct sneakers never seems to go wrong somehow.

4. What are your grooming tips?

I’m a simple guy. I just keep my hair short so it’s easy to style and shave regularly for that clean shaven look. Chinese guys should just shave more and go clean shaven. We’re just not made hairy.

5. Do your neighbors know that you’re a blogger?

No. I do live this mysterious double life.

3. Blogger’s favourite hangout place(s)

1. Where do you go to get your inspirations

It’s more of who I am with to get my inspiration rather than where I do so. I get my best ideas when I talk and chill with my closest buddies. Many of the ideas I used I must say are actually ideas of my close friends that we worked on together, with their permission, of course. I’ve got inspired sitting in the Kancil of one of my closest friends, as well as in various cafes and chillout places in Malaysia in Singapore. Places like Old Town White Coffee and Station One café.

2. Do you have anybody that knows you well who are willing to be part of the show where they will spill the beans on you? (a best friend/s?) Pls let us know on this .

I definitely do know plenty. The best person to contact for this would be Chan Wing Chuan. He knows plenty and has in fact helped me in a great deal of my blogging exploits!

3. Where do you workout / play sports / recreation (Any place that you go that you might want us to shoot ie futsal, rock climbing , go karting etc)

I work out when I can with a close friend of mine at Fitness First, the Curve and spend quite a lot of time in general in that area (when I am in the Klang Valley, of course).

4. Show us a secret hideout – Klang Valley’s best kept secret

The Dataran Sunway area near my place. It’s just bursting with good food and it’s so good that I rarely have to travel far for good food these days!

5. Do you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend that we can interview?

No, but I have tons of super close friends.

4. Blogger’s favourite entertainment

1. Who are your favourite celebrities – meet up with celebrities

I am currently loving the music of Jason Mraz, which I managed to meet and take a picture with last year in Singapore. He is just awesome.

2. Who is your favourite radio DJ – Hitz deejays

I really don’t listen to the radio all that much, and only do when I am in driving. No preferences here. Just give me good music and I am a happy dude. Listen to Hitz, Light and Red FM in the car.

3. Which local bands do you listen to?

I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to many local bands but my latest local obsession is Zee Avi! Her songs are just so sweet!

4. Share with us which website(s) you visit frequently and why

Cracked.com. I spend so much time checking this site for updates that it’s crazy! This site offers high quality humour articles which are just awesome. They also have the craziest top 10 lists on the web! You have to check it out!

Where else can you find lists like 5 Real Life Soldiers Who Make Rambo Look Like a Pussy or 9 Awesome Places to Have Sex (And the Horrific Consequences)!

5. What sports do you do or is there anything you do to keep active ?

I try to jog and visit the gym whenever I can.

5. Blogger’s family giving the low-down

1. Show us an old photo and tell the story behind it


That’s the oldest picture of me that I could find. That’s me when I was really young and I was pretending that my box radio which I somehow destroyed was some kind of telecommunications device. Yes, I was in to handphones even back then!

2. Parents’ view – about the blogger becoming a blogger? We need some embarrassing stories? What can we cover that would make it an interesting show?

I feel that my parents kinda take it for granted that their son goes around and does crazy things from time to time. Other people get really shocked when they see my Spartan pictures but my parents just laughed a little and got back with whatever they were doing. Guess that they’re just too used to it.

Well I once got really high on beer at a Nuffnang event and my parents weren’t too happy about it. Does that count?

3. Siblings – what they do, what ‘names’ they call each other

Two younger brothers, with one in secondary school and the other in primary school. The one in secondary school is a national debate champion and public speaker and my youngest brother loves sports.

4. Spouses talking about their first date, memorable and embarrassing moments together

No spouse to speak of yet.

6. Blogger’s secrets reveal

1. Tell us 5 things/secrets that all of us don’t know about you

· I am a certified Padi Open Water diver.

· I played the character of a gay nerd who sang and danced for a musical for my university earlier this year.

· I typed the responses to this questionnaire as well as did the majority of blogging for my blog posts on a nearly 4 year old Acer laptop which screen is breaking down till the point it has like a 2 inch thick discoloured band of pixels right in the middle of the screen! It’s dying and it is lagging all the time! Why did I have to have my Nuffnang laptop stolen!

· I once had a picture of me during my high school days ripped off my blog and used in an advertisement for a college in Vietnam. My friend was holidaying there and when she saw my face in giant posters all around the city she had a great shock and took tons of photos! http://hamletshero.blogspot.com/2008/08/this-is-what-happens-when-youre-on.html

· I was once the very responsible assistant head prefect of my secondary school, once upon a time.

2. Show us your other talent(s) – playing instrument, singing, dancing, etc

I was really active in the debating circuits in both Malaysia and Singapore during my secondary school and college years and now am continuing my oratorical career with the Toastmasters. I enjoy acting too and performed in my first musical earlier this year. I wish that I could play instruments and sing though.

3. Who is your favourite blogger(s) and why?

Well, considering I read tons of blogs I find it hard to put my finger on that ONE favourite blogger. But I must say that Kenny and Pinkpau are the two of the main blogger influences I had that motivated me to start blogging. Kenny is just great cause I really enjoy his brand of humour and Pinkpau just writes straight from the heart. Come to think of it, I try to a little bit of both in my own blog.

4. Truth or dare segment – ask a personal question (info from family/friends)

Well, feel free to come up with something to ask me. I’m game.

5. Any controversy that you might want us to cover?

Some crazy weird Malaysian issue featuring Malaysian politicians who say the darndest things would be interesting!

6. What is the most outrageous thing you will do to be in Project Alpha that we can film you doing ?

Well, I have walked through One Utama in a Spartan outfit, cross dressed and filmed a parody of Lady GaGa’s Poker Face, and much more. Maybe do some crazy Borat-ish stunt interviewing a Malaysian politician? Or maybe building a sawdust cannon on some building and setting it off? The sky’s the limit.

7. Have you got any footage of yourself doing any crazy/interesting things which we can use in the show ?

Sure, just look through my YouTube channel. (: It’s quite sad that we didn’t film the Spartan invasion thing though. ):

http://www.youtube.com/user/hamletshero

7. Blogger’s tips/Insights /views

1. Tips on how to become a blogger/writer

First off, have some kind of focus in your blog. The blog should have some content or some general theme that would make people keep coming back for more. Writing about your sad depressing life all the time generally isn’t that interesting, unless you happen to be some super hot female blogger, that is.

Secondly, post regularly. You don’t want to disappoint your readers by making them wait too long.

And thirdly, my pet peeve – putting music on your blog. Don’t do it! No matter what you think, I think it just makes your blog appear like a 13 year old girl’s livejournal, and it also makes your blog take longer to load.

2. Which Blogger do you think is Sexy /Hot and why?

I think Dawn Yang is hot! Cheesie is pretty cute too! Am I supposed to discuss my aesthetic preferences here? I just think that they are hot-lah!

3. Which Blogger do you think talks the most crap ?

Emo bloggers who just keep ranting on and on about their miserable lives. I don’t know who because I never stick around long enough to learn their names.

4. Which Blogger do you think is a wannabe ?

I think I may qualify as one, in the eyes of Malaysian blogging community. HAHAHA!

5. What is your secret to being an ALPHA BLOGGER?

I spend great time and effort planning out my exploits with my friends and have a great support team to help me out. I also take great time reflecting and writing my heart out whenever I can.

6. Which blogger do you admire the most ?

Steve Pavlina from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/. He writes a good blog and really manages to come up with very fresh and interesting ideas concerning self improvement which I really enjoy. I admire the effort and energy he puts into his articles and the strong following that he has. His site may not look all that awesome, but this guy can really, really write!

7. Which Celebrity Blogger in Malaysia do you think cuts the grade as a blogger?

I think Kenny makes a pretty good benchmark – he has the traffic, writes well and posts pretty regularly.

8. What makes a good blog ?

In short a good blog is one that’s just interesting and makes me keep coming back for more. Just keep posting good content, and you will eventually get your following.

9. What makes a crap blog ?

A neglected blog is a crappy blog. I guess I already voiced out my opinions concerning emo kids complaining about their crappy lives on the net calling themselves bloggers but I have said too much already.

10. What do you think of doing advertorials? Is it selling out ?

It depends. I believe in doing advertorials only if you believe in the product you are writing about. If you are doing an advertorial for some kind of crappy product and waxing lyrical about it just because you are paid to do so, you will just end up misplacing all the trust your readers have in you. Trust on the internet is really important, because come to think of it, it’s all you have. So I would definitely say lying to your readers in advertorials is just bad and downright wrong.