The UrbanWire

Life’s a ride for 20-year-old Benjamin Say, defending champion of the Mens Wakeboard Freeride in the West Side Jam. Benjamin shares with us his tips and tricks and how he’ll be preparing for the upcoming West Side Jam 2010!

Name: Benjamin Say
Age: 20
Occupation: Student at Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Hi Benjamin! Tell us what is your training like?
Well, there’s actually no fixed schedule. I work at Maxout so I probably wake about 2-3 times a week, each time about an hour or two. Usually I do it after school on most days, or when I have no classes… Closer to competition days I train every day

Do you have to watch your diet? If yes, what do you do to watch your diet?
On season I have to try to keep within healthy weight, so I try to eat healthy food. Off-season, I just eat everything.

Why do you like wakeboarding?
There’s just a certain stoke that comes when you ride. When you’re moving on the water, it’s a feeling you can’t explain! There’s adrenaline, and it’s so crazy it just gets you hooked. And also when your friends are pushing you, and when you learn more tricks… It’s a social thing.

What is the wakeboarding community in Singapore like? Is it small and close or is it competitive and political?
The wakeboarding scene in Singapore is definitely growing. I’d say it started in the 90s with varsity people and expats who bring it here. It’s competitive, yet still friendly at the same time. Everybody seems to be pushing each other to do better.

Would you say that seeing beach babes are an added motivation for you to go for training sessions?
For sure! It’s never a bad thing. Guys and girls on the boat, by the sides, and it’s fun to watch people having fun. I’d say there are about a balanced number of guys and girls in the scene though.

How are you preparing for the competition? Are you keeping any secret moves to wow the judges?
Well, on competition day, it really depends on the water conditions and the mood, and whether I have the ability to perform then. Sure, I do have new tricks but there are also more restrictions, so go there to find out about it. West Side Jam is a pretty friendly competition where people push each other to their limits and mostly it’s to encourage local riders to participate.

What was it like winning the title in the Men’s Wakeboard Freeride category?
It was my first win, so it was a surprise win for me. I’ve previously had placings in other competitions but Maxout is my home ground so it was a great feeling to win a title at the West Side Jam! I hope to do better this year.

Other than winning the title, what did you win last year?
Ah. Products, a life jacket… things that wake boarders use.

Was it a close fight with the other competitors?
It was, it was a pretty close fight! It was pretty tough competing with all the ‘ang moh’ kids… haha!

At what age did you start wakeboarding? How many years have you been in competitive wakeboarding?
I started wakeboarding when I was 17, and I’ve been in competitive wakeboarding for about 3 years now. I started competitive wakeboarding about 3 months after I picked it up

Could you imagine a day without wakeboarding?
Yes, I could. But it’ll be super different! Wakeboarding is really a lifestyle…

Other than wakeboarding, what do you like to do in your free time?
I really like music and I play the piano, guitar and drums. And like any other student, I study in my free time too.

What is your dream job?
I have no idea right now, and maybe it won’t be related to wakeboarding at all, but I’ll still be wakeboarding for sure.

Catch Benjamin in action on 5 and 6 March at the West Side Jam 2010!

The West Side Jam will feature more than 30 regional and international pro-riders, free-to-watch competitions over both days and fringe activities such as a Roxy Beach Babe Contest, festival-exclusive sponsor booths, banana boat rides, discover wakeboard introductory riding sets, party yachts available for private charter, a fiesta party on the docks, as well as music throughout the day featuring local and international DJs.

For more details, visit West Side Jam 2010’s official website and their facebook event page!

When it comes to great advertising, the Heineken Walk-In Fridge really nails it. The advertisement hardly has any dialogue or jingle, yet the message is crystal clear. This ad about the age-old differences between the genders is clever, funny, and drives the message across beautifully.

What this ad nails is the moment – the Heineken moment. The moment of realisation that you have a walk-in fridge that has enough beer to last you for a long, long time. There’s just Heineken and more Heineken, and more Heineken…

This festive season, you can get as close as you want to feeling that Heineken moment! The Heineken pop-up boutique bar on Orchard Road is classy and innovative and allows visitors to quickly grab a Heineken before carrying on with their festive shopping or merrymaking.

What you can expect at the boutique-bar: Beer will be for sale on one side of the bar (that’s the bar side), and at the ‘closet’ side, Heineken has partnered with Fred Perry to display their fashionable apparel. Not only that – visitors stand to win Fred Perry discount vouchers too. And then of course, the boutique-bar makes a great opportunity for taking photographs of you and your friends re-enacting your very own Heineken moment!

The Heineken Boutique-Bar is situated outside Orchard Building until Dec 27.

You can visit www.heineken.com.sg for more details.

These days, John Mayer is popular just for being popular.

He’s everywhere. The media closely watches the details of his relationships, life and music career, and his online presence is phenomenal – he has over 2.6 million followers on his twitter feed. He gives the media something to be interested in, and there’s so much to like about this snarky, enigmatic, anti-hipster.

And it’s at a time like this when he’s at the peak of his popularity that he releases his fourth studio album, Battle Studies.

The album has a total of 11 tracks, with one bonus track if you pre-order it from the iTunes store. With track titles like “Heartbreak Warfare”, “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye”, “Perfectly Lonely”, “Friends, Lovers Or Nothing”, Battle Studies seems to take a more reflective tone as compared to his last album, Continuum.

While Continuum contained themes about war and politics and is said to be the album that helped to establish John Mayer as one of the guitar greats of this generation, Battle Studies is, in a nutshell, a melancholic chronicle of relationships past and heartbreaks.

Not that John Mayer has lost his touch, because Battle Studies contains gems like his remake of “Crossroads” (originally by Robert Johnson), a fast and catchy melodious work of his guitar, and “Perfectly Lonely”, featuring a long guitar solo at the beginning that seems to really hit the spot with heartbroken souls everywhere.

Other tracks like “Do You Know Me?” don’t quite do justice to John Mayer’s portfolio of deep and emotive songs. The song is decent, but isn’t memorable or quotable.

However, the single, “Who Says”, manages to be a huge hit with his fans. With lyrics like “Who says I can’t get stoned” and “I don’t remember you looking any better, then again I don’t remember you”, John Mayer seems to channel a modern day Holden Caulfield, the rebellious teenager from JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. The music video is set in New York City at night, and the scenes are of him carelessly living his life as if it were a party.

Battle Studies may not be John Mayer’s best work, but it’s packed with tiny anecdotes in every song, revealing a very boyish and emotional-at-heart John Mayer, but hey – he’s still brilliant at making music.

Title: Battle Studies
Artiste: John Mayer
Language: English
Record Label: Columbia
Release Date: Nov 17

Tracklist:

All songs written by John Mayer, except “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson and “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen.

1. Heartbreak Warfare
2. All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye
3. Half of My Heart (feat. Taylor Swift)
4. Who Says
5. Perfectly Lonely (feat. Taylor Swift)
6. Assassin
7. Crossroads (Robert Johnson cover inspired by Cream)
8. War of My Life
9. Edge of Desire
10. Do You Know Me
11. Friends, Lovers or Nothing

iTunes pre-order edition

12. I’m on Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)