What's Your (INspiring) Story: Ken Wooi & Funny Blogging

It has been 4 months since I started this What's Your (INspiring) Story series. I have wanted to feature 12 people for the start, and 11 people have been featured since 18th April 2011.

I'm proud that what started off as an idea on the plane trip back from the Philippines has materialised. It's not a big project in any way but there is full satisfaction from it. I'm happy to have had the opportunity to invite some really cool friends to share their stories, with an aim of inspiring you readers out there (I hope u did/ are!) :)



Anyway, this is the final feature story - by Ken Wooi. This guy is one of the other Power Bloggers out there - known for his humourous side, and funny blog posts.. and I must say I'm grateful he is willing to share his story here.

Again, it's the power of social media that brought me to know him, and his blog. I particularly like his posts concerning Malaysia, where he dare put a funny twist to them. And so of course, I invited him to share about his passion on that creative side of his. And this, is his story..

Hi, I'm Ken from kenwooi.com and don't be misled by the title, I'm not funny.



Let's be honest, I'm nowhere close to being a comedian in real life. If you've met me (and not known me well enough, yet), you'll get the impression that I'm totally different from the blogger I portray on my blog.

But that's not the point. This article is mainly about "Funny Blogging". And let's be honest again, many people see my blogging style as witty and humourous. When someone asks me, "What do I blog about?", I would directly tell them "normal stuff with dumb silly jokes".



Yeah, that's me - Banana-fied.

I may not be one of the top funny bloggers in town. Being funny is very subjective. Some may think that prank videos are funny, some only like jokes from Russel Peters and some are very hard to be entertained. What is funny to you may not be funny to me, get it?

Prior to blogging, I would've laughed my ass off if you tell me that I'll be writing funny stuff on the Internet one day. But here I am, occasionally publishing parodies on Malaysia Boleh news, my thoughts on random stuff and silly things that revolves around me.



Well, Mr. QC was kind enough to invite me as a guest blogger on his blog. And he asked, "Tell me, how do you come out with funny posts?". You know, it's like an essay homework given to me.

So I sat down, thinking of what to write - I find it quite hard to explain the mechanism of funny blogging. But after spending some time at the toilet bowl (yes, I think while I shit), I've successfully thought of 5 points.

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1) Be observant.

Details about a seemingly normal activity/thing can be funny, if you want it to be. Whenever I see something typically out-of-the-ordinary, my mind would somehow start to process on the funny elements.

For example, this...



For many, it's just another road sign with French words. But for me, the name of the hotel captured my attention. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? ;)

Click here to read the joke.

2) Think funny.

I'm sure in each and everyone of us, there is a sense of humour. We all laugh and giggle, we know what "funny" is. Well, unless you're immune to humour, I think you should learn to laugh first.

Anyway, I believe that a simple thing can be funny if you want it to be. Well, I don't normally see funny thing in everything (or else I'd be confirmed mentally crazy) but there are certain features that can trigger my funny-alert senses.

For example, my name Ken was mentioned on a newspaper.



Looks like the usual news. London's best hope is Ken. Yes, I know that's not me but I love putting myself under the limelight.

The people of London will need my presence, and off I go to save them with my suit!



I'm actually Iron Man, you know? :P

3) Be unpredictable and random.

I normally don't echo what we already have in the news. Random ideas are actually fun to write about. If you're asking what random stuff, try coming up with "How to..." or "10 Things..." posts.



Of course, don't write "How to Clean a Ceiling Fan" and embed a video from Youtube. That's effortless and pointless. What I would do is to get myself dirty with the fan, take photos while cleaning (an act) it and come up with some not-so-practical yet funny points.

After all, you don't expect to read a serious guide on cleaning a fan on kenwooi.com, do you?

A good example would be a recent How to be Cool with Words for Noobies.



Just by playing around with words and phrases, it turns out to be one of the favourite posts on kenwooi.com!

4) Don't hate. Love instead.

Being in Bolehland, you won't miss interesting news about the country. Some top funny posts are largely contributed by parodies on Malaysian news. You can check out the Malaysia Boleh section if you're curious. ;)

The thing is, using a different approach is the key. Instead of joining the majority in bashing up the gomen for coming up with unnecessary policies and projects, I tend to 'help' by providing insight updates. Yes, they are fake - but with all the existing bashing news by almost every website, who needs another one written on kenwooi.com?



Yeah, Malaysia definitely inspires me sometimes. ;)

5) Photo manipulation.

An avid reader of my blog would know that I do lots of photo manipulation - with Photoshop. To me, photos are good at grabbing attention and it's probably the best method when presenting something funny.



I created my own 1Malaysia Warisan Merdeka Tower with Photoshop. Awesome or not?



I'm also a Mat Rempit, thanks to Photoshop. So awesome my stunt!



I have cool abs thanks to Photoshop too! Damn awesome abs! :P

Other than that, simple speech bubbles with captions will do. In a non-existing survey done by myself, chances of people reading from a photo is higher as compared to text-based paragraphs.



Photoshop has really been a great blogging companion. :)

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Well, I hope this essay is good enough for a passing mark. Or else I'll fail this homework and Teacher QuaChee will rotan me! o.o



ME SKEDDD!!!

Alright, I think that's enough for now. I don't wanna bore you guys anymore. Feel free to read kenwooi.com or if you like, follow me on Twitter for more fun, I promise. ;)

Thanks Mr. QC for having me here! :D


*Ken Wooi's story marks the end of the 1st Season of What's Your (INspiring) Stories. Stay tuned for the next season - though I haven't decided when as yet! Oh, I've got another series coming up - stay tuned! :)