the dirt with xiaxue
By Pat Law™ • Feb 2nd, 2010 • Category: Lead Story, The DirtAs a digital strategist by day, I thank God for the existence of Xiaxue.
Yes, you heard it right; I thank God for the existence of Xiaxue.
Perhaps vulgar and suicidal even for me to say so, but I reckon the local social media realm will not be as it is today, if not for her existence. The local social media realm is my marketplace. Xiaxue is my marketplace benchmark. My wagyu cow if you may. Ridiculously expensive. Not necessarily appropriate. But people know of it, and that makes beef in general, desirable.
Ever so often – and my clients reading this can verify – these words escape my mouth in a presentation about Singapore’s social media scene:
The average blogger sees about 500 to 1,000 unique visits a day. Just to throw in a comparison, Xiaxue gets about 20,000 unique visits a day.
I know my clients, however ignorant they may be of the social media realm, will be aware of Xiaxue.
As the immaculately beautiful founder of Curious Forest Yongfook once said during his last visit to Singapore as a guest speaker at Blogout! 2009, he knows of Xiaxue, but probably doesn’t know a fuck about who Fann Wong is. Ok, not in those exact words. But you get the gist. Love her or hate her, the fact remains that even my old man, seconded away from the wired world chopping braised ducks all day in his little duck rice stall at the airport’s canteen… knows who the fuck Xiaxue is. Sadly, he doesn’t know I’m a blogger. And I’m his fucking daughter. Personal relevance aside, Xiaxue has achieved critical mass. Now, save for Cowboy Caleb, MrBrown and Miyagi, who else you know has achieved that critical mass?
At risk of a potential backlash from the feisty devil-may-care diva herself, I must admit that Xiaxue’s not quite my cup of tea. She’s a little like E! Entertainment. I need a little bit of Keeping up with the Kardashians to relax my brain cells, but I’ll get nauseous after an hour and switch back to the History Channel. That said, she entertains. She engages. And perhaps that is why 20,000 visitors swing by her blog each day.
It is with such fascination over her personality and the critical mass she commands that I requested for an interview. Who is the author behind the controversial poetry of angst and narcissism? Who is significant enough in the society to warrant a dumb netizen to spark off a rumour of her being dead? Who the hell is this woman with blonde hair?
Sue me for this but in the process of our interview, I found myself relating to Xiaxue more than I’d dare admit. She is unapologetically and brutally honest, and incredibly easy to hate, for the very fact that she doesn’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks of her. That’s annoying, isn’t it? When someone as opinionated as her shuts you up with her nonchalance. The honesty is refreshing. I’ve never met anyone so candid about plastic surgery. If there’s anything I hate, it is when cowards suffering from the Michael Jackson denial syndrome insult my intelligence.
Harlow? You didn’t go under the knife, really? Dolly Parton could’ve done a more convincing job lying.
I can’t say that my tolerance for Keeping up with the Kardashians has increased tremendously since our interview, but I will say this – I am proud she exists. And I’m proud she stays real, and true to who she is. Don’t like what I’m saying? Too bad.
Enjoy the interview. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I had. You may download a hi-res version here.
Pat Law™ is a Digital Strategist who, in her time in the Adland, has marketed a range of global brands including adidas, Cadbury Schweppes, Chrysler, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Johnnie Walker, L’Oréal, and Royal Salute. Pat also writes for iSh, LOTL International, and Singapore Architect.
Email Pat | Follow Pat on Twitter | All posts by Pat Law™
hah good one on the last question. Music AutoPlays on blogs annoys me.
well – thats all im gonna comment. anything more, this comment may not be approved! lolx
cynner likes this
[...] a recent inteview by PatLaw (a most terrible person, I agree) you casually mentioned that I was not marriage material nor an [...]
I love it!!!!!!! I love xx cuz she’s so real, vulgar (for the right reason) and everything she said is so true, like the cheapo blogshops that people advertise (FOR THEIR FRIENDS, AND WORSE, SOME SELLING THEIR OWN UGLY 2ND HAND CLOTHES!!), & autoplay music.
Xx ftw!!!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by reevsaj: RT @Xiaxue: YAY IT’S UP!! Go read guys! RT:@patlaw NEWSFLASH: My interview with @Xiaxue. Yes, THE @Xiaxue http://bit.ly/aqi89w...
LOL, love this interview. Because of this, I am re-subscribing to Xiaxue whom I ditched years ago.
You can reach critical mass too if you dye your hair and engage in whatever antics Xiaxue is doing.
But the question is, do you want to do that?
Great interview as always, Pat. And great subject too (and I'm not saying that cos she didn't say "chuck" in that section).
me been following xiaxue for years, and i love that girl!
(to parka upstairs, you must be deluded or not really in the know about things if you really believe in what you just said.
bb
I'm geek enough to know what that symbol below "J.K. Rowling" means.
and yes, friggin music on blogs need to go~!!!!
[...] klein spring 2010, ck, geoff ang, kevi carrigan, queenstown remand prison <!– « the dirt with xiaxue new face for a new year [...]
Actually, not everyone with dyed hair and antics like Xiaxue will be able to hit critical mass.
I cannot stop laughing at question 11. 'Are you Sun Ho?'. LOL. Great interview Pat! I'm very surprised I actually liked this interview
Why, thank you for sharing.
Hahaha.
Next one: you. Fuck, chuck, marry too!
I'm just as surprised as you are mate. I mean, I expected to be entertained but no, I didn't think I would love this interview this much!
I have been a follower of XX for years. I apperciate her originality, authenticity and great sense of humour…
Love this! Pat Law plus XX in an interview – Explosive!
I for one, actually agree with Parka above. Is it not obvious many of her antics are intentional to stir controversy and garner publicity, more hits? Or sometimes at least live up to the expectations of what her readers have of her? She did tweet before that she continues to name-call Dawn because it gets her followers excited. I don't find that particularly admirable. She wrote a longass entry slamming Fiona Xie before that inevitably got a flood of comments; later when she became more well known she didn't want to write on Fiona despite readers' requests, for fear of hurting her new entry into the famous circles. For an advocate of standing up for what you believe in, quite hypocritical.
There are other things I could go on about, but that would call for a whole new blog post. Anyway point is, as much as I do not like XX or agree with a lot of the things she does, must admit I've gotten some laughs from her site during slow office hours. she does succeed in entertaining! And her schemes to kill her competition are Sun Tzu worthy, salute. The question is do we really want our 13 year olds learning to behave like her, because I'm not sure I do.
HAHAHHAHA.