I'll write more about this later but I have just discovered half a dozen of my comments removed from Digg...either by Digg or people reporting them as offensive. More likely the later, but who knows? For example the following comments have been removed:
How Not to Interview John Cusack
Comment in Videos - on 12/29/2007
I love Gen Y. So much potential. So much talent. So dumb.
Creeping Fascism: From Nazi Germany to Post 9/11 America
Comment in News - 10 hr 25 min ago
Lets look at just a few parallels....USA today: illegal surveillance, empire-building (Iraq, Afghanistan), loss of rights, government spreading propaganda and even consolidation of power (Bush's recent statements about Congress are dangerously close to th...
Top Ten Signs Your Country May Be Going Fascist
Comment in Videos - 6 hr 30 min ago
This should be compulsory viewing in every Western classroom. (see comment)
Science vs. Faith flowchart [pic]
Comment in Images - on 12/29/2007
As Jimmy Carr once said (British Comedian) "When I was a kid, I used to have an imaginary friend, who used to go everywhere with me, and I'd could talk to him and he could hear me, and he could grant me wishes and stuff. Then I grew up and stopped going to church. (see comment)
I mean really...how the hell can you censor or report the Jimmy Carr quote?
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
BBC 606
I like getting involved in pointless on-line debates. I mean, I like getting involved in debates full-stop. I'm frequently on Digg these days having a pop at the strange people that inhabit that world - if I read another Ron Paul story I might actually go bonkers.
But one thing that mystifys me completely are these instructions on the bbc.co.uk's 606 comment board:
One of the golden rules of the internet in this day and age is that to flourish and be a success, you need to give the viewer what they want, and more importantly, WHEN they want it.
606 don't do this. They deliver comment boards around their business hours, ignoring the massive population outside of GMT time zones that may want to deliver some witty chat when they want they have the inspiration, and not when a BBC nerd finally makes it to his desk and can moderate the text.
I'm all for the moderating. The last thing the BBC needs is spamming idiots on their boards (although both Digg and YouTube for example have software that allows the user to identify those posts that are rubbish) making the site look like a playground, but to only deliver that moderation when they want to do it, and not when the consumer wants to post, is just plain ignorant.
It must actually even be annoying for those living in the same time zone. Say you go and watch a game with an 8pm kick-off, get out of the ground at 10pm, get home at 11pm and want to make a comment about the game? Nah. Sorry. Come back tomorrow when we're ready.
Believe it or not, I have actually pointed this out twice to the BBC, once in a survey they asked me to do, and once via the 606 site. I'll keep you updated if I get any response.
On a slightly related note, I was on 606 because of the 6-4 Spur's win over Reading last night. I went to bed when Reading went 2-1 up thinking I couldn't sit around and watch Spurs lose again. I didn't even bother to record the thing despite the HD/DVD recorder sitting there doing nothing. GAH.
But one thing that mystifys me completely are these instructions on the bbc.co.uk's 606 comment board:
Sorry, but you can only contribute to 606 during opening hours. These are 09:00 until 23:00 GMT, seven days a week.
One of the golden rules of the internet in this day and age is that to flourish and be a success, you need to give the viewer what they want, and more importantly, WHEN they want it.
606 don't do this. They deliver comment boards around their business hours, ignoring the massive population outside of GMT time zones that may want to deliver some witty chat when they want they have the inspiration, and not when a BBC nerd finally makes it to his desk and can moderate the text.
I'm all for the moderating. The last thing the BBC needs is spamming idiots on their boards (although both Digg and YouTube for example have software that allows the user to identify those posts that are rubbish) making the site look like a playground, but to only deliver that moderation when they want to do it, and not when the consumer wants to post, is just plain ignorant.
It must actually even be annoying for those living in the same time zone. Say you go and watch a game with an 8pm kick-off, get out of the ground at 10pm, get home at 11pm and want to make a comment about the game? Nah. Sorry. Come back tomorrow when we're ready.
Believe it or not, I have actually pointed this out twice to the BBC, once in a survey they asked me to do, and once via the 606 site. I'll keep you updated if I get any response.
On a slightly related note, I was on 606 because of the 6-4 Spur's win over Reading last night. I went to bed when Reading went 2-1 up thinking I couldn't sit around and watch Spurs lose again. I didn't even bother to record the thing despite the HD/DVD recorder sitting there doing nothing. GAH.
Science vs. Faith flowchart [pic]
This is good. I've never been one for organised religion but this sums it up for me...
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Friday, December 28, 2007
The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises
I feel the need to send this one on...as it's an extremely important item and one that actually makes Digg worthwhile. I made a couple of comments about other Diggers criticism of Islam being the catalyst for this, and pointed out that the Catholic Church and their untold wealth could put an end to much of this suffering in an instant...but that they don't. I also managed to get caught up in a 'government-by-bloodline' discussion, talking about the fact that America, should Hilary be elected for the next two terms, will have been controlled by the same two families for 27 years. But that shouldn't over shadow the fact that there are some incredible crises occuring around the world today, and that we should step in and make an effort to help these people. Just because they have no oil, doesn't mean to say they're not deserving of a new and just government.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, December 23, 2007
iPod RIP
It finally happened. After three long and happy years together, me and my original generation iPod (with monochrome screen) have parted company. It was a sad day when I tried to plug him into the mains power and he went a bit mental, made some funny wiring sounds and then choked. Immediately I ran upstairs for the life-support of the main PC but attempts to revive him were doomed. Even the neat trick of pressing various sequences of buttons failed to remove the unhappy iPod icon from his screen.
We looked at his little lifeless body laying there...tears welling as he stared back at me. But we knew it was the end. Three years of servitude and it was time for the little fella to say goodbye, take up a space in my bottom desk draw and life out the remainder of his years next to the APS camera and a couple of mobile phones.
Convenient one might think, with him dying three days before Xmas and without my wife having any idea what to buy me for a present!
Welcome in the new iPod Classic...80 Gig of sexy sleek lines, colour screen and black plastic casing. Sends shivers down your spine.
But why didn't you repair the other little fella I hear you crY?
Well, this is the simple reason - repair costs outside warranty for his generation of iPod = $349+P&P. New iPod Classic? $345.
We looked at his little lifeless body laying there...tears welling as he stared back at me. But we knew it was the end. Three years of servitude and it was time for the little fella to say goodbye, take up a space in my bottom desk draw and life out the remainder of his years next to the APS camera and a couple of mobile phones.
Convenient one might think, with him dying three days before Xmas and without my wife having any idea what to buy me for a present!
Welcome in the new iPod Classic...80 Gig of sexy sleek lines, colour screen and black plastic casing. Sends shivers down your spine.
But why didn't you repair the other little fella I hear you crY?
Well, this is the simple reason - repair costs outside warranty for his generation of iPod = $349+P&P. New iPod Classic? $345.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Banks vs. Technology
This one will be brief...again I think the actions speak louder than words.
Technology:
Two companies and other Japanese researchers have developed technology that they believe will start to appear in the commercial gaming market in 2008 that will allow you to control computer games with your thoughts, emotions or facial expressions. All groups are developing controllers that sit on your head and allow you to immerse yourself in a game without moving a muscle.
Banks:
The bank my car loan is at, Macquarie, want me to set-up a direct debit to pay them every month. Fair enough - it used to come direct from my wife's salary but we decided to change that. The direct debit comes from our account on 24th of the month. That is inconvenient to us - so we asked for it to be changed to the 15th of the month. Here is the response from the bank:
So technology fails the banks again.
In a Comic Book Guys voice: Worst service industry EVER!
Technology:
Two companies and other Japanese researchers have developed technology that they believe will start to appear in the commercial gaming market in 2008 that will allow you to control computer games with your thoughts, emotions or facial expressions. All groups are developing controllers that sit on your head and allow you to immerse yourself in a game without moving a muscle.
Banks:
The bank my car loan is at, Macquarie, want me to set-up a direct debit to pay them every month. Fair enough - it used to come direct from my wife's salary but we decided to change that. The direct debit comes from our account on 24th of the month. That is inconvenient to us - so we asked for it to be changed to the 15th of the month. Here is the response from the bank:
We can't draw the payment on the 15th as the cycle date (interests, etc.) is calculated on the 24th, the day the deal settled. The system automatically draws the payment on the 24th of each month, or the next working day if the 24th is a public holiday or week-end.
So technology fails the banks again.
In a Comic Book Guys voice: Worst service industry EVER!
UPS saved 3 Million Gallons of Gas-- By Not Turning Left
Absolute genius....
Mapping out routes for its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons.
read more | digg story
Mapping out routes for its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons.
read more | digg story
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
BP's bullshit Solar Power claims
BP are currently running an advertising campaign entitled 'talk stopped long ago' in attempt to, after polluting the world since 1908, to assert its green credentials. One of these billboards runs the hook 'the biggest manufacturer of solar panels in the world', with the campaign tagline across the bottom.
'Wow,' you think when seeing this and the other adverts. BP have been doing a lot to save our planet.
Here's an alternative opinion:
Only in Feb 2007 did BP grant $8 billion over ten years to research alternative fuel sources. $8 billion is less than 3% of the company's revenue in 2006. Over 10 years it will be 0.3% of their revenue.
Further to this, they have owned solar panel company Lucas Energy Systems since 1980, but waited 27 years to grant further research into solar power. How many break-through developments in solar have BP made in that time?
BP was named one of the "ten worst corporations" in both 2001 and 2006 based on its environmental and human rights records. (http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/112006/mokhiber.html)
BP started a scheme for car owners to purchase carbon offsets called Target Neutral. By 2007 it was running in a huge number of countries around the world - 2.
In March 2007, BP unveiled its Helios fuel station on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles.The station has radical architecture for a fuel station, and is a "living lab" for green technologies. Five months after the launch the solar panels were still nonoperational.
I could go on. But I think that's the point made.
'Wow,' you think when seeing this and the other adverts. BP have been doing a lot to save our planet.
Here's an alternative opinion:
Only in Feb 2007 did BP grant $8 billion over ten years to research alternative fuel sources. $8 billion is less than 3% of the company's revenue in 2006. Over 10 years it will be 0.3% of their revenue.
Further to this, they have owned solar panel company Lucas Energy Systems since 1980, but waited 27 years to grant further research into solar power. How many break-through developments in solar have BP made in that time?
BP was named one of the "ten worst corporations" in both 2001 and 2006 based on its environmental and human rights records. (http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/112006/mokhiber.html)
BP started a scheme for car owners to purchase carbon offsets called Target Neutral. By 2007 it was running in a huge number of countries around the world - 2.
In March 2007, BP unveiled its Helios fuel station on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles.The station has radical architecture for a fuel station, and is a "living lab" for green technologies. Five months after the launch the solar panels were still nonoperational.
I could go on. But I think that's the point made.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Future Of Brisbane Radio?
I'm going to write down the name of eight bands/artists here:
Pink
Gwen Stefani
Plain White Ts
Snow Patrol
Jack Johnson
Silverchair
Evermore
Missy Higgins
And now I'm going to write down the name of 4 Brisbane radio stations
Nova 106.9
B105
Triple M
97.3
Can anyone guess the connection?
Irrespective of whether you live in Brisbane, Australia, or another city somewhere around the world, the link that all the bands feature on rotation at all of the stations will be a familiar story.
All of the stations claim to position themselves for a different market and a different demographic, but the stark reality is that within core listening times, they are all clones of each other.
Sure, the music offerings aren't exactly the same - Triple M concentrate on delivering more of a 'rock' angle (although they did play Fat Boy Slim the other day), Nova offer a more 'youth' direction (which means house, R&B and hip-hop) and 97.3 flog the 80s to death too (which is something Triple M also make a play with), but the problem is, there are a number of artists on rotation on all stations.
Take for example the Plain White T's and their song 'Hey Delilah'. As an acoustic ballad the song fits into any demographic and any station. Put it in the middle of a song by Pink and say, Silverchair, at 11am, have a random announcer doing competition phone ins for free tickets to see the local sports team and you could be listening to any station in Brisbane...or any station in the world.
So, what's the problem? If listeners are still tuning in, where's the issue?
The issue is a similar problem that the recording industry faced back in the late 1990s. Technology and listening patterns were starting to change, and they weren't preparing for those changes. And by the time everyone realised what had happened, iTunes had swallowed up massive market share, effectively controlling the market to such an extent that the record companies couldn't afford NOT to be iTunes, leaving Apple to dictate the pricing, distribution and promotion of a song.
The internet has an estimated 100,000 audio streams. Brisbane has half a dozen major radio stations. What happens when the average car driver suddenly gets access to those 100,000 audio streams? Sure, people driving cars will still want news, traffic reports and so on. But imagine one of those audio streams JUST delivering traffic reports for your city?
Here's the scenario:
You get into your car at 7am. As you're pulling out of the driveway, you have the audio stream for traffic reports on for 5 minutes. You then flick it to the news audio stream - maybe some days you listen to the national, some days the state, some days the international streams - for another 5 minutes. Then for the final 20 minutes into work, you select a pop music stream.
No adverts, no DJs, no inane banter, no thickie phone-ins. Glorious, eh?
But who pays for it? How is it funded? Audio streams don't come for free.
Of course not, but lets look at another scenario for a moment. I pay $90 a month for my Broadband. Telstra approach me and offer me for another $30 a month, not only wireless broadband for my car, but also offer to install the receiver and equipment needed to not only listen to those audio streams in my car, but also for the kids in the back-seat to watch YouTube, the wife to check out our destination on Whereis.com.au and for us to upload Google Street Maps to check we're heading in the right direction.
Radio is no longer a part of the equation.
I had a similar conversation with someone from Channel 10 the other day about how, with TV moving closer and closer to being under total control of the consumer, advertisers continue to survive?
THe solution is simple: subscription. Charge me $100 a month and remove my adverts. Charge me $60 a month and drop bite-sized ads in the shows - twenty second ad every, say, 10 minutes. Charge me $30 a month, drop more ads in. Give it to me for free and make me watch all the ads.
How about this model:
Desperate Housewives Season 8 With No Ads: Download for $200
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Fast Forward Ads: Download for $180
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Locked Ads: Download for $140
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Locked Ads & Promo Slots: Download for $100
Which would you pick? The point is...there's a choice.
Back to the original problem of the radio stations. Is there a solution? Maybe, maybe not. Myabe I'm just too fickle in my music tastes to really embrace any commercial music station, but the point is, unless they act now and work out the next step for their industry, they'll end up like the record companies, scratching their heads and wondering how they lost control of what they had.
And Pink won't care...she'll still be being streamed into cars...
Pink
Gwen Stefani
Plain White Ts
Snow Patrol
Jack Johnson
Silverchair
Evermore
Missy Higgins
And now I'm going to write down the name of 4 Brisbane radio stations
Nova 106.9
B105
Triple M
97.3
Can anyone guess the connection?
Irrespective of whether you live in Brisbane, Australia, or another city somewhere around the world, the link that all the bands feature on rotation at all of the stations will be a familiar story.
All of the stations claim to position themselves for a different market and a different demographic, but the stark reality is that within core listening times, they are all clones of each other.
Sure, the music offerings aren't exactly the same - Triple M concentrate on delivering more of a 'rock' angle (although they did play Fat Boy Slim the other day), Nova offer a more 'youth' direction (which means house, R&B and hip-hop) and 97.3 flog the 80s to death too (which is something Triple M also make a play with), but the problem is, there are a number of artists on rotation on all stations.
Take for example the Plain White T's and their song 'Hey Delilah'. As an acoustic ballad the song fits into any demographic and any station. Put it in the middle of a song by Pink and say, Silverchair, at 11am, have a random announcer doing competition phone ins for free tickets to see the local sports team and you could be listening to any station in Brisbane...or any station in the world.
So, what's the problem? If listeners are still tuning in, where's the issue?
The issue is a similar problem that the recording industry faced back in the late 1990s. Technology and listening patterns were starting to change, and they weren't preparing for those changes. And by the time everyone realised what had happened, iTunes had swallowed up massive market share, effectively controlling the market to such an extent that the record companies couldn't afford NOT to be iTunes, leaving Apple to dictate the pricing, distribution and promotion of a song.
The internet has an estimated 100,000 audio streams. Brisbane has half a dozen major radio stations. What happens when the average car driver suddenly gets access to those 100,000 audio streams? Sure, people driving cars will still want news, traffic reports and so on. But imagine one of those audio streams JUST delivering traffic reports for your city?
Here's the scenario:
You get into your car at 7am. As you're pulling out of the driveway, you have the audio stream for traffic reports on for 5 minutes. You then flick it to the news audio stream - maybe some days you listen to the national, some days the state, some days the international streams - for another 5 minutes. Then for the final 20 minutes into work, you select a pop music stream.
No adverts, no DJs, no inane banter, no thickie phone-ins. Glorious, eh?
But who pays for it? How is it funded? Audio streams don't come for free.
Of course not, but lets look at another scenario for a moment. I pay $90 a month for my Broadband. Telstra approach me and offer me for another $30 a month, not only wireless broadband for my car, but also offer to install the receiver and equipment needed to not only listen to those audio streams in my car, but also for the kids in the back-seat to watch YouTube, the wife to check out our destination on Whereis.com.au and for us to upload Google Street Maps to check we're heading in the right direction.
Radio is no longer a part of the equation.
I had a similar conversation with someone from Channel 10 the other day about how, with TV moving closer and closer to being under total control of the consumer, advertisers continue to survive?
THe solution is simple: subscription. Charge me $100 a month and remove my adverts. Charge me $60 a month and drop bite-sized ads in the shows - twenty second ad every, say, 10 minutes. Charge me $30 a month, drop more ads in. Give it to me for free and make me watch all the ads.
How about this model:
Desperate Housewives Season 8 With No Ads: Download for $200
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Fast Forward Ads: Download for $180
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Locked Ads: Download for $140
Desperate Housewives Season 8 with Locked Ads & Promo Slots: Download for $100
Which would you pick? The point is...there's a choice.
Back to the original problem of the radio stations. Is there a solution? Maybe, maybe not. Myabe I'm just too fickle in my music tastes to really embrace any commercial music station, but the point is, unless they act now and work out the next step for their industry, they'll end up like the record companies, scratching their heads and wondering how they lost control of what they had.
And Pink won't care...she'll still be being streamed into cars...
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
1408 Review
To be fair, after the last John Cusack film I saw 'The Contract', which set all-time lows for both this great actor and Morgan Freeman, there was probably no-way it could get any worse for the 41-year old American.
'1408' is based on a short story by Stephen King about a haunted hotel room and was transferred to the big screen by director Mikael Håfström, the man behind the surprisingly-good 'Derailed' a couple of years back.
The problem with short stories is, well, they're short. And in the 104 minutes of the film you can't help but think that maybe we're getting a quick fable pulled out at either end to help fit it onto the cinema screen.
Cusack's character performance moves backwards and forwards from the suitably disdainful Mike Enslin to the terrified and apologetic Mike Enslin, at the instant sight of the ghosts he's been hunting for the past years since the death of his daughter. One would question why, when faced with something he's been looking for, does he turn into a nervous wreck so quickly? Given his profession, an element of fascination would probably have been more suitable, but Cusack's character breaks down mentally as soon as he's faced with his first real test.
Samuel L Jackson also makes an appearance as the hotel manager, warning Cusack not to enter the room that has claimed 56 lives as he arrives for his overnight stay. Jackson's character is amusing, if a little one dimensional.
But this film is really all about Cusack and the terror. And of course, with any Stephen King story, it's about the twist in the plot. Sad to say those that haven't read the book will most likely still see both twists coming a mile off.
The other things that let the film down is that we don't see the connection between what's happening in the room and its history of deaths. We don't get to understand how/who invited Cusack to the hotel in the first place, other than a weak postcard connection. We get a soft conversation between the room and Cusack that frankly delivers a 'get out of jail' card so big it spoils the horror. And any background about Cusack's disturbed state of mind is shoved in haphazardly to try and explain to us what's going on in his head.
When you look back at Cusack's work, you struggle to see past 2000's 'Hi-Fidelity'. There's been 6 or 7 years of fairly low quality films and had the script-writers on 1408 offered us a better and cleaner insight into the character of Mike Enslin, we might be looking at a Cusack revival...
'1408' is based on a short story by Stephen King about a haunted hotel room and was transferred to the big screen by director Mikael Håfström, the man behind the surprisingly-good 'Derailed' a couple of years back.
The problem with short stories is, well, they're short. And in the 104 minutes of the film you can't help but think that maybe we're getting a quick fable pulled out at either end to help fit it onto the cinema screen.
Cusack's character performance moves backwards and forwards from the suitably disdainful Mike Enslin to the terrified and apologetic Mike Enslin, at the instant sight of the ghosts he's been hunting for the past years since the death of his daughter. One would question why, when faced with something he's been looking for, does he turn into a nervous wreck so quickly? Given his profession, an element of fascination would probably have been more suitable, but Cusack's character breaks down mentally as soon as he's faced with his first real test.
Samuel L Jackson also makes an appearance as the hotel manager, warning Cusack not to enter the room that has claimed 56 lives as he arrives for his overnight stay. Jackson's character is amusing, if a little one dimensional.
But this film is really all about Cusack and the terror. And of course, with any Stephen King story, it's about the twist in the plot. Sad to say those that haven't read the book will most likely still see both twists coming a mile off.
The other things that let the film down is that we don't see the connection between what's happening in the room and its history of deaths. We don't get to understand how/who invited Cusack to the hotel in the first place, other than a weak postcard connection. We get a soft conversation between the room and Cusack that frankly delivers a 'get out of jail' card so big it spoils the horror. And any background about Cusack's disturbed state of mind is shoved in haphazardly to try and explain to us what's going on in his head.
When you look back at Cusack's work, you struggle to see past 2000's 'Hi-Fidelity'. There's been 6 or 7 years of fairly low quality films and had the script-writers on 1408 offered us a better and cleaner insight into the character of Mike Enslin, we might be looking at a Cusack revival...
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Is Europe a country?
I mean really...? I believe the girl here is a former American Idol contestant. They should test their IQ before they're allowed to sing.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Alinta #001
Another day...another shoot. But this is the first in a series of photos of a Brisbane-based model Alinta Krauth. Ironically this is one of the last photos of the day, and even though I've only been through the whole shoot once, this is immediately sticking out as one of my favourites. The reds, blacks, greys and whites all work so well together with Alinta's unique look.
The other thing I think works well with this photo is the lines and the angles...from Alinta's right arm drawing a parallel with the walls either side of her and the rest of her body sitting at 45 or 90 degree angles to everything else.
On top of all this, for the first time today I had a make-up artist help me out with the shoot - the wonderful Andrea Bartlett - who did a stunning job on some very unique colours and designs. They'll be some close-up shots later on.
Comments welcome, either for the photo, for Alinta, for Andrea...or fuck it...even for me. Haha. More Alinta shots can be found on her portfolio at Model Mayhem here.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Change Of Australian Federal Government
Okay so I can't vote. I'm not a citizen yet so I have no capability to decide on who governs the country I live in. Shame really, but it does remind me that I do need to get off my backside and sort out my application to become an Australian.
Anyhow, the point is, against my political principles, which I would have to label as middle/right, I would have voted for Kevin Rudd, the new Australian PM, who is the leader of the Australian Labor party, and distinctly middle/left.
So why would I have opted to change the habit of a lifetime, and compromise my own personal political beliefs, and vote for someone who isn't part of a party that I would normally support?
It's a good question and probably one that a lot of voters this morning are asking of themselves, having overwhelming chose to swing their support to the ALP. Either way, the scaremongering has continued. "Rudd with destroy the country" kind of messages are floating around mediums like Facebook. As far as I can remember when Blair took over from the Tories back in...erm...mid-1990s, the UK didn't suddenly stop walking and fall apart.
Sure there were changes, but in politics and economies, changes are gradual. People have seen the mistakes of trying to introduce radical new policies suddenly - Work Choices, Poll Tax - and the new governement would be foolish to make sweeping changes without some serious thought. Would the Liberal party have been in the mess they are in now if they'd staggered Work Choices into the marketplace?
Rudd has been given the backing to drag Australia kicking and screaming into the future, but myself, like many people, will be watching him carefully. No-one wants to see the return of the Union nutters taking control of the workplace, but we do want people to be given a fair go. - it's a tough thing to balance out. Lets hope he's up to it.
Anyhow, the point is, against my political principles, which I would have to label as middle/right, I would have voted for Kevin Rudd, the new Australian PM, who is the leader of the Australian Labor party, and distinctly middle/left.
So why would I have opted to change the habit of a lifetime, and compromise my own personal political beliefs, and vote for someone who isn't part of a party that I would normally support?
It's a good question and probably one that a lot of voters this morning are asking of themselves, having overwhelming chose to swing their support to the ALP. Either way, the scaremongering has continued. "Rudd with destroy the country" kind of messages are floating around mediums like Facebook. As far as I can remember when Blair took over from the Tories back in...erm...mid-1990s, the UK didn't suddenly stop walking and fall apart.
Sure there were changes, but in politics and economies, changes are gradual. People have seen the mistakes of trying to introduce radical new policies suddenly - Work Choices, Poll Tax - and the new governement would be foolish to make sweeping changes without some serious thought. Would the Liberal party have been in the mess they are in now if they'd staggered Work Choices into the marketplace?
Rudd has been given the backing to drag Australia kicking and screaming into the future, but myself, like many people, will be watching him carefully. No-one wants to see the return of the Union nutters taking control of the workplace, but we do want people to be given a fair go. - it's a tough thing to balance out. Lets hope he's up to it.
therapy
Well worth checking out Rebekka's photostream if you get the chance...over 4 million views!! Makes my 70,000 pail into insignificance!
Monday, November 19, 2007
ISP Woes
I don't moan about much (everyone laughs in the background)...but losing your email, especially your work email, is like having your arm cut off.
This is a list of the reasons why I will, eventually, abandon MD Webhosting.
1. Not once, not twice but THREE times, someone mucked around with something on the server to make my emails come in 12 hours ahead of themselves. I was receiving emails from the next day. It was very weird. Not a major problem, but annoying all the same. On ALL occassions it took THREE phone calls or jobs being logged to get them to fix it.
2. One Monday I'm not getting email. Strange. There should be something coming in. I ring them up. They say they're going to fix it. An hour later....still nothing. So I ring them again. I need my email back, what's going on? Apparently the virus software they're using is clashing with the email programme. They've just noticed it and there's three hours of backed up mails. It's another two hours before mine arrive. Took me to tell them this.
3. One Friday the sites aren't there. Hmmm. Strange. I go and check. No notes on their RSS feed. I ring up and find out that apparently my server is down and they're just going to reboot it. Once again, they find out because I ring them.
4. This morning major hardwear failure that also includes the fact that something called a 'RAID' isn't configured properly...so it's going to take even longer to get eveeything back and running than it should. I lose email and sites at 8.30am...get it back at 9.45pm.
So whaddya do? I have so much stuff with them...do I move it? new host? leave it and hope they sort themselves out?
This is a list of the reasons why I will, eventually, abandon MD Webhosting.
1. Not once, not twice but THREE times, someone mucked around with something on the server to make my emails come in 12 hours ahead of themselves. I was receiving emails from the next day. It was very weird. Not a major problem, but annoying all the same. On ALL occassions it took THREE phone calls or jobs being logged to get them to fix it.
2. One Monday I'm not getting email. Strange. There should be something coming in. I ring them up. They say they're going to fix it. An hour later....still nothing. So I ring them again. I need my email back, what's going on? Apparently the virus software they're using is clashing with the email programme. They've just noticed it and there's three hours of backed up mails. It's another two hours before mine arrive. Took me to tell them this.
3. One Friday the sites aren't there. Hmmm. Strange. I go and check. No notes on their RSS feed. I ring up and find out that apparently my server is down and they're just going to reboot it. Once again, they find out because I ring them.
4. This morning major hardwear failure that also includes the fact that something called a 'RAID' isn't configured properly...so it's going to take even longer to get eveeything back and running than it should. I lose email and sites at 8.30am...get it back at 9.45pm.
So whaddya do? I have so much stuff with them...do I move it? new host? leave it and hope they sort themselves out?
Saturday, November 17, 2007
A Question Of Morality
I suppose, given the amount of time I spend on Flickr, that sooner or later I would find something I thought was distasteful. I remember being added as a contact (and I think I still am) for a guy who used Photoshop to create pictures of women with more or less than their natural amount of limbs. It was a very disturbing portfolio and one I haven't gone back to look at since.
But yesterday I was made a contact by a used on Flickr who had a group of even more nauseating photos. When I receive a contact email on Flickr, I normally check out the photos of the person adding me. If their portfolio is genuine, interesting or even if its just full of family shots, I'll add them back. If there's no pictures in there, then I won't.
This contact request came from a guy whose profile identified him as American, divorced and 32 years of age. As usual I took a look at his pictures.
There's no doubt in my mind that when faced with child pornography, my reaction would be one of utter disgust. And that's not far off what I felt when hitting the first page of these photos. These pictures weren't nude or sexual active photos, but there were of young female girls, aged around their early teens in what could be described as provocative positions and outfits.
So just to repeat, no nudity, no sexual activity, but with a clear message behind the pictures.
So what do you do?
Flickr is an open-deposit for millions and millions of photos from around the world. Anywhere between 2000 and 3000 photos are uploaded every minute. There is no way that the administration of the site can monitor every photo uploaded, so the public using Flickr has to become self-policing.
Which is the option I chose, and wrote to Flickr alerting them of the account in question, blocked his contact and made sure he couldn't contact me. Flickr sent me a note this morning thanking me for alerting them, but it was a standard email so I wouldn't know whether they have done anything about his account, and I certainly don't want to go back and check.
But yesterday I was made a contact by a used on Flickr who had a group of even more nauseating photos. When I receive a contact email on Flickr, I normally check out the photos of the person adding me. If their portfolio is genuine, interesting or even if its just full of family shots, I'll add them back. If there's no pictures in there, then I won't.
This contact request came from a guy whose profile identified him as American, divorced and 32 years of age. As usual I took a look at his pictures.
There's no doubt in my mind that when faced with child pornography, my reaction would be one of utter disgust. And that's not far off what I felt when hitting the first page of these photos. These pictures weren't nude or sexual active photos, but there were of young female girls, aged around their early teens in what could be described as provocative positions and outfits.
So just to repeat, no nudity, no sexual activity, but with a clear message behind the pictures.
So what do you do?
Flickr is an open-deposit for millions and millions of photos from around the world. Anywhere between 2000 and 3000 photos are uploaded every minute. There is no way that the administration of the site can monitor every photo uploaded, so the public using Flickr has to become self-policing.
Which is the option I chose, and wrote to Flickr alerting them of the account in question, blocked his contact and made sure he couldn't contact me. Flickr sent me a note this morning thanking me for alerting them, but it was a standard email so I wouldn't know whether they have done anything about his account, and I certainly don't want to go back and check.
Friday, November 2, 2007
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
I went to see a preview of this film on Monday and forgot to write the review then, so given that its out yesterday/today, I'll just do a potted version.
1. This film is long - 160 minutes. And to its credit, it doesn't abandon the story at James's death but continues to show the decline and breakdown of Robert Ford post-assassination.
2. Brad Pitt's performance is brilliant, although sometimes just a little un-nerving and a little lost in direction. His version of Jesse James almost becomes TOO eccentric.
3. Casey Affleck - genius performance, anyone who says otherwise should be shot in the back.
4. Also great performances from Sam Rockwell (as Charley Ford, Robert's brother and in a MUCH better position to benefit his career than as Zaphod Beeblebrox) and Paul Schneider (as Dick Liddle), a relative new-comer in acting.
5. Cinematography was fantastic...the most stunning shots throughout the film.
There. That's all I have for this. Go and see it, but be prepared to pay attention and not drift off. Save half your bag of M&Ms for later in the film.
1. This film is long - 160 minutes. And to its credit, it doesn't abandon the story at James's death but continues to show the decline and breakdown of Robert Ford post-assassination.
2. Brad Pitt's performance is brilliant, although sometimes just a little un-nerving and a little lost in direction. His version of Jesse James almost becomes TOO eccentric.
3. Casey Affleck - genius performance, anyone who says otherwise should be shot in the back.
4. Also great performances from Sam Rockwell (as Charley Ford, Robert's brother and in a MUCH better position to benefit his career than as Zaphod Beeblebrox) and Paul Schneider (as Dick Liddle), a relative new-comer in acting.
5. Cinematography was fantastic...the most stunning shots throughout the film.
There. That's all I have for this. Go and see it, but be prepared to pay attention and not drift off. Save half your bag of M&Ms for later in the film.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Lonsdale Clothing
I always liked Lonsdale clothing. Okay, so I never owned any - well, I might have owned a t-shirt somewhere along the line - but never anything that I've loved like a member of my family. Not like my old Duffer sweatshirt.
The problem I find with Lonsdale, and their new advertising campaign, is I'm sitting looking at images of models in t-shirts and vests and I'm thinking 'so what'?
For my part if I want to engage a clothing brand I want to know what they stand for. What is it that I'm saying to people by wearing their t-shirts? The Lonsdale brand says too much that I have no real concept of style; that I'm a 'me-too' brand copying someone else. I want individuality in my clothing brands, or at least, if I'm going to buy into a mass-produced brand (say, like Abercrombie) then I bloody well want them to be cool enough to warrant myself and 100 other people on the high-street wearing them.
Lonsdale used to be the urban, boxing wear, typically London, in a very similar way to Everlast was to the same sport in New York. It's ironic that Everlast suffer from a similar problem in trying to reposition themselves as a younger fashion brand, they've lose any essence of what made they what they were in the first place.
It's a hard ask as to wear to go with these brands. Glossy full-page spreads in FHM and clean living models, female ones with big boobs, are probably not the answers - unless Lonsdale are sitting on the brand to eek money out of it by flogging it through Myer and K-Mart to bogans who know no better.
The consequence of this will most likely be decline, or very slow growth. Whilst it can be hard to go back to the original roots of the brand, something that you may not want to do anyway, its worth remembering that these brands were born out of sub-cultures, and that without the support of a sub-culture, they will have no oxygen to survive.
The problem I find with Lonsdale, and their new advertising campaign, is I'm sitting looking at images of models in t-shirts and vests and I'm thinking 'so what'?
For my part if I want to engage a clothing brand I want to know what they stand for. What is it that I'm saying to people by wearing their t-shirts? The Lonsdale brand says too much that I have no real concept of style; that I'm a 'me-too' brand copying someone else. I want individuality in my clothing brands, or at least, if I'm going to buy into a mass-produced brand (say, like Abercrombie) then I bloody well want them to be cool enough to warrant myself and 100 other people on the high-street wearing them.
Lonsdale used to be the urban, boxing wear, typically London, in a very similar way to Everlast was to the same sport in New York. It's ironic that Everlast suffer from a similar problem in trying to reposition themselves as a younger fashion brand, they've lose any essence of what made they what they were in the first place. It's a hard ask as to wear to go with these brands. Glossy full-page spreads in FHM and clean living models, female ones with big boobs, are probably not the answers - unless Lonsdale are sitting on the brand to eek money out of it by flogging it through Myer and K-Mart to bogans who know no better.
The consequence of this will most likely be decline, or very slow growth. Whilst it can be hard to go back to the original roots of the brand, something that you may not want to do anyway, its worth remembering that these brands were born out of sub-cultures, and that without the support of a sub-culture, they will have no oxygen to survive.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
My Open Complaint To Telstra
The following is my rant to Telstra:
This is the plan I'm on:
Your current plan is BigPond ADSL Liberty* 8000/384 $89.95 monthly
This is the speedtest for my connection on a Telstra mirror this evening:
Your line speed is 71 kbps (0.07 Mbps).
Your download speed is 9 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
This connection speed has never been any good. I have continually been told by your techs that I'll never get the speeds I pay for - but this is now ridiculous.
It is NOT the computer. I am all updated, and have rebooted it twice daily. I have rebooted the modem and so on. It is not the software and it is NOT the browser.
This time I would like an explanation why my service is so crap.
Just to re-iterate the point here's a second speed test done 5 minutes later:
Your line speed is 236 kbps (0.24 Mbps).
Your download speed is 30 KB/s (0.03 MB/s).
Better...but my line speed is only 4 times faster than a shitty dial-up modem!!!!!!!
This is the plan I'm on:
Your current plan is BigPond ADSL Liberty* 8000/384 $89.95 monthly
This is the speedtest for my connection on a Telstra mirror this evening:
Your line speed is 71 kbps (0.07 Mbps).
Your download speed is 9 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
This connection speed has never been any good. I have continually been told by your techs that I'll never get the speeds I pay for - but this is now ridiculous.
It is NOT the computer. I am all updated, and have rebooted it twice daily. I have rebooted the modem and so on. It is not the software and it is NOT the browser.
This time I would like an explanation why my service is so crap.
Just to re-iterate the point here's a second speed test done 5 minutes later:
Your line speed is 236 kbps (0.24 Mbps).
Your download speed is 30 KB/s (0.03 MB/s).
Better...but my line speed is only 4 times faster than a shitty dial-up modem!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Chenae: Carbon Images
Kind of 1960s hippy throwback vibe I get off this the more I look at it. Could have done with some shagpile carpet. Taken today by me, we did about 200 photos and by the looks of them, could get easily a dozen or so hot ones out of it...check the rest of the set out on the Carbon Images Flickr site...
Friday, October 26, 2007
New Audi A3 Advert
When you put this against, say, the new advert for the Holden Ute (which itself was ripped off from a cutting-edge Heineken advert) you can't help but acknowledge the massive step the German car manufacturer is in front of other competition with this fun and innovative advert for the new Audi A3.
There's nothing that ground-breaking about the advert, but the fact that there's no space for crappy road-hugging shots of the car passing through forests or blokey blokes preparing to take on a challenging winding road gives it 5 out of 5 in my book...
There's nothing that ground-breaking about the advert, but the fact that there's no space for crappy road-hugging shots of the car passing through forests or blokey blokes preparing to take on a challenging winding road gives it 5 out of 5 in my book...
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
VB: Poor Brand Management
VB are rolling out their VB Mid on tap over the next few months, no doubt faced with the old problem of where to put the tap - hmmm - yep, remove one of our own brands to put our own brand on. Makes sense.
Scotty Cam: Building Stuff We Don't Want
Anyhow, they're rolling out a big promo with Scotty Cam, the DIY guru who could fix anything from your plumbing to the Middle East crisis were he to be given half a chance. The basic premise is that YOU, the lucky punter, can get to have a beer with Scotty at a designated location for about an hour or so. You can sense the excitement through the masses.
This is almost as good a promo as the chance to win a poker night with Shannon Noll. I mean, poker: target audience 25-35 male. Shannon Noll: target audience 12-16 female.
I digress. Suffice to say they are really pushing the product in order to gain distribution and trial. And they're having a lot of success. Unfortunately, the trial and success is at the expense of their own brands - Carlton Mid, VB itself and so on.
But their biggest mistake has been their inability to acturately name the brand. There is no real reference on the packaging to 'Mid' and this has lead to some customers labelling the product VB Gold, or more amusingly VB Mould. The consumers don't know what to ask for - which is a fatal brand mistake.
What makes this even worse is that current advertising campaigns for the brand have run alongside venue adverts, promoting that they have the product on tap. These adverts running on national radio have DIFFERENT names for the product - the official company one calling it VB Mid, the venue advert labelling it VB Gold.
What does this do for the consumer? Well, obviously it confuses the hell out of them. What do they ask for when they get to the bar?
One can only guess the reason behind Fosters inability to name the brand properly. I suspect they wanted the general public to suruptiously name the product 'Gold' for them, to attack their main rival, XXXX Gold. Or maybe they just didn't like the term 'Mid' and were hoping the public would find a better name for it.
Either way, the expression is 'a dog's dinner'.
Scotty Cam: Building Stuff We Don't Want
Anyhow, they're rolling out a big promo with Scotty Cam, the DIY guru who could fix anything from your plumbing to the Middle East crisis were he to be given half a chance. The basic premise is that YOU, the lucky punter, can get to have a beer with Scotty at a designated location for about an hour or so. You can sense the excitement through the masses.
This is almost as good a promo as the chance to win a poker night with Shannon Noll. I mean, poker: target audience 25-35 male. Shannon Noll: target audience 12-16 female.
I digress. Suffice to say they are really pushing the product in order to gain distribution and trial. And they're having a lot of success. Unfortunately, the trial and success is at the expense of their own brands - Carlton Mid, VB itself and so on.
But their biggest mistake has been their inability to acturately name the brand. There is no real reference on the packaging to 'Mid' and this has lead to some customers labelling the product VB Gold, or more amusingly VB Mould. The consumers don't know what to ask for - which is a fatal brand mistake.
What makes this even worse is that current advertising campaigns for the brand have run alongside venue adverts, promoting that they have the product on tap. These adverts running on national radio have DIFFERENT names for the product - the official company one calling it VB Mid, the venue advert labelling it VB Gold.
What does this do for the consumer? Well, obviously it confuses the hell out of them. What do they ask for when they get to the bar?
One can only guess the reason behind Fosters inability to name the brand properly. I suspect they wanted the general public to suruptiously name the product 'Gold' for them, to attack their main rival, XXXX Gold. Or maybe they just didn't like the term 'Mid' and were hoping the public would find a better name for it.
Either way, the expression is 'a dog's dinner'.
Most Powerful and Unforgettable Images from around the World
Not much to say about this...as the original poster says, its a shame that most of these images involve war and suffering...
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Things You Find In Toothpaste
Watered down copy of an article in the latest 'Wired':
Sodium Mono-Fluorophosphate - Fluoride
Hydrated Silica - you know those packs of silica gel you find in packaging that say 'do not eat'? Yep. Them.
Propylene Glycol - thickener. A variant of this is used as anti-freeze.
Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate - prevents tartar
Sodium Bicarbonate - baking soda
Sodium Saccharin - artificial sweetener
Pentasodium Triphosphate - Stain preventer
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - Detergent; stops you tasting sweet drinks after brushing
Carrageenan - seaweed gum
Flavour - mint and roasted malt
Sodium hydroxide - Lye - a common drain cleaner
Calcium Peroxide - whitener
Sodium Mono-Fluorophosphate - Fluoride
Hydrated Silica - you know those packs of silica gel you find in packaging that say 'do not eat'? Yep. Them.
Propylene Glycol - thickener. A variant of this is used as anti-freeze.
Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate - prevents tartar
Sodium Bicarbonate - baking soda
Sodium Saccharin - artificial sweetener
Pentasodium Triphosphate - Stain preventer
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - Detergent; stops you tasting sweet drinks after brushing
Carrageenan - seaweed gum
Flavour - mint and roasted malt
Sodium hydroxide - Lye - a common drain cleaner
Calcium Peroxide - whitener
Monday, October 8, 2007
Carbon Emissions: Update
This is just a quick note to update my previous comments about NRMA's insurance offer to off-set one tonne of your cars carbon emissions when you switch to their insurance plan.
Apparently the average American (and Australian's can't be that different) produce 24 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, which makes NRMA's offer...a little bit shoddy - especially as their campaign is so environmentally focused.
You'd be much better off NOT swapping insurance...and just selling the car. THAT would be the most effective thing to do...
Apparently the average American (and Australian's can't be that different) produce 24 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, which makes NRMA's offer...a little bit shoddy - especially as their campaign is so environmentally focused.
You'd be much better off NOT swapping insurance...and just selling the car. THAT would be the most effective thing to do...
Bananas
Bananas have their own advertising campaign. Bizarre as that may sound, 97.3FM today was running an advert for bananas.
Now I'm sure they deserve their own advertising campaign, after all they've put a lot of hard work in, in the world of fruit. They've frequently led from the front when other fruit failed to step up to the mark, but now it seems that bananas are in need of some moral support.
Bananas: Well Hung
The advert today was 30 seconds of a smack-in-your-face reminder that bananas were in shops, they were a great price, they were healthy and that you should go and buy some bananas today.
I'm convinced. I rushed out straight away and bought a car full of bananas.
Well, obviously I didn't really, but this radio campaign was a prime example of pouring money down the drain when it could have been used a hell of a lot more effectively. How about spending some money on effective point of purchase? When people walking into the supermarket, how about some sort of ingenious signage around the fruit counter reminding us of how great bananas are? Even a man in a giant banana costume walking up and down the aisles of your local Coles would have more impact than throwing cash away on pointless and very banal radio ads...
Sure its another rant about pointless radio campaigns, but its painful to see money spent on - and I don't use this word lightly - shit advertising. Funnel a 1/4 of that money into the creative process and the remaining 3/4 would have worked ten times harder for you...
Now I'm sure they deserve their own advertising campaign, after all they've put a lot of hard work in, in the world of fruit. They've frequently led from the front when other fruit failed to step up to the mark, but now it seems that bananas are in need of some moral support.
Bananas: Well Hung
The advert today was 30 seconds of a smack-in-your-face reminder that bananas were in shops, they were a great price, they were healthy and that you should go and buy some bananas today.
I'm convinced. I rushed out straight away and bought a car full of bananas.
Well, obviously I didn't really, but this radio campaign was a prime example of pouring money down the drain when it could have been used a hell of a lot more effectively. How about spending some money on effective point of purchase? When people walking into the supermarket, how about some sort of ingenious signage around the fruit counter reminding us of how great bananas are? Even a man in a giant banana costume walking up and down the aisles of your local Coles would have more impact than throwing cash away on pointless and very banal radio ads...
Sure its another rant about pointless radio campaigns, but its painful to see money spent on - and I don't use this word lightly - shit advertising. Funnel a 1/4 of that money into the creative process and the remaining 3/4 would have worked ten times harder for you...
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Bodyrox: Jon Pearn
Jon Pearn is one half of Bodyrox, and Full Intention. I hadn't seen him or spoken to him for about ten years before I found him on Facebook and found out he was DJing at God's Kitchen at the Met, in my home town. Caught up for a chat and took some photos, of which this was one...
Friday, October 5, 2007
Inner Circle Model Comp
This is one of those moments where a picture can tell 1000 stories. Except this time, only one is needed. The guy down the front was pretty drunk, even at the start of the night, and this being the final round of the model comp - the bikini round - he decided to make himself known to all the girls as they paraded up and down the catwalk.
Even from the back you can see the reaction of the final model in that set, and you don't need to be a genius to work out what he was suggesting.
Ten minutes later the comp was over, and Mr Check Shirt was being escorted off the premises by the security staff.
Even from the back you can see the reaction of the final model in that set, and you don't need to be a genius to work out what he was suggesting.
Ten minutes later the comp was over, and Mr Check Shirt was being escorted off the premises by the security staff.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Ray Ban
I'm writing nothing else than how I like this picture. Ahh okay I will. Composition, minimalist reflections, funky sunnies and the faded colours.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Call me vain but....
....I like being delivered a magazine with my name on the front. It gives me that wonderful feeling of self-importance that helps be sleep better at night.
So hats off (or glasses off) to Sunglass Hut, for sending me a brochure this week in the form of a small fashion magazine. Only 10 pages to the slightly-bigger-than-A6 size brochure, but it contained some cool shots of their range, some vouchers and the chance to win a trip to NYC.
Swimming in sunnies can lead to increased risk of shark attack.
But best of all, on the back my name and address had been mail-merged onto the brochure to allow them ease of posting out to people. Nothing strange there, but the front of the brochure, which was designed like a fashion magazine cover, had the words 'Simon spotted in "my suburb"'. Neat. It's like...I'm famous, man.
Sure it's a bit cheesy by fun none-the-less and tickled me enough to read the brochure before shoving it in the must-look-at-later pile.
So hats off (or glasses off) to Sunglass Hut, for sending me a brochure this week in the form of a small fashion magazine. Only 10 pages to the slightly-bigger-than-A6 size brochure, but it contained some cool shots of their range, some vouchers and the chance to win a trip to NYC.
Swimming in sunnies can lead to increased risk of shark attack.
But best of all, on the back my name and address had been mail-merged onto the brochure to allow them ease of posting out to people. Nothing strange there, but the front of the brochure, which was designed like a fashion magazine cover, had the words 'Simon spotted in "my suburb"'. Neat. It's like...I'm famous, man.
Sure it's a bit cheesy by fun none-the-less and tickled me enough to read the brochure before shoving it in the must-look-at-later pile.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
London Ink
You know...I really want to blog this but I have no idea what to say about it. The strange man on the left aside, it's a sculpture in Victoria station promoting a TV show I know little about. I find it a little disconcerting actually. Gets me all worried for some reason. I'm actually going to look the other way now....
Giving Up Pizza
"Wait!" I hear you all cry. "There's no need for such a rash decision."
Okay, so it is, as most things are in my blog, an exaggeration, but what I am giving up are any pizzas purchased from Dominos and Eagle Boys.
Dominos: Unlike the boxes, not stacked
First, Dominos. I ordered one of their cheap pizzas a few months back - the sort that cost you less than the bottle of Coke you also bought with them cos you found some ridiculous deal on the back of a supermarket receipt. Now, I realise it was cheap, but 1 piece of pepperoni per slice is taking the piss. This isn't going to bring me back to order more, no matter how cheap they are. I realise the pizza still technically qualifies it under the description of 'pepperoni' pizza but there really should be some sort of law on the amount of toppings required to justify its name.
Eagle Boys: An eagle & a boy, no pizza in sight
Then comes Eagle Boys. Now Eagle Boys have got more sneaky - their pizzas are as cheap as Dominos, but they offer a $3 deal where you can double the toppings, tacitly acknowledging that they ain't putting enough on in the first place. We ordered two - on they forgot to double our pleasure, and the other was so swamped with toppings, it was impossible to eat as most of them had failed to cook or heat properly.
So I'm giving both venues up. Style and slick marketing have over-taken the basic requirement to provide quality food, or at least quality food for the level of investment. As Dominos cuts its price over and over, and Eagle Boys match every offer and even accept the competitor coupons, the inevitable out-come is that the food will become inedible.
Both outlets are crying out for a 'premium' option. One that can be delivered to your house, or collected and is made, and priced, like a PROPER pizza. Asking the consumer to throw another $3 at a problem isn't a long term solution. 'Premiumisation' has swamped every other industry; it can't be long before the pizza fast-food industry joins the band-wagon.
I once sat on a judging panel for a student business competition with one of the marketing team from Eagle Boys, and he markered a team well for creating a 'build 'em cheap and stack 'em' new pizza flavour, something he said was successful in his industry.
I'd now question him as to whether anything in his industry WASN'T conforming to that model. It's all stacked high. None of it is boutique.
I'll sit here and wait for the flyer for the pizza company selling me premium pizzas for $20 a pop. It has to come in the end. Otherwise this is where the industry will end up...
Okay, so it is, as most things are in my blog, an exaggeration, but what I am giving up are any pizzas purchased from Dominos and Eagle Boys.
Dominos: Unlike the boxes, not stacked
First, Dominos. I ordered one of their cheap pizzas a few months back - the sort that cost you less than the bottle of Coke you also bought with them cos you found some ridiculous deal on the back of a supermarket receipt. Now, I realise it was cheap, but 1 piece of pepperoni per slice is taking the piss. This isn't going to bring me back to order more, no matter how cheap they are. I realise the pizza still technically qualifies it under the description of 'pepperoni' pizza but there really should be some sort of law on the amount of toppings required to justify its name.
Eagle Boys: An eagle & a boy, no pizza in sight
Then comes Eagle Boys. Now Eagle Boys have got more sneaky - their pizzas are as cheap as Dominos, but they offer a $3 deal where you can double the toppings, tacitly acknowledging that they ain't putting enough on in the first place. We ordered two - on they forgot to double our pleasure, and the other was so swamped with toppings, it was impossible to eat as most of them had failed to cook or heat properly.
So I'm giving both venues up. Style and slick marketing have over-taken the basic requirement to provide quality food, or at least quality food for the level of investment. As Dominos cuts its price over and over, and Eagle Boys match every offer and even accept the competitor coupons, the inevitable out-come is that the food will become inedible.
Both outlets are crying out for a 'premium' option. One that can be delivered to your house, or collected and is made, and priced, like a PROPER pizza. Asking the consumer to throw another $3 at a problem isn't a long term solution. 'Premiumisation' has swamped every other industry; it can't be long before the pizza fast-food industry joins the band-wagon.
I once sat on a judging panel for a student business competition with one of the marketing team from Eagle Boys, and he markered a team well for creating a 'build 'em cheap and stack 'em' new pizza flavour, something he said was successful in his industry.
I'd now question him as to whether anything in his industry WASN'T conforming to that model. It's all stacked high. None of it is boutique.
I'll sit here and wait for the flyer for the pizza company selling me premium pizzas for $20 a pop. It has to come in the end. Otherwise this is where the industry will end up...
Male at Parklife Festival
This guy was originally crashed out on his own when I saw him, but after a while he got up and started talking a girl who is to the left of this picture. He was pretty cool when I asked him if he'd pose, and I took about half a dozen shots. This was my favourite. The socks and the tatts...look fantastic...
Jasmine at Parklife
Found Jasmine sat on her own, having lost all her friends in the 10s of 1000s of people at Parklife. If you weren't wearing fluro at Parklife you weren't anybody. I wasn't. We did a couple of head shots too but this was easily the best photo of her.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
My Flickr Account Breaks 40,000 views
With the core 572 pictures in my Carbon Images Flickr account(www.flickr.com/photos/carbon_images), the views broke the 40,000 level over-night. The best thing with this is, unlike my personal account, the views are pretty spread out across those 572 photos. Admittedly there are a few pictures that skew the results - the top ten account for nearly 15,000 views - but that still leaves all the other picture hitting a respectable 40 views each.
Ironically the top picture was taken at random:
Butts: Top Viewing
Which either shows something about my talent as a photographer, or the numbers of butt-obsessed perverts looking through Flickr.
The hardest thing this morning was trying to work out which one of the photos I considered to be my favourite. There were a fair few of some of the girls on the beach in their bikinis with the waves crashing on the rocks behind them that I rated pretty highly, but my favourite so far would have to probably go to this one taken in Santa Barbara in California. No crop, v little adjustment - just as it was taken.
Ironically the top picture was taken at random:
Butts: Top Viewing
Which either shows something about my talent as a photographer, or the numbers of butt-obsessed perverts looking through Flickr.
The hardest thing this morning was trying to work out which one of the photos I considered to be my favourite. There were a fair few of some of the girls on the beach in their bikinis with the waves crashing on the rocks behind them that I rated pretty highly, but my favourite so far would have to probably go to this one taken in Santa Barbara in California. No crop, v little adjustment - just as it was taken.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Desperate Housewives Into Space
Well, it can be the only explanation really. The following appeared on the BBC website today:
Which is in stark comparison to the Wikipedia entry for the number of countries in the world:
Admittedly Wikipedia acknowledges 244 'entities' but some of them are of the likes of 'Christmas Island' and the 'Cook Islands'.
So who is right and who is wrong? If you care and know, please let me know!
Hit US comedy series Desperate Housewives is named the best-selling TV drama, being seen in 203 countries - wrestling the record from Baywatch.
Which is in stark comparison to the Wikipedia entry for the number of countries in the world:
193 states with general international recognition:
192 member states of the United Nations (UN).
1 state with general international recognition but not UN membership, governed by the Holy See (a UN permanent observer): Vatican City.
Admittedly Wikipedia acknowledges 244 'entities' but some of them are of the likes of 'Christmas Island' and the 'Cook Islands'.
So who is right and who is wrong? If you care and know, please let me know!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Signs Of A Struggle?
Back in 2005 Mattafix, the alternative hip-hop group from London, released their 'Signs Of A Struggle' album to critical acclaim, with the first single from the album 'Big City Life' rocketing up the charts across the globe.
The first single was so promising, and coupled with a performance at Parklife in 2006, I decided about a year ago, to go and buy the album.
I found it in HMV for the bargain price of $17.99, and didn't hesitate to take it to the counter for purchase.
Except on the way to counter I read the back of the album - and found the heavy-handed DRM warning and protection taking up half the space on the reverse CD sleeve. From a band who warned us 'don't let the system get you down', seem to have subscribed to that exact system in order to protect their music.
Mattafix: Not Iron Maiden
I don't have any problem with people protecting their music, but as Apple have finally come to realise with their DRM-free downloads, it is almost impossible to stop people copying and sharing tracks.
When I was making my own mix tapes, I had no comprehension that what I was doing was wrong, and if anyone else had pointed it out to me, I doubt I would have cared one way or another. Frankly if I want to listen to Iron Maiden, Whitesnake and Guns n'Roses tracks all alongside each other, then I've bought the music and I'll do what I want with it. (They were all available on 'Mixtape: Metal #4' - available from all good bootleggers)
Mix Tapes: Jail Time
Anyway, the point of this is that after seeing Mattafix with a new single out, I finally decided to buy Mattafix's old album some two years late via iTunes for $17.99. And of course, because it's $17.99 instead of $16.99, that means one thing - it's released DRM rights-free. I can download and copy it a hundred times to my heart's content.
Perhaps Mattafix had original had the decision made for them by 'the system'? Maybe they realised the irony that whilst they may have been perceived to be protecting their music by one section of the music society, many others thought that with their first commercial release, they had succumbed to commercial greed? Maybe they haven't even given it much thought at all?
Still, I'm $17.99 shorter, half-way through the album and trying to decide if it was money well spent...
The first single was so promising, and coupled with a performance at Parklife in 2006, I decided about a year ago, to go and buy the album.
I found it in HMV for the bargain price of $17.99, and didn't hesitate to take it to the counter for purchase.
Except on the way to counter I read the back of the album - and found the heavy-handed DRM warning and protection taking up half the space on the reverse CD sleeve. From a band who warned us 'don't let the system get you down', seem to have subscribed to that exact system in order to protect their music.
Mattafix: Not Iron Maiden
I don't have any problem with people protecting their music, but as Apple have finally come to realise with their DRM-free downloads, it is almost impossible to stop people copying and sharing tracks.
When I was making my own mix tapes, I had no comprehension that what I was doing was wrong, and if anyone else had pointed it out to me, I doubt I would have cared one way or another. Frankly if I want to listen to Iron Maiden, Whitesnake and Guns n'Roses tracks all alongside each other, then I've bought the music and I'll do what I want with it. (They were all available on 'Mixtape: Metal #4' - available from all good bootleggers)
Mix Tapes: Jail Time
Anyway, the point of this is that after seeing Mattafix with a new single out, I finally decided to buy Mattafix's old album some two years late via iTunes for $17.99. And of course, because it's $17.99 instead of $16.99, that means one thing - it's released DRM rights-free. I can download and copy it a hundred times to my heart's content.
Perhaps Mattafix had original had the decision made for them by 'the system'? Maybe they realised the irony that whilst they may have been perceived to be protecting their music by one section of the music society, many others thought that with their first commercial release, they had succumbed to commercial greed? Maybe they haven't even given it much thought at all?
Still, I'm $17.99 shorter, half-way through the album and trying to decide if it was money well spent...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I will NOT be blogging about my parking ticket
I mean, I was after all a whole 8 minutes late to get back to my car and he just happened to be walking past seven minutes after the ticket ran out so in terms of legs to stand on, I had none. I could moan about how ridiculously high the parking price is in the CBD now, but I won't. Instead I will silently and with good grace, take the $50 fine on the nose...
Traffic Wardens: 10 Points If You Hit One
Still, I have a lengthy list of things to talk about today, but I've mis-placed the list. So I'm just going to fume about traffic wardens a bit more and then draw your attention to this strange video with a fat Jesus turning ugly girls into hot girls. Warning: those of a religious sensibility should probably NOT watch this...
Traffic Wardens: 10 Points If You Hit One
Still, I have a lengthy list of things to talk about today, but I've mis-placed the list. So I'm just going to fume about traffic wardens a bit more and then draw your attention to this strange video with a fat Jesus turning ugly girls into hot girls. Warning: those of a religious sensibility should probably NOT watch this...
Saturday, September 22, 2007
I Am Cyclist
It's been a gap of some 16 years, but I have climbed back on a bike again. Yesterday I went to pick up my new mountain bike and ride it home for the first time - a journey of about 15K.
From one minute being a disdainful driver, owner of the road and producer of carbon, I'm now a pedal-powered greenie, hugging the trees at any opportunity.
Okay, so it's not that drastic but it certainly gives you a new perspective on road-sharing between 4-wheeled and 2-wheeled vehicles. It also gives you a massive appreciation on how hilly the area around you actually is. It also hurts your arse a lot. I feel like I've done a week in the showers in a prison.
Oops. Fuck.
But it did make me wonder as I stood in the mountain bike shop - here I was, a relatively inexperienced person about to spend $600 on a bike I knew nothing about, relying heavily on the sales force of the shop to tell me what is good and what is bad.
I knew nothing of any mountain bike brand names. I had no idea what was good, and what was bad. Would a shop of this quality be stocking bikes that were of 'less quality'? Would they tell me if they did? I had done no research and I was ripe for a plucking. I said...plucking.
So why don't we know anything about the brand names? In a city like Brisbane, where bikes are a valid alternative to petrol-driven travel, few manufacturers spend any time and effort presenting us their brands, or encouraging us to get involved and get out and pedal. We know car brands, we know petrol brands - we even recognise most of the brand names of the sunglasses the cycle shop was selling. But the bike names remain a mystery.
Perhaps there is no money in bikes? Maybe the margins are so small they can't afford to promote themselves? Maybe they spend money actively training and promoting their sales staff, maybe incentivising them for their sales?
I have no answer to this. All I know is I have a nice, bright red something-or-other with two wheels that is going to make my butt and legs scream in pain about twice a week.
From one minute being a disdainful driver, owner of the road and producer of carbon, I'm now a pedal-powered greenie, hugging the trees at any opportunity.
Okay, so it's not that drastic but it certainly gives you a new perspective on road-sharing between 4-wheeled and 2-wheeled vehicles. It also gives you a massive appreciation on how hilly the area around you actually is. It also hurts your arse a lot. I feel like I've done a week in the showers in a prison.
Oops. Fuck.
But it did make me wonder as I stood in the mountain bike shop - here I was, a relatively inexperienced person about to spend $600 on a bike I knew nothing about, relying heavily on the sales force of the shop to tell me what is good and what is bad.
I knew nothing of any mountain bike brand names. I had no idea what was good, and what was bad. Would a shop of this quality be stocking bikes that were of 'less quality'? Would they tell me if they did? I had done no research and I was ripe for a plucking. I said...plucking.
So why don't we know anything about the brand names? In a city like Brisbane, where bikes are a valid alternative to petrol-driven travel, few manufacturers spend any time and effort presenting us their brands, or encouraging us to get involved and get out and pedal. We know car brands, we know petrol brands - we even recognise most of the brand names of the sunglasses the cycle shop was selling. But the bike names remain a mystery.
Perhaps there is no money in bikes? Maybe the margins are so small they can't afford to promote themselves? Maybe they spend money actively training and promoting their sales staff, maybe incentivising them for their sales?
I have no answer to this. All I know is I have a nice, bright red something-or-other with two wheels that is going to make my butt and legs scream in pain about twice a week.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Another Gripe About Poker
In the absence of anything sensible to write about, I'm going to moan about poker. I lost again. 434th in a tournament with only 470+ in it. I went all in on Ace-King and got beaten by a guy going all in on a pair of 9s. I mean, I ask you....
Would you really fold Ace-King in the face of an all-in?
I was hoping to get out and play some face-to-face poker tonight to see if my skills were improving after facing down the barrell of an internet connection for so long, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), the wife caught an earlier flight and demanded picking up.
But I had to make do with the Trey Nations Freeroll on Party Poker with a MASSIVE $150 prize pool...which all goes pear-shaped about 6 hands in.
And glutton for punishment that I am, I'm back in to the $1000 GTD (whatever that means) tournament starting...well...now....8-6 offsuit opening hand...I mean...really...
Would you really fold Ace-King in the face of an all-in?
I was hoping to get out and play some face-to-face poker tonight to see if my skills were improving after facing down the barrell of an internet connection for so long, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), the wife caught an earlier flight and demanded picking up.
But I had to make do with the Trey Nations Freeroll on Party Poker with a MASSIVE $150 prize pool...which all goes pear-shaped about 6 hands in.
And glutton for punishment that I am, I'm back in to the $1000 GTD (whatever that means) tournament starting...well...now....8-6 offsuit opening hand...I mean...really...
It's a Girl Thing...
Don't ask how I got into look at this - but I stumbled across a MySpace profile (http://www.myspace.com/girlthing) last week for a band that has long since been defunct. Officially, the band 'Girl Thing' split in 2000 after one top ten single, and a half-arsed album release and lost millions of $$ for their record company RCA. The marketing was slick, albeit fairly generic and a repetative of the Spice Girl formula, but the second single off the album crashed and burned and RCA cut their losses and run while they still had some shreds of dignity left.
Girl Thing: Tanked
The interesting thing is how, 6 years on, the marketing machine still appears to be running for a product that has lost all of its wheels.
For a start, someone is still logging on - as the MySpace site records the last long in as today. Secondly, someone is still adding friends and until 2005, someone was writing blogs. Even other MySpacers are logging in and saying hello. The individual photos of band members all have dates of births attached to them.
Nostalgia perhaps? A crazy, obsessed fan? Maybe the writers of the songs use the site as a platform to demostrate their talents? But surely the marketing team can't be using this as testimonial?
But when you look through the blog, there's a great comment from someone who actually appeared to be behind the band - their vocal coach - who simply asks 'who set up this site'? Clearly those people close to the band have even less idea than anyone else.
The really amusing bits can be found when you read the 'biography' for the band. It may be tongue in cheek; they may mean this for real - but in the description of the band's sound, this phrase is immortal :
Please, please let me be in the room when Betty Boo meets Dr.Dre, Ice Cube and the rest of NWA....posh Kensington, West London, meets Compton, downtown LA. Brilliant.
Girl Thing: Tanked
The interesting thing is how, 6 years on, the marketing machine still appears to be running for a product that has lost all of its wheels.
For a start, someone is still logging on - as the MySpace site records the last long in as today. Secondly, someone is still adding friends and until 2005, someone was writing blogs. Even other MySpacers are logging in and saying hello. The individual photos of band members all have dates of births attached to them.
Nostalgia perhaps? A crazy, obsessed fan? Maybe the writers of the songs use the site as a platform to demostrate their talents? But surely the marketing team can't be using this as testimonial?
But when you look through the blog, there's a great comment from someone who actually appeared to be behind the band - their vocal coach - who simply asks 'who set up this site'? Clearly those people close to the band have even less idea than anyone else.
The really amusing bits can be found when you read the 'biography' for the band. It may be tongue in cheek; they may mean this for real - but in the description of the band's sound, this phrase is immortal :
"The Girl Thing sound crossed a Betty Boo-meets-NWA rap-style with the incessant bounce of melodic dance pop."
Please, please let me be in the room when Betty Boo meets Dr.Dre, Ice Cube and the rest of NWA....posh Kensington, West London, meets Compton, downtown LA. Brilliant.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
I Like To Party With Beer
A fairly comprehensive statement that probably needs very little in the way of explanation. Which should make the following video all the more easy to understand.
Except by the end of it you can't help but wonder how the thing got made at all. I mean, if I drank the amount of beer in order to be inspired enough to make this advert, making the advert, would be the last thing on my mind. If you get my drift.
So in the end you have to take your hats off the Norwegians for their talent at getting so obviously blind drunk and still managing to programme the computers enough to generate such genius work. I have only looked through a couple of the videos but I'm sure the next one MUST be about kebabs...
I'm rather disturbed too by the frame that YouTube has decided to use to introduce this clip...
Except by the end of it you can't help but wonder how the thing got made at all. I mean, if I drank the amount of beer in order to be inspired enough to make this advert, making the advert, would be the last thing on my mind. If you get my drift.
So in the end you have to take your hats off the Norwegians for their talent at getting so obviously blind drunk and still managing to programme the computers enough to generate such genius work. I have only looked through a couple of the videos but I'm sure the next one MUST be about kebabs...
I'm rather disturbed too by the frame that YouTube has decided to use to introduce this clip...
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Definition Of Stupid
Customer On Phone: "So what makes Liquor Superstores so, well, super?"
Manager: "Well there's our lowest liquor price guarantee."
Customer On Phone: "Lowest Liquor Price Guarantee?"
Is he thick? He's managed to dial the number and construct a sentence so what the fook is so hard to understand about those four words?
But actually the manager goes on to say that they'll guarantee the lowest price on only certain products. Ah ha. Here's the catch. Good job thickie customer actually asked that question otherwise the manager wouldn't have been able to qualify the small print behind this seemingly unbelieveable offer.
It's mindless and repetative. It drives you nuts just listening to it. It's mock-up situation that makes you cringe and reach for the CD button. Why do people do this to us? Alcohol is fun and enjoyable - I don't want to be tormented into a shop just to save me some pennies.
We can see through the loss-leader scam - in fact, you've managed to spend an entire advert telling us that this is what you're doing. They mumble some other info about largest choice under one roof only for you to be stung when you get inside the store with mark-ups on everything else.
Okay, so it's nothing new...but crikey, Coles should be able to do better with their advertising. After all, it's CHEAP BOOZE FOR GODS SAKE. How hard can that be to come up with something inspirational?
I always said that when I die, if I go to Hell, I'll find myself crammed in a lift, stuck between floors, with too many people listening to the greatest hits of Tito Puento over the lift tannoy system. I now know that his songs will be interrupted by a stream of poorly thought through radio adverts....
Manager: "Well there's our lowest liquor price guarantee."
Customer On Phone: "Lowest Liquor Price Guarantee?"
Is he thick? He's managed to dial the number and construct a sentence so what the fook is so hard to understand about those four words?
But actually the manager goes on to say that they'll guarantee the lowest price on only certain products. Ah ha. Here's the catch. Good job thickie customer actually asked that question otherwise the manager wouldn't have been able to qualify the small print behind this seemingly unbelieveable offer.
It's mindless and repetative. It drives you nuts just listening to it. It's mock-up situation that makes you cringe and reach for the CD button. Why do people do this to us? Alcohol is fun and enjoyable - I don't want to be tormented into a shop just to save me some pennies.
We can see through the loss-leader scam - in fact, you've managed to spend an entire advert telling us that this is what you're doing. They mumble some other info about largest choice under one roof only for you to be stung when you get inside the store with mark-ups on everything else.
Okay, so it's nothing new...but crikey, Coles should be able to do better with their advertising. After all, it's CHEAP BOOZE FOR GODS SAKE. How hard can that be to come up with something inspirational?
I always said that when I die, if I go to Hell, I'll find myself crammed in a lift, stuck between floors, with too many people listening to the greatest hits of Tito Puento over the lift tannoy system. I now know that his songs will be interrupted by a stream of poorly thought through radio adverts....
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Get Out Of My Pool!
Outside of what this advert is implying about the female climbing out of the pool, here is another genius advert from a company called OB. I doubt anyone is going to need any explanation about what OB specialise in making for women, but I'm sure if you do, you can Google it.
Click on the section above to see the full advert.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Extract from Columbia Records Survey
Kids from Unis in America were all interviewed about music and here are some of the results....
“The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”
Radio, it would appear, is dead. Video finally got it.
“The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”
Radio, it would appear, is dead. Video finally got it.
iTunes loophole: Straight Edge Article Six
So the story goes something like this...
I downloaded a track from iTunes the other week. I think it was the Axwell track I mentioned earlier in another blog. There is no mention on the album that it is a mix album, although if you have half a brain, you'd realise it was. But I don't half a brain, so I downloaded it and of course, at the end of the track, it's still at full volume when the track cuts out. Sounds ridiculous.
So I told iTunes this, and to their credit, they gave me the $1.69 back without any argument and apologised about the 'poor quality of the track'.
iTunes: not iDiots
I replied saying 'it wasn't the quality, it was the fact that you've sold me an incomplete song and that your website is full of mis-information when mix CDs clearly aren't labelled as such.'
They thanked me and off we all went.
It reminded me of a time when I nearly threw my toys out the pram at HMV. I bought a CD in the bargain basement bin - not even I will reveal who the CD was by - and when I got home, I peeled the stickers off the front of the CD to find the words 'all or some of the tracks may have been re-recorded by one or more of the original artists.'
Yep. A bad karaoke CD. It was horrible and I was livid at HMV. 'Top dog for music' seemed like a bit of a joke. I almost went back and complained; I even thought about writing a letter - then I realised that would mean that more people, other than the cashier and myself, would know what I bought. It wasn't worth the chance that people I knew could find out.
So anyway this brings me in a roundabout way, to my point:
Straight Edge Article Six of The Theory Of Revolution: Be Honest
Bill Gates once said that your 'unhappiest customers are your greatest source of learning.' More and more of my purchases have moved from HMV to other retailers and online - a similar pattern to most of the general public - but I used to LOVE going to HMV and wandering around for hours. But once you've been cheated on a dodgy copy of Bucks Fizz's greatest hits (DAMN, SHIT, I didn't mean to say that...F**K I wish I could take that back), you feel totally betrayed.
Maybe I'm over-exaggeratting, but the Article should never be questioned. Be honest, and your customers and consumers will be honest with you.
I downloaded a track from iTunes the other week. I think it was the Axwell track I mentioned earlier in another blog. There is no mention on the album that it is a mix album, although if you have half a brain, you'd realise it was. But I don't half a brain, so I downloaded it and of course, at the end of the track, it's still at full volume when the track cuts out. Sounds ridiculous.
So I told iTunes this, and to their credit, they gave me the $1.69 back without any argument and apologised about the 'poor quality of the track'.
iTunes: not iDiots
I replied saying 'it wasn't the quality, it was the fact that you've sold me an incomplete song and that your website is full of mis-information when mix CDs clearly aren't labelled as such.'
They thanked me and off we all went.
It reminded me of a time when I nearly threw my toys out the pram at HMV. I bought a CD in the bargain basement bin - not even I will reveal who the CD was by - and when I got home, I peeled the stickers off the front of the CD to find the words 'all or some of the tracks may have been re-recorded by one or more of the original artists.'
Yep. A bad karaoke CD. It was horrible and I was livid at HMV. 'Top dog for music' seemed like a bit of a joke. I almost went back and complained; I even thought about writing a letter - then I realised that would mean that more people, other than the cashier and myself, would know what I bought. It wasn't worth the chance that people I knew could find out.
So anyway this brings me in a roundabout way, to my point:
Straight Edge Article Six of The Theory Of Revolution: Be Honest
Bill Gates once said that your 'unhappiest customers are your greatest source of learning.' More and more of my purchases have moved from HMV to other retailers and online - a similar pattern to most of the general public - but I used to LOVE going to HMV and wandering around for hours. But once you've been cheated on a dodgy copy of Bucks Fizz's greatest hits (DAMN, SHIT, I didn't mean to say that...F**K I wish I could take that back), you feel totally betrayed.
Maybe I'm over-exaggeratting, but the Article should never be questioned. Be honest, and your customers and consumers will be honest with you.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
The 13th Post: Welcome Mr. Billy Ocean
Better get this one out of the way as quickly as possible.
Been downloading music off iTunes today - rumours are iTunes is going to go wireless soon, which will mean you'll be able to download music anywhere there is a wireless network - and that iPods will be set-up to download the music themselves. Exciting stuff. Anyone hoping to catch-up and compete with Apple in this department has a LONG way to go...
I spent the morning downloading random tunes that I haven't heard for ages, or things that are sitting in the UK and US charts that Australia hasn't seen yet. I got the following:
'The Longest Time' - Billy Joel
'Tell Her About It' - Billy Joel
'When The GoinG Gets Tough' - Billy Ocean
'Get Out Of My Dreams' - Billy Ocean
'Carribean Queen' - Bill Ocean
And then one a more modern and less tragic note:
'With Every HEartbeat' - Robyn feat. Kleerup
'I Found You' - Axwell
Axwell: Not a twat
I made the mistake of buying the last one off a 'mix' CD on iTunes, which I should have realised means the song stops half-way through as it's mixed into the next song, which makes it sound ridiculous. I'm going to complain to iTunes and see if I can get a credit for it. Should be interesting to see what they say...
Ocean: Salty & Very Deep
And what is it with Billy Ocean? I realised after downloading them that all three songs I bought have sub-titles next to the main title of the song:
When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)
Get Out Of My Dreams (Get Into My Car)
Carribean Queen (No More Love On The Run)
Maybe Mr. OCean was in two minds when he was thinking about a title for these songs? Maybe he was writing them with someone else, and they were arguing so much that this was the compromise? Maybe he suffered from an accute case of duel personality and each of the people in his head kept re-writing the titles?
He actually had an accute habit of it. Other songs included 'I Sleep So Much Better (In Someone Else's Bed)' and 'On The Run (Hold On Brother)' and 'Stop Me (If You've Heard It All Before)'.
The man was obsessed. Maybe his name wasn't Billy Ocean, but actually Billy (Ocean). Or maybe it was Billy Ocean (From Fyzabad In Trinidad)? Actually his real name was Leslie, so maybe some extreme 'your first name makes you sound like a GIRL' name-calling at school had left him with severe pyschological damage, causing him to name everything he created with specific and descriptive titles to avoid ANY confusion?
Still, I'm sure he was a nice man. According to Wikipedia he is now a teacher. I bet the students all write 'Leslie' in big letters on the blackboard before he comes in to class.
Been downloading music off iTunes today - rumours are iTunes is going to go wireless soon, which will mean you'll be able to download music anywhere there is a wireless network - and that iPods will be set-up to download the music themselves. Exciting stuff. Anyone hoping to catch-up and compete with Apple in this department has a LONG way to go...
I spent the morning downloading random tunes that I haven't heard for ages, or things that are sitting in the UK and US charts that Australia hasn't seen yet. I got the following:
'The Longest Time' - Billy Joel
'Tell Her About It' - Billy Joel
'When The GoinG Gets Tough' - Billy Ocean
'Get Out Of My Dreams' - Billy Ocean
'Carribean Queen' - Bill Ocean
And then one a more modern and less tragic note:
'With Every HEartbeat' - Robyn feat. Kleerup
'I Found You' - Axwell
Axwell: Not a twat
I made the mistake of buying the last one off a 'mix' CD on iTunes, which I should have realised means the song stops half-way through as it's mixed into the next song, which makes it sound ridiculous. I'm going to complain to iTunes and see if I can get a credit for it. Should be interesting to see what they say...
Ocean: Salty & Very Deep
And what is it with Billy Ocean? I realised after downloading them that all three songs I bought have sub-titles next to the main title of the song:
When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)
Get Out Of My Dreams (Get Into My Car)
Carribean Queen (No More Love On The Run)
Maybe Mr. OCean was in two minds when he was thinking about a title for these songs? Maybe he was writing them with someone else, and they were arguing so much that this was the compromise? Maybe he suffered from an accute case of duel personality and each of the people in his head kept re-writing the titles?
He actually had an accute habit of it. Other songs included 'I Sleep So Much Better (In Someone Else's Bed)' and 'On The Run (Hold On Brother)' and 'Stop Me (If You've Heard It All Before)'.
The man was obsessed. Maybe his name wasn't Billy Ocean, but actually Billy (Ocean). Or maybe it was Billy Ocean (From Fyzabad In Trinidad)? Actually his real name was Leslie, so maybe some extreme 'your first name makes you sound like a GIRL' name-calling at school had left him with severe pyschological damage, causing him to name everything he created with specific and descriptive titles to avoid ANY confusion?
Still, I'm sure he was a nice man. According to Wikipedia he is now a teacher. I bet the students all write 'Leslie' in big letters on the blackboard before he comes in to class.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Chupa Chups no longer suck?
In perhaps one of THE most bizarre match-ups, Chupa Chups - those people of lolly fame - are offering a Tooheys Extra Dry 'UncharTED'-style prize experience for you to take your unsigned band from nothing to everything.
This confuses me a lot. Where are Chupa Chups taking this? The prize pack is a bad TED copy, but probably for any aspiring band, hardly a fame-breaking moment. All-in-all other than the average publicity, the band is winning 2000 pressings of an EP and a new guitar. Everyone forgets about the drummer.
And more importantly, where is the link between Chupa Chups and live music? The main area for purchase of Chupa Chups is the petrol station cash desk - the main area for unsigned live bands are dark and sweaty nightclubs. The distance is a stretch. Even if the primary aim of this promotion is to be some sort of Uncharted Lite, there's still a big gap to overcome. The winning band get to play at Odyssey NYE festival - what if they're not let in because they're underage??
This smacks of a comms company selling this to Chupa Chups as an innovative and great brand-building exercise - two things it will fail to be. Maybe it is purely a branding exercise, using the simple concept that bands will promote the site for you because they want to win. But how many will really try that hard for 2000 EPs and a one-off gig?
Whilst I haven't checked, it will be interesting to see if as part of this promotion Chupa Chups develop new and innovative ways of selling their lollies, or there is additional point of purchase in those venues where it sells well.
If they haven't done either of those, they've missed a massive trick. If they have, I could be eating my words. And their lollies.
This confuses me a lot. Where are Chupa Chups taking this? The prize pack is a bad TED copy, but probably for any aspiring band, hardly a fame-breaking moment. All-in-all other than the average publicity, the band is winning 2000 pressings of an EP and a new guitar. Everyone forgets about the drummer.
And more importantly, where is the link between Chupa Chups and live music? The main area for purchase of Chupa Chups is the petrol station cash desk - the main area for unsigned live bands are dark and sweaty nightclubs. The distance is a stretch. Even if the primary aim of this promotion is to be some sort of Uncharted Lite, there's still a big gap to overcome. The winning band get to play at Odyssey NYE festival - what if they're not let in because they're underage??
This smacks of a comms company selling this to Chupa Chups as an innovative and great brand-building exercise - two things it will fail to be. Maybe it is purely a branding exercise, using the simple concept that bands will promote the site for you because they want to win. But how many will really try that hard for 2000 EPs and a one-off gig?
Whilst I haven't checked, it will be interesting to see if as part of this promotion Chupa Chups develop new and innovative ways of selling their lollies, or there is additional point of purchase in those venues where it sells well.
If they haven't done either of those, they've missed a massive trick. If they have, I could be eating my words. And their lollies.
Western Digital MyBook
I'm about to smash it up.
I am trying to back-up huge amounts of data from my computer to the external USB hard-drive and I keep getting the message 'cannot copy:path too deep' when I reach certain files.
All of the searches I have done on Google suggest that the problem is one of a number of things - all of which I have checked. I've even swapped the drive out and got a new one. So really the problem is probably elsewhere, but it makes it far more satisfying blaming it on the little black box rather than the big black box.
Just emailed the manufacturers to see if they can shed some light on it. If they can't, I'm taking a hammer to it. Or taking it back to Hardley Normal. The latter option would probably be more constructive and save me $200, but the former option would FEEL SOOOOO GOOD.
I am trying to back-up huge amounts of data from my computer to the external USB hard-drive and I keep getting the message 'cannot copy:path too deep' when I reach certain files.
All of the searches I have done on Google suggest that the problem is one of a number of things - all of which I have checked. I've even swapped the drive out and got a new one. So really the problem is probably elsewhere, but it makes it far more satisfying blaming it on the little black box rather than the big black box.
Just emailed the manufacturers to see if they can shed some light on it. If they can't, I'm taking a hammer to it. Or taking it back to Hardley Normal. The latter option would probably be more constructive and save me $200, but the former option would FEEL SOOOOO GOOD.
Can one book change your life?
Well, there's obvious testimony that throughout history, one book can change your life. The Bible and the Koran for example. I'd probably say Harry Potter changed JK and Daniel Radcliffe's life a little. Then there's such greats as Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey', Plato's 'The Republic', Aristotle, Dante and so on. And not to forget Viz's Roger Mellie's 'Profanasaurus'.
Roger Mellie: 'Hello, good evening and bollocks'
I read a book by a guy called Justin Herald over the last couple of days entitled 'How To Grow Your Business Without Spending A Single Cent'. Justin is an Australian 'entrepenuer' who made his fortune on the back of his clothing label Attitude Inc (something he feels the need to keep putting (R) after just in case after having spent $20 buying his book, we feel the need to rip-off his idea and copy his logo), a label I can honestly say I'd never heard of before reading the book.
Anyway, the book is fairly lightweight in its content and depth, but does help you channel your efforts into concentrating on...well...doing exactly what the title of the book says.
The point of this post is that it has triggered me into action into another area I've been looking at for a couple of years - a clothing label - that could be used to demostrate and boost my efforts with my own marketing company. After all, what better testimony for clients than actually putting your money where your mouth is?
I believe I already have the name and ideas behind it, and I registered the web name last night. I'm also putting plans in place for the first designs, which may take a few weeks. I've looked at some other places/websites for inspiration and so far, haven't found anyone anywhere near anything I have planned. But I still need to look some more. I have also found a potential manufacturer too and I will hopefully go and see them today and brief them with what I want.
The point of this post, which I'm rapidly running away from, is that sometimes it's the strangest of places that you find inspiration. As I said before, some people have life changing experiences via religion or family. I find an added direction and boost from a $20 book I bought randomly in the airport on a Tuesday because my flight was delayed for two hours. Go figure.
Either way, I'll hopefully have an update sooner rather than later.
Roger Mellie: 'Hello, good evening and bollocks'
I read a book by a guy called Justin Herald over the last couple of days entitled 'How To Grow Your Business Without Spending A Single Cent'. Justin is an Australian 'entrepenuer' who made his fortune on the back of his clothing label Attitude Inc (something he feels the need to keep putting (R) after just in case after having spent $20 buying his book, we feel the need to rip-off his idea and copy his logo), a label I can honestly say I'd never heard of before reading the book.
Anyway, the book is fairly lightweight in its content and depth, but does help you channel your efforts into concentrating on...well...doing exactly what the title of the book says.
The point of this post is that it has triggered me into action into another area I've been looking at for a couple of years - a clothing label - that could be used to demostrate and boost my efforts with my own marketing company. After all, what better testimony for clients than actually putting your money where your mouth is?
I believe I already have the name and ideas behind it, and I registered the web name last night. I'm also putting plans in place for the first designs, which may take a few weeks. I've looked at some other places/websites for inspiration and so far, haven't found anyone anywhere near anything I have planned. But I still need to look some more. I have also found a potential manufacturer too and I will hopefully go and see them today and brief them with what I want.
The point of this post, which I'm rapidly running away from, is that sometimes it's the strangest of places that you find inspiration. As I said before, some people have life changing experiences via religion or family. I find an added direction and boost from a $20 book I bought randomly in the airport on a Tuesday because my flight was delayed for two hours. Go figure.
Either way, I'll hopefully have an update sooner rather than later.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Star Wars Simpsons Intro
Very clever and very funny. Enough said; you just need to watch before it gets deleted!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Virgin Blew it?
Crikey that's a corny title. I have to stop saying 'crikey' too. I filled out my application for Australia citizenship the other day and for some reason I feel I should start saying 'crikey' and 'strewth' a lot more.
Anyhow, I travelled to Sydney yesterday on Virgin Blue. I didn't even bother to check other carrier prices because I like Virgin Blue, and the fare was fairly reasonable anyway - $125 in either direction.
There was a mad dash to get to the airport, mainly because the wife was unorganised and decided that morning was a good time to sew up her trousers. But I checked my email at 7.15am and got to the airport at 8.15am to check in for a 9am flight. As I arrive at the desks, I find out my entire flight has been cancelled. Gone. Vanished.
Get to the desk and talked to the girl who straight away informs me the earliest available space is on the midday flight. Hmmm. Three hour wait at Brisbane domestic terminal to fly to a meeting that will be starting when I'm taking off? "No," I said. "That won't do." Or some other words communicating the same sentiment.
Eventually she gets me on the 11am, and I reschedule the meeting for 1pm and other than spending $50 on books to pass the time, everything works out fine.
Then we have the trip back the next day and my flight is at 3pm. Except I finish early and get to the airport about 11am. So I ask nicely if I could move to an early flight without incurring the usual $40 fee, to which I get the reply "I'll have to check with my boss." Not a problem.
I go and see the boss...or at least the gate-keeper to the boss who, after I explain my two hour delay the day before and my unhappiness at having to wait, naturally says "I'll have to check." Two minutes later - and via a brief chat with a famous female TV presenter who jumped the queue as she had 10 minutes to catch her plane and I can't remember who the hell she is - he comes back.
"You're lucky," he says. "She's in a good mood and she'll move the flight for free for you."
Now this is the second time in two weeks that airport staff have used the line "you're lucky" with me, both for doing something that should naturally be part and parcel of what they do - customer service. Am I lucky to get customer service? Am I lucky that they have taken a little bit more effort to right a wrong that they had caused the previous day?
Customer service isn't about 'luck'. How different would my attitude have been if he had replied something like this:
"That's fine sir. We're happy to do that and we apologise about the cancelled flight the next day."
The result with my flight is the same; the result with my attitude is immensely different.
Did he think with his original response that he would be 'teaching me a stern lesson?' so I'd never ask again? What exactly was the message he was trying to get across to me there? Was he pissed they lost an extra $40 in revenue?
The 'you're in luck' expression should be removed from any customer service manual.
Airlines are transparently all the same - they fly you from A to B in a vehicle with too many seats and charge you too much. If they can find a way to offer you a benefit to improve your experience, then they are the ones that should consider themselves lucky to have had that opportunity to effect one of their customers.
Anyhow, I travelled to Sydney yesterday on Virgin Blue. I didn't even bother to check other carrier prices because I like Virgin Blue, and the fare was fairly reasonable anyway - $125 in either direction.
There was a mad dash to get to the airport, mainly because the wife was unorganised and decided that morning was a good time to sew up her trousers. But I checked my email at 7.15am and got to the airport at 8.15am to check in for a 9am flight. As I arrive at the desks, I find out my entire flight has been cancelled. Gone. Vanished.
Get to the desk and talked to the girl who straight away informs me the earliest available space is on the midday flight. Hmmm. Three hour wait at Brisbane domestic terminal to fly to a meeting that will be starting when I'm taking off? "No," I said. "That won't do." Or some other words communicating the same sentiment.
Eventually she gets me on the 11am, and I reschedule the meeting for 1pm and other than spending $50 on books to pass the time, everything works out fine.
Then we have the trip back the next day and my flight is at 3pm. Except I finish early and get to the airport about 11am. So I ask nicely if I could move to an early flight without incurring the usual $40 fee, to which I get the reply "I'll have to check with my boss." Not a problem.
I go and see the boss...or at least the gate-keeper to the boss who, after I explain my two hour delay the day before and my unhappiness at having to wait, naturally says "I'll have to check." Two minutes later - and via a brief chat with a famous female TV presenter who jumped the queue as she had 10 minutes to catch her plane and I can't remember who the hell she is - he comes back.
"You're lucky," he says. "She's in a good mood and she'll move the flight for free for you."
Now this is the second time in two weeks that airport staff have used the line "you're lucky" with me, both for doing something that should naturally be part and parcel of what they do - customer service. Am I lucky to get customer service? Am I lucky that they have taken a little bit more effort to right a wrong that they had caused the previous day?
Customer service isn't about 'luck'. How different would my attitude have been if he had replied something like this:
"That's fine sir. We're happy to do that and we apologise about the cancelled flight the next day."
The result with my flight is the same; the result with my attitude is immensely different.
Did he think with his original response that he would be 'teaching me a stern lesson?' so I'd never ask again? What exactly was the message he was trying to get across to me there? Was he pissed they lost an extra $40 in revenue?
The 'you're in luck' expression should be removed from any customer service manual.
Airlines are transparently all the same - they fly you from A to B in a vehicle with too many seats and charge you too much. If they can find a way to offer you a benefit to improve your experience, then they are the ones that should consider themselves lucky to have had that opportunity to effect one of their customers.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Crimes against music
I've blogged about this before but today I was watching Voyager on the Sci-Fi channel - the one where they find the planet that's made-up of nothing but ocean and Paris manages to get himself court-martialed and reduced in rank through the most tenuous of plot-lines - and during the show they ran a commercial for their other sci-fi shows. The travesty was that the theme being run over the commercial was The Only One's 'Another Girl, Another Planet' - one of my top three songs of all time.
Having Blink182 butcher it I thought would have been enough...but no, we had to find it being used in an advert. Still, at least they used the original version. If you've never heard the song, and it wouldn't surprise me if you hadn't, the video is below.
Incidently, Paris did 30 days in the brigg, during which he wrote a letter to his father, whose expectations Paris never seemed to live up to. We never found out what happened to the ocean planet. I'd imagine they never made it onto Leve 6 water restrictions.
Having Blink182 butcher it I thought would have been enough...but no, we had to find it being used in an advert. Still, at least they used the original version. If you've never heard the song, and it wouldn't surprise me if you hadn't, the video is below.
Incidently, Paris did 30 days in the brigg, during which he wrote a letter to his father, whose expectations Paris never seemed to live up to. We never found out what happened to the ocean planet. I'd imagine they never made it onto Leve 6 water restrictions.
Compromise
The word of the week this week is 'compromise'.
Last weekend I picked a couple of films to watch from Blockbuster - 'Hot Fuzz' and '300'. '300' was excellent, and other than the King Leonidas's slightly camp Glasgow-accent dialogue in places and the hugely excessive visions of blood and gore, it was a great film. '300' was also filmed with a comic book edge to it, almost pulling the actors out of real life and making them look and feel like animated cartoons. 'Hot Fuzz' was slightly funny. I was a never a huge Simon Pegg fan and that did little to convince me otherwise.
Anyway, this isn't about the films, it's about compromise.
So after it was pointed out that I had made my partner sit through '300' - she didn't; she fell asleep at several points - I agreed to sit down and watch a film of her choice: 'Failure to Launch'. The most apt way to describe it is 'chick flick'. I won't digest the plot synopsis here - there isn't really much of one to digest - but suffice to say it was pretty mindless sugar-coated stuff with lots of pictures of Matthew McConaughey doing action sports or taking his shirt off and showing his six-pack. All the guys are called 'Tripp' and 'Ace' and 'Demo' and other such punky American slang.
So the point that I seem to be wandering far from here is the need for compromise. The need to accept that someone made a sacrifice for you and that you need to make one back. Whilst I admit I may have over-dramatised that last statement when simply referring to sitting through a film or two, and that perhaps I could have used an example more significant to demonstrate the need for more understanding in the world, you get my point.
At some point today we'll find ourselves in Ikea. The understanding of compromise will well and truly be put to the test again there.
Finally the trailer for '300' if you haven't seen it:
Last weekend I picked a couple of films to watch from Blockbuster - 'Hot Fuzz' and '300'. '300' was excellent, and other than the King Leonidas's slightly camp Glasgow-accent dialogue in places and the hugely excessive visions of blood and gore, it was a great film. '300' was also filmed with a comic book edge to it, almost pulling the actors out of real life and making them look and feel like animated cartoons. 'Hot Fuzz' was slightly funny. I was a never a huge Simon Pegg fan and that did little to convince me otherwise.
Anyway, this isn't about the films, it's about compromise.
So after it was pointed out that I had made my partner sit through '300' - she didn't; she fell asleep at several points - I agreed to sit down and watch a film of her choice: 'Failure to Launch'. The most apt way to describe it is 'chick flick'. I won't digest the plot synopsis here - there isn't really much of one to digest - but suffice to say it was pretty mindless sugar-coated stuff with lots of pictures of Matthew McConaughey doing action sports or taking his shirt off and showing his six-pack. All the guys are called 'Tripp' and 'Ace' and 'Demo' and other such punky American slang.
So the point that I seem to be wandering far from here is the need for compromise. The need to accept that someone made a sacrifice for you and that you need to make one back. Whilst I admit I may have over-dramatised that last statement when simply referring to sitting through a film or two, and that perhaps I could have used an example more significant to demonstrate the need for more understanding in the world, you get my point.
At some point today we'll find ourselves in Ikea. The understanding of compromise will well and truly be put to the test again there.
Finally the trailer for '300' if you haven't seen it:
Thursday, August 23, 2007
RoboSweep
Sweep returned, after 2 and a half weeks away, with a shock look in her eyes, half the whiskers missing on the right side of her face, and a smashed up leg. Vet thinks someone kicked her. Anyway, original vet diagnosis was wrong, and we took her back in Tuesday to get her fixed up properly. Bone at top of her leg was shattered and she needed a metal pin going through the middle of it. OUCH.
So vet does job and I pick her up this morning...we have RoboSweep. A cat reborn from an old cat plus reinforced skeleton. With a gun. And a cool helmet. No...that's the film. Easy to mistake the two.
Anyhow, she has to stay on the ground for the next four weeks. Can't jump up onto and off anything. This is not going to be easy. This cat would climb on a....erm...something if it were there to be climbed upon. I was going really well with that example until I actually had to come up with the example itself.
Other news, I still can't stand Will & Lemo. Dan & Ken don't really do a whole lot better. I want to play some poker but I can't face going out in the rain. I also want to go and get some dinner from the supermarket but am facing the same issues ala the poker. And I had lunch with Steven Bradbury yesterday who is a very nice man and gave me a signed copy of his book. The chef also gave me lots of chips. All-in-all a win all round on the lunch front. Today's lunch was markedly different. A dry turkey sandwich.
So vet does job and I pick her up this morning...we have RoboSweep. A cat reborn from an old cat plus reinforced skeleton. With a gun. And a cool helmet. No...that's the film. Easy to mistake the two.
Anyhow, she has to stay on the ground for the next four weeks. Can't jump up onto and off anything. This is not going to be easy. This cat would climb on a....erm...something if it were there to be climbed upon. I was going really well with that example until I actually had to come up with the example itself.
Other news, I still can't stand Will & Lemo. Dan & Ken don't really do a whole lot better. I want to play some poker but I can't face going out in the rain. I also want to go and get some dinner from the supermarket but am facing the same issues ala the poker. And I had lunch with Steven Bradbury yesterday who is a very nice man and gave me a signed copy of his book. The chef also gave me lots of chips. All-in-all a win all round on the lunch front. Today's lunch was markedly different. A dry turkey sandwich.
O O O....O Brien
By the fact that I wrote that in the title would suggest that potentially the advertising campaign has worked. The incessant call from the jingle has lodged itself firmly in my head and convinced me that should I ever get a chip in my windscreen, I will know where to go.
So job done. Let's just keep repeating the same ad and eventually have everyone in Australia humming the tune while they lay in bed at night.
Except I would suggest that the advert itself is self-destructive in its communication. Let's look at the reasons:
1) It's a long advert for radio. The 30 seconds actually SEEMS like 30 seconds. It seems like a lifetime. Two jingles and a bloke talking trying to scare you into getting your chip fixed is not engaging me.
2) The guy they have voicing it is one of two things: an actual O'Brien employee or the worst voice over person in the world. Either way, he is doing the brand NO favours by sounding tedious and boring. By the end of the advert, you're so depressed from listening to him, you want to top yourself because your windscreen has a crack in it.
DO NOT USE EMPLOYEES - EVER - unless they have such a strong personality or some USP that makes them stand-out above everyone else - think the speccy bloke from the Good Guys.
3) As mentioned before, the jingle. Think Crazy Frog for windscreen repairs. You want to take a nail gun to your own head to try and rid yourself of the obsession.
The long and the short of it is the advert has done what no radio network wants any advert to do, it has made me switch channels. Coupled with the AMI adverts, the O'Brien adverts and the nails-down-a-blackboard advert that is Diamonds International (which I will dissect at a later date), the state of radio media advertising is currently appalling.
How do you improve then?
Running a bad advert over and over again isn't the answer. Creating a full ATL and BTL promotion which incorporates web, radio, TV, magazines and so on and targeting it at your specific demographic is the proper way to do these things. Analyse the message you're trying to get across and look at your target market, and find out where these people like to be talked to.
Sure O'Brien have probably got it right in that their target market - car owners with chips in the windscreen - are probably sitting in their cars, listening to the radio and looking at the chip, but there are a million other ways to make this stand out more.
Messages without a creative approach are just messages. The average consumer gets hit with 300 of these a day. O'Brien is just number 216.
So job done. Let's just keep repeating the same ad and eventually have everyone in Australia humming the tune while they lay in bed at night.
Except I would suggest that the advert itself is self-destructive in its communication. Let's look at the reasons:
1) It's a long advert for radio. The 30 seconds actually SEEMS like 30 seconds. It seems like a lifetime. Two jingles and a bloke talking trying to scare you into getting your chip fixed is not engaging me.
2) The guy they have voicing it is one of two things: an actual O'Brien employee or the worst voice over person in the world. Either way, he is doing the brand NO favours by sounding tedious and boring. By the end of the advert, you're so depressed from listening to him, you want to top yourself because your windscreen has a crack in it.
DO NOT USE EMPLOYEES - EVER - unless they have such a strong personality or some USP that makes them stand-out above everyone else - think the speccy bloke from the Good Guys.
3) As mentioned before, the jingle. Think Crazy Frog for windscreen repairs. You want to take a nail gun to your own head to try and rid yourself of the obsession.
The long and the short of it is the advert has done what no radio network wants any advert to do, it has made me switch channels. Coupled with the AMI adverts, the O'Brien adverts and the nails-down-a-blackboard advert that is Diamonds International (which I will dissect at a later date), the state of radio media advertising is currently appalling.
How do you improve then?
Running a bad advert over and over again isn't the answer. Creating a full ATL and BTL promotion which incorporates web, radio, TV, magazines and so on and targeting it at your specific demographic is the proper way to do these things. Analyse the message you're trying to get across and look at your target market, and find out where these people like to be talked to.
Sure O'Brien have probably got it right in that their target market - car owners with chips in the windscreen - are probably sitting in their cars, listening to the radio and looking at the chip, but there are a million other ways to make this stand out more.
Messages without a creative approach are just messages. The average consumer gets hit with 300 of these a day. O'Brien is just number 216.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
When is a scam not a scam?
So AMI are the 'Australian Medical Institute' and run hundreds of adverts on all local and national radio stations in Australia encouraging men to call in and discuss the problems they may have with premature ejaculation and not being able to perform long enough in bed.
They invest literally $100,000s into their campaigns, all of which change style, content and approach frequently and all of which continue the same theme - that men who can't perform longer than a few seconds, aren't really men at all. The scare tactics and generally belittling of guys pulls on the strings on inadequacy and convinces men to make that call to AMI.
According to previous AMI adverts, 1000s of men call them a day (which as a side note would have meant the entire male population of Australia being impotent in about 20 years time) and improve their performance with the fantastic 'nasal delivery technology'. You sniff something and your cock gets rock hard for hours. Sounds simple, and obviously quite exciting for all concerned.
Except its not quite like that. Whilst I might point out that this problem doesn't occur with me, I suspect everyone will nod and say 'yeah, right' under their breath. I actually got this information from someone in the radio industry who had found out how AMI generate their money.
Apparently, when you visit an AMI consultant they do various tests to work out what the problem is, which of course, reveal that the basic and cheap course of medication won't achieve any results for you, and what you need is the longer and far more expensive course of treatment that will inevitably cost you $1000s.
Now don't get me wrong, this sort of 'condition' is obviously very worrying for men - we've all be on the receiving end of a bodily part that refuses to co-operate when the time is right - but when is a scam not a scam? When it appears on a national radio campaign? When it has a glossy website? When it has 'Australian' and 'Medical' in it's name?
Playing on people's basic weakness is an age old way of selling something - insurance companies base their entire livelihood on general human fear; Nigerian 419 scams prey on greed to do the same - but where do we draw a line? Scientology has built a worldwide religion on exactly the same scheme as AMI. Bring someone in at the bottom level, tell them they need to spend a lot of money and time to improve themselves and keep adding goals for them to stretch further and further to, whilst keeping the ultimate goal - if there is even one - well out of sight. It is the basic premise of many modern day businesses and institutions.
The answer is transparency. If we actually saw what was waiting for us at the end of these schemes, would we be so willing to throw our money at them? Or course not. But this may cause more problems that it solves. Some people LIKE the idea of Scientology and AMI telling them they have a long term problem that needs expensive help. Some people need a 'professional' to tell them what to do and where to do. The vast majority of the global population are sheep, and sheep need rounding up. If they didn't spend their money on expensive placebos, they'd be worrying and fretting that something was wrong and they weren't doing anything to fix it.
The sad reality is that people enjoy the sancity of being scammed. They feel safe and warm in feeling wanted and feeling a sense of belonging, even if that safety, warmth and belonging is artificial, over-priced and fraudulent.
Scammers exist because people need them.
They invest literally $100,000s into their campaigns, all of which change style, content and approach frequently and all of which continue the same theme - that men who can't perform longer than a few seconds, aren't really men at all. The scare tactics and generally belittling of guys pulls on the strings on inadequacy and convinces men to make that call to AMI.
According to previous AMI adverts, 1000s of men call them a day (which as a side note would have meant the entire male population of Australia being impotent in about 20 years time) and improve their performance with the fantastic 'nasal delivery technology'. You sniff something and your cock gets rock hard for hours. Sounds simple, and obviously quite exciting for all concerned.
Except its not quite like that. Whilst I might point out that this problem doesn't occur with me, I suspect everyone will nod and say 'yeah, right' under their breath. I actually got this information from someone in the radio industry who had found out how AMI generate their money.
Apparently, when you visit an AMI consultant they do various tests to work out what the problem is, which of course, reveal that the basic and cheap course of medication won't achieve any results for you, and what you need is the longer and far more expensive course of treatment that will inevitably cost you $1000s.
Now don't get me wrong, this sort of 'condition' is obviously very worrying for men - we've all be on the receiving end of a bodily part that refuses to co-operate when the time is right - but when is a scam not a scam? When it appears on a national radio campaign? When it has a glossy website? When it has 'Australian' and 'Medical' in it's name?
Playing on people's basic weakness is an age old way of selling something - insurance companies base their entire livelihood on general human fear; Nigerian 419 scams prey on greed to do the same - but where do we draw a line? Scientology has built a worldwide religion on exactly the same scheme as AMI. Bring someone in at the bottom level, tell them they need to spend a lot of money and time to improve themselves and keep adding goals for them to stretch further and further to, whilst keeping the ultimate goal - if there is even one - well out of sight. It is the basic premise of many modern day businesses and institutions.
The answer is transparency. If we actually saw what was waiting for us at the end of these schemes, would we be so willing to throw our money at them? Or course not. But this may cause more problems that it solves. Some people LIKE the idea of Scientology and AMI telling them they have a long term problem that needs expensive help. Some people need a 'professional' to tell them what to do and where to do. The vast majority of the global population are sheep, and sheep need rounding up. If they didn't spend their money on expensive placebos, they'd be worrying and fretting that something was wrong and they weren't doing anything to fix it.
The sad reality is that people enjoy the sancity of being scammed. They feel safe and warm in feeling wanted and feeling a sense of belonging, even if that safety, warmth and belonging is artificial, over-priced and fraudulent.
Scammers exist because people need them.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Carbonators
I must admit to a bit of confusion about the new advertising campaign from NRMA about the 'Carbonators'. The premise behind the campaign is that if you move your insurance from another supplier to NRMA, they will off-set one tonne of your vehicles emissions for you for free.
On the face of it, that sounds great. Except in my opinion, the whole campaign raises more questions than it asks. Sure, NRMA want people to be engaged with the concept of 'doing your bit for the environment' and they want to make their product eco-friendly, but this is still just car insurance. Its great that we have this secondary feeling of well-being, but the most important thing to anyone hunting car insurance, is that its cheap and it covers you for an accident. All-singing and dancing it doesn't need to be.
The detail that you only get to see if you access the website and click through the right areas and onto two more '?' buttons that aren't very well displayed, is that NRMA will invest in purchasing carbon credits in a number of different ways. One of those is 'sequestration of forests as certified under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement scheme.' I mean, what??
I'm all for campaigns that make you think, but in this case they really should have followed the advice of the word K.I.S.S - keep it simple, stupid. I'm postively disposed to doing something about the environment but I have no idea how much one tonne is, what the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement scheme is or exactly how I check that my investment in growing more trees is actually investing in growing more trees. Someone could be charging 3 different customers for the same tree for all I know.
Sure it sounds cynical, and the website and the adverts with the images of 'trusted' Broncos players should develop some faith in you that NRMA can be trusted, but would it be too much to maybe simplify the message a little? Maybe explain to us up-front how much our cars produce in the way of emissions, without us having to go into the website and mess about entering all our details?
Either way, I'm not sold. I've just forked out $4000 to make my house save gallons of water should it ever decide to rain again. Sure I want to help reduce greenhouse gases, but pay more to do so?
Maybe later. Maybe when I've paid for the water tank. Or maybe I'll just pick the cheapest quote. Tough call.
On the face of it, that sounds great. Except in my opinion, the whole campaign raises more questions than it asks. Sure, NRMA want people to be engaged with the concept of 'doing your bit for the environment' and they want to make their product eco-friendly, but this is still just car insurance. Its great that we have this secondary feeling of well-being, but the most important thing to anyone hunting car insurance, is that its cheap and it covers you for an accident. All-singing and dancing it doesn't need to be.
The detail that you only get to see if you access the website and click through the right areas and onto two more '?' buttons that aren't very well displayed, is that NRMA will invest in purchasing carbon credits in a number of different ways. One of those is 'sequestration of forests as certified under the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement scheme.' I mean, what??
I'm all for campaigns that make you think, but in this case they really should have followed the advice of the word K.I.S.S - keep it simple, stupid. I'm postively disposed to doing something about the environment but I have no idea how much one tonne is, what the NSW Greenhouse Gas Abatement scheme is or exactly how I check that my investment in growing more trees is actually investing in growing more trees. Someone could be charging 3 different customers for the same tree for all I know.
Sure it sounds cynical, and the website and the adverts with the images of 'trusted' Broncos players should develop some faith in you that NRMA can be trusted, but would it be too much to maybe simplify the message a little? Maybe explain to us up-front how much our cars produce in the way of emissions, without us having to go into the website and mess about entering all our details?
Either way, I'm not sold. I've just forked out $4000 to make my house save gallons of water should it ever decide to rain again. Sure I want to help reduce greenhouse gases, but pay more to do so?
Maybe later. Maybe when I've paid for the water tank. Or maybe I'll just pick the cheapest quote. Tough call.
Monday, August 13, 2007
First Post
So really this is just the first post to test out my page...I don't have a great deal else to add other than that. Other than I didn't sleep much last night. That has nothing to do with marketing or communications but so what? Neither do fags hanging from chains but they're in there.
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