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....
Sunday, September 30, 2007
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.
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