fun – Page 3 – woowoowoo

Keep smiling – just in case!

If you’re hanging around the streets of Melbourne, keep a happy face on. I saw a car on Macarthur Avenue crossing Royal Parade yesterday, that looked very much like the Google Street View car that was seen in Geelong last year. Big thing of cameras and a little round GPS aerial on top of the roof rack.

I don’t think it was taking shots at the time, late in the day, the traffic was woeful and they were probably finished for the day, but it’s a reminder of that quote that Alan Funt used to use at the end of every show… something like: No matter where you are, or what you’re doing… smile, because you’re on Candid Camera!

Terry chops!

Like a million others, I got a laugh out of ‘Will it blend?‘ – where everyday items meet their doom on the spinning blades. I’m sure I’m not alone, though, in wanting to give that guy a slap – his self satisfied demeanour and spotless lab coat… and let’s face it it’s still a ad for a kitchen appliance! puhleeez!!

No, the new thing is far more primal and satisfying – Terry’s Chop Shop is the latest viral thing – destruction delivered in the best way possible… a mighty big sharp axe!

Terry’s first video was only posted in October last year and it was pretty ordinary. Amusing idea, but poor execution (scuse the pun) – according to the blog he got some help from his next door neighbour with production and editing (nice work too!). Bingo – internet gold. It has all the ingredients of viral fun: short, offbeat, subversive, well produced, and it has taken Terry from obscurity to legend in no time at all. His latest posting is of an ice cream ad he features in.

Even better – he’s an Aussie. Go Terry, you make us proud!

The Melbourne Model – a social experiment?

Well, it seems so, according to the Sunday Age.

The Melbourne Model - A social experiment?

Alright, so it isn’t the editorial, it’s the ‘heckler’ column on the back page. Stinging criticism, nonetheless.

‘allo, ‘allo, ‘allo!

Credit for spotting this goes to my good lady, but this week’s theft of a Garbage truck, as reported on page 28 the Moreland Leader (December 10, 2007) seems to be an “open and shut case” as they say in crime reporting parlance.

I only hope the local plods are reading the paper too, because on page 16 is a red hot clue to the whereabouts of the missing truck. Tucked among the Letters to Santa is this intriguing admission from young Fabian of Pascoe Vale:

Surely we’ve got the culprit red handed! He might even be wearing a full red suit… can’t be hard to spot someone like that, can it? Hang on a minute: did he say he wanted a digger too?!

how to design a website…

It’s been quite a difficult week at work. I’ve found myself subject to the whims of a great number of people who don’t really know what they’re doing. I was prompted to pen the following:

Sony Bravia goes stop motion

the sony bravia ad When Sony released the now famous ad with the bouncy balls there was huge speculation about how they did it. Was it computer generated, was it faked – the discussion was quickly stopped as eye witness accounts told of the amazing photo shoot. The next ad was the exploding paint – again brilliant and memorable, but less of a mystery. Still interesting because of the logistics.

So, it must be a bit of a scary assignment coming up with the next ad. It’s a hard act to follow. Glad to report that they’ve done it again! The new Sony Bravia Play Doh ad is another masterpiece. I’ve just watched it again. Some of it looks like it’s been computer generated, but other parts look crisply real. The tradition of these ads is no computer special effects, so I’m inclined to think that’s been preserved.

Amazing work… can’t wait to hear how they pulled this off!

Didn’t have to wait long 🙂

Apple’s forgotten placeholder

Shouldn’t laugh at the misfortune of others – however small – but Apple’s website is usually so perfect, everything in its place, that when there is a problem you’ve gotta make the most of it! In this case, the hoary old chestnut, the nemesis of graphic designers everywhere – forgotten placeholder text.

On the Australian store’s iPod Nano page, right down the bottom in small, pale text, is that old designer’s friend: Lorem Ipsum.

On the US site, this paragraph is used to run some copyright fluff about movies and iTunes so it’s just a little slip, but all the same, I’ll be interested to see how long it survives in this form.

Just keep Grand Final day clear!

Collingwood logo Don’t you just love it? Unbridled, blind optimism is virtually mandatory if you want to be a Collingwood fan, but with the triumphant and emphatic return of Nathan Buckley, the imminent return of Josh Fraser and the return of belief and form for the rest of the team, optimism is running at such high levels that there are probably even some fans who think Anthony Rocca won’t get suspended.

But the best bit is the way fans start to keep Grand Final day clear of commitments… “Just in case!”. Don’t plan a wedding, auction, election, birth or funeral for September 29 because it’s guaranteed to upset someone.

the only good thing about an election…

How about this kerfuffle about whether Peter Costello said whatever about John Howard to some journalists? Are you interested? No, I thought not. I mean, it doesn’t matter who you vote for, this sort of episode will only confirm your already held suspicions.

I mean, hands up who thinks the pollies are lying? … ’nuff said 😉

BUT!!! – that’s not the good thing I referred to in the title of this post. No, the good thing is that John Howard has started blogging again. He always does at politically sensitive times and for him at least, in his political dotage, this is probably the most sensitive time of all. The really wierd thing is that he is a surprisingly entertaining blogger.

Still on the subject: are Firefox users more likely to be politically left of centre? Place your vote.

Apple’s new browser ;-)

Was doing a bit of ‘drag and drop’ on my mac a while back, when I accidentally ‘dropped’ in the wrong place. The result was a web page that rendered in the software update window.

Not really so surprising given the ubiquity of the webkit in Mac OSX, but to have it render pages so nicely – even with Javascript – was an amusing find.

I don’t know if this opens up a potential security issue, but I could see it as attractive to a nefarious person if they could render their own content into this window in an attempt to trick a user into doing something stupid.

OpenOffice vs. Redmond on the buses

Interesting bit of dialogue here. A blog notes bus ads from Sun pushing OpenOffice.org by taking aim at Microsoft… Amusing enough in it’s own right, but…

…a Microsoft employee fires off a retort in ~~her~~ his blog with some taunts of ~~her~~ his (? gender assumption cleared up, thank you Sandy) own. Trouble is, the retort fails to defend any of the claims in the Sun ads and fails to target the direct opposition in this case, Open Office. Perhaps this implies acceptance of the facts.

~~She~~ He even has a shot at Apple! … please! Lets hope she constructs better software than arguments. Though, history seems to suggest otherwise.

confirmed – Ballmer is a nut!

As if we needed confirmation – last week we had a blogger from inside M$’s Vista testing team saying that it was a complete load of garbage and that Ballmer should be fired. We’ve all heard about him chucking chairs in a google inspired tantrum, but this latest piece “Microsoft chief forbids his kids from iPods“, really made me chuckle.

His kids are banned from using iPods and Google!

…but there is more – he goes on to talk about an ‘innovative proposition’ – rolling music and communication devices into one – whoah! that one came from left field! Way to go Stevie!