Oil Wrestling - slight tangent

Ok, so totally not my usual post, but this just needs to get out there some more. Seriously.

Couple of weeks ago there was oil wrestling at Mighty Mighty. Uni & her Ukulele played first, and we all had a grand singalong, but after, Uni suited up, and the oil wrestling began.

Check it out (PLEASE NOTE: song used as backing track may be offensive to some. To be fair I think the song enhances the video, however, you can get the gist without the music. Too funny.)

Why you should look before you leap

So early last week failblog.org (hilarious by the way, check it out if you haven't already) posted a video by a Bolivian News Station:

So you get the gist, someone sold them these images, made a bundle, and ripped off Lost in the mean time. Truly awesome considering that 'Jack' and 'Kate' are in the actual footage. This is of course unless they have been named as some of those who lost their lives in the crash from Rio to Paris?

So I thought that this was hilarious and then today I get a forward.

Subject: FW: A330 airplane crash / could be a hoax-- but very interesting

Email:
The world saw the disappearance of an A330 Air France during a trans Atlantic flight between Rio to Paris.

The two photos attached were apparently taken by one of the passengers, just before the aircraft crashed. The photos were retrieved from the camera's memory stick.

You will never get to see photos like this. In the first photo, there is a gaping hole in the fuselage through which you can see the tailplane and vertical fin of the aircraft.

In the second photo, one of the passengers is being sucked out of the gaping hole.

These photos were found in a digital Casio Z750, amidst the remains. Although the camera was destroyed, the Memory Stick was recovered. Investigating the serial number of the camera, the owner was identified as Paulo G. Muller, an actor of a theatre for children known in the outskirts of Porto Alegre.

It can be imagined that he was standing during the impact with the Embraer Legacy and during the turbulence, he managed to take these photos, just seconds after the tail loss the aircraft plunged. So the camera was found near the cockpit.

The structural stress probably ripped the engines away, diminishing the falling speed, protecting the electronic equipment, but not unfortunately the victims.

Paulo Muller leaves behind two daughters, Bruna and Beatriz.

Now, I cannot comment too much, as I have seen/read things on the internet and taken them as gospel (oh, I am so not linking back to that article, if you want to laugh at me you will have to hunt it out) but what AMAZES me about this is the back story that someone has thought up. Seriously? Paulo Muller? What? I really hope there wasn't anyone on the plane with that name, because that is totes unfair.

Beware the Internet. All is not as it seems. I've learnt my lesson, I hope others do too.

New Favourite Site of the Week 260609

New favourite site of the week this week comes courtesy of Simon (@audaciousgloop) from iJump. It is called 'Prototype Experience' and whilst I am no fan of game stations, this site is ace. This is where real, indepth integration with Facebook really pays off and involves the user on a personal level.

If you want to experience this for yourself, I recommend that you go there now and do not read on. If you would rather not and just find out why/how it works, then read on...

So, I am not much of a game player, but I'm pretty sure it is another one of those 'shoot em up' kind of games. However, that is not what we're talking about, I am talking about the site itself. Basically it delves into your personal details in Facebook and presents it back to you. Freaked me out when it started showing me photos I had recently uploaded and then personal details: Terribly fun, sad for my friend Nicki whose face has been killed by crazy twine/weed stuff. Sorry, honest I didn't have any way of controlling this! I would recommend a play, just to check out the integration between site and Facebook. They don't link anything back to your Facebook page or spam your friends (thus far) so is a relatively safe FB application to play with.

Totally serious about my last post though - sponsored definitions on Twitter - when did that happen?

Also, shameless self promotion - I got into a top 10 list, a positive one. Thanks @ideology! You can check out the details here, if you want.

Was I Asleep?

Ok, so did I sleep through the monetization of Twitter?

Referring to the 'Sponsored Definition' going on. Colour me not surprised that it was Apple that started this (I assume). Its not exactly the most open of spaces for advertisers, but it has potential.

No really - when did this happen, and why have I not heard about it yet? Have I not been reading my Mashable RSS in enough detail??

Diamond Ring Hunt - The Follow Up

So, this is a little late in coming – been busy or something – but thought I would do a follow up on what happened with the RingHunt.

Basics are, Anthony (who is friend, not a client) got hold of me the Tuesday before the RingHunt was to commence and asked me to put the word out via twitter about what he was up to.

So I wrote up a quick blog, for a refresher check out this post here.

When this all started, Anthony had about 200 followers on Twitter.

Apparently ‘a friend’ told Dominion Post reporter Katherine Newton about it, who contacted Anthony via Twitter. This is when it started to take off.

Following a front page article in the Dominion Post, this reporter apparently decided to share Anthony’s details and all of a sudden, fair game. Media coverage of this ‘RingHunt’ includes, but is not limited to:

• Dominion Post - front page article
• NZ Herald
• Otago Daily Times
• Coverage throughout APN & Fairfax papers
• One News/3News/Campbell Live
• Sunrise Australia (see image to the right - he didn't want to show his face so wore a David Attenborough mask)
• BBC Radio
• Canadian Radio
• NBR online
• Sydney Morning Herald
• Melbourne Age
• Jakarta Post
• Wellingtonista.com
• The Sun (UK)
• The Evening Standard (UK)
This coverage is simply what we know about there was also coverage in Belgium and Vietnam. There also may have been an ‘exclusive offer’ put forward by That’s Life magazine which was turned down.

Even AirNZ got in on the act, offering up grabaseat from various regions to Wellington so that people could take part in the hunt.By the time Saturday and the RingHunt commenced, the @donoogle_com twitter account had over 1,800 followers. Now I would really like to point out that this whole thing really was nothing more than a guy, who bought a ring for a girl, and when that didn’t work out, he wanted to give it away. Yes, exposure for donoogle.com was an added bonus, but it was not the driving force. AdHoc Hazel from NBR drew some amazing parallels “A search (Google) and then a donation (to charity) just like this Saturday’s gig, a search (the treasure hunt) and then a donation (the ring).” unfortunately this was not quite the case, however, very astute Hazel!

There were some fantastic tweets during Saturday, which you can check out under #ringhunt but the Lord of the Rings references were my absolute favourite.

Word is, that as Anthony and a couple of friends sat at Dockside, they could see about 80 odd people in the immediate area as the hunt drew to a close, and when I say ‘drew to a close’ I mean, the 2ish hours leading up to the ring being found. Anthony was only 13 clues into the 20 he had come up with, the last clue referring to an ‘x marks the spot’ quite literally where the ring was hidden (near the Westpac Helicopter on the waterfront).

Who knows how many people actually took to the streets to look for the ring, although they were seen all over – including the botanical gardens.

Overall, it was quite a success for all involved. Almost. Not sure how happy Anthony is about being the top Google search result for ‘dumped dude’.

A little lighter - and musical

Right, last post, that was a little intense on my brain, couldn't sleep last night after reading about the protests. So, this morning, going to get things a little lighter.

I'm always in 2 minds about music - I am a bit of a music snob and you will never catch me listening to anything which has top 40 hits - but I feel as though there is so much great music out there that people never get to hear as it is not 'cool' enough or whatever. In saying that, it also upsets me when I hear that a favourite song has been picked up by a top 40 station, they tend to kill music.

At any rate, here are 5 songs which should get WAY more props than they do:

Grizzly Bear - two weeks:

Pharrell, Kanye, Lupe & Thom - US Placers:

The Editors - Blood:

Arcade Fire - Intervention:

and Santogold, Julian Casablancas and Pharrell - My Drive Thru:

Total aside - listening to bFM - someone else has covered 'Razorblades'? Is it not bad enough that for some reason everyone thinks Jose Gonzalez did this song first? Poor The Knife, hope they are getting paid!

#IranElection #Neda

"In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences"

That is the title of an article published on Sunday the 21st of June on Time.Com which for us in NZ is like sometime during our Sunday night, Monday morning. It has already had 1,975 diggs at time of writing this blog. I picked up on this video this morning as I was reading through Mashable, the video footage of this young woman dying on the street is incredibly distressing, and unless you are watching through an rss feed, YouTube require sign in to view the video to try to contain it to an R18 audience. I am not honestly comfortable about embedding the video on my blog, but the footage certainly made me stop and reassess my day, so if you would like to see it, it is here. It is graphic so this is your warning.

Barely up for 2 days and has had more than 200,000 views. A little over 14 hours ago they had to disable comments. This footage has rocketed through Twitter and Facebook. For some time now Iran and #IranElection have been at the top of 'Trending Topics' but I have a feeling that #Neda is going to go straight to the top of that list. For so many of us who have a freedom to live our lives how we decide, what is happening in Iran is so far removed from what we know, that it is just another story on the news. This video (and I am amazed they have not taken it down from YouTube) has had the power to really confront people about what is actually happening. Social media has been the key driving factor in the development in this story, and whether you think it is a good thing or not, I think the more people having the conversation about what is happening, the better. We should care. We should be concerned. We should do something to help, if we can.

I really do hope that somehow Neda's death can change something.
Neda is the same age as me.

(Kinda) New Favourite Site of the Week 190609

Total cop-out. I'm talking effort FAIL. On my behalf. Pointing to another blog.

Ok, so Gillette have put together quite an amusing area within their site basically about man-scaping HOWEVER the site is SO freaking SLOW to load! I'm sure if I had a whole lotta time I could wait for it to load but to be fair, the site is actually also a little hard to navigate as well. Instead, I suggest you head to 'if it's hip it's here' which is a great blog anyway and check out their coverage of videos that have been made which (unless you have some serious requirement of seeing a half naked guy walking around in a towel -ladies here is the link) are, I'm sure, the best part of the whole thing. They are very nicely put together, informative - I'm assuming - and quite funny. Nice.

Yes, I know, average. Sorry - will try harder next time I promise. In light of my average hunting effort - here is someone who puts some serious effort in and has some of the funniest shite the internet has to offer in one place. Check out PeteinAuck or follow him on twitter for constant updates. So funny.

Most Relevant Display Advertising Yet!

Tis not a secret. I freaking love this site. I love even more however, as they have the most relevant display advertising ever:Unfortunately am too tired/lazy to make this all pretty tonight and show the whole skyscraper, but 'texts from last night' + advertising for the movie 'The Hangover' = GOLD.

Best text on the site that I have read tonight:
(216): let's bang
(773): You're in my phone as 'Weird Bus Guy' so I think my answer's no.

Awesome.

Speak Geek to Me

As I really am that much of a geek! And I embrace that fact.

So, on Wednesday I went to see Tee Morris (author, podcaster and social media specialist) speak geek to a theatre full of people at Te Papa - who by the way, big ups! Free speaker. Love it.

So, Tee's focus was on social media and as he pointed out, the social media that he knows, uses and most importantly, understands. To be fair, a lot of it wasn't exactly new information for me, but it is always nice to have what you know reaffirmed by someone else. Because of this I am not going to simply reiterate everything Tee said - if you want to see it I'm pretty sure Te Papa are going to be putting it up on You Tube, I will update with a link when I find it - but pick out some of my favourite takeaway comments.

1. Podcasting is much easier and cheaper than most people think. Tee talked about how he used podcasting to push the sale of one of his books - he literally podcasted the whole thing chapter by chapter and simply mentioned that if people so wanted, they could purchase a hard copy of the book, and it worked. He pointed out that (and we know that sometimes allowing your consumers to choose how much to pay for ones creativity doesn't necessarily work out - radiohead's "pay what you think its worth") people are often willing to stop and support an artist/author even when they are willing to give the information away for free. As a tangent, I have heard a bit about this before, but not necessarily the whole book - have heard about authors publishing the first chapter of an e-book under creative commons license to give people a taster - Tee's idea is a bit ballsier, dare to be courageous.

2. Protect your networks.
Part a)This is one of my favourite points he made. There was a question in the audience about the blurring of lines personal and professional, considering the extent of information available on the internet, Tee was absolutely on the mark, it is up to the individual to set the limits. I totally agree on this one. For me, Twitter = personal/professional. Facebook = Personal (there are some work related people but different people have access to different things) Blog = mostly professional. Different parts of my life. They should be kept separate.
Part b) Know who is following you and who you are following. Have a look at people before you follow them - do they tweet regularly? have they put any real information up about themselves? Are the tweeting about something you are interested it? Are they another 'Entrepreneur'?

3. Just because someone calls themselves a Social Media Expert/Guru does not mean they are. Tee rightly pointed out that he talks about what he knows - he is not signed up to everything possible and therefore claims to understand. This was related back to the audience too, he pointed out that as there are so many options, it is up for the individual/business to try some out, learn, test and if it works, then hold onto it. Once you have a good solid understanding, then move onto the next thing. Don't try to do everything - no one has that much time in the day.

I could go on and on, but this is getting long as it is. I do think that a conversation about Creative Commons needs to sit alongside the Social Media conversation - especially when it turns to podcasting and flickr, but I'll keep that for another day.

Follow tee @teemonster or I believe the hashtag was #socialNZ.

Don't forget us Chrome users!

What a lovely takeover you have done FlyBuys and DFS - All pretty and blue and looking great through Firefox...
Sucks that it completely dies when you look at it in Chrome. Sample of me and visitors to my blog, 10% of my visitors (unique) use Chrome. That's a whole lotta people that are not seeing this advertising as planned - and infact, it ends up looking really bad. That is not a transition on that top banner - that's just what it looks like.

Don't forget us Chrome users - there are more of us than you think.

UPDATED: Ok, so as Anonymous has pointed out: "This is actually an Eyeblaster issue as they do not support Chrome for wallpaper ads. Fortunately Chrome only has 2% penetration in NZ." So what is Eyeblaster up to. Sure, as they point out Chrome only has 2% penetration in NZ - but there was a point when Firefox only had 2% penetration too - gotta move with the times people, 2% penetration since December 08 - that's not bad and sure to grow.

New Favourite Site of the Week 120609

I think that every once in a while it is a good idea to step back, take stock and realise that what seems like the end of the world to me, might be much more ideal than situations some people around the world deal with. We are incredibly lucky in New Zealand - we have an amazing, peaceful, country which has relatively low poverty.

So, when a friend of mine @tristamsparks made me aware of this site, I decided that it was most worthy of my new favourite site of the week. Gotta love a good cause right? Gotta love one that has a beautifully built site even more!

This is an Amnesty International initiative and the idea is that Human Rights = Less Poverty. With the current global economic crisis, more and more people are driven to poverty placing them at increased risk of human rights violations. Demand Dignity asks "What does living with dignity mean to you?" Perhaps this is something we should all ask ourselves and remember how good we really have it.

Just some quotes from this site include:

• means making an impact of instilling value of life
• no eviction
• intelligence
• basic needs: food, cloth, shelter
• achieving what you've worked for all along and also gives you a sense of pride

Dignity means something different for everyone. I wonder what dignity means to you?

EDIT: For you lovely people who are not in advertising that read my blog - or if you have a sense of humour - this site has given me many many laughs this week. Absolute classic - as good as latfh.com - textsfromlastnight.com

The unexpected.. & MC Hammer

Ok, so I enjoyed the T-Mobile Liverpool Station dance. It was pretty choice. It looks a little like this:

However, I have to say, favourite dancing-flash-mob-on-YouTube would have to be this Hammer Time video. Oh my lord.

I guess Hammer was my generation, but it makes me want to buy gold hammer pants and re-create this in like, Kirkcaldies or something. I can just imagine it. 2 words - Multi. Level.

As a complete aside - LOVING the new embedding options that YouTube are providing. HOT. Borders, HD where available, size options, delayed cookies, related videos. Way to go YouTube, just keeps getting better

bye bye awful txt abbreviations

So by now it is not news, but I think it is interesting to have a little look at what happened with TVNZ's attempt to redesign their station promos with what is being referred to as "text speak" - which I put in quotation marks as I don't know if they fully captured this sentiment.

Visual reference c/o Stuff to the left.

So, about a fortnight ago (maybe more?) TV2 changed their on-air promo branding to abbreviations. I have not been a fan of these, nor has anyone else in our office, to the point that our poor tvnz rep got the brunt of our complaints. I believe one member of our office emailed through an opinion which was forwarded to the people that count, however after that we heard nothing more.

Our biggest issue was that we thought they were alienating their audience. TV2's core demographic is 18-39, we're talking a decent chunk of Generation X, who did not grow up with cell phones, and text speak is not something that they necessarily associate with. Perhaps with a younger skewed audience, C4 could have worked something like this, but let's be fair, C4 wouldn't be that patronising to their audience.

As it turned out we were not alone in our opinion. Throng started a poll, it looked a little something like this:FAIL

There was even a Facebook page started called "I hate TV2's new abbreviations!" on June the 1st. As of right now there are 7,117 fans of this page and growing by the minute.

Some classic comments from this page include:
"did they run out of funding?"
"tvnz have obviously hired a bunch of 12 year olds..."
"sx rs"
"'TON' of crap."

I do feel a little sorry for tvnz, as I think they would have thought they were doing the right thing, they just missed the mark, significantly.

Not to worry, they are pulling the creative. The suggestion from our office was that if they were going to do something like this, then perhaps utilising the 2 may have been better what to go. 2day, 2moro, 2night? Personally I think they should leave it alone. Go back to something more classic.

Try again.

No new favourite site... again

My head hurts. IAB drinks were great last night (thanks Metservice!) I won a ski pass, that's gotta kick arse. I promise not to whine and say that they're rigged ever again, as they obviously are not. Dinner at Dukes was also pretty damn delicious. Thanks MG?

At any rate, short week + super busy + sore head = no favourite site of the week. Not going to happen.

Going to take the easy option and say: go check out Donoogle.com - it's Google but with donations to charity, which you don't have to pay. Awesome. You can read more about Donoogle here or you can read about the diamond ring treasure hunt here.

Or check out Chach in Charge - he is the music editor for NO Magazine which I love - and see photos of Matt hanging out with the Kills for their latest cover. I am very jealous, Jamie Hince is pretty freaking amazing. Matt also plays in 1995 who were #1 on the 95bFM top 10 on Wednesday, also very choice.

Hoping to have a follow up next week with coverage, follow numbers and how it all went down.

That was more than anticipated. Brain must be almost working.

Ew - Bad expandable banner! Bad!

Not pretty. I am not a fan of expandable banners at the best of times, but this one has been executed badly. See visual:

This Gen-I top banner is horrendous. It was jarring when it expanded, then didn't expand properly, scrolled itself with no prompting, linked to themselves and not the news feed that I thought I was going to go to, had ERRORS in it:

Please note the random code in the top stream and the fact that right now is 4.45pm on Wednesday and the 'news stream' says it is 23:19.

Bad. Please try again.

Love Treasure Hunts!

OK, so this is an interesting one...

Saturday the 6th of June there is going to be a treasure hunt in Wellington. What kind of treasure are we hunting... why that would be diamonds! Diamonds in the form of a ring, and a ring that looks like this:

Sparkly.

It has a nice little certification that goes with it that looks like this:

So, what's this all about then?? Story goes, guy bought ring for girl, girl didn't want ring. Guy couldn't give it to another, and doesn't want to sell it. Guy also happens to be the guy behind Donoogle.com which is a site I blogged about a while ago here (using Google search engine but each search means a donation to charity). Guy decides that rather than just having this ring sitting around, he would create a treasure hunt around Wellington to give away said ring and use it at the same time to promote this choice website which everyone should use!

So the deal is, follow @donoogle_com on Twitter, on Saturday he is going to tweet clues that will eventually lead to a diamond ring (as pictured).

Easy as pie... what else are Wellingtonians going to do on Saturday?