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.