Triple J have sold out!!!!

Picture this:  it’s Sunday night, I’m relaxing on the couch watching So You Think You Can Dance and Rove, when during the commercial break I see an ad for Triple J’s Hottest 100 CD.  Nope, I didn’t switch channels…..channel 10 is advertising Triple J’s Hottest 100.  My gripe with this is

1.  ABC advertising on channel 10…

2.  …in PRIME TIME

3.  and the songs on the album are almost all commcercial

Whatever happened to Triple J being the alternative / indie option for music????!!!!   If I want to listen to any of that music you’re flogging off on your CD, I can flick over to Nova, B105, River……or countless other stations.  SORRY TRIPLE J, BUT YOU’VE SOLD OUT!!!!!!!!

Clever Advertising

I really have to give kudos to many marketers and advertisers out there….there’s more to it than you would believe.  If you want to know more about the ads you see everyday, check out the Gruen Transfer hosted by Wil Anderson (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/) for not just an informative view but also an entertaining look at the world of advertising.  The Gruen Transfer is on ABC1 Wednesday nights 9pm, right after Spicks and Specks.  For those who missed it, you can check it out on Thursday nights on ABC2 at 8:30pm……go on give it a go!

And on the topic of advertising, there has been a lot of media coverage over the last few days with Pauline Hanson and “those photos” – is it her? Is it not her?  Well in the afternoons in Brisbane, there is a free newspaper that is pretty good for the bottom of the bird cage….until this appeared: 

Nice work Nandos…..some very clever (and prompt) advertising

The Nandos ad reminded me (well actually, it reminded Pete, who in turn reminded me)  of the Veet ad used in the USA when Obama was elected president:

Nice work Veet…..another example of advertisers jumping on the bandwagon quickly.  And if I may be frank, I think there’d be very few who wouldn’t praise this ad campaign.

And these are just for your enjoyment…..again, a great campaign from Lynx:

Cyanide and Happiness

So so wrong…but so so entertaining 

Clarkson Quotes

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson is full of wisdom…anyone who has watched as much as a snippet of the show will already be aware of this.  Here’s some of Clarkson’s finest quotes:

‘I’m sorry, but having a DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like
having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch.’

‘… the last time someone was as wrong as you, was when a politician
stepped off an aeroplane in 1939 waving a piece of paper in the air saying
there will be no war with Germany ‘

Illustrating the lack of power of a Boxster: ‘It couldn’t pull a greased
stick out of a pig’s bottom’

On the Vauxhall Vectra VXR: ‘there is a word to describe this car: it
begins with ’s’ and ends with ‘t’ and it isn’t soot

‘The Suzuki Wagon R should be avoided like unprotected sex with an
Ethiopian transvestite’

‘The air conditioning in a Lambos used to be an asthmatic sitting in the
dashboard blowing at you through a straw.’

‘Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable
than what… BEING STABBED?’

‘This is the Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers.
Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Ooh good I’ve got
syphilis, the BEST of the sexually transmitted diseases.”

‘I don’t understand bus lanes. Why do poor people have to get to places
quicker than I do?’

Clarkson’s highway code on cyclists: ‘Trespassers in the motorcars domain,
they do not pay road tax and therefore have no right to be on the road,
some of them even believe they are going fast enough to not be an
obstruction. Run them down to prove them wrong.’

‘ Britain ’s nuclear submarines have been deemed unsafe…probably because
they don’t have wheel-chair access.’

On Mandela’s claim that Cuba is a good advert for democracy: ‘Well Mr
Mandela why don’t you go and ask one of the 12 year old Cuban prostitutes
which way her parents voted?’

‘Now we get quite a lot of complaints that we don’t feature enough
affordable cars on the show……so we’ll kick off tonight with the
cheapest Ferrari of them all!’

On the Lotus Elise: ‘This car is more fun than the entire French air force
crashing into a firework factory.’

‘Sure it’s quiet, for a diesel. But that’s like being well-behaved…
for a murderer.’

‘I don’t often agree with the RSPCA as I believe it is an animal’s duty to
be on my plate at supper time.’

‘There are footballers wives that would be happy with this quality of
stitching… on their face.’

‘Much more of a hoot to drive than you might imagine. Think of it if you
like, as a librarian with a G-string under her tweed pants. I do, and it
helps.’

‘You cannot have this car with a diesel. It’s like saying, I won’t go to
Stringfellows tonight, I’ll get my mum to give me a lapdance, she’s a
woman!’

‘Tonight, the new Viper, which is the American equivalent of a sportscar…
in the same way, I guess, that George Bush is the equivalent of a
President.’

On the Porsche Cayenne: ‘Honestly, I have seen more attractive gangrenous
wounds than this… It has the sex appeal of a camel with gingivitis.’

Nostalgia? No!

Images removed

Sharemarket Explained

If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation, the following should help…

Once upon a time in a village in India, a man arrived and announced to the villagers that he wanted to buy monkeys and he would pay $10 each for them.

The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, it became more difficult to catch the monkeys and the villagers stopped their efforts.

The man then announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.

The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch one!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: ‘Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.’The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! 

Welcome to the Sharemarket!

How the markets really work…

In today’s economic climate, these guys  seem ahead of their time, given that this was filmed in 2007.

BEACHED AS

Kristy’s Brief Travel Diary

OK so it’s been a long time coming, and Kristy has kind of been kicked in the bum by Pete and Vicky to get cracking on updating her blog again.  So this post is one she’s been meaning to do ever since they got back from overseas.  BTW One of the best experiences of Kristy’s life.  For anyone who has not ventured into the unknown and immersed themselves in a foreign culture, you should definately plan to do so….consider it your “Bucket List”.

(oh, by the way, I guess you’ve noticed by now, that Kristy is still trying to pull off this third person thing)

There’s no need to go into great detail because if anyone is that interested, you can always check out Pete’s Travel Diaries or for photos check out flickr.  They started with a few days in London catching up with some friends…and they both can’t say thank you enough to Con, Libby, Chris and Gerard for  putting up with them.  They then ventured down to Paris courtesy of Eurostar, and after some pain-staking wandering, looking for accomodation, ended up in some shoddy room which would not meet 1-star by Australian standards, then went to the Moulin Rouge that night…OMG LOVED IT!!!!  The Moulin Rouge that is, not Paris….her first Parisian experience and Kristy couldn’t get out of the city fast enough.

From here they trained it to Milan, landed late at night and found their hotel was waaaaay out in the ‘burbs….nice room though.  Next day they saw a little of Milan – Duomo being the main attraction, despite the visit causing them to nearly miss their train to Venice (small case of miscalculated timing).

Venice was the next stop, and gee was Kristy glad they had booked 2 nights in Venice….this is her favourite city in the world (thus far).  Now she’s not quite sure how to describe what she felt when in this beautiful city but it was certainly positive.  She loved the fact that there were no cars, trucks, bikes, scooters etc.  And the narrow alley-style maze of the floating city is awesome…they’d just turn a corner and see where it took them…it’s a great feeling when you’re just wandering with no destination or timeframe in mind.

After Venice, yes sadly they had to leave, it was Florence.  Now prior to their trip and even since they’ve been home, Kristy has heard from so many various people that Florence is the most beautiful city in the world.  Well, this was not her opinion but perhaps she just missed the beautiful part.  When they alighted the train, they found the international train station was filthy and the area surrounding it was no better.  There they stayed in a hostel which was not so bad but reasonably expensive considering what they’d paid for hotel rooms and apartments in the last two cities.  Given that they were not real keen on seeing Florence, they decided to take day trip to Pisa the following day, and this was worth the trip.  Pisa is a beautiful old city / town and they really enjoyed the trip.

From Florence it was onto Rome, where their hotel was in the bronx, and the room in the hotel looked like an old converted storage space.  Anyway, she’s not complaining, but it was the butt of their jokes most of the time they were there and it was at least comfortable and not too expensive.  Rome was fantastic, so many great sites to see and enxiting things to do.  Trevii Fountain was definately Kristy’s favourite and in fact, whilst she’s says that Venice is her favourite city in the world, the Trevii Fountain is definately her favourite individual site in the world.  It’s just fabulous, the way the fountain is actually carved out of the side of the building and and the detail in the scultpure and the cool water running over was just so relaxing, she could have sat there and watched it for hours.

 From Rome it was back to Paris, and any horrible opinion she may have had of Paris before, this brief visit changed her mind.  Paris is quite nice and houses some of the largest and most brilliant places Kristy has seen.  The Louvre for example is absolutely tremendous…Kristy & Pete didn’t have time to do the whole gallery, but they did check out as much art as possible.  The Arc de Triomph is ginormous, and the Eiffel Tower is really a site to see….no they didn’t climb it.  Kristy doesn’t do heights, and the Duomo in Milan put her off any more elevated sites for the rest of their trip. 

After Paris they trained it up to Calais and crossed to Dover via the Cezanne (Sea France ferry), and from Dover back to London.  She had to admit, by the time they were on their way back to London, she was a little relieved and felt a little more relaxed.  She just never fathomed how difficult it could be in a country where you don’t know the language…mind you, the travellers knew enough to get by, but Kristy would love to live in one of these European countries for 3-6mths and learn the language through necessity, because you’d be amazed at the extra linguistics they picked up just in the short time they were there.

As for London, she can see why so many Aussies go backpacking and end up staying there….the culture is not unlike Australia, and Kristy suspects the transtition from Oz to UK would be reasonably seamless.  By this she means it’s an English speaking country so there’s no language barrier, the public transport is amazing, the cost of living is comparable with Oz but in different ways, and you’re likely to run into any number of other Aussies at any  given time, so that shoud ease the homesickness a little (maybe).

 Anyway, so Kristy’s next post shall be her travel tips…stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath, you might turn blue)

Try Third Person!

OK, so Kristy recently had a conversation with an old friend and the conversation steered toward the topic of “talking in third person”…don’t ask her how they got onto the topic, but anyway being the clowns that they are, they decided to try it out, and she has to admit it’s pretty damn hard to maintain a conversation speaking in third person.  To continue the theme, Kristy decided to try and write in third person, which is the reason for this post…..and she has to say that it is just as difficult, if not more so, than speaking it.  Maybe she’ll try and write all future posts in third person, but at this rate I think she may lose interest.

For anyone who hasn’t tried it, Kristy highly recommends grabbing a friend…obviously one who is open to being a clown, and attempting it….

So, despite the fact that she doesn’t really have anything to say of any value, here is a blog post essentially about nothing, and only written for the sake of testing the waters with writing in third person.