This is great. Totally brings alive the flavour of London. For a period of three months, five ATMs run by Bank Machine in East London are offering people the choice to use Cockney rhyming slang to "get their hands on their sausage, so to speak". Among a host of other written prompts, users will be asked to enter their Huckleberry Finn (PIN) before choosing how much sausage and mash (cash) they want. The Cockney-enabled ATMs are also free to use, not attracting the usual withdrawal fee. Hopefully, this will be an effective little promo for Bank Machine and it won't all go Pete Tong!
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"Beached Whale" is a brilliant little animation about a whale and a seagull in New Zealand. With a heavy accent on the accent, so to speak, it has amassed a huge following on YouTube with nearly five million views. ABC TV has now picked up on the phenomenon and commissioned an 11-part series called "Beached Az," which introduces nine new characters into the plot including a squid, a crab, a bluebottle, a stingray and a duck. Beached Az comes from the minds of The Handsomity Institute. Check out an interview with the boys from Inside Film.
"Beached Az" will premiere online this coming Thursday (August 20) before screening on ABC2 from Thursday September 10 and then on ABC1 from Friday October 23.
Looking forward to it!
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This weekend's Aussie Rules matches are being played under the banner of the AFL Green Round. It's all good stuff with plenty of activities happening around the grounds and lots of good advice on how to keep that carbon footprint to a minimum when it comes to footy. Carlton's illustrious Captain, Chris Judd, is the AFL's Green Ambassador and he recently found himself in Canberra alongside our PM Kevin Rudd discussing football and climate change. Check out what happened when the Juddster met the Ruddster. Of course, we understand the megadollars in TV rights etc, but in the purest sense of this concept, it does seem a great shame that three of the eight games are being played at night under lights.
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Every year the Writers Festival in Byron Bay brings for me a turning point, a eureka moment, an epiphany, or at the very least, a moment of sincere reflection. 2009 was no different. Many thanks to a friend visiting from Sydney whose perspective over some weekend wine and song gave me reason to stop and think. More importantly, it allowed me the space to embrace and better understand some of life's more challenging expressions of existence. These discussions acted as compelling interstitials in a weekend filled with thoughtful dialogue from many of Australia's most interesting people on topics such as climate change, social and political consciousness, sexuality, relationships, death and dying, family, music, and most importantly, humour.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dry wit of Cold Chisel member Don Walker, the irrepressible character of Mungo MacCallum, the soft soulfulness of Bob Adamson, the wildness of Sam Cutler, the clarity of Ian Lowe, the vulnerable honesty of Oren Siedler, the madness of Linda Jaivan, the comic surprise of historian Michael Cathcart, the insight of Peter Singer, the musical interludes with Brian Cadd and the laughter provided by many, such as Imran Ahmed, Tom Gleeson, Mandy Nolan and Denise Scott. The list goes on. As always, I walked away with a headful of new thoughts and ideas, fresh takes on old ones, and most importantly, a contented happiness.
Final thanks to Don Walker for reminding me of the quality literary contribution provided within the pages of The Phantom and to Craig Silvey for his hypothetical which stuck with me for an afternoon. After considerable thought, and despite my inherent arachnophobia, I'll wear a hat made of poisionous spiders over having penises for fingers. Many may differ on this, but life as Edward Penishands doesn't seem too appealing.
All in all, my fifth Writers Festival in a row and the first held at Belongil Fields proved a mighty success. The weather turned it on, with blue skies and sunshine right across the weekend. And once again for me personally, I was provided with an important moment of discovery. Yes indeed, it did dawn on me.
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I've seen a few congratulatory posts on this already but I'll add mine regardless. I liked the Bing stuff that aired during The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last month. Simple, clever and effective.
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Every year deliberately lit fires rage across Indonesia. They destroy pristine rainforest, endanger orangutans and significantly contribute to climate change. I knew that to some degree, but frankly, I had no idea about the severity of the problem. So I went to see the opening of award-winning documentary The Burning Season at The Dendy in Byron Bay on the weekend. Narrated by Hugh Jackman, it's an impactful and passionate story following the endeavours of entrepreneur Dorjee Sun, who believes there's money to be made from carbon trading while in the process protecting rainforests in Indonesia, saving the orangutan from extinction and making a real impact on climate change. While it's very distressing to see the world's most beautiful rainforests being systematically burnt to the ground and the dreadful impact on the orangutan, the movie is ultimately motivating and uplifting.
As an Earth Monkey (born in 1968), I have always maintained a very strong affinity with the Orangutan. Yes, they share 96.4% of our DNA, but it's way more than that for me. Sometimes I think the only difference between me and the "man of the jungle" is, well, pants. As such, I was incredibly saddened to witness their plight, but even so, I left the cinema determined to do what I can. And so can you. Director Cathy Henkel and her amazing team of movie-makers, many from my local town of Byron Bay, have created a website called Ten Things You Can Do which empower us all to get off our butts and do something. You can even win an Orangutan experience in Borneo. Please check it out. You can also follow The Burning Season on Twitter.
And don't forget to see the movie. Check your local guides to find out where it's playing.
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Check out the Twitter hashtags #lust and #eafail and you'll see the ramifications of EA's social media campaign for Dante's Inferno at Comic-Con. Headlined "Sin to Win. A Night with the Hottest Girl at Comic-Con. Dinner, Booty and More," the details of the promotion suggests taking a photo with the booth girls at Comic-Con in the most lustful manner possible, or as it read, "commit acts of lust." The winner would then apparently receive "a night of lust." Unsurprisingly, it has resulted in a maelstrom of negative feedback.
In actual fact, the aim of the competition, according to EA's hasty apology was merely to "encourage attendees to tweet photos of themselves with any of the costumed reps at Comic-Con" and that "a 'Night of Lust' means only that the winner will receive a chaperoned VIP night on the town with the Dante’s Inferno reps, all expenses paid, as well as other prizes."
Probably a reasonable concept turned exceptionably bad through a very poor choice of copy. I appreciate that Dante's Inferno includes the nine circles of Hell, one of which is the circle of Lust, but they've clearly stretched the association way too far. It just shows the importance of getting the pitch exactly right if you're going down the path of social media promotional campaigns. There's nowhere to hide.
Check out the excellent round-up on the EA campaign @ Social Media Today.
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Spent the weekend hanging at Splendour in the Grass. Loved The Flaming Lips show. What a stage entry! Just a quick shout out to Rog and the team at experiencedna. Excellent job on the Jager Cube. Smart design, looked cool, sounded great, good vibe, top line-up. From a brand perspective for Jager, it hit the nail on the head. Total immersion.
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Here's a quick link to a recent Mashable piece on the Fail Whale, the iconic whale designed by Yiying Lu for Twitter. I love how it's become the default symbol for things that don't work, break down or go under, and I especially enjoy the way it just pops up in various forms and places when you least expect it. Join the Fail Whale group on Facebook. And check out MJ's RIP Fail Whale.
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