All White Motherf@%kers!

Well it still doesn't quite seem real but the All White's are in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

I've never seen anything like last night. The crowd was amazing - almost entirely in white, chanting and carrying on the whole night. Unbelievable noise - my ears were ringing when Fallon scored from Leo's cross and yet it still got louder and crazier when Paston saved the penalty from the spot.

Wellington is the only place where you could pull off that atmosphere in New Zealand - it was epic.

Watts and I were both kitted out in our All White gears and we were still carrying on well after the final whistle.

How badass would it be if we had England, Australia and the All Whites in one pool? How badass is it that we can even talk about which pool we are going to be in!?

Time to book some flights to Africa!

Labia you dumb mole

I know I've blogged about this film before, but I watched again last night and shit it's funny.

In case you havent seen it, Hercules Returns is pretty much the best Australian film ever. It's about these people who try to reopen an old Melbourne cinema - The Picture Palace. But on opening night they are sabotaged by the local multiplex owners who swap the English version of Hercules for the Italian one. So they set about re-dubbing the film - and it's hilarious.

MMP Poll

In an excellent use of the Facebook, UMR research did a preview of a poll that it is releasing tomorrow on MMP.

It is based on the referenda we will undertake at the next election. My feeling is that it will be a tight race and a lot will depend on peoples satisfaction with the Government going into the election.

The poll puts MMP on 48 per cent support with 40 per cent saying they would like a change of system (I assume the remainder don't know).

I think most peoples disatisfaction with MMP arose when a large number of people didn't end up getting the government they wanted after a minor party shifted its support around. Like for example in 1996, when NZ First went with National after saying it would never do that, and NZ First accepting those baubles in 2005 with the relatively popular Greens missing out altogether.

But currently we have a popular government, so not surprisingly, most people are opting to stick with the status quo. So this could change obviously - especially if the Government continues to "do nothing" as Rodney says.

As I've said before, I think we need to keep MMP, but I would like to see a few improvements.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man

Very cool subway stair installation

What it sounds like when doves cry

Yesterday I made reference to Kevin Smith's Prince story. He told the story as part of his campus Q and A tour he did a couple of years ago. So anyway, its one of the funniest anecdotes that I've ever heard and leaves you in no doubt as to Prince's sanity. Luckily someone has posted in four parts - so here it is - a great watch if you're bored at work!

The penguin

Ok so I admit, I have been to see This Is It twice. I wouldn't say I loved it - but I think it did offer some interesting insights and totally worth seeing if you are a fan.

He kind of reminded me of Kevin Smith's descriptions of his interactions with Prince - just detached from any kind of reality, but pretty fucking talented all the same. Like how Prince's PA said he had spent the last 10 years in Prince-world, I think Michael had spent the last thirty years on Planet Michael.

Some of it like the uber-naff Earth Song was a bit of a drag, but you couldn't help but get into it when he broke out Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean and my favourite - Beat It. Is it just me, or would it be totally badass to break out the Beat It dance in the office? Go to the 3:50 mark on this video clip if you embarrassingly don't know the dance I'm referring to.

Of course with a nutbar there were some funny bits - like when he talked about loving the trees and what not, but the best WTF moment had to be the penguin flap thing during the painful, Human Nature which has turned into a bit of a youtube phenomenon. (see below) I think the Captain Crunch jacket only adds to it.

Mama-se mama-sa ma-makusa, indeed

You have no power over me

I got home from the pub tonight and chucked on Jim Henson's classic Labyrinth... as you do... and in doing so, I finally realised who Rodney Hide reminds me of - he looks like Hoggle!

Separated at birth? Seriously - the cheekbones, nose, forehead, eyes, lips look identical!

It's a virus - nothing we can do

Unruly Media in the UK have come up with some of the coolest campaigns in the last 12 months and I thought I'd share a few

Pot Noodle wanted to do a spoof of this -



So Unruly came up with this -



They came up with a yodeling XBox game - Alpine Legend - to promote a snowboarding festival in Austria



And of course my favourite - they pulled together T-Mobile's karaoke sing along in Trafalgar Square

Kingmaker

Family Cactus now even have a music video - friend'o blackbird singing, Adam is of course on vox and lead

Palindromes

Ok so I've been really shithouse at this of late - lacking motivation and what not

But anyway, I thought I would share this - it's "Dammit I'm Mad" by Demetri Martin. If you don't know his show - Important Things With Demetri Martin on the Comedy Channel, check it out or have a squiz on the You Choob machines.

He has a thing for coming up with palindromes... so here is his 224 word palindrome poem in full.

Dammit I’m mad.
Evil is a deed as I live.
God, am I reviled? I rise, my bed on a sun, I melt.
To be not one man emanating is sad. I piss.
Alas, it is so late. Who stops to help?
Man, it is hot. I’m in it. I tell.
I am not a devil. I level “Mad Dog”.
Ah, say burning is, as a deified gulp,
In my halo of a mired rum tin.
I erase many men. Oh, to be man, a sin.
Is evil in a clam? In a trap?
No. It is open. On it I was stuck.
Rats peed on hope. Elsewhere dips a web.
Be still if I fill its ebb.
Ew, a spider… eh?
We sleep. Oh no!
Deep, stark cuts saw it in one position.
Part animal, can I live? Sin is a name.
Both, one… my names are in it.
Murder? I’m a fool.
A hymn I plug, deified as a sign in ruby ash,
A Goddam level I lived at.
On mail let it in. I’m it.
Oh, sit in ample hot spots. Oh wet!
A loss it is alas (sip). I’d assign it a name.
Name not one bottle minus an ode by me:
“Sir, I deliver. I’m a dog”
Evil is a deed as I live.
Dammit I’m mad.

Warm fuzzy time

HAL 9000

After months and months of trouble with the Peugeot it looks like we might finally have a solution.

for those who don't know, transmission has been playing up for ages and would occasionally go into what's called 'limp-mode' which means you basically lose acceleration, and you have to restart the car (which I had mastered, meaning id slot it into neutral, turn the key off, turn it on again and slip it back into drive - while still moving).

Peugeot said its an electronic issue, and you'll probably need to replace the transmission - looking at $2000 plus for a fix in short. But the old man of one of my colleagues, Hal, got wind of this and did a stack of research and came up with a genius plan involving new transmission oil and filters and a bit of good old jiggery-pokery.

And it worked!

This morning I had to re-start the car 12 times between Aro Valley and the Basin on the way to the mechanic. Coming home tonight and during the test runs this afternoon - it didnt go into limp mode once. Not once!

I felt like Renton finding the opium suppositories in the bottom of the toilet in Trainspotting - YES! You fucking dancer!

Cactus Day Monday

See what happens when you intern with me?

The Family Cactus was on Radio NZ's Music 101 yesterday - clip below, and on Monday the 13th their album Come Howling is out... on Sony Music no less, and will be on iTunes.

Download it bitches.

How cool is this?

Just seen this over at the Eye of the Fish (Wellington urbanism and architecture blog)

The Wellington City Council has agreed to put over $4million towards cycleways and as part of this they are going to explore building a 70km cycle and walk way from Pencarrow point right around to Owhiro Bay. Yay!

I think this is an awesome concept.

Obit

In the last week or so we have seen the passing of two totally different but oddly, equally significant figures from the last 40 years - Robert McNamara and Michael Jackson - figures from wildly different backgrounds and accomplishments but both saddened me all the same.

For people around my age group, you couldn't help but be a fan of Michael Jackson. I grew up immersed in his music - the first two albums I ever owned were Thriller and Bad - I can remember going to the movies to watch the glorified music video that was Moonwalker, and making lame attempts at the Smooth Criminal lean (that link is totally cool btw) and of course moonwalking. But for me personally, after Dangerous (and the arrival of grunge!) Jackson's relevance dimmed somewhat and in a funny kind of way, for all intents and purposes, he passed away long ago which has meant his passing has had far more of a tragic tinge rather than a shocking one.

On Robert McNamara, upfront I'll say that I believe that ultimately the expansion into Vietnam was LBJ's doing but also that McNamara should have gotten the hell out of there far far earlier. For anyone who doesn't know, McNamara was Kennedy and Johnson's Secretary of Defence. He remains the longest ever serving Defence Secretary and up until Rumsfeld, the most controversial.

But he is also one of my all time favourite political figures - there is something beautiful in politics when someone so powerful openly acknowledges and discusses their failings. I maintain that he is one of the smartest people to have ever held a Cabinet position in the US (or anywhere probably) and to this day I have his eleven lessons pinned above my desk. I still think that his first lesson of war - to empathize with your enemy - to understand their thinking and where they are coming from is his most important and is so applicable to politics - yet tragically missing from so many political strategies. It was Kennedy and McNamara's empathy with Kruschev that avoided nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis and as he notes in the video below, it was the lack of empathy that allowed the Vietnam War to get so far out of control.

This is a clip from the fantastic 2003 McNamara documentary, The Fog of War. For anyone interested in conflict and politics its an absolute must watch - his insights into the WWII fire bombing of Japan is especially mindblowing.

A Ryan Adams treat

Was over at the Cardinal Cave earlier (which kind of isn't really a cave or blog anymore) and I discovered that Ryan has done new versions of a couple of tracks from Cardinalogy - Fix it and Magick. You can listen below - they're quite different and little more funky, but they definitely grow on you.

Prickly downloads

Big ups to Adam's band, The Family Cactus, who have finally released their first single - Kingmaker.



You can listen to Kingmaker and two other tracks including my favourite, In Transit, on their MySpace site or download Kingmaker at iTunes - go on spend the $1.79!

Otherwise the Family Cactus are playing Mighty Mighty on 3 July.

Stupid people = stupid questions

At the moment I'm selling off my Nintendo Wii and all the games etc on Trade Me and in doing so I have discovered a whole new world of stupidity - the idiotic questions you get from people about the item you're selling.

Some examples:
On the auction it says - Seller allows pick-ups, Seller is located in Wellington City, Wellington.

So why would you ask "Where would pick up be please?" - why do you think I would be anymore specific at this point?

Or this one: "do u interest to sell ur wii fit and star war for 100$?" Uh no, if that was what I was interested in selling... that would be what I'm advertising.

"May i ask why you are selling please??" How about because I want to? I felt like answering, I'm selling because its hot and I need to shift it asap.

So anyway at work we were talking about the inane questions you get and one of my colleagues mentioned that his old man sells all sorts of junk and given his temper - he hates getting daft questions too... So what else were we to do...

The latest auction he is running is for beer bottle openers - which come in packs of three and are coloured Red, Black and Green (black ones pictured). But we had some (infuriatingly obvious) questions as follows -

Q. Do you have 5 packs of these available? Also how many bottles could you expect each one to open?
A. They are auctioned in lots of three.In regard to the number of opens I really have no idea. Cheers

Q. Do you have a full range of colours? Do you have Yellow? or Red?
A. No yellow. Red listed. Cheers

Q. How many colors r there? Will u sell just a red one?
A. We do not list this item in single units. Cheers

I like how he kept hiding his rage by adding 'cheers' to each one.

Childish prank for the week? Check!

Oh and if anyone wants a Wii - the auction closes monday night.

When blue meets gold

Former Vermont Governor and DNC chair, Howard Dean spoke at the Liberal Democrat conference in the UK earlier in the year. He talked about how the Democrats had to actually learn how to communicate their values better and not be afraid to campaign in all states and all areas.

Check it out below - a really good watch and loads of parallels to NZ.

Governor Howard Dean addresses Liberal Democrat conference
Uploaded by libdem. - News videos hot off the press.

Don't judge me

So I've been a bit shit on the blogging front of late. I have actually had stuff to talk about but finding the time and dare I say it, inspiration, to blog has been hard.

But anyway I will attempt to start transmission again this week.

And to kick off - He's Barack Obama - the new vid from Jib Jab. Love the pirate ass kicking and cigarette smoking reference.