A lovely thing happened to me after this week's Media7 recording: someone gave me a desk calendar.
Yeah, okay: dude got a desk calendar. Well, it wasn't just any calendar: it was the I Am Maru 2012 calendar, featuring many photographs of Maru, the internet's greatest cat, in bags in boxes, in deep contemplation.
And according to Maru's owner and blog keeper, it's sold only in Japan. I was sad when I heard this.
Happily, Rob Cawte, having been alerted to my sadness, was able to procure one for me. His only stipulation was that I mention his start-up company, Mobilista.
I'd have been happy to anyway, given that way back in the old days, about 1994, Rob was one of the first people to put the text of Hard News on a web page, at his WebWorkshop Tearooms. (I can't say whether he was the first, because I have forgotten. When I went to check, I discovered I had forgotten Hard News also being on Compuserve -- CompuServe Pacific Forum (GO PACFOR), Section 7, News & Sports -- and on David Slack's user home page at Iconz. Who knew? Well, me, clearly, at some point.)
But anyway, Mobilista. They make a mobile payments system for web apps.
Earlier in the evening, our soundie, Glen -- also known as DJ Substance, Home Brew crew's responsible adult -- had told me how skateboard ace Levi Hawken had introduced the group at their recent show in Dunedin: yes, with a "nek minnit" joke.
Contrary to some people's belief, Levi is right in on the nek minnit jokes. His short, cautionary tale about what can happen when a scooter is left outside a suburban dairy -- taken from Colin Philip Evans' skate video South in Your Mouth -- is part of the Levi brand. Don't be too surprised if you see Nek Minnit TV.
And I know it's old and you're so jaded, but I made myself laugh at least twice this week with a timely "nek minnit".
And it does bear remarking that "nek minnit" is probably New Zealand's most successful internet meme. It roared past "always blow on the pie" some time ago, and this instance of the original clip is on its way to a million YouTube views.
And then there are re-rubs. The Titanic one, for instance:
I do not know quite what to make of this dance music version. I think I am vastly amused by it:
And we ought not, of course, forget what Levi does best. Here he is bombing the Liverpool Street hill behind Real Groovy in central Auckland. The video does not really convey how steep that street is.
A tune for Friday? I have progressed from mild obsession with Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games' to mild obsession with the Jamie Woon remix of same. Listen here, download here.
Have a good weekend, everybody.