Posts by Damian Christie
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Speaking of "gug", this clip obviously made for or by Aussies for the purpose of laughing at our silly little accents had me chuckling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPDvz29C7Bs
Op Shop don't really do it for me (and that song less so, after my two best friends got married to it, and I had to listen to it dozens of times while they practised getting the aisle-walk timing right.) but I've always thought they're pretty good at what they do, including song-craft. I feel the same way about Air Supply. If 'One Day' has had the same effect on a large number of others as it had on my two friends, then why shouldn't it win?
New track I'm enjoying, not sure for how long:Dizzy Rascal's cover of the Ting Tings "That's Not My Name"
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You know you'll have all the pedants ablaze with that one David... why don't you just add whale and dolphin to your "fish" list and be done with it.
While I'm here though, a big YES to the pan fried snapper, the fresher the better, and also to some smoked kahawai.
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Aside from Winston - and remember he was around a looooong time before MMP - I think MMP has worked pretty well. Parties have negotiated confidence and supply over key issues, such as Kiwibank, Buy NZ Made campaign etc, and whether you think they're daft or not, at least some proportion of the people agreed with and voted for those policies. The fact that MMP is German, and was devised to stop someone like Hitler coming to power again, doesn't make it a bad thing does it?
If we drop MMP, it won't be to bring in STV. STV was IMHO always the better system, but the MMP pushers had the jump on the campaign, and it became FPP vs MMP, not FPP vs another system. If we dump it, people aren't going to go "fuck, might as well have a crack at another system I have no idea about".
I'm interested to know how much of the Nats push for the BINDING referendum is pandering to the perceived public appetite, and how much of it is because they too want to return to the days of unbridled power with only 30% of the vote.
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Oh, and there's no water in the moat by the elephants - it's just empty. I thus cast doubt on your entire "taking the daughter to the zoo" post! Ha!
Can you people please stop being so f'n literal? It's a blog - none of it happened - I just stole some pictures off the internet and wrote a story about my imaginary niece :)
To be honest, I can't remember who had what around it. Maybe it was the rhinos or hippos where she was transfixed by the water.
And as Russell rightly points out, yes, water is a lot more interesting than an elephant. The physics engine alone...
Anyway Paul, shouldn't you be answering phones in a bid to reduce the horrendous waiting times at your call centre? ;)
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Small word-geek thing here Fletcher:
A bit like 'bemused', which has a similar meaning (puzzled, as opposed to amused), non-plussed seems to be one of those words a majority of people seem to want to mean something different.
I've won pub bets on this one before, it's that common.
Which raises a point, if the majority of people start thinking a word means something, then does it actually start meaning that?
And yes Russell, thanks, it was my niece, not my daughter with me at the zoo. I haven't yet spawned and will no doubt blog about it when and if I do.
Jacqui: I'd be interested to know at what age your daughter genuinely starts appreciating the proper animals - I'll refrain from taking Morgan back until such time...
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Why thank you Steve Barnes, I shall test your remedy tonight and with any luck, the world of Morning Report (and Wammo in the mornings on Kiwi) will be mine again.
You told me you hate listening to Wammo in the mornings.
Or is it just that you like starfishing when he leaves the house? ;)
Ah, Public Address System - is there anything it can't do?
Freaky, as I was reading that, my editor beside me was repeatedly playing an audio clip of me saying "is there anything it can't do" for a TV piece (Back Benches, tomorrow, TVNZ 7, since this seems to be the place for not-at-all biased plugs...)
That radio thing happened to me once too. It's really annoying. I think I just bought a new stereo in the end, it seemed easier than holding down the 5 key for 5 seconds.
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NEWS JUST IN
ANZ's communications manager just called me back and was very happy to answer my questions. Yes, both the staff and the customers are ACTORS. Apparently it was just easier that way. Although they have used staff in the past and still use them in internal advertising.
You have them for, what, 15 minutes? Tops?
No Matthew, I'm not a news journo, I work in current affairs (or at least used to be, not so much any more). We at least spend a few hours with people, and often a few days or more. And yes, usually we manage to get decent results, with a lot of editing.
My point was though, that the Scottish guy and his crew seemed far too smooth, funny, bouncy, wacky interesting and conveniently available to be real. And as it turned out, it was.
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The ads aren't terribly complex. They involve looking at the camera and saying some lines. I know that acting's harder than it looks, but it's not that hard. We're talking about a 30-second commercial, not a LotR-length epic.
You're talking about a 30 second commercial where the people are beyond natural - they're great talent.
I'm not saying it's impossible that out of hundreds of thousands of clients, someone might know someone and have a story, but as someone said above, it's a lot quicker and easier to find fake people to do it for you.
As a reporter, almost every day I try and get 'real people' to appear, as themselves, naturally, on TV. I know how hard it is. On the odd occasion where I've asked them to say something specific (such as read a line out to camera), it takes agggggggges and the results are very average. To try and get a banker AND their client, who both have this great wacky story, to be that good... wow.
Having said that, it's not impossible, and I have a call in to ANZ's Communication Manager right now, to settle the debate :)
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Especially considering this was supposed to be after work drinks. To get that liquored up to act the fool & keep instep is impossible for a whole office, moi however.
Yeah, although they could be a Christian firm, who I believe are able to get High on Jesus, without losing their coordination. But then they'd probably be dancing to um, Evermore? Are they Christian?
I'm pretty sure you don't see any actual drinks in the McCallum & Partners Friday drinks.
And yes, ANZ sorry, I thought that when I typed it, but couldn't be arsed checking my facts for the sake of a slightly different acronym (and an equally foreign owned bank). And do I doubt they are real people in the ANZ ads? Yes, I doubt it very much... you just don't find crazy talent like that in your customer base.
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Even just a month ago, the brain-damaged woman in the LTSA ads simply turns out to be Australian…
There's a poor taste joke going begging there...
Er, I think I did make that joke Llew, right there. Too subtle? :)
I think if the ad hadn't had "McCallum & Partners Friday Drinks" at the end, you wouldn't have got the same warm fuzzy feeling - it would've just seemed like exactly what it was, a bunch of extras miming to a song for a Telecom ad. And where's the point in that.
Robyn - the issue you seem to get at, and other people have said to me, is that because it's kinda lo-res, it's somehow more authentic. That's hardly a new technique either though - but normally they put a flashing "REC" button in the bottom corner to make it look like a home video camera viewfinder.
Grading, degrading and otherwise changing the apparent film quality (I'm thinking of the L&P stubbies ad here too) is pretty common to create a more 'authentic' effect.
There are plenty of ads that feature a case study of a real person or company, showing how the product has benefited them.
Yeah, and when Steve & Dan of Huffer tell you that Westpac is great for their business, do you really think they came forward out of a sense of civic duty, or did the bank say "we'll give you $10k and no fees for a year..."? Should we believe them more?
(And those BNZ ads with the stereotypes, Asian haircut guy, Scottish dad etc, are cleeeearly fake)