Rowan's blog

Me and the socceroos

I've suddenly turned into a sports fan.

Yes, that's me with the banner. Yelling for the socceroos. Bet you never thought you'd see that! (And those are my colleagues below - yes, it was a shoot - I wasn't actually at a game...)

Funny thing is I AM going to the NSW vs QLD State of Origin game tonight!

BBC bungle

If you haven't seen this already you just have to take a look!

"Guy Goma, a graduate from the Congo, appeared on the news channel in place of an IT expert after a mix-up.

But Mr Goma, who was wrongly identified in the press as a taxi driver, was really at the BBC for a job interview.

Mr Goma said his appearance was "very stressful" and wondered why the questions were not related to the data support cleanser job he applied for."

Source: BBC

Read article and watch the video of interview here.

Too funny.

Million dollar home page

I just saw this on Mick's blog. Amazing. Some guy has sold the 1 million pixels on a web page at $1 each. The appeal being that the page would become a viral phenomenon.

Check it out: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

Most ingenious way I've heard of to become a millionaire!

Christmas shopping in London

Mum and I went to Kensington, Knightsbridge and Oxford Street yesterday to check out the Christmas lights and window displays.

I discovered two rather original Chrismas pressies in Harrods:

1. A silver vegemite lid. Cost: £95. Yes, you read that correctly. What the?!!

2. A four wheel drive car for kids. Cost: £21,995. For a fiver more you could of course buy an adult size Ferrari with only 30,000 miles on the clock - but what would be the fun in that?

After exploring Harrods, we walked down Oxford Street. Nice lights.

I particularly liked the look of Carnaby Street.

The Wedgewood china-tree was pretty cool too.

Ended my day at a Christmas Carol concert in Richmond with Dad and Heather. The kids got up and sung 'Away in a manger' beautifully (they'd be bribed with chocolate buttons). I think Away in a manger and a guy playing a 'Hurly Burly' (medieval instrument) with pipe were the highlights of the concert for me. Plus of course the mince pies in the interval. Very, very British!

Advertising

A colleague sent me this viral yesterday - obviously targetted at those in advertising. I watched it late last night, while still working my butt off. Made me chuckle.

Watch 'When I grow up...'

Great viral piece: Get out of my car

Suz just emailed me this viral piece.

Very clever. Very funny. Worth a look.

Download GetOutofMyCar_1.wmv (2.3MB)

Armed Dolphins Released Into Gulf of Mexico

I just saw this on Mick's blog. Too weird. I had to blog it.

From Slashdot:

An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian is reporting on what may be the weirdest Hurricane Katrina story yet. Military trained dolphins may have been released into the wild by the Hurricane's devastation." From the article: "Experts who have studied the U.S. navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The U.S. navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing. Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War."

Ordering pizza in 2030

Ever wondered what ordering pizza might be like in the year 2030? Someone obviously has.

Watch this. Be sure to turn your sound on.

Very scary! :s

Halloween in August

Every year, my American friends Kathey and Russell host a fabulous Halloween party. This year they’ll be overseas in October. One of the important Halloween party attendees, Jon Jon, was going to Berlin on the Thursday, so we had Halloween on a Wednesday (in August).

It was a rather tame Halloween party compared to other years, not surprising since it was a school night and the invite went out only a few days before. It was good fun to get dressed up though and continue what’s been a culturally significant event to our crowd.

I dragged Ben along. He’d not been to a fancy dress party since junior school was a little concerned, but happy for an excuse to get his Swannies kit on. I went as a Swannies cheerleader and egged him on. Kathey was the subject of the star pic however:

Kathey as a Hershey’s kiss, with my Pom Poms.

The shower scene was pretty good this year too.

Some other good pics:

Pete's hat and Ben's socks

Mich & Pete

The jesters

Thanks so much Kathey and Russell for putting on Halloween 05 at such short notice. You are champs!

The Ad Guy Starter Kit

This one's for my colleagues - not that they need it of course.

Check out the Ad Guy Starter Kit.