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A couple of friends of mine back in Ireland decided to get themselves a TV show together. It is part of a competition up against 7 other shows to see who gets to make the next episode, each round knocks out two competitors.

“Victory?” is set two years after an alien fleet has captured the majority of the planet and in Ireland , an Inspector for the Ministry of Reason, the Vichy style government that is co operating with the aliens , has been ordered to hunt down the latest threat to the uneasy peace, the resistance network called Victory.

Judging for the first episode closes on Sunday the 19th so please login and vote.

I have covered this before, and probably will again.

I have yet to see the new Underbelly series called Razor which is supposed to be set during the razor gang wars for the 1920s. The Sydney Morning Herald has a review of it, I did like this dig:

Time in Razor is marked by gradual construction of the Harbour Bridge. But you really know it’s yesteryear when they show Sydney with a live music scene.

Ouch!

Bad to the Bone, originally uploaded by Avanaut.

Haven’t shared a flickr pic in a while but I like the atmosphere of this one.

I haven’t seen this clip in years. An aussie guy by the name of Lee Perry does one of the best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonations. I haven’t seen any work from him in years, I think this video dates from 2004 as least, but I think I have heard him on some ads on TV, Cherokee Jeep maybe?

Ok it has been just over a year since Toy Story 3 came out. I went to see it in the cinema, which is not something I do regularly any more.  I loved it, they ending almost brought a tear to my eye (I said almost).  But another scene of note was the first scene.  If you don’t remember exactly it’s more of a prequel to the movie as it has Andy still as a kid playing with all his toys and using a kids imagination to create a story where “The Evil Dr. Porkchop has trapped Rex in a boxcar packed with dynamite aboard a runaway train, and it’s up to his friends to save him! As Woody bravely battles Porkchop on top of the train, Jessie rides Bullseye in hot pursuit and Buzz flies in for a last-second rescue!“.

The scene is excellently executed, but it also worked on another level for me and showed how nothing can beat a child imagination provided it has the time to run wild.  I remember as a kid we used to wait for toilet rolls and yogurt cartons to build bases for out G.I. Joes (well it was Action Force for us) that scene seemed to catch that intrinsic essense of making do with what you have and enjoying it.

Which is why I was slightly appalled to see that Lego brought out a Toy Story 3 range one which is called the Western Train Chase (7597) (the italicised portion above is it product description), it took me a while to understand, construct and verbalise what my problem with it was.  Then a realised they had taken something that was celebrating unbridled imagination a kid putting together cowboys and aliens (huh?) and dinosaurs and evil pigs, boxing it and selling that specific adventure to kids.  It comes with a lego Woody, Buzz and Hamm, but to me it just screams “Don’t use your imagination kids, we’ve done it for you.” See what happens if you click this link: Google “toy story 3 western train chase”

I have enjoyed some of the output from the lego range, I am the prode owner of a lego AT-AT (here is one of my highest rated flicker pics) but it this what we have to look forward in the new generation of kids?  I am waiting for the time when the next big Christmas toy will be “Cardboard Box”™ and there will be news items in the run up to Christmas with parent pummeling the crap out of each other hoping to get a certified  “Cardboard Box”™. and there are kids bawling their eyes out because they parents couldn’t get one. This should be one of the seven signs of the apocalypse. However in this apocalypse we don’t end in some Mad Max Thunder Dome distopia more likely it will be the Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World taking upper and downers so that we can manage the world (mildly alluded to in Wall-E).  However if that does happen you’ll find me holed up in a lighthouse outside London with some sticky backed plastic and some lolly pop sticks, good luck.

Want to know why the financial market is so screwed up? Here is what the banks in Australia put out as ads to shore up consumer confidence, because, you know that is kinda important right now:

BankWest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTjT0rrbfYs
(This is only one of a whole slew of ads where bank managers are get banking advice from midget horse, teddy bears and they ride around on space hoppers)

ING Direct

(This used to be Billy Connellys gig until he, a comedian, was considered too serious)

ANZ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSSwfXlZQFI
(from a security perspective this was a complete waste of money, he bypassed all the expensive stuff by knocking on the glass)

Commonwealth Bank

(Yeah, now these dudes have just wrecked international relations with New Zealand)

All I want is a ad with an accountant looking fellow in a boring grey suit standing in front of a white background pointing to a sign saying 8%, the bank that does that will get all my money.

This is an interesting video discussing the hows and whys of getting into stand-up. It is a bit London centric but largely correct. In short get out there and perform and do it often.

Presented without comment (except that I’m geeking out right now!) [via]