The ‘Wellywood’ sign: people power gets things done

That was a very interesting 30 hours. I found out about the ‘Wellywood’ sign yesterday afternoon, through Twitter, and Tweeted to say I hated it. Little did I know then that there was a huge Facebook group—6,000 strong at the time of writing—where Wellingtonians were making their voices known.    And when I got there […]

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Wellington needs free wifi and jobs, not a council that goes nuts with spending

Funny how a media article can inspire you to send out a release, especially when you’re a ratepayer and you wonder if our City Council of élites understands how hard it was for us to make that money. In today’s case, it was Lindsay Shelton’s Scoop Wellington op-ed about Wellington City Council going nuts with […]

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Eric Karjaluoto begins giving away his Speak Human book

A few authors—and not crappy ones, but those who have proven they can sell books—have resorted to giving them away online. Stefan Engeseth gave away his The Fall of PR and the Rise of Advertising online at the time of launch, while I received word that Eric Karjaluoto is now doing the same today.   […]

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Embrace life

I may be later than many in writing about this, but I only saw it in my Tweetstream today.    What a welcome departure from the blood-and-gore approach of many road safety public announcements, from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. You may also like Finding the heart on Top Gear again Drivetribe will be a […]

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Surprises on the press freedoms’ map

This map (via pedroelrey on Tumblr) is food for thought, about international press freedoms:    Those of us who enjoy a free press need to use it and not take it for granted. We might not always like what’s being said, but we should embrace the fact that we can say it at all.   […]

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Toyota’s troubles stem from forgetting its principles

I was surprised to learn that Toyota still has not issued a worldwide recall of its troublesome Prius NHW30 model, even though one had gone out in New Zealand.    In layman’s terms, the brakes allegedly don’t work when you want them to. In more complex terms, the software has trouble distinguishing between different types […]

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Best quotation on the Howard Stern–American Idol tie-up

The best quotation in the American media this week? In my opinion, it would have to be this: Howard Stern is being considered to replace Simon Cowell when he leaves “American Idol” after this season.    Apparently Satan was out of Fox’s price range. From Tony Hicks in the Contra Costa Times. You may also […]

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The “other” Tsang Tsou Choi biography

I can’t find much by way of biography for artist Tsang Tsou Choi (曾灶財), the self-titled ‘King of Kowloon’ (九龍皇帝), but the following gives a good summary about how most feel about him:    Since his death, some of his work has been destroyed by the Hong Kong authorities, though others have been preserved. (Initially, […]

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If Google Images does it, is it legal?

If you pop down to the comments at an earlier post, you’ll find that a chap called Mark was very upset I used a thumbnail (100 pixels wide, 67 high) of one of his photos. In fact, I’ve done exactly the same in this post with another gentleman’s work (albeit this one is under Creative […]

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Getting a good laugh over the Jennifer Hawkins nude cover non-story

This whole Jennifer Hawkins nude cover story has been another media-concocted non-story. But I will give it some kudos: it influenced Australian celebrity dialogue for a week, and it shows that Murdochs still have some sway over public opinion.    We knew about it at Lucire, and thought: OK, a radio presenter doesn’t like the […]

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