Big Day Out finally gets it right

Just got back from Big Day Out Melbourne and I have to say that they finally got it right.

After being dubious about them using Flemington Racecourse again as a venue, I was proven wrong today by how well it worked. Yes, there is still the dust issue and the lower temperature as compared to last year did help but it seems like they did take feedback on board.

Lots more under cover areas, lots more grass and places to sit, and they moved the Boiler Room out of the ‘funnel’ they had last year that saw way too many people miss out on going in there because of the crowds.

And the had a silent disco – it rocked!!

Check out some of the videos.

The Ting Tings

Sneaky Sound System

….,” David Says

Why would you want reversible underwear?

Walking past the bus stop today I saw an ad that really baffled me. It was an add for the new Kayser ‘flip’ bra, a reversible bra.

Now I have never worn a bra nor do Ihave any desire to but the concept around which this product is based is quite hilarious. I mean what product developer gets up one day and thinks ‘hmmm maybe we should make underwear that people can just wear inside out!’.

I am sure there are some benefits for women to have a reversible bra, and if I really cared I would actually find out, but surely any benefits are outweighed by the repulsive thought over someone reversing an undergarmet to get a second use out of it!

I could probably come up with some really creative alternative advertising concepts for this one. I’m surprised they haven’t used it for a viral marketing campaign.

…,” David Says

But maybe i want a tunnel

Stop the Tunnel!

Say no to the tunnel!

These are the types of messages i keep getting through my letter box every second day because I live on the border area that is affected by the East-West Tunnel.

All these politicians and community action groups are coming out of the woodwork to tell me that the East-West Tunnel is a bad bad thing and that I should oppose it. They are all telling me that the Government has not consulted with me before making a decision that will affect me. Well actually, the last time I looked, the State Government had not actually made a decision.

And, if we are on the topic of consultation, none of these so called ‘community action groups’ have stopped to ask me my thaughts on the East-West Tunnel.

YCAT was the last group to put a flyer through my door and the arguments that they put to oppose the Tunnel are just laughable Here are just some of them:

In excess of 150,000 vehicles a day will traverse Alexander Parade

I thought the whole idea of the tunnel is to take the traffic away from Alexander Parade and remove all the through traffic that is currenlty using Alexander Parade to get to the Western Suburbs through the North.

My parents currently live in the west and on a Sunday it often takes me about 30 minutes just to get through Alexander Parade with the current levels of traffic going in that very same direction. Try this during the peak morning periods and the result is much worse.

Yes the tunnel will take over parts of Alexander Parade, but as far as i am concerned this is a small price to pay for removing this through traffic.

It will create a continuous 100km freeway from Altona to Frankston

How is this a bad thing? If we can finally link up our freeway system to make sure that drivers can get from one side of the city to the other with ease and without having to crawl through inner city streets, I am all for it.

Yes more money should be spent on public transport but lets be realistic, public transport will never replace the car. If a linked freeway system will mean that cars can travel more fficiently and free up inner city streets then is this not more sustainable?

It may involve the demolition of heritage buildings and possibly the Fitzroy Pool

The may here is my favourite bit. Its like saying ‘this is actually bullshit but by putting may in front of it we might just scare you enough to listen to us’.

Come back to me with something definite that you can put a statement to, then we’ll talk.

It will involve significant trauma and distress for local residents….

Really??? City of Yarra has the 2nd highest crime rate of all Melbourne municipalities, we already live adjacent to Hoddle Street and Alexander Parade which lets face it, are basically freeways with lights. I don’t think a tunnel is going to put me into therapy….

But the best argument I hear is that money should be pumped into public transport instead. To be frank, I walk out of my door and I have access to a pretty good bus system, trams and trains less than five minutes from my door step. I dont need or want any more public transport. What sucks around here is the road and freeway system.

So I say YES to the tunnel, and keep our streets to those people that have business in the area.

,” David Says

Does it really take this long to get internet in 2008?

So today I vented my frustration on a tech support guy.

I signed up with Internode for naked ADSL, yet over 2 months after first signing up, I am still having to use wireless to log onto the net from home.

Around 4 weeks ago I was given an appointment for both Telstra and Optus to come and connect the line that the naked ADSL would run through. A guy from Telstra turned up, did a few things to the line and said that Optus would have to do the rest. I never saw anyone from Optus, but according to them the line was good to go.

I tested the line, it was dead, nothing on it, zilch.

Since then I have been stuck in an endless loop with Internode and Optus. I call Internode support, they say that they will log it to Optus. Optus claim that they have fixed the line (which is funny because I never see them), I test it and it is still dead and the process starts over again.

Today, I was asked to be home (I took the day off work) because Optus said they wanted to come and check the socket inside the house. I waited all day, no-one turned up.

What really got my goat today was the endless buck-passing. I understand that Telstra and Optus have a monopoly over all the physical lines that run to our homes. But strangely enough I really don’t give a crap. All I want is to be able to make a call and get what is now a basic home service (the internet) to my home. No delays, no explanations just a service.

Is that too much to ask?

…,” David Says

When your life is not worth selling on eBay

What the hell is it with people wanting to sell their life on eBay?

Once was a novelty. The story about the guy from Perth who sold his entire life, including his job and his friends, after his wife left him was actually interesting, although who would want to buy a set of friends that someone else would so easily give away?

But now the copycat ‘life-sellers’ are just driving me crazy.

My sister pointed out one to me the other day. A Victorian guy from Daylesford who apparently doesn’t want his life anymore and wants to sell it all. Well guess what, no-one wants sloppy seconds on a crappy life.

The listing, which he says has no starting bid but then I think he realised how stupid he was and put a reserve of $400,000, has the following:

• A crappy house, which looks like a converted shed
• A 1.5 acre block which he sells as being in the middle of Daylesford, the spa country but is actually about 10 minutes away
• A crappy ute
• A Porsche 911 with no rego

For $400,000? You have to be joking!

This was why he finally decided to put on a starting price, I doubt he would be able to pay for a removal truck for all his other crap with the money otherwise.

Go and have a look at the listing and have a laugh as well. And if you take pity on him, have $400,000 to spare and only a fraction of the brain cells, you should make a bid.

…,” David Says

Are we allowed to criticise the dead?

The release of the Batman sequel, the Dark Knight has brought up an interesting moral dilemma.

Watching the aftermath of the Australian premieres, Australian media has been bombared with impressed fans who cannot fail the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker. “Haunting,” some called it, “Oscar-winning” said others.

I will have to advise right now that I am yet to see the movie. It is on my list and from what I have heard both through media and friends I am sure that the movie and Heath’s performance will be nothing short of amazing.

However, the question still needs to be asked: would Heath Ledger’s performance be so spectacular if he was still alive?

We have all seen it before. The artist whose work doesn’t hit anyone’s eye until their name is prefaced by the words ‘The Late’ or the sportsman whose stellar performance or amazing feats are overshadowed by a personal tragedy or controversy. When the number of hits on a news article detailing a songwriter’s divorce settlement surpasses the number of records their last album sold it has to be an indicator that something is not quite right.

Maybe the lesson we should be taking from Heath Ledger’s death is not just recognising the great Australian talent that has passed away but further appreciating the great talent that still lies amongst us.

…..,” David Says

Does this mean that my Nirvana album is child porn?

I have a dilemma.

I quite like my Nirvana album, but according to our Prime Minister, this is child porn. Should I be reporting it to the authorities?

Recently for my 30th birthday celebrations I hired a bus to take my family and some friends to the Yarra Valley. In the lead-up to the day, my parents colluded with some of my friends to have naked baby photos of me printed (A3 size) and plastered over the whole bus.

My first reaction when I saw a naked baby picture of myself in the rear window of the bus was – we are going to get arrested.

This is the kind of ridiculous actions that we are risking thanks to the ultra-conservative views of Australian society. Im not going to blame the government for this one, because our conservativeness outlives the term of the current government, and I applaud those in the art community who are willing to take a stand against it.

Don’t get me wrong. Sexual images of children are wrong and should never be endorsed in any way shape or form. But there is a difference between having a photo of a naked child and child porn, it is all in the consent and the context.

I heard a child rights advocate on the Today Show the other morning saying that if an innocent image of a child has the potential to give just one deviant person the wrong thoughts then the image should be banned to stop the person having that thought. How ridiculous! Since when have we started letting our lives be ruled by those in society who are unstable?

Here are some other ridiculous notions to add to the archive:

• Lets ban alcohol to stop people getting drunk and violent…..
• Lets ban junk food to stop people getting fat….

It’s about time we started getting people to take responsibility for their own actions rather than walking on egg-shells around them to stop them from doing anything wrong.

….,” David Says

Morning emails – how web2.0

So I have taken up the habit of emailing television shows.

I noticed it this morning when Karl Stefanovic pissed me off again this morning on the Today Show with his stupid reports packaged as news. A story about some idiot who likes getting drunk and streaking in front of crowds apparently seemed worthy of a 5 minute on location interview. Must have been a slow news day.

My first instinct was to change the channel – which I did, thank god for Sunrise.

My second instinct was to jump on to my email and send them a scathing email.

It made me think how Web2.0 our life really is now where we can instantly send feedback to any show we are watching and where producers no longer have to guess an audience’s response but can watch live ratings to see which stories are making their audience change the channel.

And how when you get pissed off, you get to not only annoy your housemates and workmates with your bitching and moaning. You can tell a whole lot of other people who really don’t care.

…..,” David Says

Proof that computer games really rot your brain

I had another topic planned for my post today but after hearing one of the stupidest comments I have ever heard on TV, I decided that it needed to be shared.

Today’s episode of Cybershack featured some footage from a gaming tournament in Sydney. Don’t ask me the game they were playing, because I really wasn’t interested but what caught my attention was a comment made by a gamer.

After playing a combat game, he made the following comment to camera: “it was so life like, I want to be a soldier when I am older and this has given me an idea of what I will be facing”.

I guess that no-one told him that if he wants to do anything that even comes close to what he plays on his computer, he is going to get off his backside and get outside.

But I shouldn’t complain, our armed forces do need people and may be should be thanking software developers for creating a generation of people dumb enough to join.

….,” David Says

Telstra has lost its way

For the past week I had been fooled by Telstra advertising and nearly foiled into taking a phone line with them again. But a look at their website and a phone call to a consultant soon remedied that temporary insanity.

Just like many young working professionals, a home phone is useless. I’m barely home, and when I am, I have so much credit on my mobile (a real necessity) that its ridiculous to use another line to make calls. The only thing i need a phone line for is internet – good internet.

So why should I pay $26,95 a month for a line that I am only going to use for internet, for which I will still have to pay a monthly fee? And why Telstra do you want to try to lure me in to a ‘cheap’ $19.95 line rental deal when the fine print says that I will have to agree to use Bigpond services only on the line (another waster of money).

Come on Mr Rudd, broadband in this country really needs a shake up.

..,” David Says