Public Consumption

Rocking out with McKenna

2006-08-14T09:56:00.000+10:00

Hey all - wanted to share an interesting experience that I had recently.

As you know blogging is a fairly new phenomena in the world today and Blogging in Australia is not really taken too seriously by too many people. But it seems that this trend is starting to change.

Even local companies and PR firms are starting to focus on local bloggers as a way of getting the word out there for their brand, product and service.

As a result, I was recently invited to a re-launch party for a brand of Bourbon called McKenna. Turns out XXXX bought them recently and they are spending a lot of cash promoting it locally for the next few months.

Nick and I ended up going to the party and it was very impressive. Live graffiti art, body painting, ice sculpting, very pretty girls handing out free McKenna and live DJs (including Paul Mac).

Nick ended up knowing quite a few of the party goers so we ended up having some interesting chats with media personalities and the organizers of the event itself.

Great time was had by all and you know the most interesting part? The Bourbon is actually quite good. Actually it is very good. I started drinking it in pre-mix bottles with Coke (or some type of Cola anyway) and ended up having it straight and in both cases it was very successful in getting me drunk while having a great taste - exactly what you want from a bourbon.

You can see some photos here.

Thanks to Paul from Zealot who invited me and the McKenna people for hosting the event and tapping some bloggers to attend.

They also have a site at http://www.mckennabourbon.com/

Find out what's playing on the radio

2006-08-09T11:08:00.000+10:00

This is so simple, but it's such a great example of aggregated data and visualization.

http://yes.com/

This made me giggle with glee

2006-07-17T10:29:00.000+10:00

This movie looks fantastic!

Watch the trailer!

Me on Geek Radio + Joss is born

2006-07-10T08:23:00.000+10:00

Last night I was on a technology podcast for Touchstone - it is always fun to be back on 'radio'. You can listen here.

Also this morning I was watching 'Amends' from Season 3 of Buffy and I really feel like it's the first episode where Joss got it all right in one episode. A blend of elements that I am sure he will perfect over the rest of Buffy (still getting through it) and used with mastery in Firefly. A blend of humor, wit, intense emotion and clean, powerful subtext that make it relevant to the real world. He also directed it an the camera work was fantastic as well. Lots of handheld etc.

It is a great episode - and I think it might have been the birth of the modern Joss.

Amazing presentations by amazing people

2006-07-02T18:42:00.000+10:00

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference is an annual event where leading thinkers and doers gather for inspiration. (More at TED.com) The TEDBlog covers the same ground, on a rather more frequent basis.

The presentations are recorded and posted on the web and they are fantastic - particularly the one with Al Gore and Tim Robins.

Check them out there.

David Fincher to do TV!

2006-06-30T12:52:00.000+10:00

From TV Squad:

David Fincher, the director of the best movie ever made Fight Club is developing a new comedy series for FX. The story is about a psychologist who becomes a hot item among the Hollywood elite because of his tendency to be brutally honest. M*A*S*H* writer Larry Gelbart is signed on to executive produce. If FX picks up the yet-untitled comedy, it'll be the first television series for David Fincher, who also directed Se7en and Panic Room.

Great news - should be fun.

Million Dollar Destiny

2006-06-22T13:08:00.000+10:00

Check this out guys: http://www.myspace.com/milliondollardestiny

From the site:

June 15, 2006. My name is Remi Frazier. I'm taking $100, a cell phone, a camera, and leaving on a one-way ticket to New York City at midnight. In one month, I will come back to Colorado with a million dollars. I've never been to New York. I don't have a place to stay.

I don't have a network of people in the city; I haven't set anything up in advance. I'll be starting from scratch, building a business and a new social network from Friday, June 16 to Saturday, July 15th. This is my story. Well, technically, this is the beginning of my story, but it's still part of my story.

Part of the story of one man chasing one of his dreams in one of the most amazing places in the country. And maybe it'll be the story of finding the American dream again, a dream which, like many of our ideals, seems to be diminishing in the face of modern times. But, for now, this is the story of one man's Million Dollar Destiny.

The search for meaning

2006-06-06T10:23:00.000+10:00

This is an awesome piece of dialogue.

If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often we assume that the light on the wall is God. But the light is not the goal of the search; it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it! Similarly, someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, sees nothing. What we perceive as God, is the byproduct of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light, pure and unblemished, not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do! Or we turn to look at our shadow, and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose; which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty ... and in all its flaws. And in so doing better understand the world around us.

Yes is for young people

2006-06-05T18:40:00.000+10:00

The only person better than Jon Stewart is his protégé Stephen Colbert.

Recently he gave a Commencement Speech to Knox College in the US and it sounds as wonderful as his White House address that I sent around recently.

Here is a beautiful quote when he went uncharacteristically serious for a while to deliver his closing message to the students:

He closed his speech on an apparently semi-serious note, urging the grads to learn how to say "yes." He noted that saying yes will sometimes get them in trouble or make them look like a fool. But he added: "Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blinder, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.

"Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. Yes is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.

Great words.

Read more about it

Al Gore as President

2006-06-03T08:57:00.000+10:00

Some of you may have noticed that in 2000 the election in the US was hotly contested with George Bush basically handed the win by the courts instead of the voters.

Many believe it was a 'stolen election' and that Al Gore (President Clinton's Vice President) should have one.

Well this man has come back with a vengeance lately launching media companies (some say the media is the 3rd pillar of democracy with Law and Government) and generally changing the world in other ways.

He has launched the most innovative TV station in the world where the audience creates the content and is releasing an unbelievable documentary dramatizing the effects of Global Warming. And he's doing it using the internet as a word-of-mouth and marketing platform.

So just recently he toped all that with a skit on SNL about what it would be like if he was president - one of the funniest skits I have seen on SNL and in general (and that says a lot considering I watch political comedy shows every week).

Check it out!

Most say he will run for president in 2008 - he hasn't announced yet but if he does I think he deserves to win.

The exercise of vital powers

2006-05-29T20:40:00.000+10:00

Do you know how the Ancient Greeks defined happiness?
“The exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope”

Artwork
And here is a beautiful evolving piece of artwork - People are contributing to it so that it continues one from the other.

Do you want a water powered car? Done!

2006-05-15T10:45:00.000+10:00

Hey guys check this out :)

It seems like every 15 years or so some guy comes along and claims to have come up with a way to turn water into clean burning fuel.

Read the article and watch video here!

Would you kill one person to save five?

2006-05-12T12:19:00.000+10:00

This is a very interesting article about philosophy and thought experiments to test our moral character.

What if...

My answer... The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

Did you do that?

2006-05-04T23:30:00.000+10:00

Good evening everyone.

Checking in for another blog post (been a while!).

Here are a couple of things of note that I thought I would share.

I saw Mission Impossible 3 last night. It was great! It had a perfect mix of humor, action and sentiment and broke the mold on the genre in a couple of ways. I really, really enjoyed it. So everyone go check it out.

It was written and directed by a guy called J.J Abrams who, as those of you who follow these things will know, created Alias and Lost. He has also just been announced as the producer, writer and possible director of the next Star Trek movie. We will see how that turns out.

Today I saw Coach Carter. In many ways it was a typical teacher/coach inspirational movie. But it was done well and I love Sam Jackson. There was one particular quote that I thought was great so I will share:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

And finally and perhaps most importantly Stephen Colbert kicked ass at the Correspondents Dinner recently. What does all that mean? Well..

Stephen Colbert is a fake news correspondent who does a parody show on Comedy Central. He pretends to be a conservative who loves George Bush, but he actually uses his unflinching loyal persona to show the irony and blind faith that the neo-conservatives have in flawed and failed policies in US and World politics.

All of this is all very good - but Stephen was invited to speak at the annual Correspondents dinner at the White House in the presence of George Bush himself. He laid the smack down and told him how it was - using Bush's own rhetoric against him.

It was a historic event of comedy, politics and pure balls to tell the most powerful dumb man how stupid he really is.

It was available online to watch on YouTube.com and others - but it has all been pulled down for 'breach of copyright'. I think it's a Whitehouse conspiracy to squash the event personally...

The return of Chef

2006-03-24T14:08:00.000+10:00

A very funny sequence of events have been occurring around Southpark - if you haven’t heard about it, this article gives a tidy account and a funny update.

The Return of Chef

And a press release from the Southpark Creators:

“So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!” the “South Park” creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. “Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies… You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!”

Style vs. Substance

2006-03-20T22:03:00.000+10:00

I often struggle with creating a clear and concise message. In a vain attempt to show off how clever I am I often over-explain things on my promotional materials and websites.

Recently I have learned to cut back on this - as you can see on the new Touchstone site (www.touchstonegadget.com). The only non-blog page with full paragraphs is the 'Manifesto' page.

But this little video shows you how Microsoft likes to rip the soul and style out of things - How would the iPod packaging look if Microsoft had designed it?

What's in a (domain)name?

2006-03-15T15:51:00.000+10:00

I have recently discovered that I have lost the domain name 'radioactive.net.au'.

For those of you who don't know, this domain was used as the address and name for my very first large-scale project - an interactive radio show.

I don't know how it happened, I believe the contact email address was old and I never received notice that it was expiring. It got de-registered and someone snapped it up.

There was nothing on the page except a holding page thanking everyone for their involvement, but I am very sad about it. Radioactive, for me, represents a time in my life when everything was new. It was 100% idealism. It felt like the world was listening (even though it was probably just 10 people in little Logan) and that we could achieve anything.

My fondest memories of that project are the people. The friendships I made with people all over the place. The best relationships that came out of it, however, were the ones that proved to me, time and time again, that they would come through for me in the end.

The first and clearest example of that for me was Cass. When Greg left in a petulant rage of stupidity she broke her promise to 'never go on air' and helped make radioactive even better than it was before by coming on as co-host. It was at once my first experience with how small people could be (Greg), and how great.

And unlike what some might think, she didn't just jabber on air... she did a crash course in the hardware and literally ran the whole show with toggles and switches and music.

She was amazing...

Of course there were others, Richard, Keepie, Spyboy, Helen, Liam and everyone else...

Those mad scrambles to get the site on the air, the nervous trip to the station, the late night adrenalin rush, the on-air debates, trying to come down after the show, the scary nights at an unsavory train station and the star trek at 1am... I will never watch star trek like that again.

I miss it all so much.

It's a sad day. Bye, bye to the radioactive.net.au domain name.

The simpsons intro - in live action video!

2006-03-14T23:16:00.000+10:00

This is great - you have to check it out! The Simpson's opening sequence re-created as a live action video clip.

Also - ever been asked a stupid question? Send them to this site. Special thanks to Cass for that one :)

Are you lucky?

2006-03-14T13:02:00.000+10:00

I have often wondered the part luck or 'who you know' plays in success in business - Well Darren has written a couple of great articles about the subject.

How to be lucky

Be Lucky

Here is a little quote:

I’m fascinated by the idea of people making their own luck - or creating a lifestyle that perhaps enhances their luckiness and thought that in this post I’d unpack 13 factors that I’ve seen in my own experience and the stories of others that might come into play when it comes to luck.

Very interesting!

What were you thinking?

2006-03-14T12:34:00.000+10:00

This clever site lets people TAKE A STAND and fight for what they believe. In a world of increasing pollarization it might be good to have a platform for people to vent their opinions and, more importantly, justify their possitions.

We could all do with a little more understanding about the other point of view.

It's called Standpoint - Check it out.

What are you thinking? Your computer wants to know!

2006-03-13T11:49:00.000+10:00

Check this out - ready for a neural interface?

http://www.neurosky.com/

Ever had trouble organizing a party?

2006-03-10T13:44:00.000+10:00

This little web-based app is too cool. It helps you organize a party but stays out of the way of the casual/social way you do it.

It's called Skobee - Check it out.

Pong++

2006-03-08T13:11:00.000+10:00

Pong was one of the first video games ever made. This guy has managed to revolutionize the gameplay using fluid dynamics.

It's highly addictive and fun!

Check it out!

http://www.plasmapong.com/

Need some inspiration?

2006-03-03T15:12:00.000+10:00

Hey everyone - That last link fest didn't post properly and missed a few links - not sure why - but in any case, here is something that a few of you will find very interesting. Check out the sample pages for a good feeling on how the book reads.

The ideas book

Back home from interstate

2006-02-27T15:09:00.000+10:00

Good arvo everyone! Long time no post. I have been doing lots of things that have kept me distracted - most recently been in Melbourne!

In my travels (and RSS reading) I have found some links that you might find interesting.

A new trend is developing around multi-point touch screens. As you can see it introduces some new opportunities in interacting with computers as a tool. Be sure to watch the video!
Have you heard of eBay? Probably. Have you heard of CraigsList? Less likely (unless your in America or follow the web very closely). Well Microsoft is releasing something that will probably compete very aggressively with both those services. It's called Windows Live Expo.

I hope you are all well - look forward to hearing from you.

A bit of fun

2006-01-30T14:51:00.000+10:00

This game is great - check it out!

Why do you think George Bush is so Awesome?

2006-01-23T13:06:00.000+10:00

This is a great little video that shows why George is so Awesome.... Check it out!

I love that guy *tear*

Happy New Year (A bit late!)

2006-01-13T12:55:00.000+10:00

Hey everyone - long time no post. So first let me say Happy New Year!

This year is a year of change - just like every year is for me I guess. Each year I try to think of the next best iteration of myself and strive for that. I guess that might sound a bit... conceited... but it's true. It doesn't mean I succeed of course.

I am changing my business/work focus considerably from one of creating a big company to one of creating financial and personal freedom. We will see how it goes.

I am also very proud of my best mate Kerry - he is heading to Sydney to try his hand at new experiences and challenges in a bigger city. I wish him the best of luck! Good luck Kerry!

Touchstone has been getting lots of exciting feedback (from some big online communities too!) and Ash, Helen and I have launched a new little project (that took us like 3 hours to make!) which is already getting about 500 hits a day (4 days after launch!). It's crazy how the small/silly ideas are the ones that make the most impact.

It's called 'WordsNotSaid.com'. It was Ashley's idea (although he has given ownership to me - isn't that right Ash?) inspired by an Alanis Morissette song called 'Unsent'.

The idea being that there are things we have always wanted to say to people - but that we often fail to say. This is about sending those 'letters' out into the void - giving only as much identifying information as we want - and hoping that special someone, somehow, might read them. At the very least we get them off our chest.

I wish everyone an awesome 06 - I am sure we will catch up soon! Also don't forget that if you receive this via email, it is actually coming from a website/blog - you can log on and leave comments etc at www.chri5au.blogspot.com

Link fest 2

2005-12-11T10:39:00.000+10:00

Hey guys - been very busy latley so no time to post. But here is a bunch of stuff I have read recently that I found fun and interesting. Also don't forget that you can actually visit the blog site and comment. This email is coming from a whole blog page at www.chri5au.blogspot.com

The 46 Best Free Utilities
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

10 things all system administrators should know
http://www.misterorange.com/2005/12/top-10-system-administrator-truths.html

Where the apple command key symbol came from
http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Swedish_Campground.txt

Fly like superman
http://www.ertdfgcvb.ch/p1/sky.html

The top 15 richest fictional characters
http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html

Space flight possible in 15 years!
http://physorg.com/news8817.html

The next generation space craft
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/347575a5d99e7010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Everyone always complains about Microsoft - so here is a list that compliments them!
http://www.misterorange.com/2005/12/top-10-system-administrator-truths.html

An interesting post about Confidence at any age
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/321/how-to-be-confident-personal-congruency/

The Universal Gadget

2005-11-28T00:23:00.000+10:00

Hey guys - Just wanted to point you all to a project that I am working on at the moment. It's at a stage now where the site *should* be self explanatory. I would love to hear your feedback to know if it all makes sense and if you might be interested in participating in the 'Private Alpha'.

For those of you who are non-geeky, it means we give you a very early version of the program before we make it public so you can let us know if it formats your hard-drive unexpectedly.

Just kidding about the formatting part!

Check it out at www.touchstonegadget.com

Look forward to hearing from you!

Unthruths

2005-11-22T00:00:00.000+10:00

Hey guys - Haven’t posted here for a while! Been busy posting in other places.

I am having lots of fun at the moment! Two new monitors (19' Samsung - Beautities) and getting a TabletPC - Christmas has come early :)

And best of all, I am taking on new work that is way more fun and interesting (and in some cases more profitable).

I am enjoying the collaboration!

I thought I would also share this great little thing I found that I think most of you will appreciate!

The Uncyclopedia

Here is a blurb that I stole another site which explains the whole thing.

I stumbled onto this as Wikicities’ Featured Wiki — Uncyclopedia is a spoof on Wikipedia, containing a fleet of humorous entries that strive for a rigorously high level of inaccuracy. It contains over 15,000 misinformational articles, a generous dose of snark, and a superlative attention to disorderly fun. It’s licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA license although “No one at Uncyclopedia knows what these letters mean. They just chose a different license to be contrary.” They’ve got an active Community Portal, a “scenic” Village Dump, and an About page which “unfortunately contains some facts.” Love it.

Artificial Artificial Intelligence

2005-11-08T09:53:00.000+10:00

There is a new service out there that I think has the potential to make a significant impact on how society works - just like eBay, Amazon, Tivo and Google have done.

eBay made it people to buy other people's stuff - on a global scale. There are whole businesses set up around this service and tones of people of all ages (even old people who don't know how to check email!) who almost make a living off it.

Amazon made it possible to avoid the shopping center and buy the most obscure thing you could want from the superstore of the internet.

TiVo (in America) has made TV a time-shifted experience. No need to sit in front of the box when your favorite show is on - watch it when you want.

and of course Google makes it possible to find almost any information within minutes.

Mechanical Turk is the new idea. I think it has the potential to be the next disruptive (in a good way probably) force in the way people live.

It's billed as 'Artificial Artificial Intelligence' which is a brilliant slogan if you ask me.

The idea is to create an open system/community whereby anyone who wants work can simply log on and do work! Work in the form of answering questions or performing simple tasks that computers can't do.

Things like 'which famous person is in this photograph'.

And then providing a programming interface into that giant 'Human Processor' for programs to access.

This means that computer programs can pass on tasks they don't know how to do onto.... HUMANS.

This system will then seamlessly pass the completed work back to the program as if the data was being returned from a subroutine.

Best of all, it comes from Amazon, which means that they have the money and the clout to actually have a good go at this.

Also I think if the pay is fair it could see many people have a nice support income by simply sitting at home and doing some simple work.

Read more about it at TechCrunch: Amazon finally reveals itself as the Matrix

Interesting Tidbits

2005-11-07T12:26:00.000+10:00

Hello crazy people. Hope you had a great weekend! Here is some good stuff for you to check out!

This is fascinating to watch. Scary too. George bush appears to have a degenerative mental illness. For real.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2682703

We need something to lighten the load - Watch this with sound and not infront of work people :)

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2666600

Epic... it sure is

2005-10-28T16:37:00.000+10:00

This is very, very... Epic.

Watch the story of how The New York Times goes out of business in 2014 and how our news and media landscape will never the same again.

Please keep in mind that everything right up to and including the 'Google Grid' (even though in this presentation it is mentioned as a 'future event') is already available and true.

Google just announced a real 'Google Grid' except in reality they called it 'Google Base'.

Watch it now! (requires sound)

Best site in the world

2005-10-28T12:22:00.000+10:00

I just found the best site in the world :)

http://flickrbabes.blogspot.com/

Here's how the site describes itself:

Flickrbabes is devoted to post the photos of the most beautiful
girls/babes/women/hotties of flickr: We update almost daily, so you better come visit us often. Enjoy!

Human 2.0

2005-10-27T09:36:00.000+10:00

Good morning!

This is a fascinating article about the next generation human. Actually its about our future over the next 50 or so years as it relates to technology embracing and extending the human condition.

SMH Article: Human 2.0

Here's a snippet!

Ultimately, we will merge with our technology. This will begin with nanobots in our bodies and brains. The nanobots will keep us healthy, provide full-immersion virtual reality from within the nervous system, provide direct brain-to-brain ommunication over the internet and greatly expand human intelligence. But keep in mind that non-biological intelligence is doubling each year, whereas our biological intelligence is essentially fixed.

Best... idea... ever

2005-10-25T13:25:00.000+10:00

Heya guys - As most of you know I am obsessed with both TV and the next generation of social/simple web-based applications being created these days (collectively called Web 2.0).

Well this idea (as far as I'm concerned) is one of the best i've seen come out of the Web 2.0 movement - especially since it involves downloading/watching TV.

http://tapeitofftheinternet.com/

I can't wait until they get it working. I'll be their first user.

Welcome to the past

2005-10-17T09:17:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I posted about the future - check out some items about the past :)

The origin of the :) smiley face. It is sooo geeky. It's a thread of discussion that was discovered on a back-up tape. The way they talk is funny if your a geek - but you see how someone mentions a smiley face and its almost a non-event. For more back story look at the Digg story.
Remember Prince of Persia the first version? Before it became a 3d game with the latest cutting edge graphics? Well someone re-created it in flash - time to waste some time!
Batteries used in ancient times! Read this article about a battery discovered in Baghdad in a 2000 year old village!

By the way I don't go and find these things - they come to me. I just post the most interesting ones here :) The miracle of RSS

The future is here

2005-10-15T21:52:00.000+10:00

You guys have got to check out this awesome site with video from the 'Australian International Motor Show".

The Toyota clips are unbelievable - the cars are like something out of Back To the Future 2 or Blade Runner or something.

Check it out to get a glimpse at the future!

Australian International Motor Show Highlights

A bit of political humour for you all

2005-10-08T19:10:00.000+10:00

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing.

He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

Oh an you will love this game - it's the best game on the net! try at least 3 levels to get to the best bit.

Looking for a woman

2005-10-07T23:46:00.000+10:00

Hey guys - I am looking for a girlfriend. So if you can please help me, spread this personal ad for me and let me know if you get any takers :)

Also I have included some photos of pussy's as a benchmark

Special thanks must go to Nicole for helping with these :)

Google declares war on Microsoft

2005-10-06T17:14:00.000+10:00

Wow. This is crazy interesting. Something to keep an eye on.

Google declares war on Microsoft

Although I always thought Google was more powerful executing on things Microsoft never considered. But I guess not.

Now they have voIP, Mail, Office Productivity, Search

They’re the new Microsoft. This will result in even more innovation from both companies - which is both exciting for consumers, and daunting for us in the industry.

Go See Serenity

2005-09-30T20:50:00.000+10:00

OK I promised I would hold off on the Firefly/Serenity posts for as long as I could. The time has come for me to break my silence!

You... must...see...this...movie...this....weekend

Even if you've seen it, which I know a lot of you have, you have to see it again this weekend so that the opening weekend numbers are huge and they will make a sequel.

Also, please email all your friends and family and tell THEM to go see it and bring THEIR friends and family.

Why am I going on and on about this? For a million reasons that I would be happy to discuss with you 1-on-1 - Suffice to say this movie, it's journey to the big screen, and it's story resonate with me on many, many levels. I wrote just a few of my reasons down on my WhatsTheGo blog if it matters - but there is more to it than what's described there.

So if that means anything - bring your entire circle of Kevin Bacon to go see it this weekend!

If they like it - I would be happy to lend them the DVDs (of the TV show the movie is based on) so they can understand the complete back-story (not necessary for enjoying the movie, but still a wonderful expansion on the film).

Here is a fantastic review about the movie too (It has some spoilers in it though)

A nice story for little boys and girls

2005-09-26T23:16:00.000+10:00

Some old guy wrote:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

And a Riddle to finish off:

When asked this riddle, 80% of kindergarten kids got the answer, compared to 17% of Stanford University seniors.

Question: What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?

Answer: Nothing

I actually don't belive it's true - but it's still a fun wordplay ;)

Ever wished there was more time in the day?

2005-09-22T13:29:00.000+10:00

Ever wanted more time in the day? This seems like a great idea!

How about a 28 hour day?

Also ever wanted to visit a Holodeck?

Check out this VR Ball.

Ever wanted Kate Beckinsale? Me too - but I have no link for that :(

Microsoft continues to dominate the world

2005-09-21T00:03:00.000+10:00

Microsoft will continue to dominate the world - because they deserve to. Check out some of the stuff coming out of their research labs.

By the way - in this first link, they talk about 'MyLifeBits' in passing. This program is designed to archive your entire life - every conversation, chat, photo or video you take/participate in.

This is obviously within your control to turn on or off - it's designed as a personal life archive tool - not a security violation - it doesn't send the info anywhere, just make it easy to archive and find it later for your own purposes. Think of it as a super blog.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=47400

This is the next generation of user interface - just imagine using your finger to do this stuff :) Keep in mind that the 3d capabilities shown here are built into the next version of windows for any developer to use very quickly and easily.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=14275

Countdown on Google

2005-09-20T13:54:00.000+10:00

This is fun and interesting ;) I wonder what it means!

Google Countdown

Blowing my mind part 2

2005-09-19T13:03:00.000+10:00

I posted last time about a site/idea that was blowing my mind because of how simple it is.

This time I wanted to bring to your attention to a site that is blowing my mind because how elegant it is.

As some of you may know, citizen journalism (blogs, podcasting and other social mechanisms) are bringing to displace real journalism for real, passionate and immediate coverage of events.

The mainstream media is, in many cases these days, taking photos, opinions and discoveries from so-called 'armatures' and re-publishing it for the mainstream. In many cases they get the material for free, and in most cases they have to go out to all these people and buy the material one by one (and potentially rip off the un-suspecting people with great shots of some disaster).

With this growing trend - one company is setting up a marketplace for citizen journalists to have mainstream media companies bid for and buy their assets (photos etc).

Read more about it on this social weblog post which also has a link to the site/company that is doing it. They don't like the idea because its 'capitalizing on suffering' but I say 'so what'? The media has been doing it for ages! This company, though, is making money from change, the change away from 'pro journalists' and media conglomerates telling us what to think while also empowering the people to get paid for their effort.

Blowing my mind... Why didn't *I* think of that.

Welcome to the Firefly Spam Blog

2005-09-13T13:19:00.000+10:00

I am sure you guys are sick of hearing about firefly/Serenity - but sucked in - here are the last few nuggets I will post about it - until - as long as I can hold out :)

Joss is on Rove Live tonight (he was also on Sunrise this morning and Radio National - and also posted an open invitation to people in Sydney to join him for a casual drink in a bar for Christ sake!). Crazy man
What is Firefly? People keep asking me - and there is no good answer. But I found probably the best page to sum it all up.
Awesome review about the movie from a guy who hates Joss/Buffy/TV in general
A huge group of us are going to see the movie towards the end of the month (it opens on the 29th - so any time after that) so please email me back if your interested in attending and I will keep you in the loop!
The last of the 'Session416' Campaign has been posted - so you can see all the 'sessions' or episodes on www.session416.com - also a new website with trailers etc at http://www.serenitymovie.com/

Blowing my mind

2005-09-11T18:12:00.000+10:00

This is blowing my mind: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

I really don't know what to say. They say if you want to make a million dollars, buy 1 million things for $1 and sell them for $2.

This guy has created 1 million things for free - and sold them for a $1 each. Unbelievably cool

Blogger lives again

2005-09-08T00:55:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it - Blogger hasn't let me log in for a week - What a catastrophe.

Tell you what is really a catastrophe - the effects of Katrina and its ancillary devastation.

What's even worse than that - the inability for the world's "last remaining superpower" to mobilize in time to save part of itself from becoming a 3rd world hell-hole for over a week.

In homage to my new found addiction to Blogging, and the unfounded narcissism it reveals when more important things are going on in the world, I thought this link was most appropriate!

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=banish

Session 416

2005-08-24T14:46:00.000+10:00

Check out Session 416 for the complete set of Viral Videos for Serenity now. Their awsome.

www.session416.com

And look out for the movie 29.9.05 in Australia :)

Link fest

2005-08-20T23:44:00.000+10:00

I have found (or have been shown) lots of great links to funny things in the last few days so I wanted to share them!

The Llama Song
(For a bit of frivolous fun! It cracks me up - you will need sound)
The Singing Horses
(For a bit of musical mayhem - Fun to play with for hours - or minutes depends on how much free time you have on your hands - you will need sound)
Petals around the Rose
(For the Intellectual - apparently the smarter you are the harder this is - Tygh told me it took someone he knows 4 hours - I got it in 5 seconds - so I don't know what this says about me)
Session 416
(For those who like quality entertainment - you will need sound)
Thread of beautiful girls
(For the boys and bisexuals)

Have fun - let me know what you think :>

I'll take HALF

2005-08-08T11:20:00.000+10:00

For those of you who know the very funny Eddie Murphy Raw and Delierious you will find this funny in a sadistic sort of way.

Eddie Murphy is getting Divorced

In other news - I just discovered Flickr, the thing I use to host and display my photos, has a 'groups' feature. In this feature you can encourage others to join and submit photos that fit into a group (duh). Having a search through the list I noticed there was one very important group missing - the "What The...?" Group.

So I started it for a bit of fun - Please submit your photos (because there is just one very crap one up there right now hah).

They have also released a great new feature called 'Interestingness' - Which uses a series of things to rank the most interesting photos in the Flickr database. There are some unbelievable photos in there. You can watch them roll by each day for a bit of fun and inspiration.

With this same feature you can also see which of your photos are most interesting (to other people). The most interesting one of mine seems to be Cass with Adam Baldwin (One of the cast of Serenity). But it is also very funny to note that my second most interesting one (and one that has been added to someone's FAVORITE list haha) is Gemma standing by a z4. I wonder why :) I think it's the car hey Gem ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Cleaning up your desk

2005-08-03T22:33:00.000+10:00

Today I cleaned my desk - Amazing I know - but it's true. It's totally bare bones. To prove it I took a picture :) It's a little blurry but oh well. The Johnny Red is clear enough. No I am not alcoholic hah.

The reason I brought this up though is because I was just reading one of my favorite blogs and they mention something about productivity through a clean desk. Have a read - it's fun!

Read it here

Media, media everywhere...

2005-07-25T12:13:00.000+10:00

Hey guys - Did you like the Matrix? Well the creators of that trilogy are producing a new movie called 'V for Vendetta'

You can check it out - and it's trailer at http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/ - wow it looks awesome.

Also - I wrote a big long review of some of the weaker points of Serenity which got published on Whedonesque.com and on the official Serenity website which was very exciting for me :). I don't recommend you read the actual review unless you have seen the movie though - it will spoil it for you. Spoilers are bad mmkay.

Creating a 'Meta World'

2005-07-22T14:24:00.000+10:00

Hey guys. Some of you may know about my idea called 'IRIS'.

I found this interesting article - it's interesting because this article comes amazingly close to my idea, and because the idea can change the way we (humanity) experience a physical space.

But first, some back story: For those of you who don't know - a 'wiki' is a philosophy and technology that enables 'anyone' browsing a website or content repository to contribute or edit the content. The result is many contributors submitting their personal knowledge for greater communal 'good'. I believe there is also some sort of communal editorial review process as well.

There is a massive (it was the first) Wiki project to create a public contribution encyclopedia.

Now that you have all of that - you can read the actual article here.

I wonder if there are any new ideas worth having and executing these days...

Tips for getting back at the system

2005-07-20T15:55:00.000+10:00

As you all should know - I don't often forward emails - but this one seemed like a great appoach to getting back at companies who annoy us every day:

(1) When a telemarketer calls, instead of just hanging up use these three little words : "Hold On, Please...". Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the Telstra's "beep-beep-beep" tone, you know it's time to go back and hang up your handset, which has efficiently completed its task. These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end? This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and records the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is used to determine the best time of day for a"real" sales person to call back and get someone at home. What you can do after answering, if you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialled the call and it kicks your number out of their system.

Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!

(3) Junk Mail Help: When you get "ads" enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these ads" with your payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those "pre-approved" letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-prepaid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 50 cents postage "IF" and when they receive them back. It costs them nothing if you throw them away! In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-prepaid return envelopes. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Westpac. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing!

It still costs them $1.00.. The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the mail, but folks, we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!

Let's help keep Australia Post busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

If enough people follow these tips, it will work --- maybe you'll get very little junk mail anymore.

Clever tips hey? :)

Serenity Advanced Screenings in Brisbane!!

2005-07-17T17:24:00.000+10:00

I am back from holiday. Logged on to quench my PC withdrawals and what do I find waiting for me....

Oh... My... God... There are Advanced screenings of Serenity happening around Australia! And there is one on the Gold Coast!

Tygh, Mitch and I went to pick up tickets at Robina today (even though I was exhausted from having had only 3 hours sleep the night before - long story that involves strippers, drunken fights and breaking and entering).

Here are some pictures from our adventure to get the tickets - well actually they are just pictures of the tickets, the lady who served us and an old picture of Cass with Adam Baldwin (I am still jealous of her but I get the watch the movie first!).

Check it out here http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissaad/search/text:serenity/

First post!

2005-07-12T19:56:00.000+10:00

Heya Guys, this is my first post on my personal blog. I am basically going to be posting stuff that I find from the various RSS feeds, websites and newsmap boxes that I trawl. If you don't want to hear this crap anymore - please just let me know and I will take you off the mailing list.

If your getting this email, though, it means I consider you a good buddy and I thought you might be interested in my sporadic posts.

Oh My God it's so hard to find a name on blogger.com that isn't taken - and most have crap on there that hasn't been updated for ages!

showandtell
goingthroughthemotions
throughthemotions
themotions
CHRi5
toomuchcrap

Their all taken as blogger names! So I have resorted to CHRi5AU - Booooring.

If you would like to be added as an author so you can post stuff too - just ask me.