Take my hand…

It’s totally safe. Our journey involves YouTube, a cleanskin Cabernet Merlot and that blurry hour before the sleeping pill kicks in. There is no need for alarm. Let us begin…

  1. All systems are go!. And once you learn the lyrics, sing along!
  2. Play the Countdown version and/or the Bandstand version, and explain which you prefer.
  3. Discuss whether the follow-up single release was a mistake or not.
  4. Should I admit to owning an autographed copy of that band’s album, or explain how it came to be in my possession?
  5. Does the knowledge that the album was produced by Ian “Molly” Meldrum change your answer to the previous question?
  6. Are cover versions ever acceptable?
  7. Does Adam Richard speak the truth?
  8. Come to Daddy.
  9. Grand Finale.

You may now each ask one question related to the above. I shall answer truthfully.

Alex Tew, you’re a clever bastard! But can you pull it off twice?

Screenshot of PixelLotto website

Is making money out of nothing an act of genius, a scam, or both? Or is it just a lucky fluke?

Consider Alex Tew. He made himself a millionaire with the Million Dollar Homepage — selling the pixels in a 1000 x 1000 grid to advertisers for $1 each. Advertisers loved it, according to _The Cottage Economist_, because of its ability to generate website traffic for a cheap, one time payment.

People who tried to copy the idea failed — because, of course, it wasn’t news any more. No media frenzy meant no traffic spike.

But now Mr Tew is back with a twist: Pixellotto.

This time the pixels cost $2 each. Half of that goes to Tew. But the other half goes into a prize pool. Once all the pixels are sold, that million dollars goes to a random person who clicked on one of the adverts. In theory this should be even more attractive to advertisers because there’s a real incentive to click on those adverts.

But will it work?

So far 15% of the pixels have been sold. But it doesn’t look like the media frenzy is happening. _The Cottage Economist_ reports that while Pixellotto did hit the top 1000 sites on the Internet, currently it’s down to number 32,193 — more than ten thousand spots lower than the now-inert Million Dollar Homepage.