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Weekly Poll: How do you feel about Supernaut re-forming?

Supernaut: click to watch video

Three polls in a row about Australian politics is enough. There are more important issues than defending the constitution or the PM blaming an interest rate rise on state debt when there is no state debt — and then spending taxpayer’s money to advertise the lie.

No, what concerns us this week is the news that Supernaut has reformed for the Countdown Spectacular 2…

I’ve written about Supernaut before. But for readers younger than… well, for younger readers, here’s a quick refresher.

Supernaut was one of the finest musical acts of the 1970s. Watch the video of their number 1 hit I Like It Both Ways and you’ll agree. You’ll naturally want to see She’s Too Hot to Touch and Kids Art Out Tonight as well.

Tonight on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Debate, the sublime Paul McDermott recalled that I Like It Both Ways was his favourite song as a child.

“I like it both ways.” I was 7 years old at the time. I didn’t know what it was about…! It was 3 years before I found out what it meant. And even then I would have preferred it was from someone my own age, rather than a 45-year-old postal worker with tight, tight shorts who went by the name of Saddle Face.

As I say, Supernaut has reformed. Please, go to the website, vote, and tell me how you feel about that. And do add your comments…

[poll id=”5″]

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Saturday Night at The Duke

Close-up photograph of fabric pattern on flannelette shirtIt’s 8am, a crisp winter morning. 11C outside. I drag a battered flannelette shirt over my t-shirt — a shirt that’s now 12 years old, I remember.

I bought it at Gowings when I first came to Sydney, and it’s still wearable, more or less. Where will I buy everyday clothes now that Gowings is gone?

The shirt smells of smoke. Why is that?

It’s not the acrid stench of cigarette smoke, but the dusty odour of burnt wood. Eucalyptus. A bushfire? Ah, no, I remember now. Sitting by the open fireplace at The Duke Hotel… red wine… the memories flood back as the coffee kicks in…

Continue reading “Saturday Night at The Duke”

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Script Challenge: can you figure this out?

I’ve decided that each weekend I’ll dig out an object or two from my more distant past and write about it. To kick things off, here’s a challenge which was originally created by the same chap who coined my name.

The text you can see in the image below (at least if you happen to be sighted) is in an unknown script. Your task is obvious, I think.

The only clues you have are that it’s a quote from a book by Ursula LeGuin and it’s nothing whatsoever to do with Tolkein.

Image of text in an unknown alphabet

Now originally I solved this in under 2 days, without the aid of computers or amphetamines. I reckon that in The Age of the Internet you can do better. I’ll negotiate a suitable prize for the first person who posts the solution.

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Being Real: more notes on radical transparency

Information Architects Japan have published a great guide to What Works on the Web — a good read for anyone wanting to do business online.

One section touches upon what I’ve been calling radical transparency — something which can shock clients more used to their suppliers spinning bull.

The openness with which we communicate here is not common. It has gotten some people suspicious and angry. We talk about clients that screwed us over (without mentioning their name, or even giving hints of course), contracts we didn’t get because we were not good enough, we shoot against people that are potential clients, we mess with one of the lungs of the blogosphere and one of the biggest marketing agency in the world started to get nervous after we opened fire against them and their unprofessional dubious practices.

This openness is to a certain degree an experiment, to a certain degree unavoidable, as it goes back to the character of iA’s peculiar owner. iA’s openness is based on the assumption: That being real works better that being virtual. In the so called virtual world as well as in the real world. Yes, in the business world as well: Because if you show your clients who you are, you are more likely to get the ones that understand you.

The definite reality check on that one is yet to come. But we are pretty optimistic.

I’ve written about transparency before, but it’s great to find a like-minded firm. Hat tip to Zern Liew.