Jets flying under foot

Last night we went to RiverFire - An annual event here in Brisbane. They send up fireworks from many points along our winding river from barges and rooftops of the buildings. It's fantastic.

They also have aerobatics and 2 Jets that fly by on full afterburners at the start and the end of the night.

Most people gather around various landmarks along the riverbank (especially southbank) but we were actually in building in the middle of this photo (the one with the big spire). 5 floors up from that big section towards the top - very, very nice view.

The planes were flying underneath us and some of the fireworks were coming from the roof top of the building across the street. We were looking down at it! Big thanks to Nik and Gem for hosting the event!

SkypeIn Magic

I'm now the proud owner of a SkypeIn phone number. It's very cool. It even has a Manhattan area code. Oh the wonders of technology. It's the business to be in I tell you.

We played with it at work today, but it was fairly laggy. I wonder if this is because we are calling overseas compounded by the fact that it's a voIP call, or if it's just because it is a voIP call via Skype.

In any case it's a great feeling that you can get a 'landline' call from any PC you're logged into.

Still obsessed with Shiny Things

I'm still obsessed with Firefly/Serenity. Sorry - but I am. This review is one of the best ones I've read. It was written by a distinguished Sci-fi writer. Check it out. It brings back so many memories. I hope to have an experience like seeing that movie for the first time again some day.

I love this bit:

"I can enjoy the first Matrix and see it as a kind of magic sci-fi, but recognize that in the end, it's all about the mystical quasi-religious ideas and the special effects, and not about human beings at all.

Because for me, a great film -- sci-fi or otherwise -- comes down to relationships and moral decisions. How people are with each other, how they build communities, what they sacrifice for the sake of others, what they mean when they think of a decision as right vs. wrong."

Could being a Neilson family kill you?

Until now, Stephen Colbert's amazing and ingenious use of the net and the growing participant culture to promote his show has been a beautiful thing to watch. But it was never beyond my imagination. If I were in his place I'd be doing the same thing. But I just watched the intro to the Colbert Report episode 08.21.2006 and his intro took it over the edge for me. By itself maybe it was just another funny/clever comment, but when added to the sum total of Wikipedia jokes, Green screen antics and his other 'buzz' generating stunts, you get a very beautiful picture.

His intro comment was "Could being a Neilson family kill you? Watch the entire show to find out".

Genius. Subtle, relevant, clever and could even have a direct affect on his rating for the night.

I love that guy so much - in a straight, non-sexual way of course.

He is climbing fast to join my other masters:

• Joss Whedon
• Ronald D. Moore
• Jon Stewart
• And all the people leading the charge with Current.TV (including Al Gore)

J.J. Abrams might be on the list soon, depending on what he does with Star Trek - but right now he is a little too disconnected for my taste.

I think Colbert, however, should be the new member of the 'Oh my god, you're changing traditional media by being a legend' club.

In Episode 08.23.2006 he even goes on to talk about the fragmentation of media experiences due to the explosion of choices going so far as to bring a band on that uses YouTube as its primary promotion vehicle. I think he understands the principal of 'Audiences of One' better than most traditional media personalities.

Get LOST - Season 3 Begins Oct 4

I am very excited. Lost starts again in October and the poster looks great. Strange that Michael and Walt are not in it - I guess they really have left the island. I can't wait to see what J.J does with Star Trek. See the poster here. Also Prison Break just started. The first ep was a bit ordinary though. Although interesting that they killed that character (won't spoil it for you) and also I don't know if anyone else noticed but the Vice President's brother is now a different actor. It used to be Phlox from Enterprise (John Billingsly or whatever) and now it is someone else. Weird!

New photos

Just posted a few more photos on my flickr gallery.

Too busy to feed

Lately I have been so busy with Touchstone (in meetings etc) that I have not had a chance to read my RSS feeds or even think long enough to have something to post either here or on the Touchstone blog. I know posting about not posting is a big 'no-no' but it really does open up questions about how long all these bloggers can keep blogging when the novelty wears off and everyone gets busy with their real jobs.

That being said, however, the meetings have been fairly fruitful. Now there are 4

Also - on the drive home from work yesterday one of the hosts of the drive-time comedy show was begging for an assistant who could help filter the useless trivia so his brain had more room for stuff he really cared about. Sounds like he needs Touchstone :)

Rocking out with McKenna

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/