It's something I haven't been doing as much as I ought to have. Over the past two months, Warner Bros. has been running a contest on YouTube. The idea is to create television advertisements for Veidt Enterprises, the ubiquitous corporation owned by Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias.

Here's Zack Snyder introducing the contest:



Then you can vote for your favourites, which will then be used to fill television screens in the movie.

Peter English on the state of tiddlywinks in Australia and around the world. James Sutherland could learn a few things about how it's really played:

In our house the children's version of tiddlywinks had to be banned due to the emotion involved when it wasn't clear which score the piece landed on. "C'mon children, settle down," mum would say, "it's not cricket."

When Patrick Barrie of the English Tiddlywinks Association talks about the sport he sounds like the chief executive of a major cricket organisation. "It's a tough game," Barrie says. "Emotions do bubble over and some words are said that would not be acceptable in genteel company.

"Earlier this year I loudly denounced my partner as an idiot when he missed a simple squop for a big win. The cry 'you've subbed, you stupid cow' has been shouted in earnest. Stronger language is used too, just as it is in cricketing circles." [Link in original]

I agree. As kids, we were just as aggressive over Snakes & Ladders and Ludo as we were over football and cricket. Maybe more so.

Okay. So, what would you do with a really slick phone with a fabulous camera, touchscreen, great multimedia playback, motion and orientation sensing capabilities? You turn it into a top-of-the-line stalking and soft-porn recording device, of course!
At least, that's what LG thinks:

I first came across David Byrne's Playing The Building project in Wired.com's Listening Post blog. Life gets in the way sometimes, and the blog post I intended was lost in the ambush. Thus, a whole month later, I have to be reminded by Prem Panicker, who discovered the BoingBoingTV feature on Byrne's project. Here's the episode in its entirety:


The project is open to the public, and is managed by Creative Time, an NYC-based art installation service. Visitors can create their own tunes with the pump organ, which is connected to various columns, girders, beams and pipes in the building (The Battery Maritime Building in New York City), using these structures to amplify sounds created by devices attached to them. By allowing them to participate in the creation, Byrne hopes to break down the boundaries between composer and consumer.

AP: I find it really interesting to consider that humans are exposed to more sounds than ever before. With this project, you seem to advocate that people pay attention to the sounds inherent in everyday surroundings and materials. Why?

DB: I’d like to say that in a small way it turns consumers into creative producers, but that might be a bit too much to claim. However even if one doesn’t play the thing, it points toward a less mediated kind of cultural experience. It might be an experience in which one begins to reexamine one’s surroundings and realize that culture—of which sound and music are parts—doesn’t always have to be produced by professionals and packaged in a consumable form.
I’m not suggesting people abandon musical instruments and start playing their cars and apartments, but I do think the reign of music as a commodity made only by professionals might be winding down. The imminent demise of the large record companies as gatekeepers of the world’s popular music is a good thing, for the most part.

AP is Anne Pasternak, curator of Playing The Building. Read the whole interview, it's vintage Byrne.

BTW, for those who're wondering who David Byrne is: shame on you. Go Google "Talking Heads" and be educated.

. . . 14 other weird-as-all-hell classified ads.

My favourites: the '96 Honda Civic that speaks Spanish, and the $75 football that's been signed either by Pele or some guy called Peter.

Alisa Miller talks about how Americans consume news. It's not surprising, but it's quite revealing.

I think Lalit Modi likes the view.

Via email from Harini.