Last laugh

Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.

Last laugh

The hottest sociologist no longer in Parliament has gone back to his turangawaiwai and speaks to Idealog about his new job and what it’s like not having to deal with tired, old drunks and having to have a thick Hide. What’s more, Maharey’s dream job might surprise you. Read more about Steve Maharey and his escape from politics in the current issue of Idealog.

Puppy Guts and Lense Flare

Yesterday was the very Grand Final indeed in the 48 Hours Film compo, in the Belgian Beer Cafe in Ponsonby. We were there, and would like to congratulate the winning Puppy Guts team and runner up Lense Flare for beating some 600 other entrants and winning absolutely masses of money and goodies.

Here’s Reagan Morris of Team Puppy Guts talking to TV3’s Sunrise about the win.

Now showing

Nothing on the telly? Let Paul Neave entertain you. Neave Television, his brilliant mashup, collects random video clips from the box and collates them for your viewing, er, bewilderment. With clips from old sci-fi flicks, ads, kids cartoons and the truly weird, it’s easy to channel-surf too—just click on the page for your next installment of who-knows-what.

Rookie’n’rawl

WINIdealog is looking at crowning the Rookie Designer of the year. All you need to do to be in the running to win $500 worth of Gordon Harris vouchers, $200 of Curvy books and a $190 ticket to Semi-Permanent is to create a visual explosion representing Idealog. Winning entries will be slapped onto the official Idealog 2008 t-shirt, so hurry up and send your designs to competitions@idealog.co.nz before 5pm Friday, July 25.

Mashied niblicks

Rock.
Hip-Hop.
Drum and Bass.
Breaks.
Dubstep.
Live visuals.
MCs.
 More.

The Mashup Mafia is good if you can’t decide what to go for … gigs next week and then the Wall of Sound on August 1.

RoboCup junior

Kiddos, now’s the time to build robots. The world’s biggest robotics competition designed by teachers for school students features three categories: Dance, Rescue and Soccer.

You should know, of course, that the word ‘robot&lrquo; comes from the Slavic robota, meaning hard work. It’s good to know these things. Trust me.

What a re-corker

Investing in wine can be rewarding, both financially and epicuriously. You have to make sure the wine in the cellar stays in the best condition however.

To that end, Penfolds is inviting owners of its wines that have been in the bottle for 15 years or more to come along to the Duxton Hotel in Wellington on August 25 for a ‘re-corking clinic’. Chief winemaker Peter Gago will be in attendance, assessing the condition of the wine. If it’s found to be in sound condition, the wine will be topped up with the most recent vintage, re-corked and get a new Penfolds capsule plus a certificate attached to the bottle.

Registration is free at penfolds.com and closes August 11.

It may be on pretty well into the year, but Semi-Permanent will help you design the rest of it very well. New Zealand’s largest design event is for people in graphics, illustration, branding, advertising, motion graphics, fashion, film production, animation and more. So unless you drive a rubbish truck, you should get your tickets now.

Quote of the week

“Just double the budget. We simply have to spend a whole lot more money on education and research.”

—Former minister of many portfolios, Steve Maharey, free to say what he really thinks about our spending on tertiary eduation (or lack of it).

More at Idealog online

Read more on our website: web exclusives, opinion, creative directory, Idealog TV, the Idealog blogs and the Idealog podcast. See you at idealog.co.nz.

  Juha Saarinen
  A fine pinelog