Tag: fire

Unforgettable Marketing Stunt in Football: Showmax’s Viral Video

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I recognise that this blog has been a bit football heavy of late, but despite the current disorganised mess at Bramall Lane, I’m still quite enjoying the fact that football is back. Proper football, that is, not the Club World Cup nonsense or those friendlies that actually mean very little.

Of course, being the first day of the Premier League season, I am obliged to share this video:

It’s the rules. It’s also the rules that I tell you that the original video for that song was filmed in Piketberg, very close to here.

And also being the first day of the Premier League season, I was reminded of this incredible stunt that was pulled this time last year by Showmax, in order the market their new offering:

I have never been so completely and utterly fooled in my life (ok, maybe by that blond lass on the dance floor in Madison’s in Newcastle back in 1993, but still…). Wow. It was soooo awkward.
I was on Whatsapp and every other social media platform while this was happening, wondering if it was only me that was seeing it. Thankfully, everyone else was wondering exactly the same.

I’m amazed that this didn’t get worldwide attention given just how original and convincing it was.
Literally the best marketing video I have ever seen.

I still didn’t buy the product though.

Dirty old town?

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I’m parking outside our house at the moment, because there are so many vehicles from local builders all over the road that I will get blocked in unless I assert my authority by grabbing a parking space before they steal them all. Yes, it’s annoying, but it’s better than having to struggle to get out of your own driveway when you’re in a hurry.

And as I got out of the car (outside) this morning, I spotted this shot through a little “window” in the trees.

The “window” is always there, but the smoke and the low lying smog over the Cape Flats made it a bit more noticeable today.

And honestly, if it wasn’t for that branch hanging down in the middle there, this wouldn’t be a bad photo. Sadly, that branch is hanging down in the middle there, so it’s actually a terrible photo, but when you switch on the footy highlights, you expect to get the near misses as well as the goals, don’t you?

This was a bit of a near miss.

I could remove the branch hanging down in the middle there in Photoshop, but it’s literally right in the middle of the image and it would surely be noticeable.

Or I could zoom in and crop it a bit (ok, a lot), butthen it loses the magic of the “window”…

…and it ends up looking like some dystopian Soviet petrochemical town in mid-winter.

Honestly, it’s not that bad a place, and it’s not that bad a day.

I guess that the message here is that you can’t always get the photo that you want, even if you can “see” the photo that you want in your mind’s eye. This seems to happen to me a lot, and I put it down to the limitations of my talent with the camera.

The upside of this is that when the shots do work out, it’s so much more fulfilling knowing that you spotted it, planned it and then executed the plan as well. In the meantime, I need to climb the tree down the road, and lop off that branch, so that it’s not hanging down in the middle there next time I want to get this image.

I might have to go and light a fire somewhere in the middle distance, as well.

Fire issue

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We drove down to the cottage yesterday afternoon, for a few days R&R.

Before we set off, I did note that there was a bit of a fire just south of Bredasdorp, but we weren’t quite aware of what was coming.

Even from Caledon, we could see the fire burning about 60km away.

And the scenes in Bredasdorp were even more dramatic – but I can’t show you yet (see below) – before we drive within a few hundred metres of the blaze:

The problem is this. The internet cables through to (6000 miles from) civilisation run along this road, and they’ve been damaged.

So we’re running very low on bandwidth, and that’s why I’m writing this post last night (if you’re reading it today), just in case the damage gets worse.

Incidentally, the fire has now closed the road back to Cape Town as well, so I’m guessing that the power lines to us – which run along the side of that road – are in danger too.

Never a dull moment.

But maybe some dark ones.

Filthy out

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Warning: Ramblings ahead.

A properly filthy day out, but because the microwave exploded yesterday afternoon, I had to go and take it to the microwave (see if we can) repair (it) shop, to see if they could repair it.

As a scientist, if ever we wanted to know what something did in a system, we would remove it from that system, and see what happened. That’s how we worked out that humans need oxygen to survive.

Probably, anyway.

The microwave, removed from the household system with what I think might be a transformer issue, is clearly very important in warming drinks, hot sacks and Saturday evening’s takeaway curry. In fact, given how much we’ve missed it already, I’d argue that it is almost as essential as the oxygen in the house. “Almost” because no-one has actually died yet, but given the rising levels of frustration each time someone tries to use the defunct microwave, there’s every chance that someone might.

Thus, when the guys at the repair place get in touch tomorrow, if the prognosis is not good, I will be buying another microwave very shortly after I take the call. I mean, RIP to the microwave and all that, but in the cold light of day, it’s a wholly replaceable kitchen appliance, not a family member – whatever it might think.

There’s no time for emotion here.

I’m heading out to my car park this evening, but such are the miserable conditions out, I might even be pushed into lighting the fire for the first time this year. I have to think of those I leave behind, see?
It’s 14oC out, and it’s been raining fairly consistently all day. 30mm so far, but I’m quite sure that there’s more on the way. It feels dark and grey and wintery, so I think that a nice fire would cheer up the living room a little.

It would also dry the washing, so there’s a practical side to things as well.

I shall do it.

One thing which has been noticeable this afternoon is the reappearance of our Cape Rain Frogs. This is the first big rain of the season, and they are already chirping away with both glee and delight, but where have they been for the 6 months of bakingly dry summer? In their burrows underground, that’s where. Because although they are frogs, they prefer stick to damp ground, because they’re a bit rubbish at anything to do with water: they can’t swim and they can drown if they get out of their depth.

Pathetic.

Right, let me sort some dinner (stove top) and light that fire. We might as well dip our toes into autumn and winter and embrace the atmosphere. Before heading to an unheated car park for 2½ hours.

Fire

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The rules are very clear.

They state that on the first day of the new Premier League season, you have to share this song:

And if you are in the Western Cape (which I are), you are also obliged to remind readers that this fantastic and original video was filmed in Piketberg, just up the road from Cape Town.

I’d much rather that Sheffield United were up there (the Premier League, not Piketberg) competing with the best in the land (and also Nottingham Forest, Dirty L**ds and West Ham), but maybe next year when I share this song again, we’ll be there.