Politics #1: John Key's call centre robots were out in force last night ... Phone: "Ring ring" Dad: "Abby, can you get that please?" Abby (8yo): "Hello Abby speaking..." [A confused look, then jaw-dropping surprise...] Dad: "Who is it, Abs?" Abby (whispering): "Dad, its John Key!" [Dad listens, yup, it's the PM, a delightful bit of recordedtelephone spam... goes back to reading homework with younger sister while Abby listens on, then hangs up.] Dad: "What was that about, Abs?" Abby: "It was John Key, Dad. He said he wanted us to vote for a national park on Saturday, or something." Sophie (6yo, looking crest-fallen): "But we can't - we've got a fairy party to go to on Saturday!"
Politics #2: Who said the young aren't political anymore? Avondale rappers Home Brew with their track Listen to Us, includes some fantastic archive clips and some NSFW language.
And The Eversons (a guitar band from Wellington) who possibly out of pity (more likely satire) have released their new single "Vote For ACT". "The lyrics start off: "Mr Brash is a modern Johnny Cash and he's doing a tour of the prisons. He's not much of a musical guy but he'll help all the people stuck in 'em..."
Quick clip: A labrador named Fenton is caught chasing red deer in Richmond park, London, but it's his owner's desperate calls to stop him that give the humour...
Local: A reader spotted this actor recycling: "In Australia for a short time, I'm away from the odious Countdown "Coleman family" series of ads, but now Woolworths over there has started a "My Family" series and the actor playing the father is in both ads and still annoying."
Books:Stuck Up!: 100 Objects Inserted & Ingested in Places They Shouldn't Be A collection of 100 X-ray images showing foreign objects ingested or inserted into human bodies, accidentally or on purpose. The authors? A psychiatrist, an emergency room doctor and forensic psychiatrist who use the actual medical X-rays which have been "tweaked" to make the foreign objects more recognizable to readers. Check out some of the X-ray images here.
Quick clips: Yeah, Fred the cat answers the phone. But he can't take messages . More impressively, this Russian dog fetches vodka.
TV: If you weren't convinced before that the culture of childhood pageants in America are tantamount to child abuse, then check out these animated gifs from the show Toddlers and Tiaras.
Video: An octopus at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in California walks out of the water. I didn't know they could do that..."Welcome our new Octopus overlords!"...
