Colin Seymour

Santam Does a Nando's on Nando's

2012-04-24T14:39:51+01:00

Nando's in South Africa has a reputation for coming up with some of the best adverts you'll ever see on TV. Many are spoofs, insults or just quick jabs at current affairs, so it's not surprising that they're at it again. What is surprising is when someone comes back and one-ups a Nando's advert.

First, Santam (insurance company) released this advert...

A very good advert and, yes, I did replay it to make sure. Off the back of this, Nandos came out with...

Not bad. Still makes your smile, but who'd have guessed Santam would be so quick off the block and release this...

Now I'll be very impressed if Nando's fulfils this "demand" and actually creates an advert from it. Time will tell.

Update: 25 Apr 2012 - According to IOL, Nando's will be delivering today, ahead of schedule. Other sources suggest Nando's are going one better and not just delivering once, but repeatedly over the next 12 months. Still need to find a reliable source for this last bit, but nice one Nando's. You'll keep getting my money.

Update: 26 Apr 2012 - And here we have it, the final word. Nando's will be delivering a free meal to the Jo'burg kid's home every month for the next 12 months. That's brilliant Nando's.

Update: 27 Apr 2012 - And as expected, Nando's have done an advert about it too...

Cat Alarm Clock

2012-04-23T15:01:31+01:00

Reminds me of the kind of thing Simon's Cat would do.

Project Glass

2012-04-18T10:22:30+01:00

Project Glass is a research and development program by Google to prototype and build an augmented reality head-mounted display. This isn't a new idea, but Google seems to be getting loads of attention for their design as it appears to be quite small and attractive and they've released a pretty impressive promotional video...

I think this is pretty cool, but I don't expect this to become mainstream any time soon. That said things might just hot up when Apple or Microsoft enter the same domain, though Microsoft would need to improve on their user experience as everyone imagines it would be just like this parody video...

An Honest and Humorous Amazon Review

2012-04-13T17:27:50+01:00

My colleague has just pointed me to this brilliant product review for Veet for Men Hair Removal Gel Creme (captured as an image for posterity):

I can't help but laugh whenever I re-read that review.

I Got to Fondle The Olympic Relay Torch

2012-03-26T11:18:49+01:00

This weekend, Claire and I got to experience a rather unique thing: we got to fondle one of the Olympic Torch Relay torches. Our friend Becki is part of the Coca-cola organising team and she was allowed to bring one of the torches home for friends and family photos.

Claire and I certainly weren't going to miss out on this so arrived promptly at our allocated time slot. Before we could get our grubby paws on the torch, we were told we had to wear gloves to protect the gold plating, and we were given a nice factual run down about the torch, which in short is...

There are 8000 perforations, not holes, on the torch which represent the 8000 torch bearers carrying it across the country
The three sides to the torch represent the 3 previous occasions the UK has hosted the Olympics: 1908,1948 and 2012 and also the Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence.
The torch will be on the road for 70 days and will visit over 1000 communities across the UK.
It will be lit by the rays of the sun in Greece on 10 May, before it does a week long tour round Greece, and then it'll be flown into ~~RAF~~ RNAS Culdrose (thanks Adrian) on 18 May in preparation for the start of the relay on 19 May.

Along with this we we told of photos were weren't allowed to take. I won't listing them all here, but suffice to say, if it's not legal, ethical, polite or is derogatory in anyway, you can't take the photo, and that includes treating it as a light sabre, lighter or huge fat joint.

Once all that was out of the way, I went wild and snapped tons of piccies. Here's me and the torch...

I've whittled the number down to a sane 76 and have uploaded them to SmugMug here for all to see. Go on, have a look. You know you want to.

I Want to Fly Like a Bird Too

2012-03-21T13:17:07+00:00

I want a pair. Of course this all assumes this isn't another fake YouTube video. Nice idea either way.

Update: As suspected, this does indeed appear to be a fake, and a very good one at that.

We Now Have Über Fast Broadband

2012-03-19T16:25:20+00:00

Well, I finally had enough of Tiscali's poor customer and network service and decided to upgrade my broadband to BT's Infinity fibre optic broadband. I've only had it all up and running for just over an hour and I'm already loving it.

I received a call from the BT engineer (Faisal Masood) at about 13:40 to let me know he was at the junction box up the road and to warn me he was about to start working and that my telephone and broadband line will be going down. He said he'd be with me in about 30 mins. Well less than an hour later, he was all done and I was instantly getting over 36Mbps.

I've gone from this measly "best" on Tiscali yesterday (today's tests were slower)...

... to this on BT Infinity...

Yup folks, that's an instant 5 fold improvement, and all for 50p more a month (after the first 3 month discounted price) than I was paying for my "low contention business account" (thanks to Tiscali taking over Freedom2Surf) with Tiscali. Apparently it can take up to 10 days for the speed to settle so things might just get a bit quicker. I don't think it will, but we'll see.

Now I wonder how long before BT upgrades our exchange to their new 100Mbps broadband ;-)

Music Video Recorded by a Dog

2012-02-29T10:40:21+00:00

Your buddy asks you to look after his dog for a weekend. No probs, but why not take full advantage of it? That's exactly what Capetonian, Dave Meinert, did when he looked after a mate's dog and he took full advantage of his temporary furry friend: he created this really good music video for Johnny Neon...

Great video filmed from a dog's perspective, even if they have edited out some of the common antics dogs get up to on a daily basis, especially when meeting other dogs ;-)

Is it a Bird? Is it A Plane? No! It's Jeb Corliss

2012-02-23T10:10:31+00:00

Sometimes you stumble upon some of the craziest stuff on YouTube.

Last month I discovered this pretty amazing and is insane video of Jeb Corliss base jumping in a bat-wing-like suit...

I bet the adrenaline buzz is amazing. I'd love to have the nads to do this, but there's no way on earth I'm going to grow a pair this big AND get a nice big soft cushiony bouncy suit that will protect me from breaking myself when I get it wrong.

Well, Jeb did just that - got it wrong - when he jumped off Table Mountain in Cape Town last month. First out was the amateur footage...

Owww!! At the time, the most popular comment on this video was a little insensitive, but certainly funny and long the same lines of my own thinking:

If I plowed into a boulder going 120 mph..... I'd probably be seriously injured and screaming for help. Jeb figures he stubbed his toe. He was spared serious injury by the TTS (Titanium Testicle Supports) he wears to carry his massive balls. Walk it off buddy.

Now Jeb has released his own video showing his little "bounce" from his own point of view...

Owwww!! Owwww!! Owwww!! I think he's damned lucky and he thinks so too. He released the video with the following comment on Facebook...

I was asked in a base jumping forum what happened. This was my response.
Well the answer is very simple. I was flying to close and messed up :) I was going for a black balloon that was basically laying on the rocks and was going to try and kick it with my foot. In order to do this I had to fly low and flat between boulders. My left foot clipped a boulder that dragged me into a flat ledge that I took at the waist at full speed. If I had not clipped that boulder I might have made it, I might have still impacted. It's very hard to tell from the footage. Everything happens very fast. But when you go for a flight where inches are the difference between making it and not making it well impact is very possible. I knew this and took the risk and paid the price for pushing way to hard. I take full responsibility for my actions and am just happy I still have legs to do rehab on.
This is not my first time getting hurt and it will not be my last. I push it, always have and always will. One day I will die and I just hope that when I do, it will be doing something I truly love...
Jeb
P.S. I want to thank everyone for their support. 99% of you have been very very nice to me :) For the other 1% I agree with you 100%, I am a total dumb ass :) I am human and humans make mistakes. I am sorry for what ever inconvenience I have caused anyone...

He'll certainly be thinking twice about getting that close to a ledge the next time he decides to go flying through a canyon with a nylon Tescos bag strapped under each arm.

Using a Bus as a Weapon only Gets You 17 Months in Jail

2012-02-20T12:53:39+00:00

This is unbelievable... a bus driver in Bristol was sentenced to 17 months in jail, yes only 17 MONTHS for this lunacy...

Your eyes are not deceiving you. The bus driver deliberately knocked the cyclist off his bike and has been sentenced to a mere 17 months with the ability to be considered for release on licence after only serving half this time.

I'm not a legal expert, but surely something as severe as this is tantamount to attempted manslaughter. I know intent and state of mind (the driver admitted to having a "moment of madness") have something to do with deciding on the crime, but had the cyclist landed where his bike did - under the wheels of the bus - grievous bodily harm would have been the last thing on anyone's mind.