Too good not to blog.

Just a quick one - as I haven't posted in months it's obviously taken something really good to get me going again.

Watch the video!

Hey! That's My Photo!

Virgin Mobile using my photo, originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

So out of the ashes rises the first blog post in... oh... 3 months. Obviously it took a pretty big event to get me to post again, but hopefully the trend will continue.

Virgin Mobile Australia are currently running a national campaign using photo's they've acquired from Flickr under the Creative Commons licence. One of the photo's they're using is mine. I've been contacted by a couple of people who are interested in how I feel regarding the photo's use. That's pretty easy - I'm completely stoked that they're using a photo I took. It's not like I'm a professional photographer, so to see my photo being used in an advertising campaign is pretty cool.

The biggest issue around Virgin using CC licenced images surrounds those that feature people. Take for instance this poor girl. Judging from the comments she's left she's not so impressed by their use of the photo and my gut reaction is that they really should have obtained a model release from the subject before using it.

I for one have no complaints about it's use... unless of course there's a realistic chance I can wring some beer tokens out of Virgin...

No really, I'm just stoked at the use of the photo. It's previously also been featured on the Yahoo homepage, which generated about 150 000 hits for my Flickr account. It was quite a suprise.

I'm in awe of the Creative Commons licence, and while I don't want any cash... you know, a small token would be nice. An iPhone wouldn't go amiss...

New York City

Knysna Loerie, originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

It feels like ages since I last sat down to write something on here. Tons of stuff has happened, most of which is now old news and confined to the history bin and therefore won't be appearing in this space.

There are two rather largish bits of news that are still current and probably worth mentioning.

Firstly, Nat and I are off to New York city on Friday. It's a holiday that's been coming for a long time and now that it's almost here it feels unbelievable. New York is a city that I've always wanted to see. I know next to nothing about it (more since I started reading guidebooks a few weeks ago) and yet it's always held an special appeal for me. I have no idea why - it could just be Hollywood indoctrination. Whatever. I'm going now anyway and I can't wait.

I've spoken to so many people about this over the last couple of weeks and if there's one thing I've discovered about anyone who's been to NY before it's that all know THE BEST place to get a meal. Whether it's for the biggest juicest steak, the best Jewish cuisine, or NYC's answer to the Fat Duck, everyone knows that one place that is the best place to eat in New York. No doubt I will come back also knowing THE BEST place to eat in the city and from that moment on everyone will be urged to get a meal there... because it is THE BEST.

The second major bit of news is that Natalie and I are now eligible for a mortgage. Well, technically I suppose we always were but we've now actually been and spoken with the bank and they've told us what they're prepared to lend us. It's a good feeling. Better for the fact that they're willing to lend us pretty well as much as we're willing to take from them. So we're slowly starting the hunt for a property that appeals to us. Something that will give us some respite from the mania of London but that at the same time will give us very easy access to the city. So technically we're looking for the best of both worlds. Is that too much to ask?

And in the minor news stakes I'm currently working off a brand new machine. After my second laptop in two years packed up on me I've finally had enough with the damn things. Really, it's not like they led rough and mobile lives. They really just sat on my desk all day and sometimes on my knees in bed while I streamed episodes of Family Guy. Not exactly the most demanding usage. You'd think they'd be able to hack it for more than a year! Anyways, it broke so I replaced it with a new desktop (the rationale being that if something breaks on this I can just unplug it and buy a new component). At the same time I also took the opportunity to buy myself a rig that was capable of running some new games. And I tell you, ask not what your 512meg 3D accelerator can do for you, but what you can do with you 512meg 3D accelerator!

All I do is get my ass fragged in F.E.A.R online.

Table Mountain

Table Mountain
Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson.

Holiday snaps available on Flickr here.

On Hiatus

I'm away in Cape Town until the 18th of March. The time will be spent lying around in the sun, climbing the mountain, drinking ice cold lagers and enjoying sun downers overlooking the beach.

Updates are not high on the list of priorities.

Double Teamed!

Ah mate, just got double teamed by Vaughan and ZNADAN! for 2 music memes.
First up, my top 5 albums and memories attached.

1) Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpmins: I guess this goes back to somewhere around '95/96. High school. Grunge was in. The Pumpkins were big. I was an unknown, a kid flying under the radar, not cool enough to hang with the cool kids but staying well clear of the outcasts. And I worshipped this album. It's an epic, a masterpiece... one of the greatest rock albums ever written. From melodic pop goodness to heavy fuzz box bad boys, with a good bit of real angry alt rock thrown in for good measure. No matter what your mood you can always find a track off Melloncollie to fit it. And who could ever forget 1979...

...or Tonight, Tonight, or Zero, or Bullet With Butterfly Wings, or Love, or Muzzle, or Bodies, or Thru the Eye's of Ruby, or Thirty Three. God, I'm going to go listen to it right now!

2) London Calling - The Clash: My first years in London, so around 2003/2004. Initially got into The Clash for their epic single London's Calling. Then quickly realized that it wasn't really even their best work. Oh no, this album also includes gems like Spanish Bombs, Rudie Can't Fail, Jimmy Jazz, and Guns of Brixton. It's an album you can listen to straight through and enjoy every song. It's timeless. Find it. Listen to it. You owe it to yourself!

3) Ten - Pearl Jam: Reminds me of chilling in my mate Jay's room as teens, with beers when we could get them. Good times. It's still one of the best grunge albums ever, standing shoulder to shoulder with greats like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

4) Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys: The album that defined 2005/2006 for me. Every track is good enough to be a stand alone single and most of them ended up as such. 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' was all I wanted to listen to for about 2 months straight. This also became the fastest selling UK debut album of all time.

5) The Ultimate Collection - The Kinks: This is recent and I have no real memories around it. 'Dedicated Follower of Fashion' always reminds me of my dad though, in a funny and good way. It's a long story, but lets just say that he owned a Crombie coat, an Aquascutum jacket, and car with a record player in it! I'm cheating as well because this is a 'best of' album. But still, The Kinks! How good were they! Why did no one force me to listen to them before?!

And now, from Dan, this great free music streamer... with track from the albums above. Did you see what I did? Clever eh?!

"About 25% of sexually active South Africans are HIV positive, according to the government."

That's totally the scariest statistic that I've ever seen. Complements of the beeb. What the long term impact of that will have on working age South Africans who knows. In twenty to thirty years the face of South Africa will have changed completely.

US friendly fire kills British soldier

Gut wrenching stuff... even for the USAF pilots. The subtitles aren't in sync with the video, but they also run on for a bit longer than the video actually shows.