Domain name sells for US$2.75 million

Jeez. The sale of the domain name creditcards.com for US$2.75million has just been announced. Could this spark another round of domain name speculation? I think not. But I am inpressed that the sale wasn't announced until the new web site was up and running. Readers of news sites and blogs around the world will be signing on to creditcards.com over the next few days just to check out what all the fuss is all about. PR - it's all about getting other people to pay for your advertising.

Atom Newsfeed for javaboy.blogspot.com is now active

Domestic Airline Price Wars - Part 2

== July update - 2 months until the AFL Grand Final =

The challenge: flying Sydney to Melbourne and return for the AFL Grand Final on Sat Sept 25th (first flight out, last flight home), two months in advance, no major sales/promotions in progress

Qantas: Outbound $98 @ 8:05am, Inbound $79 @ 8:30pm

Cost to book in March: $178

Cost to book in July: $177

Jetstar: Outbound $75 @ 6:00am (+$2 credit card surchage), Inbound $65 @ 9:05pm (+$2 credit card surcharge)

Cost to book in March: $122

Cost to book in July: $144

Virgin Blue: Outbound $85 @ 7:00am (+$2 credit card surchage), Inbound $65 @ 9:15pm (+$2 credit card surchage)

Cost to book in March: $188

Cost to book in July: $165

The verdict:

Jetstar to Avalon still the cheapest overall. I haven't flown JetStar yet, but from what I've heard, it's nothing special. Interesting for Qantas and Virgin Blue - even though they've both introduced credit card surcharges since March (Qantas' credit card surcharge is built into the Internet fare), the fares on offer for AFL Grand Final day are actually cheaper if booked two months out than if booked six months out. So much for the concept of saving money by planning things in advance.

Tour #2 arrived in Sydney yesterday

(I'm no longer involved, but I wish them well ;-)

Paying for Graduate School without Going Broke

Wish I'd bought this before I underwent the whole MBA experience ;-)

Ten hours in make-up

While in Singapore over the weekend, I was lucky enough to catch the Lord of the Rings Exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre. With a fairly steep entry fee of S$20 (roughly A$16), I had high expectations, but in typical LOTR style, the event delivered.

Besides the myriad of short videos to watch (most of which are probably on the extended editions of the DVDs for each movie), there was also a wide variety of costumes and weapons from the three movies. Every major character had its own individual display, and a great detail of attention was paid to explaining the background of each character and how that influenced their costume and interaction with other characters.

There was also a range of displays that provided a detailed description of the make-up, digital effects and models in the movies. Some interesting/amusing little facts that I picked up . . . did you know that? ...

• the actor that played the Uruk-Hai Lurtz had to spend over ten hours in make-up before each day of shooting. The make-up and prosthetic artists would start on him at 10:00pm and work on him overnight while he tried to sleep in the make-up chair.


• in the scene where the Fellowship run across the bridge in the Mines of Moria while being chased by the Balrog, all of the characters were completely digital. The filmmakers created digital versions of each character, complete with individual movement behaviour.


• the four main hobbit character wore a new pair of prosthetic feet every days during filiming. Two thousand sets of hobbit feet were created, and each set was shredded after filming, so as to prevent a black market for hobbit feet.

Anyway, if you do get a chance, go and check it our for yourself.

LOTR - The Exhibition is in Singapore until June 4th.

Dr MBA - Time to get a move on!

In a parallel universe, I was a dentist. I grew up in Melbourne, and then moved to London in my mid-twenties to escape the life of the AFL-crazed city I call home. The expat thing was fine, but I realised I had a greater calling. And so, I planned to return home at start my MBA at Melbourne Business School.

Actually, the life I'm describing is the real life of Dr MBA, an Aussie dentist who's in the early stages of the MBA application process. The GMAT. The full-time v's part-time decision. The 'What Should I Do With My Life?' decisions. Check it out in his new blog at drmba.blogspot.com.

Improv

Well here's some surprising news. Tomorrow I'm off to Singapore for an extended weekend, and then on to Indonesia (Jakarta and Bali) for some time out with the folks, and some (remote) job hunting. Spur of the moment decision - only booked my ticket yesterday!

Deadbeat @ Echo Club in Bern, Switzerland

(background photography courtesy of yours truly)





Power to the Blogging culture!

An extended collection of my Montreal photographs recently served as backdrop when techno act Deadbeat appeared at Echo Club, a club night organised by the Institute for Contemporary Urban Encounters (CUE) in Bern, Switzerland.

"Echo Club is a clubconcept, in which the visual appearance is as important as the music. This reflects in the flyers and posters aswell as in the visuals at the nights as such. The visuals reflect the mood of the music and vice-versa the music to a certain extent is a spontanious score composition to the projected images. "

Thanks to Kev for setting this up, and for sending me some photos of the event.

2004 Gambling Update

07/03/04: Bet $20 @ $1.50 on Melb F1 GP Winner - Michael Schumacher; returned $30

07/03/04: Bet $5 @ $7 on Melb F1 GP Top 3 - Mark Webber; returned $0

07/03/04: Bet $5 @ $5 on Melb F1 GP Fastest Lap - Rubens Barrichello; returned $0

Net position for 2004: up $6 (it's been an all red weekend)