CALLING AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

[piqaboo]

Butterfly Creek on the road out of Auckland Airport heading south and east. They have tropical butterflies of all sorts.

Oh my. If she knew how many times we passed that way and didnt see butterflies, she'd be all mad at me, and twice as determined to be a kiwi rescuer when she grows up.

[Schmeelkie]

Our children's museum (Strong National Museum of Play) has a butterfly gallery - extra fee after admission. We went once on a cloudy day and there were literally 100s of butterflies to be seen. Also has a window where you can see pupae, cocoons... Apparently, cloudy is better than sunny - it was fun. It's heated so there are butterflies all year round.

[jamiebk]

The California Academy of Sciences, where I am a volunteer diver for the Steinhart aquarium, has a "amazon rain forest" room....(eco-sphere actually). It is full of free flying birds and butterflies. They don't coexist well...especially in spring and the curators have to release new butterflies every morning. They are exquisite...beautiful tropical varieties. http://www.calacademy.org/academy/exhibits/rainforest/

[Shapley]

Branson Missouri has a Butterfly Palace added to its lengthy list of tourist attractions. It was open the last time we went there, but I couldn't persuade the family that it was worth seeing.

We went to the Titanic museum, instead. Pity. We'd visited the traveling Titanic exhibit at the Science Museum in St. Louis may years ago. The Titanic museum in Branson is basically a stationary replication of that exhibit. They had another one at the Maritime Museum in Falmouth, UK when we visited there last Summer. Surely there are ships more worthy of museums than one that sank on its first trip over the water?

To the best of my knowledge, Branson, Missouri has no connection to the RMS Titanic. The unsinkable Maggie (Molly) Brown was from Hannibal, a couple of hundred miles away, which is as close a connection as I've been able to discren. I'm not sure why a museum to a British ship that was never in America was built there. Then again, Branson is known as a home to a wide variety of entertainment venues. There's a Russian Comedian, a Japanese Fiddler, Chinese acrobats, and a War Museum alongside all the Country & Western musicians who have settled there. I guess a butterfly palace and a sunken British ship are as at home there as anything else.

[Haggis@wk]

I saw an incredible HD program on Ulva Island on HDNet TV last night. Its in the InFocus series of programs. It was amazing TV made more interesting because of the HD. I've been watching all of the InFocus programs but I especially enjoy the overhead travel films that are shot in certain parts of the world and shot entirely by helicopter.

[Giant Communist Robot]

a sunken British ship

Titanic was finanaced by J.P.Morgan and the White Star Line was a subsidiary of Morgans' holding company International Mercantile Marine, so while built in Great Britain and operated by a British company it's true owners were American. Maybe there's a link to Branson there--but I doubt it.

[dai bread]

I saw an incredible HD program on Ulva Island on HDNet TV last night. Its in the InFocus series of programs. It was amazing TV made more interesting because of the HD. I've been watching all of the InFocus programs but I especially enjoy the overhead travel films that are shot in certain parts of the world and shot entirely by helicopter.

Did they say who made the program? What used to be TVNZ's Natural History Unit is based in Dunedin, not all that far from Stewart Island (at least by the standards of people who live on continents) and has a world-wide reputation for Nature docos. If they made it, it's no wonder you were impressed. The Unit was sold to Fox at one time, and I think Fox has on-sold it since- I'm not sure and Google isn't very informative.

I haven't been to Stewart Island for years. I still remember the absolutely delicious blue cod I had there. I didn't taste anything like it until I had wahoo on Fiji and Niue.

[Haggis@wk]

Did they say who made the program?

It probably did but I didn't note it before I deleted it. I'll look for it the next time it comes around. HD Net relays most of them secveral times andd any InFocus program is programmed into the DVR. Gads!! What did we do before DVRs came along?? I vaguely remember some about VCR, setting clocks and getting the wrong program.

[dai bread]

Does American TV keep to its schedules? NZ tv doesn't. I always allow 2 minutes before and 10 minutes after the stated times when I'm programming my recorder. The worst lapse I've had was 13 minutes, so even with my allowance I missed the end of the program.

[Haggis@wk]

Does American TV keep to its schedules? NZ tv doesn't. I always allow 2 minutes before and 10 minutes after the stated times when I'm programming my recorder. The worst lapse I've had was 13 minutes, so even with my allowance I missed the end of the program.

Pretty much, except for popular sporting events that might run long and spoil the start time for a follow on program. I noticed schedules slipped when I lived (and visit) the UK. I think some of it was due to the showing of U.S. programming without the commercial breaks. They end sooner than they would with the commercial breaks left in. That wasn't a problem with ITV which just filled the blanks with commercial and such but the BBC start and end times were always weird.

[Schmeelkie]

I always find it weird and wonder if the kids notice when we're watching a video of something that was first aired on TV (eg., animated 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' - not the Jim Carrey version), and they'll fade out and fade back in, or pause on a cliffhanger moment, then come back. Don't know why they don't try to edit such things out when they put them on DVD....probably too much work...

[analog]

I always find it weird and wonder if the kids notice when we're watching a video of something that was first aired on TV (eg., animated 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' - not the Jim Carrey version), and they'll fade out and fade back in, or pause on a cliffhanger moment, then come back.....

I saw a TV writer interviewed once. He mentioned that part of TV writing is to deliver the audience to the commercial break in a "receptive" state of mind, ie holding their breath right in the middle of a cliffhanger or some poignant moment.
I hate being manipulated.

Commercial TV is just too expensive anymore - the psychological price incurred by watching those awful commercials is more than i can pay.

I noticed when I was in Canada twenty five years ago their commercials did not spin me up so, they were more entertaining than ours. I wonder if it's still so?

We Yanks are Madison Avenue-d to death.
Next stop WIlloughby.

a.

[Shapley]

Next stop WIlloughby.

It's PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!

[dai bread]

Some of our best creative talent is in advertising. This ad. for Toyota is a classic: http://vodpod.com/watch/489429-bugger-f ... commercial

The video quality was a lot better on tv.

[Shapley]

Periodically, our advertisers produce some gems.

Some of our best commercials have been attacked because of the products they promote, (The Budweiser frogs, The soccer-playing Clydesdales) others have been banned outright (Cigarette commercials - Benson & Henson ads were classics).

The new thing seems to be the serial-ad - you have to know the earlier ad to understand what them, and you have to 'stay tuned' for the next ad in the series to keep up with the story. I ain't got time for that nonsense.

[analog]

The old VW ads were always a breath of fresh air.

It's sometimes interesting to try & figure out the subliminal message in an ad...

Any thoughts on Flo, the fair faced frumpy dressed Progressive Insurance girl with too much makeup and and the sterile white surroundings ?

psych.

a.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

It's PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!

You're in labor? :confused:

[Shapley]

It's PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!

You're in labor? :confused:

Analog's reference to 'Willoughby' refers to a Twilight Zone episode called A Stop At Willoughby. In that episode, the main character, Bart Williams, has an overbearing boss, Mr. Misrell, who keeps telling him that 'everything is PUSH, PUSH, PUSH, WIlliams... PUSH, PUSH, PUSH..."

[piqaboo]

Some of our best creative talent is in advertising. This ad. for Toyota is a classic: http://vodpod.com/watch/489429-bugger-f ... commercial

The video quality was a lot better on tv.

ROFLMAO!

[Haggis@wk]

Some of our best creative talent is in advertising. This ad. for Toyota is a classic: http://vodpod.com/watch/489429-bugger-f ... commercial

The video quality was a lot better on tv.

ROFLMAO!

here's another one I found. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrDYdh7bMN8 There's quite a series of cute Toyota commercials aimed at the Aussie market. We've gotten too PC in the U.S. for edgy commercial, pity. I always liked the Hamlet cigar commercials when I lived in England http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHR11Qq ... re=related Here's a compilation of Hamlet commercials from the 60's to the 90's. I remember "The Bunker" when I was there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIckHmwZAeI