Friday, January 15, 2010

Men of Cricket 2010 Calendar

While I'm blogging about non-food thingies, I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on this year's Men of Cricket Calendar.

This is a joint venture between Cricket Australia, Three Mobile and the McGrath Foundation. Proceeds go to the McGrath Foundation and their efforts to provide Breast Care Nurses for women suffering breast cancer. A damned fine cause, to my mind, and one I'm happy to support, among others, with regular donations.

My mum bought me the 2009 calendar for Christmas a year ago, and I have to say that it stayed February for a fair portion of the year (Mr Katich, I know we're both taken, but you can stop by my place ANY time for a li'l home cookin'... what? You dirty-minded people, I meant I'd make him dinner!).

Anyway, I digress. I bought a calendar each for my mum and myself for 2010, and I have to admit that, while I'm still happy to have it, I'm nowhere near as impressed with the offering this year.

For one, it's in black and white, which I'm sure is meant to be arty, but I prefer colour.

Secondly Messrs January-March all appear to have a hunchback.

Thirdly, I just liked the pictures and poses from last year more than the ones this year.

But hey, these guys are whipping off their shirts for charity, so good on 'em. My dear Mr Katich is still in the 2010 calendar. And this year's calendar won't stop me buying another couple in 2011, if it's done again.

A Cop Speeding? No, surely not!

I heard this story on the radio this morning: Victoria's Deputy Commissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay, was caught speeding at 10km over the limit.

Whoa, get outta here, a member of the police force was speeding?! Holy cow, that's amazing, that's fantastic, that's.... not surprising at all.

Do you know the numer of times I've seen police cars travelling well over the speed limit? No lights or sirens, nothing. Oh, and not using their indicators. And straddling lanes. And running red lights. And a myriad other illegal actions. It's not just a Victorian thing either - a few years ago in Canberra I was travelling along Canberra Avenue, past Manuka, and a police car hammered past me going well over the 60kph speed limit, weaving through the traffic. Guess where I next saw them? KFC drive-through. Musta been REAL hungry.

So I'm not all that surprised that a policeman was speeding. That he was caught, and fined, and lost the points, now THAT I'm surprised at.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Pardon? Eh? Not sure I heard that right...

I'm a big fan of voting with my feet (or purse, as the case may be). So when Genesis Fitness unleashed a new campaign/ membership promotion, I voted with my purse and cancelled my membership. I also submitted a complaint to The Advertising Standards Bureau.

What promotion is it that has prompted all of this? The "Fat Ass Fighters" promotion. It shows a sweating pig wearing running shoes, sitting on a set of scales. It's not until you look closely at the bigger ad that you notice a slot in the pigs back - apparently it's meant to be a money box/piggy bank.

Genesis ran a promotion a couple of years ago along similar lines to this, using "arse" instead of "ass". Complaints to ASB about it were upheld. So why are they trying again?

What's my problem with the promo? It's not exactly positive encouragement. Calling me a "fat ass" isn't exactly making me feel all warm and fuzzy about the place. Yes, I'm above my healthy weight. Yes, I'm doing something about it. Calling me names, however, does not encourage me, nor does it make me feel inclined to continue giving over $80 of my hard-earned money each month.

But hey, there are those out there that will see no problem with this promo, and will probably even insult me themselves. To them I say "hey, insult me, say what you want, that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion. I'm not paying you to do it."

Why would I pay money to be offended?