About: Brett

Author Archives: Brett

Do the Famine!

The 40 Hour Famine is on this weekend, so I’m gonna join with my youth group and do the whole 40 hours without food and without technology. No eating, internet, phone, ipod, or psp. I might watch a movie, or read a book or three. And I might take some photos with my digital camera for proof.

And hey, you can help! I need people to sponsor me to make it all worthwhile. This year’s famine is about stopping child labour. For every $300 raised through the famine, World Vision will help a family in India to start a business so they can support themselves without needing their children to work in bonded labour.

And I’ve discovered that you can even sponsor me online! World Vision have set up a system that lets Faminers register their famine books online and get people to sponsor them online! It’s pretty neat.

So you can go pledge your sponsorship of me here:

https://secure.famine.org.nz/glutnix/

Even if you only give NZD$2, that little part will go towards helping children from more than twelve countries worldwide. $10 will provide a family of five with a health checkup and basic medical supplies in India. $150 will provide seeds for one Tanzania primary school so they can provide daily meals for their students for a year!

It all adds up! Sponsor me and help change the world!

Christianity Events Life New Zealand Outside 1 comment

Blanket Man has a Posse

I was stunned and amused to overhear some of my collegues say that Blanket Man has a wikipedia page. Turns out his name is Ben Hana.

Wow. This is pretty awesome, because while a lot of people don’t think he should be on the street, he is, so the least we can do is learn more about his reasons.

Internet New Zealand Outside Reading 17 comments

Today at work, we were visited by someone from The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand‘s Adult Education and Training department. Apparently, I can become a qualified teacher and get a “National Certificate in Adult Education and Training” through a correspondence course, and Natcoll will pay for it. Woot! And it turns out I can cross credit some of my unit standards from my Electronic Multimedia course I finished in 2000. 😀

I’m actually pretty excited about learning more about teaching. I read this article yesterday which quoted Raph Koster’s definition of fun:

Fun is learning in a safe-environment.

The reverse “learning in a safe-environment is fun” isn’t always true, but taking risks to practice something new and exciting and not having to pay huge consequences is fun.

Not to mention getting paid to get a qualification — that’s pretty sweet.

Learning Life Work Comments are closed

Fat Freddy’s Drop — Roady video coming soon!

My friend Paul asked me if I knew who Fat Freddy’s Drop was, because he didn’t (you’re under a rock, mate), and because that night he [had the honour of] working on the new Fat Freddy’s Drop music video for their groovy track Roady, filmed here in Wellington on the infamous Cuba St.

If you are like Paul and don’t know who Fat Freddy’s Drop are, climb out from under your rock and listen to their tracks! FFD are an independant Wellington dub reggae group who won all the major awards at the last New Zealand Music Awards. You’ve probably heard “Wandering Eye” on the radio without knowing who it was. Pick up their album or get their tracks from the iTMS.

So I got Paul to take my copy of their album Based on a True Story along and get it signed by the group. He did, he is some kind of legend 😀 And Fat Freddy’s are awesome for signing it too! Cheers guys, I don’t need to tell you how awesome you are!

I got a text this morning saying they were still in town, and if I wanted, I could come pick up my CD and maybe meet some of the group 🙂 So I did. I wish I had a bit more to say and ask, but at that hour in the morning, I was just waking up, and they were about ready to go to bed after filming all night.

Anyway, the music video is due out in a few months or something, so keep your eyes peeled!

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So good a quote I thought you would enjoy it.

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side. Hunter S Thompson

And with that said, go listen to Cory Doctorow’s Digital Rights Management (DRM) talk he gave in Antwerp earlier this year.

Also Relevant: MPAA Logo Goatse

Audio Creative Commons Funny Life Movies Rant Comments are closed