Wii Madness

At the weekend my frolleague Darren helped me out big time. He had heard me bemoaning the lack of Nintendo Wii's around my neck of the woods (despite being in the market for 9 months). So when he spotted one available in Camberley he bought it for me. Good man.

I have never been a great one for computer games. In my line of work sitting in front of a computer for fun seems like a busman's holiday. But the Wii really is better fun that all that other tosh. The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 may have all the power (although actually all three devices use IBM processors) but their games are so realistic now that you might as well watch a movie. In fact these machines are more like HD Media Centres rather than games boxes. On the other hand the Wii is just a games machine. The innovative Wii Remote (wiimote?) controller really does manage the magic of sensing movement so you can stand up and flail around the room like a mad thing and make your custom avatar (Wii Mii) do the same.

Of course the down side of that is the potential for collateral damage. So catching this lampshade with a particularly committed forehand smash whilst playing Wii Tennis is probably not the last item to be broken. It is worth it though. This Wii is brilliant.

TV Adverts

Most TV adverts drive me nuts. They tend to be very irritating and painfully unsubtle. Like most people I would imagine, I just mentally tune them out (if not fast forward/Tivo them). The agencies that are commissioned to create them appear to be idea vacuums as they constantly plagiarise each other or steal the latest idea from innovative movies. The fact that these people are called creatives rather than pretentious thieves is beyond irony. And oblong glasses don't make you look clever, they make you look like a cliche.

Anyway - it is always the exception that proves the rule - and this is superb. The folks at Cadbury (sorry, don't know who their agency is) have created this piece of genius (clicky).

If you don't have broadband or are not inclined to play the video clip then here is part of the transcript:
"We realize that the Gorilla is sitting in front of a massive drum kit. One of those Eighties big kits with loads of things to hit. Loads of tom-toms, hi-hats, double bass drum, etc.

We know that the best drum solo in the whole history of rock - ever - is coming. The Gorilla knows it too.

The Gorilla hits the drums with passion and vigour. Elegance meets power. He's phenomenal on the drums - feeling every beat.

The camera leaves the ape and his drum kit in the studio."

And what had a Gorilla drumming along to Phil Collins got to do with chocolate? Well as it says on the site "There's no clever science behind it - it's just an effort to make you smile". Which is of course all the more delightful because there is a lot of clever science behind it. It may be brilliantly funny, but it doesn't have it's own viral web site by accident does it!

Also, when the gorilla is playing he looks quite a bit like Neil the drummer in my band Sideburner.