Chasing the 3G Guy

This will probably sound like a case of sour grapes (and it probably is a bit), but I think there's probably some opportunities for lessons to be learnt here.

As those in New Zealand know, our Vodafone is running a competition in which three Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbooks can be won daily for five days. In order to win a netbook, the basic premise of the competition is to find the 3G Guy based on clues he gives out online. Today, the 3G Guy was in Wellington so I thought I'd have go.

Around 9am, the first clue went up...

Clue #1: I am not going to see the son or the holy ghost . . . #find3gguy

After a few minutes pondering, I worked out that this was Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand) and promptly headed down there. I got down there just after 9.15 and had a good look around for him. As I couldn't find him there, I checked (about 9.30) to see if there was another clue. I was a bit surprised when I saw this...

We have a winner! Nik collared me en route to the te papa museum...nice one!

It turns out that the winner had grabbed the 3G Guy up around Manners Street. This immediately pissed me right off as I'd been at the location for about 15 minutes and the 3G Guy had posted the clue to his "location" from over three blocks away.  In addition, he had been grabbed nowhere near the location where he was meant to be.

I eventually calmed down and waited for the next location search.  A few hours later, the next clue was up...

12pm clue #1 - This guy is a made man

This wasn't obvious and I did a little running around, but was unable to locate him. To cut a long story short, the winner found the 3G Guy by a restaurant on a "man-made beach". What this beach had to do with the clue doesn't appear to be that obvious, but I accepted this as a fair loss.

The final competition of the day was to locate the 3G Guy using a Google Map on the Vodafone website based on clues as before. Here are the clues and my associated thoughts...

6pm online draw: clue#1 Probably gonna smoke a cigar here

Matterhorn Bar - a noted cigar bar in Wellington

Clue #2: NZ's notorious for having a lot of these

New Zealand has a bit of fame for its bars.

Clue#3 A farmer could probably use one of those

Umm, perhaps there's a farmer's tool called a matterhorn?

Clue #4: There's lots of these a farmer could use here . . . or a window cleaner

Uh, is he meaning the bucket fountain? Although that's within spitting distance of the Matterhorn, it's clearly a different location for the first clue.

Final Clue: Elijah wood URINATED into that?! Mr Baggins!

He does mean the bucket fountain! WTF? He's hinted at two different locations!  It turns out the location was the bucket fountain in the end.  I wouldn't mind this, but the first clues say one location (to me) and the remaining clues say another.

I don't know what's happened in the other cities in the competition, but this seems to me to have been run pretty poorly in Wellington.  The second location was a fair win and I can accept the third, but the first was just poor form.  It's not just that I was directly affected - I would be just as indignant if it happened to someone else.  If you set up a competition with a specific method to win, you can't just play fancy-free with your own rules.

Poor form Vodafone.

Puzzled

Puzzled, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

Auberon

Auberon, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

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Do Robots Dream of a Better Future?, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

Caffeinated Self-Portrait

Caffeinated Self-Portrait, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

Robot

Robot, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

Grate

Grate, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

Fountain

Fountain, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.

5 Minute Review: Animals in the Dark

Reviewing: Animals in the Dark by William Elliott Whitmore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

William Elliott Whitmore is a recent, accidental discovery for me.  This remarkable 30 year-old singer-songwriter comes from a horse farm in a small Iowa town along the banks of the Mississippi River, and has often been referred to as the "Hillbilly Ray Charles".  His music, accompanied by the most basic of instruments and his incredible voice, are simple melodies with well-written stories on a par with Johnny Cash or Neil Young.  Whitmore's primary influences (The Louvin Brothers, Minor Threat, Ralph Stanley, and Captain Beefheart) are illuminating in that they show his heartland and blues roots as well as a hard edge, and his albums reflect this.

Animals in the Dark, his latest album, is a departure from his previous albums in that he moves away from telling tales of life, loss, and the heartland.  This album looks at the greater United States and its government, but does not become a political record.  Instead, it uses emotion and metaphor to paint a stark picture of the state of the country and its people at a grassroots level.

From the first track ("Mutiny") to the closing track ("A Good Day to Die"), this album intersperses stories of bleakness with moments of hope and encouragement.  The hauntingly beautiful second track ("Who Stole The Soul") mourns the loss of the country's soul and feelings of patriotism, perhaps like the shame many Americans said they felt in their country in the past few years.  A few tracks later, we have the track "There's Hope for You" which preaches a message of hope and responsibility. This mixture of highs and lows creates an impression that, although the country has been through trials and hardship, the people will persevere and become stronger for it.

Whitmore's gravelly voice and style of singing could easily be transplanted into Depression-era American folk music (like that found in the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and his early albums represent this.  Animals in the Dark grows from his earlier style, taking a full band arrangement for the first time and evolving into an impressive, refined sound, but does not lose any of the heart and soul that is a part of Whitmore.  The result is an album which shows an artist maturing into something quite special.  I for one will be tracking down his back-catalogue and looking out for future releases.

Power

Power, originally uploaded by Nightwyrm X.