David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Tag: Melbourne

  • 31 Questions S2E06 & Sydney Funtimes

    31 Questions S2E06 aired on C31 Melbourne & Geelong on the 31st day of August. And there is it on glorious YouTube.

    I spent 4 days in Sydney last week. It was the first time in seven years I’d been somewhere that wasn’t Melbourne or Adelaide. And it was fantastic.

    I stayed in the seaside suburb of Sans Souci on the shores of Botany Bay (to my knowledge, the only bay named after a spaceship from Star Trek) with the lovely Barb Badham:

    She’s mother to my good friend and mentor Van Badham. Here’s a photo of her aged 14, which I discovered in a drawer that wasn’t locked in any serious kind of way:

    I forgot that I actually like Sydney. Last time I was there it was for New Year’s Eve 2006 when my Grandma treated the family to watch the fireworks on Sydney Harbour. An unforgettable experience. Back then, I returned to Adelaide via Melbourne. On that trip, I had a much better time in Sydney than Melbourne. To quote my 19-year-old self from my own diary:

    7 January 2007
    “I think I prefer Sydney to Melbourne. Watching this promotional video in the Rialto Tower really gave me the impression Melbourne is an arrogant city. It’s really just a bigger, more disorganised Adelaide.”

    It probably didn’t help I was travelling with my good friend John Timoney and by the time we got to Melbourne, we were well and truly sick of each other. While I’ve got my diaries out, here’s how I felt about Melbourne when I was there again 18 months later:

    12 July 2008
    “Melbourne is great. I can see myself living here more than I could last time.”

    Quite a turn around! And since then, the only news I ever hear about Sydney is to do with traffic congestion, high cost of living and racist electorates in the western suburbs. But I always have a great time when I’m there (I don’t drive and I stay away from the western suburbs).

    Highlights of this Sydney trip include meeting Mark Humphries from ABC2’s “The Roast” at Pizza Hut. We talked comedy and TV and such for 5 hours straight. Didn’t even take a photo with him. But he’s pretty good in this:

    I also caught the train to the Petersham TAFE to be interviewed by Sean Campbell for his “The Sean Campbell Show” on XRLENT Radio. Good guy. We talked about 31 Questions, TVS, RMITV, radio and Adelaide. Here’s the video of our chat:

    On Thursday, after one and a half cancellations, I finally caught up with my old radio pal Matty B at the Queen Victoria Building (or MB at the QVB). Hadn’t seen him in 3 years. Again no photo, but we did do this once:

    [display_podcast]

    And now for the strangest experience of my trip…

    On Thursday night, to coincide with the broadcast of S2E04 on TVS, I journeyed to Ultimo (a couple of streets back from the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation), home to the infamous “Ultimo Bachelor Pad” – the self proclaimed (and probably rightly so) biggest 31 Questions fans in, if not Sydney, then the world.

    Now, they are some REAL fans…

    To illustrate:

    Dear God. We must be doing something right with 31 Questions?

    Thanks again to Mike, James, Zoe, Nathan, Mel and (via Skype from Europe) Daniel for a magnificent dinner and cake, as well as their ridiculous amount of support they continue to give to me and the rest of the 31 Questions team. Fans in other cities, you’ve got your work cut out for you if you plan on topping that.

    I’m now safely back in Melbourne. And it’s back to the hyper-reality that is my life.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    PS. 31 Questions debuts on Face Television New Zealand this Thursday 9.30PM.

  • Twittiquette

    If you missed my piece (opinion piece, I mean. Not a firearm.) in mX last week, here it is in fabulous scanned electro-newsprint:

    And if that’s not working for ya, here’s the text version:

    For What It’s Worth
    David M. Green on Twitter Etiquette

    I followed Phil Collins on Twitter. You’d think of all people, the guy who sang “Follow You Follow Me” would follow back. He didn’t.

    But he’s a big star – even if he hasn’t had a hit in 15 years. He can’t possibly follow back all his Twitter fans. So what’s your excuse for not following back? Are YOU famous?

    I don’t think so.

    So what is proper Twitter etiquette, or “Twittiquette”?

    The ultimate insult in 2013 is to ignore someone online. It’s one thing to simply ignore someone you don’t know or with whom you have no common interests. We do this to millions of people by default.

    But unless you’re a celebrity, you’re in a genuine category of jerk if someone you’ve met in your travels follows you on Twitter, and you don’t follow back.

    It’s the technological equivalent of sticking out your hand for a high five, only to be left hanging. You’d have to truly despise someone – and want them to know it – to do that. You never leave a guy hanging.

    A Twitter following is seen by many as a symbol of power. More followers means more influence. And more chance someone will want to give you a briefcase full of money for no reason. The history of the Internet is filled with stories like that, right?

    But it’s not enough simply to have a pile of followers. The assumption seems to be: “I’ll only be seen as powerful and interesting if I have lots of followers AND I’m not following many people”. In other words, you need an impressive “power ratio”.

    There are many ways to get that power ratio. You can do what a few politicians have done and just buy some Twitter followers, which is great if you like robots. You can do a Miley Cyrus and twerk your way to a pile of followers with a controversial public stunt. You could even try actually working hard in the real world for a number of years to establish yourself as an influential figure in your chosen field… Na.

    The fastest and cheapest way to get Twitter followers is to follow a bunch of people, then unfollow the ones who didn’t follow back. And then unfollow the ones who DID follow back. Presto! Power ratio.

    Although, there is a slight problem with that. If you’re actively ignoring people who follow you because you think it’ll enhance your power ratio, you’re ultimately just making enemies. I don’t know about you, but I feel less inclined to like someone if I know they’re not interested in me. Screw the power games.

    The amazing thing is; being nice on Twitter is so easy. It’s the easiest way to be nice in the history of social interaction. Take the high road. Keep your followers. Keep following back. That’s all you’ve got to do. Even if you hate their guts.

    Of course, if you’re followed by a business that treats Twitter like a spam-delivery system, you’re under no obligation to follow back. And life is too short for trolls, bots and troll-bots (they’re the worst).

    But if you want to be the nicest person in the online world, follow back, like a status and give a retweet now and then. People will love you for life. Or at least until you stop following them.

    —

    And a big welcome to my 5 new Twitter followers!

    I may have acquired more had mX been able to print underscores properly.

    Na, they’re okay.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    @David_M_Green

  • 31 Questions with John Blackman and Dicky Knee! (and Rohan from Big Brother?)

    Here’s the YouTube link to S2E05 of 31 Questions, which aired on C31 Melbourne & Geelong 8.30PM last Saturday. This is the one with special guests John Blackman and Dicky Knee (a)LIVE in the studio. Both an absolute pleasure to work with.

    It was a tight battle between this week’s contestants, Dani and Rohan (AKA the guy from Big Brother). One of them even won.

    And man, it was pretty surreal doing schtick with Dicky Knee. I used to love “Hey Hey, It’s Saturday” when I was growing up back in the 90s, before the Internet. What a vastly different media landscape we live in now.

    Speaking of which…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CjhQNSros0

    And you can now also follow the REAL Sophie Loughran on Twitter: @SophieMLoughran

    Only 2 episodes to go!

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    We just realised Anthony, Sophie and I ALL have the middle initial of “M”. What are the odds?

  • 31 Questions Season 2 Episode 4

    It was 31 Questions S2E04’s premier on C31 Melbourne & Geelong last Saturday evening. And now available in fabulous web-based YouTubed form (where available).

    Special thanks again to Dan Ilic and Rex Hunt, who both made cameos in Ep 4. And the fabulous editing work from Dan Jones and Anthony McCormack.

    Coming up on tomorrow night’s show, it’s the John Blackman episode with special guest… John Blackman (SURPRISE!), as well as Dicky Knee!

    PLUS our Ep 5 contestants are recently evicted Big Brother housemate Rohan Mirchandaney (CAN YOU BELIEVE THE TIMING!?!?!) AND the wonderful Dani Leever!

    John Blackman was on Melbourne radio station 3AW with Philip Brady and Simon Owens again on Thursday night. He made some downright lovely comments about me and the show:

    [display_podcast]

    Good on Philip Brady for asking the tough questions. Parking is shocking around RMIT University, especially during the day.

    Couldn’t have done it without an incredible team.

    And in late breaking news, 31 Questions has an ALL NEW time slot for New Zealand’s Face Television. We’re now on Thursdays 9.30PM, starting September 12. Apologies to my Kiwi friend(s) for our ever-changing start date.

    Fortunately, there’s always YouTube.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Where would we be without YouTube? Though it helps IF YOU HAVE A FREAKING INTERNET CONNECTION…

  • 31 Questions Season 2 Episode 3

    S2E03 of 31 Questions premiered on C31 Melbourne & Geelong Saturday evening. See above.

    I enjoyed repeatedly slapping Anthony. And special thanks to this week’s contestants Richard and Simone. It was a tight game. Though not quite as tight as THIS WEEK’S game… Tune in on C31 Melbourne & Geelong Saturday 8.30PM (Look out for cameos from Dan Ilic and Rex Hunt!).

    In other news, to the surprise of many (including us), Season 2 began airing in Brisbane this week! It’s now on the 31 Digital schedule, Tuesdays 9PM. Those Queenslanders have obviously been preoccupied with deciding the next federal government, so no hard feelings. It’s not like they also did it last year as well.

    Na, Brisbane you’re great.

    We were due to start airing in New Zealand on Wednesday, but thanks to our good friends at Australia Post, we’re now premiering NEXT week: 9.30PM Wednesdays on Face Television from August 21. Apologies if you haven’t worked out how to use YouTube.

    But more importantly… 31 Questions BEGINS IN SYDNEY TONIGHT 9.30!

    That’s me aged 9 in Darling Harbour. I assume that water feature is still there? I remember being excited because I’d seen it in the opening (or was it the closing?) titles of Aerobics Oz-Style before Agro’s Cartoon Connection. Anyway Sydney, I’ll talk to YOU on Twitter later this evening.

    As for Adelaide… well I discovered their fabulous community television station has gone through some structural changes recently. I’m not sure exactly why. But I do know that their name, phone number and address have all changed. I also discovered this after I mailed them the first 2 episodes. In a media format they no longer accept.

    As far as I can tell, it’s no longer called “44 Adelaide”, but rather “Channel 44”. Good move, in my opinion. Why limit yourself to Adelaide? They’re looking at the big picture. And the picture is magnificent. Assuming you’re in the Adelaide metropolitan area where the picture is transmitted.

    Doesn’t look like 31 Questions will be airing in Adelaide until September or October. Though we might get a repeat of our first season before they start showing Season 2. I’ll keep you updated.

    I’ve been getting more requests for ways you can throw money at me, and to a lesser extent, the show. I can now announce there are TWO types of mugs available from the 31 Questions online store:

    Perfect for holding all types of liquids. And for the fabulous price of $20 + postage, you can support me, 31 Questions, community television AND own a mug.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    Now where were we?