* I am, however, willing to testify that that it's the edgiest thing ever if there's some free tickets in it.

Presumably not the people briskly informing me via Twitter that way more people go to some or other event in some other country. I don't get the relentless negativity, I really don't.

It's even more embarrassing when you compare Saatchi's efforts with the quality of the Creative on Twitter this morning.?

I'm just wondering how anyone would explain to anyone [[http://yfrog.com/kfvbfmuj|Sean Fitzpatrick in a?

That's the only possible upside of this: making it into The Contest.

I'm out!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ob_QmJu2o

Oh, and mine too, now.

Result.

[edit: Snap!]

For definitions of the "Rest Of The World" that exclude China, India, 44/50 European countries, everywhere in Asia except Japan, everywhere in South America except Argentina and everywhere in Africa besides South Africa and Namibia.

Like

Alternatively, it might flush out all the non-black-rubber-ring-wearers.

I mean a black ring on a big pink fist? With an ex-All Black riding it. I'm not sure even Emma could have come up with something that full of innuendo.

I really hope so, for Fitzie's sake.

But I just wish it had been kept a bit simpler. The Waterfront stadium saga, Feelers songs everywhere, the tupperwaka, Adidas counting down clocks, posters in urinals that actually are quite offensive, turning Ohakune?s carrot into a black dildo etc...

Hadyn and I are working on the RWC nipple clamps.

"they're shaped like rugby balls and have little silver?

Yes, I'm now scared to allow any ads on TV (thank God for MySky), in case my wife sees them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs1Mqa3FPCg&feature=youtu.be

And is it just me, or does Fitzy look disturbingly like John Key in some of those frames?

Ah so that's why it looks photoshopped – it originally was John Key.

At least until Paula told him what big pink fists get used for in West Auckland.

"That's. Just. Wrong."

sounds really similar, with the slurring and all

I am apparently missing out on some fun local activities.

On the assumption that this is not all a massive wind-up (and I'm expecting Jeremy Wells to pop into frame at any moment), there are actually?

Indeed. The whole Adidas debacle was, in my opinion, just a marketing ploy. The $220 RRP was just that, a recommended retail price. I would guess, going on past experience in th retail sector, that the wholesale price would be around $50-55 allowing?

You forgot Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
The all plastic all blacks...?

You don't say! :-)

Okay. First off: that could have come with a warning of some kind, no? Secondly: is it me, or are we only being asked to abstain from getting it on with the opposite sex? Because that would open interesting possibilities.

you're thinking of fruit and veges :)

Neither do I ? really, I don?t care but I?m sure there are plenty of folks out there who are (inexplicably) equally indifferent to the pending arrival of Torchwood: Miracle Day and the return of Doctor Who.

But, Jesus, bullshit like?

I have yet to see ads for those shows suggesting that it?s your moral duty to watch?

Simply post on the Moa Beer Facebook page (before kick-off on Friday 9 September) the number of points you think Dan Carter will score during the RWC* and then match every point with a sexual encounter?

That's the thing, though, right: if the RWC is really going to be as much fun as we're relentlessly told it will be, why do they need to represent participation as either a form of military service or abstinence from sex?

(Way way more important than yet-another-ad)

Isn't it enough to just want them to win, rather than the slightly irrational requirement for belief that?

After that first full stadium Eden Park test I think it was Conrad Smith said just having a crowd that size vocally in your favour made a difference after years of always being at someone else's?

Got Milk?

The rugby, the atmosphere on the streets are much palatable.

(actually, in truth I am 100% suckered?

Also, both Close?

That would be frustrating for you.

Ahem.

I agree that attitudes are mixed and confused, but the whole abstinence thing is based on the idea that sex is a precious, limited commodity that has to be rationed. Abstaining from "indulging" in it?

Another way of looking at it is that the tournament is being marketed – for whatever reason, I don't want to get all Lacanian on your collective arses – as something utterly joyless. The only people who are promoting fun are those?

Yeah, I expect Moa to be embarrassing douches.

It is a mediocre advert, simple as that. It is embarassing and inept.

Yeah, not offended, it's just so crushingly lame.

The Crowd Goes Wild did suggest that it's kind of like the 40-hour Famine. During?

'ken oath

that would also be spectacularly stupid

eh? I don't love our government but this aint 1981. Marx Jones is a hero because of the undeniable rightness of the cause, not just dropping shit on people is cool if you want to make ANY political point that pops into your head.

1981 tour protest=cool!

This commercially-driven wankery 30 years later? Forgeddit it, mate.

We?ve organised to fly to Queenstown and see a friend who has relocated there, then head over to check out the new stadium in Dunedin with five friends from Ireland to watch the game between Ireland and Italy.

Big mistake. We?

Given the foreign heads of state, etc, in attendance, I can imagine any such flights meeting surface-to-air missiles from the accompanying imported defence forces.?

I don't talk to my snacks — that's just weird. :)

Figures for that please Sacha (i.e that worship of Rugby Union/the All Blacks is ANZ's national religion.)

Asking politely ? and what direction would that be Danielle? A genuine question from Islander, none of whose whanau and very few of whose friends will be having a bar of the supposed
?Stadium of 4 Million?.

*a* religion.
and that's a cultural rather than statistical observation

?a national religion?

(your words)

-so: any figures for this 'cultural '
observation?

My non-figured bet is less than half of the sportsfans here actually support Rugby Union. And 'half the sportsfans' is waaay less than half the population.

I have some friends who are going to the game & booked accommodation super early, they are not paying anything unreasonable. But they got in super early.

and it's Ireland, in Dunedin. That's a popular game. So?

Look, far be it from me to try to quash your semi-professional parade-raining about this issue. It's just between you and Gio "Liveblogger of the Rugby Apocalypse" Tiso, Hadyn's RWC threads are a bit... iffy for me at the moment. Of course you're free to proclaim?

Since you've included me in that, I don't think I've ever said a word about the cup on PAS except to react to the relentless (word of the week) complaint?

So clearly Telecom and Saachi want the AB's to be knocked out at the earliest possible opportunity.

Is that what?

yeah me too – what's up with that Russell?

As someone who still isn?t sure she cares, I am finding _the world_ kind of difficult right now.

As I noted over at my place a couple?

But I will watch,?

I was thinking about this yesterday too. Until the final we were supporting Luna Rossa ([Redacted] yeah, so my memory ain't what it was). And while I couldn't give a?

I once went to an All Black game in a pink coat. To say I stuck out in the crowd is something of an understatement. So, yeah, i'm on board with pink nail polish.

Edgy, I don't think so
Do these drop kicks not know what rubber rings (blue or red) really mean in NZ?
Hint; they are used?

I'm not sure we own any, or need any, really.

Other than implying that the joylessness is something we bring to this thing ourselves, you mean? Not for nothing, I've been peeling my daughter off the school's pavement after two consecutive 11-week terms. People who complain that their harsh is being?

Interesting number though. Apparently 2.4 million tourists visit NZ each year, so the rugby fans are only 4% or so of the total. I'd be interested to see if this years tourism numbers are up as expected.

Hang on. I thought we were harshing their buzz and they were buzzing our harsh.

No, but people are asking, if not actively demanding, that we get involved and get excited. At our workplace, we're expected to wear RWC pins, and there's a "Cup up your desk" competition that, while not entirely compulsory,?

The thick plotens.

To be honest, I had to go and find the Sky ad, because I couldn?t remember it. Here it is for the similarly mystified, from November last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R0MhIKUIXA

I?ve been more aware of promotions?

Gawd. That does sound a?

I'm also inconvenienced by people who drive cars, and I don't suck it up: I spend a lot of time advocating for public transport and better?

Look, you?re the one saying the entire thing is being promoted joylessly. I take issue with that because I?m not taking any notice of the promotions and am mostly getting my info from, well, here. Where it?s still not exactly cheerful. Of course?

I thought that was a point well made in your blog post. The same thing occurred to me.?

Debacle hardly seems a strong enough word.

When did I ever say you shouldn't be excited? I think it will be exciting for those?

A poorly conceived political jack-up that has done no favours for the RWC organisers or the Auckland Council, which actually had an events plan.

I don't know. At least it was quick.

All Sky and TV3 games are?

Yeah, people who fan-wank over football games are annoying. You?ll never catch me being an obsessive geek while everyone else shuffles towards the fire exit. No, sir?

and yachting?s for bores from the Shore ?

Pish-posh you hipster wanker. :) I prefer?

Merci monsieur. Won't be ponying up for Sky Sport then...
I didn't realise TVNZ were in on that too, so for the big games they'll likely be (at?

Then again, I can't think of any other sport that has so starkly divided the country into urban?

But these annoying individuals live in the country that is selling the bollocks cultural nationalism and the stadium of four million rhetoric along with the sporting event. Your endless?

There's possibly a certain amount of 'with us or against us' vibe to some of the promotion.

I'm actually mildly excited about the fireworks, though. First time for fireworks for my daughter, and I'll keep?

I have fought with you over this before. Let's not start again. (or, let's because then I won't be forced to apologise for rugby yet again.)

My thoughts exactly. But just like you, I liked it when the tournament was here, it made a buzz that Auckland sorely lacks in it's fucking dire nightlife. The fact that it justified a?

Yes! Totally. I stopped being po-faced about horse racing after my first Melbourne Cup. It's not about the stupid gambling. It's about the hats, and the hotties under them. And carousing. Most people only gamble in a?

No. Just no. It is screaming that it's what it's doing, but it doesn't achieve it because under the thin veneer of the?

But there are any number of people who enjoy watching rugby, who like going to games, who think Daniel Carter has delicious cheekbones, who don't?

By urban liberal "creatives" who work for fashionable ad shops? Sorry, not trolling for a fight but it needed to be said.

Wait, you don't think yachting is a sport either? Maybe we haven't fought about this.

OK, I have had a belated brainwave: maybe this is my problem. Because I work from home, and I have MySky on *both* televisions, and don?t get the paper, and my son is?

What got me yesterday was observing online that, Telecom debacle notwithstanding, I was looking forward to seeing all the visitors in town — and then having a series?

Ballroom dancing is a sport too. Sometimes you just have to admit that nothing makes sense.

There are egotistical blowhards on both sides.

See above, re: unsolicited information as to how many people go to things in Proper Countries.

Additionally, only 2.5 countries give a shit about rugby so therefore it is laughable to care and the only sport you should like is football as it is far more popular worldwide. The more people like a?

Oh, I don't no. We have no franchise on cringe, AFAICT. At least ours was short. Seven minutes of a bad idea is a long time, no matter what sort of stamina you've got.?

Kind of asking for it if you tweeted about it, it seems to me. You have six thousand followers. What did you think was going to happen?

Victim blame.

I?ve got a cousin ? really Aussie bloke ? and he did his first full dress Melbourne Cup a couple of?

Yeah. I...am not good at keeping my mouth shut in those instances, though.

I would?

I had to read that several times before I worked out your cousin wasn't the one looking pretty as a spring flower in a dress. Not that?

Just. No. It doesn't. It's actually meant to be a joke. It's long drink of lighten the fuck up and enjoy yourself, you?

The thing is: I'd got over that. After 1985, when the old-guard Cavaliers were shunned?

For the record: My favourite kind of game.

God, thank you Ben! I thought everyone had gone mad. The Telecom campaign struck me as designed to take the piss out of crap like that Sky military ad. OK it was lame, but surely well intentioned -?

Yeah, me too. If only because yesterday, I hadn't taken on board Gio's wisdom that if I didn't want to be abused by RWC haters, I should never, ever mention it?

And the punchline is: watch all the games! On Sky!

Sorry if I interpret jokes from people in my own country speaking my own language about the game I mildly enjoy differently to you

I?

Yeah, but if the competition has to be aesthetically judged (what a beautiful triple axel!) rather than physically judged (this one got over the line first!), is it a sport? If we're saying the first one is, then American Idol is?

On the other hand, I've deliberately?

Don't be silly. What it takes seriously is the proposition that the sporting victory of our rugby players is predicated on the sacrifice of the whole country, like in a?

The odd thing is it was all people I'm actual friends with. But you've sort of swerved around the point there ...

I used to do that, until I was run over by a yacht.

But bouldering has a world championship.

As does Tiddlywinks. Flexing one's finger is surely a physical activity?

ETA: But seriously, how could you not laugh at this sentence?
What Types of Winks Tournaments Are?