beat.co.nz

MAD comics used to have this great section comparing what the advertising said and what the actual experience of using a product was. They were hilarious, and I was reminded of them when I read about the Brit who was taken at gunpoint, fingerprinted and put on the national DNA database after someone mistook his MP3 player for a weapon. See Sideswipe.

I bet all the design, testing, ergonomics, software and hardware developing couldn’t have prepared them for that particular customer experience. I suppose the MP3 player could have been a taser, or a phaser, or a remote control for an explosive – if it was dark, and you were some distance away, and you had the eyesight of a beetroot…Whatever way you look at it, having your DNA on permanent record for listening to music on the way home is pretty tough. I wonder what song it was? Answers on the back of an email please…

It’s funny when you go back and revisit something how you discover you enjoy it just as much as the first time around. Such it is with Mr Scruff and Spandex Man. Like Blackpool Roll and Get a Move on, these songs just have an energy about them that I really like. The website is fantastic.