As has already been reported just about everywhere, the Budget rent-a-car guys have launched what Blogads' Henry Copeland has described as:

"...the first blue-chip marketing campaign created by a blogger, illustrated by a blogger, run on blog software, advertised exclusively on blogs and first reported by blogs."

Like most everyone else in the blogosphere, my first reaction on seeing this was: groovy. Congratulations and kudos are certainly due to the almost obscenely brilliant Hugh MacLeod and the equally splendid B.L. Ochman for coming up with this thing.

When I went to the "Up Your Budget" Treasure Hunt site and tried to register to play, however, my excitement quickly cooled. The generic sign-up form asked for all the usual personal info, including (because it's annoyingly US-centric) your Zip code. It was set as a mandatory field. So, try as I might, I couldn't register. The unintended message being: no Zip code, no game. Or: "Sorry, Yanks only".

I carefully checked the contest rules and FAQ. There was nothing, anywhere in either document, that suggested the treasure hunt was only open to residents of the US. Fuggit.


Immediately, my positive impression of Budget and (by association) of both Hugh and B.L. was tarnished. I'd come into this thinking "Yay! Another giant company gets a clue thanks to influential bloggers!". Which then quickly turned into "Clueless sodders -- what the hell is a genius Global Microbrand like Hugh doing getting tangled up with this rotten bunch?"

A bit over the top, perhaps, but I love Hugh and B.L., I devour everything they write. So the way the form on the Budget site was built just seemed such a let down, it made me feel almost like two of my blog heroes had sold out to the terminally clueless, or something.

So I vented. There's a feedback form on the "Up Your Budget" site. I told them I'd love to enter their contest, but was blocked by the stupid sign-up form.

Last thing I expected was to get a response, within hours, from Komra Moriko, the site designer.

Even better, she fixed the form. Quickly. So now I can enter -- as can anyone, regardless of their physical location.

What a very blog-savvy, clueful response. Nicely done.

But then again - maybe there's nothing particularly blog-savvy or otherwise about this. Isn't this just the way things are supposed to work?

People goof; it's expected. So fix it. Thanks.

That's just plain ol' good customer service. And yet I can't help thinking that the positive end to this story wouldn't have come about the way it did if it hadn't been for the blog-clued minds behind it. So yeah, it's a blog-savvy response, or a repsonse informed by blog-grounded thinking, or something.

Wouldn't it be just lovely if everything in life was this simple?

Now, if only Budget could unfuck their rental booking system as easily...

A quick snapshot of the current Microsoft Canada homepage:

From this morning's newswire:

Media Advisory: Philosophy to prevent violence

How is it going to do that then? Offer a logical proof that the violence doesn't exist?

Halley, as usual, pretty much nails it.

The end of the beginning. Again.

"In order to fulfill his obligation to his early solo label Bang Records, Van Morrison sat down in 1967 or so and cranked out 31 songs on the spot, on topics ranging from ringworm to wanting a danish, to hating his record label and a guy named George. Make sure you get past the first few tunes - it takes him a few to get cooking."


I think my favourite has to be track 13: "Freaky If You Got This Far", although "The Big Royalty Cheque" surely ranks up there amongst his all time greats.

"I'm waiting... for my royalty cheque to come, and it still hasn't come yet... it's about a year overdue..."

I know the feeling.

UPDATE: A thought just occurred to me as I was listening to this stuff again. The 31 tracks include four songs poking fun at some guy named "George":

• Hold On George
• Here Comes Dumb George
• Goodbye George
• Dum Dum George

At first I thought - perhaps George was some record company wonk for whom Van Morrison had a particular hate on.

But then it struck me - Van's real name is George Ivan Morrison.

Could it be he's having a go at himself here, for having been dumb enough to sign a restrictive contract with Bang Records so early in his career?

Following this thought skein, it brings me back to the popular Van Morrison puzzler about the identity of "Madame George".

Like most Van fans, I guess I always assumed the Madame George he sings about in what is one of the best tracks on Astral Weeks is either some fondly remembered "tart with a heart" or perhaps a drag queen. Maybe the truth is a lot simpler.

Astral Weeks was the first album Morrison recorded under his new contract with Warner, in 1968. The song Madame George, though, was first recorded when Van was still under contractual obligation to Bang Records. A 1967 version of the song popped up in 1991 on the "Bang Masters" album.

The liner notes on my scruffy copy of Bang Masters include a description of Madame George: "...a song about saying goodbye to one's youthful friends and the old scene - it's a song about outgrowing a place and moving on. The lyric describes a party full of laughing, rowdy people. The singer, who finds himself no longer feeling like one of the gang, looks around for the last time and then slips out into the night to catch a train that will take him away. As he moves toward the station, he hears the party growing softer behind him..."

So perhaps the mystery of Madame George is no mystery at all. Perhaps it's simply autobiographical. Why "Madame", though, I've no idea. Let's not go there.

OK. That's quite enough Van Morrison geekery for one day.