This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)
With all this hoo-ha about Helen Clark’s latest piece of artwork to hit the market I was beginning to wonder if our great leader had a career with a paintbrush looming on her horizon.
However, after seeing the doodle in question, I’m thinking she made the right choice when she set her sights on the Beehive.
I occasionally chuck a bit of paint around a canvas in the hope the result will be something recognisable, but while I think I’m every bit as good as the lovely Helen I don’t even come close to the talent of Denny Dent, a very rock ‘n’ roll painter who didn’t simply paint a painting, he performed it.
YouTube has a whole bunch of videos of him in action and they are incredible.
Dent died in 2004.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so ignore all the debate in the comments section and just enjoy this show.
Let’s not forget what the internet is all about though — it’s not about art, it’s not about downloading music and it’s certainly not about checking your stock portfolio.
No, according to the song, the internet is for porn. And dammit, the song is so catchy you’ll be humming it for days. Let’s hope you’re not the type to break out into song in public.
Okay, so there’s one other important use for the internet: online auctions. Trade Me has made some pretty useful changes to its DVD and movies category to make it easier for both buyers and sellers.
To sell a DVD, the trader now just needs to enter the title and if it’s in Trade Me’s catalogue, the auction will automatically be populated with the cover art, genre, synopsis, director, cast and classifications. And with a catalogue of more than 10,000 titles, odds are it will be.
This means buyers can now browse via categories such as genre, new releases, top 100 and more.
That’s the good news but there’s also a warning for Trade Me users. Beware the phishing scams. Yes, they’re still happening and will carry on as long as traders allow themselves to be duped. Trade Me has some useful information on phishing and safe computing in general and Scambusters is a good port of call for anyone concerned about keeping themselves safe while trading online.