I miss out again

The problem with not living in the States is that you miss out on some outstanding contests. However, I don’t think I’ll become a US citizen just so I can enter; at present I’m quite happy with my status as an Aussie who lives in NZ.
But it would be fun to go in for the lowest bid contest, which is a kind of inside-out auction. The person opening the bids starts at 1c, and so might several other people – no one knows what anyone else bids. The person who dares to go up to 2c or more, and is the only one to do so, becomes the ‘lowest’ unique bidder. And so it goes on until bidding stops. A further tricky aspect to this is that in spite of bidding in monetary amounts, you don’t actually have to pay anything at the end of the auction, if you’re the winner. And the prizes are real and substantial, from BMWs down to Motorola Razor cellphones. I’ve checked out the prizes a couple of times, and find it hard to choose what I’d most like to win.
There’s a charming young lady called Karen (if I caught her name right) who goes through the whole deal with you on a little video. Worth checking it out. If you live in the States (and the District of Columbia).

We don't Get!

Awww, I can’t join the whogets.com contests! And neither can people in Florida, Rhode Island or New York. What has the world got against us? Or rather, what do the residents of Florida, Rhode Island and New York have in common with each other – and me? Let me think: F, RI and NY all have an O in their names. They all have an R in their names. But New Zealand doesn’t have either of these. So what’s the catch, WhoGets? Are ya just prejudiced against us? Boo, hoo!

They say on their Official Rules that they’ll hopefully open to F, RI and NY in the future. But do they mention NZ? Nope, they do not. Boo, hoo, again!

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Are you listening?

Does a program like American/Australian/NZ Idol work? Is it of long-term benefit to the person who wins? For some people it obviously is, and sometimes it isn’t the winner who benefits. Jennifer Hudson made the finals of the show and then not only got slammed by at least one of the judges, but was ousted late in the proceedings. Nevertheless, she went on to play out the ‘American Idol’ summer tour, and followed this up with two years’ worth of concerts on the road. Perseverance was the key. In the auditions for the movie, Dreamgirls, she went on to beat the very American Idol she had performed with, Fantasia Barrino. for the part of Effie Melody White, the cast-off member of a group that was similar to the Supremes. Now she’s being touted as performing more powerfully in the movie than Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy or Jamie Foxx. Since the movie appeared, she has already received the National Board of Review (for "Breakthrough Performance"), New York Film Critics Award, Phoenix Film Critic's Society Award, Golden Satellite Award and a Golden Globe nomination. That’s all just for starters.
In another area of music competition is a company called We Are Listening. Checking out their staff is intriguing. They’re based in London, but the Managing Director is Israeli by origin, the Marketing Manager is Italian, the Production Manager is Bolivian, the head of the Production team is another Israeli, the manager of business and creative development is Indian, the Web Developer is German, and the company solicitor is Spanish. Oh, yes, the Office Manager is a Brit – and the only woman on the team. (Is this what life is like now in the European Community? LOL)
The company’s goal is to create professional opportunities for singer-songwriters in particular, and with that in mind they host the Singer/Songwriter Awards to enable people to have their music evaluated by the music industry.
You can listen to the We Are Listening song contest winners, finalists and runners up. Their music (both the original recording they sent in, and the arranged version done with Steve Williams) are available on the website. Unlike streaming radio, I found there was a bit of interruption when I tried listening, but it might be that my broadband is a little slower than some. (The thing’s got to travel 12,000 miles, for crying out loud!)
When you’ve listened to the various artists, you can vote for your favourite, and if you like what you hear, you can download a range of podcasts that consists of the site’s indie catalogue - for free (!) Ah, the joys of the internet, and how much time you can spend doing things on it….
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