Former Miss Universe Loves Cock...atoo

This is why, if you're in the business of selling yourself as a brand ambassador, you should always demand final approval over the work you appear in ... and actually be around to approve it.

Former Miss Universe Erin McNaught is not pleased that her image on a Cockatoo Ridge Wines billboard appears next to the headline, "Shes love a cock or two... er, cockatoo." OK, I added the middle part but just for the two people who didn't get it at first look.

Chirping Birds, Aerial Beauty Shots Soothe, Confuse

So sometimes you'll be sitting on the couch all relaxed watching your favorite TV show and an ad comes on that is so soothing and intriguing that you don't hit the fast forward button. Rather, you drink in its beauty, allowing it to slowly build to what you will assume to be some powerful, feel-good message.

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Don't Stop at Shaking Your Ass. SHAKE TA LIFE.

Viacom is the parent company behind a covert French mobile phone promotion called Shake Ta Life (probably the most wince-worthy Franglais EVAR), where, with one quick shake, phones do all kinds of wild and wonderful things to improve the lives of their MTV-enslaved owners.

An on-site phone customizing doohickey lets you select what you want a phone to do (make you sexier, make a kebab) and how you'd like it to look (girly, glamrock, gothic, geeky).

I put together a geeky kebab-making phone. That's the thing at left. It probably smells nice.

The brand behind the madness will be revealed on April 16th. Try not to stay up fretting over it. Instead, ponder on this: wouldn't it be cool if your phone had a foosball table?

Now There's a Home for Your Lame Home-Made Sports Videos

That home is "Homestyle Sports."

And when I say "home," I mean a bonafide online show complete with hosts (Dan and Adam!), sponsor (Champion!) and a big-ass box of swag, which Dan and Adam explore between candid sports takes.

The whole thing's kinda like watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" except with two Bob Sagets, a lot of balls and some hoodies.

To be part of all the fear and loathing, upload your own clips to Break.com or YouTube.com/homestylesports. Be sure to tag them with "homestylesports."

Flickr Users Protest Video, iJustine Says Quit Being A Btchr

What the hell? Flickr decides to make it possible for users to upload videos along with their photos and what do some people do? That's right. They bitch, complaining Flickr is only for photos as if people who take and look at pictures NEVER, EVER, EVER take or watch videos. WTF? Justine tells all the video mimbys to quit being Bitchrs.

Feed Company Drops Stats on Zune 'Masks' Effort

Hey, remember that Zune Masks spot? Feed Company, which seeded it on YouTube and elsewhere, sent us metrics on how well it fared.

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Meet Pike Place, the Ghost of Starbucks Past

On Tuesday Starbucks debuted the fresh-brewed Pike Place Roast, named after the street where, in 1971, the first Starbucks was born.

Print ads by Wieden+Kennedy ran in newspapers in most major cities. The bright colours and simple messages coax people to associate Pike Place with everyday workingman coffee (at $2 for a grande? Come ON). Creative concludes with the statement, "37 years in the making." So I guess this is the trump card.

And the trump card feels very Dunkin'.

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Xiaxue Was iJustine Before Justine Became iJustine

Back in 2004, Singapore resident Wendy Cheng, aka Xiaxue was just a blogger. But a very popular blogger. in Singapore, at least. Then, in 2005, a t-shirt company LocalBrand approached her to become their brand ambassador. It was sort of a big deal back then for a brand to tap the popularity of a blogger.

Xiaxue was sort of like iJustine before iJustine became iJustine.

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Coffee, Tea ... or Richard Kirshenbaum?

Sassy Richard of kirshenbaum + bond is launching a show on Plum called Creative Lunch. Think Oprah, except people will be picking at food while weighing in on almighty Creativity. Slated guests include Martha Stewart, Matt Lauer, and David and Dylan Lauren.

We've seen Richard talk before. He's mesmerizing, especially when he does that swishy thing with his hair. Also, he never ever capitalizes anything.

Hurry for self-fellating agency heads. Now here is a promotional image of Richard barefoot. (The PR company sent it to us, except 34098343908 times bigger.)

No word yet on the debut of a "k" magazine, featuring Richard on the cover in various states of simper, following the success of the talk show. We're sure they're working on it though.

Yahoo Taps Google, Webby Would-Bes Go Live, BMW Gets Tagged, and the Most Beautiful Marker We've Ever Seen

- YAHOO'S PARTNERING WITH GOOGLE FOR SEARCH ADS OMG. Whew. Glad that's out of the way.

- Here is the Webby Awards list of nominees.

- Barkley's Bad Gift Emporium, which makes e-cards like the treasury of memorable Hillary expressions at left, was nominated for a Weird Webby. It's weird and all, but can it beat Cute Overload? (See reclining pug and potent pandas.) Vote here.

- Tag a BMW on Facebook.

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