Mediaboss Marketing

OK, we admit it – we miss the ‘90s! And with their dancefloor-filling crowdpleaser hits like Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, We’re Going To Ibiza and We Like to Party, it’s high-time Amsterdam’s The Vengaboys hopped on their Vengabus and paid us another visit down under to share their mad uplifting tracks again.

Vengaboy Kim Sasabone chatted to JoyFM’s Kyle and Kane ahead of the four-piece poppers’ Aussie tour next month…

KIM: Hi Kyle and Kane! How cute are those names? Kyle and Kane…

KANE: I know, they’re so similar. In Australia, we all start with a ‘K’ (laughs).

I know, Kath and Kim!

KYLE: You’ll fit in!

KANE: You will! We’ll welcome you with open arms here.

I know and we’re so super excited to come down to Australia. We’re really looking forward to it.

KANE: Kim, have you been to Australia before?

Yes, we’ve been to Australia before but that was such a long time ago, about ten or twelve years ago.

KYLE: Well, it’s fantastic here. The sun doesn’t stop shining, it never rains – everything’s perfect. (laughs)

I know! And, you know, in January here in the Netherlands, the weather is so cold so we’re so happy to come and be in Australia in the warmth and the sun and the beaches and everything.

KANE: Well, Kim, it seems Australia loves the Vengaboys – you’ve got three shows in Melbourne alone. The first two have already sold out and you’ve put on a third show. What do you think it is about the Vengaboys that Australia loves?

I couldn’t believe it when I heard that we had almost all of the Australian shows sold out. Three times in Melbourne – isn’t that great? I think Australians are really into partying and positive, uplifting music. We sold platinum and double platinum back in the day in Australia and the reception was always really, really good. We have so much fun with sold out shows.

We used to do all these meet and greets and in-store signing sessions, which were always so crowded with so many lovely people – we met so many great people over there.

KYLE: Well, I remember being at school and the Vengaboys craze was going off – everyone would talk about the Vengaboys so it’s always really exciting to hear a band like that is coming back to Australia. Also, The Best of the Vengaboys album is being released here in time for Christmas.

That’s so hilarious. I just found out that not so long ago that the album was going to be released. It’s a special Australian tour edition – how cool is that? I posted it on my Facebook and immediately there were so many reactions of people like, “I need to have that album!” and “Please bring a few from Australia!” People here in Europe are really happy for us and they’re so excited.

KANE: Now, one of the questions on the tip of everyone’s tongue here – well, it’s on mine and Kyle’s tongue – is, does the ‘Vengabus’ actually exist?

It does.

KYLE: You’d get asked that all the time but surely it’s just going to be hidden away in a little factory somewhere or do you party on it?

Yeah, it doesn’t really… he’s not alive anymore…

KANE: Oh no.

He still exists but we couldn’t get it out of the garage because it’s stored somewhere but that’s where it actually all started with…

KYLE: ‘We Like to Party’.

KANE: Yeah, it did – on the ‘Vengabus’.

Yep.

KYLE: Where would the Vengabus travel? If it could travel anywhere?

Oh wow, that’s a really hard question because we were so fortunate to see so many great places in the world and there are so many great places we wanted to go back and we’re so happy to come back to Australia. Yeah, so I think Australia, at this time, would be number one. The Vengabus would come to Australia.

KYLE: Great! It’s a flying Vengabus.

See original here:
Music: Make some noise for the Vengaboys!

Posted by SCENE Staff | Wednesday February 22, 2012

CBC's This Is That brings live show to this year's Winnipeg Comedy Festival

As if you didn't know, it's the year 2012.  What does that mean? Well, if you follow the Mayan calendar, it might very well be the end of the world as we know it, but perhaps not.

2012 also marks the 11th year of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.  And according to artistic director Al Rae "apart from the pretend gloom of our Mayan Apocolypto theme, the future of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival has never been brighter."

So who's going to be getting the last laughs April 5 - 15?

The hosts include Canadian icon Alan Thicke of Growing Pains and The Alan Thicke Show,  television sitcom star and talk show host Caroline Rhea, (just think Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and comedian Harland Williams who appeared in the movies Dumb and Dumber and Half Baked.

And CBC faves The Debaters, This is That and DNTO will be presenting their shows in front of live audiences.

The Debaters always draws huge crowds and this year they'll be able to fit more people in as their event moves to the Burton Cummings Theatre.

This Is That features Pete Oldring and Pat Kelly who provide 90% of the voices on the show, even the women sometimes. Their special guest is popular Vancouver comedian Charlie Demers.  He's been on the show before. In fact, he's the man behind This Is That's biggest story ever, "Quebec Lowers the Drinking Age to 14.

CBC Winnipeg's Wab Kinew will be hosting a special Aboriginal show called Unreserved. Some of the performers include Don Kelly, Ryan McMahon and Don Burnstick.

DNTO will once again be at the Gas Station Theatre and will feature four of their favourite storytellers plus a hot Winnipeg musical act.

Here are some of the other performers booked at this year's festival.

Nicole Arbour, Johhny Bagpipes, Sarah Cornell, Sean Cullen, Melanie Dahling, Debra DiGiovanni, Lou Dinos, John B. Duff, Stevie Ray Fromstein, Jen Grant, Cheryl Hann, Dean Jenkinson, Simon King, Matt Kirshen, Rebecca Kohler,  Elvira Kurt,  Laura Landauer, Kevin McDonald and many more.

See more here:
SCENE | Winnipeg Comedy Fest promises last laugh

By: Dario Thuburn
Agence France-Presse

10:54 pm | Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Microsoft Corp. chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates, left, smiles next to IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze during their meeting at the International Fund for Agricultural Development Annual Governing Council at Rome's IFAD headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. AP PHOTO/PIER PAOLO CITO

ROME—Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday called for a “digital revolution” to alleviate world hunger by increasing agricultural productivity through satellites and genetically engineered seed varieties.

“We have to think hard about how to start taking advantage of the digital revolution that is driving innovation including in farming,” the US billionaire philanthropist said in a speech at the UN rural poverty agency IFAD in Rome.

“If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture. We believe that it’s possible for small farmers to double and in some cases even triple their yields in the next 20 years while preserving the land,” Gates said.

He gave as one example of innovation the genetic sequencing that allows cassava farmers in Africa to predict how individual seedlings will perform, shortening the time it takes to develop a new variety from 10 years to two.

Another key development is the use of satellite technology developed by defense departments to document data about individual fields, as well as information videos of farmers discussing best practices to help others.

“If we don’t do this, we’ll have a digital divide in agriculture,” he said.

Gates also defended the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the developing world and large-scale farm land investments by foreign states in the developing world – both highly controversial issues in the aid community.

“You should go out and talk to people growing rice and say do they mind that it was created in a laboratory when their child has enough to eat?” he told reporters at a small media roundtable after his speech.

“The change in the way mankind lives over the last several hundred years is based on adoption of innovative practices and we simply haven’t done enough for those in the greatest need to bring these things,” he said.

On the issue of land investments that are referred to by their critics as “land grabbing,” he said: “It’s not actually possible to grab the land. People don’t put it on boats and take it back to the Middle East.

“If we could have clear guidelines there could be more land deals and overall it could be very beneficial… The truth is the person who is most at risk on a land deal is the person who is putting the money in.”

Gates also unveiled $200 million (150 million euros) in new grants from his foundation to finance research on a new type of drought-resistant maize, a vaccine to help livestock farmers and a project for training farmers.

“Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty,” he said, adding that his charitable foundation had committed $2.0 billion for farmers and was working on seven crops and one livestock vaccine.

Gates called for a new system of “public scorecards” for developing countries and UN food agencies that would measure things like agricultural productivity, the ability to feed families and farmer education systems.

“It’s something that can be pulled together over the next year,” he said.

“When I meet with an African leader, I’d love to have that report card. I have a report card for health…. Without the scorecards, the donors tend to fund fad-oriented, short-term things,” he told reporters.

The technology pioneer also criticized the work of the UN food agencies in Rome: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) and the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD).

He said the current food and farming aid system was “outdated and somewhat inefficient” with a lot of “duplication.”

For these organizations to go digital will take “a lot of time,” he said.

Asked about the need for wider reforms of capitalism to help the poor, he said: “How do you get rid of its excesses, including the finance people who are paid these huge salaries, without hurting the beneficial things?”

He added: “I wish those Wall Street traders would have gone… and worked on maize and used their mathematical models to look at phenotype versus genotype. It’s clearly imperfect but it’s the best system we have.”

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Tags: aid , Farm , food , IFAD , Internet , technology , UN , US

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Microsoft founder urges digital revolution against hunger

Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday called for a "digital revolution" to alleviate world hunger by increasing agricultural productivity through satellites and genetically-engineered seed varieties.

"We have to think hard about how to start taking advantage of the digital revolution that is driving innovation including in farming," the US billionaire philanthropist said in a speech at the UN rural poverty agency IFAD in Rome.

"If you care about the poorest, you care about agriculture. We believe that it's possible for small farmers to double and in some cases even triple their yields in the next 20 years while preserving the land," Gates said.

He gave as one example of innovation the genetic sequencing that allows cassava farmers in Africa to predict how individual seedlings will perform, shortening the time it takes to develop a new variety from 10 years to two.

Another key development is the use of satellite technology developed by defence departments to document data about individual fields, as well as information videos of farmers discussing best practices to help others.

"If we don't do this, we'll have a digital divide in agriculture," he said.

Gates also defended the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the developing world and large-scale farm land investments by foreign states in the developing world -- both highly controversial issues in the aid community.

"You should go out and talk to people growing rice and say do they mind that it was created in a laboratory when their child has enough to eat?" he told reporters at a small media roundtable after his speech.

"The change in the way mankind lives over the last several hundred years is based on adoption of innovative practices and we simply haven't done enough for those in the greatest need to bring these things," he said.

On the issue of land investments that are referred to by their critics as "land grabbing", he said: "It's not actually possible to grab the land. People don't put it on boats and take it back to the Middle East.

"If we could have clear guidelines there could be more land deals and overall it could be very beneficial... The truth is the person who is most at risk on a land deal is the person who is putting the money in."

Gates also unveiled $200 million (150 million euros) in new grants from his foundation to finance research on a new type of drought-resistant maize, a vaccine to help livestock farmers and a project for training farmers.

"Investments in agriculture are the best weapons against hunger and poverty," he said, adding that his charitable foundation had committed $2.0 billion for farmers and was working on seven crops and one livestock vaccine.

Gates called for a new system of "public scorecards" for developing countries and UN food agencies that would measure things like agricultural productivity, the ability to feed families and farmer education systems.

"It's something that can be pulled together over the next year," he said.

"When I meet with an African leader, I'd love to have that report card. I have a report card for health.... Without the scorecards, the donors tend to fund fad-oriented, short-term things," he told reporters.

The technology pioneer also criticised the work of the UN food agencies in Rome: the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD).

He said the current food and farming aid system was "outdated and somewhat inefficient" with a lot of "duplication."

For these organisations to go digital will take "a lot of time," he said.

Asked about the need for wider reforms of capitalism to help the poor, he said: "How do you get rid of its excesses, including the finance people who are paid these huge salaries, without hurting the beneficial things?"

He added: "I wish those Wall Street traders would have gone... and worked on maize and used their mathematical models to look at phenotype versus genotype. "It's clearly imperfect but it's the best system we have."

Read the original here:
Bill Gates urges digital revolution against hunger

by Isle of Man Advertising

Breakthrough Breast Cancer Isle of Man hosted a special Valentine’s celebration and with the help of Celton Manx raised over £3,000.

The Isle of Man branch of Breakthrough has raised over £1million for breast cancer research since its inception and has recently won an Isle of Man Newspapers Award for Excellence for its work in the Island community.

The Valentine’s dinner dance was held at the Palace Hotel & Casino on Saturday 11th February. The lavish evening began with pre-dinner drinks and entertainment from talented harpist Leo, followed by a sumptuous three course dinner and wine. The David Holland Trio played throughout the evening and Simon Fletcher serenaded guests with a selection of love songs.

Celton Manx Executive Director, Bill Mummery said: ‘We were delighted to support the Isle of Man branch of Breakthrough again for its Valentine’s dinner dance. Events such as this help to raise awareness of the charity’s fantastic work as well as raising much needed funds for cancer research. The amount raised on the evening is testament to the charity’s loyal supporters and the hard work of the organising committee.’

Angie Aire, Chair of the local Breakthrough group said: ‘We are fortunate to have such high-profile corporate supporters as Celton Manx and Appleby. Both are long term supporters and as well as attending our events they also encourage their employees to actively support our work throughout the year through taking part in events such as the Bra Dash and the New Year’s Day Bra Dip. We could not continue to function at such a high level on the Island without this support and we thank them most sincerely for it.’

- ENDS -

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See the article here:
Breakthrough Breast Cancer Valentine’s Celebration Raises £3000