In the name of science, Dominion Post 16th Oct. 2015

While this isn't strictly paranormal, the press item is couched as such, and I don't have a personal blog set up, so...

So, here is my original Facebook post of 12th October  - an otherwise dull evening:

You've seen the TV ad for the cat treat 'Temptations', where the cat busts through the wall when the guy rattles the packet. Well, it's not much of an exaggeration, as Leo's reaction to the sound of the packet being handled will testify.

So, curiousity finally got the better of me; I had to find out what makes these things so irresistable. I tried one.
Don't do it!

Unless you want an experience similar to a crunchy explosion of rotten fish inside your mouth. They are absolutely fucking revolting.

To a human, anyway. Leo still loves them to bits. I don't understand it.

Dominion Post 'Capital Day' A15, 16th October 2015. Tasting the cat treat 'Temptations' - James Gilberd, Strange Occurrences.

Judging by the comments, people appreciated the humor of the post, as has the Dom Post. And attention seeking media whore that I am, I was amused and actually quite chuffed to see it in print. It's the third time a social media post of mine has made the Dominion Post. The previous two were from Twitter, one of which ended up on the front page as a response to a news story.

I don't know what the decision-making process is around what runs, but I imagine they think something like, 'He won't mind. He's been in the paper plenty of times before with eccentric tales of ghost hunting, and he has a sense of humour.' Maybe there's a tacit agreement between me and the newspaper there. Whatever - I'm perfectly fine with it.

But it does beg the question: what if I was not fine with it? After all, it was a post intended for my Facebook friends - an audience I have at least some degree of control over (via Facebook's 'Privacy' settings and control of my friend base). This experience certainly reinforces the advice meme that you may have seen: The only privacy setting you need: If it's private, don't put it on Facebook.

Twitter, I regard a little differently; if I tweet a thing, I want it to go out to the world, the wider the better. But what exactly are the ethics of the professional press in lifting items without consent from social media intended for a restricted audience or readership?

A little irony

I spent some time sending out press information as widely as I could regarding the exhibition that opened at Photospace Gallery (which I run) last night. The organisor of the show, respected Auckland photographer Haruhiko Sameshima, did likewise. 'Selective Exposure' features 10 contemporary NZ artists, some based overseas, all working with film-based photography as a means of engaging with the world.

This exhibtion is of the highest quality and, I think, well worth some media coverage, but do you think we got even one bite from the press releases? Instead, what gets in the paper on the first day the exhibition is open to the public? An amusing little item about me eating cat food.

Photo credit (below): Rob Wilson - Frontline Photography

Photo of me taken by Rob Wilson, cropped from the original which showed more of the gallery, during the Phil Jacobs Benefit fundraising photography auction in 2013.