Walking home last night I passed a storm drain. Usually empty, there was a small stream running down a channel in the bottom of it. Some kind soul had lobbed a traffic cone in there causing a minor blockage, and mini set of rapids.

I thought nothing of it, until I noticed a family of ducks approaching the rapids. I stopped to watch as they lined themselves up and surfed down the mini-waterfalls one by one.

Surfing ducks. Superb. It made me smile, which can only be a good thing. Isn't nature grand?

what do you mean surfing? they jumped on things to go by? they used their webbed feet to surf?

ooooh I'd have liked to see :D

no no no, more of a duck bodysurfing thing.

ok, they were swimming much as ducks always do. But the way they moved reminded me of surfers. :-)

Wonderful vision of ducks in lycra, wearing shades and riding the waves ..........

cute....quite the mental picture. You know, there aren't too many cuter things than ducklings being led by their mother. I love how they line up. (I used to raise ducks and it's even funnier when a duckling adopts a cross-species mother...like a pig or a cow. Now THAT'S cute!)

If the ducks were surfing, what was this cat doing?
[www.databar.com]

hanging on for grim life by the looks of it, and not too successfully at the end either!

Has anyone seen the 'cog' advert for Honda?
[www.beam.tv]

yeah.
now they are just showing bits but during the brazil GP they showed the whole thing, it's mesmerizing even though you know it was mostly done on computers

nope, done in one take, for real.

It's superb. Managed to get a damn fine copy of it off the web too.

That Honda ad took over 600 takes before they got the whole thing on one camera in one movement - it's two minutes long in its full form and is one of the most amazing ads I've seen. Great article about it in the Sunday papers the other week

ah, when I said 'one take' I never said it was the first one...

I could watch that again and again...

i heard some of it was done in the computer (like the bit where the tyres go up a ramp)

maybe i've been reading the wrong things...

I agree. A fantastic ad.

Takes 'Mousetrap' to a whole new dimension...

apparently the tyres were weighted inside with stuff so that when they were bumped, it knocked their centre of balance off. If you watch carefully you can see the way they move bears this out...

Hey Dave, why don't you credit your source of all this info ;-)

I'm sure Skiffle would have something to say about not citing the stunningly erudite, witty, intelligent chap who told you about the ad !

In the above post, you can substitute the word 'apparently' for the words 'Rob said'.

He was the one who told me it was done in one take too. So if it turns out to be all computer generated, it's his fault.... ;-)

Hmm... The whole thing's in danger of losing all credibility.

The article I read (probably the same one as Auntysassy) was in the Telegraph (possibly the Sunday Telegraph) if we're getting specific.

that's why I omitted all reference to your good self, lends an air of credibility to the whole shebang.

ok just went back to the F1 site where i had seen it was CGI, but someone said again it was 1 take after 619 takes! so all for real

Even Rob is right some of the time...