I first spotted something being built at the back of the old Fitzroy GPO last month. Google provided no information to what Shocolate was other than bad spellers of chocolate. I had to have a try after Brian from Fitzroyalty declared it as “possibly the best hot chocolate of my life” and MelbourneHotorNot’s Joyce declaring it HOT.

What is Shocolate?

It’s best described as a cross between Koko Black and Brunetti. They offer both hot and cold chocolate based drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), individual chocolates, and pastries/cake type desserts. Where they differ from Max Brenner and Koko Black, for now anyway, is the lack of hot desserts.

The story which I hopefully have right, is that the Greek owner and a French chef decided to set up shop at the Fitzroy location. They were due to open in March but due to some delays were only able to open last month. Just like the other chocolatiers around Melbourne, they are looking to expand into other areas.

On my 2 visits, I’ve tried the Iced Hot Shocolate, Iced Mocha Shocolate, a chocolate ball with orange inside ( pictured above), an Exotic tart which resembled a Lemon Meringue pie, and a Mocha Tart (pictured below). All of them were top notch.  Some of their hand chocolates pack some unique flavours and the day I was there I tried the Vegemite Chocolate, which to someone who doesn’t really like Vegemite, found it to be quite nice.

Staff are extremely friendly and they all seem to have European accents. I don’t doubt that this place will be around for a while especially as they have a fantastic location right in the heart of Fitzroy. The only downfall for me is their lack of website. Seriously, just stick a PDF of your menu up there instead of having a website that says Under Construction?

Shocolate Chocolatiers

Johnston & Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (Next to 120 Bar)

Can we all agree that Melbourne real estate agents are the scum of the earth?  Some would say that lawyers are scum but at least lawyers have years of education under their belt.

Usually when one is advertising an apartment for rent, an agent might point out it’s location, size, or perhaps some features. You would also think that they would check their spelling or possibly even grammar.  Nope.

The Cleanest Appartment In Brunswick…….All New!
$305 p.w.
5/55C DE CARLE STREET BRUNSWICK
One too look at, this totally refurbished 1st floor two bedroom apartment. This property offers a large & sunfilled north facing lounge with balcony, a brand new kitchen with electric cooking facilities, two double size bedrooms with b.i.r’s, and a large brand new bathroom with internal laundry facilities. Other features include brand new window coverings, new carpets (to be layed still), large balcony & off street parking for one (1) car. Located one block from the Sydney Road tram & walking distance to the Moreland Train station, local shops, parks & gardens. Be quick this one will not last !

How many errors did you spot?

Realestate.com.au: Cleanest Apartment in Brunswick

Google Maps has just activated real time traffic information to its maps. Information is taken from Intelematics, which you may recognise as the company behind the SUNA live GPS system that provides real time traffic information to GPS units through a discrete FM radio signal.

The breadth of coverage around Melbourne is staggering and Google plans to further expand traffic information by transmitting anonymous speed readings from those using the mobile version of the Google Maps Application.

Another smart feature of Google’s traffic information is being able to look at historical information.  Say you want directions from Clifton Hill to St. Kilda around 5PM on a Saturday. The route usually would take you down Punt Road but potentially if historical information is smart it would tell you that Saturday afternoons along Hoddle Street are a nightmare because of footy traffic. Google has perhaps seen the success of it’s Flu Trends product in predicting likely occurance of traffic.

It’s amazing to think it that only three years ago, Google added the ability to actually look up an address on its maps and now we have real time traffic data.

Google Maps via [Official Google Australia Blog]

Friend Request?

We’ve seen the Google car but I didn’t think the Facebook car would be an old Kia.  Seriously, unless this is a company car, who pays money for a vanity plate with Facebk on it?

Picture via @arcadegazette

Lonsdale Street Water Main Break/ Photo by Lantrix

Last week I received my water bill. City West Water always send some interesting material with our usual bills.  Their own reported figures show that they are very good at fixing water problems quickly. One of the more interesting figures on their fact sheet is the unaccounted water percentage.  10.1% of Melbourne’s water supply seems to be unaccounted for.  Is this a normal figure? Surely it isn’t common to have  huge water main breaks such as today’s incident on Lonsdale Street?

Wikipedia reports unaccounted water or non-revenue water as water that is lost due to leaks or metering inaccuracies. While I thought 10% was big, China is an appalling 52%.  While it’s easy to criticize Victoria’s lack of forward thinking with it’s dams and desalination plant, at least we have good water infrastructure in place to retain most of our water.

Rickrolled

It’s one thing to get rickrolled on the Internet but out in the public? From Overheard in Melbourne:

You are not safe anywhere.

Overheard in Melbourne: Rickrolled

I haven’t been to the Melbourne Costco yet and based on what I’ve read online, I don’t think I ever will.  Don’t get me wrong, Costco is a great idea and whenever I am in the US, I try visiting there partly out of curiosity and partly to get a large quantity of US only products to bring home. But for a country with very little buying power, general isolation from the world, and the fairly good prices of local markets and Aldi, I don’t see the savvy shopper saving money.

Here’s why.

Read more

You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

Club Wah caught this typo on The Age’s website last week.  Not only was it in the by-line but the error was also repeated in the article.

Melbourne's flags waving. Photo: ThatsMelbourne.com.au

This Sunday, 174 years ago, Melbourne was founded. What better way then to celebrate Melbourne by visiting some of it’s attractions on the cheap. Although the deals are not as sweet as previous years, a 2 for 1 deal is a good excuse to take a look at some of the attractions you have been meaning to see.

2 for 1 offers on the following:

Melbourne Aquarium
Eureka Skydeck
Melbourne River Cruises
Old Melbourne Gaol
Australian Racing Museum
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Chinese Museum Bridge of Memories Exhibition
City Museum at Old Treasury Melbourne
Cooks’ Cottage
Melbourne Golden Mile Guided Walk
Melbourne Aquarium
Old Melbourne Gaol

50% off:

Queen Victoria Market Tour
Rialto Tower Observation Deck

and a free swim at the City Baths. I would guess the deals this year aren’t as good previous years because Melbourne Day falls on a Sunday this year, assumingly the busiest day for most of these attractions. Maybe going next year on a Monday might mean less crowds and better deals.

ThatsMelbourne.com.au: Melbourne Day

What better way to segway from John’s last post about his tram travels to another pubic public transport story. Buy your tickets online before the 8th of August and save 5% off plus  get free delivery.  Not too bad of a deal for those who actually validate their tickets although I have a feeling a fare increase may be coming soon.

Buy your Value Metcards online for 5 per cent off [via Ozbargain]

I hopped on a tram this arvo and there was a bunch of pothead bogans smoking weed at the back of the tram.

Moving to the front of the tram I sat down, trying to ignore the smell. Everybody around me were clearly trying to put up with it as well. The ‘don’t wana get involved’ mentality.

After awhile, I couldn’t put up with the smell anymore. The entire tram was filled with the stench. I walked over to the driver. Good thing the window was open.

“Hey mate could you please do something about the potheads at the back of the tram? We pay top dollar for public transport to travel in comfort, not put up with irresponsible people who live on the dole.”

“There’s nothing I can do about it, mate.” the driver retorted, without once glancing at me.

“Isn’t there anything you can do? Perhaps signal to the inspectors or the depot, to have some staff assemble at a tram stop up ahead? You do know they’re breaching the law here…” I profused.

“Sorry mate there’s nothing I can do,” said the driver as he slammed the window on me. How rude.

I couldn’t believe it. An elderly man, who is clearly affected by the smoke, gave me the ‘oh well’ look and shrugged his shoulders. Everybody but the potheads were looking at me. Well at least I bloody was trying! You guys just sat there expecting some sort of civility.

Actions speak louder than words. If people want something done, you’ve got to act on it. Why sit on your ass and put up with it when you’ve got your rights as a paying passenger? I’m appalled at the driver’s insensitivity to other passengers. Personally I just can’t tolerate dole bludgers and potheads who smoke with blatant disregard for the law. But what if there was a pregnant woman on board or little kids on board?

Just absolutely appalling.

The Lost Dogs’ Home has put together a photographic exhibition capturing images of daily life at the shelter. Melbourne-based photographer Penny Koukoulas spent several weeks at the Lost Dogs and focused on individual dog stories which promises to be an emotive and educational exhibition.

Lost Dogs opens on Tuesday 4 August 5.00pm to 7.00pm and runs 4 to 15 August at fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.

Tue to Fri: 11.00am to 5.00pm Saturday: 12.00pm to 4.00pm. Entry is free.

Image from www.dogshome.com

I took my wife to the Comedy Theatre yesterday for a matinee performance of Broadway’s multi-award winning Avenue Q. Growing up in the early to mid 80s (guess that kinda pegs my age into a certain age group!) to the regular introduction of letters and numbers of Sesame Street, it was great to relive something days long gone in the flesh.

Of course, nobody in the audience was expecting anything as tame as the PBS show, so we knew what we were getting ourselves in for. It is the most extraordinary show I’ve ever seen. Who knew puppets could be so funny and touching? Few people would have the chance of experiencing a quality Broadway performance in their lifetime and I’m glad had a chance to say they’ve definitely destroyed my cutesy image of puppets! It’s Sesame Street meets South Park! I won’t give anymore away! It’s so good I feel like double clicking on my mouse……..

The Avenue Q team plays in Melbourne for another week before moving to other parts of Australia. Tickets are very affordable and have been reduced to $49.90 (except Saturdays) and I highly recommend it with your family or date or just friends wanting a good time. Just make sure they’re of ‘mature’ age!

EDIT: I just realised Neil’s previous post has a picture of Lucy the Slut. How’s that for unwitting advertisement placement?

Image from avenueqthemusical.com.au

Spotted this great ad placement in today’s Herald Sun.