do you believe in love at first sight it's an illusion i don't care
it's all an illusion there's too much confusion down down down with your heart find find find the secret turn turn turn your head around baby we can do it we can do it alright do you believe in love at first sight it's an illusion i don't care do you believe i can make you feel better too much confusion come on over here can we get together i really i really want to be with you come and check it out with me i hope you i hope you feel the same way too...
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 :::
AND ALL THAT JAZZ... THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO BOOK A CULLUM!
If you haven't noticed yet, less than a month from now there'll be an international 'popstar' visiting Hong Kong and playing a gig live at HKCEC Hall 3.
And this, is the photo they use for the ticketing website to promote this gig to be held at the 8000 seater Hall 3.
And I am equally amazed when I type in the link to this photo (if there's a smarter way to insert a pic to your entry, let me know by the way), the file name of it is something like "largeImage_415_.jpg". Don't you see? I wonder if there are any small images, and whether the other images (I assume there are 414 preceding this one) really look that bad they end up choosing this pic. Anyway. If you want to 'check out' how the only ticketing website for almost all international events held in Hong Kong works, feel free to log on to http://www.hkticketing.com. It doesn't hurt to try to click. And you'll realize not only they've got this superb layout that highlightsthis Jamie Cullum extravaganza together with some Yamaha children's concert with just the exact same size, the booking system is also extremely user friendly. They let you choose the number of seats, the type of seats you want (in that case just to feel filthy rich for a minute you can choose the $988 seat), and choose the area that you want. You then click submit and expect the payment page, right?
No. They ask you to enter the same thing again. So you repeat the procedure, wondering what's wrong. All entered again, fine and dandy, you submit.
They ask you to enter the same damn thing again. So you wonder what's wrong (if you still have the patience AND the money to watch Jamie).
You then realize, provided that you have the same level of IQ that I have (which I assume you amazing readers have only higher to decide it's not worth trying this out just for the 'fun' of it), you should by now realize you actually CANNOT and SHOULDNOT enter the AREA that you desire, even though there's clearly a drop down menu there for you to select, but to leave that blank.
You have to enter the number of seats you want, the type of seat you want, and leave the 'area' field blank.
See? They let you choose the area, but they don't let you. Understand? Smart system, isn't it?
Mystery solved! Hurrah!
First I have to make myself clear I'm doing this out of boredom. I have no intention whatsover to watch the Cullum perform. Jamie is supposedly to be amazing, and I'm sure the concert will be, yet take a look at this:
You will see that there might be a slight problem with their pricing system, when the most expensive seats ($988 + 10 handling charge = $998) span half of the concert hall. There are still some limited elite $388 seats! You say. Well, if you want to pay that much to experience the fun of sitting high up on a riser, please, I urge you, either A) Donate the money to charity instead. Or B) Spend a day at Ocean Park, which apparently houses all sorts of roller coasters and observatory tower that rises so much higher than the HKCEC riser if you seriously need that kind of fun, and you still have spare money to treat yourself a fabulous dinner looking at the habor with a nice view of the mighty HKCEC.
P.S.
If you're still wondering why I'm clicking on the website with no intention to buy the tickets, and are worried that I might have gone nuts for whatever reason and considering the option of spending the $400 to offer me some help, then fear not. I'm just doing this occasionally to familiarize the system, just in case suddenly say if my favorite act comes visit (haven't you heard Madonna's going to tour this summer? What IF she's decided to come by this city for the first time in her 23 year career? you never know right?), I can grab the best seat possible without the hassle of figuring out the system, which I've had bad experiences with before, like every other ticketing website out there.
And oh, after further exploration, the 'area' drop down menu isn't there for nothing (you know it's me and my curious mind). You can actually choose to select it. But there's some guessing work involved - you have to guess which area isn't full yet. It doesn't work if the area you select is full, but it does work if the area still has the number of available seats you want.
Now the guide's complete. And I can go figure out how I can come up with such a long entry for a matter like this.
it's all an illusion there's too much confusion down down down with your heart find find find the secret turn turn turn your head around baby we can do it we can do it alright do you believe in love at first sight it's an illusion i don't care do you believe i can make you feel better too much confusion come on over here can we get together i really i really want to be with you come and check it out with me i hope you i hope you feel the same way too...
