Friday 31 October 2008

Charlie Brooker on Vegas

Like a blowjob taking place seconds before a mushroom cloud appears on the horizon.

There's a strange part of me that wants to go Vegas. I'd hate it but I think I'd end up forcing myself to completely disengaging my ego in order to survive and that would be quite interesting, like going on a holiday from thought...

Wednesday 29 October 2008

And Another Thing

Far be it for me but isn't this a very neat way for the BBC to recover some of the dignity it lost when the pay packets of it's stars were reavled earlier in the year?

24,000 complaints so far, which is interesting, since the show doesn't attract anywhere near that many listeners and the podcast and listen again were removed earlier this week...

Russell Brand Resigns

Oh for goodness sake.

It should be noted, at this point, that well over half of Russell Brand's shows this year have been broadcast from the states or not at all because of his work commitments and that his co-host has been in the US for well over a month with no news of a return. For the last few months I've been waiting for a resignation simply because it's not worth his while continuing to do the show, so at least he gets some publicity out of this, the non-news story of the year.

Vitriol for The Day

People who buy the Daily Mail knowing full well that it speaks not the truth are buying into a culture of ignorance and misinformation. Chosing to be ill-informed and to support a media that peddles lies and breeds hate becuase that hatred is more entertaining than the truth is beyond contempt.

Half a Rant, Half a Rave

There are people I love working with and there are people I hate working with and without fail the people I love working with are the people who like their jobs.

Yesterday I went to a meeting with a company whose employees clearly loved working there, were brimming over with ideas and loved hearing new ones, then I discussed our ideas with a colleague who also enjoys what he does and he enthused further and embraced the ideas and gave me the tools to push them forward. In the space of an afternoon I felt like we'd revitalised our relationship with a client, refreshed an event that was in danger of getting lost amid our hectic schedules and restored a bit of my own faith in my ability to make ideas happen, simply becuase of other people.

Put simply, if the people around me didn't love their jobs, then neither would I.

Lovemarks

Inspired by his speech at our North West Creative Forum a few weeks back, I bought a copy of Kevin Roberts' Lovemarks. It looks like the kind of coffee table book you'd want to hit a hairdresser with but is actually a thoughtful and interesting take on branding and how it affects our lives.

You can find a much more elequent explaination of what a Lovemark is here but, to my mind, a Lovemark is a brand that I trust beyond reason, a brand that I never doubt, a brand that, even if does something I don't like, I can shrug my shoulders and say "I'll grow into it" or "it will make sense in a few years".

Here is my personal list of Lovemarks.

DKNY
Lego
Habitat
Vaseline
Wii
Brett Easton Ellis
Coronation Street
Bliss Cosmetics
Red Stripe
MAC
Esprit
Technics
Camper
Talking Heads
Whiskers
Topshop
Lost
Apple
Marble Brewery
Felix da Housecat
Norsk Vodka
Dr Who
Nintendo
Arne Jacobson
Sara Lee
Yorkshire Tea
John Lewis
Belle & Sebastian
Google
HBO
The RI Christmas Lectures
Le Creuset
Morrissey
Wired Magazine
Bose
American Apparel
Volkswagen
Helvetica
Virgin Atlantic
Marmite
Fujifilm
Worms (the game)
Mario Kart
Lonely Planet
Stephen Fry
Grassmere Gingerbread
Del Monte
The Wire
Black Sambucca
St Etienne
Havianas
Campari
Marrakech
Norman Foster
MUJI
The Sanctuary, Covent Garden
Erasure
More4
Julia Roberts
W Hotels
Oxford Marmalade
Vivienne Westwood
Bergen Bread
Penguin
Eastpak
Dyson
Radiohead
Sailor Jerrys Rum
Veuve Cliquot
Heals
Mandarina Duck
Kenneth Cole
Emirates
Franz Ferdinand
Converse
Berlin

Phew.

Satanic Sluts

Just a thought.

Really, if you're in a "burlesque dance troupe" called The Satanic Sluts, you don't have much right to complain when someone tells your granddad that you've shagged Russell Brand, even if it is on the radio.

I understand the need not to encourage young people to harass one another on the phone but the BBC are so frightened of criticism they're strangling their ability to take any risks whatsoever.

Monday 27 October 2008

Nice Bit of Cake

From the Adam and Joe 6Music show.

Having lamented the fact that digital radio doesn't allow for the random interjections from pirate radio shows anyone who's ever driven around London at night will recognise, the boys have started inserting snippets of pirate into their show. This isn't my favourite ("big up to me grandma! 'ELLO GRANDMA") but is an extended version of one of the best.

Overdue Lift Moan

With apologies to my esteemed colleague to told me to blog about this some weeks ago...

I work on the 8th floor of our office building. The 8th floor is the top floor. These are my rules about what I will chose to be annoyed by in reference to users of the lift from other floors in the bullding:

  • Anyone who works on the 1st or 2nd floor should take the stairs up unless they have a noticeable disability (if your disability is not noticeable then tough, get a proper disability or expect my silent seething).
  • The person who actually queued in front of some of my colleagues to get a lift to the 1st floor last week - you could at least have had the decency to look ashamed of yourself.
  • People who are travelling to the employment tribunals service on the 4th floor - it's OK, I don't work there, you can drop the hammed-up limp and the shallow breathing.
  • Anyone who works on the 4th floor down should take the stairs down.
  • When I arrive at your floor in the middle of the building and I tell you the lift is going up, that is NOT an invitation for you to join me in a fun ride up and down the building. I don't want to spend any more time than is strictly necessary in what is effectively a cupboard with a stranger. Why do you?
  • People who work for the company who have offices on the 1st and 7th floor should have their own dedicated lift - it's too annoying stopping one floor away from my departure point AND my destination for you.
  • "Service Lift - Do Not Use" does not apply to me.

Mr Fogg Bandstocks

I just bought Bandstocks for the first time.

http://www.bandstocks.com/Artist.htm?UserId=911

Never done it before but I'm on the email list for Mr Fogg, I really like all his songs and I've communicated quite a lot with him through his myspace and have been moaning about his lack of album for some time so now it looks like he's going to do it with Valgeir Sigurdsson (Björk, mum) I thought I ought to r.e.p.r.e.s.e.n.t.

I'm fairly dubious about the worth of my investment but I guess, like in Vegas, if you don't expect to win anything you can't lose. And it's only a tenner minimum investment.

If you don't want to invest at least check out his myspace and listen to my favourite song, Stung.