Category: 5things

5 things on Friday #8

Some stuff from the w/e Feb 24th, 2012.

  1. Woman in Black – aka ‘Harry Potter and the Spooky Ghost’
    Surprisingly good, genuinely scary and overall a bloody good night out at the cinema, WiB is definitely worth a look. The only real problem with it, if I’m completely honest, is that Mr Radcliffe still very much looks like a certain Mr Potter. He’s on a train out of London and suddenly you think he’s on the Hogwart’s Express… Annoying, but I’m sure it’ll pass. Eventually.
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  2. Claire Claire Claire Claire Claire
    Claire’s Accessories trended on Twitter this past week and it was not for a fun reason. Simply put: they’ve been caught, red-handed (again), stealing / pilfering / thieving / plagiarising designs from others. Not cool. Cue much deleting of angry Facebook fan comments and general poor social media crises management. Claire’s Accessoires, if you’re reading this, get in touch. I can help.
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  3. Terence Stamp
    One of my favourite sources of creative inspiration, My Modern Metropolis, posted their ‘Pic of the Day‘ this week and it was this awesome photo of a ‘now and then’ Terence Stamp. Wonderful stuff.
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  4. Cafe Rouge, Maida Vale
    Without doubt the worst meal I’ve had all year. Avoid them at all costs. I tweeted something similar earlier this week, they replied. I filled in their form, they sent a lack-lustre response. The result? I still feel the same and I won’t be going back. Poor customer service annoys me. You never know how far those butterfly beats will fly.
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  5. Mobile Geekery!
    The best thing to happen all week? I managed to catch up with some of the finest mobile geeks (and friends) London has to offer. Dan ‘I’m building my own mobile network‘ Lane, Ben ‘Bloggers in suits‘ Smith, Edward ‘Somehow I’ve blagged a job at RBS‘ Hodges aaaaaand Ilicco ‘Oh my God I’m at an agency‘ Elia (and we had a small does of Alistair ‘GRAPPLE ME‘ Crane too).All top chaps, all fantastic friends. Much, much merriment was had.

 

5 things on Friday #7

This week I am running horrifically behind; the notes I’m writing up have been in my Moleskine for well over a week (today’s the 27th of Feb and I’m backdating this post to the 17th!) and I have two batches to write up.

Right then, shall we?

  1. Chronicle
    I have a much bigger post to come about this film at a later date [read: when I get a chance]. In the meantime, seek it out. It’s worth it.
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  2. SMW4x4
    Last week was Social Media Week and Monday saw four case studies given by four different agencies at the HMS President upon the river Thames. Hosted by This Little Lady Went To London and sponsored by Cloud nine Recruitment, 1000heads and BDMDigital, the event was not only about raising awareness around four (well, three) great pieces of work but there was a charitable angle too, with all ticket proceeds going to CRISIS. There may be some bias (I chaired the event in question) but it was by far and away the best night I had throughout Social Media Week: Samsung, Nokia and Brewdog all being well represented by their respective agencies.
    Good job.
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  3. The Other Cinema
    Brief Encounter @ The Troxy. Feb 14th. Date night. Bliss.
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  4. social@Ogilvy
    The launch of social@Ogilvy meant a fancy get-together across five pods on the London Eye. No more 360 Digital Influence, now there’s just social@Ogilvy. Champagne. Sushi. Awesome.
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  5. Google+
    The second social media week event I managed to get along to was the afternoon hosted by Google+. With a programme of speakers that included Professor Robin Dunbar (yes, he of Dunbar’s Number fame) and demo after demo of how awesome Google+ can be, I must say I’m fairly sold [I event wrote my first Storify about the event]. All it needs now is users, in volume.
    I’m on Google +, circle me there.

Bonuses: Matt finding this awesome shirt, being interviewed for ‘Behind the Headlines‘ and rediscovering my love for all things Cat Stevens. 

 

 

5 things on Friday #6

Five [and a bit] things of general awesomeness from last week.

  1. Singin’ in the Rain.
    On a whim, I managed to get a couple of stalls tickets to this recently opened West End musical…. and I was not disappointed. Beautiful, fun and very, very wet – Singin’ in the Rain was definitely the highlight of the week. If you’re looking for a show to see in London, then see this.
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  2. New Avengers Trailer!
    Do I need to say any more? No, I didn’t think so.
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  3. One kick ass lasagne.
    Many, many cheeses. I’ll be making that bad boy again. Oh yes.
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  4. Not at MWC.
    Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest mobile telecommunications conference and it happens every year around February time in Barcelona. I’ve been fortunate enough to attend a fair few times over the years, however this year (like last year) I won’t be making it over so instead (like last year), Dan and I are throwing a mobile-focused get together in London town. If you’re around, you should come along!
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  5. CALM: Campaign Against Living Miserably.
    Suicide is one of the biggest killers of young men in the UK today and this charity has been set up to combat that fairly horrific statistic. I met one of the founders this week and well, I doubt very much this’ll be the last time I blog about the subject (it certainly isn’t the first). For the time being however, please check out Thirty One – a new album of specially curated music from Manchester artists, and the best thing?
    All profits go directly to CALM. Hop to it.

Bonuses: something I spent a lot of time working on last year was finally unveiled, Bonfire.IM became my favourite browser plug-in of all time and the Creative Social (although was somewhat disappointing in the main) yielded the discovery of the AMAZING Bear71. 

5 things on Friday #5

This week I’m cheating again. Things written on Monday and then backdated to Friday.

Shrug.

Sue me.

5 things of note from this past week –

  1. Travelling Light @ The National Theatre. Admittedly my tickets were freebies from a friend but still, it’s still definitely worth seeing. So what if the accents are ropey at times and who cares if the script is slightly clunky in places – it was lovely little piece of theatre.
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  2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol @ The IMAX!! Bloody good and again, well worth seeing (at THE IMAX though, obviously).
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  3. #DriveTime – aka ‘tweet along with Drive’ – came and went. It was fun, but could it have been better?
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  4. The Descendants (w/ G Clooney). Dead good.; it just kinda… happens. He’s bloody brilliant actually, best thing/most nuanced performance since Michael Clayton. Yep. You should see that too.
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  5. The future arrived, via my iPad. Still learning. Amazing.
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5 things on Friday #5

Bonuses: Sleb spotting in Soho, covered in snow at Speakeasys in Clapham and some gorgeous MEGACITY photography up in Leeds.

5 things on Friday #4

Five things of note from this week

  1. This Shangri-La Hotel ad: ‘It’s in our nature‘ – it’s gorgeous
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  2. New job. New job. New job. Even managed to get my first speaking gig by day three! Amazing.
    Great work, inspiring people. This is my mantra, remind me to revisit this one day and I’ll explain where it comes from. Or just ask me when you see me next.
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  3. DRIVE. I loved it (as you might know) and on 8pm on January 30th, it’ll be #DriveTime – it’s a hashtag. Get involved. I am, and as such, I’ve got a [free] copy of DRIVE on Blu-ray – Yes!
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  4. Speaking of DRIVE, it gets a special mention in this Like Minds talk that I gave back in October. The video went live this week (hence the link love), it’s only 20mins long and well, you should check it out.
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  5. My ex-client friend!! Carla was over from Dubai this week and, alongside picking me up a bottle of one of my favourite whiskies, she also placed a bet with me on how long RIM will last in 2012. She thinks by June, I say September or later. The Blackberry makers aren’t going through very good times at the moment and well, as a keen observer said to me recently – ‘they’re not for this world’. 

Bonus: I lost my pen – #sadtmes.

 

 

5 things on Friday #3

Five things of note from this past week. Not as exciting as I’d hoped (I’ve had a week off and, surprisingly, haven’t spend much of it online) but here we go –

1. Rubbish QR Codes.

I spotted this ridiculous QR code placement on the tube earlier this week (note: IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACK) and subsequently popped it up on Flickr without thinking about it. Jonathan Waddingham spotted it and, before we knew it, a whole new QRFail blog had been set up.

I love Twitter for this kind of stuff.
Good work, friends.

2. Troll Hunter!
I arrived home yesterday to discover that someone had sent me both the newly-released Blu-Ray of  Troll Hunter as well as a rather funky matching t-shirt. Which in turn meant that last night I finally got to watch a film that I’ve been busting to watch for AGES. You’ll be pleased to hear I was not disappointed and – freebies aside – I’d genuinely recommend seeking it out for its pure scandinavian bonkersness alone.

3. #CommsChat.
The engagement currency post from Jan 11th got a fair bit of pick up [Huzzah!] and as such, Communicate Magazine asked me to host their weekly Twitter chat with my blog post as the theme. Cracking stuff, with some really nice banter too. Worth a look.

4. The Marketing Academy
opened up nominations for their third year of scholars this past week and – having been a part of the successful first year of entrants – I honestly cannot recommend this enough.

If you know of a high-potential, rising star in the field of advertising, communications or marketing, why not nominate them today?

5. Beef Welly!
I love cooking. But last week I had guests over and one particular guest insisted on putting together a Beef Wellington with not only the best damn piece of beef I’ve ever laid eyes on (thank you Ginger Pig) but also the finest homemade meal finesse I ever did see.

It was my first and it was superb. Try it.

5 things on Friday

5 things on Friday #2

Following on from last week’s entry (and a little bit later than expected – I’m writing this on Tuesday, but back-dating it to last week – sue me), here’s the top five things I loved most from the past seven days –

  1. One of my fellow trans-mongolian adventurers, Ben Wallace, finally finished editing together one epic vodka train video (which we all helped in shooting along the way). Coming in at 6mins long, covering over 5600miles and tracking the consumption of quite frankly, a ridiculous amount of alcohol… I can’t stop smiling whenever I watch it.
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  2. This top 10 albums of 2011 list (via @switzke) is definitely worth a peruse for many an hour of aural pleasure. Dive in.
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  3. Paul Clarke‘s photography exhibition at Adam Street member’s club on Wednesday was really, really good (personal fave was the stage shot of Jon Culshaw) and I’m glad I was able to make it along. No link available at the moment (Paul’s working on it) but in the meantime, why not check out his portfolio?
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  4. Writing a comedy, agony-aunt-style blog post that resulted in being followed by Cher Lloyd Twitter bots? Definite highlight of the week.
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  5. I said goodbye to 1000heads. Good friends, great presents and an epic send off. Well done all.
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And for a bonus number six, two videos that came my way on my last day as a ‘head. Both about leaving; one achingly funny and the other achingly inspiring. Enjoy.

 

PS. Big love to Laura, Angela and Cathy for jumping on the 5Things trail.The latter’s three-fold reasoning as to why this is a good idea are exactly the same as mine. Win.

Good skills.