Tag: friends

Five things on Friday #43

Things of note for the week ending October 26th, 2012

1. Worlds above the clouds
The above image is taken from a gorgeous photoset entitled ‘Magical Worlds Exist Just Above the Clouds’. And the whole set made me smile. So I hope you like it.

2. Batman 16
I’m behind a bit on Batman at the moment, but it has to be said – this latest cover is CREEPY AS HELL, and hella awesome for it.

via

3. Piano
Bonus friend action this week with a surprise visit by two buddies from overseas, Rob Keyes from Screenrant and Ryan Penagos from Marvel. They were over doing some TOP SECRET reporting on [REDACTED] and I went and met them (and Ryan’s awesome colleague Marc) for a good few beers at the end of their day.

Our destination? Piano.

Man I forgot how good that place is. You should go.

4. The Lumia 920 on AT&T
I really really like this ad. Not because it’s AT&T and not really because it’s the first TVC for the Nokia 920 either. I just think, for a 30 second spot, it tells a story of our time in an excellent fashion. So, yeah –

5. The London Transmedia Fest 2012
Anyone following me on Twitter on Friday would’ve seen a whole bunch of tweets using the #LTF2012 hashtag. Well, the London Transmedia Fest 2012 was the reason why. Some highlights –

And finally, my favourite speaker of the day was Pat Cadigan. Pat told a wonderful story about how the times in her life when she had nearly died. It was brilliant, captivating and just… delightful.

Favourite quote?

“Children are magical… Where do all the mediocre adults come from?”

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Bonuses this week comes in the form of just a bunch of other stuff I’m reading –

– I really enjoyed this Louis CK / SNL article

– The wrong election date is on some Spanish-language voting forms

– Ghostbusters 3 has finally been given the green light, here’s the timeline

– Italy’s most famous drowned town (is there a top ten?)

– What is Drop 7?

– a breathtaking poem, ‘Sheep‘

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Whatley out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five things on Friday #25

Things of note for the week ending June 22nd, 2012

Date night presents ftw

1. Awesome girlfriend is awesome
I have a new Moleskine. It has Lego on it. It’s amazing. That is all.

2. Hakkasan
OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. I ate at Hakkasan for the first time EVER this week and… OH. MY. GOD. the food is AMAZING. Melt in your mouth, gifted from heaven, purest of all Asian greatness – I literally can’t stop thinking about it.

Eat at Hakkasan. At once.

I could go into massive details about certain dishes, and what was so good about each one, or why one thing might be better than the other – but I won’t, as I am fairly sure everything on the menu is awesome. We didn’t have one bad dish (and we ate a lot). It’s not cheap. But dudes, spoil yourselves.

Best meal I’ve had all year. Fact.

(and how’s this for amazing service? The girl bought me a present – see item 1 – and, because I unwrapped it like an excited child over dinner – the staff thought it was my birthday AND THEN MADE ME A BIRTHDAY DESSERT. Just, fantastic).

3. Legoland Windsor

whoooooosh

We went to Legoland last weekend (more girlfriend-based awesomeness) and had such a good time! From wet-rides to rollercoasters, to taking arty shots of awesome Lego displays (see above) and back again. Legoland is a proper giggle. Alright we had a small person with us, who we got to spoil with bricks and who kept us all smiling the whole day there, but still. It was a LOT of fun.

Oh, and there’s a Lego submarine too. Amazing.

4. Friends
The past seven days really have been so good. I’ve caught up with a lot of people whom I’ve missed a fair bit recently and this week, be it over email, drinks or dinner, my friends have made me roar with laughter, smile with joy and generally warm all the way through with stupid happiness.

Thanks guys, you know who you are – and you rock.

5. The Girl Who Would Be King
One of my newest blog finds, 1979 semi-finalist – aka, comic book geek, Kelly Thomson – is giving away the first part of her book ‘The Girl Who Would Be King‘.

Chapters one and two are available already and I’m fairly sure three and four won’t be far behind now reading parts three and four. It’s good. So read it.

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Outdoorsy bonuses this week: work commitments meant I had to sell my Isle of Wight Festival ticket (booo!), but the washout looks mental, so there’s one upside. No Isle of Wight means I’m free to go to Royal Ascot this weekend. I’ve not been before, so it should be ace! Festival-wise, I’ve still got Nova to look forward which, weather depending, is looking like it’s going to be great too.

Different theme to this week’s five things.
There’ll be more cool stuff next week.

 

Whatley out.

 

 

5 things on Friday #1

As promised –

  1. I met up with my friend (and ex-colleague) Nicola Jackson this week. I don’t think I’ve seen her little face since she packed up from 1000heads, travelled the world and then started her singing career. Today she’s one half of The Pressure Cell, signed to a label and even has an EP available. I’ve got it, you should too.
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  2. A combination of this tweet about stickers + kids and this one about cheering up and being happier on the planet we live on meant that I ended up trending across London on Tuesday. Hilarious.
    .
    However, joking aside, this did spark a much larger discussion in the office about viral conditioning – something that you should be definitely be aware of (or even in control of) if you’re creating content that could/should go viral.
    .
  3. The Sun came out and I fell in love with London again.
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  4. I was finally able to announce my new job @ Ogilvy!
    [Yes Dad, I work in PR now]
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  5. Dinner with my Californian compadre, Jen Hanen. I haven’t seen her in over a year and it was lovely to catch up, chew the fat and generally put the [mobile] world to rights. Lovely stuff.
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5 things on Friday - TO BE BLOGGED

And for a bonus number six – my friend Justin surprised me by sending me this fantastic mug – completely out of the blue!

I love my friends (and I love my new mug).

For Trey

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 

– Dylan Thomas, 1951

RIP Trey Pennington. We miss you terribly.

Six months of travel

Not me. A chap named Jonathan.

James, Jonathan and Ben

[that’s Jonathan, over my left shoulder – don’t ask about the hats]

I met Jonathan first in Russia on my first night in Moscow back in April. He was halfway through a six month trip and had big plans. We ran into each other again in Mongolia and (along with a few others in our group) we discovered we pretty much had the same schedule ahead of us for the seven days or so [taking in camping out in the desert, catching the train to China and then hanging out in Beijing].

Anyway, I got back from my trip in May, Jonathan got back yesterday.
This post, entitled ‘HOME’ (and reposted with his permission) is what he’s just published and I actually love it.

Enjoy.

“Just finished unpacking my backpack for the last f***ing time because I am finally home in good old London. If ever there was a moment for a cliché/gay/philosophical/Disney/boring (whichever) shout, surely now is the one time I can get away with one. So here goes (and then I promise I will shut up about all this and go back to drinking K and listening to s*** music).

A lot of people have asked me recently what I’ve learnt or found in the last 6 months living like a gypsy ‘on the road’. Well, I haven’t discovered the meaning of life, I haven’t realised that the world is a beautiful place, I still don’t understand religion and I still don’t get the appeal of a tan. What I have found is a restored faith in the human race, pieced together by every individual that has gone out of their way to help me get so far. The couch-surfers around the world who put me up for a night or few, the drivers who gave me a ride when I was stood with my thumb up on the side of the road in the rain, the families that invited me to live with them and those that fed me despite being too poor to get a solid roof above their heads. The people that turned my map the right way round, the people who patiently tried to teach me a part of their language and culture, those that put up with my constant complaining everywhere I went, and everyone else who smiled at the pasty tourist far too far from home. Sure, there are a lot of dickheads in the world, but they are greatly outnumbered by amazing people.

The Cambodians have a saying ‘when glass floats’ which means when evil prevails over good. Glass will never float. That’s what I’ve learnt.

PEACE OUT YO.”

 

Peace out yo, have a great Monday.

Birthday Blog

Today is November 21st. My birthday.

Last year my other half laid on the best birthday experience ever; including all my friends, all my geekiness and nearly all of London’s Soho district.

It was fantastic.

This year has been – amazingly – even better. Friday night I was out with work for a huge, multi-celebratory knees up. Three birthdays, two leavers and one awesome award win meant that it was the perfect combination for getting the whole company out together. It’s a rarity for all of us to unwind like that and it was definitely well overdue for some of us. I guess I got home about 4ish maybe? But even then didn’t get to sleep until the very early hours (what with deciding to carry on partying with everyone at home way back in the vale). Brilliant.

Last night was my actual birthday party; friends old and new, a few work colleagues, best mates from home, some family (it’s my sister’s birthday today too) and it was one of the best nights out I’ve had this year.

A night of music from the 80s, filthy fairy cakes, beetlejuice-based hilarity, Marmite-flavoured chocolate… the list goes on.

Looking through my phone this morning there’s only a few photos to show off what a great night we all had (I’m sure others took many, many more), however I did find one video. One very special video.

Big love and thanks to Bryce & Camilla for today’s #vlomo10 entry. You guys rock… X