When I was a kid my favorite thing about Xmas was the food shopping trip to Fine Fare. Fine fare was a supermarket famed for it's 'yellow label' goods years before 'own label' ever became an idea that the posh stores would adopt.
Our local fine fare had been opened by 'plays a vet on TV' Christopher Timothy, who I'd been told flew in by helicopter - and what he opened was a real boon to the council estate on which we lived.
But at Xmas the shopping trip was different. My grandparent's would join us, there would be a Xmas movie to watch when we got home and I'd already have watch a puppet rat be mean to a puppet Gerbil (who was welsh) before leaving the house - so my spirits would be high.
The great thing about a Xmas shopping trip was that all of those shelves that had been off-limits during the year suddenly became accessible. Mr. Kipling chocolate fancies with a bit of cadbury's flake on the top? Throw them in. Woodpecker cider - it's Xmas.
The christmas shop gave me access to excess. To a world of abundence and permission that I didn't realize was commonplace for many of my friends. It seemed to me that the supermarkets magically filled for the holidays with weird, wonderful and only vaguely Christmas specific goodies - and yet (I now suspect) that whilst the tins of ham my have grown bigger and the biscuits developed hard, snow covered tins - the rest was purely permission to indulge.
We're heading out today to do our Xmas dinner shopping - and I know it won't be the same, but I'm still scanning the morning TV in search of a showing of a rat in a festive hat
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
It's Christmas
I get to light candles
The cats get to go into the bedroom
The house is full of Etta James played on good speakers
And there's rum in my coffee
Hurray and huzzah
The cats get to go into the bedroom
The house is full of Etta James played on good speakers
And there's rum in my coffee
Hurray and huzzah
Holiday cheer
A friend once told me that the problem with London was that it was a provincial town laboring under the illusion that it's a cosmopolitan city.
Certainly the Christmas missive from the London office (note Christmas not 'Holiday') showed a crass insensitivity. I thought that the 'do you have holiday Tourette's?' section of the video (the word 'fuck' repeated over 50 times by various high-ups in the office) was kinda funny but I'm pretty sure my amusement wasn't shared by the women in the Shanghai office who'd be more bemused than amused... and for all the open mouthed guffawing in New York many were slack jaw'd with horror.
I know that the amount of drinking, lesbian gags and swearing flying around the place is enough fodder for a law suit that could kill the company - and that it's only a matter of time before it comes. Yet meanwhile we continue down a very laddish path... it'll be great while it lasts
Certainly the Christmas missive from the London office (note Christmas not 'Holiday') showed a crass insensitivity. I thought that the 'do you have holiday Tourette's?' section of the video (the word 'fuck' repeated over 50 times by various high-ups in the office) was kinda funny but I'm pretty sure my amusement wasn't shared by the women in the Shanghai office who'd be more bemused than amused... and for all the open mouthed guffawing in New York many were slack jaw'd with horror.
I know that the amount of drinking, lesbian gags and swearing flying around the place is enough fodder for a law suit that could kill the company - and that it's only a matter of time before it comes. Yet meanwhile we continue down a very laddish path... it'll be great while it lasts
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Why is it that?
People who have no money for the obviously homeless guy on the corner suddenly find change for their eggnog latte as soon as he's out of sight?
And why is it that 'urgent blackberry messages that cannot be ignored' only ever seem to come in when there's something that they don't want to look at / deal with?
And why is it that at Xmas stores throw untrained seasonal workers onto the shop floor and push their frayed patience with endless loops of the same three Xmas songs and an ever changing PoS system (what happened to tills?)
And why is it that when faced with an exhorbitant price tag on an item I'll walk away but when told the price by a salesperson I have to go through the charade of consideration?
And why is it sometimes not a charade?
This could go on (and on) but I run the risk of sounding like the offspring of Tracy Chapman and Savage Garden and that's a thought I'd gladly pay to avoid
And why is it that 'urgent blackberry messages that cannot be ignored' only ever seem to come in when there's something that they don't want to look at / deal with?
And why is it that at Xmas stores throw untrained seasonal workers onto the shop floor and push their frayed patience with endless loops of the same three Xmas songs and an ever changing PoS system (what happened to tills?)
And why is it that when faced with an exhorbitant price tag on an item I'll walk away but when told the price by a salesperson I have to go through the charade of consideration?
And why is it sometimes not a charade?
This could go on (and on) but I run the risk of sounding like the offspring of Tracy Chapman and Savage Garden and that's a thought I'd gladly pay to avoid
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Talking to people about Coffee today
wondering whether they really knew what made good coffee, what they'd pay more for and what signalled excellence. I was expecting people to say things like - "well in a coffee shop it's about the expertise, the machinery, the ambience but from a stall I just want hot, strong and fresh milk."
What I got instead was
"I just don't want my coffee to taste of bacon - this one does."
"Ordering fancy coffee makes me feel like a poof"
and
"I want the bitterness of my coffee to seep directly out of the disaffected, tattoo'd maniac making it."
Nowt so queer as folk
What I got instead was
"I just don't want my coffee to taste of bacon - this one does."
"Ordering fancy coffee makes me feel like a poof"
and
"I want the bitterness of my coffee to seep directly out of the disaffected, tattoo'd maniac making it."
Nowt so queer as folk
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Finally - the book idea
I've been struggling a little with my advertising book. What I wanted to avoid was the old marketing book trick of 'an argument that could be expressed in 10 pages stretched out to 210'.
To insure against this I'm not going to write a single, cohesive, arguement - instead it's going to be 12 provocations. 12 Rants from the Dark Side that talk about business, brands and the death throes of the American advertising industry. Each rant will be the 15 pages I need to 'get it off my chest / prove I'm right / offer a solution' after which I'll simply move on to the next topic.
Thank god that the American Ad' Industry is screwed up enough to support my A.D.D huh?
I'm going to write both the intro and the first chapter "Brand Surrender. The You Tubing of American business" over the next day or so. After which I'll move on to 'Mirrored convictions', 'Creative narcissism', 'All mouth, no trousers" and take it from there.
I do genuinely believe that the current mania for surrendering the course of brands entirely to the public (YOU design your own shoe, write your own ad, help us come up with a new product, wipe our ass) is a huge mistake. Yes interruption as a method of communication is slowly dying off - but the response has to be something other than 'the customer is in control' - aren't brands supposed to be beacons of belief? aren't they supposed to stand for something that makes them worth the extra couple of bucks we pay for them? It's bad enough that Government has been castrated by an over reliance on focus groups (I can't imagine Churchill saying "We will fight them wherever you think it's a good idea to fight them - let us know on 0890 112211, press 1 for beaches, 2 for France, 3 for the streets' etc.
Anyway this isn't nearly as well expressed as I'd like but it's early here and distractions abound. But I'm jazzed to the point of spontaneous Fosse hands
To insure against this I'm not going to write a single, cohesive, arguement - instead it's going to be 12 provocations. 12 Rants from the Dark Side that talk about business, brands and the death throes of the American advertising industry. Each rant will be the 15 pages I need to 'get it off my chest / prove I'm right / offer a solution' after which I'll simply move on to the next topic.
Thank god that the American Ad' Industry is screwed up enough to support my A.D.D huh?
I'm going to write both the intro and the first chapter "Brand Surrender. The You Tubing of American business" over the next day or so. After which I'll move on to 'Mirrored convictions', 'Creative narcissism', 'All mouth, no trousers" and take it from there.
I do genuinely believe that the current mania for surrendering the course of brands entirely to the public (YOU design your own shoe, write your own ad, help us come up with a new product, wipe our ass) is a huge mistake. Yes interruption as a method of communication is slowly dying off - but the response has to be something other than 'the customer is in control' - aren't brands supposed to be beacons of belief? aren't they supposed to stand for something that makes them worth the extra couple of bucks we pay for them? It's bad enough that Government has been castrated by an over reliance on focus groups (I can't imagine Churchill saying "We will fight them wherever you think it's a good idea to fight them - let us know on 0890 112211, press 1 for beaches, 2 for France, 3 for the streets' etc.
Anyway this isn't nearly as well expressed as I'd like but it's early here and distractions abound. But I'm jazzed to the point of spontaneous Fosse hands
Sunday, December 17, 2006
salsa feet
It's been quite a weekend... the day after Faith's party I had the all day office party - which included an hour of salsa dancing training. It would have been a blast had I known the people a little better and the teacher hadn't been quite so determined to show that she had the sass to match her salsa. Best quote though had to be "Women, small steps and men - as much as it hurts - try to commit, just this once, try to commit.'
Last night was a farewell to Alex and Christiana - two of my favorite people around. Alongside our friend Ali they were about the only people who visit us during the worst days of my cancer. It was Alex's brunch into which I coughed blood after chemo session #1 and it was Christiana who kept Judith sane with shopping trips and tales of a childhood spent on the road. Alex and Christiana are moving to London, a good move for them but we will miss them - and miss them a great deal.
We had brunch with them today - and with our friends Shruti and Mandar (who brought their fantastically bright son Ishan)... a mirror of the brunch we had with them yesterday - joined by our friends Michael, Joanna and their fantastically bright son Ollie.
Coming up we have drinks with the Lodge 212ers. We have Top Dog at the Harlem Apollo with J.Lum and 'his' 'lovely lady' and we have long evenings in front of the Xmas tree. Which is just as well as I'm starting to feel the effects of constant brunching, boozing and having dinner out.
Last night was a farewell to Alex and Christiana - two of my favorite people around. Alongside our friend Ali they were about the only people who visit us during the worst days of my cancer. It was Alex's brunch into which I coughed blood after chemo session #1 and it was Christiana who kept Judith sane with shopping trips and tales of a childhood spent on the road. Alex and Christiana are moving to London, a good move for them but we will miss them - and miss them a great deal.
We had brunch with them today - and with our friends Shruti and Mandar (who brought their fantastically bright son Ishan)... a mirror of the brunch we had with them yesterday - joined by our friends Michael, Joanna and their fantastically bright son Ollie.
Coming up we have drinks with the Lodge 212ers. We have Top Dog at the Harlem Apollo with J.Lum and 'his' 'lovely lady' and we have long evenings in front of the Xmas tree. Which is just as well as I'm starting to feel the effects of constant brunching, boozing and having dinner out.
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