Neeeeeee-ooowwwww-mmmmmm

So as we sit and have breakfast here we're being serenaded with the high pitch whine of formula one cars warming up for a race that starts in a couple of hours.

The good burghers of Montreal love their F1 - and the fact that it disappeared last year has only made the appreciation grow. There are street parties, 300,000 tickets to see practice and the race sold, Ferrari hats, shirts and bags everywhere and, miracle of miracles, the promised rain has held off.

I've been taking it easy on the party front but I will be off out a little later and have some Fringe tickets tomorrow night - for something that's part work / part pleasure. Let's hope it's more of the latter.

This is a busy week. Have a Curation Session in Toronto, a first 'what can you do for us?' meeting in the same city, a presentation (or a third of one) in Jakarta and then back to organize a 'wine tasting and ideation' session; expect tetchy and knackered posts ahead

Up late and for no reason

It seems that sleep is harder and harder to come by these days... of course it's age and dying braincells to blame so I try to keep myself occupied with things that force me to concentrate. It hasn't quite reached Brain Trainer levels yet but I do play a lot in photoshop - often using low-res images to make things harder.

The results tend to me mixed - as you can see here, but the exercise keeps me going and helps take my mind off the car presentation, the bank presentation, the credit card presentation and the conference presentation (all of which I'm looking forward to - I likes me a stage)

Meanwhile there's the World Cup, the Fringe festival and meetings in Toronto, Jakarta and Singapore to keep me busy.

Hurrah! As the English are hoping to say (but fearing they'll not be able to) after the England vs USA Word Cup opener tomorrow

Waiting for something to happen

I've realized that the longer you leave between blog posts the more momentous the event that will start you blogging again needs to be. Or so it seems. It took cancer to get this thing going after all.

But nothing momentous has happened in the last 6 weeks and so the blog has been allowed to slide, slowly and inexorably towards terminal halt... with only the urging of friends acting as the brushers before a curling stone to keep it going.

And now I'm back and writing what appears to be absolute nonsense.

Anyway the blog is back. I've been working hard to get the company here up and running, paying lots of taxes, doing a couple of projects, driving about, flying here and there and generally trying to piece together a plan that looks like working. I even took a break from taking pics to do it - so you can tell that I was serious.

Montreal is good - we're heading into Festival season and already (pre-Fringe) I've been to Strip Spelling Bees and to Cycle In showings of The Goonies (I'd not seen it)

Coming up I have Jakarta (the place), GaGa (the star), Cyndi Lauper (the ex-star), a breakdance battle, a friend's son doing stand-up, Pamela Anderson hosting stand-up, Tim Michin singing stand-up and a show by a phone sex worker... lovely stuff. Oh and three photo shoots - one of which involves setting fire to things

Should be good

Singapore

Toronto + 16.5 hrs (14 * ash cloud + headwind) = Hong Kong
Change to earlier flight = 3 hr saving
Stomach 'issue' = uncomfortable day in the air
Hong Kong + 4 hrs = Singapore
Singapore + jetlag*stomach issue = early night

Not since Noah last shaved

.... have I blogged... which is a sign of being busy with work and with life.... shooting a lot, getting ready to put a joint offer together, resisting i-pad, booking flights to Singapore for next week and a raft of meetings there... nothing exciting to others but keeping me occupied... so a brief one this, ahead of a real one tomorrow

Still just swamped

So the blog stays quiet and uninteresting... apologies

To make up for that here are a couple of recent (very recent) pics

Real blog entry tomorrow

Not dead - just dog tired

The blog as been 'resting' for a while now... as I've been working like a dog in a bid to finish up a contract before moving on to concentrate 100% on my own business. And then there's been time at home, which has meant catching up with photo shoots and model meetings - scheduling things; figuring out ways to do things in Photoshop that don't look 'off shelf' and generally spending too much time at the computer.

New rule as of today though. No work before breakfast or after dinner. No computer. No e-mail. No calls. Tough when you're thinking about a Pacific business from the East Cost of North America; but do-able.

And despite all that there is flying around I'm feeling in complete control at the moment. Good at what I do. Happy to take charge. Excited by the future. Looks like success, therapy, pills and sunshine are the cocktail for happiness after all.

Oh - this is kinda what I've been shooting

When I grow up I want to be a dragon...

Ladies and gentlemen I have a dream. A dream in which I, from a throne of gold, dispense advice, money and mentorship to people with ideas. I want to be a Dragon, or a Shark or whatever those bronzed millionaire investors you see on TV call themselves in your part of the world.

I was asked the other day "What is it that excites you? I though that it was ads, but it's not, what is it?" The answer of course was ideas. I love ideas that move people to change their behavior, to follow a dream, to believe that they can bring people along for the ride. And I want to be in a position to help. To dispense not only money but the wisdom gained in acquiring it to people in need of both.

And so begins the quest. I seem to have fallen into a business model that sees us spending half of our time helping start-ups get to the point where their dreams could be a reality and half working with big companies to help them give their ideas the momentum that they need in order to push them through their organizations. It's cool. It's all about ideas, processes, momentum, wisdom, force of personality and the ability to foresee those who will foreshadow doom.

I can't remember being as excited in a very long time... all else has been canceled and I'm focused in a way that I haven't been since I realized that my Xmas present of a telescope allowed me to peak between the cracks in the curtains of 44e (the house number and chest size of the woman who lived their... spookily)

Stay tuned for adventures from the entrepreneurial side.

A weekend at home

I finally managed to get a weekend at home, which was rather nice actually. That's not to say that it was a work free weekend, but it was one that felt a little more relaxed and a little less interrupted by work than usual. Was a little sad when my model for tonight cancelled (after the venue fell through at the last moment) but we'll reschedule and all will be good. Thinking of taking him very glossy and very much in the Tom Ford style (as shown in the mood-board here)

Next week I should manage 6 days in Montreal - which would be a bit of a record. And 6 days working on PropellerFish business rather than on making money for other people and taking a fraction of it as payment. Someone told me that the man who designed the Nike Swoosh logo was paid $18,000 - and that it probably felt like money for old rope at the time... but how painful must every pair of shoes look now. Rather a cent for every time it's used I think.

Was in Toronto with business partner and rather slick business person Alex last week... despite giving people a pretty truncated version of what we did I think that the people in the room got it, enjoyed it and had some good ideas. Some interesting opportunities coming out of it... of which more when Jude isn't typing on my head - something that is rather distracting

Tardy

Posts to the blog have been rarer and less interesting than Unicorn shit recently but the truth is that I've been digging myself out from under a mountain of work and toward a taller mountain of work - that should be more rewarding and more lucrative. That's the plan anyway, especially as I've pretty much torched the last mountain and tortured this analogy beyond its break point. So I'll stop.

Needless to say it's been busy and continues to be busy... let's hope it stays that way or starvation may be in my near future... as ever we shall see...

Cold, wet but not entirely miserable

It's Saint Patrick's day here in Montreal and it's cold and wet.
We decided to skip the parade and head for the cinema (the too shaky camera's Green Zone)
Which is just as well because right outside where we were standing the police say a 19 year old guy was killed - after he jumped from a float, lost his footing and was crushed by the truck. Not great.

The wind is howling like a 3 year old denied an ice-cream allowed to her twin; the cats are curled up, Alex (our friend in from Singapore) is curled into a tighter ball in the hope of finding some internal heat and I'm so fat off dining out that I'm oblivious at the moment.

Still Velcro, it seems, is happy

Off to Toronto and a couple of meetings there, leave Tuesday and thinking about driving - depending on cost etc.

Nobody leaves without a photo

Our old landlord (that's ex rather than elderly) came over today. I like him. He has hair that I'd kill for. And the cutest son on the planet. And he's kinda cool. So naturally I plied him with orange juice and took as many pics of him as I could. Results are here.

Rest of the day has been busy closing up gum. Booze ended badly when I baulked at 1am e-mails, demands that I spend more time in NYC and general chaos. Was just not a marriage made to work. Like Kate and Jon or Pamela Anderson and anybody. A shame as there are good people all over it. Good enough to make my absence go unfelt I'm sure.

Looking forward to finally having the decks cleared and getting on with my stuff. Business is looking as though it's about to really take off and I don't want to be caught with my pants down (mixing metaphors?)

Right enough of my rambling - time to tidy before my beautiful and successful wife comes home

Deliberate

I'm in the middle - or rather at the start of watching what promises to be the excellent The Damned United

But every time someone speaks Jude hits suck on the vacuum cleaner - and drowns out the dialogue.

It's now quite comic.

As is the scheduling with one of the companies I'm trying to work with. Shambolic. Ho-hum.

It's time to bring back "fuckwittery" I think

Kinda inspiring...

in the last couple of days I've met people who are shooting a very cool idea with an amazing Hollywood director, gotten together with a gender challenging extreme burlesque performer, arranged to go to diary readings by 4 sex workers, have sat at the table with a guy who worked with Tom Ford at Gucci and built a huge fragrance franchise post that, to Diddy's Ciroc people and a host of others who have made my jaw drop. I've also not slept. So cool and killer at the same time. Home tomorrow. Thank God.

Back in NYC

Back in NYC and already it's starting to feel like spring. It's 7c, sunny and there's a hint of flesh back on display as Gap scarves are banished to that 'where did we put them?' place until next year.

Decent trip in despite stupidly short notice, a flight that wasn't actually booked and a pilot who circled like a vulture over the soon to be corpse of a C list celebrity (their faves) Still the man at immigration was a big Smirnoff fan... which was weird and held up the line as we chatted about the various misconceptions about the brand.

But mainly it's been about meetings and calls and more meetings, then calls to arrange more meetings during which we'd discuss upcoming calls. Must find a shoot to help distract myself.

More and better tomorrow... when I'll bend over backward to accommodate you (matron! missus! sauce! etc)

So the heat didn't happen...

We knew that the weather was going to be bad when everyone we talked with mentioned the 'cold front' and pointed to the pile of sweaters that they had at the ready. The diagnosis was confirmed when the guy delivering breakfast greated me with a cheery

"Good morning; it is a terrible day"

And it really hit home when our Hyundai AtoZ (why do we always end up in Hyundai's redundant micro-car? could it be that we're cheap) was plowing through two foot floods in the backwaters en route to Santa Clara (home of bits of the remains of Che)

But ultimately it didn't matter. Booking an all-inclusive was a hideous and horrible mistake. It felt like a bizarre version of The Biggest Loser ranch; where each of the massive people struggled to gain as much weight as possible by piling on the buffet then laying stock still and slurping Pina Colada until it was time to eat again. Just horrible.

Still we got out and about. We climbed through bat and cockroach infested caves, bounced through mangrove swamps on a jet-ski, drove to strange and wonderful places, took recommendations on lunch, photographed people at home and marveled at how all life in Havana seems to take place on a balcony... at least until night falls.

So not the warmed bone marrow that we'd been promised; but not a disaster either. Now who's up for a swish villa in September?

Time for a wee vacation

It's time for a short interlude... Jude and I are looking to leave the snow behind (yup, snow at last) and to get a little heat in our bones as we head down for 8 days or so in Cuba. The animal food has been stocked, instructions written and the people briefed. The bag is packed, the flight is booked and the dog is looking at us woefully (suitcases make her sad)

I've been shooting as much as I could this week... two women, one guy and hope to get some great shots in Havana and surrounds... but for now tales of supper with Newfies, of enhanced woman on the living room rug and of the meanest air hostess to fly the skies will have to wait

Until March - peace out people

Back in the land of the living

I'm in New York this morning (flying back later today) and enjoying a morning that allows me to think hard - but not stupidly hard about things that are important but not Haiti life and death daily important.

I think that what I bring to any company at the moment is enough detachment to be optimistic, a short enough tenure not to be exasperated and enough energy to re-start the rolling of balls. So it's all about making it feel easy again. Losing the detail that bogs down. And setting people tasks that feel exciting.
At least that's how it feels this morning. I'm sure that it will change.

Have a hard-drive full of edits that need making when I get back... sigh (satisfied sigh)

2am posts

So I'm just back in from a photo shoot for the very lovely people at Glam Gam and Jude is up due to a combination of ailments, medication for the ailments and my inability to enter the house quietly. And here we are, in bed - she listening to an audio book, me writing a blog in what just might be the most 21st century moment we've had (in the bedroom) in ages.

Got some great shots tonight - the Beercan lens really works magic when teamed with the A850... but as each image is 40MB and needs converting to JPEG I haven't actually uploaded any yet. A shame but good things come etc.

In addition to all of the stripping excitement, naughty cupids, auctions and general theatricality (Montreal blows New York away when it comes to intensity in performance) I've been hard at work on all manner of things that actually get more exciting the closer they come to happening.

All cryptic I know - and I apologize both for my inability to spill beans and my unavailability to take calls - it's all very 2am at the moment

Crazy busy

I am a bad, bad blogger but sometimes life gets in the way of cataloging what's happening in life. Actually SJP recently said that in New York life was what happened while you were waiting for a table... I liked that. So I've been up to the elbows in gum, and in thinking about a new process that I can run for big corporations, and in Jude's spasming back, and my need to do tax forms, PR documents, more tax forms, a lecture at a university, a couple of shoots, a U&A study, dentists, doctors, bankers and lawyers.

It's basically been a lot of hurry up, wait a while, hurry up some more, dash, rush, wait. Frustrating as all hell. But there you go. As an example of what I mean. On Monday I'm in Toronto talking projects, on Tuesday I'm in New York closing out a project, on Wednesday I have a shoot, on Thursday I have shots and stuff then on Friday I have final submission of a document and on Staurday I leave for Cuba. Feeling the pace and my age. And it doesn't help that the newest version of Powerpoint writes in a format that no other computer seems to understand.

Grrrr.

Still at least I got another playboy shot this week - from a 45 minute shoot! no idea when I'll find time to edit the images.