blackrat - @ 20six.co.uk

SEVEN TIMES SEVEN

I'm feeling typically devoid of inspiration for my blog, just as I have been every January for the past three years. The sword of Damocles hanging over this, and every other blog on 20six by the continued uncertainty and rumours isn't helping, it must be said - it would be nice to know where we stand (and even nicer to be gifted an export function to allow us to back up entries and attendant comments), but in lieu of an announcement, motivation for blogging isn't exactly plentiful.

In addition, Christmas cheer is long since gone, the decorations have come down and all that's left is the usual post-festive hangover of steely grey skies, an absent sun, dreadful television and a dearth of activity on the work front. So, that'll be the first month in the Gregorian calender, then.

Just as well then that I have bloggers like Girl Scientist on my blogroll to feed me with ideas. This one is nicely lightweight as something to kick January off with should be (and if you need further proof of my lame attempts at January blog fare, just check out these entries from January 2004). As I sit here researching an utterly astonishing neurological procedure that melds science fiction with contemporary brain surgery, with potential to find a place as a feature in the broadsheets, I need something to give my brain a rest. And who says watching Grey's Anatomy, the best medical drama on TV (or the *aherm* web) doesn't constitute work? Inspiration for features comes from the most bizzarre places.

All About Me: A candid portrait of me taken 2x7 years ago. So, I'd have been, er...24, then. A City-based investment broker, I drove a Porsche, lived in an interior-designed luxury apartment and had a hairstyle inspired by M-M-M-Max Headroom. I've thoughtfully kept my jacket on so you can't see my braces though, Bobble. ;-)

That said then, I give you this Seven Times Seven 'meme' (God, I hate these but I couldn't escape being tagged by this one.

Seven Things to Do Before I Die:

1. Write my Autobiography.
2. Fly a Eurofighter Typhoon
3. Find inner peace.
4. Spend a week with an eminent neurosurgeon and watch him perform surgery.
5. Understand the success of Atomic Kitten.
6. Visit the South Pacific, and return to South America and South Africa
7. See that Gordon Brown never becomes Prime Minister.

Seven Things I Cannot Do

1. Stop climbing every mountain (metaphorically speaking).
2. Accept my limitations.
3. Take 'No' for an answer.
4. Get enough commissions.
5. Stop buying books, even though I can get them for free.
6. Escape my demons.
7. Learn what's best for me.

Seven Things That Attract Me to Blogging

1. My readers.
2. Its immediacy.
3. The power of the individual
4. The ability to reach and receive feedback from an audience.
5. Its innate simplicity
6. The potential it has to educate, inform and entertain.
7. Seeing it grow in size whilst retaining its original premise.

Seven Things I Say Most Often

1. Fuck (in all its many derivatives).
2. "Can you get back to me by close of business, I'm against a deadline?"
3. "Would you be interested in...?"
4. "What do you mean, no?"
5. Get a life.
6. "Oh God, not another Reality TV program!"
7. Bollocks.

Seven Books That I Love

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.
2. The Stand (Complete and Uncut) by Stephen King.
3. Anything by David Baldacci or Lee Child.
4. Diaries, by Alan Clark MP
5. Biographies of interesting, unusual or powerful people.
6. Non-fiction titles that inform me.
7. Hardbacks.

Seven Movies That I Watch Over and Over Again

1. Lost in Translation.
2. Someone to Watch Over Me.
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
4. Schindler's List.
5. The Abyss (Director's Cut).
6. Heat.
7. Any Submarine Movie.

Seven People I Want To Join In Too

1. Pixeldiva, because she thinks in images.
2. Molly Ocean, because it'll be interesting.
3. Flight Buff, because there's more to the man than aviation.
4. WelshChick, because she isn't Charlotte Church, but she is from Wales.
5. Tom in Iraq, because I'm curious.
6. Rawr, because I like the way she writes.
7. Megan, because I like the way she writes, too.

4.1.06 14:24

Permalink / 61 Comment(s) / Comment

PENTHOUSE and PAVEMENT

There are some elements of my job that I adore and as I've said time and again on here, would willingly do for free. But as no voyage of discovery is entirely without obstacles, so the media is no exception; it would be naive to think that every assignment is a gem in a sea of rough. Sometimes though, you can be forgiven for forgetting that simple fact, and when you do, Saint Frances de Sales, the patron Saint of journalists steps in with a graphic reminder in the form of a launch party. Now don't get me wrong, they're not all bad and besides, you're probably wondering how free Champagne and a 'guest list only' admission policy can ever be termed as 'hard'. But of if you're asking the question, you've obviously been lucky. Sure, you get the odd one within media circles that proves the exception to the rule, but most of them are a liggers' paradise, filled with freeloaders and friends of the organiser, with the odd Z-list celebrity in attendance attempting to prop up a terminaly flagging career. Lame doesn't even come close.

Lame is a good word to describe last night's launch party for Hot Cow, at The Penthouse in Leicester Square (although I still think of that particular club as Home) to which both myself and 20six's own JoJo had been invited. We both had meetings in town yesterday - Jo with a potential new client in Docklands, me with Tom Mahon of English Cut in Saville Row. So we met up afterwards at Virgin Records in Picadilly and headed off together to AllBarOne in Leicester Square first for a drink. It was great to catch up, and we had an interesting chat about blogging and the vagaries of our respective careers. Homeworking is a lonely occupation at times, so it's always nice to meet up with fellow journos to swap notes, and generally talk over ideas. Although Jo and I have kept in contact, I hadn't seen her for over two years, so we had a lot to catch up on. And if I'm honest, neither of us was eager to cross the square to the launch party; the line on the invite that said, "mingle with over 250 people from the elite circles of media/marketing/fashion and film' told us all we needed to know. I mean, how elite could it have been - we were invited!

Still, you never know, and we weren't going to write it off without trying. Besides, the 'Diamond Champagne reception' ("everyone will get a diamond in their Champagne; however only one person will have the REAL diamond a diamond specialist from our sponsors Gassan Diamonds will be on hand to tell us who the lucky winner is") intrigued us. And who says you don't need cheap gimmicks to make a launch party successful?!

Hot Cow describe their idea as "creating a “buzz” around your brand, to a targeted audience, through the medium of fashion". They call it 'People Advertising'. I call it Pants. They claim that "the concept is developed to inspire creativity in brand advertising, add a new dimension to direct marketing, and to boost awareness and sales in a crowded consumer marketplace". Now there's a sentence that can only have been born out of a PR's mind. We tried something remotely similar when I had the magazine three years ago; in pursuance of our zero-budget advertising strategy, our regular models, Sam, Kelly and Karen would ambush car and motorcycle commuters stuck in gridlocked London traffic on Friday evenings to promote the magazine.

The ethos of Hot Cow revolves around the idea of what they term "trendy urbanites, dressed in custom made striking outfits, with the client's logo splashed over it (sic) and generally themed around the company’s image and marketing concepts. These people walk around designated high impact areas, where the brand's target audience can talk about what they have seen, creating a “hype” around the product or brand." So, if you find yourself assailed by strangely dressed men and women on your tube journey to work one morning, don't say you haven't been warned.

We were both handed a glass of Champagne when we entered the club and initial impressions were favourable; there was a huge ice-sculpture of a cow on display, a good mix of people, and a definite buzz in the air. As numbers increased though, we felt like we were the only normally dressed people at a fancy-dress party. You can spot journalists a mile off, and none of our fellow partygoers looked anything remotely connected to the media. A few bizarrely dressed women, the odd PR, and no shortage of fashion-world liggers for sure, but that was about all. The promised fashion show that was supposed to show us 'Hot Cow in action' would have worked so much better if everyone had been able to see - and if the organisers had utilised some real clients instead of 'near beer' subsitutes, such as Vella Hair, Starbox Coffee etc.

And my smile quickly faded when I went to the bar to get Jo and I some more drinks. There was a strict 'two drinks' policy in operation after which you had to pay - a most unusual strategy for a launch party. So I ordered two Vodkas with cranberry juice and took out a £10 note. I thought I'd misheard when the barman said, "That'll be £17.25, please" and he'd mistook me for a foreigner, quoting the price in pesos or something. But no. I heard correctly. £17.25 for two vodkas. And he still handed me my change on a silver plate, as if in expectation of a tip. Like, that was going to happen! Food was scarce, although we were befriended by the waiters who came to us first everytime they left the kitchen with plates of skewered jumbo prawns in noodles, spring roll pancakes and the like, but there wasn't enough to do more than tease our appetites. So we left and headed back to AllBarOne.

Venue and function aside, it was a good night; nice to see Jo again and catch up, nice to do something different. We bid one another farewell at Leicester Square station - Jo to head south, me to head north - and I made Kings Cross in time for the obligatory late night Burger King and the 23:36 drunk train home, which was a little more subdued than usual (or maybe it was because I was lost in my iPod). Surprisingly, there was no drunk Kat Slater looky-likey causing trouble this time. Shame. Oh, and I haven't been away - just busy working and devoid of motivation for blogging. I have a busy week ahead of me, and I'm back into London later today with mate Nick for a piano concerto at the Barbican to celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday. That should be followed by some martinis at my favourite London bar and a curry in Brick Lane to finish - a perfect night out. Enjoy your weekends, and expect to see me blogging again from next week.

27.1.06 13:04

Permalink / 26 Comment(s) / Comment