Our lovely Trading Director Andy Benningfield recently informed me that an old class mate of his sent him a photo of when they were at school. I was intrigued to say the least to see what Mr Benningfield looked like pre-media… well actually, pre-puberty.

Had he changed?

Well, I want you all to be the judge of that.

Can you spot him below? I couldn’t.

Congrats to Andy, Angela, Charlotte, Dan, Kate and Louise who all passed their IPA certificates – a sterling effort by all!

Particular congrats go out to Kate R who passed with a distinction – a level achieved by only 4% of entrants!

A glass of wine or two is surely in order tonight!

The impending end of the world is coming. How do we know this? Newcastle about to be relegated out of the Premiership, Swine flu is going to ravage the planet and twitter can’t keep ahold of it’s users.

Yep Twitter the latest shining light in the digital sphere is may be not going to save the world as users are abandoning the site after a month. Seems users get enticed after hearing about it but the novelty soon wears off and they don’t return.

It raises the question about how many social networks can one person feasibly be involved with, plus does anyone really want to know what I am up to on a micro by micro moment? Bloody doubt it, I don’t even want to know what I’m doing having the time.

Are we starting to reach digital saturation where the landscapes starts to settle slightly?

….. has been a cause for consternation to me, for quite some time.  My main concern lies with the whole kissing thing.  When and where does it become appropriate to kiss?  Now I’m not talking about going in for a full on lunge, but just your run of the mill, polite kiss on the cheek – which in itself is a potential social minefield.  Should it be one?  Two?  Or (if you’re just being ridiculous) 3?  As a Northerner I favour one, but this doesn’t seem to get the popular vote in media-ville. 

Also, who should you kiss?  Clients?  Media Owners?  Would it just be at lunches/more social occasions or before and after meetings?  Surely, if people opt for the meeting kiss it could all get a bit ridiculous – especially if you’re having about 3 meetings or so a day….

I don’t know.  Maybe kissing etiquette is something which should be imparted in the early days of your career – at media circle or such like.  Or maybe the standing back and waving with both hands approach is the way forward and though this may look a bit odd it could potentially save hours of angst for everyone…..

I’m not one for faddy diets.

I’m actually not one for diets at all – a basic philosophy of “eat less move more” seems to work well.

The thing about media, though, is that due to its incredibly social nature it sometimes leaves you feeling, how can I put this nicely, a little bit horrible inside.

So when a currently unnamed colleague suggested following the cavemans diet. I figured, I cant properly slate it until I’ve given it a go. The principle is, you eat like a caveman would  – nothing processed. So – wave bye bye to the bacon sandwiches, dim sum lunches and platter dinners. Hello fruit, meat and… well… anything which has only just left the animal / tree.

This morning I had a banana and an apple for breakfast. I’m already hungry again and its only 9:20. A week? Already feels like a lifetime……

I think the front page of The Sun seems to sum up the feelings of the nation with ‘At least it’s sunny’.  That’s right, when the state of the country is in a complete and utter mess, when unemployment is at its highest and families struggle to make ends meet, the good old British resolve comes out and we focus on the positive…….the weather??

You know how bad things have got when the only good news is the British weather! 

Bored of theme pubs, over priced ‘designer’ bars or hideous weatherspoons full of coffin dodgers making the place look like god’s waiting room?

Then this could be just for you.

A company called Alcoholic Architecture has just opened the first walk in cocktail and it’s London! I can almost hear the ladies on the light side scampering towaards the lift already!

Admittadly it’s quite a gimmick, but for £5 you can spend an hour inside the breathable cocktail. Yep the inside of the venue is made to look like a cocktail glass, quite how you do this apart from it being a lot of glass is anyone’s guess, and get to breathe in gin and tonic fumes.

All I can wonder is what’s the point, and would anyone really want to spend an hour gagging on a variation of an alcoholic airfreshner?

What next? A restaurant that’s full of sunday roast scratch and sniff smells?

Oh dear it looks like the folks at Amazon have made a bit of a “cock-up” with one of their latest ventures.  Quite ironic really given that the root of  said boob was their apparent de-ranking of any literature deemed a bit rude or too “adult” in content, or indeed any LGBT literature, which then resulted in the titles not appearing in any Amazon.com searches. 

As well as authors such as Jaci Burton and Stephanie Tyler, being in the firing line, classics such as “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “Tipping the Velvet” were also de-ranked.  Whilst this may very well provide a great excuse for VI formers across the UK not to do their reading homework, it really does seem a little bit on the crazy side -i f not disturbingly big-brotherish.
 
Quite understandably  the backlash against this has been rife.  People have been twittering and blogging about it left, right and centre, Wossy has got involved.  There’s an online petition (now boasting over 15,000 signatures) and there’s an online campaign to start a “google-bomb”.  It seems a pretty big PR nightmare, for something which Amazon are trying to pass off as a “technical glitch”………..

 I loved the new 118 247 ads although I do think they’re on the verge of becoming entering the extremely annoying category.  The OTH on the radio must be at least 15 per week!

My question though is not regarding the advertising but about the product itself – do we still need Yellow Pages through our letter-boxes?

I received the updated yellow bible the other day, sat on my doorstep as its too wide to fit through the letter-box.  And what did I do with it?  I picked it up and popped it straight in my recycling bin also sat outside my front door.  What with the tinterweb and mobile should Yellow Pages not be thinking more about the environment and not just giving these mammoth books away. 

My idea to Yellow Pages would be to save money (and the environment) and either only give the books out to those who request one – a simple card through everyone’s door asking if they would like to receive these in the future would allow this OR geo target by mosaic profiling and only send them out to the areas of Grey Perspectives and Twilight Subsistence.

 Four months ago today we embarked on a long process which began with pairing ourselves into two conferences; Darkside and Lightside.  Each representing our respective side-of-the-office we soon set about determining who would be crowned MAXUS Pool Champion 2009.

After some initial squabbling over rules, the draw was made.  Early rounds saw the unexpected defeat of tournament favourites on both sides – with potential winners emerging from the fray.  The eventual winner himself once considered an outsider’s choice, a ’softer’ opponent perhaps made quick work of answering his critics.  With a sterling win over Parkinson (3-2), and two subsequent and quite outstanding victories over Irwin (3-0) and Capelton (4-1), Andy Benningfield claimed his throne as undisputed Champ.