I love a good news story, and I don’t think anyone can fail to be touched by the story of seven year old Charlie Simpson – a young London lad who wanted to raise £500 for Haiti by cycling five miles around his local park. His Unicef page on JustGiving has so far raised over £175,000 for the cause, after his message generated extensive media coverage across the UK. Even Gordon Brown has been Tweeting about it! If you want to donate to Charlie then you can at www.justgiving.com/CharlieSimpson-HAITI

Projection on Buildings from NuFormer Digital Media on Vimeo.

So a quick thought for Friday; oranges, mandarins, clementines, tangerines or satsumas, which to have, what’s the best?  Me, I’m a clementine or satsuma person, but what are other peoples thoughts?  Dan apparently likes oranges, but which would you choose.

This decision puts me in mind of the funny but factual stand up comedy of Eddie Izzard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh5a0ucs8kQ

Share your thoughts, which fruit, questions on fruits, any random Friday fruit thought you might think of.

Another quick random thought: how many of your five a day can fruit cake account for and does it  work out that the more slices you have the more it accounts for?  hmmm

Did anyone see the Guardian’s feature on the top 50 TV dramas of all time? Some classic old shows to help get through these wintry evenings if you can find them on DVD, but some controversial choices and a clear pro British bias me thinks (or maybe Americans have only learnt how to make good drama in the past 10 years) .

The top ten were:

1. The Sopranos 
2. Brideshead Revisited 
3. Our Friends in The North
4. Mad Men
5. A Very Peculiar Practice
6 .Talking Heads
7. The Singing Detective
8. Oranges are Not The Only Fruit
9.  State of Play
10. Boys From The Blackstuff

So 8 Brits and 2 from the U.S. Can’t argue with no 1,3, and 10, all of which were outstanding. But surely Hill Street Blues and The Wire should be in the top 10?

If you haven’t seen the many advertisements and if you haven’t heard the hype for the new American show Glee then….where have you been!
Glee is the latest sitcom to come out of America and it aired on E4 last night.

I had sky plus-ed it, because obviously, I work in media and therefore I am out every night partying and networking but low and behold, I found myself, bathed and fed by 8pm and ready to watch it.
Glee is a show about a high school glee club (for those of you not American, Glee Club is our equivalent of a choir club) that is failing and in need of a new, cooler type of person to join. Think High School Musical for adults. This is no normal Glee Club – this is Kanye West Singing, attitude bringing amazement.

I wont spoil the fun, but Glee was a huge hit for me. If you didn’t see it last night make sure you 4oD it or catch it again on E4. It is not one to miss.

In an attempt to demonstrate how highly responsive OOH advertising is, the Outdoor Advertising Bureau (OAA) has posted a range of controversial slogans across a variety of outdoor formats.  These include ‘Educashun isn’t working’, ‘1966 it won’t happen this year’ and ‘Career women make bad mothers’.  Due to outraged responses from the public, the latter is being taken down, which I assume the OAA have taken as confirmation that they have proved their point.

However, I’d argue that the British public would have had equal issue with any such statement, whether it was displayed online, on radio, on TV or indeed just shouted out by Jonathan Ross.  Of course a statement like this will warrant response, but this is not comparable to a regular advertising campaign so I struggle to understand what constructive gain has been achieved by this exercise.  All they seem to have proved is that some people physically look at buses and that a strong message is key to garnering response. 

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

It’s that time of year again where we all set ourselves, usually unachievable goals for the New Year ahead.

The most common resolutions are losing weight, getting fit, giving up smoking and alcohol.  This year I’ve decided to do all of the above – hoping that I’ll at least manage one of these, but as if you’re like me these will probably last through until the 10th January (or to the end of the month if I’m lucky!)

Maybe my new year’s resolution should be never to make a new year’s resolution again – at least I’ll be able to actually achieve that.

Perhaps we should give ourselves some less painful and more achievable goals – like learning a new word each week, learn a new skill or simply to tidy out the drawer that everything gets thrown in.  Wearing a piece of clothing that contains colour once a week or making sure I eat breakfast every morning.

New Year’s resolutions should be more about setting goals for the year ahead – it’s a time to put the past behind you and look forward to the future with optimism.  

I want to know if anyone has any unusual resolutions for 2010 – why not share them it may help you to keep on track?

Best wishes for the New Year ahead!