So summer is over and more importantly festival season has finished for another year. Traditionally, festivals were the soundtracks to our summers – events where people escape from their daily lives and enjoy a weekend of festivities (usually in some remote part of the country) whilst listening and dancing to their favourite bands and solo artists. However, this summer has seen some of the music industry’s most prolific figures (e.g. – Michael Eavis) fear for the future of the common music festival.

Eavis said earlier this year that ‘festivals are not selling out’ and fears that ‘people have seen it all before’, putting in jeopardy his own iconic (and some call the best) festival, Glastonbury. His predictions serve a stark warning to festival-goers and organisers alike as there is a real chance that in three to four years the summer music scene may be quite different from the one we experience today.

So what has lead Eavis to this stark prediction? Are we really in jeopardy of losing music festivals for good? The last few years have been economically difficult, which has meant that people have been forced to be more careful with their money. Combine that with the fact that festivals are as expensive as a holiday abroad, and it makes sense that they are the first thing people cut back on when money is tight. There has also been a growth in European festivals, which attract larger crowds at cheaper prices and usually have the added bonus of guaranteed sunshine, which means people can combine a festival with a summer holiday.

The other problem with current festivals is they all appear to be the same. As Eavis says, people are becoming bored of seeing the same bands on the same circuit each year. For a £200 ticket, people are expecting more from their experience and want to see creativity, individuality and difference when they invest in a large-scale music event. I personally, would hate to see the end of festivals. As a music fan, festivals allow you to see a variety of acts in one place and allow you to forget about everything for a weekend. However, I do believe that the festival format is becoming stale with the same line-ups appearing at festivals across the country and a lack of imagination in not only the acts playing, but also the experience as a whole. We want to experience a unique and exciting musical wonderland, which is different from anything else we have seen before. These are the things that summer and more importantly festivals were made for.

ITV1 has a new drama and it’s promising to be the new Cold Feet.

Married Single Other is a six part-er with and ensemble cast featuring amongst others, Lucy Davis (The Office) and Ralf Little (Two Pints and Royal Family)

First aired on February 22nd it made a promising start with 6.2 million viewers and a 25.5% audience share in the 9pm slot however, I am cynical and dubious about it ever becoming or having the success of the highly acclaimed Cold Feet that had 5 series and won 20 major television awards during it’s 6 year stint as one of ITV’s major rating success stories.

I have watched both episodes and I have to say I am not hooked. Yes, there are 6 of them, and yes, they are all friends but that is the only comparison I can make between MSO and Cold Feet. The casting director must have been having a laugh or on medication when he decided on the role of Ralph Little as the ’stud’ because everytime I see him on screen with his circa 1993 M&S suit and his greasy boyband hair i find it completely unbelievable that he has girls swooning over him. Also, Babs’ the middle aged married lady stuck in a rut with her gambling addict husband is the Malteser advert girl. She will ALWAYS be the Maltese girl and therefore it’s very hard to concentrate on anything she is saying when she is trying to act.

Maybe I am being a little harsh, give it time I hear you say, but frankly I have a feeling this may be Married Single Other’s first and last outing at ITV1.

What do you think?

A lovely Friday afternoon got even better today when the exceptionally generous Nick Kelvin shouted us some summer refreshment in the form of ice lollies.  This was the first one of the season and much appreciated.  Ice creams and Ice Lollies really are one of those things that you absolutely love no matter if you’re 7 or 77.

From that I wanted to get a steer on what people’s Top 3 Ice Cream/Lollies were of all time.  For me, it has to be the following:

1. Orange Calippo
2. Feast (original of course)
3. Fab

For me that is one hell of a Top 3 but please feel free to post your Top 3 as well, as I’m sure a few of you will be annoyed by the exclusion of Mini Milks!

 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.

If you Google her name, you get 7,980,000 results.  That’s more than Boris Johnson (1m) or Margaret Thatcher (2.1m), Razorlight (4.9m) or Van Halen (6m), Jonathan Ross (5.5m) or Russell Brand (4m).  Its even more than Arnold Schwarzenegger (7m) – and she’s English!  And until very recently was relatively unheard of anywhere else in the world.  Her story has made the front cover of every single copy of OK! magazine from 17th Feb (that’s 8 weeks).  She is, of course, Jade Goody.

I must admit I was quite hesitant when deciding whether or not to write this blog.  There are quite opposing views on the whole affair, her past, and how we as a nation have responded.  There are quite obvious and laudable opinions on raising awareness of cervical cancer.  And equally there are those of the opinion that we, as a nation, have gone completely mad in our over-reaction! 

Either way, she’s certainly not the only one helping to contribute to a greater way of life.  There are others, perhaps with a less relevant profile, that have arguably done more for the human race.  Take Bob Geldof (1m) and his continual support for international well-being, or Mother Teresa (3.1m)… Ghandi (5.4m). 

Have we gone too far?  Is she genuinely worth the attention we give her? Should we blame her or praise her?  Admire her sense of pragmatism, or Max’s?

Have your say here;

Yesterday, after weeks of searching, I finally found a source of the new flavours of Walkers crisps (the shop on the ground floor in our building – the closest shop to our office, d’oh). For the uninitiated the new flavours are as follows, Builder’s Breakfast, Cajun Squirrel, Crispy Duck & Hoisin, Fish & Chips, Chilli & Chocolate and Onion Bhaji.

Walkers have been pushing six new flavours recently, the public are being asked to vote for their favourite and the winner will be added to the Walkers range indefinitely. Unfortunately the shop downstairs didn’t have onion bhaji in stock so we could only sample, and savour, 5 of the new flavours. After doing this I would surmise that unless the onion bhaji flavour is the greatest crisp ever to be invented, or at the very least mildly palatable, the winning flavour will not adorn the shelves of the Walkers distributor for long. In running order of best (or at least not vomit inducing) to worst I would rank them as follows:

1. Crispy duck
2. Cajun squirrel
3. Builders breakfast
4. Chilli & chocolate
5. Broken glass & razor blades
6. Fish & chips

The fish and chips flavour initially hits you with a smell similar to Maldon sea front after the fishing trawlers unload their haul. The flavour explodes on the palate like a raw fish sandwich with fish paste as the filling. Needless to say nobody had more than a single crisp and there were certainly no enquiries as to seconds. Crispy duck was the best, most went back for a second try, but, like the others, it left a strange after taste akin to old gym socks.

Of the people I’ve spoken to about these new flavours (seven) nobody has liked them. Surely we have to say this is a stunt to increase sales short term and may affect brand positioning in the long term; I for one will not be moving away from Kettle Chips any time soon.

Sadly in some parts of the country you don’t pick a football team to support, rather you are lumbered with it like an enigmatic albatross slung around your neck. My particular albatross is actually black and white, oh and a magpie in the form of Newcastle United.

Quite how we’ve managed to make such a mess of one of England’s biggest teams is a mystery but with 8 games left there is still light at the end of the tunnel. The only problem is we’re horrid away from home, haven’t won a home game since Dec and all the teams tantalisingly close to us all play each other whereas we have the joys of Liverpool, Chelsea, Villa as well as a local derby against Boro which guarantees to be one of the worst Premier League games ever.

Logic is telling me that we’re stuffed, but this is football and if we can get 11 players on the pitch who will compete and fight like Geordies then we can get out of this mess.

If not then we are potentially going to have the most highly paid Championship side ever.

Potentially on the 25th and 26th May I may not be he happiest chappy!

I’ve recently became addicted to a new game, and sad as it is it’s a great way of making the money go further as we troll our way through the current recession, and it’s called Nectar points! It’s surely another clear example that I’m now in my 30’s that I’m getting excited about Nectar points rather than what next weekends plans are (monthly shop at the local Sainsbury’s and a catch up with a few mates on Saturday night if you’re interested), but my monthly shopping is now so much more exciting for it. With each shop comes more points which I dutifully load on to my account, handing my Nectar card over to the cashier with great glee, and then I bask in the glory of achieving another 27 points to my ever growing Nectar bank balance.
Quite what I do with these points I’ve yet to fathom, and from checking the website I can roughly deduce I need enough to bail out a mid sized financial institution but one day I’ll get my monthly shop free, or more likely I’ll use it to buy several bottles of red wine.
Making shopping more and saving me money in the long run, what more could you ask for when every penny counts?

How does one come to terms with the loss of a loved one? Some mourn silently and quickly before moving on with their lives. Others swiftly take themselves to the bottom of a bottle and remain there, loudly and incomprehensively, for an extended period of time. Here at Maxus we believe there’s scope for both methods or another somewhere in between. Hence the huge party we threw for a much loved member of the Bloomsbury way crew – our receptionist Natalie Grout who flew to Brazil today for 6 months of haute couture travelling. Maxus, and friends, turned out in force at Guanabara off Drury lane and celebrated Natalie’s tenure with us. Natalie always brightened our already bright reception and was warm and welcoming to clients, reps and even perfect strangers.

But now it’s time to move on. Natalie has been replaced by the very lovely Katie Davis who is young, enthusiastic and she plays video games – to quote an absent member of our team, winner winner chicken dinner! We’re all looking forward to working with Katie. The queen is dead…long live the queen!

nat-vs-katie - Check them out here…

Please leave your goodbyes (to Nat) or hellos (to Katie) below.