Right, the rules are as follows:

1) You can only choose 5 drinks for the remainder of your life

2) A mixed drink, for example gin and tonic, counts as one drink – but the ingredients cannot be separated.

3) Tap water is free

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) Patrick, Matthew, Andy and I have been growing MOs (moustaches). That’s right, we’re bringing the MO back because we’re passionate about tackling men’s health issues and being pro-active in the fight against prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. 35,000 men are diagnosed every year and one man dies from prostate cancer every hour. One in eleven UK men will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

The history of Movember has it’s origins in Australia; Movember (a portmanteau of the words ‘Moustache’ and ‘November’) is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. The event has been claimed to have been invented in 1999 by group of Australian men from Adelaide.*

On Monday the 1st December the four participants will take to the office circuit and offer fellow employees the chance to stroke our MOs, donate to charity and possibly win a bottle of bubbly. The MOers will then (finally) be allowed to shave their top lip.

Please take the time to look at the pictures below, they were taken on Monday 10th and Monday 17th of Movember. We will be updating the blog with pictures on Monday 24th and December 1st – come back then for more Movembering fun.

Feel free to send photos of Movember efforts by yourselves or fellow employees** and leave a comment on who’s MO looks best…

MONDAY 10th Movember

MONDAY 17th Movember

* Wikipedia: Movember

** send to dan.parkinson@bjke.co.uk

PICTURES SENT IN

Two of our Ubisoft clients!

Last weekend saw another Bond film and another cinema box office record smashed!  The previous record, held by Mr. Potter, sat at a considerable £14,933,901; showing how powerful a family movie can be in today’s society.  Marc Forster’s latest spy instalment again reinforces where the money is – proving cinema, and film more generally, is still a force to be reckoned with, with opening weekend box office of £15,384,217.

So, with cinema proving its worth, its no surprise we see so many “top-film” lists.  Most notable of which was Empire magazine’s recently conducted survey, which featured the top 500 films of all time.  With this in mind, I think its important we have our say on which films should make a top-10 list.  So, over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your opinions on films over the past 30 years – starting with this week’s “the top films of the 1990s”.

Please send your top 10 (in order, 1 = best) to Matthew.waghorn@bjke.co.uk by Friday 7th lunchtime!

So, the results are in.  485* votes checked and verified (*Some films were excluded as they were not released 1990-1999).  The great debate may never be settled but at least we now have the collective view of BJK&E, together with some invited guests from such fine film authorities as Empire magazine, Carlton Screen advertising, and Lovefilm to name a few.

So without further ado, here’s are the top 10 films of the 1990s as voted by you:

1) Pulp Fiction (1994)
2) Goodfellas (1990)
3) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
 -) Fight Club (1999)
4) Trainspotting (1996)
5) The Usual Suspects (1995)
 -) The Matrix (1995)
6) Leon (1994)
7) Forrest Gump (1994)
8.) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
9) Schindler’s List (1993)
 -) American History X (1998)
10) Toy Story (1995)
 -) The Silence of The Lambs (1991)
 -) Se7en (1995)
 -) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
 -) American Beauty (1999)

Other nominations included:

7 Votes: True Romance, The Big Lebowski, Pretty Woman, L.A. Confidential, Fargo, Clueless

6 Votes: The Green Mile, Braveheart

5 Votes: The Sixth Sense, The Lion King, Reservoir Dogs, Heat

4 Votes: The Truman Show, The Full Monty, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Groundhog day, Grosse Pointe Blank, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Edward Scissorhands, Dumb & Dumber, Boogie Nights

3 Votes: Unforgiven, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella), Kids, Happy Gilmore, Face/Off, Donnie Brasco, Casino, Aladdin

2 Votes: Wayne’s World, There’s Something About Mary, The Last of the Mohicans, Ten Things I Hate About You, Sliding Doors, Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt), Romeo + Juliet, Office Space, My Girl, Mallrats, Jackie Brown , Good Will Hunting, Ghost, Empire Records, Dazed and Confused, Clerks, Boyz n the Hood, Beauty and the Beast

1 Vote: Wild at Heart, When we were kings, True Lies, Titanic, Thelma & Louise, The Witches, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Thin Red Line, The Rugrats Movie, The Piano, The Ice Storm, The Hurricane, The Game, The Fugitive, The Devil’s Advocate, The Craft, The Bodyguard, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Spice World, Sleepers, Shallow Grave, Point Break, Philadelphia, Once Upon a time in China (Wong Fei Hung), Natural Born Killers, Men in Black, Mars Attacks!, Lost in Space, Life is Sweet, Legends of the Fall, leaving las Vegas, la Haine (The Hate), Jerry Maguire, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Independence Day, In the Name of The Father, Human Traffic, Hot Shots!, Highlander II: The Quickening, Hard-Boiled (Lat Sau San Taam), Happiness, Hackers, Glengarry Glen Ross, Gattaca, Friday, Father of the Bride, Enemy of The State, Dark City, Dances with Wolves, Cruel Intentions, Cool Runnings, Con Air, Chasing Amy, Chaplin, Carlito’s Way, Buffalo ‘66, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Being John Malkovich, Before Sunrise, Batman and Robin, American Pie, Alien: Resurrection, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes/Permanent Midnight)
A Few Good Men

Last weekend I ventured out in Bury St Edmunds (Nr. Cambridge) with a few friends. We went to a bar to be told that only tables of 4 or less were allowed – there were 7 of us. After a bit of a fuss and a lot of  tutting we sat spread over 2 tables pushed together to make one big table but because technically we were sat in a group of 4 and 3 it was ok. This got me thinking about other totally pointless and ridiculous rules out there and the reasoning behind them.

Has anyone else ever came across a rule that makes no sense whatsoever?

One of the most annoying ‘pointless rules’  I have come across comes from the beloved Subway, normally I’m full of praise for the yummy sandwiches but when I was at university our local Subway turned their toaster off at 6pm, it would really infuriate me because it is a totally pointless rule – why can I have my sub toasted at 5.59pm and not at 6.01pm?  The only conclusion that I could think of was that maybe the authorised toaster operator finished his shift at 6pm?….

Team Chrysler and Adam are feeling a little sore today after a massive session last night. We really went for it, and as a result are bruised black and blue and absolutely exhausted.

Of course, I am talking about our outing with Haymarket to the Go-Karting.
Being relative novices, both myself and Louise managed to get bumped and bashed about on the circuit as we embarked on a monstrous two hour endurance race. Amongst some fierce competition from rival agencies, Hayley and Adam managed to hold their own and our teams finished in fifth and eleventh – pretty respectable really!

I also learnt that when boys say “Oh don’t worry, it won’t be competitive, I’m rubbish really” what they actually mean is “I’ve been practising for the last 6 months, I’m going to annihilate you and intentionally bump you so you drive into walls”.

Liars.

After the recent public statement that I bear an unfortunate resemblance to Mick Jaggar, I wondered what other celebrity look-a-likes we have in our agency..

Have a scan of the pics and let us know your thoughts..

Angela Bustard for one is the spitting image of Scottish singer Amy Macdonald..

Maybe we should do a Stars in Your Eyes contest to raise money for Marie Curie?!

Ooooh a honky tonk woman lalalala

Upon reading the current issue of media week (14th October – ‘There’s no Excuse For Self-Abuse) I was shocked (and obviously amused) as to the topic and content of ‘Media Dilemma. I guess it goes to prove how relaxed this industry is, but do you think its appropriate or necessary content in a trade publication or is Media Week just trying to sensationalise working life and make their problem pages similar to those of trashy womens weeklies?!

Having just spent the last 5 hours trying to get hold of my in-laws for a case of child care emergency I need to vent some frustration and rant about parents and mobile phones.

My in-laws both have mobile phones, however, whenever I try to get hold of them I get the message ‘this mobile phone is switched off’.  What is the purpose of the phone?  My father in law takes great pleasure in telling me his mobile phone bill is £0.03 each month…..yes because it’s never near or on his person!

Why do the older generation have difficulty with the concept of a mobile phone?  And think that a mobile is only to be used in an emergency…..how would they know about the emergency with the phone switched off?  Do they switch their home phone off?

My mother has finally grasped the concept and does keep her phone on and with her, however, it took a while for her to work out how to grasp the technicalities of using it……one incident whilst I was driving, my phone was ringing and I asked her to answer it for me – “how do I answer”, “just say yes” was my response – mum then proceeded to shout “yes” very loudly into the phone!

Maybe someone should invent a phone for this tech un-savvy audience that cannot be switched off.

End of rant.

This summer has shown a drastic rise in the number of summer music festivals and an ever growing list of great venues such as:

‘V’
Isle of white
Reading
Glastonbury
Bestival
Global Gathering

The growing number of companies willing to sponsor and advertise at these events has caused a rapid growth over the past few years.

Each summer brings a different experience.  Bestival was appropriately themed ‘under the sea’ this year as it was the wettest one ever.  Glastonbury is always a wash.  Matthew, a member of the Ubisoft team and pictured below, attended Bestival dressed as Scuba Steve from the movie Big Daddy.

What was your highlight of this year’s festivals that you have attended?

Having run out of butter one-too-many times we’ve taken to mixing sandwich fillings with sheer abandon – and not without success!

• Peanut Butter & Jam (Jelly, according to Patrick)
• Peanut Butter & Honey
• Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread
• Chocolate Spread & Honey

I’ve been told Banana, Peanut Butter & Honey is pretty sensational, and Elvis’ favourite was Bacon & Peanut Butter…. what’s your favourite?