Posts from date: September 2008

What Are You Looking At?

Since moving from sleepy Oxford to London two months ago, I have become quite a geek when it comes to observing developments in media on my commute into work each morning.

As well as trying to avoid eyecontact with various madmen and deciding what to have for breakfast, I have become accustomed to observing peoples media consumption and considering the influx of new formats that I encounter on my way to Holborn.

You can imagine my excitement this week when I realised that the XTP was installed in the station....

If you are a regular traveller through Piccadilly Circus, Bank, Liverpool Street, Euston or Bond Street you may have already seen the Cross-Track Projection which is currently being rolled-out across the London underground network. This is a high-definition digital moving image which gives advertisers massive standout and impact, and the ability to update their message in real time to a captive audience.

Although 10 years in the planning, now its here I like its premium nature and dominance of the platform - and the fact it keeps me occupied when the Victoria line is delayed again.

What keeps you occupied on the way to work?

Something for a rainy day...

Although there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on the absolute number of words Eskimos have for snow (anything between 4 and 100), I’m thinking that it will be more than the British have for rain. Given the extent to which “rain” features in national life, this just seems wrong.

For instance, Lou and I were walking along Bloomsbury Way this morning with umbrellas up but still getting damp (not wet, soaked or drenched) because the ‘water in the air’ didn’t really qualify as “rain” – it was of the ‘swirling-around-atomised-get-a-grip-pointless’ variety.

But, like the sticky-up thing atop a Frenchman’s beret, there wasn’t a word to describe it, or our situation. Surely in a country as ‘rainy’ as ours there’s got to be more than just “downpour”, “shower” or “drizzle”?  Please let me know if there is.  And if there isn’t, perhaps it’s time we created some rain words!

I mean, the Germans have “pladdern” (very strong rain, fairly big drops), “prasseln” (also strong rain, but with smaller drops), “gießen” (just boring old strong rain), “pieseln” (a light rain that's barely there - also means "to pee"), and “nieseln” (similar to "pieseln", but with very small drops. Apparently.

Maybe the new rain words could be onomatopoetic.  In Ukranian/Russian, “kapaty” means light rain, and “nakrapaty” even lighter rain; “barabanit' is the sound of rain battering against window panes or the roof.  In China they use “didadida".  In Welsh, “pitran patran” is light rain.  “Tittuf” is Hebrew for dripping rain.  Again, apparently.

Anyone have any suggestions for words for ‘rain situations’? If nothing else, it’ll give you something to do on a, er, rainy day!

Come Dance With Me

Saturday night saw the return of Strictly Come Dancing for its 6th series.

The show peaked at 8.83 million adult viewers which beat the viewing figures from last years first show as it only peaked at 7.89 million.

The 16 contestants and professional dance partners had to perform the Waltz or the Cha Cha Cha in front of the judging panel.

Phil Daniels aka ex-eastender 'Kevin Wicks' did his best to perform the Waltz with partner Flavia only to be the 1st couple voted off!

So how well will this series do in comparison to last year?

The BBC1 have done well to recruit beauties Rachel Stevens and Jodie Kidd to pull in a male audience but with Kelly Brooke and Alesha Dixon in Series 5, they have their work cut out!

For the ladies - Holby City heart-throb Tom Chambers was first out on the dance floor with "the confidence of a tomcat claiming his territory" according to judge Bruno Tonioli. Tom will surely keep the female ratings sky high as long as he stays in the competition.....

Who will keep you watching?

Google Chrome

As a committed Mozilla Firefox user, I was dubious about whether Google would be able to convert me to their beta-version of their open-source Browser, Chrome.

Launched on the 2nd September 2008, Google claims that Chrome "Gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go" with improved speed, security and responsiveness.

Personally, I'm also quite a Google fan (They keep Ben and Jerries in almost every room, a policy I thoroughly endorse) but there are a lot more people who are equally as interested.

According to Information Week, Chrome reached nearly 2 million downloads in the US in its first week alone.

However, are people likely to stick with Chrome or revert back to one of the other popular browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which dominates with more than two-thirds market share?

The 50MB size of Chrome means on my laptop over 100MB is now taken up with browsers (And my prefered use of memory is for the ridiculous amount of music I have stored on my ITunes)

I'm sticking with Firefox for the moment, but I'm pretty sure I'll be a convert soon...

Dublin Awayday.....

Sooooo..... our annual BJK&E conference has come and gone once more...

I think we are all agreed that it was a fab few days, we all learnt a new thing or two about media and BJK&Es future plans and also had some great fun bonding over tandem bicycles and space hoppers!!!

So everyone, what was your highlight of the trip?!

I personally quite enjoyed partaking in the space hopper race, falling off every 2 bounces and coming a very very poor last! Proved to me that I definately should not give up the day job!!!

White Rabbit, White Rabbit..... Hmmmmm.....

Ok, so it's the 1st of September and whenever it comes to the 1st of the month I'm always reminded of that old superstitious ritual that I got embedded into my brain during my time at University by my paranoid housemate...and that is the ritual of saying 'white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit' out loud in the morning before you get out of bed.

Even though I don't really believe something bad will happen if I forget to chant white rabbit x3, I still make sure I do it and if I remember half way through the day that I haven't done it (like today), I do have a little panic just in case it's real.

My only real superstition is magpies - If I see a lone magpie I have to look away immediately and cancel my bad luck by making a ring with my thumb and finger then breaking it with another finger. Madness? Probably. 

It got me thinking - what other superstitious rituals do we all follow despite knowing they are utter nonsense?!

How low can you go ...........and how early?

Over here on the light side of the office we have been subconsciously breaking daily records of how low the conversation can go before 9:30am. This morning we had wonderful success and managed a shocking 8:30! Many brains wouldn't be functioning on a basic level at this time, but we nailed it with gutter like conversation laced with eloquence and wit.

I'm wandering whether or not the success is down to the light side's newly formed seating arrangement: the named 'La Triangle de Saucisson' (Time J, Chris A & Paul C) surrounded by 7 females?