melvtopia - where the glass is always half full

Closure

2011-07-27T21:34:00.001+01:00

I met Suzanne for drinks tonight, and the subject of melvtopia came up. Suzanne, bless her, has been faithfully checking for updates, and so it seems I've been letting her - and perhaps others - down by just stopping posting.

SJ also pointed out that my last post was about Josh, a Ministry of Sound colleague who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. A sad, sad post but maybe not the way to properly end a blog that, after all, was founded on seeing the positives in life.

I've written before about the fact that it's difficult to write without having something to write about, which is why melvtopia has run it's course - for now at any rate. That's a cheeky little tease just in case I change my mind - but don't wait up...

Our mutual friend Dan quoted Samuel Johnson, I think, saying something along the lines of "a happy or busy man can't keep a diary". Well that's where I'm at right now. I'm happy, I'm busy, and I don't have anything that drives me to write.

You don't want to hear about my day-to-day life - you can follow that on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ (oh yes, still a Social Media trendsetter...). So it's time to bring the curtain down on what was, for a brief moment in time, quite meaningful to me. I hope it at least provided some interest to my readers.

If you're reading this, thank you for sticking with it all this time. It's been a blast (and I'm sorry about
the shite stuff).

And so it's over and out. I leave you with one final message: whatever happens, the glass is always half full in melvtopia.

Thank you and goodnight.

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Too young for words

2011-01-17T11:23:00.001Z

Social media took a different slant for me today when I learnt on Facebook about the death of an ex-colleague from Ministry of Sound. Josh was on holiday in Vietnam when he was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a fun loving, smart kid who died far too young.

I found out just after reading an article that 40% of over 55s now manage a social network, and I guess it's a precursor of one way in which social networks will be important in years to come.

From a professional point of view it struck me that while, through Facebook, I and others were able to learn the sad news very quickly, and could enter a shared conversation about Josh, the language of Facebook is inadequate in these circumstances. Do you 'like' a post about someone passing away? If not, how do you share it with others? Maybe a grown-up Facebook needs some more grown-up sharing options.

I was of course reminded of the Facebook newbie who added 'lol' to a post about her daughter's friend who'd passed away - thinking that it meant 'lots of love'.

RIP Josh

The beautiful game

2010-12-03T18:03:00.000Z

I had feedback from a melvtopia follower recently that she had stopped reading my posts because I had started talking about sport and football too much.

Well soz Suzanne but I can't look back at this week without mentioning one of the highlights - watching the best team performance I've EVER seen as Barcelona destroyed Real Madrid 5-0 in 'El Classico'.

This video nails it.

Highlight two: an incredible show by Arcade Fire at The O2 on Wednesday night. Brilliant from start to finish, and the best sound I've heard at a gig for a very long time.

It would be nice if I'd saved the best till last: today I had an interview for a very exciting role at a major record label. It felt like it went really well but I'll have to wait and see - fingers crossed...

Back in the game

2010-11-21T17:06:00.000Z

The understandably dwindling number of regular readers of melvtopia will be aware that I've been pretty crap at posting updates. My excuse? Under pressure and too busy at work, leaving little time for writing, let alone writing anything interesting.

Well. all that's about to change. The busy at work bit at least, and hopefully the posting bit too. After almost two years at Ministry of Sound I've decided to move on. It's been a tough shift - some fantastic highs but too many lows, and too much relentless pressure, for me to feel that I want to continue here.

So a couple of weeks ago I put a proposition to the business: I'd work 3 days a week until Christmas then they could make me redundant. For Ministry, it was a convenient way of cutting costs for 2011, against a background of difficult trading conditions. For me, it works perfectly as it gives me the chance to have meetings, talk to headhunters and work on my next move, but with a bit of a financial buffer.

And since I agreed the deal a weight has lifted off my shoulders. The pressure is off, I'm enjoying going into the office and I'm determined to finish on a high by delivering what I've agreed to deliver before I leave. Oh, and I need to find a new job, but more on that another time.

And the timing is perfect. My last week coincides with the Ministry of Sound Christmas party. I'm really looking forward to that, especially as the next day isn't one of my working days...

Last of the Summer Wine

2010-09-26T14:26:00.000+01:00

This weekend was what melvtopia should be all about: finding positive from negative. At noon on Thursday, I was preparing to leave work and head to Luton airport for a weekend of footie, tapas and sun in Lisbon. Then, thanks to the cheese eating, surrender monkey French air traffic controllers, our flight was cancelled. The transfer option next morning was full, so very quickly the weekend unravelled and we had no option but to cancel.

And then, out of the jaws of defeat, Soapy retrieved a victory, with the offer of a weekend at his holiday home in the Isle of Wight. A round of phone calls later and it was game on - so on Friday afternoon Soapy, Simon, Nigel, Ian and I boarded the ferry to Yarmouth and a weekend of outdoors, fresh air and - as it turned out - plenty of sunshine.

After a few beers in Yarmouth we headed to the house in Freshwater, which is stunning, with plenty of room for all of us. On Friday night we ate at a local pub where we enjoyed conversation which veered between raucous and melancholy.

Saturday saw full English breakfasts all round followed by a drive to Ryde where we played bowls (Chiswick Casuals official records will show that I won both games) and then pitch and putt (played in glorious sunshine) that Nigel won with style.

Dinner was at the Blue Crab, a pleasant hour's walk from the house, but the highlight of the night - maybe the weekend - was the bus drive home. The bus driver may have looked like a mild mannered, bespectacled woman but must have really been Damon Hill in disguise - she drove like a demon with little regard for anything or anyone else on the road. It was like a scene from Harry Potter, and either exhilarating or sick-making depending on your point of view. A nightcap at The Vine and that was our Saturday.

This morning we rose relatively early so decided to go for an earlier ferry than originally planned, and shared a ferry with none other than the ginger spice girl herself, Geri Halliwell. Which is fitting because what we wanted was a trip to Lisbon, but in the end what we really really wanted was a weekend away with good mates, and we got that. I hope you see what I did there.

The key to pedantry

2010-08-28T11:00:00.001+01:00

Since I wrote off my Saab last Christmas we've been a one car family - one Ka as it happens.

The Ka is a fine car - compact, reliable and a decent drive. But there's one thing that has always disturbed me about it (OK, disturbed is a bit too strong - let's say 'exercised my mind').

In my job usability is a big thing. We're always thinking about customer journeys, and making sure that things we deliver intuitive, consistent user experiences on our websites.

So you'll understand why I've always found it strange that to unlock the driver's door you turn the key anti-clockwise, but to unlock the boot you turn it clockwise. Why would they do that? What usability expert would have thought that made sense?

And then, this morning, the answer smacked me in the face. I was loading a few things into the car in preparation for a trip to Leek for the Bank Holiday weekend. The car was parked just outside the house and as I put the key into the passenger's door to unlock it - kapow! I turned it clockwise and it opened! That's right - just like you do to open the boot. My mind now in overdrive, I suddenly realised that in any other country this would be the driver's door, and everything finally made sense.

Now I can get on with my life.

Bowlska

2010-07-22T22:55:00.000+01:00

I hold a team meeting every month, where we review the previous month and look forward to the next one.
Today we did it differently. I booked a couple of tables at local pub The Libertine and did a six-month review, followed by a 'Lizard's Den'. The format was that everyone had two minutes to pitch an idea, which we all voted on. Amongst some very good ideas the winner was the notion of offering a free download with every CD purchase, which earned Ben a signed Basshunter poster and two moleskine notebooks.
Afterwards we went bowling at Elephant & Castle, followed by some hearty food at a Polish restaurant.
Good times.

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Brief non-encounter

2010-07-19T19:43:00.001+01:00

I've been here before. Well not exactly here - the last time I missed my stop and got to New Southgate, whereas this time they changed the train so it didn't actually stop at Ally Pally. So here I am at Bowes Park ( I don't even know where it is) waiting for a train back into London.

And not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips.

I could murder a drink though...

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Marketing and England

2010-07-01T22:55:00.001+01:00

It's been a while - an age really - since I last posted, which means I'm probably writing for an audience of one.

But I feel compelled to write because I've just attended the Marketing Society's summer cocktail evening on the rooftop of JWT's offices in Knightsbridge. And it's been an interesting evening.

Arriving without knowing a soul, I chatted with someone in Business Development at JWT. We had an interesting discussion about branding and suchlike, and were joined by someone from another agency. She was there as a prospective new member, so when the President of the Society made a speech which included an incentive offer for members who recruit new members, it didn't take long for a quick scam/strategy to emerge. The splendidly named Emmaclare signed up, as recommended by me, and I earned £60 worth of John Lewis vouchers. Money for old rope.

Later, I met the usual bunch of bores and snake-oil salesmen, but as I was leaving I bumped into Carmen, the Business Development person at JWT, again.

Reprising our conversation, she told me that she didn't think we should pay agencies for anything. Rather, she suggested a strategy where we give agencies the chance to work with Ministry of Sound for nothing, but on something innovative, something that's never been done before, that they can pick up the awards and kudos for. An interesting and quite attractive approach, I thought, but then a Business Development person might say that. She then gave me her card and it turns out that she's only the Managing Partner...

The cocktails, provided by Courvoisier, were excellent, and the setting - a lush lawn 5 stories up, across the road from Harrods - stunning. And I didn't even have to miss the World Cup as there were no games tonight.

Talking of the World Cup, I'm loving the rumours emerging from the England camp. Apparently there are 4 big stories ready to break; one of which involves shenanigans by a senior player with a certain authority (let's call him Player SG), which angered another player who previously held that authority (Player JT) and whose authority was stripped for similar but arguably less serious conduct. The story goes that JT approached the manager (FC) to complain, and the England camp split into two factions - those for SG and those for JT. If true - and that's a big if - it explains a lot about that last couple of weeks.

Then there's the story about Rooney and another prostitute...

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Hello hello, I'm back again

2010-05-20T23:58:00.001+01:00

OK, I know that Gary Glitter has defiled what used to be quite a good expression of resurrection.

Nevertheless, I'm back, again. I haven't blogged on melvtopia for a while, mainly because I've been so caught up with work that I've left any semblance of creative expression in the office.

Frankly, I've had nothing left to give. And I'd rather write nothing than go through the motions of churning out blog posts.

But tonight I met up with my old friend, colleague and erstwhile boss Steve K. Over a decent although not brilliant tapas at Navarro's in Charlotte Street, we talked of many things, from business to politics to football to personal matters - amongst which was his sense of betrayal at the recent demise of melvtopia (at least that's how I heard it).

So in recognition, and appreciation of, Steve's wise counsel tonight, I'm inspired to pick up my pen/iPhone and write. Quite what to write is still up for grabs, but progress is progress...

I know. How about the interview I did with my old University magazine?

Ah, I could talk about that, but what would I have to write about next time?

(See what I did there?)

Until next time...

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The new melvtopia - more twitter than facebook

2010-05-03T10:03:00.000+01:00

As you may have surmised, I've been finding it difficult to keep melvtopia up to date. In the early days I had a purpose (fueled by the demise of zavvi) which developed into an interest in trying to write stuff that readers - albeit a very small number of then - might find interesting.
Lately, I haven't found the time or the creativity, but I'm not ready to give up so what I'll try is shorter, twitter-style updates, with the occasional proper post when I can. Let's see if that keeps melvtopia alive until my next epiphany...

Time - that most precious commodity...

2010-03-28T12:34:00.001+01:00

...unless you're living in squalor in the Brazillian favellas and have got all the time in the world but little in the way of food, water or shelter of course...

If you'll forgive my uncharacteristic minimising of the suffering of the world's disadvantaged, you'll notice that it's been some time since I last blogged. I CAN'T FIND THE TIME! I'd love to be posting more regularly, even if no-one reads my ramblings, but work/life balance seems a long way away at the moment.

So I'll give you a very quick recap of the last few weeks. A great weekend skiing in Les Carroz with the Casuals; Rangers destroying Celtic and the league, won the League Cup with 9 men but out of the Scottish Cup; work relentless but beating targets and delivering most of what we're supposed to be delivering.

This weekend James is home and tonight I'll be doing my March barbecue. Next weekend is Easter so a very welcome break coming up - it'll also give me a chance to rest my assorted football injuries for a couple of weeks. Have a good one.

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Limited Addition

2010-03-09T12:05:00.003Z

The much-vaunted fall in educational standards isn't all bad, I discovered on Saturday.

In my local cheese shop I ordered some (very ripe) Brie de Meaux and some mature Manchego, costing around £7.40 and £4.30 respectively.
The girl at the till entered the two amounts, but must have left the previous transaction open because the bill added up to around £29. To her credit, she did notice that it was wrong so tried again, this time adding up to £40.

Giving up on technology, she decided to just add the two amounts in her head. A sensible plan I thought, except that in her method of adding up she started from the left and not the right: "7 and 4 makes 11, 4 and ...".

Needless to say, and I hope you'll forgive the mixed metaphor, she got into a bit of a pickle, which she impressively resolved with a flourish. "This is too difficult - can we just call it a tenner?".

Everyone's a winner.

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Tales of customer service

2010-02-28T12:17:00.001Z

Wenge and I went to Frederick's on Friday night. Hidden down Camden Passage in Islington, it's a conservatory-like room, and features the kind of service that makes you feel special but not suffocated.

After a tartiflette starter I went for a cote de boeuf, a ribeye on the bone that should have been bursting with flavour. It was OK but not as good as I'd have expected, so I ended up leaving quite a lot of it on the plate. When the waiter came to take our plates away he asked if there was anything wrong, and I explained that I was disappointed in it.

No sooner had he taken the plate away than one of the management came to send the chef's apologies and to tell me that they wouldn't change me for it. The desserts, when they arrived, were exceptional as was the gigondas that the sommelier had recommended to go with our meal. So we'll definitely go back.

Contrast this with Ministry of Sound's favourite caff, Terry's. I took Brian there on Thursday as he'd never been but had heard all about it. As we walked in, licking our lips in expectation of eggs, bacon, cumberland sausages, chips, beans, mushrooms and the rest, we were met by the boss who casually informed us that he wouldn't be serving fryups today. I thought that maybe there was a problem in the kitchen but no, the reason Terry's weren't serving fryups was that they had too many dinners and wanted to use them up.

A restaurant that won't serve what's on its menu? Ridiculous. But we'll also be going back to Terry's, no question...

Good times

2010-02-18T19:27:00.000Z

I haven't written a great deal about my days in the corporate communications and live events industry - probably because to make sense of many of the stories you kind of had to be there...

Paraphrasing 5 years, I ended up forming a production company that produced conferences and various live events for clients such as Dixons Group, Virgin, Universal and others. My partners in this crime were Simon and Helzo, and during this time we became about as close as any working colleagues could be.

Being a small company, in the high pressure environment of live events was tough. It was exciting, sometimes it was scary, very often it was fun. A lot of fun.

In the end, it was us against the world to produce results that clients would appreciate and we could be proud of. I'm pleased to say that more often than not we achieved that.

So last night, meeting with Helzo and Simesy, dusted down some great memories. Some of the stuff that we went through is for us only, but maybe I'll share some of the classic moments in another post.

Good times, and a great night.

Still good...

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A painful walk home

2010-02-14T10:13:00.029Z

City of London from Alexandra Palace

To get home from work, I take the tube and then the train to Alexandra Park station. It's then a 15 minute walk up the hill and round the Palace to my house.

I've remarked before how stunning the view can be - the whole of London spread out before me in all its splendour.

My walk home on Tuesday night was unremarkable. A cold, clear night meant that the vista was at its most impressive, but unfortunately for me it wasn't the city view that was taking my attention.

Sadly my colleague Claire had lost her grandmother the previous day, and had been off work. I texted her to find out how she was, and as I was walking along with my eyes on the phone - BAM! My first thought was that I'd been mugged, but I realised very soon that I'd just created a comedy moment by walking straight into a tree. A big bugger at that.

The tree (pictured) stood right in the middle of the pavement, but to be fair to it, it's been in exactly the same place ever since I've been in London so I can't really say it was malicious.

Anyway, the result was that I walked into my house with blood flowing from my cut nose, and I've now been called Mikhail Gorbachev on more than one occasion.

Don't try this at home...

2010-02-05T08:43:00.000Z

I write this on my way home from a night out with the team - so already that's a warning for you. We've done that before and come unstuck, haven't we?

Somehow the subject of melvtopia came up during the evening - some of the team had read it, others hadn't.

It got me thinking about the balance between writing for yourself and writing for an audience. To be honest, I've always been somewhere in between - I blog stuff that I enjoy writing, but also in the hope that others will get something from it too.

I've had varying degrees of success, and it's often been driven by circumstance. While things were all going wrong at zavvi, I found a ready source of blogging topics and an audience that could relate to what I was writing. Bad times but good raw material.

When my good friend Stewart, a proper writer, told me it was time to get over the zavvi stuff and move on, I looked for new inspiration and found it in friends, sport, work and good fortune. There was some good stuff there, though I say so myself. But I assumed that the only people reading were those that had followed me from the early days.

How wrong I was.

Over a number of months the balance shifted too much in the direction of personal - to the point that I was sharing my innermost fears and problems not just with a few old friends but with new followers including some of my colleagues from work - who probably didn't particularly enjoy reading about how difficult I was finding it to settle at Ministry.

Thankfully, being the brilliant colleagues that they are, a quiet word alerted me to the situation and no harm was done. One day I might publish the posts that were rapidly removed from melvtopia...

But it's harder to write without a target. Dan, another friend who really does know how to write, sent me a quote from Samuel Pepys, along the lines of "a happy man does not keep a diary".

On balance though, I think it's better to be happy than miserable, even if the blogging might suffer as a result. If I want anyone to read melvtopia it's up to me to find sources of inspiration.

So to readers old and new, I'll give it my best shot, and if all else fails I can just keep writing about writing...

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Class will out

2010-02-02T18:47:00.002Z

Forget all the talk about Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaka, Messi and the like. Does any of them have a Player of the Decade award?
I thought not.

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It's been a good week...

2010-01-29T19:45:00.001Z

Andy Murray reached the final of the Australian open - he's Scottish, you know...

We beat our January target with 3 days to spare...

Rangers beat St Mirren...
Celtic lost to Hibs...

... and some other stuff.

All in all, a stonking week.

Now we need Andy Murray to take that final step and beat Roger Federer on Sunday. And then there's the small matter of the Chiswick Casuals Annual Awards on Saturday. I can only hope that the hard hours on the training grounds will pay off...

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Kids

2010-01-20T20:19:00.001Z

Parenthood is, as every parent knows, a unique, wonderful and enriching experience. For all of the unconditional love etc. etc. it can, however be a bit one-way especially as children get older.

So it's with great pleasure that I report on two significant firsts over the last few days:

1. Out for a meal at La Bota with Soapy and Fran on Saturday night, instead of having to wait for the bus home we were driven to our door by their daughter. That's real progress and probably fair after the taxi service that all four of us have ran for so many years.

2. Whilst on the subject of daughters, Laura started her first permanent job on Monday. It's probably premature to start thinking about payback, but again it's progress and no doubt she'll want to pay her way and more now that she's earning...

I just need James to get a job as a banker and we're sorted.

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Wedding bliss

2010-01-14T21:36:00.000Z

I shared a few drinks tonight to celebrate Suzanne's engagement to Mark (not before time, I hear someone say).

The slightly weird part is that as she - and a friend of hers - were describing their forthcoming weddings this year I was reminded that this year is Wenge and my 25th wedding anniversary.

Anyway, I wish SJ and Mark all the best - and I must remember to book something special on April 20...

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Back to work

2010-01-13T19:40:00.001Z

Having had such a relaxing Christmas and New Year, it was always going to be 50:50 whether going back to work was going to burst the bubble and bring it all back to reality. I'm very pleased to say that the first week back was remarkably good. The positivity has continued into week two although the workload is increasing fast.

It's been all about the snow, mind you. I won't repeat the usual complaints about Britain not being able to deal with any extremes of weather but I did like the quote from the mayor of some Siberian town who pointed out that they'd observed that winter came at around the same time every year and therefore put plans in place for just that eventuality. Personally, I love extremes of weather

Sports wise, last week wasn't so good. Rangers drew 3-3 at Hamilton in the Scottish Cup, but have a replay to retrieve the situation (losing goal machine Kris Boyd for up to 6 weeks is a big blow though). The Eagles, on the other hand, don't get a second chance after losing with a whimper to bitter enemies Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. Next year? Again?

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Should I stay or should I go?

2009-12-04T20:04:00.001Z

I do believe that this the longest I've gone without posting since I started melvtopia. Why? Well, mainly because it's been a bit mental at work over the last couple of weeks - back-to-back meetings, 2010 budgets, annual appraisals and even a management training morning on Friday.

It's been a time to keep my head above water while also taking a step back and re-evaluating how I can be more effective, more succesful and a better leader as we go into 2010. Busy, busy.

Back to melvtopia. It's almost exactly a year since I posted my first blog post. At that time the zavvi adventure was unravelling and I was in an environment that demanded a degree of positivity. melvtopia had a purpose. And it was cathartic for me.

It's seen me through the the fall of zavvi, the (thankfully short) period of jobhunting, the highs and lows of my time at Ministry of Sound as well as good times with friends, good and bad times supporting Rangers and various random musings that may or may not have hit the mark.

One year on, the question is, is melvtopia still relevant (if indeed it ever was) and is it worth carrying on? Or has it served its purpose and is nothing more than vanity blogging now.

I can't answer that question - but you can. So, should I stay or should I go? You decide. Answers on a postcard, comment or intelligent duck.

And by the way, I've just missed my frigging train stop while I was writing this so I'm standing at New Southgate station at 8.00 on a Friday night waiting for a train back into London. You can't accuse me of not making sacrifices for the melvtopia cause...

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Scots wha hae

2009-11-23T08:16:00.003Z

It's been a good weekend to be a Rangers and Scotland supporter.

On Saturday Rangers beat Kilmarnock 3-0 to go back to the top of the league, albeit only for 24 hours if Celtic beat Dundee United 24 hours later.

Then, Scotland beat Australia at rugby for the first time since 1982. I only saw the last, desperate goal-line stand from the Scots that ended in an overtime try for Australia that they failed to convert. 9-8 to Scotland. Obviously England losing to the All Blacks made the win all the sweeter.

On Sunday, while I was buying some very bright - some might say brave - 5-a-side shoes, Celtic managed to lose two late goals in Dundee to make sure Rangers stay at the top, and with a game in hand. Lovely.

Meanwhile, at the O2 Arena Andy Murray was doing his bit for Scotland by despatching Juan Martin del Potro in the ATP World Tour finals.

So, all in all a pretty good sporting weekend, although not if you're an English rugby-following Wigan supporter, who got humped 9-1 by Tottenham.

The sporting weekend ended with one final piece of good news with The Eagles beating the Bears 24-20 in Chicago.

It doesn't happen very often, so allow me my indulgence...

Oh yes

2009-11-17T23:57:00.001Z

Ok, so I now like a bit of Above and Beyond, and I can number Sucker DJs and Thievery Corporation among my iPod favourites; but still, show me a Yes gig and I'll be there, which is what happened tonight when
Sav, Sav's son Christopher, Welsh Pete and I went to see Yes at Hammersmith Apollo.

This has been an oft-travelled journey for Sav and me but it was a new experience for the others.

Some of the shine was taken off the occasion since this time there was no Jon Anderson - due to a combination of illness and a fallout with the rest of the band. For those of you unfamiliar with Yes (and I hope that won't be many of you once this post inspires you to discover their work...), it's the coupling of Jon Anderson's child-like voice with the big, complex layers of sound that makes Yes sound so unique. So Yes without Jon Anderson is a bit like Liverpool without Torres. Or The Wire without McNulty.

It was a relief, then, to find that the replacement singer was not bad at all, and sounded pretty much like the original.

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say it was a fine show, featuring the old favourites, a few surprises, and ending with an epic encore of Starship Trooper with enough bass to power a small city.

But no Jon Anderson. Maybe next time...

Hitler-arious

2009-11-14T08:40:00.008Z

It's been a fun week at Ministry of Sound. On Wednesday we launched a new homepage at ministryofsound.com; making it a bit more interesting, adding more rich content, some community elements and for the first time selling straight from the page. Here's hoping it gives our currently modest sales a pre-Christmas push.

We're hosting a massive New Year's Eve party at the O2, and the marketing is starting to ramp up. Yesterday one of the guys at work put this together in his downtime - enjoy and share...

That Friday feeling

2009-11-07T09:33:00.000Z

There's something about Ministry of Sound on a Friday. Being a club, while most businesses are winding down for the weekend the club guys are ramping up their preparations for the big Friday and Saturday nights. There's always music being played in the office, but on a Friday it's a little more funky and a little louder.

Then there's the traditional trip up to Borough Market - I didn't go this week but as a food lover it's a fantastic place to spend Friday lunchtime.

Ministry of Sound is definitely not a 9 till 5 environment, but Friday is the one day when most people down tools at 5.30 - and we take over the company watering hole, The Libertine, for pre-weekend refreshments.

That's in an average week. An email came round today with potential dates for the Christmas party, which will be in the club. That'll be anything but an average week...

In God's country

2009-11-03T19:44:00.003Z

Wenge and I went up to Edinburgh at the weekend for a whistle stop visit. It was supposed to be a surprise party for my younger bruv Nigel, who celebrated his 50th a couple of weeks ago. Then, when he announced that he was getting engaged, it became a double celebration. Except that he found out about it, so it was no longer a surprise. Still, that helped with the pickup arrangements.

We left Luton on Saturday morning in torrential rain, and arrived in Edinburgh in glorious sunshine. We had a couple of hours in the centre - most of it at the Debenham's sale - before heading out to Torphichen, where Nigel and Fiona live. My older brother, Scott, was also there with his girlfriend Rosemary.

The day was spent eating, drinking (yes, in moderation) and walking into the village. At night we went to nearby Linlithgow for a pretty average but enjoyable Italian at Bar Leo.

The next morning was torrential again but we made it back without any problems - I'd maintained radio silence since getting on the plane so that I could watch the Rangers game when I got home, only for it to be abandoned at half time due to the waterlogged pitch.

Have I mentioned the new kitchen we're having fitted? It should have been done and dusted by now, but another week's gone by and Lincoln is still here. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say I'm looking forward to christening it by cooking something special - I'm just hoping it won't be Christmas dinner...

How life is in 2009

2009-10-22T13:47:00.001+01:00

Things have changed. Here's how I found out today that my brother is getting married...

Up

2009-10-20T15:25:00.002+01:00

The new Pixar movie Up, which I haven't yet seen, apparently features the adventures of a grumpy old man and a young boy. In movies there's the concept of a composite character - one that combines the personalities of multiple characters. It struck me that in Chiswick Casuals terms it would be fairly obvious who the old man was a composite of (for legal reasons, answers on a postcard only please).

Anyway, I digress. Up has been the key word of the last week or so. Things are definitely looking up at work - I enjoyed last week more than any for a long time, and the arrival of Claire, my new Digital Marketing Manager, is a vital step towards a full strength team. We have a team night out on Thursday (bowling & curry) which should be a laugh.

Last week I met up with Ian and Soapy for beers, margaritas and Mexican food at La Perla, which is becoming a favourite haunt for me when I'm in Covent Garden.

The weekend was about preparing for our new kitchen to be fitted - first ever wooden worktop for me and I may have gone a bit mad with the linseed oil... I got a good game of footie in without injuring anything, which is a bonus, and Rangers went back to the top of the league with a win at St Johnstone while Celtic could only draw. Good times.

A walk in Hampstead Heath yesterday, followed by a roast dinner, finished the weekend off nicely.

Meanwhile, as I write I'm listening to our latest release 'The Chilled House Session' - gorgeous and ever so reasonably priced at ministryofsound.com.

TV heaven

2009-10-11T19:01:00.001+01:00

I met Ana for a coffee today. An exchange took place. I returned her The Wire DVDs and borrowed the final season plus the next on my list - The Sopranos. Can't wait.

Here goes

2009-10-10T17:12:00.001+01:00

I've been searching for an iPhone app that will let me post directly from my new (work) iPhone. This blogpress one has just been released so let's see how it fares.
Bit of a quiet weekend so far. I pulled a hamstring last week at 5-a-side so instead of playing today I've been traipsing round Covent Garden with Wenge. Seemed like a good idea at the time but too busy and I didn't want to buy anything, so it wasn't the most fruitful trip. Maybe we can kick start the weekend with a good meal out later.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Criminally good

2009-10-09T08:10:00.003+01:00

All this week Wenge and I have been glued to BBC's Criminal Justice. Slow moving, tense and at times harrowing, it's not exactly a barrel of laughs. But there's top class acting from an excellent cast and it's a reminder of what BBC does best. Last episode tonight - can't wait.

Talking of reminders, some of you may have noticed that melvtopia has had a 1984 style spring clean. I was reminded this week that what goes in the blog doesn't necessarily stay in the blog, and that a few of my recent posts have been, let's say, a bit hard-hitting for public comsumption. Thankfully the colleagues who read them had the consideration to tell me and I'm grateful for that.

Weekend treats

2009-09-20T17:19:00.006+01:00

I've been a bit remiss with my updates lately, for reasons I've covered previously. So, a quick catch-up ...

Last Sunday saw the first Chiswick Casuals barbecue. The boys gave me my barbecue for my birthday last year so it was my way of saying thanks. The weather was fine and we had a good turnout - all in all a great afternoon. The menu featured a chicken dish I learned at my Indian cookery course last year, sausages from the Farmers' Market, sweetcorn, vegetable kebabs, home made guacamole and coleslaw and a few other bits - it all seemed to go down well.

Wenge I and spent this weekend with the Arch, Debs, Marc and Margaret at Arch & Debs' holiday cottage in Orford, a couple of hours up the A12 in Suffolk. It was a welcome break (tm) from London, in beautiful surroundings, with great weather and of course great company. From our arrival on Saturday morning just in time for a hearty breakfast, to leaving on Sunday afternoon, it was a peaceful and relaxing time for all. In between we had a very enjoyable walk in glorious sunshine, including a ferry (rowing boat) trip and a pub stop; another walk through the village to the quay, and a meal at a nearby pub/restaurant. The only sour note of the weekend was our host's failure to bring a clean shirt for dinner which, frankly, let the side down. No matter, it was one less thing to crumple when he fell asleep in front of Match of the Day on our return.

So, another part of Britain that I now know, having never set foot in Suffolk previously. It moved the dream of a place away from it all closer in my mind... tomorrow would be nice.

My dad the hero

2009-09-11T08:06:00.004+01:00

We're all proud of our parents. My dad was Chairman of Rangers for about 4 years and for a while was quite a well known figure in Scotland, so that was quite a big deal for me.

As you'd imagine, we used to talk a lot about football and Rangers. We didn't talk so much about his day job though, which was an orthopedic surgeon. But this week I saw this incredible story that made me realise that he was a great man for more than just football.

Now that really does make me proud.

Holiday? What holiday?

2009-09-04T08:23:00.002+01:00

The good news is that Wenge and I had 10 wonderful days in the south of France. The sun shone relentlessly, with the mercury by the pool reaching 47 degrees one afternoon and a sea temperature of 25 degrees, so it was a holiday for relaxation rather than activity.

Since we were in the foothills of the Pyrenees, we had planned to spend some time walking, but it was too hot and frankly more enjoyable to spend it by the pool or just reading a book. Or cooking, which I did a fair bit of.

We treated ourselves to a couple of days in Collioure, and found ourselves in the most beautiful sanctuary of a hotel just a few hundred yards off one of the main streets - a real oasis of elegance and calm in the throng of holiday crowds.

I had my own treat - my annual visit to the local wine merchant who gave me a guided tour around his selection of local wines (I swear he knows every winemaker personally) and helped me get my credit card bill to a respectable level. Our neighbours, who let us use their house, arrived as we left and are going to bring my purchases back in the car with them when come home - now that's what I call good neighbours.

There was a slight hiccup on the way home, when we had to get off our plane on the runway due to a technical fault and wait 5 hours for a replacement plane. Still, as it was Ryanair we were expecting them to just refund the £29 fare and tell us to f*#k off and make our own way home, so it wasn't too bad.

A long bank holiday weekend and it was back to work - my first week in my new position as Head of Internet. As I write it's Thursday evening, 3 days in, and I can't pretend that it hasn't been tough going so far. I'll be glad to get the week over and make a fresh start next week. Thank goodness for the weekend.

Melvis has definitely left the building

2009-08-19T12:48:00.006+01:00

So, I'm sitting at the computer in our next door neighbours' house in Foix, that they've let us borrow for a couple of weeks.

I know it can get irritating hearing people go on about their holidays when you're slaving away at work, so I'll skim over the details: a beautiful old stone farmhouse in the foothills of the Pyrenees, overlooking a gorgeous valley; 38 degrees outside, the sun blazing on the crystal clear swimming pool; a fantastic kitchen and a Bang & Olufsson sound system. Ever the company man, though, I'm doing my bit right now by listening to the original Ministry of Sound 'Chilled' album.

Tomorrow, we drive to Collioure on the Mediterranean coast for a couple of days by the sea, then back here. I'll stop at my favourite Caves and let the owner guide me through some of the best of the local wines with a view to trying some out in the remainder of the holiday. Forgive me if I don't blog very much until I get back.

The glass is more than half full, by the way; a Minervois fresh out of the fridge to be precise...

Arse

2009-08-03T08:26:00.004+01:00

It was a footballing weekend as Rangers came to Town for the Emirates tournament. Two double headers in two days, and a chance to see how the Scottish champions would fare against Arsenal, Paris St Germain and Atletico Madrid.

My brother Nigel came down with tickets, and shortly after midday on Saturday we set off for the first day. Our seats were right at the back, but we were able to move forward to empty seats much nearer the front. The view was fantastic.

The football was less fantastic. Rangers beat PSG 1-0 in a dull encounter that had pre-season friendly written all over it. Tidy in possession but not much in the way of action. The decent sized Rangers support did its best to liven things up and we had a good singalong - the only problem being the paucity of songs that aren't anti-catholic which, frankly, embarrases me as a Rangers fan. A shame, because some of the tunes are quite good. Arsenal then beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 with all the goals coming in the last 5 minutes... just after I'd received a text from James to say that he and his mate had left to get the tube.

On Sunday we watched a very entertaining PSG v Atletico game while the atmosphere built up for the main event; Rangers v Arsenal. All the noise was coming from a full Rangers end, but unfortunately it didn't take long for spirits to be dampened. Just 2 minutes in fact when Eduardo - offside by the way - laid off nicely to Wilshere to slot home. What a player he is, by the way. Less than 10 minutes later Eduardo scored and the game was over as a contest.

Arsenal showed the gulf in class between the English and Scottish leagues and when Wilshere scored a third nobody could say it was an unfair reflection of play. Rangers should have scored at least one but poor finishing saw to that.

We did at least win the battle of the supporters - singing for most of the game while the best Arsenal could do was the Mexican wave, which has no place in football. Once again, though, I was reminded how unpleasant some of the Rangers support can be. Thankfully there are also many decent ones who made the long journey down t support their team.

In the end, it wasn't the greatest of tournaments and a disappointing second day but a rare chance to see the Gers. A chance, also, to see a free-flowing Arsenal side that will excite again this year. Next up, Man City at Ibrox.

Uncertainty

2009-07-28T18:44:00.003+01:00

For the last couple of weeks I've been poised and ready to write an update on my position here at Ministry of Sound. There have been a number of possibilities floating around that could see me stay here until Christmas or staying permanently; on a full or part-time basis; either doing what I'm doing now or in a new role.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Sound is turning 18 in September and is undergoing a period of reflection on how it needs to change to ensure it's as relevant in another 18 years.

The combination of those two things mean that they're finding decision making very hard right now, and for me it's resulting in a very frustrating time.

Where's the glass half full bit? I'll have to get back to you on that.

2009-07-11T16:19:00.002+01:00

So the Ministry party was everything it should have been. A great party atmosphere, a more than decent barbecue, and most of all some stonking music.

When you think of a Ministry of Sound party you don't naturally expect to hear Stevie Wonder, New Order or Happy Mondays. But the assorted DJs rocked it with an awesome mix of old and new.

We stayed in the courtyard until around 10.00 then moved into the club - my first time there at night. Taking over The Loft, the music was just as good as it was outside. It was everything I'd hoped a Ministry of Sound party would be.

Then, just after 10.30, the club opened. Punters started to arrive, most of them male, and the music changed to a formula that presumably works commercially, but sounds like shit. We had a party going on, but it was funny seeing all those blokes arriving and trying to join in - especially with Wonder Woman, Catwoman and nurse Sara (did I mention that it was a fancy dress party?).

After a while a few of us decided it was time to call it a night (the lightweights had already left) and went through a side door back into the office to pick up our stuff.

All in all, a fantastic night. There's some stuff at Ministry of Sound that isn't all that wonderful, but they do know how to throw a party. I should probably make the effort to stay until the Christmas one...

Fancy that...

2009-07-10T09:09:00.004+01:00

It's Ministry of Sound's Summer Party this afternoon and evening. Starting with cocktails in the courtyard and moving into the club later. Competitions with cash prizes. Oh, and it's fancy dress too - "what did you want to be when you grew up?".

Since I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, I'm not treating it too literally - so I've looked out a Scotland shirt and found the official Scotland tracksuit that my Dad brought back from the Spain World Cup in 1982. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to sampling the club for the first time, and of course to seeing what some of the girls wanted to be when they grew up...

Day 3 - damage assessment

2009-06-29T16:41:00.000+01:00

One by one we woke. Mugs of tea and hobnobs were handed round as the damage assessment began. To no-one's surprise, the Black Rat had taken the greatest toll on Nigel and Soapy.

While Nigel was doing an impression of Ian without the tablecloth, Soapy had clearly found succour in the arms of Brian, the pair sharing a blow-up bed like a modern day Morecambe and Wise. Actually, it was more John Inman and Michael Barrymore (should have checked Pete's swimming pool before we left...).

Ablutions duly dealt with, we headed off to our favoured service station on the M4 for a final breakfast before saying our final goodbyes. Even the closure of Northwood tube station couldn't dampen the spirits, as captain fantastic made an unplanned and selfless 45 minute detour to take Soapy and me to South Ruislip.

In the annals of Casuals history this will go down as one of the special tours. And last night was without doubt one of the most memorable of all Casuals nights.

As for Pete and his beaten Welsh team? Well, they just can't help believing...

Day 2 - Football comes home and Elvis has left the building

2009-06-28T16:41:00.037+01:00

We woke up around 8.30 after a good sleep; wandered into town for breakfast at Annette's and to buy supplies of sports drinks. Then it was back to Pete's house, where we sat in the sun until Graham, Brian, John, Klaus and Nigel arrived.

The warm-up sporting event was the South Africa v Lions 2nd test which, agonisingly, the Lions lost with the last kick of the ball. Gouging is bad by the way, except in the right circumstances.

Then, the big game. Pete's team was ready and waiting when we arrived at the sports hall. It was clearly a younger, fitter team, assembled with one purpose - to win the trophy back for Wales.

It was a quiet and focused Casuals dressing room, some players geeing up their comrades while others prepared within their own private zones. But we were ready.

The home team started brightly, with the Casuals struggling to impose their style of play and Aber looking the most likely to score first. And score they did. Powering from the back, Greg cut inside and lashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Aber continued to dominate for most of the first half, with some excellent interplay from defence causing problems for the Casuals midfield. The defence, however, held fast.

Then, with barely two minutes to go, Graham spotted a Melv v Woolley mismatch and played a measured ball over the top. Simpson duly delivered a clinical finish to take the game to half time all square.

With the sun beating down mercilessly, the Casuals regrouped at half time and came out determined to impose their own style of play. The second half was more evenly matched, but still it was Aber who drew first blood. Graham, who had been faultless, had a Petr Cech moment and spilled a corner to Elliot, who couldn't believe his luck as he slid the ball home for a 2-1 lead.

The Casuals pressed for an equaliser, and it came in the shape of an Alan Dovey strike that would grace any game. Collecting the ball with his back to goal, Alan spun and hit a beauty that goalkeeper Mark Tovey could only admire. 2-2. There were half chances at either end, but no more goals by the time referee Nigel brought the game to an end.

Then it was all down to penalties - the ultimate test of nerve. Woolley set the trend with a poor attempt, easily saved by Graham. Melvin, Ian and Brian all missed, as did all but one of the home team. So at 4-5 Alan had to score to keep Casuals' hopes alive. Score he did, taking the contest into sudden death.

A brilliant save from Graham, truly earning the Petr Cech mantle, saw the hopes and dreams of three nations rest upon Captain Courageous, Simon Jobling. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Jobbo calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner to send one half of Abergavenny into raptures while the other half looked for a scapegoat.

Football came home.

After the match, and a detour to the local cricket club, both teams enjoyed Sharon's legendary hospitality and a few beers at Chateau Woolley, where we accepted the trophy from a clearly shaken Peter.

There followed a trip to the Kings Arms that developed into an epic Karaoke session led by - who else - The Welsh Mouth (TM).

Unbelievably, Elvis Presley happened to be in the bar and he treated us to an impromptu greatest hits performance, culminating in a moving performance of 'In the Ghetto'. Even more unbelievably, he was later joined by a second Elvis for 'Return to Sender', although if truth be told it was probably one classic too far.

There was one other, special moment, that none of us who were there will ever forget. Elvis left the building, but was brought back by popular demand for one last song: a mesmerising 'I Just Can't Help Believing'. Even more special, he then morphed into Meatloaf for an inspired 'Two out of Three Ain't Bad'.

One of the all-time Casuals nights came to an end and, unable to get into Abergavenny's only nightclub, we retired to Pete's for a nightcap, and for a hard core few, a final hot tub session, under a crescent moon and a starlit sky...

Chiswick Casuals on tour. Day 1 - arrival

2009-06-28T16:41:00.013+01:00

Forget the FA Cup or Champions League finals. The big event in the football calendar is the annual Chiswick Casuals trip down to Abergavenny to take on the Valleys' finest. This is the story of this year's tour...

With the sun beating down and the M4 ahead of us, it was an optimistic Jobbo, Soapy and me who spearheaded this year's advance party on Friday afternoon. A couple of ibuprofen tablets for the road, a 'Music for Middle Aged Men' playlist courtesy of Jobbo, and off we set. An 80's A&R man's dream, that boy - a random selection included AHA, Simple Minds, Phil Collins, Anastacia... you get the picture.

Sadly, when his iPod ran out of power his adaptor wouldn't fit mine, so we had to rely on Radio 2, which incidentally is about 20 years more up to date that Jobbo, for the rest of the journey.
Predictably, if a little stereotypically, it started raining as soon as we crossed the Severn bridge, but thankfully the rain didn't last long and the sun was soon out again.

When we arrived in Abergavenny, we went straight to Pete's house, where Alan and Ian had already arrived. There began an unseemly rush for the comfortable bedding, which left us all relatively happy with our lot.

We walked into town for beers, and Soapy made an early bid for one-liner of the tour. While enjoying a hotdog at the pub, I had a little ketchup around my mouth. Soapy: "Bloody hell, Melv. You look like you've just given a blowjob to some roadkill."

After a short stop in another bar we we went for a curry, and were in the restaurant when Pete arrived. We all finished up and moved on to Wetherspoons.

Now one of the themes of the weekend - perhaps inspired by this very blog - was positivity. Soapy in particular is prone to morphing into Victor Meldrew very easily. We tried to put a fine system in place but to be honest it didn't work. By the time we reached Wetherspoons who had run out of ice for Soapy's gin and tonic, he had reverted to type: "That's the problem with the world - it's all gone to shit".

Back to Pete's for some hot tub action followed by the blissful sleep of the righteous.

His Royal Highness

2009-06-27T09:01:00.000+01:00

I love this. While doing some research I checked out the Harrods website. When you register for most websites, you're asked to select from a drop-down list of Mr, Mrs, Ms and maybe one or two others.

Not so with The World's Greatest Department Store. Showing an impressive appreciati0n of their customer base in an otherwise unimpressive website, Harrods pushes the drop-down envelope...

Should gypsies be allowed to jump NHS queues?

2009-06-21T09:49:00.026+01:00

Ask Daily Mail readers whether gypsies should be allowed to jump NHS queues and you'd think the answer would be a foregone conclusion. But that was before Twitter.

On Friday I witnessed for myself just how powerful Twitter is becoming, and more important, how it has the power to harness and mobilise public opinion to create action.

There's a lot of talk right now about how this is happening in Iran - opposition supporters using Twitter to bypass the ban on media reporting from the country and get pictures and information to the outside world.

In fact, as I write, I'm looking at Twitscoop, a website that tracks in real time the current hot topics on Twitter, and I can see that people are appealing for blood donors to address a shortage in hospitals. More chilling, I can see trending topics 'rumors', 'clashes' and 'tanks', all clicking through to reports of clashes between police and protesters - being called terrorists by the Iranian government - in Tehran.

Back to my original story. On Friday, I was looking at Tweetdeck - an application that sites on your desktop and allows you to see and post Twitter and Facebook updates - and I saw the word 'Skew' as one of the big trending topics.

Wondering what people would be writing about that included the word 'Skew', I clicked through to Twitscoop where I saw that it was all about the Daily Mail poll on gypsies. Some of the comments were just about how low The Daily Mail had stooped, but many were taking it further, posting a link to the poll and encouraging people to register a Yes vote to skew the poll. Because Twitter users can 're-tweet', this particular message was being duplicated and resent around the community, gaining momentum all the time.

So I clicked through to the poll, registered my Yes vote, and looked at the results. How many Daily Mail readers think that gypsies should be able to jump NHS queues? As of yesterday

afternoon, 93% of them do, apparently. I can't see the result today because funnily enough the poll has been removed.

Twitter helped to get Barack Obama elected; it's helping to highlight injustices in oppressed countries; it's helping the mass of the people and interest groups to spread their messages faster than ever. Yes, you can probably still find out what Britney's eating for breakfast, but if you dismiss Twitter as just a frivolous fad you do so at your peril.

2009-06-14T14:26:00.004+01:00

So I'm watching Andy Murray playing in the final at Queens. Unlike most of the media, I'm of the opinion that he's Scottish all of the time - not just when he wins. I expect him to nail James Blake but, hey, it's a final - anything can happen.

It could be an interesting week. When I arrived at Ministry of Sound, I had a Plan B in mind, and last week brought that a little closer. If things go the way I'm hoping this week I could get closer still.

If it does, as is the way of modern media, followers of Melvtopia will find out first... Media exclusives, that's got to be the way to go.

A Hed of the game

2009-06-08T08:24:00.008+01:00

We finally launched the all-new www.hedkandi.com on Thursday. Just as with the Ministry of Sound relaunch in April, this was a race against time, and it was a relief to get it launched with no significant problems.

I remember when I used to work in live events, there was so much adrenaline involved that when each event was finally over we used to need a period of cooling down before we moved on to the next project.

That's what it's been since Thursday - a bit flat. Not helped, of course, by an epic celebration with the team on Thursday night which ended with me falling asleep on the Piccadilly Line and ending up in Southate at around 1.00 am. Friday was a day of recovery.

The weekend was pretty sh#t. I had an injury that prevented me playing football on Saturday, so after a double session with my osteopath, Wenge and I drove out to Abingdon. Not much there, although we did see Helena Bonham Carter shopping. Yesterday was just a day of doing nothing, and getting frustrated by not doing what I had planned to do. One highlight, though, was watching 'The Butterfly Effect' on Friday night. A very clever film - the first time I've seen Ashton Kutcher acting - that keeps you on edge right to the end. And I finished Season 3 of The Wire.

This week I have a couple of meetings with recruiters, and a proper interview, so along with planning a development schedule for Ministry of Sound I should be pretty busy. My challenge, though, is to break the in-early, leave-late cycle that I've fallen into while working on Hed Kandi.

Oh, and it would be nice to see some sun again...

Here comes the weekend...

2009-05-29T08:32:00.004+01:00

With the launch of hedkandi.com just a week away, it's good to have Lee beside me at Ministry of Sound for the week to manage testing. After recent events, the last thing I need is to launch a site with any undiscovered bugs (although, I suppose if they went undiscovered until September it wouldn't hurt that much... only joking - I'm a pro, remember?)

And Lee provided the good news story of the week. A call on Wednesday afternoon, interview on Thursday morning and starts work next Thursday at the world's most famous department store. They're going to become even more famous when Lee gets his teeth into the website.

A sunny weekend is forecast so that means plenty of barbie action. I'm picking James up at the end of his first year at Uni on Saturday, and if I'm very lucky will get to meet his hot new girlfriend.

And of course it's Rangers v Falkirk in the Scottish Cup Final. Football's truly coming home...

That winning feeling...

2009-05-26T13:50:00.005+01:00

In the end, it was easy. A comfortable 3-0 win for Rangers at Tannadice while Celtic were unable to score against Hearts meant that the league championship returned to its rightful home in Govan. The helicopter didn't even have to change direction this time, as it had when Celtic lost two late goals in Motherwell to give Rangers the league in 2005.

I was preparing for a far more tense afternoon. Up early on Saturday morning, I went through my usual routine for important games: make sure that there's no hint of any green in any of my clothes, and enjoy a cup of coffee in my Rangers mug. Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst, I nervously got through the morning, only allowing myself one short period of absolute belief that my boys would step up and do what was needed. However, our poor record against Dundee United over the last few years ensured that this was to be a short-lived high.

Ice cubes were prepared and a bottle of champagne was on standby in the cellar, but that's as far as I was going to tempt fate until I could be confident we had won. I've seen too many last minute twists.

I needn't have worried. It took only 6 minutes for last week's villain Kyle Lafferty to redeem himself with an early opener to settle the nerves. Then, on the stroke of half time Pedro Mendes powered a beauty through a cluster of Dundee United players to take us in 2-0 up at the break. Kris Boyd added the killer third and at that moment I knew it was safe to put the champagne on ice ready for full time.

Roll on the Champions League!

To cheat or not to cheat

2009-05-20T08:14:00.003+01:00

In case you didn't know by now, I'm a Rangers fan. That means that when I'm with non-Rangers supporters (Steve K, for example) I'll usually try to support my team. But I'm also, I think, a reasonably balanced individual who doesn't always see things in black and white.

I found it impossible, for example, to defend the behaviour of a number of Rangers fans when we got to the UEFA cup final last year. The whole episode sickened me and ruined what was in all other respects a fantastic occasion.

Then, on Saturday, one of our players, Kyle Lafferty, managed to provide one of those moments that will be shown and shown again for years - cheating a fellow professional to get him sent off. Disgraceful, and unacceptable for any Rangers player - indeed for any professional footballer.

Lafferty has been villified in the media, and rightly so, but I do sometimes wonder about the accepted wisdom in football that cheating or spitting (oh, how the media love a spitting story) is somehow a more heinous crime than, for example, deliberately going over the top to injure someone.

I wouldn't dream of indulging in petty rivalry to make a point, but compare and contrast Kyle Lafferty's childish and despicable actions with Glenn Loovens' deliberate attempt to injure an opposition player. I know which I think is worse.

2009-05-16T12:36:00.005+01:00

I can't say it's been a great week at work, again. A small team, working under extreme pressure to meet very ambitious targets, and under these circumstances mistakes and errors of judgement are bound to happen.

When it's a good team - and this one is - you make sure that when things do go wrong they're the minor things, not business critical ones. That's how this week has been. Making progress towards the hedkandi.com relaunch in the first week of June but also having to fit in a new Global Underground store, add clothing to the Ministry of Sound site and introduce membership functionality.

It didn't all go smoothly, but we achieved all three things this week. Now I hope we can move into next week in a positive frame of mind and have a good week on Hed Kandi.

We did have one piece of good cheer on Friday. Ministry of Sound has released the new Chilled II album - with a cool chill pill offer on the site - and there's an accompanying TV ad.

The ad - beautifully directed, with the high production values you'd expect - is here.

The eCommerce team responded with this in-house remake.

You be the judge - which do you prefer?

Back on top

2009-05-11T08:33:00.004+01:00

After the traumas of last week, the weekend lifted the spirits. The weather was fantastic, allowing me to try my first prawn and asparagus combo on the barbecue, which went beautifully with a chilled Provence rose.

And of course Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 to take us to the top of the league with three games left. Anything could still happen but if we'd lost it really would have been all over.

Next up, Hibs away on Wednesday..

Better days

2009-05-08T17:54:00.005+01:00

A welcome relief to end the week - situation now amicably resolved and we move on. The glass has been topped up for the weekend. Now I just need a Rangers victory tomorrow.

That damned glass

2009-05-08T08:03:00.007+01:00

After the high, the low. For reasons that I can't detail here, things have got a bit tricky at work. I'm trying very hard to resolve it but the outcome is either going to be bad or very bad, and it's hanging over me like a yellow card in a Champions League semi final.

Steve knows very well how Maslow's hierarchy of needs kicks in rapidly in these situations so it's difficult, and frankly it's doing my head in.

In the interests of topping up the eponymous glass, Wenge and I went to Razorlight at the O2 last night and really enjoyed it. After a slow start the hits started flowing. Johnny Borrell has a great live presence, at times reminiscent of a young Jim Morrison. The highlights for me were Wire to Wire from Slipway Fires, accompanied by gospel singers, and a stonking America.

Today's going to be a difficult day - partly because of the situation at work, and partly because I somehow managed to leave my glasses at home. All of HMV's spamming is going to come to fruition - I'm going to have to Get Closer after all.

Oh, and there's the not so small matter of Rangers v Celtic tomorrow, of which doubtless more later...

Internet World 2009

2009-04-30T17:03:00.010+01:00

I spent the day at Internet World, at Earls Court, hoping to learn a bit more about ecommerce best practices and also gen up on online marketing.

On my way there I was given two salutary reminders of the real world, the one that's still running in parallel with the digital world I inhabit for much of my time. Coming off the tube I saw my first evidence of the swine flu scare - two women in business suits sporting face masks. Ten minutes later, sitting in a café across from Earls Court, there was live coverage on BBC of a memorial ceremony for troops killed in Iraq - one by one platoon leaders would stand at a lectern and read the names of those who died fighting for us - very moving and of course just the thing to set me up for a day here.

They're all the same, these exhibitions. A mixture of clever companies trying to get noticed; desperate salesmen trying to drag anyone they can onto their stands; market leaders using their huge stands to brag to their industry; promotional girls and over-priced food.
First off, I realised that I had a practical need for a notebook, so I feigned interest in an email marketing solution - for the cost of five minutes of my time I gained a couple of brochures to bin and a handy notebook for the day.

My strategy was to concentrate on the seminars and keynote presentations. I always think that I'll learn at least one thing that makes the day worthwhile - I just don't know what it is and where I'll learn it. And so it turned out.

The first seminar, 'Innovate or die; lessons from 10 years of the internet, was pretty dull - the CEO of Cheapflights throwing a few facts and opinions around. Nothing I didn't know. The next one, on website usability, was far more useful. No rocket science, but a valuable round-up of some best practice in search and browse, product pages, basket and checkout. Some of it is available at www.webcredible.co.uk/ecommerce2008.

I treated myself to a shoulder and head massage before walking the floor for a bit, and then forking out the best part of a fiver for a sandwich. After lunch, a keynote by Justin Moodie, head of online at HMV, on multi-channel retailing. Really interesting, this one. He spoke about HMV's strategy of Messaging, Measurement and Improvement - aimed at achieving measurable improvements for a reason, not change for change's sake. And having demonstrated some of the testing they've done, the biggest shock for me was that they use the free Google Optimizer rather than an expensive tool to manage all of this activity.

I queued to get into a Chartered Institute of Marketing seminar on SEO. Fast, furious and a good top level overview of how search is evolving from keywords and links to more sophisticated measures of trust and user experience. Ten minutes later I was back in the same hall listening to the same speaker talk about SEM, and it hadn't got any cooler. The same format - an overview of things to consider when formulating and executing an ecommerce strategy.

Finally, I managed to talk to one of the developers at webjam about some bugs I'd found when setting up a webjam site for the Chiswick Casuals. Always thinking of my friends.

So was it worth the day out? The exhibition itself had very little to commend it but yes, I did find some nuggets that I'll take with me - enough to make it worthwhile. It's a draining way to spend a day though - right now I could do with a stiff drink...

Twitter for beginners

2009-04-26T18:33:00.005+01:00

Twitter is one of those disruptive and decisive technologies. Some people use it all the time; some (like me) dabble in it, and there are lots who just don't see the point.

Twitter also has that fad factor, which can annoy people. You can't read a paper, or browse the internet, without reading about how Demi Moore is supporting someone on Britain's got Talent, or how 20,000 people knew when Stephen Fry was stuck in a lift because he was posting tweets about it.

I always think with these new technologies (if, indeed, a technology is the right way to describe Twitter - social media may be more accurate) the way to approach them is to look for the value they can give you personally. If you can find value, use them; if you don't, then don't use them. But it's worth taking a little time to explore and understand before you say no.

Facebook has value to me because it lets me keep in touch with friends and what they're up to. Of course I can call them and email them and - gasp - even meet them in person. But that's just not possible with everyone, or as often as I'd like, so Facebook fills that void.

LinkedIn fulfils a different need. It's my professional profile, and I have a different persona there. For those of us who have been in the job market LinkedIn is invaluable - these days it's a primary interface with recruiters. Over the last few months I've been contacted directly by Amazon, BestBuy and Waterstones, as well as by quite a few headhunters, because they saw my profile in LinkedIn.

With Twitter, I admit I haven't yet found the killer value, although I'm getting closer. According to Twanalysis I'm still a newbie, so I'm still learning. What I've learned is that the basic "I'm on the train" or "I'm watching The Wire" or "I'm stuck in a lift" messages aren't the future of Twitter. The future is in collaboration of the dissemination of information, in a way that's relevant and accessible.

One example is citizen journalism. During the demonstrations at the recent G20 summit, some of the most up-to-date news was coming from people on the streets who were posting real-time updates from across London. It would be physically impossible for news organisations to cover so many locations on the ground.

At a more personal level, Derek Dunlop told me that he looks for my tweets on Rangers scores when he's travelling as it's the best way for him to keep up with games.

Or for a more imaginative use of Twitter, I saw that Dan was taking part in a Twitter wine tasting. You get a bunch of people to buy the same wine and taste it at the same time regardless of where they are - then post comments and see what others are saying. Maybe a gimmick, but a fun one.

I think part of the problem with Twitter is that the website is so awful, and doesn't actually help newcomers to do anything but the most basic posting. You can post links, photos, videos on twitter. You can send and receive messages directly with friends. You can search for anything and see tweets relevant to that search term. But those things can be pretty daunting for someone who's new to it.

As I said, I'm still pretty green so I don't pretend to be an expert. Until recently my Twitter access has been mostly on my mobile (using Twitterberry) - just posting the odd update and seeing what friends are posting. I've now discovered Tweetdeck, which I highly recommend. Tweetdeck allows you to view your Twitter activity including any groups or searches in neat columns in one dashboard. As a bonus, you can also see all your friends' Facebook status updates, and update your status direct from Tweetdeck. Awesome.

So my message is; don't think of Twitter in terms of learning what people are having for breakfast. Think of it as a new and rapidly evolving form of social media that is here to stay. And the sooner you embrace it the better placed you'll be to use it to your benefit.

Follow me on twitter

Our man at the ministry

2009-04-22T13:54:00.008+01:00

A few random observations from the world's greatest club...

Compared with zavvi, there's an obsession here about cleanliness. You could walk into the South side kitchen on any day when Trading were responsible for cleaning it, and you'd be lucky to see a square centimetre of worktop space - as for a clean sink or mug, forget it. Here, not only do people wash up their mugs after use but there's a team of cleaners who walk the floors all day, constantly cleaning up. The only problem is that it's almost impossible to use the toilet without bumping into a male or often female cleaner (sometimes both)...

A few weeks ago I moved desk as a new person joined the eCommerce team so the desk I was using got reallocated. It's a shame because I liked working in that team and the banter was always good. However, it's forced me into a bit of hot-desking and that in turn is allowing me to really find out how fantastic a machine my MacBook is. Running both Mac OS and Windows so I have the best of both worlds, with a good wireless network here, and with remote access to my Ministry emails and calendar, I'm not really missing having a permanent home. Having said that I'm sitting in the design area right now and anyone who works here will know what I mean when I say the view is sooo much better.

And I'm getting to know the neighbourhood. I've found a little cafe run by (I think) a Turkish couple. They make a fresh Greek salad on demand, which I mentioned to Chris, one of my colleagues here. Today, Chris went out early and picked up one of their salads. I mentioned it to the owner when I went to get some lunch, and when I went to pay not only did he round the amount down but he gave me a free slice of carrot cake on the house.

Maybe this could become my new manor...

Where are they now?

2009-04-21T19:50:00.004+01:00

Delighted to get a call from Mike Moss, one of the good guys, to say he's starting a new job at Asda in a few weeks. Some of my most enjoyable times at zavvi were with Mike, so that news made my day, although it does mean that the cleaning of my hypothetical conservatory will have to wait...

Same old, same new

2009-04-20T20:15:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. 24 years since I drove out to High Wycombe on a scorching, sunny evening and got married a day later in snow - ah, the British weather!

Anyway, I left Wenge a card yesterday when I left for work, and when I got home there was one sitting on the table for me. Yes, you've guessed it - of all the cards in all the world we both went out and got the same one... there's one for the romantics.

And, no, we don't wear matching woollen pullovers and jackets when we go out.

Good times

2009-04-19T20:20:00.013+01:00

Last week was one of those good weeks, where everything just seemed to go right (apart from Chelsea beating Liverpool on Wednesday - but it was an absolute belter of a match so that made up for it...) and I seemed to be on top of things.

Relaxed by the long weekend and buoyed by the success of the ministryofsound.com relaunch, I got into the office on Tuesday fired up and ready to go. Those who really know me know that I'm what in football circles is called a confidence player - when I'm feeling good about myself I operate so much better, so I was ready for a good week, and so it turned out.

Rudy was on holiday, so I hot-desked in his chair for the week with the rest of the eCommerce team - much more fun than the new desk that I moved to a couple of weeks ago. The banter was flowing all week.

I had one main thing I needed to achieve, and that was to produce a requirements document to give to the agency that we've appointed to design a new Hed Kandi site: the strangely-named but very impressive (so far) Code Computer Love from Manchester. Team meetings, wireframes and mind maps all came together by Friday afternoon and I managed to do what I set out to do. Box ticked.

Over the Easter weekend I had sent out an update to many of the recruiters and headhunters I've been in contact with - taking the opportunity to bring them up to speed with what I'm doing at Ministry of Sound. I had a really good response with a number of them contacting me during the week and a couple of potential opportunities coming my way for consideration, so that's encouraging. Having said that, if the right permanent opportunity came along here at Ministry (and I know exactly what that is) I'd definitely be interested.

To the weekend: always good to see the sun, and I took advantage of it on Saturday when Wenge and I had a walk in Hampstead Heath followed by lunch at Carluccios; later we went for a Thai at The John Baird and then saw "In the Loop" at the Odeon. Some very funny moments and world class swearing, but still more suited to TV than film for me.

Yesterday I watched Rangers beat Hibs, a game that featured two of the best goals anyone will score this season (watch them - they're in the link). There was even a minor bonus when I found out that Razorlight at the O2 is on Thursday 7th May and not Wednesday 6th when Chelsea are playing the second leg of their Champions League tie against Barcelona.

It's the end of Monday as I write, and the new week has started off reasonably well, so let's see if I can stay on the roll...

Tube mystery

2009-04-15T19:17:00.003+01:00

Can anyone explain to me that curious London underground phenomenon where a train stops at the station, and there are people who stand on the platform and don't get on?

I'm not talking about packed trains, or lines where there are different destinations - just normal trains. What's going on there?

A day in the life...

2009-04-15T15:48:00.003+01:00

Scary stuff this morning. The whole company had a fire safety and terrorism briefing, andwhen someone outlines the number of conferences they've been asked to, and the specific threat to Ministry of Sound, suddenly it all feels a little closer to home.

On a more positive note, I'm pleased to be working in an environment where one of the design team feels sufficiently comfortable to be able to come to work in her nightie...

Mission accomplished (part 1)

2009-04-09T19:17:00.007+01:00

I'm so glad it's a long Easter weekend, because I need to relax and reboot after an intense week.

When I joined Ministry of Sound the main part of the brief was to create a new website for Hed Kandi. I started talking to everyone and writing a requirements document that I was going to use to manage Trinity Street, Ministry's ecommerce partner.

On Friday February 13 (funny that) Trinity Street went into administration and the main Ministry of Sound website disappeared with them. That changed the focus somewhat.

Rudy, nothing if not bold, moved quickly to hire the development team from Trinity Street that had worked on Ministry, and they started here on February 23. The team and I were given until this week to build an ecommerce platform and resurrect the website - oh, and there were a few additional requirements too, like a new blogging area.

You do the math. Seven weeks to build a new ecommerce platform and launch a website with full transactional capability including physical products, tickets and downloads.

But we did it, thanks to an amazing development team that not only really know their stuff but are a great bunch of guys to work with - open, communicative and responsive (compare and contrast...).

The site is obviously not as sophisticated as the zavvi site, but it looks great, it works (give or take a few snagging issues) and I'm going to reward myself with a work-free weekend - before starting on phase 2 next week.

Casuals forever!

2009-04-03T18:25:00.010+01:00

Wednesday night saw the inaugural session of the Chiswick Casuals Cinema Club, aka some of the Saturday 5-a-side boys going to see films that our wives won't want to see with us (no, not that type of film - we saw The Damned United).

I haven't written very much about Chiswick Casuals on this blog, but playing 5-a-side in Chiswick every Saturday is a huge part of my life, and I think it's the same for most of us. The Casuals started over 25 years ago, and a surprising number of the original members are still playing - I played my first game in 1982 or 1983.

It started off as a chance for a game of footie each weekend, and reached a new level when we went to Boulogne for our first tour in 1999, which set the benchmark for all future trips. Anyway, the millenium tour* was the first of many; the Casuals have since graced Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Tavistock, Ibiza (twice), Cornwall and Limerick (twice) with our presence.

Then there's Abergavenny; home of the biggest mouth in Wales outside of Charlotte Church. The almost annual trip down to the town of 'Mountains, Markets and More' (I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at that pitch) is something that we all look forward to and always enjoy thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Pete and his friends - well most of them anyway. I do remember receiving a particularly warm welcome (ie a good kicking) from Sean in our first game there.

Anyway, the point is that the Casuals is now much more than a weekly game of footie. It's now a group of close friends that are able to rely on football to keep us together. But as we get older, the injuries happen more often, and take longer to get over when they do. As I write this I'm sitting with ice packs on my thigh and calf from yesterday's game. And although it's difficult to contemplate, there will be a day - many years from now - when we might not play.

So the non-football activities are becoming more important.

There are annual awards dinners of course. There have been a few games of golf. We've managed a couple of ski trips. And we do just meet socially from time to time. But I think the cinema club is the way to go - on Wednesday we talked about other things we could do including wine tasting and walking - I'm sure someone mentioned flower arranging but maybe I misheard. Why not a political society? I'm sure most of us would rally around a 'Parker for Parliament' campaign. Or a zonal marking masterclass hosted by Barry Stanton.

The point is - like traditional media, advertising and the music industries - The Casuals have to evolve to survive. I'm more confident of our survival than theirs, but that's another story.

*PS: They say what happens on tour stays on tour, and of course it should, but the words 'Soapy' and 'Judas' will forever be interchangeable...

Spain

2009-03-31T20:02:00.010+01:00

Wenge and I went to Madrid for a long weekend to celebrate her birthday. It's one of the places that's been on our list for a while and in the end it was a choice between there and Seville with the lure of the capital proving too strong.

I won't bore you with the details, but highlights were a couple of excellent meals in the Teatro and Latina areas, some glorious weather for Thursday and Friday at least, and the chance to see Picasso's amazing Guernica, created in response to the Nazi bombing of the town in support of Franco. It's made me want to read up on the Spanish civil war.

A walk in the Retiro park was also a treat.

In truth, both Wendy and I were a little disappointed in Madrid. We had a good time, and enjoyed it, but not as much as either Barcelona or Bilbao (sorry Ana). Maybe it's just the scale that means everything is spread out; maybe it's because it's a big, working city; maybe it's just too far from the coast...

Anyway, it's back to work now with a vengeance. We're in UAT for the relaunch of the ministry of sound site next week, and although things have been going pretty well so far, a major panic is only ever just over the hill. For a number of reasons it's critical that I get the site successfully launched next week.

A new acquisition marketing person has joined the ecommerce team, which has unfortunately meant I've had to move to a new desk space away from the team. Shame but I decided to hot-desk up in the dev area today, coinciding with another casting session just below me once again, the glass filleth...

Faintly ridiculous

2009-03-30T22:13:00.003+01:00

I'm often intrigued - well, amused might be a better description - by both people and organisations who are up themselves. I was at a launch party tonight for a new digital media recruitment company at Milk and Honey, a private members' club in Poland Street. An unusual name, although there's nothing wrong with that.

What is wrong is that the toilets don't have the normal, some might think quaint, signposts that help visitors to find the right facility for their gender. No, this place has to have its uber-trendy lavs labelled either milk or honey. No, I don't get it either. All I know is that I was readying my excuses in milk, or honey, whichever I used.

Opinions

2009-03-25T12:51:00.003Z

I've just come out of a meeting with a design agency, going through the design brief for the new Hed Kandi site. Imagine the agency team's reaction when Rudy said:

Opinions are like arseholes. We're paying for your arseholes and we're going to use them.

It moved the meeting along, I can tell you...

Words

2009-03-20T19:13:00.004Z

Went up to Borough Market at lunchtime on Friday with a crew (or was it a gang?) from MoS.

So we're enjoying some amazing steak sandwiches, with mustard that has been known to produce a nosebleed, and someone talks about meeting later - at the normal place. "The Normington?", asked another who hadn't quite heard. And there you have it: how words come about and language evolves. From this point on, The Normington will be a euphemism for 'the normal meeting place', wherever that might be. I urge you to use it in your own daily lives, and to report back on your success. In fact, if we all make a real effort we can cement its place in the English language.

It's not the first time I've been involved in the birth of a new word, although the previous time the circumstances were very different. I was dreaming that I was in Brent Cross shopping centre, and (to cut a long story short) became embroiled in an argument with Billy Connolly who was shouting down at me from a first floor balcony.

As the argument continued, BC left his balcony and opened a door on the ground floor. He looked me in the eye and said, "why don't you just daepissit?" if you don't believe that's a word, I have a copy of an Elvis Love Songs album released by Pickwick when I was in charge of marketing there. On the back of the sleeve, is clearly, if too subtly for anyone checking it to notice, written the word daepissit. Does that constitute common usage? I'm not sure. It meant I had to pay out my bet with the Art Director though.

I think my explanation of how someone can be comfortable with their own mustarduality will have to wait for another time...

What to do with a thousand half full glasses

2009-03-19T14:08:00.002Z

So Josef Fritzl was sentenced to life imprisonment. I'd quite happily use all the half full glasses in my life to fill up a bath and let him drown in it. Some evil goes beyond human comprehension.

The IT crowd

2009-03-18T22:37:00.002Z

Had a drink with John C and Kevin H last night, in an implausably old fashioned pub near Waterloo station. John, of course, is going from strength to strength at Comet, and it was great to hear that Kevin has got a job at a Financial Services company.

It was good to see both of them, although I don't think I'm speaking out of turn if I say that our discussion about PCI compliance was a low point in the evening. There was good stuff as well.

Earlier I saw Steve, who popped into Ministry to talk about some stuff he's working on. It was supposed to be a half hour chat over a cup of coffee - instead we had An Audience With Rudy Tambala.

I had a Roddy Frame day yesterday; all day shuffle on my iPod. Fantastic. The man's a genius.

I'm sad to be missing out on drinks tonight with some of the zavvi crew - I've got a meeting with a headhunter after work then playing football later. Next time.

Anyway, last night on the way to the tube I noticed a woman stop, bend down and pick up a £10 note that was lying on the floor. And then another.

£20 for nothing? Proof that the glass can fill up at any time...

Back to earth

2009-03-18T09:04:00.010Z

I'm feeling a bit strange at the moment. I'm not complaining; I had a great weekend skiing in Italy with some mates from football, of which more later. But since I've come back I've been feeling strangely low. You always feel a bit that way coming back to work after a break, but this time my confidence seems to be shot, and while not exactly having panic attacks I'm worrying about stuff for no real reason.

As I said, there's no reason for it. Things are going pretty well, all things considered. Work here at Ministry of Sound is good, and I'm about to sign a contract to keep me here until August. So I don't have to worry about no money coming in while I look for a permanent job. I'm still being contacted by recruiters and I've had a few roles put to me over the last couple of weeks. So that hasn't dried up, although I know that I need to do more if I'm to be serious about it. The trouble is that I'm so focused on what I'm doing at Ministry that I'm really not giving enough thought to it. I think that's what's bothering me.

I suppose Rangers losing to Celtic in the CIS Cup Final didn't help my mood - a pretty shocking performance that didn't deserve any more.

To the skiing. Two and a half days in glorious sunshine, in Pila, Courmayeur and La Thuile, including a ski to La Rosiere in France on Saturday. A snow walk on Thursday night, walking over a mile on snow shoes to a restaurant half way up the mountain; exhausting but a breathtaking, star-filled sky that made it worth the effort. Lunch looking across a valley to Mont Blanc. The hospitality of local establishments that kept bringing out snacks and plates of cold meats to accompany our beers.

And of course the banter that comes with a weekend spent with good friends. Unfortunately I can't publish the joke of the weekend on the grounds of political correctness, but contact me privately if you want to hear it.

On Saturday I lost my glasses somewhere on the slopes, which was annoying. I've brought some some old ones back into use but I'll be glad to get replacements as my eyes are feeing the strain - thankfully Direct Line will pay for like-for-like replacement so that's good. As it happens, I'd been thinking that I needed some new glasses so maybe it's actually a good thing.

Hurrah! The glass is half full after all...

Old friends

2009-03-11T08:21:00.009Z

Last night I met with Helzo and Simon, my two partners in crime when we used to be in the corporate communications and event production business. We eventually set up Fingerprint Productions in 1997, operating from a series of offices 'borrowed' from a range of clients who all went out of business, ending up in a fantastic office with a rooftop terrace in Great Titchfield Street. That one was ours.

It was a quieter night than the last time we met, at The Sanderson Hotel with Justin and Kelvin from Illusion Factor. That one was a bit of an epic and probably best forgotten (the bits I can remember that is). My zavvi chums will remember me turning up at around 11.30 the next day with the mother of all hangovers. By the way; thanks, Steve, for pressing ahead with our weekly catch-up meeting at the end of the day... Incidentally, when I did manage to get out of bed on the Friday morning and turned on my phone, I received a message timed at 09.00 from Simon saying "Nearly home now".

Anyway as we enjoyed some very tasty if grumpily served Wagamama-style food at Satsuma, talk inevitably turned to shared memories, and of course the best ones (in retrospect) are where things were going wrong. There were a few of those times - not that our clients would know about most of them. Think of the swan analogy.

My favourite was the Virgin Our Price show where we had Darth Vader arriving onto the stage with sound effects and a cloud of dry ice to deliver the new Star Wars DVD boxset to Doug Morton.

During rehearsals, Simon came up to me and said "We could have a problem with Darth. I don't think he's going to be able to see well enough to do the handover. "How do you know, Simon", I asked, to which he calmly replied "I thought I should do a test, so I put a chair down, asked him to come over; and he tripped over it."

It might seem that Simon is bearing the brunt of those exchanges and maybe Helzo was just a consumate professional throughout. Professional, yes, but Helzo had more japes than an Enid Blyton character. It would take a separate blog to cover these.

I'm off to Aosta tomorrow for a long weekend skiiing, with Chiswick Casuals mates Andy, Graham, Pete, Mark and Alan - who lives there. Should be fun and I promise I won't go on about it when I get back. In any case, there will only be time to get home and switch on the TV for Rangers v Celtic in the CIS Cup Final on Sunday.

Finally, the eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that this is the 100th post since I started writing melvtopia all those months ago - a milestone indeed.

2009-03-06T12:42:00.006Z

I was sent an extraordinary video that's on YouTube at the moment. It shows a man using amazing holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves.

It's highly imaginative and visually stunning - well worth a look. But the cynic in me couldn't help thinking that:

The water fountain is probably spiked with Rohypnol

The shop the woman is looking at is probably either La Perla or Ann Summers

And the bars on the windows are probably there for a reason.

Frankly, I think the man is obsessed and by many people's definition would be considered a stalker...

Kandi girls

2009-03-03T12:26:00.005Z

Part of my role here is redesigning and relaunching a website for Hed Kandi. Among the creative ideas that have been expressed is the use of Hed Kandi's iconic Kandi girls as virtual guides to the new site.

Sadly, it seems that the Kandi girls have already found work elsewhere...

zavvi bounces back

2009-03-02T18:13:00.011Z

So zavvi.co.uk has appeared again, courtesy of those nice people at The Hut. I can't say I'm surprised. When we met with The Hut it was obvious that they're on a mission to increase their reach, and they probably picked up a decent sized database of known entertainment buyers for a song from the administrators.

As soon as Lee told me that The Hut had bought it, I knew exactly what it would look like, and there were no surprises - The Hut's bog-standard white label solution with a bit of green added.

A capital 'Z' in zavvi though - they obviously didn't think the style guide was worth paying extra for. Cathy will be apoplectic.

MCV reported today that the purchase will create 100 new jobs. Frankly I don't see it - I can only imagine that there's a grant flying around in the Liverpool area. The website is just a reskin so they need a few people to look after content and merchandising. They already have the warehouse and the products, and a customer services team; so it feels like maybe up to 10 new people would be needed. But if true it's good news - although it would have been nice if some of the zavvi people had been given the opportunity to join the new operation. Maybe once they start hiring that'll happen.

What the buyout has done is given me an excuse to post another gratuitous image under the disguise of 'journalism'. The Hut is selling a range of lingerie on the new site, and by a happy coincidence they're also having a bounceback sale... you fill in the rest.

Follow Follow (or not)

2009-02-28T15:36:00.005Z

I said at the beginning of the month that I'd like to get to 25 followers by the end of the month. Well, it's 3.30 on February 28, and the total is standing at 18. So unless there's a late rush I've failed to reach my target. Nevertheless, I'll be sending £18 (or more if that rush comes) to the Disaster Emergencies Committee so thank you to all of you who signed up to make that happen.

My good friend Lies, in any case, pointed out to me that followers isn't really a meaningful metric for a blog. If this was a twitter feed (mine is here, although it runs into melvtopia anyway) then followers would be the name of the game, but for a blog it's more about attracting and retaining visitors.

For the online marketers amongst you, melvtopia has had 629 visits 120 unique visitors) in the last month - mostly from the UK but also the United States, Spain, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Italy (Sweden, funnily enough Nigel, isn't on the list). 18% of you are new to melvtopia this month. The average visit lasted 2 minutes and 40 seconds with 1.85 page views making a total of 1,163 total page views this month. The peak day was Monday February 16 with 38 visits, which followed my Facebook mailout.

At the end of the day, though, melvtopia is a bit of fun and one more way for me to keep connected with old friends. So if you have any suggestions for improvements please let me know in a comment or email me.

Ryanair and social media

2009-02-26T13:15:00.008Z

I'm indebted to Dan for posting this on Twitter. Web developer Jason Roe thought he'd discovered a flaw in Ryanair's website while booking a flight, and blogged about how it seemed that users could book a flight for a charge of '0.00'.

The response from one of Ryanair's developers is classic, and the official corporate response is just as bad - both showing a complete lack of understanding of social media.

It's hilarious in its own right, but as I read it I couldn't help but think the attitude was very reminiscent of one of our ex-zavvi colleagues. I wonder if you can guess who? Answers on a postcard or feel free to drop some clues into comments (no names please...).

Oh, and yes, the Ryanair calendar girl photo is entirely gratuitous since you mention it.

Night out

2009-02-25T18:59:00.003Z

Met with The Arch and Marc tonight, at the Roundhouse in Covent Garden. I've been going there for years and it's a pretty good place to meet in the area. We went along the road to Taste of India for a bite to eat, which was decent but nothing special.

The Arch has recently bought a holiday cottage in Sussex, and we're all planning to go up there for a weekend sometime when he can get around to suggesting some dates. It'll be just like an episode of Cold Feet, though hopefully without the fallouts.

Incidentally if anyone is interested in a holiday in a beautiful part of the East coast, just email the Arch quoting the code melvtopia and I'm sure he'll give you a special deal.

The weekend

2009-02-23T20:02:00.005Z

I had a really good weekend. On Friday evening Wenge and I went to one of our regular haunts - Pradera in Hornsey, for some excellent tapas. On Saturday we walked down to Crouch End to pick up some ingredients for an Indian chicken recipe that Wenge saw on TV. Apart from that it was a catch-up day although I did have a lengthy transatlantic phone call with Steven about all things Mac. I still don't get spaces...

I managed to stay injury free at footie, where we had a good 5 v 6 game.

James arrived home on Saturday night, understandably tired from partying all through the previous night then playing football for the university team. Those were the days...

Actually, one of the highlights of the weekend was James showing us some photos from uni. A large proportion of them seemed to involve him surrounded by assorted babes, which drew interesting and differing reactions from Wenge and me.

The mother's reaction was: "That's it. You're not going back to university with all those girls"

Mine, by contrast, went more like: "Get back to Surrey and make sure you send pictures".

Today has been tough, as most Mondays are. Negotiating the terms of my new contract; meeting with the development team; fleshing out requirements with the e-Commerce team. I even had time to talk to a headhunter about an interesting role (which would, however, require me to be an expert in SEO). I've got a feeling that it's going to be pretty intense from now on as I try to manage stuff at Ministry of Sound while keeping active in the job market. But I'm thankful that I do have some work, so I'm not complaining.

Meanwhile, Lee emailed to say that all zavvi head office staff were made redundant today. Good luck to everyone.

Happy Friday

2009-02-20T14:08:00.001Z

I just got this email;

Hi guys,Just to let you know there will be a casting in the product area today
from 3.30pm - 5.30pm. Hope this won’t cause too much inconvenience.Many
thanks,Gareth.

Bother - all those models taking over the place again. What a pain.

zavvi reunion 2

2009-02-19T18:26:00.005Z

Had a mini-reunion last night at The Endurance pub on Berwick Street (not, as Steve texted me, the Endurance on Beak Street nor, as Stephen texted me, the Endance on Berwick Street). Fortunately I'm a resourceful chap so I got there to be greeted by:

Steve - dapper in black after an interview.

Cathy - who I found out was Welsh.

Stephen - also suited after what sounded like an overly tactile meeting with a recruiter.

Zoe - I can't believe I called her Laura again!

Mel - getting very close to finding out whether she'll be able to stay in the UK or not; my offer of marriage wouldn't solve things apparently (oh, and someone told me that bigamy is still illegal in the UK).

During the course of the evening we were also joined by:

Laura - I didn't get to speak to her but she's obviously got a good new job as she was dressed for business and I overheard talk of City Airport, security and the likes.

Dave - Looking very suave and sophisticated in his black coat and new hair.

And of course Suzanne - straight from work, and managing a couple of drinks before going back home to continue working. Ah the joys of a new job (or in SJ's case, more like two new jobs).

Anyway, a good night was had by all, I believe. I bailed out about 10.00 but even though I didn't have much to drink I still felt pretty rough this morning. I blame poor bar stewardship.

Today I spent pretty much all day with our new development team. Notwithstanding the dilemma I spoke about a couple of days ago, this has the makings of a significant project and it would be good to manage it through. Good experience, lots of learnings and probably good for the CV.

Footie tonight, then more of the same tomorrow - if I can get out of bed in the morning. I'm absolutely knackered...

2009-02-18T17:47:00.004Z

Since we all need cheering up today, a joke; although it may not be understood outside Scotland:

While being interviewed for a job as a bus driver, a guy is asked: 'What would you do if you had a rowdy passenger?' 'I'd put him off at the next stop,' he says. 'Good. And what would you do if you couldn't get the fare?' 'I'd take the first two weeks in August,' he replies.

Or if you didn't get that...
After announcing he's getting married, a boy tells his pal he'll be wearing the kilt. 'And what's the tartan?' asks his mate. 'Oh, she'll be wearing a white dress,'

Lights out

2009-02-18T12:26:00.003Z

I see from Lee's facebook status that it's officially all over at zavvi. Such a shame for all concerned, but without trying to sound trite, at least there's a chance for closure and for everyone to move on. That's better than it sounds.

The news here isn't so great either. As a result of Trinity Street (Ministry's eCommerce & fulfilment partner) going into Administration on Friday, they've decided to hire a development team and build a new platform. That, coupled with the loss of a substantial amount of money owed for sales, means the P&L has been shot and basically I've been told they can't keep me for longer than a few more weeks at my current rate. So I need to decide:

(a) Do I work as long as I can and then get back to full time jobhunting?
(b) Do I accept an offer to be a full time contractor for a fixed period (maybe 6 months) but at a significantly lower rate (month's notice would allow me to move if a job came along...)
(c) Is there a plan C that would work better?

...and it was looking so good... Ho hum.

Are we human?

2009-02-16T14:32:00.009Z

So I got a call from the headhunter that had put me forward for the Ann Summers job. They don't want me back for a second interview. It seems that what they really want is someone with in- depth technical knowledge, and I was too marketing and strategy focused for them. That's fine.

They also thought that my energy levels were quite low, and that I seemed a little laid back about the whole thing. I can't help thinking that that was probably due to (a) the stinking cold I had that day, (b) the two hour journey there and (c) the fact that I'd pretty much decided I didn't want the job by the time I met them. Still, it's something for me to watch out for next time just in case that's not the reason. Maybe I should have taken one of their Golden Root capsules - that would have got the energy levels up...

I was driving back from a weekend with Wenge's family in Leek this morning, and heard that 800 mini workers are to be made redundant. Isn't that illegal, laying someone off just because of their height?

Finally - and beware before you read this last bit, because once you do you'll never be able to listen to the Killers 'Are We Human?' again in the same light - have you noticed how incredibly similar it sounds to Chris de Burgh?

Next time you listen, just imagine Chris De Burgh singing and you'll know what I mean...

The week that was

2009-02-15T15:52:00.011Z

This is the first post on my new MacBook. I'm in Leek , in Staffordshire, visiting Wenge's family. I watched the Old Firm game in a pub nearby - I'll take 0-0 although we could have won it in the 2nd half - and now I'm sitting at Wenge's mum's house with the MacBook on my lap, hacked into the next door neighbour's unsecured wireless network.

First thoughts on the MacBook... The hardware, of course, is stunningly beautiful, built from one piece of solid aluminium and with an illuminated keyboard that is a real joy. The display is sharp and bright, and it's fast. It's just a gorgeous piece of kit.

I haven't got to grips yet with the differences between Mac and Windows. For example, as I write this browser seems to zoom in and out without me knowing what I'm doing to cause it. I can't find a delete key, nor any 'home' or 'end' keys, and when you click on a url in the browser window to copy it, it doesn't select the whole thing so you have to manually select it. And where are the 'page up' and 'page down' keys? Basically, after the first few hours I haven't a clue how Macs work. But I'm prepared to believe that I'll love it in a few months, and I have enough friends with Macs that I can go to for help if I need it.

The more serious issue is that the trackpad isn't responding as it should - it sticks sometimes when I move the cursor. For the money I've spent I want it to work perfectly, so it's definitely a call to Apple Customer Services next week.

On Wednesday I went to an interview for a Head of eCommerce position at Ann Summers. For anyone who doesn't know Ann Summers - for example my new Scandinavian follower(s), they provide goods, mainly for women, of a risque nature (assuming you consider Rampant rabbits risque of course). I've heard good things about them as an employer; the interview went reasonably well, and there is so much wrong with their web presence that it would be a great opportunity to make an impact. However, two hours each way by bus, tube and train to a warehouse on a dual carriageway in a small town near Redhill isn't my dream job. I'd like to be asked back before I tell them though...

Then on Friday a sadly familiar story at Ministry of Sound, where I'm doing some consultancy. At around 5.00 we got a call from our eCommerce partner to say they'd gone into administration - just a day after trying to sell us a new platform they were building. So, website down, redirects up to an external site to continue selling tickets for the weekend, and my job here looks like it could be bigger than it was supposed to be. Glass half full.

If you saw my twitter feed earlier in the week, you'd have seen that I tweaked a muscle in my side after football on Saturday. It was a stupid thing, caused by leaning over awkwardly to lift up my bag. Since then I've been amazed at how many things can aggravate it - picking up a cold midweek added a couple to the list. Anyway, here's a list of things that hurt when you pull a muscle in your side:

Taking a casserole dish out of the cupboard
Reaching for anything on my right
Opening the bathroom window (which requires reaching over the bath)
Getting up from lying on the sofa
Turning off the bedside lamp
Coughing
Sneezing
Running

Thankfully it seems to be settling down now so I should get back to footie this week.

It's good to see visitor numbers reach an all time high over the last couple of days, and followers increasing to a massive 15 signed up - but remember we're aiming for 25 by the end of the month. Welcome one and all. And finally, congratulations to Ana, who is joining blinkbox as Managing Editor - exciting stuff and well deserved.

Project for this week: watch more of The Wire - it's been a week since I last had a fix...

Follow Follow

2009-02-09T09:19:00.006Z

The expression Follow Follow means something different where I come from, but I'm talking about following melvtopia here, not Rangers.

I said some time ago that I'd like to reach 25 followers by the end of February, and right now I don't think it's looking very likely. I have 11 at the moment, so a bit of a way to go. All you have to do, by the way, is click the 'Follow this Blog' link to the right.

In marketing terms you 11 followers are the Trendsters; you don't follow brands, you like to discover them. You are the people who drive the brand (I acknowledge that I'm taking some license here with the use of the term 'brand') but you are selfish - it's all about me, me, me...

The rest of you are Restless. You're early followers. You like to use brands to define yourselves. If I launched a range of melvtopia clothing you'd be my target market. And yes, you aspire to be one of the trendsters.

There's a third group; the Trailers. This is the mass market, who haven't yet discovered melvtopia. And, frankly, never will. Unless I can get a celebrity on board then they'll come flocking.

So you restless ones, this is all on you. I need you to commit to melvtopia. And to give you an added incentive, I'll give £1 to the Disasters Emergency Committee for every follower signed up by the end of this month. I'll even double that for every one over 25.

It's a win-win-win. I get my followers; DEC gets some money and you make sure you become a part of the fastest-growing media property since Facebook. Or maybe Twitter. Or maybe 'Girls and Corpses'.

In the immortal words of the Blessed Delia. Let's be having you!

A new dawn

2009-02-07T12:19:00.004Z

I'll start by saying congratulations and good luck to Suzanne and Amy, who are both starting new jobs on Monday. It's great to see team zavvi doing well.

I need to react to a comment left recently by my good friend and fiercest critic Lies. "Enough zavvi", he said. "Time to let it go". I confess that there have been quite a lot of zavvi related posts on this blog, which of course is inevitable since I started it just around the time that it was all starting to go pear-shaped. In fact, it was one of the triggers for starting to write melvtopia: if I could keep looking for the positive, and stay optimistic, it would stand me in good stead when the lights went out.

The first readers of melvtopia were in the office, and I'd guess that more than 50% of readers now are zavvi people - so, again, it's understandable that this major thing that happened to us is something that I write about.

But is Lies right? Is it time to move on? Have I said everything of interest that needs to be said about zavvi, and are you tired of emotional rants about how great everyone was? What happened, happened, and it's a chapter of our lives. In a year from now we may hardly talk about zavvi.

Or is it a glue that binds a number of us and, let's face it, is still pretty fresh and is still affecting our working lives. As a 'publisher' is it my job to provide content that strikes a chord with my readership - like, for example, the Daily Mail does every time it puts an article on its front page about immigrants taking British jobs or the failure of the education system?

Actually that's a pretty poor analogy. I'm not a proper publisher. I'm not even a proper writer. So I'm not kidding myself that this is anything more than me doing something that I'm having fun with. But I do try to make it interesting enough for others to want to read it. So what do you think I should do about the whole zavvi/moving on thing? Let me know by voting in the new poll.

And Lies, go easy with those cynical pills...

You, The People

2009-02-05T18:21:00.005Z

The votes have been counted, and I'm pleased to announce that the inhabitants of melvtopia are veering towards optimism, as they surely should.

I asked how full your glass was and the results looked like this:

Overflowing - life couldn't be better - 6%
Half full - hey, I'm doing fine - 53%
Half empty - it's tough out there - 33%
You kidding me - what glass? - 6%

So a mix of responses, with one lucky person reaching their own utopia which is great. As for the rest of us, good to see most responses in the upper half of the glass rather than the bottom.

Since melvtopia is a democracy where everyone's voice is heard, I'll have a new poll up soon. Thank you to everyone who responded.

I am a PC. Or am I?

2009-02-05T08:27:00.014Z

Now that I'm using it every day, it's become clear that my laptop is no longer fit for purpose. So I need to replace it.

I've started looking in stores, and online, to decide what I want. I'm looking for a highly portable laptop with great performance, and I've been looking at the usual suspects such as Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Sony etc.

But for the first time I'm considering moving over to Apple. Someone at work showed me the new MacBook yesterday, and it ticks all the boxes for performance, portability, security and of course fantastic usability. It's also very cool, built as it is from one solid piece of aluminium.

So I need to decide. Should I go ahead and move to Mac, or should I stay with Windows? If I go with the Mac should I go for the new aluminium MacBook or the white one that's £400 cheaper? If I go with the aluminium one should I go for the higher spec. or the lower spec. that's £200 cheaper. Is it worth spending money on additional RAM and/or any software?

And how would I continue to use my favourite mind mapping software that's Windows only?

I'm open to advice....

Glass half full thinking at zavvi

2009-02-04T20:00:00.003Z

The word from zavvi is that something is going to happen today, and I take that to mean there will be a buyer for the business. The only realistic type of buyer is one already in the business, which suggests that opportunities for zavvi head office personnel are going to be limited. I guess the main thing is that everyone needs closure, and however painful it is being told it's all over, ultimately it allows you to get on with your life and in the longer term it's better than plodding along in a dying company.

Easy for me to say though - whatever happens I wish everyone well.

On a more positive note, I received this email from someone within zavvi towers (who must remain nameless to protect the innocent). I quote verbatim:

If you're looking for a glass half full example of working at zavvi at the moment it is this; One of the Administrators is quite fabulously attractive. A six foot Mauritian beauty in 4 inch heels. And she sits in my eye line. Awlright.

Let it snow!

2009-02-02T12:59:00.002Z

Here's an example of glass half empty thinking. The radio this morning was full of comments about it being the worst snow for 15 years, etc. Now for the majority of people, whether you're a kid or a grown-up, this kind of snow is magical, so that's just nonsense-speak.

It's not the worst snow for 15 years - it's the best snow!

The zavvi reunion

2009-01-31T00:19:00.006Z

18:00: Big zavvi reunion tonight. I'm starting writing about it now while I'm sober, in the hope that when I write more on my way home tonight it'll compensate for the decline in quality from this point on.

23:00: OK, so it goes downhill from here as it's 11.00 and I'm on my way home. It was a mega night. I arrived at around 6.30 and, making my way to the bar, found David Green, who bought me a drink (which is a pretty good start) and promised, under some duress, to become a follower of melvtopia. This may be become a recurrent theme, because I have a target of 25 followers by the end of February - so if you haven't signed up yet please get following...

After chatting with David, and urging him to get a LinkedIn profile working for him, I spent some time with Steve and Heather, and then Simon. It's difficult for everyone, but when you've started the company it has to hurt even more. Some of the stories of stores closing down and how staff reacted are both heartbreaking and inspirational; we had something special going on at zavvi.

Then, the customer services team. Amy has found a new job, which is fantastic. Kelly is considering a local opportunity that she is so much better than. I mentioned that I'm going to meet with Ann Summers about a Head of eCommerce position and - well, let's just say there was some interest there - I may not get the job but I'll try my darndest to get Kelly a job there! As it happens, Richard W is interviewing for a position at Ann Summers too - so we agreed a mutual support strategy.

I didn't get to spend much time with Lee, but one thing I know is that if any of us are going to go on to greater success it's Lee. Delighted that he's been asked back to meet again with Best Buy.

I managed to catch up with Wren, Ned and Paul Byrne. As usual, Greg was giving little away...

There were lots of other people; Suki, Tilly, Kevin, Louise, Kirsty, Paul Pledger, Guy, Patrick, Dave R - and others that I've probably forgotten in my slightly mellow state. Good to see Michael again, too. Finally I spent some time with Suzanne. A while ago I thought of adding a zavvi 'hall of fame' to melvtopia, listing people's names as they found jobs. But we all knew that SJ would be the first, so there wasn't much point, was there?

12:00: I'm sitting in my kitchen, having just cooked myself a fry up since I haven't eaten for 12 hours. I can only reflect on the fact that I was privileged to work with such amazing people. And tonight was, for me, a form of closure. Not that I don't want to meet up with these guys again, but because this is now my last memory of zavvi; having a laugh and a good time. This is what I'll remember, not picking up my things from an empty office in January.

11:00: Tired. The head's not too bad but I'm starving. At least I can have a cup of coffee in my zavvi mug...

Getting my Hed round things

2009-01-28T19:41:00.009Z

So I started at Ministry of Sound today, working with ex-zavvi colleague and good friend Rudy.

I'm there to manage the redesign and relaunch of the Hedkandi website, as well as managing improvements to the Ministry of sound site. Lots of requirements gathering, defining what they really want, and then managing the development team to deliver the various projects.

They gave me a Hedkandi pack of CDs and a canvas of one of their trademark illustrations - so plenty of opportunities to immerse myself in the brand. And they seem like a good bunch of people, so I think I'm going to enjoy my time here. Even though my brain feels a bit full up right now.

I'm excited to be working on such a great brand, and of course I'm relieved to be getting some money in. My challenge, apart from doing a brilliant job and delivering all that's expected of me, is to manage my jobhunting activities while I'm working. After working my way back into a proper job at zavvi, I don't want to slip back into consultancy. But sorting that out can wait till tomorrow. Right now the glass has just been topped up.

7 mantras for successful job seeking

2009-01-27T16:49:00.004Z

There was an excellent article in Saturday's Guardian, looking at the differences between successful jobseekers ("Aces") and the rest ("Chasers"). The whole article is here, but since this situation applies to many of us I thought it would be worth summarising the key points.

The seven mantras that the Guardian's researchers found make the difference are:

1. I will think more positively
Throw the self-pity, bitterness and cynicism overboard. They discovered that Aces were over 60% more likely than the Chasers to have been very optimistic about finding the role they wanted.

2. I will be more pro-active
Looking for a job is a job in itself. Aces were more likely than the Chasers to register for job alerts and upload their CVs on job sites. Aces were 25% more likely than Chasers to use five or more sources to find a job. And they also used recruitment consultancies to a greater degree.

3. I will milk my friends and family for contacts
Get over your embarrassment and put that "friend in need is a friend indeed" saying to the test. More than two thirds of Aces rated friends, family, word of mouth and networking as useful, compared to just under half of Chasers. As the Aces are generally more optimistic and motivated than the rest, it's possible networking may well also have been used to better effect by this group.

4. I will speculate
He or she who dares wins when it comes to off-piste job-hunting. Aces are over 50% more likely to send speculative applications to prospective employers. And this method is obviously working for them. Almost half of Aces found speculative applications useful, compared to only a quarter of Chasers.

5. I will be decisive
How will you convince employers of your decisiveness if you can't even make up your own mind what you want? Another differentiating characteristic of Aces is their decisiveness in determining exactly which organisations to consider. They were more likely to be specific about potential employers and have more of an understanding of what they would be like to work for.

6. I will do more
Improve the odds on finding a job by cranking up your output. When the researchers first spoke to them, Aces applied for more jobs than the Chasers. One month on, they'd applied for an additional eight, again more than the Chasers. Aces had an average of two interviews when they first completed the survey and another two, one month on. Almost two thirds had applied for their job directly to the employer, and a third via a recruitment consultancy.

7. I will embrace the digital age
The web is the jobhunter's best friend. Aces are twice as likely as Chasers to use social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Myspace. Aces are also more likely than Chasers to read blogs written by current employees of potential employers, and to see if their employer of choice has a presence on their favourite networking site.

We're all different so the same approach isn't necessarily going to work for everyone, but I think this is good advice and worth taking on board.

Read full article

This just in: while registering with jobsites is good, registering with Monster might not be quite so good, now that hackers have stolen the personal details of 4.5 million UK users. Watch out for those dodgy emails!

What are the chances?

2009-01-27T15:57:00.003Z

I walked up to Sainsbury's today, and bought the Big Issue from the lady outside. At the same time, I was listening to Bruce Springsteen's new 'Working on a Dream' album (have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed with it so far).

So I opened the magazine at a random page, in the arts section as it happens, and my eyes went straight to the headline of a film review for 'Tokyo Sonata' with a one word summary description: 'Bittersweet'.

At exactly the same time, Bruce was singing the word 'Bittersweet' in a song from the album.

How weird is that?

Readers, has something like this ever happened to you? Why not share your funny stories and weird coincidences by posting a comment below...

A bit of a week

2009-01-23T21:20:00.005Z

Last week was the third week of jobhunting; the week when the adrenaline started to run out. The week when the brave new world of updating my LinkedIn profile, sending out my cv and selling myself over the phone was starting to become tedious.

It wasn't a particularly bad week, and a couple of very interesting new opportunities have come on the scene. But like I've said before, you start to measure your progress in short periods, and a few hours without activity can start to get you down. And the lack of people around you; on Thursday I didn't have any contact with the outside world for the entire morning.

So imagine my delight to receive a call at 6.00 on Friday evening asking if I could start a project next week. I don't want to say who it is until I've had my first meeting with the team I'll be working with, but it sounds like a really interesting project, with a fantastic brand, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the horse again, even if it's only temporary and part time.

In the meantime, the search for a proper job continues. I'm meeting a recruiter on Monday to talk about one very interesting opportunity. And in the 'what a small world' category, it turns out that old mate and ex-colleague Russell is working at a company that I've been talking to about a position. So maybe a word from him to the MD might move things along a little...

I'm delighted also for Suzanne, who has secured a job for an agency working with a large broadcaster. As soon as they said they wanted to meet her in a bar for one of her interviews it was a foregone conclusion. It's just fortunate that they didn't suggest The Distillers at lunchtime a few days before Christmas - now that could have been a very different story...

I'm aware that there are people reading this who haven't been as fortunate, and are still waiting for a breakthrough. To them I say we're all in this together, and we'll continue to support each other. All of us who worked at zavvi have an extraordinary story to tell, so keep on telling it, keep strong, keep positive and and things will happen.

A mug's game

2009-01-22T16:26:00.008Z

I'm whispering, because I don't want the administrators to hear; before I left zavvi I 'liberated' one of the mugs from the kitchen. I figure it might become a collectors, piece one day. I imagine turning on Antiques' Roadshow to see some expert on ceramics saying:

"This is a remarkable find. zavvi was an entertainment retailer around 2007-2008 but they were only around for about 18 months. There were only a small number of zavvi mugs produced, and - I do believe you've struck gold here - I think this is from the kitchen on the south side, so it's even more of a collector's piece since it would have been used by the eCommerce team. It's probably worth around £10,000 today."

Anyway, the thing is that I've found myself unable to drink from it. Bad karma. It reminds me too much of the painful last few weeks at zavvi. So I've decided that when I find my next job I'm going to make that coffee and use that mug. Until then, I'll keep it under wraps just in case I get a call from a bbc producer.

And while I'm on the subject of coffee, has there ever been a better smell than that of freshly ground coffee? I went to Martyns in Muswell Hill yesterday to pick up my favourite mix of colombian and java, and the aroma from my bag on the way home was just fantastic.

Quote of the week

2009-01-22T09:44:00.005Z

"I'm not going to make a long speech. I've got to save my best lines for tomorrow"

Barack Obama, at Gavin Coolidge High School, Jan 19

The ups and downs of jobhunting

2009-01-21T16:23:00.004Z

When you're at home jobhunting, time is measured by hours, not days, weeks or months. A few quiet hours and it feels like nothing's happening, and a few hours later you can be back to feeling good about things. I started yesterday reviewing opportunities, sending out the odd cv to agencies, and thinking that things were slowing down.

Then I got a call from a headhunter about an opportunity for a retail brand that is, shall we say, a bit racy. The boys would like that one if it came off. Actually, the girls would probably like it more...

Off to Fulham for a meeting with my mate Simon to talk about mobile marketing, then met at the Ship Tavern in Holborn with old friend and ex-zavvi colleague John Crawford for some excellent Theakston's and a really good chat. If ever there was someone to boost your confidence, it's John.

While I was on my way to meet John, another headhunter has contacted me about an eCommerce position with a major electronics manufacturer - I had an introductory chat with her today and it could be interesting. Another ex-colleague, Allison, sent me another opportunity that could also be worth pursuing.

So stuff is happening, although if I'm honest I have to say it feels a little slow and I'm feeling a little weary today. That's the ups and downs of jobhunting. I have a call with someone from New Zealand this evening although I doubt if I'd be prepared to arrange my working life around evening conference calls every day.

In the meantime, we're all rooting for Suzanne who is on a fourth interview for what sounds like a really exciting role - you go girl!