Too young for words

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

Back in the game

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...

Hitler-arious

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...

Up

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.

Holiday? What holiday?

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.

Uncertainty

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.

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...

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...

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

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...

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?

Better days

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

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...

Our man at the ministry

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...

Good times

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...

A day in the life...

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)

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.

Spain

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...

Opinions

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

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...