Flying to Close to the Sun...

Whoop... Went on a supernice works do on a big fuck off barge round the canals and waterways of Manchester. Big whoop u might say but u have to understand that my company will not stop paying for things until everyone is absolutely ruined. Utterly.

Well, the evening started off on a 'luxury' barge where we tipped a lot of booze down ourselves and had a properly nice hot buffet (yet more class for me) with Stroganoff and saffron rice, sweet chilli crayfish, asparagus... that kinda stuff. It was very nice and a good time was had by all.

The evening finished many hours later in a hideously grotty underground bar with pint after pint after pint of Guinness with people dancing, chatting people up... fairly lairy fun! Obviously the evening concluded with me having to let a couple of grotbags from e-communication crash at mine but kicking their ass into the taxi to turn up half an hour late the next morning was jolly good fun. Unlike them, I had had the luxury of a shower and change of clothes! Like I say, Grotbags...

So, massacre day at the office. Our Studio Manager dry heaving into one of the toilets near my desk all morning, an Art Director snoozing like a Spaniard on a sofa behind me and an Account Director struck dumb, upright.

The dictionary definition of a good time!

Okay... picture the scene; VioletF and me are going to a fair. It's a slightly miserable day as well but nevertheless, we have a mighty fine time and no mistake.

Yup... Waltzers, Spinning in the Air thingymbob; even a spin you round machine that inadvertantly crushed my, lets face it, not inconsiderable nuts. Good times!

Hehe, was a right laugh and we even had a kebab on the way home. Who says our love isn't classy?

Anyhow, we couldn't go on the big wheel because it was raining so this photo is the closest we got to it! Damn and indeed shucks.

Oh crivens... I've gone and done it again haven't I? Motherfucker.

Yup, haven't been updating this damn thing have I? 24 days without a post and not a whistle to show for it. Piss flaps and what have you. Piss and indeed flaps.

Okay, lets try again! Quick update? Sure thing, my lovely friend.

What u been up to IcarusOli?

Well, I've been working and stuff, fannying around visiting respective set of 'rents (rent in my case!) and generally getting on with it. We're moving soon so I'm kinda laying low.

Are you back for good?

Er... hopefully!

...ke ding a de dinga a dong!

Bit of mush u say? Yeah, u fucking love it. Quick word of appreciation for VioletF who I'll be living with come July. Nice stuff huh? Well, it is a *very* peachy ass she's shaking! ;D

Don't worry though, female fans... when I say living together I mean living with VioletF and NucleoTide Boy (her existing flatmate) in a new house! Yup, we're all pals as well as VioletF being by my favourite piece of fluff... VF and me are having seperate rooms but this is still a bit of breakthru. I'm kinda excited! :D Sssshhh.. don't tell her that tho! Hehe..

Living with NTB will be a hoot too!

Hahaha! Look at this shit... I'm like a fucking schoolgirl!

Wanna see something sickening? Yeah, that's right... look how sickly this pic is! I know u like the cunty font.

... aw ... can't I be happy once in a while?! : P

Okay Peeps... And we're back in the room.

Well hello folks (or folk!)... sorry to have been off your radar for the last few weeks. I hope you're all fine and dandy. I'm well thank you.

Things have been happening in England's second city and my attention has been drawn else where temporarily. I have returned though; triumphant in my wake.

Yup, few things to report. Although I've been very busy, the main reason that I've been offline is that my cobbled together PC finally gave up the ghost; was shit for a couple of weeks then fucking died. Bummer huh? Well, after a bit of soul searching I somehow managed to fix my good computer with some good old fashioned electric wire tinkering. It was cool, daddio. Funnily enough i now have a laptop too... but I'll save that story for another earth shattering time!

In other news, my job has changed quite a bit! I've now been switched across to the public sector side of my Agency for some more hands on Accounts stuff which is all very lovely. Hard work man, but lovely. I've also been doing a fair bit of copywriting also which, of course, is cool. As u know, Pharma had been getting me down a lil bit so am glad of the change. Was kinda nice to know that the Agency wanted to keep me also!

Anyhow, apologies for lack of chat... I am back now and possibly better than ever. Please accept this picture of me and my dear old Nanna by way of an apology. Doesn't she look like the queen?!

Gawd bless her!

Well, title says it all really.

Geordie Conor's penultimate night in Manchester... An obligatory 3D Jazz attack!

Enjoy...

Hot damn! Global Warming! We’re All Gonna Die! Or are we?!

Yeah, us humans are just bad people. We make things out of plastic and burn things made of nature. Sometimes we just plain spill oil into the ocean. I think you’ll find it’s our planet now and we’ll do what we want with it!

Er,, no. That fucks things up. There’s an equilibrium that needs to be maintained. Yup, it’s true… it’s not called an eco-system for nothing! However, the idea that our emissions and general bad-man-ness is the sole reason for Global Warming is looking increasingly shaky in my eyes.

I have heard two things this week that have shifted my opinion on this issue. One came from The Sunday Mirror of all places! There was a fairly eminent expert in the paper questioning how influential the effect of human behaviour actually is in the grand scale of our planet’s climate change. There is no dispute that this globe of ours is heating up but the factors behind this change are seemingly wider then we’re lead to believe. In fact, there is fairly good argument to made for the human influence actually being quite negligible in the big picture; especially in terms of carbon. Our emissions only make up a very small amount of our planet’s total with the lion’s share existing naturally in our atmosphere.

This is a very good point. But this point gets even more convincing when you hear about solar flare activity over the last few decades. It seems that the earth is bombarded quite constantly by solar activity that is naturally variable in space. The last few decades have been unusually active; in fact, it is said by reputable sources (I wish I could remember the name, my scientific researcher neighbour told me about this) that the evidence of solar flare activity ties in remarkably closely to our rise in global temperatures. Much, much closer than the evidence for human emissions

But it’s all about the carbon right?! Yes it is. The carbon is the main reason that our atmosphere gets hotter. Thing is, much of the Earth’s carbon dioxide is stored in the oceans that cover 2/3 of the planet. Increased solar radiation beating down on the earth will free a lot of this trapped Co2 into the atmosphere. Hence our climate change.

Two good arguments that come together nicely huh?

I’m not saying that our foolish actions have no effect, they clearly do, but perhaps we’re not sitting on the ecological time bomb we fear. If the solar theory has any credence, we should be concentrating our efforts on developing coping mechanisms for the future, not fighting something we can’t really control. It’s just a thought.

However, this is a beautiful planet. By far the most beautiful in our solar system and we should try to keep it that way. Environmentalism is, in my opinion, a real indicator of modern civilisation. We are a world that relies on fossil fuels and we much face up to the challenge of building a sustainable society for everyone. And we must also decide now what we’re gonna do to help the parts of the world which will be economically devastated when the fossil fuels do run out.

Okay, we might not be able to sort out climate change, but I’d like to see fucking Bono come up with a solution for my new question. What happens then?!

Hello people. Hey, I just wanted to say sorry for being a bad correspondent just recently. As you will see, I’ve filled in a few backdated posts from last week or so but I know you know I’m fakin’ it time and date wise!

To be honest, I’ve been just a tiny bit down the last few weeks. Nothing dramatic I’m delighted to say but just enough to put the kibosh on my reporting from England’s second city for a bit. Y’know, my life is quite hard in a way all told. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not mother-a-crackhead, on-the-dole-cus-I’m-colour-blind kind of thang at all but it gets to me a bit.

Money is tight for me living on my own. I’m working harder than most people and my living standard is actually dropping. My best friend moved away a few weeks ago. Yeah, it’s a bit difficult atm but it will be all gravy soon enuff I’m sure! ;) Work is getting to be a bit of a problem tho… nothing I can’t sort out tho! I hope.

See, I don’t wanna disparage my agency one little bit. We are the shiznit at what we do and our clients (some of whom are huge) get award winning creative services from beginning to end. Seriously man, this is a first class Agency stuff and the Account Management standards are very high here. I genuinely think our clients get a top drawer service. And that’s a really great thing; this is what I wanna be part of!

Problem is; I’m a guy from a small town in the middle of nowhere who went to a normal school. I didn’t get to go travelling or anything. And this is Agency where people are cool and talented and successful. And I’ve got a drama degree and I’ve got no money. I have to get the bus and drink cheap booze even though I know exactly what quality is. I have written restaurant reviews for magazines and hosted celebrity parties in trendy bars. I’ve written for Bollinger and the Ritz Hotel, Adidas, Monarch Air. They have cars and holidays, nice clothes and proper cigarettes. I smoke roll ups and have a hole in my shoe.

Y’know what I mean?! It dents my confidence. Well, this is the thing right, I have noticed something over the last year or so. Certain people I know feel a bit about me like I do about my Agency colleagues. And it’s because of the parties and the Bollinger and what not. So, if I cut it in the eyes of some people, why can’t I persuade myself that I can cut it at work?!

I don’t care if I’m cool or not. I’ve thought about this and I actually don’t. But I want to fit in more and get on more and do more and succeed. But I’m holding myself back. And I guess it’s stupid. I like Agency people and I need to accept that in some ways, I am one of those people now. I should start fucking acting like it!

Good; I’m writing my confidence back here. Who said LJ isn’t cathartic?!

I’m gonna tell u a secret. I have two numbers in my phone that Heat reading mongoles would just die for. And even though this is the case, I have never revealed this fact to anyone before. Truth is, I’m not impressed by celebrity one jot.

See, I told u I was cool enough to do this.

Come here, you wanton little sluts! ;D

Hey, funny little story. Today I was rebuked by a total stranger for the way I ‘make text speak an integral part of my casual correspondence.’ I mean, the cheek!

Well it’s true. I’m glad u noticed, dickhead. Get one thing str8 tho; this is our language nw and we’ll use it however we please!

Ho Ho Ho!

*Hey fool, this relates to 26/02/2007. LJ says 'no' to backdating.*

I like to smoke weed sometimes. It's very nice indeed. Some people like a drink after work; I like a spliff. I hope this doesn't make you think I'm a criminal. I have never had to jack an old lady for my gear though and I would never smoke around children; only in my own home. If I can't afford it, I don't have it... it's as simple as that!

Anyhow, disclaimer over. After our last night out with the Geordie we all went back to VioletF and NucleoTide Boy's flat for a smoke and a chat. Good stuff methinks. Well, yes and no. NucleoTide Boy had purchased a small phial of Salvia which is a totally legal hallucinogenic high in the UK. I'm not a fan but had a toot on the pipe for sociable reasons.

Fuck me! Christ on a bicycle... Salvia is fucked up. I don't like it.

First I was sat on the sofa with the Geordie and NTB then I wanted to stand up but couldn't. I was being held down by spirits which manifested themselves as vapour trails in the air; much like those from a jet engine. So I sat and watched as the Catherine Wheels span in front of me, held in the air freely by the spirits, as the train came out of the tunnel again and again and again. The train had a snow plough on the front which bristled as it was made of what appeared to be iron filings.

And there was Crayola, stood before me. Now, I can't even really describe what Crayola was or is. I can see it in my mind even now but I can't find any words to describe him. I'm not even sure why he is called Crayola. It was weird. Crayola was friendly but somehow I felt a little under his spell. He was also part of the spirits that haunted me and filled the air so completely. He could make them dance.

And then suddenly; I was back in the room. It was like magic happened right in front of me.

I don't like hallucinating... I won't be smoking Salvia again.

Be warned kids, Drugs are bad, mmmmkay? Yeah, even legal ones!

*IcarusOli, you mong... you forgot to post all this last week. Dickhead. This entry relates to Sun 25/02/2007 but LJ will not let me backdate. Cocksuckers...*

Aw shit people... My best friend in the world has abandoned me!

Fuck man, it's just hit me that this is actually true. As of today, my best friend in the world has returned to his native Newcastle; perhaps for good!

Y'know, I have consciously been avoiding mentioning the Geordie just recently. It is because this all hurts me a little bit. Aw, ain't I sweet?

Shit, this ain't good. I first met the Geordie on the very first day I moved to Manchester which was September 16th 2001. As I moved into my room in university halls, the Geordie turned out to be the very first person I spoke to in this city. Firstly I saw him lifting a little Jesus on a cross out of a drawer. I was afraid that he was a God botherer... but I was wrong. "No man, it just gives me something to think about other than sex." Haha, good answer, my new friend.

That moment was pretty important really as we've lived together, with just a few months apart, for five and half years. It's a bit like being brothers.

But now he's gone.

Aw shucks, I feel alone again. This is a big city man and the first city I've ever lived in. I come from the country and now I'm fully urban. It's been said that friends are the family of the 21st Century and I'm beginning to think that might be the case. I love my family more than anything but even though this world is getting smaller, time is getting smaller still (i am quite a busy person) and proximity becomes a bigger issue than you'd ever think it could be.

In that respect, I feel that the Geordie's passing is an occassion to mourn but equally, his braveness in cleansing his life with fire and getting it together is something to celebrate.

Lord knows I will miss him; but I think he will be back sooner rather than later! ;)

Gah!

One of those days... got bollocked at work for making a very small mistake (my fault tho!), got home to find a threatening letter about my electricity bill, had to renegotiate repayment with Lec company at much higher rate than previously, nothing to eat in the house. Fucksticks.

On the up side, VioletF is waiting for me in her Hello Kitty pyjamas and bunches in her hair. She has been very nice to me tonight and I feel lucky to have her.

Does anybody even read this fucking shit?!

... who knows.

Okay, sorry about last night. I was much too full of pancakes to write.

I'm not gonna bang on about this too much for y'all but I feel I need to say something in defense of the Pharmaceutical industry in this country of ours. As you might have seen on the 20th, the papers were running a story about how how the NHS is paying up to 10 times too much for branded drugs when there is generic alternatives available...

NHS Pays Too Much for Drugs (BBC)

... Well, I'm not gonna sit here as a Pharma marketer and tell you that this is untrue. It's not. The NHS does pay too much for certain kinds of drugs (cardio especially imo) but this does not necessarily mean that the NHS and the tax payer receives poor value.

Right, drugs are expensive to bring to market. R&D costs have spiralled in recent years and in some ways government regulatory processes have had a hand in this. You have to understand that the generation of treatments we're moving towards is the most sophisticated yet and are the culmination of a lot of work that has gone previously. It's frustrating to LJ about Pharma as I have to consider the clients I work with and conflicts of interest but I can assure you that biotech on this level is quite extraordinary in the way it comes about. Also, for every successful drug that comes to market, there's hundreds that just don't. That's expensive also.

New drugs have patents which allow Pharma companies a seven year period to exclusively make products before they expire and go generic (i.e. anyone can make them) which means having invested between USD 500m to USD 1bn, the company only has seven years to recoup these costs and fund future developments. It's a tight squeeze, especially when you consider that some drugs are more profitable than others.

Well, I'm not gonna bore you with the details but I can assure you that UK Pharma would not be at the cutting edge of biotech without the NHS' support. We are fortunate to be in a position where British people have access to most treatments within a year or two of their licensing. The NHS mark up is the price we pay to be on that cutting edge. Which would you prefer?

Generics are absolutely fine but innovation deserves investment from the tax payer. The NHS spends GBP 0.56 a day per person on drug spend. That's value for money and no mistake... to suggest otherwise is just crazy when you consider the treatments available to every one of us. Parallel importing is the real danger here, but I'll save that for another time.

I can tell you that certain drug company activities are abhorrent. In fact, one of my clients is involved in some very shady practises imo but the good that these companies do is immense. It is expensive to treat people in hospitals and drug treatment at the first line prevent hundreds of thousands of in-patient stays each year.

I assure you 100% that the mark-up the NHS pays for drugs represents a massive saving for you, me and every one else who pays tax in the UK.

Once the patent has expired, generics are very much the way to go. Under patent, these companies deserve paying for their innovation.

Hey, I got something to say about all this stuff that's been in the news today about the NHS paying up to 10 times as much as it should for certain branded drug products. The news has raised an interesting point today but it's seeminglt ignored some of the issues.

Anyhow, Geordie Conor, Violet F and Nucleotide Boy have all eaten fuckloads of pancakes. Some were cheese, ham and mushroom and others were lemon crepes. There has been a carb overload, or some such.

Consequently I am too tired to rant tonight.

Viva La Revolucion!

Hmmm.. maybe this blog makes me sound like I'm obsessed with work. Yeah? Well, I'm not. It's kind of a big thing to me at the moment as I know I'm looking down the barrel of a forty year working life sentence... So, you'll excuse me if I'm preoccupied with laying good foundations! Lol...

Well, as you mighta gathered, I'd like to talk to people about this Design, Marketing and Creative Agency thang. I know people also want to talk to me about it so thanks very much for your emails and that!

Like most marketing peeps I work within confidentiality but I also happen to work in Pharma which means it's illegal to post drug adverts publicly. I'd love to show you some of our work on here but I can't, for obvious reasons. However, I do wanna talk about it and am able to send stuff around to private addresses for discussion!

Y'know, it's a 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' kind of thing!

So, apologies if any of this is boring or goes over anyone's heads. If you do get me and are interested in talking about some of these Agency issues, please do get in touch.

Maybe we could make beautiful power points together!

PS: I'm doing a lot of direct mail and incentives work atm so am thinking about setting up a specialist print providers and incentive house group to share contacts for these oh so thorny marketing issues. Anyone fancy joining me?!

All you need is love! Well, that and food and shelter and electricity and stuff. Well, love is very important, I'm sure you'll agree!

In tribute to that, Valentine's Day was very nice indeed this year! Normally I would've made some nice card out of paper and glue but this year I decided that VioletF deserved something from the wallet as well as the heart. She's a tidy little dame alright but I'm not convinced that she's been properly 'girlfriended' before which I intend to rectify.

In this vein I got her a pretty nice box of superfine pralines and a beautiful laser cut card which I was very pleased with. There was also forty daffodils for her as well, but they didn't open up into bloom quite in time! Lookin' fine now tho, baby.

Anyhow, VioletF liked the chocs and card very much which pleased me. In return she gave me this wonderful card that she made herself. As I mentioned before, VioletF is a talented artist so this equisite little heart motif is hand painted in textured acrylics. It's very beautiful and this pic doesn't do it justice.

Yeah, that's nice isn't it?!

One time I was drinking with The Divorcer whilst watching Man City play Reading on Sky. It was my round and I went to the bar to get the drinks in. No problem, all gravy baby. As i waited, one of the pumps caught my eye. It was for a guest ale called American Brown Beer which was indeed imported from Brookyln Brewery, NY. Well, this wouldn't really be a sell to me but the pump name plate had an anchor on it. I had never realised how cool anchors actually are; it was a definite sell!

Yeah, maybe it wouldn't have been a sell if I'd know that this anchorous (not even a word) ale was GBP4 a pint! Yikes... you live and learn.

Anyhow, I really do like the anchor thing. I really do. I'm not sure why, it's not even a piratey thing (which i like too). It just says 'hard fought commerce'! I've always fancied having one tattoo on my upper arm (just a small one)to be my little statement to the world. Well, it's just for me really... I probably wouldn't ever show it. I think the anchor might be it... is this nuts?!

VioletF is quite the artist (+ sex kitten) so I got her to draw me an anchor on the old arm to see how it looked. Please find pic enclosed!

Is this *insane* ?!

If I had this done, I would always feel linked to Brooklyn Brewery in some indefinable way. What would happen if it closed down one day? If I did get myself inked in this way, I would have to visit the brewery to see it for myself. Maybe VioletF would like to come along; her kung fu might come in handy along the way.

BTW, bottom of the anchor would be thinner than on this rough design! It'd be smaller too...

Nurse... the Screens!

Gawd I hate this; I got one of my wisdom teeth coming through! I've aready got one at the back and now I got one coming through on the bottom right. I know this is about the blondest thing you'll have ever heard but I genuinely didn't know that there were wisdom teeth on the bottom jaw too! I really didn't.

Fool.

Man, it fucking hurts. Luckily VioletF has given me some Bonjela. Thing is, I've been pretty happy with the teeth I have already! I've been chewing, swallowing, chewing, swallowing just fine with them so far... it's not like I'm about to start chewing cud or anything!

My teeth aint that great, it has to be said. They're crooked, a lil bit stained from smoking and a tiny bit gappy. Don't panic friends, I'm a long way from the freakshow but they do make a tiny bit self conscious sometimes! Just as well I got such darn pretty eyes huh? Yeah, it's arrogant of me to say so but fuck it, some girls dig them and I'm happy with that!

Whichever way you look at it, I neither need or want this new tooth that's ducking under the golden rope at the champagne reception to the party in my mouth. But then again, who am I to say? Maybe we'll be friends.

Gah! Money Woe Club time again... Pish!

2007 is my third year out of uni and working. I graduated in July 2004 so it's about 2 1/2 years that I've been in the real world. That's 30 months or approximately 120 weeks for those more specifically minded. (And you can fuck off if you have anything to say about my maths!)

Well, thus far my career is coming along nicely but I'm not trained in marketing in any way, shape or form (drama and film degree, dammit) which has made settling into my new industry a bit more difficult than it is for some people. I'm not bitching though, it's just the case! What it means is that I've been in a relatively vunerable position (job wise) in jobs that have been unusually sensitive to business changes. Basically, in my first 2 years of working, I've been let go twice for reasons beyond my control.

Unfortunately that's the way it goes sometimes in Agency! Luckily, it's never been my work that's been the problem so it's all been good experience really... Problem is, I don't really have anyone to help or advise me about Marketing jobs so finding new jobs has been a bit of trial and error. Yeah, the two periods of unemployment have left me skint.

Luckily I'm sooooo much better at sorting the job thing now and am pretty damn settled where I am. There's a bit of lean living though whilst I catch up financially. Oh, young people huh?

Well, for one reason or another we've gotten behind on our Lec and Council Tax in 2006 so am having to pay it back now I'm working again. We just got our Lec bill for the winter and it's just pushed the total outstanding amount over the threshold where you have to make a lump payment to bring it back into the repayment scheme! Bummer...

So, whilst paying my council tax and lec in at the Post Office today I reached into my pocket and handed over an *inch* of money. An inch! I'm not even going to tell you how much it was... but an inch! Of money! Lol...

Blimey. I'm working for The Man now!