BJK&E

Today the press has been full of talk about the new Honda ad airing tonight on C4 during Come Dine with Me. Following on from their headline grabbing ads, Cog and Grrr, Honda have gone one step further and are now throwing people out of planes in the name of promoting the brand!

Based on the widsom of Honda’s founder who is purported to have stated ‘difficult is worth doing’ (now the tagline used in the ads), the new ad features 19 skydivers attempting to form the word Honda in the air. The stunt will be shown ‘live’ and in ‘real time.’ Unless it rains. In which case a rehearsal jump filmed yesterday will be shown.

Of course this is all very innovative, publicity grabbing - and no doubt award winning- but do the car buying public really care that much? Do they appreciate the fact that the stunt is live? And is the reported £500k cost really worth it? I suppose the question should be - is difficult really worth doing?

Ok so I’m sure I’m not the only one impatiently awaiting the much anticipated Sex and the City film…

It began with a few whispers and hopeful predictions that a film was to be made and now the time has come for what I believe will be one of the biggest Box Office hits of the year.

Whilst us BJK&E girls are being treated to a true SATC experience of cinema and cocktails I’m not sure that my excitement can wait that long and I’m already planning Thursday night’s trip to the cinema.

Although I am a big SATC fan and I am hugely excited about the launch of the film, I worry that I may be disappointed following the hype…does Big die? does Steve cheat on Miranda? There speculations are endless and I for one worry that the film may not live up to them.
Regardless of what may loom ahead , I shall sit with my  BJK&E girls dressed in our cocktail dresses to watch the most anticipated film of the year!

I’m still loving The Apprentice and I think this might be the best series yet.  Not least because Siralan’s trusty aides Margaret and Nick are really getting the chance to shine (Margaret, I think I love you).

I was gutted to see Raef go last week, quite why Siralan keeps letting Michael off the hook I don’t know.  He has absolutely got to go tonight.

I think the last four will be Claire, Lee, Lucinda and Alex with Claire the eventual winner. 

What say you?

There’s nothing like a good old veritable romp in the cinema and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was just that, nothing like one.
Lovingly hand crafted by the accomplished magi Lucas and Spielberg  over many years, forged in the deepest recesses of Hollywood with one of the strongest iconic heroes of our generation as its metal -and then blessed with the latest magic of digital arts technology, I was somewhat looking forward to a rapier of a film to lead this summer’s wave of new releases and thrust through the swathes of audience cynicism.
I think we got something more akin to a butter knife.
Despite Ford’s usual expert brandishing of whatever he is given, (still the best action hero of his generation in my book by a country mile), this film is guilty of one of the worst sins a film can commit – not knowing what it is about. Chucking the kitchen sink at this film was too much; adding the floorboards, radiators and doorframes then starts to become criminal vandalism.
Ok, there were occasional nice moments, clever references, the usual imaginative scenery but the after-taste of disappointment takes a long time to disperse. The only way I think the film could have been saved would have been to stick Mel Brooks in the director’s chair and properly develop this movie into what it clearly was –the Space Balls of Indiana Jones.

Its that time of year again when people don their flipflops/or wellies and head of for a weekend filled with friends, beer and live bands… but yet again that won’t be me!

The logistics and organisation needed to plan a much anticipated trip to a festival have yet again defeated me. Not only do you have to choose a festival that will suit everyone’s tastes which is a challenge in itself, getting a group of 6 girls to all agree and commit to a date any further than a week away is near enough impossible. If you are lucky enough to have a good response from said friends there then comes the issue of money! No-one can ever afford to pay for a ticket until May when everything is sold out.

So, here I am yet again suffering from my summer festival blues trying not to listen to all the line-up announcements or look at how much Ebay are selling tickets  for.

Maybe next year I will manage to get organised in time to buy a ticket before they sell out….

Now the Summer sun is finally shining - at least for a week - some of my old lunchtime haunts are looking a little bit dark and dejected. It could be time to move onto places lighter and brighter…. being new to Holborn in the Summer where are the best places to indulge in a spot of outdoors media lunching?

My impressions to date:

Truckles : Very close but it’s overpriced, under-portion-sized and refuses to allow outside reservations.

The Old Crown: This is probably my favourite local pub but the comforting winter exterior looks a bit dark and gloomy in the summer sunshine. Easier to get a table mind you.

The Plough: Again nearby with some outdoor seating (which gets over the slightly stale inside smell - to put it nicely) but the road tends to get covered in shade by the buildings and lets face it, unless you want your food fried not a culinary classic.

Collective media thoughts on nearby alternatives?

It is with trepidation that I write this.  How does one convert the funniest conversation ever had?  It got so bad in fact I had to scribe things down during our chat.  Let me take you back to the beginning.  It was not the dawn of time it was only last night that I met a human more amusing than any other examined before.  This gent has so many strings to his bow it is unbelievable.

From what started with such throw away questions as “What are you doing this weekend?” ended with “What exactly does your Marmalord Super Hero outfit look like!?”

Emily was the catalyst.  From a jovial story about holding a baby monkey called “baby monkey” this particular man then went on to ask if we had ever been to Monkey World.  A strange question in anyone’s book.  He then went on to talk about an Albino Gorilla called “Snowflake.”  That produced numerous guffaws which then made me think if this guy has this in his locker what else has he got.  Well what we found was much much more.

It started out as a joke to send a copy of a random mag to a mate.  What it turned into was a lifelong b2b subscription.  I am talking about no other than the global title Poultry International, after reading the title he fell in love with it.  As a b2b title the company wanted to know more about the reader and asked how many chicken boilers he went through of which he said, “2 million” to their response “is that all?”  With quick thinking the phrase “per month” was born - because of this sizeable production Poultry International could do nothing but send a cheque for $20 to Pixie Poultry Ltd, which I’m sure you will not be surprised to learn is a fake company.  Along with this he also received a free subscription to Poultry International, Pig International and Feed International (which he chooses not to read, for obvious reasons).

This lead us to think “What else has he got?”   Well…..quite a lot.  All I need to say is www.marmaland.com

What started off as a present for his Mother turned into an obsession that included a 400-strong marmalade jar collection cascading down his stairs at home that lead to the website and to the creation of the Marmalord (who has an open-faced yellow crash helmet and large M on his chest with cape) and his sidekick the Marmalad (think a fatter Robin who has eaten to much Marmalade).  Even crazier than this was the creation of the Marmalade Jar Reader Marusan Moo Chicki Chicki - who sources interesting information about Marmalade Jars and then relays readers to inquisitive consumers…..mainly Americans….

All of this in the middle of the Honey International Festival in Hatfield….there is no night for this man there is no time to sleep and all I ask is to visit the site yourself (www.marmaland.com) but at the same time please ignore Polly Anne’s comments about marmalade, they do things differently in Albania…………