BJK&E

Most of you should be fully aware of the BJK&E charity book club venture - old books for sale available for the bargain price of 50p to Marie Curie in Katy’s Office. And we’re not talking car boot sale style ancient yellow paged books that nobody actually wants to read, these are actually decent acclaimed novels like as We Need to Talk About Kevin.

So in the spirit of book club sharing, I thought I’d blog about the book I’m reading now…. except … I’ve been reading the same book for the last 6 months and I dont think I can bring myself to read anymore. Its called Overtaken by Alexei Sayle. Reasonably witty, reasonably engaging, intelligent enough but nothing in it has gripped me - I would honestly rather be enjoying some trashy chick-lit. I feel wierdly committed to slog through the rest of the book and force myself to find out what happens even though I’ve forgotten all of the characters names already. Why is that? Although, lets face it, nothing’s ever going to be as good as Harry Potter.

What are you reading? What would you secretly rather be reading? Or what book has left a big impact on you?

Big news in the world of Media appointments this week is that Absolute Radio has poached Chris Lawson, Bauer Performance’s digital media director, for the brand new role of brand director on the station soon to be formerly known as Virgin Radio.

Virgin Radio Holdings Ltd (including the radio station) was bought in May 2008 by TIML (Times of India Group) - India’s largest music and ents group for £53.2million following its sale by SMG.

Lawson’s responsibilities will include making an announcement on the new brand name for Virgin Radio, expected within a fortnight. So the big debate, BJK&E and friends is - what would you name it and why? Consider:
 - The station has to keep the same genre as previously in accordance with its licence
 - The station will still be located in Golden Square
 - There is no need for it to have an overt link to “Times of India” in the name
 - The “DAVE” phenomenon of TV (if you dont know what I’m talking about read my retrospective futures article) - name can be everything!
 - So the name needs to befit one of the UK’s biggest commercial stations
 - Albion will be helping create the new name so no cheating and asking them

Best / closest answer gets a prize. Possibly.

Being a British sports supporter can often be something of a disappointment. Less said about recent football and rugby efforts the better. However, that doesn’t mean that we cant host cracking, world class sports events…. and sometimes even produce the odd home victory…

Take this weekend.

Wimbledon’s Mens Finals - not only is Wimbledon a staple of the British summertime but this year the epic Nadal / Federer final was about the most outstanding 5-hour 5-set nail biting game of tennis you could ever hope to see. Who cares that both finalists were from across the European pond? The TV viewing public clearly didn’t with a peak of nearly 13million viewers as it stretched towards the post 9pm final - well up on 2007. What shone through was great tennis at a great venue.

Silverstone Grand Prix - Again, a TV ratings winner up on 2007 figures with a peak of 6million viewers cheering Lewis Hamilton to his first ever Silverstone victory. Silverstone has been described as the spiritual home of Formula 1, drawing some of the largest crowds of all Grand Prix events and for Hamilton to offer up a racing master class there is a great day for British sports.

Henley Regatta - anyone who’s walked the length of the Henley race during Regatta week has enjoyed classic upper class Britain … post knee-length dresses for the ladies, chinos for the men, champagne picnics by the riverside, Great Danes dressed in rowing ties, Pimms on tap and even the odd burst of sunshine. Glorious. Who can say who actually won most of the events … we were too busy enjoying another brilliantly hosted British sporting event.

If the London Olympic Committee could just take a leaf out of these books - then 2012 will really be an Olympics to remember whether as host nation we cover ourselves in golden glory or not.

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?

Culture Club - F Comme Faim

The slightly reconfigured BJK&E Culture Club’s March activity was a visit to the British Museum to catch a film in the London International Documentary Festival (LIDF) series. The festival boasts 8 days, 8 venues, 80 conversations and as one venue is right on our doorstep it seemed a shame to miss out.

The documentary we were seeing (F Comme Faim / H for Hunger) was described as a passionate & creative exploration of the biology, history, politics and economics of hunger in the blurb so none of us were expecting a light comedy, however, I don’t think we were prepared for how shocking and harrowing it was. The subtitled French film worked as a 90 monologue, with a particularly agressive French narrator pointing the finger squarely in each and every one of our faces for the continuing famine that occurs in so many areas of the world. Throughout the film, he would draw different illustrations … an early one showed one jumbo jet carrying 300 people. The narrator asked you to consider the shock reaction in terms of media coverage etc that would occur if that plane crashed killing all on board… then revealed that the death rate through starvation is the equivalent of 30 jumbos every day, i.e. one person every second.

The film actually made very uncomfortable watching and I found myself squirming in my seat - as everyone from the Pope to people who feed their pets ahead of their fellow man were accused. It has certainly raised some interesting debate since. Without delving too far into the various personal views of famine that have arisen the problem is that this is not a black and white issue with a simple solution, indeed the film made no attempt to offer a solution as to how people can make things better other than eating and wasting less. This initially made me come away feeling frustrated and impotent. I guess there is no easy answer and it is rather encouraging you to think about others who suffer privately away from media coverage and consider how you can help.

Hard-hitting, thought-provoking and highly controversial. 

Culture Non Club - Carlos Acosta

On a lighter note, last night I had the opportunity to see Carlos Acosta at The Coliseum.

Carlos is a Cuban ballet dancer - one of 11 children his parents pushed him into it to keep him out of trouble and off the streets. He is now one of the leading names in ballet having performed as principal artist with all the leading ballet companies around the world. He even has his own website:

http://www.carlosacosta.com/

He is absolutely phenomenal, astonishing stage presence, very impressive physique & a fantastic dancer. The show was so good I could have cried. Critics are saying that, at the ripe old age of 35, his best days are probably behind him …  in which case catch him on stage while you can, it will definitely be an experience to remember.

Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?

Cinema fans read on… last night the BJK&E team of crack film buffs attended the Pearl & Dean agency film quiz finals at Vue cinema Leicester Square (see picture below, minus one Mr Waghorn, who transpired to be our resident Marvel expert). It was, unsurprisingly, a fiendishly difficult quiz, ranging from “what line comes next” in cult films such as Donnie Darko and The Graduate (with only precise word for word answers scoring points) to the rather girl friendly “Sex and the City” round. Next time I suspect even more swatting up beforehand would be necessary - unfortunately our extensive knowledge of Easten European film c. 1950, went untested….

To sum up the evening I would say a good time was had by all, our pools of cinematic knowledge were well and truly trawled and some new gems were learnt ….if only we hadn’t be cruelly docked a point for a team member answering the phone to their Mum half way through we could have been even higher up the rankings! Can you name the youngest ever person to win an Oscar of sorts? What film topped The Times 2007 scariest film of all times? Which Spice Girl made a cameo in Sex and the City? Which two new villains make an appearance in Spiderman 3? Answers to be revealed….