BJK&E

This summer has shown a drastic rise in the number of summer music festivals and an ever growing list of great venues such as:

‘V’
Isle of white
Reading
Glastonbury
Bestival
Global Gathering

The growing number of companies willing to sponsor and advertise at these events has caused a rapid growth over the past few years.

Each summer brings a different experience.  Bestival was appropriately themed ‘under the sea’ this year as it was the wettest one ever.  Glastonbury is always a wash.  Matthew, a member of the Ubisoft team and pictured below, attended Bestival dressed as Scuba Steve from the movie Big Daddy.

What was your highlight of this year’s festivals that you have attended?

…. OK so we know things are tough at the moment… Alistair Darling had just announced a £50bn rescue package for the UK banking sector, Iceland is melting, the DOW Jones saw it’s greatest fall in a day since 1987. The crisis in the world economy is being mirrored in the UK media market with TV, press, outdoor and radio all recording significant revenue declines in ‘08 but cinema appears to be bucking the trend.

Cinema revenue’s were up almost 10% across the period Jan-June with admissions driven with the release of big screen blockbusters including Indiana Jones, Sex in the City, the Dark Knight and er… Mamma Mia (the latter is currently the third highest grossing movie in UK box office history…aaagh).

I’m firmly of the opinion that the time couldn’t be better then to immerse yourself in a good movie and afford yourself a little escapism from the economic doom and gloom. My personal favourites from this year are the Dark Knight (yes, Heath Ledger’s performance really is that good), Iron Man (explosions, tongue in cheek humour and flying super-heroes; what’s not to like?) and Gone Baby Gone (a dark and harrowing film but stand out performances by both Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman). So come on then, what would your movie of choice be to generate a little light and laughter  (Mamma Mia? I’ve seen it. Don’t. Please. End of story)?

Having run out of butter one-too-many times we’ve taken to mixing sandwich fillings with sheer abandon - and not without success!

• Peanut Butter & Jam (Jelly, according to Patrick)
• Peanut Butter & Honey
• Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread
• Chocolate Spread & Honey

I’ve been told Banana, Peanut Butter & Honey is pretty sensational, and Elvis’ favourite was Bacon & Peanut Butter…. what’s your favourite?

Flicking through my freeview box the other day I must of instantly dismissed watching at least 6 comedy shows, from the torturous ‘My Family’ to smug American sitcoms. Where is the fresh, exciting new comedy out there? Why am I forced to watch old classic DVD’s such as the genius of Chris Morris in Brass Eye and The Day Today over and over again?

There is some fantastic comedy out there if you look hard enough, but not enough. It seems when it comes to the mainstream, the BBC 1’s or ITV’s of this world would rather play it safe, leaving me to trawl through More 4 or BBC 3 & 4 to find some hidden gems.

Basically, what i’m trying to say is………………does anyone have any new comedy to recommend that I may of missed out on?

A few of us headed over to Company Magazines 30th birthday party in Camden last night - where we experienced some serious z-list celeb spotting including Calum Best, Avid Merrion and enough Big Brother contestants to sink a (rather beautiful) ship.
A good time was had by all, with make-up artists and hairdressers on hand, some excellent goodie-bags (including what some might say was an excessive amount of Durex lube) and thankfully no broken ankles from dancing on the cobblestones.
We also got papped on our way out, until they obviously realised who we were (or weren’t!). I don’t think we have many celeb look-a-likes in our office, although Gemma says people often mistake her for Steven Tyler from Aerosmith…….
Any suggestions?

Since moving from sleepy Oxford to London two months ago, I have become quite a geek when it comes to observing developments in media on my commute into work each morning.
As well as trying to avoid eyecontact with various madmen and deciding what to have for breakfast, I have become accustomed to observing peoples media consumption and considering the influx of new formats that I encounter on my way to Holborn.

You can imagine my excitement this week when I realised that the XTP was installed in the station….
If you are a regular traveller through Piccadilly Circus, Bank, Liverpool Street, Euston or Bond Street you may have already seen the Cross-Track Projection which is currently being rolled-out across the London underground network. This is a high-definition digital moving image which gives advertisers massive standout and impact, and the ability to update their message in real time to a captive audience.
Although 10 years in the planning, now its here I like its premium nature and dominance of the platform - and the fact it keeps me occupied when the Victoria line is delayed again.

What keeps you occupied on the way to work?

Although there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on the absolute number of words Eskimos have for snow (anything between 4 and 100), I’m thinking that it will be more than the British have for rain. Given the extent to which “rain” features in national life, this just seems wrong.
For instance, Lou and I were walking along Bloomsbury Way this morning with umbrellas up but still getting damp (not wet, soaked or drenched) because the ‘water in the air’ didn’t really qualify as “rain” – it was of the ‘swirling-around-atomised-get-a-grip-pointless’ variety.
But, like the sticky-up thing atop a Frenchman’s beret, there wasn’t a word to describe it, or our situation. Surely in a country as ‘rainy’ as ours there’s got to be more than just “downpour”, “shower” or “drizzle”?  Please let me know if there is.  And if there isn’t, perhaps it’s time we created some rain words!
I mean, the Germans have “pladdern” (very strong rain, fairly big drops), “prasseln” (also strong rain, but with smaller drops), “gießen” (just boring old strong rain), “pieseln” (a light rain that’s barely there - also means “to pee”), and “nieseln” (similar to “pieseln”, but with very small drops. Apparently.
Maybe the new rain words could be onomatopoetic.  In Ukranian/Russian, “kapaty” means light rain, and “nakrapaty” even lighter rain; “barabanit’ is the sound of rain battering against window panes or the roof.  In China they use “didadida”.  In Welsh, “pitran patran” is light rain.  “Tittuf” is Hebrew for dripping rain.  Again, apparently.
Anyone have any suggestions for words for ‘rain situations’? If nothing else, it’ll give you something to do on a, er, rainy day!

Saturday night saw the return of Strictly Come Dancing for its 6th series.
The show peaked at 8.83 million adult viewers which beat the viewing figures from last years first show as it only peaked at 7.89 million.

The 16 contestants and professional dance partners had to perform the Waltz or the Cha Cha Cha in front of the judging panel.
Phil Daniels aka ex-eastender ‘Kevin Wicks’ did his best to perform the Waltz with partner Flavia only to be the 1st couple voted off!

So how well will this series do in comparison to last year?
The BBC1 have done well to recruit beauties Rachel Stevens and Jodie Kidd to pull in a male audience but with Kelly Brooke and Alesha Dixon in Series 5, they have their work cut out!
For the ladies - Holby City heart-throb Tom Chambers was first out on the dance floor with “the confidence of a tomcat claiming his territory” according to judge Bruno Tonioli. Tom will surely keep the female ratings sky high as long as he stays in the competition…..

Who will keep you watching?

As a committed Mozilla Firefox user, I was dubious about whether Google would be able to convert me to their beta-version of their open-source Browser, Chrome.

Launched on the 2nd September 2008, Google claims that Chrome “Gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go” with improved speed, security and responsiveness.
Personally, I’m also quite a Google fan (They keep Ben and Jerries in almost every room, a policy I thoroughly endorse) but there are a lot more people who are equally as interested.
According to Information Week, Chrome reached nearly 2 million downloads in the US in its first week alone.

However, are people likely to stick with Chrome or revert back to one of the other popular browsers such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which dominates with more than two-thirds market share?
The 50MB size of Chrome means on my laptop over 100MB is now taken up with browsers (And my prefered use of memory is for the ridiculous amount of music I have stored on my ITunes)

I’m sticking with Firefox for the moment, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be a convert soon…

Sooooo….. our annual BJK&E conference has come and gone once more…

I think we are all agreed that it was a fab few days, we all learnt a new thing or two about media and BJK&Es future plans and also had some great fun bonding over tandem bicycles and space hoppers!!!

So everyone, what was your highlight of the trip?!

I personally quite enjoyed partaking in the space hopper race, falling off every 2 bounces and coming a very very poor last! Proved to me that I definately should not give up the day job!!!