A blogger’s guilty pleasure, filling in a meme. I’ve got an immense backlog of things I want to post, as many personal ones as great marketing finds and business ideas. But it’s like having the choice between a double spiced rum and coke or a glass of water, I’ll choose the one that pickles my brain and leave the healthy stuff for later.
I found this meme on Keris Stainton‘s blog, she’s another Shiny Media writer who I’ve yet to meet (Hi Keris!).
So here goes nuffin’…
(more…)
For the past few years, I’ve been thinking it’d be great to have my own business projects and work for myself. While I’m not there yet, we’ve taken our first steps towards it by setting up Peps Media, our own web design and online marketing company.
In reality, we’ll be doing what we’ve been doing for years; helping people websites and small applications, writing content and building themselves a strong identity. It’s just that now, we’re focussing our energies to do it on a larger scale. And it also means we need an accountant to tell us what to do with all that paperwork…
I’d like to believe we are not only skilled at what we do, but we love it. We both feel so strongly about our own areas of interest, I hope we can inspire other businesses to have an online presence that’s not average or good, but great, for it to reflect the rest of their business.
To share news and give coaching to those new to online marketing, I’ll be posting blogging, marketing and branding tips on the Peps Media blog.
Here are some of the services we offer, but it doesn’t end there. If you think you’d like to speak to us about it, or know someone who does, get in touch.
Yes, that is correct. I found out last night I had been quoted on page TWO of the Guardian newspaper. Of course, completely baffled why that could be, I ran down to Sainsburys in the rain and picked up a copy.
It turns out Ben Rooney, who writes the Today on the web feature for the Guardian and picked up a selection of comments about the Tom & Jerry smoking ban, and mine is the top quote! Click on the thumbnail to read the full feature.
I always say that journalists who quote bloggers are journalists who didn’t do their homework and are getting last-minute sources online, but in this case, thanks for not doing your homework, Ben! 😉
Thanks to Glenda from Corrieblog for pointing this out to me, as I probably would’ve missed out on it altogether otherwise.
Being a blogger and getting recognition, however small, in the traditional media is quite a boost for the morale. I doubt it’ll bring me any more readers or make even the remotest of differences, but it still feels great.
Listening to Radio 1 this morning, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing:
Children’s TV channel Boomerang is to edit scenes from Tom and Jerry cartoons where characters are shown smoking. The move follows an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom into a viewer’s complaint that the vintage animations were not appropriate for young viewers.
Allow me to echo Chris Moyles’ amazement. We’re talking about one viewer complaining, a full investigation and a plan by Boomerang to “edit those cartoons where smoking appears to be “condoned, acceptable or glamorised”.
We’re talking about a cartoon where the main premise is that a talking cat and mouse are trying to kill each other. That’s it. It’s the whole plot direction of every episode. But noooo, let’s worry about the smoking cat.
I certainly don’t condone smoking, but A BLUE CAT AND A MOUSE aren’t the role models we should worry about, in my very humble opinion. I moved to the UK to get AWAY from the ridiculous “blame the media” North American attitude, so please, Britain, do not adopt it too. Kids will smoke because they’re curious, because their neighbour’s older brother smokes, because they think it’ll make them look grownup. NOT BECAUSE A BLUE CAT IS SMOKING!
What a waste of money and energy. How about using the editing funds towards making modern cartoon a bit less crap instead?
Mmmmm… only 59p too!
[Photo taken at Sainsbury’s this morning, hohoho!]
[Edit 20/08/06: Just to clarify, the sweets are “American Hard Gums”, but the packaging was folded to look like “Lard Gums” instead. Andrew does wish lard gums could be bought in shops though!]
I’ve got a bone to pick with women today. No, in fact, two.
Before I get into the first one, here’s my disclaimer: I have a rubbish sense of fashion, I don’t believe in pain for the sake of looking good, so Manolos and Jimmy Choo’s aren’t on my shopping radar, and neither are clothes that actually need ironing before being worn. But I do believe in not inflicting pain upon others by looking dreadful.
Ok, now that it’s out of the way, time to bitch. Can someone explain to me what the attraction to leggings is? I just don’t get why late teens/young 20’s have started wearing ankle length leggings, usually black, but sometimes lurid pinks and blues.
Let me spell out how I feel about Those Who Believe Themselves To Be Fashionable But Are Not: “If you’re short, leggings make you look dumpy and hobbit-like. You’re short, I’m short, don’t make it worse than it already is!” It’s like leggings are an acceptable replacement to tights. But it looks terrible! And Go Fug Yourself agrees with me lots.
Alright, now, second victims: The Quadra-Boobs. This is an affliction of both the young and old, though the old have been perpetrating the worst Fashion Crimes recently. Bras are great things, they hold your boobs in place. But they’ll only do a good job of it if you choose the right bra! Slack straps causing the boobs to head South, straps too tight making you look like a tied-up pork roast ready for the oven, or worst of all, cups too tight, causing major boob leakage above the cups and the dreaded Quadra-boob.
Nowadays, shops like La Senza do bra fittings for free, so there is no excuse. A good bra will give you a better posture, make movement a whole lot more comfortable, and make you look less fat by separating the belly roll and the boob roll. To every woman in the world, do yourself a favour – Go for a bra fitting, get a couple of new bras, and chuck out all the ill-fitting ones.
You’ll feel prettier for it!*
(* Assuming you’re not also wearing leggings, in which case you’ll need a whole new outfit probably.)
I know it might seem odd, but we get so much spam, day in, day out – Howcome we never speak to anyone who’s job it is to create this spam? Granted a lot of it is automated, but certainly, someone’s looking at the new ways spam filters are catching their emails and deciding how to develop the next batch?
I want to get into the head of a spammer. Understand what they’re doing, how and why. Figure out how they introduce themselves at their wives’ work Christmas party. Maybe “I work in accounting” is actually code word for “I send millions of spam emails a day”?
Might sound completely random but as someone who works in (fully legitimate, I might add) email marketing, it’s a Dark Side that we are taught to consider as the scum of the Earth, but I’m hopelessly curious. I mean, where do you find job ads for spam authors? “Spam author wanted for v1@gra sales – minimum 1 million emails sent a day” Seriously, I’d completely respect the anonymity of a spammer if they contacted me and let me pick their brains a bit.
[Disclaimer: No, I’m not looking to move to the Dark Side, mom. And no, I’m not looking to use spam techniques for our newsletters, boss. It’s sheer curiosity of a hidden side of the Internet.]
If you don’t, I’m not in the mood to explain what it is, so visit the site and figure it out.
But if you do…
Try to watch these cats without cracking a smile. Or try to match your iTunes to what you think they’re listening to.
Bobbing Cat 2 was clearly listening to The Cardigans – I Need Some Fine Wine (And You, You Need To Be Nicer) when I last checked.
[All credit to Matt for the laughs]
that canadian girl 