Ross/Brand – how not to let a molehill become a mountain (version 2,137)
This thought-provoking blog entry by the BBC’s Steve Bowbrick on how the BBC might have been able to avoid the media storm is well worth a look:
This is interesting for me: in my last job at Portsmouth students’ union, I remember trying – and failing – to express as eloquently as Steve has exactly why openness in a crisis is A Good Thing, and this school of thinking – be open and honest with your stakeholders and always maintain a dialogue – is one I really do believe in (uhhm, unless you’re MI5…).
Well worth a read, especially if you’re in a position of power in any company. Or if you’re bored ;o)
Posted by Alex on Tue 18th November 2008
Faceberk: you need this in your life
… or, more accurately, on your back – click through the image to buy the Very Reasonably-Priced (and possibly abuse-causing) hoodie:
Posted by Alex on Tue 18th November 2008
Ok, wtf – is Facebook taunting me now? ;o)
Look, just because…
… doesn’t mean this is fair:
… especially the second “get a girlfriend” one – I mean, c’mon! That’s just targeted advertising at its most cynical ;o)
Posted by Alex on Tue 11th November 2008
At last! Shit Party photos are online – all 500 of the buggers ;o)
I’ve finally got the Shit Party photos online – check them out on my Flickr photostream (here), or on the Shit Party website (mixed in with the other photographers’ photos) here.
Enjoy, darlings!
Posted by Alex on Fri 29th August 2008
A(nother) 2-second Ibiza update
Hello everyone,
I promise this will be a 2 second update. Promise!
- caught a beautiful sunset last night – pics on Facebook or on Flickr
- Steph blagged me in to Es Paradis for Pukka Up last night. Some cheesy tracks but good fun :o) Also got a card from the Pukka Up top photographer chap, but he seemed less than impressed at my messiness, and then I dropped his card on the floor in front of him, so I won’t be expecting a call back when I e-mail him… ;o)
- Steph’s also blagged me in to Es Paradis tonight for Clubland. More cheesyness, but SHE’S GOT ME PERMISSION TO BRING THE CAMERA IN! Get in!
- I’ve quit the photography job. The boss was, in all fairness, a total arse (those of you who have had to work for or with me in any capacity will no doubt be laughing at the irony of this karmic treatment by the Gods. What can I say… ;o)
- I’ve got to pop back to the YooKay this weekend to tie up a cock-up of mine. I may or may not be able to come back out to Ibiza, so I’m trying to enjoy the last couple of days here before it all goes Pete Tong… :o)
Hope you’re all well wherever you are!
Al & Steph
Posted by Alex on Wed 13th August 2008
Lost your camera? Ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com might have it…
This is very random, and very cool – web 2.0 at its best?
Found Cameras and Orphan Pictures.
Posted by Alex on Tue 22nd July 2008
Hero worship: Andre Jordan of A Beautiful Revolution
Insightful, witty, heartbreaking, funny, cruel, shocking, occasionally bordering on bad taste – A Beautiful Revolution is the work of 40-something Andre Jordan. Most of the content consists of striking pen sketches, telling stories of his day-to-day life (frequently touching on his hopelessness with women – something I can empathise with only too well… ;o).
I’ve been a reader of the site for a year or two now, but never knew any more about the author until now, ‘cos I just stumbled across this interview on the BBC’s Ouch disability website: BBC – Ouch! – Close Up – 13 Questions: Andre Jordan.
He also turns some of his work into artwork for sale, and if I was in the market for some artwork, this would be where I’d spend my money first. If I had any money, of course.
Well worth a look – seriously, go check out the interview, and then his website, now.
BBC – Ouch! – Close Up – 13 Questions: Andre Jordan
Posted by Alex on Fri 18th July 2008
What is it with Canada at the moment?!
Right now it seems that everywhere I look, Canada is a hot topic of conversation as a potential place to emigrate, the latest must-see freshly-emerging cultural hotspot, or “miscellaneous other” place of interest. Why this is, I have not a clue – and I don’t mean this in a disparaging way, just that I simply have never noticed this level of pro-Canuck propaganda before.
The latest example in this apparently never-ending onslaught of glowing recommendations for the land where, so I’m told, every family has a penguin (presumably carrying out largely similar duties to British butlers of yesteryear…) is a move by PC Copperfield (of The Policeman’s Blog fame) from the UK’s police service to Canada’s, which he reports glowingly on here.
Anyway, the point of this entry, if there is actually a point, is this rather disturbing article in the Daily [Hate] Mail which attempts to bring some balance back to the Canada argument in a rather blunt manner. I think you can probably judge what I mean by “disturbing” when I tell you that the article’s author, none other than Philip Delves Broughton – a man whose name is possibly the poshest thing I’ve seen all day, imparts to his readership the “fact”* that beavers, the animal which represents Canada (much like Britain’s lion, Mr Broughton tells us with great emphasis), are known to bite off their own testicles.
Classy stuff… Anyway, a Happy (belated) Canada Day, and to take your mind off that nastyness, here are some excellent pics of Montreal by David Giral on Flickr.
* In quotes because I can’t bring myself to do a Google to find out whether beavers actually do maim themselves in this way. I mean, c’mon, it’s horrible enough just to think about it… Ew.
Posted by Alex on Fri 11th July 2008
Pugwash, monkeys, brass monkeys, stupidity, bitchin’, geekery, and guilt-free holiday
Apologies for the 50-in-1 update, but I've got loads of equally important (or, if you're a normal human being, equally boring) things to ramble on about…
Posted by Alex on Wed 26th March 2008
Recommended student media: Palatinate
Thanks to the NUS's Media Mailing list thingbob (one of their best-kept secrets), I've just found out about Palatinate, the online version of Durham University SU's fortnightly student newspaper.
Their website comes across much like I imagine UPSU.net does – a rapidly-evolving work of love by one or two hard-working HTML-geeks, and the results show (I admit I'm guessing about the webteam here, but the site feels a lot like someone's put a lot of work into it, and is perhaps still tweaking things as they go along…).
More importantly, the content is rich and diverse, ranging from features on the Union's clubs and societies (complete with pictures of Beautiful People™, of course ;o) through to the not-too-Geek-orientated weekly online news roundup (Facebook doing instant messaging? Srsly?!). In fact, revisiting the website to get the link to the Facebook article, I notice that they have a whole “online” section – not an entirely crazy idea, I suspect.
The content is also easily accessible (although the online front page appears to have a heavy bias towards comment which might just be down to layout tweaking than a lack of news-based content, it seems) and – yey! – they're using JonDesign's Smoothgallery (which I've gushed about previously) to rotate the top three news stories.
Very nice, and definitely worth subscribing to their RSS feed.
/al
Posted by Alex on Fri 21st March 2008