no publicity is good publicity

Here's an interesting thing. The Guardian went to review a small Szechuan restaurant in Bethnal Green the other day. Then they called up to get some pictures done after wards but the restaurant said they weren't into it, apparently quite a rare reply in the restaurant review world.

Now this has become a story in its own right and the both critics and foodies are going a bit mad over it. Have a read through the comments.

It's an intriguing thing when even a complete opt out of publicity results in tenfold the amount of PR you would have got had you tried to court it.

Szechuan food is the new hot food trend by the look of it (literally, I stopped off in Szechuan on my way back from Tibet and nearly burnt my taste buds out), even Pringles and Walkers are at it now.

taking to the stage

I went to this Open Rehearsal thing at the ENO this morning (and got a good telling off for taking the above picture so hope you appreciate it). It's a fascinating thing watching the process of an opera in rehearsal. Here's some stuff I picked.

• It takes a good director to turn a shambles into a work of art.
  
• Said director can use intimidation and demotivating tactics to get what they want in this industry.
  
• A seemingly inanimate object can become a thing of comic worth (in this case that ladder).
  
• Some people take onboard direction far better than others by their very nature.
  
• A provocateur (in this case the guy that wasn't taking on the direction) can often inspire new solutions to a problem just by playing up a bit (in this case a comic dance after he got an ear full from the director for not putting enough feeling into his performance and responded 'what do you want me to do a bloody dance with it').
  

into the deep

The true voyage of discovery is not so much in seeking new landscapes, as in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

This is probably the best ad for Sony since those rubber balls.

computer?

This, this and this all have something in common. I can't articulate it at the minute but I'm sure you can work it out for yourself. Something to do with going into work everyday and pushing a mouse about/ tapping on a keyboard or something like that.

the big numbers

I find this a bit worrying. That was a big old media spend for not a huge amount of engagement in return. Wonder if it will be judged a success or not.

A vote on the RunCactusKidRun.com website saw 9,203 votes cast for three alternative endings.

cigars and doyleys

Cigar incense and tea and biscuit doyleys. As seen at designers block.

the all seeing eye

That Gondry fella has got an installation at the NFT at the minute.

It takes about 8 minutes and a chat with the gallery attendant to work out what's going on. As with most of the stuff he does it's clever.

a sense of humour

point one:
Have a listen to this (it's only 20 seconds)...

Tree Hugger by Kimya Dawson & Antsy Pants

It's one my favourite songs at the minute (other than Noah and The Whale's in five year's time). I like it because she laughs, at about 9 seconds in if you listen close. I've been listening to music since I was about 10 and realised this is probably the first time I've heard someone laugh in a studio recorded track. It made me wonder why?

I suspect loads of musicians laugh when recording stuff but it will be edited out or re-recorded like the sneezes, stutters and forgotten lines. It will be seen as an imperfection. Laughing is an imperfection is this context.

point two:
A while ago a very nice chap called Michael Wolff came into see us at innocent for a chat. Michael founded a place called Wolff Olins so knows a bit about brands and branding from a lot of experience and a healthy dose of common sense. He told us about his thoughts on voluntary (genuine) and spontaneous (forced) smiles, how they both use completely different muscles in the face, how subconsciously we automatically know the difference between them and will react accordingly. And how he thought brands like innocent represented the former because of our stuff like 'enjoy by' instead of 'use by' dates and small touches that made him laugh (hence he thought we must have been having fun when when we make this stuff).

a fake smile (do know brands who communicate like this?)

a real smile (the clip got speeded up when I uploaded it for some reason)

the thought
How did we get to a point where laughing was seen as being an imperfection? Why should it be thought inappropriate for a brand to be seen to be having fun.

I'll be happily littering as much as I can with inappropriate imperfections for as long as I can. So be it.

Update:
An interesting bit in this week's Marketing magazine on google's sense of humour.

Another great is example of this stuff is the scripts that Wieden+Kennedy do for Lurpak and Honda. They've got dead pan voice-overs down to a fine art. I particularly like the new Honda sale ad on at the minute (can't find an online version right now).

lff

I like Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman, they're both as mad as march hares. In a good way. So was please to see they've both got new films in the next London Film Festival.

Charlie Kaufman is even doing a script factory masterclass. Will have to go along.

shrooming again

Here's this year's foraging haul. Slightly different to last years with more deceivers and less honey caps.

Lovely day for it though.