Looking back, standing still, looking forward

It’s almost the end of the year, and I’m sitting in my friend’s living room in London, wondering what to write about that anyone might find vaguely interesting or amusing.  And then I thought I would follow the example set by so many editors and publishers at this time of year, and think about highs and lows of 2008 and make a few predictions for 2009.

And conveniently, the “I’m a PC” add has just appeared on the TV, so, to start off, my top five best and worst adverts for 08 will be my first area to review:

Top 5 worst adverts

1) As I mentioned in the work blog, I took a dislike to the Citroen C5 adverts, and I would extend that as I can’t think of a single car advert that made me want to go and invest in some form of transport this year.

2) All perfume adverts, which become more frequent and more annoying as we get closer to Christmas. I don’t need to see naked models skip through fields of photographers whilst pulling stars out of the sky and ripping off films they once appeared in [Moulin Rouge, anyone?]. Just tell me what it smells like . I certainly don’t want to smell like Britney, Jordan, Kate Moss or any other crazy celebrity, thank you. Oh, and I preferred it when we still pronounced it “Fraygrunts”. When did it become “fraggrance” for the British consumers?

3) David Beckham in the Sharpie pens adverts. Come on. Who’s going to believe that he can write?

4) The new Mr Muscle ads are EXTREMELY annoying. What happened to the weedy guy in the specs? Why have we got the terrible, badly dubbed CGI thing?

5) Then there’s the “I’m a PC” adverts. A very late reaction to Apple’s “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads with Mitchell and Webb. My biggest issue with these adverts is that they were so reactionary. There’s nothing new, nothing that actually tells you why PCs are better than Macs.

And a special mention also goes to EDF Energy for the “this advert is 100% recycled”, which has been nominated by my very Wise friend.

Hmm, a bit trickier…. Top 5 Good ads

1) I think the new Barnardos advert showing how a teenage girl gets into drugs and ends up in prison is very powerful. It almost made me set up the direct debit to donate… [note for New Year’s Resolution list]

2) I love the Christmas Tesco adverts wth Des 0’Connor where the price labels keep appearing. I know the concept has been done before with the prices, but Des is very Christmassy.

3) The Ask Frank ad I blogged about last week is still excellent.

4) Oh. The Cadubry’s Gorilla. Nothing to do with chocolate, but BRILLIANT. Got everyone talking about Cadbury’s and as we all know. You talk about chocolate, you want chocolate. [excuse me a second….]

5) I’m struggling. I can’t think of a 5th advert that I’ve liked this year. Give me your suggestions?

If it wasn’t already almost midnight, I’d continue this post. However, I’m sleepy.  So I’ll call it a night, and make a promise to finish my thoughts on this subject before the year is through…

(P.S. A few predictions are; that adverts for any product targeted at women will continue to be patronising and aimed at making us feel crappy, ‘they’ will still be trying to convince people that ordering a “SoCo” in a bar won’t make you sound like a tit, car adverts will never make me want to buy a car, mobile ringtone aderts will remain annoying, Iceland won’t catch on that assosciating with Kerry Catona doesn’t make us aspire to shop there, Cillit Bang will still be do bad it’s good, and the product still won’t actually work)

Since last we met

It’s been a long time since I blogged last, and I feel bad for that, as I promised to keep it regular this time. But, be assured that I’ve not even had time to comment on the work blog, and I sort of get paid for that. So, you may ask what’s been keeping me so busy? where have I been? why have I deserted you? Fear not. Here is a summary:

July – went to London, met editor of VanillaPlus (not about cake, sadly), met some clients, stayed with the Wise One, met Bridesmaids so they could try on their dresses (one was late. If you know who they are you’ll know which it was)had the gas meter read (which they promptly lost) had the work summer party (lunch – good, 10-pin-bowling – lost, pub – drank, mexican – ate, drank, wore silly hats, sang along with Gypsy Kings), got lost in the shopping centre in Leicester, almost took the bumper of a ford Ka trying to squeeze Tank into a small space, picked up wedding dress, took to Norfolk, miscalculated ribbon and organza with Zoe, went to the dentist for the first time in ??7?? years, had sore mouth, learnt some Italian, went to France (canoed lots, camped on a mountain, they don’t speak Italian there though). *takes deep breath…*

August – came home from France, got cold, paid for wedding, got more cold, learnt more Italian, spoke to more clients, got hair cut, had hen night (not quite what I’d got planned, but definitely what my ‘sisters’ had got planned), avoided my local pub in shame, went to London for meeting which was cancelled (swore some, but visited the Wise One, so all was not lost), arranged wedding ceremony with registrar, went to London for cancelled meeting (yes, again, swore a bit more) had wisdom tooth issues, ‘broke’ my jaw, got even worse cold and hacking cough (not the blog by Chris Edwards)

September – Won battle with above mentioned idiot gas company, when they admitted that I do not owe them £570, but they in fact owe me £215, went to Party, managed to accidently be rude to a few guests, encouraged drinking of birch wine and pear liqueur, ate vegetarian kebab, went to Chester with blonde and ginger children and rode on a small train, rode larger train to London with something of a hangover promising not to drink again, went to press event with client, took journalists to Vinopolis (where there’s really nothing to do but drink) went for chinese with Wise One and Sarahthegreat (drank more wine) went to happy Cider pub, drank cider, did not steal kittens, reflected that bid to give up drinking had not, thus far, been wholly successful, bought drinks for work people to celebrate up coming wedding, didn’t make a cake or a guide book, had curry, saw Mr Poi Hoo and rejoiced in his company, spent too much time in Jury’s Inn in Heathrow, (a godforsaken place), ate very good roast dinner (mid week!) decided wedding is off and that I’m actually going to move in with Wise One and let her cook for me (and teach her how to bake cakes) realised that it has been forever since I blogged, so though I’d best do so.

Now – I think that brings us mostly up to date. If you’re interested I can tell you my next plans are:

Go to the office, speak to work people, get on the train to go back Oop North, tut at state of house after a week of boy alone in it, get hair cut, pick up freshly cleaned engagement ring, finish writing cards for wedding, pack suitcase, do 2 days of work, get on plane (with Nearly-Mother-in-law), go to Norwich, show NMIL the sights, have BIG massage, organise venue, pick up suits, get married, do a little dance, climb some mountains, change my name……

That’s mostly it, I don’t want to do anything else after that. oh, except Win lottery. phew.