Category: 5things

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 15th, 2016.

Hey gang, a late(r) edition this week. To say that the crayfish of work have been swimming like nuts would be an understatement. Five things on Friday is put together gradually each week. As I find or read things online – either on the tube, or on Twitter, or wherever – I email them to myself for filing until Friday.

This week, I didn’t even have time to do that. So do please forgive the shorter edition this week.

It’s 23:29 at the time of writing, I’m off to Sweden in the morning and really should get an early night.

Shall we?

1. TEXTING IN CINEMAS? NAH, NOT HAPPENING

You may’ve missed it but there was a huge roar of disapproval from the cinema-going public this week when a US cinema chain mooted the idea of allowing the endless glow of the mobile phone into its theatres.

After such idiotic buffoonery, you’ll be pleased to know that AMC has come to its senses and canned the idea completely.

Thank. God.

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2. ON THIS DAY – WE SAY GOODBYE

Do you ‘use’ ‘On this Day’ on Facebook? And I use the word ‘use’ very loosely. These (m)algorithms are often inflicted on us mere users without any of us having any real say in the matter and the ways that they can cause certain triggers and/or upset is often overlooked by the coders of Menlo Park.

Kudos to the awesome Holly Brockwell for discovering exactly how to turn this some-time irritating feature actually off. It’s relatively simple.

If ‘On this Day’ bothers you, then this link is your friend.

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3. KIDS SHOULD COUNT WITH THEIR FINGERS

This, is a really interesting read.

“A few weeks ago I (Jo Boaler) was working in my Stanford office when the silence of the room was interrupted by a phone call. A mother called me to report that her 5-year-old daughter had come home from school crying because her teacher had not allowed her to count on her fingers. This is not an isolated event—schools across the country regularly ban finger use in classrooms or communicate to students that they are babyish. This is despite a compelling and rather surprising branch of neuroscience that shows the importance of an area of our brain that “sees” fingers, well beyond the time and age that people use their fingers to count.”

Got kids? Teach them to count on their fingers.

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4. FAREWELL, HOWARD MARKS

I remember reading Mr Nice when I was in college. I laughed. A lot. I was never one to wear his t-shirts, or to idolise. I just thought it was a crazy tale as told through the eyes of a career criminal who got away with a helluva lot.

His obituary, via The Guardian, is a good read. And reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading the story of his life. Give it a go some time. It’s barely believable. But that’s what makes it so good.

Farewell, Howard Marks.

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5. ICE CREAM FOR EVERYONE

My friend Willem has a podcast. It’s called ‘Ice Cream for Everyone’ – and you can find the details of it right here. Willem interviewed me for it last week (that episode is landing at some point in early May – I’ll probably link to it in a later episode).

Anyway, after Willem interviewed me said podcast, I thought it would be at least half polite to actually go and listen to a few of the previous episodes. And, what do you know, it’s pretty damn good. So yeah, I don’t know if you do the podcast thing, but why not go check it out and see what you think.

His blog ain’t bad either.
……
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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• This K-Pop music video has been knocking around for a couple of weeks now but I love it – watch it on your phone.
• I can’t fathom how much money this Sky TV / X-Men Apocalypse tie-up must’ve cost. Full junior cast? Check. Character abilities showcased? Check. Ton of cash thrown at the screen to sell INTERNET? Check. Wowsers. Fair play though.
• This landing. Still.

And that’s me.

Until next time, you know where to find me.

Whatley out, x.

 

 

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 8th, 2016.

Hello lovely.

I’m writing this intro to you from Istanbul where I’ve spent the last few days relaxing on holiday (see! it does happen occasionally). In fact, the leader image above I snapped on the way back to Eminönü from Ãœsküdar on Wednesday. A perfect day was had.

Much has changed over the past week for yours truly and I’m fairly sure I can state with clarity:

I have never been happier.

For those that of you that don’t know, Five things on Friday is hosted via my blog, ‘this is my happy place’, and, as I type (and as you read) I am very much in said happy place. I hope, with all love and sincerity, that you are in yours too.

And smile.

Maybe go hug someone.

I’ll wait.

…

OK, back? Brilliant.

It’s a fairly social-heavy edition this week but I’m sure you won’t mind.

Shall we?

1. BRANDS, BLOGGERS, AND MONEY – OH MY!

This is a must read if you are in the UK and satisfy any of the following criteria:

• You work for a brand looking to get bloggers to write about your product or service
• You work for an agency looking to get bloggers to write about your client’s product or service
• You’re a blogger (and we’ll use this term as a catch-all for all kinds of influencers; it doesn’t matter if you self-identify as a blogger, vlogger, vine-r, instagrammer (or ‘grammer – blergh), or whatever – if you create content that could infuence consumer decisions, this means you) that’s looking to partner with a brand (and by ‘partner with’ I mean make money from) by posting promotional content about a product or service

Thus far, the ASA, working with CAP, have issued (purposefully) grey advice about what you can and can’t do in regards to paying for blog content. The main thrust of that advice was ‘ads [on social platforms] must be obviously identifiable as such’.

I know this for a fact because I once called out Wayne Rooney/Nike on this and it was not upheld.

Thing is, the ASA is an independent regulatory body paid for by the advertising industry. Three years ago, I wrote a piece for the trades entitled ‘The ASA must sharpen its teeth on social media: If we don’t police ourselves properly, the government will‘. You can probably guess what it was trying to convey…

Well, guess what? The government are getting involved.

The government department known as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recently finished its consultation period regarding online reviews and endorsements and, as a result, has published its own guidance on what is and what is not permissible when it comes to paid for ‘opinions’ online.

Said guidance can be found in two open letters that the CMA have published this week.

• PDF for Marketing Professionals (brands/agencies)
• PDF for Online Publishers (bloggers/influencers etc)

Here’s one killer quote (emphasis mine):

Blogs, videos and other online publications influence people’s buying decisions. While paid-for editorial content is perfectly legal, it is important that you are open and honest about it with your audience, so that they do not think they are getting independent information when a business has in fact paid to influence the content. Misleading readers or viewers may not only damage your reputation – it also falls foul of consumer protection law and could result in enforcement by either the CMA or Trading Standards Services, which could lead to civil and/or criminal action.

As Starcom Mediavest found out to its detriment.

A hefty thing to kick off this week, I know. But it’s super important.

So y’know, don’t be a dick.

Sidenote: this whole noodle started when I tweeted a screengrab of an email I received a short while ago where the company involved asked me outright to break the above rules. I tagged the ASA, the ASA replied and tagged the CMA with some related reading. Really, really interesting.

There are more scalps on the way, you would do well to make sure you’re not one of them.

2. #SMBUZZCHAT

This section has a lot of MY FACE in it. You have been warned.

A couple of weeks back, I participated in The Drum’s ‘#SMBuzzChat‘, an hour-long Twitter Q&A session discussing a few different topics followed by a video interview (300 people have watched it – that’s the same amount of people that defeated Xerses at the battle of Thermopylae!) that goes out under the same name.

The questions for the evening were:

For those of you who missed it the original tweets (and subsequent reply chains) can be found by clicking on the images above. I’m good to you.

We had more questions planned but such was the response (and highly engaging conversation) we had to cut it short just to keep it in the hour. Hell, we even trended.

It was a BUSY night.

It’d been a while since I’d done one of these things and, if I’m perfectly honest, I didn’t know how it was going to go at all. Be that as it may, I have no qualms with telling you: I had the best time!

My host, Adam Libonatti-Roche, was brilliant throughout. Both with comedic back and forths over the table during the Twitter chat (as I struggled to reply to every. single. tweet. that came in) and in the recorded discussion that followed thereafter.

(tap ^ the image ^ for video)

The entire evening was superb; I really can’t recommend taking part in this enough.

Also – you wanna be on? There’s a form for that.

Finally, a couple of years back I chaired the judging panel for the Social Buzz Awards. Big fan. Proud of the industry, etc. I’m really impressed with both what Libonatti-Roch has done with helping to create a conversation around the Social Buzz Awards all year round (as opposed to the one night a year they’re on) as well as the high production values they’re investing in it.

Good job, guys. Keep it up.

3. ‘DETAILS’ ON THE SNAPCHAT USAGE OF U.S. TEENS

Image via Variety

Variety published a survey this week, all about how on cough Millennials use Snapchat:

“Roughly 44% of the 1,117 U.S.-based Snapchat users between the ages of 13-24 surveyed in February who said they had used Live Stories and/or Discover reported doing so on at least a daily basis. That percentage falls to 23% when weighed against all of the survey’s respondents, including those who didn’t report using Live Stories and/or Discover at all.”

And there’s a few interesting charts too:

So fancy.

Anyway, a few things:

First, I have it on relatively good authority that the results of this survey in no way reflect the actual usage of the described audience in this research. Discover, for example is much higher.

Second, the use of ‘millennial’ here is painful.

‘Millennial’ is not only a cheap, lazy, and boring way to describe a homogenous group of around 80 million people IN THE U.S. ALONE (seriously – they can’t ALL be into the same things), but it’s also often predicated by a vast misunderstanding of exactly how old this group actually is.’

So yeah, Variety published this research and:

a) No one verified it with Snapchat / asked Snapchat for comment (weird, no?)
b) The audience are not Millennial (specifically lower-end millennials and Gen Z (see the New York Times for my favourite definition)
c) It’s U.S. only

So why am I sharing? Well, it is actually a decent read (no, really) however do please always try and look / dig a bit deeper into the data whenever and wherever you can.

Go read it and see for yourself.

4. VR WARNINGS

OK, so this REEKS of an April Fool’s prank but, having dug around as best I could, I’ve been unable to verify it one way or another. Whatever.

Let’s talk about this guy-

Source.

You’ve probably have seen this already. I have. Many times.

And I love it.

However what you may not have seen is the response given to The Boston Globe:

‘A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) told the Boston Globe that this sort of activity was “not advisable,” as it would make riders less aware of what’s going on around them.“The MBTA and Transit Police remind customers of the importance of being aware of their surroundings at all times.”’

Quartz even found a Boston police officer describing the chap above as ‘a soft target‘.

Can you imagine?

One year from now we could be seeing signs like this:

And that would be AMAZING.

5. FBI AND ANDROID

You may or may not [still] be following the whole San Bernardino / Apple / FBI case that’s been rumbling on for a few months now.  (here’s the cliff notes) and, if you’re an iPhone user, you’re probably really quite happy that Apple didn’t go ahead and ‘build a backdoor’ into its OS (meaning that, should you ever become an enemy of the state, your embarrassing selfies would be SAFE).

However! What if you’re an Android user? How could the FBI or any other government mandated organisation for that matter get into your sordid little device-held secrets?

William Enck, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and Adwait Nadkarni,
Ph.D. Student of Computer Science – both at North Carolina State University – decided to find out.

Proper good geeky read, that.

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Bonus items this week are as follows:

• YODEL are awful. I’ve had my share of woes this week. But instead of me moaning, I’m going to let Terence tell you how it is and, as a result, I’m going to be adopting his solution from now on.
• NIGHTMARE FUEL
• MAKE UP – I’m a dab hand at stage make up (look) – long story – and THIS EFFORT, being sported by one Mads Mikkelson on the set of the new DOCTOR STRANGE movie, is amazing.
• CUBA – this is a great (and important) read.
• 3D printing in space. IN. SPACE.

And that’s me.

IT’S THE WEEKEND!

GO GO GO!

PS. Chunky edition this week. Like it? Send me your feedback!

Tweets/emails/carrier pigeons all accepted.

 

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 1st, 2016.

April Fool’s Day. The one day of the year where I miss living at home with Mum most. I went to visit her last weekend (she packed up and moved to the seaside a year or so ago, see above) and we had a great time.

‘April Fool’s Day is coming up’, she said, nursing a cup of tea.

‘Yeah, I know’

‘Miss having you kids…’ (my sister and I) ‘…around. Do you remember when you swapped salt for sugar one year? The house went nuts. I thought it was brilliant.’

‘Yeah, and you put eggs in my shoes.’

‘But you wore a different pair! What about when I sewed up the sleeves on your dressing gown’

Me, laughing ‘Yeah, I’ll never forget that – I was going to give you the year off that year!!!’

Happy April Fool’s Day, Mum. I love you.

— right, shall we crack on with the things?

No jokes in here today.

1. HACKING WIKIPEDIA, IN ANGOLA

Let’s start with this – Motherboard is reporting a super interesting story of how the intrepid Internet inhabitants of Angola are using free services to access the content they want (as opposed to that which that they’re given).

Wikimedia and Facebook have given Angolans free access to their websites, but not to the rest of the internet. So, naturally, Angolans have started hiding pirated movies and music in Wikipedia articles and linking to them on closed Facebook groups, creating a totally free and clandestine file sharing network in a country where mobile internet data is extremely expensive.

Resourceful.

2. NETFLIX VS THE WORLD

Look at ^ these lovely people ^ – all sat around, counting down the seconds for Season 2 of DAREDEVIL to hit Netflix screens the world over. And when I say ‘the world over’, I mean it. Daredevil’s sophomore entry went live in 190 countries at the same time. Being a Netflix Original, like House of Cards, the entire season was available for streaming immediately. That’s a LOT of hard work.

WIRED was there covering the launch and, along with a fantastic write-up of the evening, takes its time explaining exactly what drives the endless success of this global machine.

A great read.

Related – this stereo / audio-only ‘trip into Daredevil’s head‘ is a neat activation. Nicely done. Decent headphones recommended. 

3. LEADERSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AGE

This is an excellent read.

As we continue our journey through the digital revolution, everything around us is changing. This piece posits that the next thing to change is leadership.

4. PLAYSTATION VR: INBOUND

Regular readers will know that I have a penchant for gaming – PlayStation 4 console gaming at that. Furthermore, you might already know that I’ve got a PlayStation VR headset on pre-order.

Aww yeah.

Wanna know why? Well, I penned a few words for this month’s Plaaayed Magazine on exactly what it is that I’m so excited about and you can read it online TODAY.

Go go go!

5. BEAUTIFUL

This is probably one of the most beautiful Superman stories I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot). It’s short, to the point, and if you’ve ever wondered why the hell some people geek out over something that you just can’t get your head around – this is an excellent starting point.

It’s just perfect.

Bonuses this week are as follows:

• How a TV sitcom (Friends) triggered the downfall of western civilization
• I don’t understand this Eurostar Instagram activation (via the permanently brilliant Damien)
• The only people who aren’t penalized for promoting diversity at work are white men
• KLM goes all in on Facebook Messenger (watch closely – this is the future of service)
• The path of a lightsaber

Oh, I feel like this whole thing has blown over now BUT last weekend a whole bunch of Instagram influencers lost their collective marbles over the FEAR around the new Instagram algorithm. If you know someone who’s still suffering, forward them this piece I wrote for The Drum on Tuesday (in short: calm down, Bridget).

Right, I’m off on holiday now.

See you on the other side!

PS. No podcast episode this week. But hey, why not go listen to an old one and pretend you’ve discovered time travel? Lol.

 

Whatley out.

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 25th, 2016.

1. THE ART OF THE FRIENDSHIP BREAKUP

This analysis on the art of friendship break up is actually quite lovely.

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2. LOOK INTO THE LENS

Herein please find a photographic record of people who look into the screen and not the lens during selfies. It’s just upsetting. Featuring such greats as:

And yeah, this is probably my favourite thing of the week.

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3. BATMAN V SUPERMAN (NO SPOILERS)

First thing first: this happened on Tuesday.

Awwwww yeaaaaah.

So that was nice.

And then I got to see Batman V Superman and, contrary to popular opinion, I thought it was really actually quite good. If you’re umming and ah-ing about whether or not you should see it this Easter weekend, then I’d absolutely recommend you do. Even if you fall into the naysayer party thereafter, I guarantee there will be moments that you can’t deny are excellent.

Ben Affleck is a great older, more grizzled, and world-weary Batman. In fact, I’d go further than that, I’d say he was nigh-on perfect. There are a few things you could pick at but the fact that Bat’s history is just there (e.g.: Wayne Manor isn’t what you expect it to be (and never explained why), you glimpse a defaced Robin outfit in the Batcave, and hell, if you really wanna stretch things out, you could explain away certain scenes as long-term side-effects from Scarecrow fear toxin) means the film is giving credit to its audience to just knowing about Bats and his background.

On a related note, Jeremy Irons as Alfred is (and always has been) inspired casting and he is no disappointment either, stealing almost every scene he appears in.

Henry Cavill continues to grow into his Superman pants. Wiser (but still learning, still naive) and more familiar with his own powers; he is Kal-el of Krypton. And it has to be said, the interplay between him and Batfleck is fantastic. The first time they both meet is excellent – and I pretty much grinned throughout the whole thing.

There are a number of cameos throughout, the most heavily trailered of which (and to be honest, the only trailered) was Gal Godot as Diana Prince, aka – Wonder Woman. It is honestly an extended cameo but the first time you see her rock out in full WW gear? The entire cinema cheered (both times I’ve seen the film – and I’ll come back to that). WW kicked ass, and I can’t wait for her own film next year.

So yeah, I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it so much I saw it again Friday morning (this morning in fact) in full IMAX (which, given that around 30mins of the film was shot using IMAX cameras, makes a difference).

If you’re a fan, I think you’ll like it. There’s a ton of stuff in there that hasn’t been spoiled / trailed yet and genuinely there are some true stand out moments. So y’know, go see it. And, if you can, in IMAX.

Is it a 2.5hr trailer for Dawn of Justice? Nah, not really. Is it a perfect superhero film? Of course not. But look, I’ve seen it twice now and I still think the critics are mostly wrong. Batman v Superman is actually great entertainment and both a worthy follow up to Man of Steel and a healthy set up for the DC cinematic universe. Some of it sign-posted, other parts not (as in, to labour the point, you definitely haven’t seen it in the trailers).

And hey, if you REALLY don’t like it, Lego Batman is out soon, so go see that instead.

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4. DID YOU HEAR ABOUT TAY?

You probably did. It was Microsoft’s ‘teen girl’ AI that turned into a Hitler-loving sex-robot within 24hrs. Really not kidding.

I reckon you’ve probably read about it already. What you probably haven’t read is Microsoft’s response ‘Learning from Tay’s introduction‘ that literally just went live.

Yeah, it went wrong. When they realised, they killed it.

And now they’re learning from it.

Fair play.

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5. THE TICK IS BACK!

Y’all know THE TICK, right? This guy!

Great cartoon.

He had a TV show once too.

Look:

(watch an episode on YouTube, why not?)

What’s MORE is that The Tick also has a LIVE ACTION TV series.

Check it:

All fairly zany etc but overall, a good laugh – in any form.

Why am I telling you this? Well, there’s GOOD NEWS. Thanks to the good folk at Amazon, this last iteration of our blue friend, is making a comeback. And what’s more, they just announced who would be donning the heroic mandibles and it’s none other than Mr Peter Serafinowicz.

If you’re familiar with either of these characters, you’ll love this announcement. If not, then GO LOOK INTO IT. LIKE NOW AND STUFF.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Tesco and its COMPLETELY made up farms – WTF?
• Finally, long-time readers will know how much I am a fan of Conan O’Brien. His short piece onthe late Garry Shandling is really worth a watch.
• Reasons why I love Fincher (#11772)

Now… go enjoy your weekend.

Whatley out.

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 18th, 2016.

1. SO, YOU WANT TO GO VIRAL
Or do you?

If you’ve been around or near the Internet over the past couple of weeks, you probably would’ve seen or read this tweet:

If only nature would find a way to cover these oranges so we didn’t need to waste so much plastic on them. pic.twitter.com/00YECaHB4D

— Nathalie Gordon (@awlilnatty) March 3, 2016

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It’s funny. Amazing. Saddening. All of the things, basically. And, as you can tell, it went super viral.

You might be thinking ‘Hey, how awesome that is for the lovely Nathalie. She gets an endless amount of internet-adulation-induced dopamine hits and there’ll be smiles all round!’ – right?

Yeah, maybe.

If you ever wanted to know what it’s like to go viral, Nathalie has a good write up (and a healthy pov on the world) – so go read.

2. ADIDAS AND CONTENT

I read this article last weekend:

‘How Adidas is using newsrooms to create five great pieces of content a week, not just five great ads a year‘

…and I thought ‘Eh? Surely, all brands approaching some level of social media / content publishing maturity have adopted this kind of approach? How is this news?’

I mean, like, what, seriously?

Case in point:

Real-time marketing needs to be about more than just ‘now’ at the world’s second biggest sportswear business. It needs to be laser-focused on telling the bigger brand story rather than content tied to the latest headlines in order to boost the relevance of social communications.

Wait, you mean… we have to tell brand stories? In social? In 2016?

NO. WAY.

I don’t know, maybe I’m feeling particularly bullish after a long week but, to me at least, this just reads like an inconsequential puff piece.

Read it.

Tell me what you you think.

3. GAMES FOR GOOD

I this. SO much.

I mean, what else is there to say?

Red Cross took a bunch of old arcade games, stuck some collection boxes underneath them, and then whacked them in airports.

It’s called ‘The Charity Arcade‘ and it made me really, really happy.

Well. Done.

4. TWITTER’S METRICS NARRATIVE

Yeah, so maybe it’s just a bullish week.

What started as a noodle after doing some Super Bowl research for a presentation ended up as a 750 word provocation on what Twitter was, where it is today, and where it’s going tomorrow.

If you follow me on Twitter you’ve probably seen me link to the article already (if you missed it, it’s here) however what you wouldn’t have read is the how.

Larry kicked it off, Flic was my first sounding board, Marshall prodded it further, Annabelle let me read it out loud, Sophie rearranged sentences and created statements, and Rob edited me down (from 1200 words).

In short, it’s rare that something I publish for the trades only goes through one set of eyes. And I thought that a) you should know that and b) the people that help should get thanked.

Oh, while we’re on Twitter.

1. The above article made someone question my use of the word ‘narrative’ – actually made my day.

2. There’s a thing going on about the ‘Twitter Snackarchist’ (you can read the awful press release here (with thanks to the third paragraph of last week’s Web Curios)) – I genuinely can’t explain the level of indifference that’s going on right now on this. The interesting thing however is the (ASA-alert-worthy) faux attempt at getting ‘slebs on board with the thing. I’ve complained to the ASA about stuff before and I considered it for this one too but then I thought that perhaps I’d just playing into the campaign’s hands. So I’m not going to. But hey, if you want to – go for it.

Or you could just never consider Frank PR for a pitch, ever.

One of the two.

5. GNI

One of the better things I’ve read this week. I’m not telling you what it is. I’m just going to let you click through and LOSE YOURSELF.

________________

Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Orson Wells doesn’t care.
• The PSVR got priced and dated this week. Yup, I’ve got one on preorder.
• The worst ad I’ve seen all week:

‘Guys, I’m not sure this ad promotes a positive image of women in tech’

‘Stick ‘front end developer’ on it’

‘OK!’ pic.twitter.com/IPwz3YdRCd

— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) March 17, 2016

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…and a reminder: when you see this BS – call it the eff out.

OK? Thanks.

Have an amazing weekend, y’all.

Whatley out, x

Things of note for the week ending March 11th, 2016.

1. #IWD2016
That hashtag stands for Internation Women’s Day 2016. That was on Tuesday. My contribution was to embark on some mad ‘Follow Friday’ on Twitter but a) not on a Friday and b) specifically for AMAZING women.

Today is #IWD2016 – tweets today will consist of one super long chain, all recommending you go follow the amazing women I follow on here.

— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) March 8, 2016

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If you missed it, you can find the many, many recommendations right here. Do me a favour and RT it when you get there so others can find the whole thing too.

Thanks you guys.

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2. CALMZINE – OUT NOW

Seen one of these before? No? Look harder!

Just before Christmas, the lovely people at CALM (hi Jojo!) asked me if I’d like to put something together for its Q1 edition of the free magazine it puts out – aka CALMzine (see above).

I love CALM. Big fan and long time supporter of the Campaign Against Living Miserably (never heard of them? Please go look them up – it’s an incredible cause) so of course, I said yes.

And I made it in!

Said edition is OUT NOW and available at (select) Topman stores across the country.  A fact about which I am immensely proud and generally super pleased.

Speaking of ‘super’, the piece itself is called ‘How to be a Superhero‘ [in five easy steps] – I like fives, who knew? And has been lovingly illustrated by the rather talented Samuel Williams.

If you can’t make it to your local Topman any time soon then you’ll be pleased to know that the article is available to read online as well (pages 6-7).

Or if all else fails, I have a copy of the mag in my bag right now so if you see me in the street say ‘Oi Whatters, show us your piece!’ and I’ll know exactly what you mean! 😉

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3. BATMAN ’89

iO9 has this coverage of a (sadly canned) proposal for the ‘BATMAN ’89’ comic book series. Set to pick up straight after Tim Burton’s Batman movies, the pitch included more of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman as well as an introduction to Burton-universe versions of Poison Ivy et al.

If you’re a bit of a bat-geek, you’ll love this.

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4. GALAXY QUEST STUFF

For no reason other than I found a couple of interesting articles on this this week.

First is this ‘Oral History of Galaxy Quest‘. Featuring such nuggets as:

“Tim Allen used to kick the door open to the make-up trailer. We would be all lined up and he would say “Number one is here!””

And

“When I was in that Captain’s chair I was not mimicking William Shatner, with whom I’m now friends because of this movie. I liked the way Yul Brynner sat in his throne in “The Ten Commandments.” I worked off of that. I studied that. Well, I rented the tape.”

I found the link to that one from this list of ‘33 things you probably never knew about the making of Galaxy Quest‘ - which, while occasionally doubling up on factoids, is also a bloody good read.

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5. KIDS: DON’T POST ABOUT ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

This is interesting.

The New York Times writes:

“Recently, university researchers asked children and parents to describe the rules they thought families should follow related to technology.

In most cases, parents and children agreed — don’t text and drive; don’t be online when someone wants to talk to you. But there was one surprising rule that the children wanted that their parents mentioned far less often: Don’t post anything about me on social media without asking me.

As in, no pictures of them asleep in the back of the car. No posts about their frustration with their homework. That victory picture after the soccer game? Maybe. The frustrated rant about the fight you just had over laundry? No way.”

If you’ll forgive the oxymoron, I find this as unsurprising as it is surprising. Why wouldn’t children, children who have grown up not only with social media platforms being an every day presence in their lives but also with their parents having their own pages and profiles on said platforms, want a say in what is said about them online?

This has been a long time coming and the babies that were born the same year as Facebook was founded quite rightly want to exercise control over how their own digital legacy is being shaped.

Intriguing.

Much to noodle on, wouldn’t you say?

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Porsche and Mercedes say congrats to BMW (classy)
• The clocks at Grand Central Station are wrong (on purpose) 
• Atlas shrugged (at what we all knew already)
• There’s solid in here.

___________

 

AND YOU THOUGHT WE’D GO THIS FAR WITHOUT ME MENTIONING THE CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR TRAILER?!

Amazing.

Things of note for the week ending Friday March 6th, 2016.

1. GHOSTBUSTERS

So, the new trailer dropped.

I watched it. I thought, without really thinking, ‘Oh, y’know, that looks okaaay…’ – I wasn’t paying attention.

That’s my excuse, at least.

And then I saw this.

(click on the image to see the tweet)

And it changed my mind completely.

Completely.

I felt stupid. Small. And idiotic.

Watch the trailer, then click on the above image to see the tweet-chain that changes everything about it.

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2. CONTACTLESS NONSENSE

Seen this (or something like it) lately?

Yeeeeeaaah, it’s BS.

Like, complete and total B. S.

TL:DR – theoretically possible, but the crime would need to be very sophisticated, meaning it would be very rare. According to relevant entities, this crime has not been widely reported. You’d also get refunded. There are also bigger worries when it comes to contactless payment technology.

Want the facts? They’re right here.

Basically, feel free to go tell your crazy uncle on Facebook that he has no idea what he’s talking about.

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3. SORRY

As a great man once said: ‘Is it too late now to say sorry? ’cause I’m missing more than just your body, oh. Is it too late now to say sorry? Yeah, I know-oh-oh, that I let you down. Is it too late to say I’m sorry now?’

Now imagine said man was a Brit. He wouldn’t be asking if it were too late to say sorry. He would be saying sorry for asking, and then would apologise further for the interruption. And then maybe say sorry once more for the hell of it.

Why?

Let the Beeb explain.

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__

4. #NOFILTERFEB
It ended on Monday. I wrote about it when it started a little over a month ago, here. It’s ‘over’ now (well, as much as it can be).

If you missed it, you should go read the debrief.

Please.

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5. UNPUBLISHED AMAZING PHOTOS

From National Geographic, no less.

That’s two.

You’ll find another 23 over on Bored Panda.

If you’re a bored panda, you’ll enjoy this casual browse.

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Your bonuses this week are:

• Shaken Cocktails have launched a bottle shop – YES GUYS.
• Seen Deadpool? You gotta read this.
• In the #OgilvyTrends2016 presentation (available on slideshare and presented most recently at the new Ogilvy Amphitheatre (see image at the top of this post) amazing) I said that we had hit ‘peak millennial’. The Drum asked some super smart people for their opinion on this and boy, did they give it. Great reading.

And that’s me done.

It’s the weekend! YES!

And you know you’re gonna spend it in front of Netflix, BINGE-WATCHING HOUSE OF CARDS — DON’T YOU?!

Whatley out.

x

 

Things of note for the week ending Friday February 26th, 2016.

People of the Internet, hello.

Oh, that reminds me of something. Do you have to give presentations or ever have to speak publicly at all? Next time, instead of saying ‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen’ – say instead ‘Ladies and gentlemen, good morning’.

You see, by the time you’ve finished saying the former, the crowd have only just realised you were talking to them but missed the first bit because they were looking at their phones/still talking etc. In the case of the latter, you’re addressing the crowd first and only then do you say ‘Good morning’ (or good evening, or whatever).

Try it.

And when it works, explain it to the audience too.

Right then, we have some things to get through don’t we?

Onwards!

1. #OBAMAANDKIDS

This hashtag is adorable*.

There’s so much to say about this wonderful, wonderful thing. Business Insider has a great run down of the 60 best photos, Twitter made a moment, and Time has a piece on it too.

This:

We’ll probably never truly be able to measure the impact that President Barack Obama has had on our children. As we enter the final year of his presidency, we will cherish and hold onto the great moments of progress and accomplishment. We will celebrate not just Barack Obama as a president, but also as a husband and a father. A man who has led this country with a deep love for all of it citizens, especially the ones who have yet to understand the historical meaning of the past eight years.

Beautiful.

Go browse the links above and enjoy.

*Yep, never said that before.

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2. NASA’S TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

These have been around the block over the past fortnight but they’re simply too gorgeous to ignore.

Visit Mars!

Visit Europa!

Visit HD 40307g!

There are more (with some interesting copy too) over at the source.

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3. WATCHING ROCKY II WITH MUHAMMAD ALI

This is one of my favourite reads of the week:

July 31st, 1979. And this Roger Ebert is at Muhammad Ali’s mansion to accompany him to a special screening of the newly released Rocky II.

It’s at this point in the FToF proceedings that I tend to pull out a direct quote or paraphrase something from the article I’m imploring you to read.

Not this time. No no.

This time you’re just going to have to go read it (it’s won’t be disappointed).

_—_

4. PHOTO OF THE WEEK

You’ve all seen it.

But what you may not have seen is this killer opening paragraph from The Verge:

The image above looks like concept art for a new dystopian sci-fi film. A billionaire superman with a rictus grin, striding straight past human drones, tethered to machines and blinded to reality by blinking plastic masks. Golden light shines down on the man as he strides past his subjects, cast in gloom, toward a stage where he will accept their adulation. Later that night, he will pore across his vast network and read their praise, heaped upon him in superlatives, as he drives what remains of humanity forward to his singular vision.

AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING.

That is all.

_-_-_

5. CAKE OR DEATH?
This isn’t an Izzard story (but I do love this retort) – sorry. It’s just an excuse to post some photos of amazing cakes.

Don’t want death? OK – cake it is.

There are many more…. at the link!

_-_-___-_-_

… ./

Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Beyonce at it again? And by ‘again’ I mean, this example from ages ago. The FTC will not be happy, yo.
• Lol.
• I’m a big fan of The Awl but this week’s edition properly made me laugh.
• Remember in November (see item 2) when I said that Facebook’s new ‘immersive ad’ unit would launch in Q1 of 2016? Nailed it.
• I wrote a blog post this week about how the launch of Sky Q made me reconsider my Sky TV package, end up cancelling the whole thing, and replace it with an Amazon Fire TV. It’s one of the most popular posts of the past 12mths. If you missed it, you can find it here.

And that’s it, I’m out.

…

Anyone got a Darth Vader outfit I can borrow?

 

 

Things of note for the week ending Friday February 19th, 2016.

Before we kick off, quite a few of you got in touch to tell me that you couldn’t access the ‘Dumb ass stuff we need to stop saying to Dads’ post from last week’s bonus items.

I’ve no idea why the original author’s website is [now] private, however I did find it republished over on Huffington Post (same author!). So go check it out.

I’m a Dad, and I appreciated this – much.

1. MOBILE, SMARTPHONES, AND HINDSIGHT

Ben Evans is off to Mobile World Congress. As he sets off on his grand adventure, he reflects upon how the conference used to look some ten-fifteen years ago.

My, has it changed.

A good read for myriad reasons but, if you’ve ever worked in or even had a passing interest/sway towards all things mobile – go read Ben’s latest post.

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2. I SAW DEADPOOL

Seen it yet? Yes? What did you think? No? Why not?

Me? I thought it was ace. Definitely worth seeing too; to my mind it’s a pretty good antidote to every superhero film you’ve ever seen ever.

That said, James Gunn, director of the last super amazing comic-book-film-that-everyone-thought-would-fail-because-it-was-so-unlike-everything-else-that-came-before-it (Guardians of the Galaxy), gave a pretty good quote on why he thinks it works.

Clue: it isn’t what Hollywood thinks.

Ahem –

“After every movie smashes records people here in Hollywood love to throw out the definitive reasons why the movie was a hit,” he said. “I saw it happen with Guardians. It ‘wasn’t afraid to be fun’ or it ‘was colorful and funny’ etc etc etc. And next thing I know I hear of a hundred film projects being set up ‘likeGuardians,’ and I start seeing dozens of trailers exactly like the Guardians trailer with a big pop song and a bunch of quips. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

“Deadpool wasn’t that,” he continued. “Deadpool was its own thing. THAT’S what people are reacting to. It’s original, it’s damn good, it was made with love by the filmmakers, and it wasn’t afraid to take risks. For the theatrical experience to survive, spectacle films need to expand their definition of what they can be. They need to be unique and true voices of the filmmakers behind them. They can’t just be copying what came before them.

“So, over the next few months, if you pay attention to the trades, you’ll see Hollywood misunderstanding the lesson they should be learning with Deadpool. They’ll be green lighting films ‘like Deadpool’ — but, by that, they won’t mean ‘good and original’ but ‘a raunchy superhero film’ or ‘it breaks the fourth wall.’ They’ll treat you like you’re stupid, which is the one thing Deadpool didn’t do.

“But hopefully in the midst of all this there will be a studio or two that will take the right lesson from this — like Fox did with Guardians by green-lighting Deadpool — and say, ‘Boy, maybe we can give them something they don’t already have.’ And that’s who is going to succeed.”

Shame Hollywood isn’t listening though.

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3. APPLE VS THE FBI

You’ve probably read the letter already. But what you probably haven’t read is this excellent explanation of the entire sitch via Troy Hunt.

Definitely worth five minutes of your time.

And, when you’re done there, catch up on the latest updates still developing.

___________________

4. STEVE MARTIN DOES STAND UP

Big woop, right? No no, really. It really is.

This is a wonderful article.

Well, it would be. Except, I saw Steve Martin – LIVE – in person at the Montreal Just For Laughs festival in July 2010.

(that’s my actual thumb)

I remember it being a huge deal because a) he hadn’t done stand up in SO long and b) in the history of the show, he had never appeared at the Just For Laughs festival – EVER. So the festival had a lot to celebrate. Anyway, Martin was charming, musical, and very, very funny. I felt so lucky and blessed to have seen it and experienced it.

Just like the author of this article.

Sincerely, do read it – it is an excellent piece.

___________________

5. FRIGHTENED RABBIT

Frightened Rabbit used to be one of my favourite bands. They came out with an incredible debut album, stayed number one of my all time top played Spotify tracks/playlist for like, ever, and then… well, and then I went to see them live and afterwards in the bar the lead singer unsuccessfully attempted to chat up my then girlfriend.

You can kinda go off people sometimes.

THAT SAID… FR have a new album on the way out and you can listen to the new track from said LP right here.

I hold a grudge for no man.

…

___________________

Bonuses this week are as follows.

• I was supposed to include this ‘How to Snapchat like a pro‘ article in last week’s edition (when it was fresh news). Chances are you’ve read it already. If not? Read it now.
• Some words are great metaphors, ‘Rape’ is not one of them <- I thought long and hard about putting this one in but honestly, it’s an important conversation to have and something to think about, and even call out, when you hear it being thrown around in such a way. The article articulates it far better than I ever could – so go read it.
  
• Agency navel-gazing or genuine industry change? I wrote some words re: ‘digital’ job titles (would love your input).
• ‘Why I walked out of Zoolander 2‘
• In our 2016 Digital Trends, Marshall Manson and I said to lookout for mobile networks moving into the adblocking space. Oh, lookie here.

….

…

..

.

And that’s me… now go enjoy your weekend!

Things of note for the week ending Friday February 12th, 2016.

Hello and welcome to this week’s Five things on Friday. It’s been 163 editions of this bad boy now and, as I write this to you, I wonder if you’re out there… and how you’re doing.

Do let me know.

Shall we?

1. THE TWITTER ALGORITHM (AND HOW TO TURN IT OFF)

^ Which was pretty much the reaction of the entire Internet ^

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past two months, you’d be forgiven for not knowing a single thing about this:

If you missed the memo: Twitter now has an algorithm. The point of which is to serve up the Tweets that it thinks you’ll want to see first. And by ‘first’, it means – when you open the app. After that, you can just pull down on the app as per and you’ll go back to your normal timeline.

Lovely.

A few things to note –

First, it’s not that bad! Give it a go, you might like it.

Second, any marketers out there throwing your toys out because you want traditional Twitter, just stop. Think about it for a moment – all those [average] users out there who’ll wake up with this feature switched on and just won’t switch it off? I’d gamble the number would be quite high. These users, they’re the ones you’re talking to. So why not ensure you’re having the same experience as those people? Y’know, so you’ve got an idea about what you’re actually talking about?

Third, if you’re still freaking out about it – here’s how you turn it off:

Web:

iOS:

Android:

So that’s that. All clear? Great.

Shall we move on?

Oh! Wait! Bonus Twitter stuff!

I got asked for a quote about what it this all means for brands. The published version looked like this:

“These changes will have little to no impact,” claimed James Whatley, digital director Ogilvy & Mather, “ultimately the best content will shine through.”
–
Discussing tests Twitter ran around organic tweets and posts from events, both of which noted an increase in user engagement, he told The Drum: “As a result, two kinds of things will happen. On one hand you’ll have the knee-jerk marketer, who will quickly try to fill their content calendars with more organic content covering a vast array of live events.
–
“On the other, the savvy marketer, who will continue with their well thought-through content strategy and perhaps keep an out on when this change might become relevant to the brand that they work on.”

The unedited version is below (my answers in italics):

How will brands adapt their content to riff off and make best use of these latest developments?

For our many of our clients, these changes will have little to no impact. Ultimately, the best content shines through. Twitter itself stated that with this feature switched on, users Tweet and Retweet more on the platform meaning brands such as Pizza Hut Delivery, Kronenbourg 1664, or WWF can reach a more engaged potential audience.

What impact will the move have on the way brands produce organic content around trending topics?

Twitter ran some tests that proved that organic Tweets from brands, as well as Tweets around live events; both saw an increase in user engagement. As a result, two kinds of things will happen. On one hand you’ll have the knee-jerk marketer, who will quickly try to fill their content calendars with more organic content covering a vast array of live events. On the other, the savvy marketer, who will continue with their well thought-through content strategy and perhaps keep an out on when this change might become relevant to the brand that they work on.

What will be the main concerns for brands/marketers around new timeline?

The main concerns will be around how it’ll effect the monthly reporting. The lower end of the poor performing content will get poorer and poorer. And explaining that one away YoY will be tough. There’s one simple rule: [it’s like Facebook all over again] don’t make awful content.

I’ve been quite bullish on things like this of late. Maybe it’s the now 10 years I’ve been working in digital now. Crumbs. Maybe.

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2. A NEW 3D PRINTER (IT’S SO FAST)

I’ve 3D printed stuff before. It’s amazing but it takes TIME. And lots of it. Hours, days, weeks even. Especially for complicated jobs. It’s hard enough to make the tech go mainstream as it is – even in the face of such expensive hardware – that level of time investment just isn’t viable.

There’s a new process in town though, it’s called ‘The Intelligent Liquid Interface’, and it speeds up 3D printing to this level –

Well, that might be sped up slightly but look at the minute counter on the bottom left – 0 to 8mins and boom, super quick 3D printing!

I think this is awesome.

Fastco.exist has more.

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3. TARANTINO (TWICE)

I stumbled across these couple of videos this week. They’re pretty old but I really enjoyed them. They’re two interviews with Tarantino as he discusses one of his all time favourite films, Taxi Driver. If you’re a fan of either Tarantino or Taxi Driver, then go watch them.

That is all.

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4. FORMATION DOESN’T INCLUDE ME (AND THAT’S JUST FINE)

The above image, and title, are taken from an incredible piece by Kate Forristall. There is a lot that’s been both said and written about Beyoncé’s performance at the Superbowl.

This is one of the many that stood out.

(the article she links to halfway through it pretty amazing too)

If you missed it, then go educate yourself.

If you didn’t miss it, then go read it and add more to your POV.

———————————————

5. THE EX-AMERICANS

How’s this:

According to the US Treasury, a record 4,279 individuals renounced their US citizenship or long-term residency in 2015 – an increase of 20% on the previous year, which was itself a record-breaking year. In 2010, just 1,006 gave up being US citizens, but since then the numbers have risen every year.

The main suspected reason? Tax. Or in the case of Americans working overseas: double taxation. I’d heard of this before but the BBC has a really good piece on it and once you read it, you’ll understand why so many US citizens are considering renouncing the nation that makes them so proud.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Things to stop saying to Dads.
• Instagram ads? They’re longer now.
• Everyone’s got an opinion on Twitter – including Wall Street.
• Steve Waddington is one of the most useful men on the Internet.
• GRAVITATIONAL WAVES!!!

Right then, that’s me.

Off to bed.

Whatley out.