whatleydude.com

Things of note for the week ending Friday 13th May, 2016.

In the week that brought us:

One has to wonder: how does anyone truly cope with it all?

Speaking of which: as you read this, I’ll be on holiday (again) – hurrah! – last one for the year mind, I think. Summer is coming and the heat in London really, truly is something I adore.

Bring it.

AND SPEAKING OF BRINGING IT.

It is time to bring you – THE THINGS!

…///…

1. THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE

Little known fact: one of my favourite documentaries of all time is a film called ‘LOST IN LA MANCHA‘.

For the uninitiated, LILM is the documentary of Terry Gilliam’s spectacular failure to make the film adaptation of ‘Don Quizote de la Mancha’.

“Director Terry Gilliam is the latest filmmaker to try and bring Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra‘s “Don Quixote de la Mancha” to the big screen, the movie to be called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Before filming even begins, Gilliam, who has moved from Hollywood studio to European financing, will have to scale back his vision as his budget has been slashed from $40 million to $32 million, still astronomical by European standards. But Gilliam is a dreamer, much like his title character, and his vision for the movie is uncompromising, meaning with the reduced budget that there is no margin for error and that some of his department heads may have to achieve miracles with their allotted moneys. During pre-production and actual filming, what Gilliam does not foresee is contractual and health issues with his actors, and the effects of Mother Nature. The question is does Gilliam have a Plan B if/when things go wrong.”

I saw it when it first came out (so what – 2002?) in a tiny arthouse cinema in Wales. It’s a long story as to how I found myself there but I’m glad I did because the film was wonderful. It really is quite amazing just how many things go wrong for Gilliam as he tries to bring his vision to life. As observers to this misfortune, the audience gets to not only see behind the scenes of what and how you make a movie (or not, in this case) but also witness the occasional finished scene (a younger Johnny Depp stars) to boot.

You should see it.

All that said: this is not the thing I want to tell you about.

What I wanted to tell you about was that somehow Gilliam has managed to reboot his project and the original ambition for the film has been reborn. With Adam Driver seemingly picking up where Johnny Depp left off, I’m already well up for seeing this (or the documentary sequel – either or works for me).

—- /// —

2. ICE CREAM FOR EVERYONE // ME

A couple of editions ago I recommended to you all go and start listening to the podcast known as ‘ICE CREAM FOR EVERYONE’. At that time, I also mentioned that I’d recorded an episode with the host of said audio program and that you should look out for it over the coming weeks.

WELL LOOK NO MORE!

Episode 25, featuring yours truly, is out now!

Now look, I’m not assuming for one second that you’re sat there staring at your screen thinking ‘Oh my God! MORE content from James Whatley! YES!’ – however, I must say: I really, really enjoyed this conversation.

I’ll be honest, given Willem‘s background in communications strategy, I’d primed myself for an hour of strategic mental gymnastics about what makes advertising matter etc… But that’s not what happened. Instead, Willem asked me about all the different things he’d come to know about me in the 7 or 8 years we’ve known each other and, well, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

In short: listen to this if you fancy something different.

PS. If you like the show, let Willem know – he’s on Twitter as @HippoWill.

— // –

3. JAMES BOND + RADIOHEAD + STAR WARS = ?

Thanks to Felicity for this one.

What happens when you cross James Bond’s [cancelled] Radiohead theme with an amazing re-take of the opening credits of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK?

Well, why not find out?

I must admit, you get these kinds of things quite often out on teh interwebz but this one really stood out as something that should be worth sharing.

Enjoy.

4. SPIES LIKE US

I’m somewhere in the air over Munich and I’ve just finished reading this Guardian feature. The headline in the above image says it all really.

It is easily the best thing in this week’s FToF by far.

Go read.

5. MARVEL FILMS

In last week’s edition I mentioned that CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR is probably in my top three all time favourite Marvel films. My good friend, Scott Gould, emailed me and ask me how I’d rank all of them. I couldn’t help but take the bait…

Here is THE definitive* list of the best Marvel (and we’re only talking MCU here), ranked:

1. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
2. AVENGERS: ASSEMBLE
3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
4. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
5. IRON MAN
6. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
7. ANT-MAN
8. THOR
9. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
10. THOR: THE DARK WORLD
11. IRON MAN 3
12. IRON MAN 2
13. THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Disagree? Tell me. Comment on the blog, tweet at me, or just reply to the email (if you get this as an email).

I want to hear from you.

–///–

Bonuses this week are either MENTAL or PROVOCATIVE.

• Bonus 1: A folding robot made of pig parts can remove batteries from stomachs with magnets.
• Bonus 2: Scientists declare that octopuses are basically aliens – (not kidding).
• Bonus 3: Video views as a metric are basically 100% BS.
• Bonus 4: Jed is blogging again – (good read, this).
• Bonus 5: NASA casually announced 1200+ new planets.

—- //// —-

Right, the weekend is here. I’m on holiday.

I’m outta here.

——

—

*And by definitive, I mean COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DEFINITIVE.

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

OH HELLO THERE, YOU.

Apologies to the gorgeous readers who SUBSCRIBE to this nonsense who, rather unfortunately, received a blank copy of FToF last weekend (post Seven things on Sunday, at least (if you’re new here, this will make no sense to you whatsoever)) as yours truly doesn’t know the difference between a draft and publish – numpty.

Your forgiveness is, as ever, appreciated.

Crapness over.

Onwards with… THE THINGS!

1. THE NEON DEMON

“When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.”

Nicolas Winding Refn is back with THE NEON DEMON. I actually have no idea when it’s out but if, like me, you’re a fan of NFW’s work, then you’re probably going to get a kick out of the trailer.

Bring it.

2. GOT ONE OF THESE? SHARE IT.

Last week was a struggle so this week I was determined to find a bunch of super interesting things to sate the thirst of internet that you dear reader just… can’t… quench.

Which meant I had to dig into some old sources.

WHICH MEAN I found awesome articles such as: ‘Seven Books That Will (Probably) Never Be Printed Again‘.

It’s a great read. The first one on the list is ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High

3. YET ANOTHER X-MEN THING
Yes, I know I did one of these last week (those posters were awesome, right?) this one just totally takes the biscuit.

Seen the latest trailer for X-MEN: APOCALYPSE? It’s pretty good. If you haven’t, go watch it. I’ll wait.

…

.

Back? OK!

Well, this build on it is pretty fantastic.

Ready?

HERE GOES.

Someone has made a frickin’ 90s cartoon version of it!

In short: YouTube user ‘Philysteak‘ has recreated the entire trailer using clips from the [brilliant] 90s cartoon.

Go watch it.

— sidenote: I caught CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR last night. It’s probably in my top three all time Marvel films. It’s excellent. The Russo brothers have done it again and, y’know, you should see it.

4. GO PRO TO SPACE

Another video. But it’s worth it.

Someone strapped a GoPro to a rocket and sent it into space.

Watch that then.

5. VIRTUAL BED TIME STORIES

VR is coming for your children.

….//

/..

_________________

Bonuses this week are as follows –

• The over-50s love the internet and no one seems to know how to market to them.
• ‘What is it like to be a millennial?’ – these photographers replied.
• Thanks to Kate for this post on ‘Why I won’t RT you‘ – mainly for reminding me that I had FToF to write this week but for also providing a fairly good justification for not RT-ing stuff.
• Woodpeckers of Cuba
• I’m part way through reading this – it’s good.

_________________

OK gang…

Until next time.

Whatley Out.

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 29th Sunday May 1st, 2016.

And you thought I’d forgotten…

As if I could?

It has been [yet another] crazy busy week at work and (add to that a hugely overwhelming bunch of amazing plans this weekend), surprise surprise, that has had a knock-on effect on the timeliness of this here publication.

I would apologise however I’m fairly sure I said from the outset that even though the thing is called Five things on Friday, it doesn’t actually mean that it goes out on a Friday. That’s just the intention. And there’s actual small print too that warns that sometimes life gets in the way, I might forget, or y’know what – I just fancy writing it a bit later than usual.

All that being said, by way of recompense, please find below for your delectation a bumper edition of FtoF – something that I have called (as the observant amongst you perhaps may have already spotted): ‘Seven things on Sunday’.

Hurrah and hurrah again.

PS. It’s a good edition this week so don’t be one of those awful people who unsubscribe just because it didn’t arrive on a Friday.

That would be silly.

And mean.

And nobody likes mean people. Right?

Right.

OK, where were we?

That’s right…

TO THE THINGS!

/// /// /// /// /// /// ///

1. NEW DANGERMOUSE

File this one under ‘N’ for ‘Not sure if want’.

So apparently – THIS WEEKEND – new Dangermouse is hitting Netflix screens.

AND I AM NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT.

(Here’s an original episode, for reference)

Have you watched it yet?

Is it awful?

Let me know…

_____________________

2. HOLLY, HOLLY, HOLLY!

Here are some facts about Holly Brockwell:

• Fact one: Holly and I have never met.
• Fact two: Holly has written easily some of the best things on the Internet over the past five years (#AppleEvent is still a fave – but there have been a whole bunch of others too – go read).
• Fact three: the unbelievable amount of God-awful abuse this woman has to put up with EVERY DAY is unbelievable. It is a testament to her resilience that Holly is still online at all.
• Fact four: Last year, Holly was voted/awarded ‘Woman of the Year’ by The Drum/SheSays.
• Fact five: from what I can tell – Holly does not take shit from any one.
• Fact six: Holly is the Editor at Gadgette (the tech site for people who (amongst other things) find that ‘Oh, it comes in pink’ is a really poor way of marketing to women – y’know, so you, reading this, for example) and it is a fantastic online publication that you should all check out.
• Fact seven: I first wrote about Holly’s writing on FtoF last year (see aforementioned #AppleEvent link) but, having dug into things a bit more (we’ll come to that) it turns out I’ve been reading about the awesome she spreads in the world since at least 2013. That’s pretty cool.

If any of the above facts (it was five, I bumped it to seven because Sundays #YOLO) make you want to find out more, then you must must must read this fantastic (and brilliantly sarcastic) interview of the super smart Holly Brockwell, as conducted by one Trevor Beattie.

_______

3. THE LAST GENERATION OF TOKEN WOMEN

Here’s an interesting read:

I really enjoyed this piece, by one Jess Greenwood, which posits that while ‘token women’ is the current way to point out and/or highlight too many dudes (yes, of course there’s a Tumblr) it’s also perhaps refreshing that – if we work hard enough – this could be the last generation of token women that we ever see.

Go read it – there’s a manifesto and everything.

4. PERSIL – WHAT?

My friend Angus (and his friend Johnny) put some ads out this week. Nothing new. They both work in advertising (Ogilvy, to be clear) and so, as an agency, we’re supposed to put ads out, right?

Well, I ran into Angus in the corridor last week and he mentioned ‘The Aardman stuff we’ve been working on is finally going live!’ and it has, and it’s brilliant.

The first one ‘Monster Stains’ is below – the image links to the video – tap that now.

Tapped it? Clicked it? Watched it? Charming as hell, right?

Here’s the boring ad press release part:

‘To demonstrate Persil’s stain removal power, Ogilvy came up with the innovative idea of creating a stop-frame animation using school shirts as the canvas and tough stains as the paint. Aardman was chosen as the ideal partner for its best-in-class animation techniques. They created a unique colour palette using 28 common household stains, including everything from gravy and jam to grass and chocolate ice cream.’

Amazing.

Anyway, there are more and you can view them over here.

/// //// //

5. X-MEN APOCALYPSE

Not the first time I’ve chatted about X-Men (and probably not the last). The third part of the First Class trilogy is out soon – aka ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ and, if you’ve seen the trailer, you probably already know that it looks suitably massive and amazing etc.

But that’s not why it’s here this week.

XMA is here this week because of the below AWESOME POSTER(S) as designed by Needle Design (and spotted on ze Twitters) last week.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!

There are tons more available to view on their Twitter ‘media page‘ and I’m sure if you look hard enough you could probably buy a couple too.

6. GUYLINER
No, not a thing about the questionable fashion choices I made in late 2007 (there is ONE photo and no, I’m not sharing). Instead, a thing about the website known as ‘The Guyliner‘.

It first came to my attention when I stumbled across this eloquent piece on ‘How to reject an apology‘ (powerful reading – so maybe start with this one). I bookmarked it (no I didn’t) and thought I’d come back to the writing again at some point (I did that) – probably for sharing in FtoF.

And then I started following the author on Twitter…

AND THEN I discovered his weekly roast of the Guardian’s Blind Date column and I am HOOKED (Kat and Nick were my gateway drug, if you were wondering).

So yeah, there’s MORE READING for you.

Go and laugh until your coffee comes out of your nose.

I did.

7. BRITISH HOME STORES
Small thing: the demise of BHS on the high street will be argued about in the press, the trades, and even in the courts by the looks of things.

But let’s be clear: NOT HAVING A TWITTER STRATEGY was not the reason why it failed.

Imbecile.

_______________________

Bonus items are as follows:

• Do you know this man? (lol)
• Prince, Blackness, and Sexuality
• Hold the ones you love

Until next time…

Which will probably be Friday.

Probably.

Whatley out.

Things of note for the week ending Friday April 22nd, 2016.

1. APPLE WATCH: ONE YEAR ON

This post ‘A year after its launch, it’s now clear that pretty much no one needs an Apple Watch‘ pretty much nails what everyone thought about the Apple Watch at announcement: it’s a nice to have, not a must have.

I really like paying for things with my Apple Watch. The servers at the coffee shop that I’ve gone to every morning for the last year or so never remembered me from one day to the next. But then, when they got a new payments terminal that accepted Apple Pay, they started remembering me, and one server now refers to me as “the Apple Watch guy.” And that’s who I am now. No one would say that about someone whipping out a new iPhone or Macbook. Though if I started riding in every morning on a hoverboard, or started wearing VR goggles in-store, I’d probably get a new nickname.

This is interesting to me.

For several reasons.

For starters, I am now on my second Pebble smart watch. Having upgraded from the original, I now sport the Pebble Time Steel variant and am very happy with the benefits that it brings.

I’ve written about this before.

And yet I do not find my Pebble experience matching up with any of the author’s Apple Watch experiences (least of all the battery life, with my PTS weighing in a hefty ten days of usage before needing a charge). This could be down to price, perception, or even just plain brand expectation – Pebble the punchy start-up, Apple… not.

Apple hasn’t said how many watches it has sold—wasn’t immediately available to comment for this story—but estimates suggest upwards of 5 million have been sold to date. Apple sold nearly 75 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2015 alone, which leaves a lot of people who have iPhones and didn’t see the need to tack on a $300-or-more accessory to that purchase. Considering some estimates show that over 60% of US adults wear watches, there should have been a lot of room for growth.

Sidenote, Quartz is probably one of my favourite online publications right now. A lot of what I’m reading/recommending comes from Quartz and I enjoy the output. You should go explore some time.
__

__

2. THE FACEBOOK / F8 10 YEAR ROADMAP

I’m a little late with the F8 analysis/write-up, so I’m not going to weigh in where so many others have already (this Buzzfeed piece is a highlight) however one thing I did want to point out – and perhaps even admire – is this chart shown at said conference.

[click to embiggen]

You see this and you think ‘Holy hell, Facebook! You guys are amazing! What a plan! And you’ve shared it with us too!’ – and it is impressive.

What I find more impressive is that everyone immediately took this at face value and didn’t ask at which point we were standing at right now. Facebook is 12 years old. It opened fully to everyone ten years ago this September (brands, why start thinking about your super-relevant ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY FACEBOOK’ posts right now?) which kinda means we should be at the 10 year mark now.

And I guess we are. VR/AR is right around the corner, AI-driven bots were showcased as The Next Big Thing at F8, and drones that broadcast INTERNET FROM THE SKY are also imminent.

The really cool thing would be if the roadmap had been written ten years ago. But it wasn’t. It was more of a ‘Look, here’s where we’ve been and look, this is right around the corner’. Less a roadmap, more a 2016/17 planning document with a few pages of your diary thrown in the front.

Impressive? Yes. Roadmap? No.

____

____

3. KURT VONNEGUT ON THE SHAPE OF STORIES

Exactly what it says on the tin – 4mins long – go on, spoil yourself.

____

____

4. MY FIVE REGRETS

I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about The Listserve before. You join a lottery with 20,000 or so other people. Every day, one of you gets to email the other 19,999 subscribers. It’s hit and miss but, the awesome thing is, every now and then, out of nowhere, you get a piece of solid gold delivered to your inbox.

As a list of Five Things is always made better by another list of five things and this list is a list of Five Regrets. However, said list is underpinned by a thought. A thought that, should you wish to live with no regrets, perhaps may not speak to you directly. However, when the writer of this recent Listserve met a tipsy old lady at a bar in Denver, it became clear that maybe no regrets wasn’t really worth it.

“You only get five regrets in life. If you come across a sixth regret, you have to let go of one of the other five.” – she said.

This old lady was as confident in this “5 Regret Rule” as she was drunk, so I’m assuming she’s operating on some kind of insider information and this rule is a real thing we all must follow. As I’ve gotten older, my list of regrets has morphed from things that were very specific (“I should have asked that girl out freshman year” or “I shouldn’t have gotten arrested those three times”) to a list of bigger picture regrets. Perhaps this is a sign that I’m growing up.

Here’s a link to the five regrets that he went to write afterwards.

Worth a read.

Worth a think.

________

________

5. CATASTROPHE

Have you seen/watched/heard of CATASTROPHE?

If you haven’t, seek it out. It’s actually brilliant.

If you have, then you’re probably going to enjoy this excellent profile of one half the writing team behind the show, Sharon Horgan* – ‘The Brutal Romantic‘

Horgan, who is forty-five, and Delaney, who is thirty-nine, are happily married to other people, and both have children. “One of the very first things that I joked with Rob about was how, if it wasn’t so hard to get a divorce, I would be divorced,” Horgan says. In his standup routine, Delaney sometimes equates marriage to rubbing yourself with a cheese grater, rubbing your wife with a cheese grater, and then smashing the exposed flesh, blood, and sinew together so that you heal as a single mutilated being. When Horgan and Delaney decided to collaborate on a pilot, they knew that they wanted to capture this tone. “I loved the brutality of it,” Horgan says. “At the same time, it was kind of romantic.”

*the other half is the equally hilarious Rob Delaney – both pictured above. 

______

______

Bonuses this week are as follows –

• A week or so ago, I wrote about the UK Government cracking down on influencers and brands. Here’s how they handle it in the US (INTERESTING).
• Here are 14 apps that you can use to up your Instagram game (USEFUL).
• Facebook is paying partners to help it raise the profile of Facebook Live (UNSURPRISING).
• Why have so many celebrities died this year? (GENUINELY INSIGHTFUL)
• MTV CRIBS is coming back… to Snapchat. (SAY WHAT?)

_________

And that’s it.

I’m out.

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.

_______________________________

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.

_______________________________

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.

_______________________________

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.

_______________________________

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.
……
_________

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.

_____

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.

______________________

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.

______________________

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.

______________________

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.

______________________

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.

______________________

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

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

…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

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

___

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! 😉

___

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.

___

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.

___

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?

___________

____

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.