Things of note for the week ending Friday July 17th, 2020.

INTRODUCTION

The last time I hit send on one of these it was February 7th 2020.

And to say “A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN HASN’T IT?” would be an understatement.

So let’s start from a place of you not needing yet another email that goes over the hot takes, hits, and messes of the past 160 days and let’s just CRACK ON with what is interesting, what is now, and what has caught my brain over the past however long it’s been. 

All I will say is that I hope you are well.

I hope you and your family are safe, coping, and finding new ways to breathe through it all – one day at a time. I know that with good grace I am thankful here, I am alive, and I think… 

I think I have missed you. 

…

But let’s not faff. 

We have some stuff to get to.

So let’s go… TO THE THINGS! 

PS. If you’re new here, FToF is a [nearly] weekly collection of things I find the most interesting. Some chat, some gifs; standard newsletter fair – but doing it before it was cool. So y’know, you’re an early adopter. 

1. CELEBRITY CULTURE IS BURNING

I swear I’ve read this about six or seven times now and it gets better and better every time. 

“America is in crisis, but the celebrities are thriving. They are beaming into our homes, reminding us to stay indoors and “stay positive,” as “we’re all in this together.” When I watch their selfie public service announcements, I find my attention drifting to the edges of the frame: to the understated wall molding visible behind Robert DeNiro’s shoulder; to the Craftsman beams on Priyanka Chopra’s balcony; to the equine wallpaper framing Zoë Kravitz’s crackling fireplace.

“Staying home is my superpower,” the “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot reported from her walk-in closet. Ryan Reynolds urged his fans to “work together to flatten the curve” from within his rustic loft.”

Wait. 

There’s more. 

Actually. 

Oh.

No. 

No there isn’t.

Any more would be to spoil it. 

Please read the whole thing.

If only to see for yourself that Gal Godot left that damn ‘IMAGINE’ video up on her Instagram.

I said at the top that I’ve read this several times now. It’s good to know and understand that the article in question was published on March 30th. Seven days after the UK went into lockdown. The fact that this piece still resonates should tell you something.

Shy away from the vacuous; it is not worth your time.

2. THREE THINGS ABOUT A PLINTH

Thing one.
The toppling of the statue of known slave trader, Edward Colston, is a good thing.

Some may argue ‘Oh wait, but we should’ve had a conversation about it’ or ‘No no no, this wasn’t done in the right channels’ or better yet ‘This is actually illegal and if we all went around doing this we’d all be living in anarchy’.

Respectfully: do one. 

And that may seem crass. It may seem out of step with what you believe. Well I beseech you: before you say, or do ANYTHING further, PLEASE take less than two minutes out of your day and listen – just listen – to this stunning poem by Vanessa Kisuule. 

Thing two. 
The recent if extremely (and entirely planned to be) temporary replacement statue for the above named slave trader is a STUNNING and BEAUTIFUL piece of work. 

Jen Reid, by Marc Quinn.

The work, if you are unfamiliar, is based upon Reid’s own pose struck upon the removal of hollow Eddie. 

I wish it had stayed.

It did not.

But this is probably a better thing. 

And here’s why.

Thing three. 

Given the flashpoint of anger, conviction for change, righteous demand for effective difference –  you could easily be so caught up on why this is beautiful and not, as I didn’t, see why this replacement could be seen problematic – if not emblematic – of the problem we are collectively trying to solve. 

I do not have the words. 

I could not find the words if I tried. 

These are the words. 

And firetruck me they strong words. 

When the plinth that the slave trader comes to be replaced, I hope it comes with the agreement and consultation with the community and voices that matter most.

Listen. Heed. Remember. Act. 

3. THIS WEEK IN PROFILE PIECES

Ahh section three. A weekly (really? – Ed) thing that has morphed in a new beast known as ‘THIS WEEK IN (or AT)’.

(For the record, the last ‘THIS WEEK IN’ was ‘THIS WEEK IN FACEMASKS’ way back in February – so y’know, make sure you’re tuning in to my VERY TOPICAL CONTENT every week)

This week: two great profiles, the man behind them, and a KILLER quote to end them all. 

Fair warning.

There is some reading ahead of you.

It’s funny, I read this first profile piece and I thought: “I think I can feel a Five Things coming on” and then the second and ‘Yeah, it’s coming’ and then I found the third and I knew it was Thing Three in an instant. 

So settle in (or open a new tab for later), these are coming at you fast. 

PROFILE ONE: MICHAELA THE DESTROYER
I read this first. I must confess, I am not quite yet in the headspace ready to watch I MAY DESTROY YOU (I want to but given the subject matter, I’m just not there yet) but my God, Michaela Coel is an incredible person. I watched her MacTaggart lecture after I read this. The fire. It is intense. It runs and burns at such heat. And yet you can’t keep away from it. You are drawn to it. And like all warmth, it should be nurtured – and allowed to grow and warm others. 

PROFILE TWO: IN CONVERSATION: THANDIE NEWTON
Now this is a bloody good read. I don’t know why I feel connected to Thandie Newton. This is weird. But true. She used to shop at the same farmer’s market I used to go to (yeah yeah whatever). But it’s one of those things where you think you know someone because you’ve actually seen them in the real world a couple of times (a good few times actually) but whatever – the point is: the interview is superb. And Newton’s answers, constructs, and reflections are all worthwhile. Take the time and consume them all. There are lessons there. 

[NOT A] PROFILE [BUT THING] THREE: A NEW YORK MINUTE WITH E. ALEX JUNG
I love a good profile piece. What you don’t get much of is what MAKES a good profile piece. There is a lot in this piece but this question – and answer – made the whole thing for me. 

“It’s been really important to me to approach people the way I would want to be approached, which is as artists with full, bright, complicated lives.”

For some reason or anot` stayed with me.

I hope it stays with you. 

4. (ISOLA)TED TALKS

This.

Is.

Excellent. 

The brainchild of Giles Edwards and Glenn Fisher, IsolaTED Talks (geddit) is a purpose driven platform that takes the freedom of ideas as encouraged and endorsed by TED, powers those ideas by the finest minds in advertising, and then uses that power to drive funding to The Samaritans. 

It is an incredible project. 

My favourites so far (in no order) are: 

– Gem Collins
– Nick Childs
– Amy Kean

Please watch them all.

Amy makes you hold your breath. Gem makes you breathe. Nick reminds you why you breathe.

A perfect trio.

But by no means the be all and all of the abundance of talent that Fisher and Edwards have managed to pull in. 

Go swim. And then donate to The Samaritans. Please. 

5. TIK-TOK, HUAWEI, AND THE VERY REAL TREND OF VERY REAL TRENDS

I had a whole piece planned for this where I looked at the potential ban of TikTok that is rumoured (and in some instances happening) across the globe; combined that with the relatively lengthy unrest regarding Huawei’s integration into the telecommunications systems, and what the future holds ahead.

The two are arguably intertwined. 

As much as I don’t trust our government to FUNCTION let alone make any kind of coherent decision, the work that has been going on behind the scenes for the past few years is undeniable and, if you have been tracking their output, the decisions of the past few days would be unsurprising. 

July 2018. 
March 2019.
July 2020.

There is a slight point here re: if you need to set up a security evaluation centre for the one company you’re working with then maybe you’re already starting off on the wrong foot? But maybe that’s not for now. 

That’s a lot to unpack – and that’s just Huawei. Move ahead. Forward. And you see TikTok on the horizon… This is provocative.

I’m still noodling.

Could TikTok be banned because:

– Trump had a bad event?
– The US puts pressure on the UK? 
– Government is racist/xenophobic/isolationist?
– People don’t understand it?
– All of the above?

Truth is: none of us know. 

Point is: challenge and question everything you read.

STOP. BONUS LINK TIME. 
OH YEAH. HERE WE GO.
HOOK IT IN.
LINK ME BABY.

Bonus things that may or not include the actual things that would’ve been featured in any and every edition of FTOF that I didn’t write between now and Feb.

LET’S GO!

• In praise of the office.

• Zoom (but replace with Teams or whatever) Fatigue.

• Mountain Lions are NOT allowed to snack on human flesh.

• Sit down. Shut up. And pass it on.

• Hamilton but Muppets.

• 10 ways to step up as an ally to non-binary people.

• The difference between ‘not racist’ and ‘anti-racist’.

• The end of schmooze?

• This seems small but it isn’t. My therapist once told me that I my singular life ambition should be to write the eulogy that your children will read but you will never hear. I was reminded of that when I read this farewell to Carl Reiner by Steve Martin. How are those life plans looking?

• Advertising has no stomach for a fair fight.

• The photographer’s ephemeris is worth a look. Mainly driven by this really quite bloody lovely video from Paul Clarke. Racing across a Mongolian mountaintop, chasing the sunrise, I made these photos. But this with this app I would’ve known exactly where to be. Related: I took this of the ISS the other night. USING MY PHONE (Pixel 3, if you’re asking). 

• The best games of 2020 (so far).

YOU ARE APPROACHING THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER. PLEASE WATCH YOUR STEP. 

You have reached the end of the newsletter!

Three things to leave you with.

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

TRANS LIVES MATTER.

WEAR A GODDAMN MASK.

Other than that, I have a whole other monologue about how it’s been like-oh-my-god-like-so-difficult-to-like-write but for real it has. I don’t know what my voice means right now but I’m finding it again and I’m OK with that.

Sometimes you should just stop.
Take your hands away and stop for a moment.

Words to stay with you. 

Thank you for reading. 

Whatley out.



..

PS. Write back.

Things of note for the week ending Friday 7th February, 2020.

Newsletter #310: Introduction

Hello and welcome to Five things on Friday #310.

AND WHAT AMAZING NEWS TO START OFF THE EDITION WITH?!

If you’re new here, FToF is a [nearly] weekly collection of things I find the most interesting. Some chat, some gifs; standard newsletter fair.

How have you been?

The theme for this week for me at least is displacement. A week of moved meetings, adjusted resource plans, and general re-compartmentalisation – as you move from one client brief to the next. It feels like having one of those railway switches but on the M25.

A re-focus on DEEP WORK and the principles thereof is required. So I’m working on that. Other things that have been useful?

The Urgent and Important framework.

I’m almost certain I’ve mentioned it before but it’s a pretty good way of reframing and re-ordering the to do list when, well, when it all gets a bit too much. To be completely fair, I haven’t ever started using the direction in each box BUT by organising my tasks against U/I I can figure out which ones I need to swiftly vs the ones that can be kicked or that can wait.

Stuck with a never ending to do list? Try the urgent/important framework

Right.

Shall we crack on with the things?

LET’S.

1. THE SOCIAL MEDIA GEEK OUT

This week I had the enormous pleasure of being invited on as a guest for the excellent Social Media Geek Out podcast.

Recorded on Wednesday evening with Matt Navarra and Martyn Bryant, the episode covers off first the very latest social platform news and then second, a rather lovely chat about the state of social between three utter nerds.

I know I enjoyed it, YMMV.

2. THE GUARDIAN, FOSSIL FUELS, AND BRANDS

I think this one fell off the run sheet last week; in light of The Guardian announcing its intention to no longer accept money from fossil fuel firms (as I understand it, reducing ad income by about half a million a year), Mark Ritson wrote this piece about how ‘Marketers must follow The Guardian and stop enabling oil brands’ hypocrisy‘ – and it’s worth a read.

“The decision will have a significant impact on The Guardian’s bottom line. Big oil and gas companies like to do a lot of advertising. And they do it with the kind of global grandeur and double-page largesse that newspapers thrive on. But the boycott is even more significant because of the signal it sends to other media outlets and organisations. The tide is turning, finally, on the large oil and gas companies.”

I’ve seen changes.

They are happening.

As always not fast enough but they ARE happening (and I mention them on the podcast above). As the penny slowly begins to drop – for consumers, corporations, and brands (and legislation – in its achingly glacial pace begins to catch up) then the speed of change will come. Greenwashing your comms is not a strategy. Meaningful change that has a long and lasting impact; that’s the real goal.

——-

Tangentially, this podcast covering ‘How to become an ethical eater‘ not only features my old friend Rosie but also covers a vast amount of ground and education on how to improve your eating habits in the name of saving the planet.

3. THIS WEEK IN FACE MASKS

Ahh section three. A weekly thing that has morphed in a new beast known as ‘THIS WEEK IN (or AT)’.

This week: surgical face masks (that might help prevent the spread of disease).

Surgical face masks, like the one above (and like the ones I’ve seen on the tube lately) are on the rise. Predominantly due to the spread of the Coronavirus but also – perhaps – as a normalisation of an eastern trend that is creeping west. And why not?

As the Fab Five find out during Queer Eye in Japan, there a lot of reasons why people wear face masks.

So if you’re thinking about getting one, this is the section for you.

Which leads us to…

TWAFM #1. WHICH ONE DO YOU NEED?

If you’re genuinely worried or concerned about Coronavirus specifically then, according to livescience, a standard surgical mask will probably not do the job.

You need a specialised mask known as an ‘N95 respirator‘ (3M has a thorough guide on what kinds of mask protect against what).

TWAFM #2. HOW DO YOU WEAR IT?

If you ARE going to use a surgical mask while out and about, please make sure you WEAR IT CORRECTLY. This is a handy guide.

TWAFM #3. THE UNSEEN COST/BENEFIT OF SURGICAL FACE MASKS

Quartz has a fascinating piece on the issues that are appearing now that face masks are slowly becoming mandatory across China. Everything from Face ID unlock to facial recognition at a CCTV level is being impacted by this new form of health protection.

Worth a read.

4. HOW MCKINSEY DESTROYED THE MIDDLE CLASS

Provocative.

5. AND NOW HERE’S SOME STUFF ABOUT GAMING

Aside from being a part-time Stadia Troll, if you’re legit looking at streaming services this week then you’ve got a bunch of stuff to look at.

I’ve been looking at a couple of the other streaming/subscription options available for new and casual gamers.

First up is Nvidia’s GeForce Now, leaving beta and available for all to try today – FOR FREE.

I’ve been running the GeForce Now beta on my Macbook for a few months now and it is VERY GOOD. The great thing about it is that you can put it on any old laptop (within reason) and/or your phone (android only) and play the PC games you already own – on Steam, Uplay, Epic, Battle.net – and play them anywhere.

The amazing thing about this is that with GeForce Now, I can play Destiny with my PC-playing friends. So good is GeForce in fact that a couple of weeks ago I was able to join the fund-raising Destiny stream for the Australian Red Cross, with zero lag – all via GeForce. In fact, I played an hour of this without my Aussie mates knowing that I didn’t have a PC (see the 1hr and 50sec mark in this stream to see and hear the reaction).

As a side point: the gang raised over $25,000 AUS in the end; phenomenal work.

So yeah. GeForce is great and PC games are dirt cheap. So if you’ve got a decent internet connection this almost certainly a better streaming option over and above the surprised-it’s-not-dead-yet Google Stadia.

Other options if you’re open to streaming/subscribing vs going all in on games:

xCloud from Xbox. Still in beta (and the wait list is LONG) but definitely a sign of things to come (due for launch this year). Especially now as you’ve got Microsoft’s head of gaming saying that he doesn’t see Nintendo or PlayStation as competition anymore – purely based on their cloud gaming ability. The burn. It hurts.

That said, PlayStation Now (while poorly marketed) is a decent contender and, if you want to pick up a PS4 Slim (I don’t think you even need that these days; there’s a Windows app available) second hand and on the cheap, then this option is worth a look.

Any questions? Hit that reply button.

BONUS LINKS. YOU WANT EM? I GOT EM.

DERE BE GOLD IN DEM HILLS. GO DIGGING.

• Did you bring the condoms?

• Ofcom’s report on Children’s Media Use and Attitudes for 2019 is brand new and well worth a read.

• Spotify’s numbers are in and LOOK AT THAT PODCAST GROWTH.

• This, ‘6 survival skills for the anxious advertiser‘ is an excellent read and one that still strikes me down from time to time. Well put, Harry.

• Facebook marketing decoded in 15mins.

• What not to say (and what TO say) when someone comes out to you (for the record, this has happened to me ONCE and when this person sat me down for this very important conversation my response was ‘Oh my God, I thought you were going to have a go at me for not doing the washing up’ – this is not listed but I reckon I’m now better equipped to deal with the situation should it happen in future. Also, we love you Phil.

• This, from Richard Coles, ‘Bereavement was hard to bear – and then came the paperwork’ is an achingly stark look at what happens after we lose a loved one. I read this, aloud, to my loved one, late last weekend. The words are as painful as they are beautiful. Read it.

• NPR’s latest smart audio report is always a good read.

• Written by the same author as the above link, ‘There’s nothing wrong with Casual Sex‘ is a terrific read.

• A member of my gaming clan is a fantastic artist and two of his works have been featured in a new Ghostbusters artbook – find out more here.

• The Oscars matter. The winners not so much.

• VIVARIUM looks creepy af.

• Clunky ad is clunky.

• Take a moment for Atwood’s Voice (and then consider yours).

• This has been everywhere this week but I love it all the same; hacking Google Maps’ traffic alerts with a handcart full of smartphones.

• Mastercard stepped away from Facebook’s LIBRA project. Here’s why (a must read).

• 2020 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List. Adjust your literary diet here.

• The ASA has updated its guidance for Influencer Marketing (overdue but welcome). The Drum has more.

And finally… no one can explain why planes stay in the air. Pretty sure I heard this once on an episode of Brass Eye and thought it was a throwaway joke… but no, IT’S TRUE.

Things of note for the week ending Friday 31st January, 2020.

Newsletter #309: Introduction

Hello and welcome to Five things on Friday #309.

A big hello to the new subscribers that have arrived this past seven days – a fair amount of you arriving via this lovely thread of strategy newsletter recommendations kicking off (and at least two of you recommending mine).

So thank you for that. You’re all lovely.

What can I tell you?

Here’s a silly thing: as it’s been so sodding cold of late, I have taken to wearing two pairs of socks to work. It has been three or four weeks now and I can tell you: IT IS A REVELATION. Being like, a totally super unique adland person, and like, y’know, being such an individual that I wear low-top white Chuck Taylors every day …MY FEET HAVE BEEN COLD. So this is hella useful. Try it. If you learn nothing today, at least you have something new to try on Monday (cue 15 of you hitting the reply button to tell me that it’s obvious and I’m late to the party but whatever etc).

Here’s another pre-thing thing:

This week we, Digitas, launched our experience consulting arm at a very fancy morning at the Soho Hotel. The magic of Digitas is the sheer breadth and depth of multiple skillsets we have in the building and listening to our experts talk about this new offering was as inspiring as it was exciting. Valeria Corna, experience consultant at Digitas, wrote this piece for WARC to explain further (and you should read it).

And I think that’s it for intro.


Let’s head…

TO THE THINGS.

1. THE NUMBER ONE THING

I like to put a good thing in at number one. The hook. The thing that convinces you to keep reading for the rest of the newsletter.

This week I had nothing. Nothing. Nothing that I deemed worthy enough to be number one in FToF. So bad was the situation that I even considered writing the whole thing off until next week.

But I didn’t do that.

No, I tweeted the question instead.

And this was the best answer BY FAR.

Want more? Go swimming in the replies.

2. SEVEN REASONS WHY VIDEO GAMING WILL TAKE OVER

This is excellent.

Published at the start of the month (I’ve only just got around to finishing it) and it is worth your attention.

There are three things that are of note here.

First thing, Matthew Ball is good reading. Read more of him. Challenge, critique, let it percolate. Etc.

Second thing, I have a whole other rant that I’m probably saving for a separate piece/article/whatever but the main thrust is ‘GAMING’ as a genre is only just barely hitting its stride as marketers and advertisers begin to look under the hood of the umbrella term of ‘gamer’. GAMER is such a blanket catch-all term you may as well use something godawful as ‘millennial’.

Underneath ‘gamer’ are so many sub-genres of sub-genres, tribes and sub-tribes, made up of platforms, games, clans, and so so so much more – and that’s before you get to demographic data that sits underneath THAT. So to say ‘I want to market to gamers’ is to say something as crass as ‘my target market is millennials’. CRASS.

Third thing, Fortnite is mentioned in this article 16 times. Earlier this week Microsoft announced its Xbox division had had an 11% dip in earnings from ‘content and services’ for Q2 and put a portion of that blame firmly at the door of Fortnite. Fascinating.

And do please, read the article.

3. THIS WEEK AT FACEBOOK

Yes, that’s right. We are back with THIS WEEK AT being about big blue. You know big blue? The one with the really useful platforms but questionable company practices. Yes that’s the one.

Shall we? Let’s.

TWAF #1. SHOCK SHOCK HORROR HORROR SHOCK SHOCK HORROR

First up this absolute bombshell (insert your personal choice of sarcasm emoji here) that FACEBOOK’s (in all caps when you mean the company, Facebook when you mean the app – thanks, the FToF Style Guide) new oversight committee – put in place to provide oversight of content decisions and be ‘an independent authority outside of Facebook‘ – actually has no power whatsoever.

Facebook’s rules for new oversight board leave the company firmly in control – CNBC.

As Damien Collins MP put it so eloquently way back in September (via the always fantastic Social Media Geek Out podcast – specifically this episode):

“This is a body created by Facebook, paid for by Facebook, recruited for by Facebook… to sit in judgement on Facebook’

Quelle surprise. When will any government legislate? Good job there are no major political issues in the western world to help slay this dragon – AMIRITE?

NEXT

TWAF #2. VISIBILITY!

Big news: Facebook now lets you see the connections made when you are NOT on Facebook. If you are logged into Facebook RIGHT NOW then you all need to do is click this thing right here and you too will be able to see who is tracking/sharing data about your movements online.

But.. this leads us quite nice to…

TWAF #3. LOL, WHUT.

AS IF THIS ACTUALLY MEANS ANYTHING!

As Gizmodo wrote is this [with this amazing headline]: It means nothing! Your data will always stay inside Facebook AND if you continue using the services that you sever, those connections will just reestablish themselves within seconds. So, as someone so eloquently put it in the office recently. these announcements for me, on both counts, are quite literally: all fart and no poo.

Got kids? Keep ’em away from Facebook. All of it.

Yes, I am currently booking speaking engagements.

4. THE STRATEGIC CASE FOR DIVERSITY

I mean, it seems obvious but…

In a week where we saw eMarketer publish its UK Key Digital Trends asking only 21 number of mostly white men for their opinions (for the record, eMarketer got called out on this – a lot – and the editor subsequently apologised then proceeded to blame everyone else for it – stunning really (scroll down to Jonathan Teitloff’s response to see what I mean… and then re read the whole thing. I guess there’s only one key point: if apologising, like ever, REALLY REALLY try NOT to say the word ‘BUT’. Ever. It really helps) JP Hanson writes and argues (BLERGH – why is it even an argument!) that diversity is actually a strategic advantage.

You know… In case you needed a business reason to be a better human.

5. COOKING WITH PARIS

‘I made Paris Hilton’s lasagne and it tasted like a shoe‘ is the best line I’ve read this week. Enjoy.

BONUS LINKS. YOU WANT EM? I GOT EM.

It’s late.
I have links.
You have eyes.
I sound like an Oatly ad.
Let’s to this.

• Worried about catching Coronavurus on public transport? Understand the differences and requirements you need for face masks.

• Regulating political ads. PLEASE. (it’ll never happen while politicians are in charge).

• I have seen BPD up close. This is a phenomenal POV on what it means to have it. You should watch it.

• Off platform embeds.

• How to manage a creative review (BBH with the solids, as ever).

• Slow clap for The New Yorker (in a nice way).

• Offset your carbon.

• This thread. About Anthropologie. Amazing.

• SPIDER-VERSE PLUS TIK TOK EQUALS WHAAAAAT (amazing).

• If you’re into your movie directors or have ANY passing interest in movies WHATSOEVER then Christopher McQuarrie is a must follow.

• And finally, THE BEST THING arguably in this whole newsletter is this… 🎵’White Male Rage’ 🎵.

Things of note for the week ending Friday 24th January, 2020.

Newsletter #308: Introduction

How are you?

Unsurprisingly, for me at least, the year has started off in its own typical relentless fashion with workshops, pitch briefs, and client work abound. It is challenging. It is fun. And my colleagues are bloody great to work with. I am blessed.

What can I tell you?

First of all, this week I stood in front of a room full of clients and, shortly after sharing the wonders of this gif (sorry not sorry), asked them – at least for this year’s campaign planning – to consider keeping kindness in mind. A thought I owe to Nicola Kemp. And one I intend to return to. Thanks Nicky.

Next thing I can tell you is that I’m working on a really exciting diversity and inclusion project that I can’t wait to tell you more about (probably in about two editions from now-ish). We cleared one pretty significant piece this week and now we’re head on into building the website (as I write to you it’s 1130pm on a Thursday evening and I’ve just close that particular tab to start this one to you). But yeah. I’m excited.

And finally, THANK YOU for all the lovely emails, DMs, tweets, carrier pigeons – and in one instance, a Google Hangout – regarding the return of Five things on Friday. It really is lovely to be back and the warm embrace of your awaiting inbox has never felt more inviting.

ON THAT NOTE.

Shall we crack on with the things?

LET’S.

1. STUDIO GHIBLI IS COMING TO NETFLIX

*except for the folk in the US, sorry.

In what is frankly THE BEST NETFLIX NEWS SINCE SEASON TWO OF SEX EDUCATION STARTED, Netflix has gone and bought the rights to the entire Studio Ghibli back catalogue and it all kicks off in a matter of days.

If you’ve never seen or experienced a Studio Ghibli movie before then a) where have you been? And b) you are in for such a beautiful and life-affirming treat, words cannot describe.

Studio Ghibli is who Pixar look up to. Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away… so many

Coming to Netflix in February.

Ach. My heart. I can’t wait.

2.THE ONLY 2020 PREDICTIONS YOU SHOULD READ

It’s funny. At the top of the this newsletter I referenced a note about encouraging kindness – throughout your work, your life… everywhere really.

And Amy was actually in the room when I was gifted this nugget. And here it is manifested as a piece of branded content trend prediction.

The truth. It burns.

For real though, please read this excellent, supremely cutting, and highly on point predictor of actual stuff that COULD happen next year.

But ok actually for real, if you need more actual (read: all of the) trend documents, Julian Cole has got you covered.

The kindness one, we should all do that.


—


PS. At this part of proceedings, for the long-term readers at least, this is where you would expect my own customary contribution to this somewhat over-crowded topic. The interesting thing about trends is that they don’t all pack up their bags on Dec 31st and make way for a new batch on Jan 1. So our trend piece will be coming later this year.

Away from the noise.

3. THIS WEEK IN GAMING

I might keep the ‘THIS WEEK IN…’ format. It’s normally THIS WEEK AT FACEBOOK but honestly I just can’t do that every week (Bob Hoffman does a bang up job of that already).

So for this THING 3 this week we’re going with THIS WEEK IN GAMING. Or ‘TWIG’ for short. Let’s go let’s go.

TWIG #1. FORTNITE & TIKTOK

In what can only be described as a 2020 trend writer’s wet dream, two of the biggest and hottest things coming out of 2019 have joined forces for a new campaign.

The hook is simple:

Fortnite, a game where characters (among other things) can use emotes to celebrate winning / great plays etc (this is a huge over-simplification), has asked TikTok users, already used to creating and emulating dance moves, to create Fortnite’s next big emote. This is a huge deal.

And The Verge has a decent write up as well. Go see.


TWIG #2. ‘DIVORCE KITCHEN’

The world of relationships can be divided into two very clear categories:

Those couples that love each other and are completely happy and fine.

Then you have those couples that have spent any time whatsoever attempting to play OVERCOOKED together.

Never heard of this game?

Want to put your relationship to the test?

Go play OVERCOOKED.

This article ‘Couples that survive playing Overcooked together can outlast anything‘ says it all really:

“In China, players have nicknamed Overcooked “Divorce Kitchen” because of the sheer, unfiltered rage it manages to bubble up inside of your very soul. But when you do sync up and nail a round, there’s nothing quite like it.”

So go play* it.

*FToF accepts no responsibility for any end of relationship arguments.


TWIG #3. DESTINY MADNESS

I know I go on about Destiny a fair bit (and truth be told I’m on a seasonal in-and-out swing with the new content drip and, to be frank, I am loving Death Stranding still, so I’m not massively into it right now) BUT when one of the game’s own community managers is telling the players to TAKE A REST FROM THE GAME then maybe the puzzle you’ve put in the game is a bit… much?

I don’t know.

4. YOUR LONG READ THIS WEEK IS…

by Martin Weigel.

All Watched By Corporations Of Loving Grace?
It’s Time We Punctured The Feverish Toxic Dream.

If you’ve read this already then good – hit reply and tell me what you think.

If not, then set aside your lunch hour today, grab a sandwich, and just digest the thing (and the sandwich).

Martin is one of our great thinkers – and articulates this question and argument thus. In a world where we are being told the brands and corporations will save us, why on Earth should we believe them?

Just read it.

(this was one of my many highlights)

5. THIS AIRBNB STORY THO

I mean, there have been SEVERAL awful stories about Airbnb.

But this one? This one will really bake your noodle.

BONUS LINKS. YOU WANT EM? I GOT EM.

Here be the stuff you shouldn’t eat but you can’t help it. Right click, open in new tab, right click, open in new tab, right click, open in new tab…

• This, from BBH on ‘The Tyranny of the Slide‘ is EXCELLENT (and reminds me of when I was challenged and TRAINED to get over hating them – I blame James Scroggs entirely for this).

• This MORBIUS trailer. Sony is making more Spider-Man related movies (not always with Spider-Man involved – see VENOM) but this one DOES have ties to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe and, well, it’s worth a look – just for the WTF-ness of it all.

• On a related note, did you know that there are only actually really ten types of movie?

• Katie Deighton made this great playlist of ‘Songs with talking at the start‘ – yes it kicks off with B*Witched – and that my friends is how you start a playlist.

• Katie also wrote this EXCELLENT article ‘Inside the fight for audio-described ads‘

• (I know that in light of Martin’s article in THING 4 this is a bit silly of me but still) Hey Coca-Cola – WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU IDIOTS.

• ‘Help, I’m stuck inside TikTok and I can’t get out!’

• The best Expedia advertising since Travel Yourself Interesting.

• A train passing through a market.

• An umbrella on a death-spree.

• “My daughter is starting college soon and I’m so concerned about campus sexual violence. What do I do as a parent?” this is a phenomenal thread.

• What happens when you drop three dead alligators in the water? These scientists found out. This is a great read and a great way to end the bonuses…

Things of note for the week ending Friday, January 10th, 2020.

Newsletter #307: Introduction

Hello and welcome to issue three hundred and seven of Five things on Friday.

Happy New Year.

It’s been 13 weeks since my last missive. Normally, when I miss a week or two I never explain and I never apologise. But this thing, this newsletter, is a two way contract I guess. You give me your email address (and weekly(ish) space in your inbox) and I in turn give you five things of interest every Friday.

But as it says in the small print it: ‘It doesn’t always come on Friday but there’s always more than five’

This email takes, on average, around 2-4hrs a week to write. Not including research. I didn’t have any kind of weekly rhythm for it however, as regular readers will know, more often than not this email would arrive on a Sunday night when I finally had the time to sit down and write the thing. In fact, the last FToF that went out was sent on Sunday October 13th. That says it all really.

Back when I hit send on that last edition, my other half half casually half seriously mentioned how much time it was taking away from the family. Three hours, when you’re working 35-40hrs a week (pitches/travel not included), and all the main time you have with your young family is small moments in the evenings and weekends… then spending 3hrs of a Sunday night writing FToF suddenly shoots to the bottom of the list. The clarity of my partner’s point stopped me dead.

And with it, my writing.

With the extended break both from FToF and work (17 days off for Christmas – how lucky?!) behind me, the words have started to itch at my fingertips again and here we are.

As I write this intro, it is Monday Jan 6th. Around 1835. I’m on a plane. And I’m writing Five things on Friday. This is alright. This is good. But before this starts again, a new rule is needed for for 2020.

*If I can’t write it in the time when I’m not with my family then it doesn’t go out.*

And I don’t think many of you would disagree with that – if any.

What else can I tell you?

1. We’re still on Mailchimp. The irony of having to pay for the service only to stop using it for 13 weeks is not lost on me. But I’ll get around to moving it. At some point.

2. I unpinned the ‘subscribe to my newsletter’ tweet from my Twitter and yet I still gained just over a hundred new readers. HOW?! Kind of you all to subscribe to something that wasn’t actually live. And doubly kind of others to share and recommend this far and wide. Too kind.

3. In related ‘Mad that this stuff happens when you actually STOP writing’ – TWO sponsorship offers have come in. They are both under consideration.

4. I am now 40yrs old. That was nice.

5. Finally, thank you to the handful of you that checked in with me – either email or DM or WhatsApp – to see if a) I was OK or b) I had unsubscribed you (HA! – as if). All is well and writing has returned. It feels good to be back 🙂

And with that, shall we crack on with the things?

LET’S.

1. THIS IS NUTS

Nothing quite like kicking off the year with a bit of absolutely batsheeeeet display of technology that makes you realise we really are living in the future.

Imagine a billboard or a display that could show individual messages personally tailored to the viewer. Now imagine that display being able to do this with multiple viewers AT THE SAME TIME.

Like this?

Albert and Harry look at the same sign. Harry sees X, Albert sees Y.

Science fiction, right?

Of course the first use shown is for flight details but then your brain turns to dark thoughts such as ‘THINK OF THE ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES!’ (major Minority Report vibes, amirite?) and THEN, once the ads are gone and done, just THINK about how this could be use for nefarious purposes?!

Technology that can change its message depending on the individual?

Can you imagine?

…

Read the whole story over at Fast Company.

2. LESSONS ABOUT ADVERTISING FROM A KEBAB AND A BIKE CRASH

“Picture this.

You’re on a hugely inefficient Dutch bike with a comically large basket. It’s a Wednesday lunchtime and it’s absolutely pissing it down.

You’re going at decent speed: it’s Whitechapel High Street. Too fast, you’ll skid. Too slow, and the road rage directed at you would have you feel as though you’re on the wrong side of natural selection.

Completely seduced by a hefty and heavily-sauced kebab, a large teenage boy steps into the road. It was your green light.

Front brakes slam.

In the next few seconds, which feel like an eternity, you experience the wonder of flight. One of those moments that lasts a few seconds but feels like forever – like going through customs, even when you don’t have contraband. And then you land, with absolutely no grace, partially on the road, partially on the kerb, and partially in the teenager’s kebab that he was so enjoying. There’s a bit of blood, but it’s mostly orange burger sauce on your not-so-ladder-free tights.”

Sara continues, over at The Drum.

PS. If you liked Sara’s words here, you might like her other recent piece on mental health advertising.

3. THIS WEEK AT FACEBOOK

In this semi-regular section we take a look at recent Facebook occurrences, point, laugh, maybe gawp in shock… and then carry on using and selling its platforms and services as usual.

Cognitive dissonance – do you have it?

TWAFB #1. THE TEEN VOGUE CAR CRASH!

Long time readers will be aware of my previous links and love for all things Teen Vogue. Back when Lauren Duca was absolutely killing it there with her political analyses and reader education – Teen Vogue was THE PLACE to go for great writing and thoughtful POVs on the hell-on-a-handcart state of US politics.

Literally pick any article from this list.

But then today, this happened!

I’d link you to the story itself but as you’ll soon discover – it has been deleted! I was going to write out the whole absolute mess of a misinformation timeline (Denials! Sponsored Content! Bylines! Sheryl Sandberg!) but Gizmodo has done a much better job already.

Go read it and then laugh your backside off when you get to Ben Collins’ tweet embedded in the linked article. ELL. OH. ELL.

—

TWAFB #2. THE DEEPFAKE POLICY CHANGE!

Did you know that on Monday, Facebook updated its policy when in regards to DEEPFAKERY. In a post entitled ‘Enforcing against Manipulated Media‘, Facebook’s VP of Global Policy Management, Monkia Bickert (remember her? From May 2019? Arguing with Anderson Cooper about… fake video content?) outlined the stipulations thus:

“[Today we] are strengthening our policy toward misleading manipulated videos that have been identified as deepfakes. Going forward, we will remove misleading manipulated media if it meets the following criteria:

• It has been edited or synthesized – beyond adjustments for clarity or quality – in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say. And:
  

• It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.

This policy does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words.”

The world is not ready for Deepfakes. Governments aren’t ready. Legislation isn’t ready. The tech to detect it probably is but like all things, it’ll end up beatable. This SHOULD be seen as a good thing.

But YET AGAIN Facebook fails to push this one to anywhere meaningful. The clip I linked to above – from May 2019 – was in relation to the edited Nancy Pelosi video that was published on Facebook. This video would not be taken down under this policy. Only new or fake words will be removed. Real words, re-ordered or edited, are allowed to stay…

The stupid. It hurts.

The Verge has as a decent take on this and there’s also great discourse and discussion to be found in this thread (and sub-threads; click around).

—

TWAFB #3. THE BOSWORTH MEMO LEAK OF LOLS!

I’m this far in and I don’t know if I can even be bothered with this one. In short, well known Facebook senior exec and all round good pal of The Zuck wrote a long memo. The NY Times got a hold of it and printed the main thrust of it. They then followed up on that and published the whole damn thing (it’s worth a read). The Outline wrote a great response piece which kinda lays it all bear.

But the absolute high point of the whole thing – for me at least – is this section from the memo. The bit where.. hang on, I’ll show you.

There. I’ve highlighted it for you. The bit where a senior exec at Facebook demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of his own platform.

Incredible.

—

TWAFB #4. THE DEEPFAKE POLICY CHANGE!

A later entry in at number four; arriving just as we were going to press*, Facebook is running anti-vax ads – and has no plans to remove them.

Woop woop!


*press – as in press the button to schedule this newsletter, this isn’t The Daily Planet, Janine.

4. SOME THOUGHTS ON GOOGLE STADIA

If you read this newsletter for occasional video game thoughts, then you might be interested to know or see how I’m getting on with Google Stadia.

Yes, I did get one. No, I did not cancel my pre-order.

Here it is in all its glory.

So the big question:

If you were to ask me today, ‘Should I get Google Stadia?’ my response would be ‘If you’re a Destiny nut, with a solid internet connection at all times, and you’re looking for a back-up way to play then maybe you should consider it – but do your research‘

Outside of that, it’s broadly a negatory.

The product is half-baked, unfinished, and not ready for mass-consumption. At the time of writing, I’m no longer using mine as the X button on the controller has started to jam up. Google is replacing it, several questions asked -but still, faff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of a console having such a godawful launch before (I mean, this is just silly).

If you’re interested, I’m keeping a semi-live diary/thread of my first three months with Stadia over on Twitter.

Any questions on it? Fire them over. There, or hit reply here.

Either works.

Did you get Stadia? Add me if you like, Stadia name ‘Whatleydude’ (obvs).

5. 2019 MEMES AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM

The title says it all.

Go spoil yourself.

BONUS LINKS. YOU WANT EM? I GOT EM.

Not many this week but it was do this or make it five hundred long…

• Getting fit in 2020? Read this.

• Ritson on the being The Right Thing at The Wrong Time.

• THANK YOU, CHROME. OH MY GOD.

• This is paywalled but if you register you might get a look in, Nigella Lawson on turning 60 a bloody wonderful read. Find a way.

• Ian Leslie’s profile of Malcolm Gladwell is also EXCELLENT and thoroughly recommended consumption for your oculars.

• Speaking of profiles, here’s a new one with Larry David. Lovely.

• What’s your word of 2020? Bogdana says it should be Discpline.

• Modernising the Monarchy. This long read is from July 2018 but is suddenly highly relevant. A good read.

• Human bycatching…

• I’d want to be in Boston.

• And finally, Jeremy Webb put together this list of 61 slogans/taglines/claims that he saw while visiting England for Christmas. It is EXCELLENT strategy/planner fodder. What lines look similar? What slogans scream distinctiveness? This is so good and stuff that only ad-folk would love (I think) mainly because consumer will never or would never see lines like this in this way but it’s just good to understand it and look at it in this way. This wallpaper of words and oft-meaningless collection of verbiage… what job does it do? What memory structures do they create… so many questions. Good brain fodder this.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, October 13th, 2019.

Newsletter #305: Introduction

Hello and good morning from this rainy Sunday in Elstree.

The Formula 1 has just finished (more on that later), coffee has been made, and two weeks worth of links in a folder marked #FTOF that I need to work through. The keen-eyed among you would’ve noticed that there was no FToF last week. That was unforeseen (life got in the way somewhat) however it is nice to be back in your inbox once again. Unplanned absences are rare and yet pass always without apology – as they should. One of the pieces of advice I give to future/current newsletter writers is to NEVER OPEN WITH AN APOLOGY. EVER. People get bored with such things. Just give them what they signed up for and all will be well. I promise.

What can I tell you?

Oh, record scratch. It’s no Sunday evening. I’ve polished off a banging roast (this is my new favourite way of roasting parsnips and carrots), naps have been had, and I have retired to my desk upstairs to write this message to you.

I hope you are well.

My week has been quite busy. I got one proposal written, finished, and away. I had one long-term project finally launch (more on that later), and took a day off work to work on my mental fitness (thank you Digitas). I’ve also kicked off the Mark Ritson Mini MBA this weekend (another gift from my still relatively new employer – reader, it is a great place to work). I’m a little behind everyone else so I’ve got some ground to make up but so far I am very much enjoying it. More in a later edition, I’m sure.

I’ve not done this in a while so tell me: HOW ARE YOU? Hit that reply button and say hi. I’m all ears.

While you do that, I’ll crack on with THE THINGS!

Let’s go.

1. THE FAKES, THEY ARE DEEO

A few editions ago I drew attention to this incredible Will Smith as Neo in THE MATRIX deep fake. The creator, Sham00k, said ‘Keep an eye out for the next one‘.

So I did.

And here it is – you have to see it to believe it.

Two things strike me when I watch this. Maybe three.

The first thought is: Jim Meskimen, just like our guy Sham00k, is hella talented!

Second thought: hmm, this must be what it’s like in the comic books when you’re talking to a shape-shifter.

Third thought (something that I’ve definitely mentioned before):

WE ARE NOT READY.

More.

2. THE FINISH LINE IS NEVER THE END

Work stuff.
This has been our baby for the best part of six months and is my first proper credited work to leave the building since starting at Digitas back in February.

WATCH IT WITH YOUR EYES.

As a bit of background, the above film is a sequel and near-end-of-season bookend for Honda Racing F1’s kick off film, ‘Powered by Honda‘. That first episode was very much a brand piece. This one needed to act as refocus but still celebratory look at Honda Racing’s contributions to F1 racing as it headed to its home trip to Suzuka this weekend. It went out on social last week and a shortened down animation-only version has been playing out in Japanese TV ad breaks as well.

It has been a great project.

The best part? Getting a connection with the team at Giphy who helped us get the HRF1 verified account set up in the lead up to the project. Meaning when the piece dropped, we had stuff like this ready to go.

Mint.

3. JOKER

‘Hey James, what did you do with your mental health day?’

‘I took myself to see JOKER, actually. And I did not regret it.’

There is a lot of hype. A lot.

I tried to ignore it. And I did in the main. However, given my comic book geekery – and my love of THE MOVIES – so many people asked me ‘James, have you seen JOKER yet?!!!!!!??!?!!!!’ – with that amount of exasperation. So with a day free in my hand, I drove over to the Everyman in Barnet and caught the 1145am showing of JOKER.

I say again, I did not regret it.

This, the sixth carnation of the character committed to a feature-length movie (bonus points if you can name them all WITHOUT Google), is an incredibly fresh take on something that feels like it has been done and done and done to death. Joaquin Pheonix is fantastic as Arthur Fleck. Seeking out validation and meaning in his stifled and broken life, he brings a reality – a deep and extremely sad believability – to the-man-that-will-be-JOKER. And I loved it. It was hard to watch but I’ll watch it again. I know I will.

It is fascinating.

Watching this movie, about a character I think I could say I know very well (extensive Batman book, game, movie collection over here – you’re surprised, I can tell), I felt like I was cheating a little bit. Like I knew a bit more than the rest of the audience probably did. But at almost every step of the way, the film took that away from me – in the best of ways – and it was so uncomfortable. ‘I know the destination’ I thought, ‘but I’m here for the journey’ – except, the destination isn’t exactly where you think it’s going either.

And so when JOKER finally does emerge – fully – he isn’t anything like you’ve ever seen or think you’ve seen before. And to do that, with a character that is known SO WELL by so many… it’s just, wow.

The film stays with you, put it that way.

JOKER is uncomfortable to watch. Upsetting in place. Painful in others. Yet it manages to carve out its own close up and worthwhile take on a dark and twisted character that hitherto we’ve only seen in Batman movies.

You should see it.

4. MENTAL HEALTH ADVERTISING

“Our instinct as advertisers is to garner mass, cut-through awareness. But by “chasing awareness” gratuitously, campaigns are in danger of triggering, glamorising and compounding. Why? Because these awareness campaigns aimed at “the public” too often target a moment in time, rather than try to change anything. For many, being made more acutely aware of their mental ill health (again) can often be the last thing those people need – even dangerous.”

The above quote is taken from this excellent five minute read from adland planner Sara Barqawi.

A thoughtful and well-researched piece, Sara looks at the recent body of work around mental health awareness advertising and analyses through the lens of both a strat that has worked in this area before AND that of the Samaritans communications guidelines.

The key takeout? Some of the best AWARENESS work might not actually be DOING that much good for those that it aims to help. And you should know how to spot that.

5. THIS WEEK, IN FACEBOOK NEWS

An irregular section that not only looks at the latest that spills out or over the big blue misinformation machine but also tries to match the number of pieces to the placement among the things. Thing 5? Five things it is.

This week:

0.18% OF ANNUAL INCOME ($40M) is what Facebook is paying out after it was accused of inflating average viewership metrics by some 150 to 900%. Scott Galloway has the best take (and the replies.. oh the replies).

TWO HOURS of leaked audio from a Facebook ‘all hands’ meeting where you can hear Zuck himself talking less like a PR robot and more like the CEO of a huge tech/media machine that he really is. Really good listening.

ONE FAKE AD from Elizabeth Warren almost in protest at Facebook’s recent narrowing of its rules around false advertising – specifically relating to those from politicians (more detail on that here). As a side point on this, the ad from Warren herself explains that it is indeed false information and to be perfectly honest I wonder how much of her campaign spend went on this actually appearing in-feed. I mean, it’s fairly textbook: run it once and then feed and thrive from the huge amount of PR that follows? Easy.

WHAT IF Zuck doesn’t understand TikTok?

AND FINALLY, what happens to your Facebook data after you die? Maybe you should think about that.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

• Andy Rubin once. Twice.

• DJT. Your time will come soon.

• Confronting Harvey.

HERE BE THE BONUS SECTION. TREAD CAREFULLY. SOME BITE.

GET STUCK IN, YEAH?

• SIMONE BILES!

• Chris Morris: ‘This isn’t a paranoid future nightmare’.

• Small thing. Remember me banging on about DESTINY a couple of weeks ago? Well, after five years of playing the game I – with the help of a kick-ass team – managed a week one RAID clear. Meaning I qualified for my very own RAID jacket. Something that I only recently started chasing (having not thought I’d be good enough previously). I came super close last time around and this time managed to get done. So yeah. DONE (also, this is what a world’s first looks like).

• My old new favourite radio show, ‘Monday Night & Chill’ just moved and rebranded as the Hoxton Hot List. It’s still the same presenters and it’s still fantastic. You should listen.

• Men in pools.

• Rule one: always sue The Mail.

• A VERY GOOD update to the standard ‘How to think about social media marketing’ fare. Steal this.

• I did a jokey tweet about how organic reach on Facebook is still over and it has even been proved by Zuck himself and some people got really cross about it. Madness.

• Caitlin is right about the LeCreuset Star Wars thing (so is Shann though tbh).

• A decent chat with Snapchat’s CEO.

• No links but the recent HOUSE OF X and POWERS OF X run in Marvel comic land has been some of the best damn comic book things I’ve read in AGES. Seek them out.

• Did I mention THE FINISH LINE IS NEVER THE END already?

• The biggest lie tech people tell themselves.

• Decent look at Chris Wylie.

• Bats argue.

• You want some TikTok content? GO GO GO.

Things of note for the week ending Friday, September 27th, 2019.

Newsletter #305: Introduction

Happy Friday fam.

What can I tell you? The week has passed in a flash. Workloads are high – but manageably so and enjoyable. New faces, places, and spaces abound. Generally: it has been a good week. Today, Friday September 27th, I have run one workshop, seen one INCREDIBLE piece of work (coming soon), and am about another fortnight out from my first piece of work for Digitas actually making it out of the building. Reader: I am excited.

Shortly, I am bound for Birmingham. The annual get together of my gamer gang is upon us so a weekend of laughter, merriment, and general nerding out about gaming is on the horizon. I can’t wait.

Given the workload, the bonuses might be a bit light this week (I understand that for some of you this is actually the opposite of problematic). But overall, the quality is still high.

We are the choices we make.

Shall we crack on with this thing then?

LET’S.

1. THE AMAZING 3D RUGBY REPLAY THING

Have you seen this yet? No?

OK.

LOOK!

Right.

That gif is made from the video that was appended to this tweet (watch the whole thing). Your first thought (well, my first thought) might be ‘Bloody hell, how do they play with that blimmin’ drone flying about all over the place?!’

But here’s the thing: it is not a drone.

Canon has created a whole new system called Free Viewpoint Video. It’s running during all seven of the Rugby tournament matches to be held at the International Stadium Yokohama, including Ireland v Scotland, England v France, both semi-finals and the tournament’s final on 2nd November.

From the website TVB Europe:

“The system comprises multiple high-resolution cameras set up around a stadium, which are connected to a network and controlled via software to simultaneously capture the game from multiple viewpoints. Afterward, image processing technology renders the videos as high-resolution 3D spatial data within which users can freely move a virtual camera around the 3D space, resulting in video that can be viewed from various different angles and viewpoints.”

This is MENTAL. So yeah, while all those folk bang on about VAR and all that jazz, Canon is implementing a quiet revolution in how sports fans can consume it all.

More here.

2. THIS WEEK AT NUMBER TWO: TWO QUICK FACEBOOK THINGS

First: Facebook Horizon.

Submitted without comment:

“Facebook today announced it’s building its own Ready Player One Oasis. Facebook Horizon is a virtual reality sandbox universe where you can build your own environments and games, play and socialize with friends or just explore the user-generated landscapes. This is Facebook’s take on Second Life.

Launching in early 2020 in closed beta, Facebook Horizon will allow users to design their own diverse avatars and hop between virtual locales through portals called Telepods, watch movies and consume other media with friends and play multiplayer games together, like Wing Strikers. It also will include human guides, known as Horizon Locals, who can give users assistance and protect their safety in the VR world so trolls can’t run rampant.”

OK, maybe one comment: this is basically the first step towards OASIS isn’t it?

Moving swiftly onwards – and for those of you that have been following the POLITICIANS ARE COMING trend – this interview with Damian Collins really is fantastic. Moreso because it appears on the consistently excellent Social Media Geekout podcast. For those of you that don’t know, Damian Collins is the chair for the Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee. You must listen, if only for the excellent answer that DC gives to ‘the reason why the independent council of Facebook won’t work?’

“It’s created by Facebook, paid, recruited by Facebook- to sit in judgement on Facebook.” – when he puts it like that, it’s hard to disagree.

So yeah. Read about HORIZON then listen to the podcast.

That’s a proper shot/slammer combo right there.

3. HAND-CRAFTED KIT-KATS, LOL

Not kidding.

FOURTEEN ENGLISH POUNDS FOR A CHOCOLATE BAR, EVERYONE.

ACTUALLY TEMPTED TO WRITE THE WHOLE SECTION IN ALL CAPS OUT OF SHEET AND UTTER SHOCK AND AWE.

But I won’t.

So yeah, this is interesting for a number of reasons.

The ongoing move to D2C models by big consumer brands. This will not pass.

The premiumization (not a word) of everything. I think the cool kids call it ‘premium mediocre‘. The east-coming-west trend is FINE and everything but when your first kit-Kat cost you less than 30p (showing my age there) ponying up the same amount for a Soho cocktail for a bit of standard in a nice box.

The perceived scarcity (only available at a pop-up at John Lewis – and online, in limited numbers).

Money maker’s heaven.

Fascinating.

I bet you a box of these bad boys that ‘luxury handcrafted’ literally talks about the packaging process and nothing else. I BET YOU.

Bonus: the first time I read this story (and I’ve read it a lot this week) I was reminded of this EXCELLENCE.

4. GSUITE + GOOGLE: THE HORROR

This is just a moan. So skip it if this bores you but TO ALL MY GOOGLER FRIENDS THAT SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THING, THIS IS THE WORST.

Oh my God.

The pain. I’ve been a Google Apps now GSuite Legacy user for as long as I’ve had my own website.

A LONG TIME.

Recently, Google has taken to removing features from its consumer-facing services for Gsuite users.

After several of these second-class-citizen issues, I am now moving my WHOLE LIFE to Google/Gmail. Out of Gsuite.

Photos, calendar, email… you name it, I’m moving it. Well, mostly. Maps history won’t move. Google Play Movie licences won’t move. A whole ton of other stuff WON’T MOVE.

It all has to be done manually.

There is no easy ‘import/integrate account’ feature or button. Even Google Takeout, a download your data service from the big G, has proven to be utterly useless because it actually doesn’t provide any upload feature for any of the data I download.

In short: GOOGLE SUCKS AT THIS.

If you’re in the minority of people that are also suffering from this problem. Here’s a a guide that may or may not be useful for you.

5. THE LAST OF US PART II

I can’t wait.

No idea what I’m talking about? You’re missing out on one of the finest games ever made (and it’s free on PlayStation Plus from Tuesday next week).

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

• Table Top Gaming.

• Opera.

• Iceland.

THE BONUS SECTION

EXCLUSIVE BONUS LINKS.
ONLY FOR NICE PEOPLE.

• An Adam Sandler movie that looks good?

• It is SPACED’s birthday!

• Jodie Comer is superb – via Variety.

• What Katie said.

• There’ll be a lot that’s written about the leadership of the United States of America. I try to keep this place a DJT-free zone. This, however, from NYTimes columnist David Leonhardt, is brutally in its simplicity.

• A London love story.

• Reasons why I love Twitter #45672.

• Go Spidey Go!

• Kinda beautiful (best bonus).

• Michelle Williams.

• Jason Bateman.

And so onwards, to the final section.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, September 22nd, 2019.

Newsletter #304: Introduction

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.

I write to you from bed. Commencing this week’s edition at 1045am on a Sunday isn’t my usual fare (I tend to start it in the week and finish it on Friday/Saturday/Sunday (delete where necessary)) but I am having the mother of all lay-ins and it is LUSH. The other half is off on a shoot later today and decided to give me the morning off …children, housework, etc.

So I write.

Reader, it has been blissful.

What else can I tell you?

Friday this past week was the global climate strike. As part of adland’s #CREATEANDSTRIKE movement, I’m proud to report my lot, Digitas, were both involved in creating something for the march (this great get-your-own-out-of-office website) AND out in force at the London leg of the march. I haven’t seen any total number of those that downed tools for the day to stand up to their respective governments and demand action. Millions, easily, globally. An incredible thing. But to what end? What now? Well, Karin Robinson’s podcast gave 30mins to what you can do after the day is over. That’s the first place to start.

As for us, as I explained to someone yesterday (who may have been employing a touch of cynicism re: the ad industry perhaps jumping on the bandwagon (vom)): the butterfly effect has been fascinating. In light of the CEO giving the agency permission to march, etc, there’s been an emboldening of the principles behind the idea and an ambition to turn those principles into action. Be that holding the building we work in to account re its recycling commitments, getting rid of single-use plastics, metal cutlery for all… it’s the small things and all of it has stemmed from ‘Yeah, but we don’t just want to do the textbook agency thing, do the campaign, then all firetruck off down the pub after – this stuff matters’

— ALSO. INVITE CREATIVE ADLAND FOLK, GET COVERAGE. Great work —

#Proud.

Right, shall we crack on with the things? Let’s.

1. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR 11 YEAR OLD SAYS NO TO A SMARTPHONE?

This a reasonably well-trodden area but I still never tire of the varying perspectives.

This image is from the article in question and to be frank bears no resemblance to the thoughts therein but still, onto the article…

Virginia Heffernan writes.

“My son had decided three things about smartphones. 1. They’re infantilizing, a set of digital apron strings meant to attach you to your mother. (He was onto something there.) 2. They compromise a boy’s resourcefulness because kids come to rely on the GPS instead of learning Scout skills. 3. They make people trivial. This final observation bugs me the most, because he still expresses it whenever he sees me jabbing at my own device: “Texty texty! Emoji emoji!” And when I play my word games, he shouts, “GAMER!” That hurts. In short, my son says, he doesn’t want a phone because he wants to be free…”

Post-Millennial, hell, post-Gen Z, what will the children think of us all with our screens? Read the rest on Vogue and make a call for yourself.

2. IS WEWORK A FRAUD?

Lol. Like you had to ask.

This article is FIRE.

3. THIS WEEK IN SECTION THREE: THREE THINGS ABOUT TWITTER

TWITTER THING ONE:

I am officially back ON. App installed, notifications on – the lot. After the huge stuff last week, I have seen the nicer side of it again. Liberal muting, unfollowing, general engagement with the GOOD things… all make it a better place and I am loving it again.

Which leads me to…

TWITTER THING TWO:

What would happen if Albert Camus went to Pret? There’s a Twitter account for that.

Bloody wonderful.

That being said, here’s…

TWITTER THING THREE

The New York Times has this great long read/interview/book promo with Disney CEO, Bob Iger.

The key point relevant for this section talks to the time Disney had got itself pretty close to actually buying Twitter.

Mr. Iger writes in the book about how he pulled the plug at the last minute on a deal to buy Twitter, thinking it could help Disney modernize its distribution. But he had a feel in his gut it wasn’t right, and called a stunned Jack Dorsey to tell him.

“The troubles were greater than I wanted to take on, greater than I thought it was responsible for us to take on,” he tells me. “There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary. I like looking at my Twitter newsfeed because I want to follow 15, 20 different subjects. Then you turn and look at your notifications and you’re immediately saying, why am I doing this? Why do I endure this pain? Like a lot of these platforms, they have the ability to do a lot of good in our world. They also have an ability to do a lot of bad. I didn’t want to take that on.”

Which, when you really break it down, is pretty much the best explanation of why so many drift on and off the platform that I’ve read in some time.

PS. Via Olly.
PPS. Read the whole thing.

4. FINE, A SECTION ABOUT DESTINY 2 THEN

My ongoing gaming strategy for at least a couple of years now is to only really have 2-3 games on at any one time. This chunking helps me actually complete games and as a result, I play more, enjoy more, and ultimately get overwhelmed LESS.

The 2-3 game strategy is: one multi-player game, one solo-player game*, and one joker card. For the past five years, the multi-player game in this equation has been a little game called Destiny.

Well, ‘Destiny’ was its first name.

Right now, it’s called: Destiny 2: Forsaken.

As of October, it’ll be called Destiny 2: New Light AND Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.

This game has been on a monumental journey over since its first launch. A journey that I could easily write a few thousand words about but it would a) only be interesting to a small handful of you and b) no doubt cover ground that so many others have done before.

THE POINT IS: what lies ahead is where things get interesting. From October 1st, a new variant of Destiny 2 known as ‘Destiny 2: New Light’ is going to be launched FOR FREE across console and PC.

And this is a big deal.

You wanna come play sometime? You can.
You wanna stretch some old FPS skills but not commit to the outlay of a game price? You can.
You wanna see what all my nerdery is actually about? YOU CAN.

If you like what you see/play/enjoy, then you might be tempted to pick up Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Shadowkeep is the next real chapter in this game’s ongoing saga. You won’t need to know the history to jump in (not really) and the game should hand hold you through a lot of it. But if you’re up for it, Bungie, the game’s developers (and now publishers) have laid the breadcrumbs out for you to come play.

And there is a LOT of game to play.

We’re about eight days out from launch. The H Y P E machine is full swing. And, while I understand the venn diagram overlap of folk-that-subscribe-to-this-newsletter and lapsed-gamers might not be a huge one, I thought I’d raise it all the same.

THE POINT IS: I am excited about New Destiny Content as well as New Destiny Players. So come join the party in October time. I’ll be waiting 🙂

—

PS. If you’ve pre-ordered the Google Stadia Founder’s Edition, then you’ll probably already know that it’s shipping with the complete Destiny 2 experience. So if you’re waiting for that, jumping into New Light might not be a bad way to get familiar with the game…

5. #BITELIVE19

Earlier this week I managed to get the morning out of the office and attend Creative Brief’s #BITELIVE19 event. And it was a well-curated, well-presented, well-managed, and really well-considered thought provoking few hours.

I’m going to give you a brief rundown of the agenda for the morning, and write up whatever notes I have accordingly. READY?

SESSION 1: POLICY AND THE GENDER DATA CAP
Caroline Criado Perez. Author of Invisible Women. A topic of which came to the fore recently when CCP uncovered that women are more at risk in car accidents because crash test dummies are based on man. ‘Reference Man’ to be more precise.

One of those talks that shocks you with facts and history – both ancient and recent – that spells out exactly how one-sided everything is in the world. Examples, over and above the literal and metaphorical car crash above, included:

The pink Bic pen ‘for ladies’
Babylon Health diagnosing a heart attack as ‘anxiety’ (but only when report the symptoms).

And more.

Key takeout: diversify your thinking/workplace/data collection.

Also: buy that damn book.

SESSION TWO: BE THE CHANGE: PUTTING PURPOSE AND PROFIT ON EQUAL FOOTING
Havas CEO, Xav Rees, and CEO of Ella’s Kitchen, Mark Cuddigan, talk about their respective efforts to guide their companies towards BCORP certification. This is only the second time this year I’ve hard of companies trying to get BCORP certified. The first time was at ONE QUESTION earlier this year. Twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend.

My main thought from the session: Interesting that the input of this has come from the client. Again, another butterfly effect. How many other Ella’s Kitchen suppliers are now considering BCORP at their client’s insistence? There’s a strength here.

SESSION THREE: STEREOTYPE SMASHERS
A six-person (!!!) panel (covering two start-ups, three agencies, and a major client), chaired by BITE’s Managing Editor, Nicola Kemp. I didn’t think there would be much to gain from this session. Too many panelists, not enough time – it could end up boring and hard work. BUT. Nicola Kemp was an excellent moderator (a thankless yet v difficult role), everyone on the stage was well briefed, and there wasn’t a whiff of Blind Date syndrome (‘Same question to contestant number two and three’) in sight. I found myself just broadly applauding the effort of pulling something like that off. Bonus points for a token man on the panel.

SESSION FOUR: THE CONSCIOUS ADVERTISING NETWORK
A swift overview of what the CAN is, what it does, and how all agencies should adopt its approach for future RFPs. This is excellent. Find out more here.

SESSION FIVE: HOW GUINNESS SMASHED STEREOTYPES IN WOMEN’S RUGBY AND BEYOND.
Another great client/agency show (agency folk: wanna be on stage? Take a client with you). What I found amazing about this session was that in the previous talk, Harriet and Jake from the CAN showed the infamous Heineken ‘Lighter is Better‘ ad. In this talk, AMV BBDO showed off its latest work for Guinness, Liberty Fields. The two could not be further apart.

Good nugget: ‘Diversity and inclusion wasn’t a callout in the brief – we just let the work guide us’.

SESSION SIX: BRIDGING THE INTEGRITY GAP: A NEW ERA FOR PURPOSE DRIVEN PARTNERSHIPS.
Chaired by CALM’s CEO, Simon Gunning, this session looked at the different ways brands can try and balance commerciality and integrity. The big thing that came out of this was the head on addressing of the perceived paradox of having a brand such as Molson Coors getting involved with men’s mental health. Beer + bad mental = bad. But actually, men need to talk to each other. And that might be down the pub and that might be over a pint. So it was well overdue in fact.

Best nugget: ’10 years ago we all thought that the big changes in advertising would’ve been tech-focused. Ad-tech ad-tech ad-tech. But instead, the more profound change has been in the audiences we are advertising to.’

SESSION SEVEN: THE CREATIVE BLINDSPOT
Caroline Casey is on a mission to get 500 businesses to commit to disability inclusion by 2020. This was the final session of the day but you wouldn’t think it. Caroline Casey was a firework. I’ve not seen someone speak with such passion and energy in such a long term – it was at times charming, hilarious – and at others deeply moving. The only note I made was something Caroline said about halfway through ‘We make more clothes for dogs than we do for the disabled’. That’s not great is it.

Caroline gave a TED talk on a very similar topic in 2010. Give it a watch.

—

Hats off to the BITELIVE19 team. The curation, moderation, and presentations of every participant was superb. I took along one of our Digitas apprentices who came away with her mindblown. ‘They’re not all like that,’ I said ‘I can’t believe how lucky you are to have THAT as your first marketing event!’

I strongly recommend a browse of the hashtag.

Well done, all.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

• #MeToo Sparked The Next, Great Sexual Revolution For Women.

• Forget being a decent human being, this stuff actually drives profit!

• danah boyd: Facing the Great Reckoning Head On.

B O N U S L I N K S F O R
Y O U R B O N U S E Y E S

THIS IS IT. THE NEARLY-THE-FINAL SECTION OF THE FTOF NEWSLETTER.
NO STOPPING UNTIL YOUR EYEBALLS SCREAM. READY? LET’S GO.

• September 26th: Facebook will actually close one of its STORIES products. This particular one relates to groups. I reckon the usage was in the low millions/hundred-thousands. I mean, no one asked for this feature – at all.

• There’s a new Breaking Bad movie coming. Here’s why you know nothing about that.

• Nope.

• Batlexander Manilton – old but hilare. Indirectly via Biz (via Emily).

• This is a list of games that will only make you mad.

• Play chess, lose weight – madness.

• AKIRA BIKE SLIDE: CULTURAL IMPACT.

• Big fan of the new Spotify ads (and Vikki found the creators too – good job).

• Who would I be without Instagram? (this is a great read).

• The Internet is changing: a theory.

• Tik-Tok: the adults want to entertain and educate.

• Tik-Tok: for brands.

• Tik-Tok: the complete beginner’s guide.

• Some of you haven’t seen Tom Holland do the lip-sync battle performance of Umbrella and it really shows.

• Four work/life tips.

• The Sandy Hook Promise video is harrowing as hell – but this is life for the children of the United States of America and just writing that out makes me feel sick.

• Jigsaw Puzzle. THREAD.

• For the Londoners among you, the EMERGE FESTIVAL kicks off next week. A series of after-hours music + events at over 40 different London museums. Tickets still available.

• Cesar Romero was the original.

And so onwards, to the final section.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday, September 15th, 2019.

Newsletter #303: Introduction

Hello, friend.

Well, that was a week.

Tuesday, in case you missed it, was #WorldSuicidePreventionDay and, after two and a bit years of thinking about my own experiences, I decided to write them up and post them against the hashtag – in the hope that it might reach someone, anyone, and make a difference.

Because this stuff matters.

If you’re inclined, you can read the whole thread over on Twitter. I have no doubt a small handful of you already have. I don’t want to repeat those words here. They have been said now.

If they help you, or someone you know, then it was worth it.

It’s been a few days since it all came out like that and there are residual feelings back up swirling. Churned up from the floor. Marinading. Noodling.

I have been thinking about the road to Tuesday. What steps helped build me up to finally opening up in that way and sharing. Openly and in public. When were the moments I’d considered it and then ran away from it…? I don’t know. Maybe unpacking that might be useful?

Might not.

Indulge me (or skip straight to THE THINGS – either or is fine).

First, I remember thinking – not too long after returning to work – that maybe a year would do it. Fast forward a year and I wasn’t ready (thanks Matt though for trying – you weren’t to know).

The next time I thought about it after that was when I ran into an old boss. I remember what day it was because it was the same day I handed in everything at Ogilvy, the Monday after I left (remember when I left and I said they’d ‘gifted me the most incredible care and support when I faced two of the toughest periods of my life that I have ever been through‘ – this was the major one of those two). It was a heavy day. Totes emosh.

I ran into James, after a long, great afternoon of drinking with myriad friends and, once we’d settled in for a Soho pint, I told him. I couldn’t help myself. He’s the bloody Chair of CALM for crying out loud (side point: crazy that I should have access to that level within the charity and yet I have no sense to use it. Long-time readers will know the work I’ve done with CALM – work that predates June 5th 2017). But I was blind to it.

‘I will write about it’ I said to James, ‘I have to. I am not ready yet but it’ll come’.

I’ve written for CALM before. Twice now I think. Perhaps that might be the platform to write again. I don’t know. I have an odd relationship with writing.

I think at that point I was several gins, wines, and beers in (it was my first official day of funemployment) in and I proceeded to talk about how they, CALM, were getting it wrong. I barely remember the rant but I’m sure it was rooted in something like ‘How do you get people to stop when they believe with their heart of hearts that it is the right thing to do?!’

Last week I had breakfast with my friend Cate (hi Cate). She’s great. (You know those friends who share an orbit with but then both get spun out into different galaxies and every now then your respective planets meet again with stories to share of the things they’ve seen – I think it’s fair to say that’s our kinda friendship). Cate noted, and I pointed it out in the thread, that she’d’ noted a change in my writing. A vulnerability, she said. It was a huge moment for me. I don’t know if Cate knew then (you know now) but it got me thinking again.

Something unlocked.

And then it was Tuesday. #WSPD2019.

That hashtag (alongside its other variations) sitting all up in my trends all day on Twitter – looking at me. Me looking at it. It soaked in.

Like any good brand advertiser will tell you, that’s how brands grow. And grow it did. The germ of it. The germ of being able to talk about it. It grew. I lazily made my way home and thought about it some more. ‘Yeah, I think it’s probably time now’.

At the station, a crucial part of the journey I went on, the samaritans were giving out leaflets. A sign, I thought. And so I knew – it was ready to come out.

The last thing I needed to do before writing was talk to my partner.

‘Is it OK if I talk about [the thing]?’
‘If you’re ready, then yes. Of course it is’.

So we walked home and had dinner. I poured out a glass of wine and just wrote.

And wrote and wrote and wrote.

…

The response has been overwhelming.

From the hundreds upon hundreds of words of support, the DMs, the emails, the people with their own stories – each at different stages of whatever road this is. It has been a humbling experience.

There’s more, I think, that will follow (the examination of shame, the emphasis of experience-as-superpower), but that’s not for now. A week of not thinking about it next week. Then another revisit, I think. Maybe. We’ll see.

We’ll see.

x

—

Right.

Onwards to THE THINGS then?

OK. Let’s.

1. THE CAROLINE CALLOWAY SAGA

Skip it if you’ve already had enough.

If this is news to you, then read on…

Last week, The Cut published an essay by Natalie Beach, ‘I was Caroline Calloway – Seven years after I met the infamous Instagram star, I’m ready to tell my side of the story.’

A little over 6000 words of dissecting what it’s like to live in someone’s shadow. Since its publication five days ago there have been myriad response articles, tweet threads, judgments, dismissals etc… (‘the complicated ethics of publishing personal essays‘ is a highlight).

Some people will read it and not care.
Some people will read it and think those involved need help (and they probably do).
Some people won’t read it at all.

When I initially read the piece – and subsequently marked it for Five things on Friday inclusion, I was taken aback by the writing. It really is so well-written and you can tell that Natalie Beach has a talent for words. For that reason alone I would compel to you read it.

And then maybe draw your own conclusions on the subject matter thereafter.

2. THE BOOK OF PRINCE

‘Prince had grand plans for his autobiography, but only a few months to live’

From one pretty massive essay to another (sorry).

Prince wanted to write a book.

He needed a co-writer.

So he quietly put out the call.

Dan Piepenbring writes…

“On January 29, 2016, Prince summoned me to his home, Paisley Park, to tell me about a book he wanted to write. He was looking for a collaborator. Paisley Park is in Chanhassen, Minnesota, about forty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. Prince treasured the privacy it afforded him. He once said, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, that Minnesota is “so cold it keeps the bad people out.” Sure enough, when I landed, there was an entrenched layer of snow on the ground, and hardly anyone in sight.

Prince’s driver, Kim Pratt, picked me up at the airport in a black Cadillac Escalade. She was wearing a plastic diamond the size of a Ring Pop on her finger. “Sometimes you gotta femme it up,” she said. She dropped me off at the Country Inn & Suites, an unremarkable chain hotel in Chanhassen that served as a de-facto substation for Paisley. I was “on call” until further notice. A member of Prince’s team later told me that, over the years, Prince had paid for enough rooms there to have bought the place four times over.

My agent had put me up for the job but hadn’t refrained from telling me the obvious: at twenty-nine, I was extremely unlikely to get it. In my hotel room, I turned the television on. I turned the television off. I had a mint tea. I felt that I was joining a long and august line of people who’d been made to wait by Prince, people who had sat in rooms in this same hotel, maybe in this very room, quietly freaking out just as I was quietly freaking out.”

Every six months or so another great piece of writing appears that talks about encounters with Prince.

This is one of those.

3. AND NOW, A VISUAL INTERLUDE

Found a new Tumblr.

Dedicated to the Sci-Fi art of the 70s.

And some of it is utterly gorgeous.

So if this kind of stuff floats your boat…

…Get yourself over to 70s Sci-Fi Art dot tumblr dot com.

Quick smart.

4. OK, SO NOW LET’S GET WEIRD

Here we go.

“With the world combusting around us, perhaps this explicit way of worshipping at the altar of celebrity culture—or stanning real-life people so hard that they become celebrities within our own social circles—really tells us that we’re craving a connection so deeply that, as Tolentino writes, we’d even “accept it in the form of murder.” Just me?”

Read ‘Why has our online THIRST taken a violent turn?‘ at GQ.

5. SMART HULK, OLD CAP, AND LEBOWSKI THOR – HOW THEY DID IT

A 20 mind WIRED doc on the SFX on AVENGERS: ENDGAME?

OH GO ON THEN.

Fun fact: all three above-named characters (along with Thanos for that matter) were developed and delivered by different SFX houses.

This is a great watch.

THE ESSENTIALS:

The Essentials are the weekly links to the #MeToo movement. Any article. Any press. Any story. Any white male firing. If it happens, it’s here.

• Lily Allen.

• Chrissie Hynde.

• A new wave of books.

STOP. BONUS LINK TIME.

THIS IS IT THE PENULTIMATE SECTION OF THE NEWSLETTER. NO STOPPING UNTIL THOSE TABS SCREAM MERCY. READY? LET’S GO.

• Pinterest does a monthly trend report on what people are pinning. I did not know this. And it’s interesting af. Go see.

• Tik-Tok worthy of an Oscar.

• LCD Sound System and the unbearable sameness of restaurant playlists.

• About six weeks ago I got asked what book I’d recommend for the summer holidays. I wrote it, sent it, and then forgot about and it. Turns out it got published and I missed it completely. There are a TON of good reccos here (including mine – ahem) so go read.

• The Falling Man is from 2016 but as September 11th passes again, this is worth a revisit.

• One Day at Disney.

• Sex, Lies, and Videotape at 30.

• A brief history of sexy Colonel Sanders (no really).

• I was waiting for Ritson to write about the Cadbury Dairy Milk brand-removal campaign – he does not disappoint. This is bang on.

• ‘Gun violence is not inevitable – it is preventable‘ – companies doing what the US government won’t.

• 73 questions with Olivia Coleman.

• This is ACE.

• The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (aka the DCMS) published its report on addictive and immersive technologies this week (press page + full report (PDF)). I wrote about some of the findings and recommendations in this thread here – all in all this is a welcome report. Now to turn those findings into actions.

• I’ve been following THE FRY UP POLICE for a while now (ever since #RamekinGate). But here’s a decent video from the fella behind it on how to make THE PERFECT fry up. Big up.

• Death Stranding is coming. Hideo Kojima’s first independent game. You can watch a 7min cut scene (the 4k briefing) of what is currently being described as a potential ‘Norman Reedus Tamagotchi’ game – but we’ll see what happens… It LOOKS phenomenal. But gameplay-wise? Jury is well and truly out.

• Ad land needs flexible working. I’m lucky enough to work for a network group that offers this in spades. But as ever more work is needed in this space.

And I think that’s where we’ll leave that for this week…