Archive for April, 2007
Great quotes from unusual sources
When trying to ram a point home in presentations, I’m increasingly finding myself turning to movies or song lyrics to make my point, rather than dredging up pearls of wisdom from academics or business gurus.
These kind of quotes are closer to people’s hearts, tend to reflect their own experiences and generally are a bit catchier and more memorable too. I’m using a great one for a big pitch on Friday (so I won’t be sharing it just yet…) and I found another one tucked away on (don’t laugh) Take That’s album that I’ll definitely try and use sometime soon:
Sometimes we don’t know what we’re looking for,
That’s the time to be the first one on the dance floor.
My take: get out there, experience it and worry later about understanding it.
Should time travellers fixate on the present day?
I’ve been watching the new series of Dr Who. Its been fabulous as usual. The thing that struck me however was the number of tongue in cheek references to marketing and media that I don’t remember the previous series being that big on.
The first episode had new assistant Martha questioning whether the biker helmeted aliens were from the Planet Zovirax, while last weekend saw the Doctor urge Shakespeare to rid the world of witches with the help of an ‘Expelliarmus’ from Harry Potter.
I quite like it, but I can’t help wondering – is this series going to look terribly dated in five years as a result?
Happy Easter
I leave you with the news that I didn’t win the annual agency Easter egg decorating competition. But here is my entry (below) anyway. Back next week.
Update 15/04/11 – due to the relatively enormous amount of Easter Egg Decorating related traffic this post is getting, I’ve pasted below some hopefully helpful suggestions (which I previously popped in as comments but are easier to read this way):
- try ‘Christina Egguilera’ (which got me the runner’s up place in 2006ish), or ‘Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall’
- or ‘Dora the Eggspolorer’, or a penguin, or Kenny from South Park
- or if you’re feeling ambitious try making these Easter Egg Celebrities (thanks to @andjambro for the link on email)
Been there, done that, got the bruises to prove it
So, 6 meetings, 2 car journeys, 5 taxis, 7 trains and 6 tubes later, I’ve got back to 132 emails in my inbox. I could do with a couple of days in bed to recover, but I offer the following observations:
- Train journeys offer the perfect opportunity to get your head around a problem (or at least part of one). An uninterrupted hour or two to think and scribble (with an ever-changing view to stare out at) is a real rarity.
- Try this fun new game: talk to a stranger on the tube and watch them freak out…
- I did get to the theatre – Avenue Q was brilliant – joyous even. And very rude. I’m still smiling every time I think about it.
- It turns out that legs go an attractive shade of purple when they are repeatedly bashed by your overweight, oversized, brought-the-contents-of-my-desk-with-me-just-in-case bag.
- Whoever thought it was a good idea to put serrated metal strips on the edges of the stairs out of Kings Cross Thameslink station should come and have a look at the dirty great hole I now have in my knee after falling up said stairs.
