I knew I'd forgotten something.
Or rather, I knew I'd tried desperately to put something out of my mind and succeeded.
Today I had a meeting with some folks who are putting on a show and using us for extra publicity. I'd been forewarned, and had no idea why I was being pulled into it. Having sat through over an hour of meeting, I'm still none the wiser.
Well, perhaps not entirely true.
My previous experience with the sites stood me in some good stead, but the length of time I've been out of the loop counted against me. There were also things that the guy who used to run the websites did, that I'm not able to do (easily) myself, or that I'll have to defer to the IT folks who do the background stuff. I was, however, reasonably certain of what we can offer. While in the meeting, I was relying on bluff and confident silence more than thought (who actually manages to think in this kind of meeting anyway?) but, after the meeting, more of the ins and outs of the requirements started popping up in my memory, so when they started emailing me, I was able to answer more confidently.
Much of it will be going via the Editors anyway, so I really only need to worry about the technical crap that - supposedly - I'm very good at. The MD described me as a genius... Largely, I suspect, because he hasn't hit upon anything I'm no good at... yet...
Day after press on yesterday's magazine was a far more civilised affair than Friday's. The Sales team shifted their few remaining spaces promptly, and the only reason we weren't finished by midday was that the last ad took a while to come through from the client, and needed their logo adding to it.
We finished by about 1.30pm
After that, it was announced that Accounts would be invoicing April web ads tomorrow... When we'd only just started working on them today. These things need to be ironed out... Invoicing all web ads at the beginning of the month is more than a little ridiculous when the salespeople are still selling them into the second week of the month.
In other news, my Broadband is up and running at the flat (supposedly), so these last few posts will be up - dated correctly, but in one big hit - once I drag my computer and modem over to the flat.
I also popped over to the flat to measure up for the possibility of getting a large sofabed with chaise longue. Theoretically, there's enough room for my ideal choice, plus the computer desk, with enough room for the planned cabinet in the corner, and possibly a small table over by the window.
Now I just have to order the sofa.
On the way out, I noticed a possible cause for the problems with my front door: part of the lock arrangement had come unscrewed from the door frame. Once screwed back (after a couple of adjustments for fit), the door closes soundly, and the seal seems better. I'll have to keep an eye on that. If it keeps coming unscrewed, I'll have to call in the window people to fix it properly.
Tuesday 31 March 2009
Monday 30 March 2009
Offline Blog #3
Who'd have thought that, having apologised for his stupid behaviour on Friday, the Commercial Manager would spend the weekend brooding, and try a whole new attack on Monday morning?
Well... I have to admit that I didn't predict it... but equally, it doesn't surprise me. He's really losing his grip, and I suspect he'll lose his job if things carry on the way they are at the moment.
He apparently started off with the same complaint - that I'd 'walked out', and that he hadn't signed off the magazine when I left, so it shouldn't have gone to the Printers. My boss pointed out that, since this all happened the day after press, I was under no obligation to stay past 5.30 and that surely he should have signed everything off the day before... it had been Press Day, after all.
Even the MD tried to jump to my defence, I hear... by my boss got there ahead of him and cut him off.
By the time I'd arrived, however, it was all over... My boss had sent the replacement final page, and all was well. Except that this particular Commercial Manager has pushed it too far (again) and is never getting any favours ever again (again). I pointed out to my boss that this is not the first time she's said that. She suggested I remind her of this next time he asks for a favour, and I replied that I always do, and that she always responds by saying "this isn't a favour".
We shall see.
Press Day for my next magazine ended up being staggered into tomorrow. There's only a page worth of space left (coincidentally, Thursday's magazine went to press with a page worth of fillers), so that shouldn't be too difficult to fill. Everything bar the last few pages is uploaded, and everything bar one section has been signed off. Hopefully tomorrow shouldn't be too much of a struggle, but the Salespeople are rather put out that they have to return to our office. If they're sensible, they'll make damned sure they're finished by noon.
Once that's out of the way, I'll have some breathing room to work on the web ads... They're all due to go online on Wednesday, so it'd be nice to make some headway on them.
Well... I have to admit that I didn't predict it... but equally, it doesn't surprise me. He's really losing his grip, and I suspect he'll lose his job if things carry on the way they are at the moment.
He apparently started off with the same complaint - that I'd 'walked out', and that he hadn't signed off the magazine when I left, so it shouldn't have gone to the Printers. My boss pointed out that, since this all happened the day after press, I was under no obligation to stay past 5.30 and that surely he should have signed everything off the day before... it had been Press Day, after all.
Even the MD tried to jump to my defence, I hear... by my boss got there ahead of him and cut him off.
By the time I'd arrived, however, it was all over... My boss had sent the replacement final page, and all was well. Except that this particular Commercial Manager has pushed it too far (again) and is never getting any favours ever again (again). I pointed out to my boss that this is not the first time she's said that. She suggested I remind her of this next time he asks for a favour, and I replied that I always do, and that she always responds by saying "this isn't a favour".
We shall see.
Press Day for my next magazine ended up being staggered into tomorrow. There's only a page worth of space left (coincidentally, Thursday's magazine went to press with a page worth of fillers), so that shouldn't be too difficult to fill. Everything bar the last few pages is uploaded, and everything bar one section has been signed off. Hopefully tomorrow shouldn't be too much of a struggle, but the Salespeople are rather put out that they have to return to our office. If they're sensible, they'll make damned sure they're finished by noon.
Once that's out of the way, I'll have some breathing room to work on the web ads... They're all due to go online on Wednesday, so it'd be nice to make some headway on them.
Sunday 29 March 2009
Offline Blog #2
Weird week.
Everything has slipped back by about a week, meaning things are more or less back to normal, just... off.
On the whole, it went well. Press Day was just stupid. There were spaces still to sell - nothing new there - but the Sales team were employing the most scattershot tactics I've seen in quite a while. Even that wasn't too bad, though, as it filled spaces.
Things started to to pear-shaped when the new guy - stop me if you've heard this one - made a late sale to a new client who had no complete artwork. What they had was an ad designed by an agency which they had declined... so we couldn't even use it as a style guide.
So the saleman directed them to an online 'style guide' thing our parent company has for advertising. So far, so good. They picked a style they liked, and I gave the job of setting it to myself, to guarantee that my staff wouldn't have to hang around when it all went wrong.
Because it did go wrong.
So very wrong.
In every way I knew it would, hours before it happened.
Let's break it down:
What they hadn't reckoned on was:
Sure enough, the Commercial Manager had been going ballistic.
Equally sure, my boss had been pointing out the flaws in his flimsy argument.
By the time I switched my phone back on, I'd had a text message from him - supposedly meant to be an apology, but actually a grudging 'thank you' followed by an instruction.
The rest of Saturday was not exactly a blur of activity. I hadn't slept particularly well (though I did have a bizarre dream in which one of our Senior Designers, made redundant around this time last year and recently demoted to 'Artworker' in his new job, thought he was returning to the fold, and I took great delight in telling him he was not. He started crying uncontrollably, and the Editor he was sweet-talking did likewise, running off to a dark corner of the office and refusing to talk to me), so a good chunk of the afternoon was lost to a nap.
Sunday, by comparison, was much more fun - a day trip to the Birmingham NEC for the Spring Memorabilia show. The show, in and of itself, was a disappointment (as the spring shows often are) with a lacklustre collection of guests, many of whom I'd never heard of. The stalls were rather bare of anything new in the TransFormers line - most everything there is commonly available in the shops... though Memorabilia seemed slightly cheaper on average.
I did pick up a new T-shirt (because I have so very few already) from Retro GT - a scene from the end of level one in Salamander, where Giant Tentacled Cyclops Brain Monster is being attacked by the two good-guy spacecraft.
My companion gave me one of her Totoro phone charms - the number 6 (Totoro peering out from under a torn umbrella) since my birthday is in the sixth month. I gave her a late 'filler' birthday present, because the new TransFormers movie Bumblebee isn't available yet - a Viking Kitten from the Rathergood.com shop.
There were no diversions on the way home, as her stomach started playing up, but it was a pretty decent day out, with lovely weather. The NEC's little ecosystem managed to be warmer than London, where it's normally colder and frequently wetter, whatever the weather back home. This trip was also probably the first time we've actually had a good view over the plain of Oxford on the way out.
Everything has slipped back by about a week, meaning things are more or less back to normal, just... off.
On the whole, it went well. Press Day was just stupid. There were spaces still to sell - nothing new there - but the Sales team were employing the most scattershot tactics I've seen in quite a while. Even that wasn't too bad, though, as it filled spaces.
Things started to to pear-shaped when the new guy - stop me if you've heard this one - made a late sale to a new client who had no complete artwork. What they had was an ad designed by an agency which they had declined... so we couldn't even use it as a style guide.
So the saleman directed them to an online 'style guide' thing our parent company has for advertising. So far, so good. They picked a style they liked, and I gave the job of setting it to myself, to guarantee that my staff wouldn't have to hang around when it all went wrong.
Because it did go wrong.
So very wrong.
In every way I knew it would, hours before it happened.
Let's break it down:
- New client, booked in for full-page ad, on the day after press.
- Materials supplied are text, images and a layout that we must not use as a guide because Client has rejected it.
- Client chooses library tempate.
- Client insists on seeing a proof.
- Production must not proof on Press Day
- Saleman insists that he's following Commercial Manager's instructions.
- Commercial Manager listens to Production concerns and ignores them, blinded by the pound signs, deafened by the 'cha-ching' of a sale he's been assured is good.
- Production agrees to send a proof based on layout selected by Client
- Client requests changes, which are made, and a new proof sent (my mistake, at that stage, it should have been approved or cancelled)
- Client request further changes, which are made, but the ad is then sent to press (at just after 5.30pm on the day after press) before the client sees a proof, in accordance with our procedures.
- I leave the office, while the Salesman is still on the phone to the Client, who is "not sure."
What they hadn't reckoned on was:
- It was booked the day after press
- They were supposed to be filling space and hitting their target, not wasting time doggedly chasing one particular sale
- Since it wasn't a press day, neither I nor my team were obliged to stay after 5.30pm
Sure enough, the Commercial Manager had been going ballistic.
Equally sure, my boss had been pointing out the flaws in his flimsy argument.
By the time I switched my phone back on, I'd had a text message from him - supposedly meant to be an apology, but actually a grudging 'thank you' followed by an instruction.
The rest of Saturday was not exactly a blur of activity. I hadn't slept particularly well (though I did have a bizarre dream in which one of our Senior Designers, made redundant around this time last year and recently demoted to 'Artworker' in his new job, thought he was returning to the fold, and I took great delight in telling him he was not. He started crying uncontrollably, and the Editor he was sweet-talking did likewise, running off to a dark corner of the office and refusing to talk to me), so a good chunk of the afternoon was lost to a nap.
Sunday, by comparison, was much more fun - a day trip to the Birmingham NEC for the Spring Memorabilia show. The show, in and of itself, was a disappointment (as the spring shows often are) with a lacklustre collection of guests, many of whom I'd never heard of. The stalls were rather bare of anything new in the TransFormers line - most everything there is commonly available in the shops... though Memorabilia seemed slightly cheaper on average.
I did pick up a new T-shirt (because I have so very few already) from Retro GT - a scene from the end of level one in Salamander, where Giant Tentacled Cyclops Brain Monster is being attacked by the two good-guy spacecraft.
My companion gave me one of her Totoro phone charms - the number 6 (Totoro peering out from under a torn umbrella) since my birthday is in the sixth month. I gave her a late 'filler' birthday present, because the new TransFormers movie Bumblebee isn't available yet - a Viking Kitten from the Rathergood.com shop.
There were no diversions on the way home, as her stomach started playing up, but it was a pretty decent day out, with lovely weather. The NEC's little ecosystem managed to be warmer than London, where it's normally colder and frequently wetter, whatever the weather back home. This trip was also probably the first time we've actually had a good view over the plain of Oxford on the way out.
Tuesday 24 March 2009
Offline Blog #1
No internet at home as of today. The phone is ready at the flat, but broadband is only 'in progress' and due to be ready on the 31st.
To ease my withdrawal, I'm hoping to write some other stuff (gasp), possibly do some sketching (though I've left my sketch pads at the flat), and making some headway in the redesign of my 16-year-old game design.
That, and play Typhoon 2001. Lots. Because it rocks. I liked Tempest 2000, but this version does away with the dull, trippy 'flying through hoops' alleged bonus stages. Most excellent.
To ease my withdrawal, I'm hoping to write some other stuff (gasp), possibly do some sketching (though I've left my sketch pads at the flat), and making some headway in the redesign of my 16-year-old game design.
That, and play Typhoon 2001. Lots. Because it rocks. I liked Tempest 2000, but this version does away with the dull, trippy 'flying through hoops' alleged bonus stages. Most excellent.
Monday 23 March 2009
Things get complicated
When I was invited, last week, into a meeting about a certain show, and the web-based publicity we're adding to our sites to promote it, I was rather dubious. Not really my field, so I wasn't sure what they expected me to add.
Nevertheless, I accepted that my presence was required.
Today, I received an email from one of the people involved in the show, telling me that he looked forward to meeting me and hearing what I had to say about the whole publicity thing.
Cue alarm bells.
Publicity ain't my thing... Marketing ain't my thing (despite the fact that I'd do a better job than most of our salespeople), and my knowledge of the show and its requirements is nonexistant. I was asked to put the ad on our websites. Mission accomplished. Anything more is not in my remit, as I understood the agreement.
Thankfully my boss has volunteered to come along...
But, as if that wasn't bad enough, some kerfuffle we had on Friday regarding a web ad for another show, for which running an offer on tickets, became even more insane today. The Commercial Manager involved repeatedly sent the same Flash files to me and the woman in charge of the web project. I suggested to her than this was his 'subtle' way of saying he expected us to dig him out of the shit, but that I have neither the software, nor the expertise with that software, to make the changes he and the client required...
...and then it began to look as though the changes he required didn't make any bloody sense anyway.
Meanwhile, one of my designers called in sick, and another was in hospital for the first half of the day. Lucky there weren't too many ads to work on today...
I managed to strip out the 'filler' ads from some of the websites, but only one of the three Commercial Managers bothered to let me know which ads should definitely stay. I may have to assume they're happy that the database is up to date and correct... but I'm really not confident that's true.
Possible upside to today: I may be getting Flash training.
Not completely happy about it... This whole thing was sold to me on the grounds that I wouldn't have to learn Flash, so my boss has gone back on the agreement. She made the (somewhat valid) point that knowing Flash would stand me in good stead for the future... but it's really not something I want to learn.
Who knows? It might turn out to be fun.
Nevertheless, I accepted that my presence was required.
Today, I received an email from one of the people involved in the show, telling me that he looked forward to meeting me and hearing what I had to say about the whole publicity thing.
Cue alarm bells.
Publicity ain't my thing... Marketing ain't my thing (despite the fact that I'd do a better job than most of our salespeople), and my knowledge of the show and its requirements is nonexistant. I was asked to put the ad on our websites. Mission accomplished. Anything more is not in my remit, as I understood the agreement.
Thankfully my boss has volunteered to come along...
But, as if that wasn't bad enough, some kerfuffle we had on Friday regarding a web ad for another show, for which running an offer on tickets, became even more insane today. The Commercial Manager involved repeatedly sent the same Flash files to me and the woman in charge of the web project. I suggested to her than this was his 'subtle' way of saying he expected us to dig him out of the shit, but that I have neither the software, nor the expertise with that software, to make the changes he and the client required...
...and then it began to look as though the changes he required didn't make any bloody sense anyway.
Meanwhile, one of my designers called in sick, and another was in hospital for the first half of the day. Lucky there weren't too many ads to work on today...
I managed to strip out the 'filler' ads from some of the websites, but only one of the three Commercial Managers bothered to let me know which ads should definitely stay. I may have to assume they're happy that the database is up to date and correct... but I'm really not confident that's true.
Possible upside to today: I may be getting Flash training.
Not completely happy about it... This whole thing was sold to me on the grounds that I wouldn't have to learn Flash, so my boss has gone back on the agreement. She made the (somewhat valid) point that knowing Flash would stand me in good stead for the future... but it's really not something I want to learn.
Who knows? It might turn out to be fun.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Sunday 22 March 2009
Insert Watch Pun Here
Naturally, I have seen Watchmen.
And, of course, I have seen it Imax-style.
In sort, it ain't Alan Moore's Watchmen... but it's an excellent cinematic interpretation of that original. It's an adaptation and, as such, is just as successful in the motion picture medium as the original was in sequential art form.
When I say it's an adaptation, I mean they changed things... By and large, they were changed for the better. For example (not really much of a spoiler) the giant tentacled monster of the book does not appear. A much more obvious threat looms (I suspect, in fact, that much of Mr Moore's dislike of the movie stems from the fact that the writers (including David 'Solid Snake' Hayter!) picked up on and used the obvious threat where Moore, as the writer of the original, did not), and is very cleverly utilised.
What really impressed me is that there wasn't as much slow-mo as the trailer had suggested, which is a good thing. It shows that Mr Snyder is not a one-trick-pony. In fact, that he was capable of condensing it all into a less-than-three-hour movie while maintaining a coherent story and a pace that doesn't let your mind wander (unlike, say, The Dark Knight) tends to suggest big things await him in future.
The only downside - for me - was that my favourite line from the book wasn't used: Doctor Manhatten does a TV interview...
Host/Interviewer: ...I hope you'll forgive me for asking you this... But what's up, doc?"
Doc Manhatten: "Up" is a relative concept. It has no intrinsic value.
Haven't done much else with my weekend. Woke up with a headache again, which put a bit of a dampener on things. I'd hoped to work on a bit of 'concept art' for my 16-year-old project, but didn't really get very far. I can picture things so clearly in my mind, but can't get them down on paper... A problem I've had since my early school days.
And, of course, I have seen it Imax-style.
In sort, it ain't Alan Moore's Watchmen... but it's an excellent cinematic interpretation of that original. It's an adaptation and, as such, is just as successful in the motion picture medium as the original was in sequential art form.
When I say it's an adaptation, I mean they changed things... By and large, they were changed for the better. For example (not really much of a spoiler) the giant tentacled monster of the book does not appear. A much more obvious threat looms (I suspect, in fact, that much of Mr Moore's dislike of the movie stems from the fact that the writers (including David 'Solid Snake' Hayter!) picked up on and used the obvious threat where Moore, as the writer of the original, did not), and is very cleverly utilised.
What really impressed me is that there wasn't as much slow-mo as the trailer had suggested, which is a good thing. It shows that Mr Snyder is not a one-trick-pony. In fact, that he was capable of condensing it all into a less-than-three-hour movie while maintaining a coherent story and a pace that doesn't let your mind wander (unlike, say, The Dark Knight) tends to suggest big things await him in future.
The only downside - for me - was that my favourite line from the book wasn't used: Doctor Manhatten does a TV interview...
Host/Interviewer: ...I hope you'll forgive me for asking you this... But what's up, doc?"
Doc Manhatten: "Up" is a relative concept. It has no intrinsic value.
Haven't done much else with my weekend. Woke up with a headache again, which put a bit of a dampener on things. I'd hoped to work on a bit of 'concept art' for my 16-year-old project, but didn't really get very far. I can picture things so clearly in my mind, but can't get them down on paper... A problem I've had since my early school days.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Great Scott! Progress?
Dunno what happened today, but I actually dealt with some of the nagging tasks that have thusfar prevented me from biting the bullet and moving into my flat.
Actually, most of what I did today has nothing to do with that.
I have:
So, naturally, it'll bite me in the arse in a few days.
In other news, while my writing seems to have ground to a halt today, ideas have occurred to me on a project that's been dormant in my mind since... *pause for dramatic effect* ...1993.
16 years, nothing. Not a single thought about it.
It was a videogame 'design', owing much to my love of point'n'click adventures, intended for a little-known British-made home computer. I have come to suspect that part of the reason for lack of progress was that the format of the game was wrong.
Well, that, and the fact that I never really figured out what the story was... which can't have helped.
Now, I have ideas. Vague and derivative though they may be, they seem to fit. Many of the blanks I had 16 years ago have been filled. Not all of them, but it's a start. Perhaps life experience has played a part... perhaps it's the hours I've spent watching videogame walkthroughs and pondering their stories... But I can certainly say that my muse has paid a visit.
There's more of a story, a more sensible setting and structure, and a selection of more active characters who are occasionally gracing me with insights into their characters and motivations.
Of course, the machine the game was intended for would not currently be capable of running it... but that's being worked on too.
Actually, most of what I did today has nothing to do with that.
I have:
- Set up a direct debit for my water bill
- Arranged for the transfer of my phone to the flat (new number as it's a different exchange)
- Started the process of switching my broadband to the new number
- Informed the local council that they can start to send correspondence to the flat
- Filled out the form which should give me a 25% discount on my Council Tax bill because I'm the sole occupant.
So, naturally, it'll bite me in the arse in a few days.
In other news, while my writing seems to have ground to a halt today, ideas have occurred to me on a project that's been dormant in my mind since... *pause for dramatic effect* ...1993.
16 years, nothing. Not a single thought about it.
It was a videogame 'design', owing much to my love of point'n'click adventures, intended for a little-known British-made home computer. I have come to suspect that part of the reason for lack of progress was that the format of the game was wrong.
Well, that, and the fact that I never really figured out what the story was... which can't have helped.
Now, I have ideas. Vague and derivative though they may be, they seem to fit. Many of the blanks I had 16 years ago have been filled. Not all of them, but it's a start. Perhaps life experience has played a part... perhaps it's the hours I've spent watching videogame walkthroughs and pondering their stories... But I can certainly say that my muse has paid a visit.
There's more of a story, a more sensible setting and structure, and a selection of more active characters who are occasionally gracing me with insights into their characters and motivations.
Of course, the machine the game was intended for would not currently be capable of running it... but that's being worked on too.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Sunday 15 March 2009
Got Through
Last weekend, I popped off to Ealing and Kingston in search of a reasonably priced sofabed, to complete my lounge (bar cabinets and computer desk). Didn't have much luck (most high street shops have sales on, but they knock things down from just over a grand to just under, and one of the places I wanted to go turned out to be closed). Thankfully I have seen some bargains (or so they seem) online.
One amusing thing that happened in Kingston market was being approached by two young ladies, one of whom piped up "Do you ever question the purpose of life?"
I replied "Every working day."
The one who hadn't spoken laughed (quite rightly observing that I was being 'teh funneh'), and I politely excused myself, having noticed their badges (do all street evangelists wear badges these days?!). As I wandered on, the one who spoke asked something like "wouldn't you like to find some answers?", to which I happily replied "I tend to find my own".
Not the best approach on a sales pitch, and I walked on considering better opening lines... She seemed to just launch into an attempt at deep and meaningful which is more than likely to raise the heckles of anyone she approached (lucky it was me, eh?)... and then not recognising or ignoring a light-hearted/humourous response really killed it. Not that I managed to come up with a better opening line, but it did get me wondering how often that kind of pitch works, what kind of pitch works most often (I'm sure there must be one, even though the audience is ever-changin'), etc.
Before excusing myself, I was half tempted to enter into the spirit of things, as it were, and see how they reacted to my take on things (believing in God, but not 'Religion'), but the one who spoke just seemed to be taking it all so seriously...
Oh well.
In other news, I'm considering my kitchen finished now. There's still a bit of shoddy paintwork, but the more I try to fix it, the more it turns into a millstone, rather than a milestone. Better to be reasonably happy (as I am) and move on to other things, than obsess over something that's not quite perfect.
As it was...
As it is now...
I think we can all agree there's a bit of a difference.
Last week, my boss was taking some time off work. Normally, this would be a source of some panic for me. Add in that the expected structure of the week got rather messed up the week before, so my one deadline on Wednesday turned into one on Tuesday and one on Friday, and you can imagine that I wasn't looking forward to the week. Then factor in my newly-adopted responsibility for web ads...
It was sometime on Monday that people started chasing me for progress on their web ads. Must have been toward the end of the day, because I said I'd be looking into it first thing the next morning. Lo and behold, the very person who was shouting loudest for news was the one who should have been getting us copy with which to make the ads.
By the end of the week, I was only about halfway through the month's ads, but wasn't helped by the fact that some folks still seemed to be selling March. This will have to stop. Also, the Copy Controller who's chasing web stuff for me was on press by Friday, so had precious little time to work on anything but her magazine. Thankfully now it's her only magazine (I think...), so we can begin to set up a structure whereby web copy controlling doesn't interfere with the magazine stuff.
My first deadline of the week went surprisingly smoothly, despite the magazine being cut by 8 pages on press day due to poor sales. Not a lack of sales, I should say - they'd filled the magazine bar a couple of spaces. The problem was, to do that, they'd undersold everything. Panic selling never works... Less so now we're feeling the economic strain. They were so far off their target that, at about 2.30pm, word went round that 8 pages were coming out. One of them was blank... Two of them were an in-house ad for subscriptions... five of them were editorial.
Thankfully, everything was so well-organised within Production and Editorial that, once I'd reorganised the flatplan, the most painful thing to do was reorganise the files I'd already uploaded to the Printers. Their software permits page cuts at any stage, but by simply cutting off required number from the end. Dropping eight pages meant that the last eight pages were moved to the clipboard, but the preceding pages all had to be manually moved back 8 to get the last few back in. The process was slightly less painful than uploading them again from scratch, but certainly less time-consuming.
Once that was out of the way, pretty much all that remained was to put the front section together. These days, I deliberately leave them till last anyway, because the Salespeople are inclined to want to move them around all the time. The whole thing was done and dusted by about 5.35. Two days after it was supposed to go to press, but at least it wasn't a late night.
Not so for Friday's magazine, which dragged on till after 7 thanks to some extremely dumb late selling. One of my designers was getting rather uppity about it all but, to be honest, the work he did on the last ad of the day was excellent.
In between, there was meant to be a 'lunch thing' between one of my designers and one of her editors, because of some strife that's been brewing for quite a while. Editor claims my designer is slow and surly. My designer counters that editor is rude and cannot make up her mind (she's already started saving multiple copies of her work, due to editor's habit of saying "Let's go back to the first version... I liked that better.")
In the end, that was postponed to this coming week, because my designer was concerned it would descend into shouting and recrimination - she's genuinely quite upset by the complaints made against her by this troublesome editor - even though I offered to go along.
We shall see how it all pans out now that it will be my boss going along...
I have to say, despite the trouble and the late night on Friday (better than some, but finishing earlier would have been better... and would have been easily possible were it not for one troublesome new client), I actually rather enjoyed the week. Sure, it was stressful, and I didn't have my boss to rely on to deal with some of the political bollocks... but I reckon I tackled it reasonably well... And giving the Salespeople a hard time was fun...
One amusing thing that happened in Kingston market was being approached by two young ladies, one of whom piped up "Do you ever question the purpose of life?"
I replied "Every working day."
The one who hadn't spoken laughed (quite rightly observing that I was being 'teh funneh'), and I politely excused myself, having noticed their badges (do all street evangelists wear badges these days?!). As I wandered on, the one who spoke asked something like "wouldn't you like to find some answers?", to which I happily replied "I tend to find my own".
Not the best approach on a sales pitch, and I walked on considering better opening lines... She seemed to just launch into an attempt at deep and meaningful which is more than likely to raise the heckles of anyone she approached (lucky it was me, eh?)... and then not recognising or ignoring a light-hearted/humourous response really killed it. Not that I managed to come up with a better opening line, but it did get me wondering how often that kind of pitch works, what kind of pitch works most often (I'm sure there must be one, even though the audience is ever-changin'), etc.
Before excusing myself, I was half tempted to enter into the spirit of things, as it were, and see how they reacted to my take on things (believing in God, but not 'Religion'), but the one who spoke just seemed to be taking it all so seriously...
Oh well.
In other news, I'm considering my kitchen finished now. There's still a bit of shoddy paintwork, but the more I try to fix it, the more it turns into a millstone, rather than a milestone. Better to be reasonably happy (as I am) and move on to other things, than obsess over something that's not quite perfect.
As it was...
As it is now...
I think we can all agree there's a bit of a difference.
Last week, my boss was taking some time off work. Normally, this would be a source of some panic for me. Add in that the expected structure of the week got rather messed up the week before, so my one deadline on Wednesday turned into one on Tuesday and one on Friday, and you can imagine that I wasn't looking forward to the week. Then factor in my newly-adopted responsibility for web ads...
It was sometime on Monday that people started chasing me for progress on their web ads. Must have been toward the end of the day, because I said I'd be looking into it first thing the next morning. Lo and behold, the very person who was shouting loudest for news was the one who should have been getting us copy with which to make the ads.
By the end of the week, I was only about halfway through the month's ads, but wasn't helped by the fact that some folks still seemed to be selling March. This will have to stop. Also, the Copy Controller who's chasing web stuff for me was on press by Friday, so had precious little time to work on anything but her magazine. Thankfully now it's her only magazine (I think...), so we can begin to set up a structure whereby web copy controlling doesn't interfere with the magazine stuff.
My first deadline of the week went surprisingly smoothly, despite the magazine being cut by 8 pages on press day due to poor sales. Not a lack of sales, I should say - they'd filled the magazine bar a couple of spaces. The problem was, to do that, they'd undersold everything. Panic selling never works... Less so now we're feeling the economic strain. They were so far off their target that, at about 2.30pm, word went round that 8 pages were coming out. One of them was blank... Two of them were an in-house ad for subscriptions... five of them were editorial.
Thankfully, everything was so well-organised within Production and Editorial that, once I'd reorganised the flatplan, the most painful thing to do was reorganise the files I'd already uploaded to the Printers. Their software permits page cuts at any stage, but by simply cutting off required number from the end. Dropping eight pages meant that the last eight pages were moved to the clipboard, but the preceding pages all had to be manually moved back 8 to get the last few back in. The process was slightly less painful than uploading them again from scratch, but certainly less time-consuming.
Once that was out of the way, pretty much all that remained was to put the front section together. These days, I deliberately leave them till last anyway, because the Salespeople are inclined to want to move them around all the time. The whole thing was done and dusted by about 5.35. Two days after it was supposed to go to press, but at least it wasn't a late night.
Not so for Friday's magazine, which dragged on till after 7 thanks to some extremely dumb late selling. One of my designers was getting rather uppity about it all but, to be honest, the work he did on the last ad of the day was excellent.
In between, there was meant to be a 'lunch thing' between one of my designers and one of her editors, because of some strife that's been brewing for quite a while. Editor claims my designer is slow and surly. My designer counters that editor is rude and cannot make up her mind (she's already started saving multiple copies of her work, due to editor's habit of saying "Let's go back to the first version... I liked that better.")
In the end, that was postponed to this coming week, because my designer was concerned it would descend into shouting and recrimination - she's genuinely quite upset by the complaints made against her by this troublesome editor - even though I offered to go along.
We shall see how it all pans out now that it will be my boss going along...
I have to say, despite the trouble and the late night on Friday (better than some, but finishing earlier would have been better... and would have been easily possible were it not for one troublesome new client), I actually rather enjoyed the week. Sure, it was stressful, and I didn't have my boss to rely on to deal with some of the political bollocks... but I reckon I tackled it reasonably well... And giving the Salespeople a hard time was fun...
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Tuesday 3 March 2009
BotCon: Another Year, Another Underestimate
It's truly insane that, a mere six or so days after registration opened, the boxed sets and loose sets allocated to non-attendees have sold out.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but limiting the number of sets per registration to one is unprecedented.
This year's production run is higher than last year's? Really? And it's selling out quicker (only two figure previews are officially available so far, with a couple of others knocking about if you know where to look)? What on earth was the production run? Can't have been that much higher, as the folks behind BotCon are well known for slow processing of (faxed!) registration forms.
It's also amusing that many 'fans' are complaining that molds from the Unicron Trilogy are being revisited again, despite better being available... So who's buying these sets?
I'd have to agree that Kup (based on Cybertron Red Alert) looks terrible and doesn't suit the character at all (plus, let's face it, the recolour of Brakedown was basically a homage to Kup)... but Scourge from Cybertron Sideways is genius. Sure, they've used the mold with its original head as a Universe Ratbat (before he became one of Soundwave's cassettes, I presume), but it's a cool mold and not desperately overused like Cybertron Hot Shot, or Clocker.
I may well try to obtain Scourge from eBay (if no other source presents itself)... As for the rest, we shall have to wait and see.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but limiting the number of sets per registration to one is unprecedented.
This year's production run is higher than last year's? Really? And it's selling out quicker (only two figure previews are officially available so far, with a couple of others knocking about if you know where to look)? What on earth was the production run? Can't have been that much higher, as the folks behind BotCon are well known for slow processing of (faxed!) registration forms.
It's also amusing that many 'fans' are complaining that molds from the Unicron Trilogy are being revisited again, despite better being available... So who's buying these sets?
I'd have to agree that Kup (based on Cybertron Red Alert) looks terrible and doesn't suit the character at all (plus, let's face it, the recolour of Brakedown was basically a homage to Kup)... but Scourge from Cybertron Sideways is genius. Sure, they've used the mold with its original head as a Universe Ratbat (before he became one of Soundwave's cassettes, I presume), but it's a cool mold and not desperately overused like Cybertron Hot Shot, or Clocker.
I may well try to obtain Scourge from eBay (if no other source presents itself)... As for the rest, we shall have to wait and see.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Monday 2 March 2009
Let's just call it done
The kitchen, I mean.
I've painted all the fiddly bits that have been bugging me since I completed the bulk of the painting. It's not perfect. Some of it isn't very elegant... but it's my kitchen and, frankly, considering it's my first room-painting project, I think it looks pretty good.
Work wasn't great. Had a couple more emails come through about web stuff that wasn't done by the web guy before he left (yet again I applaud the genius who let him go two and a half months before the end of his notice period). One was from the MD, who wanted to "set the alarm bells ringing" over ads that haven't been uploaded. Considering web guy got paid more than my boss, and I'm being paid an extra £250pm for this gig, without any training thusfar, I think they can all go stuff themselves.
Once I know how the systems work (assuming there are systems), it should be reasonably easy to pull it off...
I've painted all the fiddly bits that have been bugging me since I completed the bulk of the painting. It's not perfect. Some of it isn't very elegant... but it's my kitchen and, frankly, considering it's my first room-painting project, I think it looks pretty good.
Work wasn't great. Had a couple more emails come through about web stuff that wasn't done by the web guy before he left (yet again I applaud the genius who let him go two and a half months before the end of his notice period). One was from the MD, who wanted to "set the alarm bells ringing" over ads that haven't been uploaded. Considering web guy got paid more than my boss, and I'm being paid an extra £250pm for this gig, without any training thusfar, I think they can all go stuff themselves.
Once I know how the systems work (assuming there are systems), it should be reasonably easy to pull it off...
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Sunday 1 March 2009
Briefly...
Because I'd like a reasonably early night before work tomorrow...
Being Human finished tonight, but I'm fairly confident it'll be back for series two later in the year (or maybe next year... who knows?) suitably climactic, but unfortunately employed perhaps a little too much deus ex machina: the ghost of one of the people kept in the 'larder' at the vampires' stronghold suddenly turns up at the house and transports Annie back there... only outside, so she gets the opportunity to use her newfound poltergeist powers (suddenly completely under her control). One bad guy out of the way for good, but hints of more to come. Last, but not least, strong indications of a new member to the 'family'... whether she likes it or not. For all its flaws (more in this episode than the rest of the series?), it's still brilliant television, and superlative genre television, without anything like the strained efforts shown in the likes of Demons.
Didn't get everything I wanted done at the flat. That final bit of kitchen painting is really turning into a millstone. Figure I'd better pop over there after work one night this week (shouldn't be too tricky a week, to be honest), rather than let it drag on... as I just have this weekend.
Coffee table was a trial. Kept putting the wrong parts together, and was only rescued from utter failure by the wire coathanger my folks have been using for various things. Of course, having filled the drawers with DVDs, I realised that it'd be a better home for the Saturn, so it's always in the lounge.
Spent the rest of the weekend lazing around, watching videogame walkthroughs on YouTube. Some are very entertaining... Look out for "Let's Play..." playlists.
Being Human finished tonight, but I'm fairly confident it'll be back for series two later in the year (or maybe next year... who knows?) suitably climactic, but unfortunately employed perhaps a little too much deus ex machina: the ghost of one of the people kept in the 'larder' at the vampires' stronghold suddenly turns up at the house and transports Annie back there... only outside, so she gets the opportunity to use her newfound poltergeist powers (suddenly completely under her control). One bad guy out of the way for good, but hints of more to come. Last, but not least, strong indications of a new member to the 'family'... whether she likes it or not. For all its flaws (more in this episode than the rest of the series?), it's still brilliant television, and superlative genre television, without anything like the strained efforts shown in the likes of Demons.
Didn't get everything I wanted done at the flat. That final bit of kitchen painting is really turning into a millstone. Figure I'd better pop over there after work one night this week (shouldn't be too tricky a week, to be honest), rather than let it drag on... as I just have this weekend.
Coffee table was a trial. Kept putting the wrong parts together, and was only rescued from utter failure by the wire coathanger my folks have been using for various things. Of course, having filled the drawers with DVDs, I realised that it'd be a better home for the Saturn, so it's always in the lounge.
Spent the rest of the weekend lazing around, watching videogame walkthroughs on YouTube. Some are very entertaining... Look out for "Let's Play..." playlists.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
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