I'm on the Gadget Show tonight

It's utterly bizarre that a full two years after I appeared (and promptly lost) on the game show Brainteaser on Channel 5 some Wednesday daytime, people (admittedly, only rarely) still come up to me and say "Oh My God! You're that Brainteaser guy". Clearly some people need to pay more attention to their degrees.

Well, I was on that for a princely 15 minutes, and tonight at 8pm on Channel 5 I'll be appearing on the Gadget Show, as part of a test panel for some new toys. Not many of us had even bothered to watch the Gadget Show before, we weren't very impressed by the gadgets and I'm still not quite sure who 'recommended' me to get me on the whole thing.

If you're very bored, you can switch over and hope to catch a glimpse of me standing around in the background. They might even put on one of the glib remarks I made about the mostly pointless technology we looked at. More likely though, they'll just use the stuff from the people who said exclusively positive things.

Enjoy.
Xx

Christmas 3/4

Apparently, flying out to America isn't enough for me over Christmas. I've been thoroughly spoiled with three Christmas parties (and sets of presents) already - with one to come in North Carolina! I get to open my Cool Stuff whilst others have to look longingly at the wrapping paper and shoot me jealous looks.

A surprising amount of people have taken it upon themselves to buy me toothpaste and shower gel. Is this really because people know quite how badly prepared I am and expect me to travel everywhere with a bagful of gadgets, but no underwear or toothpaste? Or a subtle comment on how pleasant it is to be in my confined company? Surely the first, at Christmas.

The main problem with the timing of my Christmas presents so far, however, has been that of timing. I love getting copious amounts of chocolate, I really do. It's just a bit galling when I have to fly off and leave them behind for two weeks the next day. Guitar Hero Aerosmith seems awesome...but I've only played it for a short while before having to leave my XBox behind. And so on.

A few presents have been based on things I've blogged about over the past year. Wouldn't it be nice if that trend continues on into the New Year and up to my birthday? On an unrelated note, here's some links from the Internet:


<sub>Did you know you could buy a full-size T-Rex


But, I wonder if T-Rex will bounce on this?


Incidentally, isn't the wood panelling here nice? You know, on the wall behind the 47inch Giant Chocolate Fountain</sub>

Kids in America

Tomorrow I'm off home to Cardiff...and on Tuesday I fly out to the US of A to spend Christmas and New Year with Lucie. We're going to be hanging around her home-for-the-year in North Carolina for Christmas proper before riding on over to do some touristy things in Washington D.C.

From there we're off to New York, where we'll spend New Year's eve in Times Square. The night before that though, we're heading over to the legendary Smoke Jazz Club to see the New York All Star Sextet play, and enjoy the whole experience. Can't wait.

Any further suggestions for places to go or things to see are much welcomed. Get in touch :)

Xx

Hallelujah

When I heard that the winner of this year's X-Factor was to release Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', I was mildly annoyed. Mostly because they'd picked the song before they even knew who was going to be singing it - not a great recipe for a good piece of music. Then, I promptly forgot about it.

Clearly I wasn't as annoyed as the creator of this Facebook group persuading people to buy Jeff Buckley's beautiful recording of the song, and hoping to get it to Christmas #1 ahead of the X-Factor winner's version.

Impressively, they've gotten onto Radio 1, and into a lot of online media (and to cap it all, they're now on my blog). Jeff's version is currently at #3 in the midweek charts and, although it has no chance of getting to #1, it'll still be amusing to hear it played alongside the inevitably worse X-Factor version on the radio chart shows. Not that I've actually listened to radio for about 3 years, but you get the idea.

Most amusing of all however, is the comments section of the Daily Mail's hilarious report on this 'news'. Now, Daily Mail readers aren't the most intellectual of stereotypes, and indeed the opening line of the article rather sets the tone:

"Anti-X Factor campaigners are trying to sabotage Alexandra Burke's chances of taking the coveted Christmas number one spot by downloading an alternative version of her winner's song.".

Or, as someone back at the Facebook group translated it:

"Pro-immigration eco-terrorist anti-capitalist Maddie-hoarding haters of Great Britain have launched a Nazi-esque attack on the poor defenceless winner of patriotic family-orientated show, the X Factor.".

I'll leave you to read the rest of the comments hilarity. You could even go and digitally download the Jeff Buckley version too if you have 79p to spare and aren't a fan of reality TV. Me? I really just don't care enough.

Campaign/BrandRepublic

Most people think that marketing students are good for nothing - but this isn't quite true. You see, a couple of them keep linking me to fun pages on BrandRepublic (or its magazine, Campaign). These are generally focused on advertising and marketing - and with those being such wide-reaching and trendy industries, there's always something good to see.

There's loads of fun content to choose from, from farces such as Pizza Hut rebranding to Pasta Hut to disturbing news about direct marketing and the usual collection of 'top ten...' (I'm quite a fan of the top ten failed adverts of 2008).

It's in my bookmarks now so - marketing people, I don't need any more links - it's back to trying to discover the alchemy of viral marketing for you.

Fair Game

As I mentioned below, Tesco.com haven't exactly been the best in terms of their recruitment. In fact, they've probably been the worst. They have an entire flashy website - tescoitjobs.com - which advertises vacancies and has an application process. I applied via this site, and received the following a while later:

"Dear Ian

Thank you for your interest in the Tesco Graduate scheme. Unfortunately I cannot process your application sent in this way.

..yep, seriously. The person on the other end of that email address has simply not bothered to reply to any further emails - nor has anyone I tried to reach via the 'contact us' forms. Nice.

A week or two later I decided to abandon principles and go and complete the other application process anyway - and for a .com company the shoddy web design was near unforgivable. So I stopped again. However, today I persevered through and got my application submitted, and was then presented with the following:

"Now that you've completed the application process, please spare a moment to tell us what you thought of our process...your reply will not be attached to your application form"

Even better, there's no word limit. Back in an hour.

Xx

Interview Time

I've just had my first interview - in phone format, with a lovely lady from Qinetiq. Tomorrow I'm off to Cambridge to meet some other folks from Red Gate Software - so they can find out if I can still remember how to write any code.

I find myself being drawn to these two (and a couple of other) companies, simply because of the professionalism they're showing in their recruitment process. Others, notably IBM and Tesco.com so far, have done a pretty awful job. Confusing websites, ridiculous questions on the application process and if you do ever manage to put a human face on the communications, it's not someone you're very keen about dealing with again.

But, should I base my final decision on things like these? Will a job at <x> be awful just because the recruitment agency they hired wants to ask me inane questions? On that point - please, someone, tell me why the full name of my High School or the grade I got at GCSE Welsh are useful in the recruitment stage?

On the one hand, it's symptomatic of a lack of professionalism within the business. If a company is happy to put sub-par quality processes live, then they're probably happy to do the same with their shipping products and customer interactions. On the other hand, I know perfectly well they have some great products and switched-on staff...should I base my decision on the fact that they're let down by poor HR?

It's not a big/small divide either. I've seen small companies that simply don't bother to respond to their emails and big companies where you get a personalised touch - and replies straight away even at 8pm.

Right, off to find some more places to apply to. I'm not applying anywhere new that can't code a basic website though.

I don't have a stamp so I'm sending you this money instead

As you all seemed to enjoy I don't have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead a lot more than reading the stuff I actually write, you can have this one too:

I don't have a stamp so I'm sending you this money instead

Enjoy.

More Jazz Recommendations

People often come up to me and say "I think I'd like jazz, but I don't really know where to get started or what to listen to - it's not like other music where you can just put on the radio. Can you recommend some stuff?". I'm not fooled, I know they're just desperate to be seen talking to me, to find out if my hair colour really is natural, to stare into my eyes...

..I digress.

1. Ramsey Lewis - Sassy Stew
Ramsey Lewis is a pianist probably most famous for his hit, The In Crowd - a perfect example of what a traditional jazz trio should sound like.

Sassy Stew, on the other hand, is more of a jazz funk track - a bit more Herbie Hancock than Bill Evans. The drums are great, the bassline and changes gorgeous and the alto sax hits notes that are barely even audible to anyone other than children and dogs. What I love best about this though, is that it's a pure jazz funk track, but the pianist's playing a real piano all the way through - rather than the keyboards that dominate the genre.

Well worth a listen.

2. Cal Tjader - Mambo Mindoro
Latin jazz is always popular. We've had club hits from Azymuth, Mas Que Nada has been on a million adverts and covered by some awful pop band. Recently, Bebel Gilberto has been letting down her father and her namesake (both Latin jazz greats) with some chart music.

Mambo Mindoro featuring percussionist Cal Tjader on the vibraphone is a great, and much less well known example of the genre. It's also highly worth a listen if, like me, you cringe at the mere word 'vibraphone' - mostly thanks to how awful it sounds within the music of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Trust me, he does it well.

3. Victor Wooten & Carter Beauford - Zenergy
This is not only a fascinating video - watching top-class musicians at work, but it's also a great track, easy to listen to whilst being extremely technically impressive. If the names Wooten & Beauford aren't enough to get you to listen, then note that Béla Fleck is playing banjo in this track too. Yes banjo. Yes, it works, yes he's that good. Just go listen already:



4. Lianne Carroll - Fever/This City Never Sleeps
It would be remiss of me to only mention past greats, and to just link you to freely available tracks that the artists possibly get pennies a year from. There's a decent jazz scene in any town, and if you're willing to make the effort to travel (central London's the only real UK hotspot) you can hear some unbelievably good performers.

Lianne Carroll is a pianist and vocalist playing around London and the UK, and is amazingly passionate and talented. For a preview of the recommended track, and a chance to buy your own copy, head over to her Amazon album page.

Better yet, go see a gig.

---------------

That's all for now. Enjoy.

I was planning to also recommend you go and see the Tie-Dye Quartet at The Yardbird tonight, 8.30pm, free entry, but that would be a bit tacky, so I won't.
Xx