The Reign in Spain ... determines who wins the premier league?

As far as I am concerned my season has been a success, Sunderland have stayed up and hopefully Keano will get his £ 200 Million to spend on new players. [have you seen what a shithole Middlesbrough is? they still manage to get exciting signings there, so it might not be all about the shopping]

But with regards to the conclusion of the premier league tomorrow, not nailbiting, both Chelsea and Man U will win, and Man U retain the premiership crown. However, it is interesting to note that Real Madrid just retained their La Liga title last week.

If we compare the champions of La Liga and the Premier League, there is a scary correlation, since 2000:

2000-01 Real Madrid / Manchester United
2001-02 Valencia CF / Arsenal
2002-03 Real Madrid / Manchester United
2003-04 Valencia CF / Arsenal
2004-05 FC Barcelona / Chelsea
2005-06 FC Barcelona / Chelsea
2006-07 Real Madrid / Manchester United
2007-08 Real Madrid / ???

Every time Real Madrid have won the league, Man U have won here, similarly for Barcelona and Chelsea, and Valencia and Arsenal - so tomorrow is a foregone conclusion.

I guess this does not bode well for Liverpool from a domestic point of view.

and Justice for all

I like to be shocked, sometimes in a bleak nihilistic way. This new video by French band Justice (who I love) is not up there with Wolf Creek yet, but I think it is pretty amazing. Even though it is set in Paris, it brilliantly mirrors the culture of fear we live in. It is shot beautifully and is cross between the amazing "La Haine" and has the voyeurism of "Man Bites Dog" and gets across the pointless ultraviolence of a modern "a clockwork orange".

Why is a greetings card like a facebook app?

Anyone watch this weeks "The Apprentice"? there was an interesting parable which is something I come across almost everyday.

This week's task was to come up with a new occasion for giving a greetings card. The interpretation of this task by both parties was very literal (speaks more about the general calibre of the contestants really) and one team came up with an idea of giving a card for a "singles day" the day before Valentines day and the other team created an idea of an environment week or something like that where a card would be given to highlight the plight of the environment. (Yes, the contradictions aren't lost, not even taking into account the carbon footprint of the mailing process). both of these ideas depended on the creation of an awareness of the occassion by a considerable marketing investment for these events to have any kind of appeal, and didn't really understand under what context someone would give or receive the card.

Success would surely have been finding a social or personal situation which could be marked by the giving of the card, and having a true meaning for the recipient, such as "congratulations on losing your virginity" or "hope your kids first day at school goes well", not the best examples I agree, but a gesture based in an existing behaviour, and not some crazy ill conceived behaviour.

the card is the social object, passed from person to person and this transaction reflects an existing truth in their situation. How stupid were those apprentices I can hear the seasoned marketing professionals scoff. These are probably the same marketing professionals who either ask their agencies for / recommend to their clients a social networking application to get people to engage with their brand in a web 2.0 stylee. This type of crude square peg in a round hole exercise is responsible for so many redundant social networking applications, as they try and position their brands as social objects in someones online behaviour. if this is you, if you have laughed at the hopeless apprentices and yet have been responsible for this kind of app, hang your head in shame.

A Very British Van

A sparkling clean van, Dark blue livery and a discrete white times new roman font, a logo which evokes feelings of a bygone era, harking back to a sense of decency and fairplay, and the name says it all “Gentleman & a van”. The use of the indefinite article, serving only to add shimmer. I saw this noble vehicle from the back of the cab and while I didn’t get a look at the driver, but I am sure he would have had a magnificent waxed moustache nestling on a stiff upper lip.

What a brilliant idea! a brilliant niching of the “man and van” phenomenon to cater for those people who want their stuff moved, and there are a lot of them, but do not want their precious bric-a-brac being carelessly buffeted in the back of a dirty white transit van, driven by the missing link.

Now I don’t know if the driver of this van had perfect diction but this van instantly told me its offering and reassured me – and I shall certainly be looking them up.

Business Resumed

OK, I am back, I have not been updating my blog, but since then I have taken a new job and had a little baby boy called Rishi. We were going to give him a cornish middle name to reflect my wife's ethnicity but Cornish boys names were a bit rubbish. while I liked the name Kenwyn, those that know me would have leapt to the mistaken conclusion that I would have crassly named him after Kenwyn Jones.