Tag Archives: Culture

The Menace Of Live Chat

by in Random Rants and tagged , | 11 Comments
Look at those fingers, ‘chatting’ away as they do

Once upon a time, in a bygone era, a gentleman would be merrily winding his way down a country lane on his penny farthing, when he would meet the vicar’s wife unexpectedly. Dismounting from his saddle, he would engage the lady with talk of his family and general well-being. This verbal exchange was an example of the first incarnation of live chat. And in real-time, no less. Let’s call this live chat 1.0.

Fast forward to the 21st century. A time when technological developments are so swift that it’s difficult to keep abreast of the latest progress. But safe to say that our lives feel greatly enriched by the myriad of new advances. Everything seems quicker and more efficient. How could we ever cope without such incredible inventions?

But then comes along a widely adopted tool that is actually a backward step. I bring you live chat 2.0: for the customer service operatives who just can’t be bothered to answer a telephone; for the teenager who’s grown tired of prefixing every verbal exchange with “like” or long sighs. Live chat 2.0 is, like, sooo cool. Continue reading →

A Crabby Old Fart

by in All Time Top Posts and tagged , , | 18 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome an interview with a star of the blogging community; the comic genius that is the self-styled Crabby Old Fart who has polarised public opinion discussing ‘The Problem With Young People Today…’

What would you like me to call you – Don, Donald, Crabby Old Fart or Mr Mills?

I’d prefer you didn’t call me – I like to keep my line free for emergencies. I try to limit my use of the telephone to testing 911 response times for police and ambulance. It may sound like an abuse of the system but I feel I have a right to know if an emergency responder is likely to arrive at my house 5 minutes or 45 minutes after my pacemaker goes on the fritz.

But I digress.

I’ve actually addressed this in my comment policy – primarily because I was growing weary of young people referring to me as “pappy” or “f u old dude.”  Here is a small portion of relevant section. Next time, I’d ask that you do your damned homework before sending me these kinds of questions. Continue reading →

What’s In A Language?

by in That's Life! and tagged | 9 Comments

My recent trip to the US to attend the Burning Man festival was my first visit since 2005 and it got me thinking about the differences between the North American and British dialects, some of which bother me, whilst much of them don’t. English, like many other languages, has far too many anomalies that break the general grammatical rules, so maybe it makes sense to simply things.

Having said that, it’s arguable whether dropping the u from colour and favour is an improvement. Bet then perhaps chopping ue off the end of catalogue and travelogue does make sense.

Although I say I’m not bothered by American English, I know I’m not alone in finding Microsoft dominated computer spell checks infuriating when they highlight correctly spelled words red, even when the UK option is selected, thereby misinforming us that we have made an error when we have not! Continue reading →

My First TV Appearance

by in That's Life! and tagged , | 9 Comments

This week I managed to obtain tickets to see the BBC’s filming of an episode of Room 101, in which host Frank Skinner and three panelists debate whether to banish life’s irritations into the mythical room, to be banished from blighting our daily lives for ever more.

In this series, as well as adopting a new format, they also decided to ask audience members prior to the day of filming if they had anything that they would like to exile into Room 101. I thought you’d never ask! Within, quite literally, seconds I had sent a link to my rant about mediaspeak, with a message saying that I would like to forever eliminate office jargon; so-called buzz words or phrases.

A few days later I received a call from one of the production team. He said that they liked the writing style of my blog (Oh shucks, stop it you!) and would like me to feature in the show. Finally I get the recognition I deserve… Continue reading →

Life Changing Decisions

by in That's Life! and tagged , | 18 Comments

We’ve all been there before. A decision we made which, with hindsight, was something that we would gladly change, should physicists stop playing particle marbles at CERN and really put their minds to inventing reliable time travel. It can’t be that difficult, Marty McFly was doing it in the 1980s.

Of course, such decisions could actually have been the result of inaction; the fear of failure or of change causing a paralysis of decisive thought. It just seemed easier to keep things as they are. Why take a chance?

Whether decisions seem more trivial or involve major shifts in circumstance, the mechanics behind our thought processes are essentially the same. It’s about balancing risk versus reward. The only difference between each of us and the paths we take in life are ultimately how accurately we judge that balance.

Maybe you still think about that partner you once had, the ‘one that got away’. If you’d have done things differently, who’s to say that you wouldn’t now be living in family bliss in a converted barn in the countryside? Although possibly you may actually have had a lucky escape from marital strife and a son who makes Bart Simpson look well-adjusted. Continue reading →

Blank Canvas For Sale

by in Newsworthy and tagged , | 18 Comments

This month sees the auction of Turner Prize-winning Bob Law’s ‘Nothing To Be Afraid Of V 22.8.69’ work of art, which is expected to reach £60,000. This minimalist work (pictured left) demonstrates ‘… the seductive idea of nothing to a canvas, and asks the viewer to reflect’, according to the official Bonhams catalogue.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone shares such positive opinions. In fact, when I first viewed the work, in a photograph on a page of a newspaper, I was initially impressed that the artist had managed to subtly show a faint image of a man in the work. Then I realised that I was actually viewing an image from the next page of the newspaper through the paper!

More interestingly, does the fact that it is entitled ‘Nothing To Be Afraid Of V’ mean that it is one of a series of five such works?! I would love to see the journey to show how the artist has progressed from his first work to the fifth one seen here. Continue reading →

Ridiculous Business Names

by in Random Rants and tagged , | 8 Comments

Put yourself in their shoes. You’ve procured the necessary funding; you’re sure you’ve got a good senior management team who you can depend on; you know your company’s unique selling points; you’re confident that you can provide a better service than the competition; you’re filled with optimism and aspirations of great things to come for your business… Then you decide to call it Cheeze.

No, this company is not in the dairy industry, but is actually a media agency. Now, having dealt with many disingenuous agencies in my time working in advertising, I couldn’t be sure if such a name wasn’t simply an honest admission of a lack of sincerity and over-the-top fake niceness.

But it probably wasn’t, which makes it all the more baffling a choice of name. And it doesn’t stop there. It is entirely possible to eat a full meal at the media table, with Steak Media accompanied by Fresh Egg and the aforementioned Cheeze. Continue reading →