10 Apr 2006 01:23
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Tags: Redundancy
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Ah but these are unrelated comments. You may have noticed that I haven't filled in the now…er, more than 7 day gap on my blog. I have been musing over it, but when I've felt motivated, have been internet free, and when I've been flopped, have been job hunting in a lacklustre manner.
Serendipity because while caught on the fence between motivation and flop, I found two comments from a lovely lady called Cat. I'm assuming she's lovely, because she's written lovely things, but in this cut-throat media world, maybe I should reserve judgement…either way, it's tipped me into motivation.
And all thought processes seem to have become overly complicated like that. Is it because my brain has too much thinking space? Is it some sort of procrastination? Or something else? Hard to tell, but still, that's several days away yet…and I need my diary. The weeks become one long day when there's no routine, as I'm sure all you student types will appreciate.
Day 1
I just got my diary to check what I was doing on day 1. Well duh, I went to work, oblivious. The morning passed by in a hectic fashion. I spent the weekend celebrating my dad's birthday, doing work, and thinking I really need a holiday. "Be careful what you wish for" is probably a relevant phrase here.
One ominous phone call, no lunch, and two meetings, later, shocked doesn't even cover how I felt. Adrenaline pumping, I was pretty shaky and didn't really know what to do with myself. A meeting with my other boss told me that I don't need to go to work during the next 30 (well, 29) days. "but…my whole job is still there". It is. It will be. How does any of this make sense?
My position was created for my other boss, who's also at risk. "but…my whole job is still there". Two stuck records doesn't really make for any kind of constructive solution. An announcement was made to my office. Feel like I'm putting everyone in a bit of an awkward "bugger, what do we say?" situation. It must be a relief to know that your own job isn't at risk.
I stayed 'til the end of the day, as I had commitments that I felt I should uphold…and nothing had really sunk in. Looking back, I should've just gone round the corner with the others and drowned my sorrows.
But as it was, I spent time e-mailing a few people and idly doing things like invoices. Was still picking up the phone etc. "Hello, Sugar magazine (how can they help you, as I don't strictly speaking work here anymore)". The office downstairs was empty, but my office was still ticking over as usual. Very strange.
I got back at 9 or so I think. Still a bit shell-shocked. Looking back, I maybe shouldn't have drowned my sorrows…but ah what the heck. Events from the day were still circling in my brain and not quite making sense. The (approximately) one bottle of wine meant that I didn't care about logic by the time I went to bed, so actually got to sleep without any trouble.
*bq. "B has been suspended pending an immediate review," she said. "The May issue, which goes on sale next week, will be the last until further notice. The review will last approximately 30 days. Twenty staff will now enter a period of consultation today."
An official company quote from the mediaguardian article.
I suppose I'll have to tag anything and everything I write about this with a disclaimer: anything I write about this is purely my own views and experiences and has nothing to do with the company's opinions and plans. What they've said above is the reality, this is just me.
10 Apr 2006 00:06
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Courtesy of a press release as of 3rd April 2006…
THE RACONTEURS
AUDIOSLAVE
FALL OUT BOY
PLEASE NOTE, FALL OUT BOY ARE PLAYING READING ONLY
THE SUBWAYS.
PANIC! AT THE DISCO
YEAH YEAH YEAHS
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
THE FUTUREHEADS
THE CRIBS
WOLFMOTHER
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
THE RAKES
THE KOOKS
*STILL TO COME *
THE MAIN STAGE – More of the biggest names and exclusive performances
THE RADIO ONE/ NME STAGE – The bands as they break, future Main Stage headliners and classic performances that will enter Reading and Leeds folklore.
THE LOCK-UP STAGE– The best of the punk, ska and skate scene take over for one day as ever. Always packed from noon to night and for the first time ever, at both sites for two days by popular demand.
THE DANCE STAGE – The best and biggest names in the dance and hip hop world.
THE COMEDY STAGE – The best comedy, cabaret and outright strangeness to complement the bands and also offer late night entertainment.
THE CARLING STAGE – The cream of the new bands, the “ones to watch”. There for you to watch on one stage for three days.
THREE DAY WEEKEND TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT FOR BOTH SITES
A limited number of weekend tickets with coach packages are available via SEE Tickets 0870 060 3775 or www.seetickets.com
A limited number of day tickets, not including camping and parking, are priced £60 each subject to booking fee and are available from selected outlets. See below.
Car parking passes (subject to booking fee) must be booked with event tickets. One pass is available per household.
National Credit Card Hotline: SEE Tickets, Wayahead: 0870 060 3775
Online:
DAY TICKETS ONLY - Tickets available from:
www.meanfiddler.com, www.readingfestival.com, www.leedsfestival.com, www.seetickets.com
In Person: DAY TICKETS ONLY
Tickets can be bought at face value, when paid for in cash, at all Mean Fiddler Box Offices. Please note that picture ID may be requested at the time of booking.
Mean Fiddler Box Offices:
The Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Road, WC2
The Garage, 20–22 Highbury Corner, N5
Mean Fiddler Head Office, 16 High Street, Harlesden, NW10
In person at HMV:
DAY TICKETS ONLY
Tickets are also available from selected HMV stores: (subject to booking fee, in person only, maximum two tickets per person, whilst stocks last, subject to availability, at participating stores only):
Reading tickets:
Bath, Basingstoke, Bracknell, Bristol (Broadmead), Guildford, Kingston, Newbury, Oxford, Portsmouth (Commercial Road), Reading (Oracle Centre), Reading (Friar Street), Slough, Southampton, Staines, Swindon, Trocadero Centre, Winchester, Windsor, Woking.
Leeds tickets:
Barnsley, Birmingham (High Street), Bradford, Doncaster, Grimsby, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds (Birstall), Leeds (Headrow Centre), Leeds (White Rose Centre), Liverpool, Manchester (90 Market Street), Newcastle, Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Sheffield (High Street), Sheffield (Meadowhall), Wakefield, York, York (Monks Cross).
Tickets are strictly limited to a maximum of eight per household – for those booking by telephone or online – or a maximum of four per person for those purchasing tickets at the Mean Fiddler booking offices.
Children under 13 (12 and under) are admitted free but MUST be accompanied by a ticket holding adult. Please note there is no seperate children's area at this event.
ON SITE FACILITIES INCLUDE:
Bars, Cash Points, First Aid & Paramedics, Food & Non Food Stalls, Information Tent, Left Luggage, Meeting Point, Market Stalls, Merchandise, Showers, Welfare Tent.
DISABLED FACILITIES
Mean Fiddler produces a guide to Disabled Access and Facilities for all it's festivals, which includes details of the 2-for-1 ticket scheme. Applications for the Reading 2-for-1 scheme must be received by Friday 29th July
Please request a booklet and application form on 020 8961 5490.
Mean Fiddler Information Hotline (Mon-Fri 10am – 6pm) 020 8963 0940
FESTIVAL FACTS
* It takes 3 weeks to prepare the Reading and Leeds Festival sites and 2 weeks to take them down again
* Each site is built by over 150 crew
* 10 million watts is required to power each festival site
* Artists drink over 9000 bottles of water and over 13000 cans of lager over the weekend.
* The festival produces over 300 tonnes of rubbish, which it takes 2 weeks to clear after the event finishes.
* Thanks to the festival goer we recycled over 7000 bags of rubbish in 2004 through the onsite Litter Exchanges.
* Over 3500 people work during the festival weekend at each site
* More than 100 trucks with thousands of tons of equipment are used
* There are over 800 toilets on each site
* 10,000 metres of cable are used
* O’Malley Alley at Reading Festival is named after a member of the festival medical team who worked on the festival crew for many years who has passed away now
* In Reading, Henrys Gate is named after a tractor driver who works on the site during the festival
* In Reading, Reapers Bridge is named after one of the stage manager’s called the Grim Reaper
* In Leeds, Out of Harm’s Way is named after Harmony who runs the production office
* There are 90 food traders onsite, selling a variety of food, from burgers to pasta, doughnuts and even salad! More than a quarter of a million burgers and hot dogs were eaten over the course of the weekend.
* 2 million pints of lager are drunk during the festival.
* There are 80 market stalls onsite selling a variety of products including clothing, footwear, jewellery, camping accessories, blankets and newspapers.
05 Apr 2006 10:34
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Oops, meant to blog about this when I got back and totally forgot. And was doing a spot of late night baking.
Met the lovely Katie after 'work' and went to the Carling Reading & Leeds festival lineup, launch…if that's the right terminology. It took place in a West End venue (oo, ominous) where we ate many a dainty can ape and drank several sea-breeze cocktails. All complementary of course. Such is the nature of press thingummies. Dahling.
Famous faces I recognised were Sarah Cawood and then one who turned out to be there on a work duty: Colin 'What age are ya?' Murray (Dan WC, that was for you).
I also saw some of the More editorial team who seemed to be interviewing Colin Murray for a bit, and I swear I saw one of them exchanging numbers with him. Ah to be a proper journalist.
ANYWAY. The lineup.
Headliners: Pearl Jam, Muse, Franz Ferdinand
And others: Belle & Sebastian, Primal Scream, Placebo, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Streets, Feeder and Maximo Park.
The Lock-up stage acts are still to be announced. Apparently Belle & Sebastian were due to turn up, as was Grant from Feeder. Lucky for me, I've already seen the latter
And now, back to watching Newsnight and reading Ingo for work.
I'll definitely fill in days 1 to 7 on my blog tomorrow.
Definitely. Certainly. Surely.
03 Apr 2006 23:23
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"B has been suspended pending an immediate review," she said. "The May issue, which goes on sale next week, will be the last until further notice. The review will last approximately 30 days. Twenty staff will now enter a period of consultation today."
An official company quote from the mediaguardian article.
I suppose I'll have to tag anything and everything I write about this with a disclaimer: anything I write about this is purely my own views and experiences and has nothing to do with the company's opinions and plans. What they've said above is the reality, this is just me.
It feels weird writing anything even remotely substantial on my blog…or at all. I'm sort of terrified of expressing myself in writing again. For several weeks/ months it feels like I haven't even had the space to express myself in my own head, now all of a sudden I have the time and space to errr… just b. ;)
Seriously though, I'm trying to see the silver linings. As per the company, nothing is definite or decided, but I figure I might as well prepare for the worst – it's not a pessimistic outlook, I just need to make sure that I'm sorted no matter what the outcome.
Besides, can't just sit on my arse for 30 days, can I?
01 Apr 2006 14:09
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Writing about web page http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,1741458,00.html
So, my job is "at risk" of redundancy. If anyone wants to give me a job, you know where to find me…
More later.
Yours reverting back to student life,
Shall
29 Mar 2006 13:15
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01 Mar 2006 12:34
| Tags: Album Music Review Work
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Having been in London for ages (well, since July) I seem to have suddenly started spotting famous people (not including people at work things, that would be cheating).
Last year I merely walked past…
and I walked past a well known rower (can't remember which one) and Daniel Bedingfield (not together) too. I had to have…
pointed out to me by Milly and took some convincing that it was even him.
I can't remember whether it was this year or last, when I kicked this man's car:
and he had the same smug look when he was too busy gassing on his mobile to pay attention to the fact that his gallumping (what does that word mean?) SUV was in the way of people trying to cross. Admittedly I kicked the car before I knew it was him, but I'd do it again…
Then on the 18th of Feb, after the NME Awards, there was a post-gig triple spot in the foyer of Brixton Academy (they're like ruddy buses I tell you). These sprightly, young types hadn't left after Arctic Monkeys (well done)
She's stalking Ricky , apparently.
And a mere 3 days later, I found myself lunching in the company of…
in The Hollybush in Hampstead
But I was more interested by dining next to…
at The Providores last night. He's cute, but alas he was with his girlfriend (as if that's the defining factor(!))
That London. It's a funny place.
28 Feb 2006 18:34
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Writing about web page http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2766-2058474,00.html
This is a mock extract from Prince Charles' diary and was in the Sunday Times Review section (yesterday). It made me laugh 'til I cried, and that's a rare thing let me tell you. Here's an extract…from an extract….
There was a lump in my throat and, as Camilla hummed strains of You’re Beautiful by James Blunt, I was nearly finished off. “And I’m afraid they have printed your journal about Hong Kong, sir,” added Peat. My journal! Hong Kong! Instantly the gloom returned. Then, as a grey mist descended before my eyes, I found myself desperately pounding pastry after pastry on top of Peat’s shiny dome
27 Feb 2006 14:25
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Follow-up to Kooks Inside In/ Inside Out album review from Hub of Creativity...
They got hacked *sigh *
24 Feb 2006 15:38
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