Obligatory Olympics Themed Post

Yay, it’s the Olympics. That was of course said with enthusiasm and not some sort of mild despair caused by an overdose of the Union Jack flags that seem to be blighting every street corner.

While I’ve quite enjoyed watching the Olympics on TV in the past, it’s hard not to feel slightly miffed about the same prospect this year. Having been one of those enthusiastic ones that applied for a whole slew of tickets in the first round only to get none whatsoever, I’ve become thoroughly jaded by the whole process. Okay, so there’s still tickets going, but to be honest I’d rather pay to not see Greco-Roman Wrestling (one of my beloved former blogging topics).

Mmmm, formulaic.

Is the Olympics really THE MOST EXCITING THING IN THE WORLD? No, it’s not. But you’d probably be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given that advertisers seem to think it’s their golden ticket to hoicking in consumers. Seriously, if I see one more emotional ad featuring some nostalgic montage I am actually going to flip out and smash the TV. (Oh, think of the Olympics montages we’re going to have… BBC Sport is going to have a field day. We’ll be listening to Hoppipolla for weeks.)

It’s definitely hyped up to an insane degree – yes, hosting the Olympics is a big deal, but I don’t get why it needs to be plastered EVERYWHERE. I’ve written things recently for a car hire firm and a photo canvas company about their Olympics promotions; please, make your business less related to the Olympics in every way. Oh wait, you basically can’t.

Having somehow tripped over the Olympic torch three times in one outing, I can confirm this allegation.

Saying all that, the opening ceremony looks suitably ridiculous. The last Danny Boyle film I saw was 127 Hours, so anything where a guy doesn’t cut his own arm off is probably a step in the right direction. To be honest though, where can you go wrong with a Shakespeare-inspired re-creation of the British Isles, complete with farm animals and the world’s largest harmonically tuned bell?

One thing that I particularly liked, though, was how the organisers used Twitter to keep the secrets of the ceremony under wraps during the rehearsals. When details were inevitably starting to leak out, they introduced the Twitter hashtag #savethesurprise, making keeping quiet the cool thing to do. Genuinely good idea there, beating the Tweeters at their own game. Anyway, it’ll all be revealed tonight. Let’s get it over with.

Ooo, subversive.

Latitude 2012: It’s Raining Sugar

Returned from Latitude Festival on Monday. It’s now Wednesday, still not recovered from the mud, the rain, the sleep deprivation, the mud and the general awesomeness. Oh, and the mud.

This, plus lots of mud and rain.

Having endured-slash-enjoyed the four days at this ace Suffolk festival, I’m left  reminiscing about all the best bits. Yes, I could write a blog about the amazing music, (Elbow, Bon Iver and too many more to mention), the excellent comedians (oh hello Tim Minchin) or the slightly surreal atmosphere (where else has a herd of neon sheep?) – but one of the things I keep coming back to is the FREE STUFF.

There were no free pens and key rings in sight – these were genuinely good freebies that were almost exclusively food based. Which, to be honest, is exactly what you want when you’ve had 3 hours of damp, uncomfortable, tent-based sleep and have just waded through mud that surely isn’t sanitary.

The winner was definitely Alpro and their soya-yoghurty goodness. Before, I’d have not even considered Alpro yogs, after all, why go soya when you can do dairy? But they’ve done a good job at convincing me. You could wander up to the tent and grab armfuls of completely free yoghurt, and thankfully the lecture on the goodness of soya was entirely optional. Later on, you could help yourself to free Alpro puddings, again as many as you could stomach. All of these gave a pleasant, sugary high, sustainable all day through continuous yoghurt consumption.

McVities were also there flinging free cereal bars at anyone who could catch – this was less appealing due to a slight shopping miscalculation which left each of our group of seven with about twelve cereal bars to eat over three days. Add more, free cereal bars and that’s just an impossible task. If there were angel slice dispensers, however, I’d have been a bit more impressed.

PERCY PIGS

Another sugary injection was provided by the FREE Percy Pigs. If you’re not familiar, these are the M&S gummy sweets that are a bit posher than your average gummy. The first time we saw the telltale giant Percy costume, we gave chase through the mud, knocking children flying and losing more than one wellie in the process. Stalking Percy then became a daily ritual. When Colin the Caterpillar – one of Percy’s sweety cohorts – was spotted, there were squeals of excitement that definitely weren’t befitting of a crowd of 22 year olds.

I’m already a devoted follower of the way of Percy, and so Alpro have probably done the best job when it comes to getting another customer. Once you get used to the slightly plant-y taste of some of their yoghurts, it’s not half bad.

Now I’ve been back a couple of days, I think I’m experiencing a bit of sugar withdrawal. There’s only one thing for it. Off to buy some Alpro and maybe say hi to Percy.

Accurate representation of post-Latitude feelings…

Get Real

How can you combine social media, scrap-booking and the Royal Mail? Maybe it’s not a question that needs to be asked, but it’s one that has been answered.

You can now buy a plot at Real, the self-proclaimed physical network. These are small boxes-slash-cubby-holes in an exotic London location. You can send whatever you like to live in your box – drawings, writing, things that just look cool. Rather than posting something on facebook or Twitter, you do actually, literally post something. Unsurprisingly, then, this is a project supported by the Royal Mail, perhaps in a desperate bid to make their service slightly more relevant.

Don’t get me wrong though, it sounds like fun. It’s a nice way for artistic types to show a sample of their work. Or you could make a bit of a time capsule without the dilemma of dirt and digging.  Given that facebook posts, updates and statuses don’t stick around for long, I can see that having a lasting memorial, a ‘physical’ post, could be a good way to remember something by.

But once you’ve posted off a few bits and spent your pocket money on stamps, surely that’ll be the end of it? Sure, it’s no facebook killer, but that’s obviously not the point. Even if you posted something just every now and then and then forgot about it, you’d still get something back. Like that feeling when you’re tidying up the inevitable junk that’s in your wardrobe – you find things you’d forgotten you had, lost or just put somewhere ‘safe’. It’d be like that, only with memories. Which is kind of nice.

So, if your life is filled with meaningful memories and lovely things, then Real could be just for you. Personally, I think my goings-on are only worth the odd post on Twitter, but that’s just me.