I hate adverts. It’s not unheard of to hear people say this, I’m no different to many of you here. I do understand that making an advert must be incredible difficult, to get the right balance of information, enjoyment and to make someone want to watch it again, and again, and again, as is ultimately the case. That’s not to say that there aren’t some terrific adverts out there, of course there are, most people will bring up the numerous fantastic Guinness adverts out there (among others), and they are right to do so.
This is another one, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s my favourite advert in many, many years…
Download (Right Click > Save As) (.flv)
I’m sure many of you have heard about the smash American TV series Glee which has been advertised over here for going on 6 weeks almost none-stop and for anyone who trolls the download scene for this kind of thing, even longer.
.
Well so far I’ve read through the Ben Mezrich book mentioned in my previous post, ‘Ugly Americans’, which was quite entertaining, but not exactly the thrill ride that I got from ‘Bringing Down The House’. Ugly Americans centers around a young American graduate from Stamford, Malcolm, who travels to Japan and trades on the Japanese stock exchange, the Nikkei, and millionaire traders from the United States who were able to amass fortunes within 24 hours of trading. It was based on a true story, though the protagonists of the book did have their identities hidden, but you do get a rather clear story of the trials and tribulations faced by the young Americans, but all too often the terminology of the stock market just went over my head, I guess a similar problem people had with ‘Bringing Down The House’ in regards to poker, and if you understood the stock market and trading then this wouldn’t pose a problem.
I’ve also read through half of ‘Belle de Jour, the Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl’ (a catchy title, I know), which is better known to the Television watching public of Britain as ‘Secret Diary of a Call Girl’ starring Billie Piper. I know I said I was sick of half reading books, but this isn’t so much a book as it is a series of events formulated through a diary that I believe was posted on the Internet. Again, the people in ‘Belle de Jour’ are given aliases as to hide their true identities, but it works rather well, adding a further layer of mystery to the whole thing. The book itself is rather excellent at times, some entries rather interesting and as far as the stories go, it does ‘go there’ in terms of a graphic nature, but never to disgust or intimidate the reader, instead dragging them along on a voyeuristic adventure. It’s something that I am able to turn to if I need a quick reading fix. You also don’t feel overly connected with the TV series, which, for me is definitely a good thing as they can co-exist as two different entities.
The third book was Gordon Ramsays, ‘Humble Pie’, the autobiography of the ‘celebrity chef’, a term I know he hates but has come to accept. As a biography it was both excellent and lacking in equal measures. At times it was incredibly in-depth and very vivid in its descriptions such as the drug problems of his brother or the abuse he received from his father who he later disowned. It’s a great insight into why he’s become arguably the Worlds most famous chef, certainly Britains. A three-michelin starred chef, a highly successful restaurateur and a culinary TV megastar. I found his book a very enjoyable read, especially learning about the people he has worked with, but I would have preferred more information regarding who had worked for.
As I enjoyed Ramsays book so much I went on to another autobiography for a chef, this time arguably the greatest British chef of all time, if not the world, Marco Pierre White. This is an interesting one for me because from what I have seen of him on TV, I didn’t like him, but what I couldn’t take away from him is what he has achieved in his life, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m currently only 1/3 through the book but so far I am really, really enjoying it immensely, it’s often laugh out loud funny and the stories he tells from working in the 3 best restaurants growing up are fantastically realised. It’s a battle of the Great British chefs (Ramsay worked for MPW at Harveys for those who don’t know) and I’m looking forward to finding out which is the best.
