NORTHERN PLANNER

Before Mr Agassi came along, my favourite tennis player was Lendl. Odd, when there was the delightfully mad John McEnroe or Becker’s Wagnerian serve to choose from, but there you are.

I admired about the way he always worked on his weaknesses. He had an endurance problem so he modified his diet to become the fittest player ever, McEnroe kept exploiting his weak backhand, so he developed on of the best topspin backhands of the era. Even his weak volleying improved to the point he was unlucky to not win Wimbeldon.

Sometimes it’s not the things that you’re great at that lead to success, it’s improving those weaknesses that hold you back.

The two Robs have got me thinking as usual. See the post below, The Kraken has awoken and they’re  getting all agitated about the media and politics. Quite rightly in my opinion.

BUT, who am I to comment as someone who only reads the Guardian every day. Am I objective? Doubt it. So in the interests of balance, I’m going to read a different newspaper every day next week and comment on what I find. Not only will I be able to test my limp wristed liberal tendencies, I may well learn something.

So:

Monday is The Telegraph

Tuesday is The Mail

Wednesday is The Mirror

Thursday is The Sun

Friday is The Times

I’ve left out The Independent because I read it sporadically when I fancy a liberal comic. The Star is not a newspaper and I read my Mum’s Express when I go stay. I’ll post as I go along.

Sometimes a few numbers can throw up all sorts of juicy questions and directions.

Here are some excerpts from the 2007 edition of the wonderful Schott’s Almanac:

Foreigners within populations as a percentage of total population, which maybe sheds some light on the emotional immigration arguments in the UK:

Luxembourg  38.6%, Australia 22.8%, Canada 18.2%, Germany 8.9%, Spain 3.9%, France 5.6%, UK 4.8%

Top global locations for Googling ‘porn’:

1. Birmingham UK  2. Manchester UK  3. Brisbane Australia  4. Melbourne Australia  5. Delhi India

Items lost in hotels:

1. Mobiles and chargers  2. clothes  3. toiletries  4. false teeth (!)  5. laptops 

Percentage of Uk dwellers who believe they are living comfortably:

1986   1994   2002  2003  2004

24      29       39      44     40

By analysing the entire text of individual works, amazon.com created a service that enables purchasers to compare readability and complexity of the books they’re browsing, here are some selected stats:

                           Zadie Smith On Beauty    Dan Brown DaVinci Code   Levitt  Freakonomics

Fog index*                       8.7                                   9.1                                  11.1

Complex words                  9%                                     12%                                14%

Helen’s started the ball rolling with her thoughts on Tuesday’s ‘This Life’. Beeker’s joined in the comments as has Paul. Opinion seems divided, but go and have your say. I thought it was too contrived and forced.

Rob has bitten off more than he can chew. Instead of revealing 5 things like the rest of that got tagged, he’s rashly promised to answer any ten questions you want, maybe the least thought out post in history.

The only catch is that he can choose which ten to answer. Since there is more than ten juicy ones already, Famous Rob Mortimer thinks we should leave it there so he has no choice at all (he’s not as nice as he comes across obviously).

I’ve shied away from reviewing creative work, why bother when you’ve got Famous Rob. I can’t resist commenting on Vodkat though, shamed as I am that it’s from a Leeds agency. I’ve already banged on about the need for regional agencies to pull their socks up, enjoy Exhibit A.

They had it all- semiotic proposition with legs,"22% drink, with a kick and attitude, you know where you stand with it", co-creation (casting normal people ‘with attitude’), even user generated stuff. What went wrong? They forgot to get the execution right.

Maybe the idea was bigger than the budget, I hope that’s the reason, but they’ve taken every opportunity to sap all the meat and romance from the brand (you have no idea they are not just bad actors for example) and left you with, well, you decide. There’s a lot of talk about the need for execution to be part of the strategy – here’s why.

My post festive waistline proves I’m a lover of good food. I love cooking and playing in the kitchen, but not like the stuff in this article on nano technology from the Observer.

I loved Charlie and the Chocolate factory, but I never dreamed that chewing gum as a meal would be possible, but this stuff is here right now. While it’s all very exciting, as a lover of real food, with all it’s sensual brilliance, it’s traditions and rituals, I’d still want food to enjoy and take time over. Just because you can, it doesn’t always mean you should. Heston Blumenthal take note.

This is a brilliant article about the reasons for that wierd, uncomfortable time when fathers and sons are coming to terms with junior’s first forays into manhood. It focuses the reasons for that stange, unconscious  competitiveness that creeps in, sometimes even the elder’s envy of his son’s youth.

It’s a funny time when a strange, palpable silence fills the room and any meaningful conversation becomes a daily challenge. What do you talk about? It’s gone past kids stuff what grown up things do they have in common? I remember talking about football. A lot.

Gemma has quietly started blogging, and about time too. This post gets to the heart of what most non-planners think we do all day, and they’re probably right. Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing where Gemma takes us.

Went to Mum and Dad’s and ate them out of house and home.

The lights at Mousehole on the 23rd:

9am Christmas morning.