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A lovely email from Cupid himself

Published on by loreleimathias1 Comment

 

Last Thursday was a very special day.

The annual Beattie McGuinness Bungay Woo-Off.

Where for one day only the whole agency transforms to a rose-scented, chocolate covered, serenading carnival of competitive-loving.

Not because we love each other but because we all want to win dinner for two at Hawksmoor.

The winner was a very filthy poem by the comically genius fingers of ‘Jamie I’.

But our personal favourite was this email from ACTUAL CUPID himself!

 

 

Then there was this one which I was chuffed to receive in addition to a red rose and some Hotel Chocolat: A  cryptic map and poem inviting me on a secret date with a man in a hat – a glass of bubbly at the Ivy no less.

nb – It was the correct way up until I uploaded it, when the blog programme made a point of flipping it sideways; much like my stomach once I’d been wooed by the lovely Sam Richardson here…

Finally, this one was very funny too. Stalking Lucy…

Of course, none of them came close to the amazing poetry blog from the clever Mr Bruce did last year, which even now has a special place in my heart – the creepy yet hilarious Poemsforlorelei

MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL HAVE BEEN THERE THEN

Published on by loreleimathias6 Comments

Last week Andrew Cracknell took all of us here at BMB to New York and back.

Well, 1960s New York to be precise, with a very inspiring talk about his book The Real Mad Men.

His yellow cab took us through New York’s cultural history since the fifities – from the changing relationship between art directors and copywriters, to the ads that changed the world – from Think Small to ‘Chick’.

Overall, the message he impressed on half the agency was this: just because Mad Men is about events fifty years ago, its lessons – persuasion, power of narrative, simplicity, creative responsibility – are just important today, if not more so.

If you’ve not read the book already, it’s a wonderful read which takes you back to the alleged ‘golden age’ of advertising. I have to confess that we read it a year ago and have been meaning to write about it ever since – oops – sorry Andrew! I do remember very much liking his sentimental scribble in the front of my copy though – the words, ‘Maybe we should all have been there then’. Which in fairness, probably rings true more for the blokes among us than for Nat and I – who would have no doubt ended up as overweight housewives or bored secretaries.

Incidentally, Andrew is mad keen to do his talk again, and is currently available for agency lunchtime lectures, weddings and barmitzvahs, as they say.

 

SANS HUMOUR

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A constant fascination of mine (and I don’t think I’m alone in this…) is the over-zealous use of the font Comic Sans.

I (lol) have a theory that Comic Sans is to the world of typography what the exclamation mark is to punctuation. In other words, it’s like laughing at your own joke!

The irony is, The Sans isn’t funny to look at (it’s actually pretty gross isn’t it?). It is only comic when it’s used in situations where humour really has no place.

So for the last year, for no real reason, I’ve been collecting the silliest uses of this self-proclaimed Funny Font. Examples which are funny, but probably not in the way the typographer intended. Like these little chaps.


Fig 1. A friend’s correspondence from her accountant (you might need your reading glasses for this one, but it’s worth it. If nothing else he also uses the phrase ‘going forward’:


Fig. 2. A lecture on particle physics (OK, so I wasn’t there for this one. I found it on the internets)


Fig. 3. A letter about a smear test from a DOCTOR’S surgery in Sweden:

(Fitzgerald would be vomiting in if he saw this one, it’s got exclamation marks in it TOO!)

 


Fig. 4. Gang warfare in North London:

 


Fig. 5. A holy church in Bethnal Green:


Fig. 5. A business hotel in Singapore 

For me though, the worst offender is actually this one:


Fig. 6. Some ‘handouts’ given to us on a COMEDY course. (Needless to say that it wasn’t the most insightful course on the inner subtleties of humour. But you’ll clock that for yourself when you read point two).


Another one which I do not have physical evidence of but have it on good authority: A leading fiction publisher told me the other day that he often receives submissions written in Comic Sans. Needless to say they go straight in the bin.

Lastly, some time ago a friend of mine was living in Nepal and she unfortunately needed a brain scan. Luckily the results were fine and there was nothing to worry about. But the MRI results were written in you guessed it – the sans.

I experimented with writing this whole blog in comic sans, but I just couldn’t take it seriously. It all turned self-referential to the point where I felt a bit giddy.

Anyway, am I over-reacting, or can anyone defend the funny font? Is it ever appropriate?

Just before posting this, I learned that I’m not alone; that there exists someone even nerdier than me.  A bloke called Matt Dempsey has begun to police the streets and stamp out comic crimes, reminding us all that it is only relevant to an audience below the age of eleven; not a day older.

I would add that it’s only relevant to people still living in the 1980’s, but that’s just me (!)