One of the writers that we work with has some great regular tips at The Oxford Word Barber. His observations are sublime, his content is funny as well as educational and he makes complete sense… sometimes!

Whilst sitting at the traffic lights on the busy Talgarth Road junction near Earls Court, my attention was drawn to a For Sale sign on one of the very attractive buildings fronting the carriageway. It reads ‘RememberTheWindow.com‘. 48 hours later I was sat at my desk and guess what popped into my head for no conscious reason?

Through a stroke of pure memorable relevance and then personal intrigue, I was drawn in to the Blog site of Christian Braun and his family who, having had no success through Estate Agents, are trying to sell their home privately online.

I’m not in the market to part with £1.395M for a slice of England’s not so green and pleasant juxtaposed A4 despite the buildings beauty, but you have to applaud this chaps strategy and passion for promoting this house. It’s certainly drawing a crowd. Good luck Christian.

Check out RememberTheWindow.com and also see the coverage he got in The Sunday Times.

If you haven’t read the succinct news report offered by The Guardian’s Media Monkey this week, following their alluring offer of an interview with the illusive Banksy, I suggest you read on….Even when interviewed, this great English graffiti artist maintains quasi-anonymity….

Banksy; painting a False Picture – The Guardian Guide offered readers an interview on Saturday with famously reclusive street artist Banksy, who shared his thoughts on Rolf Harris, Top Gear’s Stig and his ambition to paint a “giant comedy cock” on the walls of the Guide if he ever broke into its offices. If only. As the Guardian’s readers’ editor said today: “An interview purporting to be with Banksy in last Saturday’s Guide (One last thing … , 18 July, page 98, the Guide) was, it transpires, conducted with someone impersonating the graffiti artist. We apologise to Banksy for this error and for any offence and inconvenience caused.”

On this day that has been gripped by the passing of two stars, namely Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, we are surrounded by a media explosion, mass public reaction – not to mention of course the loss that two families have to cope with.

But what we have to do is put all of this in perspective. Get a grip and learn from this – as so eloquently put in an e-newsletter today from the leading catering and hospitality publication, and I quote:-

“I’m starting with the man in the mirror; I’m asking him to change his ways; And no message could have been any clearer; If you wanna make the world a better place; Take a look at yourself and then make a change. As the world digests the passing of Michael Jackson, the restaurant industry is also being asked to look inwardly and make a change on the controversial issue of service charge…….” News Editor, 26 June 2009.

Phew..er, a joke, surely? Afraid not.

So, after the devastating Italian earthquake, did they make comparisons to the downfall in popularity of Italian restaurants and the need to up their game?

What utter guff.

Have you seen our new Paddy Power press ad featuring Gordon Brown? It appeared in the Daily Telegraph’s ‘The Complete Expenses Files’ on the inside back page.

We had a lot of fun putting Brown in the duck house, but we’re not alone in comping the PMs face into humorous situations. The web is now full of budding political commentators making the most of their Photoshop skills to send Brown the message he doesn’t want to hear.

Here is a selection of the best. Enjoy.

So the government wants access to Facebook because it claims terrorists might be using it. I just think Gordon Brown wants the biggest list of friends on Facebook so he can pretend people like him. He won’t be getting a hug from me.

I’ve invented a fun new game that you can play with your friends called Last FM Charades. I tried it out on some chums this New Years Eve after a few ales and it went down well. It’s best played with an iPhone 3G loaded up with the free Last FM app. It helps if you’re already familiar with the rules of Charades (although not knowing can add to the hilarity).

To start, simply create a new station on Last FM. We went for an 80’s theme. This worked well for us because although we grew up in the era of big hair, our collective musical memory had enough gaps to keep it fresh, and the cheesy nostalgia added to the entertainment.

Then take it in turns to take the stage with the iPhone, play the next track (without letting anyone else see the track details), and proceed to act out the title of the song. If you successfully mime it before the title is sung, you can pass to the next person. If the title is sung on the iPhone before the others guess, or they just guess it straight away from the first few notes, you have to stay on and do the next track until you’re successful.

You can play this with an ordinary iPod and dock set to shuffle, although the owner will always have a slightly unfair advantage and you’re limited to the music on that iPod.

I’ll never forget Lucy’s impression of Paris for ‘The Paris Match’ by The Style Council…so next time you have friends round to your place, treat them to Last FM Charades and let me now how you get on!

Photoshop appears to have gone back to basics after someone created a real life version of Photoshop. Click on the link for a larger photo and zoom into all the tool bars. It’s genius!

View Image

I was introduced to a slightly disturbing and very interesting game last week. PAIN for the PS3 has been out a while now but I had never seen it.

The basic concept of the game is to pick one of the many selectable characters, stick them in a catapult and fire them into a large city environment attempting to cause them as much “pain” as possible.

Characters can get hit by buses, trains, take out other people, go through windows or just trigger various explosions. All you have to do is keep their momentum going hoping they get hit by something else!

I think the idea is brilliant and it’s extremely addictive but as you play it, it just seems a little bit wrong and sadistic!

check it out on youtube: PAIN video