I start my super duper new job at interactive design agency magneticNorth on Monday. As happens ahead of embarking upon adventures, I am currently full of excitement, anticipation and a few stomach twitching nerves which I am self medicating with a touch of good Rioja. They are a fantastic, boundary pushing agency with clients including the BBC, Kellogg’s and Diesel and I can’t wait to get tucked in. 

Talking of tucking in, I have been on the look out for a new lunch box type thing.I am always on the hunt for something exciting to act as a vessel for my precious lunch cargo. I HATE tupperware - it makes me depressed and not want to eat whatever is in it because I feel sorry for it. Ditto with the cling filmed - whacked in a carrier bag combo. Who wants to eat something that has sweated for three hours and been bashed about next to your bus pass and a packet of ten year old Fruit Polos? Actually, that probably says more about the state of my bag than anything else doesn’t it?

I love traditional Indian Tiffin Boxes but they only really work for hot food. They are also a bugger to fit in your handbag (especially with all the Polos in there). I quite liked my Crayola style flask for soups but think I should probably grow out of that one now. My nephew got one for Christmas. He is four.

So, I think I have found the answer in the form of the very adult lunch boxes from erotic photographer Ben Westwood (yes, she is his mum). Have a look here. They are fun, collectable, create a talking point (not many lunch boxes do that outside of the playground) and I think are the kinds of things sandwiches probably dream about being carried in. Perhaps in this case, at the risk of sounding like a teenage boy’s embarrassing mother, even a wet dream.

I love an advent calendar. When I was little I would spend hours trying to prise open my sisters and attempt to ease the chocolates out. Needless to say my claims that the chocolates had melted or had in fact been eaten by the babysitter didn’t often wash.

Though now not inclined to steal other peoples chocolates from their advent calendars, I am still quite particular about the one I have. This year in my search for one I came across this. Pocket-sized singer Jamie Cullum has created an interactive ‘Advent Cullumdar’ which will go live on his website on 1st December.

Whilst the name makes me heavily cringe, I kind of like the idea. He is giving away £20k worth of prizes throughout advent on the site – each day’s prize introduced by him via a video clip. He is creating content and an opportunity for fans to interact with his site. Which is a really nice way to keep his publicity and site visitors numbers up in between albums.

I might have a go one day – fingers crossed I don’t win tickets to one of his gigs.

I was in London last week and packed in a whole bundle of food and fun. I went to Flash - the pop up restaurant within the Royal Academy of Arts. Put together by the team from Bethnal Green’s Bistrotheque it was all very cool with waiters saying over elaborate things such as “I will be back with you in a moment to talk about drinking”….so you actually mean you will be taking our drinks order or we look like we have liquor issues that need talking through? Hmm.

The decor was interesting and there was an amazing chandelier created by Giles Deacon hung in the centre of the room. Whilst it was breath taking, it looked heavy and I would have been slightly nervous to be sat underneath it during my meal. Imagine if it collapsed on you. Potential death by Deacon!

The food was yummy but the most exciting thing for me was the plates. Illustrator Will Broome has created a whole Flash crockery service in collaboration with Wedgwood. Loads of bold black animal based graphics. Very pretty. I was all ready to swipe one and hotfoot it out, but thankfully for both my clean conscious and criminal record, I discovered you could buy them.

I also went over to the ICA for Gay Bingo. Done this a few times now and it is hysterical (especially after three bottles of wine over a slightly pretentious lunch). Hard for me to explain it without writing lots of rude words down but it’s basically bingo, booze and drag queens. A winning combination in my book.

Finished off my time there by going to the Malcom Gladwell talk at the Lyceum. No drag queens or booze in sight, just a really interesting talk from a fascinating and big haired man.

Fun.

I like Sushi. I like Art. Therefore I like Bento Box Art. No, I love it. In fact I am becoming a little bit obsessed with it and this post is the first step in admitting that I have a problem.
I am addicted to raw fish and rice being moulded into humorous and familiar characters and shapes. There I said it. I feel so much better now.
I ‘got into’ bento box art a few months ago via Flickr, and my hunger for it has now really started to spiral out of control. I have recently bought this book on the subject (which is amazing) and I have been toying with ordering from e-obento.com. Slightly struggling with the order process though as it is in Japanese. Note to self: Learn Japanese. Have a look through these designs - loving the dog shaped ones. If you scroll to the bottom of the page there is even a Father Christmas. How festive.

Not many things can make you feel hungry and impressed simultaneously can they?

Is there such a thing as BAA -Bento Arts Anonymous?

Ever have one of those days when you want to smash everything and everyone in sight? Do you secretly get a kick when you ‘accidentally’ smash a wine glass at a friend’s house? Just me then?

Well, if like me your anger management classes have not quite done the job, then Sarah’s Smash Shack could be the collective answer to our angry prayers.

Based in San Diego, you turn up (no doubt seething) and select things from the smash menu to pulverize in the padded ‘break rooms’.

You can also soundtrack your smashing (Rage Against The Machine anyone?) and hire a VIP room for group smashes. They even had extended hours over the US election last night. I guess so frustrated McCain fans could smash lips sticks and rue the day that Palin messed up their guys campaign.

It sounds like a smashing place.

In a few weeks I am off on a petite jaunt to Paris (cue: air punching and yelps of delight). Obviously, I am excited about the Louvre, eating obscene amounts of artisan bread and buying out the entire APC store. I have however, also found something else to be excited about -Cent Quatre. A huge new art space opened in a former funeral factory (or Pompes Funebres to the French lipped amongst you). Billed as Europe’s largest artist residency, it has had a £78 million renovation and is supposed to be a kind of ‘artist zoo’.

This basically means that sculptors, painters, musicians etc can all have a space to work in and in return visitors are allowed to get up close and personal to them as they work. All though you can’t talk to them, that costs extra. Seriously. Sounds intriguing doesn’t it?

DJ/ musician and generally V cool man Tricky has a residency there, so I am really looking to seeing his work. Wonder how much it costs to talk to him?

I was perhaps a little too over excited to discover these. Wine Wipes. Little miracles in a packet. They rub away any remnants of boozy meals, general over indulgence and particularly full bodied reds.

What a pure simple idea, with mass potential and appeal. I actually wanted to smash a wine bottle over my head for not coming up with this before them. A tad dramatic, yes, but I am amazed that these have never come to market before. Many a DIY version has been fashioned - wet tissue, nail dragged across lips, swilling with white wine (is that just me?)

Having had a bit of an explore around their site (which is largely horrendous - cheesy testimonials, bad imagery, non-impactful logo), I am really curious to see how they develop the brand and how they market it.

It feels like they don’t really have a clue what a gem of a brand they are sat on. I would LOVE to get my hands on it to develop it. Make it talk to people from my age (female, late 20’s, regularly discuss red wine ‘issues’ with pals) through to my wine swigging dad (male, early 60’s, loves a red wine booze). At the moment it is unclear who they are aiming at and what the brand is about. It has so much potential to be an iconic / cool brand.

For now I guess I will have to be content with drowning my sorrows…and then wiping the evidence away.

I have often wondered if I was a man, would I grow a moustache? Well, actually that is a total lie but I do admire a good robust one on a man. If I had to pick my all time favourite mo, it would be Daley Thompson. The facial thatch he sported in the 80’s was truly mesmerising, almost hypnotising for a young me who grew up in a clean-shaven house hold.
So, all these years later, it was a true delight to learn of a way I can show my admiration for moustaches. Meet Movember. This fantastic campaign sees men sign up to grow Moustache’s (Mo’s) for the whole of November (see what they did there?) , get loads of sponsors for their troubles and raise bundles of cash for prostate cancer charities. Even though I can’t grow a Mo (insert your own joke about females with moustaches) I am becoming a Mo Sista and have recruited the men in my company to become Mo Bros. We are even planning a Mo Town party. Who knew facial hair could be so fun?
I shall report back on all the hair-based shenanigans at the end of Movember.

Maracas, sorry Barackas, Hilary nutcrackers and Palin baby bibs. Since the race for the White House kicked off there has been no end to the weird and wacky campaign merchandise supporters can get their paws on. I am surprised that no one has created a bespoke ‘pit-bull with lipstick on’ shade for Palin fans to douse themselves in. Give it time. I am sure some soccer mom will get one out there.
Aside from all the merchandise, both official and unofficial, brands are really stepping up and claiming their piece of the political pie. My current favourite entry is 7Eleven. They have produced branded Obama and McCain coffee cups and are letting America talk with their feet (or rather mouths) to show who their winner is.
The current leader is Obama but McCain is not far behind. Shudder. I am a strictly de-caff girl but on this occasion I would totally risk the caffeine shakes to get the right man in.

I thought underwear brand Ultimo were very clever this weekend to jump on the back on the Wonderbra model story. The face (slash chest) claimed they had told her she was ‘too fat’ and asked to loose weight. Not sure how true that actually is (I hear not at all), but it provided a great opportunity for Ultimo to create an old fashioned tactical PR story. Signing up the ousted chest to the Ultimo brand and securing oodles of press coverage in the process.

Tactical stories really can be gifts from the PR gods.

There have been quite a few around in the last few weeks, in addition to the chesty one mentioned above. BA were quick out of the hanger to say they would fly BA Baracus aka Mr T over to the UK for his Snickers ‘Get on the Plane’ campaign. The reason? Mr T and his A-team alter ego are scared of flying. Simple but generated BA some well needed positive PR.

Also, Woolworth’s piggybacked the return of the Wispa into UK shops. Issuing a story saying they had hired a security guard to ensure the first batch made it safely into stores. They got wide spread press coverage that filtered down into forums and chat rooms. Driving buzz for the brand - which brand it did the most for is debatable. Nonetheless, great, simple and largely cheap. A brand managers dream.

The best thing about these types of stories in my mind is that they are truly creative. The opportunity needs to be spotted and reacted on before the moment goes. PR zeitgeist if you will.

Okay, I am off to get my (unguarded) Wipsa from the fridge.