Thanks everyone

in stark contrast to recent years past, I've a lot to be thankful for this year. Not that I've not been counting my blessings, but this year there have been a LOT, even though this season won't be the brightest.

I'm grateful for Obama and the way he is genuinely doing things differently while picking his cabinet and other posts. And I'm grateful, conversely, that George W. Bush is leaving office, though don't you really think he should not be taking his sweet little time?

I'm grateful for The Wire. And the BBC iPlayer.

I'm grateful that, and I never thought I'd ever say this, my father is a conservative investor, and hasn't taken too huge of a beating, so that my older sister will continue to get the fantastic care she is getting.

I'm grateful that apparently Joe the Plumber got a job.

Maybe that's because I'm grateful I've got a job too. I'm grateful Kelvin saw something in me he liked and gave me the chance to prove myself.

It's one I happen to really enjoy. Not least because I work with people who are damn good at what they do, and we are producing fantastic work. Even on the dull jobs.

I'm grateful I no longer work in DM but tell people I work in Advertising.

I'm grateful for the awesome woman who continues to love me despite my many and obvious faults. We're not without our problems, but we talk. And talk. And talk. And eventually sort them out. Which, quite frankly, is far more emotionally rewarding than if we never had difficulties at all.

I'm grateful I'm not married to Madonna.

I'm grateful for the thanksgiving wishes given to me on this day from people who come from all over the world. It's not hard to imagine what their comments would have been had the election gone the other way.

So I'm grateful for Ohio. And that sweet little really old black woman who was able to live long enough to vote a black man into office.

I'm grateful for the enthusiastic responses to being invited to Thanksgiving on Saturday, including even those who had to regrettably decline. And for reasons that should be obvious, I'm very grateful for the offers to help cook the dishes this year.

So I'm happy.

This year, I would like to give thanks not for my riches, but for who we are, our better natures, our collective humility, and what happens when we combine forces.

I have hope for our future; we may be in for hard times, but we'll get through it.

One only needs to look back at the election to see what can be accomplished when we work together.

Refuting free-market ideology

So Alistar Darling unveiled his plans for the UK economy. An increase in tax on people making over £150,000 a year. A decrease in VAT to 15%. An increase in duty on Petrol, cigarettes and Alcohol. An increase in the value mortgages that are protected.

Pretty obviously a package designed to get the non-rich spending again. As it should be.

For years now, the Republicans in the US and the Torys here have successfully convinced just about everyone that if you give the tax breaks, subsidies and incentives to the rich, they will spend them, not the middle class and poor, who would save them, creating trickle-down economics.

That is the reason we are in the current economic situation we are. Turns out 'trickle-down' meant 'give me more' and the rich got richer, and the poor, well, you know.

Being relatively new to this country, I might be wrong, but this new budget of Darlings is the first time we are seeing a real change from free-market capitalism to a more equal, responsible capitalism that benefits everyone. The arguement is not about big or small goernment, which is happening in the States, but about fairness in the face of a crisis caused by the rich wanting more money, but affecting the unrich much, much worse.

The rich should pay. They're they ones who caused this panic.

Lunch

I am of a rather firm mind that the only place you can get a really good baguette is in France. They're just different there. Better. Nicer quality ingredients, I would assume. And, of course, you're in France.

Today, however, for lunch, Jane and I made one that not only comes very close to anything the French have to offer on the tastiness scale, we did it with stuff she had at work. Tomato, camembert, basil, butter, salt, pepper. And a rather large one at that.

The final purging of Lloyds TSB

My old client, Lloyds TSB bank, took a rather long time leaving the building after they fired us in June. Kept giving us little dinky projects with silly deadlines. Took a good four or so months. Noticed I still had a few less-than-admittable concepts on my computer. Thankfully, along came Nokia N series phones with a very cool website. Not sure what it has to do with smart phones, but I don't care. They allowed me to do this:

Canadian Idiot

Musical parody might be a low form of comedy, but as a social critic, Weird Al Yankvick rules.

Changing behaviour

Did anyone else in the UK get these? A fair number of my neighbours did. I'd like to know how big the mailing was.

I'm a big fan. And not just because we proposed this 6 years ago when they were a client at WWAV. No, it's not a very creative mailing, and the letter could be better written. But I don't think it needs to be that creative. No need to hide behind a big idea.

Considering just how expensive British Gas and other energy providers have made gas and electricity, it's a timely, and seemingly honest, effort.

If you really want to change peoples behaviour, make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Mexican food

One of the things I've always missed living in London is good Mexican food. It wasn't until I left the States that I realised just how much I loved it and then subsequently missed it. I'd search out the Mexican restaurants when I could, but they were mostly of the Chi-Chi's bastardized American-Mexican. Which made it the bastardized version of the bastardized American version of Mexican food. My favourite Mexican in Europe is funnily enough in Warsaw. It's called Blue Cactus. It's owned by an American.

Until recently. Not long ago Wahaca, which serves Mexican market food, opened in Covent Garden, and there's not a burrito or taco in sight.

Now that we have moved offices, we have an over-abundance of yummy places of every food group, to eat lunch.

One of which is Benito's Hat. It's basically a cafe where you choose your format, burrito, taco or salad, your filling, steak, pork, chicken or veggies, and your fixin's, which I won't get into here.

When your customers are overwhelmingly unfamiliar with proper Mexican food, I thought it inspired to lead them down the decision making tree. It's actually not unlike ordering at Subway. Just way tastier.

And that's because of the meat. Ok, and the beans. But mostly the meat. The pork and the steak are slow roasted with chilies, cumin and cinnamon; the chicken char-grilled. This is the thing that makes it so much better than it's competitors. They take the time to cook the main ingredient properly, and don't use mince meat for filling.

In the just over a week that we've been on Charlotte Street, I've been there four times.

Because you can move to a new country, develop, become more sophisticated and urbane, but there are some things you can never get over.

Toilet Humour

Saw this as I was havin' a wee tonight:

The girls from Bordeaux, I’m afraid,
You would hardly consider as staid:
A young Bordelaise
Knows dozens of ways
In which she can get Bordelaide

hehehehehehehehehe.

In Other News

Not that anyone noticed, but there was another election this week. Well, today. New Zealand, those lovely people who brought you Flight of the Conchords, have voted to eject Helen Clarke's Labour Party after nine years in power. With 90% (!) voter turnout, they have elected the main opposition party, the centre-right Nationalist Party, into power.

As in America, the faltering economy played a huge role. And the National Party's leader, John Kay, sought to ride the Obama-led wave of change. And he did.

Proof of just how inter-connected we all are. As if we needed anymore. Had I not moved to Britain, where it seems most Kiwis live these days, this election would not have made it onto my radar. But they shared in my elation, as I now do in theirs.

Political Healing

Now that this long and historic election is over, the great partisan divisions created during the last eight years can finally start to come back together. While we bask in this euphoric celebration, and it indeed makes us feel better than we have in a very long time, it is important to remember that America remains a bitterly divided country. In Missouri, the vote, two days later, remains too close to call.

I thought today of a certain Colonel Tim Collins, of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, who, about to embark on the invasion of you know where in 2003, gave a speech, in which he says to his men, '[But] if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.'

The formerly-repressed are reaching out, and they are nothing if not magnanimous. Ze Frank started a project called from52to48withlove, which asked people to upload messages to those who voted for McCain. And for those outside the States, there's the wonderfully idealistic Hello Everybody at sorryeverybody.com, which asks for messages to the rest of the world (and presumably vice-versa). Neat ideas, I thought. Neat enough for this cynical former DM'er to get involved.

But I'm not ready. I'm too angry. Too angry at the people who were stupid enough to be swayed by the obviously spun distortions and lies of the Republican party. Twice! Too angry at the massive increase of wealth disparity (1% of Americans control 40% of the wealth) that isn't going to go away just because Obama finally got elected. Too angry at the insinuation that I am not a real American because I am not a Bible-banging, small-town resident. I say this for a reason.

Because surely we all won on Tuesday night. It was more than a victory for the people who believed in Obama. It was also a victory for those Americans who, for whatever reason (and there still are a few good ones), voted Republican. They too, will benefit from the new course America is now on.

And these past years have just been too hard, the damage too great, for me to reach out and grant them that success. I have been a victim of anti-Americanism caused by it's policies and actions. It's been too personal.

Someday, I would like to be magnanimous. I just need time to heal.

President Obama

So it really happened.

I'm not sure it has really sunk in yet. I think the needs of daily living have kept me from stopping and just feeling it. Every time I see one of the headlines proclaiming the magnitude of Obama being elected, or see the pictures of how the rest of the world is reacting, I hold back tears of pride, happiness, and of course, relief.

It is hard for non-Americans to understand just how devastating the past eight years have been to my sense of being American.

The most powerful image from last night for me was not the sight of a black man addressing America as President-elect. It was of another black man, civil rights leader and presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson watching, and crying. Crying because the cause for which he has spent his entire life fighting had been won. But won by another man.

My favourite quote about America comes from Winston Churchill: 'America always does the right thing, as soon as every other option is exhausted.'

Barack Obama has raised the hope not just of Americans, but quite literally of the entire world in the way that genuineness gets people to believe. But with those raised hopes come raised expectations.

It is just the beginning. As he acknowledged in his acceptance speech, there is a lot of hard work to be done. He will inherit an absolute mess, and it may be too much for one President to fix. But at least we're now going the right way.

The significance of what he has achieved cannot be underestimated. And perhaps the problems we face will fall one by one. Certainly now the world looks upon America a little more favourably.

And this humbled man no longer has to feel shame in being American.

He's everywhere

This appeared in the lift (elevator) of my London workplace. A simple black & white printout. In a country that obviously has no say in the matter (but I have already been asked 5 times if I voted).

He has inspired not just left-leaning Americans, but people of all opinions all over the globe.

They want to believe in America again.

The New Office

The long awaited move into the new office has finally happened. Swanky new white desks, new chairs. And a much, much better location than Euston.

We're now in Charlotte Street, the ground zero, if you will, of the UK advertising industry. Grounded with hallowed advertising names like TBWA and Saatchi & Saatchi (we're in their building), the area is full of diverse restaurants and pub, a far cry from our old office.

The area is probably best known for the BT Tower, which I can see rather clearly out my window.

Built in the mid-60's, it was originally used to beam microwaves around the country, and used to have a revolving restaurant on top. It is now a Grade II listed, and really handy navigational, icon.

Despite the rather dreary economic outlook (and weather today), we're actually set for a rosy future here. It seems we've arrived.

The Replacements

So The Replacements re-released a number of their early albums all digitally remastered and with additional, never-before heard tracks, including the much-rumoured alternate version of one of their seminal songs. For 'Mats fans, and there only ever seem to be hardcore fans, this is like crack. They imploded spectactularly onstage in Chicago, never having reached their full potential, and leaving us fans who identified so much with them sadly and permenantly unfulfilled.

My two favourite of their albums:

I spent the last week in an identity-confusing haze listening to the albums. (Yes, mum, I bought them all, but when you download them they're like half the price).

They sang about being stuck in dead-end jobs, being broke, not being good enough for the girl you liked, or striking out in a self-loathing insecure rage against the world. Which, on the face of it, is what a lot of Rock 'n' Roll is about. But they sang a particular Minneapolis strain of it.

Which was me.

They understood the futility of living in the Midwest that I felt. Even if I couldn't articulate it at the time.

Because of this, I've always thought of them as being a very Minneapolis band. I've kept my love of them private because I've always felt that no-one over here would truly understand why I thought they were so great, because they'd never been to Minneapolis or had the experience I had living there.

Or maybe it's because I didn't want to reveal who I was back then. My favourite song of all time is their 'Can't Hardly Wait', which, basically, is about being a fuck-up and knowing it. Which is what I was (God the Brits are gonna love this bit of intimacy).

Another, 'Here Comes A Regular', is about the people who go to bars to drink away their shame.

In listening this week, I realised I can no longer really identify with them the way I did back then. I have come a very long ways in the ensuing years. Because I identified with them so strongly, they seem to be of a specific time and place. And it's not a place I think my friends over here can relate to.

Still, I still love them, and it's comforting to know they're back there in my memories.

I just wonder if that's where they need to stay.