Filed under: advertising, Arts, business, creativity | Tags: @CreativeEdin, brew-Lab, creative circles, Creative Edinburgh, Creative Industries in Edinburgh, Ed brooke, Edinburgh Creativity, Fi Milligan Rennie, Jannica Honey, mark gorman, mark gorman think hard, the leith agency, think hard
I bet you’d enjoy this. But you can’t, because you were too slow off the mark.
It’s the latest Creative Edinburgh event tonight on The Leith Agency’s Mary De Guise Barge.
As our membership grows (it’s well over 500 now) our events are getting more and more popular. That’s why this one’s sold out.
Ed Brooke (Ed of Leith) will share the speaker’s podium with award winning photographer Jannica Honey and Arts Learning Specialist and Drama Artist Fi Milligan Rennie.
Keep an eye on the Creative Edinburgh website for our future evens (we’ve planned hosting and curating of over 50 already this year)
Better still. Become a member. It costs very little. Or pop along to Creative Circles at Brew-Lab. it’s free.
Filed under: advertising, Arts, creativity, humour, movies, photography | Tags: 50 for 50, mark gorman
Filed under: family, food, life, science, Scotland, stories | Tags: 50 for 50, campbells meat, complex carbohydrates, Cube Hyde, food combining, food combining diet, low carb diet, mark gorman, mark gorman think hard, nike, Nike Plus, Pete and mark.wordpress.com, pete the meat, peter Flockhart, rachel Apppolinari Fund, steve appolinari, think hard
My friends on facebook will be aware of the challenge my next door neighbour, Pete Flockhart (aka Pete the Meat) and myself set ourselves in the depressing dog days of 2011. Both of us had piled on the weight in the last couple of years as a result of lack of exercise, overeating (or eating the wrong stuff to be more precise) and over drinking.
We’re both 50 in May, ten days apart in fact and the prospect of our local GP carrying out rectal examinations whilst lecturing us about our obesity was too much to contemplate.
So we decided to set ourselves a challenge.
We’d both lose 50 lbs by our 50th birthdays.
Our good pal Doug Cook offered to design us a campaign logo. This is it…
And we set up a blog to follow the journey.
We’ve dramatically reduced our alcohol intake (bar a few binges).
We’ve put ourselves on really good diets. Pete’s a bit heavy on the rabbit food but I’ve been following a food combining approach which consists of Muesli and fresh fruit for breakfast, salad with lots of protein for lunch and a good mix of protein and complex carbs for dinner.
No pies, no crisps, no sweets, very few, virtually none in fact, simple carbs (white rice, white bread, white pasta, potatoes – in fact none of any of them in a month), no butter, reduced fat (the one cal spray you can buy is excellent), no chocolate, no biscuits, no visits to Greggs AT ALL.
And of course, the exercise. I have a Nike Plus wristband which acts as a GPS device, pedometer and calorie burn measurer which is calibrated (extremely accurately I have to say) for stride length and distance walked plus weight.
Our regime has been walking 2 out of every three days across the Forth Road Bridge and back. That’s about 5.7miles (9km) and we have a slightly longer route that’s 7 miles (11km). In January I walked 190km ( 118 miles) and Pete was about the same. However I’ve also recently bought an amazing, really really amazing, new bike – a Cube Hyde Pro – that’s carried me 200 miles in and out of town this month.
We’re taking the opportunity to raise funds for two very deserving charities as we go and you can pledge your support here if you’d like to help us. They are the Rachel Appolinari Fund which has been set up on behalf of a young girl, a friend of my family, who died, aged 19, of a brain tumour at Edinburgh neuro-oncology unit at the Western General Hospital. Her Dad and sisters have already raised £50,000 for the hospital in Rachel’s name. The other (Pete’s choice) is the Chest, Heart and Stroke Foundation in Scotland for obvious reasons. I hope you will support us.
The results are encouraging.
In the first month, which ended today, I lost 22lbs and Pete lost 30lbs. That’s 9% of our combined body weight. Our BMI’s have tumbled but there’s a long, long way to go and to be honest 50lbs may have set the bar a little too low.
We realise the easiest bit is over and we really do need to dig in now, but we’ve been saying that since the end of week one in which Pete lost a staggering 16.5 lbs, so maybe we’re striking the right balance.
A big thing about this, to my mind, is the value of attempting a challenge like that with others. Doing it solo is very difficult indeed. So, to Pete the Meat, Slainte! Onwards and upwards. Together we shall prevail!
Anyway, follow our exploits here. You can sign up for updates on the left hand side of the blog and please support us as best you can.
Filed under: creativity, family, food, humour, life | Tags: Diet, mark gorman
Filed under: advertising, Arts, books, business, creativity, family, gigs, golf, humour, life, movies, photography, Scotland, stories, theatre, tv, videos, work | Tags: 2011, 2011 in hindsight, best of 2011, gibberish, mark gorman, review iof 2011
2011. That was the year that was.
2011 was rather less fraught than 2010. I didn’t work to such ridiculous extremes, and the year end saw my portfolio change quite considerably compared to 12 months ago. Three big new clients at year end were Maidsafe, Vets2 and Front Page Design, all autumnal starters and all brilliant to work with. My STV contract finally came to an end after three years but its been great and I am very grateful to them for all the work.
Some old troopers still stand by me; 60 Watt, Paligap, The Usability Lab, Corporation Pop, Ampersand and LA Media, with occassional work from a small number of others.
To you all; slainte and have a great 2012.
If my golf was bad in 2010 it beggared belief in 2011. I gave up my membership at Dundas Park and clearly that did not have a galvanising effect on my game. I was shit awful on both trips of the year and even my winter game has been poor.
We didn’t go away as a family in 2011, for a variety of reasons but I had the holiday (maybe an exaggeration to call it that) of a lifetime in June when Ria and I went to Glastonbury. To say it was memorable would be something of an understatement. There is one abiding memory of it, I have to say…the bogs.
Not good. And this was on day 1
But there were other memorable sights and moments, like this…
Not good. Day 4.
And this…
All good. Day 4.
Which brings me onto my musical highlights of the year.
My best of CD which you can have if you like included these tracks…
In a good year for music my song of the year, without question, was Video Games by Lana Del Rey.
My albums of the year were;
Bad as Me by Tom Waits (overall my favourite record)
Let England Shake by PJ Harvey
You and I by The Pierces
The English Riviera by Metronomy
A creature I don’t know by Laura Marling
50 Words for Snow by Kate Bush
Hotel Shampoo by Gruff Rhyss
Build a Rocket Boys by Elbow who also performed the gig of the year at Glastonbury (closely followed by King Creosote at The Liquid Rooms)
A different Kind of Love by Bombay Bicycle Club
21 by Adele
I did a lot of cinema in 2011…
Here’s what I thought of what I saw in my IMDB profile…
Two ten out of tens and a few nines show that it was also a good year for movies. In retrospect I plump for three as my best of the year
Senna
A Separation and
Drive.
On TV This is England 2008 moved me to tears and was by far the year’s greatest offering. I liked Top Boy too.
I didn’t read a great deal this year but have really enjoyed
The Brothers Sisters by Patrick DeWitt.
The Childrens Hospital by Chris Adrtian.
And Filthy English, The How, Why When and What of Everyday Swearing by Pete Silverton.
But the best read of the year by far was…The Guardian which I grow deeper in love with.
This was a big year of theatre for me. I reckon I saw at least 20 different productions but easily the stand out was Dance Marathon in which Jeana and I and Chris and Liam danced our asses off for five hours before I was told I was relentless by the Producer. We also had amazing nights at The Kings for James Cordon in One Man, Two Guvnors and The Lyceum for both Dunsinane and Age of Arousal.
This year was sadly marked by way too much illness among our friends for me to want to dwell on but Matt, David and Jenny I am thinking of you now.
Also, we lost James King, Joyce Cambell and Fiona Pirie from FCT and Rachel Appolinari at the outrageous age of 19. RIP all of you. xxx
All of the family have blossomed in the past year, thank God, and long may it continue. In particular Amy has shown an almost exponential growth in confidence and skills in many different areas.
2012 is University year for Tom and Ria should they both choose to go down that path.
And so, to 2012. It’s the year I turn 50, Amy 21, Tom and Ria 18 and I aim, with Pete the Meat, to lose at least 50 pounds each before we turn 50 in May. We are raising money to do so and you’ll soon hear of our plans.
Thanks for being my reader once again in 2011. My year end Technorati rating was an all time high closing in on a top 1% of all the blogs in the world rating.
16,000th out of 1.2 million.
Filed under: creativity | Tags: gibberish, mark gorman, technorati, top blogs
There are 1.2 million blogs monitored by Technorati and for ages I’ve been pushing for a top 20,000 place.
Today I got it.
Yasss.
Filed under: creativity, family, Scotland | Tags: 2011 happy Christmas, Christmas card, gibberish, Happy Christmas from the gormans, mark gorman, merry Christmas from Gibberish
Thanks for sticking with me all year.
Good wishes and good fortune in 2012. You deserve it if you’ve read this claptrap all year.
Not one card but two…
Filed under: creativity, family | Tags: edinburgh vespa club, jean lockhart, mark gorman, mum, my mum jean gorman, scooters, the gormans, vespas
Back in her pre marraige days.
She’s bottom left.
Cool Huh?
Filed under: advertising, bbc, business, creativity, Scotland | Tags: BBC radio Scotland, David Ogilvy, Graeme atha, mark gorman, The original mad man, victor Brierley
Next Monday myself and Graeme Atha will be in conversation with Victor Brierley in a special one off documentary investigating the legend that was David Ogilvy.
Here’s a link to the 30 minute programme that goes out on Monday afternoon at 2.05.
Filed under: Arts, creativity, family, humour, jokes, life | Tags: bbq, family, gormans, mark gorman, Scotland
Tom, Ria, Amy and Emma
Late Oclock
most of us...
Angelo.
My Mum turns 75 on Tuesday and she had a party last night to celebrate. Absolutely great night and a little late. I stayed over with her and had to help clear up the carnage this morning before rapidly driving home and taking Ria to a 4 hour rehearsal for the Chess Game.
I’m on my knees now…
Filed under: creativity, family, humour, life, photography, Scotland | Tags: beach, dancer, Edinburgh, gibberish, guardian in pictures, mark gorman, pictures, south queensferry, the guardian, weston super mare
One of these days I might get a mention.
This week I had two options.
This one is “Flash” Ken who I met on a beach in Weston Super Mare and is the one I entered…
…and this is one which I spotted in South Queensferry at the fair a fair few years ago; or rather the camera spotted it in a flash.
Filed under: Arts, creativity, family, photography | Tags: folk, happy holidays, holidays, mark gorman
Filed under: advertising, family, humour, jokes, life, photography, Rants, Scotland | Tags: bass ale, Belfast, farquar gaylord, mark gorman, the troubles, think hard
I have been striking this ridiculous pose for at least 20 years as this photo testifies.
Shot outside The Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in Europe) in about 1988.
The equally unattractive human being in the photo beside me is Damian McElholm. A keen country pursuits hobbyist.
He’s famous for replying to Gerry Farrell when he was asked what the shooting was like around here (Belfast, at the back end of “The Troubles”) replied “accurate.”
Fuck sake
Filed under: advertising, business, creativity, humour, photography, work | Tags: 80's ad men, 80's fashion, advertising, mad men, mark gorman, mark gorman think hard, think hard
OK, so David Reid was given a Fashion Police type doing on this very page not a week ago.
He took it like a man I have to say so it’s only fair that he gets the right of replky.
Here’s my own fashion disaster of the 80′s when I had hair, oh boy did I have hair, and specs.
My God did I have specs…
Filed under: Arts, creativity, music | Tags: a matter of life Penguin cafe review, arthur jeffes, chamber music, classical music, Folk music, gibberish, mark gorman, mark gorman gibberish music reviews, mark gorman gibberish reviews, modern classical music, PCO, penguin cafe, penguin cafe orchestra, simon jeffes, world music
The reviews for this album have mostly been a little patronising and mildly dismissive as if it is some form of PCO lite offering.
I beg to differ.
I am, almost literally, a lifelong PCO fan and have every track they ever recorded, from the experimental Zopf days on the Obscure record label right through their “heydays’ of the 1980′s when their unique musical sound appeared on every second commercial or BBC/C4 soundtrack (most notably I have to say in the Independent’s launch advertising campaign). So Simon Jeffes’ death in 1987 hit me like a hammer blow. Ten years later his son, Arthur, began the slow but steady cryogenic rebirth, or perhaps more accurately the creation of a clone with ideas of its own. This has culminated in the release of this instant classic album, a matter of life, which is, to all intent and purpose, PCO’s 5th studio album.
It has more piano than PCO but other than that it’s broadly the same thing, and certainly cut from the same cloth.
Track 2 (Landau) feature Jeffes and Kathry Tickell on her trademark Northumbrian pipes and its delicious. Harry Piers, another piano only track was played at Jeffes Sr’s memorial concert and it bears every trademark PCO motif you could ever imagine which is what makes it both a great epitaph for Simon Jeffes but perhaps also a catharsis for Arthur.
The Fox and the Leopard is a carbon copy of a previous PCO song but for me the absolute standout is the minor key classic, From a Blue Temple.
In Penguin Cafe’s second album I’d expect the music to be slightly less of a tribute and to explore more of their own ideas, maybe more of a development from From a Blue Temple; and given that members of Suede and Gorillaz make up the 10 strong ensemble I’m pretty sure there will be new areas aplenty to explore.
For now though, this is a welcome and delightful discovery that I will treasure and hopefully wear out the grooves as much as its four forebears.
Filed under: business, creativity, life, work | Tags: best masher, best potato masher, best vegetable masher, cooking aids, gadgets, gibberish, kitchen gadgets, mark gorman, mark gorman gibberish, masher, masher gadgets, mashing vegetables, potato masher, the pampered chef, the pampered chef potato masher
I love my ipod, my ipad, my Bose sound system, the garden speakers, my camera thumbpiece add on, apps, spotify…you name it.
But nothing has impressed me as much as this little pearl from The Pampered Chef. It was a gift from my brother and sister in law at Christmas but it’s a game changer.
I could mash potatoes for a living with this.
But look at it.
It’s just a one-piece bit of pre-moulded black plastic and yet, and yet…
It is seductive.
It is 100% ergonomic.
It scythes through vegetables as if they did not exist.
Imagine a Swedish Masseuse spending a quality five minutes with you…
That. Would. Be. Like. The. Pampered. Chef. Potato. Masher. In. Action.
Ecstacy.
Filed under: football, Hibees, Rants | Tags: colin calderwood, Edinburgh, edinburgh finest, gibberish, Hibees, Hibernian, hibernian form, mark gorman, mark gorman gibberish, rod petrie, Scottish Football, SPL, the cabbage
After defeat to Motherwell yesterday this very odd man said…
“There are aspects of the game I enjoyed. Problems are there to be solved so that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.”
On Tuesday night after Hibs went out to a team two leagues below the odd bod Calderwood commented…
“We had so many good opportunities, the goalkeeper’s had a number of good saves, we’ve had efforts cleared from the line and I think they defended their goal excellently.
He has so far won 2 out of 15 games.
Being, at best, an armchair fan I have not seen him in action but I am told he stands impassively, hands in pockets, barely involving himself in games and certainly not leaping about like the madman Yogi Hughes had become.
It all just seems like he’s going through the motions.
Remarkably he claims to be “really enjoying it” at Easter Road.
Inevitably, the fans’ ire tends to turn to the manager or the Chairman in these sorts of situation. And Rod Petrie’s extended honeymoon is certainly looking to be over at this moment in time.
The sale of Stokes and Bamba appears to be hitting home now and our lack of action in the transfer market is becoming notable. I’m a great admirer of what Petrie has acheived at Easter Road but it feels like he has made an extraordinarily bad appointment in Colin Calderwood and his earlier reputation for canniness is in danger of becoming one for penny pinching (for which I am told he has a strong internal reputation.)
Lastly, of course, there’s the team itself; some say it is a shadow of its former self, one of the worst to have played for Hibs in many years (if not ever), but I saw Zemamma, Miller, Riordan, Wotherspoon, Murray, Stack and McBride (all in the squad yesterday) play Dundee Utd on 3rd October 2009 and destroy them before drawing 1 -1.
At that point the table looked like this…
A month later it looked even better…
And even by mid January Hibs (with this team) were in touch with the top, so my contention is not that it is the players themselves that are poor but the way in which they are applying themselves.
It feels to me that there is a cancer somewhere in Easter Road that is permeating the team and turning good players into bad. Yogi lost them, and Calderwood has never had them bar one freak night against Rangers.
It needs sorted, and quick.
Filed under: advertising, dad, family | Tags: charity, gibberish, mark gorman, pego's millions, peter gorman, St Columba's hospice
Come on, have a go.
Only a tenner and you can win £100 and a bottle of bubbly. All proceeds to St Columbas Hospice.
I only need a few more to crawl over the £1,000 target line.
We’re looking at about 23rd December now I’d say.
Filed under: dad, family, humour, life | Tags: blogging, blogging for charity, edinburgh hospice, gibberish, mark gorman, millionth hit, pego's millions, St Columba's hospice
Oh dear sweet Jesus we've still got 22,000 hits to endure...
You might notice that as the millionth hit approaches (as it surely will) I’ve moved my blog stats up to a more convenient position for the viewing public.
In fact, if you look left right now, you’ll be able to see exactly what the state of the nation is as you read.
In real time.
Things have slowed a touch though I must admit.
Maybe I’ve not been trying hard enough, but I have to say the £850 you’ve invested so far makes me very happy (and I’m sure the people at the hospice are cheezin’ too). Well, some of them.
I have to say, we cheezed a lot when we were there as a family. Because death sometimes brings out the funniest things.
So, I’d like to recount a blog post from right at the start of Gibberish. It was a conversation I overheard between my Dad’s brother (Uncle Christopher) and my Mum.
And it went something like this…
“If I had some eggs, we could have ham and eggs; if I had some ham.” my Uncle Christopher declared this afternoon.
Wise words.
But my mother violently disagreed with this because she retorted…
“If we had some eggs we could have eggs and ham; if we had some ham.”
Not sure about that.
In fact it’s total bollocks – because what she really meant to say, and did, was…
“If we had ham, we could have ham and eggs; if we had eggs.”
You know what…
…I don’t give a monkey’s uncle!
This was my favourite memory of the seven or so very intense days we spent at St Columba’s.
I’m sure everyone is the same, in that in the face of death they find some moments of humour.
Well, I hope so.
If you’ve lost someone to cancer or had a truly life affirming (even in the face of death) experience at this or any other hospice maybe you’ll pledge a tenner.
Who knows, you might even win a £100.
Filed under: creativity, dad, family, humour, life, Scotland, stories | Tags: gibberish, mark gorman, mark gorman gibberish, markgorman.wordpress.com, million hits, pego's millions, peter gorman, St Columba's hospice
Thank you to everyone who has donated to Pego’s Millions. After only a week you have donated a whopping £766 to St Columba’s Hospice. (My target is £1,000 but originally it was £500 so let’s see if we can power our way through that milestone this week).
The good news is that my site stats only grew by 5% last week so there’s still probably (at this rate) about 37 days until my millionth hit which remains at or around 21st December.
So, if you want another guess (and remember it’s all going to a good cause) plus the chance to win £100 and a bottle of Tesco’s finest bubbly you’re more than welcome to have another go.
Just visit this site and it’ll work it all out for you. (Actually it won’t, you’ll need your wits about you but if you become unstuck just send me an email with your guess or stick it into the comments box on this post.)
It’s £10 a pop and all you have to do is estimate at what time and on what date markgorman.wordpress.com will register its millionth hit.
Imagine the excitement as the deadline approaches.
It’ll be just like that scene in The Soccial Network, for those of you that have seen it.
Filed under: dad, family, life, Scotland, stories | Tags: 000, 000 viewers, 1, appeal, cancer care, christmas, dad, edinburgh hospice, gibberish, hospice edinburgh, mark gorman, pego's millions, St Columba's hospice, st columbas
Your generosity continues almost unabated.
My target of £500 was breached this afternoon and we now stand at £523.56 which ain’t bad going in 48 hours.
But the new target of £1,000 now looks like quite a long way away, so please spread the word and if you haven’t yet donated your £10 to have a pop and guess when gibberish will cross the million viewer Rubicon then please have a go here.
Filed under: advertising, business, family, food, humour, jokes, life, photography, Scotland, stories, The Scotsman, work | Tags: bunter, fat, fat boy, fatty, fitness, Gerry Farrell, health ads, health club ads, health clubs, Leith, mark gorman, tangible, the edinburgh club, the leith agency
I am inedbted to Doug Cook for spotting and sending me this. It’s a recruitment ad for the very early days Leith Agency. I was an account man there at the time. The shot was taken from an award winning press campaign (I was the account handler) for The Edinburgh Club. The original ad that the photo derived from featured an exaggerated ‘before and after’ comparison. Naturally, I was the ‘before’.
Anyway the Leith recruitment ad was essentially saying we want account handlers who are prepared to get their tits out.
It worked.
I left six months later to set up 1576 with Adrian and David.
That’ll teach ‘em to give me a public profile!
Here it is at a more browser friendly size.
Filed under: advertising, Arts, family, life, Scotland, stories, work | Tags: 1576, 1576advertising, ad agency, adrian jeffery, birth, business, david reid, death, Edinburgh, mark gorman, news, scottish advertising
On the 1st of September 1994 David Reid, Adrian Jeffery and myself put the last touch of paint onto the basement wall of our basement home in Tweeddale Court on Edinburgh’s prestigious Royal Mile (we always used Royal Mile in our address because it sounded better than High Street, which was the official postal address). I stood there, resplendent in green and white Y Fronts (I always painted in my Y fronts because it was easier to clean your skin than your trousers) and took a deep breath. This was it. It wasnt a dream or an adventure anymore. It was our livelihood.
At 9.23 the phone rang. Our only client, Spectacles, who one day become 20 20 Opticians.
“Oh Hi John ” I said ” I expect you’re phoning to set up a meeting…”
“No, I’m phoning to fire you.”
I’d never even met him. He was a complete twat as this, and future history (if there is such a thing) went on to prove.
We’d now gone from a prospective income of £12,000 pa to zip; nada; fuck all.
Eight days later Jeana gave birth to our second and third child (the third conception and pregnancy was not some form of record – we had twins).
We were right in the shit then.
Better get some business.
As luck, some would say talent, would have it though we did get some business (Holywood Bowl) and some more (The Blood Transfusion Service) and some more (Smiths Menswear) and some more (Sinclairs Criminal Lawyers) so that by Christmas we had our first six commercials on air. We made a handsome profit in year one and paid off our personal debts. We never drew down the start up capital and things just went from good to better.
One year, I can’t remember exactly when, we had nine nominations at the Scottish Ad Awards and every single one of them won a Gold, meaning that we tied with The Lieth Agency as the top award winners. They were lucky to escape with a tie because we were better.
At times we were cocky bastards. At times we weren’t. (I can’t remember when though.)
But gradually we got bigger and bigger. We won multi-million pound accounts that sucked the energy and, to be honest, the creativity out of us. We became like the establishment that we felt so superior about.
I got bored.
I left in 2003.
But, you know what, those times were, on the whole, the best. I made my bravest, and most foolish, clientesque decisions.
Picture the scene. David and Adrian, having been briefed by me to write a series of commercial virals selling 1576, present me with five scripts with a man dressed up as a six foot penis trying to perform office and day-to-day functions in the guise of a rubbish marketing director (most obscene of all was the penis going for a piss) and I said
“Fabulous, hilarious, it will really stand out!”
It did.
Not for good reasons.
Ruth’s Bar, the Friday night swalley, was a hoot – because it was a “free” night out with your mates – and believe me, 1576 were my mates. Every last bloody one of them.
I loved, really loved, the people I worked with. We all cried when I left. Many of us cried last night too (I’m sure) when we learned that cocky, creative, amazing, get it up ya, 1576 was no more.
A very sad day and my heart goes out to David and all the team that were there at the end.
In an ironic, but wonderful, postscript one of the undoubted heroes of 1576, Mimi, gave birth to a baby girl, her first, yesterday afternoon, almost to the second that 1576 shut its doors for the last time.
Life’s an odd thing is it not?
