Welcome to the office - 31/7/09

Welcome to the madhouse, where those whose brains haven’t yet been addled by the incessant pressure of deadlines, overly efficient and enthusiastic Asian rival employees (and delicious Asian snacks perched on my desk), and the caffeine intake required by successive 7 – 7 days are off having babies or negotiating with Britain’s public enemy number one: the swine flu. Or continuing their idyllic sojourns to exotic locations under the pretence of work. Having never been on a business trip to anywhere beyond the postroom, I feel perfectly well positioned to judge them from afar as a holiday where you wear a suit to the beach and take your blackberry out to dinner instead of your wife, but a holiday nonetheless.

The countdown clock on the website shows an ominous 54 days until Singapore, so I guess our current candle burning is a necessary evil, especially with our launch on Monday, featuring celebs, an excellent PR stunt (check the streets outside the Metropolitan Hotel in London on Monday), and international syndication to match the Singaporean press meaning we’re flat out to get all the assets for our artists delivered on time. Luckily for me, occasionally this means I get added into emails that reveal passport pictures of international icons, which are always worth a giggle, although the Americans definitely don’t seem as strict as us on the whole ‘no hats in your passport picture’ thing. As the old saying goes, it’s one rule for ZZ Top..

Sorry, I just had to pause for a mass premiere viewing of a press release video featuring Lady Gaga, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, and a contagious Black Eyed Peas song around my desk, which seems an odd place to gather for such an event, but I guess everyone is following their noses to the Asian snacks..

So what do we actually busy doing? I’ve been employed as a part time travel agent and bloodhound of artist paraphanalia, while donning my extranet guru glasses and trying to harmonise content while providing the occasional morale boosting dose of sarcastic wit (pure Brent that sentence), opposite me Andy has spent most of his day negotiating furiously with the potential manufacturers of a giant cake to be adorned with the Singapore flag, and Steve to my left has had a fun time trying to cajole some much needed competency out of our hapless creative designer. Damn logistics. But on a depleted office team of 11, there’s no room for task snobbery. So I think we’re storing up a pretty large quota of glitz and glamour for Singapore, as it seems to have been in absentia lately.

I did find the time to make an arch nemesis this week though, which was an important development as I haven’t had one since exchanging furious stares with a foe across my dissertation notes in the university library. I’m a big believer in balancing the general goodwill I express with unbridled and illogical hatred towards the occasional individual, and I believe from my vantage point here I’ve successfully found a victim for my vitriol (anyone remember them from the late ‘90s?).I’ll update on this situation as it develops, hopefully to some kind of showdown..

Anyway, my belly is rumbling – I’ve got a fever, and screw tamiflu, the only prescription is prawn crackers.