Gonzo journalism finally falters

The great Hunter S. Thompson is now the late great Hunter S. Thompson.

Taken from this world by his own hands. Bang, in a split second he was gone. Suicide may be painless, but not for those left behind. Many out there on the InterWeb have waxed lyrical about his career, his work, the person behind the stories he wove, like a golden thread through American history.

I would add my own eulogy. There seems little point.

I packed my copy of The Rum Diaries into my bag this morning, to read on the train. That's how I want to remember him: as a fantastic journalist, a brilliant writer and someone who inspired me to pick up a pen and write down what happened to be 'fucking me off' at that particular point in time.

Hunter: he must have had fear and loathing in his heart to have taken this action. Or was it that he was parodied by so many; having released a generation from its shackles, only to have that same generation completely fuck you over, again and again. That must have hurt.

Well, are you proud?

purplesimon out...

Here is the news

No.

I didn't get it.

Am I bothered? Not really. The experience of meeting the company and, especially, the creative director was more than worth it. I may have spent the whole weekend, up late each night, working on my amazing packaging, trying my level best to impress. But, in the end, it was all in vain. Sort of.

There are a number of positive things to have come out of the interview process. I have met a great chap called Jonathan Spooner, whom I think I will stay in contact with. He has promised that he will keep an eye open for me if he sees a position at the company, or at another company, that he feels suits my skills. He will become a referee for me, which is really going to do wonders for my career. I can only hope that it all comes true.

I can't say that I'm not disappointed and deflated by not getting the job, but being able to put a foot in the door and not be turned away with a curt goodbye is more than I could have hoped for after the first interview.

Who knows what might happen in the next six months. In the meantime, I am working on some exciting projects. More will be revealed later, as I will be posting up links to the sites as they go live.

Not only that, I have made a conscious decision to write something new, to get it up here on the Web and to blog on a daily basis if I can get the time between meetings. It's an organic thing, the Blog, and I don't want to simply post only when I have a story to put out there.

So, if there is anything you want to know, what to see or if you just want to bitch at me, you know where I am.

purplesimon out...

Decisions, decisions...

Today is the day in which one of the most important decisions about my career will be made. And it's not by me. It's by a group of suit-wearing people, in a boardroom, about 3 miles away from my current position (which, if you care, is behind the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo station, London, UK).

I had the second interview for this advertising job and now my future hangs in the balance while people I have never met decide whether they want to hire me on the strength of one man's comments (the Creative Director, whom I really get on with) and some ideas that I presented in a DVD case. It impressed the Spooner (as the Creative Director is known) and that, to me, is all that matters.

Come 3pm today, I should know. I'll post up the outcome as soon as I have made all the relevant phone calls to recruitment agencies, girlfriend, parents, etc.

Try again later, there might be something worth celebrating.

purplesimon out...

What's been happening lately?

So, you're looking for an update on my life, eh?

Here it is...

Not much has been happening to me, apart from work-related things. I am still working on the launch of the Sony PSP, writing copy for the teaser site and also the main brand site. It's quite exciting, but by the time it is over I will probably be sick to the back teeth of it.

Which reminds me... Back teeth. I have been to the dentist again this week. More money spent (this time it was £95 - add that to the £125 I've already spent and you'll probably get the impression that my mouth is full of rotten teeth. You won't be far wrong!) and lots more pain experienced. My dentist (a new one) is really kind and not at all abusive in the way dentists usually are. The only thing he lectured me about was smoking. Not bad. Two or three more visits and I will be done. Three crowns later (and a lot of cash spent) and I'll have a set of decent pearly whites again.

I also have a second interview for an advertising job, which was mentioned in my last post. I spent the weekend working up some ideas which I am hoping will impress the interviewer. I would post them on here, but I hate that people steal ideas from the InterWeb and pretend that they belong to them. I've lost count of the times I've seen something and then a month or two later someone else sends me a link from another site that has ripped off the original idea and claimed it as their original idea. The InterWeb is great (okay, that's Internet or Web to you!) but it also has some major pitfalls for the uninitiated. If I can work out how to prevent people from downloading the composites, I will pop them up here.

Of course, you can always get in touch and ask for them. If you catch me in a good mood I'll send them back. I'm usually in a good mood, but just in case I'm not make sure you ask nicely and try to make me laugh. It might help your cause.

Having not had any visitors to this site, I don't suppose I'll be inundated with requests.

Soon, also, there will be some more postings of stories and stuff. That's what I set this page up to be and lately I have managed to completely move away from the original purpose.

So, read, think and comment. Give me some inspiration.

purplesimon out...

Long forgotten, once

I was reminded yesterday that I used to write a lot of poetry. You see, I went for an interview and met this man called Jonathan Spooner. He is a creative director, most famous in your eyes as the man that launched the Orange mobile phone company in the UK.

You can see his picture at this page.

He seemed like a good bloke, told me lots about his work and what I would need to do if I wanted to be hired by him. We hit it off, sharing a cigarette break outside his office. He smokes Marlboro Lights (not that the suffix 'lights' is technically allowed anymore - I wonder if I am breaking UK legislation by simply writing it?).

In case I have: he smokes Marlboro cigarettes with the gold and white packet design. They used to be known as Marlboro Lights.

Anyway, he wrote down his personal Web page address for me and said that I should visit it and it would give me a starting point from which to sort out my portfolio for our second meeting, which hopefully will be scheduled for next week. Possibly Monday; which means a hectic weekend of idea generation and printing and mocking-up of artwork in PhotoShop or QuarkXPress.

I have a huge folder full of ideas that have never gone further than a black pen. Now is the time to get them out.

Jonathan also suggested that I send him poetry and short stories; something to hold his attention for more than a few words. It surprised me, to tell the truth. I never thought my personal work would be something to get me a well-paid job in advertising. Turns out it might be the best way to get that job...

So, the upshot of this is that I thought about digging around and unleashing some poetry into the public domain. There is some already out there, if you want to search hard enough.

Come back, there will be something placed on this God-forsaken page at a later date.

I promise. Maybe even today, maybe not. It depends on how tired I am tonight or how busy I am this afternoon.

purplesimon out...

Famous, at last...

I am currently sitting next to this mad Aussie (like there are sane ones out there?!) and she has been telling me about her blog and the National Egg Sammich Week. So, I was intrigued, as I can tell you all are, too. I happened to be eating an egg sandwich, so she took my picture and posted it on her blog. As I don't have a photo on my own blog, you can see what I look like at her site.

Here's the link: http://reyn.my-expressions.com/

Check out the people eating sammichs. Er, that's sandwiches for those that don't speak Australian.

purplesimon out...

How life seems to stand still

There are occasions in one’s life where life just seems to stand still. The world can be moving at breakneck speed and when you take time to look up you realise that it’s suddenly a whole month further forward than it was the last time you stopped to take a breath.

That’s how I feel at the moment.

There’s a part of me that loves this feeling, the focus of my mind on a single project or outcome. Another part of me dislikes it, passionately. I don’t like the ignoring of friends for weeks on end; the fact that there is never enough time to do the simple things in life, such as shopping, sex, food; the way in which I can be so insular for days at a time.

The upshot of this post is… I haven’t written a thing. Not one single word.

I have been extremely creative, that’s not being questioned. I just haven’t managed to move one word on with my personal work, to work out the next path for my characters, who at one time were like friends I saw daily, like family that I lived with constantly. Now, they are ghosts.

Which brings me on to a book I am reading: Ghostwritten.

A first-time novel, it is glorious. Get out there to Amazon and read it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340739754/qid=1107527819/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-4465213-4327622

David Mitchell, the author, makes a stunning debut on to the literary scene. It will come as no surprise to discover that he has written more. This one was published in 2000, although I have only recently come across it.

As I don’t have anything for you, this will keep you going until I get around to writing some new material.

purplesimon out…