We’re currently in need of an Account Manager.

When we say ‘need’ we mean we need one as soon as is humanly possible.

It should go without saying that you should be nice, calm, organised, blah blah blah… (why do people always say ‘it should go without saying that…’ and then tell you what the thing is that supposedly goes without saying?)

But what it probably shouldn’t go without saying (I’m starting to confuse myself here) is that we’re looking for an Account Manager with experience of international clients who knows design, advertising and digital inside out. Someone who understands it; who knows the history and has ideas for the future. We don’t want someone who by their own admission is “passionate” – we want someone who just gets it. There’s a difference.

Please send CVs to hello@lovecreative.com with “Account Manager Position” in the subject line. Please note, the interview process will not involve 12 weeks of tasks, with 12 other greedy, malicious, backstabbing contestants. It will just involve a couple of cups of tea or coffee. Milk and sugar are also available.

If the words “The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind… and another” mean anything to you, you’ll probably be quite excited to see the trailer for the new film. In fact you’ve probably already seen it and twittered/ blogged about it. Bad new is you’ll have to wait until October 16th (or later) to see the whole movie.

The worry is that it just won’t live up to expectations. Should you ever try and make a movie out of this book? Isn’t it better just left alone? At least they’ve got the right men on board with Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. And I like the thought of James Gandolfini and Forrest Whitaker as Wild Things. Guess we’ll just have to wait until October.

Afflecks is an emporium of eclecticism, a totem of indie commerce in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and above all else a fantastic place to purchase anything from top hats to tattoos. And after we successfully relaunched the labyrinth of shops last year with a new logo (retailer occupancy has doubled) they asked us to update their website too.

You can find shops, photos, letting details, a blog and even become a friend by utilising the power of social mediaTM. Feel free to have a nose around – there’s no need to buy anything.

On a related note, you might think that a film written and directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey Affleck would be a sure fire loser, but having watched Gone Baby Gone a couple of months ago I can assure you it’s actually quite good. Well done them.

Some very clever tilt-shift work from Keith Loutit.

Soundtrack’s also good.

Nice site here when you’ve got five minutes of time.

Actually after five minutes most people within earshot of your computer will be beating you over the head with their keyboards. This is fine if they have one of those keyboards made out of rubber that don’t really work that well, but not so fine if they have a normal keyboard, so headphones are advised.

“Yoohoo… I’ll make you famous.”

The immortal words of Emilio Estevez in his groundbreaking performance as William H Bonny in the seminal film Young Guns II. That’s right, SEMINAL. If only Emilio, or even Mr Bonny had access to Google Streetview, he would have discovered that it too can make you famous, and without the guns and the bullets and the blood and the ‘William-H-Bonny-you-are-not-a-God-well-why-don’t-you-pull-the-trigger-and-find-out’ bravado.

When we looked earlier today at 65, High Street we were delighted to find our very own copywriter Mr Simon Griffin walking just outside our office. (Which isn’t really that surprising, when you think about it. But it is exciting. For Simon.)

That’s him on the left, shortly after shoving a Granny out of the way.

It’s difficult to tell exactly what he’s doing, most likely returning from the shop after buying a chocolate snack – normally a four finger KitKat or possibly Twix depending on mood.

Looking a bit thin on top.

That is all. What is important is that he wasn’t caught coming out of a sex shop, like some people.

Have a good weekend.

Question 1:

Are you creative?

If you answered ‘yes’ to Question 1, go to Question 2.

Question 2:

Have you started drinking gin at nine in the morning?

If you answered ‘yes’ to Question 2, it’s just possible that Elizabeth

Gilbert can help you out:

(If you answered ‘no’ to Question 2 it’s still worth watching when you’ve got 20 minutes to spare.)
 

Most of you with children will be aware of a rather famous book called Matilda, by the great Roald Dahl.

But you probably won’t be quite so familiar with a slightly less famous book called Matilda Mouse, by the not-so-great Simon Griffin. Probably because there are only 55 copies in existence. Here they are:

About two years ago I wrote the story about my own daughter (Matilda) who seemed to have hiccups every day for the first year of her life. She’s stopped now, fortunately for us. At that time the incredibly gifted illustrator Deanna Halsall (now on the books at Toy) was still in university and, after reading the book, kindly agreed to do a few illustrations for me. Back then ‘a few’ meant five or six. A couple of years later ‘a few’ had swelled to 12 spreads, endpapers and a cover. (Sorry Dee.)

Earlier this week they finally arrived on my desk after a frustratingly long time that included two reprints. (Fortunately only one was my fault.) But it was well worth the wait, as Dee’s illustrations really bring the whole thing to life – if anyone out there is looking for an illustrator, I can’t recommend her highly enough. Actually I probably can, but it would just go on for a bit too long and become a bit boring and repetitive after a while. And I’d start using loads of exclamation marks, which I really don’t like doing. You can see more of her work and contact her through TOY.

On top of that another good friend, Mr Jon Rand – a highly talented gentleman from the world of voiceovers – recorded thing whole thing onto a CD for me, complete with music, sound effects and a Scottish giraffe. I don’t know if they have giraffes in Scotland, apart from in zoos, but they should definitely think about introducing them into the wild up there. You should be able to hear it by clicking below.

Matilda Mouse Story

If you’re interested in working with Jon – and he’s the ultimate professional – his website is here.

At the moment we’ve only printed fifty five (it’s all I could afford), but I’m hoping that someone out there might know someone who knows someone who knows someone who might be interested in helping print some more. If you do, please drop me an email at s (dot) griffin (at) lovecreative (dot) com. Unfortunately I haven’t got too many spare copies to give out, but I’m sure we can arrange something.

Finally, a massive thanks to everyone who worked on it to help turn my vanity project into something that hopefully Matilda will be able to read to her own children and grandchildren long after I’m forgotten. Thanks Dee, Jon, Shelley, Johnny Whitesnake, Mr Hatton and Mr Beardsell at Music, TEAM and Media Heaven.

Oh, and thank you Matilda, who makes every day better than the last.

Sometimes two sentences are better than one. Spotted by Steve.

We’ve an apology to make to everyone who sent us their CVs and pdfs regarding the junior designer position. With Mr Myers being off on paternity we haven’t made any decisions regarding interviews/ jobs.

Sorry.

Thank you all for sending us your work, but it won’t be until next week at the earliest that we start to look through everything. Until then, please hold fire on calling up – it’s distressing Helen on front desk, and you wouldn’t like Helen when she’s distressed.

If you’re even mildly angry that we’ve delayed things, here are some pictures of the reason for the delay. You can’t be mad with Betty – she’s not even 2 weeks old.

See? You just can’t do it. It’s a proven impossibility. And the size of the baby is directly proportional to the impossibility of the impossibility. The smaller the baby, the more impossibile it is to be angry.

Betty is very tiny.