Weeknotes #42: sunset boulevard – get there in your slippers

Week commencing Monday, 6 November 2023

Sunset Boulevard at The Savoy Theatre. Sign outside the theatre.
Sunset Blvd.

Quantified Self

  • This week: Stand 5/7; Exercise 4/7 and Move 5/7. (67%, maybe, average). Morning walks: 0/3 (days in the office don’t count). Office days 0/5. Total steps: 47,434

Life

  • Back in London after a peaceful weekend on The Island. Robert Elms on BBC London thinks you should move back to London as you get older, “Old age is when you need to be here … because everything is near and you can get there in your slippers.” He has a point.
  • Wouldn’t textcasting be cool?
  • Jamie Lloyd’s reimagining of Sunset Boulevard was brilliant. We booked for Monday Guest Star, Rachel Tucker, and she did not disappoint as Norma Desmond. A show, in black and white, with no props doesn’t sound great. It’s wonderful. The video techniques are impressive.
  • There’s a couple of innovative video scenes in Sunset Boulevard which, appear to be live … but who knows with theatre magic? I thought I might have to stand outside The Savoy Theatre one night to see but on Thursday, at Rachel Tucker’s album launch event, she confirmed it was live.
  • Also, Thursday, a good catch-up with ex-colleagues at our usual Thirsty Thursday venue off Carnaby Street. Now the Christmas lights are up. They’re not that festive but quite impressive.
  • I wrote top-line product requirements, in my own time, for fun. My current employer won’t build this but other ad tech might. It’s not wholly original – other systems do similar – but it is needed by smaller broadcasters or steamers who monetise with ads. I don’t know why I did it except to get it out of my head.
  • Oh come on Wikipedia, if you live in London, and have even the remotest interest in the transport around you, it’s the Dangleway!

Media

  • Christmas ad update: John Lewis 2023 is out. Apparently, they changed advertising agencies this year. Obvious Little Shop of Horror vibes. Not sure about it. The pros at work reckon TK Max is a great one.
  • I binge-watched Heartstopper Season 2 on Friday night and it was a good at the first season – although the characters started to annoy me by the last episode. But I don’t think I am the intended audience.

Archive

To save the links getting lost in the future I checked the Internet Archive to see what they had saved for the posts linked here. If the source above no longer works, these should.