Boat Studio, a small creative studio based in London, has found an interesting way to keep itself occupied in the traditionally slowish months for adland of January and August. It ups sticks and moves to forgotten cities around the world and works on producing a quality magazine based on what it sees to get people to reappraise them. Working with writers, photographers, illustrators and musicians, its inaugural edition focuses on Sarajevo, which has been neglected by the media since the war in the Balkans ended in 1996. Boat Magazine is a good read for lovers of beautifully written, thought-provoking magazines and is a bold move by the studio.
Daily Express sales team
Last week, Media Matters for America, a left-leaning online pressure group, paid for a full-page ad in the International Herald Tribune that was deeply critical of News Corporation. The open letter to James Murdoch, who is taking on a bigger role in News Corp, accused divisions of the company of, among other things, being responsible for "a complete disregard for the law and personal privacy", of being "a safe haven for bigotry" and "denying established facts behind climate change". It also urged Murdoch Junior to usher in a new era for the company. While media observers picked up that the ad ran in the IHT, what many failed to note is that it also appeared in that famously liberal and responsible British newspaper the erm ... Daily Express. Great work.
Family Guy does The Flintstones
It's astonishing to think that The Flintstones first aired on ABC more than 50 years ago. While John Goodman resurrected The Flintstones as a film in the early 90s, it was memorable for the wrong reasons. However, in better news, the cartoon series featuring Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty is being revived once again in animated format by the creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane. The series will debut on Fox in the US in 2013 before hopefully making the transition to the UK. Presumably the Daily Express will have to give it terrible reviews.
AND ONE THING WE DON'T ...
E4's Great British Hairdresser
This car-crash TV, styled in the vein of The X Factor, is hosted by the Z-list celebrity hairdresser James Brown (what, you haven't heard of him?) whose attempt to build his own career and bring his haircare product range out of administration has reached cringeworthy levels.
Co-hosted by Abbey Clancy and the Glamour editor, Jo Elvin, the show sees Brown poncing around a handful of serum-wielding hopefuls and shouting about how he once cut Victoria Beckham's hair. There is nothing more grotesque than seeing him stretch his childhood friendship with Kate Moss for all it's worth, as he screams about his "reputation".