Smile!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Flight disruption due to fog

I was going to Northern Italy for my Xmas holiday but on Thursday 21st December a text message from British Airways informed me that my flight was cancelled. Here the images from www.flickr.com about the temporary tend build outside Heathrow airport and other images from those days with flight disruption due to fog.











Memories from a James Brown concert in Sicily



25/12/2006
Metti una sera con James Brown
Il ricordo di un concerto in Sicilia
Era la seconda metà degli anni '80, probabilmente il 1988 ma non ci giurerei, e la calda e sonnacchiosa estate di Sciacca fu svegliata da una notizia che aveva dell'incredibile: James Brown sarebbe venuto a suonare in piazza. E chi ci credeva! All'inizio si pensava a uno scherzo, visto che in città la vena cazzeggiatoria è sempre viva, tanto che ogni anno al largo c'è chi giura di aver avvistato il panfilo di Robert De Niro o lo yacht di Tom Cruise.

Ma scherzo non era: quell'anno la Regione Sicilia aveva tanti soldi da spendere e ingaggiò grossi nomi della musica per far concerti in giro per l'isola. Sciacca fu fortunata, pescò il re del soul. Ah, che anni, gli anni '80!

L'uomo di I feel good, la sex machine, insomma, sarebbe venuta davvero. E la cittadina si preparava timidamente a quell'inatteso concerto, considerato che da quelle parti in quegli anni se una star arrivava era italiana, e gli artisti di calibro internazionale si vedevano solo in tv. Anche oggi, per la verità, succede la stessa cosa.

Il grande momento giunge in una calda giornata d'agosto, e la piazza comincia a riempirsi già dal tardo pomeriggio. C'è fame di eventi, e per uno spettacolo come quello mezza Sicilia si dà appuntamento a Sciacca. Nell'attesa la fantasia genera le leggende. Robe del tipo: "Dorme in città?" "Ma quando mai, sta a Palermo". "Ma no, ho saputo che sta qui, e gli hanno portato ghiaccio in camera tutto il giorno che lui soffre il caldo". "Io invece so che viene, fa il concerto e parte subito". E via dicendo.

Il palco è insolitamente grande per la piazza, un drappo nero con la scritta bianca "James Brown in concerto" fa da sfondo. Il tutto esaurito giunge con l'arrivo della sera, lo show dovrebbe cominciare ma gli altoparlanti continuano a mandare musica registrata. "Questo non viene" è il pensiero di buona parte dei presenti, e invece, con un paio d'ore di ritardo, cinto da un mantello e corona in testa, Brown sale sul palco accompagnato da una band immensa. "I'm the king", urla, e per un paio d'ore sembrò di stare al Madison Square Garden di New York.

Grazie, James, per quella serata e per questo ricordo.

(articolo di Domenico Catagnano)
http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/spettacolo/articoli/articolo341541.shtml

Monday, December 25, 2006

Seasonal Greeting

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Y! parties

For the latest pictures of Y! parties look at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53252264@N00


http://www.flickr.com/photos/32723014@N00/


http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/melim_work/my_photos

My office and last year party:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72163399@N00/page1/







Saturday, December 16, 2006

Party at my place








In the pictures: Laura and Andrea (I lived at their home until October 2006), two of my flatmates ( Scottish Christopher and Gill), my friend Marie, my collegues Claudia, Marina and Marie, friends of friends...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

It's party time...

Hi,
in London Xmas is a serious thing and parties are the best of this seriousness. Before going to the Hats Off party I have decided not to drink alcool but after one hour my decision overturned! Here the image of my first glass of red one...

Pics captions: Me and my first glass of wine, Italians in my office, dancing but still ok!, smiling at paparazzi and finally me transformed!




Sunday, December 10, 2006

The big finish, watch me!

On New Year's Eve watch the Big Finish on BBC and you can spot me among the audience!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigfinish/index.shtml

THE BIG FINISH with Graham Norton is the end-of-year entertainment event for 2006. Five celebrity teams will go head to head in a quiz that celebrates the best and most memorable moments of 2006. The Big Finish will be testing our celebrities' knowledge of 2006 as we look back at the top moments from the year. Here you can get a sneak look at some of those taking part - we'll be adding more names over the coming weeks so check back soon to see if your favourite celeb will be in the hot seat.
During The Big Finish we're also having live performances from some of the top names in showbiz.







Saturday, December 09, 2006

Announcement:

Xmas party at my place in Crouch End on Sat 16th Dec.
Please get it touch with me for more details.
Thanks

Friday, December 08, 2006

What's my job about?

This is an article about my role at work (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/6058.asp)

Burn Out in Ad Operations
June 06, 2005
By Doug Wintz

The crucial role of ad trafficker is harsh. Find out how to retain this valuable resource.

By far, the most over worked, under-appreciated, misunderstood resource in any online company is the ad trafficker. This is a job that can transform the most intelligent, rational, motivated and conscientious individual into a high-strung, irritable, error-prone employee. And THIS is the individual who is responsible for taking every bit of revenue your sales group generates and making sure it delivers as promised, on time, with accurate reporting.

So, why is the position of ad trafficker so tough? And why is this position typically neglected and mismanaged? And finally, what can be done to make this crucial role and department more rewarding to the individual and more productive to your company?

First, let�s take a look at what traffickers do. They are smart, learning and operating ad serving systems with the requisite technical knowledge needed to schedule several different versions of target ad tags. They are troubleshooters, receiving creative, sending it back, making sure it clicks as it should. They are customer service people, often interacting with their peers in agencies, at publishers, et cetera in a manner that must reflect the best interests of your company.

Unfortunately, the ad trafficker also bears the brunt of minute-to-minute problem solving. Orders are written in haste, and the trafficker is the one who needs to clarify and correct it so it can run. Creative is late, and the trafficker must make up the time and delivery. It doesn�t meet specifications and the trafficker becomes the intermediary between a confused sales person and an irate advertiser. The publisher tells the client that there is a three- to five-day turnaround time for campaigns from receipt of creative. The sales organization can demand it be turned around in an hour. The work is stressful, relentless then ultimately mind numbing. The trafficker is frequently on the low end of the pay scale, gets no commission, but is responsible for making sure that all contractual commitments are delivered as specified.

This puts a sales/ops organization in a difficult predicament. Ad traffickers are not easy to come by -- so the tendency is to keep the good ones where they are. Eventually, however, the repetition and stress outweigh the incentives to the employee and they become unmotivated, burned out and eventually leave.

So, what can be done about it?

One of the keys to keeping an ad operations organization fresh is to furnish a career path for your employees. An ad trafficker might graduate to a senior inventory analyst; or they can be put in charge of managing the development of new ad products.

If they have the mindset and make up, some can even migrate into sales and do well at it, since they know the business from the ground up.

In the meantime, while you�re keeping your current staff motivated by moving them into more challenging positions, make it a point to actively keep a pipeline open with new ad traffickers -- in fact, you might consider graduating one of your current staff to be a trainer!

Finally, recognition among peers is a highly underestimated incentive. Don�t discount �star� awards for work above and beyond the call -- with a monetary value. Engage both the sales and operations groups to create the sense that �we�re all in this together� instead of �us versus them.�

The key to keeping this valuable talent motivated is to give them something to look forward to. Furnishing recognition and a career path is vital to preventing burnout among this important resource, which after all is responsible for delivering the revenue your company lives on.