Tesco Find A New Pathway To Failing At Basic Maths

The strange thing is, this didn't shock me that much. Not being able to spot that £1.50 is not 25% of £8, despite such a simple check. If dividing by 4 is too hard for you, just half it and have it again - even a child can do that!

Unintentional Institutional Racism In Advertising

UKIP have had a bit of attention this week for alleged 'racist' adverts ahead of the European elections. I've only seen this one advert complaining about excessive EU salaries. That's a relatively safe opinion to voice. Just so long as they don't put the advert up next to something that can be misconstrued....! It would seem that in advertising, positioning is everything - in both senses of the word.

Update: It seems someone has posted this *after* me on Twitter and then had it picked up by Edinburgh Evening News. 

http://m.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/ukip-poster-next-to-no-poles-required-tent-ad-1-3392092

The Only Flight From Edinburgh To Edinburgh Has Been Cancelled!

Oh no! Arried at Edinburgh airport early morning to find that the 08:55 FlyBe flight from Edinburgh airport to "Edinburgh" has been cancelled! I was looking forward to the shortest flight ever! 

Princes Mall Possesses Party Season - Or Can't Punctuate!

Ah, Princes Mall... That weird "shopping centre" attached to Edinburgh Waverley railway station. It seems in your quest for attention you've grabbed mine but fot the wrong reasons! So you have your own party season and you refer to yourself in the 3rd person now...? What else could you mean in this photo when you write "its party season"...? Unless your marketing team and printers don't understand basic English structures like apostrophe for contractions, such as it is becoming it's. Here's an example for you: It's a shame Princes Mall doesn't use a proof reader.

Co-op Against Independence And - Or Basic Geography Knowledge

Wow, never expected The Co-operative supermarket to come out with such an early pro-union message! Near the West End of Edinburgh, the Friday before the Scotland vs England 6 Nations game, in their supermarket closest to Murrayfield (depending on travel direction), the Co-op proudly promote a special offer on Coca Cola when you buy the Coventry Telegraph - a paper for a city a mere 300 miles away and in another country! I can't see what else this could be other than an anti-independence statement - surely no one could be that oblivious to put that out by mistake?

Taylor Walker's Classic Pub Food? Classic Mistake!

Sigh. Big companies are still making the same basic mistakes. How can you seriously not employ a proof reader with marketing / quality assurance that has a decent grade at GCSE English?

So Taylor Walker pubs have "classic pub food" do they? Well, as the possessive apostrophe doesn't exist in the third person generic, their follow up line must mean "at it is best!". Unsurprisingly that doesn't get my taste buds tingling, instead it gets my grammar goat up!

Tesco Ireland Have So Much Better Worse Deals Than The UK

Ahh, Tesco.  You never fail to entertain me.  So here I am in Ireland towards the end of last year, looking at coffee.  Whilst there are no multibuys to tempt me, there is always economies of scale.  For example, one 227g bag of 3 strength / flavour ground coffee is €3.05, but you can get twice that amount for err €6.49.  But if you increase the intensity of the coffee then the negative savings get even better!  4 flavour coffee is a steal at €2.39 a bag, but you'd have to be insane not (not) to buy twice that amount almost 3 times as much, just €6.99.  Good to see Tesco enforcing standards across their global stores...

(Glasgow) Evening Times - Haunting Sponsor of Celtic Connections

Have I been watching to many J-Horror films?  Because sitting in a lovely venue for the opening Saturday of the Celtic Connections music festival I naturally scanned around the room.  Unsurprisingly I saw a sponsor, the (Glasgow) Evening Times.  What is frightening is that the image they use has trailing blood from a haunting female ghostly face.  Start at her little finger coming off the end of her bow.  Just above, can you see two chilling eye sockets?  And leading down from her little finger, the definite structure of a nose, and below that a blood red mouth open - trying to communicate her warning from the other side...?  Apt choice of a violin to play the scary music...

A Rosé In Any Other Colour Would Still Taste As Sweet

Beringer make an amazing sparkling rosé.  It may very well be one of the best summer drinks there is.  Not all supermarkets sell it, but if you see their Sparking Zinfandel Rosé you really should grab a bottle to try.  Of course, the correct name is White Zinfandel, but as with many other producers they drop the "White" to avoid confusion as it is actually a rosé wine (and has often confused many bar tenders when ordering a white zinfandel).  So that's fine then.  Well, seems that Beringer are wanting to go a step further and make their soft strawberry coloured wine look more hot pink!  The photo here is exactly the same wine but in the new bottle and branding (left) compared to the classic version.  Are they now pushing this harder to the female market and wanting to be see as "pink fizz"?  The answer is probably yes, but when you have such a delightful strawberry and raspberry bubbly wine you can do what you want to get as many people as possible to try it.

Martian Road Signs In Glasgow Are Alien To Me

Is this a Martian turning his head to the
side when looking at me, or is it instead the weirdest road sign in the world? Curvy lines, looping back and extra bends make navigating at the West End in Glasgow is very strange...

Guess Who's Back Beautiful? Gorgeous Edinburgh!

On the day Edinburgh is named happiest city in the UK, guess who's back to make our city life full of more genuine smiles...? It's the subversive graffiti artist / art student project with more complimentary chalking! Either that or I'm imagining messages just addressed to me at St James Centre...

A Sign People Are Ho-pin-g To Leave Dublin?

Oh dear… In central Dublin this sign is great to drum up business for attracting tourists in. Shame the socket and pins are the wrong way round for Ireland!  And for those who dispute that they could be advertising that for people about to travel from Ireland to Europe, nice idea but I saw the adaptors they were selling and they are the usual tourist sockets to Irish 3 pin plugs...

Best Gents Toilets sign ever! Or rather, best “Used Beer Dept.”...

Best Gents Toilets sign ever! Or rather, best “Used Beer Dept.” sign… Hugely impressed with The Porterhouse in Bray, and very grateful the sign is outside the gents and meant I didn't have to try and snap another photo inside the gents! Again!

The Naked Truth: Everyone Dies In The Night Garden, Or Kitchen

It's very rare that I get moved to hear about the death of someone I've never met, let alone only recently heard about.  Sadly on May 8th 2012, the incredible Maurice Sendak passed away.  He was the brilliant mind behind Where The Wild Things Are, but also some more important books and also the inspiration to the most popular young children's TV show, "Crack for Babies", aka "In The Night Garden".  Hmm, that's a rather bold claim with no other results on Google.  Let me explain.

One of the most controversial (picture) books is Maurice Sendak's "In The Night Kitchen" about a young boy who dreams and is naked throughout his dream.  In the extended interview (shown on the day of his passing) with Stephen Colbert, Maurice says his favourite book is the one he wrote about his Sealyham Terrier before her death, entitled "Higglety Pigglety Pop!".  Now let's compare the similarities:  In The Night Garden's (interesting title!) lead character is male and is the only one that is completely naked (spooky!), and his name is Igglepiggle (seriously?!).  You tell me if that isn't a huge homage to the great Maurice Sendak.  So while your children are watching their Grade A TV Narcotics, or while you don't have any children, go get a copy of Maurice's greatest book (in his eyes), and I guarantee you'll cry your eyes out reading it.

Princess Square In Glasgow Shows Off It's (Pea-) Cocky Front

Edinburgh - I love you.  But there is something about the architecture in Glasgow that is refreshing and bold - very similar in many ways to Liverpool.  And without doubt Princess Square in Glasgow wins the award for 'Best Building Decorations Ever'!  That said (as NM pointed out), c'mon Glasgow City Council - you still have what looks like a Christmas tree up!

It’s Like 10,000 peppers When All You Need Is A Salt...

Whilst Ed Byrne has famously asked Alanis "how big is your sink", it seems I have to ask a certain pub "how popular do you think pepper is"?  This is the 'salt and pepper' bowl.  Maybe they think all their customers are slugs, I suppose some of them are a bit slimey...

Drinking In The SECC Ain't Cheap - According To Google Maps!

The Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow is an interesting building that hosts a wide variety of events.  So Scots should be proud of it, right?  Well, not if we go by the latest review on the Google Maps place for the SECC:  "You know how much it was for a round at that fcukin SECC BTW".  I think the SECC might want to be a bit more pro-active in their social media footprint...  Or more reactive with their social drinking prices!

Living Social Offer Silly Supermarket Deal - Was £80 Now £79

Finally it has happened.. The group / social buying sites have started mirroring the supermarkets!  Not quite at the stage of Asda's "buy three and pay more than singles" or Tesco's "false multibuys", we have the "virtually nothing off the price".  Sainsbury's have for many years put out barker cards (the big signs in clear plastic) offering "1p off a high price where that doesn't help", and now Living Social are offering the bargain deal of "normally £80 - you pay only £79".  Still, they have been in this game for a while and like Poundland, they offer many "special deals" which are actually cheaper elsewhere at normal prices.  Anyway, welcome to the big boys' playground!  Still you have a long to go before you can match  and nowhere near the legendary "Sale: was this price, now more expensive"!

The Cinema Is Blue, The Future Is No Longer Orange

Whilst watching a disturbing yet excellent "romance" this evening (Rust and Bone / De rouille et d'os - highly recommend it) I was saddened.  Yet before I embarked into its dark journey I was already sad.  The final pre-film advert that ran was not the normal Orange parodying a film / film-goers who text, helpfully telling everyone to turn their phone off (not just silent - I can see your bright screen you inconsiderate yet unimportant phone addict!).  Whilst the advert was good, Kevin Bacon parodying how connected he is with the world, it was under their new guise of EE (Everything Everywhere).  It's definitely official then - this is the end of the Orange Film Board.  Let's hit those highs one more time Mr Dresden...

Here Comes A New Challenger: Super Amoled HD Plus Alpha 3

In the world of technology you never replace a good brand, you just keep adding to it.  Think back to the great series of Street Fighter games, starting with Street Fighter II which culminated with Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which came after Street Fighter Alpha 3.  It seems this is the nomenclature that is now de facto in mobile phone screen displays.  Not content with Super AMOLED, Samsung pushed on to add a Plus, then HD and apparently for the next device (the Note II missed out on this), Super AMOLED HD Plus.  What on earth will be in the Note 3 or Galaxy S4?  Super AMOLED HD Plus Alpha 3 Hyper-fighting edition?  Then again, maybe the screen name has to keep up with the increasing pixel size of the screen...