Currently Listening to

Eminem.

I was just reading his bio' on Spotify, thought it was pretty interesting & worth sharing:

"To call Eminem hip-hop’s Elvis is correct to a degree, but it’s largely inaccurate.
Certainly, Eminem was the first white rapper since the Beastie Boys to garner both sales and critical respect, but his impact exceeded this confining distinction. On sheer verbal skills, Eminem was one of the greatest MCs of his generation -- rapid, fluid, dexterous, and unpredictable, as capable of pulling off long-form narrative as he is delivering a withering aside -- and thanks to his mentor Dr. Dre, he had music to match: thick, muscular loops that evoked the terror and paranoia Em’s music conjured. And, to be certain, a great deal of the controversy Eminem courted -- and during the turn of the millennium, there was no greater pop cultural bogeyman than Marshall Mathers -- came through in how his violent fantasias, often directed at his mother or his wife, intertwined with flights of absurdity that appealed to listeners too young to absorb the psychodramas Eminem explored on his hit albums, The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. 

  With hits “My Name Is” and “The Slim Shady,” he ruled the airwaves, but it wasn’t long before some detractors acknowledged his depth, helped in part by singles like the mournful “Stan,” written from the perspective of an obsessed fan. Eminem capitalized on this forward momentum by crossing over into the big screen with 8 Mile, earning acclaim for his performance and an Oscar for the film’s anthem “Lose Yourself,” but a number of demons led him to shut down for the second half of the decade, an absence that proved life is indeed empty without Em, before he returned in 2009 with Relapse."

 - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide.

Aaaand picture of the day:

(There's gonna be a few today, because it's so nice outside it reminds me of summer, when Helen, Sj, Jake, Ryan & I went on a boat to the Isle of White for the day - now know forever as "Boat Day"!)

Helen on the boat (sitting up front).

Me & Sj in the back!

Ryan & Jake, driving.

Ahh, I miss summer!

xo

A clever advert

An advert I've heard recently & thought was especially clever, is the one for TalkTalk on Spotify. The website that you get directed to is here.
  The concept for the advertising campaign is simple - people who listen to Spotify for free (& therefore have to put up with the sponsored adverts between songs) can win a years worth of ad-free listening, by visiting the website & entering their favorite song into the TalkTalk play list...& that's it!

I like this concept for a couple of reasons. The first is because of the media being used; with Spotify, TalkTalk can target fairly specific (if a somewhat stereotypical) audience based on what music they're listening to.
The second reason I like the ad, is that it really encourages the target audience to not only visit the TalkTalk website, but to interact with the brand (by uploading their favorite track), & at the same time giving TalkTalk their email address for free, for future promotions.

The final reason I like the advert - & the main reason it caught my attention - is the way in which it was made...By this I mean, when the voice of the ad starts talking, it's taking the piss out of 'normal' adverts you hear on the radio, & then seems to emphasize with the listener by explaining that they won't have to hear any more of these adverts if they win...Very clever!

I can't find the audio on a separate website, but I did find a quote from the TalkTalk blog;

"TalkTalk's commercial director Tristia Clarke said: ""We know you want to spend your time online doing what you love – and that doesn't mean listening to ads.

"We're offering you the chance to win a year's subscription to Spotify Premium every hour – so you can listen all day, without ads interrupting the tunes.""



In other news...
Tonight I'm off to The Hamptons with Sj (the bff) for a free gig that the boy is playing with his friend The Widowmaker! Should be fun :]

Hope y'all have delightful evenings doing whatever you get up to!

xo

Ps. In order to make sure I keep up-to-date with my blog, I've decided to have a 'picture of the day' - just a random picture from the millions I seem to take all the time, & a brief description of what/who/where/etc!
The first one is:

Sj & I on Halloween just gone. I love this picture (& the rest in the series we took that night) almost as much as I love her ♥