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TRYING TO GET OUT OF THE THICK OF IT (Raymond)

It’s one of these tests of ‘how good is your PR’ that occasionally can severely challenge the most able of PR practitioners.
Chris Langham was at the top of his game in 2005, winning the Best Actor award for his role in The Thick of It and winning acclaim for his part in a new Paul Whitehouse sit-com Help! Two days after he picked up his gong, news broke of his arrest for downloading child pornography. Since then, he has been imprisoned, vilified in the tabloids, unemployed and broke.  He has returned for the first time to acting in a new low budget British movie, Black Pond.  That leaves a PR dilemma and an opportunity for Langham.  How do you promote the film without the story being all about Langham? How to begin his reintroduction to mainstream audiences without the media simply recycling the allegations that he still denies?  The first step has been an eminently sensible one – and one any good PR would have followed: to stage a platform interview in The Guardian.  In it, Langham has the chance to revisit the maelstrom that engulfed his life, continue to make his protestations, and still give some positive PR to the new film. Of course, Langham still has some way to go – but I’d say he’d be very pleased with the way this has been managed in PR terms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/25/chris-langham-interview

NO LAST MEAL FOR THE CONDEMNED MAN (Scott)

It only takes one selfish sod to ruin it for everyone else, eh? Turn out some smart a***d death row inmate in Texas ordered an elaborate feast for his pre-execution nosh up. Then, when the scoff arrived he told officials he wasn’t hungry. Now the authorities in Texas (which seems to execute more prisoners than Stalin did) has used that as an excuse to end the long-standing tradition of the last meal – so luckless cons will ride the hellevator with nowt but standard prison grub in their bellies.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/23/texas-to-discontinue-fancy-last-meal-requests-on-death-row/

OBESITY BEGINS IN THE WOMB (Pamela)

It’s official. You’re born to be fat. A recent study has proven that some babies have a similar build up of fat around their tummies as adults in the 50s (obviously scale needs to be considered here). So that means that childhood obesity begins in the womb. Mothers take notice. Don’t be a lardo when you’re pregnant. It’s not doing you or your baby any favours. You’d have a cheek to insult someone who smokes or drinks alcohol during pregnancy if you’re a greedy whale.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8788593/Overweight-mothers-give-birth-to-fat-babies-study-finds.html

TURN ONS & TURN OFFS (Aimee)

Not shy of a bit of self mockery for having big gangly long arms, which might be handy for reaching the cookie jar but the Stretch Armstrong look is not ofte desired-until now.  I stumbled upon this piece which lists what attracts men to women and vice versa and was delighted to read that long arms are a turn-on. I’m sorted.  According to researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney arm length is the most important contributing factor in men rating the attractiveness of women. 
Others on the list are equally surprising.  Apparently happy men are a turn off for women and funny females are a turn off for men.  Personally I think that is nonsense but the long-arm theory is not to be disputed. You read it here, celebrate those moments when your sleeves don’t reach your wrists.
http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/the-science-of-attraction#image-rotator-2

STICKMAN COMES TO LIFE (Aimee)

For all the procrastinators out there, you don’t need much to set you off on a trail which leaves you wondering how you ended up on a list of the top 10 Darwin Award winners.  So I have another link for you to start of the day.  Click below to draw your own stickman and watch it come to life as you save it from a variety of threatening scenarios.  After playing about with this for a bit on a lazy Sunday I found you can let your creative juices flow so if you’re pretty pants in the art department this is for you.
http://www.drawastickman.com/