mattrutherfordDOTcom » Matt

Just in case you need to know…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Start at London Heathrow Airport.
Catch flight from London Heathrow to Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
Hire car at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.
Start going toward the “Airport Exit” on “International Parkway South” – follow for 0.2 miles.
Bear left onto the highway toward “Terminal East Parking” – follow for 0.3 miles.
Bear left onto “International Parkway North” toward “North Airport Exit” – follow for 2.9 miles.
Take the “Highway 114 west” exit toward “Fort Worth” – follow for 29.2 miles
Then continue on “US 287 North” – follow for 91.1 miles
“US 287 North” becomes “Interstate-44 east” – follow for 0.7 miles
Take left fork onto “US-287 North” toward “Vernon” – follow for 104.0 miles
“US 287 north” becomes “Avenue F (US-287)” – follow for 2.8 miles
Continue to follow “US 287 North” – follow for 104.9 miles
Take left ramp onto “Interstate 40 west” toward “Dumas” – follow for 7.8 miles
Take “Exit 70″ onto “US 60 east” toward “Dumas” – follow for 0.5 miles
Take the “Buchanan Street” exit toward “Dumas/Pampa” – follow for 1.7 miles
Turn right onto “Old Route 66 (Interstate 40)” – follow for 0.1 miles
Arrive at the centre of “Amarillo, Texas”

That’s the f*cking way to Amarillo
SO CAN EVERYONE PLEASE STOP SINGING IT NOW!!!!!!!

Two fantastic albums…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Discovered two fantastic albums in the last couple of days – the first of which is a very odd piece by The Real Tuesday Weld called The Return of the Clerkenwell Kid. Its a wickedly cool album, which sounds like 30′s dance band music mixed with cool hip-hoppery. When I listen, I’m reminded of Morricone and Gainsbourg, and multiple film references from the years – and inexplicably, Babybird - who I was a huge fan of. Truly amazing, eclectic stuff.
The second album is the new Gorillaz album – Demon Days – which is another cool CD, with tons of guest appearances. I heard Neneh Cherry sound really menacing on ‘Kids with Guns’ and Shaun Ryder doing his usual chanting shenanigans on ‘Dare’ (the stand out track for me). Its a great album, and will definately stand up to multiple listens.

You can’t tell a person from whisper…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

was the key lesson I learnt from a trip to see the new Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn movie – The Interpreter.

This is a really nice, taut thriller – in which Kidman plays a translator at the United Nations in New York – she overhears a conversation in a strange African dialect which outlines a plot for murder…Sean Penn plays the cop sent to investigate, then protect her as the plot unfolds.

I think this was the first movie ever to be shot inside the United Nations building – and that in itself is interesting to see, but the film is really well made and acted – taut without having loads of dramatic scenes. There are very limited action scenes, and only a single explosion – but the drama and suspense is built by some great acting, and good story telling. I loved this. 9/10.

Is this like the first hit?

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I think I may have just stepped over the line into addiction…Sudoku…is the puzzle craze that seems to be sweeping the UK…I just completed my first one, with a handy programme that lets you do them on your PC. The principle is very simple….every row, column and 3×3 box must contain the digits 1 thru 9. Sounds simple huh? Try it on your PC by downloading this. Heres my first…

A vision of the future…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I can just see it. I’ll be driving home from work, and the phone will ring. “Your refrigerator is on the line,” the car will say; “it wants you to pick up some milk on your way home.” To which my response will be: “Tell the refrigerator I’m in a meeting.”

Wise words indeed – read some more here…

The truth is out there…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

…and I must confirm the rumours that I am moving jobs. After six and a half fantastic years at Mars/ISI I am leaving to go and work for Microsoft. My role will be kind of similar, managing a support team, but this time focused on specific product – the MSN Search engine. I am amazingly excited by the new challenge, and the fact I’ll be working for such an prestigious company. I’ll still be based in Reading – but of course, I imagine I’ll be travelling as much as I do now. If you’re visiting here because you’ve left Mars/ISI – then you may want to know that I’m having a leaving party – May 19th at 7.30pm – at The Slug and Lettuce in Reading. Hope to see you there – drop me a note, or leave a comment if you can make it.

Managers toolkit…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Over at Slacker Manager – they are talking about a toolkit for managers, theres some really good tips on things that could help you as a manager – my personal list of items here:

Text Editor – I’ve never stepped outside Notepad, but I should test some alternatives.
Excel – is a constant companion for me, I use it for project planning, list making, action tracking and all sorts. I do need to step up my Pivot Table knowledge.
Datebook/Notebook/PDA – I use my Moleskine for journalling info and taking notes, my Blackberry (linked to Lotus Notes) has been my PDA….but I suspect that a move to MS Outlook maybe in the offing in my new job.
Phone – They miss the addition of a good phone – I use a S700I from Sony Ericsson, which is a cool phone with a reasonable camera.
Digital Camera – I use my camera at work a lot (Canon Ixus 700) mainly for taking pictures of flipcharts after meetings – this saves me a lot of time and effort in copying them into emails/notes.

What do you use that I may have forgotten?

Bank Holidays are made for this…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Bank Holiday Monday – and theres very little better in the world than a trip to the cinema – booking ahead because of the crowd potential, I snagged tickets to see Valiant. Needn’t have worried about the crowds…there were 7 people in the cinema!

Its an animated kids film, but with enough to keep the grown ups giggling along the way, telling the story of a young pigeon, who wants to join the hallowed war-time ranks of the Royal Homing Pigeon Corps…the young pigeon voiced by Ewan McGregor and accompanied by a host of UK stars including Ricky Gervais, John Hurt, John Cleese and Rick Mayall.

Its a well enough told tale – where the good guys inevitably win out – the animation is crisp and detailed and the script is funny enough to utilise the voices well. I really enjoyed it, although Manu did fall asleep about half way through! Its the dark you know… 6/10 for the grownups, 8/10 for the kids.

Nothing is too good…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Lets go fishing for a dream
Lets find some place new
Somewhere we can be ourselves, some of the time
Lose your heart, I’ll lose my mind
We’ll make quite a pair, Dazzling all the time
Celebrity parties, The red carpet mile
Nothing is too good there for my girl
All of this world – is gonna see you shine…

Turin Brakes – Lets go fishing for a dream (2005)

Oh…this is beautiful…

Matt — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Or so we all sang as we wandered away from Brixton Academy last night after the final night of three for Athlete in London.

What an amazing gig…they played stuff from both albums – including the most amazing version 0f Wires…great sound, good lights and good interaction with the crowd – even asking everyone to get on each others shoulders for the last song. Highlight for me was the weirdo keyboard player who played a theramin really well. I managed to forget my camera, so took just a few pictures with my mobile…the best of which are on flickr.