Notes from a meaningful career

Some sort of funny but incredibly stupid ads

Pinch and a punch.

Moderation Projects is humming along this week, not much idle writing time.

The other day, though, this ad I made in 2016 with my friends Nick and Dave popped into my head.

It was for LateRooms.com, which seems to still exist.

In the ad a silent, faceless man dressed as a 30% Off sign crashes into a hotel room, then helps the man in the room with some stretches and a massage.

I still remember the day we cast the guy sitting on the bed. It was in one of those demeaning and windowless rooms in Soho that make me grateful I never wanted to act.

Later that night, I met Jess in town because we were going to see the Harry Potter Play, The Cursed Child. I was excited because I’d only just finished listening to the final book on Audible (at double speed to get it done in time). When we arrived at the theatre, the guy taking our tickets was the same guy we’d just cast in the ad that day.

“Hey!” I said. “I just cast you in that ad for LateRooms before.”

He looked back at me, confused and out of context. “Did you? Right!”

I liked the play.

As a special bonus to subscribers, here is the other ad from the same campaign.

You’ll note that, across the whole thing, there is not a woman cast member to be seen. We talked about this and decided that — considering a masked man was breaking into a private space — it might seem a bit predatory. It would have.

There are a lot of things I did in 2016 that I wouldn’t do the same way now.

Wear black jeans with stretch in them. Carry a backpack everywhere. Read poetry aloud. Sit in the lobby of the Ace Hotel before work and try to write a novel. Have an opinion about politics. Drink 20 pints in a week, every single week.

At some point I even remember listening to a podcasts about collecting pens?

---