"There's only one squirrel..." - Arsenal's new mascot!
Entrance to Bonfire Memorial
I finally have some pictures to share, having just got a new camera (thanks, Hoa!!). The past week has been full of ups and downs. Starting off with a lovely long Easter weekend in beautiful College Station, where it was about 60-degrees warmer and sunnier than in my current home town. I relished seeing some sunshine, and of course little Piccadilly who is such a happy little kitty, bouncing up and down throughout the weekend. She seems to be adjusting to our separation much better than I am. 
I will spare you all the 170-MB video capture of me feeding her treats but it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I followed her around the house like a stalker, but she didn't seem to mind--too much. The weekend was filled with relaxing, getting my nails done, several trips to Target and HEB, and of course lots of Tex-Mex and Blue Bell ice cream! I even had time to throw in a trip to Fox and Hound with Sarah, Cameron, Matt and Kirsti who (thank you!!) came down from Austin. Sarah, you and Spam can thank me later for not using the picture that I *really* wanted to use. :-)
Fox & Hound, Friday
So it was back to London on Monday, and back to work on Tuesday. Hoping for a quiet week it was anything but. After an annoying and upsetting end of the workday on Tuesday, I went out to watch the football on Tuesday with Alberto and one of his friends from "uni", and then we went to a bar which was comprised of modernized prison cells. We were actually drinking wine in a prison cell! There was even a prison toilet in there (before you ask, no, I didn't use it...). Thankfully they didn't lock us in. And then I learned there actually casinos in the middle of London! Don't ask... Thursday saw another night out with the Variety guys. I brought Chloe, who works for me, along to meet Tommaso and Alberto at the
Soho Hotel to have drinks and check out the room where we may have a joint Universal/Variety Miami Vice party.
Alberto, Tommaso and Chloe
elf enjoying the boys
And now on to the real news of the week. Far bigger than the Queen's 80th birthday...far bigger than Arsenal winning the first leg of the Champion's League semifinal (we still have one more game to go against Villreal this week, so please continue to keep those fingers crossed!!)...was something that happened during the match itself. Imagine the buildup and emotion surrounding Arsenal's last European game at Highbury. There were all kinds of tributes before the game, the crowd was really pumped to watch Arsenal play in their first ever semifinal match of the Champion's League. And as I mentioned, we even won. But the entire thing was upstaged by a squirrel. Yes, a SQUIRREL:
LONDON (AFP) - The fate of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pitch invader which stunned fans Highbury stadium by bringing a Champions League semi-final to a standstill is shrouded in mystery.
The grey squirrel stormed onto the Highbury pitch and treated fans to a 15-minute cameo during Wednesday's first leg match between Arsenal and Spanish side Villarreal, finishing its star turn by leaping into the crowd. But Arsenal apparently have no idea what happened next to the plucky rodent.
Internet chatrooms were buzzing with post-match debate on where the mystery squirrel came from, what to call it and what became of the pitch invader, which caused referee Konrad Plautz to halt the game. An Arsenal spokesman declined to comment on the squirrel's whereabouts, but it is understood that officials have no idea about what happened to it after it sprung over the hoardings and into the North Bank stand. Fans chanted songs to cheer on the squirrel ("there's only one squirrel...one squirrel.."), which jumped out from the West Stand and dashed around unhindered before switching flanks, where players tried to tackle the fleet-footed newcomer.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was impressed with the squirrel's performance. "He was quite fast -- and dribbling," the Frenchman said.
Walking zombie...
I really felt like I had 'arrived' in London when I came back to work from a week in Cannes to find a voice mail from one of the XFM DJs on my phone. Not bad, I say! He actually wants to review some of my DVDs on his show and we're going to meet for coffee in Soho one day in the coming weeks to discuss. You'll get no complaints from me, that's for sure!.. Cannes was amazing. I have never been so tired in my life though, being one of 12,000 people from 99 countries who traveled to the French Riviera for the event. Everything people told me as true...and then some! I was up at 7am every day, quick coffee with Johnny, my MD, to review our schedule and discuss our plan of attack for the day. 5 or 6+ meetings morning and into the afternoon. Usually a nice long lunch (one day joined by the CEO of Lovefilm)--sometimes with a bottle of wine, sometimes with a bottle of wine and apple brandy, sometimes sans wine but instead bottles of 'Badoit' (french sparkling water). More meetings or wandering the stands in the afternoons and figuring more companies we wanted to meet with during the week. Attend cocktail 'networking' reception somewhere, followed by dinner, followed by drinks and often dancing, home sometime between 2-4am, and up at 7 the next day to do it all again. I was thanking my lucky stars that the coffee in France is both excellent -- and strong!!
A quick word about my MD Johnny. He is not only brilliant, but cool as hell. He has pictures with John Peel on the wall of his office, started out his career at Virgin, and carries a guitar with him when he travels. One day when we were having lunch at an outdoor cafe across from the Palais, he looked around inquisitively and said 'hey, I was a busker here in the 70s'. He was very good at encouraging me to speak French, despite the fact that I don't know any. I seemed to be an endless source of amusement, with pretty much everything coming out of my mouth as a really bad mixture of bad French and Spanish, such as 'un cafe au lait, por favor'...or 'merci very much'...and always responding with 'Si' instead of 'Oui'...ah well, at least I tried, right?
I hadn't been to Cannes before -- but it was more beautiful than I had expected. Here are a couple of pictures from my camera phone - from my first and last days there on the French Riviera.
So not only was I that busy while I was there, but it was very exhausting having to be 'on' (and smiling) the whole time. When I finally landed at Heathrow close to midnight on Saturday I literally felt (and looked) like death warmed over. I could no longer carry on a conversation with anyone, and slept the whole day on Sunday. I came away with so many business cards and great contacts from all over the world. I *may* (knock on wood) have even successfully done a deal! I could not have had a more productive week work-wise, but am very glad this conference only happens twice a year!
What really saved me was my friend Alberto (one of my Variety friends). He was super busy there as well, but took such good care of me during the week - introducing me to loads of contacts (this was his 18th (!) MIP) and giving me something to do in the evenings -- he knew all the good places to go, and even took me to a champagne party on a yacht one evening. It was nice just to know a familiar face in the midst of all of the hectic craziness. Since Johnny and I parted ways around 5:00 every day I was super lucky to know Alberto, and ended up having a blast because of it. Thankfully, he even went to watch the football with me on Wed evening (yes, Arsenal have made it through to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time EVER!!!!).
So it was really great to have the week in Cannes. Work has been very trying the past few weeks due to some touchy personnel issues that are probably best discussed outside the blog. Needless to say, though, while MIP definitely was not a break, it was nice to have a mental break from the office. I'm now sitting next to my darling Piccadilly in College Station, which is even better than being in France. She is even cuter than when I left, if that's possible. Happy Easter everyone!!!! (oh, and PS I finally was able to download pics from my phone, so if you scroll through the blog I have added a few photos to past postings)
Entrance to Bonfire Memorial
