Is it just me, or has September’s mini-heatwave turned everyone slightly crazy this week? If the Decision Marketing Nerve Centre is anything to go by, the world has gone completely bonkers.
For once I’m not talking about Campaign’s endless obsession with pop-up events, The Drum’s seemingly compulsive plugging of their own awards, Marketing Week’s preoccupation with all things Ritson or even Jezza Lee’s ode to the men in white coats on Creative Salon.
No, dear readers, it’s worse than that. You see, it all kicked off with reports that an “unassuming” porcelain bowl – valued at £500 by auctioneers – which had sat on top of a chest of drawers in Lincolnshire for decades, had sold for £320,000. Cue McFatty and McFatter running round turning this place upside down like a couple of maniacs, looking for “antiques”. The only ancient things they found, however, were themselves; and they are worthless.
Next up there was a rush to find a new potty-mouthed pet after reports that an Australian duck had been taught to mutter “you bloody fool”.
And then there was a search for erotica after it was revealed that Spanish bishop Xavier Novellan planned to marry novelist Silvia Caballol, author of such classics as The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust.
But perhaps the biggest commotion was sparked by a Guardian report that, according to Yale’s “happiness professor”, it is time for us all to re-learn how to have fun.
Citing a soon-to-be-published book, The Power of Fun, by Catherine Price (bet you can’t wait to get your sticky mitts on that), the “nutty” Professor Laurie Santos reckons we all have to carry out a “fun audit” in which we can take a “non-judgmental look” at what we found truly fun in the past and what elements it involved.
Santos told The Guardian: “You analyse ‘where are the spots where I’m experiencing the most fun? And can I reverse-engineer those to bring more of those into my life, to prioritise the things that allow me to experience more fun?’”
Then Price got in on the act, insisting that if everybody prioritised fun, the world would be a happier, healthier and safer place. “Fun brings people together. It reminds us of our shared humanity and encourages us to let down our guard.”
Now my esteemed bosses keep banging on about how we must have some “group fun”, heaven help us… Jezza, all is forgiven, any chance you can get us the number of those men in white coats and get me taken away now?
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