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http://www.flickr.com/photos/83846265@N08/sets/ I have uploaded some of my band photography from the last few months onto Flickr. If you are in a band or know any bands locally that have some gigs coming up, please send them my way - currently doing photos for free to gain experience and expand my portfolio. Bands end up with about 30-40 photos from each show (all watermarked) that they can use online to publicise themselves. Good photographs can make a real difference and give a more professional image! Thank you in advance.

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Following on from my previous post regarding the cease and desist notice I have received from an old blog post (from 2009!), the copy of the cease and desist notice was due to be uploaded onto a website called Chilling Effects. Unfortunately, it's still not available, and Google have ignored my emails requesting a copy directly (which I feel I am entitled to). It all remains a mystery.

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One of my blog posts has been removed for legal reasons:

http://lecari.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/more-on-job-scam.html

I was just given an email notification saying it had been removed, with no chance to defend myself or revise the post.

Nothing that my post contained was untrue... It listed companies that had been advertising for 'marketing roles' which turned out to be door to door sales or on stands in town centres etc, all commission only based. As I stated in my post, if you're wanting to get into sales, then sometimes this can be a good way to do it - but these roles are NOT advertised honestly, and in interviews people are not told what they are getting into (even when asking). This, to me, is dishonest and is something that people SHOULD be made aware of. Many people who HAD taken up these jobs had then not actually received any of the commission that was due to them, or the quick promotions that the company promises.

Not of the companies (though I suspect that they are all the same company) listed have contacted me previously - if they had, and provided evidence that what I was saying was false, I would have removed them from the list.

I haven't even been sent a copy of the 'cease and desist' notice, I have had to go through the website 'Chilling Effects' - which Google don't even run, or own. So I don't even know what I have done wrong.

Shame on you Google.

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Every year I set myself a challenge to read 50 books in one year, and I've never done it before. AND THIS YEAR FINALLY I HAVE YESSS.

1. Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife
2. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
3 & 4. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor - Red Dwarf and Better than Life
5. Lisa Dalby - Geisha
6. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
7. Amanda Foreman - Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
8. Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
9. Alexander McCall Smith - Morality for Beautiful Girls
10. Alexander McCall Smith - The Kalahari Typing School for Men
11. Virginia Woolf - To The Lighthouse
12. Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own
13. Thomas Hardy - Tess of the D'Urbervilles
14. Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach
15. Bernhard Schlink - The Reader
16. Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
17. Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
18. Anne McCaffrey - The Ship Who Sang
19. Bruce Campbell - Make Love The Bruce Campbell Way
20. Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
21. Philippa Gregory - The Wise Woman
22. Philippa Gregory - The Other Queen
23. Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Ernest
24. Oscar Wilde - A Woman of No Importance
25. Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
26. Oscar Wilde - Lady Windermere's Fan
27. Graham Greene - The End of the Affair
28. Christie Dickason - The Firemaster's Mistress
29. Paullina Simons - The Road to Paradise
30. JK Rowling - the Tales of Beedle the Bard
31. William Horwood - The Willows in Winter
32. Karen Holmes - Advertising, Marketing and PR (Insider Career Guide)
33. Neil Gaiman - Fragile Things
34. Jane Austen - Mansfield Park
35. Agatha Christie - Elephants Can Remember
36. Adela Stanley - Careers in Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations
37. Carolly Erickson - The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette: A Novel
38. Robert Harris - The Ghost
39. Frances Osborne - The Bolter
40. Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
41. JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
42. Laura Thompson - Agatha Christie
43. Karoline Leach - In the Shadow of the Dreamchild: The Myth and Reality of Lewis Carroll
44. Cornelia Funke - Inkheart
45. Cornelia Funke - Inkspell
46. Cornelia Funke - Inkdeath
47. Christopher Paolini - Eragon
48. Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
49. Chris d'Lacey - The Fire Within
50! Cornelia Funke - the Dragon Rider

50 / 50 books. 100% done!

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Now I'm Nothing
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Heresy
March of the Pigs
Reptile
The Becoming
I'm Afraid Of Americans (David Bowie cover)
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Non-Entity
The Big Come Down
The Downward Spiral
Wish
Survivalism
Down In It
Metal (Gary Numan cover, with Gary Numan)
Cars (Gary Numan cover, with Gary Numan)
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Encore:
Hurt

:D

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It seems I've had an interview invite for another scam. I applied for them via totaljobs.com on the 2nd July. I don't think these are related to the original one I posted about before, but it is very similar.

London Marketing Services
Lower Ground Floor
Shand House
14 - 20 Shand Street
London SE1 2ES
Tel: 020 7234 3560
Fax: 020 7234 3569
http://www.londonmarketingservices.com

Edit: Their Nottingham 'branch': (Thanks Nicholas!)
Suite 17, Third Floor
Minerva House
Spaniel Row
Nottingham, NG1 6EP

Cardiff office: (Thanks Nels!)
Sophia House
28 Cathedral Road
Cardiff, CF11 9LJ

They operate in a very similar way - you go in for a first interview, they act too busy to really talk to you about the role, then quickly invite you for a second interview - which is essentially being asked to go out and work for them unofficially for the day. The role will typically involve lots of door to door or street sales with no basic pay (commission only - not itself a scam), no official contract of employment (they ask you to sign a contract that states you are self-employed), and will struggle to get any of the commission owed. They don't make any of this clear to you when you are interviewed (and I'm not sure they even make the self-employment clear either).

In addition, from this link, it seems that they are not registered at this address (there is only Cameron Taylor Brady, Clarke Bond Group, and Komex Clarke Bond - who may or may not also be running a similar scam, as it's common for these companies to use many different names to avoid detection). "London Marketing Services" are also not registered with Companies House, which is the national registry of all registered companies in the UK.

They lure you in with promises of fast track management schemes and benefits, but the reality is that you are unlikely to get anywhere with this company. The only one who benefits is the owner of London Marketing Services.

(Found me through Google? Check out my previous two blogs on this subject - Job scam doing the rounds and More on the job scam.)

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It seems that job scam is a lot more common than I first thought. I don't know whether they are the same company or different ones.

Just a few of their other names and addresses I've found!:

Galaxy Marketing (thanks Mark for the info - added 26/05), EA Worldwide Acquisitions Ltd
Lower Ground Floor Shand House, 14-20 Shand Street, Elephant & Castle, LONDON, SE1 2ES
T: 0208 6160 989 OR 020 7234 3568
F: 0207 234 3569 OR 020 7234 3569

JTM Solutions and Select Marketing Solutions (thanks Hannah for the info - added 26/05)
38-40 Culver Street East, Colchester, Essex CO1 1LE
01206 768741

Smiths Marketing Associates (thanks to Margie and Kaiser_Baz for the info - added 26/05)
Lower Ground Floor, Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow, G2 6HJ
www.smithsmarketingassociates.co.uk

JMS Marketing Ltd (thanks to Nathan for the info - added 26/05)
The Cotton Exchange, Third Floor, Suite 314, Bixteth Street, Liverpool L3 9LQ

JMS Marketing (thanks to Razmataz for the info - added 26/05), Clover Advertising (thanks Daisy for the info - added 26/05), Powerhouse Direct Ltd and Krishna Worldwide (thanks Laurily for the info - added 26/05)
Business Environments, City Point, Temple Gate, Bristol BS1 6PL
T: 01173 736 255



G.M. Solutions, Supreme Corporation, R&S Solutions, B1 Client Services (Thanks Nikita!)
1 Bath Street, London EC1V 9LB
020 725 19028

Fusion Marketing Solutions, TML Promotions, Arkville Sales & Marketing, Power Play Marketing Ltd
West Orchard House, 28 Corporation Street, Coventry, CV1 1GF

VI Marketing, Power House Direct Ltd, R&S Solutions, Red Square Direct Ltd, R.S. Marketing Ltd
30 Western Road, Brighton, BN3 1AF

Marketing Solutions; South Yorkshire Marketing (thanks James for the info - added 26/05)
Belgrave House, 47 Bank Street, Sheffield S1 2DR
0114 276 7329
http://www.rsmsonline.co.uk

AMM Direct Ltd, Marchant Marketing, T.H. Worldwide
4th Floor, Premier House, Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4ND
01902 716233 OR 01902 427353

SRM Marketing Limited (company no 06736679), Supreme Corporation UK Ltd, Orick Marketing Solutions Ltd, Fosters Marketing Solutions Ltd
Added 11th August: Pure Solutions Direct Limited (company no 06868527), CSK Marketing - thanks Neil!
Added 30/12: Harlequin Marketing UK Limited (company number 6660849) website: http://www.harlequinmarketingukltd.com/
G-Force Marketing Limited (Company no 05057461, http://www.gforceltd.com/)
Griffin House, Aurillac Way, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7SS
http://www.supremecorp.co.uk
http://www.orrickmarketing.com/

RS Advertising Yorkshire Bank Chambers
Market Square, Retford, Nottinghamshire DN22 6DQ.

Supreme Corp Kent, JK Marketing Services, Oval (thanks Charlotte!)
86a Bank Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1SD
01622 670478

Awka Limited
94 North Street, Leeds LS2 7PN
0113 2445330
http://www.akwa-limited.co.uk/

SRM Marketing Ltd (thanks Bobhussain for the details!)
First Floor, 11 Orford Place, Norwich NR1 3RU
01603 230186
http://www.srmmarketingltd.co.uk/

Powerhouse Direct
Southampton

G-Force Marketing Limited (was O'BRIEN MARKETING LIMITED)
16 Newton Street, Manchester, M1 2AE
http://www.gforceltd.com/

EA Worldwide

Horizon Marketing
Telford House, 102 Collingdon Street, Luton, LU1 1RX
01582 455134

JTM Cardiff, Venus Marketing UK
Cardiff

Other business names:
CO&CO Marketing (added 26/05 - thanks Grace & Roy)
P & D Marketing
The Cobra Group
R3 Marketing
Clover Advertising
Endeva Advertising
Magnum Marketing Ltd
Mosco Marketing
Paramount Force Promotions
Progressive Global Training
Innovation Marketing Direct
Celica Marketing
Flash Organisation
Blackrock Advertising
Fourways Marketing
Co&Co Marketing
Source Marketing Direct

Jess has also said they have a big prescence in Norwich. I guess student towns are easiest.

Blimey.

Moral of this story: ALWAYS DO YOUR PRE-INTERVIEW RESEARCH.

(Found me through Google? Check out my other two blogs on this subject - Job scam doing the rounds and London Marketing Services (another job scam).)

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I got all excited about having an interview for tomorrow. The job description on totaljobs.com was a bit vague about what I'd actually be doing and the website from the job listing (http://aspireldn.co.uk) is empty, so I thought I'd Google for more info on the company and to prepare. I found this rather professional looking website instead - and also found a lot of websites saying that it's a bit of a scam. Reading a bit more into the company, it certainly doesn't sound like what I want to do. They ask you to come in for a preliminary interview, talk to you about the role and how easily you can progress up the ranks, and then ask you to come for a secondary interview the next day, where you will go out doing door to door sales with one of their 'top salesmen' so they can evaluate your skills, essentially working 9hrs for free. You then work on a commission only basis for a few months, before they promote you to team leader, again working on a commission only basis (something they don't tell you in interview), doing door to door sales, or possibly just harrassing people in the street to buy things. This could mean that if you don't sell much, you could end up working for free or for well below minimum wage - for someone like me who has bills to pay, and who needs a basic wage, that's not ideal. Only when you reach level 3 do you get a proper wage and are no longer involved in door to door selling.

The company that called me were Aspire Acquisitions Ltd, but they also apparently operate (from the same address and telephone number) as JCC Solutions, GM Global Marketing Solutions, Red Square Direct, Mosco Marketing, Fosters Marketing Solutions, and Supreme Corporation UK - among others! They are based at 1 Bath Street, London EC1V 9LB, phone number 020 725 19028, but also seem to have offices around the country (I saw stuff on Google for Manchester and Coventry as well).

I should have been suspicious that they don't seem to have 1 vacancy, or even a handful - they'll just recruit as many people as are interested (knowing that most will probably quit or cancel early on I suppose). Someone in one of the above links says that they worked for 3 weeks, and didn't receive any pay afterwards (or did with a struggle), so there doesn't seem to be a guarantee that you'll even get the commission you've earnt! They also don't give you a contract, just a disclaimer that you are "self-employed".

I just thought this info might be useful for other people here who get calls from them. They seem to be taking advantage of the recession and how many desperate unemployed people there are. Obviously if you want to do sales, and are happy with their conditions, that's fine, but they don't seem to make it very clear or obvious at all that that is what you'll be doing or how you'll be working, and I personally have cancelled my interview with them tomorrow.

(Found me through Google? Check out my next two blogs on this subject - More on the job scam and London Marketing Services (another job scam).)

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Yay!

For those of you that don't know, I have an Asus Eee, which is amazing and that I love very much. It is the size of an A5 notepad (or half A4 size), with a 7" monitor, 512mb RAM, 4gb harddrive, and has no CD drive (just 3 USB and 1 memory card port). It also has a VGA webcam and microphone. Not great specs, but it's merit is it's small size and light weight (900g), rather than being too groundbreaking, and it's cheap price - I bought it from Toys R Us (of all places!) for just £219. It is pretty groundbreaking in that the Eee 700 models come with Linux Xandros and runs free software, such as Pidgin instead of a version of MSN Messenger/Yahoo! Messenger/AIM/ICQ etc, Open Office, instead of the Microsoft Office package, and Firefox as its browser (which is obviously far better than IE anyway). While you can install Windows XP on it (it comes with instructions) why would you want to? XP is a resource hog and while the Eee runs fine on Linux with no real lag, I can't imagine it would run so well on XP, especially without upgrading the RAM a bit. (Asus have said that it will not void the warranty if you upgrade it to 1GB.)

I bought one because I wanted a laptop for uni, but most laptops are quie bulky and awkward to carry around - you need a laptop bag (which shouts 'steal me'), and they are pretty heavy too. They are also expensive, and considering I have a good desktop, so when all I'd want it for would be word processing and web browsing it seemed ridiculous spending so much on it (and, you know, poor student etc). The Eee seemed ideal.

However - to the point of this post. Asus are soon to be releasing the Eee 900, which will come with an 8.9" screen (and higher resolution, 1,024 x 600), 1gb RAM, better webcam (1.3 megapixels). It will also be available to buy with either XP (with 12gb harddrive) or Linux (with 20gb harddrive). This will mean a slightly higher cost (£319, I think) but I think it seems pretty worth it - they are still far cheaper than most laptops out there, and will keep the small a5 size (which is the whole point).

And, if this wasn't enough to convince you to get one, STEPHEN FRY HAS AN EEE TOO :D :D :D

(No, I am not being paid for this. But I should be.) I just think they are great little laptops that everyone should get! They are pretty in demand so seem to be quite hard to come by, but they are definitely worth it.

/geek

ani difranco 'you each time'

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there you were day after day
six feet
twenty feet
two feet away
right in my pocket singin me a song
makin my heart race all day long

and we talked it out and we talked it down
but your eyes were not listening
and my ears were looking around
for another song to sing
but it was you each time
it was you

the answer to each moment must be yes
and the question: can you live with that?
becomes the test
so you weigh it against that aching in your chest
and that secretly relentless emptiness

and you talk it out and you talk it down
but your eyes are not listening
and my ears are running around
looking for another song to sing
but it is you each time
it is you

so my heart finally broke
it was so long bent
and it broke in three places
when it finally went
it wanted only to say what it meant
so it suffered every punishment

now it lives in a shack outside of town
and only the wolves are out there listening
and in her dreams they chase her down
their moonlit eyes are glistening
and it is you each time
it is you