Alex Harries's diary

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm hopping on to a flight to Ibiza for a couple of days of being "PR"'d by Making Waves, the PR company tasked with promoting the forthcoming Malibu Soundclash event at the Union on the 19th October.

The basic plan is to take a gaggle of student journalists over to the White Isle for a couple of nights. The first night is a mini (I think?) version of the Malibu Soundclash event, with us journos embarrassing ourselves on the decks doing some, err, "mixing" - followed by a responsible drinking lecture once we're all three sheets to the wind. After that, it's off to Café Mambo on the second night... I think that's something resembling the plan, anyway. Spice Girls anyone?

My job out there is to report back on how wonderful the night was, and to promise how wonderful the Malibu Soundclash event is going to be when it comes to Portsmouth.

The thing that's worrying me is that I don't do lying very well, so I can't exactly promise it'll be good. Disclaimer aside, I reckon it'll probably be a great time, with bells on, and going on last year's event, the Malibu Soundclash night at the Union should be awesome.

The whole principal of the PR industry is a bit of a strange concept to me; "surely, if a company's paying for me to go an lounge about on a hot, foreign island enjoying myself, there must be a catch or something questionable going on?" I've wondered out loud many times.

The reality here is that Malibu, being a heeyowge company, are very keen to see their University Soundclash tour promoted to within an inch of its life. The UK clubbing scene is cut-throat at the best of times, and Malibu simply don't want their night to sink into oblivion because the marketing (or the event) is half-arsed.

Ok, I can understand that.

This isn't the first time the Soundclash has come to Portsmouth, and last year saw former MAPO Fraggy being sent out to the White Isle for a 24 hour stint on the same PR tour. The Soundclash event was then held on a Wednesday night which, let's face it, needs no help to be a packed-out night; because it's being held on a Friday this year, it should be a great addition to the Union's Orange Fridays brand.

Here's the only thing that remains a bit of a worry for me: what I know about journalism could be written on the back of a postage stamp. With a blunt crayon. In a form of blind over-compensation, I've been out and bought myself a shiny new Red 'n Black notepad and a few biros (I lose or eat every pen I own eventually, so buying anything more expensive is just stupid), so at least I might look the part, even if I spend my time drawing doodles instead of writing journalist-y things. Wish me luck...!

One last thing: I've always wanted to go to Ibiza. Now I'm going, I'm hoping it won't be like meeting your hero and then realising (s)he has chronic dandruff, halitosis, and wears socks with sandals... You get the idea...

Anyway, I'll be back in a few days. While I'm gone, make sure the cat's fed & watered, and don't leave the gas on. If you don't hear from me by the weekend, I've either been refused entry ...

A few days ago I looked downwards and had to lean over my ever-growing gut to see what shoes I had on (flip-flops, of course), so yesterday I decided to make an effort to start getting fit. In all fairness, Ed & Rep Sabb Andy Machin was also starting his training regime, so I've really just stolen his idea. Given how much I smoke, I decided cycling might be better than running for my knees and pride (since collapsing in a crying heap wheezing for breath before I get to the end of my road is ... well, rubbish).

So, yesterday was cycling day, and pelting off down the seafront for a sprint/cruise/sprint session was going fine until My New Best Mate decided to pull out right in front of me in his shiny new BMW while following his mate (also in a BMW) out of a side road. Cue the only perfectly-formed string of expletives I've ever shouted at anyone in my life without a rehearsal; his face was a picture. So was mine, I imagine....

Today was spent wheezing up and down the local swimming pool with Andy, and since I was late (as always), he'd done 32("-ish") lengths by the time I'd done 1. I managed 11 and decided to call it a day before I drowned - something tells me I need a bit more commitment here...

Meanwhile, back at work, I've been getting more than a little twitchy, thanks to a combination of some extra-potent filter coffee and a backlog of e-mails and to-dos which I'll probably be working on until midnight tonight. I've also been trying to tie up a number of loose ends left over from last year's web work, and get some new projects rolling, with the end result that I've been sending out literally hundreds of e-mails to my unfortunate colleagues, several of whom have now no doubt put me on their junk e-mail list, so this (from the BBC News Magazine) made me grin a bit today...

Anyway, there's no real point to all this rambling, but I guess I ought to mention what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks, since that is (so I'm told) the reason for this blog...

NUS Communication In Action training, Loughborough Uni

Interesting and good fun, and I think I picked up a load of very good ideas. The last day included a debate over how much control the Union's executive should exert over its media, i.e. should the Sabbs have the right to, for example, veto something they don't like? How about something they know is libellous? Illegal?

On the other hand, how much right should the Union's media - for example, the student newspaper/magazine - have to say what it likes, and to ignore the wishes of the exec?

This generated a lot of debate, but (imvho) I suspect in practise that the media should be allowed to write whatever it likes - within some bounds of reason I won't claim to know as intimately as our more experienced staff do, but also that the Sabbs - who have been elected by the whole student body to represent their views and needs - should also have the ability to have items published as long as it's in the student body's best interests.

As always, it's a bit of a balancing act...

Scouts' Jamboree, Essex

I was also shipped off to the Scouts' Centennial Jamboree by Making Waves, a PR company who do a lot of work with students, to do a spot of reporting on the event. Of course, not actually being a journalist of any shape or flavour, I felt like a total fraud all weekend, but managed to write copious pages of notes and will hopefully be able to write My First Feature with the results.

While I was there I also met a lot of the Sabbs who are heading off to Ibiza to promote the About 535 more words in this entry