I have a very strong memory of popping to the off-licence at an age when I was too young to buy alcohol but old enough to go by myself and get soft drinks. I remember picking up one or two square (well, rectangular) metal tins that would have contained a litre* of pineapple juice or something similar - these were for mixers at parties my parents were having.
There was no lid and I think the only way my dad opened them was to punch two holes, one for pouring, one as an air vent. The tins were quite pretty and colourful and might have had repeating patterns. Can't remember any branding on them. They weren't thin tins, like cola cans, but quite solid and rough to the touch (not rough, but not smooth I mean).
I was in London, UK but these may well have been imported.
I've not managed to find any mention of them on Google, I suppose I need to read some magazines of the 1980s to see if they're advertised in one...
I've now received three once-daily spam emails to my Gmail account from Emily Clark Consulting. These include a range of job advert summaries which are all 'co-ordinator' roles which, curiously, is my own job title (so I'd be less surprised if these came to my work email account).
At the end is an unsubscribe option and a note saying that I "agreed to receive email notifications about new job ads from [them]" which I absolutely did not and am quite irritated by. Each job listing links to other companies' vacancies pages with a tracking link so I assume those companies are paying to have people spammed. I expect I'll receive another email later today.
1. Hovering over the job ads in the email displays these links, presumably a click results in a payment
Possibly the simplest option is to unsubscribe (and report to Gmail for spam) but I want to know how I came to be added in the first place... and I'm also on the warpath.
They've almost certainly added me to their mailing list by
scraping websites for email addresses so unsubscribing may not solve the
problem if I'm later re-added after a subsequent re-scraping. What I need is to
be on their suppression list. Though I'd prefer not to be on any of
their records.
What others have said
The first thing I did was to see what others had to say about Emily Clark Consulting by searching on Google, and... it's not good.
2. Oh dear. A search on Google for the company's name suggests spam as a related search.
Someone has created an entire WordPress website(1) to highlight the fact that the organisation spams people. Their TrustPilot record(2) is full of similar complaints (along with some praise for the company's consulting). I found three Tweets(3) referencing the company's spam and a blog post(4) highlighting the problem in some detail and actions taken by the blogger (including reporting the company to the ICO, which doesn't appear to have solved the problem yet).
According to what might be the company's Twitter page(5) they offer "Personalised jobs, sourced from every major job board, within the last 24hrs, delivered in one convenient email." The account was created in October 2021 and last tweeted one month later.
3. May or may not be the company's official Twitter page
Official records: Companies House and ICO
Their Companies House record(6) says that Emily Clark Consulting was "dissolved via compulsory strike-off". Dissolving a company is a fairly normal and generally benign thing, resulting in removal (strike-off) from the register, however a compulsory strike-off isn't and is something that is imposed on a company that has failed to satisfy its obligations.
The company was registered on 16 November 2020 and as far as I can tell has never filed any paperwork (or it's inaccessible to me). I've clicked on all the clickable things on their Companies House record. I don't know enough (anything) about company law but it seems that a company can't trade once it's been removed from the register. That said, you don't actually need to have a company to charge people for sending out emails but it's odd if they're implying that their company is still a 'thing'.
In the footer of the company's website (powered by Wix(4)), next to the bit saying what the Companies House registration is there's also an ICO number. This apparently indicates that they have paid a fee to the Information Commssioner's Office in order to be permitted to process people's information(7a), which I certainly wasn't expecting. That registration expires on 19 November 2022(7b).
I've emailed the company asking why I've been added without permission. I'm certainly not averse to hearing about jobs that I can share with other people but Emily Clark Consulting is going about things in entirely the wrong way.
There are two correct ways to get people on a mailing list 1.
Provide a sign-up form for them to submit their details (Emily Clark
Consulting does have such a form but I'd never visited their website
before so very certain I'd never signed up). Ideally there should be a
confirmation email sent to the submitted email address to check (in case
someone types in wrong address by mistake). Once the person clicks a
confirmation link they're on the list to receive emails.
2. Email relevant people and invite them to sign up, assuring them that if they do nothing they will not be added to anything.
The wrong way is to scrape the web for email addresses, add them and tell the person that they signed themselves up. Grr.
Incidentally I run three job-related websites myself (scicommjobs for science communication jobs, tscicom
for scientific comms jobs and techdevjobs for jobs in IT) as well as running psci-com, a mailing
list for science communicators (which also carries free job ads). While I might eventually charge for posting job ads on tscicom I'm certainly not planning on spamming anyone.
References
(1) Emily Clark Consulting Reviews: Spamming your way to success https://emilyclarkconsulting.wordpress.com/ - this is a site created solely to highlight the company's spamming emails, it's not the company's website (though the link could be misread as being that way!).
(2) Emily Clark Consulting - TrustPilot Reviews https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.emilyclarkconsulting.com - currently (as of 20 June 2022) 56% excellent and 42% bad. Additional 'information written by the company' on that page implies that "We only contact people who have registered or applied for one of our advertised jobs. Any request to unsubscribe or delete is actioned within 24hrs, but usually immediately, or you can easily unsubscribe via the button (that is clearly marked) at the bottom of the email." - I emailed them about this on Saturday so am not really expecting them to stop emailing me before Tuesday 21st June 2022. But they shouldn't have added me in the first place, hence this critical post.
(3) The three tweets
For anyone who's been getting rubbish spam emails from Emily Clark Consulting, they scrape the web for any email addresses then spam you, so report them to the ICO if you can. Trustpilot reviews will confirm the same.
Good to hear I'm not the only one. One email every day since Friday (including over the weekend) to an email address that I only use as a forwarder - AFAIK it's not published anywhere. https://t.co/NOJbA8WKyP
No idea where “Emily Clark Consulting” got my email, but they’re not responding to GDPR deletion requests, so I did the next best thing and reported every mail they’ve sent me to ICO.
(4) Spammers: Emily Clark Consulting - Keith Greer's blog https://keithgreer.dev/spam-emily-clark-consulting - Keith has contacted the ICO, Wix (the company hosting their website) and at least one of the companies mentioned in the spam emails. Sadly this doesn't seem to have stopped Emily Clark Consulting from spamming people by email though.
I'm assuming Keith used Ctrl+U when on the web page to bring up the sourcecode, which tells you that a Wix site was used.
(5) EmilyClarkCons - not a commentary but the handle for what seems to be Emily Clark Consulting's Twitter page, which last tweeted in 2021. https://twitter.com/EmilyClarkCons
(6) Emily Clark Consulting Limited - Companies House https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/13023378 Company No: 13023378 - The company was incorporated in November 2020 and booted from the register in April 2022. Normally I'd expect to find some accounts or other information in the Filing tab but it's very sparse.
A cheering update! While the Film4 Summer Screen is no more, Somerset House have partnered with Everyman Cinema to screen open air films throughout August 2022 as part of the #ThisBrightLand festival. The daytime films are free, evening ones are pay what you can. Full listing here: https://www.everymancinema.com/this-bright-land
As part of #ThisBrightLand, we’ll be screening family-friendly films with @Everymancinema for free throughout August, every weekday at 13:00.
Come join us!
Wed 3 Aug - 101 Dalmatians (PG) Thu 4 Aug - Mary Poppins (starts at 12.30pm) Fri 5 Aug - Paddington (PG) pic.twitter.com/JjhoAzd8KW
I am feeling slightly bereft. Somerset House have announced that they're no longer going to be screening the Film4 series of open air films in their courtyard. This was a huge fixture in my London summers and I've seen so many great films there and always looked forward to seeing what they'd screen while haunting their website for the new listings. With the pandemic it means I've not seen a film there since Summer 2019 as 2020 and 2021 were cancelled. And now no more. Wail!
I nearly always went to these things by myself - the
tickets sold out pretty quickly so I didn't want to hang around while
others made up their mind! I'm sure I must have seen one or two
screenings with friends though.
Big
thanks to Somerset House and Film4 staff for keeping me entertained for
14 of the 15 years the film screenings ran (I didn't hear about it in
the first year). I hope a cinema screen will sneak its way back into
your courtyard one day in the future.
(There are lots of Summer Screen trailers on YouTube)
Below there is a complete listing of all known Somerset House / Film4 summer screenings - over 200 films screened at over 170 events. The last one I attended was The Piano. For a more visually appealing record of all the films (excluding duplicate films) Michael Leader has put together this Letterboxd page with the artwork for each film.
Other things that are much missed
This post is part of a series of me being a bit nostalgic about things, the other posts are as follows
Google Doc version of the embedded info below. Plain text (for Google and searching etc) at the end.
It's
fair to say that the open air cinema screening market in London may
well have reached saturation point - last year there were just over 980
screenings in and around the capital and the volume had certainly been
trending upwards over the last few years. Currently in 2022 there are
already 450 screenings and I'd expect another 150-200 to be listed
before the end of the season.
Year Date Day Film(s) 2005 16 August Tuesday Close Encounters of the Third Kind 2005 17 August Wednesday A Matter of Life and Death 2005 18 August Thursday Spirited Away 2005 19 August Friday Flash Gordon 2005 20 August Saturday Shaun of the Dead / Land of the Dead 2006 10 August Thursday North by Northwest 2006 11 August Friday School of Rock & Nacho Libre (Special Screening) 2006 12 August Saturday The Shining 2006 13 August Sunday The Outsiders 2006 15 August Tuesday The Night of the Hunter 2006 16 August Wednesday Howl's Moving Castle 2006 17 August Thursday Brazil 2006 18 August Friday Starship Troopers & Aliens 2006 19 August Saturday The Big Lebowski 2007 2 August Thursday Knocked Up 2007 3 August Friday The Descent / The Thing 2007 4 August Saturday The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 2007 5 August Sunday Rushmore 2007 6 August Monday Rear Window 2007 7 August Tuesday E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 2007 8 August Wednesday Walk the Line 2007 9 August Thursday Chak de India 2007 10 August Friday Hot Fuzz / Point Break 2007 11 August Saturday 2001: A Space Odyssey 2008 31 July Thursday Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2008 1 August Friday Pan's Labyrinth/ The Exorcist with Peter and the Wolf (short) 2008 2 August Saturday Brokeback Mountain 2008 3 August Sunday O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2008 4 August Monday Léon 2008 5 August Tuesday Fellini's 8½ 2008 6 August Wednesday Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 2008 7 August Thursday Singin' in the Rain 2008 8 August Friday The Elephant Man / Wild at Heart 2008 9 August Saturday Scarface 2009 30 July Thursday Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces 2009 31 July Friday Alien / Poltergeist 2009 1 August Saturday West Side Story 2009 2 August Sunday Slumdog Millionaire 2009 3 August Monday The Shawshank Redemption 2009 4 August Tuesday Wings of Desire 2009 5 August Wednesday Don't Look Now 2009 6 August Thursday Strangers on a Train 2009 7 August Friday Cool Hand Luke / Road House 2009 8 August Saturday Raiders of the Lost Ark 2010 29 July Thursday Knight and Day 2010 30 July Friday Kill Bill Vol. 1 / Enter the Dragon 2010 31 July Saturday Team America: World Police / A Town Called Panic 2010 1 August Sunday Manhattan 2010 2 August Monday Goldfinger 2010 3 August Tuesday Black Narcissus 2010 4 August Wednesday Paths of Glory 2010 5 August Thursday Cabaret 2010 6 August Friday Mulholland Drive 2010 7 August Saturday Let the Right One In / The Lost Boys 2010 8 August Sunday Master and Commander 2011 27 July Wednesday Pedro Almodovar's the Skin I Live In 2011 28 July Thursday The Spy Who Loved Me 2011 29 July Friday The Big Blue 2011 30 July Saturday Die Hard / Attack the Block 2011 31 July Sunday The Apartment 2011 1 August Monday Thelma and Louise 2011 2 August Tuesday Chinatown 2011 3 August Wednesday In the Mood for Love 2011 4 August Thursday Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 2011 5 August Friday Serpico / Shaft 2011 6 August Saturday Gremlins / Troll Hunter / Tremors 2011 7 August Sunday The Princess Bride 2012 16 August Thursday On the Road 2012 17 August Friday The Birds 2012 18 August Saturday Enter the Void + Chemical Brothers: Don't Think 2012 19 August Sunday The Watch 2012 20 August Monday Apocalypse Now 2012 21 August Tuesday Bicycle Thieves 2012 22 August Wednesday Paris, Texas 2012 23 August Thursday Pretty in Pink 2012 24 August Friday Boogie Nights + Beyond the Valley of the Dolls 2012 25 August Saturday Sexy Beast + Drive 2012 26 August Sunday Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 2012 27 August Monday Lawless 2013 8 August Thursday About Time 2013 9 August Friday What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 2013 10 August Saturday Mean Girls + Carrie + The Loved Ones 2013 11 August Sunday The Untouchables 2013 12 August Monday Guys and Dolls 2013 13 August Tuesday The Way Way Back 2013 14 August Wednesday Kes 2013 15 August Thursday Throne of Blood 2013 16 August Friday Predator + Gremlins 2: The New Batch 2013 17 August Saturday Badlands + Raising Arizona 2013 18 August Sunday Crazy Stupid Love 2013 19 August Monday The Red Shoes 2013 20 August Tuesday Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 2013 21 August Wednesday Prince Avalanche 2014 7 August Thursday Two Days, One Night, 2014 8 August Friday Rosemary's Baby, 2014 9 August Saturday A Fistful of Dollars + Mad Max 2 2014 10 August Sunday Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 2014 11 August Monday Sense and Sensibility 2014 12 August Tuesday Annie Hall 2014 13 August Wednesday 20,000 Days on Earth 2014 14 August Thursday The Great Beauty, 2014 15 August Friday Hairspray + Spring Breakers 2014 16 August Saturday Ghostbusters + Big Trouble in Little China 2014 17 August Sunday The Royal Tenenbaums 2014 18 August Monday The 400 Blows 2014 19 August Tuesday E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 2014 20 August Wednesday What We Do in the Shadows, 2015 6 August Thursday Gemma Bovery 2015 7 August Friday The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 2015 8 August Saturday Withnail & I + An American Werewolf in London 2015 9 August Sunday Princess Mononoke 2015 10 August Monday The Silence of the Lambs 2015 11 August Tuesday The Graduate 2015 12 August Wednesday The Second Mother 2015 13 August Thursday Aguirre, Wrath of God 2015 14 August Friday Do the Right Thing 2015 15 August Saturday True Romance + The Warriors 2015 16 August Sunday Roman Holiday 2015 17 August Monday The Last of the Mohicans 2015 18 August Tuesday West Side Story 2015 19 August Wednesday Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 2016 4 August Thursday Things To Come 2016 5 August Friday Bram Stoker's Dracula 2016 6 August Saturday Ex Machina + Robocop 2016 7 August Sunday Sunset Boulevard 2016 8 August Monday 10 Things I Hate About You 2016 9 August Tuesday Walkabout 2016 10 August Wednesday Julieta 2016 11 August Thursday The Shining 2016 12 August Friday Jackie Brown 2016 13 August Saturday Galaxy Quest + The Final Girls 2016 14 August Sunday Funny Face 2016 15 August Monday Trainspotting 2016 16 August Tuesday Girlhood 2016 17 August Wednesday Captain Fantastic 2017 10 August Thursday An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power 2017 11 August Friday Victoria 2017 12 August Saturday Donnie Darko + The Omen 2017 13 August Sunday The Philadelphia Story 2017 14 August Monday Moonlight 2017 15 August Tuesday All the President's Men 2017 16 August Wednesday The Square 2017 17 August Thursday Bhaji on the Beach 2017 18 August Friday In Bruges 2017 19 August Saturday Jaws + Deliverance [double bill] 2017 20 August Sunday My Neighbour Totoro 2017 21 August Monday Cruel Intentions 2017 22 August Tuesday Blow-Up 2017 23 August Wednesday Patti Cake$ 2018 9 August Thursday The Wife 2018 10 August Friday Inception 2018 11 August Saturday Labyrinth + The Wizard of Oz 2018 12 August Sunday Rebecca 2018 13 August Monday Being John Malkovich 2018 14 August Tuesday 20 Feet from Stardom 2018 15 August Wednesday Carol 2018 16 August Thursday Blue Velvet 2018 17 August Friday La Belle et la Bête + Bride of Frankenstein 2018 18 August Saturday Total Recall + A Nightmare on Elm Street 2018 19 August Sunday Sleeping Beauty 2018 20 August Monday Call Me By Your Name 2018 21 August Tuesday Selma 2018 22 August Wednesday American Animals 2019 8 August Thursday Pain and Glory 2019 9 August Friday Black Panther 2019 10 August Saturday Mandy (double bill w Wild at Heart) 2019 11 August Sunday The Princess Bride 2019 12 August Monday The Matrix 2019 13 August Tuesday God's Own Country 2019 14 August Wednesday This is England 2019 15 August Thursday Straight Outta Compton 2019 16 August Friday Before Sunrise (double bill w Before Sunset) 2019 17 August Saturday Get Out (double bill w They Live) 2019 18 August Sunday Clueless 2019 19 August Monday Reservoir Dogs 2019 20 August Tuesday The Piano 2019 21 August Wednesday Inna de Yard
Really? No, Really? podcast with Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden
Really? No, Really is good fun, its launch was timed beautifully for me finishing my Seinfeld binge :) Click pic above for their YouTube channel or links below for audio only, or any podcast app will do.
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