rufus

Working with the Rufus rebels

Whilst on work experience I’ve witnessed various things, Vince having a rant about a sandwich, Vince having a rant that I don’t make enough tea and Vince having a rant because I didn’t get in until 2 one day. It’s been great!

EDITORS NOTE: Vince is actually a warm and loving individual who does a lot of work for charity, though he does state ‘charity begins at home’. He also would like it on record that Bex turned up at 2.15pm one day and not 2pm.

The Work

I’ve been coming in whenever I’m not on timetable with uni, where I’m studying Illustration.
I started last week, Monday 19th and I was tired. I normally love Mondays because I’m not due in uni till 1.30, awesome lie in! But I was excited none the less.

My first day Graeme 2 scooted up to me with an info pack in hand, and asked me to have a go at designing a new logo which I did. We all went down stairs the next day and had a chat about it and there were a couple of designs that stood out, Gareth decided they should be the catalyst for Graeme 2 to get going on it. It went on his work board and I was given task number 2. Design desktops for Smashing Magazine. I did October, November and December over about 3 visits here (October probably being my favourite). Once I’d finished that little lot Gareth and I had a brain storm, what do you get a student to do when they ‘don’t really care what jobs I do, long as it isn’t going to be too important to you guys’.

Let’s learn flyers, bingo! Having to set up the document properly with all the guides and things was great, I’d done all this in typography but it’d all fallen out of my head so a refresher course was well appreciated.

After making a blank template flyer I had a play around with one that was already smart as a button (moved things here and there) and I made my own mock flyer for a party my friend’s having. All good stuff!

On to task numero, well, I’ve lost count, but it was time for me to design a pen! After bang-ing my head against the desk because there’s no such thing as a Photoshop / Illustrator hybrid, I created something that resembled a pen and popped our beloved Rufus on it. Jackpot.

After running out of things that I was told to do I decided I’d drawn Rufus a nice picture (after all, I’m an illustrator and it’s what I do). I got the lovely badger himself and after lots of tedious colouring in and rubbing out popped him on the orange Vespa.

My last day was a sad day. I had a wicked headache, apt as it was Halloween the next day ha..ha… and the thought of not having a nice Mac all to myself almost everyday was disturbing. Vince hopped over to my borrowed desk and asked me to sort a job advert sheet out for him. Job done.

The Places and Faces

The people in this place are all crazy, don’t ever make eye contact with them or Ian will start talking about his mixed nuts or Lee will invite you to his Nanna’s next party.
Just kidding, kind of…

We all went to see a comedian last Friday, cracking night out. He was funny so that’s always a plus. It was great fun because I didn’t feel like the work experience girl I just felt like part of the crew!

The guys (and girls!) here have really made me feel at home I’ve had so much fun. I threatened I’d work here full time forever! Graeme 2’s given me lots of new wonderful websites and they’ve helped me with my work here and my Uni work. I think I might have to steal his book collection too. If I’ve ever been stuck or looked lost (my brain does tend to wander) there’s always been a helping hand nearby to make sure I never sit confused for too long.

I’ve loved it here, there’s been a lot of power walking making sure I get to and from Uni / Rufus but it’s been worth it, plus it’s good exercise so really it’s a win win.

All I can say is thank you to Ian for letting me stay for the past 2 weeks and being patient when it comes to working round my timetable. And everyone here who’s helped me (or in Vince’s case, taken the mick out of me) I would like to say…

I’m sorry I didn’t make enough tea.

Bex Brunell
Work experience girl October ‘09

It was a close run thing, 7 entered, it came down to the final 2 then in what was described as a ‘eureka ka ka’ moment, someone lifted the top off The Maddens pumpkin and my God did it roar.

The Madden (G1) claimed to have put in 3 hours graft with a rusty dart and a stencil the night before but it was a work of art. G2 thought he had it in the bag with his Rufus logo, it was good but alas not good enough.

I thought I had it in the bag.

G2

It was originally a competition to find the ‘Pumpkin King or Queen ‘09′ but after much deliberation, the name was changed to ‘The Pumpkinator’.

We crown The Madden as The Pumpkinator 2009.

Congrats to you, now collect your winnings of a bag of pumpkin leftovers.

It started as a joke then it became our next challenge. Ang threw down the gauntlet and offered to buy the pumpkins but Vince bought the pumpkins. They’re nothing special at the moment but what could they be turned into (apart from soup or a large door stop)?

I carried a pumpkin

Ang

At last count, 7 were willing to battle it out for the title of Pumpkin King or Queen ‘09. Could they beat the efforts of these people or even these? We don’t know, we just don’t know.

Stay tuned for the results.

Did you know the word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for “large melon”.

Well we went for it and for some it was a personal victory, for others it just looked painful. Our World Record attempt to eat at least 7 (and hopefully 8 ) Ferrero Rocher in one minute ultimately ended in failure but was tinged with laughter and gut wrenching stomach turning mayhem.

Special praise goes to Graeme1 (The Madden) who scoffed 6 but was closely followed by Lee (The Hustler) who had eaten 5 but claimed 6 though TV replays showed there was residue of the 6th one still in his mouth (plus a bacon sarnie) which was against the rules and humanity. Deek, Gareth (The original G) and Graeme2 all got onto their 4th without too much controversy but none the less provided excitement of epic proportions.

Sadly, Vince came in a sad last by stuffing the 3rd Rocher into his mouth on 56 seconds even though Rocher’s number 1 and 2 were still being eaten. Officially he didn’t finish any and is still eating them now. The Guinness World Records have been contacted to see if there is a record for the longest time to eat 1 Rocher.

View the videos:

• Graeme1 on Vimeo
• Lee on Vimeo
• Vince on Vimeo
• Graeme2 on Vimeo
• Gareth on Vimeo
• Deek on Vimeo