It has been a few weeks since I had a bit of a blast here on the blog - a time where I have sounded off about those who have frustrated and angered me. Well stand by as here we go !

NUMBER ONE: 

I went yesterday into my local branch of Nationwide where I have had an account since 1972. I asked for a simple service which I have used on and of over the years. Guess what ? They wanted to charge me £10 for the service which previously was free. Let me make something clear - it was MY money involved, I was not asking to borrow any money but simply to do something with MY MONEY. I was outraged at the impertinence of it and made my feelings very clear to the branch Customer Service Manager.  Customer service ? Nationwide you do not have a clue what customer service is!  Nationwide Proud to be different - what a joke. You are a thieving, scumbag bank just like all the rest.  Nationwide used to have a slogan  We never forget whose money it is....................you forgot years ago !

NUMBER TWO: There is an old fashioned expression here in England JACK IN OFFICE.  It refers to a self-opinionated person, usually a state employee or official, who is full of their own importance yet totally incompetent.   I met one of them yesterday !  After being held on the phone for ages listening to Mozart punctuated by the odd announcement that my call was important and would be answered some time before the next millennium I eventually got to speak to some stony-faced old cow. No I could not see this person's face or demeanor but trust me, from the way I was spoken to I know it was a stony faced cow - a real self-opinionated Jack In Office.  Eventually my business was transacted but I woke up in the middle of the night to realise this stupid woman had made a hideous mistake. I have now got to call again, listen to Mozart etc then try to get the error put right.  If I had not realised the mistake I would next week have wasted an entire day and the costs of traveling to another part of the country only to find when I got there my meeting could not happen.

NUMBER THREE: Our website is owned and managed by a limited company - G S Media Limited. as such we are bound by an ever increasing mountain of red tape and government beaurocracy.  Yesterday I posted to the body which regulates companies in the UK our annual return.  This is a simple statement of who the share holders and directors are - simple yes but it takes FOURTEEN pages to supply the information. Fourteen pages to supply information these jacks in office already have !  Wait for it the best is yet to come.............. There is a £30 fee to file the form.  Unbelievable isn't it ?

There are some people who are a total waste of the space they occupy on this planet - yesterday I had more than my fair share of them !

Phew............

I feel better for that !

The three movies shot at Spankathon are now available to those who came along and also in the members areas of Guytzspank and Adult Schoolboys.

Details of the next Spankathon meeting to be held on Friday 19th November are now on-line. Click the picture on the right to find out more.

I have introduced a system where the earlier you book the lower the ticket price. Right now you can come to Spankathon for only £15.  This includes a buffet and drinks, watching us film three movies and. receiving complimentary copies of the videos when edited.

When you were at school did you ever have a photograph taken like this ?

A panoramic pictures where the assembled boys were arranged in a semi-circle and the camera moved round to capture everyone in a long line ? Later today I will be adding this to the iconic schoolboy memories within Adult Schoolboys. Click the picture on the right to see what is already there and to add your own recollections.

Talking of icons...................

Our artist JAMES and I are working to completely change our ARTIST IN RESIDENCE area to ICONIC GUYZ. James and I are meeting next week to finalise things then is should be live and on-line by September 3rd.

This will feature the paintings James does of our models - left is Dale who was one of the stars in the recent Spankathon and whose pictures adorn the Spankathon banner above.

Once finished you will be able to purchase from Iconic Guyz some original art work and prints.

I am proud of what we do here in Guyz Studio. At the moment it's me working here full-time each day with James and Hugh doing their bit from their homes.  My co-director Joseph is away until early October. We are a small team, there are simply not enough hours in a day to do anything like what we want to do but we don't do a bad job if I may say so myself.

Nationwide has a staff of thousands yet can not get it right.

I said to the so called customer service manager at Nationwide I would be ashamed if I ran my business they way they run theirs. She countered my statement by saying she was proud to work for Nationwide. Takes all kinds doesn't it.

...............have a good day all.  Speak again tomorrow.

I checked this SECRET out and found the book has a website - click the picture above left and see what you think. Life is too short and the world too small for negativity. Yep life is good !

Yesterday TWO new galleries were added to Studio galleries - Emanuel and Jo.  Click the thumbnails below to check them out.

Yep some amazing things are certainly happening here on Guyz Studio. I really, really hope you enjoy our websites - why not click the survey link and give us some feedback. Go on we would love to hear from you.

Do you know who Saint Sebastian was ?

Have you ever seen  the movie telling of the saint's life ? 

The YouTube player above depicts one scene from this epic. Have a look.

The picture above left is titled NOT SEBASTIAN and was one of the art works James and I saw when we visited Adonis Art in London yesterday. That's the title of the work - Not Sebastian.

The artist was featured in a special exhibition at Adonis and I have to say I fell in love with is work.

Unfortunately my budget would not extend to my owning this work of art - priced at £1,250 but I do have to say I loved so much of what I saw at Adonis.

I tried to explain to the gallery owner, left, that while I am not an artist in any way and sadly am not an art collector I have the eye of an average customer which, if this does not make me sound like an un educated philistine, I kow what I like and what pleases me.

I have always been interested in Saint Sebastain so when I saw this particular work in the exhibition I wanted to own it.

But James and I did not make the long trip into London for me to drool over paintings in the gallery, we went to look at ways we can market work by James who is, of course, our site's Artist in Residence. We came away with some sound ideas and a lot of work to do.

If I may share a little of this.

We are going to rebrand ARTIST IN RESIDENCE to ICONIC GUYZ BY JAMES ASHFIELD and put up a special gallery of his paintings in to our Guyzpix website.

You will then be able to easily view all of James's work in one central place as well as being able to actually own either an original painting or a limited print. James is a fantastic friend both on a personal level and also to our website operation, he is our site photographer who gives freely of his time, efforts and expertise. he is not paid for what he does, quite simply we do not have the money for that, so I am anxious he gets something back for his generosity. Selling his paintings via our website would be a way of doing this.