I thought my hand eye co-ordination was bad but these doggies take the biscuit! (see what I did there?)
Even though they get escalators completely wrong they do it in the cutest and most hilarious way… take a looksie.
Monthly Archives: September 2010
Getting Baked {Ceri's Column}
When we celebrate, we eat cakes. It’s pretty damn universal. Almost every culture on the planet stakes its claim for having the best cakey offerings. It can be quite competitive. I’m shocked there hasn’t been a war over it yet. The Great Fruitcake Wars. The Eccles cake incident. The Cupcake Rebellion of 2010. That’d be awesome. I’d fight.
Of course, being more Welsh than a wool hat full of leeks makes me thoroughly defensive of our baked, boiled and griddled offerings. Our goodies are far tastier, heartier and far worse for you than anyone else’s. The jewel in our crumbly crown is the amazingly addictive Welshcake, or Pice ar y man (Pick Arr Er Marn) as I call them. Stick your scones where the sun doesn’t shine, pics rule.
But other countries have good stuff too! Here are my personal faves…
1. Punschkrapfen (Austria) – This beauty is a concoction of chocolate nougat, apricot jam, crumbly cake and rum (yes RUM!) My lord it’s good.
2. Churos (Spain/Mexico) – Hispanicy/Americany Doughnuty heavenly thing…y. I had my first Churo in California about 10 years ago. If I ever go to live in the States, I’d write “Churos” as my “Primary reason for applying for your Green Card”
3. Puff Puff (Nigeria) – A rip off of the superior Churo. I just included it for the name really.
4. Twinkies (USA) – Guilty pleasures are always the best.
5. Opera Cake (France) – Oh France you opulent fucker. Layers of almond sponge soaked in coffee layered with ganache and butter cream and glazed in dark chocolate. Hasn’t really got much to do with Opera in my book, but who gives a crap when you’re eating ganache in such large quantities?
6. Mochi with red bean paste (Japan) – Nippon, you rule.
7. Jaffa Cakes (UK…well Scotland really) – Is it a cake? Is it a biscuit? It’s a fucking cake you idiot.
So there we have it. My list. What’d be on yours? Give me your faves and why below. I don’t get many comments. Do it. Now. Ta
by Ceri Phillips
Anthony Epes: London at Dawn & Arboreal Dreams. {Art Review}
Where: Pop-up gallery, Arch 5, Burrel Street, SE1
When: Thursday September 16th, 6-8pm.
Amongst the great, the good and others of Anthony Epes’s Private View where; John and Diane Bird , Nic Careem and Lizzie Mary Cullen.
Epes’s Private View showed off his amazing eye. He is an artist who can capture the very essence of a city, of a time and place. His London at Dawn photographs give a glimpse of London very few people see. Epes spent months getting up in the early hours of the morning to capture these photographs. His determination paid off. The photographs are spectacular. I have to admit I have been a fan for a while.
Epes’s use of colour is original and visionary. I look forward to the next exhibition. I can’t wait to see what he does next. To see more of his work. Click on the link below.
Catherine Balavage
Beautiful Crime presents: ‘Hendrix Still Reigning, Still Dreaming’ {Social Diary}
Where: Red Bull Studio, London Tooley Street, SE1
When: 6:30pm – 10pm Thursday 16th September 2010
To coincide with the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death, Beautiful Crime held an event pre-releasing urban artist Fin DAC’s highly anticipated ‘Hendrix Still Reigning, Still Dreaming’ hand finished, limited edition prints. The one night only pop-up exhibition at The Red Bull Studio. Guests were engulfed in the rock’n’roll atmosphere, with Fin DAC’s striking images of Hendrix taking centre stage. Fin has previously sold his artwork on an international scale. He has worked with the likes of Armani, The Morgan’s Hotel Group and has exhibited with Jamie Reid (the Sex Pistols album cover fame), Goldie, Julia Reston-Roitfeld and Jef Aerosol.
On the night, it was noted that the prints and their prices were subtly linked to Hendrix. As
he died in 1970, the guests had a privilege to view the outstanding artist’s seventy limited
edition hand-finished prints and as it was in the ninth month, there were nine, one of a kind
special edition prints on copper, steel, wood and wallpapered canvas.
To make the show even more unforgettable, Fin DAC completed the metal edition live on
the night. The prints will be officially released on the Beautiful Crime website on 18th
September (www.beautifulcrime.com).
Guests in attendance included Gemma Arterton, Goldie, Danny Cipriani, Idris Elba. As they sipped on Raining Rum and Daiquiri Dream cocktails courtesy of The Online Off Licence (www.theonlineofflicence.co.uk), they also enjoyed a live DJ set from Stuee from The Paddingtons, who got behind the decks to fuse his own recently recorded tunes, creating an electric atmosphere for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest rock
and roll legends.
It was a night to remember.
Minister lauches social impact Bond Pilot. { Politics }
Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt and David Hutchison, Chief Executive of social investment organisation Social Finance, are today visiting HMP Peterborough to launch the Social Impact Bond (SIB) pilot.
The Social Finance run SIB pilot is the first scheme in the world that has used new funding from investors outside government to reduce reoffending with offenders. Investors will only receive returns on their investment from the Ministry of Justice if they reduce reoffending by a set amount.
At a time of tight public finances, payment by results models, such as the Social Impact Bond, can tap into new sources of funding to reduce reoffending and provide value for money for the tax payer
Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said:
“Our priorities are to punish offenders, protect the public and provide access to justice. But we want to initiate a more constructive approach to rehabilitation and sentencing, and re-think whether putting more and more people into custody really does make people safer.
“We want to actively involve individuals and voluntary and community organisations – not just in tackling crime and re-offending but in helping to keep people out of the criminal justice system in the first place. This payment by results pilot is both innovative and imaginative. I am delighted to be launching it at HMP Peterborough today.”
The six-year SIB pilot scheme in Kalyx-run Peterborough prison, run by Social Finance, will prepare around 3,000 short term prisoners for their lives post-release and will work with them to prevent a return to a life of crime
If these services are successful and re-offending drops by more than 7.5 per cent within six years, investors receive a payment representing a proportion of the cost of re-offending. The payment will increase based on the reduction in re-offending with the total cost of the project capped at £8m.
Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke MP said:
“This Government has a historic opportunity to initiate a more constructive approach to rehabilitation. This means making prisons places of punishment, but also of education, hard work and change. As part of our radical approach to rehabilitation we are considering a range of payment by results schemes like the Social Impact Bond.
“The voluntary and private sectors will be crucial to our success and we want to make far better use of their enthusiasm and expertise to get offenders away from the revolving door of crime and prison.”
David Hutchison, Chief Executive of Social Finance commented:
“The Social Impact Bond aligns the interests of government, charities, social enterprises and socially motivated investors around a common goal. We are delighted to be launching the first such structure in the world here at Peterborough.
Our work is driven by a desire to transform society’s ability to invest in addressing its most intractable problems. Developing the Social Impact Bond market will take years, but we believe that with care it can enable future investment of hundreds of millions of pounds a year in these crucial areas.”
Social Finance has raised capital from social investors that will be used to pay for the services in the prison and outside in the community. It is expected to close the £5 million fund by the end of the year. Initial investors include the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Monument Trust and committed individuals.
The development of Social Impact Bonds has been supported by a number of partners including Allen & Overy, Kalyx and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough community including the Criminal Justice agencies, Local Authority and the voluntary sector.
Phil Andrew, Kalyx Managing Director, said:
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with Social Finance. Our work is dedicated to preventing future victims by delivering rehabilitative opportunities to prisoners through work skills, educational qualifications, behaviour programmes, substance misuse interventions, and assistance with accommodation and employment.
“This project will complement our work by supporting ex-offenders through the difficult transition from prison to the community, and it will increase the chances of them avoiding further crime in the future.”
SCARED BUT FRESH. A Matthew Rose collection. { Art }
A Collection of Works by Matthew Rose
6th October – 31st October
Preview works at www.orangedotgallery.co.uk
Matthew Rose spells with scissors and glue…..
I am very excited about this exhibition. Matthew Rose is very talented. An American artist now based in Paris, Matthew Rose is an exciting talent who creates pieces of visual delight through his cleverly crafted and beautifully laid out collages.
Know particularly for his installations, massive 1000-piece wall-to-wall displays of individual collage works reinvent the process of reading. His recent exhibitions ‘Spelling With Scissors’ and ‘The Whole Truth’ brought together the artist’s immense visual and textural vocabulary in what several critics cited as a dadaist exploration of sense and nonsense. Surrealism moves into the 21st century with Rose’s collages, text works, needlepoints and altered objects and books. Combining beautifully laid colours and patterns with secrets and riddles his works stimulate both the mind and eye.
Matthew Rose’s artworks have been exhibited throughout Europe, Asia and the United States for more than 20 years, and his art is collected both privately and by public collections. His work has been featured in numerous books and magazines, most recently MASTERS: COLLAGE (Sterling Publishing/Lark Books, 2010) which will be on sale at the Orange Dot Gallery for the duration of the show.
Matthew has also created an EXCLUSIVE PRINT to coincide with the show and will be available exclusively online from www.keepcalmgallery.com, with a limited number of signed prints also available from Orange Dot Gallery.
You can download the exhibition poster for the Scared but Fresh show from Matthew’s site. www.matthewrosestudio.blogspot.com/
An exciting artist, exhibition and opportunity to view his works in a more intimate space. Go see this!
Ground breaking artists exhibit New Ink Painting from China At Michael Goedhuis .
The New Ink Painting from China is an exhibition carefully selected by Michael Goedhuis to reflect some of the finest contemporary works currently available on the market. The exhibition of 30 contemporary ink paintings is the first comprehensive display of Chinese New Ink Painting ever held in Britain and will take place at 16 Bloomfield Terrace, London SW1W 8PG. Timed to coincide with the internationally celebrated event Asian Art in London (4-13 November 2010), the exhibition will run from Friday, 5 November to 3 December 2010.
Ten ground breaking artists from internationally recognized Liu Kuo-sung to the new generation of the avant-garde, Qin Feng, will each exhibit three works. New Ink Painting is the genre poised to be China’s choice for the modern pictorial expression of Chinese civilization and as such is a must for collectors interested in this area. Michael Goedhuis was one of the first western dealers to enter the Chinese contemporary market. He identified artists previously unknown to the West such as Zhang Xiaogang, including one of his key works in the Estella collection which subsequently sold for $6million when the collection was offered at auction in 2008. These ten artists are Michael Goedhuis’ choice for where collectors and first time buyers, with an eye to the future, should now turn their attention. Prices range from $25,000 – $150,000.
“The New Ink Painting is perhaps the boldest pictorial experiment in contemporary Chinese culture. Artists trained rigorously in the traditional brush and ink on paper painting tradition, which is still considered the foundation stone of Chinese civilization, have, in the past few years, broken away from the classical canon and are making works which are meaningful for and relevant to society in modern China”, comments Michael Goedhuis.
Of the established figures Liu Kuo-sung, the most famous of the Taiwanese artists, is exhibiting works from both of his major styles: Snow Capped Mountain which is an example of his pioneering abstract expressionist period and Full Moon which draws on his interest in the cool colour-field works of the 1970’s.
Li Jin from Beijing has recently appeared on the front cover of the publication on ink painting Chinese Ink Painting Now and is known for his humorous and gently satirical brush paintings celebrating the good life in simpler times.
Qin Feng from Beijing and Qiu Deshu in Shanghai are both artists who are exploring ways in which to incorporate a clear link with tradition both technically and through the subject matter, but with a pictorial treatment that connects with society today. This is particularly illustrated in Qin Feng’s Desire Landscape, 2005 and Qiu Deshu’s Mountainscape (red), 2005.
The exceptional variety in this field is illustrated in the broad range of works from Xu Lei, whose blue figurative paintings evoke surrealism to the tough calligraphic abstraction of Wang Dongling.
The artists exhibited are from China or Taiwan and include Li Jin, Qin Feng, Liu Kuo-sung, Qiu Deshu, Lo Ch’ing, Wang Dongling, Zeng Shanqing, Zeng Xiaojun, Yao Jui-chung and Yang Yanping.
An illustrated catalogue of the exhibition is available.
Exhibition: New Ink Painting from China
16 Bloomfield Terrace
London SW1W 8PG
From the 5 November to the 3 December 2010
Open 11:00-17:00 Monday – Saturday
Belvedere launches "Dream Job" to find golbal brand ambassador.
Super-premium vodka brand Belvedere, owned by Moët Hennessy, has announced the launch of its worldwide “Dream Job” campaign. The successful candidate will be awarded the once in a lifetime job as a $100,000 Global Brand Ambassador role. Working alongside Head of Spirit Creation and Mixology Claire Smith, representing the brand on a global stage, the winner will travel the world educating bartenders on how best to enjoy Belvedere, and creating innovative and exciting cocktails.?
Bartenders, mixologists, and vodka enthusiasts from around the world will be invited to submit short videos to Belvedere Vodka’s official Facebook fan page showcasing their mixology skills, and demonstrating why they should be selected for the dream job.
After entries close on 15th October, a panel of experts will select a shortlist of UK and European semi-finalists who will compete in a series of cocktail-making and presentation challenges at an event hosted at a top London bar and judged by a panel headed up by a top industry name. Entrants will have to demonstrate their creativity and skills with challenges including creating ten Belvedere Vodka cocktails in ten minutes. ??
The top two semi-finalists will go through to the Global Final, taking place in Los Angeles on 15th December, with seven finalists from across the world appearing in front of a celebrity judging panel to be presented with the final challenge, before an overall winner is declared.??
Commenting on the “Dream Job”, Claire Smith, Head of Spirit Creation and Mixology for Belvedere Vodka said “We are thrilled to extend such a tremendous opportunity to so many talented bartenders and mixologists around the world; it is our hope that the competition not only unites those ?with a keen understanding of super premium vodka, but also inspires a higher level of innovation and creativity in cocktail creation that our new Global Brand Ambassador will help to ‘fine tune’ for our plans and projects next year.”?