Biscuit of the Month - October

Thu 15 Oct 2009 by Emma_McCann

Hi everyone. I am very excited about this new website. Fancy being able to write my article straight into the blog! With live links! Extraordinary. Anyway, here are a few tea-break treats to tempt you this month:

Illustrator of the Month: Satoshi Kitamura

Now, I must've been under a rock for the past gazillion years, but only in the last week have I realised the true brilliance of this Japanese illustrator. Katamura's latest picture book, Millie's Marvellous Hat, is up for consideration for next year's Kate Greenaway Medal. I LOVE it. It's funny, real, and the use of colour is breathtaking. My favourite scene contains a dog wearing a gramophone hat.

Surprisingly, Katamura doesn't seem to have his own website, but Satoshiland is an unofficial site run by fans. As far as content goes, it's chock full - galleries, news, competitions... plenty to keep you amused for a good while.


Blog of the Month: Regretsy

Now, this may seem mean-spirited at first, but it's blummin' hilarious, especially for all those in BiG who sells their craft wares online. This is a blog that highlights some of the naff, disgusting, nasty and just downright crap things for sale on American craft uber-site, Etsy. The anonymous posters link back to the items on sale, and, unbelievably, people are buying them! We get a laugh and they get a sale - it's a win-win situation. Check it out, although, I warn you, there's a definite trend for sticking female body parts on random objects, and you don't want to know which bodily fluids some of the artwork contains. And, yes, those are Twilight-inspired Converse.


Flickr Set of the Month: I Can Read Movies

A very interesting and very well-executed set of book covers inspired by blockbuster movies. They're made just for fun by Flickr user, Spacesick, to look like vintage-style paperbacks. His blog is here, too. Also check out Corleyms' book cover set created in a similar vein, including Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Narnia books.

Bargain Artwork of the Month: Rob Ryan teatowel

To Dry For is a fantastic site selling the funkiest, funniest and prettiest of teatowels. Rob Ryan has just designed a towel which you can buy online for the bargaintastic price of £9.95. These lovlies are too good to use for the washing up, hang them on your kitchen walls instead.


 

Stuff To Do in November:
If you want to leave the comfort of your chair, wrap up warm and leave the house, you might want to see what's going on in and around Brighton in the next month:

MADE - Brighton's Design and Craft Fair
MADE09 returns to the Corn Exchange showcasing over 100 contemporary designer/makers.
The Corn Exchange, North Road, Brighton. 20th-22nd Nov from 11.00am £5 entry, under 14s free.
www.brightoncraftfair.co.uk

The Piped Piper Theatre Co. present The Enormous Turnip
Fri 6 Nov Doors: 10am/1pm Show: 10:30am/1:30pm
It’s big, it’s huge, it’s……………………………. ENORMOUS!
A mysterious present has appeared in the playground at Jack, Dot and Polly’s school. Who can it possibly be for? What could be waiting inside? Find out in this exciting new play.
£4.50 Ideal for 3-7yr olds. Running time 50mins.
Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham, BN43 5EG, tel: 01273464440
www.ropetacklecentre.co.uk

The Land Girls: Cinderellas of the Soil
3 October 2009 to 14 March 2010
Free admission
Brighton Museum, Pavillion Gardens. http://www.virtualmuseum.co.uk


Biscuit of the Month: Jam Sandwich

Again, comes from Alan Baker:

This past month I have been stuffing myself senseless with 'Jammy Dodgers', or as they are officially known 'Jam Sandwiches'.
This of course brings forth the first dilemma, is it really a jam sandwich?
If you were to ask any respectable member of the public for a jam sandwich, they probably wouldn't give you a biscuit.
Although I suppose technically, it is in fact, jam sandwiched between two layers [in this case biscuit].
Are you still there?
The design is exquisite.
Starting from the middle and moving out, we have a circular window, mirroring in miniature the overall shape, and at once allowing the consumer to view the internal comestibles housed within.
The wheel-like spokes fanning from this central jam hub are designed in such a fashion as to draw the eye from the outer biscuited frame, onwards and in, towards the central jam heart. In actual fact some 'Jammy Dodgers', have replaced the central circle of interest with a heart shaped aperture, thus reinforcing the concept, 'heart' .
Note also the clever way these etched spokes have been subtly angled, thus giving the consumer the illusion of an anti-clockwise movement. A minority of biscuit connoisseurs have reported that this can, in time induce in the consumer, a certain feeling of vertigo which in turn can lead to nausia.
After my eighteenth pack, I did indeed detect something of that feeling myself.
The general design of the 'biscuited double-layered washer', aids grippage without the stickiness found in holding a vast number of the biscuit styled sweetmeats so prevelant in todays confectionary obsessed world.

For more opinions of the Jammy Dodger visit
http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/views.php3?filter=19
 

 

Thanks again!

If there's anything you'd like me to highlight in a future column then please either leave a comment or email me at [email protected]
 

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