white chocolate-covered pork scratchings and frazzles

Finally I have had a bit of free time to just chill out, and do nothing. Except that I can't really do either of those things, so instead, I decided to make chocolate-covered Frazzles, and chocolate covered pork scratchings.

If you have a sweet tooth, and you like pork scratchings (which means you almost certainly like Frazzles too), you will like these a lot.

Without further ado.




Ingredients

* Frazzles, Pork Scratchings
* Maple syrup (the maple flavour compliments the artificial bacon flavour of the Frazzles perfectly) (4 big tablespoons)
* Butter (3 tablespoons)
* White chocolate (150g)


Method

1. Create a bain-marie. (a pan floating in boiling water contained in a bigger pan).
2. Bash up all the chocolate (150g), and put it in the pan with the syrup and butter. Stir and melt.
3. Put the frazzles and or pork rinds in. Stir gently - don't break the Frazzles.
4. As soon as you get them covered in sauce, take them out and put them either in cupcake papers or a greased sheet.
5. Cool, eat.


In go the Frazzles. I am feeling pretty good at this point.



I test a bit on the dog. He lives.



The mixture is not quite hot enough to burn your hands, so this helps when laying them out.



These would look really appetising if I had better lighting and better phone camera.


Conclusion

These are brilliant. I would deffo serve them at a party. I kind of prefer the Frazzles, but they are both really good.

Learnings:

* Smaller pieces are better. A whole cupcake is a bit too intense to eat.
* I would serve all the bits individually.
* Do not use Milky Bar - it's too sweet. Use a slab of white chocolate designed for cooking.
* A garnish would be good - maybe a bit of real bacon, or parsley.
* The maple is really good.

brief 2008 - fun planning/creative event with free booze - thurs 17th July 2008, london

EDIT: I've known Ele for years since my glue days and so I am happy to say that her company Roome Consulting are sponsoring us. They help match people up with jobs in the digital creative industry, and they're really nice.

I'm helping my friend Ash organise this night - come along - it should be really good fun.

It's FREE, there's FREE BOOZE, and we have some senior agency bods there who you can try and impress. If you're interested email themonkeypuzzler@gmail.com go to our Facebook group, and start goading the other entrants. Even if you don't want to compete, you should come down anyway to chat to people.

Here is the gist:

Brief2008 is an semi-serious ad-industry social event where teams answer and present back a brief in 2 hours, probably under the influence of alcohol.


=====Teams=====
that's you guys - made up of planners, account men, creatives, PR types, designers, strategists and whoever else. Get involved.


=====Judges=====
are senior creatives and strategists from some of the best agencies in town. Confirmed so far:

Iain Tait (Founder, Planning/Creative Partner, Poke)
Amelia Torode (Head of VCCP Digital)
Ben Milligan (Head of Planning, Holler)
Richard Knight (Creative Partner/Founder, Mission21)
Rachel Lawlan (Director of Integrated Strategy, DLKW)


=====Where and when is it=====
At the Design Council, Bow Street.
Thursday July the 17th, 6:30 pm sharp.


=====What's in it for people?=====
Free booze!

Chance to show off in front of senior people from top agencies.

A chance to meet other interesting people from all different sides of the industry.

=====GET INVOVLED=====
Email themonkeypuzzler@gmail.com , go to our Facebook group, and start goading the other entrants.

See you there! Ant

top 5 usher videos of all time

Those of you who know me outside work will know that I love tatty R&B songs with good videos. I believe them to be the pinnacle of the consumer culture within which we work. You may also know that I am borderline obsessed with Usher. So without further ado, here are my picks of the best Usher videos of all time.

#5 Usher - Love in the Club (2008)



As my friend Leila points out, the whole concept of making love in a nightclub is fundamentally flawed. At worst, you can get shagged in the toilets (in this club, in this club), and at best, felt up tastefully in the corner (in this club, in this club).

Nevertheless, at age 29, after an entirely ridiculous intro, kind of like a cross between The Shining and a phone sex line, Usher pulls out some awesome chest popping at about 4:40.

Link to Usher - Make Love in the Club video


#4 Usher - Pop Ya Collar (1999)



Easy choice, for 2 reasons.

1. Slick dance moves and brilliant use of props.

The bit in the parcel sorting office with the boxes and ladder is really nicely choreo'd - it reminds me of one of the best Jackie Chan fight scenes. In fact, if Usher got Jackie Chan to cameo in his next vid, or if they make Rush Hour 4 with Usher instead of Chris Rock, I would die.

2. The sheer number and unrelated diversity of jobs which Usher has in this video.

Whilst I think the idea of a career path in the traditional sense is slightly dated, I could not advocate anyone following the job path that Usher takes in the video:

* Rapstar in hot car with hot girls
* Fed-Ex depot worker
* Pro American footballer
* The businessman, in his suit and tie
* Reject from the gang in Michael Jackson's Beat It video


#3 Usher - My Way (2007)



An oldie but a goodie. Usher is frolicking with Tyrese's (of the best Coke ad ever - da da da da da da, singing on the bus with headphones, always Coca Cola) girl. He is doing it on a creepy-clown-themed bouncy castle, while wearing a bowler hat, and green shirt. Tyrese turns up, with his posse, and he is not happy. A dance off ensues in the funfair. Usher gets a cane from somewhere, pulls out a HUGE frontflip and there's even a surprise Batman-style ending. Need I say more?

Link to Usher - My Way video


#2 Usher - You Make me Wanna (1997)



Actually I think this is more the song than the video. This is the tune that made him famous, 11 years ago in 1997. I can't even remember what life was like before Usher. It must have been so dreadful I blocked it out. The slickest concept in this video is that there are lots of Ushers in the video, all doing very slightly different things. And a fish.

Link to video of Usher - You Make me Wanna


#1 Usher - You don't have to call (2001)



I think this one strikes a chord because it's rooted in a real boy insight - when you've had girl trouble, forget it, go out with the lads and get a different one.

You don't have to call.
It's okay girl,
Cos I'm mo be alright tonight.

Gonna boogie tonight,
Cos I'm honestly too young of a guy
To stay home,
Waiting for love.
So tonight,
I'm gonna do what a single man does
And go party.

This is out and out the best Usher video ever made.

We open with Usher. He is sad. Puff Daddy phones him on his video phone to give him a pep talk about women. Puffy taps the screen and yells "Yo Playboy!"

Usher then performs the greatest getting-ready-to-go-out via the medium of dance scene ever created, complete with body-popping your way in to the shower, and a Usher-eye-view panning shot of all his watches and his iced-out belt buckle.



There is also an awesome Michael Jackon Bad-esque car park dance routine. And, to cap things off, the tune is even produced by Pharrell Williams. Sometimes, if I'm tired and can't be bothered to go out, I put on this video twice, then get in the shower. It gets me so pumped that I bounce out the door, full of renewed vigour to mack on chicks.

Link to Usher - You don't have to call video

Any more suggestions or comments, let me know. Next time will be top 5 most incongruous Pop/RnB video dance interludes of all time.

pictures of my dog

This is a pretty unapologetic post. Dog is a bit older now and has learned how to swim and bark.

In case anyone was wondering, his name is Pedro Souza dos Santos, a.k.a. Jacaré. It means caiman-esque thing in Portuguese, and is the name of a vale tudo (no-holds-barred) fighting champion, hailing from Manaus (the heart of the Amazon), in Brasil.

Jaca for short, Jack when I can't be bothered to explain to people, and a lot of the time he gets called Dogger or Dog Face or PuppaTron.

We write his name as Dog*, where you pronounce the star, which makes him the brightest star in the sky.

COW DOG


OTTER DOG


FACE DOG


STATUE DOG