Putting the 'happy' back into content
Must confess I’d never heard of steampunk before reading about it in current issue of Wired.
The basic premise is making something that looks faintly Victorian Gothic, and the contraptions are constructed of bits and pieces of other ephemera.
The above model is called Eye Pod, a working steampunk iPod, made using bits of old typewriters and other bits and bobs.
Genius ideas and something that’s genuinely startling, but also impressive.
So I’m A Celebrity’s back for another year giving all us couch potatoes the justification we need not to go out for the next couple of weeks.
Chief among this year’s contestants are the perma-tanned George Hamilton, 80s Page 3 ‘stunna’ Sam Fox and camp design duo Colin & Justin.
But woe betide anyone who thinks that winning the annual jungle junket is a key to further riches. If you look back at the roster of previous winners, many of them have fallen foul of the IMACGMOOH curse.
Of the 8 previous victors, four have fallen on hard times. Kerry Katona’s – queen of 2004’s jungle – problems have been well-documented, but few could have predicted that when she overcame the likes of Peter Andre and Jordan to lift the crown.
In 2006, Carol Thatcher took the crown and all was going swimmingly until she was booted off of the One Show earlier this year for calling a tennis player a golliwog.
The following year, former Busted member Matt Willis charmed the pants off of the viewing public and donned the regal get-up. Any thought that he would go on to conquer the pop charts again were swiftly dispensed with. His debut solo album failed to crack the top 50, he was dropped by his label and then had to go to rehab to clean up his drinking habits. Happily, he’s back in fighting form, but things weren’t good for a while.
Even last year’s victor, former EastEnder Joe Swash isn’t immune. He may have got a gig for Living following Pamela Anderson around, but he had to file for bankruptcy in the past few weeks. Money’s a sore spot even for the success stories.
Of the other four winners, three are what one might call veteran entertainers who had a solid career before they started, so were unlikely to lose out too much. Tony Blackburn, Joe Pasquale and Christopher Biggins weren’t exactly A-List, but it meant that their careers got a little boost for a bit longer. Phil Tufnell is, well, Phil Tufnell.
Anyway, my point is that winning the show doesn’t necessarily guarantee success after the celebs fly back from Australia.
So all this year’s contestants: you have been warned.
One thing I can get passionate about is kitchen gadgets and lovely design of the aforementioned.
Many people wouldn't really consider a pepper mill a gadget, but it does a job that can't really be done by hand, so it qualifies in my book. Over the years, we've tried a number of different types of pepper grinder. Invariably they collapse or break after a couple of years' use and are also extremely difficult to fine tune: you either get half-peppercorns or fine dust. And then we happened upon Jamie Oliver's new shop in Brighton called Recipease and spotted this rather fine Flo grinder. Admittedly £30 is a lot, but it not only produces perfect pepper, but it also looks bloody marvellous. A true design classic in the making