Stories of chalk and walls

Following on from the 'big bad wolf' post, here is another beautifully crafted piece of animation for the Firekite's track 'Autumn Story.' It was created frame by frame in white chalk on a series of chalkboards and took 6 months to complete...watch it here.

And if you found that interesting, you must take a look at an animation created on walls in the city of Buenos Aires by an artist named BLU - the scale of this project is most impressive! Click here to watch it.

The plight of the celebrity chef - continued

It’s hard to argue against the fact that Ramsay has had a key role in the renaissance of British
cuisine, particularly on the world stage. But at the same time, watching his rapid fall from grace does beg the question – Where did it all go wrong?

If this episode has taught us anything, perhaps it should be that the key word in the title ‘celebrity chef’ must be chef. And that Ramsay’s success was built on quite brilliant use of the freshest ingredients, and the finest flavours – not pre-pared food reheated by one of his employees!

The plight of the celebrity chef

The cult of the celebrity chef is often looked upon with some disdain from within the hospitality sector, and so I’m sure that there were a few wry smiles over the weekend as news emerged that Gordon Ramsay has been dropped from The Sunday Times Rich List. And all at the end of a week that saw Restaurant Gordon Ramsay drop out of the San Pellegrino 50 (and indeed 100) best restaurants in the world.

For all that Ramsay has done for the British hospitality sector, could it be that he has finally overdone it, grown too big too fast?

Hell's Waiter

This week during Hell’s Kitchen Marco Pierre White handed out punishment to two celebrities who had failed in their cooking task. Their punishment? To do a shift as front of house waiters. While we are big fans of Marco and the show, it is important to remember the vital role waiters/waitresses play in the success of restaurants. Now, as a professional in the foodservice industry I like you understand the importance of such a role. They take the brunt of customer complaints all with a smile on their faces, and while this makes good tv it does send out the wrong message to the next generation of aspiring waiters/waitresses in my opinion. So with service skills under the microscope can I wish all those taking part in next week’s Sommelier of the year the best of luck.

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

I stumbled upon this fantastic form of animation, dubbed 'stop motion animation'...

Click here to have a look at the video yourself.

It allegedly took more than 1,500 photographs to complete, and who knows how many hours!

Cheers Darling!

Why does the Government seem hell bent in punishing the hospitality sector when other industries are being given a helping hand? It wasn’t long ago they declared hospitality the UK’s second largest potential sector for economic growth…sorry but am I missing something? The Chancellor has just signed the average British Publican’s death warrant. Even a lowly marketer like me can see that hiking duty on beer, wine and spirits is going to prove counter productive and give the consumer even more reason to stay put at home on the sofa. I’m off down the pub to show some great British camaraderie – and have a nice cold glass of wine before the price goes up AGAIN!