The first nostalgic thought

Here's something I miss; I miss the days when music was so important to me I used to hang on the New Musical Express to hear what new 3 minute slice of sound would tell me more about the mystery of life I was charging headlong into. I miss the excitement of a release date for the new album by whoever, the anticipation and excitement.

Someone gave me the entire discography of the Kings of Leon today, it was an afterthought, a bonus, an offhanded gesture, 'oh you might like this'... 3oo Megabytes of ones and zeros later and it's all there, the first tentative album, the second stronger sound, the third storming guitars and anxious, nervous drums of power.

I compare this with the precious individual who introduced me to Sonic Youth, we talked about some other album we had both enjoyed and a couple of days later he said he would make me a tape of some stuff I might enjoy. He did it over a weekend, curated a mix, composed a side, and another, 90 minutes in all, hand wrote the track listings on the card insert, each track name and artist, in small, legible capitals; in blue biro.

He brought it to school, and gave it to me, I turned it over and examined it as a stereotypical Japanese businessman examines a new business card. I asked questions, got answers, and made projections in my mind. I couldn't wait till I got it home to play it, no walkman for me till later, and years later till I felt comfortable in public with earbuds in.

Each song was considered, treasure, pondered. I've just had Kings of Leon playing as wallpaper for two hours now, I did other stuff. I hope it's me, but I don't want to value music less.

The compressed final sandwich

The compressed final sandwich
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

The sandwich 2 days in the making. The Mufalletta, italian with many delicious ingrediants. An olive salad spread, with garlic, two types of olives, sliced peppers, capers, anchovies, lemon juice, pepper, herbs de provence, all marinated for 24 hours.
Spread half of this over the bottom of a hollowed out bread bun, and then layer slow roasted tomatoes, we used big beef tomatoes roasted in the oven for 2.5 hours. Then layer provalone cheese, the sharpest you can get, goes great with the sweetness of the tomatoes. Next comes meat, the core of most great sandwiches, Mortadella, cut thicker. And soprasada, wafer thin. Lettuce and then the rest fo the olive salad.
Wrap it up in clingflim and compress it in the fridge for a couple of hours, to let the flavours mingle, then cut in half, or even quarters and enjoy with a nice jammy wine, such as a Malbec, form the Cahors region of France. Miam.

We went for a surprise course in cake making at the test kitchen of a local bakers shop, a nice way to turn a cost center into a profit center!

We made some slab biscuit, light and fluffy, and with a almond paste base! these were cut rounds out to form the bottom of a cake, then made a chocolate mousse, and some fancy decorations. Including the chocolate swirls below! MUCH FUN!

How to show my online character offline?

Online identity of Ben Pawson
Originally uploaded by Ben from England

This image I made try's to show the Online identity of Ben Pawson, I;m thinking about including it in my CV, to stand out a bit.

Social networking yes, but what else makes up who I am online. And is that useful or relevant offline? Does it add something to my CV for example? Should I take out Twitter for example, does it show that I'm not serious about it, and what does that say about me?

What would an employer say that I have nearly 3000 photos online, it certainly backs up the 'creative'; aspect of my CV, unless all those pictures are of my cat, in which case that makes me weird (sorry cat lovers). What if I added my online dating stats?

Love to hear what you all think.

Ben

Our first video, more to come if it's this easy!