Cherryflava

Brewers & Union: New Cape Town beer salon opens

Posted on 19. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

Having not visited a 'hair salon' for some time now [must attend to that soon - people are going to start thinking we're homeless] – we instead spent a pleasant Friday afternoon at a 'beer salon', which BTW is by far a better way to get a foamy head.

The idea behind the 'beer salon'…is beer obviously – but for the well-healed hiding in all of us, it's the subtle dancing of flavas that you get when you pair the establishment's beer with their fine, organic, free-range fare.

As a central city work meeting place – the former vida e caffe founders serve a killer espresso that would make an Italian cry for his mamma – and when the clock hits 9 o' clock you can easily slide over to one of their premium brews, without anyone thinking you belong in an AA group sesssion.

Thanks very much Rui and Brad for the introduction to our 2009 central city business home-base.
Beer, brainstorming and biscotti just can't be beaten.

More:
Brewers & Union Craft Lagers website
Brewers and Union – the new venture from the team behind vida – Ideate

Fatties cull friends to win a Whopper

Posted on 16. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

How far would you go to get your hands on a giant Whopper?

That would obviously be the name of the burger made by the American hamburger chain, Burger King, for those who may have been a bit misdirected by the question.

Burger King reckoned that Facebook friends are cheap, and by deleting 10 of them – you are rewarded with a health-problem causing Whopper…mmmm…meat.

What a pity it got axed. So much better than the stock standard ol' 'join the fan page' thing that's so all over the show these days.
Maybe Facebook are starting to get grumpy because with so many users, they're still eating beans on toast every night and can't stand to see one of their clients trying something creative.

All the same – the less people that eat that stuff the better.

More:

Whopper sacrifice – Facebook
Whopper Sacrifice Ends – Adweek

Podcast watch: Brendan JACKast tackles marketing stuff

Posted on 15. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

We don't often listen to podcasts.
It's not that we don't want to – it's just that the only time we have to fully engage with podcast content would be during the drive to work, and unfortunately the car CD player has an old 'Rage Against the Machine' disc stuck in it and whenever we turn the thing on that's all that it can play.
Scares the taxi drivers to no end when they hear us coming along [darkened windows and suspicious looking gun-turret contraption on the roof and all]…but that's a story for another time.

Anyhow – if we had a fully functioning audio player, Brendan Jack's new podcast offering would be on our 'to-tune' list.
His interview with Alistair Duff [Senior vice president-group planning director for McCann Worldgroup] (jeez that's a mouthful) caught our eye.

Nice to see serious interviews getting the 'relaxed rib-jabbing treatment' they so richly deserve in this country.

More: BrendanJack.com

O Captain! My Captain! – El Bulli chef Ferran Adrià will be at this year’s Design Indaba

Posted on 14. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

It's no secret that we have a running tab over at the Yuppiechef store…or that along with the DVD movies like Bloodsport, The Bourne Ultimatum and Shrek 2 sitting on the office shelves we also have the first season of chef Anthony Bourdain's culinary trip around the world, sampling things sewer rats would question eating.

So when hearing that celebrated chef Ferran Adrià from the no. 1 rated restaurant in the world El Bulli will be speaking at this year's Design Indaba – there was excitement and weeping all round.

This guy literally uses food like blocks of Lego – completely disregarding their original purpose God intended to create things like pea ravioli, fried rabbit's ear sandwiches and squirrel tail ice cream. Yummy!
A chef…no. A creative gastric madman…indeed.

Here's a video of what we know…

[Video link]

It should be damn interesting.

The very best of 2008

Posted on 13. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

Before washing your hands of the year 2008 – it would be rude not to give a hat tip to the most exciting, innovative and far-reaching marketing developments and stories that will forever define the year that was in our minds.

Probably the best and most comprehensive 'need-to-know' sources for that kind of heads-up is the annual 'Most Contagious' document which is now available for downloading here.
Go get yourself a steaming cuppa joe, pull this badboy up on screen and absorb.

British non-believers hit back via public transport

Posted on 12. Jan, 2009 by Jonathan Cherry.

Hello and welcome to the sixth season of Cherryflava.

Sick of being told that by not being a Christian you have chosen an afterlife of fire, brimstone and an endless loop of Kenny G tracks – British atheists have clubbed together and bought out the advertising space on 800 London buses and decorated the space with a message that reads: ‘There’s probably no God. So stop
worrying and enjoy your life’.

[BTW - rumour has it that if you write that line backwards and say it out loud in a Bruce Dickinson-like voice, it sounds awfully like the start of the third verse of Stairway to Heaven... Freaky]

The campaign is in response to Christian ads [probably sponsored by Benny Hinn and co.] that warn that by not believing in God, you subject yourself to extreme sadness and they strongly advise against it.
Not surprisingly the campaign is supported by Richard Dawkins and seems to have stirred up strong support amongst people who attended last year’s Led Zeppelin reunion concert. [thanks Sharon]

All the same – it’s refreshing to see annoying advertising space being used for something other than the rampant promotion of consumerism.
2009 is certainly set to be an absolute cracker.

More:

Richard Dawkins launches ‘There is no God’ adverts on buses across Britain – Times Online
The atheist bus journey – Guardian