Blog — Page 101 of 277

What’s Sumatra with you? – Hey Tiger

As the Beatles ever so eloquently put it, all you need is love – but a lil’ chocolate every now and then certainly does not hurt, especially if it is being produced in a sustainable manner, i.e. not only by reducing harm but doing more good.

Started as grassroots small-scale operation fuelled by not only a passion for making quality chocolate but with the aim of having a social impact while doing so, Hey Tiger has organically evolved into a social enterprise whose dealings impact the communities the lion’s share of the world’s cocoa is grown, i.e. West Africa, by a partnership with The Hunger Project to fund their women led community development programs in the cocoa farming belt of Ghana.

Now, when it comes to Hey Tiger’s portfolio of chocolate bars, things are taken to the next level in every aspect imaginable – we are talking about a multi-sensory experience before one gets to the delicious crux of the matter.

The packaging and the designs that adorn not only the bar but also the boxes – no matter if your order comes in a specifically designed colourful gift box that is graced with their opulently designed spirit animal, the regular post boxes or satchels, attention to detail reigns supreme and brings back some of the playful excitement that has been associated with indulging in chocolatey treats from childhood.

Once unwrapped, the handmade chocolate bars, which come in a carefully array of flavour combinations start the flavour experience that is accentuated in equal measure by flavours and texture.

The first bar I experienced I loved for the flavour hybrid alone, as it combines some of my favourite treats, i.e. the NYC-style salty peanut butter and pretzel praline. What could have ended up as double whammy in terms of calories, feels surprisingly on the lighter side of things due to the carefully selected fresh ingredients.

With Hey Tiger’s ambitious plans to launch a new flavour variations each month, each of which transcend the realms of classic pairings the European school relies on and essentially based more on the approach of an inventive chef rather than a classic chocolatier, my anticipation for new releases is not dissimilar to new 7”s being announced for members of the Pushead and Sub Pop fan clubs in the nineties.

Given my love for whisk(e)y, Hey Tiger’s vegan woodsmoke infused whisky chocolate went down a treat with a recent Octomore tasting and it served as an example par excellence that even the more exotic flavours are not merely created for novelty’s sake, but are refined deliberate experiments with carefully calibrated delicious outcomes.

Think of combining wild flavour variants that have become commonplace on the chocolate firmament in the US infused with dessert experiences and voila – you got Hey Tiger: Do good chocolate with both milk and vegan variants that not try to mimic traditional ingredients but reinvent the traditional approach and take the enjoyment that chocolate is to the next level.

Pie International Publishing

The name of the publishing house “PIE” is an acronym standing for “Pretty”, “Impressive”, “Entertaining” and was founded by a graphic designer with long-standing experience. Given the founder’s pedigree and expertise, it is not further wondrous that Pie International’s releases have an edge to them that is informed by the background of someone who thoroughly understands how designs works and what the merits of great design are. The tenet of Pie International and its publications is not merely to release great looking books for the uninitiated, but to also offer a source of inspiration for aficionados and creatives and enable them to discover new designers from different realms they might have not had access to.

What started with a Japanese focus has now evolved into a worldwide network incorporating not only art and culture from all corners of this earthround, but also publications on lifestyle, comics and cookbooks with the focus on quality – both content-wise as well as printing – being the common denominator.

Hell in Japanese Art

Shakespeare might have been of the opinion that hell is empty and all the devils are here, but Pie International’s highly imaginative tome on how the netherworld is perceived in Japanese culture suggests otherwise. Based on traditional Japanese artworks, this collection comprises emissions from both established artists like Kazunobu Kano, Nhichosai, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka and Kyosai Kawanabe as well as unknown ones from the twelfth to the nineteenth century.

A fantastic resource specifically for those interested in design, as details are enlarged to showcase the craft that went into the respective creations, which help to elicit a wide spectrum of emotions far beyond the realm of what “hell” is usually associated with, i.e. some of the depictions do not lack humour and there is hardly a depictions that is not thought-provoking.

A gorgeous, high quality, opulently illustrated book that is accompanied by insightful texts, resource materials and essays by historians that contextualises the vivid portrayal of what awaits us South of heaven.

Gateway to Another World

The Real-life World of Fantasy Games and Animations

Online gaming has not only become a profitable industry but a veritable world in itself, a world that for the younger generation does not only come close to real life, but has partly become a substitution and thereby changed the way they interact with their environments.

The Real-life World of Fantasy Games and Animations conveys the excitement that thrills children when they immerse themselves in not only virtual worlds but also fantasy novels and anime and how their experiences transcend, redefine and translate to the real world.

With the author Shimizu Daisuke being a bona fide luminary and accolade decorated creator in the realm of virtual gaming, we got someone qualified at the helm of inducting the recipient into imaginary worlds and it is nothing less than fascinating to be able to share his viewpoint on life, reality and how it can be bent

Hokusai Manga

Hokusai and his woodblock printing technique is known the world over not merely because it was exported to the old world in the nineteenth century, but because once other artists laid eyes on his work, they instantaneously recognized the unique craft Hokusai channelled, which was unlike anything else that was known in the Western world.

Being a master of Ukiyo-e and having refined the way of depicting the lives and habits of his contemporaries as well as mythical events, Pie International’s book on the master serves not only as an introduction for the uninitiated but also as a charming reference book with pieces selected from his extensive catalogue of artworks.

Nobu's Vegetarian Cookbook

I love Japanese cuisine – all facets of it, from the rituals around the meticulous preparation to the deliciously calibrated flavours that materialize on the top of your roof.

Nobu is a master chef and if you have ever had the fortune to sample from his cuisine, you would be aware that his approach to food takes things to the next level.

Nobu's Vegetarian Cookbook is a telling name for this beautifully illustrated cookbook as the focus is firmly set not only on replacing fish and meat but using vegetable in ways in variation that is rarely seen.

The World of Mucha: A Journey to Two Fairylands: Paris and Czech

Last time I was exposed to the world of Mucha was in Seoul, where I had the privilege to attend an exhaustive exhibition. Pie International’s collection of Mucha’s romantic art is the equivalent in book form to what I experience, comprised of over three hundred and fifty paintings that highlight the alchemy this precise artist channelled to not only lift what was known as Art Nouveau to new heights, but also transport the recipient to pleasantly alien, at times psychedelic, absinthe tinged worlds.

The resurgence and popularity of Art Nouveau in the nineteen sixties only helped to elevate Alphonse Mucha’s legacy to prominence and cemented his status.

Pie International’s take on Mucha is a comprehensive, wonderfully illustrated journey documenting Mucha’s humble beginnings in France and depicting his most characteristic works in the realms of fine art but also graphic design at large up until his career ended in Czechoslovakia.

Accompanied by essays shedding light on the historical context as well as details in how Mucha created his art, the book not only offers eye candy galore, but makes it an excellent resource for designers looking for inspiration to infuse their practice with magical elements.

After the Red Army Faction: Gender, Culture, and Militancy

The impact the Red Army Faction (RAF) and the implications of its reign of terror have left a lasting imprint not only on Western Germany at the time but also on the development of Germany ever since. This impact does not exhaust itself within the realm of politics but also reaches far into the realms of philosophical thought and art.

After the Red Army Faction: Gender, Culture, and Militancy explores why specifically women were to prominent not only within the ranks of the RAF, but what can be derived from it to explain the prevalence of gender issues and violence in this day and age. Having read many books on the subject of the Rote Armee Fraktion, Charity Scribner’s angle offers refreshingly new insights and takes on what lay beneath the radical potential of the group, especially when it comes to post-militant aspects pertaining to sexual and gender politics.

Backed by analytical references to the emissions of philosophers of the Frankfurter Schule, and core texts of the main protagonists, Scribner goes on to investigate contemporary art forms, literature, cinema and mass media.

Having been a tad sceptical upon approach, the book manages to make clear connections in an objective manner between the tenets of the female dominated RAF, the interaction with the political and societal status quo of the 1970s and 1980s and how it connects to where we are now – long after it ceased to exist.

Nostalgia for the Future: Modernism and Heterogeneity in the Visual Arts of Nazi Germany

Anyone who has delved a bit into German history from 1933-1945 would know how far the regime’s propaganda machine reached into all facets of life to further its political agenda. Specifically in the world of the arts, modernism was demonized and portrayed to be actively contributing to the dilution of German art. Where it gets interesting is when one discovers inconsistencies in the regime’s trope and narrative.

Unwanted art was declared as “Entartete Kunst”, i.e. “degenerate art”, however, upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that even after the forceful purges of museums and advocacy for the ideals of Aryan perfection, author Maertz proves that within the upper echelons of the Nazi party, some sorts of modernist artists and their oeuvre were actively supported, which enabled their continuation until the collapse of the regime.

The aforementioned is not Gregory Maertz’s only angle, as he also carefully sheds light on the denazification and the way the new world coined the post-war world by the way they rehabilitated some artists and shunned others.

History of Art in Japan

Now, where does one even start?

Declaring that Japan’s history of art is not only rich but unrivalled in terms of eccentricity and decorum and idiosyncratic, would be an understatement par excellence.

In essence, History of Art in Japan is a masterful account not only in that art history Tsuji Nobuo not only chronicles historical facts, but expertly manages to highlight and shed light on the distinctive shades and nuance that have formed the DNA of the country’s cultural heritage, the influence of which continues to reverberate throughout the world.

Opulently illustrated, with his imaginative takes and accurate viewpoints, Nobuo draws connections from antic times to the ever-multiplying fascinating modern subcultures and how they are connected yet still characteristically different.

A fantastic encyclopaedic resource not merely for the dedicated Japan aficionado but anyone remotely interested in art history as the tome never fails to maintain an internationally relevant frame of reference.

The Formative Years – Classical Music

The fact that the strict principles classical music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries adhered to became the foundation of pretty much any musical genre that was going to emerge after the heydays of its original composers should not be surprising to anyone remotely into music.

Listen to how Beethoven epically channelled his inner turmoil, Handel’s oratorios,  the complexity of Bach’s compositions, Mozart’s focus on three to four chords and specifically Schubert’s arrangements, and it becomes obvious that their reoccurring themes served as the blueprint not only for what was going to become the chorus of modern music but the DNA of rock and punk.

Specifically the Baroque period and its richly ornamented emissions, timbre and extensive use of contrast as a dramatic element, has provided the framework for what blue and rock was going to evolve to.

My first exposure to classical music was in elementary school where we were taken to concerts and made to choose an instrument to learn. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, it did not really resonate with my inner core.

That was about to change when in my pre-teens when I was exposed to Anthony Burgess’ Clockwork Orange, where the main protagonist’s conditioning against classical music and specifically references to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the resulting events not only sparked a deeper connection but also the urge to watch and listen how Stanley Kubrick transitioned the book into the realm of cinema.

The way the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange combined classical music and electronic music and the impression it made on me not only changed my outlook on music and what it could serve as a catalyst for, but also instantaneously explained where quite a few of the more successful synth pop bands of the eighties got their inspiration from.

Under the aegis of an ambitious music teacher, my early teens not only saw a departure into punk rock and juvenile delinquency but into the Beatles’ rich catalogue and the complex compositions of Richard Wager. The latter of which has had a lasting impact on how I interpret musical phrases to be associated with characters and plot element and who made me look at music as a means of story telling and the impact it can have  far beyond composition reaching into all facets of life. I cannot neither recall the times I have witness the Nibelungenring incarnate in over twenty countries not the times I was humbled by meeting fellow enthusiasts and the knowledge they were kind enough to share on the intricacies of creative viewpoints and cultivated sensitivities.

Growing older, listening to classical music has become more and more a therapeutic exercise during turbulent times, especially when craving balance, recalibration and symmetry.

David Sedaris – “Holidays on Ice” and “Calypso”

Hachette Australia

David Sedaris is many things – accomplished author, radio host and humourist but first and foremost a master when it comes to observation of the human condition and the often comical side-effects and faux-pas, which he sheds light on in his own idiosyncratic cheerful yet oftentimes subtly dark and misanthropic ways. Needless to say that Sedaris has entered the canon of mainstream literary culture a long time ago and subsequently draws large crowds wherever he holds court.

Since it has been a while since I read Sedaris’ excellent first emissions, it was time to check in to see how his approach has evolved with his recent books.

With a telling title, “Holidays on Ice”  has its foci firmly set on the Christmas season and the mindless consumption and blind indulging it comes with along with the emotional baggage that sooner or later is bound to find its way to the surface during family gatherings.

While Sedaris Christmassy explorations do not necessarily unearth anything groundshakingly new, but his strength has always been that he realistically positions himself smack bang in the middle of the action as not merely a critic but a participant – in for a penny, in for a pound.

“Holidays on Ice” is infused by Sedaris’ dry wit and smart observations, which specifically works when he sets his aim at anything American. Having relocated to France quite a while ago, his writings about European customs and occurrences, however, are more that of an amused travel reporter dispatching snapshots back home – in so far my impression of “Holidays on Ice” was very much in line with what I derived from his early publications.

“Calypso” constitutes Sedaris’ tenth collection of essays centred around his family and close circle and I found it an interesting departure from his usual style as there seems to be an added layer of empathy that elevates his musings and makes them rawer, realer and at times a bid sadder than what he scripted in its predecessors.

“Calypso” shows how Sedaris has mastered his craft and that he can expertly pull the strings and levers with very minimal effort to elicit reactions when he exposes foibles with surgical precision, which in many instances must resonate with the recipient, especially if they belong to the target group of being middle-aged.

Things get raw when Sedaris examines the impact of his sister’s suicide and its impact on his identity both as a person and a writer, which is where growth shows that goes beyond the realm of mere comedic impact – Sedaris is transcending the persona he has established for himself and not only plays with emotions but does so in a manner that feels more real and truthful than before.