Kit Kat

TweetEvery Friday, Stately Beat Mansion invites round a comic creator or two for a cup of tea, complementary Kit Kat, and a chat about their work in The Phoenix. The Phoenix is a UK series which features a range of the best all-ages comics available, from all kinds of wonderful creators – all compiled into a single issue each week! The Phoenix have very kindly commissioned a whizzy spaceship just for this feature, which sails across to The Mansion every week with a new creator onboard. This week sees Rob Deas cruise on over to tell us about Troy Trailblazer, a series appearing in today’s newest issue. If you want to find out more, then try an issue of The Phoenix for yourself! Steve: Who is Troy Trailblazer? Rob: Troy Trailblazer is an intergalactic archaeologist and all round action hero. Think a young Indiana Jones in space and you’re half way there. Joining him on his adventures are his trusty sidekicks Barrus, a super tough, blue fuzzball and Blip, a highly practical maintenance and evaluation droid. Most stories centre on the search for a particular treasure such as the Starfire Sword (Phoenix issues 27 – 32) The Creation Stone (Phoenix Issues 42 – 51) or The Flute of the Desert Kings (Issues 58 – 59). Our heroes usually get sidetracked by some dastardly villain and end up in whole load of trouble before prevailing in the end. Steve: What’s your favourite thing about this week’s story? Rob: Well it’s the start of a brand new series, Troy Trailblazer: And the Princess of Paragon, and it’s a little different from my earlier tales in that it doesn’t centre on the search for treasure. It’s exciting to be breaking away from my trusted formula. This time Troy is roped in to helping a beautiful alien princess escape a fearsome pack of Bounty Hunters, a task which leads him to the hostile bounty hunter planet of Barabous. I’m really pleased with the villains in this story; they’re a real nasty bunch and make my previous bad guys look pretty harmless by comparison. I’m also trying lots of new things visually this time around, taking my art back to basics with zero photo textures, fewer 3D models and hardly any digital effects, all stuff I used to use a lot of. I’m still working completely digitally but I think the pages have a rawness and an energy about them that was perhaps missing in my earlier adventures. It’s really exciting to be experimenting with new techniques. Steve: What inspired the character? Rob: Troy is all about channelling my inner 9 year old and thinking back to what I used to love back in the day. I grew up in the 80?s so a lot of my inspiration comes from classic Saturday morning cartoons such as He-Man, Thundercats, Ulysses 31, Transformers, Mask, Action Force etc. I used to love the whole action figure/cartoon crossover thing and even now I tend to think very commercially. When designing characters I usually ask myself “Would this guy / gal make a cool action figure?” If the answer is ‘no’ it’s back to the drawing board. There’s nothing pretentious about the way I create my stories, it’s all about fun characters, thrills, spills and ultimate bang for your buck action! Steve: Where else can people find your work? What else do you have coming up in the future? Rob: I used to be better known for my work on classic literary adaptations such as Manga Shakespeare: Macbeth and Pride & Prejudice for SelfMadeHero. Both very different from my work on Troy, especially Pride and Prejudice which called for a much softer line and a more delicate approach, a challenge I really relished. I also do a lot of work for Medikidz, a publisher specialising in medical comic books that help explain illnesses to children in an accessible way, using a team of young superheroes that travel inside the human body. I’ve worked on 4 full-length titles for them over the last 3 years and helped to redesign their core characters. To find out more about my other work head on over to my website: www.rdomics.co.uk. As for the rest

photo credit: friedtoast If you’ve only ever eaten a Kit Kat in the United States, you’d have no idea that an entire world of candy goodness awaits you beyond our shores. Kit Kats in the USA do not taste like those in the rest of the world, because they are produced under license by The Hershey Company instead of by Nestle, like in the rest of the world. In the US they have more sugar and less milk in the chocolate. The Kit Kat was invented in the UK in 1935. The traditional bar has four fingers which each measure approximately 1 centimeter (0.39 in) by 9 centimeters (3.5 in). Kit Kat bars contain varying numbers of fingers depending on the market, ranging from the half-finger sized Kit Kat Petit in Japan to the three-fingered variants in Arabia to the twelve-finger Kit Kat family-size bars in Australia and France. Kit Kat bars are sold either individually or in bags, boxes or multi-packs. According to Wikipedia, “In recent years, Kit Kats have also become very popular in Japan, a phenomenon attributed to the coincidental similarity between the bar’s name and the Japanese phrase kitto katsu, which roughly translates to “You will surely win!” This has reportedly led to parents and children buying them for school examination days as a sort of good luck charm.” It was also in Japan that Kit Kat began releasing a wide of different flavors. This photo set from Flickr highlights 120 different flavors the photographer has come across. Since each of the unique flavors is only available for a limited time, there’s no easy way to get flavors that aren’t currently being manufactured. Do you want to start an online business but don’t know what niche to tackle? How about “Kit Kats of the World”? Luckily, KitKatsOfTheWorld.com is available, too! After the jump is a complete list of all of the different flavored Kit Kats available. From Wikipedia: Kit Kat Original — (different taste and texture in different countries) Pickled Plum — Japan Bubblegum — Japan (made with blue chocolate) Mango — Japan (made with yellow chocolate) Rose: Japan Lemon vinegar — Japan Kit Kat Fine Dark — UK, Spain & Germany variant of Kit Kat Dark Chocolate Kit Kat Cacao 61% — Japan (newer version of Kit Kat Bitter with 61% cocoa content) Kit Kat Sakura (Cherry blossom) — Japan — Kit Kat Cacao 72% — Japan — dark chocolate petits with 72% cocoa content Kit Kat White Creme — US permanent edition (current version of US Kit Kat White made with vegetable oil based candy coating rather than pure white chocolate) Kit Kat White — Japan & Spain Kit Kat Iced Tea — Japan Kit Kat Wasabi — Japan Kit Kat Caramel and Salt — Japan Kit Kat Cucumber — Japan Kit Kat Kinako (soybean flour) — Japan Kit Kat Wa Guri (Chestnut flavour) — Japan Kit Kat Green Tea (Matcha) — Japan Kit Kat Milky White — Germany variant of Kit Kat White Chocolate Kit Kat Mint — UK permanent edition, US limited edition (mint flavoured milk chocolate coating) Kit Kat Mint Chocolate — Australia (mint green colour wafers) Kit Kat Apple — Japan Kit Kat Orange — UK permanent edition, US, Japan, Malaysia limited edition. Kit Kat International Recipe — Malaysia, Singapore and selected East Asian countries (the chocolate was made from Ghana cocoa beans and thus had the tendency to melt down very easily when compared to Kit Kat Original) Kit Kat Café Latte with Hokkaid? Milk — Japan Kit Kat Kiwifruit — Japan Kit Kat Strawberry — Japan Kit Kat Peach — Japan Kit Kat Caramac — UK Kit Kat Chocolate Overload — Australia (milk chocolate outside, chocolate creme filling and chocolate wafers) Kit Kat Gold — Japan — petits with fudge-like covering and dusted cocoa powder on outside Kit Kat Noisette (Hazelnut) — Germany Kit Kat Lite — India — two finger bar with 50% less sugar Kit Kat Carb Alternatives — US (low carbohydrate version with 50% less sugar) Kit Kat Low Carb — UK Kit Kat Cantaloupe — Japan Kit Kat Pineapple — South Africa Kit Kat

Kcal 190 Fat 9.0g (per bag) We've had some fantastic new products developed this year here in the UK confectionery market - Cadbury Dairy Milk Creations, Unilever's ice cream chocolates, the Kit Kat Chunky competition 2013 and the likes of Hotel Chocolat up to their usual tricks with their seasonal lines. What is the response from Mars UK? These all NEW Mars Mix would seem to be the answer. We found this 40.0g bag of Mars Mix sitting on shelf in Tesco priced at £0.60. For a bag smaller than your average chocolate bar we weren't impressed with the price, but in the name of covering everything for you guys we purchased a few bags to take back to the office. Aesthetically the product didn't look a all differentiated from any standard Mars branded product, a black, plastic packet material with red and gold lettering - we didn't expect anything different. Described on pack as ' 'milk chocolate with assorted centres' we were wondering how these were going to differ from the Mars Planets (Review from 2008 - HERE) that have been on the UK market for what seems like forever now. Opening the packet we greeted with small sized milk chocolate covered ball pieces that carried the usual sweet milk chocolate aromas of your everyday Mars bar. Taking handfuls at a time we carried out our taste test and much to our delight we were greeted with some very familiar sweet milk chocolate, buttery caramel and malty nougat flavours - Yummy!! To say we didn't enjoy these would be a lie ... we mostly did! Overall these Mars Mix were great - thumbs up for the taste test!! BUT ... and yes of course there is BUT .... (get ready for the rant...) ... how on earth can Mars substantiate that these are by any means NEW!? They've simply taken out the crispy pieces from the Mars Planets bags ... replaced the word 'Planets' with 'Mix' and slapped on a NEW sticker to entice people in. Thats not impressive - thats lazy innovation!! If someone hands you a bag of these of these don't despair - enjoy them by all means! Just dont go out your way to buy them if you want something different from the norm. A highly disappointing response to a market that is rife with some great new products. 7.1 out of 10

Sometimes stuff just isn't 'right'...end of, full stop, period.I finished the walnut cabinet on a stand a while ago and positioned in the lounge. To begin with, it looked great and I couldn't see anything that looked out of place. The cabinet itself was fairly chunky...as it was intended to be and the doors lined up perfectly.Happy bunny so far...but the more I glanced at the stand, the less enthusiastic I became about it...it just didn't look right. The colour contrast was too great, but the most annoying thing is that the legs (at 32mm square) are just a mite too chunky.The more I glanced at it, the more certain I became that something had to be done.So last Saturday, some more legs and rails in English Walnut were cut (well over size) and are now quietly conditioning in the 'shop. With any luck and a following wind, the new stand will be a nice little project for next winter.In the meantime, I have to finish off the current Japanese lamp by making the shoji panels (frames are already made) then repeat the performance by re-making the panels on another lamp (this time in English Oak), then make a curved door, wall hung cabinet in Oak...Wish I had a Kit Kat.

TweetEvery Friday, Stately Beat Mansion invites round a comic creator or two for a cup of tea, complementary Kit Kat, and a chat about their work in The Phoenix. The Phoenix is a UK series which features a range of the best all-ages comics available, from all kinds of wonderful creators – all compiled into a single issue each week! The Phoenix have very kindly commissioned an old pirate ship just for this feature, which sails across to The Mansion every week with a new creator onboard. This week sees Neill Cameron and Daniel Hartwell sail on over to tell us about The Pirates of Pangaea, a series appearing in today’s newest issue. If you want to find out more, then try an issue of The Phoenix for yourself! Steve: So, what is ‘The Pirates of Pangaea’ about? Neill: Pirates of Pangaea tells the story of Sophie Delacourt, a young and well-brought-up English girl of the early eighteenth century who, following the tragic loss of her parents, is shipped off to live with her uncle; governor of the British colony on the recently-discovered new continent of Pangaea. Where there are dinosaurs. And pirates. And pirates riding dinosaurs. Yeah. Dan: Sophie is accompanied by Kelsey, a clever boy who got lost in the Sea of Green during a research expedition. Kelsey has a tendency to let his stomach get him into trouble. Together Sophie and Kelsey stride across the land on Cornflower! A bright blue Tyranosaur that Sophie somehow managed to tame during one of her earliest adventures! Cornflower is fiercely loyal to Sophie, but like Kelsey she can cause a lot of problems when she gets hungry… Steve: What’s your favourite thing about this week’s story? Neill: Frankly, just that we managed to complete it and that I am not (at time of writing) dead or insane. This week’s episode is the final instalment of Escape From Razorbeak Mountain, our second big story arc, in which Sophie and Kelsey find themselves trying to defend a village of innocents from the wrath of our new baddy Raven Jess and her terrifying band of Pterodactyl pirates. It’s been a big, whopping long story with a lot of moving parts and character stuff going on, and the sheer challenge of tying it all together and resolving everything satisfactorily, in the space of four pages… was interesting. Dan: This is the big climax! Where it comes together and all the ups and downs of the previous episodes pay off. I’m getting excited just thinking about it. Seriously this episode is going to be AMAZING! Neill: Just from an art point of view, this episode was very satisfying to finally get to. There’s all kinds of stuff that we seeded in the story early on, little background details and such, that may have seemed extraneous at the time, or like I just obsessively like drawing unnecessary detail (which admittedly is true), but which all pays off here, in the mechanics of how the climax comes together. I realise this sounds very vague but I’m trying to avoid spoiling it! Steve: What inspired the story? Dan: Hmm. I think this story arc is all about overcoming fear. Bravery isn’t about not feeling any fear, it’s about being terrified to do something but forcing yourself to do it anyway, because you have to. Every day in the fearsome land of Pangaea is like this for Sophie. Neill:  Yeah, it’s also about pirates riding pterodactyls because we thought that would be awesome? Steve: Where else can people find your work? What else do you have coming up in the future? Neill: More Pirates of Pangaea, coming soon to the Phoenix! We’re following up the epic drama of Escape From Razorbeak Mountain with something that is as completely different as it is possible to be, while still being a story about pirates riding dinosaurs. I’m really excited about our next arc, it’s an absolute riot of sheer demented fun and calls for me to draw, amongst other things, more species of dinosaur in a single panel than I dare

Print this coupon to get a FREE King Size Kit Kat Minis at Kum & Go. Expires 5/19/13. Click here to find a location near you. The post Free Kit Kat at Kum & Go appeared first on The Freebie... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Limited Edition KIT KAT White was so popular, they were running out fast. The challenge for JWT, Sydney was to make the love for the product outlast the product itself, to promote talkability of the brand. We created The Final Fifty: 50 unique pieces of poster art made from the last 50 bars off the production line. Each one was hand crafted by renowned illustrator Mike Watt, who turned the melted chocolate from the final bars into preserved timeless works of art that were showcased online and in an exhibition. Advertising Agency: JWT, Sydney, Australia Executive Creative Director: Mark Harricks Creative Director: John Lam Art Director / Copywriter: John Koay Illustrator: Mike Watt Photographer: Matt Townsley Director: Jesse Mcelroy Head of print production: Trent Henderson

As previously mentioned in our interview with Jack Reacher stunt driver Joey Box, this week’s Comments of the Week winner is getting a signed Blu-ray copy of Jack Reacher. Pretty cool, huh? But who will win?? Read on and find out!High drama on Florida Friday.Ashley Burns told us the tale of a man who ran from the cops only to get mauled by a gator, leading him to an idea for “Gator Cop.” An idea Chareth Cutestory ran with.Chareth Cutestory“Did you really have to maul the Governor’s family, Gator Cop? Internal Affairs is all over my ass!”“What can I say, Chief? I guess I’m just an… instigator.”Chareth HAS MORE:“Good job bringing down that illegal fan boat racing ring, Gator Cop. Turns out you’re quite the… investigator.”And from Vince’s piece on the Inside Lyewyn Davis trailer MickTravis4Life had a little something to say:Carey Mulligan is just England’s bizarro Michelle Williams. It’s like if you are into buying the occasional Kit Kat. And then you take a trip to London and you’re all

Here are some interesting new and limited edition products found on store shelves by us and your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments. These Velveeta Toppers are the perfect thing to top a block of Velveeta. (Spotted by Kelly at Walmart.) Just in time for summer! Instead of having a small melted mess with a regular-sized Kit Kat bar, I can now have a huge melted mess with this. (Spotted by Kelley at Walmart.) These have been around for a few months, but I didn’t know they were an exclusive. Well, if it’s going to be exclusive, I’m going to be exclusive too and not eat it. Two can play this game! (Spotted by Eric at Walmart.) Hey, potato salad! Looks like you’re getting a spicy upgrade! Dude Foods reviewed it. (Spotted by Jerry at Met Food Supermarket.) McGuinness also makes a whipped cream version, which, oddly, looks to be the most normal of the three. (Spotted by Eric at LBCO in Canada.) Thank you to all t

Hi and welcome!!! Hope you all had a great week.    5 Features I know some of you only come once a week to the blog, so  Just in case you missed, here are 5 things I posted this week: DIY River Rock Mats = beautiful & practical entrance organizer Pigs in Mud Kit Kat Cake = best looking birthday cake ever!!! Friendship Necklace = easy Mothers Day Gift Flip flop refashion = from recycled dress 50 Crochet Flower Patterns = the first set of flowers. As well as that…: did you see the 5 features of last week’s party yet?  There were FABULOUS SUBMISSIONS and I featured just only 5 of them. Go check them out!  Note that you can always go back to prior party and go check out what others linked up. Amazing way to get great ideas for your blog, your kitchen, your kids, etc. ha ha…   Party 66 And now: linky party 66: link up everything good. (no shops/stuff of sale, no homepage, no linkyparty). All types of creative pursuits are welcome. Fine Craft is fine. Fine art is fine.