And while making them isn’t exactly rocket science, we were pretty stumped trying to remember a recipe off the top of our heads. So this Pancake Day, we’ve done the legwork for you…

Ingredients:

• 110g/4oz plain flour
• 250ml milk
• 50g/2oz butter
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt

.

Making it happen:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, crack in the eggs, and whisk.
2. Gradually add the milk, still whisking – and once it’s all in, scrape any escaped flour back into the mixture with a spatula and whisk for Britain, until any lumps have disappeared and the batter is smooth, like thin cream.
3. Melt the butter in a pan, spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter, and put the rest to one side ready to grease your pancake pan with.
4. Grease that pancake pan! Then get it really hot before turning the heat down to medium, and ladle in a small amount of batter for a test pancake (I find the first one usually goes Pete Tong, so calling it a test pancake means moving on to Pancake #2 with your dignity intact). As soon as your batter hits the pan, fling the pan about in a circular motion to get an even coating – then leave to cook for about 30 seconds.
5. Lift the edge of the pancake with a knife. If it’s golden in colour, you’re ready to flip. If it’s black, announce the completion of Test Pancake #2 to any spectators present, pray silently for salvation, and start again.
6. Now for the flip. Put that spatula down, you’re a pro – you’ve just cooked a pancake for crying out loud! – and you’re going to flip it like one. Give the pan a quick shimmy to loosen your creation, adopt the position of a champion fencer pre-lunge, bend at the knees, and GO!
7. If it lands on the floor and no one saw, then the 10-second rule absolutely applies. If it lands in the pan, try to appear nonchalant (pride comes before third degree burns) give it a few seconds on the hob, then whack it on a plate – or, if you’re serving a few people in one go, stack between sheets of greaseproof paper, and keep in the oven under some foil until your batter-based banquet is ready.
8. To serve, smother in lashings of sugar and lemon, syrup, Marmite – whatever floats your boat – and enjoy (while pondering who on earth would actually choose Marmite).

Happy Pancake Day!

Unfortunately, Andy has neither eagle eyes or a cord to pull for choice phrases. But he does have an impressively bushy beard.

Well actually, it appears to be everything. The more I read/watch about it, the more excited I become. But also a tiny bit more confused too.

It’s certainly the most powerful handheld games console ever produced, with launch (and coming soon) titles including nearly all of Playstation’s big franchises such as Uncharted, COD and Little Big Planet. And it’s so powerful that you can start a game on your PS3, and then carry on playing it on your Vita on your way to work. Or play against PS3 players on your Vita. And then I saw footage of someone playing Battlefield 3 on Vita, streamed from their PS3. Jaw. Dropped.

So then I was confused. If you can do this, why do you need any PS Vita titles at all? And can you do this on the move? And was this even a real video? Why hadn’t I heard about this before?

One thing I was certain about was that you can play on the move like nobody’s business, wifi or 3G. And with ‘Near’ (which shows players physically close to you) you’ll never be short of someone to humiliate on the train on the way home. But hang on, does that cost more? The 3G version comes with a Vodafone PAYG Sim, so it sounds like it. Unless that means it’s a phone too and that’s just for calls? (I actually do know that. It’s not. I don’t think.)

But anyway, with the incredibly high resolution and crystal clear screen, will I ever bother playing games? Maybe I’ll be too busy watching films. With all the internet connectivity, I can probably just use it to watch TV. Can’t I? And how do I get my films from home onto it? Memory cards? It does take memory cards.

And anyway, I’ll probably be too busy Tweeting, Facebooking and Skyping I should imagine. Won’t I? And certainly using the two touch screens to manipulate like never before. Probably. And using the built in GPS, and two cameras for… something or other.

I’m confused as to what I actually want this little beauty for. It’s an iPhone and a Playstation all in one. I’m generally not bothered about handhelds at all, but this one… it’s got something. Just don’t know what it is.

And will that be a problem?

The launch ad focuses on gaming on the move, but doesn’t get round to talking about all the other lovely stuff. It can’t, not unless Sony makes 12-minute ads. But when people get excited about this new handheld, and then find out it’s a cool £279.99, they’re not going to see it as a bargain. Especially compared to the £135 Nintendo DS.

Incidentally, retailer Game seems to be trying to confuse everyone further (and pushing them towards the more expensive 3G version in the process) by listing the benefits of both the 3G and wifi version side by side. Interestingly, according to them, ‘stunning graphics’ are only a feature of the 3G version!

There’s almost too much to get your head around with Vita. Sony has a massive communication/education problem on its hands. There’s so much to talk about, and only so much time before people hear the price tag and walk away, unaware that they’re leaving behind a machine that does everything.

Everything except make it clear exactly why it’s worth the money.

Quentin Blake explains, “I think the very presence of pictures helps to make being in, or visiting a hospital a more normal, less alien experience. What I have tried to include is a certain amount of detail, some interesting activities, and some suggestions of the little drama of relationships, so that the viewers – especially any who have to wait – may feel the desire to go on looking and perhaps even to speculate about the stories happening in front of them.”

His work has featured in a mental health ward, a clinic for eating disorders and a maternity ward. The exhibition is on until April 15th.

Violets are blue,

We remembered this ad,

And thought… yeah, this is pretty funny – let’s stick it on the blog.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The tournament will be held at the Lucozade Powerleague at Wembley on the 27th March, so…are you up for the cup? If you fancy getting involved please get in touch with harriet@sjslondon.com.

Thanks to the support of our friends at MCV who’ve got the ball rolling.

To find out more about Games Aid please visit www.gamesaid.org

If you look at our current  Wembley Ad via this link,  you will also notice how an article regarding Harry Redknapp and the ‘England hype’ happen to be very close to our ad ‘We’re on our way to Wembley’. Our influence knows no bounds…….

We’re putting on a series of small gigs in Suffolk, throughout the year, featuring artists of the calibre that appear at our summer Maverick Festival.

This Saturday Brigitte DeMeyer is playing the Crown Hotel in Framlingham supported by Will Kimbrough. The last couple of featured guests on the Bob Harris country show on BBC Radio 2 have mentioned the unsung guitar virtuosity of Mr Kimbrough. The name sounded familiar, I checked him out on Spotify and the sleeves looked familiar too and would you believe it, there sitting on the cd shelves at home, male artists A-M, two Will Kimbrough albums. I’ve not played them to death, but there time has come and after this weekends performance will sound all the sweeter.

One of the joys of my obsession with music is (re)discovering albums that almost got away. Now I’m finding Will Kimbrough’s credits cropping up on all manner of cds, from Emmylou to Steve Earle via Johnny Cash and John Prine.

Oh and he’s all over the new Gretchen Peters which is pretty damn good. Roll on Saturday.

I’m also a fan of octopus’s in the real world too.

Any favourites?

The innovators have stopped innovating – or at least slowed down while we all catch up with our useful, shiny gizmos. Pundits are speculating on what the next innovations will be and where they will come from. Forbes Magazine recently published an article called ‘The end of innovation’ and eminent economists are saying the developed world has ‘gorged itself on low hanging fruit’. Someone else has called it ‘The New Stagnation’.

The innovators have now become refiners and profit harvesters. The next ipad will be pretty much the same as the last ipad, iphone 5 could possibly come in a range of colours – wow, can’t wait…it seems we are entering an era of updates and versions – not knock your socks off thrilling originality.

Eight of the ten biggest grossing films last year were sequels – so were nine of the top ten video games. In music, despite pockets of original output here and there, the mass market seems happy to lap up regurgitated awfulness fuelled by cringe ‘reality’ TV and wannabe celebrity, me, me, me culture.

When you think of the huge diversity and creative change that ‘popular’ music (and culture) went through in the 50s to the 60s to the 70s and even, God forbid, the 80s (a bit) the global music scene seems to have gone into slow motion.

It’s not just technology and entertainment that seems to have hit the innovation wall.

The mainstream fashion industry – that so called hotbed of creativity – seems content to fiddle and tinker. We are now conditioned to buy new jeans that look like someone else has worn them for some time. It’s happening with shoes as well. The price includes water stains and turned up toes for that great used look.

It seems our lives are so fast now that we just can’t wait for anything – even for reality to kick in and do its thing.

Just who is in charge of puffa jackets by the way? Who said they should now be extremely glossy? Fashion. It’s no surprise that models look so incredibly bored and miserable. Actually, it’s probably just because they are starving hungry.

So, where are the really big ideas? Where is the next space programme? What are we actually going to do about the bigger issues in our world? Are we now so satisfied that we can have virtually everything we want when we want it that we’ve lost the desire? Don’t we have enough? Has technology done our imagination more harm than good by smothering us with all the answers?

Perhaps we’ve done our bit and are now looking eastwards to supply the next 100 years of excitement. ‘Now it’s your turn’ kind of thing.

Everything is so accessible, available and to most, affordable – or at least ‘gettable’.

Perhaps if pocket calculators were still £250 and computers were virtually priceless, it would be different. Our sense of wonder would be more acute.  We reach further when we have a real need to.

No wonder there’s a trend back towards ‘classic’, well made, durable, beautiful ‘things’ and trusted ideas. ‘Vintage’ is huge with markets and fairs everywhere. Tribute acts are everywhere, the trend in architecture is mid century…are we actually going backwards?

STOP! This is all sounding a bit ‘the end is nigh’ and grumpy.

Obviously, innovation is a broad church that comes in all shapes and sizes, speeds, colours and er, versions.

Anyone with an ounce of aesthetic sense needs at least an occasional hit of fresh, well-crafted thinking delivered with energy and a smile on its face.

We may not have the answer for the global economic crisis, but we can do that!

*From ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ by The Who.