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paulcarvill.com

Hi, I'm Paul Carvill and I'm a web developer. I am Head of Interface Development at LBi, Europe's largest digital agency.

I also like walking, cooking, Bollywood and rock 'n' roll.

Archive for June, 2007

Chocoholic

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

My taste for fine chocolate is well known, but it reached its apogee this week when I purchashed a one of Rococo Chocolate’s ‘Artisan Bars’. These are handcrafted, organic bars of rich, dark chocolate, flavoured with botanical ingredients. I went for the cardamom flavoured bar. It was delicious.

The product packaging was what, as it so often is, initially caught my eye. This is an age obsessed with the infantilization of marketing strategies – see Innocent smoothie’s childlike whimsy, Orange’s playschool style cardboard cutouts, E4’s forced “tellybox” slang, and many more.

But the wrapper of this bar is exquisite. Printed in monotone blue, it features etchings of chocolate bar moulds and motifs from a 19th century manufacturer’s catalogue, complete with dimensions and weight measurements. The whole thing is then wrapped twice around the bar, completing a simple, understated yet luxurious feeling package.

Top marks Rococo!

Friday, June 29th, 2007

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

The British hate politicians, and always have done, says A A Gill

Friday, June 22nd, 2007

Muslims’ Veils Test Limits of Britain’s Tolerance – from NYTimes.com

Cornershop…time to shut up shop?

Friday, June 22nd, 2007

It was nice to see Cornershop picked by Jarvis Cocker to play as part of his Meltdown selection. It would also have been nice to hear from the man himself the reasoning behind his choice. This is a band who haven’t released an album in over 5 years ( 2002’s Handcream for a Generation).

They suffered from some awful sound problems for the first few songs, rendering Tjinder Singh’s already quiet voice virtually inaudible. Following that they belted out most of their well-known stuff – Brimful of Asha, Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III etc. The rhythm section pumped out fat, loose 70’s funk riffs, and if they put their mind to it Cornershop could have been one of the great party bands. A small crowd of people did run down the aisles of the Queen Elizabeth Hall to boogie at the front, but Singh’s notorious aversion to live gigs and audience interaction meant that this gig was disappointing.

They debuted no new material. They don’t seem to have progressed at all in the last 5 years. Why were they here, why turn up if you have nothing to say?

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

The Dreamers

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

A Matter of Life and Death at the National Theatre

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Water

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Jindabyne

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

The Damned Utd by David Peace