Candy Technology #1

Welcome my non-readers to the first in a new series of regular post on Audiences are for Suckers, the Forefront of Candy Technology. I have always been attracted to new advances in candy technology, in the same way a moth is attracted to a flame. Cherry ripes with milk chocolate, every wonka product under the sun, I make it my mission to try out new (and preferably shiny) items to make an appearance at my local supermarket/convenience store/vending machine.

And now, non-existant ones, I aim to share my experiences with you all! Every week or two I will be posting a review of a new item which catches my fancy, and on the off chance that there is nothing new to be had I can always return to some old favorites...

So now, it is my pleasure to introduce you all to... the Kit Kat (Chunky) Honeycomb! (tada)


When I first decided to start up this new review series, I knew I had to start off with something interesting. Instead, all I could find was a new Kit Kat with an extra ingredient. Although, it must be said that as this is a varient of a Kit Kat Chunky, which is itself a varient on the traditional Kit Kat, it is in fact a third generation candy product! That has to count for something right?

In terms of appearence, it was well packaged and easily recognisable as a variation on a Kit Kat. The hook (Honeycomb) was obvious and generally I was left in little doubt about what I was getting. In comparison the new Picnic Hedgehog, while obviously new, doesn't really clue you in to why. I can only hope that it doesn't involve actual hedgehogs, as I plan to review that bar at some point and hedgehog meat is kind of gamey.

But who cares about appearance, right? Much more important is how does it taste? Well, I am happy to report that it tastes suspiciously like chocolate with honeycomb in it. And wafer I guess.

Unfortunately my thoughtless fiancee put the bar in the fridge when we got home from the supermarket, so it was rock hard (like my abs would be if I didn't eat crap like this). Since half the bar was solid chocolate rather than the usual wafer of a kit kat, it was tough going. In the name of science, I persevered.


Here is a cross section of the honeycomb laden chocolate vs the traditional kit kat wafer. Let me also take the opportunity to acknowledge the inadequacy of our camera for close-quarters candy-related photography.

Overall, I was happy with my Kit Kat Honeycomb experience. It was both kit katty and honeycombious so they get 10 out of 10 for honesty (although truth be told I was expecting something more like a Crunchy rather than what I got, after the pictures of big honeycomb chunks on the wrapper).

Would I buy another one for more recreational purposes? Nah, probably not. Ultimately it just tasted like any generic chocolate with honeycomb in it, the fact that it was a Kit Kat really wasn't much of a selling point. I didn't regret spending money on it, but thats about as far as it goes.

Richard's Ranking: 6 out of 10
Suzy's Reaction: One Thumb Up

Well, heres hoping you enjoyed reading my new review as much as I enjoyed researching it! Join us again next week for another installment of the Forefront of Candy Technology!

Random Herky Photo

Today Europe, Tomorrow the WORLD!

Ok, so this probably looks a bit inpenerable on first glance, but believe it or not this is a map of europe set in 1903. Or at least, it is the map of europe from the game of Diplomacy that I am playing via email. For those who don't know (read, virtually everyone) Diplomacy is a boardgame that was first released in the 50s where seven players get together to scheme and backstab each other with the eventual goal of domination over europe. The game starts in Spring 1901, and then Autumn 1901, Spring 1902 etc.

Each player takes control of a country, including Italy (green), Turkey (yellow), Russia (purple), Germany (black), Austria (brown), England (pink) and France (blue). I am playing Turkey in this game, and have managed to expand into the Balkans and Russia (who I just stabbed in the back after working with him in the past few times in an alliance against Austria). The circles are Armies, and the squares are Fleets.

It is an interesting game, not least because it has been round for almost 50 years and is still going strong, but also in terms of the fact that the interaction between players plays a far more important role than the actual game mechanics. There is also no dice rolls and no random element beyond assignment of countries, so it is quite different to most "traditional" boardgames such as Monopoly and Risk.

It has taken me a while to warm to the game, but I must admit I'm now enjoying myself (and I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that I am doing pretty well for my first game, nah!).

DIPLOMACY UPDATE:

Interestingly, the ruler of England in this game, Clay, has chosen to announce his hostile intentions towards Turkey via the comments on this blog. I hadn't intended the post to be relevant to the game in the slightest, but he has kindly made it so.

The reason this is interesting is that up until now England and I have had very good relations, and he has kept me up to date on his attempts to backstab Russia and Germany, not to mention attempting to manipulate Austria into attacking his enemies while at the same time encouraging Italy to invade Austria. So for England to now turn around and say that he is coming for me doesn't leave him with a whole lot of friends left on the board (ummmm... not that I have many left either of course).

Oh God MY EYES!

Nothing could fully prepare me for the horror that is David Tench on Channel Ten. I mean, I KNEW it was going to both suck and blow, but dear god it reeks of pure evil.

For those who are blessedly ignorant of what this abomination is, David Tench is a computer generated talk show host brought to us by Andrew Denton and the people who did Gollum on the Lord of the Ring movies. Some guy is hooked up to a movement tracking suit and conducts a live interview with celebrities who presumably sees the same CG muppet that is inflicted on the rest of us.

I missed the opportunity to punish myself last week during its opening night, but I managed to squeeze in a whole 45 seconds of it tonight before having to choose between changing the channel or bludgeoning myself to death with the remote.

Don't get me wrong, it is a vaguely interesting idea in terms of the technology, especially if it is in fact LIVE and not just pre-recorded (which I suspect it is, considering some of the special effects such as love hearts etc which came up, obviously if it was a truly live and unprepared interview this wouldn't have been practical), but the execution is so horrendously bad that it destroys any credit they might have received for doing something new.

Research

Suzy and I thought we better sort out some research so that we can get ready for the wedding, so we went to see the educational documentary currently in cinemas, Confetti. It was absolutely fantastic, really funny with a lot of heart. It follows a fictional bridal magazine who holds a competiton for the "most original wedding of the year". They have a wedding based on 30's musicals, one based around tennis and another done by nudists (the only problem is confetti wants them to wear clothes).

It was great, with the show being stolen by the two wedding planners, Heron and Hough. Apparently the entire dialogue for the movie was improvised which in hindsight was obvious, but it hilarious. Go and check it out, I highly recommend it!

A winter wonderland...

Wow, we just got a huge hailstorm at the University. I've only seen a few hailstorms in my time, the first and worst was in the late nineties when they had hailstones almost the size of my fist smashing car windows etc.

This wasnt' so bad, they probably got to the size of malteasers, and when I stepped out into it for a moment I could feel the impacts but they weren't particularly hard.

Here are some pics, thanks to my trusty phone:

The party that stops a nation

Invitations just went out for our Housewarming/Engagement/Birthday party on the 2nd of September. Unfortunately the news of our engagement was leaked by someone who very inconsiderately read my blog. Doesn't anyone read the title anymore? All these "real" readers are upsetting my non-existant "readers"!

Seriously though, it is nice that a few people have actually taken a fleeting interest in what I have to say. With the sale and purchase of our new house, the issues we have had have basically consumed my life and as a result turned my blog into a boring diary of my house related woes. This has to change! From now on I am going to go back to my original intention of posts ranting about things I find stupid or drooling over new gadgets. Equally uninteresting to the casual observer, but at least I'll have more fun looking back on the posts in future.

I am also thinking about starting up a regular weekly or bi-weekly review post, more on that later.

Yasmin's getting DITCHED!

Along with the almost guaranteed disaster that is David Tench, we have been sitting through another viral marketing campaign on Channel Ten for "Yasmin's Getting Married". Or not, as the case might be.

The adverts started with flashes of the title, followed with announcements from Yasmin that she was getting married, and eventually the revelation that she doesn't know who she is getting married to yet. After a few months of that kind of crap, the show finally kicked off with a weekly 7pm timeslot last week, and then got axed almost instantly for low audience numbers. Suzy and I watched an episode or two, and not only was it boring and pointless but it was blatantly obvious that it didn't work as a format. It took them a week to sort out one "date" for Yasmin, and in theory she only had eight more weeks before she actually got married, there was just no way in hell that they were going to find someone appropriate in time.

According to this article, the show started with 800k viewers but dropped to under 300k by the end of the week. We had half forgotten about it already when we caught an advert for "new" episodes of Futurama which have taken its place. I know which show I'd choose, that's for sure.

The solution to an age old problem!

Seriously, what DO you do when you want to play a four player game on a console but you don't want your opponents to see what you are doing? These mensa candidates have the answer!

The joys of moving

God I hate moving. I think that pretty much sums up my weekend :)

But thankfully the worst is over, all our stuff is wedged into every nook and cranny of the new house, our old place is clean and empty and ready for its new occupants. We have also installed Hercules into his new kingdom, and he seems to be taking to it pretty well. I think the fact that he never saw the place until the furniture was all in and most of the boxes were unpacked was a big help, last time he was there while everything moved in and he was a lot more upset than he has been this time around.

Seeing as it seems to be our lot in life to have trouble with real estate, not only did our purchase of this house receive a week and a half delay, but now the sale of our old house is also set for an unspecified time of delay. As far as we can tell, this has been a roll on effect from the first delay, but yet again everyone is blaming everyone else and we aren't getting any straight answers.

I've also just put in the order for our new TV, we are going with a 40inch Samsung LCD :D My precious! It is due to arrive tomorrow, I'm a little excited...