the perfect cup of tea

I heard on the radio the other day they had once again come up with the perfect cup of tea. And it got me thinking of an article I wrote afew weeks back for an application for a blogger job.

How to make the perfect cup of tea

Every once and a while on a slow news day I’ll read in the metro or hear on the radio that scientists have proven the method to making the perfect beloved beverage or meal. It’s as if  scientists have given up on cancer altogether and said “To hell with it lets find out exactly how hot the beans on beans on toast should be?!’. But the most recent I have heard is how exactly to make the perfect cup of tea. To do so you must put the tea bag in first and then boil the water and pour, then let the bag sit for exactly two minutes without you poking or prodding at it with a spoon. But before I could hear what exact temperature the milk should be or exactly how many grains of sugar should be used I thought to myself, How can they decide what the best way is when everybody likes it different?

Everybody claims that there mum or there granny makes the best cup of tea in the world, so with this information unless your grannies a reward winning scientist you must be lieing!. But in my opinion the title of best cup of tea is an impossible fact to prove because of the wide variety of ways people like there tea. For example for people in my extended family alone I can recall making a host of variations of tea. My mother swears by her Earl grey with milk and two sugars although a tea which would traditionally be served with a slice of lemon, my aunty Sybil takes her tea with an eccentric five sugars, whereas my aunt Vivienne takes a drop of tea in her milk. In contrast to her daughter Brigid - Ann who very precisely asks for “half a tea spoon of milk’.

But in the not so distant future might the tea we all know and love become a thing of the past?. More teas are available to us than ever before each claiming to be tastier and better for our digestive systems than the last. We’ve got Cammermile tea ,peppermint tea ,green tea,wild berries tea, lemon and ginger tea and the list goes on, who knows what wild and wonderful tea flavours could await us in the future? Cola tea?chocolate tea?. Maybe even coffee flavoured tea!. As we become more Americanised by the day could the new starbucks generation switch from an old fashioned cup of earl grey to a tall low fat mocha chino for good? Surely not.

The Irish loyalty for our beloved cup of tea is what drives us to want to know the formula for the perfect one. Because for generations in this country we’ve greeted every scenario that has come our way with ‘a cup o tea’ as it’s called it in Juno and the Paycock. When awful news of a death or accident is heard, the kettle is always put on, when news is heard of an engagement or promotion the kettle goes on, and whenever somebody calls no matter who the caller, the kettle is put on!.  You could almost say the answer to all of life’s problems is the perfect cup of tea!.

 hope you enjoyed it!

Sam

To space... and back again!

To space and back again is an animated television series of which so far I've completed the pilot episode. The concept was thought up by myself and ozzie hunk Gerard Gibney during 5th and 6th year after we had discovered a character down the road from gers house. I'd like to share some bits of a comic I created and some storyboards without giving away any of our unusual and unique storylines.

1st of all the man himself

This is just the first page of a spacer comic which I did for a project in 1st year animation

These next storyboards are from what was written as an animated short when spacer discovers a potion to make him hansom and ends up engrossed in the world of models! but as he rose to the top jelousy got the best of his counterparts and spacer would be left bald and pot bellied once again!

With the script of the pilot done and the following 9 episodes of the season mapped out and ready to be written the next step of trying to get it made and on to peoples television screens is hopefully not to many miles away. I hope you've enjoyed a sneak peak at our show 'To Space and back again'.
                                                                                                                                        Sam

Fire-point

In the gaeltacht in 4th year we had a fancy dress night and the imfamous room 11 boys decided to adopt a costume of an ultimate boyband consisting of some of the best boyband members of all time! a feat that mtv unsuccesfully tried to emulate in a reality tv show years later! I became Nick Lachey (98degrees) Ali became Ben(A1),Malone became Nick Carter(Backstreet Boys), Ly became A.J(Backstreet boys) and gando started his boyband career unsuccesfully with nobody knowing who he was?! After this the idea had been put in our heads to start our very own boyband! but due to lack of singing talents, not a real one, but an almost virtual boyband,and when we seen a sign up in the assembly hall reading 'firepoint' we new we had our name!
3 or 4 years later I was faced with the task of writing and illustrating a book in college! and I knew there was only one story I wanted to tell! unfortunately I do not have all the original illistrations to go with it but I do have some photoshopped pictures from another college course! and before you ask no I didnt study Firepoint in college! I wish!

                                 The rise and fall and rise againt of FIRE-POINT!

 Chapter 1

This is the story of how five young men from north Dublin went from being nobodys to the biggest boyband the world had ever seen, this is the story of Firepoint!.

All five members of Firepoint first laid eyes on each other in auditions for You're a Star. Todd,Ace,Jermain,Corrie and John were all hopefulls to represent their country in the eurovision song contest and only You'r a Star judges Louis Walsh, Linda Martin and Phil Coulter stood in the way of their dream.

Unfortunatley for the boys the judges weren't impressed by their vocal talents and it wasn't long before the future boyband members were dropping out of the competition like flies. John was first to go when the judges claimed that he didn't have the necessary energy to represent Ireland in the Eurovision. Ace was second to go after he stormed out following a heated argument with judge Louis Walsh. It wasn't long until Todd followed. It was after this that Todd and Ace who had become close on the show vowed to make it in the music industry! And when Jermain's street like lingo and dance moves weren't enough to secure him a place in the final he joined Ace,Todd and Johns quest for pop superstardom.

But there was still something missing from the bands line up. Corrie Michael Dillon went on to win You'r a Star but even after failing miserably in the Eurovision song contest receiving an embaressing 0 votes with his ballad 'missing you', Corrie still saw himself as a respected artist and this was why he turned down his first offer to Join Firepoint. But after being dropped by his record label Corrie decided to join the four others and Fire-Point were complete!!!

If your interested in what happens to the 5 peice keep reading my blog over the forthcoming weeks for the other chapters of the story.....

                                           Sam

Life according to Jay...

I'd like to share with the blogging world a series of sketches titled 'life according to jay' in which i document the one and only jay searles as he wonders through life sharing his wisdom and knowledge with us and me in particular.
1st of all so you all know what he looks like this is a pic of jay signing for fc crescent last summer (get used to this face you'll be seeing plenty of him)

For the 1st of 'life according to Jay' I picked my favourite of his stories, on a warm summers day jay was returning home walking through town from a course he was doing at the time. Little did Jay know he had walked himself into a gay pride parade or 'Jay pride parade as the sketch is titled! jay tried to power walk  himself away from the parade but could not shake them! jay now was striding at the front of the parade with the crowd cheering him on and taking his picture as they thought he was the parade leader! with the road barricaded off as it was for the queen, Jay was trapped! with the thoughts of his picture in the morning paper with the words "enthusiastic young gay jayson searles leads the march' floating through his head, jay used his trademark speed that had seen him secure a place in a leinster side and brought mount temple home gold in the relay, to pace his way out of his tricky situation!. Having not made the paper I took it into my own hands to document this occasion!

Recently Jay shared his wisdom with me about eggs and what happens to them when they are left in the fridge for to long and it went a little something like this. ... "when you leave an egg in the fridge for long enough it hatches an egg..doesn't it?'

Whilst looking at the sugar loaf Jay shared wit me that uncommon to most people's beliefs that there is in fact sugar on the sugar loaf!

My last piece of wisdom from jay today is a question he asked whilst on a bus on the way to galway...

So a big shout out to Jay the man himself, we look forward to more of your wise words.

Fans of 'life according to jay' can look forward to future sketches such as jays self jocking in dublin zoo, jays foolproof chat up line and of course jay throws in his two cents on karma sutra!

hope you enjoyed what you've read and seen!

                                                                      Sam

Breedism

Hello everybody and welcome to my new 'sam sketches' blog. For my first blog I'd like to share with you all an article and illustration I wrote and sketched about breedism. read on and enjoy...hopefully!!

In this day and age racism is severely frowned upon or any form of discrimination due to race, religion or sexual preference. But yet in 2011 a form of discrimination against our kinds so called ‘best friend’ is still very apparent. The Control of dog’s Regulations states that certain breeds are required to have their mouths covered by a muzzle. Some of the dogs required to do this are German Shepherds,Dobermans and Rottweillers. So forget judging by the colour of skin, these three black and tan breeds are almost discriminated for the colour of their fur! These dogs along with some other breeds such as bull mastiffs are targeted in what has been branded ‘breedism’ - discriminating against a dog solely due to their breed.

So yes, we have all heard the stories of dogs such as German shepherds attacking and in some cases killing people, but there are far more stories in the paper about white Irish people killing and raping but yet I am not made wear a muzzle because I’m the same race as them! Seem fair?

In my personal experience, my own dog Sophie a 45kg German shepherd is the perfect example of the term ‘gentle giant’. A growl is something not in her vocabulary as over the last 8 years she’s became a big favourite of the kids of the neighbourhood and the adults for that matter. She’s even sparked up an unlikely bond with our postman who has been known to bring her biscuits on occasions.

In reality, dogs such as Jack Russell’s (who suffer severely from small mans syndrome) and Dalmatians who are proven to be more aggressive and both are more likely to bite, growl and snarl at you!.The the latter are known to the public as the lovable puppies in Disney classic 101 Dalmations but German Shepherds are thought of as the German guard dogs during WW2. it’s no wonder they are unfairly treated!.

I think that the case of nature versus nurture comes into play as I feel it’s all about how the dog has been raised and not just the type of breed of dog they are. Of course, a Rottweiler raised as a guard dog in a junkyard is going to be dangerous but so would a collie or poodle if it was raised without love or affection, as would a human being. I think this law should be changed so that these so called ‘dangerous dogs’ are judged for their temperament and not just because of their bloodline.