Monthly Archive for: ‘August, 2009’

Always on a mission to make our creative brainstorming sessions more productive, we at The Bakery gave Blue Sky Thinking a go. For those not in tune with this phrase…

thinking that is not grounded or in touch in the realities of the present; open-minded thinking (i.e., as wide and clear as the blue sky)

Wikipedia 2009

The technique is normally celebrated under suspended ceilings in conference rooms that vaguely smell like instant coffee, and instigated by that arse in management who went on a 2 day “Creative Workplace” course, and came back all jumped up and excited about group brainstorming.

Not being people to shun corporate practices, we decided to give it a go. However, The Bakery doesn’t have an office. And we do most of our work at weekends. So we executed it in the only way we know how – with a lot of enthusiasm.

Needless to say it turned out like most Bakery meetings. Julian didn’t turn up (something to do with Focaccia stains on his Chinos), Richard and myself had aggressive “creative differences”, Adam spilt espresso on the minutes and Dan found a small family of harvest mice in his pants.

What are we doing wrong?

Today on BBC Radio Kent: our third mini documentary!

This week we speak to Sue, about Canterbury’s cosiest and best cafe “Coffee & Corks.” Welcoming, comfortable, and undeniably bohemian, “Coffee & Corks” is open till midnight and serves all manner of teas, coffees, hot chocolates, ales and other alcoholic beverages; as well as forming a venue for local artists and musicians to showcase their work. It is also home to a number of little books, in which previous visitors have scribbled their thoughts.

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO BROWSE THROUGH ONE OF THE BOOKS

Just tune into Dominic King’s show at 4pm today to hear more:

Our thanks to Sue and Claire.

NEXT TIME: Tony Cooper tells tall tales for a living . . .

We’re never satisfied to sit still here at The Bakery. We may currently have a mini radio documentary series broadcasting on the BBC, but we are still pouring our creative energies into the Flour Mill of Dreams. 

Want proof?

Here is an intense picture of the Bakery in action:

So, what are we busy thrashing out?

This weekend we shall be toiling away on a series of short films which we have recently been commissioned to produce. There was a lot to debate during pre-production. Chickens are involved. And a flip chart. Phone calls needed to be made, budgets divided up.

Tom German was busy in our Hythe Office sorting out our overheads, but Julian still appears to be procrastinating in Finland. There was only one thing we could do – our American Correspondent Miss Gerzon was flown over at great expense, to take minutes and sort out the filing cabinet.

Here we are having creative differences: 

Rest assured that out of this maelstrom of fury and ego will come yet more media piffle for you to waste time listening to/watching/downloading.

IN OTHER NEWS

The Bakery feels extremely honoured to be permitted an advance peruse of the not-yet-published selected short stories of Mr Andrew McGuinness. Titled “Kafka’s Chair & Other Stories” the volume should be coming forth from Bluechrome later this year. Apparently Mr McGuinness was sufficiently pleased with The Bakery’s coverage of his debut novel in our BBC Radio Kent short earlier this week that he would be very much interested in collaborating again some time. Quite what form such a collaboration would take we can’t yet be sure, but we’re delighted to have another happy customer!

Now, time to get back to arguing and blue sky thinking.

After some google trawlng, it has come to our attention that there is a rival set up called ‘The Bakery Animation Studio’ based in the south of France. Known for our aggressive competitive edge, we have taken appropriate action in trying to intimidate our rivals. Therefore we are holding this photo of their premises hostage, until which time they remove the words “The Bakery” from their name and admit that we are the one true Bakery.

We have contacted them, and await their repsonse to our demands.

The second in our series of documentary shorts goes out today on BBC Radio Kent!

This week we talk to Canterbury author Andrew McGuinness about his debut novel. Against the backdrop of a fictionalised version of Canterbury, the book’s narrator (Ben Tippet) stands trial accused of arson and manslaughter. From his prison cell he muses about everything from his transsexual uncle, to his love of David Bowie; from his artistic delusions of grandeur, to whether or not he really did cause a man’s death.

You can listen by tuning into Dominic King’s show from 4pm on BBC Radio Kent. Those of you without a radio can make use of the handy link below:

If you like the sound of Andrew’s book, you can order it from Amazon (or you can avoid grumpy postmen and support your local bookshop!)

Readers may also be pleased to learn that Andrew’s pet dog, Tom, maintains a regular blog (yes you read that correctly) which contains all Andrew’s latest news (presumably overheard during walkies) It can be found here

Our thanks to Andrew

NEXT WEEK: Canterbury’s quaintest cafe (Coffee & Corks) collates a compendium of clientele’s quirky curiosities…

The first of our six-part series broadcasts today on BBC Radio Kent!

Friend of The Bakery Mr Dominic King has sent 2 of our Master Bakers (Richard and Dan) on a mission to track down interesting locals and produce mini documentaries about them. Our adventure starts with a pair of statues lying in the Stour, which we decided to find a bit more about…

The series will go out every Tuesday afternoon, shortly after 4pm on BBC Radio Kent.

If you enjoyed listening to our first feature, then you can find out more by clicking…

www.underwatersculpture.com

Our thanks to Jason

NEXT WEEK: Local author’s fiery debut novel