Boba Fett to Return in Star Wars Episode VII?

MANDALORIAN BOUNTY HUNTER BOBA FETT TO RETURN IN EPISODE VII?

It always bugged me how Boba Fett met his fate in Return of the Jedi, like thousands of other Star Wars fans around the world I happily went along with the initial comedic value of his accidental and grisly demise at the time, I was after all only 12 years old. But now, older and wiser I look back on how utterly cool this character is and have since joined the massed ranks of fans who feel that his accidental ending robbed him of a hero's fight to the death he so richly deserved.

At first you think that slamming into Jabba's sail barge and falling into the Sarlacc pit couldn't possibly be the end of the Fett story and he'll just ignite his jet pack and fly out of trouble, but alas, Han put paid to that when he smashed said jet pack with the lance when he swung it into Fetts back.

Death of an anti hero: Solo smacks Fettt's backpack as he turns around oblivious that the bounty hunter is behind him.

Wire work: Fett is rigged with wires by ROTJ crew members for the sail barge battle and his ultimate demise.(Photo by Mike Davis)

(Photo by Mike Davis)

The death of Boba Fett in Jedi ultimately became a catalyst for his popularity, In Empire Strikes Back he was the only man to have survived answering back to Vader, he'd also got his bounty in the form of a frozen Han Solo. Fett had quickly became a fan favorite, the cool bad dude in the helmet and cape and a man who's nod was the coolest ever caught on film, not even Eastwood or DeNiro had a nod that cool. George Lucas has even gone on record to admit that had he known the popularity of the character after Jedi he would have created a more heroic death, to go out in such a bum way remains a subject that's been hotly debated for decades.

Jabbas Sail Barge from the set of return of the Jedi   (Photo by Mike Davis)

(Photo by Mike Davis)

Personally speaking, Fett's backstory in the new prequels did little to appease me, on the one hand it answered the rumor that he was indeed a clone.Unlike other clones, Boba did not undergo the gene tampering that would lead to docility and growth acceleration. Jango Fett accepted Boba in addition to payment for services he rendered to the Kaminoans and he raised Boba as his own son. However, on the other hand Lucas' grasp on storytelling had plot holes the size of sink holes ( Leia remembering her mother fondly in Jedi, yet Lucas killed her off giving birth to Leia??)
The expanded universe had given Fett a new lease of life but recent statements by Disney in resetting (basically ignoring the expanded universe ever happened) the Star Wars Canon at least allows Disney to explore new ground for the character.

So Star Wars Episode VII is underway, Solo has a broken foot and websites the world over publish the first on set photo's, one of these appeared to be doctored with a photoshopped Boba Fett helmet, a surefire way to get traffic to websites and raise the rumor.

Above: An on set image of Star Wars Episode VII with 'photoshopped' Fett Helmet.

Above: Artist Livio Ramondelli own beautifully illustrated depiction of Fett emerging from the Sarlacc pit.

The latest news is that Fett could get his very own movie and the rumors are growing by the week. Lawrence Kasdan has been connected the Star Wars through the years, having penned Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He’s a director in his own right, having helmed The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. But we already know that Disney and LucasFilm have hired Josh Trank (Chronicle) and Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) to helm the standalone films that Disney wants to fill the gaps between the main Star Wars movies of episodes VIII and IX.

Right now though we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the Sarlacc doesn't eat Bounty Hunters and pray for at least an episode VII cameo of some kind.

Smashing up a Lamborghini or Ferrari is never pretty

Owning a supercar is usually reserved for the rich and famous, that would be, obscenely rich and moderately famous. However, owning a supercar lie a Ferrari or Lamborghini should mean you've had a fair amount of road experience to handle the extra power, the low ride height not to mention the reduced visual scope out of the back of these things. 
Owning a supercar creates a paranoid driver of sorts from the simple fact you don't want any moron with a push bike within 50 feet of the car when you're on the road or you need to park it in front of the cafe and end up sitting by the window watching every molecule of shiny paint like a fat kid eyes up a cake "Stay away from the vehicle it's mine!".

I've always said I'll buy myself a 911 Porsche Carerra 4S in Basalt Black and have it modified further if I won the lottery, truth be told it'd last  half a day before some little bastard with a grudge walks a key down the side of it, #thisiswhywedon'thavenicethings

owning a supercar should by all intents and purposes signify you've made it in the big leagues, that you've worked hard for the pleasure of owning this fantastic beast that makes schoolboys drool and women swoon. Then again you might have won a shitload of money or rented it for the weekend which blasts all that into oblivion, rented , bought, won or gifted wrecking one these is damn expensive but never, ever pretty.

Damaged Ferrari sports cars plus a Lamborghini Diablo litter the Chugoku highway in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan following a 14-vehicle pile up.

Wrecked: F40 Ferrari wrecked in Vancouver, the driver blamed the road surface for the smash but what exactly caused the car to crash is unclear.

a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 driven by a man convicted of murdering 6 people crashed into a brand new Ferrari F430. The Lamborghini was being driven by a former hitman who was sentenced to 72 years in prison but was granted political amnesty and released.

A man crashed a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo during a test drive of the supercar on the streets of Sydney, Australia.

 A Lamborghini Gallardo sits wrecked after the police officer driving the supercar crashed into two parked cars.  The accident took place following an exhibition in Cremona, Italy, where Italian police had the car on display.

In a well documented internet sensation this £250,000 Lamborghini Aventador was left looking a bit worse for wear after its owner managed to crash it into two parked cars in Kensington, London. The car had been filmed driving aggressively prior to the crash and at one point went airborne when it collided with another vehicle, ouch!

 

Check out how this Lamborghini went airborne when it collided with another car in a London Street.

This Enzo Ferrari crashed at 162 mph in Feb 2006 on the PCH in California in what became a case far more complex than just a car crash involving weapons, fraud and stolen identity.The car was driven by Swedish businessman Bo Stefan M Eriksson. ( Eriksson tried to launch the failed Gizmondo games console)

The Enzo's impact at 162 mph sheared the car in two dumping the engine onto the road. Eriksson was lucky to make it out alive.

This man makes money in his sleep, lots of money.

The first rule about YouTube earnings is you don't talk about YouTube earnings.The second rule about YouTube earnings is you don't talk about YouTube earnings - There’s a veil of secrecy (almost) when it comes to the cash earnings that the biggest YouTubers earn. The most popular YouTuber is currently PewDiePie, aka Felix Kjellberg a 24 year old Brighton resident who creates wacky gaming and lifestyle videos on YouTube. He currently has over 27 million subscribers who tune in regularly for his latest online antics.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal Felix revealed he is earning a staggering  $4 million a year from YouTube in advertising, an amount he's earning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,even in his sleep.
Felix comes across as a pretty level headed guy, despite the fact his videos can be quite unusual to say the least. Appeal is everything with a successful YouTube channel, on the one hand you need to tap into the audience in the right way and engage them on a level that will gain the most interaction and followers but on the other hand, also keeps your content fresh, interesting and above all unique.

His earnings and success are the core result of You Tube subscribers, a captive audience that advertisers and brands love to reach. In today's digital climate more and more brands rely on social media to reach their audiences, in fact some brands dedicate more into social reach than they do in more traditional forms of advertising. Take Coca Cola for example, apparently the third largest brand in the world, with over 86 Million facebook followers its able to reach an incredible number of consumers, more economical than Coca Cola spending hundreds of millions of dollars in print or TV ad spend to reach the same number of people. On Twitter Coca-Cola has 2.4 million followers. Over the last month, @cocacola has Tweeted 1,994 times. That’s over 60 Tweets a day, this in turn creates billions of impressions and reach.

For YouTube though its all about content, its important that content is unique and engages the audience enough that it'll either get a kick out of it or share it further socially.
If your channel reaches over 100,000 subscribers, you will receive a framed silver "play button" plaque that has the YouTube logo and their username on it from Google themselves. Channels that get over a million subscribers receive a the exact same plaque (Only exception is that the play button is gold) also from Google.
In order to successfully monetize YouTube videos there are a set of strict guidelines that YouTube partners need to follow.

• You must own the rights to everything in your video, including music, images, and text.
• Anything you don’t have the rights to, you must have written permission from the creator to use it and make money from it.
• Your videos must follow the Community Guidelines set down by YouTube. Sexually explicit content, gratuitous violence, shock videos, hate speech, and more are all prohibited from being posted. The complete list can be found here.

Every 1000 times a pre-roll advertisement is shown, Youtube gets paid some amount of money. The amount can vary but typically Youtube is paid between $20 and $25 for every thousand ad views.Youtube takes 45% of whatever the partner channel earns. The CPM price varies a lot, but typically a Youtube Partner ends up earning roughly $5-7 CPM.This means that for every 1000 times an advertisement is shown on their channel, the Partner could earn $7 ( Youtube would take the remaining ($18). Ad values vary though, premium ads for example can earn significantly higher rates for partners depending on the number of subscribers and views or interactions with the advertising.

The top 5 Youtube Earners are...

#1: Pewdiepie – $7 million (3.7b views)

#2: BlueXephos – $6.7 million (2.4b views)

#3: Smosh – $5.7 million (3.1b views)

#4: DisneyCollectorBR – $5 million (1.6b views)

#5: BluCollection – $4.8 million (1.4b views)

Felix (pewdiepie) rarely ever talks to the media about his personal life, occasionally he'll do a Q&A with fans where he'll answer questions but mostly there is a huge dose of humor added to the answers and for the most part he likes to keep himself to himself.

One of my favorite YouTubers is FPS Russia, Activision were quick to seize on his popularity even featuring him in their advertising and PR campaign for Call of Duty .FPSRussia is a popular YouTube channel consisting of videos involving firearms and explosives. The videos feature Kyle Myers, an American born in Lavonia, Georgia playing the role of Dmitri Potapoff, a heavily accented Russian.

Another great channel to check out is Smosh which consists of Ian Andrew Hecox and Anthony Padilla. Padilla first began posting flash movies on Newgrounds in early 2003, under the name Smosh. With 18 million subscribers and some seriously wacky content no wonder these guys are pulling in the $$.

For a more in depth look at the YouTube high rollers and earners see the Social Blade stats here

Graffiti artist Millionaire

A Graffiti artist who shrewdly took shares instead of cash for painting Facebook's first HQ seven years ago became an overnight millionaire netting  $200MILLION in the social networks stock market float.
The 37-year-old Korean-American artist, who grew up in Koreatown in Los Angeles took equity instead of a flat fee of $60,000 when he was asked to paint the Facebook offices in Palo Alto, California, in 2005 by Sean Parker. (yeah, that Sean Parker)

Choe's not exactly been short of cash anyway, he started gambling at age 15, had already made his first million in Las Vegas casinos. In fact he's not that happy with the $200 Million he earned, in a televised interview with Barbara Walters Choe explained that he had endless requests for media and press interviews to talk about his windfall " I can't buy my privacy back" he said.

There's clearly more to this guy than most would give him credit for, he did a TV show about looking for a dinosaur in the Congo, spent time in jail for forging cheques and assault and he hangs around with ex porn star Sasha Grey not to mention that his $200 million hasn't changed him. When asked what he was going to do now that he had all this money he replied " I did everything I ever wanted to do before I had money" Holy crap. David Choe, interesting guy indeed, see the links and pics below for more.

Artist David Choe

After the  $5billion Facebook stock exchange flotation  at least 1,000 company employees became millionaires.

Choe's work is fluid, colourful and dynamic making him one of the most sought after street artists in LA.

Check out more of David Choe's wall work here 

Check out the amazing Danny Trejo (machette) youtube clip above

If Bruce Lee was a bartender this is what would happen...

Check out this incredible video of Po Hseng Hsu, who's known as the "Bruce Lee of flair bartending.

And to think, all you wanted was a bloody pint!

Women tied to shipwreck 75 feet below the see

There are some people who love to push the creative edge, I admire anyone that can take a subject like photography and take it to the next level.Photographer Benjamin Von Wong did just that when he left the studio and took to the coast of Bali to take these utterly mind blowing and eerily haunting images of models over 25m underwater in a sunken shipwreck. In his images, the models transform from simple free divers to enchanting mermaids wearing dresses by Bali-based designer Ali Charisma.
The hauting photos are like nothing I've seen before and the flow of the fabric in the currents and gloomy murkiness of the wreck make for a fantastic contrast.

Von Wong relied on natural light and camera strobes to photograph the models who were each tied to the shipwreck to hold them in place while the shoot was taking place, emergency divers were on hand for safety but all the models were also freedivers and therefore could hold their breath for up to 4 mins at a time.

The maidens of the wreck, underwater currents create dreamy shapes with the dresses fabric.

Safety divers were on hand to make sure oxygen was on hand for the models to breathe.

natural light and camera strobes were the only sources of lighting for the shoot.

Each of the models had to be tied in place due to the shifting currents.

Check out more of Benjamin Von Vongs work here

Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul is turning on my Xbox One

The advert for Microsoft's XboxOne console feature’s Paul in his home on his sofa reading a few scripts, the ad has Paul shouting “Xbox on” in order to demonstrate the consoles versatile application software through Kinect’s voice commands. It boots up, EA's FPS Titanfall throws us into the gameplay action and even more spookily -  Aaron Paul is also watching football (soccer for you yanks) - how convenient its World Cup time!.

This reminds me of an incident earlier this year where ouTuber Master Of Luck pranked opponent players in Call of Duty.

After creating a Gamertag called "Xbox Sign Out", he decided to troll around the Xbox One version of Call Of Duty: Ghosts, annoying his multiplayer victims until they called him by his name. As you can see in the hilarious clip below he was able to get players turning off their consoles mid game just from shouting out his new gamertag.

Can anybody tell me what's Wrong with this picture?

There's a scene in the 1993 Michael Douglas film Falling Down at a fast food restaurant, Douglas' character William Foster (D-Fens) attempts to order breakfast, but they have switched to the lunch menu. After an argument with the manager, Foster pulls a gun and accidentally fires into the ceiling. After trying to reassure the frightened employees and customers, he orders lunch, but is annoyed when the burger looks nothing like the one shown on the menu.

I can't be the only one who after ordering my meal returns to a table and in peeling back the grease proof wrap often quotes that film "Can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture?" That juicy yet upright looking patty in the photo looks nothing like wilted Big Mac sitting there in its box, McDonalds, I'm loving it.(not)

Just like the movies employ green screen to edit out the stuff they don't want you to see, the wires holding up the floating spaceship, a Jedi Knight swinging a reflective stick at tennis balls on broom handles and 2014 telephone boxes in a 1940's movie it will come as no surprise to know that in order to make you believe high street retailers and brands are also employing a few tricks up their sleeves to get you to purchase their wares.

We've all seen the ridiculous airbrushed ads of actresses wrinkle free foreheads and models 20" waistlines in glossy lifestyle mags but for the most part this 'fake' advertising is going on all around you, how many Big Macs would McDonalds actually sell if they promoted what they actually served you?

And what about that fluffy looking misty effect Jane Fonda face cream ad, ol Hanoi Jane is knocking on for 76 years old and she sure as shit hasn't got a face as smooth as a Porsche 911 wheel arch without a surgeons help (several times apparently). No sir, take that surgery enhanced look away and she's probably a saggy old queen with more wrinkles than Yoda's feet. Wrinkly old women don't sell face cream, old wrinkle free women sell face cream. That firm smooth look old film stars have is normally because of a substance called hydroxypatie, a material used in implants because of its proximity to human bone. it's the key component of the injectible filler Radiesse.

A politician in England, Jo Swinson, headed up a complaint to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) regarding a L'Oreal Paris ad featuring the 41-year-old Rachel Weisz. The Revitalist Repair 10 product claimed to target 10 signs of aging but consumers felt that Weisz' complexion in the ad was a little too baby soft for their liking. (there's that soft fuzzy focus at work again).

According to a report in the Telegraph, a rep from the ASA said, "Although we considered that the image in the ad did not misrepresent the luminosity or wrinkling of Rachel Weisz's face, we considered that the image had been altered in a way that substantially changed her complexion to make it appear smoother and more even." The conclusion was that the supposed result you could get from the cream was exaggerated, and therefore the ad is misleading. Ironically the same newspaper revealed that a similar L'Oreal Paris ad featuring Jane Fonda also received complaints from consumers, but they were rejected by the ASA. Apparently it looks like the surgeon has done a bang up job.

Of course photographers have to tweak things a bit, under the harsh lighting conditions required for photo shoots those battery driven lights pump out some serious heat so more often than not 'tricks of the trade' as they are known come in to play. In cases of food photography where perishable food only stays fresh for a short while photographers have to employ other techniques to get around this, motor oil replaces syrup on pancakes, fruit is shined with hairspray, glue replaces milk. But why do we accept it as representing what we're buying?, There's hair advert on TV with a guy talking to camera and his young pretty late twenties goddess of a wife is putting on her sling backs in the background, "I don't know how Kate does it, he says " two kids, a full time job and yet her hair"..blah,blah,blah - even my wife shouts abuse at that. 'Two fucking kids and job!?, no way she looks like she just stepped out of a salon, try 24 hours in my shoes bitch!"

It's like the pension and health plans you see being promoted by healthy looking retired people on TV, "no salesman will call and you won't be asked any personal medical questions", that's all good and everything but it would be a lot more believable if the actor playing the retired old fella wasn't in an episode of Doctor Who as the "professor" a couple of weeks back. You mean he's not really got that health plan?, and what, that's not even his garden he pruning the heads off roses in, holy shit who do I believe now?.
But alas we do, women will still buy face creams that apparently turns them into 20 year hard bodies, men will buy hair regrow products because it's not really spray paint (yes it is) and old people still want that carriage clock free gift with the health plan because the old fella in the garden said it was fine, and he looked perfectly healthy.

Pulling the wool over our eyes is par for the course when you're nothing more than sheep.

WATCHES - Its a guy thing

Watches, without doubt are a guy thing, you know what I'm talking about, chunky bezels and cool coloured detailing, not to mention thick bracelet straps that could easily fracture your wrist just waving goodbye to your aunt.

The big problem I have with watches are that they are a very personable item to wear, I use the word 'problem' merely to underline the ability of owing more than one but only being able to really wear one at a time. I only have two wrists and the thought of wearing two watches just to show off more than one is just plain odd. I mean Bernie Madoff owns 17 Rolexes and seven Cartiers for a start but why?

Its a frustrating problem because I wear the same watch every day, I own four but 99% of the time I wear the one bought for me by my parents for my 18th, ( I'm 44 now)  a Rolex Oysterdate.
My stepfather has amassed a huge collection of watches, probably more than 60, some are genuine and some are 'copies' (we don't like the word "fake").

Let me put it to you this way, ever heard of Jorg Gray?, nope, me neither but this relatively unknown watch brand has seen its sales of its Jorg Gray 6500 Chronometer rise in the millions throughout the United States.  It hasn't done it through marketing, it hasn't invested in a massive social media campaign, doesn't do TV or radio on a regular basis but one thing made millions of Americans go out and buy one - it's President Obama's watch.

Originally the Jorg Gray 6500 was designed for the Secret Service but was presented to Obama by one of his Secret Service team as a Birthday gift, now this watch enjoys the best personal accolade it could possibly get, sitting on the left wrist of one of the most powerful men in the free world.

Watches are aspirational, what you wear as a timepiece speaks volumes about the sort of activities and interests you're into, guys don't like to drive wimpy looking cars as much as they don't like to wear a cheap nasty and flimsy looking watch on their wrist if they are out to impress. Watches are a social barometer, the alpha male will have a watch which in weight alone could kill a mountain lion or in thickness could stop a snipers bullet. ( don't try that at home), its the wolf pack mentality and creates a heirachy  much akin to the comparing of business card fonts and paper thicknesses by Patrick Bateman in Brett Easton Ellis' brilliant novel American Psycho. Incidentally Bateman's choice of watch was a Rolex Datejust and for the film Rolex agreed that anyone in the film could wear their watches except Bateman (hence the famous line from the book "Don't touch the Rolex" had to be changed to "Don't touch the watch"). 

Brands are and remain the quintessential social acceptance benchmark , everything from an Audemars Piguet to a Swatch, Rolex to a Fossil or the dressy but functional Armani and Gucci affairs. – some designs reveal an element of extravagance but which in this day and age is deemed perfectly acceptable. Gold rope chains and sovereign rings are male jewellry we'd all rather ignore but its the watch on your wrist which attracts the most attention to your status.

Men are nerds, we all like a bit of tech, especially when we know we can wear it everyday, take the Brietling Emergency watch for example, when this was introduced to explorers and the jet set daredevils in the 1990's it boasted a built in emergency transmitter with a 121.5 MHz signal that could be detected by rescue craft within 100 miles of the watch. It's latest version the Emergency II also transmits at 406.04 MHz, a frequency that is now monitored by orbiting satellite. When you buy a Brietling Emergency watch you also buy into an agreement, namely if you yanked on the transmitter activator and the emergency situation goes away, the beacon signal can be terminated. Under the terms of the agreement for use the beacon needs to be rearmed at the factory after one use. Another reason not to set it off lightly is the $100,000 fine assessed by the Federal Aviation Administration, plus search-and-rescue costs, that go with a full-scale false rescue. 

Watches suffer the same counterfeit problems as any other functional and desirable item in fashion, its no secret that the fake watch industry is a multi-million dollar cash cow for the companies flaunting replicas and unlicensed copies onto the black market in destinations like China, Malaysia Morocco, and Turkey. Copies can be extremely hard to spot such are the incredible likenesses and finishes available, and, while its tempting to buy a replica Rolex to fit in with the city crowd it doesn't give you the same satisfaction as wearing a genuine one.
Rolex USA is starting to crackdown on counterfeiters blatantly imitating and selling its products for huge profits on the internet. It has won nearly $160,000 in court after taking the owner of two websites selling fake Rolex watches to court in New York. 

Gabriel Alvarez had been running deviousdesires.net and deviousdesires.com that sold fake Rolex watches for about $100 as well as other counterfeit goods masquerading as products from brands including Breitling, Armani, Bulgari and Chanel. The site openly advertised that the goods it sold were fakes.


Rolex USA first filed a lawsuit against Alvarez and won a financial settlement of nearly £100,000 in damages and fees. It also secured an injunction against the sites which a judge ruled must now be cancelled or transferred to Rolex, and that any remaining counterfeit products bearing Rolex branding must be destroyed.

Watch companies are much like car companies, they update and refresh model lines yearly and always spend big on advertising, in fact pick up any copy of GQ magazine and I guarantee you'll see a page with Leonardo DiCaprio holding his Tag in a most unusual way (wrapped around his fist).

The industry's big watch brands will invest anywhere between 10 and 25% of their revenue in advertising including examples like the one above in a bid to gain market share and target their core audience, males aged 18-35. In Tags case having Leonardo promote your watch makes it instantly desirable and aspirational for this exact market.

Take G-Shock too for example, The first G-Shock was the 1983 Casio DW-5000C designed by an engineer working for Casio named Kikuo Ibe " around the triple ten concept: the concept for a watch that has a 10 year battery life, is water resistant to 10 bar, and can survive a 10m fall onto a hard surface. 200 prototypes were tested by dropping them from rooftops, or third story windows. The G-Shock series is a brand particularly favored by US military personnel for its robust features and design.

Nothing says Alpha male watch aficiondo than James Bond, the tuxedo wearing super spy with a licence to kill. In Ian Flemming's novels James Bond wore a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner (with phosphorus dials OHMSS). The model used in the movie was the Rolex Submariner 6538A. The Rolex Submariner is the watch that Sean Connery wore as the dashing secret agent. In the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond (George Lazenby) wears a Rolex Submariner as well. When Connery returned to the role of Bond in Diamonds are Forever, he was once again seen wearing the Rolex Sub. 

Army guys, Spy guys how about Space guys?, NASA's choice of watch for its Apollo space program to put man on the moon was the Omega Speedmaster.A specially created velcro fastening strap allowed it to be worn over the cumbersome looking sleeves of an insulated Space suit.(below)

Whatever you're desired look and choice you simply can't beat a solid bit of mental on your wrist and thankfully men's watches are as popular now as they ever been.

WORLD CUP BARBECUE TIPS

WORLD CUP BARBECUES

Suns out, Guns out and in preparation for those World Cup gatherings you're going to have here are some great Barbecue tips that'll crown you king of the grill.

ICE ICE BABY - The golden rule you absolutely cannot break is ice cold beer, serving warm beer is a crime never to be forgotten and one you'll be ridiculed for eons after the 90 min whistle has blown -  and lets face it, with the World Cup every four years its not like you haven't had enough time to prep for it.

Quick cold tip: Waiting for the ice to arrive but need to get beers chilled fast? Wet a paper towel and wrap it around your bottle of beer and place it in the fridge, in 10-15 mins it'll be ice cold.

Keep it cold tip: Using a cooler filled with ice or an ice bucket or tub? - Add one cup of salt and three cups of water before you dump the ice in. This will equilibrate in temperature in a process called freezing point depression with a temperature that'll get down to around the minus 10 degrees mark. The process works by keeping water molecules away from each other and stops them from freezing or melting.

And because the liquid naturally flows around your beer, it will do a much better job of keeping it cool than sticking a lump of ice on top of it.




GET YOUR FLAME ON - The biggest mistake you can make is waiting until all your guests have arrived before you've even got your flame on, for traditional charcoal barbecues you need to light at least 20 mins before guests arrive. For coal briquettes you need these to turn ash white with a decent orange glow for heat before cooking food and for them to be able to kill off any bacteria found in raw meat. Evenly distribute the coals or charcoal safely with a poker so that you can cook the food with a relatively even spread of radiated heat but avoid spreading too wide as the coals will lose their heat quicker.

Flavor tip:Wood chips from hard wood trees such as cherry,citrus, apple will add a sweet flavor to cooked meats when the smoke starts going. Oak is great for beef or lamb. As a general rule use hardwoods for adding smokey flavors. Woods such as Walnut and Mesquite are heavy so should be mixed with other wood chip variants.

DIY flavor tip: Water soak wood that you can turn into wood chips for 30 mins and drip dry before placing on charcoal or coal barbecues, add orange juice or apple juice to the water soak to create a sweeter smoke. Alternatively add a dash of rum which will promote a caramel flavor. Ideally you want the wood to smoulder not burn hence soaking the wood first.




GIVE IT A RUB - Rub is basically salt, sugar and pepper, so many people forget to add seasoning to meat before they barbecue it, the base of your rub starts with those three basic ingredients. The salt and pepper adds your standard seasoning and sugar caramelizes creating that sweet stickiness to the outer meat surface. Creating your own rubs and seasoning is entirely down to what you want to use and what type of flavours you're looking for, adding spices like ginger, cinnammon, chilli powder and garlic powder also adds dynamic flavouring to your rubs.

Rub Tip:  let your meat sit for awhile after applying a rub to both sides. If you want the best flavor, cover the meat and let it sit overnight in the fridge. 

Sweet Tip: Use brown sugar to add a caramel sweetness to your ribs or pork meats. Increase or decrease the amounts you add to the rub, 3 table spoons of sugar to one and a half of salt, one and half of pepper. Garlic -  aim for around one teaspoon for rubs.



PREP THE NIGHT BEFORE - This isn't a military operation but a successful plan always had good preparation. For gatherings like barbecues you need to prep, buy your ingredients,beers and make sure you've got things like seating and side dishes all sorted out before your guests arrive. For meat you want to add any rubs the night before cooking and then bring the meat up to room temp before you cook it. Don't forget to add non alcoholic drinks to the chiller for those driving.
Clean any garden furniture and maybe think about hosing the patio or decking for a scrub up, no one likes standing on a fox turd when eating a hotdog.

Prep Tip: soak your hard wood if creating wood chips and allow time for drip dry well before cooking. Prepare for garden insect pests like common garden midges and stock up on The Soft & Fresh Dry Oil Body Spray from Avon, not designed as a bug repellent but an internet fave which is even used by the Marines.

Appetisers: prep some easy appetizers the night before or the morning of that you can easily whack in the fridge Guacamole and chips is an easy one check out this recipe here




SALADS & SIDES - You've got the meat but what about the sides, okay so guys aren't heavily into salads but rather than having a barbecue that looks like a Zombie meat feast cookout add some simple sides to freshen up the dishes, things like sweet salads, fruit salads and slaws are a great addition to adding some texture and colour to the dark brown meats basking on your plate.
Slaws are also cheap and very easy to make - check out a great recipe here which serves 8 people.

Salads & sides tip: Think cole slaw needs mayonnaise? Nope. Classic Creamy Cole Slaw uses a bit of cream and malt vinegar (the acidic nature of the vinegar naturally thickens the cream to dressing-like consistency) to dress shredded cabbage.

Fruit salad tip: Strawberries, apricots and orange segments liven up salads with a fruity twist. Just because its salad doesn't mean lettuce and carrot.




MEAT AND THE MAN - Barbecues for large groups of people aren't cheap, if you're lucky some of the group will offer to bring something, but this usually equates to liquid refreshment more than the food.

Chicken quarters and thighs are inexpensive as opposed to breast meat, Lamb neck is also cheaper than lamb cutlets or other cuts, Brisket is a great meat for barbecues due to the fat content which adds great flavor. Buying direct from the high street butcher is also going to save you money, supermarket meat can be hit or miss and is nearly always much more expensive to buy. 

Ribs are awesome if cooked right and a relatively cheap alternative to steaks. Chuck steaks are a particular cut that's also cheaper to buy but talk to your butcher about the cuts he can provide first. For Pork, opt for Pork shoulder, it's one of the cheaper cuts you can get and still great for grilling. Turkey is often overlooked for barbecues and also a great cost saver for large groups of people. The important thing about your barbecue meat is you get what you pay for, cheap and cheerful keeps the bill low but ideally you don't want to scrimp on the quality of the meat, invest in good cuts of meat for your barbecue and the world cup is an added entertainment bonus.

Meaty Tip: make sure Chicken comes to room temp before cooking, if its too cold on the inside the chicken won't cook through, alternatively cook in your oven and finish off on the barbecue.

Skewer Tip: only put one kind of meat on a skewer, it means you'll only have to worry about one cooking time, chicken cooks faster than beef and mixing meats can lead to burnt offerings.


Need a handy barbecue Cooking guide? - Use the chart below