By Josie Finlay

 

The REAL Chip Shop awards

 

It’s getting very spicy at school – we’ve got book inspections at the end of the week and everyone is scrambling to get their portfolio together. It’s quite amazing looking at the work – it seems my fellow Hushers are getting exponentially better every day. Even work from a couple of weeks ago pales in comparison with some of the stuff I’ve seen in people’s books in the past few days. It makes me feel a strong mix of proud, motivated and terrified. Intoxicating!

 

So it was good to get a break from the studio last week. And away from the printer – us two have a very complex relationship. On Friday, Charles and I had the opportunity to judge the Chip Shop awards. It was such a great experience – really interesting to see work through the eyes of actual people in the industry. And we learned a few things about what people find funny. Diarrhoea, Viagra, Brexit – no; puns, Baby Shark, Madeleine McCann – yes, apparently. Charles has written more about it in his last SCAB, so I won’t repeat. But below you’ll find the alternative Chip Shop awards: the Chip Shop awards of my life this past week. (Chip is first prize and Vinegar is second, btw.)

 

Best idea I’ve seen:

Chip – Every Cloud, a bar in Hackney, prints the next bus and train times on the bottom of its receipts. So simple, so brilliant

Vinegar – Greg and Tom at BBC told us that someone had an idea in their book for a sun cream bottle with a timer on the lid, telling you when to reapply

 

Best podcast

Chip – BBC’s The Art of Now: The Return of Voguing

Vinegar – New York Times Popcast: Is Billie Eilish the Future of Pop? (answer: yes)

 

Best quote

Chip – ‘Nature has the biggest advertising budget’ – Rory Sutherland

Vinegar – ‘Your startup disk is almost full’ – my laptop J

 

Best song (new discoveries)

Chip – Boasty – Wiley, Sean Paul, Stefflon Don  – thanks to Dee for making my week with this xx

Vinegar – Madonna & Maluma – Medellin – this is such a naff song, I’m not sure what to make of it, but I think I love it

 

Saddest thing I’ve done

Chip – I spent a whole tube journey staring at a girl’s really nice trousers, got too nervous to ask her where they were from and wrote into the Metro’s Rush Hour Crush asking her to contact me about them. Sadly no response yet

Vinegar – Spent ages nibbling the chocolate shells off all the fruity centred chocs in my parents Thornton’s box (who actually likes ‘Apricot Danish’ flavour chocolates?)

 

Best film

Chip – Gomorrah – Super dark, gruelling, stylish film about the Neapolitan mafia. It shows a terrifyingly violent, but also beautiful unseen side to Italy – a great antidote to the romanticised stereotype

Vinegar – Greta ­– Trashy psychological thriller full of plot holes and clichés, but also full of Isabelle Huppert lurking on dark street corners and that’s a winner in my books

 

That’s all for now – please do tune in next year.