venta

If you live (a) in the Western world and (b) not under a rock, you'll know it's Valentine's day this weekend. Valentine's day isn't particularly big in my house, but my inbox has been quietly exploding as every company I have ever interacted with online, ever, mails me to tell me about their Valentine deals. Or their discount flowers. Or their amazing personalised gifts.

In case anyone would like their romance in a different form, I encourage everyone to go and listen to one of my favourite lovesongs. It's unusual, it's very twee, and it's quite funny. Go on...

Frankie Machine - How Great Thou Art [link to Bandcamp streamable]

In unrelated news, a total stranger spoke to ChrisC and I on the tube this morning. We had a brief, friendly chat, and he got off a couple of stations later wishing us a nice weekend. For non-Londoners: this never happens. Which is a shame.

A while back I noticed posters advertising a "protein shake" called, I think, Upbeat and made a note to try it. I figured it was a potentially interesting snack-concept for days when I want to go straight from work to, say, a yoga class without keeling over. (Lots of other interesting snack-concepts are also available but hey, I quite like milkshake).

This morning, outside Ealing Broadway station, there were gentlemen in leather jackets handing out free samples of a chocolate "40% higher protein" milkshake called Wing-Co. Obviously protein shakes are the new Thing. Wing-Co has a blocky cartoon of a WWII-era pilot (his moustache dripping chocolate milk) on the bottle, and small planes whizzing past the nutritional information.

It's pretty nice, actually. Chocolate milkshake is very variable and often has a nasty, grainy texture but I enjoyed this one. Whether it can actually make good on its promise to "shoot down hunger, fast" remains to be seen. But I could imagine buying it again.

Except...

As the free-samplers were dishing out the bottles this morning, they said "Man up with Wing-Co!" to everyone they handed one to. According to the info box on the label, "WING-CO IS PROPER MAN FUEL". "DON'T BE A GIRL," it further elaborates, "SHAKE IT UP AND DRINK IT NOW!"

Oh. Good.

The info box is, of course, designed to look like a plate which has been screwed onto the bottle. Because, y'know, screws are very manly (they look like slotted-head countersunk woodscrews to me).

Think I'll try out Upbeat after all. In fact, Wing-Co has inspired me to compare the two, and Upbeat has real fruit in it, and more protein, and is made entirely from British milk.