Mr Blog

Mr Santa
85 Marine Road
West Morecambe LA3 1BZ

See, he does exist.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Linda @ Mr Munchies
15 The Strand
Lympstone EX8 1AD 

We’ve been having quite a raucous Christmas party here at Mr Blog for the past couple of days. As usual, this has seen various people ‘pairing off’ with each other in rather inappropriate ways! Suffice to say Mr Munchies has done well for himself.

Congratulations to him and Linda, although I suspect it won’t last.

Housekeeping

Just a note to let you know that I will have a brief festive post for you tomorrow morning, before taking a Christmas break. Mr Tweets and I will return to work on Tuesday 4 January.

Madame Zucchini
Vegetable entertainer
Sheffield

Christmas party week continues here at Mr Blog and I’ve taken the liberty of booking a top entertainer to help the party along.

Madame Zucchini provides nutritional education and cabaret-style entertainment using the medium of fruit and vegetables. (To be clear, she does not actually entertain vegetables, but provides entertainment using vegetables. That said, I'm sure the vegetables enjoy it too.)

The best way to familiarise yourself with her work is via this video clip, which includes a moving performance of Romeo and Juliet involving root vegetables:

Madame Zucchini adapts her act to suit different audiences and occasions. Other options include an organic nativity play starring sprout baby and the three wise gardeners; Lois Leek and Peter Parsnip take on Artificial Cheese-beast; and a vegetable version of Brokeback Mountain (one for the grown-ups).

You can find out more about Madame Zucchini on her excellent website. I would like to thank Clare Goff for introducing me to her – it has brightened up my day no end.

I urge my readers to spread the word about Madame Zucchini – our country needs more of this kind of wholesome entertainment (in every sense).

What a great Christmas week this is!

Mr Songs
by various artists

Apologies for the unconventional post, but it’s Christmas party time and things have gone a bit crazy.

Yesterday, Mr Tweets had fun compiling a playlist of ‘Mr’ songs with the help of his friends on Twitter. I thought it would be nice to create a top ten.

I have used 'Mr Christmas' by Joe Diffie as an image to illustrate this post, but I haven't included it in the top ten as it's not a good song.

 

10. Mr Bojangles, by Sammy Davis Junior
Thank you @eustondoyoucopy for suggesting this and not the Robbie Williams version.

 

9. He's Misstra Know-it-all, by Stevie Wonder
Winner of the Unusual Spelling Award, from @jimkdavies

 

8. I Miss Being Mrs Tonight
A melancholy entry from @louisekyme I have gone with the 'Mrs' spelling as it works better.

 

7. Mister E Train, by Elvis Presley
Joint winner of Unsolicited Wordplay Award – thank you @eustondoyoucopy

 

6. It’s a Mr E, by Toyah
Joint winner of Unsolicited Wordplay Award – thank you @fountainjohn

 

5. Hiperenigmatic Stuff of Mr Nothing, by Acid Drinkers
A lively one from @asburyandasbury

 

4. Mr Hankey’s Christmas Classics, by Mr Hankey
Surprisingly, this didn’t make number two. Thanks @scandb

 

3. Mr Blue Sky, by ELO
This was part of an interesting exchange about Mr Songs that also sound like professional tradesmen. Mr Blue Sky could be a management consultant. Other examples include Mr Tambourine Man (children’s entertainer), Mr Cab Driver (cab driver), Mr Pharmacist (pharmacist), Mr Grieves (undertaker), Mr Writer (writer), Mr Sandman (supplier of sand), Dancing with Mr D. (interpretative dance studio) and Mr Loverman (male escort). Thanks @jimkdavies and @wheatcroftandco for those.

 

2. Mr Moonlight, by The Beatles.
Winner of Lunar Eclipse Topicality Award – thank you @robselfpierson

 

1. Mr Blues, by Marvin Rainwater
A worthy number one, if only because the singer sounds like Mr Vic Reeves singing in the pub singer style. Thanks @louisekyme

 

Thank you to everyone, it’s been a lot of fun!

Mr Music
The Bishop Centre
Bath Road, Taplow
Maidenhead SL6 ONX

It’s Christmas party time here at Mr Blog and I’ve invited all the Misters (and Misses) featured on this blog for drinks and nibbles at my place.

Mr Booze was the first name on the list. Mr Eats will also be there, and Mr Sausage has managed to get a flight in from New York. Unfortunately, Mr Humbug declined the invitation. Mr Vacuum Cleaner has kindly volunteered to tidy up afterwards, alongside Mr Kleen.

One of the most important guests will be Mr Music, without whom no party would be complete. However, I have explained to him that he may have to keep it down after midnight.

Mr Music is an independent music retailer delivering quality instruments at highly competitive prices to customers nationwide, but primarily in the Thames Valley area.

I have given Mr Music a suggested playlist, which includes this seasonal classic by seventies band Showaddywaddy. Very appropriate!

 

Mr Tweets, do you happen to know if Miss Fitness has RSVP'd yet? Just wondering.

Mr Burbujas
24th & Florida
San Francisco CA 94110 

This time last week I posted about Mr Bubbles in Manchester. This week, it is a pleasure to meet his Spanish-American cousin, Mr Burbujas. For this, I have to thank joelp who contributed in the comments. Gracias, amigo!

What a strange illustration this is. For a moment, it made me think, “Oh no! This is better than Arguably the Best Logo that I posted yesterday!” But I’m not sure if we can properly characterise this as a logo. That said, I’m not sure how exactly we should characterise it.

I realise that the west coast of America has a long-standing association with recreational drug use and this may have some bearing. There is something slightly nightmarish about all the faces staring out of the washing machines. In fact, I think you could write an entire thesis based on a comparative study of these two paintings:

 

By the way, isn't it nice that 'burbujas' is the Spanish word for 'bubbles'? Burbujas. It's one of those words that you can't really say with a solemn expression.

Anyway, that is the end of Arguably the Best Logo Week.

Arguably thanks to everyone for reading.

PS: Thanks to pecanpieguy and dullhunk for the Flickr pictures of Mr Burbujas, and also to Mr Picasso for his picture of Guernica.

Mr Furniture
22 Magdalen Street
Norwich NR3 1HU

Mr Furniture’s identity doesn’t look very remarkable at a glance, particularly with the usual distortion that sets in with Google Street View images.

It was only when I took a closer look at the signage that I realised something special was going on:

 

Isn’t that brilliant? If you had a brief to design a logo for a character called Mr Furniture, could you have done it any better?

His head is an armchair. His chest is a wardrobe. His limbs are drawers. His feet are drawers pulled open. His hands are… actually, they’re just hands.

I like the way the armchair smiles. It’s hard to execute these illustrative smiles in such a way that they don’t look odd or creepy. I think Mr Furniture looks genuinely friendly and welcoming.

There have been other good logos on this blog. Mr Plastics had a lot of character. Mr Mattress was a credible contender. And I always liked the simplicity of the Mr Worktops logo, which showed a man carrying a worktop.

However, for its cheerful charm and simplicity, I believe Mr Furniture is Arguably the Best Logo I have posted.

Well done Mr Furniture and good luck in the D&AD Awards!

Mr Toolbag
221 Valley Rd
Leamington Spa CV32 7UF

Arguably the Best Logo Week continues, but I won’t be posting arguably the best logo until tomorrow.

Instead, I’ve decided to post one of the best straplines I’ve come across in my blogging. The brand in question is Mr Toolbag, who undertakes various odd-jobbing assignments in the Warwickshire area. His strapline is “No job too odd”.

I like it for the same reason that I like the ‘Mr’ branding device. It’s a very concise construction (in this case, four monosyllables) that tells you what he does (odd jobs) but then gives it an appealing twist (no job too odd).

I enjoy the implication that Mr Toolbag might be prepared to take on the oddest of tasks.

Hello, is this Mr Toolbag? Yes, I’d like you to come and clad all my drainpipes in brown corduroy.

Oh, and I also need someone to go through my wardrobe and sew up all the trouser legs.

And could you give me an estimate for attaching two large tractor wheels to either side of my sofa while whistling La Marseillaise?

I wonder what other odd jobs Mr Toolbag could do?

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow with a very nice logo.

PS: Readers who enjoyed this post might also like Mr Toolman of Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr Greek
85 Russell Lane
London N20 0BA

This week is Arguably the Best Logo Week, but this isn’t the logo in question. It is a perfectly well judged and appropriate piece of type, but no more that that.

I have chosen to post Mr Greek today because he gives us cause to remember that the word ‘logo’ comes from the Greek ‘logos’, meaning ‘word’. There is something pleasing about this – a reminder that the visual and the verbal have always been inseparable allies in the branding process.

Mr Greek is a slightly strange name for Mr Greek, because he sells the classic British dish of fish and chips. However, he also sells kebabs, so that’s Greek.

I will post arguably the best logo tomorrow or the next day (probably the next day).

In the meantime, do you remember Mr Sam Widges from a couple of weeks back? Well, Mr Tweets was in the King's Cross area of London and came across this establishment:

It's nice to think that we have become sufficiently acquainted with Mr Sam Widges that we can drop the 'Mr' now.

Mr. Logo
124 Cricklade Road
Swindon SN2 8AG

I know you are probably all looking at the Wong Kee Fish Bar and thinking what a good name it is. However, I want you to turn your attention to the rectangular orange sign above the neighbouring premises, which signals the presence of Mr Logo.

Once again, this is not a very good photo, but it took a lot of finding on Google Street View, so I hope you appreciate it on that level.

There is no sugar-coating the fact that Mr Logo’s logo is not very good: 

Is there something good I can say about it? I don’t think there is really. I suppose it is quite distinctive and lively.

Looking at his website, it appears Mr Logo specialises less in logo design and more in the application of logos onto various pieces of merchandise.

Anyway, I have chosen to post Mr Logo today because later this week I will be publishing what is arguably the best logo I have featured so far on this blog.

Yes – it’s Arguably The Best Logo Week!