Porter is a Toronto based airline, bringing both the fun and the woodland back into flying…
Design*Sponge has conducted a great interview with Neal Whittington, a creative on the project (as part of the Winkreative shop, run by Mr. Tyler Brûlé). It’s a interesting insight into this brand’s creation process; it looks like Porter is definitely delivering a much needed. quirky breath of fresh air into the airline business!
Disclaimer: I love all kinds of music, there’s no snobbery here…
I’m not cheating on you, indie-electro! However hip-hop especially makes me want to dance, or incites me into having a fist pumping moment while in the back seat of my best friend’s car. Anyway, I’ve been obsessing over a certain drum break for ages now; it kept popping up in all sorts of mean, funky songs and I could never pinpoint it. I knew the only way to find it was to go through hundreds of samples looking for it but, as always, I never got round to it. However a day ago, thanks to sweet serendipity and late night adventures in googling I found it!
Take Me To The Mardi Gras (wav file)! It’s originally from a smooth song of the same name by Bob James. He’s been called a jazzy genius and the album it’s from, Two, has been sampled countless times.
Here’s a few songs that Take Me To The Mardi Gras has cropped up in:
Example 1 – Run-D.M.C.’s Peter Piper (audio only)
Example 2 – LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells (audio only)
Example 3 – Missy Elliot’s Work It (I feel old, this is from 2002, my goodness)
It’s also been used by Wu, Common, Masters at Work and other legends. Yeah, take ME to the Mardi Gras! I’m so happy to have found it.
Of course there’s many other classic drum breaks to enjoy… Funky Drummer anyone?
Surrealist photography by Norwegian Rune Guneriussen. I love the mix of serene wilderness and weirdly anthropomorphic domestic goods. [Thanks Sarah!]
Another fun music toy to play with; iDaft – work it, make it!
I’ve been having a look around at skating sites, (the Miles board series has me weeping over my lack of skills) and came across Tweaker Zine. More than skating, it’s full of rad photography and fascinating stories. One of these is Arctic Disko; the story of a whole bunch of amazing musicians (Feist! Jarvis Cocker!) engaging directly with climate change. They’ve also got a blog.
Incredible. Meet Mr. Chicken is an interview (extracted from the book Chicken: Low Art, High Calorie) with the guy who has designed the signage of many of the UK’s chicken shops. I love it. Some say I’m lucky I never made it to the fabled Chicken Cottage… but this just makes me even more eager.
Need a new party trick? Cigar Box Juggling is kind of cool. I can imagine someone mastering this and making a tetris style video.
Lusting after this ribbon bench by Lambie Chan – it looks just like a gorgeous curled ribbon topping a present…
Annette from Nut and Bee has designed this unbelievably disapproving NARWHAL shirt for Woot. OMG. Buy it. I’m harshly judgmental too, and this is one of the best things I’ve seen in a while. Yay! Oh and this video, zmog…
Brrrr. Much to my dismay it’s getting rather chilly at night. So much so that an extra duvet (a blanket to you, foreign darlings) has been added to my bed. Soon I’ll need to start wrapping up warm… thus I think my wardrobe would totally benefit from one of these beautiful cloaks by Lindsey Thornburg:
The photographs (all shot by Olivia Malone) make them look perfect for nesting in. Hm, with an outlandishly pretty cloak and a few hot chocolates, winter might not be so bad after all!
Western Edition, a San Fransisco skateboard shop (the finest since 99), has designed this series of boards based on Miles Davis’ 59′ band – 5 of the musicians who played on the legendary Kind Of Blue record.
They’re being produced in celebration of the album’s 50th anniversary and Western Edition’s 10th birthday.
From left to right we have: Paul Chambers – bass, Bill Evans – piano, Miles Davis – trumpet, John Coltrane – tenor sax and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Amazing.
Check out the Western Edition site for more other breathtaking decks, like the Hard Edge series; an ode to the painting movement of the same name started by Los Angeleno painters in the 50’s and 60’s.
Loads more outings and entertainment this week! The highlight of my many excursions had to be the discovery of a bar selling teapot cocktails. I had one (or two, maybe three) that deemed “Smoochable”; a damn drinkable concoction of fruity flavours. These tempting teas got rapidly out of control, creating an entire bar full of Mad Hatters!
Weekly ritual of sorting my life out.
Ninja ritual.
My weekend morning ritual of coffee, fashion and writing.
The Sunday morning ritual of kebabs!
I also indulged in some personal rituals; organising possessions and collections, journaling and drinking coffee. I’m living outta my suitcase and it’s wonderful to tap back into these little actions that make everything seem normal when the world around is so vagabond. What tiny ceremonies do conduct in your life?
Ni hao! I’m happy to say that my recent UK adventures were not the only travel ones I’m embarking for a while. In case you haven’t heard, at the end of the month I am off to China. It’ll be a crazy trip, one of inspiration, entertainment and hilarity I’m sure.
Shanghai: Bladerunner in 3D
At the moment my itinerary looks a little something like: Beijing-Shanghai-Beijing-Xi’an-Yangshuo-Shanghai-Hong Kong!
For the first round of Shanghai I will be staying with my awesome friend Julian, who is an architect living and working in the city. Looking into my crystal ball, I predict a week of dumpling slurping, site seeing and a thorough cultural investigation into the local nightlife… ❤ (The first two pics were stolen from Jules’ facebook.)
On my current list of things to do:
Visit the new Barbie retail store in Shanghai, kick the ass of the whole ‘vegetarian in China’ issue (though apparently there are some good fake meat restaurants out there!), take an overnight train to Beijing, climb the Great Wall, see the terracotta warriors, gently cycle through some remote villages, gawk at some panda cuties, shop-shop-shop in the markets of Hong Kong… and so much more!
Phew. I’m so excited – another 3 weeks of exploration… I can’t wait. In them meantime I’m getting prepared with lots of net research, quality time with Wallpaper* City Guides and emailing some sweet, helpful people. Also, last time when it came to hot travel tips, you guys provided the goods and then some; so any suggestions on what to do are gratefully received. Here’s a wriggling horde of miniature pandas as a thank you!
Apparently I can help bathe a baby panda for the affordable price of only €300!
Sunday afternoon, a time for planning for the week ahead as well as some indulgent dreaming. There’s a few things on my mind, a few things I would love to have:
Kate Sylvester Symphrosia Coat – those jodhpurs are rather divine too.
A Fernanda Pereira accordion pleated neck piece.
Alexander McQueen hard case in charcoal, to make all travel luxurious.
Ink of the marine persuasion.
A plane ticket to one of the most fabulous places on the planet.
And of course, a teeny tiny pet owl, with its pocket sized eyes full of wisdom.
Please and thank you! What are you coveting right now?
Still on the owl tip. Please view what can be described as probably one of the biggest “misses” of my shopping life, a beautiful vintage owl bag:
Oh regrets! It was only about AU$100 too. If you’re digging the sheer amount of junk in this photo, next time you’re in Melbourne visit the Chapel Bazaar (217-223 Chapel Street, Prahran). Heaven for people like moi, who enjoy a good fossick and delight in scoring old gems. There appears to be 3+ owls in the one photo… so if you’re into woodland creature paraphernalia, chances are you’ll find a few.
Also worth checking out in Melbourne is tattooist Sam Rulz (she designed and inked my shoulders). Keeping on trend, she’s made a cool how-to guide, ‘Painting an Owl in 20 Steps’. Radical.
For a while long time I have sulked and repeatedly declared the owl over. I mused on other animals, tried to convince my desk-mate Sarah that the camel was our new cornerstone of cool. But still the regal owl reigned. Even last week I took the issue up over cocktails with a textile designer. Eventually my heart has been warming up to them… and when I saw the promo shots for the new Mint Chicks album, Screens, I knew owl was well again ❤ (It’s lame, shoot me – I don’t care!).
The same species of feathered friend is also prominent in their video ‘I Can’t Stop Being Foolish‘, a jammy little geeky number directed by Sam Peacocke.
Another fan of owls is the gorgeous and free spirited Alison Goldfrapp; seen here communing with nature in a ruffled, cirque sort of get up.
Thigh high socks and wavy hair – adorable! The images are part of the recent ‘Seventh Tree‘ album promotion.
So back to the Strigiformes. They are found pretty commonly throughout the world and have a strong allegorical presence through many of our favourite stories. Uh, like Harry Potter and Hedwig…
But why? Because in Greek mythology, the owl represents Athene, the goddess of foresight and knowledge. To Native Americans they are seen as protectors from harm. In a myriad of other cultures they shine brightly as signs of intelligence, reasoned perspective, wisdom, mystery, power and independence. It doesn’t hurt that they are so damn cute n’ fluffy either!
Yep, I’m over my owl-shunning phase and am right back into the swing of it all. This is embarrassing, but I’m geeking out on our avian friends so much that I’ve been listening to a collection of owl calls. They are actually pretty sweet sounding and I would like to see some sampled to make a banging electronic track – such as this Northern Tawny Bellied Screech Owl… A job for Goldfrapp perhaps!
I first came across the dainty work of Nadia Flower through a collaboration she did with Zoe & Morgan (rad Kiwi jewelery designers, more on them soon). Flower is responsible for the illustrations in their Paris Fashion Week look book. As you can see, this project produced fantastic results; translating the jewelery into dreamy drawings, with a nod to past Zoe & Morgan motifs.
Enchanted, I delved further into her portfolio. You’ll find loads of winsome watercolours; all rather heavy on symbology and infused with interesting patterns. There’s also some ‘style-icons’ (hello MK) thrown in for good measure!
Overall, it’s a very girlie and feathery “carousel of dreams” aesthetic, which I really enjoy. Definitely a growing portfolio to keep an eye on!
A fantastic party, a wine soaked dream. A Beirut video filled with confetti, lithe dancers and the sea. All are rather high on the scale of happy making moments. This is the video for Elephant Gun, a single of Beirut’s 2007 Lon Gisland EP. It was the first official video released for the Beirut project and was directed by Alma Har’el.
Swoon. I love the gyspy sound. Every time I listen I start to make statements like “all good bands should have a trumpet”. Seriously. Now to check out the new EP (and dance)!
The Guardian has an fantastic new-ish section that provides instructions on how to make your own accessories and clothes, a la your favourite designers. This information makes it look simple – very valuable and inspiring!
I’ve just started using Last.FM and was super impressed to find this data visualisation tool. Turn your listening history into a pretty infographic! Lee Byron has also built one and discusses the process in depth.
Random Got Beautiful is a photo mash-up site, for all you lovers of vibrant, soulful colours.
Sandra at Smosch has recently visited London and she’s posted some really beautiful photos. They make my heart ache a little bit.
This interview with Graham Hill (who is behind Treehugger and the adorable We Are Happy To Serve You ceramics) is from November 2008, but is filled with timeless, inspiring advice.
Harold Pinter - potential nerd boyf?
Nerd Boyfriend matches the geeks with appropriate fashion picks. I want a dubiously cool boyfriend so I can steal his clothes!
My new favourite thing: a keyboard drum machine. Amazing. Hours of fun. It sounds like it could be George Michael being sampled…
Last but definitely not least, check out Mini.Miniature.Mouse aka Fumi Mini Nakamura’s excellent illustration portfolio. Spellbinding – in particular Den Sidst Åndedræt I Den Fugle or ‘the last breath of the bird’ in Danish:
Hello! My name is Amber Parkin. I'm a New Zealander living in London. I'm a writer obsessed with fondue, chesterfield sofas, vintage dresses, foxes, and 35mm.
‘ album promotion.
