• TWEET by Oyl Miller, a fantastic piece of writing. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by brevity, over-connectedness…”

• Submitting to literary journals: a beginner’s guide.

• An owl transistor radio! The owl, made in Japan, is 8 inches tall and fat with a plastic body and gold medal wings, eyes, legs and speaker holes in the crotch.

• Charley wrote some wise words about the trials of being a modern woman and the ladies who inspire her. “So thank GOD for the women who inspire me.  The ones who remind me that nobody ever got anywhere by compromising on their own truth.  Those women who sang songs that put them in jail, wrote books that provoked, played instruments better than their male contemporaries, spoke their minds, carried on regardless.” Mandatory reading. As I said on Twitter, I feel exactly the same way except I’m shorter.

• I write like? This writing analysis tool declared that my personal diaries resemble Dan Brown’s style. Guess I was recently ranting about the queues for the Louvre. Who’s tone are you perfecting?

• The Concentrators – a short story by Sue Francis that nails the frozen-in-time feelings of small town New Zealand life.

• An interview with Alexis from Sleighbells. I cranked the album constantly while I was away, love them. On Treats: “It’s a social record, it’s not the kind of record that you want to listen to by yourself in your room, it will make you want to go out and have fun and dance and forget about all the other crap that you normally worry about.”

• What Courtney Love wore today. Clove!

• It’s always nice to find mentions of your friends in fashionable places. New Zealand’s Process PR have launched a blog, designed by Ms. Tana Mitchell. She will also be keeping them updated with her stylish finds in NYC and across the globe.

• (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) – a number from the Hotrats, Supergrass’s covers project. The album Turn Ons came out a while ago but I have been enjoying it this week.

• In spite of playing the Queen, Helen Mirren is a hot babe. “I am a little notorious,” Mirren remarks, still teasing. She says nearly everything with a mischievous twinkle, like a naughty teenager appending “ … in bed” to the end of every sentence. NYMag delivers yet another great interview.

• A Charlie Rose interview with the late David Foster Wallace.

• Issue 2 of online photography magazine Télégramme is now out. It features the work of Kelley Smith, Shannon Doubleday and Atchi Toyoshima. (And one photo from me.)

• Woolfiller is an ingenious way of patching up holes in your cardigan, and gosh darn it you know I have like 30 holey jumpers.

• Are blogs dying? From the Economist, ‘An empire gives way’. I don’t think they’re dying, but rather, just one part of sharing.

• I am scared of black holes and space etc. I know broad topic… Anyway, this magnetic silly putty makes me feel the same way. Watch it EAT the magnet.

• Another brilliant Park & Cube DIY: the Carduogan.

• Storm in a teacup – these delft style ceramics are pure mechanical fantasy.

• NOMA, Copenhagen is currently embracing the title of the world’s best restaurant.

• Want/love/die: Missoni x Converse sneakers.

• I find it funny when I’m far from home and I always want to listen to things from New Zealand, or things that remind me of the past. From my Europe 2010 playlist: Second Chance, Liam Finn. My arm swinging with the music as I grasp the rail on the tube, thinking about where I’ve been. This gorgeous video was directed by Angus Sutherland:

This trip. Sensational. No, better. Sorta like a dream? I flew Air France from Paris to Copenhagen then back again. I listened to Air France on my headphones. They are Swedish and good. Air France (the airline) upgraded me to business class. I thought they were pretty good too. Then they lost my luggage and my worldly possessions. It was then I learnt the phrase, c’est la vie.

This CFS Loves edition comes from Paris. I am whipping around the world at the speed of light it seems. Let’s pretend for a moment I am writing to you from a charming Parisian pied-à-terre, my dachshund at my feet.

Not a garret that somewhat resembles a hotel room, just now with 8 people sharing it. It’s so funny… the room retains the original hotel feel – tacky painting, a desk for correspondence, a side table, there are just 4 sets of bunks shoved in. It’s very ‘romantic’. That said, my fleeting roommates are lovely! We’ve been sharing beer and shampoo – instant friendship. As such, this little collection of links is vaguely travel themed…

• The frugal pleasures of Paris in summer.

• Barbara Krueger is the latest artist to revision the tube map cover (David Shrigley has done so before). And while we’re underground, I found this article: Suicide on the Tube – what happens when you hear about a passenger incident.

• True Story: I Did A Religious Pilgrimage. Sarah Von interviews an intrepid walker.

• Time Out’s list of 20 great things to do in Berlin.

• Tourist Magazine - an ever evolving platform for art, music, some kind of fashion and literature, edited by Sanna Helena Berger.

• Abandoned, unloved, and Japanese? This way to 10 ghostly spots in Japan.

• This one is just pure inspiration. Graphics, interiors, products – the Protein feed is brilliant.

• Subway systems of the world, presented on the same scale.

• By the way, if you want to make me happy like a crocodile at a playground, you can still cast a vote for me in Cleo’s Wonder Women campaign. Email cleo@acpmagazines.co.nz with a vote for Amber Parkin / Blogger. Put WONDER WOMEN in the subject line and include your name and contact details. Sweet as. I mean, merci!

Te puedo pedir un favor? The nice ladies at Cleo Magazine have nominated me in the blogger section of the CLEO Wonder Women Campaign. The campaign celebrates talented Kiwis doing amazing things. Our 12 finalists will be featured in the August issue and the winner gets $5,000 towards her work – but we need your votes to find her! Other women getting kudos include musicians, actresses, athletes, change makers and creatives. It’s an impressive list.

If you like CFS, vote for me! Email cleo@acpmagazines.co.nz with a vote for Amber Parkin / Blogger. Put WONDER WOMEN in the subject line and include your name and contact details. As a reward for your effort, you can win some fab bath goodies (you’ve already got the boobie prize of my unwavering love).

What would I do if I won? Bring to life the idea of a book of travel essays/photography I have floating around in my head, enlisting all the brilliant people I know.

Here are the other nominees in the blog category, no surprises here that they’re all resplendent sites – run by amazing women – most of which I have mentioned on CFS before: Hungry and Frozen / Front Row Diary / Aych Blog / So Much To Tell You / The Girl With The Kaleidescope Eyes / Shahlin @ CDM / Rag-Pony ♥

How do you like the new The National album? It’s been growing on me. This video makes Bloodbuzz Ohio even more mellifluous. As Jess said in an email, “Sweet beard, excellent tailoring, feeding ducks. Fin!”

• On Saturday night I’m going to be in South Korea. I found the picture above purely by chance, then saw it was in Seoul. I’m excited! I’ve been reading about street styles, the Hangul alphabet, and thinking of making a quick raid on the Dongdaemun night markets.

• But does it float? Glorious, saturated graphics to browse through.

• Duncan talks about Pogo’s (of Disney remix fame) next level sampling. Taking it to the gardyn…

• Forgotten Storefronts in Williamsburg. I liked this because I stayed just around the corner from North 5th Street and Berry Street and know the derelict air of which ScoutingNY speaks.

• Project Thirty Three is an archive of outstanding vintage record covers.

• Six writers on their favorite reading, genre by genre. NYMag delivers again with picks from William Gibson et al.

• How to make your own festive flags.

• Friends Of Type. Hot stuff. Make some new buddies.

• A clutch of gorgeous bookshelf and personal library pictures.

• ‘So you feel like Jim Morrison wandering the desert of Wayne’s World 2, with the claw of the hawk god about to pluck you harshly from your pleasant reality?’ Japanese ads for psychiatric drugs.

• I’ve stayed the last two nights in a hotel overlooking Auckland’s ferry buildings and Voyager, the maritime museum. It seems apt that this morning I stumbled across this link: Ships In Concrete – Best Maritime Inspired Architecture.

• A timely reminder: Initiative surpasses talent.

• In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) – the hit of the year 1969:

I read this quote today while researching a hunch I had about the link between social media and gambling. It’s about Facebook:

“I don’t really like it,” he said.  “It seems to me that people who are on a lot are denying a couple things.  They’re making time not exist – the speed of it, the instant back and forth.  And, they’re denying that people grow apart.”

Like matrons flirting with one armed bandits, I find myself increasingly refreshing the page, hoping for a little red pop-up, a reward for being witty, interesting or cute. To be honest, I feel like a rat who gets a pellet for pushing the correct buttons. No matter how much praise I get, I still want more, and I want it now. Do the words mean anything to me, or is it just the thrill of the red bubble?

From now on, I want to concentrate on slowing down. When I travel, I prefer to linger, enjoying the passage of time and the ‘I wish things would never end’ sentiment (I’m the only girl I know who hass spent 10 days straight in Bangkok, not going to the islands). Why not apply this chrono-appreciation to the every day? Learn to savour the slow things in life…

The other point about cultivating dead friendships struck me too. Perhaps we should appreciate them as flowers, and accept sometimes they’ll wither away. Again, if they’re worth saving, we should take our time in reviving them, using love and face to face interaction.

With those fresh thoughts in my head, here are several beautiful things that are slow, delightful and worth taking time over:

Bread rising…

Weekend sleep-ins…

Train travel…

Processing film and printing photos…

Fromage…

Reading books…

Crystals…

Walking or even rambling…

Brewing your own ginger beer…

Let’s take our time?

This week I drank wine and discovered the magic of radio.

“I don’t speak Chinese but I speak Yum Cha,” said Jeremy, whose marauding finger I cropped out of this shot.

We made some new friends at lunch…

I’m moving house this weekend, goodbye sweet noticeboard. Fresh starts.

While packing I found this elephantine piece of finger armour. I remember buying it in Wellington when I was 15 and really extravagant with personal decoration. Dipping my toe in the goth pool.

This is more my sort of style now, a simple bangle, dented from exuberant keyboard use.

Faded makeup and stars in my hair.

Things may get quiet here due to work, exams and putting my life into boxes again; but we’ll see, manic inspiration could strike. 11 days till Europe, eep. I hope you have an excellent week xx

• I love this Typelighter made by Hans at Surefire Disappointment. His USPS connect-the-dots postcard crusade is incredible too.

• Publishing 2010 – a Harper Collins editor looks at the future of books.

• http://fffflckr.com

• 86 beautiful book covers. If everything goes digital, does the craft of cover design die?

• Lazer Tits – there goes your train of thought, thank me later.

• 5 things Zooey Deschanel knows about style.

• Clever clogs! My favourite NZ gig promoter Strange News aka Matthew Crawely has a new blog/website, designed by the phenomenal Melissa Jenkins. Super-luxe.

• Tranquil, innit. Jarvis Cocker has worked with the UK’s National Trust to produce an album “comprising of British natural sounds including birdsong, crashing waves and wind breezing through a country garden.

• Street Museum is groundbreaking app bringing the past to life on the streets of London. I want an iPhone now, just to play with this myself.

• YACHT. I have an ocean’s worth of respect for these two and their music makes my heart go boom-boom-boom. Here they are talking to Causecast about: music distribution, self-navigated media making, vegetarianism, health care, the financial struggles of being a band, and the DIY spirit of being an artists, and the importance of adapting your skills.