September 30, 2014
Lodger
"Simon Critchley and Rick Moody on Bowie's 1979 masterpiece, and the way pop music mutates and deepens over time."
Röyksopp feat. Robyn - Monument (The Inevitable End Version)
Hat tip to Mr. Percifield.
September 29, 2014
Light hacks
"While at La Paix, Fitzgerald worked in dark, disheveled rooms with a bottle of gin in a nearby drawer. He took short walks and came back to hand-write his ideas on notepads scattered on his desk. He also loved to sneak the Turnbulls’ homemade wine."
Jean Paul Gaultier | Spring Summer 2015 Full Fashion Show
Hosted by Alex Taylor.
September 26, 2014
Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He’s angry
"Terry Pratchett may strike many as a twinkly old elf, but that’s not him at all. Fellow sci-fi novelist Neil Gaiman on the inner rage that drives his ailing friend’s writing."
September 25, 2014
Metal ballet
"In the Game of Thrones ballet, you fouetté or you die."
September 24, 2014
Horror of Philosophy Vol.1
September 23, 2014
A brief survey of the short story
"In a lecture delivered in New York in the spring of 1983, Italo Calvino remarked that 'most of the books I have written and those I intend to write originate from the thought that it will be impossible for me to write a book of that kind: when I have convinced myself that such a book is completely beyond my capacities of temperament or skill, I sit down and start writing it'."
When in doubt
"Put a sock on it. As seen at Jil Sander, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana."
September 20, 2014
Skintight spacesuits
“We want to achieve that same pressurization, but through mechanical counterpressure — applying the pressure directly to the skin, thus avoiding the gas pressure altogether."
Blamage Parfum Extrait by Nasomatto
"This fragrance is an unwise and unfortunate creation caused by bad judgement and care."
September 19, 2014
Forensics & Fiction
"Here's what you need to know when writing a morgue scene."
September 18, 2014
Xenomorph is just a fancy word for alien
"The use of 'Xenomorphs' as a proper noun used to describe the series’ aliens is blatantly wrong. If you’re guilty of doing it, stop."
September 17, 2014
David Lynch: the Unified Field
"Although he’s best-known for his middle-America-meets-the-macabre movies, David Lynch started out as a painter and has not put down his brushes in 40-something years. Not surprisingly, the director known for his darkly visceral vision creates canvases that are anything but pretty pictures."
Why Turner turned square
"Tate Britain’s new JMW Turner exhibition includes his controversial square paintings (some of which are round)."
September 16, 2014
Secret libraries of London
"Libraries are often public spaces with a rather private focus, each visitor engrossed in quiet contemplation or simply curled up with a good book. However, the beauty of London is found in its nooks and crannies, so let's take a look at eight libraries that are tucked a little further off the beaten track."
Matthew McConaughey and the MKC
"Sometimes you've got to go back, to actually move forward."
September 15, 2014
Topshop Unique Spring/Summer 2015
Extra: Backstage at the Topshop show.
Jerusalem
Alan Moore has finished the first draft of his second novel, Jerusalem, and it runs to more than one milliion words.
September 13, 2014
Why Paris is forgetting Ernest Hemingway
"American writer Ernest Hemingway had close links with Paris. He first lived there in 1920 and played a marginal, much-mythologised, role in the 1944 liberation of the city. But now, 70 years on, memories of the author are starting to fade."
September 11, 2014
French Toast vs Eggy Bread
"Judge me all you want, but I'll bet that at least a few of you have spent some time pondering the exact same question - are French Toast and Eggy Bread the same thing?"
September 10, 2014
Fashion verdict: iWatch
"Apple may have outdone themselves on the acoustic front. A professor of music from Amsterdam was commissioned to synthesise analogue watch chimes into digital sounds - it transpires that Jonathan Ive, Apple's Senior Vice President of Design, loathes the intrusive beeps and vibrations that characterize all smart phones. Nor is the noise that buckle makes accidental. ...
"This much is clear - and perhaps this is the influence of Angela Ahrendts, ex-CEO of Burberry and now head of Apple's Retail, and of Paul Deneuve, formerly CEO of Saint Laurent now Vice President of Special Projects of Apple - the company is entering the style arena. It should be one hell of a show."
By contrast: "I have no plans of strapping an old iPod nano to my wrist with a strip of Teletubbie pelt."
West Queen West
The second coolest street style neighbourhood in the world according to Vogue. Having played The Drake, this leaves me feeling vaguely pleased with myself.
September 09, 2014
H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour of Providence
"If the avid Lovecraftian were to follow these addresses in succession as they appear below (presumably, with the aid of a smartphone's GPS), he shall find them laid out in a rationalized circumnavigatory trajectory, terminating roughly where it started. It's a multi-hour affair with a considerable amount of walking, so be prepared."
September 08, 2014
Stealth fashion
"Big Brother is real and he's watching. Become untrackable and unhackable with UnPocket™ enabled stealth fashion."
The '1984' stealth fashion collection combines the colours and workwear styling of Orwell's fiction with UnPocket™ stealth technology for the post-Snowden reality.
Hat tip to Reality is a Game.
Future Library
"Depending on perspective, it is an author's dream – or nightmare: Margaret Atwood will never know what readers think of the piece of fiction she is currently working on, because the unpublished, unread manuscript from the Man Booker prize-winning novelist will be locked away for the next 100 years."
September 06, 2014
From the Top of the World: CFS Alert
"CHEX Television's Michelle Ferreri and Kevin Wheeler travel to 'the top of the world' to visit Canadian Forces Base Alert. We meet some of the men and women who live and work there, and tour the facilities."
September 05, 2014
Joan Rivers on The Ed Sullivan Show (April 23, 1967)
Later: "Speaking with the CBC's Peter Gzowski in 1978, Joan Rivers talks about the serious nature of comedy writers, her husband Edgar Rosenberg, Dolly Parton and the importance of laughing."
Late Night: "When Joan Rivers guest hosted recently for WNYC's Leonard Lopate, she sat down with author and attorney Henry Bushkin to remember their friendships with Carson. Both had public fallings out with the charismatic host, but never disregarded his genius."
"Jimmy welcomes Joan Rivers, who made her first appearance on The Tonight Show 49 years ago, and Joan explains why she was a little late."
"Johnny Carson plays an elaborate practical joke on Joan Rivers (about 1983). Because of her many jokes about the British Royal Family, Johnny Carson hires British actress Janet Brown - notable for playing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - to fool Joan Rivers into thinking she is the Prime Minister, who confronts and scolds Joan Rivers about her material."
September 04, 2014
Negroni Sbagliato
"When a bartender at Bar Basso in Milan mistakenly grabbed a bottle of spumante instead of gin while making a Negroni (comprised of the holy trinity of the cocktail world: Campari, Italian vermouth and gin), he inadvertently created a simple, endlessly drinkable twist on a classic: the Negroni Sbagliato ('sbagliato' is Italian for 'mistaken')."
Vintage travel photography
"W looks back at the places - and people - you encounter when you travel in stylish circles."
Louis Vuitton Shoes Across Paris
"Louis Vuitton presents the Fall 2014 Shoe Collection dancing across Paris."
September 03, 2014
My Favorite Animal Is Me
"I don’t want cashew-coconut ice cream, I don’t want 'not bad for you' - I want regular ice cream. But this is Banks, after all, the atmospheric R&B extraordinaire whose soulful debut album, Goddess, drops in September, and I’d choke down a pint of cashew crème fraîche if she recommended it."
September 02, 2014
A conversation with Rosita Missoni
A chat with Rosita Missoni about interior design and the Missoni lifestyle (short article and images at the link).
Far, Far From Land
Kristen McMenamy by Tim Walker for W Magazine December 2013 (nsfw, mermaid).
Night Things - Sleeping Beauty
"Unofficial video for the song 'Sleeping Beauty' by Night Things (formerly 'Badlands'). Footage is from the 1970 Czechoslovakian surrealist film 'Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.'"
September 01, 2014
An ode to de la Falaise
"Loulou de la Falaise was a French icon and an enduring muse to Yves Saint Laurent. With her unstudied style and indefatigable spirit, she also represented everything that is brilliant about fashion."