Attn all stay-at-home baristas

99.9% of expresson machines for the home are butt ugly, over-priced and horrendously oversized.
Here's the 0.01%, the crema of the crop. This concrete thing of beauty is designed by Shmuel Linkski and called the Expresso Solo Machine.Via Selectism

Hot frog: Gavras

French film director Romain Gavras is a tres cool homme. His music video for dance act Justice's track "Stress" is probably the best thing to come out of France since "La Haine" (although Zizou's head-butt deserves a mention). The kinetic vid follows a gang of French rudeboys as they embark on a destructive rampage through the city ...

I'm serously looking forward to checking out his first feature film "Our Day Will Come" starring "La Haine" topliner Vincent Cassel:

Biya-nce - fierce!

Regular ArchBlog readers will know I have a soft spot for eccentrically dressed political figures. The latest politico to catch my eye is Cameroon's awesome First Lady Chantal Biya. While others might bleat on about how 'on trend' Carla Bruni of Michelle Obama are, I'm more taken by Biya's always STRIKING look. With that billowing ginge do she looks like a lit match. Fyah! By the way, the demure purple cross look (top piccie) was for a meeting with the Pope. And I love the way she's giving N.Campbells' staid look the 'wotevs sista' disapproving half-smile. Via Huffington Post

Cop a load of this new sensi Ahmed!

War and drugs go together almost as well as war and oil, war and religion or even peanut butter and strawberry jam.
To keep their mind of killing people and getting killed, soldiers often turn to recreational drugs.
So, it should come as no surprise to most to discover that the Afghan National Police (ANP) are stoned almost all the time according to al-Jazeera reports. ANP stoners prob. argue a few hits on the bong before patrol chills them out but their giggling is really annoying the U.S. jarheads (who prefer necking 'roids and listening to deafeningly loud heavy metal to escape the harsh realities of war) ...

Via al-Jazeera

Swedish Treehouse

Like most (relatively) normal children, I grew up planning to one day life in a treehouse (with a fridge full of Coke floats and all my He-Man figures). Twin that with the fact I am now a complete and utter sucker for eco retreats in remote locations and you'll understand why I'm totally blown away by The Mirrorcube Treehotel in Sweden. What I like best about this 'camoflagued retreat' is it is accessed by rope bridge. Amazing! ArchBlog bigs up co-architects Andreas Helgesson and Julia Gudiel. Read the official blurb below the piccies. The starting point is to create a shelter up in the trees: a lightweight aluminium structure hung around a tree trunk, 4x4x4 metre boxes clad in mirrored glass. The exterior reflects the surroundings and the sky, creating a camouflaged refuge. The interior is constructed from plywood and the windows give a 360 degree view of the surroundings.
The tree hotel concept meets the increasing interest in wild life-/eco tourism where one may encounter and experience the pristine nature of Sweden. The cube provides living space for two people: a double bed, bath, a living room and roof terrace. Access to the cabin is by a rope bridge.
To prevent birds colliding with the tree hotel, a infrared film, visible for birds only, will be laminated into the glass panes.

Click here to book a room

Thx HanPicked for tip-off

Do Babies Dream of Electric Sheep?

From Bangor to Bangalore, it is an established fact that babies are pretty cute to look at when they are sleeping. Or even just snoozing.

They need only do small things like sneeze, snuffle or yawn in their sleep to make grown women cry and draw wide-eyed applause from even the butchest menfolk.
One savvy mother/blogger has run with this powerful idea and created the excellent Mila's Daydreams blog which I urge ya'll to check out right now!

Daydreams is a winningly simple enterprise - "This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it" - which has spawned tremendous results. Personal faves of mine are surfer girl, wonderland mushroom, the snowman and attack of the 50 foot women's baby. I'm waiting for stuff like drunken sailor and Olympic showjumper!

Thanks to the esteemed editor-in-chief and publisher of the always excellent HanPicked for the tip-off

Football's less boring again

Since not really enjoying the World Cup (was Ghana v USA the only decent game?), I've been well off my football. I'm like a person who loves seafood but hasn't really gotten over food poisoning from a bad oyster.
That was until I received two simply awesome clips (via Matt & Reub) this week which remind me of just how goddamn neat the game of European soccerball can be.
First up is a wrong'un peno like no other. The cool-headed executor of this game-changing peno is Spanish U19 Ezequiel Calvente. It's nailed on Cwissy Ronaldo will be giving it a go very soon.

And then there's the best goal celebration I've yet seen. While it is entirely pre-rehearsed it's still 'deep', 'heavy' and all those other words the yout of today use to describe things they generally approve of ...

The Empathic Civilization

I don't know what I like best about this arrresting vid from 'bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet' Jeremy Rifkin. It's either the awesome scrawled illustrations or the powerful message about humanity which is so well articulated.
The central idea that we all 'suffer' from empathetic distress goes a long to explaining why I stopped watching 'Casualty' when I peeped the episode where the squash player stabs himself through the throat with his own racket (shuddering stuff). According to Rifkin, I felt like vomming because "we are soft wired to experience another's plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves."

Via Slaney Wright

Necro Zombie chic

It seems film classification boards the world over are becoming increasingly lenient in what they pass (ie Gaspar Noe's 'Irreversible' complete with its 12-minute rape scene). But, now and again, 'out there' movies do still come a cropper at the hands of the censors. Some stuff still remains beyond the multiplex pale.
Take 'L.A. Zombie' which, according to Aussie newspaper reports, has just been pulled from the Melbourne Intl. Film Festival to the disappointment of the festival director. 'Zombie' director Bruce LaBruce's (awesome name) latest offering is a genre-busting 'gay zombie porn' film, which stars French male porn star Francois Sagat as an alien zombie sent to Earth to roam the streets on L.A. in search of dead bodies to have bottom sex with. For my legions of readers utterly obsessed with alien necrophilia, here's the trailer. Cue blaring music ...

Via Brietbart

For the ladies

ArchBlog is wading into uncharted waters here by flagging up a piece of womenswear for the first time. The lucky recipient of the ArchBlog seal of approval (!) is this standout virgin wool John-Paul Gaultier sailor's coat. If I was a sheila I'd be all over this like a cheap suit mainly for the Mayan-style (?) embroidery. Here's hoping my taste gets the HanPicked seal of approval!
It's available for a cool €3240 at achingly hip Paris boutique Colette

Timms spring/summer 2011

It seems that in every Timberland Boot Company collection, there's at least one boot I really dig. This time round, it's this snazzy pair of lace-ups which has caught my eye.

Via Hypebeast

Headline of the week: Tired Gay succumbs ...

While not quite the stone-cold classic that is legendary cricket commentary gaffe 'the bowler's Holding the batsmen's Willey,' recent Reuters headline 'Tired Gay succumbs to Dix in 200 meters' has a certain ring to it.
Photo credit: Reuters/Steve Dykes

Via Al Shux

POPPIN' - Cork helmets

I love this cork-covered bicycle helmet I just peeped over @ style-setting blog Selectism. It's designed by a dude called Kevin Goupil. While I severely doubt it offers much in the way of real bonce protection it is quite a looker. The design is based on old French army helmets - no great surprise there given it has an odeur of WWI trench chic.
It turns out Gallic fash hse Lacoste have also produced a lovely cork helmet. This one is designed by Kyle J. Ferguson with eco-credentials firmly in mind ...
Comprising sustainable materials like organic wool, thermoformed bio-plastic, low-density cork and soy-based foam, Ferguson's helmet is, in his own words, "well-suited to leisurely rides around town, running errands, or commuting."
I (and prob Geoff Boycott too) particularly like the herringbone tweed covering.

Photo credit: Kyle Ferguson

War on Terror update ... duck, the Taliban are training monkeys!

Truth be told, my Taiwanese is a little rusty (recently I've been concentrating on getting my cello grade 8) but it seems to me that the Taliban are training monkeys (see below vid). With this is mind I do not leave the house without a six-pack of 'distraction' bananas. Stay safe readers

Via The Huffington Post

Second has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with First Loser.

There is a crackpot theory doing the rounds that Switzerland are the true World Cup champions because they were the only team to beat Spain in South Efrica. It disregards the fact that the Swiss were pants for the rest of the tournament and failed to even get out of their group.
By somewhat similar (twisted) logic, had Holland actually won the World Cup, the whole country would have melted down into one massive skunk-fuelled space rocket of orange gouda, departed earth and landed on a planet where even the libraries bang out euphoric, uplifting dance music at vol 10. I mean check out how pumped they are to lose the final ...

One again, this comes courtesy of ArchBlog editorial assistant Stu Forsyth

Sewer Abuse > 'Fatbergs'

Hate your lousy job? Wish you were outside in the park working on your man tan? Wish your office had more windows?
(Dude), it could be worse. So much worse.
Spare a thought for Mr Danny Brackley, head sewer flusher for Thames Water who is heading up an intensive 2-month sewer clean-up operation under Leicester Square where there IS ENOUGH LARD TO FILL NINE DOUBLE-DECKER BUSES according to Thames Water. According to a TW release (yup, even sewer sweeps have hard-working PR arms these days), "the putrid fat build-up is the result of years of 'sewer abuse'" ie when anyone anywhere puts anything other than loo roll, poo or water down and around the bend.
Anyway, the subterrainian sitch has got so damn critical that unless the hardy flushers roll up their sleeves, all the Italian tourists, one-legged pigeons and cartoonists (who make Leicester Square so amazing to visit) will be drowning in 'upsurge' (my coining).
Back to the gargantuan task facing the flushers ... once they've smashed down the FOUR-FOOT WALL OF SOLID FAT that blocks the entrance, they'll be taking powerful jets to hulking fatbergs of HARD FAT THAT HAS SET AND GONE OFF. Per Brackley (see vid below), this fat can be so hard it breaks shovels when attacked.
The moral of this story; next time you're in the loo of one of those many overpriced eateries in Chinatown think before you vom up your Peking duck and flush it down with a few earbuds. Think of Brackley and his team of flushers.

ps I wanna go down there with Werner Herzog and make the most hardcore arthouse film ever seen.

Decaf for Mel!

I'm not one to comment on other people's relationships but I do feel Mel Gibson has one or two 'issues' to work through with his (ex?) missus Oksana.
While it may very well be very true that he "bends over with his balls in a knot" to make their relationship work, I'm unconvinced that he's being entirely reasonable when he SCREAMS "you have no soul" and threatens to put the "cunt" is a "rose garden".
As we all know, arguments can erupt over the smallest things. In this case, Oksana seems to have 'upset' Mel by sleeping through their shared appointment in the jacuzzi. Clearly quite a transgression in Tinseltown.

Via Stu Forsyth

40 lung busters a day!

I'm aware the Indonesian smoking baby has been doing the rounds on the net for a few weeks but I've only just checked it out properly. You could say I'm picking up fag ends by posting this vid now. Whatever - ArchBlog readers need to see this. Make sure you watch through to 3 min, 18 secs to see how the cheeky chappy lugs round his fags in his wifebeater ...

Via CBS

Tasty Kicks: Nike Air Royalty Macaroon

It's less and less that I see new Nikes that I really like the look of. But I have to give it up for the Nike Air Royalty Macaroons which recently dropped @ Offspring on Neal Street. They really do look like (per the hype blurb) 'a batch of french macaroons fresh from the oven of a Parisien bakery'.
They make me wanna go straight to Gallic macaroon overlord Laduree (Burlington Arcade) and nail a few handfuls of their outrageously delicious pistachio-flavoured 'roonies.
Photo credit (Nike shot): Edward Chiu (via Hypebeast)

Gaza's network of tunnels

The blockade of the Gaza strip by Israel is a pretty emotive subject. What one might call a political hot potato. Its legality is endlessley debated.
What doesn't get much of a mention is the plight of the Stakhanovite Palestinian donkeys who work underground in the 1000 14km-long tunnels which run below the border with Egypt. These trusty workhorses lug essential supplies into Gaza every day thereby keeping Gaza's 1.5 million people alive. I think there should be statues to honor these beasts who risk hoof and hind daily to feed the people.
Check out this Economist vid showcasing the amazing work of Belgium photographer Bruno Stevens

UN peace-keeper chic

For some time now I've been on the look-out for a new bicycle helmet. Until recently I'd been struggling to find what I want; something hopelessly dorky and vaguely reminiscent of what a UN peacekeeper might wear.
At long last, my search is over. I am the proud owner of a Bern Watts lid which I'm so besotted by/with I find myself wearing indoors (earthquakes can strike at any moment).
It's clunky & not very breathable but still right up my strasse. I opted for the gunmetal grey color (below) but it's also great in white for the full-on Italian cop look. I've no idea if any of my readers are skaters/snowboarders (hands up!) but I'm told it's also ideal for those rad pursuits.

Available from Evans Bicycles in Chiswick as of last week