Thursday 30 December 2010

Johnny Cunningham climbs Ben Nevis

Sometimes Johnny Cunningham pops out. In 1976 he did just that. He hopped on his motorbike. Rode to the ferry. Got on the ferry. Looked out to sea. Got off the ferry. And then drove to the foot of Ben Nevis. Then he climbed Ben Nevis. In an wooly hat. Mostly without gloves.
Watch this awesome film shot by Yvon Chouinard for National Geographic and tell me Johnny Cunningham is not the coolest man you've ever seen ...

Via Archival Clothing

Sunday 26 December 2010

Still walking in a Taarabt wonderland

Seriously struggling to decide which is sweeter - the simply sublime megs on the Swansea mug or the commentator's pronunciation of 'Queens Park Rangers' and 'Taarabt'?

Regular readers of this blog will already be aware that Taarbs is the business.

o b s e s s e d

ArchBlog hopes your krimbo was as EXTRA FESTIVE as Carey's surely was ...

Tuesday 21 December 2010

Street protest, Belarus-style

Street protest seems to be all the rage in Blighty right now. There are tonnes of options for the wannabe protester: If the student fee protests don't float your boat then there's the UK Uncut movement alternative. However, for the more seasoned street protester, the Dubstep Rebellion (c Newsnight's Paul Mason) is a perhaps a little on the tame side?
To these guys, I say why not consider an awayday to freezing-cold Minsk, in totalitarian dictatorship Belarus? Lots of the locals over there took to the streets Sunday as they are growing a bit fed-up by Alexander 'Europe's Last Dictator' Lukashenko's 16-year-long run at the top.
Specifically, protesters gathered to contest the official presidential election results which saw Lukashenko bag a fourth term with an incredible 80% of the vote. Western election observers concur that big Luka stole the election (90% turnout according to the govt) but that didn't stop him sending his KGB (yes, they are still called KGB) boys down to Independence Square to 'quell' the protests which he referred to as "banditry."
After the state-sponsored beatdown, 600 protesters were in the clink and 9 of the 11 idiots stupid/brave enough to challenge The Last Dictator were either beaten senseless, in jail or missing. Below is a Russia Today vid and a few piccies from the protests taken by brave pro-democracy bods Charter 97.

*I don't think I need to mention how well they seem to be coping with the snow




Saturday 18 December 2010

Brendan Venter takes 59 seconds to say nothing whatsoever

Even the biggest sports fan has to concede that post-game interviews with athletes and coaches are often painfully dull and deeply uninformative. But even seen through that prism, this beaut is astonishing:

Via sports mad Jesse Romain

Baby preacher lays it down

"I stir our son's ... ice cream ... poop"

Via Rose Shuckburgh

Thursday 16 December 2010

Killing your children

I've never met Guardian film reviewer Peter Bradshaw but, judging from his tweets, he's a funny fellow. He just tweeted "Another feelgood headline from the Daily Mail":

So you want to be a journalist?

Journalism isn't always all it is cracked up to be. Working in the meedjah may be considered a relatively glamorous profession. But the reality of the trade can sometimes be very different from the widely-held impression; that journalists are either interviewing A-list slebs, embedded with the SAS or mulling the important issues of the day over coffee and doughnuts in the newsroom. That’s why this viral video is bang on the money.

Monday 13 December 2010

Burn a Koran pastor headed to UK?

Pastor Terry Jones, the crazy who wanted everybody to burn the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11, is back with a thought-provoking vid in which he and a very good male friend (who shares his love for slightly homo-looking facial hair) mull what their next move should be. So far, they have decided to "definitely do something" but they need our help with thrashing out the fine details.

Brits will be concerned to learn that not everyone in Blighty considers Jones to be totally off-key. The English Defence League have invited Jones to talk at a rally they are having in the lovely town of Luton on February 5. Jones insists he is only interested in a “peaceful rally” but his Doveworld.org website doesn’t exactly promise a conciliatory tone: “During the protest, Dr. Terry Jones, will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe."

Saturday 11 December 2010

Rihanna owns the X Factor

Rihanna is the bomb. Fact:

NOTE: This is the one and only time you'll ever see an X-Factor post on this blog.

Friday 10 December 2010

County Comm US Embassy pen

If Cablegate has taught US diplomats one thing it is that their secret cables back to the mothership are not so secret after all. Indeed, going forward, many embassy officials will be thinking twice before they bash out another disparaging electronic cable about Gaddafi's boner for his big-fronted nurse or somesuch.
Regardless of Cablegate, communicating via the route of good old-fashioned pen and paper remains on the wane in embassy circles. In fact, they are so overstocked with official US Embassy pens that they are beginning to flog them to regular Joes like you and me. Yup, for just $40 one can now get the slick embassy look from Cali-based govt. outfitter Counry Comm. The all-black version is at the top of my Christmas list. I adore the way it can be transformed into a compact pen (see boring vid) and, what with climate change and all that, I am pleased to hear it is "good from -30F to +250F."




Via self-procalimed "faux-woodsman-wannabe-tough-guy" blog A Continuous Lean

Amateur bungee-jumping in Russia

Sometimes Russian kids get so tired of the shitty weather (and lack of youth clubs with table tennis tables with unbroken nets) that they climb to the top of hulking projects and partake in a little amateur bungee-jumping:

Via Sketch topper Jeremy Riggall

Special needs

It seems capitalism's business model is based on making people feel they need stuff they don't need and can't afford and then selling it to them (often via 'special' offers). This is most naked in the run-up to Christmas. I'm aware that this observation may come across as a little vague. Here's an example of what I consider a truly pointless piece of proddy:

New York bag specialists Jack Spade want you to buy a Work Twill Doc Case. I, I assume like you, have absolutely no idea what the hell it is 'for'. Perhaps others require a 'heavy-handed cotton' doc case to display their printer paper or whatever? Perhaps having one of these babies makes you more awesome at closing business deals, more corporatesexy in the boardroom?

Maybe stupid little (commie scum) ArchBlog just doesn't get it? Or maybe this is an attempt to create a need where there is none? And then charge north of $100 (even after the special offer discount).


Via Rue Beaux 3312

Orlebar Brown dog print swimming trunks

I know it's December and people in Scotland are living in igloos but let's not forget that sometimes it gets so hot that people take off their puffa jackets and swim in the sea. In swimming trunks.
Orlebar Brown swimmers are the best money can buy. And @ £150 they don't come cheap. Tapping into man's love of dogs they've just released their classic beach short complete with dog prints by Adam Brown. My fave is the staffie (obvs):
However, no-one (not even Barca's shaggy-haired centre-back Charles Puyol) should be seen dead in the poodle trunks though:
Puyol photo credit: Darz Mol

Thursday 9 December 2010

The Situation

The mutt's nuts (are made of steel)

This is the sort of dog you want on your side, fighting your corner. This puppy don't play about ...

Real toddlers wear real tools

As previously reported on ArchBlog, the smartest kids are getting stuck in to work earlier and earlier these days. Sure, education has its merits but there are a growing band of enterprising nippers who recognise that having a job is what really counts in today's dog-eat-dog capitalist system. 'Go hard or go home (to mummy)' is their motto.
More and more youngsters are opting for hands-on blue-collar apprenticeships rather than pursuing (wussy) dreams of reading classics at Oxbridge. Smart companies like Ikea have recognised this work-now-grow-up-later trend and are beginning to market practical work tools to this new demographic. Like this awesome tool belt:

The tool kit is also sweet:

Big-up to the ever-fine HanPicked for the heads up

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Snow deep

Turn on any radio station other than the forever-chilled Classic FM and you'll realise pretty much everyone is moaning on about the snow. 'I can't go to school,' bleat the kids. 'I had to work from home today,' complain adults.

But there is an under-appreciated upside to the mayhem caused by snowstorms according to some enlightened folk. Below, are two thought provoking perspectives from recent newspaper leaders on why the brass monkeys weather is, in fact, a blessing in disguise:

The Daily Telegraph urged Brits to “go with the snow”: “Just as many who live under flight paths remember the peace and quiet brought by the Icelandic ash cloud that caused so much trouble to would-be travellers earlier in the year, so the light mornings and hushed traffic make snow memorable even while it imprisons us in its soft grip. The frustration comes partly from an expectation of being able to do what we want, when we want. This is a fairly recent trend, like eating asparagus in December. Snow, like volcanic ash, brings us back to earth.”

The Guardian also took time to big-up Artic weather: “Walking is healthier as more body fat is broken down in the process. People undertake fewer journeys and thus make better use of the ones they prioritise. Chewing gum and dog poo stay frozen in the street and not on the soles of your shoes. Cars are kept unwashed and home improvement delayed until the spring. It is a procrastinator’s paradise, when the unfinished business of the rest of the year is buried deep in layers of compacted snow and forgotten about.”

Basically, they are both saying that we should use these 'adverse weather conditions' (c Sky News) to chill the eff out.

Mossad sharks attacking Egypt?

Are Israel trying to torpedoe Egypt's tourist trade via shark attacks orchestrated by Mossad? That's the pretty stunning suggestion being made by Egyptian General Abdel-Fadeel Shosha, governor of South Sinai, in the wake of a series of shark attacks on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh.

The attacks have left one dead, four tourists maimed, beach-goers scared shitless to step foot in the water and threaten to dent the resort’s future popularity with (naff) holiday-makers.

Below is the background and comment which I've basically pillaged from myself at The Periscope Post:

The allegations of a Mossad plot were first put forward by an Egyptian diver on the Egypt Today TV show who noted that the sharks involved in the attacks are not native to Egyptian waters and provocatively asked: “Why would these sharks travel 4000 km and not have any accidents until they entered Sinai waters?”

Somewhat surprisingly, the leftfield theory of planted sharks was given official backing when General Abdel-Fadeel Shosha, governor of South Sinai, reportedly commented “What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark [in the sea] to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question, but it needs time to confirm.” “Whether this was an Israeli agent in a shark costume, a specially indoctrinated Zionist shark, or a remote controlled cybershark, the general does not elaborate, but he says the theory needs investigating,” joked Sky News' Middle East blogger Dominic Waghorn.

“Israelis get blamed for a lot in this part of the world, but Egyptian officials have plumbed new depths of pottiness with their latest Zionist conspiracy theory,” slammed Waghorn. “The shark attacks have the potential to do some real damage to Egypt, where tourism is pillar of the economy and an important provider of jobs. But the idea that Israel is behind the attacks is pretty farfetched,” adjudged Max Strasser at the Foreign Policy Passport blog.

Israel English-language newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported on the Jaws-style attacks but informed that the Mossad plot allegations have been deemed “too preposterous” for comment by Israeli officials.
Photo credit: 126 Club

Friday 3 December 2010

APC lilac jumper

Gallic brand APC do simple with a twist better than most. Take this lovely jumper with snazzy elbow patches. The only hang-up is I'm not sure males over the age of 11 are supposed to sport lilac?

Via Selectism

Thursday 2 December 2010

Shepherd's Bush, December

As snowy Shepherd's Bush awaits the annual arrival of the world's worst fair, which pitches up on the rat-infested Green every December, here are a few other jaw-dropping lowlights from festive W12.

Presumedly Chicken Cottage are running this staw-dent special to deter mobs of tuition fee protesters from kicking in their windows and pillaging all their heart attack food?
You love all his movies now check out top geezer Danny Dyer on the wheels of steel:
Even the pigeons are on the pipe round here: