Tuesday 31 July 2012

Baby hedgehog catching a nap

Yeah right this isn't the cutest thing you've seen since I posted that vid of a shetland foal dreaming.



Where's your mummy?



Via BuzzFeed animals

tokyobikes now available for hire

Oh-so trendy bike shop tokyobike have begun renting out their awesome Japanese-made bikes for £12 a day. I'm the proud owner of a tokyobike and I cannot recommend them more wholeheartedly.

I'm not really sure who'll hire one for a day though. Perhaps it'll be City boys who wanna bed east London hipster girls and don't wanna rock up to the boozer in their yellow Maserati?


Timeless chic: The Cuban revolutionary look

If I ran a fashyuan label this boppy little Soviet pop song would be my lookbook every damn season.

Whether you're a Commie bastard or not it is impossible not to agree that the three best dressed men in history are Camilo Cienfuegos (who usually wore a cowboy hat), Fidel Ruz Castro and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara AKA The Argentine. There's so much to like - dorky specs, fine beards, berets, weathered (by actually fighting) fatigues etc etc



Patria o Muerte! Venceremos!

Friday 27 July 2012

Mitt Romney: England's houses are "small"

You'll probably already know that Republican US presidential nominee (and all-round hair-sprayed twat) Mitt Romney hasn't endeared himself to Brits (esp. BoJo) by suggesting that Britain may not be quite ready to host the Olympic Games.

"Romney has walked back his comments, but it's not the first time the candidate has said some not-so-flattering things about the Sceptered Isle," pointed out Foreign Policy's Passport blog. In his book, No Apology, Romney sniped:

England [sic] is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn't make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn't been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler's ambitions. Yet only two lifetimes ago, Britain ruled the largest and wealthiest empire in the history of humankind. Britain controlled a quarter of the earth's land and a quarter of the earth's population.

The Revolution Will Be Televised trailer & teasers

Beeb Three have started to release teasers for the eagerly anticipated The Revolution Will Be Televised. ArchBlog cannae wait to watch the new tellybox series.

"In the great tradition of mischief-makers Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein bash a variety of politicians, multinationals and tax-shy billionaires who have been mocking the British public for years. Now it’s their turn to be outraged, deceived, inconvenienced and humiliated."

First up, here's the series trailer.



Here's future Chancellor and/or Lib Dem leader Vince Cable revealing he happily goes for a sneaky latte with besuited people (JR) he's never met but only so long as he receives positive "feedback" from his SPAD "people" on the issue:



HP flogging overpriced tat (inc. Prince Harry DNA tests) to rain-soaked Diamond Jubilee revellers enjoying the historic celebrations (you remember the celebrations - they were the ones which hospitalised the Queen's hubbie):



& here's BBCOMGWTF red-carpet reporter Zam Zmith quizzing Cheryl on the small matter of what's the point of it all (human existence).

Straitjacket heist stunt film

Props to Heydon, Will and Joe and the rest of the Don't Panic Team for their stunt film to raise awareness about mental health issues. The descrimination-busting stunt was launched to remind people that plenty of Britain's finest leaders (and all-round good eggs like Florence Nightingale) were plagued by mental illness but it did not stop them achieving loadsa stuff (like winning a World War).

The cheeky stunt worked; the mainstream meedjah picked up on it and ran pic's of Churchill & co. in straitjackets.

Turf houses, Iceland

I want to live in a turf-roofed house in Iceland. Right now*.
*Does anyone know if I'd have to mow the roof?






Spotted at Melinda Josie's blog. Brought to my attn. by my wifey (HanPicked)

Thursday 26 July 2012

Tender Co. Trestle Shop: The best thing since sliced soya and linseed Vogel

Tender Co is a antique workwear-inspired men's clothing and accessories line I have admired from afar for some time on sites such as Superdenim. London-based husband and wife team William and Deborah Kroll's designs are inspired by the Great British Steam Age and designed to be worn hard. Their ace blue ticking tail shirt would already be mine if I wasn't on a self-imposed shopping ban. Effing double-dip depression.


Kroll & Kroll have just launched Tender Co. Trestle Shop. It's a treasure trove of "experimental and unconventional" items "which come about during the development of the main line." All of it is made in England. Here's a bit more enticing promo. blurb about the e-shop:

"The Trestle Shop takes its name from railway trestle bridges of the 19th Century, and operates from the top of a trestle table, rather like a market stall or a spare parts bench in a locomotive repairs workshop ... We have very limited stock, sometimes just one piece of any design. We may sometimes make repeats, but this is an evolving project, so we cannot promise if or when designs will be remade."

There are 32 items up for sale on the Trestle Shop. Almost all of it is top banana. Here's ArchBlog's three fave bits ...

Hand-thrown red clay coffee pot.
"Tender's coffee pot is hand thrown in England from natural red clay dug in England. It is slipped with natural white English clay, and left unslipped and unglazed on the base, to reveal the original character of the earth. This coffee pot came about after extensive research into early coffee pots and hunting jugs. Before the ready availability of filters and fine mesh, drinks jugs of all sorts often had a right-angled ledge positioned below the spout, which would catch sediment and keep it from being poured into the drinking vessel. Brewing coffee grounds without a filter gives a more rounded, and 'muddier' drink, which can be more satisfying than filter coffee. For the best results you should pour hot water over the coffee in the pot, then leave it to stand for a few minutes. Lift the pot and swirl the coffee around vigorously until the surface of the coffee foams up, then allow it to stand for a minute more, to let the grounds settle to the bottom. A perforated ceramic filter built into the spout further helps reduce grounds getting into your cup."



Woad dyed bias cut cotton boxer shorts
"Tender's boxer shorts are made in England of all cotton satin, woven in England and cut entirely on the bias, giving them built-in stretch. They are then hand dip dyed with woad indigo from the South of France. These shorts are cut from a pattern directly based on Tender's signature 'trews', which themselves are an adaptation of an early Scottish form of trousers ('trews' is probably where the word 'trousers' originated). Trews were cut without a side seam (as these shorts are), and entirely on on the bias (diagonal) of the cloth. By cutting these shorts on the bias of the cotton satin, they stretch easily without resorting to a synthetic-blend fabric."



Purple logwood dyed hand linked cotton socks
"Tender's rib socks are knitted and hand linked in England from raw unbleached cotton and nylon yarns, then vegetable dyed in England with purple logwood. Traditional hosiery (like these socks) is knitted as a long continuous tube of many socks, which are then cut apart into individual socks. These are then linked, which means that the open sock has the two sides knitted together, leaving a flat, seamless, join at the toe. Linking requires the operator to loop every corresponding stitch of the top and bottom of the sock, by hand, onto a knitting machine. Tender's socks are made with a loop-back, or terry, double knit sole. This makes them especially comfortable, and appropriate to wear even with heavy boots. The socks are knitted from a blend of 100% cotton and 100% nylon yarns (rather than being knitted from yarns which themselves are blended). The natural dye is only taken up by the cotton yarn, leaving the nylon yarn undyed, creating a subtle marl effect which is accentuated when the rib of the socks is stretched open, while they are being worn."










Monday 23 July 2012

Footy porn ft. Christian Eriksen, Eden Hazard, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Didier Drogba and Christian Vieri

ArchBlog has just received a piping hot batch of YouTube-shaped rolls from east London baker @sanopapp. I'm gonna share with you only the tastiest morsels.

First up is Ajax's Danish wunderkind Christien Eriksen showing why everyone was wetting their knickers about how good he is before Euro 2012 (he was pretty crap in the tourney, mind).


Here's Chelsea new boy Eden Hazard doing loads of fancy stopovers quite well. I already can't wait to boo the showboating Chelsea midget when John Terry's Blues visit Loftus Road on 15 September. Agriculturalist Clinton Hill must play in that game.


The good news about Didier Drogba leaving Chelsea is that I can start liking him (and his awesome power) again. Check out the future Ivorian president's bumberrassclat thunderbolt vs AC Milan:


Left pegged Robbie Fowler was one of the original stars of the Prem because he did deliciously cheeky things like this:


Another Liverpool clip. Here's Anfield legend Steven Gerrard showing how to tackle in a Merseyside derby:


Christian Vieri (remember him?) before he got fat and spent all his time in nightclubs:

Absolutely insane cliffside motorcyclist

Sometimes it's impossible to improve upon or add to a YouTube video's title ... Absolutely insane cliffside motorcyclist



Via Sano Papp

Alexander Wright's over-inflated sense of entitlement

Travel chaos plagued 8-year-old Alexander Wright proves himself to be the most obnoxious kid of all time.

WARNING: Do not watch if you are ever considering having a child.



Via Sano Papp

Joey Bada$$ is half-decent, Lewis Parker is criminally underrated

According to the ALWAYS right Prog Porn blog, this fella Joey Bada$$ is a hot young rapper who is very much on the rise. That's nice. But I'm mostly posting his Hardknock track up here because it uses Lewis Parker's AWESOME beats from one of my all-time fave tracks - Eyes of Dreams. I listened to Parker's peerless Masquerades & Silhouettes almost solidly for a year when I lived in Brizzle. I don't regret that.






Eating out

Hospital signage is often poorly thought through.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:




Ji-Sung Park is more than just a shirt signing for QPR


QPR's signing of South Korean midfielder (and heart-throb) Ji-Sung Park is an astute one both on and off the field.

He's a tireless worker with excellent technical ability who will considerably improve the Rs midfield which will have to survive (!) without loveable rogue (!) Joey Barton until after Christmas. Let's not forget that you don't play over 100 times for Fergie's Man Utd without having a lot of talent and tactical discipline. Having Park pulling the levers in the midfield engine room will allow Moroccan magician (and the club's new number 10) Adel Taarabt to fully express himself in a way he hasn't since the 2010/2011 promotion season. I've said it many times on here and elsewhere but I'll say it again for the newbies ... Taarbs is technically up there with the likes of Messi and Cwissy (seriously) and has the potential to be the best player in the Premiership (sadly no longer The Greatest League In The World in terms of worldie star players).

Secondly, the signing of Park is a dead smart 'shirt signing'; it really does aid Uncle Tony Fernandes' attempts to launch QPR as a Global Brand which is recognised outside the blue-and-white hooped enclaves of west London. 32-year-old Park is bigger than Beckham in footy-crazy Asia and the QPR fan messageboards (and club shop) have been inundated by new fans from Korean and elsewhere in Asia since the hyped-up signing.




Guns vs Kinder Eggs


Friday 13 July 2012

Frank Ocean: The future of R&B

The Guardian reckons that Frank Ocean is a “wildly original talent” and praised that, “in a formulaic era, his production is impressively idiosyncratic, heavy on hazy electronics and cavernous, dubby reverb, and packed with weird touches: the melodies never quite pan out as you expect them to, while the backing shifts and changes unpredictably.” Pitchfork said that Ocean has "quickly proven himself to be among the most gifted singer-songwriters of his generation; he’s got the type of voice, wit, charm, smarts, and ineffable humanity that’s always hoped for, but never promised.”

They're both right - Ocean is seriously talented. Here's him singing Bad Religion on the US tellybox:

The homes of football

Here's an "intimate short film" made to accompany photographer Stuart Roy Clarke's show at the National Football Museum in Manchester in July 2012. SRC is a tad self-important but his photos are top banana:

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Top 5 grumpy pug models

BuzzFeed have posted up a seriously important 30 Most Unhappy Etsy Pug Models list story up on their site. It's taken me a g e s to whittle it down to a top five but I've managed it (you can thank me later for saving 25 seconds of your scrolling down time). And, yes, I did save the best (pugcake) until last.








Monday 9 July 2012

Grimace-off

They snap was taken during Andy Murray's loss to Roger Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon men's singles final (and has nothing whatsoever to do with Bank of England topper Mervyn King's latest grim forecast for the UK Economy).


Sunday 1 July 2012

How not to promote an event by Danny Dyer



Presumedly, the geniuses at Box Nation were persuaded to hire propwah geeza Dyer after seeing what a great job he did here ...