magpie

I've never owned so many sparkly things in my life, until now. The sequinned, the beaded, the glittery - what's happening to me? It's all tasteful, honestly. Although I went on a date last week and the boy told me my beautiful sequinned black vintage jacket looked like something Elton John would wear. Hmmph. Jeff Buckley would've understood.

get lost

I haven't travelled that extensively (yet), but of the places I have visited, Venice was probably the most surreal. It feels isolated, spooky, mysterious and romantic, all at once. It almost feels like a massive amusement park, and I found it difficult to comprehend that people actually lived there. I've heard of people thinking it smells and is dirty, but I didn't see any of that. Looking back, my experience was more akin to the first photo: eerie light, a feeling of isolation and an intense feeling of being watched or followed. But in a good way. If that makes sense.

We stayed in a tiny orange coloured apartment right near the Grand Canal. Our neighbours were locals who hung their washing out of their windows; and would cook the most delicious smelling meals while talking quickly and loudly in Italian. We explored the back alley ways and got lost so many times I lost count. I think I also drank beer on the very same wharf in the first photo, watching the sunset and fishing boats returning home for the day. It was lovely and I can't wait to return and get lost again.

Bottom photo from Teen Vogue.

heartstruck

I grew up far from the suffocating enclaves of suburbia, which I'm mostly glad about. But I did miss out on that formative childhood experience of hearing the icecream truck tune and racing with my pocket money for an icecream on a summer's day.

Perhaps that’s why I like heartschallenger so much. Plus, it’s gourmet and everything and I’m a big food snob. No McDonald’s soft-serve for me, thankyou.


Based in Los Angeles, Leyla ‘Lo’ Safai and her husband Ben sell beautiful icy sweet treats like Armenian vanilla bricks, Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles, Japanese mochi and more. And it's all from the cutest truck you’ve ever seen – little girl dream pink with white unicorns, upholstered in Marimekko poppy fabric.


And Ben writes the jingles under the moniker Hearts Revolution – they’re a successful electronic act in their own right, touring with Kitsune etc. The truck rocks up to gallery openings and parties around LA and NYC, and I think they’re just amazing.

You can read more about them here and here. You can hear the music here. And you can see their house on the Selby.

charles and ray eames

These two are my favourite designers. They're just amazing. I love that they worked as a couple (Ray is a woman, and his wife). Responsible for championing moulded plywood- revolutionary at the time, they're heavily influenced by Saarinen but created pieces that were truly new.


I also love the idea of working in a collective of amazing creative minds, and the Eames' worked hard to create that, and they didn't just stop at furniture- creating incredible exhibitions, films and photography.

I also love Parker furniture and Scandinavian mid-century design - clean lines, wood and pure simplicity. One day, I'll own these things... but until then we have some Eames chairs at my office. I like to sit in them at every available opportunity.

books etc.

I love an organised bookshelf. Actually, I love unorganised bookshelves too. The symmetry, the repetitiveness, the order, the unorder. It appeals to the obsessive compulsive in me. How do you organise your books?

Photos from The Cherry Blossom Girl, Zach Schrock Photo Blog and FFFOUND!

i like bikes

Especially these ones. ACNE collaborated with Bianchi and came up with these candy coloured delights. I want one, I want one, I want one.

i am a little bit in love with this song...

we love evie and evie loves...

It's not often I meet people who like so many of the same things as Zoe and I. In fact, it's rare. So many! So many it's ridiculous how much we have in common. It's a treat.

Meet the delightful Evie Bear. Here are her top ten favourite things, and here is where you can read more of her ever so clever musings.

number one:

ferns and glorious ground cover. and plant / flower walls.

number two:

men with bushy bushy beards.

number three:

clever magazines such as Qvest. A Magazine. Acne Paper. Apartmento. Doing Bird. Monocle. Fantastic Man. Indie. Pig.

number four:

derek henderson & katie lockhart

number five:

books / poems / words / sayings / anagrams / fables

number six:

beautiful pictures of beautiful naked girls

number seven:

my bed. other people's bed. and beautiful interiors

number eight:

films, especially pixar (Wall E and Nemo...omfg. brilliance) Hal Hartley, Julian Schnabel, Tim Burton, Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson, Jean -pierre Jeunet, Luc Besson.

number nine:

music; my current top ten - anything by The Walkmen; Skinny Love, Bon Iver; I Want You, The Beatles; Shabop Shalom, Devendra Banhart; The Partisan, Leonard Cohen; Watching The Detectives, Elvis Costello; Dirty Back Road, The B-52s; Disconnection Notice, Sonic Youth; My Body Is A Cage, The Arcade Fire; Everything In Its Right Place, Radiohead

number ten:

yum cha -so much. it's where our m&p christmas party will happen

number ten and a half:

wearing boys t-shirts

Thankyou!

mr. gallo

I think Vincent Gallo is haunting me. Seriously - he pops up in conversation at least three times a week, and I'm not the one initiating. And then, on Monday night, there I was, minding my own business, en route to buy ingredients to bake a cake from my local supermarket, and there he was.

Vincent "Rape Eyes" Gallo. Eyeballing me from his new Belvedere Vodka ad.


Now, I'm undecided on whether I like him or not. Don't get me wrong. He's hot. Creepy hot. But hot all the same. I like his films. I've told you about Buffalo 66 before, and I quite enjoyed The Brown Bunny, despite thinking it's a ruse.

The more I know about him, the more confused I become. He is, after all, a man of many talents. "As well as an actor and director (of, most famously, Buffalo 66, hailed as one the best independent movies of the 1990s), Gallo has also been a model for Calvin Klein, a motorcycle champion, a breakdancer and hip-hop impresario ("I was the first white homeboy on earth"), an expressionist painter, mumbling folk singer and - something he is less keen to advertise on his CV - a go-go dancer in a gay strip club and a rent boy on 52nd Street."

He says things like this, which is good...

"I’m a futurist. I’m interested in profound vision.”

"I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings; and I did it out of spite."



And he writes songs like Honey Bunny, with lyrics like this:

We're like dreamers
In nice colors
Childlike dreamers
Underwater

He dated Cat Power. She wrote him a song called Mr. Gallo.

"I like Cat Power, especially the song Mr. Gallo. I would like any band that did a song about me. Even though that good looking Cat Power chick, Chan Marshall, wrote some nasty words. What could she do? She loved me. I would've done the same thing if I loved me. Anyway, that chick's a superstar. I should've stayed with her," he said.

And then he goes and ruins it all by doing things like this. Which, on the whole, I think is hilarious. It's just the bigotry at the end. Ick. Although apparently it's all a put on, a dig at holier than thou Hollywood icons like Susan Sarandon.

This is a wonderful article about him. The interviewer thinks he's "all mouth and no trousers". I've seen The Brown Bunny. I have to disagree.

plaited crowns

Part Swedish milkmaid, part little girl and all good. I'd just gotten to the point where I could do a braided crown...and then I cut my hair off. I'm giving it two months and then it's back and I'm doing it every day.