we love caleb, and caleb loves...

Caleb Carnie is a dapper young designer who works at the NZ Herald with me. Is dapper the right word? I'm not sure, but he has great style and great taste in things too - more of which can be seen on his blog Honourable Mention. Here are his 10-and-a-bit favourite things right now.

1. Peppermint Tea
The first thing I do when I get to work every day is brew a steaming cup of peppermint tea and mooch about annoying people while sipping it for 15 minutes or so. Fresh is best, but I'll take it anyway I can get it it. There is nothing better than that minty sharpness mellowing to sweet yellowy leafiness, leaving behind a zingy tingle.

2. James Bond
I'm having a bit of a stage with old James Bond movies at the moment, loving all those fantastic names, places and gadgets, but especially digging Sean's early 1960s wardrobe. Straight and narrow grey suits, pale polos, stripey pullovers with short pants and all sorts of beachy footwear. He even manages to get away with a peach-coloured shorty jumpsuit thing. Didn't look comfortable or particularly practical for crime-fighting purposes, but for a split second in 1962, it did look extremely cool. (This is not an endorsement of peach-coloured shorty jumpsuit things)

3. Marty Vreede print, Tuppence Worth
I used to walk past Cappadonna Cafe in Napier about a thousand times a week, and each time stare in the window at this amazing print by Marty Vreede. For so long it was an object of desire, just slightly out of reach. Until it wasn't. And then I couldn't find it. However, after some excellent detective work on my wife's part and it was found stashed away out the back at Aroha Lamour and became my first grown-up art purchase. Elizabeth. She is, quite beautiful.
4. Ceramic pot
I have a deep fascination for collecting ceramics and having achieved critical mass (all that my apartment can handle) I've been forced to adopt a policy of getting rid of one when a new one catches my eye. This one is my latest favourite, and I love it's fantastic Japanese-poncho-fortune-cookie shape.


5. Monograms
An enduring interest in symbols and typography finds itself expressed in my fascination with monograms. I can't help but devise little typographical devices of all sorts of letters and shapes for myself and people I know. Most never see the light of day but this one is of my initial combined with my wife's and gets used on stationary, cards, letters, I've had a rubber stamp made up and even got a tattoo of it to 'mark' the occasion of a recent anniversary.

6. Boots
My girl bought me these mad-good black leather lace-up boots for my birthday, only thing is it's not till the end of April. The deal was that I could wear them for 24 hours when they first came home (a month ago) and then pack them away til then. So I wore them to a super cool wedding full of super cool friends who all went a bit loopy for them which made my heart grow even fonder for them, and now the wait is twice as painful. Gah. My only consolation is that by then the weather will be more bootworthy.

7. Jaques Tati films
I saw Mon Oncle again recently and was charmed once again by just how deeply deeply cool Tati's movies are. Every element (the posters, the clothes, the furniture, the sets, the wacky French sense of humour) is enough to make a designer swoon (to use a Zoe Walker term).

8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy
Book or film? Film or book? The answer is 42. And, apologies to the purists, by that I mean film, and by that I mean the 2005 version. What with Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel all prancing around fantastically, how could the movie be any less than completely watchable at anytime of the day, any day of the week.

9. Ujazi Cafe, Napier
Long a much-loved and unmissable part of Napier, Brent Fuller and Philippa Reid and their mob run the best cafe of all time at Ujazi on the corner of Emerson and Hastings streets. Go and eat there often.

9.5. Animal pics
The closest I get to real live animals at my apartment is my pet German Shepherd and Panda bears. I love the weird cross stitch-meets-pixels thing happening there in the dog, and how the pandas are cut out of a single piece of black paper. Fine art for five bucks.


9.75 The Morning Glory show on Bfm
Charlotte Ryan, I could just dunk you in my coffee!

10. Monocle magazine
Nuff said.