Thursday, February 20, 2014

Peach Melba Bowie


Last week I found myself immersed in one of those cosy little YouTube adventures, video-hopping and guffawing at Kristin Wiig one minute and searching for weird things like daffodils opening in time lapse the next (as you do... I'm looking to make another moving moodboard)

The crowning glory of this duvet-swaddled internet journey was finding this David Bowie interview. I remember watching TFI Friday with my Mum when I was little. I remember feeling like I was part of a cool club when we watched it because you could hear the cameramen and the crew laughing too and also because I thought it was cool that my Mum's friend Sheryl was working on the show and was probably standing there with a clipboard. Plus it was presented by Chris Evans and he was a really nice man who wore glasses. (When I was really young I thought glasses were a 'good person' qualifier which is why until I knew better I really trusted John Major. In my eyes he was exactly who I should approach if I lost my Mum in the supermarket.) I remember waking up in the mornings to the soothingly cheesy jingle of the Chris Evans Breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 and ending the week with him too, the weekend christened with the opening chords of the super cool 1960s theme of TFI Fridays.* I also remember asking my Mum what TFI stood for and her telling me. 

But back to David... this interview is ruddy hilarious and once again I find myself feeling part of some hilarious in-joke with the camera crew whilst watching it. We all know that David Bowie is cool, but who knew he was this funny? 

I'm also a big fan of Bowie's Refresher coloured outfit (and look carefully for those Buffalo platforms!) So in honour of peach melba coloured schemes, I give you lemons and rhubarb and custard sweets and Picasso and Joan Mitchell and super pink gymnasts..



*This is a must-watch too. The TFI theme tune used Ron Grainer's theme from Man In A Suitcase, which has been matched to other footage here:

Friday, February 14, 2014

It's Valentine's: Dress Sexy At My Funeral

If you're going to need some sort of musical acknowledgement of the fact that today is St Valentine's, then I guess we should just go for it.

I get it, we go through life with little musical clues just to remind us where we are. From the death-knell of the alarm clock in the morning to the sweet whispers of Bing and David and Wham! and Mariah come Christmas. And not forgetting Cliff Richard and Alice Cooper as you're dropkicking the doors of your school/workplace/airport shuttle bus open to the summer holidays.
Here then, are ten tracks playing tribute to sexiness, coming out, unrequited love, daddy issues, faultless love affairs and respecting your lady. But remember, you're only allowed to listen to this mix today; on the 14th. Because today is love day.


1) Dress Sexy St My Funeral- Smog
2) She's A Lady- Tom Jones
3) I Wanna Be Yours- John Cooper Clarke
4) Bonita Applebum (Why Remix)- A Tribe Called Quest
5) Si Mi Perderai- Nico Fidenco
6) Outside- George Michael
7) Daddy Never Understood- Deluxx Folk Implosion
8) Slow Burn- David Bowie
9) Let Me Kiss You- Nancy Sinatra and Morrissey
10) Islands In The Stream- Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Moodboard


You know the drill. It's that time of week when the clutter of 'recreational tabs' on my desktop has gone from looking inspired and endearing to plain unprofessional. Sort of like a laptop equivalent of a coffee ring slap-bang in the middle of a clean to-do list.

These are the things that have been in my head, in my tabs, in front of my eyes and in my mouth:

1) Have you seen a better photograph of Frida Kahlo (Yes? No? Maybe? It's cool; it's all subjective!) Either way, this is totally frameable. Go on, glue gun some cheap plastic flowers onto a frame and give it to yourself for Valentine's. You know it makes sense.

2) I found this HELLO keyring on the pavement while I was back in Bristol at Christmas.

3) Oklahoma is one of my favourite shop/cafes in Manchester. These are some of the staff showing some steadfast style. (Nabbed from their Facebook page)

4) Uh-oh, am I late on the Laure Provoust train? I know that sometimes doors may close up to 40 seconds before departure but if it's still okay I'd really like to board and talk about how I really appreciate this Turner Prize winning artist's own appreciation of bottom-shaped ceramics and hilarious wordplay. My local cinema are currently running a really great season of Artist Films in collaboration with the ICA and I went to the Laure Provoust afternoon a couple of Sundays ago and had a ball. It feels like it's been a while since I came across an artist with a good sense of humour; or at least an artist who incorporates their humour into their work. If you click right here you can make a note of the names of Provoust's short films and seek them out yourself. I recommend it if, like me, you entertain the idea of one day maybe making videos or getting paid to project things onto walls.

5) This is a pile of food I consumed a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes you go around to a friends place for dinner and they suggest making something you would never think to make yourself. Ham and Eggs. The boys put a gammon in the oven and then popped to the chipshop down the road for the best kind of potato accompaniment. It was simple and sublime. To top things off, sitting underneath the pile of goodness and painted onto the plate was the face of Pope John Paul II.

6) This weekend I visited my friend Lily in St Andrews and made her show me the ship-like Andrew Melville halls, where she lived when she was first at the University, because I'm always down for eye-humping some pretty/ugly brutalist buildings.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

A PS, on blogging


A quick ps, to say thank you for all of the lovely comments left on my last post, it really means a lot. I really enjoyed writing about the romance of solitude, not only was it a cathartic piece to pen but it encouraged a lot of interaction from you lot that I haven't experienced for years with the blog. It seems that a lot of people feel the same about solitude and romance, and I hope that maybe I helped some people to recognise solitude rather than 'loneliness'. I actually had the confidence to go to a gig alone after writing that piece and am so glad I did because it was such a wonderful performance, made all the more special by being able to fully immerse myself in it, and not needing to pull myself away to go to the bar for a round!

Blogging has changed a lot since I started in 2006; there used to be a lot more in the way of conversation between the readers and writers of and that's something that doesn't happen as much anymore. I'm just the same, where I used to leave comments regularly on my favourite blogs my consumption habits have now changed. Mostly I'll just scroll, read and then hop off and do something else. Sometimes I'll tweet the author if it's a post I particularly enjoyed, or share it, but having a little more in the way of conversation after my last post was lovely and makes me realise that there is still a community of really cool people out there. Of course I knew there was all along but it's like we all sort of came out of our bedrooms and waved at each other. I find it refreshing especially at a time when my own interest in 'traditional' fashion blogs has diminished and I'm into reading blogs that feels a little meatier, (able to ride through online fads) and which encourage a conversation. I've certainly had up and down periods with this blog, posting less frequently and sometimes feeling uninspired. I think this is pretty natural given that I started writing it when I was 15 (I'm now 22) but I'm glad that I kept going past the moments that I considered stopping and have managed to transition into another direction and that lots of the cool, inspiring people who have been in contact over the years seem to still be kicking about and reading. So once again, thank you for the kind words and I'll be back with an update soon.

FYI: The photograph is by Philip-Lorca DiCorcia who has an exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield opening at the weekend. I've been browsing through this back catalogue online, but that's not the same as gawping at it right up close, and so a daytrip is in order.