Archive for October, 2007

She Was Always a Star

Zanne Stapelberg

Now she has more recognition. Read about Zanne Stapelberg here. See her official site here and hear her sing. She’s beautiful and she deserves all of it.

Lucky Dube

Lucky Dube

When I was a little white boy I sometimes worked at a petrol station cleaning car windows with a friend to slowly save money for surf related products.  We used to share fizzy drinks with the black men who worked as petrol attendants. We talked to them about music. We had Bob Marley in common. But one man smiled high and said: “Bob is good but he’s dead. Lucky Dube.”

He makes you feel good

“Hirst is probably one of the most inspiring people I’ve met. He pours ideas at you, he’s infected by a deep love of life and is completely fearless. He makes you feel good.”

- from a nice interview with Damien Hirst. Read it here

Imagine an Evil Giraffe?

Eddie Izzard - Evil Giraffe

Eddie Izzard makes the most utterly ridiculous things bloody funny.

Self Indulgent

A nice short film featuring the work and voice of David Carson can be found here

David Carson

He’s been a great inspiration for some time. I think the fact that he does not have a traditional design background and is perhaps as passionate if not more passionate about surfing makes him a better designer. I enjoy his strong belief in self expression in design. Design is too often utterly conservative, sterile and watered down due to paranoia about client perceptions, target markets, stifling style guides and so forth. Ironically, in spite of all the energy invested in adherence to rules, such work seldom, if ever, achieves what it sets out to do anyway. David Carson shows that you can have more fun and have some success doing interesting work. Rock on.

Alice in Wonderland

I saw a tortoise walking across the lawn this morning. The classic story of the Tortoise and the Hare occurred to me. Then I thought about Alice in Wonderland.

When not quite the picture of health I read it during a bit of a stay in hospital. I loved it. Lewis Carroll was an interesting character.

Water Closet

 Water Closet

At last one of my great mysteries is solved. I spent so many years in England wondering what the WC sign at public lavatories stood for. It turns out that the cryptic acronym actually stands for water closet. I’m amused.

Jeff Wall

In His Own Words

Euston Road

Euston Road

I love seeing films set in familiar locations. Euston Road, a short film by Toa Stappard starring Paul Bettany and Charlie Condou, is an intriguing story, quite beautifully shot and pacily edited with great music.

Here’s a little write up on the making of.

The Angel Wore Red

The Angel Wore Red

A curiously colourful title for a black and white classic. This morning I happened to catch the last half of The Angel Wore Red. It’s a 1960’s Italian-American romantic war drama with some great over-the-top love lines in the script based on the novel The Fair Bride by Bruce Marshall.