Youtube to mp3 converter

For all those videos of people's turntables playing rare records. Just tried it and it worked pretty well. Try for yourself

Ooh dear, Prince doesn't approve.......

Inventory Magazine

More nice pictures of sensible shoes, nice shirts and a Colin & Justin 'injection of style' this time via Inventory Magazine.

Brian Gossett

Don't know much about this fella but according to his about bit, he's wasn't interested in doing a fashion, art & cool stuff blog, as there were plenty of them around already. Instead he dedicated his blog to creating & posting what appear to be bang on moody music mixes coupled with some pretty nice looking art anyway.

Looking forward to giving these a listen.

Taqueria La Cumbre

Go here, they wear hairnets, it will scare you if you don't speak espanol, they give you free nachos and salsa, you won't realise until it's too late, you will get change from $20 dollars for two including beers, you will never be a cholo.

October

October is here and it's still 20 degrees plus outside, I've got 2 new shetland wool sweaters one in grey and one in oatmeal ready for wear but I'd end up having a melt down on the tube or in any non air conditioned shop if I dared to wear them.

I've just spend a great week away in the US: San Francisco & Las Vegas, sadly not to the East Coast, which is probably just as well as I would have caused an international incident with my girlfriend if we had spent a week going into Brooks Brothers, J Press and various Marshalls, TJ Maxx's and Ross' looking for rare items at knock down prices (which exist primarily in my mind).

That said, I did pick up a candy stripe Ralph Lauren button down which was 22.94 pounds according to my bank statement. I also picked up some fantastic olive and khaki chinos, and a khaki pair of needle cords - from wait for it: Old Navy. As far as I know we don't have it here - and it seems to be somewhere between H&M and Gap. I think it is actually owned by Gap. Most of it is terrible - but these trousers and a pair of Madras shorts for a fiver were great buys.

I had a good mooch around Brooks Brothers in Las Vegas, but didn't buy anything. I did pick up a Skull polo from Ralph Lauren Rugby - apparently we are due to see RL Rugby in this country eventually. It's a great preppy style range - does veer into parody territory at times but very impressed. My favourite stop of the week however was J-Crew. I heard good and bad things about J-Crew, but I did pick up a lovely wax canvas satchel for about 20 quid (significantly reduced already in the shop) which I am pleased with; a shirt and some ties.

Biggest disappointment by a mile though was Bass shoes. I have loved Bass forever and own 2 pair of weejuns currently, but the state of the leather on them now is so hard it looks like plastic and would literally shred your skin off your feet, god only knows what would happen if you went sock less. So sadly, I passed on another pair of Weejuns this time. I have heard there is a hand made in Maine line, so I might look at these, although after picking up Ivy Style last night - my heart is now set (yet again) on a pair of Alden Tassel loafers, I'd love them in brown suede but would take a black leather pair.

Pre-trip I also finally bought a Barbour Liddlesdale, this is the third Barbour in my wardrobe and despite some reservations, I went ahead. I got it in Olive, and will just hang onto it until they are no longer fashionable with the Jafaikcan speaking youth, i think they were originally called Husky jackets.

Lots of trailers for the Social Network and It's a Kinda Funny Story, both which look quite interesting due in the UK shortly. Read on a book on the Hell's Angels and the Gangs of San Francisco (Gold Rush era), both ok but nothing to write home about; and continue to avidly watch Mad Men.

I have also recently discovered the pleasure of BBC World Service documentary podcasts: there have been some great ones on the Fall of Communism, the Stasi, Mossad, Cultural Diversity and Tolerance in Marseilles, Afghan dancing boys and cigarette smuggling in the Balkans.

I am looking forward tonight to a large G&T and later a steak.

The World's Greatest Shoe Shop

Got this picture from Ozzie Friedman's website. In a Saturday Superstore tradition, for those calling from outside London it's 01, Blackman's is the best shoe shop in the world. Assuming you want oxford caps, brogues, loafers, chelsea boots, DMs or Chukka boots. They also sell plimsolls which don't interest me at all. It just of Brick Lance, Cheshire Street I think and the father and son who own it couldn't be more cockney if they tried. It's total chaos in there, they don't take cards and these days they don't even have windows. This picture was when they had a window display. Still, there were probably skinheads spraying NF signs on Brick Lane, that wouldn't happen now, there are too many Banksy rip offs.

Retro Scallies

Being one who has a terrible affliction of looking back, rather than looking forward, is not always such a bad thing. Otherwise how would we ever know about Deaf School and the Liverpool scruff phenom. Either I'm old or youth cultures today just aren't what they used to be. Found this article from Peter Hooton of The Farm farm on one of the blogs from a couple of years ago:

Retro Scallies by Peter Hooton

Everyone knows what 'retro' stands for in the 21st century but back in the dark distant past, well the mid 1980's to be exact, 'retro' wasn't the ubiquitous word we know now, used to describe anything from bathrooms to jeans, from furniture to clothing, from telephones to football kits. This was a world before retro trainers became big business and Adidas and Puma had marketed the concept to death. This strange breed the 'retro scal' came into existence around about the 1982/3 period and was completely unexpected. Fashionistas had started to write about football fans in designer clothing and The Face had printed their famous piece on 'Casuals' in 1983 so in many ways the 'retro scal' was a reaction to this popularisation of a street culture that had by-passed magazines and social commentators from 1978 until 1983.

Liverpool fashion terrorists had always had an elitist slant on things but it is too simplistic to state that this was a reaction to the new found fame of the 'designer clad football fan'. To really understand this phenomenon it is important to look at Liverpool as a major import/export centre, a place where 'drug culture' and the music associated with it took a firm hold in the late 70's and early 80's.

Five years had passed since young Liverpudlian's had embraced straight jeans, cagoules, and training shoes in the post-punk fall-out of 77/78. Punky –reggae party meets The Clash. Liverpool had that football/music crossover, it wasn't myth. It was reality with clubs such Checkmate, The Harrington, the Swinging
Apple and Kirkland's providing the soundtrack. The Clash met Steel Pulse, Iggy Pop, Dillinger and Joy Division. The Normals 'Warm Leatherette' played next to Bowies 'Heroes' and Ian Durys 'Sweet Jean Vincent'. Wedge haircuts mohair jumpers and plastic sandals, duffel coats and Fred Perry's. Manchester had a Bowie/Roxy room in Pips nightclub with Fred Perry clad youngsters but Liverpool was somehow different,. Similar but nonetheless different. Something was happening in the alleys of Liverpool and it had more of a New York feel than anything going on in Manchester or London.

Many heads into alternative music, punk, reggae, and the like went to the famous Erics in Mathew Street which attracted most of the 'new wave' bands on tour but it was more art-school bohemia than places like The Swinging Apple and Checkmate. When there was no gig on, only a handful of people would to go to Erics. Checkmate and the Apple on the other hand would be packed every Friday and Saturday as the football loving music fans rubbed shoulders with the avant-garde of the city. In the late 70's early 80's Liverpool and Everton's mobs were often dubbed 'soul boys' by Londoners who associated the wedge
hairstyle and casual clothing with the type of person who frequented 'soul' clubs in London, whereas in reality these were the same characters who would dance to The Skids and Joy Division! House music in the late 80's can't really claim to have been the catalyst for 'white men dancing'. Maybe that would be true with the wider population but 10 years earlier I had witnessed male-orientated dancing (on their own or with their mates) to Klu Klux Klan by Steel Pulse and Cokane by Dillinger! On another side of the club chart music would be played and on many occasions people would come into the 'alternative room' across a drawbridge/corridor to witness the freaks dancing. Some unfortunates from the disco side of the club mistook this dancing for gay activity unaware that they were picking on or trying to skit hardened football types and numerous fights resulted in the club being partitioned mainly to protect the squares who came in to look at the strange goings on in Checkmate.

By the early 80's 1982/83 to be precise articles began to appear in the press explaining a new breed of underground well-dressed football fans ignored up until now by the mainstream media. The London press dubbed these people 'Casuals' and soon every newspaper was in the UK was on the lookout for these social terrorists bedecked in 'Lilywhites' supplied designer clad sportswear who were rampaging around the country in organised gangs. It was around about this point that Liverpudlians decided enough was enough and the retro scal was born.
Basically the 'retro scal' look was a reaction to expensive sportswear and was epitomised by the 'old man look'. Bemused staff at Dunne & Co a traditional gentlemen's outfitters in Liverpool didn't know what had hit them as young scallies demanded a Harris Tweed of the bottle green variety. The classic look would have been a Harris Tweed or green Barbour coat (before Sloane Rangers popularised Barbour coats a look adopted by Italian Ultras) a Marks & Spencer
lambs wool crew neck with button collared shirt underneath, a pair of slightly faded jeans and Clarks suede boots, cord shoes/brogues or Stan Smith training shoes. Cardigans were worn as an alternative to the crew neck and cord jackets were also worn as fashion crazy youngsters unwittingly discovered 'the Sicilian peasant look' twenty years before Armani. Coupled with this a new found admiration for their fathers or even their grandfathers' wardrobe they also looked back at the previous generations music collections. Graffiti sprang up everywhere and 'Pink Floyd' and especially 'The Wall' adorned many walls of the city as young pot smokers paid homage to their new found heroes. It didn't just stop at Floyd. Soon any group that you could 'buzz' off were sought and proclaimed as 'better'. Simon & Garfunkal. Supertramp, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roy Harper and Marillion to name but a few.

By 1983 heroin had taken hold in the working-class heartlands of the city and the inevitability of the drug culture and music collision was all too apparent. The retro scal basically dressed down and hair tended to get a bit longer (a sort of John Power/Zutons head) and criminal gangs confused the look as gangs of dippers adopted the 'Barbour Country look' so they could mingle at Ascot and Cheltenham and fill their coats' cavernous pockets. Liverpool, which up until
1983 had been a haven for dope smokers, was hit by a tidal wave of 'smack'. Graffiti even appeared on walls 'Where has all the pot gone' as a city shortage took hold. On the other hand 'heroin' was openly available for the first time. It is important to know that in those days nobody had ever heard of 'smack' and only very few people knew what it was. It was my job to know- as I was a 'youth worker' at the time and specialised in drug issues. I remember a very attractive girl, a barmaid in fact, who was taking a half-an hour break from working in a notorious pub in Dovecot/ Huyton area of Liverpool chasing the dragon in one of the pubs alcoves. I asked her what she was doing and she replied its only 'smack'. 'You mean heroin' I replied and she said 'nah its something called smack but you don't get addicted, you can take it or leave it you don't inject it like heroin'. Oh the innocence of youth. I saw the girl several years later her model like looks ravaged by the drug she thought was in control of! Whether dealers had deliberately caused the pot shortage and promoted 'smack' as non-addictive is open for question but only 18 months after the worst civil disorder this country had ever witnessed heroin swamped the estates. 'Whisky to the Indians' was the first thing that came to mind.

This 83-86 period was the heyday of the retro scal fuelled by the drug culture and the music that went with it. The look was changing constantly from jeans to jumbo cords from tweed to cord jackets but the common denominator was it was label and sportswear free. Think stereotypical geography teacher look with a taste for all things prog-rock and you'll get the idea! Groups even emerged to cater for young Liverpudlians hunger for what was regarded by music journalists
of the period as 'hippy music'. Groups like Groundpig became massive in the city playing a collection of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lindisfarne, Simon and Garfunkal, Cat Stevens and Peter Gabriel. Groundpig played at a 1000 capacity bierkellar every Fri/Sat for about a two-year period selling out the venue on most occasions with queues around the block and hundreds locked out. All the girls were 'glammed up' whereas most of the males looked as if they'd just come back from Glastonbury. This was a real youth phenomenon undocumented apart from one single article in The Face called 'Dark side of The Mersey' by John Mc Cready. James Brown who was working for the NME at the time and later went on to start 'Loaded' witnessed the scenes at a Groundpig concert and couldn't believe his eyes. The mayhem had a profound effect on him but he told me the NME couldn't cover it as no one will understand it or more importantly -believe it. John Peel
who was DJ'ing at the same event called it 'absolutely extraordinary'. After 1986 everything seemed to go all mountaineering as Timberland boots and shoes which were only available in one shop in Liverpool and a couple in London at the time. An Observer article at the time stated that London accounted for 30% of sales of Timberland and the rest was in Liverpool something which the journalist couldn't understand but put it down to Liverpool's close proximity to Snowdonia and the Lake District- oh how I laughed! Just as the traditional men swear shops had been bemused with the 'retros' now all of a sudden specialist mountaineering shop were over-run in Liverpool city centre by the masses but that's another story!

Deaf School from Punk 77

Being a dickhead

This is amazing, I don't know whether its new or what, but if you live in London you'll know this lot.

Click here for fixed wheel bikes and sailor tattoos.

Pie & Mash List

As autumn starts to make its way towards us, a visit to a Pie & Mash shop can be justified once again. I go all year round, but admitedly less so in the summer months, it just doesn't seem right.

For what it's worth in my opinion, the best pies can be found under the DLR station at Shadwell Town, I think it must be Peter's. I once witnessed a fella order 4 and 4 in there, but the wimpey chairs mean you don't get the narrow bench numbness which is required for complete authenticity. For that you need Kelly's on Bethnal Green Road or Manze's in Peckham. Over West, Cookes on Goldhawk Road have a nice shop but at 6 quid+ for 2 and 2, they are overpriced. Cockney's on Portobello do a half decent pie but their shop is a strange little place. Hipsters sometimes order just coffee, I assume in case they can't get their skinny jeans back on.

Check the full list here and catch 'em quick before they close or get taken over by a fried chicken shop.

Duluth Backpacks

Little did I know that when I starting writing this collection of ragtag mix of links and nicked photos did I think that I would develop an obsession about man bags. Its not fully fledged yet and it could well disappear; but having just seen this brand Duluth on Back nForth, I now have another object of desire to track down at vastly discounted prices. This is the link for my San Francisco trip

This is what I should have bought

Having had a rush of blood to the head and not reading the dimensions properly, I recently took delivery of an enormous game bag which could easily hold a couple of hares and trout. I have hidden this is in the back of the wardrobe until I work out what I'm going to do next. All being well it will be buying one of these beauties.

Ivy in the week, working at the weekends

As I jumped on a tube packed with commuters last night, on my way to White Hart Lane (don't ask, I was even required to carry a flag home) soaked through to the skin with a jumper and mac on, and then just as wet from the skin out as the post work exertions and tube heat kicked in, I found myself even more longing for proper autumn. When you can look at the window see it looks chilly and rainy and dress accordingly, not this faux autumn we are currently experiencing - where it looks freezing but it's hotter than july (literally, not necessarily a Stevie Wonder reference).

I started writing this blog, because I am notoriously fickle and start what I have referred to as projects all the time and then forget that I was interested in them. Flicking through some of my posts over the past 8 months, I can now see this even more clearly.

That said, whilst my choice of viewing and music is so catholic that I don't know what I'll like next week - this week it is Mumford & Sons and another go at winter crazies: The Fleet Foxes, and season 2 of Mad Men. I appear to have finally settled on 2 dress styles: Ivy Style in the week and the ever increasingly ubiquitous understated/workwear look at the weekends; however with my weakness for tweed and tattersall there is a distinct chance the weekend look might turn increasingly country gent as we go through the Autumn and into Winter.

To go bargain hunting and know broadly when I could wear pickups is strangely liberating, it should also reduce significantly the number of black bags I take to Oxfam, which are filled with bad ideas: Billionaire Boys Club and BAPE, you're nicked.

Proper Magazine's Top 100 film list

Proper Magazine's Top 100 film list

Men's File

Just spotted this in Folk on Lamb's Conduit Street, can never have too many sources of writing on shirts, coats and suede shoes.

All men are blood clarts

Nicked this off flickr, it's something to do with Miss Jocelyn. All I know is it cracked me up properly. I thought it was my mate's sister initially, that would have been even better.

August

I'm not really a big fan of August, I really feel like I should wear a jumper and indeed I want to wear one having had 3 months without a top layer, but it's still a bit too hot, and would definitely cause tube meltdown. Still only a few more weeks to go and then I can start feeling autumn. That said I do like a late summer early morning.

I've just got back from the Big Chill, first time I've been and wished I'd been there sooner. There was some pretty heavy handed security and a generally heavilly policed event even if via a private security firm, so I think it's changed since the earlier days. I spent most of the time in my camper van, although I did see Tom Middleton who played a really good afternoon set and Norman Jay was as reliable as ever, I am looking forward to popping down to South Row to see him at Carnival for a few hours at the end of the month.

I haven't bought any new clobber, my preppy/understated/casual thing is still the thing and actually befitting of my age and weight. I have a list, which I will start knocking off soon.

I did buy an amazing pair of Chukka boots from Blackmans on Brick Lane, but caught the heel on the 452 and have properly gashed it - distraught for a while.

I've added the Wenlock Arms, the Windsor Castle and the Prince Albert to my Field Notes list of approved boozers; and have become addicted to Mad Men and Band of Horses. I also watched the Company DVD boxset in an afternoon.

I continue to frequent the Lowlander in Covent Garden and will do more when I need to get Gezellicht.

New Blog

Another discovery, this fella goes to the trouble of antiqu-ing his penny loafers, which is aceness in itself. Anyone, who risks a new pair of brown shoes with 2 coats of black polish and wears them in the shower to break them in, is alright by me.

Pure Style: End Of

This fella has just got it, end of argument.

Ralph Lauren Rugby

There is something about the secret society connotations of this that has really caught my eye. Plus as far as I can tell, I haven't seen anyone wearing it in London or in any shops. I'm going to the US in a couple of months, I am definitely picking up one of these. That is unless we are overrun with this by October.

Steve McQueen & Prefab Sprout

I can remember never really being sure about Prefab Sprout, I think it's because they were on a live recording of the ITV programme Get Fresh with Gaz Top I went to see; and it left me with a feeling that they must be a bit naff.

As time went by, and if you can remember Get Fresh, that will give you an indication how long ago we are talking. I revisited them and fell in love with them properly, through their Best Of album. Which is of course fantastic in it's own right, but when you consider that 5 or so of the tracks came straight off Steve McQueen and that 'Bonny' is not even on the Best Of, that's when the mark of how fine this album really is.

It is also a neat fit, that I have recently begun a small Steve McQueen style obsession: Persol, chambray, Sanders Chukka boots, baracuta etc etc. When I next pass through Duty Free, I'm picking up a bottle of Eau D'Sauvage as well.

Anita Berber

As I have now definitely reached the period in my life where the policemen are younger than me. I view hooded youth and their borderline anti social behaviour with a marginally pitying demeanour; and let out a loud melancholic sigh at 'Celebs'

I recall a phrase commonly used in my youth 'you didn't invent it you know'. Nothing illustrates this more than Anita Berber, who as a performing artist in 1920s Berlin would according to Wikipedia.......

Her performances broke boundaries with their androgyny and total nudity, but it was her public appearances that really challenged taboos. Berber's overt cocaine use and bisexuality were matters of public chatter. She was allegedly the sexual slave of a woman and the woman's 15-year-old daughter. She could often be seen in Berlin's hotel lobbies, nightclubs and casinos; she would walk around naked except for a sable fur, carrying a pet monkey and a silver brooch full of cocaine, while flaunting her lesbian lovers—removing the barrier between performance and normal life. Besides being a cocaine addict, she was an alcoholic.

Take that Heat Magazine, nobody's got a pet monkey in this week's issue I'm sure.

2nd Magazine x Take Ivy

Fantastic scans of the 2nd Magazine's feature on Take Ivy http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=6309&p=1

Pacific Crest Trail

By way of Oneupmanship and Jake Davis blog, a more detailed site on the Pacific Crest Trail. Extreme trekking and hippie ramblers. Ties in nicely with my latest obsession of walking and updating my wardrobe accordingly. Makes my impending festival look rather tame though.

http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/pct_1977_retro_thruhike

Riding buses for fun

The amazing thing about the internet is that there are actually people who do the same things as you. I'm not talking about weirdo sex stuff, but really cool things like this guy who writes a blog about riding London buses

I've been a big fan of this low cost pastime for years myself. Never thought about writing about it though. I am particularly impressed with the tremendously unfashionable routes he chooses: New Addington to Thornton Heath, that one must be a corker. Great commentary on the diverse and fascinating fellow travelers as well.

http://lndn.blogspot.com/2001_12_01_lndn_archive.html

One night in Turin

Wasn't sure about this when I saw it advertised a month or so ago, the Gary Oldman narration put the fear of dread in me and reminded me of huddling around a portable TV 15 years ago to watch Trouble on the Terraces, that one narrated by Sean Bean if I remember correctly.

Shouldn't really have worried - it's a great documentary. Of course there is quite a lot of beenie hat and England 3rd shirt wearing; and the obligatory plastic chair throwing. Actually, there isn't that much chair throwing, perhaps that was more Euro 92. The Soundtrack is immense and had me reaching for the Mondays, Stone Roses and the mighty Wedding Present immediately. All woefully overlooked by myself in the past 10 years.

What really struck me though was the socio-political dimension, a government out of touch, a country on its knees and football so far removed from popular culture, who would have thought 2 months later Gazza would be splashing it all over and singing with Lindisfarne.

It is also very touching in parts - in particular the Gazza and Bobby Robson relationship. I'm grateful that I hadn't had a drink or i'd have welled up.

It'll probably be on TV soon anyway - but I would definitely pick it up for one of the nights in the knock out phase, assuming England are still in it.

J.G. Ballard Crash

All I know is that it gave me nightmares and ended up with The Normal and Throbbing Gristle on my latest playlist.

Full review nicked from sarahbbc.wordpress.com/.../08/crash-jg-ballard

Simply put, JG Ballard’s Crash is an exploration of the link between sex and cars in an increasingly technological world. First published in 1973 it is in no way dated, and remains remarkably pertinent, which can only serve to generate a huge respect for the author’s vision. Described as post-modern, and containing some elements of meta-fiction, it did not recall any other book to mind, although there are those who make a comparison with William Burrough’s “Naked Lunch.”

With this, my first Ballard, I took the view that if I only ever read one it would be as well to pick the most extreme example of his work. One might argue that The Atrocity Exhibition would be better suited to this purpose, but it is fair to say that Crash is certainly in the running.

Crash begins with the ending (this novel is neither plot nor character driven), and then leaps back to the start; a fatal car crash involving the narrator, strangely named James Ballard. Ballard survives, but begins to perceive possibilities inherent in the linkage of sex, cars and crashes. Enter Vaughn.

Vaughn is revealed to the reader as a “TV scientist” for whom sexuality only exists within the context of the car, and car-related violence. Vaughn is also obsessed with the celebrity and the fatal crash; real, imagined, planned.

As Vaughn presides over the anticipated “autogeddon” like a deranged messiah, the imagery of Beelzebub is, at the last, employed to good effect. This messiah of science is not ushering in a golden age.

From the outset the reader is exposed to a great deal of sex, both direct, and in the imagery used to describe cars and the infra-structures associated with driving. However, the book is completely free of eroticism and I would have to dispute Ballard’s own description of his work as “the first pornographic novel based on technology.” Sex is described mechanically and analytically. It is unsettling and distasteful, but not pornographic.

Progressing through the book there are several factors to concern the reader:

Initially the descriptions were so repellent that I could only read by means of peering at the page, warily, from behind my hand. It was perplexing to think that this might also be a valid response to witnessing a real car crash. Whilst this bizarre behaviour was not conducive to the technicalities of reading it was a consideration that should this cease it might indicate a desensitisation to the content.

A second worrying factor was the ease with which the mindset of the book is adopted. For example:

“Can we drive a little?” she asked. “There’s all this traffic – I like to look at it.”

Ordinarily such a remark would not be readily interpretable as provocative.

These concerns were not unfounded. It was eventually possible to emerge, to look the book in the face, so to speak. Whilst this suspected desensitisation was not welcome, the ease with which it was achieved is an illustration of Ballard’s superb control of his reader. The repetitive nature of the prose is not disimilar to the constant bombardment by propoganda and advertising to which we are all subject. The point is driven home.

This, one of the few quotable passages of the book, appealed for its grace and beauty.

The mannequin, Elvis, lifted himself from his seat, his ungainly body at last blessed by the grace of the slow motion camera. Like the most brilliant of all stuntmen, he stood on his pedals, legs and arms fully stretched. His head was raised with its chin forwards in an attitude of almost aristocratic disdain. The rear wheel of the motor cycle lifted into the air behind him, and seemed about to kick him in the small of the back, but with great finesse the rider detached his feet from the pedals and inclined his floating body in a horizontal posture.

As the mannequin sails through the air the slow motion spectators themselves appear as mannequins…

It is devices such as these; tricks of narrative which reflect, pre-empt and, above all, suggest… that raise this book out of the voyeuristic hell it might otherwise inhabit.

June 8, 2009

Saturday Walkers Club

http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/

Nerd Boyfriend

www.nerdboyfriend.com wicked site with links to where one can actually purchase strange and unusual items of desire, such as sunwashed chino bucket hat. I was actually looking for one of these the other day.

New Balance Pub Pack

Just posting myself a reminder about these, due for release in July or August according to Crooked Tongues. Not really a trainer man these days, must be an age thing, but regretting having missed out on the New Balance MA1s and Donkey Jackets from a few years ago, I might go for this.

London Sample Sales Listings

I love a good rummage, but have been pretty disappointed with my recent TK Maxx outings. This seems to be the most up to date sample sales listing around. http://www.savvyfashionista.co.uk/fashion/london-sample-sales. Love a good bargain.

Un prophète

I've just watched this for a second time and although you know when the gruesome bits are coming, I actually think it's better on second viewing. The plot is not overly complex, but on second viewing you can really see the various sub plots all intertwining, it's one of my absolute favourites of recent times.

Made in Dagenham

Looks a bit light, but as long as the continuity people have done their job and it doesn't drift too far into romcom territory should be a decent a watch; and it's got Bob Hoskins in it.

Holiday in the sun

A visual list of what I read, what I listened to and what I wore whilst on a week's holiday in the sun.

The obsession with Ivy League continues.......

Just found this forum http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=3361&p=1

Adidas Zissou

As usual, this fella is always right on it.....

From the oneupmanship journal

Raining Stones

Just about as good as it gets. Immense British social realism.

Housing Estates

Just stumbled on this photoset whilst looking for information on the Mozart Estate, they are done by a guy called Nicobobinus and are some of the best photos of housing estates I've ever seen. Many are taken around where I live. For fans of the built environment and post industrial decline only I should imagine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/sets/72057594056077498/show/with/3968153279/

Rainy Bank Holiday Sunday

Bank holiday sunday dealt with..................

The Giro Playboy

Been a while since I've seen or read anything from Michael Smith, I'm sure he's doing something, just I haven't seen it.

His BBC 4 programmes Citizen Smith and Michael Smith's Drivetime were two of the best bits of tv in recent times.

Unsurprisingly his website is never up to date, but here it is anyway.

http://www.giroplayboy.co.uk/

British Style Genius

Just been watched this documentary on street style, recommended if you can find a copy anywhere.

Perpetual spring classic

A cup of tea, a cigarette, a bun.

It's like, I can't get past that s&m barrier. `cause, I like, as I'm drinking something like whiskey or lager, it's actually painful to drink first of all.
Pour you a double?
Is that a double? you want a double ? ? ?
Cigarette?
I don't smoke, but, you know, er...
Crisps?
Four bottles of malibu, bob knows the address. a malibu, a coke and chinese food.

Their finest moment in my opinion. An out and out British classic.

Introducing the Style Council

As Robert Elms' four-fer for today is the Style Council, it seems fitting to post a short word about them. I have loved the Style Council since I was a teenager and at one point had every release bar a few Japanese only imports on vinyl, when they got lost & borrowed never to be returned I had them all on CD, they of course have now all been converted to MP3.

However, what I really loved about them was their look, well their early look up until Our Favourite Shop, when it all went a bit wrong. I love the British take on continental cool in these early days; and although it doesn't really work on Kilburn High Road - its the type of outfit that if you wore on holiday, they might serve you in the shop in the local language.

A true casual for the modern era

I love reading this fella's posts and these shoes are exactly the reason why. A true casual for the modern era. Plus he notes nuts in may, rambling and beer as other interests which is enough for me.

On taking my seat, the first thing I do is a crowd scan to see if anybody has made an effort.

By effort, I don't include morbid obesity with a shaved head and Henri Lloyd button down; or tanning yourself orange, spiking your hair and wearing a Lyle and Scott repro. Don't even get me started on Fila and Tacchini 'vintage', the only place for this is on the way to the pool whilst staying at Pikes.

http://one-up-manship.blogspot.com/2010/04/thorogood-oxfords.html

Recent Activity

I am starting to suffer less with the effects of S.A.D. now the clocks have gone forward and we have enjoyed the first freakishly hot day of the year. The one day where everyone goes out in a t-shirt, then about 4 o'clock wishes they had bought a coat as its now freezing.

I recently had afternoon tea at the National Dining Rooms, great location overlooking Trafalgar Square and nice tea & cakes as well.

I have also recently eaten at Bob Bob Rickard's in Soho. I had read mixed reviews, a particularly virulent one from AA Gill, but as he had given Polpo 5 out of 5 before Christmas and I really thought that just ok, I thought we'd at least try it. Unfortunately, he was half right, the decor and ambiance of the place is pretty impressive and the drinks menu is good. My companion had a rhubarb gin and tonic which was superb. However, the food in my opinion was just ok - and when you compare it to the similarly priced Wolseley, well you just can't compare it actually, it falls well short.

Later that afternoon I went to the Lowlander on Drury Lane, fantastic selection of Belgian & Dutch beers, including about 10 on tap from what I could see. They also had a couple of bottles of Verboden Vrucht my favourite Belgian beer. That said, I think the bar staff could have been a bit friendlier.

I have recently frequented the The Clifton in Maida Vale, the Audley in Mayfair and the Star & Garter in Soho, always good to have a list of suitable boozers in your moleskine.

I also enjoyed a dinner at Fakhreldine in Piccadilly. I've been going past it on the bus for years and always thought it was an Arabian disco, it is in fact a Lebanese restaurant and delicious it is too. Although, from what I could make out, all the main courses were the same, minced lamb in various shapes and orientations, with/without skewers in flat breads.

A Requiem for Detroit

Very good film charting both the rise and decline of Detroit, and to serve as a warning that this is what's in store for the rest of the post industrial world. Although, I think the post industrial warning was a little bit of scaremongering. It already happened in Liverpool in the 80s. The parallels are clear.

Take Ivy

Borrowed links for Take Ivy

http://thetrad.blogspot.com/2008/12/take-ivy-chapter-i.html
http://thetrad.blogspot.com/2008/12/take-ivy-chapter-ii.html
http://thetrad.blogspot.com/2008/12/take-ivy-chaper-iii.html

And a link to another mad Japanese version from the 80s

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=66216

Kitchen Sink Dramas

Posting an article from screenonline, with a list of kitchen sink dramas. Some of which I have seen, some of which I already own. A new 'project' beckons on completing the rest.

Starting with Bronco Bullfrog which I have wanted to see for some time now:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898/

Cache

If you haven't seen Michael Hanneke's Cache and you like slightly arty foreign films - which incidentally are right up my street - this does everything its meant to. I watched it with my other half, who had already seen it once before and with genuine interest we were still talking about it 2 hours after. Despite how poncy that sounds.

Current reading

Last night, I found myself with an hour or so to spare in the West End, so had a mooch around London's bookshops. I can't be overly romantic about it, as it was past six and all the Charing Cross booksellers were closed. Anyway, the toilets in the Waterstones on Piccadilly are very clean, in case you're ever caught short.

I was considering Khomeni's Ghost by Graham Reid or Berlin,Bromley by Bertie Marshall. I shall probably end up getting them both anyway. I toyed with the idea of a copy of the Monocle, but as I read somewhere: Magazines fuel an unobtainable lifestyle whereas books feed the soul - and I didn't fancy seeing adverts for expensive watches between articles.

I had made a commitment to myself that I would try and broaden my horizons - so I settled on a Child of the Jago by Arthur Morrison. Waterstones didn't have a copy. Hatchards offered to print me a copy, but it would take 2 weeks, so I had stroll to Foyles. I don't know if it is actually their policy but Foyles do seem to specialise in stocking books the others don't. So I was very happy to pick up a copy.

I started reading it on the bus home and felt smugly cerebral; I also immediately fell in love with the book.

It reminded me of how I felt when I read Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton and the familiarity of the settings. I've always believed that their pub was the Courtfield in Earls Court, can't remember whether it actually is in the book; or I've just convinced myself that over time.

Tonight I am making a cous cous dish and tomorrow I may relent and buy a pair of deck shoes.

New favourite site............

In particular the art section............

http://www.casualco.com

I can't find a pen and I need to remember this........

http://www.suit.dk

This looks to be right on it.......

http://www.peggsandson.com/

Proper London Shop

Always get it spot on: http://www.folkclothing.com/

Old but it still makes me laugh, I quite like him really.

I'm having some of this......

http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/

Haven't heard it yet, but I love Mavis Staples and Ashley Beedle. Should be interesting.

Aurally......

Bandwagon jumping with: Animal Collective, Marina & The Diamonds and Ellie Goulding Re-acquainting with the Thievery Corporation
Experimenting with Turkish Psychedelia

Despite best intentions.....

So despite all my best intentions about creating an aural & visual scrapbook back in the depths of winter, I have actually succeeded in only posting four times. However, I will justify this obvious slothful tendency by agreeing with myself that this is a marathon not a sprint, and I have no set time restraints.

I have however been busy doing 'projects'. I use the term project to describe periods on a Saturday and Sunday when I have no household tasks and can devote all my efforts to doing nothing in particular.

I have read a book on Kraftwerk by Pascal Bussy but hear that Wolfgang Flur's I Was a Robot is actually better. I have bought for reference the Rough Guide to Film, The Tate Guide to Modern Art and a Beginners Guide to Classical Music.

Although, I unquestionably enjoy Classical Music, it does seem to be in the same project group as Wine. In that, whilst I really enjoy drinking it, I'm actually more interested in Beer - in particular Lowland countries and German. I am more likely to be a bierologist than a master of wine it would seem.

I have rewatched the Ipcress File and a Funeral in Berlin. Seen my first Pixar film: Up and sat through the documentary "Iraq in Fragments', which although wasn't the lightest of viewing for a Friday night is a thoroughly thought provoking piece of work. I currently have Michael Haneke's Cache lined up to watch.

I am currently reading Henry Hemming's Misadventures in the Middle East - a very entertaining travelogue/adventure, which certainly supports my view that the media in this country is in part responsible for creating a feeling of islamaphobia. However, in the spirit of fence-sitting is no doubt warranted in some quarters.

I have watched West Ham's form recover to the point of safety (i hope) and watched with some disappointment FC St Pauli's drop in form which could see them miss promotion to the 1 Bundesliga.

I have not bought any new clothes for nearly 2 months - I am planning a trip to Northampton in the near future to visit the Trickers et al factory shops. I hope I am not disappointed; but I am starting to think about Spring wardrobe ideas.

The merest hint of Spring this week, has got me thinking about London parks and eating an ice cream under a tree.

This is a great shop:

http://present-london.com/

But where is the elusive Mamba?

Almost totally exhaustive adidas trainer list, but alas no Mamba - which I had as a boy. I remember receiving them with almost disbelief that I had got such a gift from my mother. There was a pair of football boots received around the same time - Monacos? Which gave me near school of excellence skills - near, but not quite enough.......


http://www.propertop.com/sections.php?section_id=39

A definite new favourite site (well new to me at least)

http://www.back-and-forth.net

A matter of age or taste?

Imagine my surprise today, when my young colleague asked what I was humming. "Evidently you don't like Roxy Music" I said. "Oh no, I like Rock Music" she replied. "No, Roxy Music" I said. "Roxy Music, what is that?".

Disheveled elegance

Posted everywhere and on one of my favourite sites: The Rake. When I have a fashion crisis, I find inspiration in old photos of Gianni Agnelli. The disheveled elegance which probably has an actual term in Italian is simply outstanding.

Willkommen und so beginnen wir

The intention with Trans-Europa is to create an e-scrapbook of aural, visual & cultural interests, travel, food, football, politics and oneupmanship clothing references. The original manifesto is nothing more than a personal record for posterity.