The Ramp House

Ever sat there watching telly and wondered what it would be liked if your living room was a half-pipe, or a skate bowl? What if you could ollie over to the kitchen and make some tea upside down or something? One person did and the next thing you know, someone's designed them the ramp house.

Every edge is skateable, and even the storage is underneath some nicely curved ramps. There's also a fireplace stashed somewhere below another ramp.

No mention of furniture, but then if your flat is one massive skate park, why are you going to want to sit down?

Read the full article here

http://www.selectism.com/

Bape Disney Donald Duck

It must be at least three years age since Nigo produced anything decent for his Bathing Ape label. We're now so far removed from the glory days of queues around the block for shark hoodies or having the likes of Ian Brown and James Lavelle endorsing the trademark camo jackets that you have to wonder at what point Nigo lost the plot.

And if anyone disputes this statement or thinks I'm being a bit harsh on the dimminutive Harajuku Peter Pan, I give you exhibit one: the Bape x Disney Donald Duck plush.

Aside from the fact that this is a pretty lame version of a Donald Duck, there is a place for plush Disney toys and that's in a Disney toy shop. Just because Nigo has fashioned his cuddly toy out of yellow and white camo pattern does not make this cool.

In fact the best thing about this release is the white camo bag the thing comes in.

But maybe the joke is on the bad bwoy gangsta types who have basically hijaked the Bape brand and destroyed any credibility it had left. Leave your bling and piece in the drawer. All you need is your Bape Donald.

As for future colabs, I'm sure Nigo hasn't done anything with My Little Pony or the Tweenies as yet.

http://www.highsnobiety.com/

The sweatshirt question

In pings an email from Andre: "What's a good make of sweatshirt?" Of course a good sweatshirt is inevitably going to be produced by a quality clothing manufacturer, so I provided Andre with what I consider to be the best clothing brands at the moment.

I've pasted my response below, in case it's of use to anyone else.

For upmarket skate-type stuff:
Stussy
Supreme
NBHD
Acronym
Maharishi
Volcom
Carhartt

Wicked japanese labels
Visvim
Sophnet

Brands you might like:
Folk
Albam

For value:
Uniqlo

Then there's a really tasty cashmere grey sweatshirt style jumper at www.dunhill.com

Sites:
www.the-glade.com
www.hanon-shop.com
www.conceptshop.com.hk
www.head-porter.org
www.hideoutstore.com

The list is by no means comprehensive and is always open to amendment. It also provides a good idea of the brands in my wardrobe at the present time.

Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton

The people at Louis Vuitton must be wondering what they'd let themselves in for after they allowed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami loose among their stores again.

Murakami, best known for far-out cartoon characters that resemble shapes of flourescent sick with eyes on them, has worked with LV in the past and is actually responsible for some of the brand's more successful lines, such as the multi-colour monogram and the Monogramouflage pattern which became synonymous with rapping schlebrities last year.

This time round Murakami looks like he's been eating a few of the candy-coloured mushrooms he creates. Key stores have been given the full Superflat treatment - where once was the French brand's brown and gold is now a rainbow of vomit-inducing hues.

There are limited edition purses and wallets and giant alien-looking plush toys that would look equally at home on a fairground stall.

All very twirly girly and guaranteed to prove a flyaway success all round. It just begs the question: what on earth will Murakami come up with next?

Here's one of the videos to go with the launch of the new range. Sick bags recommended.

www.highsnobiety.com

Rapha Swift jersey

Having just been run over while wearing the most hig-vis Rapha top I own - a club jersey with an acid yellow stripe round the middle - I've come to the conclusion that it matters not what you are wearing. If a driver is blind, he will not see you, even if you are cycling down the road dressed from head to toe in flourescent orange.

So you might as well go out in a navy Rapha Swift jersey, with little black birds on it.

The idea of the Swift is to recognise Portland, Oregon, the home of US cycling. The Swift is also rather common there, apparently.

It's a retro little number that's going to make you look as cool as hell as you're taking that descent at 50 mph.

Just be sure to keep an eye out for anything that might not see you. Even low-flying wildlife.

http://www.rapha.cc/

Graffiti temple

With the bike knackered and my finger looking like a female sanitary product, it seemed like a good time to check out some graffiti I'd seen from the train which adorned a solitary wall in the middle of a field.

Two reasons for this. First, I wanted to document it before some jobsworth decided to paint over it or even pull the wall down. Second, I wanted to see exactly how much trouble this person, or people, had gone to in order to spray on a wall that to all intents and purposes was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Must have walked for a good hour. Followed the railway line along fields and across drainage ditches, like an Essex Indiana Jones, in search of some hidden graffiti-covered temple. Turns out the wall wasn't all that remote after all - it is right next to a level crossing which links two sides of Hadleigh Castle Country Park. I had taken the not-trodden route.

The place was eerie. the spraying must have been done years ago judging by the undisturbed undergrowth. Amazing really that anyone bothered at all given that you can only glimpse a flash of it as the train goes past and there's no other way to really see it.

But it's obviously been there a while, so maybe that's it - if no one knows it's there, they won't scrub it off.

Cycle log extra: The crash

Seeing as every cyclist I know has been hit by a car at sometime or other I guess it was only a matter of time before it happened to me.

I'm just thankful that I walked away with a cut finger and a grazed knee after the BMW pulled out in front of me on Southend seafront. I don't remember much - I yanked on the brakes but there was no way I was going to miss him, and the next thing I knew I was picking myself up off the road.

I reckon this is all down to a gypsy curse. I glared at one who tried to stuff some lucky heather in my face on Saturday in Regent Street, and I'm sure she muttered something behind my back. It was probably something like "you will hit a car on your bike." Yeah that's it.

The whole episode has been a bit of an inconvenience. The bike is a bit knackered, probably needs a new front wheel and brakes. There's a hole in my Fixed shorts, and my left glove is sticky with blood. That's nothing compared to the 45 minute wait at the side of the road for the ambulance, because the paramedic (himself a cyclist) said my finger needed stitches. The police (who had to be called because it was a road traffic accident with an injury) took just as long to turn up. Then there was the wait at A&E. Admitted at 8.30pm, discharged at 10.30pm. Waiting in line with the obese, addicted and foolish of Southend was like being punished for having an accident.

All that for a cut finger. I'm now off to find a cycle helmet and some lucky heather.

(Ruined) Rapha clobber
Fixed shorts
Team jersey
Grand tour gloves
Racing cap
Merino socks

PS: The evening was saved by a wonderful ambulance crew, who actually took my bike home for me, and a funny nurse, who kept me laughing while stitching up the finger. To be honest the driver of the BMW was a decent sort, who, after admitting that he totally didn't see me, waited for the police to turn up. And, of course, by LIzzie, who made a beeline for me as soon as I told her about the accident and stayed with me all the way. That's why I'm going to marry her.

Cat fight

First it was the badgers. They came in the dead of night and snuffled my lawn into pieces. I tried all solutions. Pee where they entered the garden, electronic countermeasures, which didn't work.

Then one day they stopped. It might have had something to do with the rose branch fence I erected or the fact they'd dug up all the worms. But one day the holes stopped appearing in my lawn.

That was last year. This year it's cats. They have been using our garden as a toilet ever since the big tom we christened Haggis stopped coming to visit. He lived a few doors down but it was clear from the outset that he regarded our garden as an extension of his manor, and there wasn't a cat in the neighbourhood that would dare set foot in it.

The power vacuum since he left is tangible, and now every cat seems to want a piece of our garden, mainly to use as a crapper, because as is well known, cats don't crap in their own back yards. They crap in ours, because we don't have a cat to defend it.

The only answer is to get a cat of our own, but to be honest I don't much care for the bird-eating felines. Trouble is, it's either that or their shite. There is another alternative. Maybe we should make the garden a haven for all cats. We'll leave food out for them, the place can become their lounge, or pub, or social club. Surely they wouldn't crap in their own social club?

But then we'd need a bouncer. Come back Haggis, all is forgiven.

Unkle McQueen CD

UNKLE have come up with an album to go with the Alexander McQueen sub collection for A/W 2009, which is as good a reason as any to try and blag your way into one of the shows.

This is the CD, designed by Kai & Sunny, which you might have to attend one of the shows to procure. If we're lucky it will get a general release. No idea what it sounds like.

http://www.unkle.com/

Water cooler moments

Water cooler moment. An overused phrase if there ever was one, conjures images of beautiful young employees congregating around a dispenser, plastic cups in hand, chatting enthusiastuically about life.

Like, right. For one, this office lacks any of the required beautiful young types to fulfil the fantasy, and if it did, our 'water cooler', as it is so endearingly called in glossy-mag ponce speak, is located next to the fridge, which, if you had read my previous posts, is a biohazard of such potency that we have taken to donning chemical suits and gas masks just to open it.

Even the other water cooler, located outside the toilets, fails to attract the audiences for these facinating debates about US TV series and other mediocre throwaway gossip topics. Not once have I seen more than one person standing at it - and that is the person filling a cup, or emptying the drip tray.

In fact, the staff in this office go to such lengths to avoid bumping into people at the water cooler that they actually loiter at a safe distance, empty bottles in hand, as if they are waiting to give urine samples at an STD clinic. Any conversation is purely accidental.

But when the bottle is empty the fun really begins. Then, grown adults revert to their most basic of instincts as they hunt those responsible for taking the last cup, and force them to change the bottle.

New artwork

Here's a couple of things I've been creating lately. I've entered the top one in the next Saatchi gallery comp, so if you fancy having a vote, click the link.

Top one is called Life on a Wall, the second is called Konichiwa.

Click here

Cycle log 18/04/09

I used to love away days at the football - adrenalin pumping as we filled in the hours before the game drinking pints and eating pies at a random pub, not knowing if the game would produce a result, or if we would make it home without getting a kicking from the home team.

These days, travelling to a football game, even if it is down the road to watch Southend, doesn't even cross my mind - it takes more dedication than I can muster for a football team to follow them like faithful hounds.

Judging by the gatherings around the pubs along the seafront this morning, the Saturday ritual is still aided by a good few pints. I passed at 11.30am and away team supporters spilling onto the Golden Mile, colours flapping merrily in the breeze.

Good luck to them. At least if they're playing a club like Southend, they're going to get a result - and are unlikely to receive a kicking.

According to my speedo, I'm getting faster. My average speed for the Shoebury run this morning was 17.2mph. Compare that to about a month ago when I hit 16.5mph.

Of course, this is far from an exact science - atmospheric conditions are such a factor, it is difficult to compare times and speeds at all. Today was blustery, but the wind was coming from the north east, so I got broadsided a couple of times but I didn't really feel like it slowed me down much.

Time: 48.39mins
Distance: 14.02
Average: 17.2mph
Max: 29.6mph

Rapha clobber:
Team jersey
Arm warmers
Grand tour gloves
Racing cap
Merino socks

Tai Hachiro glasses update

I am totally out of the running for those Tai Hachiro specs I'd been waiting weeks for Dover Street Market (DSM) to get in.

They turned up on Friday. The price? A mere £520. That's without the lenses. I had to grab a clothes rail to prevent myself from collapsing on the spot.

Funny how things turn out really, because despite the price I had to try them on - in the interests of research - and they looked appalling. Clearly my head is shaped a bit different to the Japanese market Mr Hachiro had in mind when he was designing them.

So I should consider myself lucky - if sterling had been a little stronger against the yen I just know I would have bought them and forced myself to like them, even if I did look like a living Mr Potato Head.

The hunt for some decent and affordable frames goes on.

The Friday Five 17/04

Seeing as I was off to London to indulge in the nation's favourite passtime, this week's Friday Five will be a personality revealing shopping list. Psycho analyse this:

1: Kuumba joss sticks (The Hideout) - White Amber flavour
2: Monocle Magazine (Magma Books)
3: Montana spray cans (white, black, blue, lime)
4: New work trousers (Uniqlo)
5: Tai Hachiro specs (DSM - never bought, because there are limits to what even I would pay)

Now I'm back, and my list has grown, so my next shopping trip might well include:

1: Baracuta / bomber type jack
2: Purple cardigan (cashmere preferably, natch)
3: Large check gingham short-sleeved shirt (Nice one in Carhart)
4: Madras shirt (Supreme / Uniqlo, if I can bring myself to become trendy)
5: Shorts (Uniqlo probably)

Bring on the salad days

I think we can safely say that spring has arrived. Plants are sprouting across the garden and I've made my first trip to B and Q.

It was a tight squeeze but I managed to fit a massive planter, stepping stones, a couple of boulders and some decorative pebbles in the Smart. I had to go back for some compost and sand, but that's still only two trips.

One day later and the stepping stones are in the lawn, the planter has a palm in it and I've completely redesigned the flower beds. Thanks to the additional boulders the Buddha has got quite a nice view, and across the lawn he now has a pond to look at.

Once the bamboo grows up and providing I haven't killed off the bananas, come summer the place will look like a clearing from the Jungle Book.

I'm Baboo.

Wii Spray

Not a big fan of video games myself, even the Wii, which bills itself almost as an educational tool, as well as a means of life improvement.

We've had Wii Fit and Wii whatever else makes your life better without leaving your living room, and now you can also become a street level graffiti tagger from the comfort of your armchair. Just think, all the creativity, without the handcuffs. The only issue is, who's going to see it.

That's if the Wii spray is for real. It all seems a bit too good to be true to me, although to look at the video below, if it wasn't the real deal, someone's put an awful lot of effort into hoodwinking us.


WiiSpray Teaser from cldfx.com on Vimeo.

Props to Chapter Section for finding this. You'll find a link to their blog on my Profile.

Cycle log 13/04/09: Shakedown

I have never seen so many motorbilkes. That's a lie, I have never sen so many motorbikes since last year when the Easter bank holiday Shakedown rally came to Southend last. It's a yearly event, but this year they seem to have upped the ante, with stalls and closed roads and things like that.

Now I know cyclists (as in pedal cyclists) are often tarred with the nutty stick - riding out in all weathers, skin tight lycra and glow in the dark reflectors, not to mention the mushroom helmets. But motorcyclists, specifically the sort who attend Shakedown events, are something else.

I saw blokes dressed identically in camo gear riding black bikes with camo netting draped over them, all sorts of leather jackets with dodgy skulls and crossbones on them. The pillion passenger of a three-wheeler was even wearing a children's halloween skull mask. What if he'd crashed? The emergency services wouldn't have known if his appearance was a horrific result of his accident or a child's plastic mask.

Through these thousands of gathered Hell's Angel types and motorbike nuts, revving and wheelying, came the altogether more reserved and certainly more stylish stream of cyclists.

It was a bank holiday and we were out in force, too - albeit a bit outnumbered.

Note: The image was taken at the 06 Shakedown event, which goes to prove it doesn't change much from one year to the next.

Time: 1hr 22 minutes
Distance: 23.77m
Average: 17.2mph
Max: 34.5mph

Rapha clobber
Racing cap
Short sleeved jersey
Fixed shorts
Arm warmers
Grand tour gloves
Merino socks

The Buddha

I have bought a Buddha. I don't know why, the idea just came to me. It seemed like a nice addition among the bamboo and palms. Little fella, about a foot tall.

It was a smooth transaction - we nipped off to the local stone statue place and there among the lions and snails and gnomes was the Buddha enclave. All shapes and sizes, some fat, some a bit thinner with four arms and curly hair. The fat one looked the cutest and he was smiling, which has to be a good sign.

Got home, dumped him in the garden, went to the pub, pleased as punch.

And that was where I learned the sinister truth. You don't just buy a Buddha. You are supposed to be given a Buddha, and it has to come from a special place, like a Tibetan monastry, where he will be blessed and bring you good fortune. It will also make sure he doesn't being the 10,000 evil spirits into your home that an unblessed Buddha bought from the local stone statue place will carry with it.

Dave knows. He bought a Buddha and two days later his girlfriend had a scooter accident. That was 10 months ago. She is still on crutches. They got rid of the Buddha.

This was serious stuff. How could I have been so stupid? It made sense, I hadn't just bought a piece of stone, I had bought an effigy, an image incarnate of the great Buddha, revered and worshipped the world over, and there he was sitting in the flower bed.

A quick Google later and the outlook wasn't so bleak. By some miracle we hadn't bought the scary Buddha, we had bought the fat Buddha, an altogether more jolly soul, less hung up on life and less inclined to zap you with evil spirits at the earliest opportunity.

Nevertheless, he demands respect. So at 10pm there we were, placing Buddha on an upturned flowerpot, having positioned him towards the entrance to the house, facing the rising sun. And we rubbed his belly, which is essential.

Now he has his own boulder upon which to sit (we couldn't find a mountain). He seems happy. He gets a belly rub every time I'm passing, and he's got a nice view from his boulder. I can think of worse places for him so I'm sure he can too.

I can see a long and bright future ahead for us, and it looks like the flowers have perked up since he arrived, but it is spring so I'm not putting it all down to him.

I hope he doesn't mind having his picture taken.

Cycle log 10/04

No matter how hard I try, I still can't rise early enough to set off on a ride before the roads get clogged with cars. I know the rewards of something like a 6am start will far outweigh the inconvenience of getting out of bed, but it just doesn't happen.

Good Friday was the perfect case in point. It is one of those days when people don't really kow what to do with themselves. It is the only bank holiday Friday ion the year and it seems to throw people out. They just don't know what to do with themselves. I lay there in bed, not a car passing the window, thinking 'if I get out now, I'll have the roads to myself.' Then I nodded off for another half-an-hour.

I ended up getting on the road by about 9.30am which wasn't so bad in terms of traffic, but I couldn't help wondering what an empty road would be like.

One of these days I'll make that 6am start, but something tells me it won't be any time soon.

Time:1hr 25mins
Distance: 24.67miles
Average: 17.2mph
Max: 31.6mph

Rapha clobber:
Cap
Team jersey
Fixed shorts
Grand tour gloves
Merino socks
Arm warmers

The (Good) Friday Five 10/04/09

The five sartorial rules I adhere to

1: Colours: Base the outfit in neutral, with splashes of contrasting colour restrained to details. The odd bright jumper in something like a blue is OK. Black, khaki, green, and beige are good base colours. Also, take note of the key colour of the season- this year it seems to be cobalt blue - and buy a couple of pieces in it.

2: Know what works. With my hair, reds, oranges and red-browns are an absolute no-no. I end up looking like an autumn day. Yellow, however, seems to work, as does purple. All in moderation (see point 1).

3: Fit is crucial. Anything that is too big is going to make you look like a sack of spuds. Too small and you'll look like you made a mistake on the washing machine setting. Good fitting clothes will look like they were made for you.

4: Classics: In these days of frugalness it's better to spend a bit more on decent classic pieces which will stand the test of time. Recent investments of mine have included classic shirts from Thomas Pink, a short trenchcoat from Dunhill, and 'Hockney' boat shoes from Visvim.

5: Accessorise. Something men rarely do, but for me the addition of a scarf or a cap will finish the outfit off. But never a scarf and a cap, unless you wish to look like a coal miner.

If this list wasn't called the Friday Five, I would also extole the virtues of a decent haircut, the best fabrics you can afford, and spending as much as you can, usually as much as the rest of your outfit put together, on good quality shoes.

Visvim SS 09 Swingtop jacket

I do my best not to get too excited about the price of clothes - you pays your money, you takes your choice and if you are interested in the clothes mentioned on this blog then you're more likely than most to be prepared to pay above the going rate in order to secure the best quality or the most limited of releases.

But at what point does the price of garments transcend the mere expensive and move towards ludicrous? For me it would have to be around the point of the Visvim Swingtop summer jacket I've just seen. I might be missing something here, but is this not a straight forward Harrington-type bomber in a light blue? Perhaps it is bulletproof, or perhaps you press a button on the zipper and it turns into a house, or a car, or something similarly useful.

At €1,299 (which these days is the same price in GBP) it needs to have one or two tricks up its sleeve if Visvim is hoping to sell any. I know there's this whole exchange rate issue going on and the price of all imports has risen, but all the same.

You've got to draw the line somewhere.

www.slamjam.com/store

Woollen sleeping bag Teletubby thing

And somewhere at the other end of the woollen spectrum is this ... thing. It's a kind of bastardised blanket come sleeping bag, good for dressing up like a Teletubby if the urge ever takes you.

Someone in Iceland came up with this, called the Seapelt. It would at least keep you warm in the frozen wastes of the arctic circle. But would you want to keep warm while wearing it? Would you even want to be living? I wouldn't be seen dead in it.

I can think of far better uses for Idelandic wool, like perhaps knitting a blidfold to prevent this aztec-patterned abomination from invading my vision.

Like the baby seals that inspired it, wearers should have an eye out for people bearing clubs. Although you'd have to be a bit mental yourself to have forked out $400 this, so perhaps you're the dangerous one.

Dunhill cashmere sweater

This is a nice jumper. One of Dunhill's latest offerings, looks a bit like a cashmere sweatshirt, and therefore totally versatile over any number of social scenarios.

Not that I should be looking at crew necks this year - if the fashion press is to be believed I should be taking a pair of scissors to all of them and turning them into V-necks, because the V-neck happens to be in fashion this year.

Perhaps I'm getting on a bit, but the knitwear in my wardrobe consists solely of knitwear in crew necks, cardigans and V-necks. They have all been worn in equal measures and until now I had no idea that one style might actually be more in fashion than another. OK, the oither year cardigans had a bit of a resurgence, but from what I can remember I wore them before then, and guess what? I put one on only the other day.

I believe these items are known as wardrobe staples, or classics. Don't let some fool with a few column inches to fill tell you otherwise. There is no in or out when it comes to knitwear, except maybe fairisle patterns, which look terrible all the time.

And besides, if V-necks are in, that's even more reason to buy a crew neck. So buy the Dunhill jumper.

http://www.dunhill.com/

Self sufficient

I chopped up some wood the other day. Just a bit of kindling, I didn't want to go too mad. I also had a go at a couple of logs I've been donated but the saw got stuck.

It felt good though, like I was doing my bit for sustainability. The kindling was from an old pallet I'd had lying around and the logs were from my tree that the neighbours had to cut down to build their conservatory. No spending required, just a bit of grafting.

Out there in the garden, hacking away next to my recently shifted shed, on the patio slabs I put down, I felt like Tom from the Good Life. All I needed was a couple of chickens and a vegetable patch.

They will have to wait until I get a bigger garden.

Cycle log 05/04/09

I've done two of my best times this week. The first was for my little evening sprint to the Kursaal in Southend and back. I don't tend to write about them because they're generally over before I can think of anything to write about and I do them so frequently.

My second best time was today, on another regular sprint, to Shoebury and back. 50 minutes 15 seconds for a 14 mile ride, which averages out at 16.7mph.

That's a whole 36 seconds off my previous best, and the funny thing is I thought I'd done crap. The wind was in my face on the way out and I didn't seem able to get any rhythm. Just goes to show.

My new best could have been down to the weather - gorgeous sunny day, a bit of wind though. It certainly wasn't down to the day trippers walking around looking at the sky.

Better get used to them though, small price to pay for summer riding.

Stussy at the Hideout / the Friday Five list, 03/04

The Hideout got its first delivery of Stussy on Friday, which consisted of a few new designs in a couple of colours.

Not much to shout about really, but those Hideout chaps are never ones to miss out on an opportunity so out came the free beer, and along came some bloke to do graffiti outside on the window.

It did the trick - that and the new Supreme drop on the same night - every fixed gear bike rider and media skater type within Soho seemed to want a look.

Which just goes to show, if you make the effort, the shoppers are still out there and willing to buy things, and that brings me to the Friday Five list, albeit a bit late, because this is Sunday.

This week the theme is retailing, or more precisely, five things retailers should be doing to get people into their shops. The first things shops should do is throw more parties, however tenuous the reason - people like a drink, and they buy stuff when they've had a drink. No brainer really.

2 - Open later. You all whinge that you're going under, but have you thought about opening when people are actually around, instead of at work? Like in the evening?

3 - Answer emails. I waited four weeks for a reply from Dover Street Market, by which time I tracked down the shoes I was looking for elsewhere.

4 - Give stuff away. Beer is good, but it could even be a free pen. Anything that makes the customer feel like you want them there, and to come back, even if he doesn't buy anything there and then.

5 - Get a website that works. There's a whole world of people out there who can't make it to the store, even if they knew it existed. They are your customers too.

Here endeth my sermon, from a customer's point of view.

More Visvim for 09

I've been resisting this whole return to the plaid look which kicked off a couple of years ago and now seems to be a staple of all collections.

For one thing it reminds me of a dodgy Big Stuff shirt I used to wear back in the day (late 80s) when the lumberjack look was all the thing.

It's also a look that I cannot associate with stylishness. It just seems too trendy - like one day you will look back at photos of yourself and say 'oh my god what possessed me to wear that?'

Still, never say never. Visvim have been incorporating something plaid into their collections for a while now. For spring summer 09 they've added this Swingtop Jacket, which is the nearest I have got thus far to being tempted to wear plaid.

Although I can't help thinking that I'll end up looking like Richie from Happy Days. Maybe next year.


http://www.highsnobiety.com/

G20 protest protection

Day two of G20 protests in the City of London, and another day of misjudged casualwear by the bankers and financial types. Like the adoption of a dodgy pair of Diesel jeans is going to persuade the mighty unwashed that you're actually one of them.

Now a hoodie, that's a different matter. Wonderful garment, the hoodie. On a Sunday morning while the coffee's brewing it becomes a cosy friend, something to snuggle up in while still bleary eyed. But in the urban jungle it can take on a totally different demeanor. It says 'youthful, streetwise,' and in SAS black with the hood up, it says 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.'

I wore my black zip fronted Acronym hoodie to work yesterday. Not because of any fear of attack, but because it seemed the right weather - mild, with an outside chance of rain.

I garnered confused looks. A shirt and trousers with a hoodie isn't a frequent sight. Was I a crusty or a hard working member of society? In my hoodie disguise I could have done a day at work and quite comfortably infiltrated the ranks of anarchy at the Bank had I so wished, and nobody would have batted an eyelid.

Now imagine the confusion if the entire workforce of the City had turned out in a hoodie. The crusties wouldn't have known who to direct their spittle at. Chaos would have reigned and some might even have ended up at work. There's a thought.

Where The Wild Things Are

There are a couple of reasons I've posted this movie trailer - the film is directed by Spike Jonze, the skateboarding director behind the Beastie Boys' 1994 film Sabotage, Being John Malkovitch and far too many music videos to mention.

But more importantly, Where the Wild Things Are was the childrens' story much loved by my other half, Lizzie, and she still possesses all the toys (although the big fat one won't stand up on his own).

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack is going to be really cool.