The effortlessly wonderful Waffle, over Belgium way, tweeted that the incredible Alan Measles has a Posterous – and indeed a Twitter account.

If you don’t know who Alan Measles is, where the hell have you been. No seriously – where.

He is a god, look him up.

He is just preparing to go on tour – to Germany no less, in a sort of Pope-exchange, which is amazing.  If I had known about it earlier, I would be prepped and standing by the side of the Autobahn waving Measles flags and cheering as he went past on this;

Oh yes. ALAN MEASLES HAS TRANSPORT.

Also fact-finders, Alan Measles is driven by a Transvestite Potter of some repute, the rather wonderful Grayson Perry.

Sigh.

That whole situation is like something from a dream.

Alan Measles is now broadcasting to the world from the amazing alanmeasles.posterous.com.

Whilst I contemplate the Might of Measles, I am listening to Millie Jackson, a new musical discovery of mine, from god knows when.

This woman must be crazy, but HOLY MEASLES she is also pretty fucking awesome.  Don’t believe me? Check this out;

TOO MANY AMAZING THINGS.

(Also – I think that Millie and Grayson defo have similar sartorial tastes – that insane heart dress thing she is rocking is just insane).

In order to rectify this I decided to go into ‘town’ to run some errands, and ended up doing a bill murray and going japanese for lunch (drawn no doubt by a desire for a heightened sense of alienation with western culture yada yada blah blah).

Stumbling upon Kulu Kulu must have been the result of Mr. Murray smirking down at me, because it was ruddy excellent, zero service at all, just plonk yourself down and take what you fancy off the conveyor  - heaven.  The food was exceptionally good, fresh hand rolls, delicious aubergine thingys and assorted fishy gorgeousness – a thorough recomendation (Shelton Street, Covent Garden).

For pudding and a coffee I tottered back (for the second time in a week) to Gelupo on Archer Street which has now risen to become my current favourite place to get dessert IN THE WORLD.  Again the gods were smiling when the flatmate and I found this place – I knew of Bocca Di Lupo, part of the ‘Italian new wave’ of cool new Soho eateries, but was unaware a) where it was and b) that they had also opened a Gelateria.

The coffee is superb – BUT WHO CARES ABOUT THE COFFEE.

The Gelato is orgasm-inducingly-sweet-tooth-satiatingly stunning.  It is like your mouth is Bjorks icelandic ice palace (i.e. the venue) for a party which includes lots of friggin amazing people (i.e. flavours) To try to save this rapidly sinking analogy I would say that the people at the party would probably be tina turner, eddie izzard, ray-of-light era madonna and err… Frida Kahlo.

That was a shit analogy, but Gelupo is incredible – the decor, the staff, the napkins, the wafers, the tiles, the typography, the coffee and most importantly the gelato is all pitch perfect – and if I have to go in every single day during the winter just to single handedly keep them in business then that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

P.S. whisper it – but at night they put a doughnut sign out and serve special evening italian style doughnuts… !!!

I have a loyalty card and I fully intend to abuse it.

This is from Robyns upcoming Body Talk Pt. 2 mini-album – the second of the year… the first (Body Talk pt. 1) was great – but pt. 2 sounds IMMENSE – noone does pop quite like Robyn.

This video is simple and quite quite beautiful – her music doesn’t need to be tacked up with artifice to make an impact, she operates without needing that – a sonic assassin, love it.

Thankyou as always for this link which was posted by XOLondon – a one man musical mission whose fantastic fuchsia blog keeps me in his marvellous musical loop.

C’est fantastique non? Comme Diana Ross ‘The Wiz’ ?

(Civilisation by Marco Brambilla.  Consider your mind blown)

(Hilarious Japanese trailer from reid p’s blog – amazing)

Also the new ‘Cold War’ video by Janelle Monae is pretty intense – single shot, diana-ross-end-of-the-wiz type intensity, tres bien.

It is always a pleasure to collaborate with good friends, but this was a particularly exciting project because I was immediately smitten with the new pieces she had come up with.

I want to write a proper post about this when I have a moment (new job = full throttle/all consuming/amazing).  Because  I think the work she has come up with – which incidentally is unisex – is particularly exciting as menswear, and has the potential to do incredibly well in a market which, lets face it, is a *bit crap*.

More on this soon, but in the meantime I thought I would post up the jewellery shots I worked on with Reid and the team at RP/Encore… there are more images up top in the ‘Fashion’ section of my portfolio.

(www.rpencore.com – all images © Tom Houser & RP/Encore, please credit if you want to use them).

M and I found this marvellous magazine in Waitrose Winchester the other day.  Eulogy Magazine (website here) is being marketed as the worlds first magazine to celebrate life and death – and from a quick flick through it looks like a genuinely interesting concept.

Featuring interviews with people like Boy George and Mark Strong about their ideal funerals, and some rather lovely pictures of graveyard adornments (a personal passion of mine) this seems like a fascinating concept – a grown up look at death, and one I really hope succeeds – though one worries whether Britain is ready for such a publication…

MS. MIRREN – NAKED AND GLORIOUS

This interview with Helen Mirren on nymag.com is great – but its the accompanying pictures by Juergen Teller which I adore – they are both desperately unflattering (I am not much a fan of the in-vogue ‘flash happy’ style of photography) and stunningly sexy  - the Mirren is marvellous.

DIGITAL MAKEUP HAMPSHIRE HORROR

This is a real service, offered by a real photographer, displayed in a real shop in Winchester – SCARY.  Which one is your favourite?

WOLFGANG TILLMANS AT SERPENTINE

How kinky is this photo?

When I was in Berlin a couple of years ago I was lucky enough to catch the excellent Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof gallery – his photography is singular because of the sheer variety and versatility of his output, and it is in his shows that this is really accentuated.  A previous winner of the Turner Prize, Tillmans carefully curates his exhibitions, creating genuinely compelling narratives with his accumulated work (which for a photographer is a major achievement) this show at the Serpentine has had good reviews and will definitely be worth a look.

Wolfgang Tillmans at the Serpentine Gallery; 26th June – 19th September

FRANKS CAFE AND CAMPARI BAR – BACK FOR 2010

Last year one of my absolute food highlights was Franks Café and Campari Bar (website here) – a pop-up restaurant atop a multi-story car park in glorious Peckham.

Back for 2010, opening this friday the 2nd July, and hopefully will be just as splendid as last year.  I plan to take everyone I can.  Though a tiny bit tricky to find, the views across London make the journey worth it, with the excellent cocktails and BBQ cuisine providing the final flourish on a trendy dining triumph.

SEBASTIAN HORSLEY RIP August 8, 1962 – June 17, 2010

Death is not a marvellous thing – but Sebastian Horsley was, and today alas he was found dead of a suspected drug overdose – as many have pointed out already this is probably (morbidly) for the best – perversely ‘what he would have wanted’.

His book ‘Dandy In The Underworld’ recounts his fantastical life in his own words.  The bulk of it being so utterly farcical that I only recall snatches – his failed Phillipino crucifixion and a torrid affair with ‘the most violent man in Scotland’ being searing highlights.  The man was the very personification of Dandy – I was once lucky enough to spot him in Soho wearing his trademark hat and unique day wear.  This glimpse sufficed – it was enough to know that despite everything he existed somewhere in a corner of Soho, making the world a more exotic place.

“You may look back on your life and accept it as good or evil. But it is far, far harder to admit that you have been completely unimportant; that in the great sum of things all a man’s endless grapplings are no more significant than the scuttlings of a cockroach. The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic. I have reached a nirvana of negativity. I can look futility in the face and still see promise in the stars.” - Sebastian Horsley

JABBA CHILD

This made me laugh. Hard.

(via rebelart.net)

ANA MATRONIC – ANY WHICH WAY.

I am fortunate enough to have sampled the new Scissor Sisters album – it sounds epic (I cannot WAIT until the 23rd for the Brixton gig!) These lyrics from ‘Any Which Way’ are an Ana Matronic interlude type thing – I know little about the nuances of American accents, but her voice in this segment subtly hints at Sue Sylvester from Glee – its bloody marvellous and the lyrics are SEX.

You know baby when I was taking my pantyhose out of their egg this evening, I thought i’m gonna find me that man thats the right shade of bottle tan, a man that smells like cocoa butter and cash.  Take me anyway you like it, in front of the fireplace, in front of your yacht, in front of my parents – I DON’T GIVE A DAMN BABY JUST TAKE ME.

(check out the lovely XOLondon’s preview-review type thing of the album here)

SYLVAIN CHOMET

The man – nay – the genius responsible for 2003′s ‘Belleville Rendez-Vous’ – one of the most beautiful animated films I have ever encountered – is returning with ‘The Illusionist’ which opened this years Edinburgh FIlm Festival.  The trailer follows below, and it looks as if it will be equally as incredible as his first feature-length film.  If you haven’t seen Belleville Rendez-Vous you MUST – it is ESSENTIAL.

SUNBEDS MELTED MY BOOBS AND OTHER TRASH

I am always drawn to the trashy magazine section in my local Tescos – you don’t have to hunt long to find such gems as ‘DITA VON DWARF – SHES A PINT SIZED TEESE’ or ‘GET ON YOUR BIKE… SO I CAN KILL YOU’.  Pictured is a wonderful example – this poor woman whose funbags exploded in a sunbed.

You would have thought that when she reached a golden brown colour (which she most definately has above) bells would have started ringing before boobs started combusting…

A funny way to end todays 5!Marvellous!Things! Starting with death and ending with hazardous hooters – I hope dear reader you don’t think this shows a total disregard for tact and decency, for I am only striving to serve up 5 things you might like – they may not knit together, but then what does these days?

Coming back from London to leafy, middle class, gentrified Winchester, stepping off the train and being confronted by the BIG (very gay) POSTER for the new Scissor Sisters album was amazing.  I have already seen the artwork – a stunning Robert Mapplethorpe image from the 1980s – it is just so gloriously suggestive.  To have it infiltrate Winchester of all places is both subversive and fantastic (amount of gayness per square mile in deepest darkest Hampshire = 0.00000001%).  Going to see them on the 23rd in Brixton – terribly excited to hear their new material, which has been previewed most excellently by proper music reviewer chap XOLondon here.

SEBASTIAN ERRAZURIZ – ‘MEMORIAL OF A CONCENTRATION CAMP’ ARTWORK? INSTALLATION?

Stumbled across this on Eyeteeth – to quote them;

A 10-meter magnolia tree is planted in the center of Chile’s National Stadium where dictator Pinochet in 1973 imprisoned thousands of political prisoners who were tortured and killed. After planting the tree, the stadium doors are open to the public as a park; offering a space to stop, look again, and remember. An impossible, cathartic soccer match played before 20.000 people, closes the project after a week of activity.

Quite simply a beautiful idea and a striking motif and memorial – there are some more pictures on the Eyeteeth blog here.  Football seems such an unchanging and rigid sport, its amazing to see it used to make amplify such an important message.

(Via Eyeteeth)

RICHARD MOSSE – PHOTOGRAPHER

Found through the amazing BLDGBLOG – a blog about experimental architecture I keep coming back to again and again (I will write more about it in the next 5!Marvellous!Things! I think – as it is a marvellous thing in itself).

This link was from the BLDGBLOG blogroll – a striking series of images by the Photographer Richard Mosse.  Absolutely stunning stuff – well worth a look over at his website, his other images are also beautiful.

THE YEAH YEAH YEAHS – SOFT SHOCK

I had a Yeah Yeah Yeahs day today, making giant paper marigolds for a project i’m working on in Winchester.

A band which I never tire of and have loved since they first emerged in the early 00′s.

The irresistable Karen O effortlessly carries any weight of song, from early-career heaviness to more recent softness.  This song is a gorgeous acoustic version of one of my favourites from last years superb ‘It’s Blitz!’ album.

Lovely lyrics…

Wu-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Ah-ah
Wu-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Ah-ah

I know
Talk to unknown
Ever
Lasts forever
It’s a
Shock, shock
To your soft-side
Summer loom
Catch your shut-eye

In your room
In my room
In your room
In my room

Louder
Lips speak louder
Better
Back together

Still it’s a
Shock, shock
To your soft-side
Summer looms
Catch your shut-eye
In my room
In your room
In my room
In your room

It’s the time, it’s the day
…don’t leave me
It’s the time, it’s the day
…don’t leave me
It’s the time, it’s the day
…don’t leave me
It’s the time, it’s the place
Don’t leave me… out
Leave me out
Leave me out
Leave me out

Wu-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Wu-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Ah-ah
Wu-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo

ARISTIDE ANTONAS – RADICAL ARCHITECT

Yet another nugget found through BLDGBLOG these are beautiful imaginings of houses in cranes, tankers and other unlikely places – lovely images in their own right, you can read the full article here at BLDGBLOG.

]]> http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/16/5marvellousthings-16%c2%b706%c2%b710/feed/ 0 TH photo Screen shot 2010-06-16 at 21.30.02 1 4678816292_833152b20c_b http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/16/shrine-sh-rin-to-princess-diana-fergie/ http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/16/shrine-sh-rin-to-princess-diana-fergie/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:36:31 +0000 TH http://smackcrumplebang.com/?p=1737 Read more]]> A couple of weeks ago I was asked by the lovely Scarlet Winter to help her out with a project she was mounting at this years Glastonbury.  What I think she is staging is a sort of mad tent of curiosities – full of weird objet, performances and general fabulousness.

When I enquired as to whether she wanted any help she asked me to make a shrine.  Perhaps making this request of anyone else would be odd, but I was thrilled.  I come from a lineage rich in hoarders and arrangers, and confounded both tutors and classmates at art college by once making a shrine to my recently deceased cat – its pretty safe to say I have form.

Mulling it over I realised it was quite a challenge;

- it had to be glasto-proof

- eminently portable

- a bit clever

It was at this point that I serendipitously went carbooting in Winchester, and stumbled upon the most incredible stall possibly ever staged in the boot of an automobile – amongst many many treasures I discovered three lovingly made 1980′s scrapbooks – one of the 1986 marriage of Fergie and Andrew, and two of the 1981 marriage-to-end-all-marriages Charles and Diana.

Imagine my joy.

(this may be hard to do if you have never had the pleasure of meeting me – suffice to say I was a little short of breath as I came away from the stall clutching my swag – tragic I know).

This was fate intervening, and fate was obviously having an odd day – decreeing I should make a shrine to Diana and Fergie.

For a week I toiled, converting an old suitcase into a portable shrine worthy of D&F – everything was doubly secured, shock-proofed and covered in glitter.  It may not look like it, but I take these projects terribly seriously.

It is possibly The Worlds First Shrine to Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York (I hereby claim this now, I have no proof only a hunch).

So here it is blogosphere – I have a feeling this may be the precursor to many many (more tasteful) shrines I will make.  Creating this piece was the closest I have come in the two years since graduation to making art – and I bloody loved it.

Interestingly I stared for so long at the old clippings that my dreams started to feature members of the Royal Family.  The most vivid involved Prince Charles walking into my room whilst I was asleep, causing me to panic about the pants strewn all over the floor and the fact I wasn’t wearing anything for a good five minutes before realising *it was but a dream*

Princess Diana is an intriguing subject to enshrine – pull up a picture of her, look at it and answer this question; Is she beautiful, or is she just Diana?  I find myself almost unable to pass any judgement on her now, like my brain skips the critical details – she is an icon, very obvious, but very odd.

Fergie is prominent at the moment for entirely different reasons of course – but she was rather magnificent.

Both of these weddings are probably what many many people have in their minds eye when they think ‘wedding’ – princesses, cathedrals, massive dresses, Elton John with his wife – the dream – which turned out so wrong.  Revisiting them now, stories from my childhood preserved in fanatic detail by whoever made the scrapbooks (I am now the proud owner of several souvenir plastic bags, TV guides and metallic postcards) became a bizarrely engrossing exercise – and I hope my recycling does the original scrapbooker justice.

It has a small vase of flowers and even a basket for offerings – I hope it will get a little grouping of candles and paraphernalia in front of it during glastonbury… we shall see!

(oh, and yes – it lights up).

]]> http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/16/shrine-sh-rin-to-princess-diana-fergie/feed/ 0 TH DSC_0226 DSC_0217 DSC_0215 DSC_0205 DSC_0153 http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/15/5marvellousthings-15%c2%b706%c2%b710/ http://smackcrumplebang.com/2010/06/15/5marvellousthings-15%c2%b706%c2%b710/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:15:31 +0000 TH http://smackcrumplebang.com/?p=1722 Read more]]> Here is a new idea for how I do things round about this here blog…

5! Marvellous! Things! will hopefully be something I try to do every day (or as often as possible) a roundup of things which I have come across and think are really quite inspiring…

5! Because there will be five of them.

Marvellous! Because that is what I think they are.

Things! Because they might be anything – music, art, design, film, travel, food, wierd shaped animals, gossip, papal bar furniture or perhaps my own stuff.

So – may I present the inaugural 5!Marvellous!Things! post – please please please let me know what you think, and if you find something marvellous which you think might fit in amongst 4 other marvellous things, then send it in!

PATRICK WOLF – ‘THE SUN IS OFTEN OUT’

The album this is taken from may sound at first to be high falutin’ crapola, but in fact is a work of slow-burning genius.  I sat and listened to it in the countryside today, and the crescendo on this song caught me totally off guard, causing me to accidentally burst into tears.  Well worth a listen, if only for the final stunning peak, which breaks through the atmosphere of the song like sunlight through cloud – beautiful.

THE POINTER SISTERS NUMBER/PINBALL SONG

Classic animation, featuring the Pointer Sisters – reminds me of sitting in front of the TV eating cucumber sandwiches, watching Sesame Street when it was still really quite weird.  This leads on to the next marvellous thing…

JANELLE MONAE – ‘MANY MOONS’

I posted her newest single ‘Tightrope’ on the blog a couple of days ago, and since then have delved into her first EP and managed to get hold of her album (its not available in the UK until July – but some stuff is on iTunes).

‘Many Moons’ (video below) samples the Pointer Sisters pinball tune (see what I did there?) and is insanely great – from the EP ‘Metropolis – The Chase Suite’ this is a bonkers slice of Ms. Monáe at her best – singing, rapping, posing and dancing.

This diminutive lady seems to divide opinion in the US where she has had a proper launch (well, I say divide opinion – the sagelike music blogger extraordinaire XOLondon seems a bit ‘meh’ about her).

I accidentally deleted my music library the other day and was left with only her music for a day –  t’was amazing, I urge you to check her out before she takes over the world…

ESCHATOLOGY

eschatology |ˌeskəˈtäləjē|nounthe part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

The ‘Things!’ part of this scheme comes to the fore here, with a sort of word of the day type thing.  I love words, they rock.  This one is particularly good, I stumbled across it yesterday, whilst checking the spelling for Apocalypse (the more you write it, the wronger it looks; apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse apocalypse – see?)

I really do fancy being an Eschatologist, it would make for marvellous dinner party introductions.

LE SHRINE DE LADY DI ET FERGIE EST FINI

Something of mine now – I just delivered a shrine I made for a project which my marvellous friend Scarlet Winter is doing at Glastonbury – half Lady Di and half Fergie Duchess of York.  It flashes, and could potentially be the gayest thing I have ever produced.  More on this at a later point when I get the photos sorted, but heres a sneak peak…