The Atroceruleous Homarus

Beware the Blue Lobster!

Props to Hypebeast - nice, nice, nice.

72 Rivington Street

72 Rivington Street is a new conceptual space by, and the physical home of, YCN. Providing initiatives, ideas and platforms for emerging talent, YCN have based themselves amongst beautifully designed space in the heart of East London's Shoreditch encampment. Read my write up on PSFK here for more information. Nice.

Images taken from here. Thank you.

Desktop art

Once again displaying his fantastic creativity levels, and an ability to create limited, but very sought after, pieces, T.Magic is again duping the recession blues with this series of desktop collectibles. Easily transitioning between large scale, and small scale, canvases, these limited pieces would be an excellent addition to any desk, the bold mantras both motivational and very pretty.

Have a closer inspection here, whilst you can lay your grubby mitts on them here.

Image taken from T.Magic's blog. Pretty.

The veritable Mr Insa

Check out some of the amazing images and graffiti from the world reknown serial bomber known to the world as Insa. A consistent and immediately recognisable style, Insa's sex based graffed imagery is one of the most common sites to be dotted around many of the world most famous bombing sites, his use of pinks, curvascious lines and high heels a stand out amongst many of the other differing styles of fellow artists. These images are captured in Japan's capital of Tokyo - enjoy here and here.

Check out more of his stuff on his blog...

The Dilemma of Mr Matt Mason

I'm currently reading one of the most brilliant books I have ever read in my life [and trust me I've read a lot of books], after it came highly recommended by Ruby and I managed to prise it away from the grasp of Roxy [ok, ok we swapped books]. I'm currently easing my way through Matt Mason's brilliant anthropological analysis of youth culture in society 'The Pirates Dilemma'. It is about 'how hackers, punk capitalists and graffiti millionaires are remixing our culture and changing the world' and is truly one of the most informative, interesting pieces of factual literature that I have ever had the pleasure of perusing, subconsciously placing Mason as giddily high in my esteem as his fellow geniuses Malcolm Gladwell and Stephen Fry. The book has been around since last spring, yet for those of you who haven't heard of the brilliant Mr Mason, don't be alarmed, or feel that surreptitious twang of annoyance that most people get when they don't know something. As an ex pirate DJ for a clandescent London based radio station, he is is remarkably adept at staying beneath the ranging radar. Upon leaving the pirate DJ lifestyle behind him, Mason since went on to craft a creative career in journalism, becoming editor in chief for seminal London based magazine RWD and writing for a number of publications across the world. A famous journalist he may be, but the real genius of the man lies in the messages he so successfully portrays...

Mason is the kind of writer that reminds you of how far exactly one can go with the right mentality and work ethic, displaying how individuals can forge their own path through this turbulently tumultuous world, without having to conform to the wicked whims of society. Hugely inspiring and progressively breath taking, Mason takes pirate culture to the masses, using a science that is universal and regardless of age whether you be 14 or 40, whilst enforcing a fervent focus on aspiration, creating and the act of Doing It Yourself.

Read the damn book if you haven't already - get it here!

Image taken from here.

A debaucherous night and aiming high for 2009...

Check out Mr Cobbie Yate's excellent post here on A Tribe Called Next, quite nicely summing up certain people's ever so scandalous new years celebrations in picture form. My own night was spent at a busy and bustling Work It, and, courtesy of a few bottles of rum, I had an absolutely excellent evening, aided, in no little part, by all the drunken debauchery around me (it got a little out of control, as most pictures somewhat suggests)...

Leading on from that night of pumped up tomfoolery, and the occasional fashion faux pas, I got thinking about 2009 and what it will bring. New years resolutions have never been my cup of tea (milk, two sugars) and keeping them have never been my forte, so instead of putting myself through that unnecessary month or so of unsolicited structured stricture and self imposed rules cum regulations, I have instead decided to set myself some goals for the year. This, I hope, will be a lot more manageable than sticking to something I so clearly do not want to do (for example spending time with my provoking parents or joining a blasted gym). In short goals are a lot easier to accomplish and – they aren’t something you have to stick to regimentally, they’re something you aspire towards. I shan’t bore you with all my goals and aspirations but I do suppose I can reveal the most important and the biggest of them all...

To make a difference; to affect people positively; to inspire people; to guide and to aide my peers – basically to constructively influence at the very least one person this year. I have been lucky enough to have some genuinely great people about me, but we don’t all have a Ruby around to actively show us the wily way. I doubt I could ever mentor someone as affectively, or change anyone’s life as much as, Ruby has changed mine, but I do look to Ms Pseudo as a truly inspiring mentor. And now I want to do the same - 2009 is the year I want to say that I positively changed someone’s life...

Bring it on and a happy new year to all...

With thanks to everyone who has made 2008 such a hugely memorable year, 2009 looks like it’s going to be even bigger and even better.

A quick quote from Russell Brand...

Russell Brand is a legend - read this below from his recent article...

‘Those people who predict the corporate future and commercial trends say that current global economic insecurity will lead to men growing beards to hide behind. I don't know what industry would fund that research as I don't see how you can make money out of men growing beards. Beard products? What, like beard dyes and beard beads? That'll never take off. Or just making other unrelated products appear more beard friendly, like cars with tiny beard scissors or thinner sandwiches that don't tarnish moustaches. Plus impotence is due to soar; this financial decline is nurturing a planet of vim-less Brian Blesseds strutting around, all nervous, knowing there's nothing down their trousers.’

Brilliant, absolutely bloody brilliant.

Yes the man is an absolute genius and an avid inspiration of whom I base my own writing technique upon quite ardently - I am unashamedly captivated with his uncaring, whimsical flirtation, and caught up in his eccentric, slightly feminine, ever so bizarrely barmy, British style of witty writing. I gush at his every declaration, drool at each and every crafty connotation, and lust for each trivial turn of phrase. The lanky lothario’s sexy, saavy and swooning, yet sharply structured, sentences and enticingly teasing literature style is something that I am endeavoring to bring to my own technique, though at the cost of forfeiting much semblance of an argument - well hell, you can’t have it all can you?

Check out Brand’s articles here and this is where the above image was stolen from (like a thief in the night). Nice

For those that don't know... Fatsarazzi

Unless you have been hiding under a large rock for the last decade or so, the large majority of you will be more than aware of Fatsarazzi’s frivolous fornication with the media of photography. An excellent photographer and a cultural cool critic, Fats is (world) widely respected as one of the very best in the business, underlined by his ability to unearth trends and zeitgeists long before most trendspotters. Check out his newly updated portfolio here. Nice.

Thinking Different

The terrifically talented T.Magic has done it once again with his newest release – a glow in the dark edition of the original Think Different t-shirt. The aluminous print is a refreshing, seemingly emerging, trend that I have seen on a number of occasions at recent events. Watch out for more of this garish green glowing through the gritty gloom.

Props to T.Magic for the image...

The Musical Maverick - Aspiring to Inspire

Another truly inspiring individual, check out Ryan Leslie here creating the track Addicted. Leslie's mastery of a vivacious variety of instruments and his diverse range of tumultuous talents display just how broadly brilliant you've got to be to crack the mayhem that is the creative, yet ever increasingly corporate and commercial, music industry. Leslie is diverse – as a melodic maverick, he has mastery over a myriad medley of musical equipment - and thus he can create a diverse sound, something picked up upon by one of my melodiously motivated mates. A true inspiration and a musical genius, expect to see more from the talented Mr Leslie in the near future.

Image unceremoniously stolen from here.

Custom Crepes - Aspiring to Inspire

I recently watched this short clip of the enigmatic Alex Nash customising a pair of Nike Jordans and have since been truly inspired. Though I have been privy to his wonderful works beforehand, it was not until I had the opportunity to willfully witness how he created his custom sneakers, that I was truly blown away by a combination of the mastery, patience and creative drive of the man. His message is clear, yet quite inspirational. We can all create. This video has inspired me to not only flex my creative muscles, but to try out new forms of creativity. I’ve never wanted to learn how to sew so much in my life; cutting up trainers and clothes has never been more appealing.

Nash’s work unintentionally lends itself to the failings in the schooling system. A system that seems dead in the water in terms of innovative approaches to teaching. Imagine how much more involved an unruly school kid would be, had he known that the creative skills he picked up in sewing class could lead to him creating his own, exclusive sneaker. Or that the transferrable skills learnt in art could lead to designing your own clothes, making them look the way you want them to look. It is never made clear what these creative tools can do for your future.

What kids need is inspiration, yet not of the usual, insipidly uninteresting academic fashion. Something that instills the enthusiasm, energy and drive that leaves kids with something that they can be proud of; something that they can hold in their hands and show off to their peers. It takes for the enrapturing inspiration of innovators, like Alex Nash, to not only make kids aspire to be inspiring but, just as importantly, to begin inspiring kids to aspire in the first place.

Image plundered wholeheartedly from here. Sorry