These go to 11

Passionate Pits

It's been a while since there was a bit of music on the old blog, this just arrived in my inbox though and I thought it worth a share. I missed Passion Pit at Oxegen so was delighted to hear they were added to the Electric Picnic bill this week. This is a fun litle video mix of a few of their tracks recorded for Annie Mac's Radio 1 show. Looks good, feels good too.

More 80s movie nostalgia - huzzah!

You may be sick of all the John Hughes related 80s movie nostalgia at the minute but here's some more anyway - these aren't all John Hughes movies so that makes it ok - some great clips from Mannequin ("Just because Jonathan's fallen in love with a piece of wood - it doesn't make him a dummy!" ), The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Footloose - all set to Phoenix's Lisztomania - check it - the mash up works really well:



Ah, the brat pack. where are they now? ( Yikes. I used to have posters of him on my wall!)

Screens n spokes - art and bikes do good - for once!

There is a charity for multiple sclerosis in Philadelphia called Screens 'n' Spokes - every year a group of artists make screen prints on the theme of bicycles and also a bunch of cyclists go for a big long sponsored bike ride. I came across this charity by accident as I am a big fan of Jay Ryan - an Illinois-based screen printer - and saw this poster online:

I like cycling too - AND posters so needless to say I purchased it - all the proceeds go to the charity so you get to feel all warm and fuzzy but also you have an amazing art print with which one might impress possible suitors. (Which is, let's face it, the only reason people buy art or do charity work.) Here are a couple of examples of other posters for sale:

Leia Bell 09

Hero Design Studio 09

Dirk Fowler 08

They aren't expensive and - and the postage wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be - in conclusion - it will COST you money not to buy these prints. You can check out all the posters at the screen n spokes etsy shop or at the screens n spokes blog.

My Top 5 bacon products

Just saw this over on likecool.com, some sweet bacon flavour lip balm. That got me to thinking about bacon, which got me to eating about bacon, which got me thinking about bacon again and in particular my favourite bacon products, which finally led to this post... My Top 5 Bacon Products of all time.

#1 - Canadian streaky maple bacon: Pure and simple, cooked by the pound and eaten in one sitting with added maple syrup. This was a daily ritual on my 3 week trip to Canadia a while back.#2 - Bacon in a Tube: for reasons similar to number one but not as harsh on the back pocket - I don't mean financially, I mean literally.(Grease stains are a total mare)#3 - Bacon Bra: Titties and bacon, life's simplest pleasures. (Surely safer cooked though?)

#4 - Bacon Lip Balm: For pocket sized bacon freshness.#5 - Giant bacon and Egg bagel- from one of my fave sites, Pimp That Snack, check out their patented bacon weave.


Plus two little bonuses, this amazing website: and this rather amusing pic.

And finally, one which I have yet to make my mind up on, but do plan on investigating further, it's bacon lube.

John Hughes R.I.P

John Hughes directed/wrote/produced some of the best movies of the 80s and 90s:



R.I.P.

John Hughes at www.imdb.com

2 brilliant music videos directed by Eric Wareheim

1. Major Lazer "Pon de floor.
This video is pretty rude but gorgeous.



www.majorlazer.com
www.myspace.com/majorlazer

2. Tommy Sparks " She's got me dancing"
This is an amazingly nuts video and a horribly catchy song.

Tommy Sparks "She's Got Me Dancing" from Eric Wareheim on Vimeo.

If vimeo doesn't work for you you can check it out on youtube here.

www.thisistommysparks.com
www.myspace.com/tommysparksmusic

Eric Warheim is an american music video director and a comedian - you can check out his comedy and some of his other music videos on his site www.timanderic.com.

Will Sweeney + Birdy Nam Nam

Will Sweeney is a prolific illustrator - you might recognize the work he did for Architecture in Helsinki's Places Like This Album (above).

He recently did the following video for french DJ team Birdy Nam Nam's song The Parachute Ending - anyone who ever watched Flash Gordon or The Mysterious Cities of Gold, (mendoza!!) or even Jase and the Wheeled Warriors is going to dig this - it's amazing.




For a better quality version of the video click here.(I recommend this)

Check out Will Sweeney's portfolio at Big Active.


Birdy Nam Nam on myspace.
www.bigactive.com