And the winner for creepiest Jacko Merchandise goes to...

... The Michael Jackson watching you while you sleep Night-mask! Amaze, nay, creep the bejaysis out of your friends and loved ones while you slumber the night away, blissfully unaware of the havoc you wreak. Oh god - its eyes follow you wherever you go. This piece of merchawesomeness is aptly called ' Dangerous Sleep ' -apparently as it's Michael's eyes from the front of the Dangerous album - whereas we all know it's because if you fall asleep with this on Michael will definitely channel you like Patrick Swayze (RIP) channelled Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost and you'll wake up mid moon walk. Or worse... Shamon!

Get your Jacko Night Mask for only €16.57 at the official Michael Jackson store.

Where are they Now?

Part 1:Worzel Gummidge and Aunt Sally

Life turned out less than jovial for one of children's television's creepiest combos. After the shows cancelation in 1984 Worzel carved a career from 'meet and greets' in Japan (where the show still enjoys a massive following) before his beloved rural England lured him home. Back on British soil he enjoyed a lengthy career on England’s club scene, partnering eventually with H from Steps and the guy from S Club 7 for inumerable tours of northern England’s more undesirable clubs. During this time he became increasingly reliant on alcohol in a bid to keep up with his younger counterparts. The drink eventually killed him - but it wasn’t liver failure that he succumbed to. An on-stage accident in Doncaster’s Razzel's Nitetclub involving a Sambuca downing contest went horribly wrong and saw him bowing out of 'the biz' in a blaze of glory . H from Steps is said never to have recovered from the incident which left him with nightmarish 'Wicker Man' visions reducing him to more of a blubbering heap than even his S Club co-hort.

Sometimes described as 'wooden' by critics, Aunt Sally starred in a number of blue movies right into her 50's when co-stars complained of splinters and she was forced to retire. She now resides in an old folks home in the picturesque English town of Weston-Super-Mare where she regales visitors with tales from her showbiz days. Officially said not to have attended Worzel’s funeral due to work commitments, some commentators cite a hushed alleged sexual assault on Worzel’s part at the height of the shows popularity. The incident was brushed under the carpet by the show’s producers who were fearful of the repercussions of such a suit to the profitable TV series.

Micro Sculptures. Apparently.

"It began when I was five years old,” says Willard. “I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats."

Willard Wigan makes sculptures that fit in the eyes of needles and on the tops of pins. According to wikipedia he uses a paint brush consisting solely of a fly's hair - but only one that died of natural causes. The sculptures take about 2 months to make and even the pulse of his finger could ruin the whole piece. So he goes into a meditative state where he slows his heartrate down so he can work between pulses. So. Not only does he seem to be some kind of Jedi he also looks REALLY like Stringer Bell:


But. Enough of that, check out some of the sculptures. You need a microscope to see them so you could just go around with a bunch of pins saying you have the world's largest Willard Wigan art collection but no microscope. How do us mere mortals know they are not just sculptures of giant pins and needles photographed to look small? Presumably someone has checked.

http://www.willard-wigan.com/

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

Zombie News

Zombie Nazis on Ice! Why didn't I think of that?

Polaroid Pogo: the future is now

So it finally happened - I've turned into my parents. I held out for long enough but now I am resigned to calling youtube ' The Youtube ' and being generally utterly gobsmacked at technology as it whizzes over my head. I am a huge fan of these new fangled ' 3-D movies' and most recently, the Polaroid Po-Go instant digital camera was the latest to amaze me.


It's larger than a regular digital camera but a perfectly good size considering it's GOT A PRINTER in it. The photos come out 2" x 3" and have a sticker back too. I obviously have no idea how it works as there's no ink cartridges or anything, but who am I to question technology? I'm just here to exclaim 'awesome ' and 'the future is now' and 'can I get one?' Because it's a digital camera you can choose which pictures to print (the camera has editing capabilities too) - this is more sensible with less waste than the old Polaroid cameras but at the same time these new photos have lost that original Polaroid quiddity that can't be replicated with modern technology.

Of course, I lament the passing of the old Polaroid cameras but as it becomes increasingly rare for people to ever print out photos this new version is pretty cool too.

http://www.polaroid.com/pogo/us/products.html

Introducing....

I had this post up on thinkhouse but it's too amazing not to share (the content, not the post)

The Internets newest meme sensation… Charlie Schmidt’s ‘Cool Cat’. Nearly 2 million hits in just over a month, a host of de rigor video-remixes and tributes and even it’s own range of Cool Cat merchandise. So far so (internet) normal until a week ago when this super-meme collided with another great super-meme ‘the 3 wolf shirt’. For those unfamiliar, the 3 Wolf Shirt is a tee-shirt featuring 3 wolves and a moon that went on to be one of the top selling pieces of clothing online, owed to the rather witty, sometimes essay like reviews left on it’s homepage, even making the BBC news in the process. Well the internet nearly blew up last week when some very clever desigh duo 'Oxen' combined these to super memes to make an ulta-meme, ladies and gentlemen.. we give you the ‘3 Keyboard Cat Moon Shirt’.

Orchestra plays Beat It

One last MJ post:


Well, maybe the last one.

Arvo Vs Wooly this Friday

Arvo is going from strength to strength right now, we will get an update from him soon with all his Misk related news (check that Mr Oizo remix out if you havnay already). In the mean time he is joined by old Dublin head DJ Wool of The Glass for another head to head sesh on the back of last year’s Sth William X-Mas bash. Straight up party tunes block-party style is what to expect.

Between them these boys have racked up the kinds of gigs young pretenders would splash themselves over. Both great showmen, this gig is deffo one to check out. Support from Dublins’ rising electro star Lorcan Mak whose bangin' tracks have been picking up all kinds of airtime recently. One to watch!

For a shot at the G-list send a mail to onechewlove(AT)gmail.com and I will do my best.

Details below
ARVEENE (clampdown) V DJ WOOL (the glass/plant)

Plus Support - Lorcan Mak -Runt Records

Friday July 3rd
The Underground
Below Kennedys
Westland Row
11pm - 3am
5 euro before 12
8 euro after

Links -
For DJ mixes, Remixes and the lastest music by DJ Wool
www.soundcloud.com/djwool

Arveene - music to check out...
http://www.myspace.com/arveeneandmiskmusic

Lorcan Mak
http://www.myspace.com/lorcanmak

Sweet Sounz 9

Our good pal Mikki Dee just sent over this new mix. Sweet Sounz 9 is a summer selection of laid back.. sweet sounz. Tracklist below.

Intro

The Thrill is Gone - Static Selekta ft Styles P & Talib Kweli
Soundboy Killing Remix - Mega Banton (dubplate)
Give Thanks a Life - Anthony B
One Step Away - Flowz ft T.C.
Sweetlove - Opensouls ft Ladi 6
Follow - Rira
Mars - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Champion Sound - Yes King ft Kenny Knotts, Baby Chain & Mystro
Casa Bey - Mos Def
Da Feeln - Nightmares On Wax
Maybe So, Maybe No - Mayer Hawthorne
Bring it Fast - Gramatik
One Sweet Love To Remember - Roy Ayres Ubiquity
Whirlybird - Neighbour
Breakthrough - Fat Freddys Drop

Catch Mikki Dee and JB the Deejay at 'Lets Make Party', fridays @ The Village where Mikki does his AV than upstairs and JB keepin it soulful and funky in the bar.

Let's Make Party facebook page

Michael Jackson 29.08.58 - 25.06.09

So there's millions of incredible MJ videos out there but here are 2 of my favourite live ones- the first is Smooth Criminal - live in Munich in 1997 - on the Dangerous Tour.


The second is Man in the Mirror - live at the Grammys in 1988.



Just 2 examples of his genius.
R.I.P.

xxxchange in Dublin...

I will be doing some warming of the crowd this Saturday down at Transmission, before one XXXchange. A bit of a hero round a lot of parts, probably best known for his work with Spank Rock and his awesome remix work (hows about that Les Artistes remix), XXXchange has also produced albums for The Kills, Kid Sister and Amanda Blank. With associations like that it's easy to see why the boy is so damn popular.

I shall be on from before midnight till about 1 and am planning all sorts of ill shit. If you fancy a spot on the G-list hit me up here and I will do my best.

Shock & Transmission Present:
DJ XXXChange (Spank Rock) + Chewy (Climaxxx)
Saturday 27th June, 11pm , 12e

www.myspace.com/transmissionclubdublin
www.myspace.com/xxxchange

Tickets are available at:
http://tickets.ie/transmission
www.ticketmaster.ie

Mos Def's Music Tee: The Ecstatic

Mos Def's lastest album The Ecstatic will be the first full album to be released in tee shirt form. Thankfully nothing like the wearable instrument shirt - (yes it is a real thing) - there's a picture of the album cover on the front, the tracklist on the back, and a hang-tag with a code to download it in MP3 format. Just for the record the tee shirt will look like the picture below and not the one I fashioned above. (sorry)
A collaboration between fashion/music company Invisible DJ and Californian fashion label LnA - Mos Def's tee shirt album retails at €39 - pretty pricey considering you can buy the album for about €9 on Amazon etc. So the ever increasing crossover between fashion and music plays its part in the struggle to find new ways to get people to pay for music. Just like the circle of life but with tee shirts instead of lions.

You can check out some of the new tracks and buy the album on Mos Def's myspace.