Curly ole Clarkson

The exhibition at the City Art Gallery we enjoyed in Wellington. Stunning stuff.

I'm also quite keen to get these from Rita Sue: Cat's eye glasses and maybe try some pincurls on my unruly mop (see how here).

Jeremy Clarkson isn't so bad apparently. Enjoyed him and the lads zipping through Botswana on Sunday night.

Step away from da photoshop


Travel tips from Chopper Read.

Wellington, Punk

Yes, this Friday there was karaoke ... Barracuda! Bootylicious! Drop it like its hot! It was murder on the dancefloor at Christchurch Idol.

SS and I had a pleasant trip up north to Wellington and Porirua -stayed with Shane's dad, met Sarah's lovely Graeme and visited cafes, shops and the City Art Gallery.

This lovely Music World lady was decorating Shane's dad shed. Some more lovely 1980s time capsule moments there.

Out there on the internet:

The beautiful people

• Tom Hardy - actor. Lovely lips, tastily literary name.
• NZ designer Lucie Boshier. I don't believe the tall poppy syndrome is plaguing NZ, but there is definitely an anti-show pony sentiment. Her blog is on A List.
• JCVD (That's Jean Claude Van Damme). Always my favourite of the martial arts action dudes (until the advent of Jet Li).
• Most beautiful wallpaper - starring the lovely Vargas girls
• Alan Cumming - and his fragrance Cumming
• Katy Brand - parodying Beyonce/Shakira and Kate Winslet
• Hedi Slimane - elegant designer who designed some Daft Punk robotic goodness.
• Gramercy Park Hotel - thanks to Fraserhead for the recommendation, absolutely swoonsome interior design.

Other good stuff:

Tiny Happy - lovely crafty blog

New discovery - Joseph Cornell assemblage artist

I don't care about the slammin reviews, I want to see The Happening, and ace horror writer Kim Newman reverses the trend (I haven't read this yet cos I don't want spoilers).

And I still love The The (Matt Johnson). Best band name ever, and music that still gets me.

The Ngata English/Maori dictionary has this rather nice sentence to explain the word prostitute (kairau):
She worked as a prostitute to support her children. He kairau a ia kia ora ai ana tamariki. Something kind of PC and practical about that as a definition.

Want to have a photo in the Tate Gallery and in a book? Of course!

Put your hands up for Chch

... cos it snowed here yesterday. Lovely jubbly.

Seen lately on the interweb:
Style PS - a new style blog courtesy of my favourite, Sunday Times Style. Meerkats as the latest fashion accessory? (check the date before you protest). Their style section featured a slide show of floral dresses including this delicious Paul Smith t-shirt dress. Adore it. They also report that cologne is making a comeback.

Gawker reports on a musical version of Evil Dead. Hm. Nice posters though.

This book cover reminded me how much I love Victorian artist Frederic Lord Leighton. The painting Flaming June also graced the cover of Malcolm McLaren's Waltz Darling.

Tamsin Cooper - beautiful embroidery, velvets, flowers, brooches, it's all just lovely luxury.

FOUND magazine - "they collect stuff like love letters, birthday cards, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someoneelse's life. Anything goes..."

Germaine Greer says Posh Spice is the Damien Hirst of dress.

Mr Hot Wookie recommends MUXTAPE. I haven't managed to get it working for me yet but the concept is tight - share your muxtapes via the world wide interweb.

A nice flickr - Faber Books