Electric Dreams

WE'RE SUPPORTING

German-based Michael Arndt spent six years and a bucket of dough constructing a McLaren Formula One car from 956,000 matchsticks and 1,686 tubes of glue. The car, which can be broken down into 45 pieces for transport, has a top speed of zero miles per hour. But damn, it looks fun to drive. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

I came across the Dongzhong cave school, which is situated in a Miao village within the Ziyun county, while watching a fascinating BBC documentary series about China the other night. The school, which was built in 1984 and caters for just under 200 students, is considered to be ‘a teaching branch for nearby resident units’. It looks stunning in its ornate beauty, and it must be one hell of a stimulating environment in which to learn. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

I am one of those typical New Yorkers who only wears black in winter. But this winter is different. With the economic crisis, and all the rest of the bad news, I have to fight the darkness in the world by wearing colors, and lots of them. Spanish designer Sybilla is known for her original designs and unique color schemes, but she is virtually unknown outside of her mother country and Japan, where she is super popular. Her younger brand Jocomomola is perfect for this gloomy winter. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

The work of Chicago artist Nigel Evan Dennis is emphatically modern and sparse, with textures and clean geometric shapes dominating the frame. I get the feeling I could really relax and breathe deeply with one of these beautiful images hanging on the wall. Read more

WE'RE READING

Let them sing it for you is a web widget that allows you to type in a sentence which is then played back using the same words culled from a library of popular songs. For instance if you type the word “I” it will play Chris Isaak singing that word in the song Wicked Games. If a word cannot be found, you can enter a song which contains the missing word and expand the library.

How many times can we play the same song in different settings? Hmmm, I don’t know. But it is a hell of a song, from a hell of a band, as that uniquely English oddity, Jules Holland would no doubt concur.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Fate is the record, Dr. Dog were destined to make a timeless yet contemporary distillation of the band’s open-armed, big-hearted sound. Inventive, magnificently realized, and absolutely irresistible, the Park The Van Records release sees the Philadelphia-based quintet filtering the gamut of American popular music into its own idiosyncratic brand of blue-eyed, dilated-pupil soul. As ever, Dr. Dog makes magic from an enduring pop palette of intricate harmonies, shape-shifting melodies, and ramshackle audio ingenuity all presented through their slightly skewed and utterly individualistic outlook.