Lie-ins and Tigers

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Miss Miza is a fine example of that breed of illustrator who lives as fully immersed in the world of graphic design as she does in illustration proper. It’s nice to see her taking her own approach to this camp, an exceedingly fresh way of utilizing the same familiar digital illustration tricks that, more often than not, leads to a heck of a lot of redundant illustration. Read more

WE'RE THINKING

With so many photographers these days making over-stylized digital images, it’s great to see someone like Marlene Marino still working in 35mm. Her use of only natural light, and her languid, straight-forward framing result in intimate, grainy, and candid-feeling pictures that feel like they’ve come out of a forgotten drawer somewhere. Read more

I spent the formative first six years of my life in Wellington, New Zealand, a beautiful windswept city framed by a magnificent harbour in one direction and a stunning collection of green, rolling hills in the other. It was here, on a return visit many years later and deep amongst the clipped accents and ruddy faces of the weather-beaten locals, that I stumbled upon the vast catalogue of the then Dunedin based record label Flying Nun. And what a roster of acts they housed — The Chills, The Bats, The Clean, Tall Dwarfs, The Verlaines, and my favourite guitar-pop band, Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

Disregard the buzz that surrounds those other cupcake shops in New York City. Cheeks Bakery in Williamsburg houses the best cupcakes that I’ve eaten. The clean and understated decor extends to the menu, where being fancy doesn’t rule on the cupcake shelves. Cheeks offers, simply, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with either vanilla or chocolate cream. But if you do want more, Cheeks has that as well, a limited selection of pies and cakes.

WE'RE READING

Oh man! Now I’ve seen it all. An entire blog dedicated to cupcakes, those perfect little bundles of sweet, sweet goodness. Hell, my mouth is watering just looking at them. What will they think of next? A blog about pretzels? Ha! Oh, wait a minute. Damn!

WE'RE LISTENING TO

There’s not much one can say about an artist who has recorded more than 400 albums — even if you manage to listen to a large portion them, there’s a good chance you’ve missed something. Good thing, as far as I know, R. Stevie Moore is the only person who has released that many records (Daniel Johnston may come close), many of which were cassette-only or printed in limited numbers. Virtually unknown for decades, the obsessive music geekdom that has reached a fever pitch as this generation of fans has allowed Moore to keep his relentless flow of Zappa-esque weirdness, power-chord pop, tongue-in-cheek ballads, satirical new wave, and whatever else we’ve most certainly missed, gushing out into the universe.

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WE'RE WEARING

Fred Perry has, with the consent of her family, just released a very mod collection created in collaboration with Amy Winehouse before she died. The proceeds from the collection’s sales will be donated to the soon-to-be-created Amy Winehouse Foundation.