John Lurie

WE'RE SUPPORTING

Stephen Doitschinoff, aka Calma (a Lost At E Minor banner artist), recently opened a solo exhibit entitled Novo Mundo at New York’s Jonathan Levine Gallery. The Brazilian street artist’s work is somewhat unusual and exudes an appealing spiritual vibe as he embraces the fantastical and dark imagery of churches painted in female wombs. Calma has developed his own unique language and style through imagery that creatively blends Afro-Brazilian folklore with Baroque religious iconography. ‘I personally see the church as an archaic institution that always aimed to control the masses. I think it is an appropriate symbol for corrupt modern institutions like big corporations, media channels and governments,’ he Calma. Novo Mundo is on show through until December 22.

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

This gourmet paint is made by only two dedicated paint makers without fillers, just pigment and oil, like it should be. There is only one store that sells it and it is run out of the Elisabeth Foundation for the Arts building in Chelsea, New York. They have a table set up there so you can play with and mix any of the colours together to see its effects. I usually go to pick one tube up and hang around asking questions to one half of the duo, Gail, and usually leave with five tubes, having learned a lot about the history and the process behind each colour.

WE'RE WEARING

Quiksilver, the surfing apparel company, has just released what is being considered the world’s first eco-friendly watch. Made of sustainable ebony wood and running on automatic movement instead of batteries, this limited-edition watch is green down to the shipping of the raw materials. Every raw material used in making this watch is recyclable (the aluminum, the steel, and the mineral crystal are all 100% recyclable), and it also includes solvent free links and is shipped by sea rather than by air. The Ray has a five-year warranty, meaning that it has a longer life than normal watches.

WE'RE THINKING

Most people think of the countryside and rural life as peaceful to the point of being profoundly boring. Kate Kirkwood’s photographs captures a less idyllic beauty where life and death intersect in a controlled chaos that is agriculture. Each of Kirkwood’s images have a mythic quality to them — cows and sheep blur past her lens like nymphs or lurk on the horizon like demons and gods. Read more

WE'RE READING

Those of you who are based in Australia and are into sports might like to check out the other website the Lost At E Minor team runs, The Roar. Read more

Not much more needs to be said about this. Ricky Gervais, the funniest man in England, meets Larry David, the funniest man in America. Wit and genius collides. Very, very clever.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

I had the pleasure of seeing Duran Duran play a few weeks back in the balmy drizzle of New York’s Central Park. I always thought the guys had more cheek than they were ever given credit for. But don’t be fooled! For a band so rooted in the immediacy of disposable pop, they wrote some timeless songs, none more so than The Chauffeur.