WE'RE SUPPORTING

Scion, pop culture magazine Giant Robot and artist Shin Tanaka have created a series of cool paper toy templates for select Giant Robot issues. Tanaka’s first template appeared in Giant Robot issue 56, which also featured an interview with the artist himself. The second template followed in issue 57, and the third is featured in issue 58, which hit the streets on February 9. Readers can cut out the templates and fold them following the simple instructions to make their own robots. Fun.

WE'RE LISTENING TO

Oh man, close your eyes if you will and transport yourself to a place far, far away; where disco is in, polyester is up, and everyone bows long and deep to the gravitational pull of the almighty afro. Sister Self-Doubt by The Shakes takes me there. It takes me front and centre, feeling that slippery, incidenary groove as it crunches my spine and works its way to my feet. Hmmm, the feet. It’s always in the feet. And now I’m dancing and twisting, onwards and upwards, like a manic spinning top thinking nothing of today and even less of tomorrow.

Listen to The Shakes track, Sister Self Doubt.

WE'RE THINKING

With just a limited, two-toned palette of acrylics, A. Andrew Gonzalez renders incredibly detailed images, mainly of goddesses and sirens, that look as if they’ve been carved in relief out of marble. Read more

WE'RE TRAVELLING TO

For some reason it’s rare that you see London in this light. Nightscapes of big cities are usually reserved for New York and Tokyo, for example. Perhaps the comparatively scarce skyscrapers makes the city less photogenic in that respect. So photographer Jason Hawkes’ work is long overdue — he has really brought the city to life, and given it that lick of golden light that a long-exposure is good for.

Back in the day, when I was a skinny teenager on the great pedestal of life, I had a real obsession for the understated, low-fi, deliciously melodic and somewhat blurry sounds of the New Zealand Flying Nun bands. I would pool my meagre savings and canvas the local record shops, scouring the racks for the latest cassettes from The Bats, The Chills, The Clean, and, later, The Straitjacket Fits. Read more

WE'RE WEARING

Saltwater is a British clothing design label based in London and Cornwall who aim to bring a fresh approach to fashion with their use of beautiful colour, selected cloth, and close attention to detail. The store also has a great selection of carefully sourced accessories from around the world and a growing range of other clothes.

WE'RE READING

Says Yuko Shimizu on the artwork of legendary Japanese illustrator Katsushika Hokusai: ‘I was just at Kinokuniya Bookstore [a Japanese book store at Rockefeller Center in New York] a few days ago and bought The Complete Hokusai-Manga Sketchbooks [published by Shogakukan]. It was $150, but worth every penny with its mind-blowing works of art by Katsushika Hokusai from cover to cover’
Read more