Squash News

Squash? In my 30s? I think it's a bloke thing. I actually panic if I don't have any in.

What is not ace about Quentin Blake illustrations on Roald Dahl drinks though?

ART ATTACK!

Went to the Imperial War Museum to see this today:














Seriously one of the best exhibitions I've caught all year. No pics (they weren't allowed) but the catalogue contains the lot and is only a score. Restores your belief in the power of good design.

Whilst I was there I also saw the Steve McQueen exhibit. Proper moving piece called Queen & Country - he's made postage stamps out of the faces of soldiers who have died in Iraq. The idea is to relate what is happening over there to the everyday here. All the families of those included gave their permission to the artist and it's a truly moving exhibit whatever your politics.

Real "something in my eye" material:



































Finally I had a (solemn) walk through the Holocaust exhibition. Again, powerful stuff and an excellently curated exhibition treading the line between interactivity and documentation perfectly.

The showpiece for me was the scale model of Auschwitz with added audio testimony from real life detainees.



















http://www.iwm.org.uk/

Mo' Money

I went to the Claw Money party last night @ Blink.
It was mainly for fellas to check each others trainers out, but also to promote Claw's new Vandal.




















Claw is hot shit.
The shoes are in Foot Patrol from today.

http://www.foot-patrol.com

Back to the Fluoro

New shit from Dixon and the boys at Innervisions. Also a black, knocked-out version available - pics to come.

Available soon from innercityvisions.com

Good enough for Lance...

My new baby:

Homer

Sometimes, Supreme get things so right it's almost annoying.

BLACKOUT

No, not Lil Louis but paps favourite Britney and her comeback album.

Don't crawl under your duvet, don't smear your mascara with tears and definitely don't "leave Britney alone" because Blackout is worth your ear.

Celebrity culture (if that isn't an oxymoron) throws hundreds of lambettes to the slaughter - and the arguments about who's using who are as interesting as a Naomi Klein essay - but no matter how many times Paris Hilton gets her back doors smashed in on video, she still can't make us interested.

Like all quintessential pop muses, Britney is a canvas for image makers, producers, writers etc. So far so Kylie, but Britney is also a tragic modern female in the tradition of Christine Keeler and as such is a far more fascinating personality. If you wanna be a diva you have to fuck up, and don't we just love a fuck up eh Miss Winehouse?

Britney's status is compounded by the roll call of producers and writers on the album, from Swedish hitmakers Bloodshy & Avant, Timbaland protege Danja and (of course) The Neptunes.

Luckily for Britney, she may have forgotten her knickers and how to dance but she still knows how to make pop records. In fairness, on most of the album she serves as not so much a singer but a vocal instrument, her voice slots into place amongst the other finely tuned pieces of the glossy pop jigsaw. It's the next step of a sonic adventure that saw Toxic being played by Gilles Peterson as well as that cunt Chris Moyles.

The spin may have you believe that Jive's decision to bring the release forward was down to all the tracks being posted on blogs already, but on the strength of the material everyone should be chomping at the bit. No need to intellectualise (badly) anyway, she makes pop music after all. When you hear her serenading your trip through TOPSHOP - and you will - it'll be all the affirmation needed to at least shut that 'What The Buck' nause up. Just a pity 'Got Me High' never made the final cut.

No links here...but it's all out there.