When the wind blows...

...not only does the cradle rock hard, but half of London comes to a standstill! What a joke! Tube and rail lines were blocked because of fallen trees, just like the one pictured above that sadly came down over the alleyway near my humble abode. Let's face it, for one of the leading capital city's of the world, it doesn't take a whole lot to disrupt our flow does it?? A little too much rain here, bit too much wind there! What was it they used to tell me in Cub Scouts...'Be Prepared'? Come on Ken, if you can't, maybe 'Jim'll Fix Us'.

Walk your carpet clean!

It's no joke. 'The Dustmate', more affectionately known as 'The Shoover', is a smart arse development from Electrolux, which waves a thankful 'good ridance' to hand manouvered vacuum cleaners. Now you can slip out of your Air Force 1's and into your Shoovers for some carpet cleaning fun. Why not slip your dusty copy of Off The Wall into the deck and 'cha cha slide' your way round the living room whilst clocking up double 'life points' for exercising and doing the chores!

Forget Flash Motors...

...get yourself a private Submarine. Bespoke of course!
What with Global Warming splintering ice caps in the poles and the threat of rising sea levels engulfing all but the highlands, it is fairly reasonable to believe that Herve Jaubert's predictions will in fact become reality. Herve, creator of Exmos, the most technologically-advanced submersibles on the planet, believes that there is a place in the not too distant future for "submersible mass transit" (peeps in subs instead of Boeing aircraft!). "Why not?" I say. Make mine a yellow one with a sick Bose 'in-sub' sound system so I can shimmy with the sharks to John Paul Ringo & George. "This is Yellow Sub One to Sea traffic Control. Do you copy? Over"

Ugly Betty BIG in 2007!

Trust me, I can see this blowing up. Among the many indicators, the first is that there are so many people (men, women, children to!) that will empathise and associate with the Betty character. I can see this program helping people. Helping people by easing the pressure in their drive to overcome their own insecurities and problematic issues in life. Look how big 'Sex in the City' was. Girls related to that, even though only a small portion had the Boutique Account lifestyle that SJP and crew so shallowly flaunted. With Ugly Betty, the depth of relativity is tenfold, if not one-hundred-fold as even those boutique chic ho's can surely empathise with the Betty character. For even they, the primly spruced and puckered, must have the odd battle with negative feelings of self belief and value. Even my own dear mother couldn't restrain a gentle whimper of sympathy as the credits rolled on Episode One, "Aww, I think I like Betty", referring to the character not the show as a whole, "I think I was an 'Ugly Betty'!". That's exactly what I'm talking about, 'been there, done that, know the feeling, it's sh@t, so allow me to feel good, for, where I stand today is a better place!'. Make sense?.

New Sneaker Spot for North London

Wood Green, no longer very green at all really, but none the less the retail scene here is showing some signs of 'effort' to improve it's status. One of the latest additions to the high street is the newest offering from sneaker boutique Footasylum.
Not quite sure if it has opened yet or not, but could be worth a look if their mission statement (www.footasylum.com) is anything to go by.

Sou Sou Japan

For many, the Nike Air Rift was, and remains to be, their only reference to a 'split toed' footwear design. As with many concepts in design, it's likely that the inspiration for the Rift was lifted from some traditional form of footwear with significant historical grounding in a far off exotic culture. In fact, it is quite possible that these here super dooper sweet kicks, from Sou Sou, are the true heirs to the throne of 'split toe'. They hail from Japan, and have been developed as the modern day alternative to traditional bamboo scaffold workers split toed footwear. Let's face it, they're pretty tasty!

Street Art Sculpture or Pigeon Detterent?

On my way into one of the overhead 'U-bahn' metro stations in Berlin I couldn't help but to register this colourful collection of decorative, wall mounted shapes. I remain unsure as to whether they were part of the station design or whether one dilligent individual has taken time and exerted effort in creating and erecting said pieces. If anybody out there should know any better, I'd be happy to hear about it.

Holocaust Memorial Berlin

On a slightly heavier note than usual, I thought I 'd take this opportunity to share what can only be described as an eerie experience. Of the total 8 days that I resided in Berlin over the festive period, it snowed only once. That one day was the day I visited the Holocaust Memeorial. For me it was by far the most disturbing sight to be seen. CORRECTION: One of James Nachtwey's photographs currently on display at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin was the closest a photographic still has ever come to reducing me to tears. Go see, but you've been warned.

What? No more Jeeves? Now who do I ask?

OK, so I was a late starter, so what?! I never did get round to truly testing the wisdom of Jeeves, the online oracle of answers to all questions (apparently). However, now that I have the sudden want to ask of 'him' a question, somewhat unusually specific, I find that 'he' longer exists! What's with that? Instead of Jeeves we are offered a simple search engine type device simply called 'Ask'. Err, but I want to ask a question and be given an answer, not decipher the plethora of information links that are likely to rain down upon my poor eyes once I hit the uninvitingly lit 'search' button. So, where does one direct a burning question to which one so strongly desires an answer? I need to know. I have a question about the level of detail applied to measuring the component ingredients so carefully ratioed in the manufacturing of liquid cosmetic products. It's true.

Tweed Deer Stalker Hats

These are gonna be big I reckon - or at least - a brand could 'own' them and make them big... I've wanted one for about 3 months now... saw one at the Japanese department store off Piccadilly and have coveted it ever since... Damn it though, saw some cool 30 something year old guy in one yesterday - no girls rocking it yet though. If only I wasn't poor as hell and waiting for pay day I'd run my ass down there and pop a tweed deer stalker hat on my head RIGHT NOW!!!
So good...

Who isn't wearing these?

And more to the point - which Sportswear giant is gonna have a copy of them out there for 'the kids' first?
I've been meaning to take a picture of these for ages... but I actually stole this one off a blog I was just on... My apologies... Interestingly though, the guy's called Jeff Pseudo - or at least - that's what he calls himself. You should check his blog; he seems to be in a state of flux at the moment, but what he has to say about these shoes is funny, and probably indicative of what most people wearing 'em would say.

Sir, that can is shouting at you.

I have just posted something on one of my other blogs about new technology arriving whereby cans will be able to 'talk' to you from the supermarket shelves. It's all terribly Minority Report and may be something you find interesting... All the quips and comments are there so I won't repeat myself...