Fashion | London | Cassette Playa

I thought I'd seen it all when I saw Jeremy Scott's collection that put a model in the show dressed like a snickers bar (or should I say Jeremy Bar?). Aside from the irony of associating a fashion model with sugar, how much further off the beaten runway can you get?

Then I got my answer. It came from London. It's called Cassette Playa. Its creator swears she doesn't do drugs. And as much as it boggles my mind that this line is so er ...original and successful, it somehow gives me peace to know we live in a world that embraces a designer who puts Sonic the Hedgehog on a runway.

Art | Philosophy | The Imaginary Foundation

Discovered a link to these folks on BoingBoing -- a Swiss group who's using streetwear as a way of getting out their message on the power of the imagination. Check the quote from their site:

A philosophy of research began to form: imagination as fundamental to all learning; artistic making as a model of integrating vision, materials, structure, and imagery.

The result is super cool t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, and art, all embracing their message in a really beautiful, inspiring way.

TV | Wonder Showzen

Whenever I need a pick-me-up or, at the very least, some fun procrastination time, I head over to youtube and watch clips from one of the funniest shows to grace TV screens in the last few years, Wonder Showzen. Sadly the show was cancelled after two seasons, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy some of their finer moments, including the hysterically funny "Beat Kids" segments.





Now that they're out on DVDs, I'm adding them to my Christmas list, along with this, this, and this.

Photography | Kitsch | Lizard-Ville

I guess once you've been featured on David Letterman, you're not exactly underground, but there is something so weird and funny about these photographs of hypnotised lizards (by a 10-year-old Floridian girl, no less!) that I simply had to share. Available as images printed on T-shirts or greeting cards, they make the perfect Christmas gift for that reptile-obsessed relative or co-worker. It makes me think that I perhaps did not use my time wisely in Miami, and I could have tried a little harder to see the possible art potential in living in at Southgate in an apartment filled with cockroaches, centipedes, millipedes, silverfish, and geckos. I'd coulda been an insect-hypnotising-millionaire!

Cool Video | Justice vs. Simian | "We Are Your Friends"

Following Gina's post on très chic French boutique Collette, I followed their link to the video for Justice vs. Simian's "We Are Your Friends," a song that was played on really solid rotation this past year on BBC Radio One. thanks to some of their fabulous deejays, like Annie Nightingale and Annie Mac. (The video's not too bad either.)

Culture | Cool Find | Dance Class

It's as if there was once a group of friends sitting around Paris, talking about opening a boutique like no other and then out of the discussion came: "I know! Let's take a 7,500 square foot spot in the most expensive neighborhood in the city and then display the clothes on mannequins instead of hangers and we'll sell i-pods as well and we'll have a bar with a hundred different kinds of water and then we'll host a dance class, too..." And then everyone said "Chouette!"

I can't say that's exactly how it went down, but Colette, the store that has all of the above, opened almost ten years ago and is still the spot on the rue Saint-Honoré where you feel that much cooler just by walking inside. Clothes, books, music, and for the past year, dance classes as well. The next one is coming up on November 27 at le Paris Paris. If you're not going to be in town, you can at least check out the store's site which is almost as much fun. A little more interaction with your cute, helium-voiced robot hosts and it's more like a viedo game than a website.

Culture | Hip Hop | Beatbox.tv

Well, in honour (yes, with a 'u') of Jenne's move to the Big Apple, I have dug into my quite small archives of hip-hop on the web to present, for your listening pleasure, Beatbox.tv. I was initially drawn here when I was looking up details on Style Wars back in the day. I found a link pointing to "Yuri Harmonica" in the Videos section of the site, and was pretty much stupified. Way more stupified than when the guys at Lonely Island informed me that Mr. Pibbs and Red Vines are crazy delicious.

Also worth checking out are the tracks in the Showcase section. Mad science, indeed.

A Huge Unstuck Welcome ...

... to my newest contributors, Kyle, my Canadian-born-and-bred, world travelled friend, whom I met at a backpackers' hostel exactly five years ago in Istanbul, who currently resides in Amsterdam with his lovely, incredibly smart girlfriend, where he studies something scientific (and thus, for me, unexplainable) yet still manages to be totally up-to-date on all the happenings in culture and Gina, my fellow Californian (though hailing from the Southern half of our golden state), whom I know from many nights and days of frolicking in San Francisco (and subsequently Madrid, Paris, and Los Angeles), who currently resides just outside Paris with her fabulous French husband, where she has recently found employment in the fashion industry. I am so excited to have them both embarking on this project with me.

And since the site is always looking for something new, something different, feel free to email it our way.

Design | Awesome Agency | Holler

As some of you are well aware, I've had a little obsession with the UK's Lily Allen ever since I saw one of her music videos in Amsterdam. (I'm starting to wonder what I didn't see during those 5 days in Amsterdam. Is that city the hippest placec or what?) One of the things that I've been particularly admiring has been the very cool poster and CD design for her album's releases. I haven't been able to figure out who the exact team of designers has been behind the launch, but this very cool UK-based digital strategy experts, Holler, are behind her website. Their showcase is particularly revealing, with plenty of their artists weighing in on their latest creative expeditions.

Cool Video | Run Wrake | "Rabbit"

John sent me the link to this very cool animated short, "Rabbit," by director Run Wrake.

Art | Photography | Lori Nix

Never overcoming my love of pop art with its bold colours and strong contrasts, it will come as little surprise that the photography of Lori Nix caught my eye. Part obsessive miniaturist, part photographer, and part verbose autobiographer, Ms. Nix composes some captivating photos.

News | Zeitgeist | Newsmap

No, no, not the Google Zeitgeist, although this little Java applet does borrow heavily from Google News. Newsmap is a great approach to getting your finger on the pulse of world news or, for those so inclined, to find out why Vancouver is such a magnet for B-list celebs with hyphenated conditions (first Denise throws a hissy-fit, then Pammy mis-carries? What is going on on the set of that movie?)

For even more distraction check out the other activities on the main page at Maramushi, including the Flickr Graph, a must for all you flickrites.

Cool Video | Peter Bjorn and John | "Young Folks"

Saw this cool video in Amsterdam from this Swedish band back in September and forgot about it til it was featured during last week's Gray's Anatomy. Presumably a song off an upcoming album, as it's not yet available on iTunes. "Young Folks" might not "unstuck" your brain, but its whistling riff might get stuck in your head.

Cool Video | Album Cover Wars

John sent me the link to this cool video.

Writing | Zine | Moonlight Chronicles

This morning, I was hanging out at Yogi's house. He was making eggs and chatting with his friend on the phone, and I found this little zine on top of the breadbox in his kitchen. It's called Moonlight Chronicles, and it's full of wonderfully quirky drawings and musings on life, travel, and, of course, drawing. A nice break from the drudgery of commercial creativity -- the author, Dan Price, pays hommage to the simpler things in life, creating a real joy in the process.