Too much for Italy...

...which has banned the new print ad for Tom Ford eyewear. My only argument is its lack of subtlety - which may be what TF was going for...

das leben der anderen

...the lives of others.
Currently reading 'Stasiland', written by an Australian journo who spoke to East German people about what the everyday was like - afterwards. No longer having an informer for every 6 people. No longer being watched. How would you get used to that?

the jefferson institute

Freaked me out as a kid, and still provides a good chill. Wonderfully feline Genevieve Bujold tracks comatose patients to the concrete-stark Jefferson Institute, where they're being stored with an elegant pulley system and then harvested...

seventh tree

Such a beautiful new album from Goldfrapp. Prancing clowns, a taste of The Wicker Man, softer than the last two albums yet no less sharp. Deepens and improves with each spin.

boys & girls come out to play

Ruminating on some new releases by boy/girl outfits lately: The Raveonettes


and the Kills

Both are fond of a stripped-down sound with lashings of feedback.

The Kills are all over the fash mags of late - the male half Jamie Hince is dating Kate Moss. They're stylish in the classic skinny-cigarettes-dark hair & leather rock aesthetic.

The Raveonettes are a little easier to warm to.
Danes who temper the coolness with a touch of sweet & sad...

Eye of the Devil/13

Wonderfully stylish and evocative film from 1966.
David Niven, Deborah Kerr and an impossibly gorgeous Sharon Tate & David Hemmings.
Niven is the eldest son returning to his ancestral chateau to complete a ritual which will ensure the town's survival.
A familiar trope but sharply shot in B&W with some genuinely sinister moments.

Buffalo Gals

From a spread in American Vogue, July 1983.

Malcolm MacLaren's "Buffalo Gals" was the craziest thing I ever heard that year.
Skipping, skratching, all messed up like 8 songs in 1 - and after seeing the video, it made you want to change everything you listened to, everything you wore, ditch your friends and fly to New York...even if you were only 12.