In this cute informational video about coffee shop culture in London in the late ’50s and early ’60s, you’ll learn about the origin of the brew, how long you’ll have to sit with that single cup before the café is paying you, and what to wear so as not to incur nasty looks from boys with hair like Kenickie. Plus, you’ll get a glimpse of all the astrologists, painters, actresses, and students who would meet up in these pre-Starbucks coffee shops “to put the world right — or more often, left.” Be you hipster or grandma, kick back with a cup of coffee and click through to watch, and let us know what you think in the comments!
November 17th is Guinness World Records Day — which means that aspiring history-makers the globe over have chosen today to tackle their various challenges. Among the new records that have already been set are largest tea bag, fastest time to burst three hot water bottles, and heaviest vehicle pulled by the hair. As impressive as all that is, what really catches our eye is the world’s largest 3D painting — a 9601-square-foot mural in London, painted by Joe Hill of 3D Joe and Max and sponsored by Reebok. [via Yahoo!; Image via Hungeree]
Is New York Fashion Week’s barrage of new collections all beginning to blur into a single, overwhelming onslaught of lowered hemlines and of-the-moment colors, style nerds? Then allow us to help you cleanse your palate with a wonderful, two-minute video shot on London’s trendiest thoroughfare, Carnaby Street, back in 1968. It’s a veritable feast of fashion inspiration, from hippies decked out in beads and Eastern-inspired garb to mods in sharp sheath dresses and tailored suits. If this isn’t a reason to wish for a time machine, we don’t know what is.
The grandson of famed playwright Oscar Wilde claims a new play, Constance, set to open on Friday at London’s King’s Head Theater is not Wilde’s “final play” as the theater company boasts, the Guardian reports. “It is dishonest to foist this on the public,” Merlin Holland says, calling the play “a pretty appalling piece of work” that is “marginally altered in order to sound a bit like Oscar Wilde.” The problem is that, although Wilde sketched the plot for Constance, it was actually written by several other playwrights before it became the play that is about to open.
“I’m completely comfortable calling it a play by Oscar Wilde,” says Adam Spreadbury-Maher, the artistic director of the theater. He adds that the production is careful to credit the lineage of the play and the various hands it passed through. But he isn’t doing himself any favors when he says the production is similar to how Damien Hirst “doesn’t paint all his paintings.” Probably not the best analogy to use when trying to convince people to pay good money to see Oscar Wilde’s last play. [via ArtsBeat]
Where does one live if one is interested in the life of the mind? Do you hole up in a rural area or head to the city, where you can hope to meet like-minded aesthetes at gin-filled parties? If you prefer the latter, then we have a list of cities for your wandering, writerly craft to thrive. We’ve included a few writers famous for living in the cities below, as well as recommended reading for each place. As always, let us know what places or which authors we’ve missed in the comments section below.
The anonymous photographer Johnny Stiletto (a pseudonym, of course) captured the London of the ’80s through a streetwise lens, capturing the day to day life of the average man with gravity and beauty — as well as sneaking a peek at a celebrity now and again. “I like interaction,” he told the Telegraph, ”I like an eye line. I like people who look stylish. I don’t do it at weekends, because people are less interesting when they’re being ‘weekendy’. Winter tends to be better than summer, because bright daylight is not very rewarding. I like evenings.” Stiletto’s photographs have recently compiled into a collection entitled Vintage ’80s: London Street Photography, which is definitely worth a look. In the meantime, check out some of our favorites of his shots (and Stiletto’s charming and elucidating ruminations on his subjects) after the jump, and then be sure to head over to his website for many more.
One of the best ways to experience a new city is from a moving vehicle — whether taxi or bus or train, there’s something magical about letting the city whirr by, catching snapshots of life amid hastily moving scenery. This short film, created by Moritz Oberholzer, captures that feeling in the great city of London to the chugging beats of Ratatat. The whole short film is shot with a handheld HD camera and a DIY 34mm adapter from a seat (or likely, various seats) in a red doubledecker bus, winding through the London streets and capturing sights large and small. Click through to watch the video, and let us know if it makes you want to hop on a plane – only to hop on a bus — half as much as us.
Since we’re fairly well known to love all things typographic, most things minimalist, and many things relating to the cities we adore, perhaps it’s not surprising that we’re totally into these classy minimal typographic transit maps, which we spotted over at Colossal. Simple and sleek (and effective as functional art, if you already have a basic understanding of where things are in your city), we think they would fit nicely in any modern home, whether you prefer the Boston, Chicago, London, New York, San Francisco or Washington D.C. varieties. Click through to see a few of the designs, and head over to TRNSPRTNATION to buy one for yourself.
Ross Ching’s newly refurbished ‘Running on Empty’ video, a time-lapse fabrication of an LA with no cars, has gotten a lot of hype in the past few days in conjunction with the whole ’Carmageddon’ fiasco in LA. Even though Carmageddon turned out to be a dud, Ching’s video is a beautiful ode to Los Angeles, worth watching no matter where you live. To our minds, the time-lapse video is something akin to watching a city fly by in a cab — it can feel removed and relaxing, touching and surprising, and is a pretty, easy way to experience something huge. To that end, ‘Running on Empty’ inspired us to gather a collection of other lovely time-lapse-based odes to the world’s most fascinating cities, from Berlin to Seoul to Abu Dhabi to New York. Sit back, relax and immerse yourself in somewhere else.
According to Zero Per Zero, the subway line map is the symbol of city. In their series of railway system maps, the Seoul-based design firm manages to cover all of the basics (stations, important landmarks, etc.), but also focuses on the character of cities, e.g., paying homage to Milton Glaser in their map of New York and channeling the Japanese flag in their take on Tokyo. In other words, while these maps might serve a practical purpose, they’d also look good hanging on your apartment’s walls. Click through to see our favorites so far, and stay tuned: according to their website, more locations will be coming in the future.
