Sunday links

I felt it was about time to reintroduce the Sunday links. Five bits and pieces that have caught my eye recently each week.

1 Aretha still killin' it. Singing Carole King-penned (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman at the Kennedy Center in front of the Obamas. The passion is palpable - can you imagine being there?!

2 Calligraphy animals from Andrew Fox. Like most people, my penmanship these days leaves a lot to be desired so these clean lines appeal straight to my nostalgic neat days.

3 I eagerly await delivery of Dolly Alderton's Dolly Mail newsletter straight to my inbox on Wednesday. I think she's my kindred spirit (quaffing champagne, particularly) plus her guest posts, recipes, and round up of things to buy make the commute to work fly by. Sign up here.

4 I have this bookmarked and read it from time to time as it's just so true. Every Celebrity Interview pokes fun at the glossy magazine's gushing stories on female cover stars, and the unachievable standards that they just seem to set.

5 Which leads nicely onto Emma's newest post: 'Let's Stop Asking Famous People Dumb Questions'. From the pressure of press junkets to basic questions that scream boring, why Actors on Actors is so much more interesting and why we should ask the things we really want to because actors are people too and if someone else asks them about their divorce, they may just lose their mind...

(Photo of New York City because we're planning an October trip and I am already dreaming about it.)

Sunday links #14

1 Acceptable in the 80s
These fab photos give an insight into London life in the eighties, with some great outfits and a real sense of nostalgia. Someone commented, 'Looking at these pictures feels like meeting a very old friend...it was so much more chaotic - but that was the beauty of it really. There was a space for genuine eccentricity then...' Poetic, no? And I think there's definitely some images that definitely look as if they were taken yesterday, don't you think?

2 Blurred lines
Robin Thicke's talk of the town tune and video has been given a do-over by Mod Carousel. They've turned the tables 'leaving the men as gormless, naked playthings under the control of the women'. It's entertaining whilst drawing attention to the recent spate of nude music videos (Justin Timberlake, I'm looking at you) without being overly damning and damaging.

3 Saddle up
Despite the fact they're jumped up jodhpurs, I've been after some riding pants since forever. Without wanting to shell out £64 on American Apparel, I found these Topshop beauties at half the price but with just as much punch. There's currently free worldwide shipping with FREE4ALL code too, so what're you waiting for?

4 Behind This Wall
Head down to the final weekend of the oyster and cocktail pop-up, Behind This Wall, on Broadway Market. Perhaps not the obvious of locations, pie and mash shop F Cooke is hosting this blink-and-you'll-miss-it bar so why not trade in your eel pie for something a little more decadent?

5 Test your mettle
Following their success last year with the Look Longer tube station project, CBS have conjured up a new game that challenges you to recognise 150 brands from teeny pictures and straplines. Find some time to put your waiting-around-on-platforms to good use and you could win a prize.

Sunday links #13

1 Raw Duck
One of my favourite little spots in Soho has just opened up in Hackney and I'm dying to go. Their website isn't up yet but their Twitter gives you an idea of the daily-changing menu. Last time I went to their big sister (Duck Soup on Dean Street) we polished off bone marrow on toast, lardo, octopus in paprika and washed it down with a gorgeous bottle of chilled beaujolais.

2 Sandy
I'm very much in the holiday mood, having seen endless snaps popping up on my Facebook and Twitter feeds. My first summer break (yep, I'm going away twice) is in under a month and I'm counting down the days until I have a cocktail in hand, a tan on the way and the sand under my feet. This cheeky little stop-motion animation can't help but make you smile.

3 Vinyl Revival
Vinyl's well and truly having a comeback. With this year's RSD ramming Berwick Street, it's not hard to see why music lovers are harking back to the good old days of stylus and spin. The first of its kind, not-for-profit The Vinyl Library has opened in Stoke Newington this week. From an initial membership of just £1, there's a whole host of records ready to explore.

4 Cheese please
The latest series from ptohograhpies puts stilton (and others) in the spotlight, putting tempting curds on gorgeous marbled backgrounds.

5 Single-serve Tumblr of the day
Some genius has taken snippets of emails within his company and attached them to relevant photos for a whimsical look at office life. Some of my favourites include this one about the pig and this request for trousers...What's yours?

Sunday links #12

1 Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter...and 36 others

Ibis Hotels broke the cardinal rule of not working with animals to bring 40 adorable bunnies together to test out the comfort of the 'Sweet Bed'. Music from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, courtesy of a melodic Richard Hawley - this is an ad that you just can't help but coo over. 

2 Hablas espanol?

After seeing Gem tweet about it, I've been addicted to Duolingo - a free app that eases you into becoming a polyglot. One of my 25 before 25 goals (post coming soon) is to learn another language (although I totally should brush up my degree-level French) and this has been the perfect starter so far. Using a combination of different exercises to get you reading, writing, speaking and listening the language, it's perfect for those bus journeys home or those late nights post-Made In Chelsea...although I do get a little embarrassed chanting the words 'Soy un hombre' on a busy 55.

3 Keep on the grass

The Click Design's brilliant signs for The National Trust are an inspired and playful take on those all too familiar prohibitions that comes hand in hand with anything remotely lovely. Nature's Playground revamps the stuffiness and encourages you to 'Keep on the grass' and 'Please do sit here'. I'm looking forward to seeing these crop up in more places.

4 Dumb Ways To Die

You've probably seen this railway-safety ad doing the rounds but it's recently been awarded a D&AD award for its creativity. A catchy, watchable cartoon aims to banish the old PSA-style warnings with something more engaging, memorable and hopefully successful. You can also download the song on iTunes and sing it to your friends when they're doing something a little bit ridiculous.

5 Treasure

I just can't get enough of Bruno Mars' new song Treasure. A ridiculously catchy riff, harking back to the classic disco/funk tracks that I grew up on, Mars is definitely part of this 2013 disco revival. Daft Punk's Get Lucky may have brought it to the limelight this year but the return has been quietly bubbling away for a couple of years and I couldn't be happier.

Bonus track: My soundtrack of the summer, I cannot get enough of Chris Malinchak's So Good To Me and If U Got It. If you listen to one thing today, make it this guy and get spirited away to those balmy summer evenings on the beach - Ibiza, I'm coming to get you!

Sunday links #11

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Sunday links #10

1 Thirsty...everyday?

The girls over at A Beautiful Mess pulled together their recent recipes for cocktails and combined them in one thirst-quenching post. I'm a big fan of cocktails and think I'll be giving some of these a try.

2 Hungerover owls
500 owls who've been on the sauce. Whimsical and great. I just love the one above - in a hole with ridiculous eyebrows.

3 Pictures of people who mock me
This brilliant article from a photographer who captures others' reactions towards her appearance. Honest and satirical, it's an eye-opener. An extract: 'In my peripheral vision, I saw a teen girl waiting for the signal to cross the street. As I stood there, eating my ice cream, I hear a repetitive SLAP SLAP SLAP of a hand on skin. I signaled to my assistant to shoot. It was only when I returned home to Memphis and got the film developed that I realized the sound was the girl hitting her belly as she watched me eat. She did this over and over. I have five frames of her with various facial expressions.'

Sunday links #9

1 Thigh Deep
I found Caroline Mackintosh through It's Nice That, where they showcased some of her (skinny dipping) Thigh Deep set. Clicking through and onto her website, I've fallen in love with every set - from Baby In The Burbs and its aching summer vibe, to Brash Upholstery with its 60s nod.

2 Making something out of nothing
Thomas Lamadieu has been looking at things in a different way - rather than working with what he's got, he works with what he hasn't - space. His Sky Art project puts deciphering clouds to shame by illustrating the empty spaces between buildings. Is that a man riding a dog? How about a chicken sporting an Elvis quiff and double denim playing the ukulele? What do you see when you look up?

3 The Curious Explorer
I'm a little jealous; these gorgeous illustrations are taken from Marc Martin's new childrens' book The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A-Z. Coupling colourful interpretations with Latin names, this is more than just your average picture pop-up.

4 Get Lucky
After a long hiatus, Daft Punk are about to release their new album ..., a collaboration with Chic's Nile Rodgers (a legend in his own right). After a lot of teasing on SNL and at Coachella, Daft Punk's first release is Get Lucky featuring the smooooth vocals of Pharrell, and the irresistible disco vibe from Nile. There's been rumours that disco is going to be the next big thing (again) with finger-on-the-pulse-DJs shifting away from dubstep and house to get a little bit funky - here's Skream getting in on the act... I, for one, am definitely not complaining...

5 Wine-oh!
Having grown up in a house where wine at dinner was never out-of-bounds, and then working in restaurants for almost 10 years, I've had a lot of exposure to not just the gluggable contents but also the bottles and packaging. Paul Belford's just branded the packaging of two of France's most famous wines, on behalf of their UK importer, Waddesdon Wine. The effortlessly simple and suave boxes, logos and books scream decadence and the bottles themselves come wrapped in bible paper marked with old maps of the vineyards (Chateaux Lafite and Mouton Rothschild, to be precise).

I couldn't help but include this amazing Biblioburro (Donkey Library) below. Who needs those big yellow buses when you've got these cuties?

Sunday links #8

Some seemingly less cultural links this week...

1 This chick's got style
A recent blogging discovery, Yara's 'online fashion diary' is right up my street and perfect for inspiration.

2 What Ali Wore
It seems that 'What I Wore Today' posts are everywhere (and admittedly, I'm no stranger to them) but this sweet little blog features outfits of retired doctor Ali, snapped by photographer Zoe, in Berlin. A dapper character with a great repertoire of poses, this is enough to melt any fashionista's heart.

3 Frank Ocean
On Friday, I managed to grab two tickets to the hottest show in town - Frank Ocean at the Brixton Academy, in July. The first date sold out within minutes so I managed to nab mine for the second date on the walk to work, crossing my fingers that my 3G would hold out. If you don't know much about Frank, he's part of the crazy Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) rap/hip hop collective, who, to be honest, aren't really my cup of tea. But Frank, with his mix of soulful hip hop, is out of this world. Last year, he came out as gay with this incredible open letter - worth every second of reading.

4 100 calorie chocolate brownies
Yep, you heard me right. Rosie, of The Londoner, posted this insatiable recipe that I'm definitely going to make this weekend. Gooey brownies that're only 100 calories? Yes please.

5 Bastille
Everyone's being going mad for them recently, and rightly so. Britband Bastille have captured that irresistible combination of addictive vocals and soaring guitars. Their new album, Bad Blood, is the perfect soundtrack for the ever elusive summer.

Sunday links #7

1 WSH EWE WRE ERE
This is one of my favourite campaigns and it's finally hit the street. Using airport codes, Ogilvy have created a  really imaginative ad for Expedia. More here, and on your local tube station, bus stop and train station gates...

2 The pen is mightier...
I posted about these handwritten love letters last year on my Tumblr but couldn't resist mentioning a similar site, Letters of Note. Collator, Shaun Usher, gathers 'fascinating letters, letters, postcards, telegrams, memos and faxes' from all sorts of people - Anais Nin & Henry Miller, David Bowie to his future manager, Johnny to June... The book's being published in May.

3 Fatescapes
Pavel Maria Smejkel takes 'iconic photographs of moments that have shaped the course of human history and removes the human elements from them, leaving nothing but empty, haunting landscapes behind'. With Iwo Jima, Tiananmen Square, Nuremberg, and Munich amongst the many locations in the series, 'they offer an eerily prosaic look at the geographical plainness of sites that have been imbued with such enormous importance'.

4 Doing Delia
It may have been the start of British Summertime this weekend but the weather said otherwise. I decided to rustle up this family favourite from Delia (but switching venison for the pork variety!) Who says you can't make a boozy casserole in Spring?

5 April is the cruellest month
...according to T S Eliot. I studied The Wasteland when I was 17 and came across it again today (topically).   I admit that I'm not much of a poetry buff (which, given my ancestry, is rather shameful) but there's definitely something about Eliot that strikes the chord.

Sunday links #6

  

1 Geographical fashion
French artist Elisabeth Lecourt has folded and fashioned by hand a line of dresses (and other items of clothing) out of vintage maps. Unfortunately, they can't be worn but I think they're gorgeous and I'd love to have several of them framed and hung on my gorgeous white walls in my fabulously converted townhouse - a girl can dream, right?

2 Soul Sunday
Most Sunday mornings, I put some soul on (and dream of my gorgeous white walls in my fabulously converted townhouse). Smokey's Tracks of My Tears is just beautiful.

3 I hereby make an anatomical gift
This NY Times article charts the evolution of the New York driver's licence. Originally issued to just chauffeurs, before being made compulsory for all drivers in 1924, the use of photographs comes and goes and the (slightly bizarre) organ donor wording is introduced around 1976.

4 Say What?
English graduate, copywriter, literature enthusiast...these quotation mark earrings should be mine.

5 Maddie
You've probably seen Maddie - the 'dog on things' - around. A leggy American coonhound, her owners photograph her on things, in things, around things, doing things...ridiculous.

Sunday links #5

1 Graham Roumieu
Graham's simple looking illustrations are whimsical and well-observed. I love this ridiculously anthropomorphic cartoon above.

2 Scout Pare Phillips
From illustrations to photographs, Pare Phillips' work is sublime. My recent favourites are the Impressions series, where she's captured the marks left on the body by clothing. Sensual in some places, straightlaced in others, she brings 'parts of life' to life.

3 A Midsummer Night's Dream 
Ever since I was small (I've always been a big reader), I've loved Shakespeare. And having studied more than four plays in secondary school alone, I've got a lot of time for the big man. On a wander round London last year, we stumbled across the original Rose Theatre - the original home of Shakespeare's productions. Rediscovered fairly recently, it's looking for funding and awareness to bring it back to life - but you can visit the museum and see the very foundations (!!!) where it all started. Following a long, long dream, I've just booked some summer tickets to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Globe. As always, there's plenty of performances and plays - all from as little as £5 - so why not get lost in Shakespeare for an afternoon?

Sunday links #4

1 Where is Matt Damon?
This great story of how the author managed to stalk down Matt Damon in a Moroccan village, 'just because', told through (many) tweets is laugh-out-loud brilliant.

2 Arthouse
My bedroom walls in London are pretty bare. I managed to stick up some old records in their sleeves for a while before they ceremoniously leapt from their blu-tac and landed on my head. In the middle of the night. I'm looking for the perfect world map but stumbled across this - what's not to love about cats and geography?

3 Feeling Fred
To celebrate its 60 years birthday, esteemed brand Fred Perry commissioned creative types to reinterpret the iconic t-shirt. Jalouse magazine and Sister and Sibling gave it very feminine takes whilst Michael Lau went completely off-the-wall. I think my favourite is agency Mother's (above) - what's yours?

4 100 books
If your life was a book, what would you call it? Protagonist asks 'Are you the main character in a trashy romance, or playing a minor role in a tense crime thriller? If you wrote the story of your life in London, what would you call it?'
Submit your title here and if its chosen, you'll star alongside other 100 other Londoners, aged 1 to 100, in a portrait of the city. You'll also be invited to a special outdoor screening of the film.

5 Order of the day
Artist Ursus Wehrli sees the order in the chaos...and photographs it. He's just released a new book - The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy - showcasing his compelling need to organise. On a similar (but less recent) theme, Ikea produced a cookery book with an equally novel approach to the photography.

Sunday links #3

Another week, another Sunday.

I had quite a busy one at work - I've written four proposals this week, and started another on Friday afternoon. The promise of potential work is always exciting, especially as I work in a pretty niche area and what we do makes a real difference.

1 At the drive-in
These quote-based prints from 17th and Oak are a sweet little take on the classic movie poster. Using characters and famous lines, they're instantly recognisable. I think my favourites may be 'Not pass' (obviously), 'Okay', or 'Clothes, Boots and Motorcycle' (for the ridiculousness).

2 Sacrilege
I've been playing the new single from Yeah Yeah Yeah's new album non-stop. Some writer described it as having some Rolling Stones undertones with the gospelesque backing towards the end (have a listen, you'll see what they mean) - I think that's what makes me like it even more.

3 How Sweet It Is
I think this may just be my new favourite blog. With almost every recipe having me writing mental notes to buy the ingredients and try them out at home, How Sweet Eats is a new discovery. I haven't yet trawled through the archives but the cleverly photographed recipes have already got me hooked.

4 Stylist's top 10 reads for March
I'm the kind of person who always has a book on the go. Normally, I have two. Or three. I can easily finish a book in a day (yes, even on weekdays) and I devoured Martin's Game of Thrones Series in a matter of very short weeks (whenever Amazon delivered them!) before passing them on to my dad. These are Stylist's top 10 reads for March, which I might just get my hands on. Not before I've read my newly-ordered Lord of the Rings Trilogy...in French!

5 Billing blocks
Ever wanted to know what all those names mean at the bottom of a movie poster? Obviously you can tell that George Clooney's in it, or Steven Spielberg directed it...but what about everything else? Ben Schott, whose Miscellanies and Almanacs are bestselling books packed with trivia, explains. 

Sunday links #2

1 Doorditch
'Doorditch is an instagram project showcasing the doors of Shoreditch'. Keen-eyed snappers post photos of doors that look as if they have stories. Whether they're graffitoed,  flyered or just simply intriguing, the idea is to create the story behind each one. As some of these doors are on my very doorstep (hmmm), I've been keeping an eye out and hoping that I'll find one like these that lead to Narnia...

2 Al Green, live at the Apollo
An absolutely astounding performance that I just can't stop watching...a perfect bit of soul for a Sunday. 

3 Coveting Lily's nails
Lily has a knack for posting nails that I can't help but covet. My recent favourites are these - a vibrant turquoise-toned green with an overcoat of mixed pieces that gives the ever-popular glitter trend a new lease of life.

4 Guacamole and chips...
A colleague showed me this fab little animation, making guacamole out of 'household' items. I say, 'household' but I'm not so sure everyone has an avocado hand grenade just hanging around their kitchen... I love how well-observed it is, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me peckish.

5 Christophe Jacrot
And finally this week I've been falling in love with these atmospheric shots of cities around the world. My favourite is Christophe's 'The sound of rain' series, with perfect images of urban spaces observed from 'sous la mousson'.

Sunday links #1

Five fab links from this week.

1 Girls
After this week's episode, there were a lot of column inches written about the so-called implausibility of Lena Dunham's character, Hannah, meeting and spending the weekend with impossibly handsome doctor, Joshua. I thought this article put these nay-sayers into perspective a little.

2 Lizzie Kaplan being a hipster
This brilliantly silly mini-movie is actually an ad for clothing company, Viva Vena. 

3 Space
And with all this week's talk of meteors, this blows my mind.

4 Wanderlust
As always, any well-shot landscape has me itching to pack a bag and jump on the next plane. The Sony World Photography Awards are no exception. The exhibition opens at Somerset House on 26 April.

5 Goats yelling like humans
This video had me crying with laughter at work this week - goats yelling like humans. I think my favourite's at 1.15 or right at the end. What's yours?