11.8.11

sightseeing #2

I enjoyed putting my last 'sightseeing' post together so much that I thought I'd do another. I often find the internet to be quite overwhelming in the information that it holds - it's quite easy to find yourself drowning in it - so it's nice to pick out some simple things that have made an impression, revisit them, and pass them on.

sightseeing no.2
1. Rose Martini
I've had a little bit of my brain devoted to cocktails over the last while - there's nothing not to like, of course - it's all the fun of baking with a recipe with a drink at the end of it. Someone mentioned the idea of a rose herbal tea & vodka cocktail a few weeks ago, and I've been on the hunt for some good rose tea to try it with. Sweetened, I think it could be the perfect summer drink. This recipe, by Jacinta Moore (of BawkBawkBawk), was done for Design Sponge a while back, but the sweet, rose tinted photographs have made me even more determined to find that tea and try it out.
There's something calmly fascinating about still dance photography, and this selection of dance stills through the decades tells its own story somehow. From the porcelain students with their Grecian urns in 1932 to the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1984, dance seems to weave its own way through the zeitgeist of the decades, held together by the fact that 'Some feelings and even some thoughts are too deep for words and have to be seen to be believed', as the article puts it. These also remind me of some fantastic ballet videos my friend Hannah has been posting recently: my favourite of her favourites is here if you're interested too.

3.
Totokaelo/site inspiration
I have a feeling that this might only be new to me, but no matter. I came across the website via Kate Miss on Twitter this week, and I can't stop looking at it. The layout is so perfectly simple, and the styling is clean and strong with combinations likely do-able with things you already have, if, on the off chance, you don't have a spare $794 for a cardigan.
It seems unfair that menswear is so very accessible to women, but womenswear is so off limits to men. But, oh well. Pinching things from the other side of the wardrobe has become a favourite occupation of mine, but hasn't quite reached bags to such an extent. But! Reading this article, it all makes sense: men's leather bags are made with functionality and durability in mind – two things usually missing from the general women's bags scene – and they go with just about anything and are meant to get a little worn and scruffy over a long career – the implication being that if you have a scruffy bag, you're wiser than everyone else. Like those rose-tinted cocktails, I feel that there's everything to like about this, apart from perhaps the prices of those NYT-favoured examples of course.

& some others
* Reactions to the London/English Riots
It would seem strange to me to do a post about things that I've been interested in over the last week without mentioning the one thing I've been talking about solidly for the majority of it. The riots at the beginning of this week, which began in London and then aimlessly spread across the country (including briefly to Bristol), have been totally devastating to everyone, not least to beautiful architecture which once steadfastly survived the Second World War, but has now been razed to the ground for no reason whatsoever. I found Penny Red's reaction to the riots in London and Camilla Batmanghelidjh's Independent article on their root causes to be very insightful and this piece in the New Yorker just sums it all up. The heartbreaking damage is illustrated best by this Guardian graphic. Of course, there's always some humour to be had, andPhotoshop a Looter is pretty hilarious.


7 comments:

  1. I just saw the 'photoshop a looter' site this morning and had to have a laugh. I love how quickly sites like that are created!

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  2. I am so excited to check out these links! I am having quite the "tea moment"...

    I also wrote a piece on the London events, if you have any interest in checking it out (not shameless self-promotion, just if you're interested!) http://theepicadventurer.blogspot.com/2011/08/protesters-rioters-or-looters.html

    Julia

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  3. I still can't really believe that those riots actually happened, and for so long!
    On a very different note, the Rose tea from Yogi (http://www.yogitea.eu/en/products/details/rose/) is very, very rose-y. Almost like perfume. But I think that's what you need for that cocktail. Let me know how it tastes, it sounds very dainty!

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  4. I really enjoyed your last sightseeing post and this one too. I hope to see more of them.Dance photography is so inspiring, thanks for putting it up there, I never would have found it otherwise! I agree about the riots. I go through Clapham junction everyday and seeing it all destroyed on Tuesday morning was was just the most surreal thing.

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  5. This is such a beautifully written article. It's very insightful, giving us a chance to have a look at some of the things you've been looking at. Really very beautifully presented.

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  6. i love the concept of your sightseeing posts. it's a bit early in the day, but i wouldn't mind a rose martini now :)

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  7. SJ: I'm always blown away by how quickly they appear too! It's pretty puerile I guess, but often its good to laugh a bit in a crisis.

    Julia: Thanks for linking - your line about the relaitivity of poverty is a really good point to raise when people are saying we have no poverty in the UK. There's plenty. I would be really interested to hear what your thoughts on the current wild sentencing of the looters are.

    Inge: No, nor can I - it's completely unbelievable. Thanks so much for the tea recommendation! I'll try and seek it out!

    Rebecca: Thanks! I'm really delighted to hear that you like them! I saw some of the television coverage of Clapham - it's such a busy place, it's so hard to imagine it happening at all. I wonder what it's like a week on?

    Miss Raj: Well, thank you very much, I really appreciate you saying so.

    Danica: I reckon a rose martini is dainty enough for any time of day. Go for it, I say.

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