Week 13

Hello sweet peas!
Ginny's busy battling it out with in a bidding war over some Harry Potter style trunks on Ebay and I'm trying out eating mild cheddar with strawberry jam on crackers (hey Emily said it was good, and the Swedes are full of good ideas) so we're going to make this short and sweet. This week has been about: making a coffee and walnut cake, walking it all the way across the moors to my Grandmamy's house, knitting a perfect square, mastering the art of minestroni soup, laughing at Will's pasty shoes, getting excited about Fran's new house, a very very happy reunion, onion rings at The Diner, Vice magazine's anti-music issue and cuddles in the spare room.




Moustache necklaces. Cut out from the lid of our Chinese takeaway box, painted black and put on a chain. Total cost: £2.50
We've made ourselves a Gringo and a Dali but we've got enough plastic to make a third so the first person to email us and ask for one can join our moustache gang.
Good luck chicks!


This week we love...


Onra- Chinoiseries

I was first introduced to this album when cleaning up at work after a very long day's work. It as dark outside and I was busy pouring disinfectant into a bucket with all the glumness of Jehovas Witnesses around Christmas time, when all of a sudden a burst came from the speakers. It was loud, contagious and somehow made mopping behind the ice machine seem pretty great. That is the standard effect of The Anthem, the first of Onra's 32 tracks under Chinoiseries. The collection was put together after a trip to Vietnam during which he collected 30 vinyls from treasure troves around Saigon. Incorporating his finds into hsi usual hip hop style Onra hopes to have created little instrumental vignettes that reflect the spirit of Vietnam: raw, sad, amusingly kitsch and romantic. Job well done I'd say.

Eagle vs Shark- Taika Waititi

Like many of the golden cinematic nuggets that trailers are these days, I found the preview to Eagle vs Shark more than a tad misleading. Expecting an indie-kid style romance along the lines of 500 Days of Summer plus Napoleon Dynamite style humour, I snuggled up on the sofa and waited for the smile to creep across my face. Didn't happen. What I saw was a lovely yet completely over-looked young lady fall for a sulky geek with peedo glasses and a tendency to exaggerate. Not that that's not entertaining, but it's not nearly as light hearted as you'd imagine. Lily's character is gorgeous but while her simple optimism is uplifting in the same way as characters from Gavin&Stacey or The Castle, it's held back from being a feel-good film by Jarrod's unexpected behaviour. Loren Horley said that they "wanted to make a film that was sort of truthfull as opposed to worrying about formulas of what works and what characters can say and do", so prepare for a shy smile at the end of it all rather than a renewed belief in true love.


The screen of Baker Street- 96-98 Baker Street,London W1U 6TJ

The past week's schizophrenic weather has served as a perfect excuse to stay indoors which is why we'd like to feature one of our favourite hidey-holes, the Everyman on Baker Street. As part of the small Everyman chain (starting off in Hampstead in 1933, making it one of the oldest independent cinemas in Britain), it's all about quality and individuality. A trip to the cinema shouldn't be because all your other plans have fallen through, or because you don't want to have to deal with an awkward date and this chain seems to appreciate that. There's only 3 screens, the viewings are a refreshing mix of block busters and art-house specials and the snacks are delicious. Try having an Illy latte with a bowl of honeycomb clusters and you'll never want scabby pick a mix sweets again.

Also...

A little bit inlove with these guys. Small group of French gentlemen who organize take away shows all over Paris. Super small audiences, venues including a lobby and the metro and collaborators such as Bon Iver, The Kooks and Noah and the Whale. Enjoy!

Week 12

Hello sweet peas!

Well we're still whiling away the hours before holidays end and we resume normal life and while it's all very well complaining about having too much spare time and having to hang out in a cottage knitting all day, it's a little bit worrying that it'll soon come to an end. I mean, no one warns you that when you take a gap year/get admitted into a rehabilitation centre you have the impossible luxury of all the freedom in the world minus any responsibility. And it can make you very selfish. How many people get to wake up whenever they want 7 days a week, and can fly to Vienna just to see Klimt's paintings in real, or eat out for days on end to avoid washing up, or have a toilet roll war until 5 o'clock in the morning just for the hell of it? Not that we're going to stop doing any of those things, but very soon we'll have to do a whole load of other things, things that maybe we don't really want to do and that make us tiered and grumpy but you can't really complain because everyone has to do them, and I think it's going to be hard. Yeah, raise your eyebrows at the spoiled pair of girls, but Ginny just had a dream that she was best friends with Ellen Paige and I stood them both up so we were whizzed through time to a hotel as Jewish slaves wearing loin cloths. If that's not a legit signal of anxiety I don't know what is.

Our very own little animation. Sorry it's a bit slow but we couldn't figure out how to make it any faster. We got the idea from Sleepy Hollow but funnily enough when we typed it into Google images, this is what came up:

This week we love...

Jonsi- Go

Sigur Ros' Jonsi Birgisson's first solo album was meant to be a low key, largely acoustic affair but according to the artist "somewhere along the line, it just sort of exploded". Couldn't have been better explained. It's beautiful, but just so, so energetic and full of excitement it makes you feel like you're looking forward to something amazing, or catching a plane to see the love of your life. Or to use another's words: "it does cartwheels when it bloody well feels like it, cries when it wants to and raises the bar for songwriters like Sufjan Stevens who have similarly heady classical predilections." - paste magazine. Favourites include 'Tornado' and the majestic 'Boy Lilikoi'.

Gainsbourg- Joann Sfar

I know that we featured a biopic just last week with 'Control' but this really is something very different. The life of Serge Gainsbourg, from his childhood as a Jewish boy in Nazi-occupied Paris to his explosive music career culminating in the 60s, was insane. Joann Sfar seems to appreciate this and rather than offer a classical biographical tale like that of Edith Piaf in 'La Vie en Rose', has used his considerable experience as an illustrator to serve up his personal vision of Gainsbourg, focusing on the musician's creative fantasies and his relationship to women. It's not chronological and the use of puppets and fantastic costumes brings in a strong element of the absurd, but it's crazy, sexy and beautiful so you should probably check it out. Get excited by the trailer here.

The Breakfast Club, Soho- 33 D'Arblay Street, London W1F 8EU

The mothership of the three cosy cafs in London Town, the Breakfast Club in Soho is fucking lovely. Until recently I worked in a rival Soho cafe but as we were more the tea and cake sort I'd send anyone coming in for baked beans down the road, and I'm glad I did. The food is scrumptious, the atmosphere very cosy (the 80s children that set it up filled it with their childhood knick knacks) and I ate a full American breakfast (pancakes, streaky bacon, sausage, poached egg and has browns) plus a virgin apple Mojito for ten pounds. Didn't eat for the rest of the day so I'd say it's pretty good value for money.

Also...

The most amazing video clip we've seen in ages, Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie. Sneak a peek right now!

And as promised:

Week 11

Hey sweet peas!

We're back in merry England and more than a little worn out (fannying around on a deckchair and getting burnt to a crisp was more taxing than you anticipated) but now that we come to report on our happenings, the week suddenly seems a lot less full. We did go to Malta, and went snorkelling, and perved on the pool boys, and ate more than our fair share of Cola flavoured Calippos, and went jet skiing, and got dragged around by a speed boat onboard a giant banana, and was flabbergastered by St John's co-Cathedral (high baroque like you've never even imagined) and rode on a super retro yellow bus...but somehow the week seems to have escaped us. In any case we're happy to be back and ready to cook up some little crafting wonders over the next few weeks so stay tuned.

We found the flower shaped marshmellows in a corner shop in Malta and it was a toss up between this and a giant ass sandcastle. Sweety jewellery won. Our delectable accessories include Polo mints, liquorice all-sorts, Haribo star mix and some jelly beans, all put together with the sweing kit we nicked from the hotel.

Total cost- £3.70

This week we love...

Made of Bricks- Kate Nash

We would like, just for a second, for you to ignore the fact that the girl ever dished out her second album while simultaneously blocking out the radio repeat that 'Foundations' became (although Paolo Nutini did a pretty good cover of it). Now we would like your unprejudiced attention. This is a fun album. 'Birds', 'Skeleton Song' and 'Nicest Thing' are fucking great to have in the background while you're busy crafting, and take a peak at these lyrics from 'Mariella':

At school, Mariella didn't have many friends, yeah, the girls there, they looked at her and thought she was quite strange.

Boys aren't really into girls at that age.

And the teachers, they thought Mariella was just going through a phase.

But Mariella just smiled as she skipped down the road because she knew all the secrets in her world.

yeah, she always got the crossword puzzle right every day and she could do the alphabet backwards, without making any mistakes. Mariella. Mariella. Pretty, pretty girl. Mariella. Mariella. Happy in her own little world

Sounds like our kind of girl.

Control- Anton Corblin

Completely in contrast to the general sunshine and happiness of the dregs of summer is the life of Ian Curtis, miserable git and lead singer of Joy Division. Young poet, epileptic, married at 19 and suicidal at 23 his story as reenacted by Sam Riley reminds me a little bit of a Soviet block building: bleak but with something weirdly romantic about it. As is often the case with black and white films simple shots of concrete buildings, dingy pubs, mugs of tea and isolated pay phones evoke something not unlike nostalgia but also convey an intense feeling of suffocation. Cinematically beautiful and endlessly depressing, it's a worthwhile watch even if you've never heard of the band, although it's worth noting Ian's kooky dance moves. Wicked.

This week's featured place- Malta

It's a little bit overwhelming trying to give a review of an entire coutry, even if it does only cover an area of 316km2, but here we go.

I started with pretty low expectations of Malta, thinking of it as a synonym to Canary Islands, Tenerife or any other Meditteranean island populated by the pink, drunken loud-mouth we call the holidaying Englishman, but as is often the case for over-judgemental little swots like myself, I quickly ate my own words.

Malta is gorgeous.

Think dusty coastal town made up of yellow brick buildings, shady side streets and beautiful churches. Now set it next to ultra marine seas and add a bunch of beautiful tanned people and you've got a fairly accurate first impression.

But now you look closer. You see yelloe/blue/green wooden boats lined up in St Julian's bay, awesomely tacky tributes to the Virgin Mary next to every house's doorbell, yellow and orange buses that somehow survived past the 70s zooming up hills, an alarming amount of Italian restaurants complete with candle-lit tables just to make you feel heartbrocken and fairy lights absolutely everywhere. I'm not going to deny that this is a tourist destination, and some people might find it off putting to have so many English shops (they even had M&S) but I for one was very pleasantly surprized and feel like another trip would be necessary to appreciate this retreat's full merit. Massive thumbs up.

Also...

We did these amazing portraits of our family while delayed on the plane for 2 hours but were really silly and forgot to bring them to our Grannies to scan them but we promise to put them on next week. Just as a teaser, we can warn you that they were done on green post-its and drawn without looking at the paper but staring intently at subject. Vair funny.

Week 10

Ello my lovelies!

Well we have finally escaped the oxymoron that is the British summer and are getting giddy on SPF and Badoit at the Dragonara Resort, Malta. However as we've just arrived we'll give you a full report of our fun in the sun next week and will now take the time to recapitulate the happenings of the past 7 days (there's been a lot so bullet points somehow seem appropriate):

. stayed in a MacMansion. filled the 23 bedrooms and 6 acres of land with the delinquents that are our extended family. drank a dangerous amount of gin. ran into a wall. fell into a lavender bush. passed out in the swimming pool. puked up on Ginny. spent the next 3 days recovering.

went to a cheese museum. played croquet very poorly. visited a big ass cathedral in Wess. saw a bunch of old men playing bridge in a building marked simply as 'The Conservative Club'.wondered around some caves and felt chilly (it was only 11 degrees in there!). fannied around the city of Bath but got scared away by all the tourists. found a Dalek in the garage. generally led a rock star life and enjoyed the idea that Nicolas Cage had stayed in the house before us.

Take a scabby old swimsuit from a vintage shop, change the buttons, hem in the sides so that it fits you perfectly, lean forward so your legs look skinnier than they are and ahoyhoy you're suddenly a pretty decent sailor girl. Swimsuit was found at Beyond Retro, buttons from Liberty's and sailor hat from some old crow at a flea market in Marseille.

Total cost of outfit: £25

This week we love...

Is This It- The Strokes

Nothing hot off the shelves we know but the heavy drums and voice that reminds us ever so slightly of Radiohead have got us hooked this week so there you go. It's probably already had the shit analyzed out of it so we won't add anymore unnecessary comments just that it makes us feel like smooth criminals and that you should probably also check out 'Post Modern Girls' featuring Regina Spektor. Bit of a strange one but we swear it grows on you.

Rough Aunties- Kim Longinotto

I often shy away from documentaries or reports on third world countries knowing that they'll either depress the shit out of me or make me feel guilty for not being out there distributing AIDS medicines/food supplements/hope and words of wisdom, but it didn't happen with Rough Aunties I felt sad for the women and children who'd been victims of abuse and shocked that South Africa as a country could have such a backwards mentality as to turn a blind eye to that kind of suffering but I also felt relieved, because while politicians may be out there promoting 1001 different policies to save the world these women showed that all you really need to do is treat children with love. it's no Disney movie but it does have a happy ending and will probably bring a little perspective to your life.

Cheddar Gorge- Cheddar, Somerset BS27 3QF

Where to begin? We came here on a day trip with our Grandpapie and somehow managed to get Senior Citizen Passes so were offered all the delights of this tourist haven in one neat package. First was the ride up to the cliffs on a green double decker bus with orange leather seats, then the marching around Gough's Cave freezing our tits off but seeing some pretty lovely mirror pools (ine one of them the reflected stalactites looked like a tiny Swiss village) and some massive rolls of Cheddar cheese maturing in metal cages followed by complimentary cream tea in a restaurant that seemed to be entirely run by flustered 14 year olds. Then came the cheese museum where we watched a 25 minute video on how to make cheddar while some poor bloke was doing the real thing just behind the glass and probably feeling like a specimen in a zoo. Turns out it really isn't all that exciting making cheddar, as much as the dramatic classical music accompanying the video might try to make you think otherwise but we got a whack load of testers at the end of the tour and the shop sold some fucking delicious onion jam. We also managed to snag some uber tacky 'Cheddar Gorge' badge pins for £1.50 so all in all a success I'd say.

Also...

Our Welsh Uncles introduced us to the wonders of Welsh slang, mainly saying 'tidy' a lot and shit like 'Who's coat is that jacket?' so this is in homage to them. We think it's hilarious.

Click here.

Week 9

Hey there wild things!
Well it's been a week of change for the dangerous duo, these last 7 days comprising of two moves (one of them across the Channel), the handing in of one notice, a teary goodbye and a lot of unpacking. But hey ho, life goes on and we're now fannying around a manor house in Star Wars jumpers so who's to complain?


Happy Birthday Grandpapy! In a moment of inspiration Ginny made 115 cupcakes with 13 different fillings and a whack load of sparklers all of which were guzzled down by our 40 odd drunken relatives. Nothing like a family get together.

This week we love...

Laura Marling- I Speak Because I Can

Miserable but undeniably cool, Miss Marling seems to have it all but still manages to sing like the most misunderstood teenager out. Not that we're complaining because this unhappy lassy happens to have a beautiful but understated voice which, combined with poetic lyrics and some pretty snazzy video clips (thinking of Rambling Man in particular), makes the perfect background to a loungy afternoon alone with a cup of tea. Oh and she's also been serenaded by Beans on Toast's 'I Fancy Laura Marling'.

City of Men- Paulo Morelli

While there was serious debate whether to choose this or Kevin and Perry Go Large as our film of the week culture won over trash-com and here we are. The tag line's : 'An unforgettable tale of friendship and survival in a city where the greatest challenge is growing up' and as tag lines do, it sums things up pretty well. Violent and at times a little bit shocking it follows the lives of best friends Acerola and Laranjinha as they turn 18 and try to make sense of their lives in the shanty towns surrounding Rio de Janeiro. Drugs, shooting and a lot of misplaced pride, its also a film about friendship and loyalty, which is always nice.

Cafe Morrisons- Chalk Farm Road NW1 8AA

Yes, we realize that this place is about as glamorous as a petrol station or some D-grade celebrity's dressing room but ignore your inner snob and you could be very pleasantly surprised. We dropped by Cafe Morrisons in between an epic 'moving out' clean up and buying a cheap toaster and it proved to be a very decent crashing point. Ok, the furniture is ugly, and maybe there's something depressing about sitting next to a morbidly obese family but we enjoyed a very honest plate of beans on toast with cumberland sausages plus a bottle of Ribena for £3.70 and overheard a lovely little snippet of conversation:

*8 year old reading from newspaper*

"My babies are dead. All of them are dead."

...

"That's a shame innit?"

I don't know, we just left feeling really happy.

Also...

Our darling cousin's buby, Sergeant Jellybean. What a legend.