I was out of the city for the weekend, and stopped to take a gander at the tree as I left St. Pancras. Then, somehow on the way back, while the whole thing was lit up at night, I walked right by and payed no attention whatsoever. Does this make me Christmas jaded, or Lego jaded?

Worse, I didn’t even bother to snap a pic and let Flo here take it. Oh well, he’s the photographer…

flokohl:

Giant #lego Christmas tree inside St Pancras intl station. Brought to you by www.whatsupflo.com (Taken with instagram)

Presented without comment.

It might not get you where you need to go, but it will definitely get you somewhere. Or sometime.

Crispian Jago’s Dr. Who Tube Map. Click for the interactive version!

Mount Street is one of the hidden gems of our bustling city. Anchored by my favourite hotel in London, the spectacular Connaught, and lined with boutiques too chic for Bond Street, this enclave is typically overlooked by tourists. Tadao Ado’s Silence is a fitting monument to a street that seems blissfully apart from the chaos that surrounds it.

worldmanabouttownttown:

Mount Street, one of London’s (and the world’s) epicentres of style and fashion, has recently welcomed  ‘Silence’, an elegant water feature designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, after a joint commission by property developer Grosvenor and the Connaught hotel, in partnership with Westminster City Council.

Continue reading here.

flokohl:

And then we’ll take it higher!

Katharina Fritsch’s Hahn/Cock, which will be erected on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2013.  

Yves Klein called from the grave to report that he has just been raped by a German woman claiming to be an artist.

metroblitz:

London subway: TRON

Happy New Year everyone! Pease and Queues is back (I know—finally!). Sincere apologies for the extended absence, but it forced me to get my work finished. While still writing the novel, I took on a new job running a kitchen in Selfridges, so my days have been packed. Lots of new pics, advice and general British silliness to come in the next few months.

Normally I wouldn’t suggest a nearly 10-minute fireworks video, but this year’s London show was brilliant. It really picks up steam a few minutes in, so stick with it! From the banks of the Thames in fair Southbank, I give you…awesome.

What a disgrace. A drunken man at Canary Wharf tried to beat one male DLR Safety Officer and then push a female worker onto the tracks, all while yelling and being totally out of control.

Basically. Well, sort of. In the court hearing following the man’s arrest, things sounded a bit different. Let’s try this story again:

A deaf man desperately tried to get the attention of a DLR Safety Officer at Canary Wharf, who mistook the man’s loud speech as a form of drunken aggression. The man in question also tried to ask a female DLR worker “where is the Tube?” in sign language, which she mistook for a hostile gesture meaning “I’m going to push you on the tracks.” It would appear that the DLR workers realized their mistake after calling the police, and created the story to cover their blunder.

Bravo.

Hey, here’s a great idea: to help solve the budget crisis, the culture secretary has announced he will be axing the UK Film Council, funded by the National Lottery, which returns £5 for every £1 it spends.

In the 10 years that the Council has existed, it’s helped independent filmmakers create projects that studios simply wouldn’t fund, and it currently allows 35,000 people to call themselves employed in this terrible market. In addition to funding films like This is England, Nowhere Boy, Happy-Go-Lucky, Fish Tank, Man on Wire, St. Trinian’s, Bright Star and many more, the Council also assists in the worldwide distribution of foreign films, like Gainsbourg. This move has provoked outrage from workers in the film industry, directors, and lovers of film. It’s also, in my humble opinion, an incredibly stupid move, undermining the UK film market at a critical time.

If you’d like to sign the petition against the government’s decision, click here. Click the photo to join the FB group!

flokohl:

purple-diary:

Save the Foundry

We are occupying this area to stop Park Plaza [from] building a large 12 story “Art Otel” (500€ per night) instead of the foundry. BAILIFFS GO HOME. Photo Paula Goldstein

Anyone who has spent a night out in Hoxton will know the Foundry, the pleasingly scuzzy bar-cum-arts-space that epitomises the low-key creativity that has helped make the area a global centre of art, fashion, design and music. The graffiti in its toilets alone is worthy of Grade II* listed status.

Set up by current manager Jonathan Moberly with ex-KLF musician Bill Drummond in 1998, it offers six free exhibition spaces and broadcasts a Resonance FM show weekly. Moberly estimates 2,000 artists have shown their work here, including Gavin Turk and Banksy.

I’m afraid there is absolutely zero chance of it being saved. The developers already own the building (the Foundry rents the space) and they have the right to build a risible concept hotel there if they so choose. No matter that when the planning subcommittee consulted the neighbours, of 346 responses received, 289 wrote in objection to the plan, or that CABE, English Heritage and the Victorian Society have all criticised the architects’ plans.

For his part, Moberly is focusing his anger on Hackney’s refusal to acknowledge the Foundry as an arts venue at all. The committee’s report characterises it as a “bar” — circumventing the council’s responsibility to protect arts, culture and entertainment facilities. Text by Richard Godwin from the London Evening Standard