coracle regatta, hackney

On Sunday, I was picking up a paper in my local newsagent when I saw a flyer for a coracle regatta, about 2 mins away from my house. My friend was coming over from SW London, so I thought it would be a nice taste of the arty, bohemian East End to go check it out.

So me and Hal donned our "struggling-artist-look" tops (no-one understands his work), and strolled over with a big caipirinha jug.

It was by the canal in Hackney, and was generally a jolly good show, with a BBQ, a very free have-a-go attitude. I fell in.


hal in a coracle


other regatta dilettantes

It was organised by a nice guy called Harry, who also built the coracles. What a dude.

recycled art party this Tuesday 17th July

originally uploaded by dead insect \ /.

We're back again at Favela Chic for the Hungamunga recycled art party.

The idea is you bring scraps, cereal boxes, general junk, and we provide paints, glue and material for you to turn it into beautiful art. More details on the club myspace.

Live bands and DJs play too, and at some point, you dance.

Check out pictures from the last one on my flickr here.

monster pro wrestling: kaiju big battel (sic)

photo from varmazis

This is the most fantastically silly thing I've heard about for ages. Essentially, men in Godzilla and Ultraman (70's Japanese rubber suit monster movies) do pro wrestling, but with added props, such as cardboard cities to destroy.

Here's a highlight reel of a Brooklyn event:

link to youtube

I'm utterly enthralled, and with my new found unemployment, I'm keen to get an event (albeit a very small one) going in the UK. It's another great example of the mix of film, entertainment and sport that's springing up at a grassroots level all over the world - it's the kind of thing brands should be doing, rather than paying people to find out about and copy.

I find it a fantastic mix of cultures, from US pro wrestling, Japanese Monster movies, and I think it would fit really nicely with the whole England summer festival vibe - perhaps first demo bout at Bestival this year?

If you'd like to help organise an event, please get in touch. We need:

Atheletes - people with wrestling, MMA, martial arts or gymnastics backgrounds, but most of all with a love of pro wrestling.

Costume and prop builders - balsa wood, pvc, theatre costumes, ring builders, all sorts

Creatives - with an interest in the genre to help with character concepts, storylines and general shenanigans.

Enthusiasts - anyone from ring girls, to spectators, to just helping out.


Please get in touch if you're interested, or pass on to people you think might dig this kind of silliness. We'll be starting low key - think 4 atheletes and simple rope ring with mats and a cardboard London Eye and Big Ben to destroy.

Remember, Tokyo wasn't destroyed by monsters in a day!

butler's furniture, shadwell, E1

This is a brilliant old furniture and household store in Shadwell, East London. They have great stuff like vintage vacuum cleaners and playboy-era ice crushers. Prices are reasonable and it's not yet raided by hipsters.



Here's a link to a map.

middlesex filter beds, capital ring

I thought I would take a moment to big up the Middlesex filter beds in NE London. Near Hackney Marshes/Clapton kind of way.

Because its made of regular shaped, stone walkways, with a big circle in the middle and iron pump switches at regular places on the edge of the circle, it looks like a video game level. Very mysterious and cool. The kind of game where you run around big stone levels, pressing switches to make stone blocks move and water flow. Which is in fact what those switches used to do when the filter beds were operational.



I highly recommend checking them out if you're in East London. There a big route you can follow called the Capital Ring - which is a walking/cycling route all the way around zone 3ish London - about 105 miles in all.


I find this sign really inspiring. Crystal Palace all the way to Richmond on one footpath.