A magical video. You have to take the dive. {via Royal Quiet Deluxe}

Last night was one of the most memorable nights of my life. Reasons include:

1. Being asked to work on an interior design project for a bar.
2. Seeing Stephen Fry in said bar.
3. Annnnnd SNOW!

Indulge me for a bit, I’m from New Zealand and we don’t get urban snow like this. It was one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen – cars, trees and houses all dusted with the white stuff.

The Barbican. We went to see a movie and when we came out the Barbican looked  like this.
The lake is all iced up!

My first snowball, wahoo.

A snow-penguin!

This song has haunted me for months – there’s been much googling of “Say that you want me,” to no avail. It definitely brings back some memories, like driving for hours with my friends in the dark nights of 2004, my little iPod mini hooked up to the stereo. Black sand beaches, highway ghosts, abandoned power stations.

Some snaps from last weekend – celebrating Chinese New Year in London. The best pasts were easting dim sum in Camden on Saturday (spicy cucumber; I could eat that forever), then heading to Chinatown on Sunday for the mass throw-down of fun snaps. Bang, bang bang. Xīn nián kuài lè!

I can’t wait till Spring, when the dirt will thaw and we can plant things in a our postage stamp of a garden. In the meantime, I feel like I need to surround myself with more living things inside. The right ratio? At least 3 plants per human per room, perhaps. Or maybe we should turn our downstairs bathroom into a veritable jungle.

{click the photos for sources}

This clip of an ant megalopolis blows my mind. An ant colony was pumped full of concrete* for three days, left to set, then excavated. It turns out ants are prolific and thoughtful architects, creating a system of highways and connected hubs – there’s even areas for waste disposal. Visually, it reminds me a little of the city structure in Mission Impossible, because of the way everything is connected. What do you think?

* The colony had been abandoned for a while before pouring began, so please don’t worry about the possibility of cruel concrete encapsulated ant deaths.

See previously: an ant colony living in a scanner.

Isson is an Australian sunglass brand, founded by Catherine Federici. I first read about Isson in DumboFeather, and have always admired their avant-garde styles.  Recently, when doing some picture research on Bauhaus, I came across these wonderfully styled shots:

The Bauhaus collection was shot by Cybele Malinowski, and based around the idea of four eccentric characters who may have attended the school of Bauhaus in 1934. Read more about the different personas here. My favourite is the Alberta Albers image – I think it’s a combinaion of the turban, the chunky jewellery, and the vivacity of that little pug face.

As for the sunglasses – I would love to buy a pair of steam punk inspired Marthas – in tortoiseshell. Nice work, Isson.

“Negativity is the enemy to creativity. So if you want more ideas flowing, happiness in the doing, happiness in the doing, happiness in the doing. I love, capital L-O-V-E, building a thing that ultimately has to feel correct before it’s finished, and that feeling correct is like a drug. It’s like a thing that kicks you and makes you feel so good, You almost pass out. You fall off your feet.”

– David Lynch, to Melena Ryzik of the New York Times

I scored these two very shiny and pretty cookbooks for a fiver at Oxfam Dalston:

Heston’s Fantastical Feasts by Heston Blumenthal, and Creole by Babette de Rozières. I bought the Blumenthal book mostly because it has instructions on how to make lickable wallpaper, a la Willy Wonka. But I am more excited about the Creole book, described as a “colourful and sumptuous celebration of West Indian Creole cooking”.

Just a bit of a preview before adding the to the towering pile of books next to my bed – aren’t the pictures luscious? Can’t wait to make some of the sweet dishes from the Creole book, like coconut flans with caramel, and try some traditional Guadeloupean ti’punch – a white rum and lime mix.

Poor Lana is having a bit of a worrisome time with the press at the moment, especially after her lackluster SNL performance. (LDR, nervous or not, please stop touching your hair!)

But doesn’t she look a treat in this stark cover photo for the Russian edition of Interview Magazine? Big hair, heavy eyes, and a playful nod to bee stung lips. File this under classic.