Saturday, May 21, 2011

Retro: Kimmer

Retro: Kimmer

Link to Retro: Kimmer

JOHNNY BEE: OPENING FOR BOB SEGER AT THE PALACE!

Posted: 21 May 2011 05:26 PM PDT



Hi Kim, And this is the rest of the story. Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band WSG/ The Rockets at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Last Tuesday night May 17th.

May 17th my Mother's birthday. She turned 91. I love you Mom. She said; aren't you playing tonight? I said yes at The Palace opening for Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band.

I arrived at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Draging my stage clothes (I call it our monkey suits) and some gear in through the stage door. My drum Tek Steve Badalament was setting up my kit backstage in the hallway.

As we were talking one of the big Palace steel doors opened up and an a black SUV drove straight in, After the driver got out of the car I realized it was Bob who saw us and came over to say hello. With hugs all around and a few introductions of some of my crew guys, we chatted a few minutes, as Bob started walking away.



I asked him if that was his vehicle. Bob said it was. I then asked him if he was gonna be parked there all night. he said; yes!!! That's when I said that'll be 20 bucks for parking. Bob headed off to his dressing room.

Then Chris Campbell showed up and you could hear Jim McCarty yelling at him. Hey Campbell you got that twenty bucks you owe me. So Chris came over and we started yakking about old times and then Craig Frost came over. A few minutes later Donny Brewer showed up and we took a picture together. After our all out meeting and greeting. we headed to get some dinner while Bob was sound checking.



Then someone yelled The Rockets can have the stage earlier because Bob was done sound checking. We went through our check and headed off to the dressing room to get ready. The crowd filled in and took their seats. I was announcing all week "The Show Starts When everybody's in their seats."

We played a short high energy set of Rockets classic's and a few new songs we are gonna record on our new CD. After a good kick-ass version of Oh Well with the crowd singing all the words. We took our bow at the front of the stage and went to change.



Cracking open a nice bottle of Cabernet and walking out into the hallway, the Silver Bullet Band was gathering and getting ready to hit the stage. They were waiting for there leader Mr. Seger and here he came with a lit cigarette in his hand. I'm thinking Bob at your age and you're still smoking!!!

But as the band took the stage the crowd went into hysterics. Bob started with Roll Me Away and the crowd sang every word. In fact they sang every word to every song for the whole 2 1/2 hour show. Bob's voice was in excellent shape. He never sounded better.



After all the craziness in our dressing room... people were leaving and I was starting to leave when my phone rang and the voice at the other end said "Where are you?" I answered "I'm going home." What!!! Everybody's at the after show party in the banquet room. OK, I could go for that. So I went up stairs and the place was packed. Alto Reed was there(Opa) Craig Frost, Shaun Murphy, The up town horns and many fans who came over and let me know how much they loved The Rockets and Bob on the same show.



I told them I had the engineer's go out and check the structure of the Palace to make sure it could withstand a night of Michigan Kick-ass rock & roll. For some reason I ended up talking with so many people we were the last ones to leave the Palace.

I was talking with Karen Newman, when someone yelled hey Bee It's time to go. Turn off the lights!!!!

Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a wonderful evening. Bob invited us back to open next weekend in Grand Rapids on Saturday night May 28th. Rock & roll never forgets!!!!

Much love to all of you. Johnny Bee Badanjek

Thanks BEE! xxook

Thank you Andrea Edwards for the photos xxook

STEVE WINWOOD ERIC CLAPTON: CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME

Posted: 21 May 2011 10:06 AM PDT


Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton

Just found this video and it is too good not share...

[New post] Doctor Who - The Rebel Flesh

Doctor Who - The Rebel Flesh

The Rebel Flesh


Series 06
Story 05
21 May 2011

The TARDIS is swept in the wake of a solar tsunami, causing it to crash land on a Earth in the 22nd Century. A mining operation housed in a 17th Century monastery is using cloning technology to mine for precious acid when another attack of solar radiation overloads the clone birthing chamber and the harnesses used to control the dopplegangers, giving the clones a semblance of life. The monastery is in danger of becoming the battleground for a strange war between the original humans and their copies if the Doctor cannot stop it in time.

As Amy and Rory try and get comfortable in the TARDIS, the Doctor is fretting over the anomaly of Amy's pregnancy. When he offers to drop the couple off so that they can grab a quiet meal while he takes care of some business, Amy is suspicious and demands to tag along. Before anyone can say anything more, the craft is thrown off course due to a violent solar storm. Crash-landing on a small island (presumably in England) in the 22nd Century, the Doctor and his companions are confused by the many anachronisms ranging from an ancient stone monastery being used as a factory and Dusty Springfield piped through the intercom system.

The staff of the monastery are mining dangerous acid (for unknown reasons) which is far too hazardous to do, even with protective suits, To make the job easier, they are using clones made from a mass of material called 'the flesh.' The flesh takes on the form, personality and memories of each of the miners, but they are not regarded as sentient, more as equipment. By strapping into a harness, the operator can direct the clone, or 'ganger' in its duties, thus removing any risk from getting eaten alive by deadly acid. Jimmy, Buzzer, Jennifer, Dickens and Foreman Cleaves are contractors mining the acid and shipping it back to the mainland. They accept the absurd situation of operating a clone rather than a forklift very easily, and are suspicious of the Doctor's warnings that the solar storm will play havoc with their instrumentation.

The Doctor seems to know a lot about 'the flesh' and clearly did not arrive at the monastery by accident as he had led his companions to believe. He has obviously steered the TARDIS to the monastery for a reason and that becomes evident when the facility is struck by the storm in full force, disrupting the 'ganger' operating system and putting everyone inside out cold for an hour. When they awaken, it is unclear what has happened until the Doctor wearily explains. The 'gangers' have obtained sentience and independence. No longer reliant on an operator, the clones believe that they are just as real as their original counterparts. Confused and disorientated, the 'gangers' are attempting to sort themselves out.


When two of the facility crew are revealed to be gangers and not actual people, the situation gets tense. Foreman Cleaves and her crew take the initiative to sort out the many leaks sprouting around the monastery and find the missing Jennifer who has not been seen since the incident. Rory, being a sensitive male nurse, takes to the care of the fragile clone of Jennifer who just wants to be allowed to live. The others are not so easily swayed, despite the Doctor's claim that he can gets everyone home via the TARDIS. When the TARDIS falls deep into the island due to an acid leak, everyone realizes that they are stranded.

Cleaves decides that there is no option but to exterminate the rebel flesh, just as one would swat a fly. When she manges to kill a ganger of Buzzer, things get very bad indeed. No longer confused, the gangers are now fighting for survival. The monastery becomes the battlefield of a war that the Doctor was attempting to prevent. To make matters worse, when the surviving members of the facility wall themselves up in the chapel for safety, a ganger of the Doctor is revealed. The flesh has been scanning the Doctor and asks that the others trust him, just as the rebellious gangers are banging at the doors outside, lusty for violence.

Author Matthew Graham is primarily for two things; the magnificent creation of Life on Mars and writing the dreadful 2006 Doctor Who adventure 'Fear Her' (the one with the scribble monster and the Olympics) In the Rebel Flesh, he has shaken off the albatross of his previous Doctor Who script. The Rebel Flesh is not brilliant or perfect, but it knows what it is doing and never strays from the point or attempts to be post-modern or clever as some other BBC Wales Doctor Who stories have. It is telling a science fiction/horror story about evil clones in an ancient setting and for all that, it works beautifully.

There are some strange plot points that don't make much sense to me, such as why anyone would want to mine acid, where it is coming from and how it is being used. So far it could have been anything, but in the script it needed to be something dangerous, so why not plutonium? I dunno, it just bothers me that so many of the new Doctor Who adventures joyfully skip over details like this. It may get explained in the second part, but I'm not holding my breath. Also, the make-up of the gangers is impressive, but the CGi looked terrible. When the ganger of Jennifer stretches first her arm and then her neck, it looks downright silly and took me out of the drama. However, the guest cast is very strong, featuring Marshall Lancaster (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes) and Raquel Cassidy (who had worked with Smith before in Party Animals).

The design work and costuming is top notch, the acid-proof armor looking sleekly futuristic. There is a bizarre dependence on contemporary props and such that I find unambitious with Nu Who and it appears a few places here, in the microwave oven, phonograph and other bits and bobs. It's not too much of a loss, but I remember a time when everything in a Doctor Who story was specially made and designed to look futuristic and surreal, from chairs to cameras and clothing. I take this as reluctance on the part of Steven Moffat to risk emulating classic Who, a program that he attacks for its rubber monster and 'wobbly sets.' For a program as expensive as Who is, I expect more. Take a risk, man!

The theme of the story seemed to involve xenophobia and a fear of technology seeping through the future culture. I quite like the moments in the Rebel Flesh when Rory gets to empathize with the ganger version of Jennifer even though it morphed and tried to smash his head in. Even some of the other contractors seemed keen on hanging out with their ganger to see if they could get over the surreality of it. Only the gut-instinct fear of the other as portrayed by Foreman Cleave causes the situation to erupt. Obviously keen to regain control of her facility, she is threatened by the gangers, especially when her clone starts tut-tutting her for acting so predictable.

I am also quite interested to see where the story is going as the Doctor has some secret knowledge of the situation on the island as it transpires and also bears the burden of responsibility somehow. As it is unclear where 'the flesh' came from, perhaps it was left on Earth by the Doctor in an unseen adventure?

It was comforting to see a return to storytelling rather than enigmatic half-tales or bombastic spectacles as we have seen so far this year.

This could all go pear-shaped next week, but in the meantime I'm satisfied.

The early publicity for this story pointed out that it was heavily influenced by the film Blade Runner and was also very similar to a story from the Troughton era. Viewers were also promised a chilling tale that would get their attention. I can agree with most of those statements. I'm not sure if The Rebel Flesh was evocative of the Troughton era specifically, but it certainly felt more like a classic Doctor Who story than any other since the 2005 reboot. The adventure was somewhat sophisticated, featured a base under siege by monsters and the Doctor was using his wits to solve the situation. He was also the only real voice of reason, even though it seems like no one will listen to him.

I know that I am in the very very small minority that did not enjoy last week's episode, The Doctor's Wife, but Rebel Flesh was more my kind of story. An interesting setting, an at least somewhat dramatically gripping plot and some clever ideas thrown in. I hope next week holds up this level of quality.

Next Time: The Almost People
watch?v=oIWXP-_-4cA

Add a comment to this post


Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

[New post] Doctor Who and Warriors of the Deep

Doctor Who and Warriors of the Deep

Warriors of the Deep

Story 130
Written by Johnny Byrne
Transmitted: 5 January - 13, 1984

In the near future, two power blocs are engaged in a deadly cold war. Sea bases on either side wait for the call to action with computerised precision and calculated inhumanity. The long sleeping reptilian races that once ruled the planet seek to ignite this situation, forcing the mutual extinction of the human race, making the planet inhabitable for them once more. In order to set things right, the Doctor must convince the Silurians that peaceful coexistence is possible, even though the human race seems determined to kill itself off with nuclear weapons.

For Doctor Who's 21st series, John Nathan Turner wanted to open with a big bang. He had already received lauded praise for bringing back the Cybermen in 1982's Earthshock and of course the 20th anniversary story the Five Doctors was a massive success. Again playing to the interest of fans, JNT decided to bring back two old foes for series 21; the Sea Devils and Silurians. Focusing on cold war anxiety, the story was written by former Space: 1999 writer Johnny Byrne, who had already brought back the Master in Keeper of Traken and Omega in Arc of Infinity.

In both of his previous scripts, it is apparent that Johnny Byrne is a very intelligent and sensitive person, infusing his scripts with character and emotion. However, on screen his previous efforts and his third, Warriors of the Deep, lack an impact. In the case of Warriors of the Deep, this can be explained by the production being rushed, resulting in a lackluster end result that no one involved was happy with.

However, there are some good qualities in this story that is almost entirely derided by fans of Doctor Who and used as an indicator of the shabby production values of the program by armchair critics.

Warriors of the Deep by Daryl Joyce http://www.daryljoyce.co.uk/

The second appearance of the Sea Devils and Siluruans in the classic Doctor Who program, the story again relies on the fact that planet Earth was once ruled by a proud reptilian race (dubbed inaccurately as the Silurians) who kept humans as pets. When their scientists predicted a global catastrophe, the Silurians hid in a network of caves, placed in deep hibernation to reduce bodily functions. Due to a miscalculation, the Silurians awoke to find that all traces of their culture had been wiped from history by tectonic migration and the animals once kept as pets had evolved into upright hairless apes that thought of themselves as the dominant species. Furious, the Silurians were determined to exert their power on the surface world and reclaim their birthright. It was only the intervention of a fellow outsider, the Doctor, that caused them to pause and consider that harmony with the humans may be possible. Paranoid that such a path would fail, the United Nations voted to seal up the caves of the Silurians by exploding the passageways to their underground shelter.

In a separate instance, the Master awakened a cousin to the Silurians, dubbed Sea Devils, whom he convinced to attack the human race in an act of self-preservation. The Doctor again interceded and prevented the mutual destruction that could have taken place.

For his third outing, Warriors of the Deep offers a vague situation of two power blocs that are engaged in a prolonged cold war. Arriving in space, the TARDIS is mis-identified as a hostile craft by a hunter-killer satellite, prompting the Doctor to make an emergency landing inside of the undersea base belonging to one of the power blocs. Aboard the sea base, a pair of enemy agents are putting the finishing touches on their mission to take control of the station-designated operator responsible for interfacing with the base computer. For some reason, no one else can interface with the system that controls the launching of the nuclear missiles. When the operator on duty is put out of action, an operator-in-training is relied upon, even though he seems incapable of the job and is clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown the more he realizes the responsibility placed upon his shoulders.

When the Silurians begin their assault mission by reviving a nest of Sea Devils, it seems that their course of action mirrors that of the enemy spies, to take control of the sea base. The Sea Devils are intended to be SAS-types, very dangerous and trained to kill. On screen they look a bit better than they did in their last appearance, but are more lumbering than deadly. Perhaps the hibernation impacted their mental capacity? The Silurians, once brilliant and sophisticated, are presented here as little more than a replacement for the Cybermen seen in Earthshock. In fact, much of the set up of this story is reminiscent of the 1982 classic. The Silurians seem driven by a thirst for revenge on their previous set backs and are determined to destroy the human race at any cost.

The Sea Devils attack... very... slowly

The design work by Mat Irvine is rather grand with the undersea base looking impressive even today and the Silurian craft appearing definitively organic and spooky. I'm a big fan of Gerry Anderson productions such as Stingray and Thunderbirds, so I could not help but think of the supermarionation programs when the probe was launched from the seabase. While the scenes involving the deep space probe have not aged well, the lighting and photography of the model shots is generally impressive if jarring with the stark white interiors of the base. Likewise, the scenes shot in the Sea Devil nest are very murky and lovely. I imagine that Johnny Byrne and director Pennant Roberts were happy with the results in those shots.

Unfortunately, the production of Warriors of the Deep was beset with problems from the get go. With numerous heavy rewrites demanded by continuity expert Ian Levine and script editor Eric Saward already overworked with the remainder of the series, the production schedule was shortened by a whole two weeks due to an impromptu election. John Nathan Turner reportedly had the option of scrapping the story or going forward with less time than usual and in the end chose the latter option. As such, we should be happy with what we got, given that many scenes were shot with no rehearsal and many effects were finished just before being put on camera.

I have noted this in other articles, but in my opinion Peter Davison really came into his own in his last series. The scripts were far less ambitious than the previous year, but I think that this worked toward the program's strengths. Essentially a 'base under siege' story hearkening back to the Patrick Troughton monster era of 1968, Warriors of the Deep gave ample room for Davison's Doctor to breath and develop, unhindered by dogs in vests or dueling cosmic deities.

The story features some magnificent stunt work and unusual fight sequences as the Doctor triggers a nuclear meltdown to cover the escape of himself and his companions.

You can choose for yourself which of the above is most out of place in Doctor Who; the fight sequence or the Doctor triggering a nuclear meltdown just to cover his escape. It's a bizarre notion that makes little sense but in the end is a gripping piece of drama that stands out as an iconic moment for fans of this era. The sequence of the Doctor swimming in the water tank is also a stand out moment and I'm sure that Davison was grateful for the opportunity to give his Doctor some 'edge.'

The Fifth Doctor engages in a rare action sequence

Companions Tegan and Turlough are almost less than useless in this story, though Turlough does get to brandish a gun and help the Doctor and Tegan escape the Myrka... more on that later. Turlough does come off as especially catty in this one, snipping at almost everyone throughout the story. I quite like Turlough as he stands out as one of the few companions with any real depth, but he's reduced to a mincer in this one. Tegan, the bitchy mouth on legs, is quite good here, but mainly runs up and down corridors showing off the aforementioned legs.

Johynny Byrne's script was intended to be an exploration of a dispossessed people, presenting the Silurians in a sympathetic light. As the Silurians appear comical on screen, this never really comes together, but if you concentrate on the dialog, you can see his intentions. A gifted author, Byrne often shot for the moon in his scripts and sought to develop complex worlds of lush characters, each with his or her own agenda. As the production was rushed and the details of the world that the Warriors of the Deep is set in are so vague, this too falls flat. However, if it is viewed as a nod to the classic days of Doctor Who filtered through an unusually modern and politically influenced script, it almost works.

watch?v=EzESNxc1RdI


The guest cast is very strong with Tom Adams as the butch commander and Ian McCulloch and Hammer Horror starlet Ingrid Pitt as the enemy saboteurs. A strong supporter of sci-fi, the dear departed Ingrid Pitt had of course previously appeared on Doctor Who in the Jon Pertwee story the Time Monster. Here she was shoe-horned in place by director Pennant Roberts who merely wished to cast as many actors as he could that he had worked with previously. There's not much for Pitt to do in her role aside from smolder and make knowing glances (probably a departure from her usual vamp roles), which may explain why she suddenly appears performing martial arts against a rubber monster.

Honestly, there is no other explanation that I can think of for this scene.

How not to fight a Myrka

Watching the DVD (excellently packaged with Silurians and Sea Devils as the 'Beneath the Surface' box set), it is interesting that an in-depth documentary was included exploring the creation of the dreaded Myrka. The creature was intended to be the mega weapon of the Silurians, a brutal and terrifying monstrosity that would clear a path for the boarding party. The special effect was created by the amazing Mat Irvine, though he can clearly see that the end result is laughable, mainly due to poor lighting. It's funny that director Pennant Roberts is convinced that CGi would enhance the monster, overlooking the fact that it is blindingly lit, making it painfully obvious that the creature is a pantomime horse. To add to the failure, the glue was still wet when the actors donned the costume, leading to the operators getting high and woozy. It's a thoroughly entertaining and informative extra that I highly recommend checking out.

The dreaded Myrka attacks

When I first saw this story as a teenager, I loved it. Davison's final year on the program saw a progression of downbeat apocalyptic adventures in which everything that could go wrong does. This appealed to me as I had grown tired of viewing the Doctor as a 'magical mister fix-it' as Nightmare of Eden described him. This Doctor was brilliant, resourceful and brave, but still could not stop those around him from dying. The Doctor succeeded this time in preventing nuclear war, but at the expense of the base crew and the last surviving member of the Silurian triad that he first met two lifetimes ago. It is still a devastating moment when the shell-shocked Doctor stands amid the bodies of the fallen and (in ghastly silence) mutters 'there should have been another way.'

There are plenty of problems with Warriors of the Deep that reside in the effects, lighting, direction and acting... but at its heart it is an intensely dramatic parable on the futility of violence and the genuine anxiety that gripped the planet in the days of the Cold War.

Warriors of the Deep also clearly points out that just because a monster looks goofy doesn't mean that it can't kill you.

I should point out that this article was drafted at the request of regular reader Matthew Clarke. Please check out his excellent Doctor Who blog Tea With Morbius to see his take on this story and much more.

Read more Peter Davison - Doctor Who reviews at the Daily P.O.P.

Available on DVD:

Doctor Who - Beneath The Surface

Doctor Who: Warriors of the Deep

Add a comment to this post


Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://subscribe.wordpress.com

Latest articles from Retro To Go

Latest articles from Retro To Go


Fred Perry Blank Canvas Re-Issues polo shirts - designs from the archives reissued

Posted: 20 May 2011 01:08 PM PDT

Fred1

A blast from the past,or at the very least, a glimpse into the Fred Perry archives. The Fred Perry Blank Canvas Re-Issues polo shirt range that is..

Fred Perry is reissuing four classic shirts from their archive, said to represent four movements through the 50s, 60s and 70s. All details have been closely looked at from the weight of the pique and the style of the buttons to the fabric used on the back neck label.

Fred2

The first shirt is the 1957 Fred Perry Shirt, which is available in the original colour of ice with navy, sold at Lillywhites of London, as well as in the 'West Ham colours' of maroon with white and ice tipping, West Ham fans approached Lillywhites to get their colours on a shirt, which it was in '57. Other features include a lightweight pique, shorter placket with non-branded buttons, a steeped hem hanging longer at the back and with side vents plus a cotton canvas back neck tape.



Fred3

Fred4

The next is the 1963 Northern Soul Shirt, which is where the controversy might start. Available in two colours, white and black with champagne tipping, both with a regular pique, non-branded buttons, cotton canvas back neck tape and 're-created Twisted Wheel badges' using their own artwork.

Fred5

Next up is the 1976 Punk Shirt. That's available in black with champagne tipping, a regular pique, non branded buttons, self fabric back neck tape and comes with an 'original bleach splash effect'.

Fred6

Finally, there's the 1979 Perry Boy Shirt. Based on the subculture prominent around the north west of England (and giving their name to a wedge haircut of the day), this one is available in red with navy tipping, along with finer, flatter pique, a shorter placket with three non branded buttons and a self fabric back neck tape.

The one thing we don't know is the price as yet. Go to the Fred Perry website from this coming Monday, 23rd May to find out. You can also get them from the Laurel stores in the UK from that day too.

Fred Perry website

Via Modculture

Free Super 8 vintage film shooting app for iPhone and iPad

Posted: 20 May 2011 12:19 PM PDT

Super8

It's actually a movie tie-in, but the Super 8 app for the iPhone and iPad is still one of the best apps around. Best of all? It's free too, making it a better proposition than the similar iSupr8 app.

Essentially it turns your mobile phone or tablet into a super 8 film camera, without the film obviously. You shoot at the touch of a button, with the option to switch lenses, throw in filters and add someshake effects.  When you are done, you send it off to be developed (another push of a button), then you can view it in your projector room (on our phone) or export it to a computer / share it with friends.

Seven lens effects in total, plus three animated filters, a scratch and dirt overlay and those shake effects offer real authenticity and as we said - it's absolutely free. Only free for a limited time though, so grab it now.

Find out more at the iTunes website

eBay watch: Harvey Guzzini 1970s tulip-base table lamp

Posted: 20 May 2011 12:04 PM PDT

Guz

An interesting design that's certain to be popular on eBay, this Harvey Guzzini 1970s tulip-base table lamp.

The rarer Guzzini designs are always sought after and this is likely to be one. The sellers believes it is rare and I've not seen one like it myself. It is a Guzzini - the label is still on  it, on the white inner of the perspex shade, which is a 'caramel' colour on the outside. The base is brushed steel.

According to the seller, it is in 'excellent condition' and 'perfect working order', with three bulbs required for full illumination. If you want it, bidding right now is at £38.25.

Find out more at the eBay website

For sale: Three-bedroomed maisonette in Trellick Tower, North Kensington, London

Posted: 20 May 2011 08:28 AM PDT

Trel1

We have featured the design on everything from artwork to tableware in the past, but if you want a piece of the iconic tower block for real, you can buy a three-bedroomed maisonette in Trellick Tower on Golborne Road, North Kensington in London right now.

Trellick Tower is a 31-storey block of flats, designed by Erno Goldfinger in 1966, but not completed until 1972. It's an instantly-recognisable design, not least because of its stark exterior with separate lift and service tower. It's grade II-listed as well as being social housing – although some apartments / flats have gone into private ownership. This being one of the few.

Trel2

It's  also one of the larger three-bedroom spaces, one of only five maisonettes within, offering a reception room, fitted kitchen and balcony, three generous-sized bedrooms, bathroom and cloakroom. The interior needs some work, as you can see, but there's certainly plenty of space and the views are pretty unbelievable.

If you want it, offers around the £499,950 mark are being looked for.

Find out more at the Rightmove website


Via WowHaus

Trel3

London street photography prints

Posted: 20 May 2011 08:20 AM PDT

134571
From the recent exhibition you can now buy London street photography prints.

There is a huge selection of prints to buy ranging from early 1900s to the late 1970s. The photos capture real people and real life and give you a little bit of London to decorate your home with. The collection comes from a recent exhibition at The Museum of London and you can search through on the website to choose your own.

Prints start at around £15 each online and you can have them framed if you wish.

Battle of the Planets limited edition prints by Hand Drawn Creative at Etsy

Posted: 20 May 2011 08:20 AM PDT

Battle1

If you feel nostalgia for confusing Japanese / American animations of the 1980s, you just might like these Battle of the Planets prints by Hand Drawn Creative at Etsy.

Hand Drawn Creative is Belfast illustrator Neal McCullough, who has drawn for everyone from Time magazine to CBeebies. But right now, his attention is focused on cult cartoon (and owner of the finest intro ever) Battle of the Planets.

Jason is above, with Mark and Princess over the page. All are A3 giclée prints, all are priced at £20, as well as being limited to 20, signed and numbered by the artist. Other characters will follow throughout the year.

Find out more at the Hand Drawn Creative Etsy store

Battle2

Battle3

Pleated maxi skirt

Posted: 20 May 2011 08:13 AM PDT

Image1xl

Matching 1970s maxi with 2011 pleats this pleated maxi skirt brings everything in one.

You can choose from maroon or black and the skirt fits right in with every fashion design we've seen in recent weeks so you can be sure to be bang on trend. Pleats are everywhere and this skirt pays attention to them but in a subtle way. The maxi skirt is flattering and comfy and provides a loose hippy-style but with a tight waist band creating chic lines for both a day or evening outfit.

Buy yours from ASOS online for £45.

Candystore Glass Jars

Posted: 20 May 2011 07:11 AM PDT

Candystore-3pack-jars 
If you've ever been tempted by the retro sweets we've featured here, perhaps you would also be interested in these vintage-style Candystore Glass Jars

Each jar measures 18cm high by 11cm wide with a volume of 1 litre and they are sold in sets of three. Of course, most of us don't hoard sweets, so a more practical use might be for storing tea, coffee and sugar.

They cost just £10 from Colloco.

Kartell Pop Armchair and Sofa

Posted: 20 May 2011 07:00 AM PDT

1758 
The Kartell Pop Sofa consists of two armchairs that can easily be detached from and reattached one another, should you wish to change your seating configuration.

This is what the manufacturer describes as "infinitely repeatable", a quality that is probably most useful if this furniture is used in a business location. What caught my eye about the Pop Sofa was not this flexibility, but its upholstery options, which include the 1970s style options of jeans, orange or mustard coverings. The two-seater sofa costs £1572 for most fabrics or £1763 in the jeans option, whilst a single armchair costs £894 or £928.

Buy online at Nest.

London Bus cushion cover by Christine Berrie

Posted: 20 May 2011 02:41 AM PDT

London-bus-3

Christine Berrie has already turned her talents to illustrating vintage radios and cameras, so it was perhaps only natural that she'd also feature another retro icon - the Routemaster - shown here on her London Bus cushion cover.

It's a simple, lovingly rendered design that's printed onto a cotton cushion cover that should go down well with people who fondly remember this method of transport. Grab a cushion pad and you could use the design to make your own commute to work that bit more comfortable and stylish.  

Prices start at 19.99 euros. 

Buy it from Envelop

A-Z poster by Ingela Arrhenius

Posted: 20 May 2011 02:41 AM PDT

Ingela atoz

Ingela Arrhenius has been busy. It was only earlier in the week that we featured her retro dish cloth designs. This A-Z Poster offers a more conventional way to showcase her art. 

It uses the traditional A-Z format, running from Apple to Zebra, all executed in her distinctive retro style. The vignettes are charming in themselves (I'm especially fond of the 'M' which looks like a 'Moon landing') but also look great together as an overall piece of art. Perfect for a very stylish kids room. 

The poster is sold unframed and costs 23 euros. 

Buy it from Swedishness

Fiat 500 by Gucci priced and dated for UK

Posted: 20 May 2011 01:11 AM PDT

Fiat_gucci

Fiat loves a special edition Fiat 500. Not content with launching the Ferrari version, a Diesel model and a convertible, the Italian car giant is now offering the Fiat 500 by Gucci in the UK.

First mentioned back in February, the car has been customised by Gucci to celebrate 150 years of Italian unification and the 90th anniversary of Gucci. Two variations will be available, a 1.2-litre model for £14,565 and the 0.9-litre TwinAir model, which will set you back £15,765. Both will be available online, first come first served, later this month.

Expect numerous special features, including the distinctive colour scheme, a mix of two-tone black with white interior or white exterior with satin chrome and black interior and the option to buy matching clothing by Gucci to go with your new runaround. None of which is likely to come cheap.

Fiat 500 by Gucci order page

Don't Be So Quick to Overlook the Maserati Grecale Folgore

If the GranTurismo Folgore is a guide, this Grecale Folgore could be surprisingly competitive. The EV GT was one of the year's best surp...