
Style or substance? Audi and BBH believe you can have both in their new TV ad…
Unless you’re a woman! Hahaha, let’s all sneer at the silly vain tart who’s fallen down in the rain! She can’t have style and substance – she chose style, the moron.

Style or substance? Audi and BBH believe you can have both in their new TV ad…
Unless you’re a woman! Hahaha, let’s all sneer at the silly vain tart who’s fallen down in the rain! She can’t have style and substance – she chose style, the moron.
Posted in Advertising, Brands, Comedy, Culture, Design, Fashion, Film, Politics, Technology, Writing
Tagged 2013, advertising agency, Audi, automobile, automotive, bad adverts, BBH, blogging, car advert, cars, derogatory, feminism, Leonie Cumiskey, mean, misogyny, missing the point, negative portrayal of women, opinion, sneering, style, substance, TV, TV ad, TV advertising, TV spot, UK, women
Today I headed up to Walthamstow to visit Chris Bracey’s huge studio on Vallentin Road – God’s Own Junkyard. Peeking through the locked iron gates, it really does look just like a junkyard, but once inside it’s like an Aladdin’s cave of neon treasures.
I don’t know whether it’s because of the junkyard’s location, or if it’s because not that many people know about it, but when my friend and I showed up at around 2pm on a Saturday – a peak time for visitors in most places – we were lucky enough to be the only people there.
The man who works there, John, is really friendly and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of pretty much everything stored in the studio. He was happy to show us round, pointing out props and signs that had been in various films, like Tombraider, Eyes Wide Shut, and the newest installment of the Iron Man films – a huge ‘STARK’ sign. I really can’t recommend this place enough; I’ve never been anywhere else like it!
Posted in Art, Culture, Design, Film, Photography, Writing
Tagged 2013, art, artist, artist studio, blogging, Chris Bracey, contemporary art, cool, cool locations, creative, creativity, days out, east London, fashion shoot, film, film industry, film props, friendly London, fun, God's Own Junkyard, junkyard, Leonie Cumiskey, light art, lightbulbs, London, neon art, neon lights, nostalgia, old signs, photography, places to visit, props, set design, signage, slogans, something different, surreal, Walthamstow, writer, writing



Aww. This video for ‘Careless Teens’ by The Bilinda Butchers is really priddy and makes me yearn for a lazy sunny day where I can just do whatever I feel like. I discovered this band a couple of months ago when I first heard ‘The Lovers’ Suicide’, which also made me think of the weather. It was March and still snowing a lot in London, so it felt strangely appropriate to be listening to the lines: “Like a flower can’t bloom in the snow / We can’t hide, we can’t grow!”
Don’t you think that this video is almost like a lookbook for some kind of hipster fashion brand, like Wildfox or Cheap Monday, or something? When I saw it, I felt that it evoked a real girly ‘Tumblr’ aesthetic. Hopefully the maker of the video, Vanesa Capitaine, won’t be offended by that description – she does seem to use Tumblr a fair bit!
Posted in Beauty, Brands, Fashion, Film, Lifestyle, Music, Photography, Social Media, Writing
Tagged 2013, aesthetic, beauty, blogging, brand, Careless Teens, clothing, creativity, cute, dream pop, dreamy, fashion, feminine, film, fun, girly, indie, internet, lazy days, Leonie Cumiskey, London, lookbook, lyrics, media, music, music video, My Bloody Valentine, new music, photography, psychedelic, rainbow, seasons, shoegaze, social media, songs, style, summer sound, teenage girl, The Bilinda Butchers, Tumblr, USA, Vanesa Capitaine, video, Wildfox Couture, winter, writing, Youtube
HAERTS are female-fronted band of four guys and one girl, who hail from Brooklyn, New York. Their first single is a beautifully tender piece of lo-fi pop, set to a montage of home video-style clips. I’ve looked for other stuff by them, but this song is the only one I can find. I’m guessing that as it’s on Vevo, they are already on the brink of mainstream success. Judging by ‘Wings’, they sound pretty great and I hope the rest of their songs live up to expectations. Lead singer Nini Fabi’s vocals are sweet, but powerful – like a mixture of Gwen Stefani and Stevie Nicks.
This song is sort of what I was hoping for when I first listened to HAIM. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.
Posted in Culture, Film, Music, Writing
Tagged Americana, Ben Gebert, Brooklyn band, childhood, cinematography, creativity, Derek McWilliams, entertainment, female vocalist, Garrett Ienner, gritty, Gwen Stefani, HAERTS, Haerts band, HAIM, harmonies, home movies, home video, indie, Jonathan Schmidt., Leonie Cumiskey, lo-fi, love song, memories, music, music video, New York, Nini Fabi, nostalgia, opinion, pop, romance, small town America, Stevie Nicks, summer sound, sunshine, sweet, tender, USA, video, video montage, yearning, Youtube
Posted in Business, Comedy, Design, Film, Lifestyle, Music, Technology
Tagged America, bad music, cardio, Cardio Cinema, cinema, entertainment, exercise, film, films, first world problems, Gold's Gym, good idea, gym, Justin Bieber, Leonie Cumiskey, Nicki Minaj, poor me, productivity, sports, USA, weight loss, white girl problems, workout
If you’re into domino effect videos, or just appreciate the beauty of some meticulous physics, then you will definitely enjoy this jaw-dropping video for ‘Tuna Melt’. Not overly enamoured with the track, to be honest, but this video is just amazing. Even if you absolutely hate electro, I’d recommend watching it.
Posted in Art, Design, Film, Music, PR, Technology, Writing
Tagged 2013, A-Trak, amazing, America's Got Talent, clever, cool, creativity, DJ, domino effect, dominos, electro, fun, hip hop, kinetic art, kinetic artist, Kinetic King, media, music video, new music, physics, Pomp & Clout, producer, promo video, talent, Tim Fort, Tommy Trash, Tuna Melt, video, Vimeo, viral marketing, viral video


Wow. This song appears to be over a year old, but I’ve only just heard it and it’s brilliant. I was looking for the original Bauhaus version when I discovered this one and – without wanting to sound disdainful towards MGMT – I was pretty surprised at what a good job they’d done of covering it. Don’t get me wrong, I really like MGMT, but they’re not exactly the kind of band that you listen to and then think: “Yeah, I can tell they’re big fans of Bauhaus.”
Better still, this exquisite video by Ned Wenlock really complements the track and conveys the song’s melancholy lyrics.
Posted in Design, Film, Music, Writing
Tagged 2D, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Andrew VanWyngarden, animation, Bauhaus, Ben Goldwasser, bleak, blogging, cityscape, cool, cover, cover version, creative, creativity, cute, design, digital arts, factory, factory town, goth, illustration, indie, industrial, Leonie Cumiskey, media, MGMT, motion graphics, music, music and art, music video, Peter Murphy, SAD, snow, song, sweet, typography, UK, urban landscape, video, Vimeo