Pun intended?

I wonder if the writer of the BBC article about "a childless couple who are advertising on London buses for an egg donor," was being cheeky when entitling the story, "Dozens of replies to egg donor ad"?

Snow Doughnuts!

Check out this article/podcast about a giant Cheerio made of snow.

Snow Doughnuts Are the Real Thing
photography by Mike Stanford
All Things Considered
NPR
March 19, 2007










Maintenance crews in Washington state spotted a snow doughnut last week on the North Cascades Highway. At first glance, a snow doughnut may look like a man-made creation. But Mike Stanford, who snapped this photo, assures Robert Siegel that snow doughnuts are real — but rare — natural occurences.

Click here for complete article and for downloadable podcast.

Angry Clown Girl

I have no idea.

South Seas Cinema: Trobriand Cricket: An Ingenious Response to Colonialism

Welcome to the third installment of South Seas Cinema, a series of posts about films set in – or pertaining to – Polynesia and the South Pacific.

Trobriand Cricket: An Ingenious Response to Colonialism (1979)

Trobriand Cricket: An Ingenious Response to Colonialism documents how the British sport of cricket evolved to suit the cultural needs of Trobriand Islanders. In many ways, Trobriand Cricket is your run-of-the-mill academic documentary: monotone narrative, shots more to document than for artistry. Still, the glimpse into colorful Trobriand society makes this documentary well worth seeking out.

The Trobriand Islands lie off the coast of Papua New Guinea. With colonization of the islands in the 1900s came the introduction of cricket. Islanders soon adopted it as their sport of choice, replacing traditional warfare with this considerably more benign game.

Most fascinating is the way the people of the Trobriands adapted the sport to their own way of life. As opposed to standard twelve player teams, Trobriand teams may have as many eligible men from a particular community as possible. Another unique feature to cricket in these islands is the incorporation of magic. Perhaps most different than any sport anywhere else in the world, the home team always wins in Trobriand games.

One amusing similarity with western sports is the inclusion of a mascot on the team. In the film, one team’s mascot is a man dressed up to be a western tourist jumping about and pretending to take photographs at every important moment in the game.

Trobriand Cricket features not a lick of drama, and the cinematography is far from breath-taking. However, the subject matter is captivating. If you took Anthropology 101 at university and really enjoyed it, this film is for you. Of course, finding a copy might not be easy. Ronin Films carries copies on VHS, but they ain’t cheap. If in London, I recommend visiting the British Museum Centre for Anthropology, which has a copy that is free to view at the centre. Otherwise, check with the anthropology department at your local university or with your local public library.

South Seas Cinema is sponsored by
DESIGNinBLUE
architecture&design
mail@designinblue.com
+44 20 (0) 7947 359 456
+44 20 (0) 7950 674 636

New Wave Country/Country New Wave

Luckily, I can say someone else found this monstrosity of a video before me. I first learned about it while perusing the Eye of the Goof. Still, I wouldn't be serving my readers properly if I failed to share this video, which features some of the best (worst!) robot dancing I've seen in a long time.

Photos from the Word to Mother show at StolenSpace

Click here for photos from the opening of Dead Trees Yellow Leaves Cups of Tea, a solo exhibition of works by Word to Mother, at StolenSpace.










Photography by Tiki Chris © 2007
for Juxtapoz
Friday March 9, 2007

Cleaning your tiki mugs just got a lot easier ...

... and a whole lot goofier too. I LOVE IT!

Chongo the Tiki Bottle Brush Cleaner
Chongolio
Barefoot Bloggin'
Thursday, March 15, 2007




















Have you ever gotten frustrated trying to clean out some of your larger, more extravagantly designed Tiki mugs? I have! This cast resin diamond grip handle is coupled up with the nicest quality bottle brush we could find.

Click here for complete post.

Mahiki in the New York Times

Geez Mahiki's getting a lot of press. I don't think anything even remotely Polynesian Pop has gotten this much press in decades! Interesting.

A Tiki Bar Fit for a Prince
By LIZA GHORBANI
Photograph by Steve Forrest for The New York Times
New York Times
Published: March 11, 2007








Nearly every morning, the British papers run over with tales from Mahiki, this kitschy two-level court in central London’s Mayfair district, like how much money Prince Harry and his friends spent (on one night last month, about $21,000), and which pop icons were spotted in the corner. (Madonna and Guy Ritchie reportedly spent two hours there discussing the state of African orphans with the prince, who will soon trade his clubgoing for military service in Iraq.)

Click here for complete article.

Photogenic week in review (Friday March 16, 2007)

I posted a bunch of photos this week, including ...

- Photos from Faile's From Brooklyn with Love
- Photos from Leonard Street Gallery's Eleven
- Photos from a cool event at the London Eye
- plus a week's worth of London Daily Photos!

I also wrote about two very cool London street artists - Dscreet and CEPT, started a new series called I ♥ T-Shirts, met the mastermind behind one of the world's hottest tiki bars, and set a date in my agenda for HUKILAU 2007!

Life is good.

Have a great weekend,
Tiki Chris

Below is information about four blogs that I administer: ontoLondon, ontoTravel, Rapa Nui News, and Tiki Chris. Each Friday, I hope to provide a weekly review of what I've posted. If a particular blog interests you, keep in mind that I’ve been blogging since well before this past week. You may want to take a look through the archives of any blog that interests you. Thanks.

ontoLondon
http://www.ontoLondon.com
Site feed URL: http://ontolondon.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This week's posts:
Singing? On a bus? In London?
London Daily Photo - NO MILK
London Daily Photo - Procession
Nature’s CCTV Cameras (or Chris Osburn interviews ...
King Tut returns to London
London Daily Photo - Where's Mary Poppins?
London Daily Photo - No One Around
Kon-Tiki screening with live music by Tron Jensen
London Daily Photo - Everywhere
Jonathan Mcleod at Carter Presents
London Daily Photo - Smithfield Humour
London Eye celebrates 25 million with Photo Contes...
London Daily Photo - Sign of the Times


ontoTravel
http://www.ontotravel.blogspot.com/
Site feed URL: http://ontotravel.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This week's posts:
Photographs of beautiful old cars in Havana, Cuba
Okayama, Japan's pedal-powered roller coaster


Rapa Nui News
http://www.rapanuinews.blogspot.com/
Site feed URL: http://rapanuinews.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This week's posts:
CNN posts Buget Travel article
Rapa Nui mentioned in recent New7Wonders articles
Name-calling moai highlight of museum movie
Lindblad Travel and Rapa Nui
Artist hopes to exude "solitude" of moai
Good price for a week's excursion to Rapa Nui?
Here come the Easter puns
"Monolithic" pop culture references #44
Rapanui society collapsed due to overuse of natura...
Series of moai-like statues to adorn new condo/hot...
More Easter Island spoofs


Tiki Chris
http://www.tikichris.blogspot.com/
Site feed URL: http://tikichris.blogspot.com/atom.xml
This week's posts:
Busy lil week in review (Friday March 9, 2007)
Vicki the Robot, programmed for love and laughter
Photos from Faile's From Brooklyn with Love
I ♥ T-Shirts: Toro sombra
Muppet memories
New Music Showcase: The Pandas
Nature’s CCTV Cameras (or Chris Osburn interviews ...
Photos from Leonard Street Gallery's Eleven
Artist Profile: CEPT
Kon Tiki screening + live music at ICA
Pub crawl with a tiki master!
John Denver singing with Muppets
The Buffy adventure contines
HUKILAU! June 14-17 in Ft Lauderdale, Florida

HUKILAU! June 14-17 in Ft Lauderdale, Florida

Yep, I'm going to a Huki-huki-huki-huki-hukilau!


Should be a lot of trouble ... er, I mean fun, especially since I'll be sharing a room with this mad Frenchman:

The Buffy adventure continues

"Buffy Season 8" Comic Book - Details
From Ew.com - By Webmaster
Whedon.info
2006-07-18


From comics she was born, and to comics she shall return: Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s post-cancellation adventures will soon begin anew — penned by Joss Whedon himself — in the pages of Dark Horse Comics ... Dark Horse will debut No. 1 at Comic-Con this week.

Click here for complete article.

John Denver singing with Muppets

John Denver + Muppets = Happy Tiki Chris



By the way, John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" just became an official state song of Colorado. Cool!

"Rocky Mountain High" now 2nd state songJohn Denver's 1970s ballad gets OK as second state song
By Jennifer Brown Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Article Last Updated: 03/13/2007 08:57:47 AM MDT

The 1972 tune about Colorado's "cathedral mountains," starlight and clear blue lakes now shares the spot with "Where the Columbines Grow," adopted in 1915.

Click here for complete post.

Pub crawl with a tiki master!

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of hitting a few of London's finer pubs (all in my neighborhood thank you very much) with Martin and Rebecca Cate. Martin's co-owner and mastermind behind Alameda, California's tiki bar Forbidden Island. The guy knows his tiki drinks! He knows his pubs too. Here we are at the Jerusalem Tavern:


Photograph by Rebecca Cate.

Kon Tiki screening + live music at ICA

I'd hardly classify Tron Jensen's music as tiki, but it's pretty good. In fact, Tron's debut album is dedicated to the memory of Norwegian scientist and explorer, Thor Heyerhahl, who, In 1947, crossed the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft, named the Kon Tiki, in an extraordinary bid to prove his theory that the Polynesians undertook the same feat over 1000 years before.

Anyhoo, here's an opportunity to catch Kon-Tiki on the big screen. See you there!

Tron Jensen Live + Kon-Tiki
Thursday
March 29, 2007
8:00PM
ICA
The Mall
London SW1


Dedicated to the memory of Norwegian scientist and explorer Thor Heyerhahl (featured in the Oscar winning 1951 doc screened at this event), Tron Jensen's new LP 'Ocean' is a triumph of both influence and reference for the fisherman singer songwriter. Blending blues, folk and rock, Jensen’s passionate, raspy voice plays homage to the great man. In 1947 Thor crossed the Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft, named the Kon-Tiki in 101 days to prove his theory that the Polynesians undertook the same feat over 1000 years before.

Click here for more information.

Artist Profile: CEPT

Artist Profile: CEPT


I've had the pleasure of meeting with London street artist CEPT on a few occasions over the past several weeks. He's a cool guy and an inventive, prolific artist. Growing up in Northern Wales and moving to London, his story of "small town boy moves to big city to pursue passion" is certainly relatable to me.

Making London's cityscape more visually interesting for more than a decade, CEPT's graffiti may be spotted throughout East London, most notably on Sclater Street where his large "Art is Dead" mural demands attention and respect.

Such prolific work creates a lot of empty spray cans. So what does CEPT do with all those used cans? This resourceful artist converts them into FM radios ... or spradios. I got to play around with one of these gadgets. They're a very clever idea and really fun. The button on the top of the can serves as the on/off volume nob and the lid as a earphone holder.















CEPT is also a fine artist and printmaker. His paintings and prints are available to view (and to purchase!) at his site, spradio.com. His work has shown at a number of shows, including the recent HOO WOT exhibition.
























Thanks to CEPT for providing many of the images seen in this post. Photography by Tiki Chris © 2007 and CEPT © 2007.

Photos from Leonard Street Gallery's Eleven

Click here for photos from the opening of Eleven, a group exhibition of works by eleven contemporaries—Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Matt Small, Blek Le Rat, Eine, Aiko, DFace, Judith Supine, WK Interact, Jim Houser, Elbowtoe, at Leonard Street Gallery.










Photography by Tiki Chris © 2007
for Juxtapoz
Friday March 9, 2007

Nature’s CCTV Cameras (or Chris Osburn interviews Dscreet)

I recently got a gig writing for whitehot magazine of contemporary art, a monthy online magazine. Here's a link to an article I wrote for them about London-based artist, Dscreet.

Nature’s CCTV Cameras (or Chris Osburn interviews Dscreet)
by Chris Osburn
whitehot magazine of contemporary art
March 2007










When painting owls in public spaces, Dscreet aims to have passers-by feel as if they are being watched by the very paintings they notice. According to Dscreet, “Owls are like nature’s CCTV cameras … a projection of my own paranoia.” Interestingly, Dscreet’s projection of paranoia is at once cheery and stern. His owls are large and colorful. Their unflinching (and unblinking) gaze creates an eerie presence that demands attention. To see them evokes the suspicion that a magic realm of wonder exists – even amid otherwise urban landscape.

Click here for complete article.

New Music Showcase: The Pandas

For the second post in my New Music Showcase series, I'm happy to let readers in on a little secret: Worcester, Massachusetts is home to some of the best experimental music out there, and it's all because four musicians collectively known as the Pandas happen to reside there.

I've been enjoying the Panda's second album, Solutions, for awhile now and have come to the conclusion that it is one of the most intelligent and subtly provocative mix of songs that I've heard in years. It's engaging without getting 'in your face' and clever without a trace of pretense. In fact, with its charismatic melodies, steady rhythm and aural intensity, Solutions is downright seductive.

More than songwriting, the Pandas' approach to music might be better described as layering "raw lo-fi dissonance, melodic hooks, and mechanical loops" to create minimalist soundscapes. Much as a great photograph captures a truer essence of its subject than the naked eye ever could, the Pandas' songs distill sound to its aural essence.

Solutions reminds me of the best of psychedelic and progression rock minus any histrionics, unnecessary noodling or psycho-babble blather. The album's eight instrumental songs interact in such a way as to suggest a genuine love of sound. Loops, samples and sythesized noises blend comfortably with more organic textures such as guitar, melodica and glockenspiel. The result? Approachable music that soothes like Jobim, insinuates like Morricone, plays like Esquivel, and reasons like Stereolab. Click here to purchase Solutions online.














Visit www.pandaphonics.com for more info.
Click here for the Pandas on MySpace.

Here's a short snippet of a recent Pandas performance:

Muppet memories

I loved Jim Croce almost as much as I loved the Muppets when I was a kid. I remember watching the following clip on TV as a little one and really being moved by it. It was quite a load of melancholy for a youngun. Viva Jim Henson!

I ♥ T-Shirts: Toro Sombra

Comfortable, practical, and these days the only accessory you need to make a statement, it's hard to imagine a world without the ubiquitous T-shirt. I ♥ T-Shirts takes a subjective approach to this modern fashion phenomenon with each post dealing with a favorite shirt.

Shirt: Toro Sombra
Designer: Aldo Cruz
Price: Around 15€
Purchased: Tourist shop in Sevilla, Spain during Semana Santa 2002
Status: Retired

If you spent any real amount of time with me from April 2002 until the end of 2005, there's a good chance you got to know this shirt all too well. It was just so damn cool and light that I wore it all the time. Of course when I purchased it, I wasn't thinking about how comfy - and durable - this stone-washed cotton shirt would be. In fact, I wasn't even looking for a T-shirt at all (I certainly didn't need one).

Designed by Aldo Cruz, "Toro Sombra" features a stylized bull, with black body and white horns and eyes, casting a long shadow. At once, it sums up the traditionally perceived image of Andalusia (big ass bull in the full-on sun) while retaining the fun, youthful edge of contemporary Spanish design. Such a strong, iconic and simple graphic on the shirt's fire-red background stood out amid a sea of shirts and souvenirs on one of the more touristy streets of Sevilla during Semana Santa, catching my attention and cinching the sell. And, for the next four years, the shirt served as a glad reminder of a fascinating time in a gorgeous city. It also saw more than its far share of wear and tear as I always threw it in my bag when heading out of town. I retired "Toro sombra" at the end of December 2006, after a week's worth of hiking and exploring with Emiana in Chile's Altiplano (see below).

Interested in contributing a review of a favourite T-shirt or perhaps sending along a sample T to be reviewed? Click here to access my email address. Then, send an email with a brief description of your idea/product along with any relevant online links.

I ♥ T-Shirts is sponsored by Chongolio's Lost-Isle.