sharing time

Did you miss me?! My break was unintentional; I played hostess and tour guide for a few days to a good friend visiting from Auckland, and thought I would have time to blog as well... underestimating how much sleep the elderly need, and how long the elderly take to recover from a night of tv and gin & tonics. It's a wild life we lead down here in Port Chalmers. And there has been DRAMA! This morning I discovered my feedly had disappeared, so I spent an hour re-filling it, and lamenting the fact that if you type in Dogtown Vintage, a million other vintage blogs pop up, even though none of them have 'dogtown' either in their title or their content. I'm tempted to create hundreds of google accounts just so I can follow the blog and improve its position, but that seems too much like something Aaron Gilmore would do... 

Anyway, to the shares.

1. We're still waiting on the builder's report and quote, but I'm getting into the design of the shop and, if you want the truth, it's a bit exciting (sentence structure a tribute to Holden Caulfield). I love community; knowing your neighbours, and saying hi to strangers, and I've always wished there was more of a hanging out on your stoop/porch culture here in New Zealand. If I had my way, shop owners would sit outside their shops on beach chairs until people came in, playing chess with each other, talking to passers-by, and yelling out to people on the other side of the street. My shop is on the first floor which means there'll be no sitting on the street for me, so instead I want to create a sitting-room in the middle of the shop, where people can come and hang out with me, or just sit quietly and read or think or draw. There's a little kitchen off the side, so I'll be able to make pots of tea, and I hope you'll come and visit me, even when you're not in the mood for shopping. There's a guy in Auckland who sets up his chess board at tables near the windows of two of the Burger Kings on Queen Street, and he looks out at people and beckons for them to come and play with him. It's sometimes sad and sometimes weird, but I always like to see him, and I love seeing people playing chess with him. I may become that man.

2. One of the things I love about vintage is that it decreases waste. I'm going to talk further about this later in the month, but suffice to say, for now, that I like things that last, and I like things that give new life to old or obsolete items - even those crazy tyre swans people make into planters. I may not want one, but boy do I respect the attempt. This morning I came across Ocean Sole on dream hampton, a Kenyan company that recycles the jandals that wash up on its beaches, threatening marine life and looking pretty awful, into cute toys and curtains and Christmas decorations. Cool.

3. There aren't many magazines I like. This is one I love. Maybe you've heard of it, but in case you haven't, may I recommend Anthology. It's pricey, but worth keeping forever (and it's a quarterly, so you won't be inundated anyway). They make a little video to go with each new issue, which I think is a really nice idea. This is the video for the second to last issue, which looks excellent.

Issue No. 10 Trailer from Anthology Magazine on Vimeo.

4. It's exactly three weeks until my birthday. I'm trying not to be too excited because five people in my family have theirs first (and that's not including my Dad, whose birthday was yesterday), but it is NOT EASY. You know what else isn't easy? RESTRAINT. The internet is full things, some of which I would like, and some of which I just like to admire. If you need ideas for a present for somebody, send me an email. I have IDEAS.

 

1. Crystal cocktail ring from Meadowlark 2. Nausea by Jean-Paul Satre  3. Variegatum Dress from Adored Vintage 4. Octopus from Fab 5. Braided Sky high Swedish Hasbeens 6. Drumkit (sketch from wikipedia) 7. Jackie Ohh by Ray Ban 8. Gav sandals by Dolce Vita at Need Supply Co 9. Beloved by Toni Morrison 10. Simulations by Jean Baudrillard 11. Magenta Cotton Cushion from Trade Aid 12. The Autobiography of Malcolm X

5. A song we've been marvelling over. How was he real? How?

quick hi

This is really just a place-holder; I'm behind schedule today having stayed in bed this morning to finish my book (which was great - if you're looking for something to read, may I recommend The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker?) and then spent way too long drying my eyes and reading analyses of it on the internet, and we're meeting Tim, agent for what seems like every retail and office space in Dunedin, at three o'clock, to see what we can do with the empty shop we looked at back in April (which is in worse shape than a disused p lab). Wish me luck!

In the meantime, the weather has movies on my mind; I'm getting very excited with each new NZ International Film Festival announcement, and I just found out Noah Baumbach has a new movie! (which is out in the US but doesn't get here until August; must be coming by ship via every port in the world.) Anyway, if you're in Auckland and are tiring of the usual awful stuff on offer (how long can The Hangover go on?!), the Academy has this going on at the moment, and it looks pretty good. Till tomorrow, friends.

books etc

I think this picture from The Sartorialist a couple of days ago is beautiful. Colour and composition etc aside, I love how it makes me feel; like she is about to look up and smile, and that I have an hour before the bookshop closes to go through these sale shelves and then look around me at the counter, mad-eyed, while paying, and wishing I had more time. Bookshops, particularly secondhand bookshops, are among my favourite places in the world. I love to scan shelves of browning books, occasionally picking one up just to smell it, doing the knowing "hmm" and feigned look of interest when I see a book I know I should have read but haven't because I keep re-reading I Capture The Castle or The Catcher In The Rye instead, and feeling that rare rush when a beautiful edition of one of my favourites pops up (which is why my library is littered with double-ups). If I get the approving nod from the proprietor on my choices (the last vestiges of my teacher's pet past; I also used to fist-pump when the film-geek at our old video shop complimented our selection), my joy knows no bounds; it's like I've found kin and country.

This isn't at all what I planned to say about this photo, but I guess it can't hurt for you to know where to find me if we're shopping together and I go missing. What I meant to say was that my favourite thing about this girl and her outfit are how expressive they are. I like faces and clothes that tell you something about the person they adorn; that's part of why I like clothes so much (okay, LOVE clothes so much, jeez). My understanding of life is a lot about the human desire to be known and understood. Showing who you are through facial and material expression is a simple way of trying to achieve that.

PS A song that I think fits the feeling of contentment this picture elicits.