sankt luciadag – happy belated Santa Lucia

happy belated santa lucia to all you scandi’s out there! i can’t believe december 13th flew right by. i’m balancing candles on my head, and putting on my white gown and red sash as we speak!

above is swedish painter carl larsson‘s depiction of the tradition where candles symbolize the fire that refused to take st. lucia’s life when she was sentenced to be burned. traditionally the oldest daughter leads a procession of the girls of the family, serving saffron buns and tea, and singing a lucia song while entering the room. the song is actually to the melody of the traditional neapolitan song santa lucia; the italian lyrics describe the view from santa lucia in naples ( i still don’t know how this song was adopted by the northern countries for their celebration), the various scandinavian lyrics are fashioned for the occasion, describing the light with which lucia overcomes the darkness.

natten går tunga fjät (the night walks with heavy steps)
or santa lucia, ljusklara hägring (saint lucy, bright mirage).

st. lucia is one of few saints celebrated by the overwhelmingly lutheran scandinavian peoples (swedes, norwegians, danes, finns). st. lucia’s day celebrations retain many indigenous germanic pagan, pre-christian midwinter elements, and the practices associated with the day, predates the adoption of christianity in scandinavia, and is like much of scandinavian folklore, and even religiosity today, based on the annual struggle between light and darkness. by kl

CATEGORIES: musings

tom ford – a single man




went to tom ford’s single man this week, the good thing is that i didn’t know anything about it, haven’t see the trailer or knew anything about the cast so…

you can be skeptical about some fashion designer turning into director but here we’re talking about tom ford turning director, meaning everything is as “over the top” as the clothes he makes and the universe he has built around himself…

so, it’s very gay (no prob with that) it’s very beautiful (no prob with that) and there is all the tom ford cast from models, to glasses, to suit and even a perfume (no prob with that) but no terry thank god whatever, it’s a wonderful movie and surely one of the most visually striking for a long time… by pp

CATEGORIES: must see films

brinell hard drives: German hard drives with a bit of french finish

the german manufacturer brinell is offering something more than the usual half-a-terabyte of storage in a grey plastic case. the 1.8in Purestorage XS series comes in options of macassar wood and leather, each material set against chrome trim. the drives are entirely USB powered and are available with a 160GB raw capacity. the larger, 2.5″ products measure 109 x 74 x 13mm, weigh 180g and contain a 500GB drive. a bit over priced (around £200) and a little too late perhaps given the cloud computing trend ahead but why not?by kt

CATEGORIES: design, objects, perfect gift

the honda EV-N concept: micro car fulled by solar roof and battery powered electric motor

looks like honda did a better version of the Cinquecento than fiat did itself
this car is so cute it could only come from japan!
solar roof deck keeps the battery charged.
there is also a unicycle included that store in the door. no coordination required.

i’m buying one of these the day it comes out, and i highly recommend throwing away that SUV and getting one of these as well. next thing to do… buy some stocks in honda. by kt

CATEGORIES: cars, earth related

the catorialist: one of the top 100 influencers


o.k. this has to be the funniest take on the self-obsessed poser of the century, hilarious. the only thing this blog lacks is perfectly composed/cropped/edited pictures of the owner plastered around in seemingly “unaware moments” pondering life in general and his gargantuan tasks ahead of him, otherwise dead on. one of the posts on the catorialist reads:

“you may remember the first shot I did of burnie a couple of months ago. at the time, i did not know her name nor anything else about her but i was taken by her overall look (little did i know of that which she was capable!) i found her this time enjoying the sun on a warm los angeles morning walking seemingly without a care in the world.” by kt

CATEGORIES: musings, read

The Wooly: New yorks latest down-and-out hot spot


the somewhat hit-and-miss decor of the wooly. nice vintage wallpaper mixed with a feeling of drywalls and quick cheap construction. its unfinished as eric himself admits…


grrrowl!!


the wretched financial district has finally gotten its break… right in front of city hall park! after smith & mills (technically tribeca) and the Warren 77 bar comes the wooly to save the poor soles that live there. the space itself, located in the wollworth building, is very haphazardly done by the very man that has just recently done the windows at colette for the house of waris. the space aside, as with all places, it’s the people that make the joint… not the place itself. some trigger happy editors have already compared it to the jane hotel bar, but i must say the place itself is no where near as cozy and atmospheric as the jane.

what is nice is that there is a small stage for performances. it’s quite intimate and the crowd is cool and easy. we once saw mark borthwick perform his agit-atmospheric music there. last night the wooly was the hosting grounds to the lovely fashion designer (and better half of photographer barnaby roper) camilla staerk’s christmas party. the ruffian christmas party was also there, and others who have strolled through the joint include: charlotte ronson, sean lennon, PP lepou, derek blasberg, milla jovovich, kimberley norcott, rebecca guiness, waris ahluwalia, and dd from tomorrow started. by dd

CATEGORIES: backstage, ny places

genius drunk

such a good design for such a good idea, the pneumatic corkscrew (no screwing anymore though). you stab the cork you press and the air that is shoved in the bottle is having the cork to pop, pretty simple, we just had to think about it. and you can get it from dean and deluca for less than a screwpull. great christmas gift for daddys by pp

CATEGORIES: perfect gift