OH MY

My favourite images this week are these collection of photographs of McDonalds customers taken by Nolan Conway.

Perhaps it isn’t cool to like McDonald’s but I’m pretty sure its most peoples dirty little secret, McDonald’s is a little like your safe (corporate) friend, you always know what you are gonna get. And that’s why the customers are so interesting, unlike the new artisan coffee shop that’s just opened down the road where everyone works in media, arts, include your cliche stereotype here. The people in McDonald’s range from the privileged, bored, stoned and hungry. These portraits capture that quite brilliantly.

One of my favourite interviews this week was in Stella magazine, an interview with Paul Smith discussing his life, long term success and how he hates that young people are trying to live their lives like it is a business plan. ‘I learnt the trade doing some crummy jobs. That’s why I get a bit fed up with people who come to me now, and they’re 24 or something like that, and they want to have a fashion show and be on the front cover of Vogue. But they haven’t done the groundwork, and it just seems kind of sad.’ All easy for him to criticize in retrospect, we all want to achieve something, but sometimes it does just take time. The web has give everyone much wider access to peoples lives, successes and what they had for dinner so you can get caught up in wanting it all when you are just starting out.

Great piece of advertising this week from Grey Spain for an organization that runs an anonymous helpline for at-risk children. Using lenticular printing the poster campaign shows a different message to adults and children based on the height of the person viewing it.

Also doing the rounds this week is Jonathan Harris’s latest work. I’m a long time fan ever since i saw We feel fine. His latest project follows nine women who make lesbian porn It’s billed as showing you the side of porn you never see, the real people and their thoughts and dreams.

I’m interested in how this develops especially with the pricing model which is $10 for a ticket to the show and only 10 tickets issued each day. Will it help people view porn (any-type) differently or will this become buried, deemed boring and seem expensive when you can get porn pretty much anywhere now for free. Do people want to see the other side of porn on the internet?

The calm before the storm. 7am at the Arc de triomphe

Hanging out in our Parisian apartment post race. Airbnb I love you.

And now we eat

Legs aching, gotta keep moving. Off to see some sights

The art of presentation in Merci

Observing how the french get a giant Piano out of a compact Parisian apartment

Admire some simple and effective signage

Catch a rainbow at the top of Monmartre

And another, just as we get to the station and head back to London

Thanks Paris

Constantin Brancusi a Romanian-born sculptor set out for Paris on foot from Romania in 1903 and pioneered the extreme simplification of forms. We visited his studio which he bequeathed with all its contents to the Musée National d’Art Moderne. Simply stunning work that looks as fresh and modern today I cannot imagine how genius this must have been in 1920.

We did it. The Paris marathon is over and the training paid off. Unlike my first marathon in 2011 which was very much a solo affair I had my boyfriend good friend and 5 time marathon runner Pippa to get through our training plan this very long cold winter.

With a time of 3hours and 37 Minutes (that’s a 30 minute PB) I’m pretty happy and it turns out the time gets me entry into London next year. Two weeks ago I was never running another marathon but now, well maybe.

With London I was always against the clock in my training and it was very much my thing. Music was my best friend and Saturday was always our proper catch up but this time i barley listened to music and it was good. I learned to listen to my body and breathing more and when I got tweak and pains I could do something about it without panicking.

The conversations and silence you achieve on a 20 mile run is something different to music and it is one of the most wonderful things about running with others. You understand each other differently after that. But don’t get me wrong a run home through the city alone with my music blaring. That one is hard to beat to. Time and a place.

So Paris although more entrants than London seemed less hectic and more spacious, there was definitely less winding at the beginning. The conditions on the day could not have been better. We arrives at the Arc de Triomphe to see the sun rising and it stayed out all day with little wind but still cool at 10 – 11 degrees.

The route looped us across the city and through parts of Paris I will probably never see again, I loved the drummers and random bands and chants of allez allez along the way and the run along the river was a welcomed distraction.

Refreshments may seem like an odd highlight but every 5k we had water stands and fresh oranges, bananas and raisins, these fresh and cold snacks were much better than the sugary syrupy drinks and gels at normal races.

For this race I only switched my runkeeper on 2 miles in so frustratingly had to wait for my time but I also didn’t listen to my splits through the run, Pippa would always laugh at my obsession with the data after our runs but it was very refreshing to run this without the runkeeper lady telling me how I was doing. This was all in my head and legs and it worked.

Next I am definitely keen to do some half marathons again and see some more cities along the way and if i get a free spot for London, it would seem silly not to use it. We will see. Thank you Pippa and Bradley. What a run, what a year so far. x

Such a lovely film from Martin Parr about Teddy Grays the sweet manufacturers who still don’t use any computers to run their business.

Parr captures the creativity of this factory beautifully and leaves you hankering for a real traditional sweet shop from your childhood with the staff in the film serving you you quarter of strawberries and cream.

marvinslondon:

HAVE NO FEAR, MARVIN IS HERE

http://ow.ly/jFPuk 

on tumblr: http://thegemb1.tumblr.com/post/47034112358

I cannot wait to see the David Bowie exhibition at the V & A. Thanks for the review and quote Quietus.

“All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings.”

Last Wednesday I got a last minute chance to attend the Nike Flyknit event I had seen hashtagged all over instagram at the beginning of the week. Still needing to clock some miles that evening and the chance to try our a pair of these new Flyknits trainers I finished work and headed to Somerset House.

The premise of the evening was a run around London like never before and a chance to try out Nike latest innovation. So after handing over my trainers and ID I got myself a shiny light pair of pink and grey flyknits to try out. Being a very loyal Asics girl since my cross country and track days in school I was actually excited about getting to try these out without handing over the cash.

After an intro from Run Dem Crew’s Charlie Dark we were off, running around Somerset House grounds to warm up and then out to the streets. With Run Dem leading the run it was always going to be more than standard 10k through London.

We did some sprints near Millennium bridge and some stairs which was good opportunity to really get a feel for the trainers and how they support your legs and feet. They are super light so feel great at the beginning and after being steamed they do fit like a glove. We ran about 5 miles with quite a lot of stopping which is to be expected when in such a big group. Gotta be safe, but I must admit I was kinda desperate to get some momentum going and really see how they felt.

By the end of the run my front toes seemed to be pushing on the front a bit too much and after only five miles I’m not sure I would want to wear these for a full marathon but I think a half might be ok. The next day my soleus muscles were perhaps a little more painful than after a normal run but that is to be expected after trying out new trainers. I’m not sure I would stray from my Asics yet but I definitely wouldn’t mind a pair to wear out and about. Great marketing though and well organised event, if only they had let us keep the trainers…

collegegarthkennels:

We are working overtime on our Facebook page tonight trying to reach 1000 likes. Help us spread the word about our #rescue #dogs !! #whippets #straydogs (at College Garth Kennels)

on tumblr: http://thegemb1.tumblr.com/post/45046730782

Good morning runnings (at Finsbury Park)

on tumblr: http://thegemb1.tumblr.com/post/44608652999