Can it possibly get more impressive than this? For further photos, go here - simply stunning.

Get this, it will contain “five theatres, a music hall, concert hall, opera house, drama theatre and a flexible theatre.”

NYT article on a small 65 square foot pre-build abode in Colorado, which is part of a growing trend of living small in the great outdoors.

Am I wrong to love these shoes? They’re my favourites. They’re at least 10 years old. They were bought in Alcampo, a Spanish equivalent of Wal-Mart. They’re an intentional rip-off of Camper, they cost me about five euros, and they’ve a great bloody tear near the heel. The first day I wore them, I took them to a nightclub, and they were destroyed: beer, gunk, scratches, beer stains, you name it. I took them home, and had the bright idea that perhaps pure alcohol would clean them in a way that no household detergent or shoe cleaner would.

So with cotton wool in hand, and 100% alcohol in the other, I set about cleaning them. Clean them, it did - but it also left them with some major discolouration around the toe. Disgusted, I threw them in a press. They were saved about 2 years later when I realised the discolouration gave them real personality, and I’ve worn them into the ground since - they’ve been to move live gigs than the Spice Girls! And I adore them.

Like or loathe the Irishwoman, you’ll admit that she’s a unique individual. I’ve seen her perform on a number of occasions, and my response to these live performances puts me firmly in the “like” category. Sinead’s attitude on stage is meek. Meek, that is, ’til her voice soars loud and true, and her passion for her art comes to the fore. She’s Ireland’s finest export, unpredictable, beautiful, passionate, iconic.

First it was Karl Lagerfeld for H&M, though afterwards Lagerfeld accused H&M of snobbery because the retailer only created limited quantities of the collection. That hasn’t stopped other designers, and we’ve since seen Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf create successful lines for the high street store.

And so we wait for Roberto Cavalli at H&M (November 8th!)

Here’s the fall-out after Viktor & Rolf went on sale in H&M Amsterdam. Funny stuff:

Do you ever feel that models are mere puppets? Here’s Ali Stephens of Elite being screentested. Note how eyes go back to centre when camera goes too far to side. Note lack of reaction. Note how pencil thin she is.

A little sad, I feel.

Revealing the all-new fashionably-designed Irish rugby jersey, used in the recent Rugby World Cup in France.

Special.

(With extracts borrowed from an earlier post of mine on another blog.)

In the changing room there is another set of rules.

I don’t just mean the don’t-look-below-the-waistline-rule.

First, note: I’m a white-assed, freckle-endowed, non-muscular, burn-easy Irishman in Barcelona.

Today, having been at the local pool, I found myself in the midst of a very busy male changing room, Catalan being spoken all around me, with a race of people who:
a) actually have summers (and Autumns) where you can go to the >outdoor< pool;
b) who have white-asses, sure, but are dark-brown elsewhere;
c) who have grown up and lived their lives to date in swimming pool changing rooms, unlike me.

There’s an unhurried cool in Barcelona swimming pool changing rooms; and this contrasts wildly with my hurry-to-get-my-underwear-on style, with one still-wet foot in the air, while the other foot balances precariously atop a flipflop.

I realise I’m getting it all-wrong. I’m letting my shorts drip on an otherwise dry floor; I haven’t brought a hairbrush, nor skin moisturiser for that matter, nor a separate towel for my face. I’m an Irishman for God’s sake, we don’t DO that kind of thing!

It’s cultural… that’s about the only comfort I can offer myself. I wonder if another year, or ten, of post-pool Sunday-afternoon experiences will ever give me that natural changing room cool? Somehow I doubt it.

… for Christmas, I would like to have the artistic skill of Dave Gorum. Thank you. Mark

Erlend Øye is hard to niche-fit. Coming to my attention as one part of Kings Of Convenience, moving through solo projects, and currently touring with Whitest Boy Alive, he’s constantly put out very accessible tunes, without disappearing down the commercial chute.

Tranquil-until-the-rocky-party might capture him; bespectacled, curly-haired and polite, he’s not your average front-man - but in Dublin’s Olympia while playing as part of KOC I saw him climb over 2 metres above stage and onto a very unsolid-looking speaker to thereafter jump back onto the stage, belying everyone’s impression he was just a pussycat.

Probably a good definition of what an artist should be: Talented, without being a pain in the arse.

I like the Skunkfunk brand, with a few independent stores dotted around the back-streets and cooler areas of Barcelona, away from the tourist-infested main thoroughfares, they’re a break from the norm (norm: Zara, Mango, Massimo Dutti, Zara again, Oysho etc)

Kicking-off in the Basque country (Northern Spain/Southern France) they’ve opened up in a plethora of locations as far away as Tokyo and San Francisco.

But boy do they LOVE green! And not a dark green, which I’d wear… but a lime green green - a green that’d be a little hard to get away with, unless you’re living in a place where the sun shines morning to night. I can’t see it being a success on Dame Street in Dublin on a pissy-wet October evening.

Still, I like their style, it’s brave and it’s young, and it’s keeping-it-small while resisting to be everywhere-at-once, which will be the downfall of fellow-Spanish start-up Desigual, who were once niche… but they got greedy.

I had the good fortune to be in Paris last weekend, and I visited the Pompidou Centre, which is a place I haven’t been to since early 1996.

It’s the most fabulously ugly building, both inside and out, but it contains the beating heart of what has become a very trendy area full of designer shops, little cafes and restaurants.

With free wi-fi inside the foyer, a too-cute-to-resist trinket and design shop, a coffee shop with commanding views of the entire place, and an art-oriented bookstore that you could spend HOURS in, the place was abuzz.

It’s not the easiest place in the world to navigate around, I found myself in the middle of a restaurant at one stage, and wasn’t sure if it was a modern art installation or a hallucination. No, I jest, but it IS a tough place to get around, and I left it feeling I’d missed a floor, or a display, because as big as it is I felt I’d only seen 2 or 3oo pieces, which seems a lot in print, but not when you’re actually there.

Still, a joy, a true joy. Here’s a nameless piece from a nameless corridor, in a nameless gallery, on just one of the many floors inside Pompidou Centre - visit next time you’re in Paris, I recommend.

I saw Lerche back in 2004, when he was a mere 22 years old, and was playing his way around Europe solo. I was taken by his poise, and his tunes. Standing in Whelan’s of Dublin, just a guitar between him and the audience, the first night of his tour… he was a study in confidence.

Attitude On-Stage number five goes to Sondre Lerche of Sweden.

I came across some thought provoking street art by Mark Jenkins recently, so I thought I’d share this piece, one of my favourites from what I’ve seen.

There’s a lot more to enjoy on his site here.

I found a great short video on YouTube, which illustrates the work of Reverse Graffiti artist Alexandre Orion. Poignant piece, actually.

Imma Gibert’s work is imagination itself. She takes such simple objects - rings, brooches, hairpins and makes them special - delicate to the touch, handmade and all one-of-a-kind.

Imma sent me this shot, which is a close-up of a necklace, made finished with silver and copper. At this magnification, the quality of the work is evident.

Not available online, or in the shops, you’ll have to come to Barcelona 08001 to be the proud owner!

Does it get any better than this level of brilliance?

An advert in Hamburg harbour for Germany’s “Mondo Pasta”.

Introducing Gemma Pampalona, with a workshop about a skateboard’s throw from MACBA in Barcelona, jewellery artiste extraordinaire.

Gemma creates primarily in crochet, and her strength lies in earrings, but extends to necklaces and bracelets. Very delicate work.

Courtesy of Santiago Calatrava, the Puente del Alamillo (bridge) in Seville, Spain dates back to 1992, and is a particular beauty at night.

It was designed just after the architect had impressed with his namesake telecommunications tower in Barcelona, which I can see from my kitchen window - that tower, I adore, and it will definitely appear on these pages in future. Calatrava has recently completed the James Joyce Bridge in darling Dublin, but he’s currently working on bigger things in the States mostly these days, namely… Ground-Zero in NY.

This, is probably the most beautiful piece of cinematography I have ever seen. And it’s only a trailer.