Front Lawn Fresh Cuts vol.IV

your mid-week source from Geordie-land

On the Playlist: Lamar, Can't Get Enough of Your Love (played every hour on every Newcastle pop station, it seems)

On the Reading List: Nick Hornby’s Otherwise Pandemonium

Current Obsession: Magazine freebies (still)! This month I scored a tote bag from Marie Claire and am still eyeing up a travel-wrap from InStyle and an umbrella that accompanies Red mag.

Design of the Times: At Baltic, Newcastle’s Centre for Contemporary Arts I recognized the work of husband and wife design/illo team Kozyndan from a past cover of Res Magazine (and discovered they are also responsible for the Postal Service's Such Great Heights single cover-art). I liked their work so much I brought home a sample for Dean and our bare walls (see below).

Have an ’Art: The pieces at Baltic which most captivated us both were two paintings by U.S. artist Ryan McGinness who uses familiar iconography to create a baroque pastiche (with the help of a spray can and stencils) that is nothing short of stunning.

Blog Log: Readymade magazine caught on to the scene and has been posting some great DIY projects in addition to the usual hipster fodder.

Crisp of the Week: McCoy’s Spicy Buffalo Wings ripple chips [3 out of 5 stars]

Brit Slang of the Week: Unhinged – drunk “The chicks in Newcastle must have already been totally unhinged when they left the house for the night.”

Insider Scoop: During WWI there weren’t enough men in parts of England to do labour jobs and hundreds of men were brought over from Arab nations to take on the tasks. To this day the beach town of South Shields has England’s greatest Arab population and as such the townspeople are known as Sand Dancers.

Countdown To: 13 days until Alan Bennett’s award-winning play The History Boys opens at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen. Crossing my fingers that we can still get tix.

To Do List: Try one more time to get a library card… they’ve turned me down twice at the Aberdeen Central Library since none of our “official” mail is in my name.

TOMORROW: photos from my visit to Newcastle! stay tuned...