Spangleyed

Those extraordinary red chairs in 2001: A Space Odyssey weren’t science-fiction props. They were real furniture, designed by Olivier Mourgue in the 1960s. A fascinating account of the French designer whose work helped Stanley Kubrick imagine the future.

Pet Shop Boys release their musical tribute to pioneering mathematician, and the grandfather of modern computing, Alan Turing tomorrow, 12 years after its Proms debut. 

You would normally see the Northern Lights from the ground looking up. But if you get far enough away from the planet you can look down on them. 

Some of the best times in my life have been in the company of Kim Deal. From Pixies (many times) to Breeders (alas, only once) she’s always been around for me. I can’t wait for this.

Johnny Marr picks five of his own songs that explain how he got from The Smiths to here. The connecting thread isn’t a particular guitar sound — it’s trying to keep moving.

“When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention.”

Marilyn Monroe is the photograph everybody knows. The other 129 pictures in this new Eve Arnold retrospective may be considerably more interesting. Got to get to this before it closes next year.

Farwave is a lovely idea. Pick somewhere in the world, find a radio station, and listen to whatever happens to be playing there.
No algorithm trying to work out what you already like. Just turn the dial and see what you find.

Man alive, the videos on here have not convinced me the cool animation when you open and close the iPhone Duo isn’t one of the best things about it… although the rest of it looks amazing too.

This isn’t a bad idea, and all for the good. But I still kind of hope Zack still wins to stir it up at Westminster.

I haven’t been particularly convinced by folding phones so far, but Apple’s first attempt might do it. An iPhone that opens into something approaching an iPad mini feels less like a gimmick and more like a genuinely useful new kind of thing.
It’s £1,999, mind.

If this documentary about notorious Silicon Valley founder Elizabeth Holmes is like its trailer all the way through there’s no way I’ll make it to the end…

This automated film scanner looks both cool and useful. I wish I could find something like this that would do Super 8…

This is a great piece on the final chapter of what must be one of the most remarkable TV projects of all time.

A new book offers a fascinating look at what Bowie was listening to and when he was listening to it. By someone who was actually there.

Streaming was supposed kill physical copies of films, but just like vinyl records, they are refusing to go away. 

In fact, they’re having a moment, with releases of restored version of some proper classics coming this’ll and fast. 

Maybe people actually want to, you know, own the stuff they buy. 

I’m sorry, what? We can’t even be bothered to floss now?

Big fan of the Wham! and of George, and this documentary is utterly fascinating. It reveals a lot about George and Andrew, about what life in China was like in 1985, and the impact the Wham! shows had on those that were there. 

It’s on BBC iPlayer now. 

I’ve not been in a nightclub for years, but these photos from 20 years of Manchester’s Warehouse Project took me straight back there — the lights, the sweat, the faces appearing out of the dark, that strange feeling of it being three in the morning and nowhere else existing.

It’s easy to photograph a DJ. Much harder to photograph what a night actually felt like.

These do.

“We’re into some real foolishness now. It’s Lake Ontario, buddy.“