PSFK Author:
Ruby Pseudo

Studio Myerscough and Luke Morgan have transformed an old railway carriage into something of a local hotspot. The Deptford Project Café is a retired rail car that has been brightened up with licks of luminous paint, retro song lyrics, a bathroom dedicated to Elvis and endearing sayings like ‘I saved this for you’ on the seats of their stools.
As if that wasn’t friendly enough, they also serve locally sourced food and farmed coffee, along with putting on art shows, barbecues and a weekend creative market that showcases art, design, music and film. The Café is the first bold step in a regeneration project to inject some life back in the Deptford Train Station area.
Studio Myerscough are also known for London’s Largest Living Room at Somerset House earlier this year as well as exhibitions in the Science Museum, The Barbican and the London Design Museum.

The Causeway is the world’s first private island rehab facility, offering treatments for alcohol and drug addiction, stress and overworking and general psychological problems. Located off the Blackwater Esturary in Essex, just 30 minutes from central London, the retreat is only accessible by helicopter and an ancient causeway road that is visible for just an hour a day at low tide. Offering complete privacy within a 350 acre island, the Causeway charges a £5,000-£10,000 weekly tariff dependent on what type of accommodation you choose (the fee also convers meals, 24 hour medical care, daily therapy, personal training and recreational activities like yoga and pottery). Visitors can either stay in The Village made up of 2 and 3 bedroom houses where living accommodations are shared, The Manor house with private 5 star rooms or, an extension of that, The Cottages, which offer more discrete lodgings for individuals or couples. There are sports facilities available if guests wish to play some tennis or go fishing for an afternoon and Causeway can even arrange one-to-one personal training sessions with the likes of Linford Christie. After their stay, which can range from 2 weeks to 2 years, the retreat and its staff provide free after care for a year to help guests maintain their new and improved lifestyles. Amy Winehouse, of course, has already been and gone.

What with the Olympics and everything, Beijing is also currently host to tourists from all over the world trying to navigate their way around a city whose street signs are sometimes nowhere to be found. With this in mind comes Beijing Taxi Cards, a booklet of 55 cards along with a map of the city that not only fit in the palm of your hand but can also be clipped onto your belt loop or key ring. The cards display the most popular attractions in Beijing along with directions written in Chinese and a phonetic pronunciation of the place in English. When hailing a taxi visitors can either attempt to pronounce the location or simply hand over the card. In a city with 70,000 taxi drivers where few speak English, this little booklet is a step in the right (or atleast a little less confusing) direction.

Beijing Taxi Cards

In the past, you’ve only ever been able to withdraw £10 from Britain’s cash machines ($20) but Hackney, in East London, is to get the UK’s first ever machine to dispense a lower denomination on August 1st. Earlier this month, the Bank of England had argued that the nation’s high street banks were ‘sitting on piles’ of £5 notes instead of offering consumers the chance to withdraw smaller amounts. Ron Delnevo, the managing director of Bank Machine, explained it would be of ‘great benefit’ to customers, adding ‘our campaign is particularly timely given the new credit crunch’.

It started with Derek ‘Drizzy D.R.O’ Davis inviting his friends to call him up and ask him to rap about any subject, but they enjoyed it so much they started telling their mates too. Now, in 35 states, and 3 countries, Derek’s Press/Play hotline is increasingly popular. If he answers, he’ll rap about anything you ask him to, if he doesn’t – leave a message and he’ll get back to you with a ‘customized rap’… Strangely enough, he’s now busy 24/7, and his viral fan base is constantly growing. With friends like his, who needs PR agencies? Watch the video below to see Drizzy at work.

The Troubadour, in West London’s Earls Court, first opened in 1954 and has been host to legends like Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan in it’s time – all strumming snugly on The Club’s tiny stage downstairs.

Whilst the venue has expanded over the years to include The Garrett, which can sleep four people, a deli next door and a menu beatniks, pop-stars and the rich gratefully graze on, it’s latest offering is far more intimate. In a rather maverick move for place, last night was their 1950s themed Rock ‘n’ Roll poetry night with a fifties themed quiz afterwards. Perhaps – in true Troubadour style - it’s going up against the ‘Uncle Fagin’s Big Top Circus’; an open platform night of films, poetry, performance and improvisation run by the coolest kids from Central Saint Martins at the Soho Arts Club… Or the fact that the 50s are live and swinging with teens in East London – one bright night a week – at what is otherwise a strip joint in. Either way, the Beatniks are back, and London loves it.

A Facebook organized party that was to be held in Torbay, Devon has been cancelled after British police used unprecedented powers to force the whole town to stop selling alcohol. More than 7,000 Facebook fans looked set to turn up at this Friday causing the police to apply for a magistrates 24 hour ban under the 2003 Licensing Act. All off-licenses, pubs and bars in the town were to be closed. Today’s media attention, however, has meant that the event had to either be cancelled or a license issued for it to go ahead. As of now, the group page is still up, with an explanation warning that anyone turning up at the weekend party will be asked to leave or face arrest. Meanwhile, diehard partygoers are filling up the Facebook event wall (now 1400-plus comments long) with schemes on where to take the party instead.

In the first of a three part series, the Teen Lab at Alcatel-Lucent has revealed that time shifting is the new rule for today’s youth in terms of TV consumption. Apparently, parents are no longer making the decisions about what their kids do or don’t watch, nor when they watch it. In the research, more than half of the ‘lab members’ were watching TV on their computers or storing it for later viewing – at a time that suited them. On top of this, nearly two-thirds were using a DVR to store their shows.

Social networking sites, proved not to be a mode through which teens felt apt to discuss television; instead, old-fashioned face-to-face conversation was found to be what informed them overall, with 80% of respondents learning about shows from either friends or adverts, and 90% sharing opinions via word of mouth on what they had watched. Conversely, only 14% were sharing opinions about TV shows and series online.

Read the full article here.

Last week, speaking on behalf of Streative in Madrid, I had the opportunity to share a stage with PSFK friend Heron Preston. I had a few minutes to catch up with Heron offstage and asked him to give this Londoner his New York point of view on the American youth. Here’s what he said:

What are the most interesting things about Youth Culture in NYC at the moment?

Heron: The kids don’t need rules… They don’t follow shit and they make their own thing up… Basically they do what they want to do and they throw away history, forgetting about the past and thinking the whole city is theirs… Also, they forget what came before them, or just don’t wanna know, so they act like they’re the boss and the world revolves around them…

Have you noticed any kind of antithesis to this whole digital youth thing?

Heron: I guess so, I’ve noticed - with photography - that the real art of that is coming back, that it’s not about digital images - it’s about photography again. The kids are just taking it back to analogue - film is a good place to see that kind of stuff, the antithesis.

Name me 3 teen tribes you’re interested in, in NYC.

Heron: You know your Ghetto Gays - we have the kind of Homothugs, who vogue at house parties - they’re wild… Also, the fashion/art oriented kids, they have fascinating lifestyles… Finally, the Rich Girls - they just don’t have a fucking worry in the world… And any worry they may pretend to have is just artificial… They’re taking trips every weekend, you know - flying to Paris from New York just for a party or shopping. They also have these amazing houses in the city, and they party really hard - it’s all real fucking fun…

Story originally published on Ruby Pseudo Wants a Word