Little Biarritz

Clearly I'm on a French vein right now, having just returned from the Basque part of the country where the above video was filmed.  I probably would have posted the film anyway, though, having spent a glorious month in this part of the world when I was 19. It was during the summer holidays, there was a huge group of my friends, and we camped at Fontaine Laborde - definitely the coolest campsite I've ever been too (although it's unfortunately closed now). I'm pretty sure I saw Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson eating at the site's restaurant. For realz!

Yeah, my friends didn't believe me either.

Video by Christophe Roberts via Cooler Mag

IAM/ STAR CROSSED TATTOO

Ollie Walker is a talented friend of mine who co-started the wicked website AWEH, an online portal connecting you to cool creatives from around the world.  Since Ollie resides in Seoul but is South African, much of the content that he creates and curates for AWEH is based on people of interest who are living in Africa and Asia - two highly undervalued continents when it comes to worldwide recognition of their contemporary art scenes.  

With the advent of the internet - and therefore sites like AWEH, Durban is Yours and (hopefully) Chincha - the global, English-speaking audience is recognising that worthwhile art is not limited to European and American cities.

This video by AWEH has just been released, and is part of a new collaboration with South African clothing company IAM.  The video follows two SA tattooists Rich Phipson and Ross Turpin, who own a studio in Hong Kong called Star Crossed Tattoo.  It follows their mission as tattooists and shows some awesome shots of the tattooing process, as well as the pair's intensely unusual designs.

If you're ever in the Hong Kong area (come to Asia, it's amazing), you should definitely swing by the shop to see these guys in action.  I'm already planning my trip.

Vietnam on Film

Another Vietnam film made by another one of my friends. I'm even in this one very briefly: look for the girl making a stupid face.

Rectangles

Some of my 'mazingly talented friends at AWEH made this wicked video on an iphone while they were travelling around Vietnam last month.  Check it out - seriously - the effects are phenomenal, especially since it was made with such limited equipment.

/// RECTANGLES /// from aweh.tv on Vimeo.

They recently gave me a sneak peek of some other mini-documentaries they have in the making and they're definitely videos you're going to want to see.

Add them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter too so you can keep updated.