North v South

North v South – less regular than a bran-intolerate heroin addict.

We ask the questions that the Conservative and Labour parties are too afraid to ask:

How are your biorhythms this morning?

Will there be baby woodpeckers in Rob's garden this winter?

What is a brand guru and is it strictly legal?

And, finally, what kind of casserole would Darth Vader eat?

Get ready to shed 96 tears. We're back.

We talk Wim Crouwel, Somerset House, Nokia, rival podcasts, paper aeroplanes, Lego adverts, ketchup and the imminent end of civilisation.

Links:

• Provenance by Ann Leckie — Rob's reading the latest Ann Leckie slice of sci-fi. And very good it is too.
• Alamein to Zem Zem | Faber & Faber — Jon's latest read. The only book of poems from WWII comparable to those of the Great War by Owen, Sassoon, or Graves.
• Netflix - Abstract — Netflix's excellent art and design documentary series is back for season 2. We've both enjoyed the episode on Jonathon Hoefler.
• Inktober — Mr Jake Parker — Inktober. Get your pens ready for a month of drawing.
• Membership Options | Somerset House — Somerset house has announced details of its membership options. Surprisingly affordable.
• Design Manchester – Manchester’s seventh design festival, from 11–22 October 2017 — Designer Manchester, running from 11th – 24th November.
• A profile of Wim Crouwel: the Dutch graphic designer - YouTube — A profile of legendary designer Wim Crouwel who died recently.
• Why Every CEO Needs to Think Like a Hacker, Stalker, or White Nationalist — Good article on why creators of (mainly) digital products and platforms need to consider how they can be used for bad, as well as good.
• The Rissington Podcast: Episode 21 - Housekeeping & warming up after a 10 year break — Back after ten years away.
• Nokia 2720 Flip | Nokia phones | United Kingdom - English — Nokia producing a lovely looking little flip phone.
• Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Alpha is almost entirely made of screen - The Verge — Xiaomi produces a ludicrously sci-fi looking smartphone. Check out the light show as it charges.
• Daniel Benneworth-Gray on Twitter: "Fascinating thread on the deeply personal ways in which we visualise time. https://t.co/z6EiIgpx1I" / Twitter — Incredible.
• POWERUP 4.0 | Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane by Shai Goitein — Kickstarter — It wouldn't be an episode of NvS without a Kickstarter. This one looks great.
• Lego reveals first brand campaign in 30 years, Rebuild the World | It's Nice That — Curious new brand campaign from Lego.
• Heinz Pour Perfectly - Rethink Canada — We're both in agreement. This is a bit ridiculous.
• New Studies Warn of Cataclysmic Solar Superstorms - Scientific American — Rob's prediction for the likeliest doomsday scenario. Cheerful stuff.
• Photographer Philip Butler traces the surviving iconic Odeon cinemas of the 1930s | Creative Boom — Rob's website/article/book of the week. Philip Butler's wonderful photographs of 1920's and 30's Odeon cinemas.
• Flexible, resilient and nimble | Supple Studio — Jon's website of the week. Supple studio. Great looking and effective site, for a small studio, producing lovely design, that seems like a great place to work.

Links:

You want eclectic. We deliver.

Our Deeply Unintelligent™ AI units have digested the internet and spend an hour talking about a whole load of utter nonsense: Camping, depression, 3D resin printers, Blender, Bocage, Lemmie, Mindhunter, Creative constipation, Inktober, District 9, Alan Moore, Vanta black cars, Boots, John Harris, Dieter Rams, London Design Festival. And pies.

You want eclectic. We deliver.

A ruined building stands alone, wreathed in vines, wrapped in mystery. Its cracked portico reveals a dark and brooding entrance, occasionally brightened by a pulsing red dot of light. Inside lurks Episode 94 of the podcast that is, and isn't, about design. Lost in time. Forgotten by civilisation. Waiting. Just for you…

In this episode we look at a new Akira, online criticism, linocuts, LEGO Space, single line typefaces, meander maps and Apollo XI in realtime.

Links:

• The Etherington Brothers — Rob got the latest offering from the Etherington Bros - an absolute must for anyone, young or old, in to drawing.
• Heather Antos on Twitter: "PRO TIP…" — Sage advice from Heather.
• All 7 new LEGO City Space sets for summer 2019 are now available [News] | The Brothers Brick | The Brothers Brick — It's Space Jon, but not as we know it.
• The Marvelous Mississippi River Meander Maps — Map madness.
• BBC World Service - 13 Minutes to the Moon — Relive the Apollo 11 moon mission.
• Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 shortlist – in pictures | Science | The Guardian — My God, it's full of stars.
• Giorgio Morandi - Wikipedia — Jon has discovered a new artist…
• Counter-Print Book Set — Jon's reading list for the next… eight years.
• ColorLibrary | The Unique Furnace in Venice | Orsoni Venezia 1888 — Class glass.
• National Park Typeface — Gorgeous typeface, and website. Yogi Bear would be proud.
• Cutting Edge: Modernist British Printmaking | Dulwich Picture Gallery — An exhibition of 1930s British printmaking over at The Dulwich Picture Gallery.
• The Stack: Every Layout — Jon was very excited about this resource for website design / coding. Rob, not so much.
• Apollo 11 in Real-time — More Apollo 11 goodness (well the anniversary is coming up). Relive the entire Apollo 11 mission in real time.

Links:

Hello. It's us again. We continue to creep towards a hundred much like Geoff Boycott in his pomp.

This week we talk about, in no particular order: model robots, LEGO Space, Worzel Gummidge, notebooks, touch typing, Mac Pro, sweet wrappers, knots, the evils of social media, and, biensûr, pies.

Links:

• Digital Agency London - TOKYO | Fyre Festival — Tokyo Agency are brave enough to show their work for the ill-fated Fyre Festival.
• NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander - 10266 | Creator Expert | LEGO Shop — Celebrating the Apollo 11 moon landing, Lego has a new Creator Expert set available.
• Apollo 11 Command Module — See inside the Apollo 11 command module.
• Britannia (TV series) - Wikipedia — Jon's been watching Britannia.
• Why Ignoring Your Children Will Make Everyone Happier by Tom Hodgkinson | Hachette UK — Jon's been listening to this.
• The new Mac Pro is Apple’s love letter to forgotten die-hard Mac fans | Macworld — The new Apple Mac Pro
• Totebook – Studio Neat — We love this notebook. Also check out the pano version.
• Wrappers Delight by Jonny Trunk — Kickstarter — A new book celebrating nostalgic sweet wrappers.
• Animated Knots by Grog | Learn how to tie knots with step-by-step animation — Just wonderful!
• Can “Indie” Social Media Save Us? | The New Yorker — Great article on some of the options available if you want social media - but don't want to play with the big boys.

Links:

Roll up, roll up. Listen to a dog drinking beer. From Belgium. The beer, that is. The dog's from England, mate.

In other news: Panic's Playdate, BT's new look, Manga at the British something or other, Microsoft browsers, Shanghai bookshops, and, naturellement, pies.

Links:

• Playdate. A New Handheld Gaming System — Software house Panic have branched out in to Hardware with a cute little hand-held games console.
• IM Pei: celebrated architect behind Louvre pyramid dead at 102 | Art and design | The Guardian
• Mirrored Ceilings and Criss-Crossed Stairwells Give a Chinese Bookstore the Feeling of an M.C. Escher Woodcut | Colossal — A stunning bookstore in China.
• X+Living — Architects of the bookstore above.
• "Street Corner at World’s End, London, 1954. — A wonderful photo that cropped up in Rob's Twitter feed, by Inge Morath.
• Love is the Devil — Jon's been watching Love and the Devil and digging deeper in to the life of painter Francis Bacon.
• Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma: Amazon.co.uk: Michael Peppiatt: 8601417755228: Books — Bacon reading.
• Microsoft Edge Insider — Microsoft is back with a new browser for the Mac.
• BT unveils new logo after years of work – its name in a circle | Business | The Guardian — BT rebrand. The usual pile-on via social media.
• Manga at the British Museum exhibition review — Manga comes to the British Museum.
• Fighting Fantasy Fest 3 | fightingfantasy — Who knew there was a convention for Fighting Fantasy books? Not us.
• Airline Logos — Wonderful collection of mid-century US airline logos from Reagan Ray.
• South Coast Journal — How to do a local magazine the right way.
• Fantasma - Magic Rock Brewing — Gluten Free IPA from Magic Rock.
• A new Guy Warley print over at Ellipress — 'Cockpit' a new print from sci-fi illustrator Guy Warley - available in LP (320mm) or Single (200mm) sizes.
• Rob's got a brand new Patreon — Rob's developing his Weird-Field World of spaceships and alien technology over at Patreon.