THE VEYRON.

We were in Knightsbridge in London last week where S-classes, Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis aren't even worth a second look they're SO common, but even such jaded individuals as ourselves had to stop and take a photo of the new Bugatti Veyron. A rebirth of the classic brand under the Volkswagen group, the Veyron not only boasts a 16 (!) cylinder engine which produces over 1000 horsepower, it also accelerates from 0-60 in 2.5 seconds (!!), can top 250 mph (!!!) and has a basic price of about 1.5 million US dollars (!!!!).

Rather less incredibly, it was being driven by a couple of twenty-something Arab kids who had illegally parked to rush inside Louis Vuitton (a fashion emergency obviously), intelligently leaving the car outside, unoccupied, with the engine RUNNING.

Of course you'd have to be colourblind to steal a car in that colour combo - even worse, on the back of the car the owner had his initials stencilled in large orange script... Nice to know you still can't buy taste, no matter how rich you are.

Personally we'd rather have one of these (parked a couple of blocks away).

SBTG DUNK LAUNCH EVENT. SINGAPORE.

the maestro himself (what's in the boxes? check later post...)

Dropped by Nike's SBTG dunk launch party at our friend Ann's store FRONT ROW in Singapore a week ago. Being the first Asia-only and Asian-designed SB, Nike went all out with the decor and the free-flow champagne... All the usual suspects were on-hand including Mark SBTG and the Royale Fam, the Nike crew, the Surrender crew, and Lucas from GALLERY as well as some new faces like the PREDUCE crew from Bangkok.

The ground floor had the main event, bar and SB display, then higher up they had a mock-up Royale Fam 'bedroom' with a display of SBTG customs, and finally a DJ on the roof. More photos at STREETHING.

ground floorfirst floor
available at your local Bed, Bath & Beyond store soon...Alvin from Surrender / Ambushrooftop

the rotating SBTG dunk cabinet

LONDON CALLING.

Caught up with Kezia in London (one of the original 707 crew), currently pursuing her dream to be a fashion designer at the famed Central St. Martin's . Known for her quirky and original sense of fashion, her weird sense of humor, and for always looking left, she is sorely missed....

TOY COMPETITION ENDS. ON DISPLAY NOW.

Our THIS IS NOT A TOY customizing competition has officially reached its deadline. Thanks to all that entered these amazing designs - we appreciate your efforts (and in many cases, your obvious need of psychiatric attention).

All entries will be on display at 707 from now until Sunday closing, winners will be decided by a chosen jury and visitors to the store, so come check it out and vote for your fave...

THE FRESHMAKERS.

Rare Green Apple MENTOS only of course...

Major congratulations are in order as Jakarta's 'freshest' couple tied the knot this weekend. As always, wearing fashion so ahead of its time that even we don't understand it. Rumors going around are that it's from Heidi Slimane's 2008 collection... Truly happy for you guys.

TWELVE BAR BEARBRICK.

BEARBRICK collectors know that every series there's at least one blindboxed design that's ultra-rare and not even shown on the side of the box. For series 12 a design was done by the boys at TWELVE BAR. We got a sneak peak of a production version... Chances of getting it is 1/192.

CASA (BERLIN NOT JAKARTA).

Spent Saturday evening at the invite-only Lounge and Party held by Nike at their ID Studio in Casa 103 (many thanks to Bianca). Upstairs was the studio and the JOGA BONITA exhibition, downstairs was the club where Fraser Cooke and Michael K. (Gimme5, Hideout etc..) were spinning. Sorry no photos of the event... Crowd included everyone from The Hundreds, Jeff Staple and gang, and Twelve Bar, to King Stampede, Norse Projects, Answer and many, many more...

For a few photos check Jeff Staple's blog.

THE LOVE PARADE.

'Bouncers' at all entrances to the Tiergarten.

The world-famous LOVE PARADE made its return to Berlin on Saturday after a two year hiatus, headlined by DJ's like Tiesto and number one ranked Paul Van Dyk.

Ordinarily we'd rather stab ourselves repeatedly in the eye with a glow stick than hang out with one million drugged-out ravers in baggy neon clothing 'dancing' to cranked-up techno, but, since it was only ten minutes walk from the hotel we made the effort for our beloved blog readers.

One minute's walk from the main route, the scene looked like this;


One minute's walk later the scene looked like this;

Incredibly, not the worst dressed people there. Not even close.

Tiesto's float. Great thing about a photo is you can't hear the music.

Ten minutes later we were in a taxi.

NEUE NATIONALGALERIE.

The cameraphone shots do no justice to the stunning New National Gallery in Berlin by modernist master Mies van der Rohe. Perfectly proportioned (and unintentionally also great for skating - see figures in the foreground), this was the final building of the architect famous for the aphorisms 'Less is more' and 'God is in the details', and the Barcelona chair overused in every hotel and boutique these days.

SATURDAY IN BERLIN.

Is it a bird? Is it a...? Nope, just Ben & Bobby Hundreds taking care of business.

Twelve Bar & Steven

Mike from King Stampede

Some of our friends pushing urban style to new heights and proving yet again that it takes more than a copy of Illustrator, some blank T's and a silkscreen to make a collection (and that you don't need a high school diploma to make it in the real world). Worth the 7000 mile trip to hang with them in person...

ANDRE AT APARTMENT.

Noticed one of French graf artist ANDRE's iconic long-legged characters when visiting our friends at cult Berlin store APARTMENT (that's Christof's silhouette skulking inside the window).

BERLIN IN PIECES.

Just arrived back in Berlin. Not quite sure what the deal is with leftover pieces of the Berlin Wall, but they must be going cheap - within a couple of hours we'd already seen three sections dotted around the city (the first right outside our hotel).

MUSTAFA MASSAGE.

Saw this Rube Goldberg style 'health centre' during our latest visit to MUSTAFA's in Singapore. For 10 Sing dollars ('Special offer! Reduced from $50!') they'll put you inside while jets on rails slide back and forth firing at your body, supposedly massaging you. In order to prevent you getting wet, they put you inside some sort of plastic body bag first (great for claustrophobics). Then in a brilliant move sure to enhance the relaxing effect, Mustafa's has positioned the contraption near a store entrance in the middle of the pharmacy section, so you simultaneously get to be ridiculed by a constant stream of shoppers.

N.B. For those that don't know, MUSTAFA in Little India in Singapore is one of our favourite department stores anywhere in the world. It takes up two full city blocks (linked underground), sells everything from plasma TV's to cars, has its own travel agent, money changer, Singapore Post Office branch, super-low (and haggle-free) pricing and is open 24 HOURS A DAY.

ERICK MORILLO & PORSCHE.

Just happened to see this while browsing the magazine racks. The unquestionably great 1983 Porsche Design folding sunglasses being worn by the rather more questionable DJ Erick Morillo. Congrats to the lucky few who had the taste to buy the few mint-condition, brand-new (but 23 years old!), deadstock pairs we had in the store earlier this year... Hope this photo doesn't put you off your purchase.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Earn & Elvi

Bobby (Butter Factory) & Glenda C.

Very belated 'Happy Birthday' to Earn Chen, the mastermind behind SURRENDER. If you haven't seen his store you haven't seen Singapore. Check it out in Far East Plaza for his own line as well as the only officially imported selection of NEIGHBOURHOOD, VISVIM and HEADPORTER merchandise.

The celebrations were held at new club THE BUTTER FACTORY, also well worth checking out, especially for the character art on display around the bar and the decor by the PHUNK STUDIO gang... A rough night.

YET ANOTHER FILM CREW.

If you don't know what these are you should be ashamed.
We're ashamed you're reading our blog.
(707 bag at the back signed by SBTG and Methamphibian when they came by)

Another crew came in to do a story on 707. Normally we turn down most requests to film in 707 unless they involve cute presenters or sneakers. This was the latter so we let Bergas handle it. Check JakTV (I think?) for the footage.

TOY COMPETITION DEADLINE EXTENDED!

As a result of the strong response to the THIS IS NOT A TOY exhibition and the customized toys on display, we have decided to extend the deadline of the competition to Friday, July 21st.

The flyers and limited edition BoxR toy designed by 707 and Good Guys Never Win Toy Co. are available at 707 as well as all Aksara bookstores (while supplies last - very low at the moment!). The BoxR toy costs only 30.000 apiece. The flyer may also be downloaded in one of our earlier blog posts.

Lots of prizes to be won in various categories including an iPod (sponsored by emac@icon), a 1 million rupiah gift voucher for 707, special edition T's by Maharishi x Michael Lau x Kubrick, and more... To see some of the current entries, visit 707.

THE ADAMS ROCK 707.

Alt-rock foursome THE ADAMS have been regular customers, buying VINTAGE 55 and TROVATA from 707 for their live appearances. So, when they asked us to help them set up a party on the roof of our building for their first video shoot we were happy to help. If anyone else needs help doing midday partying by the pool with models in bikinis, please don't be afraid to contact us... We're thoughtful like that. All in all a good time had by all, check the video by director Dadit S. on MTV soon.

Hanin hard at work. Delegating.

Abel and the RC copter used for aerial shots. Really.