The guys and gal from Blank Realm bring some lol’s to this week’s Time Off Magazine‘s Live cover shoot.

Read about Nintendo Power gloves and massage parlours in this week’s issue #1569.

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ Time Off magazine – Brisbane

Tape/Off are this week’s Time Off Magazine‘s Live cover shoot.

Check them out in this week’s issue #1568.

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ Time Off magazine – Brisbane

The Blackwater Fever guys pop in for this week’s Time Off Magazine‘s Live cover shoot. They chat about S&M shows with orchestras and Survivor… err.

We also managed to stay mostly dry at the unofficial end to festival season by heading out to the Future Music Festival.

Check it all out in this week’s issue #1567.

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ Time Off magazine – Brisbane

More Future Music Festival 2012 Brisbane photos here and here.

More Future Music Festival 2012 Brisbane photos here

03.05.2012

Nike - Paris

Ah Paris, one of the well known fashion and shopping capitals of the world… if you’re the type to frequent Rodeo Drive and the like, otherwise you have to venture further out to find outlet malls like La VallΓ©e Village.

We only had one day of shopping so we decided to keep it central and stick to the “must-see’s” which meant we gave the hoity-toity malls a miss and looked for boutique sneaker and toy stores instead πŸ˜‰

Les Halles metro station was the closest stop to most of these shops and conveniently part of the Forum des Halles shopping center which has a sunken open air section and the rest completely underground. Stores vary from high end brands to small boutiques. The few selling sneakers were more along the dressier side of things, coupled with the ever wallet punishing Euro, they were even less appealing. There’s a McDonald’s which is always a welcome sign… for free WiFi πŸ˜€

Entering the mall was fine via the metro station but exiting? Well that wasn’t quite so easy. It wasn’t till we were outside that we realised the whole thing was underground and from what we could see there was only one set of escalators out (that’s if we weren’t having another travel brain fart, which was highly likely with fatigue and jetlag clawing at our heels).

Fountain monument... thing

Up on the surface, there’s a small nature area with a fountain structure, no doubt with some historical significance like many random relics around the city… oh look Footlocker! It definitely doesn’t have the same presence here as it does in London but this store was quite large with a dedicated boutique styled store attached, specialising in basketball related apparel and sneakers – which wouldn’t look out of place in LA or NYC. The punishing Euro once again left us breezing passed a lot of items but coming across some unique pieces like a Yankees bomber jacket in hot pink with multiple team patches or a Yankees New Era cap in an illusive army green and orange colourway were too hard to resist πŸ˜‰

Couple doors down there’s Skechers and Dr. Martins, if you didn’t get enough of them in London.

Unknown sneaker store

Opium

A short walk down some narrow cobbled Carnaby styled streets sees a handful of small sportswear and street wear styled shops, many sport Diesel logos on the front, whether or not they’re all authentic is another thing. A few notable spots, Zoom flight sports – mostly lower end sports based model sneakers coupled with Diesel products and a signless sneaker store next door to Joe Allens which had an ok selection of Nikes and Vans. However THE store most heads will be here for is Opium, a store almost solely dedicated to the Jordan brand. There are a few “dressier” Nikes but predominantly Jordans, a couple region exclusive colourways like these J1’s in Torquoise and many were no longer in production so it was a fine opportunity to see some classic history in the flesh. There were also a bunch of boxes stacked to the ceiling in the back corner, possibly new stock, possibly deadstock but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to even ask ):

Shinzo

SBPro

Espace Kiliwatch

Heading north west along Rue Etienne Marcel will lead you to Shinzo, SBPro and Espace Kiliwatch. Shinzo is probably the pick of the bunch for the slightly limited releases but take notice if there is any “cleaning” going on. Turns out if there is, you’ll be told they’re “closed for cleaning” and ushered out even if you had already been browsing for a good couple minutes. I however have a sneaking suspicion that it was just more French hospitality since we didn’t look like we were going to buy anything since their prices are hardly favorable. SBPro tries terribly to latch on to Nike’s SB skateboarding range, even to the extent of incorporating a Tick like symbol in their logo, they do however have a decent selection of skate related brands and products. Espace Kiliwatch is more like City Beach or Universal with a broader selection of casual brands and styles.

artoyz

Last stop in this area was Artoyz, the Giant Robot of Paris. As much as we love Kidrobot, it was refreshing to see fewer pieces from them. Instead there is a nice selection of toys and apparel from local (city and regional) artists and what can only be described as a Posca marker vending machine! Definitely has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately prices again were bordering on cringe worthy.

Nike - Paris

Nike - Paris

Adidas - Paris

With a couple hours to spare we decided to make a pass on Paris’ Rodeo Drive, Av. Des Champs Elysees. If you’re like us and can’t fathom how someone could charge, let alone spend $100 on a ratty thin t-shirt then the only points of interest will be the Adidas and Nike flagship stores. Both encompass more than ample real estate for their location and both come complete with eye catching quirks, Adidas with its Trefoil live photo wall (your photo is taken webcam style and then displayed along with other customers from the day) and Nike with a Bill Bowerman (original co-founder) collage of button pins featuring Nike and sub brand logos to form a mural. In true French fashion, the Adidas store also has a separate section for its “designer” range which wouldn’t look out of place in Jay Kay‘s waredrobe πŸ˜‰ Other than those few points, most of the range and styles are almost identical to those found in London.

Toyota

Toyota

While you’re here, check out the Toyota showroom, most notably for its open wheeled F1 style concept car and wall mounted Yaris. Across the road is the Louis Vuitton store, perfect op to add some photographic proof to that knock off bag purchase :p

Louis Vuitton

And we’re done! As they say, a quick game is a good game and we were out of there! Next and final stop, Beijing!

Travel tip: To get to Paris’ airport – Charles de Gaulle aka CDG, find a RER station and purchase a ticket from one of the machines.

Paris 2011 part #1 – Arrival
Paris 2011 part #2 – Sight Seeing

Paris photo gallery

Fatboy Slim

We’ve lost count of how many years Future has been under water, or mud as it were so when the previous day’s forecast said it was going to be partly cloudy we were skeptical but were really hoping for a good day. The day started with a bout of moderately heavy rain which laid a soggy foundation but thankfully held out for the better part of the day with only a few patches of light drizzle. Unfortunately it was too good to be true and as the headliners were beginning to take to the stage the weather man in the sky remembered what day it was and bucketed it down, but that didn’t stop us from getting some shots even with the thought of a dead flash courtesy of Soundwave Festival last week still fresh in my mind :-\

The sets however were nicely varied and LMFAO wasn’t heard -too- many times (though once is usually more than enough!) and dubstep seemed to be kept to its respective DJ’s. Highlights were definitely Aphex Twin with a lesson in how to play a broken beat set and Chase and Status with a mid afternoon stormer. PvD’s trance stage also provided a few sparks of interest to a genre I haven’t paid much attention to in a long time.

Check out the first batch of photos, more to come!

Brisbane Future Music Festival 2012 photos

Skrillex

Die Antwoord

The lovely Sabrina Lawrie steps in front of the lens this week for the Time Off Magazine‘s Live cover shoot.

Read about her and her “sexy sounds” in this week’s issue #1566.

Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ Time Off magazine – Brisbane