Invites tell a story

We are something like 25 days before Tell a Story #5 hits Athens...
Here's a retrospective of its invites so far:


The magic paper featuring all details re: the latest, should come out anyday now. Awaiting in anticipation for this season's graphics little gem...

It all comes down to detail

A piano that says "play me" instead of "don't touch",
old baskets with a new use
and a mirror with a permanent reflection standing out.

A bar called "Yiannis", at Ventouri Square, Paroikia - Paros.

Can't get over it

Summer white & cubes of hay

Sun-kissed. Wind-dried.
There's no white like summer-white.
Fields of freshly cut, symmetrically packed cubes of hay.
It really was a perfect day...

Fireworks, I'm back.

Images from the port of Paroikia, Paros.
Fireworks shot on August 15th.

I'm back, summer's not over, not over, not over yet...

Beyoncé at your feet

Beyoncé and Tina Knowles announce today the celebration of the launch of their newest line of Deréon footwear, with a sweepstakes in partnership with athletic footwear retailer, Footaction.

The promotion will offer customers a chance to win an all-expense-paid trip for two (one winner and a guest) to experience Beyoncé in London for her “I AM…” World Tour. For a limited time, Footaction customers will receive a Deréon cinch sack with their purchase of Deréon products in Footaction stores.

The sweepstakes will run through August 31, 2009. The Grand Prize winner will be announced in time for Beyoncé’s November 14 performance at the O2 Arena in London. 25 first prize winners will each receive a Deréon gift basket filled with merchandise from the world tour.

In conjunction with this sweepstakes, five shoes from the Deréon collection will be featured on Footaction online and in select Footaction stores nationwide.

To enter, visit online at www.footaction.com. No purchase necessary.

Swine Flu ...Perfect

Tell A Story #5

'Tell A Story' has just announced its Autumn dates:
24 - 27 Sept at Bios (Peiraios 84, Athens)
9 - 11 Oct at Zanettou (Zanettou 11, Nicosia)

You can get a taste of what it was all about last Spring here and here.

This season, for the first time, 'Tell a Story' is introducing its own blog, where you can get all the latest info regarding the participants, their work, scheduled events around it and all the action as we get closer to showtime! Check it out: http://tellastorytradeshow.blogspot.com/

Alecca Rox will be keeping you up to date as one of the proud official comm/s sponsors. Can't wait!

Sales are still on...

...and I must say, creativity this season is reaching peak:)
I came across this one in Kolokotroni Str., Athens, complete with an insole. If anyone can provide a good translation to English, feel free!

Freestyle Magazine (part 2)

Magazines. It's all been done before. Or has it?
Holding Freestyle Mag you realise there is always space for more. It's not just the unusual shape, but also the choice of content, the challenge of placing it into a circle and the even greater one of working with people scattered across Europe. It sure is " Game on!" for this biannual new comer.

Alecca: What new is Freestyle mag bringing to the world of print magazines?
Freestyle: First and most important is the round format and the challenge to create/photograph/design within/for it and the experience of lecture of this format.

A: Why bi-annual?
F: Everybody in our team has another job/profession we need time for as well. Beside that we are a young magazine and could not afford more than two productions a year right now.

A: Are you keeping the round shape in the future? What difficulties did you have to face because of it and in what ways you think it's better?
F: We will definitely keep the round format in the future. We consider Freestyle Magazine a collectable design object consisting in the magazine and the limited edition professional Frisbee which each issue is a different model, designed by a different designer. We had all kinds of difficulties that we prefer to call challenges; technical aspects as cutting and binding as well as creative aspects. We wouldn't like to call the round format better, more likely call it different.

A: Your team is spread across Europe! How many countries is that and how do you manage to put an issue together without ever being in the same room?
F: Our headquarter is in Berlin, Germany, art direction and graphic team are based in Milan, Italy, fashion team and web designer are in London, England and our copy editor is based in Paris, France.
We communicate a lot via Skype, mail and telephone and of course the spatial separation of the team is quite a task.

A: In times when everyone is moving towards the web, you are make an (admittedly wicked!) print magazine. Do you see the www as a threat to print?
F: This question cannot be answered with yes or no. Of course the www has taken a part of importance of printed publications. Magazines (pretty much) lost their informative character, the news are online first. Being a bi-annual publication means that our value of reporting news is almost non-existent, we use the web for that in the form of our Blog.

Still, printed publications have their own qualities that have a clear luxury character. As for example in case of FSM, you cannot play Frisbee in the web and it is not the same experience to see a round page design digital then to flicker through our FSM in real time.

Or as Jan Joswig writes in his article in Game On!, “magazines teach you style.”

(Mark Eley from Eley Kishimoto, dj-ing at Freestyle's launch party in Berlin. Photo: Marina Rosso)

A: Why did you choose Eley Kishimoto to do the design for the Frisbee of your launch issue?
F: Freestyle Magazine is a magazine for creative people who like to play. Eley Kishimoto represents that way of freestyle life and freestyle work perfectly. Beside that their flash design looks fantastic on a spinning Frisbee.

A: Best moment whilst putting together "Game On"?
F: Without a doubt the best moment was when almost the whole team came together for the launch in Berlin.

(Overview of Freestyle's launch party in Berlin. Photo: Marina Rosso)

(DJ Cristiano Spiller sipping a cocktail at Freestyle's launch party in Berlin. Photo: Marina Rosso)

(Party people checking out the first issue of Freestyle. Photo: Marina Rosso)

(Freestyle lovely Nele Schrinner -right- made sure this interview reached you. Photo: Marina Rosso)

Freestyle Magazine (part 1)

Presenting you my summer cooler: Freestyle Magazine (and ice cream). It has just come out, this is its very first issue. It is round shaped and came inside a ...frisbee. Not any frisbee: the print is Eley Kishimoto's "Electric Lightning", in a hypnotic, super-fly version.

Here is moi, catching sun at the balcony whilst learning how to make a Gay Cake. Other contents include a frisbee retrospective, some seriously cool editorials, tips on how to do a flawless manicure, monkey faces(!) architectural gems and street art, even the twitter chronical of how someone ended up killing someone (!!).

(photo by Marina Rosso)
I discovered Freestyle at Bread & Butter, in Berlin. It was hard to miss their frisbee covered van and all the frisbee activity around it. Wasn't sure what it was but it looked fun. "A magazine for creative people who like to play" is how they put it and indeed that's what it is.

Made sure the issue was in my suitcase, went to their smashing Berlin launch party and asked them a question (or five) about what they do. You are so gonna love this. Soon to be posted.

Knit the night away

So I am still in (very hot) Athens, counting days till holiday, watching replays on tv and ...knitting the nights away.

I started knitting this scarf last January and if I want it finished before next wintertime, I have to keep kitting and purling, knitting and purling. (Knitting diary on bottom right column)

In these temperatures, making a nice and warm scarf is not exactly ideal. However, I've got two things to keep me cool: a fan and... a reaaaally cool magazine. (featuring an editorial where someone is trying to knit - amongst other chores!) Title and more info coming up on next post, believe me, it deserves one to itself!

Where'd you want to be right now?

Wish I was on a boat, watching the port of Piraeus becoming smaller by the minute. Wish I could take with me whoever I wanted and feed my "to do" lists to the fishes.
Well not yet, but soon.
All you guys on holiday...
... enjoy every minute!

10 things about you. tag.

1. I am a dog person but have 2 cats, Miu & Maya for the last 11 years. Miu was a pet rescue case, Maya is her offspring.

2. When I was 16, I drew my own print which was successfully put to retail. Some company copied it, along with... my signature. I was flattered (!) Haven’t designed any prints since.

3. I am a flexitarian. I eat meat only for survival purposes and not pleasure.

4. I am obsessed with “made in” labels. They are as important to me as the product itself.

5. As a teenager I tried all the colours of the palette on my hair, including baby blue and tomato red.

6. My drug is coffee. Coffee is my drug. I could live on coffee.

7. I skipped my highschool graduation to go to Hollywood.

8. My real life name is not Alecca. I was named after my grandmother and nicknamed after the heroine of a book mum was reading during pregnancy.

9. I started knitting to control stress and became addicted.

10. I hate fashion, I love clothes, shoes & accessories.

Thank you dear C. from Fashionpaths for this tag. Let me pass it on to:
- Oui Oui
- Ringa Dinga Boing Boing
- lulu and your mum
- magpie girl
- fashion blah blah

Have fun telling us something we don't know, remembering and revealing.

Public Enemies

The other night I watched Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" at an open air movies theatre. Trailer here.

The 1930's costumes and hairstyles were as a good reason to watch the movie, as Johnny (Dillinger) Depp himself. Fedora hats, silk dresses, long wool skirts and beautiful large buttons were all there, sadly without peak moments though.

Quite a few anachronisms and factual errors spiced up the viewing. For example, the steam engine used in the film was Milwaukee road 261, which was manufactured in 1944, a decade after Dillinger's time. More goofs, here. (we love goofs!)





Do not expect a happy ending, the notorious Dillinger gets shot from behind and dies on the pavement, outside Biograph cinema. Federal agent Purvis signals his men to do so by lighting a cigar.

Apparently, in reality his hand shook uncontrollably and he couldn't light it. The men still recognized the sign and moved in. In the film there are no second thoughts or shaking.

Still, a nice summer night watch for fans of the kind (or Depp).
Good company/ good pop corn, essential!

(All pics in this post come from here)