Hecticophilia | /'hek-tik/: frenzied, wild, chaotic.

Hello peeps!

This week I took part in something many bloggers and friends on Facebook will be familiar with. Have you seen the hashtag #100happydays pop up everywhere on social media? Me too! And I got curious. The idea is pretty straightforward: 100 Happy Days is a challenge for you to post a picture everyday about what makes you happy and to keep doing so for a hundred days in a row. Here is a little more info:

I thought this was a pretty cool idea and to be honest, I was just telling myself last week that for someone working in digital, I hardly do a good job at documenting things online. Maybe I have social media fatigue after spending the day on blogs and websites, creating, reading and planning content!? Anyway, I started this project last Saturday and you know what? It actually feels quite nice. So here is my first week, straight from Instagram (which is the social media platform I chose for the project):

My friend Emma came to visit us two weeks ago, Wednesday to Sunday, and it was so good to see her. She is the first friend (and the best friend) that I made in London when I landed here with my backpack and guitar in October 2011. It was so nice to catch up and party and laugh our hearts out. I love her and miss her dearly. She got me those flowers (along with cheese and chocolate from Switzerland) some beautiful tulips which bloomed in our room and brightened my mood tremendously after she had gone. That’s it, I’m buying flowers now.

A delicious Sunday roast with friends last weekend at Katie and Andy’s lovely new flat by Exmouth market. They are from Australia and we lived together for a year and half in a gigantic (8 rooms!) house in Camden Town. This picture is about that afternoon and evening (delicious food, fantastic company and great fun) but also about the fact that I’m really grateful to all my former housemates for organising things regularly so that we keep in touch. God knows I’m not so great at that.

This is a sneaky picture taken by the boy while I was working on this blog’s layout. I really like it because I can see my sister and my mother in myself in this picture. And that’s somehow soothing to me after years of hearing people say that I look so much like my dad, and so unlike my mom. It feels nice.

I returned the favour and stole a side picture of the boy as we’re watching a show in bed. I adore him (and his freckles). I can hardly believe that this March we will have been two years together, it’s a little insane. I feel like every other relationship I have ever been in was a black and white draft to prepare myself for this one, which is in technicolor.

Finally catching up with Season 3 of Girls and gulping down the episodes. It started a bit slow but I’m really enjoying the season now. We got a projector as a gift to each other this Christmas and it’s really awesome to watch films all blown up on our bedroom wall. Last night we started this series called True Detective too, which is all moody and dark and I really like it. You can view the trailer here.

This picture is a little courtyard hidden away in a Borough market brewery. I chose it to remind myself that as much as I get frustrated with London sometimes (when we look at the rent price of one bedroom flats for instance, or when I travel an hour to work) there is no denying that London is a great city to live in, one that never fails to take you by surprise and to make you happy, if you let it.

And last but not least, getting work done on Hecticophilia which is part of my 27 things before 28 list. I gave my layout a fresh link of paint, updated my About me page and the Spring Agenda, and made a swanky sidebar. Of course there’s still a lot to be done (add related posts, popular posts, improve shareability and maybe even start a weekly newsletter…) but I’m getting there and I’m pleased. I signed up to a blogging bootcamp in March which will send me a blog challenge every day so that should be interesting!

I wish you all a lovely weekend and if you’re tickled by this #100happydays project, I urge you to give it a try. Liked this article? Be updated of new posts on Hecticophilia by liking my Facebook page or adding my blog to your Feedly or Bloglovin feed. Is there anyone you know who’d be interested in this post? To care is to share!

Ok, so I get ashamed of myself thinking about all the snippets of blog posts that are accumulating everywhere around in neat little piles: on my desk at work, on my desk at home, on my phone, on my iPad and on my effing grocery tickets.

Thing is, you can’t really expect that a blog which proudly displays the word “hectic” in its title will be where to find the best thought-out and written articles of the blogosphere. I do set standards for myself though and that’s basically the problem: nothing ever gets done. So, kick in the dust. 500 words, let’s go.

Today I want to talk about an awesome London illustrator, you could say it’s one from the vault but I don’t care if you’ve heard about him already, maybe you need to take another look as his work is just too good. Fan girl act, I know but I swear you will love him too, if you can take a joke that is.

Mr Bingo. I can’t remember how I first came across him online, probably someone re-tweeting the card they got from him or something. Yes, cards now that’s Mr Bingo’s forte. Here is the idea: it used to be that you would send him some ££ and he would post you an old original cringe postcard (right in the vein of Shit London) with a little note and drawing to tell you – well – to go fuck yourself.

“On 25th April 2011 I sent a postcard to a stranger called Jonathan Hopkins. It said on it “F*ck you Jonathan, f*ck you and f*ck your sh*t legs”. … To date, I’ve sent over 700 Hate Mails to happy (I think) customers and the project has been exhibited in London and Amsterdam.”

It’s called Hate Mail and believe me it’s hilarious. The postcards spread like wildfire and Bingo exhibited here and there. There’s a book too, the boy got it for me last year and it’s a highly enjoyable read. See for yourself, some of my favourites:

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I wonder if Mr Bingo knew that I took pictures of his book and put them on the Internet (copyright?) he probably would tell me to go fuck myself. Hopefully so on a postcard.

Also I’m such an idiot, I actually saw mr Bingo speak last year at Hackney House for Poke’s Creative Day and he was just… something. And I was too shy to go say hi. Fangirl again.

His talk had nothing to do with the themes of the day (of course not), instead he talked about serial killers (?) and then showed series of pictures from his Instagram. Things he snapped in the streets of London because he found them poetic. One before/after stuck with me, it was this homeless man sleeping in the street and then someone (mr bingo?) had drawn a bed, bedside table and little lamp around him in white chalk. Warms and sinks your heart at the same time.

Which tends to make me think that in spite of making his living out of being offensive, Mr Bingo he’s actually a really sweet kind of guy:

As a designer and illustrator, Hate Mail is far from being his only successful project. Here are some other of his artworks, all equally poetic and witty:

For the Camden Brewery

For the The Young Director Award / The Amy Winehouse foundation

And finally, to close this blog post in style, one for all the artists, freelancers and bloggers out there, trying hard to make a dollar in this urban jungle. It’s called “Does Mr Bingo work for free?” That’s all for tonight, thank you.

Does Mr Bingo work for free?

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