I dont know what London, or I, would be like without Southbank. Indirectly it has affected me in terms of the people who I know who were influenced by it (ex boyfriends and the like) who have in turn influenced me (if that makes any sense!?). This is the only time I've ever signed an online petition but this is worth it. here is the official blurb...
Since the early seventies ‘the Undercroft’ (the sheltered area beneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank) has served as the home of the skateboarding community in the UK. It’s an open public-space that has brought together thousands of young people, from various backgrounds, over the last 35 years to form a harmonious and positive community. This type of positive and ‘unorganised’ activity for young people is very rarely seen elsewhere in the UK today… However the area is now being rapidly redeveloped and the future of ‘the Undercroft’ is uncertain. Already a large part has been partitioned off behind large wooden hoardings. Please join us in petitioning the government to guarantee that the site is: (A) returned to its previous state (allowing the general public and skateboarders open access to the full area), and (B) officially protected and preserved for future generations of the skateboard community to use.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
SAVE THE SOUTHBANK DOCUMENTARY
Monday, April 28, 2008
PERSEPOLIS
Just watched Persepolis, the film version of Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, at Soho Curzon with Grace. Persepolis follows Marjane as she grows up in Iran under the rule of the Shah and the ayatollahs, who force her to remain modest and follow the law. She is funny and intelligent and outspoken, the daughter of liberal parents who encourage her to know her history, love her country, keep intergrity and never back down. Its a brilliant film about displacement and lonliness as well as a small history lesson of Iran. The opening credits are absolutely beautiful, and it feels deliciously odd to see hand drawn animation, completely without the glossiness of Pixar. I did feel something was lacking, and I feel silly saying so because it got such rave reviews everywhere. It ended rather abruptly and as this film is a bit hit and her original novel was a two-parter, I've no doubt we'll be having a sequel. The whole way through the film my thoughts on an Iranian friend I have who fled with her family to settle in Sweden and eventually London, I wondered what it must have been like to experience war as a child, but still retaining a deep love for your country (this girl can still speak the ancient language of Farsi) Definitly one to watch for all those ladies who have crossed borders and feel alone in the world. Marjane Satrapi is such an cool interesting character herself. Read an interview of her in the Guardian here.
RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW...
At the moment I am:
looking "stressy" (as I've been told)
reading Jorge Luis Borges "Labyrinths"
living in Farringdon til I find a studio
listening to Madonna's "Immaculate Collection" and Slick Rick "The Art of Storytelling"
drinking Indian Tonic water and Tropicana with juicy bits
watching Pedro Almodovar's "Matador"
smelling of Moschino "Friends"
eating only Asian vegetables
dreaming of houses
wearing only black, cream, gold, grey, denim with splashes of red...
walking in D+G wedges and Doc Martens
singing ska tunes my Grandpa used to play me
trying to keep my room tidy
wanting to have sunkissed skin
looking "stressy" (as I've been told)
reading Jorge Luis Borges "Labyrinths"
living in Farringdon til I find a studio
listening to Madonna's "Immaculate Collection" and Slick Rick "The Art of Storytelling"
drinking Indian Tonic water and Tropicana with juicy bits
watching Pedro Almodovar's "Matador"
smelling of Moschino "Friends"
eating only Asian vegetables
dreaming of houses
wearing only black, cream, gold, grey, denim with splashes of red...
walking in D+G wedges and Doc Martens
singing ska tunes my Grandpa used to play me
trying to keep my room tidy
wanting to have sunkissed skin
DON'T WALK AWAY
One of the best party/singing in the car songs of all time!
Never seen this cover before...Alex won't let me have it...waiiiilllll....
Never seen this cover before...Alex won't let me have it...waiiiilllll....
METROPOLIS
I have a mild sci-fi/technology/end of the world/immortality side that not many people see because I tend to indulge in it alone. This film is one of my absolute favourites and is important for me to share with you...It also forms the basis of the Women and Pre-War Sci-Fi film essay I want to write one day...
LOVE IS
Freedom of Love
My wife with the hair of a wood fire
With the thoughts of heat lightning
With the waist of an hourglass
With the waist of an otter in the teeth of a tiger
My wife with the lips of a cockade and of a bunch of stars of the last magnitude
With the teeth of tracks of white mice on the white earth
With the tongue of rubbed amber and glass
My wife with the tongue of a stabbed host
With the tongue of a doll that opens and closes its eyes
With the tongue of an unbelievable stone
My wife with the eyelashes of strokes of a child's writing
With brows of the edge of a swallow's nest
My wife with the brow of slates of a hothouse roof
And of steam on the panes
My wife with shoulders of champagne
And of a fountain with dolphin-heads beneath the ice
My wife with wrists of matches
My wife with fingers of luck and ace of hearts
With fingers of mown hay
My wife with armpits of marten and of beechnut
And of Midsummer Night
Of privet and of an angelfish nest
With arms of seafoam and of riverlocks
And of a mingling of the wheat and the mill
My wife with legs of flares
With the movements of clockwork and despair
My wife with calves of eldertree pith
My wife with feet of initials
With feet of rings of keys and Java sparrows drinking
My wife with a neck of unpearled barley
My wife with a throat of the valley of gold
Of a tryst in the very bed of the torrent
With breasts of night
My wife with breasts of a marine molehill
My wife with breasts of the ruby's crucible
With breasts of the rose's spectre beneath the dew
My wife with the belly of an unfolding of the fan of days
With the belly of a gigantic claw
My wife with the back of a bird fleeing vertically
With a back of quicksilver
With a back of light
With a nape of rolled stone and wet chalk
And of the drop of a glass where one has just been drinking
My wife with hips of a skiff
With hips of a chandelier and of arrow-feathers
And of shafts of white peacock plumes
Of an insensible pendulum
My wife with buttocks of sandstone and asbestos
My wife with buttocks of swans' backs
My wife with buttocks of spring
With the sex of an iris
My wife with the sex of a mining-placer and of a platypus
My wife with a sex of seaweed and ancient sweetmeat
My wife with a sex of mirror
My wife with eyes full of tears
With eyes of purple panoply and of a magnetic needle
My wife with savanna eyes
My wife with eyes of water to he drunk in prison
My wife with eyes of wood always under the axe
My wife with eyes of water-level of level of air earth and fire
Andre Breton
My wife with the hair of a wood fire
With the thoughts of heat lightning
With the waist of an hourglass
With the waist of an otter in the teeth of a tiger
My wife with the lips of a cockade and of a bunch of stars of the last magnitude
With the teeth of tracks of white mice on the white earth
With the tongue of rubbed amber and glass
My wife with the tongue of a stabbed host
With the tongue of a doll that opens and closes its eyes
With the tongue of an unbelievable stone
My wife with the eyelashes of strokes of a child's writing
With brows of the edge of a swallow's nest
My wife with the brow of slates of a hothouse roof
And of steam on the panes
My wife with shoulders of champagne
And of a fountain with dolphin-heads beneath the ice
My wife with wrists of matches
My wife with fingers of luck and ace of hearts
With fingers of mown hay
My wife with armpits of marten and of beechnut
And of Midsummer Night
Of privet and of an angelfish nest
With arms of seafoam and of riverlocks
And of a mingling of the wheat and the mill
My wife with legs of flares
With the movements of clockwork and despair
My wife with calves of eldertree pith
My wife with feet of initials
With feet of rings of keys and Java sparrows drinking
My wife with a neck of unpearled barley
My wife with a throat of the valley of gold
Of a tryst in the very bed of the torrent
With breasts of night
My wife with breasts of a marine molehill
My wife with breasts of the ruby's crucible
With breasts of the rose's spectre beneath the dew
My wife with the belly of an unfolding of the fan of days
With the belly of a gigantic claw
My wife with the back of a bird fleeing vertically
With a back of quicksilver
With a back of light
With a nape of rolled stone and wet chalk
And of the drop of a glass where one has just been drinking
My wife with hips of a skiff
With hips of a chandelier and of arrow-feathers
And of shafts of white peacock plumes
Of an insensible pendulum
My wife with buttocks of sandstone and asbestos
My wife with buttocks of swans' backs
My wife with buttocks of spring
With the sex of an iris
My wife with the sex of a mining-placer and of a platypus
My wife with a sex of seaweed and ancient sweetmeat
My wife with a sex of mirror
My wife with eyes full of tears
With eyes of purple panoply and of a magnetic needle
My wife with savanna eyes
My wife with eyes of water to he drunk in prison
My wife with eyes of wood always under the axe
My wife with eyes of water-level of level of air earth and fire
Andre Breton
Friday, April 25, 2008
JAMON JAMON
I was reminded by this film over the weekend, a film I watched late one night on ITV when I was about 9 years old and never saw since... Jamon, Jamon (Ham, Ham in Spanish) is an amazing Shakespearanesque tale of love and sex and meat and money. I got a boxset of the directors, Bigas Luna, from Fopp, but this is definitely my favourite of his films. Some of the symbolism is a bit too literal for my liking, he's no Fellini, but its beautiful and passionate...and above all...PENELOPE CRUZ IS TOTALLY WORKING MY SUMMER LOOK!!! Check it out...
Hair curlers for that loverly mane....
D+G style black brassiere...
Stripy red top and high waisted Levi's - ARE YOU SERIOUS!??!?!?!
WHITE DRESS AND ESPADRILLES IN THE RAIN!!!
You must be on crack if you dont think I already have this outfit in my wardrobe...even down to the velvet choker..
Perrrrrfect print dress for popping to the corner shop...
Another one of those sexy 90s A-Line dresses...ooh la la!
I'm exhausted from too much clothing excitement...*sigh*
Hair curlers for that loverly mane....
D+G style black brassiere...
Stripy red top and high waisted Levi's - ARE YOU SERIOUS!??!?!?!
WHITE DRESS AND ESPADRILLES IN THE RAIN!!!
You must be on crack if you dont think I already have this outfit in my wardrobe...even down to the velvet choker..
Perrrrrfect print dress for popping to the corner shop...
Another one of those sexy 90s A-Line dresses...ooh la la!
I'm exhausted from too much clothing excitement...*sigh*
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
MISSED MY FLIGHT!
Oh dear, in all my 14 months of flying I have NEVER missed a flight. i got up so early this morning but i was being too confident because I've recently moved to Farringdon which has a direct train to Luton. Me being a total spacker, I got on the train to Gatwick instead accidentally, missed my flight by an hour and couldnt book another ticket because of the fucking Man U Vs Barca football match. I REALLY love wasting bills on travelling to the airport and back. Adrian and I decided to go to a Spanish bar and pretend we'd arrived there!
Dumb because i got drunk on margheritas at 4 in the afternoon...Oh dear...
Dumb because i got drunk on margheritas at 4 in the afternoon...Oh dear...
REAL GOLD
As you know, my current love affair is with London. I got an email from Real Gold, which was the real truth, and its made me realise even more why I love this life and culture and the buzzy, bubbly melting pot which is LONDON TOWN!! I love that people like to take risks, i love when you accept your mistakes and i love it even more when you keep on keeping on...
"Real Gold started at the end of Summer 2006.
In December of that year we organized our first event, which took place in Hackney. We expected a couple hundred guests but, somehow, we had many many more. It marked where we were to head in 2007, a year in which we managed to open a shop, release a record, throw some fun parties, design several t-shirts and gain some notoriety for our tastes.
Despite our achievements, it was through our failures that we learned our lessons. We attempted to start a weekly club called Cough/Cool in Dalston (guests included Lightspeed Champion, Mystery Jets, Ed DMX), and not only failed to make money, but lost all we had saved to publish Ben Rayner's photography book. We rushed the release of RG00006A to get stock in our shop, and failed to promote it well enough.
You live and you learn.
Real Gold is about taking risks for things you believe in.
We are not a smooth company. We are London DIY.
If you're after a faultless empire, look elsewhere.
Real Gold is aiming high this year with our Fun Magazine, a record label, trainer designs, bands and an art exhibition all on the cards.
New Logo. Same Belief.
We hope you take a risk in joining us.
For regular updates please check
"
"Real Gold started at the end of Summer 2006.
In December of that year we organized our first event, which took place in Hackney. We expected a couple hundred guests but, somehow, we had many many more. It marked where we were to head in 2007, a year in which we managed to open a shop, release a record, throw some fun parties, design several t-shirts and gain some notoriety for our tastes.
Despite our achievements, it was through our failures that we learned our lessons. We attempted to start a weekly club called Cough/Cool in Dalston (guests included Lightspeed Champion, Mystery Jets, Ed DMX), and not only failed to make money, but lost all we had saved to publish Ben Rayner's photography book. We rushed the release of RG00006A to get stock in our shop, and failed to promote it well enough.
You live and you learn.
Real Gold is about taking risks for things you believe in.
We are not a smooth company. We are London DIY.
If you're after a faultless empire, look elsewhere.
Real Gold is aiming high this year with our Fun Magazine, a record label, trainer designs, bands and an art exhibition all on the cards.
New Logo. Same Belief.
We hope you take a risk in joining us.
For regular updates please check
"
BARCELOOOOONA!!!
Yesterday i decided to go on holiday for two days seeing as i have a well deserved break from doing any work. My only other friend who is, shall we say, of leisure, is Adrian! He is a Manchester United fan so he was like, lets go Barcelona to watch the match. I'm like, OK, as long as i can see some churches and museums and shit, so now we're on our way to Barca! Yay! I'm also gonna check Girona because there is a film museum and an amazing cemetary. See you on Saturday for GULLYVER!
KISS FM TODAY!!!
Oh LORDY! Kiss FM are having a KISSTORY day!! that means 80s and 90s old skool (did I really just spell school with a "K"?!?!) tracks all day!!! I've already listened to Baby D, Monie Love, Tribe Called Quest and Neneh...
Right now Buffalo Stance is on - that is all i need in the morning.... Tune in NOW!!!
Right now Buffalo Stance is on - that is all i need in the morning.... Tune in NOW!!!
HAIR
I don't know why the hell I do this to myself , but I got a bit bored and while working on this weeks look (see below) I decided I should HIT THE BOTTLE - no, fool, not THAT bottle! The peroxide one. I tried to dye my hair at home and failed miserably. Although it looks rather dashing the pictures, dont be fooled, its a peculiar and unflattering shade of orange. I guess I'll just have to wait for it to "settle" as my mam says...
Sunday, April 20, 2008
THIS WEEK
I will be mostly wearing black and cream and gold and blood red with flowers in a gothic, New Jack Swing, Roman Catholic, Madonna circa 92 via the 50s, Holy Communion kinda way...
EMERGEN-C
A friend introduced me to these babies a while back and now I can't do without, especially when travelling!! Emergen-C sachets keep me up when I'm run down and fights the colds away when you get too much aeroplane air!! Vitamin sachets are the way forward...
Thursday, April 17, 2008
QUIET RETURN
So i know I said WAH is over but I've since realised that as I dont see my close friends or family all the time, they tend to use the blog to know what I've been up to, what I'm thinking and where in the world I am...my little sisters especially. So lets just call the past few months a hiatus. I can't help but share my favourite things with you...
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