Beyoncé absolutely shook the o2 stadium for what was the first London date of her World Tour. It was interesting to see the range of people that considered themselves Beyoncé fans, and the lengths people will go to get even an inch closer to the Queen herself. This did mean I had a woman's hand lodged under my arm pit as she tried to hold onto the barrier that I had queued 3 hours to plant myself in front of! Needless to say, I was the Survivor and she just had a trapped, sweaty hand.
So after much deliberation of where to stand, we definitely chose the right spot. I don't want to spoil too much for those of you going this week but 3 songs, (and 3 of the best songs) were sang to my face, only 5 feet away from the stage! I had shivers and was shaking from excitement!
She truly is a superb performer and had the crowd in the palm of her hand. She performs with an energy and excitement that it's as if she's performing on stage for the first time but obviously with the precision and perfection of someone who must not be human...
Apologies for the bad quality! I was jumping up and down!
I was the top celeb spotter for the night and spied on the likes of Mr Carter himself- Jay Z, Naomi Campbell sat next to him, fashion designer Matthew Williamson, and (I think) Princess Eugenie.
The band were superb, the dancers were insanely good and I'm now going to stop waxing lyrically and try to hold back my Beyoncé fan girl identity! Who am I kidding?!
To the left, to the left..
Beyonce excitement before the show!
I can safely say I now feel like a liberated, independent woman!!
Tonight's adventures took me to the Sundance Film Festival. And before you get excited...no I haven't hopped across the Atlantic! In fact, Sundance has come over to England's sunny green pastures for what will be the second edition of Sundance film festival here in London.
I'd won tickets to the film, Blackfish, courtesy of Dogwoof. I'd thought the film looked interesting but was unsure of what I was going to see. Nevertheless, I 'skipped' up to the giant yellow signs, greeted by an army of yellow uniformed stewards to point me in the right direction.
Blackfish is a documentary film directed by Gabriella Cowperthwaite, delving into the curiously hidden truths behind the fairytale sea parks such as SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. We are plunged into a harrowing story of killer whales (or Orcas) who are kept in captivity and the equally distressing stories of various Seaworld trainers, who have been attacked or killed by these supposedly dangerous creatures.
But are they really dangerous? Is it not the human race who are the true dangers? This is the question that is implicitly asked throughout the film.
It was a beautifully crafted documentary that had most viewers in tears from beginning to end. The subject matter reminded me of a french film I saw last year and featured at the Cannes Film Festival called De Rouille et D'os (Rust & Bone, starring Marion Cotillard.) The fact that this issue was portrayed in a documentary format suddenly made it even more heartrending.
The Q & A session revealed that the film had incited many viewers to want to know what they can do to fight against this $3.1 billion dollar enterprise. This is an enterprise that elaborately lies about the living conditions of the killer whales and even the details of the attacks on the trainers.
I found myself incredibly moved by both the stories of the trainers who were killed, and of the orcas, who continue to spend their lives in a concrete bathtub. The director had clearly made this film to make a change, for the next generation about to experience the likes of SeaWorld.
Needless to say I didn't 'skip' away from Sundance, but walked away feeling as though I'd been enlightened to a controversial issue that I knew existed but that had details and hidden truths that I most certainly was not aware of. As mentioned in the documentary, let's hope we look back on this in 50 years time and everyone recognises how barbaric it truly is.
Blackfish will be out in cinemas in the UK from 26th July 2013.
Happy Belated Record Store Day! (...they should start making greeting cards surely?)
And what a day it was!
That's right, yesterday was Record Store Day all over the world; a day where independent record shops open the doors to the public, boasting a range of Limited Edition RSD releases that can only be bought on that day. However, it is not just to sell limited copies of vinyl but also to promote the use of your local record store. Since the big names such as Virgin Megastores and HMV have arrived (and now left...awkward) our high streets, we have seen lots of these small, independently owned record shops having to close down.
Yesterday proved that music lovers still love going to their local record store to seek out a new release or even an old favourite they had forgotten about. The purchase of a vinyl is not just like buying a CD, you're buying a piece of art that will most likely become as precious as a family heirloom and stay with you for the rest of your music loving days!
So having seen pictures on Twitter of the queues
around the block at Rough Trade, I decided
to leave it until later and thought I would seek out
some other participating stores in London.
I went along to Berwick St. in Soho where
I was greeted by a full blown street concert, held by record shop: Sister Ray. It was such a great atmosphere and was made all the more better with the sun beaming down!
I went into two record shops on and around Berwick St. but both were jam packed full of people and I started to experience a mixed bag of feelings...overwhelming wonderment and claustrophobia. My head was screaming: 'I'm a small person in a small shop of tall, sweaty people! GET ME OUT HERE'...
...so I left...empty handed, but was not about to give up.
At the end of the day, I thought I would stop by where I wanted to go originally: Rough Trade. It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest record shop in London so I was perhaps defeating the point of Record Store Day, but I thought I would swing by and see what they had left in terms of the limited edition releases.
I rocked up at 5pm and there was STILL a queue, but I was let in within 5 minutes, into another great atmosphere of happy music lovers boogieing to the superb DJ, supplying the soundtrack to their shopping experience.
Luckily I still managed to pick up 2 of the 7 I had on my list and it was probably just as well otherwise I would've spent a fortune! I paced back and forth to the till as I tried to decide whether to buy Paul Weller's 7" double a-side single ;Flame Out/The Olde Original' or James Blake's Retrograde/Overgrown 12"...both of which were blown out of the picture when I spotted these two releases which I can now call my own....
Django Django: Hi Djinx! Remixes &
Mystery Jets Live at The Royal Festival Hall (SIGNED!)
I'd describe it as a kind of weird game of Snog, Marry, Kill...but with James Blake, Paul Weller, Mystery Jets and Django Django.
It was lovely to see people of all ages and families with young children coming out to celebrate what seems to have become a national music holiday (or so it should be)! If only everybody could use their record shops as much as they do on Record Store Day...I am also guilty of that.
Needless to say, it was quite a different experience to how I spent RSD last year. I was in the little town of Nantes in France, where I skipped along to my local record shop Melomane and perused through the collection at ease. I enjoy RSD France and RSD UK equally as much.
I'll leave you now with an interview I did with the one of the founders of Record Store Day in the USA, Michael Kurtz:
"The Fox Problem?" I hear you question. Well if you haven't already heard of it then you can catch up on all the episodes on the youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/thefoxproblem and then tune in LIVE tonight at 7.30pm on Google Hangouts (just go to www.thefoxproblem.com).
The show is presented by some big names in the industry including Radio 1 DJ Gemma Cairney, Georgie Okell from T4 and Georgia L-A, the 'first lady' of SB:TV. They are joined by Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke (if you don't watch MIC then he's the one with long hair, who then cut his hair, went out with Gabriella and is now going out with the girl Francis Boulle was seeing but then if you don't watch it then this won't mean anything to you either...)
This presenting team of 3 sassy ladies drives the show and provides its endless laughs with features such as 'The G Spot' where the viewers have to vote on dares that one of them will end up doing live on the show.
This show is really made for watching live as they call it 'social TV that answers back' so you can get involved! One of the quirkiest and funniest parts of the show is the addition of 'The Ridler'. 'The Ridler' is a pianist and singer (who in fact went to my school) and was discovered on YouTube for his bluesy, gravelly voice. The twist is, that he sings and plays the tweets & messages that are sent in from the viewers. Needless to say, this is hilariously entertaining to watch!
Throughout the series they have also been running an online campaign to get Lena Dunhum from hit American TV show 'Girls'. On tonight's show we will see whether Lena will join the show via Google Hangouts. Will she show? Won't she? Ah there's too much to love! Just take my word for it and watch it!
To have a quick teaser why not watch their promo vid here:
This type of TV is what I like to call 'Desktop Telly'. It's the new, revolutionary form of television that scarily could be the end to TV as we know it. It's short bursts of entertainment that you can watch to break up your revision or essay writing, or even just watch on the laptop in front of your sofa with your friends and a few bevies.
Even yours truly has started a studentTV show called Wy.TV, what we like to describe as a show made for students by students following the magazine format of something like BBC 1's The One Show (but cooler...or so we think).
You can watch the pilot episode of Wy.TV here:
Don't miss out on The Fox Problem too! Final episode is tonight, 7.30pm www.thefoxproblem.com
Happy Monday to you all! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and managed to catch some rays with a cheeky tipple of your choice...I certainly did in the balmy countryside of Surrey just on the Surrey/Hampshire border where I retreated for a couple of days at one of my bestie's parents' house. It was super lovely to take a break from revision and essays but now it's back to it!
With my right foot forward, (I'm a dancer, we always start on the right) I'm ready for the final haul. But before I do, here's a little post to keep you all entertained or to provide you students with some worthy procrastination material.
I forgot to explain in my last post the inspiration behind the name of my blog. Well it's not really rocket science! It's my initials spelt phonetically, which was something that was à la mode back in the Myspace days and was my internet pseudonym at the time. So feeling nostalgic, as I usually do, I decided to revitalise the name, give it a dust off, clearing away the cobwebs of my 15 year old self to reveal the real Ess Double You.
Now speaking of nostalgia, this brings me nicely on to the topic of conversation for today's musings. I'm not sure if it's me getting bored easily of my clothes, a lack of money on a student budget or simply just this overwhelming yearn for the past (probably because I'm nearly an ADULT in the BIG, SCARY WORLD) but I've recently been reinventing, revamping and recycling certain items of clothing that I haven't worn for years. They've been sat resting in my wardrobe, probably growing mothballs and yelling out to be donned even if just for a day.
I am a massive hoarder and despite doing 'clear outs' perhaps three times a year, I still own stuff I've had for nearly a decade. Papa Wynn is often suspicious that I've been particularly spendthrift to which I reply: "What?! This old thing?!" and I'm actually be truthful....(most of the time)
So here are a few photos of outfits where I have given life again to some statement pieces.
Outfit #1: Grey-Scale skirt
I bought this linen/silk skirt about 4 years ago for a holiday I went on to Ayia Napa with my friends at the tender age of 18. It is more of a summer skirt but with the few rays of sunshine we saw this weekend I thought I'd whip it out, but still keeping warm with some trusty winter black tights. I think the key to wearing a lighter coloured skirt with tights in the colder months is to wear a lighter coloured shoe, so I borrowed these swish gold brogues from my lovely housemate.
Skirt: M & S (Limited Collection), Shirt: Vintage @ Brixton Village, Jumper: H & M (borrowed), Shoes: (borrowed)
I like the zip that goes up the back of the skirt.
In true hoarder fashion, I found this
little guy hiding in the leaves!
He's my boyfriend.
Outfit #2 Patterned Bolero Jacket:
I have always loved this little cotton jacket that I bought goodness-knows-when from River Island. I can't always find clothes in River Island, but now and again there's a gem screaming out to be bought! This was one of them. Not something that goes with everything, but definitely a statement item. I decided to tone it down with a Breton striped top, plain dark jeans, simple quilted ballet pumps and my trusty bowler hat.
Patterned jacket: River Island, Striped t-shirt: boutique in France, Jeans: Topshop, Ballet pumps: Russel & Bromley, Hat: Topshop
I'm pretty sure I'll have some more 'hoarding' posts soon!
Hoarders, what do you like to hoard? One of my weak points is magazines!
Tomorrow I'm going to the Uni Music League Semi Finals!! So excited! Blog post to follow during the week!
This is my new blog. You may have enjoyed my musings in my blog written during my time spent in France (which you can read here.) But now it's time to get serious...well not too serious.
This is a blog for some more of my musings; this time however, I'm going to treat you to a plethora of subjects! We're going to be chatting fashion, music, TV, radio, food...
You name it I've got it covered!
First of all here's a petit morceau about me...
I'm in my final year at University studying French & Drama and will be finishing my final exam in approximately 3 weeks, 1 day, 17 hours and 54 minutes. Not that I'm counting or anything.
I am a budding presenter hoping to plunge through the Narnia door into the magical world of television and radio. (I hear there aren't any lions or witches though...)
In my spare time when I'm not writing essays about the American influence and market economics in post-war French literature and film (yawn) I love cooking, fashion, dancing, skiing, music, and underwater basket weaving. Hint: one of those I lied about.
I won't bore you with anymore facts and figures about me but I would like you all to know that I am a test tube baby and my 5th cousin is Peter Sellars. They're my only claims to fame.
I'm looking forward to writing to you all a lot more over the next few months, and who knows, maybe the next few decades!
I feel like I've gained a million new pen pals. I am no longer lonely...
