"My Tram Experience": Blog Response

I had seen this video pretty much everywhere on Facebook, but didn't watch it until my housemate showed me it, claiming it to be pretty much unbelievable. And she was right. Here's the video for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

First of all, judging by the gurning and lip-biting, this woman is clearly on drugs,  so she may not have meant some of the things she said. I'm not condoning this to be a valid excuse whatsoever, but I'm guessing the drugs made her views quite a bit stronger that her real beliefs. And if not, then that makes it even better that she's been arrested! The drugs also probably gave her a lot more confidence to say the horrendous things she was shouting at people on the tram. Her vision was clearly impaired because if she had looked around she would have realized that 80% of people on that carriage with her were African, Asian and other races. I know if I was that guy we see sitting behind her (to the left) I would have knocked her right out.

I thought this was bad (and it is), but then I saw this

which made me feel even more sick. This guys is young! And he still seems to have opinions on this situation - opinions that actually condone this woman's behaviour! I really thought all the responses to My Tram Experience were going to be saying how horrendous and disgusting that woman's opinions are, and I am completely shocked to find this wasn't the case. (I guess I should have been more aware of the massive british flag behind him, before I made naive assumptions!)

This boy quite evidently has no idea what he is talking about though - he is just another neo-nazi, who praises the woman for her confidence (which was artificial) to speak up against all the 'ethnic minorities' in Britain. He wasn't even alive when Britain wasn't a multicultural place to live in, so his argument is completely invalid and, quite frankly, he should get out the country if he doesn't like the way it is. No-one would miss him!

This 15 year-old girl seems to understand what's really going on, and i think she makes some very rational and reasonable comments. Kudos to her.

But to be honest with you, the person I feel most sorry for is the kid sitting on the drugged-up idiot's lap. The people on that tram obviously did not deserve any of the random abuse being thrown at them, but at least they were old enough to know the woman is a thick, uneducated fool. This kid has to live with this fiend, listening to her swearing and shouting and being generally rude and unnecessary all the live-long day. Plus, what concerns me, is that the woman must have been with her child when she had snorted or smoked or injected whatever it was that was making her so aggressive and so repulsively mannerless. 

I think social services need to get involved, as well as have her kept under careful watch. If women like her are bringing up the future generations of children, I don't think I wanna be hanging around here for much longer. 

Birthday Weekend

It's Monday night and I can't believe how quickly my birthday weekend has come and gone. It did last 4 days, to be fair, but DAMN those were 4 of the shortest days known to modern history!

The fun started on Friday with the arrival of one of my friends from home who I hadn't seen in ages, and a quick trip to the German Christmas Market in Leeds for a cup of hot mulled wine. N.O.M!

Saturday morning saw the arrival of a lovely red envelope in the post, with my mum's handwriting on the envelope. Kinda gave away the element of surprise, but still muchly appreciated.

It also gave my housemates a sudden urge to decorate the house all bird-ily. The house looked awesome! Look:

NB: BIRD-day!

Then Saturday night brought a lot of creative chicks, beautiful birds and wonderful woodpeckers to my house to come shake their tail feathers and listen to some birdsongs, whilst flying free and being Drinking Birds (?) My housemate did my makeup. This is me as a bird:

And then I opened gifts. I got given a onesie by my AWESOME housemates. Here is my as a bird-monkey:

We then made a failed attempt at going to Faversham so ended up in the 02 Academy for Propaganda, some indie night which was alright actually! I just wasn't drunk enough.

This leads us to Sunday. Sunday was a lazy day. Sunday was, for me, a non-hungover day. This is a good thing! We watched Love Actually and made toasties. Then I put my monkey onesie back on, then had a shower using the lovely Lush products my friend gave me. She gets 50% discount there! jealous.

Dropping off my friend to the station we decided to do a little bit of shopping before everything closed at 5. Lush seemed to be the only thing open, so had a look inside and ended up leaving with a free Vanilla bath bomb and having the whole shop singing me Happy Birthday! I do love that lot at Lush in Leeds! There was a little note on it saying pass on the random act of kindness, so I'm giving them a good review as thanks for their generosity!

I then went to go see my lovely parents who had lovelily come up to lovely Leeds and stayed in a lovely hotel and actually brought me presents, which was a lovely unexpected surprise.

Today is Monday, the last day of my birthday weekend. Went to Yo!Sushi with the padres for some sushiness and then went shopping. I bought a bag from Topshop :)

Here is my father's face reflected in a disco-ball christmas tree:

The parents just left and, to my surprise, I almost miss them...Just kidding! (I know they read this)

Now I have to wait another 364 days until my next birthday :(

At least it's Christmas soon!

UO Christmas party

I got an invite on Facebook to Urban Outfitters' 20%-off-everything one-day-only Christmas 'Party' last night and decided to go. Imagine this: 10am until 10pm today Urban Outfitters decided to give everyone who walked through the door 20% off everything in store AND a free goodie bag with every purchase! Actually amazing, right?

I had Uni at 3, but decided I could quickly pop in before my class and see if they had the leggings I wanted, which never seemed to be in stock in sizes larger than XS. To my delight I found them!

Arn't they beautiful. And they're a bit woolly so they'll keep me warm this winter :)

I also bought a few things for my dad (who's birthday was today and who I am seeing at the weekend to celebrate my birthday!) however I won't say what I got as I know he sporadically enjoys a read of my blog.

So far, so good. THEN I got my free goodie bag! And it all went downhill...Check this out:

A swimsuit...made for a 3year-old! And that is U.G.L.Y

 A pretty cool green and white tie-dye snood

A belt...bag...? 

 Beer Pong Dice!! :)

 Some reasonably ok earrings that make lovely little jingley noises when they move

And this. What is this? It's a necklace, yes, but what is that thing hanging from it??

I also got a plain white men's T-shirt, a clip with a tartan bow on it and many, many flyers, most of which I threw away. All in all, reasonably successful. If I were any better at customizing things, I would. I'll see what I can do. Any suggestions? x

My father is a frantic genius

Just went through the drastically panic-stricken process of introducing my dad to Blogger. Big mistake, and quite frankly I wish I hadn't bothered. But it's DONE, and my father has the blog he always wished for (since yesterday when I presented him with the idea of 'a blog').

THIS is his blog if you fancy checking it out. (I wrote his first blog for him, but pretending it was him speaking. Sneaky!) He basically makes art and household objects out of recycled (or 'upcycled' as he prefers to say) objects. So he'll go for a walk along the Thames, pick up some Victorian clay pipes (as you do) and then make it into a lamp shade or something mental like that. It's good stuff. That's just an example though.

Right now he's working on 'Mirror Box Art' which is basically a wooden box (about 20cm x 20cm) with a mirror on the back panel, and found objects stuck to the bottom of the frame. It works 2 ways: as a mirror and as art. A tad like this one, which was inspired by that big 'LOVE' sculpture in the middle of New York City.

He made me my very own one saying 'ALEX' and with a black frame! 

Illume Boulangerie Candles at Anthropologie

I have this candle that I bought last Christmas-time from Anthropologie in London. With a Spiced Pecan and Vanilla flavour, it's safe to say it smells totally edible when lit, and even before it's been used.

My mum was told a little time back that with scented candles you should only ever have them lit for 30 minutes - an hour at a time, and then you should blow them out. Something to do with keeping the wax flat, so you don't get that cavernous crater with all the wax piling up on the sides and a tiny, burnt-out wick at the bottom. It's also a test - any good quality scented candle should be able to fill a room with it's fragrant aroma in that space of time. 

This pot of waxy goodness has literally had me craving pecan pie and all things sweet and sugary since my first sniff. Without any exaggeration, it is the best smelling candle I have ever put to my nose. It's mostly sweet, but a bit spicy. It reminds me of Christmas and winter-time, but not all Cinnamon-y or orangey or Clove-ish. 

It's a little pricey for students to keep buying (£14) but it's definitely worth every penny! It lasts for such a long time, so you get your money's worth. If you bought 14 of those £1 'scented' candles from Ikea, you'd probably have burnt them up in the space of a week just trying to get any odor out of them which isn't the smell of a candle wick after the flame's been blown out.

Anthrpologie sells 8 different flavours of Illume Boulangerie Jar Candles: Angel Food (?), Apple Blossom, Cape Apricot (again, '?'), Sweet Vanilla Cinnamon, Vanilla and Fig, Pumpkin Souffle and Pineapple Ginger cake, as well as the one I have.

Perfect presents for anyone who likes sweet things and, obviously, candles. Find the collection here.

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous

I have just come to realize that in my life (or more precisely, in the last 4 months of it) I have had the privilege of meeting two of the best red children's TV characters around. 

I'm a very lucky girl.

Po and Elmo - it's been a pleasure!

Made in Leeds

Dear lord! This is what is supposedly happening in the union tonight in Leeds. I feel a bit ill. Am I the only one who doesn't get the massive Made In Chelsea fanaticism? I'M FROM CHELSEA!

On a lighter note: NEXT WEEK IS ONESIE FRUITY!!

Chucckie returns...

In the form of a fat princess and her flexible (and rather fit) sister.

Pippa isn't too bad...

But apparently this is what Kate Middleton looks like in Barbie World. Pregnant, with a tiny head, massive boobs, a sinister smile and terrifyingly large mouth. And that, my friends, is definitely not an dress designed by the brilliant Sarah Burton.

MASSIVE fail.

Clown Masterpieces

Art made of balloons. I like this far too much!

VIVA L'ITALIA

VIVA L'ITALIA!

Went on an Otley Run (a huge pub crawl along the whole of the Otley Road - Headingley Lane in Leeds, consisting of about 20 pubs and bars) on Saturday night with a group of my Italian friends that I met on my year abroad in Bergamo last year. This is all the dressing up I managed to do last-minute, but I'm still do proud of them. Took me 5 minutes as well - although I had no white nail varnish do to the middle part of the italian flag.

It just involves painting half your nail green and the other half red, and then putting some nail polish remover on a Q-tip and drawing a line down the middle to create the 'white'. Easy peasy!

Gotta love Italy <3

Kelly's got Talent

Photos have just been published of a photo shoot Kelly Rowland did wearing a belt owned by the company I work for! (Rewind Vintage Affairs is the name of the company, if you didn't read my first blog. Go check it out. I do the blogging.)

This picture is my favourite - she looks so cute and british in her red, white and red outfit. 

Like a little tea-sipping pixie :)

2 weeks!

It is 2 WEEKS until my 22nd birthday!

I always get excited about birthdays. Whether it is my own or someone else's, birthdays are the best days of the year. (Excluding Christmas, Hallowe'en and Fridays.)

Since my first year of Uni, having a theme has been VERY important in the celebration of my (unofficial) day of birth. If you don't know why it's unofficial, ask me next time you see me.

For my 19th, we were super heroes.
For my 20th we were characters from Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which I renamed Alex in Wonderland. I'm smart like that.
For my 21st, I was in Italy (where fancy dress is more unacceptable than Berlusconi's face) so decided on a Black and White theme, which even I didn't adhere to.

This year, I will be celebrating my 22nd Bird-day in Leeds! The theme is, funnily enough, Birds! I cannot wait to see people's costumes. All I know is that I shall be wearing this lovely dress that I bought in Summer from Warehouse :)

I fancy Derren Brown

I do. You know why? 'Cause he's an actual genius. He's also quite hot.

His 'Experiments' series is pure brilliance. I think I'm actually beginning to worship the man. 
(Don't read on if you havn't seen the show - I will majorly spoil it for you otherwise.)

Last night's experiment was called 'The Secret Of Luck'. Derren organized for there to be a rumor started about a statue of a dog which sits in the town graveyard. He hired a reporter to ask one simple question: "Have you heard about the lucky dog?" and then sat back and watched his work unfold using a "jaw dropping mixture of stunts, suggestion and thought-provoking entertainment." I agree.

We meet a group of people along the way (who don't know their every move is being watched, and analyzed, by Derren) who either deem themselves to be lucky, or unlucky people.

One guy, Wayne, thought he was unlucky. He thought everything was going wrong in his life, like being shot in the eye and being run-over. Fair enough! But what Derren makes him see is that the only reason he is not lucky (as opposed to 'unlucky' - there is a difference!) is because he doesn't look for any good things coming his way. He simply, accidentally, ignores everything that could lead to a more lucky life. Derren plants a £50 note on the pavement in front of him and he misses it; he organizes a fake street survey where he could get £20 for telling the woman 5 different cuts of meat; and when none of this gets through to him, Derren hires a car with an ad on it saying

"WAYNE, CALL THIS NUMBER!" 

He does, then Derren Brown turns up at his door. I wish that happened in real life! Not that this show wasn't real life, but you get what I'm saying here.

Mr Brown (as I now call him, apparently) then arranges for there to be some sort of lottery in the town. Where people bet on a certain amount of money, then roll a dice and if they get the number right, then win 6 times their bet.

At the end, he get the entire village together in the town hall and tells them the lucky dog is in fact just a statue of a dog in a graveyard, and all the luck the villagers have been receiving is just a lovely coincidence. But he still continues with the betting, despite the fact everyone knows its all fake now. Turns out, the person who made the highest bet was (drum roll) Wayne, betting his life savings of £1000.

I won't totally ruin it for you, so got watch it now. Click here.

Rubix Cube Art

 This is too brilliant. YET ANOTHER thing to add to my "why didn't I think of that" list. I really need to think about more things. 

Remembrance Day

Monet - Poppies at Argenteuil, 1873

11.11.11

Recreating painting

Van Gogh's 'real life' room

Sorority Girls

The most awful 'reality TV' series in the history of TV crap! (And that's including Geordie Shore)

In a nutshell, 5 all-american girl-next-door ditzy american girls have come to the UK (Leeds, to be precise) in search of 5 girls to be in their fake UK-style sorority. They interview them, each judging them on a specific thing (entertainment value, their style, how 'inappropriate' they are,  how mentally ill they are, etc.) and then shove bright pink envelopes through their door the next day to let them know i'f they're 'in' or not.

The show continues and uses a whole load of vocabulary that no-one British would EVER understand! (Would you EVER manage to work out that "Pref. Night"' was short for "Preference Night" by yourself??) They then judge them on their talents, deeming one girl's talent of licking her elbow "too sexual." ...What??

The whole thing is totally set up. They're ridiculous! The acting in it is horrendous, and done in true 'dumb blonde american girl' fashion. The ironic thing is that the show was most probably trying to show up all the girls from Leeds to be really stupid, by asking them questions about the recession and politics. It's nothing to be proud of, I know, but you won't find more than a third of people in university are very interested in knowing about those topics. And they did choose the dumb looking girls, to be fair.

The Leeds girls may have caked on their make-up, and may not be the smartest people on the planet, but at least they don't say "inappropriate" every minute, dress in matching pink pajamas and act totally fake just because the camera is on them.

I've seen plastic fruit that is more real than those sorority girls!

Have a look at the ad, if you can manage your anger better than I can.

I actually hate these girls.

My Little Pop Icons

Who knew a pony could look so much like Icons of our time!

Do you recognize them all?

BY MARI KASURINEN

Damien Hirst at Chatsworth fail

Gutted I missed this! and by only 4 days! AND I missed his exhibition in Leeds Art Gallery! ugh...

Damien Hirst had 2 sculptures of his on display at Chatsworth House, which i believe to be not all that far from Leeds, making it a whole lot worse for me.

Both sculptures, one of a winged horse and the other of a unicorn, had been stripped down their middle, to expose the muscle and bone beneath, each standing on their own little plinth.

Definitely a big fan of Damien Hirst. All his work deals with the process of living and dying/being alive and being dead/ life and death. I had to think for a little how these 2 mythical creatures came into that category, then felt pretty embarrassed at myself cos I guess it's rather obvious. These creatures never existed. Therefore they never had a life and, in that case, no death either. Instead they have been metaphorically brought to life through mythology and films like Disney's Fantasia and have never really 'died' out.