Roller Derby

A couple of years ago, I tried my hand at the sport of Roller Derby (not writing ‘foot’ as an unforgivable pun just then took a lot of restraint). Roller Derby is an all female two team contact sport on quad skates which originated in America. The premise of the game is for the two teams (comprising 7 members) to skate around an oval track while the chosen ‘Jammer’ in each team tries to lap the other as many times as possible. The role of the other members of the team (lead by the ‘Pivot’) is to block the opposition by using their shoulders, elbows, hips and bums and to facilitate the passage of their ‘Jammer’ through the pack, often by flinging them forward using the ‘Whipping' manoeuvre. It’s not a sport for the thin-boned women, if you ever go to watch a bout, you’ll probably spot an out-of-action Derby girl on crutches sporting a neck brace and cheering on her team mates from the sidelines.

Unfortunately, after a few months with the London Rolelr Girls (who are very nice ladies by the way) I realised that Roller Derby was not for me. Firstly, it seems to appeal to hard-core punky tattooed third-wave feminists which isn’t exactly me and secondly it demands a lot of commitment, Roller Derby isn’t something you do as your weekly source of exercise, it’s an entire lifestyle... your boyfriend becomes a ‘Derby Window’ and your profile picture on Facebook will most probably be of you “in action”. However, I did like the fact that you get a name like Kamikaze Kisses of Polly Pummeler... or Speedy-Go-Faster (that was mine... it was meant to be ironic but it wasn’t).

Despite my exit from the world of Derby, I was still happy to see that the adorable Drew Barrymore has made this:





Actually... after watching the trailer, I must say I wanted to give it another go...

More on Eyebrows

Ok, you may feel that two blog posts in two months on eyebrows is a tad bit excessive. I disagree, eyebrows are really very interesting if you think about it.

Anyway, these are the eyebrows I want. Tao Okamoto, I'm coming for those gorgeous slugs.

New Years Resolutions...

I WILL STOP LOOSING THINGS

I WILL STOP BREAKING THINGS

I WILL STOP BEING LATE

I WILL STOP SAYING YES

My Films of 2009

Horray for my brother Folarin and my friend Scott who provided me with their Orange Wednesday codes throughout 2009. Thanks to them, I was able to see some great films for the student-friendly price of £3.50 (including ‘Up’, ‘500 days of Summer’, ‘Paper Heart’, ‘District 9’). It also meant that the agonizingly bad films I saw stung a little less because they were only £3.50 (‘Wendy and Lucy’ - BORING. ‘Watchmen’ – downhill after the first 30 minutes and far too long, ‘He’s Just Not That In to You’ - unfulfilled potential, ‘The Hangover’ – Not Funny, especially the little Chinese man).

The following films I absolutely absolutely Absolutely LOVED.

Let the Right One In directed by Tomas Alfredson

Vicky Christina Barcelona directed by Woody Allen

Away We Go directed by Sam Mendes

If you havn't see them then make sure you do.

Thierry Le Goués

The original "I've just finished stuffing my face with Christmas dinner and now I cannot move (or breathe) so I will write a blog" idea was to put up a series of pin-up girl pictures illustrated by the likes of Alberto Vargas and George Petty. I was then going to comment on how one might take advantage of the extra Christmas fat come January by reorganising it into the right places (bustier and a pair of control tights can work wonders... although I can only speak personally of the former).

Anyway, I digress. As you will see (BELOW), although the illustrations are amazing the “All American” girls in the pictures get boring after a while which prompted me to go in search of some "African-American" or "Latina" pin-up girls to make things a bit more interesting. However, there were literally None! This is obviously no surprise because of “the times” but still, this made me sad. I thought about pinning my hair up into a quiff, donning my vintage white lace bodice, seamed stockings and a pair of Mary Jane's and then perching on a satin cushion with my bottom cocked up and posting that alongside the rest... but then I remembered that my older brother reads this blog.

So instead I went off on a merry tangent and looked to the French photographer Thierry Le Goues who created a book called 'Soul' in 1999. This sensual and evocative book features nude pictures of fashion models of African descent including Naomi Campbell, Iman, Alek Wek and Lauren Pascale. Not exactly akin to the classic pin-up illustrations no, but the point is the same. The shape of the female physique is a fundamentally beautiful thing with incredible power. Curves, curves, glorious curves, I really think another mince pie will do me good.










There are some even more amazing photographs here: http://dnn.thierrylegoues.com/Galerie/Soul/tabid/380/language/fr-FR/Default.aspx

The Pin-Up girls

This is the post Christmas diner inspired blog I'm talking about in the previous post...

I'm really feeling the old black and white classics at the moment. Last week I watched Gilda starring Rita Hayworth. I don't want to write too much about her or old Hollywood glamour in general because we all get it. Instead, I want to post a few illustrations of the classic pin-up girls which capture the same potent sex appeal exuded by actresses like Rita Hayworth, Brigitte Bardot and Grace Kelly.



ENOCH BOLLES


ALBERTO VARGAS


ALBERTO VARGAS


GEORGE PETTY

R.I.P BRITTANY MURPHY

SUBTLE.

NOTES: Has Lady Gaga had a nose job?

Is this video about Sex by any chance?

And are the plastic guns a metaphor for willies?

KILLING THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

First of all, I love elephants and I don't actually condone killing them. But, I learnt this week that cutting out the bullshit and being up front saves you a lot of time and energy. SO, the next time you spot an elephant in the room you should say “oh look... there’s an elephant in the room, we should probably get rid of it” rather than leaving it there to suck up all the oxygen and obscure the view.

SNOODS (SNUGGLE HOODS)

The people at Vogue say that Snoods are this winters must have. As much as I’d like to oppose the command of yet another fashion trend I have to agree; wearing one is like having your head cuddled by several chinchilla's and boy do they look stylish. Look at these:

Well, my mum the milliner and general creative genius has designed and produced some fantastic snoods in wool and jersey, available in a variety of colours. You can buy them upstairs in the Market Hall (indoors) at Camden Lock... take the steps leading up from the West Yard, walk over the bridge and go through the doors. The stall looks like this:

Here are some wonderful examples of the product in question modelled beautifully by my friend Sophie:

BROWN CABLE KNIT 50 BUCKAROO'S.

GREY CABLE KNIT 50 BUCKAROO'S.

WOOL 25 BUCKAROO'S.

WOOL 25 BUKAROO'S.

WOOL MIX 10 BUCKAROO'S.