JuliaEmily

Run chicken run

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:43:00 +0100

One door down from our place there’s a live chicken shop - we live in a Puerto Rican neighbourhood where quite a few people have a preference for fresh chicken that they can see killed in front of them.

So on Tuesday and Friday mornings if the windows are open I hear the trucks unloading their cargos of protesting chucks and for 20 minutes I share their early morning fear and anxiety.

A moment ago returning from the lavanderia I saw a stringy specimen making a break for it, it ran out the door, skittish of people and cars and weaved it’s way down the street unsure of it’s next move. Before it got far the neighbourhood boys were chasing it down the street as I stood rooting for the fowl. Sadly his mad dash into a nearby restaurant ended his bid for freedom and I’m sure he’ll be eaten by bed time…

Time to get cozy

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:16:54 +0100

I love the summer as much as anyone else, it’s great to feel the sun on your skin, to drag the summer frocks out of their moth balls, and flaunt a little flesh. But somehow after a whole summer of it (or often for me 3 summers in a row) I am just over it and dying to don the layers.

That first breath of Autumn that is gusting across Brooklyn as we speak hints that it’s time to get rummaging through the woolies and getting cozy.

While summer clothes rely on what’s going on underneath them (not so hidden) for their charms, come autumn the clothes themselves are ready to steal the limelight.

The colder it is the more leeway you have to manipulate how your figure appears to the outside world. Sharp tailoring and luxurious knitwear add structure without requiring perfection.

I’m pretty old school in my autumn taste, classics in natural fibers combined with touches of deliciously bright primaries for warmth. Pictured are some of my favorite pieces on etsy for fall, click on each image to go to the listing.

soupsoup: Universal Health Care Map The amazing part is that...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:15:22 +0100

soupsoup:

Universal Health Care Map

The amazing part is that America is providing Iraq and Afghanistan with universal health care. What do you think of that right wing protesters?

The English invasion of New York

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:30:00 +0100

So the Brits have arrived in New York, it turns out I am not the only one, seems like I hear more English accents here most days than I would in certain areas of London. A few weeks ago I was sat in a neighbourhood restaurant in South Williamsburg, a gorgeous, but discreetly tucked away little joint called Moto, located in a wedge shaped building tucked away under the JMZ lines on Broadway. Sat on one side of the narrow dining room enjoying rosemary encrusted ribs with my man, I pricked up my ears only to discover that the entire of my side of the restaurant was from various parts of the UK. Now I am not talking about a party of invaders here, but 3 seperate tables of diners all hailing from Blighty and living locally.

My new job at Providence Day Spa in Boerum Hill also makes me feel at home with two English colleagues and the Victory cafe around the corner selling classic English mustard, marmite, hobnobs and hula hoops. Now I hear not only that, but there’s a British run fish and chip shop just 4 blocks away, that serves the classics and the more obscure deep fried mars bars a la Glaswegian establishments.

An old friend I met in Prague, who goes by DJ Shimmy over here runs music nights both in Brooklyn and Manhattan that often bring a taste of some of Britain’s more obscure mod sounds. There’s even a club in SoHo, Sway, which offers a Morrissey/Smiths night every Sunday should I ever feel like a good cry. With this kind of Anglophilia going on in the city how could a girl ever get home sick?

Across state lines....

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:20:00 +0100

I finally feel like we have actually moved to New York. Yes we’ve been here for 6 weeks already, but staying first with friends and then living in our strangely empty apartment didn’t feel very permanent. This weekend however we finally made the trip down south to pick up Andrew’s furniture (and my sewing machine yeah!!)

Let me tell you it was quite a trek, 18 hours over night on a greyhound to get down to Greenville, with the usual suspects, the ex-army guy bragging about his guns, the musician on the way to a concert in Charlotte singing gently to himself behind us the whole (actually this was kind of an unusual treat) the moms with new babies screaming while they gossiped with their new friends, the old ladies so large that they filled most of the neighbouring seat and had to be winched out at rest stops by chivalrous young men. the countryside wedding in the beautiful hills around Seneca, South Carolina made the journey worth while, as did my first meeting with my year old nephew Paul.

The wedding offered me another thrilling glimpse of the old south as the 6 groomsmen posed on hay bales for photographs and adjusted one anothers’ ‘buttonieres’ and aging southern belles drawled ‘oh daahrlin’ I just lurve your accent!’ and clutched me to their bosoms. The jazz quartet a la 1930’s Charleston was a joy and with the southern cuisine beautifully prepared by chef Laurence Mitchell, who had also trekked down from New York, to enjoy it was easier to ignore the conservative menfolk griping about ‘#$%&! Obama’ and his health care reforms.

Sadly our overnight stay with my charming in laws was mared by the need to pack up the moving van, the dust kicked up aggravating my allergies and fraying my temper. We of course spent the first few hours of the drive slowly remembering all the things we’d failed to load up, but were soon distracted by the local radio stations we flicked through constantly and diverse place names on the signs along the way.

We passed Winston-Salem, famous for it’s cigarettes and it’s witch hunts, another Greenville, a second Salem and another Charleston. The highway took us through North Carolina, and into beautiful Virginia, who signs exclaiming ‘Buckle Up Virginia’ made me giggle every few miles, imagining a local farmer talking to his red faced and jolly wife, named of course Virginia. We passed a town called Scotland just after a town called Dublin, then Bethlehem, Strasborg and Christiansburg…

We broke our drive in West Virginia in a mangey motel run by Hindus proclaiming Jesus’ love for us on their signs (over-compensation?). The breakfast in Maryland, a smooth run though Pennysylvania and New Jersey before finally pulling into Brooklyn.

So now here we are Brooklynites at last, admittedly writing this still surrounded by boxes, but moved in none the less.

The amazing work of Nagi Noda - Producer, Art Director and...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:25:00 +0100

The amazing work of Nagi Noda - Producer, Art Director and extraordinary creator - sadly she died last year at the age of 35 during surgery following a car accident. Clearing a huge loss to the world of costume.

The best of London's Burlesque

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:36:52 +0100

Flay and Deville’s Circus of Marvels has taking over Madame Jojo’s in London’s Soho once every 3 months for over a year now and has played each time to a full house. Their delightful mix of naughty caberet is universally appealing, combining comedy, magic, music, escapology with naughtier more risque acts they almost constantly have me in stitches.

Their last spectacular which took us to the end of Brighton Pier for beach inspired summer frolics was the best burlesque night I have ever seen, and trust me I was no Burlie virgin. Flay and Deville compered in their inimitable style, introducing acts like the Great Crapini, possibly the worlds worst magician, Kalki, comedy hula hooper extraordinaire, the incredibly sexy Spencer the Devil with a very revealing portrayal of King Arthur, and Shirley and Shirley’s wonderful wordless comedy skits.

For their next trick they’ll be taking us back to school, on the 7th of September you’d better don your uniforms and get down to Madame Jojo’s for your induction to the classroom of Flay and Deville’s Circus of Marvels featuring:

Madame Galina Prima Ballerina (The Forces’ Sweetheart, in dainty tutu and hairy knees)

The Flirtinis (an enchanting trad-jazz trio with live accompaniment)

Diva Hollywood (international burlesque star and downright saucy Madam)

Fanny Malone (a sexy songstress belting out bawdy music hall classics)

Rollicking Richard Sullivan (a unique yo-yo trickster making his London stage debut!)

…and many, many more.

An eaters manifesto

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:45:00 +0100

You’ve got to love manifestos haven’t you - an individual writes a tome instructing the rest of the human race how to live their lives. At the Latitude festival we went to the literary arena to hear Vivienne Westwood (quite the idol of mine) present her manifesto, clearly stating in her own inimitable, faintly doddering, style what is high and low culture and instructing us in taking the high road. I am afriad she rather failed to hold our attention, focused as we were on the fact that she appeared to have spilt numerous glasses down her cream silk dress, which she proudly proclaimed to have worn for 10 years. Even while in so many ways I agreed with her completely, I struggled with the arrogance of the concept of a manifesto.

But of course that is not going to stop me reading them, in fact there is nothing like the word manifesto to arouse my curiosity. So when I spotted An Eater’s Manifesto on a friends bureau I had to start reading. It starts with this simple mission statement ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants’. The opening chapter of the book clearly outlines a healthy eating strategy which makes perfect sense, but leaves you wondering why on earth you would need to write an entire book around such a blaringly obvious though wonderfully simple concept.

Simply because there seemed to be nothing more to say I found it impossible not to keep reading. Michael Pollan went to to explain not why this eating plan was prefereable to any other, but how we as a society had travelled so far from this basically obvious premise of eating. How mass production, processing and regulation have lead us into a situation where of the average supermarket’s contents only a fraction is really ‘food’.

He asks us to walk around our supermarkets with an imagined ancestor, our great-grandmothers, or even a caveman, and only to buy foods they recognise as food. I can sign up for this as a concept - although I may need to take someone’s Japanese and German great grandmothers round with me to end up with a diet I am content with.

He goes on to add more rules: Avoid things with unfamiliar ingredients, unpronounceable ingredients, or more than five ingredients, avoid food products that make health claims coz when did you even see a label on a banana claiming to be high in protein low in fat? Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting - all of which sound pretty sensible to me.

That said, the book did grind on me a few times, a little preachy, over simplified and skewed - but then that would seem the way of the manifesto as a medium. He also seemed to have be labouring under the assumption that a majority of Americans strive for a healthy lifestyle, well I would like to break it to him that probably a big chunk of them don’t actually give a damn about what’s healthy. At one point it became clear to me that your average American wasn’t exactly his target audience, when he said that of course not everyone could afford to eat organic and freerange ‘but those of us who can, should’, Ow!

This book is not going to change how I eat, although it nicely affirmed some of my choices, and gave me some interesting arguments against the pre-made meals I have always railed against. So thanks Michael Pollan I shall enjoy my future visits around the supermarket with my phantom entourage of batty old ladies and neandertile men!

cbeth: Yes, it’s July. And yes, I’m already plotting my...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:47:03 +0100

cbeth:

Yes, it’s July. And yes, I’m already plotting my Halloween costume.

Anticipating Latitude

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:01:00 +0100

This time tomorrow we should be arriving in Southwold for the Latitude Festival - we’ll be there to perform with the Immaculate Extremists and Noise of Art in the tribute to old horror film vampires on the Sunday night. So I’ve packed our fangs and my vampire gowns, and dusted off Andrew’s tail coat and I think we are ready to bite some necks.

The line up looks pretty amazing - with bands from the Pretenders to the Petshop Boys (has every 80’s band reformed to tour this year??), Spiritulized to St Etienne, Thom Yorke to Nick Cave and tonnes of new talent. But Latitude is much more than a music festival. There is an incredible line up of cabaret, comedy, film and theatre. Add to that a literary arena and salon and a poetry arena, cram all that into the beautiful suroundings of Southwold’s Henley park - well I haven’t been but I’ve seen the pictures from last year and it’s damn picturesque despite the crowds…. It looks good enough that even if I didn’t have free tickets I’d think about buying one despite being a diehard cheapskate.

Surfice to say I’m excited and will be telling you all about it here the minute we get back on Monday. Fingers crossed for good weather - I’m not that keen on good old English mud!

Inspirational! Now that’s what I call crochet!

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:17:33 +0100

Inspirational! Now that’s what I call crochet!

Etsyhookers Team Christmas in July promotion

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:46:00 +0100

My fab etsy team - the etsyhookers are doing a promotion tomorrow to celebrate Christmas in July! What the hell is Christmas in July you may well ask? Loads of my Aussie mates celebrate a second Xmas on the 25th of June (which is also my dad’s b’day so maybe should be called Trevormas??) as they miss having a chilly Northern hemisphere celebration as it’s stinking hot there in December. Course mainly it’s just another excuse for a party, something Australians are really good at finding!

Well we wouldn’t want to miss out now would we so us hookers have got together to create this Christmas in July sale with lots of team member offering special deals on the 15th of July from 6pm till 12 EST time - for us Brits that means from 11pm to 5am - so you gotta stay up late for the best deals. for my part I’m offering a free gift with any purchase from my shop - which should be good for anyone who likes surprises. The images are from other hookers shops, so click them to reach their shops - full list of the deals they are offering here below as the sale is about to begin.

Christmas in July – July 15, 2009 list of participating shops

http://RedBerryCrochet.etsy.com Receive 10% off all items, including sale items! BOGO Free! - Purchase any crochet pdf pattern from my shop and receive another (of equal or lesser value) absolutely free! See store for details.

http://CraftedFromTheHeart.etsy.com BOGO Free. Purchase any pdf pattern from my shop and receive another one free ( must be of equal or lesser value). Buyer needs to let me know from the EtsyHookers Team Special Offer.

http://sghulett.etsy.com Buy 1 Get 1 free

http://JacquiJCrochet.etsy.com 40% off all patterns. Please enter promo: take40off in the notes to seller during checkout to receive a revised invoice.

http://peacoxcreations.etsy.com Receive 10% off plus free shipping on all items!! See store for details.

http://rrexx.etsy.com Tonight Only! Receive 15% off your entire order! Just mention Red Hot Sale in the “notes to seller” when you check out.

http://ClackamasCrochetChic.etsy.com Free shipping (US) and $1 shipping (international) on all items! I will change the shipping costs prior to the sale.

http://crochetgal.etsy.com Yarn sale! All 10 ball packs will be 25% off! All other yarns will be 10% off. Discounts will be applied via paypal refund.

http://juliaemily.etsy.com Free gift with every purchase! Include ‘it’s Christmas in July’ in your message to seller to receive your free gift.

http://MariaKonstantin.etsy.com 20% OFF the price from the section Christmas in July!

10% off any crocheted item in: http://noradoramora.etsy.com
10% off any crocheted item in: http://noradora.etsy.com
Discount will be refunded via paypal after payment has been received!

http://valeriesgallery.etsy.com ~~ 20% off total purchase. Mention “Hooker Christmas in July” in note to seller and either:
1) Wait for a revised invoice OR 2) Pay in full and receive a refund through PayPal.

http://SturmDM.etsy.com FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in the US (Standard USPS) for purchases on 7/15/09 - offer does not apply to Custom/Future Orders. Please mention “Christmas in July Sale” in Notes to Seller.

http://Momwithahook.etsy.com All Patterns [PDF] are BOGO free. All PRE-MADE items are 50% off. Convo Etsyhookers22 for patterns and Etsyhookers44 for Premade items discount. I will refund discount once item is paid via confirmed Paypal account. Secret - Shipping Only for Item I will choose the night of Sale.

http://beberagz.etsy.com Everthing is 20% off. Mention Christmas in July in message to seller box and discount will be refunded through Paypal.

http://bagsandmorebypam.etsy.com 10% off - 6 p.m. - midnight, Wed., July 15 (EDT) - put RHHNS in notes to seller and revised invoice will be sent, or refund of discount difference if you have already paid. Sale limited to items currently in shop. Custom and/or future orders not included in sale.

http://handsdelight.etsy.com 20% off all current listings and 15% any custom orders. Revised invoice can be sent or refund of discount difference if you have already paid.

http://JacBerKitsch.etsy.com Free Shipping Tonight Only!

http://warmandsoft.etsy.com 40% off sale! See shop for details.

http://lauraslefthook.etsy.com 10% off all in stock items. Put in note to seller: CHRISTMAS IN JULY and wait for revised invoice or receive refund through Paypal. Any Lovely Little Letter order of a full name receives the vowels for free instead of the 10% discount; convo to set up custom listing during time of the sale to receive the free vowels.

http://eveldasneverland.etsy.com Offering free shipping worldwide on selected items. You can find them in the “Christmas in July” section.

http://VitalTemptation.etsy.com Whole collection on sale

FREE shipping on any orders over $50.00 in either http://MoonLightSally.etsy.com or http://SallyRags.etsy.com

theblogthing: What a view - stunning glass balconies - An...

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:57:09 +0100

theblogthing:

What a view - stunning glass balconies - An amazing idea that scares the shit out of GR……(click picture for story)

Alanis Morisette celebrates her lady lumps - Now this is a cover...

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:57:00 +0100

Alanis Morisette celebrates her lady lumps - Now this is a cover I’ll always remember!

PrickImage put together this video of Egg’s 6th Birthday...

Mon, 11 May 2009 23:21:00 +0100

PrickImage put together this video of Egg’s 6th Birthday Party, where James hosted dressed as Brahma, with his entourage of gods and godesses. In particular check out Ganesh, the elephant headed god’s mask - I worked really hard on it, and I’m going to post photos soon showing how I made it. You may spot me lurking in the background dressed as Lakshmi - although I’d be surprised if you’d recognise me under all that make-up and fake hair!

Slave to Fashion - a photographic archive

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:30:00 +0100

Slave to Fashion - a photographic archive:

Recently the regulars of Beach Blanket Babylon’s Slave to Fashion night dragged themselves out of bed on a Sunday morning, donned their best party clothes and posed like divas in the streets of East London. This collection of shots is an archive of the some of the fierce looks that they put together week after week.

Real dedicated followers of fashion! Click on the pink to see the link!

Let me share the video Egg Club put together of the night that...

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:57:00 +0100

Let me share the video Egg Club put together of the night that Akimbo and I became Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss, and were joined by Jade Goody complete with Angel wings, Lady Gaga, and London’s ex-major Ken Livingstone expressing his true feelings for London’s new mayor Boris Johnston. Silliness!

No lumps in our mash!

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:37:00 +0100

James made me the most delicious dinner tonight - and coz we’re generous we’d like to share the recipe with you - so your mouths can be as nice and spicy and your tummies so well-fed.

Roasted Salmon in honey and soy with wasabi mash and stirfried veg

2 salmon steaks

Marinade for 30 minutes in the following mixture:

2 tblsps dark soy sauce

2 tsps honey

1 inch of ginger root finely chopped

1 shallot finely chopped

1 clove garlic crushed

then bake in the oven at 200 degrees celsius or 390 fahrenheit for 12 minutes

Serve with mashed potato with fresh chopped parsley and a teaspoon of wasabi powder and batons of carrot, zuchini (corgette) and sliced mushroom lightly stirfried with a heavy dash of soy, squeeze of lemon juice and grind of black pepper.

Serve and enjoy - feeds 2

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:42:00 +0100

The Australian musical Priscilla Queen of the desert has received some bad reviews and some glowing reviews, but because of them or despite of them the show has sold out night after night since it arrived in London. Luckily for us my baby sis was feeling generous and took my man and me to see the show last week.

What a show - an extravaganza just made for karaoke fans like me - all the cheesy classics jammed higgledy piggledy and all wrapped up in fabulous feather and sequin festooned costumes. While the boys in their frocks provided us with the action the vocal stars of the show were the lovely lady singers who spent much of the evening hanging from strings from the ceiling, who provided the voices for the lipsyncers. Their towering orange hair and fishtail gowns gave them the appearance of Ariel from Disney’s little mermaid, as they imitated immaculately divas from Tina Turner to Cindi Lauper.

I was more than a little surprised looking around my fellow audience members to see such a mainstream crowd. I go to a lot of drag shows and am used to sharing the stalls with enthusiastic fag hags and their GBFs, but this crowd was what you’d expect at phantom of the opera not Trannyshack. The middle-aged builder sitting next to my sister and displaying his ample bum crack during the interval couldn’t have been more of a surprise to us. Does this mean that the drag fans are now main stream and homophobia is a thing of the past? As homophobia is one of the central themes of the piece this would seem to be a case of job well done!

Jason Donovan was unrecognizable to me at the start, looking much older than he had on the posters, but his transformation into diva was amazing. Starting as a non-descript man in a beige suit he striped on stage to his undies, donned corset and heels and turning his back to the audience added a wig and turned back 30 second later in full glitter make-up. Now how did they do that? Later in the show in board shorts and Hawaiian shirt he was more recognisably Scott from Neighbours, and I’m pleased to announce he managed to play a Kylie fan without any visible bitterness - well done Jase! His fellow Queens gave stunning performances, the aria sang from the roof of the bus in a sequinned body suit while sat in a giant shoe particularly stands out.

Browsing the internet for reviews I came across these concerns about racism, inspired by the mail-order bride character, sadly though I sympathise, I love the ping pong firing hot head. I was fascinated to see how they would manage to make her fire her balls without crossing a line that would relegate the show into nearby porno theatres. I am confident that the writer was chasing the novelty of this scene, and is only guilty of lack of thought as to how this negatively stereotyped Asian women. Still I think that most of the world by now is educated enough to know that mail order brides with a penchant for ping-pong firing are anything, but common.

This show makes for a great night out, with a glitz and polish that’ll take your breath away - if you can get tickets you just have to go!

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:49:07 +0100

This quote from William Morris should be an inspiration to us all. Morris a dedicated socialist who believed that beautiful things should not be only for the elite (although the high standard of craftsmanship that he demanded in his works meant that they could never truly be available to the masses) and that crafts should take their rightful place alongside art. As one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement he inspired many others to take pride in their work and to instill beauty in the most practical of items.

As we find ourselves in Walthamstow, housesitting for Sophie and her many cats, we decided to visit the William Morris Gallery, which is in his old family home on the edge of the Park in Walthamstow.

The foyer was filled with children learning to make toys as it is the Easter holidays, but a step away from their shreeks was a quiet little museum to the designer’s life. Offering insights into his distaste for modern machine techniques of the time, his love of the old medieval weaving and illustration which his work helped to revived, and to his wife’s indiscretions with Rossetti, whose painting of her is on the left.

We followed the story of his life, illustrated by lovely examples of the woodcuts from which his wallpapers were printed, the sketches he made for his stain glass windows, and beautiful books which he and his friends had painstakingly illustrated. These were displayed alongside the brochures for his lectures on his theories of art and design and the stronger literature expounding his views on socialism.

What i love best about Morris, apart from the beauty of his work, was the fact that he was not afraid to try something new. This was a man who dabbled in almost every form of art, from writing and poetry to painting, architecture and furniture design. His creativity seems to have been unstoppable, now that’s inspiring.