ON YER BIKE!

This seasons biggest fashion accessory is not a pair of shoes or some cool bag, but a bike! Yes, it seems that anyone who is anyone has a bike in London i.e all the Hoxton wankers!. All the housemates have one( We don't live in Hoxton, so this does not make us wankers!), and we all rode them into Vicky park last Sunday for a picnic. The nice thing is, everyone of us has a different kind of bike which has its own character. I love my bike, even though its far from perfect. I got it for £50 on eBay (I liked the big basket it had!). Its gears don't work, so I have to get off and push when going up hill, the brakes hardly work, so its dangerous going downhill and it weighs the same as a tank. It would be a great bike if I lived in Holland! All that said I don't want to get rid of it. I guess my bike is a bit like me, a bit dysfunctional! I hate most forms of exercise, but cycling I love, it seems to suit me, I can't explain why? Long may this trend last. Here are some pics from the Sunday.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

I miss being in love. I like the feeling it gives you: that tingle down your spine, the knot in your stomach, the feeling of walking on air. Its a feeling that it more addictive than any drug, drink or cigarette. I think I'm quite a loving person really, though I try to hide it. There is a part of me that is dead when I'm not in love. It has made me kind of melancholy recently. I sit round reminiscing about the past, especially when I see other people kissing and it feels like everyone is in love, apart from me. It makes me sad. So to fill this void I have been watching quite a lot of romantic films to get my fix. Don't worry I'm still not watching chick flicks, that will never be my style, but there are romantic films out there which don't want to make you puke. In fact there are some master pieces, and it is one of these such films that made me fall in love again. The film is Kar Wai-Wong's in The Mood for Love. It is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Set in Hong Kong in the 1960's, the film is about an affair between two married people. It was made in 2000 but it is shot on old stock film to give it that period look. The real star of the film though is actress Maggie cheung's dresses. They are amazing. I just want to go out now and buy a load of cheongsam's.

LOUNGE LOVER

So I went to the legend that is the cocktail bar Lounge Lover, for the first time on Saturday. Its just the most amazing place like Aladdin's cave full of treasures. Its owned by the same people who own Les Trois Garcons (still not been there yet, but I'm dying to, and have said the first guy who does take me, I'll marry him!). Garcons use to be an antiques shop but they turned it into a restaurant and just left all the items from the shop in there too. Luckily it seems that they had enough left over for Lounge Lover as well. It looks amazing. I've decided I want to decorate the flat like it (Note to one's self: Need more money and time to go searching around the world for artifacts! Solution=marry millionaire!) The lover (That's it's cool name) does some of the best cocktails in London and with of a price tag of nearly £10 for one, its a bloody good job! With the fact that I could only afford one cocktail the pressure was on to, pick the perfect drink. The problem is the list is so God dam long, you lose track of what there is, just to much choice! I decided in the end on the Moulin Rogue, because I like Paris and the film (Alright! You try and come up with a better reason!) It was a good choice, but it did go down too easily and quickly! After that it was back onto the good old Rose at a more affordable price! Maybe I should of stuck to the cocktails, as I would not of got so drunk!



Address: 1 Whitby Street, (off Club Row) E2 7DT
Tel: 020 7012 1234
Email: info@loungelover.co.uk

OBSERVATIONS

* I keep losing things. As soon as I find something, I lose another! Now I have lost my camera battery charger, which is shit. A camera is no good without bloody batteries!

* Everything I brought from the Flea market the other day was red. Maybe its my new colour of choice? Well my mother will be glad as she says my wardrobe has looked like an undertakers for years!

* Thinking about alcohol a lot because I can't drink any at the moment as my housemates have bet me to go on a detox for a week. God is only day 2!

FLEA MARKET

Today saw the first Oslo house flea market, organised by the lovely Eric at vinyl pimp. I came downstairs still pissed from the night before antics to find the misfit family, that me and my housemates are, had decided to do their own store. It consisted of everyone trying to sell off there old junk, well apart from Ssam who was trying to sell only a tiny fraction of her wardrobe of (And believe me there is a lot of wardrobe!) The only problem was Ssam was actually trying to sell, Chanel, Miu Miu and Jill Sander among others, something that most of us peasants in the Wick can't really afford. Also she didn't really do compromise on coming down on the prices and drove a hard bargain, of which none of us could get our heads around. Maybe its a Korean thing! Kylee made Sangria, which she sold for a pound, though I must say she could have sold a lot more if we all hadn't helped ourselves to it! Angus made scones which he sold all of and the store actually made a profit in total (God knows how that happened!) All in all an amazing day with the sun shining, music, drink, food, dogs and the family of misfits. The tune of the day was Yegelle Tezeta by Mulatu Astatke, love it!

I'M READY FOR MY CLOSE UP MISS KIM!

So as I said in my previous post, the flat got turned into a fashion photo studio for two days. I missed the first days shoot as I was working but I have seen the results from it and it looks amazing. It is still a work in progress as Angus is still editing it together, but don't worry as soon as its finished I will be the first to post it. I was around for the second days shoot which was for Ssam friend, Adams magazine Stimuli. Adam is an amazing make up artist who works for some big people and does London fashion week. So I wake up Thursday morning with bed head and walk down stairs only to find some gorgeous German male model called Rob sat on our sofa ( saying that I am actually off Germans for a bit after Jan!) and all I can think is "Oh, my God! I look like shit!" I quickly pegged it to the shower and then donned a ton of make up that I would never normally wear, and found my tightness dress and leggings and proceeded to walk round the flat bending over to pick things up and trying to look alluring sitting around the place. I don't why I bothered, because as the day unfolded it turns out that Mr model seems to have the personality of a stuffed penguin. It true what they say, its not all about looks! Apart from that it was a really interesting day, with the flat looking like a bomb had hit it, the shoot setting off the fire alarm with the smoke machine and all the neighbours complaining and I got to befriend Steven the hairstylist dog, Ten Ten which kept attempting to jump off the roof terrace. So all in all another normal day at Oslo house!

OSLO HOUSE PHOTO STUDIO?

So last month the flat got turned into a bicycle repair work shop. This month it's the turn of it becoming a photo studio! Ssam my housemate who is a fashion photographer is helping launch a new fashion magazine called Glass. My other housemate Angus has been roped into filming the promotion video, due to his film making talents. So they have decided to film the shoot in the flat due to our white walls and huge amount of space. I guess its the perfect studio for free! For the next two days the flat is going to be filled with models, stylists, assistants and make-up artists. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow, so I will miss the first days shoot but I plan to hang around for the second and record all the coming and goings. Until then here are some photos of SSam, Angus and me setting up ready for the shoot and having a mess around.











Angus shoots his films through a roliflex camera and then edits the pictures together in the most cool way. This is his style and he has become the master of it. Check out this music video he made for Liam Finn, which shows his style, at its best!