What would Madonna do?

Friends forever? 

Olettaen siis, että Her Madgesty olisi a) kaksikymppinen b) edelleen musiikillisesti oleellinen. Melko varmasti hengailisi Samantha Urbanin ja Lesley Hannin kanssa ja miettisi tosissaan, kuinka ohittaa kaksikko cooleus-asteikolla.

Urban ja Hann ovat Brooklyniläisen Friends- bändin keulahahmoja. Friends julkaisi debyyttilevynsä Manifest! tällä viikolla ja on parhaillaan Euroopan kiertueella. Ja eilisen Lontoon keikan perusteella voin kertoa, että tämä viisikko on takuuvarmasti vuoden 2012 kuumin musatulokas. Huolimatta siitä, että bändin nimi on täydellinen google-painajainen. Toisaalta: Madonna? 

TJEU:

  

London Belongs To Me

Sometimes you just don’t have the extra cash lying around for a holiday abroad. That’s when you need to remember what a wonderful place London can be. The London photos below by my talented friend John make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Like falling in love ♥  

See more of John’s pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/john_quintero/sets/

http://www.johnquintero.com/

All photos copyright John Quintero. 

The National Gallery at dusk

Flooded London Bridge Station

The National History Museum

London Still by The Waifs is one of my favourite London songs ever. 

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Hooray for New Year! It’s dark and miserable outside, you are fat after Christmas munchies, everyone’s penniless and half of your friends refuse to go out because they are having a detox month. There’s only one thing that can save you from depression: the New Year’s resolutions.

I loooove New Year’s resolutions. Two years ago me and my friend Teemu travelled to Colombia for New Year (the best way to survive January is of course a two week holiday in Caribbean). When not lying on the beach drinking rum or "coco locos", we made resolutions for 2009. This is what was scribbled on my little red notebook.

Resolutions for 2009 (Lena)

Learn Spanish

Go to the gym A LOT

Lose 3 kilos

Drink less alcohol

Pay off my credit cards

Write a book

When going out, don’t always go to gay bars

Get a pay rise

Move house

Learn salsa (I was rather excited about salsa in Caribbean, now I have a triple CD with “300 best salsa songs” which I never ever listen)

Have more sex

Quit Smoking

Improve my Russian

Go to cinema every week

Teemu was perhaps a bit more realistic. His resolutions read:

Learn to whistle

Wear more boxers

Eat more healthy

Lose 3 kilos

Save money

Drink less beer

Get new friends and do interesting things with them

I found the notebook about year later and ticked off my achievements – 5 out of 14. Pretty good, I thought. How was I to predict the recession (no pay rise)? And going out in straight bars was a doomed idea from the start, because, you know, they are really really boring.  

We all know it’s not really about achieving everything on your list. It’s about looking into yourself, your life and finding out the little changes that would make you happier as a human being (like wearing more boxers - he did!). And just do your best.

If you need a little help with your resolutions this year, try hypnotherapy. It can help with quitting smoking, losing weight, social anxiety, phobias and bad habits such as nail biting. And to help you get started, Alphahypnotherapy is offering 30% off your treatment in January by quoting Blondie Ambitious. Cheers, for a better me! 

Life in Colombia was not that stressing until the New Year's resolutions kicked in.

There for You (When the Rain Starts to Pour)

You know sometimes you just get the feeling that you have the most awesome friends in the world? Well I do. My friends do awesome things. They write books, change politics, help others, create art and fashion. They are great journalists, unbeatable entertainers and superb PR wizards. Many people will find them annoying because they question things and demand a change. And I’m really proud of them.

I recently interviewed my friend David for a new Finnish paper called NHL. The article is about tackling homophobia in schools by educating kids about LGBT history: its heroes and heroines, the people who have made the British culture what it is today but have either had their identity written out of the history books because their sexuality wasn’t acceptable, or who have been written out all together.

Besides being a teacher, David is also the founder of A Day in Hand campaign that aims to inspire same sex couples to hold hands in public. The campaign is inclusive: anyone, straight or gay, can support the campaign by holding hands with  someone of their same gender and uploading the picture on A Day in Hand website. It’s so simple. To promote love and equality through the innocent act of holding hands.

But it takes a lot of work to get these great things to happen. To organise campaigns and events, lobby politicians, donate your time, create videos, blogs and articles and collect signatures. It takes passion. And I’m so proud to say I know many people with passion. As they are the people that will change the world.   

Read more about tackling homophobia through education from the November issue of Normihomolehti (NHL), out this weekend.

Support A Day in Hand campaign and upload your hand holding photo on the campaign website. Nominate A Day in Hand in the 2011 Pink Paper Awards.   

http://www.adayinhand.com/

Christ in a Coke Bottle!

Last Sunday night I was chilling out with my lovely boyfriend, reading a Sunday paper or doing something else so obviously cultural (like watching Dallas) when we were rudely disrupted by a knock on the door.

Now, I wasn’t expecting anyone and if that’s the case I simply do not open the door. Firstly because I don’t like unexpected visitors. Secondly because I live in Bermondsey. My boyfriend on the other hand is a country boy at heart and went on to open the door.

“Hello. I’m here to talk to you about Jesus”, the man on the door said (I told you so, never EVER open the door, I was thinking).

“We are both atheists”, my boyfriend replied.

“Oh. I’m not here to convert you or anything”, the man on the door continued, “but could I leave you some reading?”

“Sure, goodbye”, was the answer and the door was closed again.

So we got the November edition of the Awake! with the theme of the month appropriately being Is atheism on the March? And what do we learn?

A new group of atheists has arisen in society. Called the new atheists, they are not content to keep their views to themselves. Rather, they are on a crusade “actively, angrily, passionately trying to persuade the religious to their point of view".

Err, how did I come by this publication again? Surely not from a Jehova’s Witness actively and passionately trying to persuade the others to his point of view?

Awake! is full of articles about the bible, spirit and religion, and suddenly – a story about Natural Gas as an Energy for Home. What? Have the Christians finally found science? Are they trying to fool us into believing that the rest of the articles are based on science as well? What’s going on? Do they know that we are watching Dallas and J.R is just about to buy a refinery?

I found no answers. But the eternal wisdom never to open your door to a stranger lives on. Amen.

Do they know we're watching Dallas? 

Soho Magic

I love Soho. I know many Londoners find it touristy and uncool, but I know you can pretty much find anything you need from the hedonistic hub of our dear old London. 

As we did last night with a good friend of mine. Sushi overdose at delicious Kulu Kulu on Brewer Street was unavoidable. The only thing you can do after that is to retire to the Friendly Society on Wardour Street for some more wine and get your feet up in their little snug. Good times.

He makes the most luscious prawn tempura hand rolls

At Kulu Kulu the sushi is prepared in front of you and delivered on a conveyor belt

12 plates later, that's us done!

Richard digesting at Friendly Society

Not So Hot on Holiday

I’m overly excited about my upcoming holiday in Spain. Not only is the weather forecast SUN SUN SUN  when in the UK it’s misery misery misery, I’m also going to stay with a dear old friend of mine. 

Packing for your holiday is an acquired skill and something that oh so many people get oh so wrong. And according to a recent study done by  money saving website DiscountVouchers.co.uk, the tourists from Birmingham and Midlands are just the worst of them all, followed by Newcastle and Scotland. Americans were voted as having the worst fashion sense in world (Germans, Greeks and British came close), Italians the best.

The biggest fashion errors were thought to be socks with sandals and exposed beer bellies. Skimpy trunks for men, thongs for women, football shirts and logo overload were also considered to be bad taste.

I think we all agree, except that socks and sandals is one of the greatest (and comfiest!) trends of the moment. But just to make sure, I think I’ll leave them for my return to the chilly autumn. After all, the study did show that the best dressed British tourists come from East England (and Yorkshire).

Socks so chic! Prada Autumn 2010 Collection

In It for the Money

Last night I travelled to Canary Wharf, a weirdy business district of London. A friend of mine who’s got a weirdy business job I don’t quite understand, lives there and was celebrating his birthday with football and take away, as you would if you’re a straight man.

Canary Wharf was looking strangely beautiful, with its shiny skyscrapers glittering in the evening sun. It’s breathing business, with stock prices running on the walls of the buildings  and a dozen clocks reminding you that time is money. This is where the American Psycho lives. The devil wears Prada. 

Best Coffee in Town?

There are times, when you just want to meet  your friends for coffee rather than for cocktail. It doesn't happen often but as I've sworn off booze for the first two weeks of September, there was no better time than yesterday to check out what's claimed to be the best coffee in London. 


The Flat White, that is. Small, busy coffee shop with Australian / Kiwi origins on Berwick Street in Soho. The coffee was decent, as it should be with the price tag of £2.50 / cuppa. And what's fantastic is that they also serve fresh mint tea, something you can get pretty much everywhere in Amsterdam, but for some reason seems to be hard to find in the London cafes.


The Flat White
17 Berwick Street, W1F 0PT

The staff at Flat White know it's all about the presentation

Faking It

Last night I took an advantage of the National Gallery's late night openings and went to see their exhibition Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries. The exhibition demonstrates how the science can reveal the secrets of a work of art: the fakes and the forgeries but also sometimes revealing how the painting has been altered later on.


Super interesting! As my lovely and talented boyfriend said, a well done fake is more interesting than the original one. I think that's not only true in art, but life itself. The exhibition runs until 12 September and the admission is free. Go check it out!

An Allegory by Botticelli. Or is it?

Vibrating mascara? Seriously?

An old friend of mine works in retail and as you should, gets a lot of bribery free gifts from the representatives of the cosmetics industry. And as it’s not humanly possible for one person to get through all that make-up, I’ll get my share. My latest addition: vibrating mascara. I’m sorry: Pulse Perfection™ by Define-A-Lash® Vibrating Mascara. Seriously.

I guess you can’t blame the cosmetic industry for being creative. How else could a girl justify buying a new mascara way more often than necessary. In addition to the weirdy dildo mascara (actually it’s not a bad mascara, there just really isn’t any justification for the vibration) my make-up bag also contains L'Oréal’s Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara as well as Lash-Power mascara, High Impact Mascara and High Impact Curling Mascara from Clinique. And I’ve got a university degree.

I’ve only ever met one person working in the cosmetic industry. He was an ex-Olympic rower from the British national team. He was recommending me the new foundation Maybelline was bringing out. I’m sorry mate, no matter how impressive your thighs are, I’m not taking make-up advise from straight men. Ever. 

Who Do You Think You Are?

OMG, can't stop crying when watching Lisa Kudrow in Who Do You Think You Are! Apparently she's Jewish and her roots are in Eastern Europe where most of her relatives were killed by the Nazis.


And, yes I know that BBC has been making WDYTYA for ages now but the Americans celebs are just bigger and do it better. Can't help loving the scene where Kudrow meets distant relatives in Poland. She's moved to meet her father's lost cousin. They get emotional too: "I can't believe Lisa Kudrow is in my house, not in my television"!


No wonder Friends was such a good show. Kudrow really is like Phoebe. When is someone going to pay me millions for playing a quirky, silly blondie?