Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Babies!

Hey guys, sorry it's been so long..
On behalf of the team, I hope you had an excellent Christmas and expect you're all looking forward to New Years Eve.. We are fo' sho'!
The majority of us ..being Saj, Raj and Yours Truly ;), will be hitting Digbeth for the Rainbow NYE Festival.. And no Karen, not the gay pub on the 45 route..
Seher will be having fun funs in London somewhere.. She still ain't told me where exactly.. but expect a blog from the beaut.
Jen..I'm sure will also report back on her plans, so expect to see a few essays after the New Year..
Tell us what you get upto YUH HEARD?!

oh and I've wanted this for a few too many months now, thought the desire would fade away but its still fully there.. so anyone wanna buy me it, :) seriously..no, it's ok, go ahead.. i'll send you my address.

Peace and Love Little ones..

Boxing Day Madness

I've never really been a Boxing Day shopper, after quite determinedly stuffing my face each and every Christmas day, it always seemed way too much effort to drag myself around a shopping centre with 100s of other desperate shoppers, tryna to find anything that would justify the extra effort for the outing...

But this year, I decided to. Maybe it was the lack of presents on Christmas day (two) or maybe it was due to the fact that I had seen so much that I wanted while Christmas shopping for other people earlier on, but I decided to do the deed.

Was quite a hilarious experience actually. I was in Birmingham City Centre for 9am in the morning. The most part of town was shut, and wasn't going to open until 10am, but Rackhams was open, shame I couldn't find anything...

I've never been in one of those positions where you queue outside a shop for the opening, to see whoever/whatever is drawing the crowd that day. But as me and my brother worked our way through town, silently making our battle plans we saw more than one shop with a decent amount of people queuing outside.

This brought a sense of panic to me, "why are they queueing outside THAT shop? am i missing out on something here? maybe i should be queuing outside there as well!" That tense sales mentality, where you just HAVE TO COME BACK WITH SOOOMETHING!

But anyways, I held my patience and got to New Look (I had checked on the website the day before to see what badboys I could pick up) only to find a queue outside there as well.

The atmosphere was so tense, everyone's waiting for them to open the shutters, inching themselves closer and closer to the door, it was like waiting for a bus, but EVEN MORE tense. But when you think about it, it's so dumb, what's the likelihood that the lady standing next to you with the slight limp is going to grab the EXACT same bargains as you...c'aaamooorrrn. What kinda foolishness...?

When the shutters opened up, everyone surged forward as if they were getting everything for free, then promptly stopped to congregate around the racks about 5 feet into the shop. I was hihgly irritated by now, but I managed to pick up exactly everything that I wanted. First picks is definitely worth getting up early for...

Along with some beautiful bargains, I managed to pick up these sexy (but full priced shoes)...I now stand at a comfortable 6'2" :D



I managed to come away at 12.30pm, unbruised, with my sanity and health, and still with some money in my pocket.
I didn't get everything I went out for - which reminds me, top sales tip MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, that way you will not get sidetracked, way-laid or end up spending too much on something that you didn't really want or need in an effort to justify your attempt at sales shopping!! - and I still came back with some notes in my pocket.

My first attempt at real Boxing Day sales shopping has been a success, I'm proud of myself.

Now it's back to the food, cake and icecream...

Happy Christmas and & Merry New Year to you all...

Does Music Really Sound Better With You?

We think so!

Very recently, i have found this tune becoming very big again... club after club, those disc jockeys are throwing this record on... It's good to know music survives! 

P.S. Doesn't this video rock?!?

NYE 2008!

It's that time of the year again... but the question is "Where are you partying to celebrate new years?"

Well let me recommend you some parties...

If you happen to be in Birmingham, then I guess the only place I can recommend, which looks very prosperous, is

The Rainbow: NYE Street Festival (9pm-5am) 

Rainbow holds long legacy and tradition of defiant independence hosting some of the most talked about events and parties in Birmingham over the last 10 years. This year Rainbow features 7 Arenas hosted by Birmingham's favorite party brands including...

BELOW in the Rainbow Courtyard

HOT DATE in the Warehouse Garden

BIGGER THAN BARRY on the street (heated marquee)

WOBBLE VS CRUNCH in the Rainbow Warehouse

ENID BLIGHT-ON in the Rainbow Bar

CUSTOM MADE in the Oasis Marquee

UP2NOGOOD in the other room.

Covering Disco, Dub-step, Electro, Hip-hop and House, everyone will be pleased. In my opinion it is a night not to be missed if you are around in Birmingham

Tickets are still on sale @ £20 plus £2 booking fee... This is definitely going to be a big night so to avoid disappoint I suggest you mofo's buy tickets online now @ http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/buy_tickets/events/?id=10005511&ref=FBMo

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And if your in London, boy is there so much s**t going on! These are my personal recommendations in brief...

secretsundaze NYE @ Village Underground, Shoreditch (10pm-6am)

Nicknamed "The Rave Shed" by Terry Farley, this venue is a beautiful Victorian warehouse with original features, exposed brickwork and a 10 meter high skylight studded ceiling. Feedback across the years has proven this to be the one of the favourite secretsundaze venues.

Starring...

Omar S (FXHE/Detroit)

Johnny D - Live (Oslo/UK Debut)

Giles Smith (Dessous)

James Priestley (Simple)

This party will be highlighted with a fine selection of Detroit House/Minimal/Techno and soulful grooves.

For tickets & more info-

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=300123&referral_id=nye08

NYE 2008 @ The End & AKA, Between Tottenham Crt Rd & Holborn St. (9pm-6am)

Main Room & Lounge: Lauret Garnier, Layo

AKA: Freerange feat. Jimpster, Milton Jackson, Pash Ostovar, Matt Masters

Again, this one is going to be big, plus its at one of my favourite venues in London - "It is a nice!"

If you are not aware of the above artists - I suggest you get on myspace.com and check out their styles... totally top end house vibes!

Tickets are on sale @ £40.... Early Bird tickets £35 have already sold out... obviously get your tickets soon if you wish to attend.

Tickets -

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=301260&referral_id=nye08

And finally...

BRICK BEAT PRESENTS CAFE 1001 NYE 08/09 (31st Dec - 2nd Jan)

For the third consecutive year, Brickbeat and Cafe 1001 join forces to bring you another cutting edge NYE/NYD entertainment marathon.

Doors open 6pm on the 31st and close and midnight on the 1st

3 rooms of music with the last tendencies in all styles

house/techno/minimal/techouse/dnb/dub/hiphop/soulful/chill out

From my experiences at 1001 - there is always good music and a good crowd - a night that doesn't disappoint!

Tickets on sale at cafe1001.com + www.ticketweb.co.uk

Adv tickets (limited) £15 and £25 on the door.

Gosh, don't these parties just sound the the shizzle... I'm not sure yet where I am heading myself... most likely to be the Rainbow in my hometown.

Have a top new years whatever you guys get up to!

PLACE YOUR BETS NOW!

Peace & Love.

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RIP Woolies...xxx

Me and my friend Ari went to Woolworth's today to check out the *MASSIVE* sale that was going down today...
doing my bit to save the British economy and what not...spend spend spend baby!!

I really do feel sad about the whole situation to be fair, I bought my first single, album etc from Woolworth, as well as endless amounts of sweets and fizzy drinks on any given Saturday morning of my youth...it was there that I first experienced the joy I got from my stationary obsession as well as my first forays into fashion and styling (the Ladybird range - you dun' know!!)...my heart is torn at the present circumstances, not torn enough to buy Woolworth's for a £1 and work my out of three-hundred-and-a-ridiculous-amount-of-money-pounds but still I'm torn...

So back to the story...we go in there, and I'm determined to pay my final respects to such a beautiful institution, while Ari is just looking for bargains (she's from Bermuda, so I'm guessing she doesn't have the same emotional ties like me)...and I dunno what I was expecting, but there was nothing dignified about Woolworth's today, empty shelves, stock haphazardly thrown about the place, people wandering around with dazed/anxious expressions clutching at whatever items they happened to find, no staff to be seen (because they were all frantically scanning goods at the till). I really couldn't understand it.

UNTIL I tried to my own bit of shopping...well it would of been smash-and-grab if I had found anything to grab...

The first few shelves were empty, BARE!! Then I turned a corner and found the maximum amount of those Christmas chocolate selection packs...



After 5 seconds of contemplating whether I had any use for this in my life, I realised no, so I moved on...

Next corner I found the Brattz section, miraculously untouched...it was like finding Pompeii, so serene, so empty...I spent some time trying to find a Brattz doll I wanted to buy...yeah I know Brattz are kinda like Barbie's nympho/Lolita stepsister, but I did want one at one time (Brattz Diamondz Sasha - for obvious reasons), but I wasn't really down for lugging a Brattz Winter retreat house with real jacuzzi etc etc across London. By now I had lost Ari in the madness, I encountered stressed pregnant ladies, sullen fathers, it really looked like a funeral wake, except more depressing, with a strong whiff of hopelessness wafting about. I also realised why everyone looked so vacant but anxious - there is supposed to be A FIFTY PERCENT SALE AT WOOLWORTH'S! WHY THE HECK COULD I NOT FIND ANYTHING THAT I WANTED!!!

In desperation I picked up two of those JML products, one magni-tweezer thing, then I realised - I get my eyebrows threaded by professionals...I NEVER touch them, except to smooth them over in the morning. The other was that MagniReader Credit Card thing, for my mother, then I realised she would be thinking "why the heck did you buy me this??" so I put it down and waded through the ridiculously long queues that snaked around the shop (WHAT THE HELL WERE THESE PEOPLE BUYING!! I COULDN'T FIND A BLARSTED THING!!) to the media sections. I mean, good old Woolworth's should have some trusty DVDs and CDs...

NO. NO. NOOOO. Out of desperation again I started picking up 90s complication CDs and really old DVDs like X Men and such...I mean I love X Men, but I'm waiting for the boxset!...I came to my senses and put them back on the shelf (in a different position - I was loosing hope). Finally I made it to the back of the shop...SALVATION!! The homewares section...I realised that I needed bedsheets...couldn't find a decent bedspread set that I liked, so I settled for a black fitted sheet (I've been thinking about the whole black thing on my bed for a while...and fitted sheets are so much easier to live with)...and THANK GOODNESS I found the decoration-section, and bought one of those collage frames things...a massive one...so breathing heavily with relief I traipsed over to join the rest of them in the queue...you'll be pleased to note I managed to find Ari in the end (after phonecalls and GPS co-ordination).

Someone in the londonpaper commented that it felt like rifling through the pockets of a corpse...and it really did...I wanted to give Woolworth's a dignified farewell, but desperation and the consumer mindset got the better of me...I'll see how much us riflers managed to raise tomorrow morning on Sky News with Mr Holmes...

It's a sad day in British history...but Woolworth's is officially dead...even if they find a buyer I doubt I'll set foot in there again...the final memory was too horrible, I didn't even say goodbye properly, by then I was too relieved to get out of that soul-destroying place...

Goodbye Woolworth's...I'll always (mostly) have fond memories...

Goth is the New Black...

Something that I've been observing for a while...so don't think I'm late to notice, I'm just late to post(-ice, wanted to make it rhyme...)
Autumn/Winter seems to have a gothic option, for those of you who enjoyed The Dark Night and want to explore the 'darker' side.
On the catwalks we saw almost everyone (who is anyone?) dabble with a bit of "black magic".
We're talking the likes of Lanvin, Dior, Balengcia (did I spell it right, can't be bothered to check), Gareth Pugh (of course), Vivienne Westwood (surprise surprise), Chanel, Yves St Laurent...need I go on? Just know that it was all over the gaff!



Yves Saint Laurent ^^^^^

SO.

Me being slightly obsessed with the darker side of life for a few secretive years now, added with a slight obsession for make up and Japanese Fashion Culture, orchestrated two photoshoots around this thing...then we add another slight twist...fashion-conscious black models because I have never seen a black goth...soooo when I tell you the series is called "Goth is the New Black" you will get the double pun (or is this when I use double entendre?).

Here are a few images from the shoots...

Art Direction & Photography - Myself!
Styling & Make Up - Myself, Tasha, & Mary
Models - Tasha & Mary









If you wanna see more of the shoots, www.myspace.com/jeni_diamondz and check the photo albums...

I <3 Candy Cakes.

Hmm, candy cakes cup cakes. YUM. Last night, weirdly enough, I had a dream that I bought tons of cup cakes and ate them all by myself. Despite the fact that I would probably go crazily fat afterwards, I had different shaped and coloured ones and it really made me smile. So when I woke up, I suddenly remembered this cake shop me and Nandini visited some months back!

This is a dream come true for cake lovers. The display looks absolutely amazing, and it makes you feel like you want to eat them all! They come in all different colours and flavours which make it even more tempting, (well if you’re on a serious diet, do NOT go.) When me and Nandini randomly walked past, it was like ‘WOOAAH HANG ON, WHAT WAS THAT?!’ It was so lovely and colourful :) ahhh CAKES :p

Candy Cakes initially started up in 2004 with the aim to make cakes fun (like they weren’t already!) They have a delicious range of mixed flavours and ensure that each individual cup cake is made from natural ingredients. They even do orders so when placing an order you can specify certain preferences like gluten free etc, which is great because they’re obviously trying to cater for everyone. And trust me, one look at these cakes and you’re like ‘I WANTTTTT’.

As we’re so nearly approaching Christmas (YAY), so for the festive season they have brought out a Christmas cup cakes range. The most popular is the marshmallow snowman cup cake which looks bloody awesome and I’m sure it tastes grrrreat!

I think everyone needs to visit this place! The one we came across was in Covent Garden, ground floor of the Covent Garden Piazza. It’s really easy to find and in a good location, so make sure you pop in for some tea and cakes and you’ll keep on going back!