Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts

Sunday, 19 April 2015

Tickets to Book this Season

image from hullvibe.co.uk


Long time no see! My absence from the web has been mostly due to my university finals but I am done and I intend to blog way more regularly in the coming weeks so please keep checking back for new posts!
Student loans are coming in soon and I personally can't wait to snap up some tickets for theatre, film and music events in London. Here's my pick of the bunch.

  • The Polyphonic Spree in Camden, 3rd September
Hot off the press! The Polyphonic Spree will be performing at the Electric Ballroom in Camden at the beginning of September. If you haven't heard of the 20-strong band then you will probably have heard their songs (one used to be on the Sainsbury's advert!). It may seem a bit premature to be buying tickets but it's better to get them in advance than be disappointed, as I was when tickets to see Taylor Swift in Hyde Park sold out...sad times.
Get details here.


  • Joshua Radin supported by Cary Brothers at KOKO, 22nd April
If you're stuck for something to do on Wednesday and you're in London, get your butt to the amazing converted theatre that is KOKO for a night you won't forget. Joshua Radin's dulcet tones are a regular feature on the Scrubs soundtrack, or in fact on any of his best mate Zach Braff's movies. I saw him play at Manchester Academy about 6 years ago and he was phenomenal so don't miss it.
Tickets here.

  • The Play That Goes Wrong, Duchess Theatre, London
Winner of Best New Comedy at the Olivier Awards, this play is 'ridiculously funny' according to the Times and should be a real rib-tickler to cheer up your week. Loads of celebs have seen it so it must be good. Tickets start at just £20!
Get them here.

  • Bugsy Malone, Lyric Hammersmith, London
The jazzy songs of Bugsy have been some of my favourite to choreograph and work on in the past and now it's time for a West End revival! If you didn't know, this is a musical about gangsters played entirely by kids. It's a bit wacky but you just have to go with it, and this new production promises to be a treat.
More details here.

  • Cinderella, in cinemas now
I, shamefully, have yet to see this movie but I'm going this week! All my friends have assured me that this live-action version of the Disney classic is simply magical. Go with your friends and relive your childhood dreams of happily ever after.


  • The Age of Adaline, in cinemas from 8th May
Blake Lively is one of my idols and I am dying to see her new movie, which is about a woman who lives through the 20th century without ageing. I can't guarantee that it will be an amazing plot because I haven't seen it, but I can guarantee that the costumes showing all the different eras will be fabulous. See you there.

Tuesday, 7 October 2014

Autumn Essentials

It's that time of year again - the nights are drawing in, there's a chill in the air and the urge to go outside all the time is fading and being replaced by movie nights under blankets with hot chocolate.
Autumn is my favourite season. The build-up to Christmas is tangible, but before we get too carried away remember there's Halloween and Bonfire Night first for autumnal joy! The new season is also a clear excuse to buy lots of new things ('I just don't have any warm clothes' is heard regularly in my house) so I thought I'd give you a helping hand with this guide to my ultimate purchases for the colder weather.

The most obvious and important thing to buy right now is a good coat. I've snapped up this baby from asos:

Image 1 of ASOS Cocoon Coat

It's super cosy and eye-catching, and it also comes in baby pink and camel. I'll be getting a black faux fur stole to go with it to channel Blake Lively in her blue Gucci coat (photo from entertainmentwise.com).
I also bought this faux fur coat last year and it's back in store this year in both grey and brown:
Image 1 of ASOS Vintage Faux Fur Coat
Plus it's recently been spotted being worn by the gorgeous Millie Mackintosh!

You'll also need a good pair of autumn boots for the cold and rainy weather. I decided on a pair of cut out ankle boots from New Look, similar to these:
Black (Black) Black Chunky Cut Out Shoe Boots | 324762901 | New Look
They're really reasonably priced so you won't worry about getting them scuffed or muddy!
On a bigger budget my absolute dream boots are these beauties from Topshop:
You can't really go wrong with an elegant over-the-knee boot.
I'm also lusting after this blanket stitch cape from Topshop, which has echoes of the iconic monogrammed Burberry blankets worn by Rosie Huntington-Whitely and the other Burberry girls.
photo from The Telegraph

I love this triangle necklace from John Lewis; fine, delicate chains and pendants are everywhere at the moment and I can't wait to get my hands on them!
Buy John Lewis Large Triangle Necklace, Gold Online at johnlewis.com
I may be living in a student house, but one of the perks of being a finalist is that you get the hang of the hunt for rented properties, and this year we've managed to bag a spacious three-storey house right next to campus. My room runs along the width of the property so I have lots of room to fulfill my interior decorating whims. 
When it gets colder I usually want to spend all my time under a duvet or watching movies on my sofa, so I recently bought a load of cushions from Next. My favourites are these soft velour cushions in Dove. They come in loads of different colours so you can match them to your room.

I'm also developing a growing fascination with scented candles. These are my current faves (click on the photos to shop):
Baieshttp://www.johnlewis.com/jo-malone-pomegranate-noir-home-candle-200g/p231745655
They will make your room smell amazing, plus they create extra warmth and lovely candlelight! Just don't light them if you're in university halls...no one likes the person who sets the fire alarm off when it's cold outside.

My feet always get really cold in my room, so (aside from woolly socks) I've got my eye on this faux sheepskin rug from Ikea. It's great value and even though it's only little it would make a big difference to my boring brown carpet.
TEJN Faux sheepskin IKEA The faux sheepskin is super soft, warm and cosy. Ideal as a rug or draped across your favourite armchair.
You can't have a cosy atmosphere at home without fairy lights, so here are a few of my favourites (click photos to buy from amazon):

My must-have album for the Autumn is the new release from Alt-J. Seriously cool as ever, This Is All Yours has a new edge to it that probably isn't for everyone but makes for interesting listening.

I hope you enjoyed my first post after a pretty long hiatus! I'm going to be posting really regularly from now (hopefully) and would love to hear your feedback - comment below or tweet me @LivSoutter.

Sunday, 4 August 2013

Washed Silk is Freedom

What's in a name? It seems, in the current blogging frenzy, everything hangs on the quality of your blog's title. After searching endlessly for mine to no avail, I decided to try out one of the many 'blog name generators' set up online to inspire those of us with mental block.

Not truly intending to find anything sensible enough to use, I found myself looking at fashionblognamegenerator.com, a very prettily presented web page that claims, "AT A LOSS FOR WHAT TO NAME YOUR FASHION BLOG? JUST HIT THE BUTTON AND WE'LL DO IT FOR YOU." Under this promising tagline is a shiny big button emblazoned with the words, 'Name Me'. How could I resist the Alice in Wonderland simplicity of this command...

Five minutes later and I had seen multitudes of random combinations of words deemed appropriate to describe fashion content; a few of my favourites were 'Mimosas and Shallots', 'Cookies of Turquoise' and 'Farmer of Curvy'. When the true gem of a heading, 'Washed Silk is Freedom' came up I genuinely considered naming my blog just that to demonstrate my love of irony. But I think it might come across strangely on a Google search. 

The vast quantity of websites like this using computers to fake originality struck a harrowing chord in me. Are we really so devoid of creativity that we have to let a random generator decide a few words which are intended to define our (probably very imaginative) written work online? It confirms my suspicion that 'randomness' is now the norm for most Internet moguls. 

A few years ago, quirky names, song titles, and indeed fashion sense were the domain of the cool ones among us who were brave enough to break out of stereotypes and embrace the alternative: the original 'hipsters'. In my earlier teenage years when the cool kids were listening to chart hits by Ne-Yo, Cascada and 3 of a Kind ('babycakes, you just don't know know...'), I was into Alanis Morissette and a little known pop-punk band called Sugarcult. I always considered myself to be somewhat ahead of the curve on the music scene because I discovered the YouTube channel WatchListenTell, which showcases up and coming new bands in beautiful sepia-toned HD acoustic video recordings. They now have over 54,000 subscribers and I no longer feel part of an elite group of "in the know" music lovers. 

It is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd without looking absolutely bonkers - see Helena Bonham Carter, below, for inspiration - so how do we express our differences? For me, my key to originality is literature. The Guardian stated in February 2013 that 'four million UK adults never read books for pleasure'. That's a quarter of the population. So, I'm naming my blog after the first novel of one of my favourite writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Because it's still cool to be clever. 

Read the article in the Guardian here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/feb/14/4-million-uk-adults-never-read-books



Photo from fashionlover.com
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