wanted: Best friend with lots of fashion incite to spare

So I’m officially engrossed with the world of working at a fashion magazine and can’t help but feel apprehensive. I’m not a fashionista and I feel shameful of this. I’ve been known to be too lazy to do my hair and make up and simply gone to the shops with a cap on and tracksuit pants. You’ll be lucky if I’m even wearing shoes. So now I’m changing my ways and studying up on the fashion world that is Cape Town. I’ve been relentlessly following all the fashion blogs I could find in hopes that their ways will rub off on me and that I’ll suddenly metamorph into a schmodel.

It’s more difficult then it looks. It involves lots of time on my hair and face, which is difficult because I usually try to avoid mirrors. Now I have to look in them all the time. And heels. God. The humanity of it all! At the moment I’ve not been wearing heels (naughty), but its because I waiter during the week and can’t see myself spending the entire evening on my feet when I’ve spent the entire day in heels. 

Mary kate and Ashley make it look so easy. I wish I had them on speed dial so they could give me endless advice on what to wear.

I heart Cape Town

Everyday I'm more and more amazed at what a beautiful place I live in. Having lived in Cape Town, Joburg and Durban I feel I can say, without a doubt, that Cape Town is by far the best. I'm sure true Durbanites and Johannesburgers will argue, but I don't really care. We not only have a picturesque mountain that adorns our landscape everyday, but also white - sandy beaches and a blue sea. Not to mention the fact that I'm bombarded with gorgeous-supermodel people that make me want to hide in my house and never go out again. Honestly, where the hell do they come from? Is their a secret government warehouse that breeds them like cattle?

Whenever I leave Cape Town to visit my mom in PE, I count the days until I can return and once I drive into Cape Town I can never remember why I left. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, but Cape Town is my home and I would never want to live anywhere else. The people in Cape Town are also the most colourful of South Africa. Its filled with anyone from emos to indie kids, from jocks to hippies and everything in between...

The highlight of my day is walking through the city center, between the stalls by the train station, and through the company gardens. It almost seems like their in completely different worlds and not just different streets. The different people, the different classes, the different atmospheres all rolled into one.

Nothing can beat it

Civil Twilight's debut Self Titled Album

Last year June I was given Civil Twilight’s self-titled album by a good friend who assured me they would be right up my alley. I didn’t really give them another thought and hadn’t even bothered to listen to the album. For the past couple of months I’ve been hearing Civil Twilight everywhere; their song ‘Letters from the sky’ has been blowing up the charts on 5fm as well as the billboard charts, I hear their songs on international series such as One Tree Hill and they recently played at the Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town. It was time to play their CD and hear what all the praise was about. Now that I’ve heard it it’s weird to think that I had never heard of them before. 

Originally from Cape Town this band has taken the world by storm. One can’t help but feel a little proud at how well our boys have done so far. Civil Twilight is made up of Brothers, Steven (vocals, bass guitar and keyboard) and Andrew McKellar, (guitar and vocals) and lifelong friend, Richard Wouters (drums and percussion). In 2005 the band decided to move to Los Angeles and there after was signed to an indie Label. And the rest, as they say, is rock history. 

Let’s get back to their album. The powerful vocals and strong emotionally charged beats can’t but stir feelings. One can hear the strong influence of early U2, Oasis, the Verve, and even Coldplay. Some of their songs are more chilled while others want to make you get up and jump. It’s awesome to listen to a band that knows and can play their instruments well. Too often we have people picking up a guitar and playing mediocre. I was hoping that their cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ would be included in this album, but you should definitely try download it or look it up on Youtube. It’s a beautiful cover that does the original proud but also adding their own spin to the mix. 

Over all this is a band to watch. Their beautiful notes and powerful vocals will brighten up your day or even help you get over a heart break. Look out for them when they are next in South Africa.

Getting my nerd on

So we've come to the end of another year. How fast its gone by. It feels like just yesterday I was celebrating the end of 2009, disappointing as usual. This year I've decided to avoid the disappointment and just skip New Years Eve all together. No party. No champagne. No New Year messages. That way I save money and don't have a hangover from hell  in the morning. Perfect.

Its not that I'm getting too old to party. I can party it hard with the best of them while still remaining classy and lady like. Its just there is so much hype around New Years Eve parties, you are bound to be let down and left feeling unsatisfied and wanting.

In the spirit of avoidance I'm having a movie marathon. I'm a nerd deep down inside (don't tell anyone) so I'll be spending my evening watching all of the Star Wars movies. If I had more time I would have made a Princess Leia outfit, but I didn't. This way I don't have to watch those stupid New Years programmes and the countdown. I most likely won't even realise its the new year until the sun starts coming up. I don't have deal with drunk people invading my personal bubble or guys trying to kiss me at midnight. I won't be upset or let down because I have absolutely no expectation about tonight. Awesome. Best idea I've had so far.

Celebrating Idiocy

The world we live in today seems to only award the stupid while the sensible and rational people are left high and dry. People such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are renowned not because of their talents (I'm not even sure Paris has a talent) but because of their stupidity. Paris Hilton was a little known hotel heiress until the fateful day when her sex tape was leaked. Suddenly she became an international sensation. But for what? Worse of all they are role models. 

Sleeping around, doing drugs and being borderline retarded are not things to admire. Why TV shows, such as Jersey shore, are huge hits, is beyond me? I would be offended that some fat cat executive actually thought we would buy in to this, but the sad truth is we did. 

The entire cast of Jersey shore go to premiers and award ceremonies; they even appeared in Enrique Iglesias’s music video ‘I like it’, but what do they actually do? Other than getting paid to drink, fornicate (that's sex for those of you who enjoy this program) and make idiots of themselves on TV. I'm seriously contemplating becoming a hermit just so that I never have to hear what Snookie or Paris Hilton have to say about anything. For once I would like to see brains triumph over superficiality. 

It’s sexy to be smart, no matter what anyone else will try to tell you. I'd rather be a nerd then give up my intelligence to be considered sexy. Most people's view of sexy is so warped by the media.

The truth is people are intimidated when they encounter smart, beautiful women. I do not think anyone who degrades themselves for the amusement of others is sexy. I think people like Natalie Portman are beautiful. She cares about others and she is smart. That is sexy. That is something that should be admired.

Books I'm reading right now

I tend to stay away from novels that are surrounded by hype... I'm always disappointed in them and anyway the average person has awful taste in books. Twilight is a good example. I would shave my tongue before I wasted time on that crap.

I'm glad to say I disregarded my prejudices and decided to get "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" one day when I was waiting to board my flight. For once everyone was right. This novel deserved all the hype. It was a little slow at first, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because by half way I was fully engrossed with the exploits of the heroine, Lisbeth Salander. What's even better is that Lisbeth is a character I can fully relate to and is real. Instead the fluffy main characters we are usually left with in modern books. She's dark, twisted, alienated and hard as nails. I liked the fact that she was petite too, being short and skinny myself! Though the male lead, Mickael Blomkvist, is a bit of an egotistical jerk who sleeps his way through the novels, you can't help but like him. The sad part is that Steig Larsson never got to witness the success of his "Millennium trilogy", having died before the publication of the trilogy: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl who played with Fire", and "the Girl who kicked the Hornets Nest". I've flown throw the trilogy but now I'm reluctant to finish the final chapter of the third installment; "the Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest". I don't want it to end and by reading the last page I know it will.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot but it is definitely worth a look and from what I hear the Swedish film version is amazing. So if you aren't the reading type then go watch the film... just be warned it is Swedish so don't expect the characters to speak English. They don't, by the way.

fun in the sun and all things nice

Its been a while since I last blogged and not much has changed. Today the weather was beautiful and I missioned to Tokai to see the 'African Vacation' Pro skateboarding tour.

Canadian Pro Sakters, Ryan Decenzo and Chris Haslam, as well as British Pro Skater Ben Raemers and local pro skater Jean-Marc Johannes performed a demo at Sports Unlimited in Tokia. Other than nearly passing out from the heat, the demo was mind blowing. The skate park was small and the crowd of fans and on-lookers did their best to cram into the space given to them.

Haslam, Decenzo, Raemers and Jean-marc did amazingly with the space they had available. Though the skater everyone came for was Chris Haslam, the rest did not disappoint. The demo was mostly filled with Raemers, Haslam and Decenzo skating, but when Jean-Marc was given the chance he brought his A game. Thank God for the Red Bull promo girls, or else I wouldn't have made it until the end. Definitely have a new appreciation for the skate community.

For more information about the Africa Vacation pro Skating tour and other skating news check out www.africaskate.com.