You are currently browsing the bangsandabun.com blog archives for the year 2010.
Monday, December 27th, 2010
The winners of my Galaxy Book Club Giveaway are….drumroll please….
Ineke Daans and Nessy.
Woo hoo! Congrats to you both. They’ll win a copy of either Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin or The Truth About Melody Brown by Lisa Jewell and of course, a big bar of Galaxy chocolate each – yums!
Tags: books, chocolate, Galaxy Book Club, giveaways, sponsored post
Posted in life | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 24th, 2010
It is my dream in life to one day have enough money to have a hair stylist on my ‘staff’ (along with a manicurist, an errand runner and a token gay man). My hair is long (I like to point out the obvious) and often times, I just don’t feel as though I have enough arms to deal with it. I love for someone else to take the reins and just handle it.
So, The Blow Bar, a new one stop shop for all your blow drying needs in Islington, is my dream come true. I was invited there this week to get my hair blow dried and you can see the results above. I had a meeting in the afternoon, so it was ideal for me to stop off there first and get my tresses sorted – can you imagine if I’d rocked into my meeting looking like that before picture? The horror!
Candice took care of taming my wild mane into lovely big, bouncy curls – her arms must have been killing her by the end of it, bless ‘er. Both Candice and Emma (pictured) gave me a really warm welcome when I arrived. There’s complimentary drinks, plenty of mags to browse through and joy of all joys, free wifi (an ideal hang out for a blogger with long hair!).
I really enjoyed the experience. Great products were used on my hair, the girls were friendly and a good laugh and best of all, I came out of it looking more polished for my meeting, without the hassle of having to sort it out myself (at least this way I could take care of emails and tweet my way through – two birds with one stone and all that).
All in all, I highly recommend it. If you have an important meeting, a party to go to or just know you’ll be bumping into your ex that day and want to look a million bucks, The Blow Bar is definitely worth a visit.
The Blow Bar is at 25 Camden Passage, Islington, London and you can find out more details over on their website.
Tags: hair, reviews, The Blow Bar
Posted in fashion | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
Well, it’s been quite a year in Bangs World. I moved back to England at the end of ’09 after six years of galavanting in various cities around the world and wasn’t quite sure what lay ahead. Then 2010 started and my luck took a crazy turn. As the year rolled on, something more and more mind blowing would happen each month. I couldn’t quite take it all in myself. But I sure have had some great times and as always, documented them here on this blog.
Well the universe must have been listening, because in February, I won a competition to have Idris Elba call me on Valentine’s Day. It was a joyous, momentous occasion and I stand by my theory that Idris totally wants me. I made this video, which I was later told, he watched. Mortification!
On came March when I caused a bit of a hoo-ha by declaring that Europeans Dress Better Than Americans – that made for an interesting comments section. I also talked about how much I hate runners – oh how that came back to bite me in the ass later in the year.
In April, I got some Jimmy Choos and was oh so happy about it.
In May, I shared probably one of the more personal posts I’ve ever done on this here blog, where I talked about my struggle to come to terms with my looks. It sparked some great discussion and yes, reading the comments made me cry, multiple times. I still get emails about that post and am so moved that it touched other people the way it did.
In June, one of my readers questioned whether I hate women – how could I not respond to that one?! I flung maxi dresses into a category with Uggs boots and Crocs – an opinion which lead to someone who had been very keen to work with me refusing to do business with me at all. Seriously. So very professional. The Sex in the City 2 movie came out. I was unimpressed.
In July, I wrote an open letter to parents, letting them know that the sun does not actually shine out of their child’s ass. Surprisingly, parenting groups didn’t call for my beheading. A group of bloggers got together to write about the shambolic Mac/Rodarte collection which lead to the line being scrapped – blogger victory! Then I stirred up a bunch ‘o shit by writing a post called Woman Law: Being a Lady - behold the hate it garnered!
In August, I got fed up with people asking me to write for them for free. I got up on my soap box, wrote a post called Blogsploitation and it turned into a kind of protest march with bloggers from all corners coming out saying they felt the same – some really great comments that show how much of a solid community bloggers are.
I had quite a few requests from my American readers who thought it’d be funny to hear me rap and so, in September, I debuted Bangs Goes Rap with my pretty epic rendition of Jay Z’s 99 Problems. I am waiting to a) become a YouTube sensation and b) get a record contract. I was also nominated by my beautiful readers for a Cosmo Blog Award and came runner up in my category, which was totally amazeballs.
October was a landmark month for me. After being approached back in May to run a half marathon, D-Day arrived on 10th October when I actually ran 13 miles and didn’t die. Hands down one of the most amazing moments of my life. I then wrote about the drama I had going on behind the scenes with the PR company who’d asked me to do the half mara and caused a bit of an internet shit storm.
In November and totally stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote about my acne and my lovely commenters surrounded me with love and support like never before. I celebrated three years of the blog and wrote a Beginner’s Guide to Blogging to help out anyone who might be thinking of taking that step into the blogosphere. I also signed up for the Paris Half Marathon. I put a call out on Twitter to see if anyone wanted to do it with me and overnight, I had 19 girls signed up. Team Bangs on the Run was born!
Rounding the year out, in December, I gave you a guide to X Factor and warned you about Bitchy Boys all while making embarrassing videos of myself training for the Paris Half Mara.
It has been one helluva a year, but it would’ve been nothing without the support, encouragement and love I’ve received from you, my readers, my lovely blog family. Thank you so much for laughing with me, crying with me and sharing my joy. It really does mean the world to me.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store!
Tags: acne, bangs goes rap, beauty, blogging, idris elba, Mac/Rodarte, maxi dresses, running, Sex & the City, woman hater, x factor
Posted in life | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
‘Tis the season to be jolly and give stuff away!
With all the time we get off at Christmas, it’s a great time to cosy up by the fire with a new book. Galaxy, the makers of the lovely chocolate, are doing the One Million Book Giveaway. If you buy one of their promotional bars of chocolate, you could be in with a chance of winning one of five top best sellers by entering the code at www.galaxybookclub.co.uk.
I’m just started reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, which is about a family at war with itself. I’m only a little way in, but am already a big fan of Franzen’s style and am very intrigued to see how these characters’ stories unfold.
In the spirit of giving, I have a couple of best selling books to give away to help you chillax during the holidays. Woo hoo! Two winners will receive a copy of either Knots & Crosses by Ian Rankin or The Truth About Melody Brown by Lisa Jewell and a bar of Galaxy chocolate each.
Simply leave me a comment telling me what your favourite book is and you’re in with a chance to win. Simples!
Competition closes at 6pm this Sunday (December 26th) and I’ll announce the winners on Monday.
Good luck and happy reading!
*Only one entry per person
*This is a sponsored post
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
Tags: books, giveaways, Ian Rankin, Jonathan Franzen, Lisa Jewell, sponsored post
Posted in life | 26 Comments »
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Well, for someone who started out hating running, I’ve become pretty hardcore – I run in the snow and everything. On Sunday I went for a six mile run in not ideal conditions, but I felt great. In case you didn’t already know (and if you don’t, are you hiding under a rock or something? I mean, seriously!) myself and 19 of my Twitter buddies (Team Bangs on the Run) are running the Paris Half Marathon on March 6th 2011 in aid of Refuge, a charity that helps women and children escape domestic violence situations.
We’re aiming to raise £10K and with our hard training and your generosity, we’re sure to get there! Pretty please donate whatever pennies you can spare for our cause - www.justgiving.com/teambangsontherun
Posted in video blogs | 5 Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
A – Alcohol. Copious amounts are consumed throughout the season. People start stocking up in early December as if prohibition were making a comeback.
B – Baubles. Who knew there were so many varieties? It’s a nightmare! I say just spray paint a couple of golf balls and be done with it.
C – Coca Cola Advert. We all know Christmas doesn’t really start until that Coca Cola ad comes on TV.
D – Dolling Up. Approximately four tons of makeup are used per girl and gay man in the UK during Christmas*
E – Embarrassing Moments. With all that food, drink, tinsel and the possibility of a karaoke machine, Yuletide is a minefield of embarrassing moments waiting to happen.
F – Family. Internally, you may want to beat the bejesus off your second cousin, but externally, you’ve called a ceasefire until at least boxing day.
G – Gifts. Yeah yeah, it’s the thought that counts but inevitably you get that one gift every year that makes you cry out dramatically ‘do you even know me at all?!‘
H – He’s Behind You! I envy anyone who lives outside the UK and has no knowledge of what a pantomime is, therefore not wanting to punch someone in the windpipe whenever you hear this phrase.
I – It’s a Wonderful Life. Popcorn, blankets, cosy fire and a Christmas classic.
J – Jingle Bells. You may not hear bells the rest of the year, but soon as December rolls around, there’s a bell ringing version of every song ever created. Where do the bell ringers go when Christmas is over?
K – Kids. Of course the season is all about the kids, with their list of demands and attempts to convince us they haven’t been naughty all year – I prefer to continue eyeing them all with suspicion.
L – Last Minute Shopping. Or ‘Christmas Chicken’ as I like to call it. Just how late can you leave it before buying a gift and whereabouts on the hideously tacky scale will it lie? That’s the definition of fun times.
M – Music. Christmas is a wonderful time of year but the music is awful. It’s the same six songs played on repeat for six weeks. The opening bars of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’ makes me want to punch babies in the face.
N – Negotiations. Where will you have Christmas dinner? What’s the maximum spend on any one gift? Christmas is like working at the United Nations when it comes to keeping everyone happy.
O – Office Parties. A great chance to see your uptight co-workers let loose – something to mock them about for the rest of the year.
P – Pine Needles. There’s nothing quite like the smell of a lovely Christmas tree permeating through the house, but you’re vacuuming pine needles up til February.
Q – Quality Street. You’re already thinking of your favourites, aren’t you? I’ll arm wrestle anyone for one of those flat, toffee ones with the gold wrappers.
R – Regifting. No need to let a crappy gift go to waste. Rewrap it and that’s someone’s Valentine’s, birthday or anniversary gift right there. Times are tough, whaddaya want me to tell ya?
S – Skanky Santas. I don’t know why there has to be a ‘sexy’ version of everything, but some fake tanned, french manicured, extension wearing skank in a barely there red mini skirt with white fur trim and thigh high PVC boots is my idea of a Christmas nightmare.
T – TV. If your couch doesn’t have your ass print in it by New Year, you’ve done it all wrong. The soaps are the real treat. In real life, Christmas is a joyous time, in soaps, it’s full of punch ups, explosions and murder.
U – Unwrapping. Every family has their own set of rules about when gifts should be unwrapped ‘You can open one on Christmas eve, one before church and the rest after.’ Shoot, I say open them all in the summer and be done with it.
V – Visitors. You may not see people all year, but at Christmas, everyone comes around. Come January, you’ll have had so many people through your house, you’ll wish you’d have charged admission.
W – Wrapping Paper. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really understood it. I’m paying money for someone to rip it to shreds? You better remove that shit carefully so I can use it when I regift!
X – X-rays. Is Christmas really complete without at least one trip to the hospital? We think not. Icy pavements, food poisoning, falling over gifts – something will get you.
Y – Yelling. If you manage to make it through the stress of the Yuletide season without letting fly at someone at least once, you deserve a Nobel Peace Prize.
Z – Zzzzz. It may well be a joyous time of year, but it’s also utterly exhausting. ‘Tis definitely the season to have extra naps.
*Bangs stats may not always be 100% factually accurate
Tags: A-Z, christmas
Posted in life | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
It’s become the ‘in’ thing to be famous. There’s never really any mention of how or why people want to be in the public eye, they just know they want to be there. It used to be that the word ‘Celebrity’ meant something. It comes from the word ‘celebrate’ right? We were celebrating someone’s talent. Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe, Gene Kelly – those were celebrities, true stars. But we’ve now reached an age where everyone wants to be famous and the standards to be so have lowered to the point of being non-existent. So, what’s the appeal?
There’s a show called ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’ which entails ‘celebrities’ being thrown together in a jungle and being asked to do any number of hideous, cringeworthy tasks to show they’re just like the little people – because, of course, we all sit around eating insects for dinner. I’ve never seen an episode of the show but was struck when I saw an ad for it a few weeks ago and saw someone who came runner up on the X Factor last year was a contestant. She’s released no music/done nothing of note for the past 12 months. What exactly about her constitutes celebrity? Not winning a competition can get you flown to the other side of the world and get you some more TV exposure to make you even more ‘famous’ for a while. At least the person in question has a talent (singing) albeit she hasn’t actually used it for a while.
But what of those who want the fame, glitz and glamour when they have nothing to offer? It’s not surprising really. What the hell do Kim Kardashian and Nicole Ritchie actually do? Whatever it is involves them having lunch a lot and shopping, while ensuring they do it all in full view of the papparazzo. While Paris Hilton may indeed be a very savvy business woman behind the scenes, she essentially gets paid to party. Katie Price just released the fifth volume of her autobiography. Fifth! All she’s done over the past few years is increase and decrease her bust size. And yet we hold these people up as something to aspire to, presumably because they appear to be living the life for actuall doing nothing at all.
It seems people want to be praised, worshipped and adored just for being them. The problem with that is that the vast majority of people suck. Look at reality TV if you need proof of that. And now we hold up all those douchebags to the fame mantle too. No Real Housewife or Big Brother contestent has ever enriched my life on any level. What are they bringing to the table, besides a sense of entitlement to their 15 minutes? Shouldn’t we set higher standards? Shouldn’t we demand that these people have something to offer?
Actors, musicians, athletes (and of course, Oprah) – they all have qualities that can move, motivate and inspire people to want to do and be better. They all do something that requires an extraordinary level of commitment, talent and hard work to get to a certain level. Marrying rich or having your every waking moment on film does not mean you have star quality and we should give a shit.
Moral of the story: Try harder. Aim higher. Expect more.
Tags: Celebrity, Gene Kelly, Kim Kardashian, marilyn monroe, Nicole Ritchie, Paris Hilton, x factor
Posted in life | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
I was a typical little girl. I liked rainbows and unicorns. I took horse riding lessons for a bit, then got into dance. I did ballet recitals in dodgy tutus, took jazz, tap, contemporary, had more leotards than I knew what to do with, performed in many-a-show. I went through my grunge phase and my rude girl phase, but for the most part, I was a good kid (admittedly, with a smart mouth, but a good kid nonetheless). I look back and wonder how my taste went from New Kids on the Block to the kinds of films, TV shows and books I’m into now. By all rights, I should be a drug dealing axe murderer at this point.
I think I was 16 the first time I saw The Godfather. Then I got introduced to Goodfellas, learned every line, got my Karen impression down pat and immersed myself in the rest of Scorsese’s work. Throw in a little Tarantino and by 18 I should’ve been an expert in violence. Be it shoving someone’s head in an oven Goodfellas style, or wielding firearms bigger than my entire body and calling them ‘my liddle frens’ a la Scarface, should I have wanted to take someone out, I’d have had all the ammunition I needed (not literally though of course – I didn’t know of any arms dealers in my area).
I read American Psycho at 17. It’s my favourite book but you can’t admit that in public because people back away from you slowly while dialling the police from their pocket and not making any sudden movements. As well they should – it’s a literary masterpiece but also a gruesomely violent step-by-step guide on how to become a full on psycho.
My taste in TV isn’t much better. I got hooked on The Sopranos from episode one. Anything you want to know about getting an organised crime family together, just ask me. Alternatively, if you want to know how to dress like a gangster’s moll, I told you that already. Then The Wire came along and taught me all I need to know to set up a lucrative drug dealing business. I took very details notes throughout the five seasons and did briefly consider a move to Baltimore, primarily to molest Stringer Bell, of course, but I felt I could’ve been an integral part of that drug network (and Stringer Bell’s bedroom).
As if all of that wasn’t enough, I recently got into Dexter, a series about a serial killer who only kills other serial killers (yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds). And I find myself eyeing up kitchen knives and duct tape. In all other areas of my life I’m a heels-rocking, dress-wearing prim and proper stuck up cow and yet look at my taste in film and literature? Surely I should be watching period costume dramas or something? It doesn’t make any sense but at least I know if I ever find myself in the Baltimore streets, or a New Jersey suburb, or in conversation with a Cuban drug Lord in Miami, I’ll know how to handle myself.
Tags: american psycho, dexter, goodfellas, scarface, the godfather, The Wire
Posted in life | 10 Comments »
Monday, December 13th, 2010
Here we go again with another one. This time Bangs Goes Rap aims to make you dance – well, it is the festive season n’ all, many-a-party is happening and you need something to make you groove. Enjoy and as always, leave your comments and suggestions for other raps you would like to see me do.
Posted in video blogs | 11 Comments »
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Since Jack Frost is nipping at my nose and this snowfall has threatened to put my Paris Half Mara training in a death grip, I managed to bag myself guest passes for a couple of days at a swanky gym. I just wanted to keep up with my training plan, but it ended in a robbery. A robbery I tell ya! Call Columbo.
There I was at 6am, running for dear life and going nowhere (i.e. on the treadmill) when my iPod died. Frustrated at the fact that I had to complete my remaining two miles musicless, I took the iPod off and threw it, toddler tantrum-stylee, onto the side of the treadmill (read: placed it there carefully, but while making a really really angry face). You already know where this is going. When I finished my run, I bounded off the ‘mill feeling all triumphant, did my stretches and left, leaving my poor, crappy iPod behind.
Realising my error later in the day, I called the gym only for them to tell me no one had handed it in. I was going again the following morning, by which time I was convinced, the iPod thief would’ve grown a conscience. But alas, the next day, still no iPod.
My crappy, big, beat up, five year old iPod was gone forever *moment of silence*. Someone had, however, handed in a brand spanking new, flashy iPod Nano. Taking my old piece of crap and leaving a much better, newer model? Hardly constitutes intelligent thievery. We’re dealing with an amateur here.
I can only put it down to my excellent taste in music. I distinctly remember ‘Dopeboy’ by Adam Tensta being the next track lined up to play right before it died. Obviously the thief has a penchant for Swedish electro hip hop.
I hope they enjoy my fantastic playlists. May they groove to Barry White and cheesy 90s R’n'B. May they marvel at how a shuffle on my iPod takes you on a musical journey from Wu Tang to Phil Collins. Enjoy it, my thieving amigo *wipes tear* That iPod and I have enjoyed many great times. It’s been all around the world with me. It’s a shame our journey together had to end in a posh gym in Leeds. A posh gym – suggesting the people who frequent it have money. I was rockin’ a guest pass. Just sayin’.
Anyhoo, the upside of this tale is this: I had a little moan about the iPod thief on Twitter and within minutes, someone said she had an iPod Nano she no longer used and would be happy to send it to me. Two more of my followers sent me similar messages. And just like that, my faith in humanity was restored. Take THAT iPod thief.
Tags: gyms, ipod, Paris Half Marathon, running, thieves, training
Posted in life | 8 Comments »