Archive for 2012

Are you Entitled to Your Opinion?

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

I love the internets. I surely do. As someone who has managed to make a career here as a writer after being turned down by every magazine going (and I mean that literally – even mags I had no desire to work for rejected me. That’s harsh yo!), I feel it’s a place where talent that wouldn’t ordinarily get seen via mainstream channels has a chance to shine. It’s a pretty level playing field. While one of its highlights is that it’s given everyone a voice, its major downside is also that it’s given everyone a voice. We’ve all seen many an online brouhaha (God, I love that word) at this point and are well familiar with the work of angry commentors and trolls. All seem to stand firm in their belief that they are entitled to their opinion. Today I ask, are they? Are any of us?

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Posted in life | 14 Comments »

Fight the Power!

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

I’m back up in Leeds for the week to visit my family. I came up to run the Leeds Half Marathon (because apparently I can’t go anywhere now without running a race while there) and the day before the race, wandered around Leeds with my parents. A visit to the city wouldn’t be complete without going to its world famous market. Leeds Market is the largest indoor market in Europe and it is quite the experience. While there, I decided to get my photo-journalist on so I could share some of the essence with you. The fact is, Leeds Market is in trouble and needs all the help it can get.

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Posted in life | 13 Comments »

Stopping Friends Becoming Foes

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Friendships are a funny old game. I don’t think I’ve ever really been very good at them to be honest. A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine decided to ‘break up’ with me, if you will, citing my truly sucky friendship skills. She was right, to be fair – I have not been the greatest amigo. It’s a sad loss, but one that has been rather sobering for me. While there’s nothing I can really do about the loss of that friendship, there’s still time for me to learn some lessons and buck up my ideas, so what have I learned?

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Posted in relationships | 20 Comments »

Begrudging Happiness

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

I don’t know what it is that makes it hard for us to be happy for people, like, genuinely happy, when things are going good in their life, but sometimes it is. Good news is often greeted with giant smiles and congratulations, behind which there is a touch of seething jealousy, or a wish that person would fall flat on their face. Is it just human nature? Why is it that sometimes our happiness for others is conditional?

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Posted in life | 23 Comments »

Favourite Things

Monday, May 7th, 2012

I figured it’s been a little while since I did a little fashion collage post for you so I thought I’d update you on my current favourite things for Spring. These bits are getting a lot of wardrobe rotation at the moment. I’m all about the basics plus kick ass accessories.

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Posted in fashion | 4 Comments »

‘Can I Call Him Yet?’

Friday, May 4th, 2012

I was on the train yesterday, eavesdropping on someone’s phone conversation as I tend to do to pass the time. This particular was one that was all too familiar. ‘Don’t call him yet, it’s too soon!’ the girl said to her friend on the other end of the line. Ahh, how I don’t miss those days. My God, the dating game is hard ain’t it? All these rules. It’s so confusing for everyone involved. We meet a guy and feel the need to have this tribal council with our friends who all seem to have researched and developed these fail safe guidelines on how to keep a guy interested. We’re tying ourselves in knots here! Look ladies, it’s really not that difficult. Let’s break this thing all the way down.

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Posted in relationships | 11 Comments »

The Legacy of Team Bangs on the Run

Monday, April 30th, 2012

When I started running, it was a solitary experience. Running at 5:30am, under the cover of darkness, hoping no one would see me having to take a walk break and nurse a stitch. For my first half marathon in October 2010, Charlie Dark came to my aid and offered to run it with me. Without his support that day, I would most likely still be on the course in floods of tears. That day, I realised the importance of a little encouragement. When I asked if people would like to run my next half marathon in Paris with me, I honestly expected two people to reply. Twenty did. And so, Team Bangs on the Run was born. A happy accident to start with, it has become more than I could ever have imagined.

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Posted in life | 9 Comments »

Future Cinema’s Bugsy Malone

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Up until last week, I had heard of Secret Cinema, but not Future Cinema. Future Cinema specialise in creating living, breathing experiences of cinema. So when I was invited along to their showing of Bugsy Malone, which just happens to be one of my favourite films, I could hardly say no.

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Posted in life | 9 Comments »

Bangs in the Press!

Friday, April 13th, 2012

What a whirlwind period of awesome it’s been in the life and times of Bangs of late. Racing in Berlin, starting Spikes & Heels, just having so many damn awesome people in my life – I wake up every day high fiving life! To add to it all, myself and two of my Team Bangs on the Run girls are featured in the May issue of Zest Magazine. We did the shoot a month or so back and had an absolute blast doing it (which is pretty evident from the finished product methinks).

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Posted in life | 4 Comments »

Adult Peer Pressure – it’s Real!

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

It’d be nice to think that school time playground antics can be left there, but it seems sometimes as we grow older, certain things remain. We so often associate peer pressure with being a teenager and falling in line, doing things we don’t want to do, just to impress our friends. This, of course, is written off as the ignorance of youth, us not yet having developed the skills to stand firm in our decisions. But now that we’re adults, we should be able to do that, right?

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Posted in life | 31 Comments »