6 April 2010
A thirsty band of FT contributors gathered this Easter weekend with one aim in mind – to sample and report upon the delights and disappointments of a collection of one of the finest traditional beverages: Imperial Russian Stout.
We decided not to liveblog it – lest the laptop fell into the Wrong Hands – however be assured that the following comments are a true and accurate representation of the tastes and terrors that befell us. more »
katstevens in FT /Pumpkin Publog • 4 Comments
19 March 2010
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years you will be aware that Rihanna and Lady Gaga are both popstars who employ stark visual imagery, far more adventurous and individually tailored than their music. On her latest album campaign Rihanna used barbed wire and harsh geometric lines to portray a tough, military image, showing her renewed strength and fortitude following a horrible physical attack by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. Lady Gaga resets her image dozens of times over the course of a single song, attempting the impossible and the unexpected, her unpredictability expanding on her seemingly random approach to songwriting.
Both are also top seeds in their brackets for Fug Madness, the annual competition run by Go Fug Yourself to find the worst dressed person of the year. more »
katstevens in FT • 13 Comments
25 January 2010
For those of you who bristle at the prospect of Bis week, let’s break you in gently with a band that isn’t Bis at all (but is in the blessed business of Bis). data Panik formed from the sherbet ashes of Bis in 2005, only releasing two singles before rematerialising phoenix-style into two-dimensional animated versions of their original sugary selves. Short and sweet! more »
katstevens in FT • 1 Comment
26 December 2009
Anyone who paid attention in GCSE Geography will be aware of the concentric circle model of a town, with the CBD in the centre and the ‘commuter zone’ around the outskirts. Each zone has its own advantages and disadvantages for why people might want to live or work there.
The same model can be tenuously applied to the proximity of pubs to my workplace (situated bang in the middle of pub-saturated Fitzrovia). more »
katstevens in FT • 4 Comments
24 November 2009
Walking past Disney Place through twirling snowflakes that melt on your nose and eyelashes, there’s a childlike magic in the air – it’s the last day of school! Er, I mean, work.
The last Friday before Christmas is of course Demob Day. Even if you have to nominally work for a few days the following week, you know it’s going to be in a half-empty office, and your most pressing concern will be improving your Souvlaki Tetris high score. Demob Day means you can finally relax. It means all the usual suspects will be in the same pub for once. It means arriving already half-cut thanks to extended lunchtime drinks with your colleagues. It means leaving work early anyway despite said lengthy lunch and bagging a good table. more »
katstevens in FT • 8 Comments
20 November 2009
Last year’s series of X Factor was far from depressing for fans of well-sung pop. If you were posted to Outer Mongolia last Christmas, here is a quick catch-up: Alexandra ‘Leona II’ Burke received the highest number of audience votes, pipping non-ugly boyband JLS into second. Both acts signed with the same management team and both have recently released their debut albums through Sony; both have clocked two #1 singles each since then. But which one has ended up the REAL winner? The only way to tell is… more »
katstevens in FT • 4 Comments
14 September 2009
Thank You For The Music: The Music of ABBA, Hyde Park
We pick our way through the sea of tartan blankets, picnic baskets, foldable chairs, sensible anoraks and fidgeting eight-year-olds who have each been given a bag of fizzy cola bottles and a glowstick as a treat. “Prize for the first person to spot someone in a bacofoil costume!” says Kirsty. Her younger sister Cathy is preoccupied trying to remember how the first verse of ‘I Know Him So Well’ starts: “It’s not ‘looking back I could have played it differently‘ is it? That’s the next line!” Cathy’s friend Lucy-Ann is hungover and is more interested in getting a good close-up with her camera. “I can’t see, is that Chris Evans’ real hair?” more »
katstevens in FT • No Comments
12 May 2009
Keri Hilson – In A Perfect World
It’s near impossible to hear or see Keri Hilson without Timbaland lurking somewhere on the sidelines. You almost want to distract him with a tin of biscuits or something to see what Keri would be like if left to her own devices. But does she have any devices? more »
katstevens in FT • 3 Comments
27 March 2009
“No jokes, no messin’, we’ll teach you a lesson, a state of confusion to keep you all guessin’!”
Wholesome family entertainers Ant (PJ) and Dec (Duncan) have come a long way since that terrible (but thankfully fictional) Tyneside paintballing accident in 1992, where Debbie and Amanda ganged up on the boys as revenge for two-timing them but PJ had taken his protective goggles off for a split second and got paint in his retinas. Whoops! “Geoff! He cannae see man! Spuggy’s done a sick! Nyooaaoorhhhhhhhhh!“. more »
katstevens in FT • 1 Comment
24 February 2009
Last night saw the first episode of Law & Order:UK, a British version of a US television programme! I couldn’t remember this sort of cross-ocean event ever having happened before in the history of entertainment so your intrepid telly reporter here thought she’d give it a whirl. Plus it had Martha from Doctor Who in it. more »
katstevens in FT • 5 Comments
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