Guest Post: Laura - Africantakeover

So I'm back from Queenstown, New Zealand. Spent the week there with a girlfriend snowboarding, jumping off of cliffs for fun, drinking and generally being on holiday. And man oh man am I wishing I was back strapped in and boarding away....

We were very glad we didn't get there via Christchurch (earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale), and wish all the folk there the very best!

Before I left, the stunningly gorgeous Laura of laurawire (click to see her fab blog) and myself decided to do a musical guest post swopsie. I think she got gipped, because she clearly knows her music and has brilliant taste in said music and her blog reflects that....whereas I err do not.

Anyway, I'm not complaining, I got the better end of that deal.....here's her fab words of musical wisdom. Take note :)

"Little else but elephants and lions..."
(Laura)

In the spirit of this wonderful blog, I decided to do a five-track takeover with a twist: all of the songs have to feature an African animal in the title. It sounds easier than it is; it’s one thing to bung together five songs about lions (although let it be known, I was seriously tempted) but it’s quite another to find five songs that I’d happily be associated with. Although as some might point out, when you own as many Britney Spears CDs as I do, there’s not much else you can sully your good name with.

1. Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man


We all knew it was coming, so let’s get the most obvious choice out of the way. Most people are quite aware of Mumford and Sons and their work so I shan’t patronise anyone by telling you they are a folk quartet, originating from London. Their music is pretty polarising when it comes to how people feel about it, but with summer on the horizon in the UK (at long last), I challenge anyone to not enjoy the Mumford album as the sun is going down at a festival, and you’re armed with a beer. Admittedly, some people might need more beer than others to get through the whole album, but it’s still jolly atmospheric.

2. Beach House – Zebra


If there is one thing that is guaranteed to have me reaching for the bin, it’s reading press releases for bands who have tagged themselves with a pretentious-sounding genre to try and make themselves sound more interesting. And on that note, may I present to you, dream-pop band Beach House. I know this sounds quite negative and I’m not going to help matters by saying that I wouldn’t normally listen to this (ridiculous) genre of music but like Mumford and Sons, there is a direct correlation between how listenable Beach House are and how much alcohol I’ve had to drink. But this song has grown on me, even while sober. What a review.

3. The Flaming Lips - This Here Giraffe


Is there anyone who can say no to a bit of the Flaming Lips? I think not. I’m not going to lie, I was struggling to think of any giraffe-tastic tracks until someone pointed me in the direction of this obscure single from 1996, but I think it is a wonderful discovery. The thing that I like most about this song is that, of all the tracks I’ve researched for this blog, all of them – bar this song – used the animals as metaphors for something else in their life, while this song is literally about a giraffe that doesn’t give a fuck about anything. It’s amazing, and ironically has more meaning for the listener than anything else here. Wonderful.

4. The Strokes – Elephant Song


This is not the Strokes’ finest moment, by far. But even when it’s not the best, the Strokes are still heaps better than a lot of crap that’s filling up the charts at the moment (Glee, I’m looking straight atcha). This song was written by Albert Hammond Jr. for some college project, and is occasionally played by the band live, despite the fact it’s never properly been released. I love love love the guitar riffs in this song, and quite staunchly believe that if it had a gritty bassline and a 4/4 timing on the drums, it could be quite a good song. Or even better than it is now, I should say.

5. Elton John/Tim Rice – Circle of Life


Oh come on, I can’t write about Africa and not mention the title track of my second favourite film of all time. I know, strictly speaking, there’s no animal in the title but if you actually need a justification for this, one of the greatest Elton John moments of ALL TIME, then I think it’s safe to say that we shall never get on.

Love the selection...get acquainted with Laura, visit her here now!

whisperedsayingstokenbayings

You'll have to excuse the narcisissm evidenced by this set of photographs. But then again, aren't we all guilty of it (as bloggers)???

These shots were taken this afternoon, when Stuart and I visited our favourite coffee shop slash eatery this side of the Swan River.

As a side note, Voyage's Sticky Date Pudding is divine. And worth indulging in.

In more important news, a new constitution has been ratified in Kenya. The new constitution addresses corruption, political patronage, land grabbing and tribalism. The most important part? It was done peacefully.

To add to that, Propaganda 8 was overturned in California.

Moments like these make me proud. There is hope....

mesh-y dress, evil twin. skirt underneath, cotton on. leather jacket, maxshop. boots, pinko. rings; fashionology, sportsgirl, markets, vivenne westwood. necklace, red rover. leather bag, mollini. oversize mens watch, gift from Stuart.

Project PEP

Jenny from Jimmy Choo emailed me about a campaign being run to raise awareness and funds for AIDS victims, and the associated online photo competition.

What a great campaign.

Coming from a country that is afflicted by AIDS (Kenya) and having seen first hand what poverty denies these poor human beings as well as the devastating impacts on the many children left orphaned, I'm all for projects like this. It would mean the world to me if you embraced it too :)

Jimmy Choo and Elton John AIDS Foundation have launched a photo competition to support the launch of Project PEP, a charity collection that donates 25% of sales to the Simelela Rape Centre in South Africa. The money goes towards providing the HIV-preventative treatment PEP (which must be taken within 72 hours of exposure to HIV) and counselling to victims of rape in South Africa, which has the highest count of rape in the world.

"We are women helping women and we are proud to continue our collaboration with the compelling and urgent initiatives of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and to provide a voice for under-privileged women in South Africa. We are excited to launch this social media campaign which we believe is a fun, light-hearted way to make people aware of a very serious subject." - Tamara Mellon, Founder & President, Jimmy Choo.

Get Involved:

Raise awareness and funds for AIDS victims:

1. Enter the online photo competion:

Upload a photo based on the theme 'You, Your Shoes, and 72'. The grand prize is the ultimate Jimmy Choo VIP experience - the winner will be invited to spend a day of luxury at the Jimmy Choo HQ and choose 7 pairs of shoes and 2 handbags to keep. There's also over 100 exclusive Jimmy Choo prizes to be won. Bring awareness to the plight in the meanwhile.

Visit Project PEP for more details or to enter the competition.

2. Indulge and donate:

Buy fab Jimmy Choo products here and 25% of sales, guaranteed, will be donated to the Simelela. Fashion, function and a good cause...there's nothing better.

3. Donate, donate, donate:

Or head to http://www.jimmychoo72.com/donate to directly donate an amount of your choosing to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

I like to think that if we all put our heads together, we can make a difference.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank

African Heart

Celebrated a friend's birthday the best way we know how.....dinner at Hippo Creek (an African restaurant). We shared a plate entitled 'African Safari' for starters (comprising skewers of buffalo, camel, crocodile and ostrich with monkey gland (??!!?!) and peri-peri sauce). Camel is delicious. And before you berate me, camels are officially at pest level here in Australia. We also shared some biltong (ridiculously good) and African beer bread. For mains, we tried the Hunters Assaggai (marinated and flame grilled beef on a skewer, hanging over a bowl of fries with garlic butter), the pepper crusted buffalo fillet, the camel fillet and the lions kill. Ahhh, what a meal. A restaurant deserving of all its accolades in the few months it has been open at the marina.

I wore my new favourite shoes to dinner. These babies have not left my feet this weekend. Stuart laughed at me yesterday when I (jokingly) got into bed wearing my pyjamas and the boots in question. Serious love. And sooo comfy. Amen. Well worth the wait :)

(tshirt dress, bardot. boots, maurie and eve. coat, sportsgirl. bag, vintage. bangle, city beach)

These babies have a detachable harness (which you can adjust depending on how slouchy you want to wear the boots), are all leather and weigh about 1.3 kgs. They don't actually feel heavy when you wear them though....hmmm, wonder how heavy the Edelmans are.


(sheer tank, supre. jeans, lee. earrings, dotti. boots, maurie and eve. cardigan, portmans. bangle, city beach)



Thinking of making szechuan chicken for dinner, so I best work out the ingredients I'll need. Hope you've all had a fab weekend :)