Horror-Scopes

My favourite thing about the new year is sitting down to a trashy mag and reading about my future. The earth rotates around the sun and all of the planets align and disalign and somehow a woman with a sense for this things comes up with a prophecy.

2010

Taurus

Taureans weighed down by constraint and responsibility finally hit the eject button. Faced with a choice between risk and routine, the pursuit of pleasure will win hands down. Not only does adventurous Mars make amends for Saturn's recent cosmic restraints, it also ushers in an uncharacteristic level of self-confidence. Just take care not to overextend yourself financially. Relationships hit a high note, especially new friendships. If love makes an entrance, it may be via business. Platonic bonds may also be in for a shift of status.

Gemini Jupiter reaffirms your right to prestige and prosperity, and Pluto throws in some luck for good measure, so this should be an amazing year professionally Cancer Early 2010 may test your patience. Stay in control, this is when your new angel spirit will shine through. Leo This year brings a sense of achievement, and your driving force is independence. New ventures show amazing potential, and bear the stamp of your individuality. Virgo Change is coming, so gather your strength and prepare. All year, the cosmos ensures a busy schedule, along with a strong possibility of travel.

////////////////////////////

Libra This year, you come to realise how amazing you are. There's an ambitious spirit in you that gentler Librans tend to suppress. But 2010 allows you to take what's rightly yours. Scorpio Your luck is in, Scorpio. Thanks to success-hungry Mars, professional possibilities are plenty, with the smallest effort producing excellent results, but some serious hours will be required between January and March. Sagittarius This year, you overflow with unstoppable confidence. With a vibrant tone set early on, you'll need no excuse to fall into the pastimes you most enjoy: being adventurous and having fun. Capricorn While many planets vie for top status, Saturn and Jupiter grab an equal lead. Be ready for out-of-the-ordinary opportunities and possible travel. Choose a direction and follow it.

Aquarius Good old-fashioned practicality usually gets the best results. The trouble is you're bored with the tried and tested, and feel drawn towards thrill and adventure. So if unexpected offers arise, you're likely to hop on board. PiscesThrow off inhibitions, Pisces. It's a year to indulge your dreams and face the future without fear, Aries If you were hoping for a gentler year ahead, you may be disappointed. Relationships become more honest and serious, and professional responsibilities increase – particularly until March. After all this year's good work, karmic laws decree that by your next birthday, it's reward time. Keep a tally

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Horoscopes by Tanya Obreza via Marie Claire

Listen up!

Love is a mixtape.

Songs are so emotive, bringing back memories every time you listen back on a favourite track. The boys that have made me mix tapes have always made me so happy. When I had a tapedeck in my car I listened to tapes over and over and loved every second of it. On Christmas my friend introduced me to 8tracks- an online platform for creating mixtapes, ever since I have spent hours listening to mixtapes and creating my own. Ther rules are that they have to be at least 8 tracks long and only contain two songs by the same artist.

8tracks believes handcrafted music programming trumps algorithms. Think radio in the 1970s, mixtapes in the 1980s, and DJ culture of the 1990s through today. DJs share their talent in taste making, providing exposure for artists. Listeners get a unique blend of word-of-mouth sharing and radio programming — long the trusted means for music discovery — on a global scale.

Here are some of my favourite mix's so far: >the mix tape from 500 days of summer, some excellent covers, songs for waking up in his arms

AND if you want to listen to me and LC

meow

8 1/2

Hollywood has such a bad habit of taking something which is good and twisting it, squishing it and pummeling it until it fits into the dvd case of a Hollywood film. Don't get me wrong, Hollywood has changed the way that film is made and seen. It is a cultural institution of the highest value (please take with a grain of salt). The problem is that not only have they changed Cinema, they have changed, remodeled and re-invested the specific film itself. With James Camerons Nine having been just released I feel a surge of anger and sorrow because a lot of people out there will see this film and never know that there was an 8 1/2. Now, I dont want to be to quick to judge because I haven't had the chance to go see Nine, but I think it would be fair to say that it will be a very homogenized version of Fellini's classic film.

8 1/2 is a masterpiece of Italian Cinema. Released in 1963 it embodies the ideals, beliefs and struggles of the Modern Italian Man. This film discusses the miracle of post-industrial, post-war, post-religious society and delves into the psychosis of a man who has come out the other side of the considerable amount of change that was the Modernization of Italy. Now, I just can't see how Hollywood is really going to capture that.

Fellini uses themes of the dream and illusion to create fissures in reality, throwing us a metaphor of the confusion of the modern man. Sometimes this film can be very self-indulgent, "His mistress shifts to whore; his mother turns into his wife. His childhood women, his nanny, his grandmother and La Saraghina, a prostitute who inhabited an abandoned beachside bunker in his youth, all march freely from Guido's subconscious across the screen. All his lovers converge for a harem sequence where they are all amenable to one another - or subdued with a whip as in La Seraghina's case". Fellini via Mastroianni somehow does this with charm.

Marcello Mastroianni: Love of my life

Nine certainly boasts a considerable amount of talent (Dame Judy Dench need I say more) and I am very much looking forward to seeing it. If Daniel Day-Lewis is half the man that Mastroianni is then it will be well worth it. Plus who doesn't want to see silver screen divas like Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren and Fergie all fight it out for the spotlight. I guess its just important to pay homage to the original and the original intent, because after all it is a brilliant film!

Watch the original trailer:

and see the trailer for nine here

just like riding a bike

life is like riding a bicycle. to keep your balance you must keep moving

- Albert Einstein

One of the things that i couldn't bring to London with me was my Bicycle. Back home i used to ride it quite a lot and it makes me quite sad that it is now so far away. Instead i now have to console myself by looking at these gals on their bikes. There is even this amazing blog that I found dedicated to Cycle street style. Life is so peaceful and care free when you're on a bike. Its just you and the road with the wind in your hair.

This girl really knows how to ride a bike! Truffaut will always be one of my favourite directors and this short film truly is a gem! Provincial charm and occasional glances of undergarments, he really captures something in the way these boys lust after the ideology of the feminine. Plus i just found out it was filmed in a little town named Nimes in the south of France that i visited earlier this year. Oh, the memories!

Jeanne maureau in Jules et Jim

Skins season 3

Zooey Deschanel in 500 days of summer

Brigitte Bardot

Truffaut's Les Mistons

Curiosity killed the cat

On several adventures in Hackney recently I have happened across a little shop aptly named the little shop of horrors. Filled to the brim with disgusting and yet somehow alluring trinkets and, well, scientific samples, the place takes curiosity to a whole new level. One day i will have to go down and have a poke around inside. The Last Tuesday Society's latest offspring, Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors is now open on Mare Sreet. A wide variety of curiosities and oddities are for sale - from human fetuses to shrunken heads, chocolate anuses, carniverous plants, orchids and mutated teddy bears, not to mention a fine selection of speciality teas, broken children's toys and dead plants.

bon anniversaire, Mademoiselle

Dear LC,

Happy birthday!

here are some pretty things that i think you will like.

And i made you a mix tape! i hope you enjoy it.

Hope you have a wonderful birthday and all of your wishes come true.

Lots of love

xxx