This week I (and A & A - not letting them get away with it!) went to a Guardian Soulmates event! Yes, thats right - a SINGLES event! Obviously it was purely for research purposes as I have heard so much about these nights of soulmate searching. (cough cough) In short, Guardian Soulmates is an online dating website that hosts various 'bonding' events up and down the country, in the form of cinema screenings. Every event is free and allows each member to meet their online 'mates' in the flesh. Nights are held up and down the country, so with my curious nature I found myself sitting in the Edinburgh Cameo cinema, full of nervous singles! Plus, the film was Woody Allen's Manhattan (amazing) - now if thats not a reason to go in its self then I don't know what is.

After the film I proceeded into the foyer where every Guardian Soulmates member gets a free cup of coffee and cake (another valid reason for going!). I wonder if A & A noticed that every single in the room was holding a coffee cup labelled - Guardian Soulmates! Ha ha. It was a very funny sight but I suppose its really the only way to confirm who is who. On my quest, I managed to speak to a lovely girl called Susan (hey Susan), who was on the look out for love. She explained to me that, being a student and 35, she was finding it hard to meet someone. She had never considered online dating before but thought she would give it a go - nothing to lose. Susan's main reason for choosing Guardian Soulmates was the attraction of these free cinema events and the possibility of meeting a nice man. As I looked around the room, I thought that everyone there had a lot of guts to turn up on their own! The most amazing thing happened next.... When speaking to Susan, a young man walked over (with the labelled coffee cup of course) and just randomly started asking her a load of questions - that was my cue to stop my questioning and leave! I can't help but think I was maybe given the gift of being cupid for the evening and brought those two together. Ha ha. Either that, or maybe she had pre arranged to meet him. I like to think I was the match maker though.

As I left Edinburgh to drive back to Glasgow I gave Amy a call and asked how many phone numbers she got - I was surprised that the answer was none. The only number I got was my seat number in the cinema!

The whole online dating thing might not be for me but I think its an amazing thing for those who are maybe quite shy or just don't have enough time to meet anyone, or like Susan, just find it hard to meet their Soulmate. Check out the website and have a wee look at the people in your area - I know you will be intrigued. And if you join for free - at least you get to go to the cinema for free...or at least get a wee coffee and cake! (Just make sure you turn that label round if your not interested!!!!)

LMxxx

Nothing better than a Chicken-Shop picnic on a grey day. (Shades definitely surplus to requirement)

For the Turkish it seems every coffee cup is half full- half full of sediment you can't drink. A sure sign that it packs some punch I guess.

OOOOOOOh - Did you see Heat magazine? Very exciting. However, if I ever end up with a red circle round my flabby bits I will not be happy!

Laura xx

Improv Everywhere is a group of merry pranksters for the 21st century which, in its own words causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. The most recent stunt involved 111 half naked men......

Ami

Anyone that knows me knows that I love good food! So you can imagine how happy I was when I found out about an organic pub! The Duke of Cambridge in North London serves only organic food and drink, and trust me it is amazing!... Don't think about counting calories when you visit this pub!

Between bite and 1Xtra, I'm a busy bee lately!.. I love it! I interviewed the beautiful Alicia Keys on Friday. She played her new single 'No One' live on a piano for us and admitted to cheating on a boyfriend before! What can I say... She's an honest lady!

Zena x

Purple, in case you hadn’t noticed, is officially the "colour of the season". Promoted from the velour tracksuited dinner ladies of my East End youth it is currently making its way to world domination via pop concerts, the eBay homepage and Chelsea Flower Show. Until two weeks ago, however, it was a colour I associated with Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen and other madmen, not to be forced upon people of sane mind at any time of year. So as high street giants and boutiques alike swelled with this most odious of colours, many an hour was spent prowling through clothes rails scoffing to anyone who’d listen that "the only thing purple is good for is a Prince track", and vowing not to be seen in a single item between pink and crimson all winter.

A little bit about me: every season the Powers that Be dictate a trend so wrong as to tempt me to turn my back on fashion forever; every season you’ll hear me swearing, probably on my mum’s life, that 'x' will never be welcome in my carefully selected wardrobe, and every season I am forced to eat the fashion equivalent of humble pie while apologising profusely to my mum. Shorts? Ate it. Leggings? Delicious. Ankle boots? Double helpings. (Although my nut allergies ruled out boho and my palette proved too refined for nu-rave.) More often than I care to reveal my end of season wardrobe (read: licked plate, full belly and crumby chin) betrays my fall from grace.

And so back to purple. It wasn’t intentional. It came at me by stealth while shopping in American Apparel: a two-tone, skin tight, Whitney Houston- 'I wanna dance with somebody'-video-esque purple and black dress. Standing in the changing room minutes later fist balled into a mic and fulfilling a childhood dream, the penny suddenly dropped, and one half of my heart sank while the other indulged in a little ‘I told you so’. Antonya (who is colour-blind and swore they were pink) emerged from the changing room opposite sporting a pair of lame leggings in a distinctly purple hue and the deal was sealed.

Not a moment too soon: when a chance to see the Sugababes perform at 3 Mobile and Sony Ericsson’s purple Cyberphone party turned up at our door last week I knew it must have been fate. As we gyrated to the purple-clad sounds of Keisha, Heidi and the new one, eating chopped beetroot off silver spoons, I tried to meet eyes with Duncan from Blue from the other side of the room and congratulated ourselves on our excellent outfits and timing. Whether this will turn out to be a season-long love affair or just another one-night-stand remains to be seen, but if it’s good enough for Prince, the Sugababes and Whitney, it’s good enough for me.

LEATHER, on the other hand – I’m not so sure.

Amy.

A photo of my 2nd, 3rd and 4th favourite girls – from where we were standing they looked exactly like this!

I have long spoken of the joy of fireworks night in Hackney's Victoria Park. Not only because it's my local and walking though the streets with the converging crowds makes me feel all festive, but also because they put on a bloody good show.

Purveyors of pyrotechnic fun, Walk the Plank, not only hoisted into the air a giant, flaming skeleton of Guy Fawkes, but also set a model of Big Ben on fire and shot it into the sky like a rocket. All to the sounds of Bowie's Space Oddity. How brilliantly incendiary.

All this was accompanied by fireworks which surpassed the realm of eye-candy, crossing into the red-light district of non-stop eye-porn. All rather exciting but gratuitously long, leaving me wide eyed and gasping, with a clearer idea of why the council still hasn't gotten round to delivering the food recycling bin I keep asking for. Why build a hospital when you can blow things up in the sky?

Thankfully, a lovely plastic cup of mulled wine helped to soothe my nerves on the walk home.

Ami

So I got the chanced to get all glammed up and throw on some extra high heels for the 5th annual Kickers Urban Music Awards...... and I had a ball! The UMA's celebrates UK Urban music and I must say it's a blinged out fabulous night! Just one thing though - why is it when there is free alcohol around people tend to lose all control of themselves! ?... Me included! Really enjoyed the music, freebies and atmosphere down there. Check out the website for the winners!

One last random thing... I interviewed Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington for 1Xtra about their new movie American Gangster out Nov 16th (Brilliant movie by the way!) While Denzel was absolutely gorgeous for an older man and sooo polite, Russell was miserable and looks like he's been eating WAAAAY too many pies!!

Zena xx

Ok, so I was walking down Buchanan Street today and was totally SHOCKED at the number of people already Christmas shopping - AHHHHHHHHHHH! It's only the start of November! It was hard not to notice the fairy lights and bright red bows. Come the middle of November, there will be no escape from the same old carols and mad rush of 'happy' shoppers! HELP! Incase you're wondering, I actually love Christmas time. It's the only day of the year where I insist on eating as much chocolate as possible. I love buying presents for people but I am not a fan of busy shops - I get too stressed out.

So, as I returned to the car park I concluded that I would do all my shopping this year over the internet. THEN, I came across this AMAZING website called i want one of those - as the name suggests it sells stuff you want but don't really need. I always try to get interesting and unique gifts so I bought some crazy things - just for me, ha ha.

Check out this banana guard! How weird is it??

I love how it has holes in it to give the impression that bananas need to breathe. I then realised that only buying one, kind of defeats the purpose. Oh well.

How funny is this smiling dog toy! I don't even have a dog but thought it would be a good thing to scare my friends with.

This is my favourite - a Cat Bottom Sharpener! Ha ha ha ha. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw this and HAD to buy it for the sheer comedy!

Seriously, have a wee look, the stuff isn't expensive. Even if you don't buy anything, I am sure you'll get a laugh and say - "Oh, I want one of those!"

Mwa (kiss)

Laura x

As you will see this week's show, I went to an event called 'Pop Boutique' - It was brilliant. I love retro and arty home-made things so was very happy with the bargains I picked up.

I just wanted to tell you about some up and coming craft events in Scotland (if you live there) as I am sure, if you're like me, you'd love to go down and check out some of the designers.

Check out the Glasgow craft mafia - You will definitely pick up some amazing one off items.
One of my favourite arty types is Lady Wurlitzer. She brings you the most wonderful handcrafted lathers and pampering aids designed to appeal to your nose, your eyes, your skin, your sense of humour and your often ignored naughty side. She hand makes everything from soap bars, lip butters, bath melts, bath fizzers, pulse point oils, hand lotions and body balms.

Now, I HATE Chardonnay white wine (YUK) - but LW makes a gorgeous Chardonnay Bath Fizzer! (£3)

Mwa

Laura x

I danced with a thousand other Londoners under a strobed disco ball at Brixton Academy.
There were two drum kits and a drum machine, countless keyboards and cowbells, curly neon guitar cables, Hot Chip's Al Doyle killing it on guitar, and the wonderful Nancy Whang on synths and keys, stamping her black patent leather heels to the post-disco-electro-dance-punk beat. James Murphy's mini man-boobs may have been visible in his white T-Shirt, but LCD Soundsystem are not a bunch of geeks with laptops. Hail the day dance music grew guitars!
It seemed like we'd all just crashed a session they were having in their garage, and even when I found someone's gum at the bottom of my beer, I felt stupidly happy.

Ami x

Today I burst open a massive bag of pretzels all over the car! It didn't help when my friend Lois insisted on helping to clean it, only to squash all the crumbs into my car seat! All clean now, although I did find a pile of crumbs in my hand bag! Nice...

Laura x

If you love new comedy and you fancy something crazy - DO THIS! GO TO THIS HILARIOUS NIGHT OF LAUGHS THIS SATURDAY! OK, so the gig is called Sidesplitters, it is at the Harbour Arts Centre, Harbour Street, Irvine, KA12 8PZ on Saturday and starts at 9pm. Scottish comedians Des Clarke and outstanding new talent Austin Low (The Urban Joker) will have you falling off your seat in laughter and even shock!

Another talented Scot, Billy Kirkwood, has set up Sidesplitters to promote comedy in his home town, and the Scottish Comedy Forum for people on the Scottish Circuit to talk, get gigs, and promote themselves. Austin and Billy are co-running the State Bar during the Glasgow Comedy Festival in March where, as well as their own solo shows, they will be performing their 'Smell Yer Maw show'. Honestly - this is just genius. This show features a combination of stand-up, live sketches & video sketches, some sketches are on YouTube and two have been purchased by the CW Network in America to feature on a sketch show.

If you can, go see them and let me know what you think.

Brilliant!
Laura x

I Just wanted to say an extra special HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to my bestest friend Lois!
We all went to a great wee club in Glasgow called Kusion and had a good old knees up. How funny is the girl pole dancing in the back of this photo...!

The funniest event of the evening was when my two friends Emma and Elaine turned up to go out with the same top on! I thought it was absolutely hilarious, although if it had happened to me I would have insisted on driving home to change!

Don't you just HATE when someone is wearing the same thing as you? - I hide!

Mwa
Laura x

Do you think I would fit in with Amy and Antonya's corps photos with my scary doctor impression?

Once I took all this make up off however, my skin was a wreck! I do have quite sensitive skin so I turned to my new found friend from the organic food and drink festival. Honestly, this Organic Rose Moisturiser from Essential Care is AMAZING! It really soaks into your skin and smells soooooooo yummy! I only wish I had bought more.

LMx

So proud are we of our masterful talents of recreation, imitation, and death, and so eager are we that those talents be appreciated in full, here are those corpse photos in all their glory.

The inspiration:
‘Grotesque’, by Natsuo Kirino. A seedy Tokyo underworld populated and executed by crazy death masked geishas with an axe to grind.

The models:

Amy wears:
1 cup white self-raising flour
copious black eye shadow in and around eye socket
black eye shadow on lips for that rigour mortis effect
smeared red lipstick around mouth area

Antonya wears:
½ cup white self-raising flour
hint of black eye shadow around eye socket
red lipstick trickles from eye, nose and mouth

The results:

More fun than it should be. Try it yourselves and see.

AA

The weather is horrible and all the shops have Christmas trees in the window (isn't it way too early for all of that!?) Everyone seems to be getting the seasonal cold that comes at this time of year...but I've just found a new clothing line at Wrangler and its called Blue Bella Story, so I'm a happy girl!

Wrangler have been around for years and they have just spiced up their collection with this new line. It's young, fun and affordable! They're not just using jeans either. They have some cute printed satin and cotton shirts which could be dressed up or down. The jeans have a really good cut to them that makes them fit in all the right places, and you know we all love that! Get yourself down to a Wrangler store and stock up, you could even get someone a Christmas presie (early) whilst you're there!

Zena x

Laura xx

Yes - I was extremely bored the other day when I came across this very interesting website!
tickle - it is basically a website of different test! Seriously, it is pretty funny. I managed to work out that my best suited career is apparently in the area of fine arts (I can't draw to save myself!), and my animal guardian angel would be Miss Piggy! WHAT??? As long as she told me where to get that dress, I wouldn't mind. Very random but a good laugh.

Have a go!
Laura x

Duncan, Milo, Nick and Jack - aka Portico Quartet - are living the dream: record label, sold-out gigs, hoards of screaming female fans…. But they are a far cry from the ubiquitous skinny-jeans-wearing, Pete Doherty-doting boy band. Instead, Portico Quartet are a 4-piece modern jazz group from London, and after nearly two years playing small gigs and busking outside the National Theatre in London, they recently signed a deal with Babel records; on November 5th released their debut album, ‘Knee-Deep in the North Sea’, to what should be a barrage of critical and popular acclaim.

Young, talented and aesthetically pleasing, their music is made distinctive by the use of the ‘hang’, a 21st century percussion instrument used on all their tracks. By “forging contemporary jazz with modern classical tendencies along with many other genres” (their own words), they have created an inimitable sound that has been compared to the work of Ben Allison, Esbjorn Svennson Trio and The Cinematic Orchestra, among others.

Confused? Don’t be. On behalf of jazz novices everywhere – modern or otherwise – we squeezed into the unlikely but atmospherically apt venue of the St Barnabas Chapel in Soho for their official album launch. Thanks to the most modern of marketing tools – a bit of myspace, a little word of mouth, and friend-of-a-friend recommendations – the venue was packed. Devoted followers jostled for space with first-time fans like ourselves, while late-comers queued outside hoping to replace the fainting girls being carried out on stretchers. (Ok not quite but you get the picture.)

There’s an improvisational quality to their tracks, but their slickness and beat-perfect delivery belie their professionalism and practice, and the water tight set of ethereal, jazzy, percussiony, melodic tracks from the album didn’t disappoint. Such crowd pleasers as ‘Pompidou’, composed while busking outside the Centre of the same name in Paris, had the audience in otherworldly suspense and the encore was almost literally a religious experience.

When they’re not signing record deals, releasing albums, playing to packed crowds and signing autographs for female fans, Portico Quartet mostly spend their time “making music and painting”. Catch them doing the former at the London Jazz Festival in the Purcell Rooms on November 24th, the Ritzy Cinema Café in Brixton on December 16th, or the Brunei Gallery at SOAS on January 9th, and brush up your knowledge before you go. Check out the launch of their album at the Barnabas Chapel a few weeks ago.
Invite us round for breakfast boys…

AA

This week, as you will see, I had an amazing time in Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor. Honestly, this is a great wee vintage and retro clothing experience - you will even get cups of tea and a biscuit.
Steve (the owner) is very helpful and really knows what looks good, and what goes with what. There are loads of fun things to try on - did you like my yellow creation?! Ha ha.
So...this is the outfit I ended up wearing for my gig! Oh yes - 70s MAD! Go check it out, maybe have a look at the Myspace first so you know where you are going - its not the easiest place to find, but once you do - its GREAT!

Laura x