Anne Boleyn

They don’t teach much English history in British schools. Historical education here is all about the war-mongering bogey men of twentieth century Europe and greed inspired conflicts in Eastern sand-pits. I’m ashamed to say everything I know about the Britain of the past two thousand years I learnt from watching Time Team. That is however, excluding the Royal house of Tudor, which was taught to me in primary school by a scary elderley lady with wrinkles in her tights. I guess old Henry and his scandalous six wives are perfect for enchanting the enquiring mind of an eight year old. They certainly made an impression on me. Of Henry’s six wives staring back at me from a crumpled text book page it was always Anne Boleyn who excited me the most. It could have been because she seemed the most glamorous of an exceptionally unglamorous bunch, or that my Mother has always maintained she named me after Anne’s daughter, the first Queen Elizabeth, or maybe it was just the circumstances of her untimely demise… Anne just seemed interesting. As a grown up I stumbled across season two of The Tudors and my love of Anne was re-newed. Natalie Dormer’s Anne was, while not entirely historically accurate, the most mesmerising creature. It inspired me to begin reading about her life and background, even inspiring a fruitless treasure hunt around London’s National Portrait Gallery, in search of her most famous portrait. I could write all evening about the colourful life of the daughter of the Earl of Wiltshire and eventual Queen consort, but instead I’ll leave you with some pictures from The Tudors and the answer I received upon taking the Which wife of Henry VIII would you have been? quiz on Facebook. I think it sums her up well.




You use your wit and wiles to raise yourself from commoner to queen. When you have set your sights on a goal there is no turning back. You are wickedly smart and seductive and you are not going to let a little thing like the Holy Roman Empire sway you from your desires. You will live in infamy for wrapping a King around your finger and changing the course of history in England. Henry practically had to declare himself God to have you as wife. Unfortunately, the people of England despise you for replacing their beloved queen and the dangerous business of manipulating a man with a god-complex backfires. He has you convicted of witchcraft, adultery, incest and treason and you are beheaded after only 3 years of marriage. Well, you deal in high stakes. Perhaps it is some consolation that your daughter by Henry inherits your willful determination and becomes one of England's greatest Monarchs..

Original beauty

Boots now have a whole range of beauty products based on their original recipes and encased in the most adorable vintage inspired pastel packaging. I wanted to buy everything just so I could line up the boxes and bottles on my bedroom drawers, but beauty products this cute come at a slightly higher than average price, so I had to settle for some much needed cuticle oil. It smells like pure Turkish delight.

Ebay jewellery finds

I went mad last weekend and bought a few Art Deco pieces on Ebay. I was looking for a new locket because I'm scared to death of losing the one my mother gave me and never wear it out, but somewhere along the way I ended up purchasing a couple of other pieces too.

Art Deco mesh bracelet

In an attempt to avoid the never-ending weekend rain, I've spent the past two days searching Ebay for vintage trinkets. It was almost too much excitement when I came across this Art Deco mesh bow bracelet at Ellis Antiques. I would have snapped it up immediately if it hadn't been so expensive. Perhaps it's best I didn't, I have the smallest wrists in existence, far too small for a bracelet like this. It deserves to be shown off, not kept in a box and admired every few weeks.

In my garden

I've been using the sunny days to take care of my garden. After several months and endless seedlings, I'm starting to see tiny veggies emerging from inside beautiful flowers. I love the tiny green veins of pea flowers and the pink shadows on broad bean petals. This year my vegetable patch has to be bigger than ever to cope with the growing competition. After all, gardening is the newest black and the whole country has gone "grow your own" mad, even my friend Nicola is getting her finger nails dirty in her small city-centre garden (butternut squash competition?). Over the next few months I'll be harvesting fruit and vegetables too numerous to mention, but I'm currently most excited about tomatos, cucumber, peas and strawberries. It's a full-time job. Even with a helper.

Eating in London

Irina!

"Irina has a great rock'n'roll vibe. It's all about the hair and her flatness. I love that she has no boobs." Says Michelle McCool of Cosmopolitan magazine. Previously famous for being engaged to Pete Doherty (twice) and being friends with Kate Moss, Irina Lazareanu is now an icon in her own right. I love her vague expression, dark smokey eyes and vintage style. And like McCool, I also love that she has no boobs. Her vintage wardrobe is immense. White/cream dresses and t-bar shoes are two of my current favourites.

New start

The last few months have been busy, busy with finishing University, but I’m back with a vengeance now and I’m going to try to make this blog a bit more interesting. Previously I’ve only really blogged about my journalism, but that’s only such a small part of my life. We all prefer our hobbies to our professions, I guess. Inspired by some of the blogs I regularly read, I’m going to start blogging about everything else I am, like and do. I hope everyone will keep coming back.

Firstly...

An edited version of this interview appeared in Notes Zine. Thank you to Amber for being the best interviewee ever.



How did you first become interested in zines?

I have vague memories of reading about zines in old interviews with Nirvana, Hole and Bikini Kill. When I was thirteen or so, there were a few girls around town distributing a zine called !Hey! although I don’t think I called it a zine at the time, as it was the first one I ever saw. I probably called it a pamphlet or something. I can’t even remember what they wrote about anymore, but I remember that they had crosswords and featured poetry by local teens. They were distributed at high schools and various local businesses. Anyone could contribute, though I was much too shy. I totally wanted to make my own though. A few years later, I starting posting on Hole.com and got into zines hardcore through the girls on there. Maranda (my sister) and I started making zines together and trading with our new friends. I think the first zines I received were Tantrum, Broken Hymen, Pink Collar Ghetto and other riot grrrl type zines.

What motivates you to create zines?

Without zines, I don’t know where I’d be. They’re my main focus in life, it seems. I’ve learned a lot from various zines, and I’ve made an incredible amount of friends that I never would have known of otherwise. I’m almost always motivated to make zines, especially when I’ve just had a fun day of riding my bike or whatever, or when I’ve just finished reading a really great zine. I am constantly writing zines in my head, even imagining the layout and such. I’m inspired by my zinester friends and I’m inspired by my anger and I’m inspired by love.

What inspired you to start Culture Slut?

Maranda and I had been making a series together for about a year or so, some of it was about feminism, and a lot of it was just silliness. We were doing print runs of only twenty or so. We were seventeen, and just felt like we needed our own creative outlet, so we decided to start up our own zines. I started writing Culture Slut and she started writing Telegram Ma’am. I’m actually flipping through some old issues right now, reminding myself of what I wrote about, what inspired me… I wrote about various experiences of sexism in my life, how much I hated working at 7-Eleven (although I did make some good friends with a few customers there, and managed to scam quite a few free copies), my first trip to England, my love of Oscar Wilde and mixtapes… I think I just felt like I had a lot to say and no one to say it to. Zines were a good way to make new friends and connect with people that shared similar interests. I’m a bit embarrassed by the naivete of earlier issues now, but who isn’t?

How did Fight Boredom begin?

Small town boredom, mostly. I was tired of people constantly complaining that there was nothing to do and blaming it on being in a small town. I don’t think being in a small town really limits anyone’s possibilities too much, you just gotta be creative about it. I’m one of those annoying people who always says, “Only boring people get bored.” I thought that maybe if I could make a zine that was inspiring and specifically pertained to the kids in Lindsay (and small towns everywhere, really), then maybe I could change the world a teeny-tiny bit. Also, I wanted to get people in my hometown into zines, but didn’t necessarily want to share Culture Slut with them, since it often gets quite personal. I just wanted to do something fun. I see now that that’s what the girls at !Hey! must’ve been going for, too. I wonder what ever happened to them… People all over the world have been buying Fight Boredom and I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from it. Now my goal is pretty much to round up all of my favourite zinesters and have them write about their favourite ways of fighting boredom, and the things in life that inspire them.

Tell me about what you’re planning for the next issue?

Issue #3 was Fight Boredom With Feminism, and I’m currently working on #4; Fight Boredom With Action! Hopefully it’ll be done early in the summertime. I moved to Montréal recently (the polar opposite of my small hometown), but I’m visiting Lindsay soon and I want to have a stack of zines to sell at local shows. There are three zinesters that I know of in Lindsay right now, which is more than ever, haha. I gotta keep the momentum going!

As for Culture Slut, I’ve actually been working on a few issues at once. I’m writing a lot about IBS, which I was diagnosed with last year, and I’m writing about sex, queer identity, alcoholism and other heavy subjects that have been on my mind lately.

I know your sister also makes zines. Is there some friendly rivalry or is it purely inspirational?

No rivalry here, she’s my best friend. I’d say we inspire each other to some extent. We just wrote our second split zine together a few months ago, all about being twins. I just find it to be a really fascinating subject. We sometimes write to each other for zine advice, for proofreading and stuff. Also, I’m working on something of a queer zine right now, and the idea of spilling all of my secrets is a bit nerve-wracking, so I definitely wrote to her for some encouragement. I think our zines are completely different from each other though. Sometimes people will order my zine, then they’ll realize I have a sister so they’ll order hers too (or vice versa), but I hope they can see that we are two very different people. I hope that people can appreciate our writing, and that they aren’t just collecting our zines as some sort of novelty. It can be difficult to establish one’s own identity when people only want to see you as someone else’s twin sister.

What are your favourite zines?

Ah, where to begin? Doris by Cindy Crabb will always be one of my favourites. I bought the anthology a few years ago when I needed some decent reading material for a road trip, and have since acquired every issue. I love Brainscan by Alex Wrekk. She manages to write really important and personal things in this conversational tone that makes you feel like you’ve been friends with her for years. Nothing Rhymes by Chelsea Gunn is a sweet and happy zine that always cheers me up. Motor City Kitty, Your Pretty Face Is Going Straight To Hell, Queer HOH, High On Burning Photographs, Truckface, Not Sorry, Dirty Love, Kiss Off, List, The Empire Is Falling (a zine by another girl in Lindsay!), Echo! Echo!, Glossolalia, Honey Tunnel, everything ever by Niku Arbabi and Katie Haegele. I really could go on forever here, but these are the ones that I can read over and over again.

Who are your heroes?

The authors of the zines listed above, people who exchange long letters with me, my mom and my sister, Oscar Wilde, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Inga Muscio, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna, George Carlin, Jessica Valenti, Betsey Johnson, Karen O, Joan Jett, Cyndi Lauper… Feminists everywhere and people who are doing cool stuff in small towns.

helloamber.etsy.com

And yes, this does mean uni is over and I’m back…

Mirror/Dash

When I was a teenager clothes by Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon's label X-Girl were what I saved my pocket money for. You could only buy them in Shop, a small boutique on Soho's Brewer Street and every couple of months my Mother would take me there and double the money I'd saved to spend. Like Gordon, the X-Girl's have now grown up. With the X-Girl label now exclusively available in Japan, Mirror/Dash has been launched as a more mature alternative. This collection is available only at Urban Outfitters and continues X-Girl's feminine/tom-boy tradition. Here are my favourite pieces.

Snow

Death Cab at Rock City 15/11 Part Two

When Death Cab for Cutie toured the UK this summer it was easy to see how teen soap endorsement and major label success had engulfed a band with once such indie sensibilities. Lost on a stage at Manchester Apollo was a band that, however gifted, could have been as far away as Orange County.

Tonight, Nottingham’s Rock City, with its dark cave-like walls, a venue usually more Kerrang! than Under the Radar, presents the perfect setting for a more intimate return trip. There’s an eerie silence as the lights go down and the smoke thickens. A fight almost breaks out in the audience, but as Death Cab take to the stage, all is forgotten.

Seemingly more at home on a smaller stage, the band begins the set with a selection of old songs, proving that this time, they’re here to please rather than to promote. The Employment Pages is followed by the beautiful Your Heart is an Empty Room and Transatlanticism opener, The New Year.

Six songs in and Narrow Stairs finally gets its moment. The catchy No Sunlight brings guitarist Chris Walla to the microphone and what seems like a million enthusiastic camera phones are launched into the air.

During Grapevine Fires the crowd sing word for word to a song now widely appreciated as one of the best the band have written, a touching narrative from a band famous for putting as much emphasis on story as melody. As the song reaches its climax the crowd take over and vocalist Ben Gibbard smiles approvingly.

I Will Follow You Into the Dark, a haunting song of death and devotion is followed by the first single from Narrow Stairs, I Will Possess Your Heart, a beautiful yet disturbing tale which builds with almost five minutes of instrumentalism to the opening line: “How I wish you could see the potential/the potential of you and me…”

This time around there’s a much more eclectic setlist. Sure, Narrow Stairs and its breakthrough predecessor Plans get much of the attention, but songs from Transatlanticism, the band’s final release for Barsuk, feature alongside older songs, Company Calls, Technicolor Girls and Why You’d Want to Live Here.

The crowd anticipate an encore but the band keep them waiting until the stamping, clapping and chanting reaches a peak and the venue’s floor vibrates alarmingly. Death Cab reappear, bemused at the crowd’s reaction, and reward them with another four songs.

Fan favourite Expo ’86 becomes, for many of the audience, the evening’s highlight, before the show closes with the slow-burning Transatlanticism. The crowd stand in awe as Gibbard alternates between guitar and keyboard, slowly building to the songs climatic conclusion: “I need you so much closer.”

On a freezing Saturday evening, Death Cab for Cutie stand before me the band I always knew they were. From ten feet away I can see the passion and dedication that has made them the most loved band of their generation. I can even see the shine on Chris Walla’s impeccably kept blonde hair.

All photos are by Lucy Bridger. Visit her blog here.

Death Cab at Rock City 15/11 Part One

Last night Nicola and I saw Death Cab for Cutie for the second time in four months. It was a completely different experience to the rainy July day when we journeyed to Manchester Apollo. On a cold November evening, Rock City was more subtle, more intimate. Like two different bands with one singer.

Setlist

The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is an Empty Room
New Year
Why You’d Want to Live Here
Crooked Teeth
No Sunlight
Grapevine Fires
Summer Skin
Soul Meets Body
I Will Follow You Into the Dark
I Will Possess Your Heart
Cath…
We Looked Like Giants
Company Calls
Long Division
The Sound of Settling

Technicolor Girls
Title and Registration
Expo ‘86
Transatlanticism

World Vegan Month

There was a time when being vegetarian was seen as unusual, but as November's World Vegan Month campaigners are pleased to boast - these days almost 10 per cent of us are following a vegetarian diet.

Ten years ago it was estimated that two million Britons were vegetarian, a number that has since doubled. And this may be down to the current wave of high profile vegetarians in the media.

A whole host of musicians, actors and designers are now proud to be following a meat-free diet.

Actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman and Jude Law are all vegetarians. As well as Gwyneth’s husband Coldplay’s Chris Martin and fellow musicians Moby, Death Cab’s Chris Walla and Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Not to mention designers Stella McCartney and Sadie Frost.

Some stars have even decided to make a public stand against the meat industry. Pamela Anderson has developed her own animal friendly fashion range and Stella McCartney’s faux leather boots have been seen on Victoria Beckham.

Animal Rights charity Peta has caught on to this trend, using both Walla and Oberst to front ‘Go Veg’ campaigns through their youth website Peta2. Walla declared, “Factory farming is just disgusting. All you have to do is look at a couple photographs and it’s not that hard to figure out.”

While many people go vegetarian for ethical and compassionate reasons, it’s also becoming known as the healthy option.

The Vegetarian Society, the charity responsible for the logos you see on veggie food, classes a vegetarian as someone who does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacean, or slaughter by-products such as gelatine (which is made from animal bones) or animal fats.

The society argue that there is much scientific evidence to indicate vegetarians may be healthier than meat-eaters – saying a well balanced vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients your body needs as well as being low in saturated fat and high in the protective minerals and vitamins found in fruit and vegetables.

It is also claimed that statistically vegetarians are thinner than carnivores and tend to lose weight more easily.

However, the Department of Health stress the importance of replacing the nutrients present in meat. A lack of zinc, iron and protein, essential for a healthy immune system, can cause anaemia - especially in women. Seeds, grains and pulses make an excellent alternative.

It is predicted that the number of vegetarians will continue to rise and could triple over the next decade.

As the production of vegetarian food brands increases and with the support of such famous advocates, it is not surprising more and more people are choosing nut roast over beef roast. No wonder Stella McCartney proudly admits, “Nobody cool eats meat anymore.”

Mystic Valley Band in Birmingham

When Conor Oberst announced he was embarking on a solo project his fan base gasped at the prospect. For a man who was essentially already a solo artist under the moniker Bright Eyes, what could be the reason for shelving such an already successful project?

Leaving behind long time friend and collaborator Mike Mogis, Oberst assembled a new band of musicians and headed to Mexico for the two month recording session that would give birth to his debut solo effort, the eponymously titled Conor Oberst.

Just a few short weeks after the albums release Oberst and his ramshackle band of musicians, the Mystic Valley Band (named after the magical Mexican valley where the album was recorded) arrived in Birmingham for what would be the start of their first brief but successful trip to the UK.

Flanked by Bright Eyes instrumentalist Nate Walcott, Maria Taylor’s brother Macey and Taylor Hollingsworth on guitars, and Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel on drums, the newly created Mystic Valley Band looked like Oberst’s usual wonderful army of friends and musicians, but this new incarnation possess a greater air of maturity and sophistication

“At the bottom of everything…” pleads one desperate Bright Eyes fan from the crowd at the more intimate than usual Carling Academy 2. But from the moment Oberst steps onstage it’s clear that Bright Eyes is a project most definitely on hiatus and any requests, no matter how desperate, fall on deaf ears.

Album opener Sausalito kicks off the set, followed by Get Well Cards and Moab. Then the band strips it down for the records ballads, Lenders In The Temple and Eagle On A Pole. A uncomfortable silence overcomes the audience while Obersts voice quivers and trails off, a welcome sign that at least one aspect of Bright Eyes turned up for the gig.

No longer the skinny teenager hiding behind his famous fringe, Oberst stands up to the microphone with all the confidence ten years of success has brought him, and as a man no longer intimidated by his own talent. When Oberst announces Birmingham is Hollingsworth’s hometown the crowd cheer approvingly a cheeky smile rolls over the singer’s face. Unbeknown to his audience, Hollingsworth is actually from Birmingham, Alabama, and the once so serious boy from Nebraska has just got them good.

As the set comes to as close it’s clear that this now solo, solo artist has only grown with the experience. Tracks I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) and the single Souled Out!! are performed with a previously unseen ferocity and provide the perfect end to the show. Oberst jumps on an amp and blows kisses into the audience before disappearing backstage, leaving his Mystic Valley Band to say goodnight. Bright Eyes has left the building.

Under Re-construction

Back Soon!

Happy New Year

Thank you to Lizzy from Marching Stars distro for sending me this review, featured in Toronto Zine Library's zine.

Haworth

Last week I went on a family trip to Charlotte Bronte's house in Haworth, Yorkshire.

Edie!

Inspired by the post below, Edie Sedgwick. Ever since I saw the movie my hemlines have been getting shorter and shorter.