Posted by Bel. The time is 2.55pm here in Wellington NZ

Journalists love to think of themselves as always pointing the finger and blowing the whistle. Stuff pass themselves off as a crack team of deadline chasing newshounds, with a promotional campaign touting "If our team don't break stories first, there are consequences."

But more often than not, the press dish up a disappointing array of shallow stories, leading with whatever is most salacious, rather than most informative.

The impetus is more and more on the media participant (and yes, I carefully use that word instead of audience!) to ensure that they are consuming from a variety of sources and not just accepting "news" at face value.

UK based geek comedian Tom Scott is kicking back with his series of "journalism warning stickers".

You can read more about his project here, including downloading the template (link is at the bottom of the page) and printing off your own!

Posted by Bel. The time is 5.14pm here in Wellington NZ

Iceland. Land of - no, not ice! Well, okay, some ice. But of many other things too.

Only about 320,000 people though, which is smaller than the Wellington region. And yet, I would dare say, it is much better than Wellington. This tiny nation has managed to punch far above its weight in many categories.

1. Music

This is the obvious one. Only people who have been living under a rock and don't have ears or the rock they're under makes it hard to hear are yet to realise that Bjork comes from Iceland. Her full name is Björk Guðmundsdóttir, and yes I googled and then copied and pasted that, as everyone has done since she first pixified her way onto the scene many a year ago.

Moving from a punk rock background to become one of the most successful female solo artists in the world, even those who don't enjoy her music have to concede Bjork is a creative force to be reckoned with.

I love Bjork and I cried with excitement in front of ten of thousands of impatient Rage Against The Machine fans when she performed second-to-last at the Big Day Out in 2008.

Recently Iceland has also attracted attention from musos thanks to the band Sigur Ros. Some people pronounce this "sigga ross", others "sayer rose". I like to pronounce it "oh those guys" with a roll of my eyes.

They play a style of music known as "post-rock" with songs that go on for about as long as it takes a glacier to form - and the kicker is that all the lyrics are sung in a language THEY MADE UP THEMSELVES. As if Icelandic didn't sound kooky enough as it is! (Racist.)

People tend to really, really love Sigur Ros. Apparently they are "amazing" live. Don't get a Sigur Ros fan started on how "amazing" Sigur Ros are live. *rolls eyes*

Here is one of their videos (please set aside the majority of the rest of your life to watch this). I will give them credit for creating an incredibly powerful short film within the context of this music video!


Sigur Rós - Viðrar vel til loftárása

2. Jewellery

Check out this growing jewellery made by a Icelandic designer:

via [If it's hip, it's here]

3. Head of State

Firstly, let me clarify by saying that I loved Helen and I miss her and I think New Zealand as a country achieved much mature growth by electing a female leader.

But Iceland had a female president back in the 80s! And their current prime minister is not only a female, but also a (wait for it) lesbian (gasp!). In terms of being progressive and smashing through the glass ceiling, this is inspirational.

New Zealand has found itself with a government that is continuing to demonstrate its anti-women policies in more and more terrifying ways. Gordon Campbell has written about it here - well worth reading. And let's keep an eye on countries who are instilling the feminist principles of equality into their legislation.

4. Giant freaky pylon things

Would you or would you not totally pee your pants if you were driving along and you came across these? I think they would be perfect for the Desert Highway.

Concept design dreamed up by some architectural firm with too much time on their hands, for the haunting barren wilderness of Iceland. Awesome.

via [Laughing Squid]



4. Volcano/ Economic Crisis

I actually nearly forgot! They had that volcano that totally fucked things up for the whole world! And their economy is screwed. All three (three!) of their banks collapsed. Fuuuuck. Wikipedia says that "Iceland's external debt was 9.553 trillion Icelandic krónur". That sounds really bad.

Gosh well don't I just feel awful now with my "ooh pretty jewellery" and all.

Iceland! We salute you!

Posted by Bel. The time is 5.02pm here in Wellington NZ

Lou has gone away. To distract myself from the gaping hole in my day that is usually filled with communicating with her (Gmail tells me I have written her "hundreds" of emails. That is as precise as it gets, apparently), I shall blog daily.
 
It will be like Julie & Julia except with less whining and probably the same amount of Francophile covetousness.
 

Eww get up off the floor, you big whiner! That's not sanitary.

 

Yes, I will be taking requests so feel free to let me know what you'd like for me to cover over the next nearly fortnight. Here is a summary of some intended topics in the meantime:

• Various book reviews (from The List and also non-List)
• Bel's Guide to Sleep
• Iceland: What is up with that place?
• Abortion
• A photo of my new hair do
• Me reviewing some of the movies that Lou saw about 6 months ago (damn you, northern hemisphere!)

Posted by Lou. The time is 4.00pm here in London UK.

My new apartment is one that cries out for afternoon teas and cocktails, right?



I mean, can't you just imagine two gals like me and Bel lazing about sitting on that sofa getting drunk on boooooze sophisticated cocktails and talking about seeeeexxx intelligent subjects whilst eating junk delicate miniature food??

Wait, here is my artist's impression of me and Bel being fabulous in my apartment [using only crusty free paint software so please DON'T JUDGE ME]:

As the one in colour actually looks a little like Bel I'm going to

take one

for the team

and agree to live in black-and-white.

So I had my first ever self-hosted Afternoon Tea Party. It went well. So well, in fact, that an attendee - over the age of 40 and British, so someone who has been around the block a few times in terms of scone-eating - announced that I had made the best scone she had ever had in her entire life. I wonder whether I should get this printed onto a certificate and stick it up on my kitchen wall? (I used this recipe, fyi.)

I of course forgot to take a pic of the final product,

but you can see their uncooked round goodness in the background of this pxt.

The sandwiches were quite stressful for me as a sandwich connoisseur I most certainly am not - but I erred on the side of caution and just used a lot of butter. In the end it was: roasted red peppers and cream cheese; chicken, cream cheese, and cranberry; ham; cucumber. Surprisingly the ham were most popular - lots of butter works you guys!

Advantage of having very little furniture (both in terms of quantity and size)

is that a tea-towel works nicely as a table-cloth.

I am currently in possession of some Real Kiwi Australian jaffas, so made jaffa cupcakes with a jaffa perched on the top of each. They consisted of a basic chocolate cupcake with orange zest mixed in, and then a very citrus orange-cream icing (butter, icing sugar, orange juice, orange zest). I'm going to confess that I didn't like them that much (perhaps because the chocolate cupcake just used cocoa and not Actual Chocolate), but everyone else earnestly declared their satisfaction (though they're hardly going to throw them in my face, are they?).

There was almost a disasterous faux pas when I realised I only had 5 tea-bags in the flat (!), but with a bit of recycling they managed to last the afternoon tea and all was happy in the end.

So come round to the _________* Pad for Afternoon Tea sometime!


*Please come up with a name for my apartment! Bachelorette Pad isn't Facebook-friendly (my brother would be aaaaall over that) and The Cupcake Pad doesn't quite work... any suggestions? (It doesn't have to involve the work "Pad", fyi.)

Posted by Bel. The time is 8.34am here in Wellington NZ.

I do love having the latest fashion news sent directly to my inbox. I don't love when it is filled with body dismorphia, cliched clothing and tacky writing.

The immediate clanger here is the obvious "enhancement" that has gone on with the image of the model on the bottom right.
 
Perhaps it is some snazzy move that I missed the week I skipped America's Next Top Model, but as far as I am aware, Tyra has not yet let us all in on a pose that instantaneously whittles your waist down to the width of your head. Practically miraculous, especially when you have two other photos of normal-sized waist to compare it to!
 
Overall, it was just plain disappointing to get a whole e-newsletter devoted to touting the joys of NAUTICAL. Nautical, you guys! Did you hear? It's in! It's in this summer! And do you remember last summer? Um, yeah - just like then! What's that? The summer before... uhhh... maybe?
 
Pardon? Ever since Jean-Paul Gaultier's debut collection in 1976? Or maybe since Gabrielle Chanel busted out a top she borrowed from the sailors of Brittany back in the 30s? Hmmm... interesting points. Fashion is know for being cyclic, but really, trying to act as if as there is a trend popping up when we've had nothing but blue and white stripes flung at us for season after season seems to be taking it a little far!
 
And it must be said, I love me a good pun [see: above]. This is a trait passed down from my mother, who is also a Scrabble champion and cryptic crossword queen. But "I heart bouys" is weak on so many levels. For one, it just draws my attention again to the fact that they are trying to act as if this whole nautical baloney is new and fun and exciting. 
 
It also taps into a pet peeve of the way mainstream fashion retail stores, which used to cater for women in their 20s with a professional focus, are aiming more and more towards the teenage market.

 

"I heart bouys" is the kind of lame-arse thing you might see mass-produced in Supre, a shop where the sizing alone lets you know that their target audience is people who have not yet developed mature hips and breasts. It's not a good fit with the usual 'wear it from work to the club' stuff that comes out of Portmans, and goodness me, not much upsets me more in the world than inconsistent branding!*

*Things that upset me more in the world than inconsistent branding:

• That funding for evening classes has been cut and Education Minister Anne Tolley has suggested as the option for refugees to New Zealand who were using this as their way to become proficient in English, that they will now be allowed to apply for student loans.
• That the food from Satay Kingdom in Left Bank is cheaper than the food from the Thai place on Cuba, but their portions are smaller and I always feel too stuffed after a Satay Kingdom laksa.
• Murray McCully. I really hate that guy so bad.
• Finally deciding to use a voucher and finding out that it has expired. Gahh!