I turned a year older in the company of a good looking, successful and incredibly musically talented young man who clearly enjoys what he's doing. Then his set ended and I decided to go home.

Zabs is as good looking as ever, and still as energetic and fresh as he was when he first started out back when I graduated from university. In my mind, he is the most innovative and technically gifted of all the DJs I've seen. Yes, some view his scratching as just a gimmick, but if you listen carefully to his sets, it enables him to go from one incredibly different sound to another in the span of five seconds, without it sounding at all odd or out of place. 

I guess that's why Positronic, as yesterday's night was called, worked even though it started out with Way Out West in all their progressive goodness going through their expansive catalogue(Mindcircus was played, and so was The Gift, if memory serves). I couldn't quite work out how Zabs was going to fit into the overall tone of the night, but, as it turns out, that was a no-brainer.

I mean, yes, both acts did employ the "stop all tunes playing and play their own tune" method of transitioning, but Zabs just started out with hard and aggressive breaks, a complete change from some of the more mellow tunes Way Out West had just played, and it just somehow worked.

I can't name a single tune Zabs played; my trainspotter days - if I was ever one, which I doubt - are far behind me now, given how rarely I go clubbing these days. All I can say is that it was typical Zabiela and it was awesome. If I had to spend my birthday alone, I couldn't think of a better DJ I'd rather see.

And yes, it was worth the complete sleep deprivation I am now feeling just to hear the Daleks ("thank you") and see Zabs' signature "Thank you :)" on his laptop and show it to the clubbers (his trademark end). It as even cuter when he then typed in "Meaty" to introduce the next DJ, Meat Katie, a DJ I might have stayed to see given how well the Meat Katie vs. James Zabiela DJ Face Off worked out were it not for the fact that I had to meet a friend for lunch the next day.

So, all in all, another fun night at Matter. This time around, I didn't even have to wait in the queue. Awesome.

More Hervé Léger goodness - this time comparing past (when the dresses were handmade by Hervé) and present (now taken over by Max Azria, and purportedly made in Asia).

What I like about Max Azria's present collection are the off-the-shoulder looks, as well as the one-shoulder tops. There are definitely some misses there, and some of the models look downright lifeless.

What I like about the originals are that they're actually shown on voluptuous women!

Hervé Leroux's couture collection looks incredible, though only for a woman with a perfect body. I can sympathise with his wanting to get away from his signature look though.

On course to my quietest, and loneliest, birthday ever, I decided to do my bit for the economy, while, at the same time, taking care not to kill my savings too much in the event that it turns out to be my worst birthday ever (it was announced that there would be job cuts in my department, and the names of those who'll be made redundant will be announced over the next few weeks).
So, I purchased for myself a 100% cashmere beige scarf with leaf motifs from Camilla Ridley, a 100% cashmere black cardigan twinset from Mantegna and a necklace from Chloe, in addition to the vintage Hervé Léger dress a few days ago. Fortunately, I remembered myself and decided not to buy the silver python-print Alaia platforms on sale at Browns Labels for Less store on South Molton Street. It didn't cost too much as the all of the three items were purchased from sample sales, all of which were offering discounts of between 70% to 80%.
As for gifts, I've received a cashmere stole from MD, a tee from T. (hee) and a grey cashmere cardigan, a combined gift from a couple of good girl friends here. I'd mentioned wanting something nice and warm so when the girls gave me my gift, I was all "oh, so this telling people what I want really works!" Heh.
You might think I'm really going rather atas, what with all the cashmere purchasing, but it's been really cold in London the last few weeks and cashmere is so much warmer than an ordinary wool sweater, not to mention a lot thinner which helps when it comes to not looking like a chunky ball of clothing whenever I need to go out of the apartment!
In any case, I'll be heading out in a couple of minutes to catch James Zabiela and Way Out West at Matter. I haven't been able to get a nap, which is my usual modus operandi, so I hope I'll be able to stay and enjoy myself long enough that it's not freezing when it's time for me to go home.
If I've got to turn a year closer to the big 3-0 all by myself, it might as well be in the company of a damn good looking DJ.

This is why I want an Hervé Léger dress so badly. I think these are amazing.


The one on the left is now sold out (formerly available at Intermix, but an 'M'/UK size 12 is available at Selfridges' Oxford Circus store at 30% off until 30th November), while the orange with sequins is available at Net-a-Porter for £1,625.

Don't be silly. I won't spend that kind of money on a single item of clothing.

And besides, I just bought myself one. It's second-hand, and it's not typical bandage dress but it has the same effect, and it was a lot cheaper. And yes, it was an original Hervé, made and designed by the original Hervé himself.

Woo hoo!

As an update to an earlier post as to how to stay up-to-date and informed in London, I thought I would post some online solutions or tweaks on how I'm managing my credit crunch living.

Theatre
If you are looking for cheap theatre tickets, check out this useful post by WebCowGirl on the 12 best ways to purchase cheap theatre tickets. Some of them are more for people who have the time to queue up, but, all in all, this isn't too bad.

For me, I just tend to type in the name of the show I want to see and "discount" into Google and, sometimes, a link to a proper discount site pops up among the top few hits. Otherwise, LastMinute.com sometimes has good discounts.

There's also the preview night option, which I recently used for August: Osage County where I purchased a ticket right smack in the middle of the Dress Circle for £17.50, where it was originally selling for £30 after opening night. I did the same for Into the Hoods earlier this year as well, and ended up saving a fair amount of money for what turned out to be two very good productions.

Cinema
Cheap tickets ranging from between £3 to £5 for fairly recent releases can be found at Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square and Roxy Bar and Screen in Borough. Alternatively, the International Student House on Great Portland Street has a free movie screening every Sunday.

It is also worthwhile signing up to Time Out's Opening Nights for the chance to win tickets to movies about to be released.

Fashion
For discounts and sample sales, there are two must-go sites which are most definitely huge money savers given the economic climate and the time of year (as most retailers are angling for the shrinking consumer wallet right now): Money Saving Expert's discount shopping page which lists all the online vouchers and discounts available, and those of you who have become a little more accustomed to a higher standard of living, Fashion Confidential, which lists the discounts and great finds found in online boutiques such as Net-a-Porter and Matches.

There is also a new newsletter which calls itself Chiconomise (the act of living stylishly for less) which was launched in the last few weeks. It's sent out every Thursday. Time Out's shopping section (updated weekly) and Sample Sales London are great sites as well.

As for those fervent online shoppers who do not mind taking the risk of not being able to try clothes on, check out Brand Alley, Koodos and Secret Sales, which periodically run online sample sales from brands such as Aftershock, La Perla, Miss Sixty and even Balenciaga.

If it doesn't hapen to be sale season, you can always try the tried-and-tested route of thrift shopping. Check out the Association of Charity Shops web site for those convenient to you. Dress agencies (shops which stock secondhand clothing, usually designer or known brands) are also a good bet. One which has been featured in The Daily Telegraph recently is The Clothes Agency.

Beauty
I'm told that HQHair's outlet store is a good site offering substantial discounts off designer toiletries and cosmetics such as Nars, Stila and Bloom, while Strawberry Net offers up to 5% discounts onthe same. I tend to rely on special offers at Boots or Superdrug myself.

Bloomberg on how Citigroup's $306 billion rescue was concocted by regulators over a meal of Domino's pizza (not as bad as it sounds, seriously, seeing as it mirrors some of my own big deal efforts):

On Nov. 18, five days before he was forced to bail out Citigroup, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress he was handing over to President-elect Barack Obama ``a significantly more stable banking system where the failure of a systemically relevant institution is no longer a pressing concern rattling the markets.''

The next day, Citigroup shares fell 23 percent to their lowest since May 1995. The bank said it would wind down seven failed off-balance-sheet funds. That ended attempts by Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit, who announced two days earlier he was eliminating 52,000 jobs, to salvage the investments after at least $2.2 billion of writedowns this year.

Then things got even worse.

Ouch. When it's put the way Bloomberg's put it, one's got to wonder exactly what Paulson was thinking, and how he felt when the Citigroup crisis of last week unfolded.

I definitely didn't see this coming. At $9, I would have said Citi stock was a good buy. In fact, quite a lot of people would have said the same thing!

On a somewhat lazy Saturday evening spent tidying up my flat, I found myself watching episodes from the first season of NCIS while catching up on the sixth season online. Until yesterday, I'd always regarded it as being the naval crime show that fills up the two hours before CSI - my favourite of all the criminal investigation shows currently on - comes on. I wondered why, all of a sudden, I'd found myself genuinely interested in the show itself. As it turns out, Television Without Pity has just run a feature asking the same question.

It may not necessarily apply to me given that I'm in London and not in the US, but I guess, the main reason would be that there's not much to do in London at night when it's subzero temperatures outside and I can't take the cold!

Angels, the costumier of the entertainment industry for the past 170 years, is having a big sale of vintage clothing from the '20s all the way to the '90s, as well as fancy dress costumes, on December 6th somewhere in Wembley.

Having acquired the BBC's costume collection, there is apparently now a huge overlap, and they will be selling up to 30,000 pieces on the day. With names such as Yves St. Laurent and Christian Dior, as well as period costumes on sale, surely this must be an exorbitantly priced vintage sale?

Not so. Anyone can fill a medium-sized bag for £10 or a large-sized bag for £20, purchasing as many bags as you can carry, and possibly even more! A separate bag will be available for costume jewellery for £20.

To give credence to a statement I made a few months back, vintage clothing auctioneer Kerry Taylor is quoted as saying, "Proper vintage is a better investment than putting it in a bank. Antique clothes are so undervalued for what they are" in this article in the Daily Telegraph.

The advice for investment purchases as stated in the article:

• Go for the most expensive things you can afford and, where possible, stick to labelled haute couture pieces (i.e. hand-finished and with a client number behind the label)
• Never to cut the fabric. This will reduce its value by a considerable amount.
• Invest in key pieces and check for damages and moth holes.

I've been thinking about how best to do Fleet Foxes justice given that I'd gone to their concert on the strength of reviews I'd read online, as well as the speed with which their Shepherd's Bush Empire tickets sold out. I'd heard two of their tunes - White Winter Hymnal and Ragged Wood - and was suitably wowed that I thought I'd surely enjoy myself regardless.

And enjoy myself I did. I arrived a little late, having been predictably detained by work and unpredictably detained by traffic as a friend gave me a lift to Westfield (where I tried the over-hyped duck burger with foie gras from Croque Gascon) by which time the traffic and his driving style left me feeling rather carsick. In fact, I almost didn't get into the venue after all as I'd forgotten to bring my ticket with me, and ended up buying one from a scalper at £15, so, in effect, I ended up paying twice the price of admission to listen to a band I admittedly wasn't a big fan of and didn't know too much about.

And I'm glad I did! Fleet Foxes are by no means an a capella group, but the first thing that strikes you upon listening to them perform is the strength of their vocal harmonies. There aren't dedicated roles here for a baritone or a tenor or all that kind of thing; they all meld together to create some kind of beautiful folksy, almost church-like kind of harmony. I guess something akin to how King's College, Cambridge would sound if they did sixties music.

And then, of course, there're the simple guitar and drum accompaniments to each tune. They're not like what you get today from Coldplay or Snow Patrol, they're just pure and simple. In fact, each song is beautifully perfect and yet, incredibly simple. I guess that's what grabbed me that night.

It wasn't just me who was feeling it though. Clearly the audience was as well, with people around me just audibly gasping in astonishment and wonder as the band launched into each new tune.

And when Robin Pecknold did a song (inspired by Scotland in a sense) all by himself, in its pure acoustic glory, with no microphone, no amplifier, no nothing, in a venue as large as this, without straining his voice... we all went wild at the end. Truly amazing.

Will I be there for their show in February? I'd been thinking about it given that I wasn't sure if there would be anything new in their repertoire over the next three months. After thinking about their show and its effect on me a week later, I think it'd be a crying shame for me not to!

Link:
La Blogotheque - Fleet Foxes at the (abandoned) Grand Palais
Daytrotter - Fleet Foxes' Daytrotter session

I am seriously lusting after some vintage Alaia and Léger right now in spite of the credit crunch/quake/tsunami. If only I'd discovered these labels while the GBP/USD was still at 2 (in June!), instead of the 1.49 it is today.

I wish vintage stores here sold US brands instead of the rather frumpy and, quite frankly, bizarre English designs, just so I could try on those dresses and get my fix once and for all, instead of contemplating taking my chances on an exorbitantly priced US online vintage store.

A nice article in the FT about the new mood in the City and on Wall Street. As I told a friend, there have been recessions before, but this is the first time that the financial services sector - which plays a huge part in the UK, US and Asian economies - has been painted as being so evil, which is why everything seems so much worse.

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A week and a half after a historic win, it's crystal clear the world's heading into a recession at break-neck speed. While I hadn't held out any hopes after Obama's win - why would I? It was clear that neither he nor McCain would have a clue as to how to handle this once they were in office - I am just astounded by the speed at which everything has occurred.

The day after the election, for instance, the NASDAQ finished down for the first time in seven sessions. A couple of days later, the unprecedented 150 basis point cut by the Bank of England failed to do anything whatsoever to the FTSE. Now Mervyn King has come out to say that he'll keep on cutting rates to ensure that the UK economy is stimulated as much as possible. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation to be sure. Cutting rates to make borrowing cheaper and encouraging people to spend in order to stimulate the economy at a time when few people have the capacity to spend and are fearing for their livelihoods... it just doesn't work.

I'm actually of the opinion that perhaps nothing should be done. No active steps taken. Certainly no more bail-outs. It's a good time to clean out the inefficiencies of the system, after all, although the resultant bloodbath is painful to contemplate.

But, as has been shown, nobody likes a person who takes no action, even if that path does happen to be the best path to take. They're seen as ineffectual, indecisive and unwilling to take action. And that's not a good light for any politician or high-ranking government official to be seen in.

These are incredibly depressing times we live in. It's a great opportunity for people to prove their mettle, though at the same time, it's a terrible time to be looking for new - or should I say, different - challenges.

Apologies. It's been a long week. Seeing all the news about job cuts across all industries, as well as knowing that companies tend to cut people before they receive their bonuses (yes, I am still hoping for one, as I have worked incredibly hard this year), has taken its toll on me.

Fleet Foxes were amazing tonight... a blend of old style sixties harmonious singing a la Beach Boys and the lyricism of Joni Mitchell, accompanied by nifty guitar playing. White Winter Hymnal (available for downloading from Sub Pop) was even more hauntingly breathtaking live, while lead singer Robin Pecknold blew me - and the whole audience - away with his cover of Judee Sill's Crayon Angels (seen here in the Black Cab Sessions).

More to come later.

New York - October 25

First impressions of New York: Everything I see seems ever so familiar, even though I have never been here before. It's a natural consequence of being possibly the most portrayed city on the big and little screens.


Having arrived at my friends' apartment in Brooklyn just after midnight on Saturday, I woke up close to 11 am, no mean feat considering I was sharing the room with a number of other people who had woken up around 9 am and somehow managed not to wake up in any way as they were bustling around, making preparations for the day. That's what waking late all week for a number of weeks (or more accurately, years) and a break-up does to you. Nevertheless, eager not to waste even a single moment, I decided to hurl myself into the deep end and walk up to the nearest subway interchange so that I could go to Century 21, a discount fashion retailer, in Manhattan.

As luck would have it, I walked in the wrong direction at first, and then the correct one, but it took me such a long time to get there that I started to have serious doubts and fears as to where I was. What happened once I got to my intended destination? I got distracted and went into a supermarket in order to buy myself some toiletries. I didn't buy anything in the end as it would appear Americans did not understand the concept of small, or even medium-sized, containers.
By the time I reached there, I was starting to get rather peckish as I had only eaten a small apple (ha ha, no pun intended) that day. In sheer desperation, I walked into the nearest deli, ordered a sandwich and was absolutely flummoxed by the ginormous portion they gave me, which wasn't helped my loss of appetite over the events of the day before. I ended up saving half of it for dinner. After the supermarket episode, and now this, it was then that I came to the realisation that many others have had before me: Truly, America is a consumerist paradise.


Following that, I made my way to the World Trade Centre site. It had started to drizzle rather heavily and was turning a little chilly although just a few hours before, it was around 20 degrees C, albeit cloudy. It was rather sad to realise just how many deaths took place in the small area (by comparison) occupied by the Twin Towers. I then popped into St. Paul's Chapel opposite the site. Even though it was teeming with tourists, the church still seemed to offer some peace amidst all the turmoil.


I then made my way to Century 21. Naturally, it turned out to be big and messy, and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to search out bargains. I emerged with two pairs of jeans, a pair of True Religion jeans retailing for $80 (£160 in London) and J. Brand ($100, £180 in London), several pairs of hosiery and a conductor's cap (although the label described it as a "genre-hopping conductor's cap") to ward off the rain.

New Yorkers, I have found, are rather friendly. The cab driver, while driving me to Brooklyn from the airport, asked if he was driving too fast for me (he wasn't) and when the ride concluded, asked where my parents were from and proceeded to tell me I had a wonderful golden tan. Surely, this was not part of the usual customer service training anyone, much less a NY cabby, undergoes? This was followed by the guy at the corner store telling me "welcome home" (if only!) when I popped in there to collect the keys my friend had left for me. In addition, the cashier at Century 21 was friendly and chatty, even though it was clear she was exhausted.
In any case, the rain had gotten pretty heavy, so I decided to head back to get some rest and finish up my sandwich. I had no plans for the night given my general fatigue, but my friends pushed me to go out especially given that it was my first and only Saturday night in New York this trip. So, off we went for pre-party drinks at sexy jazz bar Rue B, before going to catch Greg Wilson, one of the key DJs responsible for developing the electro-funk scene in England in the '70s and '80s, at Santos Party House, owned by musician Andrew WK.


Did I have fun that night? Hell yeah. The music was just like one of David Mancuso's sets, and it's always a great thrill to be able to catch someone who is essentially one of the pioneers for something I so enjoy today.

Thus concluded my first Saturday in New York.


More to follow on the rest of my trip, but judging how long it took me to complete this post, it may be a while before I manage to get them all up!

This is a genius take on one of the best ever music videos of all-time! It's based on the concept of "ever wish the song sang what was going on in the music video?"

The lyrics and the singing fits in incredibly well. And freakin' hilarious too!

While talking to my manager, who is a Spurs fan

Me: Why are Spurs doing so well all of a sudden? What exactly did Harry Redknapp do? It's one of the great unanswered questions of our time. Ranks right up there with "how do we solve the financial crisis?"

I swear, I don't think of any of these things when I speak with my manager about football. It just comes out!

Oh, the amazing powers of rice!

After dismantling my mobile and leaving it in a container of uncooked rice for 72 hours, it was almost back to normal, except that the 'vibrate' function was weaker than normal. Then a further two nights in the jar, and the phone seems as good as new... except that it rattles a little when I shake it because there are some rice grains stuck in it!

The only drawbacks were:

1. Possibly contributing to the mistaken stereotypes of my race while in my friend's neighbourhood. After I returned home from a Halloween party (where the soaking took place) at 3 am, I walked to the 24 hour corner store while still in my costume to buy a container of rice. The storekeeper was probably thinking, "Those crazy Chinese. They eat rice all the time, any time!"
   
2. Figuring out how to cart the container back to London. At first, reluctant to be parted from my mobile, even if it wasn't functioning, I thought about putting it in my hand luggage. Then realising it would be way too embarrassing to have to explain this
   to a customs officer, I decided - wisely - to put it in my check-in luggage.

But it works, it works, it works! I hope I never ever have to make use of this random piece of information ever again...

And FYI, those little silica gel packets you get in handbags and when you're moving work a lot faster than rice. And the gel's reusable though, as you can just bake them dry using the microwave or conventional oven, I believe.

I just managed to listen to Obama's acceptance speech. It made me choke up just that little bit. It was a beautiful speech. He truly is one of the greatest orators of our time.

What a beautiful call for unity. "[W]e have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America... And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too."

John McCain's concession speech was extraordinarily gracious. "Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone," before he concluded with "I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."

If he had shown just half of that in the last few weeks - and if Lehman hadn't filed for bankruptcy on September 15th - this truly historic moment may not have come to pass.

I first headed to The American Expats Meetup Election Night Party at The Light Bar for a number of reasons: (i) Admission was free, (ii) there would be a large crowd (350 people were expected to turn up) and (iii) the bar served Fruli.

However, once I got there, I realised that while there were a lot of people, and there was a big screen showing BBC's coverage of the elections, there was no sound. That's right. No. Sound. We had to rely on reading the subtitles in order to follow what was going on.

Now, this not being the kind of thing you'd like to experience without any commentary whatsoever, I decided to take a chance and make my way to the party at the nearby Gramaphone where, bless them, five people exited just as I arrived, enabling me to get into the jammed-to-capacity venue. And yes, this time, there was sound in addition to the subtitles.

From this point on, I'm just going to let the photos tell the story of what happened next.

4 am GMT / 11 pm EST as it unfolded:

California closes, and it's time for a number of swing states to be called as well.

Hopeful expressions on fellow viewers 

Across the 270 mark! Victory is Obama's!

Jubilation as the historic moment we have all been waiting for finally arrives

To quote The Guardian's US Elections Liveblog (their term, not mine) at the 11 pm EST mark, I'm not American -- am I allowed to feel pride?

Because that's exactly how I felt last night just past 4 am GMT when they called it for Obama... and that's exactly the way I feel now.

I still maintain that he, as well as John McCain if he had won, would not have a clue what to do when he gets to the White House given the magnitude of the problems facing the US today.

Still, he embodies a new era of change and hope for a nation which has so much impact and influence in the world.

And as Reverend Jesse Jackson put it, if an African-American can get to the highest office in the US, why can't this happen in Britain or France? For that matter, why can't a Latino woman become President of the United States? Indeed. Why can't anyone succeed if they put their hearts and minds to it?

On another note, check out Bloomberg's excellent article on how the race was won by the candidate who took the biggest risks and made the fewest mistakes.

Obama won! I can't believe I stayed up to watch the US Presidential Elections. I am so going to pay for this at work tomorrow... but I don't care, I really wanted to witness this historic moment, particularly after spending the last week in New York!

I'll put up photos of fellow Election-watchers and celebrations (one girl was crying when I left) later. I'm heading to bed now!

Heidi Klum and Seal seem to go all out for Halloween. Last year, she was serpent and apple to Seal's Eve (yes) while this year, she seems to be Kali while Seal's... an Indian?

For reasons I will not disclose at this point in time, I have rediscovered the joy that is origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. I have started off with the crane, the most traditional symbol of origami, although I used to know how to fold water lilies, hearts, frogs and waterbombs.

So it was with much joy that I found Origami Club, a site which uses diagrams in the same format as the books I used to learn from as a kid. There is even Origami Tube, which uses videos to teach how to fold origami.

Have a try yourself. And if anyone knows where to get origami paper in London, please do let me know!

I've had a fantastic vacation in a wonderful city which I have always wanted to go to, made even better by being able to catch up with old friends, especially my awesome landlords, K. and P. I'm terribly ashamed of how messy my apartment is now, having seen K. go all Germinator on their apartment yesterday.

And now I'm back in the land of the cold and dreary, and will need to return to work tomorrow.

The good news is that MD and I are back together; after careful consideration and talking it over with some friends, I've decided to give him a second chance and just take it day-by-day and see how things work out. The truth is, while I would never have gotten into this had I known what lay before me at the time, I have never felt like this about anyone else and need to see if there's something to that feeling.

And maybe, one day, MD and I will both return to the Big Apple, to a city he grew up in and a city which I have grown to love in the space of a week.

So, I have managed to prop up America's flagging economy by just that little bit. During my week here, I have purchased a number of handbags, a couple of sweaters, a little black dress (from BCBG Maxazria at $100 off!), several pairs of shoes, a couple of pairs of jeans, some books, a new coat and a faux fur jacket. The pound may have weakened, but it is still a lot cheaper than London!

Factoring in the American-sized portions of food they serve here, New York is truly a consumerist's paradise.

F***! Figures that on my last night in New York, my BlackBerry (and also mobile) ends up getting soaked so that I'm completely uncontactable. Hence, my blogging at this late hour as I don't know where my friends are!

I'm trying to dry out my BlackBerry by leaving it in a container of rice (a la Washington Post) and I really hope it works tomorrow!