live | listen - new tunes

Our friend Saru has sent us an amazing new playlist with some great new discoveries and some other music we had been enjoying for a while.

I'm not joking - Saru's got mega taste in music.

This is one hour and eleven minutes of loveliness.

Thank you Saru!

Track List

• American Authors - Best Day of My Life 
• The Vamps - Wild Heart 
• Zach Sobiech - Clouds 
• Capital Cities - Safe and Sound 
• Tom Odell - Another Love (Zwette Edit) 
• Lorde - Team 
• George Ezra - Blame it On Me 
• alt-J - Left Hand Free
• Coldplay - A Sky Full of Stars 
• Coldplay - Magic 
• Tom Odell - I Know 
• Ben Howard - Keep Your Head Up 
• Gabrielle Aplin - Panic Cord 
• MAGIC! - Rude 
• Milky Chance - Stolen Dance 
• George Ezra - Budapest 
• Parra for Cuva ft. Anna Naklab - Wicked Games 
• Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang 

The Q Awards
The Q Awards are one of the biggest and most respected awards ceremonies in the music industry, and they just so happen to have been held in London, this afternoon!  Now, whilst I would like to claim that I actually went, and witnessed some amazing music talent, unfortunately, I just read the report in the Evening Standard on the way home from seeing Dad today.

Excitingly, Kasabian won the best live act, and best current act in the world!  My favourite Kasabian song is probably also their most famous - Fire.  You can listen to it here.

Ed Sheeran was named best solo artist (I love him - he's fantastic).  I have several favourites of his, but one that always gets me moving is You Need Me, I Don't Need You.  I also think his music for the Hobbit was really good too, even though I didn't really like the movie all that much!

Sam Smith won best new artist.  But I really don't like the song that probably did it for him, Stay With Me.


Paolo Nutini got best track for his song, Iron Sky.  I don't think this is particularly uplifting music, even though I know the message is, but if you're in the mood it's pretty good.  I think the lyrics are the best part.  My favourites are: 'You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men!/ You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful,/ to make this life a wonderful adventure.'  Yes - you can't get more DH than that! (*You may not get this unless you know me well ;)*)
(Also.... side note... does anyone else think he is quite beautiful? ;) )



Musical Gadget Thingies 

Our favourite ways to listen to music!  No longer relying on crackly old radios, there are now fantastic and new ways to surf the airways... 

Our favourite: Spotify 

Spotify has an online player you can use, but you can also download the software to your computer / iPad / iPhone etc and use it when you're out and about, so long as you have good enough 3G or internet connection.  It's free to use, so long as you don't mind the adverts, and there seems to be pretty much every song on there! You can search for what you want to listen to, build your own playlists, listen to their radios, explore new things based on what you've enjoyed before, and favourite things to come back to.  

Online radios: tunein 

Tunein is 'real radio' that you can listen to in real-time, wherever you are.  You can also listen to lots of different podcasts on here too.  They have an amazing app which you can download to your phone and tablet, and carry it around the house with you.  It has more than 100,000 live radio stations, is easy to search and works for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry and Kindle.  

Make your own radio: Last.fm 

Last.fm like most streaming services, allows you to make your own personalised music collection.  Last.fm is particularly good for new discoveries.   However, I don't think their service is as good as Spotify's, which links so seamlessly to your Facebook account so you can follow friends and their new music finds.  However, Last.fm does really offer radio made by real people, so it's worth checking out too.  

Make your own radio 2: Grooveshark

Another one to look at would be Grooveshark, which our friend Rowena swears by.  Her blog (www.dendrocopos.blogspot.co.uk) is really great - loads of outdoorsy stuff and you get to snoop on the general thoughts of my fantastic friend ;) She has her own playlists on Grooveshark which you can listen to here.  She's got really cool taste in music too - lots of stuff you may not have heard before which is always nice for a bit of new discovery! 

What music websites do you use?  Do you have any playlists you'd recommend to us? Let us know in the comments! 

Enjoy today! 

- rosinaviolets    x 

wear | karl lagerfeld

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post that tied together Karl Lagerfeld's recent Chanel show and Emma Watson's speech in aid of 'He for She' for the UN. 

Before I saw the Chanel show in the news that day, I have to admit, I didn't know all that much about Karl Lagerfeld, the man behind the label.  Karl to me was the-man-in-black-with-the-funny-sunglasses.  As such, he was quite an enigma.  As for Chanel, well, it's hip but bourgeois look is our first 'fashion memory'.  

Karl Lagerfeld is actually the man behind Chanel, Fendi and his own Lagerfeld Gallery line.  In Japan, his appearances have caused riots!  He seems to always design beautiful and contemporary clothes, but more than anything, I was struck when doing the research for this article at how intelligent he clearly is!  He speaks four languages fluently, shows at least ten collections every year, knows photography, and is also a book publisher.  

Getting Started

He got started in fashion by winning a contest, rather than by going to a design college.  The contest was for the International Wool Secretariat and asked for sketches of coats, dresses and boots.  He won first prize for his design for a coat.  The prize was that the coat would be made by Balmain.  When Balmain asked him what he wanted to do later on, rather than tell them that he was still at school, he said that he liked the idea of working in fashion in the future, so they offered him a position at their couture house!  His parents told him to have a go, and if he didn't like it, he could always go back to school later.  Apparently, he didn't like it all that much, but then, who wants to go back to school if you don't have to.  So, he's said that for the first two years it was the 'idea of going back to school that kept me in fashion'.  

He is quite an interesting character by the looks of things - rather opinionated, and quite prone to controversy.  Weirdly, this all makes me more and more interested in him.  I guess that's kind of the point! 

Drive

He lost nearly 100lbs in 13 months in 2001 (... wow), and he cited the cause as being - 'I suddenly wanted to wear... all these clothes... modeled by very, very slim boys, and not men my age - and [this] required me to lose about 40kg.  It took me exactly 13 months.'  He wrote a book about it 'The Karl Lagerfeld Diet', that sold 5 million copies all over the world - every country bought a copy[!]  He's said that since he started the diet he 'hasn't touched what I'm not supposed to: sugar, cheese, nothing!  I don't even look at it.  It looks like plastic!'  

If you take his weight loss regime as an indicator for this man's personal determination, I'd say that he's got drive in leaps and bounds.  That's reflected in a lot of his other work too - with ten collections a year, he can't really take all that much time off!  He said: 'why would I?  You have to take time off if you have a boring job.  But my job is perfect... What I like about the job, is the job.'  

Self-Belief

He's a lucky guy - we don't all just fall into jobs like that.  But the thing I do admire about him is that he believes in his own image.  It's that self-belief that I think makes all successful people in the end.  Lagerfeld is prime example of how even if you are a total sham, if you believe in your own total sham, you can make other people believe it too.

Next time you're really intimidated by someone who you believe to be powerful, intelligent and confident, know that they're probably not quite as powerful, intelligent and confident as you think.  They just believe they are.  And so you believe they are.  And that's all that matters.  

Favourite Quotes 

'"Doing" is fun.  "Having done" is a bore, no?' 

'You don't buy the stones to impress other people, though - you buy them to please yourself.'  

'You must always mix the expected with the unexpected.  The trick is to keep your eyes open.'  

'I'm not really inspired in that sense - because I don't want to do what other people did.  The real inspirations to me are the people in old photographs.'  

'When I was a child, I only had one ambition: let's get out of here.  I wanted to be grown-up...I did not look back.  And I still haven't.'  

Enlightenment? 

I have to admit.  I don't feel like I know much more about Lagerfeld than when I first started writing this.  He's still that man with the white hair, dark glasses and high collars.  

But the more I'm reading about him, the more I, oddly, and despite the stupid remarks he has made, am actually quite liking him.  I think it's the irreverence, the sense of fun, and the sheer bloody-mindedness of him. 

He won't do what other people expect, simply because he doesn't want to be expected, and for no other reason.  Whilst I appreciate that that's not really a trait I would like to emulate myself, I do admire someone with a bit of spunk.  I think, most of all, it's the belief in his own fictitious character that I find amazing.  Who is Karl?  I think that's something we're never going to find out.  And I think that's probably the key to his success.  

Enjoy today!   

rosinaviolets x 

read | jared diamond: the world until yesterday

Sarah's friend Chloe, who writes her own amazing blog recently lent me a book that she had enjoyed - Jared Diamond's 'The World Until Yesterday'.

Why am I reading this book?
Amazingly, this coincided with a meeting with an old friend from Primary school (shout out to Priya!)  Priya has just finished her anthropology degree at UCL.  It was so amazing to meet her - it struck us how weird life is, in that we drifted apart for our growing-up-years, and yet managed to grow up to enjoy such similar things! She's one of the most interesting, exciting and positive people I know.  Her degree, anthropology, is basically all about the study of different cultures.  She's learnt about some incredibly diverse and interesting stuff.  I was inspired by our chats to try and see what I could learn.

Chloe, meanwhile has been learning as much as she can about the areas of geography that interest her (she's applying for a geography degree).  She's a human geographer, and these topics often intersect with anthropology.

This book, 'The World Until Yesterday' brought together my newfound interest in both of these things.  It's written in a really easy-to-read style, not too high-brow, but still presenting complex ideas.  As an avid traveller, Diamond intersperses the book with lots of his own travel anecdotes that exemplify his points.  This makes the book a real exciting read, as we journey with him across the world, and primarily to New Guinea.

Where can I read more about it?
You can read Chloe's in depth analysis and break down of the book here.

What's it about?
Diamond's main goal is to discuss how traditional people approach human problems like health, diet, conflicts, language and religion.  He wants to see what we can learn from their traditional approach.  He doesn't seek to glamourise tribal lifestyles, and shows the pros as well as the cons.  He also notes how these societies can offer an interesting glimpse into our own social history.

What did I think?
If you, like me, are convinced that Western civilisation is not all it's cracked up to be, I am sure you will be fascinated by the things we can learn from traditional civilisations, and perhaps implement into our own lives.

In terms of the negative parts of traditional societies, the book also made me more grateful for all the good things that our society allows us to do.  All the things we take for granted every day, like our ability to go to school and university, learn new things whenever we want to on the internet, lead individual, private lives, are exemplified as areas that Westerners have progressed in leaps and bounds.

What were the best bits?
The most interesting sections of the book, for me, were in the second half.  Here, Diamond discusses 'Young & Old' and 'Religion, Language & Health'.

Young & Old
In this section, Diamond compares the way societies bring up their children, and deal with their elderly.  Although many practices of traditional societies may be distasteful or shocking to our sensibilities (e.g. parents having sex in front of their children leading to sex-play between children), there are many interesting ideas I might think about implementing when and if I am lucky enough to have kids.  I particularly noted how modern children are presented with ready made toys, whereas traditional children are forced to be more creative and make their own playthings.  Whilst a Westerner would be given a toy plane, a New Guinean child would have to collect materials and work out how to make their own aeroplane.  This process leads to greater creativity and resourcefulness in later life, two traits that I would like to develop in myself.

Treatment of the elderly in traditional societies was an even more mixed bag.  Whilst some societies were shocked at our ability to leave elderly parents in care-homes when they become too old or sick to look after themselves, others would leave sickly relatives alone to die when the band had to up-sticks.  However, this was a rarity, rather than a norm, and traditionally most societies do really value their elderly people as valuable sources of knowledge.  Status will often increase with age.

Religion, Language & Health
In the section on Religion, Diamond gives his opinion on the evolution of religion.  Whilst an interesting read, I did agree with Chloe that he presents a picture that is appealing to atheists, rather than theists.


Diamond writes some very interesting things about language, a topic that I had little interest in until now.  He presents a convincing argument for being at least bilingual.  If for the only reason that it appears to reduce the onset of Alzheimer's it's something we all should consider. Keeping a diversity of languages is something that I now believe to be very important  If we lose our languages, we also, over time, lose our diverse cultures.

The most interesting section for me was definitely Diamond's section on health.

He focuses primarily on the problems of hypertension and diabetes, beginning with an explanation of the evolutionary processes at work here.  I was amazed to realise that diabetes, which can be such a dangerous condition, is actually caused primarily by a 'thrifty genotype' which, ancestrally, would have been of great benefit.

Many tribal people would have faced periods of grave starvation, followed by periods of extreme abundance.  The logical response was to gorge all day on food when it was available, with the aim of putting on as much weight as possible to sustain oneself through the starvation periods.  Some people were born with a genetic mutation that caused the body to release insulin even when a comparatively low level of glucose was consumed.  That meant that even when there wasn't that much glucose in their food, their bodies would still respond to it in such a way that they stored it as fat.  When the days of starvation followed the gorge, these people would be the ones statistically more likely to live, as they had managed to store the most energy throughout the period of plenty.  When the other people, with less thrifty genes, eventually died of starvation, that left a gene pool with a much higher number of 'thrifty genotypes' to be passed on to offspring, and thus, a higher chance of mass survival of the tribe during the next starvation period.

So far, so good.  However, in two tribes that Diamond mentions, this has led to massively widespread diabetes.  What characterises these tribes is that they had two very bad periods of starvation back-to-back, leading to almost all the non-thrifty genotypes dying out.  And then, very swiftly afterwards, the tribes were Westernised leading to a dramatic increase in food abundance and processing.  Their reaction was much the same as it would have been had there been a natural influx of food, however, this time there was no starvation period to follow and many of their bodies could not cope with such extended periods and large volumes of glucose consumption, leading to the onset of diabetes.

This was just one aspect of the whole health section I found really interesting, and Diamond does go on to explore other areas of traditional health and how we can use their ideas to improve our own health - he does have practical tips, not just interesting histories.

Overall?
A top read - very informative, but an adventure too.

Enjoy today!  

- rosinaviolets     x