'Kill the Gun' Ad Campaign

Seriously haunting. An ad by BBDO for Choice FM's Peace on the Streets campaign against knife + gun crime in London.

About Choice FM's Peace on the Streets Campaign

In 2007 Choice FM re-started its quest to promote Peace on London streets, taking the baton as the leading commercial radio station committed to reducing violence and instead promoting positive young people and also the positive activities available to young people.

Over the past two years there have been over 55 deaths on London’s streets and all though one death is one too many, and must not be forgotten, we too must not forget the huge number of young people making real positive differences within the London communities.

Over the past year Peace on the Streets has received hundreds of requests to help with the campaign. We have built a dedicated team of streets ‘Angels’ who support community events in and around London and we have as a station supported over 40 events.

We have awarded nearly a quarter £1m to organizations dedicated to giving young people opportunities, build skills and help others.

We like..Smirnoff Original Nights

Smirnoff's Original Nights is a series of alternative events in London, involving (among other things) a bit of dressing up, plenty of dancing + a lot of drinking. Which is why it's got my attention!

Smirnoff invited London's Promoters to apply for a £10k bursary to host one of four nights in London as part of their Smirnoff Night Vision initiative. They then asked London nightlife experts; Shaun Roberts (Promotions Manager of Fabric), Simone Baird (Social Club Editor at Time Out magazine) and Crispin Dior (Promoter behind Field Day, Adventures in the Beetroot Field) to hand-pick who they considered to be the most exciting and forward-thinking promoters from those who applied.

The chosen four were then given the cash to create an event from scratch on behalf of Smirnoff. And they really do all sound incredibly innovative, unique + exciting.

Normal people like us can win tickets to whichever event takes our fancy by posting a comment on the discussion board for that chosen event. And it looks like it's going down really well with nearly 50k fans on the FB page + big numbers begging for tickets on the discussion boards. Pretty please, Gods of Fun, can I win tickets to the Hothouse Revue event, I've been practising my Lindy-hop like a good girl + everything:

People Are Germs

Bash Studios – Saturday 18th April

Juliette Hughes and Claire Bartolomeo - better known as People are Germs - are hosting a special, one-off party that dreams are made of.

A rollerdisco like no other, party-goers will be able to skate to their hearts’ content whilst enjoying cutting edge live acts Primary1 and Magistrates and DJs The Glimmers, Hot Chip, Foals and Nadia Kasabia.

Taking place in an East London warehouse space, the night will boast flashing disco lights, party-loving people with colours and scenery to make your eyes fizz.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150223705719&ref=mf

DJ Flicks

The Curzon, Soho – Friday 24th April

The brains behind disco hub DJ History.com present DJ Flicks; a movie and a party rolled into one. Known as much for their web blogging and record digging exploits as their legendary Lowlife parties, Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster will be transforming The Curzon, Soho into disco decadence.

Showing new, rare and unseen films recounting the disco genre in all its guises, the night will morph into a unique club night, connecting one of history’s pioneering DJs to the exciting scenes they inspired. DJ Kenny Carpenter, a one-time resident jock from the much-lauded Studio 54, and modern day instigators Disco Bloodbath will be taking to the decks. With electro don Arthur Baker as host for the evening, films being screened will include ‘The Godfather of Disco’, ‘Pioneers’ and ‘Disco Godfather’.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=62496567524&ref=mf

Hothouse Revue

No. 5 Cavendish Square – Wednesday 29th April

UK festival producers and promoters Ben DeVere and Michael O' Shea are forming The Hothouse Revue, a 1920s night quite possibly bringing more elegance and decadence than the capital has witnessed for 80 years.

Inspired by the heyday of Berlin's Kit Kat club and Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, expect a brazen blur of burlesque, cabaret, swing-jive and lindy-hop, private lamp-lit tables, fine-food, intimate service, race rhythm, gypsy jazz, and all-round sass as Ben and Mike take over the grand No. 5 Cavendish Square venue. With no detail overlooked, it's the faded glamour of the pre-war roar spruced to a high sheen; so don't forget to dress up before you get down.

http://www.facebook.com/smirnofforiginalnights?ref=ts#/event.php?eid=59732993729&ref=mf

3D Disco… In The Round

Date and venue TBC shortly

The final promoters in the series are from NOVAK Collective, Adam Finley, Elliot Thompson, Andrew Nixon and Keith Daniels, the dynamic team behind the popular AV party 3D DISCO™. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they will be taking the 3D Disco concept they pioneered to a whole new level with 3D DISCO™ In The Round transposing the eye-popping, high-definition club visuals into a completely immersive environment.

The show will be hosted in an IGLOO tent which, as the name suggests, provides Novak with the 360° projection space they will require.

For your chance to win tickets, check out the Smirnoff Original Nights discussion posts http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/smirnofforiginalnights?v=app_2373072738&viewas=741085245

I moved my frame

Having read about Frame in Shoreditch in all the free London papers I've been mad keen to check it out. For anyone that doesn't know, Frame is a dance / fitness + holistic exercise studio..but like no other. Here you can get dressed up 80's style to take part in the Jane Fonda Tribute class (80's aerobics), learn the moves to your favourite music videos, learn the Lindy Hop (I'll come back to that later), as well as the stuff you'd expect like yoga, pilates + ballet.

So having a bit of a penchante for all things 30's + 40's, me + my W.F, Tach hopped along to Lindy Hop on Tuesday. There were 6 of us in the class which rather surprisingly was taught by a rather large + very tatooed man.

In a moment of weirdness (much taller) Tach suggested that I play the role of the man + lead which was fine right up until the bit where I'm to lift her slightly so we can kick our legs to the side. SO, a few trodden-on toes, twisted arms + confused faces later, we realised we had actually learnt something + could pretty much do the whole routine without messing up, which was really, really exciting. Though I should say that because you're learning from the beginning, things don't get really active until right at the end, so I'd say if you want to work more than your laughter muscles, maybe go for aerobics or something. But to learn some new skills that you can replicate for your friends when out (I've not had the chance yet, but I will) + a good old giggle at the same time, the dance classes at Frame are spot on.

Oh and in April there's BOGOF on all classes, so I'm now trying to work out what to use my free class for..

Run! Monsters in E1

Me + my pal Sophie went along to the launch event for a new exhibition called Monsters Inked at the Idea Generation Gallery on Chance Street, E1

I can recommend a little look-see if you fancy being transported back to your youth for half an hour or so. These artists (I'm guessing) are all fully grown but have managed to retain an amount of their childish imagination to create these brilliantly colourful, imaginatively named + oddly configured creatures.

It was interesting to see the different techniques used by the various different artists. The computer generated stuff is nice, but a bit too finished + cartoony for my liking. I tend to prefer my monsters hand-drawn + less perfect where you tend to see more interesting detail, tone + scary features..much more monster-like I would say.


And just when I was thinking 'arrgh I wanna draw a monster' paper + pencils appeared. Here are our attempts:

On the wall and everythink..

Call for bible messages??

This sign is outside a church at the top of my street in Streatham. I'm intrigued - what sort of bible message do you think you get if you call? I'm a bit too nervous to find out. I'm thinking at the very least it's some kind of randomly selected quote from the Bible..at best, a personalised message from God. Ooh.

Where The Wild Things Are

Looks cool - feels a bit like Son of Rambow meets The Never Ending Story? Out Oct '09.

BakerTweet from Poke

BakerTweet is a clever little device created by Poke using Arduino hardware + software that means bakers everywhere (+ in this case Poke's neighbours, new Conran cafe Albion) can announce the readiness of their delicious baked goods at the very moment they leave the oven.

By installing this device in the kitchen, bakers can simply turn a dial to select the variety of completed baked item which then sends out a tweet to tell the world that freshly baked yumminess is waiting for them. You can keep up on top of Albion's baking here.

Indeed cakes + biscuits sure are tastiest when they're hot from the oven. Though sadly we at MWorks may have to settle for lukewarm - Redchurch Street is at least 10 mins away.

We think The Modern Pantry next door should invest in a BakerTweet.