Sex and the City 2 and Style At Set: Oh The Excitement

Apologies for the radio silence here over the last week. Lots of things going on at the moment which may result in posts becoming a bit scant for a couple of weeks! Style at Set was amazing, an incredible buzz and so thrilled to have got to go down. Well done to Blanaid Hennessy on pulling it off. Check out this post by Rosemary MacCabe here to get more on the madness that went on. Safe to say it was the most fun I've had on a Saturday night in a very long time. Do check out the Set Theatre by the way, it is obscenely beautiful!

Those of you who made it to Style At Set might have watched the Sex and the City movie on the Friday ( I bet it looked amazing on the screen there!) and of course the new trailer for the sequel was just released this week. Fleshing out the plot points for the new film with more ease then the previous trailer it made me awful excited despite some very obvious flaws/usual irritation factors that this series brings out in me.

I should point out that everytime I watch this I got a fuzzy, "WHEN IS IT MAY 27TH?!" feeling that makes me gloss over the slightly ridiculous move away from New York, the bad puns and the vaguely ridiculous moments. Just look at how foxy Carrie is! Look at the spikes on Samantha's dress! AIDAN IS BACK! etc etc.


Also the song in the second half of the trailer is an odd one. It's the vocals from Ricki Lee's track U Want A Little This spliced over the instrumental of a rather great swing remix of Mariah's Touch My Body from a few years ago. The two songs are back to back below.

What an odd combination. Needless to say I'm more than a little bit excited about SATC 2. Promises that it's more light hearted and upbeat are interesting and who knows what stupid puns Carrie will break out? I need a lie down just thinking about it.

Style At Set: Giving Easter a bit of Glam

Got any plans for the bank holiday weekend? I’m sure excessive chocolate consumption is one of them. Which is fair enough. BUT if you fancy doing something other than eating your own weight in the brown stuff then why not venture down to Kilkenny for  Absolut Style at Set?

Why not you say? Well first of all it’s all been masterminded by the amazing Blanaid Hennessy, of both Blanaid.com and The Stylebitches (she also writes about interiors for the Independent. Everyone I’m writing about these days is AWFULLY BUSY).

Second of all Style at Set is a weekend of fashionable films, talks, stalls and mentalness. The weekend is an exciting mish mash of talks by fashion experts, vintage fashion and furniture stalls and plenty of make up and beauty advice. It's all based around the opening of the new Set theatre in Langton's in Killkenny. I'm particularly excited for Saturday night. The Stylebtiches will be DJing  and I will be on after them to bring the night to a close. The dress code is demented which is quite exciting. Might rock a pair of these?

Demented.

All jest aside this should be a fantastic night and the weekend itself is going to be a real treat. I’m thrilled Miss Hennessy is having me down. But not only that, I’ll be joined by Helen O’Reilly of Style Nation who will be shooting lots of bits and pieces here and there and the lovely Eimear Fitzmaurice will be there taking snaps as is her wont.

For full details check out Blanaid’s blog, where you can find out more on the movies screening on the Friday, the vintage finds awaiting you on the Saturday, the glamourous location and how cheap those lovely tickets are. It’s going to be tip top so do pop down if you’re around. And then stuff your face with chocolate. Everyone’s a winner.

The Meteors 2010: Hanging Out Backstage and Such

I was lucky enough to get to head along to the Meteor Ireland Music Awards last Friday. It's hard to believe the show is now in it's 10th (!) year but there you go. It's fast become a key part of the Irish music calendar attracting lots of press and international stars. This year's heavy hitter was no doubt Florence and the Machine. Everybody was talking about her, in the backstage media area she made many stop and gawk while she rehearsed her soundcheck. She looked like a knock out too. The Temper Trap, Dizzee Rascal, Pixie Lott, The Script were all there too.





Thanks to IMTV I got to head down to the show and do some interviews and help the team out in nabbing as many celeb interviews as possible. The Orange Carpet was actually great fun. It was a tad stressful but I did like how polite everyone was. There was none of the shoving/elbow in the face drama I had been expecting! 


It was a bit weird seeing the array of local and international celebs (of varying degrees of fame) in the flesh. Many of them looked better than on the telly. I'm not going to go into the who looked best in what when it was covered with such wit on Stylebitches but I will say this: Grainne Seoige looked HOT. That is all.


The media room was totally different though, at times a bit of a nuthouse. Lots of "PIXIE ONLY HAS TWO INTERVIEWS SCHEDULED, PLEASE STEP AWAY" moments (I'm of course exaggerating, I don't envy PRs and their ridiculously tough jobs at all) and then loads of people who'd happily amble over for a chat. Wallis Bird was a good example, a real sweetheart and in obvious shock about having won again. 


I really enjoyed it I must say. The lovely Helen O' Reilly nabbed some interviews with the likes of The Coronas, Bell X1 and Una Healy of the Saturdays (at one point I thought they were going to go to the bathroom and do their makeup together, they were getting along that well!). Katie Smyth of Limehouse magazine, who is doing presenting work with IMTV, was hilarious too check out her interviews when they go up, she had me in stitches.


I was lucky enough to do some interviews too, starting off with Katherine Lynch on the Orange Carpet who I made a complete tool of myself in front of. Honestly, I thought I'd peaked when I started singing S Club 7 before the celebs arrived (I'm. Not . Joking) but that interview was even worse. Following that I had a chat with a few others. 


Ray Foley of Today FM, who won his category AGAIN (nice one) who was very sweet and seemed a bit nervous. 


Mark Feehily of Westlife was very polite but kept saying things and looking off into the middle distance. I.e. "Well, I would say to Jedward and them to just enjoy it because it went awful fast for us and we didn't really get to enjoy it like .." *middle distance gaze* I kept thinking I was going to have to pat him on the shoulder. It was odd.


Inside the interview bunker (as I've now christened it) I grabbed some face time with Michelle Heaton who was actually very nice. She came across like a real grafter and she obviously missed her days with Liberty X. Alphabeat were very polite and friendly and awfully beautiful (the cheekbones! honestly). Their new album is also AMAZING, just to point out. There was also a hilarious "interview" I did with Louis Walsh and Sinitta who were clearly out for a good time and not really a chat. Sinitta's legs are incredible, that was all I really took away from our brief time together.


There were other classy moments throughout the evening including eating too many mini sandwiches and indulging in antics like this with Blanaid Hennessy:

Overall I had a fantastic night and can't wait for the next one. The show itself was slick and enjoyable and I think all involved should be commended for keeping this show running for so long and with such success. And for not kicking me out for singing S Club on the orange carpet. How nice of them. And for letting me spend my Friday night getting up to this kind of carry on:

The videos will be going up over the course of the next few weeks but you can see the first of the interviews below where I have a natter with Alphabeat about Lady Gaga, DJing and the 90s sounds on their current album:





(photos nicked from Straywave CEO Stephen McCormack's iPhone snaps)

The Six Pack: Six Blogs Worth Your Time

Its hard to move for blogs these days. Blogging has gone from being a buzz word in the mainstream media (remember the first time you read the word "blogosphere" in a broadsheet newspaper? Shudder) to another standard method for established writers,publishers, organisations to spread their work and for the newbies (like myself) to find a voice, get involved in discussions and kill time. But reading other blogs is ten times more fun than writing your own.

So with that in mind here are six of my favourites, that I think are fun, fresh and exciting. A big bunch of blogging goodness makes up this six pack. It was a tad strange writing this as I know some of the people on this list and I didn't want to seem like I was being an ass kisser but my logic is that a good blog is a good blog and deserves praise. And if it makes one new person read one of the blogs here then it'll be worth my time.

Blanaid.com

This is the online home of stylist, interior designer and all round lovely lady Blanaid Hennessy. Posts on this blog are short, to the point and always entertaining. Blanaid has also taken that fashion blog cliche of photographing outfits/fashion finds and a made it in to something fresh with sharp, stark portraits of effortless looks. Whatever your style you'll find her eye and nose for fashion inspiring. Her work on interiors is equally good. This blog is a feast for the eyes and the mind and one of my favourite places to visit online.

MuuMuse

I read lots of various types of music blogs but this is easily one of the best. With a pop/indie/electro perspective and a healthy sense of humour MuuMuse gives you the latest goings on around Planet Britney (important) but also lets you know what remixes are worth checking and upcoming acts worth noticing. The tone is perfect, it looks slick and is updated regularly with interviews, gossip and pithy commentary. A great read.

Rosemary MacCabe

Irish Times journo Rosemary MacCabe has got herself one hell of a blog. Updated regularly with sharp insight into fashion, entertainment, news and everything in between MacCabe is quite obviously a great writer. Not only that but the wide range of topics covered keeps things fresh. From her obvious fashion love to her analysis of various issues its a blog that frequently gives you something new to think about.

Panti's Blog Job

The one blog on this list that I'm completely addicted to. Dublin drag legend Panti's daily blogging is a treat. From right on the button gay rights/current affairs discussion, hilarious YouTube clips/oddities, design articles and adorable pictures of Panti's dog Penny its always got something to keep me entertained. There's real passion in this blog, with a real love of finding and sharing new things with the audience which is infectious. An essential read.

Pink Is The New Blog

Its very easy to be cynical about gossip blogs particularly ones like Perez Hilton that are poorly written, poorly researched and bad for the soul. But PITNB is genuinely sweet in its approach. Its all the usual celeb muck, pap photos, baby pics the lot. But its Trent, the site runner, who is clearly a sci fi/popculture nerd that gives it a heart that many other blogs lack. He is not spiteful or rude about celebs and sounds like that super witty best friend you always go to for the latest gossip.

Spherical Notions

Joey Kavanagh's blog of musical delights (among other things). A great place to get a rundown/overview of the latest pop/indie sounds and on the button remixes. For artists that have broke through this year like Ellie Goulding, Amanda Blank and The XX this is a great place to get more info and I look forward to seeing what new acts tip of his radar next year. One of the best Irish music blogs around.