An Ode to Britney Spears

In just a few weeks, so few you can count the time by days if you wanted, I will journey to Las Vegas. 

Whilst there I shall indulge in little-to-no gambling, but a great deal of restaurant-frequenting. Truly, however, the reason I'll make my way to Nevada is for Britney. Britney Spears. (Just in case there was any confusion.)

My path and Britney's first crossed in 1999 and you can learn all about it with my very detailed explanation of how and why I got paid to go to more than one Britney Spears concerts.

Top Four Cities for Eating Amazing Food

Home is where part of my heart is and the rest can be easily located across the cities I've grown to know and love. 

One of my favourite aspects of any voyage is the planning ahead of time. And by this I mean restaurant selecting and menu researching. There's something about going to restaurants in various metropolises that makes you feel like you're a part of it all, unless the restaurant in question is, say, Planet Hollywood (do those still exist?). 

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Working It. My Life in Paycheques.

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You want a hot body? (well a relatively non-flabby one) You want a Bugatti? (had to Google that, it's a car)
You want a Maserati? (no, I hate driving) You better work b**ch (agreed)
You want a Lamborghini? (no, I repeat, I hate driving) Sippin' martinis? (vodka sodas, but ok)
Look hot in a bikini? (I'd accept not terrible in a bikini) You better work b**ch
You wanna live fancy? (always) Live in a big mansion? (I'm okay with my pretty townhouse, but I get your point)
Party in France? (haven't done that but I have sipped wine in Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, the Caribbean, Austin, New York City, Washington DC, Miami, Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal and so on)
You better work b**ch, you better work b**ch
You better work b**ch, you better work b**ch
Now get to work b**ch!

---The every-brilliant Ms Spears

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Vampires & Britney Aren't for You (and that's ok)

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Not everything is for you.

And just because it’s not, doesn’t make it bad or silly or worse than the thing you like

Like, if you don’t like vampires, get over it. Don’t watch VD (Vampire Diaries! Not an out-of-date way of saying STI) … well certainly don’t watch it now because it’s kind of terrible. 

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Disputed News, I’m Sorry Tweets and the Future of Social

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Recently, Facebook pushed the “disputed news” tag into its universe. Although the feature isn’t available to all users yet, Fortune.com reports “Facebook says that stories flagged as fake by users will be reviewed by independent fact-checking organizations including Politifact and Snopes.com.”

I’m interested to see how this will roll out, how much people try to abuse it, whether or not Politifact and Snopes will be able to keep up with demand, if it actually helps the general public wade through truth and fiction and so on and so forth.

What I’m also interested in … is WHAT IS TWITTER DOING?!

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Listen Up, The Power of Podcasts

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When I was young, in pre-reading years, I spent hours sitting in a big, plush rocker, following along with the colourful pages that came slipped into my record albums, as I listened to stories-on-record.

Yes, this was a time before books-on-tape and eons ahead of audiobooks.

I like to listen. (I like to interrupt too and talk and make my own noise. I’m not some sort of peaceful receiver of all the noise in the world or a bottomless listening pit.)

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From the Messed Up Journals of Ellen Elizabeth Williams

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It’s Day 17 of my White House Internship. I’m writing it all down because I always have. I wrote about junior prom and real prom and my Dairy Queen Brazier Burger mishap and why I thought it was a good idea to wear those neon pink elastics with my clear braces (it wasn’t). I told you about frosh week and throwing up on my new shoes in front of the hot campus police (well I thought he was hot originally and then I realized he’s part of the Lord of the Rings re-enactment group. So … no).

Dear Ivanka, I write this hoping you're the sane one ...

Dear Ivanka,

I hope this letter finds you well. That’s kind of a lie, because if you’re going to read this all the way through, it’s because some worry is eating your stomach lining, some guilt is nagging your temples like that dull, thudding headache you get when you run too fast and too far on a hot day without enough water.

Princess of the Internet’s Favourite Alternative Facts

Fact: I have barbeques with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matthew McConaughey every Thursday evening in July and August. Period. We rotate hosting duties. My favourite host is probably George for the ample tequila, although I do enjoy Matthew’s homemade BBQ sauce. Brad is always a bit serious and his food is a little too on the healthy side. But we still let him participate, we just talk about him behind his back.

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Holding Out for a Heroine

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Sur-reality beats down our door and, for obvious reasons I don’t have to explain, many of us are biting our nails, gnashing our teeth, wondering what the future brings.

What we need is a heroine. Not a hero, they’ve had their turn and yet HERE WE ARE IN THIS MESS. Maybe she’ll come to us in a pantsuit, maybe she’ll wear jeans, the outfit is unimportant.

The more surreal this whole sur-reality becomes, the more we talk about pee pee tapes, the more the unthinkable becomes the norm, the more I like to think about who’s right for the job. And so I turned my mind to pop culture, because that seemed to make sense.

Trend Alert: Spacing Out

While murder and detective shows still clutter my Netflix recommendations, I think sci-fi and the whole “space, the final frontier” thing is about to do a binge-watch takeover.

My hunch  - which is also half stolen from a coworker (more on him later) is we’ll see content we binge moving more into “what the WHAA???!” territory and a bit away from “he’s an evil serial killer and she’s a depressed single mom who’s gotta solve the case AND her relationship woes” universe.

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What You Want Doesn’t Matter

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Everyone’s the star of their own show.

Trust me, every ‘trying to make myself stop thinking about work problems and fall back to sleep at 3am’ daydream scenario involves me – THE STAR – telling hilarious jokes to George Clooney and Brad Pitt as we dine on sushi. At no point does either one of the ACTUAL STARS take over the conversation.

Similarly, although yes, I do care about my colleagues, my professional development meetings and reviews are about ME, ME, ME. I want to talk about the training I hope and dream for, what I need to do better. ME, ME, ME, ME.

Plato, Politics & A Plea for Liberal Arts

As a student of the Foundation Year Programme (FYP) and Journalism school, I spent my days reading and discussing philosophy in small groups, guided by passionate tutors. I handed in papers every 10 days and saw the bulk of my grade come down to how well I could defend my thoughts in front of a group of intimidatingly folk wearing a lot of tweed.  

In theory, I should be jobless … right?

Does This Photo Make My Brain Look Fat?

February 28th, 2016. That's the last time I put any effort at all into this site. If you care ... apologies. If not, you never missed me anyway and you're probably not reading this and if a tree falls and so on and so forth.

But as 2017 is almost upon us, I find myself sucking the last of the dark chocolate off the last chocolate covered almond and making myself all kinds of promises.

I promise to stop eating chocolate covered almonds.

I promise to try one thing I have no natural aptitude for.

I promise to take my dog for longer walks.

I promise to think less about clothes; those I have, those I want and those that once were.

And I promise to write weekly. You'll find these thoughts here, most likely on Wednesdays, because Wednesdays are ridiculous, so let's add to the fray.

Oscars, Red Carpet Phobias & More

Guys, it's Oscar Day 2016 and, to wrap up our series on what it's like to cover pop culture/celebrity/red carpet fashion as a career choice, we have none other than my former partner in crime - Christopher Turner (@Turnstylin). Christopher and I go way back. We used to pen a Style Winners & Losers column together and even appeared on a TV show.  And NOW well ... we still spend a lot of time talking about celebrities and their clothes.

From the InstaGrams

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