Fun with Freddie M - A Queen/Lucky Voice Photo Essay

Right, I've not done a photo essay in awhile so I thought I'd better pull my finger out and get on the case for you - and where better to start than the Queen party I went to at Lucky Voice this week.

A celebration of all things Freddie and Bohemian, with the most AMAZING performance from the uber-talented cast of We Will Rock You, we certainly were the champions.......

The evening started off with a Queen themed pub quiz, which I was spectacularly awful at, despite being a Fat Bottomed Girl. With questions such as "What Is Freddie Mercury's favourite Queen song" and "Which Frank Sinatra song did Queen cover?"  me and my colleague (the Conifer, remember her??) soon realised that, quite frankly, we were Under Pressure. And judging from this picture, everyone else seemed to think it would take A Kind of Magic to win....

However, with rounds such as `shoot the cardboard cut out of Justin Bieber`, it appeared that there were some Killer Queens out there....

However, the round that seemed to drive everyone Radio Ga Ga was the air guitar round....with substitutions,  contortions, health + safety violations, there was some real competition for this.....

Sadly, i was too busy with my new friend to record who actually won the quiz!!!

Then, I had to say to the conifer Don't Stop Me Now - lets have a quick karaoke sesh  (without Bieber - I think you'll agree that he's probably not Somebody to Love in these pictures) Sadly - or luckily for you people, there's no video evidence of our attempts at Meatloaf, Jessie J, Bonnie Tyler and Kings of Leon. I think this post was enough of me doing karaoke for you all :)

However right at the very end of the night, the AMAZING cast of We Will Rock You came along - straight from the show - to give us a little taste of the real thing - and boy were we rocked :)

It was a fab night - and I am very keen to go and see We Will Rock You now - I'll be sure to blog about it when I do. I'm also signing off the blog for couple of days as you might have noticed, if you follow me on Twitter, that I'm sick :( If I can squeeze in a post on sunday though, I will do.

Have a fabby weekend.

Thank you and goodnight

Stupidgirl has left the building

PS Random fact for you, my family's original russian surname is actually linked to a town in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic. Perhaps I'm related to Freddie???

The higher the note, the louder we shout - My Top 10 Karaoke Tracks

I think you might have all guessed this post was coming, especially after this and this and er....this. I've not always been obsessed with karaoke, it's more that I'm now officially allowed to sing in public - something I've refrained from doing since the following episode:

Autumn 2001 - I'm at university, in my room. My then best friend (and now husband) walks in...
Him "Are you okay?"
Me: "Yeah, fine, why do you ask?"
Him: "Well I thought I heard you screaming in pain?"
Me: "Er......no, I was ah, singing along to my Bryan Adams CD"
End of scene, both parties extremely embarrassed, I vow never to sing aloud, in public, again....

Until someone introduced me to the concept of karaoke booths...(I blame @originalrobyn and @leopardprintlou for this). Hence lots of going to karaoke and getting very excited about it. It has since come to my knowledge that there's a fair few of you out there who have *never* done karaoke. I find this quite alarming, it's like not doing fancy dress as an adult. The whole point of karaoke is not to sing well....but to have fun making an absolute tit of yourself with the added benefit of pretending to be a famous person.

So here is my list, I hope that it inspires some of you to go out and have - as Lucky Voice puts it - "most liberating, heart-racing, life-affirming ...experience on earth"....

Top 10 Karaoke Songs

1) Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi....you know you want to, you know all the lyrics and you don't need the tight jeans or the hair to have an awesome time air-guitaring to this one. All together now "oooooh livin on a prayerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

2) Bad Romance - Lady Gaga...The lyrics of this song completely confound me, as does the random spot of french somewhere towards the end. Plus there's more ra-ra-ra-ing than Boney M could have ever dreamed of. Therefore it is HYSTERICAL singing along to this and pretending to the bacon-wearing lady monster.....luckily for you guys, there are no videos of me doing this.

3) Killing In The Name Of - Rage Against the Machine...I'm not sure fun is the right word here so much as abso-fuckin-lutely rocking awesome doing this one. The lyrics aren't hard and I have to say, yelling FUCK as loudly as possible into a microphone is very enjoyable. Pretending to be Zach de la Rocha - surprisingly good way of spending a saturday night.

4) Like A Virgin - Madonna...had to get a bit of ol' madge on this list, and it was a close call with Like a Prayer, but this one wins hands down for all the inventive dancing you can do whilst singing along to again, the totally bonkers lyrics (Lady Gaga clearly learned hers somewhere). The only thing missing is a lion and a wedding dress - they don't seem to be provided in the props boxes!

5) Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield...this is worth doing if you've got someone who can actually sing in your group. But even if you haven't it's fun pretending to be eyeliner-ed up to the max and belting this little number out.

6) I Would Do Anything For Love - Meatloaf...a surprising little entry this one but so much fun to sing as a duet. Nothing beats staring passionately into your best girlfriend's eyes, begging them to "hose me down with holy water/if I get too hot". I have a fabulous video of two good friends singing this one - but I've been banned from posting it on here. Needless to say it's definitely a go-er.

7) Alone - Heart....er,all I can say is that if you watched the video in yesterday's blog post, your ears might have bled...but it's fucking funny! And clearly an awesome karaoke track. 

8) It's Oh So Quiet - Bjork...what.a.frickin.giggle, is all I can say. Totally love doing this one - it's such a happy song and you get to act out the whole Bjork video. Plus the last time I did this one, the karaoke lyrics didn't say `shush` they said `sush` which after a couple of drinks seemed hysterically funny...maybe you had to be there!

9) The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang...unfortunately due to the hysterically dirty nature of the lyrics of this song, I can't sing it without collapsing into giggles every time. It's well worth it though - and you can get reeeeeeeal creative with the dancing to this one - er, `interpreting` the lyrics shall we say.

10) Sweet Child o'Mine - Guns N Roses....yeah ya knew it was coming. It *is* my favourite song after all - and it is the ultimate in air guitarring karaoke numbers. Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *makes devil horns*

So that's it - am aware that my tastes are quite....specific! So let me know yours - comment below, lets get some karaoke tune lists going. And maybe one time, I'll have Lucky Voice/blog party for anyone who can make it!

Thank you and good night,

Stupidgirl has left the building

Fun with Leeds - a rather silly girlie weekend photo essay

(Advance warning, terrible video of me doing karaoke at the end)

So last weekend I went up to Leeds to see some very good friends of mine for a much planned and awaited weekend away with the....

The weekend commenced with an INCREDIBLY early trip to Kings Cross but as the sun was shining and we had our starbucks lattes, we definitely felt like we were on...

After arriving at Leeds, we spent some time in the sunshine admiring the view....

And gossiping and listening to some music....

We then headed back from the pub in the sun to make ourselves look pretty....

Before heading out for some food...

Now we were ready to rock...

Snapshot - Word of The Week

(Snapshot n.: A photograph taken with a small hand-held camera, an isolated observation Etym: also snap-shot, 1808, "a quick shot with a gun, without aim, at a fast-moving target;" photographic sense is attested from 1890.)

I know, I haven't blogged much over the last few weeks. As I said in last week's bumper post (here) real life keeps getting in the way - work is hectic. Then I decided to go to Leeds for the weekend to see some friends - and it broke me. As you might have guessed from my tweets and/or facebook, I'm sick. I have woman-flu. This differs from man-flu in that in spite of a full fever, not being able to hear, having razor blades in my throat and aching all over, I martyrously attempt to "work" before being told to go home sick. It also causes one to make up words - apparently `martyrously` is not a word. Sorry.

Anyway instead of a nice well thought out blog post, I thought I'd just give you a little snap shot of what's tickled me over the last couple of weeks. Kind of a cross between a list, an interview, and news aggregator. Besides, I already sent one email to my boss this morning - from my sick bed - that ended "Oh god, does that make *any* sense" - so it's best I don't try to think too hard.....

What I'm Reading:

Kate's Wedding - Chrissie Manby (review to come but 'tis awesome)

More To Life Than Shoes: How To Kickstart Your Career (also review to come but really inspiring)

To The Moon & Back - Jill Mansell (you'll need tissues for this one, it's lovely!)

Sophie's Bakery for the Broken-Hearted/Happiness Sold Separately - both Lolly Winston

Also to read in due course, The Killer Inside, The Passage, The Group, Money (Amis) and The English German Girl. But only when my brain is not so full of snot.

What I'm Listening To

Moby, Eva Cassidy, Neil Finn, Foo Fighters, Rage Against the Machine, Bonnie Tyler, Jessie J, Starship, Blink-182, Nirvana, Weezer....

Oh And and and my friend's *awesome* band Two Trick Horse they're relatively new + gig in Leeds if you're around there. Definitely one to watch (well, listen...er, you know what I mean)

Websites + Blogs I've Discovered/Visited

It Doesn't Happen Like This In The Movies (dating blog)

Loves & Life of a London Girl (another dating blog....it's vicarious pleasure as I'm married!!)

The News With Nipples (writing/feminist/interesting stuff blog)

I Know, I Need To Stop Talking (funniest blog ever, about kids, mummies, wine, front bottoms)

Novel Publicity (advice for writers site, amazing social media tips)

Viadeo (social networking site, a little like LinkedIn, interesting + one to watch)

Social Glitz (awesome site/blog about social media/networking - great advice)

New People I've Followed on Twitter

@markborkowski @mashable @queenofshops @stefanstern @the3rdgirl @NaomiAKlein @sophiehannahCB1 @sourcerkelly @antoniaharler @james_rowe 

Fun with Flirting - A photo essay from the Lucky Voice speed duetting evening!

I tell you, it's a damn tough life being a blogger. Seriously, beavering away at a hot keyboard, trying to think of witty, entertaining post material so that readers will hang off your every word. It's at times like this that you wonder why you bother....oh! wait a second.... I do this for fun...I have a regular job :P

But, in the name of blogging, the amazing folks over at Lucky Voice invited me to come along to a recent speed-duetting event! In case you don't know I've gotten to blog for them before - my top 7 first date karaoke tunes can be found here. I love a bit of karaoke - and am going away this weekend to do just that - I'll be posting my top 10 karaoke tunes on sunday night ....

Anyway the event was held with the dating site MySingleFriend.com (providing the single people) and also rather excitingly with lovely people over at Glee 'cause the new glee dvd is out. The Lucky Voice bar was crammed with beautiful people when I got there and straightaway I knew this would be a night to remember

When I told people I'd be blogging about a speed-duetting event, most people were a bit WTF is that all about but judging from the reaction on the night, it's a sure fire way to date *and* have a laugh - could this be the next big thing on the dating scene?

As well as being *forced* to sing Jessie J's Do It Like A Dude....I loved living vicariously through other people's love lives :P and the speed duetting was fabulous - and here are some pics to prove it. I challenge you not to smile looking at this little lot....and check out the sing off videos at the end of the pics :)

And as promised, here are a couple of videos from the sing off - I think you'll agree that they made cute couples!

That's all for now folks, I'll be back on sunday.

Thank you and good night,

Stupidgirl has left the building

Karaoke-tastic: Guest Blogging for Lucky Voice

Just a quick sneaky post tonight but I couldn't let this one go by.....

Those lovely folks over at Lucky Voice - aka "the most liberating, heart-racing, life-affirming private karaoke experience on earth" - asked me to write a guest blog post for them

Which I duly did - My Top First Date Karaoke Songs :)

Mainly it was inspired by Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer...

Anyhoo, MORE IMPORTANTLY check out my guest post on Lucky Voice HERE

I can confirm that doing karaoke is *awesome* as you can see in this picture of me doing karaoke actually at Lucky Voice!

I know, I look bad-ass (!) I suspect I may have been singing Sweet Child of Mine. And by singing, i mean caterwauling. Oh yes, did I not mention that I'm also tone deaf.....

So that's it for tonight. I'll be back Wednesday with WoTW as usual :)

Thank you and goodnight

Stupidgirl has left the building

Thank Crunchie It's Friday

Its been a bit of a week - nudity, pin ups, nipple tassles, 12 hour days, depression, mass catering, possible riots, and bad men - to name a few.

But its bloody friday. Thank god. And I actually have a surprisingly nice weekend planned. Mainly wedding stuff. So if you hate weddings, I would give up reading now before I go totally 'Zilla on here Tomorrow the plan is get up, go to gym (bridal diet doncha know), then into town to pick up our wedding rings and pick out stuff on our gift list. And then I've a party in the evening. Except how it'll probably go is - we'll probably sleep in, miss the gym (guilt guilt), run late as we head into town (throw in a row about which of us contributed to the running late) and then not make up until we pick up the rings. We will then have a max of about 1 hrs peace and no rowing until we start picking out gift list stuff.

To be honest I don't really know where to start with the whole gift list thing. It seems f*cking cheeky to be all kind of "please come to our wedding, which is miles from where you live, requires an overnight stay (and a new outfit if you're a girl), it's a cash bar...oh and, please buy us a present". But the rationale behind it is to prevent aged relatives buying us complete tat (crystal decanter anyone? stupid ceramic figures?) and means we get some new plates instead. Which are always handy seeing as how many I've broken throwing them at StupidBoy......

Back on track, as I was saying, I've a party to go to - its a 30th of a friend I used to work with. Although we've lost touch a little since I left, I am having a happy reminisce about some of our bizarre nights out. In fact our first night out together involved a celebrity lesbian + her lesbian football team and Bonnie Tyler kareoke. And since then we've been to a dodgy underground club in the seedier part of west hampstead, a fairy tale themed charity fancy dress party and sunbathed for so long in the park one afternoon that I got sunglasses shaped sunburn on my face. Which WAS NOT a good look. And caused lots of hysterical laughing and/or crying. So yes, party tomorrow. Which boosts my social life no end as other than that i have no plans for the next few weeks really.

This blog entry has really not been so hot tonight really has it? My social life + plans for the weekend are hardly thrilling. My ideal weekend would have been something like: Finish work at 5 (which I did today actually) and be collected by chauffeur driven limo and whisked off to the airport, where SB would be waiting for me with tickets (first class) to Rome for the weekend. We would arrive home refreshed, full of pasta (magically fat free of course) and wine, pleasantly re-cultured, and have a lovely relaxing sunday evening in the flat. Which the spring cleaning fairies would have cleaned + tidied and restocked full of yummy food.

But instead I will be getting jet lag coming back from the gym on sunday morning as the sodding clocks go forward. Which evil person decided that we should LOSE an hour's sleep. Its just ungodly. And I really could do with the extra hour's sleep this weekend. As you can tell by the complete drivel that is making up this post. In fact you know what, I'm going to stop here. SB is home, the spag bol needs to be heated up, and I don't think I'm going to get any wittier or more intelligent this evening. In fact, I'll probably just go further downhill. So best to know when to stop. (not something I often know) So thank you and goodnight.

Stupidgirl has left the building