Next month, the Guardian will be hosting a two-day festival open to the public. The Guardian Open Weekend is an amazing opportunity for readers and the general public to get involved in a range of debates, talks, workshops, music, comedy, poetry and food. The open weekend is spread out across The Guardian offices and Kings Place and Hub King’s Cross which are only 5 minutes walk apart; ticket prices stand at £40 for a Saturday pass, £30 for a Sunday pass or £60 to secure entry for the whole weekend of 24th & 25th March. They’re not cheap tickets but with guest speakers such as Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror), Camila Batmanghelidjh (kids Company) and being amidst an event as such, I could be persuaded. I know it’s early days- still got about 6 weeks to go but tickets may sell quite fast. We’ll remind you anyway, just keep an eye on ‘What’s On This Week’. Loads more info available from the website.

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The Guardian Open Weekend

More than any other newspaper we can think of the Guardian is open. It has led the way in opening up to its readers – and in welcoming and amplifying other voices. Now we’re opening our doors – hosting a weekend at the end of March for a festival of ideas, innovation and entertainment. Guest speakers from around the world will join our own writers, editors, digital developers and photographers to participate in over 200 programmed sessions on everything from the American presidential elections to the Arab spring. We’re looking to welcome thousands of readers to take part in the weekend – March 24 and 25 – for an extraordinary mix of debates, talks, workshops, music, comedy, poetry, food and fun. We’ll be using numerous spaces in the award-winning Kings Place in London – with its canalside concert halls, galleries, restaurants… and newsroom.

When you visit the O2 Arena next, make sure you have a quick glance at the space outside. You’ll see a selection of cool graffiti pieces designed by a handful of London’s creative youths. In a bid to help promote young talent, Somewhereto_ and The Graffiti Life Company joined forces to run this exhibition that will last for three months with new art work on rotation throughout.  More after the break

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So last night, a few of us ventured down to Nike‘s Make It Count exhibition launch in Shoreditch. As you’ve probably realised already, I’m pretty fond of this campaign. So much so that I wrote an essay of a post dissecting each of W+K‘s media channels used for the campaign. You can read it here, if I had the time; I’d have loved to dissect the sociological aspects for using such inspire and motivate methods to grab people’s attention. That would require a hell of a lot research as it’s something that I know very little about. Sigh, I’ve blabbed on. The event was a private viewing of the exhibition space with the photographer Adam Hinton showcasing the Nike athlete portraiture for the campaign. More on the reverse.

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As always with a campaign launch, half the speaking was industry talk between the agency and representatives that worked together to create this wonderful body of work from the marketing through to Adam Hinton’s photography. It’s so simple, black & white images captures of stern faced, determined individuals. No fancy photoshopping or colour grading involved.

We ended up staying there till 9pm. Got carried away catching up with the familyand meeting some new faces. Win. If you’re in the Shoreditch area, why don’t you go check out 1948 and make your own pledge?

Details on where and when below:

Arches 477 – 478 Bateman’s Row
Shoreditch
London
EC2A 3HH

Click here for opening times.

Check out my imagery from the night, nothing fancy. Desaturated them for obvious reasons and I like the grain.

Yang! @erniedoto

Word.

Eniola! @EniAlu

Tara! @Tarajane181 #dontkillme

Mr. Pure Primary. @Murry_PP

@EniAlu Miss.YOLO

The famous food instagrammer – @SuperNoodleRach

Last week, I landed in Heathrow after a long 11 hour flight back from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and wanted to jump right back on the plane and go back! After spending 6 days in the city that Brazilians name “Cidade Maravilhosa” (Marvellous city), I am pretty convinced that it is now my favorite city in the world. Mountains, beautiful beaches, rainforests, lagoons, great weather, great food, beautiful people and a vibrant football culture are all aspects of Rio that instantly left an impression on me. The purpose of my visit was to attend and speak about global women’s football matters at  the annual Soccerex convention, which is a trade show dedicated to the businesses in football around the world. With the excitement in the air about the forthcoming 2014 world cup and 2016 Olympics hosted in Brazil, it was a great time to visit the land where football runs in the veins. Check my picture review after the jump

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Quick disclaimer because I know you are all used to seeing Yin’s consistently fantastic photography! So please don’t judge my photography skills! I am an amateur and blame my camera! lol I tried my best with the shots and would have loved to have photographed much more of Rio but had very limited time. Anyway here’s an introduction. More pictures for next time I visit!

Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer statue): I am sure you all know this magnificent statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks Rio. I went to the top of the Corcovado mountain to take pictures up close. It took me 40 minutes to get a clear shot because we were so high up that the clouds were concealing the statue.

View of down town Rio from Cocovado mountain

Yellow house in the Rainforest

Old abandoned hotel of the Brazilian national football team

Old fortress from Copacabana beach

Vasco de Gama supporter before the Vasco de Gama v Fluminese match

Soccerex panel full of all time football legends, Bryan Robson, Eusebio (Brazil), Carlos Alberto (Brazil), Ozzie Ardilles, Ruud Gullit

Soccerex convention video ball

I could never have taken this picture but I think it just sums Rio up! Wow *google pic*

Our friends over at We Are S.M.E are putting on another night this Friday (2nd Dec) at Villain, Shoreditch; if you’ve been to any of their nights in the past you’ll know it’s not one to be missed! The night kicks off from 7pm for some civilized drinking and ends at 3am, it’s FREE before 9pm £3 thereafter and of course We Are S.M.E t-shirt wearers get in free all night! Read on after the break for more info.

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When: Friday 2nd December 2011.

Where: Villain, 89 Great Eastern Street, London, EC21 3HX.

Nearest Tube: Old Street (Northern Line) 2 minute walk

Time: 7:00pm – 03:00 am.

Tickets: FREE before 9pm, £3 on the door after. FREE ALL NIGHT FOR SME-SHIRT WEARERS!

Our Volume VIII party is in association with  Haddon PR, who will be supplying some promotional T-Shirts from their clients such as Money & Duffer; all up for grabs via our Interactive Twitter feed.

That comes on top of our infamous SME-Shirts which, as always, we have a brand new design ready for this party. The tee’s are limited to 25 so get your tweet game up on the night to be in with a chance of bagging one!

So make sure you’re following us on  Twitter @WeAreSME

There will also be another Brand New Mixtape from  Rohan BM available for FREE; Volume 8 in the series, the rest of which are available to download via our website in case you missed them.

And regulars at our blog parties will know that we always have a few other surprises up our sleeves.

SME DJ’s will be on rotation throughout the night from 9pm dropping Hip-Hop, Grime, Dubstep, House and anything that gets you skanking!

Sample sale season is upon us or rather it is here. I saw this on my friends tumblr today and knew I had to forward the news onto you guys. Starting Wednesday November 30th Alexander McQueen will host a sample sale which will feature both men, womenswear and accessories from past seasons. Everyday new stock will be added which will enable everybody to find somethings not just the ones who rush to go on the first day. The sale will cease to exist 3days last on Saturday December 3rd at 5pm. Full dates, times and address on the flipside along with a link to download the invitation. Please note you only gain entry of you have your invitation with you.

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Dates

Wednesday 30 November from 12pm – 9pm

Thursday 1 December from 10am – 8pm

Friday 2 December from 10am – 8pm

Saturday 3 December from 10am – 5pm

Address

The Westminster Room

The Old Sessions House

22 Clerkenwell Road

London EC1R 0NA

Link To Invitation

Pixel This – a Phoneography exhibition, is decdicated to the art of phoneography- the event will consist of some of the best photogrpahy and a short film created using smartphones. Being held at The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea Park; the exhibition was open to the general public for submissions and CreateHive (who are running the event) received over 300 entries, 104 of them have been shortlisted for exhibition this week! Each piece will be auctioned off on 2nd December to raise money for Kids Company. More information after the break

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All proceeds from this event will be donated to Kids Company

The opening night of the exhibition was last night however it will be open until 3rd December.

If you want to attend, please RSVP to info@createhive.org to be added to the guestlist

Pixel This – Opening times (29th November – 3rd December)

Topman Oxford Street are hosting a free event featuring sets from the likes of Zane Lowe, Rob da Bank, The Maccabees, Huw Stephens, Eddy Temple-Morris  and a whole host of DJs throughout the day. The event is to celebrate the launch of CALMZone London Helpline. CALM is a campaign against living miserably and support young men who are depressed; the new CALMZone London helpline and texting service launches on 26th November to help prevent suicide which is the biggest killer of young men in London… learn something new everyday! Anyway, if you happen to be in the Oxford street area then head over to Topman anytime from noon. More info on CALM and the event after the break.

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CALMZone

CALM, the campaign against living miserably exists to support young men who are depressed or feeling down. The new CALMZone London helpline and texting service launches on 26th November to help prevent suicide – the biggest killer of young men in London.

The new CALMZone service operates a telephone helpline between 5pm and midnight on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, every week of the year. Calls are free (from landlines and some mobile phone providers) and the helpline is anonymous and confidential. www.thecalmzone.net

CALM encourage young men to break the silence & Topman provides the perfect platform to make a big noise and raise awareness for the new CALMZone London helpline.  Through the power of music CALM takeover Topman & the two join forces for this exciting, unique event.

Here’s the schedule for the day

12.00 – 1.00                Rob Da Bank              vs                     The Maccabees

1.00 – 2.00                  Zane Lowe                   vs                     Eddy Temple-Morris

2.00 – 3.00                  Mistajam                    vs                     Pixel Fist

3.00 – 4.00                  Kissy Sell Out            vs                     Union

4.00 – 5.00                  Hervé                           vs                     Baxta

5.00 – 6.00                  Sonny Wharton        vs                     Wideboys & Majestic

6.00 – 7.00                  The Loose Cannons   vs                     The Freestylers

7.00 – 8.00                  Huw Stephens           vs                     dan le sac

In these hard times where money is tight and spending is low I think the best remedy is to go out and buy something lol. Contradiction I know but the thought of having to count the pennies and restrict the spending can often cause heartache, somethimes the best thing to do is just buy that one thing you really want to make yourself feel better. Well if you’re a person that loves French Connection this just might be your chance. FCUK are holding a Sample Sale and it starts TODAY!. You’ll be able to get knitwear and dresses from £20, trousers and shorts from £20, shirts and blouses from £15, kidswear from £5, accessories and swimwear from £5 with new stock arriving daily. Please be aware that there will be no parking on site and  a £1 Entrance fee goes to Faces of Cancer (Breast Cancer Awareness). More details after the cut i.e dates and times.

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Dates

Friday 25th November 9.30am to 7pm

Saturday 26th November 10am to 6pm

Sunday 27th November 10am to 4pm

Address

Centro One, 39 Camden Street (Entrance on Mandela Street)

London

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The arrival of the fresh and undeniable sounds of Odd Future member, Frank Ocean, has finally hit London Town, and I couldn’t be more hyped. Having finally announced a set of headlining tours via his tumblr, the intimate setting of XOYO was selected for his sold out UK show (which funnily enough is where Jessie J performed for my last review), perfect for housing the soothing vocals of Mr Ocean. Having started at 9pm sharp, he had already impressed me with a feat many artists often take for granted – being ON TIME. But it didn’t stop there, despite performing entirely in solo i.e. no band, backup singer, hypeman or instruments and just a guy pressing play on a laptop, he had us hook line and sinker.

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Without a supporting artist to kick start the masses (including fellow artists Mr Hudson, Emeli Sande and Etta Bond who were spotted amongst the sea of faces) by the first few seconds of his second song ‘Thinking About You‘, we were gagging for more; and boy did he deliver. He had the crowd impromptu singing the chorus for ‘Swim Good‘ acapella and even managed to swindle a bracelet from an eager lady fan during ‘Songs for Women‘, all without uttering more than a few bars to the crowd.

This is because there is something so incredibly endearing and honest about Frank’s song writing that demands your attention, whether he asks for it or not. What I loved about seeing him perform live was not hearing his undoubtedly faultless voice (there were moments where I honestly just wanted to close my eyes and get lost in his music), it was watching him in his zone – every word was sung and adlibbed with such passion and authenticity it was although he was reciting a story of experience. Which almost breaks your heart when you think about the drug addicted and induced lovers in ‘Novacane‘, the unfortunately nonchalant notions of marriage in ‘American Wedding‘ and the fundamental significance of hope in ‘We All Try‘.

But just because of his R&B roots it doesn’t mean he did not provide for the hip hopping rap lovers as he performed features on ‘No Church in the Wild‘ and ‘Made in America‘, off of Kanye’s latest album ‘Watch the Throne‘. Further feeding us hungry fans with tastes of songs off of the upcoming album (which so far is neither titled nor does it have a release date) ‘Delusion‘ and ‘Real Love‘. I didn’t catch the name of the third song, but he added a freestyle at the end which was cut short by the abrupt end of the backing track, to Ocean’s embarrassment and amusement. It was by far, however, my favourite of the three as it dropped the bass in with the orchestra in such a eargasmic way, all whilst Dragon Ball Z clips streamed in the background *bawse*.

I was especially astounded by the creativeness that went into such a small set. The LED stage screens served as a fascinating backdrop which relayed various captures of everyday life, to images of outer space and even guitar hero footage, as Ocean strapped on a guitar-shaped game controller to play alongside the guitar solo to ‘American Wedding’, sampled from The Eagles ‘Hotel California‘. Whilst it was hands down one of the most original things I’ve ever seen an artist do on stage, I would’ve been even more impressed if he was actually playing the game for real. Still, I commend his efforts.

Although I was slyly disappointed he didn’t sing ‘Nature Feels’ (don’t judge me) and its catchy MGMT sample, he finished with a personal favourite ‘Strawberry Swing’ and encored with his own rendition of Beyonce‘s ‘I Miss You‘ accompanied by his own gifted piano playing. Both ballads of which, left me feeling cool, calm and collected, and zealing for what this multi-faceted talent has to offer next.

Amazed, I’m not usually lost for words…but damn…all I can say after that debut performance is “Frank my charming soul, I cannot wait for the album!”

Words by @Divine_Writes.