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Tube Strike – How The Hell Do You Get Around It

Yin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:05:37 +0000

If you’re like me or homie Yang then you’ll have places to be, people to see or money to earn and there ain’t no way the public transport is going to hold you up. I’m going to get one way or another even if it means I have to leave home extra early. I don’t quite understand the purpose of this strike as it’s concerning job cut, surely walking on a strike would just make your job security worse? I’d be wanting to prove myself as a reliable worker so that they don’t fire me. I found this dope set of instructions to get around the strike tomorrow! peep it after the cut.

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Let’s all hope that the Tube Strike malarkey is media hype like it was today. If not you can use my guide:

Tube

As you already know, most lines are likely to be disrupted so it’s not advised you take the risk. They’re apparently going to try their best to keep as many trains running and stations open. So keep a look out on live travel news or if you have an iPhone, keep refreshing the tube status app.

Buses

There will be extra buses available on key routes as well as extra staff are being deployed to hubs to help customers with information.

DLR and London Overground

They will be running fine as usual so I definitely recommend on hoping on either to Bank or Liverpool Street and taking the bus for the rest of your journey.

Cycling

I have a sneaky suspicion that this whole strike was planned by Boris with Bob Crow‘s help so that we make use of his cycle scheme. Don’t you think it’s a little coincidental that a strike takes place a few weeks after the scheme launches? huh?

The 5,000 Barclays Cycle Hire bikes will be available to members of the scheme, although demand is likely to be high, and cycles harder to access during peak times

People with their own bikes are encourage to use them, travel guides are available on the TFL homepage

6 Guided rides will leave at 8am on Tuesday from the following spots: Ravenscourt Park to Trafalgar Square, Finsbury Park to St Paul’s, Mile End to St Paul’s, Swiss Cottage to Moorgate, Brixton to the West End and Clapham Common to the City

You already know the cycles will be in great demand so get there early to avoid disappointment.

Taxis

So if you think you’re balling then between 06:30 and 10:30am there will be a marshalled taxi service for central London destination at the five major rail stations – Waterloo, Liverpool St, King’s Cross, Charing Cross and Marylebone. There will be a fixed-fare taxi sharing schemes at Euston Station and Paddington Station.

Walking

Who’s really going to walk to work? come on now. Unless you’re rich and live right next to your work place. Google Maps that ish.

Emmanuelle Chriqui | Effortless Beauty

Yin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:01:53 +0000

Those of you who watch Entourage will know Emmanuelle Chriqui by the name ‘Sloane‘, E’s long-term girlfriend, now fiance. I’ve always found her attractive but after seeing this shoot, I consider her perfect. She says herself her character is probably every guy’s dream girl as she’s not clingy, powerful, rich and smart. If you’re a dude, you’ll definitely be drooling once you click read more. I guarantee it.

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Effortless beauty, so natural. Why haven’t I came across a woman like this? She has it ALL. Well I can’t say she has brains till I meet her but she most definitely has the rest. *drools*

Womanity by Thierry Mugler

Leona — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:42:35 +0000

The fragrance ‘Womanity’ by Thierry Mugler is supposedly everything a woman should smell like, fresh, floral and like figs. Wait, what, figs? Yes it has an overwhelming smell of figs mixed with caviar but not in a good way more like in a cheap air freshener kind of way.

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The idea behind the fragrance stems from the Womanity movement – the invisible bond between women. It represents everything that a woman is and should be, that is apparently mimicked in the Womanity fragrance. Their website is pretty cool with different mood settings for the mosaic wall of information. It has inspirational stories from iconic women and shares global news that affects Womanity today. Check it out. (http://www.womanity.com/)

On a lighter note, the bottle is quite nice. I love the Atlantis meets Greek God kind of symbolism used for the metallic lid. The bottle looks to me like how the fragrance should make me feel, strong, mysterious and complex. It’s a shame this scent smells so bad, a complete let down since the other Mugler fragrances are lovely.

I’m giving this fragrance 1 out of 5 stars and that’s just for the bottle.

What are your thoughts?

Sony PlayStation Game Runners

Yin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:01:24 +0000

Remember a few weeks back when I posted the Brixton photograph in LDN.365 series and I stated that we were down those parts for a meeting that we had. Well I can now shed some light on it, first off it’s a Sony project entitled Game Runners. I’ll stop there so ya’ll will have to jump on after the cut if you want to read more.

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Yang: So we have been working with a team of really talented individuals. They’ve been knuckling down the past few weeks working on a series of interactive games with Sony. The project is essentially a social experiment where it seeks is to bring people from different backgrounds together to create something that will stimulate our community and encourage people to get involved.

The aim of the project is to bring people from different backgrounds together to create something that will stimulate our community and encourage people to get involved.

Our game runners Rodney and Kunj who we will introduce later in another post; have been working as part of the team to develop the three games Hoops, Blocks and Flags.

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Here’s what Carl Christopher–Ansari of SCEE UK representative had to say about the project:

‘PlayStation has always been about the fun of playing games. These games are inspired by the need to manoeuvre. PlayStation Game Runners is a experimental vehicle to explore getting fans of PlayStation together – online and in real life – to play, share ideas, and help progress the games.‘

Now back to me, I’ll give you a quick breakdown of each of the 3 games.

Hoop is an urban adventure type game that as evolved from shooting hoops in your backyard to a whole new intense level. It’s played across a large area in which teams of 8 must work together to discover stashes of balls, find shooting points, and then get the ball through the hoop. There are many hidden hopps around the streets and sometimes the player will be able to shoot straight away other times passing is required to pass the ball to the shooting point. As many teams play simultaneously so there are plenty of opportunities for interception. It’s all about teamwork, communication and I guess a good throwing arm will be necessary.

Flags is basically Noughts and Crosses transformed into a fun, social team game which is played on a 3 x 3 grid with a flag in the centre of each square. Teams of 3 will compete against one another to make a winning row, so you know you see the noughts and crosses link? Players capture a flag by out-numbering their opponents on the square for a full ten-count. If you don’t get ten, you don’t raise the flag so you lose. The key to the game is communication, quick thinking and fast paced movement.

Blocks is a 3D strategy game which is all about precision movement. Two opposing players take it in turns to place the blocks within a 2 x 2 tower. Every face of the block has a PlayStation symbol on it. When a player places a block, the symbols must be on all touching faces must match. To make things harder each of the blocks slightly uneven so the stacking gets harder and harder as you it gets higher. The player who lets the tower drop, or who runs out of time to make a move, loses the game.

So what’s our part in this?

Well we’ll be mentoring our 2 game runners and guiding them as they write blogposts on the project. They will be documenting different aspects of the game creation process as well as what it’s like to be involved in a project like this. Hold tight for introduction posts from the pair.

Yin.

New iPhone App: The Kicktionary

Yang — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:51:07 +0000

Some like to drool over naked chicks in Nuts/Zoo, some listen to Justin Beiber and some like to gaze at sneakers on their phone.. I suppose it’s what ever floats your boat! Well if you are a Sneaker Enthusiast then you will appreciate this new app that is available to all those who are blessed with an iPhone or iPad: its called The Kicktionary.

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The Kicktionary is pretty much a library of images and information about sneakers, here you will find all the popular kicks from all over the world- the creators have said they’ll keep the app updated frequently with new content so all the latest kicks will be added for your pleasure. The app is pretty simple to use, you just flick through like you would do anything else, tilting the screen to its side to view photos in full screen mode; Kicktionary will set you back a whopping 99p so get saving!

Sound like a must have for your apple device? Download here now!

Bleu De Chanel – Fragrance + Advert

Yin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:02:19 +0000

Peep Chanel‘s latest men’s fragrance offering, Bleu De Chanel. If you’ve read my past reviews then you would know for the past 4-5 years I’ve been bathing myself in Black XS. Not many use it and chicks damn sure love it but I think I’ve just found a fragrance that actually smells better. I’m not going to go into a detailed review in this post, that will come at some point this weekend. It’s a stunning woody-aromatic fragrance created by Jacques Polge and guess who they’ve got directing the commercial for it? None other than Mr. Martin Scorsese. Peep the video after the cut featuring Ginola-lookalike Fench actor, Gaspard Ulliel.

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That photo is taken on my iPhone btw!

The Land of Giants

Leona — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:01:55 +0000

Choi & Shine architects, won the ‘2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture’ with their Land of Giants project. It features electricity pylons that were once dull statues of nothingness eloquently shaped into standing people. I remember the days when my brother and I were so bored on our drives down the A45 we used to try and count how many there were between junctions, yes that’s how bored we were.

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Electricity pylons are well and truly the rape of the landscape! But not for Iceland, these pylon figures can be ‘configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures’ e.g. if placed on a hill it would imitate a climbing person. Pretty cool huh?

MAC Alice + Olivia Make-Up

Leona — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:01:51 +0000

What have I been wearing this summer I hear you ask, well its Alice + Olivia’s summer MAC make-up of course! A ‘frump-fighting, pro-pixie, anti-seriousness collection of colour’ featuring new takes on Dazzleglass Creme, So Rich So Pretty Nail Lacquer and Partylicious Pigments.

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I’m an avid MAC wearer and simply could not resist buying this new colourful array of feisty make-up. I have the limited edition Partylicious pigment (£15) which is sort of a teal colour with a silver pearl overtone. Perfect for summer bbq’s, festivals and even holidays to get that bright and sizzling summer look. They also have it in Later (Black with Purple Pearl) and If It Sparkles (White with Pink Pearl).

For the lips I decided to go for the Dazzleglass Crème (£14.50) in ‘I Want Candy’ which is a hot neon yellow with shimmer. Once applied it gives a natural subtly glossed effect but used in conjunction with lipstick it makes your lips pop! Definitely my fav out of the collection. You can also choose from If Its Pink (neon pink) and Sparklicious (pale pink).

And finally for nail polish I chose the military shade (£8) which is a black matte with silver suede pearl overtone. Goes well if you’re trying to pull of this season military look or going for a punk rock style like Rihanna. They also have it in So Pretty So Rich (bright purple with pearl frost) and Morning After (creamy turquoise).

Have you tried them? Let me know your thoughts. Buy here.

Facebook Places Privacy Update

Yin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:01:43 +0000

I know Yang wrote a post on Facebook places a few days back but I thought I should give some people a heads up on the new privacy settings in detail. Ya’ll know how Facebook Places works by ‘checking-in’ to places where you are and with the current privacy settings you can be tagged by others who are on your friends list. This could possibly end friendships/relationships if you lie to someone about your location. So without further a do, I’ll give you a guide what you have to change after the cut.

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You maybe wondering why I’m helping ya’ll out with this. I’m not promoting adultery. I’m just spreading my knowledge haha. I know we UK users haven’t been able to use it yet but why not prepare for it in advance.

Step 1. First click on the Account tab at the top right corner of you screen and click Privacy Settings. Then select the little blue text’customize settings’ button at the bottom of the Privacy home screen.

Step 2. You should now be able to see a list of privacy options. Now under the the category ‘things others share‘, disable the ‘Friends can check me into Places’ feature. Now you will be the only one who can broadcast your location.

Step 3. Now to make sure who can see your check-ins. Click the ‘Places I check in’ drop down which is located in the Things I Share category. The default is actually ‘friends only’ but you know, you don’t want all your friends to see them! so customize away. You can hide networks, individual people, lists or everyone.

Step 4. This step is an option. Like FourSquare when you check into a place, you will be able to see other Facebook users who have also checked in there. You can turn off the feature by unticking the box next to ‘Include me ‘People Here Now‘ after I check-in’

I hope that helps. If it saves a few of your relationships and friendships, ya’ll can worship me like a Demi-God.

Lollipop Bling – Fragrance by Mariah Carey

Leona — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:01:26 +0000

After hearing Mariah’s ‘Candy Bling’ single off her album ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ and the story of her engagement to Nick Cannon, Elizabeth Arden became inspired to work with Mariah to create three new fragrances; Honey, Ribbon and Mine Again. More after the cut.

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The story behind the perfume is that Nick proposed to Mariah whilst celebrating her 18^th number 1 single, Touch My Body. He produced a huge diamond ring inside the wrapper of a Topps lollipop ring, hence the inspiration for the song. According to her website [http://www.lollipopbling.com/] the ‘honey’ scent is supposed to smell like sun-drenched sensuality (a fusion of floral and citrus). ‘Mine again’ is apparently dangerously delicious (a sensual blend of exotic flower melts into a mouth-watering fruity temptation) and last but not least Ribbon is ravished and enraptured (a romantic duet both floral and fruity).

I think the idea of teaming up with Topps was to create some sort of candy type scents that won’t have you smelling like a cheap baby hooker. However, I have yet to sample them so who knows!