Exciting Events to Rediscover London

Big city is a perfect place for the press and the journalist. London holds people from different countries and it is rich in variety. There are so many things to write and report about since there are somethings happening everyday. You should take your camera to participate one of the festivals going on in London.

A girl from India said “ I was so fed up with living in UK but I finally think I’m happy to be in London.” She has been to International Pillow Fight Day on 2^nd April, held in Trafalgar Square.  People fought with strangers with pillows and it “is a collabotation of many people who comprise a loose, decentralized network of urban playground event organizer all over the world”

Time Out London is a magazine that you can find out events and festivals  in London as well as you can find out places to visit. If you are fed up with British weather, you may better participate in one of the exciting events!!

International Pillow Fight Day 2011

Tags: Events in London, International Pillow Fight Day, London Time Out

The Smart Download Illegally

Music industries struggling with illegal downloading are only getting a payback for the way they treated consumers 10- 15 years ago when they charged £15 per CD, says music journalist Ben Gilbert, speaking at the University of Westminster today.

Gilbert has worked in the industry for the last 15 years, starting out in regional and national newspapers and gradually moving on to online journalism.

He now runs his own business creating editorial contents for Yahoo!’s music site. Gilbert regards the music industry the most exciting platform on the planet, but at the same time he says we live in an era of convergence where new technology has caused a power shift between producers and consumers.

‘The music industry is facing it’s hardest ever challenge with piracy and illegal downloading,’ says Gilbert.

Illegal downloading is commonplace and makes it difficult for the artists to be financially successful. But at the same time, innovational technology like Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, makes it easier for up and coming artists to get exposure.

The way we obtain music has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. We have gone from standing in queues to downloading music from our laptops. But not everyone is prepared to pay for songs anymore.

Gilbert suggests the music industry’s decision to charge as much as £15 for CD’s has created a backlash and now the consumers are the most harsh critics, who consider carefully what they want to spent their money on.

Tags: Ben Gilbert, Illegal downloading, Music industry, Music journalism, University of Westminster

Q&A with music journalist, Ben Gilbert

Sanna and I sat down with Ben Gilbert, a music journalist who’s worked in the business, across all platforms, and has been a witness to how its changed and evolved over the last fifteen years.

Q: Do you think there’s enough coverage of international artists in the UK music media?

A: I don’t think there have ever been any problems with the coverage of English speaking bands.  With the rest, I think it just comes down to whether they’re good enough and interesting enough. If they are, then I think they usually tend to get the coverage they deserve in the UK media.

Q: Do you have a favourite international band or artist?

A: One of my favourite current artists is Likke Li, a Swedish indie artist. She has earned herself quite a large following and caught the attention of music journalists in London by being really different and interesting.

Q: How do think the web has influenced this coverage? Are international acts getting more exposure as a result?

A: What’s changed is that now everyone can have that presence online, they don’t have to go through a label; their content can go straight online. Consumers just need to sift through it before they find something that’s worth listening to.  I think it’s very rare that an amazing, talented band or artist will fall through the cracks these days without anyone hearing about them.

Q: In your personal opinion, which bands or artists do you think best represent the current London music scene?

A: I would have to say Burial, have you guys heard of him?

(Sanna and I shake our heads)

He’s a London based, Dubstep pioneer. He was nominated for the Mercury prize a couple years ago. He writes this kind of eerie, dark, electro music. I think what he does with his music is he represents a new London identity that’s quite different from what the Libertines did five or ten years ago. So it just how’s London’s music scene is constantly evolving.

Tags: Arts and Entertainment, Bands and Artists, Ben Gilbert, Burial, Dubstep, Libertines, Likke Li, Music, Music journalism

Where is Real Japan?

People say New York is a city that never sleeps. But Japan is a country that most of the cities never sleep. One Japanese lady living abroad says she misses convenience stores when she catches flu. It is not just a small version of grocery stores but it sells medicines, snacks, food, magazines and clothes. There are 43,393 stores and it opens 24 hours. (The Japanese Franchise Association, 2011) So Japan is a country that never sleeps.

I was once lived in Kent in southeast England and was very shocked. Most of the stores close at 5pm except pubs. I guess people probably sleep early and do not need to go to 24 hours opening convenience stores. There is no need of such stores if people go to stores in the opening times. But if you were grown up in a city that you can go to buy snacks whenever you want, you would need them.

IF you are Japanese living in London, things are much easy. If you know places to go, you may not miss Japan. Eikoku News Digest is a free newspaper for Japanese Londoner that you can get from places, such as, Japanese restaurant, companies and travel agencies. You may go to Mitsukoshi London, which placed in Piccadilly Circus and next to Japanese centre. Most of the staffs are Japanese and you can shop Japanese products. The book store in the basement of Mitsukoshi London is impressive that you can buy the newest books and magazines.

There are many Japanese owned Japanese restaurants. Teriyaki House in Camden Lock Market is reasonable and too delicious that you will forget every depressing thought. SAKI bar and food emporium is a proper restaurant that even foreigners used to real Japanese food go.

London is one of Japanese’s favorite city that Japanese Society of the UK is massive and there are many restaurants and stores. The point is, how real they are. There are numbers of Japanese restaurant that taste like Japanese food but not real like wagamama (One of the UK’s popular Japanese restaurant owned by non Japanese). You may better once participate in one of the events of Japanese Society and make friends to explore Japanese Community in London.

Tags: Japanese convinience store, Japanese Restaurant in London

How to make friends in London?

When moving to a new country you’re most likely to be filled with anticipation and excitement for all the fun and exotic things ahead of you. But you might also feel a little bit anxious about leaving behind your friends and family, and wondering how difficult it will be to find new friends.

London’s a big city and Londoners are the first to describe themselves as too busy to be polite or interested in new people. Fortunately Londoners are the only ones who seem to think so! All the foreigners I’ve talked to were in awe of how helpful and smiley Londoners are. They will gladly encage in conversation with you on the bus stop and they will always help you out if you need directions or other advice. To fit in you’ll have to learn to use at least one of the following in every sentence: thank you, please or sorry.

But what about making friends? Are Londoners polite on the surface but difficult to make a real connection with? It’s always difficult when you’re the newest person in a group. Everyone else might have busy social lives and you’re the only one actively looking for new friends. Luckily the English socialise in groups and are not shy to introduce new people to their circles. If a few people at work are planning a movie night, they’re likely to invite the new girl, and pints-after-work is an open invitation.

But obviously you need to make an effort yourself. Parties are the best place to get to know people, so even if you’re busy, tired and homesick in the beginning, make a point of attending a few parties, and make the most of the invitations you get. If you keep to yourself in the beginning you might find people stop inviting you, thinking you won’t want to attend anyway.

One of the things that make it easier to make friends in London is that there are always other people who are new to the place and looking for mates. Most people you’ll meet have probably moved from somewhere else at some point and will sympathise with your situation.

But if you’re still struggling, there’s lots you can do. Don’t just wait for invitations, organize a trip to a gallery and invite a few peers, or ask someone to go for a pint and a chat after a busy day. You could start a hobby; a shared interest is a natural way to make a connection. And remember how you can find almost anything your heart desires in London? You’re not the only one looking for friends and there are loads of different groups that organise activities for people in need of a social life.

Overall Londoners are fun and lovely people, and you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a circle of friends. As long as you keep active and remember to be fun and lovely yourself!

Tags: London, making friends, Meeting people

Fancy a cuppa? How about 165 million of them?

When I arrived in London last Summer, one of the first things I noticed about the English was their tea drinking habits.

We would go shopping and constantly have to take ‘tea breaks’. We would go for a picnic in lovely 28 degree heat, and flasks of steaming hot tea would be brought with, when all I wanted was a cold cider. It seemed as if every British friend I had needed at least three cups of tea a day to function.

So I decided to do a little research and it turns out that the British have been the largest per capita tea drinkers in the world since the 18^th Century. Each person consumes an average of 2.5kg of tea a year.

This works out to a whopping 165 million cups of tea consumed daily in the UK. To break it down even more, that means that so far, at 10.21am, Brits have already drunk approximately 64, 347, 639 cups of tea.

There is even a UK Tea council. Its motto is:

“The UK tea council is an independent non-profit making body dedicated to promoting tea for the benefit of those who produce, sell and enjoy tea.”

I mean, really? How much promoting does it need if everyone’s already drinking 2.5 kg of the stuff a year?

So why do the British drink so much darn tea?

• Well, 80% of office workers now claim that they find out more about what’s going on at work over a cup of tea than any other way.
• Apparently, tea can cure anything. One of the UK’s most celebrated Prime Ministers, William Gladstone, once said:

“If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you.”

Tags: Beverages, Food and Related Products, Tea, tea breaks, UK tea council, William Gladstone

A South African’s top 5 favourite things about England

Reading over some of my blog posts, I must admit I might have been a tad bit harsh on the English. For all their faults (and we all have them) there are several things that always make me proud to call London my new home. Or at least always help to put a big smile on my face.

1. The sheer variety of things to do. I grew up in a tiny town that didn’t even have a cinema, so coming to London, I was literally like a child in a candy store. From shopping through vintage markets in Camden and Brick Lane, going to museums and theatres, to all the specialized events that are always going on; its mind-boggling.

Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, like “I’m not taking advantage of living in such an amazing place and I’m not doing enough!”. But then I remind myself that I’m not leaving London anytime soon, so there will be plenty of opportunities to continue to explore all that London has to offer.

2. I love it how the english respond to even the slightest hint of sunshine. As soon as the clouds begin to part, tops are off, sunglasses are out and they’re all lying in Hyde Park in their bikinis. I understand it though, you’ve got to take it where you can get it, and we definitely don’t get much of it here.

What is really amusing about this is that, even though I haven’t even been here for a year, I’ve started doing it: “quick guys, let’s go sit on the grass, the suns out!” Completely ignoring the fact that it’s still only 7 degrees.

Man sunbathing in Green Park during his lunch break

3. Two words: English pubs. I absolutely love them. I love the look of them, I love the smell, I love the vibes. I even love the cranky old landlady that’s inevitably sitting behind the bar, paging through The Sun. (There always is one, and I thought it was just in EastEnders.)

A good old english pub!

While some of my friends are prancing off to Fabric or Ministry of Sound on a Saturday night, there’s nothing I love more than sitting in a dark pub, with the darts championship on in the background, pint in hand (no mojitos for me) and one or two good mates. If that makes me sound like a 50-year-old man, so be it.

4. The transport system. Yes, yes, I know, everyone moans about the tube delays/closures and the prices of train tickets etc, but trust me when I say you haven’t experienced anything. Public transport in South Africa consists of 26 people and at least seven live chickens squeezing into a 16 seater ‘bus’ that only runs twice a week. I wish I was joking.

5. My ultimate guilty pleasure: English reality TV. And I thought the Americans were bad. But there’s nothing better than a bit of English reality telly the morning after a few too many pints. Whether its ‘Take Me Out’ or ‘Undercover Boss’, to my embarrassment, I just can’t get enough.

Tags: bikinis, English pubs, guilty pleasure, Hyde park, public transport, reality tv, sunshine, tube delays