Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields | London Gems

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

2015 is the year of Mexico in the UK and to celebrate there is a wonderful and vibrant pop up Mexico exhibition which opened yesterday in Potters Fields. I went along to take in the culture and the fun experience.

Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields

Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields | London Gems

As I headed towards Potters Field I heard beautiful Mexican music and already saw the bright colours and statues. There were crowds everywhere. The exhibition had certainly caught the attention of Londoners who were having lots of fun. There was a huge queue at the Wahaca truck for burritos and nachos. But it is not all food, statues and music. There is an immersive pop-up pavilion in London’s South Bank. It is a multi-media experience and is not just educational but also tons of fun. You learn all about Mexico through state-of-the-art innovation, using cutting-edge modern technology. Best of all, it’s free!

Inside the dome is a very cool colourful car, clothes, the opportunity to experience Mexico City, lots of art and lots of other immersive media. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. I had a great time and I learned a lot. I definitely want to head to Mexico now. It has made its way onto my bucket list as it is so beautiful. Mexico has a lot going for it.

Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields | London Gemsclothes

2015 marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration between Mexico and the United Kingdom. For twelve months, the two countries will create new connections in the areas of culture, arts, education, science, innovation, trade and investment. There will be a series of events taking place across the UK, all of which are designed to address the preconceptions people have about Mexico. Mexico is not about mariachi, tacos and guacamole anymore.This is all about the modern and contemporary Mexico that has everything to offer: wonderful culture, great food, nature and art. In fact, Mexico is the only nation to have its cuisine designated by UNESCO as of Intangible Heritage of Humanity so after checking out the exhibition enjoy some great food by acclaimed Mexican restaurant, Wahaca.

Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields | London Gems food

Pop Up Mexico Exhibition In Potters Fields south banl

If you don’t live in London, don’t worry, you won’t miss out. Later in the year the dome will be travelling north to Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. This is a great day out for all of the family. Pop along before it closes on the 12th March.

The dome is open to the general public: 26^th Feb – 12^th March, Potters Field Park next to City Hall, 10am – 8pm. Entry is free.

Find out more here: http://mexicouk2015.mx/en/dual-year

Sponsored post.

There Is Only One Word For Sex Selective Abortion: Gendercide. But Should It Be Illegal?

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

On Monday the 23rd February MPs voted on whether to amend the serious crime bill to make abortion based on foetal gender a crime. MPs ultimately rejected the amendment to the bill from Fiona Bruce. But was it the right decision?

Sex selective abortion is only one thing: gendercide. This brilliant article on gendercide in The Economist states the shocking fact that at least 100 million girls have been killed. It will be much more now, the article was written five years ago, but it has always stayed with me. I always thought sex selective abortion was a problem in China and India, I had no idea that it was also problem in Britain. And lets be clear: it is a problem, and a growing one.

I tend to be wary of amendments to abortion rights. In the US more and more bills are passed to take away a women’s right to her own reproductive future. History also proves that it doesn’t matter if abortion is legal or not, women will still have them. Legalisation means less maternal deaths. I am pro-choice even though I would never have an abortion myself. A woman’s body belongs to herself, not the government. But what about gendercide? Which is a very real crime.

As I write this I am 35 weeks pregnant with a boy. When we told people the sex of our child I was shocked at the sexism. I was told congratulations for having a boy. I was even told it is ‘better to have a boy’. Why? Usually no reason was given. Or a fluster of babbling that made no coherent sense. I was supposed to feel proud that my body was making a boy, as if by making a daughter I would somehow have failed. What makes a boys life more important than a girls? It’s a good question, if only so we can address and dismantle it. If there is pressure for a white, British, non-religious female to have a boy, can you imagine how much pressure a woman from another culture would feel?

Feminists widely criticised the amendment. Bryony Gordon spoke out against it. Rebecca Schiller wrote an amazing article on it but I think they are both wrong. Should gendercide be illegal? Yes. Schiller says “This is not about whether sex-selective abortion is right. This is about a woman deciding what happens to her body throughout her life and valuing her as the key protagonist in these decisions across her lifetime.” She makes a good point, but if that decision is to kill a baby girl then it is not okay. The Telegraph did an amazing expose on doctors agreeing to do sex selective abortions.

Lisa Hallgarten, chair of Voice for Choice, said: “We urge MPs from all political parties to oppose this dangerous amendment. This is the wrong piece of legislation to address the issue of son-preference and gender discrimination and could disadvantage the very women it claims to be helping. “If passed, this amendment would seriously undermine abortion law and provision in this country, which is clearly the intention of its proposer Fiona Bruce MP.” Some feminist may be up in arms but what is more anti-feminist than a girl being aborted just because of her gender? One way to fix this is the gender of the child not being revealed until the abortion limit has passed.

Women’s reproductive rights have been hard won and should always be protected but the truth is sex selective abortions are becoming more common in Britain. Christina Odone wrote a great piece in The Telegraph and stated that ‘We should be up in arms at the thought of would-be parents deciding that girls are not worth conceiving. In a country where the culling of baby seals brings out street protests, the culling of baby girls is happening without a murmur.” We must defend the rights of girls. In the womb and out. Labour MP Yvette Cooper MP has said that the practice of aborting a foetus simply based on their sex is already illegal, but more must be done to enforce it. Over one million girls are lost every year to gendercide. Something must be done about it. We must show that a girls life is just as important as a boys.

At The Break of Day By Margaret Graham Book Review

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

Margaret Graham has written many good books, in fact she is working on her 14th. Many of these books are compelling and well-researched books set during wartime. At The Break of Day is no exception. It is yet another brilliant novel to lose yourself in while the author takes you into another time and setting.

Many of the main characters in Margaret Graham’s novels are women making the best of themselves in hard circumstances. In this novel Rosie Norton is facing a bright future in America in 1946, until she is called home from Pennsylvania. Rosie was evacuated by her grandfather in 1939 by her beloved grandfather and she returns to a devastated Europe which is still picking itself up after the war. She has developed an American accent and finds it hard to be accepted by the people around her. Many who refer to her as a dumb yank. She is supported by her childhood sweetheart Jack, but lies and people with bad intentions get between them. Jack is sent to war in Korea and a homeless Rosie, together with the child he doesn’t know they have, is left to fend for herself in London.

This is a wonderful novel that I really enjoyed reading. The character of Rosie is a great one. She makes the most of herself and her circumstances. She is an inspirational character who it is impossible to not fall in love with. I also loved the parallels between the UK and US. McCarthyism is on the rise in the US and her American family write about it in their letters. This is an engaging novel which captures the time it is set in perfectly. Highly recommended: another triumph for Margaret Graham.

At the Break of Day is available here.

Patricia Arquette’s Oscar Speech Is a Thing of Beauty | Watch Now

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

Patricia Arquette’s kick ass Oscar Speech took over the internet, and rightly so. While political statements are generally frowned upon at the Academy Awards, Arquette won the hearts of people all over the world with her demand for equal pay for women. The best reaction came from Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom nearly fell off their seats with glee. Equal pay for women in Hollywood has been a widely debated topic since the Sony hacks. I hope that Arquette’s speech makes a difference, she has at least raised awareness to billions of people, and for that she is amazing.

She also said earlier this year that she paid her babysitter and dog walker more money than she made on Boyhood. She isn’t the only one to speak out. Hilary Swank said: “My male counterpart will get paid ten times more than me — ten times. Not double, but ten times for the same job. We only have this much left for the female actress. I mean, there’s two genders on this earth. Both are compelling, interesting, diverse, wonderful in all their own separate ways. And yet there’s an influx of male roles, and there’s just not for women.”

While Amy Pascal has said that the problem is that women accept less money than men it is not as simple as that. Pascal herself said that there are less roles for women so women are more likely to work for less just to have a job. This is a sad state of affairs that must change. Arquette has started the battle call, we must all follow through.

The Theory of Everything Review by David Evan Giles

Posted on February 23, 2015 by David Giles

The Theory of Everything is, quite simply, brilliant. In the same way that director Steven Soderbergh lifted Erin Brockovich from being a legal procedural TV movie to its position as a major motion picture, Oscar-winning documentary director James Marsh has taken what could have been an awkward mix of impenetrable science and a terrible disease and made a deeply human story that is moving, inspiring and so totally engaging that audiences often sit right through the end credits as they take in what they have just seen.

It is the humanity, the frailty, the warmth, the humour, the kindness and – to use a very old fashioned word for an unfashionable quality – the decency of the story, played by a faultless cast with such little apparent effort or strain, that makes The Theory of Everything the most memorable film in a rich field at this year’s Oscars.

Eddie Redmayne’s transformation from a slightly awkward ‘natural scientist’ (the traditional expression at Cambridge University for a ‘geek’) to the towering brain caught in an unco-operative body is little short of miraculous. This is not a star turn, where the dribbling is designed to win prizes for being ‘confronting’. Redmayne plays the man and not the disease. The character of Stephen Hawking stays vigorously alive as more and more of his body fails and what Jane, his wife played so delicately by Oscar-nominated Felicity Jones, fell in love with is still there in his eyes though his voice is gone, replaced by the American accent in a box that most of us have heard. His family and friends are brave, supportive and accepting. As played by Redmayne, Stephen Hawking inspires love because of the man he is, alive and laughing, inside the body he no longer controls.

A recent article in a national newspaper carried a cynical headline, asking that no more films be made about white, male, British geniuses. It was a painful bit of smartypantsness, because the two movies that could fall into that category this year are both brilliant pieces of filmmaking – the other film is The Imitation Game, for which Benedict Cummerbatch is also deservedly Oscar-nominated. Between them, these two films are likely to do more to wash away prejudice against homosexuality and the disabled than a thousand pages of legislation ever could. Their heroes are both great men, great minds and in great pain. They are treated by the writers and directors with enormous respect and played faultlessly by young actors reaching the top of their game. In the English-speaking world, the film culture has lately been dominated by endless sequels, remakes, stories based on comic books, gross-out comedies and cynical violence. The Theory of Everything proves that complex stories about real people can still be told and the audience is rewarded by the feeling that the human journey can still be an ennobling experience, in which we are not limited by our bodies, but only by the barriers we set up in our minds. Don’t miss this film.

Rock Choir at Abbey Road Studios – Yeah Yeah Yeah By Katy Seath

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Margaret Graham

“Rock Choir: When I had slightly more time, I was a member of Katy Seath’s High Wycombe Rock Choir. Somehow this girl makes even ‘out of tune no pitch’ people like me hit the notes, and what’s more, enjoy doing it. But we don’t just sing, we have to remember steps. Crikey. She is such a fun girl, and so good and everyone would follow her if she asked us to do it on a tightrope. I have sung with them on the pitch at Wembly, something I thought would never happen to me. But now, heights undreamed of – wish I’d been with ‘em…” Margaret Graham

Rock Choir at Abbey Road Studios – Yeah yeah yeah By Katy Seath.

Rock Choir members from Hampstead, Chiswick, Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and High Wycombe visited Abbey Road Studios on Sunday 1st February to record Viva La Vida, Fall At Your Feet and Time After Time. They were lead by choir leader, Katy Seath

I’ve been a choir leader for Rock Choir for almost 6 years. In that time, I have seen and done some pretty ‘Rock ‘N Roll’ things – conducting on the pitch at Wembley Stadium, performing onstage at the O2, … it has all made for an exciting musical journey. So getting the opportunity to take 240 members from my choirs to the iconic Abbey Road Studios and record 3 songs seemed just another remarkable tick on the list. Yet this particular event stands out from the rest. As well as my own sense of occasion and significance, it was the members’ reactions that showed me just how special this opportunity was.

Arriving early, I was greeted by Kevin – an exceptionally friendly security guard. He gave me a quick tour of the building as he commented, ‘That’s where they recorded Dark Side Of The Moon.’ ‘Right,’ I said. I absorbed my surroundings as Kevin continued to chat before arriving at the sound desk. As a professional singer I have seen many recording studios, ranging from makeshift set ups in bedrooms and garages to fully kitted studios. But this really was the Mecca of them all.

Looking through the window, I saw the space where the choir would sing, as well as the grand piano I would play on the recording of ‘Fall At Your Feet’. Placing my headphones on, I heard the beautiful string quintet who had recorded their part the previous day. I had to get all this done in 10 minutes before the choir members arrived. No pressure then.

I split the choirs into 2 groups across the morning and afternoon, and ran to the same schedule with each. First, we stood on the steps for Abbey Road to take the all important pictures with our photographer, Darren. We grinned through the cold with Rock Choir t shirts on show, while intrigued passers by, and tourists, stood on the other side of the gate taking their own snaps on cameras and smart phones. Feeling like Rock Stars, the excitement started to build. Next, we moved inside to the famous Studio 2 (home to The Beatles recordings) where the choir received the all important briefing from Jim Hawkins.

As the choir began to file their way into the large space, I watched them taking it all in. The team at the studios are well accustomed to Rock Choir visits, so all I had to think about was conducting the singers and striving for the best sound we could make. Extra rehearsals and small lectures from me about ‘ the recording experience’ had all lead to this point. While Darren quietly moved around us to capture the moments, we warmed up, put on our head phones and listened obediently to sound engineer Simon Rhode’s gentle but cheeky voice in our ears, as he sat at the mixing desk. The choir relaxed and the performance seemed to be captured by the third take.

Witnessing the pride, focus and joy of the choir reminded me of my good fortune to work in such a magical world. Singing each week at rehearsals brings a huge amount of satisfaction, so taking our work and immortalizing it in such a way made us feel like as though we were, and are, a tiny part of history.

www.rockchoir.com

Madonna’s Still Got It Watch The Video That Proves It

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

Madonna has been awesome since 1982 and she still shows no sign up slowing down. Her performance of Living For Love at the Grammys left all young pretenders in the dust. She may get a lot of ageist comments for being 56 but this proves all of her critics wrong. The video is the isolated vocals of her performance, no auto-tune. Her six-minute performance is amazing. If you don’t believe Madonna is still at the top of her game then watch and learn.

What do you think? Has Madonna still got it?

A 70’s Valentine By Wendy Breckon

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Frostie

Wendy Breckon is a writer and occasional story teller, who scribbles near the sea, in the middle of a wood or wherever the fancy takes her. She loves life and the people walking past the window, especially if they wave! One day, she hopes to flog that ‘sitcom’ sitting in the drawer. In the meantime, her love for coffee, almond croissants, comedy, and a good film, keep those words flowing …

A 70’s VALENTINE
RED is the rose you left upon the chair
RED is the hair slide you placed back in my hair
RED the stain of Mateus Rose on the collar of my dress
RED is the colour of flushed cheek bones the evening I said yes
RED is the sunset above a leather seat
RED is for the old Austin and our engineering feat
RED is for nostalgia and the sweet smell of YOUTH DEW
RED is for the moment I said I love you too
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