If Daniel Craig can do it, so can we.

We've all practiced the gun pose with a water pistol, used our scientific calculators as walkie talkies and tried to sound cool by introducing ourselves with the surname, first name, surname lingo - but this is really the closest us mere muggles are going to get to tasting the mission filled life of James Bond. 

With the Skyfall premier last night, Coke Zero challenged unsuspecting train passengers to unlock the 007 in them by completing a challenge in 70 seconds in order to win tickets to the film.  Check.it.out.

Wok+Wine!

Most conversations with my family and friends generally always return to the same topic - food.  It's not that we're all pigs, it's just that...just that...ok, maybe we are.  This fodder nattering is the mantra behind Wok+Wine - 40 strangers, 40 pounds of jumbo prawns and 40 bottles of wine.  People eat, people drink but people also meet and talk with other like-minded prawn and wine loving individuals.  I mean really, what more do you need in common?!

Starting in November 2008, Wok+Wine has taken the world by storm, with over 3000 guests attending their events across the globe, from New York and London to Venezuela and Whangarei!  Everyone gets down and dirty by eating prawns with their hands from a huge communal table.  The relaxed environment (as well as at least a bottle of wine each) gets the conversation flowing and allows interesting people to meet others for just £35.  The locations are announced near the time of the event and luckily for us, the next London Wok+Wine is this Friday, 19th October!  Hurrah!  But hurry, with just 40 tickets on sale, they disappear in no time! Head to the website for more information and your daily dose of prawnography!

The World's Largest Rope Swing!

This is just awesome. Check.it.out.
 
 

Rain Room

In Britain, it never rains, it pours.  In celebration of this, Random International have created an installation of cascading water, which opened at The Barbican last week. 

This multisensory experience, allows visitors to hear, see and feel the splash of rain without getting wet.  Instead of emerging from the exhibition looking like a drowned rat, a la Thorpe Park’s Tidal Wave, this installation keeps you dry as a bone.  Visitors can feel Moses-esque by ‘parting’ the rain, as the installation tracks movements and stops the water as visitors walk towards it. 

A light at the far end of the rain room provides a dramatic backdrop for the water to glisten against.  So escape the outdoor weather and head to the rain room to keep dry.  It is open until 3^rd March and admission is free so there’s no excuse to miss it!

Colin O'Brien: Travellers' Children

With ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’, the Dale Farm eviction and the Stoke Newington Common fracas, travelers seem to be a relatively recent hot topic of discussion.  However, Colin O’Brien jumped on the gypsy wagon many years ago.  His new exhibition at the Genesis Cinema, ‘Travelers’ Children’ focuses on the children of an Irish traveling community 25 years ago, who settled in East London at a time when Hackney’s Victorian houses were being torn to the ground and its streets were poverty stricken and rubbish laden.  If the current spotlight around traveling communities has taught us anything about their lives, it is the insularity of their tight-knit communities and their attitudes towards outsiders.  Through gaining their trust and confidence, Colin O’Brien’s photographs give us unprecedented access to witness the highs and lows of traveling groups and their children against the backdrop of 80s Hackney.  The exhibition is on for the whole of October and is free - wahooo!

The Big Issue: Read all about it!

On the way to work, it’s easy to walk along in a bleary morning daze, listening to your i-pod, contemplating what the day ahead has in store and, let’s face it, what food is coming your way.  This is most certainly how I start my days, walking along, wondering if I’ve got my outfit quite right for the day’s temperature, enjoying my 90s classics playlist and being completely oblivious to the multiple men and women in red jackets that I (and most Londoners) must pass every morning.

I am ashamed to say that the only reason I noticed this particular Big Issue seller was because he was (very cleverly stood out side a Pret-a-Manger) and also directly opposite a road I had to cross to get to work every morning.  While waiting for the green man, I decided to buy one but panic (and shame) struck me when I realised I literally didn’t have a clue about how much it cost. 

After carrying out some research in order to buy it the next day, I was shocked and impressed to find out what a truly fantastic company The Big Issue is. 

          
-  Firstly, a Big Issue vendor has to make a conscious decision to go out and earn a living; after providing proof of homelessness or risk of homelessness, they must undergo an induction process and sign up to a code of conduct.  Once this has been completed, each vendor is allocated a Big Issue jacket, a pitch and specific number of free issues to sell.

-       Following the sale of these first free issues, vendors can purchase further copies for £1.25 each and sell them for £2.50.  This decision to spend money to earn money creates a basics in business course and hopes to achieve The Big Issue’s aim to ‘help them to help themselves’

-       The Big Issue Foundation also links vendors with vital support groups, such as housing and health associations and relies almost entirely on voluntary donations

The particular issue I bought had a Matilda front cover, a book (and musical) that I know and love.  Not only is The Big Issue title a seriously clever double entendre, the writing inside was interesting and witty; it was a magazine that I would have happily spent £2.50 on regardless of the added bonus of it being for a good cause.  I thought I’d write about it on here, as I am sure that many of you, like me, thought that The Big Issue was more or less a free giveaway for homeless people to sell on (which don't get me wrong, is still a good cause) but with the business backbone behind it, as well as all the other good work that the Big Issue Foundation achieves, I think it is a really admirable company, and something that is worth snapping out of your i-pod filled morning haze to give to.

Vogue's Fashion Night Out!

Stuck for something to do tonight?  Anna Wintour has the answer.  Four years ago, in an effort to give our failing retail economy a serious cash injection, Vogue launched their Fashion Night Out; a one night extravaganza, which allows us mere muggles to live the high life of the fashion world by transforming the shops of Oxford and Bond street (as well as a few other venues) into an emporium of fashion shows, champagne receptions, flash mob stages to name a few!  Tonight, Vogue’s unbeatable influence on the fashion world is brought to the fore as shops ranging from Topshop and H&M right through to Anya Hindmarch and Vivienne Westwood take part by offering goody bags, cocktails, entertainment and that all important discount!!  Head to GAP to be involved with Flash Mob dances, Christian Louboutin to fulfil all your fortune telling curiosities and Jimmy Choo for cocktails, music and a photo booth.  You’d be an absolute idiot to miss this one!