April 2015

KRIZIA

Starting my playlist this month is 'Satisfy' by Nero, I would always catch this song when it was halfway through on the radio and always confuse it for 'Slow Acid' by Calvin Harris for some strange reason. Nova Rockafeller is an LA based rapper who I heard randomly on the radio one day, her single 'Made in Gold' has some serious Icona Pop vibes and it's catchy as hell. 'Walk' by Kwabs and 'Can't Stop Playing' (Oliver Heldens & Gregor Salto Remix) by Dr. Kucho! & Gregor Salto are two more awesome radio finds! 'No Fun' by Australian duo The Presets was featured on 'How to Get Away with Murder' (bless whoever makes the shows music decisions, they've all been A+) and it was a song that I haven't heard by them before so I was a little shocked when Shazam broke the news to me. I don't think I will ever stop obsessing over 'Shower' by Becky G, but right now I am loving her new single 'Lovin' So Hard' which is supposedly about Austin Mahone! Another track I heard for the first time on the radio this month is 'Figure 8' by Maliibu N Helene. I haven't been able to get this song out of my head for weeks, it's so catchy! I'm a little mad at myself for not discovering 'Feeling Myself' by Nicki Minaj feat. Beyonce sooner. I was introduced to it by my friends boyfriend one night and it blew my mind. I hear 'Bills' by LunchMoney Lewis  everywhere! But you can't help but smile and dance along to the beat whenever it's on. 'Lean On' is the brand new single from one of my favourite groups Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MØ, that I cannot stop listening to, Major Lazer never disappoint. I've added 'Runaway (U and I)' by Galantis to my roadtrip playlist, it's such a fun song to blast in your car! Nutcrackerz is the awesome new track from Dizzee Rascal featuring Giggs which is getting quite a bit of airplay at the moment at work and I don't hate it, I love the sampling of the classic composer Tchaikovsky. The last pick for the playlist this month is 'See You Again' by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, if you're a Fast and Furious fan you would have probably heard this emotional song already, watching the video clip definitely tugs on the heart strings!

SOPHIE


My first pick is 'Should Have Known Better' by Sufjan Stevens, I first heard this song at my boyfriends over the holidays and I instantly fell in love with it. It's so mellow and sweet and just perfect chillaxing music. Next is an old fav, 'Poppin Champagne' by All Time Low. This song is one of my all time favourite ATL songs! Since seeing them last month i've been getting back into listening to them again. Die Antwoord is a bit of a random track for me, but there was something about them after my boyfriend showed me them on YouTube, since then they've been at the back of my mind. 'Baby's On Fire' in particular, it's one of those songs especially if you watched the video first where you're just like WTF! but one that gets stuck in your head. This next one is my FAV song at the mo, and has been on my playlist for the past few months.. Nick Jonas 'Jealous'! I'm so glad 1/3 of the JoBros is back making music, this song is just a perfect car song. I'm loving playing Jessie Ware's new song 'Champagne Kisses' on the jukebox at work. It's that perfect spring to summer song, the song that isn't too in your face but still mellow and just fits the weather so perfectly. 'Sober' by Childish Gambino is an absolute tune and I can't speak more highly for it, the music and the drop mid way is amazing, Donald takes a break from rapping and serenades us with his amazing vocals... and i'm just a massive Childish fan in general! Rihanna 'Pour It Up' is on my playlist this month after rediscovering it and finally getting her album 'Unapologetic' I feel so sassy driving along in the car when this song comes on. Even though my dissertation has been handed in I still have 2 more bits of coursework, so I thought i'd listen to Miley Cyrus' album 'Bangerz' and discovered '#Getalife', which is a bit of a tune if i do say so. Normally i'm not a Bring Me The Horizon fan but was pleasantly surprised that I like their new song 'Drown'. Florence and the Machine are another jukebox fave with me with their new song 'What Kind of Man' (love me a bit of Flo) and 'Recovery' by James Arthur is a song one of my friends played for me which made me remember why I liked James on X-Factor. Kygo 'Stole the Show' and Gwen Stefani's new single 'Baby Don't Lie' round off my half of this months playlist.

What have you been listening to this month?

S. & K.
xx
 

1. Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park

I don't know why it's taken me so long to read the book of my favourite movie. At the moment i only have Jurassic Park and i am loving it, i wasn't expecting it to be so different to the movie. I've read that the Lost World isn't as good, but i might give it a try later on in the year.

2. Nerf Guns

I never understood the appeal of Nerf Guns, until i actually got to play with them. A friend of mine has quite a big collection and i only recently got to have a proper look at his and now i'm obsessed and need all the Nerf Guns!

3. Lip Liners

I've never used lip liners before and there was a huge make up sale the other week so i decided to pick up a few to give them a try. Right now i'm loving the nude colours to make my lips a little bolder. I haven't tried any coloured ones yet because i can't find the right ones to match my lipsticks, but one day!

4. Hair cuts

I hate getting my hair cut, i'd rather cut my own hair and deal with the consequences, rather than getting angry at a stranger. I haven't had my hair professionally trimmed in over a year, so as you can imagine, it was totally fried and gross from all the bleach/dye/heat. I didn't want to cut it until it got past my boobs, and although i was so close to reaching that length i got my hair cut shoulder length. I've been growing my fringe out for months and liked the length that that was, so for the first time in a while i left the salon happy, and it's also the first time my hair isn't layered, so it's a big change for me!

5. Veggies

I was never much of a veggie person, and i definitely didn't eat as much as i was supposed to. For about 2 months now i've cut a lot of things out of my diet and limited my intake of other things (although i've been super bad lately, but that's ok!) and swapped them out for half a plate of vegetables instead. Paired with 2+ litres of water a day and it really does make a difference! When i was being really strict with myself, i had the clearest skin i've had since before puberty hit-which was amazing because i suffer from bad acne and the vegetables also helped with my stomach problems. Healthy eating isn't so bad!

SOPHIE
1. SUMMER IS COMING!
Winter is finally coming to an end! After what seems like an eternity (Winters always seem to last forever in the UK) we are finally seeing sun! We had amazing weather in Amsterdam and it's carrying on in the UK! It makes me so excited for the next couple of months and all the fun summer activities that can be arranged.. and of course all the amazing summer clothes I can start wearing!!

2. Dr. Martens
I've always wanted a pair of plain black Dr. Martens (and a maroon/burgandy pair) but never had the money to fork out the £100 price tag. However being a student Portsmouth can have its perks as we have a Dr. Martens outlet store and my friend informed me that they were selling black ones, so you know I just had to go on down and get myself a pair. However I ended up leaving the store with 2 pairs.. one plain black pair and the other is this soft leather oxblood colour.

3. Game of Thrones
My beloved has returned to me! Game of Thrones has to be my fav show out at the moment so this time every year is always a favourite of mine. After the first four eps got released before the original air date I decided to treat myself to the first two eps as I knew I was gunna be away for the first and be in dissertation stress city for the 2nd one. I tried my best to leave it at that and wait for the eps each week but my will power just wasn't strong enough and I caved and watched the remaining two.. I have zero regrets!

4. New Camera
After attempting my first vlogging venture in Amsterdam and putting the video together I realised I had really enjoyed creating it. So much so that i'm thinking of giving vlogging a go a bit more. So I felt it was only right that I look into buying a new camera to help on this venture. Not only that but i'm going away to Croatia for a week in June and as much as I love taking photos on my iPhone I wouldn't mind having a device that had a better zoom and image quality, on top of that i'm interested in getting back into photography when i graduate and become a proper adult.

5. Handing in my Dissertation
The past few weeks have been a living hell with me getting incredibly ill resulting in me losing a valuable week of working on my diss (as all I could do was sleep). I didn't make it to 10,000 word mark but I wasn't far off (9,300 was the final main body word count). After having on tantrum and emotional breakdown (in which the boyf was witness too) I finally finished on the 22nd April, printed and bound on the 23rd and handed it in at 2pm that day! It was a bitter sweet feeling, mixed emotions would defo be the word to describe it. Now it's the waiting game to find out what fate lies for all my hardwork!

What are some of your favourite things this month?

 K. & S.
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 LGC are loving everything about singer/actress/dancer Zendaya!

We only wish we had this much style at 18.

Steal Zendaya's style:

Instead of going for the classic black suit look try pastel pink or blue

Floral print trousers

Boyfriend dungarees

Mint or bright pink heels

Pastel rainbow jacket

Yellow rain mac

Boyfriend jeans

Long sleeved denim shirt

Maxi plaid skirt

Long sleeved crop

Chiffon blouse

Yellow dress

Who's your style icon?

K.

x

Last week a group of uni friends and I went to Amsterdam for a bit of an Easter vacay!

It was one of those trips where nothing was really planned which was perfect, as there was no set schedule and we all had the comfort of coming and going as we pleased. 

I was the first to arrive out of our group followed promptly by the group that left from Bristol and Stansted, we ended up meeting the rest of our group at our hostel later as their flight got in much later than ours.

Our first day was mainly exploring and taking in the beautiful canals that Amsterdam has to offer.

Our second day was a beaut of a day, we started it off by going to the Heineken Museum and then splitting up for lunch. I grabbed a pizza slice and chilled in a lil park area with Jess, Matt, George and Adrian. 

The third day saw temps reaching 22 degrees celsius so we thought it was the perfect day to check out Vondelpark and the I Amsterdam sign, where we stumbled upon this cool fountain that you can see in the video.

Our final day we explored the canals via a canal cruise and those of us with later flights checked out the fun fair that had been installed whilst we were there. 

Hope you all enjoy the video, apologies again for the cock up with filming. I've quite enjoyed this venture into vlogging so if I do another one i'll make sure I don't make the same mistake filming twice!

S.

x

Queenstown is one of the most popular tourist destinations in New Zealand, and rightly so. It's home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and full of adventure!

If you're looking to head to the adventure capitol of New Zealand, here are a few musts!

There are heaps more thrills to experience in Queenstown, such as endless amounts of skiing and snowboarding locations and options. At the end of the day head to Fat Badgers Pizza for massive New York style pizzas and the famous badger beer. What's better than pizza and beer?

K.

x

After watching two episodes already Charlie has made me forget the awful Ben Affleck movie of the same name (sorry Ben) and has me seeing Daredevil in a new light!

S.

x

"The force is strong in my family"

The brand new Star Wars trailer just dropped and it's pretty epic!

The trailer gives us a look at some familiar faces, as well as the newbies and of course lightsabers, explosions, stormtroopers and more!

We can't wait another 8 months for the release.

K.

x

It's been 6 years and i'm still mad that Pushing Daisies got cancelled way too soon.

The fantasy, comedy, drama was created by Bryan Fuller, who is also the brain behind shows like Wonderfalls and Hannibal.

Pushing Daisies tells the story of Ned the Pie Maker who has an incredible gift (other than being able to bake delicious pies), he can bring the dead back to life with a slight touch of his finger-BUT only for a minute, and if they just so happen to stay alive for over 60 seconds then someone nearby will drop dead in their place. Ned learnt this the hard way when he brought his mother back from the dead as a young boy, which then accidentally killed his childhood sweethearts dad. 

As a man, Ned learns to use his power to solve mysteries with his partner in crime Emerson and then collect the rewards afterwards. All is well until the day he runs into his childhood sweetheart Chuck, dead in her casket. 

Please read this amazing post as to why Pushing Daisies is an amazing show.

K.
x

Here's who walked away with a golden popcorn award this year.

MTV Trailblazer Award

Shailene Woodley

MTV Generation Award

Robert Downey Jr

MTV Comedic Genius Award

Kevin Hart

Best Musical Moment

Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Best On-Screen Transformation

Elizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Best Villain

Meryl Streep in Into the Woods

WTF Moment

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in Neighbors (Bad Neighbours for us outside the U.S)

Best Fight

Dylan O'Brien vs. Will Poulter in The Maze Runner

Best Shirtless Performance

Zac Efron in Neighbors

Best Hero

Dylan O'Brien in The Maze Runner

Best Female Performance

Shailene Woodley in The Fault in Our Stars

Best Scared-As-Shit Performance

Jennifer Lopez in The Boy Next Door

Best Comedic Perfomance

Channing Tatum in 22 Jump Street

Best On-Screen Duo

Zac Efron and Dave Franco in Neighbors 

Best Kiss

Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley in The Fault in Our Stars

Best Male Performance

Bradley Cooper in American Sniper

Movie of the Year

The Fault in Our Stars

K.

x

Someone is bound to be getting fired for this, the first FOUR episodes were leaked a few hours ago and we are currently watching episode 1 of the new season because we cannot wait until tomorrow, and so far so good. But before you settle down and watch the season 5 premiere yourself, here's a quick recap of how things ended last year in season 4.

Tyrion lost his trial by combat ( R.I.P Oberyn )': ) but his brother Jaime helped him escape his cell (remember that cute but brief moment of brotherly love?). Before making his escape Tyrion decided he wanted to seek revenge and instead of finding his dad Tywin he found his former love Shae in Tywin's bed, so he murdered her and then found his dad on the toilet and murdered him too. To avoid death, Lord Varys made a plan to leave with Tyrion, and smuggled him out of King's Landing in a crate.
Jaime helped Tyrion escape after Cersei declared her love for Jaime, and since Cersei hates Tyrion sh*t is going to go down if she found out the truth. She'll most likely seek revenge for her fathers death, even though she wanted to fight him for forcing her to leave King's Landing to marry Loras Tyrell.
His sister Margaery Tyrell is now engaged to the new king, and Joffrey's little brother, Tommen.
Brienne and The Hound crossed paths while she and Podrick were trying to find Arya and they fought to the death, The Hound was left at deaths door as Arya fled to the sea in hopes that a ship would take her north to Castle Black so she could find Jon. She ended up using her iron coin Jaqen H'ghar gave her at the end of season 2 so she could sail to Braavos instead.
Jon Snow and the Night's Watch almost lost their battle to defend Castle Black from Mance Rayder and the Wildling army, but luckily they were saved by Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre (she stayed out of the fighting though). During the battle Jon's ex love Ygritte got wounded and died in his arms and it was a little sad.
 In the Vale, Sansa and Lord Baelish shared a kiss, her crazy aunt Lysa saw and almost killed Sansa, but Baelish came to her rescue and pushed poor Lysa down her moon door. Sansa ended up defending him in the trial.
In the north (which is now controlled by Roose Bolton after he betrayed Robb Stark )': ) Moat Cailin was claimed by the sadistic Ramsay for House Bolton. His reward was to be de-bastardized by his father. And last but not least, Dany discovered Ser Jorah originally started working for her as a spy for Lord Varys, she was understandably quite mad and banished him. But that wasn't her only problem, the cities she conquered descended back into chaos and her dragons had gone out of control. To stop her 'babies' from roasting and eating children, she made the tough decision to chain them in a dungeon. But one of her dragons is still M.I.A.

We cannot wait to discover Braavos and to see the Sand Snakes in action! Especially Obara who is played by Kiwi actress Keisha Castle-Hughes.

Will you be watching Game of Thrones?

K.
X

 Meet your new (and old) mutants for X-Men Apocalypse.

Director Bryan Singer has just officially confirmed what we kind of already knew, that East Enders actor Ben Hardy is set to play Angel, and his confirmation pretty much completes the cast.

He joins the familiar faces of Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Rose Byrne as Moira, James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, and Evan Peters as Quicksilver. 

The young newbies are Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) as Jean Grey

Alexandra Shipp (who played the role of singer Aaliyah in the 2014 TV movie) as Storm

Aussie Kodi Smit-McPhee (recently played one of the leads in the TV mini-series Gallipoli) as Nightcrawler

Tye Sheridan (don't know much about this kid) as Cyclops

Newcomer Lana Condor as Jubilee

and Oscar Issac (who you'll also see in Star Wars this year) as Apocalypse.

Hugh Jackman is rumoured to be reprising his role as Wolverine after he uploaded a photo of his claws, but personally i'm really looking forward to seeing Ben Hardy's beautiful face on the big screen! Here's some new concept art for Angel, which is way cooler than Ben Foster's look in the Last Stand.

X-Men Apocalypse is out May 27th 2016!

K.

x

How to Get Away with Murder is the latest show brought to us by the ever talented Shonda Rhimes, centering around criminal law professor Annalise Keating (played by Viola Davis) and a select few of her best students from her class to work at her law firm. These students include Conor (played by Jack Falahee), Michaela (Aja Naomi King), Asher (played by Matt McGorry), Laurel (played by Karla Souza) and Wes (played by Alfred Enoch- remember him as Dean Thomas from Harry Potter). Annalise's personal life collides with her professional life as her husband Sam Keating is under suspicion over a campus death involving a young girl, along with that her top students become embroiled in a murder.

Season 1 has finished in the US but is still in the middle of being shown over here in the UK on Sky Atlantic and in NZ.

This gripping show has you hooked from start to finish and the unique story line of working it's way backwards to show you how each character got to that point is refreshing, and keeps you guessing what exactly will happen next.

Without giving away any spoilers all I'll say is that I can't wait for Season 2 to answer a lot of burning questions!

S.
X

1. Game of Thrones Monopoly

I've been dying to get this GOT edition Monopoly set! I've unintentionally begun to collect different editions of Monopoly, recently i got the New Zealand edition, so i think this will be perfect for my next addition. I think i may start collecting them properly now.

2. Pop! Figures

Along with Monopoly, i really want to start collecting these Funko Pop figures. I've always wanted to buy one, but i can never pick one because there's so many i want! So why not buy them all and start a collection? I've already pictured how and where i'd put them, so i really want to get started on this little mission to collet them all.

3. The Twilight Zone Box Set

I'm a massive Twilight Zone fan, and i'm enjoying watching the series on Netflix, but i would love to own the box set someday. I think this may be the item that's been on my wishlist for the longest time!

SOPHIE


1. Money to Travel
Having constant wanderlust is a pain in the ass especially when you're a uni student with limited funds. I have a few trips coming up (Amsterdam on Monday and then a week in Croatia on a sailing trip) but i'd love to do more! I'd love to go back to NZ, or go to Dublin or Paris (for the Lourve and Disneyland Paris), Thailand, Japan, Iceland (for the Northern Lights), Spain, Egypt, China.. the list really does go on! However travelling isn't always cheap, sure you can get some good deals but then it's making sure you save enough spending money to be able to have a good time and survive!

2. Cards Against Humanity
I played this game over new years and I had the best fun! If you're someone who isn't a massive fan of the general human population this game is for you! You play it with a group of friends and the aim of the game is to get people to vote for your combination of cards. This is not for the faint hearted or those who are easily offended.

3. Time Turner
I know i've mentioned this one before so it may seem like a cop out but it's not... well not really. I have 19 days left to finish off my 10,000 word dissertation of which i've done about 4,000. I've been struggling to find motivation and the push to keep writing through my writers block. A Time Turner would be super helpful in giving me more time to write the diss.


What's on your list?
S. & K.
xx

Apparently this has been out for a few weeks, but it's new news to us!

a Hunger Games theme park is set to open in Dubai in October next year.

A Lionsgate zone within Motiongate Dubai, will feature attractions (rumoured to be 27 rides) inspired by the Hunger Games franchise, as well as a live stage show based on the Step Up movies.

I am super excited for this, and can't wait to find out more details about the attractions. 

Are you looking forward to experiencing the Hunger Games in real life?

K.

x

Meet Hey Violet

Hey Violet are a little rock back from California made up of two sisters Rena and Nia, Miranda, and Casey (who are all between 16-20 btw). If you're a fan of 5 Seconds of Summer you may have already heard a lot about the group already. The band were just announced as the first band signed to the 5SOS label 'Hi or Hey Records' and they're opening for the boys on their upcoming tour.

The three ladies were all members of an all girl rock band Cherri Bomb who were incredible for only being 13-16 during the peak of their career, opening for bands such as Bush, Foo Fighters, and The Smashing Pumpkins as well as playing major festivals in the States and Europe! Lead singer Julia left the band at the beginning of 2013 and Casey joined a couple months later, it wasn't until February this year that the band decided to change their name to 'Hey Violet'.

I was a big fan of Cherri Bomb and loved Julia's vocals, so once she left i kind of forgot about the band until i saw the 5SOS news. Youngest member Rena now takes care of the lead vocals, and they're still blowing my mind with how awesome and talented they are!

Here is their new single 'This is Why'

K.

x

This is our first blog post in our "How To:" series, the inspiration for the topic has come whilst I've been bed bound for the past week with a flu. 

After living away from home for the past 6 years I've had to become an adult (le gasp) and whilst I can 95% grasp most of these responsibilities like cooking, cleaning, paying bills etc, the one thing I always seem to struggle to grasp is getting sick and having only myself to look after... well me.

Sometimes it can be tough when all you want is a lil nurturing. 

Here are a few tips we recommend to help the adult in you be the nurturer you need...

Our Throw Back Thursday this week is Joan Of Arcadia.

How awesome was this show?! It lasted a good 2 seasons before being cancelled in 2005.
The first season of Joan of Arcadia started off with rave reviews, and even won a few awards and an Emmy nomination. Although season 1 was one of the highest rated new shows at the time, season 2 ratings declined and thus, the show was cancelled.

Joan of Arcadia told the story of teenager Joan Girardi who can see and speak to God. God reminds Joan that she promised to do anything if he let her brother survive a car crash, which he did but the crash left him in a wheelchair. In every episode God appears to Joan in the form of different people such as a cute boy, a child, an elderly woman, or the school lunch lady and Joan is asked to perform tasks.

The show was a big favourite of mine and I would've loved to have seen more of it. If you want to rewatch the series you can do so here. 

Do you remember Joan of Arcadia?

K.
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