It's T-Shirt Tiiiiiime!

Jersey Shore is such a guilty pleasure. Except maybe without the guilty part.

DJ Pauly D is my DJing idol. I wish I could be like him.

(Ooooh tricky, where does the sarcasm start and where does it end with this post?!)

Night Demons vs. Gym Bunnies.

You know what is a really awful feeling? When you're walking home after a night out, the sun is just coming up, and you're being passed by early morning joggers.

I feel the judgement emanating from those lycra-clad gym bunnies.

It's an even worse feeling than when the lights come on at the bar and you know it's their not-so-subtle hint that it's time for you to go home. But sometimes going home isn't an option. There's more dancing to be had and more discussions about pop music waiting for you back at a friend's flat.

"Bacon and Egg McMuffin please."

When those joggers pass me walking down K Rd, with my scruffy hair and smudged eyeliner, it makes me want to hide behind my coat and melodramatically shout "Don't look at me!" It makes me feel like a demon of the night. Demons don't do daylight.

The only way to deal with that situation is to remember that there was a very good reason for staying out that late (pop music is always a good reason), and that soon you will be in the comfort of bed.

December

December:

good friends, good books, good rooftops, good clothes, good feeds.

all good.

Red Falcon at Big Day Out

So that blurb we had to write the other day for Red Falcon? We have been asked to DJ at Big Day Out! Crazers.

Photographic proof:

There we are, right down the end (the most important people are at the end, obvs.) of Big Day Out's second line-up announcement just before Andrew Tidball.

Does this mean we are legit DJs now? Is it time to make a Facebook fan page? Should we start thinking about crazy costumes or headgear (a la Daft Punk and DeadMau5)?

Synchronised dance moves? We've already got those down... there's the fist pump move and the finger point move.

We're playing a set in the Silent Disco for an hour, which is great because we have never wanted to take this whole DJing thing seriously, so that suits our sense of humour perfectly.

There are two sets of DJs playing at a time, so if no one is dancing to our music, hopefully we will never notice. We'll be dancing anyway.

Most importantly though: will we get catering? Access All Areas passes?

WILL I MEET JAMES MURPHY??

I Just Want One Night With You

I have a friend who is absolutely in love with Mayer Hawthorne. It's not typically my style (where the dance beat at?), but after Sofie at Sssssound! posted the the superb Classixx remix of his song Green Eyed Love, I knew I had to give him another chance.

Hawthorne's debut album A Strange Arrangement was released earlier in the year and is definitely worth checking out, but my other favourite song of his is not on the album - it's No Strings Attached, which is produced by Classixx (see the trend here? Classixx = brilliant).

You know, people always said Barry White is the ultimate swoon-inducing singer but I never really understood. Now that I've heard Mayer Hawthorne, I totally get it. Hawthorne is aaall about the swoon. Just listen to those lyrics! That voice!

"I know you're trying to be good girl, be you imagine what I'm like in bed...

You try to push it aside girl, but it already went through your head

It's one o'clock in the morning, and you're buzzing like a honey bee

You're trying to control it, when you wanna just come home with me"

Specsy.

He's playing at SploreCity in Auckland next year, which unfortunately is the same weekend as Campus A Low Hum, so I won't be going.

But you should!

(please don't mention anything about me being a bad blogger, believe me, I know. Sssshhh... )

Oh My Blog: 9eyes

9eyes is a Tumblr blog that is curated by Jon Rafman. He posts the best screen captures he finds from Google Street View.

There are some insanely beautiful and bizarre scenes and, of course, hookers loitering on street corners.

You can listen to the podcast of my full review of 9eyes here.

The Three Levels of Partying, According to Red Falcon

'Level One: That time that we played the Ramones, then Blondie, then New Order.
Level Two: All songs with 125bpm (our favourite bpm), e.g. Cut Copy, YACHT and Metronomy.
Level Three: The peak of a Red Falcon set. Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and Will Smith's 'Miami'.

"They're my all-time favourite girl group." - Diplo.'

We recently had to put together this little blurb for something very exciting we've been asked to be involved with, which hopefully I can reveal to you in the next couple of days.

We're DJing at D.O.C Bar on K Rd this Saturday for my friend Henry's 21st, you should come and dance with us!

Oh My Blog: Always | Sometimes | Anytime

Wallflower by Chelsea Jade Metcalf.

This week on Oh My Blog I featured a new website called Always | Sometimes | Anytime, which is run by Courtney Sanders here in Auckland.

The blog / website "is a platform committed to exposing emerging creative talent to an audience of people who are similarly motivated and inspired."

Love is a Building on Fire by Daniel Luxford.

And it's darn good, especially the fashion editorials. It has only just started but already there is a really high calibre of content - if you want to get involved you can get in touch with Courtney via the website.

You can listen to the podcast of the full Oh My Blog review here.

Writing is Spooky

Norman Mailer, sly dog.

"The moment I think of a good plot, I find that the book becomes impossible to write, because I know I won't believe it. Life may consist of people plotting all the time, but the plots rarely develop. We decide: I'll make this move in my life, and that should result in the following - then life confounds us. So I prefer a story that develops out of the writing. I don't like one that moves ahead of my characters, because then my people won't live."

-Norman Mailer, The Spooky Art - Thoughts on Writing.

Norman Mailer's approach to outlining the plot is vastly different to J.K. Rowling's, who created a spreadsheet for each of her Harry Potter novels.

Here's one from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Rowling outlines each chapter in detail, including the title and plot. It's interesting to look at the subplots too, where even if a storyline (such as Cho/Ginny) isn't mentioned in a particular chapter, she has still thought about how they are developing.

Hmmm, two writers whose work I have grown up with and who have also influenced my working and writing style, and they each have well-reasoned ideas about the process of plot development.

Just as well I'm not a fiction writer, eh?

Sunday Style Snaps

Photo Credit: Vanessa Jackman and various sources.

There is something so feminine about wearing a long skirt - I like to make my movement slightly more dramatic as to encourage the fabric to float around with me. Dancing in a long skirt is the best. How elegant!

Just don't trip as you walk upstairs in your ankle-length skirt. Negative elegance.

Oh My Blog: the LCD Soundsystem Version

So LCD Soundsystem have named their video diary "Oh My Blog", which they must have gotten from me, so I expect a royalty cheque in the mail soon please James... (For those who are wondering, this is the original Oh My Blog)

No but seriously... the guy who puts them together, Jay Green, has an amazing sarcastic wit.

Watch part one for a dancing James Murphy, part two for a blow job chocolate fountain (I still don't really know what he means) and part three for a mouth farting Nancy Whang.

You will download in your pants when you see it.

Also, this photo:

Love it. James Murphy gets as excited as I do about Arcade Fire. What a guy.

Sunday Style Snaps

Photo Credit: Hanneli, Vanessa Jackman and Various Sources

I am still very much in love with detailed collars.

Happy Long Weekend!

I'm staying with my family in Tutukaka (just north of Whangarei) for the long weekend and it feels like summer is finally here.

I suppose it helps that this is the view from the front yard and Best Coast is on the stereo.

I just need to stop being so darn pale so I can have bare legs as the weather gets warmer... I'm almost considering investing in the Jersey Shore 'GTL' lifestyle. Almost.

Bloggers at Fashion Week

Bloggers take over NY Fashion Week

Wednesdays are the media days on bFM's Morning Glory and I hosted the show yesterday since Charlotte is away having a fabulous time in Fiji.

With New Zealand fashion week happening next week, I invited Isaac Hindin Miller of Isaaclikes.com and Murray Bevan from fashion PR company Showroom 22 to come into the studio to talk about fashion bloggers at fashion week. It was a super interesting discussion and Murray and Isaac had plenty of good points to make.

We talked about what makes a good blogger, how to decide who to put in the front row, Rumi Neely at New Zealand Fashion Week and the impact bloggers have had on the more traditional media.

You can listen to or download the audio here

It's My Jam: Miami Horror

I've been following Melbourne's Miami Horror for about a year now, after first hearing about them when they supported Friendly Fires on their Australian tour last year.

Their debut album Illumination was released on August 20 and I have had the songs I Look To You, Sometimes and Summersun on repeat since I got it.

Miami Horror's sound is very similar to Cut Copy's, which perhaps explains why I have been enjoying them so much. To me it seems that if you mashed I Look to You and Summersun together, you'd get Hearts on Fire. It's almost like they've listened to Hearts on Fire and said, "Right, this is an awesome pop song, what do we need to do to make our own version?"

Soooo... I can't really give them points for originality, but I will give them points for making me want to dance like crazy. You will too if you're into that kind of disco throwback electro pop. (Did I just put a whole bunch of genres together and hope it made sense to everyone else? Maybe.)

I Look to You features kiwi singer Kimbra, who has been based in Melbourne for a while now.

I Look To You from Miami Horror on Vimeo.

Oh My Blog: Hungover Owls

Each Wednesday at 11.20am on 95bFM's Morning Glory I review a blog, a feature I named Oh My Blog. There's also a killer Pavement-inspired intro I had made for it thanks to the creative creatives at bFM.

This week I reviewed Hungover Owls, a Tumblr that posts pictures of owls looking a little worse for wear paired with HILAR-ious hungover captions. I'm sure anyone who's ever been hungover can relate. It is a universal concept, afterall.

“MY BRAIN IS SCREAMING. I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT.”

You can listen to the audio of Oh My Blog here.

Russh Magazine is looking for interns

From the Russh Blog:

"Russh is looking for interns.

Details:

The internship is three months in duration and requires being in our Sydney office 2-3 days per week. It’s mainly a fashion role, which is fun, fast-paced and a great insight into the fashion industry.

To apply:

Please submit three past employment experiences - they can be work experience or another internship - along with three people who can vouch for your work ethic. List your five favourite designers; three magazines that inspire you and finally, give us a paragraph on why you think you should be a Russh intern.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Email to: billie@russhaustralia.com"

Sprung.

To my neglected readers, I am sorry. I could give any number of excuses as to why I haven’t been to this corner of the internet in months, but it really bothers me when I read on blogs: ‘I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in two days because blah blah blah…’ So screw it, no lame excuses.

Yesterday was the first day of Spring. There is no better time for a change.

With Oh My Blog on 95bFM (a weekly feature where I review my favourite blogs, you can listen to previous Oh My Blogs here) I always say that the best blogs have their own niche. In Ghost Colours has never had a niche.

The new (spring cleaned) In Ghost Colours will now have more of a definite theme. IGC will still include a lot about what I love in relation to fashion, music and literature, but the media side of it will now be a bigger focus.

I often get other people asking me for advice about breaking into the media industry, and to be honest, it’s really not that hard. But maybe I can share some advice and other things I’ve learnt through my own successes and failures on this here blog.

I will interview my peers and mentors and post the transcripts. I will uncover the latest media news. I hope to pass on valuable advice to anyone looking to get into the industry. I will explain some things about the industry that maybe aren’t immediately clear.

I don’t know of any other blog or website in New Zealand that does this (if you do know of one, please let me know, I’m keen to read it).

I hope to provide stimulating content that gets people talking. In Ghost Colours will be, I hope, as informative and eye opening for you, as it will be for me.

I truly appreciate all feedback. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact.

-Ellen F.