5 Reasons to go to Slam Dunk Festival

Slam Dunk is a music festival which has taken places every year for the past 10 years. It takes place on the bank holiday weekend in May and is spread across three different places across the UK. (North, South and Midlands). I have been going since 2014 and I have never been disappointed. If you like good music, beer and people watching, then this is definitely the event for you.

5 reason to go to Slam Dunk;

• Good Music
  • My highlights this year were definitely Moose Blood (of course) and Mallory Knox. There are so many bands who attend there, you will never be short of music to listen to. Even going to see bands you don’t know could end up in a love for them! I never really listened to Of Mice and Men but as they were headlining, I decided to go and see them and I thoroughly enjoyed them!

•  Friends
  • What can be better than going to an event where all your friends are going? Everybody is in a good mood and excited and you all just have such a good time. There isn’t really that much more explanation needed here.
• People Watching
  • Obviously when you go somewhere where lots of people are there are going to be people who are dressed in the most peculiar way. But this makes a great people watching opportunity!

• Beer
  • Not much explanation needed here either. Beer is good 
• Fun
  • Overall, it is a fun day out and that is what is important. I can guarantee Slam Dunk will be one of your favourite weekends of the year.

BG Productions

How do you write about something you made and promote it without sounding like a massive brag. Truth is, you can’t. This is going to entail major bragging on my behalf, sorry.

My friend, Amie Blair, and I have recently have set up a freelance production company, BG Productions (Blair Gilbert, in case anyone was wondering) and personally I am pretty proud of how much we have achieved. Granted, we only have 2 clients but we’ve gained them in less than 3 months with no promotion whatsoever. Well done us.

5 Reasons Why You Should Hire BG Productions

1. We’re always looking to expand our portfolio

• We will literally take on anything and of course produce a great end product! (Brag)

2. We study media and use cameras/editing software weekly

• Practice makes perfect!

3. We are good. (Brag)

4. We enjoy it!

5. We’re lovely

• Please hire us xoxo

 

5 Reasons To Love Your Uni Library

Why is it that whenever people think of a library they always think that it is boring? Personally, without sounding like a loser, I love my university’s library and I love it so much I brainstormed 5 reasons why you should love it too.

1. The atmosphere of people actually working is so satisfying.

•   There is nothing more annoying than being in a room when you’re trying to work and someone else is talking SO LOUD about their cheating boyfriend called Paul who works in the local chip shop.

2. All of the books there are hard back 

• I really dislike reading books online and so any book that I want to read being a hard back is perfect for me.

3. There is a place where you can make a cup of tea 

• What is a better fuel for creative minds than a nice cup of tea? And for £1 as well, I don’t hear anybody complaining.

4. It is more than acceptable to sit in there and not speak to anybody.

• Nobody will judge you if you are sat alone. In fact it is VERY socially acceptable.

AND FINALLY

5. It is the perfect place to talent spot. 

• Personally, I fall in love in the library approximately 82.5 times every day. It is just a little disappointing when you see the library guy you fell in love with on a night out and find out he has a girlfriend. (Isn’t it Amie? I’m looking right at you).

There you have it. The uni library is sublime.

Lower Than Atlantis + Moose Blood 8/12/15

If you know what it is like to see your favourite band live for the first time then you know exactly how I felt when I watched Moose Blood,  one of Lower Than Atlantis’ support acts, on Tuesday at Leeds Beckett Student Union.

I am a massive fan of LTA anyway, and when I found out they were going to bring Moose Blood along on their tour, I knew I couldn’t miss out on this.

Very nonchalantly, Moose Blood walk on stage and banged out ‘Bukowski’ (the first song I ever heard of theirs) to get the audience going. Of course, everyone immediately started to sing.

They made their way through a majority of their album, ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time to Time.’ (Cracking album). Although, I was disappointed that they didn’t play ‘Anyway’, which is my favourite song on there at the moment. However, it does always change, so I was more than happy with their set.

Man, I love Moose Blood.

As does my friend, Matt, who tried to (and still is) convince us that he cried 10 times during their set. Okay Matt, okay.

Once Moose Blood, was  complete, a big white sheet was placed in front of the stage, blocking the audiences view of what was going on behind that sheet.

LTA came on with ‘Get Over It’, their new song which Radio 1 are all over. And of course, the sheet came down and everyone was pumped.

I was a big fan of the diversity of the songs that they played, including Happy Birthday for Dec. The songs ranged from ‘World Record’ to ‘Criminal’. At one point, Mike Duce and his acoustic guitar were the only ones on stage and he did an acoustic version of ‘Deadliest Catch’ from their 2011 album, ‘World Record’. In the classic Mike Duce manner whilst playing guitar ‘solo’ he goes; “this bits boring, lets have another verse” and skips it so we can all start singing again. Once again, Man, I love Mike Duce.

All in all, it was another fantastic show. Every time I have seen LTA I have never been disappointed and I am always left wanting more.

Photo Credit to: Matt Jones

Moose Blood – Matt Jones

Lower Than Atlantis – Matt Jones

Don Broco – Plug, Sheffield 4/12/15

This was BY FAR the rowdiest Don Broco gig I have ever been to (and I’ve been to a lot)! The push up pits were bigger, songs louder and crowd a whole lot sweatier.

I wasn’t there for the majority of the support acts but what I saw of Coasts I really enjoyed and will definitely be downloading ‘Oceans’, which we all recognised. Where we had heard it I couldn’t tell you.

The atmosphere in Plug was incredible, everyone was excited to see whether Rob Damiani will be wearing his classic polo neck. (He wasn’t) (Sigh).

Whilst we were waiting, the guy behind me was talking to his friends about all my favourite bands (including Neck Deep) AND he was wearing a Moose Blood top. I highly considered turning around and befriending him as I found him so cool.

When Don Broco came on the lighting made them into silhouettes, which I thought was a nice touch and I was a massive fan of.

Something that I’ve never witnessed at a gig before (or ever in real life actually) was that a couple went on stage and got engaged! It was super romantic and I’m pretty sure they’ll remember that moment with fond memories. (Even if the fond memory was hugging Rob Damiani)

Playing songs from ‘Superlove’ to ‘Thug Workout’ (my personal favourite), Don Broco smashed every song as though it was their last. I didn’t expect anything less. And I won’t expect anything less when I see them next week at Brixton.

Until then Don Broco…

Photo Credit to Amie Blair. Check out her blog, excellent read! amielouiseblair.blogspot.com 

Photo Credit to Sam Morris. Fab picture.

Photo Credit To Amie’s Snapchat

Photo Credit to Amie’s Snapchat

 

Photo Credit to Sam

 

Feeling Sorry Susan

These past few weeks, 6 weeks to be exact, have been a complete write off. If you think your November was bad just take a look at mine.

No, it could have been worse. But I’ve basically been ill for 6 weeks, to and from the doctors and with many different types of antibiotics. So it is fair to say all I wanted to do was go home and be fussed by my family. (Which I eventually did and that got me feeling a lot better)

Its funny how much of a cure going home really is. I think maybe because when you’re away from home (and not getting better) you immediately think the worst and getting stressed about being ill on top of uni stress wasn’t making me any better. But once I went home and got a full check up from the doctors I started to feel more like myself again.

Feeling sorry for myself is something I’m not really a fan of doing (all the time) but with it going on for so long, I think I deserved that feeling sorry state.

Now back to Sheffield

The Apprentice

It is that time of the year again where Lord Sugar is on our screens in the boardroom, talking down to his candidates and the candidates themselves stabbing each other in the back. Don’t get me wrong, I love settling down on a Wednesday night with a cup of tea to see who the next person to receive Alan Sugar’s wrath will be, but it down mean that I completely agree with the show.

Firstly, it is completely unrealistic. It is very rare that you would see high-end businessmen scooping up horse manure or making fish finger sandwiches. They would hire people to do the manual work, so that they can get on with whatever else businessmen do. Have you ever seen Alan Sugar, recently, strolling into a muddy field to scoop up his latest product with his hands? The answer to that is no. I understand that everyone has got to start from the bottom, but these candidates aren’t at the bottom, they’re starring in a prime time TV show that has 6.4 million viewers with Alan Sugar as their boss. They’re so far from the bottom, they can’t even see it.

The candidates also are very much made for TV. If they actually listened to each other than it is a high possibility that they would

A) Get so much more done

B) Have so many less arguments

In episode 2 where they had to make a shampoo, the girls decided not to listen to the girl who actually OWNED a salon and go with the woman who sells extensions…which don’t need shampoo…

Although, would a TV show where everyone got on and there was no squabbles make good TV? The answer to that, once again, is no.

All in all, whilst watching ‘The Apprentice’ it is important that you don’t look into it too much (which I obviously made the mistake in doing) and just appreciate it as the entertaining program that it is. You keep doing you Lord Sugar.

Update Number Two

After a very busy few weeks it was hard to fit everything exciting I did into one blog post. SO update number two…

My unlucky few weeks didn’t stop at having a blood infection. I somehow, very stupidly, fell over in Corp (wasn’t even drunk) and cut my elbow open, which resulted in having to visit first aid and have it stuck back together. (Still sorry about that Amie and Sam.)

So, due to my unluckiness, it’s safe to say that when I visited Go Ape I was convinced I would hurt myself. Apparently, one in a thousand people need first aid whilst there and I was prepared to be that one. Obviously and thankfully nobody was hurt and in the end I was very happy I did it. Although that doesn’t mean I want to do it again due to the scariness involved.

That same day I went to see Fall Out Boy at the SSE arena in London. Although, that is for another post.

I have just found out that there are hours available at the cafe at Christmas, so prepare for the stories of waitressing to make a reappearance.

The result of falling over

Family (mum is taking the picture) after being at Go Ape

High in the trees

Looking scared (because I was scared)

Fall Out Boy Ticket

Lazy Lucy

I need to get back into the swing of writing my blog again. Having not updated it in well over a month I thought I would write a quick catch up entry for all my millions of followers. (Hi Dad)

Truth is, I have been pretty busy between going on holiday, moving back to uni and of course, napping.

Ireland was a blast. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my 20th birthday than to be drinking Guinness and perfecting my Irish dancing. Also, I am now a professional pourer of Guinness. Even got a certificate to prove it.

As expected the annual summer party with my family as hosts was amazing. You can’t really complain about partying with your family and all your closest friends. (Apart from two of them, they were missed dearly)

Costa Brava was equally as good. You can’t beat hot weather, nice food and the beach. As you can tell I am a hot weather kinda gal, mainly because I tan easily and everyone looks better with a healthy glow.

I was excited to move back to uni to see all my friends and revisit Corp (dur, thats the main reason I was excited.) Although, getting ill at the start of Freshers Week (thanks to the Spanish bugs who bit me and infected my blood) was not on the original agenda and resulted in me not being able to drink. So going out completely sober was urm… interesting.

Now I’ve been back for a month now and it feels like I never left. I’m back into my routine of napping and Netflix, (not Netflix and Chill). Is there any other way to spend your uni life?

Annual end of summer party

Costa Brava

Miss these mojitos

Rekindling our love for Corp

In Belfast, at the nicest restaurant, on a boat.

Broken Arms Ashley

When I was a waitress I saw a many array of things, some of which i’ll easily forget and others I wish I could. The time with Broken Arms Ashley was one of those ‘I want to forget’ times.

It was nearing the end of the day, so it wasn’t too busy. Although, I wish there was some more people around so they could all feel my pain.

She came in, (which I wasn’t overly pleased about as her personal hygiene is probably that of a goat) and headed straight to the toilet. ‘Maybe I won’t have to serve her’ I thought, how wrong I was…

Broken Arms Ashley waddles out of the toilet with her trousers just above her knees and ASKS ME TO PULL UP HER TROUSERS. I mean, yeah, I understand that she wouldn’t have been able to pull them up as both her arms were in casts (did I tell you that, don’t think I did) but surely she would have known she had that difficulty before coming in and scarring me for life?!