Run to the hills

I'm not coping very well today. I've got a hangover. It was mainly down to meeting up with the back-from-Taiwan Natalie et al in the Price George in darkest Hackney (darkest = anywhere not within walking distance of a tube. I'm a lazy Londoner). I've been informed by Marie that I was participating in some quite embarrassing behaviour. I can't really remember but it sounds plausible. Apologies to anyone who happened to be in earshot of what's best described as my oral flatulance.

But that was part two of the night. It kicked off with the launch party of skateshoe company éS and trainer website/shop Crooked Tongues' Foothills collaboration range at Slam City. There was lots of lovely free beer. Well, I say lots but it ran out in just over an hour. But that was just testament to the size of the crowd the event pulled.

It was good to chat to the Slam City and CT crews, who I am gradually getting to know in my attempts to break into the shoe journalism industry (yes, such a thing does exist. And not just in my head).

Here are some (pretty amateurish) pics of the party.

Despite being there from the start, I didn't realise the t-shirts were freebies – we were in a shop that sells, amongst many other goodies, t-shirts – so I was only able to get a large. When I tried it on, perhaps in keeping with the outdoorsy theme of Foothills, it was like a tent. One for the newly retired to Mum and her sewing machine I think.

Talking of photos. Marie and I were papped in one of the commissioned photographs of the night, which has been posted up on Jake's Alley. I feel like Lady Gaga. But with a smaller...

It's black, it's white, shomon (muthafuka), yeah yeah yeah

For me, saying "no more trainers" is like Bubs going up to receive his "24 hours or a sincere desire to live" keyring. The habit is even harder to kick (if you'll excuse the pun), when Nike SB bring out these brilliantly simple black/white Dunks and Bruins:

Actually, I'm not going to even bother trying to kick the habit and fully intend to "cop" these when Slam City get them in next month (hopefully). Thankfully, I won't have to sell stolen metal or whiteys from a shopping trolley to pay for them.

Update: check out the coincimental timing. I posted this a mere six days before Jacko carked it. Spooky.

Back in the habit

Fear not readers (or, more appropriately, 'the imaginary friends its apparently acceptable for adults to have'), I have returned to the blogosphere after a short hiatus. A hiatus spent in Taiwan. Those of you who can access my Facebook will know I have literally hundreds of photos and a few tales to to tell so might get round to posting about it on here at some point, you lucky, lucky people. Here's a taster, courtesy of Natalie:

Anyway, back to now. When we signed up to the Barnardo's Nun Run, Marie and I were entered into a competition to win tickets to the new Sister Act Musical. We both won and went last night. Although Marie is a musical pro, the last one I went to see was Tommy, probably well over a decade ago. I have to admit that I really, really enjoyed Sister Act. Go and see it. It's a lot of fun.

More in keeping with my usual interests, I went to Slam City and, while resisting the ever-present temptation to buy trainers, took a few pictures of the new exhibition in the basement Nike SB pop-up store. The exhibition is of photos by Jon Humphries to promote the forthcoming SB skate film, Debacle. I was invited to the premiere at Slam but was too busy being on the tube, missioning home from Heathrow after a sleepless 16 hour flight.

The first batch of photos I took were rubbish so I had to go back and take some more. Luckily I don't think they noticed me sloping back in like an amateur. The better pics can be seen in my little write up for N-SB.org. It got a mention on Jake's Alley (right down the bottom), which I was quite chuffed about, even though I might have emailed over the link in the first place...

Oh, something else that's probably worth mentioning – I've got a job. Today I started as Deputy Production Editor for New Media Age magazine. It's only a 13-month maternity cover contract but it's still a step up. So, after being made redundant at Marketing Week, I stayed on two extra months, returned as a freelancer at a much better rate (working about 10 days a month and earning more or less the same as I did as a full-timer), went on holiday and returned to a new job, which basically counts as a promotion – NMA is also a Centaur publication. Take that recession!

No less than Jake

This may be old news as far as this blog is concerned – I did it while I still had a job – but I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Interview with Jake from Slam City about the Nike SB pop-up store