Posts from October, 2008

Trudging through mud may not sound like fun at the best of times, but this year”s Maldon Mud Race will no doubt attract hundreds of competitors once again.

On Sunday January 4th, the running of the event will see a range of charities benefit, with corporate sponsorship allowing proceeds to be put towards the good causes.

This is the 7th running of the event, which began in 2002, with 2007”s event raising over £30,000 for charity.

Prizes are available in a number of different categories. In addition to the usual fastest male and female runners, the winning team can also scoop a trophy, as can the oldest competitor and those judged to be wearing the best fancy dress.

Despite the January weather and extremely soft conditions underfoot, thousands of spectators have lined the course over the event”s history to witness this unusual athletic competition.

Those making an effort to dress up or just unfortunate enough be covered entirely in mud by the event”s end could see a picture of themselves end up on the official website.

Active and Adventure – Air Activities – Enjoy an exhilarating helicopter ride over New York or a serene hot air balloon ride over the Australian outback.

For those of you on a mad dash to construct a fabulous last minute Halloween costume for that raging, fun fancy dress party you are attending on Friday, with one objective in mind—to win the (presumably alcoholic) prize for having the BEST COSTUME—I am here to help you…and help you fast! (Whew! Relief!)

If you haven’t seen it already, I wrote a blog last week about Halloween costume shops in London (or Fancy Dress shops in London—whichever term you prefer. You see, there is this British girl in my office (a British girl…in my London office… imagine that…) that refuses to celebrate Halloween on the grounds that it is a “poor excuse for American kids to rob our homes of candy.” What a drag! She’s not invited to my party—that’s for sure. British kids, get your fancy dress on and celebrate with your Yankee brethren. I just know how much you love fancy dress!)

Right, so back to helping you score that perfect last minute costume. My blog last week covered a few costume shops in West London, and though I vowed to visit fancy dress shops in East London, I must admit that I never made it past the vaguely Eastern part of Central London… because I got lost on my way to Bethnal Green, like a tourist. But I did manage to visit these shops:

1. Angels, near Tottenham Court Road tube.

Angels, to be quite frank, was my worst nightmare. Their Argos-style catalog/stock room approach is, in my opinion inefficient and irritating. The catalogues are full of misleading images…i.e. heavily-endowed blonde women, sporting next-to-nothing variations of service-industry uniforms and fairytale gowns…and the costumes are cheap, most of them slutty. However, if you are planning to score a costume on your lunch break today, this is one of the few costume shops in central London. You can probably find something in here—as long as you don’t mind not trying on your costume before you buy it.

“No, you cannot try it on, but we give full refunds if it doesn’t fit and you decide to return it,” said the brainwashed saleslady, as I indicated that their last flapper costume (by the way, they are sold out of a lot of costumes, so go in with an open mind!) was not in my size but could possibly fit—I needed to try it on to see. “It’s the same as buying on the internet,” she reassured me.

“This is not the internet, this is a shop.” I reminded her—in case she had, by chance, forgotten. She didn’t like that very much.

Idea: Base your costume around a wig.

Angels had some great fancy dress wigs—I’ll give ‘em that. Everyone loves a crazy wig. In fact, I would say that a wig could quite possibly be the most hilarious, transforming element of a costume. Forget being a specific character…go wig shopping! Grab some bright purple tresses, some face paint to match, an eyeball decal, a horn, and some wings, and voila, you are a ‘one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater’. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_People_Eater)

Or better yet—grab that amazing mullet, and become an 80’s rocker. Trim the mullet down into a homemade ‘Euro mullet’, and…well I’m going to stop here. After all, I don’t want to offend anyone.

2. Madword, near Old Street tube.

This costume hire facility—if you can manage to find it (it is hidden down a flight of stairs)—is pretty good. The staff were friendly, and (gasp!) they allowed me to try on several costumes. Who would have thought?

Their range of costumes is extensive—you must go in with a specific idea of what you want…and, importantly, a willingness to fork over a nice-sized chunk of cash. You could score a real gem in Madworld, especially if you are after a costume from a certain time period—they offer both the stereotypical (think: ‘Marilyn Monroe’ dress) and more mundane (think: simple sweater and skirt outfit) fancy dress options for almost every era imaginable.

Idea: Pick your favourite era, and try on all of the costumes in the shop section dedicated to that era.

I am guessing that you probably didn’t live in the 1920’s, and I am also pretty sure that not every single female from this era dressed like a flapper when she went out on the town (I speak from personal experience—I tried on several flapper costumes but found some of the other getups in the 1920’s section to be much more interesting).

See what the fancy dress hire shops have in stock for your favourite era, and be creative!

Happy Searching!

Need more Halloween costume ideas? Just ask me – I’m full of them. Seriously, I’ll respond quickly. Carrie Daniel is officially ‘on call’ for all of your Halloween costume inspirational needs until Friday October 31st at 5pm.

Best of luck to you all. May your costumes win you large quantities of cheap booze and/or some hot dates…

London fancy dress/costume shops:

Angels, 119 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8AE

Madworld, 69-85 Tabernacle Street, London, EC2A 4BA

Last week, I stumbled across the most amazing London art exhibition, which I cannot shut up about. Seriously, I’ve already told ½ of my office and all of my friends about it. So, whilst you are out looking for Halloween costumes this week, you must stop by JR’s London art exhibition, entitled ‘28 Millimetres: Women’, near Tottenham Court Road tube station.

The installation is divided into three parts, all of which are worth seeing. I started out in the Charing Cross Road wing of the Lazarides London contemporary art gallery, which is plastered, floor to ceiling, with portraits of the people that JR encountered during his journey through Morro da Providencia, a small, hillside community in Rio De Janeiro.

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While people who can think of nothing they”d rather do less on New Year”s Day than jumping into freezing cold water and going for a refreshing paddle, many thousands around the world seem to find the perfect seasonal tonic year after year.

The annual New Year”s Day swim at Coney Island in New York is perhaps one of the most famous in the world, where plucky aquatic types take to the water off the shore of New York”s Brooklyn borough.

Organised by the Polar Bear Club, "the oldest winter bathing organisation in the United States", the New Year”s Day event is the highlight in a regular series of Sunday swims each week from November through to April.

The event is in support of Camp Sunshine, a charity which supports seriously ill children and their families – meaning that while it may appear a daunting thing to do, swimming in the East River on January 1st is a great way of supporting a very good cause.

The club can trace its origins back to 1903, when Bernarr MacFadden founded the Coney Island Polar Bear Club.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

Of all the music festivals set to wow fans across the world on New Year”s Day, Fuzzy at Field Day 2009 in Sydney promises to be one of the biggest and best.

Dance music fans can look forward to seeing some of the biggest names in the industry as they descend on legendary venue The Domain.

Field Day is part of promoter Fuzzy”s series of events which take place throughout the year, with events catering to fans of dance music in the Sydney area.

Other highlights include the Summa Dayze festival which takes place only a few days later on January 3rd – prospective visitors from the Northern hemisphere shouldn”t forget that while they might be accustomed to cold weather around the holiday period, January is near the peak of Australia”s summer!

Among the guests scheduled to perform are Roger Sanchez, A-Trak, Cicada, Eric Prydz, Santogold and many more, all of whom beckon will you to "start your year here".

The Domain is a large urban park in the middle of Sydney, the largest city in Australia.

Culture and Sightseeing – City Tours – Whichever city you are in these tours will help to ensure you do not miss a thing.

While the National Football League (NFL) has a huge profile around the world, college football remains a peculiarly domestic phenomenon.

During the regular season, thousands of local people turn out to watch college teams play on a level comparable to the top flight of English football. The annual Rose Bowl game on New Year”s Day is the season finale that always tops the rest.

Played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the game pits two of the top teams, usually from the rival Pacific-10 and Big Ten divisions, against one another to find the nation”s best college side.

As might be expected from any American sport, even at this level, the game is surrounded by a raft of statistical analysis and awards for individual performances. There is even a Rose Bowl Hall of Fame into which outstanding players are inducted.

Known as ”The Granddaddy of Them All”, the game forms part of the Tournament of the Roses which opens with a televised New Year”s parade.

The college football system is a prime breeding ground for players entering the professional NFL, which each year”s Draft selection process attracting more punditry and commentary than individual matches.

Active and Adventure – Air Activities – Enjoy an exhilarating helicopter ride over New York or a serene hot air balloon ride over the Australian outback.

Father Christmases from around the world will battle it out once again this year at Clau Wau – the annual Santa Claus World Championships in Switzerland on November 29th.

The town of Samnaun will see 100 Father Christmas impersonators (the attendance of the man himself is, as yet, unconfirmed) compete in a range of specific challenges, such as chimney climbing and gingerbread decoration, they vie for the title of top Santa.

Teams of four compete for the thousands of Euros worth of prizes, but surely the biggest reward on offer will the bragging rights afforded to those who see off all-comers and emerge victorious at this most prestigious event.

The competition has been running since 2001 and this year”s challenge promises to be the biggest, best and most hotly-contested edition yet.

While the event is taking place in Switzerland, Santa Claus” real home is widely known as Lapland in the Arctic Circle, which covers areas of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.

Family – Theme Parks – Treat the family to a day at one of the Disney resorts or to a splashing day out at a Spanish waterpark.

Disco dancers of the world will come together once again in the city of Buffalo in New York State this year for the World”s Largest Disco.

The annual event takes place to raise money for cancer charities and is held at the Buffalo Convention Centre, only a few minutes drive from the world-famous Niagara Falls.

The disco is limited to 7,000 tickets and is sure to sell out once again as it has been known to in the past.

Even those without a ticket can still be a part of the event and raise money at the same time by sponsoring a song, with each contributor”s name shown on the many screens around the convention centre.

The organiser also points out that there will be an even larger ”beer station” than last year, with over 200 bartenders serving across a 160-foot-long bar.

The event began in 1979, where Gloria Gaynor and The Trammps performed live. Attendance by 13,000 people made the event officially the largest disco in history.

Special Interest – Nightlife – From an extravagant meal to an eerie ghost walk – plenty of things to keep you entertained after the sun goes down.

On hearing the word bamboo, most people might think of endangered panda bears. But a unique music festival in Malaysia looks set to change that image for ever.

The Sabah Bamboo Music Festival showcases the instruments and musical styles that this beautiful natural material can create.

On November 26th the town Tamparuli, on the west coast of the state of Sabah, plays host to this event, which features performances from the renowned Kinabalu Bamboo Orchestra, who will delight the crowd on a plethora of instruments made from the material.

Important bamboo instruments include the sompoton, which is a kind of aerophone and the tagunggak, which resembles an idiophone.

Bamboo”s musical applications are not the only thing on offer. Bamboo has been used in a variety ways in all areas of life to those who have grown up with it as a key resource.

Local daredevils will test their balance and skill with bamboo stilt-walking – known as rampanau – and raft-building displays.

This festival offers a unique insight into the way in which people local to this part of the world are adept at using their natural surroundings.

What”s more it raises questions about how all civilisations are pragmatic and ingenious about making the most of what nature provides for them on their doorstep.

There are around 1,000 different species of bamboo found around the world, and it is found naturally mainly in east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Culture and Sightseeing – City Tours – Whichever city you are in these tours will help to ensure you do not miss a thing.

For those who like nothing better than watching grown men perform death-defying aquatic acrobatic feats on a religious holiday, this event could seem like a dream come true.

The spectacle of the cliff diving content on Mexico”s Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe is something to behold each year on December 12th.

Dozens of lithe, lean freestyle diving machines gather atop the perilous cliffs of La Quebrada near Acapulco in Mexico for the annual event, trying to outdo each other with their displays of guile, agility and, perhaps, downright lunacy.

The sight of tanned men in lycra flinging themselves to what looks like their inevitable, if very graceful doom attracts huge crowds, who nestle themselves among the rocky outcrops surrounding the venue all day long.

The highlight of the event is the notorious ”Ocean of Fire”, when a circle of gasoline is lit on the surface of the water below and a select few attempt to hit land in the drink without seriously scorching their Speedos.

The tradition of cliff diving at this locatin dates back to the 1930s and the original friendly rivalry has evolved into a fervent tourist attraction. Nowadays, fearless young men gather virtually every day at 1300 local time to perform for gasping onlookers.

Active and Adventure – Air Activities – Enjoy an exhilarating helicopter ride over New York or a serene hot air balloon ride over the Australian outback.