Come and Talk To Me

In a world of shortened forms of communication, is the art of conversation dead? There are certain times when 140 characters or less really won't do, and charming the pants off someone certainly falls into that category. However, when you spend your days firing off short witticisms on Twitter, crafting a tantalising in-depth message to a potential hottie on OK Cupid at night can seem like a rather daunting task. From what I can gather after talking to my friends about this, it does seem to be men that have a problem with this more than women too. So... are there any chaps out there these days who are blessed with a silver tongue? If you think that's you, here's your chance to prove it! Inspired by an event in Toronto where men competed to seduce the city’s finest female bloggers via the spoken word alone, an event called Come and Talk to Me has now arrived in London. Presented by Sh! Women’s Emporium in conjunction with MetAnotherFrog.com:

"This event aims to settle the debate about whether or not modern men can actually hold a decent conversation. Has sexting replaced dirty talk? Has an hour-long G-Chat session replaced the 'until the sun rose' marathon phone calls of the past? Come and Talk to Me is our effort to find the man who understands that great wordplay can be the most electrifying foreplay; that to unlock her legs, he must first unlock her mind. More than a few good Canadian men rose to the challenge – will you?"

If you fancy taking part, you can talk about anything you like. Read a passage from a book, tell the judges about your day at work, engage a lady in the audience in some sexy small talk... anything goes. The judges and women in the audience want to be assured that the art of conversation is not entirely lost. Judges will provide feedback and the audience will cast votes, with the night ending with one man being named London’s most 'cunning linguist'. How can you resist that title? There are only about eight spots available to compete, so get in there quick! If you want to register to take part, send an email with your name, contact information and proposed topic to erose@metanotherfrog.com before 8th August.

If you want to go along to Come and Talk to Me, it's on Thursday 11th August 2011 at Sh! Portobello Road, 7.30-9.30pm and tickets are £3.

Beer for women? Beer for all!

When Animée lager was launched, earlier this month, the only things I heard about it were bad. The main gist of what was being said online is that there are far better tasting beers already on the market, and brewers should stop marketing their products solely to men rather than waste time and money on developing bland and patronising alternatives aimed at women. There are so many amazing beers out there that simply being introduced to more of them is all that many women would need in order to start drinking the stuff. In her Guardian article, Melissa Cole (who runs the blog Taking the Beard out of Beer) points out that:

Several pieces of research – ironically including one done by the Molson Coors' "girly arm", BitterSweet Partnership – clearly show that there are several factors that stop women from buying beer: a lack of education, too much gassy rubbish and ugly glassware. Top of the list, however, is that they find the inherent sexism in beer advertising and marketing off-putting – and there's certainly little that says "it's not pink and fruity enough".

A trip to Belgium would certainly open the eyes of any non-beer drinking female. Working my way through a tiny selection of the beers available at Poechenellekelder, I was delighted by the branded glassware that came with every bottle, amazed at the differences in taste, and relieved that more types could be tasted due to the lack of pint measures. None of the beers were especially masculine or feminine in look (even the fruit beers are simply 'fruity' rather than 'girly'), and the whole experience was one of taste rather than getting drunk for the sake of it. Beer in the UK needs to shed its macho image and start appealing to more people. If certain groups of women want to drink something that looks like it's been designed by the same people who do the covers of 'chick lit', then I'm sure they would prefer to stick to wine, cocktails and alcopops. Personally, I think I'll stick with real ale... because it tastes good.

BitchBuzz: The Honest Women's Magazine

For ten years, if not more, I have been searching for reading material that is both easy to digest and also appealing. After buying many well-known women's glossies in my late teens and early 20s, I came to the conclusion that the majority of the content is massively recycled and there really are very few new ideas. Even if I did still want to read about 'how to keep your man' and 'get the perfect beach body', the articles are practically the same as they were last year and so reading them again will teach me nothing new. In 2003 I wrote about a new magazine for women called Be Unlimited that appeared to be more inspiring than most, but sadly there weren't many issues produced before it closed. Aside from the weekend supplements of quality newspapers, things weren't looking good.

These days, the ability to publish a magazine online without the need for physical print runs, distributors and retailers (plus the complications that each of those bring with them), has ensured that it's easier for those who have the vision to be able to keep going. It's been nearly 3 years since BitchBuzz was started by Cate Sevilla and, as soon as I found it, I wanted to not only read the site but to write for it too. Varied, intelligent and original, BitchBuzz gives women interesting content without assuming it knows what's best for them. It's an honest magazine, but it will never claim to know how to 'fix' you because... as we all know, you don't need fixing! The BitchBuzz Manifesto says:

"All we wanted was a funny, informative, feisty website for women that covered all of the things we were interested in. After years of looking, all we found were websites that were either overly snarky, ridiculously serious, or disappointingly fluffy. This proved especially difficult when trying to find like-minded women’s websites and magazines for us to write for."

BitchBuzz still aims to fill the gap in the market for magazines aimed at intelligent women with varied interests and I hope that it continues to do so for meany years to come. Not just because I enjoy writing for the site though. If it ended, what on earth would I read?

How Do I Look?

The clothes we wear are often chosen because of the image we wish to portray to the rest of the world. Aside from garments selected because they are suitable for a specific task, like exercising, most people choose items they like the look of or garments that make them feel confident. Do we dress for ourselves or for other people? Well, if you’ve ever asked “how do I look?”, then you will have cared about what others think of your appearance at some point. But I wonder why on earth we should care.

I have never really seen myself as fashionable. Despite having a love of fashion since my childhood - where my favourite toys were Barbie and my Fashion Wheel - I have never been a follower of trends. I can spot them easily enough, but I can also see when they won’t suit me, so I pick and choose garments based on personal taste. As a teenager, I was surprisingly comfortable with dressing differently to my friends but, in my 20s, I wasn’t quite as bold with my choices. Once I reached my 30s, however, I slowly began to find my own style.

Now that I’m comfortable with my body, I have become more aware of what flatters my shape. Since a personal style consultation a couple of years ago, I now find it easier to spot garments that will suit me, making shopping trips easier and more fun. I’ve rediscovered the fun in fashion and it seems to show, if the number of compliments I receive is anything to go by! The strange thing is that, these days, I really don’t dress for other people’s approval. So, how do I look? Confident, relaxed and perhaps a little bit quirky. Rather a lot like how I feel, actually.

Image by Leng Montgomery.