Yes, I litter … occasionally!

I have got a confession to make : I am the occasional litter… mainly, it is my cigarette buds that gets thrown onto the street, but on the rare occasion it will be things such as apple cores and plastic bottles.

I don’t consider my littering as a massive crime, but I will always feel guilty whenever I do it, and the reason why is because I’d rather throw out my littering in a litter box. I’m one of those persons who rarely bring a bag and even rarer, a plastic bag for littering.

My problem is that whenever I litter, I have been searching for a long time for a litter box, and when I find one, it is so full that my own litter would fall out. And when it comes to my cigarette buds, there are very few places where I can extinguish my cigarette and throw it out. So when I litter, I feel guilty, then disappointed by the lack of litter boxes.

The main problem is this : We all litter – some of us litter more than others, but to an extent, we all litter. Most of us litter because we cannot find a place to throw out our litter when we are walking on the streets, and considering that we are approaching tourist season, this will be a problem.

2012 is a great year for London and England in general. Not only have we been celebrating the Diamond jubilee, but we are also hosting the Olympics. This will mean that we will get more tourists this year than the year previously, but we will still have the same amount of litter boxes around in the street, and at a time where we want to show our country at the very best, we will risk the streets flowing with litter. Do you see the same issue as I do?

As an occasional litter due to the lack of litter boxes, I already fear going into London during the time of the Olympics because I will be able to see litter everywhere, and let’s be honest – litter in the street does not give the best impression to the outside world. I noticed this for the first time when I was in Istanbul where there were virtually no litter boxes around and the streets were flowing with litter. Call me snobbish, but it wasn’t nice at all.

So what can we do about it? I suggest that we install more litter boxes and that we let them stay there and that we, most importantly, use them. Think of the image to the outside world – do we want the tourists to be reminded of the littered streets during London 2012? No, I didn’t think so.

So next time when you consider to litter, try extra hard to find a litter box, and perhaps then we can have a cleaner London and England this year. Wouldn’t it be nice to take a walk in Weymouth or London during the Olympics and not see litter everywhere? I know it would make me enjoy my Olympics much more.

Second-hand fur : Okay or No-go?

Hi there!

One of my favourite past-times is going around various towns and take a look at either antique, second-hand and vintage shops. A couple of days ago I went to Lyme Regis (small coastal town in the south of England) and as I was walking through the beach, I noticed an antique shop because they had a violin outside, and although I cannot play the violin, I still decided to check out the shop.

First impression of the shop : IT WAS AMAZING! I continued to think that it was amazing after having gone through the book-section, the jewellery section, the teacup section, you name it... I thought it was amazing right until I discovered their selection of fur coats next to other vintage dresses.

My immediate reaction (as are most people's, I reckon) is that fur coats are an ethic issue that I ought not to attempt writing about. Personally, I would never buy a brand-new fur coat as I would struggle with the moral and ethic issues that a fur coat brings with it. In many cases, we struggle with the thought if the animals had been treated right, and we know, from various articles, that the animals has most likely suffered, and we don't want on our conscience that we contributed to animal suffering.

But what are the ethic issues on a vintage, second-hand fur coat? I decided to ask my friends.

While all of my friends agree that a brand new fur coat is morally wrong, they were more split on the topic of a vintage fur coat. And I understand why, because I felt very split by the issue myself. At one point, I even decided to try out one of the coats, and was somewhat horrified to realise that I didn't feel like I was wearing a dead animal, but rather just a really nice, soft and warm coat. So even with the knowledge that I was wearing real fur, why was I not disgusted?

The answer was, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this, that it was because that this fur coat was a vintage second-hand rather than a brand new one, and when I asked my friends, most of them said that they would rather buy a second-hand fur coat rather than a brand new one, because they didn't feel like they were contributing directly to the fur industry if given the option and if faux fur wasn't available.

However, another opinion was that second-hand fur coats was still wrong as you would still wear a dead animal, and that thought was enough for them to claim it as a no-go area.

But are second-hand fur a no-go or is it okay? I'll let you decide.

I AM EMKA!

Dear readers and others.

Check out Emka - it's recently started, but is good and artistic.

Linkie-link: I AM EMKA

Back with fashion

I've had somewhat of a break from my blog (call it writers block), but I've decided to return to the wonders of blogging with a little input of FASHION...

As most high-street fashionistas would know, Versace recently designed a collection for H&M. At first, I was a little disappointed with their collection, having only seen the press photos, but after looking closely at it, I must admit, that it's actually a pretty cool collection.

Personally though, it's not my style, but it's still worth checking out.

Click on Versace to see their ladies collection.

Cheerio luvvies! :)

The designers you most likely won't hear about.

Earlier this morning, I read about a new concept by Danish-American Gitte Jonsdatter. This concept is called MUUSE.com (just clicky-clacky) and it will help newly-graduated designers from various design schools around the globe to give these new designers a chance to sell their takes of what to wear.
You then order it from the website and the clothes will be sown to suit you specifically in their office in Copenhagen and sent to you where-ever you are.

All of this - amazing! idea! However, there is a but.

While the concept is well thought of, the website is slightly confusing. Or so I find, anyway. Luckily, they do tell you exactly how it works in their section 'About Us' and you've got a possibility to read their blog.

It's definitely worth checking out, fashionistas!

Two Door Cinema Club

I know, I know... it's bad to advertise about music on a blog because people might have different taste than you when it comes to music. Well, I don't care! I urge you to buy the Two Door Cinema Club album called Tourist History, because it's amazing!

And if you don't want to buy it, at least take a listen to this amazing band!

Stylish photos.

I love looking in fashion magazines and at style photos, and sometimes you do stumble on one that is absolutely mindblowing.
While this one is not mindblowing, it's still a very good example of one of those fashion photos that will stay in the back of your mind, even if you aren't into the Olsen twins.

Rest in Peace, Troy Davis.

The 21st of September will be remembered for a case of injustice to an innocent man called Troy Davis.
Troy Davis. It will also be remembered as a day where a great amount of miscarriage of justice occurred.

Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer in 1989, but 7 out of 9 eye-witnesses changed their testimony and there was no physical evidence linking him to the scene of crime. There was simply too much doubt to execute him.

Yet, it happened. The 21st of September at 11:08 pm EST Troy Davis died due to lethal injection.

But there are many Troy Davises out there - and the fight for justice towards them will continue.

Rest in Peace, Troy Davis - the fight has only just begun.

Just a little about fashion.

Whenever I'm shopping, my clothes tends to be either black or other dark colours (the exception is a red dress and a few pastel coloured t-shirts). What I tend to do to get some inspiration is to look at various websites.

Here's my suggestion for a more colourful outfit from Zara:

The Neoprene Studio top:

These wonderful Metallic Trousers:

And to maintain the androgynous look, wear a pair of either brogues or bluchers with the outfit, like these:

I do believe this is a wonderful example that day-to-day clothes doesn't have to be dark! :)

All pictures are from Zara!

The Cranberries - Yeat's Grave Lyrics

I'm a big fan of W. B. Yeats and this song is a wonderful tribute to him. <3

Golden oldie!

A friend of mine and I were talking about favourite Bonds, and when the talk came to Roger Moore, I remembered this theme tune. The Persuaders is one of the best shows ever made, and the theme is equally as good. You're wellcome. Enjoy.

"Hello, my name is Danish"

Hi there!

Often, when I'm out, I get asked where my name is from because it's unusual in England. I've had from "Is it Polish?" to "Were your parents hippies or summat?" (yes, they do actually say summat instead of something) to which I reply that my name is strange due to my Danish heritage (imagine the people I'd be talking to say "Ooooh!" by this point).

But to be quite honest, I don't talk that much about the fact that I'm Danish, because it's not the first thing that springs to mind (and quite frankly, I've been a bit embarrassed about it due to Denmark's human rights breeches and having the Danish People's Party in power), but after Denmark had an election two days ago, I feel I can finally talk about it again and be less embarrassed about my own country. But enough about politics.

I've recently been listening to a lot of Danish music (including added song), and it's brilliant. I often forget how good Danish music can be, and I'm beginning to throughly enjoy that.

And so what if I've got to wear a nametag saying "Hello, my name is Danish" whenever I go out? At least I can enjoy some music that the people in England would never get the chance to hear. :)

X-Factor vs Little Britian? Have them both.

My friend Christoffer showed me this clip, and I quite frankly couldn't stop laughing.

Designer shoes and clothing vs High Street

Hi there!

Whenever I buy a fashion magazine (which I often do to look at shoes), the magazine often mentions a website called net-a-porter.com.

So today, I decided to check it out, and I remembered why I don't go to pages like that, because I go: "Oooh, I like that! OH! I like that too! I want that!" (this could go on for hours, so I usually only look for an hour).

http://www.net-a-porter.com/ shows designer brands such as Jimmy Choo, but prices are pretty steep, so I usually try to check out TK Maxx's website, just to see if they've got good fashion for an affordable price.

But most of all, I do like shopping in high-street shops (and their websites) such as Zara, New Look and places like that (in fact, 9 out of 10 of my current shoes are from New Look, who often sells leather shoes for about 25 quid), because you can really find an amazing bargain there. And as long as it suits me and is fashionable, should I then care if my shirt or skirt says Calvin Klein?

No, not really... but I'll probably spend a lot of time dreaming of the stuff on net-a-porter anyway, like these shoes:

A bit about a non-existing band called t.A.T.u

About a decade ago, there was a duo of two Russian girls (called Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina) who pretended to be lesbian and lovers called t.A.T.u. After having had a bit of fun pretending to be lovers during their first record, they released two other records (which never sold very well, which I can only assume is due to the lack of talent from both girls) and then split up after hardly no touring, delayed albums, one of the girls having two babies with two different men and a video where a pregnant woman gets shot, and they both decided to go solo.

I stumbled over this video from Lena Katina, who apparently is well into recording her first solo album, and I wondered: Why did they both say that they didn't want to do anything t.A.T.u, yet Lena doesn't seem to let go of the thought of Yulia Volkova being in a band-ish (or in this case, in a video)?

I decided to compare the two singers solo stuff with each other, and realised that Lena actually has the better voice. Where Yulia Volkova has a raspy voice that shows clear signs of no actual training, Lena has, at least in the video, what appears to be a very clear and strong voice. Yet, if you actually meet t.A.T.u fans, they all seem to be liking the voice of Yulia Volkova the best (at least, that's my experience), so is it about the appearences? Are they only just remembering the voices from 2000/2001 or 2002 (whenever they came out first) or is there something to Yulias voice that I just can't hear that makes it great?

And if you compare the two singers, who is most likely to succeed? Will it be the raspy voice of Volkova, who will most likely not tour (and if she does, she will most likely do it in Russia) or will it be Katina who seems to have the better voice?

Personally, I don't really care. I can tell you now that you've just wasted about 5 minutes reading about a shit-all "analysis" of a band no one cares about, just so you can read the fact that the only reason I uploaded this video is because I really like the egg-shell dress Miss Katina is wearing. She should get rid of the gloves though.



Much love from here!

The little introduction.

Hi! My name is Rikke.

I'm not exactly the best blogger in the world, but I will try to update the blog everyday. To make sure that you, the dear reader, doesn't feel like you're wasting your time, I can tell you know that I'll address subjects such as literature, fashion, movies, history (and religion) and other matters in the world, and about once every month, I will post one of my short stories.

If you still think that this would be worth reading, then please carry on, and for that, I will say Thank You.