Sleeping Beauty

Thanks to so many bad experiences with panto, I've always figured that I'd been put off for life. To me it's always been tacky, childish and an exercise to be avoided at all costs thanks to my annual primary school trip. It was always a disaster: something went wrong on stage, the audience frequently loved to heckle and it was universally awful. As my first forays into theatre were through panto it's a miracle that I stuck with it to become such a huge fan of the stage today.

However, I'm a firm believer in second chances and although I disliked an awful lot (everything) about the primary school trips to Crewe I wasn't about to let bad memories of shocking productions taint my opinion of panto now. Surely it's deserving of a second chance? I wanted to do something quintessentially Christmassy to mark the end of my last Michalemas Term at university and so I leapt at the chance to see Sleeping Beauty at the Park Theatre. Would this shake my long standing hatred of panto or confirm my previous theories were correct?

Best Dressed 2013

Awards season is almost upon us and a tidal wave of red carpet fashion is about to hit. It's without doubt my favourite time of the year, and for me there's nothing better than when everything I love collides over the next few months. It's this combination of film and fashion that inspired me to begin doing Best Dressed lists, focusing primarily on my favourite awards.

Since I started I've become much more aware of what styles I like and which I really don't, which designers I covet, and who I know will always display sartorial excellence. Although I don't do blog posts on them all I'm always glued to reports on premieres, festivals and talk shows not only because of the films and the gossip, but also to scope out the fashion.

It only seems fitting to round off 2013 with a selection of the looks that I've simply adored and the people who just seem to constantly get it right fashion-wise over the last twelve months.

The Hazel Pear Inn

It's been a Christmas tradition for as long as I can remember that every Christmas Eve my Dad goes out for lunch with all his friends and the lads from work. Each year my mum and I would be at a loss for something to do while he was out, going from chilling in front of the television to frantically wrapping presents to doing a spot of last minute shopping. He'd come home full of tales of delicious food, so last year Mum and I decided to start our own Christmas tradition and go out for our own girly Christmas Eve meal.

Mince Pies

After blogging something a bit different yesterday with my take on an Alternative Christmas Pudding, today I'm going with something traditional: the humble mince pie. Shops have been flooded with them for what feels like months, and with so many different brands on offer picking the right one can be an absolute minefield. According to my family it takes a lot to beat Morrisons' lattice-topped or Marks and Spencer's deep-filled-all-butter, but a homemade mince pie is incomparable.

Alternative Christmas Pudding

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. 

I hope I never stop getting excited by fairy lights, advent calendars and decorating the tree. I can watch Elf, Love Actually and The Santa Clause millions of times and still laugh at every joke even though I know what's coming, and I relish taking a highlighter to the TV guide to plan a suitable television schedule for the holiday period. I eagerly anticipate the arrival of Starbucks' famous red cups and take a photo of the Christmas tree in Covent Garden every time I walk past it, the novelty of seeing it clearly showing no signs of wearing off. You can't talk about Christmas without mentioning the food. Every family I know seems to stock up on nibbles and mince pies and Quality Street in December as if we're heading towards an apocalypse. It's a universally accepted fact that for the few days of Christmas all sense of calorie counting and being good goes totally out of the window, and there's nothing more dangerous to healthy eating than a spot of Christmas baking. 

Since I've been home the oven has been working over time. I started today with a recipe from everyone's favourite supermarket (and general life-saver) Marks and Spencer. It's on their website as a Special Christmas Brownie, but it turned out as more of a dessert so I think it would be the perfect alternative to Christmas Pudding, if you're not really a fan and also a bit of a chocoholic.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

British Library Christmas Market

At the moment, I feel like I live in the British Library. I'm there at least every other day and have become weirdly possessive over a particular desk in my favourite reading room.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I love Shakespeare. Always have, and I hope I always will. 

The Day of the Doctor

Doctor Who is as British as a perfectly made brew and as iconic as the Queen.

Over the last 50 years it's woven itself into the tapestry of our culture and helps to define what it means to be British. Everyone's heard of the Doctor, harbours a (not so) secret desire to travel in the Tardis at least once, and knows of the terror of the Daleks. Having an in-depth knowledge of the zygones, the origin of "Geronimo!" and just why that fez is so significant doesn't matter. Yes, of course it helps, but it's not a total necessity. That's the beauty of Doctor Who, it's accessible to all: young and old, new fans and diehard Whovians.

Summer Musings

I've had the best summer.

Primetime Emmy Awards 2013 Best Dressed

Television really is having a moment.

I normally merely have a passing flirtation with television shows and can take them or leave them, only choosing to mildly obsess over Downton Abbey or Grey's Anatomy or Sherlock, and occasionally indulging in the odd mini-series. I don't watch many shows - helped by my lack of a TV - and have long since accepted that I'm in a long term relationship with films. Recently, however, thanks to an obsession with Breaking Bad akin to the effects of meth onscreen I've become more and more aware of, and interested in, the television world. It may just be because I'm suddenly more attuned to it, but it seems to me that television is better than it's ever been. The calibre of acting, editing and directing has sky-rocketed, and I'm continually having to re-revaluate my preference for film over television in the face of overwhelmingly stunning shows.

About Time: Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House

Nothing makes my heart pound and my face light up like a good film. 

I'm not a fussy film-watcher as I'll see pretty much anything and my taste is eclectic and often unpredictable. I'm as happy watching the Cornetto trilogy as I am seeing Gregory Peck reluctantly shoot a rabid dog or Bridget Jones orchestrate a dinner party with blue soup, omelettes and marmalade. My breath is caught when I spot a girl in a red coat and as Gotham city falls to the hands of a masked tyrant. I'm on the edge of my seat equally as velociraptors tear apart a kitchen looking for frightened children and the hallowed halls of Hogwarts are blasted to pieces. I get that inevitable lump in my throat as an old man steers a house tied to thousands of balloons on an adventure to fulfil a childhood promise and Tom Hanks screams WILSONNNN. I’m fired up and inspired as Idris Elba promises to cancel the apocalypse and the USS Enterprise reaches warp speed once Sulu remembers to disengage the external inertial dampener.

It's moments like that provide that unavoidable heart flutter, that tingle of excitement and that small smile that appears before you can do anything to stop it. 

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Subscribing to The Times has to be one of the best things my mum's ever done. Last night I was lucky enough to see the critically-acclaimed play The Cripple of Inishmaan followed by a post-show Q&A with Daniel Radcliffe thanks to the team at MyTimes+.*

*and I literally bumped into Jon Hamm. omgggggg!!!

A Curious Night at the Theatre

Every now and again I come away from a moment feeling so happy, so lucky and so inspired that I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to: be it applying for an internship I'm convinced I'm not good enough for, traveling round the world at the drop of a hat, or walking up the stairs at Covent Garden tube station (harder than it looks: there's a lot of steps...). There's simply nothing I can't do and 'impossible' is no longer a word in my vocabulary. It's a magical feeling that I've not experienced for a while, but the floodgates were opened when I emerged into the cool night air on Shaftesbury Avenue following an utterly fantastic and totally unique evening at the theatre.

Trooping the Colour 2013

No-one does pomp and pageantry quite like the British, and the annual Trooping the Colour is the perfect example of Britain doing what we do best in a military ceremonial display performed by regiments of the British and Commonwealth armies. The colours, or flags, of the regiments were used as an assembly point in battle and were carried or 'trooped' in front of the soldiers daily so that each soldier would recognise his own regiment's colours without delay.

Since 1784, Trooping the Colour has also been used to mark the official birthday of the British sovereign. Queen Elizabeth was born on 21st April, but by publicly celebrating in the summer there is - in theory - a greater chance of good weather (however as it's Britain there's always a 90% chance it'll rain). It also coincides with the publication of the Queen's Birthday Honours List. The Queen has attended Trooping the Colour every year of her reign, except in 1955 when a national rail strike cancelled the event.

The Graham Norton Show

It's like the saying goes: you wait for one bus and then they all come at once. Having had two months doing nothing but bury myself in books, as soon as my exams finished I've been exhausting myself scurrying all over London going to various different events.

Yesterday really was a night to remember as my friend and I spent the evening watching the series finale of The Graham Norton Show be taped. Watching a television show be taped is something I've always been dying to experience and so a couple of weeks ago I looked into applying for tickets to be part of the audience of a couple of different shows. I love watching The GNS every Friday and thought it was worth filling in the application form on the off-chance that I was successful. Luckily I was, and even though I got tickets to my lowest preference evening I had no intention of turning them down, and set about texting my friends to see who'd like to come too.

The Medium Purple Box

Anyone that knows me knows that I love to send and receive post. There's something about the process of selecting a card, using your favourite pen and hunting for your book of stamps; going to the post office and entrusting a parcel with the postman; and guessing the origin of the handwriting on a letter waiting on your doorstep that I relish over technology. E-mail really does lack a personal touch.

The Mrs Carter Show 2013

Exams have greatly hindered my ability to blog over the last month, but now they're out the way normal service can resume. First things first, I was lucky enough to see Beyoncé when she performed at the O2 in London as part of The Mrs Carter Show world tour. I wish I'd blogged about this sooner but as a testament to how good it was I can still remember it fresh in my mind as if it was yesterday. Seeing her in person has confirmed that when I grow up I want to be Beyoncé.

About Time

The first trailer has just been released for time-traveling rom-com About Time. Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy, it tells the story of Tim (Gleeson) who at the age of 21 is told an incredible family secret by his father - that all the men in his family have the ability to travel in time. He can relive any moment in his life to try things differently until he gets them perfectly right, including wooing the beautiful Mary (McAdams).

It's classic Richard Curtis, but I think it still looks fun. Thoughts?

U.K. Release Date: September 6, 2013

Arqiva BAFTA TV Awards 2013 Best Dressed

Tonight marks a celebration of all things television with the annual BAFTA TV Awards. The categories are extremely strong this year, and I'm excited to see a full list of the winners in about an hour... I have my fingers crossed particularly for Olivia Colman (Supporting Actress for Accused / Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for Twenty Twelve), Graham Norton (Entertainment Performance / Entertainment Programme) and all nominees related to The Hollow Crown and Parade's End. There's been a lot of fantastic British television this year, but they have to be my absolute favourites. My fingers and toes are crossed!

The red carpet was predictably soggy and umbrellas were out in force as London showed that the last few weeks of glorious sunshine were a total fluke and it's back to business as usual. That being said, a spot of rain didn't affect the fashion, and there were plenty of stand out looks this evening unhindered by the weather. Suspense was building all afternoon thanks to the #BAFTAStyle hashtag on Twitter, so it's lovely to finally see the outfits in full now instead of teases on Instagram!