To Look Back & Smile

Yesterday I had a day off work. Usually I would not do much with my days off because I either use them to save money or I use them to relax and bum around. Yesterday it was such a beautiful day that I knew it could not be missed. I decided to go to the park with a friend and with the sun burning down on us, the wine free flowing and the sexy people all around, all I can say is “what a day” Knowing me I decided to use the day as a photo taking opportunity and took photos throughout the day (which is great because I can look at these pictures in winter and remember the few says that turned into our summer) Even though I did not do much it was one of those days where I can look back happily and remember the good times. The last photo that I have shown you on this page of the tree just sums up the whole day. I was laying on the grass with my eyes closed, listening to all that was going on around us and as I opened my eyes I took a photo exactly where I was looking with the camera next to my head and that was my exact view. It is just amazing. Everything around us (even the people) were beautiful and as you can see by some of the photos that I have uploaded, there was nothing that you could complain about. When I got home and the sun started to set, I watched it disappear out of the sky and for the first time in a very long time I could honestly feel so happy to be alive to witness this. From what was such a bad and gloomy British summer finished as a perfect gem and I now have these memories to take into the what will probably be a dark, grey and miserable winter (that I am going to make amazing with mulled wine!) 

Enjoy the photos and if the weather is good near you then enjoy it whilst it is here 

What happened to Beetham Tower London?

At the start of September, I started a blog called “what ever happened to 15 Penn Plaza” a striking new building that had been accepted (after much controversy) to be erected near the one and only Empire state building. Penn Plaza has since slipped off the radar with no new news on what is happening with its development. Crossing over the Atlantic and we are having a similar problem with the Beetham tower! There has been no new news on the tower’s development since February of this year and with its “completion date” nearing, next year to be precise, some of us are actually wondering where the tower is. The building itself is very striking and in my opinion is a much needed breath of fresh air (well not so fresh) for the area of Blackfriars road that it will be situated in. As we can all guess, the completion date will have clearly been thrown out of the window. I really can not see that a tower of its scale could be built in a year (saying this though, the Tate Modern extension is planned to go up extremely fast) but after everything that has happened with this tower, failing funds, companies going bust, hotel chains anchoring and then disappearing, I am wondering if there are any plans to build the tower at all. If the tower is not built then this will be a huge disappointment to everyone who has been involved in its plans. Beetham have had to fight, re-plan, change, beg and pray for its approval which had taken years for it to achieve, and now being accepted, if all of this hard work is just thrown away then I can not see a building on this site for many, many years to come. I do hope that after all the rubbish and push backs that this tower has had to go through, in a couple of years it will be standing, with its reflection glistening in the water. If anyone has any news or information on the Beetham London tower or 15 Penn Plaza then please let me know. Two great buildings with very murky futures so it seems. 

enjoy, thatmfeeling 

Xfactor USA: Cheryl Cole

Okay, I understand that the episode has been out for a while, but I have only just gotten around to watching it and there was one thing that I was really shocked about. The whole topic of my conversation was embedded with Cheryl Cole. I have to admit firstly that I am not a fan of Ms Cole but, after watching the USA Xfactor there is one thing I will say. It was a big mistake dropping Cheryl from the show! I love Nicole Scherzinger but to watch her on Xfactor was awful. She comes across so plain, boring and just not what you would expect from a show like this. Cheryl on the other hand seemed so fresh, interesting to watch and got into the show much more that the others. I am glad that they kept Cole in the first part of the show because I think it will create an interest with her and by reading some of the reviews already, it looks like they have been set in her favor. I am not saying that this is anything to do with Nicole but I found the second half of the Xfactor rather boring and predictable so decided to turn it off. I know that it that it will stay as these current four judges at least until the end of the season but I do think it was a great idea to put someone fresh and less known on the show to create that buzz. I don’t know what it is exactly but Ms Cole gave something to the show that is now missing because of her departure. This is from a non fan, they should have given her the chance!

Above: How Cheryl lines up with the team

Signing out, Thatmfeeling

Nicola Roberts: Cinderella's Eyes

It is nearing the release of Nicola Roberts album and I have to say that I will be buying it! It is nice to hear an album that sounds different to anything else that is out at the moment. What shocks me with her is that she was, in my opinion the worst Girls aloud member because she never had much presence, yet without the other Girls Aloud singers she shines brighter than them all! I am listening through all the sings now and I really like the song “I” Roberts voice just sounds so strange that it makes you want to listen to the song out of intrigue rather than anything else. My favorite song on the album at the moment is probably “Gladiator” its upbeat, electronic and just fun (even though I can’t see this making its way into a club unless it gets a remix) All in all I think the album is a fresh taste on music. I worry that it will not be received positively by the public because it is apparent that the public does not really like change (I hope they prove me wrong!) I do not think that the album is very club or even radio friendly but I do think that it is extremely home friendly and I will be listening to it all the time. Roberts has changed my entire view on her and I really am a big fan of hers now, I will look differently at her in Girls Aloud too! She has a fresh taste, a different style (in clothes as well as music) and I am glad that she is trying to buck the trend with a new angle to what was becoming very boring Girls Aloud music. Nicola Roberts album “Cinderella’s Eyes” will be released on Monday 26th September. I suggest that you buy it! 

 


signing out, Thatmfeeling  

Westfield: Stratford City Review

It opened on the 13th September and it has been rocking ever since! Today I decided to go and have a look at the brand new shopping centre at Stratford City! I wanted to go on the 13th but, from experience of a Westfield shopping centre opening, I knew that to save my own life I would delay it by a couple of days. This is London’s second Westfield shopping centre and let me tell you, the first one was big and this one is bigger. Overall I was rather impressed by the whole experience but there were a few things that I am a little off with. Firstly I think that it is awful that certain stores were not open for the Westfield opening day and to name and shame some of them being, Armani Jeans, H&M, The Disney store and Oasis. I cant believe that stores with names as big as these cant get their sections open in time and I think that they should be ashamed with themselves (I know I do not know every detail as to why they weren’t but I bet you nearly all of them signed up to have a store there almost immediately as the shopping centre was announced to be built) It is their loss though as when the hype and crowds slightly die down, these companies would have lost out on the mass promotion coming from the shopping centre and the rest of the stores. They could have made a fortune from this event. Anyone who has already been to Westfield Shepards Bush may comment that the stratford site does not feel as large but when you start walking around Stratford, you realise just how much bigger the stores within it actually are. I think that Shepards bush site has rather allot of public walking space, this and the fact it is set out into a rectangle but stratford’s site has one more extra level and uses more walkways rather than huge open spaces so it feels completely different. Apart from this I really liked the fact that there were shops and restaurants outside and there was also some sort of gathering space with an odd statue column thing that I think had TV screens in (okay worst description ever) The site itself will do wonders for Stratford. People seem to be complaining that the other shopping centre (which is awful) will fail and to be honest, I would love for it to be knocked down but I really do not think that it will fail. The two shopping centres cater for different types of people and once all the hype has died down I think that over the next couple of years you will get a divide between the shops so one centre will be known for bargain and the other one will be known for more well known fashion names (it happened in the previous city that I lived in too) If you live in London and have not been down (or live in the UK for that fact) then I recommend that you go and have a look. There are things for everyone there and the food courts are amazing. If you are a visiter then I also recommend that you take a look but be warned that it is not anywhere near the city centre (it is zone 3) I really look forward to seeing the site fully developed after the olympics and really do hope that it does well. It is about time that east London had lots of money ploughed into it and I think that this will be the start of something better to come in the future. 

September 11th 2011

It is September the 11th 2011. It is a date that kick starts many of our minds and will never be known as a normal date again. All week I have been reading and watching the news about the tenth anniversary of the attack on the world trade centre. I thought that by the time it got to the date so widely talked about that I would be incredibly tired of the over repeated story, but I am not. What is so odd about this date and attack is that everyone knows where they were when it happened, everyone knew how they responded and everyone felt apart of it. I was young, I was at school and the news slowly trickled down into our classroom. Our teacher had put off telling us for as long as she could because she did not want it to disrupt the class but enough was enough and it was something that we needed to know. Even though, at the time I had not been to New York, the city itself had and still does play such a big part in my life. It was a place that I had urged, wanted and dreamt of going to and it was a place that just kept on screaming out to me. When I heard that something had gone on in New York, my first thought was excitement. I thought “Oh my God, great! I can see New York on the TV” but that thought quickly changed as I realised what was going on. It was odd because even though I had never stepped foot in the city, I felt like something was being pulled out of me. When the tower collapsed it was as if my body shut down. I don’t think I blinked, I don’t think I even acknowledged what was even going on on the TV. One minute it seemed so real and then the next minute it was as if I switched the television over to a movie. I watched the news nearly twenty four hours solid. The story kept on playing over and over again and it just did not process what was going on. Somebody did not just do that and this did not just happen, it cant have. Ten years on and I can still watch the news stories and I still cant process properly what went on that day. I cant believe that some people could have that much hate, that much will to cause so much destruction and kill so many people. Knowing that their actions would do what it did. I do not think I will ever truly understand what went on that day and I don’t think I ever want to. Anyone that really does understand must have the same amount of evil inside them as the people that caused so much destruction that day. If this is how I feel then I can not even begin to understand the thoughts that go through the families of those who died that day. Living every day with the story repeating itself, the constant questions and for many of them, the idea of no closure must be the hardest thing they will ever have to deal with. My thoughts are with every single one of these people. Not so long ago I thought to myself “Ten years, that is a long time. Things change drastically and so much can be achieved” This is true, ten years is a long time but it is also such a short time. I feel that the attacks happened a couple of years ago, that it was not that long since I had left school, not so long ago that I was living at home. For someone to get over something, ten years is such a short period of time. To rebuild something that has had so much devastation around the world and affected so many peoples lives, ten years is a short period of time. I have realised that for a city to pick itself up, hold its head high and move onward, ten years is the smallest amount of time. New York city inspired me before and now, after these attacks ten years on, I have no words at all to describe how inspirational, magnificent and proud I am of this place. I am a proud Londoner but my heart is within New York. I don’t know if the city can be classed as a parent, a teacher, a role model or an icon but I know that this place and the people that live within it should be extremely proud of themselves. We cant turn back time and change the past but we can learn from it and use it to help change the future. New York stands proud and nothing will ever change that.

From Holiday Brochure to Crazy Horse!

Okay, so I was looking through a holiday brochure for holidays in America and ended up looking at Las Vegas. The city really intrigues me and I see it as a more developed version of Dubai now (Some may not agree!) Yet Vegas seems more fun and happy and Dubai just screams for attention. As I was looking through the brochure I decided to get a closer look on google earth and street view the whole bloody place for about an hour. It was amazing! I feel that I do not have to go now because I have traveled the streets in my virtual car! This then moved onto Miami, San Francisco, London (don't ask why) and then back to the catalogue to look at New England. When I arrived at New England in my virtual google street view car I was really surprised how brightly coloured the leaves are in Autumn (Fall) which then got me looking into why this is (I can hear you screaming at me... geek!) So as I was looking at why the UK is left with yellow rather dull leaves for autumn (Fall) and New England gets the funky coloured ones that everyone wants to see, something passed my eye. I saw a monument that is being built in the Black Hills, south Dakota, now I have no idea how I managed to cross paths with this thing but I have never heard of the monument known as “Crazy Horse” What fascinated me is that this monument has been in progress since 1948 and still has such a huge way to go. I cant believe how much work has to go into something like this and it is amazing how great it will look when it is finally complete in however many tens of hundreds of years (if it has taken them that long to do the head then its going to take forever to create the horse and his body!) Sometimes it is nice to take my mind of my usual thought of architecture as I know it and look to places like this and see this odd but incredibly fascinating monuments that are being created. What makes me laugh is that I managed to find out so much information about so many things that I never intended to look at just because I was looking at holidays in a brochure! I hope that the monument is completed in my lifetime and it is a random thing that I would love to go and visit one day (its just a shame that these people build these monuments in the middle of nowhere so you have to travel for years just to get there!) Take a look and let me know what you think

Once completed the mountain side will look like this (maybe not so white!)

signing out, Thatmfeeling 

What Ever Happened To 15 Penn Plaza

What ever happened to 15 Penn Plaza? Last year over many of the news papers in the UK was a story hitting the headlines in New York. The news was over a new skyscraper that was creating much attention especially with those from the Empire state building. The building in question is 15 Penn Plaza which would nearly stand as tall as the Empire State building and is only a couple of blocks away from it. Empire State had complained that this building would block views from its building and that Penn Plaza needed to lower its height. Empire State complained, Empire State lost. The building was given approval and the green light to go ahead and be built however the building then seemed to fade into the background and has not been reported about since. After hours searching about the building, not much has come to light apart from the fact that it is due to be completed in 2014. What I find really strange is that the building does not even seem to have a website. A building of this status and impression on the Skyline of New York I would have assumed would make its presence know all the time yet remarkably seems to have had little presence at all. Ever since September 11th, architecture has taken a back seat in New York with very little skyscrapers going up. Maybe this has something to do with the quietness of this building but hopefully with 1 world trade centre going up quicker than you could imagine, hopefully this puts the spring back in New York’s architectural step. I also understand that there is a financial crisis at the moment but since the building was dominating news stories only last year makes it odd that this would just fade away, clearly this building would need maximum exposure and advertisement to enhance its profile and create interest in people renting out space within it. If you have any information then let me know, I find this building fascinating and would love to know more

Signing out, Thatmfeeling 

Window Photography, Wine & Brownies

Well what a day! I feel like I have done nothing yet at the same time can say my day feels complete! I am looking forward to some friends coming over later (they better come over!) I have been to the shops to buy wine and pizza and at the moment I am cooking brownies so all is rather swell! Earlier today I was looking out of my window and in the mood for some photography so I decided to just take photos from my window and see what was out there. I was surprised how many photos you can actually get out of hanging from your window. When you look through a camera sometimes you see things that you don’t usually see through the eye and here are some of the examples. It has spurred me on to look in other random places to take photographs now but it will have to wait until after my night of eating pizza and brownies and drinking wine! Bring on the rest of the day! 

if you want to see even more of the photos then check out my tumblr where I have uploaded even more photos 

signing out, Thatmfeeling