17 Mai, Gratulerer med dagen!

Happy Norwegian Constitution Day from London’s Southwark Park!

JLS Condoms!

I’ll be the first to admit that like me a good boy band (ahem, Hanson anyone?!) But could you imagine the Jonas Brothers putting themselves on condoms? Cue the evangelical backlash and mothers of pre-teen girls organizing a “Mothers Against Sex” campaign.

Anyway, the British boy band JLS has done just that. Being that I’m too scared to be seen taking photos of condoms in Tesco you’ll have to do with the generic from the Durex website.

Go! Overseas Top Blog England

This blog has been awarded a Go! Overseas Top Blog England award!
Woop woop!

Adventures in British Banking

I’m a grownup now!

I’ve always marvelled at these handy little pin-pad things that Europeans have. You can use it to access your account online and you can do transfers to anyone with a European bank account lickety-split.

All I know is that I get a feeling of awesomeness when I get to hear the swishing noise of the card being put in and out.

Reactions to Osama

 And going a bit farther….

What really grinds my gears (so to speak) about people being idiots about Bin Laden’s death (there are obviously bound to be idiots when stuff like this goes down) is that the most horrible remarks are coming from the so-called Christians, and whoever was in the group outside the White House shouting ‘USA! USA! USA!’

So, let me get this straight, just for clarification purposes of course. You people (Christians) will vehemently defend the right of a baby (fetus, couple of cells hanging out together, etc.) to be born yet will very much rejoice at the death of anyone outside the womb who you disagree with? Now, Bin Laden was hardly a Mother Theresa (the comparison to of which you won’t understand because she was Catholic and of course we all know that Catholics aren’t Christians, but I digress) yet if you are willing to rejoice in a death you are seemingly admitting that some people either should be killed or are at the very least acceptable to be killed. Those people being of course non-Christians non-Jews, because they’re the chosen ones, that have in your opinion done ‘bad’ things and most likely wear some kind of head covering. The chances are that your mythical Jesus wouldn’t agree with this behaviour so I suggest you cut it out for the sake of your own credibility.

This is going to be one of those situations where the whole ‘even Christians make mistakes and partake in behaviour that is un-Godly’ argument is used. This is fine, but it seems pretty obvious that there is something in Christian ideology which causes A LOT of people that follow said ideology to react in the same way. In the spirit of continuous improvement, perhaps this discrepancy should be given some actual discussion rather than just owing it all up to certain individuals partaking in un-godly behaviour.

All I’m saying is, I don’t see any Europeans jumping for joy or freaking the flip out because “Like OMG he’s soooo dead!”….

…and failing to acknowledge the can of worms that comes with killing the head of a major organization without dismantling the rest of it.

A Harry Potter comparison and a subtle hint that there’s going to be a loooong road ahead until he’s finally dead (i.e. situation solved)? Priceless!

*Edit*

(New York Times) 

I guess we Americans get it from our government, seen here, crowding around to watch Bin Laden be murdered. Looks like Friday night at the local AMC 30 to me! Hillary looks particularly scared so it must be the latest Saw. Unless it’s The Notebook or A Walk to Remember and the protagonists have just died.

What the Hell is Rhubarb Champagne Yogurt?

Well I’ll tell you. It is stringy and tastes like champagne, which are probably two of the things I like least in my yougurts, but hey, at least they didn’t spell yogurt youghurt.

British Airways, You Had Me at ‘Ello Luv!’

And that we’re not merely ‘BA frequent flyer account holders’ but ‘WORLD TRAVELLERS.’ Oh yeahhh. Because annoying WASP businessmen need you to inflate their already over-inflated egos just that teeny smidge more which allows them to be demanding, rude, and just generally inconsiderate of anyone else that isn’t wearing a Hugo Boss suit, particularly the people with toddlers.

Lovely.

Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and American Airlines

I tend to measure the utility of any airport terminal based on how efficiently I can find myself standing in front of a stack of Bill Bryson books. That being said, Heathrow’s terminal 3 just does not deliver.

Not only did it take me ages to get to my darling Bill’s literature (B for Bryson. Try again. Travel books. Try Again. Travel Guides. NOPE!) I had to go through security no less than seven times. Yes, I packed my own bag. No, I’m not going to overthrow the U.S. government (at least until I get EU citizenship anyway).

Thanks for the cheap ticket American Airlines, but I think that I’ll be sticking with United from now on, if only because the shopping is so much better in terminal 1. *Cue United theme song*

Review: Biutiful

I saw this film a couple of weeks before I went to Barcelona and it left me slightly disturbed. Uxbal is played by Javier Bardem who is a single father, dying of cancer, whose job is obtaining documents for Chinese immigrants.

This isn’t going to be a proper review because this is going to be one of those films you have to just see, but I did give me something to look out for when I went to Barcelona a few weeks later: the exploitation of immigrants.

There are Chinese women that wander up and down the beaches in Barcelona asking everyone “¿Quieres masaje?” Here in London a quick walk through Chinatown will bring you into numerous, ominous stairways leading up to brothels.

(Stephanie Sadler, Little London Observationist)

Just something to keep your eye out for.

Review: Going Rogue

Where do I start? I think I’ll just leave it at…

…. who knew Kid Rock is a Republican?!

Oh and our lecturers have gone on strike so I’m bored out of my mind… might explain why I read this book in one day and have nothing else to do besides write blog posts.