Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personal. Show all posts

Kerrang Internship

Sunday

Last week I was lucky enough to fulfil a dream I have had since I was fourteen; to work at Kerrang! magazine! I would buy the magazine every week without fail (along with a couple cans of red bull), and I would read it cover to cover, before plastering my bedroom walls with that weeks posters. Kerrang! was the magazine that persuaded to pursue a career in writing, and after last week, I can safely say that hasn't changed.

I left my house on Monday morning to catch the tube into central London, my head full of ideas and visions of what it was going to be like. Tall building, one floor for each department, Ray Zell hard at work in a dark corner, working on the latest Pandora, however the second I entered the building, I knew it was going to be a complete different story. My expectations of fancy business journalists, writing about what ever band they were told to, was thrown out of the window, as I was met by a guy who couldn't be much older than me. He introduced himself, and took me to the infamous headquarters I had been waiting to see for almost seven years... and it was worth it.

Although my expectations were far from the truth, that didn't matter, because what I learnt was far more valuable than walking through a fancy office.
The people that work there aren't just music snobs, turning up to write something for a few hours, before going to sit in a wine garden in Hoxton and complaining about the economy. They are a laid back group of friends, who run a magazine. You can tell that they all enjoy coming into work everyday, to see each other, to write about something they love, and to make a difference in people's lives. and even though they barely knew me, they made me feel like I fit into their dynamic, which gave me more experience in the industry than I could have hoped for. In between choosing this weeks posters, talking about Flyleaf, being called various old lady names, cranking the stereo up to eleven, and going to see Black Sabbath, I learnt that: being the best at something is a good skill to have, but having an amazing group of friends to work with, is even better. The Kerrang! family is definitely unique, and I am so thankful for the opportunities I was given this week. And the free Sabbath tickets.

From my inner fourteen year old fan girl, and the now twenty-one year old that wants to fulfil all of her dreams, past-present-and-future, I just wanted to say thank you. And that, to anyone that ever gets the opportunity to fulfil a life goal or dream, grab it with both hands, and don't let go! You wont regret it.


OH LOOK IT'S ME!!!!!



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FLICKR!

Tuesday

As you may or may not know, I treated myself to a Canon 700d just after Christmas, which has sparked me to create a Flickr account. I had an account before, but I can't remember the password, or the email address I used to set it up, and Flickr are being mean and not telling me any of the login detail, so therefore I now have a new account. 

I realise that that statement probably doesn't make much sense, and it probably the worlds longest sentence, but life goes on. 


If you want to find me on Flickr, then you can click right HERE! 


And here are some of my photo's

Peace out! xoxo


 



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Are prison drama's glorifying prison?

Sunday


I'm not going to pretend that I haven't been caught up in this summers hottest new drama series Orange is the new Black, because I have, and if you haven't seen the show then you are seriously missing out! The interesting mix of characters have all been locked up in Litchfield prison for their various crimes, and we follow their daily lives including flashbacks, romance and life on the outside world. The show revolves around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who has been imprisoned for being part of an international drug ring with her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) 10 years prior, however what Piper doesn't know is that her ex is also in the prison, and she is still pissed at Piper for leaving her! I won't give much more away in case you haven't seen it, but lets just say that Pipers new fiancé isn't happy about the events that unfold.

After sitting down and watching every episode back to back, I came to the conclusion that I could easily survive in prison! Just don't insult the food, stay away from the redneck meth heads, and always wear flipflops in the shower, but surely prison isn't really like that? I have always had a strong image in my head of what prison was like, however every prison drama that I watch seems to contradict all of the expectations that I have!


The ladies of Litchfield (who are portrayed by some amazing actresses) aren't the only prisoners that are bringing in the viewers at the moment, as hit Australian prison drama Wentworth Prison has finally come to the shores of the UK! The show is a revamp of another Australian show from the 80's, however these prisoners live a very different life to the glamourous ladies of the  Netflix Original series Orange is the new Black.

Inmates at Litchfield have an element of freedom, they have jobs, friends, social circles, love lives of which the viewers get so see and and 'ship' and they can even take trips to the resident transgender hair dresser! We get to see a lot of aspects of the different characters lives, which I think is great for the plot of Orange is the New Black, as the audience can see prison from many different points of view. My favourite so far has to have been when Piper was screaming at the crippled teenage gangbanger about how life is on the inside! Wentworth on the other hand has a different approach to life in prison, although the inmates have split  into their own groups, we only see what the main set of characters are up to, but we do get to see a lot of the prison guards lives in and outside the prison!

Wentworth seems like a stricter environment, due to the older prisoner Jaquie who seems to run everything everyone does, but I still think I could survive in prison! I'm not saying I could be the next queen bee of some random prison somewhere because I don't ever plan on going to prison, however if I was to happen to find myself locked up I could probably survive! I'm not that little girl who can't stand up for herself any more!

I'm not stupid, I do know that prison is obviously very different from how it is portrayed on TV, but I'm presuming I'm not the only person who has has suffered  from the CSI effect from this show!  I know for a fact that after watching CSI I thought I could easily investigate crimes/commit the perfect murder! 

How about you!? What are your thoughts on this? Could you survive in prison?
Comment below or tweet me with your reply! 

@iamkirstiekins
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Guess who got inked!?

Thursday

 Yesterday I took an adventure into my favourite past time, and got tattooed! There is no better feeling than walking into a tattoo studio, showing the artist your designs, and then watching them go to work on your skin!  Actually, if I'm telling the truth, the best part of being tattooed is feeling the needles weave in and out of your skin over and over.. If you have a tattoo, I'm sure you'll know what I'm talking about when I say that the pain isn't even a pain, and that it's more like a dull stinging similar to a papercut, only it's an addicting pain that you keep going back for! 

 The tattoo I got yesterday was my 9th, and by far my absolute favourite! I had been wanting it for about 4 years, but I never got around to actually having it done. So when my student loan came in, I decided to treat myself to an early birthday present and finally get it! 

A lot of people have meanings behind their tattoo's which I think is all well and good because I have a few that have meanings, but sometimes it's just awesome to get one because you're like "hey that's amazing I want that on my skin".  Their is only one meaning you should have behind all of your tattoos and that is "because I (insert your name here) fucking want it"

However, although I initially thought "I have to have that" as soon as I saw it, I have came to the conclusion that this is the perfect tattoo to describe who I am as a person, as I always have my head in the head in the clouds thinking about something or other! 

If you're a Paramore fan, you might get the reference as soon as you see it, and you might even know exactly where I got the drawing from!   The brand new eyes album came out in September 2009, and if you bought the vinyl edition you were given a copy of Hayley's 'lyric diary' and  next to the lyrics for BBBB there was a drawing that Hayley had drawn! I fell in love with it, and 4 years later I finally have it tattooed!  I've loved Paramore since I was about 14/15 (I'm 21 next week) I remember going to buy their AWKIF album with a bunch of pennies that I had saved up when it first came out in the UK!

I can't wait to see them play at Wembley on Friday, who knows... Hopefully I'll bump into them and get to show my arm to them! 
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