The Anti Room

I went to see Vampire Weekend at the Ambassador last week. They were great, in their inoffensive, poppy way, but two things struck me about the crowd. One: girls no longer have to wear sensible shoes to gigs these days. Some day I will write a post about the difference in dressing for gigs when [...]

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The first Feminist Open Forum takes place in Wynn’s Hotel on Abbey Street tomorrow (Thursday the 30th) at 7.30, with speakers including Ivana Bacik. And if you need a reminder why such things are still necessary, read Fiona‘s excellent piece in Saturday’s Times. A few years ago some of my friends and I wanted to [...]

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TV rarely gets me all excited, but I’ve just watched the Season 2 Finale of Mad Men and will be glued to it later. Spoiled for choice, this will be followed by Charlie Brooker’s Big Brother Zombie send-up Dead Set, which kicks off tonight on E4. But back to Mad Men. This series has been [...]

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If, like me, you are tired of all the recent magazine and newspaper articles telling rich people about “fun” ways to survive the recession, you’ll enjoy Sadie Stein’s deliciously snarky riposte over at Jezebel. Don’t Be A Moron:Basically, all of these tips can fit under this heading. “Live the way most of us do already” [...]

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I’ve been doing a lot of ranting here recently. Actually, I do a lot of ranting in real life, too. But I am also capable of feeling joy! No, really. Here are some things that are currently making me happy. 1. Dear Science by TV on the Radio. This is the best album I’ve heard [...]

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What would we ladies do without Heat Magazine? If it weren’t there to inform and educate us, we might forget to subject other women’s bodies to the sort of scrutiny once reserved for crime scene investigations. We might not be aware that cellulite is shameful but clavicles are even worse. And I’m pretty sure we [...]

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Gender stereotypes are always annoying, but few are more annoying than the idea that all women are desperate to get married and all men are terrified of the prospect. Strangely enough, not all women are marriage-crazed and not all men are marriage-phobic (and some women wouldn’t want to marry men anyway)! But you wouldn’t know [...]

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I’m really in the mood for late ’80s/early ’90s hip hop at the moment, and I’ve been listening to A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul all the time, so I was delighted to see this excellent interview in the New York Times with one of that era’s most important performers – the one [...]

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I’m reading Jackie Collins’ latest novel Married Lovers and I don’t know what it is but I adore Jackie Collins. It’s hugely escapist fiction that is great fun to read, and there’s always plenty of sport guessing which Hollywood star she is describing, such as which 40-year-old actress is mixing Vicodin with Xanax and falling asleep [...]

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Ok, further to this suggestion, let’s get The Anti Room Bookclub off the ground. Vote for one (just one for the moment to make it less messy) from any of the following reads that were initially suggested. Bung your vote in the comments and we’ll tot them up and picka date to discuss it online. [...]

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