Lily Allen - Rags To Ritches- Channel Four

So I sat through the second episode of Channel Four's documentary on Lily Allen and her mission to enter into the world of retail. Alongside her sister Sarah the two Londonites had the bright idea to open up a Vintage boutique that specializes in high end designer pieces. Their gimmick being that if girls can not afford the full price of the garment they will be allowed to rent the piece for a fee.

Sounds like a good idea however in practice it's short comings are quite obvious. The girls enlisted the help of retail guru Mary Porta's as a consultant as neither of them have had any formal experience in the industry.

In short , she tore them a new one and gave them a reality check. As she correctly pointed out the shop will live and die based on the celebrity Lily Allen brings to it. By offering couture pieces at high costs she has automatically alienated about 70% of her fan base who are supposed to be the patrons of her shop. This is never a good business idea and their original intentions to offer a piece of high end lifestyle to girls who could not afford to buy the real thing quickly went down the toilet. Asking young girls aged 18+ to pay £100 + to rent a dress for an evening during a recession was not a smart idea.

It quickly becomes apparent that in fact Lily is not at all the type of girl her record company promoted her as. She is in fact your typical spoilt, Primrose Hill, middle class, rich girl. Not the wannabe chav running around London in a New Look dress and sneakers.

So as reality sets in the girls quickly realise that their initial target audience is not at all what they are aiming for and Mary Porta's points this out to them painfully, like a camp mother scolding her clueless children.

The other infuriating part of the documentary is Lily's constant admissions that she is over the fame game. If that were the case letting a Channel Four camera crew follow you around for months may not have been the best idea to gain some sort of annonyminity. The truth of the matter is Lily loves the spotlight. There were scenes of her contacting tabloid newspapers directly, in order to give them the story about her pregnancy, doing photoshoot's with her sister in order to promote the store, her sitting at her desk constantly whining about nosy journalists then taking to Twitter to confront them in a very public way. These are not the actions of someone who just wants a quiet life.

The show does have it's plus points though, the train wreck aspect of the documentary is entertaining and Lily is nothing if not charismatic/funny. Her sister Sarah comes across very well also, she must have the patience of a saint to put up with the constant tantrums her sister throws (and also the constant reminder that it's Lily's money, Lily's success that has enabled her to have a career in retail, what way to be humble..........). Bitchy celeb hairdresser James Brown also makes an appearance and he's always great to watch.

In conclusion I don't really understand the point of the documentary, if it was to promote her shop a featurette on her website and some photoshoot's would have been sufficient however it's obvious that Lily is not ready to step out of the spotlight and still craves attention. Perhaps instead of channeling her energy into retail she should put her mind to making a new album. Lily is in her 20's, its far too early for her to retire from the music business and I have a sneaking suspicion that in year or two we will hear something new from her.

Let's hope that her next venture is less hypocritical and more clearly thought out.

Woody Allen- Midnight In Paris- First Poster Promo

Sony Classics has released the first piece of promotion for Woody Allen's latest european romp Midnight In Paris. As usual Woody has assembled a first class cast, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Marion Cotillard (yay!), Rachel McAdams and most strangely Carla Bruni (blatant stunt casting or maybe Woody got a tax break from Mr Sarkozy ?).

Hopefully the film will be more enjoyable than last years When You Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. Woody is well known for his inconsistency despite the great actors he has at his disposal so let's hope the script is up to snuff.

In any event it seems as though Woody is on a one man mission to improve European tourism, so I'm hoping for Vicki Christina Barcelona type visual/cultural feast and I'm sure Paris will look amazing.

Madonna and Lourdes at the Vanity Fair Oscars Party

Madonna showed up and quickly left the Vanity Fair after party for the Oscars. She brought along her stunning daughter Lourdes for the ride.

Controversy is never far behind Madonna and she has been recieving a lot of negative press for her choice of attire. Wearing only fish net stockings, leotard and a fur vest she certainly was an image to behold.

While we have obviously seen Madonna wearing much less (see her Sex book) the controversy is based around the fact that she was dressed like this while accompanied by her 14 year old daughter.

Personally I don't see the problem, Lourdes's mother is Madonna for crying out loud, I'm sure she is well accustomed to her mothers daring style choices and the fact of the matter is that Madonna looks amazing. At 52 she has a body most girls in their 20's would die for so she is more than capable of pulling this look off.

Besides, I'd rather this Madonna than the one who a few years ago was dressing in an overly matronly way whilst selling books for children. While the press is constantly bashing her for being overtly sexual in her 50's , secretly I think a lot of these columnists have a real love for her.

Lady Gaga - Born This Way Video- Dir Nick Knight

Lady Gaga finally released her eagerly anticipated video for Born This Way on Monday 28th of February.

The video was directed by uber fashion photographer Nick Knight, known best for his work with Kate Moss and Vogue UK.

Gaga produced the script for the short, which revolves around the birth of a new race (literally shown in the promo), the battle between good/evil, zombie tuxedo wearing dance and of course a Gaga staple- dance routines in bra and panties only.

Visual references come from all over the place, Dali, Michael Jackson and of course most controversially Madonna.

Overall I was very impressed by the video and it's depth, although I do prefer her short film for Alejandro. What can I say, I'm sucker for anything Steven Klein :)

Nike Short- Black Mamba - By Robert Rodriguez

I caught this short film yesterday morning, essentially an advertising promo for Nike trainers, starring of all people Bruce Willis, Kanye West and Danny Trejo ! I hate sports so don't know much about Kobe Bryant however it is one of the more entertaining advertisements I have seen and Kanye West is hilarious as main villain 'The Boss'.

The style of the short is very much in the vein of Rodriguez's Machete and From Dusk Till Dawn with a bit of Sin City thrown in for good measure.

I also quite enjoyed the subversive nature of it with Rodriguez commenting on the increasing amount of product placement we see in films/music videos and how that relates to the budgets directors have to work with.

Pic Of The Day- David Lynch

Director David Lynch gets pic of the day primarily because of his amazing style, now in his 60's, just look at that lustrous grey hair and stylish formal shirt/blazer combo. He is not only stylish in my mind but also a man of extreme substance.

I've been on a bit of Lynch binge lately. Always been a massive fan of this director, his dream like films have continually defied any sort of logical explanation and really stay with you for days (even months !) after you have viewed them.

He is the director of films such as Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway and the 3 hour long mind fuck that is Inland Empire !

If you have an open mind and don't mind doing a bit of work while watching a movie his films are among the most rewarding out there. Just be prepared not to sleep for a few days afterwards !

U.S Graduate Debt Levels Through The Roof

A variety of news reports today have highlighted the recent problem of graduate debt in the U.S.

The U.S has had a long standing policy on having a highly educated workforce but paradoxically no longer has jobs available for that workforce. The result has been that the majority of graduates are having to take low paying jobs that are in no way related to their degree or their skill level.

This is coupled with massive debts due to crippling student loans. The U.S is famous for having the most expensive tuition fees anywhere in the western world, many parents saving from a child's birth for their college education. However, it is becoming increasingly hard for parents to provide tuition money as the recession has hit their savings hard.

As a result the U.S is now populated with a high level of unemployed graduates whose futures are uncertain. The majority are now looking at work abroad where the jobs market is more fruitful or resorting to low paid work domestically in order to pay off their student loans, some totaling as much as $ 70,000 per student.

With recent riots in the Middle East started by a disenchanted highly educated youth, where unemployment and lack of jobs was also high, you really have to think how long this can go on for before graduates take action politically and start to turn their anger towards the state.

This situation is also not unique to the Middle East or the U.S, the United Kingdom is also having a current crisis with regards to the recent rise in tuition fees and the lack of jobs available to university graduates.

Perhaps governments across the western world would do well to stop cutting various forms of welfare for their population and start calling in the money that the administration gave to the financial sector during the bank bail out and use that money to stimulate the jobs market.

Banks are yet again giving out huge bonuses to their employees and posting huge profits (Barclays posted pre tax profits in the U.K of £ 11.6 billion !)

In any event it will be interesting to see how the U.S administration reacts to this crisis as it is only set to get worse with the economy still reeling from the bank bail outs.