hesham-abdelhamid

[hesham-abdelhamid]

Frankie

By Joe Chapman Frankie hopped up. “Here we go again” sounded tiredly in his groggy, sleepy brain. He stumbled up from his bed, a bed that was hardly a bed at all at this point but merely a mattress lying on his grimy, torn carpet. His head felt like a broken, faulty light bulb, flashing on and off inconsistently, although seeming to be off most of the time. He made his way to his battered,…

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The Death of Journalists

The Death of Journalists

42. 42 is the number of journalists who were killed in 2020 for no reason other than doing their job. The International Federation of Journalists reported that, with 13 killings, Mexico tops the list again, making it the most dangerous place in the world for journalists to report in. With widespread impunity and fighting among powerful drug cartels, it comes as no surprise that the fragile state…

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What It’s Like Being Productive For A Week

What It’s Like Being Productive For A Week

by Lois Cooper It is 7:50am. I have been awake for over an hour and I am reluctantly walking to the gym. The only people I can see are staff, the ones being paid to be awake. I have always admired, and secretly envied, those who seem to have their life completely together and who have unlimited amounts of motivation. Often, I wish I was a person who could plan their whole week ahead of…

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VANS X DAVID BOWIE: Put on your red vans and dance

"Oooh, fashion, we are the goon squad and were coming to town, beep beep."  -- David Bowie

Vans trainers are a classic. David Bowie? Also classic. So, when you fuse two of the greatest classics together, you are bound to get something extra special. Well, Vans just did exactly that, with their new David Bowie inspired shoe & streetwear collection.

The new Stardust collection contains six jaw-dropping Old Skool styles, three tees documenting Bowie's stand out eras and a cap for fun. All of which will look great with your jean genies. Yes, I went there.

If you know me, you will know that David Bowie runs through my veins. If you don't, then believe me when I say that I am a Ziggy Stardust aficionado.

Each item is heavily inspired by a stand out era, persona and style form Bowie's influential career - from Aladdin Sane to Ziggy Stardust.

The Vans skate shoe has blue and green cylindrical shapes that match the artwork on the Space Oddity album cover from 1969, while the red patent Sk8-Hi Platforms pay homage to his glam rock alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.

This gag-worthy collection will be available in all Vans’ retail stores and online, from 5 April. Personally, I have my eyes on one thing and I can’t wait to add it to my wardrobe. The Aladdin Sane inspired Old Skools.

The shoes, which are priced at £75, have pearlescent pebbled leather uppers, complete with a red and blue lightning bolt and distinct Vans’ side stripe and David Bowie written in blue and red around the back of the heel.

So iconic is the Aladdin Sane flash, it’s even become the generic “rock-star” emoji and with thousands of people paying pilgrimage to the Bowie’s mural in Brixton following the icon’s death in 2016, there’s sure to be fans for this footwear, too.

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Professional Humility: Let your work speak for itself

Let me tell you two very different stories about networking. At my first ever publishing conference, I had my business cards loaded in my jacket pocket and I stepped into the room with the aim of ‘networking’ with as many ‘important’ people as possible. My friend was also aiming to get a few connections and she even tried to pitch her book to an agent at the opening reception. We were both considered nobodies, even though my lanyard says, ‘editor in chief.’ I edit a student magazine not Vogue – so to the agent we were literally nobodies. When we approached him, he kindly said, “not right now.”

Now, I am a confident chap, but the conference hasn’t started yet, and we were already rejected. It didn’t feel good. My friend spent a fair deal of time cajoling me, when she wasn’t schmoozing. Act more assertive, she said. Fair to say the whole day was a fail, but it was my first time at a conference.

Now here’s my second networking story. Just over a month later, I managed to publish work in some decent titles, across the country. At a networking event at my University, I browsed and chatted with business owners at booths for half an hour. My point wasn’t to sell myself, just to kill some time between panels. When I’d run out of social juice, I grabbed some coffee and wandered.

Right before I left the room, an editor of a local title walked up and practically grabbed me. “Hey, I am a fan of Farid and I read your work. Send me something!”

So, I did and pitched him a feature idea and it got rejected.

Content, content and more content

These two experiences taught me something crucial about networking. Mainly about marketing, branding and any other type of promotion.

It’s quite a simple lesson really: You don’t sell your content. Your content does.

Content is everything and innovative content is even more important. No matter what you’re pushing – whether it’s art, music or a courgette spiraliser. Your best chances rest on the strength and freshness of your ideas.

Sure, people have won by cheating. A clever marketing scheme or drip campaign might spark interest in an otherwise worthless product like pet rocks. But do you want to be that person?

Like do you want to sell out and become the guy or gal who manifests elaborate social media campaigns for stuff like Goop?

Because I just went on to their website, and it looks a lot like shopping items from Waitrose — photographed from clever angles. Don’t get me wrong, I love Gwyneth Paltrow in the Avengers and the Iron Man films. However, even Pepper Potts can’t make me pay that much for what I can find for a fraction of the price at a little Waitrose store.

Now, instead of panicking about whether people will like my work, I think about what they like and what they don’t. Part of being a 21st century aspiring journalist is knowing and understanding the need for professional humility.

We all know the saying “Have a seat” … The Real Housewives have mastered that statement.

But what if there is a message there as it relates to what you do and what your work says about you? What if that seat said it was a table? Would you just take its word that it is, indeed, a table and buy one for your dining room? Or would you want to see a body of work highlighting its skills as a table?

Now, this is not an exercise in existentialism, but rather one in being humble.

When developing your content—whether it being on your website and blog, LinkedIn profile, social media, or company bio—potential customers and collaborators don't want to read about what you say you are. Rather, they want to read about what you actually are, with facts to back it up. Using superfluous words may make you sound good, but a body of work that proves it—that’s the really good stuff. Believe me, that’s something I didn’t know a year ago.

According to a 2015 survey by the staffing firm Addison Group 47% of hiring managers don’t like the word expert and 31% are turned-off by the word innovative (which is hard for me to hear, cause it’s one of my favourite words). The same could be said about clients, collaborators, partners, and potential sponsors. These buzzwords, and others like it—influencer, leader, authority, etc.—are hollow. And here's why: no one cares about what you think you are; they only care about what your work proves that you are. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but that’s the nature of a journalist – you have to detach yourself from your work.

Whether you’re developing your content or socialising at a networking event, you want to choose your words carefully. Decide what it is about you, your company, or your brand that you want to project to others and then use the right words to paint the picture for them.

 Working on FARID THE ZINE has taught me a lot about selling products and my background in retail sales also helps.

Let’s break it down.

Do you consider yourself an influencer? OK, that’s cool. But don’t say, "I'm an online influencer," when asked what you do. Instead, talk about the number of followers you have on Instagram and your growth over a specific period of time. Or mention that the demand for new content on your YouTube channel has grown from two videos a week to five videos every 10 days in just over a year, and that two of those five videos are sponsored content. See the difference? When you can talk in tangible facts and figures about your work, the people you're speaking to will remember you. And you can bet that they'll be talking about you to their co-workers and collaborators. They'll be the ones calling you an online influencer and regarding you as someone they should be working with. 

That’s something I wish I knew at that conference, instead of saying “Hi, I am Hesham Abdelhamid, editor in chief of FARID THE ZINE” and immediately being diminished with the inevitable question of “what? What’s that?” I now introduce myself with my content and achievements rather than the title. I have perfected an elevator pitch that lists the amazing work FARID has achieved over the past year and my involvement in it, and the response is always positive.

 So, get out there. Do the hard work. Put in the long hours. Make the adjustments. Go to conferences. Pitch all of your ideas to the right people. Then get rejected and learn the business inside and out. Become a force to be reckoned with (but please don’t call yourself that!). Don’t worry about your “title” or how to spin your skills. Then take a seat and let your work speak for itself.

[hesham-abdelhamid]

What’s #Tea? Well, it’s not that thing you are sipping on

T or Tea is a term coined by the fabulous warriors of the LGBTQ community – drag queens. It’s day-to-day slang for gossip, story or news. You can give Tea, get Tea or even spill the Tea.

 I love this word. When I first heard “Tea” used as slang, I pictured the letter “T” (for talk or truth), but according to the Urban Dictionary, this slang term “is particularly juicy or sought after gossip or info.”

Instead of saying, “What’s the new drama today?”, you can simply say, “Girl, what’s the tea?” or my personal favourite from previous conversations – “Spill the tea, mama.”

 Spilling Tea is something we love to do as humans, sharing our secrets and knowing about others in the process is a vital part of our social construct. We all like to gossip whether we like to admit it or not. When your friends come around for a glass of wine or even a cheeky Chinese, you naturally find yourself talking about that person who wronged you that same day – we are all guilty of that.

The question is, is spilling Tea healthy for us?

 Gossiping or sipping the ‘Tea’ has a bad name. We judge people who talk about others behind their back (Yet, we do it ourselves.) and it is therefore not surprising that we all want to avoid being labelled a gossiper. Let’s be honest, we all love a tittle-tattle but why do we have an urge to gossip even though we know that the person that we gossip about might feel hurt when they find out what was said about them behind their back? Now, that’s a deep thought.

I like the idea of gossiping being healthy because it has a benefit. Gossiping and spilling the ‘Tea’ creates bonds. People bond over their love and hate for things. It’s purely dependant on sharing common interests. Those interests can vary from latest celeb gossip to what your arch nemesis from other courses at University said about you and to even gossiping about your best friend. It’s all part of our psyche as humans.

We all have the urge to gossip and yes, we know it’s not a nice thing to do. However, it’s just acceptable to gossip and spill the ‘Tea’ and people who say “I don’t like to gossip” or “I never gossip” – Sorry to break it to you, but you are lying.

So, the bottom line is – don’t be ashamed of gossiping (some people gossip for a living, why can’t you gossip for fun?), gossiping is probably your fav thing to do with your best friend (keep doing it, it’s bringing you both closer to each other), just try to be kind when gossiping (because no one likes a bitter Betty) and finally make you update your sassy vocabulary with the word ‘Tea’.

[hesham-abdelhamid]

AHS: Sojourn - a look back at the eighth episode of Apocalypse

AHS: Sojourn – a look back at the eighth episode of Apocalypse

Episode eight of AHS: Apocalypse was an infuriating game of who’s your daddy, where the father is actually the devil and not just a guy who refuses to pay support money. This episode was a little slow when compared to the others which were packed full of sordid rituals and even more sordid sex scenes. However, what it did do is set up some important backstory that leads up to the eventual…

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AHS: Traitor - a look back at last week's episode of Apocalypse

AHS: Traitor – a look back at last week’s episode of Apocalypse

With only a handful of episodes to go, the witches are gearing up for the fight of a lifetime against antichrist ‘hottie’ Michael Langdon. After hearing of the ‘T’ spilt in last week’s Murder House crossover, Cordelia is on the offensive with a little help from some like-minded individuals.

The first stop on the witching hour recruitment scheme is Dinah Stevens (Adina Porter) who is now the…

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Binx Walton at Balmain F/W 2016

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Vittoria Ceretti at Alexandre Vauthier Haute Couture F/W 2017

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Alberta Ferretti F/W 2018

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Hannah Ferguson in Ignite the Night for Elle, October 2018

Shot by Ben Hassett

Styled by Anna Trevelyan

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Weekly Roundup - Push for electric cars and Huddersfield conviction

Weekly Roundup – Push for electric cars and Huddersfield conviction

No new petrol/diesel cars by 2040

The government is aiming to ban the use of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. A new plan has been put in place for all new cars in the UK to be “effectively zero emission”, under plans to tackle air pollution.

After a report by a parliamentary committee describing these plans as “vague and unambitious”, the ban may move forward to 2032.

The government’s 2040 target…

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AHS 6

The recipe for the cocktail “Greatest episode ever” is as follows:

   One dose of acting supreme turned director

   One drop of a returning acting powerhouse

   One teaspoon of haunting nightmares

   And a splash of Satanism for flavour

Episode six of American Horror Story is directed by none other than recurring actress Sarah Paulson. Not only was it her debut as the director but it was also the…

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AHS: Boy Wonder - a recap of this week's episode of Apocalypse

AHS: Boy Wonder – a recap of this week’s episode of Apocalypse

This week’s American Horror Story begins with queen bee, Cordelia Fox, awakening in a hellish landscape straight out of the Resident Evil franchise. In the rubble lies the plaque for her beloved school and her sister witches are nowhere to be seen. After calling out for her students, shrouded figures begin to approach her and it is clear they aren’t there to ask for an autograph. Cordelia is…

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Weekly Roundup - 7th October 2018

Weekly Roundup – 7th October 2018

Image of the UOP Tory Society members that has circulated on Facebook

Tory Society offends people with anti-Semitic messages

Plymouth University suspends its Conservative society after a photograph of its members shows students to have anti-Semitic and racist messages on their t-shirts.

The photo shows some people to have the Star of David drawn on their necks, as well as right-wing figures…

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Esser Studio's Frakta re-imagination starts the conversation around the importance of 'upcycling.'

Esser Studio’s Frakta re-imagination starts the conversation around the importance of ‘upcycling.’

The creatives of the internet are caught up in Frakta-mania, and the iconic blue workhorse bag was turned into various things, including clothes, shoes and even underwear, over the past year.

Canadian junior art director Simon Langlois gave his spin on the trend by transforming the carry-all into a handsome backpack—this modified version of the Frakta bag has a roll-down opening and is secured…