Blog

Marina Diamandis has blogged on various websites, starting with MySpace in 2006, and later moving to her official website in 2009, which she used until July 2011. She then used the Electra Heart Tumblr until August 2013. In 2017, during her music hiatus, Marina created MarinaBook, posting its last chapter later that year.

Note:

All blogs have been recovered through WayBack Machine. However, some images may be missing. Blogs with missing images have been tagged with either an orange

(Missing Images)

or red

(~~Missing Images~~)

label. Orange blogs still contain text, whilst red blogs were purely image based and have yet to be recovered.

2007[]

Oct

Date	Title
18 Oct	Powdered herpes & squatting Thursday, October 18, 2007[] Powdered herpes & squatting. Current mood: worried Category: News and Politics This is a question that I've had in my head for about 5 weeks, seriously. I really need an answer. So, last month, I had to trot in and use a public loo at Turnpike Lane tube out of desperation, as I'd forgotten to go at home. Not an almighty Loo-snob or anything, but I am a bit germ obsessed and am extra fearful in places like toilets about picking up rare skin diseases. So. on this occasion, I went into the loo and did my usual 'hovvering' thing, careful not to touch the sides of the toilet seat for fear of letting urine, or worse, an old-lady pube, touch my thigh. Then I suddenly began to questions the logic behind my actions.... Hmm. Why the hell don't I sit on the loo? Surely, everyone knows that when using public loos it is common practice to squat/ hover so that you don't get bum germs from the last person. Therefore, noone must sit on toilet seats and therefore they're must be germless/ clean to sit on right? Therefore I should sit on them...?? What do you people think? I suppose we have to consider factors like: a) grubby men wanting a shit and not caring about hygiene b) tramps/ hobos, and to be fair, they are quite drunk most of the time , so, again.. not caring about hygiene c) people with chronic diarrhoea, who simply have to sit down d) babies/ toddlers ? Another fear that I have is that when I use the toilet paper, I'm scared it might be laced with Anthrax, or worse, some kind of powder form of genital herpes, planted there to satisfy the humour of the sick and perverted.

2008[]

Date	Title
23 Jun	Blog on girls, fat & how i'm a 'mysogynist' Monday, June 23, 2008[] Blog on girls, fat & how i’m a 'mysogynist' Current mood: happy Category: Blogging oh hi myspacers! I co-wrote a track last week called 'Girls' with pascal gabriel & liam howe. i hope you all liked/ loved/ made sexy-time to it!!! the lyrics came out rather quickly in the writing process, but the idea and sentiment behind the song have been brewing for a v long time. So i thought i'd share the fact that i'm really sick, tired, depressed, uninspired by women. and i have been for a good old time. There seems to be a massive shortage of strong, inspiring females in mainstream society today who have something good to say. What's happened to you all? Every interview/ photo i see just says nothing to me. vacant. airbrushed. empty. people. getting. paid. to talk. about fuck all. It's great that eva longoria looks hot in a bikini, but if the sun dies and the world plummets into darkness and ice, will anyone fucking care? So the main theme for song was about women and diets really and generally how we seem to have morphed into mute scary dolls. Falling hook, line and sinker for every lie that we are fed by magazines/ etc. Ofcourse this is all old news to everybody. But you have to think ''why is this still going on?''. Why isn't anyone smart enough to say 'Fuck off'? what would you feel if this were your daughter? sister? girlfriend? aspiring to be some footballers wife.. I confidence is the most attractive quality ever and i just wonder what women would be capable of if we stopped obsessing about looks. What's even worse is men actually getting sucked into to it too. Seriously guys- you talking about diets = me FALLING ASLEEP. I'd much rather deal with a beer gut than a low self esteem every night. On that note, i bid you farewell Niiiight, don't let the cupcakes bite. Mar x

Date	Title
26 Sept	Was Jesus Bipolar? Friday, September 26, 2008[] Was Jesus Bipolar? Current mood: Stone cold So my flatmate and i have been having converstions about mental illnesses again and this time we discuss the symptoms of manic depression. Apparently a recurring symptom is 'grandiose thinking', which, for those of you not in the know, basically means you genuinely think of your self as being god or jesus, leading yourself to believe you somehow have 'special' powers/ control over peoples lives etc. Im just saying......... Was Jebus or was jebus not bipolar? Answers to stonerconversations@marinastopthinkingweirdthoughts.com
29 Sept	Girlcore Monday, September 29, 2008[] Girlcore Current mood: adventurous So I did this gig a few thursdays ago. And it went a little something like this: gimp masks, fake boobies, blow up sex doll hanging luxuriously in the air behind my freaked out drummer, nappies filled with fake poo/blood(hotdog onions?) swinging from the speakers and loads of hot kids. i loved it. expect for the nappies. Also loved the girl porn plastered over every wall. I felt like i was in some kind of nymphomaniac girls bedroom. weird. what else happened? oh yeah. we played our latest set ever and i couldnt drink at all before set (marina & the diamonds turns into death metal when i do) so i played stone cold sober and was therefore able to witness the grossness held before my innocent little peepers (-ha HA). If you haven't been to a Girlcore night before, go. The people are genuinely friendly and not too shoreditch. Atleast the people IN girlcore weren't. e.g. Karley Sciortino. You should go read her blog. At www.slutever.blogspot.com She aint fake cool, she's one in a f* cking million cool. Her blog should translate to book version and i hope it will someday. Just for me. weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com - click to view more Also, hi to the ecstasy ridden guy who tried to tip my keyboard on the last song. I threw a girl punch, and as girl punches go, totally missed and clipped his jaw. May music never grace your grotty ears again. loser. and say hi to your drug dealer for me. he made you look so hot that night. ha ha. but not really ha ha.

Date	Title
04 Oct	tom waits Saturday, October 04, 2008[] tom waits Current mood: catalyzed Category: Life has made me die and go to heaven. wow.

2009[]

Date	Title
31 Mar	Dermot O Leary BBC 2 session! March 31st 2009[] i did it. I did not fuck up. it is all cool. I am going to have a really big whiskey tonight. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hq7qw/Dermot_OLeary_21_02_2009/ photos coming soon. i sat in terry wogan's chair and (naturally) i want to share that magic with you all. Me. Sitting in a chair. Here's me. Sitting by a keyboard.

Date	Title
01 Apr	SECRET DIAMONDS GIG. April 1st, 2009[] Hi diamonds. Before I step into my diamondmobile tour van to embark on tour, just wanted to do a quick catch up on the world (i know you are DYING to know). I did a secret gig a few weeks ago. 4 competition winners got to come and then about 50 friends/ hot boys and it was amazing. I chose Puregroove records as my stage and they were truly brill (check out some of the instores coming up). They've converted the (record) store inot a bar now so now you can get drunk AND buy limited edition vinyl. Amazing. Here were some piccies taken on the night of people NOT enjoying themselves and having my every move: Take note of Alan in the red cloak. What a dude. Seriously, don't cross him. He is already appointed future president of the fan club (did you know this alan...?). I LOVE IT. XX The rest of the pics are in my photo galleries. Onto General hotness. Just some cute stuff I found last week on internetz. RADICAL. Alexander McQueen luggage. Ew... but..mmm. NB- I am too tired to finish this blog tonight. ill do a seperate one for london fashy week tomorrow. how lame am i. zzzz..........
02 Apr	LONDON FACIST WEEK. April 2nd, 2009[] I am joking. (Kind of..) London Fashion week kicked off over here on friday and its been egomaniacal mayhem ever since. I got tickets for the wonderful Luella show (Hand delivered by a beautiful girl on a sunday morning at 12 prompt), only to realise I had rehearsal on the same morning. It was a sad day for Luella I hear. Here are my favourite snippets of talk overheard from the front row: "I told the woman on the door she was an absolute bitch and she s aid: 'Im under instruction to be and absolute bitch'. What a bitch'- Just inside Vivienne Westwood show. "Name, sir?" "It's Kayne" "Sorry, you're not down" "It could be under West" - At House of Hollan Little girl: "I'm WASTED" Mother "Not now, darling" - Outside Vivienne Westwood "Erm, why the hell is there chocolate in every single goody bag? Are they trying to kill us or something?" -Fat-haterz at Eley Kishimoto "You were pissed last night" "I was not. Did I see you?" -Amnesia at Schwab "There's a pair of UGG boots on the front row. MOVE HER ON" -At Richard Nicoll I havent had much time to do any research but i liked the Louise Goldin black leather dresses and ASHISH show looked amazzzzing (im wearing some of his hotpants in the Arena shoot. how they fit a size 12 arse i do not know. out 4th march) Autumn 2009 has no pics yet so here are the faves from the spring 2009 collections. Its so last season already. Snore Ashish- Playing card dress: http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_catwalk.asp?designerid=30&seasonid=15#id=1&num=24 Christopher Kane- Gorilla Dress http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_catwalk.asp?designerid=69&seasonid=15#id=1&num=16 PPQ- Is amazing http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_catwalk.asp?designerid=252&seasonid=15#id=1&num=13 http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_catwalk.asp?designerid=252&seasonid=15#id=1&num=14
03 Apr	DAZED & CONFUSED SHOOT. April 3rd, 2009[]
05 Apr	POP N ROLL TOUR DIARY. April 5th, 2009[] sup babies just came back of my first ever (mini mini) tour and i have post-tour depression. But to cheer me up i’m gonna post some pictures for you all to puke/ drool over. I had so much joy on the tour. It was brilliant to perform to people outside of London. Bristol and Southampton were my personal favies. Manchester and Nottingham were good too but I was more nervous on those nights and so the performance feels like a blur. For those of you who didnt come, I hope to see you all at the festivals this summer. Im playing about 30 dates. Yikesydoodle. N-sync moves coming to all of you soon.. Marina x First night: staying in a safari park hotel. Weird doesnt cover it. My diamond boys: Nick (drums), Peter (keys) and Nick (bass) Me just chillin in the ”office”. just found out that im adopted. Nottingham- Stealth Manchester- Ruby Lounge Manchester- Ruby Lounge Last night rage + whiskey love Four poster bed dream came true. what a dream. GLOVE OF ROCK GOODBYE HOLIDAY BINN.
08 Apr	IN LOVE WITH NEW YORK. Hey fruitcakes Just a quick hello! I’m in the big apple at the moment. it is rrrreal good. Surprisingly, i have not done a lot of shopping except did buy some massive crown pendants the other day from an amazing place called Girl Props. I am a big black rapper stuck inside a white girl’s body. All the ‘vintage’ shops are mega expensive- What the hell? Cant believe how much ppl would pay for an old dress. Grannies across the land are literally having a laugh on us right now. The thrift stores are cheap but its literally like someone has died eating too many baked beans in them and generally not an experience to be shared or recommended. So we have been going out to loads of amazing places to eat- Food here is amazing and I would never even bother attempting to cook if i lived here. Not that i cook anything but toast when back in the uk. Apart from eating and buying dead peoples clothes, I’ve done a bit of work too. Did a shoot for NYLON a few days ago. Super nice people and I quite enjoyed it. Except they surprised me by asking me to sing an accappella version of any cover- i chose the most unmelodic number ever. Hell! That will be on NYLONtv soon, however it is so bad i really wouldn’t be surprised if they deleted it. Went to see bloc party, white lies and friendly fires earlier in the week. NYC crowds are so different to london crowds. On friday I did my first US of A show at Vassar College in the dear town of Poughkeepsie. The crowd was a dream and I just want to thank everyone there for me being wonderful and giving me a neon yellow bum bag. FANNY PACKZ R US YA’LLL. From here onwards, I’ll be entertaining you with more HILARIOUS blogs, writing and recording the magical album. Busy times ahead but thats the way I like it. Better than sitting on my sofa in wales watching ‘my sweet 16′ wishing that i was a teen dream star.
09 Apr	BROOKLYN PARTIES & COLLEGE KIDS. Friday I played my first ever usa show at Vassar College. I was nervous as all I had were my grade 8 piano skillz and no band/ n-sync moves. But it actually went quite smoothly. Everyone sat on the floor like it was Story Timez and i made awkward jokes about if they could see my pants etc Say hello to a dying Marina and the Neon gold bros. Half of Neon Gold and another one of me dying on the train back to Manhattan. After the show we partied loads and i drank my first ‘Olde English’ Forty. Its a bottle of brown liquid which costs like 6p and gets u shit faced in 5 minutes and isn’t that what we all want and crave in life. We also went to a weird house party in a little student village like the one from LOST. I liked it a lot. Mainly transfixed by the fact that Vassar is like 60% girls, 40% guys, 50% of which are gay AND beautiful. I bet Beyonce and her ‘Single Ladies’ vid is aired on repeat everyday throughout campus. Saturday was my lucky day. I got taken to pretty much the best place ive been to in a year. Its called Rubulad. It happens once a month. Its a warehouse party. Its full of glitter, crazies, Naked girls (token) and Unwashed People. They give free Kool Aid away at the bar and bowls of pasta. Also have a pee tent (which I later found out was an upside down traffic cone- My pee aim is fucking awesome and fast as lightening). They also have a human size bird cage. i could go on and on so I guess you’ll have to wait for the videos next week. For now, here are some photos Me + Neon goldy <3 MA BOW. One of the glow in the dark hallways. I mean.. This is why drugs are fucking pointless. There was also an igloo. And a penguin.. meet Otto. He is friends with Neon gold. There were also many symbols/ signs about bum sex and gayness. Meet Avi. He is friends with Neon gold. here is a naked girl Here is a horse Here is me panicking at a disgusting fast food place “White Castle”- approximately 13 times LOWER DOWN than mcdonalds. Fucking miserable. Some meals had 4,056 calories in them. Again, video footage for proof later ME N MA BOW “Diamond Grillz- Collect all ten!!!” You could buy these in here. we bought two but one of them turned out to be a pair of gums and Derek was really annoyed. Hee hee. more soon! * All photos: Merry Webster
10 Apr	DONT GIVE UP. Back from New York. Feel happy but also sad and unpopular and like world hates me. Feel like i could rule the world but also fear in reality i am big failure who is rubbish friend/ deluded/ crap at love etc. Feel greedy and horrible for spending all money in new york. Feel mean for being mean person in life. Feel like i do not want to grow up to be twat face celeb. Have been thinking deeply about the notion of fame and celebrity and what it actually means, what i would personally gain from it and how one can get to a point where one doesn’t want attention/ recognition for unhealthy reasons eg “Oh Hey i have a gaping, gangrenous hole for a heart and and i want everyone to love me for no reason whatsoever”. Cause most Famouses seem pretty fucked up and weird and not very loved in reality because they love themselves too much to form real, stable relationships. The ones that are normal and kind and add something to pop culture are the ones worth the space. I have always really admired people like Madonna for doing what they want, for being disciplined when the rest of the world cant be bothered and for staying focused on their goals until they achieve them. But it freaks me out when I realise most of these people are now really fucked up or sad and I just wonder what it’s all really about.. Dont want to be like the unhealthy celebs. All those people who gossip and care about material shit, their $11k bags, whats in fashion, who is having sex with who etc. I am as prone as anyone to the media/ celebrity but its so diseased and wrong and damaging and not what any of us should be wasting our time on. Where are all the old fashioned people in the world. Why do i never meet them. Feel like i dont want to go to any parties and that everyone in the world is crazy amazing fun party animal except for me and that i am just a boring girl and ”all i wanna do is take ugly dogs for a walks”.* *To get me through this difficult time in life, i am playing Hassle’s ‘Love me to pieces’ for 5 hrs now. PS. I am not in any way considering myself a ‘celeb ‘in this post. PPS. Everything in this post is aimed at myself.
12 Apr	GAY CARTOON CHARACTERS. the back of the mighty tour bus. We just did a gig in a library in Lancaster. It was lovely to play with the bookends and the crowd was super sweet. Dont think my performance was worth more than 6/10 so feel grumpy. (What is new this week?) Tour bus talk reaches a new low as the topic of buying wolf piss on the internet hits the fan, 1.5 mins into the journey. Apparently ‘Urban’ foxes can be scared away from eating your cat/ baby by strategically placing wolf wee wee around the garden. Also available in Coyote, Mountain Lion and Bobcat? Go wild at http://www.predatorpee.com/! (Wow. I feel like I havent even lived.) Topic of the day. Ever noticed how many gay characters there were in cartoons when you were kid, that you didn’t even clock onto until you were 23? Yep. This gay-train of thought first began on the way back from brighton when i witnessed a lesbian conductor giving a fine to a chav. I observed that almost all women who work on london transport seem to be lesbian. Weird! Any lesbians out there can you help me out with this? Is it because straight gals aren’t assertive enough/ they’re scared they’ll get their fingernails dirty etc etc? In airports also there are many lesbian women working on security/ passport check etc. Sometimes I kind of enjoy being felt up in security. I dont think it is that weird. Its kind of like a 20 second body stroke. A free massage if you will. Its like when you used to make your mum check your hair for nits in school even though you knew you had none. Jus’ wanted a stroke, thassal…. Amazing gay cartoon characters in history, as follows: Peppermint Patt from Snoopy She has a deep, gravelly voice and always wears pants, not dresses, like the other Peanuts gals. She also plays a mean game of football and likes to taunt Charlie Brown. She’s most definitely sleeping with the rather androgynous Marcie. Velma from Scooby Doo Wake UP yallll. Beavis and Butthead Their homophobia merely masks the fact that they are freaked out about the fact that they are themselves the gayest thing in town. He-Man Definitely one of those butch in the streets, femme in the sheets queens. If he were a real person He-Man would be the type of guy who works out at the gym and spends his weekends gurning on ketamin at some of the less salubrous gay nightspots in town. Enter Snagglepuss. What a lad. PS- Does anyone remember Button Moon.. I long for button moon like i longed to put Rohypnol in Zac from Saved by the Bell’s drink when i hit puberty.
13 Apr	BOOBS. Isn’t it funny how big breasts are considered sexy/ desirable in our culture though most high street shops do not stock bras bigger than a size D cup? I find this frustrating. I am a 32 on my back and a ‘____’ cup and finding it increasingly hard to find good bra. Feel my pain here and here: Examples of bras that my ‘type’ can buy.. cry. Where can I go yall? i am happy for what nature gave me but where do i have to go to get a bra that doesn’t look totally heinous and like it has been made for a large vintage grannymobile. h8 boobs yall. Where do pornstars go? Guess they dont need clothes. When they do they probs just go to Foot Locker and buy baseball caps . Wonder if they keep the shiny stickers on like all the flyboyz do. This bra is pretty cool.
13 Apr	THE DIAMONDS CLUB. Want to say thank you to The Diamonds. Want to say your advice on yest’s post gave me perspective and I feel much better now. I think I panic too much and i know that. This just all means so much to me though and i would prefer to not exist than fail. I think the ‘The Diamonds Album Club’ will become ‘The Diamonds Club’. A place for yall of us. I am aiming to get something in place as soon as i can. For now, I have a private Twitter under TheDiamondsClub. I will give all Diamonds Club private updates from there when the club is born! (kicking in the womb right now) EASTER SOUNDTRACK I have been listening to Royksopp album all day. It is the best thing I have heard in ages. “The girl and the Robot” ft. Robyn- Royksopp it makes me feel sick inside. It invades and penetrates your stomach i swear. The chord changes almost make my intestines grind. I cant describe why but thats why it is so v special. Hot like Fire- by The XX. You NEED to check this duo out. They are excellent. Pieces of You- by Wolfgang . Super classic, super good. Whole fcking album- by Erik Hassle*. It is the ultimate pop album of the year (by a guy ofcourse <3) Love you Diamonds x
13 Apr	MCDONALDS MUSIC. n the beginning, Lady Gaga made me feel like this. I thought her music, her looks, her packaging, her ‘message’ was tired, contrived and fake. I felt unable to relate to it and even though I could see that on paper she ticked off all the pop star boxes, the whole thing seemed to lack genuine meaning and soul. The fact that the whole album was based around fame/ celebrity/ material goods/ modern society seemed hollow and boring. However.. I have absolutely changed my mind. I might even go far as saying that she is extremely intelligent and is the closest thing we have had to a conceptual pop artist since the days of Madonna. Why The Gaga Project works? She is the embodiment of our society’s obsessions/ desire for ‘celebrity’ culture and is the epitome of the word ‘empty’. Growing up in a world where the media chooses to document a star’s 5lb weight gain over a presidential election feels weird to many of us and she is the product of living in a world where money, glamour and status are favoured over everything else until life begins to lacks meaning.She feels like the poster child of ‘fake’ celebrity / ‘fake’ stardom and ‘fake’ glamour. Though she is a star. It is a contradiction within a contradiction and this is what makes her so good. She represents the hollow desire that I think a lot of young people have these days to Be somebody/ Be Famous/ Be rich/ Be beautiful/ Because being ‘you’ is not enough. So. I still dont ‘love’ her but I find her interesting, hardworking and talented. Even though her verses and choruses sometimes feel a little bit ‘cut and paste’ like she has just sat in a studio and been told to write a pop song, i don’t mind. Even if you stripped her of all her shingaling, she would be normal/almost unattractive. I kind of like that though. Now Lady Gaga makes me feel like this. Thoughts, diamonds?
14 Apr	HURTED MY MOUF. Went to dentists today. £546 of pain. Getting my teef done. Gonna be pretty in 5 more appointments time (My family tooth DNA is that bad). Thought it was gonna hurt. Didnt at all. And when it did, actually felt kinda nice. Like the pain that occurs when you get your leg waxed: at first you are shocked and keep telling yourself ‘ just fucking walk out of the room, just go right now whilst the beautician’s back is turned’. Then the pain feels nice and you want it MORE & MORE. Its interesting how we are all so hair-ist. As if women were meant to be magical hairless beings. Not shaving your legs is like nature’s chastity belt for slutty gals yall. Lol everything very hilarious tonight. What happened today yall? I did a shoot today for French fashion mag MIXTE. Stood freezing cold on the roof of a warehouse in Hackney Wick with soaking wet hair wearing a mans coat. Wonder if they sell MIXTE in the uk. Wonder what will be my first cover shoot. I really hope it is something like Pyschologies. I LOVE that mag. Tomorrow Im going in to BBC 1 to record my first ‘jingle’ for Radio 1′s Big Weekend. I would like to be friends with radio presenters more than i would like to be friends with pop stars and indie bands. Because I feel like I know them already and because they always sound friendly. I then have a rehearsal with my musicians in afternoon. Then go home, pack for tour and call momma. I am leaving for Scotland on thursday morning. I cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!! I heart tour. I heart performing. I heart you.
17 Apr	FOUND A HOME IN YOUR EYES. (Missing Images) Above are photox from last night’s gig at Limbo in Edinburgh. More on Flickr i think. On tour at the moment in Scotland and just did the most enjoyable gig I have EVER played at Twisted Wheel in Glasgow. The crowd were just … wonderful. I am full of genuine happiness right now. Dont know if u can tell, but I am saying thank you to the diamonds whilst makeup runs down my face in a Premier Binn hotel room Off to Aberdeen tomorrow. You guys better be rowdy else I’ll be totals disappointed. Then to a fishing village on sunday to play HOMEGAME Festival. Apparently its beautiful there. Also had a lovely feature today in scotland’s The Daily Record paper. And an interview with a funny guy from The Sun/ Peanuts blog. Starting to love the Scotties and may never come back. This is literally all I live for. I feel so ahppy for once!
18 Apr	THAT TIME I AUDITIONED FOR A BOY BAND. “Marina on Lady Gaga, record deals & dressing like a homeless person- at powerfulpeanuts.com” video link [dead]
20 Apr	CAN I HAVE YOUR BRAIN PLEASE. (PS. THANKS) Watched the news before leaving the hotel this morning and felt bemused. News readers looked horrified as they were ‘forced’ to read out a news bulletin that pleaded for us to donate our brains to research for Parkinson’s disease. They looked so sickened and uncomfortable. What? Why? Note: some people may find this post offensive. I’m not sure why, but if you are very religious or just touchy about death, then maybe go away for a bit. I don’t mean harm but I am interested to know what the general consensus is. Just dont get human beings. Think it is really nonsensical that some people do not want to donate their body/ organs to medical research. How can you be so precious about offering your body parts to science when maggots will eat and shit their way through your skin, veins and internal organs when you’re buried? People need to get real. I know ritual and tradition have a lot to do with this- its a sensitive topic and I mean NO disrespect. But if scientists maybe showed people what a rotting corpse looked like after being buried for 6 months, i think everyone would feel less precious about donating their organs to a good cause. Medical research done using human bodies in the past 100 years has probably saved your life 5-6 times already. However YOU dont feel the need to give anything back because you want your corpse to remain beautiful and at peace in your minds eye? Is this not a little one sided? Going back to the news report, why is a brain different to your heart / lungs/ legs? You will be dead.. Therefore ‘probably’ aren’t going to want to use your old body too much when you busy eating Philadelphia Light on wheat crackers with ‘Da angels’ in heaven. What do you all feel? Does the thought of being buried comfort you because its the normal thing to do? Do you plan to be cremated/ other? What made you make this decision? Family, Tradition, Religion, Personal choice? Is being buried in a cardbox coffin’disrespectful’? Or ‘smart’ and economical? Not saying either option is bad or good. It’s your body and its your choice what you do with it at the end of the day. Just want to hear your thoughts.
22 Apr	NEON DIAMONDS CONTINUE SONIC LOVE AFFAIR. Very happy to announce… I am releasing my 2nd single on the 1st June through Neon Gold Records. It’ll be part of a sparkling package now named ‘THE CROWN JEWELS EP’ and will feature the following tracks: I am not a Robot Seventeen Simplify Robot Remix Formats: 7″ and iTunes. Artwork: revealed soon! Release regions: USA and Europe Eeeeek…! VERY excited. The title will all make sense soon. Ill let you guys know more info as and when.
23 Apr	GOLDEN SUMMER. (Missing Images) Begins tomorrow with the Camden Crawl. I’ll be doing two acoustic shows for mtv and ray ban and then a big band fiasco for popjustice in the evening. A look into my touring wardrobe for this summer. Its embarassing that this only makes up for ¼ of it I have also had my hair cut again! Can you se the diff? can u you see the diff?? No, As per usual. H8 non-life transforming hair cuts.. But love long hair. Love pink frosting lipstick like i am some kind of internet mail order bride. This is what i bought yesterday. I fee amazing. Like one of those fat old jazz musicians from the Simpsons. Night sweet world!
26 Apr	MUTE ME. (Missing Images) Hello I have lost my voice due to talking and singing for 48 hrs at Camden Crawl Festival. It was worth it though. Loved all the promo and seriously loved the gigs- especially the Popjustice one. I am now on a speech diet and therefore cannot talk for 48 hrs to ensure that i am all recovered for the 4 day festival marathon that will ensue next thursday. This is proving to be hard. But kind of nice too. Dont have to speak to people (h8 socialising) and I am being forced to do normal stuff like fry an egg, take a walk in the woods and think of new exciting ideas for The Diamonds Club. Above is one of my new prezz shotz. It was everyone’s least favourite so I think I’m able to put it up here. The rest will be revealed soon. They are VERY colourful! Also, something quite important. I have given up smoking. I have wanted to for so long but each time I thought ‘ oh i’ll do it soon’, however its now been 3 years and though I only smoked 3-4 a day, I dread to think how my poor lungs look. It’s such a dirty, gross habit and I am regularly left thinking ‘whats the point’ so let’s just do something about that. Doubt I would be able to do long tours either without getting sick, so it’s goodbye to cancer, hello to 7am jogs to get fit for the gruelling choreography i’m about to put into the shows. Singing and dancing isnt hard co-ordination-wise. But you seriously need to be fit. Dunno if people realise that? Britney is on to a good thing. What is the hardest thing you have ever had to give up and why?
27 Apr	AND THE CAT TALKED BACK AT ME. I had a dream about a cat last night. A dusty grey fiend that was semi-kitten, semi-adult, very defiant, mouthy and troublesome. I felt upset about the dream when I woke up and was left feeling many emotions, fear being the main one. The interesting thing about the dream was that the cat could talk. I googled ‘dream interpretations’ immediately and apparently talking animals symbolised superior wisdom & a desire to express something in real life whilst cats represented female eroticism, creativity, independence and a repressed desire for freedom. The whole dream was based around me thinking there was something wrong with the cat and that it must be carried by me everywhere until I could get to my Father’s house in Greece, where it would be contained and safe. I kept it close to my stomach under my shirt until its fur got damp and matted from perspiration, then I would have to move it around. At some point it would get limp and I would freak out that I’d hurt it- then it would yowl again and I would struggle to regain control of it. The cat was quite mean and resentful of me. It was talking at me the whole time, complaining that I never let it be free and that it was uncomfortable in its current condition. I was very afraid of it escaping. The dream involved much stress as I tried to run about the city finding the cat a safe home. I was so scared to let it go. I feared it because I could not control it. It wriggled so much. My heart beat fast the whole night long. You can never tell a cat what to do. Q: Have any of your dreams ever been genuinely symbolic of a situation/ an event going on in your life?
28 Apr	TAKE MA PICTURE. (Missing Images) This is hot.
30 Apr	SHOW THEM WHAT I GOT. (Missing Images) April 30th, 2009[] Had a bit of a tumble the other day yall Have been obsessed with running (this won’t last). Have been getting up at 7am everyday to go to a piece of green land known to Londoners as Play-den for The Gays a.k.a Hampstead Heath. Two days ago I got all macho and confident thinking that I could up my jogs from 45 mins to 90- that i was… SUDDENLY BORN TO RUN! I AM A BIRD! THIS DOES NOT FEEL THAT BAD! OLYMPIANS ARE HAVING IT EASY! What a dick. I collapsed after around 56 mins in something that I can only identify as a 5 second black out. I think this was caused by not having stuffed a chocolate down my pie hole for 34 minutes. Incidentally I was listening to ‘Poker Face’ by Gag Gag. The last words I heard before ‘The Collapse’ being ‘I’ll get him hot- show him what I got’. .. Just. imagine. If I had died (blatantly in a freak joggers R’ Us death). Imagine if those had been the last words I heard. Freaked me out yall. It reminded me of the time my friend Michael said how awful it would be if you died with a packet of Snack-a-jacks found on you. I found this a weird remark to make but I now like it and understand for reasons I cannot express well here. Do Snack-a-jacks* say a lot about life? Would YOU be bothered if they were on your personal being when found post-mortem? What would be the most embarassing way to die? My friends and I used to think the worst way would be for the big Doc Martens boot in Camden to fall on your head. Imagine. ‘Killed by Doc Marten’. Awful. pd998199.jpg What food item would you least like to be found carrying ? (You cant name stuff that you dont actually eat in real life) Thoughts pls. PS sorry all blogs are about death. If I were Oprah Winfrey, I would tell yall that I were going through a ‘period of ‘change’. Lulzz. *Snack-a-Jacks are a low calorie, low fat rice cake snack. Usually caked in sweet or savoury powder to fool you into thinking that they are scrumptious. Posted by Marina Diamond at 8:05am

Date	Title
02 May	OH, AMSTERDAM. Just a quick catch up. Played Amsterdam last night, it was faboush. Very tired + grouchy as only got 5 hrs sleep due to EasyJet calling my name at 7am this morning. Now in hotel in Leeds with some hourz to kill. Taylor Swift is on tv. She is like a rose. I am wearing gold and black tonight. Tomorrow I play Huw Stephens fest in Manchester, then it’s Radio 1 Big Weekend next weekend (!) I am planning some glittery visuals for the show.] So some ‘real’ Diamonds Club action this week. Preview of a brand new track coming next week PLUS an acoustic video of ‘I am not a Robot’ from ‘THE BEDROOM’.
03 May	WIN TICKETS! (Missing Images) May 3rd, 2009[] Marina++the+Diamonds+marina150.png Hello diamonds- Got some good news! My lovely label have just given me 2 pairs of guest passes to give away to 4 Diamonds for Radio 1’s Big Weekend gig next Sunday. Its the biggest free festival of the year and you cannot buy tickets for this. If you want a chance of winning, just type in your name and email address below. Competition closes at Tuesday midday. GOOD LUCK+ SEE YOU THERE! Posted by Marina Diamond at 6:46am
03 May	GUILTY ON THE RUN. May 3rd, 2009[] You can listen to a preview of a new track, ‘Guilty’ now on Myspace.. Posted by Marina Diamond at 8:56am
13 May	TITS & TEETH PART II. After bemoaning my blessing from ‘Da Lord’ a few weeks back- -ie. i have big boobs- I decided to go get a bra custom made. ‘Naturally’, money is falling out of the sky and the trees, so I went to the bra-maker to the Queen, Rigby & Peller. Woah. They were amazing. Woah. I felt weird having to take get naked in front of the measurers. Woah. It was damn worth it. Turns out I have been wearing the wrong size bra for 3 years. Turns out I am a 28G. Turns out that this is a real size. Turns out you don’t have to be a porn star to achieve that. I mean, i didn’t even know this size existed in human nature so am pretty please that I am breaking boob-boundaries yall. Companies don’t make 28′s so in the end got a 30 taken in. Feel like I may just be a child from the waist up but with secret breast implants. Feel like I love this new bra size revelation but only because it is slightly ‘rare’ and therefore makes me feel superficial-style special. On the down side, its pretty expensive. But I am genuinely really happis to get a bra that fits!!! Ladies- you need to go to this place. I think 70% of women wear the wrong size or something like that anyway. Yesterday I went to the dentist for my 2nd ‘ make me pretty’ appointment. It took 2.5 hours. That is 150 minutes of having your mouth pulled open like a lady’s Fi-fi in the throws of childbirth. My lips were bleeding and I started to feel very angry and irrational towards the end. I got 6 fillings replaced. It was bloody agony. I burped two hours later and it was like dentist’s rubber glove had exploded in my mouth. I’m not even joking. Good night.
13 May	STEVE LAMACQ. Please vote for me on the Steve Lamacq bbc 6 show this week. If i win, I get added to the Official Playlist. If I lose, i get put back into the bottom of the barrel and covered up with compost so that I suffocate to death. TO VOTE, e-mail "lamacq.6music@bbc.co.uk" with the Subject heading: REbel Marina and the Diamonds. Anyone who is bothered to do this, than you so very much. x x x
13 May	BABY CHEERLEADERS. (Missing Images) May 13th, 2009[] Ebay is so dark. I was innocently browsing through cheerleader costumes yesterday morning, when LOOK what I came across. Introducing: Australian Creations- wow, your 1- year old baby can look like a sexy cheerleader too. Cheerleader_ppl.jpg Fucking terrifying Dutch farmer baby Dutch.jpg If you’re not into that, they have Batman. I mean… this little dude is freaking the shit out of me. Seriously. Please stop making these outfits. Batman.jpg Honestly- who buys this stuff. Do you think is aimed at teen pregnancy types? e.g a 14 yr old may think its ‘cute’ to dress her baby like a dutch farmer. Q: What’s the weirdest thing you have ever bought on Ebay? Have you ever bought something for over £9.99 that didnt turn up which forced you to go all the way to the sellers house in Newcastle up on Tyne on the Mega Bus (£1 return ticket) to kill them with your Baby-All-Gone TM doll? Posted by Marina Diamond at 3:01am
15 May	THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED. (Missing Images) May 15th, 2009[] 2621305909_591d700449.jpg Helo. Feeling lethargic today. Great Escape happens tomorrow and I am pretty excited. All of my friends and band are already down there and it sucks, especially when I am sat here in my dressing gown as scared as hell because I have an unexpected day off and don’t know what to do with self. Mainly am contemplating Richard & Judy, GMTV, The Wright Stuff and other tv programmes. Also been thinking about air- kissing and how odd it is. I have to air kiss because I wear bright pink lipstick, even in my sleep, and so don’t want to get men in trouble with their girlfriends/ wives by branding them with huge pink stamps. Plus it is royal bitch to get off your face. Have mainly been thinking about how everyone in life seems to be confusing me as to whether they kiss ONCE or TWICE. This is REALLY important because if you are giving the CEO of Fanta (for example) a kiss on the cheek and they go the wrong way/ go for two kisses, YOU MIGHT MEET IN THE MIDDLE AND ACCIDENTALLY SNOG. ! Can I just clarify to all potential air-kissers of mine now on- I kiss twice. That is what Greek people do and also one kiss seems uneven and incomplete. I am just going to stick with this and FORCE people if necessary to kiss twice. Because up until now I have tried to memorise which of my friends and aquaintances kiss once and which kiss twice. NB- Noone kisses three times. That is just pervy (if you are not French/ Belgian) Can we all just agree to kiss twice and end the future embarassments? Diamonds, have u ever gone to kiss someone on the cheek and accidentally gone for mouth, e.g. with your best friend’s mum or something Posted by Marina Diamond at 8:56am
15 May	CAREBEARS. (Missing Images) May 15th, 2009[] 2331373044_82f93e2a65.jpg Have been debating what is right and wrong for a while regarding ‘illegally’ ripping music and generally treating it as something that has no vale. I am a musician so I am biased. But I know of many friends and piers (rich and poor) in the music industry who never pay for music. Never really cared about it until yesterday. Just though ‘Eh. Cant stop it now. Plus if the record labels hadn’t screwed us over all these years by charging £12.99 for a CD (giving the actual artists 67p out of that) then we wouldn’t be in this situation. I think that is call Karma kicking your rich butt’. However, having given it some extra thought, feel quite upset. Feel weird about the idea that I/ any other artist may have slaved for 4 whole years to make a record only for it to be ripped off an internet site in 3 minutes and 40 seconds for nothing. You = thinking now: Oh poor artist, poor Marina, she got no money, she is writing this blog to ensure that we all buy her album and dont get all illegal on her. I = thinking now: This is not very moral. My previous theory of ” If an artist sells over 500,000 copies, I can rip it off the net” has gone down the loo as it automatically assumes that music has no value, no matter how good it is. For example: Really good band makes really good album. Most of its consumers are aged 14-21. This section of the market rips music of the ‘nets like a bitch. So album only sells 20,000 copies though is owned by more than 200,000 people. Record label thinks band has underperformed and is therefore ’shit’ so band gets dropped. Band/ artist goes back to working in “x” job and cannot survive by off making music anymore. 14-21 year olds got something for free but have kind of been instrumental in killing a good band from going further with their 14-21 yr old consumer habits. CoOoOl! Some people justify action by saying ‘Hey, i ripped the album but i DID go and see them twice this year and I bought a t-shirt’. My answer: Ha ha ha. Do you know how many artists actually see any of that money, especially indie ones? Fun Fact: Record labels no longer make money from records anymore, so they have to pull revenue from somewhere else in order to survive. Example: Live, Merch etc. My opinion on this is very far from being money motivated. As long as I’m allowed to do this forever and am not being blatantly swindled/ screwed over, I’m a relatively happy person. Just can’t help but think that this is really disheartening. We all now automatically think that music has no/ little worth? If you think ‘ I download music for free- But that doesn’t mean I think music is worthless’ then you are WRONG. Your actions have a knock- on effect, no matter what you currently think. You cannot get something for nothing. These actions are very disabling for artists. If you respect art, buy the record. Spend that humungous 79p you would unthinkingly spend on an overpriced chocolate bar in gas station. You spend £10 on 2 drinks in a club every week (your £10 going to a coked up club manager in a back room btw- i have worked in enough clubs). You also may give £5 to a big corporation like McDonalds for a skanky meal deal, so why not an album? I just don’t really get it, yall… Don’t wanna be chosen over McDonald’s yall.. I would really like to hear your opinions on this, diamonds. Positive or negative, as long as they are honest- ie dont bother saying ”Yeah, I totes agree with you, I respect artists and buy their albums all the time’ when you just ripped Lil Wayne’s album of the internets 2 hrs ago. Just want to understand this problem more and see if my thoughts/ opinions might be somehow wrong or outdated or naive. -What does music mean to you? -Has it changed your life/ views/ helped you in certain periods? -What would your life without music be like? -Would you have the guts to go up to a street artist, grab one of his paintings and run off down the street with it? Thanks for reading. Posted by Marina Diamond at 4:14am
15 May	CROWN MY JEWELS. May 15th, 2009[] On that note, say hello to The Crown Jewels EP artwork. Artwork: By Cristiana Couceiro. (Thank you Cristiana) Digital Release: 1st June Physical release: 22nd June Tracklisting: I am not a Robot Seventeen Simplify I am not a Robot (Remix) Posted by Marina Diamond at 8:47am
15 May	MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! May 15th, 2009[] After the last few blogs and the comments i’ve received from people, I’ve actually done a bit of a u-turn on my thoughts on ripping music. I have deduced that: a- people will either rip your music or they wont b- people will either invest in an album or they wont The most important thing is sharing your music. Music makes you feel less lonely, can help you relate and should be a commodity available to everyone, whether they can afford it or not. Its then the consumer’s choice if they want to buy it. Times are changing and record labels are a bit slow at adapting. There will always be artists and there will always be audiences. The end. So I think I’m gonna give away a new song on Monday morning. I will be posting a YouSendIt link on this site which will enable you to download an mp3 of said-song. The give away will be limited to 100 copies. Until then, have a lovely weekend shiny-ones! Im playing great escape tomorrow and am planning on getting F*CKED YP. M x Posted by Marina Diamond at 3:06pm
18 May	BEND OVER AND CURTSY. May 18th, 2009[] Say hello to a new song called ‘Girls’! Complete with real Greek bouzouki player & 6 and 7 year old Josie and Kiera chanting on the chorus. Once site reaches its download limit of 100, link will become defunct. https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=689031048&email=58b73ea73059bc689c2401c892569947 Enjoy! Posted by Marina Diamond at 1:00am
19 May	H8 TWITTER. LOVE TWITTER. May 19th, 2009[] H8 real human interaction, love electronic-marriage. You have your very own club on Twitter now, Diamonds. It’s called ‘The Diamonds Club’. Wow. Yeah I know. Can’t help it if I have big, imaginative brain. Sorry, dont be jealous, etc etc. Posted by Marina Diamond at 10:29am
19 May	COMPREHENSIVE INTERVIEW. Q+A for Nialler9: i like that blog. http://www.nialler9.com/2009/05/19/interview-with-marina-and-the-diamonds/
22 May	AND SUDDENLY IT ALL MAKES SENSE. (Missing Images) May 22nd, 2009[] perezbutton400px1.jpg New song ‘Girls’ is now available for full streaming on my myspace! hope u all enjoy. Actually, if you don’t it doesn’t really matter. Think you either ‘get’ this or you don’t. Posted by Marina Diamond at 5:19am
26 May	SMELL IN COLOUR. (Missing Images) May 26th, 2009[] 2913075700_35a94f15f1.jpg Been thinking about Synaesthesia today. As usual. At one of my brief stints at ‘University’ when pretending to be music student, I vividly remember catching a lecture where I was led into talking about how I thought sounds had colours and tastes. Had originally gained entry to said-university by filling out my personal statement with a theory on this and how I experienced music solely through colour, texture and smell. Was not sure if this was normal but was pretty sure it was not Freakville, Ohio either and that other people out there might experience the same thing. Did some research today. Got bored with scientific side of it very quickly but apparently synaesthesia is most commonly defined as when people perceive letters or numbers as inherently colored. I feel very strongly about the days of the week having colours, as do I about numbers. For example: ‘My BrAiN sEz’ that: Monday = Red Tuesday = Green Wed = Blue Thurs = Yellow Fri = Red Saturday = Orangey brown Sunday = Yellow Numbers: Three- Green (SO fucking green) Four- Purple Five- Red Six- Blue Seven- Gold/ Yellow Eight- Deep Purple Nine- Brown Ten- Black Eleven- Silver I do not agree with the below photo. What a joke. Stroop_interference.jpg Also see names and people in different colours. Also feelings and countries. Also smell scents that I absolutely know do not exist in the room at that time but not sure if that relates synaesthesia or something very different. Below: These are the colours some freak on the internet thinks the numbers on his Barbie-Phone represent. He is totally wrong. What a joke. 2281750925_99c3a76283.jpg Do any of you diamonds think like this? I love (and equally hate) to hear what colours people think of for certain days- e.g. feels so wrong when one person thinks Monday is purple when it is so obviously red. Have had fights with people in past on this. Cannot punch anyone over internet though so please feel free to leave your thoughts. Posted by Marina Diamond at 8:25am
30 May	YOU ARE NOT V FUNNY PERSON. (Missing Images) May 30th, 2009[] There are a selection of small videos taken from tour/ radio 1 big weekend and mtv on youtube now. Here are my faves i.e. the ones that I do not come across as a total dick in. THIS GUY HAD MY JACKET ON UW + MARINA = AKON. I was bit drunk.. :-/ MTV Posted by Marina Diamond at 5:39am

Date	Title
02 Jun	OASIS. June 2nd, 2009 — 1:02pm[] Hello Dont know if anyone would like to, but I’m doing a free gig at the Oasis store in Covent Garden on thursday at 7pm if you want to come. I’m doing 4-5 songs and it should be rather fun. Here are the details if you’re mid shopping spree and fancy a diamond shower: <3 I am playing at Oasis’ Fashionably Late event on Thursday 4th June. There will be lots of fabulous and free treats across 3 floors of summer fashion, including a free cocktail bar by Annex 3 and Brockmans gin, summer nails by butter London, make up by benefit cosmetics and hair by Therapi! Destination: Oasis, Unit 12-14 Argyll Street, London, W1F 7NT For free tickets to our live gig email: late@oasis-stores.co.uk Tickets are limited- email in soon to avoid disappointment.
03 Jun	I AM ACTUALLY NOT A ROBOT. June 2nd, 2009 — 2:09pm[] Have finally got to point where don’t care about pop anymore. Don’t mean pop music in general but rather the pressure to be pop and to have an album full of choruses. JUST. CHORUSES. Love it that record labels are so obsessed with an act having 12 ‘POTENTIAL NO.1 SINGLES’ on an album that they actually forget that there needs to be a tiny bit of soul in the music in order for ‘the dumb masses’ to swallow it. NEWS FLASH: It is not 1987 anymore. Heard the other day that one particular major label is starting to look for acts again that have 3-4 hot single songs and 8 great album tracks. That is quite refreshing. I am very glad to be back in the realm of i-dont-care land again and think I shall stay here for a while. Not even bothered about when album is released-as long as the timing feels right and I am 100% confident that I am delivering a gem to whoever buys it (Hello again, Mother..). Don’t even find failure that scary when I imagine myself being 100% convinced that this record represents me and not 50,000 other people’s sounds. Imagine if you compromised on an album because you thought that would make it successful, only for the album to fail. You would want to kick yourself in the cranium, wouldn’t you. Imagine sitting in your fat-man sweat pants in front of ‘My Super Sweet 16′ for 7 days crying because you could have ‘succeeded’ if you’d done it your own way. Nobody likes a gal in sweatpants- EVERYBODY likes ‘My Super Sweet 16′. Am open to the idea that my album may come out in January. Feel no need to rush- for who??? Who is the rush for?. Aware that these days the ”dumb masses” move on quickly and everyone likes ‘hit me hit me quick with the big fat chorus’ tracks but I’m not really into that. One day I will post (for hilarity alone) one of my old songs, before I even knew what a chorus really was (this was only 18 months ago. I started late. I WAS NO BRITNEY). Writing songs for the joy of writing and not because you are writing them so that you can be a Poop-Star or get love on radio 1. My true dream is to one day maybe become successful for what I do naturally, proving to people that you do not have to replicate an artist’s perceived successful qualities in order to become popular yourself. Sometimes feel like I don’t have the energy to do the whole ‘I’m a perfect shiny pop star’ act. And sometimes feel guilty for that. Obviously I sound cynical but that world does not satisfy me because it is hollow and shitty and fake. It feels almost sinful to contemplate spending my life on things like that. I dont think I can imagine trying to get into the celebrity magazine culture and making sure I was ‘spotted’ going shopping or whatever to stay ‘current’. Find it kind of boring and the schmooze-factor of such worlds leaves me feeling angry that I just wasted ‘x’ hrs talking to a bunch of dick heads when I could have been thinking about something awesome on my sofa at home. That is why I prefer to talk to bloggers, because they are like me and don’t care if I a spot on my face/ don’t know or care what is the hottest new designer bag that is obviously going to fleece you of your cash for. I feel like there is a time and a place for the shiny pop act and I am sure my time and place will come.. but I think there is a lot more to life and a lot more to the ‘dumb masses’ than we give ourselves credit for. Apologies for the subject of music tonight on the bog Have liked steering my blog away from it but we all slip up. Back soon.
18 Jun	WAR IS OVER June 18th, 2009 — 11:17am[] Hello everyone! We have brilliant sunshine in London this morning and the video for ‘I am not a Robot’ is almost ready. It was directed by Rankin & Chris. I hope that you will like it. All diamonds signed up to the mailing list will get the exclusive preview of it in their mailboxes. *You can sign up to the mailing list by going to my Myspace page. I hope you’re all okay. Marina x
19 Jun	“YEAH, WE MET IN A CHAT ROOM IN 1992″ (Missing Images) June 19th, 2009 — 7:44am[] 052107_spn_milenakas01__oPt.jpg I had a writing block for two weeks ya’ll and I thought about it and panicked and worried about it and felt like had nothing of interest to say. The more I stayed away from blogville tennessee, the harder it felt to go back- I think it is may a case of e.g. running: if you dont exercise go for two weeks, you will suffer on your first day back at it. It is kind of good I did not go on internet for two weeks as I felt my brain was going crazy/imploding and I was being mean and angry to people. I felt depressed about ‘things’ but I turned a new leaf for first time in about 4 months on thursday. I usually note things down everyday- things that inspire me/ things I want to ask you guys/ topics of convo etc. But for days and days and then weeks and weeks, I started to feel like nothing was fun or exciting anymore and that nothing was worth anything, void of inspiration. I wanted to shut up. I wanted my brain to shut up. And so it did. Sometimes it is hard when you have wanted something for a very long time. Success can eat you alive and also lift you high. I have not tasted the kind of success that I crave yet but I suppose I am on ‘this road’ and have found I have had to make some significant decisions the past 2 months that have made me question who I want to be/ How I want to live my life/ What kind of message I want to give out. I have been a Moaning Minnie in some blog posts. Sometimes I cringe and wish I had never written them. I cringe to think I may have been exposed as weak/ low self esteem/ lacking in self belief when in reality I can take quite a lot of bullshit and I believe in my abilities to the bitter end. I guess the internets became my ‘friend’ as I could confide and reveal everything that was in my head without getting tongue-tied and being embarrassed/ experiencing social discomfort. This brings me onto my topic of the day: Internet dating. It is a tricky subject as even if any of you have done it, nobody will admit to doing it. Internet dating is preserved for freaks & loser only, right? People seem really prejudiced about the topic but it seems a more logical/ admirable way of meeting ‘compatible’ people for friendship/ otherwise at times than snorting some kind of horse tranquilizer in a ”kool lundun hangout”/ translation: Shyte-hole of the East. In the beginning, in 1997, we all knew that it was only geeks/ socially inept/ divorced + old people who went on ‘AOL Chat Roomz’ to find ‘the love of their lives‘. The idea of finding someone on the internet was slightly exotic but also creepy. But as the internet grew, so did Internet dating. Last year, I noticed a slew of adverts all over London Underground Transport about ”Match.com” and other such sites. Around that time, I remember being in a vintage store in Brick Lane where I heard two middle aged ladies talking about some dating site where the men and women asked each other if they were ‘homeowners’ before agreeing to go on a date. How she had gone on a date with some idiot (sounded like he was gay tbh) who made her feel even more desperate about her singleton status. Are we all a bit work- money -success mad nowadays? Do women and men really have no time to meet anymore? What followed were statistics in newspapers about ”lonely londoners” about how women were choosing careers over men and babies and had no time to find hot dudes and how apparently 30% of londoners used dating sites. Higher percentage than I would’ve thought. I can see the pros . I have seen the pros. It is hard enough to find one person you can ‘love’ in the whole of the UK, let alone London. I have only had 3 boyfs in 8 years so I am no expert but I have never found someone special ‘normally’ in a pub/ club / ’socialising hot spots’ in London. When Myspace and Facebook came along, it started to become slightly more acceptable to get to know people in this way. I met one of my now best friends on Myspace. I think he is a bit embarrassed about the way we met but I am not. I remember telling everyone in such an excited way, as if this was the new way of making friends- assuming Myspace was a gold mine of compatible people, just waiting out there to befriend you (LOL- WAKE UP, MARINA). He changed everything and my life quite literally did a U-turn through knowing him. So Internet dating suddenly got opened up to hot people and was not just cornered off for freaks anymore and thanks to Myspace, 1 million emo guys + girls got it on, judgement-free, between 2004-2008 - R.I.P Myspace. Makes me wonder, yall. All these social networking sites.. are they ruining our friendships or opening up a new world where we can find people with similar interests much more easily? What is this culture of self-obsession-Twitter-status-thingy leading to? A life lived out on the internet? Cause that is totally possible.. all you need is to have your groceries delivered to your door each week (go tesco.com to order). I dont even like Twatter but I have an account- I deleted the first one because I decided Twitter was bad for friendships/ the human race, only to cave and set up ‘The Diamonds Club” 2 weeks later. Now I can’t delete the second one cause A) I will look like an unhinged moron B) It is now (correctly) considered a ‘work tool’ in the music industry. I am stuck with Twitter- I don’t not like it but I don’t actually like it. I don’t know what to do. Seems like one more thing to worry about. Maybe life is full of those. Myspace dies, FaceyB is dying and Twitter is ruling now. Wonder whether we will all bother going out for ‘a coffee and a chat’ in 30 yrs or have an emotional need for relationships past our husband/wife? Why bother when you can see what all your friends are doing every min of the day, what a great night they’re having, how in love they, who did what ‘crazy’ thing at a partay? To drive my point home, my best friend saw sites like Myspace as ‘a filter’. You could tell whether you would get on with someone a lot more quickly through e-mails/ music tastes etc. What do you think yall? -What is your fave way to meet people? -Do you use the internet for more than 2+ hours a day to ‘keep in touch’ with people? -Is this weird/ unatural? Is just how our generation is evolving? - Have you met someone on the internet before- boy or girl, friendly or otherwise? - If not, would you? Would love to know your thoughts.
20 Jun	IT’S SHITNEY, BITCH. June 20th, 2009 — 7:25am[] The Britney Obsession definitely correlates with your age and sex- i.e. if you were a 14 year old teen girl when she broke world wide, you will probably find it hard not to love her. If you were a 44 year old man when she broke world wide, you will probably find it hard not to love her. I mention her a lot when I’m asked about inspiration and I feel like people laugh a bit, like ‘Oh you!’. But she was a captivating performer, had a genuinely good singing voice when she was young and had worked SINCE SHE WAS 8. So my friend Cara and I trotted off to the 02 Arena filled with nervous glee 3 weeks ago. Place was filled with 3-50 yr old girls and women dressed in cheap Hen Night costumes- we took to our seats nervously, waiting for Brit Brit to come onstage. When she did, we both literally cried (or at least my face contorted a bit and my eyes welled with tears for a minute). She is our teenage idol, everyone. We could not react differently. I was shocked that I felt so intense seeing as she was a billion feet from me but its Britney Spears. We both thought the show was great for a while but the cracks kinda started to show half way through. “Do these low end pole dancer moves count as actual performing? Does everything have to be so blatantly sexual that it doesnt actually feel very sexy? Why is she still feeling the need to dance in a bra and knickers?” Britney is not really performing at the moment, yall. She is not singing, she is not relying on an out-of-this-world toned body- so I ask the question- What is she? Is she an artist anymore? Does she play an instrument? Does she write songs? Is she even real? Feel its a shame and feel its going to be a while until we see something that feels like real human gold again. I felt like she was a mannequin. She barely interacted with the crowd, the choreography was appalling and reminiscent of something you’d see in a strip joint. I was more surprised than disappointed. If your not busting out dance moves, please sing for me at least and show me some kind of reason for why I’m here.. Feel like her and her camp are relying on her brand and name. I am having to question her strength as an artist: Madonna was a visionary and pioneer. Brit Brit can take still her clothes off, ten years down the line. Bravo. Sad. (PLEASE LORD DO NOT SMITE ME FOR CRITICISING BRITNEY- ITS THE FIRST TIME I’VE EVER SAID SOMETHING BAD ABOUT OUR GIRL BUT I AM SO SCURRED SHE IS BECOMING A PREDICTABLE EMPTY DOLL) Now don’t get me wrong- I will follow her loyally for the rest of my life. I am convinced she’s going through a bad patch. She had a nervous breakdown and shouldn’t really be expected to be breaking out the dance moves. But I just find it weird that talent can disappear so obviously. Its like they have all the boxed ticked now: She looks great and all, is working, world tour etc but is there anything moving behind the eyes?! Seems like she doesn’t have the confidence to perform at the moment and that is why the show wasn’t that good. Feel sad cause feel like she thinks she is only worth something if she is the pre-baby hot body Britney rocking the weird virginal image ad nauseum. Point of this post: I was bummed that I didn’t catch a glimpse of the Old Britney anywhere in the show. Bottom line: Even if she bins pop and branches out in Bavarian Nose Flute Anthems ‘R US when she’s 68, I will still buy it and I will still be there front-centre gyrating around in the shitty £25 merch t-shirt I bought at the O2 Arena (”Cause it’s a CLASSIC yall..”)
22 Jun	FREE IN FARRINGDON. (Missing Images) June 22nd, 2009 — 7:47am[] 3672_6745_500.jpeg I am performing at Puregroove in Farringdon tomorrow night (Tuesday) for my launch of ‘The Crown Jewels’ 7″ release! The gig is FREE and we are also serving up free Pimms for all diamond fans. Please come by and say hi. I can’t reveal anything BUT ALL I CAN SAY is that there are gonna be loads of ‘2009 type synthz girl soundz’, loadsa of kool drugz & probably Mischa Barton . YaY!!!!!!!!!* On a serious note, it will be a chilled night in the best record shop in the uk, which now also functions as a BAR. Brilltown idea, hey? Marina x Go to puregroove.co.uk for maps and more info.
25 Jun	I’LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. June 25th, 2009 — 2:56am[] It’s here! My first ever music video, ‘I am not a Robot’, Directed by Rankin & Chris. MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS "I AM NOT A ROBOT"
30 Jun	WELCOME TO DIAMOND WORLD. June 30th, 2009 — 6:38am[] So here I am, in my new home a.k.a diamond world. Totally uninspired to write. Just did Glastonbury. Just been to dentist. Just writing a new song. For those of you who’ve been enquiring/ cannot buy my songs off of US Itunes, I am so sorry. You’ll have to wait a lil while longer! In the mean time, you can buy a limited edition 7″ of ‘The Crown Jewels’ EP from Neon Gold. It’s beautiful. And worth $5.00. Click below to have a peak at what’s available: http://www.neongold.bigcartel.com

Date	Title
11 Jul	…? (Missing Images) July 11th, 2009 — 10:31am[] 3779_8db9.jpeg
11 Jul	WHEN WORDS FAIL ME. (Missing Images) July 11th, 2009 — 11:12am[] 7401_8863.jpeg 6998_50fa.jpeg 6972_c471.jpeg 5380_efdf.jpeg 8155_b285_500.jpeg 4088_d267_500.jpeg 5314_ce1a.jpeg 5281_76a5.gif 8052_fab9_500.jpeg 7363_30d3_500.jpeg 1023_4075.jpeg 8025_fdc7.jpeg
14 Jul	PARTY IN THE ORCHARD. July 14th, 2009 — 1:22pm[] Entry passes for Marina’s intimate acoustic gig at The Sanderson Hotel on Thursday were won by the following diamonds… Winners talia_babidge Girdlebrick markmcder pollyoo jakeee craigtmackenzie megmacleod steveMpayne KagsCahill scottdean bimmusic followelsie philiphonour heartsnbones shythatwayx JamesHoste Liam Hess IMPORTANT: PLS READ -Twitter names are announced only- your real names should be sent to alexandria.bean@gmail.com ASAP. -All winners must be over 18 -All winners are granted an extra +2 tickets for friends/ lovers/ wannabe lovers/ mothers. (Please specify your +1 or 2 in your email).
14 Jul	THE GOLDEN PARTY. (Missing Images) July 14th, 2009 — 2:21pm[] My hawt friends at Neon Gold are holding their annual (as in, starting this year) Yes Mate party @ YoYo next Tuesday. They asked me if I’d like to play a set ( threatened and blackmailed me) and yeah, I think it’s going to be really fun (they paid me to say this. it is gonna be a total sausage fest dudes- Believe you me). Please come down and save me from sausagesville. Thanks. NOTE: The owner of neon gold has a “cute” (creepy mc-creepville) lust for wolves. This is him with his friends jus’ hangin out at the last Neon Gold party in Houston, Texas. zvvura.jpg
15 Jul	WHY I LOVE AMERICA. July 15th, 2009 — 10:42am[] My unhealthy fascination with America began when I was seven. I used to go around my classmate’s house after school every day until my Mum got home from work. He was looked like a chubby mouse and always tried to snog me, as all fat seven year old boys do. I freaking hated it- I LOATHED it. But I loved his Nickelodeon.. Oh how I loved his . His family were the first to get Sky TV in my little village. Sweet Mary and Joseph, I would have traded Jesus for Sky TV. Nickelodeon haunted my waking dreams- each program a sensory orange overload, I craved Sky. Everything felt whackier, zanier, louder, faster, brighter, bigger and better than anything I had ever watched before. It was my first fizzy taste of America, my first slice of neon-coloured pie and I was hooked. His family went to Florida regularly, obviously making them the paris hiltons family in the village and they always came back fat and tanned and all, dressed in fluoro shell suits which made me want to be them even harder. As I would watch them from the sidelines, foaming at the mouth every easter break, my slowly began blossomed. I crave America. I always have, always will. I’m embarrassed to say it as it’s strange but I think about it every single day. It is equally fascinating as it is vile and alive as it is dead. My first trip was in 2005 and really felt like I’d entered a bubble- nothing feels real. It’s exhilarating anMy unhealthy fascination with America began when I was seven. I used to go around my classmate’s house after school every day until my Mum got home from work. He was looked like a chubby mouse and always tried to snog me, as all fat seven year old boys do. I freaking hated it- I LOATHED it. But I loved his Nickelodeon.. Oh how I loved his Nickelodeon. His family were the first to get Sky TV in my little village. Sweet Mary and Joseph, I would have traded Jesus for Sky TV. Nickelodeon haunted my waking dreams- each program a sensory orange overload, I craved Sky. Everything felt whackier, zanier, louder, faster, brighter, bigger and better than anything I had ever watched before. It was my first fizzy taste of America, my first slice of neon-coloured pie and I was hooked. His family went to Florida regularly, obviously making them the paris hiltons family in the village and they always came back fat and tanned and all, dressed in fluoro shell suits which made me want to be them even harder. As I would watch them from the sidelines, foaming at the mouth every easter break, my faux american dream slowly began blossomed. I crave America. I always have, always will. I’m embarrassed to say it as it’s strange but I think about it every single day. It is equally fascinating as it is vile and alive as it is dead. My first trip was in 2005 and really felt like I’d entered a bubble- nothing feels real. It’s exhilarating and confusing. As much as it completes me, it empties me. Does anyone else feel like this? Americans reading this blog- how do you feel? What is it like living in America? Why am I so obsessed.. Why do I remain addicted.. Here’s a list I compiled of what makes the country so fascinating for me. 1. The Candy. I mean…the food packaging makes me want to buy everything. Everything is fun and bright and ‘oh hey cutey pie! i looks so cute! i wont make you fat! buy me! i’m welcoming and familiar’! Everything is blueberry or grape flavour. Everything contains peanut butter. Every candy bar name is inventive- who would ever name a choc bar “WATCHAMACALLITS’ in the UK? Nobody. That’s who. Note to The British Chocolate Imagination Society: you are rubbish. Goobers, Swedish Fish, Strawberry Vines, Mike ‘N Ikes, Lemonheads, Lifesavers, Raisinets, WATCHMACALLITS, Twizzlers…shluurrrrp. 2. Novelty food/ clothing/ other useless inventions- any novelty idea seems to have floated over from the US. Do you think it is because the attitude of the American is/ was more cheerful and optimistic therefore the fun novelty ideas flow more readily over there? (I want my beer-drinking cap and I want it now.) 3. The use of the letter ‘Z’ in many product names. (I want my LazyBoy and I want it now.) 4. The attitude that anything is possible. That anyone can become anything. The attitude that you can HAVE anything you want (this is not exactly healthy in my opinion). Everything seems geared towards instant gratification. The idea seems to be present in everything from television to advertising to food to schooling to literature etc etc etc . But I could be absolutely off the mark as I don’t know the country well enough and I appreciate that. (Am saying this so that nobody feels am offending them and I don’t get death threats like last time I shared an opinion). 5. Ranch Dressing. Pancakes. Bacon. Maple Syrup. America has the BEST food that’s bad for you in the world. shlurrrrp… 6. There is a pill for everything. Again, this isn’t healthy BUT. IT. MAKES. ME. FEEL. SAFE. The pill names are so reassuring e.g. ‘RITEAID’ surely translates to: Don’t worry, Marina everything is going to be alRITE. (clever, huh?) The amount of vitamins my american friends take are insane. I once knew a boy when I was 15 who had a whole trolley full of vitamins stocked in his house that his whole family would dip into every day. And this is pretty normal apparently. 7. The amount of celebratties that have been arrested for drink driving/ possession of drugs feels insane. 8. The marijuana culture. 9. The word ‘yall’. (Amen) 10. Britney 11. Madonna. 12. The macho-man movie voices that are ALWAYS used over the trailer of a film. Oh come ON- who really talks like that in real life? Have you EVER met anybody who actually talks like that? 13. The fact that there are so many crazies in Miami and LA. 14. The fact that mannequins in shops in Miami have 24″ waists and 32G breasts (LOL. Do not think really representative of average woman.) 15. Only country in world to accommodate so many religious cults. FASCINATING. Plz take me to Utah now. (PS- Are the people in Louis Theroux’s documentary even real?) 16. Cheerleader + Jock culture. Wish I could turn back time and be schooled in America from age 14.. Wish I could have been on national cheer team. Instead, was schooled in American school in Greece from age 16. beggars can’t be choosers yall. 17. The endless pursuit of and obsession with perfection and aesthetic beauty. Weird/ sad/ alluring. 18. The fact that Jelly Belly wrote back to me when I sent a letter stating my ‘wild flavour suggestions’ to their tasting team in Fairfield, California in September1995. “Hello Marina, We appreciate your suggestions for our new flavour of Jelly Belly but we do not think ‘Pink Chihuahua’ nor ‘Sizzling Chorizo’ will be a hit. ” Their loss. 19. Marilyn. Of course. *FYI My family and I got Sky TV approximately 9 years after above mentioned event and we have lived happily ever after ever since. Request to diamonds: Plz make me 2% less dumb and explain to me why you think America has provided the world with such an explosion of inventions and ideas, technologically and candy-wise, over the years? Considering the country is young, historically speaking. Obviously politics and natural resources have a huge amount to do with this but any kind of 3 minute explanation (my concentration span dies after this) would be greatly appreciated.
16 Jul	CRAIGSLIST. (Missing Images) July 16th, 2009 — 5:28am[] 8156_7e1d.jpeg LOL. at this. This person is out of this world amazing. I wonder who got the MC Hammer pants… http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/1257065913.html *Edit: Some spoil sport has flagged this and deleted it. Sorry yall.
18 Jul	A TECHNICOLOURED LIFE. (Missing Images) July 18th, 2009 — 10:24am[] Trying to find out who did these wonderful drawings. I love them. So much. They hold such magic. What do you all think? If anybody knows who the artist is, please do let me know. EDIT: The artist is a girl called Erika Somogyi! Her website is here www.throughthetrees.net. Thanks to Allison, who found her!!! 0293_76c8_500.jpeg 0303_6b2d_500.jpeg 0301_9730_500.jpeg 0303_6b2d_500.jpeg
19 Jul	FASHION FIX- EPISODE 1. (Missing Images) July 19th, 2009 — 3:51pm[] TAPESTRY1_V_08July09_mag_b_1.jpg Today I want to spotlight a very talented artist. Her name is Zoe Graham and she is doing something pretty great. She has been designing tapestry-esque jackets for a while now, undiscovered, and I’m pretty sure she is going to be responsible for the re-branding of tapestry in the fashion industry over the next year. Vogue blog asked me of my fave pieces of clothing a few months back and they fell in love instantly. I feel like I am some sort of fashion cupid. She made a diamond design especially for my NME tour and it’s brill. DSC08604.JPG DSC08607.JPG You can see more examples of her work, here at VOGUE: http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/the-vogue-blog/articles/090713-tapestry-toughens-up.aspx I’ve also fallen for a new make up brand. I’m not mad on makeup as always think natural beauty is better. But.. if you’re going to use make-up, you may as well use inventive brands like Mac or Illamasqua. Both are animal-friendly and Illamasqua uses pure pigment. The result is lushious. Go www.illamasqua.com to order shiz. DSC08599.JPG They gave me a bag of samples yesterday and I am having bit too much fun. Fear I may be looking like a clown everyday for next week. Last fashion-love of the day are these cute glitter pumps by Luella. Am not hugely girly girl but hey we all have our moments. Went in last week and everything was 50% off. The inevitable happened . Money-God, smite me. DSC08601.JPG Talking about girly-girls, Mum bought me Hello Kitty apron all way from China (via ebay) to tempt me into cooking to help me coax man into being stuck with me for life. It is not working but I think it’s a really fine idea. Except for when you go downstairs to take rubbish out, forget your wearing the damn thing and bump into your sniggering neighbours on the way back up to your flat. Trying to maintain graceful image of respected, serious musician = impossible in this neighbourhood. DSC08597.JPG Also, can I just say how good the Florence and the Machine album is? F*ck me, I always liked her but this really exceeded all expectations. It’s really, really good guys. You must buy it or at least listen online. Try: “Drumming”, “Cosmic Love”, “Blinding” and “Rabbit Heart” for size. Or just watch the fan-made video below. It’s excellent. Florence & The Machine, “Rabbit Heart” (Midsummer Night’s Dream Version) from Benjamin Technology on Vimeo.

Date	Title
01 Aug	I LURVE UR PONCHO, B*TCH. August 1st, 2009 — 2:19am[] Just a quickie- Guys, in the comment posting section, can you see when I have replied to a comment? (like in the old blogspot days?) Let me know. It brex ma heart for you to think I don’t reply On a side note- for those of you who have never commented, once you input your email deetz and name in once, you’ll never have to do it again. It also means that I don’t have to sit here approving comments (your comments will automatically go through without approval from now on- wow, the sweet, sweet taste of freedom of speech) Anyway, leaving you now with something NYLON just sent me. Did a small session for them in a Williamsburg back in March and this was the result. They are wonderful people. “JUZ CUZ U IN FASHION, BABY, DOESN’T MEAN U HAVE TO BE A BITCH”. http://blip.tv/file/2398082 NB check out my poncho in the vid, made courtesy of lovely Guatemalan lady on acid. Must pat myself on back at this point and say ”wonderful choice, Marina, just wonderful choice.” The below “funnie” comes courtesy of Neon Gold Records.
04 Aug	SVENSKA. (Missing Images) August 4th, 2009 — 3:33pm[] 2366952939_e9afa3c5c3.jpg I went away. I came back. I sit on my bed now and I think of Sweden. I think of the good times, I think of the bad times, the dark times, the rad times. Sweden has a place in my heart and I am not afraid of saying ‘I LURVE YOU’ too soon. I want to tour there - 4 EVA. ( e.g. Marina and the Diamonds Life Tour 2009-2061). Pros of Sweden: 1. best gig ever played, most excitable audience, prettiest forests 2. everyone is beautiful and tanned, therefore good gene-pool to mix with. Cons of Sweden: 1. Bite from poop-eating fly is often risk (i was standing by festival toilet when ”attack” happened) 2. Everyone is beautiful and tanned, so self-esteem may suffer/ could end up contributing to high suicide rate in Scandinavia. Will take risk. Want to go on holiday there next year. Want to stay in log cabin and look at northern lights and write sh*t, uncommercial songs. Want to record them on cassette then try make record company release them one by one to the over 80 y/o market sector. Will do all music videos by £50 hand-cam and the setting will always be ‘SWEDISH FOREST’. I will prob always be trying to be a cat. or always a poop-eating fly. And mtv will always be interested in picking these up and calling me ‘critically acclaimed’. I left Sweden at 5am on sunday and when straight from the airport to Underage festival in London. Another AMAZING gig- the audience, again, wowser.s. You all kind of made my week.. Thank you to HyperNeptune for the below live footage. Here is Robot live. [missing video] Here are the swedish robots ‘live’.. [missing video] Robot performance by Tomma rum from CarolineM on Vimeo.
15 Aug	I ONLY DO MY ‘SEXY’ LOOK 4 THE CAMERA. August 15th, 2009 — 3:49pm[] “I am proud, because I do not have to sell my body to sell records”- Shakira. Shakira - She Wolf official video music by andrexfriends Have sat down and watched her new come-back video. Feel disappointed and very down. I am long-time Shaki fan. Have all albums ( even 18-track rambling spanish ones) and felt fairly terrified when watched this vid. This post is not a critique- anyone can see the video is well made. It’s more a product of my curiosity to find out why the majority of major female pop stars in the world are all resorting to making soft-core porn videos in replacement for music videos. Seems as if they are all becoming more desperate as they get older, each one trying to “out-sex” each other whilst the male population sits back laughing as its get a full view of their coochies for free. I am interested in why ’sexiness’ has become the primary expression in females and why this is being loosely defined as ‘pro-feminism’ by some. Felt SO angry when I first watched this video. Oddly ‘riled’. Like had been cheated of something. Got up from my laptop and took a walk around my bedroom. Wondered: “Am I over reacting? What has bugged me so much about this? Is it a crime to be sexual and express your sexuality? She is a beautiful woman, so why shouldn’t she flaunt it!”. Sat down and forced myself to watch it again. I admired her. I thought she was so beautiful. I thought some of the choreography was incredible. I was also cringing, embarrassed and uncomfortable. I understandd that her objective here was to represent female sexuality in its primitive, animalistic form- a form that many women are fearful of. But the reason why I loved Shakira originally was for her strength, self respect and intellect. She obtained worldwide success just by being her very original self. She struck me as an artist who was aware of her sex appeal but felt enough harmony with it to not push it in peoples faces in a trashy way. Fun Fact: Shakira’s arse is shot, in detail, 24 consecutive times in her new video ‘She- Wolf’. Of course she isn’t desperate. Arguments may be that: 1. She is “celebrating the female form” It’s good to exhibit the beauty of the female body. There is nothing shameful about nudity. But the line between cheap and sexual is fine. The purpose of the flesh-coloured suit is to evoke sexual imagery and encourages viewers to imagine her naked as she slips into different positions. Personally feel this does not relate to ‘celebrating female beauty’ but more ‘pornville usa’. If she had not been wearing the flesh suit, we would have seen her private parts 7 different times. That is all. Come to think of it, the main thing that bugs me about this video is not actually the nudity nor sexual content- It is the fact that it isn’t smart. Everything is obvious, dumbed down to the most base level so that even an amoeba can enjoy it. It has been scripted to communicate with individuals who have no imagination and need instant gratification in order to be inspired. The video totally vulgarises what she once stood for, as a woman and as an artist, by using the most base forms of sexual imagery in order to shock, appeal and gain the attention of as many people as possible. I don’t think this is her. 2. “She was always sexy in her videos, she is just wearing less clothes now. What’s the difference?” The difference is the same between a girl who will sleep with any guy who tells her she’s beautiful and a girl who will not. 3. She is “empowering herself and other women by expressing her sexuality” The majority of the choreography in this video replicates pole dancing and stripteasing. She is set in a cage, swinging on bars and writhing on the floor. She is responding and conforming to a fairly ‘male’ set of fantasies here. It is hardly ‘empowering’ if you are dancing in a cage for men. Women who protest that this IS empowering, you are merely taking this stand so as not to feel weak, to secretly ‘prove’ that you can compete with ‘the boys’. By declaring this to be a fair representation of a woman’s ideal of sexuality you are proving that you are strong, uncontrolled and uninfluenced by male desires and therefore, empowered. You are not. The fact is that, though videos and ideas and movements from the likes of Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Shakira etc have been interesting and even helpful to the female expression of sexuality, it’s all getting really old (for me). Pole-dancing and faux-stripteasing or (wait for it) playing the unique ‘I’M A GOOD GIRL BUT DEEP DOWN I’M REALLY DIRTY + NAUGHTY!!!1!’ role is an out-dated and boring way of expressing your sexuality. If everyone gets naked then there is quite frankly nothing left to see. How many more pole-dancing videos do we possibly need? Everything feels so desperate- Shakira does not need to resort to such base levels as putting her finger in her mouth like a weird baby, 6 times. These women are so powerful and talented and all we’re shown is who can push the ’sexy’ boundaries the farthest. A famous woman’s crotch is hardly ‘naughty’ after the 10th time. .. Sometimes feel like if we all just said: “Hey! Women love sex. So do men. They’re both allowed to and it is not a sin. There is nothing shameful or embarrassing about it, so let’s stop treating it as if it is some forbidden, awful subject” then maybe we wouldnt have all these trashy videos circulating around that make my skin crawl. Have personally gone through periods over the past 5 years of being sexed up then getting angry and sexing myself down purposefully, going to the extent of making myself ugly and fat to avoid male attention, then swapping back over again and again. I sometimes struggle to decide what is good / bad sexuality and am still not sure how to interpret attention. I know there is no ’should/ shouldn’t’ in this game but I don’t feel at ease with the topic as there are so few examples around in mainstream pop that do not use sex regularly. Then I see vids like Shakira’s and think ‘what the hell is wrong with me?’ I have been down this route e.g. typical sexed up pop route years ago and felt deeply awful and cheap, so have written this post with experience in mind. Doubt I would have such a strong opinion on the subject today if I had not had certain experiences that made me think “No, I don’t want to be like this anymore”. Hard to form opinion when every boy around you is salivating and making lame ‘gender equality’ quips to justify the video so I would really love to hear your opinions on this. It’s a fascinating topic for me. Do all men fall for these vids? Are all pop videos going to be pornos by 2023? How much is too much? Am I an idiot…? As usual, all ranges of replies welcome- But remember, no freedom of speech allowed. Those who say ‘yes, you’re an idiot’ will be sent to Alaska till the end of time to teach Sarah Palin politik. Perhaps main point here is that I have just realised have not even mentioned the actual song itself once in the whole of the above. FYI, it’s good.
27 Aug	SPILT THE MILK AT BREAKFAST. (Missing Images) August 27th, 2009 — 9:29am[] 7998_6033.gif Want to let you hear one of my new songs, which may be on the ever-elusive album. You can listen to it on my Myspace page. I hope some people can relate to it. Because that’s what makes the world a less lonely place, right? Marina x

Date	Title
27 Sept	MARINA ON BBC2. September 7th, 2009 — 7:55am[] For those of you who couldn’t view BBC2 from overseas, here’s the live acoustic performance of ‘I am not a Robot’. [missing video]

Date	Title
01 Oct	FEW PICS FROM THE ROAD…OXFORD, SHEFFIELD & MANCHESTER (~~Missing Images~~) October 1st, 2009 — 7:08am[] OXFORD SHEFFIELD MANCHESTER
01 Oct	PICS FROM NME RADAR YORK… (~~Missing Images~~) October 1st, 2009 — 10:23am[]
07 Oct	PICTURES FROM GLASGOW, NEWCASTLE & STOKE! (~~Missing Images~~) October 7th, 2009 — 2:58am[] GLASGOW NEWCASTLE STOKE
21 Oct	Official Video - Mowgli's Road Posted: 21/10/2009 16:11:00[] Directed by Chris Sweeney. Here you go, my diamonds!!! The “Making Of” will be on the blog later this week.. x x

Date	Title
07 Nov	I KNOW NUFFIN. (Missing Images) November 7th, 2009 — 9:43am[] 2154_7a48.jpeg Hello loves Sorry i haven’t been on here for a while. I’ve been moving house and have no internet to boot (seriously going to jump off a bridge because of it soon). I also haven’t been back because I don’t know what to say anymore. I’m kind of considering leaving the blog for a while. I did an interview with a very wise and kind journalist about a month ago and he asked me about the blog and whether I realised that as I become more well known, everything I say will get blown up and taken out of context. I could take two stances on this : a) not care what people think or b) quit the blog until a time when I feel like what I’m saying is educated and not a pile of naive bollocks. I suddenly feel really unqualified on all of the issues that I blog about and no matter how much I try to explain myself in a way that is not a) hypocritical b) dumb, anything that I discuss will most likely backfire on me in the future because of the nature of the blogs. I’ve been worrying loads about things like the Shakira blog that could be read in the wrong way when in reality I’m trying to seek the opinion of others and open up an issue that is relevant to me at kind of a weird time in my life. I have no conclusion or stable opinion on the subject of female sexuality in our culture and I’m still only 24, still figuring out how to position myself in a way that makes sense to me. Guess am not helping by inviting people to live it in real-time with me. eg. how can I field comments such as “OMG Marina, you are showing your collarbones in your Robot video/ OMG Marina you were wearing hot pants the other day”.You are all right and I feel like I can’t answer. I dont want to be extremist. I want to find some middle ground, some kind of alternative existence as a female artist- not campaigning for world peace. Have been reading many books on feminism of late (both kinds eg. the uptight ’sex is bad!’ books and the ‘lets be slags!’ kind… they are so scary and extremist). So may take a few years to form a proper view on it and be able to implement it into everyday life. Sorry to everyone .Am just feeling really confused at moment Maybe am just big hypocrite. Life seems easier when you just keep your mouth closed. In other news, my dreams are slowly coming true and it’s all down to you. Mowglis is released next monday with its genuinely AMAZING remixes! Tell your mum and your friends!!! I don’t expect it to chart but I would love to see it in the itunes top 200 or something. You never know Thank you so much for helping me. If anyone has any suggestions.. you know the d-rilll x x
10 Nov	EMERALD ISLES. (Missing Images) November 10th, 2009 — 2:41pm[] Hey diamondittas. Got no time as still have no internet and in smelly pub trying to protect laptop from beer etc. But just wanted to say thank you so much for all of your comments. I have read them all. Sure all musicians say this but I am so lucky to have you all. Re: the blog, i’ve decided I don’t want to quit it. i have some ideas though.. i’ve been talking to my online team and we’re going to figure something out……….because things need changing a bit. As for the normal blogs, i dont think they won’t change too much. I will probably stop talking about celebratties though i’ll be back soon. i’m still moving house and feeling like i am going to crack. got to get up at 6am tomorrow to go on daily-jog-of-death then catch plane for ireland. I LOVE YOU X X ps- how amazing is Shaki’s new vid? sexual but smart. oh bugger. just broke rule about talking about celebs. bollocks. anyway, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqrHeHudupI
11 Nov	ALL OVER YOUR NEWSAGENTS LIKE A BIG, FAT RASH. November 11th, 2009 — 9:30am[] Here’s my feature in Wonderland this month for all of you who can’t purchase it. Am putting it up here, half because i’m self obsessed egomaniac and half because it’s one of the few features so far that has given an accurate portrayal of how things came to be.
14 Nov	SHUT UP, BRAIN (Missing Images) November 14th, 2009 — 4:53am[] 5486_bf84.jpeg I used to feel guilty for literally everything that I could- even making cars wait whilst I crossed the peadestrian crossing. Do we believe guilt will make us better people? Feeling guilty has become some kind of nonsensical ‘virtuous’ thing to do in a society that has too much of everything, all the time, at the expense of our planet. Few people are happy with the small things any more or even know what they are. Life feels creepily glutinous, especially living in london working in show bizzness. Sometimes wish we all just wore sacks for clothing and lived in villages. Anyhoo, this blog is not about sacks etc. I just read an article in ELLE based on or addiction to ‘ye ole guilt’ and everything sounds pleasantly familiar.. pretty sure i’m not the only one. Especially the sunday papers saga… I am such a bad consumer of knowledge. I have seen about 22 movies in my whole life and, excluding books on pop psychology, ‘How Madonna Made it’ and feminist ball sacks, I take about 9 months to finish one book. All these guilt thoughts weigh you down and wastes so much energy. i just want to get rid of them and become a dumb, ignorant bobo in the hawllywood hillz. Need energy to get starbux and manicures. no joke Celia Walden writes: “I feel guilty for sleeping in, guilty for having a day off, guilty for the amount of clothes I own, guilty for watching trash tv, guilty for not calling my mother back, for being a thoughtless friend, forgetting to recycle my cereal box- guilty as I fall asleep, for the unread book on my bedside table. It’s this permanent low-level needling sensation that follows me around from the second I wake up to the second I go to sleep.. Doing nothing makes me feel the guiltiest. I’ll buy all the sunday papers, fail to read them from cover to cover and then leave them sitting there for days in the belief that I will eventually get round to reading them. Or I’ll get into a frenzy of multi-tasking, listening to radio 4 whilst brushing my teeth and trying to read an article on Afghanistan. I call it ‘bookshop anxiety’: this constant feeling that there is so much to absorb in life and not enough time to do it.” BOOK SHOP ANXIETY. Well, it’s lovely to have a name for it now! The worst thing is that the more you try to do, the less you end up doing as your mind is so fucking full of shitty, scribbly thoughts that you can’t think of anything else except for the long lists of things that will make you a better, all-rounded, knowledgeable person. Modern life = “MUST NOT WASTE TIME, NOT 1 MINUTE, CANT RELAX, ONLY CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME LEFT BEFORE DEATH, MUST ACHIEVE ALL I CAN BUT ALSO BEING GOOD FRIEND, GOOD FAMILY MEMBER, SAVE THE EARTH + HELP PEOPLE IN GRIPS OF SUICIDE” Oh, poor us. Right? Based on Celia Walden’s “How to Stop Feeling Bad about Everything” article in this month’s ELLE magazine.
16 Nov	YOU DON’T LOVE ME ANYMORE. (Missing Images) November 16th, 2009 — 6:10am[] vogueblog5_V_2nov09_b.jpg Just found this on Vogue’s blog. The most epic dress i’ve worn in years. Mark fast. So talented and gorgeous. Wish could wear this to supermarche/ gym. Off to get american flag painted on nails for epic video shoot tomorrow. Cheerio Mx
28 Nov	A TOWN CALLED LUCKEY. (Missing Images) November 28th, 2009 — 10:32pm[] 3778_a1c6.jpeg In the airport about to fly to LA and as usual, savouring every minute of airport time. Have been in NYC for a week meeting some people, getting inspiration and letting go. Got to eat ‘wowee’ meals with my manager in amazing restaurants and now I am broke- who knew breakfast could cost $157. We have been living in a DREAM WORLD, my friends. Went to the Museum of Modern Art, Central Park, the American Natural History museum (alright i lie about the last one- i got there and the queue was half an hour long so went & bought pumpkin pie and bras instead) and caught the beginning of Macy’s thanksgiving float parade. It is amazing- everything is amazing here. The parade consists of these huge- and i mean, huge, blow up floats of Hello Kitty, Dora the explorer etc. Everything is bigger and brighter in America.. but for each swanky package, you lose a bit of human touch. Empty aims and empty goals. The below came courtesy of a session I did with Dave Sitek. Genius, right? He just loves stacking dem catties! www.stacksoncats.blogspot.com stuff_on_jonathan.jpg This is the type of blog I am against writing e.g the ‘Update-on-Mah-Super-boring-Life’. But I just wanted to check in with you all though and say that the blogs may have been sporadic of late as have been working really hard. Doesn’t mean I have been ‘dumbified’ or been ‘commercialised’ or eaten to death by ‘evil record labels’ (yep- someone on internet actually said that). My Blogs just take a while because am so slow at formulating words ‘etc’. It’s not even about finding time to do them- I just take so long thinking of worth-while topics! Love you all and ‘Happy Holidays’ if you live in the US . I’m looking forward to seeing what Thanksgiving is like in LA. . . I’m doing an exciting shoot with Vogue as soon as I get back and Virgin Bloody Fucking Are U Having a Laugh Media are installing internet in my flat (hell YEAH- lets get back to 1998 where AOL chatrooms account for 99% of teen social interaction!). -A/S/L???? ha ha Marina EDIT: In LA. Feel like am gonna get mugged every time I’m on an empty street. It’s kind of a weird city but I’m waiting to be proved otherwise. Melrose is THE BALLS for shopping. I found a pair of Jimmy Choos today for $30. Criminal. I am also disgusted at my hotel’s laundry prices. pair of socks = $4.50. Criminal. I am absolutely not disgusted by the ‘HOLLYWOOD’ sign outside of my hotel or the amazing sushi. End of ‘life update’ blog. I feel dirty. I swear will never write one again.
30 Nov	PUKING AMERICAN DREAMS. November 30th, 2009 — 10:00am[] Diamonds! Welcome to my new video for my next single, “Hollywood”. My dad actually likes this one. LIFE GOAL ACHIEVED. Love to you all and thank you for everything so far..<3 Must go play with my hello kitty stamp collection now Released 1st Feb 2010. Yummy!!!!!!!!!!

Date	Title
14 Dec	G’BYE :-) (~~Missing Images~~) December 14th, 2009 — 4:52pm[] Oh dear GOD. LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIFUL ADDITIONS TO MANKIND. INVISIBLE SHOES. andreia-chaves-shoes-1.jpg andreia-chaves-shoes-2.jpg
28 Dec	HIDE TO SEEK. (~~Missing Images~~) December 28th, 2009 — 6:24pm[] 4315_1ee9.jpeg

2010[]

Date	Title
04 Jan	Well, HELLO 2010! (~~Missing Images~~) January 4th, 2010 — 11:53am[] 7050_d385_500.jpeg The last decade shaped us, let’s shape the next decade! 4309_6405.jpeg (EVERY MAN IN GREECE DOES THIS…)
12 Jan	PANDORA. (Missing Images) January 12th, 2010[] t1larg.avatar.blues.gi.jpg Anyone feel strange after seeing Avatar? For days afterwards, I felt consumed by the idea of Pandora existing. I kept getting urges to attend non-existent screenings where I could sit in the cinema and watch 7-hour films that documented the Na’vi just going about their daily life Just want to BE there, hang out with the tribe in the pink and purple electric forests, connect tails with people, ride giant dragons and such. I really loved how they showed respect for the energy of all living things and how they treated animals- even when they had to kill them. It’s the wonderful, honest attitude towards all sources of life that hooks people in. Our world is greatly lacking in that. All energy flows. It is never used or kept or owned; just borrowed! Anyway, a friend sent me this. http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html I want Pandora to exist. “I live in a dying world”- True? Posted by Marina Diamond at 4:19pm

Date

Title

07 Feb

FOR MY DIAMONDS.

Back to school, old fashioned letter writing, modern world rotting my brain, etc.

Transcript[]

Dear Diamonds!

From now on, I will be "writing" to you all via my new blog.

I don't want to give up blogging but I would like to write in a different way.

I have deleted all previous blog postsas I am writing from scratch again in the hope of creating something of quality and value one day. Just in case some of you thought my absence was some evil PR move to "censor" me (har har - it always is, isn't it)

I have been putting all my energy into Hollywood of late.

Thanks to everyone who is buying it!

This looks like it's been written by a 5 year old.

How long can I keep this up for?

Love the diamonds so, so, so, so

much

Marina x

07 Feb

PEN PALS/ GEM PALS.

Transcript[]

New blog up!

I hate modern living :(

If anyone would like to save themselves from the depression of modern living, u can send me a letter, a real-life letter here!

Note:

Marina no longer resides here, do not send any post.

Date

Title

06 Apr

CHARGRILLED EYES & A LIQUOR PINK SMILE.

Hello everybody.

I am back and I am blogging. Can you believe it. I know you must have all missed me like a hole in the head and I have missed you too.

I JUST DONT KNOW WHERE TO START.

Well i have been fairly busy and marginally happier since my last excursion on the pensioners bus to bloggerville. I am working on 2 different projects in my -OH 2 MINUTES OF SPARE TIME- and they should be out around 2022 so look forward to them!

I have had a really interesting, amazing month.. I have taken the boat across to sweden, denmark, france, the netherlands, new york, LA, texas and tokyo. My body clock is quite confused but I am detached from body most of the time anyway so makes no difference. Have you ever had a strange moment when you are looking in the mirror at your face for a long time (not for reasons of vanity or dramatic effect, on this occasion) and suddenly don't feel attached to your body? i.e you are outside of the body and the body is not yours to own but just a carrier/ another person? I experienced this once when I was 6 or 7 and then again a few weeks ago.

I had 2 sold out shows in new york which may have been the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I also did 4 shows at SXSW in texas and a performed for MTV in a disused power plant. Half wanted homer simpson to jump out from behind the pylons with a cheeto stuck to his face and a DUff can in his paw. Where were you homer, WHERE WERE YOU.

oh very fun guys- Neon Gold being the precious supporters that they are.

A gem who made glasses in new york- you are so kind.

Fader party @ sxsw

MTV

After texas, (where they served heated cheeseburgers in plastic bags as "food" on the plane) I went to LA to do business and also... record some mini-videos for my new autumn live show. If there is any part of the diamond castle that is missing a brick is the live show. I can't deny my showgirl heart and I know that may not be cool in 'hip$$ter' world but I can't change that/ can't hide it. I love to perform and miss choreography very much. I am desperate for the production that will bring to life the vision I have in my mind and it is going to happen by the time the year is out. Mark my words.

Last week I went to Tokyo for 3 days of promo. I was, as expected, 100% blown away by the city and the culture of Japan. So proud and so full of respect and so wonderfully traditional. I received presents off of the interviewers (unHEARD of) and from my shining fans too. I was so happy to be there but may not eat rice again for another few weeks. Also, the toilets had seat warmers and 'in-house' showers. I bought a purse in the shape of a velvet hamburger. tasted a bit fluffy to be honest :-0

jogged in yoyogi park every morning.. keep your heart healthy, gems.

harajuku gals kickin back in the cherry blossoms..

On the last night, my manager took us to the bar on the top of the Park Hyatt hotel as a treat. It was mind blowing. It's where they filmed Lost in Translation (yet another movie i have seen but don't remember - quite literally- anything. So strange my brain just deletes books and films from my memory? Like it doesn't want me to appear intelligent and funny at dinner parties or something?????)

Am on the Scott Mills breakfast show tomorrow morning on radio 1, doing the live lounge in few weeks, have my first UK COVER (!!!) shoot tomorrow morning with Company magazine and did an 8 page feature coming up in Nylon today- it's my best shoot to date. Oh and am on Jools Holland next week! Oh and robot is out on 26th april with a new drum beat. It's a little harder hitting. I don't know which I prefer out of old and new.

Well, must go. Too soon to tell but may have quite enjoyed my past 23 minutes of writing this blog. I will be back soon. I quit twitter for quality interactions over quantity and to write in a place that I feel is secure. I am sure there will be people on here who may not be fans/ are looking for 'interesting' things but the people who look to twist words will always look to twist words and that's not my field. The only reason I am writing this is for the people that matter.

Every artist says they love their fans but you are a very different type of audience. I can see it in your eyes at gigs and l feel it every time I get the rare chance to meet one of you. I don't feel like the exchange between us is that of an artist- fan relationship really. I feel like a spectator of fame and living rather than a participant. I don't know. I am just interested in people and in finding out how to start 'living life' and what have you. Thank you all for being part of a community that I imagined up years ago when I first moved to london. I barely knew anyone for 2 years! I have a lot to do but it's going to happen. Whatever 'it' is. Forever waiting for 'it', right?

M x

08 Apr

DEVASTATING!

(~~Missing Images~~)

Makes me want to cry..His wailing mouth is like a black hole!

08 Apr

SHE HAS A SPARK.

This is Spark.. I love her.

http://www.myspace.com/sparkthemusic

Check out 'Revolving' and 'Shut out the Moon'. Thoughts?

11 Apr

PLAY ME LIKE A KEYBOARD.

I just bought this!!

13 Apr

THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE OLD FOLKS

I think I get on better with old people more than I do young. I feel about 80. Old people seem safer, more interesting and less judgmental. Along with upcoming 'Bin Bag 2k10' Tour am thinking of doing a nursing home tour.

I wonder why it is that in certain cultures that old people are disregarded as annoying or stupid? There are so many cases of abuse at the moment in the news, it's tragic. Maybe I am biased but I feel like in countries such as greece, spain, india etc, where family is so central to everyday life, it is a given that the elderly are looked after with respect. But here we just forget about them? Everyone is becoming so agist, attempting to look like 14 year olds when they're really 50. Strange that no one sees getting older as a good thing like in tribes. I wonder how many billions of $$ eye-wrinkle cream companies have made off people's insecurities in their constant advertising. Oh of course it would be THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD to look like a 45 year old wouldn't it!!! I just want to pour coca cola into these peoples mouths for 3 days until their teeth rot and fall out like sweetcorn.

I have always been secretly fantasising about becoming old. Went through a minor period at 20 when I was constantly just wanting to be 75 yrs old & living in a sunny flat in brighton. I really wanted to be left alone to eat a whole pack of biscuits for breakfast if I wanted and live on tea and watch GMTV til my eyeballs fell out. No responsibility, people judging or being mean and also meant I could wolf down spaghetti hoops w/ plastic cheese on toast everyday as a part of my 'main meal'. Bur now when I try to imagine being old I can't really imagine it. Dont want to be morbid, as death is death, but I worry that maybe i wont get there?? But then everyone thinks that, I think. That you will die in 50s/ asis hard to imagine yourself as part of the oldfolk-mobile. Who knows. Real life feels not that good or real anyway. Do you ever feel like you're not really living life and you cannot really 'connect' with it or live in the moment? Everything has less meaning and is kind of fluffy-fied. I feel like it was better when we had less choice and higher quality. People took more care. Joy is in the simple things and I find this hard to experience fully.

I think is hard to surrender to experiencing something in the moment/ for what it is when everything is now associated with your image/ status / online personas. " Oh I am having an AMAZING time'!!11! If you're having such a mindblowing time with @XYZ why are you even thinking about fiddling on your phone & going on twitter and telling everyone about it? I just don't get it , even after a year of being on it, so that's why I quit. At least I gave it a go. Even at gigs, I see many people do not surrender themselves to the experience 100% by viewing it through the camera screen of a mobile phone. Everything feels a bit transient and temporary. I feel weird and lost at times, like I am not sure what I meant to 'enjoy' and if I am not enjoying the things they tell me to 'enjoy' then am I dead inside? We rarely 'hold' music or photos anymore which I think is a really important loss- how many of us actually print our digital photos? (I am rubbish at this). All these seemingly minor things add up to a big picture eventually though. Stuff like the encouragement of over-ambition from a very young age, the dissolve of the nuclear family, social networking, greed (which results in millions more products than we need) etc all result in an emotionally vacant and discontent society which, ironically, 'has' more than it has ever had before. So you have to ask the question... what is the point in working all the hours in the day and aiming towards when studies prove (New Yorker magazine*) that people were happier 50 yrs ago when they had less?? What are we all aiming for?

* Said article quoted that we are all relativists. It's not owning something that really matters, it's owning more than everybody else around you. e.g. If Mr X and Mr Y both blow their Christmas bonuses on Maseratis, neither are better off and nobody wins. Is it the product that you want or the status that the product holds/ will put you at on a public level?

I feel like the era of 'ego' and obsession with self-improvement/ self-gratification is coming to an end. And, for me personally, that goes for fame too. 'The Family Jewels' album was a realization that my definition of success had changed wildly from the early days. Oh No! paints the picture of the stereotypical driven, modern-day alpha female. I don't want to be the cold, ruthless, perfect sex object- and though you are all probably like "yawn, duh, we know", it's actually quite hard to find a female who is a good example of a woman being *allowed* to be a natural woman. I feel like a lust for fame that is akin to the early days of Madonna is over, kind of dated and though this is harsh to say, shows a lack of emotional maturity. Love & nurturing has been lost somewhere in the world along the way between the iphones and the divorces which fuels a fresh craving in a generation for acknowledgment and attention- and voila, the society where anybody can become famous. And that is the beauty of progression. Is it time to move on yet?

Anyway, the original point of the blog was this gem..! The sing-a-long night at The Duke of Kendal in Bayswater. All the OAPS go every sunday eve and sing along to classics such as 'WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE KIDDING MR HITLER' and "DONALD PUT YIR TROUSERS ON". Amazing. Anyone want to come? I am desperate to go.The lady on the piano is 84!! Makes me feel like cryin'.

this guy is a star!!!

13 Apr

A PENCIL FULL OF LEAD.

Thank you for the AMAZING fanmail. You truly are the best. I replied to what I can and posted it on the weekend and will write some more in 2 weeks.

Anyone else who wants to send chocolate, their view on the world or lock of hair, address is:

21 CARNABY STREET, LONDON, W1F 7DA

*Edit*: Please ensure you include an envelope with your address and a stamp on it. thanks

Note:

Marina no longer uses this PO BOX, do not send post here.

14 Apr

"SCHADE, SCHADE, SCHOKOLADE"

MARINA_AND_THE_DIAMONDS_"I_AM_NOT_A_ROBOT"_L.A. — MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS "I AM NOT A ROBOT" L.A.

Not going to pretend. I didn't really want to put this up originally. It was filmed on a whim in one take in the last 4 minutes of a 12 hour day. I was in LA and was filming 3 other mini flims in Hollywood for upcoming tour.

This is NOT a new video. Just a taster of new live show footage. I don't know. Hate putting anything out that I feel is sub par. But did not want to chuck footage in bin. For all those entering my competition (check news), it's an example of what you can do with about 2p of a budget. Videos don't have to cost a million bucks. Or even a grand at that. The old video is the original and official, as it always was. Yawn.

Marina x

ps i am in Berlin and this is officially turning into the lez-get-fat-promo tour. It is just constant "schade, schade, schokolade'.

14 Apr

JEWELS HOLLAND.

Was so honoured and excited to have been asked to sing on this program. The second performance of Hollywood & Robot will be aired this friday.

Wish I could relive it again. Was one of the fondest experiences I have had in the marina and the diamonds 'lifetimez'.

18 Apr

INSPIRE.

(~~Missing Images~~)

Beautiful- this is a must watch. This just made all of the career goals evaporate into space. So wonderful, thank you ps22 for inspiring us x

22 Apr

JUST HANGING OUT @ THE POWERPLANT IN SPRINGFIELD.

(~~Missing Images~~)

Mr Burns, where you at? Homer, where you at?

Here's the acoustic of Robot from MTVu America.

I THINK they may have stretched the screen.. Just a lil bit. Thanks, MTV. No, really, this is brilliant. Long legs ahoy.

22 Apr

SUNSETS PINK AND ORANGE, LAVENDER AND GREY.

22 Apr

YOU'RE MY FAVOURITE.

1. Pimp My Sweets website. Amazing discovery to mankind. People all over the world are creating giant everythings as we speak. Massive gummy bears, wagon wheels, kit kats etc.

Terrified of this creme egg. Looks like it's gonna come and chase me and eat my head. :-O

Total ergh but i would totally eat this.

I want this for my house so I can lie on it and sleep and have sweet dreams.. Ha ha. Get it? SWEET dreams? HahahaHA!! i am just getting too hilarious for my own good.

2. LAURA MACKNESS. Her designs are all pastels and pop art. Wearing some of the collection over next week; A courier has just delivered some of her dresses and i am DYING. Joy+ Hallelujah = Thanks, God.

3. "LAURA'S IDEA" VEGAN FOOD.

Addicted to the calzones. Want Laura to become my mother and come and live in my house and cook me to purity. And then I can become high and mighty and all self-righteous and talk all-day-every-day about how amazing and full of energy I am since becoming a vegan and how I can't believe how other people live on junk and how stuffed everyone else's veins must be by cow sinew etc.

4. HOT JOURNOS. i <3 germany.

5. YANG DU. My new obsession.

6. FEMINIST BOOKS. Still trying to figure out the difference between a painting/ sculpture of a naked woman in a gallery and a picture of naked woman in Playboy. Thoughts?

2011[]

Date	Title
09 Jan	STILL GOT TO DIE FOR SOMEONE!
19 Jan	BE YOUR OWN PET. I only hate in others what I hate in myself.

Date	Title
09 Feb	SEWER PIPES BE LEAKIN'. You are the best fans I could have ever dreamed of and wanted to put this above the rubbish below. Regarding recent leaks. The new album is not going to be out this year. I don't know when it will be out because I don't know when I will finish it. It could be 1 or 5 years. The more leaks that happen, the slower I go. As you can imagine, the thought of people invading my privacy and listening to half-assed unfinished songs that I write at 3am on a tour bus does not make me feel too relaxed or creative. I know that the intentions behind listening to leaked songs are innocent. I don't even mind if you listen to them! But just so you know, in doing so, you are now supporting the idea that nobody has the right to basic privacy. And by nobody, that means you too, somewhere down the line, later in your life when you will have forgotten about this blog post. Don't wanna make anyone feel guilty or moralise, as people are free to do whatever they like at the end of the day, and I will still love you, whatever you like to do! But you need to know that the guys who are leaking my songs are grim & unworthy characters.We are feeding their egos and all the while, they are laughing at both you and I, whilst their sites get attention and they claim "kudos" in hacker forums, as creativity grinds to an anxiety-ridden halt. When we're listening to "x" leaked song play on Youtube, the song has been sold on to people willing to pay money to spread them & gain revenue in other ways across sites. So, I guess you and I are now endorsing their crappy, shitty lifestyles. I know you support me but it will baffle me if you support people of this nature. Have read lots of your comments about listening to leaked songs and that it doesn't matter because you'll buy the album regardless. I can see your point. Definitely.. But I still believe that a concept and vision should be completed before one shares it with people. Not in weird, incoherent, diluted scraps. For those of you who were fans before I released TFJ, you know that I do & will share and show you stuff when I'm ready. I mean.. I gave most of my first album away in demos! It is not fair on me to have to worry that every time i put an idea down, it is going to be stolen and then supported for being stolen. Haven't asked you for anything directly before but I would like to. I am asking for you to protect me. I rely on you guys heavily- and transparently- and I need your help. You're the only ones who control whether things stop or spread. I have the police involved, so if you know information about the people who are doing this, you can message me, if you'd like to. i have waxed lyrical to Warner about how incredible you are and I have faith in you on this. Not angry, at all.. I guess that is life. But they are going to get caught and I am just asking for basic privacy to work. My album is in the very early stages and will continue to be for a while. Thank you for what you're doing every day for me and other fans and for what you have given me so far. Am v lucky girl. Whether you remain a fan for an album or for life, I am indebted to each one of you in a different way. A positive blog coming tomorrow! Marina x x x
11 Feb	EPIPHANY IN TRANNY BAR It was the month of December & Katy Perry's "Firework" was playing. I was busy belting it, pumping "The FIST", feeling golden, feeling great. And suddenly, for the first time ever, THE GREEN EYED GOGGLES CAME OFF... * Dramatic pause * Was becoming "a bit of" a cynical/ bitter/ contradictory person. (April 2007- Dec 2010). STarted to feel kinda depressed, kind of competitive and lame. Then came off the 130-date- tour-of-dreams in Dec and realised that everything was okay again, that it wasn't just my paranoia- that I did really think & look like a 90 yr old man now. Realised on night du tranny that there was not much of a reason to be cynical/ permanently riding my phantom high-horse anymore. Pop music is in such amazing shape. And what have I got to say? There are many great artists, communicating interesting things. I have wasted my time 100% trying my best not to acknowledge anyone. Lest, shock horror, my own dumb-arse value be lessened. Cringe. :( A small factor in my becoming the child of Damien may be that it can be fun for media to pit artists against each other, especially ones who say what they think before they realised they've even said it. I mean, seriously... It's like i have no fcking filter installed. Kanye, Clare Maguire, Eminem, James Blake, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Nicki Min-ADGESTY, Spark, Rihanna, Florence, Sleigh Bells, Hurts, Ellie Goulding, Jessie J... They're breathing new air into pop. To conclude self-serving blog: I suppose I have realised that whether you like someone or not, think their music is throw away/ deep/ meaningful, we all have time, place and purpose. Like you want to listen to something deep and meaningful in club. Pls. Don't wanna slit my wrists whilst I'm trying to PARTY. People are quick to trash someone like Ke$ha because of her image. But really, she is quite brilliant. it is just that. An image. After doing some research, she is A) smart & also nice B) Tik-Tok was an example of pop-writing perfection. I believe in her. Did anyone see the acoustic cover of the rolling stones song?? It's very good and now I have high hopes that she will be a country star. Please don't let me down, Ke$ha. I dunno. Well, I feel much lighter and happier. I think it will last. I don't particularly have bitchy thoughts so I'm not sure why I felt the need to critique before. Probably cause was trying in earnest to cover own crapola threadbare policies. Note to self: No crime in being kind. Not everyone is out the screw you over. Not everyone hates your guts/ thinks you're ugly 90 yr old with bunny teeth. Repeat to self, whilst looking dramatically into mirror, one million times. Fans of Martina's can buy her self help book "Makin' It Thru To Gin 'O Clock" at www.selfhelp4dummies.com. $19.99. Postage $49
11 Feb	STORY OF MY LIFE.
11 Feb	SAINT MATTHEW. Digging this. Really genius... Grecian/ hospital bed inspired design Matthew Harding. I'm a fan. http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/designers_catwalk.aspx?designerid=66&seasonid=19#pic0

Date	Title
09 Apr	WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS? Dear All ! I am in Las Vegas. Having wonderful time. Haven't seen Soul for a while but am sure will be back around at some point. Tonight is my 2nd night of Plastique Fantastique at the Cosmpolitan hotel. On at 10.30 + it's free. But any donations will be humbly put toward Marina Charity of Martini Tasting. I went to Hollywood for 3 weeks for some musical endeavours. I really got into the fashion on my bou-le-vard. To be honest, I was unfortunate in that my particular boulevard was filled with shops for "Playmates" and adult movie stars. But everything fit like a bloody DREAM. So Hey. I bought loads and loads of new dresses, huge glittering boots, knitted hats made out of playing cards, one dollar vinyl. I dont even care what the record is, I just like the artwork. I have decided I want to be the epitome of fluffy wuffy bimbo-brain world at the mo. It is quite the ammunition. "Oh look at her, a lil piece o fluff, walking down the road in her fluffy pink brain". Then one day catch them off guard one day mid- conversation and reveal my true superior levels of intelligence which have become accustomed to. They will feel almighty embarrassment for judging me too soon. Then, I suppose, they will fall in love with me. Almost immediately. I must go. I have to go visit a buffet. The novelty of free food never does wears off. I asked people who were old, rich 'n famous so that means I know the answer is correct. Here is me, above, walking down the vodka bar of dreams. Love, Marina PS- I will get back on the blogs again soon. There was a really interesting paragraph I wanted to type up from a short story by Dorothy Parker. About how a gentlemen tells his girl that he loves conservative dressing on when. When the reality is that he is also attracted to the opposite. But would never want to BE with the opposite in, or take the opposite seriously. The woman oft sits down confused and sighs dramatically. And sometimes puts her head in her heads, like in a film. I have not really done Dorothy Parker justice here. Sorry, DoT.

Date	Title
01 Jul	HOLLYWOOD INFECTED YOUR BRAIN
02 Jul	I'M YOUR DYING BEAUTY QUEEN I look at you, you look at me. Milk and roses, squeaky clean. You are the best i’ve ever seen. And I’m your dying beauty queen.
03 Jul	BLUE PILLS
03 Jul	ELECTRA HEART Dear Diary. My name is Electra Heart.
03 Jul	I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE EVER FELT LIKE THAT Transcript[] I don't know if you've ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. ("The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky)
06 Jul	ELECTRA-CUTE ME
13 Jul	ELECTRA HEART COMPLEX
14 Jul	DIAMOND DOZEN e said that girls like me were a diamond dozen
19 Jul	REAL FAKE real fake
27 Jul	SILVER HAIR Silver Hair.

2017[]

Date	Title
10 Sept	It Takes A Long Time To Get Over Yourself Oh, man. This letter has taken me an embarrassingly long time to write. Probably because I haven’t written anything but e-mails and Tweets for 12 years. If the last year has taught me anything, it’s this: it takes a long time to get over yourself. Last March, after 7 years on the road, I decided to take a break. I was excited about this. I’d imagined myself watching tv all day, being a “chill person”, eating doughnuts because I didn’t have to wear latex catsuits anymore. The reality was not quite the joy ride I’d been expecting. I’ve been an artist for over a decade but up until this year, I hadn’t realised how much my sense of self had been defined by my role as an artist. I’d never thought of “Marina and the Diamonds” as a persona or a construct, and I didn’t think the stage-me was very different to the sofa-me. MATD was an exciting vehicle that helped me express ideas and thoughts to people. But just as people construct online personas, artist construct visual ones, and over time, the lines between art and reality can drift apart. I can’t remember when I first became conscious of it but I started to feel like there were two parts of me, artist self and private self, and there was nothing in between to link the two anymore. I was one or the other, and neither part of my personality could be present in the same environment. Perhaps because I’d spent most of the past 8 years devoted to being an artist and this hadn’t presented many opportunities for other parts of my personality to grow. When one part of a personality dominates, other parts shrink and life can take on an unreal, two-dimensional quality. I felt confused as to why I no longer felt like I fit into the world I’d built. I don’t think my feelings are exceptional (particularly in entertainment) but I wonder if you are someone who has experienced this in a different context. I’ve always been interested in identity. In my twenties, I felt frustrated by how regularly my identity seemed to shift and change until I began to consider the idea that a fixed self may not exist. I explored this in “Electra Heart” by deconstructing aspects of female identity in a portrayal of female archetypes. However, the past year has made me re-examine this idea. Not being able to equate my identity to a job, project or visible entity has created a lot of discomfort and uncertainty in me. Which has been a surprise, as I thought I felt secure in myself. How can I be so sure of who I am if I am so susceptible to change? A lot of what contributes to our idea of identity is down to pure chance - ethnicity, social class, upbringing, religion, job, relationships - who are we without those influences? Everything in western culture feels so geared towards self-definition, but I wonder if having a looser idea of yourself could make life richer. The past year hasn’t been full of rainbows - I feel like my brain has been brutally rewired - but letting go of a perceived idea of myself has resulted in a new kind of personal freedom. My image is no longer a main source of identity, nor are previous signifiers like clothing (more on this in a future post), designer brands + other things I subconsciously used to define myself. Lasting change rarely happens over night. This past year has been painful and slow. But I’m in a more genuine space than I was a year ago and I would never want to go back to that stunted way of being again. In fact, the only solace I had in this period was being able to read the books and blogs of other people experiencing significant life transitions, so I hope this might be of help to anyone who is going through a similar stage. Truth is, I’m not planning ahead much right now. I am indeed going through my “what should I do with the rest of my life” phase that most people go through at 21. Which is… cool. But I’m grateful to have the opportunity to explore different interests, and starting marinabook is a part of that. I’m starting a Psychology course soon, which I am SO excited about, and I’m ready for a brand new chapter. I hope you’ll be a part of it. Some people have been asking about new music and I’m always flattered to be asked. I know one year is like an aeon in digital time! The honest answer is I don’t know when that will be, but the connection I have with music has always flowered from an honest connection with myself, and I trust my instincts. Whenever I get back on stage again, I would love to feel like I am the sum of my parts, not the sum of a persona or an image. That’s the goal. A lot of reality with a little bit of fantasy. So, marinabook is a way for us to stay connected while I work that out. I miss you all! Ask a question or share thoughts here. Love from, Marina Further Reading Brilliant explanation of personas here. 5 minute read. Podcast on how our views about the Self affect our views on death. By :“Philosophy Bites”. 15 minutes. Illustration by Lan Truong
24 Sept	Instagram Is A Tiny Speck In The Ginormous Oil Painting of Life One topic I think about obsessively: Instagram. More specifically, the psychological effect it has on me. A while ago I posted a tweet saying I felt conflicted about social media, and the responses I got were surprising. People said that Facebook gave them anxiety, only going on certain sites when their mood was stable, whilst others deleted and re-activated their accounts regularly. Illustration by Ana Galvan I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with these platforms but they have so many pros that it makes them hard to quit. They connect me to like-minded people, are informative, make me laugh and give me an instant connection to my fanbase. It’s amazing to feel a level of relation in real time. However, in the last year I’ve noticed that every time I go on Instagram I feel kind of flat + zapped afterwards, like somebody has literally sat on my brain for 5 minutes. It’s oddly deflating. Social media apps are designed to make us addicted to them. Human behaviour is reward based and each time we get a “like” or a message, our brains release a hit of dopamine, which makes us feel rrrreeeeal good (until the dopamine level drops and we feel real bad). Instagram is basically digital meth. So, for the past year I’ve been deleting the app off my phone for large periods of time, then re-downloading it if I want to post something. Interestingly, the feeling I get upon returning is always the same: I’ve missed nothing! I understand social media’s appeal most when in relation to constructing a fantasy world. I’ve used it as a creative tool on every album I’ve made. Tumblr was key to “Electra Heart” and Twitter was key to “FROOT”. But what at first seemed like an opportunity to communicate our thoughts in an uncensored way has become a vehicle for us to present ourselves in the way that we would like to be seen by others. And this is what makes me feel weird about posting sometimes. A review I read of the film ’Ingrid Goes West’ nailed this feeling: “We use these platforms to lie and intentionally curate our lives”. The curating part hits a chord with me. It makes me feel icky, because I’ve surely, if subconsciously, done this - the majority of us have if we’re using the platform. How do I get around that and use it in a healthier way? Do I just delete the whole thing or do I need to be aware of the reason I want to post something? i.e. Is it to share an image I love, or is to make people think of me in a certain way? The latter creeps me out. It scares me. Illustration by Allegra Lockstadt Recently, a friend said he had been going through a difficult period, so he hadn’t gone on Instagram for about a month. “Why would I? Everyone is having such a great time”. Ohhh, the digital illusion of happiness. OK, some people are genuinely having a great time, and they want to share that great time with you, but they’re not having a good time all the time. And that’s the key to remember when we’re embarking on a scrolling spree into the darkest depths of existential hell at 2am. Social media is a tiny speck in the ginormous oil painting of human life. We all have problems. We present the good parts of ourselves because it’s anathema to document the true nature of our lives, which inevitably consist of moments of disappointment, loneliness and embarrassment. None of these things look pretty or cool (no, not EVEN if you put the Mayfair filter on top of them), and I can totally see how it all started out innocently. We all love sharing special moments, but because these moments hold social currency online, we’re now doing only that. It’s easy to see how people can feel disappointed when their own lives don’t measure up in a similar way. Illustration by Lan Truong We’re still in the infancy of the internet, trying to navigate technology in a way that is beneficial to our lives, but I sense a shift towards a desire to portray our lives more realistically. I notice more people sharing an experience or story in the caption of a selfie/ photograph that provides more of a picture of their life than the actual photo ever could. But I still wonder how we can evolve online culture into a space that is less image-focused/ self-driven, because I worry about the psychological effects that an image-focused culture might have on a young person’s self-esteem. 20 years ago, posting a stream of pictures of only my face would have been considered borderline narcissistic, but now it’s normal. And I’m not judging this - I’m talking from the perspective of someone who has done this a’plenty and who has been a part of that culture, particularly at the height of an album campaign. Maybe all Instagram has done is magnify what seems to have always been true, that humans value beauty to excess. Ok, I’ll end this post by saying this: If I never go on Instagram again, my life won’t lack anything because of it. Assuming I use it 20 minutes a day, I’ll get back 122 hours a year - for free! The reality is, I’ll probably continue to use it, but it’s important to me to see these platform for what they are, not what they appear to be. They’re addictive, comparative, take my time and give little back in return. I’ll leave you with my fave comment which came from @FKASimon. Quite, Simon, Quite. Love, Marina Ask a question or a share a thought here!
28 Sept	Untitled #Elle#Rippeditoutofamagazineinaspa Transcript: BUT WHAT HAS SOCIAL MEDIA DONE TO OUR PSYCHE? WE ASK DR ALEKS KROTOSKI ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF REING REAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA DOES THE INSTA-PSYCHE' EXIST (A VERSION OF OURSELVES CURATED FOR INSTAGRAM?) We've always been interested in how other people think of us, and social media is the latest technology to scratch that itch. If there is anything like on 'insta-psyche', it's simply people using the most widely distributed way to perform 'the self' in a controlled way. If you believe there's a 'true’ self, then we all search for it in different ways. Instagram is just the latest way that people are trying on and discarding different versions of themselves in an effort to see what fits and what doesn't. DO YOU SEE A BACKLASH AGAINST THE CONTRIVED PICTURES PEOPLE POST, AND A DEMAND FOR SOMETHING MORE REAL? We want to put our best foot forward when we think we're being viewed by others. With no real knowledge of who's on the other side of the screen, we defer towards making ourselves look good. I don't expect a backlash per se - we've had this debate about public performances of the self for a long time. What is 'real' to one person may be false to another. It depends on who you think is watching, and how true it is to you. WHAT ARE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF BEING MORE AUTHENTIC? We assume others' psychological wellbeing based on the slice of life we see on their social media, and we might think that everyone is happier than we feel. But we’ve chased that ideal since the golden age.

Date	Title
04 Oct	Using My Phone Less I’ve been trying to use my phone a lot less recently. For anyone out there in the same boat, here are a few things that worked for me. Wear a watch Buy an actual alarm clock Delete social media apps. Access them on your laptop. Warning: For the first few days you might reach for your phone, look at it blankly, realise there’s nothing to see and you won’t even remember why you picked it up in the first place. #addiction #is #DARK Download “Moment”, an app to help you quit apps: I’ve tried it for the past few weeks. My screen time has gone from an average 2 hours 45 mins to 50 mins a day. It’s free, but if you pay £3.99, you get added features, like a pop up reminder every time you’ve reached 10 mins of screen time (or whatever time interval you choose). It also has an option for your phone to literally lock up when you reach your limit, which I found hilarious when it actually happened. I was honestly mildly #shook. FYI, the days in red were always the days I had Instagram downloaded on my phone.
05 Oct	“Why We Feel Lonely + Odd” Why We Feel Lonely and Odd
08 Oct	There's Nothing Wrong With You One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was “There’s nothing wrong with you”. It was a Monday morning and I was relaxing with friends in a hotel pool after playing Lollapalooza. A lady bobbed opposite me sipping a ginormous glass of rose, and we started chatting. She was a stylist and told me that, when her clients tried outfits on and looked at themselves in the mirror, she would tell them “There’s nothing wrong with you”. I asked her why and she said, “because we all think there’s something wrong with us ”. It was such an odd, simple notion, but I felt like a little flower had opened up inside of me. It hadn’t occurred to me that it could be a universal feeling. There was always something so wrong with ME, I hadn’t considered that other people might feel the same. The comment stuck with me like glue for the next year. Illustration by Lan Truong I lived most of my life feeling like there was something deeply wrong with me. Everything I did was somehow geared towards fixing the parts of myself I thought were bad or ‘broken’. There was also an odd safety in being broken. I could quietly blame it for anything that went wrong in my life: “It’s not my fault: I’m f*ed up and I am very* sorry!”. For a while, I had counselling, and though it was extremely helpful, I started to feel uneasy at the idea of chatting about my problems, potentially for years, if I chose to. Like, really… When would I be fixed? For me, life = Experiences + reactions to those experiences. The only power I have is choosing how I react to them. So, though I might have uncomfortable emotional reactions, I can choose to a) accept these emotions, instead of resisting them, and b) not interpret my thoughts as the Solid Gold Truth. Whatever your problems may be, (diagnosed or not), they don’t equate to you being broken. In my own life, it’s been unhelpful to think of mental health problems in this way, particularly when you’re struggling. You are who you are at this moment in time, and you’re doing your best. Brains are plastic. People can, and do, change. Illustration by Lolrel If you follow my music, it probably won’t come as a big surprise to know that I’ve dealt with mental health issues for a long time. There have been 3 things that have helped me decrease periods of depression though. For anyone in the same position, I hope this helps. 1. Meditation This changed my mind + my life. I started doing meditation in 2013 after Electra Heart had ended. I was burnt out and desperate for change. I took no classes, read no books - just looked at a 5 minute explanation on the internet. I didn’t even do it every day. Just 20 minutes in the morning or evening. In the beginning, I felt a little dubious about the idea of “wasting 20 whole minutes” on meditation each day. But here’s the thing: Meditation is like a vacuum for your mind. It sucks up all the dust and rubbish thoughts. I can easily waste 20 minutes looking at something on the internet that I’ll never think about again, so I can invest 20 minutes in something that changes the quality of my life. This blog described Meditation as “one of the best responses to modern information overload”. I truly believe it can be an antidote to our digital lives. Illustration by Lolrel 2. Exercise I know, I know. When you’re depressed, the last thing you want to do is go outside INTO THE REAL WORLD! But if you’re bottom-of-the-barrel depressed, you have nothing to lose. For years I loved to declare that I “didn’t have a body that could run” (in order to escape ever having to actually run). But when I start meditation, the negative thoughts about myself decreased and I started to want good things for myself. The motive of exercising was not to lose weight, so it had a different energy to it. 3. Identifying With Thoughts The reality is, I still deal with depression, but my reaction to it is different. I am more aware of its mechanisms so I don’t take my thoughts as seriously. I try not to identify with a thought and interpret it as truth just because it came into my mind. Why? Because the way I think and respond to events is largely based on my past experiences, so how can I know that my thoughts are my own and not coloured by my past? This is why I don’t always trust my thoughts, particularly when they are of the negative variety. A book I hugely recommend on this is called “Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. I’ve wanted to write this post for a long time for people who struggle with similar issues. Our culture has taught us to see happiness as some kind of end goal, but for me, the best thing about it is that it doesn’t stick around forever. Human beings need to experience some level of suffering in order to evolve emotionally and consciously. And though depression often feels like you’re stuck, or stagnating, it can also be a healthy way of your mind telling you that something isn’t quite right, and that it’s in the process of changing. We tend to view sadness as something unnatural, or negative, but perhaps viewing it as a necessary process might help us accept the low periods, and move through them more easily. Before writing my last album, I honestly thought that I had just been born unhappy and that depression was a permanent part of me. I don’t believe that anymore. When I was writing ‘FROOT’ I felt like I was kissing goodbye to a big chapter of my life. That portion of my youth was heart-splitting and lonely at times, but it was also dazzling and beautiful. And that’s how life is for a lot of us. If only I’d known all those years that it was just part of being human. Ask a question or share a thought here.
11 Oct	Is Depression Caused By Chemical Imbalance? “Beating depression is not about bad things happening to us but rather how we have learned to respond to life events - good or bad” NB - This may be a useful article for those who believe their depression may be caused by negative thought patterns. But I want to reiterate: If you are suffering with any kind of mental health problem, always seek professional medical advice. “Depression is 10 times more common in people born since 1945 compared to people born before 1945. So, ten times as many people are becoming depressed now as compared to fifty years ago (and this research takes into account increased reporting and public awareness). Biology doesn’t change this fast. Genes don’t alter this rapidly - so this is a clue that clinical depression and its increase are more to do with the way society and lifestyles are changing. Depression is not an inevitable consequence of adverse life circumstances either, as only a minority of people exposed to difficult situations go on to develop clinical depression. “So what is depression if not a result of chemical imbalances? The physical symptoms are real enough” Depression is actually a state of high arousal. Depressed people have higher concentrations of stress hormones (cortisol, noradrenaline) than non-depressed people. The apathy and exhaustion seen in depressed people is a consequence of too much arousal, and the way the body and mind respond to this arousal. The way we respond to situations (with thoughts of hopelessness, helplessness, anxiety, anger, etc) affects the emotions we feel which in turn affect the chemicals which are released. But the emotionally aroused brain and the presence of stress hormones in turn affects how we think and feel - so it is a ‘two way street’. Thoughts and emotions affect chemical composition, and chemical composition affects thoughts and emotions. So, to sum up, beating depression is not about bad things happening to us but rather how we have learned to respond to life events - good or bad. Clinical Depression is often said to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and this is what most drug treatments are based on. Certainly in many cases, there is a reduction in the amount of certain neurotransmitters found (serotonin and norepinephrine) in depressed people. However, low serotonin levels are simply another symptom of depression, not a cause. The more negative introspection you carry out, and the fewer pleasure-giving activities you participate in, the lower your serotonin levels become” Read the original post here.
12 Oct	Podcasts I Love All the below are available on iTunes. Kind World - 5-6 minute episodes. Intimate, life affirming stories about people whose lives have been changed by someone else. Note To Self - Presented by Manoush, the creator of “Moment” app. The latest episode “I Didn’t See Your Text” is amazing. Dear Sugar - Comforting, humanising podcast that focuses on all kinds of relationships. Philosophy Bites - Great 15 minute episodes on topics like laughter, gender, suicide notes, categorising mental disorders and more. The School of Life - This isn’t a podcast, but their Youtube channel is a gold mine for anyone interested in self-development, psychology + philosophy applied to modern-day problems. Death, Sex and Money - Hosted by Anna Sale about the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
29 Oct	The Social Stigma of Solitude Oh, Chance-The-Rapper-Parody-Account, how I adore thee… I love being alone. Does that look sad written down? It does. But it’s not. Last night I was listening to a podcast about a student who was struggling to “be normal” by partaking in her college’s nightlife, and I suddenly got flashbacks of the alienation I had felt in my twenties. I struggled to socialise in the same way that the rest of my peer group did and I had no idea why. Until I read Susan Cain’s book, “Quiet”, I’d never thought anything about introversion. Based on what I’d read in mainstream media, extroverts were the cool party people and introverts were the shy weirdos. I didn’t self-identify as an introvert - I was lively and talkative! - but I liked spending large periods of time alone. Nonetheless, I wanted to be a social butterfly with lots of friends, spreading my wings all over town. Who wanted to be a loner? Nobody. Who actually was a loner? Me! I hid my love of solitude for a long time, which, hilariously, made me more awkward and anti-social. I felt guilty for declining social invitations (as if my mere absence would be threatening the rest of humanity’s ability to have a great time). And society didn’t exactly encourage solitude - it seemed anti-human and anti-community - so, I often thought “what the hell is up with me?”. But as Susan Cain observes, “Introversion is not about being anti-social, it’s about being differently social”. She states that “Introverts prefer quiet, minimally stimulating environments, while extroverts need higher levels of stimulation to feel their best”. Reading her book made me feel less strange, and less alone. I realised that all the behaviours I felt awkward about were actually connected to preserving and generating energy in a different way to how extroverts do. This helped me to change how I structured my social and work life. Illustration by Maxine Sarah My Old Socialising Patterns Meet a friend for dinner once a week. Go on a complete rager every two weeks because I’d suddenly realise “Oh, I’m very lonely. I think I need other humans to feel human!”. Consume huge amounts of vodka. Probably be sick when I get home because I knew zero about moderation. Spend next day feeling elated and high off the sheer relief that I, Marina Diamandis, had survived a social event and could get back to the business of being alone. (As you can imagine, I’m pretty relieved this is no longer my life). I don’t think any of us are 100% introvert or extrovert; we all share traits from both sides of the spectrum. But the way in which we gain energy is the signifier. Extroverts get their energy from being with other people, whereas introverts recharge when they’re alone. According to Eysenck’s psychophysical-based theory, introverts experience higher levels of arousal in their brain, so they don’t seek or need the same levels of stimulation that extroverts do. Apparently, 30 - 50% of the are population classified as introverts, but because society favours extroverted traits, people adjust their behaviour accordingly. Extraversion has been rewarded somewhat in our culture so perhaps there is a healthy swing of the pendulum going on. Even so, there still seems to be a social stigma, or curiosity, about aloneness. Since I was 21, I’ve gone on plenty of solo traveling trips. I never feel weird going for a swanky lunch by myself (though admittedly, this confidence has been hard won), and whenever I spot someone doing something on their own, I think “cool!”, but I also think “brave”. The bravery isn’t related to doing stuff on your own, it’s about defying the social expectations around you. The feeling that people may be looking at you, judging you, and casting assumptions about your “aloneness”. And I’m not here to say “being alone is the best!” because it’s not always, but sometimes doing trips on your own can teach you things about yourself that you wouldn’t find out if you’d gone with others. (Also, vice versa). I’ve been a bit nervous about writing about this subject, as I imagined people might say “But you’re not an introvert. You’re a performer. A very talkative, energetic performer!”, to which I would reply, “Yes, but I spend most of my tours recharging alone in hotel rooms. Also - have you even heard my song ”Solitaire“?!”. If there is any kind of message in this post it’s to go with the flow of your natural tendencies instead of resisting them for the sake of social expectations. If I could have known more about introversion in my twenties I would have spared myself a lot of unnecessary anguish. Sometimes partying is exactly what we need, other times a night alone is more valuable. Over the years I’ve tried to find some deep, dark underlying reason for this “unnatural” character trait but I’m happy to say there isn’t really one. The only reason I can find is an ingrained social attitude that regards solitude as strange, sad or lonely. For anyone reading this who struggles with any of the above, just know there are lots of other people who feel exactly like you. We’re all wired differently - and let me take a minute to thank God for my extrovert friends who introduce me to new people - otherwise I’d never meet anyone. Also, someone needs to set up an “Introverts Society” for crying out loud! Meetings can be held once a year (maximum. Via Skype. From the safety of our rooms.). Share your experiences here. Love, Marina

Date	Title
10 Dec	Music & More Dear Friends Holy BELLS! It’s been 5 weeks since I posted. My life has suddenly gotten very busy after floating around like a little lost lamb for 18 months. I’ve been studying some psychology modules at uni, which I absolutely love, and I’m gearing up to test my ideas for my next musical project over Christmas. So, I’m going to use this site as a diar/ creative notepad over the next few months. There is a dream plan I have for marinabook, but I have no brain space right now to think about anything but music and psychology. I’m not sure if this is connected to the introvert/baseline level of arousal thing I talked about in this post but, god damn it!! My brain space/brain RAM can handle only so much thinking! Today I finished the first term of uni and I felt a happiness I haven’t known for a very long time. I’m so full of glee I’m acting like I’ve LITERALLY GRADUATED (goes to university once). I went on a shopping spree 5 minutes after it, as if it were 2007 and I were blowing my student loan willy-nilly into ongoing traffic. Some people on this blog have asked me what it’s like going back to university as a mature student… Well, it’s pretty wonderful. I love using the library, which is in a beautiful part of central London, and I love being around people of all ages from different professions. It’s very refreshing and is a real comfort to me to know that the option to study new subjects will always be there throughout my adult life (The uni is tailored to part time degrees and evening classes, so you can study module by module if you like). I have some essays that I may adapt for this site, one discussing the extent to which personality is biological and another on attachment theory and how useful it is in explaining the origins of personality disorders. I had heard about Attachment Theory before,but after reading it in depth I’ve been interpreting behaviours in a completely different wa

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Date	Title
01 May	I'LL EAT YOUR MONEY. Can we class this as official merchandise? What if I buy 1,000 and only sell 3 though cause everyone is so grossed out? Oh, trials and tribulations.
03 May	10.57AM, MONDAY.
03 May	GERMAN JEWEL. I met my first German jewel today at the airport! Promise to stop doing lame short blogs and get onto a proper one soon.. but time is short this week. I've decided I would like a husband, without the marriage part I have also decided I am the worst kind of artist. I think I am like a half-pop star. Too pop for indie & too indie for pop. Half way house, hellish doom. I suppose the people decide who an artist is. It also makes me think more about what a 'star' even is/ constitutes these days. I feel less like a star the more well-known I become which I am not sure is meant to happen. I also don't like the term. In current society, it reinforces the idea of hierarchy and of certain people having more 'value' than others which is, to put it lightly, totally gross. Most of the 'faymous' people I meet are alright but a lot lack a spark and are just like you and me. I know it will all be fine in 8 years but for now I am stuck in deep grey, doubtsville depression that is illogical but nonetheless can't get out of. Wish could just be barbie, focus on hair dye and sing about barbie world. Or be Juliana Hatfield and rage out on liquor and neon sweets. Also just want to be able to write prolifically again like the good old days when I quit uni, lived off Ebay shop money/ student loan and had loads of time to wander around house every day, 'thinking'. Preparing the next 2 albums. You are my glittering army. I hope you never leave. "Be Kind & Rewind" x
05 May	PICTURE OF THE DAY.
06 May	I DREAM OF SIZZURP. Busy in production for my new tour. A sneak peak of what is to come next week.. We take the show on the road in 6 days and I have never been this excited. And the Oct tour is going to be even BIGGER. I have dreamed of building a live show full of drama-queen beauty, neon and film for so many years and it looks like it's finally beginning. A lot of work to be done from now on. I also have a double bedroom built into my tour bus which is funny. It feels wrong -YET SO RIGHT - to be trading places with p diddy and lil wayne right now. My bus looks exacty like theirs but without the sizzurp and hot chicks. welkommen to die mini bar und lounge Gonna high five as many diamonds as I can after the shows each eve. You energise me and filll me with magic. <3
07 May	HURTS. I have the attention span of a fly but I've watched this video a whole FOUR TIMES. It's beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn8tBgI1BVQ
09 May	REGURGITATE. Very underwhelmed by American pop music right now. Same producers, same lyrics, same chords, same images, same video treatments. Is everyone lapping it up without a thought? I refuse to believe this is what people are genuinely 'lovin' with all their hearts? So sad for me and bizarre. Do artists do that because they are told it will sell or because few have a strong artistic vision? There is plenty of good music out there but judging from what i hear on commercial stations in LA etc, it is the same auto-tuned songs revamped time and time again. Trying not to be cynical but it is kind of impossible at times. Am by no means insinuating this happens exclusively in the US, it's everywhere and that's life, blah blah blah. In Greece, for example, you get the worst kind of watered down commercial stuff from the states/ uk/ europe and that's the only foreign music that gets played. At the end of the day, people eventually end up liking/ remembering what they are 'bombarded' with. And of course, that could include my music too. Am sure all the auto-tune 'Im in the club drinking whatever-alcohol-du-jour, hangin with ma ladiez etc etc' artists probably don't like me much either. Something else bizarre that I've noticed is that american 'pop' artists who write 100% of their own songs don't seem to exist. Most of the acts marketed to you as bands and singer-songwriters do not write their material or co-write it. 99% of acts co-write, which is fine, but it's disappointing and weird that I cant think of any big female pop artists in history who wrote albums alone. I feel perhaps labels think you're work is not good enough if you do it alone and that it has to have a name attached to it to be deemed 'good'. I suppose hooking artists up with esteemed pop writers lessens the risk 'etc' even if the end product sucks. Even Madonna (<3 you, Madonna) co-wrote or, like many artists, got songs given to her. Contrary to belief, I was never influenced by Kate Bush but she is a relevant subject here- among pop artists, she has set an incredible example. How do you listen to and find music? Send me some of your favourite new artists..!.
09 May	PICTURE OF THE DAY.
09 May	nothing. Year after year.
11 May	BLOG: HELLO, AMERIKA. Transcript[] Eerie like Kurt Weill one moment, uplifting like Abba the next, Marina Diamandis’s pop-artful debut album, The Family Jewels (Chop Shop/Atlantic Records, to be released May 25), documents the 24-year-old Greek-Welsh Londoner’s relentless pursuit of fame with savagely self-aware wit. “I was pulling out my hair / The day I cut the deal / Chemically calm,” Diamandis sings on the album’s opener, “Are You Satisfied?,” her theatrically supernatural vocals front and center. Diamandis, who performs under the moniker Marina And The Diamonds, embarked on her unabashed quest for stardom when she was in her late teens; she scoured Madonna biographies for tips and even auditioned in drag for a boy band. “I don’t want to say I was delusional, but I was fearless,” Diamandis explains. “For so long, the essence of my existence was my obsession with making it. I cringe when I say that, but I can’t lie. Then I figured out I didn’t want to be Britney Spears—I wanted to challenge people.” Indeed, in songs like “Hollywood” and “I Am Not a Robot,” arch musings informed by feminism, psychology, and an outsider’s fascination with American mythology are arranged around radio-ready hooks. “The currency of provocation right now is all about being sexy, but I’m just bored with it,” she says. “I want to provoke people with thoughts, not by taking my clothes off. It’s time to move on from Stripperville.” Photo: Marina Diamandis in New York, March 2010. Coat: Christian Dior. Bracelet: Aandra. Cuff: Alexis Bittar. Cosmetics: Clé de peau Beauté, including Intensifying Cream Eyeliner in #101. Fragrance: Midnight Poison by Dior. Styling: Sarah Ellison/Streeters. Hair: Franco Gobbi for Redken/Art Department. Makeup: Osvaldo Salvatierra/Streeters. Photographer: Sebastian Kim for Interview Magazine
18 May	HELLO FROM THE GEM TOUR. New merch has just arrived! I'm finally allowed to sell my own range of pink and orange glowing lip paint. Each pot comes with a brush and lasts for ages. They're super brite and you 100% cannot compare it with any lipstick- you won't find a traditional lipstick that glows. Here's is a pic of how they work in UV... Amazing. i'm also adding face and lip gems a la the lip and eyes of the Robot vid. Gentlemen- what would you like as merchandise? We have baseball jackets coming, which are really good, but I want to come up with something else...
19 May	PICTURE OF THE DAY.
20 May	FRESH. First photo of the Family Jewels Tour... Thanks to photographer Andrew Spiers. Have serious insomnia/ late night food hangover today. :-/
25 May	OH YES! Hello Diamonds. So... I can now reveal that my next single release will be "Oh No!". I have been vigorously planning the video all month and am extremely excited about it. I haven't made a video since last December- excluding the "one take" Robot one. (Quickest. Made. Video. Ever..) It will be released this Summer on the 26th July. Also, I'm giving away my cover of "Starstrukk". It's taken on a life of it's own on the latest tour. I hope you like it. We recorded it live in Norwich last week. Click here to download. The competition for making your own video for I Am Not A Robot closed yesterday. There have been some amazing entries, and I'll be looking through them this week and announcing the winner soon. Well, that will be all. I have had 4 hrs sleep and 3 gigs in 2 days. Zzzzz... Marina

Date	Title
01 Aug	THE BEST OF OH NO! (~~Missing Images~~)
01 Aug	COME ON, EILEEN. (~~Missing Images~~)
01 Aug	REAL LIFE. (~~Missing Images~~)
01 Aug	WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? (~~Missing Images~~)
11 Aug	HARD GRAFT. ^[1] A note for the Diamonds.. I have read here and there that I will be 'apparently' releasing an extended version of 'The Family Jewels' at some point, with 'new songs'. This is bull. Over, closed & moved on from. I am not enamored by the idea of rehashing current works or adding songs to some 'deluxe' package or whatever. I am working on a new, seperate work which you will hear in 2011. I don't know if it will be in a traditional album format or as something else. I am forever fueled by what I see around me! So many thoughts to be though. I never really stopped writing after the first record. I feel like the life of 'artists' can be too defined by freedom. I believe that discipline is key. Even over talent. I would prefer to miss 10 years of parties for the prize of one new record. Hermit. It is interesting to see how new songs are taking shape.. I am inspired and dreaming again. ps- I am loving seeing the online communities of diamonds popping up everywhere. The way you work together is quite amazing. There seems to be a lot of kindness & support there. Shine hard, be honest, own your ambition and imagine the world hates you! That way, you will always do your best. x
23 Aug	UGG LEE. (Missing Images) Wrote all night & sank back into the black light.
26 Aug	MAN MADE. I said "did the screen just go black, for the tiniest time and then come back..? Through the key hole I can see, everything I'll ever want to be".
29 Aug	SLEEP AGAIN. (~~Missing Images~~)
29 Aug	... (~~Missing Images~~)
30 Aug	GLITTERING GABRIEL. (Missing Images) "Directed by Kim Gehrig. Coming soon.

Date	Title
01 Sept	VIOLET.
01 Sept	A GIRL.
03 Sept	HELLO FROM PHILADELPHIA. I realised I never do proper blogs anymore. This will change.
05 Sept	THE LESS WE SAY ABOUT IT. >
06 Sept	THE WONDER BAR. Just played to about 60 people at an amazing old bar in New jersey ... So hot & sweaty but so good. Keep rockin out asburrrry Park, We love you. Real, open hearted people. Goh bless America.
06 Sept	THE GENTLE HEART OF AMERICA. Sweet melody flows freely.
06 Sept	A GRAVEYARD OF BAD NIGHTS. 'Shampain.' MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS "SHAMPAIN"-0
10 Sept	KNIVES DONT HAVE YOUR BACK.
10 Sept	DIAMONDS MET ALONG THE WAY. This guy was v v funny..!
15 Sept	ONE DAY. Success, like popularity, comes when you no longer value it. Thoughts..?
15 Sept	"THE DIAMONDS? THAT IS LIKE, TOTES CUTE!" Though we may not have met, I love you all so much. I hope I never let you down as an artist and that you never interpret/ place my words in the typical "i love my fans" box. You are magic and I have really loved meeting the fans across America. I think I met over a thousand in the past 2 weeks. I hate it when people think Marina And The Diamonds is something cute. For the public and by the public and one day you will do something great. M x
17 Sept	COMING HOME. For God's SAKE. When do I sell enough records to not have to drive this tour bus myself any more. SO. TIRED. At 01:32am, Wednesday from The Addams Family drives the band and crew from Portland to San Francisco..
19 Sept	A DEAR ARTIST AND DEAR FRIEND. (Missing Images) Diamonds, welcome to the incredible talent that is Clare Maguire. Treat her well. She is a one in a million. M x
25 Sept	MEIAOW MEIAOW. With the super talented Hannah Marshall & Erin O' Connor, above. They are gorgeous! Me... secretly DYING inside to be Eddie from Absolutely Fabulous. Fashion week was so fun! I never get to go as am usually touring. Caught Ashish (WOW), Mark Fast (WOW++) and saw Hannah Marshall streamed online (DIME BAR WOAH). Jet lagged to oblivion. Just got back from German promotion & gigs. One night in London .. then I'm going on my first radio tour of the UK. Up first: INVERNESS.! Ugh... Just read above back. What a standard crapola sentence. Cannot believe just lowered self to such forms of bland, generic, pop artist normality. "Hiyeerr everyone...... just 'avin cup o tea. combin' hair. watchin' telly. ".
29 Sept	NO ONE WATCHING OVER ME. The greatest opportunity I have been given is to work with really talented people. A pretty picture in pop is rarely painted by a solitary hand! A favourite shoot of mine. Thank you to Roger Rich, the photographer and to Jason Leung, Paul Percival & Ashley Ward for maintaining the illusion of beauty (whilst I, in the mean time, masterfully tear it down- what else am I here for?) Available in ZOO Magazine (the trendy, art driven one from Germany, not the gross, cheap press, vom-fest one available in the UK). Proenza Schoeler + Atsuko Kudo rubber tie. Balmain. David Koma. Lanvin + Reebok. Moschino. Prada. The lie that breathes life
29 Sept	RICH. The greatest opportunity I have been given is to work with really talented people. A pretty picture in pop is rarely painted by a solitary hand! A favourite shoot of mine. Thank you to Roger Rich, the photographer and to Jason Leung, Paul Percival & Ashley Ward for maintaining the illusion of beauty (whilst I, in the mean time, masterfully tear it down- what else am I here for?) Available in ZOO Magazine (the trendy, art driven one from Germany, not the gross, cheap press, vom-fest one available in the UK). Proenza Schoeler + Atsuko Kudo rubber tie. Balmain. David Koma. Lanvin + Reebok. Moschino. Prada. The lie that breathes life

Date	Title
01 Oct	GOOGLING famous loners + anti-socialites to make me feel happy. Why is being a loner characterised as a 'social disorder'? It makes me never want to speak to anyone again. It makes me annoyed to be labelled as 'antisocial'/ socially anxious. I am in fact very comfortable in social situations, i just have a truthful and realistic view of the meaning of friendship and relationship-That you cannot get on 'really well' with everyone, you cannot even really 'like' everyone (though most people pretend to). In reality, each individual probably finds they don't have a real 'connection'/ chemistry with no more than 5 real people at any one time in their lives. I feel like if you don't get on really well with someone, there is little point in spending time socialising with them. Most events are full of people talking about nothing and this makes me feel even worse than staying at home, alone. Or perhaps I am just jealous of the people talking about nothing and cant step out of this godforesaken bubble that makes me want to never go out again. Some people need time alone to process thoughts/ events and some people don't. I will probably always be this way. Every boyfriend I have ever had has been a loner. I wish people wouldn't make introversion into a personality flaw.
01 Oct	I HATE POP. This industry= one, long, fake cringe fest. I cannot play the game, I am shit at lying, I am not interested in maintaining an illusion and essentially, feel like diving into a k-hole of cheetos and beer. I feel like an impostor/ try-hard & awkwardly out of place in the world of pop. Seriously, it'd be less of a struggle to be in a hair metal band right now. i wish I was back in my room in 2007 making cds in peace, not having people say 'oh you're not very successful- can't believe that YOU, a leftfield artist, are not played on the radio non-stop and dont have 17 million no.1 singles". Pop culture is better to watch than to be. Feel like recording a whole fucking album of banjo hits. EDIT: To the person who commented: "You are posing. Don't be sore at the people who are more successful than you by donning the cloak of pseudo-profundity and wrapping it around a notion of deep-and-meaningful when it is quite clearly shallow-and-meaningless".. What would you prefer me to do? Lie for the sake of a pretty blog and say that I am 'like totes happy!!1!'. I am allowed to feel pissed off unsatisfied. It would be slightly unrealistic if I were flowing with graciousness 100% of the time. If you don't get angry about anything, you probably don't care about it and nothing will ever change. The only difference between myself and other artists is that they may think the same thoughts but never write them down.
03 Oct	OH, DAVID. "The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time!" David Bowie
03 Oct	3 WAYS TO MELT A CHOCOLATE RABBIT. Chocolate Bunny from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.
04 Oct	BLINDING FUTURE. And at last you know. The melting of the snow..
04 Oct	CRUSHING PINK. Feel like every girl should dye her hair at least one colour of the neapolitan ice-cream tub once in her life. Pink even looks great when you're 60+. Because of vintage photos of Kate Moss + friends (see beautiful Lizzy from Neon Gold below), I'm crushing on ice-cream coloured hair 24/7 these days. Ice blue, mint green, peach.. The only snag: 1. Waking up and realizing that you are a ball of candy floss 2. You are now ready to join the circus. 3. You're wrecking your hair. AND NATURE. 4. Having an ice cream for a head may make future boyfriend's Mum hate you . Amazing points: 1. Get to pick candy floss out of your hairbrush in the morning. 2. Wont be able to tell which hairs are yours and which are your barbie doll's.
05 Oct	SOME GIRLS WANDER BY MISTAKE.
08 Oct	WOMEN'S HOUR. Was on Radio 4 yest for Women's Hour show. They actually have a STOVE in the studio. Amazing. Wonder if there's much fun in 'listening' to a cooking show though? Isn't it all just a bunch of "Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, steam steam" Etc? (No, Marina, no...). Really I'm just posting this to show off the amazing jumpsuit I swiped from Adidas. It's a collaborative piece between Adidas + Fafi. Shame you can't see the naked rollergirls print on it. I didn't realise they were naked until I got to the BBC. Not v feminist. But very kawaiiii. . This is Fafi up close.
08 Oct	"THE MARINA DRESS": HASAN HEJAZI Ok, WHO AM I KIDDING. This never happens. Hasan Hejazi is naming one of his dresses from the SS11 collection "The Marina". Very honoured.. I've been an admirer for a long time, wearing his suffocating pieces (Nylon, NME Awards) from the last collection whenever I could hold my fat in tight enough. Was fascinating to see parts of the creative process and understand how a design comes to be. A few photos of the initial sketches, fabric swatches and our first fitting with his seamstresses below. The first rough version (Soon to be in pink) Rest of the collection.... I look like a horrendous rabbit here but I will SWALLOW MY VANITY and post this for Hasan's pleasure. #whatsupdoc Not that I claim to know a lot about fashion in a professional sense but this work is seriously, seriously good for someone's second collection (His first collection was incredible and got picked up by Harrods at his MA Fashion student show). (Below.) Everything he designs has a real finesse and femininity to it, without being old fashioned. The dress will be included in the "Burger Queen" autumn tour wardrobe. Coming to a stage near you soon...
13 Oct	BLACK EYED & OVERWHELMED.
13 Oct	THE BURGER QUEEN TOUR 2010. Commences in 5 days. I've never been so nervous and excited for a tour. It is the first of my tours that qualifies as a "production". The vision comes alive, an entity, an experience, a black Hollywood tale. I feel relief to have grown to be in a position where I will no longer be judged for being theatrical. (HEY, it's hard being flamboyant in toilet venues when you're "told" you "belong" to ra-ra-jazz-hands-mcgee club if you do anything outside looking sullenly at the ground for whole performance. ) I can't help it. Drama is in my blood. And now.. in these beautiful theatres, I am finally given free reign and am where I should be. We have made it thus far, diamonds. The Burger. Trusty symbol of mass culture and consumerism; of instant gratification and our western world ills. Pop will eat itself. The Burger Queen Tour is coming to the following cities: Europe: Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Aarhus, Amsterdam, Ghent. Paris, Lausanne, Berne, Vienna. Lots of theatres now looking sold out. So amazing & a big thank you! I'll make it worth your every penny. "Femme fatales, burgers & swords, in arabesque across billboards. Safe inside the glittering mist, the pom-poms spin... and a vamp is kissed"- M x
18 Oct	REPRESENTING FOR THE DIAMONDS. Diamonds, YOU DID IT.. We won best UK act for EMA MTV Awards !!! A wonderful day for Marina and The Diamonds. We have triumphed. We are small- but strong. You are so selfless to give away all of your time to help such a dream come true. I'm now going head to head with 20 other European acts for Best European Act. We need to keep voting.. WE CAN DO THIS !!! http://ema.mtv.co.uk/vote
20 Oct	MORALITY vs SENSUALITY. " The English do not see.. the English do not feel... the English are not voluptuaries... In their art, as in their literature, the argument goes, the English are first and foremost moralisers, forever wanting to preach a sermon or to point a lesson. The unexamined assumption behind this accusation being that morality and the sensuous must always be at odds." - Howard Jacobson, on Victorian art.
22 Oct	MY HEART BLEEDS FOR YOUR FINGERS. Diamonds, I can see how freaking hard you are voting for the EMA MTV Award right now. WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER. I dont want your fingers to suffer but I just wanted to speak up and show my utmost respect and appreciation for your dedication. You are such kind hearted people and I feel pain for you. I sing it out every night for you, on stage, for every fan, in every city and country, on their computer voting away right now. I hope it is worth it, for all of us. If you are a diamond reading this and haven't voted for the EMA MTV award that WE (yes, WE) are up for, please join the family. We need as strong a troupe as possible as we are up against stiff competition from 20 other acts. But none of them have fans like I do. I could bet my whole entire life on that. Love, (from a hotel in Eastbourne) Marina. Vote here: http://ema.mtv.co.uk/artists/marina-and-the-diamonds
28 Oct	THE SILENCE OF SNOW.
29 Oct	IN THE NIGHT YOUR THE HEART IS FULL. And by the morning, empty.

Date	Title
01 Nov	OH, WILL YOU NOW? Yohji Yamamoto/ Adidas dress & heels.
01 Nov	WELCOME TO THE FAMILY GHOULS. Sweet. Mary. It has been a tough few weeks. Well into the 51 days of Burger Queen tour . I have a giant pink bus and a truck with my name on it. Drivers names = Zippy and Igor. (my tour manager is called George.. We are just waiting for Bungle). Could it get any better. (NO). Spent 4 days in Ireland, touring The Burger Queen and did my first Eire TV. If I never sing Shampain live again, it will be too soon. I hate it. I hate it. So. Much. Outside of my live shows, I just want to sing everything acoustically. I also met Richard & Judy. Noticed the Irish go MENTAL for Halloween. Their approach to it is similar to the Americans. You can dress- Quite literally- As anything. Banana? ..Yeah, fine. A box? Yeah, alright. Pool table? Yeah. Fine. Human tampon? YEAH. ALRIGHT. Etc. Something bad also happened... I think it is RIP time for my ex-beloved drink, Jameson. I think 8 doubles may be pushing it. Dry heaving fluoro bile into a sink 2 hours before a flight = "This relationship isn't working". Left Ireland after PukesGate for my Halloween "The Murder Queen" show in Manchester. Funny it was called "The Ritz" because it genuinely smelled like poo and vomit. Changed my name to Marina & the Demons. Claimed that everything "totally RIP right now". Fitted "The Family Ghouls" into every conversation I could to show seasonal wit and intelligence. Corpse face courtesy of Danni at MAC in Manchester. Nothing else has happened except I've planned a whole new world & fallen into the touring pattern of "I eat cuz I'm sad and I'm sad cuz I eat". I just... I just LOVE how my clothes don't fit anymore and how it feels like my face is getting shitter every day. I have now outgrown the Family Jewels era. It's good to be touring it for one last time but the next era has just begun. I started writing the previously mentioned blog on "Female Sexuality and the Politics of Image" around a month ago. It turned into something so mammoth and unmanageable that I am unable to post it as one blog. So I decided to do something else. The article will now be released in 3 separate parts over a month. The first entitled as above, the second and third on "Pornography" and "Beauty". There are a few things I've been waiting a while to say. And the time is almost nigh! I feel incredibly strongly about where the next year leads and these articles will serve as a pre-cursor to the next chapter. It has a name.. October 2011, diamonds! M x
05 Nov	HOW 2 BE SUCKSESS! Is there a formula? HIT MAKER MCGEE: "Dear Marina. Here's how to make a worldwide hit" First put some kinda "woah, woah" in chorus. Add generic male football cheer + blatant auto-tune- even if you're a good singer. /i> Add ref to Being in da club + getting drunk. Comment on your swag + how all the lowly people in the club looking on at you in pure awe as they dream of being as cool as you and possibly how you are in vip list + they are not. This = Look, Mum. I. am. on. the telly.
15 Nov	THRASH YOUR POM POMS. Best photos from my fans in the UK.
16 Nov	DRIVE-THRUS IN EUROPE. The Burger Queen Tour leaves for Europe tomorrow...... 24 hrs at home. Help. I want to leave. thinking of covering the walls and windows in white blankets and then rolling self in one. What do normal-routine people do again? I think I will go to the cinema. (Translate: I'm going to die alone). We go to my beloved Germany tomorrow. Tickets almost sold out! Already planning how I am going to decorate my bedroom on my tour bus for christmas. Hope everyone is gonna be OK with a massive tree in the back lounge. Drive-thrus: COLOGNE, BERLIN, HAMBURG, STOCKHOLM, GOTHENBURG, HELSINKI, AMSTERDAM, GHENT, PARIS, LAUSANNE, BERNE, VIENNA, HANOVER (MYSPACE FAN SHOW).
17 Nov	PATTI. "I’ve had my whole life planned out since I was a little kid. I knew when I was going to wind up in a gutter and when I was going to be in Carnegie Hall".
17 Nov	PALACES AND SKIES, BLONDES AND STARS. "Well, I love you more than everything. But I can’t be in that city. Everything’s an illusion; that’s the whole thing about it- illusion, imitation, a mirage. Pagodas and palaces and skies, blondes and stars. It makes me too sad. It’s like having a good dream. You know you are going to wake up."

Date	Title
20 Jun	NOW REAL LIFE HAS NO APPEAL. Without you diamonds, everything can become nothing . And with you, nothing has become everything. I speak with honesty, not false flattery, when I say that my fans are some of the most intellectual people. I read your letters and talk to you and I feel so full of life at the fact that I can meet people who I actually have things in common with. Through writing music. I never tailor-wrote songs for the 'masses' and I never will. You must ask yourself, do you want to be 'popular' for the sake of being popular but to essentially cause no change.. "What is it to be popular" if it does not create a positive influence? Meeting you all recently has empowered me and reinforced my thinking. I'd prefer to have 10,000 intelligent, questioning, fans full of life than 10 million unthinking, colourless ones. Much of pop music has no meaning because that is what media outlets think will embed and sell more quickly. It is insulting to us as a public to assume that our 'simple brains' cannot "HACK" music which isn't about budweiser and clubs. That is why the true artists, the visionaries who have creative control over everything, who live and breathe and die for it, quite literally, have died- or perhaps are never heard? Or are not born anymore because popular culture is made up of such empty, dishonest substance? I will be here for a long time and the game will be a long one. If I contribute anything at all to music, it will be to bring back true meaning to pop. Not everything has to be auto-tuned garbage about being in "Up in Da Club" to qualify as listenable and get on the radio. Yes- we need light music to be carefree and dance to; But eventually, one becomes what one is fed. And you can't eat Cheetos forever. Truth I want to be a part of peoples lives and I want the same people to be a part of mine. If you cannot make an impact, then what is the point in anything that you do at all? I created the name "Marina and the Diamonds" 5 years ago and I never envisaged a character, pop project, band or solo artist. I saw a simple group made up of many people who had the same hearts. A space for people with similar ideals who could not fit in to life's pre-made mold. I was terribly awkward for a long time! I really craved to be part of one thing because I never felt too connected to anybody and now I feel I have that all around me. I have talked about pop and illusion and stardom before and though it may be far easier to be driven by such rewards, I cannot be. And that is sometimes very confusing for me. At least I am being honest. I'm afraid i will not give people the 'glamorous' image. I am not exactly a rep for stardom or perfection and I do not want to be. I want to contribute to helping people confront what they are when masks are stripped away. Not only physical masks but psychological ones; the ones imprinted on us by media and so on. What is 'the perfect' life, how to 'be happy', what should 'make you happy', what is good, what is bad, what is twisted, what is normal, what is 'beautiful' and what is ugly. I suppose it is time to get fat, start wearing no make up and bin bags again (jOKING- Kinda). I feel like I have regressed in to typical popville with all the TVs and things I have to get made up for. It's not good to wear a lot of make-up. Where did natural beauty go. Confidence and self acceptance are achieved when you are on your own, without your crutches and your guise. One of life's common battles of man is self-acceptance and aforementioned 'masks' seem to contradict and slow that process down a little.. Now the diamonds exist.. they aren't imaginary anymore. And I am a very fortunate person. It scares me sometimes to think of what I would have become if I hadn't made it, as this. I am planning an American tour and a also new European one for later in the year (Greece, I'm coming to you if it's the last thing I do!!). And... the video for "Oh No!"... is coming soon... No matter how big and powerful an ego one may have, be it a politician, artist, pop star or activist.. it is the truth that you cannot change the world. It is too big and people do not care enough to make a change, en masse. But you can change your own world.
23 Jun	THE MAKING OF "OH NO!" The official video will go live on tuesday 29th, morning. Missing Video

Date	Title
01 Jul	DIAMOND LIFE - INSTYLE MAGAZINE Warning: this is not accurate representation of reality of diamond life. Photographer: Christoph Rihet, Styling: Amanda Bellan, Hair: Paul Percival, Make up: Cassie Jones.
31 Jul	GO CANADOH. (~~Missing Images~~)

Date	Title
01 Dec	OUTSIDERS & AESTHETICS An interesting remark from a well-meaning interviewer yesterday: "You sing about isolation and about being an outsider. Isn't that, like... totally hypocritical when you have a 'nice' face ?" Er... A) You don't choose the face you are born with. B) DUH. Silly me.. The whole world knows that if you are considered alright looking, you haven't got the right to feel any of the emotions of a true/ "ugly" outsider. Must look ugly to feel ugly and look beautiful to feel beautiful... ! Not of my interest to talk about beauty levels one here but it is interesting,obvious and yet totally shallow that we (inc myself) assume that because someone looks good they must feel good. (So nineties). For all the interviewer knows, I could have lived in a neck-brace until I was 14 and been severely overweight. Both ostracising experiences. It is very trendy to be an outsider right now. Freaky = conventional + conventional = freaky. Which is good, I think. Especially if it decreases bullying in any shape or form and makes society more accepting of personal/ physical differences. I am pretty sure isolation comes from within though and not through your face. Just interesting... We all have this perception that the way that one looks governs the way in which people think one has lived, lives and will live. Just like with money. Artists love pulling the 'poverty' card because it is cooler to be perceived as some hard-done-by poor artist than be one from a rich background. I always wanted to be a starving artist but I just liked food too much. I know it's mega easy to judge and we have our right to. Natural human trait. But come on! conforming to a physical ideal doesn't necessarily = feeling ideal. Imagine all the models and skinny, hot women and men in the world. They must all be happy, 24/7, riiight? And that is my issue with cosmetic (note: "cosmetic", not reconstructive) surgery. A blog for another day.. Mx
12 Dec	?? "I asked a Burmese man why women, after centuries of following their men, now walk ahead. He said there were many unexploded land mines since the war" ~ Robert Mueller
23 Dec	CARTOON GRUNGE.

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