February In Pics

The Hebe Week In Pics

Some of us hit London for work, some of us for play!Trailer Park Boys @ Hmv Forum London TPB's selling Hotdogs for a fiver each... as part of the show!A thumbs up to the rest of the Hebe Team, who could not make itSimon had his own fun in London helping his information as material buddies move some work into the Whitechapel Gallery... well, we say helping, but his actually taking pictures of them doing all the work!The Foyle Reading Room at the Whitechapel, which will be home to some of information as material's workThe Whitechapel staircase... nice wood work!Simon with the genius that is Simon MorrisShang Ting looking lovely at Girl Geeks Dinner back in LeedsWell done on your presentation STP!Snapped the Pap @ Girl Geeks Dinner in VQWe love going for a walk down The Shambles in YorkRoad Trip!

Leeds Girl Geeks 2011

On Tuesday we headed out to see our very own Shang Ting Peng present at Leeds Girl Geek Dinner, which was this time held at Harvey Nichols. Shang Ting spoke about her amazing England Observing Diary project and a little bit about what life is like as a member of Team Hebe.

To quote the organisers:

"We have an amazing evening planned and, to coincide with International Women's Day, our keynote speakers will be bringing global perspectives and stories, from Iran and China, to Leeds.

We're also super excited to be hosting GGD at one of the city's hottest venues, Harvey Nichols' Espresso Bar in the Victoria Quarter. Along with our previous venues - Living Room, The Loft & City Inn - Harvey Nichols will help us maintain our reputation for finding the most stylish backdrops for our guests and speakers"

Our Shang Ting talked about her upcoming bookWhile Sanaz spoke about Iranian culture and gender trangressionHere each member of our team talks about their feelings and thoughts on the event: 

STACEY:

"Girl Geeks was a great event. It was so nice to see so many female professionals together discussing careers, aspirations and upcoming projects. 

Shang Ting was the first to speak and she blew us away. She was so casual and entertaining yet all the information she gave us about herself and her projects was so impressive and influential. I was very proud of my friend and colleague and not only for the content of the presentation but also the fact that doing a presentation in another language means she had two jobs, one, delivering a great presentation and two, actually saying what she wanted to say in another language in front of lots of people. Shang Ting had no problem with either! She is very modest about her fanpage and book but she should be so so proud. Not only does she have a book deal at such a young age, but she also is out, doing what she wants to do and sharing her travels with everyone in Taiwan. And another important thing to remember is that she is putting Leeds on the map on an international level.

There was definitely a huge contrast between the two presentations. The second presentation by Shanaz Raji was about a subject you could tell she felt deeply about. As a person who does not know too much about Iranian culture, I definitely came away with some new knowledge. It is nice always to see someone with real passion about a subject, whether past or present.

I enjoyed catching up with some other girl geeks such as Sam Ward, Becky Freeman, Steph Noble and Christine Morris. It's a great way to mix with all different kinds of career women and compare experiences and achievements."

SIMON:

"Attending a Girl Geeks dinner on International Women's Day and listening someone talk about gender transgression... Is that irony? Who even cares if it is, listening to someone from Team Hebe rocking the crowd in Harvey Nichols was sensational. Shang Ting had me cracking up every second (for all the right reasons) and hearing her Fanpage numbers, and the way she sees her place in our team, really puts Hebe into perspective: Idea factories are made up of ideas people. "

Even the boy geeks cameMARCUS:

It was an inspiring event, a great initiative that shows that you don't need to spend big and do massive pretentious events in order to get people involved in the community and to connect with each other. Felt like there were a great mix of people there and I had a great chat with some people that I probably wouldn't have met without this event! Big thanks to the speakers as well, I hope I get to go to a few more of these kind of gathering soon again!

Shang Ting talked about the Hebe BlogAnd what it is like working for Hebe MediaLEE:

''I thought it was an interesting evening. Shang Ting did a really cool presentation and the numbers on her Facebook page are impressive. To have 10,000,000 views in a month shows that if you do something interesting and with genuine motives you can achieve amazing things. It took me back to our days in IED where Shang Ting would often give entertaining presentations backed up with serious data. I loved how she spoke about Hebe too because that is exactly the type of spirit and feeling we are trying to create here, so I guess it shows we are doing some things right.''

The second presentation from Sanaz was a totally different style and subject matter. She was passionate about an emotive subject and it was perhaps a reminder that on International Women's Day there is still work to be done in many countries and cultures."

And we will leave the final word to SHANG TING:

I felt honoured to have the chance to speak in front of many important people in the city. It was very pleasant to look over to the crowd and see everyone giving me encouraging nods during the speech. Hopefully I have fully expressed myself by putting a thoughtful plan towards an little idea, it can grow into great possibilities. And most importantly, I hope everyone there had a good time the night. Thank you again for Imran and LSX gang for giving me this great experience.

The Hebe Week In Pics

Hyper Island launches in Manchester We visit iCALLSHOTGUN at their recording studio in YorkLee's new pimp Marvel bagNew projects coming...Shang Ting and I saw this in the Leeds Museum, which we think would be perfect for Lee with his new bagI catch up with Alex, and Dan from May I Play Martyr in the 02 Academy

A step back into the 90's : The Spice Girls Exhibition @ Leeds Museum

Shang Ting and I decided to take a morning out to check out the very popular Spice Girls exhibition at Leeds Museum in all it’s glory. Although Hebe Media was at the press launch, the exhibition wasn’t fully set up so we decided to hit the Leeds Museum during the half term to see how much of a trip down memory lane it actually was.

Back in the 90’s, my friends and I would get up at the end of every English class and pump out the newest Spice Girls single instead of reciting a poem or reading a journal entry for example. I, due to a bad hair dye situation, always performed as Ginger Spice, while my other friends took the roles of Posh, Sporty, Baby and Scary. We loved the Spice Girls, especially with Mel B being from Leeds, they were such a unique idea (which doesn’t exist much in the pop music industry anymore) and they were all about GIRL POWER!

Yeah they weren’t the best singers, yeah they were a bit ‘too’ in your face at times but my friends and I bought every single, every poster and I ‘ehem’ loved Spice World: The Movie.

When we arrived at the exhibition, it was set up as if you were going on tour so there is a life size doorman(not real) and access passes waiting at the entrance then you chose to have an artist pass or a managers pass. Throughout the exhibition there are posters, costumes and an unbelievable amount of magazines including the actual 'Spice' magazine. You can also sit down and catch a bit of Oscar nominated, Spice World: The Movie, which we did... and got sucked in for about 15 minutes; you can't beat a bit of Richard E Grant and Hugh 'House' Laurie at their best! :S

Throughout the exhibition there were lots of things for the kids to do, such as dress up in outfits similar to those of the Spice Girls. There was a stage and a judging panel where kids (or big kids like us) could sing Spice Girls songs using the stage and the Singstar karaoke set up while their friends and family watched and rated the performance using numbered paddles. There were also opportunities to write notes for the Spice Girls and draw pictures of pop stars using templates

Some very good creative efforts on the picture wallLooking at the whole collection that Liz West has provided for the exhibition, I was thinking at one time or another I owned so much of the merchandise that was there: the magazines, the CD’s, the videos, the Easter eggs and yes, the chunky Buffalo trainers!

It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I found myself behaving like a child when I saw anything that made me feel 12 again. Gasping at the exact edition of TV Hits I remember having or spotting the 2 Become 1 special edition CD with poster which I still have somewhere at home now.

Liz West introducing the exhibition at the press launchI do think I will visit the exhibition again when the kids are back at school because I didn’t get a chance to sing on the Singstar machine!!! The kids hogged it the whole time. And yes I am an adult but c’mon, they are too young to even know who the Spice Girls are ;-) The exhibition was made for my generation!

Overall: Anything that makes me feel like a kid again is fine by me, so if you loved the Spice Girls at one time or another, go check it out. It was fun and the collection is great. I do think Mel B should have got herself over to open the exhibition though! Actually I would have much rather had Leigh Francis as Mel B! Crab Paste!

Favourite part: Although the draw-a-popstar part was nice, as I love seeing children being creative, I would have to say the Post-It note message wall was my favourite part. Here at the Hebe Office we are big fans of post-Its and we understand the power they hold.