TOTALLY TOP-NOTCH POP:
- Delight: Yes, i'm still wearing primary colours as a sign of mourning for the ever cheerful Same Difference being dropped by their record label. However, pop is like Lisa Scott Lee - no matter how many times you exterminate that little critter, it still keeps crawling back. In this case, it is a very good thing. Robbie has been busy showcasing the talents of Irish pop group Industry. Both the tracks on his Chartrigger site are magnificent bundles of joy that will plug the SD sized hole in my heart and have been played an embarrassing amount of times by myself already :) Clearly I already have a new obsession. Cheesy, cheerful, upbeat, happy making, colourful - it made many a snotty moment quite bearable this week!
- Irritate: First of all Britney made her infuriatingly catchy new single If You Seek Amy almost incomprehensible by switching it to If You See Amy. Now another popstar du jour has changed her single plans because apparently some of the lyrics are too rauncy. Uh, your flange has been hanging out in most your pics for weeks luv, it's too late to worry about damaging the nation's youth. THE HYPOCRISY!
Ok, I've decided I have a totally love hate relationship with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Some of it - the vampire mythology, when she cranks up the action, the werewolves - are quite good indeed and the first & third books were certainly quite decent. So this week, i submitted myself to what turned out to be the torture of the fourth and final book (please god) which turned everything that is bad about the series up to the nth degree. First off - Bella! How she got two supernatural dudes to fall in love with her is utterly beyond me. Moody, self obsessed and with such a massive oh woe is me chip on her shoulder it is amazing no one has smacked her down to size before now. Secondly - sullen sullen Edward Cullen. Lighten up geeza. Everytime Bella is in a hint of pain, there are pages of exposition about how the two of them can't live without each other. Geez. We bloody get it ok. They are in love. Thirdly - subtle mormon indoctrination of America by Stephanie Myer. The references are everywhere!! "As long as we both shall live" at the wedding?! Good gravy. And of course the distusting-no-matter-how-you-pop-a-bow-on-it practice of imprinting on infants is icky, gross and probably criminal in 47 states in America. And don't even get me started on that deus es machina ending they pulled out the hole. Thing is, I like the series (and the film - so far), but it has such moments of infuriating badness in it, that it's driven me (and of course by proxy poor Darren who more than once asked - why you still reading it then?!) insane. Had the final book been cut down by ooo 300 pages it would've been a much zippier read!
TITILLATING TV:
- Delight: Hurrah. I have finally caught up on most of Torchwood. It's ridiculous of course, but quite engaging with it. Ianto is an utter delight (his response to finding a monster who heals it's own flesh so could feed the world? "We could release a single") and Gwen the heart and soul of the group. The storylines are a bit iffy, but overall i'm glad i've caught up on this Dr Who spin off. I'm 3 eps from the end of season 2 and I smell bad things for lovely Tosh and Owen :(
- Irritate: Talking of Doctor Who, it was back yesterday! And not entirely brilliant at all. Some of the Easter Special was very good indeed (including the psychic woman's final words to the good Doctor) and as danP76 pointed out in his review, Lee Evans got a gun pointed at him. The fly things were dreadful (the thing tapping a monitor watching the bus turned out to be a bit of a red herring) and of course the real reason the Doctor didn't let Lady Christina in the tardis was her bloody dreadful accent. Good god. Not hideous over all, but the three at the latter end of the year promise to be much better. Knock knock knock knock.
- Irritate: Heroes is virtually unwatchable now. Horne and Corden pulled it back only ever so slightly this week, though the underutilisation of Kylie was almost unforgiveable. And seven minutes of previously on/coming this season on The Tudors was lunacy.
- Delight: Of course The Inbetweeners continues to be utterly brilliant and has amazing new words for me to use like "spaffle".
- Delight: If you want a true moment of talent show delight, then check out this dotty old(looking) woman on Britain's Got Talent. Build those preconceptions and watch the clip through to the end. Ps one of my fave all time musical songs too.
21 - Annie, Anthonio (NE)
20 - Alesha Dixon, Let's Get Excited (NE/BRILLO VID)
19 - Kelly Clarkson, My Life Would Suck Without You
18 - Lenka, Trouble Is A Friend
17 - Paolo Nutini, Candy
16 - Sugababes, Every Heart Broken
15 - McFly, The Last Song
14 - Girls Aloud, Untouchable
13 - Take That, The Garden
12 - Lily Allen, Not Fair
11 - Deborah Gibson, Already Gone
10 - Taylor Swift, Love Story
09 - Pet Shop Boys, Love etc
08 - Neo, Flower Power Super Girl
07 - Kevin Borg, Every Bit Of Me
06 - Infernal, Redefinition
05 - BWO, You're Not Alone
04 - Simon Curtis/Victoria Justice, Things We Do For Love
03 - Alcazar, Stay The Night
02 - Same Difference, All Roads Lead To Heaven
01 - Mans Zelmerlow, Hope and Glory (2 weeks)
Hopefully normal service (whatever that was) will return this week :) Reading The 19th Wife. Is very good!
I thought Heroes was back on track this week actually (on proper BBC2 telly)... but of course Twilight is crappy for you! It's all clunky religious indoctrination aimed at 14 year old American schoolgirls.
ReplyDeleteNot that you'd ever like that sort of thing :-P
NOOOOOO! You are NOT taking Industry's side. NEVERRRR. I know I'm being prejudiced about this but if it entails a band whose co-manager is from Westlife and Louis Walsh is managing, then I have to be! One of the members is a girl who didn't get into Louis Walsh's new project..
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, maybe I'll give these girls a shot. Apparently they're doing the Grey's Anatomy theme song..
I thought New Moon was the worst book of the series with all it's "woe is me" shiz. Great point about how 2 supernatural beings fall in love with her sappiness. Total science fiction! Don't even get me started about how awful that Kristen girl in the movie is! So wrongly cast as Bella...the actress can barely get through an interview or a normal conversation without reverting to "you know what I mean" or "things like that" or "stuff". How inarticulate can a girl be, I asks ya?
ReplyDeleteTwilight? Seriously? Why?!
ReplyDeleteSo far I have managed to avoid the mass hysteria those books (and the film) have created. Although, I do have some obsessed friends trying to force Twilight stuff on me.
Honestly, what is your opinion on Robert whats-his-name (the guy who played Edward Cullen)? Because I really don't like him much.
On a random note, I'll be disppearing for exams sooo, don't miss me too much =)
Arrrrrrgh! Spoilers! They haven't determined when we'll get the Doctor Who movies here, so I will have to find them some other way.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you feel better Paul!!!
ReplyDeleteTwilight: yeah, love-hate relationship. I'm not sure what I love, except maybe that fact that it's so bad it's good, but I can't really dislike it for some reason. And in fairness to Meyer, they did explain the "as long you both shall live" line--"till death do us part", in Edward's case, sounds like a bad joke.
ReplyDeleteLove Torchwood--great show. And the season finale is pretty good, except it's basically just a redo of Doctor Who's season three finale.
The Doctor Who special was okay--not great, not terrible. I think RTD is getting tired of Who after his big finale last year.
DanP76 - I am a couple behind on Heroes so will catch up this week (22 and 23). Hopefully it will get better. And of course Twilight appealed to me. Though i could have totally lived without it!!
ReplyDeleteNikki - wait, i'm confused by your dislike of Industry :( I am still a Same Diff boy at heart, but will welcome all the peppy pop I can. Give them a go when the songs are released properly :)
Yuri - I'm sort of dreading New Moon, apart from the Italy bit which could be immensely cool, particularly with the cars :) I'm not really thrilled with any of the cast, though Jacob could become quite decent this movie.
Totes - ah enjoy your exams. I am sure they will be more fun than the Twilight finale :S I'm not a huge fan of Robert either, but he won't really be in the second film much. He looked almost presentable on GQ this month though!
John - I was quite careful with my spoilers wasn't I? Oh i've just reread it, not really that careful. Sorry :( Maybe you should watch in when in England!
Aaron - thanks little dude. It was rough out there for a while :)
Daniel - yes, exactly. I'm not entirely sure what i love, yet love i do!! hehe. but the bad bits are really BAD! I'm now up to date with torchwood and was very sniffly during the final few minutes. Quite good really.
Love your shout outs to all those who have come back from the dead. Hilarious! And on Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle was ace wasn't she? But the real highlight were those chavvy nobodies in leotards doing very bad dance because their counsellor told them to! Hahahaha
ReplyDeleteI am still not convinced by Alesha Dixon as a popstar.. I do like Breathe Slow, and this latest track is well produced and maybe a grower but I find her a little try hard.. she is more of an all round celebrity I feel!
ReplyDeleteCheers for Industry and Chart Rigger. I hadn't realized another Doctor Who special had aired! Bad, bad me. I'll have to catch up on it this weekend! Thanks for the heads-up (even if it's not quite as good as the show is capable of). I'm going to miss David Tennant (which is not another way of saying "ohmygosh the new guy is definitely going to be awful, I'm so not watching!!!!"--he'll probably be good and, like those before them, make the role his own--just that I'm sad to see David leaving the role).
ReplyDeletePaul, I've kind of deduced that Totoro is you. Right?
ReplyDeleteBen - loved the ridiculously bad leotard wearing chav dancers. they were so ungracious in defeat too, which is always classy :P
ReplyDeleteJames - well she certainly is talented at a number of things i'll give you that, but she is proper popstarry too. Try her again!
PPG - i feel exactly the same way about david tennant leaving. i was sad when chris eccleston left and i only had 13 eps of him, so this might be quite devastating.
Dluv - you absolutely got me bang to rights :P I AM also an 18 year old canadian girl :P