television – Page 2 – University & Unicorns

19 May 2009

He’s a Scot. He’s from Paisley. I love him, but…

He’s NOT David Tennant! What’s going on?

I have a new love in my life. Not exactly in the lustful, pining ways I feel for David, mind. Purely for his artistic ability this time (although he is cute, but WAY too young for me!). My new love is Paolo Nutini.

Yes, only 3 years after he hit the music scene, I know! But I’m slow on the uptake sometimes!

It all started with an appearance he made on the live music show “Later…with Jools Holland” a couple of weeks ago. I’d not really taken him in much before. Oh course I’d heard of him. It was hard to escape hearing “Last Request” as it was a HUGE hit for him. But because it was Top 40, I didn’t take it in. Hardly anything in the Top 40 ever sways me these days. I’m not having my musical influences dictated to me by what 10 year old girls like!! I had just assumed he was a sort of cheesy, middle of the road singer. I wasn’t interested.

But after seeing him on Later… The way he performed, the sound of his voice, I was soon changing my mind. It was like he’d been possessed by a 65 year old African American blues singer. It was amazing! I had to look up how old he was later on and was astonished to find out that he’s only 22!! That’s how I learnt also that he’s from Paisley, home of David Tennant as well. I knew he was Scottish of course, but didn’t know where in Scotland he hailed from.

I went through the back catalogue. Of only one studio album, of course. Still can’t say I’m the biggest fan of the past stuff. But the new stuff he was performing and the matured vocal style have really got me excited about the new CD he is bringing out in just two weeks time. The first single off it was released yesterday and I’ve had a listen. I’m really looking forward to the album. Especially one track which he performed on Later…called 10/10. It was a STONKING track!

The album’s called “Sunny Side Up” and it’s out 1st June.
UPDATE: As of June 7th, 2009, Sunny Side Up is the UK Number 1 album! Go Paolo!

16 May 2009

Eurovision 2009 – The Final – with winning update!

Yes, it’s Eurovision Song Contest time again! The final is on tonight. Twenty five acts battle it out to take home the prize and in these credit crunch times, less enthusiastically, get to host the contest next year.

Britain this year is “pulling out all the stops” with our entry. We’re taking it VERY seriously this year and have a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber no less. A slow, boring ballad called “It’s My Time”, sung by a young woman called Jade Ewen. Last year we had a fab upbeat song, a great singer and we came last! I’m not sure if the name Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to make a great deal of difference, we’ll have to wait and see. The book makers have us equal 4th favourites with Armenia I think it was.

Here’s a low down of the finalists.

Lithuania: Sasha Son with “Love”. Kind of a Lithuanian JT on piano, complete with Trilby hat. Tenuous lyrics…here’s the chorus…

If you really love
The love you say you love (really love)
Then surely that love would love …
Then surely that love would love to love you back

Pardon? It’s got a good chance. Melodic and a message to the song (despite it not being present in the chorus). Update: Erm…I wasn’t the only one unimpressed by this song. It ended up equal 23rd place (in a line-up of 25). Oops.

Isreal: Noa and Mira Awad with “There Must Be Another Way”. Going for world peace having an Isreali and an Arab singing together. A good sentiment behind the song and a worthy contender. Words to the song alternate in Arabic and Hebrew with the English chorus line “there must be another way”. Update: Lower ranks for them, ended up 16th.

France: An automatic entry, didn’t have to go through a qualifying round in semi-finals. They are using one of their biggest music artists this year Patricia Kaas with “Et S’il Fallait Le Faire”. From the snippets I’ve seen it seems a bit “ingenue” torch song. The French taking their entry seriously again, after having a fantastic entry last year with Sebastian Tellier singing in English too (sacre’ bleu!). Update: Going serious and using a “big star” didn’t really pay off for them. They ended up 8th.

Sweden: Malena Ernman with “La Voix”. Big haired blonde, rather trannie looking operatic singer doing what sounds like the British Airways advert from the 80’s, Delibes’ Lakme. Not my cup of tea, but I’m sure if tactical voting still finds a way through then it’ll gets some points. Update: It did actually only manage SOME points. Only 33 in fact, which ranked it 21st on the board. Never mind.

Croatia: Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea with “Lijepa Tena”. Nice looking guy, spoilt by being joined on stage with woman who can’t really sing. When they performed Thursday night, their harmonies weren’t great, but the pulling power of the Eastern block saw them through. Not sure if it’ll really do anything… Update: I was right. It didn’t. It came 18th.

Portugal: Flor-de-lis with “Todas As Ruas Do Amor”. One of my faves. Really liked them on Tuesday night. I found it really catchy in a sort of old style traditional music kind of way. I’d like for them to win. Update: I knew it wouldn’t happen. They came 15th. Such a shame. I wish it had least made the top 10.

Iceland: Yohanna with “Is It True”. Young blonde girl with nice voice sings sort of teen angst ballad. Quite nice. Most likely a contender. I didn’t NOT like it. It’s just a bit safe, that’s all. Update: Safe enough to be the runner-up! Well done Iceland. Not sure if they’d have really wanted to win, but near enough is good enough in a credit crunch.

Greece: Sakis Rouvas with “This Is Our Night”. A Grecian Ricky Martin, dressed all in white with a big light box. A big Latino feel. Seems very popular, one of the faves to win. Update: Was UTTERLY snubbed! Sanity sort of prevailed with this one. It just made the top ten, coming 7th.

Armenia: Inga and Anush with “Jan Jan”. I did like it, even though it goes for that old school Gypsy sound. It’s certainly a contender. I like the way the ladies dress too. Update: It got in the top ten, at 10th place. Not a bad result for them.

Russia: Automatically qualify this year for winning last year’s contest. They are the host nation. Anastasia Prikhodko with “Mamo”. This certainly sounds catchier to me than what they won with last year, from the snippets I’ve heard. No one’s really talking about it, but they COULD pull off back to back Eurovision wins. Update: The performance was DIRE. I retract what I had said about the song earlier. No wonder no-one talked about it. Ew! Though with some tactical voting STILL happening, it came 11th.

Azerbaijan: AySel and Arash with “Always”. It’s okay. Not exactly taxing with the lyrics…

Chorus:
You are
Always on my mind
Always in my heart
And I can hear you call my name
On a mountain`s high
Always on my mind
Always in my dreams
I wanna hold you close to me
Always all the time

Poetic…lol Update: It must’ve spoke to the masses as it came a very respectable 3rd. Well done Azerbaijan!

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Regina with “Bistra Voda”. Described by someone texting into the semi-final coverage on Tuesday night as “Six Time Lords at a Doctor Who convention”. They look more like a mini “Les Mis” sextet to me. The song was okay enough. Not going to set the world alight. Last years entry was SO much better! Bring back Laka!! lol Update: He was there!!! Laka read out Bosnia & Herzegovina’s results!!! Poor Regina. I found them boring, but they made the top ten, coming in at 9th place.

Moldova: Nelly Ciobanu with “Hora Din Moldova” is akin to something done for the Moldovan tourism board or something. It’s catchy enough, in a traditional music sense. It was popular. It’ll probably make top 10. Update: They didn’t quite make the top ten. They came 14th.

Malta: Chiara with “What If We”. This is Chiara’s third try at getting the Eurovision crown. The first time she entered she came third, then last time she came second. Will it be third time lucky? I’m not sure… Update: Poor Chiara. It wasn’t to be 3rd time lucky. It didn’t even make the top ten, or the top twenty! It came in at a wrist-slashing 22nd. It wasn’t a bad song!

Estonia: Urban Symphony with “Randajad”. I liked this one. Ladies on classical instruments. It was catchy and is probably my second fave to win. I’m not sure it will though. It might make top five. Update: Damn! They didn’t quite make the top five. They came 6th. It was a pretty good stab by me though as to where they’d end up.

Denmark: Brinck with “Believe Again”. This song has been co-written with Ronan Keating and is being sung by a guy who sounds remarkably like him. It got through to the final, but I’m not sure it’ll do much else. Update: Much like Ronan Keating it ended up in the “middle of the road” at 13th. Unlucky for some, but that’s as much luck as they got.

Germany: Alex Swings Oscar Sings! with “Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”. Another auto-entry. I’ve only heard little snippets, but it seems another Ricky Martin-esque thing. A bit too much like Greece’s entry for me. Dita Von Teese is meant to appear on stage with them. Russia was helped by having Yevgeni Plushenko as a prop last year, so who knows? Dita might pay off for Germany. Update: Dita Von Teese was obviously not the winning prop they’d hope she’d be. They came in at 20th. How she got herself in that corset I’ll NEVER know though!!

Turkey: Hadise with “Dum Tek Tek”. The same kind of thing we’ve seen for years now. Middle-Eastern sounds, gyrating bellies and hips, lots of flesh. Yawn, yawn, yawn! It’s popular though, so might get top five. Update: Oh so predictable it would make top five. It came 4th. Yawn!

Albania: Kejsi Tola with “Carry Me In Your Dreams”. I don’t remember it from the other night, but listening to it on the Eurovision web site, it sounds good. It could be a real contender. Think I missed the performance on Thursday night. Not sure how it fared on the night. Update: I now know why it passed me by. The poor girl had these guys on stage with her. Two of them looked like Joker extras from Batman. Another guy appears in a bright green costume in full gimp mask!! It was such a good song, but the extras detracted from it. It only came 17th.

Ukraine: Svetlana Loboda with “Be My Valentine! (Anti-crisis Girl)” What *IS* with the song title!? She’s all scantily clad, dancing about with blokes. It’s catchy and is a bookies fave. I’m sure it’ll do far better than it deserves really. Update: Good old anti-crisis girl only could manage 12th. It just goes to show, sex doesn’t always sell. She was meant to have paid for her entry with her own funds, in the form of re-mortgaging her flat. Oops!

Romania: Elena with “The Balkan Girls”. Another song that could be used on a Fry’s Turkish Delight advert. All Middle-Eastern promise, blah, blah, blah! Why does this sound CONTINUE to influence Eurovision entries? It’s SO f**king old hat!! Update: The Balkan Girls might know how to party, but no one cared! They came 19th.

United Kingdom: Jade Ewen with “It’s My Time”. Nope. It’s going nowhere. Slow, boring ballad. Jade doesn’t sing too great live. She’s pitchy and the song is just SO boring! Sorry Andrew. Nul points! Update: Well, f**k me sideways! I stand corrected. What Do *I* know. Obviously the name Andrew Lloyd Webber means something, because amazingly, we came 5th!!

Norway: Alexander Rybak with “Fairytale”. The hot favourite this year. It’s sort of folkie. A bit weird. The guy sings and plays violin. It’s more traditional Eurovision in some ways. It’s an odd juxtaposed thing. I should like it therefore, but I haven’t warmed to it so far. It’s the favourite though, so probably will win. Update: And it did. It was a record-breaker! Accumulating more points than any previous Eurovision winner. It scored a MASSIVE 387 points. Iceland’s second place scored 218 points, that’s how “run away” the win was. I hope Norway hasn’t been hit TOO hard by the credit crunch.

Finland: Waldo’s People with “Lose Control”. It’s a kind of rap, sort of hip-hop, Eurodance thingy. It’s catchy, but somewhat lost by the presence of the “Eminem wannabe” Waldo. It might get top 10. Update: No top ten. No top twenty, but stone, motherless last. Poor Finland 🙁 Waldo wasn’t THAT bad! lol

Finally…Spain: The last auto-entry. Soraya with “La Noche Es Para Mi (The Night Is For Me)”. She’s up there with the faves. Blonde, leggy, Spaniard. Ex airline hostess. One for the boys. More of the old Latino influences… Update: Ah, no one cared. It was equal 23rd with Lithuania. CUMULO NIMBUS! (sorry, it’s an old Fast Show in joke)

My top five would be: Portugal, Estonia, Isreal, Albania and Armenia.

But I think the top is going to be fought out by Norway and Greece.

Update: Well the big tussle between Norway and Greece didn’t happen! Norway just ran off with it!

I’ll leave you with my top entry…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/HjFgNdpFJYo]

6 May 2009

Nothing Doing.

Just thought I’d stop in and have a little talk and update. Sitting here listening to Barber’s Adagio for Strings at the moment. The only piece of classical music I truly love, that actually tugs at me emotionally. Probably because it’s used in Joseph Merrick’s dying scene in The Elephant Man.

I’ve been going through lists of new release albums in the UK and sampling them on Spotify, and this adagio compilation was one of them. Classical is the one genre of music I’ve never really given enough time to. I’d like to change that if I can. I sampled several albums yesterday, but only really liked one other, from Duke Special. I could listen to that again.

I’ve been listening to “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand” for the last few weeks on Spotify and had reserved the album at the library, now it’s finally become available, yay! Now I’ll be able to stick it on my X-Fi.

I’ve been doing a bit of bird watching too. At home in our garden and via a webcam watching the peregrine falcons nesting on Derby cathedral. All four of their chicks have hatched now. I was watching them being fed yesterday and you can see survival instincts kicking in already. Two of the chicks were at the front of the queue, the other two behind them. The two at the front were getting the bulk of the food. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for all four chicks to live to fledge, but I hope I’m wrong.

In the garden we had two baby blackbirds hanging out with dad yesterday. Mr B is a very good daddy. Even though these fledglings were adult size, with fully formed tails, and even displaying foraging behaviour, he was STILL feeding them periodically. Bless him 🙂

We’ve been being serenaded on and off for the last two weeks by a chaffinch (as I’d mentioned in a previous post). Well, I actually got to get a fleeting glimpse at him on Monday! Em even saw him, but it was STILL too brief to get a picture.

Lately I’ve been doing a bit of telly catch up too. Em got all of season three of Dexter for me, which I just finished watching. I never thought after the first season it could get any better, but they just seem to be able to build and build on the plot. I am LOVING Dexter. It’s my fave US TV program at the moment.

I’ll have to finally get onto season three of Medium. I bet season five has been and gone in the US now! Season four has already aired here, but I had trouble recording some and got lost with it, so I’ll have to get season four on DVD now.

I’m watching The Mentalist as well. I wasn’t too impressed with the first episode and almost gave up on it. But I stuck it out and it’s slowly growing on me.

The thing being raved about over here for last few months, even though I think the series has been and gone in the US is The Wire. It started being shown on BBC Two a couple of weeks back. All of series one, now series two started airing as of Monday night. I think the plan is to show the whole thing for the next however many weeks it is to get through the whole run.

Apart from that, I’ve just been surfing, tweeting, etc.

27 April 2009

Bafta Television Awards 2009.

From the start I want to say that for £50 a ticket, I hope there were people who had a better time than us!

The journey starts at around 12.30pm. I’m tossing up whether to wear my tailored trousers down, or take my jeans and change. I decide to wear my jeans with my trainers (obviously NOT wear my heels – for reasons that WILL become apparent), and carry my trousers on my arm.

Em’s dressed in her suit and the shoes we bought the previous day. She looks fab! (no pic, ‘cos you KNOW how Em is!)

The jacket in detail.

We got a cab at about 12.50pm and got to airport to take the coach into London a few mins later.

By 2.30pm we’re at Victoria station. We went inside the little shopping mall there and had something to eat in the food court upstairs. Then we made our way to the Royal Festival Hall where the Baftas were being held.

Em thought the best idea was (because the London marathon was also on Yesterday, the route going past the river on the other side where the Festival Hall is – and the nearest tube station) instead of taking the tube the three stops from Victoria to Embankment, we’d change at Westminster and go to Waterloo, so we’d be on the same side of the river as the Festival Hall. Nice idea in theory – but it made for one long-winded journey!!

Once we’d come out of Waterloo I needed somewhere to change into my trousers and put my shoes on. It was only when I departed the toilet at the Haywood Gallery opposite (where I changed into my attire) that my trousers instead of being comfortable (as I’d thought when I tried them on on Friday) were in fact LOOSE and prone to fall off me!! As well as that, I haven’t walked in heels in over 10 years and my ambitious purchase (swayed by the fact they were only £7.99) was almost instantly regretted when I realised I’d look like a crippled dwarf trying to walk in my heels! I had lots of steps to negate and all. I wasn’t feeling good at this point. And in the afternoon sun I was getting hot and flustered.

I wanted to stay by the red carpet to see the celebs arrive, but I also wanted to get off my feet!! There was no obvious entrance route for us plebs going in with our £50 tickets. I got the attention of one staff member, and he had us waiting for a way to get in for about 10 minutes. I thought I was going to collapse with the pain my legs were under! I kept on having to stand there in bare feet as I just could NOT take standing in the heels.

Eventually we were given a way in – right down the red carpet!! OMG! I hobbled down in my heels, all hot and sweaty, pain most likely evident on my face. God I must have looked like a fat ogre! Em went on ahead of me, down the red carpet. Leaving me to walk down it on my own. It was a nightmare!! When I got the end of the red carpet and rejoined Em I was SO pissed off. I said to her “thanks for sticking by my side!” She wasn’t even conscious of her faux par at first. Too wrapped in her own self-consciousness of walking down the red carpet.

We get ushered into the hall, and from there we saw NONE of the celeb red carpet arrival! We weren’t the only ones either. Nearly all the ticket holders ended up cut off from watching the arrivals. We were taken to the 5th floor and you could go out on the balcony and look, but all you saw from that height were the tops of celebs heads! You couldn’t even make out who was who!

We were there on the 5th floor for about an hour. We had to go one more floor up to take our seats. We were the first in, and the ceremony was set to start at 7pm.

We were up in the rafters! I could tell from what we could see on stage that we’d be spending most of the evening watching on a screen. The celebs started rolling in about 20 mins before the start. I saw Russell T. Davies walk in and thought “Oh, well that’s Doctor Who represented then, NO chance of seeing David Tennant now!” But just a few minutes later, I spotted him! He was there! I was in the same room as David Tennant! Even though I was so far away from him, I could barely make him out really. I think Georgia Moffet was with him. What a bitch! lol

We kept having it drummed into us that the event was black tie, DT rocks up in a jacket and t-shirt! The man’s beyond reproach! I’m sure he just smiles that flashy smile and peeps go “Aw, go on!!”

As it transpired he was there to present an award.

Chris Moyles is the un-funniest thing on two (fat) legs! Sorry, I REALLY don’t get him! And I feel like a Nana for saying it, but it’s true.

The ceremony ran smooth. Graham Norton was professional and funny. It was good to watch. A great “once in a lifetime” experience, but I will make sure I *NEVER* enter a comp like that again, for fear of winning it!

I wish I’d worn flat shoes!! And it really wasn’t the celeb “gawk-fest” I was hoping it would be. The award wins I was happy with? The I.T. Crowd (for Sit Com), Harry Hill (for Entertainment Performance), and David Mitchell (for Comedy Performance). A lot of references being made today about shock wins and the less popular choices winning gongs. It *was* odd!

Final thought? I really would NOT have wanted to spend £100 of my own money for those tickets, but the ceremony was good.

24 April 2009

The Television FREKKIN’ Baftas!!

On Monday (I think it was Monday anyway, or over the weekend) I entered a competition on the Radio Times web site. It was for tickets to this weekends television Baftas. I had second thoughts entering the competition as it did state if you won tickets the dress code is black tie. I was thinking “how the hell am *I* going to dress for that?”. Then thought “what the hay!” and entered the comp. anyway. I just assumed I’d never have a hope in hell of winning them.

I had to go to the Bafta site to help me answer the question you had to enter the comp. Then I saw that tickets were available to the general public, but they were £50 each!! That helped me decide to enter too 🙂

Anyway, I’d just got out of the shower this morning. Had just finished drying myself off actually when my mobile phone rang. Em brought it upstairs to me and I answered. “Hello. Is that Larelle Read I’m speaking to?” Yes I say to the voice at the other end of the line. “Hi, this is (missed his name) _____ from Radio Times. You entered a competition online to win tickets to the television Baftas?” Yes, I say. “Well, I’m pleased to announce that you’ve won the competition.”

My flabber had never been so gasted! Couldn’t believe it! I enter ALL their comps online and the least I was interested in winning was this one, truth be told. But hey, it’s like being able to go to the Emmys or the Logie awards. I mean ZOMFG!!

The guy reiterated the event was black tie. I declared I didn’t own a dress and he said jacket suit was fine. As long as dress was smart, it would be fine.

Later in the day a lady from Bafta called and confirmed an address to send the tickets to me and also said about the black tie dress code. I checked with her and she said as long as we were smartly dressed – no jeans, trainers, etc, it would be fine.

I must admit, I have had to buy myself a pair of tailored trousers – I’ve got suitable tops and a jacket. Em has NOTHING! But I was actually able to order her a suit with a mail order catalogue I use for £20! Trousers and jacket. Both for £20! They should arrive tomorrow. We’ll just have to get suitable footwear from town on Saturday. We’ve got to spend a little money to look the part, but it’s a once in a lifetime thing for us, so it’ll be worth it.

I’ll let you know who we see, what happens and whatnot on Monday. OMG! Squee! The TV Baftas! F*ck me sideways!!!

And you just never know “Who” might be there – nudge nudge, wink wink!!!!!!!!!

12 April 2009

Doctor Who – Planet of the Dead

Just watched it an hour ago. Try very hard not to give away anything in my little review of it.

It’s MY opinion (my opinion okay, and I know my taste differs from others, so just wanted to highlight that it’s MY opinion and I’m not trying to put anyone off watching it. You can form your own opinion) that this was a wasted special.

The script was VERY light. I’d been listening to David Tennant being interviewed all week on the radio and he referred to the episode as being a “romp”. To me that would imply that it was pacy and exhilarating. Neither of these elements were reflected to me in the episode. Perhaps it felt different to David as he was filming it. It certainly didn’t come across on the screen to me.

Michelle Ryan’s character Lady Christina wasn’t a very interesting character. I found her irritating to the highest degree and I saw nothing redeeming about her. I just wanted her to pi** off actually.

Lee Evans’ character, Malcolm, was really good.

There was nothing scary about the aliens in the episode, about the Doctor’s predicament, or the location he found himself in.

There was the VAGUEST hint at what’s to come towards the end of the episode, but for Whovian’s who like their spoilers, it wasn’t revealing anything we don’t already know – POTENTIALLY.

All in all, I just came away from it disappointed. Just four precious episodes we have this year (the next now rumoured to be shown in November), so there should have been something more substantial to this script, but it just didn’t happen. Russell T. Davies and Gareth Roberts worked together on the script. Roberts scripted episodes “The Shakespeare Code” (S3E2) and “The Unicorn and The Wasp” (S4E7), both of which I like, particularly the latter. But obviously together, RTD and Roberts didn’t work writing it together. Sorry guys.

There were some funny elements, but I still come away thinking, “What a waste of one of David’s final episodes as Doctor Ten”. Just disappointed.

6/10

8 April 2009

David Tennant on BBC Radio 1.

Just finished listening to David Tennant being interviewed on Radio 1 about 30 minutes ago. He was talking about the upcoming Doctor Who special being shown over the Easter Weekend, and about his turn as The Doctor coming to an end 🙁

The Radio 1 web site has topic trends in a tag cloud on their home page. While David was on, I took a screen shot of the tag cloud.

From DT on Radio 1 – 8/4/09

The “birthday” is in reference to it being his birthday next Saturday.

Presenter Jo Whiley briefly discussed the back surgery he had just before Xmas last year. She then said “Have you got it? Nnoo, you haven’t!” He had actually brought in the little sample of the fluid they took from his prolapsed disc in with him!!! Eeewwww

Here’s the reaction to it I caught from the Radio 1 webcam. I think that’s Jo’s two young boys in the bottom left of the photo. The (I assume) assistant to Jo, sitting next to David looks mortified!

From DT on Radio 1 – 8/4/09

Here’s presenter Jo Whiley, with David, holding said item!

From DT on Radio 1 – 8/4/09

And a close up.

From DT on Radio 1 – 8/4/09

Yummy! Just a little bit MORE of David than I was expecting to see today…

23 March 2009

False Prophets.

Or profits. However you want to use it.
Advertising campaigners are…

Two points I want to make. Firstly, the advert for the Venus Embrace advert. The one below is the American version of the advert, but it says the same thing as the UK advert almost verbatim. Let me just point out before I continue, it is a FIVE BLADE razor. FIVE BLADES! And what is the selling point being declared about this FIVE BLADE razor? “Get VIRTUALLY every hair”. There’s FIVE FREAKIN’ BLADES! How can you only claim to get VIRTUALLY every hair? What is the point of having FIVE blades if even five of them can’t get every hair? That’s pathetic!!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/EpOo26i7fgc]

The other is the now criminal overuse of lash inserts in mascara adverts. How am I to make a proper judgement on the “best” mascara (assuming that obviously the criteria for the perfect lash is to have the longest) if ALL the mascara adverts show models with lash inserts? You might as well have done with it and buy the flippin’ lash inserts!! Not only now do mascaras offer length, they (allegedly) offer volume – so now you too can look like you have the lashes of a camel. I mean, WTF? For starters, I can’t really fathom the obsession for having longer, fully lashes. They are just eyelashes FFS!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/I9Fr9LENnvM]

Do the cosmetic companies just prey on all the bubble-headed ladies (and/or men, if they are not using their own targeted MAN-scara) that don’t read the “model wears lash inserts” small print on the screen? I can’t believe the cosmetic companies can get away with the whole “lash inserts” thing, just by needing to declare the model is wearing them. To advertise the product, they should have to show the models with no enhancements…ha ha ha!! Like that’ll EVER happen…

This still is from a Rimmel London advert with Sophie Ellis-Bexter. It not only declares that lash inserts were used but also says “enhanced in post production”, so not even the lash inserts were enough of a con job on their own. Shame on you Rimmel!

Just in case you can’t read it clearly, the small print reads “Filmed with lash inserts and enhanced in post production.”

22 March 2009

The Passing of Jade.

Jade Goody died this morning after what was NOT a long battle with cervical cancer by any means. She had only been diagnosed in August of last year (if memory serves me).

For those of you reading my blog outside the UK, Jade came to national prominence from being on Big Brother in 2002. She didn’t win, she only came 3rd (I think), but she’d won over the nation. More as an object of ridicule really with statements like “I thought East Anglia was abroad?”, when in fact it’s a region of South East England. She also appeared naked on screen after many weeks in the house when she had gone from her slender size 10 when she entered, to a then size 16. She also appeared to have given a BJ to one of her fellow housemates PJ (yes, you can imagine the headlines surrounding that!). But somehow, despite all this, and the seeming ridicule she was viewed with, she won over the nations hearts.

She ended up in every other way but factually, the BB 2002 winner. She was in magazines, she started dating a TV presenter (and ended up with a much higher profile than even HE had), started to run her own beauty therapy centre, slimmed down and brought out a fitness DVD, had children and was constantly in the lime light. She became a celebrity in her own right.

As a result of this, she ended up in the celebrity edition of Big Brother in 2007. And then the tide of public adoration – which was now less as an object of ridicule as she’d actually seemed to be achieving things with her life – waned as she became embroiled in the racial slurring of fellow CBB housemate Shilpa Shetty. She was by no means the only person involved. She came under a lot of fire and to her credit she always answered to her critics and continuiously and strenuiously apologised for her behaviour in the house.

She was then seen somewhat as a media whore. I never really had anything against the girl and I don’t now but I must admit I was sceptical at how genuine her apologies for what happen in the CBB house were. I was sceptical whether she really was capable of understanding how potentially wrong her actions in the house were. I say potentially, because upon reflection her actions were a “storm in a tea cup” comapred to how other housemates behaved. But she copped the biggest villification.

She did all she could to rectifiy it and win over the nations hearts again, but the damage had been done. She’d lost favour. Lost curry – as it were.

Then last year, she had just entered the Indian Big Brother house when she was notified that a pap smear result from a test she’d taken the previous week was positive. She was advised to return to the UK as soon as possible.

It was revealed a few days later she’d been diagnosed with cervical cancer. There were a few stinging comments from some circles akin to “Good! Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”. As much as I was resistant to the Goody “charms” for the most part, I didn’t wish the woman ill will. I certainly didn’t see her having cervical cancer as some disgusting vindication or retribution for her behaviour in the CBB house, as some malinged people had.

I’m sorry for her and her family that her life has been cut short. I feel for her two young sons in particular. But I cannot help but feel that some public sympathy is being over emphasised. People making absurd comments, for example Stephen Fry who tweeted comments like “I suppose she was a kind of Princess Diana from the wrong side of the tracks” – erm, as much as I love you Stephen – PARDON? Is Jade now forever going to be known as “the People’s Chav”? WTF?

It is a tragic end to a life, I grant you that one. She was only 27 after all. But I am going to refrain from any expression of actual remorse for her death as I didn’t know her and am not going to pretend I did. I feel pity for those people out there going “poor Jade”, like they knew her. I find that sickening.

My condolensces go to her nearest and dearest. She divided opinion in the end. She was selling on her story to make an income while she could to leave to her sons. I’m not sure if they’ll end up thanking her. I guess we’ll have to find out in several years time.

R.I.P. Jade. It was nice (not really) knowing you.

4 February 2009

David Tennant – Gurning Champion 2009

David_Tennant___Comic_Relief_by_isawien_ilmen[1] — Feel The Gurn!

I love these SO much. What a clown!! It’s a series of promotional shots for Comic Relief 2009. Most of them have him in various poses with one or more red noses, but the one at bottom left is a particular fave. I now decree that Mr T is gurning champion of 2009. If nothing else, it shows he has a great sense of humour and doesn’t mind looking silly. You gotta love him for that 🙂

More shots in the set can be viewed at www.david-tennant.com