Top Five: Welsh Bands

Ah, Wales. Home to one of the worlds best accents, as well as some of the best rock music that the UK is currently creating, in my humble opinion. These are my five favourites, in order, which was a harder task than you might imagine.

5. Kids In Glass Houses
Despite what I may have written in a recent blog belonging to the Music Guru, I do actually like the music of KIGH, I just find them to be a little bit samey and predictable, but you can not deny them of their ability to create high quality music.
Check these out:
Me, Me, Me (Give Me What I Want)
Saturday
Easy Tiger

4. The Automatic
Specifically the 'Not Accepted Anywhere' era. I had forgotten how much I used to be in love with this album, until one of the songs came up on a music shuffle. Back in the days when people actually listened to CDs, this album was almost constantly in the stereo, when I wasn't having a boyband moment, or at least until the next exciting CD turned up. Not so much of a fan of their later works.
Check these out:
That's What She Said
Recover
Seriously... I Hate You Guys

3. Lostprophets
Specifically, NOT 'The Betrayed' era. This band used to be awesome. Now they suck. I do not want to dwell on this any further, so lets move on.
Check these out:
Last Train Home
A Town Called Hypocrisy
Burn, Burn

2. Funeral For A Friend
I'm quite a late jumper on the FFAF train, not appreciating their true awesomeness until I saw them live for the first time. I think it is a bit of a crime that there are so many people on this earth who have no idea who these guys are, partly because of their musical genuis, but also because they seem like genuinely nice chaps.
Check these out:
Escape Artists Never Die
Into Oblivion
Streetcar

1. The Blackout
I remember the first time I saw this band very clearly - it is a day that will stick out in my mind for possibly the rest of my life. I'm not gonna lie to you all, the first time I saw these dudes live, I was about as far from impressed as you could get. However, luckily for me, the band featured as the support act for many gigs I attended following this, which allowed me to give the band a second (and third and fourth... )chance and they are now my favourite bunch of Welshies.
Check these out:
It's High Tide Baby
Children Of The Night
I'm A Riot, You're A F*cking Riot

Thoughts: MTV Movie Awards Nominees

Another high brow award ceremony for us all to vote for, with such categories as Best Kiss and Best WTF Moment, which sound like the kind of fake awards that magazines use to cash in on during awards season. Click here to cast your vote for the awards that only tweenagers (and bored english non-tweenagers) really care about! There are video links to aid with the voting process, but this is only for those who live in the US. Another set-back, is to actually vote, you have to sign up to MTV, or alternatively connect with Facebook, so, if you so chose, all your friends can have evidence of the cool things you do in your spare time. Same as before, those are in bold are who I chose.

Best Kiss

Kristen Stewart & Dakota Fanning - The Runaways

Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson - New Moon

Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds - The Proposal

Taylor Swift & Taylor Lautner - Valentine's Day

Zoe Saldana & Sam Worthington - Avatar

Best Fight

Beyonce Knowles vs Ali Larter - Obsessed

Hugh Jackman & Liev Schreiber vs Ryan Reynolds - X:Men Origins Wolverine

Logan Lerman vs Jake Abel - Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief

Robert Downey Jr vs Mark Strong - Sherlock Holmes

Sam Worthington vs Stephen Lang - Avatar

Best Villain

Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Helena Bonham Carter - Alice in Wonderland

Ken Jeong - The Hangover

Stephen Land - Avatar

Tom Felton - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Best WTF Moment

Betty White - The Proposal

Megan Fox - Jennifers Body

Isabel Lucas - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Ken Jeong - The Hangover

Bill Murray - Zombieland

Biggest Badass Star

Angelina Jolie

Channing Tatum

Chris Pine

Rain

Sam Worthington

Best Scared-As-Sh*t Performance

Alison Lohman - Drag Me To Hell

Amanda Seyfriend - Jennifer's Body

Jesse Eisenberg - Zombieland

Katie Featherston - Paranormal Activity

Sharlto Copley - District 9

Best Breakout Star

Anna Kendrick - Up In The Air

Chris Pine - Star Trek

Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

Logan Lerman - Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief

Quinton Aaron - The Blind Side

Zach Galifianakis - The Hangover

Best Female Performance

Amanda Seyfried - Dear John

Emma Watson - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Kristen Stewart - New Moon

Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side

Zoe Saldana - Avatar

Best Male Performance

Channing Tatum - Dear John

Daniel Radcliffe - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Robert Pattinson - New Moon

Taylor Lautner - New Moon

Zac Efron - 17 Again

Best Comedic Performance

Ben Stiller - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Bradley Cooper - The Hangover

Ryan Reynolds - The Proposal

Sandra Bullock - The Proposal

Zach Galifianakis - The Hangover

Global Superstar

Daniel Radcliffe

Johnny Depp

Kristen Stewart

Robert Pattinson

Taylor Lautner

Best Movie

Alice in Wonderland

Avatar

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Hangover

New Moon

The ceremony itself takes place on June 6th (to be screened on MTV UK the same day at 9pm and most likely about 6 months afterwards on some other channel), with votes closing the day before, and is hosted by Aziz Ansari who has been in Funny People, Scrubs and Flight of the Conchords. No, I don't know who he is either. Last years host was Andy Samberg. Read into that what you will.

What I've Watched: April

The Blind Side

Accepted

The House Bunny

The Bounty Hunter

Remember Me

Princess Protection Programme

Jennifer's Body

How To Make An American Quilt

Deja Vu

Date Night

Office Space

Top Five: Good Job Things

The five best things about my job. In no particular order, other than the one that I thought of them in.

1. Biscuit Pay Day
Everytime pay day rolls around, someone is nominated to buy biscuits. We all tend to go a little overboard though, so they tend to last for quite a while. Unless the greedy folks eat them all, that is.

2. Department Colleagues
I have the pleasure of working in a team full of very funny and very nice people.

3. Tea Rounds
I hardly ever drink tea at home, but for some reason, I can't get enough of it at work. We aren't limited to how many rounds of tea we are allowed in one day, so a lot of caffeine is consumed. This probably goes some way to0 explaining point number two.

4. Close To Home
Close to home = not having to get up too early. It also means I can pop home in my lunch break if I chose. And if i am having a particular lazy/sleepy day, I can be in my PJs by half five.

5. Dress Code
Or to be precise, the lack of dress code. We can pretty much wear whatever we want, except for the very rare occassion when important visitors are lurking.

Top Five: Girl Crushes

All girls have "girl crushes" on women that they admire in some way, sometimes to a slightly obsessive level (in the same way that blokes have "man crushes", normally on footballers or presenters of blokey TV shows). These are my Top Five ones. Admittedly, it doesn't normally stretch to five different females, but I have a blog to write here, so five it shall be. Thems the rules.

5. Beyonce Knowles

I pretty much included her because I needed five names. However, this does not detract from the fact that she is an incredibly awesome human being. She is one of the few people in this world that are more talented than is really fair, although to balance that out, she has appeared in some movies of a slightly dubious quality. She also seems to have a habit of recreating the same music video again and again at the moment, if you don't include the work she has done with other artists. Her status as a sex symbol has become most evident to me while trying to find a picture to accompany this post, and struggling to find one in which she is modestly dressed. So much so, in fact, that I abandoned the whole picture concept.

4. Demi Lovato

This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact she is dating a Jonas. Actually, most of you probably didn't even know that in the first place. So let's just pretend I never said that. As anyone who knows me can confirm, I have yet to actually grow up, and am still a little obsessive with Disney, specifically the music that is associated with it. I mention this because Miss Lovato is my favourite of the Disney associated females currently doing the rounds, mainly due to the fact she has a vocal talent I would kill to have. Well, not actually kill. I am not cut out for life in prison. I listen to Disney!

3. Hayley Williams

She's friggin' Hayley Williams! I really don't think any more reasoning is needed than that!

2. Leighton Meester

Probably more to do with the fact she is Blair Waldorf, to be honest. Her character in 'Gossip Girl' is my favourite for many reasons including her bitchy put-downs and killer wardrobe. And the fact she tamed Chuck Bass - to a degree anyway. I am aware neither of them are real people. This particular "girl crush" is pretty much based in the world of television.

1. Katy Perry

When Katy Perry first appeared on my radar, I brushed her aside. I saw 'I Kissed A Girl' as being a novelty tune, and just assumed she would soon disappear. Then I heard 'Hot and Cold' and saw the errors of my ways. I now like her debut single, if anyone is interested. Like Blair Waldorf, she also has a killer (although very different) wardrobe, although unlike Blair she is an actual person. I suspect you had already noticed that though. She has also got that English Rose look going on, which makes a change from the usual highly tanned female musicians that we normally see.

Top 5: Most Listened To

My most listened to tracks of the last 3 months.

Uninspired blog post I know. Apologies.

5. Don't Trust Me - 3!oh!3

4. Fight For This Love - Cheryl Cole

3. Liquid Confidence - You Me At Six

2. Starstrukk - 3!oh!3 Featuring Katy Perry

1. Dear Maria, Count Me In - All Time Low

What I've Watched: March

Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging
The Happening
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries 2
Last Chance Harvey
New Moon
Paper Heart
Over Her Dead Body
Drag Me To Hell

Cruel Intentions 2

Cruel Intentions 3

In The Land Of Women

Picture Perfect

Franklyn

Top Five: Life Changing Gigs

These are not necessarily the five best gigs that I have attended, but the ones that have changed my life the most in some way or other. It might sound a little over-dramatic, but bear with me on this one. Also, you should bear in mind that I do not have an impeccable memory, so any dates mentioned will be courtesy of my dear friend Mr Google, or the stash of tickets currently living in a yellow box under my bed. I apologise in advance for the number of times I am probably about to use the word "gig". I also apologise to person I shall refer to as "Music Guru" who has attended the majority of these events so probably doesn't want to read about them again.

5. 30 Seconds To Mars @ Bristol Academy - 2008

One of the many bands that have come into my life courtesy of my dear friend and music guru (they are the same person by the way). I was a little sceptical of seeing a band with a celebrity lead singer, and was a little scared by the screaming girls/women surrounding me, but it turns out that 30 Seconds To Mars are a band that benefit from the live environment. I don't think I would be as keen on this band if I had never seen them in this live capacity. To be honest, I mostly threw this gig in the mix because I couldn't think of five gigs. But it was a pretty awesome show.

4. 911 @ BIC, Bournemouth - late nineties

This was the first gig I ever attended. I went with my mother. The support band was Atomic Kitten, back in the days when they were called Automatic Kitten. This probably tells you everything you need to know about the whole experience to be honest, and I can already foresee that you are all now bitterly disappointed that my taste in music has not always been at its current high standard *cough*. However, had I never danced the night away with 911 & co, I may never have caught the gigging bug, and that would have been a little bit tragic, as this was the night that I realised that music was meant to be played live, not out of a stereo.

3. You Me At Six, Forever The Sickest Kids, We The Kings @ Newport Centre, Newport - March 2010

Two Reasons. 1) I had been desperate to see FTSK live for ages and ages, so I feel like an ambition was reached. 2) It has triggered a slight YM@6 (though admittedly mostly lead singer based) obsession. I have always liked the band, but something happened on that fateful evening in Newport which has resulted in my brain being consumed by an urge to listen to their music at all hours of the day. Plus, I melt a little at the sight of Josh Franceschi's smiley face. I'm not sure how long this will last, but for now, I am 100% hooked. I feel slightly better as Music Guru is in the same boat.

2. Muse @ Earls Court, London - 2004

To date, probably the best live band I have ever seen. I have seen them in a few different locations over the years, but this was the first time I witnessed them, and to say I was blown away is a little bit of an understatement. It raised my expectations of what to expect when seeing a band. I may be wrong, but I also believe it is the first time I have had to leave gig early and have a (not so) leisurely run through the tube station with Music Guru in order to catch the last public transport home. The annoyance at having to skip out before the end is slightly balanced out my the tannoy announcement telling us to stop running as we sped through Earls Court train station, but only slightly.

1. Taking Back Sunday @ 93 Feet East, London - August 2006

Prior to attending this gig, my only experience of this band was through Music Guru. I had liked the music, and as the gig was to take place in one of the smallest venues known to man, this was too good an opportunity to waste. As it turned out, we were stood effectively in the second row, which remains the best "seats" I have ever had at a gig - I could actually see the band for one thing (something that is not always easy when you are a person as short in stature as I unfortunately am). I went from casual listener to huge fan during the set and haven't looked back since. I remember the set drawing to a close and me thanking my friend for introducing me to the band, and said friend buying me a TBS T-shirt as I really wanted one, and at the time was a bit on the poor side. It remains one of my prize possessions. This awesome show was followed by seeing the band AGAIN just a few days later at Reading Festival, which was in turn followed by me and the music guru queueing up to meet my brand new heroes. I will never turn down a chance to see these guys.