Tuesday, 1 June 2010

What I've Watched: May

The Lake House
Casino Royale
Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Love On The Side
Dear John
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Wicker Park
Labor Pains
Bolt
Bright Star
Fantastic Mr Fox
Bottle Rocket
A Lot Like Love
Hoodwinked
Lord Of War
Scorched
The Little Mermaid
The Thin Red Line (well the first half...)
Shrek 3
Away We Go
Walk All Over Me
The Singing Detective
High School Musical 3
The Last Kiss
Moving McAllister
Sex & The City 2

Thursday, 20 May 2010

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

Thursday, 13 May 2010

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.

Saturday, 1 May 2010

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

Thursday, 29 April 2010

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.

Friday, 16 April 2010

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.

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

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

Thursday, 1 April 2010

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