The Brit Awards 2008 in association with MasterCard
The lights were dimmed, the phone was off the hook and the surround sound was on, what was this in aid of?
The Brit’s, of course and what a way to start the night, the most prestigious night in British music sees the crème de la crème of the music scene awarded for their efforts in the past year, and what a year it had been. There were so many new bands to choose from, with reunions and with collaborations. 2007 saw a new record broke in the form of Umbrella by Rihanna but has she managed to break into the hearts of the UK?
The night started with Mika exploding onto the stage. Now whatever anyone’s opinion and I am one to speak out about this man, his rendition of Love Today was a brilliant way to start and only bettered with the addition of Beth Ditto for a duet of Standing in the Way of Control. Their contrasting voices with Mika surprisingly taking the higher vocals and Beth, the lower. Then it was time to start the presentation, people were somewhat blown away by the selection of presenters for this years show after the controversy of last year’s, Russell Brand debacle. But I was looking forward to seeing the Osborne’s on stage and what a job they did. No one knew what they had planned, was Ozzy going to come on with a bat’s head? Was Sharon going to swear way before the 9o’clock watershed? Not only did their children, Kelly and Jack, join the couple but also they were surprisingly behaved. The question on my lips though, was Sharon drunk? I have never seen her smile so much and she bounced along the stage, it was a surprise the rest of her family kept up with her.
The awards started and with the orders shook up, they started with the Best Live Act, previously won over the past two years by Muse, the award this year went to Take That, who also went away with Best British Single for the Mark Owen lead, ‘Shine’. On their first time up on stage it almost seemed as if Jason Orange had stage shock, as he stood there shaking, speaking for the longest time and thanking people who had already been thanked. But it’s Take That and they proved that they are still one of the best in British music.
The event was only made better by proving the great diversity there is between the different genres of music and yet they all took away awards. With pop making a return in the form of Take That, indie showing they are still on top with two awards (Best British Group & Best British Album) going to the Arctic Monkey’s and rock showing there is still a place in our hearts as the Foo Fighters won both Best International Group and Best International Album. But what is the Brit’s without the performances? Well tonight was nothing short of brilliant from thrilling performances of Ruby by The Kaiser Chiefs where the stage emulated their music video with specially build towers rising out of the stage throughout the song until they were covered. Kylie Minogue continued her massive comeback with her rendition of her new song, Wow, which although may not be her strongest song, is guaranteed to stay in your head from hours afterwards. Did anyone notice how much she looked like Debbie Harry in her Blondie days during the performance?
The two biggest performances of the evening had to go to Rihanna and the Klaxons singing Umbrella/Golden Skans, which may not sound like the right combination but put together, they really pulled it off. The stage for the performance was amazing, holding all the classiness that Rihanna tries to show in her music mixed with the rave atmosphere of the Klaxons, the flashing greens and blacks into the audience, the strobe lighting and the wonderful pillar which Rihanna started on until it lowered to stage level showed that the thought and design that goes into the awards really can make all the difference. The other big performance of the evening was the Mark Ronson medley, after winning the Best British Male (the first non-singing winner) and saying that he has never felt so male and never felt so British he blew the audience away with a collection of his biggest hits. First Adele joined him (she won the Critics’ Choice Award, the very first time this award has been seen) to sing God Put A Smile followed by Daniel Merriweather to sing his hit, Stop Me and ended with Amy Winehouse and their hit of last year, Valerie. She was let out of rehab to come to the event and she looks brilliant, she has gained some weight, has better colour skin and stood up strong and looked as if she was starting to overcome her troubles.
Other winners of the night were Kate Nash for Best British Female, Mika won Best Breakthrough, International Male was Kanye West and Kylie Minogue collected International Female. A performance from Amy Winehouse singing, Love is a Losing Game and Leona Lewis with Bleeding Love were just some of the other pieces in this amazing night. Leona Lewis stood out, only two years ago, she was a normal girl and then she won The X Factor and two years later, she had the biggest selling album of 2007, selling two million copies in just six weeks. In her purple gown surrounded by about a dozen dancers, she amazed the audience with Bleeding Love and once again showed early signs of a singer like Whitney Houston.
The awards were presented by an array of people from Sir Ian McKellen to Chris Moyles to Alan Carr (who was drunk!) and each bought something special to the show. Outstanding Contribution to Music, the last award of the night, was presented to Sir Paul McCartney for all his work from The Beatles to The Wings to his solo career and all the amazing things he has done for the music industry.
The evening finished with a medley of hits from McCartney, he started with the recent feel-good single; Dance Tonight followed by Live and Let Die (with amazing pyrotechnics) and to end the two-hour event, he sung The Beatles hit, Hey Jude!
Overall, an impressive night that could only have been made better if the artists I wanted to win had. But with only 12 more months to go until The Brit Awards 2009, it’s only a matter of exposing new talent and some really great music planned for the rest of this year.
Two days into my half term and I am ever so slightly happier because I have more time to think. Put things into perspective and come to a closer understanding of why people do things, of course this is all very deep and meaningful and when I realised that infact I had come to forgone conclusion that I would not be able to work it out, on came on the music. First of all, I had TMF on playing the UK Top 20, my feet were tapping and my hands were swinging... Then this evening a miraculous thing happened... wells it's not that impressive, standing there (don't have a computer chair), speaking to a selection of people (or just those who will speak to me) and plugged into my iPod. On came AM and then Operator Please and then Lightspeed Champion and my hands swung, my feet tapped and my entire body just relaxed. Almost like some eternal acupuncture, my tense muscles came to a recluse and I moved to the beat. Dancing when no one is watching, just like when you are watching a T.V show and the character is always singing in the shower- how often does that actually happen when in fact, just being able to do something like movement without judgment was wonderful. I had complete control and for those few minutes during the songs, I was on a cloud, almost watching all those others on this little planet.
Next, I saw Cloverfield today!! OMG, I am not going to ruin it, it's amazing, go and see it, I will write a review soon, just need to get over the general wow factor :D Walked almost 7-10 miles today (don't ask me what that is in another scale, I don't even know what that is!), but I do know it was far. Could not be bothered to go by the bus and was like, hey why don't I walk from the cinema in Central London, back to the bus stop where I am being collected. It was brilliant, got to talk (not by myself), scream, prance and act really silly, what a great release. I got to see places that I know of everyday in much more detail that usual.
Still waiting for the final articles for the magazine, of course once that has happened, then it will be completed *token Dr. F laugh!* More from the adventures of the common man soon (of course can you explain what is common? I can't!)
My recommendations for this month- some old, some new but all definitely worth taking a listen too.
1. Van Tramp - Help Me Make It 2. Elvis Ain't Dead- Scouting for Girls 3. Ride A White Horse- Goldfrapp 4. Ready for the Floor- Hot Chip 5. Highness- Envy & Other Sins 6. Middle of the Night- Sherwood 7. Broken- Lifehouse 8. Moving to New York- The Wombats 9. If I Had Eyes- Jack Johnson 10. Leave It Alone- Operator Please
I was so happy to see those credits again and as the name of the show appeared on screen, the excitement inside bubbled up. After watching the first episode of series two of Skins, I had to sit down and collect my thoughts. To sum it up in one word, WOW. But it’s not that easy. The landmark drama on E4 about the chaotic lives and lusts of a group of teenagers living in Bristol stormed onto our screens last year with the return of Nicholas Hoult (whom we last saw in ‘About A Boy’) except this time, his fringe was cut, his age had increased and the vulgarity of his language had certainly expanded. A cast of virtually unknowns joined Hoult as the writers of Shameless wrote this comedy drama revolving around these teens’ lives. As well as the day-to-day teen angst, the writing was full of stereotypes, which although some people laugh at and push under the carpet, they do happen. The typically Muslim family as their son tried to rebel, the gay dancer who was starting to come into his own, the best friend who always tried a little too hard and the flirty girlfriend who all the guys wanted. This was just a selection of the treasure of characters in Skins. After the thrilling season finale last year, we were left on the cliffhanger, was Tony going to survive his grave car collision or was he going to be just another ones of those who died under the stars?
This year we were promised more drama, more controversy and more meaning behind the characters. Last year's group are joined by some new faces as well as the series-giving host to some brilliant guest stars (Bill Bailey, Shane Ritchie) we are in for a journey. The first episode aired and what a way to begin a series. Set some time after the last episode we see that Tony did survive but not without his drawbacks. This is not the Tony we grew to know last year, this is someone completely different and here is the first major highlight of the series. The acting from this group is flawless; they never fail to evoke the right emotion with the audience and sometimes they hit a note of personal history.
Similar to the last series, each episode will contain stories about all the characters but will draw attention to one specific each time. The first episode was about Maxxie- although we did not see much of the dancer in the last series, the writers have promised that he will be used to the best of their abilities this year. Being the only one left is hard and he learns that when all the friends leave him to look after Tony, as they can’t deal with the consequences of their past. He has to look after him when he’s out and make sure he returns home. Although the writers picked times for comic hysteria (near the beginning when Tony is having trouble on the toilet, enter Maxxie’s mum) they also manage to persuade the audience to look from a different point of view and so if people are coming back to this series, for the sex or the parties then I think they will be surprised to learn that with time the writers have become more confident and therefore are able to explore the characters in further depth. Last year laid the groundwork, this year; they can put them up high and tear them down.
Maxxie realises that he wants to leave college to pursue his dancing career but his dad (Bill Bailey) wants his son to get qualifications and then join him on the building site, there is a clash of opinions. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and this year, the recording of Skins holds much more beauty than the previous. From the rooftop dancing of Maxxie to the underground rave, the director knows what he is doing, the colours marching across the screen scream out for attention.
Skins, one of last year’s top gems seems set to go even further this year, an enjoyable view of life and definitely one to looks out for, teens and adults alike.
It's Wednesday, I'm sitting here writing this post and watching My Family on DVD, has anyone noticed how much Zoe Wanamaker smiles in this? Anyway, I have the common cold or 'acute viral nasopharyngitis' as I like to call it. I have not slept properly in the last two nights because when you lay back, your nose blocks up and so you spend about 20 minutes trying to get into the right position with the large number of pillows, the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Did not go to school yesterday, so I caught up on my lying down, my moping around, to be completely honest, I can't bare not going to school, I hate catching up on work. Before I continue, I am going to give you my playlist for the week.
1. Van Tramp - Help Me Make It (See video below)
2. Elvis Ain't Dead- Scouting for Girls 3. Ride A White Horse- Goldfrapp 4. Ready for the Floor- Hot Chip 5. Highness- Envy & Other Sins 6. Middle of the Night- Sherwood 7. Broken- Lifehouse 8. Moving to New York- The Wombats 9. If I Had Eyes- Jack Johnson 10. Leave It Alone- Operator Please
Over the past few weeks, an idea has been forming, that idea... The McGillian. To make things clear, the house I am a part in at school is called McGills and because of my partiality to a bit of writing, I thought, 'hey!' why not start up the house magazine again? Well to cut a short story, shorter, three weeks later, several conversations and hours of computer publishing, the magazine has been created *Dr.Frankenstein's laughter, it's alive!*All I need now are the articles, the modern and intellectual magazine about the house, for the house includes all the latest news about the pupils, what they have taken part in and what we have done to make the school a better place. Of course that is not it, in the 12 pages, we also have reviews, discussions and interviews. There are plenty of pictures and hopefully will be well received, so far, the few friends who have seen the design have liked it. Brain storm the other, was had, says Yoda. I thought, why just a magazine? Why not bring the tradition into the 21st century? 100% of the aimed readers have computers with internet connection, so why not open a website as well? http://themcgillian.blogspot.com was then created, this will have all the articles from the current issue but because of the half termly release date, the site will be updated with all the latest news as it comes in... My head is full of ideas... OOO... :D In other news, let's look at more reasons why this blog is not just another nobodies blog, why read the commons's student's blog? As well as the mind boggling discussion? The reviews, the works by myself and of course practice for my massive career LOL/// The beauty of the nature of the day, was the topic of choice and today was filled with very little but in the magnificent void that was today, I planned many journey. The life list ATM!: 1. Get AAAB at AS 2. Get AAA at A2 3 Get into a gr8 university (There are some in mind :D) 4. Do brilliantly there and decide on the career of my choice, I want to be one of those gifted people who gets the choice... 5. Get jobs///Find love///Move country///Be happy... Of course the very last point will take a very long time and as Peter Vardy (philosopher...) said last Friday at a special lecture for RS students, people always want to be happy. He was not being cynical, he was being (what's the word- it's when he is not talking rubbish and although you may not like the truth, it is the truth!) Anyway, he said that people always want to be happy but they won't be because something is always bound to go wrong, well if that is the case Mr.Vardy then don't let my succeeding get in the way of your opinions. Between each of my life list points of course are things for the here and now- like I hope the first issue of The McGillian is liked and that maybe at some point in an English lesson we will be able to finish 'Heart of Darkness' and that we will finish 'The Second Coming' in R.S! Tell you something funny...(who is he talking to?) Today in Media, the best subject I (Heart) Media! Um... well yesterday on my sick day, my class watched Britz for the exam and so I watched it at home but saw further than my class saw, well let's say I used the wrong word and changed the meaning... I said to my teacher, I surpassed you, when I meant to say passed you... he found the joke in this, HEHE! We were learning about Type A today in Psychology- if you are Type A then you have a set of characteristics that includes being impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about one's status, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive, and incapable of relaxation. The Type B personality, in contrast, is patient, relaxed, and easy-going. There is also a Type AB or Type X mixed profile for people who cannot be clearly categorized and have a combination of both types of personality. In case you are interested, I am a mix of the two, Type X! Time for another piece of music, number 5 for the list above, Envy & Other Sins
Hope you liked :D
And to finish, time for a poem:
River Sins
She moved out across the stepping stones, Head in hands, Her tears fall slowly, And the blood flows thickly.
As she feels the pain of the her murder, She looks upon the meaning, As she see’s his ghost, They were once lovers, Within each other.
Her baby kicked hard, His baby kicked harder, Slowly she looks up, And see’s the darkness around her.
She played the game, And she lost, She saw the game played, And joined.
The devil met her beyond the river side, They met beyond the sea, In another world the baby cried, Blood of tears, And river of hate.
She looked at a book, In which says we are sinners, And she reviews her situation, She reads, And her life is in review.
Watch out for a review, coming any day now :D Beauty...
