Pond Life

Granny's pond.

Campus: Piling it on?

Not having had a TV or proper internet for a little while, the airing of Campus, the new brainchild of Victoria Pile and Co. on Channel 4 completely passed me by. I remember that there was a pilot a while back that I watched but didn't pay much attention to: regardless, I got rather excited about watching the series which I now knew was one of Pile's creations.

I watched the first episode with delicious anticipation of what this woman could create, but found myself well... Not that impressed. I haven't given up yet though - I seem to remember hazily that Green Wing on first watch was fairly confusing - it is often the way with such a large ensemble cast. I think it will be a grower - the VC guy is very reminiscent of a 10 x weirder David Brent, in a way, and some of the younger members of the cast have a very similar rapport with each other as in Green Wing - there were definitely some moments to rival those of Guy Secretan and Dr McCartney. I can't help but feel that it is a tad too similar, though, evem the music has the same sort of feel to it, and I did find myself tuning out at some points during the episode.

It definitely has a lot of potential though, especially the crudeness (I know that it received some criticism for this, but I LIKE IT), and the woman walking around making disgusting notes into her Dictaphone. We shall see if it picks up momentum and has any kind of cohesive plot. 6.5/10.

Beat Review

The lovely editor at Beat Review has taken me on as his newest and hottest (well, one out of two ain't bad) writer for the online magazine, so my articles may pop up here from time to time if I think my readers will be interested in it too (well, what else am I going to write about...!?)

My first article, about Tom Vek:

Here

The Private Joke

Funny things, aren't they, in-jokes? They can cause great mirth between friends, alienate and confuse those not 'in' on it.

One could say that they are redundant and exclude others, others could say that they are, in large part when used by the general population, not really funny (fig. 1: most posts on Facebook). Oh, and grossly overused to the point that they are not funny (fig. 2: Anchorman). Saying 'I love lamp' is funny twice, tops.

The perfect private joke is arguably one that is not discernible to the untrained ear - one that is slipped in to a conversation, or a piece of art. Only those that know will share a knowing glance, and those that are not aware will carry on, blissfully unaware and still feel included.

That said, there is nothing like puerile humour once in a while - sometimes, the simple things are the best (anyway, I wouldn't listen to me, I still find it funny when someone says anything remotely related to arses and toilet and my friendship group has an infinite amount of ridiculously silly private jokes).

How to Cover Songs (My Edition).

Cover songs are always difficult. They could be terribly received by critics and fans, they could piss off the original artist for 'ruining' their song (you'll never get the respect you crave from your idols now). These are my criteria/rules. Many may will disagree. They are probably wrong.

1. Make it different enough so that it cannot be confused with the original song.
2. Do NOT cover Teenage Kicks, as no-one can seem to make it any kind of interesting.*
3. It's way more interesting to do a less recent/lesser known song. No-one wants to hear your version. They want to hear the uber-popular.
4. Do not attempt to sing in the same accent that the original recording artist sang the song in. You will probably sound like a knob.
5. You shouldn’t be able to tell that the song is a cover song.
6. Before you start the song, don’t say, ‘I don’t like this song’. It makes you sound like a pretentious twat (I have witnessed this). Why cover it then?
7. Anything that’s been done on Glee now might have that ‘perky teen’ stigma. You have been warned.
8. Your first song is a cover version. What does that say about your music? 
9. Don’t cover a cover in the same style it’s already been done in. Unoriginal.
10. Change the tempo. Change the gender. Completely change the style. Change anything.

*with the exception of Sahara Hotnights, who did a brilliant punk cover that sounded like a completely different song.

I've probably missed something vital out, and included something that you completely disagree with. Well don't keep it to yourself!

The end of Lent

Not the whole of Lent, just mine.

The general theme for the last week or so has been quantity over quality, which was not the intention.

Business back to normal as of now.

Coming up:

The Rules of Cover Songs

Day #23: Watch a Really Girly Gilm

I am not ashamed to admit that Bring it On is one of my favourite films. Ever. Every (girl, at least) has a favourite film that they watched many, many times in that crucial stage of growing up, learnt about life from it, that kinda thing. Bring it On and Mean Girls are two of the films that I watched constantly as a child. Thinking back, they didn't really teach me that much about life, but they did provide me with endless hours of entertainment and the ability to quote pretty much every line whilst watching.

The best thing about Bring it On is that everyone (despite protestations) will enjoy it, whether it be for Eliza Dukshu or Jesse Bradford (who I maintain is even better looking with his crooked smile), OR the cheers - obviously the best part of the film (which 3/4 of my siblings know EVERY word to: be. agressive. be. be. agressive). It combines humour with catchy dance routines (which even boys find hard to resist doing). What is not to love? Standout bits: spirit fingers, that amazing girl from Blaque with the attitude and the auditions. I feel as if this review is biased... I can't really think of what I don't like about it though...

Just watch it. Don't bother watching four (four? Really?) straight-to-video sequels though, they look shit and have none of the original cast in - which begs the question, is it really a sequel?

Perhaps I've said too much...

Day #22: Living Without TV

It just occurred to me. I haven't watched TV for a week. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't really noticed until I thought about it just now. I mean, I've missed new 30 Rock, Glee, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (though frankly, I haven't been overly impressed with this series - ITV should have known when to stop! And where did Bambi and Byron go without as much as a sniff!?), Take Me O- oh no, that's over now. I mean, what will I do with my Saturdays now, I mean, I'll have to go out and see people (and talk about Take Me Out being over).

But it's weird, I watched a lot of TV comparatively when I was home, mainly because I was unemployed and very good at procrastinating (of course, I still managed to do everything else, cough cough). I thought I would miss it more, but I have only just thought about it. The main thing I miss is relaxing, and not thinking about anything (I actually have to think all the time now, who'da thought?).

It's actually very liberating, not watching TV (or anything for that matter - films too). Maybe not telly is not such a  bad thing as first thought, it's probably just the companionship of watching it with someone else, or maybe the blatant escapism to someone else's crappy life, or perhaps it's merely witnessing the excitement of well... someone else's excitement. Now, however, I am very busy and important and don't have time for that.

Well, there is a large backlog of stuff to watch on Sky + when I get home this weekend...