Emm Media

Indiessential: Editors

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:30:00 PST

Indiessential Albums of 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I was thinking that 2009 had been pretty uneventful as far as new music was concerned. I guess I was feeling a bit uninspired and disenchanted. Suddenly, it felt as if there was an explosion of new music and I rushed out and got four new albums. That in turn lead me to look again at the albums that have come out this year and to see if any were worthwhile. The results have been interesting and from now to the end of the year, I'll be posting about some of the Indiessential albums of 2009.

Editors - In This Light and On This Evening

[Photo Source]

The Editors are one of my favourite bands and first caught my attention in 2007 with their phenomenal album An End Has a Start. Up until now, their sound has been compared to that of Interpol and R.E.M. but with their third studio album, In This Light and On This Evening, Editors break all previous barriers.

It is not often that an album impresses me as much as this one has and I’m going to review all 9 tracks on the album. Links in the song titles will take you to the Last.fm pages where you can listen to the tracks.

Editors - In This Light and On This Evening
Record label: Sony Music
Release date: 12 Oct 2009

In This Light and On This Evening: really dark and it reminds me of VNV Nation. The strange thing is that it is this dark but he is talking of beauty! This track sounds nothing like their previous material. It starts off slow and melancholy and then erupts in a burst of heavy beats and electronic, synth driven melody.
Bricks and Mortar: carries on the electronic tune from the first song and Tom Smith’s signature voice returns and reminds us of the Editors we all fell in love with. This is an absolutely English album as he sings of London, pounds and pence.
Papillon: reminds me again of VNV Nation and The Mission too. This is a long way from the band that sounded like Interpol and R.E.M. It does make me wonder what a “sleep twitch” is though and what it has to do with butterflies and guns. Okay… my brother explained what a sleep twitch is and it still doesn’t make any sense! Nevertheless, I do think Editors might just be the best band around now.
You Don't Know Love: one of my favourite tunes on the album. It has an electronic, New Wave, emotional sound to it. It gets to a point where comparisons lose their usefulness and Editors consolidate their new sound and emerge as a top class band in their own right. This is a groundbreaking album.
The Big Exit: a strong tune with a catchy refrain, this song is another one of my favourites. ♫ "They took what once was ours, they took what once was ours" ♫ (sing along now)
The Boxer: this is my absolute favourite song on the album and is one of those songs that I just want to put on repeat and play it over and over again. It starts off a bit like Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” but then it just gets absolutely brilliant after that and again, there is no use in comparisons. I really love this lyric: “an unwanted sun pulls rank in the sky”.
Like Treasure: this song is the most like their older music out of any of the songs on the album but there is a definite New Wave influence on the music again.
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool: this is the strangest song on the album. I don’t have much more to say about it other than that. It is a good penultimate song though and leads well into the final song.
Walk The Fleet Road: there is that unmistakeably London setting again and it is also unmistakeably Editors. This song is theatrical and brave, thoroughly uplifting and a fantastic ending to one of the strongest albums I have heard in years.

For the first time in quite a while, I am happy to give an album 5 stars for sheer groundbreaking brilliance.

Editors - "Papillon”

The video to the third song on the album.

Editors links

Official Web Site

Myspace

Last FM

Film: Terminator Salvation (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:15:12 PST

When will I learn my lesson? When will I learn to ignore the reviews and to go see the films I want to see and make up my own mind? I was so scared of being disappointed by Terminator Salvation, afraid that it would be as bad as Terminator 3, that I listened to the terrible reviews and waited months to actually watch the film. Now, the only thing I am disappointed in is the fact that I didn’t go to see it on the big screen.

I know I usually wait until the end but I’ll start off by saying that I give Terminator Salvation four and a half stars; it loses half a star simply because it is not Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It is possible that it is a film that only die hard Terminator fans will love but then that label would apply to me.

Perhaps it would be best to take a step back and speak of my absolute love for Terminator 2…

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (how do I love thee…)

Terminator 2 is officially my Favourite Movie Ever^©. It was the first film that I went to see multiple times in the cinema and back in my days as a penniless university student, that was a huge accomplishment. I don’t think I had even seen the original Terminator film but something about this film just touched me.

I absolutely loved Edward Furlong in his role as John Connor and I was duly petrified by Robert Patrick’s performance as the T-1000. To this day, the score is one of my favourites and I loved the soundtrack too (especially Guns n’ Roses – You Could Be Mine). Here is the Terminator theme tune:

This is one of those films that haunted me for months and I would even say that it is partly responsible for my heightened awareness from that time about the damage we are doing to our earth and the environment. I never would have thought it would be so hard for me to put my love of this film into words!!!

The special effects were amazing, for the time. My favourite scenes are when Sarah Connor is hurtling through the hospital corridors and begins backtracking when she sees The Terminator and he says “come with me if you want to live”. I love it when the T-1000 pours himself into the helicopter seat and when he extends his arms into a sword and kills John’s foster mother. I loved when they were flying through the drains on the motor bike and the scene above was one of my favourites too.

I try not to think too hard about Terminator 3; it was abominable and I am surprised they carried on with the franchise after that. But I am so glad they did. I enjoyed Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and I loved Terminator Salvation.

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation takes us back to the very beginning of the story which, in typical mind-bending Terminator style, occurs 34 years after the first Terminator film. Set in 2018, John Connor is a simple unit leader in the resistance, certainly not one of the main power players. What makes him different is his seeming ability to predict future events but this does not exactly endear him with his superiors.

What surprised me most about this film was not The Supreme Hotness that is Christian Bale (I am definite Team Christian by the way and loved his expletive-rich rant on set). Don’t get me wrong, young Master Bale was gorgeous in this film [insert gratuitous hot photo here]:

[Image Source]

Having heard so many bad things about the film, I didn’t expect to find myself so deeply submerged again in the race to prevent the rise of the machines. That post-apocalyptic air, the resistance fighters, the end of humanity and the absolute loss is what attracted me to Terminator 2 in the first place. Of course, in that film it was implied but in Terminator Salvation it was very real.

I am quite a sucker for these types of stories anyway. I loved the book Shade's Children by Garth Nix where body snatching machines use humans as pawns in their life-sized, chess-like games of strategy and I’m currently enjoying The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

Naturally, being a shameless fangirl with the full blessing of my partner to go forth and fall in love with celebrities, the best part of Terminator Salvation has to be [insert drum roll here] Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright.

[Image Source]

How is it possible that I didn’t notice this actor before? He’s gorgeous!

My favourite scene in the film is where John Connor has to show Marcus Wright that he is a cyborg.

[Image Source]

Anton Yelchin (from Huff and Alpha Dog) is brilliant as ever as a young Kyle Rees and Helena Bonham Carter is fantastic as the psychotic Dr Serena Kogan.

So where to from here? As I’ve said, the only flaw in this film in my not-so-humble opinion is that it isn’t Terminator 2 and I have threatened family and friends with dire consequences if i don’t have a brand new Terminator Salvation DVD in my Christmas stocking this year. As a massive fan, I loved this film and I can’t wait to watch it again. There is an interview on IGN with McG, the director of Terminator Salvation and it has a bit of news as to what we can expect in the next film: McG talks T5. I just want to know when we can expect it!

Book Review: Marked P.C. & Kristin Cast

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:45:44 PST

I’m surprised that I keep going for vampire books as it is not my favourite genre. But there I was standing in a bookstore the weekend after we moved house and I walked out with Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris and this book, Marked by P.C. ad Kristin Cast. I know why I chose Dead Until Dark as I am just loving the HBO series True Blood.

My reason for choosing Marked was absolutely noble though: I liked the cover and it was in the teenager’s section. After the drama of moving house, I just felt that I needed some easy reading.

I read the first couple of pages and then put it down in favour of Dead Until Dark which of course, I couldn’t put down until the very last page. I then started again, not really expecting much after the brilliant coolness that is the Sookie Stackhouse series.

In the world of the House of Night series, vampires have always existed and it is adolescent hormones that triggers the reaction in certain teenagers that leads to them becoming fully fledged vampires. (I reckon that happened to me actually as I was a fully fledged coffin kid from the age of about 15 until I was about 21). The book starts with the protagonist Zoey being “Marked” as a fledgling vampyre and having to move off to the mysterious Vampyre Finishing School known as the House of Night.

I loved this book. I absolutely enjoyed every single page (after we managed to escape Zoey’s mid-western high school) and this was one of the most thrilling books I have read since, well, the book I read before it. The best way I could describe this novel would be to say that it is a cross between the film The Craft* and the Harry Potter series. There are really strong Native American and pagan religious and spiritual components in the story and elements of witchcraft which may offend some people but I found them to be fascinating and exciting.

A lot of people don’t like the book and it is definitely a case of you’ll love it or you’ll hate it. Many reviewers have claimed that the book is too preachy and that the authors are trying to work their agenda to hard. I didn’t really see that at all. If anything, I remembered being fifteen and dividing my world up in black and white terms into losers, nerds, sluts and friends. I was super opinionated and I thought that was accurately reflected in this book. Just because the protagonist in a book has a certain point of view or opinion doesn’t mean it is right and doesn’t mean that the author thinks it is right either!

Anyway, there is no point going on about it. The sequels to both Dead Until Dark and Marked arrived from Amazon today and I can’t wait to start them. I’m reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer and enjoying it far more than I thought I would! How lucky is that, to really enjoy three books in a row? Then again, it is Stephenie Meyer and could turn into a pile of crap by the end of the book…

For thoroughly thrilling and entertaining me and making me order the sequel from Amazon the very minute I finished it, I give Marked five out of five stars.

* The Craft was a 1996 film about a group of four teenage witches and it was one of my favourite films of all time. It had a fantastic Graeme Revell soundtrack and featured a cover of the Smiths classic "How Soon Is Now". The song went on to become the theme song for the television series Charmed which was based on The Craft.

New Doctor Who logo in action

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:51:21 PST

I wrote a while ago about how I wasn't happy with the new redesign of the Doctor Who logo. Well, I have to admit, after seeing it in action with the accompanying sounds of the Tardis, it really, really does work.

In other news, the next Doctor Who television special Waters of Mars has screened in London and has been generally well received which is a relief. My whole Doctor Who experience was watered down a bit over the past 18 months or so what with the constant speculation as to who would replace David Tennant; his announcement of his impending retirement and last but certainly not least, the abominable Easter special. But I do think things are progressing in a really good direction.
Things to be excited about:

I'm happy with the choice of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor…
…and I like Karen Gillan as the next companion
I now “get” the new logo and I liked seeing it in action
I am so glad Russell T. Davies is going
I’m glad Waters of Mars has been well received…
… and I feel I have reason to hope that the Christmas and New Year’s specials will be handled well
Finally, I am super happy that John Simm will be back as the Master

This is a cute article: John Simm has fun 'destroying' pal David Tennant.
I have to acknowledge that without Russell T. Davies, there would be no new Doctor Who, Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures. At the end of the day though, everything that I didn’t like in the past four years was down to him and I’m looking forward Steven Moffat’s more intelligent stories.

Visit Shownar for links to more Doctor Who blog posts or click on the links for the Doctor Who blogs in my side bar..

Southern Vampire Mysteries and the Gorgeous Sam Merlotte

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:11:25 PST

A couple of weeks ago it seemed as if I was the only living (or undead) person who was not submerged in the fabulous world of Sookie Stackhouse and the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Thankfully, that has all now been resolved as I started watching True Blood and bought the first novel in the series. As I now prepare to buy the next book in the series and to watch the second season, let me tell you a little bit about the fabulous world created by Charlaine Harris.

Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time waitress in a bar in Louisiana. Perky and cute as a button, you’d expect everyone to love Sookie except they don’t. In fact, they think she is plain weird. That is because Sookie can read minds which makes it nearly impossible to date and makes for uneasy conversations as she verbalises what people are thinking.

So when she meets the brooding, handsome vampire Bill Compton and realises she can’t hear a thing he’s saying, it’s pretty inevitable that she’ll fall for him.

I have to be honest, the blurb for this book makes it sounds average and certainly doesn’t do the book justice. This book is anything but average. First published in 2001, it is everything Twilight isn’t with grown up, realistic characters and normal, healthy sex. But it is the insight into Sookie’s mind (other others’), her strength and her plain old kookiness that makes this book so much fun. I’m hoping the next instalment Living Dead in Dallas arrives in the next couple of days because I can’t wait to get started on it!

This is (yet another) vampire book and in the story vampires are simply a fact of life as they have “come out of the coffin”. The first book focuses less on vampire mythology and more on the physicality of being an actual vampire. Given my very real aversion to blood, I found the book quite easy to stomach. What is most refreshing though is that there are no perfect characters but flawed people with normal weaknesses. I’m sorry – it may take me some time to get over the Mary Sue wish fulfilment fest that was the Twilight series.

For pure and thrilling entertainment, a load of fun, lovable yet flawed characters and not letting me put it down until I was finished, I give this book 5 stars. And I’d give it more if I could!

True Blood season 1

Any review of the HBO series True Blood is going to be incredibly difficult to do without spoiling parts of the story for people who have read the books but not watched it yet (or who are watching it but haven’t read the books). I don’t want to do that as I remember how the internet became like a minefield for me as I tried to avoid spoilers all over the place.

There are certainly a lot of differences between the books and the television series. In my mind, I’ll treat them as different entities in future and I’ll definitely try avoid the confusion again of trying to read the books while watching the show!! People have complained that certain characters in the show aren’t in the books but that just irritates me. I think we need to remember what came first and just as you can’t judge Dead Until Dark based on its similarities to Twilight (because Dead Until Dark came first and if anything, Stephenie Meyer stole ideas from it), you can’t judge the books based on what they did and didn’t contain from the television series.

Let’s just say I loved this show. I love the opening credits, I think Anna Paquin is fabulous as ever in her role as Sookie and I love the cast. I started watching the show before I picked up the books so my favourite characters are Tara, LaFayette and Jason.

I love the Southern setting in the show and I love that you can almost feel how hot and sticky it is down there. Coming from the makers of Six Feet Under, this is an absolutely irreverent, crazy show.

Sam Merlotte

My favourite character in the whole show has me seriously worrying about myself and who I am becoming. As ashamed as I am to admit it, it seems that I have fallen for yet another “nice guy”. How can this be happening??? I’m absolutely mad about Sam Merlotte (played by Sam Trammell) and I loved every single scene he was in.

Sam Merlotte is the owner of the bar in which Sookie works called Merlottes. He is really gorgeous in True Blood but I actually prefer the book in this respect as he has a much deeper character and you get to know more about him. I am 100% team Merlotte, that is for sure.

Here are some screencaps of the gorgeous Sam Merlotte taken by the legendary http://marishna.livejournal.com/. Marishna caps and reviews every single episode so her journal is definitely worth a visit.

Seriously? When did I start liking men with facial hair?? And shaggy, mullet-type hair styles?? There is something about Sam Merlotte that just makes me sigh. Those blue eyes – I think he’s drop dead gorgeous.

Maybe it’s the whole protective / grumpy thing?

I can’t begin to explain how hot I thought this scene was! He’s not exactly sex on legs like Ed Westwick but there is definitely something about him.

Oh yum.
Okay, I’ll stop now. Actually, I won’t. I’ve got the second book on order and now it is time to procure the second season of True Blood. Watch it – you won’t be sorry.

Boondock Saints Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:15:46 PDT

How did I miss this news??? The supreme hotness that is Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus is returning to our screen October 30th in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

My dear friend The Grynne isn’t too keen on the idea saying “ten years late, unfortunately. Sorry boys, but this sort of behaviour stops being charming when you've hit 40”.

And so I am torn between my absolute love of the original Boondock Saints and a sinking feeling that she may in fact be right.

Now, I am slightly closer to 40 than our Grynne so the idea that one should magically grow up when one reaches such an age is quite foreign to me. Nevertheless, after seeing the trailer, I will concede that I have aged much better than Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus in the ten years since Boondock Saints was released. As in, I still look young and pretty and um, they don’t. I mean look! They have wrinkles and are wearing make up to cover it!

Which makes me wonder why they bothered airbrushing these promo pictures to make them look younger – do they think we’ll go on off to see the film and not notice the contrast?

Billy Connolly is playing their father (again) which is an interesting choice to make. I mean, Irish and Scottish accents are almost identical, right? So there is no way Billy Connolly could sound absolutely ridiculous putting on a fake Irish accent, could he??? He sounds stupid. He sounds worse than I do when I try put on a Welsh accent and land up sounding Irish instead. He didn’t convince me in the first one and I am sure he won’t convince in this one.

Incidentally, this is an interesting article on why it took ten years for a sequel to be made: 'Boondock Saints'' Troy Duffy and Billy Connolly Praise Fans, Blast Critics. Back in the day, every single person I know went to see this film and it became a cult classic with us and a firm favourite. I had no idea they had such distribution problems because we all loved it!

Strangely enough, there are no release dates on IMDb and the message boards are rife with speculation. The clearest idea I can get is that it will only be released in Europe early next year once they gauge how well it does in the States.

Seriously? And they wonder why they have a problem with people downloading films illegally? When the world has been reduced to the size of an Apple Mac keyboard or even an iPhone, the last thing you should be doing is restricting access to electronic media based on geographic borders. Pfft.

I will go see the film, whenever it makes it to UK shores, and hopefully I will absolutely love it and fall in love with the Boondock Saints all over again.

Melrose Place – again?

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:15:57 PDT

Watching the new rehashed version of Melrose Place is a bit like moving back to university digs 15 years after you first escaped them. Where 90210 manages to feel fresh and new despite the return of Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty (in the roles of Kelly and Brenda), watching the whole Sydney Andrews and Michael Mancini show after all of these years just feels like a giant step backwards into the mid-90’s.

Still, they’ll have to solve the big, bad mystery of Sydney’s demise eventually and Thomas Calabro is only billed in a ‘recurring role’ so I’ve decided to give the show a chance.

The major reason for watching it is that I might have developed a little crush on one of the characters and this was the scene that did it:

Michael Rady as Jonah Miller, Melrose Place, season 1 episode 2

Yum! Look at those come-hither eyes.

It is totally out of character for me to like ‘nice guys’. Generally, I look for the meanest, grumpiest, most evil character in a film or show and that is the one I crush on. But there is something about Michael Rady and he makes the show worth watching. (I just hope this isn’t a new trend as I found myself liking Sam in True Blood). Perhaps he’ll turn into an evil demon or axe wielding murderer or something and my reputation can remain intact.

Katie Cassidy as Ella Simms, Melrose Place, season 1 episode 2

I’ve mentioned before how much I like Katie Cassidy. I just think she’s gorgeous and although her character Ella is really irritating on Melrose Place, she does have a fantastic wardrobe.

Katie Cassidy as Ella Simms, Melrose Place, season 1 episode 3

Nice wardrobe or not, her character isn't nearly as good as she was playing demon Ruby on Supernatural. Why they felt they had to replace her, I will never know.

Ashlee Simpson Wentz as Violet Foster, Melrose Place, season 1 episode 3

I'm not entirely sure Ashlee Simpson Wentz can act but she’s quite striking on the screen. With the Sydney / Michael show going on and the usual awkwardness between actors in a new series, there is room for her to improve and become believable but I really hope the producers don’t make her a complete Sydney clone.

Michael Rady as Jonah Miller, Melrose Place, season 1 episode 3

I thought I'd throw in another picture of Michael Rady (playing Jonah Miller). There are a great deal more actors in the show but overall, they are really irritating and I don’t really like any of them. I’d even go so far as to say that I dislike all of them except for Jonah. We’ll see. I just know that I’ll watch every episode in the series and it will maybe even become a guilty pleasure but I suspect I’ll give up on it just like I did with the original Melrose Place.

ITV Cancels Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:38:00 PDT

Ooooh, ITV, you've really upset me this time! Stephen Fry has announced in his blog post Kingdom Come, Kingdom Gone that ITV decided not to renew the hugely successful Sunday night drama for a fourth season.

This is especially upsetting in light of the fact that I only just discovered the show and really enjoyed it this season!

Kingdom was set in Norfolk and starred Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom a “delightful” village solicitor. The show also starred my absolute favourite English actress Hermione Norris as sister Beatrice Kingdom, Phyllida Law as Aunt Auriel and Karl Davies as Kingdom's adorable assistant Lyle Anderson.

Seriously, what is wrong with the broadcasters in this country? First BBC cancels The Street and now ITV cancels Kingdom. The hallmark of British television used to be realistic and powerful drama but with the rate at which drama shows are being axed and replaced by crud, that reputation will certainly be a thing of the past.

New Doctor Who logo

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:00:02 PDT

So the BBC has decided to launch a new logo for Doctor Who.

Two words: not happy.

Trinity: risqué or blasé?

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:00:02 PDT

Trinity is a new series showing on ITV 2 at 10pm on Sunday nights. I tuned in to the first episode expecting absolutely nothing as it stars Christian Cooke from that abominable (and now cancelled) show Demons. Well, well, well… I was surprised and pleased to be proven wrong yet again as Trinity is my new guilty pleasure.

What is it about the world of English upper class, private education that fascinates with its grandeur, ritual and wealth? In the real world, upper class snobs irritate me no end and it’s been said that schools like Eton are simply breeding grounds for brainless, lazy toffs; but on television, I love the idea of grand old schools like Trinity College and Hogwarts.

Trinity College is part of the fictional Bridgeford University and for over 900 years, it has been the exclusive domain of the super rich and powerful. That is until they decide to open up enrolments to the middle classed masses. But behind the facade of sex, mayhem and parties lies a much darker world with connections to the college administration and the ludicrously ostentatious Dandelion Club.

Christian Cooke is much better playing the morally bereft, super-rich brat Dorian Gaudain than he was playing "cute and hip Luke Rutherford in Demons. At the end of the first episode, he has the funniest exchange with super pious nerd turned fiery crusader Charlotte Arc (played by Antonia Bernath):

Charlotte: “I never, ever want to see you again!”

Dorian: “Wh- I live next door to you!”

My favourite character so far has to be the gorgeous Ross Bonham played by David Oakes. He is meant to be creepy and psychotic but he’s one of my favourite bad boys in ages. After episodes two and three, I’m not sure how much more we’ll see of him but I have a feeling he’ll be back.

How lovely is that? Oh, go on then, one more picture of Ross and Dorian:

Trinity is not a show for children and is shown well after the watershed for a good reason. There is gratuitous sex, language and nudity as well as healthy doses of incest, murder and suicide. Still, I’m quite enjoying it and even though I have a feeling I know where the story might be heading, I think it is subtle enough and really well done (as in, I think it is going to more supernatural thriller and less Carry On… Uni).

All pictures in the post come from the Trinity fan page at Facebook. In the words of the producer Ash Atalla:

"Trinity is a high-octane, ball-breaking drama. It's full of casual sex, casual drugs and casual murder."

So on that note, I’ll conclude that Trinity is definitely not blasé. Give the show a chance and then rush off and sign up as a fan!

Dannii Minogue Signs Her Public Death Warrant

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:36:45 PDT

It is the live television event that has the Internet in uproar and is causing websites to crash: Dannii Minogue’s seemingly homophobic comment to X Factor contestant Danyl Johnson.

Danyl is flabbergasted on hearing Dannii's remark
You can see his performance here and at the end of the clip, Dannii says to Danyl: “…but if we’re to believe everything we read in the paper, maybe you didn’t need to change the gender reference in it”. She is referring to the fact that Danyl had confessed in a News of the World interview to being bisexual and the fact that he had sang a “girl’s song” and changed the gender references.
I have to say that I have been a fan of Dannii Minogue for several years now and I loved her on X Factor but her comments were completely inappropriate and irrelevant. I actually felt sick to my stomach for minutes after hearing what she said as the magnitude of her comment sank in.
One commenter on the ITV site sums it up perfectly:

“icanseethesea 10/10/2009 23:15:15
I am not a website-posting kind of viewer, but feel compelled to do so. To watch a grown adult forced to mutter the words 'I'm not ashamed' was vile. Dannii Minogue may not have intended to cause hurt (as a gay woman myself, I actually believe her intentions were good) but if you can't articulate yourself professionally then you shouldn't be allowed on TV.”

Yes, Minogue is a gay icon who frequents gay clubs; yes, he had outed himself in the press already but she blindsided him and should have commented on his performance not his sexuality.
ITV took a full hour to upload Danyl’s video and at the time of posting this, there were 70 pages of complaints about Dannii in the comments section. OFCOM is probably having the busiest night they’ve had since the Anton van Beke scandal last week!
All in all, it was a night where the judge’s performance far outshone those of the contestants and I imagine we can see fireworks for the week to come. Read more about the night’s antics here.

EDIT: Dannii Minogue has issued an official statement at her blog:

"Dannii made a joke about the lyrics of Danyl's song, referencing a recent newspaper interview he has given about his private life. She spoke to Danyl straight after the show, explained what she was talking about and he wasn't offended in the slightest. Dannii is mortified if her comments have been misinterpreted as she has always been hugely supportive of the gay and bi-sexual community for her entire career." - source

Loot!

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:48:32 PDT

We went shopping today at Bluewater which is this massive shopping centre just outside the M25 east of London. Let me tell you, I was in Emm Hell. Masses of mothers with their screaming, unhappy children; wives fitting their sulking, grumpy husbands for suits and snotty, skinny twenty-something strumpets barging past me in amongst the dark and gloomy English autumn fashions.

Shopping and shopping centres are my two worst things on Earth so I went into HMV and drowned my sorrows.

The loot:

Charmed Complete Series (seasons 1 – 8)

Charmed was one of my favourite television series ever, on a par with Homicide: Life on the Street and The X-Files. We certainly hadn’t intended spending £100 today but I’m pretty over the moon that we did!

Doctor Who series 3 volume 3

Doctor Who is my absolute favourite show in the world ever. I’ve watched it my entire life and it’s been on our screens since 1963! Human Nature, The Family of Blood and Blink were my favourite episodes of the show and I was so happy to see them all on one DVD that I just had to buy them! It was only £5.

Human Nature and The Family of Blood were the episodes that the wonderful and gorgeous Harry Lloyd starred in and I’ve been obsessed with him ever since I saw them.

Harry Lloyd as Baines, The Family of Blood

The Host – Stephenie Meyer

Seriously, I don’t know what I was thinking. I loved Twilight but by the time I got to the third book in the series, I couldn’t even bring myself to review them it was so bad. I chose to bypass Breaking Dawn entirely, opting instead to read Cleolinda’s hilarious summaries: Twilight means never having to say you're kidding.

By anyway. The Host was on sale for £5 and I thought I might as well. I’ve been a bit bored book wise lately so I may even buy Breaking Dawn one day, who knows.

I also bought a below the knee a-line, belted black skirt but that’s not half as exciting as the previous three items!

Music Monday # 11: Crackity Jones - Pixies

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:17:06 PDT

I'm meant to be going to a Pixies concert on Thursday. It is the 20th anniversary of their Doolittle album and they'll be playing the entire album during the show. It would be amazing to see them again but I fear I may be getting too old to be going to concerts on a school night.

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

Robin Hood: Lardner’s Ring – screen caps

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:03:44 PDT

I’ve noticed that the greatest number of visitors to my blog are coming through Google’s image search and thought it high time that I start giving my visitors what they want! I’m going to start off with Robin Hood because this was one of my favourite shows once and it was the reason I became so very obsessed with Harry Lloyd.

Lardner’s Ring was one of my favourite Robin Hood episodes and that had everything to do with the hotness that is Harry Lloyd. I’ve put a veritable treasure trove of screen caps and icons of Harry Lloyd, Lucy Griffiths and Joe Armstrong below.

Click here (or the title of this post) to see the rest of the post and the pictures (I’m just trying to save the bandwidth of those on slow connections).

These screen caps are usually used on the 'net for icon making and that type of thing. If you do use them, please credit Emm and link back to this blog or credit missus_emm at Livejournal.

Harry Lloyd as Will Scarlett

Best shot ever:

Phwoar!:

Will Scarlett 100x100 icons:

Joe Armstong as Allan-a-Dale

Lucy Griffiths as Marian Fitzwalter

Marian 100x100 icons:

Primeval Saved From Extinction

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:42:07 PDT

The Stage was reporting today that Primeval was resurrected in a ITV/UKTV deal. This move will be welcomed by fans after ITV announced in June that they had no plans to continue with the show after season 3.

The show will return to UK screens for two seasons from 2011. In a deal between ITV and the UKTV channel Watch, ITV will premiere season 4 in 2011 and Watch will premiere season 5 later that year. That is a lot of Primeval for one year and it will either sink the show or send its ratings into orbit.

Primeval remains the ITV’s main contender in the competition against Doctor Who and Torchwood.

ITV Press Announcement

Sarah Jane Adventures returns!

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:05:14 PDT

Fabulous news then. The Sarah Jane Adventures returns to our screens on 15 October 2009. The one-time Doctor Who companion returns for a third season and will feature a visit from The Doctor himself! How exciting!!

It looks like there are will be six two-part adventures and thus twelve episodes:

Prisoners of the Judoon (15/16 October 2009)
The Mad Woman in the Attic (22/23 October 2009)
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (29/30 October 2009)
The Eternity Trap (5/6 November 2009)
Mona Lisa’s Revenge (12/13 November 2009)
The Gift (19/20 November 2009)

Source: TV.com

The first episode of season three of The Sarah Jane Adventures will air at 4.35pm on 15 October 2009 on BBC One.

Book: The Riddles of Epsilon – Christine Morton-Shaw

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:40:02 PDT

The Riddle of Epsilon was written by Christine Morton-Shaw. I hadn't heard of her before but apparently she grew up in England and developed a love for old houses and the supernatural. The book is about thirteen-year-old Jess who has just moved to a grand old house on a mysterious island with her photographer father and portrait artist mother. Strange things begin to happen and it is up to Jess to solve the riddles of an ancient code in order to prevent a calamity.

This is a very rich novel with a historical background story interwoven with an ancient myth involving codes, artefacts and magic. These are expertly connected to Jess, her family and the inhabitants of the island and characters and storylines are quite developed without going into too much detail.

The book is full of illustrations of codes, maps and drawings as well as original poems and songs that are integral to the story. As a reader, you feel drawn in and challenged to try solve the puzzles before Jess does and so this is a thoroughly engaging book.

As the book draws to a close, there is breathtaking action and adventure against a backdrop of moody seas, hidden caves and stormy weather. The story races towards the end and I was really happy with how the story finished. So many books disappoint in the end with insipid and watered-down conclusions but I am happy to say this was not one of them! The final chapter features quite a twist and a time conundrum that will tie your brain up in knots trying to solve it.

This is a book aimed at the young adult audience and will interest both boys and girls in their teens. I'm not certain if it would be suitable for pre-teens because there is mention of drug and cigarette use and I don't think the book carries a clear enough anti-drug message for pre-teens to be able to derive the rather subtle message in the book that these things aren't really necessary to have fun and adventure.

Nevertheless, this is a really well-written book that has been carefully researched and I give it four-and-a-half stars out of five. I believe from Wikipedia that many fans of the book were really captivated by the book and are likening it to the Twilightverse books or the Harry Potter franchise but I didn't feel that level of obsession or involvement. Still, this is too good a book to just give it four stars so I'll settle for another half more.

BBC’s Merlin Finally Back This Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:43:40 PDT

[Source: BBC]

Fantastic news! BBC's Merlin finally returns to BBC One at 6.40pm this Saturday, 19 September. This is the second season of the show starring Colin Morgan, Bradley James and Anthony Head (who played Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Merlin has been one of my guilty pleasures since it first aired last year and there is a lot wrong with the series, not least of which is the virtual absence of magic and the portrayal of Guinevere as a common hand-maiden named Gwen.

Despite the flaws, there is something about this show that works, something about the dynamics between Merlin and Arthur that draws you in. The show never forces what will become one of the strongest partnerships of all time but you get to watch as Arthur gradually learns to trust and depend on Merlin.

One of my favourite parts of the show is Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon and his ridiculous ban on magic in all forms. I don’t really see the use in drawing parallels to the modern world and once again, Merlin doesn’t shove the moralising down your throat like Robin Hood used to. It is just this crazy and impossible fear of magic and your knowledge, as the viewer, that it is precisely that magic that will one day save the entire kingdom.

I really like Katie McGrath’s portrayal of Morgana and the hints that all will not be well with Morgana in the future. I wonder how long it will be before she turns bad, if indeed this production of the legend takes that path?

My least favourite character is Nimueh which is unsurprising given my dislike for anything and everything that Michelle Ryan does. I honestly believe that Ryan was largely responsible for the bus-wreck of a Doctor Who Easter special, Planet of the Dead. Not that I’d ever publicly admit to not liking anything Doctor Who-related.

Merlin features an amazing selection of guest stars this season including (from left to right) Sarah Parish, Charles Dance, Adrian Lester, Santiago Cabrera and Mackenzie Crook.

So, as long as I get to go make tea during Michelle Ryan’s scenes, it looks like it is going to be a fantastic season 2 and I am really excited!

Merlin season 2 trailer

Music Monday # 10: While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:31:29 PDT

Like last week's Music Monday post, this is another song that I have loved my whole life. It is a brilliantly haunting song that was released on The Beatles’ White Album in 1968. I’m not certain which is the better album but I would say that The White Album and Help! are my favourites.
I don’t know why this song haunts me so… it just gives me a feeling of someone standing on the outside looking in at the world. Everything carries on as normal but one thing, his heartache, remains the same. I’ll have to go listen to happy songs now to dispel the sadness!

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold you love
I don't know how someone controlled you
they bought and sold you
I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
you were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
no one alerted you
I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps
Oh, oh, oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh, oh oh, oh oh
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

Music Monday # 9: Classical Gas – Mason Williams

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:35:28 PDT

This is one of those songs that I can’t remember ever not loving. I was probably exposed to it in the womb and have literally loved it all my life. Classical Gas is an instrumental piece of music that was released in 1968 on The Mason Williams Phonograph Record and later again on his album Handmade.

It is a common misconception that Eric Clapton composed and performed the song but according to the Wikipedia page, he never even recorded a version of the song. The confusion arose because Clapton performed in and was the music director of the soundtrack to the film The Story of Us which Classical Gas appeared on.

So enjoy this absolutely phenomenal piece of music.

Find more Music Monday posts at Lady Java's Lounge or by clicking my label below.

The Fixer season 2 starting tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:47:52 PDT

ITV, are you trying to kill me??? I have plans for tonight so finding out at 2pm that The Fixer is starting again at 9pm tonight is Not Convenient!! In yet another paranoid move by ITV the channel has left it to the very last minute to let us know that the programme is returning tonight and the BBC is known to pull this type of trick too.

I have to give a huge shout out to the Square Eyes feature of the TV Today blog at The Stage. Without their tireless and consistently wonderful feature, I would never have known that The Fixer was starting tonight.

They had enough adverts during the X Factor over the past two weeks, could they not have managed one teeny, weeny little promo of this awesome and brilliant programme?

Panic stations aside, if like me you are missing The Fixer tonight, then you can catch them on ITV Player later in the week.

My TV addict colleague says that she saw one or two promos so I guess I just wasn’t watching at the right time. Still, The Fixer is so good they deserve billboards and bus advertisements.

Ed Westwick: Sex On Legs and He Can Act Too!

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:24:00 PDT

Gossip Girl is one of my guilty pleasures. Actually, who am I trying to kid? I’m a shameless wench that will watch anything with good looking actors in it. I’m about half way through season 2 and I’m racing to finish it by the time the new season starts again on 14 September. Valerie over at TV News and Reviews has also fallen prey to this addictive little teen drama and as she said, the spoilers are going crazy for the new season so it really is prudent that I catch up soon!

As I know Valerie and other readers are not yet on season 2 of Gossip Girl, I am not going to spoil he storyline for you. Suffice to say though that Chuck Bass (played by Ed Westwick) becomes a central character in the story and he gets a lot more screen time than he did in season 1.

Nate, Blair, Chuck and Dan all getting along just fine

The biggest surprise of season 2 for me has been to see what an excellent actor Ed Westwick really is. He has given strong performances the whole season and I have loved the storylines involving him. It is in episode 13 “O Brother Where Bart Thou” that he really shines though and he gives a brilliant performance.

Watch out for Ed Westwick playing Heathcliff in 2010’s Wuthering Heights. Damn, does this mean I’m going to have to read a real book by then?

As I near the end of season 2 I have to admit that Gossip Girl is indeed one of my favourite shows. I love that I am able to recognise some of the locations after my trip to New York in June and I love that it is set in my favourite city on Earth. I love trashy teen dramas and all the lies, back stabbing and love affairs that go with them. Maybe I’ll never grow out of high school!

Book review: Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:40:45 PDT

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho is one of those books that has been on my “to-read” list for years; it was first recommended to me a good five years ago by my friend Vanessa over at sehnsucht.za.net. That makes sense because it is one of those books that you just want to share with people and in the two weeks since I completed it, I have recommended it to at least two other people.
I must say the timing of me reading this book was quite peculiar as this is an incredibly troubling and stressful time in my life. (Yes, I know you would never notice but I throw myself into blogging and television to make myself feel better!) I had stumbled upon a little book sale in the Galleria at Guy’s Hospital and all of Paolo Coelho’s books were on sale for £1 each. I had to buy it; I simply had no choice in the matter!
The book begins with Veronika’s decision to die by overdose. She has no particular reason for dying but then she has no particular reason for living either. She survives the attempt and lands up in the dreaded Villete mental hospital in Ljubljana, Slovenia and falls under the care of the head psychiatrist, Dr. Igor. Dr. Igor has a grand master plan to cure madness but is he just a quack?
Coelho weaves a wonderful story with mental illness at its heart. Telling the story through the experiences of the patients in Villete, this is as much a commentary of the nature of madness as it is a wonderful and uplifting story. To say that this book actually changed my life would be a great understatement but suffice to say that it reminded me of the necessity to live an authentic existence, of the intrinsic value of integrity and truth in our life.
I’m deliberately not delving deeper into the story as I would like readers to experience every surprise that I encountered but I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any adult. I might be wrong but I have a feeling that it might not have as much of an impact on people still of school-going age.
This is a poetic and philosophical book and I give it five out of five stars.

Veronika Decides to Die has been made into a film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Thewlis. I can’t wait to see the film – Coelho said that Gellar "portraits with emotion the Veronika I always imagined". I love David Thewlis (who played Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter Franchise) and I cannot wait to see the portrayal of Eduard (called Edward in the film). Here’s the trailer for the film which I believe will be released in November:

I’d advise against reading the comments for the trailer as it contains massive spoilers for the book and the story.

Reason why I love US TV more than UK TV

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:21:45 PDT

Alrighty. I know I’m always going on about the state of UK television but the reason is that fifteen years ago, UK television pwned US television. I’m a little disenchanted, that’s all.

But today’s reason that I love US television more is down to a little word called “scheduling”. I scour the Internet daily for news of when Merlin, The Fixer and Being Human might be returning but the BBC and ITV are so paranoid that they only release airing dates weeks before screening, days if you are unlucky! I nearly missed the start of the last Doctor Who season and that would have been an outright tragedy.

So I am happy to say that I came upon this list in a forum and thought it looked mighty useful and informative. These are US Fall screening dates (and I personally follow the US dates for my shows even though I live in the UK). I’m still waiting to see if the forum would mind me linking back to them so they shall remain anonymous for now.

8/31/09 (Mo.)
Greek
9/2/09 (We.)
So You Think You Can Dance
9/8/09 (Tu.)
90210 (yay!)
Melrose Place
Sons Of Anarchy
9/9/09 (We.)
America's Next Top Model
9/10/09 (Th.)
Supernatural (double yay!)
Vampire Diaries
9/14/09 (Mo.)
Gossip Girl (yay!)
One Tree Hill
9/17/09 (Th.)
Bones
Fringe
Survivor
9/18/09 (Fr.)
Crash
9/21/09 (Mo.)
Castle
CSI Miami
Heroes (yay!)
House
How I Met Your Mother
Two And A Half Men
9/22/09 (Tu.)
NCIS
NCIS: LA
9/23/09 (We.)
Criminal Minds
CSI New York
Gary Unmarried
Law and Order: SVU
New Adventures Of Old Christine
9/24/09 (Th.)
CSI
Grey's Anatomy
Mentalist (goodie!)
9/25/09 (Fr.)
Dollhouse
Ghost Whisperer
Law and Order
Numb3rs
Medium
Smallville
Southland
9/27/09 (Su.)
Amazing Race
American Dad
Brothers and Sisters
Californication
Cold Case
Desperate Housewives
Dexter (excellent!)
Family Guy
9/28/09 (Mo.)
Lie To Me (finally!)
10/1/09 (Th.)
Private Practice
10/9/09 (Fr.)
Sanctuary
Ugly Betty
10/15/09 (Th.)
30 Rock
1/17/10 (Su.)
24

TV: X Factor lacks the X Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Emm) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:29:44 PDT

I am a massive fan of The X Factor and have been looking forward to this new season since about 3 minutes after Alex won the last season. I’ve been excessively sad and spent the entire afternoon watching The Xtra Factor: Rewind and the best of 2008 specials in preparation for tonight. I know that I will happily give up my Saturday nights for the next four months now that my favourite programme is back… or will I?

Well, now that I think about it, maybe not. Simon Cowell has completely changed the format of this phenomenally successful show, as you do when you have a winning formula. Instead of a cappella auditions in front of the three judges, there is now a massive audience and both musical accompaniments and in Danyl’s case, a backing choir!!! Seriously, it was horrible! Danyl’s performance was lovely, really, but they’ve ruined the auditions stage, my favourite part of the show. Except for boot camp, presenter’s homes, live shows, the semi-finals and the final, of course.

Oh well, in the absence of gushing reviews of the amazing performances (or lack thereof), I’ll leave you with a couple of links found in the week.

What happens at an X Factor audition? by Genevieve Hassan, entertainment reporter for BBC News.
X Factor: psychologists will be on hand at all times to asses mental health of contestants at the telegraph.co.uk. I think this is a great idea but there has been some backlash from mental health advocates who believe that they are singling out mentally ill persons for entertainment purposes. Whatever the case, ordinary people can cave under pressure at any time and I think this move is a responsible one.

The best part about The X Factor being back is the awesome presenters. It was great to see Dermot and Holly back although the new format significantly cut down on Dermot’s screen time. Not cool.