Happy Hallowe'en Guys and Ghouls... well actually, i never really got Hallowe'en, other than it produced some great episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I guess it's not as huge in England as it is in America. But the real reason that i do look forward to Hallowe'en is basically because it marks the beginning of the countdown to Christmas for me :) I did have kind of a scary experience today which is suitable for hallowe'en... i was coming back from the doctors and i hadn't worn a coat as it was really sunny when i left. On the way back home, it started pouring down with rain. And then stopped as randomly as it had started. So i was drenched. I went into a local shop to get some orange juice and as I came out, 2 kids came storming past, being chased by the police. I went flying, my orange juice burst and the police leapt over me, before catching up and handcuffing those hooligans. no one came to see if i was ok! So i had a little sniffle, felt sorry for myself and got some more OJ. Sheesh...
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THE SHOULD'VE BEENS (hallowe'en special):
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Well, it's only sort of linked to Hallowe'en because a) it's scary how unsuccessful they were and b) they had a song that was so cartoonish, it would've made Scooby Doo blush. And yet I loved them unreservedly. Possibly because when they supported Steps, and sang Land Of Make Believe i changed the words to "Not for all the tea in china or a look at Ruth's vagina" getting me glares from Ruth and a disgruntled parent next to me... or maybe it's because Sam Bloom was quite hot in a cheeky scamp sort of way. Whatever, it was, All*Stars were the ITV answer to BBC's S Club franchise. And by rights, if you ignore the all too bubble gum first single Best Friends, they should have been much bigger than they were. Things That Go Bump In The Night was a perfect 'tweener pop single with some great Xenomania remixes; how could people not love the brilliant choice of cover Land Of Make Believe, which as it was released in January, warmed up those cool winter months - and then of course there was the gorgeous Cathy Dennis-penned ballad Back When, which stiffed in the charts and spelled the end of their career. Of course, they weren't original and their songs weren't particularly groundbreaking, but they were a lot of fun and sometimes the chart needs that. The real crime is that their best song Love Is was never given a chance to shine...
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LINK: Buy Allstars only album
MP3: Allstars - Back When
MP3: Allstars - Love Is
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THE WICKEDLY GOOD SEQUEL:
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It's well known to regular readers of my blog (and if you are not reading regularly, then why not?!) that Wicked by Gregory Maguire is my favourite book of all time, and that i recently got to go and see Wicked The Musical in London (finally - it was killing me knowing that it was playing in NYC all these years...) So imagine my delight when, during last years trip to LA, I stumbled upon the sequel which had just been released. I was scared it would sully my love for Wicked by being a cheap for the money only follow up, but it continues the story beautifully and opens new mysteries as well as solving some lingering questions from Wicked. I am so hoping it is the middle of a trilogy of Wicked books. The thing I love about Gregory Maguire books is that there is so much detail and visualisation on every single page that it takes ages to read. And rereading them is a must to pick up on new things - much like Harry Potter. Needless to say I was loving myself sick reading this book.
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My favourite part ~ when Liir and Trism have their own brokeback mountain romance that is dashed apart by the respective responsibilities and they don't even get chance to say goodbye...
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"Liir looked at Trism. As much as could pass between them in a look without words, passed: and another moment of possibility crashed and burned"
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MP3: Defying Gravity - from Wicked (piano solo)
MP3: As Long As You're Mine - from Wicked (piano solo)
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THE GENIUS OF TIM BURTON:
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Tim Burton is the master of presenting a gothic fairytale. He had the seemingly impossible task of making audiences forget the campy 60s Batman in his 1989 classic (although i still have a yen for ...Forever and ...And Robin!). Edward Scissorhands was a gorgeous visual treat that was achingly beautiful to watch. Fortunately, this all hallows eve, we get a rerelease (in 3-D no less) of the delightful Nightmare Before Christmas (well us Brits have to wait til Dec, but that's ok...), a film about wanting more than you have and then having well intentioned plans go wrong. The story telling and lessons are sound, but it's the cast of characters and creepy, yet catchy music (check out songs from it here and here) that make this movie come alive...
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And of course, if you are checking out that movie, you have also got to see The Corpse Bride, where only Tim Burton could show the land of the living as dour, dreary and ashen Victorian mansions while portraying the underworld of the dead as a lively and colourful place indeed. And as it is only a spritely 76 minutes, it's the perfect thing to pop in when you feel like having some strangely uplifting fun....
LINK: Buy Batman DVD
LINK: Buy The Corpse bride DVD
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THE RETURN OF A CLASSIC (thanks Rose):
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Not two minutes after I wrote about how you should all own The Dark Crystal, but reader Rose gets in touch (and provided me with the link to the pic above) to let me know that a sequel is currently being made. Oh lala! Apparently The Power of The Dark Crystal was outlined by Jim Henson right after the first one was released 25 years ago. It will still be puppets (yay!) but will explore more of the mythology of the dark crystal world. Plus there's rumoured to be a bit of a tender love story between two new characters, Kensho and Thurma! Being an old romantic, sounds like a winner to me :)
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THE HALLOWE'EN PLUS ONE:
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If you read my interim and possibly now deleted blog earlier, you will know that i planned and wrote up this hallowe'en themed blog yesterday, which would have been much more timely, n'est pas? But no, my internet provider has to go and lose power of an evening so, as Hotstuffsamuel says, this is a bit like E4 in the fact that its the same old thing but later. Oh, you get my drift :) Anyway, just some random songs for you and some links to a couple of sites that did some GREAT hallowe'en postings... .
LINK: Check out Nick's amazing post of hallowe'en themed songs. This boy works hard for the money ;)
LINK: Check out Nick's amazing post of hallowe'en themed songs. This boy works hard for the money ;)
LINK: Similarly, Poppostergirl has a few scary tunes for ya!
LINK: Chartrigger and XO both celebrate all hallows eve in their own special way ;)
MP3: Timewarp 2007
MP3: The Postmarks - Every day is Hallowe'en (See! So it don't matter if i'm a day late!)
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QUICK BITZ:
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~ Darren bought himself an iPod nano yesterday thus ruining the christmas gift i had got for him. Back to the drawing board then...
~ check out some cool madonna and all saints remixes over at Zeon's place (scroll down a bit for some hallowe'eny goodness too!)
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Coming soon: A Switch-22 interview! The Zapping Directory! The rest of my top 20 boybands of all time! My top 20 girl bands of all time! My top 20 pop groups of all time! My top ten female singers! Books! The popstars that charts forgot; Lois and Clark; more new acts for your viewing pleasure! Ruthiepoos and Paul do The Feeling! And lots more probably...
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Disclaimer: This site is dedicated to getting quality pop music back into the charts. Any songs posted here are to encourage people to go out and buy the music from an online source or high street store. That's what the links are there for. If any artist or management want a link removed, please email me and i will do it straight away. We love the guys featured here and want them to succeed!
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Things That Go Bump was brilliant.
Your run-ins with the police sound scary. Do a Dannii and have a holiday for 7 months.
Another interview? Wow!
The new iPod nano is sexy--can't really blame Darren for buying it! I'm still nostalgic for the mini, though :(
I'm looking forward to the girl band list--I have a feeling it will introduce me to a lot of good groups I should already know about.
I can't wait to see 'The Power of The Dark Crystal'. Puppets YAY, I was wondering if they were gonna use puppets or CGI. CGI's ok but with puppets it feels more....'real'. Thanks for the mention Paul :-*
Hope everyone had a good Halloween.
PG - Darren has now become obsessed with his iPod Nano! I am an iPod Nano widow :(!
Rose - yay i can't wait for it to come out, should be a great movie...
"Love Is" randomly popped up on my iPod about a month ago while I was in Starbucks, and it was so good to hear it for the first time in about 3 years...