Good afternoon zapping it fans. For some reason I am quite proud of my posts of the past two days – I have a similar one coming up extolling the virtues of undiscovered male solo singers waiting to come atcha and gareth gates themselves all over the charts. But I don't want to spunk my load too soon (reminds me – dad asked "what's all this spunk all over your website?" Guffaw) so I'll just do another of my random whatever pops into my head post. Woke up at 2.30am for some reason this morning and watched two episodes of season 3 of Lois and Clark before I got back to sleep. Sheesh! Still, only 3 days til the weekend…
THE TELEVISION GENIUS:
I'll be honest – I wasn't really expecting a lot from Robin Hood. Oh, sure I was really looking forward to it, but I did think that it would be a mild diversion that would pass the time between the x-factor main show and x-factor results show so I didn't have to listen to Ant and Dec shouting all the time! So I settled down to watch the new hoodie in action…. And I gottsta say that it was actually bloody brilliant. From the moment Jonas Armstrong appears, face hidden by his hood, he dominates the screen. He exudes sex appeal (hello new crush) and his character revels in the thrill of the chase and getting out of dangerous, yet sometimes humorous situations (loved his escape from the angry father after he goes in for a random snog with the daughter!). Yet there is something deeper within the character that makes for compelling viewing – clearly haunted by his years in the holy land, here is a man torn between his love for adrenalin rushes and the duty he feels to uphold the law of his parish. In a predictable yet exciting final scene, Robin frees the sons of his friend thus pitting himself in a season of battles against the sheriff of Nottingham (ably played by lily allen's dad!). I for one am absolutely hooked…
And two quickies – Grey's Anatomy continues to be utterly aces. Not only is it walloping CSI in the ratings, but it has now put a whole new spin on the Meredith-mcdreamy-mcvet-mcsteamy-addison love triange, er pentagon?! Check out the pic above – who wouldn't want to be in Meredith's situation (note: Chris O'Donnell hasn't looked this good since Batman Forever…)
Dante's Cove is my newest guilty pleasure. It is kind of a cross between sunset beach and Queer As Folk. Which is good, because Queer as Folk helped me get over the devastation of Sunset Beach ending and now Dante's Cove can help me over my Queer loss… little more than an excuse for soft porn and some serious scenary chewing, it's the type of show that has the gays snogging old corpses to break ancient curses. You may blanche a bit at that, but sunset beach was no worse – anyone remember when Vanessa was drugged and impregnated with sperm from a turkey baster that had been hidden in her sons ice cream in the freezer?! No? just me then…
THE PIANO MAN:
I am so glad I took up piano lessons again. I am having a whale of a time (what a dumb expression) trying out new pieces and making arrangements of songs to make them a bit different and exciting… Apart from learning the can-can, my current obsession is for one of my fave Elton John songs "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues". Not only is it a great song (love the line "rolling like thunder under the covers") but it sounds amazing on the piano and is a song you can really inject some passion and feeling into while you play it. But please everyone note – I look much more like the picture of Justin Lanning playing than I do David Sneddon!! Here are a couple of mp3s of the Elton classic – one rather bizarrely by Richard "Coronation St/Soapstar Superstar" Fleeshman. Eek…
MP3: Elton – I Guess That's Why…
MP3: Elton & Billy Joel – I Guess (live)
MP3: Richard Fleeshman – I Guess That's Why…
THE HISTORY BOYS:
Ooo excitement he wrote. Not only does the big screen version of The History Boys arrive in cineplexes across the country from this very Friday, but the stage version with the rather brilliant cast - and the xecier than the film Dakin - that I just got to see in Birmingham will be settling in for a three month run in the west end in early 2007. I seriously may be addicted to this now (though not as much as Wicked...)
THE LIVE LOUNGE:
Posting live lounge covers was one of the first things that got people visiting this site (you came for the covers but stayed for the witty scintillating writing, right?!) but I soon spunked 2 years of archives on you lot and so I now can only post them as and when they happen. The phenomenon continues to grow however, as a double cd of live lounge classics is due to be released later this month. Check out Kelly doing Ray, Automatic doing Kanye and the vastly underrated Boy Kill Boy doing Nelly. Saucy minxes…
MP3: Kelly Clarkson – Shelter
MP3: The Automatic – Gold Digga
MP3: Boy Kills Boy – Maneater
Previous live lounge posts are below – if the links no longer work and you want a particular track, just let me know!
Live Lounge - post one
Live Lounge - post two
Live Lounge - post three
Live Lounge - post four
HOT LINKS:
- there is a great big Zapping love in going on at one of my favourite bloggers site. No one else seems to match the enthusiasm of PosterGirl for cheesy unadulterated pop. And that's why I return the love tenfold ;)- is it very wrong that during this "oh dear god" moment, I was actually excited by a couple of tracks on the album? Yes, you are all shouting! It is! Well I know they are technically considered the spawn of satan, but i think they do what they do very well and their cover of Total Eclipse Of The Heart is quite nice. Just don't hate me forever...
MP3: Westlife - The Rose
MP3: Westlife - Total Eclipse Of The Heart
- The revenge of Gary Barlow continues. Not only is his autobiography flying off the shelves, but people are far more excited that the live Take That dvd is out on the same day as the generally perceived "meh" of Robbie's album... First single, the gorgeous Patience, debuted on radio today - and as a long time Take That fan, I really like it. I think it shows a maturity in writing and really shows where the band are emotionally at this point, rather than trying to recapture what has long since passed... Its 1995 all over again...
MP3: Take That - Patience
Coming soon: all the stuff I said yesterday but haven't got around to posting today…
Franz Ferd- Kaiser C- Artic Monks & Snow Pat especially.
Thanks!
A little bird whispered that someone else likes Patience and now thinks they are tacky ;)
guys - glad you like the live lounge covers. god bless Jo Whiley right - check out a live lounge refresh on tonights post with your requests. Golly, i'm so kind!
PG - i have seen the first ep of Lost - i watched it on the train to and from work yester. I thought the opening scene was brilliant and a total WOW moment! I'm a bit fed up of jack flashbacks but i am absolutely intruiged to see what the others want with jack, sawyer and kate - and why they are living in such surburban surroundings on the island. Did that exchange at the end mean that couple were married (when they used their real names??)
About LOST, hell yeah!
I think Juliet's character is very interesting. She's got this kind of Mona Lisa smile and charisma to her...And why do the others have to pretend to be like ancient people living in villages and wearing fur clothes and all back is season 2 when in fact they're all civilized and modernized? And still no answer about that four-toed foot statue? So many questions!
yes i will be eagerly checking out tonights episode of Lost!!