If you know me at all you know that I absolutely love Robyn, so obviously I loved the Erato cover of her song “Call Your Girlfriend”, and today I’ve loving a new cover of that cover! I’m loving it becuase A) it’s good, and B) the singers are 8 and 12. 8 and 12. That’s 2nd class and 6th class (I think). WOW.
Oh and Lennon plays guitar too. Pretty well.
I don’t know about you but I’m impressed. And feeling inadequate.
From Channel 4 news tonight. Scarleh for our mas for having us.
(Via Broadsheet)
I’ve watched 3 episodes of Dublin Housewives now, so I think it’s time to say a few words. Ok, I’ve already said loads of words over on Twitter, but it’s time to say a few words here. Despite the bizarro scheduling (how many episodes are we going to get? Is it just going to be on for a week and then disappear for ages a la Come Dine With Me? What’s that about?!?), I’m enjoying it, but then that’s hardly a surprise given my penchant for shite telly. Let’s do a quick rundown of the characters:
1. Virginia Macari: She’s my favourite so far. I think she’s actually relatively genuine given the situation, she’s firey which I like and I can’t help but be slightly seduced by how beautiful she is. She’s just had a baby, and is currently obsessed with expressing milk and her new swimwear line.
2. Jo: Jo makes me sad because she is so sad. She’s made her way from Ballymun to Castleknock and she has a son. That’s the good stuff. She seems quite sweet at the core of it but her obvious unhappiness in her marriage is tough to watch. Also, I can’t help but mention that she could do with a friendly run-in with POD from “Snog, Marry, Avoid”; she’s a good looking woman but there’s a frightening amount of hairspray, tan and panstick going on.
3. Roz: Wife, mother…tumbleweed.
4. Lisa Murphy: I mean…how could you not love Lisa? By her own admission, she’s been minded her whole life, whether by her family or her boyfriends, and she is essentially a whisp of candyfloss dolled up the nines 24/7. She gets bonus points for the fact that her beauty salon is called “A New Lisa Life” and of COURSE for her accent. It’s incredible. The stuff of legend. You have to hear it to believe it, or else you could trawl through the Gift Grub archives and hear what they’ve done with it.
5. Danielle: Danielle is a Botox practitioner with a son. She loves her son and rugby players (as long as they don’t have a brain…no really, she said that) and hates pretty much everything else. She will be the source of most of the conflict as she is one of those “I’M NOT A BITCH I’M JUST HONEST” bitches. However, she is currently in my good books because tonight she uttered one of the best statements I’ve ever heard on Irish tv.
“I wouldn’t attend Michael O’Doherty’s VIP Style Awards. There are a million things i’d rather do than attend that sunburned fuckwit’s cabaret tonight.”
Amazing. She then went on to make a very salient point about how she wouldn’t “rate a woman on the frock she’s wearing” which I liked too. FEMINISM? That’s the last thing we expected. Well done Danielle.
Overall, it’s very entertaining for someone like me who occasionally likes to be entertained/made-feel-slightly-smug/not-have-to-use-my-brain-very-much while watching telly of a weeknight. I’m looking forward to future gems from Danielle, although tonight’s will be hard to beat.
I know Les Mis. I know Les Mis so well that there is scarcely a nuance I am not able to describe in great detail from the original cast recording which I stole from a family I was babysitting for* when I was 13 and listened to constantly for 4 and half years. I imagined I was Cosette, Eponine and later Fantine. I sang “I Dreamed a Dream” for school concerts in America**, London and then for my Leaving Cert. I cried at least 5 times when I eventually got to see it in the West End, and I think there is still a tiny part of me that wishes evil on every little girl who get’s to play the young Cosette because they are LIVING MY DREAM. I love Les Mis.
Needless to say I was skeptical when they started talking about a movie, partially because it’s so precious to me, and partially because I just don’t think many musicals have been done justice on screen in recent times. (Dreamgirls or The Producers anyone?) I was even less excited when it was announced that Anne Hathaway would be playing Fantine. I don’t like to go hating on random people I don’t know, especially girls, but she just really gets on my wick with her “I’m really wholesome and just SO SO refined and gracious and clever” routine. However, the trailer for the film is out and not only does it look pretty amazing, I really buy Anne Hathaway as Fantine in the bits they show us! I’m shocked, but more than shocked, I’m excited! Time to break out that CD!***
*I am not proud of this, but so desperate was I for some Broadway in my life that I literally couldn’t resist. My deepest apologies to that family now and forever, I can only imagine what singalong opportunities I have deprived you of over the years.
**We’ve moved a lot.
***Who the F am I kidding, it’s on my iPhone and I listen to it on the regular.
This woman is so stupid I can’t even be mad at her.
I can’t help but rekindle the love for Madonna that goes deep down into my soul while watching this. It’s footage from rehearsals for her tour, she is singing a mash up of “Express Yourself” and “Born this Way” that leads into her song, “She’s not Me.” CHECKMATE MADONNA.
She’s up there with Dolly for me.
Three years ago this week, I arrived in to my job presenting the breakfast show on i102-104 and set about my morning routine of getting up to date on what had gone on in the world overnight. It was pretty standard fare to start with, but then a photograph popped up and to be honest, I couldn’t believe my eyes. We’re all familiar with it at this point, but at the time I couldn’t believe it was real.
There was the beautiful Rihanna, battered and bruised, with a lump on her forehead and scratches and blood on her chin. Somehow, you could see the pain on her face, beaming through her closed eyes. I remember googling other photos of her to check that the tattooed roman numerals which were visible on her shoulder matched up to other, happier, images of her. As the details emerged I spoke about them on the show, with the weight of the responsibility of knowing that the person who was responsible for this damage was the hero of many of the young people I was speaking to on my shoulders. I wanted to make sure they understood that his behaviour was in no way acceptable. I wanted them to know that it was NEVER acceptable for a man to harm a woman in this way (or vice versa). As far as I was concerned, his career was over. It had to be, right? He couldn’t be allowed to be a role model.
When the police report surfaced, it made me lose my breath. It described how Rihanna’s boyfriend of a year and half, Chris Brown, had viciously assaulted her on a car journey home from a pre-grammys party over a text message from an ex of his. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“Robyn F turned to face Brown and punched her in the left eye with right hand. He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand. The assault caused Robyn F Osmouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing and the interior of the vehicle. Brown looked at Robyn F and stated “I am going to beat the s–t out of you when we get home! You wait and see!?”
“Brown held Robyn F close to him and bit her on her left ear. She was able to feel the vehicle swerving from right to left as Brown sped away. He stopped the vehicle in front of [address] and Robyn F turned off the car removed the key from inignition and sat on it. Brown did not know what she did with the key and began punching her in the face and arms. Brown began applying pressure to Robyn F left and right carotid arteries causing her to be unable to breathe.”
There’s more, a lot more. You can read the full report here, and I think everyone should refresh their memories. This was not a single loss of temper, or flash of anger, it was an assault that lasted long enough for her to leave a voicemail for one assistant and attempt to get in touch with another. He punched her repeatedly, he bit her more than once, and he threatened to kill her. The fact that she has been able to bounce back in the way she appears to have is incredible, but I suppose none of us really know what goes on behind closed doors or what she feels about the whole thing at this point.
As for Chris Brown, he released this heavily scripted video 5 months after the incident in which he said he “accepted full responsibility” for the incident.
I’m not sure I bought it. In subsequent interviews Chris Brown seemed agitated by questions about the incident, he seemed like he felt everyone should be over it. According to reports, he was so agitated by the questions in this interview that afterwards he tore off his t-shirt, stormed out of the studio, and broke a window in his dressing room:
That didn’t seem like accepting responsibility to me. If he had accepted responsibility and fully acknowledged what he did and the consequences of his actions he wouldn’t have been in any way surprised that people wanted to talk about the incident two years on. As far as I was concerned, people would be talking to him about this long into the future, as they should be. The man was a role model, adored by young men and women all around the world, and he really messed that up.
But…it would appear that in some places, all is forgiven. Last night, Chris Brown performed at the Grammys, the biggest night in music, and went on to win one of the awards for “Best R&B Album”. I have a problem with this. A big problem with this. And this is why:
Those are just a few, there are loads more, loads of young women who think that having someone beat you up is an acceptable price to pay for having a famous and attractive boyfriend. By glorifying him, society is sending a message to those young women that what he did really wasn’t all that bad. Society is sending a message to young men that it really isn’t the worst if you lose your temper and hit your girlfriend. People will get over it.
I’m not over it. I don’t think I ever will be.
From www.womensaid.ie:
Actually can’t stop watching her half time performance from the Superbowl. INCREDIBLE.
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