Olympics

With no football currently it has been very easy to be drawn into watching the 2008 Olympic Games. It seems to be on all the time and just about everywhere you look there is something about the Olympics. So far in the Olympics there has been a heavy focus on the swimming events and there seems to be so many heats, finals and events in the pool you get lost with what’s going on.

It’s hard to ignore the fact that Michael Phelps is cleaning up big style as far as swimming goes. He is already considered the greatest Olympic athlete, swimmer and man in the history of the Olympic Games. I am just incredibly happy and feel extremely privileged that I was alive during his prime. The man must have fish DNA. No. Shark DNA. He is a monster in the pool and I won’t be surprised if he wins all the medals he has entered in for (eight; five won so far).

The British have done pretty well in the pool and it’s good to see that most of the swimmers we have are very young ranging from 17 to 20 years of age. So we have a good future ahead of us for the London 2012 Olympics. Although the men pretty much have no chance if Phelps is still swimming in 2012 which you imagine he will be.

I’ve also been fascinated with the table tennis; hockey and today the beach volley ball grabbed my attention. The game I was watching happened to be Russia versus Georgia, both countries I wouldn’t expect to be particularly good at the sport. How many beaches do Russia and Georgia have? Anyway Georgia were getting hammered in the first set but came back and beat the Russians which seems slightly fitting when you consider what’s happening between the two countries at the moment.

So far the games have been fantastic and with track and field events set to begin on Friday the Olympics will get a lot, a lot better.

Big Brother

I said this year that I was not going to watch Big Brother and was even up for backing some campaign I heard about called “Boycott Big Brother”. But having no job means you have a lot of time on your hands so you end up watching things you probably wouldn’t if you were busy. Sadly for me this means being sucked into watching Big Brother, I mean I’m not obsessed and have never watched any live feeds but I will pretty much watch it every night if I’m in.

This year has been the year of the bully (Alex), the rude (Sylvia), the vicious (Dennis) and at the moment the animal (Bex). Thankfully the first three were got rid of pretty quickly and fingers crossed Bex will be next because I think she is the most vile person I have ever witnessed, ever. I mean Jade would usually hit the top of those charts but at least she was funny but Bex is just an animal who needs to be removed from television as soon as humanly possible.

Luke is the biggest bitch I have ever seen, I can’t believe people like him exist in this world. He is always in the camera shot, he is absolutely everywhere and is usually bitching, gossiping and just generally being a prick. Him and Jen must go pretty soon for the sanity of me and others watching Big Brother.

At the moment I am leaning towards Rex winning because I don’t see what is so bad with him. Yes he has lots of money, but he hasn’t been spoon fed as many of the housemates (whom are all jealous) are suggesting. He is a head chef in his own restaurant so therefore he works hard for his money and at least he is good at a trade. What is Bex good at? Absolutely sod all. Last night in the diary room he definitely got my vote to stay in for this week when he said he was lonely in the house and said he doesn’t fit in. We’ve all been there and for people like Jen, Stuart and Dale they have no idea what it feels like because they like to be popular all the time.

I can’t believe I have got to the point where I am blogging about Big Brother, I DEFINITELY need a job. Please, somebody employ me. Please.

Glastonbury 2008

This time last year I was regretting not going to Glastonbury although I did have an A-Level English Language exam on the Monday afternoon so that would’ve made it pretty difficult anyway. However I said as soon as it finished and I’d watched as much coverage as humanly possible that weekend that I would definitely go the next year. Fast forward to the beginning of 2008 festival rumours were beginning to come out and the big talking point was of course the Glastonbury headliners. Radiohead were talked about and everyone thought it would be them headlining one of the nights and I began myself getting excited about the thought of heading to Glastonbury.

So where was I last weekend? At home. Why? Well I think the line up pretty much sums up my reasoning for not going and of course the weather, which this year was actually good in Glastonbury’s recent history. Now it would be easy to blame Jay-Z for the lack of sales this year and for me not going but fuck it I am going to blame Jay-Z. That Saturday night could and should’ve been filled by Radiohead, if so then I would’ve been there and so would hundreds / thousands of others.

Last Friday night I sat down pressed the red button on my remote ready to watch some good Glasto coverage but what I got was mediocrity upon mediocrity. The choice was so bland and boring it made me sick to think these bands are even gracing the great Glastonbury stages. On the red button it was a choice between watching The Fratelli’s, The Enemy or Reverend and the Makers. My goodness what has the world come to when you have to choose out of those three bands? I think I’d rather watch TV coverage of paint drying.

I mean that put me right off even watching anymore footage but I thought no I would give it another go. So I tuned in late Saturday night to witness Jay-Z “performing” on BBC Two and on BBC Three Amy Winehouse “singing”. I wasn’t sure which was worse… no actually Amy Winehouse is far worse. Sunday night didn’t get much better with The Verve (Richard Ashcroft) boring me and thousands of others I’m sure. Of course there was some really great artists playing: Yeasayer, Edwyn Collins, Mystery Jets, Battles, Sons and Daughters, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, Los Campesinos all come to mind. But how much of their sets were covered? Out of those listed I only saw one song by MGMT and one song by Vampire Weekend. Pretty poor, BBC, piss poor.

Oh yeah and how fucking annoying is Annie Mac? God her voice just grates on me and she has no personality what-so-ever and is lacking any sort of charisma or charm to be a good presenter, stick to fucking Radio late night so we don't have to listen to you. Grimshaw is slightly better, but after an hour or so his voice gets on your nerves and appears to be everywhere at the moment which is not helping his annoying cause. So Eavis (and the BBC) sort it out next year, book some proper headliners and stop trying to appeal to “the kids”. For fuck sake.

Eurovision 2008

Understandably this post should’ve come seven days ago however I’ve been up to my eyes in work (hahahaha). It’s just late and I got a spur to write about it mainly because my girlfriend purchased the newest Sebastien Tellier album today and we listened to it on the car on the way home.

Anyway back on track; the Eurovision contest is always a great laugh usually because a mixture of Terry Wogan’s commentary and the acts involved. It has become an absolute joke recently though and for all the wrong reasons. The Eurovision is not about the music it’s all about politics and who is “in” with whom. What a surprise that countries such as Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland all voted for each other. Or that the Eastern block all voted for each other and who was surprised when Spain and Portugal gave each other the top points? Certainly not me.

I do not think the UK deserved to get any points considering the song this year was done by X-Factor reject and ex-bin man Andy. It was a dreadful song and the way Andy pranced around stage made you cringe to think he had kids watching him. The United Kingdom deserved nothing but surprisingly got 14 points (or something pathetic like that).

I actually can’t remember the song that won it anymore (which says a lot about the song) but remember that it was Russia and that Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia etc all voted for Russia. IF the votes were purely based on how good the song was then Russia would’ve stood no chance. On music there was only one winner and that was France. Sebastien Tellier’s Divine was easily the best song eight days ago. How the hell he did not win is beyond me, the song stood out like a throbbing sore thumb compared to the “talent” it was up against.

Poor Sebastien, I am sure you’re gutted but do not worry Mr. Tellier because the rest of my family and I think you were ace. You are the real winner of Eurovision 2008.

Sebastien Tellier - Divine (Credit to GWFAS)

Pushing Daisies

Admittedly upon hearing the concept of this show I was not very keen on paying it much attention, everything about it screamed rubbish to me. However you should never judge a book by a cover or in this case the trailer. Constant nagging by my girlfriend to watch it with her I sat down to watch it.

Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised with the show which is not really like anything around at the moment. How ITV have managed to secure the rights to show the first series is beyond me, it definitely feels like a Channel 4 programme. The narrator is in similar vein to that of Channel 4 hit show Desperate Housewives.

The story follows Ned who runs ‘The Pie Hole’, Ned is not like any other Pie Maker he has the ability to bring the dead back to life however there is a twist. They can only live for a minute otherwise they will live and someone else will die, and Ned cannot touch them after the minute is up or they will die. Now, this all seems quite irrelevant however Ned works for Emerson who finds cases where a reward is offered for answers on murders. The relationship between Emerson and Ned gives us some great comedy moments, but the relationship between Emerson, Ned and Ned’s child hood sweet heart Chuck is what makes the programme so good.

Chuck ends up being killed however Emerson gets the case and Ned brings her back to life but he ends up keeping her alive however he cannot touch her which provides great difficulty throughout the programme. The first series is only a mere 9 episodes long and after seeing them all it makes you want the second season so very desperately!

Flight of the Conchords

I’ll be extremely surprised if you’ve not heard the album or watched Series 1 yet, however if for some strange reason you haven’t then go do it now. Admittedly I was a late comer to the programme, but once I watched the first episode I could not stop watching more and the very next day I went out and purchased the DVD. If you’ve not heard of Flight of the Conchords (unlikely) here is a quick run down of what it’s all about. Jemaine and Bret are a folk/pop band from New Zealand called Flight of the Conchords. They live in New York and have a David Brent style manager in Murray along with an obsessive fan called Mel (their only fan).

Every episode Jemaine and Bret perform several of their songs such as Inner City Pressure, Foux Du Fafa, If You’re Into It, A Kiss Is Not A Contract, It’s Business Time and more. The songs are a mix of pop, electro, acoustic and plenty of comedy involved with the lyrics. A perfect example of the comedy lyrics includes “The manager, Bevin, starts to abuse me. Hey man, I just want some muesli.” My favourite lyric from one of the songs however is “How about you and two dudes, him you and Stu in the nude, being lude with two dudes with food. Well that’s if Stu’s into it.”

The first series contains 12 episodes of pure comedy gold, and the album has 15 of the songs from Series 1. Flight of the Conchords is like a perfect blend of surreal (Mighty Boosh) and reality (The Office). You cannot help but love Murray who is their manager, who calls band meetings every day during his normal job hours. He tries desperately to help the band and get them gigs but more often than not fails miserably.

The new season is expected at some point this year and I am waiting with much anticipation and excitement!

Flight of the Conchords – Ladies of the World
Flight of the Conchords – Foux Du Fafa
Flight of the Conchords – A Kiss Is Not A Contract