Sweet Blossom Russo! I have been blogging for a whole three years this weekend. That is one more year than I had been blogging this time last year. It all started with a little blog called Zappin' It To Ya, which one year later became The Zapping (dot com). Then there was a bit of a melt down, a bit of a realisation that at times TZ had been a bit pretentiously wanky, a whole family drama and thezapping dot com was gone. Forever and a day. And from the ashes rose fizzypop. And i'm quite liking it here. Here are the 10 essential things that I think has made thezapping and fizzypop so fun to write over the past three years :)
10 - Live Lounge: Some of my first posts were about BBC Radio 1's live lounge show. I still adore chart acts covering other chart acts songs in a cheeky/ironic/earnest sort of way. It's all become a bit ubiquitous now, but there are still some gems out there. For example, William Young quite recently and gloriously covered the Beatles "Golden Slumbers"...
09 - New acts that were actually quite crap: It's quite exciting isn't it when you find a "new" act (who already has 100 myspace fans, etc., so really you haven't discovered them!) and then based on that initial euphoria over a song or two, you blog away. Tragically most of them turn out to be crap on a stick and then I am hideously embarrassed. Let's try and forget some of the horrors I've mentioned over the years, and no doubt will do again...
08 - New acts that ended up going nowhere: I'm actually quite good at picking the odd act that I find utterly brilliant that then ends up going nowhere. Particularly early on in my blogging days. Digital could've ended up as a male girls aloud based on the poptastic Get Your Kit Off and Do Me Dirty alone. Disbanded before the world could appreciate their brilliance. Upper Room created some utterly gorgeous tunes (particularly Black and White, and All Over This Time) but lasted merely one album. Factor in Captain, The Modern, Protocol, Lorraine and Mohair, and I may be the kiss of death :(
07 - TV Times: Since i started blogging, Veronica Mars has ended. Buffy has restarted - in comic book format! Grey's Anatomy was brilliant, then shit, then a bit better. Gossip Girl is incredibly addictive. Dr Who is astounding. Pushing Daisies is utterly amazing but, er, pushing daisies :( And then of course there are all the incredibly brilliant cable shows like Dexter, True Blood, The Tudors, Entourage and Mad Men. Plus of course i adore the hideously manipulative X Factor :) Despite it's high irritant factor, it did give me Shayne Ward. Which leads me to...
06 - Buff hotties: I have drooled over many a man since the blog started. Not exactly dedicating posts to them, but sneakily slipping in some bloke love in and out of news and reviews. Some of the best since 2006 stored in my wankbank? Patrick Dempsey, Ben Barnes, Richard Jones of The Feeling, Penn Badgely, Adam Garcia, Jonas Armstrong, Adam Levine, Shayne Ward, Blake Lewis, B-Flo, Darren...
05 - Rubbish movies that only I seemingly love: Well and a few others, but i proudly show off my low brow tastes by revealing that some of my fave films of the past three years include Hairspray, Stardust, Australia, Mamma Mia and anything Harry Potter/Narnia related. None of them oscar winners, but marvelously watchable again and again...
04 - Obsessions: Hype is a weird thing with me. It can totally and utterly envelop me, or turn me off completely (e.g. Lady Gaga) Outside of music (more on that below), over the past 3 years I've been utterly obsessed and bored you with posts about Hairspray, Wicked, The History Boys, Georgia Nicholson, Harry Potter, Entertainment Weekly, Details and fashion. Good grief. Thanks for reading :)
03 - A Private Affair: I do enjoy sharing far too much about my personal life with you all. It must be terribly tiresome to read about dull saturday nights out, seeing that i've gone off clubbing and far prefer a nice evening in with friends or down the pub or at the theatre (Thornbirds the musical? I'm so there!). I'm probably far too candid for my own good, but this place has always been a bit of an online diary for me so expect more of the same! BTW, I've finally gotten round to using facebook more regularly so feel free to add me. Nothing related to the blog, but nice all the same :)
02 - Holiday Diaries: It's nice to keep these little recaps of my lovely holidays with lovely darren. Photos, warts and all. Mortifying to look back on, but nice. Gran Canaria coming in March and probably Bulgaria in May. Or a cruise. I like to travel. Darren has now resorted to saying "and that's not going on the blog!". His secrets are our secrets aren't they?!
01 - Blogcrushing: I've stolen the term from Modern Fabulousity but it's a good one. I've absolutely loved getting to know people via my little corner of the internet, and most of you are the salt of the earth :) And thank you all so much for the many comments you all have left - and continued to leave. I can't remember where I read it but someone once said comments were like gold dust to bloggers - I wouldn't quite say that, but i do reading your opinions on what I have written about. Someone else once said that the fizzypop comments page for each post was like chatting with your friends at the pub. Which is quite lovely really isn't it??
Top albums released since Feb 2006: Simon Curtis "Alter Boy"; The Feeling "Join With Us"/"12 Stops And Home"; BWO "Halcyon Days"/"Fabricator"; McFly "Motion In The Ocean"; Mika "Life in Cartoon Motion"; Take That "Beautiful World"/"The Circus"; Maroon 5 "It Won't Be Soon Before Long"; Blake Lewis "ADD"; Shayne Ward "Breathless"; William Young "Let It Go"; Same Difference "Pop"
Best one album wonders since Feb 2006: Mohair, The Upper Room, Same Difference (presumably, sob).
Best run of singles since Feb 2006: Tie - BWO (from Temple of Love to Bells of Freedom) and Girls Aloud (from Whole Lotta History to Loving Kind). Best tracks from these runs? Destiny of Love, Sexy No No No, Lay Your Love On Me and The Promise :)
Fizzypop 21 best acts of all time (in no particular order): Deborah Gibson, Simon Curtis, Abba, Steps, Madonna, Kylie, Erasure, Girls Aloud, The Feeling, Maroon 5, Scissor Sisters, Carpenters, The Killers, Annie Lennox, Take That, McFly, BWO, Robbie Williams, Jason Mraz, William Young, Cathy Dennis.
Sweet Blossom Russo! I have been blogging for a whole three years this weekend. That is one more year than I had been blogging this time last year. It all started with a little blog called Zappin' It To Ya, which one year later became The Zapping (dot com). Then there was a bit of a melt down, a bit of a realisation that at times TZ had been a bit pretentiously wanky, a whole family drama and thezapping dot com was gone. Forever and a day. And from the ashes rose fizzypop. And i'm quite liking it here. Here are the 10 essential things that I think has made thezapping and fizzypop so fun to write over the past three years :)
