Lopez Blogs

Hello dears. It has been an exceptionally busy week and I have spent most of saturday and sunday sleeping! Perhaps I have ME!! Although more likely, it is because i have been hit really hard by hayfever (worse than ever before) and the new tablets I am on just make me like a zombie. I have got to sort something better out than this, I'm like the living undead :S On the plus side, I have been nominated for an award this week - it's all work related and probably very dull, but it is all to do with a programme of support I designed for older people with dementia using outside space more (e.g. gardens, parks, flowers, plants) to stimulate memory and social interraction. Hurrah for it working, apparently :) I'm not normally the type of person to shout about accomplishments (I was horribly embarrassed when i got nominated for a blog award earlier in the year!!) but i'm sort of vainly proud of this, even if i don't win :P Anyway, on with the highlights of the week...

BEST IN SHOW THIS WEEK:

• TV - it was the first full week of Big Brother and by golly, I have decided that I dislike the majority of the contestants (although there are some I dislike less than others just because they haven't really done much yet. Um hello is Rodrigo even in there? And Freddie is a bit out there really, even for me). Saffia mercifully took her dated Bridgette Nielsen haircut and walked, stating it was because she needed her kids. Lovely, although she had no qualms abandoning them to go in there in the first place. Strangest, most creepy contestant has to be Sree - Srapeey as I call him. Best-worst moment involving him was when he basically called Karly a slag, then rubbed her boob and told her she was naive and immature to cheer her up. SCORE! PS - on a vapid shallow note, for the first time ever there is NO ONE in the house i fancy :( This year's star and becoming increasingly attractive is bloody George Lamb (BBLB)
• TV - Greek has turned into one of the smartest, wittiest shows on tv. Season finale this week and thank god it's coming back for a third season :)
• TV - 2/3rds of the brillo team behind the delightfully macabre League of Gentlemen tv series (and disappointing movie, whose script was pillaged for the latest grossly horrible Red Dwarf reunion) have a new show starting on Thurs called Psychoville. With a killer clown! And Dawn French. Ergo is clearly unmissable.
• BOOK - have finished Johnny Mackenzie and The Spirit of London. Sort of came across as a junior Doctor Who adventure and was quite good over all. Best thing was it was in 13 chapters and so each chapter felt like an episode of a tv show. Time travel does make my head scratch a bit though!
• MUSIC - Everyone and his dog are raving about Le Kid's debut single Mercy Mercy (above), and quite rightly so. It's quite a lovely summer pop song, even if it does owe a rather large debt to Girls Aloud's Can't Speak French. Still, trying not to smile while this plays is utterly useless and I am eagerly anticipating the album. Bonus points for spelling out their band name in the middle 8! Check out Bob's interview with them...
• MUSIC - talking of kids (and I was), Popjustice is rather appalled by the new Kid British single Our House is Dadless. I thought their last song Sunny Afternoon was a brilliant slice of Bradley S Club meets The Streets. This isn't quite as brilliant, but the lyrics are quite witty and clever and of course The Madness sample makes it entirely catchy. Overall then I am secretly (not so much anymore!) liking it...
• MUSIC - poor Adem felt that he was the only person in the world that liked both the new Aqua song and the accompanying video Back To The 80s. Not so fine sir. I adore both and the tune is number one in Denmark :) Can't wait to see what the british public make of it later this summer...
• MUSIC - I still find Lady GaGhastly not for me, but I was reminded via the lovely Melismatic of the brillo Wynter Gordon's Surveillance the other day. It's such a brilliant tune, that had it had a bigger push would have predated the GG sound by a good 12 months. I have shared this opinion with several people, and only one agreed with me and he was a drunk DJ. Oh well :) It's still brillo!!
• MUSIC - I am in absolute love with the Little Boots album. It is clearly the best album that Kylie never made. It's not exactly groundbreaking or edgy, but there are some glorious lyrical and melodic highlights strewn through every single track. Remedy is indeed going to make a marvy second single, even if it does channel the thematic lyrical content of Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer!! (As Ghost channels Madge's Supernatural, but it's still all rather aces)
• MUSIC - Well good on Mika, I say. I continue to adore his low-key release Songs for Sorrow EP which arrived in the post this week. I didn't realise, but it comes with a rather brillo-pad book which really enhances the music contained within. Good on Mika for going for some he is creatively passionate about, and roll on the new album (Excellent article on his new EP and album in this month's Observer Music Monthly!)
• MUSIC - Tom Baxter put out one of the most underrated albums of the past couple of years with the outstanding Skybound, and now his unconventionally attractive hottie brother Charlie Winston is churning out equally excellent music. His debut single In Your Hands is very charming - a carefully constructed folk-pop song with a great chorus and imbued with personal lyrics that give it added appeal. I've downloaded his massive French hit album Hobo and it's bonza.
• CAN'T WAIT - The cover feature on this month's attitude magazine has totally changed my opinion towards The Gossip. Their new album sounds absolutely immense and of course I trust XO's valued opinion. Also impatiently waiting for - the Maxwell album, Mr Hudson's Straight No Chaser and the new Whitney single :)
• TESTING OUT - The Vagabond album is basically the third album that Rooster never got around to releasing because they split up. I can't work out whether I like it or not - it's not bad per se, and elements of it I really like. I'll have another few listens and get back to you. On Phil's recommendation though and two listens, I'm hooked on the Cicada album.
• FINALLY - I'm so over Pixie Lott. I can't believe the song, which admittedly briefly won me over before I came to my senses, has topped the UK charts :S Apparently slapping a boy in the face during the videos "dance-clap fight off" scene is an appropriate way to resolve conflict. Hideous...

ESSENTIAL LINKS:

XO has a brilliant mixtape post up which are always amazing; Chartrigger presents the Pet Shop Boys doing Viva La Vida; Mike has this week's poptrash panel (booo you whores for not loving JLS!); Poppostergirl is back (thank god); Aaron introduces me to The Dimes and my fave new (to me) website of the week comes courtesy of Trixie - Karinski! It covers brillo new tunes like the aforementioned Le Kid, and upcoming popstart Daisy Dares You. Good luck with XOXO!

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

Bit of a chart revamp week this week. I've been subtly playing the Benny Andersson Band new abba song for a few weeks, but really got hooked on it this week. And JLS and Dan Black are just entirely too moreish for words :) BWO rises a couple of slots thanks to Donal Industry's recommendation of the Oscar Holter remix...

21 ~ Annie, Anthonio
20 ~ Same Difference, All Roads Lead To Heaven
19 ~ Alesha Dixon, Let's Get Excited
18 ~ Mr Hudson, Supernova
17 ~ Take That, The Garden
16 ~ Pet Shop Boys, Did You See Me Coming?
15 ~ Dan Black, Symphonies (NE)
14 ~ JLS, Beat Again (NE/VID)
13 ~ Alcazar, From Brazil With Love
12 ~ Industry, My Baby's Waiting
11 ~ Marina and The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot
10 ~ Mans Zelmerlow, Home
09 ~ Jason Mraz, Try Try Try
08 ~ Freemasons ft SEB, Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
07 ~ DollyRockers, Je Suis Un Dolly
06 ~ Jordin Sparks, Battlefield
05 ~ Little Boots, New in Town
04 ~ Elouise, One Night Only
03 ~ BWO, Right Here Right Now
02 ~ "Abba", Second Best To None
01 ~ Benny Andersson Band, Story Of A Heart (NE/1 Week)