Lopez Blogs

Good morning all. I am a little worse for wear after a fun night out with the gang. I finally managed to work out twitpic, so you can see one quite nice and one quite awful picture of the shenanighans there. I have a brilliant one of Darren jumping in the air, but i'm too tired to upload it now. (He's looking hotter than ever btw - he has lost 20kg (since Feb 08) compared to my 11kg (since Jan 09) - and (not that he ever wasn't!!) is quite the bounce :P ) OH! New clothes! Bought an ace new purple stripey top (which luckily i didn't wear last night) and saw the same item on a hugely fat man, a lesbian with better choppy hair than me and a lighter pink version on a Jez from Britannia High lookalike. As someone from Gossip Girl would probably say "that's what happens when you buy off the rack". Epic fashion fail :( Oh well, on with the weeks observations...

NEW VIDEOS:

Above is the greatest song I have heard in a while - thank heavens popjustice posted it earlier this week for I have been obsessed since then. They quite rightly pointed out that it's rather brilliant and rubbish all at the same time, which is totally Abba. Abba are my favourite group of all time, hands down and the beauty of their songs is that they have exquisite lyrics, sometimes bonkers English, brilliant melodies, a smattering of novelty value and are always instantly likeable. PJ is again quite correct to say that it's a bit PWL - but then PWL were always a little (lot) inspired by Abba so I guess saying this sounds like them brings it full circle (head explodes)! Most of the nine million people I emailed/telephoned/texted the vid clip too were less enamoured than me with the tune, but it's clearly the greatest commercial since Charlotte Church revirginised. If you have watched the video as many times as me, you actually pick up on many moments of brilliance and a story starts to appear (must stop pausing on hot barman guy though - doesn't matter that i want to spaffle my batter on him, it interrupts the song!). Here are the highlights...

• 16sec - first appearance of "main characters" yellow cardi lass and Nikki lookalike from Heroes
• 22sec - first appearance of hot barman and less hot barman who you would probably end up doing when hot barman rejected you
• 1m12sec - it's hot barman getting down in the background. Bopping along is not really his strong point...
• 1m24sec - when the lyrics talk about fall until defeat, there is a woman sitting on the floor with a tray. In my Hotel Rival soap opera, someone has clearly run off with her wheelchair :(
• 1m35sec - ooo the main story starts. Hot barman starts flirting outrageously yet subtly with Nikki from Heroes. She does not seem to mind. Someone else will though, "mark my words"...
• 2m06sec - ooo less hot barman makes a nice looking red drink magically fill up in time to the beat. Brilliant...
• 2m10sec - two chefs briefly stand by each other and then walk away. They clearly had a bit of a fling and it ended sadly rather than badly :( Sniffle.
• 2m24sec - Hot barman bops along in the background, while Nikki from Heroes ponders their affair. But OH! They have been rumbled...
• 2m26sec - the brilliant Yellow Cardi Lass has rumbled them. She is clearly the lover of Nikki from Heroes but has been forced to remain a secret love. At 2m36 she does this effing amazing eyebrow raise to the line "time at last for my confessions"...

Oh dear lord. Clearly I have far too much time on my hands. I think I would actually get quite weepy if I imagined Abba singing this as one of my buddies suggested. And while I have been playing this umpteen times a day there have been many other cracking videos out this week!

• D'Luv has the new video for the next UK single (The Garden is Australian and European) from Take That - Said It All. They are all sad clowns and it is all very elegant and lovely. The Garden would have been a better UK single, but Said It All definitely has the better clip. Now when does Jase get to shine with the aces How Did It Come To This?
• Sophie Ellis Bextor is back! Proper back! With the Freemasons. Heartbreak made me top ten last year but is rooted back in with the official mixes. The video is a bit epilepsy inducing and the dance routine is a bit half hearted, but it's all designed to make you squeal with glee everytime it's on and quite rightly it does. God bless the DJ at Eden for playing the full Freemasons 12"mix...
• BWO have the sublime clip out for their second "Big Science" single Right Here Right Now out now and it is typical BWO - a little bit arty for the sake of being arty and a little bit watchable. Frankly I have always preferred BWO without the visuals which is a bit bizarre really.
• Finally those lovely The Days boys have the video up over at Aarons for Never Give Up. The song and the video are quite lovely, as are the boys for getting their kit off in the latest issue of Attitude for charity :) Love the concept of the video (playing the same song over and over again in some weird world record attempt), love the over enthusiastic coach, love that the lead singer retains perfect pop star hair throughout the five days and love that the overlooked cute beardy guitarist is the last one standing :)

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:

• Lovely Dean Lennon has an ace electro-pop song on his myspace called On The Floor. It has these great hand clapping moments in the background, which are essential for a decent pop song and Dean does a very credible rock star "ow" moment just before the verse starts. It's very 80s inspired but also sounds very "now" - it's quite subdued but not in a bad way. Dean's vocals are quite alluring and the background synths are entirely hypnotic. Love.
• AS every single blog (not literally) in the world reported, Dragonette are back (popjustice did it best). The most amusing ones are the ones who made it sound like Dragonette had written to them personally rather than that they were recipients of a mass email marketing campaign :P No matter, Fixin To Thrill is exactly what you would expect from Dragonette, who hailed as the next big thing a couple of years ago, but never really took off (see Dangerous Muse, who also have an ace new single clip out!) - this is like a more frentetic Gwen Stefani mixed with Infernal with a fuzzy synth chorus that embeds for the night and stays for the week. In other words, quite good.
• Mika's new EP is out soon and I am reserving judgement on the two songs that leaked until the whole thing drops. Apparently there is a song on there called Toy Boy which is very disney ballad with deliciously dark lyrics. Sounds right up my street. Don't forget the barmy pop though meeks :)
• Hurrah! Regina Spektor is also back. She has a lovely new song out called Laughing With and it's an utterly elegant and morose piano vocal affair bemoaning the state of how God is presented to the world. So not really the sunny pop I usually go for, but i've been entirely smitten with Regina ever since The Call in Prince Caspian and this is really quite lovely, and a little bit Nerina Pallot (who needs to hurry back). So it all bodes well for her new album...
• The Shameless finale was quite devastating this week, but the brilliant humour of The Inbetweeners finale more than made up for it. My fave line? "Phil? Phil! I'm sorry sir, i thought it was a fart" - which frankly is more hilarious in context than written down. Oh, tears were shed at the Grey's Anatomy wedding too...
• Hurrah part 2! Red Blooded Women and Star Pilots playing Birmingham Pride (and S Club!! And Pixie Lott!! And Nikki French!! And at eden bar - HAZEL DEAN!!!) :) Only 2 weeks away!
• Final Hurrah! Same Difference concert tonight in their home town, and there is an aftershow party. Clearly I am very excited by all of this (wonder what next week's post will blather on about then?!) And by this. Keep on popping Same Diff :)

TOP 21 SONGS OF THE WEEK:

21 - Taylor Swift, Love Story
20 - Pet Shop Boys, Did You See Me Coming? (NE)
19 - Neo, Flower Power Super Girl
18 - Girls Aloud, Untouchable
17 - The Killers, World That We Live In
16 - Paolo Nutini, Candy (Vid - Paolo got even more scrumptious!)
15 - Kelly Clarkson, I Do Not Hook Up
14 - Simon Curtis, Things We Do For Love
13 - BWO, Right Here Right Now (NE)
12 - Alcazar, Stay The Night
11 - Infernal, Redefinition
10 - Same Difference, All Roads Lead To Heaven
09 - Alesha Dixon, Let's Get Excited
08 - Annie, Anthonio
07 - Lily Allen, Not Fair
06 - Mans Zelmerlow, Hope and Glory
05 - Take That, The Garden
04 - Freemasons ft Sophie Ellis Bextor - Heartbreak Makes Me A Dancer
03 - Little Boots, New In Town
02 - "Abba", Second Best To None (NE)
01 - Marina and The Diamonds, I Am Not A Robot (2 weeks)

Endings can be bittersweet can't they? Sometimes they can be downright frustrating and have a distinct lack of closure (most things in life; Veronica Mars; Angel before the comic series), sometimes they can be downright heartbreaking - either because it's tremendously sad or because it's actually ending (relationships; soured friendships; Buffy; Harry Potter) and sometimes - just sometimes - they can be quite lovely. There are examples of all of these below:

Dr Who - Season Four


It went from the spectre of Catherine Tate being too Catherine Tate-y to actually being possibly the best series of NuWho to date. From Pompeii to towing earth across the universe, Catherine and David turned out to be a stellar couple and another confirmation that actually whoever casts Dr Who picks the best companions ever. It's indeed a testament to the show that each year a major cast change happens and it remains as lively and energetic as ever. Dr Who 9 bowed out at the end of year one, Rose went parallel at end of NuWhoTwo and of course Martha went all torchwoody at end of year three. I'm trying not to give too much away by the season four finale, but the words epic and amazing don't even begin to cover it. There are dark and spooky bits (the daleks flying through german woodlands), fanwankery bits (the continuity of Sarah Jane and Davros; that bird from Torchwood being all linked to the quiet undead thing from last year); exciting bits (K9! David Tennant doing a Donna impression! Martha doing crap german! A traitor in the midst being not so much about who was a traitor but whose midst they were in!) and touching bits (anything Bernard Cribbins said or did, particularly at the front door as the Doctor was leaving; Rose's bittersweet end; Donna's plea to the doctor before that final thing happened to her). Sure it wasn't entirely perfect, and there was a bit of heavy reliance on deus ex machina but it was Russell T Davies' swan song and it was more about heart than sci fi. It would be nice to see doctor having travelled by himself for a couple of years now after having had that great few moments of being surrounded by his entire family before losing them all again. And would it kill the writers to give the boy a hot male assistant for a change! Bring on the 2009 specials...

LINK: Official Dr Who website

LINK: DanUK's opinion on the finale

Everwood Series Finale

Boo to the CW for a) not giving Veronica Mars a fourth season and b) not even picking up the brilliant but unappreciated Everwood. Instead they choose to renew One Tree Hill and revitalise the already finished 7th Heaven respectively. Insanity! Anyway, I finally got to watch the final season of Everwood (it was never "cool" enough to be picked up regularly in the UK so i finally got it thanks to tv torrents!) and indeed the last episode on a train to some godforsaken place "oop north". Everwood was basically a male take on the Gilmore Girls, except the father and son are not best friends and certainly have their issues over the 89 episodes their story is told over. Like the gilmore girls, however, it's the creation of the local community that adds layers and depth to this beautifully crafted tale. The last episode is all about the characters getting a little happiness and while not particularly reflective of how Everwood often turned out (remember the heartbreaking moment in season 3 where Ephraim tells his dad he wants him to move back to New York with him, just hours before Andy knows Ephraim will learn of his pregnancy betrayal?) but is a fitting finale for this much loved show. Some of the highlights include:

• Andy proposing to Nina on the very same spot where he met her, despite all the workman sucking the romance out of it like a vacuum
• Ephraim wanting his dad to be happy...
• Hannah choosing to stay in Everwood by mailing her acceptance letter to A&M (mailing or not mailing things has always been an important part of the show) and renewing her friendship with Bright (such an ironic name but a loveable character)
• Amy with the Ferris wheel doing her version of "pick me. choose me. love me" to Ephraim...
• The Abbots ending up with not only a new baby but a live in grandma as well. Way to go Junior...

So it was all as lovely and happy as it could be, and quite heartwarming to boot. God knows what the people next to me on the train thought of me for sniffling away into my archos. I kept muttering hayfevery type things to throw them off my emotional sent.

LINK: For more of the amazing Greg Berlanti (creator) go check out Brothers and Sisters...

LINK: ... or indeed Nick's review of the brillo Jack&Bobby

The Importance Of That Final Song

Apparently, Britain does not need to see movies at the same time as Americans. Apparently, it behooves us to wait and spend half our lives avoiding spoilers. Yes, anyway, Prince Caspian finally opened in Britain and Kirsty, DazPecs and myself rushed out to see it. I liked. A lot. But of course it had Ben "history boys" Barnes in it so what was not to like? But on a less superficial level than that, I thought it pretty much rocked. But this isn't about my review of the film, more about how much more beautiful the already beautiful Regina Spektor song that closes the film became once I saw/heard it in context. Yuri first "call"ed this one a while back (see what I did there) and at first I was disappointed that it wasn't a remake of the poptacular Backstreet Boys song. But upon hearing it, I fell in love with this rather restrained and elegant ballad and it just - *just* - missed out on being in my top songs of the year so far feature. It seems almost rude to say that the ending of the film was the best part, but the song The Call perfectly embodied the ending of the Narnia experience for at least two of the Pensivie kids. Trust me, when I say it's an utterly remarkable use of a flawless song that had me tearing up in the cinema and being thankful that the corridors leading out of it where quite dark...


MP3: Regina Spektor - The Call

See you tomorrow folks. And don't forget to share your favourite endings :)