Apple Update

Apple have introduced Podcasting, where you can download radio shows to listen to for free on your iPod. I would be interested in this, if they didn't go out of date so quick. Shows I like (such as Pete & Geoff) would be irrelevant the next day.

Logitech have now introduced wireless headphones for the iPod using bluetooth. Not available in the UK yet, they will retail for US$150, which seems a bit steep.

I'm in good company, now the Queen as an iPod mini.

Top iTunes

One year of iPod ownership, and one freak out from it a few days before its its anniversary, here are my Top 25 tracks as played on iTunes and the iPod (I listen to very little music any other way these days, unless I have just bought a CD). In brackets are the position the songs were six months ago, when I last did a Top 25.

1. (1) Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
2. (2) The Lightning Seeds - Marvellous
3. (New) The Lightning Seeds - You Showed Me
4. (New) Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body
5. (3) Supergrass - Moving
6. (13) Lisa Scott Lee - Lately
7. ( 8) Kelis - Trick me
8. ( New) Dodgy - Godd Enough
9. ( New) Christina Aguilera - Car Wash
10. (17) Catatonia - Road Rage
11. (10) Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
12. (7) Snow Patrol - Crazy in Love
13. (12) Wet Wet Wet - If I Never See You Again
14. (23) Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
15. (9) Sugababes - Killer
16. (6) Skunk Anansie - Hedonism
17. (4) The Lightning Seeds - What If...
18. (5) Supergrass - Pumping on Your Stereo
19. (15) Doop - Doop
20. (16) The Cure - Love Cats
21. (New) Andrea True Connection - More More More
22. (New) Amii Stewart - Light My Fire
23. (21) Barenaked Ladies - One Week
24. (New) The Beatles - Lady Madonna
25. (New) The Cranberries - Twenty One

Interesting Facts (well, interesting to me):

Lisa Scott Lee's Lately topped my first iTunes chart back in August. Andrea True Connection's More More More was the only other song from that chart, in the current Top 25, but it missed out in December's Top 25.

In my six-month Top 25, the top two are as now.

The biggest fall, and the highest new entry were both by The Lightning Seeds.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Yes, I know solstice was last week...

This was taken Silver Jubilee weekend - June 2003. It took forever to get down to Devon, so we stopped off and had a look. Thing is, it was all the rubberneckers gawping at Stonehenge that meant we were stuck in traffic in the first place.

BB Nominations

This week's nominees are Saskia and Maxwell. Saskia is marginally ahead in the betting.

Makosi pressed a red button and has had to help the housemates in the Secreet Garden get food, clothes and showers or face automatic eviction. She then had to decide which of the three housemates will graduate into the house. She selected drippy Eugene and Orlaith. This has changed the dynamic in the house somewhat as the new housemates stick with Makosi and her gang more. Plus Maxwell and Anthony had been banned from nominationg after discussing nominations (but I don't know about who).

Monopoly: Here and Now

Monopoly has got a makeover, manufacturers Hasbro have brought out a contemporary version of the classic board game. The venues chosen for the new game reflect tourist and leisure purposes, such as the London Eye and the GMTV studios rather then The Strand and Pentonville Road. OK so Pentonville Road is not that famous these days, but perhaps they should have added Brick Lane or even Petticoat Lane (which is really Middlesex Street) or something.

Only Trafalgar Square and Regent Street have remained from the original (and Regent St has been demoted to Yellow from Green), even Oxford Street has gone (replaced by Soho) and Leicester Square is now Tottenham Court Road. The Dark Blues are now Canary Wharf and The City, and Mayfair and Park Lane have gone the way of everything else. Properties have had an increase with The City costing £4,000,000 and Portobello Market just £600,000.

The counters have also been replaced - with mobile phones, a plane, a burger skateboard.

Below table is based on one in The Telegraph and I have also added my own column, but can't work out how the fuck to keep them in line.


New prop New value Old value Old property Essexgirl's Property

Portobello Market £600,000 £60 Old Kent Road Portobello or Petticoat Lane
Camden Market £600,000 £60 Whitechapel Road Camden Market/Spitalfields
London City Airport £2,000,000 £200 King's Cross King's Cross
Hammersmith Apollo £1,000,000 £100 The Angel, Islington Brick Lane
Wembley Arena £1,000,000 £100 Euston Road Euston Road or Old Street
GMTV Studios £1,200,000 £120 Pentonville Rd Marylebone High St
Stansted Airport £2,000,000 £200 Marylebone Marylebone Station
The Oval £1,400,000 £140 Pall Mall Victoria Park
Wimbledon £1,400,000 £140 Whitehall Upper Street
Wembley Stadium £1,000,000 £160 Northumberland Ave White Hart Lane
Science Museum £1,800,000 £180 Bow St Russell Sq/Bloomsbury
Nat.History Museum £1,800,000 £180 Marlborough St Charing X Rd/Soho
Tate Modern £2,000,000 £200 Vine St Tottenham Court Road
London Eye £2,200,000 £220 Strand Victoria Embankment
Hyde Park £2,200,000 £220 Fleet St Riverside Walk/South Bank
Trafalgar Sq £2,400,000 £240 Trafalgar Sq Trafalgar Sq
Gatwick Airport £2,000,000 £200 Fenchurch St Station Fenchurch St
Tottenham Court Rd £2,600,000 £260 Leicester Sq Leicester Square
Covent Garden £2,600,000 £260 Coventry St Covent Garden
Regent St £2,800,000 £280 Piccadilly Piccadilly Circus
Notting Hill £3,000,000 £300 Regent St Regent Street
Soho £3,000,000 £300 Oxford St Oxford Street
Kings Rd £3,200,000 £320 Bond St Bond Street
Heathrow Airport £2,000,000 £200 Liverpool St Stn Liverpool Street
Canary Wharf £3,500,000 £350 Park Lane Docklands
The City £4,000,000 £400 Mayfair Knightsbridge


There are plenty of areas when you think about it - Hampstead Heath; Kensington High Street; Chelsea; Parliament Square; Greenwich etc. They would be just as well sorting them by area than street/tourist attraction. The value is also debateable. I didn't take the current house prices into account when I made my selection, I just chose various areas of interest. There are plenty of up and coming areas around Earls' Court and Hoxten which could be the next big growth area, and what happens to the East if the Olympic Bid is successful?

Audioscrobbler Update

These are the top artists that I have listened too since February on my PC.

1 Madonna - 33
2 Stonebridge - 30
3 Kylie Minogue - 24
4 Gwen Stefani - 23
5 Wet Wet Wet - 22
6 Go West - 21
7 ABBA - 20
8 The Beatles - 18
9 Erasure - 17
10 Annie Lennox - 16

Mud slide? Glastonbury time again.

I have always wanted to go to Glastonbury, and this year some friends have been and are probably soaking wet and a bit pissed off.

BB Eviction

Ciao Roberto! It was a close result by all accounts. He gave a good interview, but let us move onto the good stuff- the new potential housmates.

Three people went into the house last night and are currently residing in the Secret Garden, where they will have to sneak into the main house and take all the food etc that they need. However, not all these potential housemates will make it into the main house, who will go in and how it will be decided will come in due course (presumably public vote).

The three newbies are:

Kinga - Young, loud, OTT, got her boob out in first five minutes, potentially annoying so must definitely go into the house.

Eugene - Doesn't seem to have a great deal to offer, apparently a virgin (whever relavence that has) and my personal fave to not go in the house.

Orlaith - Pronoumced Orla, model, will be seen as a threat by Saskia.

Wimbledon

For two weeks a year the nation goes tennis crazy and the kids in the street play tennis instead of football. Possibly not so this year, as Henmania is over as Tim Henman exits in the second round, along with any other remaining British player, bar one. Andrew Murrey is now the savior of the nation at 18 years of age.

Two Brothers

I had read an article about the how they filmed the tiger stars of this movie which was fascinating, unfortunately the article was better than the film.

I love animals, especially the big cats, but in trying to widen the appeal to the family market the film has gone a bit far by trying to humanise the tigers by assigning them human emotions and an understanding of the rules of hide and seek (when playing with a human child). However the film depicts a lot of animal cruelty that could be distressing to a child, so I am not too sure who this film is aimed at. The story is based on two tiger cubs who are separated after hunters come onto their land and are sold around parts of French Indochina and have different lives. It is mainly predictable, sometimes funny, and sometimes horrible (the animal cruelty scenes).

That said the tiger cubs are adorably sweet and it is amusing to watch them, but don't hold high expectations.

5/10

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I had been recommended Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel by a number of people, so was really looking forward to reading it. I was not disappointed. The story is fast paced, set around time travelling Henry (this happens through a genetic chromosome disorder) and how he struggles to maintain a normal life whilst disappearing all the time to different points in his past and future and also his wife Clare's past, who he first knows when she is a child and he was in his mid-thirties (although they don't meet in real time until she is 20 and he 28).

The story is told by both of them, he as he time travels, and she in real time. It is very cleverly done and all ties up beautifully. The amount of notes Niffenegger must have made to remember where Henry is, was and will be going to at any given time must be very impressive. The book takes some concentration, to note that dates and ages of the two characters and get used to it jumping time periods, especially in the beginning, but it is definitely worth the effort. This is not a sci-fi type book, nor an out and out romance, but a book about a couple trying to live a normal life in the face of a unique and fascinating adversity.

Brussels

Brussels
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

I did a city break in 1991 and one of the highlights was the statue of the Pissing Boy who is dressed in a different national costume everyday. Then it was Scotland. Other highlights were discovering a music and light show in the Grand Place by complete accident on the Saturday night.

Z-List Dire Island.

The TV show masquerading as Celebrity Love Island has finished. It was won by celebrity nightclub owner and Celeb dater Fran and TV presenter Jayne.

There was an improvement in the ratings after a few weeks, and a few times actually beat Big Brother, although I think it is just because people fell asleep in front of it and didn't turn over....

BB Nominations

Derek and Roberto have been nominated this week.

So far, by some miracle, the housemates do not seem to have failed this week's task yet, but there is another day (at least) to go.

BB news

Channel 4 have cut a deal with Endemol, Big Brother's producers to make at least two more series of Big Brother for them, which takes us through to 2007 and BB8. Even I could be bored of the show by then...

According to The Sun the producers may bring in another female housemate after three have been evicted in the first three weeks, leaving three women and seven men.

This week there is a Workhouse task, with a twist, that see's Maxwell as a mug.

One year of Blogging

It has been one year since my first post and I have made almost 400 since then, varying in size and interest!. I can't be anymore specific until Blogger update my profile page (which has been stuck on 97 posts since last November).

BB Eviction

Wahay! Boring old Sam has got the boot. This has no doubt pissed off Maxwell and Saskia who hated Derek and Roberto and wanted them to go since hearing them bitch about Saskia. In honour of Sam's bikini wearing during her time in the house, Davina interviewed her whilst wearing a bikini (Davina that is, not Sam, though she wasn't wearing much more).

In other news that housemates failed their Pirate task spectacularly (28 fails overall - they were allowed a maximum if two a day). A Speed Dating mini task was entertaining a we saw a few snogs (Anthony-Makosi; Sam-Makosi) whilst Sam gave Anthony a cringe-making lap dance.

They are also tempting us with some stirring on Monday.

Troy

This film has taken a lot of stick but I liked it. Orlando Bloom stuck out as the ladies man who was a bit of a coward, Eric Bana was also good as his brother Hector. Honourable mention goes to Brad Pitt's pecs. Mmmmmmm.

Storywise it is based Homer's The Ilead where Paris steals Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, leading the King and his brother attacking Paris's home city of Troy, with the assistance of wild card Achilles (Pitt).

The fight scenes are very good, a bit too action packed, and less choreographed when compared to something like House of the Flying Daggers. It was still a pleasant way to while away a Sunday evening.

7.5/10

Hed Kandi - The Mix: Summer 2004

I bought this old CD to listen to some other Kandi sounds, it contains 40 tracks split into three discs covering various Kandi moods. The first disc is a Disco Heaven one, which contains some good disco mixes. Most tracks are good disco songs, but there are only a few stand out ones on this disc, my favourite being Steven Tibet and Manuela’s version of We Are Family (the old Sister Sledge song). Other strong tracks include The Brand New Heavies’ Boogie, You Never Know by Marly, Shame, Shame, Shame by T-Jam and the charmingly bizarre Happy (Fat Boy Slim Mix) by Max Sedgley. It also features the Stonebridge House classic Put Em’ High.

The second disc was of the Twisted Disco genre. It opened with Cicada’s Cut Right Through which has a stonking intro, even if it does go on for a bit. Top track is Junior Jack’s Stupidisco, which is a revamp of The Pointer Sister’s Dare Me, and you can never beat a bit of Eighties disco! Seamus Haji’s version of Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is tops also. The CD also features classics like Bonnie Bailey’s Sweet Serendipity and Time by Therese.

The last disc was The Back to Love mix of Classic tracks. I was not familiar with T-empo’s Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, but I loved it straight away. Also, classics include Raze’s Break 4 Luv and Ce Ce Penniston’s Finally. Stonebridge gave us a remix of Show Me Love by Robin S. Other goodies include Pulse and The Lover That You Are, Where Love Lives by Alison Limerick and Promised Land by Joe Smooth.

BB Nominations

The nomination process has not been straight forward on this year's Big Brother. After Makosi's secret mission and Vanessa's big mouth this time Derek, Roberto and Craig have been prevented from nominating after they discussed Saskia in the context of nominations. The video footage of their discussion was shown after the others had nominated. After the remaining housemates made their nominations, it was Roberto, Derek and Sam who were up for the chop.

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller

This is a short, easy to read book by Zoe Heller which is written in the first person by an intriguing, needy, spinster called Barbara about her teaching colleague and friend Sheba after it is revealed that Sheba had an affair with a fifteen year old student. The narration and the tidbits revealed by Barbara about her life are as revealing and as interesting as the scandal that Sheba finds herself caught up in, the story is more character led than plot led, and my only criticism was a slightly week ending.

Barcelona

Barcelona
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

The Gaudi Cathedral. Still not finished after all these years. The weather is typical of what we experienced in November 1996.

Apprentice newbie?

Rumours are that Delia Smith will get her own spin off version of The Apprentice after Martha Stewart got her own one in the US.

Addicted

I am not, nor have I ever been a fan of the TV show, book or film titled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. However, I am completely addicted to the Science Museum game of the same name.

The game is based on the Wario mini game concept which belongs to the Nintendo family. There are no instructions you have just five seconds to complete the game (and work out how to do it). In the Science Museum game you have some HGTG questions which you just remember after a few goes, but I am finding the games highly addictive.

Draw A Pig

I have just done this little test.

Here are the results:

You drew the pig:

Toward the middle, you are a realist.

Facing right, you are innovative and active, but don't have a strong sense of family, nor do you remember dates

With many details, you are analytical, cautious, and distrustful.

With 4 legs showing, they are secure, stubborn, and stick to their ideals.

The size of the ears indicates how good a listener you are. The bigger the better. You drew small ears, you are an OK listener

The length of the tail indicates the quality of your sex life. And again more is better! You drew large tail, WOW!

It is only a bit of fun, but I quite like the results. Apart from the facing right bit, which was by accident rather than design when the drawing went a bit wrong.

Lesley gets the boot

Yay! BB bully Lesley has got the boot from the BB house.

In other news, they failed their medical task, they have split the shopping budget into two groups as they can't agree. The rows are continuing and they are all living in a cardboard box....

House of Flying Daggers

I watched this on DVD, and whilst I prefer to watch subtitled films in the cinema, due to less distractions, I really liked this.

There was not a great deal of dialogue, the story was action based set around government officers (Leo and Jin) trying to track the Flying Daggers, an underground movement. Their clue is in blind, captured Mei, and Jin poses as an undercover rebel and helps her escape and escorts her back to her leader. There are a few twists, and their journey is not smooth, their is also a bit of romance (the love scenes are a bit odd). There are the usual spectacular Martial Arts fight scenes, including one in a forest which was breathtaking and Mei's dance of the Echo Game. The costumes and scenery are also impressive.

7/10

Audioscrobbler Update

As of 7th June, here are my most played artists:

1 Stonebridge - 30
2 Gwen Stefani - 23
3 Wet Wet Wet - 22
4 Go West - 21
5 ABBA - 20
6 The Beatles - 18
7 Erasure - 17
8 Annie Lennox - 16
9 Madonna - 15
9 G4 - 15
11 Jennifer Lopez - 13
11 Kylie Minogue - 13

Hit Me Baby USA

Yup, the US has picked up on Hit Me Baby One More Time and they have even got Vernon Kay to host it. Tiffany and CeCe Penniston who were in the UK edition were in last week's episode which was won by Arrested Development. They even got A Flock of Seagulls who didn't do the UK one (which is just as well as they looked pretty scary). This week is Haddaway (who did the UK edition) and Vanilla Ice and they also have Irene Cara and Cameo lined up.

Anything else they can nick form us?

Dancing With Stars

This is the exported name for Strictly Come Dancing, the second series has been airing in Australia for several weeks. The US have also picked up on it, and their edition features boxer Evander Holyfiield and model Rachel Hunter. What is more is that they have shipped out Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.

Big Brother Nominations

I have not seen the show yet, and I am out later, but dozy cow Vanessa talked about who she nominated and as punishment all housemates are up for eviction. Digital Spy has the story as does the official site.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

I have visited Amsterdam three times now, in 1991, 1993 and 2005. Everytime I have been I went with different people and ended up doing a canal boat trip.

Z-List Dire Island

Still desperate to get some viewers, they have brought in some ZZZ-list people. Yeah, that'll get us watching.

Go Derek

Dear old Derek in the BB house, he can't name the presenter of the show. The woman talking into the microphone at the bottom of the steps when you come out Derek? That should be the one.

Live 8

The text line to enter the lottery to win Live 8 tickets opened at 8am and already 1.5 million people have texted in. Damn them, I will never get tickets at this rate.

Strictly Dance Fever: The Final

For this final the competitors would start off with dancing their favourite/best dance of the series, followed by a freestyle dance and a group Polka. Danny & Jodie chose to do their high scoring Milonga from two weeks ago, and this time they got maximum points of 40 out of 40. Joseph and Sadie performed their Lindyhop, and again they got 40 out of 40 from the judges. James and Claire did their Cuban Salsa and got nine points from each of the judges giving them 36 out of 40.

For the freestyle routine Danny and Jodie did a jive routine to Footloose and were told that it was only an average routine and got 31/40. Jodie looked a bit tearful, but that is par for the course these days. Joseph and Sadie danced to What You Waiting for and started off waltzing to show that they could do it (after scoring so poorly last week) and then speeding up and getting Joseph to show off his excellent jumps and their death defying lifts, which scored the 39/40. James and Claire performed to I Wanna Dance With Somebody and managed to show off Claire the spinning top's skills and managed a few lifts (Claire has weight issues but has lost quite a bit) which were well executed. They scored 34.

These were the last scoring dances they would dance. The end of the first show showed a montage of all the ex-competitors, who then each danced a small section of one of their best dances. Kristy, who was voted out in the semi-final was offered a part in a touring production of Grease.

In the second show all three couples danced a Polka for the judges to comment on, and the viewers to vote on, which was very colourful and quite entertaining. After this the third place couple were announced and the final two couples got to dance off in the Charleston (non-scored). It was announced that James & Claire were third, which they expected and were happy with.

Danny and Jodie did their maximum scoring Charleston from last week, and then Joseph and Sadie did their one which I had loved before, and seemed better to me. The judges raved and after a brief interlude where were entertained by the young cast of Billy Elliot the results were announced and Joseph and Sadie were announced as well-deserved winners. What will I do on Saturday tea-time now?

Big Brother: Mary's eviction

It was between Mary and Craig and up to a few hours ago I was desperately hoping for Craig to go as felt he had achieved little, whilst white witch and alien-abductee (unfortunately not whilst she was in the house) had some promise.

In the end I changed my mind when I discovered that Mary wanted to leave and had taken to her bed. If she wasn't going to play the game then there is no point in her being in there. Craig, in a last ditch attempt for attention dressed up as Britney and performed Hit me Baby...

Mary looked absolutely terrified when she left the house, though she did not get as many boos as neither she, nor I, expected. Her interview with Davina went well although I found her opinions of some housemates odd, as she was very keen on Science. I had liked Science in the beginning but have since been put off by his bad attitude. For Mary there is only black or white and no shades of grey so people were only 'intelligent' or 'mature' or they weren't.

As a summary of the week, well really it has all been about rows, Mary has not helped herself in her quest to not be two-faced in that she put people's backs up by saying she didn't like them straight out. Kemal and Derek have been the most entertaining for me this week.

Ladette to Lady

I just watched this on Sky+ from last night. It looks to me that ITV may have a much needed hit show on their hands (apart from Footie Wives but that has finished, although they are still milking it on ITV2) especially after the failure of Z-List Dire Island (Calum and Rebecca may or may not have shagged for those interested).

The premise of this new Ladette to Lady show is in the title- they have got ten of Britain's biggest Ladettes (boxers, gas fitters, binge drinkers etc) and have packed them off to finishing school where they will learn elocution, deportment, cookery and flower arranging. Already two have been 'expelled' (or 'invited to leave' if you prefer) and another two will go next week. It is surprisingly fascinating watching these girls become institutionalised and get the hang of skirts and court shoes. I will definitely be tuning in next week.

The Vegemite Tales

Last night I went to see The Vegemite Tales at the Riverside Studios. It is a relatively short play set in a shared flat in Acton. The characters are made up of some Antipodeans and an Italian flat mate. Even though we were probably some of the few non-Antipodeans in the audience we still enjoyed it. As a retired backpacker myself I could see connections between my experience and that of the Aussies 'putting their life on hold' to enjoy life in London. The Tales are part narrated by the cast between the scenes and it manages to be funny and moving at the same time.

We went on the opening night of this run and the show went well (apart from losing the phone and some lights not going down at the right time. It is a small studio theatre and we were at the back, thus it was quite difficult to see characters sitting on the floor, but it is mainly dialogue led, so we didn't miss too much.

Recommended.

Maggie O'Farrell - My Lover's Lover

Maggie O'Farrell has a very distinct style of writing which at times can be annoying, she can be overly descriptive of the mundane, yet at other times quite vague. However, the first part of this story twists and turns in a very gripping way and I am sucked in trying to second guess the ending. In the middle it is a bit choppy and changey for a few chapters as we skip back and forth between past and present from each paragraph, and after that it seems to lose its momentum and quieten down. There is not so much mystery left at the end, I still enjoyed the book but felt a bit let down.

Big Bro Nominations

In a twist Big Brother had given one housemate - Makosi - a task to become immune from nomination by getting the most votes. This she managed to do, although she tied with Sam and Roberto. Thus all three were immune, however, the next twist was not that the housemates with the next amount of nominations would be chosen, but that Makosi would choose which housemates will go up for eviction. She chose Mary, who kept being in weird moods, and Craig who was quite dull.

Craig is the bookies favourite to go already. Oddball white witch Mary may still have some crackpot followers.

Madrid Palace

Madrid Palace
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

Madrid was our New Year sojourn for 2002, a lovely city but way too much pork on the menus.