Fancy Things Friday: Doctor Who; Time Heist

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

**** BEWARE!! THERE ARE SPOILERS EVERYWHERE! FOR AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. ****

Could it be? Is it true? Has it finally happened? Yes, it has. Steve Thompson has got an episode right! Huzzah for Steve Thompson! I've been rooting for him from the beginning. He's the secret third genius writer for Sherlock, he gets those right. I knew he could do it at some point with Doctor Who! Third time lucky. We have Time Heist.

First off, I have to say that the moment Psi appeared on the screen, my throat did that squeal thing and my breath did that not working thing. I was immediately a fan. Ever since I watched a little known British comedy called Campus (from the makers of better known West Wing), where he had a main role, I have been bowled over by the effect that man has on me. He is beautiful to the point where I lose all words. As such, I will try and not let his weird hold over me effect my overall view of this episode.

I liked this episode. I liked it's simplicity and the general fun nature of it. Sure, there are sinister moments, but what I love is a lot of the more severe ones are from the Doctor himself. He has got dark this series and I am getting more and more on board with this new attitude. It adds a sense of mystery to him, like you don't know just how far he's going to go. Matt Smith was all about being such a good man, Capaldi is all about smashing that image down to the floor.

The main example of this is the ease in which is used those injections in this episode, back before he knew that they were transporters and thought they were killing people. He handed them out without a care, essentially handing his little team a means by which they can kill themselves. Sure, it could be argued that it was justified as the alternative was having your brain turned into soup, but still... chills were had up and down my back.

I've been trying to work out what it is about Clara that I now like in this series but wasn't too keen on in the last one... I worked it out this week. I like Clara and Capaldi together. They make more sense than Clara and Smith. With Clara and Smith, we ran the risk of just another girl having a crush on the Doctor and being boring and mundane... now though... she bickers with him, all the time, and I love it. What I'm adoring is the back and forth between the two. Even when he takes her advice, he doesn't do it without arguing with her first. They've got an awesome chemistry and it's really working.

I don't know if anyone's seen it, but BBC have brought out a short clip of a scene from tomorrow's episode 'The Caretaker.' It's basically yet another one of Clara and Capaldi's bickering sessions but I have to say, it might be one of their bests. I have seen that clip about 20 times now and have laughed each time. I'm very excited about tomorrow.

But I get ahead of myself, back to this week's episode. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Steve Thompson, as awesome as he is in all things Sherlock, has seemed to just miss the mark when it's come to writing good Doctor Who episodes. His previous episodes have been "Curse of the Black Spot" and "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS."

Curse of the Black Spot might be one of my least favourite Matt Smith episodes. Although it does contain one highly amusing 'breathing on shiny surfaces' performance from the Smith, outside of that, I do tend to get the teensiest bored whilst watching it. This is something that, as an obsessive watcher of all things Who, doesn't happen all that often. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS was better and has some really good moments, but it still seems to fall just short of a successful episode.

Time Heist though... I loved it. I laughed more in this episode than I have in any of Capaldi's episodes. I will say this, as much as I love Capaldi's doctor, I do miss the laughs that Smith's Doctor gave me. Although, I've recognised that Capaldi has said something funny, I haven't out loud laughed until this episode. When talking about his clothes and he said the line "I was going for minimalism, but I think I ended up with Magician", I flat out cackled.

(Also, in an entirely girly and OMG moment... Clara's outfit in this episode... a-ma-zing. I want a suit like that and Danny Pink is a very lucky guy.)

I've heard a lot of mention about this taking on a bit of an Ocean's Eleven vibe. I get that, but if I were to go down that route and assume that that was what they were attempting to do, I'm not going to like this episode as much. The whole concept of Ocean's Eleven is that they've all got this plan that you try and work out whilst you're going along and then there's this big reveal of how they did it and you clap your hands and say "Brava!" This episode did not do that at all. Apart from the fact that none of them even know why they're there, so little planned cleverness can be made on their part, it was all very predictable to me. The Architect is The Doctor... yup. Kinda the most obvious choice they could have made. He places all the clues down and they follow blindly... not exactly a clever heist idea. Also, you're going to guess it's something that was set up from the future as the episode is called Time Heist.

The bit that made me tingle the most however was the conversation between Clara and Psi (and no, not for the reasons I mentioned above about Psi, this was a different kind of tingle). Clara is defending The Doctor's actions like the dutiful companion she is, and Psi questions it, and for once I found myself falling on the side of the person unsure of The Doctor. For once, I couldn't, hand on my heart, say that he would always do what is good. When I realised that, the afore mentioned tingles began as I had no clue where the characterisation of this Doctor would end up, which excited me a hell of a lot and I realised I was exactly where the Moffat wanted me.

I.cannot.wait.for.this.next.episode. Hell, I can't wait for all of them. I am well and truly hooked... once again.

Well played, Moffat. Well played.

Peace out my lovelies

Fancy Things Friday: Doctor Who; Robot of Sherwood

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

**** BEWARE!! THERE ARE SPOILERS EVERYWHERE! FOR AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. ****

 

Naturally I have put the Doctor as my Fancy Thing this week. Especially as they have combined two of my favourite things. Doctor Who and Robin Hood.

Doctor Who is the king of serious and awesome plot lines. However, occasionally it throws in the awesome light hearted episode and this was what this episode was all about. It's what we need in amongst the Doctor's ongoing angst. This episode does not disappoint.

I was naturally excited as the episode is written by Mark Gatiss, co-writer of Sherlock. A series we can all agree is one of the best things we Brits have brought out in years. Fact is, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss are the best writing duo our country have produced in a long time. So when you have a series lead by the Moffat with an episode written by the Gatiss, we can't go wrong. And we don't... it's awesome. It funny and light hearted; granted, there's nothing more than that, but that's all we need for this. Especially as the next episode promises to be dark and deep, it serves a need to lift to mood at just the right point in the series.

I won't lie, as much as I love the series as a whole, there have been Doctor Who episodes where their light hearted episodes have fallen short in standards, but this one works amazingly in the way that it keeps the fun whilst also keeping the standard. It lives to the hype of this duo. Gatiss and Moffat should write together for the rest of their career and we will always be entertained.

As mentioned in my last review, this is the series where I have started to get in line with Clara Oswald; a woman who I had previously not been that fussed over. I'm warming to her a lot. She provides character and is continuing to represent the voice of the Doctor Who fan as she goes along. It's almost as if fangirls are mediating through her. She's one massive fangirl who is lucky enough to travel with the one Timelord we all wish we could travel with.

There has been a common plot repeated in this episode, regardless of the light hearted fun. Clearly the Moffat wants us all to be intrigued by the plot of robots. There is something in it that will be carried through the series. Although this seems a simple light relief episode from the overall canon, I do think there is more to this episode in conjunction with the rest of the series than meets the eye. This series is screaming an underlying plot of robots all the way through. Although there is no Missy in this episode, it still hints at something she might possibly be planning; especially with the repeat mention of the 'promised land' as mentioned in the first episode. It was a place the clockwork robot inspired to go to and a place Missy promised he was in. It gave reference to her without her actual appearance being necessary.

In amongst this, there was genius writing written throughout. Quotes that made me shiver with delight. Seeing the Doctor fight Robin Hood, refusing he is real. All to find out that Robin Hood is 'just as real as he is.' (Best line in the series so far.)

Sure, things are slightly ridiculous in certain aspects. The idea that an alien spaceship can be crashed by a single arrow in its side takes a lot of imagination, but I don't care, because it makes the episode and creates the same fun plotline. You don't care because, quite frankly, it's Doctor Who, and there's always a certain degree of distension of belief to go along with the series; it comes hand in hand with being a fan. It's about the drama and fun, rather than belief that it could actually happen... after all, let's face it, as far as I know, time travel is not something that is possible as of yet... so if that's possible in this series, then a UFO crashing from the skies from a single golden arrow must also be possible.

Overall, I loved this episode. It's fun, exciting and loveable. This is what Doctor Who is at it's core. I think was also intentional because this next episode coming up seems absolutely terrifying, so it leaves us all feeling safe and happy in the eve of the intense episode coming our way...

Get ready for it, peeps. It's gonna be a stonker.

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: Almost Royal

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Put simply, if you are not watching Almost Royal yet, then do so. Go to your internet, find it and watch it. Repeatedly. Over and over. Nonstop. Then watch the videos they did on youtube. And then watch them again. Over and over. Nonstop.

I have not been this impressed with a comic TV show since Flight of the Conchords first aired their HBO series. I have also never wanted to advertise a Fancy Thing with such fervour as I do right now. I discovered this little gem as it was advertised on the TV at my gym. The trailer for the series made me laugh heartily and I took that to be a very positive sign that I should be checking this series out.

Let me tell you a bit about it. The premise is that Georgie and Poppy Carlton are two British Aristocrats who are 50th and 51st in line to the throne. Their father died and left them strict instructions in his will to travel to America and do a tour of its biggest cities. The series is a mockumentary about their experience in America and, oh my days, it quite simply rocks my world.

To be clear, these are two actors playing the part of aristocrats, but the poor American population that they come into contact with during their travels have no idea of this fact. They assume that the whole documentary is real, as are Poppy and Georgie. The actors who play Poppy and Georgie (Ed Gamble and Amy Hoggart) are pretty much the masters of straight faces as they interview different people and put themselves in ridiculous situations, pretending to be completely serious about the whole thing. Basically, think Borat but not as mean. Most of the time, they are making fun of themselves rather than the American people they're talking to.

It was put together as an original BBC America series and, as far as I'm aware, has now finished in America. Over in the UK however, it's played on E4 and we're 4 episodes in. If you want to watch it, head on over to 4OD... seriously, I insist. I'll even make it easy for you and put a link right here.

When they were advertising the whole thing for America, they used youtube and interviewed some of the top youtube celebrities, including the holy trinity; Grace, Mamrie and Hannah, and a particularly awesome interview with Chester See. If you're still not convinced that this is going to be the series for you, then just take a moment to check the videos out. I must have watched each one about 10 times.

My reason for wanting the whole world to hear about this is because no one seems to know anything about this series at the moment, and that is a complete travesty. As it is one of the funniest things I have watched this year, I am understandably hellbent on making sure it is making the rest of the world happy as well. So, do me a favour and have a go. Kick back with a bottle of wine tonight, tune in to 4OD and be ready for some serious side splitting.

Also, if you have already watched it, please do let me know what you think because I'm dying to talk to someone who's seen it!

You are very welcome for this nugget and have an awesome weekend.

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: Older-Brother-Glyn

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Ooookay... Where have I been? I've been training a lady up on my job because this is officially my last day before my week off!! And why am I taking a week off?? Oh, you know, it's just this little thing that is awesome... OLDER-BROTHER-GLYN IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dudes... amazeballs and shizzle is this day... or rather next Thursday is the amazeballs and shizzle day... because Older-Brother-Glyn is getting married... to another person ... and she's really nice... and I'm really happy about it... and so are they... which is good because they're getting married... to each other... sweet.

So, in celebration of this, I thought I would make this particular Fancy Things Friday a sickeningly sweet and mushy one by talking about a Fancy Thing I have known my entire life, and that Thing is Older-Brother-Glyn.

Older-Brother-Glyn is three years older than me and is one of two very special brothers that I have. I have been massively fortunate in the family that I have been given in this world. I have two awesome parents who do nothing but love and support us, and two brothers who I get along with really well. Fighting went out of the window with us when I was about 18 and it has pretty much been plain sailing since then. I know... it's 'roll-your-eyes' sweet. Sure, we bicker and... well... almost every conversation had between siblings does tend to turn into some form of debate, but it's in the 'joshing' light way that simmers just under getting serious and the moment it comes close to it, we back away from that shizzle HARD. 

Older-Brother-Glyn has always been someone I looked up to growing up. He was the cool older sibling who me and Younger-Brother-Daniel desperately wanted to be like. He was an actor from the moment he performed a solo playing 'Herod the Great' at a Christmas play when he was 8. He was always so good at performing and had this massive reputation by the time I arrived at his secondary school. Now, I've mentioned before that if there was a particular type of person that I was during school, it would be similar to a Glee Club kid... most likely Rachel from Glee... in fact, I'm pretty certain they based her character on my life. I started secondary school and pretty much wanted to be like my brother. Everyone gushed over him, and it was well deserved. My first year at school, he played the scarecrow in The Wiz, and NAILED IT. A performance that was only topped three years later when he played Fagin in Oliver... which is a performance that is still talked about in family circles today... a lot. 

To say Older-Brother-Glyn is quirky... well, let's just say there's one thing that Marmie and Father successfully managed to do in all three of their children, and that's make us all just that little bit weird. We were odd kids growing up. We put on skits regularly, Older-Brother-Glyn was known to do bizarre things when he was bored as a way of trying to get our attention. You know, things like jumping on top of the coffee table, picking up a nut, nibbling into it whilst crouched over it, (like one would imagine a squirrel to do) jump onto the sofa, climb to the Christmas tree, place the nut in one of its branches, tilt his head to one side, and jump back to the coffee table to repeat once more. If you didn't pay attention to him whilst he was doing this, he would only make his actions bigger and more bizarre, increasing this until eventually you had no choice but to look at him. (True story: one time this actually involved him hugging my face)

He was the older brother that would regularly entertain me and my friends when they came over. They used to talk about how silly he is and the stupid things he would do for weeks after... in a good way... they were impressed with the weirdness. 

We all three grew up and became a little less weird than we had been as kids. Although, thankfully the weirdness never really left us completely. We're all creative, teaching drama, being an graphic designer and writing non stop in the vain hope that someone, someday offers to pay money for the things written, Older-Brother-Glyn has always kept his creativity. He thinks outside of the box in most things and tends to go out of his way to make something not just average but spectacular. He has put on plays and created performances and displays that have blown my mind. Where most people see things in black and white, he see colours... and lots of them. A perfect example of this is the way he proposed to his lovely fiancee, New-To-The-Family-Amy, and another example will be their wedding this week. 

I couldn't be happier for my big bro and the life he's about to start. New-To-The-Family-Amy is absolutely perfect for him and an AMAZING addition to our family. The Harries children have never been that great at relationships or love or anything like that. I like to think that it's not because we're socially awkward or incapable of romantic attachments, but rather because we've been waiting for the right one. Older-Brother-Glyn did. Next week, he gets to start his life with New-To-The-Family-Amy and as lucky as he is to have her, (he really is) she is equally as lucky to have him. He is a kind and caring man who has always looked out for those around him. He has been the best older brother I could have asked for and I am grateful for him every day. 

He is my Fancy Thing this week because we have now begun the week of celebrations. We celebrate their marriage and them individually and so this means that I am doing my rare moment of soppy open declarations of my love for other human beings. I'm sorry if it's been cheesy, but I adore my brother and I am so happy for him. 

Older-Brother-Glyn and New-To-The-Family-Amy... have a freakin' awesome time this week. It's going to be immense. I love you bro. 

Peace out my lovelies

Fancy Things Friday: I don't think it's Fancy at all, except I do... but I don't... Dammit Kyle!!

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

So I had a really good Fancy Thing lined up for this week, but then last night it pissed me off, so I'm refusing to add it to my list now... I'm not even going to say what it was; so annoyed was I over the whole ordeal. 

However, due to this, I am now struggling to find a Fancy Thing to talk about. My usual technique of 'looking at what it is that I have been obsessed over this week and discussing it' has failed me, due to the above annoyance at this week's obsession. I also know I'm being petty about the whole thing, because it isn't even the Fancy Thing's fault that I'm annoyed... it's the network's fault for deciding this Fancy Thing no longer constitutes as a Fancy Thing and cancelling it way back in 2009. All that being said, there was no effort to tie anything up, it ends on a cliffhanger with so many open questions, and there is no closure for the obsession that has been my life... You might catch me asking my friend Kyle (X)Y has this happened??

Also, there was a thing that I wanted to happen from the beginning and it was finally starting to happen and I was all happy and excited about the happening of it, and now I'll never know if it actually happens and this pisses me off... 

Okay, screw it. My Fancy Thing (in the very loose sense of 'I will probably spend more time complaining about it than praising it' kind of way) is the TV Show Kyle XY.

It was once again a Netflix recommendation and I found myself under the weather and with little else to do on Sunday so thought I would indulge and see if it stuck. It did. To be honest, I freakin' loved the Pilot to this series. It's your classic high school supernatural (kinda) type show, but the pilot had something else to it as well... There were moments when Matt Dallas, who played the main character (surprisingly called Kyle) gave performances that blew me away. I could count 4 such moments that made me think 'this guy is going places.' He did give a few more throughout the series, but these did tend to dwindle... either that, or I just got used to him. He was never bad at the show, albeit sometimes a little on the cheesy side, but I missed the wows he gave me in that first episode, and he did mellow quite dramatically as the series went on. 

I liked the show a lot however. I was intrigued and, although it was never one that made me want to spontaneously combust throughout (*cough* Sherlock, Doctor Who and American Horror Story *cough*), I was still suitably in love with the characters and didn't ever get bored at any point... there was only really one character that irked me; Amanda, and she really shouldn't have as she played the love interest for Kyle from the beginning... but she walked around with this constant pout and holier than thou attitude that pissed me off most of the time. With the exception of her, the show suitably impressed me... however, I don't know if I'm prepared to put it down as a recommendation...

Don't get me wrong, when I started watching the show, I did my normal IMDB search to check how many series there had been and so I knew that it was no more after Season 3. Also, I guessed this because Caroline's mum from Vampire Diaries is totally one of the biggest characters in this series, so I knew that it had to have ended before Vampire Diaries started. I went in prepared that the show was cancelled. What I wasn't prepared for was that it would be cancelled without any tying up of storylines involved. 

Guys, I invested in this show. I created predictions of what would happen next. I willed on some characters and booed at others. I longed for relationships to develop and wished others would disappear. I put time and effort into the watching of this show, all the time holding the faith that at least they would do some kind of final thing that answered all the questions I had. They didn't. And, now that 5 years have passed, I doubt they ever will... not even in the form of a film like Firefly did. This makes me angry. This makes me annoyed. For me, where fiction is involved, it is the worst thing that any writer/performer/entertainer could do. 

You see, I am a girl who does get invested in the stories she is told. I enjoy the guessing and predicting and, most of all, I enjoy finding out that I was wrong or right and being able to get annoyed or excited about that. I probably get invested in fiction more than I should do, but I embraced this aspect of me a long time ago and have made my peace with it. The ending to Kyle XY was like Lost all over again. I know that Lost actually did end properly but they didn't tie up crap. I left that series feeling more confused than I had whilst watching it. At least with Kyle XY they don't pretend to tie it up, they simply stopped. Lost however... oh how my blood boiled... So much so that the finale of Kyle XY yesterday brought back all kinds of trauma flashbacks from my Lost watching days and I ended up going to sleep quite distraught and ever so slightly twitching. Due to this, I would like to sum up my feelings for this 'Fancy Thing' in the following letter. 

Dear Writers of Television Fiction,

Guys, we need to talk. We need to be very clear about a few key points. You guys might come up with these excellent ideas of TV shows and want to run with them, but please do remember that when they air, it's not just you and your brains watching the show and getting invested in your stories, it's the rest of us as well. Due to this, there are just a few points I want to make: 

1. If you have a really good idea for a mysterious cliff hanger or character quirk, for the love of all that is sacred, make sure you know the reason behind the mystery before you include it into your storyline. Don't just think it sounds cool and add it in, assuming you will come up with an answer to why it happened later down the line. You run the risk that way of not finding an answer at all and then having the thousands of people watching your show getting pissed at you and losing all faith in you as a writer. You don't want that, as I'm sure you would like to continue your career once this show has ended. 

2. If there is a very real possibility that you are going to get cancelled after the series you are currently working on, do NOT end the series with the mother of all cliffhanger lines whilst simultaneously hinting at further character developments and plot twists. I get that you're trying to build intrigue in the hopes that cancellation won't happen after all because people want to know what happens, but all you are actually doing is upsetting the fans who have spent days/weeks/months/years of their lives devoted to your show. My guess is that, by the time you are shooting that last episode, you are probably fully aware of which way the network is going to go in terms of cancelling your show, therefore be nice. Throw us a bone at least. 

3. You guys have the best jobs in the world. You get to make up hours and hours of entertainment for people all over the world and do it for years. Please remember how awesome your jobs are and that, even though a large section of the population will see fiction as not really that important and nothing that will change lives, there are a selection of awesome people who live for the moments when they can be transported to different worlds. You guys get to take them there, your stories matter to these people. Never take that lightly, never forget how freakin' awesome that is and how many of us would kill to be in your shoes. Therefore, please take it seriously and think before you write. Otherwise I'm going to get pissed and start booking tickets for LA (that's where you all hang out, right?) so that I can kick your arses into shape. 

and finally...

4. I have so many ideas, ones that actually have endings and answers to the questions I throw at the audience. As this appears to be a rare trait in some areas of your profession, give me a call and maybe possibly a job? 

Let me know

Love Lisa

...

So, in summary, Kyle XY is actually good but under no circumstances watch it, because it will just piss you off when you get to the non end... trust me on this. Watch Doctor Who/Sherlock/American Horror Story instead... and the many others from my Fancy Things Friday list. 

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: Ed Sheeran X (xxxxxx)

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

If you have been reading any of my posts this week, then you will be all too aware of what it is that I will be Fancying up today. This particular Fancy Thing has, quite simply, blown my mind to such an extent, I'm not certain there is much of it left in my head. I have found a new obsession and it is all wrapped up in an old already well established obsession within me; the beauty that is Ed Sheeran and his ability to make heaven with his voice. This time, with the genius that is his new album X.

I've made it no secret in the past that I love the Sheeran. Indeed, when he brought out his first album +, I do believe a wrote a post declaring my undying love and devotion to the man. In this post (see link) I write him a letter, asking him to write me a song, so you can imagine my excitement when I hear he has a whole new album, all full of possible songs about me. 

I'm currently in the process of dissecting the songs word by word to find any hint that it's about me, but I have to admit, so far there has been nothing that would suggest I'm in there... although I am secretly hoping that 'Photograph', 'One' or 'Thinking out Loud' are actually with me in mind, I'm still waiting to hear back on confirmation of this however. 

This week, I have been on a one woman PR campaign for Sheeran's album. I have recommended it to almost everyone who has engaged me in conversation, no matter what the topic might be. This has included work related conversations, workout related conversations, culture, deeply emotional conversations and a few spontaneous outbursts where I have gotten so excited listening to a song, I've had to explode with exclamations such as "Ed Sheeran is a God!" etc and so forth. Disclaimer: As far as I know, Ed Sheeran is not a God... I meant it figuratively, before you start getting carried away and building churches in his name. 

Okay, so here's what the album's like. As opposed to the first one (which is freakin' awesome by the way) it is a lot more varied in its styling. He has upbeat songs that have led me to dance (rather stylishly in my opinion) in my office, such as 'Sing' and 'Don't', as well as... do we call it hip hop? Nope, we definitely don't. I would say more hip hop inspired... I don't even want to say he raps... he speaks quickly. I don't know... he's Ed Sheeran, he does what he does. All I know is it's amazing, for examples of this check out 'The Man' and 'Take it Back.' Then there are the beautiful songs, the ones that grip your heart and cause you to feel all sorts of emotions that make you genuinely worried because real life stuff never makes you feel this strongly... The reasons for all of these emotions is his uncanny ability to combine beautiful melodies with stunning, yet simple, lyrics. 

Amazing examples, and a few of my favs of these are 

Photograph

So you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans

Holding me close until our eyes meet

You won't ever be alone

Wait for me to come home

Tenerife Sea 

Should you be the last thing I see

I want you to know it's enough for me

Because all that you are is all I'll ever need

Even My Dad Does Sometimes

It's alright to cry, even my dad does sometimes

So don't wipe your eyes, tears remind you you're alive

There is also 'Thinking out loud' or, as I like to call it, the song that will feature in every wedding of 2014/2015. Which is slightly more upbeat and so very very beautiful lyrically, once more. 

When your legs don't work like they used to before, 

And I can't sweep you off your feet

Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love? 

Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks? 

Darling, I will be loving you till we're 70...

Yup. Every single wedding. Watch this space. It'll be Shania Twain's 'From this moment' all over again. 

And lastly, there are the songs that do that amazing thing that Ed Sheeran loves to do. Yes, it's the songs where he has the building bridge. One line repeated over and over, building more and more until you find yourself shouting out in inappropriate places about your love for the Sheeran. Basically, it's like 'Give me Love' from his first album but brought up a notch. These songs are 'I'm a mess', 'Bloodstream', and (my personal favourite) 'Afire Love.'

In short, there is not one song on this album that I wanted to skip through, which never happens with me and an album. Now that I have listened to it nonstop for 5 days, there are favourites, but I usually show these by putting particular songs on repeat instead of skipping through the ones I don't like as much. In fact, the ones I started to not like around the 2nd to 3rd day, I've now gone back to liking again. Just trust me on this people, go check this album out. It will be completely worth it. I promise you. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and draft another letter for Ed Sheeran, asking him how the hell he became such a musical genius and whether he is aware that he is the only man who is able to make me feel this way through music... well, him and a few film composers, but that's a whole different genre so it doesn't count. 

Honestly, I'm beginning to think that he isn't human... also adding further proof to my theory that all ginger people are clearly superior beings. 

Have an awesome weekend guys, and BUY THIS ALBUM. 

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: The IT Crowd

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Okay, this week's Fancy Thing is an old one but a good one. It is four series of pure English comedy. I'm bringing it up now because I've started rewatching them on Netflix, so you can check it out on there. 

The Fancy Thing is a TV show called The IT Crowd. 

It's about an IT department in a big corporate company and it is all sorts of excellent. If you have ever worked in an IT department (like I have) it will be even funnier, as some of the jokes are massively accurate to the way these departments work.  

It consists of three main characters, two geeky guys and a their manager, a woman who has no clue about computers. It has stopped now, I think mainly due to the fact that Chris O'Dowd (who plays one of the geeky guys) is all sorts of famous in America now, thanks to the film Bridesmaids. 

As much as I love this show on a whole, and thoroughly recommend it to all people who read this blog, there are a few hit and miss bits about it, in my opinion. For example, in the first series, whilst they are finding their feet, there are some not so great or funny moments. But this is to be expected for a show that has only just started. Besides, they completely make up for it in the future episodes. Also, and before I say this next bit, I want to add a disclaimer that this is not an opinion that is shared by most of my friends, but one that I have nonetheless, I am not the biggest fan of the main lady in it. The character is called Jen Barber, and she is played by Katherine Parkinson. She's not completely bad and does have some good moments in it, but sometimes she comes across as a little over the top. Again, this improves as the series goes on, and I do like Parkinson in other things she has done (in particular, The Boat That Rocked). 

The thing that makes the show for me, is the character of Maurice Moss, played by Richard Ayoade. To be honest, there isn't really anything Ayoade has done that I don't completely adore. The other favourites of mine include The Mighty Boosh and Garth Meringhi's Darkplace. Both shows are cult British comedies that I have spent a part of my life obsessed over at one point or another. I'm not going to go into these too much at the moment as, especially in the case of 'Darkplace', I need a whole Fancy Things Friday just to get across the genius of the concept of the shows. 

In The IT Crowd however, he plays a very nerdy character who is your classic 'obsessed with computers and all things sciency' type. He looks like this, which in itself tells you he's hilarious: 

His storylines throughout the series are my favourites. I can't think of a single line that he doesn't deliver with complete genius, but then that is the amazingness of Ayoade, who always comes across as naturally a little awkward but in the most awesome way. We could all learn to be a little awkward like him. You might recognise him from the Ben Stiller film 'The Watch' but other than that, he's mainly done low key (but still freakin' awesome) shows and films. 

When I first started watching this show, I began working in an IT department of a hospital about halfway through. I remember sitting down at their helpdesk and listening to the people talking to the customers there. There is an ongoing joke throughout the whole series about how, whenever anyone calls down to IT, the first thing that they ask is "Have you tried turning it off, then on again?" Then there are a series of other fairly basic questions they follow this up with, if that hadn't worked. Everything I heard the helpdesk ask on that first day could have been a direct quote from the show. I remember hardly being able to concentrate on account of looking around for one of the cast to turn up. 

The show is cleverly written, albeit silly in places, but you learn to love that about it. I'm not really a fan of the overly silly "big" humour, in fact, I tend to run away from it, sprinkling holy water as I go, but this show manages to do it in such a way that it's just enough to be hilarious, before turning it into annoying. 

It is completely 2 dimensional in its characters and plots. There are no deep messages and no moments of real character development or growth, it is a comedy; simple as. And it does the comedy incredibly well. If you want something that will not require a great deal of thought and yet will cause you to giggle like a school girl, then watch this show this weekend. If you have already seen it, might I suggest a rewatch? That's what I'm doing and I can confirm, it's still as funny now as it was when it came out. 

That's all for today. Have an awesome weekend. I will be... didn't I mention? Ex-Housemate-Anna (remember her? From three houses ago?) is getting married tomorrow! How freakin awesome is that? MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speak soon!

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: If you're on the fence about Doctor Who, here are three episodes that should convince you

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Today's Fancy Thing is something I've talked about in the past. However due to the sheer level of awesome it has to it, I chose to only speak about a certain aspect of it, mainly because I knew that I would want to bring it up again in another Fancy Thing Friday when I rediscovered yet another part that I love. 

Yes, I am of course talking (once again) about Doctor Who. The last time I brought this up in a Fancy Thing, I was referring to the awesomeness that was the 11th Doctor's speeches. They are still just as awesome as they were when I initially wrote this, so go ahead and click on the link to get a taster. 

This time, I've been on a rewatching hype as Oldest-Friend-Cafrin has finally given in and began watching the show. Her links to the episodes got me all in the mood for them, and then I watched an awesome Doctor Who Parody and suddenly all I wanted to do was watch it again. In particular, the Donna Noble Series. 

It is one of the better parodies I've seen, and I'm one of those obsessive people who watch a lot of them. Check it out. 

Anywho, my Doctor Who focus this time is on three of my favourite episodes in the current Doctor Who collection. There are others that I probably put up there with these three, but I'm limiting myself so that I don't end up writing for days. My other reason for picking these three episodes is that, if you haven't ever watched a Doctor Who episode, you can quite easily watch these as stand alone episodes, as they really have nothing to do with the overall storyline and don't hold any spoilers. They are excellently written and give you a quick taster to the genius that is Doctor Who. So if you want to try it out to see if you like, give one of these a go. They're all available on Netflix, which I reckon everyone should have by now... if you don't, come on guys, get with the programme.

Series 4, Episode 10: Midnight

Reason for excellence: Such an immense script

Now, before I get into this, yes guys, I am fully aware of the many other episodes that are written superbly, and I do fully understand that Series 3, Episode 10: 'Blink' is still one of the best episodes scriptwise, but my reasons for picking the above episode is that it never seems to get much praise when people talk about some of the best episodes. I therefore wanted to give it the recognition it deserves. 

It's from the David Tennant/Catherine Tate (plays Donna Noble) series, although Donna is only in the episode for the first and last couple of minutes. Those of you who are British TV fans might recognise two of the guest stars in this episode, in particular; Merlin's Colin Morgan (plays Merlin) and Eastenders' Lindsey Coulsen (plays Carol Jackson). It's written by Russell T Davies, who was the head writer before the great Moffat took over. 

The whole episode happens in one place. They are all locked in on a shuttle bus on a planet far away which doesn't have any kind of breathable air. There is an attack on the shuttle bus. Not an obvious one, but rather a unique and interesting attack that allows all the characters on the bus to act their freakin' socks off. It is an episode completely reliant on dialogue and needs strong actors in order to pull it off. David Tennant is simply amazeballs in this episode. You are hooked from the moment of attack to the end. It is also an episode that has you empathising with the characters one second and then hating them with a passion, the next. Not to mention you get frustrated with them, but in a really good way that means you can't take your eyes off the screen for fear of missing anything. 

What I love most about this episode is that it gives off this air of massive amounts of things happening, but in actuality there is very little that really does. The suspense is in the script entirely. To me, that is my favourite thing about a good story. If a writer can accomplish this, they immediately go to the top of my 'will lust over their talent' list. I lust ridiculously all over this episode. 

Series 5, Episode 7: The Unicorn and the Wasp

Reason for excellence: Doctor Who comedy at its very best

I've mentioned before that I love Donna Noble as the companion so much because she provides humour into the series in such an awesome way, I just want to lick her face. We're still in the David Tennant/Catherine Tate series and this episode well and truly epitomises the genius comedy of this duo. It's written by Gareth Roberts, who is a recurring writer throughout the many series of the new Doctor Who. His episodes are usually pretty good and quite fun. For those of you who have seen the series before, he has written both of the James Corden episodes, as well as a few others. 

This episode takes the Doctor and Donna back to the 20s, where they end up at an overly posh and British garden party, where the main guest is none other than Agatha Christie. They stay the weekend and a series of murders begin to take place... I know right? Irony!! The whole episode is silly in the best way possible. Donna dropping hints about Agatha's future books and copywriting them etc. My main reason for loving this episode is the dynamic between the Doctor and Donna all the way through. Also, my single most favourite funny Doctor Who moment happens in this episode. I won't say much about it, but there is a certain moment that takes place between Donna and the Doctor in the kitchen. You'll know it when you get to it. 

And finally (for now)

Series 6, Episode 0: A Christmas Carol

Reason for excellence: Of all the Christmas specials, this is the most magical

This episode happens just after Matt Smith's first series as the Doctor. It's a Christmas special that guest stars Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins. It is written by Steven Moffat, and we all know how I feel about that man... 

Okay, so the concept of this is that Amy Pond is on a spaceship that is about to crash. There is a planet nearby that can help. However, in order for this to happen, the Doctor needs to convince a Scrooge type character to help; Kazran (Gambon). He won't, so the Doctor decides to go back in time and manipulate his past 'A Christmas Carol' style. 

It is a Christmas story at its best. It has romance, magic, redemption, humour and happiness all rolled into one beautiful bundle. Not to mention, the Doctor Who composer; Murray Gold knocks it out of the park with a song  sung at the end that is completely stunning. Want to hear it? 

I know it's not Christmas at the moment guys, but I watched this episode again last night and I have decided that, regardless of the time of year, you can never not need that kind of magical optimism in your life. Additionally, Matt Smith, who is the king of the comical one liners throughout his reign as the Doctor, has some absolute corkers in this episode. Trust me on that. 

So there are my three little stand alone tasters of the series we all know I am obsessed with. If you are still on the fence about whether you would want to watch this series, just try one of the above out. Alternatively, Series 3, Episode 10: 'Blink' is also AMAZING but every Whovian talks about that episode so I won't be going into it now, except to say that it is also written by the Moffat, which should be enough to convince you it's worth a watch. 

Recommendations for this week done! Have a great weekend. Enjoy these episodes! 

Peace out my lovelies. 

Fancy Things Friday: It's time for us all to watch men suit up... because of the excellent storyline... ahem

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

I have been finding one particular  thing incredibly Fancy this week. There might even be a chance that I've been a little obsessive over it... I know, me get obsessive over something? Bizarre, right? 

My Fancy Thing this week is the TV Show, Suits. I don't know what made me choose to watch it on Netflix... possibly the fact that I had just spent a month of my life watching 9 series of How I Met Your Mother and hearing Barney tell me to 'Suit up' every five minutes. I'd like to think that I'm not that impressionable, but who are we kidding? I think I've fallen for every single subliminal message thrown my way. 

Anywho, I am now up to Season 3 of Suits and I cannot tell you what it is about that show, but I am loving it. Honestly, I just don't know what draws me to it...

Is it the storyline? It does have an excellent plot, but I don't know if that's the main reason...

Maybe it's the setting... it's set in a law firm in New York and provides an insight into the cut-throat world of corporate law... no, that's not it. Ugh, what is my reason??? This is going to bug me now. 

I know! It's the fashionable clothes and the fancy lifestyle, reminding me of how awesome it would be to have money... nah, that just pisses me off more than anything. It'll come to me in a minute...

Maybe it's... nope, I don't know what it is, but I very much enjoy the watching of this show. And for some inexplicable reason I find it the height of fancy. 

It's available on Netflix, should you find yourself at a loss for the next show to watch. It's about two lawyers; Harvey and Mike. Harvey's a qualified senior partner in a law firm and Mike's a genius with a photographic memory who was chucked out of college before he could go to Harvard to get his law degree. However, due to being a genius, he took the bar 'for fun' and aced it. Mike accidentally walks into an interview to be Harvey's associate, confesses all of the above and Harvey hires him anyway. And a TV Show is born. 

All joking aside, it is actually really good and does hold more to it than being head up by two absolutely beautiful men in the most amazing and flattering suits available, although I'd be lying if I didn't say that was a massive factor towards it. (There are also beautiful women as well to those of you that way inclined). 

The whole show is very easy on the eye and, although I'm getting a little bit tired of the constant corporate take over storylines that are just one after the other at the moment, it's still making me come back time and time again for more. Not to mention, it has a whole range of characters that make you want to scratch their eyes out for being so unbelievably irritating... which technically makes it sound like that would be a bad reason to watch it, but it actually isn't. It just makes for freakin' awesome TV. And those annoying characters aren't main characters, they all go away eventually. 

As hinted to above, there is a small amount of repetition happening in the storylines at the mo, which I hope they're not going to continue with, otherwise the above (absolutely integral and awesome) good points might not be enough to keep me watching... argh, who am I kidding? Just look at them.

Peace out my lovelies

Fancy Things Friday: The Ultimate Spotify

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

There are a few things in life that I like to think I've been the pioneer of when it comes to becoming a fan. I do like to try things out as soon as I hear about them, because then I get to talk about them incessantly, regardless of whether anyone wants to hear it or not. Although, most of the time, I tend to just get on board once I have heard about it nonstop via internetual means and am beginning to feel left out. 

And then there are those small occasions where I am so far behind in joining the party that it's just embarrassing. This is the case with today's Fancy Thing. Ladies and Gents, up until last Thursday, I had never used Spotify...

I know, chastise me, throw things at me, kick me in the shins, I deserve it all. I can't even tell you why I haven't tried it until now. I just always seemed to be content with buying albums I couldn't afford to clog up my already maxed out memory on my phone instead... for some reason, that always made sense to me in the past. Now, however, I have discovered exactly what Spotify means to my primal needs when I suddenly have an urge to listen to an obscure film score from a movie that was released in the 80s. I mean seriously, I have searched the most bizarre songs and have not once been disappointed... well, actually, I tell a lie. For some reason, it will give you the 'He Sleeps' theme from Pretty Woman (something I have never been able to find anywhere before Spotify) but it doesn't have Emma Bunton's 'Maybe' which I find rather bizarre, but there you go. 

I'm not going to insult all of your intelligence by trying to sell Spotify to you, because I'm sure you all have been using it for years. If any of you are as clueless as me, I will just briefly explain that it's an app/program that you can get for your computer/tablet/phone that holds every song known to man on it (except the afore mentioned Emma Bunton song). It has playlists devoted to decades, moods, genres, the things you are currently doing (such as working out, relaxing etc and so forth) and so much more. It's awesome. 

Instead of selling it to you, I have decided to list the songs that I have been playing non stop this week, in the hopes that you might check them out yourself, because they are awesome for so many different reasons. I will warn you now, however, I have been in a nostalgic place recently and so there might be a large influence from my teen years involved... in other words, expect a lot of tracks from the 90s. Okay, so I'll leave you with them, and perhaps it will inspire you to add a few extra songs to your own playlists. 

PS: I may have highlighted in bold the particular tracks I am currently feeling very passionate about...

1. Dear Darlin': Olly Murs

2. Lose Yourself: Eminem

3. This Love: Maroon 5

4. Everybody Get Up: Five

5. Bye Bye Bye: N Sync

6. Don't Speak: No Doubt

7. Torn: Natalie Imbruglia

8. Bitter Sweet Symphony: The Verve

9: Pretty Fly (for a white guy): The Offspring

10. Jumpin' Jumpin: Destiny's Child

11. Ms Jackson: Outkast

12. How you remind me: Nickelback

13. Truly Madly Deeply: Savage Garden

14: Two Beds and a Coffee Machine: Savage Garden

15. No Scrubs: TLC

16. November Rain: Guns N' Roses

17. Butterfly: Crazy Town

18: Californication: Red Hot Chilli Peppers

19. Say It Ain't So: Weezer

21: Cry Me a River: Justin Timberlake

22. Angel: Shaggy

23. My Boo: Usher and Alicia Keys

24. Ain't It Funny: J Lo and Ja Rule

25. Hella Good: No Doubt

26. Never Had a Dream Come True: S Club 7

27. Stan: Eminem

28: Cleaning Out My Closet: Eminem (funny story, I seem to know every word of this song, I have no recollection of ever learning it...)

29: Colorblind: Counting Crows

30: Rap God: Eminem (I have every intention of learning this one... it is my latest personal challenge)

31: Lose My Breath: Destiny's Child (or just any Destiny's Child... they can do very little wrong)

32: Sweet Child O'Mine: Guns N' Roses

33: Live and Let Die: Guns N' Roses

34: Bang Bang - My Baby Shot Me Down: Nancy Sinatra (Kill Bill version)

35: End Title from Speed (starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock): Mark Mancina

36: He Sleeps (score from Pretty Woman): James Newton Howard

I challenge you not to find at least five songs from that list that completely rock your world. You are welcome. 

Have an awesome weekend

Peace out my lovelies.

Fancy Things Friday: A Fancy Book and a Fancy Lady

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

It's happened. I have talked about it to the point where people have threatened to throw things at me if I continued, and now it's finally here. This does mean that, after this particular post, I'm going to shut the crap up about it because I appreciate it can be annoying, but I ask that you bear with me for one last day as this is the day I've been yabbering on about for the past month. 

Yes, ladies and gents, my Fancy Thing this week is, once again, something that I have done, because every so often it's nice to be egocentric and shizzle. Not all the time, of course... just once in a while. My Fancy Thing actually is split between two things today, because it's a special day for two reasons. 

Fancy Thing and Reason No 1. 

A World Reborn: Book 2 in the Utopia Series, is now available on Amazon!!

*Screams manically whilst deciding the most hygienic place to throw up*

I've done it. I've actually committed to something for long enough that I've managed to create not one but two books on a particular storyline. This has officially become the most devoted I've ever been to one thing. Yes, my second book is now available to buy on Amazon. Please be aware that, should you stumble on this blog for the first time today and feel inclined to buy this book, it is book 2 in a series, and you do kinda need to read the first one for it to make any sense. However, I have tried to make this as easy as possible for you as, from tomorrow, Book 1 (Utopia) will be available, once again, for free on Amazon!! Huzzah!! You literally have nothing to lose, not even money. All you need is a kindle and an Amazon account. And if you don't have either, you can download the kindle app onto your smartphone/tablet for free and also sign up to Amazon for free. Yes, that's still zero pennies that you will spend. The freeness of Book 1 is only for 5 days, but after that it's only 77p to purchase, so even if you miss the promotion, you are only losing a tiny amount of money but gaining a whole novel about people dying and getting drunk and being sarcastic towards each other... what more can you ask for? 

You might ask for another book on top of that, well why not? I've got one more now! This was released today, it continues on with the story of the survivors in a post-apocalyptic world and has even more sarcasm and excitement and a years worth of my blood, sweat and tears... I know... sounds intriguing, doesn't it? If you enjoyed the characters from the first book, you'll be pleased to know that they are all back for book 2. 

There's: 

Christiana: A slightly awkward, fairly cynical mental health nurse who has a weakness for large amounts of alcohol and cares deeply for those around her. 

Daniela: A young, pretty spoilt, genius who is fiercely loyal, stubborn and knows her mind and what she wants. 

Jason: A sensitive and, frankly, bewildered guy who spends most of his life trying to figure out what the hell is going on with it. 

Adam: The gorgeous and talented movie star who makes mistakes like only a movie star could. 

Duncan: Aaaaah, Duncan. There are no words for Duncan. He's just... Duncan. The most laid back person in the universe...

And guys, there are many more... a whole group of survivors who are thrown together and forced to live in a new version of the world they are used to. Book 1 explores the initial reaction to the end of the world as they know it and how they adapt to it, Book 2 looks at the new world they have created. Book 2 also offers new characters to the storyline, such as Edinburgh, Belfast, Alice and Parker, and how they effect the lives of the original characters. It is a world that has taken over my life and I would love it if you knew about it as well. 

If you have read the books, or choose to read them in future, it would be really amazing if I could hear about what you think of it. I welcome all comments, even if you hated it. Feedback is important to me and I always like to hear what people outside of my brain think of it. If you want to give your opinions, then there's the Amazon page for comments (please do write something on there if you've read it, it helps with other people deciding whether or not to read it), there's the comments section on this blog and also you can email me via the white box in the right hand bar. Alternatively there's twitter and instagram, or you can just try shouting really loudly from the top of a rooftop... you never know, I might hear it. 

So the links bit. Once again, the links to buying the book vary, dependant on the country that you are currently living in. If you are in the UK then you can get your copy by clicking here and it is £6.10. If you are in the USA then you can get your copy by clicking here  and it is $10.30. For all other countries, you can find it by going to your own local Amazon site and typing in Lisa J Harries, which will take you to both books. 

Okay, that's enough about that. Thank you for supporting me in my dream, you make me feel all sorts of slightly inappropriate feelings. 

Fancy Thing and Reason No 2

A very Fancy lady who is missed a hell of a lot.

There was a reason that I wanted to publish my book on this day. You see, it's the anniversary of the day a very good friend of mine died. It happened 4 years ago today, and you may have heard me talk about her at this time of year in previous years. Her name was Tammy. She was awesome. I worked with her about three jobs back, when I lived in Essex and before I started writing on this thing. She was massively inappropriate in everything she had to say and had absolutely no filter between her brain and mouth. She also was the best person to dare to do something, as I never once saw her back down from it. She was this amazing 'larger than life' character that was taken far too young (still in her 20s) by cancer. 

Over the years since her death, I've drawn on her for inspiration. If she wanted something, she wasn't afraid to fight for it. She never apologised for who she was and was never afraid to ask for help when she needed it. Her fight against cancer towards the end was amazing. She was strong, even in her weakest moments, and it sucked that somehow the sodding thing beat her anyway. Whenever I do something big that means something to me, like publishing this book, I'm reminded of her. I wrote a post a year after she had died for this blog, and you are more than welcome to read it here. 

The really sucky thing about it all now however, is that the memories that were once so fresh in my mind have become out of focus and I'm not able to trust the accuracy of them anymore. Although, I will say that her laugh is still as clear in my mind as it was when she was alive... she had the dirtiest laugh of anyone I knew.

Most of my posts on her in the past have been reflective and, quite frankly, sad. However, I wanted this one to be a celebration of who she was. I wanted to take a moment to say on Fancy Things Friday, that she was very Fancy and awesome and everything else in between. She made us all laugh, all the time. She would pull practical jokes and talk about the status of her lady parts to anyone who would want to hear. 

She was this amazing gal, and I wanted to let you all know that she existed. If she had lived up to when I started writing on this thing, no doubt her antics would all be in here. But life sucks sometimes and people are taken away from us for no rhyme or reason. We adapt and move on, but it's so important that we never forget. Luckily for Tams, she had a personality that is forever engraved into the brains of all who knew her, so the likelihood of anyone forgetting her is very small indeed. 

So tonight, when you're out on the town, or sharing a meal with a few people, raise a glass to the beautiful Tammy and everything she represented; strength, humour, confidence and drive. Then go ahead and have a freakin' awesome night, because trust me, that's what she would be doing. 

Have an awesome weekend. 

Peace out my lovelies. 

Fancy Things Friday: Justin Timberlake and his 20:20 vision of yumminess

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

A few months ago (whenever it came out) I purchased part one of the Justin Timberlake 20:20 Experience album. I, as I always do whenever that man does anything slightly musical, LOVED it. This week, I finally got round to purchasing part two of this album. This is mainly because I was paid a little extra money this month and figured I'd celebrate this with getting me some more of the Timberlake. It has become the only thing that I have been listening to all week... with the exception of yesterday when I was doing some nerve racking stuff and so had my "psych myself up to achieve greatness with a smile on my face" song on repeat all day, which at the moment is Pharrell Williams' Happy (another very fancy thing).

As is normally the way I choose the Fancy Thing for my Fridays, I naturally decided that this would be my topic, due to it being the thing that I have overused obsessively this week. I am going to extend my Fancy Thing to include Justin Timberlake as a whole, however, as seriously... that man... it's just not healthy to be that beautiful and sing and dance and create music the way he does. He does very strange things to me. Beautiful, beautiful man...

I kinda accidentally fell in love with the Timberlake. I wasn't really a massive N-Sync fan, preferring the Irish tones of Boyzone as a teenager, and when he went solo I didn't really have an opinion on any of his songs. However, I was working in McDonalds at the time, (as everyone does as some point in their lives... it's like a rite of passage) and he began his "I'm lovin it" promotion. Due to this, we managed to score free tickets to his first concert tour for his Justified album, and I wasn't going to turn those bad boys down.

So, my 18 year old self got all dressed up in a pink ensemble (I was a little obsessed with the colour at the time... my dress sense has a very interesting past, let's just leave it at that) and I headed off with a bunch of work colleagues to Earl's Court for the concert. The seats we had were amazing and we were quite near the front, so naturally I was already impressed before the concert even began. However, when it began, oh my days, I turned into complete and utter mush. I screamed until I lost my voice, I gaped at his general sexiness all the way through, and when he began his beat boxing segment, as an introduction to Rock your Body, I realised that my opinion of him would never be the same again. There was now only one opinion to have, and that was he was simply the most awesome artist I've ever known.

I will say that my enthusiasm for the man has calmed down as I've gotten older. Don't get me wrong, I still love everything he produces and performs, but I no longer fantasise about the kids we were inevitably going to have and how much he was going to fall in love with me, the moment he set eyes on me etc and so forth... yes, I was a teenage girl with questionable fashion taste and an unbelievably cliche mind.

Naturally, I went to the second concert tour for his Futuresex/Lovesounds album and, due to paying for these tickets myself this time, only managed to get seats up in the really dangerous section, where one wrong misstep would result in a plummet to my death, taking a multitude of Timberlake obsessed fans with me. Thankfully, I managed to stay alive and on my feet, although just a tiny bit terrified for the entire concert. Once again, this man performed in a way that did very hot and flustering things to me and my love for him grew.

I am sad to say that I have not been able to get tickets for this recent tour, which has been gutting for me, however, I've been making up for it with overplaying the new albums until I know every inch of them as much as his first two albums. I'm not quite there yet, but almost.

If you haven't bought the latest albums, or indeed any of them, yet, then do it. Do it now! Each album tends to take on a new theme and style from the last one, making them all very different to each other. 20:20 Experience is no exception. He has explored a variety of different styles throughout the songs, and is strongly influenced by a 1920's style. I will say that, as it stands, I prefer his previous 2 albums over this one, but that does not at all mean that it isn't good. It's still freakin' awesome, because the Timberlake doesn't know how to create bad music. Full stop. No arguments...

Now for him to just learn that trick for his movies... I'm getting really tired of having to use the statement "I do like it, but only because I love him... otherwise, yes I understand how you might think it's a crap film"... With the exception of Blacksnake Moan, I cannot for the life of me work out why I love that film so much, but I do.

Peace out my lovelies

(PS: 8 days to go until A World Reborn: Book 2 in the Utopia Series is available on Amazon! Exciting, no? Buy your copy on Friday 9th May 2014... if you want, no pressure... I'm not demanding you do it or anything... unless that works for you? In that case, BUY IT!!)

Fancy Things Friday: Film Parodies on Youtube... you make my life

Welcome to Fancy Things Friday, where I talk about things on a Friday that I think are fancy!!

Today's Fancy Thing is something that makes me laugh and lightens my heart and fills me with such glee that I sometimes I literally don't know what to do with myself. This thing is the area of youtube that focuses in on film and tv show parodies. 

There are many different channels on youtube who do this. Today, however, I will be focusing on three in particular, because they have all been responsible for making me pee from laughter at least three times each. (How's that for imagery??!!) These beautiful and very clever channels are the following: 

1. Bad Lip Reading

Bad Lip Reading is a channel that does exactly what it says on the tin. They take clips from our screens and dub over the voices with what it looks like they are saying... It is almost always ridiculous but, more often than not, makes you wish that the film had used these lines to begin with. 

Now, I'm aware that the channel does Bad Lip Reading for more than just the TV shows and films, however it seems to be all sports and American Politics which just goes over my tiny little head, so I'm focusing on the the fictional parodies only. 

The first video I ever saw them do was their Bad Lip Reading of Twilight, the first film. As far as I understand it, this is also how most people in the world, who are already aware of them, found out about them. Since then, they have done New Moon (film 2) and, breaking news just in, they have now done Eclipse! (Film 3). Words cannot express the love that I have for these videos. So much so, I have placed all three below for you to peruse. Once again, you are welcome. 

I won't say anything else about the above apart from "Keeeevin" and "That cake's my most bestest creation, why did you eat it?" These are moments when the above peeing may have happened, although I can neither confirm nor deny this...

They have a lot of different videos, such as Game Of Thrones (simply immense) and The Amazing Spiderman (I can't even...), go check them out. I will leave you with one more clip... The Hunger Games, which is freakin' awesome. 

2. Screen Junkies: Honest Trailers

So Channel recommendation No 2 is Screen Junkies. I'm not going to lie, both  this channel and the third one are fairly new to my radar. I have binge watched them this week, which has taken up most of my evenings, and they are freakin' awesome. However, due to still being a newbie to this channel, I have only got as far as watching their Honest Trailer series. If this is anything to go by though, the rest of the channel is no doubt just as awesome. 

So Honest Trailers basically take a film or TV Series and create a trailer whereby the voiceover man just says exactly what the rest of us are thinking. You might have noticed that I added the Game Of Thrones Honest Trailer to my Monday post, so, even though it is funny AS, I won't repeat this video today, just go back to Monday and check it out... or just visit their channel as I'm pretty sure they have it there too...

With Game Of Thrones being already advertised on this blog, I will focus on some of the other trailers that have caused the spontaneous urination this week. 

Frozen

The Notebook

The Avengers

Need I say more? Nope, because the videos speak for themselves, thus I am redundant. 

3. How it should have ended

This is a channel that, once more, does exactly what the title says. It takes movies and changes the ending to fit what 'should' have happened at the end, via the medium of animation. Once again, what a laugh I have had at this channel. I shall give you just one example for this one, and then let you check the rest out all for yourselves. 

So that's my recommendations for you, this week. Go forth, buy yourself some nappies, and settle in for a night of incontinence. Once again, you are welcome. 

Peace out my lovelies.