'08 meant.....

What did '08 mean to you?

Well here's what it meant to me...

Song of the year:
'Forever' by Chris Brown
For the simple fact that it still sounds so fresh 7 months on.....I have it on repeat!

Band of the year:
MGMT
I loved them the minute I was introduced to them. They were the band that defined my experience in Thailand and to this day, when I hear the intro to 'Kids' it just puts me in good form.

Moment of the year:
Thailand
From the partying on the beaches to laying on the beach watching the shooting stars. Friends, mushie skakes, vodka buckets, elephant rides, treetop jumping/gliding, my tan and not forgetting all the hot talent half naked on the beach. Looking back at it, I wouldn't change a minute of it (well maybe the few minutes when I lost Etain's camera-I'd change that Etain, I swear!)

Person of the year:
Kirsten 'Grace' (Walsh) Cassidy
And you thought it was going to be Britney. It was close don't get me wrong but I realized my fat, red-headed goddaughter is just that extra special.
But it was very close!!!

Worst thing of the year:
Being ,"a liabilty!"
I had five new phones in the space of 3 months. Lost and broke an i-pod. Lost two cameras and one received some water damage-never goes on sadly! I don't even have my own pair of keys for my house because I lose them....it's bad!

Film of the year:
WALL-E

It really is a jem, enough said.

Quote of the year:
"I don't need keys. I have contact lenses!"
One of my blackout moments.

Let's hope '09 is just as interesting....

TIMEs have changed

Barack Obama is 'The Person Of The Year' so TIME magazine says. I thought it would be the case. Do you think he was though?


Have some trivia for you now, did you know Hitler was once claimed 'Person Of The Year'. yeah back in 1938, and Stalin got the title twice. Makes you think.

christmas come back

I just don't have the Christmas feeling this year. Maybe It's because my mind was focused on my finals the last two weeks. But even with them finished I can't get into the Christmas mood and it's wrecking my head.

There was a time I would just sing 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens all day to myself and walk into shops just in search for Christmas decorations so my Mam could add them to the tree. I used to go mad if she didn't get something new for the tree. Now I'm working in An Post for a week and I swear if I see one more RED Christmas card I'll scream, and I've only been there 2 days.

Whats wrong with me? Have I grown up that much in the last year?

I want my Christmas back but I don't know how-help before I become another one of those Scrooge people I use to distaste so much.

cherly's 'life changing' moment ?

May I just say that Cheryl Cole's life has been life changing a long time before any Vogue cover. Her life was 'life changing' when she got a membership for Girls Aloud, when she married a wealthy footballer and when she confirmed her status as a top celebrity as the newest judge on the X-Factor panel. All these factors have influenced the woman we see and love today.

Her on the cover of Vogue isn't 'life changing' as Heat magazine has claimed. It may be a highlighted milestone in her life but no way life changing. I know Vogue is the fashion bible of the world but it's not like Anna Wintour will be checking out her picture. On the cover of the main Vogue (America's) would have been something to write about but its only the English edition of the magazine, 19 different countries publish their version in total. Her being on the cover of the English version just confirms her climb up the celebrity ladder-thats all! In no way does it do anything got to with fashion and for that reason its not life changing.

Why am I annoyed about this? For her simply being on the cover of the English edition of Vogue does not change her life in any form. Her life has already changed for many other reasons (as listed earlier)other than being the cover girl of a magazine!!!

twice bitten

I loved Buffy, use to have the television booked every week so i could watch it, that hour no one could come in the room. It was me and Buffy time. I fell in love with the Buffy & Angel love story, Willow and then when Faith came into the programme, it just got so much better.

Then Angel and Faith left, Willow became a lesbian and the goodness of the 2nd & 3rd seasons never peaked again. Still watched but never as good.

It was only recently that I began reading Twilight and my love affair with vampires came flooding back. The book by Stephenie Mayer is about a young girl called Bella, who moves up the south of America where the sun rarely shines with her dad. Eventually she becomes fascinated by a mysterious guy called Edward Cullen. Edward turns out to be a vampire and they fall in love while a few bad vampires try to tear them apart. It's lovely really and so is Edward. There was countless of times I wish I was Bella, like the days I dreamed of being Buffy chained up and getting dirty looks from the just gone bad Angel. Now that that they have made hot Robert Pattinson Edward, I feel I can put a bit of realism into my once description based evidence. Just wish he could go on the bad side, do you know what i mean?

See how pretty he is?

Long live the vampires, thats what I say!

wall-e who

Watched WALL-E, Pixar's latest masterpiece and I fell in love with the film. One of the best films of seen in a long time.

Was reading up about it and discovered the person who voiced WALL-E is a four time Oscar winner Ben Burtt. He is the man behind sound effects such as the lightsaber, the heavy breathing Darth Vader does and created the voice of R2-D2. All sounds that can be found in the Star Wars trilogy. Thought it was pretty cool

And if you haven't seen WALL-E, watch! You'll be pleasently surprised how good it really is.

will's Willy

I just could not help myself. Okay, he may be about to have a piss but how often do you get to see a royal's Penis-like never! I just had to copy and paste.



Just so people don't get the wrong idea, the picture came to me. I never googled Prince William's Penis (I feel I have to add the capitol letter because it's royalty)

cover me this

When I first heard Dermot from X-Factor say that Leona Lewis was performing her next single 'Run', covering Snow Patrol's classic rock anthem, my first words were fuck. Ten seconds in the song I was drawn into a beautiful melody that I found difficult to get out of, throughout the course of the song it just got louder and better and for that reason I instantly fell in love with it.

It looks like she'll be number 1 in the English charts this Sunday, and fair play, it's a good vocal cover and it gives Snow Patrol a small Christmas bonus.

So while we're talking covers-I'll give you my top ten covers in reverse order. Feel free to differ.

10-"You Keep Me Hangin' On"-Kim Wilde (originally by The Supremes)
There's a reason why this topped the chart twice in the States.

9-"Walk This Way"-Run-D.M.C feat Aerosmith (originally by Aerosmith)
The combination of rap and rock brought Aerosmith back into recognition and outlined the importance of rap to us all.

8-"I Will Always Love You"-Whitney Houston (originally by Dolly Parton)
5 years ago this would of being higher but it has become dated to me-still a classic but as dated as the original.

7-"Baby One More Time..."-Travis (originally by Britney Spears)
The original is still an all time favourite of mine, however I like what this cover represents, not only is the song a good pop song, it's also a good song in every way possible.

6-"Stop Me"-Mark Ronson (originally by The Smiths)
Never liked The Smiths, this song made me question why.

5-"Hallelujah"-Jeff Buckley (originally by Leonard Cohen)
It's just seven minutes of pure magic in my eyes and did you hear it may be the x-factor song for Christmas-that's when the song will be added to the worst cover list.

4-"Comfortably Numb"-Scissor Sisters (originally by Pink Floyd)
Listened to the original and got bored within the first ten seconds, never got bored of their version and thats why it's on my list so high.

3-"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"-Elton John (originally by The Beatles)
It's just a good cover, that's all.

2-"Respect"-Aretha Franklin (originally by Otis Redding)
Always respected her but never a fan of her music. However this song is so good, I almost feel bad not liking her stuff.

1-"Nothing Compares 2 U"-Sinead O'Connor (originally by Prince)
Everything about Sinead's version is just perfect, she made it her own. Prince did a duet with The Family and it's just not good. It's properly my favourite song of all time, so its really no surprise it's my no.1 cover song.

i got my head shaved

Woo-hoo

No, they aren't pictures of me, I'll get to why Colin Farrell is there in a short while.

It's true, I used to have long hair. In fact I was often mistaken to Jesus. The only difference my hair was in fantastic condition. It was long, silky, never seen a split end or a ghd whereas I'd hate to wonder what product went into that man's hair. It came to the point were women envied it, so much that I was dragged to a salon by a woman (Etain Kidney) to get rid of it.

Do you know what though? I have no regrets. As each hair fell swiftly on the ground I smirked with happiness. I hid this carefully though, hate for Etain to get a bigger (than she already has) head. For once, I felt I could walk down the crossfires of Kilnamanagh without anyone rising their head to see if I was a girl with a beard. Being a gay man, I no longer felt like the raging fairy that flew across the scene (secretly i still am, just hiding it better with a shaved head and a boyish walk I learned to adapt from my Tallaght peers).

Then I look in magazines and see the likes of Colin Farrell with long hair and I'm like what the hell was I thinking. He don't look hot with long hair, he looked hot with short hair. Now, look at the pictures above (understand the usage now?), it is clear Colin is hotter with short hair-what the fuck is he thinking? Maybe he's taking on my own advice which was that every man should attempt to grow their hair once and see the results. Lucky for me I was hot with long hair, Colin ain't! I don't like to be the one to say it but it's true.

I understand why David Beckham, now with a shaved head showing off his golden balls is making millions. The reason-it's hot. If he had the hair he once frolicked around with, it would like a Baywatch advertisement in black and white. That may sound good but not in relation to guys-to cheesy! Shaved head and in a black+white shot-HOT!!!(I add the capital letters with male perspiring passion).

Don't get me wrong some men, like myself, can get away with long hair. These people are Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. And they are hot in every way a man should be. If anything they are properly hotter with the length (Antonio Banderas in Assassins, point made).

My point in the end of the day, Colin should shave his head and I'm a happy camper with my new short hair do.

icon?

I adore Britney Spears. At first it was the delight of seeing her new video on MTV every 3 hours (how times have changed), to see what she was going do next either a magazine cover or performance. Yes it may have being mimed but it was still damn good. Look back at the earlier MTV music awards performances and tell me they don't have some credibility.

I know things began to take a slippery slope but it made me love her even more. She became my Madonna, my Micheal Jackson, all of whom have had their share of mistakes but still hold their crowns firmly. Although I screamed at the annoyance and disappointment of her doing something stupid again, i was engrossed! Her presence on my computer was never put on hold, even though i was angry with her. I could never quite stop reading in hope that it would get better, that she would get better!

You could say I became one of her children. Many may rise their brow at such a statement. However you must think about what I'm about to say. When I say children, I speak of fans. Fans an extremely important factor to any artist and no one can deny the shit us Britney fans had to put up with, in the last three years. No other fans would put up with it, maybe with the exception of Madonna. Britney fans are more than your normal 'boyband tag along' fans, we stay for the long haul. For that reason I'd never question her legacy. She has kept her army of fans and they're the only ones that matter in the end of day. People who diss her aren't going to buy her albums, it's the people who stick by her who will. You may claim that she'll never sell as much as she use too, but no artist will ever sell the amount that were sold back then, times have changed, music has changed.

I feel I'm beginning drift off the point. The bottom line is and you haters better learn to accept this, Britney is an icon. She's an icon because she has survived. She delivered the goods, kept giving and ten years later she's still giving. We seen her dark days, the media would not let you forget it but she's back. Maybe not to her peak but you have to remember it was only this January that she was strapped to a stretcher been brought to hospital for an psychiatric illness. What she has achieved so far this year is astonishing. She has told us that she, "goes through life like a karate kid". To me that defines her as icon. Why? After all she achieved, to have fallen so far from the top and get back up to reclaim her title so gracefully, she has proven she can kiss ass-wouldn't you consider that iconic?