Category: Entertainment

Who was Amy Winehouse?

Don’t forget she was someone’s ‘little girl’…..

I really hate when bloggers jump on the bandwagon when something terrible happens to drive traffic to their blogs.  When a few celebrities recently lost babies late into their pregnancies, a lot of bloggers decided it was a good time to start sharing their own stories.  I can appreciate the sentiment and I do think more women should talk about miscarriages; but I personally made the decision not to share my own stories at that time.  I can understand sending them a tweet of condolence or leaving a heart-felt message of support on their Facebook page but writing a post about your own experiences and turning the attention to yourself stinks of selfishness in my mind.

So, this is why I was reluctant to talk about Amy Winehouse’s sudden death this weekend.  I was sitting in the pub when someone popped by and said she’d died.  We were all in disbelief.  I quickly popped on to twitter to confirm it and sadly it was true.  What saddened me the most is that she was only 27.  I was a bit of a rebel in my twenties, experimenting a lot, pretty much everything, bar injecting myself, but luckily I didn’t have access to the money and drugs that she did, nor did I have to deal with the same pressures.  A lot of finger pointing will go on. Was it the media, her parents, fame?

When I got home last night, I crept up the stairs and poked my head in to check on my daughter who was sleeping soundly.  I don’t know how to put it into words, but looking at her sleeping is the most amazing experience; calming, soothing, peaceful.  It made me think of Amy’s parents, as they would have done the exact same thing and brought a tear to my eye; I’m sure they celebrated the first time she slept through the night, her first birthday, her first steps, her first words, and her first day at school.  She wasn’t always an incredibly talented junkie with too much eye-makeup.

Some of the comments/bad jokes I’ve read on twitter really make me wonder at what point did she stop being a human-being in people’s minds.

Even though her parents knew she was on a path of destruction and the outcome was inevitable, I can’t imagine the pain they must feel.

No parent should ever have to bury their children.

 

Karaoke!

Ha ha! I’ve been tagged by the crazy Pippa to do the Karaoke Meme! Seriously, check out her video, she’s truly insane and completely sober! This one was dead easy for me and I’m doing a bit of a cheat. This is a video from a tweet up last year, where I did my rendition of Dancing Queen.

I’d be amazed if you haven’t seen it already. Do bear in mind I’d had 2 bottles of red wine. It’s a bl**dy miracle I was still standing!

The main reason I’m doing this one is because I’m dying to tag a few of you *insert evil laugh*! So, show us what you’ve got:

(apparently you don’t have to sing your song, you can just link a video but I think that’s cheating!)

@annieqpr
@CocaBeenSlinky
@SuperAmazingMum
@IAmWitWitWoo
@designcredo

Final Curtain Call for Strictly Come Dancing?

As most of you know I’m a big fan of Strictly Come Dancing.  I haven’t been watching it since the beginning but damn near close enough.   However, the changes over the last couple of years are starting to test my loyalty.  Last year, when they replaced Arlene Phillips resident dance expert, with Alesha Dixon, I was very vocal about my unhappiness with this decision.

This is not a personal attack against Alesha, she seems like a lovely woman and probably learned a lot when she participated in the show in 2007.  However, I still don’t think comments like ‘great outfit’, ‘your bum looks great in those trousers’ or ‘the ladies are loving you tonight’ really add to the show.  These quotes were all taken from tonight’s show.

Anyhow, I’ve moved on from that.  However, this year the removal of the ‘Dance Off’ doesn’t anger me but in fact terrifies me.  I’m not going to explain how SCD works as I’m assuming that if you’re still reading this you must be a fan, otherwise you would have buggered off by now.  We’ve all seen it happen year after year, the British Public voting for the underdog or just to goad the judges, mostly Craig.  A prime example of this was John Sergeant.  Goodness knows how far he would have gotten if he didn’t make the decision to walk.

So, in reality, there is nothing stopping the likes of Ann Widdecombe from getting to the final.  I really hope the British public come to their senses and remember that underneath all the glitz and glamour that it is a dance competition.  I do appreciate it’s for entertainment, but I don’t think it’s really fair to those that are working really hard and delivering excellent dances.  This is why the judge’s involvement is imperative as they used to have the opportunity to step in and save the better dancer if need be.

In addition, without the Dance Off the Sunday night result show is a complete waste of time.  It’s just filler, clips of the show the night before, with a couple of show dances thrown in, possibly a celebrity guest and then the lights go out.  If the voting closes shortly after the show on Saturday night why can’t they have the results on the same night?

I really hope I’m wrong about this and that the new format of the programme adds to our enjoyment but I can’t help feeling that the BBC has made a grave error.

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Strictly Come Dancing 2010: A Family Affair

And my prediction for tomorrow night is…..

We all know that the people at the top and bottom of the leaderboard ‘tend’ to be safe and it’s the ones in the middle that need to worry.  So, there is a really good chance that we will get to ‘enjoy’ ‘endure’ Ann Widdecombe next week and if the UK public is true to their normal fashion we we’ll get to do so for a number of weeks.

Anyhow, back to my prediction, this week I think it’s going to be between the likes of Tina O’Brien, Michelle Williams and possibly Goldie.  But, I think that Michelle will be leaving tomorrow night.  I personally haven’t warmed to her and I don’t think the British Public is going to either.

On a side note, I do feel that Gavin really shot himself in the foot tonight with his narcissism.  He’s so lucky he has Wales behind him.

So what’s your prediction?  Any other thoughts so far on the program?

Tips for Tipping?

I grew up in North America and worked my way through Univeristy as a waitress so I’m ofay with tipping.  You tip for good service, 10-15% depending on the quality of the service.  There is none of this ‘service included’ b*llshit!  If I see it on a bill it drives me mad and often makes me refuse to pay it.  If the tip is guaranteed who is going to be motivated to give good service?

I’ve now been in the UK for nearly 12 years and for the most part I’ve got the hang of it over here.

  • I used to try and tip barstaff and they always ran after me with the change.  I have learned that it is better to buy them a drink.
  • I tip taxi drivers, I’m not sure why….is the definition of good service ‘arriving alive with unsoiled drawers’.
  • I tip in restaurants if I’ve had good service.
  • I’ve tried to tip my beautician as they deserve every penny for getting up close and personal with my nether regions.
  • I tip my cleaner at Christmas because she’s my saviour
  • I’m tempted to tip at the hairdressers but when they charge me £130 to have my hair done the only tip I can think of for them, ‘is charge less so I have some money left to tip!’
  • I don’t let people carry my bags as ‘I hate handing over money to people for doing what I can do myself, it makes me nervous.’ (Sylvia Plath)

Who else should I be tipping?  Are you like me and find the whole thing a bit awkward at times??  What is the etiquette?  I do appreciate that some people’s wages are crap and they need the tips to survive.  I’m not asking much just good service.

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