So, you may not know (and if you don’t know, I’m amazed, it’s usually the third most interesting fact about myself I unselfishly volunteer without being asked), but I was a performer at the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, which was roughly two years ago yesterday.

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So, anyway, in a way of a minor celebration/salute, I decided to put on the ( Read more... )

You may have seen a musical clip from the frankly genius idea of Silence of the Lambs: The Musical set to Lego:

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Anyway, it turns out the musical is coming to London mid-January! Who’s with me? We can all wear night-vision goggles and adopt cod-Virginian accents! (or surgical masks and cod-posh-Welsh accents)…

Mirrored from almost witty.

I’m watching a Chinese Cantopop music video, which has all the stylings of a Mariah Carey / Britney Spears video shoot. Groovy dancers, a wind machine, and a made-up lead singer in a short skirt.

However, the only English-language lyric I can pick up is “Loneliness is my best friend”. Just to reinforce this fact, it’s repeated about 8 times with ( Read more... )

The new Pet Shop Boys single. It’s fab. For the following reasons:

- It’s going to be fab at concerts, hearing fans scream back the various call-and-beck lines
- Lyrically, it’s an age-old theme but with the typical Pet Shop Boys twist
- It’s catchy as hell. Did I mention that?
- Love Etc. - I mean, could there be a more Pet Shop Boys title?

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A former music writer colleague of mine once told me that the great thing about new music was that it was always there for you, when you were ready.

Given that my last CD purchases of simple pop bands Alphabeat and Scouting For Girls drew sustained moaning from my music-loving neighbour, it's patently high time that I stopped hearing new music ( Read more... )

One of the signs of stress must be when you’re easily distracted by cool new music.

And of all the radio stations to point me to this little gem by Nerina Pallot called Everyone’s Gone To War, the fact it was plugged by Capital FM-soundalike Red Dragon FM is a bit worrying.

But it’s not the usual pop pap sleazily sold by them. It’s got a great hook ( Read more... )

On Sunday, I got to indulge in a pleasure that’s getting rarer and rarer as the years advance, the summer of my life turns to the brown autumnal leaves and as my body prefers to stay in blissful sleep rather than facing the world.

A pleasure that I was so keen to relive, that I had to go 100 miles out of my way, and swerve past sheep on the road in ( Read more... )

popjustice reviews the new Pet Shop Boys album. Not due out till April 2006.

I’d say more but I’ve got more deadlines swimming past me than an ocean full of fish. So laterz - and if I don’t see you before, merry Christmas, happy new 2006 and I’ll see you in mid January. Unless Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong and avian flu don’t get to me first.

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Sorry to go on about this, but I really think it’d be better all round if we all postponed Christmas. Just by a week or so, just to give me a little more time.

The washing-up has been piling up alongside the laundry, simply because I need to get the international Christmas cards and presents out by Monday and get most of my family presents out of ( Read more... )

Be warned. I usually hate it when bloggers go on about how much a song means to them because of certain lyrics. But hey. It’s November, nearly December, and a time of year when holding back from sentimentality can be a futile gesture.
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