Mary for Eurovision 2011

Heres my X-Factor Summary for the Saturday show, week 7...

Dermot: Unwittingly made an amazing NKOTB reference by calling One Direction 'the newest boyband on the block'. I liked it a lot.

Matt- Nice arms, shame about the phlegm in throat at the beginning of the song. It was a good song choice for him, and nice to see him singing something quite masculine for a change. Not sure the whole production with the dancers really suited a Beatles song though, and thought his styling was a little bit too 'Kid Rock/Wife-beater' for such a much-loved sweetie. Also, he seems to have small shoulders which was distracting. But yes, lovely arms.

This girl singing 'Imagine'?? Seriously? *Lennon turns in his grave*

Cher- The song choice was just a little bit lame to me. It came across contrived-maybe because she is so young. Maybe its because the song features lines such as 'imagine no possessions' that Cher with her bratty, kinda hip-hop attitude simply couldn't make it sound believable. While she obviously has vocal talent, she really has no proper technique to speak of. I will say she had good makeup. It was nice to see her not looking like a drag queen. The best bit was the judges didn't all go crazy praising her the way they did on the Halloween show(to be honest, I thought this was better than her rendition of 'Stay'. That week was all about the styling and production.

One Direction- I thought it was a really fun performance. I liked the production- especially the crowd of dancers coming in at the end. I gotta agree with what Cheryl once said- I would love them if I was 14-15, and would probably have posters and everything. I thought the styling was good overall, except for the one dude in the silly cropped trousers. I'm not convinced they didn't have a backing vocal playing- not sure why I thought that, it just sounded like more than 5 voices at times. Oh, and the Irish dude has silly hair.

Rebecca- First impression? not loving the jumpsuit or bad trousersuit or whatever it was. Thought she was as good as ever, but yeah, maybe she wasn't quite as powerful as she could've been. every week she's always a little bit off-key in places but her voice is lovely u forgive her. I decided this week that maybe her eyebrows are drawn a bit higher than they should naturally be? They look a lot more natural than Cher's, but when u look at her bone structure and eyes closely I think they are higher than they should be, but she suits it. As always Dannii was the only one who offered constructive criticism.

Mary- Definitely had her mojo back- though I don't think it went too far away. She even seemed to be moving in a way that was a little bit sexy or something. She had amazing stage presence, and she looked beautiful. The only issue I have with Mary is, where can she go from here? Eurovision?...actually, thats not a bad idea. Get songwriting people!!Oh and realized Louis reminds me of Jedward the way he bounces around in his camp little way.

Paije- He is by far the best vocalist left in the comp. Hands down. He also has the cutest baby face ever. Has a special spark- is it the 'X' factor? I'm not 100% sure. I love his style every week- he kicks it old school. When it comes time to judge him...I don't wanna see Simon's chest hair.

Wagner- So he called Cheryl 'a council estate girl who got lucky'. I don't see the controversy in that. She's never tried to hide it, and is proud of it. Its true, he wasn't saying she isn't talented, and I think it was probably taken out of context. At the end of the day, Cheryl is an amazing dancer, but her vocals aren't exactly much better than his. She doesn't even sing live when she performs on the show, so I don't see what all the Hoo-Ha is about. Cheryl should know better than anyone that the press can take a quote and twist it to suit themselves. I thought her reaction was inappropriate and uncalled for. As for the performance- I'm with the judges on this one- there isn't really much you can say about it.

Below is a pic of Wagner when he was young:And here is a pic of Cheryl beside a pic of the nightclub attendant she assaulted: Haven't Wagner and Cheryl both come a long way?

Katie- Does she smoke? Whats with her croaky speaking voice? The song choice came across a bit desperate, and like she was trying to show us what she is going through with all the negative press- but instead it came across shallow and contrived. I dunno why this is, I really don't. There really is just an inexplicable 'thing' about her that makes her not-likeable. I guess that makes me feel ever-so-slightly sorry for her because it doesn't seem like there is anything she can do right. I liked the blonde hair better on her but think the crop is cute. Her dress was cute, but wasn't exactly a show-stopper, more like nice day-wear. And, once again, Dannii is the only one who speaks the truth.

My message to take away from this weeks episode? vote Paije. And if you don't vote Paije, then vote Wagner. That's that.

Oh, and I liked Dannii's look best. Cheryls whole look was just a bit too predictable, like we've seen it before.

Ron Weasley. Ya Would.

Ok, so Ron isn't exactly dreamy, but geez he's come a long way hasn't he?! Good for him. Anyway, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 opened here in Ireland on Friday, and I went to see it yesterday.
So whats it all about? Basically Lord Voldemort has gathered up his crew of Death Eaters and they have taken over the magical world, including the Ministry of Magic, and of course, Hogwarts. Harry is their enemy no. 1, but thankfully he still has his loyal group of friends and supporters. Harry is on a mission to find and destroy the 7 'Horcruxes' which are seemingly normal objects that contain pieces of Voldemorts soul. In order to destroy Voldemort once and for all, these Horcruxes also need to go. The problem is, he has only little clues as to where and what these Horcruxes are. Thankfully, Dumbledore has left some cryptic clues from beyond the grave, and Harry has the ever faithful Ron and Hermione to help him.
Just as they are doing for the final installment of the Twilight saga, the last book in the series has been split in 2. For both of these franchises it absolutely makes sense. It may seem like they just want to drag it out and make more money off the series(which may well be the case) but the final book is easily more than double the pages of most of the other books, and even they had huge chunks of the plot lines removed when translated to the screen.
I deliberately chose not to re-read Deathly Hallows before the film release, as I am always one of those annoying 'it wasn't like that in the book' people. I knew the rough plot line from reading the book back when it first came out, but that was it. I couldn't remember all the teeny tiny details, which I believe made the movie altogether more enjoyable- cause lets face it, can anyone compare with our imaginations?
Overall, I loved this movie. It was dark, constantly suspenseful and even a little bit scary. Now, I am a complete wuss when it comes to scary movies, but I really did feel for the smaller children sitting nearby. Thank god it wasn't shown in 3D or parts of it would've been terrifying for them(and maybe me!!). If you're a Potter fan you'll love it. If not, this might just all be a little bit confusing for you.

yes, worse than crazy frog

I feel this may be the worst song, of all time...EVER. At the moment, when i am driving around, i am more than happy just listening to the radio. If i don't love a song, i can generally still tolerate it. BUT there is one song that makes me change stations instantly- even if it means listening to ads.
The Black Eyed Peas 'hit' The Time (dirty bit) is just so offensive to my ears. I can't even pinpoint exactly what the problem is, but I have narrowed it down.
It lacks structure, and is obviously relying on 2 important facts:

1) it 'samples' some very well known lyrics.
2) Its by the Black Eyed Peas, who could apparently release shit on a stick and people would buy it.

Basically, its shit, and if it didn't feature lines from 'The time of my life' it would be just another album track, a 'filler' if you will. But because of that one stupid line, they decided it should be a single, and strangely, bizarrely, people like it. I really really don't understand. If this is a good Pop song, then what the hell have we become?

A little underwhelming

Like all fashion-lovers-on-a-budget in this country, I was very excited to hear that Forever 21 was opening in Dublin. Dubbed the 'Primark of the US,' Forever 21 offers a wide variety of fashion and accessories for women, men and teens, including a Plus size range. I am yet to visit the store, but I have visited the new UK website which opened at the same time as the Dublin store.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was ever-so-slightly underwhelmed by some of the fashion, particularly the dresses. My main issue with them was that the day dresses were a bit basic, and the going out dresses a bit tacky. Overall the dresses are just not as Fashion-Forward as we are used to on the Irish and UK High Street.

The best items on offer come in the form of jewelry and accessories, but I did find a few other bits and bobs worth noting that you can see in the picture above. And the store definitely is budget-friendly, with nothing pictured being more than about £30. I say £ and not € because I had trouble with the 'change currency' button on the website. Seems like they are still ironing a few things out actually. Anyhoo, one more chain store in the country is overall a good thing, and I will be visiting the store ASAP.

The Katie-Factor

Why do the judges keep saving Katie Waissel/Voguel/Biatch?? Like, seriously? The answer, of course, is to create controversy.

I have long-ago accepted that shows such as the X-Factor have very little to do with talent. Like Idol and Popstars before it, the X-Factor is about entertainment. But I feel this new format has taken it a step further than its predecessors. Why? because while the public do get to vote, ultimately, the choice is left in the hands of the 'judges' who can manipulate the outcome as much as they like. I mean, often, Simon doesn't even attempt to justify his decisions. For example, despite being what I would consider an Aiden 'fan', giving him praise and defending on occasion, tonight he chose to save Katie. He didn't explain why he chose to go against the comments he made all season about Aiden, and the viewers are left with questions. When he doesn't explain his decision properly, isn't it natural that we are going to start crying 'FIX!!!'. He knows Katie brings the drama. She has done since say one and the Namu-gate saga. That is really all he cares about, and its upsetting, but it is the reality. Any viewers who can't see that, are quite frankly, lacking intelligence.

And who the hell is Katie anyway? As you can see from the pictures above, she hasn't really given us someone we can warm to, even though she claims to be trying to show us her 'true self'. Maybe her true self has multiple personalities?? There's the 'Quirky'(I use the term tongue-in-cheek) Popstar; The smouldering Jazz Siren; Retro Diva; Hipter Rock Star; Dramatic 'Sod-it' Darling; and the 80's Madonna.

While in the past, I have questioned whether Aiden was truly being Himself, or merely impersonating someone he thought was 'deep, intense, credible and artistic', I give him a certain amount of forgiveness because he is only 18, and at least he has been consistent.

The moral of this story? Vote Wagner! The show has become a COMPLETE JOKE anyway, so why not vote for one??