Another bunch of fame-hungry wannabe’s

As if The Valleys, Jersey Shore and Geordie Shore weren’t enough. MTV’s brand new Ex on The Beach has come out with a bang. As I scrolled down my twitter feed on the night of the first episode, my friends couldn’t stop raving about it saying how entertaining it was. I watched the trailer and could already see the resemblance to MTV’s Geordie Shore. 3 things I learnt from the first 5 minutes of the show: 1) My friends are all idiots, 2) Why are they all topless (not that I was complaining) and 3) The girls need feeding with proper food not fame.

Ex on The Beach is a reality TV series broadcast on MTV. It features 4 single women and 4 single men enjoying their summer holiday. Then all of a sudden, one by one, they are each joined by their exes. It is either a chance for some to fix their relationships and start fresh or a chance to revenge on them face-to-face as they flirt like there is no tomorrow.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea is good. But I’m just sick of the sights of narcissists on television thinking that they’re celebrities because of reality television shows. I’m sorry, but it is obvious they’re not going to be very nice people. Remembering that the category the show falls into is ‘REALITY TELEVISION’, it really makes me question- which parts are real? The beach is real, the house is real, is that all? Because the people certainly are not real. The four guys are clearly gym fanatics looking like they’ve been blown up with a balloon pump, and the girls look like they’ve been starving themselves for the past few weeks.

As they flirt and bitch, the unforgettable narrator Andrew Maxwell tries to exaggerate the tension by keeping the audience up to date with where the next ex is, this part is also pretty laughable. Like a lot of shows now a days, they use a tablet device to communicate with the cast and the producers. So on Ex on the Beach, there is the dreaded ‘tablet of terror’ which is used to tell couples when they have to go on a date, or to send 3 house mates to the beach to meet one of their exes. Then suddenly, we see an ex appearing out of the ocean- it’s literally just like that.

I’m not going to sit here and say I won’t be watching the next episode, because I will. It makes me laugh and is an interesting plot idea, and the whole idea that the people aren’t real make it even more annoying because the more the audience rant, the more publicity it will get, and the more ideas MTV will get for their next programme on fame-hungry wannabes.

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Dexter Finale *No Spoilers*

What do you do with a psychopathic serial killer who is also a hero? Do you give him a happy ending or do you put him in jail?

Dexter, a series that started in 2006 had a total run of 96 episodes. Now that’s successful television. Michael C. Hall or should I say ‘Dexter’ himself, was also an executive producer of the series which is pretty impressive. But it was sad to see that my Netfilx marathon came to an end. Dexter became a daily routine, I would watch no fewer than 3 episodes a night.

The final episode was so intense, I admit that I cried a little- maybe that’s because I’m a girl, but who cares, the story is emotional to say the least. May I just say that the directing is so on point, the audience see exactly what they need to keep the suspense up all the way through the episode. Perfect directing! The narrative was so necessary that it gave closures to everyones relationships and gave the audience chance to imagine what would be happening next. Again, the serial killer of the final series (season 8) was found and Dexter did what he had to do. But the biggest twist and shock of the series was that Dexters last victim was somebody he loved very much.

The season finale focused on Deb and Dexters relationship from both points of view. This is where the emotions came out. Dexter was portrayed as the hard faced serial killer who didn’t really express himself, but this episode definitely switches his role slightly.

At the end of the finale, I was happy more than anything. Although I have read many negative reviews about the ending, but in my eyes it was an outstanding job. The audience saw exactly what they needed to see. It is neither a happy nor sad ending, it is just right.

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How far is this gonna go?!

Following my recent youtube ‘find’ based on social media, this video follows my Unicef advert. I am highly interested in this kind of thing so when it popped up on my facebook news feeds I had to give it a play. The question is, how far is this gonna go? Social media is taking over our lives and theres nothing anyone can do about it. I’m not complaining, in fact I’m admitting that I am someone that does rely on my phone.

The other day I was shopping with my boyfriend in H&M, I got to the till and felt for my phone to check the time. Panic struck. It wasn’t there. I routed through my bag and couldn’t see it anywhere. I emptied my bag contents on the cash desk and still no sight. I started to feel my eyes tearing up. My boyfriend started laughing, he was so shocked to see me so upset about a stupid phone. In the end it was in his pocket. But I am painfully embarrassed to admit that I don’t know where I would be without my phone.

When I think of my iPhone, I think of the many photos it holds, not forgetting my beloved instagram, facebook and twitter. After reading a Guardian article online, it really made me think. These apps hold my name, my contacts and my exact location, they know my relationship status and my history. This is crazy when you think about it, I wouldn’t just tell a stranger in person my personal details, so why tell Facebook?

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CAPITAL FM is probably the worst radio station in the whole entire world (in my opinion)

I am sick and tired of this radio station playing the same songs over and over again, it is enough to send you mental!!!

First of all, I will give you a bit of background info into the radio company. The radio network is owned by Global radio, which launched on the 3rd of January 2011. It was previously known as Galaxy. The station serves an audience of 7.1 million listeners and target a core audience in the 15-34 age group.

On CompareMyRadio, you are able to compare different radio stations on how often they play a track and how often they vary their songs.

I have put together a small infographic to put across the statistics that I found out.

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As if Queen Bee isn’t good enough????

It was pretty obvious after looking at the photos of Beyonce and Jay Z at the Met Gala that there was something pretty wrong. Both of them looked really unhappy, but the last thing I would have expected was that Jay Z cheated on her!!! The news finally spilled at the after party in a lift with Beyonce, her sister and the cheater himself- Jay Z. There is a short video online of the scrap between Solange Knowles and Jay Z. All I can say is, I wouldn’t like to think what could have happened if that security guard wasn’t in the middle, Beyonce’s sister is a fiesty one. But can anyone blame her? I’d do the same for my sister! However, Beyonce stands in the corner of the lift just watching it all happen, I don’t understand how she can be so calm whilst her sister kicks and shoves her cheating husband.

After reading through various articles, it has been reported that Beyonce decided her marriage is over. How could anybody cheat on Beyonce? I don’t understand!!! Jay Z’s life should have been complete, Beyonce was his wife and the mother of his child. What the hell. Rant over…

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You are a disgrace to the female race if you did not celebrate this day by wearing pink!

The pop-culture phenomenon ‘Mean Girls’ has it’s 10^th anniversary.It’s lasting success means that the cast of the movie will gather for a special event to celebrate this day. There is no doubt in the world that my friends and I will all be wearing pink!

Mean Girls (2004) is a story of high-school cliques in America. It is narrated in the shoes of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) who is a newbie at a her first public school after 16 years of being home-schooled. She is then manipulated into joining ‘the plastics’, the most popular girl clique in school. Cady faces the unwritten rules that society bring to teens today.

Tina Fey wrote the film and also played the part of Ms Norbury (the ‘drug pushing’ teacher).  The film grossed a total of $129,042,871 worldwide, showing that there is no surprise as to why most teenage girls like myself would find this film amazing. Even in the opening weekend, the movie made $24,432,195 in the USA from 2,839 screens. Pretty impressive right?

It is described as a sleepover staple, which is endlessly quotable. According to the blogging website ‘tumblr’, users have created more than 10,000 posts and 477,000 notes related to the film in the past month alone.

“It’s a really clever, really smart film so it stands up to repeated viewing, which I think is key for something becoming a cult hit,” says Empire magazine’s deputy online editor, and Mean Girls fan Helen O’Hara. “You notice clever lines you didn’t notice before. Little jokes that maybe didn’t wow you first time around suddenly become the funniest thing in the world. ‘You go, Glen Coco!’ for example. I don’t even remember that from the first time I saw it and now you can buy T-shirts and bags with it on.”

The dialogue in the film is so easy to bring into every day life, which is one of the obvious reasons to its success. All I can say is thank you Tina Fey!

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The hardest challenge that has ever faced my 7- year old brother…

Reaction: Try to watch without laughing or grinning

The title of this YouTube video came across as a challenge to my 7-year-old brother after browsing the Internet, our boredom turned to watching funny videos on YouTube. I watched a few and my brother’s reaction was priceless so I decided to film him whilst watching.

The original video link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWpNE5ElQE

There are so many of these types of videos on YouTube that we ended up having a more entertaining Sunday evening than we thought.

The majority of the clips in the video were originally viral a few years ago, for example, ‘the peanut butter jelly time kid dancing’ and the ‘noma noma’ man dancing clip was used as inspiration for the new EE advertisement which has recently appeared in cinemas nationwide. When I first viewed the advertisement I thought that it was a movie trailer with the setting being a South American prison, a prisoner Carl suddenly bursts into song and dance just after he has been taken behind bars. EE say that they are using viral videos to create more ‘epic’ Internet phenomena. I personally think that the originals are always best, and phone companies should stop being greedy for more money!

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(500) Days of Summer *Does not contain spoilers*

I can easily say that this is one of the best and most realistic rom-coms I have every seen. Let me tell you why…

‘We never remember in chronological order, especially when we’re going back over a failed romance. We start near the end, and then hop around between the times that were good and the times that left pain. People always say “start at the beginning,” but we didn’t know at the time it was the beginning. “500 Days of Summer” is a movie that works that way.’ – Robert Ebert (2012: 181)

Marc Webb’s movie follows a course of 500 days (hence the title) but the narrative is not in chronological order. The two main characters are Summer and Tom. The two fall in love, but let me remind you that this isn’t a typical love story, in fact, it isn’t really a love story at all. The whole movie is performed from the antagonist’s point of view- Tom. This is done to make the audience empathize for him.

I must admit that to watch this film you must give it your full attention as the jumping around from day 488 to day 3 or whatever. The storyline is anything but predictable, which is one of the reasons why this film is my favourite.

Joseph Gordon- Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play Tom and Summer. Tom is a hopeless romantic, and Summer is free-spirited and looking for anything but love (so she says). The pair happen to meet as Summer starts her new job where Tom happens to also work- a greeting cards business.

If you like High Fidelity, you’ll love this. As this also shows the whole relationship from the males point of view. The story of Summer is a mishmash of faultiness which makes it even more easy for everybody to relate to.

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UNICEF Tap Project shouldn’t be too much of a challenge!

I eat my words, because I must admit that I am one of many people who cannot survive without constantly checking my phone. I proved my point by keeping a media diary last week. But why? is the question. Why has our generation let ourselves get this way, instead of talking face to face, we communicate by text. Instead of sharing our feelings with our close friends, we tell the whole world on social networking websites. Technology now a days has made people lazy (including myself) and sometimes even too lazy to talk to your friends when you go out for lunch.

Unicef have made a fantastic ad that I came across whilst surfing youtube, basically you use their app and challenge yourself to leave your phone alone for as long as you can. If you do well, you will raise money to help provide clean water to those less fortunate.

‘We think we can’t live without our phones. So why don’t we use them to help provide something people ACTUALLY can’t live without? Clean water.’ -Unicef

The longer you last without touching your phone, the bigger the donation. Unicef’s sponsors and donors will make their donation based on the time you lasted. When you’ve finished, the app gives you the option to make a donation yourself.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic way to donate money as almost everybody can relate!

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Narcissistic nominations?

So over the past few days, my Facebook news feed has been full of selfies of women. I started to think my friends and family have all become extremely vain overnight, but after reading the photo captions I then found that the photo’s were to raise cancer awareness.The campaign has been a craze in the social media world as women have been sharing photos of themselves without make-up, whilst using the hashtag #NoMakeUpSelfie.

The viral cancer awareness campaign then started to become a case of friends nominating their friends to ‘dare to bare’ which was the reason the campaign spread so fast.This then sprung to mind the ‘neck nominations’ faze, where people (primarily young males) would nominate each other to down their drinks, now in my eyes, this is 100% narcissistic and stupid. So whoever started the cancer awareness campaign should not have associated it with the neck nominations as this portrays the campaign as a bit of a joke.

I researched into it and realized the amount of money Cancer Researched had received through donations was remarkable. Girls started screen-shotting their donation confirmations to Cancer Research which proved that they weren’t just taking a narcissistic photo of themselves. And before I knew it, I jumped on the bandwagon after a few of my friends nominated me.

People would comment on girls photos saying ‘oh you look gorgeous’ and ‘you look stunning without makeup’. This then made me question, is this just an excuse for girls to take a selfie and get a huge confidence boost. Other people on my news feeds then began writing status’s such as ‘Why do we need to be aware of cancer, i’m pretty sure everybody knows what it is’. But in my opinion, not enough people know what it is, and that every donation does help. Yes, taking a selfie is pretty narcissistic but who cares if its helping a charity?

I think viral campaigns such as this are a fantastic opportunity to spread news fast and the results have shown that social networking websites are a perfect platform for this.

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