Yearly Archives: 2020

Self-Isolation

Mar 16

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On this day, 21 years ago, I went into hospital to start chemotherapy for my Bone Marrow Transplant (donated to me by my sister). It was over two months of isolation. My light sensitivity became so bad during this time that my window was blocked out with all these South Park and Alien posters. When I got out of hospital, I was at home in recovery isolation for a further four months, in my brand spanking new blue bedroom! It’s funny how history has a way of repeating itself. I survived self-isolation for six months when I was 13-years-old, with nothing but a CD player and an N64! If you really think self-isolation is too difficult for you to do, with all the advancements in technology that we have in 2020, this is time to work on yourself, grow, introspect, and maybe change. I think we can all come out of this experience a little wiser and kinder to each other, and thankful for every day we’re given on this Earth.

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Sound off!

Jan 20

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To mark the start of a new decade, Spotify offered up an analysis of my past ten years in music. I started streaming music in 2009 so, whilst it’s mostly accurate, I still use last.fm to keep track of my … tracks!

Spotify said my most streamed artist in 2010 was Lady Gaga (193 plays). However, last.fm paints a very different, much more accurate picture. The band I listened to the most in 2010 was t.A.T.u. (300 plays).

In 2011, Spotify claimed my most streamed artist was RuPaul – and last.fm confirmed this, with almost 600 plays.

t.A.T.u. were back on top in 2012, according to last.fm (220 plays), but not Spotify. They marked RuPaul as my most streamed artist for a second year running (160 plays).

Things changed a bit in 2013. Spotify claims my most streamed artist was Lana Del Rey (106 plays). However, there were three other artists I listened to more, according to last.fm – t.A.T.u. (122 plays), Delta Goodrem (173 plays), and Natalia Kills (204 plays).

RuPaul was back, back, back again in 2014. Both Spotify and last.fm has over 160 plays clocked.

I thought, by 2015, my other means of listening to music were well and truly dust in the wind. Both last.fm and Spotify have Lana Del Rey as my top artist (156 plays).

But in 2016, whilst Spotify claimed Tegan and Sara was my most streamed artist (39 plays), last.fm has seven whole other acts charting above them. Delta Goodrem (39 plays), Carly Rae Jepsen (48 plays), RuPaul (50 plays), Steps (52 plays), 2 Unlimited (53 plays), Sia (60 plays), Aqua (74 plays), and Lolly (83 plays).

There’s conflict again in 2017. Spotify suggested that Aqua were my most streamed artist (77 plays). Steps, however, were my true artist of that year (80 plays).

Spotify logged Lorde as my most played artist in 2018. However, most of those plays were offline, and therefor 25 other artists proved more popular according to last.fm – Tegan and Sara (14 plays), Frankmusik (15 plays), Delta Goodrem (15 plays), Miranda Cosgrove (16 plays), Tommee Profitt (17 plays), Perfume (17 plays), Hear’say (17 plays), Lena Katina (18 plays), Lady Gaga (20 plays), A*Teens (20 plays), Metric (21 plays), The Veronicas (22 plays), 2 Unlimited (22 plays), Rebecca & Fiona (23 plays), Madonna (23 plays), John Carpenter (25 plays), Steps (27 plays), Lolly (27 plays), CHVRCHES (28 plays), Lana Del Rey (31 plays), Daphne & Celeste (31 plays), Robyn (33 plays), Charli XCX (33 plays), RuPaul (42 plays), and Christine and The Queens (51 plays). Read the rest of this entry →

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The Brainies

Jan 1

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Welcome, ladies and gentlethem, to the first annual Brainies. The web’s most prestigious made-up award ceremony that ends in “ies” to honour the most revered works in film and music and anything else that I feel like talking about. Today, I will be awarding 2019’s best in film, acting, and writing. There will be no in-memorium, this year, because nobody died. Without further ado, to present the award for Best Actor, I present… me!

  • Best Actor
    Lorn Macdonald as Spanner in “Beats”
    Cristian Ortega as Johnno in “Beats”
    Justice Smith as Tim in “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”
    Evan Alex as Jason / Pluto in “Us”

I’m not really as captivated by male-centric films as I am with female lead films, but Beats for me was easily one of the best films I saw from 2019. I decided to watch it based on repeatedly sitting through the trailer in Hyde Park Picture House. I can’t say why exactly, but undoubtedly the portrayal of Spanner’s character was unlike anything I’d seen before and I needed to know more. Outstanding! 

  • Best Actress
    Beanie Feldstein as Molly in “Booksmart”
    Dawn Luebbe as Lisa “Greener Grass”
    Pollyanna McIntosh as The Woman in “Darlin'”
    Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide / Red in “Us”

Here’s where it got difficult. Picking only four actresses to highlight for their work in 2019. As amazing as they all were, Lupita just eases ahead of everyone else for her dual portrayal in Us. She also wowed in the very under appreciated Little Monsters.

There was a lot of expectations riding on Pokémon’s first live action feature film. So many things could have gone wrong. How do you make a 20 year old franchise feel brand new whilst still honouring the original and not alienating long time fans? Can it even be done? I’m here to say, Detective Pikachu came pretty damn close to being perfection. I had to call it the best of 2019, because of the expectation versus payoff.

    Best Original Screenplay
    Booksmart
    Beats
    Us
    Greener Grass

Indescribable. I could watch this film another 10 times and see a different side to it every time. I feel like every frame is chockfull of so much colour; so much detail. Even the costumes alone are exquisitely demented! If you don’t like Greener Grass, keep calm and carry on, because you may be the exact people this film is making fun of!

    Best Foreign Language Film
    And Then We Danced
    Matthias & Maxime
    Synonyms
    Monsoon

Whilst And Then We Danced rated higher for others, and Matthias & Maxime was directed by my favourite Xavier Dolan, Monsoon has stayed with me long after seeing it and is the one I want to watch again. I liked all of the characters, and thought they we’re really well written and helped give insight into a film where there may not have been much scripted dialogue (I even wondered if this counts as a Foreign Language film). I think you could tell Kit’s estranged neighbour is wanting to say all throughout their time together, “if your family had stayed, we might have fallen in love.” It’s not just me that was picking some vibes up, right?

  • Best Documentary
    Leaving Neverland
    Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
    The Great Hack
    Fyre

What a year for documentaries! Another election, another year of lessons not learnt from The Great Hack (I couldn’t exactly delete my Facebook and Twitter, but I did scale way back on everything so that now I am a shallow husk of a former human being). Whilst I still haven’t been able to see the other (apparently more coherent) Fyre Festival documentary, it feels like that is so irrelevant and happened years ago. For me, 2019’s best documentary was the shocking, exposing, sickening recount of Bikram. Jackie Lacey, extradite him! It’s 2020, extradite him now! You should have extradited him long before now! Most days I pass by the proudly displayed Bikram Yoga sign in Leeds, and had always wondered how one opened AFTER the deposition. Now I know. I want to go to every other business that operates inside that mall and ask, are they happy to have their brand displayed next to that of a predatory rapist?

  • Best Short
    Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny
    Cuban Heel Shoes
    The Distance Between Us and the Sky
    A Night With Noorjehan

I saw more short films in 2019 than ever before, thanks to Leeds International Film Festival putting on two nights of screenings for both its Queer Short Film offerings. The best offering I felt was Cuban Heel Shoes from Spain by Julio Mas Alcaraz.

Horror is my thing. It’s the genre I love most. And in 2019, I saw a lot of horror. 5 films in one day, in fact. For me, the best was Darlin’, the directorial debut of Pollyanna McIntosh. Taking the story from Lucky McKee’s utterly bloodthirsty and outstanding The Woman, and creating a unique film that can still be watched either stand alone or in tandem with the other two films from the series. I came into this film only having seen The Woman once – over a year ago! I completely even forgot the two were connected until I got a proper look at Pollyanna McIntosh. The lead character of Darlin’ is expertly brought to life, and the kid actors that surrounded her were equally talented.

And so, it has come to this, the most coveted award of the night. Time may pass, but my love for Booksmart will never fade. It may even grow. I’ve been a fan of Sarah Haskins for over 10 years, and to finally see her name up on the big screen filled me with so much pride and joy and respect! I’m a little pressed about Olivia Wilde taking so much of the spotlight, it having been her directorial debut, but I loved the underwater scene, followed by the long tracking shot into the house. It was undoubtedly really well directed, and really well cast. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever were outstanding. In fact, everyone was outstanding. Billie Lourd, Noah Galvin, Jessica Williams. It reminded me so much of Daria, which I love, but this exists really well in the here and now.

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