Chapter 38: Celebrity Death

Hey Guys,

This week on YouTube I played 'Heroes' by David Bowie to pay tribute to him and Alan Rickman, who both died this week from Cancer, aged just 69.
See that here:

I've always loved David Bowie's music, even if I didn't always realise it was his music and I grew up watching Harry Potter, which of course starred Alan Rickman as Snape, I also loved him in 'Love Actually'

Today I thought I would highlight some people celebrities who have died in the past few years that I was a fairly good fan of. Death is always something hard to come to terms with, but some celebrities seem so close to you, especially if you've grown up watching or listening to them, which makes the time around their death particularly hard for you.

Perhaps the biggest loss for me in the celebrity world in the past few years was Robin Williams, the way he injected comedy and impressions or 'voices' into his work really resonates with the kind of actor I would love to be, this man was a true legend.

Discovering that Richard Attenborough had died in 2014 only really upset me because he was David's brother, until I did some research and discovered that he played Jacob in the film adaptation of Joseph and the amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which is one of my favourites.

Ben E. King may not sound like a recognisable name at first, but when I tell you he was the guy that sang 'Stand by Me' which is an incredible song, which is extremely catchy. It's a song that I've listened to at different years of my school life, and so lots of memories are linked to this song, and man.

Christopher Lee, of course, is massively known for his horror films. Now, not being a massive horror fan, it didn't surprise me that I wasn't sure who this man was when he died, however, when his face was all over the news I realised that he is Willy Wonka's dad, which is awesome.

Mark Speight

Cilla Black, A true national treasure, singer, broadcaster, actress, the works, she was a true rags to riches story and therefore a true legend.

Now, Mark Speight died in 2008, which is a few years out of the range that I'm talking about, but when this man died, Me and my brother and sister were devastated and this probably still remains as one of the biggest celebrity death shocks for me...If you are unaware of who Mark is, he was the male presenter of SMart. This man was truly amazing and is sorely missed in my household.

Let's hope that Bowie and Rickman are the only ones this year, too many legends for one year.

(To sign a petition to get Bowie on the new £20 notes, Go HERE)


Until Next Time,
Stay Happy,
Remember a Celebrity,
And Goodbye.

Mitch x

Chapter 37: Planuary (2016 Goals)

Hey Guys,

So, My good ol' friend Georgia over at Saltwater Sunset has just uploaded her 'January Goals 2016' blog post, in which she outlines that she will be setting herself goals every month, and then she gave a list of her goals.
I think this is a really cool idea, so, complete with awful punny titles, I shall give my own goals...
These will be on the 15th of Each month

This Is:

PLANUARY*Please Note: This is the only good pun, They get a bit tenuous after this*

• Improve my hygiene and grooming routine
• Start to plan my evenings better to accommodate not only my love of TV, but also schoolwork and online work (planning YouTube Videos, Blog posts)
• Use Social Media positively rather than an opportunity to waste time
• Plan exciting things to do

I've only started with a small list as I want to make sure I'm setting achievable targets.

In February, I will review my success of 'Planuary', and then create a new list of goals for February, which will have some kind of pun.

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Set Goals,

And Goodbye.

Mitch x

Chapter 36: Opening Night!

Hey Guys,

This week 'As You Like It' opened and I made a video to let you meet the cast:

My Mirror in the dressing room...I'm not a diva!

So, after a hit and miss dress rehearsal for me, I was both excited and petrified for the first show to an actual audience although the real nerves only started to kick in when I took a script down to the wings and could hear the audience, at that point however, I wasn't to know that it was them that would give me the adrenaline to get all of my scenes practically perfect.

Myself & Joe (Corin) during a scene

The atmosphere backstage all night was so positive and fun and it was amazing to see everyone supporting each other and feeling good about themselves.

A highlight for me, as a comedy character, was
hearing my very laugh from the audience, it gave me the confidence to keep going and going better to get more laughs.

Overall, it was a great night and you can still buy tickets for the last 3 shows

The Bows from opening night

Box Office:

www.ticketsource.co.uk/iwsc
07519933847 OR on the door

Adults: £8.00
Children: £6.00

Friday 15th January, 7:30pm
Saturday 16th January, 7:30pm
Sunday 17th January, 7:30pm

Until Next Time,
Stay Happy,
Book A Ticket,
And Goodbye.

Mitch xx

Chapter 35: NTAs Revisited!

Hi guys,

In October, Voting for the National Television Awards opened and I shared with you my votes. Now shortlist voting for The National Television Awards which will be broadcast live from the O2 on the 20th January 2016 have opened.

Today I've decided to vote...and give you snappy 1 line reasons for my choices.

If you wish to vote, please follow this link
http://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote

Let's get started!

TALENT SHOW

Nominations: Britains Got Talent, The X-Factor, The Voice, Strictly Come Dancing

Original Choice: Strictly Come Dancing

My Choice: Strictly Come Dancing

Why: Sequins, Sparkles, Ainsley Harriott and Bruno Tonioli.

CHALLENGE SHOW

Nominations: MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off, The Apprentice, Bear Grylls: Mission Survive

Original Choice: Bear Grylls: Mission Survive

My Choice: Bear Grylls: Mission Survive

Why: Real challenges for celebrities, exciting to watch.

SERIAL DRAMA

Nominations: Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks

Original Choice: Eastenders

My Choice: Eastenders

Why: Only one I really watch anymore and has quality storylines.

COMEDY

Nominations: Benidorm, Birds Of A Feather, Not Going Out, Peter Kay's Car Share

Original Choice: Benidorm

My Choice: Benidorm

Why: Tough choice, but Benidorm makes me laugh the most.

DRAMA

Nominations: Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Casualty

Original Choice: The Syndicate (Didn't make Shortlist)

My Choice: Doctor Who

Why: It was tough to choose between The Syndicate and Doctor Who before so now that The Syndicate is not an option, it's easily Doctor Who.

NEW DRAMA

Nominations: Humans, Poldark, Ordinary Lies, Doctor Foster

Original Choice: Ordinary Lies

My Choice: Ordinary Lies

Why: Brilliant cast and story, left me wanting more.

FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENT

Nominations: DIY SOS: The Big Build, Gogglebox, Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs, Top Gear

Original Choice: Top Gear

My Choice: Top Gear

Why: Think it deserves one last award and will be great to see it prove a point. (Will be happy with Gogglebox)

LIVE MAGAZINE SHOW

Nominations: Loose Women, The One Show, BBC Breakfast, This Morning

Original Choice: This Morning

My Choice: This Morning

Why: Show has awesome content, always the right mix between informative and entertaining.

DRAMA PERFORMANCE

Nominations: Aidan Turner as Ross Poldark in Poldark, Suranne Jones as Gemma Foster in Doctor Foster, David Tennant as DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch, Sheridan Smith as Jo Gillespie in Black Work

Original Choice: Lenny Henry as Godfrey Watson in The Syndicate (Didn't make Shortlist)

My Choice: David Tennant as DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch

Why: Havn't seen any of the nominees in these programmes but I know that Tennant is very good.

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

This is the category with my favourite shows, really tough one.

Nominations: Celebrity Juice, I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, The Graham Norton Show

Original Choice: Celebrity Big Brother (Didn't make Shortlist)

My Choice: I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!

Why: Had an incredible lineup this year, should be noted I also love Saturday Night Takeaway & Graham Norton

NEWCOMER

Nominations: Shayne Ward as Aidan Connor in Coronation Street, Parry Glasspool as Harry Thompson in Hollyoaks, Richard Blackwood as Vincent Hubbard in Eastenders, Gemma Atkinson as Carly Hope in Emmerdale

Original Choice: Richard Blackwood as Vincent Hubbard in Eastender

My Choice: Richard Blackwood as Vincent Hubbard in Eastenders

Why: Only one on the list that I've seen in action, and he's pretty good.

SERIAL DRAMA PERFORMANCE

Nominations: Rakhee Thakrar as Shabnam Masood in Eastenders, Danny Dyer as Mick Carter in Eastenders, Alison King as Carla Connor in Coronation Street, Michael Parr as Ross Barton in Emmerdale

Original Choice: Danny Dyer as Mick Carter in Eastenders

My Choice: Danny Dyer as Mick Carter in Eastenders

Why: Quality actor, quality character, quality storylines, quality show. (All the others are incredible too, especially Rakhee)

INTERNATIONAL

Nominations: Game Of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, The Big Bang Theory

Original Choice: The Big Bang Theory

My Choice: The Big Bang Theory

Why: Only one I've seen, really good comedy and cast.

DAYTIME

Nominations: Pointless, The Chase, The Paul O'Grady Show, The Jeremy Kyle Show

Original Choice: The Chase

My Choice: The Chase

Why: Bradley Walsh...End of.

TV PRESENTER

Nominations: Graham Norton, Rylan Clark, Mel & Sue, Ant & Dec

Original Choice: Jack Whitehall (Didn't make Shortlist)

My Choice: Graham Norton

Why: Couldn't decide between Whitehall, Emma Willis and Bradley Walsh last time...none of whom made the shortlist, so went for Graham Norton as can't stand Rylan & Mel (Love Sue)...and I don't want Ant & Dec to win it...Again.

My Shortlist & Final Nominees

My Original Nominees

So that is my choices, this was a ridiculously long post but I hope it gives you a big insight into what TV I like.

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Go Vote...Again,

and see you soon,

Mitch xx

Chapter 34: 2015 Is Over!

Hey Guys,

I thought I'd give you my 'script'/'notes' for this weeks video, a round up of 2015, which you can see here:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So 2015 is over, and now all the ‘happy new year’ stuff has died down it is time for my New-yearly roundup of the year

First, the biggest NEWS stories of the year.

Of course it wouldn’t be a round up if I didn’t mention the dreadful attacks in Paris and the rest of the world from last January or the more recent ones in the past months.

But there was a lot more to this year’s news than those unfortunate events, for instance NASA found running water on Mars, this may not sound amazing to some people, but for lots of people this was a breakthrough in science.

The country was split over the 2015 general election which ultimately ended with David Cameron continuing as Prime Minister with the Tory’s, it seemed the country decided on who best knew their way around a pig (I’m talking about Ed’s Bacon Sandwich, Seriously). Miliband resigned and was replaced by who my nan would call ‘that scruffy bloke’ Jeremy Corbyn who we also discovered has a passion for man hole covers.

Greece ran into debt and Hurricane Patricia struck, The UK also Decided to name their storms, but it’s not quite the same, eh Barney.

A new Princess was born this year with the name Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. But that could nowhere near balance out the celebrity Deaths of the year, Although he lived long and prospered, Leonard Nimoy was Beamed up, The legendary Sir Terry Pratchett reached his final page, We could no longer Stand by Ben E. King. We also lost the beloved Anne Kirkbride, famous of course for her portrayal of Diedre Barlow in Corrie, and Christopher Lee, famous of course of his portrayal of every horror character ever.

The loss of a true national treasure shook the country when our Cilla Black left our screens. Novellist Jackie Collins and Rugby player Jonah Lomu were also amongst those to part with us this year as well as Shirley Stelfox, better known as Edna from Emmerdale and this is only a small fraction of the deaths this year.

Another huge talking point this year was MUSIC

One Direction were real headliners in the music world this year, their surprise loss to Royal Blood at the Brits, The loss of Zayn Malik and the temporary hiatus left millions in tears. And of course we didn’t do great at Eurovision again, but what music was huge this year in the UK Charts?

Mark Ronson was massively under-appreciated when Uptown Funk was big under Bruno Mars. OMI arrived from nowhere with Cheerleader and Hozier’s Take Me to Church also makes the Top 10 songs of the year, followed by Love me like you do and See You Again by Ellie Goulding and Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth Respectively. Major Lazer Ft Mo & Dj Snake brought us Lean on and James Bay brought us Hold Back The River, Rounding of the list were King, Sugar and once again, Thinking Out Loud, by Years & Years, Maroon 5 and Ed Sheeran respectively.

New TV once again came in bucket loads,

The BBC brought us Esio Trot, I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse, The big painting challenge, Poldark, Ordinary Lies, Peter Kay’s Car Share, The Naked Choir, The Great Pottery Throwdown, Doctor Foster & Josh to name but a few.

ITV was also keen to debut new programmes such as Mel & Sue, Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, Ninja Warrior UK, Newzoids, Jekyll & Hyde and a true spectacle in The Sound of Music Live!

Channel 4 was not to be out done, Bringing a threesome that brought light on Same sex relationships, Cucumber, Banana and Tofu, They cashed in on the Election with Ballot Monkeys, UKIP: The First 100 Days and Coalition. Tattoo Fixers proved to be a huge success and Educating Cardiff and Very British problems reflected UK life once more.

The most watched TV this year was by far The Great British Bake Off with 5 separate episodes taking up the top 5 most viewed shows of the year, The Final of BGT made it to spot 6 before Bake Off took the final 4 spots in the top 10. A huge year for Eastenders celebrating 30 years and finally revealing the killer of Lucy Beale to be her younger Bobby Beale.

Katie Price won the winter series of Celebrity Big brother, Jules & Matisse won BGT, James Hill from the Apprentice won the Summer series of Celebrity Big Brother, Chloe Wilburn won the normal Big Brother, Louisa Johnson won X Factor, Jay McGuiness from the wanted won Strictly & Vicky Pattinson from geordie shore became the winner of I’m A Celeb.

FILM

It seemed that it was the classics in film that made a comeback this year, With Jurassic World, Furious 7, The Avengers, Star Wars, James Bond & Mission Impossible all making it onto the Top 10 highest grossing films of the year.

1.      Jurassic World
2.      Furious 7
3.      Avengers: Age of Ultron
4.      Star Wars: The Force Awakens
5.      Minions
6.      Inside Out
7.      Spectre
8.      Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
9.      The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
10.      The Martian

And that is 2015 in summary:

Thank you for Reading my blog this year and I hope you have an awesome new year.

Until Next Time,

Stay Happy,

Look Back,

And Goodbye.

Mitch xx