Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Award fever!

This week in Britannia they have been dishing out the gongs like hot cakes...two 'big' ceremonies, the BAFTAs and the Brit Awards, celebrating the movie and music industries. How interesting, I hear you cry...well, I wouldn't normally be enthusing about these kind of showbizzy bullshit nights out, but I was pleased to see a couple of my favourites get a deserved gong or 2...

Of course, us Brits, never ready to lose out to Americans, decided a couple of years ago to switch the BAFTAs to just before the Oscars, so as to bathe in a little of the hype that is the Oscars...probably a good move, if you're in the movie bizz - to us others, not too sure there are many that give a f**k...Stephen Fry, the BAFTA MC for the night, came up with a great line when warning winners about their lengthy acceptance speeches: "If you carry on too long my breast might accidentally pop out." Anyway, Lost in Translation got 3 gongs, including Best Actress for the cute Scarlett Johansson. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It has some great moments - try this "Lip my stocking" clip - and will ring true for any of you who have ever struggled to comprehend the locals in a foreign land...

Awards for the music industry? Not sure it deserves any with the amount of crap out there today. However, if there is one band that have captured my ears, and the ears of many others, it is The Darkness. Now I never claimed to be a metal-head or rocker, but this band make such a refreshing change, you can't help but fall for the rocking guitars and falsetto yelps. Their songs are instantly catchy, yet musically astute, pomp pop-rock. And as a result, I can't keep their CD out of my car's CD player. Awaiting Tel Aviv tour dates, boys...