2014 BAFTA's Round-Up

Hello again readers! As you can tell from the title, it is once again time for another awards show post. This time, I will be doing a little, super delayed recap of the 2014 BAFTA's, because other countries deserve award shows too (recaps for all!- teenage fanatic, promoting international equality since 2014).

Best and Worst Dressed

As always, I'm going to get all judgemental and determine who earns the privilege to be on my best dressed list, and of course see who's fashion judgements sucked enough to make it into the worst dressed category. To be honest, there wasn't anything majorly awesome fashion wise at the BAFTA's, perhaps everyone's saving their glam for the Oscars? Who knows. 

Best Dressed

Lupita Nyong'o 

This girl is seriously on fire with her fashion choices! She was 100% by far the best dressed at the event, no doubt about it. She just looked awesome. She really knows how to rock a red carpet! She may be in '12 Years A Slave', but she certainly doesn't dress like one, that's for sure. The green looks awesome on her, and the shape's nice too, and the belt just tops it off and I seriously can't fault it. Bravo Lupita, bravo!

Samantha Barks

She may be famous for her role as Eponine in the 2012 film adaption of 'Les Misèrables', but she also certainly doesn't dress like her, at all (thank god). She seriously just looks amazing. It's simple, it's elegant, it's really just all-round awesome. Seriously, talk about the awkward moment when you accidentally out dress pretty much everyone at the BAFTA's and you're not even nominated. This is definitely a fashion success!

Sophie Kennedy Clark

I may not really know who she is, but I have to hand it to her, she does look super awesome. Gold dresses done well are really cool and work super well, so this is really a no brainer for me. If she'd managed to stand up straight and maybe not look like she was in line for the guillotine, then I would like it way more. But overall, I'm loving the look. 

Amy Adams

Although this dress was a bit controversial and split the opinion of pretty much everyone, I have to say that I really liked it. It was classy, it was slimming, and she looked super nice, what more can you ask for at the BAFTA's? Also, it's Amy Adams, and she's just majorly awesome, so she's won already. 

Uma Thurman

I actually seriously love this. It's super duper nice, it's super duper classy, and it's a nice change from everything else we've seen this awards season. It's just classic Hollywood, so I'm loving it. Besides, Uma can do no wrong. 

Worst Dressed

Alicia Vikander

Once again, I have absolutely no idea who she is, but that doesn't mean I can't criticise her truly abominable ensemble. Why would you rock up to the BAFTA's in a half tribal half Bjork swan dress frock? Apparently, this dress has been receiving some positive reviews from some fashion blogs around the globe, but I seriously don't know how. This dress is actually just ridiculous and weird. A big no no.

Fearne Cotton

Remember how with Sophie Kennedy Clark I said that I liked gold dresses done well? This is not an example of that. This dress seriously reminds me of a blinged up body bag. It's just awful. It's like she's being smothered by a bunch of ugly fabric, and that's never a good thing. Better luck next time Fearne. 

Lily Allen

You're always expecting something a bit out of the norm with Lily Allen, that's just how she rolls. So I pretty much knew that whatever she was going to wear was either going to be a fabulous hit, or a spectacular miss. Unfortunately, it seems that this time, it was the latter. I like the bold colours, but that's legitimately all I can say. On a dress, pink and orange together just look strange. This ensemble kind of looks like a kindergarten art project gone wrong. I hate to say it, but it's just plain awful. Sorry Lily. 

Maggie Gylenhaal

No, just no. That's all I can really say to sum this one up. Apparently, some people thought this was some kind of regal masterpiece, but I am definitely not one of them. It looks like something an amateur drag queen would pop out wearing in a seedy night club, not an established actress on a red carpet. It's not that there's anything particularly awful when everything's separated, but the whole look together is just weirdly harsh and slightly gothic (and not in a good way). Sorry, but no. 

Ruth Wilson

This is seriously a hideous piece of work. Why Ruth, why? There is absolutely nothing vaguely aesthetically pleasing about this ensemble whatsoever. The colours are off, the hair is awful, the shoes are actually kind of creepy (if that's even possible). Why would you rock up to an award show wearing some kind of hideous, high waisted space suit? If you're going to be all edgy and wear a suit, do an Angelina Jolie and make it classy, not intergalactic. 

The Actual Award Show

The show began as the legendary Stephen Fry (the host of the 2014 BAFTA's) made his way onto the stage and started with his little intro. He started off by talking about how this was the biggest event of the British Film calendar, and somehow, ended with "I'm putting myself up to be a nude Mr. August for 2014". He then did the usual thing of picking out random nominees in the audience and talking a bit about their movies, all the while adding in some of his quirky jokes that only he can make. Long story short, the identity of Brad and Angelina was questioned, Emma Thompson was referred to as an actress catering to the over 70's, and Christian Bale was accused of wearing a retro wig, so you know, just your usual award show stuff. Everything seemed to start pretty quickly, as before we knew it, the first musical performance was announced. 

In my usual award show recap fashion, pretty much the rest of what I'm writing won't be chronological, so best of luck with keeping up. 

Musical Performance

Tinie Tempah and Laura Mvula

As the one and only live musical performance of the night, these two kicked off the award show pretty well. There was some rapping, there was some soul music, what better collaboration could you ask for (besides anything ever by the Glee cast)? It also helped that they were both actually super good, so that was a nice change from most award shows. It was fun, it was entertaining, and officially got everyone pumped up. Plus, it was pretty short, so it didn't get boring. Also, the little clip playing in the background of all the various movies that were filmed throughout the past year helped to keep everyone interested. 

And the winners are . . .

Best Picture

- 12 Years a Slave

Best British Film/Best Special Visual Sound Effects/Best Original Music/Best Sound/Best Cinematography

- Gravity

Best Director

- Alfonso Cuarón, 'Gravity'

Best Actor

- Chiwetel Ejiofor, '12 Years a Slave'

Best Actress

- Cate Blanchett, 'Blue Jasmine'

Best Supporting Actor

- Barkhad Abdi, 'Captain Phillips'

Best Supporting Actress

- Jennifer Lawrence, 'American Hustle'

Best Original Screenplay/Best Make Up and Hair

- American Hustle

Best Adapted Screenplay

- Philomena

Best Foreign Film

- The Great Beauty

Best Documentary

- The Act of Killing

Best Animation

- Frozen

Best Editing

- Rush

Best Production Design/Best Costume Design

- The Great Gatsby

Best British Short Animation

- Sleeping with the Fishes

Best British Short Film

- Room 8

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

- Kieran Evans, 'Kelly + Victor'

The EE Rising Star Award

- Will Poulter

Did I agree with all of the winners? Truth be told, I didn't really have that much of an opinion considering I haven't seen the majority of the movies that were nominated, but I'm pretty happy. I'm glad J-Law got a BAFTA (even though she wasn't present to actually claim it), because let's face it, anyone who says this in an interview deserves all kind of awards:

I'm also super happy that Frozen won 'Best Animation', because it's seriously one of the best things ever. All in all, I'm pretty pleased. 

My Awards

As with all award shows, the time has come for me to hand out my own awards (which let's face it, are more important than the real ones). I know you're all hanging on the edge of your seats, so without further ado, here are my awards . . .

Best Movie Referance: This one 100% goes to Stephen Fry, when he made a reference to Helen Mirren when she played Queen Elizabeth the second in 'The Queen' circa 2006, referring to Prince William as her grandson in the audience. 

Best Ongoing Joke: Throughout the award show, Stephen Fry kept playfully insulting Emma Thompson, which just happened to become a motif throughout the show. 

Most Awkward High Five: This one definitely goes to the high five between Prince William and Tinie Timbah during the first musical performance. High fiving royalty always causes some major awkward turtle moments. 

Most Nervous Acceptance Speech: It seems that Will Poulter from 'We're the Millers' (who's apparently English- what?!) certainly wasn't expecting to be the recipient of the EE Rising Star Award, so much so that he got super nervous and forgot his entire acceptance speech. It's okay, we've all been there (just for most of us, it hasn't been televised). 

Best Introduction: Stephen Fry's done it again! There was simply no competition when he introduced Prince William as:

Because I often think of royalty when I think of the 'Black Eyed Peas'.

Best Delayed Entrance: Emma Thompson, now officially the queen of all award shows, is definitely the winner of this one. Having thought that she missed her cue for presenting, she casually bolted across the stage.

 

Nicest Dedication: This one goes to Cate Blanchett, when she dedicated her 'Best Actress' BAFTA to the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. 

Beardiest Bro Eye Contact: I think everyone felt a bit awkward watching this intimate exchange of eye contact between the two bearded men, Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

So that's the end of my super duper delayed 2014 BAFTA's round up. I hope you found it entertaining, and have now been able to spare yourself from sitting through the entire thing. Til' next time . . .

Annabel xx

Most Misquoted Song Lyrics

Hello again blogosphere! As the title pretty clearly states, today I'm going to be listing some of the most misquoted song lyrics ever. To be honest, it's kind of hard to narrow it down, everyone seems to just be so wrong all the time. Who knows, you may actually find that you've been singing your favourite song wrong all these years?

Tiny Dancer

You know that little ditty by this new, totally unknown artist Elton John? If you're not familiar with it, your youtube video awaits, and if you are, chances are you may have been singing it wrong you're entire life. Apparently, the majority of the world thought that the lyrics to the chorus were 'Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza'. If you don't know who that is, just know that the man who everyone knows as the live-in housekeeper in 'Who's The Boss' most certainly isn't a tiny dancer by any stretch of the imagination. I seriously don't know how people could get the lyrics wrong. Spoiler alert, the clue's in the title of the song! And no, I didn't make this up, it's actually a thing. Even Phoebe from 'Friends' got confused:

Africa

I guarantee we've all heard this song by 'Toto' at least once on the radio in our lives (if you're lucky), but apparently, some people have heard it more incorrectly than others. The original lyric is 'I Bless the Rains down in Africa', which admittedly, is kind of a weird thing to have in a song, but whatever. Apparently, most people just couldn't get their head around it, and thought that the lyric was 'I Left my Brains down in Africa' (because that's more likely- good riddens logic). Why would Toto write a song that practically admits they're now brain dead? That wouldn't exactly do wonders for their image. Also, why would they become stupid when they go to Africa? That would just be racist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad Moon Rising

To be completely honest with all of you, I've never actually heard this song.

I know, what a hypocrite, right? Before you judge me, the one thing I have heard of is the trap that everyone falls into with the lyrics. Arguably, this mistake is the most famous lyric stuff up of all time. The actual lyric in the song is 'There's a Bad Moon on the Rise', but the majority of the world thinks that it's 'There's a Bathroom on the Right'. Personally, I think it totally should be. Who wants to listen to a boring song about a bad moon? Seriously, who cares?! But a fine little tune about the location of a bathroom, that's something you don't hear everyday.

Piano Man

We've all heard it, we all know it, but apparently some don't know it as well as others. Maybe people just thought Billy Joel was a massive racist or something, because apparently the lyric 'Sing us a song, you're the piano man' was mistaken for 'Sing us a song for the yellow man'. Again, why do people seem to ignore song titles, they'll give you a massive hint as to what's being sung in the chorus. Yeah, a song about singing for the yellow man would've been funnier (and a lot more racist), but may not exactly put the good old Billy J in the best light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like a Virgin

Everyone in the entire world is familiar with this Madonna classic, and that's a fact. But apparently, there have been some people living a lie, singing it wrong for all these years. The lyric 'Like a virgin, touched for the very first time', has been morphed into 'Like a virgin, touched for the thirty-first time'. Yeah, Madonna may get around, but 31st? That's a bit extreme, even for her. Taylor Swift maybe, but not Madonna. It certainly would make for an interesting song, but unfortunately, this isn't the case.

So we've now reached the end my little blog post, exposing all of the mistakes of humans. Maybe next time you're listening to the radio, you'll actually get the song lyrics right (or deliberately get them wrong just to shake things up). Til' next time . . .

Annabel xx

7 Myths About Teens

Hello again blogosphere! Today, I just thought it would be cool to point out 7 myths floating around about the wacky lives of teenagers (being one myself). Who knows, some of what I say may actually be informed and accurate for once (but let's face it, don't get your hopes up).

Myth #1: Using 'text speak' makes you Stupid

Being a slang-wielding teen myself, I can testify that this is 100% incorrect. I mean yeah, there are heaps of teenagers who use this so called 'text speak' and happen to be stupid, but whether or not they use colloquial language wouldn't affect the fact that they're probably just naturally super dumb anyway. As you've probably already noticed in these blog posts, I like to throw around a bit of terminology frequented in the urban dictionary, that's just how I roll. Does that make me stupid? No (there are many other factors contributing to that, let's not blame it entirely on the slang). Let's just think about it for a moment, what would the world be without new, made up words? We'd still be stuck in the 17th century and conversing using entirely Shakespearean terms. Personally, I don't want to live in a world where 'cray' and 'awesomeness' don't exist.

Myth #2: Teenagers are wrong about Life

This may seem a little extreme (probably because it is), but it's also quite true. It seems to be a myth that just because someone is older, they think that they're opinion is more valid than ours. Just because someone's been alive for a greater amount of time, doesn't mean they're necessarily right. If I were to say, have a debate with someone about 'Glee' (which wouldn't happen, because I'd just be automatically right, but whatever), does that mean that just because the person I'm talking to is older, I would be wrong? It's true, just think about it. There's your teachers, there's your parents, you're constantly just a big bag of wrong, all the time. All the time, you're forced to just let them win the argument, because they can enforce consequences. What's with that?

Myth #3: Teens Lie a Lot

I will bet you that there are some people who are just constantly thinking 'damn those lying adolescents', and I don't blame them, teenagers get a bad rap. But that doesn't make anything that they say correct, ever. Yeah, some teens have been known to do some lying in their time, but let's face it, so have adults. And if there are any other teens even remotely similar to me, then there are some super terrible liars out there in the adolescent world. Seriously, I can't even lie about something really minor without creating an entire backstory and having a 30 minute freak out beforehand.  So yeah, it's true that some teens lie a lot, but only as much as some adults do, the two definitely don't go hand in hand (unfortunately, damn my lack of lying talent).

Myth #4: All Teens are Massive Risk Takers

I can absolutely, 100%, call this one out right now. How am I so sure? Take a look at exhibit a, me. I seriously freak out about pretty much everything. Any ride at the Easter Show that goes upside down, you can count me out. Pretty much all activities at camp, I freak out and don't participate in. Yes, I'm one of those people, and you know what, I also happen to be a teen. My fear of anything remotely risky doesn't stop there, oh no, pretty much any teenage activities like planking on balconies or getting all hyped up on drugs, I'm running the other way. See, some teens can be just as boring as adults!

Myth #5: Every Teen only lives for Partying

No, just no. Once again speaking from my (sheltered, boring) personal experience, this so isn't the case. I've never been to a rager party or anything like that, and quite frankly, don't really want to. Ever. Sure you hear all these stories about all these randoms teens who do stuff like that, but for those who do, there are a dozen more who don't. There's this whole other group of teenagers, the nerdy people who spend all of their free time on tumblr or writing on their blog (or maybe that's just me). Why can't that stuff be in the news? I'd love to log on to the Sydney Morning Herald website and see the headline 'teen spends entire day on her computer watching Glee', because that's pretty much an accurate depiction of my life. 

Myth #6: Peer Pressure is a Major Thing that All Teens are Affected by

People always tend to think 'damn those weak willed teens, all dressing the same and acting like clones of one another', but that's just a massive lie. To be completely honest, you only ever see that group of mean girls all wearing the same designer clothes on television. Does that actually happen? Maybe in America, but not in my school it doesn't. If someone walked into my school with a Prada backpack on a mufti day, they'd be a laughing stock, guaranteed. I mean yeah, you do tend to see people all walking around wearing the same style of hipster clothing, but there are always exceptions (and once again, I seem to be one of them). I'm the girl who rocks up in skirts and the occasional knee sock, that's my form of yoloing. And I'm also the person who'll constantly fangirl about 'Glee' rather then go off and fantasise about 'One Direction'. So yeah, some people get caught up in the peer pressure stuff, but there are some strong willed, super stubborn teenagers out there too (represent!). 

Myth #7: Teenagers are Moody all the time

Let's face it, everyone thinks this. Curse those hormonal teenagers and their mood swings! And I have to say, this can be quite true some of the time, teenagers can be majorly moody. But it isn't an exclusive teen thing, adults have been known to have their fair share of bi-polar moments as well. I seriously just think it's a human thing that teens get the wrap for. If adults were smooth sailing all the time, then there would be no need for teenagers to act out (logic for the win!). Also, since when has displaying a full range of human emotions been a bad thing? If everyone was super happy everyday of their lives, they'd probably be put on ADHD medication or something. Let's face it , if teens weren't moody occasionally, this blog wouldn't exist. 

Congratulations! You've now reached the end of my weird little ranty blog post. I hope you found it somewhat entertaining and didn't find my opinions too incorrect. That's about it. Til' next time . . .

Annabel xx