I Went to the BBC!

All throughout my two years at college there hasn't been one trip and now two come along at once. Today I went to the BBC Television Studios in London, and in April I'm going to the Making of Harry Potter at their studios yay me!

So today we had a tour round the BBC, looking at old sets including Match of the Day and Blue Peter, and the building of a new set for a pilot of Richard Hammond's new show 'Secret Service'. At the moment the tour guides don't know anything about it, not even what channel it's broadcast on.
Because as it turns out, it's not just BBC shows that are recorded there. Harry Hill's TV Burp and 8 Out of 10 Cats are among many programmes from other channels that are recorded at the BBC Studios. The BBC rents out an empty studio, with cameras, for around £50,000 for 12 hours. The programme itself then has to bring in its set and everything else to make the show.
I also had the opportunity to read the news! Another girl and I were hooked up with little mics, sat behind a desk with a green-screen behind us, and instructed to read from an autocue...I think it went relatively well...I'm not sure how we looked or sounded but we got a bit of applause at the end :P
I think the absolute highlight of the tour was seeing and getting a photo with, an original TARDIS that they filmed with! Matt Smith had even signed it 'The Doctor woz here, raise more money!' - this was from when he did a special piece for Children In Need in 2011.

In all a very very good day and it's a shame I'd never get the opportunity to work in this iconic building, I'd either be at Broadcasting House in Central London, or way up in Salford =/

The Voice vs BGT

So the big battle between BBC's The Voice an ITV's Britain's Got Talent. Who Will Win? You Decide!
Personally, I think the format for The Voice is genius - blind auditions where it really is The Voice that matters. If a judge - or coach as they're called to sound less mean - likes what they hear, they slam their big red button and they turn round to see who is singing. If only one coach is turned at the end of the audition, that coach gets the contestant. If more than one coach turns round, the contestant gets to choose which coach they want.
However, each coach can only pick ten people so they have to be really careful who they pick. You can see the indecision on their faces as they try and decide whether they want this person, just by the sound of their voice.
As for the judges themselves, I think they've got a good mix going on there. Will.i.am - I'm still trying to decide if he actually cares or if he's just in it for the money the act might bring him; Jessie J - a new act on the block as it were, with a very individual style of music. Then there's Danny O'Donoghue, lead singer of The Script - now I think he's a really good judge to have because he will represent all the Indie acts out there, the ones that aren't all poppy like Will.i.am and Jessie. I think that's what Janet Devlin needed on X Factor last year, Kelly never picked the right songs for her and styled her all wrong.
Then of course there's the infamous Tom Jones, who I think will bring something special to the competition as he's from a totally different generation and has different views on singing and performing. In an interview he had, he said he was still getting used to all the modern music that the contestats are coming out with - it may be why he was often the last one to turn round on Saturday Night

As for BGT, it was the same old stuff really, mostly singing acts with the odd loony thrown in

...I think I'll stick with The Voice thanks.

A Cold, Nikki Minaj and The Social Network

Don't you hate it when you wipe your nose and then it just keeps running?
I hate having a cold it sucks, and I know I'm not alone in this. And I know it's not physically possible because of all the variations, but they really should find a cure or vaccine for the common cold. It's been around long enough.

Another thing I hate is how addictive crap songs can be. Nicki Minaj's 'Stupid Hoe' video has millions of views - most of which come from people watching it to take the piss out of it, just because it's so stupidly funny. The lyrics don't even make sense! Wristes does not rhyme with bitches, and what's Roman Polanski got to do with anything? The worst thing is the artists get paid for every view of their video so us lot watching it to take the piss are actually helping them out >:(

She's just as confused as we are

Oh, I finally watched The Social Network last night, and found it much better than I thought it would be. Although Jesse (who plays Mark Zuckerberg) talks WAY too fast, it was really quite enjoyable. It's interesting to see what kind of people come up with these sites and the lengths they'll go to to achieve their dreams and stick by their ideas. I think everyone should be that devoted to their dreams. Ok perhaps not take it to Federal Court unless it's a real, major project. I don't think they'll be interested in someone 'stealing your spot'

RAWR!!!

Oh. My. God. I have never heard a bigger cheer from an audience! That was just such an amazing day - it always is. The energy and atmosphere created throughout the day, and the glorious sunshine got the whole team totally stoked for the performance and we all really went for it out there.

And the best part?

WE CAME THIRD!!! Out of 7 schools. (Well I suppose it was out of 6 as Durrington got through automatically as they're a 'premier' group for winning before. Which I don't really think is fair as their dance wasn't to the standard it normally is.)
Perhaps the half naked 18 year old men on stage got the judges a bit hot under the collar haha
Anyway. This was my last ever Rock Challenge as next year I'll be too old (the grand old age of 19 haha) and I'm just so happy we placed. Ok, we may not have got to the next stage of the competition, but I'm partly glad to be honest as it would be right in the middle of exams and things. Not the best time to be focusing on a dance competition

The Team!!

So I would just like to say a massive well done to the whole team and everyone who got involved, we've all put so much hard work in over the past 6 months and I can't wait to see what they come up with next year :D

The Big Day

And so the big day is finally here, Rock Challenge 2012!! So excited :P
For those of you who don't know, Rock Challenge is an under 18's international dance competition to raise awareness of the importance of healthy living and friendly competition; and tomorrow is the regional heat for the South East!
I can't wait for our dance, it's going to be incredible - The Lion King!! I can't remember what the theme for the competition is this year but I know ours is going to be amazing. We've got a Pride Rock and everything.
I would just like to thank Josh for all the hard work he's put in this year, I'm surprised it hasn't brought on premature balding! And to Lucy and Holly for helping to choreograph the routine :D

I shall be back here tomorrow evening to tell you the results - hopefully we'll place!!

Another E

Oooh Results Day - for any AS's you may have done or retakes. Now some people have the opinion that having to do a retake of any subject makes you dumb, or that you didn't work hard enough the first time around. They don't seem to take into account that you may have worked your butt off to do well; gone to revision sessions, done the practise papers etc. and just ended up with a really bad paper that totally flummoxes you.
So here's me, got an E the first time around because I crashed and burned the first time I took my AS Lit paper, waiting for my results after my retake.....

Another E.

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???? WHY ARE THE EXAMINERS SO MEAN TO ME?!?!?

Now I have to take the exam again in the summer, as well as redoing my coursework, alongside my A2 Lit exam and coursework, plus my other subjects.

It looks like my new and unused ID card will remain new and unused for a while yet.

Intro's Are Useless

Hi whoever finds this blog (I suppose that would be you). I hope you will find it at least a bit interesting, if not, then maybe this isn't the right blog for you to be reading...but how do you know it won't get more interesting the more you read on?
This blog isn't anything special or serious - I'm hoping to study Journalism at university next year and they said having a blog will improve my writing and get me used to writing regularly etc.
So yeah, don't read this if you want the latest fashion trends, though you may get my thoughts on weird ones. This is basically my thoughts on the world around me as it is, with the odd post about a news story I find interesting and want to share with you all, film reviews; or if I just fancy a rant at a computer screen :)