Well what do you know? It’s April, and the sun is shining, plus the weather is sweet. Here comes the sun, little darling, which clearly makes everything all right. The sun has got his (or possibly her, or its) hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray indeed!
Oh no wait-
None of that seems to be true for more than five minutes at a go! Instead it’s grey and cold and wet and generally discouraging almost all of the time. And I’m not a fan of such wintery weather.
I suggest we perform a group sun dance, and to get us on our way I’ve prepared a suitable playlist. Here are ten of my favourite songs about summer. Let’s all play them loudly with our windows wide open while we move and grove, in a bid to get the sun to stick around.
And if it doesn’t work, at least you’ll get to have a fun fight with your neighbours!
This is all about awful attempts at English accents! But I wish to preface the rant by pointing out that I don’t mind most terrible tries at an English accent. Really.
Not everyone can manage it, and if you get to laugh at people desperately trying to impersonate someone else, what is there to complain about?
Besides, even there are a lot of Dick van Dyke-esque howlers, there’s also plenty of decent English imitations.
However, there seems to be a wealth of actors on American shows producing unnecessarily over-the-top English accents, considering that they’re either from England or have spent a lot of time there. They manage to sound like confused Yanks awfully aping the Angles. And it makes my ears bleed.
I’m not entirely sure how they make these sounds, but I’d like them to stop.
It occurs to me that despite the fact that Cowboy Jensen has earned his rightful place as our mascot (and his friend Cowboy Jared sort of hangs around as a back up) we haven’t written nearly enough about cowboys.
But that’s all about to change!
In honour of their self-sufficiency, riding skillz and fabulous headgear here are ten of my favourite songs about cowboys and girls:
James Taylor – ‘Sweet Baby James’
I’m not much of James Taylor fan, I tend to find his lyrics insipid and his voice whiny. But ‘Sweet Baby James’, the title track from his second album, is different. It’s a mellow lullaby about a cowboy settling down for the night. And don’t worry, he wasn’t narcissistically calling himself sweet, it was written for his nephew who shares his name. Read the rest of this entry »
I have a few issues with Rihanna. Mostly that she’s the same age as me, is a multi-millionaire, award-winning recording artist and has achieved more than I ever will.
Yes, you’re a bit sexy. Men like you. But could you stop with this? It’s pandering and it’s even more irritating than the stupidly sexual outfits you wear on stage.
Now, okay, I’ve started this with a negative. I’m sure lots of people would say that Rihanna is just taking advantage of the media, that is declaring that she’s a young woman who loves sex, and that’s her right as a feminist. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the first day of 2012, which means it’s entirely respectable (for once) to be nursing a hangover and lounging around in bed all day.
But it is a Sunday, and the sun is quite firmly set beyond the horizon, so it might be time to shake things up a bit and get on with the first Search Term Sunday of the year. (And then to collapse back into an exhausted heap again immediately afterwards.)
example paper that describes beyonce’s character of in the film obession personality in the terms of the big five personality traits
I’ve got enough essay stress to contend with, I’m certainly not taking on anyone else’s on top of it. Plus you didn’t even explain which film you were talking about.
The year is on the verge of ending, which means it’s time for overpriced events, too much cheap bubbly and all the feelings of guilt that over-indulgence while listening to other people’s lofty resolutions bring.
That’s right, ’tis the season for proclamations!
So I’ve been musing on what I want from the coming year, and after thinking long and hard, I think I have an answer. I want my Abed-ity to go entirely unquestioned.
See, we have a little Community community here at PCP, a gaggle of watchers whose identities handily map exactly onto those of the characters from the show. I’m assured that we’re not the only group playing this game, which seems to speak to how awesome the show is, so if you haven’t seen it all yet why not use the remainder of the hiatus to get caught up? You’ll thank me for it. Go on.
Miss Penn is our easily confused Pierce, Ms Elaine E. Ouse our overly nice Shirley, Captain Fancy Pants our excitable Troy, Dr Ella Mentary our shrieking Annie, and our Britta (whom we do have photographic evidence of at least) hasn’t even bothered to write anything for us yet. She’s the worst. We’ve even got our own Chang to terrorise us. Read the rest of this entry »
Miss Penn’s TV wishlist and the recent slew of Christmas-themed episodes (especially the Parks and Recreation one) have convinced me to embrace the holiday spirit.
Even if I can’t be bothered to think about gifts yet, and am still piqued by the absurd lack of snow, I can catch the cheer through over-exposure to Christmas music. The good kind.
November 11th is Remembrance Day, which commemorates the signing of the armistice which officially ended World War I. It’s emblem, in the UK at least, is the red poppy, but that tends to just remind me of the somnolent opium-esque fields in The Wizard of Oz.
What I find more, well, memorable about the day is the silence. After all, I think that minute or two of quiet in an increasingly alien concept for a lot of people.
I personally spend a lot of time using my own controlled noise to block out the world around me- I like having music as white noise to allow me to ignore loud commuters, screaming children and confused tourists. Music can be a kind of substitute for seemingly unattainable actual peace and quiet.
While thinking about this I realised that there’s actually a lot of songs about silence, which might seem mildly contradictory. Why would you need to make a lot of noise about a lack of noise? Maybe the desire to get everyone else to shut up is actually the most universal human characteristic?
…but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.
With those Rolling Stones lyrics in mind (and really, who wouldn’t want to take Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ words seriously?) I’ve decided to use the Search Term Sunday this week to dispense some helpful advice.
Depraved googlers might not have realised that they were participating in a Dear Abby-esque scenario, but the searches people perform in order to end up here are as weird, if not more so, than ever. And I’m not just talking about the appalling spelling.
My first suggestion would be that you eat an apple a day, and try not to end up looking like these guys. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m cat-sitting at the moment, and feel as if I’ve been thrust into a strange new world.
My clothes are covered in hair, I’m beholden to feline feeding schedules, and there’s cute fluffy things that come up and headbutt my legs at random times.
I haven’t had a cat of my own for a long time, but they are one of my favourite animals. They’re so fluffy and cute! And although affectionate, they’re independent enough that they’re not a stress.
Playing with the moggies got me thinking about pets on TVs, specifically those of the kitty variety, so here are the cream of the cat crop:
Miss Kitty Fantastico (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Tara and Willow’s decision to get a pet was a sign of the seriousness of their relationship, and her ridiculous name was, I guess, a sign that love really does make you do the wacky. Not only was Miss Fantastico a cutie in general, she got to be a bona fide badass in the dream episode ‘Restless’- stalking around like a lion.
Well alright, that titular Buffy quote was from a vampire called Sunday (pictured above) and not- at least as far as I know- an anthropomorphic version of the last day of the week. But when you think about it, it’s kind of true. Sundays practically do kill you sometimes.
You’re liable to be horribly hungover and terribly tired from your weekend activities- whether they’ve been wholesome or debauched. Or, if you- like quite a few of the PCP crew- spent your Saturday night entertaining a baby while necking booze, a bit of both.
So you’re all tuckered out- and you don’t even get to really relax because another week is just around the corner demanding your attention and energy. Sundays are hard.
However they’re also they day of search term sifting- I’ll be perusing the things people have googled to end up on PCP. And possibly flailing around in confusion.
May 7th – 14th is National Doughnut Week in the UK, in aid of The Children’s Trust. The Children’s Trust are an organisation who work with children who have multiple disabilities and complex health needs.
So let’s celebrate, and support, with my top ten doughnut loving characters:
Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)
Homer’s quite possibly the biggest doughnut fan ever.
Not only do they frequently elicit moans of enjoyment from him, he even happily sold his soul for a doughnut- and was incapable of stopping himself from finishing the snack, even though it meant eternal torment.
As it turned out the intended torture, being forced to eat an endless supply of doughnuts, was really more of a blessing from the insatiable Homer, which rather flummoxed his attendant demon. Read the rest of this entry »
Supernatural- a CW show, perpetually on the bubble and under threat of cancellation- has been renewed for a season seven.
It’s one of me and Miss Penn’s favourite shows (and contributed splendidly to our stockpile of images of the site’s mascots, Cowboy Jensen and Jared) so there’s plenty of excitement over the news in this little corner of the internet.
Now of course I enjoy the emotional drama and angst, the horror and despair, the blood and gore, the ghosts and demons… it’s all integral to the show. Arguably, however, my favourite aspect is the humour.
It started off with witty one liners and brotherly banter, but very soon Supernatural was pastiching the genre, every other genre and itself.
So I though a top ten of the crackiest, most ridiculous Supernatural episodes was in order- and here it is in chronological order in fact. The only problem I had was whittling it down to a mere ten mad episodes.
Sadly all the best clips seem to have had embedding disabled, but I strongly suggest following the links to watch them on YouTube. If you enjoy fun, that is.
Supernatural revolves around the lives of two evil-hunting brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester. They’re both witty, handy with a shotgun and ridiculously pretty.
The weight of the show was very much on the actors portraying the brothers- Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles- especially in the earlier seasons, but they pulled it off, in large part due to their great chemistry.
Oh wait. Ahem. That wasn’t the kind of chemistry I was getting at…
TV is our religion. A good book on a rainy day is our idea of heaven. And Pop Culture Playpen is our little corner of the interweb to share our various obsessions and rants about the wide world of popular culture, from wailing over Joss Whedon’s latest prematurely cancelled series to ... Continue reading »
