Call Me By Your Name

I did watch this quite a while ago but I decided last night that I would watch it again. I am so glad I did because I had forgotten what a beautifully made film this was and how emotional it is to watch. I had remembered the final scene was sad but I hadn’t quite remembered quite how sad it was to watch, I was in floods of tears again even after having already watched it because the film puts you through such an emotional journey and that final scene just is so painful and melancholic to watch, particularly because of the music playing as well (Visions Of Gideon by Sufjan Stevens).

Timothée Chalamet who is a fantastic actor anyway gives a magnificent youth and innocence to seventeen-year-old Elio who is falling in love with 24-year-old Oliver, played brilliantly by Armie Hammer. The connection the two actors as Oliver and Elio bring to the film is so beautiful to watch. It is both fascinating and touching to watch Timothée Chalamet as Elio fall absolutely head-over-heels in love with Oliver. The setting for the film is also gorgeous to look at as it was filmed mainly in Italy. Also there are a lot of topless shots of Timmy, which I am not complaining about at all because he is an extremely handsome young man. Definitely a 5 stars out of 5 film and I could watch it again and again, although if you are going to watch it perhaps have some tissues at the ready as there are some real tear-jerker moments.

Why I love singing so much

I know people always just expect me to sing and are probably sick to death of hearing me say “I have grade 8 singing” so I thought I would write a blog post explaining why exactly it is that I love singing so very much. I have been singing since a young age, some of my first memories from primary school are singing in school choirs.

Singing for me isn’t just about the sound you make it is also about getting to express yourself through music and words. I love music in general for this very reason. Singing, for me at least allows me to express myself, you get to think about different characters and think about the emotions you can put into them through singing or you can just pour your heart and soul into a pop song and give it meaning.

Performing Musical Theatre songs also gives me an inexplainable adrenaline and happiness which I cannot put into words. I do also enjoy singing pop but I definitely enjoy singing Musical Theatre songs the most for the reason above. Musical Theatre allows me to perform a song as a piece of theatre and portray the many different emotions of a character which is why I adore it so much.

FINNEAS

I had never really heard of any of FINNEAS’ music but I thought as I really love Billie Eilish (his siter) and he writes most of her songs that I would give it a go. I am so happy I did. FINNEAS is now definitely one of my favourite musicians of all time. I have had Break My Heart Again and Let’s Fall In Love For The Night on repeat for the past couple of days. If you haven’t heard any of his songs and are as much of a fan of Indie music as I am then I would definitely recommend checking him out. 5 stars out of 5. A super cool guy and musician.

Sex Education

I started watching this as one of my University friends recommended it to me and I am honestly so glad I did. Asa Butterfield is hilarious and yet earnest in his portrayal of a 16-year-old boy with a Mother who is a sex therapist. There are many different characters with different stories which all interlink and layer with each other creating a series of Television which is thoroughly entertaining on the eyes. All of the actors in the show are insanely talented, I even found myself feeling sorry for Adam (the school bully) at points in the show. The show is by all English actors which I was really happy about as well as I really love the English humour in it. I am already excited for series 2 which comes out next Friday even though I haven’t finished series 1 yet (2 episodes left!). Also I will just say there are a lot of attractive young men in Sex Education which, you know is a bonus. I adore this show to pieces and was hooked ever since the first episode. Definitely would give it infinite stars if I could. Thoroughly recommend watching it if you haven’t yet especially if you are looking for a good series on Netflix.  

Marriage Story

I watched this film yesterday and enjoyed it so much. It tells the incredibly moving divorce story of Scarlett Johansson (Actress/director) and Adam Driver (director). The film begins with the heartfelt reading of letters both have written about each other. The argument at the centre of the film reminded me of something someone has told me this year “Acting is doing things for real in false circumstances” – this definitely applies to the argument in the film as it is almost believable that Scarlett and Adam are really having an argument. Adam Driver’s performance is absolutely phenomenal and his rendition of Being Alive from Company manages to be touching, emotional and also to convey the way he is feeling in the films story, all of this is accompanied by his gorgeous vocals, which I have got to say did slightly surprise me as I didn’t expect him to be good at singing but he really is amazing. Scarlett Johansson’s performance is also wonderfully touching, particularly with her acting as an actress in the film (if that makes any sense :’D). The relationship between both acting peers is beautiful to watch. I would definitely give the film 5 stars out of 5 and could definitely see the film winning an Oscar this year. If you haven’t watched this film yet I would thoroughly recommend it, it is on Netflix at the moment and is definitely worth the watch.

Keane

Keane have and always will be one of my favourite bands. I don’t think I could name you a bad song by Keane because everything I’ve always listened to by them has been incredible. My personal favourite album was Hopes and Fears because I just adore all of the songs on there. However, I also love Silenced By The Light, Crystal Ball (if you haven’t seen the video for this then go watch it now – Giovanni Ribsi’s acting in it is phenomenally good), Is It Any Wonder? and Tear Up This Town. Their new 2019 stuff is also fantastic. Keane just are the best, fact. I would give the band 5 stars out of 5 and a million out of 5 if I could for their live stuff because it’s just so great to listen to.

Crashing

Crashing has got to be one of the best TV shows I have ever seen. I am gutted there was only 6 episodes as it was so good and I could have watched it all day every day. It stars a wonderful Phoebe Waller-Bridge (pre-fleabag) alongside Damien Molony who is one of my favourite actors of all time after seeing how excellent he was in Roisin Conaty’s Gameface and Jonathon Bailey who starred in the fantastic show Pramface. The comedy is hilarious in this TV show, it is set in an abandoned hospital so there is a lot of opportunity for comical scenes of which there are many. I would give the TV show 5 stars out of 5 and I wish there were more episodes I could watch. Definitely one to watch on All 4 if you haven’t seen it yet.

The Dolan Twins – It’s Time To Move On Video Discussion with Shane Dawson

This video has got to be hands down one of the most incredible, interesting, emotionally raw things I have ever seen. I cried multiple times because it is so emotional to watch but I’m so grateful to the Dolan Twins for having uploaded it. Seeing Grayson and Ethan open up about how YouTube has taken over their lives and seeing them speak about their Dad passing away was so full of honesty and genuine feelings that felt really personal to watch. It was really powerful just to watch the twins be themselves and discuss their thoughts and feelings with Shane because they have never done that in a video before.

From my perspective I found it fascinating to see them discuss how they feel pressure to upload because although I’m only a small YouTuber I empathise with them and understand and have definitely myself felt pressure to upload a new video when I haven’t in a while even if it wasn’t even that good/entertaining. I am so grateful to them for opening up about their Dad passing away from cancer because although it was incredibly upsetting to watch and I can’t even begin to imagine what that feels like they allowed us as the viewers to remember the good memories they had with him which was just beautiful. I also think that speaking about something that difficult will have helped a lot of people out there going through the same or similar experiences.

I definitely felt like this video brought me closer to the twins as a viewer and that I understand much more about them for. I also think how Shane was around them was really useful for them to experience as well as for me as a viewer to experience and Shane gave some really good advice and some wonderful compliments to the twins and their team which they definitely benefitted from hearing. If you have not seen this video I urge you to watch it because it really just puts your life into perspective and allows you to see how the Dolan Twins lives are too. The Dolan Twins have said they were really nervous about uploading this video but I am beyond ecstatic that they did because the message behind the video is fantastic. Although the twins definitely don’t read this I am going to thank them on here anyway so thank you so much, thank you infinite amounts to Grayson Dolan and Ethan Dolan for sharing your emotions with me and making such a completely honest videos, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to your plans for the future and I hope that now you feel less pressure on you you will enjoy your life more. I love you both so much and thank you once again for such an amazing video.

Declan McKenna

Ever since seeing Declan in a night club in Harlow I have completely and utterly fallen in love with his music. Make Me Your Queen has got to be one of the best songs I have ever heard in my life, I also really love his 2 new songs ‘In Blue’ and ‘British Bombs’ but definitely in particular ‘In Blue’ because it has a really soft, mellow feel to it. I still can’t believe how far he’s come since the first time I saw him live and I’m so happy that his career has taken off because now everyone is able to hear how incredibly talented of a musician he really is. As a musician and a person I would definitely give Dec a 5/5 and really think you should listen to him if you haven’t already, especially if (like me) you are a huge fan of Indie Pop. Also his music videos are so cool and edgy so I suggest watching some of those as well (especially Brazil, Humongous and Why Do You Feel So Down?).

Musical – Hamilton (West End)

Honestly, one of the most spectacular musicals I have ever seen. I absolutely loved it and may have a teeny obsession with it now (:’D) so much so that I bought the t-shirt and have listened to the soundtrack pretty much non-stop since I saw the show. It is incredibly clever how Lin Manuel Miranda has created a whole story using rap and made it so accessible for everyone. The skills on the actors were mind blowing; it was almost like poetry or Shakespeare how they managed to speak in time to music. What is really interesting is that the musical is actually about a real-life historical figure. Obviously, I loved the whole musical but my absolute favourite song is King George’s “You’ll Be Back” because his character is so hilarious and the song is just so catchy. Some other songs which come in at a close second are the title track “Alexander Hamilton”, “My Shot”, “The Story Of Tonight”, and “The Schulyer Sisters”. Basically all the songs are fantastic but these are my absolute favourites. I’m convinced I know all the words to “My Shot” now to be honest (:’D). I saw the original London Hamilton (Jamael Westman) who honestly was phenomenal. I adored him as Hamilton as he gave a different perception to Lin’s which was really interesting. He gave a more humble and gentle persona to Hamilton as opposed to Lin’s which I actually really enjoyed. All the other cast were also exceptional. I basically could watch this again and again because it was such a magnificent show. I would give it infinity stars if I could and would definitely 100% go and see it again.