solitaryroads's Blog

Okay I have decided in response to this weeks XFactor bottom two, I will not be mentioning a certain contestant who's name begins with L. I was in total shock to see Olly in the bottom two but I'm pleased to see Jon & Edward gone, they're not good singers but I can see a long career in Holiday Camp Entertainment, Hi-De-Hi campers, little ones will not get be able to get enough of these hypo teens.

I'm bored and for the past hour I've been playing games and taking blogthings quizzes, the usual (we all knows what happens then... that's right I post them here, excited with anticipation? Yeah right. Blogthings has gone Vampire crazy).

• http://www.blogthings.com/couldyoudateavampirequiz/

You're attracted to intense, complicated people. You think danger is sexy.
You're willing to risk your heart (or even your neck) if it means you get to be with a super hot, super powerful vampire.

You think that there's a fine line between pain and pleasure. And you're certainly willing to learn exactly where that line is.
You think there's nothing hotter than a vampire falling for you. You're honored to be chosen by such an experienced and wise creature.

• http://www.blogthings.com/areyousecretlyavampirequiz/

Right? You seem like a vampire. Pale? Check. Strong? Check. Nocturnal? Check!
There's a good chance you even like the taste of blood, and that's just down right creepy.

The funniest part about you being a vampire is that you haven't seemed to notice it yet. You must have some pretty weird habits to let the news slip by you like that.
Stay out of the sunlight, and avoid Italian restaurants (too much garlic). And if you have to feed on a human, please be gentle! (Right? No. Wrong. I'm not a vampire, but my brother and I were having a conversation about being one and I decided I'd be up for it, all of it. I think being one would be easy than dating one.)

• http://www.blogthings.com/whatfamousvampireareyouquiz/

You have a pretty dark past, but you've changed your ways... and possibly not by choice.
These days, you try to do your best to be a good person. You have a sore spot for anyone who hurts anyone else.

You are a true romantic, but you can't be with the person you truly love. And you are completely torn up about it.
At your core, you're a loner. You are light-hearted and funny, but deep down you're really quite tormented. (Well at least it wasn't Edward Cullen, the last sentence is true.)

• http://www.blogthings.com/whatchesspieceareyouquiz/

You may not move quickly, but you move with purpose. You take every decision in your life seriously.
You don't think that most risks are worth their potential downsides. You try to protect yourself at all costs.

Some people may consider you an egomaniac, but you're simply self-interested. It's perfectly natural to want to put yourself first.
You have a lot of responsibility, and a lot of people depend on you. If you were taken out of commission, those that depend on you would be doomed.

• http://www.blogthings.com/theglamourtest/

You find nothing more disappointing than a gorgeous person who is completely vapid. You can't respect anyone who doesn't exercise his or her mind.
There's something incredibly appealing about someone who can speak intelligently about any subject at any length.

You also appreciate people who are well mannered and well behaved. Politeness goes a long way for you.
The most glamourous people you know totally have it together. Allure is never skin deep for you.

• http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofsconeareyouquiz/

The early part of your day is filled with comfort and relaxation.
You are the type of person who doesn't even bother to get out of bed at a particular time. Mornings are for being sleepy.

And you're just as likely to bring your breakfast back to bed as you are to eat it in the dining room. Nothing beats the warm feeling of being under the covers.
You're the type most likely to make your scones the night before. Then you can have your delicious breakfast without any work in the morning.

• http://www.blogthings.com/thecastlepersonalitytest/

You are a bit tentative when it comes to new experiences. You have to push yourself to try new things, but once you do, you love the adventure.

You don't spend a lot of time thinking about how people see you. You're kind of scared to know what they think.

You are a very romantic person. You can't help but see the world as it should be.

Right now, you feel very trapped in your life. You often feel like there is no way out of your rut.

Overall, your life is very peaceful - if not a little solitary. Much of what goes on goes on in your head.

You feel like the fate of the future partially rests in your hands. You believe you need to help make the world a better place. (Much of what goes on does indeed go on in my head, how very true)

I'm working on the list of Buffy/Angel episodes, I'm going to try to pick one episode from each season and an episode from my fave characters. It might take a while, I don't usually like limiting myself to one option when picking something I like, but, knowing me If I don't the list will go on forever.

Wham and George Michael week. I need to be put out of my misery, I can't listen to Lloyd any longer, this week was no where near as bad as past weeks but he still can't hold a tune it's really getting tiresome. Danyl managed to ruin 'Careless Whisper', I'm not sure if it was him or the arrangement of the song or a combination of both. I'd like to see these two in the bottom two as we all know who my top three are. I don't mind if the twins stay as long as it's goodbye Lloyd.

Why is it I eat more Satsuma's from November through to January, than any other time? What is it that makes me think "I'll have some of those"? This has nothing to do with when they are available because you can always find a net bag full of Satsumas all year round. But once Autumn/Winter is upon us and Christmas is just around the corner sales of Satsumas must go up. Not that I mind because they make a nice change from Pineapple which I eat for tea/dinner when I'm not hungry but I know I should eat something.

I can not believe that it is November 16th, the weather is ridiculously mild ... today was blustery and rainy but the winds were not Northerly so the temperature stayed at 14c. Come one= weather sort it out, where is my frost.

I have noticed and I'm sure I'm not the only one that my blog has been a little thin on the ground when it comes to lists lately. I was thinking that I may list the Buffy and Angel episodes I have enjoyed the most. I am re-watching both the series' again, for the umpteenth time as I love them and miss them so much. I am on Season2 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Season4 of Angel, I was going to watch them in order so the crossover episodes matched up but I found myself, speeding through the Angel episodes quicker than the Buffy ones, probably due to having watched some of the Buffy episodes 100's of times, I can watch them and know exactly when and what is going to happen, whereas Angel there are some of the later episodes in Seasons 4 and onwards that I haven't seen as many times as others so I don't remember as much ... more times where I go "What's going on? Ahhhhhh I remember now".

I am going to spend my evening reading 'Dead To The World' and 'Circus of The Damned' I am half way through each and am reading both together. 'Dead to The World' I know is only the 4th Sookie book, but so far it's been my fave. I'm really enjoying both these series and find both Harris and Hamilton to be inspirational and great role models, I'm hooked.

Nighty night...........

So close, but not close enough. Jamie is boring and slipped up on a few songs but tonight's elimination song for survival was good. Lloyd is awful and continues to be, he cannot hold a tune and he is creepy. I was hoping he'd be in the bottom two with the Twins because even though they are also terrible they at least put on a show, I think when he comes up against these two it'll be goodbye. At least thats what I am hoping. Olly, Stacey and Joe for the final three.

Not much to say about this weeks show, mostly listenable. Jamie was boring as usual and Lloyd gives me a headache. Absolutely loved Stacey Soloman this week, I've been saying I'd like to hear her let go and tonight was awesome when she sang "Who Wants To Live Forever" and she looked so comfortable, good for you stace.   One of my fave Queen songs, so beautiful.

I still want to see Lloyd go but I give up on guessing the bottom two, it's just always too close to call.

Just finished watching a Japanese film called 'End Call', avoid it if you can it was just silly, a little confusing, but mostly boring. The acting was bad and the story, well there wasn't much of one. Teenagers with phones making wishes to the devil, ending up dead. Not much gore or horror to it, it's an 18 certificate, I can only imagine this is for the content I've seen more bloody and brutal 15's. For me, the Koreans are succesfully outdoing the Japanese on this Genre.

Now I love the rain but, it's November and about 12c. It's just too warm indoors. I have my bedroom windows open and it's really thumping down, a soothing sound. No thunder, thankfully. We're due strong wind and heavy down pours all weekend into next week, which I would normally love this time of year but please Britain get cold, I get terrible headaches when the temperatures can't make their minds up. Last week it's was 6c during the day I want that and colder, where is the frost? Looks like another mild end to 2009, hopefully like last year we will get snow in the new year. Though I'm still hoping for a White Christmas, never had a proper one yet, always manages to rain after it's snowed turning everything sludgy.

Have a great weekend, I'll try, hopefully with all the rain it will keep the miserable shoppers away.

Two nights in a row I've gone to bed at 4am and it's starting to catch up on me, so I'm giving my laptop a well earned rest.

I love this song and have been listening to it nonstop, I've also been watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episodes which is where I discovered it, many moons ago.

Have a great few days

The results show.

Well, just typical, I decide I'd rather see Lloyd go over the twins and he's safe. Looks like I wasn't the only one who didn't like Lucies tweeny bopper song either. I felt sorry for her tho' as again, WHAT IS THE POINT IN THE JUDGES if it's going to go to public vote all the time. As with Rachel last week it is good bye Lucie Jones.

Who wins you decide. So please stop voting for The Twins and Lloyd. I can not bear to think what he's going to be singing next week.

Back for my usual XFactor recap and breakdown. This week was unusual for me... Film Songs are usually at the top of my performances for the show, but this week the song choices were ... I'm struggling for another word for naff. It was only on a couple of hours ago but I had to check what some of the contestants sang as I couldn't remember, I was struggling with Staceys - Son Of A Preacher Man and Jamies - Crying, also Lucies - This Is me (US Disney Tween Princess' are not my thing, I try to avoid at all costs). I ended up rewatching all the performances.

Staceys performances was good but not great, in parts where she's isn't soaring I struggle to understand her pronunciation of words. I really want to hear her go all out, a real power song. Celine Dion maybe, she has an accent (obviously I'm not comparing the accents, but Stacey needs a song which doesn't bring hers out).  

Jamie managed to ruin a perfectly perfect Roy Orbison song, I guess I'm a little weird as Simon described the song as not as well known ... I'd like to think that the XFactor Audience is a little more in-tuned with Music, everyone in my house has heard it many many times. I don't understand the big deal with Jamie, the Judges can manage to tell Danyl when he's out of tune and off key as well as telling Lloyd he just isn't good enough. But how come when it comes to Jamie, it's never mentioned, the beginning of his song was BAD, yeah he picked up as he went through but tonights performance his voice was just not up to the softer moments of the song, when I read that this was the song he was performing I was looking forward to it, hoping that he could recreate the magic of Hurt. Sadly I was wrong. I still want to hear a BonJovi song if he stays.

I'm not a Lucie fan, but to her credit she has never been awful. But this weeks song I hated from the minute I heard it, not entirely her fault as these sorts of pop princess songs usually do annoy me. Also with a song so upbeat and popy her pitchiness is starting to drive me up the wall, I don't how she does it but some of the words come out of her mouth like they're shuddering. I hope for her sake they are not planning on turning her into popette, I like the more grown up Lucie that has strength to her voice. I want to hear her sing Paper Roses (Marie Osmond) or When I Fall In Love (Karen Carpenter), not exactly modern but I don't think her voice is.

Danyl had a good week, but his performance of Purple Rain was a little Deja Vu as another contestant had sung it in the auditions. Still not a fan but at least this week the sulk was not on show, good hair cut too.

Olly and Joe as usual can do no wrong, just the song choices were not memorable. The performances had a touch of Theater show to them, I could imagine them part of a big show production. Joe's voice is flawless and these two are the most consistent out of the contestants.

Again this week is an almost tie for worse performance, Lloyd and The Twins Jon & Edward. Lloyd has had all the chances to sing in key and hold a note and the poor little mite just can't do it. He's sung almost all types of songs and has yet to do one any good. Jon & Edward I swear are tone deaf and a little silly, are they really not embarrassed. But I think Lloyd wins the title of worse performance because if you can say at least one thing nice about The Twins it is, they at least know how to put on a good show regardless of lack of talent, they get a  for enthusiasm. As usual these are the two I'd like to see in the bottom two tomorrow, but it's more likely to be Lloyd and someone else.

A change of subject but, I was dreading work today my back had been playing up all week, I've had a headache for a couple of days and the thought of having to enjure Christmas songs and other Music while trying to listen to customers was not good. The day went surprisingly well, except for the pink promotional T-Shirts we had to wear, "What do Points make?" "Prizes" I hear you shout. Well today we had a whole bunch of Chrsitmas temps and between helping the newbies out and supervsing self checkout, the day went rather quickly, I took precautions and dosed myself up on pain medication (just some Ibuprofen tablets for muscle and joint pain) and not a even a twinge in my back which is very unusual. Not bad.

Sleep Well

Kezzxx

Two Swedish Vampire Films, with very different stories and feelings.

The first, Frostbiten is Swedens first Vampire film and tho' a Horror with plenty of blood in the second half, it has a definite comedy vibe to it, complete with talking Pug. The film takes place in a small town during the Winter in Northern Sweden just perfect for Vampires, as the sun does not rise. People turn up drained of blood, and the doctor at the hospital is shifty to say the least, but all is explained, small red pills are stolen from the doctor and this is when you see more Vampires, the party some students throw is a blood drenched disaster.

The Second Let The Right One In, is about a lonely child Oskar that is being bullied at school, spending his time imagining his revenge. He meets what appears to be a girl of his own age Eli, who recently moved into his building with an older man, who takes after her by killing people and draining their blood so Eli can feed. First Eli says they cannot be friends, but they become close, a sort of romance blossoms. It is a beautiful film, a love-story and the two young actors who play the 2 twelve year olds are superb. The Horror elements are toned down and the film focuses on the main characters connection. The final scene sees Eli in a trunk tapping morse-code to Oskar and it didn't give a subtitle so according to wikipedia the word they tap to each other is 'Kiss'. I would highly recommend it. Just don't expect it to be scary. (This apparently is going to be remade into an English speaking film, so if you don't like foreign language films with subtitles wait for the new one).

I'm thinking of having Pollack and Baby New Potatoes (with the skins on) for lunch or maybe just sticking a Fish pie in the oven would be easier.

I'm off to the kitchen ...

HIM is one of my fave Bands and Ville Valo is definitely my sexiest rocker ever. And I don't think I've posted much about them. I can listen to pretty much any of their stuff, but if forced right now to pick my favourites my top 5 songs would be (not in order);

• Heartache Every Moment
• Right Here In My Arms
• Killing Loneliness
• The Sacrament
• Pretending

HIM are one of the bands on my writing list and I find their sound and lyrics match well with the Supernatural and Heartache/Love/Loss, I try to capture.

YOUR SWEET 666 (lyric snip-its)

"There are things you should know
And the distance between us seems to grow
But you're holding on strong
And, oh, how hard it is to let go, oh, so hard to let go..."

"I'm losing my faith in you
But you don't want it to be true
But there's nothing you can do
There is no thing you can do - yes, I've lost my faith in you..."

A little bit of inspiration.

Results Show. So this week I managed to get 1/2 of the bottom two correct. But really I'm wondering what the point of the judges are if they are going to keep going to lowest public vote. Because sure, I'm not a big Rachel fan either, but honestly when did Lloyd perform a song which all the words were understandable and more importantly (and I thought this was the whole point) showered he can hold a note, he's flat and at the worst terribly out of tune, I know the poor lad had a dodgy throat tonight but Rachel over the weeks has consistently beeen better yet Simon reckons he couldn't choose. Poor Rachel I know she'd have found herself back in the bottom two again, but I thought the judges vote was to save the better contestant, regardless of silly voters.

Here's hoping at least Lloyd or The Twins are in the bottom two next week otherwise we are going to start losing the actual contestants that can sing a note or two.