Finally, We Come In Peace

Many of you will be aware of Commander Chris Hadfield. If you don't know him by name then you will have seen his pictures. Hadfield spent a term aboard the Internation Space Station, sharing his astounding pictures of Earth from above with us mere Earthlings via his twitter account. Today whilst conducting my usual morning routine of a cup of tea and flick through my timeline I came across one of his most recent tweets. 

"The Sun is a harsh mistress. Cool to see the flags still standing, despite the relentless effects of UV radiation"  

(@Cmdr_Hadfield)

He also provided a link to an article describing how the effects of the sun's radiation of the 6 star spangled banners that are on the moon. 5 of the flags are still standing with only one, the first placed by Armstrong, Aldrin and their crew no longer flying. All of the flags, however, are completely white. The stars and stripes of the USA have finally faded to white. For some reason this thought made me quite pleased. Whether or not it is because of my 'Inventing the Nation' America literature class and talk of colonialism but I like that the flags, placed as a symbol of ownership are now blank and have reverted to that pure, peace colour, white. Maybe now we do really, finally, come in peace.

Getting Gomez-merised.

Now, for some of you, my little brother included, I believe that if I said the word 'Gomez' to you you would instantly think of a football player. If you have read this blog at all or probably gathered anything from the first sentence of this post my first thought upon hearing the word 'Gomez' is to reply 'Selena'. 
Selena is one of the seemingly endless Disney Channel princesses of which Miley Cyrus is the High-Queen. Each one follows the same format. Begin on a Disney Channel Children's TV show titled something like 'Aww Chucks, My Brother's An Alien', then try and break free of the Disney mould, go out with a bad-boy popstar and then release a single that is ridiculously catchy. Now as someone who has spent the last year listening to Ernie.K.Doe and weird house music mixes of Sister Sledge, Gomez has dropped of the radar a bit for me, until I came home. My local radio station absolutely love her. Every time I get in the car they are blaring out her latest single, 'Come And Get It'. (There is the provocative, 'let's break the Disney mould', title I was looking for). The first time I heard it, about 3 weeks ago, I turned straight over. By the 12th time Lincs FM decided to play it whilst I was in the car it had grown ridiculously on me. As someone who appreciates when a song is brilliant within it's genre 'Come And Get It' is, in my opinion, one of the best pop songs released this year. It's got so many good bits. A ridiculously catchy chorus, a ballad-esque bridge that you can scream along to in your car, Indian sounding bits reminding you of the other 'I shouldn't love it but I do' pop song of the last decade, Jai-Ho and a brilliant sing along bit that we can all understand the 'eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh' bit of the chorus. 
I know I shouldn't love it, but I do. Selena, you may have gone out with Bieber but I can forgive you if every pop song you write is as good as this/provides a vowel sound chorus to sing along with. 

All Hail The New Young British Artists

The Young British Artists were a group who took practically took over Britain in the mid to late 1990s. If the 1990s heralded 'cool' Britannia then maybe this strange period after the turn of the New Millennium is the age of 'commercial' Britannia.
In the 90s Britain became cool again, the economy was booming and the Brit-Pop movement in music and the YBA's brought the country to the forefront of the world stage. Everything they did was the epitome of 'cool'. Oasis vs Blur, Hirst and Emin, Goldsmiths Art College and Manchester vs London.
Now we are seeing once again Britain becoming great, culturally again across the world. The incredible Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics last year seemed to capture where Britain is right now, rather than like so many ceremonies in this country, looking back and mourning what we were. Britons seem to be happy where we are today. No longer do we long for a time when the sun never set on our Empire. Britain is content with being small.
We may no longer appear to have limitless money, like in the late 90s but the new Young British Artists are pioneers for a new austere age. Names like Gabriella Boyd and Max Dovey may be the new Hirst and Emin but with one clear difference, the super-confident times of the 90s have gone to be replaced by a nervous 'teenies'.
We are taking our place again, even if the 'cool' Britannia notion from the 90s has long since gone. 'Commercial' Britannia now rules over us. One Direction, Adele, James Bond, The Royals. These massive British brands are dominating the world, taking over American popular culture and making Britain, once again a cultural epicentre. It is fair to say, however, that without the advent of social media this may not have happened. If it wasn't for Twitter and Youtube teens in America may not have heard of One Direction, or Ed Sheeran or Emeli Sande. I have it on good authority that amongst the youth in America it is cool to discover the next big thing from the UK before anyone else. They may still see us as a nation of tea drinking royalists but also a nation that is incredibly 'cool'. So maybe my branding of the UK today as 'Commercial Britannia' in the context of America may be a little off. One thing is for sure, it may be 'Commercial Britannia' to us but for people all around the world it is 'Cool Britannia' long to reign over us. All hail the new Young British Artists.

My Love Letter To: Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence, I am in love with you. Not only are you just 22 and have won your first Oscar but you are beautiful, the pride of Hollywood and most importantly, absolutely hilarious. When I was watching the Oscars red carpet on Sunday I knew I wanted to be your best friend when you responded with "I don't know this is the top and this is the bottom" when asked about the different pieces you were wearing. 

Don't worry about the fall, you styled it out. I think I love you even more for it, especially when you were asked in the press conference afterwards what went through your mind when you fell. "A word beginning with F" was your response. It may have been "fall" but you are far too bad ass for that to be your "F" word.

I think we could have a beautiful friendship J-Law, you and I, I can see it now. Knocking and running at Meryl Streep's house. Flour-bombing Kristen Stewart, Bop a Kardashian on the head with your Oscar day, is this sounding good to you? I can see us rolling around Beverly Hills, bottles of cider (because LaLa Land hasn't gone to your head) in hand, shouting at the movie stars. Making our own Hollywood walk of fame. Poking Anne Hathaway's nipples. It all sounds so perfect. 

I also appreciate the way you ran with Seth Macfarlane's boob song. I think the single handed power fist with "oh yeah" face was the perfect way to respond. So much so that I have spent far too long watching the hour long video of that very moment. Isn't the Internet magical? 

I love that you don't take any shit. If you think a question is silly then you say so. If you want to trip up the stairs, then you trip. If you want to wear a dress that looks like the middle is ripped, you wear it. 

Also, although your fall won "moment of the night" for me at the Oscars, your middle finger antics in the press room have to come a close second. If I was allowed to vote for the new Pope I would vote for you. I can see you up on the balcony in the Vatican City, smoking a cigarette, making jokes about how you fell over your robes on the way to the balcony. In fact I'd vote you for anything, Supreme Governer, President, McDonalds employee of the month, MP for Eastleigh. Anything.

So there we have it J-Law. My love letter to you and application for best friend. Please consider me. I love you ever so much and just think about it. J-Law and R-Ol. It has a certain ring to it. I think we are Hollywood's new power couple, or at least the new Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries. 

My Love Letter To: Beyonce

Dearest Beyonce,

You were incredible, I didn't think anything could beat Janet Jackson's boob-tacular or MIA's middle finger last year in Madonna's show but you did it right. After all of the mean words leading up to it I think you pulled it off completely. (I always knew you would sing live). You had me from the moment the extended version of "Run The World" boomed out across the Superdome. As soon as a massive flaming outline of you sparked into life I was practically on the floor and as soon as I heard the immortal words "Kelly, can you handle this?" I realised that I certainly couldn't and would probably need resuscitating by the end. Thankfully for both myself and your legal team your show didn't kill me and I am probably going to risk my life again by coming to see you live in London.
I loved it so much that I watched it another 10 times before going to bed at 3 in the morning. I don't think anyone else can carry off the slutty yet chic schoolgirl knee high socks and leather combination quite as well as you (although Kelly and Michelle had quite a good stab at it). I would also like to thank you for reminding me what Michelle looks like. She had fallen off my radar quite a bit and it is good to see that she is still alive and as ever adding the " I bought them" line quite spectacularly in "Independent Women". I also greatly enjoyed you then asking them to sing your biggest hit with you before kicking them off the stage, reminding them that you own the show.
The only trouble with your performance is that ever since I have been trying to copy it move for move. I think I got caught by my cleaner this morning doing the "Beyonce Super Bowl Strut" a move that will go down in history as iconic as the "Single Ladies Shuffle".
So thank you Beyonce for reminding everyone that leather is certainly back in, that flames are soooo on trend and most importantly for being so kick-ass that they thought everyone in the Superdome needed a few more minutes to contemplate what they had just seen: cue blackout. I think Jay-Z cut a wire or something, that's why he wasn't in the performance, wasn't it? I know you far too well Beyonce. To finish: in your words "uh oh oh oh oh oh oh uh oh oh woah uh oh". So profound.

My Love Letter To Lana Del Rey

Seriously, I love this woman and I think, if you got to know her (maybe not personally but musically) you would love her too. Lana Del Rey is an odd mix of intriguing beauty. Not in the new way beauty has come to be defined, tanned, blonde and plastic but in a mystical way that makes it seem like she is constantly being viewed through an Instagram filter. It's beauty in sepia. She is Audrey Hepburn with attitude, and I'm not talking about being able to hold her own with the men. Lana has had a strange series of life developments that have led her to become the musician she is today. 

Del Rey was born the daughter of a domain investor in Lake Placid, New York. Critics have used this to suggest that her music that seems critical of American excess (National Anthem) is hypocritical. Del Rey's story however goes much deeper than the often cliched American love story with Upstate New York. At the age of 14 Del Rey was sent to boarding school in Connecticut to deal with an alcohol dependence that by anybody's standards had begun very early. She moved back to New York when she turned 18, studying metaphysics at Fordham University. 

She has talked candidly in interviews that she used this time to experience New York fully. In a recent interview with GQ Del Rey professed her love for adventure in ways that most of us would consider simply downright insane. She would walk down dark alleys with the purpose of putting herself in danger,

 and accept rides on the back of motorbikes with people she met down there. 

For me her self styling as the 'Gangster Nancy Sinatra' is perfect. Her music harks back to the age of the Kennedy's in America, when Sinatra was king and Nancy the Queen of independent America, whilst still maintaining a modern view of the country she loves. The music is, to use the perpetually boring cliche, hauntingly beautiful, choosing odd chord combinations and a blurring between rap and singing that is surprisingly new and, quite frankly a breath of fresh air. 

In my opinion Del Rey will go down as a game changer in the music industry and possibly even in modern social history. She has given everybody the right to express their distaste with things that are often percieved as the best. And by the best I mean money. As Lana Del Rey herself puts it "Money is the anthem of success, so before we go out what's your address?"