How useful is Twitter?

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

SOCIAL networking has become a real force in our lives over the past five years.  In fact, it is difficult for many to imagine their lives without any force of connectively to the outside world, expressing your feelings worldwide.  However, some guy from the Netherlands doesn’t want to know if you are about to have a ham sandwich! 

     I, myself, had three social networking options, before deleting my MySpace account last summer.  I had only used it once after leaving college, which was the primary reason why I had one in the first place.  When I went to college in 2007, I was encouraged to join MySpace; just as the Facebook revolution was beginning (I had joined Facebook in July 2007.)  I wanted to convert everyone to the Facebook way of thinking and with mission accomplished at the end of my two years studying media production, I felt quite satisfied.  Despite the recent takeover by Justin Timberlake, don’t expect MySpace to be popular.  In fact, I’d rather read The Sun newspaper, and those who know me know how much I despise that newspaper.

      Facebook may have an integral part in how we go about life, though I’m not one of those who will meet someone new in a bar; then go ‘I’ll Facebook you!’  What is going on with today’s English language system when that is said.  The stupid people could think, ‘oh yay, my face will appear in a book!’  It’s a ridiculous term!  Plus, why do you need to poke people.  Who wants to do that?

     I used to really not get the point of Twitter, which is the other social network that really has taken off in the past four years.  Since its launch in 2006, it is gradually drawing alongside Facebook in popularity.  TV programmes and presenters certainly seem to prefer the ‘tweet’ indicator and understandable, when you have to round it off in 140 characters.  A Facebook status could simply turn into a lengthy, waffle essay.  I’d prefer to eat my Birds Eye Potato Waffles rather than read waffle, but I guess people have their differences of opinion.  I reluctantly joined Twitter as part of an assignment I had to do in my first year at the University of Northampton (2009/10).  I didn’t want to; in fact, I couldn’t see much point in it.  My first thought of Twitter was; “Another place to go and stalk those celebrities.”  Why don’t you get posters and lick them, at least you could kiss them, can’t really do that with a computer screen!  Actually, as it turns out, I’m finding Twitter to be such a useful source of information.

      Having used it sporadically to keep an eye on the 2010 General Election in this country, I have grown into using it every day, tweeting on a regular basis and moving my website updates from FB onto Twitter.  It might be a narrower audience, but more people might be more interested in what you are blogging about.  Some people on my University course are like me; they love using it.  Others don’t get the point of it and do not bother and some don’t tweet, but still find it very newsworthy at least.  I’d say at least 60 per cent of the 115 people I follow are news organisations, magazines or significant leading figures in journalism.  Of course, there is the odd celebrity you want to keep a check on; such as Jimmy Carr, Nicole Scherzinger, Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Jake Humphrey and Fearne Cotton, who are some of the people I follow.  Even I have 51 followers, including ITV Anglia the topical news show 10 O’clock Live and Nick Clegg!  That last one is embarrassing, so I save my Clegg opinions for the dartboard; to be released in some year around Christmas time. 

Twitter has become an invaluable source and gives you an interesting uptake in life, so for me, it’s valuable and very useful.  I predict its popularity will just continue to increase and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/#!/HappyDude88

SOME TWEETS I HAVE PRODUCED IN THE LAST MONTH;

“why do people explode over X-Factor, it's just a TV show - nobody died....”

“is expecting a lot, but feels it will deliver very little.”

“a beer and MOTD. Good times!”

“actions speak louder than words.”

“oh dear, looks like he missed a 'Nando!' Don't mean the restaurant either lol!”

“and the worst miss in Prem history goes to Nando. El Nino shud hav scored with his eyes shut: at least he will hav somethin named for him.”

“thoughts are with the families of the miners who have lost their lives in Wales. Such a tragic story.”

“this is the point where I wished money grew on trees. . .”

“10 years on today from USA's darkest day. My thoughts are with the families who lost their loved ones on this poignant day. RIP”

BRITS nominations honour Tinie Tempah

DOMINATOR: Tinie Tempah should be the big winner

UK rapper Tinie Tempah is the frontrunner for the 2011 BRIT awards, scooping four nominations.  Star of such hit songs, ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Written in the Stars,’ Tempah looked delighted to have been held in such regard at Thursday’s launch ceremony.  He looks set to have a big blast come the time of the prestigious music ceremony, to be held on February 15 at the 02 Arena. 

He was nominated in all the main British categories ‘British Breakthrough Act’ ‘British Single,’ ‘British Male Solo Artist and ‘British Album of the Year’ for ‘Discovery.  Plan B will go face-to-face with Tinie Tempah in three of these categories.  Mercury Prize winners the xx and Mumford & Sons also appear three times on the shortlists.  There are two nominations for Ellie Goulding, proving that she has come a long way from winning the Critics Choice award in 2010.  The reformed Take That earn a couple of nominations and Cheryl Cole will come up against X-Factor stars Alexandra Burke and 2010 winner Matt Cardle for the ‘British Single’ prize.

DOUBLE: Katy Perry is up for two gongs

Having no nominated album meant that Lady Gaga was missing from the nomination scene, which might be seen as a relief to some, after the show she put in last year in the odd-looking dress that she dedicated to late fashion designer Alexander McQueen.  Without Gaga, the international stage looks weaker that normal and the nominations are shared out this time around.  After a sensational year, which included a high-profile marriage to Russell Brand and three No.1 singles, Katy Perry earns herself two nominations and is possibly unlucky to not receive anymore.  Kings of Leon, Eminem, Arcade Fire and Cee Lo Green also receive a pair of nominations.

The ceremony will once again be broadcasted by ITV and sponsored by MasterCard.  The venue switch to the 02 Arena is a new feature, with the BRITS having been traditionally held at the Royal Albert Hall over the previous decade.  The winning trophy has been radically designed by Vivienne Westwood and ex-Gavin & Stacey star James Cordon will host the show. 

Music is almost ready to have its big night of the year, but it will have to take some shock to stop Tinie Tempah dominating the night.

KEY AWARD NOMINATIONS:

British Breakthrough Act: Tinie Tempah, Ellie Goulding, The xx, Mumford & Sons, Rumer                 International Group: Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, The Script, Black Eyed Peas   International Male Solo Artist: Cee Lo Green, Kanye West, Eminem, David Guetta, Bruce Springsteen British Female Solo Artist: Ellie Goulding, Cheryl Cole, Rumer, Laura Marling, Paloma Faith                              British Male Solo Artist: Plan B, Tinie Tempah, Mark Ronson, Paul Weller, Robert Plant                    International Female Solo Artist: Rihanna, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Robyn, Alicia Keys                      BritishGroup: Take That,Mumford & Sons, Gorillaz, The xx, Biffy Clyro                                                      MasterCard British Album: ‘Discovery’ – Tinie Tempah, ‘Sigh No More’ – Mumford & Sons, ‘Progress’ – Take That, ‘’Defamation of Strictland Banks’ – Plan B, ‘The xx’ – The xx

2010: A year in showbiz

BY JASON WRIGHT

2010 was another crazy and outrageous year in the world of showbiz, so here are the big talking points of 2010.

JANUARY – Katie Price & Alex Reid – A Match Made In Heaven?

HAPPY: Can Katie and Alex's marriage survive?

One is a reputable hard man and has perhaps put the death-defying sport of cage fighting into the public spotlight.  The other is a glamour model/TV personality whose high profile celebrity split in 2009 made her become “The Nation’s Bitch”.  So when Katie Price (a.k.a. Jordan) and Alex Reid tied the knot in Los Angeles, it was expected but also surprising considering they hadn’t formally reconciled after splitting up a few months beforehand.  The marriage took place just days after Reid had won the last series of Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother and the public’s perception on him was changed completely.  Since the private wedding in the Atlantic, their relationship has hit the rocks so many times with conflicting reports of the couple’s separate work commitments getting the upper hand of their private life.  Despite this, they held a second public wedding to prove their love back at home but still these questions over how long it will last remain today.  It will be remarkable if they make it past the end of next year, let alone the seven-year itch.

FEBRUARY – Cheryl & Ashley Cole – End Of the Line

All too often enough, many footballers can’t resist the odd one night stand now and again but none more so than Chelsea’s Ashley Cole.  He had already gotten away with it in 2008 as wife, singer and X-Factor Judge Cheryl Cole decided to give him another bite of the cherry.  That was bitten right off at the start of February with another tabloid exclusive from a bar stripper claiming he had an illicit romance with her.  Days later, several more girls sold stories of their experiences with the defender and after another tough week’s worth of thought, which included a downbeat appearance at the BRIT awards, Cheryl finally decided enough was enough and announced a split between them, formally filing for divorce soon after.  This came as no surprise really, Ashley had been dicing with danger for long enough but as before, he gave into the temptation and it cost him the girl of his dreams.

MARCH – The Oscars – Mighty Minnow Outfoxes the Giant

The start of March brought the stars of LA out in force for the 82nd Academy Awards.  The past twelve months had been record breaking in the world of movies and coming into the big ceremony itself, it had been widely expected that the epic 3D smash ‘Avatar’ would sweep the board.  However, everyone was wrong as it only took three gongs, mostly for its special effects.  Instead the honours went to ‘The Hurt Locker’, a compelling drama based on a US army experience of the Iraq conflict and made on a paper-thin budget.  It won six awards including the prestigious ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ for Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win the award.  To make it even more remarkable, Bigelow had been previously married to James Cameron, who was behind Avatar.  It just goes to show that sometimes a big budget isn’t necessarily required to make a massive blockbuster.

APRIL – Adrian Chiles Switches Sides – ITV Get Their Man

SCRUTINY: Adrian Chiles had a tough transition to ITV

When ITV earned terrestrial rights to FA Cup and England football from 2008 onwards, on a four-year deal, they wanted to get in someone who had the pure knowledge of the beautiful game, Adrian Chiles.  The BBC weren’t willing to let him go without a fight.  The start of the year saw cracks beginning to show between Adrian and the BBC, when the former refused to shave and grew a huge and ugly beard, which he finally was forced to give up on if the Sport Relief campaign raised more than £20 million on the night.  Then the Beeb didn’t do themselves any favours when they announced that popular Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans would take over hosting The One Show on Friday nights from the autumn.  Chiles was livid and despite the compensation of being offered a two-year extension to remain at the corporation, he put pen to paper on the contract to join ITV.  As part of the move, Chiles replaced an unhappy Steve Rider as the main man of the channel’s football coverage and present a revamped breakfast show from September.  As far as ITV are concerned, they were happy to have got their man at last but Adrian’s dry wit and humour that made him popular on MOTD 2 and The One Show has not worked out at his new home so far.  Things have got to improve before his reputation is destroyed totally in 2011.

MAY – Britain’s Got Talent – Time for a Change?

CLASS: Spellbound were the stars of BGT in 2010

The fourth series of ITV’s hugely popular talent contest ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ was anticipated to be the biggest and best yet but in the end, it coughed and spluttered its way throughout.  Though the show produced a deserving winner in gymnast act Spelbound, throughout the show’s run, several questions were asked by the media as to whether the show was suffering by having rarely changed its format and adapted successfully to any change over the last couple of years.  Sure enough, show creator Simon Cowell announced his intention to stand down from the auditions phase of next year’s series, only judging from the live semi-finals and Piers Morgan later also quit, focusing on his increasing commitments in the US.  Comedian Michael McIntyre and David Hasslehoff, who is the lead judge in the American version, are to join the show next year which has promised massive changes and surprises.  Let’s hope it works because if it doesn’t, the show will certainly hit the skids.

JUNE – Lindsay Lohan – A Fallen Star

There is some wasted talent in the US from time to time but none more so than Lindsay Lohan.  Since 2007, the actress, famous for roles in The Parent Trap and Herbie: Fully Loaded has rarely been out of headlines for her erratic behaviour when not at work.  It got much worse in June when she was sentenced to 90 days behind bars for violating the court terms of a criminal probation.  She would only serve 14 days of this conviction before being bailed for a yet another stint in rehab.  The amount of times that Lohan has ended up in court on criminal charges has now become beyond a joke and it is still amazing that she is still in showbiz today.

JULY – Cheryl Cole – Fight For Her Life

Cheryl Cole had undergone a traumatic first half of the year and was just hoping it wouldn’t get any worse. In one week in July, it nearly got cut short.  The week started with a simple story of the Girls Aloud star collapsing at a photoshoot for her upcoming new album, at first harmless as it seemed like it was just a case of exhaustion through overworking.  Just 24 hours later came more shocking developments when The Daily Mirror broke the news that she had contracted malaria following a short break in the African country of Tanzania with close friend Derek Hough.  Worse still, the next day, another newspaper scoop in The Sun formally announced that Cheryl had contracted the most lethal strain of the disease and was given just days left to live.  At that point, everyone believed it was over and were simply waiting for the news that she had succumbed to the illness.  Then a week later, treatment in a specialist hospital for tropical diseases like malaria worked and before long Cheryl was back and fighting fit again.  Her experience no doubt raised the issue of malaria into the public spotlight and she later told broadcaster Piers Morgan in an exclusive interview of his popular TV show ‘Life Stories’ the full extent of her illness.

AUGUST – Time to Say Goodbye – Three ITV favourites breathe their last

FAREWELL: The Bill was one of a number of departures on ITV

Towards the end of August, emotions seemed to be running high at ITV as the broadcaster bid farewell to three of its most beloved and popular programmes.  First to go was ‘Heartbeat’, a popular drama set in fictional Yorkshire village in the 1960’s.  It had been on the air since 1992 and despite the obvious dwindling figures of recent, it was still a regular fixture of ITV’s Sunday night schedules.  The programme was killed off due to ITV’s budget cuts within the Yorkshire region.  Next was the closure of ‘The Bill.’  Centred on a fictional London police station, Sun Hill, it had been run continuously for 27 years.  Again in recent times, the programme had been suffering from a decline in viewers.  A massive revamp of the show last year failed to halt this slide and sure enough, the axe swiftly fell on what was considered as one of Britain’s best drama shows.  Finally, the last week of August (stretching into the first few days of September) was to be the end for a morning classic.  Having woken up the nation since 1993, GMTV was put to bed.  In these current times it had been constantly outperformed by rival BBC Breakfast and bosses decides to give a total revamp to help compete better.  A full takeover by ITV late last year sealed the deal and GMTV departed on September 3, to be replaced by Daybreak on the following Monday.  There is no doubt that these farewells have signified changing times at ITV but just how much more can it take of this in the future.  We shall have to wait and see.

SEPTEMBER – George Michael – Banged Up For Getting High

Another celebrity who has seen controversy taken over their status in recent times has been singer George Michael.  September saw him achieve his lowest ebb of his distinguished career as after a long night of partying, he stupidly got behind wheel of his car after taken excessive amounts of marijuana.  The result was inevitable as he crashed his motor into a Snappy Snaps outlet in West London.  He subsequently had his driving license revoked and was jailed for two months for illegal possession of drugs.  It was another embarrassing moment in the recent history of the former legend of music.

OCTOBER – Katy Perry & Russell Brand – Hitched In an Indian Delight

MATCH: Russell Brand has met it in Katy Perry

One of last year’s hottest and unusual new couples was US singer Katy Perry and British comedian Russell Brand.  Their unruly love for one another meant it would soon be inevitable that they would tie the knot.  Months of planning came and went and finally they got married in a private and traditional Indian ceremony in Delhi.  The photographs and stories from the wedding reportedly fetched over $2 million, proving how much attention the pair have received from the media throughout this time.  Considering Russell’s rather controversial past, it seems like his love for Katy has actually changed everyone’s personality on him for the better.  Many will hope they stay together for a long time.

NOVEMBER – Jason Manford – Sex Shame Ends His Dream Job

Jason Manford seemed to be enjoying himself more than ever before.  After landing, to the surprise of many, Adrian Chiles job of hosting The One Show; it looked like nothing would get in his way, or so he thought.  The tabloids once again had a celebrity when the guard was let down and it was revealed he had sent several sexual text messages to five strippers.  Of course, most people would just stay silent but with his reputation called into question, Manford decided to do the honourable thing and confess it was true.  He then resigned from his position on The One Show to focus on rebuilding his relations with his loved ones and focus on his upcoming stand up tour.  It is a shame that it had to come to this but at the end of the day, Manford did the right thing.

DECEMBER – Coronation Street – 50 Years Is No Time for A Party

DERAILED: The tram crash bought carnage to Corrie

Coronation Street, Britain’s and the world’s longest running soap opera hit the big 50 milestone before Christmas month and it did so with an almighty bang.  For the anniversary week itself, producers wanted to run a storyline that had the nation gripped for the entire duration.  The week started with a massive explosion that destroyed the recently opened Joinery nightclub before a tram derailed from the damaged viaduct above and smashed onto the cobbles.  The disaster claimed the lives of popular characters Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns) whilst several others were injured and scarred permanently over the experience.  It earned Corrie its highest ratings in years and will surely receive a spate of awards next year.

So there we have it. It has been another massive and explosive year on the showbiz front.  Let’s hope 2011 is just as sensational as the one gone by!

My favourite music in 2010

ANOTHER dramatic year in the world of music and here are some of my favourites from the past twelve months.

Good Times - Roll Deep




Cry Me Out - Pixie Lott




Just Drive - Alistair Griffin



Firework - Katy Perry




The Club is Alive - JLS




Promise This - Cheryl Cole




Wavin Flag - K'Naan (2010 Coca Cola Celebration Mix)




All the Lovers - Kylie Minogue




Shame - Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow




Heartbeat - Enrique Iglesias & Nicole Scherzinger




Enjoy!

Russell & Katy Get Hitched In India

US POP sensation Katy Perry tied the knot last Saturday with the controversial comedian Russell Brand.  In a private ceremony in India, Perry and Brand exchanged vows infront of a selection of celebrity guests, including Rihanna, David Walliams and Jonathan Ross.

Brand and Perry first met in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music awards and have been almost inseparable ever since.  The popular comedian, who has his own Channel 4 show, ‘Ponderland,’ proposed to Perry outside the Taj Mahal whilst enjoying a romantic holiday last Christmas.  They have desperately tried to keep details of the wedding under wraps, to stop a massive intrusion from the British and American media. 

Consequently, few pictures have appeared of the celebration, with the belief with many is that an exclusive magazine deal may have been put in place at a later date.  Perry also revealed on Twitter that she pleaded for privacy whilst the wedding was happening.

Russell Brand made the headlines for the wrong reasons in 2008, when along with his best pal Jonathan Ross, the pair left obtrusive and insulting messages on the answer phone of former Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs.  The scandal that followed led to Brand having no option, but to resign from his very successful show on BBC Radio 2.  Since then, he seems to have grown up and taken responsibility for his action and Katy Perry has certainly played her part in a change of cultured personality.  Perry has been successful in the charts with hit songs such as ‘California Gurls,’ and ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ in the last two years.

We shall see how long the happy times can go on for, but I wish Katy and Russell the very best of luck with their newly-found happiness.