Music: July 2009

Just thought I'd post something to keep this blog going, haven't posted for about half a month.

Thought I'd share some thoughts on my favourite albums/singles that I've heard this month therefore it doesn't mean they are all new.



VV Brown - Travelling Like the Light


I LOVE VV Brown, I discovered her music on one of those music channels on Freeview. I loved Shark In the Water at once, now listening to her whole album (for the billionth time) I've totally fallen in love with her music. Though she hasn't produced another song that I've loved as much as Shark In the Water I think her album is fantastic. It's a shame that the British public don't really see (or hear) what I'm see (or hearing! :) as she's only peaked at 30th on the albums charts.


Little Boots - Hands

I was at first unconvinced about Little Boots but then having nothing better to do I listened to her album. My favourite songs (now) are New In Town and Earthquake but I believe with more listens the list may carry on. Though I'm not infatuated with her music (unlike Shark In the Water) I've enjoyed listening to Hands and hopefully she'll release more good music in the future.


Dan Black - ((un))

Random browsing on the HMV website landed me on Dan Black's debut album ((un)), I loved it at once. Symphonies, Yours and Pump My Pumps are my favourite tracks. Sadly Dan seems to be even lower on the radar than the two above with his wiki page a meer few lines and seemingly nowhere on the charts - searching black on the Album Top 100 gives you Black Eyed Peas and Amy Winehouse's Back to Black!

Ben's Brother - Beta Male Fairytales

Rather than promoting their newer release Battling Giants I'm more inclined to blogging about Beta Male Fairytales, which is in fact their more successful album. I really liked this album and there are quite a few good songs to listen to, their newer release is good but I much prefer Beta Male Fairytales.


I'm still quite behind on my music as I had a "drought" early this year where I just couldn't be bothered. Going to listen to Friendly Fires, full listen of Florence and the Machines - Lungs, Daughtry, Gossip, even further behind on Daniel Merriweather!


Further along the lines I'm looking forward to hearing from Pixie Lott, Frankmusic!, Calvin Harris truly embracing the UK music scene.

There has been so many good debuts in Britain recently, these 3 being my favourite this month, that we focus our ears on La Roux... not going to comment any further or I may get some backlash.

Let's fly to Asia now...

Miho Fukuhara - Rainbow

Miho Fukuhara's Rainbow was release in January I think, I only realised she existed from hearing the Asience advert. I loved the song on the Asience advert so decided to seek the singer out, my search landed me on Miho Fukuhara's 雪の光, personally I think the album version doesn't sound as good but her album is still quite sweet.

SNSD - Tell me Your Wish (Genie)

I remember posting about my craze for Gee and now I equally love Genie. Anyone who hasn't tried Kpop should honestly listen to some of their hugest hits, though currently Kpop is going down a dance route so if you're not a dance fan then look for older stuff.

I'm sure there's many more albums I can post about but for now here is my selection for July.

Flipping Annoyed

Note: Wrote this yesterday night so the times will be different.

So flipping annoyed, for the last 20 minutes I've been trying to understand why my brother started a stupid argument with me and now I realise it's because I put his stuff which was in our storage room, in the living room for him to check whether he needed it or not, as we did some cleaning and organizing in there today, which I'd put back in the morning. Predictably, 15 minutes into the argument he said he never heard me saying that in the first place, piss off, I told him 5 times before the argument even started. He always acts like he's not trying to argue when he is; he just craves attention and an argument. He acts like he;s lecturing me like nothings bothering him but then 10 minutes later he does goes and blurts it all out. He's such a hypocrite, his face shows it all but he can't accept the fact that he's pissed! The funnisest thing is that he said he does the cleaning... lol... I wanted to burst out laughing! If he thinks he does any cleaning he must have gone mental 5000 years ago! He doesn't wash the dishes after himself, he throws his things all around the house, his rooms a mess, all he does is his laundry which he puts in the washing machine and never takes it out! Stupid hypocrite! Just find a job and live somewhere else, you're 30 for god's sake!

Argh... so pissed, he obviously wanted to start an argument because he was blatantly pissed off about something, maybe it's because his smoking chair, which is placed strategically on the patio so nobody can see him, got wet from the rain! At first he said the things weren't placed like that before, well of course they weren't like that before I TIDIED THE ROOM! He obviously thinks I threw his things away because he said he had more than the pile in the living room right now, all I can is I threw a 1999 notepad of his, knowingly, which had nothing in it, nothing else. He said I made the place look like a dump, well look at your room "brother"! All the stupid stores like "oh if a child came running in he would trip over" more like he would trip over all that crap you said! It wasn't even a mess, I placed everything in order and stacked them up so he could what he didn't need, argh, I should never be so kind hearted, should have just thrown all his s*it away.

He then goes onto say "do you think I'd need a floppy disk" well in my philosophy I don't throw people's things without asking for confirmation unless it's stupidly not useful, I can hear sounds outside at the moment - he's probably checking the things we thre away to see if anything is his, such a twat, I can't believe I'm reduced to swearing! What makes me angry is that he obviously doesn't trust us and thinks he's better than everyone else, you should see his face, his way is the only way! Argh the more I hear him searching through the rubbish the more aggravated I get, he's obviously going to find something of his that I knew he didn't want and say "why did you throw it you dips*it, you knew I needed it." If you really cared you would have cleaning this place ages ago, instead you ran off clubbing or something and left us to spend 6 hours clearing everything in there! And, as usual, he makes me think I'm dumb by saying "if you don't understand how much easier can I rephrase it... the lay man would say..." oh eff off, lay man? Then what are you! Oh I'm going to make 1 million in a year, oh I could have done sooooo much because I'm talented, oh I've done nothing wrong my entire life (when you've been to jail before and you seemingly aren't to well off even if you are sooooo "talented"!)

He portrays me as someone who needs psychological help when he's the one who needs it! HE@S MAKING SUCH A RACKET AND IT'S 2AM! The other day he was playing music louder than our neighbours, I swear it was louder than club music and it like 12am and this morning he was playing even louder music! Why doesn't he learn some respect and consideration to others! He thinks I'm all dumb on purpose, what the heck; you're the one who's trying to curve around problems and not go straight to the point by saying these lameass theories and anecdotes! I don't think I can stand the sight of him for any longer! I'm just going to avoid him until I'm at Hong Kong, for the whole month! I pray he gets a job and moves! Or even better, he marries his "girlfried" and never comes back, I think she's the only one he's subservient to because she's kicked him out like 10 times and he still goes crawling back! I think I'm getting a bit harsh now.

Why did they fire him from the takeaway, for the second time! Why does he never have a long term job so he can just get out of my life, all the good times doesn't even make up for one bad argument. STOP SEARCHING THE TRASH! Please just go to sleep! He's making me feel bad/worried on purpose as he knows my room is above the garden! I wish I could do a thesis on how I hate my brother; one rant already covered 900 words!

Woke up this morning to awfully loud music - only had 5 hours sleep. He's sooooo annoying! He's doing it on purpose, in spite! He's such a child - you're 30 for god's sake! Found that he'd packed everything into a plactis container and picked things out that he didn't want thrown, the most annoying thing is that the things he kept ain't even his! He kept a load of my things for some reason as well. He kept a few phonebooks, he obviously thinks I was just going to throw them away and he's obviously going to lecture me about it when he gets back from his therapy. The thing is all that was left there because it was getting dark - I don't expect anyone to trowl around things at 11pm, not anyone sane, but my brother likes doing it at 3am! I just left it there so I could check what needs shredding the next day! I'm so pissed off by him, why am I wasting so much time on him! Being the good boy so I don't have to get into a confrontation with him again.

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo

I'm so excited for this drama simply because Hayami Mokomichi will be starring in it! Though not the main lead he'll take the role of a strong supporting character, it's better if he acted in more mainstream series which will be surefire hits as even if he was the lead man for many small series nobody would notice him. What's great is that this series is at primetime, a time slot which usually yields high ratings, it's also from a manga so a lot of people will know it and people generally seem to want to watch it from Oricon polls I've read. Hopefully this will catapult Mokomichi's stardom allowing him to be as famous as his peers.

Annoying Brother

I'm getting quite annoyed "talking" with my brother (I emphasize on the inverted commars as talking sounds like being lectured with him). He has been trying to undermine my personality and intelligence for the last half an hour making him sound like the one who's always right. He was lecturing me about how I talk and use sarcasm when he's the one who needs lessons on how he talks as he alienates people and makes other people feel and sound stupid. What frightens me is his general inability to trust anyone or thing to the point that I'm worried he's schizophrenic. I try to sympathise with him but sometimes he's just so annoying. He's also extremely clever at instigating an argument but most of the time he's making a mountain out of a molehill by developing on the argument with very shallow explanations or evidence. If his "explanation/evidence" fails he begins to go in protective mode and starts trying to undermine the other person's intelligence or by forgetting what the other person just said. But what makes him even more clever is he never seems to lose an argument. He knows when to stop an argument or start to add humour so that it stops, therefore neither side wins or loses. On other occasions he manages to make himself sound correct by using the "I said it so many times so it must be right" technique. I just don't need this at 2am when I'm trying to finish my homework!

New York - another post, bits and bobs especially the food

Needed to post specifically about the food and recommendations, here goes.

Cafe Nero (Gatwick) - Lunch: Skipped because didn't want anything.

BA Flight Meal - Dinner: Sausage and Mash with the usual sides. The best thing about it was the Twix! Surroundings were abviously average. 1.5 out of 5.

BA Flight Meal - Breakfast: Skipped because didn't want anything.

Tad's Broiled Steaks - Dinner: Some steak with jacket potato, gravy, coleslaw and garlic bread with a tropical twister or something. Huge meal but tasted Ok. Surroundings were a bit dated and slightly dirty. 3.5 out of 5.

Starbucks - Snack: Tall Vanilla Latte. Tasted alright, surroundings were quite nice. 3.5 out of 5.

Masa's - Lunch: Unagi Bento with Apple Tea. I liked it, except for some large bones it was a nice meal. Surrounding were quite good for a train station. 4 out of 5.

Hard Rock Cafe - Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwich, fries, coleslaw and Mountain Dew. As I said it was the nicest dinner. The surroundings were OK but as I was sitting next to schoolmates rather than friends the atmosphere was somewhat awkward. 4 out of 5 anyway (just to say the scores are comparative).

Some random cafe - Brunch: Pineapple Juice, tasted Ok but the surroundings were nice. 3.5 out of 5.

Cosi's - Lunch: Chicken TBM with Raspberry Iced Tea, Water and a Cookie. They also gave me a packet of crisps which I didn't order, don't know whether I paid for them though - they did taste nice though. The experience of running around with it was a bit hectic but the food was nice. 4 out of 5.

Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co - Dinner: Chicken Strips with Fries and Sierra Mist. Food was average, not enough leg room but it was the most similar to what I'd expected of an American Restaurant. 2.5 out of 5.

United Nations Cafe - Brunch: Raspberry Iced Tea, Apple Muffin, Aquafina water and Fruit Salad! The fruit Salad was amazing, the muffin was Ok. Surroundings were a bit bland. 3.5 out of 5.

Planet Hollywood - Dinner: Chicken Sandwich with Chips and Pepsi Diet. Way too dry, the chips were nice though. I liked the HD screens but the surroundings were average. 3 out of 5.

Starbucks - Breakfast: Croissant and Iced Coffee no sugar. The Iced Coffee went down easier than I thought. It was an Ok experience, loved the croissant though. 3.5 out of 5.

Newsagents and Duane Reade! - Brunch: Kettle Crisps, Snapple drink and Herschey's. Totally unhealthy but it was Ok, sat on a pedestrian Island so kinda weird. 3 out of 5.

Baducci's (I think) - Lunch: Club Sandwich, fruit salad, Snapple Kiwi and Pear. The Sandwich was quite large, I liked it though. Surroundings were average. 3 out of 5.

BA Flight Meal - Dinner: Pasta with the usual sides. It was actually one of my best flight meals, still average though! 3 out of 5.

BA Flight Meal - Breakfast: Danish Pastry and Orange Juice. My hands got all sticky because jelly was covered all over it. 2 out of 5.

Hope it helps any weary souls! I did however realize that one of my friends had chicken for all 4 dinners! He had a Chicken meal at Tad's. Chicken Sandwich at both Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood and then the fried chicken strips at Bubba Gumps!

New York continued...

Right after we checked in and checked out the hostel we went straight to Central Park, personally I didn't want to but my friends dragged me. After about 20 minutes we went out due to the crowds of Independence Day. We walked to Fifth Avenue smelling the horse poo along the way and the unrelenting drivers! We were also mobbed by guys asking us to rent a bike. We then chose to walk along the side streets - maybe to avoid all of the commotion. For dinner we went to Tad's Broiled Steaks, the portions were quite large (but smaller than what I expected), it was also the first time I'd had beef that rare. Some chose to have chicken instead - which looked exceptionally dry, some went vegetarian, which I found exceptionally comical considering we were at a steakhouse! They only got corn on the cob, some salad and a jacked potato. Having finished dinner and the bottomless drink (I found that I was last to finish my meal at every restaurant - I never considered myself a slow eater, in fact I was quite a fast eater a few years ago) I was hauled into a group who wanted to go to the Nintendo store (not my thing). Unluckily (but luckily for me) it was closed so we headed for Times Square. Personally I'm still underwhelmed by Times Square because it didn't really fit the image of what I had in mind. After taking some photos the "ringleader" (the guy who led us to the Nintendo store) wanted to look around Toys'R'us. I may have looked like a bitch as when we dispersed in the store I headed straight out! Well I'd rather take some photos! We then headed for the Empire State Building having a quick detour at Starbucks, I wasn't really knowledgeable about coffee but when I ordered a vanilla latte the waitress gave me a quizzical look!

The school wanted to go to the Empire State to see the fireworks BUT they'd finished before we got up. The Empire state was exceptionally windy but I did like the night scenery and I took some great photos - I may upload them later. We also had our first experience on the subway, which was unpleasantly hot even for 11pm. Everyone was tired as it had been a long day so most of us went straight to bed.

All in all I wasn't too thrilled with the first day as I was basically coaxed along to places I had no intention of going to.

Day 2 was when I had my luggage fiasco afterwards we had a guided tour with a guy named Gordon, he was really nice but I think his humour was a bit too Americanised. We were initially quite energetic going through Central Park but once on Fifth Avenue we just wanted to go. We walked all the way to Grand Central and was then allowed to go. I found some areas of Central Park exceptional - but in all honesty I wouldn't be bothered to find it if I was on my own! At Grand Central I had my lunch. I went to Masa's, a nice Japanese takeout (ordered a Unagi Bento) but most of my peers opted for the pizzaria - how British, though I was particularly Asian! I then went straight back to Fifth Avenue but was left empty handed partially because one of my friends wasn't too keen and looked particularly bored, I didn't go shopping with him ever again! Though we only got up to Armani Exchange - was well annoyed as I'd spotted a pair of shorts on sale which I was contemplating on buying but the day after they were off sale - boo. But I think my friend purposely tried to sabotage my shopping spree lol. He insisted on staying in a book store for quite a long time, when I asked him if he wanted to buy anything he said no! A bit later he wanted the toilet he took like half an hour! Got me a bit depressed as we were at Sak's and I couldn't afford much of it! The time quickly dissapeared and we were swept up to the Rockefeller Centre. Was somewhat underwhelmed as I couldn't get any good angles of the Chrysler Building.

Wanted to go back to Fifth Avenue for some shopping afterwards, we were just about to go when we were directed by another friend who lost his group who was particularly insistant on going to Chinatown. I wanted to go after dinner as we had like 4 hours rather than the 2 we had then, but he was adamant so we left for Chinatown. Talked to a nice lady (in Cantonese) when we got off, wasn't particularly helpful though. Went to Canal Street and little Italy before heading back. Unlike Chinatown in London the Chinatown in New York actually felt like a community rather than a high end tourist destination. Went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner - I'd say it was the best dinner out of the 4 days. I had a pulled pork sandwich, I loved the pulled pork and burger bun but I thought the chips were a bit salty. The portion was huge as well. Yet again I was the last to finished but my friend opposite finished it in half the time!

As we had a load of time but most places were about to shut we headed to Macy's. All that hype but I knew I wouldn't be a fan. Left there empty handed in what would be an uneventful and possibly the most boring yet tiring day! I personally was much more keen to go to Bloomingdales.

Day 3 we went to the Financial District to see the Federal Reserve and Ground Zero. We also had a detourto a nice pier shopping area where I was to enter my first Abercrombie and Fitch and buy my first thing! A $60 pair of shorts, a bit expensive for me but it's Abercrombie and Fitch and if I was to buy it in the UK it probably be £60. The Federal Reserve was Ok, somewhat interesting. Ground Zero was quite overwhelming, it was an empty space in the middle of loads of buildings we then went to St. Paul's I think. I really didn't feel comfortable looking at all the memorials, I was quite overwhelmed by the experience. I ended up sitting on the seats looking at the messages and thinking to myself.

Most of the group then had lunch at Cosi's - possibly my favourite meal. I ordered a Chicken TBM but the chicken kept on falling out when I was walking. The cookie also crushed in my bag and the most annoying thing was that the water I bought there leaked all over my bag and destroyed my Abercrombie and Ficth bag! :(
Still it was probably the nicest food. We then walked for ages to get to the ferry for Ellis Island. In my opinion the ten mile queue was not worth the time we were at Ellis Island. Absolutely horrenduous, even the food stalls were nasty - rising their prices from $2 to $3. Got to take some photos of the Statue of Liberty and went into the Immigration museum - which was interesting but not worth the 2 hours travel and wait. We then had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. If you don't want to be disturbed whilst eating your fry up then this is not the place! Most of the waiters were a bit hyperactive when serving but straight after you could see how bored they were of the whole thing - trained robots! The food was probably the worst out of the 4 days. It was just fried dry and I can't believe I'm saying this but the smallest portion out of the 4 days!

For the evening entertainment we went to a Broadway Show (having had another guy trying to sell me tickets to another show and telling me to loosen up and have a shag in the mean time - or to that effect!) Oh forgot to mention the Obama condoms we encountered, I wonder if they're patented! lol
We saw Avenue Q which was quite cool, felt like I was in a dream sometimes though! Only realised today that the show will be cancelled this September - what a shame, thought I'd see it again sometime. My favourite character was Christmas Eve played by Ann Harada (typical me), she was really funny and cool. I thought Anika Larsen was a very good singer as well. There were definitely funny parts and maybe not so funny parts but all in all it was a good experience.

Day 4 was the day we were late, my roommates watched didn't work as our alarm clock so we were late by about 10 minutes having had not been to the bathroom or had any breakfast. We had to wear shirts and stuff as well because the teachers wanted us to look smart whilst going to the UN. Yet again an interesting guide and we got to take photos as well. But I was waiting for this day because I knew there was going to be a lot of spare time - no longer will I need to go to places I didn't want to! After having a brief tour of the Museum of American Finance we were left to do what we wanted. I went straight to Century 21! I was dissapointed by it as I wasn't interested in the cheap stuff but I didn't have enough money for the expensive stuff - even though they were at cut prices! Not enough accessories for men either. Went back to the hostel to change but was left on my own as my walking partner wasn't interested in shopping anymore. I was a bit annoyed but was quite happy to roam Fifth Avenue by myself. Realised I didn't have a watch though so everytime I bought something I asked for the time - must have sounded well stupid! Went to Fitch, Diesel (which I could only afford underwear), AX, H&M (both!), Zara, Esprit, Gant, Barnes and Nobles (bookstore). Tried on abizillion things but I was quite pleased with myself, bough one shirt from Esprit, two pairs of underwear from Diesel and a polo from Fitch. Couldn't find my size at H&M, Tried on things on Zara but didn't like them, AX was no longer on sale and Gant wasn't for me. Went back to Times Square for the bizillionth time and ate at Planet Hollywood. Hated the Yellow tablecloths and the Chicken Burger I had was a bit dry. Tried to trick our teacher by buying him a birthday cake but that backfired.

The last day I went to Bloomingdales and Moma. Bloomingdales was out of my price range but I missed the bargains on the top floor! A friend told me he got two shirts for like $20 (though I swear it was the kids section!) MoMa was intersting but a bit small. Bought a glitter ball and a fanpen. Boarded the coach and after a small fiasco with another Skyliner driver we were at JFK. I probably bought the most at JFK - just wanted to spend the money! Bought a magnetic bookmark, two magazines, a massager from Brookstones - really wanted to buy the fan as well and a I love NY T-shirt for my baby second-cousin, forgot to buy water though - stupid me!

Well after a 6 hour flight a nap, dinner and TV I'm here blogging about my adventures. Sorry to bore you but I just needed to type it out!

New York!

I haven't been around for the past few days because I was in New York, I can't wait to go back again but next time in a good hotel!

But on Saturday morning, the day I left for Gatwick, I didn't feel all that excited. I think I'm numb from the excitement of going abroad as I've been abroad so many times - dunno. Had to fly with BA which I wasn't extremely pleased about. Personally I think BA is below par because of the bad service, food, management of luggage and entertainment however I must say their service and management of luggage was much better this time round - the plane food was still a bit iffy though especially when I found jelly covered over my breakfast (but I've had worse!).

To be very honest I was underwhelmed when I reached JFK, maybe because we were at Terminal 7 but it just didn't feel like America (maybe I should rephrase that to; my imagination of America). We stayed at West Side YMCA. As I was on a school trip I'm not sure about the exact cost but I knew it was cheap. A few friends educated me that rats were running around the ground floor - NICE! With the price in mind here's my lowdown;

Location
All the reviews were praising the location, it was a good location but definitely could have been better. Still 4 out of 5 though. Station was about 5-10 minutes walk away and Central Park was next door. What would have made the location spot on was if it was 10 minutes walk away to Fifth Avenue and Times Square!

Food
None present! Alternatively there were 2 Starbucks located less than 500m's away and some hotdogs stalls near Colombus Circle. 1.5 out of 5 due to lack of variety and the fact that they didn't actually provide any of the food.

Room
Possibly the smallest room I've ever slept in (and being a room for 2!) Besides the quite aged funrishings and furniture the room was compact and enough (I guess). The bed was too squeaky though. 3 out of 5 - considering the price this room probably only lacked in size and a simple en suite.

Bathrooms
As bathrooms were communal I had to give a seperate section. Though not as bad as I had imagined they were still bad! Toilets regularly had faeces and urine floating around emitting a waft of bodily smells. The showers were not the cleanest of places (though I wasn't a victim some friends were regularly faced with boiling hot or freezing cold showers. The sink was probably the worst section I had to regularly live up to! Privacy wasn't my issue here; it was the cleanliness - I felt dirtier having had a shower in there than I would of if I hadn't! 1 out of 5 stars.

Service
Normally I'd have very little to comment but as I locked my keys in mu luggage I realized I needed the help of the "staff". About 6am I apologetically headed for the front desk to be greeted by Maximo. Looking confused (and somewhat smirking at me I think) he told me to wait in my room after asking for an engineer through the phone. Having waited for 1 hour I headed back down, quite aggrevated. Maximo then led me to the front desk where the confused guy tried to fish someone out to help him help me! Found this south american looking guy who looked extremely fed up. He told me to wait for him in my room - again! After another 15 minutes he was at 924 (my room) and told me the cutters he had were too big, so I'd have to wait for the engineer (wait wasn't he the engineer? who the hell was he!) He told me to wait until 8am (at this point it was about 7:20 or so I think. Waited until 8:10 knowing that I'd have to leave at 8:45, I rushed down to the front desk to be "greeted" by another guy who was obviously not very fond of his job, waited for another 10 minutes until they found David (I think he was called David). And finally I got my lock cut off, with huge bolt cutters, at about 8:30. David is an absolute legend - unlike all the other guys! David would get 4 out of 5 stars (because he did make me wait a bit) but the service in general was about 2 out of 5 stars, not to mention that I think the cleaners didn't actually change my sheets but just made my bed - dunno.

Safety
There weren't too many safety measures installed in my opinion. They did however check our door cards every other time we came back, a safe would have been nice. Though not really a safety issue two of my friends were locked out of their room the whole night because the door didn't work - I guess that could in some perspectives be linked back to safety. I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5.

So overall;
Location: 4
Food: 1.5
Room: 3
Bathrooms: 1
Service: 2
Safety: 2.5

This gives it a total score of 14 out of 30. This may sound like an awful score but I'm quite a harsh critic. I'd try to avoid the 9th floor (the one I stayed on). The vending machines sometimes ate your money and look out for the "nonexistant pool" - well one of my friends never found it but I never looked! There were however a few nice brush ups with foreigners.
Overall verdict: I wouldn't chose to stay there for too long but it's an Ok budget hotel (I mean hostel!).

I Knew It!

I knew it, I knew Roddick would win! Nobody in school believed me but I had a gut instinct Roddick would win (by the way I'm British!)

Australia's Next Top Model Top 3

I haven't posted about this for a long time but I've been following AusNTM. I don't want to go into the specifics but I'm just amazed Clare was eliminated. She is by far the most model ready and therefore deserved a place in the finals. Just to emphasize I'm more of a Tahnee fan but I do like Clare. I actually don't understand Cassi's appeal. A startup model really needs to walk well and she just doesn't; they say she's improved but she still looks like a puppet! She has a great look (when she doesn't pout) but modelling shouldn't only be about one thing.

I just find it crazy that Clare was eliminated. Well modelling shows haven't followed my will this year! ANTM was probably the most predictable thing ever but Make Me A Supermodel was an utter shock. Branden has raw talent, but very very raw (I'd actually say that for Cassi as well, hope she doesn't win!) the other two outperformed him throughout the whole show so I was utterly gobsmacked when Branden won, I still like Branden and think he can have a great career if he smoothens out all his imperfections but overall I believe Jonathan would have been a better choice.

BNTM hasn't really followed patterns either really, I think BNTM has possibly been one of the most unpredictable shows I've seen. First it was Kasey, I wasn't really a fan but the judges were (enough to put her two weeks on top) but for some reason she was eliminated two weeks later! Hayley was their first huge error, she really shouldn't have gone that early and then Daisy two weeks later. Instead they left Ashley until the final 4! I didn't like Sophie but she's been doing much better lately; however I'm saying all this having only seen 1 episode of the show as I've only been looking at the photos.

Hopefully Tahnee will win AusNTM to restore some order. Cassi could be a great model but she needs at least another year or two of training before she can be put into the professional market.