Best TV shows at the moment

So obviously this is the UK so any american show will be at least 2 episodes behind (for the O.C. it has only just started here!).

1. Gossip Girl - I hated most of this season. Ok, that's a bit excessive. But I didn't like it. Not just because Chuck and Blair weren't back together - although that didn't help - but because it just seems to have lost the plot entirely. My favourite seasons are, and will forever be, seasons 1 and 2 because I think those are the most relatable (because all sixteen year olds go out drinking in fancy hotels in New York after school....) but I enjoyed season 3 and parts of season 4 were good, but season 5 seems to have gone insane! It's as if all the characters have been replaced by different ones who look like them and sound like them but actually aren't them at all. Take Blair for instance. Remember Queen B, who used to sit on the Met steps and shout at anyone sitting below her and who was also the meanest girl in school, with the two hot boyfriends fighting over her? Neither do I. At least not this season. Because now she is dating Lonely Boy and doesn't seem to care what Chuck is up to and is just far too laid back about the whole Serena/ Ivy thing.

But all that aside, the last few episodes have picked up (in the UK we have just seen 'Con Heir') and I'm actually starting to get into the drama again (if I close my eyes through the Dair scenes at least). So I'd say that if you've stopped watching (like I almost did), go back to it. It's actually starting to return to the show it used to be.

2. One Tree Hill - ok, so I know this has finished in the US now, but over here it hasn't and I LOVE season 9! I cannot believe it is almost over and I will be devastated when it is because this season has suddenly become epic! Season 7 was good (though the loss of Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton meant it could never match season 6) but I was hugely disappointed with season 8, except for the Chase and Alex plotline. Season 9 though has suddenly turned the show around I just know everything will end just as it should. So watch it!

3. Pretty Little Liars - again, this season has finished in the US but we are almost there and I am dying to find out who 'A' is (ok fine. I already know - I looked it up after the last episode aired over there). But I just think this show gets better and better every episode. I am constantly impressed that the writers can manage so many different strands of plot and I'm so confused that I always forget what was found out like only two weeks ago. But it is an outstanding show and has taken the place of Gossip Girl in my heart so I think everyone should watch this one.

4. 90210 - this is another show that went badly at the start of the season but now seems to have found its footing and is actually working very well - possibly even better than season 3, which I felt lost it by the end of the season. Although it feels that the show has become a lot more 'adult', what with Annie's work at Bree's escort business and her dealing with her inheritance and Dixon's drug issues and Ad's desire to see Maisie again, I think this was necessary to some degree and the darker, more dramatic moments have almost reinvented the show. There is of course still the light hearted side of things, and far more parties now that Naomi's working as an event planner, which is awesome.

5. Vampire Diaries - what can I say? Between Damen and Elena and Stefan and Elena, I'm amazed there's still the time for all the Original drama that makes up the show. Honestly, the show would be brilliant if it was just the love triangle the entire time but add in all the terrifying suspense of the supernatural element of the show and this show becomes absolutely incredible. To describe it concisely would be impossible, and I'm not going to try, but needless to say, if you are not already watching it, start right now! And I mean it.

Nerves

You know when you get so nervous that your hands start shaking and your heart is pounding so loudly in your ears that you think the whole world can hear? Well, last night I emailed one of my best friends asking if he would mind going to prom as my friend. Not as my date, I might add. Just as a friend.

But regardless, I am still a massive bundle of nerves, even though I know the likelihood of him saying no is far smaller than the likelihood of him saying yes. And it got me thinking.

I'm one of those traditional girls who likes to have the guy ask her rather than the other way round and so for me this was a first time. And I realised something: guys have a very tough job. I know all they have to do is say, "hey, would you like to go out sometime?", but waiting for the response and getting up the courage to do it in the first place requires more bravado than you might expect.

We don't give them enough credit for overcoming this fear and personally I think we should. Because I am certainly not capable of asking boys out on a regular basis!

Prom

PROM

Just that word sends teenage girls into fits of hysterical screaming about dress sizes and diets and dates and deciding colour schemes and themes and marquee sizes... well, I have spent one week in that world and I want to get an immediate one way ticket out!

And for some idiotic reason I'm on the prom committee. Yes, that's right, the committee that organises the whole event which causes this madness and turns perfectly sensible, intelligent teenagers into high-pitched, squeeling girls, that make Amanda Seyfried in 'Mean Girls' look like a noble prize winner.

Ok, that's a bit harsh. I mean, I love prom as much as the next girl, up to a point. It's just the hysteria that comes with it that pushes everyone over the edge. At the end of the day, it's just one night. Yes, its meant to be a 'coming of age' thing but ignoring all the emphasis and extravaganza placed on it by American films and tv shows, it is just a party.

So why must I spend my weekend trying to work out how at £30 per girl and £20 per guy (I go to an all girls school, btw, before you say that it is incredible sexist pricing) we are going to afford a marquee with dance floor, bar, seating areas and tables, a bouncer, a photographer, drinks, invites and tickets (printed professionally), a Dj, and decorations?

I understand the point of prom, but why it has to become such an insane event is unexplainable in my eyes. If anyone can clue me in, I'd really appreciate it... preferably before I lock the head of the committee in a cupboard for telling me one more time that we really need a photo booth/ candles/ tea lights/ Persian rugs/ a Morrocan theme....

The busy life of a 16 year old... no I'm not being sarcastic (for once)

So, its been at least 6 months and I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to post on here, so apologies to you all. I'm currently preparing for my GCSEs, and organising the prom for my year group and playing in school concerts and trying to persuade this guy I like to go to prom with me as a friend, even though I don't want to go with him as a friend but as something more, and going out partying every night... ok, that last one's not true: I just thought I'd retain the stereotype of teenagers in the modern day.

My music has also changed over the last few months so I thought I'd post with my current top 5 favourites that I am winding my parents up by singing every single day.

1. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger by Kelly Clarkson - I've always loved Kelly Clarkson's music, every since I saw Princess Diaries 2 and 'Breakaway' was on there, but this song is possibly her best yet. It's fun, it's uplifting, it makes you want to dance and sing really loudly on the bus in the mornings, and most of all, it has this insanely good message, in contrast to so many songs in the charts about breakups and the misery of love (Adele, I'm talking to you).

2. Next to me by Emeli Sande - when I first heard this song, I hated it because all I could hear was the same line (the title) on repeat and that just wound me up (a bit like Damien Rice's 'The Blower's Daughter'). But then after the 10th time of hearing it on the radio, I got into it and now whenever it comes on I just have to join in. There's something about it that is incredibly original and unique and I'm so happy that the chart has a BRITISH soul and R&B artist in the top ten for once!

3. Cannonball by Damien Rice - I can't stand 'The Blower's Daughter' but this song is so brilliant that I can't help loving it. This is the only slow song on here - largely because who knows me knows I am so positive that slow songs just ruin my mood - but this one is so epic it has to make the list.

4. Glorious by Andreas Jackson - this is one of those old songs (ok, 12 years old one - 1999)  that I've just come across. And I LOVE IT! I had it on this 'Cold Feet' CD on my iPod (Cold Feet was a Britsh show in the mid-noughties) and then never listened to it until I heard it on the radio and searched itunes for it only to find it was already on my iPod.

5. Domino by Jessie J - her absolute best yet! Another artist I am so proud to be able to say is British. This song is the ultimate party song of the moment and I love waking up to it in the mornings. It can't help but put you in a good mood.

So there you go, my 5 songs of the moment. If you haven't heard of them, I insist you go and listen to them and see if you fall in love with them as much as I have. Have a great weekend. xxx

Summer Holidays

I've been a little busy lately - as you can tell by the lack of posting - but now I'm back down to earth (not literally) I'm back to posting. :D

The songs that I am constantly singing at the moment

.... believe me when I say it is winding up everyone within a two mile radius!
1. Year 3000 - Busted. I know every single word to this song! This was one of the songs of my childhood and I am still obsessed. I think it's a mixture of the rock beat and the most random lyrics I have heard! It makes a nice change from romance related ones though! I especially love the chanted bit about this song had gone multi platinum and I frequently sing it in the shower. Awesome!

2. Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin. Ok, so I had a strange childhood in that I only ever watched Shrek once and only bits of it. Unlike most others of my generation, I have none of them on DVD and am far from obsessed. So I came across this song by accident and whilst everyone else was horrified/ amazed that I had never heard it before, I fell in love with it. To be honest, I still don't know the lyrics other than the chorus (vaguely) but I frequently wander around the house singing 'la, la, la' to it.

3. Everlasting Love - Love Affair. Great 60s song that makes me want to act out some cheesy musical and do a dance routine in the chorus. This song is one of those that sums up everything about love without being painfully 70s... except that when it was written 70s hadn't happened so it couldn't be compared to it.... and now I am very very confused!

4. Light Up the World - Glee. Not my favourite show but this original song actually wasn't half bad..... ok, I admit it, it's pretty incredible (for a Glee song). There's something about how cheerful and bright and upbeat it is that makes me smile everytime I even hear the first line... even if only in my head. It's also annoyingly catchy though so I must stop thinking it and move onto number 5.

5. What if - Colbie Caillat. This is the song played at the end of Letters to Juliet and seeing as I just rewatched it this weekend it has been in my head ever since. This is one of those songs which is uplifting without being loud like Light up the World (see 4) and you so fits the end of the film perfectly. You can just imagine this song being played on a summer evening in Italy or in the south downs of England. Stunning!

Top 5 moving films

5. It's a Wonderful Life - this film is designed to have you feeling good about life at the end, despite the slightly depressing storyline.

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone/ the Chamber of Secrets - ok so perhaps not the traditional choice but watching the now world-famous actors when they were only ten and eleven and remembering how much more innocent and easy life was back when I was that age moves me more than Titanic or Marley and Me or any other supposedly tear-jerking film.

3. Dirty Dancing - I am Frances Houseman (aka. Baby) except without the whole dirty dancing side to things. This film literally brings tears to my eyes at the part when Johnny leaves her in his car with She's like the wind playing in the background.

2. Letters to Juliet - this film makes you realise that even if you loose your true love, you will one way or another find him or her, albeit fifty years later. The other poignant bit is the letter from Sophie which says that as individual words what and if are very innocent but together they can change everything.

1. The Lives of Others - I watched this in my German lesson and regardless of the fact I was surrounded by all my friends, I cried like an idiot at the end. It isn't one of the most cheerful films of all time (set in East Berlin during the cold war and the 1980s) but the ending is possibly the most beautiful and moving I have ever seen.... and no, it's not at all sad at the end.... well, not much anyway.