Review of the Year: Music

I am planning a series of reviews of this year's media. Cos I'm dull. And a geek. And dull geeks like to make lists.

Here are the prestigious categories.

~ Live Act of the Year ~

Say what you like about her music (surprisingly bland for someone so insane) but the Lady of Gaga DOES put on a good show. If perhaps... for all the wrong reasons.

Yes, Lady Gaga, the world's most popular drag act is the live show of the year. I saw her perform a terrifying set of ditties at the Glastonbury festival. I'd say I was dragged there by my friend's significant other (but I secretly wanted to go). And it was something. Truly a sight (and a fright) to behold. I've lost track of the number of costume changes, or the number of times she stuck the microphone up her gaga (which, I hope she realised, the Ting Tings had to use next!). Bizarre but I'd pay to see it again.

~ Falsetto of the Year ~

As a fan of Prince (who has now taken over his father's title and is the new King of Pop), I'm a sucker for a good falsetto. However, in a year when the nation's dogs were howling to the likes of La Roux (who, if I met, I'd like to test if she really is bullet proof) and Mika (who is apparently not what I think he is... apparently he is golden) and am going for a less obvious choice. The Temper Trap's hypnotic and addictive debut album is quite honestly lush, and I recommend everyone BUY IT. (Cos buying and paying for music is good).

~ Pelvis of the Year ~

Now this was hard. Real hard. Cos I do actually like Beyonce. It's a not so embarrassing secret now that her recent album is actually pretty darn good... but still I try not to say it in public places. However, I just can't say no to Ed and the Fires. They snuck me into their own after party (with thanks to Chris!) And just fucking look at that pelvis! It has a mind of it's own! Tis super lush pelvis work there, rivaling Knowles herself. Well done Friendly Fires.

~ Worst Lyrics of the Year ~

A tough one. I'd say the worst single lyric is probably contained within the fearsome wilderness which is the Calvin Harris song "Worst Day". It's just god awful...

But I wanted to post the Black-Eyed Peas song cos despite some truely uninspired lyrics, the music video is pretty friggen epic. Check it out above. The lyrics aren't just BAD, there's so few of them. Instead of coming up with a SECOND verse, they just play it again with a stupid effect on it. What's laughable about all of the Peas' tunes, is that they have tp play nice and share song time equally, with each one of the peas given a verse each. Which makes all of their songs incredibly formulaic. One of them was in the recent Street Fighter movie, if you're interested. So it's bad... it's really bad. Also isn't Fergie a bit like that old hag off Britain's Got Talent? Great voice despite looking like a 5 dollar whore... (I'm being a bit nasty... but then the Worst Lyric Award should be).

But to view the REAL winner/loser here is a link to the Scot's "effort" (if it can be called one)... Calvin Harris - "Worst Day"

~ Next Year's Winner? ~

Sub-Universe... no doubt. With future hits like Computer Games and Robots and hope I'm around to say "I liked them before it was cool." Though something tells me it'll never be cool to like them.

Sub-Universe on My Space

~ Here Today... ~

Need I say more?

~ Album of the Year ~

Alright so this a serious 'award'. I call them 'awards'... but it's not like they're winning anything. I could send them something in the post... like one of my thumbs or something. That won't creep them out.

The previous mentioned The Temper Trap's album is very, very good. As is Lily Allen's and Florence and the Machine's. Most disappointing album's got to be Empire of the Sun's Walking on a Dream... another possible contender for Worst Lyrics. Their first single was awesome but I find the album a real let down. Just ugly music for the most part.

Anyway, THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR FOR HAMISH STEELE IS....................

Jamie T and his second 'studio' album (recorded in his front room) Kings & Queens.

Each track is a fantastic and makes me buzz. Some make me wanna punch someone (in the best possible way), some make me want to declare my love for the human race. And every song is shouted at me by some dirty Londoner kid. But it's mint!

I never listen to one track cos I know I'll want to listen to the next straight after. So quite regularly I'll just play the whole album several times through. I put it on when I tidy my room, cos it gives me so much energy.

So well done Mr. T. Not THAT Mr. T... though... maybe one day he'll win Album of the Year. One can only hope.

Games People Play

So here is my final body of work for my Games People Play unit at College.

Super Mario Bros

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The Legend of Zelda

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Metroid

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Donkey Kong

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As always the full size version are available on my deviantART account.

This unit of work was an exploration into games and entertainment. Now while this work LOOKS (and for all intend and purposes IS) fan art, the work is actually very personal.

It would be very easy for me to make a project about far off meadows and smiling children with hulahoops when studying the games I played as a child but that wasn't ME. That's not MY childhood of games.

Mine was indoors, in my jim-jams with italian plumbers, blue hedgehogs and magical elves. And this is what I saw... not the basic pixels of yesteryear but bright, vivid worlds of mushrooms and space pirates.

The Donkey Kong poster was the first piece I painted for the project, more a test of things to come. I designed my Mario here, making him fatter, shorter, more Italian then he appears in the games. I purposefully made Donkey Kong himself like almost tired and bored of chucking barrels ALL DAY.

The other three paintings were from my various other games I had as a child. One aspect I concentrated on was lighting, a key element which was missing from these old games. These three paintings were on wood with acrylic paints. They were A4 in size.

$2000 is MINE!

ONLY if you vote for 5 on my T-Shirt design on Threadless!

Here is the link... remember to register...

VOTE 5 HERE PLEASE!

And here is the design...

Full Size

Birdo: "Thank you, Doctor!"

This is a t-shirt for those who remember Birdo as the sexually ambiguous 8-bit dino-whore, and not just Yoshi's doubles partner.

The basic image is that of Birdo after having her willy snipped off by Dr. Mario.

New Photos

First Impressions?

I started, but have yet to finish, filming a spoof the UKTop40 chart show, featuring me dressed as different singers in the chart.

I guess a 'preview' of it can be viewed here... in a blog from August about Glastonbury... My 'La Roux' impression can be seen at the end.

Anyway.. seeing as the likelihood of me ever finishing this is... unlikely... I've decided that I will just post some of the promo shots I did.

La Roux...

Calvin Harris...

And my boyfriend Justin Ridley... we could be brothers! Though that's a rather nasty thought.

Flawless... absolutely flawless.

Hello... Mister Steele?

Now if I told you that the live model we use in college is, in his spare time, a Agent Smith (from teh Matrixxx!!) lookalike, I doubt you'd believe me...

This is genuinely him. Naked Dave (is what we call him) is a legend and he showed us these shots he did online and they are incredible. We didn't notice he looked so much like Hugo Weaving until he combed his hair back and did THE FACE. It's amazing. What more proof?

It's NEKID DAVE!!!

A (Belated) Halloween Message!

http://spune.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Halloween-143272172