BEDA - Aug 30 - Reading Festival 2010

First allow me to apologise for my utter and abject failure to blog since Wednesday. The reason is simply that I have not been within range of a laptop since then. I was at the Reading music festival all weekend for my birthday, and while I expected to be able to blog from my phone, it turns out you can only read posts from Blogger on mobile devices, not post them so that somewhat scuppered the plan!!

I will however make up with it now with a full recap of my weekend.

Thursday

Not a lot to be said to be honest, got to the campsite at Reading on Thursday afternoon, went and got some food and just generally chilled out for the evening. Very much what I have referred to before as the “pre-awesome” day.

Friday

At around 11am, the gates to the main arena opened, and the 1000’s in attendance rushed in.

My brother and I headed first to the Alternative stage, where we were lucky enough to catch some brilliant comedy from the likes of Emo Phillips and Stephen K. Amos before the crowd swelled to fill the tent as YouTube sensations “The Midnight Beast” broke out their own brand of hip hop (including “We are the TMB Party! Who in da house? We in da house! We in da house of parliament)

Next we rushed over to catch the end of Two Door Cinema Club’s set, and then chill out sat watching The Big Pink

We then headed over to the Main stage to be serenaded by scottish rockers Biffy Clyro and Wales’ offering to the festival Lost Prophets. Both were awesome, indeed Biffy remain one of my favourite bands of the moment, and while their new album is perhaps not the strongest material they’ve got, their old stuff doesn’t fail to please.

American rock legends Queens of the Stone Age followed and – hardly surprising having seen them several times before – they kicked some serious ass, and had complete control over the huge crowd gathered to watch their hour long set.

And then the problems began.

9:30PM: headline act Guns N Roses are supposed to be taking to the stage.

9:45: No sign of them

10:00: No sign of them, the crowd is booing by this point

10:15: More and more boos crescendo throughout the crowd, as plenty of people walk off to other stages, convinced they’re simply not going to turn up at all

Finally at gone 10:30, well over an hour late, the band take to the stage, and understandably the completely pissed off crowd boos the hell out of them. There is no apology from Axl, indeed no interaction at all with the crowd for the duration of the set, which basically consisted of them playing a song, then a 5minute guitar solo while Axl went off to change his costume, followed by another song, followed by another costume change. Given how bloody late they were to begin with one would have assumed the idiot would have just kept in what he was wearing and motored through but oh no, he decided he would do things his way, and, yes you guessed it: even more boos, chants of “Fuck You Axl”, and “We Want Slash” coming from all around the field.

The official curfew for the event, as set by noise pollution laws, is 11:30, and the organisers had made clear they were going to stand firm on this. As you can imagine, this particular set was not going to be completable in the single hour they had (entirely because Axl was being a prick). They play ed until 11:45, which they shouldn’t have anyway, at which point the band left, meaning to return for an encore, but the organisers cut the amps, so that when they returned they were effectively unable to complete their set.

The whole thing was a bit of a shambles, but to be fair not one bit of it can be blamed on the organisers: they were sticking to the rules, and they had been lenient as it was. The band were the ones fucking about, not anyone else.

Saturday

Once again with our eyes set firmly on the Alternative stage to start our day, me and my brother were excited to see Kevin Bridges, one of our favourite comedians. Unfortunately when we got their we were informed that Bridges was currently delayed at Edinburgh airport, and would be here as soon as possible, and would be on later in the day if he made it in time.

In the mean time they moved the remainder of the schedule up, which brought an American comedian by the name of Neil Hamburger to the stage. Oh my god. I have never heard such a tirade of just blatant homophobia, racism, and other sick jokes (some aimed towards Michael Jackson, who lets face it, in a crowd made up of music fans, is just off limits). In his 25minutes there simply was not a funny joke. The entire crowd booed him, and before long we were pelting him with bottles and whatever else littered the floor of the tent. Chants rang out of “You’re shit and you know you are, you’re shit and you know you are!” until finally he left the stage.

The host, Andrew O’Neill immediately managing a bigger cheer than Hamburger’s entire set as he walked forward and asked: “You may not have liked that, but did you at least enjoy hating it?” (which yes, I think its fair to say we did).

We stuck around to watch Jason Byrne (who was hilariously funny) and Milton Jones – who was actually funnier than he’s ever managed to be on Mock the Week, which is saying something, before moving on to catch a few songs from Hadouken on the second stage and The Maccabees.

Rapper Dizzie Rascal is decidedly out of place so far up the bill, (or on it at all), but the crowd knows all the words anyway, so we sing along at the top of our voices nonetheless.

As the day went on though there was only one way it was moving, and that was towards the band second on the bill on the main stage. The Libertines. A band who’s set was more anticipated than any other at any festival I’ve ever been to.

For those of you who may not know the long and drawn out history of The Libertines, they are a four piece punk outfit from London, who despite a meteoric rise to fame in the early 2000’s, could not handle the pressure and effectively imploded. Best friends Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, the Paul and John of the band if you will, simply descended into a bitter feud, and the band came to an abrupt finish with Doherty’s arrest and imprisonment.

Pete has been in and out of prison and drug rehabilitation ever since, while Carl has tried to restructure and move on.

Over the last few years both Barat and Doherty have formed their own bands (Dirty Pretty Things, and Babyshambles respectively), but deep down in the hearts of Libertines fans we have always hoped they may one day reconcile. The gigs have been rumoured since almost the day they first split, but finally, after 6 long years, in March of this year it was announced that the reunion was on. Reading 2010 would be the reforming (as it stands for one night only) of The Libertines.

So here we are, August 28^th 2010. 8:30pm. The moment music fans the world over have been waiting for. And there they are. Pete, Carl, John and Gary. They play all the old favourites, including the seemingly prophetic “Can’t Stand Me Now” (a song which was on their first album, but basically spoke about two best friends who ended up hating eachother)

Embracing one another like brothers, Pete and Carl look like they’ve never been away. It’s one of those moments which will live in the minds of those who witnessed it forever.

If this was the end, it was a happy one, but I honestly hope this isn’t the end of the Libertines story. Maybe we can finally put the past behind us and let the future shine.

Oh and…headliners Arcade Fire kicked ass. Nuff said.

Sunday

A) Sunday was my birthday, so wooot. Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes on Facebook/twitter/email/text whatever. All were greatly appreciated!!

B) Ok back to the bands. Sunday started out with my surprise of the festival, a band I’d never heard of, but who I completely and utterly love now (experiences like this are why I love festivals, because you can discover as much as you can enjoy old stuff). Anyway, the band is called Motion City Soundtrack, and the lead singer is a total nerd, and their songs include references to things like falling asleep late at night watching Veronica Mars reruns, and generally the sort of thing I do. I could literally be best friends with the frontman.

We hung around to watch The King Blues, who I only really knew one song from (inevitably the last they played), and have to admit I was sort of disappointed with the rest of their set. Perfectly Ok, but I love the one song I do know (Save the Girl, Save the World), and I guess I wanted to love the rest as much.

Then it REALLY started pouring with rain, so we ducked back into our go-to tent, the Alt-Stage, where Russell Kane (who less than 24hours before hand had won the a comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe) was performing, and I think it’s fair to say, from what I saw he definitely deserved the award. He was seriously funny.

We sat and ate lunch beside the tent where Metronomy were playing, who were enjoyable enough, before going to see Weezer, who literally exceeded every possible expectation. With perfect renditions of Teenage Dirtbag from Wheatus and mixing the lyrics to Poker Face into one of their own songs, this set was a definite highlight of the festival.

Next up it was the turn of Paramore. Now this is a band I have said some very mean things about before – including calling lead singer Hayley Williams the antichrist. I just don’t like them at all. That being said: on this night, with 10’s of 1000’s of people singing along, Only Exception and Brick by Boring Brick do sound spectacular. Otherwise ‘twas a pretty boring set, but better than I was expecting

Finally it came down to the final band of the festival, as the crowd swelled around the main stage to see Blink 182 play their only UK show this year. Blink are a band to whom I owe most of my childhood. They’ve always been one of my favourite acts, and I had always regretted not seeing them live while I had the chance first time round, so ever since the reunion was announced I’ve been waiting patiently for a UK tour – so the moment this UK date finally came up I was right on it!

“All the Small Things”, “I Miss You”, “First Date”, the hits just keep on coming, and despite the fact front man Tom Delounge is clearly stoned off his face, the gig goes to plan anyway. It’s a real special way to finish a great weekend.

Monday

And we’re back. Today I’m frankly too tired to do anything much at all but lay around now that I’m home.

I leave you all with this video of The Libertines tearing up the Main Stage with "What Became of the Likely Lads"

BEDA - Aug25 - Goodbye Esther

I'm sorry, but this blog cannot be about Mockingjay today. It just can't. There are more important battles today than Katniss'. The most important battle one family will ever face was lost today.

This morning, at 3am her time, a girl by the name of Esther Earl passed away. She was just sixteen years old.

I won't claim to have known her that well - we tweeted at each other back and forth a few times, but other than that I won't pretend I was exactly her best friend.

But she touched my heart as she touched so many others.

You see Esther had terminal cancer, but she refused to let that get in the way of life. Instead she took every oppurtunity she had in the time she had left to make her big heart go a long way, and a nicer girl you will literally never find.

Her message of hope, and of love was and is an inspiration to Harry Potter fans and nerdfighters alike, and indeed it was in part because of Esther that the Harry Potter Alliance was able to band together to win the Chase Community Giving Challenge, earning $250,000 for a charity which was so near to her heart.

A wise old wizard once said that to the well organised mind death is but the next great adventure, and I know deep down that that's true. Somewhere, Esther is being her bubbly, happy self, spreading her message of love across the whole universe.

So we say goodbye for now Esther Earl. I hope to see you again, and to adventure with you in eternity. I will not say Rest In Peace, for I do not believe you are resting. I believe you are off somewhere being the little bundle of life and of love that we all knew.

Instead I will sign off as your friend John Green would: DFTBA Esther, and best wishes.

BEDA - Aug24 - The "I'm a Bored Internet Nerd" Game. (aka Related Video Game)

I really wanted to spend this blog post telling you how amazing Mockingjay was. But I can't. My book was dispatched yesterday, so I really hoped it was gonna beat the international embargo and arrive today, but obviously that would be too much hassle, and so I guess it'll come tomorrow, and so I'll read it all day tomorrow and let you know what I think tomorrow night instead...

The problem is that now I have nothing to say today...

And when Youtube nerds have nothing to do: we end up playing the related videos game.

So I guess that's what I'll talk about. Now for those of you who don't know, the related videos game is a great way to discover videos on youtube which often you may not see, or may not have even found.

The idea is to go to Youtube, hit the browse button up the top, and then pick a video on the page which loads up. Now that is likely to be a Most-Viewed-Today video, but that also means it is likely to have 100's of related videos attached to it.

So watch the first video, and then click one of the related videos, and watch that, and then click one of it's related videos, and so on. If you get just the right selection of videos you can go through hours of pure gold before you are left with just KeyboardCats and the other useless stuff YouTube also has to offer besides the awesome.

Also remember: if you play this game while LOGGED IN to Youtube, your "Recommended for You" front page box will also inevitably fill up with lots of awesome to return to at later dates (you can also start a Related Video Game here, and have just as much fun).

Give it a go, and just find out who you end up discovering.

BEDA - Aug23 - Countdown to Mockingjay

Those of you who have read this blog since the very beginning (or those of you who click the link to see the previous months posts) will know that the very first item ever posted on this blog was a review of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

That review was from an advanced copy of the book that was sent me for review for Platform's actual printed magazine, and I wanted the person at Scholastic who had been nice enough to send me the book to be able to read the review. So I started this blog, with no intention of using it again, just to post the text here (hense why the blog's url, and former name, was NTU Books). As it happened a few months later I wanted to start blogging and knew this one was kicking around, so just changed the title (couldnt change the url unfortunately) and just started using it as my personal page.

Now, just about one year later, we are mere hours away from the release of the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy: Mockingjay.

The book is released at Midnight tonight in the US, and Midnight on Wednesday in the rest of the world, and it is then that we will finally follow on from the brilliant conclusion to Catching Fire.

I literally pray that it can stand up to the remainder of the trilogy and that it can close it in perfect fashion.

Just figured I would spend the last post pre-it-being-in-the-world to give you some of my theories on where it's going. I should of course mention: I have no spoilers what so ever, and these are purely theories, so you're in no danger of being spoiled.

• Peeta Vs Gale: I'm team Peeta. It just feels like the books have built up and built up the fact that Katniss is supposed to care about him, and in the end I hope he is the one she chooses. I can see why Gale makes sense too, but I just feel like she's going to go with Peeta
• I think Haymitch and Cinna will both die before the book is out, but that Katniss/Peeta/Gale will all survive.
• Peeta will have to save Katniss from President Snow at some point, and this is what will send Katniss to his side.
• The rebellion will become so big that the Capitol will destroy not just District12 but all the remaining districts as the uprisings get stronger, forcing everyone who is anti-Capitol to converge on D13
• The final battle will take place in the Capitol, and will involve EVERYONE who remains anti-Capitol on one side, led by Katniss and Peeta, and President Snow on the other side with the few (not many) who remain loyal to him, with the many finally overthrowing the few.

In just a few hours we'll know. In just a few hours, the Mockingjay rises, the revolution begins. The final battle is coming.

BEDA - Aug22 - OMG Obama isn't a Yankees Fan?!?

Ok, this blog isn't about Mr Obama's baseball team of choice, but it is, if you ask me, about something just as flippant.

There has, for one reason or another, been alot of questioning over President Barack Obama's religion over the past year and a half. Now, personally I don't care whether he's Christian, Muslim, Jewish, atheistic or agnostic, thats totally up to him. But you know, certain news organisations *cough*FOXNEWS*cough* insist on making it an issue.

In this so called modern era we're living in, I don't honestly know how this is an issue. In a country that prides itself in being the free-est nation on earth, the idea that it matters what religion your President is seems almost anti-Everything-America-Apparently-Stands-For, and feels very "All animals are created equal just some more equal than others" if you ask me.

Sure Obama CLAIMS to be Christian not Muslim, but how can we be sure he's telling the truth? (and as previously stated: who cares at any rate?)

So, in a style that only he can pull off, John Green decides its time to wade into the debate and you know, actually look at the evidence. And I figured I'd share it with you.

BEDA - Aug21 -New Beginnings and The End of everything

As I write this, I have just one week left as a teenager. This time next week it will be the eve of my 20th birthday, and I will no longer be just a kid.

My final week with a 1 in my age is going to be a pretty interesting one - I start my new job tomorrow morning, so thats an interesting beginning to go with my new adult age bracket, but don't worry, there's lots of partying to come too!!

Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games Trilogy hits bookstores on wednesday (or tuesday for all of you lucky people in the states.... [/not bitter at all]) and I cannot wait for it. The first two books are literally amazing, and I trust that the final part of Suzanne Collin's story will be as good if not even better.

And then, next weekend, in what will become the hardest BEDA challenge ever, I am going to the Reading music festival for the weekend for my birthday (I will see Blink182, one of my all time favourite bands, headline, on my birthday itself, which honestly will be worth the admission price on its own, before you add all the other awesome going on - Arcade Fire, Pendulum, Guns and Roses, Klaxons, and sooooo many more.

So yes. This is a week of things ending, and of new beginnings. A new and exciting chapter in my life is just dawning, a chapter which will see me finish uni, and go out into the "real world". It's scary, but I hope each and every one of you is ready for the challenge. Because I want you with me. Every step of the way.

BEDA - Aug20 - Umm... Oops

Totally forgot to blog yesterday, because I fail at life. I was working all day, and then came home for the weekend, so had like a 3hour drive. By the time I got home, I basically collapsed asleep and just woke up now.

Making it through the month with only one day missed isn't bad going at any rate.

Now, as an aspiring broadcast journalist, there is nothing I love more than a funny moment in the world of broadcasting.

Thomas Schafernaker, a BBC weatherman, brought just such a gaffe this week when a producer cut to him at a rather...unappropriate moment, and can be seen again and again for your viewing pleasure below: