All posts in category Pop culture

The Hunger Games vs. Twilight

I went to see The Hunger Games yesterday. I won’t post another review as I’m a long way behind the rest (although I will say I loved it). Instead, in honour of the film and another favourite of mine Twilight, I thought I’d pitch the YA series’ against each other.

Warning: contains spoilers so don’t read if you don’t know how they end!

Let the battle begin:

The world

Twilight is set in present day Forks – a small town in Washington, which gets a lot of rain. Dark, gloomy and green. This world is inhabited by both humans and supernatural creatures namely vampires and werewolves (no witches or faeries as far as we know). And the supernatural’s live in secret mostly; until a girl called Bella comes along and guesses the truth. Some of the supers are good; others are evil and will drink your blood.

The Hunger Games is set in the future in a country that used to be America and is now called Panem. It’s a pretty bleak place made up of 12 districts ruled over by The Capitol. People in the outer districts are poor and hungry whereas people in The Capitol live in luxury and have really crazy hair. Every year the country watches The Hunger Games – a reality TV show where kids compete to their death.

Verdict: I’d rather live in Twilight’s world – there’s food and the reality TV shows may be depressing but they’re not brutal. Plus I’d have Edward. Just sayin’.

Twilight – 1, HG – 0.

The hero

Bella Swan is a teenage girl who falls for a vampire. She’s’ pretty average looking but pale and uncoordinated. She doesn’t really have a quest – most of her existence is there to be in love with Edward. Then she decides she wants to be immortal so she can love him forever. She finally becomes a vampire, which she is suited to very well.

Katniss Everdeen is a teenage girl who has lived her life fighting for survival. She leads her family, hunting for food and selling it so they can live. She is fiercely protective of her younger sister, volunteering to tale her place in The Hunger Games. Which’s she kicks ass in while staying someone we can root for. Plus she wins.

Verdict: Katniss is scary in the best possible way. I’d probably be the first one to die in the games so I’m pretty impressed by how she handles it.

HG – 1, Twilight – 0.

 The love triangle

Bella Swan loves Edward but then he leaves her (it’s for her own good) so she starts hanging out with Jacob, who turns into a werewolf. He loves her a lot but she’s not sure. Then Edward comes back and she runs back into his arms. Jacob kisses her and she decides she loves them both but Edward is her soul mate. Then they have a baby who is Jacob’s soul mate. So everyone is happy.

Katniss Everdeen isn’t sure who she loves. There’s Gale her friend and hunting partner who’s really good looking. And there’s Peeta, her fellow competitor in the HG who says he’s had a crush on her since they were kids. They pretend to be I love for the cameras but I feels quite real. Then Gale comes up with an idea that leads to her sister being killed so she chooses Peeta.

Verdict: For me, I knew who they would both choose in the end but I was more unsure what would happen in The HG so I’ll go with that love triangle. Slightly more believable.

HG- 1, Twilight – 0.

 The villains

In Twilight, The Volturi are pretty scary vampires who rule the community and you don’t want to meet them in a dark alley. Like, ever.

In HG, the villain is pinpointed as the President but you could argue the true villain is control. Snow is killed by Katniss in the end and the country takes back some of their freedom.

Verdict: Twilight has a defined group of villains that are creepy and who live on after the books. They’re invincible, which beats Snow who is destroyed.  

Twilight – 1, HG – 0.

Final score:

It’s a tie in my battle between Twilight and The Hunger Games.

Who would win for you?

 Victoria

xoxo

 

18 Comments
by Victoria-writes on April 5, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Films, Fun, Pop culture, Reviews
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Posted by Victoria-writes on April 5, 2012

http://victoria-writes.com/2012/04/05/the-hunger-games-vs-twilight/

Old Skool

I felt really old watching Beyonce’s appearance at Glastonbury last weekend (on TV, I don’t do camping!) She did a Destiny’s Child medley and I got really excited telling my mum they were some of my favourites as a teen – then I realised they started out in 1998 – over ten years ago! You know you’re grown up when you remember music from your teenage years and a decade has passed. It’s even weirder to think Beyonce is just a year older than me. We’ve certainly took very different paths :)

As she was then:

As she is now:

I’ll always have a soft spot for music I enjoyed when I was younger. Maybe it’s that music really spoke to me as I was going through issues and growing up and music was just part of that whole experience. As a teen, I was really into R ‘n’ B and was a big DC fan. I don’t really listen to new R ‘n’ B artists now but watching the concert has made me want to dig out my old tunes and add to my iPod.

Here are the R ‘n’ B songs from the 90′s that stand out for me:

Destiny’s Child – Bills bills bills

TLC – No scrubs

Brandy & Monica – The boy is mine

Mariah Carey – Honey

Jennifer Lopez – My love don’t cost a thing

Chante Moore – Straight up

Mya – The case of the ex

Toni Braxton – He wasn’t man enough

What other R ‘n’ B classics did you love?

Vix
xx

35 Comments
by Victoria-writes on June 30, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Music, My fave things, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on June 30, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/06/30/old-skool/

A life in magazines

Magazines have always been a part of my life. As a kid a magazine was a treat – something full of colours and fun things to do, something you got for being well behaved in the supermarket.

As a teenager, magazines were part of our culture. When I was a younger teen I was into music and used to read Smash Hits to get all the gossip from pop stars. As an older teen, I reached for more of the girlie ones. They were where we all went to for advice and to giggle over the problem pages. We sat on the grass at school leafing through them. We hid them from our parents in case they saw the sexual content in them. I remember one magazine More had a sexual position of the fortnight – very naughty! I used to read Bliss and Sugar mainly but also picked up Just Seventeen.

As a young adult, I moved over to celebrity magazines like Heat, Ok, Now to get my dose of gossip – who is with who and who has done something outrageous etc. I was the an expert on celebrity news and probably still am really although I use the internet more for my gossip now :)

Now I still read magazines. I’m more into fashion now and my magazines of choice are the weeklies Look and Grazia – I like the mix of fashion and celebrity news in them so I get gossip and tips on looking good! I’ve avoid the big fashion monthlies like Vogue, I think they’re overpriced and all the clothes in them are out of reach to most normal people. I buy these two quite religiously and miss them if I don’t manage to get them.

I’d be quite sad if we lost magazines. There’s something about flicking through the glossy pages, looking at the photos and getting an insight into celebrity life that I’m addicted to. The internet doesn’t give you that feeling and nor can an iPad. So I hope we don’t lose them. I can track my life through my taste in magazines and I hope future generations will be able to as well!

What magazines have you / do you read?

Vix
xx

36 Comments
by Victoria-writes on June 24, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in My fave things, Personal, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on June 24, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/06/24/a-life-in-magazines/

Bunnies vs feminists

The Playboy club is returning to London after a 25 year absence and the media is awash with stories about the new generation of women who’ll be working there as bunnies. The feminists are up in arms that modern women want to work for the club and wear the revealing costume.

The new club will be a casino with a hefty membership price and the bunnies will serve as waitress and croupiers on the tables. They will serve using the bunny dip to avoid unflattering angles and men will pay a fortune just to be in the same room as them. So are these women destroying feminisam?

I’ve always seen the point of feminism as being about choice – giving women options. Only a couple of generations ago, there were limited options for women and now we can pretty much do anything (in our part of the world at least) – have a career or not, have a family or not, vote, drive, speak out etc, it’s our decisions. The new girls becoming bunnies are choosing to do so and they’ll probably get paid pretty well to do it as well as tips from men who can’t take their eyes off their legs.

I personally wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t feel comfortable in the skimpy outfit and waitressing, whatever you’re wearing, is a hard job but I don’t blast other girls for doing it. Whatever you think about the foundations of Playboy, it’s a global brand with a long history and some girls get excited about being part of the team. If men are stupid enough to pay to see scantily clad women, should we refuse to take advantage of it or should we embrace our feminity and show it off?

Probably a lot of people won’t agree with this – they think that women who shows off their bodies are stupid or letting women as a whole down. A lot of the bunnies in the past were actually ambitious and intelligent women, Debbie Harry from Blondie even used to be one. So should we should look on the new generation of bunnies as women using it as a platform to do great things in the future or pity them for needing to show off their bodies and drag their high heels across the club floor?

I don’t know but it annoys me when women slag off other women. We should stand together whatever we choose to do and celebrate the fact we can choose what to do with our lives even if we don’t always agree with each other’s choices.

What do you think?

Vix

xx

32 Comments
by Victoria-writes on June 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Life, Musings, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on June 2, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/06/02/bunnies-vs-feminists/

Sweet Valley High

I loved Sweet Valley High as a young teen. The series about two California twins Jessica and Elizabeth, who was gorgeous and popular. It was completely unrealistic and often laughable but strangely compelling (like a bad soap opera) and mainly focused on their love lives and twin squabbles.

Last year, the series was reprinted making changes to bring it up-to-date, for example, adding in mobile phones. Completely pointless in my opinion. What I enjoy about books is they capture a moment in time, making tweaks to appeal to the “youth today” defeats the object. Alongside SVH, I used to read older school books like Malory Towers or Famous Five and the thought of adding Facebook to a midnight feast scares me!

The reason I brought this up was there’s been two recent developments in the Sweet Valley High franchise. Sweet Valley High has had a new book added to the series. Sweet Valley Confidential covers the twins as grown up women. I won’t be reading this. Some reviews on Amazon describe what I thought it would be – a lesser addition to the series, breaking the twins up and bringing them back together. How many times can they do that? There’s no need for us to see them as adults, the whole point was to experience their growing up years with them. We want to remember them as teenagers!

The other development is a film is in the pipeline. At first, I thought ooh no. Anyone remember the TV series back in the 90′s? It was really poor. Obviously the source material wasn’t Shakespeare but they made the characters vain and shallow and unlikable and didn’t follow the book story-line.

However, they have brought in scriptwriter Diablo Cody, who penned the fantastic Juno. This means the SVH movie may actually be trendy and fun with witty dialogue and well rounded characters. Of course, it’s likely to mean it’s not similar to the books, which were very cheesy. And what plot will the film follow? After all, there were about 100 main line books in the series plus spin-offs following the twins at middle school and college.

I vote for my favourite of the SVH storylines – the Prom killer series where after Elizabeth kills Jessica’s boyfriend in a drink driving accident (after Jessica spikes her drink), the twins are estranged and new girl Margo appears on the scene – she looks exactly like them expect she has dark hair and plots to kill Elizabeth then steal her identity. Brilliantly crazy!

Were you a SVH fan? What do you think about updating series and turning them into films?

Vix

xx

21 Comments
by Victoria-writes on April 18, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Books, Films, Pop culture, TV
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Posted by Victoria-writes on April 18, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/04/18/sweet-valley-high/

Is Twitter the new Marmite?

I once tried Twitter. Last year, I thought I’d give it a go curious about the hype and quite fancying becoming a celeb stalker online as well as in print (yes I’m the person in the office people go to for ask celeb questions!) but I dropped it almost immediately. I did not get it. Firstly, none of my friends were on Twitter so I was reduced to following celebs who never follow back and trying to jump into conversations amongst strangers with no clue how to get my own followers. I was also unconvinced I’d have anything worth saying in under 140 characters.

I feel like Twitter is a love or hate thing. Some people spend their lives on it and seem to build up a huge network, others can’t understand the appeal, and these people may or may not use Facebook or blog instead, like me.

What has struck me lately is that some people can’t make their minds if they love it or hate it. Celebs seem to first embrace Twitter, building up a following and using it to thanks their fans or berate the press. Then the love affair ends. They flee Twitter, suddenly embarrassed about how they tweet every part of their lives and have more connections online than offline. Then they do a 180 and go back to it like an addiction they just couldn’t break.

Two cases – Miley Cyrus and Lily Allen.

Last year, Miley a popular Twitterer abandoned the site claiming it was taking up too much of her time and was making her forget to live. A quote at the time (found from goggle):

“I was that person who was like, ‘I’m so sad. I have no real, normal life, everyone knows what I’m doing’, and I’m like, well that’s my own fault because I’m telling everyone.

“I just think it’s kind of lame. I feel like I hang out with my friends and they’re so busy taking pictures of what they’re doing and putting them on Facebook that they’re not really enjoying what they’re doing … So I think just enjoy the moment you’re in, and stop telling people about it. Just enjoy it.”

This week, Miley posted on her record label Rock Mafia’s page on the social networking site at the weekend, declaring she would use the site when she needed to speak out. Is her own page just a short step away?

Back in 209, Lily Allen also fled the site along with all of her electronic devices – her laptop and Blackberry and stopped emailing. Her last message on Twitter read:

“I am a neo-luddite, goodbye.”

This year she has returned however, posting to her fans to denounce her new documentary on TV as not representing who she is.

Why the turn around?

Both mentioned boyfriends when they quit Twitter, mentioning they wanted to spend more time with them and the boyfriend’s confusion about how much time they spent on Twitter and the like. Miley is now no longer with Liam Hemsworth and has suffered some setbacks press wise – hello lap-dancing, drug taking and her parents relationship issues. Lily has also suffered in her personal life, her tragic miscarriage and constant press intrusion and the fact her new show revealed she suffered an eating disorder.

Both seem keen to get back online to tell their own stories, for people to get the words from them and not the press or PR. What the men in their lives think about the return to Twitter, I don’t know. Maybe breaking with Twitter gave them more perspective and they’ll use it more sparingly and perhaps wisely in the future. Time will have to tell.

I remain unconvinced about me finding love for Twitter but I do understand the need to use the online world to speak out, to share your voice with the world and to tell the truth from your own lips.

So do you love or hate Twitter?

(What about Marmite? I hate it :) )

Vix

xx

25 Comments
by Victoria-writes on March 25, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Celebrity, Musings, Pop culture, Technology
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Posted by Victoria-writes on March 25, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/03/25/is-twitter-the-new-marmite/

If life was a movie (and pop quiz)

Sigh it’s Monday again. So a fun post is in order I think!

I love films. I usually watch a new one every week supplemented with a couple of my favourite films. I am someone who can watch a film I enjoy again and again. I could probably quote a few word for word :-)

Yes I am a film lover.

I often think about what life would be like if it was a movie. Here are some suggestions:

1. Rom-com:

I would meet the man of my dreams in a funny situation - probably bumping into him in the supermarket or dropping  a pile of books, which he helpfully picks up. We would then have some misunderstandings, which cause us to try and date other people but it would be no good, we would be drawn back together. He would make a grand romantic gesture, probably playing loud music outside my window or using the loud-speaker at an airport, and I would fall into his arms, kiss him and then marry him instantly. Happily ever after? Of course!

2. Musical:

I would burst into song at points in my day that are meaningful or invoke strong emotion. People around me will join in, knowing automatically the words and dance moves to accompany the song.

3. Comic book / Sci-fi

I would have special powers. This could either be superhero stuff like strength, speed or the ability to talk to animals, or I’d be able to time travel and meet Jane Austen or be invisible and steal loads of designer clothes.

4. Teen Queen

I would go to an American high school. I would be a misfit, nerd, indivisible, indie girl etc and all the popular kids i.e. cheerleasders and jocks, would ignore me / laugh at me. But I would triumph in the end, get to find someone as equally geeky and as misfit-like me and get one over on the cool kids. I would also learn something about myself in the process. This would probably be supplemented by learning a book in school that crossed over to my life, probably Shakespeare.

5. Action

I would be a secret spy and the fate of the world would rest of my glamorous shoulders. I would infiltrate a group of dodgy men and bring them all down whilst wearing heels and having  a passionate affair with another spy (who may or may not be my husband).

Time for a quiz!

 Here are some quotes from films that I am a fan of. Try and guess the films (without using Goggle) – answers at the end. Good luck!

1. Yes… I believe so, if I was the Gossip Girl in Sweet Valley of the Traveling Pants

2. He does dress better than I do, what would I bring to the relationship?

3. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

4. Yeah, if I could just have the thing and give it to you now, I totally would. But I’m guessing it looks probably like a sea monkey right now and we should let it get a little cuter.

5. As a wise musician once said – I have become comfortably numb.

6. But you know the thing about romance is people only get together right at the very end.

7. There’s that word again; “heavy”. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth’s gravitational pull?

8.  I feel the same way as you feel about Botox. Painful and unnecessary.

9. I had an adrenaline rush. It’s very common. You can Google it.

10. Such a beautiful place … to be with friends.

 

Answers below.

Let me know how you did!

Vix x

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1. Easy A

2. Clueless

3. The Matrix

4. Juno

5. Bandslam

6. Love Actually

7. Back to the Future

8. Sex and the City

9. Twilight

10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

22 Comments
by Victoria-writes on March 7, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Films, Fun, My fave things, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on March 7, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/03/07/if-life-was-a-movie-and-pop-quiz/

They don’t make them like they used to

It’s a rainy day here in London so to cheer myself up, I’ve been thinking about childhood TV and how the shows I remember from when I was young seem to beat the newbie shows. I grew up in 80′s and was a teen in the 90′s, here are some of the the shows that stand out in my memory……

Fraggle Rock – a show with multi-coloured puppets and an amazing theme song. Going down to Fraggle Rock – classic!

Byker Grove – the Newcastle teen show that launched Ant and Dec – remember the paint ball episode? I had a big crush on Dec (far right in the photo above) :-)

Clarissa Explains It All – cheesy teen show starring Melissa Joan Hart. It was show during Live and Kicking – the saturday morning BBC show and I never missed it!

Knightmare - a virtual reality game show for kids. At the time, the graphics were amazing and I felt their fear as they run across floors that crumbled beneath them – Run!

Five Children and It – a BBC drama about a group of kids who meet a sand fairy who can grant wishes and the chaos he brings.

Round the Twist – probably the weirdest and most catchy theme tune ever, this show was so weird but so watchable! “Have you ever ever felt like this….”

Saved by the Bell – a teen sitcom from USA. Everyone loved Zac and Screech was a disaster at everything. It went downhill as they got older but a true classic!

The Crystal Maze – a brilliant game show where you had to find crystals hidden in themed rooms that trapped you if you didn’t get to it in time. presented by Richard O-Brian, it was brill!

What were your favourite shows from when you were young?

Vix x

(All images from Google images)

8 Comments
by Victoria-writes on February 11, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in My fave things, Pop culture, TV
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Posted by Victoria-writes on February 11, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/02/11/they-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to/

The Ex Factor

So Jude Law and Sienna Miller have announced they have split for the second time and cancelled a second engagement. The first time round he cheated, this time no explanation but got me thinking can it ever really work getting back with an ex?

This happened to me once - I got dumped and instead of realising it was the best thing for the relationship to end, I hung on, trying to fix things and get us back together but only got more hurt in the end. I look back now and think – what were you doing?!

There is something alluring about an ex partner – you remember the good points, you miss being in a relationship and you dream about that elusive happily ever after – all this, pulls you back in.

But can it ever work out?

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are classic examples of having the ex factor – they got married and divorced twice, seemingly unable to get pass their love affair but equally unable to make it work as a solid relationship.

I think it’s easy to forget why that person is an ex to begin with. If you broke up for reasons beyond your control, e.g. distance, work problems, money issues etc, then maybe once those problems have gone it might work.

However, if you broke up because you were just not compatible, you didn’t want the same things in life, he or she didn’t support you or took you for granted, you had different futures in mind or if one of you cheated and the other can’t forgive, I really think it’s best to put it in the past section of your life and find someone who can be part of your future instead.

If your ex was auditioning on the X-Factor what would the judges say?

Go back or Move on?

I vote  - NEXT please! How about you? :-)

Vix x

12 Comments
by Victoria-writes on February 10, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Life, Love, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on February 10, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/02/10/the-ex-factor/

Behind the Mask

Beauty & The Beast, a documentary shown last night on C4,  showed two people struggling with their looks trying to understand each other’s worlds. Photo below:

Liam was 60 yr old man who was badly burnt as a child and has struggled with scars all his life. As a result, he was against cosmetic surgery.

Yasmin was a young girl obsessed with make up and looking good, all to detract from her JJ size breasts.

When the programme started, I thought we would be on Liam’s side but watching Yasmin struggle with the attention her breasts got from everyone, you really felt for her as well. Liam even accepted that a breast reduction may be a good thing for her.

It really opens your eyes to how people struggle if they don’t conform to society’s opinion of beauty and how so many struggle to fit the mould.

It made me feel bad for those days that I stand in front of the mirror and think I’m having an “ugly” day!

Yasmin bravely took off her make up at the end of the show and I realised how used you can get to seeing yourself made up. usually I wouldn’t go out without some on but maybe it’s time to think twice and show people the person inside behind that mask.

Would you venture out without your make-up on?

Vix x

16 Comments
by Victoria-writes on February 3, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Beauty, Life, Musings, Pop culture
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Posted by Victoria-writes on February 3, 2011

http://victoria-writes.com/2011/02/03/behind-the-mask/

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