BBC increase licence fee
Mar 9th
The BBC licence fee is set to increase by 2% from next month.
Despite the BBC announcing recent cuts to many of their digital services, including the unpopular decision to cut 6 Music and the Asian Network, the licence fee is set to go up to £145.50 from the 1st of April.
The decision will undoubtedly prove unpopular with many people amid the recent cuts. It will also be met with trepidation amongst politicians in the House of Commons who have been debating whether the BBC should be receiving such large sums of money.
The BBC claim that extra funding will go into providing more ‘high quality’ programming.
JLS Set To Rubber Up
Mar 9th
In a bizarre turn of events, chart toppers JLS are set to lead the campaign for safer sex by bringing out their own range of condoms. Rumoured to be called Just Love Safe, using their trademark initials, the foursome are keen to spread the message of safe sex to their teenage audience.
JLS ready to Just Love Safe
When talking about the issue of condoms, backflippin’ Aston Merrygold said ‘My mum sends me down a stash [of condoms] and I dish them out to the lads so none of us have to worry.’ Indeed, the production of these new brand of JLS rubber rings would save Aston’s mother a job and provide the lads with contraception tools to match their set colours, or maybe they could even mix and match!
This is not the first time we’ve seen a popular group get involved with the increasingly urbanised campaign for safer sex, as N Dubz recently released a song called ‘Shoulda Put Something On’, not to mention Dappy’s endless safer sex advertising by wearing a condom on his head!
However, with a popular boy band putting their name to such a mature product, it surely raises the question of where will branding and advertising stop? By producing condoms, yes the band will be opening the eyes of many teens to the idea of safe sex, but they’ll also be opening the eyes of many pre-teens to sex itself. Will sex then become a market saturated by teen brands? Will we soon see Barbie Doll condom machines popping up in gents toilets all over the country? The ultimate question, therefore, seems to be whether this JLS condom will eventually do more bad than it’s intended good? I guess that’s just something we will have to wait to find out.
The Hurt Locker Wins Big
Mar 8th
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards have now been and gone, the dresses are back on the hangers and the empty champagne bottles are being cleared by the lorry load. However, whilst the glitz and glam of the awards are always a focal point, the night belonged to Kathryn Bigelow’s grity and hard hitting, The Hurt Locker. Scooping no less than six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, Bigelow’s David truly triumphed over ex-husband, James Cameron’s Goliath, Avatar.
Other notable awards saw Sandra Bullock take home a deserved Best Actress gong for her role as a strong mother in The Blind Side, and Jeff Bridges take Best Actor for his turn as a washed up country music star in Crazy Heart. I would also like to take a moment to mention the great achievement of Disney’s Up, which was nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture, a stunning achievement for a truly stunning film that left many audiences in floods of tears.
The awards were presented by comic, Steve Martin, and actor, Alec Baldwin, the pair having worked together recently in It’s Complicated. Starting a tad stiff, the pair eased into their comic routine and produced a few genuinely funny moments, perhaps most notably the quip about Meryl Streep owning a lot of Nazi memorabilia. Other funny moments of the night included the new tradition of Ben Stiller presenting an award in costume, having appeared as the controversially bearded Joaquin Pheonix last year, Stiller appeared this year as one of Avatar’s native Navi.
On the whole, the awards were a great triumph, with few disappointments and even fewer suprises. Yet, you have to to spare a thought for the likes of James Cameron, George Clooney and Wes Anderson, who in any other year would have perhaps taken home awards for Best Feature, Best Actor and Best Animated Feature respectively. However, such excellent work and high profile names missing the cut, just goes to prove that the quality of the film industry this Oscar year was of the highest calibre.
The Dangers of Chatroulette
Mar 7th
A new craze is sweeping the internet, a craze that can be either stomach turning or slide splittingly funny. This craze, is of course, Chatroulette.com. Slowly making headlines outside of the internet, this website has seen a surge in popularity over recent months as people choose staying in and huddling around a webcam over a night on the tiles.
For those who are not aware of this internet phenomenon, chatroulette is simply a chat room that allows two people selected at random to chat with each other via webcam and microphone. People from all parts of the world can say hello, bonjour and hola to each other, or at least that’s supposed to be the idea. Instead, chatroulette has become the red light district of the internet, it’s allure being similar to that of exciting, yet slightly seedy, Amsterdam and such other destinations.
Having heard of the site, from newspapers and various other sources, I decided to investigate and quickly discovered why it has become such a hot topic. Within the first ten minutes I had seen things that make the sights of Soho look tame, my eyes were scarred and yet I, like many others, couldn’t turn away. A minefield of nakedness, people looking for nakedness and the odd new face just seeing it for themselves, the site truly is a roulette.
Having conquered the internet, the site has now become a staple of student nights and has sprouted it’s own drinking game, in which groups gather round the computer and wait for certain sights that will result in them downing shots and waking up the next day questioning whether what they saw was real, or whether they’d had one shot too many.
So why not log on and it see it for yourself, or if you have already experienced the wonders of chatroulette, why not tell us your tale of terror in the comments box below!
Oscars this weekend
Mar 5th
The 82nd Annual Oscars ceremony takes place this weekend.
The Oscars always provides a whole heap of glitz and glamour and this year is sure to be no different.
As with the Bafta nominations, Avatar and Hurt Locker lead the way with nine nominations each. Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air and Precious are also well presented. Disney’s Up has some stiff competition to recapture best animation with Fantastic Mr Fox and fellow Disney rival, The Princess and the Frog.
The event takes place this Sunday in America and will be broadcast live over here in the UK on E! Entertainment. So if you’re lucky enough to have access to the digital tune in from 11pm for all the gossip and find out who the winners are!
And if you’re having an Oscars party, head over to the official site where you can find a printable ballot so everyone can guess who will win what.
Battery Powered
Mar 4th
Area 51 plays host to Battery Powered for the second time this evening.
Bands kick off at 9pm and run right through until midnight. However the night doesn’t end there. DJs will be banging out the tunes for you until 2am.
We’ve got bands, MCs and acoustic performers for you to enjoy and if you’re lucky, there might even be time for a bit of open mic at the end of the evening!
Entry is just £1 and naturally, drinks will be cheaper than cheap.
If you can’t make it (and you better have a good excuse!) then you can listen to the whole thing live on Smoke Radio, hosted by our very own Jade Gebbie.
See you there!!
Save BBC 6Music
Feb 26th
The BBC have announced budget cuts that may force the closure of BBC 6Music and the Asian Network.
6 Music has somewhat of a cult following and has become a major force in playing new and alternative bands that many commercial stations would never play. The Asian Network also has a major following, particularly in places such as Leicester where there are large Asian communities.
The cuts come amid claims that the BBC have become too big and that commercial radio has suffered as a consequence. However, fans of 6Music and many in the industry mean axing the station would do a disservice to true music lovers and would leave a hole that commercial radio could simply not fill.
If you want to get involved in the campaign to save 6Music – add a ‘twibbon’ to your Twitter picture to show your support!
Mardi Gras at the ‘Croft
Feb 25th
It is a very special night at Harrow’s Undercroft bar this evening.
The event kicks off at 7.30pm and goes right on through until 1am giving you plenty of time to enjoy the fabulous drink promotions.
Along with drink promotions there will be special cocktails on sale, free face painting and free stuff to help you with the fancy dress – think masks, hats, necklaces and beads!
If you needed an incentive to get dressed up then the best two get a free bottle of Southern Comfort. Ooooh.
So get your gladrags on and head to Harrow for a night of Mardi Gras fun!
Wayne burns his bridges
Feb 25th
Wayne Bridge has announced he is making himself unavailable to England manager Fabio Capello.
Following the recent John Terry scandal, much speculation has been doing the rounds as to whether it would be possible for the two players to play together for England.
With Ashley Cole out with a long term injury, it was thought that Wayne Bridge would play a large part in the up and coming World Cup. However, with this announcement Capello now has a bit of a headache as to who to deploy at left back.
Despite Terry being stripped of the England captaincy, it appears that it is Bridge whose England career has truly suffered from John Terry’s lack of control.
NME award winners
Feb 25th
Last night saw Brixton Academy play host to the NME awards.
Jarvis Cocker hosted the event which included performances from Paul Weller, The Maccabees and some unique collaborations from Lily Allen and The Big Pink and Biffy Clyro and Marina and the Diamonds.
Best looking male?
Muse had a particularly good evening winning best website for Muse.mu beating off competition from the likes of YouTube and Twitter. They also picked up the prestigious best band award, pipping Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys to the gong. However perhaps the most important award won by the band was best looking male which went to Matt Bellamy. Errr…..
It wasn’t such a good evening for the Jonas Brothers who managed to pick up both worst band and worst album for ‘Lines, Vines and Trying Times.’ Shockingly the band were not in attendance.
You can check out the full list of winners here which include Jamie T winning best solo artist and Smoke Radio favourite’s Bombay Bicycle Club winning best newcomer.
