I know there’s a kind of movement within the classical music genre and “those weird people who listen to it” to actually encourage non-listeners to overcome their fears and take the plunge into full-on classical music listening. ZOMG BIG SCARY ORCHESTRAS AND WAILING LADIES. And while I’m sure most of my readers are very intelligent beings and know that there is actually nothing to be afraid of when confronted by instruments such as french horns, or long pretentious words like fortissimo, you must nevertheless admit that a large proportion of you people do not listen to classical music regularly. And I am sure an even greater proportion of your offline friends and acquaintances won’t even go near the stuff.

The thing is, amongst no-way-I-don’t-listen-to-that-weird-classical-shit people there is a kind of feeling that classical music players and listeners are part of an elite pretentious crowd who “understand” the music and don’t think anyone else can understand, because it’s “clever” and “more intellectual” than other kinds of more popular music. Or, at the very least, there’s a feeling that it’s just odd, and “different” and “not for them”.

In response amongst the classical listeners there’s a mostly prevalent feeling that this is NOT true, and there’s a move to try and interest non-listeners in classical music, because it’s NOT elitist, and it’s for everyone, and we should try and push away the prejudices.

But I, as a life-long lover of Classical… and then Baroque, Romantic, Minimalist, Neo-Classical and Expressionist music, as a violinist and a classical singer, and as a would-be Music student and then graduate, beg to differ. I AM an elitist.

BUT WAIT. See, I love classical music so much I think everyone should listen to it. Of course, there will be the people in the world who just don’t like that kind of music, just like I don’t like hip hop. I think. And then there will be the horrible people in the world I am forever prejudiced against and will never, ever understand, like my ex-boyfriend, who don’t like music FULL STOP. But everyone else should at least try it out, just like I think people should listen to other genres they’ve never tried.

“YAY!” you say, “Ann isn’t an elitist! That’s just a nice opinion!” OH NO. The reason I want everyone to listen to classical music is because I think it is better than all other types of music. And I think it is better because it is more intricate, more deep, more versatile, more evocative, and more far-reaching than any other type of music. Obviously, the “better than everything else” IS just an opinion, but you get my point on the elitist thing.

I think I am perfectly justified in saying all this stuff, because unlike the majority of you people, I have studied these kinds of music in depth, plan on doing so for the foreseeable future, AND have got to the point where I analyse everything I hear in detail, add a timestamp to it, make an educated guess to the composer and even figure out why this song has got to number 1. I have JUST read that over and realised how patronising that sounds and OOH I THINK I JUST LOST A FEW SUBSCRIBERS.

And yes, I’ve even got to the point where I refuse to listen to classical music on the radio because they pronounce names wrong, and call pieces of music “relaxing” and “invigorating” when they are so obviously only doing it for the pretentious factor because HOW is a calm violin sonata “invigorating”? Yes, you may award me double elitist points for that.

But now you see – there are two types of classical elitists. There are the actual pretentious ones who, believe me, sometimes even scare ME away from music because they honestly believe that they are better, posher, and more intellectual because of the type of music they listen to. Most of the time they don’t care two straws for the music they listen to, and rather than appreciating it for the awesomeness that it is, actually degrade the stuff.

And then there are the nice ones like me. I firmly believe that the music is better and “deeper” than any other, but I don’t claim to be any better than you just because I spend a lot of time listening to it, appreciating it and studying it. And believe me, I’m down with the “spread the WORRRD. Classical music is AWEEESOMEEEE” people out there. I want everyone to appreciate it for the wonderful music it is. But let’s face it – there are classical elitists, and there always will be. And I’m proud to be one, and I hope you will be one too.

(Be prepared for a crash course in all these different, awesome, clever types of classical music, coming to a blog near you)

This year I’m going to try and make the list a bit more representative of bands and songs I have discovered during the month, so that when 2011 rolls around I can listen back at the list and be all “awww, meeeemmoorrriiiieeesss…” – as you do when listening to songs you’ve not heard in a while.

HOWEVER, I still sort of like the idea of songs that represent what I did during those months too, so I’ll try (and probably fail) to combine that into one big super song. And maybe I’ll explain it for you.

January: Dancing Queen – Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia! Soundtrack)

[See post to listen to audio]

I actually tried to work hard and complete my resolutions, and I also thought that I still liked Chemistry. Oh, and I stopped being emo.

February: High Hopes – Nightwish (End of an Era cover)

[See post to listen to audio]

I worked, I discovered my favourite guitar solo EVARRR and actually completed one resolution. Go me!

March: Someone Like Me – Royksopp

[See post to listen to audio]

Life started sucking a bit, but I had an amazing day out with friends.

April: Passing Afternoon – Iron & Wine

[See post to listen to audio]

I cut my hair, got MORE work over the summer (oh joy) and… finished series 4 of House *weeps*. So of course, this had to be the song.

May: Don’t Feel So Low – Rubylux

[See post to listen to audio]

Gahh, exams. However, this still cracks me up.

June: Here In Your Arms – Hellogoodbye

[See post to listen to audio]

Exams finished, but I think this was the time where I actually started to have zero time left, all due to Uni. See? Now I’ve finished applying I’ve actually got back to blogging. Stupid UCAS. Still, it was finally summer.

July: I’m Yours – Jason Mraz

[See post to listen to audio]

Went to Switzerland, went to Colwyn Bay… typical (great) summer. This was THE summer song.

August: You Can’t Stop The Beat – Hairspray Soundtrack

[See post to listen to audio]

Oh great, work. Still, during the long, boring hours of work, I managed to get a real start on my novel (and it still feels odd calling it that).

September: Prom Song – Eleventyseven

[See post to listen to audio]

Back at school. I was busy, so all my posts were boring. Also, school still sucked. This song was one of the only ones which was nostalgic enough to sometimes manage to convince me it wasn’t so bad.

October: Sugar Rush – Cash Cash

[See post to listen to audio]

I was 18!!!!1!!!11 ZOMG. ALSO there was *the concert* (and my boobs). And Allie’s Song.

NaNovember: Defying Gravity – Wicked

[See post to listen to audio]

Yes, I tried. And failed. But hey, I’ve just read over the 25,000 words I did manage to write during that crazy month, and they weren’t actually that bad. Go me! Also, this is a cute song.

December: Promise Me – Dead by April

[See post to listen to audio]

Well, nothing much happened except for me discovering Dead by April. And I love this song. There was Christmas I suppose… but it’s too soon for a cheesy song.

New Year: You’re The Voice – John Farnham

[See post to listen to audio]

I know, this song was in the last post, but I had to pick something really upbeat, and the Merlin people have really made me love this song recently. Bring it on 80′s power ballads!

So, to try and improve this piece-of-shit post that I’m only really writing because I feel guilty going over two weeks without posting something, here’s a little catch up on some of the finer details of my novel. I’ve sort of named it Phantom Eyes – cheesy I know, but it was after a line in the novel’s song – Chasing the Angels by Brother Firetribe (lyrics below). It’s a song which really sounds like how I want the whole novel to become, and if it were a film, then this would be the song for it.

[See post to listen to audio]

I’ve never posted my synopsis on here either so for those of you not on NaNo, here it is. A bit short, but there you go. (No more aliens v. humans, now you’ll know what I was talking about!)

***

Another restless night
That’s when I hear those voices
Calling me to push the edge
I wanna feel my blood rise
I feel it in my hands
I make the ultimate escape
Searching for the phantom eyes
Under cover of darkness
- Chasing the Angels, by Brother Firetribe

Allie Palmer didn’t realise how one day would change her life. It started out normally – just shopping in London with her soon-to-be sister-in-law. And then, she was just going to a regular job interview, like regular people do. What she discovers shocks her.
Mr Conelly, the cold-hearted, dull manager of the company introduces her to the very real world imagined in science fiction, when he tells her that she has been chosen to complete the team of people who will fight the growing threat of the Macrinovs – a little know species who have come out of hiding and are brutally attacking and killing the human race. Allie works with her partner Jake to combat the Macrinovs, fighting physically draining battles, as well as emotionally exhausting ones as her relationships develop within the group.
Fantasy battles have never been so real.

***

Finally, you all sucked when I asked you to guess what Allie’s song was. Quite clearly it was Sugar Rush by Cash Cash – Aisling was tweeting about it enough!

[See post to listen to audio]

And because I’m nice like that, for the rest of you NaNo-ers, here are some happy/epic/sad soundtrack tracks for you.

Maestro, Dream Kitchen, Gumption, Cry by Hans Zimmer, all from The Holiday Soundtrack.

The Ludlows and The Wedding by James Horner, from Legends of the Fall Soundtrack.

Intro to Within Temptation’s The Silent Force album (LOL at the video).

Mass in G Minor – Agnus Dei by Vaughn Williams

The Battle by Harry Gregson Williams from the first Narnia Soundtrack

Main Titles by Danny Elfman from the first Spiderman Soundtrack.

I listen to all of the LOTR soundtracks, but if I had to choose one it would be my favourite: The Lighting of the Beacons, by Howard Shore from The Return of the King Soundtrack.

Enjoy! (And please feel free to share your favourite music for writing!)

[See post to listen to audio]

Phantom Planet – California. Summer exam week, 2005, and I was 13 and in year 8. We had to move classrooms that week for some reason, and in any free time we had California was playing the most. That was the summer the card games craze swept our year, and we spent all our free time (we were allowed some between class tests) playing card games on the desk, or gathered around a game of speed – the most popular was a game called Spit. That week was boiling hot, and I remember we got used to simply ignoring the sweaty marks we left on tables and chairs wherever our skin had touched them. It was at that time we discovered TV programs like The O.C. too, and I got hooked on that particular series, although I quit as soon as I could see the Taylor/Ryan thing about to happen. Argh, annoying.

Orson – No Tomorrow, and this was summer exam week of 2006. Similarly to the previous year, this happened to always be playing during any free time we had. I remember our last test on the Friday afternoon finished about 15 minutes before everyone else’s did. The teacher who was supervising us was probably trying to get into our good books since he would turn out to be our class teacher the next year, let us put this song on as loud as possible, and we all got up and jumped up and down, dancing like idiots, because our final lot of middle school class tests were over.

[See post to listen to audio]

Nightwish – Ever Dream – End of an Era version. Late 2006 was when I discovered my favourite band, Nightwish, and early 2007 I discovered my best friend, who also liked them. Together we set about finding more music by them, and I researched into the band’s history, to discover all about the famous “last concert” they’d had in 2005. We used to sit in our classroom over lunch, and watch the End of an Era concert in stages online – it’s still there on Google Video. I absolutely fell in love with the song Ever Dream (I can still remember that it’s after the song Planet Hell, which should be at about 9 mins into that video. Kick me if I’m wrong), and it’s still my favourite to this day. That year was a bit of a rubbish time, quite often – I’d just found new friends and then everything seemed to go wrong for them. I remember watching End of an Era one morning, getting past the intro of Ever Dream, and then bursting into tears with Tuomas. LOL. ( I just checked the video and Ever Dream starts at 9:52. Oh yes.)

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to listen to audio]

Nightwish – Come Cover Me and Dead Boy’s Poem. In the summer of 2007 my family all went to Switzerland for a couple of weeks, which I HATED. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people, the place is very beautiful, and I love any chance for me to speak French, but Mum forces us all out on long walks up mountains which I hate with a vengeance. Apart from being tiring and too hot (and I think of beaches and swimming when I think of a summer holiday), I find walking a long way awfully uncomfortable due to a problem I had with my hips when I was younger. So, armed with my slowly dying Mp3 player, I went on all these long walks (and train journeys – it took us 3 hours by train from the airport to our apartment in the mountains) with only music to comfort me. I’d filled it with music I’d rarely listened to before, most of which was from the Wishmaster and Oceanborn albums. I first really took notice of Come Cover Me on the train, as I watched all these tiny streams winding through the perfectly flat fields, until the mountains suddenly rose up in an emerald wall (I’m quoting my English creative writing coursework here), and I first noticed Dead Boy’s Poem on a torturous walk up a steep mountain. In such circumstances I liked to go on ahead out of sight of my family, and then play air guitar, piano and drums to the songs I’m listening to. I noted Dead Boy’s Poem was a particularly nice one for the drum beats, and Ghost Love Score was one of my favourites for trying to mime the whole orchestra, guitars, piano and drums at the same time. I also remember standing on a hot station with no seats, trying to sit on the shiny round metal handrail, listening to Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean (listen below).

[See post to listen to audio]

If you’ve got this far then presumably you’re a Nightwish fan: the video’s rather gay but I laughed.

2008 has way too many songs rolled into one, so I’ll leave that for later.

So, I sat down, older and wiser, and fully prepared to revel in the awesome music and odd plot. I was absorbed – leaving an over-watched film for a couple of years really does cure you of being sick of it – until I got to the song The Music of the Night. This is one of the most boring songs in my opinion, and sometimes I just skip ahead, but I let it play on, and let my mind wander a little. I wondered who I would choose if I were Christine – the Phantom or Raoul, and I remembered how an obscene amount of people on the internet (two years ago at least) detested Raoul and thought Christine should have ended up with the Phantom instead (oops, spoilers). It was like Team Phantom v. Team Raoul.

And then it hit me. The Phantom of the Opera is exactly like Twilight, except with two Edwards! It’s the same storyline, same characters, a bit more music… OMG. Let me show you:

So, Christine is this 16 year old orphan who lives in the ballet dormitories at the Opera Populaire in Paris. The opera house is taken over by two random guys, who incidentally begin lusting over her because she’s so pretty. The leading soprano walks out, and Bella, I mean Christine, is forced into the role, even though she’s really scared, because she’s a nobody, right? Well, actually she isn’t because she sings beautifully and now everybody wants her. Including two people – Raoul, her best friend from when she was little, and who is “so handsome”, and the Phantom (called Erik in the book), this masked dude who lives under the opera house and actually taught her to sing anonymously. The Phantom is a “genius” – “he’s an architect, a designer, a composer and a magician” – well, “Edward can do anything, right?”… sorry, did I say Edward? Meant to say Erik, meant to say Erik…

The Phantom, although this is never pointed out, is in my view extremely good looking too, although all this turns out to be a lie, since the mask is covering a massive facial deformity, and he in fact wears all this make up and a wig, because in reality he’s just a really old man.

So. Christine does really well, and although Raoul tries to take her out, instead she’s lured by the Phantom down to his lair. Did I mention that this was because she thought he was an angel? No, literally – she thought he was an “angel of music” sent to her by her father to protect her. Yeah, I know. And then they stand around and sing a bit, and she sees what a freak the Phantom really is because he has an exact replica of her all standing there with a wedding dress. Granted, she faints, but when she wakes up she’s not all like “excuse me, gotta run”, she hangs around for a while, takes off the Phantom’s mask, he gets all pissy and is like “NOW YOU CANNOT EVER BE FREE”. And he’s also like “this is the skin of a killer, Bella”… no wait, he’s like “is this what you wanted to see?”

And then I absolutely HAVE to quote this next bit he sings, because it’s so Edward it’s FUNNY.

Stranger than you dreamt it -
can you even dare to look or bear to think of me:
this loathsome gargoyle, who burns in hell,
but secretly yearns for heaven,
secretly, secretly…

Fear can turn to love -
you’ll learn to see, to find the man behind the monster:
this repulsive carcass, who seems a beast,
but secretly dreams of beauty,
secretly, secretly…

Oh, Christine

Meanwhile, Raoul is getting all jittery and possessive (yes, possessive) up above because Christine is HIS, dammit, and she’s gone and disappeared. I mean, it’s not like he’s only talked to her once after 10 years… no, no, of course they would have had a long relationship before he gets worried about her sneaking out at night to see other people, right? Well, maybe he just feels… “very protective” of her. And everybody else is like I KNOW WHAT YOU TWO DID LAST NIGHT, and he’s all like “dude, no”, and they’re like ORLY?

And then some insignificant plot point happens, which means that Christine and Raoul have to go all the way to the roof where it’s gently snowing, and then they declare their love. BUT! The Phantom’s watching and he gets all heartbroken and vows REVENGE. By the way, did I mention that in All I Ask of You (the proposal song thingy) Raoul’s doing the whole protective talk again, throwing about phrases like “I’m here with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you”, and Christine’s totally buying it, and singing about stuff like “I dream of being with you forever”.

They go to a ball together, officially engaged, except Christine wants to keep it a secret because she’s afraid people will think she’s knocked up, and also she’s too young to get married! Or something. Raoul, of course, doesn’t get it, but will do anything she says. The Phantom turns up REALLY pissed and tells Christine she can return to him if she’s not too proud to do so. And Christine is all like “OMG I’M SUCH A HORRIBLE PERSON HOW CAN I BE DOING THIS TO HIM”. Well, she doesn’t say so, but she’s totes thinking it. The Phantom rips her ring off her necklace, and I kid you not, with the words “you belong to ME” and disappears. Raoul chases after him but the Phantom messes with his mind by leading him into a hall of mirrors, before he’s rescued.

At this point in the film, we’ve seen the Phantom kill two people already. Yes, Christine knows, but that doesn’t matter to her, she trusts him.

Later that night, we really get an insight into Raoul’s inner Edward. Christine is all “ZOMG have I made the right choice, I’m hurting him so much” and can’t sleep so she sneaks out of her dormitory, and what do we find but Raoul sleeping right outside her door! You can bet that if Christine had a car and Raoul didn’t sleep he’d totally have disabled her car battery and be sitting there saying “wtf do you think you’re doing young lady”. The Phantom, being one up as always and apparently not sleeping, being unable to disconnect the battery of the horse or carriage, instead secretly drives her to the graveyard, where he again tries to lure Christine into her father’s grave, or something. But it’s okay, because Raoul wakes up and chases after Christine so he can save her, should things get too nasty with the Phantom. And then there’s a whole swordfight scene.

Then some more of the random plot happens: in order to capture the Phantom they decide to put on his opera and let Christine star in it. But the Phantom being one up again kills the leading man and instead appears himself in the opera. Christine realises and they sing this whole song about sex together. She gets really into it, and Raoul sits there going “WUT D:”, and at the end the Phantom cleverly improvises in the All I Ask of You theme and goes “Christine I love you” (finally, in the second film he says it! I mean, at the end of the film…), and Christine rips his mask and wig off. And everyone’s like DUDE, GROSS, and Raoul’s like YOU MADE OUT WITH THAT? and the Phantom’s like I KIDNAP YOU NAO.

And he kidnaps her and dresses her up in the wedding dress and gives her the ring that Raoul originally gave her (um, does that even make sense?), and Raoul turns up to save her, and is all like “I’m sorry, I should have never put you in this much danger, I’m such a horrible person”. And in a shocking change of character, Christine says to the Phantom “sorry, you’re a freak, not marrying you”, and he’s like “fine, I’ll kill Raoul then”. And then she says “no I didn’t mean it” and they make out in front of Raoul. Ouch. But then the Phantom’s like “to prove that I love you the most I’ll let you go with him. FORGET ME. This is the last time you’ll ever see me” (and fangirls all over the world are crying at a TRAILER… or not). But Christine’s like “fine”, and goes off to marry Raoul. But! she leaves her engagement ring which was never actually from him in the first place with him, to remember her by. Way to rub salt in the wound, eh?

Yeah, that’s the end of the film. Don’t worry if you want more, ALW is in fact writing POTO 2. Don’t worry, I don’t think he’ll make it to 4 musicals, although there’s no news on if Christine is going to have Phantom spawn yet.

Firstly, I have to have one of the songs in the video above, and my favourite live Emppu-solo evarr. During End of an Era (get the back-story from someone else) Nightwish covered Pink Floyd’s High Hopes, and Marco’s sexy voice and the guitar-ified solos quickly made it better than the original (although I’m aware this is heresy in many people’s opinons), and a firm favourite. The particular solo I love – there are two – can be heard starting at 4:39 through to 5:22, or 2:23 on the video.

[See post to listen to audio]

One song which I fell in love with because of the solo, and which also introduced me to Symphony X, was Accolade II. Symphony X is, in general, all about the guitar and the epic quality, which I find can often be a little too much for me. However, this song balances out nicely, and has a pretty epic guitar solo. What clinched it for me was at 6:28, where the time signature changes from in two to in three (omg EPIC) and then zooms up to the high note at the end, which I just love in any context (the whole solo starts out at about 5:35/ 5:58 depending on opinions).

[See post to listen to audio]

Moving back to Emppu’s stuff, I tried to choose only one favourite solo from False Metal, Brother Firetribe’s debut album. It was tough – Brother Firetribe is Emppu’s side-project so he can put in as many awesome guitar-based things as he likes without Tuomas and the rest of Nightwish telling him where to stick it. I ended up going for one of my favourite songs on the album anyway – Spanish Eyes. It has a very High Hopes-esque feel to the solo, but as if that wasn’t enough, the song changes key on the last note of the solo *swoons*. The solo starts at 3:14

[See post to listen to audio]

I’m going to tear myself away from metal and Emppu to say something familiar and comforting to those who don’t know what  or who I’ve been on about so far: Violet Hill³ by Coldplay. This song used to get me out of bed in the mornings, just so I could play air guitar to the riffs in between phrases, and the solo at is pretty cool, you have to admit.

Okay, I’m allowing Evanescence in here (can you tell now that I’m scrolling through my iTunes in alphabetical order by artist, after the first two songs inspired me to write this post?). I know what everyone except my best friend says about Evanescence, I agree, and this particular album is a load of crap in addition, but I do like Lacrymosa, and the solo. I’m happy with liking something Mozart originally wrote, anyway, and the solo (2:32), for those of you who speak music, consists of some pretty cool hemiola rhythms.

[See post to listen to audio]

I doubt many of you will be in the habit of listening to Christian music. My next absolute favourite guitar solo comes from an album I bought whilst on camp last summer, and the first song has a great guitar line and solo, starting at 2:15.

I promised myself I would only choose two Nightwish songs. Now, it’s pretty hard choosing only two songs out of your almost favourite 78 in your whole library, and I’m really hoping you’ve seen the whole of that video so you know what your missing out on by my limits – but in the end, I tried to forget personal preferences and I think the absolute best Nightwish guitar solos have to be Creek Mary’s Blood (3:33), and Sleeping Sun (3:02) (I would say Nemo, but everyone says that). My personal favourites “just because” are Master Passion Greed (2:24), End of All Hope (2:51) and Ever Dream (2:56) (what can I say? I love everything about that song) (shutupIknowthat’sfive).

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to listen to audio]

Edit: OH CRAP I left out Over the Hills and Far Away – the song that got me into Nightwish, and has the best guitar solo out of all of them. I can’t not mention it – it is seriously Fantasmic (see what I did there?). The solos are littered about the place in OTHAFA, so watch the video I linked at the beginning, where they’re all put together. OMG.

Finally, as a bit of a different one, like last time, I’m going to leave you with Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End. Best use of guitar solos in a movie about pirates evarr.

1. that post is updated with the song on the page, I made it readable, and the comments are still open hint hint
2. the two “r”s and the a give the word more emphasis, you see
3. sorry, I don’t have the right version for audio player

Yet, I wouldn’t be writing this review if I thought it was only a time killer. Perhaps I’m biased because the plot is centred around music, maybe it’s because it’s got that Life On Mars-like northern charm (or lack of it), or maybe it’s because Ewan McGregor is so darn CUTE in it, but Brassed Off was pretty good. Set in the north, it tells a story (or many stories, really) of the time when Margaret Thatcher started closing down the mines in England, causing hundreds of thousands of jobs to be lost. Although the undercurrent is very political, the film instead focuses on the miners’ brass band. With the mine’s imminent closure, most of the members are set on pulling out of the band, until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald), who grew up in the town, returns for her job, and joins the band. Of course, most of the band choose to stay on temporarily because she has legs and tits, but when she first plays her flugelhorn (it’s an instrument, trust me), it turns out she’s amazing, and they decide to take part in various competitions with money prizes – a huge incentive when you see how poor all the characters are. Being childhood sweethearts, Gloria and Andy (Ewan McGregor) have to fall in love again, but rather predictably things get more than a little complicated when it turns out that she works for the council, who are closing the mines down.

Yet the ever-so-slightly crap storyline is made up for by the wonderful use of music. There are great, funny, and heartbreaking scenes where the music of the brass band plays a huge part. The best scenes are when important performances are interspersed with shots of climactic decisions being made, as in this scene, my favourite. Gloria has just joined the band and agrees to play for them, as the council decide to put the offer of a huge redundancy sum to the miners, if they vote for pit closure – something they’d find hard to refuse.

So, I wouldn’t say that you had to go out and buy this movie immediately. I wouldn’t even say rent it, but if it comes on TV or you see it on the internet, then watch it. It’s a great insight into life in Britain at that time, a pretty good story, and very well made.

Turning a musical into a movie is always risky. The die-hard fans of the stage version, and in this case the original Abba songs too, are likely to hate you if you don’t get it exactly right. You can add in things to make it better… or worse, and you have to cut things, to make it better… or worse. The most important thing is to get good actors who can both sing and act well. And the makers of this movie could have done worse. In fact, they did extremely well with the ladies, although the choice of men made me think that this was more down to luck. Overall, though, it made a brilliant movie which I absolutely adored.

The Good:

Meryl Streep as Donna. Need I say more? I think this woman is my new idol, and when I’m 58 (no, I’m not shitting you, she was 58 when she made this) I want to look and sing as fabulously as she does. She steals all of her scenes, getting her character down to a “T”, and *hides from Abba fans* sings some songs even better than anyone else I’ve heard (hey, don’t hit me, Benny Andersson thought she was wonderful too).

Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Rachel MacDowell and Ashley Lilley (Lisa and Ali) should get a mention for their great singing and brilliant acting as giggly friends, very fun and totally believable. Although Dominic Cooper (Sky) doesn’t have the best voice in the world, Sky and Sophie’s dueting was simply brilliant, and again made it to the list of songs-they-did-better-than-Abba with Lay All Your Love On Me.

Christine Baranski and Julie Walters (Tanya and Rosie) also upped the comedy value as Donna’s ex-bandmates and old friends, although Julie Walters’ singing left a little to be desired and once my sister had pointed out “OMG! Mrs Weasly!” I couldn’t look at her without seeing the red hair.

I really liked how they used actors from different countries, so it didn’t feel like they’d “Hollywood-ised” the thing at all. The setting and scenery was brilliant, and as for the story, it was funny and romantic, and although the ending went just that little bit too far on believability and cheesyness, the whole thing was pretty much perfect.

The Bad:

Oh deary me, Colin Firth (Harry). Sorry, is that a squeak I heard from you there? What was that warbling I heard? Oh, it was your poor, girlish, untrained voice. Sorry about that, I mean, the directors can’t have just chosen you because they wanted to boost the list of famous-actors-playing-main-characters, can they? No, no, of course not.

You may (read: will) want to plug your ears for the (thankfully short) sections of songs he sings. You may want to skip entire songs on the soundtrack if Pierce Brosnan’s (Sam’s) voice doesn’t take your fancy either, although personally I didn’t find him too offensive. A good thing too, since he sings more than the other two guys, with a full song to himself and a couple of duets with Meryl Streep.

The Ugly:

I’m sorry, I have to mention Colin Firth and the sexuality of his character here. Why would you do that? WHY? Isn’t it bad enough that all good looking men IRL have to be gay? Let the ladies have Colin Firth’s character straight on screen please.

Actually, he’s looking his age in this, I have to admit. Sorry ladies, no gorgeous guys to ogle at in this movie. Still, it’s a minor complaint.

Overall:

This is such a must-see movie, I can’t emphasise it enough. The good points far outweigh the slight issue of a couple of cast members not being able to sing a few bars, and if for nothing else, you have to watch if for the butt tattoos and Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan with long hair and eyeliner. Seriously.

I’m sorry, I don’t care what you think, but the earphone marked “L” is just more comfortable in my right ear, Mr Manufacturer. I can see that you’ve stuck a little bit extra onto the left side of the right earphone, but that fits just perfectly into my left ear. In fact, if I try and put it in my right ear, it just falls out.

I understand that you also feel the need to label them, because when I’m listening to Sweeney Todd The Original Broadway Cast featuring Angela Lansbury and the orgasmic voice of Len Cariou, I really need to hear different cast members sing from different sides of the stage. When I’m sharing my iPod with my friends or my sister and we’re listening to some really old song, one of us really has to get all the vocals, and the other has to be stuck with some shitty backing tracks. I mean, that’s okay, the way music was put together isn’t your fault – I understand, we need to know who’s going to be the one to get stuck without a melody line. We wouldn’t be able to tell if you hadn’t labelled them, after all.

I tried to think of more witty and sarcastic remarks as to why the labelling should be changed, but those were the only reasons I could think of as to why they are labelled at all. Really, I don’t actually check to see whether I’m putting them in the right ear or not, and with practise I’ve got used to putting them in correctly and comfortably first time.

So please. Give my ears some respect. They’d like to have the knowledge that an earphone was made especially for them, and it wasn’t labelled with the other ear’s name.

…I’m just being pedantic now, aren’t I?

January: Guilty – The Rasmus.
[See post to listen to audio]
The month of my GCSE mocks. I didn’t work one bit. My marks were less than perfect, surprising all the people who really believed I had been working…

February: Bye Bye Beautiful – Nightwish.
[See post to listen to audio]
I still hadn’t got over my obsessive Nightwish-mania which I get every time they release a new album.

March: Clowns (Can You See Me Now) – t.A.T.u.
[See post to listen to audio]

April: Any Other World – Mika.
[See post to listen to audio]
This is such a Doctor Who song – perfect for the DW season.

May: All That I’ve Got – The Used.
[See post to listen to audio]
GCSEs started. I thought they would go on forever.

June: Voodoo Child – Rogue Traders.
[See post to listen to audio]
My friends and I would sit outside listening to this while we revised. Lyrically it obviously doesn’t fit – but then it sort of does, as well.

July: Part 1 – Heart Full of Fire – Brother Firetribe.
[See post to listen to audio]
Most definitely this summer’s song. My best friend and I sat on the coach in Italy listening to this almost non stop, and singing the girl’s part. When you hear how sporadically she comes in, you can imagine the kind of odd looks we would get from other people.

Part 2 – Viva La Vida – Coldplay.
[See post to listen to audio]
We changed the lyrics, but this was one of the most played songs on camp.

Part 3 – Iris – Goo Goo Dolls.
[See post to listen to audio]
Actually, we listened to the original, since that was all my leader had in her car as she drove us to various places in Wales. Still, fitting.

August: Celebrate the Summer – DJ Cammy.
[See post to listen to audio]
Obviously.

September: Why Does It Always Rain On Me – Travis.
[See post to listen to audio]
The end of a perfect summer, to be completely overwhelmed by school.

October: Forever Young – Alphaville.
[See post to listen to audio]
I was 17. Enough said.

November:  Baba O’Riley – The Who.
[See post to listen to audio]
November was the time when my work started to slip, and everyone else started questioning as to whether I’d taken on too much this year. It was all a bit of a crazy time, like the music. November was also when I discovered my love of House, who introduced me to this song.

December: It Ends Tonight – All American Rejects.
[See post to listen to audio]
How appropriate for the ending of a year.

New Year: While Your Lips Are Still Red – Nightwish.
[See post to listen to audio]
What a perfect New Year’s Resolution song.

So, who is going to share with me their 2008 playlist?