R.I.P. Bebo

Yesterday saw the demise of Bebo. The once popular social network has been in decline ever since its original founder Michael Birch sold the company to AOL in 2008. The domain bebo.com has been unreachable since yesterday and Twitter users have been trending the hash-tag #bebomemories which for the owners for said website would ironically just be adding salt to the wound! After all everyone with sense knows thats Twitter > Bebo.

I remember giving out my daily love, changing my skin more often than my underwear, rearranging my top 16 friends after every disagreement I had, “owning” people’s pictures, speaking liik3 thii5, or using α ƒσηт ℓιкє тнιѕ, giving “luv for luv” and also being able to give unlimited love on Valentine’s Day… those were the good days! Anyway all these Bebo memories got me thinking about social networking and how popular sites vanish and also how they’re scarily actually taking over our lives…

When was the last time you wrote a facebook status? For me it was yesterday. When was the last time you tweeted? For me it was about 5 minutes ago. When was the last time you uploaded a photo? When was the last time you ‘checked in’ or were checked in by someone else? When was the last time you liked something on someone else’s page? Or maybe you're a secret user, who never updates their own page but knows everything that's going on (I know several secret users!) so for you guys; when was the last time you logged in just to have a nose around at others? See, it’s absolutely ridiculous. We use social networking websites all the freaking time, that it’s now become acceptable and the absolute norm. Take for example, the fact that I found out one of my closest friends from school was engaged last week, via Facebook. The little love heart icon popped up on my homepage announcing her engagement. Whatever happened to texting or calling someone? When confronting her on this sore topic (ahem, Drib!) she replied “it was easier to let everyone know that way” which is absolutely completely true. If you ever want everyone to know something about you, put it as your Facebook status. Word travels super fast online! But on a serious note, before Facebook how did we let everyone know these kinds of events had occurred?...

..Oh, I know, on MySpace! I had a MySpace page. I used to love it. I always had the cutest of designs, with a quirky looking profile picture and some utterly pathetic written “about me” section, all about my undying love for lip-gloss, heat magazine and gossip. (I guess something’s never change, no matter what social network you use!) And before that, what about MSN? I used to spend hours upon hours on there. I’d go home from school and log straight on to chat to all of the friends I had just spent the whole day with, because obviously SO much had happened in the 20 minutes it had taken to get home…?!

Isn’t it weird how times change and what was once something I used daily, I now don’t use at all, or even remember the password to log back in (I just tried and failed!) It’s strange how all of these social networking sites become the in-thing and then a couple of years later no one uses them. Let’s be honest, whilst we were all tapping away on msn “lol-ing” and “brb-ing” who’d have thought that no one would use it now? When we gave away love on Bebo and had to rota it out day-by-day so that each friend got a heart, who’d have thought that that trend would soon pass? The same goes for Facebook, how long is it until it’s replaced?

Well, recently I’ve noticed there has been a lot of ‘Facebookers’ migrating over to Twitter. I’ve been a user of Twitter since 2009 and would personally always choose it over Facebook, because for me it’s much more interesting. I’d much rather have conversations with people who have the same interests as me (my followers and who I’m following on Twitter) compared to people I’m only friends with on Facebook because I’m too polite to delete them. Twitter is normally where I find out about breaking news; whether it is regarding celebrities or global issues. Whereas Facebook is where I find out who is next out of my friends to fall pregnant. To me, there’s no contest (this may be partly down to the fact I want to be a journalist, or maybe it’s because I’m not very child-friendly, I’m unsure.) Either way, I feel at home at Twitter, it’s there that I feel most content, and I subsequently don’t feel the need to join any other networking websites. Yet….!

Of course if tomorrow there was a new website craze to sweep the nation, I too (shamefully) would follow, like a little lost sheep. What can I say? I’m a sucker for social networking sites. I wish I had the will-power to not succumb to these time-wasting websites, but alas, I’m not strong enough. I have several friends who don’t have Facebook accounts (or any other social networking sites for that matter) and to begin with I thought they were absolutely barmy. What on earth do they do with their time? How do they know what’s going on in the world? But now I think they’re admirable. Fair play to them, I say. Whilst we’re all busy thinking up our next witty status, moaning about how it’s raining and uploading pictures of rainbows they’re out there living their lives. They don’t need a certain amount of likes a day to feel popular; they don’t judge recently taken drunken photos because they can’t see them. What a peculiar concept!

Another recent change I’ve noticed in social networking is that it used to be a young person’s game, but not any longer... Oh no, this has also changed! My Dad has a facebook account. I made the fundamental error of accepting him as a friend, cue the onslaught of “likes” and embarrassing comments on every status I write, as well as him probably reading this post *Hi Dad!* And if that wasn’t bad enough, my Mum (who was a computer-phobe not so long ago) goes on his account and has a nose around too. It’s just crazy! I’m now waiting for the day I get a friend request from my Grandma. She’s just got herself a laptop and she’s mastered emailing and Google, so I guess it’s only a matter of time…!

Anyway back to the reason I started writing this blog and sadly, Bebo is no longer with us, resulting in us being unable to rank our top 16 friends, give love or be someone’s “other half”. It looks like we’ll have to stick to liking things and retweeting instead! Unless of course, the unthinkable happens and Facebook and Twitter close down as well, in which case let’s all pray that the next big social networking site to catch on is a good one, or else we’ll have to join those who don’t have social networking accounts out in the real world. Good heavens, imagine that...

NTAs

Wednesday night was home to the 17^th annual National Television Awards. This is without a doubt my favourite award ceremony and I watch them religiously, and no, not just for the host. Talking of whom, Dermot stepped out looking bronzed, in black suit teamed with a bow tie. Winner. However, unlike The X Factor openings there was no little dance. However I was in luck as the awards were on for a total of two and a half hours. Two and a half hours of Dermot? Don’t mind if I do

Bruce Forsyth came out singing ‘Let There Be Love.’ It was awful. I’m not like the majority of people in thinking that Bruce is a television legend; in fact I think he’s far from it. He’s an extremely annoying, old washed up has-been. Massive snore. After a painful few minutes of Bruce stood on the stage singing and attempted to dance I was ready to give up with the ceremony all together when Ant and Dec came out to join him. If it weren’t for them saving him it would have been the best bit of car-crash television we’d seen in quite some time. Even with them it was still the cringiest thing I’ve had to witness in a long time. Anyway enough of that, I don’t even like thinking back to it!

Thankfully after the horrific introduction it was time for the awards to really start. Tulisa walked out to present the first award of the night for Best Entertainment Programme. She have clearly been given a fake memo about the dress code for the awards being fancy dress as she came out wearing what can only be described as a flamingo costume. You wouldn’t see Cheryl wearing that kind of crap. Anyway Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Road Show won, which came as a big surprise. Next up was an ITV tradition of an ad break. What a surprise! Oh, ITV you and your ad breaks kill me. Zzzzz.

When we finally went back to the awards Alan Carr was seen waving. He’s got to be the most hilarious human being to ever walk this planet, surely. Even seeing him wave had my in hysterics! Hugh Bonneville took to the stage to present the award for Best Drama Performance (Female) and whaddyaknow the winner was Karen Gillan. I’m not going to lie, I have no idea who she is, however as soon as it was announced that she was from Doctor who it became obvious that she’d win. She was very peculiar; she wore a very dull and boring dress teamed with FLAT shoes. Flat shoes to the NTAs? No. You’re a wrongen Karen, soz.

Next to present an award was Russell Kane who revealed on his twitter that he wasn’t actually meant to present anything but an un-named celebrity got caught up in traffic and so producers asked Russell who was hanging out backstage! He presented the award for Best Comedy Panel Show. There was only one winner in this category for me and thankfully it won Celebrity juice. I was SO excited to hear Keith’s acceptance speech but he disappointingly kept it very clean and tame, obviously because it was still quite early on in the night. He was, however, dressed in a bright gold suit which made up for the lack of hilarity slightly. Holly looked lovely, as ever, in a black dress and cute floaty hair. Fearne was dressed in silver and also looked lush even though she had her hair scraped back.

Mark Wright presented the award for Best Newcomer. His presenting skills still leave a lot to be desired and I had to watch through my hands. Cringin’ell. Jacqueline Josser from Eastenders took this one, and she looked delighted. I wasn’t too sure on the dress; it was a little too Edwardian style for my liking, but she pulled it off. She should have also won another award for the most awkward speech of the night. Bless her!

After yet even more adverts it was time for a new award, the Landmark Award which was given to David Walliams, for swimming The Thames for Sports Relief. After the first obvious standing ovation of the night David gave a humble speech and finished with saying that this year Alan Carr would be doing it in a thong. Brilliant!

The presenter of the next award was Thierry Henry, yet another of my crushes. His French accent nearly killed me. Ohh laa laa. I also wasn’t the only one to be excited about him being there as Dermot looked absolutely thrilled, what with being a massive Arsenal supporter and all. Thierry revealed the Best Talk Show winner was Alan Carr Chatty Man and I was thrilled, as was Alan who was jumping around on stage. At the beginning of his speech he said “merci beaucoup!” to Thierry. Seriously, he is the funniest man alive, no doubt.

After yet another ad break it was time for Little Mix’s first live performance since winning the X Factor before Christmas. They all looked amazing and hadn’t lost their quirky style. However none of them were wearing their usual hi-tops, instead they were all in heels. Shocker! Singing ‘What’s it gonna be” they hit the notes effortlessly and harmonised well and proved exactly why they won the X Factor. Jesy’s hair was even bigger than usual as all four girls stood on separate heart shaped platforms.

Caroline Quentin then took to the stage to present the award for Best Drama Performance (Male) which went to… drum roll…. Matt Smith from Doctor Who! Shocker…. Naaaaaaaaat. Seeing as I haven’t watched a whole episode of Doctor Who without falling asleep I’m always bemused as to the hype that surrounds the popular BBC series. Also subsequently Matt Smith is better known by me for schweffing Daisy Lowe, not for his incredible acting, but nevs mind.

A surprise presenter in the form of Kermit the frog was next to take to the stage after even more adverts. The green puppet was presenting the award for Best Entertainment Presenter. I had my fingers very tightly crossed for my man Dermot but knew deep down he was never going to win against the unstoppable force that is Ant and Dec, and alas, whaddyaknow, they won again. For the 11^th year running. Wow. They’re quite literally untouchable and fair play they are really good, entertaining, endearing presenters but surely it’s time we reward someone else? Obviously not! Also I felt so sorry for Dermot, who having just lost out (again) to Ant and Dec had to carry on presenting the nights proceedings. Hashtag awkward!

Lara Pulver came out to present the award for Best Serial Drama Performance. The winner of which, Katherine Kelly, wasn’t even there! Two other actors from Corrie (I’m not sure who, as I don’t watch) took to the stage to say that she (Katherine) didn’t see it coming to then take out a piece of paper with a speech written on it. Oh! It was without a doubt the most prepared speech of the evening, considering it was from someone who wasn’t expecting it….!

Next up and wearing sunglasses Will I Am popped out to present the NTA for Best Reality Programme, whilst listing the nominations TOWIE got the biggest scream! Ironically in this category Mark Wight was up against himself in TOWIE and I’m A Celeb! Luckily for him he won, with I’m A Celeb, whilst the rest of the TOWIE gang looked devastated. Then just to add insult to injury Mark gave a “shout-out” to the “TOWIE lot” lol! Ant and Dec started the acceptance speech but then invited the celebrities to join in, however this quickly turned into a disaster with awkward pauses, talking over one another and just general chaos so Dec being the professional (and award winning presenter) that he is rounded it up!

Then came Chris Moyles to present the Outstanding Contribution Award, which went to Mr Gary Barlow for his charity work, his judging talents, his musical background and his collection of swanky looking suits? Cue the obvious standing ovation from everyone and up he went to the stage to collect his award. He started with saying “This award is absolute faaaantastic” which amused me highly however I still felt totally bemused as to why he won, as his contributions to X Factor were anything but outstanding..

Hilary Devey was the next “celebrity” to present an award (no I haven’t a clue who she is either?) and she had apparently twisted her knee so lucky old her got Dermot to help her walk to the microphone. Biatch. She was presenting the award for Best Factual Programme which went to This Morning. Both Holly and Phil looked genuinely shocked when she announced they had won for the second year running. Nice work TM!

It was then time for another musical interlude, this time from the Military Wives who sang Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’. It was a very touching performance, and received an amazing reaction from the crowd, with yet another standing ovation! People are always so polite at awards ceremonies! Then two of the wives stepped forward to present the award for Best Drama, which this year went to Downton Abbey! No surprise there considering they won a Golden Globe last week!

Tottering out in some super high heels and an amazingly tight dress was the stunning Elle McPhearson to present the award for Best Talent Show. Dermot went straight in for a kiss and looked minuscule next to the model! Elle then went on to tell everyone that she saw Dermot backstage with his shirt off. WTF. BITCH. Anyway after that bombshell (that broke my heart) and after fluffing up her lines by saying “Best Telephone Award” Elle announced that the Best Talent Show was the X Factor. Tulisa literally ran onto the stage to grab her awards, whilst poor old Derm didn’t get a look in, even though he’s been on way more series than she has. Urgh.

Next was time for some more adverts and the new Cheryl advert come on, which just confirmed my hatred for Tulisa and made me miss Chezza even more! Come baccccck! After the break the Best Sitcom (situation comedy) award was presented by Richard Wilson who walked out with some bagpipes. Peculiar.  Outnumbered won this one. I haven’t watched it. I hate kids. The end.

The second to last award of the night was this year’s Special Recognition Award, which, much to my horror was presented by Bruce Forsyth. A technical hitch occurred and the microphones mucked up, which Bruce milked and made a bigger deal out of it than what was necessary (as if we’d expect anything less. Idiot.) He also went on to have a rant about strictly being a talent show. Bad loser anyone? Anyway after a few minutes of Bruce painfully blabbering on about himself, whilst I cringed beyond belief, he finally revealed the recipient of this award to be Jonathon Ross, who this year has celebrated 25 years in the business. Cue yet another standing ovation from everyone *rolls eyes* and up he went to the stage after an extremely boring montage, seeing as he’s such a funny man they picked some dog-awful clips to show. He humorously thanked all the channels who have stood by him, and to the others, he said he understood! What a good sport. Take note Bruce, you annoying old man.

There was only one award left until the awards were done again for another year and it was Paul O’Grady’s turn to present. The Best Serial Drama award went to Coronation Street so they all squeezed onto the stage and dedicated this year’s award to Betty Driver. Cute.

And with that, it was all over again for another year! Dermot rounded it up and just as I was wishing we had seen more of him during the awards he was gone and the credits were rolling. Ohhh man! There's always next year Dermot, fingers crossed!….

New Girl

I LOVE American tv shows. From 90210 to Glee, Gossip Girl to Desperate Housewives, I watch them all, and I watch them online before they’re shown in the UK because I simply can’t wait that long. It’s fair to say I’m hooked/a loser/need a life and because of this I had promised myself as a new year’s resolution that I wouldn’t start watching anymore television programmes online. I’d have to be patient and wait for any new shows that I wanted to get in to, to be shown on normal television.

Earlier this month I was back at home sprawled across the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket with a high temperature and no voice (please read yesterdays blog) when an advert on channel 4 caught my eye. It was for a new programme starring Zooey Deschanel (Summer from 500 days of Summer) called ‘New Girl.’ I could tell from the 20 second long advert that this show was going to become my new guilty pleasure. I was thrilled to see that the first episode was up on 4od to watch before it aired on channel 4 a couple of weeks later. It took a lot of energy for me to move off of the sofa to fetch the laptop, let me tell you. But I did it; I did it for my love of American television shows. And sure enough a mere 20 minutes later having watched the entire first episode I was ready to break my new year’s resolution. I then watched the next three episodes in a row online. Out of the blue I was suddenly overcome with guilt, I realised I was doing exactly what I promised I wouldn’t, so I turned the laptop off and stopped. The next day arrived and I without even realising what I had done, I had watched the following five episodes. After watching them all I went to watch the next one and to my absolute horror there wasn’t another. WHAT? Are you kidding me? I’d caught up with all of the episodes that had been aired in America since SEPTEMBER within 24 hours. This was bad. I was devastated. The only way I can further elaborate on how I felt is to say I imagine it’s what a drug addict feels like without having their fix. Yes, it really was that bad. I’d loved every minute of the numerous hours I’d just spent watching New Girl and was ready to spend endless more continuing this beautiful pattern but I couldn’t. It was beyond heart breaking.

For those of you who haven’t watched New Girl, I urge you to. It’s witty, entertaining, sarcastic and within every episode there were moments which made me genuinely laugh out loud. The basic storyline is that after a bad break-up, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) who is what some would describe as an “original” young woman moves into an apartment with three single men, Schmidt, Nick and Winston, whom she’s never met before. Jess’s behaviour is somewhat unusual and she’s known to spontaneously burst into song, yet she’s endearing and you’ll instantly fall in love with her. Zooey Deschanel does the most perfect job in portraying her character as her trademark quirkiness in still intact. Apart from Zooey another of my favourite aspects about New Girl is the Douchebag Jar, in which Schmidt must inset however much money the judger deemed necessary after he’s done something douchey! I also instantly fell in love with the theme tune, which Zooey sings herself. It’s catchy, brilliant and automatically puts a smile on my face. I subsequently had to download it on iTunes, guess what’s going to be on repeat for the foreseeable future…

Hey gurrrl, whatcha doing? Hey gurrrl where you going? Who's that girl? (Who's that girl?) Who's that girl? (Who's that girl?) IT'S JESS.

Oh dear! All that’s left to say is, roll on the next episode…!

Laryngitis

I love to talk. I talk to strangers. I talk on the phone. I talk to myself. I talk to people on the tube (even though apparently there’s some sort of unwritten law against it.) I talk to customers as if I’ve known them all my life when really it’s the first time I’ve ever met them. I talk in my sleep. I talk to my dog. Basically talking is probably one of my favourite things to do, so much so that I’d say it’s on a par with shopping.  So, imagine my utter dismay when having struggled with a sore throat for a couple of weeks I went to the doctors to be told I had Laryngitis. I wasn’t sure what it was, I guessed something similar to tonsillitis. Having looked it up the definition is “Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx. It causes hoarse voice or the complete loss of the voice because of irritation to the vocal folds.” Brilliant. Sadly it’s a viral infection so antibiotics weren’t an option to clear it up. Following that blow there was even better news coming my way with the advice the Doctor gave me. “Rest your voice. Don’t speak. Mime if you must, but no speaking for at least three days.” PARDON? No speaking for at least three days? She must be having a laugh right? Does she not know who she’s talking to? Me, Emma Jamieson, the girl who never stops talking.

Being the obedient patient that I am I followed the Doctors ridiculous (in my opinion) rule and lasted nearly five days. I spoke very little. I replaced my use of speech by using an etch-a-sketch (that was admittedly quite fun/retro) but apart from that it was utter torture. I didn’t realise how much I actually spoke until I was told not to. Conclusion: I normally talk a LOT!

Anyway I’m sadly still suffering, the whole resting period hasn’t worked and I’ve got my delicious croaky voice back. However I’m lying, it isn’t delicious by any stretch of the imagination. You know some dog toys have a squeak in them? Yeah. I sound like that. Lush.

Do you know what’s even more annoying than not being able to speak? I’ll tell you what; people coming up and saying that they’ve never lost their voice and they’re jealous. “I’ve always wanted to lose my voice” “Oh I’m so jealous, I wish I couldn’t speak” Err, have you lost your mind? This current situation I find myself in isn’t in any way fun. I’m not enjoying it. I’d happily swap throats with you so you can have this horrid virus and lose your voice. I’m pretty sure you’d be bored of it after half a day and regret your shallow-minded comments, but it would be too late because I’d be having the last laugh, quite literally, by using your virus-free throat!

I guess the point of this blog is that even though I’m struggling to speak I’m still able to write. THANK GOODNESS. And let’s face it, a blog was well over-due. So yeah I can’t speak, but I can still write. So expect a gazillion blogs coming your way….!