doesntworkonwood

I just finished watching the series and I have... some issues with it. I don't think that the storyline was bad in itself. In fact it was the most intriguing part of the show. The questions surrounding it, what are the burnt ones? Why are they there? Who is Rosalind? Those were interesting and engaging. I found all of the adult characters engaging actually. The weakness of this show is the writing and the younger cast members (though they were given some of the worst material to work with). It's clear the writers don't actually know what 'mansplaining' is, haven't realised that no one has said 'basic bitch' in about 5 years and don't realise that family caring about you isn't a symptom of the 'patriarchy'. The wokeness of the show is not going to be through the weird things that come out of the characters mouths, it's going to be their actions, and the whitewashing of the show shows that it's all surface level. If this show is aimed at people who watched the original show (which started airing in 2004, and was implied by the show runner to be the case) then I don't think having the show based around a bunch of 16 year olds was a good idea. I don't want to watch children snog. They could have raised the ages and set it at a university and it would have made a bit more sense than sending children to fight a war. On Bloom, why does every protagonist of a fantasy show like this have to be such a sad loner. In the original version of this she's (shock) pretty friendly, bubbly and popular. You don't need to make someone sad just because they're 'the chosen one'. She could still be going through some stuff without a sour look on her face the entire time. Why would anyone even want to be her friend? She never even tried to be friendly to anyone, why do they even like her? Plus she just believes what everyone tells her. Farah tells her something: she believes it. Then Beatrix tells her something: she believes it (even though Beatrix hadn't said anything before when she asked). Then Farah tells her something and she believes it, the Rosalind (who she's just met mind) tells her something and she believes it. Stella was a fun, friendly, character in the original show. Here she's a mean bitch archetype and goes from implying to someone that she will blind them to having a sleepover with them. Why couldn't she be nice and friendly and still feel pressure from her family (like she was in the original show?). It would make her friendship with the other characters make more sense. There was no need to add that love triangle with Sky either. That's just a relic of the showrunners previous stuff. They changed Musa's power from music to 'empathy' which is so boring. I get that it probably saves on the special effects budget, but it's still boring. She's nice, I guess. She didn't really have much of a storyline (and no getting with her roommates brother that gets resolved in the next episode doesn't count). Aisha (I-E-Sha which is not a pronunciation of the name that I like. 100% a pet peeve but it made me annoyed every time someone mentioned her name so I admit there's bias) is just basically a swot. She never really grows out of it and her character (and whether or not she's going along with the plan) seems more based on what they needed out of the narrative than anything inherent in her character, which is sad. And finally Terra (also known as Flora) who was very annoying from the first episode. I'm supposed to feel sorry for her because her Dad (who is busy trying to stop people attacking the school, saving people lives, ) didn't tell her everything. Why would he? She's known for having a big mouth (as is, to be fair, apparently everyone in the school) and she's a child. (Which is where this show would have made a lick more sense if they were older). Sky was boring and I hate his hair. I 100% believe in changes in adaptations. I'm not one to nitpick at things being different, especially because I didn't really have any particular attachment to the show beyond 'yeah I watched it when I was a kid'. But if you're going to change things, especially if you're going to change the core of the characters, then you've got to do a better job than the original or you've got to have cause for it. Making characters boring and depressed doesn't make them more interesting. I strips them of character. I don't think that they needed to strip the fun out of this show either. You can have darker storylines and hovering motorbikes and decent clothes at the same time. And then, at the end, Before that I definitely would have watched the next season. Even though all of the young characters annoyed me, there was the backbone of a good story there and I could have happily ignored the children to focus on the adults. But now I'm not so sure.

I think that if Jackie went further with the Canadian thing it would have worked better. She could have started off making references to Canada, and then ended by heavily implying that she's part of some Canadian taskforce to take over America one step at a time. She wasn't great, but I don't believe she should have been in the bottom.

The judging was very... nice this week. Especially on the refashioning challenge. That skirt was horrible and did not deserve second place. I find that as I become better and better at sewing, the things that wouldn't bother me a few years ago bother me a lot more now. And the timing also bothers me. For example, Therese's tea dress looked beautiful, but if she were making it IRL it would be a bad idea to do the hem as soon as she finished the dress without letting it 'drop' first. So in a few days time, the hem of her dress would look wonky and she's have to redo it, which feels a bit like a waste to me. I liked the Tea Dress theme. I thought it was interesting that they showed the actual patterns on the show as they don't usually do that. Maybe they caught on to the fact that there's always a scramble for hobby sewists to find out what the pattern was after the show.

The thing about The Tiger King is that it's pretty much built to keep you watching. Every episode there's a new bombshell which makes you want to watch the next episode. There's so much crazy shit going on that you can't help but keep watching. It's as popular as it is because people will watch one episode to see what it's about and be drawn in to the batshit crazy story. It's a Netflix documentary through and through, and by that I mean that it's sole purpose is to make you binge watch it. It's incredibly biased, it's obvious that the film makers lied to people about the story they were actually going to tell, they cut out some of the worst parts about Joe Exotic to keep him sympathetic (some of the videos he came out with are horrific, and the fact that the story paints him as someone who is capable of having any valid opinion on Baskin's husband that isn't based on his extreme misogyny is crazy). It's not a documentary, in that it doesn't exist to educate. You cannot take anything it tells you at face value. But it's like a trainwreck, you can't look away. So yeah, my unpopular opinion is that the Carole Baskin hate is almost entirely fueled by misogyny.

The BBC is going to do a sort of Eurovision replacement on the 16th, which I'm looking forward to. It's not Eurovision, but it will be fun!

Am in the UK, where it's released on Netflix. I don't think we did get a different version. I can't remember any Sherry Pie talking heads, and I don't think that anyone got a winners edit or any extra focus in fact. That's probably why it was such a boring episode.

I loved it! It was fun, and I was sure that the reveal was going to be Cybermen ala Army of Ghosts but I was pretty shocked that it was the Master. Looking forward to Sunday!

But what does her weight have anything to do with it? I don't understand, her weight was never pointed out at any point throughout the ad. Excercise isn't just done for weightloss, it's done for heart health, it's done for mental health, it's done to gain strength, it's done to develop habits, it's done to have time for yourself, it's done to challenge you and give you goals. It's totally fair to say that adding excercise in your routine has changed your life for things other than losing weight. Why is there any need to focus on her weight if this is not a weightloss ad?

The series is on the BBC which is Tax Payer funded so no big cash prizes are allowed (unless they're being paid for by someone else), if you watched Bake Off the winner only got a cake stand and some flowers. Also no advertising or sponsorships. I don't understand all of the moaning about it to be honest, I don't think that there needs to be money or grand prizes for the show to be better or more competitive, and half of the prizes on the US versions couldn't be even claimed because of various reasons like the companies going bust. The badges are a reference to a children's TV show here, it's called Blue Peter and basically every kid in the country wanted a Blue Peter badge. The queens themselves have said that they liked the prizes, and they're not too fussed about not winning any money so I don't see an issue with it. I think that the show has done well in the UK. I hope that next season they just let it be without having to repeatedly explain everything for overseas audiences. They never do that in the American version, so I don't see why they've got to do that here. I'd also get rid of the lipsynchs and make them sing live. I don't think that lipsynching is as popular in the UK as it is in the US, and it's always been the weakest part of the show to me. It's a very American drag thing, and most UK queens and drag acts sing live. I'd also make sure there were some more non-scripted comedy challenges, particularly ones in front of an audience. I think that that would show how the queens are as performers and how they react to audiences.

I'm a little bit disappointed about Lenny Henry just because it was my dream to have him play the doctor at some point, and now obviously that's not happening any more. For everyone who doesn't know who he is, he's a British comedian who's been around for ages. He set up the Comic Relief (Red Nose Day) charity with Richard Curtis, which I think now has an American faction, but we see him on tv at least every other year because of that. He's an interesting guy because one of his first ever gigs was on a The Black and White Minstrel Show, where he was the black kid who did impressions of white people. He's done a bunch of sketch shows, and some more serious acting (Othello on Broadway at one point) as well as stand up. I think he's amazing, and defintely one of the people that I look up to on a personal level.

Blue Peter is a national institution here, the badges are pretty cool and important. For those of you who don't know, Blue Peter is a childrens 'magazine' show that airs on the Children's BBC. It does loads of things, but it's probably most famous for it's craft stuff and it's garden. It's been running for 60 years now. If you're a cool person (or you send in a peice of work that they show on the show), you get a Blue Peter Badge which a) gives you street cred and b) gives you free entry into a bunch of attractions across the UK. If you're a really cool person (aka The Queen or JK Rowling), you get a gold badge.

I loved it! The best episode of drag race in a while IMO, but I am British so I understood all of the references. Ru was definitely more engaged and I thought that the queens were really strong. I get why some people might not like it, it was definitely a British show, and not just an American show with British contestants. I thought that the prizes were great considering it's on the BBC, I burst out lauging at the Ru-Peter Badge! I'm glad that they're having a lot of fun with it.

The judging was thankfully back to sanity this week. I feel a bit sorry for Mike Bushell, I get that he's not a great dancer but he should have the opportunity to actually dance rather than... whatever that was this week. I'm going to be rooting for Alex Scott, because I like Alex Scott. I think she has potential and out of everyone is most likely to have a 'journey', as opposed to the people who are already great (Karim and Kelvin) and people who aren't very good and might not get the opportunity to grow.

Are we going to get 10s next week then? The scoring has been way too high, the dances didn't deserve the scores they get and I really can't understand why they got them. It's the first week, there's no need! Plus it ruins 'the journey'. What's there to look forward to if they're getting 8's in the first week?

I just watched Always Be My Maybe and it was okay. I think that the storyline worked quite well except the Keanu Reeves bit (which was pretty fun, but also came out of nowhere), but some of the jokes didn't land for me so it got a bit awkward at times.

The thing is the way driving licences work in the UK is that if you have a license for a manual transmission, you can drive a manual and an automatic car. If you have a license for automatic, you can only drive an automatic car. That's why the majority of people learn to drive and pass their test in a manual car and many people's first cars are cheaper used cars which tend to be manual. It's not really a stretch at all for Bond to be able to drive a manual car. It would be weirder if he didn't know.

I loved it! Aladdin is my favourite Disney movie, so I tried to go in with low expectations, and they were met and surpassed. It was really fun, I understood all of the changes they made and I think it made for a better film than if they were more faithful. It was close enough to the original but also different enough to make it worth watching (and I might go and watch it again haha). I'm very glad about the changes they made to Jasmines storyline. Whilst she was never weak or lacking in backbone in the original film, 'sexy!Jasmine' has never been something I was super comfortable with and I don't think it fits the Disney brand either.

I agree about Hungary, Origo is one of my most favourite Eurovision songs ever. They sent the same guy this year but his song just didn't have the same impact on me.

The problem is no big stars want to do Eurovision, because of the reputation we have for losing. But then this means that younger, less experienced, acts get chosen by the BBC. The problem with that is that because the BBC is a public broadcaster, and we have really really strict rules on public broadcasters, the BBC aren't allowed to advertise the act or the song. A lot of it is down to the act themselves, but when they're not really famous and just starting their careers, they don't really have the 'clout' to get themselves played on the Radio across Europe without either a) a crazy amazing song (which we haven't sent in recent years) and b) a bit of a grassroots movement (because people expect the UK to be shit so they don't pay as much attention understandably). Another issue with the BBC is that they micro manage the performance. Again, if there was a bigger act this wouldn't be as much of an issue because they could just tell the Beeb to fuck off and there's not really anything the BBC could do about it. But for smaller acts, again they don't have the clout to be able to say 'No, I'm going to do it my way'. The BBC tend to over produce whatever songs we do have, case in point our 2017 entry. I thought she was really lovely during our national selection, but for the contest for some ridiculous reason they decided to add some weird bass in the background. Basically, the BBC play it too safe. They've always had a bit of a reputation for that, they're in a bit of hot bother over it now to be honest, so we end up with not very famous acts, with boring generic songs. We need someone willing to take a risk. Just to put this out there, if anyone from the BBC is reading this, next year we should send a song in Welsh. That's a pretty big risk, but it could end up quite fun.

Sorry to keep banging on about Madonna, but it seems she's being a bit naughty. She's uploaded an autotuned version of her performance onto Youtube. Here's a BBC article about it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-48342109/eurovision-2019-what-happened-to-madonna-s-performance

I agree with you. I get why they changed it to an actual running order, to make sure that people didn't get tired of watching ten ballads in a row, but it's clear to me that this years order was so awful that I can't see how a random order wouldn't have topped it. I'm not trying to claim that the UK's entry was amazing, but being sandwiched between Norway and Iceland certainly didn't help. From what I saw on social media, most people seemed to agree that the show started off really boring, and didn't get interesting until the end. I'm using interesting lightly though because to be honest most of the songs were awful this year. The interval act wasn't great either. I don't understand why the got Madonna. The thing that most people remember from the 2016 interval was Petra and Mans singing Love Love Peace Peace, not Justin Timberlake. (I didn't even remember that they happened in the same year until I saw someone mention it). The Eurovision interval act should be something that celebrates Eurovision and the host country, not spends excessive amounts of money on an American act. Especially when said act isn't very good.

Madonna was awful. I wasn't happy with her being the interval act, but I thought she'd at least put on a decent show. And then she didn't. It was just so awkward and bad. The running order was absolute shite this year. It started off so boring, and then they put all of the more popular songs towards then end rather than spreading it out a bit more. The worst Eurovision in a while. Hopefully The Netherlands will put on a better show next year.

I think that there might be more crossover next year because if Oliver has gone off with the Monitor, presumably a big chunk of the next season will be setting up the cross over.

I was a bit annoyed at all of the help Leah was getting too. It's the final, so I think that the judges should have taken more of a backseat. It was a tossup between Juliet and Riccardo for me, and Juliet had the much much better day. I loved her dress so much, I can't wait for next season. On a slightly related note, I'm currently making my own jeans, which is a bit of a challenge. I don't understand how they could have made jeans in the five hours they were given.

Nope. In England and Wales the exams are called 'A-levels'*, and they're free for students. They're subject based, and you choose which subjects you want to do based on what you want to go to University for. Some colleges/sixth forms only teach certain subjects, so you apply to them based on what they teach. That said, we do have a thing called UCAT which you have to do if you're applying to study medicine, and that costs money. But for the vast majority of people who don't want to be doctors, you don't pay for exams (unless they're retakes.) *There are other non-exam routes to get to University, these are just the most popular.