I have watched the Eurovision song contest every year since I was about 10 years old and every year it seems to get worse and worse. What happened to the good old days when Catrina and the Waves soared through to the top spot and it wasn’t a totally political event?

Terry Wogan makes me laugh, he knows the show is a complete joke and I love his sarcastic humor when the outcome is predictable. Some of the footage from this year was unbelievably bad, I had to look away because it was too painful to watch – and I don’t mean the singing, I am referring to commentary from the hosts and the pink fairy women.

This year’s entry for UK was particularly bad, I felt embarrassed that our country had had a hand in picking Scooch and their song ‘Flying The Flag’; the worst Eurovision song ever recorded. In case you missed it – I have pasted the performance above; please only press play if you have prepared yourself for some seriously cringe worthy footage.

I heard this song a couple of weeks ago but didn’t know of the band until now. They are called The View and I have absolutely fallen for this indie rock song Same Jeans. It reminds me of Brimful of Asher by Cornershop but I think I prefer these lyrics. The band is from Dundee, Scotland and consists of Kyle, Kieren, Peter and Steven. Their album is called Hats Off to the Buskers and was released on 22nd January. Have a listen a see what you think.

Take That released their new single Shine this week – their remarkable comeback has amazed me. I always assumed I’d heard the last of them and they’d just be a memory from my teenage years, but here we are years on and they’re still topping the charts – impressive!

Shine is far more upbeat than their previous hit Patience and I can’t help singing along and feeling lifted whenever I hear it. Mark Owen’s on lead vocals and it reminded me that it wasn’t only Gary and Robbie that made the band what it was!

For about a week now I have been singing Lil Star by Kelis over and over and cannot get it out of my head; it’s such a sweet and catchy little tune. When I heard that Kelis was dueting with Cee-Lo from Gnarls Barkley I didn’t expect them to produce such a lovely song. Kelis known for songs such as Bossy and Milkshake took me by surprise with this one and I love it.

Lil Star is definitely more of a Gnarls Barkley tune, I absolutely loved Smiling, again I was singing it in my head for weeks. Lil Star can be found on Kelis’s latest album ‘Kelis Was Here’ released last summer. Anyway, have a listen and let me know if you love it or hate it.

I have watched many films in the last year but I feel this one really deserves a mention. The plot is about a diamond specialist in New York City but the storyline focuses on how the diamonds are found and exported for the rich to buy.

Africa is in a state of chaos, the rebels have risen up against the government and are battling to change the way Africa is run but not for the better. The heartless rebels take over innocent towns by either killing or kidnapping all the civilians leaving nothing but ruins. The rulers of the rebel army are sick and twisted and take pleasure in watching others in pain or begging for their lives. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and members’ of their family.

The story follows the fascinating adventure of father of three Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) born and raised in Sierra Leone, Africa. Solomon is kidnapped and forced to work as a slave, diamond searching in the rivers. He comes across a diamond like no other and buries it under the soil. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) a dishonest diamond smuggler hears about Solomon and they join forces to find the diamond, get Solomon’s family back and to get Danny out of Africa.

Danny and Solomon’s love hate relationship brings unexpected twists to the film and of course Leonardo DiCaprio has a love interest – a journalist desperately trying to help the civilians called Maddy (Jennifer Connelly).

The part of the film that really got to me was the child soldiers; young boys snatched from their homes and trained as killing machines. Although I know this is only a film, there are still thousands of children in Africa forced to take on a similar role.

I came out of the cinema feeling tearful and choked as never before had I understood what life in Africa is truly like. Although you will feel completely saddened by the storyline it is definitely a film I would recommend.

A few days ago we wrote a post on the new iPhone - if you want to see a video of it in action click on the clip below … it totally sold it to me! I’m not usually overly impressed with gadgets but this is going to be huge. I love how much detail has gone into the design, everything has been thought through in so much depth, from visual voicemail (to save you having to listen to each in turn) to zooming into photos using your fingers – I now think the price (between $499 and $599) is pretty reasonable!

I came across a blog this morning that I found rather fascinating and want to read more about the subject. The article entitled Wii Sports Experiment, Results! reveals how a young male spent six weeks of his life incorporating a thirty minute exercise regime into his daily schedule. He continued all normal activity and eating habits but just added thirty minutes of Wii Sports to his day. If you’re not familiar with the game it is a collection of sports such as boxing, golf, tennis and bowling that allow you to physically interact with the game using a sensor within the controller. Below is an example of someone playing tennis.

After six weeks of Nintendo Wii Sports he lost 9lbs just by adding a thirty minute game into his day. He also worked out how many calories each game burned and therefore which one was the most effective for loosing weight. See the blog for videos of the experiment and the whole story.

Having never seen a James Bond film in my life I reluctantly went off to the cinema with my boyfriend to watch Casino Royale. I really didn’t think I’d like it and even bribed him into buying me dinner if I went with him. To my surprise I rather enjoyed it – it wasn’t just the load of action packed scenes I had imagined. Although there were many action scenes, I loved the storyline; it was well planned and exciting and completely exceeded my expectations of the film.

The fantastic cast consisting of Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench and the stunning Eva Green were great to watch and the end really surprised me. A clever twist that I hadn’t seen coming made the film that little bit more intense and memorable. I am now planning to watch the series of James Bond films from start to finish when I find a spare few weeks.

Kylie has just launched a new perfume, Darling, you can see her TV advert below…

I haven’t had a chance to smell this yet so if you have let me know what you think … it’s available at Boots for £26.

Via Kiss & Makeup

I came across this video and couldnt resist sharing it with you all! I think Burger’s going to have to do something pretty drastic if he wants a new home!

The more I watch this the more I feel sorry for Burger … am I the only one? It’s the little meows at the end …

Via Random Good Stuff