Yes kids, it’s definitely been a hot minute since I blogged in these parts but I thought I’d round the year off with a quick summary of what I have learned in 2011…
1. The revolution shall be (and was) televised. The first few months of the year, you could not turn on the news without seeing an uprising in an Arab country. Fight the power indeed.
2. Reality TV is dying a slow death. My esteemed colleague, Miss Wendi B discussed this very subject but I think this year was the first time I’ve tuned into “I’m a celebrity…” or “Celebrity Big Brother” and not known who the majority of the participants were. It’s a sad state of affairs when I can confidently declare myself more famous than some of these so-called reality stars.
3. The weather can’t make up it’s mind. Everyday is Spring and I can’t remember the last time I comfortably rocked shorts without thinking “hmm… maybe this isn’t such a great idea”
4. Emo-R&b is the new thing. With artists like Drake, The Weeknd and Frank Ocean, their more experimental brand of RnB became a hit (at least with the blogging community anyway). Here’s hoping the underground success of their, tripped out, tear stained lyrics will transfer to chart success in 2012. And speaking of music…
Crew Love
5. Commercial RnB is dead. Where do I begin? This could be a separate post all by itself. From the R&B charts every week (too much Derulo, JLS and a certain Mr Cruz) to the joke that is the MOBOs (surely time to retire this show now or at least redefine it), it seems that there are very different definitions of mainstream R&B compared with just a few years ago. And I don’t like it. Not one bit.
6. Eastenders is nothing without Max. Yeah I went there. Surely I’m not alone in noticing that as soon as the gingerest Branning brother exited the square, the storylines became drier than last week’s leftover turkey. As soon as he gets back, we have psychotic doctors, Phil Mitchell in prison and explosions in the B&B. Coincidence? I think not!
Got swag?
7. Racism is back in fashion? Yes, one of the more worrying elements of the 2011 was the emergence of people’s prejudices. The crazy tram lady, the producer of Midsomer Murders, politicians accusing the riots being part of ‘black culture’, to Luis Suarez and John Terry (allegedly) and even the X-factor’s Kitty getting in on the act, 2011 showed that we still have a long way to go before true racial harmony is achieved.
8. People still care about the Royal Family. With the lure of an extra bank holiday provided as some sort of bribe to get us all in the mood, Wills and Kate’s holy matrimony was something that I didn’t plan on watching. But once I did, it was undeniably one of the highlights of the TV watching year. Just a shame that cameras weren’t allowed inside the reception venue – if only to see Prince Phillip bust one mean robot…
9. Blackberry doesn’t care about it’s consumers. I’ve stayed loyal, even upgrading earlier this year to a brand new touchscreen Blackberry in the hope that it wouldn’t do me wrong… and then the great Blackberry blackout happened. Yep, no services for about 10 months (OK, it was about 4 days, but still…) and no explanations from the company?? Cue some very disgruntled consumers and some even more smug iphone and Andriod users. It’s getting increasingly difficult to defend the Blackberry these days and I’m kinda ruing not upgrading to an iphone or a Samsung Galaxy SII.
A familiar story. Smh.
10. Kids like to break stuff in the summertime. Without trivialising the root of the problem, the London Riots definitely opened up a lot of peoples’ eyes to the problems in this country.. Shocking scenes. And judging from the picture below, all they really wanted was some rice. Nuff said, really.
Broken Britain + Broken Basmati = Fool.
I’ve probably missed out a whole load of important events but hey, 2011 was an eventful year! Here’s to 2012, although, if the doom-and-gloomers are to be believed, the world will soon end…so… er…yeah. Good luck!
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