Wednesday 19 April 2017

Music I've Been Loving A Lot Recently


I love music. I’m always listening to the radio, a playlist, Spotifty etc but I usually stick to the same ol’ stuff. Recently though, I’ve been trying to explore new artists and genres and I’ve discovered (as well as rediscovered) a love for some pretty great albums which I wanted to share with you…




THE 1975
After having loved the debut album, I decided that when I walked past HMV the other day, that I had to go in and buy their newer album, I LIKE IT WHEN YOU SLEEP, FOR YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL YET SO UNAWARE OF IT. I already knew that I liked their music, so was expecting to love this newer album too, which I do! I really like She’s American and The Sound which I’d heard before as they’re singles so have been playing on the radio a lot. But I also love UGH! (which I’ve just realised is also a single, but I’d never heard it before!) and Paris. I haven’t listen enough yet to be able to distinguish all the songs from each other yet, but I am loving the overall sound and style of the album so far!


TWENTY ONE PILOTS
At the same time that I bought the above album, I also bought BLURRYFACE by Twenty One Pilots. I’d taken an immediate liking to both Stressed Out and Ride when I heard them on the radio, and so when I was on Spotify and wondering who I should listen to in order to further develop my taste in music, I saw it as a great chance to listen to the rest of the album. I didn’t get much of a chance to listen to it, and then I decided that I would just go ahead and buy a physical copy of the album so I could have it on my phone and be able to play it without wifi. Turns out, it’s a great album and although I haven’t yet listened to it enough to know each individual song, I’m already really liking it! (Actually, I’m playing music on my iTunes atm, and Tear In My Heart just came on – so I’ve realised that actually I do already know this one well enough to remember that it’s one of my faves from the album.) I’m so glad that I did buy it because it’s a completely different sound to the kind of music that I usually stick to and it’s really nice to have discovered something new!


ed sheeran
On the subject of the type of music I do usually go for, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with DIVIDE by Ed Sheeran. I have listened to it pretty much every single day since it came out on 3rd March and I love it so much. This album is literally such a variety of different sounds; there’s Shape of You at one end of the spectrum, being very digital and then you have Nancy Mulligan at the other end, with a very Irish/Country music vibe. My favourite song is without a doubt, Galway Girl but New Man/Barcelona/Bibia Be Ye Ye (I just can’t decide!) is still a close 2nd and What Do I Know? has such uplifting lyrics and makes me really happy whenever I listen to it. If you’ve somehow managed to not hear any of the songs, then I really do think you should have a listen because the album is a mix of so many different genres/sounds and so I’m sure there’ll be at least one song (or the whole album?!) that you’ll love! :)


COLDPLAY
Ever since MYLO XYLOTO first came out and my family and I listened to it on repeat for one of our family holidays, I have loved the album. It’s definitely one of my favourite albums (and possibly the favourite one) of all time. Recently I transferred it onto my phone and have listened to it so much again, being reminded of how much I love it. Hurts Like Heaven (pre-ceded by Mylo Xyloto) is such a brilliant song to listen to and just thoroughly enjoy. It’s one of those songs that just makes you want to sing at the top of your voice whilst dancing crazily in your room! I also love Charlie Brown and Princess of China (featuring Rhianna), and they’re some of the few songs that whenever they come on, I never skip because they’re a joy to listen to.

The reminder of how much I love MYLO XYLOTO made me question why I’ve never listened to A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS even though my dad has owned it since it came out?! Seriously, why did I not think to do that?! Anyway – it’s fantastic. Coldplay have a real unique quality about them that I can never quite explain to myself, but all of their music is such a high standard and often like nothing else you’d hear from any other artist/song/band or whatever. Two of my favourite songs on the album are Fun and Army of One. (The latter actually has a hidden track which I’ve always found super exciting on an album and so this is no exception!) Kaleidoscope is such an unusual song and entirely different to everything else I’ve heard before. It’s almost an eerie sound, but a happy-sounding eerie (?) – it’s frankly very weird – but I absolutely love it. I think Coldplay are so good at that; they can make a song that anywhere else or by anybody else wouldn’t work sound amazing and I don’t know how they do it! – Actually, no. I do know how they do it; talent. Lots and lots of talent.


Florence and the machine
Again, another ‘older’ album that I’ve rediscovered recently, is LUNGS. This is nearly 8 years old, and like the Coldplay album, I have a clear memory of listening to on an old family holiday. I was in the car with my friend and his family (who’d also come with us) on our way to the beach, and I can clearly remember us all laughing and singing to the album and it now just makes me so happy to listen to it now as it reminds me of that holiday! Anyway, Dog Days Are Over is a hugely uplifting song and was always my favourite, but I think Cosmic Love has actually overtaken it now!! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the former, but Cosmic Love is such a great song and I can't help but love it. I really think that I need to listen to some of the band’s newer stuff, and I’m pretty sure we actually have a copy of CEREMONIALS so I’ll have a listen to that soon!



So those are 6 of the albums I have been obsessed with recently! It’s quite a mix, but they’re all so great in completely different ways! What are some of your favourite albums to listen to?






Follow







Wednesday 12 April 2017

Why I Find Revision So Difficult




Like, reaaaally difficult.

If you’re reading this then I assume that you either are like me and are really struggling to revise this exam season, or you’re really good at revision and just can’t understand why some people don’t just get on with it. If you’re the former, then I really hope we can share and receive some tips and support – if you’re the latter, then I hope this can be insightful for you, and that you too can share and receive some tips and support.

I find it really difficult to find the motivation to revise. My main group of college friends are completely opposite to me in that respect and often mention how much revision they’ve done the previous night or over the weekend. I really struggle to understand myself because if they can do it easily, then why can’t I? I put myself down far too much and not only is it counterproductive, but it has an adverse effect on my mental health and self esteem. It’s illogical but I guess that’s just part of the anxiety that an alarmingly large number of teens and young adults suffer from nowadays.

This Easter was/is a fantastic opportunity to make the most of and get ahead with revision, and now that I’m nearing the end of my holiday having been nowhere near as productive as I should have been, I’m thinking ‘what have I done’ and I kind of want to cry. I know I’ll go back to college and my friends will all have been super productive and once again I will not be able to relate. It’s not that I can’t be bothered to revise, but more that I physically find it near impossible to concentrate and be confident/comfortable revising for much longer than about 10 minutes. Some people will go, okay that’s fine, do ten minutes then have a ten-minute break and then another ten minutes of revision and so on…but no. I don’t know if any of you will specifically be able to relate to this but I feel like once I’ve done ten minutes I feel so exhausted, especially if I didn’t understand the topic and then it’s going to take me probably at least an hour before I can even consider resuming revision. My best day this holiday has been about 2.5 hours in a day – and I’ve been up and dressed etc before 9 most mornings. I know some people will have managed to do 7+ hours every day and if I’m doing 3 times less on my best day then how on earth is there any hope of passing my A Levels?? When I compare myself to what other people are doing I feel like s**t – because it’s so easy to compare yourself to others and put yourself down when you don’t live up to their standards.

Comparison can be toxic. Just don’t do it.

I’ve been seeing my college student wellbeing support person recently and honestly she is so nice. I’ve explained to her how I’ve been struggling and she has been so encouraging. The last time I saw her before Easter, I told her about how I’d had a good week because I felt quite good about revision and was fairly productive (by my standards (also – rare, rare occurrence for me to be productive)) and she explained how “good for [me]” it was. Coming from most people’s mouths, that would sound sarcastic and condescending, but not from hers. It made me realise that it’s absolutely pointless to compare myself to all these super-motivated revision-friendly students who just manage it all with ease – I’m never going to be like that, and it’s going to be so much more proactive, motivating and positive for my mental health if I begin to use my own standards and abilities as a benchmark. Everyone will be different. Some people will manage to do 9 hours on a Saturday, some will do 1 hour and be overcome with pride at how much they’ve achieved. What you should be aiming to do is get your personal balance between ‘need’ for revision, capability of revision, and mental health. And please remember that your happiness is so important – you do not want to forgo it just for the sake of your grades. Our society appears to value letters on a certificate more than health and happiness which is something that is hopefully beginning to change. Obviously, aim high and really try to get the best grades you can – but if you know that you’re someone who to achieve those top grades would need to sacrifice their wellbeing, then put your happiness first.

The most valuable thing I have learnt recently from all my revision is that comparing yourself to others can be destructive. You need to start comparing yourself to yourself. Aim high for you. Do the best that you can do. Be proud of your achievements. Who cares if someone may have achieved a higher grade than you, if you’re happy and comfortable with the steps you’ve taken to get there and where you’ve gotten to, then that is what matters most.

I wish you all the utmost luck with any exams and anything else that may be causing stress or anxiety in your life at the moment. I really hope that what I’ve written has been of some help to some of you, and I want you to know that you are not alone. If anybody wants to share their feelings about anything, then feel completely free to message me on twitter (@georgieblue3) or if you don’t have twitter, then send an email to me at (itsgeorgieblue@gmail.com).


G x 




Follow







Friday 10 March 2017

YouTubers You Should Definitely Watch


I watch a lot of YouTube, I'm not gonna lie. I'm subscribed to over 70 channels, all of which I enjoy, but I definitely have some channels that I watch a lot more than others. I do also have favourites, which I think you should watch if you don't already. I've got a list of 5 below, some of which you may have heard of but if you haven't I would definitely recommend you to check them out.
Also, I'd like to mention that this post is also a collaboratiorn with my wonderful friend from sixth form! She's written about her own favourite channels, and let's be real, hers will be written to a much higher standard than mine and will be so much nicer to read so definitely go over and read it! You can find it here


HANNAH WITTON
(YouTube Channel: here)
Source
Hannah has created her own niche by talking so openly about sex education and all that comes along with it. Her videos are so funny and because she is so real and honest about everything she talks about, the videos are also really educational! She has a series called The Hormone Diaries on her channel in which she discusses her personal experiences of things such as coming off the pill, birth control, having periods etc. which  although I often can't relate personally to her experiences I still thoroughly enjoy watching them. It's so refreshing - in a world where we just don't talk about these things - to head on over to Hannah's channel and hear everything as it is. Her personality is definitely a reason why I keep on going back because it would be so easy to make videos about these taboo subjects boring, but Hannah does the complete opposite which I absolutely love. 


DODDLEODDLE
(Main YouTube Channel: here)
(Second Channel: here)
Source
Dodie is such a refreshing personality in the world. She is so lovely and adorable and she comes across as so genuine in all her videos. She is ridiculously talented and has such a beautiful voice so she writes a lot of her own original music as well as doing covers of other songs. I absolutely love all her videos, but my particular favourite are her vlogs in which she talks about such a variety of different topics. I love the way she edits her videos; they are lots of little short 'cuts' that flow together so effortlessly (I've probably not used the right words there and I've articulated it so badly - english student I.am.not I'm afraid). Anyway, the whole tone of all of her videos is just so lovely and if you don't already watch Dodie, then you really need to.


LUCY MOON
(YouTube Channel: here)
Source
Lucy is another very honest real and genuine person. I would describe her channel as a 'lifestyle' one so basically she makes videos about a whole range of things. She has a gentle honesty about her that I find really inspiring; take her recent video with the Mandeville Sisters, for example: they were giving advice to tumblr users and a common theme was that people were worried about not having had certain life experiences by certain ages whilst all their friends had already done so. Whilst they were giving advice, two words flashed up on the screen: "Everyone's different." I instantly felt reassured. You know when society can often make you feel inferior for being a certain way or doing certain things? And then people say something like 'everybody's beautiful in their own way' but you kinda get that feeling that they're saying it because they have to? Well Lucy reassures me that she really believes in the whole thing, which is lovely :)  


FABULOUS HANNAH
(Main YouTube Channel: here)
(Vlogging Channel: here)
Source
Another Hannah, but a completely different style of channel. Hannah is a beauty/fashion/lifestyle vlogger and she is such a funny person to watch. A common theme is being confident in yourself and I do think that by watching her grow I have grown in confidence myself. A few months ago, she did all her videos throughout that month wearing no makeup. Surrounded by airbrushing and photoshopping pretty much everywhere we look, Hannah's decision was an inspiring one. Although I don't wear makeup and so didn't feel directly affected by her decision, I know that it would have a significant impact on other people and how confident they are in their own skin - which is a wonderful thing. Also, she's only a year older than me, so I do find that I'm able to relate to most things she says because she's at the same stage of life as me. I just enjoy her videos so much and look forward to whatever she uploads; Mondays and Thursdays at 5pm! (definitely check out her channels!)


THEMILELONGBOOKSHELF
(YouTube Channel: here)
(Blog: here)
Source
If you're a reader, Amber's Blog and YouTube channel are a must because they focus on all things books!: including book reviews, book hauls, interviews with authors and everything else book related. I really enjoy reading her blog as well as watching her videos as there is such a lovely quality about everything she creates. I love finding out what other people think of books that I'm either hoping to read or have read, and Amber writes her thoughts so eloquently that I'm forever wishing I could write like that! I particularly love her YouTube videos, as she gives off such a friendly vibe, also I find that I can relate to her because she's basically the same age as me. She also is a co-creator (if that's the right word?) of the #TeenBloggersChat on Twitter which is a great place for young bloggers to meet other bloggers and chat about important topics. The Twitter account can be found here



So, there you have it; my favourite YouTubers and those which I think you definitely need to check out! Do you already watch any of these lovely people? Who are your favourite YouTubers?

Don't forget to check out my lovely friend's blog post on her fave YouTubers! We do have some in common, but trust me when I say that her post will be satisfyingly well written, so do pop on over and have a read! (https://theseemptypages.wordpress.com/)

Have a lovely day,

Georgia x 







Follow







Friday 24 February 2017

5 Books on my To Be Read Pile | February 2017



My blog has become a lot more book-themed recently, completely by accident! But I have been reading a lot recently, and I do enjoy it so I guess it makes sense to transfer that into writing on my blog! I love reading posts about what other people want to read, or have read and I love writing about my own too, so that's what I'm going to do for this post. So here is a list of just 5 of the books that are quite high up on my TBR list:



Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
My friend lent me her copy of this book as I’ve wanted to read it for so long – and she's been wanting me to read it for ages too! (We do love a good book discussion haha). Now that I finally have a copy in my possession (for a while, at least) I’m much more likely to get around to reading it! I adored Fangirl when I read that, and loved the way that Rainbow writes, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this book too!



If I Stay and Where She Went, by Gayle Foreman
Again, these are two books that my friend lent me. I wasn’t too bothered about reading them, but then I read I Was Here by the same author which after thoroughly enjoying, made me so excited to read these two books!



The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla
I’d heard about this book a while ago, but didn’t really know much about it. I became aware of it again more recently after hearing about Nikesh's second project which will focus on politics written by Britain’s youth. The Good Immigrant, as I understand it, is a collection of essays contributed to by 21 writers exploring “what it means to be black, Asian & minority ethnic in Britain today”. It’ll be very different to anything I’ve ever read before but I know it’ll be such an insightful important book, especially with the political and cultural issues going on around the world today. I’m very much looking forward to reading it.



Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – The Original Screenplay, by J.K. Rowling
If you don’t know, I love Harry Potter and anything to do with J.K. Rowling’s wonderful wizarding world. On the opening night of the Fantastic Beasts film, I was at the cinema, wearing my Hufflepuff scarf with pride. I found the film so beautiful and Newt was as fantastic as the Beasts were. I want to read the screenplay to re-cap over the story and immerse myself in 1920s magical New York because let’s face it; why wouldn’t you want to? :)



A Quiet Kind of Thunder, by Sara Barnard
I follow a lot of book-blogs and book-YouTube channels and so I’ve heard so many good things about this book already! It hasn’t even been out for that long! I do have my own copy of this book, and just as a quick side note: the cover is stunning. It sounds fantastic from the blurb and what I’ve heard from other people, and I’m pretty sure that this is the book I’m going to read next after I finish my current one! 



So those are just 5 (or 6 I guess, but I counted the two Gayle Foreman books as one, since they’re the same series) of the books I can’t wait to read!

What are some books you can’t wait to read?

x








Follow







Thursday 9 February 2017

Female Football Fans

Source: Norwich City Football Club

If you didn’t know, I’m a football fan. I support Norwich City and it’s a hugely important part of my life. I know that football is ‘traditionally’ a more male-dominated sport, but it is definitely even-ing out and becoming more popular among women too. One thing that does get me a bit annoyed sometimes is that I receive a subtly different treatment as a female football fan than I know my male counterparts do.

Take this recent example; I was at a University applicant day a while ago and for one of the hour sessions, we had a taster seminar, and for one task we were working in groups. I was sat at a table with 3 males. Part of the conversation went something like this (forgive me for paraphrasing slightly, the essence of the convo will be the same):

Person 1 to the whole table: So where are you all from then?
I answer, Person 2 answers,  
Person 3: I live near (insert geographical location name).
Person 2: Ah, so are you a (insert name of relevant geographic football club) fan then?
Person 3: Nah, I’m actually (insert other football club name).
Person 1: Oohh, I’m (insert said football club’s rival club).
Laughter amongst the table, and joking about how Person 2 should swap seats so the rivals don’t have to sit next to each other.
Person 1 to Person 2: So, which team do you support then?
Person 2: (Insert name of different football club).

After that, I would have loved to join in and mention that I was, also a football fan, and that my team was Norwich. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance because the person leading the session resumed talking to the room meaning the individual conversations had to conclude. Because of this, I can’t be sure, but I got the impression that, had we had the chance to talk for longer, I wouldn’t have been asked what my team was anyway. The conversation felt directed amongst the 3 males and not inclusive of myself. They weren’t rude about it at all, but I did feel very subtly excluded. Sometimes, I just want nothing more than for someone to actually ask me which team I support. I feel like a lot of the time, nobody will know unless I forcibly mention it. “Did you know guys, I support Norwich? I’m actually a huge fan and love going to games whenever I can!” Perhaps it’s because of other reasons, but a lot of the time I can’t help but feel that nobody will strike up a football conversation with me because I’m a female whereas they wouldn’t think twice about it if they were talking to another male.
It’s a small thing, but I just want someone to ask me as an equal and be genuinely interested in my answer.


I by no means am claiming to know everything about football as a lot of fans effortlessly do; however this has nothing to do with me being female – my sister knows loads about football. I mean loads. Transfer rumours? Ask her. Which team a player was bought from, and what that team’s fans thought of them? Ask her. Fans’ opinions of games on Twitter? Ask her. She doesn’t even have Twitter. Her knowledge is definitely not limited to Norwich – she’ll have a pretty all round knowledge of most teams so don’t ever doubt her just because of her gender – she probably knows more than most adult male football fans.

One thing she told me quite a while ago which I found really funny was that in one of her lessons two boys she sits next to were discussing football, specifically Marcus Rashford, the young Manchester United player. They said he was 17 years old. To which my sister thought “18. He’s 18.”* She didn’t say this out-loud but it was funny to think that she just knew it when they probably thought she didn’t have a clue about football.
*He’s now 19, but as I said, she told me of this happening a while ago, when he was still 18.


Anyway, it’s more common nowadays for women to like football and support their own teams instead of just adopting the teams their partner supports. I’m not saying that every woman has to support football, just like all men don’t have to, but I like that it’s becoming more common. I know for sure, that when I’m older, if any partner I may have goes off to matches with friends, I’ll be off to one with mine. I mean, hopefully we’ll be mutual supporters of Norwich City but we can’t have it all can we?!


Follow







Monday 30 January 2017

'La La Land' Film Review

This review WILL contain spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, and are either planning to or want to, don’t read on. I think you’ll enjoy the film more if you’ve read no reviews and know quite little about it. 



Source

I saw La La Land a few days ago and after hearing from friends and the media about how great it was, I wanted to see whether all the hype was worth it, because – let’s face it – so many things get attention for about a week or so and then fade out and you never really hear of them again. But, oh my goodness ‘La La Land’ deserves every single damn one of its 14 Oscar Nominations.

The first scene was set when we see trails and trails of cars stuck in a monotonous traffic jam. One of the drivers decides not to simply let boredom get the hold of her, but to begin a song and dance number outside her car where she is joined by the many other drivers (and passengers) in what follows to be a beautifully choreographed and arranged scene. At first, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to enjoy the film, because although it was such an uplifting and happy scene, I was worried that it could be heavily populated with frequent song-and-dance numbers. Often in a film, these can appear quite unrelated to the storyline and are quite cheesy, which although I don’t mind, I don’t always love either. However, in ‘La La Land’ these scenes were executed brilliantly and fitted the storyline so perfectly that it never felt out of place or unnatural. As the story progressed, I decided that I loved it, and then the level at which I loved it grew and grew.

Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) meet coincidentally multiple times and form a friendship through their common ambition to achieve their dreams. Mia is an aspiring actress who frequently attends auditions whenever she can, although has never been offered a part. Sebastian dreams of opening his own Jazz Club, however sees few options so makes a living playing music even though it is not the style he so loves.

‘La La Land’ could be categorised as a Musical or a Romance however it is so much more than either of those. It doesn’t particularly fit any category except its own. Despite the many songs, it is not in any way a typical musical, because the way in which the characters ‘burst’ into song is not cheesy but instead eloquent and stunning. It fits so well with the theme of the story and so I couldn’t help but love it.

The ending, however, is the most perfect bit of the whole film. One of my friends said that when she went to see it, she didn't like the ending but to me, it was so phenomenally powerful. Now, I’m a very ‘over-emotional’ person, and I cry at a lot of different films. But I didn’t cry at this film. I cried at the end, after having had to take a couple of minutes to take everything in. The credits were already rolling and then the tears came and wouldn’t stop for a few more minutes. The what-could-have-been scene made me feel so overwhelmed with an entirely new emotion that I’ve never felt before. The scene was both utterly heart-breaking yet utterly gorgeous. When Mia imagines what her life could have been, I found myself hoping that it did in fact turn out to be the reality, but then I realised that the whole moral was that it didn’t need to have happened. The two characters had put so much love into their relationship with each other and their relationship with their dreams, that it did not matter that they didn’t end up together. What did matter was how much they learnt and grew from each other in a way that they wouldn’t have been able to do individually. The look that they give each other in the final seconds of the film was so meaningful; it was full of so much thanks and love for the fact that without each other, neither of them would have been able to achieve their dreams. The romantic love between them of course was important, but the love in that final look felt so much deeper and more loving than their romantic relationship which felt so much more special.

The music in this film is undeniably exquisite. Jazz may not be to everybody’s taste, and I didn’t think it was to mine, but every second of the film’s musicality is stunning. I have been listening to the soundtrack all weekend and have happily endured having multiple of the songs ‘stuck’ in my head. The epilogue piece is my favourite as it’s a compilation of a variety of the pieces of music from throughout the film. City of Stars is such a sleek and effortlessly cool song and so wonderful to listen to, along with every single one of the pieces from the soundtrack.

Every element of the film was wonderful; the story, the way it was told, the music, the characters, the love, happiness and the morals. It deserves to break records at the Oscars this year, and judging by its performance at awards ceremonies and the critical reception it’s already received, it’s looking likely to do so.


This film is a masterpiece.






Follow