Tag Archives: 2011

DIVAS IN DEMAND~ Female artists most popular live acts of 2011.

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DIVAS IN DEMAND

~ Female artists most popular live acts of 2011~

Whilst the nation is up in arms over no women being including in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, girls were certainly top of the pops. Viagogo, Europe’s largest secondary ticket marketplace, has revealed its most in demand tickets of 2011 with Rihanna, Katy Perry, Adele and Jessie J storming to the top of the chart.

Adding yet another string to her incredibly successful bow, Adele was the British female artist fans most wanted to see, despite the majority of her tour being cancelled due to illness.

Also flying the flag for Brit girls was Jessie J, who features in the top 20 most wanted tickets of the year alongside powerhouses Rihanna and Katy Perry.

Dolly Parton proved she’s still got it this year as she made it into the top 20 with huge demand to see her ‘Better Day’ tour, proving more popular than JLS and the Arctic Monkeys.

With female acts leading the voting every week in the X Factor and the first ever girl band, Little Mix, winning this year’s show plus Emile Sande winning the Brits Critics Choice Award, 2012 is set to be the year of the girls as well. Women are even spending more money than men when it comes to tickets to live shows according to recent research by NME. (1)

Ed Parkinson, director of viagogo UK said: “Our data reinforces that the live music scene was dominated by outstanding female acts this year. With Little Mix triumphing in the X Factor, Emile Sande winning the Brits Critics Choice Award, 2012 and Adele hopefully (or looking to be )on the mend, 2012 really could be the year of Girl Power.”

Frost's Review of 2011

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2011 was an eventful political year, with the Arab Spring, phone Hacking and the death of more than one tyrant. On the flip side, it was also a year of wedding fever, Prince William finally made an honest women of Kate Middleton on April 29. Kate Moss and Jamie Hince, Lily Allen and Sam Cooper (she also announced her pregnancy), Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig, Prince Albert and Charlotte, Zara Phillips and Mark Tindall and Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell all tied the knot. Kim Kardashian got married too, but so briefly it is barely worth mentioning.

There was tragedy when Japan was struck by an record 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami. Followed by nuclear disaster at Fukushima, which is still being cleared up by brave workers, at serious risk to their own health.

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher.

In August London burned as riots spread all over England, people died, lost their homes and taxpayers were left with a bill of over 100 million.

The Arab Spring started when 26-year-old vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi. set himself on fire in protest in a Tunisian marketplace on December 17th 2010. It lead to leaders all over the Arab world standing down including Hosni Mubarak (Egypt), Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the death of Gaddafi in October.

Silvio Berlusconi also finally stepped down.

Osama Bin Laden was killed ten years after 9/11.

The press went mad over Pippa Middleton’s bottom. As did PR companies.

Super Injunctions were the buzzword of the year, but the name of the footballer came out after he was named by multiple people on Twitter. The film star who slept with the same prostitute as Wayne Rooney, however, got away with it. Our article on it was one of our most popular of the year, getting over 14,000 hits in a matter of hours

Borders book store closed down, as did the Space Shuttle Programme and Harry Potter ended after a decade.

The Iraqi war ended in December. A date set by the Bush administration.

Liam Fox lost his job.

The Phone Hacking scandal ran and ran.

Charlie Sheen lost it, but bounced back.

Aung San Suu Kyi was finally released from house arrest.

Frost’s Politician of the year is the people of Libya.

Anders Behring Breivik went on an murderous rampage in Norway on the Island of Utoya, leaving over 80 people dead and many more injured. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attack a “national tragedy” and the worst atrocity in Norway since World War II. Stoltenberg further vowed that the attack would not hurt Norwegian democracy, and said the proper answer to the violence was “more democracy, more openness, but not naivety”. In his speech at the memorial service on 24 July 2011, he said what a proper reaction would be: “No one has said it better than the AUF girl who was interviewed by CNN: ‘If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show, standing together.’

The end of Harry Potter.

Frost started a campaign to end Prescription charges in England, the only place in the so called ‘United’ Kingdom still paying them.

Jessie J had a breakthrough year and confessed to being bisexual.

David Walliams swam the Thames. He raised £1 million for Sports relief.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher split.

As did J-Lo and Marc Anthony

Ryan Gosling had a brilliant year and was in the brilliant Drive. http://frostmagazine.com/2011/09/drive-film-review/

Sir David Attenborough dazzled again with Frozen Planet.

Frost Women of the year: Kate Middleton. After ten years and two break-ups, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton finally married her Prince Charming. Their wedding was watched by more people than 20 million people and the new Duchess of Cambridge has been wowing press and public alike with her style, charm and poise.

Man of the year: Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs died too young, aged 56, after a long battle with cancer. He changed the world with his vision and business acumen and when he died the outpouring of grief would rival that of Princess Diana. A true loss of a visionary man.

Most inspirational person: Eva Schloss. Eva survived the holocaust. She lost her father and her brother, her mother also survived and went on to marry Otto Frank and Eva became Anne Frank’s step-sister. She is truly the most inspirational women I have ever met. If you don’t believe me, read her books. The Promise: The Moving Story of a Family in the Holocaust
or Eva’s Story: A Survivor’s Tale by the Step-Sister of Anne Frank
[Full disclosure: I was in the West End Production of the play of Eva’s life; And Then They Came For Me.]

Kim Jong-il, Lucien Freud, Christopher Hitchens, Liz Taylor, Amy Winehouse and Vaclav Havel all died in 2011.

Adele and Katy Perry released the albums of the year.

Kristen Wiig co-wrote and starred in the hilarious Bridesmaids, which proved women could be funny.

Unemployment was high and economical troubles rumbled throughout the year. The US lost their triple AAA credit rating.

Finally, a great article.

http://frostmagazine.com/2011/10/top-10-common-faults-with-human-thought/

Frost Magazine's Writer of the Year 2012

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It’s been an amazing 20 months for us at Frost, and we couldn’t have done it without the passion and hard work of the people that write for us. The sheer variety of backgrounds, specialisms and styles made it incredibly difficult for us to judge who to award the title of ‘Frost Magazine’s Writer of the Year 2011?.

We chose the winner based on a combination of statistics, being prolific and feedback from readers. Our writer of the year showed they had the uncanny ability to consistently pick winning stories.

The Frost Magazine Writer of the Year 2011 is…Owun Birkett.

Frieze Art Fair 2011

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I have a theory on art which is this: If something makes you ask if it’s art, it’s art. Because it made you ask the question and think. There are a few exceptions to this rule, for example, putting a fire extinguisher on a wall and saying it’s art, isn’t. It is just lazy.

My first thought on the Frieze was how awful the queues were – luckily being press I bypassed them. The second was irritation at having my bag searched going in and out.

When you are inside, the main thing that strikes you is the sheer size of it.

There are over 1,000 artists and 177 exhibitors from 33 countries. With the right online school your art work could be showcased in art fairs like this one.

It’s an art lovers dream. I walked around the vastness thinking: “Recession? What recession?”

Artists that really stuck out for me where Rashid Rana, Nathalie Djurberg, Elmgreen and Dragset -them of the morgue art – and Karl Holmqvist.

Neon letter art is popular. One even bears the words ‘Who runs this mother?’ taking inspiration from a song by Beyonce.  I also loved ‘The Neme Sims’, an extraordinary project by Muntean and Rosenblum for Georg Kargl. The  Austrian duo made a grey house with a garden, furniture, and art.

I love art fairs, and the Frieze is one of the biggest there is. Definitely worth going to.

The Frieze was sponsored by Deutsche Bank for the eighth consecutive year. Proves that banks have at least some purpose.

The Frieze runs from 13th to 16th of October every year.

Frieze.com</

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) trailer

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I will talk about the trailer in a bit, but first some context for those who are diving straight in without knowing this particular film. As we all know, it is based on a Swedish novel (and first in the Millennium trilogy) by the late Stieg Larsson and has already been adapted as a TV-movie in 2009 (starring Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander). It received three BAFTA nominations (including Best Leading Actress – Noomi Rapace and Best Adapted Screenplay), though it left with one; Best Film not in the English Language.

It wouldn’t be long till Hollywood would decide to grab their hands on it and develop their own version. It cause some outcry and some saying that it should be left alone. I will admit, I was pretty adamant on the idea of a Hollywood version of the novel/TV-movie. Though the talent behind it started to make me have some sigh of hope; they recruited Steven Zaillian to adapt the novel (previous credits – Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York and American Gangster) and David Fincher was hired to direct the film (previous credits – Se7en, Fight Club and The Social Network) Who was going to play the leading players? Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) as troubled yet talented journalist and Rooney Mara (The Social Network) as the socially awkward goth/punk hacker. This is a team that no one could ask anymore better from them! Fincher, especially, is in familiar ground; a dark mystery thriller that practically runs in his veins.

Now our questions were what was the film going to look like? Would the actors attempt to pull a Swedish/English dialect? Well the look is very slick and top notch, Rooney Mara really becomes Salander but actually more like a punk/goth than Rapace did (sorry fans of the original movies but I quite like this new Salander). It features the Oscar winning composers, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, music in the trailer (Reznor even created a cover of ‘Immigrant Song’ by Led Zeppelin with Karen-O for the teaser trailer). Even the trailer runs at 3 minutes and 40 seconds (usually average running time for a theatrical trailer is 2 minutes 30 seconds) reveals only enough to not spoil anything for those who have not read the book or seen the previous films.

My reaction to the trailer? I cannot wait for it! It has moved from being number 2 to number 1 on my most anticipated list (http://frostmagazine.com/2011/03/top-most-anticipated-movies-of-2011/). Plus it’s directed by David Fincher! Do I need to explain why that’s a good thing? As you’ve seen from his credits, he has made a movie that everyone likes! What do you think? Are you excited for it as much as I am or do you think it should’ve been left alone from the very start?