Testimonial: Tri, not to be mistaken with the green leafy kind

Hi, my name is Tri (I am the one on the left), and I must admit that I have some innate inability to work computers, no matter how easy the task. I’ve been sitting at my desk for a good half hour trying to unravel the mysteries of eblogger and hope to god that it has paid off – or I really will look stupid! So now you know a bit about me, I guess I should tell you some more.

My life as an only child in a sleepy town cannot be described as exciting by any means, but it provided me with dance lessons from the age of 8 and a pretty good set of drums; if only to keep me from driving my parents mad. I guess my musical awakening has to be placed around the time I met the lovely Charles, as his unparalleled determination that SClub7 ‘Reach’ would not be my top played song, led him to introduce me to bands such as Snow Patrol and Imogen Heap. Charles, I thank you.

Since then my tastes have changed slightly, but the album ‘eyes open’ will probably always stay on my ipod simply because it reminds me of summer and of fun. I’m afraid I’ve run out of things to say, but I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me again soon, providing I learn how to use this damn thing. =)

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Testimonial: Eileen, The Brains

Although I’ve been writing here since May, and most regular visitors have probably got a pretty good idea of who I am, I realised I never did one of these ‘About Me’ things, so here goes:

A wise man (i.e. fellow blogger, Charles) once said ‘science is about understanding the world we live in- arts make it worth living in’. I would definitely class myself as an arts-y type. I have always immersed myself in culture- watching as many films, listening to as many songs, and reading as many books as I can.

Yet, I’ve never been a high-culture freak: I realised pretty early on that what matters- and what makes this world worth living in- is all about what makes us as individuals happy. I have guilty pleasures, but I’m not afraid to admit it. I listen to musical greats, like the Beatles, but Paramore probably receive as much airplay. ‘Baba O’ Reilly’ is one of my favourite songs of all time, but so is ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ by Fergie. On my DVD rack, I have ‘Funny Face’ (the 1957 Hepburn classic) right next to ‘Grind’ (a skater flick with fairly immature humour).

It was with this ethos that I set up this blog. I felt that cyberspace was lacking a blog that informed you of all of the latest hot topics, but also celebrated the weird, wonderful, and a little shameful. So, I’ll review the latest films and albums, but I’ll also share with you some of my guilty crushes, or some random pictures of cats in wigs.

So lets stand together against cultural snobs: people who brand music as ‘sell-out’, who form their opinions based on views of famous music blogs, who dress based on the whims of Topshop/Topman. I’ll listen to sell-out bands, and enjoy 'Backspacer' by Pearl Jam, and wear oversized guy’s T-shirts with pride- and least I’m happy, and at the end of the day kids, that’s what makes the world go round.

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Testimonial: Chloe, Stirred, Not Shaken.

Our next new writer here is called Chloe, and as her resident best friend since primary school, I can tell you she's certifiably bonkers. However, she is the McCartney to my Lennon, and I'm sure you'll gorw to find her craziness endearing. Chloe plays a vital role here At the Sinema, as she's both a film buff and actually knows what's going on the world of 'popular music' (unlike me). Take it away, Clo:

The names Chloe and I count myself as being the person who knows Eileen (the brains behind this operation) best. Course, I could be completely wrong, she could be a mystery wrapped in an enigma, her whole life could be one great façade, every aspect of her complete fiction… well, you get the idea.

I’m 18 years old and hate people who say, -insert age here- years young, its pretentious and annoying, so stop it… please? Despite being officially and legally an adult now I still watch the Disney Channel and have an unhealthy obsession with Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, but give me a gun and the first people I’ll shoot would be the entire cast of ‘High School Musical’. Other then clearly having a few pitfalls in my music taste—I have actually deleted my whole Kylie Minogue back catalogues now… ok, so my hard drive was wiped and I'm too lazy to re-download... same difference— I do think that over all I have quite good taste. Apparently the genre is called Anti-Folk, thats what Charles tells me anyway, but I’m pretty sure that makes no sense to me whatsoever. I watch too many films to be healthy, yet always forget my glasses when going to the cinema – or should I say sinema? – and I read a lot of books. Twilight makes me want to hurt people. And that’s about it really.

[She also just realised that Charles' and Eileen's bios had come coherent pattern and set up towards them whilst mine was just a shambles, but *le sigh* such is life]

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Testimonial: Charles, The Individual

Charles is on the left.

He's already written a few posts here, but I thought it would be nice for you to get to meet our new writer, Charles. We've known each other since we were in primary school, and he's introduced me to some of my favourite bands. Here's what he has to say for himself:

So I liked Busted. I mean, actually loved them. I owned all (both) their albums. It has to be said, there's not many bands I can claim physical ownership of their entire discography. So naturally, when asked to introduce myself to the blog, the first thing that came to mind (that made any cohesive sense whatsoever) was Busted. They were great, weren't they? But this article isn't about Busted, it's about me. So let's get to it.

There was once this guy, called Charles. He was brought up pretty well off, and he was pretty musical. He responded to this ad in NME for a guitarist where he met James and Matt. Together, these guys were Busted, and they were pretty lame. Yet still people bought their albums. But people didn't realise they were lame at the time; they thought they were super hip! And so they were, for everyone under the age of twelve. I remember wishing I had a teacher as hot as the one in 'What I Go To School For' and jumping off the stage blocks at school discos to 'You Said No'. Hell, I remember getting so fucking pissed off when 'Sleeping With The Light On' was kept off the top spot by this joke of a song. Fuck R&B, man.

But hey, like everyone else around me, I grew up. The new ten year olds were listening to a crap new band called McFly and Busted's reign was pretty much over. They finally split their separate ways in 2005 and all went on to do even worse things. So whatever, I grew up and forgot all about Busted so what have three teenage boys jumping around with guitars have to do with my life? Well, quite a lot, really.

They were my gateway into music. They made me think, "hey, guitars are pretty cool". Because of this I went on to listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Coldplay and U2. Then one day I was checking out this thing called the internet, and I stumbled upon a guy called Bright Eyes. And he was fucking cool. He wasn't even playing electric guitar and he was still fucking cool. Man, I never thought cool guys played acoustic guitar, but this man proved me wrong. A year or two later I discovered a guy called Patrick Wolf, who played the violin and the ukulele. I didn't even know what the fuck a ukulele was, but he was making it look cool. So I no longer listen to Busted, nor do I think Conor Oberst is only guy to ever make an acoustic guitar cool. Hell, I don't even have a huge man-crush on Patrick Wolf any more. But that doesn't matter, because these are the things that have shaped me as a person today. I'm pretty sure this is still the reason I don't like R&B to this day. It's called progress.

So I sit here with my fancy Mac and swivelly chair, iPod and egg-shaped shaker, and I ponder over one question. Would my life really be the same without Busted?

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