Arguably England's four greatest captains Conscious of the mob of Euro 2020 content consuming our news and social media feeds for the past month or so, I have rid myself of temptations to create international football-themed lists on multiple occasions. Never will my thoughts on who would be the best player to have on each… Continue reading The real homecoming: Eight reasons the true champ of football anthems is actually Three Lions ’98
Italy, Russia, Lithuania and France were all part of a stellar field at this year's contest Well well, I'm starting this at 00:08 on Sunday morning and my heartrate is trying it's best to turn the treadmill down. An incredibly strong contest with unprecedented voting patterns culminated in a shock win for Italy's Måneskin, an… Continue reading Eurovision 2021: Final ratings, rankings and analysis
One of the highlights of my year is fast approaching, and the anticipation is amplified by the two year gap since we last had a Eurovision Song Contest. The combination of countries, music and the results process (a glorified list) has always been a winning one for me in spite of the consistently cringeworthy entries… Continue reading Eurovision 2021: 10 things to look out for
And we're back! Who's house?! (Niche non-Eurovision reference there. Top marks if you got that.) But seriously, after the disappointment of the year in 2020 was no Eurovision, the legendary contest is back this week, with the final on Saturday 22nd May. If you didn't know, I'm a huge fan - my first list on… Continue reading Eurovision 2021: Pre-event preferences
I have been so excited to share this list from the moment I realised I could write it to coincide with such a big birthday for One Touch, surely one of the greatest debut pop albums ever. It was probably about 10 years ago that I realised I loved almost every Sugababes single I'd heard and started delving into their back catalogue to become the fan I am today. When I played at open mic nights during my uni years, I even put together a Sugababes medley that I would pull out from time to time (at every opportunity).
It has been one whole decade since a septet of Britain's most popular rappers were pulled together by the Star in the Hood himself, Tinchy Stryder, to produce a collaboration that has arguably only been matched by Avengers: Endgame in the ten years since its release. Although Game Over only made it to No. 22 in the U.K. charts back in 2010, largely because the song is simply rap verse after rap verse and its only sung part (if you can call it that - no offence, Tinchy) that might have attracted the masses comes over 4 minutes in, the track still deserves a cult following for being a who's who of British grime at that time. I would never suggest that Game Over has a place in the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, but there is something legendary, almost comedic, about seeing and hearing all 7 of these leading men in one place and on one track.
Back near the start of the year, when the race for this year's Democratic Party Presidential candidate began to heat up, I saw a news page which introduced all the hopefuls, along with a headshot. As someone who's not particularly invested in U.S. politics (or reading), I began to draw judgement on the candidates purely… Continue reading Ranking U.S. Presidential runners-up by perceived happiness
I am a huge fan of movies, especially those made by Christopher Nolan (see my top 50 movies of the 2010s list), so I made a concerted effort to see the long-awaited, Covid-postponed Tenet as soon as I could, dragging Christie along on opening night. Getting home at 23:30 was worth it for an incredible… Continue reading Tenet’s accents – Ranked
Over the last ten years, I have fallen in love with movies. TV is good for taking up time and for making comedy, but for audio-visual storytelling, nothing can beat a well-made movie on a cinema screen (and cinema speakers). I find it easy to be cynical and pick holes in things, so this was a good project for me to positively review everything, because I like all of these movie, right? I hope by reading or scanning through this list, you find joy in agreeing with a ranking, friendly bitterness in disagreeing with an entry, or decide to watch or avoid a movie based on the information I've provided. Either way, enjoy.
Sadly, the ridiculous celebration of the unrealistic that is Eurovision isn't happening this year, thanks to a pandemic. For a long time, I've been a big fan of the annual music event, to the extent that both my parents and I have hosted Eurovision parties over the years. I guess my love for the singing/dancing/politics competition stems from seeing lists of countries on a screen and watching them all give points to one another over the course of an evening - a listmaker/geography nerd's dream.
2010 was the first year I watched both semi-finals as well as the Saturday final and the first year I got the Eurovision album on the back of the contest. In the absence of Eurovision this year, and to mark the tenth anniversary of my favourite year for the contest, I've ranked all the entries from worst to best below, with a mark out of 30.
Prince of Listenstein 