Periferica

Girls Aloud without Nadine, nooo

MSN Music Blog: Dancing About Architecture — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:38:55 +0000

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

Allegedly they’ve ‘grown apart’ and ‘It’s been a painful decision… the future of Girls Aloud lies without Nadine.’

Someone has got to be having a laugh… I’m an avid fan of the girls as a five piece and when I saw them live at Wembley Arena on their Out of Control tour in 2009, it’s clear that Nadine is the most talented vocalist, hence taking most of the singing on. Without her I fear the imbalance will topple the band into crappy ‘talky’ singing or *gasp* lip-synching, they just aren’t as strong without her as is she without them.

If it really has to happen (hope not), I vote Nicola for head girl as she was the strongest live performer, dancing and singing-wise for me and has come a long way since just being ‘the quiet, pale redhead’ one.

The girls are all currently embarking on their own projects so hopefully there’s still a little time to patch things up. Are the gang of four being mean or is Nadine being stubborn? Miaow.

Sort it out please, ladies.

Are Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr having a baby?

MSN Celebrity Blog — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:17:59 +0000

They have only just tied the knot, and now the good-looking pair are reportedly expecting their first child together.

Orlando, 33, and his model wife Miranda, 27, wed in Los Angeles recently in a secret ceremony. The news of their intimate nuptials was released by the Australian department store David Jones, where Miranda works.

Reports are now claiming that the loved-up newlyweds are expecting the pitter-patter of tiny feet. According to a source from the hotel they honeymooned in, Orlando revealed that his bride is pregnant with their first child. However, they have yet to officially confirm the pregnancy.

How much do you want to bet it’ll be the most gorgeous offspring ever? Look at that incredible gene pool…

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The A-Team roll into town

MSN Movies UK - Blog — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:56:55 +0000

by Andy Gibbons

I’ll be the first to admit that, as a kid, I was a huge fan of The A-Team. I’d settle down in front the telly every Saturday evening to get my fix of these inventive soldiers of fortune so to hit the red carpet at last night’s UK premiere of the big screen update was, for me, pretty damn cool. And things soon flew off the cool scale as the four leads arrived in Leicester Square in BA’s iconic GMC van (even if BA wasn’t driving, it was a bloke called Bruce!).

Out stepped Liam Neeson (Hannibal), Bradley Cooper (Face), Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson (BA Baracus) and Sharto Copley (Murdoch) to huge screams from the fans while director Joe Carnahan and co-star Jessica Biel weren’t far behind.

The first person I caught up with was Joe and I was keen to find out how he approached the film, given the nostalgic reverence in which many hold The A-Team. “You gotta make something that’s entertaining. I think the movie’s fantastic; it does everything it should do so if you love the show you’ll love the movie and if you know nothing about the show, you’ll still love the movie,” he told me, before explaining how he got his dream cast. “Liam was always the guy I wanted for Hannibal and I knew that if we cast Liam, you send a very specific message to people about what kind of movie it’s going to be. It’s not a comedy, it’s not a clownish sort of thing. And then, when Liam got in, it rolled downhill so quickly, literally like they’re billed in the movie – Liam, Bradley, Rampage and Sharlto. I was very, very fortunate in that way.

Joe Carnahan

Liam too admitted that fans of the ‘80’s wont be disappointed by this 21st century update. “We all paid homage to the original, me with my silver hair, Rampage with his mohawk but then we made our own movie,” he said. But he admitted that playing Hannibal did have it’s downside, especially when it came to one of his particular vices. “I’ve been off cigarettes for 16 years but Joe the director insisted I smoke cigars. It was touch and go because they were Cuban cigars so it was tough and go for two days.” Fortunately he resisted and Liam is proud to confirm that he’s still smoke free.

Liam Neeson

Next up were Sharlto and Copley, both of whom confessed to being big A-Team fans with Sharlto especially feeling a connection to his slightly deranged on-screen alter ego Murdoch, saying “It’s really special. It’s quite a moving experience because it was such a part of my childhood and it was so inspirational. That character in particular was one of those that made me want to be in the business. I used to do voices, I used to make little videos with my friends doing crazy voices and characters so it’s humbling to wind up looking at a billboard of myself with the name of character I grew up loving”. Rampage meanwhile admitted being much more at home with the fighting (he is a former UFC Champion after all) than he was with the driving, admitting that he “can’t drive worth sh*t.”

Sharlto Copley Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

And finally it was on to Jessica and Bradley. Jess, who for some reason started explaining her love of English crumpets at one point, had nothing but praise for her co-stars and director and revealed she was just ”pretty much just one of the guys” while filming. “Joe Carnahan just makes everything so comfortable so I never felt like an intruder coming to a boys club. And the guys were so nice, so professional themselves – we had a very good time” she said while Bradley (who easily got the biggest screams of the night from the fans) admitted that he’s “not even close” to being as charming as his character in the movie. I don’t believe him for a second!

Jessica Biel Bradley Cooper

The A-Team is in cinemas now.

Missing Being N-Dubz

MSN Music Blog: Dancing About Architecture — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:38:01 +0000

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

I feel a bit sad. It’s now come to an end but for the last six weeks of my life, I’ve spent my Monday nights with Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer from N-Dubz… albeit via headcams in their fly on the wall TV show which has had me laughing, smiling, and sympathising with Tulisa throughout.

Although there was a certain level of hamming it up for the cameras as is with all reality shows, there was a feeling that 99.8% of the goings on were ‘real’. We met the N-Dubz entourage and family, went on holiday, into the studio, horseriding and boxing, Glastonbury, house hunting and even to the toilet, in a million-pound house, with them. Ew.

As I stated in a previous article, this group is like Marmite for the masses, but I defy anyone with a heart not to be a little more endeared to the terrible trio after seeing their antics in this show. Undeniably hardworking, smart in a lot of ways but immature in others (feta cheese face slap anyone?), family-devoted, dedicated and talented with a devout following of younger ‘N-Dublettes’, I reckon the older less-inclined-to-be-a-fan crowd may be surprised at how they might enjoy the show more than they would expect (as proven with one of my friends who was a little anti previous to me coercing him into watching it).

I’m calling for a series two. Following them around whilst they try and win over the Americans is bound to be amusing. Here are a couple of gripes from me that I think should be taken into account should this follow up series materialise though:

Who on earth thought it would be a good idea/suitable/funny for Lynda Bellingham to be the voiceover?! I never want to hear her say ‘you go girlfriend’ ever again, she’s the Oxo lady not Lynny from the block for goodness sake.
What’s up with the Jonathan Shalit (slightly older, bespectacled manager) constant on camera presence and narrative? It’s called Being N-Dubz, not Advertising Jonathan.

For now, NaNa and Duku yourself until next time…

The Prodigy @ The National Bowl, Milton Keynes – 24/7/2010

MSN Music Blog: Dancing About Architecture — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:11:49 +0000

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

There were ants everywhere - representing the current signature logo of The Prodigy of course, as I went to witness one of the recommended ‘50 Bands To See Before You Die’ at their biggest ever gig on Saturday night.

Alongside 64,999 others, I packed into the open-air Milton Keynes National Bowl for the Warrior’s Dance Festival and you could smell the anticipation in the air, as someone in a fan forum so elegantly put it prior to the event ‘can’t wait, 65,000 nutters avin it’. Indeed.

Not just your average concert, punters were treated to a whole day of music with several support acts across the main stage and secondary Boneyard area. DJ Zane Lowe hyped up the willing crowd before the headlining act took to the stage, saying it was the best festival he’d ever played to.

Smashing the set open with World’s On Fire the crowd went mad, hands in the air, jumping up and down, as the Essex electronic dance gods hit the stage. Ambulances were hung around the set in keeping with the Take Me to the Hospital (the name of their record label) theme and the amazing light show kicked into action illuminating the Bowl.

The moshing started front stage as they moved into my favourite Prodigy classic, Breathe followed by the anthem that is Omen. Without being flung into the nearby mosh pit, I shouted along with my fellow ravers as the ambulances began to glow in the dark and Maxim Reality and Keith Flint egged on the audience with their familiar expletive-strewn narrative.

The bassline of Poison and Thunder dubstep remix reverberated right to my core and after affectionately getting pelted with plastic bottles from the other revellers including many a topless male, we took to the bank to soak up the atmosphere from further across the bowl, where we got to appreciate the spectacular laser display that accompanied Warrior’s Dance.

Taking us through their hits spawning two decades and five successful albums, fans ranging from freakishly young to surprisingly old, relentlessly kept the energy levels up for the hour and a half set, singing (shouting) along, dancing (raving) throughout and obediently reciting everything they were told by the two front men whilst production mastermind Liam Howlett looked on over his keyboard at the brilliant mayhem unfolding in front of him.

After Take Me to the Hospital, during the encore we were treated to some proper old school Prodigy including Everybody in the Place, No Good (Start the Dance) and Charly which went down a storm.

Rebellious Their Law led into the humongous finale that was Out of Space. We had been a ‘wicked crowd’ apparently, for which Maxim gave ‘Pure respek from the heart’ and said it was the best… night of his life. What a sweetie.

It’s not difficult to see why The Prodigy have been crowned the most influential act of their genre in a recent poll. A gig of this magnitude continues to prove why they are still held in such high regard in dance music twenty years after they first came to our attention. There’s clearly still life in the old dogs yet as Liam revealed in a recent interview with Zane Lowe that they were heading back into the studio soon to record some new material. Roll on album number six. And long live The Prodigy.

* Watch: The Prodigy interview

The Karate Kid – Exclusive Harald Zwart interview

MSN Movies UK - Blog — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:22:33 +0000

by Andy Gibbons

During the recent UK premiere for The Karate Kid, I managed to grab the movie’s director Harald Zwart for a brief chat during which we discussed his leading men, the work ethic on set and honour of filming in China.

I grew up with the original Karate Kid back in 1984 so how does this bring things into the 21^st century?

I think the moral of the story is the same. It’s almost spoken directly by Jackie’s character; he says ‘Life will knock you down but we chose whether or not to get back up’. That is an eternal message and an eternal story. What we’ve done is just update it a bit by making it even more of a fish out of water story by moving [the main character] to China where he’s got the language barrier and he’s being bullied at school so those are the updates we’ve done. And obviously we’re proud of the fighting in the movie.

How important was it to film in China?

I’ve always had three wishes; I’ve wanted to film with Jackie Chan, I’ve wanted to work with Will Smith and I’ve wanted to shoot in China so it was really important to me. I loved filming there, it was just too good to be true.

Jaden steals the show as Dre Parker. How did you find working him?

He was the hardest working person on the whole crew. First he had to train for months and months before we started shooting and then while we were shooting he was still training. And he had to learn Chinese and all his lines; he was working every single day.

Finally, with Jackie teaching Jaden all his movies, did you pick anything up from the Kung Fu master?

I’ve been trying to spar with him, he’s just much too fast.

The Karate Kid opens in the UK on Wednesday July 28th.

Not her old self – Christina A video exclusive

MSN Music Blog: Dancing About Architecture — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:09:31 +0000

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

Moan, moan, moan. A lot of non-US folk in cyberspace are going on about not being able to view the new Christina Aguilera video but thankfully our dear friends at MSN have come up with the exclusive goods.

If Not Myself Tonight was one end of the ‘looks’ spectrum, the video for You Lost Me is at the opposite end. Far from the energetic, vampy sexed-up character in her last vid, a pared down Christina mooches around a derelict room in baggy house clothes, all forlorn. A woman scorned who’s done the angry lashing out bit and is now in reflective mode. The vibe is intimate and eerie with the powerful emotional Xtina delivery that gives her ballads that oomph and is bound to provide an anthem for many a heartbroken soul.

Apart from the strange effects about quarter of the way in where Christina’s face goes a funny colour and the bizarre part-orangeness of her hair, it’s a good vid, in a non-spectacular, simple-but-powerful, suitable-for-the-song kind of way. Check it out and see what you think…

Splice – Exclusive Delphine Chanéac interview

MSN Movies UK - Blog — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:36:10 +0000

by Andy Gibbons

To round out our series of Splice interviews, I sat down with French actress Delphine Chanéac to talk about her role as the unique Dren….

Tell us a bit about who or what Dren is...

She’s a mix of DNA of an animal and a woman. She is like a girl, she feels like a normal girl. She has emotions, she has feelings, she loves man, woman, everything. She’s pure, she’s innocent, she’s like a child; she is just like an angel.

We’ve never seen a character like her before – was that freeing for you as an actress, the fact that you got to create this whole new species?

That was such a big issue for me because I knew I would have to be a hard worker because Vincenzo (Natali – the writer / director) has been working on this script for eight years so there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders. That was hard but I tried to do my best work every day, every minute. And I knew also that Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody were (cast) in the movie. That is huge when you are just a French little actress. That’s like “Wow, these are two big actors”.

You mentioned how long Vincenzo has been working on this. How closely did you work with him on creating Dren?

We spoke about Dren a lot. Vincenzo had a lot of thoughts about her, like the evolution of Dren. He showed me the bald look at the beginning so I shaved my head very fast and that was helpful to me to find her. After that we worked in front of a mirror to get the body language and then I started to add the feelings, the way to think, the way to move the neck, the way to move the shoulders, the way to move the hands but Vincenzo gave me a lot of space, he gave me a lot of freedom for the character. That was so good because I got to create everything. We spoke and he said to me “You know Dren better than me now” so I said “But you’ve known Dren eight years, you created her”. But he said “Do what you want. It’s your character right now. It’s your Dren, you are Dren.” We worked for like two months on the vocal stuff and I think they’ve been mixed that with animal stuff, animal sounds.

You play the human part of Dren but there are CG elements to the character. How did you find working with the effects?

There wasn’t so much CG on set because I was just wearing high heels and blue socks. I was also wearing a small scar (on my head) and they put a spot around the eyes so they could move them out later.

You’ve described Splice as a love story – can you expand on that?

I think this is a love story because (Dren) is more human than a lot of people. She’s more normal, more regular, more straight, more direct, more true – this is why I think Splice is a love story. I never played her as a monster; I never thought that she was a monster. I saw her as little girl who was different.

How did you find working with Adrien and Sarah?

Awesome. They were so good, they are such good partners. They are so nice, hard workers, good friends. Everything was super cool because sometimes when you look different – I was bald, I was strong and bigger than I am now so - I felt strange but they helped me a lot. They were so nice and took care of me.

Splice is in cinemas from today.

Toy Story 3 – MSN exclusive Bob Whitehill, Michael Stocker and Jason Katz interview

MSN Movies UK - Blog — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:13:55 +0000

by Andy Gibbons

In the last of my four exclusive interviews from Pixar, Bob Whitehill (3D Stereoscopic Supervisor), Michael Stocker (Directing Animator) and Jason Katz (Story Supervisor) talk about the technical difficulties in bringing Toy Story 3 to life.

L/R - Bob, Michael and Jason

Every Pixar film brings a new set of challenges. What was the biggest challenge for you in bringing Toy Story 3 to life?

MS – From an animation point of view, just the intimidating work that had been done in the past was kind of a daunting thing. Most of the animation crew hadn’t worked on the first two films and some of them were six years old when the first one came out so they are looking back at these amazing movies which affected their lives and now they have to perform Buzz and Woody with that voice talent and the stakes that are being played out in the movie and pay homage to the work that had been done in the past and yet add their own ideas into that and make it work seamlessly. Forget the technical stuff; that was probably the biggest challenge for most of the crew.

JK – Story wise it was just to buy its existence into the film. To watch the first two movies and know what they mean to us, not just as filmmakers but also what they mean to the world, to do something of that quality, to do something of that level and not only to be respectful of the work that’s been done in the past but also of these characters. Buzz and Woody are just as real as our children and our friends and to create something that is worthy of continuing of their story is something we took very seriously. I think it was definitely a challenge to try to create a film that excited us and that felt like it did take it to another level. You want it to feel like it’s connected to the other two films, like a worthy sequel.

What was important to say in your story?

JK – When we hit upon the idea of Andy growing up and what that means emotionally, what was important to me and what was wonderful to me was to have it so intimately connect with the other two movies and have it feel like one large piece. I feel like sequel in general can play two ways – one can be a way to reunite with the characters in a fun way but they’re just there to give you more. My favourite sequels and the goal for this was it continues the thematic lines through the film, that it’s meditation on what’s been learned through the first two movies and that the emotional lessons Woody and the other characters have gone through, you’re finding new ways to explore or expand on them. It feels like you’re building off tracks you’ve already laid – Woody is so stubborn in this movie because he learned a lot in the previous two films and he’s not going to forget what he’s learned and the experiences he’s had. I feel that’s a good sequel and that buys it into the universe.

Was it always a plan to make a trilogy of Toy Story films?

JK – No, I think John (Lasseter) is an amazing filmmaker and has an amazing scope in his brain and I think early on, at the end of Toy Story 2, he was ready and willing to carry on with these stories and he had ideas but I think a lot of this happens organically and you’re hunting for the best story possible and I think this trilogy is just part of the story telling process. I don’t think in 1993 when they were conceiving Toy Story they were thinking ‘Ok, this is where it’s going to go’. George Lucas didn’t really know what was going to happen in (Return of the) Jedi, he just said he did.

What’s it like animating characters who are 11 years old using much newer technology?

MS – It was a whole lot easier and I feel incredibly lucky. We rebuilt all the characters from scratch with all the new technology. They were faster, easier to use - from a technological point of view that was easy. There was some new stuff added in that changed the movie a little bit but animating those characters was easy, the hard part was moving Woody floppy like they did in the first two films. We had to make sure that this language that was developed for Woody was the same; we could make him run but we had to make him run like a rag doll. The new characters in the film were a lot easier ‘cos we were inventing the language for Ken, we were inventing the language for Lotso.

What was the inspiration behind Lotso?

MS – I think Lotso represents every sort of teddy bear that you had as a kid. We just wanted to make sure that he was squishy and plush. One thing we could do on this movie was that we could squish a character – we couldn’t squish a character on the first two movies, we didn’t have the technology to do that and that’s the hardest thing to do in any computer movie; to have one character grab another and have that other character squish. With Lotso, that’s what he is so when he picks up Buzz and says ‘I’m a hugger’ that’s a thing we could do on this and we really wanted to do, to make him this squishy, lovable teddy bear.

How many people work on the story and how does it evolve?

JK – You know, the story is long so we’re on the story for a good chunk of time. I started in earnest in the summer of 2006 and I didn’t wrap until this year. From a personal perspective, my son was born on May 31^st 2006 and he just turned four and I just brought him to see the movie; he turned four maybe two months before I wrapped so it’s a long haul. And we have Lee (Unkrich), Michael Arndt (the screenwriter) and then a story team so I’m put in charge of anything from six to eight artists and we will slam on the story for a good two to three years to try and get it right before it really gets folded into the production pipeline.

What does 3D bring to the film and what does the future hold for Pixar as far as 3D is concerned?

BW – Well the future of Pixar as far as 3D is concerned is all of our upcoming theatrical releases will be in 3D for the foreseeable future and we’re talking about doing the library into 3D and that might come to pass in some future time. 3D for me, it just makes things feel more palpable, it just pulls you in more; it feels more engrossing, it can grab you if it’s projected properly at the right brightness. The choices we make are, I think, graceful and yet rewarding. We really try to find that line between giving the audience a reward for making that effort and spending that money to see it in 3D but on the other hand we don’t want to distract from all the brilliant work that guys like Jason and Michael have done – we don’t want to put a sheen over the work that our colleagues have done or is in any way distracting or, God forbid, creates eye fatigue or headaches or so forth so it’s finding that fine line between reward and comfort and making it pitch perfect. We go into every single shot and it’s like a visual accordion; we can make it as deep as a tunnel or we can make it as flat as can be and [we try to] find the emotional beat of that moment and dial that into the 3D and find where the screen plane will lie because that’s the easiest for the audience to view. Then we just run through the shots and see what we get out the other side and we continue to fine tune it and fine tune it until we feel that every sequence is pitch perfect in 3D.

You mentioned the brightness issue which is one of the issues affecting 3D. Do you think the technology is completely there yet?

BW - The technology is there if it’s working properly, if it’s up to spec as they say. If it’s shown properly, and a lot of theatres do a very good job, it’s going to look brilliant and bright. And actually on home monitors it looks brilliant; you’d be surprised when going from a 45 foot screen to 42 inches, how rewarding it is, it really looks great. So we should be in good shape if your theatre is doing the right job.

The climactic scene in the incinerator is very intense. Was there ever any worry that it may be too intense for younger viewers?

JK – Yeah, I think we’re always sensitive to the films we’re making and abundantly respectful to the audience who see these films so we certainly discussed it. I think the conclusion we came to was that it just felt right for the film and I think that sequence in particular, the way we would talk about that sequence and the intensity of that was that we’re not only providing a climax to Toy Story 3 but we’re also providing a climax to the trilogy and recognising that the first two films had a lot of talk about the potential of being throw away. What if I break? What if I’m replaced? This was an opportunity to take the toys to the end game and to really honestly feel ‘What’s going to happen?’, that this family that we know and love is facing a real dilemma. And it felt like any time we tried soften it and any time we tried something else, you lost that so that was the decision. You know we make these films to be these films and every parent has [to make] their decision.

How did your four year-old react?

JK – He make it through and he’s quite sensitive and he hasn’t seen many movies. But I fully expected if it gets too intense we’ll just up and leave and that’s fine. I think that, again, we respect our audiences but we’re not sitting here going ‘These are kids’ movies’.

The character of Big Baby is quite scary. Can you tell me a bit about the thinking behind him?

MS - The thing we tried to do was thinks ‘It’s a doll so let’s animate as a doll can move’. He’s a baby and he’s a doll so we tried to keep the baby stiff and only move at the head and the joints, that sort of thing. The thing he does that I guess might be bad is he picks up Mr. Potato Head and hauls him off to the box. But he’s innocent; he’s just doing what he’s told.

JK – I feel it you’re looking for a character to sum up Lee (Unkrich), then Big Baby is sort of a direct ‘Lee’. It’s this beautiful, entertaining and somewhat creepy. You know Big Baby is executed in a scary manner and if you think it about, it’s all told from the scale of the toys so from that perspective he’s huge. But Lee’s decision to have him have real baby sounds makes him feel like a heavy and he’s intimidating but there’s an honesty to him and when you see his back story and you see him in his bonnet, all of a sudden in that sequence with Daisy, he’s not that intimidating and he’s quite sweet. That’s what I love.

We’ve never seen Andy’s father in any of the film – where is he?

JK – To create these stories a character has to buy themselves into the film, there has to be a reason to have them there, not just because it’s normal to have a father and mother. There was just never really any reason story-wise to have Andy’s father. We gave Bonnie a Dad ‘cos we were like ‘Ok, we can’t not let anybody have a Dad’. But again there’s no real storytelling need. When you’re watching the film I don’t think you’re really paying any attention to the fact Andy’s Dad isn’t there.

Toy Story 3 is in cinemas now.

Take That’s new party pooper

MSN Music Blog: Dancing About Architecture — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:45:51 +0000

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

So I’ve had a week to digest the news…

In my head, all I ever wanted since that momentous time in 1996 when I had a little cry at a friend’s birthday party over the split of my favourite boyband ever, was for them to get back together, all five of them, as if nothing happened. We would all live happily ever after, I would continue to sport my TT duffle bag, croptop, dogtags, earrings etc and deface my bedroom from wall to wall with posters and cuttings with all the enthusiasm from when I first harassed my Mum into buying all this highly essential merchandise for me.

Unfortunately, the four-piece Take That incarnation didn’t do it for me as it was never the same after Robbie left, like missing that all important little toe that keeps you standing upright.. or something. But now that my supposed dream has come true, I can’t help but feel the chemistry isn’t quite right after all that turbulent water that passed under the bridge previously. I guess though, we all grow up, forgive and forget, and become more adept at noticing where those potential pound signs are. Yes, I sound cynical but the current evidence troubles me as the publicity machine ensues.

Am I the only one who thinks the guys looked a bit awkward in their initial reunited-in-the-studio video clip? Is Rob still the biggest ego in the room as he sings the loudest at the piano and only comfortably looks at Mark, never really going too near Jason and Howard, not really looking at ease? Is it all a bit forced? Their website shot looks like Jason and Robbie are squaring up for a barney. Maybe I’m just being bitchy but see what you think…

The Robster’s massive solo record deal is coming to an end with the last album on this deal In and Out of Consciousness - Greatest Hits 1990-2010 being released in October conveniently featuring two brand new Gary Barlow-penned tunes. Reportedly, there’s also going to be a spoof video starring the two old friends for forthcoming Robbie single Shame that could make for a good laugh, or a painful cringe-fest. Apparently labels are fighting over a his new solo contract but Robbie is set to hang with the band for a year at least.

Sneakily, the five guys have been writing material for the group’s new album since last year and drafted in electro-pop producer Stuart Price (who’s just worked on Kylie’s new album amongst others) in an attempt to keep in with current music trends and give the record a dancier edge. Twenty years after Take That first performed and fifteen years after their last album as a quintet, could it be magic again? (sorry I had to get one in there). They’ve been seen larking about filming the video for new single The Flood in rowing boats on a lake, so maybe that will come around before the Shame video, or instead of...

Now don’t get me wrong, I was a dedicated Thatter back in the day and a fan of solo Robbie, circa I’ve Been Expecting You was undeniably epic. I just don’t really want to welcome new-age Take That into my life now. If they were going to go all out purely with the old stuff on a reunion tour, I’d be well up for it but I’m worried that that old-school cheesey pop charm that they were all about originally could be lost by trying too hard to be different with new material.

The old geezers are looking pretty fit and not sounding too bad vocally to be fair, so I’ll just have to sit back and watch how the highest profile boy/manband reunion of the millennium so far, unfolds… To get over my party pooper-ness and until the new stuff surfaces I’m going to stick on my Take That and Party video tape and reminisce about the good old days.