The Daily Mellis

If George could only have been a calmer calmer calmer calmer calmer ....

2009-12-24T08:39:00.002Z

The news breaking yesterday with Northsound 1 and the telly news channels…but in the papers today….Boy George has hit out at the High Court's decision to ban him from taking part in Celebrity Big Brother.

He wanted his prison licence restrictions relaxed - but the judge ruled it would undermine public confidence in the justice system. George thinks he's being victimized because he's famous. He's now considering his legal options.

Yeah…and after breakfast….cos it won’t take that long, will it.

Mind you - having said that…that judge had better watch out…from what I remember when I was a kid…Boy George and Culture Club were big mates with the A Team…and they’re all about righting wrongs….you know…if no-one else can help…and if
you can find them…

Happy Birthday Corey Haim

2009-12-23T07:34:00.002Z

It’s Corey Haim’s birthday today.

Do you remember him....he was the kid in The Lost Boys.

He’s 38 today...and in between then and now it looks like Kiefer and the other vamps got him.

Wow.

Have a look.

I LOVED this movie at the time....It comes up on telly every now and again, and in fact, I think I recorded it last time it was on, but I haven’t sat down to watch it...

1 -because I haven’t had the time,

and 2 - because I’m petrified the 14 year old that loved it, will hate it as an adult.

One For The Day - Day 68

2009-12-23T07:24:00.003Z

So all this week we're doing One For The Day at Christmas.

Yesterday, The Musicians of The City Of New Orleans doing "O Holy Night" on a show called Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, which is singly THE most amazing television programme ever to last just the one season.

Also yesterday, Harry Connick doing his take on It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

Today, as we edge closer to the big day, footage from one of his Christmas TV Specials at the time, (featuring special guest David Bowie,) an entertainer, who to me, IS the classic Christmas.

This is Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

Merry Christmas.

One For The Day - Day 67

2009-12-22T08:35:00.002Z

Genius

The first is of Harry Connick Junior, a man whose work I've hammered on about before. It's his take on a classic.

And the second is a clip from what I thought was the best television show never to get a second series. The show was Studio 60 - the piece of music is Oh Holy Night....and the musicians are the people of New Orleans. It's beautiful.

One For The Day - Day 66

2009-12-21T08:36:00.001Z

For what we are about to receive....may God forgive me.

"It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid...."

2009-12-18T08:50:00.003Z

This day, some 25 years ago.....this song went to number 1.

I want you to watch the video again...or maybe even for the first time.....

Hundreds of ropey haircuts, thousands of dodgy clothes.

1 video.

1 goal....

And 25 years on it remains the same.

You know the photo your parents kept of you that you HATE

2009-12-18T07:46:00.002Z

You know in the photo album at home there's at least one photo that gets dragged out to embarrass you in front of mates or partners?

You do know THAT photo.

The picture you cannot believe your parents kept, let alone show people.

And what on earth ever possessed them to dress you up LIKE THAT?!!!

I've got to tell you.....from the parent's point of view, it's hilarious.

But don't take my word for it.

Have a look at this photo of Joshua before nursery this morning.

One For The Day - Day 63, 64, and 65. OOPS!

2009-12-18T06:47:00.002Z

I have been inundated, not unexpectedly I have to say, with people requesting Christmas songs to get them in the mood for the festive season as their work winds down for the year.

The slight problem with playing Christmas songs on the radio is this.

As many the number of people who love them, hate them....so we usually hold them off until the very last week before.

But seeing as how it's you....and because we have a blog or these things so you can visit if you want...or stuff it if you don't, playing right now, and every day until Christmas our Festive One For The Day.

Let's start with a 3fer.

3 songs for 1 day....which sounds like a bonus deal, but also conveniently glosses over the fact I've forgotten to do a One For The Day for the last 3 days.

OK. Starting with.....Roy Wood and Wizard.

And Slade...

And you know what - when someone opens up the great big songbook of the world and looks back over time....the era this one is taken from will be viewed as magical - because it was.

Friday Flicks (Office Party Style)

2009-12-18T06:28:00.002Z

OK OK....

Be honest who gives a stuff about the movie releases right now?

Right this very minute?

No-one. Not really. Not if you're being honest.

You've got the party, the shopping, the house to get done. I know.

You might, if fate conspires to smile on you, at some point over the festive season, drag your turkey laden ass to the movies for a day out, and that's when you can come back and look at this.

The Friday Flicks Festive Guide - 5 words at most.

Ready?

Avatar - Complex, 3D, amazing, expensive, sci-fi.

Nine - Pussycat Dolls Do Italy

Sherlock Holmes - Brilliant. More action than expected.

St Trinians 2 - Same stuff. Short Skirts. OK

Merry Christmas Nana.

2009-12-17T07:25:00.004Z

Everyone has little traditions, don't they?

Especially at this time of year. And generally speaking they're ridiculous.

Like - when all the kids in the house have got everyone up at 4 in the morning to see if Santa's been....everyone opens their presents while eating Pecan Pie.

No-one really knows why you do it in your house. You only know it wouldn't be Christmas if you didn't.

And that's what Christmas is about.

Pecan Pie.

Or silly jumpers.

Or home made decorations which still hang on the tree now, despite the fact they're 25+ years old, and were never really good enough for hanging on the tree in the first place.

You've got them - these traditions. Everyone does.

In our house every year, we unpack from one of the many Christmas boxes, something that is lovingly referred to as Nana's Church.

It's a hand made wooden thing....that plugs in and lights up, and it plays Silent Night.

My uncle bought it one year for her when he came home from Sweden where he lived at the time.

He bought it because it reminded him of home, and of Nana.

I always thought it was magical, because she was magical.

She died just over three years ago in the early part of December, and I miss her more every year.

Christmas is about traditions, and about family, and about pecan pie, and little church ornaments.

If I have one wish for you this Christmas, it's that it's as magical for you as Nana was for me.

What Richard and Judy's girl did next.

2009-12-17T07:08:00.002Z

Chloe Madeley, Richard and Judy’s kid, has signed up to a new TV show to help her quit smoking.

This is the one who got nailed for drink driving a couple of months back.

Seems she's one for the vices.

Well, she’s 22 - what exactly were you expecting.

Chloe says she’s doing it to make her parents happy. I don’t think she really knows them, then.

What would make them happy would be if they were hosting it.

Also on the show will be Linda Robson from Birds Of A Feather, celebrity chef John Burton Race and TV psychic Derek Acorah.

The show’s going out on Five in the New Year.

Presumably it’ll be designed along the lines of New Year’s Resolutions.

Can you picture the other people on the show? Doesn’t really matter, because I’ve thrown up

their photos below.

If you’ve never picked them out as smokers before, you will when you see their mugshots together.

Looks like a new family’s moved into Springfield.

General rule of thumb. When you’re as yellow as your Simpson character...it’s time to quit the ciggies.

Simon Saves Christmas?!!

2009-12-17T06:02:00.002Z

Simon Cowell says he's saved the nation from 'horrible' Christmas number ones.....and is weighing into this year’s battle...throwing his support behind Joe who’s currently locked in a battle with Rage Against The Machine for this year's top spot on the Big Top 40 Show.

If Joe does make it, it'll be the fifth year in the row an X Factor winner has secured the festive number one.

In a magazine interview, Cowell says he's proud of the record as it means acts like 'Mr Blobby' and 'Bob the Builder' have been pushed to the side.

Absolutely....it’s not about puppets anymore.

Well....not the same kind at any rate.

I have to say....as jaded as I am with the X factor song always going to the top for Christmas.....The Rage Against The Machine song wasn’t the one to go for, in my opinion.

There’s nothing especially wrong with it...but Christmas is about kids....and that’s not.

The Climb they can sing along to.

Rage Against The Machine...Killing In The Name...not so much.

I do remember years back Iron Maiden being at number 1, I think for New Year....with Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter....

Somehow it didn’t sound quite right either.

Genie Of The Lumps

2009-12-17T06:00:00.001Z

So Pamela Anderson has made her Panto debut - as the Genie of the Lumps....I mean Lamp in a production of Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre.

Cue the ....'don’t know what to rub first' jokes.

She made a dramatic entrance to the show - lowered onto the stage in a metal hoop, dressed in stockings and a skin tight PVC body.

For a panto????

How does anyone know the Dame??

Fellow cast members are said to be annoyed that Pammy hasn't attended many rehearsals in the run up to her two week stint.

I shouldn’t think she was at all the swimming lessons for Baywatch either, and yet she got away with that somehow too.

Good luck with your glass slipper on those cobbles Cinders

2009-12-17T05:57:00.002Z

For the first time in 34 years, panto is back in Coronation Street.

Oh yes it is.

The annual panto used to be a tradition on Corrie - back in 1975, Deidre Barlow played Cinderella.

That’s probably what killed it stone dead.

You shan’t go to Specsavers Cinderella.

Look....Prince Mike Baldwin Charming hasn’t got you a slipper...but he does have a factory that knocked you up a dress on the cheap.

The only panto survivor from that year is Betty - who will reprise her Fairy Godmother role.

Steady....there’s a week yet. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This year's take on Cinderella sees Claire kissing Prince Charming - played by Steve McDonald - in the Rovers.

The episode will be aired on Christmas Eve. So that's something for your Nan to do while you go to the pub....I mean church.

Did I say pub? I meant church. Definitely church.

Get back intruders....I have a sledge

2009-12-17T05:56:00.001Z

I’m just reading here Ben Fogle has chased four burglars from his house - armed with a sled.

He was preparing to welcome his new son home from hospital when four men vaulted over a wall into his garden.

They then started trying to batter the door down.

Uh-huh....armed with everything they needed for the job in hand...except for brain cells.

But Ben....resourceful as always, grabbed a sledge...and chased them away.

Do you know what strikes me as the most surprising thing about this story?

Ben Fogle’s straight??

Colour yourself in for the Christmas Party

2009-12-17T05:51:00.001Z

You can read all about this today......and check out the pictures in the press as well.

There’s always a gimmicky Christmas Party story at this time of year...and this would appear to be this year’s one...

A festive party frock has been launched - that you can colour in yourself to avoid any potential clashing.

The black and white dress with a pattern of circles and curves is meant to be coloured in like a kid's picture book.

The knee length number will set you back £250.00 and comes with a set of marker pens so that you can colour the dress to match the occasion.

OK....a couple of things...is this a one hit wonder....or is it wipe off?

Because, frankly, any outfit that’s wipe off doesn’t need the pens to add to it to make it a hit in John World.....the wipe off factor is enough in itself.....and secondly....the last thing you need to be worrying about is taking along marker pens to your Christmas do.

Come along to ours - I know we’ll find ways to colour it in if you’re desperate.

Available in every hueee imaginable.

One For The Day - Day 62

2009-12-15T07:17:00.002Z

Got all the news from the premiere of the new Sherlock Holmes movie below.

Starring a guy I’ve long admired, not just because he’s immensely talented, but also because he’s fought and conquered so many personal demons throughout his life.

Got a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame last week, and in his speech just before placing his hands in the cement he commented... “this is quite an achievement for someone whose career has had more dips than a French delicatessen”.

He’s Robert Downey Junior....not everybody’s cup of tea....but I like him.

In fact.....here’s an acid test....he came onto a season of Ally McBeal once, just as it was failing and she was starting to get really annoying.

Audience was on the slide....and it would have been canned there and then were it not for his 11th hour call.

Downey Junior came in as a love interest for Ally McBeal and the show rocketed back up the ratings....and won him an Emmy for his efforts.

From that show....proof he’s annoyingly talented and can actually sing as well....

It’s a little bit Christmassy too.

Ideal Holmes?

2009-12-15T07:05:00.002Z

The atmosphere of Victorian London came to Leicester Square last night for the world premiere of the new Sherlock Holmes movie. They used old-fashioned lamps and created smog to help set the scene for Guy Ritchie's take on Holmes.

Robert Downey Junior plays Sherlock Holmes....while Jude Law takes on the role of Dr Watson.....which loads of people are up in arms about...but if you read the books you’ll know Watson was actually a fit, healthy, army doctor who’d just returned from the war...not the bumbling old fool we know from the Basil Rathbone black and whites.

The film, incidentally, getting good reviews in this morning's press.

I’m really looking forward to it.....I think it looks great.

Much more swashbuckling than the Holmes you’ve seen before...but it is a Guy Ritchie movie...you rely simply on dialogue, you’re sunk.

One For The Day - Day 61

2009-12-14T08:41:00.002Z

No reason.

Just, why not?

Merry Christmas from Bo Obama (The White House Doggy)

2009-12-14T06:38:00.003Z

So, if ever you doubted the differences between American politics, and the British version....

And especially if you love cute dogs - have a look at the video here of America's First Lady, Michelle Obama, giving America's OTHER First Lady, Oprah Winfrey, the Christmas tour of The White House.

During their walkabout....out of nowhere comes Bo....The White House Dog, complete with Christmas collar, on cue....to do a couple of cute tricks for the watching telly audience.

I love it...in this country we'd call it giving a paw....but in the Obama White House it's known as high fiving.

If Gordon Brown did this, all that would happen is the dog would run up...get nervous....pee on the floor or down Gordon's leg and then he'd get caught up in a dry cleaning expenses bill fiasco which would force him out of office.

Video of the week. You HAVE to see this.

2009-12-11T06:47:00.002Z

This one, I have to say is video of the day...in any pretty much any given week.

A 75-year-old British granny has become a dance superstar on the Continent after winning the Spanish version of Britain's Got Talent.

Paddy Jones, originally from the West Midlands, stunned viewers and judges with a routine that included flips, shimmies, spins and slides.

She only took up salsa dancing five years ago - with a partner 40 years her junior.

75 years old, she is.

You HAVE to see this.

She’s very supple. I’ll give her that.

It’s as if her head’s been superimposed on someone 40 years younger...but it’s a bit like watching a Stephen King horror. You don’t want to watch, but you can’t help yourself....which is pretty much how the panel of Spanish judges must have been feeling when they saw her, if you go by the looks on their faces. It’s worth watching the video for that alone. The expressions are a mixture of admiration and sheer terror when you can see them thinking..."MY God...what if she doesn't live through this routine. We’ll get taken off the air. How will I pay for Christmas??!!"

Paddy Jones, the 75 year old salsa dancing granny - winner of Spain’s Got Talent.

Friday Flicks

2009-12-11T06:12:00.002Z

This week, we'll look at 3 new releases - Where The Wild Things Are, Carriers, AND director James Cameron's first movie in 12 years, since the Oscar winning epic that was Titanic - reportedly the most expensive film ever made, coming in at around 300 million dollars.

It had it's world premiere in London last night.

It is, of course, Avatar.

Where The Wild Things Are is an adaptation of the massively popular book, about a little boy called Max who feels unwanted at home, so runs away to the island where the wild things are, and becomes their King.

The only thing I would say about this in advance is that yes it seems a shoe in for taking the kids along, but it's as gorgeous a film as it is sad and strange....and it might not necessarily be for everyone.

It's never really scary as such, but Max never seems more than a couple of steps away from it becoming a nightmare rather than an adventure.

Carriers is a simple story line....4 kids grab a car and flee a fatal viral pandemic in rural America, hoping to escape to the coast without contracting the disease themselves.

You'll recognize the faces of the cast, if not necessarily where you've seen them before. Chris Pine, for instance, played the young Kirk in Star Trek earlier in the year.

It's OK. Nothing new. If you like this sort of teen disaster flick....then it's for you.

Remember, there will be those scenes where otherwise smart characters make disastrously stupid decisions simply to allow for massive twists in the plot.

If you can live with that, it's a decent night out.

Avatar, is the most expensive movie ever made.

Directed by James Cameron...which seems to be attracting more attention than the cast of the film itself.....the biggest name of which is probably Sigourney Weaver....Avatar is a 3D epic which had it's world premiere in London last night.

Here's the lowdown - try to stay with me

The far-away world of Pandora is home to the Na'vi, a race of incredibly tall, blue-skinned people, and Hell's Gate is the planet's human compound.

Some humans, like Colonel Quaritch view the Na'vi as a threat and want to wage war against them.

Others, like Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), want to save them.

When disabled soldier Jake dons his Avatar - a body made to resemble the Na'vi - and meets native female Neytiri, he ends up on a journey of discovery unlike anything he could ever have imagined.

And if you don't believe that synopsis, you should really watch the trailer.

Don't forget, there's your daily chance to win your way into the movies for free with Andy James later on today.

He's back on at 4.

One For The Day - Day 60

2009-12-11T06:06:00.003Z

Simple inspiration for this one.....we bought the Christmas in Madagascar DVD for Josh from the supermarket the other day when we were in.....and if you know any of the Madagascar movies...you'll know this song has played a big part in them.

Here's the original that inspired theirs.

It's Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman

One For The Day - Day 59

2009-12-10T08:23:00.002Z

I'm going to go with this one today, simply because I think this girl has an amazing voice.

Signed to Amy Winehouse's label, and appeared on Strictly with Amy as a backing singer.

In this video here with one of Amy's own backing singers doing the male vocal.

This is Dionne Bromfield's version of Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Avatar - At 300 million cost - it had better be good. Here's the trailer.

2009-12-10T07:28:00.001Z

The world premiere of what's said to be the most expensive film of all time will take place in London tonight.

The makers of Avatar claim the 3D fantasy movie's the most technically advanced in history.

It's director James Cameron's first project since Titanic 12 years ago and cost a reported 300 million pounds to make.

That’s astonishing.

300 million!

No wonder he’s taken 12 years....he can’t risk it tanking at that cost, can he.

Anyway, that world premiere tonight...featuring one of our listeners walking the red carpet.

What do you mean you didn’t know.

Romeo did it last night.

You see what you miss if you’re not listening to In Demand from 7.

If you want to check out what all the fuss is about with Avatar....