Best of Britain Part Two

Here is the second installment of my favourites from my time here in England. This will probably be my last post from the UK as Michelle and my family are set to arrive and I'll spend the next two weeks sightseeing, so enjoy!

Music

Hard-Fi

By far my favourite musical find since I've been here, Hard-Fi are great fun to listen to. Jangling guitars and occassional harmonicas that one reviewer likened to 'car horns' create the backdrop for lyrics focused on life as a working drone. Songs include the aptly titled "Living for the Weekend" as well as "Hard to Beat", about finding a hook-up at a party and "Cash Machine", which shows that we're all working for the money but it never seems to be enough. This is one I'll be listening to for long after I return.

Goldie Lookin' Chain

Another fun find, these guys from Wales remind me of old school Bloodhound Gang or Beastie Boys (except there's nine of them!). Songs include hilarious tracks such as "Your Missus is a Nutter", "Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do" and "Your Mother's Got a Penis". This is just one of those groups you don't take seriously, but are funny and catchy at the same time.

Gorillaz

Gorillaz was one band that I was actually aware of before I came over here, due to their success with their debut album that spawned the hits "Clint Eastwood" and "19-2000", but their new album "Demon Days" (pictured above) is excellent from what I've heard. I've downloaded the singles "Feel Good Inc.", "Dirty Harry" and "Dare", and listened to them so many times they're already on the top 25 most played on my iTunes. "Dirty Harry" is actually an anti-war tune, but it's incredibly catchy, as are the other two. Even having heard them so many times, it's hard to click past them when they come on. That infectious.

TV Shows

Space Cadets

I was fortunate to catch this one-off reality show as I think it was truly groundbreaking. Basically the story goes that the producers of the show bought an old American Air Force base in England and converted it into a Russian space base. They then got 10 contestants and pretended to put them through 3 weeks of space training in preparation to send them to "space", when in actuality they would never leave England, or the ground for that matter. A 10-part series, it was hilarious to see the 'cadets' going through all of the training for what they thought was a trip to space, when after they 'landed', it all had turned out to be fake.

Devil's Den

This is a weekly show on BBC2 with another interesting premise. Budding entrepreneurs have only about 5 minutes to enter the 'Den' and pitch their business idea to 5 multi-millionaires (each worth about $250 million), and then ask for money to help get their business going. If any of the 'Dragons' like the idea, then they can begin negotiating, for example "I'll give you the $100,000 you need to get started but I want 40% of the company." Mind you, this is only AFTER the guests have been grilled about financial details and forecasts; but it is a very engrossing show as you want to see the various business ideas and products, how they pitch it to the 'Dragons', and how the 'Dragons' respond. It's always exciting when you get them investing, but also it's fun to watch some of the people who have the nerve to ask for money.

Well, that's about it from my highlights in the media here, but look forward to my overall reflections of my work experience as well as reactions and photos from my time as a tourist and updates on the job search when I return to the States. Ciao for now!