The Queen is starring in an advert! The REAL Queen. I can't believe my eyes.

Prince Harry wants to promote the Invictus Games. So he calls on his mates to appear in an advert with him....look who he got - only the flippin' QUEEN! Oh and Obama and Michelle, but let me say this again, THE QUEEN is in it!

BOOM!

Tom Cruise, meet Tom Cruise. But mind out for Arnie!

Imagine a club where time is a fluid, allowing any famous person who had ever stepped inside to reside indefinitely in that moment. A place where Al Pacino could walk back in 10 years later and see himself 10 years younger. A club that acts as a time sticky paper. This is the illusion that this clever mashup creates - it's called Hell's Club.

Amanda Palmer my new feminist hero.

I am a girl who has always picked feminist idols to look up to. Over the years I've collected a few. Here they are for mutual admiration.

1. Jane Austen, Author

Damn she was a clever woman our Jane. And she has just been recognised as one of our greatest national figures by the sexist Royal Mint. She will be the new face of £10 notes. Austen's writing poked fun at the establishment and the precarious role of women who's futures hung at the mercy of often very stupid or roguish men. Not only that, she actually turned down an offer of marriage, just like her heroine Elizabeth Bennet. Girl had balls.

2. Madonna, Singer

Madonna is a bitch and a diva isn't she? She's also pretty demanding and extreme. But fuck what people say about her, she knows how to do the showbiz thing. She's the master of reinvention and she's battled to stay at the top for three decades. She's strong. She does things her way and isn't scared of criticism. She never apologises and she loves sex and her body and has hot toy boys. Go Madge!

2. Lady Gaga, Singer

Lady Gaga says she is a feminist. She doesn't dress for men to gawp at like most female singers. She dresses for the theatre and spectacle, to show off her creativity and to push boundaries. She hasn't used her looks to get where she is, she has used her brain. She's also a champion for gay rights and someone who gives those who don't fit the mould someone to relate to.

3. Caitlin Moran, Journalist and Author

Moran's book "How to be a Woman" is extremely funny, self depreciating and charming. At the same time it is also a book which tells women to embrace who they are, to accept the fact they are natural women with faults and quirks. She argues that we shouldn't look like barbie dolls with no public hair, we are women not children! Plus she shares my instinctive love for Lady Gaga.

4. NEW ENTRY Amanda Palmer, Singer.
Amanda Palmer's songs are clever and funny and about true life. What US rapper, X factor contestant or Pussy cat doll can say that? She has also spoken out in response to the Daily Mail's coverage of her performance at Glastonbury which failed to mention the music or her performance and solely concentrated on the fact that one of her boobs escaped her bra on stage. In a performance at the Round House she mocks The Daily Mail in a song called "Dear Daily Mail" in which she criticises them for objectifying women and reducing them to body parts. And in order to show how little she cares whether "shock horror" her boob escapes she drops her robe half way through the song. Look she says, come fight me now. Respect.

My 50 Top films

In the lull before Christmas my fellow copywriters and I put together lists of our top 25 books to make into a poster. It's quite a fun exercise if you are a bookworm like me - picking out the ones you love the most. 

Take a look at my list on my other blog The Copywriter's Bookshelf.

We then challenged each other to think of our top films. So here is my top 50 with directors and dates. Starting with my favourite of all time...oooooo David Bowie in those tight leggings and sexy eyeliner.....mmmmmmm. 

1. The Labyrinth, Jim Henderson (1986)
2. The Muppet Christmas Carol, Jim Henderson (1992)
3. Monster, Patty Jenkins (2003)
4. Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann (2001)
5. Some Like it Hot, Billy Wilder (1959)
6.  Ferris Bueller’s Day off, John Hughes, (1986)
7.  The Shining, Stanley Kubrick, (1980)
8. The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan (2007)
9.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Michael Gondry (2005)
10. Edward Sissorhands, Tim Burton (1990)
11. Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson (2002)
12. Harry Potter franchise, Chris Columbus/Alfonso Cuaron/ Mike Newell/David Yates (2001-11)
13. This is Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner (1984)
14. Shindler’s List, Steven Spielberg (1993)
15. A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick (1971)
16. Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese (1990)
17. Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen (1996)
18. Walk the Line, James mangold (2005)
19. It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra (1946)
20. Mama Mia, Phillida Lloyd (2008)
21. The Royal Tenenbaums, wes Anderson (2001)
22. Clueless, Amy Heckerling (1995)
23. Se7en, David Fincher (1995)
24.  The Silence of the Lambs, Jonathan Demme (1995)
25.  Anchorman, Adam McKay (2004)
26.  The Lion King, Disney (1994)
27.  Beauty and the Beast, Disney (1991)
28. Interview with a vampire, Neil Jordan (1994)
29. Sin City, Robert Rodrigez, Frank Miller (2005)
30. Dodgeball, Rawson Marshall Thurber (2004)
31. Romeo and Juliette, Baz Luhrmann (1996)
32. Kickass, Matthew Vaughn (2010)
33.  The Sound of Music, Robert Wise (1965)
34. Pirates of the Caribbean, Gore Verbinski (2003)
35.  Juno, Jason Reitman (2007)
36. Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton (2006)
37. American Psycho, Mary Harron (2000)
38. Kill Bill1&2, Quentin Tarantino (2003-4)
39. Pretty Woman, Garry Marshall (1990)
40. The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan (1999)
41. Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle (2008)
42.  Grease, Randal Kleiser (1978)
43. The Nightmare Before Christmas, Henry Selick (1993)
44. Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton (2007)
45. An Education, Lone Scherfig (2009)
46. Mean Girls, Mark Waters (2004)
47. Shaun of the Dead, Edgar Wright (2004)
48. Titus Andronicus, Julie Taymor (1999)
49.  The Full Monty, Peter Cattaneo (1997)
50. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Robert Zemeckis (1988)


So that's it. What do you think? What makes it into your list and what is your favourite of all time? 

Beyoncé's little sister Solange Knowles - a surprise

I was sceptical about how good Beyoncé's sister's music might be. After all she surely had an easy route to fame  - "Oh your sister is famous, do you sing too? Yes? Here's a record deal." But to be fair I really like this cute little tune "Losing You" and Solange's inept unpolished little dance moves which are the opposite of Beyonce's raunchy style. She's pretty adorable. Her video seems to feature a fair few union jacks in a very non-Uk setting so that's strange. Maybe she has a crush on us. We are pretty hip aren't we.

Check her video out and let me know what you think.



There is an interesting article about her in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/03/solange-knowles-true-dev-hynes

Seven Psychopaths vs Seven Psychocats

This film looks funny



This film looks funnier



You know why cats are always the bad guys? Coz they're just smarter than dogs and they are deadly. My kitten Ziggy slashed my sister's hand this week and my other kitten Bailey slashed my thigh  a few weeks ago. Both bled a lot. Look they enjoyed it - that's why they are high-fiving!

Think they can get around me by being super cute!....oh ok then maybe I'll give them some more biscuits.

This week I have been mostly....

Anyone remember the Fast Show sketch where each week a farmer came out of his shed and said "this week I have been mostly eating broccoli/ baked beans/ flans"?




Well here's what I've been mostly doing this week:

This week I have been mostly reading about Jimmy Saville being a kiddy fiddler.

For my American readers benefit Jimmy Saville was a TV presenter and radio DJ who presented two very popular and influential children's programs: "Top of the Pops" and "Jim' ll fix it" - a wish fulfilment program. Here is a clip of him in Jim'll Fix it:



When I worked on UK TV Gold a few years ago my partner and I had an idea for an advert featuring Jimmy Saville. "Wouldn't it be great if we got Jimmy Saville and fixed today's children's wishes on our adverts?", said we, all smiles and innocence. "Errrr...no....you can't have children in a room with Jimmy", came the reply. People in the BBC have since admitted that Jimmy's taste for sexually assaulting teenagers was an "open secret". It certainly seems that way which is a shocking failing on the part of our beloved BBC.
You can see Jimmy's exposure in this ITV documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fka6l2X0j-Y

This week I have been mostly giving up alcohol

This was after three successive drunken nights and awful hangovers. One saw me forgetting my pin number, crying because I'd forgotten it, and getting taken all the way to Essex in a cab because I didn't notice the taxi driver had mistaken my slurring for a different address. I then slumped on the doorstep unable to fit my key in the lock and had to be rescued by a sleepy boyfriend. After these experiences I am forsaking alcohol for a month. When I announced this on Facebook my friends were dismayed. Turns out they might like drunk Aimee better than the sober me.
Yes, sober me is a bore.

This week I have been mostly enjoying having purple hair.

I'm rather unadventurous - or so my boyfriend told me last night. Dying a purple streak in my hair was an act of rebellion and fun. And now I have it I want more. MORE PURPLE! MORE MORE! And it makes me feel different - cooler, more kick-ass, stronger. When I wore my black halter neck dress on saturday the purple hair made me look like a goth. It's like being 17 again. I love it.

This week I have been mostly watching The Paradise on BBC1. 



I love a good gentle costume drama. The Paradise is in the same vein as Downton Abbey. Surprisingly even my boyfriend liked it.

Next week who knows. I could mostly be in LA.

The best music videos ever?

Today I've decided to look at some of the music videos which NME have in their 100 best videos of all time list. Here are the ones I agree with. Plus I'm gonna also add some of my own. Coz this is my blog innit. Enjoy.

Firstly here's Muse with Knights of Cydonia. It's a massive western and there is a unicorn and some laser guns and a hot chick and basically it's a teenage dream. A hilarious one.


I've loved Metallica ever since I was 17 and I watched my Boyfriend's mates' band The Fire Breathing Penguins play Enter Sandman in our local in Swansea. Here they are with Turn the Page and a sad video about a woman selling her body to raise her daughter. Its beautifully done.


This is a dark one - but we are coming up to Halloween so why not - Monster by Kanye West, Jay Z and Nicky Minaj. It's kinda wrong but I like it. It's the goth in me.


Phew after the living dead we could do with some Catholic church time right? Madonna's Like a Prayer should do the trick. Oh and look she had a black Jesus before Lady Gaga. Madonna is right - she's a little copycat! I've just noticed Madonna dances like my Mum in this video.


Here's another poor sinner - Lady Gaga poor dab is in love with Judas. How could she do that to sexy Jesus? Oooh she loves a bad boy. This video is amazing just for the costumes, let alone the religious symbols. But there are also some awesome dance moves here for you to learn and produce in a club near you.


Talking about dancing there's some wonderful slow mo- dance moves here. This is the Knife with Deep Cuts. It might be the beauty of this female impersonator's calmness but this is mesmerisingly haunting and beautiful. Never heard of these guys before I saw this video.



This one is funny. In Jane's Addiction's Been caught stealing a bunch of interesting characters go shoplifting in a supermarket then everyone, including an acrobatic granny, does a bit of dancing. That's always a winner isn't it - a dancing granny?


Here's a clever one - and one that I remember coming out. REM with Imitation of life. The video is one scene fastforwarded and rewinded over and over so that you can focus, with the help of the camera with everything that is going on at the same time. It's a bit like being God  - making you omnipresent. Imagine if you could do this at real parties.


Ok - I know I've already featured Lady Gaga but her videos are just so good! And this one has Beyonce too so it's like, totally diff! So many good things in this one - nice little story line, great cigarette glasses and some great costumes for both girls.


This one is just so outrageously funny it has to feature. I mean girl look at that body!  LMFAO with Sexy and I Know it.


Finally MIA with Bad Girls which is shot somewhere that looks like Afghanistan or something but it's actually Morocco. It was shot in solidarity with thewomen to drive movement, so it has a political message. GOOOO MIA!

Ok so there are obviously lots of other great music videos out there. I didn't include some like Gangham Style because I have featured them very recently on my blog. Please let me know if you have a video you think is worthy to add to the list. Over and out.

Helicopter Dick and other genius moments

Working in the office on the day that should have been the summer party did have its perks. The best being our head of Traffic showing me the amazingly funny and celebrity splattered music videos from The Lonely Island. Most of you Americans will be very familiar with these videos since, I am told, they play on Saturday Night Live (correct me if I'm wrong). So this post if for those unlucky enough not to have already seen them...or lucky enough to be viewing them for the first time. Watch out for guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and more.

Here's their official website:

http://www.thelonelyisland.com/

And here's a taster of the gems you will find there:

Famous people wot I av seen

Ok I admit it, I'm bored. This is what happens when you pin down copy too far in advance of a meeting.

So, while I wait I'd thought I'd amuse myself in writing a list of all the famous people my other have spotted/met over the years. And yes, I want to hear your spottings too. And no, it doesn't count if you paid to see them or saw them on any kind of stage.

1. Prince Harry and Chelsea Davie - Elbowed past them in Selfridges, realised who they were, then stalked them into the naughty underwear section where they giggles at nipple tassels.

2. Jerry Springer - getting in his car in Florida. He has a nice car. In fact I was looking at the car and that's why I spotted him.

3. The entire cast of Goodness Gracious me, the Kumars etc - went to a charity party and they were all there - maybe I broke my own rule by including them as they did kinda go on a stage and we did kinda pay for tickets but Mira Syal did come say hi.

4. Rupert Penry-Jones - spent a few days doing voice overs with him. He's pretty cute - very tall and quite muscly. But he was always a bit sweaty as he motorbikes around.

4. Colin Salmon - This was two days recording Voice overs. He was in Spooks too by the way, and No. 1 Ladies detective agency

5. Jason Isaacs - Him wot was evil in Harry Potter. He didn't have the blonde wig and was almost unrecognisable apart from the very blue eyes - Voice overs again. Nice guy.

6. David Walliams - He was coming out of Claridges -so tall!!

7. Cynthia Nixon (aka Miranda from Sex and the City) - she was coming out of the Ivy's club/hotel thingie and getting in a car. I stared a lot so she glared at me and I stopped. She was in London for the premier of sex and the City 2. Her hair was really blonde.

8. Darius - Again - really tall! He let me go in front of him at the gates on the tube. Now don't judge me too harshly but he was pretty hot in the flesh.

9. Jimmi Carr - walking around near Bond Street. He clocked us clocking him so we tried to play it cool.

10. Boris Johnson - other half spotted him pretending to be a tramp walking about in South London. He smiled at my fiance in a "oh dear you clocked me dressed even more tramp like than usual" kinda way.

11. Paul Nicholls - Hanging around chatting in Soho. No he wasn't wearing that green jumper with the holes that he wore in Eastenders. In fact lets make this an Eastenders section so I don't have to list them all separately. I sat next to Scott Maslen (aka Jack Branning) in a sushi restaurant in Soho. He wasn't as cute in the flesh. Guy who plays Phil Mitchell in a pub in Falmouth - he owns a club down there. He was even redder in real life than he is on the telly.

12. Sophie from Peep Show - in Soho...nothing interesting to say about this really - but I do love peep Show. Soho is the number one place to spot minor celebs it seems!

13. Cameron Diaz and A Rod - My fiance spotted them at the luggage carousel at Heathrow. Apparently she was hot, but in a really weird fake way - like her face had had surgery. He didn't know what A Rod looked like so he only realised it was him later.

14. Lilly Allen with Keith Allen - saw them when Lilly was a little girl and Keith was buying her some toys in Hamleys. I only recognised him as the guy from those tooth fairy adverts.

5 x 15 - Talks

My work colleague Jane is attending a speaking event where they have 5 respected figures each allowed to speak on any subject for 15 minutes. The speakers are journalists, television presenters, writers etc...here's Janet Street Porter doing a hesitant and slightly scared but still funny piece on her uses for shower caps. Enjoy.

http://www.5x15stories.com/index.php?/videos/Janet-Street-Porter/

When Adgirl met Royalty

A year ago I was in a mad shopping frenzy before my holiday. I needed a new bikini so Fiance and I headed to Selfridges and to the upper floor where underwear and swimwear are. Failing to find any bikinis that cost less than £80 I elbowed my way past a girl with long blonde hair and two guys. Suddenly my Fiance grabbed hold of my elbow and swung me into an aisle.

"Do you know who you just elbowed out the way????"

"No"

"That was Prince Harry and Chelsea Davy!!!"



"NO WAY!!...Who's that other guy?"

"Dunno, security?"

So what were they like in the flesh? Chelsea has a very snubby nose and her hair was in BAD condition. Harry? Well he just looked pretty normal. He was wearing a padded gillet. Very royal family.

Fiance and I looked around for Special forces police but could see no one hanging around wearing dark glasses and talking into a walkie-talkie like in the movies so we decided to stalk the royal couple from a safe distance. We followed then as they went to into the lingerie section, where they stopped and looked at naughty nipple tassels and giggled.

I would have taken a picture and sold it to heat magazine but I thought that if I tried undercover agents might swoop like something out of The Borne identity. So I resisted.

And that was the day that Adgirl met HRH Prince Harry. The end.

PS: If you guys have any great "bumping into a celebs" stories please let me know!

Sock Puppet Michael Jackson

I love puppets. I think this stems from my childhood as Mum and dad did my teddies talking every night before I went to sleep. I totally get into it still. Which is why I love this little puppet show of Michael Jackson's life. Don't watch it if you love love love Jackson and can't stand people taking the piss. Personally I love Jackson's music but taking the piss is perfectly acceptable in my eyes.

"I'd love you even if you were 56"

On Saturday night my friend Gemma introduced me to the joys that are STAR STORIES! Of course, being Welsh we chose to watch the star story of Catherine Zeta Jones, who hails from our hometown of Swansea. Big up the Welsh! Have a laugh while you watch the ad for it yourself.