Brett-Butler

Blimey Charley, that’s a packed list of big films opening this week, although I would stick a fiver on “Demon Slayer” being the surprise #1 next week.

Could be Suede’s first #1 album since “Head Music” in 1999 (an album that was so hyped at the time, Virgin Megastores literally changed its name to “Head Music” for a day). You love to see it.

Did “The Fountain” not get a UK cinema release?

Taking inflation into account, that would be around £11.2 million at 2025 prices. That may be a tad ambitious for this one, although the studio will likely be happy with how it’s done overall.

It was never going to be as good as the original trilogy (the first film is one of my favourite films ever), but to my surprise it came very close. I laughed the whole way through it, Liam Neeson does the “deadpan cop who doesn’t realise the chaos he creates around him” role very well, and does a good job of getting the tone of the original, whilst not just rehashing all the jokes from it and making it feel modern (or as modern as you can for a film that was made to spoof the type of film that hasn’t really hit cinemas for at least 40 years). If it gets a sequel I would not be disappointed, and if it leads to a revival of similar ridiculous spoof films I wouldn’t mind either (don’t think there’s been a spoof film I’ve liked since Scary Movie 4).

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Given that Trey Parker & Matt Stone made an episode about Mohammad just days after being sent death threats by Islamists, there was no way that the small issue of being sued was going to stop South Park from mercilessly satirising Donald Trump in this episode. The depiction of him a la Saddam Hussein was funny, the live action denouement less so, although the funniest had in the whole episode was Cartman not realising that an electric car doesn’t give off carbon dioxide. It’s proof that they are the most fearless satirists out there, happy to mock everyone and anyone with great aplomb.

Is there a reason why this has blown up so much in the last few weeks? I’ve been tangibly aware of the anime series for years, and by extension the game, but it seems to have infiltrated my socials to quite a large degree recently. Has it only recently been localised?

Would be great for Acquiesce to finally make the top 40, after being cruelly denied in 2006 thanks to OCC’s then-rules.

Whilst I doubt it is her intention, it would be ironic if this ended up giving additional funding to Reform and soon to be Reform-led councils, and away from Labour and Lib Dem ones.

I’ve semi-jokingly called myself a “Catholic Centrist” a few times on here, and probably is still as good a descriptor of where I generally sit on the spectrum, in that I’m largely centre-left on economics (in favour of decent state spending, expansion of social housing, and a supportive welfare state that acts as a trampoline rather than a safety net), and would be considered more conservative on social issues (although I could make left-wing arguments for some of them). It doesn’t slot me easily into the usual left/right political spectrum, but I’m somewhere around the middle.

Yeah, I’m not going to cry many tears about lost tour income. By all rights his career should have ended in 2011 when those photos came out, and it’s a travesty that he became even more of an international star after that. It feels like a “getting Capone on tax evasion” moment (not that I’m dismissing the extent of his alleged crime), but if this is what finally leads to his career ending, I’m not going to complain.

Because she’s going to be swimming in love from Europe after that performance.

Denmark feels like a winner.

This staging feels like they’ve tried to cater for both the gays and the straights, and failed on both counts.

I liked the Lithuanian song, although I got somewhat distracted by Popery whilst watching it.

The UK are coming bottom, unfortunately.

That’s probably the only time she could crowd surf and not get felt up.

Have I wandered Into a Vegan Soy Wax Candle Shop?

Well, given that Norway once won the contest be ripping off Ireland, seems only fair they send one of their own to babysit Eurovision for us this year. The chorus is incredibly flat, probably will be touch and go if this will qualify.

One thing that’s improved from prior year - it’s now only shot in film during the performances. It really threw me off last year.

Why does Italy have subtitles when other foreign language songs don’t? Are they worried people won’t like it if they don’t know what it’s about? Quite like this song, it’s a lovely 70s esque soft rock number.

Sweden spend 430 hours and all their oil revenues each year choosing their entrant, and THAT’S what they came up with?

Labour came 2nd in this seat in 2024, albeit their candidate was suspended prior the campaign due to a betting scandal. Currently Reform are currently favourites in the most recent model I’ve seen.

The last Pope called Leo, as you would all be familiar with, was the author of “Rerum Novarum”, which is a brilliant defence of the rights of workers, which has gained a bit of traction among some in recent years. Let’s see if that will be what he will be focusing on.