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Happiness & Joy

McBusted Live: Fantastic Music, Great Set and Tons of Fun

By Gigs & Shows, Happiness & JoyNo Comments
mcbusted-tour-2014

Steve & Myself.

 At the weekend Steve and I went to see McBusted at the MEN arena in Manchester. McBusted’s target audience are teenage girls, young women and gay men. We saw loads of teenage girls and a number of young women who had dragged their boyfriends along (bless them). But the audience lacked many gay men, probably because it was Eurovision final night.

McBusted came on stage to teenage girls screaming like banshees. The music was fantastic with McBusted playing a setlist that was an equal mix of McFly and Busted tracks. The set included a Back to the Future style car and a descending UFO. Throughout the show there was a kaleidoscope of colour from lights, screens and illuminated guitars.

McBusted delivered beyond expectations. They gave an energetic performance, had a brilliant stage presence, fluid movements, voices that were spot on and engaged the audience well. Overall the audience seemed to have tons of fun as McBusted played all of fans favourite tracks. Personally enjoyed Shine A Light, which one of my all time favourite songs.

I know from McFly’s 10th Anniversary Concert Live DVD that they are in their element and at their best when performing live. McBusted was no different. If you love any of their music then go see them live. I promise that you wont be disappointed.

Here are some photos, click on any of photo for full size:

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An explosion of smoke.
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The ‘Back to the Future’ style car.
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The stage, complete with stage-walk around the OMFG mega fans.
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The set. Bright lights in all colours.
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The set. Bright lights in all colours.
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UFO in the centre of the audience.
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McBusted performed on the UFO, once it had been lowered into place.
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McBusted attempt at Human Pyramid on the stage-walk as well, very impressive.
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The giant audience balls, let loose into the audience.
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Cannons shot paper and streamers out at the audience.
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McBusted performing one of their last songs.
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McBusted completed their final song, before each of them jumping into a hole set into the stage.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Wednesday 14 May 2014

The Latest Me Gossip

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Creativity, Happiness & Joy, Health, Life, Love & Relationships, Shopping, TechnologyNo Comments

Now, as you know, I’m not one to gossip but (looks over both shoulders)…let me tell you the latest me gossip.

I had a flare-up of abdominal pain in mid-April for about three weeks. Not fun. This accompanied by two other infections and a abscess in my wisdom tooth, made me feel exhausted, grumpy and down in the dumps. I saw my GP who sent me for blood tests and referred me onto a Gastroenterologist. I saw my Dentist who prescribed some antibiotics for the abscess. Then I saw a Gastroenterologist who wants a CT scan with dyes done. This has been booked for the day before my birthday. 🙁

During this period of ill health, I realised that when I feel bad, I spend money to make myself feel better. I overspent online buying things I didn’t really need. Then when I was feeling well enough, I went to the Trafford Centre and bought these:


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My New Superdry Wallet

I did feel guilty for buying these, as I didn’t really need them. But we’re allowed to spend a little money on ourselves from time to time, right?

But that’s not the biggest piece of gossip. That would be that: I’m in a relationship. Boyfriend-A, as I shall name him here, came along completely unexpected. He’s great. Everything I want in a partner. I’m sure you’ll learn more about him as time goes on. But for now, that’s all I want to share.

I just discovered the new SimCity game (which is actually not that new. It came out in November 2013 and I didn’t know about it till now). Boyfriend-A bought me a copy and we play together. It’s completely addictive and fantastic, apart from this disaster that happened today:

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Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster
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Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster

Oh and anyone who loves anything Sim-related will be pleased to know that The Sims 4 is coming out later this year. Here’s a video:

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Despite being busy I’ve managed to write, edit and submit a dystopian short story. I hope to be able to give you an update on this later on in the year. I’m reading two fantastic books: Above by Isla Morley and Thief’s Magic by Trudi Canavan. Above is a phoneminal and Theif’s Magic is a must-read for any fantasy fiction fan. Reviews on these titles will be coming soon.

I also have so many wonderful things to look forward to, including:

  • Going for a weekend away in A Lovely Welsh Cottage with Simon in May and then with Jayne in September.
  • Seeing McBusted live which will be one of my best birthday present ever. Thank you to a kind man for this.
  • Attending Lancashire Science Festival with Steve & Jayne. I’ve booked tickets in the moring for Dr Sarita Robinson’s talk ‘How to Power Up your Brain’ and in the afternoon Dr Ian Turner’s talk ‘The Science of Doctor Who.’
  • More good times with Boyfriend-A.
  • And celebrating the birthday’s of some of my friends and family.

Despite my health problems, I feel quite alive and happy to be living :). I can’t wait to have all of these good times and to write about them here.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 4 May 2014

My Happiness Report and How To Be Happier

By Happiness & Joy, Technology, The WebNo Comments

About six months ago I watched the video below and I decided to try Track Your Happiness:

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Track Your Happiness.org is a new scientific research project that aims to use modern technology to help answer this age-old question. Using this site in conjunction with your iPhone, you can systematically track your happiness and find out what factors – for you personally – are associated with greater happiness. Your responses, along with those from other users of trackyourhappiness.org, will also help us learn more about the causes and correlates of happiness.

(From: About – Track Your Happiness, last accessed: Saturday 19th April 2014)

Fifty times I was sent emails with a link to a questionnaire about my current state of happiness. First it collated what day it was (I think collating the time would have also been useful), asked where I was, asked what I was doing and whether I had to do or wanted to do what I was doing. Here were my results:

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Happiness Report – Weekday

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Happiness Report – Location

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Happiness Report – Activity

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Happiness Report – Want to or Have to do what I’m doing?

Then I was asked about how focused I was feeling and how productive I was being. Here were my results:

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Happiness Report – How Focused am I?

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Happiness Report – My Productivity

Then I was asked about the amount of sleep I had got the night before, along with the quality. At the time I wasn’t sleeping well. Here were the results:

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Happiness Report – Amount of Sleep

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Happiness Report – Quality of Sleep

There are a few human errors in this data. This was because on a few occasions, I checked the wrong box or clicked the wrong ratio button and clicked the next question button, before realising the error (a Back button would have been useful and eliminated these human errors).

In terms of data analysis a flaw is that the data is self-reported. That said, I don’t know how else you could measure something that’s as subjective as happiness is.

I really enjoyed taking part in this study and I found the data interesting. Some of the data I already knew – such as the amount & quality of sleep I was getting, but some of the data surprised me – such as how much time I was doing different activities.

The most surprising realisation for me was that the more I thought about happiness, the happier I became. So if you want to be happier, try thinking about happiness more and consider Tracking Your Happiness.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Saturday 19 April 2014

Book Review: Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Happiness & Joy, History, Reviews2 Comments
jennifer-saunders-bonkers-cover Bonkers: My Life in Laughs is Jennifer Saunders’ fabulous autobiography.

Saunders takes us through her childhood as an RAF child to the present day. She shares her obsession with animals (mostly horses, but also dogs & chickens), aimless career and her family life.

Career wise she is completely honest (almost too honest) and gives the impression that she was dragged along for the ride, especially in the early days. She admits that she’s a procrastinator and easily distracted from any form of work (well play that she calls work ha ha).

In Bonkers Saunders often goes off on enjoyable tangents, telling stories and even the occasional mini-rant. For the record, I completely agree with everything she said in her mini-rants.

Saunders light, warm and engaging writers voice made Bonkers a captivating read that I finished a few days after starting. It had the average glossy photo pages, but a few more would have been welcome.

There are some great stories, some of which are told in this interview with Clare Balding (who Saunders completely blames for Bonkers):

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Any fan of Saunders or her work (French & Saunders, Ab Fab, Jam & Jerusalem, Radio) will love Bonkers: My Life in Laughs by Jennifer Saunders which is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Saturday 15 February 2014
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