Cool Manchester

So that’s it then, Amy and Rory have left the Doctor never to return again and their final episode was one of the greatest in recent Doctor Who history .

The whole episode was a joy to watch from beginning to end with it’s dark film noir style perfectly directed to the excellent Steven Moffat penned script which will packed with sadness and irony. Matt Smith was, as always, brilliant as Doctor 11, Alex Kingston was reassuringly good but the stand out actor for me was Karen Gillen, she was just amazing and her last few minutes on the screen were heartbreaking.

This was a woman who had just lost her husband, the true love of her life, and she was going to do anything to get him back, even if that meant never seeing The Doctor again…

Amy and Rory got the send off they deserved. After all, they were excellent companions.

People will be sad to see them go, but this is something that we can’t be shocked or surprised by though as, as explained in last week’s brilliant episode, The Doctor loses all his compainions at some point and Amy and Rory have had a much longer run with him than practically anyone else.

What sets these two apart from all the other companions though is that for the most of the time The Doctor sought them out rather than them being with him all the time. How many other times can you say that The Doctor actively looks for people on his adventures? It seems like at this stage in his very long life, The Doctor needed them more than they needed him.

Jenna Louise Coleman has got a massive task ahead of her, she has massive shoes to fill here. If she is only half as good as Karen Gillen, then she will be fantastic

It's rare nowadays that the music charts are bothered by anything other than the produce of talent shows, but every now and again a fresh new talent emerges that hasn't been moulded by Mr High & Mighty Pants himself Simon Cowell!

Bright Light Bright Light (aka singer/songwriter Rod Thomas) has come up with a collection of songs that are both refreshingly new and reassuringly nostalgic at the same time. I stumbled apon the video for the single "Waiting For The Feeling" on Popjustice a few months ago and searched out the album.

Obviously influenced by the big dance tunes from the 90's, here is a collection of songs that you can dance to and appreciate their lyrical content ("I Cry At Films" for example) Think of a more upbeat Hurts.

The album and singles havn't really troubled the Top 40, but you would do a lot worse than get yourself a copy of Mr Thomas' debut before Kylie nabs him to produce her next effort (probably!)

Hi All.

Ive just joined coolmanchester.com and will hopefully be contributing some stuff to the site. Although I live in Preston, for me Manchester was the BIG city that, as a kid we were taken to for a treat! All the big fancy buildings and stores! Even now I associate Manchester as somewhere to go to do something special. Whether that is to see a concert at the MEN, going shopping in the Arndale, wandering around Afleks Palace or hunting for presents at the Christmas Markets!

Ive freaked out on the Big Wheel!, gone searching across the city on the Cow Parade and pretended to be a pop star in concert on the colored steps at The Triangle!

Leigh

I know its simple maths, but sometimes I find it hard to believe that 1987 was actually 25 years ago

This was a big year for me, I started secondary school, there was a new actor playing Doctor Who and I had started to get into my music, spending every penny of pocket money I could get in Woolworths

I know I will probably get a hard time for saying that. However, looking at the top 40 from this time 25 years ago I can understand why I was doing it, there were some BRILLIANT songs about!

1 MARRS Pump Up The Volume / Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)
2 Rick Astley Never Gonna Give You Up
3 Cliff Richard Some People
4 Michael Jackson Bad
5 Madonna Causing A Commotion
6 T'Pau Heart And Soul
7 The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys Wipeout
8 Karel Fialka Hey Matthew
9 House Master Boyz & The Rude Boy Of House House Nation
10 Jan Hammer Crockett's Theme
11 LL Cool J I Need Love
12 Johnny Hates Jazz I Don't Want To Be A Hero
13 Level 42 It's Over
14 Abigail Mead & Nigel Goulding Full Metal Jacket (I Wanna Be Your Drill Instructor)
15 Levert Casanova
16 Sinitta Toy Boy
17 The Pet Shop Boys & Dusty Springfield What Have I Done To Deserve This
18 U2 Where The Streets Have No Name
19 Def Leppard Pour Some Sugar On Me
20 Gary Numan Cars ('E' Reg Model)
21 Chic Jack Le Freak
22 Jonathan Butler Lies
23 Black Wonderful Life
24 The Communards Tomorrow
25 Luther Vandross Stop To Love
26 Wet Wet Wet Sweet Little Mystery
27 Wax Bridge To Your Heart
28 The Sisters Of Mercy This Corrosion
29 Shakin' Stevens Come See About Me
30 ABC The Night You Murdered Love
31 The Bee Gees You Win Again
32 Heart Who Will You Run To
33 Squeeze Hourglass
34 The Housemartins Me And The Farmer
35 Mick Jagger Let's Work
36 Steve Winwood Valerie
37 Prince U Got The Look
38 Spagna Call Me
39 Then Jerico The Motive
40 Bruce Springsteen Brilliant Disguise

Four out of five songs in the top five are what I would consider all time classics. MARRS got me into House Music, Rick Astley made me notice Stock, Aitken and Waterman productions and I've always loved Michael Jackson and Madonna [in many ways this was the best era for both artists.]

The thing that strikes me the most about this Top 40 though is how varied the music was back then. There's a dance song at number one and the chart also has some rock, indie, soul and pop. This is something that rarely happens now as most radio stations are much more specialist and only play one particular type of music. For example, Kiss plays Dance and R & B, Kerrang plays Metal, Absolute is rock based and Capital and Radio 1 play shite.

I don't want to sound like an old man moaning about how much better the good old days were, but a bit of variation in today's chart would be lovely

What are your memories of the time? Do you agree with me or do you think I'm looking back with roses tinted glasses on?

This week's news story that has dominated the newspapers has been about topless pictures of The Duchess of Cornwall. Today the story developed further when a Danish publication has announced it's running the pics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19649604

The tabloids in particular have shown outrage with Richard Desmond, boss of The Star and The Daily Express suspending the editor of The Irish Star for running the pics.

Is it me, or does this whole story smack of hypocrisy? Are the press offended by the naked pictures? That would be strange seeing that The Sun and The Star always have a naked woman on page three during the week.

Or, are the press offended by the violation of somebody's privacy? Again that would be rather cheeky seeing that was the reason we have the Leveson enquiry now after the tabloids took it upon themselves to hack the voicemails of dead teenagers....

Maybe this is a sign of the papers turning a corner and I'm being too harsh on them? After all, one of my first blogs on here was a rant about the papers

http://www.coolmanchester.com/index.php/CM/general-rants/british-news-trust-no-one