Strictly Baby Disco - Yay or Nay?

Last week, Channel 4 aired a documentary following the journey of three children vying to topple the DK (Disco Kid) dancing champion, Karah. Disco kid Dancing is a bizarre world – full of sexualized, extravagant (dare I say tacky) costumes, pushy parents and young children pushing themselves to mental and physical extremes. It draws some of the same comparisons, and criticisms as beauty pageants for children.

Whilst there is no denying that the talent of the competitors is enormous, one has to wonder whether it is a case of too much, too young. The demands of competing surely are harmful to children at a young age, for example, one girl had a back problem, and after the first eat of the DK championship at Blackpool, one girl collapsed and one girl burst into tears, which was harrowing to watch.

The competition also causes great stress for children leading up to the event, for example, the Irish mother frequently lambasts her daughter for failing to complete a move correctly and forces her to practise continuously. The competition has become a big part of her life and you wonder whether the girl has a chance to lead a normal life outside DK dancing or whether it is just Disco, Disco, Disco 24/7. The monstrosity of a wig that is fixed on her head was the mother’s idea, who often ignores the pleas from her daughter to stop wearing the wig.

It does seem that some of the mothers have concentrated everything on their child’s success in the competition. Does it mean that they focused in wanting the best for their children…or are they attempting to live their lives through their children, who are treated as “things”. The mothers treat their children with enormous pressure – one parent is unhappy with her child not managing a Top 3 finish despite clinching a trophy. I do worry that entering a competitive environment so young may have an adverse effect in later life. They are experiencing so much pressure – mental and physical – that it may culminate into something with negative consequences, especially as some of the mothers as just as obsessed with success if not more. Failure to succeed can harm the relationship between mother and daughter and can harbour resentment. What if the child didn’t want to compete anymore? For some of the mothers, they have devoted their life to it, so what would they do if a situation would arise? Karah, the reigning champion, seems to be the most normal of the 4 girls (although her final costume and her fake tan were horrendous) and is a talented dancer who rightly won the DK contest at the end of the show, but DK dancing seems like a strange and scary world.

A Hopeless Romantic - Harriet Evans - final update!

OMG!!!! I have finally finished!!! This is the best day of my life!!! Trying to read this has been a great chore. At first I abhorred the book and the author for making her main character, Laura Foster, so selfish and unlikeable, especially during her affair with Dan. Her life then goes bad, but it is a bit too much to expect the reader to feel sympathy for her. Later she goes on holiday to Norfolk with her family, which felt like it dragged too long, before she met Nick. Initially I like the way these two characters fell for each other, and the fairytale storyline, but after Nick’s secret was revealed, the book started to lag again. Nick become a dithering, weedy character and Laura became selfish, whiny and self-obsessed again. After that, the story just falls flat. Nothing in the rest of the narrative stands out, and none of the characters present themselves as likeable. At the end, I didn’t really care what happened to Laura, and the events that followed in the final parts of the story where predictable, and I think that Evans hasn’t achieved in telling the romantic story she wanted to. I’ve given it a chance – with other books, I would have stopped reading, but I thought that perhaps it might get better, but overall, A Hopeless Romantic has been a great disappointment. Reading the blurb of this book, I thought it was a nice idea, but I just never took to the character of Laura, and never interested in her story. 1 star.

Andrew Collings - That's Me in the Corner review

As a big fan of the Collings and Herrin podcast (which has ended – sobsob), I decided to try reading Andrew Collins’ book, That’s Me in the Corner. I’ve already read Richard Herring’s How Not To Grow Up (I’ve reviewed it on this blog) and was really surprised. I really enjoyed it, so I really wanted to like this book.

TMITC recounts Collins’ various jobs as he reaches the age of 40. Some of it is good, I enjoyed the early bit about his job at Sainsbury’s and his take on the supermarket hierarchy there, both for the most part, it was not interesting enough, and perhaps slightly self-indulgent. I felt Collins namedrops a lot which can be a bit frustrating, and I think due to my age, I haven’t connected with the book as I don’t understand the rock/indie musical or 80s/early 90s references. Overall, the writing style just isn’t strong enough – it mostly reads like a list of anecdotes, factual for the most part, with the odd celebrity name dropped in and there is little to gain from reading this. HNTGU was captivating as Herring had a set theme – reaching the age of 40 and whether he should be more adultlike – and incorporated several events from his life. You don’t need to have prior knowledge to read it, it is pretty accessible for any reader, whereas I felt like I was missing something when reading TMITC. Another thing that was successful about HNTGU was Herring’s writing content – it is witty and interesting, and it also probes deeper into his feelings about career, life, health, history and his love life. Collins doesn’t do anything of the sort, and it seems quite pointless and shallow on some level. I frequently found myself skim-reading or skipping large chunks whereas with HNTGU I was hooked on every page and could not put it down.

That being said, I do enjoy Collin’s wry throwaway observations which are casually thrown in and I enjoyed the chapter about writing for Eastenders but taken as a whole, it isn’t my cup of tea. Perhaps I am being too harsh, Collins isn’t a comedian like Herring so I can’t expect it to be a hilarious read and maybe it is unfair to compare TMITC to HNTGU, but I do expect to enjoy and get something out of reading the book, but sadly, with Collins’ book, I don’t get anything at all. 2 stars.

*It was announced that Richard Herring is to get married yesterday – perhaps he had finally grown up after all!

You Drive Me Crazy - Carole Matthews

This tale chronicles the lives of two divorcees-to-be as they meet at a solicitor's office at the beginning of the book, and the lives become intertwined ever since. These two main characters, Anna and Nick are presented as likeable characters and as a reader, you get the sense that you really want them to end up together and find happiness with each other, but of course, there are always obstacles as the course of true love never runs smoothly, and yet fate brings them back together, in an event which was both funny but ends on a heartbreaking note. Paralleled with the love between Anna and Nick is the tale of Sophie and Sam, yet in comparison, their love is a relationship which is not fated to be. I thought the book was well written and I couldn't put it down. It is a funny, warm story yet from time to time we get dark glimpses from the past of these characters, which makes it all the more interesting, such as Anna's violent past. I would definitely recommend this - a fantastic read!