If anyone happened to catch the front page of Heat this week you will have seen the declaration ‘Size 14 is the new sexy!’ Personally I think sex appeal has absolutely nothing to do with your dress size but let’s go with it for a minute.

Flick through to page six and cue the before and after pics of our fav celebs sporting their new ‘size 14′ figures. Among them…Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears and Heidi Range of Sugarbabes fame – in what universe are ANY of these celebs a size 14?! Sure the use of dodgy photo angles and baggy clothes may make these ladies look a little bigger than usual but come on people, who are they kidding?!

What I don’t understand is what this article is trying to achieve? Is it trying to make us ‘normal’ people feel better about ourselves?? Realistically, all it is doing is forming a completely distorted image of size in our heads, and for the more impressionable readers, making them feel bigger than they actually are!

The truth of the matter is true sex appeal is all about confidence, embracing what you are and making the most of it – regardless of your size. I’m sure I’m not the only woman tired of being ‘too fat’ or ‘too skinny’ to be sexy. Whether you’re a Kate Moss or a Marilyn Monroe, a pair of kitten heels, sexy dress and a sassy attitude is all you need to unleash your inner sex goddess – and that ladies will last much longer than ‘the new sexy!’

“A man, a friend, a brother, a son, a husband and a hero.” These are the words Ronan Keating used to describe his best friend and band mate of 16 years at his funeral on Saturday.

Anyone who follows me on twitter will know I have been MIA due to the lack of internet after moving back to the North East and into a house that is apparently stuck in some parallel universe that BT can’t reach. But when I heard about the tragic and untimely death of one of the members of my first musical love Boyzone, I had to break my blogging silence.

Being 23, I was one of those defenceless girlies that was caught up in the inception of the Irish boyband craze, and like so many others I fell for the charms of the five Irish lads we now know as Ronan, Mikey, Shane, Keith and Stephen.

Over the years I have been lucky enough to meet the lads not once but twice. The first time I was only about eight years old. The boys had stepped in for PJ & Duncan – I know, ridicularse – to play at Summerland in the Isle of Man after they’d dropped out last minute. My mum’s friend was head of security at the venue so managed to get me back stage to meet the five men of my dreams – well realistically I was only interested in Ronan, Stephen as a back-up plan! They all gave me a little cuddle and signed this horrible orange t-shirt for me, which my mum later got framed and it now takes pride of place in our dressing room. I remember feeling so lucky and showing off my t-shirt to all my friends. I thought I was ace!

When the band announced their reunion tour a few years ago, I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. My mum’s friend got us tickets and I almost peed my pants with excitement as they burst on stage singing Picture of You. Naturally I knew all the words to every single song and nabbed myself a copy of the programme. Later in the year I befriended ‘Editor Ed’. He clearly fell for my charms and asked me to go with him to a festival called Faenol, the headline act, Boyzone. He swooped us press passes and I embarked on what is definitely up there as one of the best days of my life.

As we walked into the back stage area, Ronan and Stephen got out of the car in front of me and I wasted no time in running over, programme in hand and asking for their autographs. I was a little disappointed by Ronan. Granted he was a little late to their sound check but given that I have been buying his records for over 15 years, I don’t think a few minutes is too much to ask. Stephen on the other hand showed me why so many people in the music industry loved him. I asked him for his autograph and said with a huge smile and that gorgeous accent: “of course.” I told him that I had got the programme at their show in Newcastle and he proceeded to quiz me about the show, asking if I liked it and what I liked about it. It probably only lasted a few minutes but he made me feel like he really cared about what I thought. From everything I’ve heard since his death, this reflects his love for the band and his ambition to make their fans happy. Later I got to watch Stephen and Ronan sound check before watching the first few songs of their set from the pit. Ed also managed to catch all of them as they were leaving the venue for a quick pic.

Since hearing about Stephen’s death I have felt privileged that I got the chance to meet him and got a slight glimpse at the genuinely lovely person he was. My heart goes out to his husband, his family and the four boys that became his honorary brothers. Stephen will always have a special place in my heart as one of my very first crushes and a man who completely lived up to my expectations in real life. Boyzone will never be the same without the man who was so instrumental in bringing them back together but he will live on through their music. RIP Stephen, we will never forget you, no matter what.

“A beautiful man who is now the perfect angel…We know you have found peace, perfect peace.” – Ronan Keating

That’s right Shipwrecked addicts, those lovely people over at T4 are feeling our pain and giving us more Shipwrecked juice to satisfy our thirst. All this week you can find new Shipwrecked content on the T4 website, including the best bits from the live reunion in the T4 studio, what the castaways really think about Greg swiping the £70k and exclusive behind the scenes footage.  

Those of you who missed the reunion in the studio certainly missed out on some cracking action with Mark making some very catty comments about his fellow shipwreckers. In true Mark style, he screwed up his face and in the campest scouse accent you’ve ever heard (possibly even rivaling Paul O’Grady) let the venom roll of his tongue saying: “Personally, I’m only happy to see about five or six of yas.” Que nervous laughter from the reunited cast! TV doesn’t get much better than that!

Hermoine and Tom also revealed that their romance is non-existant now they’ve hit the chewing gum stained streets of the UK. But all is not lost, Dan and Xanthi have moved in together and are very much an item!  They even had an on screen kiss which you can see in the best bits on the T4 website.

The very lovely Andrew Dearling also has his own personal blog that he has been posting some very cool content to including pictures from the T4 reunion and wrap party. You can also follow Andrew on twitter @AndrewDearling. You can find a list of other Shipwreckers with twitter accounts on Andrew’s blog.

If anyone has any other links, share the love! (Aka leave a comment :p)

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will no doubt already know that I am chuffed to bits that gorgeous Greg was awarded the £70k prize money. However, there was one thing about the final episode that really shocked me.

For those of you who haven’t seen the final episode, apologies I seem to have ruined the outcome! However, there was more to the episode so if you have taped, videoed, Sky+ed or DVDed then look away now! In the final beach party the Sharks won by a landslide victory of 17 to the Tigers 14 (whoop, whoop n all that!) But what they didn’t know was that one of them was going to swoop the entire prize fund all for themselves, leaving Mark’s very well thought out shopping list null and void! The plot thickened further when it was revealed the Tigers got to choose which one of their frenemies got their grubby lil mits on the cash.

The Tiger girls and boys then visited Shark Island separately to quiz the possible candidates and make their decision. Only one problem, it was a secret mission and they weren’t allowed to tell the Sharks anything about this secret twist. Thank god the Tigers didn’t win cause there’s no way Mark could have kept his mammoth mouth shut about that one :p

Now we get to the bit that shocked me. Doug, resident on Shark Island is a religious sort of bloke. When the Tigers asked him what his ambitions were, he replied he’d like to start a church, be successful and be able to support his future family. It appears that this totally discredited him to the Tigers with some of them, Silkie and Hollie in particular both saying: “I don’t want that money to go to a church.”

How can two well-educated women have such disregard for something that so many people believe in? I’m not a religious person, I don’t go to church and I’m not even really sure if I believe in god and all that stuff. However, I still acknowledge that there are a lot of people in this world who do believe in that. Not only do people believe, religion, church and community is something that provides a tremendous amount of comfort to a lot of people, and to totally disregard that simply because they don’t believe in it themselves is ludicrous! Would they rather give the money to Mark to be frittered away on a Pug, a laptop, a trip to New York and whatever other things he dreamed up to add to his shopping list? It really did shock me that today’s youth could be so disrespectful and ignorant to the realities of life.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that I think Greg was a very worthy winner. He’s going to have to find one hell of a piggy bank to bosh all that delicious moolar in! Well done Greg! Now all that’s left is for us to look forward to the sun-kissed, ripped bods of the Shipwrecked 2010 crew. Ooh I can’t wait

I will warn you that this post might come across as a bit of a rant, simply because I’m passionate about my hatred for men that batter women!

A few days ago one of my twitter buddies @ladre09 tweeted a story from People detailing Chris Brown’s defense (or should I say pathetic attempt to dodge responsibility for his actions) for allegedly beating Rhianna. His lawyer, Mark Geragos, filed a report in an LA court on Wednesday seeking access to LAPD records claiming that Rhianna’s injury photo was illegally leaked to the media by an LAPD officer. This could apparently result in a case dismissal.

Mr Geragos said: ”The photograph was immediately viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers and was displayed on every news channel for several weeks … The purpose of the leak was necessarily for profit and to vilify Mr. Brown and poison the potential jury pool.”

Are you honestly telling me that this guy believes if Chris Brown wasn’t a celebrity and a jury saw a picture of Rhianna’s injuries that they wouldn’t vilify him themselves?? Ridicularse!  As if pleading ‘not gulity’ for a crime he has blatantly committed wasn’t bad enough, now he’s actually trying to get the case dismissed by questioning the integrity of the LAPD. This boy (and I say that intentionally as his actions certainly aren’t those of a man) needs to man-up and take responsibility. I have seen no remorse for what he has done whatsoever. That to me is the troubling aspect of the scenario.

My opinion of men that hit women is that they are cowards. Chris Brown is just solidifying his status as a wimp with no back bone by running scared of facing up to the consequences of his actions. Man-up, take responsibility, show some remorse and you might actually walk away with a little dignity and respect.

However, I felt it was about time I learnt more about this disorder rather than constantly making uninformed judgements. I turned to my trusty friend Google to go in search of the info and sure enough, it turns out that extravagant spending can be a symptom of the disorder when the person is in a state of ‘mania’. 

I would assume many of you out there are like me and have very little understanding of bipolar so for your benefit, About.com quotes one textbook definition as follows:

“A major affective disorder in which a person alternates between states of deep depression and extreme elation.”

It goes on to explain that this is a misleading definition and the disorder is in fact much more complicated, however, we can take this as the basic idea.  While in a depressed state symptoms can include refusing to get out of bed for days on end and paying no attention to normal daily responsibilities while symptoms of elation include extravagant spending and experiencing hallucinations and delusions (this may explain why Kerry once thought she was an alien :s).

Anyway, once I found this out it brought to the forefront a much more troubling thought. The ‘actual’ quote from inside the magazine was: “Bipolar brings you lots of natural highs, which I love. I go spending money, which my husband loves because whenever I spend money, he gets a car.” Que jaw dropping!

Because this is a symptom of her disorder, surely anyone benefiting from it without injecting a bit of reason is taking advantage?? This is a woman who is bankrupt and has four young children to support. Surely it is the responsibility of her husband to try and help her control the behavioural affects of this disorder?

I have been a big fan of Kerry for a long time (I once chased her and Brian McFadden out the the Metro Centre for an autograph!). She’s had a rough ride in the press and having so many people close to her sell out and go to the papers is something that us mere mortals could probably never understand. Plus the constant accusations that she still isn’t over Brian is ridiculous, but I suppose the press love to make the woman out to be all needy and heart-broken, look at Jennifer Anniston! The thing that troubles me is that there’s obviously something not right with Mark. A few weeks ago Kerry was telling everyone he’d taken all her money but was back with him days later. It was an accountant that spotted the abnormality and call me crazy but she must have been pretty convinced to make a statement to the media. In the New! interview she talks about how all her friends were telling her it made sense that Mark had taken the money, surely that should set alarm bells ringing?!

Anyone taking advantage of a psychological disorder in the way this interview suggests is one dodgy character in my book. Kerry doesn’t need him! She is a beautiful woman with a great personality and four gorgeous kids. Maybe her newly-found brothers and sisters will help her see that. Much love Keza, don’t hate me! (Not that I think she will ever read this! :p)

Image: /film

Was there ever a more perfect casting in film history? That’s right peeps, Russell Brand is getting ready to don that god awful yellow and green suit to reprise Rick Mayall’s 1991 title character ‘Drop Dead Fred’.

I was so excited when I heard about this that I almost blew my colleague John off his chair with the sheer force of my enthusiasm! Drop Dead Fred is one of my all-time favourite films ever! Mix that with one of my all-time favourite men ever and I’m in seventh heaven Russ confirmed the rumour on his twitter account  saying: “Drop Dead Fred – true. Arthur – true, Kinky Bible – a film I will never make.”

For those deprived people out there who’ve never seen the film, first of all, go rent it immediately! (I say rent as I guess there is a minuscule chance u won’t like it, however if that is the case there is clearly something wrong with you) Second here is the gist of the plot. Lizzy, kinda mumsy, annoying and all-round wimp, has been under the control of at least one person all her life. Anyway her rat husband cheats on her and somehow convinces her that it was her idea for him to move out of the marital home and into the other woman’s house! She then loses her car, money and job all in one lunch hour and finds herself forced to move back in with her ‘mega bitch’ mother.

Finding it hard to sleep, she roots through her old toys finding a jack-in-the-box taped shut. She opens it and out pops the one person that can ruin and save her all at once…her childhood imaginary friend Fred. This is possibly one of the funniest characters in film history. Causing havoc wherever he goes, he cuts her hair off, sinks her best friend’s house boat and shuffles round the floor looking up women’s dresses uttering the hysterical catch phrase ‘cobwebbs’.

With Russ in the lead role, it’s bound to be a must-see. And Russell, you can be the Jack in my box anytime

While we’re on the Brand subject, did anyone read the article about the fine imposed on the BBC by Ofcom, the media regulator, in The Times? Obviously The Times is just reporting the facts but I do find the statements from Ofcom slightly hilarious! According to this article: “The regulator said that the privacy of the woman in question, Georgina Baillie, had been “unwarrantably and seriously infringed”.”

You have to be joking??? Fair enough she didn’t consent to Russ (haha, who do I think I am?!) telling his few million listeners that they’d shared bodily fluids. However I do find it ridiculous, considering her behaviour afterwards, that anyone could talk about her like she didn’t love every second of it! It totally thrust (pardon the punn) her into the media glare and gave her the exposure she was looking for! This is a woman who is in some band called the Satanic Sluts for crying out loud! And lets not forget how much she capitalised on her moment of glory afterwards! If I remember correctly she even corrected Russell’s claims that they did it on the kitchen table, telling the nation that they ACTUALLY did it on the couch! Yes, she is clearly a woman concerned about details of her sexcapades being made public!

And can I just point out, Russell Brand has had god knows how many kiss and tells done on him! He certainly isn’t the only celeb either. Is this not “unwarrantably and serious infringing” their privacy?? Or is it only when the person in question isn’t famous?? Nobody has ever slapped a fine like that on The Sun!

If you ask me, this whole thing was blown out of proportion. Most of the people that complained never even heard the show and only complained about it after it was reported in the news. I understand why people would think it might have frightened an old man or whatever but this is a man who has spent his whole life in the spotlight and who knows what it’s all about. He also reprised his character off the back of the scandal at Prince Charles’s birthday bash so I’m sure he ain’t to bothered about it.

The fine, I think it’s fair enough since there clearly were failings in the system for this to even make it to air.

Now on to more pressing matters…can anyone get me a copy of this picture without the pesky leaf blocking my view??!

Blimey, I’ve never felt so inspired to write a blog post in all my life! Any fans of Eastenders will know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s the story that’s kept us all gripped for months…Ronnie gets up the duff at 14, dad forces her to give up the baby, she gives baby locket to match hers with corresponding pix, Archie tells Ronnie baby is dead, 19 years later baby turns up on Albert Square disguised as, it has to be said, the biggest moaner in the World, Danielle. Still with me??

Anyway, for months they’ve been toing and froing with the whole, will she, won’t she reveal her true identity to her mother Ronnie…and tonight, she finally did. But wait, things are never that simple in soap. Archie managed to convince his daughter that Danielle was nuts and was making it all up. Ronnie does afterall still believe her baby is dead. After not being able to find the other locket that she left in Ronnie’s glass at Archie and Peggy’s wedding reception, Ronnie throws Danielle out thinking she could trust her dear old dad. Well turns out daddy’s a psycho and when Ronnie finds the locket after making a toast, she knows he’s lying. Obviously she runs after Danielle, catches her up and after one bloody emotional look lets out the word ‘baby’ just as Danielle was about to go home.

Aww, happy ending you might think…wrong! Danielle clearly doesn’t know her green cross code and runs into her mother’s arms across a road. That b*tch Janine comes speeding round the corner and mows her down, killing the little love! Obviously Ronnie is devastated and the audience has been put through months of not knowing their arse from their elbow for the brat to pop her cloggs! 

I have to say though, brilliantly put together, superbly acted (by most) and extremely tear-jerking. How will Ronnie cope?? Tune in tomorrow to find out! I can’t wait   Comments, comments comment…