WICKEDLAND PODCASTS - THE BEST OF 2013

Hello! Thanks for listening in 2013. Here I've compiled an hour long special of my favourite bits from the years podcasts with help from Bradley Andrews, Francisco Suarez, Max Barton and Darryl Reid. We hope you continue to enjoy the podcast in 2013, happy new year!
 

THE 1ST ANNUAL WICKEDLAND AWARDS

Merry Christmas everyone! All year every year I try and keep note of what my _____ of the year is. I thought I'd start a little annual tradition of listing this stuff, like a time capsule for the year. I present to you The First Annual WickedLand Awards!

FILM OF THE YEAR - CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Did you see this shit? It was astonishing, like seriously very, very good. Somali pirates are cool as fuck anyway (see below) but this film lived up to everything I thought it would be. See it if you've not already. Tom Hanks is generally pretty good, and if I'm not mistaken it was based on a true story. I kept turning round to George in the cinema and being like 'fucking hell this is good innit!?'

ALBUM OF THE YEAR - AM - ARCTIC MONKEYS

This was sooooo hard to call. Drake, J Cole, Kanye West and Jay Z all dropped heavyweight albums that contended, but this record blew them all away. I fell out of love with them in recent years, but the maturity and tone of this record is so subtle but stylish and beautiful. Long time fans were already holding it up against their early work. They're welcome back if this is the sort of music they are going to produce.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR - POWER TRIP - J COLE FT. MIGUEL

J Cole put his wide skill set to amazing use as he rapped, sung all over his own productions for his second studio album Born Sinner earlier this year. It was an amazing album and won my rap album of the year out of all of the big releases. Power Trip was the lead of single and it blew me away as soon as I heard it. Such a modern song at a perfect tempo with a great feature from Miguel as well. Listen to this song, Isn't it good?

NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR - NORTH KOREAS MISSILE THREAT

April this year saw Kim Jong Un and his clique of north Korean G's threaten the worlds very existence with with nuclear weapons. I think the thing I liked most about this story was how it exited the news. Nobody took it seriously and the threat fell into the void of the insignificant. Word to the Boston bombing and the Woolwich beheading but with a haircut like his, he just edged it.

SHUBBZ OF THE YEAR - SANDY AND DARRYLS HALLOWEEN DARNCE

It was so much fun. People went in with the fancy dress (special mention to Sandy painting himself to become Rick Ross), everyone was turbo boozing and dancing and whatever. It was one of the best house parties I've ever been to. I hope they do one next year.

TWEETER OF THE YEAR - DEMETRI MARTIN @DemetriMartin

I can't really give @poppybella_ the award can I? That's a bit bummy even though she is the most entertaining. Demetri is my favourite celebrity tweeter. If you know anything about his particular brand of comedy/how his brain words twitter is like the perfect thing for him. He doesn't tweet often but when he does it's always fun. He has the weird/quaint/odd kind of mindset/thought process these hipster guys try and embody but with him it is genuine and fantastic. Follow him and enjoy it.

TWITTER BREAKDOWN OF THE YEAR - GUCCI MANE

Did you lot see this? It kind of stayed within the rap community and besides from Blue's Lee Ryan having a good go at a twitter breakdown Gucci just edged it. Through the worse english and an onslaught of absolutely atrocious punctuation he named and shamed a bunch of female rappers, rappers girlfriends and female celebrities that he claimed to have slept with. Each tweet leaked like a cryptic message and the rap world went mad trying to decipher what he was trying to communicate. Here are some highlights:

*edit: I completely forgot about Wileys twitter rant regarding Glastonbury. Vice put together the best tweet of how he handled the whole incident the only way he knows how; completely unprofessionally. Check it out here

SPORTS MOMENT OF THE YEAR - MURRAY WINNING WIMBLEDON

I couldn't give less of a fuck about tennis, Wimbledon or that boring slug cunt Andy Murray but when he won Wimbledon it was a special moment for the country. It finally ended a drought and I was kind of relieved because it means

Special mention to Lance Armstrong admitting to doping. All those dickhead who refer to Lance as a top inspiration figure had to eat their words. All the people who have rammed him down our throats for years and he is just another roidhead athlete.

WICKEDMAN OF THE YEAR - JUSTIN BEIBER

Bun everything, life isn't real. If I could have seen this last year I would have wanted to slap myself but it's been nothing but entertaining. I love the column inches he has filled with the most ridiculous borderline young celebrity breakdown behavior all year round. The provider of endless podcast material. Even if you hate him, he is fun to hate because he constantly fuels it with new mental shit. Long live Joston Boobor.

WICKEDGASH OF THE YEAR - MILEY CYRUS

Same shit isn't it? Column inches. Nigella had a good go, but really she has always been good fun. Enjoying a bit of coke isn't going to swing it for me. Miley has been one of the lambs of the year and it's been great to watch. She has been a car crash that you couldn't look away from, the physical embodiment of what it is to be an easily lead wigger. Enjoy it Miley, I like your little face.

WASTEMAN OF THE YEAR - KANYE WEST

Did anyone else even come close? This is a real shame for me, an absolute god of music and the culture I love but this year he, himself has turned into an absolute cunt. 2013 has been populated by non stop narcissistic rants and frankly I got bored of defending him. It's embarrassing. I enjoyed Yeezus but for him to go on record as saying he will be the next Walt Disney or Steve Jobs is outright disresepctfu and simply wrong. He isn't even Jay Z. Where did the humble 'Kanye to the' from Chi' town go? 

WASTEGASH OF THE YEAR - KATIE HOPKINS

Have you ever seen somebody so irrelevant so desperate for attention? Any loser from the apprentice has been gassed up throughout the year going on This Morning and saying anything to be spoke about. And it worked, here she is and that's why I'm annoyed. I'm annoyed at myself for noticing her. She is fading though, the last time she appeared it hardly got posted about on Facebook. It popped up but never did real numbers. Hopefully we wont be seeing her in 2014.

That brings me to the end of the first annual WickedLand awards. I hope you agree with my choices. When I posed these questions to twitter and Facebook I got some interesting answers and replies. Merry Christmas you lot!

NEW PODCAST: 041 - COOKIE CUMBLES

Myself, Bradley and Frank are back for the last time this year talking about M&S's policy with Muslims on the checkouts, Justin Beiber, Christmas shopping, a teachers secret recipe and a bloke just trying to live his life in Kenya. Enjoy!

BAD PHOTOS, CLUB NO NO'S, SYRUP 'TIL THE DOME GOES AND BK LOGOS

It's that time again. Get yourself a little snack, pour a drink, open a bottle of something, skype your friends, do whatever. I don't know how you guys consume it, but either way, Here is some WickedLand for you to enjoy. Get into it.

There is no excuse for not being able to use an iphone camera these days. Fair enough if you are some old dodderer, but if you are from our generation there is really no excuse. I don't care what phone you've got, it's not rocket science. Hand me a Samsung Galaxy and I promise you I'll take a good picture first time despite never having had one. When ever I ask someone for a picture I just ask them what phone they've got these days. I asked this guy and he said it's fine, I'll be able to take one. After various attempts this is the best I got.

In the end I grabbed him and put him in the photo. I told him he will be playing the part of me and I'll just take the fucking picture. What's the point. How hard is it really? Look at his face. He knows what he did.

Me and Max spotted a cracking sign in the toilets at the O2. Have a read below.

For ages now I've had some cough syrup (with the active ingredients Codeine and Promethazine) like what rappers in America drink. I've been waiting for a weekend evening when me and Dan were both free and we were gonna try some, with sprite and Jolly Ranchers, the lot. We drank it last weekend.

It's been really interesting, watching and reading peoples various recipes and cocktails on the internet. I'm thinking next time I make some I'll post up a step by step but it's basically mixed with sprite and some fruity sweets to mask the smell of the cough syrup then served on ice.

As the sweets melt and mix into the sprite it was so delicious and sweet. We had like 4 glasses each (finished the 2 litre bottle) and it was such a weird feeling. I was really drowsy and my reaction times were slow. My whole body felt so comfortable and relaxed. My mouth and throat had numbed from the syrup. I slept like I haven't slept in years that night. It was very enjoyable indeed.

Look at what Natalie has got Elvis wearing. He has had a good few months and he is trying to lose his wasteman image and she drops this one on him. That's not nice is it.

Curtis (Natalie's boyfriend) kinda went in with dinner that night. We had a roast but it was just all on point. Veg game was serious, yorkshire pudding game was serious and the beef was really tender and juicy. He is a problem for Natalie in the kitchen, let's put it that way.

I've hardly watched any of this years X Factor but my mum was telling me that Nicole Scherzinger has not really been with it through out. It's no secret she broke up from long term partner Lewis Hamilton and i'm guessing she is pretty bummed out about that but my mum wasn't kidding. She has lost a bag of weight and she looked like she was waving off the purple with me and Dan. It was nuts, she looked so dopey and not with it haha.

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YESYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES GOOD NEWS!!!!!! BURGER KING IS COMING BACK TO LEICESTER CITY CENTRE AFTER ABOUT 18 MONTHS AWAY. IT'S GONNA BE OPENING REALLY SOON NEXT DOOR TO TK MAXX AT THE CLOCK TOWER AND I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED AND HAPPY. NO GAMES, IT'S A WICKEDLAND TING ON THE OPENING DAY, SEE YOU THERE.

Hard at work again this week on Teeps mixtape. We recorded towards two tracks, It's really starting to take shape now.

Myself, Kamakaze and Teeps were at Rockafellas this week. The show was fun. It wasn't the busiest but the crowd who were there were really into it. I rarely get to perform with both of these two so it was good fun to do something with the 3 of us.

If someone one day asks me what my idea of dedication is I'm going to reply saying 'my idea of dedication is ridiculous, disgusting prints, even down to the fucking shoes.'

That's wickedland. Come see me at Beastwang tonight to say hello, I really like your blog!

AINT NO PARTY LIKE A WICKEDLAND PARTY

Something I've been working on over the last couple of days. Going to add some colour soon!

NEW PODCAST - 040 - FUCK PORTO

Just me and Max again this week, back talking about Nelson and Nigella Mandela, Christmas, Sam Bailey winning the X Factor and Horses. Have a riot.

TECHNOLOGY TALK AND THE BASEMENT SUPERBAND

RAAAAAAAASSSSS IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN! THE WEEKEND IS HERE, IT'S A WICKEDLAND TING. Sorry I've not been blogging much of late. I've had a slooow week and have been busy with other stuff so I've not had the chance. Either way, here are some snaps that I've collected this week.

I've been smashing Nandos this week. I say I've been busy so I've not been blogging; I've just been eating chicken. I saw some little kid wearing a WWE coat. You don't see enough of that shit. Probably because wrestling is shit these days and kids lives are not worth living but I rate this kid in the Vince McMahon drop.

We kiiiind of become a band in Basement the other night. They do a jam thing there and we went down and started fucking around with the instruments. This was our superband hahaha.

Snapchat was fun the next day after we did super ropey renditions of Purple Rain the night before.

The PS4 looks like it has the slight edge in the sales race of the 4th generation consoles but fuck me, they need to do something about the controller.

I went to see J Cole with Bradley, Tom and Dan last Monday night. As per, nobody remembered to enjoy it, everyone was busy filming away, stood still. My dream is that they would confiscate all phones before going into a show, it really gets to me, I cannot understand it, seriously. Aside from that he fucking smashed it. His band was amazing, he took requests, had so much energy and put on a great show. If you are into him, go see him when you can, totally worth it.

The girls in the office are good to me. I got back from lunch (ironically) and they had got me a McDonalds. You Wickedlanders can understand what this means to me, I was made up.

 Chinese people love technology don't they? No more so than anybody else young and alive in the 21st century but I do love a good racial stereotype, especially when I witness it first hand. The group were all crowded over a tablet of some description oooooing and aaaaaahing at something. I laughed.

Oz spotted this over lunch with the work lot earlier. Cheers for the further descriptive info because I could not have reached that conclusion on my own haha. 

Have a smashing weekend, I'm meant to be off to an amateur wrestling thing tomorrow so I'll be doing a write up of that. STAAAAAAAY WXXXXXXCKXXXXXXXD

THINGS I'VE ENJOYED AND NOT ENJOYED

So it's friday again, the weekend is here. Smell it's hair. hug it's frame. Get ready to have just long enough to get used to it before you have to wave it goodbye again.

We launched a new night at work last week, we are now doing Thursdays at XY. It was insane how many people were snogging around the club, it was seriously like something was in the air. Here is Tom with his champions for the night.

Show Me Love took place last Friday. It was it's usual extravaganza of booze and 90's music. Here is me with the king street shubbz dons.

So if you are struggling for what to get me for christmas, that calendar stall in the middle of the Highcross have got this. 

This was 100% wavy. Everything about it was on point, look at that design. It actually tasted really nice too, not the most refreshing but I bought it because I fancied a sweet in liquid form and it did the job. Barr's go in when you think about it. They constantly champion different drinks and really have a great part of the market when it comes to niche products.

Whoever marked out these parking bays effectively drew a massive tampon on the floor in thick permanent paint. 

(Long time wickedlander) Bronte's sister is also a wickedlander, I found out over this snapchat. Shoutout to Molly, what a W. Also I found out two guys who my boss works with (Nick and James) both read my blog. I know them both in a professional capacity, so it was a bit weird and embarrassing when they told me they regularly read. I can't imagine them reading my ramblings about people ruining twitter and what Bradley has been up to but there you go. Big up Nick, James and Molly.

That shop in town across the road from WHSmiths has closed down. You know the ooooone. The one that sold CDs and DVDs. What are CDs and DVDs? CDs and Dvds are what people bought before literally every single piece of music and film become free on the internet. You know the internet. That really fast way of downloading anything in seconds without leaving your bed.

I had a lovely romantic dinner at Victoria station with Brad. We had a real rose in a little vase on our table. Also, I think the festive deluxe is the most delicious thing we get at McDonalds in this country. It's wonderful.

My man isn't slumped. He is just on his phone. We need to get him glasses or something. Worst case, lets rest his elbows on the table in front of him so he doesn't look like a homeless drunk.

We were in London to see French Montana. Given how amazing Rick Ross was in the same venue last year we thought it would be a crazy show. Similar music would surely attract a similar audience. How wrong were we. It was the most dead gig I've ever been to in my life. The whole night was an absolute shambles. The promotions company who made the booking booked about 6/7 other support acts, and they were all over the place. The last thing before French was a weird freestyle rap battle thing that went on for about 45 minutes. Think less 8 mile, more youth club idiots. It was embarrassing and excruciating, people getting boo'd off stage by a restless crowd.

French came out pissed out of his head and gave an awful performance. Every song was a slurred mess that lasted a chorus and half a verse. The houselights were on from about the 4th song in, and remained on until me and Bradley left early. Olly sold his ticket on and I'm so jealous of him. It was an awful mess.

Look at this! we found a slab outside of the O2 that said 'pip pip pip' on it hahaha. Solid advice from the ground there.

I think the most masculine female I've ever seen in my life sat opposite me on the tube. Her eyebrows alone were positioned to make her look more angry. I'm pretty sure she beat me in a fist fight. 

Finally a photo of Birdman. With no backpack! that, for me is a very interesting revelation. Does he have a base? I think this is a pretty good photo of him, no? If I was Birdman I'd probably have this as my FB profile picture.

Thanks for popping by, enjoy your weekends and don't make any mistakes!