I've finally caught up and watched every season of Naked Attraction. If you haven't seen the show, it's one of those out-there things that Channel 4 created (why is it always Channel 4 with the weird and wonderful shows?!). One person goes on the show, and are faced with six naked bodies in misted glass boxes. The bodies are chosen based on that person's preferences, and what they're attracted to. As the show goes on, more and more of the naked bodies are revealed, and the person has to ultimately choose their favourite to go out with.
Netflix is a godsend for the modern day introvert. You can binge watch your fave program without advert interruptions, and can do it wherever you want: you're not restricted to your TV. I for one am a massive fan. It got me through TV-less student life, and now that we're living in an actual adult rented property, we've found that all we need is this and amazon prime. I mean, we totally intended on getting a Sky subscription and have the TV licence for it, but I'm not sure how I would handle only watching one episode of a show at a time. I mean, who does that???
Netflix originals used to be pretty shite. IMO anyway. But in the last couple of years they've definitely come into their own and now I'm obsessed. They're pretty much all I watch on Netflix at the moment and I canNOT wait for some new seasons of my faves to come out. So, here are my top 5 must-see Netflix Originals:
1.) Orange is the New Black. This is the first Netflix original that really made it big and I can 100% see why. It celebrates diversity in all its forms, and is the first mainstream show I've watched that has unapologetically shown what being a trans* individual is really like. It features a cast which isn't whitewashed, and covers some really important topics. Each series just gets better and better in tackling political issues and taboos.
2.) Riverdale. This is totally different, and a bit of an easy, fun watch. Not that OITNB isn't, but this is targeted at a younger audience I believe. So far there's only one season of Riverdale, and I've not finished it yet, so NO SPOILERS PLS, but I'm hooked. It tracks the murder of high school football star Jason Blossom, and I'm very excited to find out what actually happened to him. Plus, I fall a little bit more in love with Jughead as I watch each episode.
3.) 13 Reasons Why. This had me shook to my core. It comes with a massive trigger warning from me about self harm, suicide and sexual assault. It's incredibly powerful. Each episode in the series is one side of a tape recording that Hannah made for the thirteen people who gave her cause to kill herself. It makes you think about your impact on others' lives. My one problem is that the way it is played out suggests that Hannah can get some kind of retribution for her death, and almost see what's going on post-mortem.
4.) Spotless. This is definitely the least well known of my five, but 100% worth a mention. If you enjoyed Dexter (which isn't a Netflix OG but is one of the best TV series' ever), then you'll porbably enjoy this. It follows the story of a Frenchman, Jean Bastiere, living in London, whose brother turns up one day with a corpse in his van. It's a dark comedy, in which the pair get dragged into a criminal underworld via a series of accidental situations.
5.) Stranger Things. I couldn't leave this out, could I?! This rocked everyone's world last Autumn, and totally has the added benefit of reminding me of that time of year (which FYI is my fave). Stranger Things is all about a small town in America in which a young boy goes missing. No one knows what's going on, but his mum is convinced he's still alive. Will is indeed alive, but he's not exactly in the same place as his mum is anymore. It's creepy and thrilling and season two is coming out soon so ya better get watching.
What's your favourite Netflix original series? I need more to watch!
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After writing all about my top 10 beauty products of 2016, I realised that I really wanted to chat to you about some other things that have made my 2016 a little better. So, without further ado, here are my top five books, TV series' and documentaries of 2016.
Top Five Books
5.) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. It's no secret that I'm a big lover of Victorian fiction, and this lady's two sisters. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a novel that really pushed the boundaries of what was deemed to be good social and moral conduct in its time. The main female protagonist has fled from her abusive husband, and moved into Wildfell Hall. Her refusal to attend church, and the fact that the landlord of the hall is a man unleashes some ugly rumours in her community. Through her, we see that there is no strict right or wrong, and the guidelines for a Victorian woman's conduct get blurred. I've reviewed this on my secondary blog here.
4.) The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. I used to love Philippa Gregory, but I haven't read one of her books since my pre-uni days. It was an absolute joy to go back and get down and dirty with one of history's most-talked about eras: the time of the Plantaganets and Tudors. The White Queen is all about a common woman who is fortunate enough to have a king fall in love with her and legitimately marry her. Well, sort of anyway. Soon however she discovers that being a Queen is not as easy as it seems, especially when you truly love your husband. You can read my full review of this here.
3.) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This one has been plastered all over the internet this year, mostly because of the (slightly offensive to say the least) movie version, which featured an able-bodied actor playing the part of the disabled male protagonist. The book however really opened up another side to disability for me. Usually it's glossed over, or the character is displayed as being incredibly positive despite the challenges they face. In Me Before You Will really struggles with some severe mental health problems as a result of his accident and life-changing injuries. I've reviewed this in full here.
2.) Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. I really found a love for thrillers in 2016 and this was definitely (obviously) up there with the best. Christine Lucas, the novel's protagonist, essentially suffers from short-term memory loss, and has been doing so since she was in her early twenties. Every night when she goes to sleep she forgets any of the memories that she's amassed in the second half of her life. She considers herself to be a burden to her loving husband, and seeks help from a psychiatrist. The secrets that she unearths are utterly terrifying. Read my full review here.
1.) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I read this and Before I go to Sleep back to back and they were both so good that they've filled the top two spots of my favourite books of 2016. The Girl on the Train has been all over social media because of the release of its film version, and it's something I NEED TO SEE. Rachel, aka the girl on the train, takes the same train journey every single day, and is obsessed with the same street. When she hears that a woman has gone missing from the road she becomes obsessed with finding what happened. The problem is that Rachel is an alcoholic. No one will take her seriously, and the novel even questions whether we as readers can either. My full review is here.
Top Five Documentaries
5.) Life of Mammals. We all love a bit of Attenborough. Mammals to me are the most interesting type of animals, and I loved watching this series. There's just something so soothing about watching David Attenborough talk about creatures on our planet when you're all bundled up in a dressing gown with a roaring hangover.
4.) The cost of cute: the ugly side of the puppy trade. If you're not following Grace's blog then that's something you really need to sort out. This woman has done some amazing things over the past year, and making this documentary for the BBC was one that I loved seeing her do. This documentary made me weepy in parts as I began to realise how cruel humans can be to animals purely to make profit from them.
3.) Planet Earth II. Need I say more? Seriously though, the footage on this, the most recent of Attenborough's documentary series', was absolutely insane. It captured so much detail of the lives of animals in different climates across the globe. My personal favourite of the series was possibly the cities episode, as it really opened my eyes as to how urban and natural lives merge in cities around the world.
2.) Clean Eating's Dirty Secrets. For starters, the name of this is kind of epic. Secondly, it's another of Grace's documentaries for the BBC. I'm a little obsessed with both this and 'The cost of cute'. This one completely opened my eyes to what's going on behind the scenes of the clean eating trade. For so long I duped by it: I actually started Nourish ME because I wanted to get more involved in 'clean eating'. Although I've come to see the truth a little bit in the past couple of years, this truly made me realise how disturbing and dangerous the trend is.
1.) Blackfish. I couldn't leave this out could I? I'm actually not a big watcher of documentaries. Unless you count the odd ones on TLC, or Tattoo Fixers. This, however, was something I knew I needed to watch. In case you haven't heard of it, 'Blackfish' is a doc all about the use of orcas in entertainment in America, particularly at Seaworld. With the death of Tilikum (Seaworld's most famous, and most dangerous orca) last week, Blackfish is more relevant than ever. The popularity of the documentary was a large factor in Seaworld's decision to officially end the use of orcas in shows once the generation of whales that they currently have dies out.
Top Five TV shows
5.) Orange is the New Black. You can tell how good this list is going to be just by the fact that this is last in the top five. OITNB is something I've watched for a couple of years now and I loved the new series, even though a lot of people found it a bit meh. Can we just talk about that ending though? No spoilers, but jheez I need to find out what happened already. This was possibly my favourite series of OITNB yet.
4.) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This is one of my favourite TV shows ever, and the new series was just as great as the first one. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a satirical comedy about a girl trapped in a bunker for over a decade by an extremist reverend. When she's rescued she moves to New York and must learn to adjust to modern city life.
3.) Stranger Things. This was all over the internet back in September/October, and when I finally submitted to the hype I could see why. 'Stranger Things' is set in a small town in which a boy goes missing. We see him disappear, as if into thin air, despite being seemingly chased by something that is very much real. His group of friends do their best to find him, and soon realise that Will's disappearance has a lot more to do with the supernatural than anyone first considered.
2.) Gossip Girl. How did I make it into my twenties without watching this? This was practically life changing. If you've ever watched and enjoyed shows like One Tree Hill or 90210 then this will be right up your street. This is a series that I would 100% rewatch, and it made me keep on watching endlessly. The last episode was a little ... odd though. If you've watched to the end then let me know what you thought of it!
1.) Homeland. I feel like I've had a real mix of shows on here. 'Homeland' focuses on an FBI agent called Carrie Mathieson who works on gaining intelligence in the Middle East. She is effectively part of an anti-terror unit and is one of the best. Sergeant Brodie is a soldier who was held by a terror cell in Afghanistan for seven years. When he's released, Carrie is the only one who considers that he might not be as innocent as he seems. Yet she's proved wrong. As she begins to trust herself less, the audience gets an insight into how somebody who struggles with bipolar disorder behaves under intense stress.
So there we have it, my top fives of 2016. What would yours be?
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In these tough Winter months, Netflix is a gift I love to truly treasure. Cosying up with soft blankets, my favourite PJs, a toasty cup of tea and a good Netflix session is my favourite way to deal with a rubbish mental health day. Way back in March, I wrote a post about my current Netflix obsessions and you all loved it, so I thought I'd do a lil' update with some things I've been binge-watching in the past few months.
1.) Homeland. The new season of this just went up on Netflix and it's everything that I hoped and feared it would be. This thriller has you going through twists and turns, attempting to discover who you can trust in a covert world. Homeland basically follows the story of Sgt Brody, an American soldier captured and held captive by al-Qaeda for seven years, who is rescued and returns to America. Carrie Mathieson, an FBI agent, is the only one who doesn't believe that the returned hero isn't all he says he is - but is she right?
2.) Spotless. This is the first Netflix original on my list, but it definitely won't be my last: they are killing it with these series' at the moment. If you liked Dexter (who didn't?!), you're probably going to love this. Two French brothers living in England get swept up into the world of crime, and take some dark and terrifying twists on their way. One brother owns a cleaning business, and is forced to undertake jobs for a mob, cleaning up bodies and 'incidents' as meticulously as he can. Despite his efforts to remain separate from the crimes he cleans, he is drawn in deeper and deeper to this underground world.
3.) Stranger Things. This had to be on the list really didn't it? If you're behind on the hype, the internet has fallen in love with this TV show. The child actors in it are beyond incredible, and it was the perfect spooky thing to watch in the run-up to Halloween. I am so ready for the second series to come out next year!
4.) White Collar. I love crime dramas and I'm (kind of) not ashamed to show it. White Collar is all about Neal Caffrey, an ex-con, who teams up with the FBI to help capture other criminals. He joins the white collar division because they deal with art crimes and he was arrested for art forgery. The one catch: Neal hasn't entirely given up his old ways, and the temptation from his work might just be too much for him to resist.
5.) Fresh Meat. A show all about the brutal reality of being a fresher in the UK. There's a lot of dark humour in this one, as well as a few touching moments. As an ex-uni student, I loved watching this and thinking 'omg that was so like *insert name here* and I actually watched it with some friends that I went to uni with to make it even better.
What are your Netflix faves at the moment?
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Every so often I take a little break from the usual beauty, lifestyle, food and travel ramblings on here to talk about something that is really getting my goat up, or upsetting me. I did it with my post on loss, and my one on not being a part of 'the blogging community'; I'm doing it again now. Pretty Little Liars, or PLL to us 'hardcore fans' is one of my favourite shows. I'm a bit of a sucker for teen dramas, and there's nothing better in my mind than a little catch up on One Tree Hill or Gossip Girl. I'm not even sorry, it's my absolute guilty pleasure. But, there's one thing that really sets these two apart from PLL in my mind, and it's the use of adult-child relationships.
This can be a bit of a touchy subject with some people, especially teens, as a 16-17 year old is sometimes considered to be an adult, but as much as I thought I was an adult back at that age, do I think it now? No. I definitely think you have the right to make your own decisions at this age, but there is still the opportunity for manipulation. Also, we're going right back to the age of 14, which is a little different. PLL's constant use and discussion of adult-child sexual relationships is honestly quite troubling. And the worst part? It's totally normalised. I'm going to break it down here into different relationships, to see just how frequently it occurs: something I hadn't even noticed until I read a news article on it recently. This is the most concerning aspect for me - that most of these relationships had gone totally over my head, awash with the idea that they are normal.
Aria and Ezra
This is the most obvious one, and the one that most of you guys probably thought about as soon as I mentioned the content of this post. Aria and Ezra meet when she is 15 (about to start Sophomore year) and he is 23. An eight year gap is totally fine as an adult, but in my opinion at least is a little concerning when the girl in question is underage.
From the offset this unlikely relationship is normalised. 15 year old baby-faced Aria is drinking in a bar when she first meets Ezra and loses her big V to him. In the back of a bar. For starters, in a place in which 21 is the legal drinking age, the entire setting seems a little unlikely, but as no questions are raised about it, it seems to lull us watchers into a false sense of security: we are used to 21 year olds drinking and hooking up in bars - Aria therefore seems to be that age. Indeed, for a 15 year old she is incredibly mature, and I'm not sure that shy, bookish Aria would be up for acting in the way she did that night, but maybe it's just me projecting.
Then we discover that Ezra is in fact her teacher, and he discovers that (whoops) she's underage. And she's totally in his class. Awkward. Rather than aligning himself to his duty of care however, he continues to pursue the relationship despite feeling 'guilty' about it. I know that some people will say that Aria was totally to blame here, but really, if a hot older guy told 15-year-old you he loved you then would you really turn that down? 15 year old me wouldn't have.
Now, what I find most disturbing about the continuation of their relationship is that for starters no one seems to notice or has a problem with it. High school for me may have ended four years ago, but if a girl was hanging around in the classroom of a hot young new male teacher then there would definitely have been rumours, if not actual complaints. But none of this happens. Then we have the fact that they're sleeping together with no real complications. This just simply doesn't happen. Ezra would have known how damaging a pregnancy would have been to the both of them, and surely would have taken precautions to ensure that it never happened, right? Instead of discussing these problems, we are faced with an idyllic coupling of the pair, in which the only problem is that her parents might find out. The fact that the show never questions the complications in this relationship inhibits our potential to do so too. Had there been a pregnancy scare, or a discussion of contraception then maybe, just maybe, we would be forced to think that actually this relationship isn't #goals. It's actually just a little manipulative.
Don't agree with me that there's a problem with it? It's just love and oh well, he met her before he knew she was 15 so does it really matter anyway, it's just real love? What about when we find out about his book? If you haven't watched the later series, then there's a serious spoiler alert for you now. After convincing us that it was okay, it's true love, age is just a number, etc., we find out that actually Ezra knew all along exactly how old Aria was and who she was before they met. Now if that does't scream 'creep' to you, then what will?! Ezra pursued Aria in order to write a book and make himself money. This is the ultimate form of manipulation, and was actually the first time I ever really felt truly dodgy about there relationship. Is it not a little predatory to pursue a 15 year old girl, fuck her, date her, impact her entire life, just to make yourself a bit of cash dollar?
Yet, even when this comes to light not one of the PLL gang actually turns around and says do you know what, that's really fucking creepy, what a perv. Instead the adult/child relationship isn't mentioned. And then Ezra is all 'oh soz I fell in love eventually but still stalked you, gained your trust and wrote the book anyway' and all is forgiven? Okay then. In the whole discussion over several episodes it is never once mentioned that actually, he was breaking the law by being with Aria, and he was manipulating a young girl's emotions for his own gain.
Spencer and Ian / Spencer and Wren
These two are really relationships that get swept under the rug in a wash of normality. In Season 1 we witness Spencer and her older sister's then husband macking on when she would have been a ripe 14. Again, although Ian is judged for this, it is because he cheated on Melissa, Spencer's sister, not because he cheated on her with an underage child that the judgement occurs. Then, the same is repeated with 16 year old Spencer and Melissa's new beau Wren. Wren is a bit of a charmer, and all round 'nice guy': we see Melissa being a bit of a bitch to him, so can you blame him for hitting on her child sister? Yes, you can, but we're encouraged not to. Instead, their first encounter is portrayed as an 'accident', when he decides to give bikini-clad Spencer a massage because her muscles are sore. What a nice friendly doctor man. How could either of them have guessed that that might be a little sensual? Spencer puts her trust in him, and this, combined with Melissa's hostile nature makes us want to see the pair get together, and we are not disappointed.
What is perhaps worst about these two incidents, is that rather than being portrayed as the victim of an older male's manipulative behaviour, Spencer is condemned as a 'slag'. By her own family. We see not only Melissa, but the girls' mother force the brunt of the blame onto 16 year old Spencer, and is the fact that the two men were actual total creeps who hit on a child mentioned? Of course not. Once again this issue is totally ignored by the show.
Alison and Ian
Alison was only 14 when she 'died', and we all find out that her and Ian were in a relationship before then. He was her 'secret' beau that she told none of the other girls about, and he was with her on the night she died. So, Ian is a serial predator. But, even when Ian is totally condemned by the characters, is it ever for that? Is he ever mentioned for what he really was: legally a rapist of underage children? No, they condemn him because they suspect that he had something to do with Ali's disappearance, and even the police overlook the illicit relationship. When they can't book him for murder, they don't book him for anything, or even look into his activities with this young girl. Indeed, the fact that he cheated on Melissa with Ali is mentioned as being totally immoral over the fact that it was with a fourteen year old. Ian by this point had completed a degree, so we know that for sure he is 21 at the youngest. Does it really then come as a surprise that he'd been filming the five of them undressing? Again something the police never found or cared about.
Thoughts
Until I really started looking into and thinking about this, so much of it had gone totally over my head. What kind of a message is PLL sending out to us, in which the law, society and even us as an audience don't care about, or even notice the fact that these relationships are going on? I absolutely love the show, but this honestly really concerns me. Should we just accept that murder is bigger than ongoing child abuse and the latter should be ignored? Or consider that it is an important topic that needs to be discussed?
What do you think?
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Who watches actual TV anymore? Seriously though, I only rarely switch mine on, and usually it's (shamefully) to catch up on the latest Gogglebox and Hawaii Five-0. So, here's my picks of TV shows on Netflix at the moment that I can't get enough of:
1.) Gossip Girl. Duh. I'm pretty much in love with Blair and Serena's friendship. The highs and lows of the Upper East Side became my obsession this winter and I honestly felt like there was a small hole in my life when I finished all the series'. Plus, well, there's always Chuck Bass *swoons*.
2.) Pretty Little Liars. I only started watching this about a month ago and have already hit half way through Season 4, whoops! NO ONE TELL ME WHO A IS.
3.) The Vampire Diaries. I know a lot of people think this is pretty lame, but hey, I like watching this in the evening to wind down.
4.) Miranda. Who doesn't love this goofy, adorable lady? I do.
5.) Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Cop shows are life, and a comedy cop show is even better.
Anyhow, as you can tell I'm pretty knackered as I write this, so I'll be heading off to pop on my bunny slippers and snuggle down to watch a film and have a good ol' fruit salad and chill session.
What are your current picks?
