Oscar dress analysis.

Don't you think that Miley Cyrus's mermaid inspired dress is Marion Cotillard's 2008 gown ad absurdam?






Freida Pinto looked like a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. Which I'm not entirely sure is a bad thing...

So life is disappointing?

Cabaret, Theatre Royal, Brighton. January.

Samantha Barks is in town. She came third in BBC's I'd Do Anything competition to win the role of Nancy in Oliver!, and I'm excited about seeing her in the stage version of one of my favourite films.

Samantha Barks is fantastic, incredibly talented and charismatic. In fact her only flaw is the same as Liza Minnelli's - she's too good to be playing a character working in a crummy Berlin nightclub. Here's the terrible Judi Dench playing Sally Bowles as she was meant to be, in the original London production.



Barks aside, I was particularly taken with the actress playing landlady Fraulein Schneider, and I look her up when I get home. Turns out she's most famous for this Shake n Vac advert.



She's moved on to much better songs since then such as the hauntingly apathetic "So What?", one of the many fabulous numbers not included in the film.

But, like the film, this is a piece about the seperation (or not) of entertainment from real life. Even the most basic, shallow areas of popular culture (e.g. musical theatre) reflect society and psyche.