Star Sparkle Blog

It's Hallowe'en on Monday, so I'm doing a post on my favourite Hallowe'en/scary things, plus a round-up of spooky themed things on the blog. :) I tried to avoid spoilers but there are a couple. Books Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersly Cuisick This is a Point Horror book (the series was hugely popular in the 90s, ahhh nostalgia! lol) and the story is about Martha, a girl who moves to a new town after her dad gets married. She finds it hard adjusting to having a stepmum and isn't keen on her stepbrother, Conor but most of all she dislikes the creepy house. She learns that something terrible happened in the house and in the lead-up to Hallowe'en weird things keep happening, especially in Martha's room! I've had this for years and like to re-read it occasionally around Hallowe'en; I just started reading it again today. :) Halloween Night by R.L. Stine Another Point Horror, written by R.L. Stine who also wrote the Goosebumps series (see b...

This week's video is Fires in the North by Leaves' Eyes . It's their latest song. I still think it's a shame that Liv Kristine left/was sacked (she says the rest of Leaves' Eyes fired her while they say she left) but new singer Elina has a good voice which suits this song. It must be hard going into such a long running band. It will be interesting to hear further music and I also look forward to hearing new stuff from Liv. :) This is the official lyric video.

I'm on a K-pop kick at the moment! It's time for another Girls vs Boys post and I'm featuring the Korean groups Red Velvet and GOT7 . Update 25/11/24: I've deleted old links/updated them. Red Velvet are a 5 member girl group made up of Irene, Wendy (who is originally from South Korea, later moved to Canada and also lived in the US, Seulgi, Yeri and Joy (who all grew up in Korea). The name Red Velvet represents two sides to them- Red is the more girly, excitable side and Velvet is the more grown-up, toned down one.  They were formed by South Korean entertainment company S.M. Entertainment (who are responsible for lots of the K-pop groups) at auditions over several years and debuted in August 2014 as a 4 member group with the single Happiness (digital release only). The music video for Happiness was very popular. In October that year they released their second single Be Natural featuring rapper Taeyong, who is now part of the K-pop group NCT . In March 2015 Yeri jo...

Today's video is DRIVE by Jay Park featuring singer GRAY . It's the latest song from his new album EVERYTHING YOU WANTED which is due out tomorrow. (Well today in Korea, since they're ahead of us!).

JoJo's new album Mad Love. came out today. Her last album The High Road was released in 2006, so it's been 10 years! Since then she's released singles and mixtapes but this is the first full length album in that time. I've been looking forward to it because I've been waiting for her to bring out a new one for ages. I kept waiting for Jumping Trains (which was the name of her 3rd album at one time) to come out! lol. Update 25/11/16: Note: I'm referring to the Deluxe version which I think is only available in as a digital/MP3 download. I like Mad Love, it's a good album. The best songs for me are in the middle and then towards the end. (Although I also like F*** Apologies. which is No. 3). I sometimes find that with albums; I like the songs more towards the begining or middle etc. My favourite ones so far (sometimes I need to listen to songs several times for them to grow on me) are Reckless., I Can Only. featuring Canadian singer Alessia Cara , Honest....

This week's video is Mani Per Money by Era Istrefi . It was her first single which came out in 2013. Era sings in Gheg Albanian and Mani për money translates as "Money mania). The first song I heard of Era's was Bonbon, which was a good introduction. This is a different style, more reggae. I look forward to hearing more of her music. :)

I've listening to a lot of new music lately, so here are the latest songs and videos I've heard and seen. :) Era Istrefi - Mani Per Money* Aluna George- I Remember album Tulisa feat. Akelle- Sweet Like Chocolate Usher feat. Young Thug- No Limit Christopher Martin- Under The Influence* JoJo - Mad Love JoJo feat. Remy Ma- FAB (explicit) Tove Lo feat. Wiz Khalifa- Influence Majid Jordan feat. Drake- My Love

Today's video is Talk About Forever by Mabel . It's a video project to commemorate the new Tate Modern building which was opened back in June. (Tate Modern is an art gallery in London). I first watched the video in August and included it in my New Music/Videos update that month. It's a bit of a strange video in my opinion; it's one of those with interpretive dance which seem to be the trend at the moment, e.g. Sia's videos with Maddie from Dance Moms and Years and Years' latest two (I'm just not a fan of that dance style!). I like the song though, it has a nice vibe and the dancers are good. :)