The 2012 Brit Awards - the winners

We don't like to blow our own trumpets at Bobbysix but, four years ago, we stated that a little-known singer from Tottenham called Adele had "the potential to be a truly remarkable artist." Four years ago! Well, her meteoric rise to megastardom continued this week when she took out Best British Female and Best British Album at the 2012 Brit Awards.

Mind you, how much faith can you put in the Brits, in terms of a yardstick of quality? Sure, Adele has talent, Blur deserve their pat on the back and Foo Fighters are worthy enough winners but, come on, Bruno Fucking Mars and One Direction? Far out.

The awards ceremony took place in London on Tuesday night and included performances from Coldplay (whose frontman Chris Martin later joined Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds on piano), Florence And The Machine and Rihanna. There were also video tributes to Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.

The Winners: 
British Female Solo Artist - Adele
International Male Solo Artist - Bruno Mars 
British Single - One Direction: What Makes You Beautiful
International Female Solo Artist -  Rihanna
British Male Solo Artist - Ed Sheeran
British Group - Coldplay
International Group - Foo Fighters
British Breakthrough Act - Ed Sheeran
International Breakthrough Act - Lana Del Rey
Mastercard British Album Of The Year - Adele: 21
Critics' Choice Award - Emeli Sande
British Producer - Paul Epworth
Outstanding Contribution To Music - Blur

Bobbysix.com's End of Year Review 2011 - Alice Parsons

Today, Bobbysix's resident artist, reviewer and all round lovely human-being, Alice Parsons, tells us about her 2011. Be sure to keep an eye on Bobbysix.com later in the week as we'll be bringing you the overall winners of album/film/gig/song of the year:

Top 5 Albums
1. Wasting Light - FOO FIGHTERS
Not that I need any more reasons to suspect that Dave Grohl is a god but, Rope and White Limo offer pretty conclusive proof.
2. Skying - THE HORRORS
Beautiful album cover and beautiful trippy sounds. Still Life in particular.
3. Queens of the Stone Age - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Avon do do do do do doooo
4. Suck it and See - ARCTIC MONKEYS   
5. The Peoples Temple - SONS OF STONE

Top 5 Gigs
1. DISTANT WORLDS -  The Royal Albert Hall, London
A full orchestra playing the haunting music of the Final Fantasy games. Yes I am a nerd... that is fine.
2. OK GO - Koko club, London
Two feet away from Damien Kulash *sigh*   
3. CHASE AND STATUS- Brixton Academy, London    
They really know how to put on a show.
4. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - O2 Arena, London
Okay haters, I agree about the new stuff but the oldies are still classic. Really strong performance, to my surprise.
5. TELEPATHETIC - various Brighton venues
Admittedly my brother’s band but brilliant nonetheless.

Album Cover of the Year:
Bon Iver – Self Titled LP. Artwork by Gregory Euclide

2011 in Words
In order to remember what I’ve been doing with myself in this the year 2011, I had to have a little dig back through the pages of my big wave calendar in search of clues for the exciting events and glamorous parties I have surely attended. I was surprised to find that my only engagement in March was a visit to the dentist (clearly this was a big month for me). Luckily I had been more diligent across the rest of the year in noting my activities. Here follow a few of my 2011 highlights. Excellent year!

Item of the Year:
My vintage Moroccan Rug from the Atlas Mountains (found in Brighton). I am in love with it. It is joy in rug form. Also my suede peep-toe cut out wedges in pale blue from Office.

Art Highlight
Visiting the Mucha museum in Prague was really inspirational for me. His work is incredibly iconic and seeing the original sketches and poster prints just made me appreciate his skill even more. He was also super prolific, how can anyone produce so much work and still each piece be unique and worth looking at? I lost a lot of money in the gift shop as usual.

Brilliant Event
My lady friends and I took in our first Chap Olympiad. What a day. Gentlemen and Ladies, all decked out in exquisite vintage ‘chap’ attire (and sporting well groomed moustaches, well the men were anyway) enjoying Pimms and tea cakes whilst sheltering under brollies to watch the chaps compete in a number of daring events including ‘Swooning’, ‘Shouting at Foreigners’, ‘Not Playing Tennis’ and ‘The Umbrella Joust’. A top day of japery and high jinks was enjoyed by all. I will see you at the next one!

Alice Parsons - Contributor
Not only is Alice a genius illustrator/artist (she came up with the fantastic blog header at the top of the page), but she can write too and has also been known to do a spot of modelling. Is there no end to her talents?