If only we'd spotted this page of the BBC website yesterday. Think of the money we could have made at the bookies.

All the winners of last night's Brits listed, but look when the page was last updated; "Tuesday, 13 February 2007, 17:52 GMT". That's over 24 hours before the awards ceremony took place. Curses!

Labels: BBC, betting, Brit Awards, Brits

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It's back! With just minutes to spare, here we are with Chig's traditional pointless predictions for tonight's Brit Awards 'Live'!

You might think that, having posted all the nominations as they were announced on 16 January, I would have given some serious consideration to who's likely to win and who I'd like to win (and where these two might overlap in the Venn diagram of popular music) but no, I haven't. So, here we go - completely made-up-as-I-go-along predictions. Check back later for the results. Or watch it 'live' (with a thirty second delay for sweary bits) on ITV1 soon.

Key:
*** = my preferred winner
Bold = my predicted winner
Green = the actual winner

Outstanding Contribution Award:
***oasis
I'm pretty confident on this one.

British Single:
To be decided during tonight's show, by televoting. The original eleven nominees have already been voted down to five survivors by readers of The Sun, O2 mobile phone customers and some other people:

Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
Fill My Little World - The Feeling
A Moment Like This - Leona Lewis
You Give Me Something - James Morrison
She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks
Smile - Lily Allen
***America - Razorlight
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) - Sandi Thom
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Patience - Take That. Aaaah, I'm choked.
All Time Love - Will Young

British Album:
Alright, Still - Lily Allen
Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
Eyes Open - Snow Patrol
***Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys. This time, they're dressed as The Village People. The cards!

The winner should really be: Twelve Stops and Home - The Feeling

British Male:
James Morrison !!! Four awards so far this evening, and four shocks! Never in a million years would I have predicted this one.
Jarvis Cocker
***Lemar (One day, matey, one day. Keep plugging away.)
Thom Yorke
Paolo Nutini

British Female:
Amy Winehouse. Ace! Have a drink love! Oh, you have. (Meanwhile, Lily Allen tries to look happy at her table.)
***Lily Allen
Corinne Bailey Rae
Jamelia
Nerina Pallot

British Group:
Snow Patrol
Muse
Kasabian
Razorlight
***Arctic Monkeys. Nice outfits, boys! (In their acceptance film, they're dressed as the four main characters from The Wizard of Oz. Who knows why?)

The winner should really be: The Feeling

International Album:
St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley
Futuresex/Lovesounds - Justin Timberlake
Modern Times - Bob Dylan
***Ta-dah - Scissor Sisters
Sam's Town - The Killers. Crikey! Love 'em, love Brandon, had the album for Christmas, but didn't expect this. Excellent.

British Breakthrough Act:
***The Kooks
Lily Allen
James Morrison
Corinne Bailey Rae
The Fratellis !!! Second award tonight, second shock, but a good one for my second choice in this category.

The winners should really be: The Feeling

British Live Act:
Robbie Williams
Kasabian
George Michael (Because it's Radio 2 voters who will choose.)
Guillemots
***Muse !!! A very pleasant shock. Have most Radio2 listeners ever heard Muse, let alone seen them live?

The winners should really be: Take That

International Male:
Jack Johnson
Damien Rice
Beck
Bob Dylan
***Justin Timberlake. The fifth award given tonight, and the first really predictable winner.

International Female:
Beyoncé
Cat Power
Christina Aguilera
Pink
***Nelly Furtado. If I'd put on just one bet, it would have been this one. No one came near her success last year.

International Group:
The Killers. Again! Hurrah!
***Gnarls Barkley
Scissor Sisters
The Flaming Lips
Red Hot Chili Peppers

International Breakthrough (Voted by MTV viewers):
***Gnarls Barkley
The Raconteurs
Wolfmother
Ray LaMontagne
Orson !!! Tonight's third award, and third surprise!

The scores on the doors:
I'm slipping. Only six out of thirteen winners predicted correctly. Blimey were there some surprises tonight! Lily Allen, Gnarls Barkey, you leave...with nothing!

As far as my preferred winners were concerned, the score was the same: 6/13, with five overlapping (ie. both predictions and favourites winning). I'm counting oasis in both of these categories, being overly generous to myself in the process.

Overall, a good show but not massively exciting. No interesting collaborations at all this year, and trust oasis to make tits of themselves by swearing so much that the sound was dipped during their speeches and their songs. Liam may think he has something important to say, but if the sound gets turned down because of your language, no one's going to get your message are they? The numbskull.

In TV terms, it was a great success; it finished exactly on time!

Labels: Brit Awards, Brits, favourites, predictions, winners

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An ongoing post, as Chig watches the launch on ITV2...

Hurrah! At last! The Brit Awards show is going to be live on our TVs again, for the first time since 1989. Hurrah again! We love the unpredictability. Presented by Russell Brand. Thrice hurrah! It's on St. Valentine's night. That should cause a few arguments across the country. Thank goodness for singledom.

Performing on the night: Amy Winehouse / Snow Patrol / The Killers / Corinne Bailey Rae / Take That / Red Hot Chili Peppers / Scissor Sisters / oasis

No superstar collaborations as yet. I hope they will come later.

Outstanding Contribution Award: oasis
Hmm. Leaving aside the fact that the Gallaghers' egos hardly need feeding, this seems rather too soon. They haven't split up yet. Still, as the Spice Girls were given this award, it was completely devalued anyway.

There's a very modern innovation with this next award.

British Single:
For the first time, this is to be decided on the night, presumably by a televote. (Chig's alter ego writes: What else could it be, you fool? A show of hands in the hall? An 'It's A Knockout' style contest between the nominees, live on stage? Tsk.)

Put Your Records On - Corinne Bailey Rae
Fill My Little World - The Feeling (Not even the best of their own four singles.)
A Moment Like This - Leona Lewis
You Give Me Something - James Morrison
She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks
Smile - Lily Allen
America - Razorlight
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) - Sandi Thom
Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
Patience - Take That
All Time Love - Will Young (Yes, it was only released in January 2006. It seems much older.)

British Album:
Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
Back To Black - Amy Winehouse (Currently the UK's number 1 album.)
Eyes Open - Snow Patrol (The UK's biggest seller of 2006.)
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
Alright, Still - Lily Allen

And where, may I ask, is The Feeling's 'Twelve Stops and Home'?

British Male:
James Morrison / Jarvis Cocker / Lemar / Thom Yorke / Paolo Nutini

British Female:
Amy Winehouse / Lily Allen / Corinne Bailey Rae / Jamelia / Nerina Pallot

British Group:
Snow Patrol / Muse / Kasabian / Razorlight / Arctic Monkeys (Last year's British Breakthrough winners)
WHERE THE HELL ARE THE FEELING?!

International Album:
St. Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley / Futuresex/Lovesounds - Justin Timberlake /
Modern Times - Bob Dylan / Ta-dah - Scissor Sisters / Sam's Town - The Killers

British Breakthrough Act:
The Kooks / James Morrison / Corinne Bailey Rae / The Fratellis / Lily Allen
WHERE THE HELL ARE THE FEELING???!!!???!!! AGAIN!

British Live Act:
Robbie Williams / Kasabian / George Michael / Guillemots / Muse

Where are Take That?

International Male:
Jack Johnson (Last year's International Breakthrough winner.) / Damien Rice / Bob Dylan / Justin Timberlake and, of course, Beck. (It's good to see that some things never change. Does Beck sponsor this award? He must have beaten Annie Lennox's nomination tally by now, surely? He's won this three times, in 1997, 1999 and 2000. I have a feeling he's been nominated every year, in-between and since.)

International Female:
Beyoncé / Pink / Nelly Furtado / Christina Aguilera....and Cat Power. A nation screams 'WHO?????'

International Group:
The Killers / Gnarls Barkley / Scissor Sisters / The Flaming Lips / Red Hot Chili Peppers

International Breakthrough:
Gnarls Barkley / The Raconteurs / Wolfmother / Ray LaMontagne / Orson

I have a sneaking admiration for Wolfmother. I've only seen them on TV a couple of times, but never has a combination of wailing and MASSIVE hair made such an impression on me. Good luck to them.

Labels: Brit Awards, Brits

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