What did you lot get up to on Wednesday evening?

I had quite the exciting night. My good friends (!!!), Sydney pop act Van She, played a nice intimate gig in the back room of a pub in Geelong, and I went along to show my support. Of course it wasn't long before I needed the boys support ME. Shockingly, I was not placed on the door list as promised by someone who should know better who now has quite an interesting message on their answering service courtesy of myself, which almost spelt the end to my evening with the boys before it even began. Of course, literally a phone call later to those crazy Sydney friends of mine (!!) and I was escorted in.

Hurrah.

Lucky I did go to such lengths to attend the gig, otherwise lead vocalist Nick may not have realized he was singing the second verse when he should have been singing the first during "Kelly". (Puzzled looks were beamed from our end as I was pretty much right up the front absolutely in the poor guys face. I gave him "the look" whilst singing the correct lyrics to him, you see.) Some riotous sung-laughter caused an almost frenzy-like (not really, it was actually only one girl who looked at me with hatred in her eyes for making Nick laugh) confusion amongst the crowd, and of course I took all of this on board as if sharing private jokes with ridiculously awesome bands whilst they're on stage was an everyday thing. Not surprisingly, I haven't shut up about it since.

I took photos. Probably a bit too many to be honest. I lay the blame on about 3 glasses of Frangelico and being so close to the front. I got a bit 'swept away' in the moment, but luckily enough, nothing like the movie of the same title. I'll post them some time next week, the digi-cam is all the way in the car right now and I simply cannot be bothered leaving the office to get it.

The boys did REALLY well, and the new material is ferociously superb. I'm told the debut album is due to 'drop' later on in the year. In the mean time, I sincerely urge you to go out and purchase their self titled E.P which is being sold for quite the bargain price of $9.95 over on the Sanity website.

It's really quite good you know.

Regular readers will know that Van She are pretty much my favourite pop act going around at the moment. The boys are about to take over the world (the United Kingdom is on the cards we're told) and, quite frankly, are going to become YOUR favourite pop act going around very soon too.

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AS brilliant as first single "Stupid Girls" is, it simply does not compare with some of the truly sharp pop gems featured on the new P!NK album "I'm Not Dead".

Quite frankly, songs "Cuz I Can", "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)", "U & Ur Hand" and "Conversations with my 13 year old self" have spun the IAR offices upside down on its head, that is how good they are.

"Cuz I Can" should be a single (containing the line 'Ice Cream, Ice Cream, We all want Ice Cream' has pretty much made this song my favorite on the whole album), "U & Ur Hand" has an amazingly bright chorus which sounds pretty much exactly like the chorus from The Veronicas' "4ever" (actually, probably a bit TOO much like it to be completely honest with you), "Leave Me Alone (I'm Loney)" is schizophrenic pop music in its finest hour, and the "Conversations..." track is really quite tender, charming, a bit sad, AND ALL OF THAT OTHER RATHER SOPPY KIND OF STUFF YOU SEE.

But it is not just four outstanding songs and eleven filler. The album as a whole is really quite good. The only real stinker is "Dear Mr. President", which, to put it rather lightly, is a bit shithouse. To say it's a tad boring would be quite the understatement. I fell asleep at the GYM when it came on my iPod this morning.

THE GYM FOR GOODNESS SAKE.

Fifteen tracks, Fourteen of them brilliant. That's not a bad effort from someone who's last album had a total of 2 (two) good songs on it. I'm fairly confident in saying that this truly is the first really important pop album of 2006.

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Back in February I ran a little competition asking you, the readers, to send me a tale which demonstrated your honest-to-god hatred for

"I don't mind being around girls" - Not the phrase any straight 16 year old male with about $60 Million in the bank would be sprouting. Even Aaron Carter hooked into Nikki Webster.

"I cried when I saw my name in the end credits!" - Imagine what Brokeback Mountain is going to do to this guys head?

"I played a trick on the make-up department (It is called theft when you use it out of hours Daniel) where I put a fake blood capsule in my mouth, pretended to trip on the stairs and let the blood come out of my mouth. They really fell for it, then they chased after me with a water pistol." - And once they caught him, the nasty make-up man tied him to the wall and whipped him with his nasty foundation brush until he simply could take the pain no more.

"I was in the bath when I found out that I got the Harry Potter lead. I heard the phone ring downstairs, and later my dad came up to me and said, 'Guess who they want to play Harry Potter?'. And I cried." - Child Abuse anyone?

Well I am most definitely looking forward to catching Harry Potter & The Ringlet Of Fire...

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First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all 1,329 of you for voting in this years Readers Poll.

That is pretty much 1,000 more votes than the poll got in last time, so to say I'm a little bit chuffed is an understatement.

I'd also like to thank everyone who's emailed me over the past year telling me what a good job I've been doing. I like those kind of emails, they not only brighten the mood in the office but they also make me want to add more wondrous (!!!!!!) things for you all to read.

Anyways, enough of all THAT CRAP, you'll be pleased to know I've been working for 2 days straight on tallying up the votes, and have come up with Top 5's for everything. The Rogue Traders, Girls Aloud, Madonna and Desperate Housewives all did very well. You also all seem to have fairly good taste in most things, although I am a little bit worried about the couple of Foo Fighters entries that landed on my desk, but never mind. You all have brilliant taste in websites too, with Ausculture winning the poll as your fave site.

I'd also like to applaud those of you who, in the TV Actor Of The Year category, sent forth "Boyd from Neighbours, but only with his top off". There were three of you.

Congratulations must go out to Nazreen Hamid in Victoria, Australia, for winning the mega-prize pack as well. Everyone's name went into a rather large cooking pot, and I got my dear Mother to pick a name out of the pot. Runners Up announced when we can find their prizes.

PS: The McFly/Harry Potter comp has been won, more on that tomorrow!

1. Girls Aloud - Biology
2. Madonna - Hung Up
3. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
4. Sugababes - Push The Button
5. Ciara - 1,2 Step

1. Madonna - Confessions On A Dancefloor
2. Girls Aloud - Chemistry
3. M.I.A. - Arular
4. Robyn - Robyn
5. Rogue Traders - Here Come The Drums

1. Tiga
2. Patrick Wolf
3. Kanye West
4. Will Young
5. Robbie Williams

1. Madonna
2. Rachel Stevens
3. Kelly Clarkson
4. M.I.A.
5. Kate Bush

1. Girls Aloud
2. Madonna
3. McFly
4. Bodies Without Organs
5. The Veronicas

1. Sugababes
2. Rogue Traders
3. The Veronicas
4. Girls Aloud
5. Datarock

1. Rogue Traders
2. Juliet
3. Infernal
4. Dannii Minogue
5. Annie

1. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
2. Madonna - Hung Up
3. Rogue Traders - Way To Go!
4. Infernal - From Paris To Berlin
5. Uniting Nations - You & Me

1. Rogue Traders
2. The Veronicas
3. Wolfmother
4. Ben Lee
5. Cut Copy

1. Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
2. Rogue Traders - Way To Go!
3. The Veronicas - Everything I'm Not
4. Kate Tarago - Faded
5. The Veronicas - 4Ever

1. Rogue Traders - Here Come The Drums
2. The Veronicas - Secret Life Of...
3. Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love
4. Ben Lee - Awake Is The New Sleep
5. Wolfmother - Wolfmother

1. James Blunt - You're Beautiful
2. James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover
3. Jessica Simpson - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
4. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal
5. Pussycat Moles - Don'tcha

1. James Blunt
2. Lee Harding
3. Bodyrockers
4. Hilary Duff
5. Coldplay

1. Coldplay
2. Il Divo
3. U2
4. Greenday
5. Pussycat Moles

1. Lee Harding
2. Anthony Callea
3. Jet
4. Missy Higgins
5. Wolfmother

1. Crazy Frog - Axel F
2. DHT - Listen to Your Heart
3. Bodyrockers - Round & Round
4. Crazy Frog - Jingle Bells
5. Studio B - I See Girls

1. Eva Longoria (Gabrielle from Desperate Housewives)
2. Marcia Cross (Bree from Desperate Housewives)
3. Felicity Huffman (Lynette from Desperate Housewives)
4. Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars from Veronica Mars)
5. Natalie Bassingthwaite (Izzy from Neighbours)

1. Kyal Marsh (Boyd from Neighbours)
2. Jason Dohring (Logan from Veronica Mars)
3. Adam Brody (Seth from The O.C.)
4. Shawn Pyfrom (Andrew from Desperate Housewives)
5. Matt Czuchry (Logan from Gilmore Girls)

1. Gretel Killeen
2. Natalie Bassingthwaite
3. Ally from Australian Princess
4. Sandra Sully
5. Mel & Kochie from Sunrise

1. 9am with David & Kim
2. Headland
3. Axle Whitehead
4. Molly Meldrum
5. Bert's Family Feud

1. Neigbours
2. Big Brother
3. Australian Princess
4. Spicks & Specs
5. The Glasshouse

1. Arrested Development
2. Lost
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Little Britain
5. Australian Princess

1. Dan O'Connor (Neigbours)
2. Paris Hilton (Veronica Mars)
3. Holly Brisley (Home & Away)
4. Isabel Lucas (Home & Away)
5. Joel McIlroy (Home & Away)

1. Jake Gyllenhaall
2. Nathan Phillips
3. Johnny Depp
4. Michael Vartan
5. Heath Ledger

1. Sophie Monk
2. Reese Witherspoon
3. Naomi Watts
4. Michelle Williams
5. Felicity Huffman

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Wolf Creek
3. Walk The Line
4. Mr & Mrs Smith
5. Date Movie

1. Rent
2. The Aviator
3. Date Movie
4. Be Cool
5. Get Rich Or Die Trying

1. Jake Gyllenhaal
2. Jesse Metcalfe
3. Wentworth Miller
4. Chad Michael Murray
5. Dougie McFly

1. Eva Longoria
2. Cheryl Tweedy
3. Amelle Berabah
4. Angelina Jolie
5. Sophie Monk

1. Harry - 67%
2. Dougie - 26%
3. Danny - 6%
4. Tom - 1%

1. Nicola - 51%
2. Cheryl - 28%
3. Sarah - 11%
4. Kimba - 8%
5. Nadine - 2%

1. Kimberley Stewart
2. Paris & Nikki Hilton
3. Tara Reid
4. Dan O'Connor
5. Ray Martin

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Some rather exciting goings-on are now underway over on the IAR forums this Monday evening. It seems that the gripping topic of whether one enjoys the musical stylings of

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-----Original Message-----
From: Adem Ali
Sent: Thursday, 7 March 2006 10:30 AM
To: Universal Music Australia, Polydor UK
Subject: Girls Aloud's Australian Visit

To Whom It May Concern;

Hello. My name is Adem Ali. I'm a pop music journalist and radio announcer in Geelong, Victoria, over in Australia, and I'm emailing you to discuss the disappointment felt by fans over Girls Aloud's recent Australian Promotional trip. I am sending this email to both Polydor UK and also to the Offices at Universal Music Australia.

I run the only Australian based Girls Aloud website on the web (www.girlsaloudinoz.be) - so during their promotional visit - and the weeks leading up to it - I had received quite a few emails from fans requesting details of the girls' stay. Where would they be appearing, what radio stations would they be interviewed on, etc.

Doing three TV shows and some radio over a five day course has obviously not done them many favours. "Biology" debuted at a poor #26 (I don't have to tell you that it doesn't take many sales these days in Australia to get into the top 10, so scoring a number #26 does not reflect well at all), and this week has dropped to number #30. A lot of the fans - including myself - are hoping for a Sugababes infused miracle. "Push The Button" debuted low, went lower in its second week, and slowly began to rise from the bottom end of the chart to eventually achieve a number #3 position. But those fans are also cautious and well aware this is probably not going to happen.

It's extremely sad that Australia, a country who's current Number #1 album is a prime example of why music should probably be outlawed when in the hands of the careless, cannot see the sheer brilliance that is "Biology".

But how are they meant to know of it if they haven't even HEARD it?

The Australian schedule was, as mentioned, less than impressive. Three television shows - two of which the average YOUNG pop music fan in Australia is NOT going to watch (two morning shows - most kids are either on their way to school, actually already at school or watching cartoons or on their way to university - unaware of whatever it is that's going on over on the morning shows). Although I definitely commend the Girls' appearance on Channel [V], there are a handful of shows the girls SHOULD have been on whilst down under.

Music Channels: The girls covered Channel [V], but we also have an MTV and a Music Max, which the girls should have appeared on. As for music shows, Video Hits on Free-to-air Channel 10 should have at least had them guest hosting with that idiot Axle Whitehead.

Morning Shows: The girls covered Sunrise and 9AM, but there were also other highly top rating shows such as Today, and Mornings with Kerri-Ann, who I can assure you would have given the girls their most fun Australian Performance (she's quite the character that Kerri-Ann).

Radio: As far as I was aware, the only Melbourne radio interview was on Gay & Lesbian Radio Station Joy FM. Did ANY of the commercial networks or even any of the regional community radio stations show any interest in an offer? I work in radio and I did not receive an interview request and my show is pop music orientated. My show - and the community station it plays on - is probably the only show & station in the country who has been playing Girls Aloud on a daily basis for the last year, but there you go.

Other TV Shows: The girls SHOULD have done Rove Live. It would have been the perfect platform for them, the single and album. Dancing with the stars would have been nice also, 2 Million viewers is always a good launching pad - look what it did this week album and singles wise for Westlife.

Meeting the fans: Where were the instore appearances?? There should have at least been 2 of them - one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. It was a perfect opportunity to generate some new fans, and instore's - in the past - tend to do this. Again, look at Westlife's number #1 album this week after doing a few instores.

Can you understand why so many Australian fans are slightly annoyed? Some may argue that "Biology" was not the right song to go with as a first "proper" Australian single (I am well aware the Girls have had semi-hits here before but this was the first proper crack with them bothering to come down for promotion), and they could be right. "The Show" may have been a better option to go with, followed by "Biology" and "Whole Lotta History". If the rumours of either a "See The Day" or "I'll Stand By You" release are true, alienate them now, not only will neither of these songs do well, I can guarantee that the very loyal Australian fan base will be angry, judging by the 40 odd emails I've gotten through my website from them complaining at the news "I'll Stand By You" may be a single.

Over in the UK, The Girls recently - right after they returned from their Australian visit - told Top Of The Pops Online that, and I quote from Sarah, "We're planning a tour of Australia and New Zealand for next year. We intend to be together for quite a while." So if this is going to happen - and by god we, the fans, want to see them back here next year to do this tour - some better promotion needs to get underway for the singles and album. The girls were recording a 6 part documentary to be screened in the UK whilst they were down Under. This documentary could be perfect promotion for the girls if it were offered to a free to air network here in Australia, following the launch of a second single, which should really be "The Show" or "Whole Lotta History".

The girls have a strong fan base here, and the news of the promotional tour caused so much excitement, so you cannot really blame any of us when we complain that it's been a bit of a let down to see how it all unravelled.

Also, the club mix of "Biology" found on the CD single, although it's really quite brilliant, is not being played in clubs across the country. I've spoken to a few high profile DJs about this and it's simply come down to there not being any good house or electro remixes of the track. It's just too fast for Australian clubs. Why not get Aussie remixers on board for the next single (seeing as it is obviously a lost cause and too late for "Biology"), such as Goodwill, TV Rock (who currently have the Number #1 single in Australia), James Ash from The Rogue Traders or even John Course. Something to think about - I can bet my life that if there had been an Australian produced House remix of "Biology" it would be in the top 10 by now.

I look forward to your reply on the matter.

--
Regards,
Adem Ali.

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I never discuss politics on IAR.

I leave such brilliance in the more than capable hands of amazing folk like Jess from Ausculture who is infinitely more intelligent than I am, knows her shit and I am indeed quite jealous of that quite good really.

But when Geena Davis gets herself involved in politics, this is where I AM forced to step in.

I love Geena.

I Absolutely LOVE Geena. It's probably unhealthy to be honest, but I have loved her for years.

She is an icon, and almost everything she has done has been anywhere between Spellbinding to almost OK except of course for that sitcom, which I'm quite sure is never spoken of in the Davis house these days.

After watching the very second episode of "Commander In Chief" this evening, I found myself, once more, emotionally raw and extremely moved by our new president. If you missed the first episode last week on Channel 7, you missed out on quite the tear jerker. President Geena's moving speech in the last vital minutes of episode one was nothing short of exhilarating, if not a little bit cheesy.

But in tonight's episode, she has officially won me over. There was a point - again at the very end - where I realized that, in a world where Geena Davis is the President of the United States, if I was an American, I would be dangerously patriotic.

Is she not the greatest president ever?

Would she not make the greatest

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So last week I promised you that I'd give you an exclusive sneak peak at the brand new Van She video clip "Kelly".

Unfortunately for you, the 'sneak peak' is merely a few screen caps I managed to put together, but they are screen caps of the best moments you see, so it really isn't so much of a waste of time, what with "Kelly" being one of the greatest songs so far of 2006, and the video clip containing a lot of graphic french kissing.

Anywho, after all that, there's no need for the screen caps now, it seems someone has already uploaded the video onto You Tube. Enjoy.

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WHAT.

THE.

FUCK?

How did this happen? I am actually really quite depressed. I stayed up till midnight - barely keeping my eyes open - awaiting the singles chart details to come through in the hope that "Biology" had AT LEAST moved up one single spot since its debut last week.

And instead, it has dropped four, Westlife's single has sky-rocketed and their album is NUMBER FUCKING ONE.

NUMBER FUCKING ONE!!!

Australia, congratualtions, it's official that 90% of you are all tone deaf.

Miserable day. What a miserable day.

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It really was only a matter of time before shit hit the fan for Jav-Jav again.

Several months back I told you of her drink spiking episode. Well it seems the trusty ol' drink has gotten her into muddy waters once more, this time because she decided to go driving whilst downing a couple of Vodka shots.

Police alcohol test results showed that Javine was more than twice the legal limit to be driving, and was seen cutting in front of busses with her

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Oh dear.

I just got my SIXTEENTH email, sent from various concerned

"Push the Button", otherwise...

6.
x 1,000.

If you haven't already purchased your Australian copy of "Biology" or the album "Chemistry", you can do so at any of the listed retail stores, or online at www.sanity.com.au (buy album and buy single) - Please refrain from shopping online at hmv.com.au as those sales do NOT contribute to the ARIA charts (but Sanity - both online and instore - now do!)

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Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the serious lack of updates. My modem died on its arse the other week and I've been forced into using dial-up (!!!!) until a new modem is sent out to.

Now, on with the important stuff.

You may remember a month or two back when I wouldn't shut up about Sydney band

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