Monday, July 31, 2006 "You're just jealous 'cause ya can't be me..."
And so it begins, what will either turn out to be a roaring success or a complete and utter let-down. I'm going to take a punt and say "run for the hills before it's too late" to you all right now. Each and every Monday, I'll be hosting a new 'segment' of sorts to the site, entitled 'Nicola Mondays'. To save me repeating myself, if you've no idea what Nicola Mondays is to be, read about it here.
At the end of this post, as a way of saying "Thanks for reading the whole thing", you'll find a bonus MP3 Download for your listening pleasure.
Now.
FACT. Madonna's "Gambler" is VERY UNDERRATED.
FACT. Madonna's "Gambler" is one of her all time greatest singles.
FACT. Contrary to popular belief, "Holiday" is not.
FACT. The line "I'll aim this straight between your eyes!" is SCREAMING to be performed by Nicola Roberts.
1985 saw the birth of "Gambler", the second single to be taken from the "Vision Quest" Soundtrack (titled "Crazy For You" in Australia) which still remains one of her most brilliant. In what is still very much her cheekiest lyrical moment to date, Madge belts out the immortal line of: "You're not happy with the way I act, you better turn around boy don't look back, you're gettin' angry you know I can see... you're just jealous 'cause ya can't be me".
Indeed Madonna. Indeed.
Obviously, this continuously overlooked Madge gem needs to be brought back into people's lives, and the only person I can honestly care to see do so is Nicola Roberts.
In the clip, Nicola would run about in a casino. In this casino, it would look very much like the casino featured in the movie of the same name. Nicola would play the fascinating role of Sharon Stone's character, but obviously Nicola's hair would be a bright piercing red instead of Sharon's Harlot Blonde. Something dramatic happens, and at the end Nicola gets up on stage a-la-Madge in the original "Gambler" video, and begins to belt out the remains of the song with all her might.
That is all I can really think of.
Now do you understand why it is simply paramount that Nicola cover this one day? Would it not just be absolutely splendid?
If you've no idea what Madonna's "Gambler" sounds like, why not DOWNLOAD it here?:
THE INEVITABLE has finally occurred on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart. The poptastic "High School Musical" Soundtrack has gone #1 this week, demonstrating that, maybe, had Girls Aloud's "Biology" been used in a Disney movie, it might have done a lot better here than #26. Come to think of it, they didn't really have much of a chance in hell at all here did they, so probably not actually.
Meanwhile, the single from the soundtrack, "Breaking Free" continues to yo-yo up and down the singles chart, this week dropping three spots to Number #16. Hopefully EMI will come to their senses very soon and rush release the Zac Efron (pictured) crooned "Get'cha Head In The Game" here which, if you can remember my report on this the other week, comes complete with amazing basketball court sound effects. This is because the song is about PLAYING BASKETBALL and SINGING. Which is quite the combination indeed, trust me when I say 'Just ask Shaq'.*
AND THEN there were two. After last nights Big Brother Double Kick-Out, which, in quite an exhilarating turn of events, saw the surprise eviction of Gay Farmer David (a crowd favourite to win the prize money). So now it's down to hotly-tipped-to-win Camilla and, like, Jamie. I'm not at all fussed who wins now - and I'm sure I'll get yelled at for saying this but, I'm just happy it will not be David. On that note though, how absolutely touching was the whole David-Sharif reunion thing during the eviction show? I absolutely balled, how beautiful was it?!
Which brings me to my theory that, after Friday Night Live, Camilla was already going to win. Out of the final 4, she has accumulated the most amount in fines. Big Brother had announced during Friday Night Live that whatever amount the individual who wins Big Brother has accumulated themselves in fines whilst being in the Big Brother house, that is the amount which will be deducted from the final winnings total. If Camilla were to win, they'd only have to give a rather small amount of money away, instead of to someone like David who hasn't had as many fines. Definitely food for thought, isn't it? The Big Brother Season 6 Finale begins tonight at 7pm E.S.T. on Channel 10, and should prove to be quite the interesting nights worth of television.
Nicola Monday is coming. You'll just have to be patient as I am currently at work.
The lovely Dannii Minogue is about to release her latest album, "The Hits & Beyond" in Australia on the 7th of August. "The Hits & Beyond", as you may already know, is a brilliant collection of the better Minogue's best singles (sadly, both "Coconut" and "Everlasting Night" do not appear), with an additional bonus of six new songs. Now, before you think "Oh gosh, Dannii... Isn't she a little bit ropey?", you need not worry, because all of the hits on this collection are very good. And out of the six new songs, five of them are absolute floor-fillers ("Good Times" is a tiny bit shithouse). The most amazing thing about this hits collection however is that there will be a limited edition pressing of it, which comes with a bonus DVD OF DANNII VIDEO CLIPS. DVD. It is literally every Dannii fans dream.
Right now in Australia (that being 'today' for those of you without calendars) Dannii has released her latest single from "The Hits & Beyond", the ace "So Under Pressure", which has a magnificent video clip in which Dannii straddles a snake, appears in between the legs of assorted women (!) and, generally, looks quite hot.
Let's give it a viewing, shall we?
Isn't this a VERY good clip? Isn't it an even BETTER song? In fact, isn't this, quite possibly, contender for SINGLE OF THE YEAR?! Precisely. It is absolute brilliance in recorded form.
I strongly suggest that tomorrow afternoon, once you've recovered from whatever excitement it is you'll be attending to this Friday Evening, you hop down to your local ARIA approved record store, and purchase a copy of Dannii's new single.
Alternatively, you can simply pre-order both the single and album from this very website. Sort of. > PRE ORDER: "The Hits & Beyond" > PURCHASE: "So Under Pressure"
It is VERY important Dannii does well with this, and I'm laying the responsibility on you, the deaf Australian record buying public, if these brilliant projects do not do well here, just mark my words.
EXTRA!: Dannii will be guest hosting VIDEO HITS with the terrible Axle Whitehead this Saturday July 29th from 9am on Channel 10. The show will run for three hours as well! Dannii will also be doing some more TV appearances over the next few weeks, which I'll make sure to fill you in on "when the timing is right".
Anytime that I can, if it feels right, I like to whip out a picture of The Carpenters. ANY excuse will do really. This time around, it has much to do with the title and information of what I am about to "begin" doing here on the very website (HO HO HO What hilarity!). Hopefully some of that made sense.
Starting next week I'll be introducing Nicola Mondays. What happens on Nicola Mondays is that I, being a lover of music, will each week select one song from the vaults of pop music history, and explain why Nicola Roberts, Band Leader of Pop group Girls Aloud, should cover said song when she launches a solo career once the girls split which should be later this year shouldn't it Nadine? The good news is that every single Nicola Monday will come with an MP3 file of the original song, so this way you too can fantasize about the possibility of greatness each of these songs would bring to Ms. Roberts and her future solo career. The first Nicola Monday will comprise of something from the Madonna back catalogue, so, as they say in radio land, "stay tuned".
Speaking of, how AMAZING would it be if Natalie Bassingthwaite and her Rogue Trader mates did a cover of Transvision Vamp's "I Want Your Love"? I know!
I'll also be throwing up (!) a couple of other new "regular things" to the site, including a Great Madonna Albums of History thing on a weekly basis. I may or may not start this next week. What happens here is I'll crap on about why the weeks chosen Madonna album is so brilliant, and then provide you all with wondrous rare/bootleg/et cetera remixes in MP3 format to download from said album. Once I run out of Madonna albums it will no doubt turn itself into a Great Pop Albums of History thing. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
Also, if you come back on Tuesday you'll (finally!) get to download a FULL HIGH QUALITY MP3 COPY of my interview with the brilliant Infernal from a few months back. They were most hilarious, and we discussed a plethora of pressing issues such as Dannii Minogue, the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the delightful Princess Mary.
A massive thank you the size of Russia and America combined to those of you who've been emailing or leaving comments of praise for the new look... It's muchly appreciated, honestly. And welcome back to some of the sites older readers, you've been missed!
Welcome to the all new I'm Always Right. I promised you all a few months back that a "Reinvention" of sorts was on its way. Well now it's here. In fact, this is Version 7.0...
Truly puzzling, isn't?
There's a few things that are still a tiny bit "all over the place", but most of those (notice the use of "most") are Blogger's fault, because, in particular today, their services have been exceptionally cunt-like. In fact, my computer almost saw itself thrown onto the lawn about 600 times due to my extreme frustration with blogger.
Anyways...
Over the next few weeks I'll be re-introducing the Radio section. When I reopened the site quite some time ago, it was in order to provide people across the world with MP3 links of my weekly radio show, Professional Distortion. If you know about it already, great, you'll know what to expect, if you don't, come back some time next week and prepare for the worst.
The forum is still running - in case any of the 86 (YES. EIGHTY SIX) members have forgotten, the chart is back up and the links page has returned. Most of the archive links work, but again, Blogger, cunt-like, et cetera.
Do let me know what you think of the site, one minute I think it's better and the next I want the old layout back!
It's that time of year again (sort of)! It's time for the IAR Half-Time Score for 2006! Indeed, we may very well be in the later stages of the 7th month, but it's certainly better late than never, yes?
Let's take a look at what's been floating my musical boat for the last 7 months by starting with my top 20 singles so far...
01. Alesha - Lipstick Former Mis-Teeq starlet Alesha Dickson's (pictured, left) first solo attempt is an absolute corker. Mind you, it took me a good 2 weeks before I would even listen to it a third time. In fact, the first two listens had me convinced that everyone raving on about it had gone completely insane and/or tone deaf. Obviously I was a tiny bit wrong, because this is absolutely the most poptasticly brilliant song to see the light of day this year. The chorus is ridiculously ace, fiery and full of spark. Bravo Miss Dickson!
02. Scissor Sisters - Don't Feel Like Dancing I was a bit wary whether I should include this or not, what with it only leaking in full about 2 days ago. But then I decided that it was just too damn good and, therefore, had a rightfull place on my mid-year chart. It's a little bit Disco-Elton, it's a little bit Alf-Theme, it's a little bit camp, and it's a whole lotta brilliant. The Scissor Sisters are back in absolute fine form. Thank heavens for that.
03. Nelly Furtado - Maneater This is just such a solid track, a far cry from her last album (which was absolutely stunning) "Folklore", which managed to attract little to none of the publics attention. In comes Nelly Furtado for 2006, all set with urban beats, a bit of Timbaland and a whole new attitude. "Maneater" should probably be up the top of the chart to be honest, and I'm guessing, when I do the final round up in December, she will be, but until then she'll have to settle for Number #4 because I'm getting a little bit bored of it now, and anyway, Alesha's been exciting me to no end.
04. Justin Timberlake - Sexy/Back How convenient it is that Justin is now single, and in perfect timing for the relaunch of his solo career! Poor Cameron. She must be completely devastated to have lost one of the most sexually arousing men in the history of pop music... and for what? All in order to sell a few more units. Not that I feel sorry for the bitch, she had him for quite long enough thanks. Here, JT decides to recreate Prince's "Black Sweat" but, you know, does a better job of it. Timbaland also joins in on the fun for this seductive little number, which makes me want to do nothing more than gyrate on a dancefloor with the man of my dreams. Indeed.
05. Madonna - Get Together Madge has copped a LOT of flack for this single. People just haven't taken a shining to it as the first two singles from "Confessions...", which is a shame, because this is one of her finest moments to date. Heavily borrowing it's construction from the massive French House sound which was so massive in the mid to late 90's, this is Madonna in one of her most dancetastic moments since "Into The Groove". It's nice, it's lush, it screams Summer... Perfect.
06. Robbie Williams - Rudebox Robbie Williams in electro-rap-shocker. This is brilliant, even if Rob's rapping isn't exactly up to scratch. It manages to take off where Justin's "Sexy/Back" finishes, with a lot of filtered bleeps, bops and basslines. Reminiscent to the 80's sounds of the brilliant Debbie Deb, this is just... weird. It's bold, it's different and it's a bloody nose-bleedingly-good dance number. Hurrah for that.
07. Midnight Juggernauts - Tombstone/Shadows I saw this Aussie act a few months back, they were supporting Annie during her live shows in Melbourne. Their stunning E.P. "Secrets Of The Universe" contains 6 fine musical ventures, including the two ace singles "Tombstone" and "Shadows". Taking electro and techno sounds, fusing them with guitars and a vocoder or two, it's nice to see someone from home making downright killer electro-rock.
08. Van She - Kelly More homegrown talent now, again another Annie support act, this time from her DJ set tour in the earlier months of this year. The minute I became exposed to Van She, I fell instantly in love. Their first single "Kelly" is an 80's-in-the-Naughties-pop-blow-out that, quite frankly, is probably one of the finest moments in pop this country has ever seen. Outstanding.
09. Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind When I'm asked to describe this Hilton moment to people who have not yet had the joy of hearing it, I simply tell them it is like Gwen Stefani with a bad case of laryngitis, covering UB40's "Kingston Town". Which therefore makes it brilliant.
10. Dannii Minogue - So Under Pressure I've made it no secret at all that I slightly prefer my Minogue sisters to be named Dannii, and this is a prime example why. Dannii did the Synth-loving-80's (Neon Nights) before it was cool to do so, and now she's sending out quite the nod to early 90's house music. Always ahead of her time she is. Either that or she's REALLY behind. I'm not quite sure how to look at it actually.
...and the rest: 11. Lily Allen - LDN 12. Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous 13. McFLY - Don't Stop Me Now/Please Please 14. Girls Aloud - Whole Lotta History 15. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes 16. Paul Oakenfold feat. Brittany Murphy - Faster Kill Pussycat 17. Madonna - Sorry 18. Lillix - Sweet Temptation 19. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole 20. Annie - The Crush
And in case you were wondering which albums are the faves so far for 2006, they include (in no particular order): Lily Allen - Alright Still, Pet Shop Boys - Fundamentalism, Nelly Furtado - Loose, Madonna - I'm Going To Tell You A Secret (just listen to the arrangement of "Mother & Father" and you'll understand why), West End Girls - Goes Petshopping, The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes, Dannii Minogue - The Hits & Beyond, P!NK's I'm Not Dead, Muse - Black Holes & Revelations, and Keane - Under The Iron Sea, just to name a few (or ten, to be precise).
Monday, July 24, 2006 Pop Music in "Quite Popular, isn't it?" Shocker
Is 2006 going to be the year that Pop Music firmly places itself back into the spotlight? Obvious mentions so far are Nelly Furtdao, Lily Allen,The Pet Shop Boys, McFLY, the surprising success of The Young Divas and the even bigger surprise success story in Australia with the High School Musical Soundtrack (which has sky rocketed to Number #2 this week on the ARIA charts). Hell. Even Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" can be somewhat responsible for Pop's spotlight return.
And now a flow of amazing new music is headed our way. Alesha Dickson, formerly of Mis-teeq, has a new 'number' titled "Lipstick", which is an ace pop-rock ditty with a chorus so infectious, you may end up catching something. This is her first solo single and, if this is anything to go by, the album is going to be an absolute treat.
Justin Timberlake's new single "Sexy/Back" is a sensational slice of urban pop, filtered with a sound that almost rips off vintage Prince, but still manages to stay ridiculously fresh and innovative. In fact, something tells me that this is probably what Prince's "Black Sweat" from this year should have sounded like.
Black Eyed Peas harlot Fergie has a new album out in September hilariously titled "Dutchess". The first single off it "London Bridge (Oh Shit!)" is, in short, mindblowingly good. Yes, her nails-on-a-chalk-board "voice" is a bit much to handle after a while, but the chorus in this alone makes up for all of that. Can't say I'm overly excited to hear what she has to offer with a full album (not surprisingly, it's been produced by Will.I.Am) - but that certainly doesn't mean I'm not very interested to hear it.
After the rather average effort put into his last album "Intensive Care" (even though "Tripping" is quite possibly his greatest single to date, and album track "Gay Friend" is sublime on so many levels), it's nice to hear of the news that Robbie Williams has made a dance album this time round. First single, titled "Rudebox", is a minimal-electro-rap assault with glitchy sounds and a funky bassline. His rapping is not brilliant, but, you know, neither was Madonna's in "American Life". And that rap is now the ringtone on my mobile phone. (Er... What I am trying to say is that his rapping is something you will, after enough listens, grow to love). Reportedly, he's worked with The Pet Shop Boys (!!) and William Orbit (!!!) for this new album, and one of the tracks is said to be an ode to Madonna. So there you go.
Ta-dah! The Scissor Sisters are back with what is shaping up to be the POP COMEBACK OF THE YEAR. QUITE POSSIBLY, THE CENTURY. New single "Don't Feel Like Dancing" sounds like it's been ripped straight out of Elton John's disco-apparel-closet, and put through a rinse in the Scissor Sisters tumble wash for an added touch of brilliance. Ironically, I have not been able to stop dancing to this song. But maybe that's the whole point of it.
And then, to top off all this wondrous new music, comes this quote from newly married Girl Aloud, Cheryl Tweedy: "After our tour finished we went into the studio to record three new songs for the Greatest Hits. We've come up with six tracks we love and are now thinking we should do a new studio album instead." She then goes on to say "Pop is on a roll right now with Lily Allen and Nelly Furtado - and we want to continue being a part of it."
Thank fuck for that then.
All this new music is very exciting, with ace and interesting new releases still to come from Jessica Simpson (the video clip for her Holiday-by-Madonna-rip-off "Public Affair" co-stars Eva Longoria which, therefore, makes it the VIDEO CLIP OF THE YEAR), Paris Hilton, The Young Divas and, here in Australia, Dannii Minogue, but is all this wonderfull new music going to be enough? Is all this really all it will take for pop to have a good run in the limelight again?
Only time will tell really. Either way, you just cannot deny that it's a very exciting time to be a pop enthusiast.
Friday, July 21, 2006 Young Divas: Stars On 54 for the poor
I'm sure you've all heard the 'riveting' news that Australia's Young Divas are to release an album with special thanks to the single "This Time I Know It's For Real" doing so well. I'm also told that the ticket sales to their shows aren't selling too poorly either. Sadly, they're not going to follow in the footsteps of their first single and make an album full of Stock/Aitken/Waterman covers like I had hoped, however, the next single IS indeed a cover (Mousse T's "Right About Now", an absolute stomping house track from last year) and it's not half bad at all.
BUT. Obviously I'm not here with a photo of Rachel Stevens (to your right) to discuss The Young Divas. Well, sort of. You see, the power (and that is exactly what it is, a power of some kind) of Stock/Aitken/Waterman has made even the dullest of "popstars" seem almost interesting. I can tell you right now that the prospect of a second Young Divas single is more exciting than the frighteningly demonic threat of a third Kate "Tarago" Deraugogagagaueee single, or a second album of tragic numbers from Paulini. And this is all thanks to the powerhouse that once was Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Now hold on, stay with me here, I'm actually going somewhere with all this tripe, believe it or not.
With all the talk "around the traps" lately of a possible Stock/Aitken/Waterman reunion not too far on the horizon, don't you all think it's time that poor, unsuccessful and quite obviously bruised-by-the-British-music-buying-public Rachel Stevens should maybe get in contact with them for a comeback single and/or album of sorts?
I mean, think about it. If S-A-W can make Emily Whatshernamefromidol more interesting in song than she could have ever imagined to be as a solo artist, IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD DO FOR RACHEL!
Take some time to think about this. Wouldn't it be something?
Exactly. Rachel: Hop to it love. You've got records to make.
Thursday, July 20, 2006 Rock Eisteddfod: "Threatened" by Disney Movie
Let's talk about how brilliant it is that the High School Musical Soundtrack, in its second week on the Australian Albums Chart, is still sitting pretty in the Top 10. In fact, it looks like we might even see it back in the top 5 next week.
Let's talk about how brilliant it is that the "Breakin' Free" single from High School Musical, in its second week on the Australian Singles Chart, is not only still in the top 20, but has actually gone up from 17 to 13.
Let's not talk about how ropey "Breakin' Free" is though, and how it would have been much better if they'd released the simply BRILLIANT "Get'cha Head In The Game" (which was the second single in the US), which incorporates basketball court floor noises THAT OBVIOUSLY INDICATE TO ME THAT THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST POP SONGS OF THE LAST 10 YEARS. Basketball floor noises. And the number is set at the Basketball court. AND THERE ARE BASKETBALL NOISES.
And come on, I mean seriously, is there really anything better in the world than a stonking good musical? There most certainly is, but, let us just, for today, pretend that no, there isn't anything better in the world than a good musical. Which is why I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know that the original cast of High School Musical have apparently already begun filming a sequel. Thank heavens for that.
Also, some good news for those of you who may have, like me, had several "impure" dreams involving a yound David CassidyZac Efron (who played the lead of Troy in the musical). He's 19 this year. Which means that whatever it was I dreamt happened between us those three nights in a row, it was all totally legal. Which means that getting slightly excited over this picture is totally okay.
Hello all of my dear Australian viewers, friends and family of IAR.
As you may already be well aware, this years OZ Big Brother has been "a bit shithouse", and has made an entire nation long for the return of such riotous characters as Vesna, Hot Dogs and, god forbid, even Constance (by day, she's a former Big Brother housemate, but by night, she's actually Kelly Clarkson). In fact, the longing has managed to extend to such horrific lengths as the Paddle Pop Lion herself, Chrissy. However I'm quite 100% certain that no one really misses Geneva or Rita.
Anyways, It seems that Big Brother *may* or *may not* be up to something that involves previous housemates. Some strange poll has just gone 'live' on the Big Brother Website, one which allows you to choose which housemate, out of the last six seasons of the show, you've absolutely loved AND the one you've absolutely loved to hate. http://bigbrother.3mobile.com.au/allstars.asp
When you click on that link, your duty as a devoted Australian Reader of IAR is to vote Vesna as your favourite housemate, and Hot Dogs as the one you loved to hate. Because if they're going to do something with any of the previous housemates, they are, quite simply, the only two that will provide everyone with the required comical relief needed after this years absolute travesty and lack of personality in housemates.
Here is a helpful diagram which will help you to model the look of your own voting form.
Amazing.
If you need a memory-re-jog as to why Vesna, in particular, was so amazing, let us take a look at some of her more memorable quotes. Most of them are during arguments with Hot Dogs.
"I'm not posing!" "Not sucking, Not sucking on nothing!" "*HIGH PITCHED SCREAM*" "Et Cetera"
I'm guessing that you're sold, aren't you? Now go vote.
After my little public outburst a few weeks back in regards to Madonna ignoring Australia once more during a supposed "world" tour, I feel that enough time has passed for me to get back to discussing her in a more positive light. This, of course, does not mean that this amazing display of forgiveness will be happening any time soon, regardless of how crap people keep telling me The Confessions Tour is.
BUT. It seems Madonna's PR people have has somewhat of a conscience. Over on Mo's official website, an endearing apology can be found to all her Australian fans, going on about not retiring any time soon, her kids needing to get back to school and, quite hilariously, managing to insinuate that she's brought a tour to Australia more than once, when we're all quite aware it's only ever been the one.
Let's take a look at the full thing, shall we? You'll find the funny bit in bold...
Madonna's Note to Australian Fans Posted: 13 July 2006
To my fans in Australia.
Please forgive me. I really did hope and expect to come to Australia during the Confessions Tour and asked my managers to try to include some shows there. I have fond memories from previous tours. Unfortunately, the logistics just didn't work out this time around. We looked into going from Japan to Australia and ending the show there but I have to get my kids back into school in England and they are, as you can understand, my most important priority. The important thing to remember is that I'm not retiring anytime soon and I am gonna get to Australia as soon as I can. You remain in my heart and Thank you for your continued love & support.
Love, Madonna
So there you have it. She's sorry. She promises not to fuck us over again. Or at least until her next "world" tour.
Still on Madge, if you believe any of the stories coming out of the states, the latest gruesome twosome in Hollywood seems to be Lindsay Lohan and, yes, Madonna. Apparently La Lohan has "found" Kabbalah, and who better to guide her through her new life choice but Madonna herself. She failed (miserably) with Britney, so now she's moved all her attention to Linds.
And the story actually manages to get better. Madonna's spiritual name is Esther you see. Something to do with studying Kabbalah. Quicker than you can say "Harry from McFly", Lindsay now also has her own Kabal-spirit name. She's going by Rose these days.
I have a feeling Billie Piper might get a bit shitty at this news.
A couple of weeks back I went and saw the new Lindsay Lohan movie "Just My Luck", which just so happens to also star one of my favourite pop bands in the world, McFLY.
The movie wasn't as bad as I expected it to be (obviously not seeing as I've now seen it at the movies a total of three times - only 10 times shy off the number of times I saw "Spiceworld" at the cinemas, and 11 time shy off my "Evita" big screen viewings), Lindsay looked a bit worn for wear coked off her skull, but everyone else was brilliant in it. The boys were surprisingly good actors (Danny took the cake as being the most natural on camera though), and Anna from the O.C. was as "cultured" as ever. Dougie speaks a total of about five words, which is quite a nice surprise because they leave it till the almost-very-end.
Dougie also vomits shortly after he speaks. That's about all you need to know really.
So whilst there has been an obvious overflow of joy each time I've seen the movie, I have quickly transferred my excitement to something else in the McFLY camp. Whilst everyone across the pop loving nooks of the world are getting extremely excited over the Justin Timberlake comeback (which, quite frankly, is set to be the pop comeback of the year), I've managed to get myself into fits of enthusiasm over news on the McFLY comeback. Indeed, if their new single "Please Please" - a bit of a tongue-in-cheek number based on "Just My Luck" co-star Lindsay Lohan - is anything to go by, then it seems that the boys have indeed banished all Radiohead CDs out of their collections, and they are now well and truly back on the anti-depressants.
HOW EXCITING!
There are now just so many reasons building up as to why not only myself, but ALL of you, my lovely readers, should generate an abnormal amount of excitement over the 'Fly returning. To make things easier for you all, here is a selection. And in true hilarious (!) IAR fashion, it's in bloody point form.
The new single is very, very good.
The new clip is very, very good.
Danny Jones has, hands down, the sexiest voice in pop.
Dougie looks set to do some more singing on the new album. If you remember correctly, he had the show-stopping "But if you turn your back on me now, etc etc" line in "Too Close For Comfort" on last years "Wonderland".
They're not just nice to look at, the boys are also, hands down (so many hands going down today), the finest musicians and writers-of-music in the world of pop today.
We all may get to own a proper studio recording of the Dougie-penned "Silence Is A Scary Sound", the absolute highlight of the Wonderland Tour from last year.
Speaking of the new album, Tom, in this months UK Cosmo, says "McFLY had started to become dull and depressing. The new albums much more like the band we were when we first started." Danny soon follows with "We wanted to bring personality back to our music and add some excitement. Our new albums more in your face. It's brilliant." So, the actual translation of all of that is: "Our last album, although it was probably one of the greatest things we will EVER do, was, frankly, really depressing, and people thought it was a little bit ropey in comparison to our first album. So now we've decided we're going to work with Stuart Price made a kick arse new record which will make everything else we've done in the past sound nowhere near as good."
Thank heavens for that then!
Dougie has a new tattoo. It begins on his shoulders and looks very nice above his nipple. Click on the thumbnail to make him (or yourself) bigger. (Special thanks to dougiepoynter.net for the picture too) Let's try and leave any "hands down" jokes out of this one, shall we?
So there you have it. Average-to-good new movie, awesome new single, brilliant new video clip, and to top it all off, an ace third studio album on its way.
No wall we have to do is wait patiently for Nadine from Girls Aloud to get dumped by Jesse Metcalfe so she can go back home to the UK and help record the 4th Aloud studio album. And as for Sarah being with Stephen Dorf, well, we all know that if she tells him drugs and whiskey not only exist, but are fairly easy to obtain in London, he'll no doubt put the band first and move down with her when her holidays end in August.
Pictured to your left is Georgie Parker. She is an amazing actress of Television and Film, who just so happens to be Australian.
Over the last "x" amount of years, The Divine Miss Parker has provided many a soul across the nation with joy. From her role as Sister Tyler in A Country Practice, to her role as "Mad Dog" in Fire, to her hilarious drunken dribble the other week on The Glass House, Georgie truly is one of Australia's greatest talents.
Let's take a look at some of the cold hard facts explaining why I - among millions of others - love Georgie Parker so much.
FACT! She is pretty much Australia's greatest actress of all time.
FACT! She was absolutely breathtaking as Emma in the gut wrenching telemovie "The Society Murders".
FACT! She made the rather dire TV show "All Saints" watchable. For the years she was on it, anyways.
FACT! She played the hilarious Despina Hatzipapadopoulos on the Australian-Greek comedy series "Acropolis Now".
FACT! She can often be found sinking back a wine (or 10) - usually this happens before appearing on live television, which, every single time without fail, results in hilariously brilliant times.
FACT! She was in a TV series called "Fire", which to this very day is still one of the most brilliantly trashy shows ever created in Oz.
FACT! She was absolutely ace in "All Together Now"...
FACT! ...but not so much in "The Man From Snowy River", but when you give a girl shit to work with, what other outcome do you expect?
FACT! Her ill-fated show "Clever" from earlier this year was probably the worst and best thing she has ever done. It was her worst because it was just a shit TV show, but it was her best because you knew she was probably drunk every single week.
FACT! This woman has the makings of becoming our Tanya Turner/Zoe Lucker. Someone cast Ms. Parker in a trashy leading role PRONTO.
FIRM BELIEF! Gretel Killeen and Georgie Parker are, obviously, very good friends.
So there you go. No I have no doubt in my mind that you too love her almost as much as I.
Well now that I've pulled myself together and decided it is well and truly time to MOVE ON from the Madonna-not-coming-to-Oz debacle from last week, I thought I should maybe catch up on all the blogging I've been meaning to get to. But before any of that is to occur, I should sit you all down and go through the dramatic (!) changes that will be underway on this here very website in about 2 to 3 weeks time.
As you may already know, I'm changing the look again. Brown and Pink is very 2005, and it is time for that to go, go, GO. Also, I'll be incorporating mp3 infused posts on any given day I choose, along with a new thing to the website which will called Megamix Monday, in which I, er, post a megamix for you to all download. That exciting new segment will go on until I run out of megamixes for quite some time I am sure.
Also, the Infernal interview I conducted for my radio show will be up for download at some point during the relaunch as well.
Huzzah!
Then, each and every week I'll be uploading the IAR weekly radio show for you all to download. The show is broadcast Friday Nights on 94.7 FM in Melbourne & Geelong, and is called "Professional Distortion". The show is hosted by yours truly and I play an assortment of pop, electro and not much else.
Amazing.
Speaking of the radio show, IAR will also be hosting its very own and very first (of hopefully many) events in aid of raising money for the radio show and the website (money needs to be raised for the show to cover sponsorship costs as it is a community radio station, and the website needs money so I can re-register domain names, etc etc). More details on that when I can be bothered organizing a date.
And for those lovely people who've been emailing me to let me know that a bunch of crap has gone down and is no longer available (broken links and what not), never fret - I'll be uploading all those things when the new look goes live. I'll also be setting up a mailing list of sorts, so that next time the site decides to die or whatever, I can email all 13 of you regular readers and let you know when the site will be returning.
