Wednesday, November 29, 2006 R.I.P: The Glass House
As of an hour ago, ABC TV's excellent political comedy show "The Glass House" is no more. Its final episode screened tonight, featuring a ravishing Kerri-Anne Kennerly, the hilarious Liz Ellis and amazing mum Fiona O'Loughlin, among many other brilliant guests.
It was sad to see this go. I'm just hoping that Channel 10 snaps this up for the new year. Come on guys, it's holding its best ratings YET and it gets the chop? TEN - YOU COULD MAKE SOME MONEY OUT OF THIS - HOP TO IT ET CETERA ET CETERA.
Just taking a look at the outcry over on the Glass House Guestbook will explain just how there has not been a tragedy on Australian TV so large since the whole Vesna debacle last year. Terrible.
In EXACTLY ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, the 2nd season of Australian Princess begins on Channel 10. Jean Broke-Smith (pictured, right) has returned with Paul Burrell for this years most pointless Reality TV quest. This excites me to no end, as you could probably imagine. During the show last year I ran a bit of commentary on said program that strangely proved to be somewhat popular. This year I'll be doing it again, but over on another blog - one which I'll post more details about (hopefully) before the weekend. But probably right after it knowing me.
Anywho, the new Australian Princess website is up and running, with full profiles and pictures of all 12 Pig Farmers competing in this years contest. Stephanie Jenkinson, one of the girls, claims that "My celebrity princess would be Barbie!" when asked who her favourite real life Princess is. Obviously we're in for a very good year. Lianzi Fields, who will probably go in the first week for this comment alone, says that Camilla Parker Bowels - who is not actually a Princess (running trend, obviously) - is her favourite real life Princess. "She's had to put up with so much, and I like her fashion sense". Lianzi: I like you already. Oh, and she's afraid of bugs and sandwiches, according to her profile.
Sadly, Jackie "Enormous Cunt Face" O is back for another season. But - according to the website - so is Jane Ferguson, proving that there is indeed a god out there, just maybe with a sick sense of humour. And one of the girls competing this year is an "amateur DJ", which probably means she changed the CD a couple of times at her sisters 21st birthday party and nothing more.
An exciting 3 days it has been over on several Madonna internet forums.
First of all there's the sad news that Madge won't be releasing the Confessions Tour on DVD till late March/early April 2007. Boo. However, over on the downright AH-MAH-ZHING madonnadownload.com, they've announced (direct from Warner) that the DVD will contain the show in its uncut entirety, all the bits we missed on the TV special in there, an Audio CD of the show and "tons of extras". Do you think the video backdrops/studio versions for select songs will be included?
Speaking of, several Confessions Studio Versions have leaked online, including "Hung Up", "Lucky Star" (which is fantastic) and the Koko version of "Everybody", among others. How long before we get the whole lot? It took years for the entire ReInvention Tour studio versions to leak, so it's quite a surprise that these have found their way online so quickly.
And finally, loud-mouthed director Dave LaChapelle has dared to call Madonna "nasty" and "cruel" during an interview in France (which you can read here). This "news" has worked up many over on the Madonnafanzie forums into quite the stir, but the most amazing response to the poorly-translated-from-French-to-English article came from forumer tgb123 who said; "Maybe she was nasty and cruel because he can't phrase sentences properly."
I am still wetting myself at the pure gold of it all. Fucking genius.
Monday, November 27, 2006 The Songs Of 2006: Final Stages
As the month of December creeps closer and closer, the selection for my top songs of 2006 in chart form begins to enter its final stages. Over the past 12 months - in a trusty MS Word file - I've compiled a chart of, right now, roughly 200 songs, that I've loved this year. Some have found their way out, some have gone higher, some have moved lower. The real struggle I have with my end of year chart is wanting to put all the songs in the top 60 as my songs in the Top 10. That makes things difficult to arrange, as you could imagine.
Anyway, this year - like any other for me - will see the chart chop and change right up until December 21st. That's when the chart is finalised for me this year (I'm doing the end of year chart on my radio show on the 22nd, that's why you see). I'm sure a few of you are wondering what the top 5 might be. Most of you probably don't care though. I'm going to share the exciting intel with you all anyway.
#01: TAKE THAT - PATIENCE This is quite possibly going to drop a spot by the time the chart is finalised, but right at this very moment in 2006, Take That's "Patience" is the most amazing thing I've heard all year. It's kind of like a James Blunt song, but a) really good, and b) without that alarming 'nails-on-a-chalkboard/child through a cement mixer' sound of Blunt's terrible voice. The return of Take That is a VERY good thing, and if someone tries to tell you otherwise then they are a great big liar. They deserve a big whack across the head with a very thick, hardcover book. That'll sort them out. You could even use Gary Barlow's very own hardcover book, a hardcover book that he wrote all on his own. Wouldn't that be something?
#02: GIRLS ALOUD - SOMETHING KINDA OOOOH Girls Aloud rip out the best Eurodance pop number since Alexia (who is, believe it or not, 40 years old now) and Whigfield were the queens of the drum machine. The reason why this is no longer Number #1 however mainly lies with the apparent confirmation that the line is not actually "Jumping on my tutu", but "Jumping on my toot toot". So whilst Cheryl says it is "Toot Toot", Nadine then claims it's "Tutu". Absolutely ridiculous. So until this is sorted out (to my liking, of course), at Number #2 is where they'll stay.
#03: MADONNA - LET IT WILL BE (PAPER FACES MIX/LIVE @ CONFESSIONS TOUR) This was at Number #66 a few days ago. Then the Confessions Tour screened on the NBC, and all of a sudden it went a bit higher than #66. Just a bit. The remix of this is fan-fucking-tastic, but it really IS the audio AND visual combination of Madge belting this out on the Confessions Tour that truly makes this one of her most epic productions. Breathtaking.
#04: ROGUE TRADERS - IN LOVE AGAIN It frustrates me that this won't be a proper CD single, but rather a download one, without a pretty cover or a studio-filmed video clip which, in case you were wondering, this song so definitely deserves. Sampling Tears For Fears, "In Love Again" is an absolute masterpiece that is most certainly the greatest thing the Rogue's have done. Fact.
#05: AMY WINEHOUSE - BACK TO BLACK Hello X-Tina? Yeah hi. Um, listen, you heard this new Amy Winehouse album? Because it's REALLY good. Like, REALLY good. And the title track, "Back To Black" is a tremendously raw and touching little number that makes your new single "Hurt" sound like the theme from Sesame Street. And not the really cool rave remix by Smart-E's from the early 90's either, but the original version. Just thought you should know love. Hope you have a good week.
I'm sure many of you disagree completely with me on most - if not all - of those mentioned above. It'll change, most definitely, but I'd say that's pretty much what the songs of my top 5 will be. Maybe not in that order once finished, but roughly the same.
When was the last time Nadine ate McDonald's do you think?
McDonald's Australia have some new Happy Meal toys available in their stores. These new toys have a pop music theme, so much so that when you press a button on these toys, they play a 30 second loop of a song from the artist featured on that particular toy. Let's take a look at the six fabulous toys they have to offer this month.
Hang on JUST A MINUTE...
THAT'S GIRLS ALOUD. THAT'S GIRLS ALOUD DOING "LONG HOT SUMMER"!! FOR AN AUSTRALIAN McDONALD'S KIDS TOY!!!!!111!1!!!!1! A SONG THAT WAS NEVER EVEN A SINGLE HERE FOR THEM!!!!!!??!??!?! Er...
Huh?
It really doesn't make much sense at all, not that I could care though because I now have two of them, one that's been opened and - yep - one that will be staying in its plastic. It's absolutely hilarious, yes?! You seriously need to get one of these, they're bloody magical.
My mother and I have just finished watching the NBC's broadcast of Madonna's Confessions Tour (thanks to a very good quality torrent download), which was aired on Thanksgiving Eve this week (which reminds me, Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers!). From start to finish, this is an absolute monster of a stage show. The choreography is stunning, the production is amazing, 'ol Madge looks as though she's in fitter shape than ever, gorgeous dancer Cloud is still gorgeous - quite possibly even MORE SO now, and the performances... my God... they're REALLY bloody good.
I'm now a fan of "Future Lovers". You may remember some time ago I mentioned it was the worst song 'Mo had ever recorded. Throw in a bit of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" and the song makes just that little bit more sense. "Live A Virgin" is by far the most superb sounding production wise, turning it into an eclectic and exciting electro-pop-romp affair. The solo routine for "Let It Will Be" sent goosebumps rushing all over, as a chaotic Madonna runs up and down the stage, dancing like she's about to fall over but somehow managing to stay intact. Absolutely breathtaking, just like the absolute rock-star ending of "Ray Of Light", which made me cheer as loud as I could in my lounge room.
Whoever came up with the idea of fusing "Disco Inferno" together with "Music" for this tour is a fucking GENIUS, as that whole performance was ridiculously dazzling to watch. The new spin on "Erotica", "You Thrill Me" (FYI: the lyrics to an original demo version of "Erotica") is a tranced-down number that saw that rush of goosebumps return... even the version of "La Isla Bonita" was outstanding, although her performance of it during 2001's Drowned World Tour is very much still quite obviously the definitive version of that song. But because it's my favourite Madge track of all time, I'm happy she decided to use the track on this tour.
We don't get enough flashes of Stuart Price during the show though, which is quite a shame, what with him being a bit of a dish and all.
As predicted, NBC slaughtered the hell out of this show editing wise. "Live To Tell" was screened, but whilst Madonna was up on the cross we were shown the video backdrop instead. Whilst putting her finger up during "Sorry", it was blurred out (!!?!?!?!?!) - twice. Plus there were a couple of "fucks" which were bleeped, and a little line about sucking George Bush's cock during "I Love New York" found itself on the cutting room floor. Thankfully, we're getting this on a DVD - in full - [ka-ching!] just in time for Christmas [/ka-ching!].
I'll admit there were some moments when a few tears even flowed, it's Madonna, whenever I watch a show of hers for the first time there's always a few shed. In particular during "La Isla Bonita" and "Live To Tell", which - in its slightly reconstructed version on this tour - is now probably one of my most loved 'Mo ballads. Then there was a bit of anger, I guess watching it on a television just isn't good enough, is it? I'm even more upset after watching the special that she didn't bring the show to Oz. Let's just hope she doesn't go back on her word *again* and brings the next one down here.
You know, really - to make it up to us - she should START the next tour here...
You may remember some time ago I was banging on about hosting a Stock/Aitken/Waterman special on my weekly radio show Professional Distortion.
You may also remember me banging on about putting the whole show up online for download. This show happened quite a few weeks back and, due to my disgusting habit of being a lazy prick, it hasn't made an appearance online... that is - of course - until today.
Just under 2 hours long, I played some songs, said a few things (I had tonsil-ouchies when the show was recorded however, so I sound slightly more unusual than normal) and hung up on callers by accident. What fun, yes?
Setlist: The Twins - All Mixed Up Sonia - You'll Never Stop Me From Loving You Mel & Kim - Respectable Divine - You Think You're A Man Lonnie Gordon - Happening All Over Again Young Divas - Happening All Over Again Boy Krazy - That's What Love Can Do Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas? Hazel Dean - Searchin' Samantha Fox - Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now Jason Donovan - Nothing Can Divide Us Mel & Kim - Showing Out Bananarama - Venus Michael Davidson - Turn It Up Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) Sinnita - Toy Boy Scooch - More Than I Needed To Know Steps - Last Thing On My Mind Kylie Minogue - Turn It Into Love Kylie Minogue - Got To Be Certain (Scott 2 Be Curtains) Kylie Minogue - Better The Devil You Know Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up Rick Astley - Together Forever Young Divas - This Time I Know It's For Real
Available on Megaupload for now, and if need be I'll pop it up on Sendspace or the like. So there you go, have a listen to myself talking absolute crap and having regular on-air panic attacks, all amongst the most homosexual party mix of music you've heard in your life.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006 Q&A | In Bed With Vesna
That amazing woman to your left is none other than Big Brother 2005's brilliant Vesna Tosevska who - without a doubt - is the greatest woman to have ever graced the screens of Australian Television.
This Friday I'm doing a little "thing" with Ves, a little "thing" in the form of an interview. The audio will be uploaded next week for you all to download here on this very website, and it will also be broadcast live to air on this Friday nights edition of my radio show, Professional Distortion.
HERE IS WHERE YOU COME IN.
If you have a question - ANY QUESTION - you would like me to ask Vesna on your behalf, EMAIL IT THROUGH TO ME BEFORE THIS FRIDAY MORNING, 11AM MELBOURNE EASTERN STANDARD DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.
Again: If you have a question - ANY QUESTION - you would like me to ask Vesna on your behalf, EMAIL IT THROUGH TO ME BEFORE THIS FRIDAY MORNING, 11AM MELBOURNE EASTERN STANDARD DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.
It's going to be an amazing 20 minutes of radio, I can just feel it in my waters.
Friday, November 17, 2006 AFI: Not just a boring awards ceremony, then.
Last night an emo band by the name of AFI played at Festival Hall in Melbourne. Out of all the emo band's, AFI are one of the best. This year, such acts as AFI, My Chemical Romance (are you aware Liza Minelli has a guest spot on their new album? How very camp!), The All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy and 'many others', have infultrated their way onto the IAR CD player, nestling themselves comfortably along the likes of Madonna, Girls Aloud and Young Divas. Eclectic, but that's the way things go around here.
So yes, back to last night's gig in Melbourne. Sadly, due to not having enough money to go out and splurge on pop concerts, I didn't score myself a ticket (a running theme this year with events such as Kylie and, more than likely, the P!NK gig next year which I will probably rob a bank in order to attend), but a very good friend of mine - let's call her Janina Hargitay - DID manage to go. She took her teenage sister along. Thankfully, Janina scribbled down some notes (in an abridged format) on how the gig went and fired them through the trusty 'ol email for you, the charming reader/s of IAR...
Davey Havok rocks. He is super camp and is an awesome stage primadonna. Love him, knows how to work the stage. Awesome voice.
Gig was a bit short - you pay $50, you get 50 minutes of the band. They close with "Miss Murder" - the children clap, the lights come up and everyone starts leaving whilst Janina, in complete denial, hangs out for an encore that never came, whilst being trampled by a swarm of Converse runners.
Sound production was poopy - on two occassions the lead mic cut out and little men in white suits were hurling new mics on the stage (hullo, this didn't even happen to Gloria Estefan when I saw her in 1991 as a confused child).
Crowd atmosphere - well, uhm, my pubescent friends and I really enjoyed the show. What can I say? I was one of maybe 8 people in the stands over 18 years of age.
Crowd interaction was limited to three episodes in total - (1) "Hi, how are you guys tonight?" (2) "This is what we've been working on in the past year" (3) "Thank you very much... Bye bye now."
Highlight - Davey Havok jumps into the crowd and walks on them whilst continuing to sing (unless he was lip-synching, in which case I don't wanna know cause it'll kill the magic). Did I mention that young people can smell funny?
I now own an AFI cap.
Quite.
What have we all learnt after reading that? For starters, Gloria Estefan played a gig in 1991 and I was not there?! This is the most traumatic thing I've learnt of this week. We've also learnt that Janina is quite a brilliant guest writer, and that AFI were a bit short (not in height, just their set), 5 year old emo kids are smelly, and that Dave Havok would more than likely do a better job than Paulini in Young Divas. But then again Kim Watkins could as well, so none of that probably counts.
Whilst we're on the topic, ace pop music website Popjustice have some ace new t-shirts for sale in light of the, er, war on emo...
It is probably a safe bet in buying all three, would you not agree? You can buy all of these - plus other awesome pop related tee's, from PJ's Shopjustice...
QUICK FACTS...
> ABBAMania's entertainment factor on Sunday night was up and down like a yoyo. Kerri-Anne and Rhonda rocked, whilst Toni Pearen still needs to find herself a neck (or at least a full length one) for that head of hers. Full report next week, I promise. Along with all the things I promised you last week (S/A/W MP3 Show, Madonna Album Madness and lord knows what else.)
> That Young Divas album is quite good. Their covers of "Woman In Love", "She Works Hard For The Money" and "Say I'm Your Number One" are fan-fucking-tastic. I'm still unable to get past the whole Paulini being a massive cunt thing though.
> You may all be aware that Girls Aloud's next single is a cover of Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now". The version they recorded for their new Greatest Hits compilation is AMAZING, very gay, very fun and soudning much like a song that may have appeared on the old WILD FM compilation CDs. The new re-recorded/re-swizzled version being used for the video clip, is fucking shit. The original version form "The Sound Of Girls Aloud" is by far the definitive version, with the new Tony Lamezma remix of it coming a close second. At least this time they've spent more than 38 cents on the video budget, it's 45 cents this time, which is very pleasant news.
> It's a bit more than 45 cents, actually. They'll never be able to make a video clip again though, the budget combined of their last 10 videos is still not as much money as spent on this new one.
> This morning I woke up with two of my four (!!!!) pillows scattered across the room. One was at my feet, the other was at the door of my room. I'm puzzled as to what I was doing in my sleep to have caused such a scene.
> This week I read up on "Scientology & The Gays" and learnt a lot. Not about Scientology & The Gays though.
> Everyone's favourite coke addict, Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding has lashed out at Vicki Beckham's frame, calling her "ill". Hilariously, she went on about how disgusting Victoria looked for a good 5 or so minutes, repeating that "David surely doesn't like that". Someone give this woman another line, she deserves it.
> Today's lunch will be a Rye Bread sandwhich with Turkey Meat and Salad. There's also a pear sitting next to said sandwhich. It all looks quite lovely really.
Emma Bunton - my favourite of the solo Spice's - shall be releasing her 3rd solo studio album entitled "Life In Mono" in the UK on December the 4th.
So far, three songs from this album have found their way onto my desk. They are very good. They're probably the strongest album tracks I've heard so far this year. Bunton's cover of the Mono ripper "Life In Mono" is so good, so gorgeous and so full of charm that it will actually be some kind of serious pop injustice if it is not released as a single.
Let's take a look at just a couple of reasons why Emma's comeback album is going to be quite amazing.
Emma's cover version of "Life In Mono" has a pretty orchestra, turning the eclectic electronic feel of the original into a 60's kind of vibe. Emma's last album also had a 60's kind of vibe. Do you see what she has done there?
Emma also slightly changes the "Doo-doo-doo-doo's" to "Daa-daa-daa-daa's" in "Life In Mono". She has recreated a classic by modifying it only slightly. This is very good.
On the cover for the album Emma is donning some amazing shoes and a cute outfit. "I don't want to be cute, I want to be a hot sexy bitch!" was a comment Bunton made in an Official Spice Girls Book from the height of their fame. Emma still looks cute, yes, but now she also looks like a hot sexy bitch. She has managed to combine the two.
Look at the cover again. It has very clean shag carpet. What more could you ask for from a comeback? Great shoes, great hair, great outfit, and nice, clean carpet. Exactly, you could not ask for anything more.
Emma's going to appear in an episode of Neighbours next year, just in time for album promotion I'm guessing. Looks like we'll be getting the disc here in Oz after all.
Simon Fuller is also preparing a sitcom for Emma to star in. He' s also working on a show for the lovely Vicky Beckham, but that's another story for another day.
Em sang about Crickets on her last album. She may very well sing about them again on this one.
The first single is a cover of Petula Clark's "Downtown". In the video clip, Emma points at her femme-wipe the very first time she sings the lyric "you can always go... Downtown". She really is a hot sexy bitch now, is she not?
The house remix of "Downtown" is slightly better than Emma's album version. Looks like Em's going to continue delivering us with great remixes for the singles off this album as well then.
To say I'm excited about this album and comeback would quite clearly be an understatement. Oh Miss Emma Bunton, how I have missed you so.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Snappers bash up Madonna. Sort of.
Madonna's been slightly injured during a tussle between her and a sea of paparazzi. Madge flew into Heathrow last weekend with baby David in arms. As the pap's emerged, there was an incredible amount of pushing and shoving going on, so much so that Madge got whacked right in the face by one of the pap's - all by accident.
This is just fucking ridiculous, seriously. This absolutely horrific display of paparazzo becoming violent "just for the snap" is an absolute crock of shit. What if she had dropped the child? If the snapper had hit her just that little bit harder it COULD have happened. And then the next day it would be splashed all over the papers, with gossip columnists calling her an "unfit mother, just like Britney". What if, say she dropped the child and he then suffered brain damage? Do these people not even CARE?
What angers me the most is that this woman has removed a child (who would otherwise be on his way to death) from absolute poverty (in an orphanage no one came to visit him in over the entire 13 months he'd been there thank you), into a home filled with love, food, comfort, shelter, "Welcome to the family" greeting cards from Oprah Winfrey and discoballs. This kid has it good, and yet so many fuckwits are on her case about it. There's so much other crap going on in the world, yet Madonna adopts a baby from a poverty stricken country, she's shot down for it and it's headline news for 28 years. Shame on you all.
I am so disillusioned with the world, so upset and angry this week. I have to admit I am very much not completely with it after hearing of Belinda Emmett's passing on the weekend, there are just so many emotions. I'm still not quite sure what to say, or how to deal - we've all been affected by cancer in one way or another and it just brings up memories of all the pain I've had to watch others go through, watch myself go through... Heartbroken I guess. She was such an amazing woman, so strong, so... alive. This one may take a while I think.
It saddens me greatly to be writing the following here today. Belinda Emmett passed away early this Saturday Morning in a Sydney Hospital after an eight year battle with cancer.
The Australian actress and wife of TV Personality Rove McManus (who - along with Emmett's family - was by her bedside this morning as it happened) left her mark on many across not only the country, but also the world. Playing two well loved characters in both Home & Away and All Saints, and featuring in one of Australia's best home made films, The Nugget, Belinda will be remembered fondly by many.
My deepest condolences to Belinda's family, friends, and husband Rove - I cannot begin to imagine the pain they are going through right now. My thoughts are definitely with them. Hopefully yours are too.
Take yourself back to the year 1999. B*Witched, Culture Club, Steps and several other big names of the time got together on UK Television to celebrate ABBA. The show was called ABBA Mania, and it was a fairly successful TV special. Other successes years later included Greasemania(with Girls Aloud as guests), Discomania (again with Girls Aloud and also Rachel Stevens), and the extremely patchy Madonna Mania, in which we saw Javine and Liberty X defecate all over some of pop musics most treasured signature moments.
But I'm obviously not here to talk about how shit that was.
What I am here to discuss is this Sunday night's ABSOLUTELY AMAZING IDEA of Channel 9 in Oz throwing their OWN Abbamania show. OH YES. Australian Showbiz "Celebrities" have joined forces for one evening of Abba, er, mania. Guy Sebastian, Toni Pearen (!!!!!), Kate Ceberano (!!!!!), Michala Banas (!!!!!!), David Campbell, Matthew Newton (!!!!!!), Tottie Goldsmith (!!!!!!!!!!!), Kate Kendall, Luke Jacobz, Hi-5, Kerri-Anne Kennerley (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), Rhonda Burchmore (!!!!!!!!!!!), and the Young Divas (!!!!!!!!!!!)- among others - can all be seen this Sunday evening at 8:30pm over on Channel 9 murderingslaying performing their favourite Abba classics.
THE SHEER MADNESS, IT DOES NOT END THERE THOUGH MY DEAR READERS. OH NO. For it seems that the once celebrated choreographer TONY BARTUCCIO (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) HAS PUT TOGETHER ALL THE DANCE ROUTINES FOR THIS HISTORICAL TV EVENT. And to top it all off, Bec "Cartwright" Hewitt has taken a short break from being a professional mum/Woman's Day "columnist"/Agony Aunt to co-host this absolute prime cut of television.
Isn't this just FABULOUS?! Aside from the fact that this whole "Mania" idea is exactly 38 years old, nonetheless this is going to be simply splendid - quite possibly for MANY wrong reasons. Some of the songs being crooned on the night will include 'Fernando', 'The Winner Takes It All', 'Mamma Mia', 'Dancing Queen', 'Waterloo', 'Take A Chance On Me', 'Super Trouper' and 'SOS'. WHAT WILL KERRI-ANNE SING?! HAS TONI PEAREN FOUND HERSELF AN ACTUAL FULL LENGTH NECK TO GO WITH THAT HEAD OF HERS? WILL YOUNG DIVA PAULINI HAVE ANOTHER "BLACK EYE"?!! I eagerly await for this Sunday's event with breath that is baited.
Thursday, November 09, 2006 God Returns, Links & Other Matters
HOW AMAZING WAS THE O.C. ON TUESDAY NIGHT AUSTRALIA? AND HOW SPLENDID IS IT THAT CHANNEL 10 IS SCREENING THE O.C. "AS IT HAPPENS" IN THE US OF A? And unlike Jericho (What is a "Jericho"?), The O.C. is worth watching: and how amazing was the first episode?! Let us all take a moment to reflect on how much of a wise choice it was to use Placebo's cover of the Kate Bush masterpiece "Running Up That Hill" to drive the most gripping scenes of the season opener, shall we?
Excellent.
So how's our cast going without Mischa? Well, Melinda Clarke/God who plays Julie Cooper-Nichol-Roberts/God is set to have one of her best seasons yet (tragic yet brilliant in a Jackie-Collins-Novel kind of way), Ryan looks very nice with his new hair cut; a punched up/bleeding face and 3 day growth make him look a hundred times hotter than he EVER has, Seth is still ridiculously fun, The Cohen's are still huggable, my soft spot for Taylor is still very active and as for Summer... well, Summer's off finding herself at University, making hash cookies with Heather Mills-McCartney and protesting against those who eat chicken. I KNOW. If Mischa wasn't dead she'd be bitch slapping Summer with a Fendi hand-bag made out of ACTUAL CHICKEN'S FOR THIS RIDICULOUS BEHAVIOR. OR SOMETHING. Although it must be said Summer's hair has actually never looked QUITE AS FABULOUS as it does this season. This season: almost exciting me more than Tripping Over has been which - thanks to the lovely Paul over at The Zapping for informing me - has begun screening on Channel 5 in the UK. So go watch.
Speaking of links and the like, I'll be updating my links page over the weekend/Monday morning, so if you feel your website deserves a plug on there or know of one I may thoroughly enjoy visiting, fire through an email and I'll hop to it. Also, that Stock/Aitken/Waterman radio special I threw together earlier this month will be up for download next week, much like Madonna Album Madness which also lands next week. Am still very much in the middle of organising the purchase of my new car after my old one died 3 weeks ago, so I haven't really had the time and energy I'd like to devote to said Madge piece.
Some Quick Facts you could probably do without:
> The new McFly album is still very good.
> I was so happy hearing that Britney had kicked Fed-Ex to the curb that I took the day off from work when it happened. To watch TV.
> Australian Idol is now more tedious to watch than Big Brother was this year.
> My hair cut with Vesna on Saturday went very well thank you.
> I had Wednesday off work. It was lovely and just what I needed after the SHITTEST 2.5 weeks of my life.
> I've spent most of my free time this week watching the Season 1 DVD of Ally McBeal. It's been an emotional ride.
> My phone bill will be arriving in the post soon.
Monday, November 06, 2006 Axle Whitehead's Whitehead: The Video
For those of you who are interested in seeing the exact moment Axle took the, er, axe to his Television career at last weeks ARIA Awards, here's a YouTube clip of it. Bear in mind that the YouTube quality is extremely shithouse. It turns out that Channel [V] played the original, unedited version of the ARIA's when they screened it last week, hence where this video has come from. If anyone has a recorded on VHS or DVD (in decent to great quality) version of said video, I will pay you $10 and throw in a CD, maybe even 2. For our International readers, unaware of what this is all about, have a read here.
I still love him, even if he is a bit of a knob.
Boom. Tish.
Also, Dominic Knight over at the Radar Blog for Fairfax has written a rather hilarious piece on the whole saga, entitled "Axle Whitehead: Aussie Legend". Knight cites that "We should be thankful for his actions: if it wasn't for his antics, the big story of the ARIAs would have been Bernard Fanning." Surely the only thing missing from that sentence was the "Fucking" in between 'Bernard' and 'Fanning'.
...a duet featuring Rogue Traders vocalist Natalie Bassingthwaighte and our first Australian Idol runner up Shannon Noll - both very good Aussie crooners. This Natnoll number is a cover of the excellent Kate Bush & Peter Gabriel original, and is in stores Australia wide from December the 9th. It is very good, yes?
You may remember - quite some time ago - me banging on about wanting to start a regular thing on the website (hopefully one that will last longer than Nicola Monday's did) , a "thing" in dedication to Great Madonna Albums. Well that begins this week.
Hopefully, each week I'll discuss in (maybe) quite extensive detail why a certain Madge album is fantastic beyond belief, further proving that the woman truly is the greatest entertainer this world has ever seen. This week it's the "Like A Prayer" album, which features some of her most dazzling pieces of music EVER. I'll get onto that probably Wednesday. I'm excited, hopefully you are too.
ALSO - The magnificent Edward O from Enthusiastic But Mediocre has unveiled yet another Cross Europe Chart Challenge Of Death (which I've yet again contributed to), this time from Croatia. And with my being a neighbouring Bosnian (well, my Parents were anyways), for a change I could actually understand what every song was about. Edward managed to get a "real life Croatian" on the panel too which makes for excellent reading. So do hop on over and have a squiz, some brilliant bloggers and music lovers from the world over contribute to this. There's also an MP3 download of what is easily THE BEST SONG ON THE CROATIAN CHARTS AT THE MOMENT (It's 100% Pure 90s inspired EURODANCE!!!111!111!!!) called "Do Kraja" by Colonia, so if that doesn't get you over there then nothing will.
Saturday, November 04, 2006 So, this new McFly album...
...is pretty bloody amazing. The inevitable has indeed happened, and McFly have made an album which has obviously been heavily influenced by Queen. There is even a song on here that sounds like it's been ripped right from the Evita Soundtrack (!!!). Yes, it's that good people. There's even some Dougie on vocals which - at first seems somewhat alarming - but is really just many shades of awesome.
It's called "Motion In The Ocean" ("What a fucking shit name for an album" - The World) and is released this Sunday in the UK. I'll try to provide you all with a more detailed review during the week - I'd do it now but I'm about to go and get my hair cut so, obviously, there is just no time.
I must direct your attention though to xolondon's recent travels into Heat Magazine, which saw him come across one of the worst interviews with the boys I think I have actually ever read. Scratch that - it is probably THE worst interview I've ever read with anyone. They talk about pubes, nipple hair and each others arseholes. As much as I thoroughly enjoy the boys constantly ripping their clothes off at any god given opportunity, maybe they could give the whole stripper-angle of their act a break for the time being. It saddens me that this - easily their best album to date (filled with AH-MAH-ZHING SONGS) - is consistently being overshadowed by talk of cocks, wangs and bumholes.
But yes, this is an album which has managed to pry itself into my top 5 of the year, without a doubt.
Amazing - a post on a Saturday... that has surely not happened in well over a year? WHO KNEW! Have a good weekend folks...
PS: How much weight has Tom lost? He looks fucking amazing. Good on him!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006 WARNING: RATHER LONG POST
There certainly has been a lack of updates here at IAR HQ, and I do apologise. But you see, I've had to deal with the fact that my automobile of 3 years is no more during the course of this week. In a matter of days, I'll be burying (so to speak) my sometime-beloved (read: barely ever loved) shitbomb of a Suzuki Vitara. It wasn't until yesterday that it dawned on me just how much I really did rely on that car. You see, yesterday afternoon, I got onto a bus for the first time in 6 years.
Never again.
Someone else who will not have to resort to catching busses (for now) is Calista Flockhart. You might remember her from a TV show which began in the late 90's. She played a lawyer who enjoyed wearing mini-skirts. Another non-bus go-er is the divine Rachel Griffiths. You might remember her from a TV show which began in 2001. It was about death, and she played a lady who really enjoyed having penis' put inside of her vagina. She was also a lady (in the show) who's mother had the most sensational laugh on television. Another woman - who is probably unaware of what a bus even is anymore - is Sally Field. You might remember her from a TV show which began in the late 60's. She played a nun that liked to fly, simply because she could. Sadly, most of you may only remember her from Legally Blonde 2. She was the one that was old and not Reese Witherspoon.
All these women have one thing in common: They have returned (TOGETHER) to US television in a drama series that is not only a hit, but is actually magnificent. It's called "Brothers & Sisters", and it truly is one of the most refreshing drama's since, funnily enough, "Six Feet Under". It's about a family that are kind of 'a bit fucked up'. Sally Field plays their mum. The others play Sally & Tom Skerritt's (!!!!) children. Not only does Balthazar Getty (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) star as one of Sally's 87 children in the show, but he's managed to keep most of his good looks over the years too. This is a very good thing. There is also the tragic but sexy Dave Annable as well (another of Sally's offspring), who is very pleasant to look at indeed. Calista Flockhart's face looks, er... odd, in the first 3 episodes. By the 4th it's either not as noticeable, or the "work" has finally settled properly. Droopy face syndrome aside, this is an exquisitely written (and performed) American drama that could not have come at a better time: No more Six Feet - what to obsess over now? Kiddies: GET. HOOKED. ON. THIS. SHOW. IMMEDIATELY. If you can't wait for Channel 7 here in Oz to show it next year, do what I did and go torrent-hunting. It is WELL worth the hassle.
My other new favourite show is Channel 10's sensational Aussie drama, "Tripping Over". The very first episode (which aired last week) was groundbreaking Aussie television: Raw, rough, no holds barred and a story line which grabbed hold of my attention within the first few scenes. By the end of that episode, I'd decided it was most certainly a show I'd be watching again. After tonight's episode (the 2nd, for those of us you who failed maths), it is now my favourite show on our television screens right now. It's about traveling, being young, taking risks, living to the fullest and - as you do when you're young - making a fucking mess of your life.
It's the most real thing I've seen produced in this country since 1997's Raw FM over on ABC TV. The cast are the absolute prime cut of actors you could possibly hope for, plus there's that whole Daniel McPherson/Abe Forsythe both being really hot thing to take into account as well. What I'm trying to say is that it's pretty good and you should watch it. If you've missed the first ep, one of those torrent sites most definitely has it available for download (but be quick), and the second can be obtained legally (for a price) from bigpond.com. There are only 4 more weeks of this to go however because, sadly, it only runs for 6 episodes (My god, I'm using maths AGAIN on here). I am fairly sure this is going to be given a whirl at some point in the UK as well (some names behind "Cold Feet" are involved you see), so - at some point - most of you will know what I'm talking about.
Deepface have an album out. It's filled with music of a dance-tastic nature, but not dancey in a "let's go out and have a lot of illegal drugs" way, but in a "god almighty, those illegal drugs we had last night were quite good, seeing as it is Sunday morning and the sun is out, let's have a joint and listen to some Sunday-styled dance music" way. Which therefore makes this pretty damn special. Amazing grooves and funky moves, this album has 11 extremely cruisey dance moments, perfect for chilling - but not to the point of rigor mortis like most chilled out CDs. "Banshee" is tender, "Electricity" is the most poptastic moment on here, and the lead single "Been Good" is 100 times better in its original format on here than it was as a remix on radio and in the clubs. This is a splendid little diamond in the rough of many average dance-artist albums out at the moment. They're also Australian as well, which makes it all the more brilliant.
FINALLY (!!) >> IAR favourite AXLE WHITEHEAD exposed his cock at the ARIA's on Sunday night. If anyone has photographic evidence of his trouser snake, please email it through and you'll score some CDs. It seems that - sadly - my dear Axle has now resigned from Video Hits, officially making it "quite unwatchable"... >> If you thought JAMELIA's "Beware Of The Dog" was already a stroke of genius, wait till you hear the extended version... >> GIRLS ALOUD's "Money" has - as predicted - grown on me. The 7 out of 10 I gave it yesterday has now gone up to an 8... >> Also on Girls Aloud, if you believe the midweeks, their Greatest Hits collection is set to dislodge ROBBIE WILLIAMS' "Rudebox" off the number #1 spot on the albums chart in the UK this Sunday. The single, "Something Kinda Ooooh" is also expected to climb an extra spot to Number #2. Ooooh indeed... >> Have you printed off your VESNA petition yet? You should really hop to it. More details... >> The HAMISH & ANDY micro-site is on its way, it just may take some time...
