Sorry for the absence this week, I've been feverishly busy putting together a mammoth assignment for my New Communications class at Uni on music piracy. My brain is incredibly drained but my essay completely kicks arse (fuck it, I've worked my butt off on this one so I reckon tooting my own horn is completely justified,) so now I can concentrate on faffing about on here, planning the upcoming shows and taking a well earned 3 WEEKS OFF BEFORE EXAMS.
First of all, RSS FEED. I finally have that all sorted out so you can now add it to whatever it is you add it to: http://www.imalwaysright.co.uk/rss.xml
Very good.
On another note, I'll put up the Inside Splinters Dance Classics Edition MP3 up on Monday. My uploading schedule seems to be going in this direction so I figured I'll just keep it going that way. After each show on Friday, 10 days later it'll be up on here. Make sense? No, not for me either.
I've been watching Private Practice during my time away from the hollows of study. I'm no Grey's Anatomy fan (never watched it, never will,) but this is GREAT. My imaginary boyfriend Chris Lowell stars in it (pictured) along with Judging Amy and a few other interesting people. But now I'm disappointed, simply because I've watched all five episodes that are available of the show and now have no interest in watching anything else. Ho hum.
Did any of you (fellow Australians) see The Librarian's which started tonight on the ABC? Absolute hoot, I love it. There's nothing more entertaining than uncomfortable and completely offensive comedy. Filling the shoes of Summer Heights High is quite a task, but this is certainly shaping up to be one of the best Aussie shows this year...
The new Divinyls single, Don't Wanna Do This, is a triumph and DOES NOT SUCK. Thank Christ for that. I'll be playing it this Friday on the show so if you're around Geelong/Melbourne, tune into 94.7 for a listen. Speaking of, that promised Divinyls mega-post is on its way.
In case you haven't noticed, the site has had a bit of a once-over with the old photoshop. No particular reason really, this will all change again before the end of the year when design on the 'proper' new site is finished, but I just needed something fresh to work with until then. You know when you move furniture around your room or house because you're sick of living in the same old arrangement? That's kinda like how I was feeling with the site.
You will also notice that the divine Chrissie Amphlett looks after things 'round this hood now.
I honestly think I'll be more inclined to get my arse into gear and finish editing the My Favourite Pop Record thing now that the aesthetics of the site don't burn my retinas as much...
...to let you all know I'll be back, guns a-blazing, next week. There is actually no reasonable excuse for my absence this week; I have done a total of no study, have written about 9 words all week (and that was just on an envelope for work...) In fact, I have spent my entire week watching Doctor Who, replaying the ace first episode of Summer Heights High, and reading the first installment of my actual printed pop column over and over again simply because I'm still not sure it's real. Yep, been pretty fucking lazy this week, but I've totally needed the me-time.
Somewhat random; I have been having really strange dreams about zombies for the last three months. I have no idea why but at least 4 times a week, I'm dreaming about bloody zombies. And with all this Doctor Who fresh in my memory, last night I dreamt about time traveling zombies. For Christ's sake.
Hopefully tomorrow night there wont be too many zombies in sight as I plan on letting my proverbial hair down on the town, where I will no doubt hassle all the local DJs to play me some Dannii Minogue and Sugababes.
So yes, regular programming next week. Speaking of Amelle & co, here is the new Sugababes video clip. Good golly that lady is fierce. LOVE. HER.
So a fantastic email arrived in ye 'old inbox this morning from a long-time reader, Mark Simons, who is a bit worried of what the future holds for IAR. Instead of me relaying his comments, I thought I would just share the whole email and follow it with an open letter of sorts.
Dearest Adem,
I have been reading your site for a couple of years now. I never comment, never email, just read and enjoy the posts. But your most recent post is the something about a camel, back, straws, etc.
What is going on here? You have turned into one of those Indie people haven't you? Soon you'll be hanging out with Emily off of Big Brother and telling people to push out their niggers. Segregation never, Integration now Adem!
I am worried. I am worried that you have traded in your lovely Girls Aloud t-shirt for one of Jet or something equally as hideous as that. You haven't have you? Do you listen to The Strokes? I bet you have been. Don't lie to me. Am I going to find Pete Fucking Doherty in your banner one day? This questions answer is a complete mystery to me, because two weeks ago I would have never given it a second thought but now that you're telling people you enjoy that new Babyshambles song, well I don't know what to think anymore.
Please tell me you're not wearing a pair of faded black, skintight denim jeans right now as you read this email??!?!
Anyways, love the site and stuff. And I am not telling you to STOP talking about that guitar music, but maybe throw in a picture of Dannii Minogue in between indierelated posts just to give people like me a bit of a break from it all. Keep up the good work.
Love always, Mark Simons.
Genius.
Dearest Mark;
To answer your questions, and address some points...
1) Indie is not taking over my body and soul, but I do like some of the music it produces. I have always been a fan of that crazy Indie-movement, even before Emily off-of-Big Brother discovered it and shared the glory with people the world over. In fact, if I was a fan of it before Emily discovered it, doesn't that mean that I actually CREATED it? Calvin may have created disco, but it seems I created Indie.
2) The Girls Aloud t-shirt is still being worn, never fear. It IS in competition with my Arctic Monkeys t-shirt though. I don't think you should worry about me ever taking on a love of Jet however. Did you know that Jet are very much actually the worst band in Australian music history, right after Wolfmother? This is FACT Mark, and you should know better than to insinuate I would think anything else. Although, looking at your concerns, I do not blame you for thinking I may act foolishly and embark on a strange love of said "artistes."
3) I do listen to The Strokes. They are very good Mark and you should give their most recent album a proper listen if you haven't already.
4) No, Pete Doherty will never feature on the IAR banner. There is probably more chance of Elizabeth Hasselbeck appearing on the IAR banner than there is Pete Doherty. ALTHOUGH I DO LOVE HIM IN A COMPLETELY NON-SEXUAL, NON-DEALER KIND OF WAY.
5) Skin-tight jeans. On me? Are you fucking mad? You HAVE seen what I look like haven't you? I think skin-tight jeans would be an extreme crime, one that would see me locked away for violating several million occupational safety hazards.
As for breaking it up with a bit of pop, you'll be very pleased to know that I am caning the fucking SHIT out of the new Sugababes single, "About You Now," which is an incredible pop song and probably the best thing I have heard thus far in 2007.
Hopefully you're a Sugababes fan then.
Thanks for the feedback Mark, it is always appreciated.
xoxox Adem.
PS: Have you ever thought about starting a blog? I think you should.
* Had an exam this week for Uni which will explain why I've been absent since last week.
* Still, I'm sure it's been an absolute thrill to load this page and still see a collection of Ron Weasley photography.
* Speaking of Ron, how's about that Potter book leaking? I'll admit, I totally looked it up and sought out the spoilers. I haven't read any of the books and simply couldn't wait till 2010 to find out what happens, so yes, I cheated. But there are so many people who don't want to cheat and may feel the burn of cruelty this Saturday when they pick up their copy of "Deathly Hollows." Turns out there is a group of nasty people who've printed up pamphlets to give out to children in line at random bookstore launches, containing all the important spoilers disguised as a pamphlet of guidelines before purchasing the book. Fucking ridiculous.
* I was lucky enough to receive the long awaited Midnight Juggernauts album in the mail today, which is released through Inertia next month. Will review it sometime this week.
* Frustratingly, I am still waiting for news on the Van She album. Popjustice have made small mention of the boys once again thanks to their remix of Feist's "1234," which is good, but has nothing on any of the original stuff they churn out.
* I'm going to the Arctic Monkeys Melbourne gig on August 7th much to my excitement. Unfortunately I am going alone, so if anyone is keen on tagging along, email me. You'll have to source out your ticket on ebay though (there's heaps of them on there, ps), I don't have a spare.
* Victoria Beckham's TV special was fun, regardless of what 98% of the television viewing public would have you believe.
* Sorry for the half-arsed post. I'll try and concoct something a little more adequate later on today.
Would you believe I plan on spending my ENTIRE WEEKEND* BLOGGING?! From Friday there will be a review of the McFlyMotion In The Ocean Tour DVD, UK Big Brother chat, another Vesna Snatchcast, my long-overdue scribblings on the Australian Next Top Model final, and - time permitting - something else.
In the meantime, let's admire this photograph of Dermot O'Leary resting on a pillow.
Everyone's favourite alcoholic, Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding, has denied the Sun's stupid story over the weekend announcing an Aloud split this year, by declaring there's a new album on the way. Sarah hopped on the official GA Website - in between having a drink and being the greatest pop star on the planet since Madonna - to post a few comments on the girls' future.
"Just wanted to post a msg on here to say don't believe the ridiculous story about us splitting up in one of the papers on Sunday. As you know by now, some people just can't stop making stories up out of nothing. Me and the girls are really excited about the tour coming up - and we've got some great surprises planned. We've also started work on our new album which will be out in October. Andyou'll be pleased to know there will be no covers on this album!! Oh and Cheryl has just texted me saying to make sure I mention that she is not going to a judge on any reality show - these stories are just rubbish. Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine. See you all at the shows. Sarah xxx"
Please take note of the double exclamation marks as the sentence proclaiming a cover-version-free album draws to a close. You can view the whole thing over on the GA website. Quote copy and paste job with thanks to the ace BopPop, however.
PS: Popjustice is back after what felt like 3 months away. They've had an Ashlee Simpsonstyle nose-job, which looks quite fabulous really.
PPS: If I'm slightly absent for the next week then it has something to do with having to pen eight thousand assignments by Friday, my birthday being just around the corner, an upcoming 5 day weekend from work, and emulating my hero Sarah Harding as much as possible for the entirety of my Annual Crisis Talks... (thanks to Janina for that witty line, btw.)
So far mine has been running for two weeks which - as it turns out - would mean there are two column entires. I have absolutely no idea what I'll write about next week but I shall cross that bridge when I get to it, right?
This week I have spoken about how the fusion of Music & Television can change the way you feel about a featured song.
Last week I spoke about the whole Girls Aloud OZ Promo Tour 2006 vs Westlife OZ Promo Tour 2006 debacle. This particular column entry is infinitely better than this weeks, but what can you do.
Bookmark the new column and clicky-clicky. Have a good weekend...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007 Time goes by quite quickly actually Madge.
So much for the things I promised "over the next seven days". I suck, I know, but I have genuinely been busy. Today I had the option of either writing a bunch of stuff to put up on the site, or to spend my free afternoon working on the design of the new, upcoming site. Obviously, I opted for the latter.
HOWEVER. I am back at work tomorrow which means some extra time for blogging. I know, it shouldn't really work like that, but there are definite advantages to working on the specific days your boss isn't around - especially when there's just so much un-monitored free broadband Internet going around.
I was observing this weeks Australian ARIA singles & albums charts. For the first time in - fuck me - years, the chart is actually somewhat interesting. Almost interesting enough to bother with a summary of sorts. We'll see.
I also need to discuss the brilliance of Simon Curtis, and this lovely 10th Anniversary Edition of the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack over the next couple of days. Both things I was going to mention about 3 weeks ago. And I'm trying to launch a new look?!
I THINK THIS VERY WELL MAY BE THE FINAL POST ON THIS WEBSITE FOR A WHILE THAT USES A CONFESSIONS ERA PIC OF HER MADGESTY. THE PICTURES ARE JUST SO PRETTY THOUGH, AREN'T THEY?
For those of you who've not gotten your 10 selections for Favourite Pop Record of All Time in, you have until Saturday the 3rd of March, even though today is your day of deadline... this is simply because I am feeling generous/there are at least 5 more episodes of One Tree Hill for me to watch before I've caught up with Season 4 and album chart tallying would prevent that from happening tonight. However, the tally calculations WILL BEGIN on Sunday the 4th of March, so any votes that come through after then shall be binned. You can do so by emailing them through before 11pm, Saturday the 3rd of March Melbourne Daylight Savings EST.
I venture out of University Hiatus to discuss television. But if you think there is going to be some kind of enlightening "point" by the end of this scribbling, you are very wrong. This is merely an outlet for my insanity to spew forth. In fact, reading this, you may even get a grasp on where my head is at after my first stressful and exciting few days at University.
Over the past couple of weeks I've been catching up on my viewing of One Tree Hill on DVD. As a - hem hem - break from homework and education, I've been fitting in a couple of episodes in between studying and over the weekend found myself finishing Season 3.
There are QUITE LITERALLY a mere FIVE EPISODES LEFT until I am up to date with the life of Peyton Sawyer, a young lady who I have developed quite a totally-normal "but I'm still a homosexual, promise" crush on. But I am becoming sad. After dedicating every second of my spare time away from University to my friends at Tree Hill, I've nought an idea as to what I'll do once it's over. And by over I mean, once I've caught up with the current U.S. season (IN 5 EPISODES TIME), what will I do with hours to spare, being left to watch the show on a weekly, one hour basis JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE *GRASPS FOR ASTHMA PUMP*.
THANKFULLY - there are no less than 765 Television Shows on DVD waiting to be watched/caught up on by myself, and now that I am a "struggling Student", there is (strangely) plenty more time now to balance study, a formerly full time job which is now part time, with television and friends (the real ones, not the ones from Tree Hill High).
I swear to god it's like High School all over again except, you know, with actual commitment this time. Thanks heaps for all the emails of encouragement over the past week too, it's been greatly appreciated. So yes, University life is beginningto feel quite marvellous. I'll get back to you in Term 4 when I start studying Politics though...
Thursday, February 22, 2007 Over the next few days...
...I may not be around so much. I'm going back to school after 7 years away. I wonder what will become of me once I enter the life of a University Student? So yeah, this whole further education thing may stop me from blogging for, oh, I don't know, give it a week?
Just until I wrap my head around it, so to speak.
Have a grand weekend folks, see you this time next week. xo
It's been brought to my attention that parts of the site seem to have, er, disappeared. Half of the Archive pages don't work and - strangely enough - for some reason the Archives have not updated past August of last year. All of this will be remedied at some point over the next couple of months. The site's being redesigned as we speak, a logo of sorts is being thrown together, and a new name for the site is being pondered "quite carefully". And by "quite carefully", I mean that I've already thought of it and am mere days away from registering the new domain. The finished result? All in good time, but I'm hoping to have it all complete by late March/early April.
MEANWHILE...
*PING* "You've got 'Guess who? Don't Sue' Mail!"
APPARENTLY... A certain Australasian four piece act who are in the process of losing one of their members, are apparently feuding so terribly with the leaving member, it has resorted to Sugababes v1.0 status, where the other 3 are not even talking with them. Will it only be a matter of time before they begin gibbering in their own made up languages? Then again, two of them are already well skilled at speaking Gorilla, so they'd just have to teach the other one the basics of it.
