Archive - Jan 2006

Australian Open - Hingis vs Stosur

I'm sure that Hingis will prevail in the end but, man, it's a tough one to pick which one to cheer on. It's great to see Hingis back, bigger and better. Love that serve, baby, just put a bit more of that extra bulk that you've gymmed on and things will start to get interesting. Love the variety as well. Love the fact that, yes, she's accepted that there is more power in the game now but she hasn't lost her touch at all. I can't wait to see her play Clijsters or someone of that calibre, someone who can really test her.

That being said, come on Aussie!

tags: Tennis, Australian Open.

UPDATE: twenty two minutes and the first set has gone to Hingis. oops...

Second day back at work and Jhuny has to go see an Osteo to get his back cracked. Bugger. These things always happen when starting back at work, I was totally expecting it to happen, but I'm not happy. That being said, with all the treatment that I've already gotten, it's not all bad, and the soreness and the stiffness in my upper back is starting to go away now. Which is a good thing. We pretty much hit the floor running and, all up, our first week back has been tiring and painful. I also indulged a bit over the holidays and IT SHOWS (not too stressed about it, though, the extra padding will go away soon).

Anyway, besides work, it's been pretty eventful the last few days. On Saturday, JPB and I went to see The Andersen Project and Antony and the Johnsons, both Sydney Festival event, both well worth your time; I may need to write about them later on. Upcoming events may include Chunky Move's I Want To Dance Better At Parties, Splinter Group's lawn and James Thierree's Bright Abyss. Fun stuff.

A proper blog entry to look forward to as well, I promise!

Previous: Top 50 of 2004

I felt I couldn’t get as excited by new music this year as I was in 2004. Last year’s favourites went missing somewhere: Scissor Sisters were holding back on new music and instead went on tour and did a few collaborations; Franz Ferdinand lost some of the infectious immediacy in their hooks in their latest material; and groups like Girls Aloud and The Darkness made such a late entrance their new stuff now has to be delayed to the 2006 list.

At the end of the day, the top song is there not because it was anything amazing and exciting like Franz Ferdinand was last year but because I listened to it an awful lot.

Instead, 2005 for me was a backward looking year, full of mash-ups, remakes and Madonna. Mariah Carey made her so-called Comeback-of-the-Year though I found myself more interested than expected thanks to an extra cheesy mash-up. I was listening to a lot of mash-ups, perhaps too many, I could have searched out for more original material. But the rock hooks that I started to like in 2004 were there, they were just mashed up with some groovy vocals. Is that really a bad thing?

The following list is an attempt to represent the music that I was listening to in 2005. Gone are the days of weekly charts and point systems that may have been more accurate, there are tracks on the list like Inaya Day’s Nasty Girl that may have been higher up the list but have now lost a lot of their allure for me to place them there now. To deal with the sheer number of mash-ups I was listening to, I decided to only include those that used at least one track that was new for me in 2005. Songs can only occur once in the list, preventing a song, it’s remix and it’s mash-up from being on the list.

So here it is…

1. Missy Elliott ft Ciara & Fat Man Scoop – Lose Control
2. Goldfrapp – Ooh La La
3. Sugababes – Push The Button
4. Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
5. Madonna – Hung Up
6. Mylo vs Miami Sound Machine – Doctor Pressure
7. Mariah Carey vs Cyndi Lauper – We Belong Together Time After Time (Arty Fufkin Mashup)
8. Gorillaz – Dare
9. Gwen Stefani – Hollaback Girl
10. Kelly Clarkson vs Depeche Mode vs Rex The Dog – Since U Been Gone (DJ Earworm Mashup)
11. Robbie Williams – Trippin’
12. Gwen Stefani – Cool
13. Rogue Traders – Voodoo Child
14. New Order – Jetstream (Richard X Remix)
15. The Prodigy – Girls (idiotech Remix)
16. Kylie Minogue – Giving You Up (Riton Re-Rub Dub)
17. Mylo – In My Arms (Sharam Jey Remix)
18. Lisa Stansfied vs Soul Central – Hold On To Life (Jhuny Mash)
19. Dean Gray – Boulevard of Broken Songs (Dance Mix)
20. Rihanna – Pon De Replay
21. The Prodigy – Out Of Space (Audio Bullys Remix)
22. Black Eyed Peas – My Humps
23. Ciara ft Missy Elliott – 1 2 Step
24. MIA – 10 Dollar
25. Gorillaz – Dirty Harry (Jon Carter Remix)
26. The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up (Sub Focus Remix)
27. Shakedown vs Taylor Dayne – Shakedown My Heart (DJ Matt Hite 4 Minute Man Mix)
28. Mariah Carey – It’s Like That (McSleazy Remix)
29. Madonna – Future Lovers
30. Inaya Day – Nasty Girl
31. MIA vs Nintendo – Superlangalang! (cry.on.my.console Mashup)
32. MIA – Bucky Done Gun
33. The Pussycat Dolls ft Busta Rhymes – Don’t Cha
34. Destiny’s Child ft TI & Lil’ Wayne – Soldier
35. Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Lie
36. Franz Ferdinand – Do You Want To
37. Bodyrockers – I Like The Way You Move
38. Kaiser Chiefs vs Amerie – One Less Thing (Cheekyboy Mashup)
39. Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
40. Rachel Stevens – I Said Never Again
41. MIA – Sunshowers
42. Mylo – Destroy Rock & Roll (Tom Neville Remix)
43. Goldfrapp – Number 1
44. Sarah Vaughan – Fever (Adam Freeland Remix)
45. The Prodigy – Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)
46. Basement Jaxx – Oh My Gosh
47. Robbie Williams – Advertising Space
48. Cabin Crew – Star 2 Fall
49. Destiny’s Child – Cater 2 U
50. Roisin Murphy – Leaving The City

Tags: Pop, music, chart, 2005.

JPB and I had just finished a fantastic meal at The Cellar in the Hunter Valley. I had taken him up there for his birthday and the dinner was a delightful way to finish off a fun day of wine tasting. Up until that point, it had been a perfect day.

So the last thing we were expecting was a wine glass to be thrown at us.

At the very least, I've had a very eventful holiday season. Though for the second time in about two weeks I found myself dusting off bits of glass. Most of the offending projectile landed in JPB's lap. Both of us weren't hurt, I was a bit rattled by the experience and needed to go home and have a good night sleep but JPB seemed quite unperturbed.

One of the guys at the next table stood up, yelled "Why do I have to sit here and watch this all night?", and stormed off. Alot of commotion on the next table and an embarrassed young lady came up to us to check if we were alright; she apologised and offered to take care of our bill while the rest of her party took off. I was quite stunned and couldn't say a word. The lovely wait staff efficiently took care of us, making sure we were okay and whisking us to an empty table to clean up the mess. JPB and I aren't even sure what was thrown at us, it could have been a glass or a bottle, but everything was cleaned up so quickly. Before we knew it the neighouring party had left, the table had been cleaned up and the other restaurant patrons were focussed back on their own tables. Though our bill was paid, on our departure JPB offered a significant tip to thank the girls for their help. Nothing was said on the entire trip back to our guest house.

The entire night I hadn't paid any attention to anyone else but JPB and even though JPB had been directly facing the guy the whole night and saw him stand up to throw the glass, it all came out of nowhere for him as well. We don't think they would be local people because, well, it's the Hunter Valley, you'd expect the locals to be used to poof couples visiting for the lovely food and wine. JPB and I had been on a bus tour the whole day, we had been to a number of wineries, we had been affectionate the entire time and up until then no one around us seemed to have a problem.

It was such a shame. It could have been a perfect day.

Tags: Gay, Hunter Valley, The Cellar, restaurant, homophobia.