Firstly, thanks to everyone who made yesterday so much fun. When a barbecue goes for 14 hours straight, you know things are working out O.K. When, after aforementioned 14 hour party the only cleaning up you have to do involves a big recycling crate, a fridge that needs defrosting and a few loads of dishes, you know things went brilliantly, and when you wake up without as much as a tingle for a hangover, well those are just one-in-a-millions, especially after going to bed at 2 with a splitting headache. So thankyou all involved.

Anyway the reason for the party – the hottest 100. My votes didn’t do as well this year as last – maybe I’m losing my touch with JJJ. At least I wasn’t the only one surprised when Augie March was announced as the number one spot though. The way the polls have been going in recent years, I was looking towards a Killers, Eskimo Joe, MCR or AFI win. Although those four came close, unfortunately my Matisyahu prediction (I bet Richard $10 KWaC would get into the top ten) failed me at number 72, well outside of striking range, and an embarrasing loss to my brother. Anyway here were my votes, and the results they managed:

• The Flaming Lips – The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song – Didn’t poll
• Gotye – Heart’s a Mess – 8
• The Killers – Bones – 31
• Matisyahu – King Without a Crown – 73
• Muse – Exo-Politics – Didn’t poll
• The Panda Band – Ghosts Have The Best Time – Didn’t poll
• Sarah Blasko – Planet New Year – Didn’t poll
• Tapes ‘N Tapes – Cowbell – Didn’t poll
• Thom Yorke – Black Swan – 84
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion – 24

As compared to the actual top ten:

1. Augie March – One Crowded Hour
2. Eskimo Joe – Black Fingernails, Red Wine
3. Hilltop Hoods – The Hard Road
4. The Killers – When You Were Young
5. Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel like Dancin’
6. Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
7. Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars
8. Gotye – Hearts A Mess
9. Muse – Starlight
10. The Grates – 19-20-20

Now, onwards to tomorrows Big Day Out!

Pete

I’ve got a supp exam tomorrow, spaced exactly half way through my supposed holidays. Universities really know how to screw students around don’t they? On a different but related note, a little bird told me that the Monash Student Association has managed to persuade Wolfmother to play on campus sometime this year. The appearance fee is apparently $150,000. Where the fuck is the MSA getting that sort of money from, now that VSU is here to stay? Bloody hell – I’d rather a half decent administration than some up themselves rockers playing for an hour, probably while I’m in a lecture.

Anyway my main point is that with an exam looming, I’m doing what Pete does best any time of the year – procrastinating. So far I’ve exercised, watched tennis, eaten, slept, organised an Australia/Hottest 100 day gathering, gone to a 21st and read an awful lot of anything-but-chemistry. In my travels I came across what can only be explained as the first known example of French humour that isn’t completely shite. Have a look yourself:

If you’re not laughing now, you’re a terrible person… or still stewing from my French comment.

Pete

I’ve never been a particularly big fan of American sitcoms. I never got into Friends, despised Seinfeld for a significant part of my childhood and although Something about Raymond was funny at times, I don’t think I could ever really get into it. I know that these three shows are a drop in the ocean of trashy sitcoms spewing forth from TV sets the world over, but the fact remains that there are very few sitcoms I actually watch, have watched, or at the very least would watch religiously.

One of the shows that does hold a place in this smattering of TV sitcoms that are bearable is Scrubs (for those who actually know me this will be of no suprise). The show is set in a hospital, the characters are compelling and deep and both the physical slapstick and spoken dialogue comedy is tightly written and very funny. It is also my firm belief that the Janitor is one of the greatest characters ever written, in any medium, ever. Zach Braff’s career as an independant filmmaker has basically been launched from the success of the show, and although none of the other actors have made as big an impact in the entertainment industry, I doubt any one of them would have particular difficulty finding work around the place.

I own the first four seasons on DVD, and although there are good and bad episodes, all four seasons are strong, particularly the first three. Season five, which aired on TV in Australia throughout the middle part of last year and will be released on DVD next month started to show the signs of a series nearing its use-by date, although it did have some redeeming features that compelled me to continue watching. However, season six (rumoured to be the final season), which is currently airing in America and will make it to our shores sometime in the next few months has so far been tedious, overly-dramatic and to be blunt – shit.

Ooooo I feel like I’ve just commited blasphemy… let me explain, but first I must warn that this MAY SPOIL ONGOING PLOTLINES FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN SEASON SIX. Although I have enjoyed each of the six episodes to date, the more dramatic aspects of the story such as Carla’s friggin baby or Elliot and her switch to private practice have often left the staple of the show – fair dinkum comedy – with less than its fair share of the limelight. The jokes when they are made are starting to become a little tired and old, and any extra character development (except for aforementioned babies) has been really struggling.

That said there have been two standout episodes that I’ve enjoyed immensely. Episode four (My House) drills home the likeness of Dr Cox to Hugh Laurie’s ‘House’. Actually it’s probably a bad idea to get onto the topic of House, as although I haven’t seen a full episode yet (I am told it’s very good) I can’t get past the fact that no-one can remember Laurie from British classics like Blackadder or Jeeves & Wooster.

Anyway I digress. The second standout episode of the current season so far is last night’s episode entitled My Musical. As the name implies, the entire episode is set in Broadway musical style, with most of the dialogue sung rather than spoken, and intricate dance routines all over the place. The writers managed this by showing the episode through the eyes of a patient with a aneurism in the frontal cortex of the brain, making her see and hear everyday occurances as song-and-dance routines. Although obviously the condition is bullshit, it was a nice idea and it’s certainly enjoyable to see how well Turk, J.D and The Janitor (and to a lesser extent Kelso, Carla and Cox) can sing. Unfortunately, as good as the episode itself was it only really served to remind me how the show is circling the drain, considering musical episodes (Buffy anyone?) have only ever spelled disaster for the longevity of a show in my mind.

Oh, anyone interested can find the torrent file for the musical episode here. I suppose we’ll just have to see if NBC renew the series for a seventh season or if the show is axed at the end of this year and allowed to retire with grace and 140-odd episodes that were by and large excellent viewing.

Pete

About three weeks ago Michaela and I were driving down to her parent’s place in Mount Martha. Half way down Springvale Rd, whatever we were listening to finished and I asked her what she wanted to listen to. Her answer – Bloc Party – shot out of her mouth so quickly that I was convinced that conscious thought wasn’t even necessary for her answer. I was admittedly a little surprised by not only the speed of the answer, but the request itself, however I was in no position to question her music choice or sanity, as she was in control of a high-speed motor vehicle at the time, so I played her the music she asked for.

Now that my little disjointed introduction is over, I need to admit something. Although I was very much around in early 2005 when ‘Silent Alarm’ was released (I was actually recently home from a year-long stint overseas and trying to soak up music like it was going out of fashion), I wasn’t particularly taken by Bloc Party’s brindie (british indie?) pop sound. For some reason, what the critics and fans alike were labeling as fresh and revolutionary I saw as dry and boring. For some reason, Bloc Party just didn’t click with me. So you can all imagine the day in October of the same year, when I first heard ‘Two More Years’ (released separately to the Silent Alarm LP), and immediately went out and bought the album I had so quickly dismissed only six months earlier. For some equally odd reason I felt like I had just stumbled upon the greatest band to have ever lived.

Alright, so perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, but I surprised even myself at my incredible about-face in music taste. Anyway a year and a bit have passed since then, and it has been quite a few months since I last played Bloc Party, but Mic (in her all-powerful status) has really made me start listening to them again. Not only listening to their debut Silent Alarm, but sourcing their quite timely sophomore album, due for release in February, called ‘A Weekend In The City’.

Recently (as in this week) out-of-the-closet lead Kele Okereke has said at various interviews that the band didn’t want to record the same old music simply to make the record companies millions, nor did they want to seem to fans to be a one trick pony, which puts the band in an interesting if not difficult situation. That said, from just a single listen through, I think BP may just have done it. The first single ‘The Prayer’ seems poppy enough to be popular on the charts, while being different enough from their previous work aswell as lyrically and musically deep enough to please the critics and muso’s out there. Other songs remind me of Bloc Party of old, while clearly taking the band in a new direction, which is fine by me.

Now, I couldn’t run through a new album without giving ol’ grannytunes a bit of a run, could I? This week’s track in one of the more clearly Bloc Party tracks on the new album, and one that I daresay will (or at least could) be released as a single. The lyrical content is not as exploratory as some of the other tracks, but it’s boppy enough to be forgiven. Enjoy ‘Hunting for Witches’ by clicking on the grannytunes flash player at top of the page, just under the header… All the cool kids are doing it.

Pete

Yesterday I made my first impulsive buy of the year. Although I suppose I should be glad that it took me close to a week to make one, the fact that I was away and unable to buy useless shit for the first 3 days takes some of the glimmer off the achievement – plus I really can’t afford to be buying stuff I neither want nor need, even if it is a boxset of Inspector Gadget for less than $20. But what’s done is done, so last night I sat down and tried to recount and relive my childhood, sat infront of the TV watching the world’s best detective strut his stuff.

Unfortunately it seems I was either duped by the good people at JB Hifi, or the show just isn’t as good as I remember it. The jokes are lame, Claw isn’t as much of an dick as I remember, and Penny, one of my first ever crushes – well before I knew what that actually meant – is just an annoying little smartarse that somehow understands her dog’s barks as human speech. Anyway all of that isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the two episodes I actually watched – it’s just that the quality of animation and digital capture to DVD wasn’t very good, and it is afterall a kids TV show that I’m trying to watch as an adult.

Anyway one very interesting thing that I did notice was that the original TV pilot was included on the first DVD. Considering it really is the genesis of the whole Inspector Gadget franchise, I decided to watch it first and MY GOD was I in for a surprise. Gadget was an English toff and had a moustache, Penny was a whinier little poo and all of Claw’s henchmen seemed to have been picked straight out of the New York Bronx. Although I half accepted Penny’s voice, I distinctly remember Gadget having no facial hair whatsoever, and DEFINITELY no English accent. After starting the second episode it became clear that the producers actually changed the look and voice of Gadget after sending out the pilot, as well as Penny’s voice and the whole generic henchman look and feel. I felt vindicated that my memory hadn’t let me down, but strangely attached to the English gadget of the pilot. Oh, what could have been!

(EDIT) Apparently the pilot was successful, but MCA threatened to sue the producers of the show because the look and sound of Gadget was too similar to Clouseau from the Pink Panther. After reading that on wikipedia I think have to agree…

Oh for those who don’t believe me, check this out:

And voices, complete with blowing up Chief Quimby: English Pilot Gadget, ‘Real’ Gadget.

And for those who are still cynical old buggers, here is the introduction animation of the pilot episode (Xvid avi format) – the same intro as any other, but with said moustache.

Truly mindboggling. Oh, I do believe this is what happens when you leave Pete unattended in 35 degree heat.. Bwahahah

Pete

The arrival of January always means a few things – it’s no longer December for instance – however another somewhat more exciting thing that can be inferred from the beginning of the new year is that the world’s biggest music poll is upon us all again, which means it’s time to get voting for the Hottest 100! To motivate/help/confuse/infuriate the rest of you, I’ll publish my own votes now. I made a bet with my little brother that Matisyahu will be in the top 10, so that was an automatic vote for me, then I basically closed my eyes and clicked buttons, and viola! My ten:

Enjoy. Some of my votes are serious, ohmygodthisisthegreatestsongever votes, some are because of the memories brought back from hearing them, and some are simply so I can win $10. C’mon Matis – bring it home on Australia Day!

Pete

Hola everyone,

Good to see you all survived the annual test that is New Years Eve. Although I personally had tickets to the Falls Festival, it became clear on the 27th that I couldn’t really afford to go, so I begrudgingly sold the tickets to a mate, and instead took some otherwise planless friends down to my otherwise empty beachhouse in Anglesea. T’was pleasant, but I don’t know how much longer I could have spent there – it’s nice to be home, hosed and out of the highly political environment that was the last few days. Angle also seems to be currently the home of every man and his dog, which is a shame but fairly unavoidable at this time of year.

Anyway some of you will notice the new layout. For those interested, it is basically the ‘Grey gets Green’ theme with a vector Pete in the header and a couple of other slight changes. Although there will no doubt be some tweaking over the next day or two, unless there is massive public outcry this is pretty much what you can expect for the next little while. The content of each post of course will remain the same – complete and utter rubbish.

Happy New Year and here’s to a brilliant ’07! Thanks for sharing the ride.

Pete