One more thought on the hottest 100... If you haven't heard the Herd's cover of 'I was only 19' (number 18 in the countdown) yet, and you consider yourself an australian, do yourself a favour and listen to this song. I won't say it's better than the original, however it still brings the emotion, and gives the younger generations a more accessable way to feel it.

Okay, first a little rundown on the hottest 100.

• I Predict A Riot - Kaiser Chiefs : 34
  
• Shutterspeed - Karnivool : DNF
  
• Themata - Karnivool : 94
  
• Outside 109 - British India : DNF
  
• O Yeah - End Of Fashion : 8
  
• Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Little Birdy : 96
  
• Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park : DNF
  
• The Sound Of White - Missy Higgins : 74
  
• The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails : DNF
  
• Little Miss Liar - Tambalane : DNF
  

Okay, some suprises there... NIN didn't make the hottest 100... WTF ???? I think it's time a serious amount of education was unleashed upon the people of australia, and by that I mean I get to beat a lot of people with a clue bat.

As for the top 10... Bernard Fanning winning, well I rate him the same was I rate powderfinger, I don't like them, at the same time, I don't dislike them. So I am kinda meh about him winning... Ben Lee coming second, HELL NO! that song shat me something silly. Two tracks by Wolfmother was good to see. Haven't seen those guys live yet, but I've enjoyed what I have heard.

The best part of the count down... later that night listening to what passes as an alternative radio station over here (I use the term alternative loosely)... There up and coming band for the night, was Wolfmother... nice to see australia is leading the way yet again...

Finally got to hear the new single from the Butterfly Effect. I loved 'Begins Here' when it was released and seeing them live was a HUGE night. So when I heard there was a new albumn coming, I was extremely happy. Having heard the first single I was disapointed, and overjoyed at the same time. The reason for the polar oposite feeling was the fact that there sound was exactly the same. This is great, because I LOVE their old sound, it was disapointing because if a band stays too much the same, listening to the new albumn is too much like listening to the old albumn.

Saw the new Underworld movie last night. The first one was bad in a good way (i.e. it was a bad movie, but enjoyable). This one was bad in a bad way. Making it even worse was the fact that the first one had a soundtrack by Danny Lohner, the second one had a soundtrack by some random guy :-(

HOTTEST 100 BABY!

We've only just hit 77, and I have TWO songs in the list so far... HELL YEAH! This is gonna be a good day. More stuff to talk about like the butterfly effects new single, and stuff like that... but anyway, that can wait until tomorrow... hope everyone is having a great australia day, and is drinking like there is no tomorrow!

Also, if your stuck inside, in front of a screen like me... check out a little bit of virtual stress release. This is a cool idea, and a great way to let off steam.

This is a little ditty about me and caffeine...

Anyone who knew me at uni, would be aware of the large amounts of coke I consumed (no, not *THAT* sort of coke). I drank on average, about 1.5 litres of the stuff per day (about 4 cans). I was always high on sugar and caffeine.

When I got sick, I stopped drinking any sort of caffeine. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to give up. I went through withdrawls, I felt sick & headachey for about a week. After that, I had trouble staying awake as much as I had, I didn't need to sleep, I just felt sluggish and not quite with it.

After a while, this all went away, and I was functioning normally without any sort of chemical help.

This week, because I have been working all of the time and not sleeping I decided, on tuesday, to have a coke to try and get myself reved up in the morning. By thursday , I was drinking 3 cans by midday. I was shocked to see how easily I fell back into old habbits. I mean, as far as addictions go, coke isn't a bad one, but I have never thought of myself as having an addictive personality. So it scares me to see how easily I can do something like that without thinking about it.

Friday I went cold turkey, felt a bit crap (mostly cause I was so tired), but I am glad I did. I don't want to go back to my university days for any reason.

On something more positive. An albumn from 2005 that I haven't mentioned nearly enough. Magic Dirt - SnowWhite, this isn't a seminal albumn or anything like that, it's just normal magic dirt. Feel good rock/pop with a hard edge. Really recommend people give it a listen. Shove it on while your driving and you'll slowly see the needle creep up, just don't blame the tickets on me :-)

[ Magic Dirt - Sleep ]

Majick Gypsy writes :

I was surprised at your top ten, I would have assumed more metal in there, from what I've previously read. I think it's been the year of Aussie hip hop, the Herd, Tzu, Butterfingers etc are all on my list. Blue King Brown for the reggae feel and System of a Down out of respect, but I surprised myself by voting for the Living End. Normally I wouldnt because they're so established but I thought they were the standout performers at last years Homebake. Just thought I'd share that, I'm right excited about the hottest 100 this year cos i'm having a party..so anyway, have a great Australia Day, aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi and all that.

Metal, Me ? Nah, thats impossible. :-)

Why didn't I vote for more metal? Well there is a few reasons for that.

First, I wanted to vote for songs & bands that I wanted to see in the top 100 and I did not think would get the required exposure. So, in my top 30, I had a couple of tracks from the two system of a down albumns released this year. After whitling down the list to 15, I still had Violent Pornography in the list. My reason for removing it was simple, SOAD will make the top 100 no matter what (unless there is some huge cosmic event between now and next thursday). So instead of voting for them, I can vote for Tambalane (another great aussie band), who are not as bigger shoe-in to make the list.

Second reason is simple. What good metal has been released this year ? There is the two SOAD albumns that I have already mentioned, there was a new release from Opeth (Ghost reveries) that was pretty good. Meshuggah released Catch 33, which I felt was kinda 'meh'. Apart from that, there was no GREAT metal releases of 2005. (please note, this is in my opinion only, and as I have proven many times before, I know nothing).

Third reason. I was trying to vote for songs, that had some special connection/evoked a good memory for me. I have felt pretty down over the last couple of weeks. I am missing home, working way to hard and having no fun. So I wanted to vote for songs, that when I hear them, make me remember something good.

Example, Outside 109 - British India. I remember before I left Australia, sitting in my car outside a laundrymat in South Perth at about 11am on a Sunday morning. The sun was shining, it was a great day, I was listening to the radio (this song was on). I was kicked back, enjoying the day and feeling good. Whenever I hear this song now, I think of that moment, and I can almost feel the sun on my face again.

Okay, now on to Aussie hip hop. Your right, this has been a great year for aussie hip-hop. I love the Herds cover of 'I was only 19'. The Hilltop Hoods new albumn sounds great (i need to get my hands on a full copy). Then there is Butterfingers, I can't say enough great things about them :-).

Anyway, I've ranted and raved long enough. Thanks for the comment, it's nice to see people actually do read this crap. Hope you have a great Australia Day, and remember, it's all good to start drinking at 9am, just stay outta the sun (otherwise you get way too drunk, way too quickly).

[ Pixies - Brick is Red ]

I was blonde at one stage, so when scobble posted a link to this blonde joke, i had a good laugh.

Man, rotating the wheels on my skates suck. Meh, and this will only get worse when I start skating outdoors more.

Anyway, I succumbed to the dark side this weekend. I bought myself a 30gig Ipod. It's actually kinda cool. It intergrates well with iTunes, the sound quality is great, and the video playback is great (even with the small screen size).

I've been watching Battlestar Gallatica today, which was completely watchable even if it did chew through the battery really really quickly.

I guess this might prompt me to finish re-ripping my cd collection... which requires me to finish unpacking my cd collection... *sigh*, really getting sick of doing this.

Drove in falling snow for the first time last night. That kinda sucks. The road is frozen, so you have no traction, plus you have to cut through the snow that has already frozen, making it REALLY hard to turn/change lanes/not die. Thats something that I won't be repeating in a while.

Thinking about taking a photography class. Want to do something to exercise the right side of my brain (seeing as I spend most of my time working on left brain things). Need to look into that.

Hottest 100 Votes.

This year I decided to vote for stuff I want to see place, rather than what I want to get number 1. I started with a short list of 30 (actually my initial short list was 50, but I weeded it down to 30 after I became militant about my choices). Picking the top 10 was hard.

So here is my list, in no particular order.

• I Predict A Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
  
• Shutterspeed - Karnivool
  
• Themata - Karnivool
  
• Outside 109 - British India
  
• O Yeah - End Of Fashion
  
• Six Months In A Leaky Boat - Little Birdy
  
• Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park
  
• The Sound Of White - Missy Higgins
  
• The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
  
• Little Miss Liar - Tambalane
  

Each of these songs, is not just a good song, but I also associate with a good memory from this year. I guess thats what makes them a good song.

Anyway, if you haven't already, go vote now.

Snoochy Boochy!!

Clerks2.... HELL YEAH!

Preview Trailer is HERE

Okay, so thanks to Estelle & Dan there are some more photo's from Grouse Mountain on the web.

One of these photo's may look like I am falling over while skating... I would just like to assure everyone that this is not the case... I am simply trying to breakdance while on skates.... yes, breakdance... thats a plausable reason.

"I'll do Graffiti if you sing to me in French, what are we doing here if romance isn't dead?"

-- Maximo Park : Graffiti

I should have listed Maximo Park A Certain Trigger under my fav cd's of 2005. I listened to it on the drive to canada and back. It is fscking excellent. Highly recommend.

Elsewhere..

Back from canada. Had a good time. Some photo's can be found here.

It was good to catch up with Dan & Estelle again. Also good to have people to see the sights with. Traveling by yourself is fun, but sometimes it's good to have people with you to share the experiences with.

Grouse Mountain was great. Spent a few hours ice-skating. Not quite like inline, but similar enough that I didn't make a complete tool of myself, and only fell a few times. Also watched some people snowboarding. Looked like fun. This inspired Dan & Estelle to grab some gear, and they are now planning on getting some lessons. We talked about going to Whistler some time, so I expect they will be able to show me up when we get there.

New Years was good. Lots of people around (the hotel I was in, just of Granvile Street, was PACKED). Went to a club that had some good mod tunes playing. Had some fun dancing like the unco white guy I am. Unfortunatly a combination of no sleep and being sick meant I was ready to pike WAY to early.

Anyway, gonna crash now.

Have a good one, and happy new year everyone.