Britiain’s best-selling quality daily is also read by a lot of Facebook users.

It’s dawned on me over the last few months that social networking ‘tool’ Facebook has cut down my blog activity so greatly, it’s been hard to get back on the  bandwagon again. Incredibly though, my Facebook profile is over-populated with junk and pop-ramblings (all posted myself) that are wasted on people who seem far to precocious with their music elitism that I shouldn’t be surprised whenever somebody claims that I don’t listen to “real music.” It’s patronising, pathetic and makes you look like a real wanker/Indie prick, but whatever – go ahead and tell me again.

Facebook is this tool that sort of makes a lot of sense and yet simultaneously doesn’t at all. It’s odd that I’d rather tell my friends list, who perhaps don’t all have the most favourable taste in music (people whose chosen Beatle is NOT Yoko Ono – can you imagine?), about how great the new HURTS album is than tell people who will actually probably want to read what I think of the new HURTS album by visiting this website. At what point do I say “I’m a Facebook addict and it’s an enormous problem”? I feel like Whitney Houston, crouching down in a darkened room, bible in one hand, crack-pipe in the other. Except my crack is a social networking website. I can’t even afford crack!

Anyway, the rules are simple. I’ve already logged out of Facebook on both my home computer and my phone. I’m not deleting the page, but I’m just working on my personal restraint – can I do a full week without logging in, but rather – blogging in?

The experiment begins…

I keep forgetting to mention, you can follow me on Twitter.

Probably not worth it though.

Speaking of Twitter, look at this.

http://raraahahahromaromamagagaoohlala.com/

Best Website Ever.

Happy New Year!

Here’s what I got up to, and then some.

> My New Years Eve was single-handedly the best New Years Eve celebration I’ve ever, ever had. It was small; a group of no more than 8 at one time, primarily situated most of the evening in a small outdoor laundry room, but by God did we make a lot of noise for that tiny little laundry room.

> New Years Day was celebrated at the Summadayze Music Festival, which has been running for as long as I can remember on NYD in Melbourne. I’ve been to quite a few over the last 10 (11 now?) years, but this years was by far and away the best yet. Great atmosphere, good tracks; and Solange…

> Met Solange. She was LOVELY. Here is a picture.

> Technotronic played for 15 minutes in thunder and rain. They were set to perform at 8pm but, due to being late, were then moved to 9:30. By the time their equiptment was set up, it was 9:45 and the stage closed at 10pm due to sound restrictions. Really, really disappointing. Whosever fault this was is besides the point; sure, Technotronic could have learnt to be on time for their first Australian festival appearance, and sure; Future Entertainment could have gotten the acts tech-folk to set up their equipment at 9pm instead of 9:30… but pointing the finger doesn’t solve the fact I did not hear them perform “Move This.” A somewhat bitter ending to a monstrously good day.

> Sebastien Leger took the title for my set of the day; playing Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and The Aztec Mystic’s “Night of the Jaguar” cemented that fact quite early on.

> During the recovery period (hem hem), I watched a LOT of Better Off Ted, starring Geelong’s own Portia de Rossi. Portia is from Geelong, AND SO AM I.

> Everyone is (rightly so) losing their shit over the amazing new Roisin Murphy single, “Mama’s Place.” Clicky Clicky.

> I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but you can follow me on Twitter now…

Much more positive about 2010 than I was this time 2009. Here’s hoping it stays that way! Now that the silly season is out of the way, expect some regular blogging…

Charge those glasses; it’s 2010!!

As I get ready to party the year that was away, I have one final bit of housekeeping I need to attend to. First of all, if you haven’t seen them yet: here are my Top 209 Songs of 2009, and here are my Top 50 Albums of 2009 – all complete lists. Anywho, no one is keener than I to see the arse-end of this year fuck off and begone already, so let’s begin…

COMPILATION OF THE YEAR Balance 014, mixed by Joris Voorn
How do you fit over 100 tracks onto a 2-disc compilation? Listen to this to find out what it sounds like when DJing becomes a production in itself.

LIVE GIGS OF THE YEAR Grace Jones in Sydney was undeniably magnificent, as was the sublime DJ set from Joris Voorn at the Balance 014 launch at Melbourne’s Brown Alley Nightclub. An honourable mention goes to the Arctic Monkeys at The Big Day Out in January.

WORST GIG OF THE YEAR P!nk. Rubbish gig. I paid $130AU to see her spin in the air half the night and sing ballads. And about 47 covers. No. Thanks. I spent more time at the bar than I did the actual show, and that is because her ballad section dragged on for longer than 45 minutes. That is two whole hours of my life I will never get back and, to be honest, after such a poor performance, this bitch is walking on very thin ice with me. Her next album needs to be outstanding or we’re done…

VIDEOS OF THE YEAR Lady GaGa “Bad Romance”, Florence + The Machine “Drumming Song”, Lady GaGa “Paparazzi”.

WORST VIDEOS OF THE YEAR Patrick Wolf “Vultures”. XO agrees.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT Rihanna’s “Rated R”. The striking and iconic new image and sexed-up campaign was there, pity the tunes weren’t. Tellingly, the most interesting moments on here are lead single “Russian Roulette”, and the album intro “Mad House.” The rest… meh.

ALBUMS I NEVER GOT AROUND TO IN 2009: The xx, Robbie Williams. Silly, watch they both appear in next years list.

WOMEN OF THE YEAR Madonna (for the memories that the Celebration campaign brought on), Lady GaGa, Florence + The Machine, Joan Rivers (for winning The Celebrity Apprentice over that vile cunt Annie Duke), Antigone, Bette Porter, Lily Allen, Keisha Buchanan, Sugababes v1.0, and Patricia Kaas.

BIGGEST POP SCANDAL OF ‘09 The Sugababes drama. At least it gave us this, though.

OH DO SHUT UP Cheryl Cole. If I hear her banging on about how nasty Lily Allen is, even though it has literally been well over a year since their last public mishap, one more time, I will beat Paul and Mike to the chase and punch that silly bitch right in ‘er jigaboo. Shut. Up.

2009’s BIGGEST WASTES OF SPACE Keira Knightley, Ke$ha, Pixie Lott.

‘09 TELEVISION Dollhouse – Season 2 took this epic Whedon series – now in its final season – to a whole new level and proved to be the TV-masters greatest show yet, Cougar Town – Courtney Cox is hilarious, but the real star is her bonkers assistant, Laurie, played by the gorgeous Busy Philips, True Blood – Season 3 couldn’t come any sooner, and Satisfaction, an Aussie drama about a high-class escort agency within Melbourne’s CBD.

TELEVISION OF YESTERYEAR IN ‘09 The L Word took up so much of my time, thoughts and imagination earlier this year when I spent about four weeks watching Seasons 1 through 6 for the very first time. I fell in love with Bette Porter (played by Jennifer Beals), who, were I ever to become a Lesbian, would be my ultimate fantasy – if for this incredible quote alone. I also finally got into Boston Legal and have quite the crush on both Alan Shore AND Denny Crane. Denny Crane.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION To spend more time listening to music, writing about music and blogging, rather than obsessing over unnecessary things like, for example, boys.

I am off to a New Years Eve Party being held in an old Shop tonight. No doubt I’ll write myself off and be in a miserable state for the Summadayze festival on New Years Day. Can you believe I’m going to start the New Year by seeing TECHNOTRONIC live?! Childhood revival! I cannot wait.

I hope you all had a very, very Merry Christmas (sorry for the tardiness), and I also would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading, commenting, and for showing your support during times when I was being a shitcunt and not posting, sometimes for months at a time. Thanks also to the amazing pop blogging community too, who are some of the most talented writers in the world.

Have a fucking ace New Years! Get loose, cause some anarchy and start some shit, get on the hongas or suck back a winebox or even line up a bit of Charlie; whatever your poison, enjoy yourselves and make sure you play safe.

x

MONDAY. x

…I’ve just been planning a giant move away from home to another state this week, so the blog has had to take a bit of a back seat. Back to normal after the weekend! x

I don’t often do this, but I feel like I should explain why I’ve taken over a month off writing for the blog.

Things have not been entirely great for me of late; this isn’t me asking you to break out the violins and feel sorry for me because there are much worse off out there than I, but it’s me being frank and I feel I owe you guys that. My emotions and my brain have been tied up in something else and, because of that, my writing has suffered. I have gone through an awkward roller-coaster ride since December; happy, sad, tired, drained, lifeless, miserable, content… It’s been such a confusing start to the year and, because of that, each time I’ve gone to write something I have failed in completing it. My brain wants to write, but everything else would just rather dwell on past events that have lead me to this writers block.

I have spent the last couple of weeks attempting to do some soul searching. I’ve attempted assessing my own life and trying to figure out where it’s all going wrong, and today I reached breaking point.

If there’s only one thing I believe in when it comes to myself, it’s that I’m not the worst writer in the world. The fact that I’ve let my personal life get in the way of it has made me question whether I should even keep bothering with the writing; not just for the blog, but also for the magazine I write for, and as someone whose possibly foolish hopes into making something out of it may ever come to fruition.

The one thing that has kept me going (aside from friends, who are probably not aware of how bad it has actually been) through all of this is the music. I’ve bombarded myself with music to either make me happier, or drive me into a deeper sadness. It helps, it’s therapeutic and, above all else, it reminds me that I’m alive. And because of that, I’m going to start conveying how good this music is on my little website.

When I thought I wasn’t soul-searching, it turns out I was. I’ve discovered a lot about myself in the last two months; some of it I like, and some of it I don’t. At the end of it all though, I know I belong with the music, and the people who love it.

Some writing coming very soon. Thanks for listening to me post nervous breakdown. x x x

Here’s a song I love, one that has gotten a few plays in the last few weeks. It says a lot about where I’ve been, perhaps.