It’s Monday and I haven’t done anything interesting

So, I’ve listened to over half of the Triple J Hottest 100 of all time – what a trip back to High School that was.  I was having flashbacks to school dances and of being unsociable in my room listening to Jeff Buckley and The Cure.  It was a good afternoon of music on Sunday topped off with a Nirvana classic – oh to be a misunderstood teenager again. 

But I didn’t go anywhere, or take any pictures. I did successfully manage to apply for two jobs in the UK (successfully as in the online application system appeared to send away my files to wherever their destination may be) which took some time and I’ve got a few more to go over the next few weeks.  Hopefully the effort will be well received.  I think I’m in need of practice doing up job applications, as I haven’t had to do one for a few years now.  I think they were ok but time will tell.  Maybe I’ll trawl through the archives and find some colourful pictures to post till I get around to doing something more exciting.

60 songs down…

…and has the the hottest 100 of all time been Rickrolled yet?  Not that I can see, but I am rather tired today.  There are however some awesome songs in the list so far.  Jeff Buckley, Smashing Pumpkins, Bowie, The Clash, The Smiths, Massive Attack, Blur and Pulp among heaps of others.  The only disappointment to date is Coldplay making number 87 with Yellow.  I don’t know how people could vote for just one of their songs, seeing as they all sound the same. How do people tell them apart?

Ah well, eyes and ears open, you could hear the dulcet tones of Never gonna give you up yet   Bring on the top forty.

The dying art of mixtapes

Following on from last week’s post about Triple J’s all time hottest 100 and how hard it is to compile a list of my ten most favouritest songs – I have a link to a post about the dying art of mixtapes.  More than just a random collection of tunes, mixtapes could be used to reach out and convey emotion and meaning to the recipients.  I do remember playing around with a tape player back in the olden days, making recordings that thankfully I think I’ve recorded over or at least buried somewhere never to be found.  There is an art to the mixtape, check out the rules for compiling a good mixtape. And for you young’uns out there, just consider how hard the compilation of mixtapes was before iTunes and the internet when you had to rely on cassette to cassette recordings, or even worse, trying to find a song on radio only to have the announcer talk over the end of it.

Top ten songs of all time

Like the book (still unknown) that could change your life, I’m having trouble picking my top ten songs of all time for the Triple J Hottest 100 of all time.  I’ve had a look at other people’s top ten lists and checked out the forums but how to narrow it down to just ten songs?  Looking at others lists just makes it worse because I see songs and think “I definitely have to include that one” but there’s only so much room.  The Cure, Jeff Buckley, Tori Amos and maybe even Massive Attack would make the list but it’s hard whittling down the song choice.

On the Triple J website there seems to be a definite lean towards Joy Division’s Love will tear us apart and there’s still a chance for Rick Astley who apparently has a growing campaign trying to RickRoll the votes.  It’s sparked all sorts of debate about what to vote for and how to vote.  Does one leave a beloved yet obscure song off the list because it has little chance of making it into the 100 and vote for a more popular song that you like although not as much as the other you left off the list?  Decisions, decisions… Anyone else have top ten suggestions?

North Coast shenanigans

For the recent Australia Day long weekend I took a trip north to Noosa/Tewantin with a couple of friends.  Although I’ve spent some time in the Mooloolaba/Maroochydore area, I don’t remember having been to Noosa before (which has clearly been an oversight).  It was a great weekend.

We visited the Eumundi Markets on the Saturday but I forgot my camera, so sadly don’t have any snaps of that.  It was nice to wander around and have a look at all the beautiful food (and other stuff) on sale.  Eumundi is also home to a fantastic bookstore, Berkelouw Books.  It’s a mecca for bibliophiles, with an awesome selection of new, second hand and rare books.  I will admit to purchasing a few choice items there.  We also took a drive through Tewantin and Noosa to have a look round and scope out Hastings street.  On the Noosa headland beach there were scores of people having picnics, and quite a few hardy types kiteboarding.  The sheer number of boarders made quite a spectacular sight (again no pics – sorry! I’ll do better next time). 

The next day we took a few more drives around the local area, visiting a few lookouts and the Noosa Botanical Gardens in Cooroy.  They are well worth a visit and I did manage to take a few pictures there.

The view from the Noosa lookout was also quite impressive.  The lefthand side of the headlands was where the kiteboarders had congregated the day before.                 

It was good to get away for the long weekend which was topped off with a small  Triple J Hottest 100 barbeque on Australia Day.