2009 Aria Awards

It’s that time of year again when Australia’s Music industry celebrate this years best. So the question remains, whose going to be this years big winners.. and losers?

Jessica Mauboy

Jessica Mauboy has had a stellar year with her debut album Been Waiting and tops the list with 7 nominations, including breakthrough artist single with Running Back ft Flo Rida, Break through artist album, best female artist, highest selling album as well as highest earning single with Running Back and Burn.

LadyHawke

Many have already predicted that Jessica Mauboy will scoop tonight’s awards but she will have stiff competition when she comes up against New Zealand export LadyHawke. Nominated for five awards her catchy single My Delirium has been nominated for both single of the year and break through single of the year. Ladyhawke’s retro pop album of the same name has also been nominated for best pop release and break through Artist Album.

Female artist have dominated this years Australian Music scene with the likes of Sarah Blasko and Kate Miller-Heidki rounding out this years nominations list.

Melbourne group the Temper Trap burst on to the scene earlier this year with their song Sweet Disposition (500 Days of Summer Trailer) and followed up with equally brilliant single  The Science of Fear ( east West 101 promo) of their Conditions Album. Nominated for best Rock album the Temper Trap will be up against music rock legends AC/DC, Jet and Eskimo Joe.

Empire of the Sun, Luke Steel (front) Nick Littlemore (back)

The unique sound and collaboration of Nick Littlemore from Pnau and Luke Steel of the Sleep Jacksons brought us music gems like Walking on a Dream and We are the People. However only a couple of months ago Nick Littlemore walked away from the group leaving Luke Steel perform in a one man band. Empire of the Sun have been nominated for best group and despite recent dramas the nomination in this category will stand.

With a whopping 7 nominations its hard to go past Jess Mauboy for female artist of the year. She wont stop there also short prized favorite to pick up  break out single for Running Back and best pop release for Been Waiting.

My predictions for the big awards including single of the year is Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream and album of the year Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream.

 

 

Check out the list of nominees below (winners in RED)

HIGHEST SELLING AUSTRALIAN SINGLE

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia)

Evermore – Hey Boys and Girls (Warner Music Australia)

Jessica Mauboy – Running Back (Sony Music Entertainment) WINNER

Jessica Mauboy – Burn (Sony Music Entertainment)

Wes Carr – You (Sony Music Entertainment)

HIGHEST SELLING AUSTRALIAN ALBUM

AC/DC – Black Ice (Albert Productions/Sony Music Entertainment) WINNER

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia)

Hilltop Hoods – State Of The Art (Golden Era/Universal Music Australia)

Jessica Mauboy – Been Waiting (Sony Music Entertainment)

The Presets – Apocalypso (Std Edition) (Modular Records/Universal Music

Australia)

BEST ROCK ALBUM

AC/DC – Black Ice (Albert Productions/Sony Music Entertainment) WINNER

Eskimo Joe – Inshalla (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)

Jet – Shaka Rock (Virgin/EMI Music Australia)

The Drones – Havilah (ATP Recordings/MGM)

The Temper Trap – Conditions (Liberation/Universal Music Australia)

BEST POP RELEASE

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia) WINNER

Jessica Mauboy – Been Waiting (Sony Music Entertainment)

Kate Miller-Heidke – Curiouser (Sony Music Entertainment)

Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke (Modular Records/Universal Music Australia)

Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST SINGLE

Art Vs Science – Art Vs Science (Green/MGM)

Bluejuice – Broken Leg (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

Jessica Mauboy – Running Back Feat. Flo Rida (Sony Music Entertainment)

Ladyhawke – My Delirium (Modular Records/Universal Music Australia) WINNER

Lisa Mitchell – Coin Laundry (Scorpio Music/Warner Music Australia)

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST ALBUM

C.W. Stoneking – Jungle Blues (King Hokum/Shock Entertainment)

Jessica Mauboy – Been Waiting (Sony Music Entertainment)

Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke (Modular Records/Universal Music Australia) WINNER

Lisa Mitchell – Wonder (Scorpio Music/Warner Music Australia)

The Temper Trap – Conditions (Liberation/Universal Music Australia)

BEST GROUP

AC/DC – Black Ice (Albert Productions/Sony Music Entertainment)

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia) WINNER

Eskimo Joe – Inshalla (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)

Hilltop Hoods – State Of The Art (Golden Era/Universal Music Australia)

The Drones – Havilah (ATP Recordings/MGM)

BEST MALE ARTIST

Bob Evans – Goodnight, Bull Creek! (Capitol/EMI Music Australia)

C.W. Stoneking – Jungle Blues (King Hokum/Shock Entertainment)

Daniel Merriweather – Love & War (Universal Music Australia) WINNER

Josh Pyke – Chimneys Afire (Ivy League/Universal Music Australia)

Paul Dempsey – Everything Is True (Capitol/EMI Music Australia)

BEST FEMALE ARTIST

Jessica Mauboy – Been Waiting (Sony Music Entertainment)

Kate Miller-Heidke – Curiouser (Sony Music Entertainment)

Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke (Modular Records/Universal Music Australia)

Lisa Mitchell – Wonder (Scorpio Music/Warner Music Australia)

Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia) WINNER

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia) WINNER

Hilltop Hoods – Chase That Feeling (Golden Era/Universal Music Australia)

Kate Miller-Heidke – The Last Day On Earth (Sony Music Entertainment)

Ladyhawke – My Delirium (Modular Records/Universal Music Australia)

The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (Liberation/Universal Music Australia)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

AC/DC – Black Ice (Albert Productions/Sony Music Entertainment)

Empire Of The Sun – Walking On A Dream (Capitol/EMI Music Australia) WINNER

Eskimo Joe – Inshalla (Mushroom Records/Warner Music Australia)

Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night (Dew Process/Universal Music Australia)

The Temper Trap – Conditions (Liberation/Universal Music Australia)

The Hang Over

One of the funniest films of 09, is released today on DVD.

You can now relive all the fun of The Hang Over with the new extended uncut versions on DVD.  Bradley Cooper, Heather Graham and break out performance by Zach “Fat Jesus” Galifianakis star in this laugh a minute comedy about four mates drunken misadventure during a bucks weekend in Vegas.

When the groom goes missing after a big night out, the guys must piece together the night and remember what exactly went down. So how did a tiger get in the bathroom, and whose baby is that in their hotel closet and why is one of them missing a tooth?

Follow the guys as they piece together the night and laugh your self silly as they go on a journey to find their missing groom.

Rated R18+ the DVD special limited edition has a hilariously cute “WHOSE BABY IS THIS” t-shirt. A behind the scenes look that re-traces each step the guys took during their fate-filled evening (including real locations and the filming that took place there).

Also included in the special features section are Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis free-styling their own song as well as the all important gag reel.

The Hang Over Extended Uncut DVD retails at A$34.95 at JB HiFi while on Blue Ray expect to pay around A$$49.95 rrp.

A great gift for Christmas this movie will have everyone laughing!

 

 

Check Out the restricted movie trailer below

Melbourne voted best city in Australia

In a recent survey of 1200 people,  Melbourne has come out on top as the most livable city in Australia.

The Roy Morgan Poll results were released today at a major economics conference held at the University of Melbourne. Victorian Premier John Brumby was in attendance and basked in the results saying “Victorians willingness to get involved in events had secured Melbourne as number one”.

“The results show we are the envy of the rest of Australia” Mr Brumby said. “The Poll shows we have got the livability edge whether you’re talking about art, whether you’re talking about sport or whether you are taking about…. romance”.

The Premier also took the opportunity to pump up his “governments efforts for putting in place infrastructure and major events that were the envy of other cities.”

While the Victorian Premier  talked up  today’s Roy Morgan results Melburnians took a swipe at Mr Brumby’s Government for not doing enough when it came to transport infrastructure, and the recent spate of crime in the city.

Gerald Bostock of Melbourne said “John Brumby is out of his freaking mind and living in the past if he thinks Melbourne is the envy of Australia. It took me almost an hour to travel 4 stops on the train this morning, we have a crime wave of street violence that is out of control.”

Neil of the Gold Coast agrees with Gerald admitting he left Melbourne city 10 years ago because of the “crap weather, gridlocked roads and increasing violence. As far as I can tell none of these things have improved despite Mr Brumby’s spin”.

In unrelated Ray Morgan Poll, Melbourne has replaced the Gold Coast as the number one destination Australians would prefer to holiday.

As of September 09 Melbourne is up by 19% to be at 20.1% as the prefered place people would like to holiday.

The Gold Coast has taken a tumble falling from 22.3%  in March 2001 to be sitting at 19.5%.

The Sunshine Coast comes in third with 13.5% of the vote

While Sydney makes up only 10.3% as the place Australians like to holiday.

So what do you think,  where is the best city in Australia?

This weeks lol moment

A fork lift driver in a Russian warehouse loses control of his vehicle, destroys around $100, 000 worth of vodka and cognac.

The driver can be seen slowly driving forward before taking a sharp right turn into a shelf stacked to the ceiling with thousands of dollars worth of alcohol.

The entire contents of the shelf collapses on top of the fork lift driver, bringing the rest of the warehouse down with it.

Fortunately for the forklift driver he escaped with only minor injuries to one of his legs.

So far the clip has already received over 300,000 hits on YouTube.

Check out the Clip Below

The Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup- the race that stops the nation this afternoon in Australia! So what I want to know is, who’s your tip gonna be for the big race?

For this years Cup I’ve taken a very unscientific approach  to back a winner and  It’s as simple as this.

I am wearing green today (my lucky colour) and the horse I chose must have green in their silks. To some people this might look a little foolish to back a horses based solely on its jockeys silks, so that’s why I checked the form guide as well.

There are several horses in today’s barrier with green silks which include

Alcopop                              $5.60

Trainer: Jake Stephens

Jockey: Dom Tourneur

Out of the 3 Alcopop is the shortest prized favourite to win the Cup and has come from obscurity to be unbeaten in four starts in the last month. Many have him as sentimental favourite to take out todays race.

Roman Emperor              $9.40

Trainer: Bart Cummings

Jocky: Hugh Bowman

Roman Emperor comes from the legendary Bart Cummings stable and won this years Australian Derby, however many will be backing Bart’s other favourite Viewed winner of  last years Melbourne Cup to go back to back.

Master O’Reilly(NZ)                  $14

Trainer: Danny O’Brien

Jockey: Vlad Duric

But I think I’m going put my money on Master O’Reilly. This will be his third run in the Melbourne Cup and in the past has won the Caufield Cup.  He hasn’t won in 17 starts since that race however he looks solid and has had a perfect preparation for this years Spring Racing Carnival. Anyway Im such an underdog supporter I’d love to see an outsider upset the favourites.

Cadel Even’s Quits Silence-Lotto

Australian cyclist Cadel Evans has quit Silence Lotto to join BMC Racing.

Evan’s rocky relationship with Belgium racing team was brought to the public’s attention after his dismal performance in this years Tour De France.

Finishing runner-up in 2007 and 2008 Cadel finished in 30th place in this years Tour 45 minutes behind The Tours’ eventual winner, Alberto Contador.

Evan’s has cited that decision to leave the team was based on wanting “to look for new challenges and take advantage of his increased market value after winning coveted rainbow jersey at this years Road Race World Championships.

Evans will leave the Belgium team at the end of 09 after he invoked a clause in his contract allowing him to leave Silence-Lotto a year before his contact officially ended.

The BMC racing team released a statement on their US webpage  announced the signing of  Evans to a  3 years contract.

BMC Racing Team co-owner Jim Ochowicz added “Cadel brings a wealth of experience in the Grand Tours to the team, and stated  BMC racing will have multiple chances to measure ourselves against the greatest teams in the world.

Evans will join the likes of George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan and Marcus Burghardt when he joins BMC racing next year.

7.0 Earthquake in Banda Sea, Indonesia

At 11:40pm UTC a 7.0 Magnatude earthquake emanating from Banda Sea, Indonesia was felt as far wide as Dili, East Timor and Darwin, Australia.

Usually when an earthquake from Indonesia occurs we sometimes feel a small tremor here in Darwin. However this time epicentre of the earthquake was so close to  the Northern Territory capital i  felt the earth move from beneath my feet.

It was a strange feeling to be rocked out of my seat on the couch and instinct said I should get the hell out of my house, so I did.

The tremors continued for another 5 minutes before settling down.

The exact location of the epicentre was at:  6.161°S, 130.346°E

and The depth: 138.5 km (86.1 miles)

There has been no Tsunami warning for the region.

According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre: This earthquake is located too deep inside the Earth to generate a Tsunami warning for the Indian Ocean.

Map:

The red square indicates the epicentre of the earthquake

Maybellines Colossal Volume Express

Consumer Review:

I am always on the look out for the best new mascara on the market, so when I heard Maybelline was releasing the Colossal Volume Express mascara I knew I just had to try it!

Usually when Im browsing  the cosmetic section It takes me a while to find what Im looking for, but i was pleasantly surprized to find my search time was dramatically decreased on this occasion.

Maybelline have cleverly marketed the Colossal Volume express in a bright yellow bottle, dramatically standing  out from  its other competitors. Even  if your not looking to buy a new mascara your eyes will naturally be drawn to the product and just maybe, end up buying it.

The first thing that grabed my attention when I open the bottle was the mascara smellt  like ear drops. The smell off the masscara is fairly strong but I found it gradually disappears after you have  applied it on your lashes and let it dry.

I’m traditionally used to mascara bottles that have narrow necks that remove the excess mascara build up on the wand. The Colossal Volume Express has a wider neck ensuring a small clump of product always remains at the tip of the wand brush. To avoid panda eyes, make sure you wipe the excess mascara before you apply it  to your lashes.

Once I applied The Colossal Volume Express to my lashes I did notice that the mascara did add length and some volume but not to the extent they are advertising in their campaign.( However  it’s given that any make up advertisement is unnaturally enhanced to make the product 10x better than what it really is).

What I liked best about The Colossal Volume Express was its ability to isolated each lash to make them appear bigger and fuller. With a little help from my eyeliner and eyeshadow The Colossal Volume Express will make my eyes that much bigger and bolder.

Consumers Note:

This is no way a wonder make up miracle cure designed to make you look like a supermodel over night but it’s still a fun cosmetic to use for work or a night out on the town.

Who knows, you just might catch that special someones eye with a  little help from Miss Maybelline.

Check out the before and after below

BEFORE                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 AFTER

Political Correctness at its Finest

Humpty Dumpty gets a happy ending!

The BBC have rewritten the classic nursery rhyme,  to give Humpty Dumpty a  happy ending.

The original goes a little something like this:

Humpty Dunpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dunpty had a great fall.

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

couldn’t put humpty together again

The last line has been rewritten to now say “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men made Humpty Dumpty happy again.”

Now is this really necessary?

For decades children have grown up singing Humpty Dumpty to no ill effect. So what if Humpty Dumpty has a fall and can’t be put back together again, at least the nursery rhyme demonstrates the consequences of a person actions. Besides eggs are suppose to break!

It’s political correctness gone mad and im getting pretty tired of how over sensitive our society is becoming. I hate to think what will be next on the political correctness calender.

This Is It

Michael Jackson’s new single This Is It  has been released online.

This Is It is the first  single is the first to be released from his upcoming musical documentary of the same name. The Documentary will show rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson’s world tour before his sudden death in Los Angeles on June 25.

So far the song has received mixed response since its release on iTunes.

Steve Jones from online site USA Today has summed up the feeling around the song saying” the single has been fairly positive, but no one is declaring the song a classic”.

I’ve listened to This Is It and in my opinion the song is a poor mans attempt at recreating a  Michael Jackson hit from the 80’s. That being said the single will still do well because of the sudden surge of popularity in Michael Jackson’s music since his death, not because the song is any good.

This is it is available on Jackson’s official website and will be part of the two-disc CD set that will accompany the movie.

This is it the movie is due for worldwide  release October 28.

Check out the song here.