Can I Add This To My Rèsumè?

You may remember the post I made about Tony Martin's Get This show on Triple M getting the chop (you very well should, given that it was, what, yesterday??).

Anyway, when they announced it on-air, my immediate response was to go to their website to see if there were any details about it. Unfortunately there wasn't, but there was a form by which you could email the team ... which I promptly did.

Cut to today, with me merrily going about my business as I listened to Get This on my headphones ... when they start reading out my email!!! Out of the (reportedly) hundreds of emails they've received, Tony read mine out on air, with that whimsical lilt he has whenever he recites listener feedback.

I was, of course, extremely thrilled. To be honest, I felt I'd had a pretty good shot at getting it on-air, as my email not only made reference to the show's pet subject of up-skirting, but it also referred to co-host Ed Kavalee as "a giant", "a parade float" and an "engorged man-brute". Little did I know that Ed's giant-like proportions would be a running joke throughout the rest of the episode! Fingers crossed that it gets referenced in future installments ... and fingers double-crossed that my email makes it into the Podcast! (Which, if it does, you can be sure I'll add a link to, and will hold prized position on both my hard drive AND my iRiver!).

In Get This-related news, it seems I'm not the only one upset with the show's cancellation. The following is from celebrity snark blog defamer.com.au;

A surprising development in the world of radio today, with news Austereo has decided to give Tony Martin's Triple M program the boot.

Tony Martin's nationally networked radio show has been axed, despite being one of the top rating programs on struggling station Triple M.
The comedian's Get This program has been a successful annoyance for the Austereo network, which shifted its timeslot three times in just over 18 months.
In a pattern repeated across the country, figures jumped from about 5 per cent audience share to about 11 per cent during the two-hour program, when it aired from 11am. They fell back to near 6 per cent when the station returned to music.

Given, as it says above, that the show is a ratings winner, it does seem an odd decision.

Ratings are not everything, of course, but the program is also highly respected by those in "the industry", with more than a few radio stars and producers declaring to Defamer Australia over the past few months that it is one of the best quality radio shows on air in the country. The general opinion amongst Martin's radio peers this morning regarding Austereo's axing of Get This seems to be a mix of "What the fuck?" and "IDIOTS!".

The Herald Sun's Confidential column reported this morning -

It's believed that the signing of comedian Peter Helliar and Triple J's Myf Warhurst as part of a national breakfast restructure has seen costs rocket, which has led to the station letting Martin go. Some sources said Helliar's yearly salary could be as high as $1 million.

They really are taking quite the punt on the Helliar/Warhurst combination, aren't they? We suppose time will tell if this is as daft a move as it seems. What do we know? Kyle and Jackie O just won Best On-Air Team at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards, and listening to them makes us want to stab our eyes out with broken pieces of Tamara Jaber's Ooh Ahh CD single case, so we obviously don't have our finger on the pulse of what makes good radio.

All of this was interesting to me for 3 reasons -

1) Myf Warhurst is jumping over to Triple M? Triple M??? To do a show with Peter Helliar?? Have I gone mad? Myf's been on Triple J for at least a decade now, so I can understand her wanting to stretch her wings a bit, but Triple M??? They must be paying her an awful lot to put up with that shitty station list they have.

2) I'm pretty much the only one I know who actually listens to Get This, so to see such a shining write-up about it was very validating. That's how sad I am.

3) Kyle Sandilands and Jackie-O won an award for that piece of crap show of theirs? I've listened to that thing ... all it consists of is hysterically-annoying Jackie-O listing all the ways that monolithically-annoying Kyle is horribly abusive to all their staff, and his nasally assertions that he doesn't care if he is. I really have gone mad if that's worth some kind of award!

With my ranting over, I'll retreat back to my box, and will no doubt pop back up again should it turn out my Get This missive has been archived for any and all to listen to. Watch for the link!

This Is What You Do With Your Time??

What did my weekend consist of, you might be wondering. Or not. In any case, I'm going to tell you.

I was minding my own business Friday night at 1.30 am when my bedroom door swung up and a very drunk Luke was standing there grinning at me. Seems Luke had been drinking it up with his new work colleagues and needed a place to crash before his audition the next day. While he was here, he imparted two piece of information to me that I found highly interesting;

1) He's gotten a role in Band of Brothers: The Pacific. I don't know if I'm allowed to say too much about it, but let's all be proud of him - and not at all bitter - that he can now say he's been in a Spielberg/Hanks production.

2) He auditioned for Justice League!!! I kind of had a hunch this might happen when I heard they were auditioning people in Sydney, so I thought I'd ask Luke about it ... and yes, he has indeed done a reading. You can be guaranteed that if he gets cast in it, no matter how big or small his part, I'll be asking him every day if I can come visit him on the set.

The next day, Luke wasn't feeling up to going to his audition, so he re-scheduled it and we hung out watching Cowboy Bebop and eating burgers. Needing to go home, Luke planned on catching a train back, but I figured I could use a drive and elected to take him all the way back to Frankston. After realising neither of us knew how to get there, we consulted the Melways and were on our way.

If you were looking to shoot a film set in the '80s, I'd highly recommend you scout Frankston for locations. It looks like they got to about 1987 and decided to stop letting new shops set up business.

But besides fantastic PD, they've also got a fantastic view. This is the lookout that's just around the corner from Luke's house (I actually found this photo on Google);


That was the sight that greeted me as I drove back after dropping Luke off at his parent's new place. Ashley was there too, recuperating for the week after having gotten her wisdom teeth out.

Anyway, I came back home and ... well ... stuff happened that I'm not supposed to talk about ...

Sunday was pretty much spent quietly enjoying the day.

And now you're all caught up. Riveting stuff, eh?

Say It Isn't So!

It was announced on Get This this morning that once the show wraps up for the year in six weeks time it won't be coming back.

Noooooooooooooooo!

This is utterly devestating news. So much of my work day has come to revolve around doing mundane tasks while listening to Tony, Ed and Richard prattle on ... I won't know what to do with myself!

It's not really surprising, I guess. The show has always been far too witty and satirical for Triple M - there was a palpable sense that the station's executives had no idea what to do with it.

Hopefully a new home will be found for it - preferrably one that allows the guys to play music of their own choice and that doesn't have as many restrictions as Triple M does. But in the meantime, if you haven't already acquanted yourself with the mad genius of Tony Martin and co., check it out here, while you still can!

Holy. Crap.

Check out this vintage television clip, that shows the Flintstones endorsing their sponsors - Winstons cigarettes!



Have times changed or what?

Pedantic Numeration

It’s my lunch break, so what else am I going to do besides blog? Eat?? You must be crazy!

In any case, I’ve been wanting to do another post on music for a while now. In fact, my intention is to do two, but the second will have to wait until another time. Today I bring you …

My Top Five Favourite Songs. Ever.

With inspiration taken from High Fidelity, I bring you – in no particular order – my top five favourite tracks. This has been a list of been working on for literally years now, and I think I’ve managed to finally get it to a place I’m happy with (of course, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t change my mind in another couple of minutes).

There aren’t many rules for this; the way I came to my conclusions was personal significance X listenability + sheer enjoyment = top five contender.

So, with a repeated underlining of this being in no particular order, here are my all-time top 5 favourite tracks.

1. Today – The Smashing Pumpkins



A song that’s meant to be a rally cry for people who’ve reached their lowest ebb, this song often gets mistaken for being all shiny and happy. But whether or not you miss the point of the lyrics, you can’t deny that it’s one infectious tune!

2. My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nina Simone



A saucy jazz number that winks knowingly at the audience, this is a song that always uplifts my mood, and no matter how many compilation CDs I burn it onto, I can’t help but listen to it every single time.

3. Maps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs



From the pounding drums to the restrained guitar work, this is an example of not only an excellently constructed rock song, but one that has an incredible emotional depth to it as well.

Instead of the music video for this song (which has had its ability to be embedded disabled) I’ve included a live performance from the MTV Movie Awards that I think is, to put it frankly, astoundingly beautiful.

4. Let’s Stay Together - Al Green



There’s nothing about this song that isn’t cool and … to make you all feel a little sick at the prospect of me saying it … sexy as well.

5. Lover, You Should Have Come Over - Jeff Buckley



If this song doesn’t break your heart, you had no heart to break in the first place!

As it was never actually released as a single, there was never a video made for it. Having failed to find a video of Buckley performing it live, I’ve had to settle for this clip made by some random guy for a college assignment … so don’t judge the song by the production values of the video!!!

And that’s my list. I’d ask “what’s yours?”, but I don’t want to run the risk of getting no replies and looking like a fool. So I’ll finish with a “what’s that over there??!” before quickly running away.

Ha!

My Moth-take! Ho!

The Sydney Morning Herald website had an article titled Unskilled migrants swarm to city. Expecting the kind of hyper-conservative journalism the Herald has become famous for, I clicked on the link only to find it was about a mass moth infestation spreading across Sydney.

The Herald had used my own low expectations of their work against me!

They are a tricky lot ...

Dignity? Who Needs Dignity?

Who else out there feels that they aim to be this ...

... but in fact, more often than not, simply end up being this ...

Anyone?

Just me?

Right then.

Fame and Riches Surely Await

The manuscript has been sent off to a publisher. The same publisher. Again. Though I'm absolutely positively sure he'll read it this time.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not too worried if he says no ... though of course it'd be nice if he said 'yes'. Or 'I'm intrigued. Put your pants back on and tell me more'.

But if it's a no go, there's the possibility of going through some people at my very own place of business. But let's not go counting chicks and what not.

Hopefully I've now provided enough blogging to keep Pree happy for at least the next week.

Current Mood:

Sad sack.

You've all been warned.

4 out of 5

That's how many news stories on the radio were about football the other day. They then did a weather report (on how the weather was going to affect the game) before they launched into the sports headlines, the majority of which were about football.

I'd be grateful that football season is finally over if not for the fact that we're about to launch into cricket / swimming / tennis season.

Thank God for cable!