Let's play catch-up

Hi kids. Lot's of good music! But first, Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." reached 6 in Australia. What a silly country.

La Roux -- Bulletproof [British] Okay first, ads on YouTube? Lame. But damn, this song is good. I love everything about this song and video and singer and I just can't stop listening.
Tik Tok -- Ke$ha [American]
The Temper Trap -- Sweet Disposition [Aussie]
Kate Miller-Heidke -- The Last Day On Earth [Aussie]
Lady Gaga -- Paparazzi
Lady Gaga (feat. Beyonce) -- Telephone
Lady Gaga -- Bad Romance
Lady Gaga -- LoveGame Okay so her other (non-Just Dance) songs are growing on me, but I still don't like Poker Face.
Britney Spears -- 3
David Guetta feat. Akon -- Sexy Bitch [French]
Cascada -- Evacuate the Dancefloor [German]
Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester -- Good Girls Go Bad Fuck me, I actually like this song. But the bridge...
Muse -- Uprising

Something new?

Haha, okay so at the insistance of 2 people (I had no idea anyone read this) to update more frequently, I've decided the best solution is to make a new place. Since Australia is sadly no longer the focus of my daily life, I'm considering ways to make my daily (American) life into a blog. A lot of my friends are on Wordpress now, which excludes comments that aren't from other Wordpress users. So I went and created myself a Wordpress account just to try things out.

My initial hesitations:

- the Wordpress interface (is that the word I'm looking for?) is not immediately clear to me, but Blogger was the same way, so maybe I will get used to it
- only other Wordpress account owners would be able to comment on my posts, while Blogger allows everyone (including anonymous commentors)
- I can only subscribe to other Wordpress blogs. Blogger lets me subscribe to prettymuch anything, and "secretly" if I want.

The last two are HUGE drawbacks.

Initial positives:

- I guess I can comment on my friends' Wordpress blogs, yay...
- visitor statistics (I think this is an overall good thing. I am curious, of course, but I also know that I change the way I write when I pay too much attention to the readers.)
- privacy control of individual posts
- new things are always more exciting.

Welp. I'll keep you kids updated I guess.

Today I'm going to talk about Beyoncé

I've been pretty impressed with her lately. Since I'm equally UNimpressed with the ARIA songs this week (aside from the ones which I've covered in previous weeks) let's focus solely on her. All of the following songs have grown on me, which is to say I hated them when I first heard them and now I really like them. I'm not sure why that happens with me and music sometimes. I've just learned to trust Beyoncé, and if I hate something she does initially I make sure to listen to it a little later to reassess. So far she's won me over. Except for "If I Were A Boy"--that's one of hers, right? Ew, that song is really bad. Anyway.

Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) -- I recently discovered that using this song as a starter for a Pandora station makes a basically perfect party mix--try it!
Halo -- Aside from this song pleasing me musically, I think the lyrics are just beautiful.
Sweet Dreams -- I hated this song when it was on the ARIA charts last week, but today I like it.

Now some classics.

feat. Jay-Z -- Crazy In Love
feat. Sean Paul -- Baby Boy
feat. Bun B and Slim Thug -- Check On It
Destiny's Child feat. Da Brat -- Survivor
Destiny's Child -- Independent Women Part I (Question)
Destiny's Child -- Bills Bills Bills (Good for nothin' type of brother)
Destiny's Child -- Jumpin' Jumpin'

This morning, lyrics from One Step At A Time by Jordin Sparks randomly popped into my head, and I decided to look the song up. It was in Australia about this time last year, and now she's back up on the ARIA charts, with the song Battlefield which I don't like. I only mention this because she's apparently one of the American Idol winners, and this is another case when the spread of music isn't symmetrical between America and Australia. Other ARIA singles this week:

Tommy Trash feat. Mr. Wilson -- Need Me To Stay [Aussie] (This remix is so much better, anyway.)
La Roux -- In For The Kill [British]
Gossip -- Heavy Cross [American]
Daniel Merriweather -- Change [Aussie]

Remember when I left for Australia?

I do, because it was almost exactly a year ago. Remember when I was going to keep everyone updated on my life in Australia on a regular basis? Ha, I remember that too. Too bad I was lying, I guess. I do still intend to document my life there, retroactively, if only for my own personal benefit. Maybe there are actually people reading this besides me, and maybe those people want to hear about my Australian life, but that is such a remote possibility that I would never continue writing in this solely for them. Which makes one wonder, why write in this at all? I'm not sure, but somehow this is different from my paper-and-pen journal which is reserved exclusively for my eyes. Also, have you seen how many links to YouTube videos I have posted? That's not something I can really do on paper. Speaking of which, I suppose it is that time again.

First, here is a list of some "legitimate" ARIA Top 50 Singles which appeal to me.

Riverside -- Sidney Samson [Dutch] (There are also several remixes of this which I don't feel like sifting through right now.)
Lily Allen -- Not Fair [British] (This song has been around for a long time, but it is only finally growing on me. I still think I prefer LDN but I have no idea if that ever made it on the charts. I definitely didn't hear it while I was in Australia, and that's the time it would have come out. I also feel obligated to link to Smile which is not one of my favorites, but it made it in America and the video is brilliant.)
David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland -- When Love Takes Over [French/American] (THAT DRESS, holy shit!) (Also, the intro reminds me of Coldplay's Clocks, in a bad way.)
Sugar -- Flo Rida Feat. Wynter (lol, remember Eiffel 65?)
Black Eyed Peas -- I Gotta Feeling
Jessica Mauboy -- Because [Aussie]
Eminem -- We Made You

Now, a list of songs which have made it to the top 50 for obvious popular culture reasons.

3. Michael Jackson -- Thriller
6. Michael Jackson -- Black Or White
7. Michael Jackson -- Billie Jean
8. Michael Jackson -- Man In The Mirror
13. Michael Jackson -- The Way You Make Me Feel
14. Michael Jackson -- Ben
16. Michael Jackson -- Smooth Criminal
17. Michael Jackson -- Beat It
21. Michael Jackson -- Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
22. Michael Jackson -- You Are Not Alone
27. Michael Jackson -- Bad
30. Michael Jackson -- Heal The World
36. Michael Jackson -- Rock With You
40. Michael Jackson -- Remember The Time
41. Michael Jackson -- Can You Feel It
43. Jackson 5 -- ABC
44. Michael Jackson -- Blame It On The Boogie
45. Michael Jackson -- They Don't Care About Us

Ugh, really? I refuse to link to these.

More music

What would I do without ARIA charts? I've been keeping track of music debuts in Australia, even though I'm no longer there. But once they fall off the charts, I've lost track of them. So, list time! They aren't all from Australia, and sometimes I make note of that. (But sometimes I don't. Get over it?)

Empire Of The Sun -- We Are The People
Lily Allen -- The Fear [British]
Evermore -- Hey Boys And Girls (Truth of the World pt. 2) [New Zealand]
MGMT -- Electric Feel (Justice Remix) [not off of ARIA, but still]
Hilltop Hoods -- Chase that Feeling
Lady Sovereign -- So Human [not at good as Love Me Or Hate Me, of course]
A.R. Rahman Feat. The Pussycat Dolls -- Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)

This may turn into a music blog, and I'm totally okay with that.

The Presets

I saw the Presets in Chicago on Wednesday. It seemed fitting to say that here. I wish I could change the time zone for individual posts.

I can't stop listening to "I Go Hard, I Go Home" since the concert. I want to figure out the lyrics. On the CD they're always broken in the same spot, of course. BUT it was different in Chicago, and it follows that it might be different enough in all their live shows that someone with the right technology and enough time could piece together the full lyrics. I am not that person, but I am waiting for that person to come along and answer all of life's questions.

I have a few draft entries just waiting to be "published" but they're not ready. (I'm not either?)