Heavy Rotation: Washington

I heard an interview a few months ago with a girl that was referred to as "Washington." Like Cher. Or Madonna. Or Prince. Or....Wait, I'm getting distracted. Anyway, she was interviewed, and then they played this cute, boppy song that I couldn't get enough of.

So, it turns out that this Washington girl was Megan Washington, of the band Washington. Born and raised in Papua New Guinea, Washington moved to Brisbane with her family in 1997, where she studied jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. After moving away from jazz, she performed with a variety of ensembles before launching the band Washington in 2008 and releasing an EP, Clementine . They won Triple J's unearthed competition in November 2008 and things really took off, performing at Big Day Out and releasing a second EP, How To Tame Lions, in 2009. In July this year, Washington released their debut album.

May I present to you I Believe You Liar by Washington.

First of all, I find this cover art a little....weird. I don't think it matches the tone of the album at all, but that's a minor complaint and I'm sure a lot of people would disagree with me.

Anyway, like I said, I heard this boppy song that was infectious and fun and just really, really great to listen to. So, I did that weird thing again - I went into a shop and bought the ACTUAL CD, and popped it into my car stereo. That was about a month ago. People, it has not left my speakers since that day. I play it constantly.

Constantly.

Upon the first listen, it seems so carefully crafted. The arc of the songs seems so polished that if you didn't know anything about the band, you could be mistaken for thinking it was a second or third studio album. But after the second listen, then the third and about halfway through the fourth rotation, you may stop yourself for a split second, realising that you've lost yourself completely in the music. And not in an intense, geeky way like a uni student trying to impress the girl he wants to ask out. In a real "holy crap, this music is addictive and I don't want it to stop" kind of way.

Washginton's style jumps around a little bit, but the sampling of different styles, from some 1950s and 60s soulful guitar to the crackalicious pop songs, every song is a three minute rhythmic hook, sucking you in in less than five seconds. The lyrics are open and honest, sometimes even carefree, which makes a nice change from the overwhelmingly annoying earnest wailings of some Australian female singers, like, oh, say Missy Higgins or Kasey Chambers. The slower numbers are interjected in between the energetic songs, and it really is very much like listening to the emotional journey of a woman in her early twenties.

Some of my favourites include Rich Kids, Clementine and  How To Tame Lions, but my absolute favourite (and the boppy song I mentioned earlier) is by far Sunday Best:

Seriously, how awesome is this clip? And how catchy and fun is the song?

In conclusion, I highly encourage you to purchast this album. ASAP.

In a word: fantastic

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Glee Highlights - Season 2 Episode 1

Glee is back, dudes, and I think the first episode rocked (bar a few minor stupid plot lines - dog poo cookies? Please.) What were the highlights of the ep? Most of it, but here are my top five:

The video interviews, or "All the glee club dish you're dying to know!" It was a nice, succinct way to catch up with the characters and get some snappy dialogue in straight away.

Personal favourites include:

"How has life changed since the birth of your bastard child?" Hee!

"People thought I went on vacation, but actually I spent the Summer lost in the sewers" The sewers in Summer? Smelly.

"Wait, the kids don't like it when I rap?" Mostly because you're so white Mr Schue. So, so white.

"How do you get the white on rice?" I have nothing to add to this one. Because I was laughing so much.

"What do you do with all that breast milk?" ......er, and this one, too.

Empire State of Mind! I love that they opened with a current pop song. It was a great musical start to the season. The scene in the school yard was a nice, low-key space to perform a song like this one, and the entire cast rocked it. More Mike Chang and Brittany dancing though, please. Those peeps are awesome.

Well, except Finn. Please, Glee producers, please don't ever let him rap ever again. EVER AGAIN. Or wear chunky gold chains. Seriously, that dude is the whitest guy on the planet and I found it hard to keep a straight face during his section. The rest was golden.

The Lady Ga Ga sing-off in the toilets. I bet the acoustics were fantastic in there.

Man, Rachel looked intense in this scene. And there was too much hair flipping. I'm kind of bummed Sunshine won't be joining New Directions, but it is hard to say no to a green card and a new condo.

Ok, Asian camp? Cracked my shit up. Tina and Mike having to teach "tech savvy Asian kids" about the arts. Oh, and Mike Chang's abs? No wonder #MikeChang was trending on Twitter yesterday.

The new blonde kid, Sam. I'm glad Puck mentioned that his mouth was huge, because that was the first thing I thought of when I saw him. Actually it's pretty much all I could focus on.

Good voice though.

Can't wait for next week!

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Dear ozsale.com.au: I love you

Why? For using models who are not a perfect size 6 or 8 and for not photoshopping them to look like they are a perfect size 6 or 8 when they're modelling swimwear. Case in point:

See, it's really not that hard! And I'm MORE inclined to purchase this swimwear because a woman who kind of looks like me is modelling it AND she looks great in it.

The rest of the media/magazine industry needs to take note of this. Pin It

My Saturday Night

An  apple martini and some Hahndorf's truffles, followed by Prince of Persia. I was unfortunately lacking a Granny Smith apple to garnish the martini with though. The slice of green apple is usually my favourite part. Oh well, still delicious! Pin It

Funny Stuff

I love the internet. I especially love funny stuff on the internet. There's nothing better than being bored and having a bit of free time to check out entertaining sites online, especially when there's a lull in activity at work and the sight of my gray cubicle walls are making my eyes glaze over.

These are some of my favourite sites to browse and get in a few giggles during the day:

Ever received a funny text message from a friend? And they were drunk? Why not submit it to Texts From Last Night? It's basically a website where people send in hilarious text messages they've received recently. A few of my favourites:

Er, I should probably mention that the site centres heavily around sex and drunkenness, so if either of those two things offend you, you may want to avoid the site. Your loss though. Just sayin'. Also, TFLN is a lot funnier if you've had a few drinks. You're welcome.

Moving on, another hilarious and appalling site is Look At This Fucking Hipster. Appalling in terms of the heinous fashion crimes hipsters inflict on humanity. You may look at this website and say "Hey, don't make fun of people's fashion sense! It's their right to dress in a way that reflects their personal style." Valid point, reader.

However, I say if you dress like this:

or this:

You leave yourself open to ridicule. Frequent ridicule. And if you are one of the people in the above photos then I can't help you. Only you can help yourself.

One of the really hilarious things about LATFH are the captions under the photos - you really should check them out.

Next up let's think about the people who live inside the pages of interior design magazines. Trapped in their postmodern houses, their lives are a exercises in futility. You simply must have a look at Unhappy Hipsters and really understand just how difficult it is to live in a house made entirely of cork.

Finally, check out Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half. She draws simple cartoons using Paintbrush that illustrate amusing things she encounters in her life, and they're really, really funny.

Her post on the grammatical abuse of the words 'a lot' is pretty much the greatest thing ever:

Note that the above two cartoons are copyright and property of Allie Brosh over at Hyperbole and a Half.

Okay people, as always go forth and procrastinate! I hope you find these sites so entertaining that when you laugh a little bit of wee comes out. Enjoy!

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Pretty Things: New Make Up

Ahhh, is there anything more satisfying than purchasing brand spankin' new make up? I had my make up done at Mecca in Chadstone a little while ago for the cost of about $80. Of course, I got to take home the equivalent value in product from the shop, and I was in desperate need of new eye shadows. I'm not particularly adventurous when it comes to eye shadow colours, but I do like a nice variety of neutrals and soft colours to wear in the office, with a few dramatic shades in the mix for nights out.

As my complimentary product, I chose a Stila refillable 3 pan compact. The compact alone (that is, without any of the colour discs in it) was $25 and each single colour disc was $38 each. Now, $25 for an empty palette is fair enough, because you're going to use it for a long time, but I found the $38 per single colour disc a bit hard to swallow. Particularly afterI checked out the American Stila website and found that they exact same items would have cost me about $50AUD if I'd purchased it overseas. I have since found a couple of online discount make up supplies that stock, among other well-known brands, Stila. When I need the compact refilled I'll be heading to those sites first rather than paying nearly $40 for one colour disc!

But, cost aside, the colours are really lovely. From left to right above, the colours are Barefoot Contessa, Shell and Poise. The brown has a slight bronze in it, and the pink is really soft ad blends in nicely with both of the other colours. The aubergine colour made me a bit nervous, but it's not as dark as it looks in the disc.I often use the pink shade with just one of the other colours at work, but blend all three for a more striking look on weekends. The compact is magnetic, so the discs snap into place inside the palette, and there is little hole underneath each circle so you can pop out the discs with a pin once they're empty, which is a great design feature.

The other two eyeshadow pots you see are my bargain buys from last week. I happened to be in the chemist near work and was wandering around near the Napoleon Perdis make up section when I spotted a little bargain bin of marked down NP items.I poked around in it and found a heap of eyeshadow pots reduced by  half price or more. Some of them were cracked and crumbled, but I managed to grab the above two colours which are in near perfect condition. The silver colour is Iridescent Silver and the green shade is Golden Khaki. The silver lives up to it's name and is very, very iridescent, but I think it will be a nice accent colour for the inner corners of my eyes. The khaki is a really nice mossy shade and has a hint of bronze in it, which will go nicely with my MAC gold eyeshadow (the name of which escapes me!) Both these NP eyeshadows were marked down to $15 each - score! Pin It

I Feel a Dance Movie Marathon Coming on.....

Seriously. Watch this:




Anything that features Swayze, leg warmers, Danny and Sandy, The Bacon and Kenny Loggins is going to make your day better.

Trust me. Pin It