Sweet Tits Luv

Now I sure this may rouse up some debate with the menz, but I often wonder if guys, especially the really gross ones, actually think giving sleazy eyes and making loud (usually inappropriate) comments at pretty girls is endearing?

Let me paint you a picture so that you understand where I am coming from. At lunch yesterday afternoon I was riding an escalator behind a pretty blonde girl. Down the bottom was a morbidly obese man who wore an old, faded sleeveless t-shirt that had sweat stains around his armpits and had man boobs like none I’ve ever seen before. He was a cretin, just a gross individual who clearly did not care about his appearance one little bit. This slug was staring at the hapless girl as she descended the escalator with no subtlety whatsoever. It was disconcerting enough for me and I wasn’t even the one being stared at. If that wasn’t bad enough, he then he turns and says to his rat-like mate, loud enough for all to hear “Aww nah she’s way too young” and continued undressing her with his beady, sweaty little eyes.

What would he have said if she wasn’t in fact abut 18 years old? If he’s going to be that vile and make loud comments about being too young for him, how would he have acted if she’s been his target age? I shudder to think! And why he HELL does he think it’s OK to say that sort of thing? Apart from the fact he was a total beast of  man, how does he expect to attract someone by shouting exactly what he feels at his object of desire? Even if he’d been a good-looking, well-dressed young man I’m sure he would have gotten the same sort of reaction (though the girl might have felt a little bit flattered as opposed to totally repulsed, I guess).

Now this guy clearly doesn’t represent all men, but a lot of guys out there seem to think yelling dumb stuff at pretty girls as they pass (ie. the old walking-past-the-construction-site stereotype) is a clever thing to do and will actually end well for them. I get it every time I walk past the deadshits who sit around the bus stop where I live, they holler “Hey gorgeous lady, I like yer tatts” as though that’s going to impress me and I’ll give them my phone number or a sneaky BJ. I refuse to believe this has ever actually worked for them, that there is a woman desperate enough out there to find that appealing and reciprocate. We can’t stop them from having a look, but don’t we have some sort of right to walk down the street without having stupidity thrust upon us just because we’re easy on the eye?

If you’re one of those guys who thinks it’s attractive to yell “compliments” at a pretty lady as she walks past, think again. There are very few women who like this sort of thing (you can tell who they are) so you have two options. the preferred one is to shut up and just appreciate what you see quietly. The second one, if you simply cannot keep your big yap closed, is to approach the girl and say something to her one-on-one, though you better make it good and not along the lines of “You have sweet tits” because you may very well get a slap or an angry “fuck off” in reply. If you do it right, you may be one of those lucky few who actually gets the girls phone number!

Personally, I spend a lot of time getting ready every day to look nice. Not necessarily for guys, it’s mostly for myself as I feel good when I look good. I don’t mind the occasional look from random blokes, because it makes me feel like my hard work was worth it, but I feel objectified when I get things yelled at me and so retaliate by yelling back how I feel (usually “Get a life, ugly”). I am inclined to think most women feel the same way, but obviously I could be wrong, so I’d love some feedback!

Guys: have you ever whistled at or yelled a comment out at a girl and had her reciprocate? What did you say and how did she respond?
Girls: do you like having guys wolf whistle and yell compliments at you? If so, why?

What is Australia Day?

In case you’re not familiar with Australian holidays and celebrations, January 26th is Australia Day. I’ve always been a bit torn about how I feel about Australia Day and so never really know how to celebrate it. Typically it’s a day off work where you have a BBQ and drink a lot of beer and that’s about it. We’re Aussie’s, all we care about is having a day off work (preferably on Friday/Monday in order to get a long weekend), adding a BBQ and booze into the equation just sweetens the deal, really.

Personally I get a bit irked by all of this “Aussie Pride” business that’s been going on the last few years. It’s not that there’s anything really wrong with being proud of your country but it’s always been kind of un-Australian to make a fuss about it. We’re laid back people who sort of have this silent agreement with one another that yes, we do live in a bloody great country and we’re all very lucky and proud and all that. Being overly patriotic is more of an American thing to do and god knows we don’t want to be like those damn Yanks!

But the younger generation (which just so happens to be my generation) have decided they want to be loud and proud about how much they love being Aussie. So now they all wear Australian flag’s as capes and basically cover themselves in as many flag-motif items of clothing they could get their hands on. They even like putting little flags on their cars for the month leading up to Australia Day (which is so bloody daggy, might I add). But probably the worst of all is how many young people are getting the Southern Cross as tattoos these days. I am against these tattoos for many reasons, though mostly because I hate generic tattoos and wonder why they even bother getting tattooed if that’s the best idea they could come up with. If I felt like getting a tattoo to represent my being Australian, I sure as hell wouldn’t get a southern cross and would get something personal and relevant to me and me only (but that’s more of a “I hate generic tattoos” sorta rant). I don’t necessarily agree with how people call these tattoos Austicka‘s because not all people who get these tattoos are the typical, racist yobbo we all hate so much. But it does instantly label you as a bit of a douchebag, whether you are one or not.

To be honest, I will always be one of those quietly-proud Aussies who doesn’t make a big deal about how much I love Australia and cringes a bit when kids in their early 20s run around, pissed as parrots, carrying the Aussie flag, Southern Cross tattoo on their necks (what’s with that placement, by the way?) and bellowing “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi” in everyone’s faces. It’s not that they’re bad people, and certainly not all of them are bogans who put stickers on their utes that say “We’re full, get out” or “Love it or leave it”, it’s just something that’s going to take me a lot to get used to. Because as much as I’d love to think it’s just a fad that will disappear in a couple of years, I’m starting to think it might be a trend that’s here to stay.

Some interesting articles I found on the subject, if you please:

Since when did dumb-arsed nationalism become compulsory?
Australia Day Is Still Ok
Why Australia Day is rubbish
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck
Enough with the Australia Day backlash

Ruby’s First Gig of 2010 – Calvin Harris/Dizzee Rascal/Lily Allen

Last night I went to my first big gig of 2010, one that I’d been particularly excited about due to it featuring three of my favourite artists – Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal and Lily Allen. I have been a fan of both Calvin and Lily since their first single’s came out and have seen each of them once before. With Dizzee I admit I kind of jumped on the bandwagon when “Dance Wit Me” came out, but as someone who is actually very much into rap and not just a fancy-pants who likes whatever is popular right now, I don’t feel too bad about it.

Last night’s gig was a mixture of good and bad. Oh the music and artists were great, but there was a lot of shit stuff going on that nearly ruined my evening. First of all it was at the Riverstage which is an excellent venue but as it’s all-ages and has 10pm noise restrictions, gigs there often start quite early which sucks if you work til 5pm which is when the gates typically open. My friend Sarah, my sister Erin and I planned to lave mine at 6pm to get there around 6:30pm thinking that’s about when Miami Horror (who?) would be done. But oh no, turns out Calvin Harris started at 6:15 and so we only made it for his last two songs (“The Girls” and “I’m Not Alone”) which PISSED ME OFF SO MUCH! Not only did he have a shit start time, his set was only 30 minutes long. God I was angry. I am seriously considering writing a strongly-worded email to someone about this. Or bust some heads together, whichever ends up being easier. I managed to dance and cheer and swoon for these two songs at least, so I guess it could have been worse (ie. missing him entirely). My sister and I both got his t-shirt as a tribute to him and our poor timing. Also because he is so very handsome and ought to be painted in gold across my boobs ;)

Dizzee Rascal was next and that’s about when all the teenyboppers came along. A number of which stood right by us and tried to push through. We wouldn’t let them so they decided it’s be clever to push and crash into us violently. We told them to stop, yelled at them and then started pushing back. But they kept doing it and being little smart-arses about it, just to add icing to the cake. So Sarah pushed them as hard as she could so they almost toppled over and told them to “put some clothes on you sluts” (I’m sorry but girls who are clearly 15 years old should NOT be out wearing tiny denim shorts and little velveteen bra-tops, nor should they wear that much trashy blue eyeshadow and red lipstick). One in particular, I shall call her Velveteen (for her poor choice in top-material) was yelly and getting all up in our faces. I got very black all of a sudden and did the crazy-black-lady hand-thing and yelled “Do you wanna do this?” very loudly in her face a bunch of times. This kept on even as Dizzee got on stage, Sarah pushed them again and a couple of them came back swinging so we grabbed them, roughed them, mostly Miss Velveteen, up ever so slightly (just a few choke-holds, face-smooshings, slappings etc) and a final shove and they finally decided to back off. We shook with rage for a while but we soon transformed that into energy to DANCE.

Dizzee Rascal was excellent, I really loved his show. I saw him once at Parklife a couple of years ago but was too far back and too smashed to enjoy it properly so this was a much better experience. He started off with a bit of his back catalog and a few of the non-singles from his latest album which were all excellent. He worked the crowd a lot, getting us all to cheer and chant things and generally being very cute yet a lil bit gangsta (his face is so cute I could pinch his cheeks forever, which is probably not the look he’s going for really). I flipped my lid when he and his rather handsome backup singer (backup rapper?) started doing the Funky Charlston before “Old School” because it’s my favourite dance of all times ever! Then at the end he played all the big, new hits, starting with “Dance Wit Me”, followed by “Holiday” (probably my favorite) and ending with “Bonkers”. I never jumped/danced so much in my life, my legs and butt are still sore actually, and I very nearly peed myself from all the jumping/needing to go to the bathroom.

Lily Allen was on next, but we were exhausted and so stood a bit further back where the slope starts in order to see her properly. God is she short! And her legs are amazing! I don’t know if it’s weight-loss or just those fantastic high heels she wore but damn I couldn’t stop staring at those pins! She opened with Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” which I thought was hilarious because that song is so bad it’s good. She played a lot from her new album which I admit I only got a month or so ago, so I didn’t know a couple of the songs. I loved how she dropped some drum n bass and dubstep into her songs, such as “Smile” because I was feeling as though her songs were just a teeny bit slow going at first. She did an AMAZING cover of Brittney’s “Womanizer” which I know all the words too apparently (as if anyone’s actually shocked by this fact!) and ended the gig with a very extended version of “Not Fair” which had some (decent) electro as the last chorus. I personally loved her rants the most – she told us she’d watched BBC news the other day and was angry at the Americans criticizing Obama for not making the changes he promised since becoming President last year. I laughed, imagining her shouting at the TV, shaking her fist and thinking “right, I’m going to have to rant about this tonight to get it off my chest”. Hilarious. I also loved hearing everyone yelling the lyrics to “Fuck You” whilst giving the finger. Very classy!

Overall it was a lot of fun and I guess I can’t complain too much. I just wish we’d seen all of Calvin and that those slutty little girls had OD’d before they got to the gig (they were definitely on something), though admittedly I did get a lovely rush of adrenaline after our biff-up so maybe it was a good thing!

Things That Pissed Me Off Today (Part 1)

I hate Mondays. Not in a comical, Garfield-esque kinda way but in a “violently loathe them more than anything ever” kinda way. I don’t know what it is about them, I don’t even have to be working on a Monday for me to hate them. I just hate the whole stinkin’ day and am always glad when they’re over.

So to start this fine Monday morning I thought I’d share the things that pissed me off this morning. Because nothing makes me feel better (or a day go faster) than the release of some pent up anger!

1. The deadshits who hang around the cafe near my place. Seriously guys, I know you’re all unemployed dole bludging no-hopers but that doesn’t mean you have to laze about in everyone’s way, smoking durries and hurling insults at one another as we respectable people try to get to work. Also, the ground is not a seat.
2. The man who decided to block the whole escelator by standing on the right between the people on the left. Look I know Brisbane ain’t a bustling metropolis like London or Tokyo but that’s rude and stops my flow when I am rushing to work. It’s common coutesey to stand to the left to let people who are in a hurry walk past on the right. People like you are the reason why I usually walk to work (commuters are all spastics, seriously).
3. The lady with the tacky San Francisco grafitti-style writing tote. Oh you’ve been to San Franciso, have you? Yeah well so have I and I consider it one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to and am appalled that you think that awful bag is a worthwhile souvenir of such a vibrant, beautiful place. Unless it was a half-arsed gift from a friend/relative I guess… I still would have binned it though.
4. Waiting for approval for a new place to live. Seriously, it’s almost been a week since we applied to this one (amazing) place and we’re DYING from anticipation and worry. No matter how much time you think you’re allowing to move, it’s never enough. If we do get it we’ll have about 5 days to move. UGH!
5. Smokers. Now, I hate people who bitch about smokers almost as much as I’m sure actual smokers do (it’s their body, let them do what they want with it) but sometimes they do piss me off. There’s nothing more horrifying then getting a facefull of second hand smoke first thing on a Monday morning. I’m sorry but that tar-ridden cancer-smoke has been IN your lungs and breathed back out again. WHY would I want them anywhere near my person let alone in my face and down in my lungs? Learn to expel your smoke away from the general public and maybe all the fancy pants smoking-haters mightn’t be so damn vocal about how bad a habit it is. Oh and learn to control your habit too – taking 50 smoko’s a day is highly unproductive and is totally unnecessary.
6. Random heat waves. I know I live in Brisbane and ought to be used to them but I will never get used to 40 degree heat with what feels like 99% humidity. Like a hot, wet blanket it is!

But on the flipside there’s always something that makes all of that horrible Monday-morning bull crap seem totally irrelevant. Today it was the story of a baby elephant being born and being super cute about it. Awwww. I guess it ain’t all bad after all :)

My Pet Hates – Part One

I have about a zillion pet hates. I can’t believe I’ve never posted about any of them until just now! See, I’m the kind of person who get gets her hate on very easily and with what seems like the silliest things, but I get so darn passionate about it and start ranting and raving about ‘em and well, it’s pretty funny (even if I do say so myself)!

Today’s pet hate are for all the morons out there who think they’re doing good and are really doing no good for nobody. This was spawned by that ridiculous fucking facebook status upate thing where girls are encourged to post the colour of the bra they’re wearing as their facebook status in order to “raise awareness for breast cancer and confuse boys”. OH YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT??!! Aside from the fact breast cancer is probably the one cancer we’re all the most aware about (after all, half the stuff you can buy these days has a pink version where part of the profits go to the Breast Cancer Foundation), how is posting the word “white” going to do anything for anyone? Wanna know how? IT AIN’T!

I have a few other ideas for your goddam sheep. How about we raise awareness for a less publicised/sexy cancer like bowel cancer? Or is writing the colour of today’s poop not cute enough for you? Or how about you take an extra minute out of your damn life and actually donate some money and then make a Facebook status about that? THAT will make an actual difference. And as for the “confusing boys” part of this whole thing – ARE WE ALL STILL CHILDREN? “Wouldn’t it, like, be so cool if we, like, totally just wrote down the colours of our bra’s and didn’t tell the boys why?” “OMG they’d like totally freak out!” NO THEY WON’T! Show ‘em pictures of boobs, or (more importantly) boobs after having breast cancer removed, and maybe they’ll pay attention. It ain’t like you’re actually showing them your bra’s, so why would they give a fuck???

This is just the tip of the iceburg really. There’s been this sort of crap going on forever that has always pissed me off severely because people just follow the trend like retarded little sheep, not bothering to question WHY they’re doing it or if there’s a better way. Because ya know what? There usually is!

So next time you decided to show support for/protest something, think about what effect you’re making? Any? No? Then if you’re actually passionate about the subject in question then DO something that WILL make some sort of impact. Donate money, volunteer, whatever it takes to make some sort of difference. Otherwise sit down and shut up because you’re pissing me (and probably a lotta other people) off.

Ruby Velour overhaul

I have been thinking about my blog lately and how I do not write here as much as I’d like. It’s not as if I don’t have a lot to say (because I do) but because I’m never quite sure what I should be writing and whether or not I sound stupid, boring or irrelevant. So there have been many times where I have started to write then scrapped it, thinking I need to write some lavish big entry that’s all clever and thought-provoking and going to be linked-to by everyone on the internet.

Well as I was reading Obnoxious Owl today (a newly discovered and instantly loved blog by a loud and proud Saffa-Aussie) I realised I was doing it all wrong. Almost nothing of what I say in real life is thought provoking, in fact most of it involves angry ranting, fist shaking, witty commentary and general nonsense. So why is that not translating here? WELL MATIES THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE! I am going to write here more often, daily if possible, and it will be a mixture of what I have already been doing combined with more angry rants, witty observations, more silly commentary and general hilarity that I like to fill my regular, daily life with anyway!

Starting NOW! It’s a new year soon and so I ought to make some resolutions. Well I don’t have to and actually never have before but I feel the need to this year because this was NOT my year at all and 2010 sounds like a damn fine to start resolvin’ some shit.

Be honest, up-front and communicate a LOT more.
I am notoriously bad at this. I bottle things up until I get some serious rage happening and blow up at the wrong people. I had a huge explosion last night about something that had been building up for many months, if I’d nipped it in the bud like a sensible person then I would have saved myself a lot of grief and as for last night, a lot of tears. I also need to stop with my lying and be honest – mostly with myself. Lies are like poison and I’ve been poisoning myself an those closest to me for a long time now. It’s gotta stop!

Get healthy, get fit and lose weight.
Oh yes, that ol’ chestnut. This year I got really fit and a hell of a lot healthier. Unfortunately that does not automatically mean weight loss. I wish I could come to terms with my body shape/size but I can’t so I want to shed a few kilo’s in 2010 and maybe even go down a dress size. I won’t do the starvation diet thing like in 2008 where I did lose a lot of weight (god I got hot) because clearly it didn’t last. It’s all about hard work and changing your lifestyle and I will achieve this in 2010!

Get a fantastic new job.
In 2010 I plan to get a new job where I will be happy. This will mean either something along the lines of my previous job but with a better work environment and more potential for development and career advancement, as well as a snazzy job title (I found a few ad’s for jobs that fit this criteria and am super excited) or else a job that pays well, treats their staff excellently and keeps me sane. A job that fits all of the above would ROCK MY WORLD!

Stop abusing my credit card.
Holy shit I am the WORST at this. I’ll stop using it for ages then BAM I start again and lose all control. In 2010 I vow not to use it unless in dire circumstances. I will not keep it in my purse and will keep it locked away for absolute emergencies only. I will also pay it off as quickly as possible too so that I will have one less debt hanging over my head.

Spend less, save more.
I have ended the year with a spectacular amount of spending but I need to cut down. I know I will never, ever stop my excessive shopping but I can curb them and make compromises. No new shoes unless I am willing to get rid of a pair I have at home. Likewise with clothing. I need to use that money and save it up because I wnat to travel next year – Japan again and maybe the USA/Canada if I am lucky!

Take more photos.
I don’t know why or when this happened but I’ve stopped taking photos and it’s so sad! I used to be the queen of excessive photos and now I barely take any and rarely find myself cropping up in anyone elses either. This is ridiculous! I need as much photo evidence of my good looks and youthful vigor as possible while I still got it! I also have my new pink Holga camera too, so I have NO excuses any more!

Go to as many festivals and gigs as possible.
I know this directly goes against my plan to spend less/save more but I missed out on alot of festivals and gig this year and I refuse to do so in 2010 because I LOVE them! I’ve already planned to go to Lily Allen/Calvin Harris/Dizzee Rascal, Good Vibrations (in Sydney), Soundwave, Future Music, Lady Gaga and that’s just in January to March!

Until next year, ya’ll!

I want TWO presents, you guys!

I am a December baby. It sucks. Not only is it generally a bad month to be born in, the date of my birthday is especially crap. December 23rd. It’s two days before Christmas and usually the last day people have to finish off all of their Christmas shopping and the last day before OMG CHRISTMAS TIME fever really sets in, if it hasn’t all ready. No one wants to celebrate a birthday with such a huge holiday coming up so inevitably most people tend to forget all about my birthday. For years I used to celebrate my birthday a week or two before the 23rd to make it easier or all, but I’d always get the “It’s not really your birthday today” remarks when I’d expect preferential treatment so I’d wait til my actual birthday and then get “We already celebrated your birthday, also it’s pretty much Christmas now and we’re too busy”.

I am not trying to guilt ya’ll about my birthday and its unfortunate timing, but rather wanted to give a shout out to all of those people out there with birthdays close to Christmas (unless they’re from December 27th onwards as you reap the benefits of Boxing day sales so you’re lucky and I hate you). It ain’t easy spending a whole year without presents and then getting them all at once, even if people do make a big deal about not combining them (though truth be told, if that means getting a super-big present instead of two smaller, less-than-thrilling presents then I don’t mind at all!) and it ain’t easy having your birthday forgotten because some long-haired religious dude from 2000 years ago may or may not have been born on the 25th.

I LOVE LADY GAGA!

I have just about HAD IT with this “Lady GaGa is a hermaphrodite” nonsense. I can’t even believe I am acknowledging these stupid romours at all, but after a few people made a big deal about it at work today I felt the need to have a rant about how preposterous this all is.

Let us observe the facts:

• Why would a woman who was born with both sets of reproductive organs wear little more than skin-tight body suits (and almost never wear pants)? Seems a bit silly, if it’s a secret she’s trying to keep from the public. I know that if I had a penis but was really born a girl, I would be wearing clothing to cover my secret, not wearing virtually nothing down there and thrusting my business for all to see/judge.
• Lady GaGa is from a wealthy family. If she’d been born a hermaphrodite like all those dickheads think she was, why would her WEALTHY family not given her the operation to remove the penis and make her a complete female? I can’t imagine any family letting their daughter have two sets of genitals, let alone one who could afford the corrective proceedure easily.
• She used to be a stripper! I have a sneaking suspicion that the patrons of the gentleman’s club where she worked would have noticed if she was sporting a penis alongside a vag!

The fact of the matter is, Lady GaGa is a woman and does NOT hve a penis. People who are gullible/stupid enough to believe these rumours ought to be ashamed of themselves (don’t even get me started on the arseholes who started the rumours). There is no proof and I honestly believe these foul rumours were invented by some cruel jerks have a severe case of “tall poppy syndrome”. OK so the girl is totally plain without all her makeup, so what? A lot of girl, famous or not, are the same. You gonna start calling every girl who looks plain/ugly without makeup a man??? I’ve also heard some super-arseholes (including people I know in real life, much to my shock) say her legs are boyish. EXCUSE ME??? Her legs are about 1000 times nicer than mine you fucking creeps! Way to make me feel like shit!

I don’t understand why people are making this into such a big deal. I personally think Pink had the figure of a skinny white guy but I don’t remember anyone giving her immense amounts of shit about it like they do Lady GaGa (it may have happened way back when she first started out, like I said I don’t remember, but I doubt it did). I personally think it’s because Lady GaGa is a bit too different for most people, and people don’t like it when people are intentionally different from the norm and so have to attack them and justify their worries with ridiculous lies and rumours. Lady GaGa is totally awesome. She does her own thing, in hr own unique way and good on her for not caring and being who she wants to be! God forbid other pop stars do anything like that any more!

And my last comment on this whole situation: so fucking what is she was a hermaphrodite?! Does that make her any less of a person or any less talented? Shpuld be not listen to the music of hemaphrodites because it’s “wrong”? That’s totally fucked up, and disgusts me more than anything. Who really gives a shit if a singer has a dick and box? I sure don’t! I almost wish she WAS a hermaphrodite, so scare all the narrow-minded biogots out there who can’t handle something out of the ordinary like that!

Doof Doof is not a genre!

One of my biggest pet hates is musical ignorance. Nothing angers me more than when someone sums up an entire genres of music with one or two words. Prime examples include calling all dance/electonica music “doof doof” or “techno”, any rock music heavier than Nickelback “heavy metal” and calling all urban music “rap”. I’m not saying I expect everyone to be well-versed in all genres of music out there (thanks to Myspace, there’s not a soul alive who could possibly know them all) but it’s so ignorant to label an entire genre of music with something as simple as “techno”. It’s even more ignorant to say you don’t like “techno” or “rap” because you have essentially said you dislike entire, vast categories of music, many of which may overlap with the kinds of music you happen to like.

These days it’s cool for bands and singers to cross as many genres as possible, that’s why we have sub-genres like indie-electro, urban house, grindcore, and power metal among many other strangely named styles that no one can really comprehend properly. And let’s face it, rock and roll from the 1950s was originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music! Chances are, the band you were so sure was just a rock band is actually some electroclash, post-modern idie-pop band with soul tendencies.

If you don’t know what sub-genre of music a song falls into, don’t be an idiot and call it something like doof doof music or “that rap crap” because you’re just making yourself look like a fool. Either learn a little more about music beyond ROCK, RAP, TECHNO, CLASSICAL, COUNTRY and RETRO. Because for godsake, even HMV has more of a clue about sub-genres and god knows you probably shop there for all your music. And if you can’t be bothered educating yourself, shut the hell up and let the rest of us enjoy all the varied style of music available to us this day and age!

Ignore the hype!

I hate hype, particularly when it comes to music. You see it all the time, a band or singer released a song that is really, really good and you wonder how their new album will sound. Well, so does everyone else but most people take it to the extreme and create a whole bunch of hype, based on that one song. Every piece of street press you read, all the music sites and music channels you frequent are all over that shit like it’s the next big thing, for real this time. Well guess what? It’s not. The hype is rarely ever justified. In most cases, the next song is either the same as the first one, not as good as the first one or just plain awful. Some people can look past that and will wait for the album, buy it as soon as it hits the shelves and listen to it eagerly. Most of these people say they liked the album, but I never hear rave reviews about these over-hyped musicians and their less-than-ordinary music. It’s always “Yeah it’s a good album, but not as good as I was expecting”. DUH! No one can live up to excessive hype, so you ruined it for yourself! How about next time you wait til the album is out before you wig out about how great that band is, instead of setting yourself up for bitter disappointment.

One of my favourite examples in MGMT. Man Electric Feel was a great song, so the hype started and these boys could do no wrong. Their other singles (ie. Kids) were enjoyable but not really quite as good. Then their album came out and surprise surprise, it wasn’t very good. At all. In fact I listened to it once and haven’t touched it again. Electric Feel was so good, and the rest was this psychadelic electro rubbish that eventually sounded like a lot of LSD-induced noise by the end of it. And yet their gig in Brisbane sold out in minutes last year. It seems to me that all these people who get caught up in the hype are too proud to admit they got carried away and keep up the pretense of thinking this is the best band/album ever until the next big thing comes out to distract everyone, so they can save face when they finally admit they were over-rated.

Right now I am sick to death of the hype surrounding Empire of the Sun (pictured). Seeing pictures like this is already enough reason for me to hate them on principle, but the hype surrounding them only makes them even more annoying. I really liked their first song Walking on a Dream and though I thought the film clip was a bit odd but it caught my attention none the less. I happen to really like Pnau so I was intrigued by Nick Littlemore’s side project, though somewhat repulesed that it had to include Luke Steele from The Sleepy Jackson (he is a douchebag). So their next single came out and wow, it sounds exactly the same and features them being wearing the same silly outfits, doing the same silly actions but in the jungle instead of the city this time. Well isn’t that just wonderful. A band with some potential turns out to be another crock of over-hyped bullshit. Now everyone’s flipping out about their “epic” stage show when they play at Parklife this year. I wonder how many people actually care about them or their excessive, arty and self-indulgent stage show that is designed to go along with their excessive, arty and self-indulgent music.

I am all about supporting musicians who are very good at what they do, who break boundries and make excellent music. If a band or a musician starts off good and gets better and better as they make more music, release more albums and put on excellent shows as they go on tour then fine. They deserve some hype and relentless adoration because they are consistently excellent beyond their first single with it’s arty-farty music video.

I almost wish I was able to go to Parklife this year (I will be in Japan at the time) so I can go and see if ANY of the hype surrounding Empire of the Sun is actually justified. And if I was not blown away from the get-go then they would have been taunted and booed until my throat was sore!

will be taunted and booed
           until my throat is sore