got it covered

I don't know why, but I find myself mesmerized by the concept of current bands and singers covering other songs. And by "other songs", I'm not just referring to like the standard Beatles or Bob Marley or Police any other old-school classics that most bands typically cover. It's the current songs that you've heard a million times on MTV, and the radio (and nowadays, through people's myspace profiles I guess) that I'm really interested in listening to.

Maybe it's got to do with me having an obsession with getting an insight into artist's personal lives -not in the stalker way, but I am on wikipedia a freakish amount trying to find out what's behind certain song lyrics and stuff. I just find it interesting finding the types of songs people cover - like you get to know what music the singers and stuff like listening to, and how they interpret the song and stuff. I think it's also because covers provide a fresh take on something you're so used to, so it's kinda like hearing something again for the first time.

Anyway, that's why I'm a huge fan of BBC's Live Lounge - when they get singers to come in and do a couple songs, almost all the singers and groups do a cover of a song as well (list of the singers and the songs they covered is here). While there are some fairly standard covers, there are quite a few good ones there.

I've noticed I'm a fan of girls covering songs sung by guys, and vice versa - which is why I like Natasha Bedingfield's covers:

Natasha Bedingfield - Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)



And I do like when artists come up with interesting interpretations of songs - While this isn't as out there as Corinne Bailey Rae's jazz-loungey version of SexyBack, I like Keane's mashup of Destiny's Child & Christina Aguilera (also a guy covering girl songs)

Keane - Dirtylicious



And then there are the songs you just wouldn't expect to be covered... Didn't expect a non-offensive rock band to cover a weird hip-hop-infused latin song - It's no My Humps, but still pretty bizarre...

The Fray - Hips Don't Lie (Shakira)



(see what I did there with the title of the blog and stuff? wow, I'm so incredibly imaginative & witty...)

cheese...

Since I've come back from my trip overseas, I've felt the need to bring my camera to more places more often. I got a digital camera for my 21st, and it feels like a waste if I don't use it. After browsing all the photos I've taken in the last 5 years or so, a pattern seems to emerge:
Birthday cake photo,


special occasion (formal), special occasion (wedding), photos of family holiday, another birthday cake photo,



people's 21st, another special occasion (wedding), and yet another birthday cake photo.


It seems weird to just take photos of the same thing every year when heaps of other stuff happens as well. Next thing you know, people you normally see are going overseas and now the opportunity to take photos with them is gone. So at first, it seems like a good idea to take photos of everything.

Unfortunately, I've found the two major problems with my plan:

1. I don't want to be that guy. You know, the guy who takes their camera everywhere and insists of taking photos of everything you do. While we all appreciate the photos after they're taken, no one relishes the time they are exposed to an unrelenting barrage of blinding flashes. Soon enough, people develop a greater resentment towards the guy taking photos of seemingly menial things. Me living in constant fear of being the guy with the camera means I only take a few photos at the start of the night, and the rate of photo taking quickly dies down. And all the interesting, photo-worthy stuff happens later in the night anyway...
   
2. The "good" photos are the ones with a group of people smiling, or doing something interesting or whatever. It requires a lot of effort to take these good photos, and for me, most of my photos end up looking like this:

I think next time I'll just leave the task of photo taking to that camera guy and leave my camera at home.

yay the amazing race!

I know what I'm doing at 9:30 Thursday night- my favourite reality TV show is back! I think I like it because it's kinda more game-showy than reality TV show, so even though it has pretty much the same formula as the first series, it doesn't really matter as much, since the whole globe-trekking and detour activity thing is still so cool.

Channel 7 have skipped season 10 in favour of showing season 11, aka Amazing Race All-Stars. I guess it's cool to be watching the same season America's seeing at the moment (despite the huge delay), which might mean there'll be less chance for people to find out who the winner is months in advance. They still could have shown season 10 during the holidays, or preferably, in place of the stupid American-only family edition of the show.

I don't know why, but I love it when they go to places I've been to, and get really excited when I recognise the background shops and stuff. I've actually found that I enjoy watching those travel shows more when I've been to the places they visit in the show and stuff. That's weird, isn't it? I think it's partially because I get semi-nostalgic and reminisce and stuff. That, and
I always kinda hope that I happened to be there when they were filming and just happen to be in the background. When I was overseas, I even kept my eye out for pairs of travellers lugging huge backpacks and cameramen following them. Despite my Amazing alertness and everything, alas, still no Phil Koegan sightings. Sigh.

irasshaimase!

I love when my dad visits Australia. Not because we have like, an uber-close relationship or anything, but mainly because it means we get to go to Shira Nui. It's this sushi restaurant in Glen Waverley, and, it's alright I guess. Kinda awesome. I don't want to overhype it, since, you know, you'll have ridiculously high expectations, and if you do go, it'll inevitably end in disappointment and tears. So anyways if you do like sushi (and other stuff too, but mainly sushi) You should try to check it out. Maybe.

It's run by this cool sushi chef called Hiro, who reminds me of a younger Mr Miyagi, if he was an Iron Chef with a really cool katana-like knife. He's one of the few people in Melbourne who actually has a license to serve fugu - you know that Simpsons episode where Homer almost dies from blowfish? Well, in order to prevent people from reevaluating their lives and doing everything they wanted to do in 24 hours, you need to get a license from the Japanese government to be able to serve it in restaurants. Anyways, Hiro doesn't actually serve fugu at the restaurant, but the fact that he could if he wanted to is cool nonetheless.

But the katana knife-wielding, potentially fugu-serving, Mr Miyagi is only part of the reason I like it so much. They've got really good regular sushi, but then there's also the mackerel wrapped with clear seaweed sushi and the blowtorched beef sushi. Like, a blowtorch! C'mon, how cool is that? (Please don't go just for the blowtorch - if you don't see it, it'll just mean more disappointment and tears.)

Shira Nui's also the only restaurant nearby that's run by Japanese people as well. Not that there's like a sushi-making gene that all Japanese people have, but it means that they do the Japanese thing of making sure everyone working shouts "Irasshaimase!" when anyone enters. You'd think that everyone shouting at you in a foreign language when you enter a store would be a little weird and scary, but it's pretty cool - I was thinking of of running in an out the shop to see how many times they shout it before they get over it and ban me...