Triple J Follow Up

So that last post was definitely (<- check the spelling Pinky) fueled by a crazed frenetic excitement, due in most part to a lack of sleep, a lot of work, and THE MOST AWESOME MUSICAL COUNTDOWN EVER! 

(See that last post ->here<-)

But now that it's all calmed down I just want to fill you in on what exactly was happening. See, there's a radio station in Australia called Triple J and every year since the late 80s they have asked listeners to vote on their favorite songs from the whole year.  It has expanded and thanks to my Ausome Aussie friends I met when I studied abroad in Chile, I have the last 4 years of Compilation CDs triple J releases of some of the songs that make the countdown.  

Hottest 100 has a way of not only recapping some great songs, but it also can forecast what will become big on the indie (and sometimes mainstream scene in the US). For example, Foster the People, Mumford & Sons, Kings of Leon, Florence + the Machine, all were high up on the countdown THE YEAR BEFORE they became big in the states.  

Here are some pictures to accompany the full list of songs (from the Triple J Facebook page)

#100 Mr Little Jeans - 'The Suburbs'
#99 The Beards -'Sex With A Bearded Man'
#98 Jay-Z & Kanye West - 'Niggas in Paris'
#97 Foo Fighters - 'Arlandria’
#96 The Strokes - 'Machu Picchu'
#95 Grouplove - 'Naked Kids'
#94 The Wombats - 'Our Perfect Disease'
#93 Kimbra - 'Two Way Street'
#92 James Blake - 'The Wilhelm Scream'
#91 City And Colour - 'Fragile Bird'
#90 Beastie Boys - 'Make Some Noise'
#89 Beirut - 'Santa Fe'
#88 Bombay Bicycle Club - 'Shuffle'
#87 Gotye - 'In Your Light'
#86 Seeker Lover Keeper - 'Light All My Lights'
#85 Cosmo Jarvis - 'Gay Pirates'
#84 360 - 'Throw It Away (Ft. Josh Pyke)'
#83 The Kills - 'Future Starts Slow'
#82 Little Dragon - 'Ritual Union'
#81 Busby Marou - 'Biding My Time'

#80 Pnau - 'The Truth'
#79 SBTRKT - 'Wildfire (Ft. Little Dragon)'
#78 Husky - 'History's Door'
#77 Metronomy - 'The Look'
#76 Redcoats - 'Dreamshaker'
#75 Skream & Example - 'Shot Yourself In The Foot Again'
#74 Drapht - 'Bali Party (Ft. Nfa)'
#73 Skrillex - 'First Of The Year (Equinox)'
#72 Flight Facilities - 'Foreign Language'
#71 Luke Million - 'Arnold'
#70 Jebediah - 'She's Like A Comet'
#69 Bon Iver - 'Calgary'
#68 Arctic Monkeys - 'Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair'
#67 New Navy - 'Zimbabwe'
#66 Bon Iver - 'Perth'
#65 Kasabian - 'Re-Wired'
#64 Owl Eyes - 'Raiders'
#63 Foo Fighters - 'Rope'
#62 Stonefield - 'Black Water Rising'
#61 Radiohead - 'Lotus Flower'

#60 Joe Goddard - 'Gabriel'

#59 Washington - 'Holy Moses'

#58 Lykke Li - 'I Follow Rivers'

#57 The Rubens - 'Lay It Down'

#56 Sparkadia - 'China'

#55 Architecture In Helsinki - 'Escapee'

#54 The Grates - 'Turn Me On'

#53 Bon Iver - 'Holocene'

#52 Kimbra - 'Good Intent'

#51 The Drums - 'Money'

#50 Boy & Bear - 'Part Time Believer'

#49 Boy & Bear - 'Milk & Sticks'

#48 Art Vs Science - 'A.I.M. Fire!'

#47 Sparkadia - 'Mary'

#46 Active Child - 'Hanging On'

#45 The Kooks - 'Junk Of The Heart (Happy)'

#44 Hermitude - 'Speak Of The Devil'

#43 Grouplove - 'Itchin' On A Photograph'

#42 Florence + The Machine - 'What The Water Gave Me'

#41 The Strokes - 'Under Cover Of Darkness'

#40 Foster The People - 'Houdini'

#39 Benny Benassi - 'Cinema (Skrillex Remix)'

#38 Ball Park Music - 'All I Want Is You'

#37 360 - 'Killer'

#36 Florence + The Machine - 'No Light, No Light'

#35 Illy - 'Cigarettes'

#34 Gotye - 'I Feel Better'

#33 Jay-Z & Kanye West - 'Otis (Ft. Otis Redding)'

#32 Noah And The Whale - 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N'

#31 Ball Park Music - 'It's Nice To Be Alive'

#30 Calvin Harris - 'Bounce (Ft. Kelis)'

#29 Drapht - 'Sing It (The Life Of Riley)'

#28 Owl Eyes - 'Pumped Up Kicks (Like A Version)'

#27 Example - 'Changed The Way You Kiss Me'

#26 The Wombats - 'Techno Fan'

#25 Kimbra - 'Cameo Lover'

#24 The Wombats - '1996'

#23 Emma Louise - 'Jungle'

#22 Snakadaktal - 'Air'

#21 Skrillex - 'Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites'

           
#20 Bluejuice - 'Act Yr Age'                              #19 Nero - 'Promises'   
       
#18 The Wombats - 'Jump Into The Fog'          #17 Seeker Lover Keeper - 'Even Though I'm A Woman'

     

  #16 Grouplove - 'Tongue Tied'                         #15 Foster The People - 'Helena Beat'

           
#14 Foster The People-'Call It What You Want'  #13 Florence + The Machine-'Shake It Out'


     

#12 Architecture In Helsinki-'Contact High'     #11 Calvin Harris - 'Feel So Close 

     

  #10 Hilltop Hoods - 'I Love It (Ft. Sia)             #9 The Jezabels - 'Endless Summer'

        
#8 360 - 'Boys Like You (Ft. Gossling)'             #7 San Cisco - 'Awkward' 

      
#6 Lana Del Rey - 'Video Games'                      #5 M83 - 'Midnight City' 

     

#4 Boy & Bear - 'Feeding Line'                         #3 Matt Corby - 'Brother'

#2 The Black Keys - 'Lonely Boy'

AND MY PERSONAL FAVORITE OF 2011 WAS #1:

#1 Gotye - 'Somebody That I Used To Know (Ft. Kimbra)'

Triple J Hottest 100 Countdown!!!

So every year in Australia this AMAZING thing happens called the Triple J Hottest 100 Countdown, in the words of their own website: "triple j's hottest 100 is one of the largest public music polls in the world with millions of individual votes counted since it started in 1989." (See http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/11/history/)

They spend a whole day (well here, night since it started at 8pm, but in Australia it's actually already the 26th and that's a holiday called Australia Day, HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!) counting down the top 100 songs based on a music poll done throughout December, and if you can't already tell from the right side of the page I VOTED! Gotye and Kimbra made up the majority of my votes since each person is limited to 10 songs.

So RIGHT NOW I'm streaming it while trying to get through the rest of my Corporations homework, it was going well for awhile but I just keep getting swept up in the music....

Oh wait, see I did it again there -- you just couldn't tell cause this isn't posting in real-time =)
So far I've gotten to #77... but I have no idea how I will get to sleep tonight since it's already 10pm... & I DON'T WANT TO MISS A SINGLE SONG!!!

Here's a picture of #s 81-100

#100 Mr Little Jeans - 'The Suburbs'
#99 The Beards -'Sex With A Bearded Man'
#98 Jay-Z & Kanye West - 'N*****s in Paris'
#97 Foo Fighters - 'Arlandria’
#96 The Strokes - 'Machu Picchu'
#95 Grouplove - 'Naked Kids'
#94 The Wombats - 'Our Perfect Disease'
#93 Kimbra - 'Two Way Street'
#92 James Blake - 'The Wilhelm Scream'
#91 City And Colour - 'Fragile Bird'
#90 Beastie Boys - 'Make Some Noise'
#89 Beirut - 'Santa Fe'
#88 Bombay Bicycle Club - 'Shuffle'
#87 Gotye - 'In Your Light'
#86 Seeker Lover Keeper - 'Light All My Lights'
#85 Cosmo Jarvis - 'Gay Pirates'
#84 360 - 'Throw It Away (Ft. Josh Pyke)'
#83 The Kills - 'Future Starts Slow'
#82 Little Dragon - 'Ritual Union'
#81 Busby Marou - 'Biding My Time'
(BOLD = old faves or newly discovered faves)


also, since we've discovered some other good one's while typing this:

#80 Pnau - 'I Thought You Were The Truth"

#78 Husky -  'History's Door'

#77 Metronomy - 'The Look'


Also weirdly, two dubstep songs.. never really appreciated it until now:

#75 Skream & Example - 'Shot Yourself In The Foot Again'

#73 Skrillex - 'First Of The Year (Equinox)'

I SUUUURIUSLY NEEED SLEEP! But this music is so good and being sleep deprived I'm not making rational decisions, just check my twitter @ItzBizr for an absurd amount of tweets directed to @tripleJ featuring "*hashtag*Hottest100"

OR

Check my Pinterest Boards for the EXACT SAME THING!!!!

TOO MUCH INTERNET! TOO MUCH NO SLEEP!!! TOO MUCH DISTRACTION!!! TOO MUCH WANTING TO SHARE THIS WITH ALL OF YOU!!!!

ALSO, CHECKIT FROM THE OFFICIAL COUNTDOWN PAGE:

 Yup, that's me at my carrel, trying to (unsuccessfully) balance reading Corporations with The Countdown... too bad those two girls next to me steal the show...

Let's Play Yoga (Videos)!

So for almost exactly one year, I have spent 60 to 75 minutes twice a week (leaving time for a couple weeks vacation) teaching yoga.  It has been a lot of fun and has really challenged myself in unexpected ways.  I am less anxious about trying to find the right word when speaking (this comes from calling my foot my elbow, or mixing up some other cues).  I get to share good music with the world, I get to meet interesting people and teach them something, I get time to calmly lead people away from their own problems for awhile to focus on their breath, their body, how to connect the mental with the physical and I really enjoy it.

Before I left on break one person suggested creating some workouts so that people could continue to have guided practice while I was gone.  So far I've posted three yoga videos and have really enjoyed seeing all the other stuff people have put one there.  I even discovered yogadownload.com from a friend, which is a great resource for a variety of yoga workouts..

Here's the first video I posted:

My first Yoga Demonstration Video (SuperThanks to Sarah for helping me out!)

I've filmed three more to post and can't wait to see that people are benefiting from them.  They are a mixture of workouts and a series I've titled "Perfecting Your Yoga Practice" where I show people some of the physical and mental cues for getting into proper poses.  You can check out a playlist of my Yoga videos here!

Let me know if you've any suggestions of particular poses for which you want clarification or muscle groups you'd like to work with a Vinyasa flow! 

MLK Day, Excerpt from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

‎"Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively... Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men [and women =)]willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation." Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Last First Day

So today began what I think might actually be my LAST FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER! That's right, ladies and gents I've decided that after 20 years in the education system I am announcing my retirement from school, effective May 5, 2012. I guess retirement announcements are less exciting when the person making them is not a famous sports star, however unlike many of them *ahem Michael Jordan Bret Favre *coughcough* I plan on sticking to this retirement.

As I explained to a friend earlier today, I really like the idea of school I just always find I don't very much enjoy the actual thing as much as I thought.  It's kind of the way I feel about tigers.  I like tigers, I like their fur, I like their tenacity, basically, I like the idea of a tiger.  But if I had to spend the next 14 weeks in a library daily with one, I don't think I would really enjoy it.  This kind of sums up my experience in law school, intriguing from a distance, safe behind glass and a sign that warns DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.

Family Visits Violin Shop & A Banjo Dream Comes True

This Christmas my grandpa Tony came to visit, which was awesome in itself, but we also got another adventure out of it, a super-special-spectacular Christmas Eve Adventure!

On Christmas Eve, my family had the wonderful chance to catch up with some extended family who lives super-close.  Tony's 'lil sis, my Great-Aunt Aggie lives in Fredricksburg now, and just a few blocks down the road, my Aunt Elaine (who is really I guess my second-cousin once removed, but who's keeping track of that) lives with her husband Bill.

We had a great lunch together and then went to visit Elaine and Bill's home, which happens to be above his violin shop...

The store-front

where he sells violins... some of which he makes himself, AND WE GOT TO SEE HOW SOME IF IT'S DONE!

Molds for making violins and bridges to go onto them

The equation for making a violin, it's all math and physics, how cool. Also, the quote beneath the drawing is:

"NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP" SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL

They throw glitter on partially carved backs and fronts and then place them above a special sound machine where he adjusts the tone.  The vibrations move the glitter and there are pictures of what pattern should emerge to know where more carving or shaping is needed.  Knives, glitter, sound-making-machines, and physics: what more could a girl want?

Partially completed violins with the molds still attached

Bill showing off wood he is carving into a mandolin neck

A mother-of-pearl inlay that will go into the neck of a mandolin

Making/repairing bows

I'm sad because I thought my hair was long, obviously this horse had me beat!

More supply things and a mandolin

Electric guitar in for repairs

Their home was so lovely!

A beautiful flower-piece for old bows

Even the storage room was photogenic for crying out loud!

A teeny violin for the young prodigy 

The corner where banjo, guitar, violin, and mandolin lessons take place

We even got to play some instruments:

A $10,000 Violin, Rah got to pluck a string... apparently the "E" string is gold

Big sis on the mandolin!

We sight-read a couple christmas carols, I feel a new up-and-coming band!

AND A DREAM CAME TRUE: 

Finally I get to play a banjo: dream come true... although unlike in my dream, I'm not very good

Although being horrible is not stopping a smile creep over my face...

In the groove baby! BEST BANJO EVER!

It may be wrong but I judge people based on their ability to appreciate the sound of a banjo.

I'm gonna get really sappy here and say the best part of the whole visit was reconnecting with family over the holidays, I couldn't imagine a better  Christmas Eve Adventure!  than with these people!