Year of the (Lucky) Monkey

2006 has turned out to be my luckiest year ever.

After winning world cup tickets in May, I've just found out that I've won a season double pass to the Moonlight Cinema.

There seems to be a bit of a theme developing, as I won the competition at Bear Brass on Southbank by buying a James Boag's beer.

It's a shame the year's about to end, because 2006 will be a hard year to beat!

Comedy at the Spiegeltent

Last night I went out to see a comedian called Sammy J at the Spiegeltent with Katie, a girl I met at speed dating the other night.

The show was really good. Actually much better than the two comedians I saw at this year's comedy festival, Wil Anderson and Rod Quantock, who seem to be a bit out of form lately.

Most memorable moments include stealing a joke from Seinfeld and singing a song about the Melbourne train network, mentioning every station in order!

I think he's coming to the comedy festival next year, so I recommend you go and see him!

The Grates and Faker

Went to see The Grates last night. They were really gr... good! Sounded very similar to their studio work, but they were worth seeing for the sets (snowmen and snowflakes) and the singer Patience jumping around like she was crazy. I also didn't realise the drummer was a chick.

They were supported by Faker, who didn't really impress me. They have a song called "Hurricane" which is a little bit catchy, and another "Love For Sale" which seems to have interesting lyrics, but apparently it's a cover, so they can't claim credit for that anyway. Other than that, they were just a bunch of guys playing too much distorted guitar without much musical merit.

Also found a fun arcade game on The Grates' web site. It's quite fun. The game's soundtrack uses Grates songs, but does it in a really retro way that reminds me of Commodore 64 games.

Kosheen

I heard on the radio today that Kosheen is playing at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne next month.

I had been interested in her stuff for a while, since hearing "Hide U" on Triple J years ago. I figured it would be good to find out some more, so bought a ticket.

Also went to JB Hi-Fi after work to buy one of her albums. Turns out she only has two, so I picked up the old one with all the songs I had already heard of.

Shame the album was $27. JB Hi-Fi's usually got better prices than that. Will have to see what it costs on iTunes...