Favourite Album of 1999.

This was a tough one as four of my all time favourite albums came out that year...

"Sambanova" by my friends Nick and Pete better known as PNAU.
"Remedy" by Basement Jaxx.
"Surrender" by Chemical Brothers.
"Wide Angle" by Hybrid.

Four amazing albums but the best and one that meant the most in 1999 was really Sambanova.

To think only a few years earlier back in the days of Stage Band with Mick Lonsdale, Nick Bell and a bunch of super talented musicians... but none of them were more impressive than Pete Maze on his guitar. We were kind of like the musicians that no other band really wanted as we certainly wouldnt want to play traditional "big band" styles... but our "Stairway to Heaven", "Another one bites the dust", "California Dreamin" and "Lily was here" went down a treat no matter where and to who we played them...

Nick on the other hand was more the drama guy however I did enjoy doing a couple of musicals with him... JCS and Chess probably my two favourites... he was an amazing pianist...

So stoked these two guys went the whole way - the album was amazing. The non cleared samples made it feel rebellious. The label "Peking Duck"... and then the three re-releases as local Sydney record execs started to realize that some of the best music was and could come out of some local private school boys from the north shore...

Favourite Compilation of 1999.

This was down to two choices - one is probably always going to be my favourite "Chill Out" compilation in the awesome Back to Mine series. This is another series I am collecting- and 1999 saw the release by Progressive House and Renaissance maestro Dave Seaman. Lacks much animation but a brilliant selector none the less.

My favourite compilation of 1999 was however the double disc masterpiece mixed by Deep Dish on their Yoshitoshi label called "Yosiesque". They did a second release in this series however it wasn't nearly as good as the first.

Yoshiesque was amazing - start to finish. I remember listening to this with Irving for the first time in Newtown one night off memory - and just being blown away. So awesome.

Favourite Remix of 1999.

Like my favourite record of 1999 my favourite remix of the year was an easy choice. Sometime after 2am on one of the best nights of my life after so much effort to actually get to where we were... this record was dropped. It seemed simultaneously being played as it started raining on over 20,000 revelers... however no one really cared about getting wet... for most it was refreshing!

We had survived Y2K, we had managed to not need one of James' three alternate plans of transportation from Torie's Key Grande Apartment to Bondi Beach and we were all there together. Despite the rain Bysie dropped Bob Marley vs. Funksta Deluxe - The Sun in Shining. Such an awesome record!

Favourite Record of 1999.

So going back to the first year when I decided to really "remember" the soundtrack to my year and I'm back in 1999. Pumped on the hype of the new Millennium... shrouded in the speculation of Y2K(aos) and Computer disasters... 1999 was a super fun year. I spent pretty much every weekend with James, Torie, Toia, Gill Duggin, Benny Boy and of course the late great Irving Lin. I still think of my lost brother Irving every day. Miss you mate.

So there is no question as to the greatest record of 1999. It was all time. Bysie or Alex Taylor dropped it every Saturday night, Irving & Benny had it on 12" and back at James & Simon's "New Years Day Corroboree" after Mobile Home Gill Duggin played it four times in a row we were all so obsessed with it!

Mobile Home was an awesome night - Bysie followed on from after Carl Cox and dropped this one...

Sasha's Xpander - easily the best record of the year...

X-Games Results

So last weekend!

At about 2 in the afternoon Laura and I left San Diego and it took us longer than normal to get up to LA mainly due to Friday traffic! What is normally 2 hours took us 3.5 hours and after a quick refuel and car wash (can't put a dirty Land Rover in Valet) we arrived at the Standard Hotel in LA - or as DC had renamed it the "gold standard" hotel for the weekend.

http://goldstandard.dcshoes.com/

Literally we had no sooner arrived (as we had just got to the Valet section) and everything just seemed to whirlwind into action! Laura and I were certainly sped up a few gears after sitting in bumper to bumper traffic pretty much from Orange County right through. My car was being parked, the porters had our bags, Laura and I both had arms extended as Sarah and Cherice slapped various wristbands on our arms for access to this, that and everything else and then next minute we were in one of the DC "Limos" being driven out to Staples Center. It all happened super fast!

Within about 10 minutes we had literally been dropped door to door which was amazing and it was straight in to see the BMX Big Air. I wanted Chad Kagy to win and he did - I wanted Dave Mirra to compete and he was unbelievable. A Silver Medal from the most winning X-Games athlete of all times and we really didn't think he was even the "big air" kind of guy! He certainly surprised and amazed us all!

Next it was over to the Moto-X Step up and it was another one - two to DC. Our seats were awesome and Ricky Carmichael really could have gone 10 feet higher - he made it look so easy and absolutely annihilated the competition.

After a dinner with our team managers and pro snowboarders it was back to the standard, again by Chauffeur, and we're on the standard's famous rooftop for the evening's parties... I was way more sober than last year thankfully however this year there was no Brittany Spears just "Mini-me", a bunch of athletes, pro ho's and some chick from The Hills.

Next day we were back out at the Games... this time at the Home Depot Center and it was time for Moto-X, Speed & Style and some BMX. Laura and I enjoyed a great view from our DC private suite that was catered and had a steady supply of booze that made Laura happy. I am having a detox for a month or so - only water & Monster for me at the moment!

All in all it was a pretty disappointing day... Nate Adams and Adam Jones had mechanical issues and injuries. Robbie Maddison did well for him but didn't medal, Jeremy McGrath got a second and so did Ricky in the Moto-X. Pastrana also crashed out which was just plain bizarre! Still we hauled a few in - however Moto is something our company usually totally dominates... I guess it wasn't to be the case this year.

Across the Rally Track Daniel Dhers took Gold in Super Park. Seems like such a great guy as well - rather than going out and getting trashed after his event he enjoyed an Itallian dinner with Chad Kagy, Nate Christensson and their families at the table next to us at a cool little Itallian joint in downtown LA. Laura and I ate with the US Marketing Department that night...

So 13 medals in all and after the New Era party and then back to the rooftop at the Standard we decided to head back before the Rally which we won three medals in simply to beat traffic... Danny Way got athlete of the games and should have one Gold for skateboarding... I get that riding switch is tough - but for fuck sake Danny did a back flip and followed it up with a varial McTwist. That, on a skateboard, is gnarly. I guess they gave him the WRX as they knew the Gold should have been around Renee Renee's neck rather than the Silver that Danny seemingly was totally not into!

Check out the highlights on You Tube.

Comic Con - San Diego

Crazy Times...

A quick post as I hadn't mentioned anything about Comic Con - an annual convention held in San Diego.

A pretty crazy weekend downtown with some 200,000 + people showing up in all their glory - costumes and everything. I had missed these conventions every year in the past so I was desperate to check it out for sure. Rather than the $500 4 Day Pass I opted for the $50 Wednesday night preview thinking I could get ahead of the crowds for what I thought was the 3 hour "sneak preview"... I was wrong... 45 minutes to get in - hundreds of thousands of people wall to wall... although I do hand it to the organizers... they did a awesome job in trying conditions considering the sheer volume of people there.

I really wanted to buy some artwork for the house however most of it was well out of my budget at literally thousands of thousands of dollars for the stuff I liked. There was however some amazing POP art on display and for sale as well as some great teaser campaigns for upcoming movies including the new Frank Miller with Scarlett Johansson "The Spirit"; the new Underworld; the new Resident Evil and of course some teasers for the next season of Lost.

Aside from that other cool thinks to see were the UNKL and Kid Robot stands - we actually have a really cool UNKL x DC project in the works I am excited about so it was cool to see their work brought to life at the show.

All in all it was an awesome show - I just need to work out how to do it better next time so I can avoid the crowds - if that's possible??!!

Batman

I'm not going to lie... I wasn't sure what to expect going into the Dark Knight (new Batman film) as it was literally "the" thing to talk about in the US over the last 2 weeks. Many people last week at Comicon were dressed as the Joker; all the sepeculation surrounding (Australian) Heath Ledger's death; the fact that I wasn't really sure how the story line was going to fit in with the overall series of films; the fact that some people had already been as many as three times so I was worried I would think it was going to be awesome - then potentially get let down...

I wasn't let down. It is nothing short of brilliant.

I am a massive movie fan, and a massive fan of comic book adaptations. For those who have been to Laura & my house you would have seen the over 500 and something (I stopped counting a while ago) DVD's on my wall of which a bunch of them are comic book adaptations. X-Men, Electra, Daredevil, Hellboy, The Phantom, Fantastic 4... I have them all...

Of course this includes the Batman series. I have the original film from 1960 something starring Adam West & Burt Ward as I was introduced to the TV series at an early age from my Dad. I really loved that original TV series and I hope they release it on box set DVD soon! I also have all the "modern day" Batman films but my favourite will always be the first "modern day" Batman with Michael Keaton, Kim Bassinger, Jack Nicholson and Billy Dee Williams. I credit Billy Dee Williams higher than what most would - but I thought he was brilliant in Star Wars as "Lando Calrissian" and he was equally brilliant in Batman.

The first "modern day" Batman was awesome. The sound track done entirely by Prince was equally as brilliant. I used to own that soundtrack on Cassette and it was just such awesome music. Jack was equally awesome (as always) as the Joker... pretty big shoes for "our" Heath to try and fill...

Honestly - he made that film. His acting was amazing - and he is fully deserved if he wins the Oscar post humously...

It was an awesome story line, the effects were amazing, Heath stole the show... and while it was super long (over 2.5 hours) it didn't drag on at all. I went with Laura who has pretty different Movie taste to me and she seemed to somewhat enjoy it also!

So all in all - this movie is really a must see. I want to go and see it again for sure and I will be buying the DVD Special Edition.

Attached is a really really clever link to not spoil the movie if you havent seen it. It is done with the "original" Batman movie from the 60's but in the theme of the Dark Knight Trailer. Very clever - really celebrates the heritage of Batman on the big screen...

See this movie.