1. Australia loses the Ashes. Again.
For the second time in a row, Australia lost the Ashes in England. This second time hurt less than the first, possibly because it's less of a shock when it hasn't been so many years between losses, or possibly because this time we really were pretty much outplayed (as opposed to last time, when we didn't have McGrath, and the Poms cheated as much as possible . . .).
Basically, this time around we brought it more or less entirely on ourselves, with conservative captaincy that failed to go for the jugular in the very first test, and the indifferent form of various players that time and again saw us unable to perform to our best. In fact, what we were really missing . . . was McGrath.
Compare this to the English having a couple of players that nobody much rated (even the English) bringing some of the best performances of the tour, and Strauss leading from the front as the Man of the Series, and you pretty much have a situation in which it was always going to be hard for Australia to retain the Ashes. But of course, all this simply means that we're gearing up for another 5-nil drubbing when the Poms make it back over here.
Even without McGrath.
2. Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time.
Triple J announced the results of their poll "The Hottest 100 of All Time". With over half a million votes, the poll was pretty massive, and the top ten came out pretty much exactly how you would think it would, with the #1 position going to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.
In fact, the entire list turned out pretty much how you would expect it to, though for me TV On The Radio's Wolf Like Me appearing in the list - even at #99 - is a bit weird. But even though the list is pretty predictable, that didn't stop various people scenting a conspiracy. This included Triple J's own show, Hack, who did an investigative report into the results that was never aired due to the fact that they had used incomplete data to fuel their allegations.
One of the big points that a lot of people made was that there were hardly any women on the list, and this was therefore very suspicious. Or at the very least, biased. I would argue (as a woman, and a feminist) that this is because an awful lot of music that women put out is thoroughly shit*. I'm not saying women can't make awesome, popular, moving, anthemic musical masterpieces. It's more like, they just don't. I mean, really, if I made a list of my personal "Greatest songs of all time" I'm sure they would largely be by male composers and performers - and I think most people would say the same.
*When I say "shit", I mean "not my cup of tea" rather than say, "poorly composed and/or executed."
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