Damn. I’ve fallen for advertising. Happy, happy advertising….

Not my normal kind of post but I had to share it with you anyway….

I haven’t felt the need to rush out to buy the product in this commercial, after all, they are selling free tv channels, but the happiness of the ad did make me buy the full song from itunes on request of the children so it is a partial win for the power of advertising.

What an infectiously happy tune it is too, The Best Things In Life Are Free by the Melbourne Ska Orchestra.

Whenever it is on telly the kids and I sing along loudly (the Man is not a sing-alonger unless he is suitably refreshed 😉 ) and then for the rest of the night one of us is likely to trot out “The moon belongs to everyone…” with the rest of us quickly following with “The best things in life are free…” They were still singing it when I put them to bed last night!

I almost hesitated to post the video, it is an advert after all, but I am sure after hearing this version of that famous song it will be sufficiently embedded in your brain that you will thank me. Or possibly hate me. It has been hours since I last saw it and I’m still humming it!

Get ready to tap your feet 😀

Cello Wars. Wonderful instrumental geekiness.

I thought I would share a different bit of music with you today. This clip is often responsible for me exceeding my download limit before the billing period is up as the boys absolutely love it.

For a change I am not going on about Australian music, nor is it a boppy tune that will get you up and moving at work. This time it is one for the Star Wars geeks out there. Needless to say, that describes everyone in this house.

No! Wait! Don’t go! Even if you don’t love Star Wars you may still appreciate it. It is Star Wars music performed in an amusing way by an amazing musician.

If you are not interested listening to in Star Wars have a look at my favourite piece of music by these fantastic guys, Without You , or maybe it is the Cello Song, or maybe…ummm..

Although I am not usually much of an instrumental music fan, the music that these guys create can only be described as art and they clearly love playing it, how can that enjoyment not be contagious?!

So please sit back and enjoy Cello Wars by the Piano Guys, starring Steven Sharp Nelson and…um… Steven Sharp Nelson.

Something that always makes me laugh. Australian sign language, as told by Adam Hills.

This Friday, in the hopes you will have a chuckle all weekend, I thought I would do something different and share one of my favourite Australian comedians with you, the lovely Adam Hills. He is one of those comedians that is unfailingly nice and always hilarious.

Everything he does amuses me, but as a person that loves words and language this show about Auslan (Australian sign language) he did at the 2010 Melbourne International Comedy Festival has a special place in my heart.

My favourite part of this clip starts at about the 3:20 mark, and is about a very Australian phrase loosely translating as ‘I am very annoyed with you, and everyone around you’.

I will give you a language warning before you watch it in case you are of delicate sensibilities.

Awww, it’s not that bad, go ahead and watch it. I guarantee that you will laugh, and possibly be tempted to make up some of your own sign language. If nothing else you will have learnt an amusing Australian phrase that should not be used in polite company.

If you enjoyed that clip, here is a link to another show where he has an Auslan interpreter on the stage with him. He incorporates her into the show wonderfully, saying things just to see what she will sign through her laughter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtW-RtMJkwY (I love the bit where he asks if there are any deaf people in the audience and a bloke calls out ‘pardon?’)

I can’t go to work, my ipod is sick.

My ipod has not been working properly for a little while so I have been going to work each day without it. This is a problem. You see, I do a job that involves very little thinking, lots of heavy lifting and being surrounded by noisy machinery. My ipod distracts me and means I don’t have to listen to the terrible commercial station the guys leave their radio on. When ipod first got sick I though I wouldn’t miss him too much but today was the first day he has been (mostly) fixed and boy, I certainly welcomed him back!

The days without ipod have dragged and I seemed to look at my watch every 10 seconds. When ipod returned I put on something with a good beat and just got on with it. The day flew by.

It prompted me to do some posts to share the music that kept me happy, my playlist leans heavily towards Australian music and often Aussie music finds it hard to get air time overseas. You non-Australians are missing out!

I am starting with the artist that made me smile the most today with the song ‘Rock and Roll Nerd’, the wild haired, guy-liner-wearing Tim Minchin, comedian, poet and musician. The song is about his struggles with his average upbringing and life not being rock and roll enough. Hilarious.

If you have never heard of Tim Minchin you are so missing out. His music is not mainstream but is actually intelligent and will make you laugh out loud. The first time I heard ‘Lullaby’ I was in tears of laughter, the tears only a parent with a non-sleeping child would understand.

This is the part where I should tell you my favourite song but I love pretty much all of them!

Ok, apart from the aforementioned, I always chuckle at ‘If you really loved me’ and ‘If I didn’t have you’, Tim writes a mean love song…..

‘White wine in the sun’ is a sentimental song about his love of christmas and you can almost hear the gasps of horror at the first half of ‘Cont’.

The songs of Tim Minchin are at times controversial as he sings about racism, atheism, refugees and other current issues. The best way to first listen to him is to watch a live performance. When he sits barefoot at his piano and starts singing you never know where he is going to lead you. Whenever I hear his music I see him singing that song in my mind’s eye and it makes the music all the funnier. He is a performer, not just a musician.

Click on this link timminchin – YouTube to get to the Tim Minchin you tube channel. As Molly would say, do yourself a favour!