I took a much needed break from swimming and suntanning to go to the Sunset Sounds Festival here in Brisbane, Australia last Wednesday and Thursday. The two day event showed up 35,000 people braving the heat, finding shade, listening to great tunes and keeping hydrated….with beer.

There were definitely a few highlights to the event. You can see my coverage and the best acts’ performances in the video below. In a nutshell though the festival was a blast. The surprise band of the event was definitely new breakout artist Art vs. Science. I highlighted my favorite hit song of theirs from down here in the video but they’re entire show even though on a smaller stage was just electric. The crowd was wild, the music was oh so danceable. Amazeballs.

Moby finished up the first night with a sub par performance. Even though a few of the songs hit everyone hard and got them moving, he’s lost his flair. I saw him when I was about 17 at a festival in Vancouver and was blown away by his over the top light show and passion. I saw none of it here. What was good, was REALLY good, and was was mediocre, was incredibly disappointing. The singer for his songs was an amazingly talented woman and showed Moby’s bongo playing completely up.

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Facebook, twitter, personal blogs; These days, stalking someone has become almost a daily activity. Ok, I guess ‘stalking’ has some negative connotations to it, but the amount of information about ourselves that we make public is quite astounding.

No one really cares if right now you’re doing your laundry, or eating breakfast, but people feel the need to publish it anyway. All these one-way forms of communication can get a bit ridiculous.

I recently bought an iPhone, and I’ll admit, one of the selling points was having constant access to Facebook and my email no matter where I was. Not so much that I enjoy being a consumer of all these brief attention-span holding info tidbits, but being in Amsterdam it does make me feel not as far away from all the people I knew in Vancouver.

In my office, a lot of my co-workers also have iPhones, and the current obsession is this app called ‘Foursquare‘. Basically, it’s like a sign-in list for all the places you travel. You’re out for lunch at McDonald’s? Check in and tell all your friends where you are. Getting a massage at the spa? Check in and rub it in to all your friends. Load up the application and it gives you a list of places that are near your GPS location. If the place you’re at isn’t listed, you can create it and check in.

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What was supposed to be the first year without Paula Abdul on the judging panel, has now become Simon’s last year on American Idol. Season 9 of everyone’s favorite talent search premiered last night with pretty much the same old same old. It funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Typically, this portion of the AI season is either hit or miss for me. I enjoy watching the awfully bad auditions as much as the next guy, but I watch Idol to witness the inception of tomorrow’s next big thing and not sideshow attractions. It drives me insane when the Top 24 arrives, and there are a few faces we’ve never seen before. Then POOF, all of a sudden, they show up on our screens as part of “the best” in the country. RI-DIC-U-LOUS.

Thankfully, tonight’s episode was an even split of good versus bad auditions. It wasn’t my ideal choice, but I’ll concede since we were entertained by at least a couple of standouts. Boston was the first stop for the season 9 Idol auditions, and taking the place on the panel formerly occupied by Abdul was everyone’s favorite footballer wife, Victoria Beckham. Surprisingly, Vicki B. actually came off as likable and competent in her critique. Not so robotic, maybe it’s the new and improved 2010 model. Having auditioned for a spot in the Spice Girls herself, she could relate and seemed genuinely concerned for the “kids”. However at times, she seemed more prone to critique their fashion sense as opposed to their vocal abilities. Posh Spice, you’re not a guest judge on “Project Runway” anymore, the show is called “American Idol”.

see who I picked as the ones to watch for during the Hollywood Round

This Scottish cutie was born on June 2, 1980 in Broxburn, Scotland. He’s a Scottish figure skater in the discipline of ice dance alongside his sis, Sinead Kerr – both representing Great Britain. Fewf. When I saw they both had the last name I thought “married,” but there’s still hope! This siblings are really good too! They are the 2009 European bronze medalists as well as the 2004-2010 British National Champions. They are also the only British ice dancers ever to medal at Grand Prix events and gain a place in the Grand prix final. In Torino at the 2006 Winter Olympics, they placed 10th; however, as of December 2009, the dynamic duo were ranked 5th in the world! It’s gonna be close, but they sure do have a chance to get a medal!

Anyway, back to just him – you know, since I’m featuring the hot male athletes that are coming only (sorry Sinead….Sinead to be featured on another website). Haha. He’s super handsome, dark features, dark wavy hair, and has a bit of a Scottish accent. And, I’m gonna guess and say he’s single, since I haven’t hear otherwise. Maybe he even plays for our team. Not Canada, but you know, the gay team. Here’s hoping!

More Facts, His Favorite Things, and His First Vancouver 2010 Olympic Video Diary Posting after the jump…

The infomercial industry is definitely a cash cow to most of the uneducated people living out there purchasing these products that exploit their stupidity. We see these infomercials usually late at night in the wee hours of the morning and they sell anything from diet candy & abs machines to facial exercisers to toilet related products. There are many other products I could list but here’s 10 of the most stupid ones.

10. Neckline Slimmer

I think your neck and chin is sagging because you’re carrying too much weight. The least of your worries should be your neckline. Sure let’s fix the chin area instead of actually modifying your lifestyle to be healthier. Wouldn’t applying pressure to your chin while nodding your head up and down achieve the same results? That’s if this thing actually even works.

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Confession time. I’m ashamed to admit this but watching The Bachelor/Bachelorette is one of my guiltiest pleasures. There’s something entertaining about watching men/women getting over emotional after being dumped on national TV- it’s definite must-see-tv. Today, ABC announced that it has ordered an all-star version of the franchise called “Bachelor Pad”.

All-star version? It sorta perplexed me as well, until I read the description. Rather than becoming another dating show, the spin-off sounds more like “Big Brother” than anything else. The show will feature 20 previous contestants who will live in a house together and compete in challenges. Supposedly the competitions will be inspired by events from past “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” episodes. Perhaps a rose petal counting challenge or one involving removing thorns from the signature roses?

At the end of each episode, an elimination will occur. No word on whether there will be a monetary prize for the winners, but I’m sure they will. There’s no way, they’ll do it for free. Actually, these media whores will go on camera for free in hopes of getting a little air time. Have you seen some of the antics they pull when there’s no money involved?

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Here we go again: A powerful 7.3 earthquake (that lasted for almost a minute!) shook up Haiti today and a Tsunami warning is in effect. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center noted that there was the possibility of a local tsunami that could affect “coasts located usually no more than a 100km [60 miles] from the earthquake epicentre”.

The quake’s epicenter about 15km (10m) south-west of Port-au-Prince, as per the the US Geological Survey. Buildings & hospitals in Port-au-Prince have reportedly collapsed and the “sky is just grey with dust” according to a US official.

They were told this day was coming….

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Welcome to my new weekly feature, Old School Flashback. Each week I’ll be highlighting three tracks from years gone by. Music has the ability to transport you to a different time and place. Sometimes the emotions and sensations felt when hearing an old school track is so strong, it’s almost like you’ve traveled back through time experiencing that moment all over again.

Throughout my childhood and adult life, music has played a major role in documenting my life. Whether it was waking up every Sunday morning when my parents would blast the stereo as we all got ready for church or singing at the top of our lungs during our numerous road trips across North America, music has provided the soundtrack to my life. Til this day, I still love putting my iTunes library on full shuffle on Sundays and subject my friends to listening to my “classics” during road trips.

A couple of summers ago, I spent a number of days going through my entire iTunes library, making sure each track had the correct tags, named properly and assigned the right cd cover. Yes, I’m that ANAL and OCD. In my opinion, it was time well spent, because now I can enjoy the fruits of my labors on regular basis. Enough with the backstory, let’s get to this week’s flashback tracks.

watch vintage Mariah, Shania and Taylor after the jump