Two high-profile incidents on Australian subways show the country continues to deal with deep racial tensions.
1) This incident was blamed on drunkeness, but it’s still deeply disturbing.
2) In this incident, a female governmental employee refuses to give up her seat and turns it into a racist hate attack.
If you asked for an unlikely pop hit, I would probably suggest something slow, acoustic, with weird instruments, and not from an American artist. Yet, “Somebody That I Used to Know” appears to have broken all the rules and propelled Australian-Belgian singer Gotye to international stardom.
Gotye enjoyed a devoted following in Australia, but had not achieved any substantial international acclaim for his acoustic, thoughtful songs. Then, inspiration struck him in the middle of the night in his parents’ barn. He quickly penned the lyrics and laid down the track “Somebody That I Used to Know.”
After finding a female vocalist to enhance the story, the 21-year-old New Zealander Kimbra in this case, Gotye released the song as a single from his upcoming album, Making Mirrors. It took off.
At present, the song has topped the charts in fifteen countries around the world. It sits atop the American iTunes charts and lies at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Australia has been very kind to the song. It has been at #1 for 8 weeks there (2nd best all-time) and has been certified as 8X platinum. That’s nothing on Poland, though. In the Northern European country, “Somebody That I Used to Love” has been at #1 for an all-time high of 18 weeks. It’s the all-time most popular song there.
Gotye’s ballad has also topped the charts in Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland among other places.
It’s also been a hit song on social media. The music video has more than 106 million views on YouTube and a cover version by Walk Off the Earth has more than 66 million views.
There’s also an incredibly popular a capella version of the song by Pentatonix.
Must be good to be Gotye these days.
You really must feel for swedish couple Stefan and Erika Svanstrom who have had one heck of an unlucky honeymoon. You see, everywhere they turn, disaster happens. Over the course of their trip, they’ve come across six natural disasters. Those disasters, in order:
1. In December, the newly married couple set off on their four-month long honeymoon. They couldn’t leave though because they were stranded in Munich, in the midst of one of Europe’s worst snowstorms.
2. Their next stop turned out to be in the middle of a cyclone (Cairns). Thankfully, this disaster spared the city, for the most part.
3. They moved on to Brisbane, which saw historic levels of flooding that crippled the Australian state.
4. Their next encounter was with the troublesome brushfires in Perth. The couple was ecacuated and forced to spend an evening on a concrete floor.
5. After the incident in Perth, the couple opted to move on to New Zealand. Right before they arrived, the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch.
6. Finally, they moved on to Tokyo, where the 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck about a month ago.
Talk about an unlucky honeymoon. Thankfully, the couple (and their infant daughter) was largely injured and maintained their sense of humor.
“We’ve certainly experienced more than our fair share of catastrophes in a marriage, but the most important thing is that we’re still going strong. I know marriages have to endure some trials, but I think we have been through most of them,” Mr. Svanstrom told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Not Intent on Arriving 