The Voice – my Top 4

I may be jumping the gun a little as public voting results aren’t released until next Monday, May 27, but after the Judges saves tonight and the current iTunes chart, I am down to the following four artists. The good news is I still have an artist left from each team. YAY!

I still can’t decide who I want to win, but I’ve narrowed it down to either Harrison or Luke (Sorry Team Joel!)

TEAM JOEL

Kiyomi Vella

TEAM DELTA

Steve Clisby – Saved by Delta

TEAM RICKY

Luke Kennedy – Saved by Ricky

TEAM SEAL

Harrison Craig

More information and videos of the performances can be found at http://www.thevoice.com.au

The Voice Australia 2013 – Finalists!

Congratulations to The Voice Finalists!

The Voice Finalists 2013

 

My job of narrowing down my top 2 from each team has been made easier by some of my favourites not making it through to the finals (sadly).  Team Seal and Team Ricky has been decided for me, as for the other two teams see below for my picks.  Those in bold are my original top 2 from each team.

 

TEAM JOEL 

  Michael Paynter

Kiyomi Vella

TEAM DELTA

  Tim Morrison

  Steve Clisby

TEAM RICKY

  Caterina Torres

  Luke Kennedy

TEAM SEAL

  Harrison Craig

  Jac Stone

More information and videos of the performances can be found at http://www.thevoice.com.au

 

Adam Martin Performs at The Gov, Adelaide

I’m still coming down from the high of last night’s gig at The Gov, Adelaide…

Adam Martin has been touring Nationally with Evermore on the Hero Tour, but make no mistake Adam is a headline act in his own right.

I have had the opportunity to see Adam perform a few times before and yet each time I am taken aback by the amount of talent this 25 year old singer / songwriter has.  As a Comrade* I have a collection of Adam’s music on my ipod but seeing and hearing Adam perform live takes these songs to a whole new level.  Last night Adam indulged the crowd by performing a couple of well known covers for those who weren’t yet aware of his music, the hit song he sang on The Voice ‘Romeo and Juliet’, his current radio hit ‘In My Dreams’ and a few other originals.  For me the highlight of the night was hearing for the first time Adam’s new song ‘This World Is Yours’ (fingers crossed this will be the next single) and watching him perform ‘Stones’ on the keyboard! This was the first time Adam had played the keyboard in a live show and one of only a few times he has performed the yet-to-be released ‘Stones’.

I cannot wait to hear what other new tracks he has up his sleeves and hopefully an album release is not to far off in the future.

Here are a few pictures taken from last nights show:

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

Photo taken by Peter Stephens

*The comrade name was created by Adam’s fans on twitter, during his time on The Voice to show their support for both Adam and each other.

Adam’s current hit ‘In My Dreams’ can be purchased on itunes Click Here as well as songs from his earlier EP.

Original and covered songs not released can be found on his You Tube channel adammartintv

And his official website is adammartinhq.com

Health issues professionals don’t want to talk about! – CFS / ME

First off let me explain what CFS and ME are abbreviations of.  CFS refers to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME refers to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Both names refer to the same illness but it will depend on the medical practitioner which one he/she uses.  It seems more people are leaning towards the ME name, purely for the fact it sounds more scientific and therefore suffers aren’t making it up. CFS/ME is a severe, complex, acquired illness with numerous symptoms related mainly to the dysfunction of the brain, gastro-intestinal, immune, endocrine and cardiac systems. ME has been classified as a neurological disorder in the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases  since 1969.

1969! Did you see that? Why I am highlighting this date? Because in the last 44 years very little research has been conducted and sufferers (like myself) are still considered by many to simply be lazy! The reason medical practitioners are reluctant to recognise the illness is because no one yet knows what directly causes the disease and therefore the only way to diagnose it is via a process of elimination.  This process generally takes 2-3 years (if the sufferer is lucky) to finally be diagnosed. Basically we are submitted to constant blood tests and scans, in between telling us we just have a “virus” and to go home and rest, before finally there is nothing left to test for and they concluded it is CFS/ME.

What are the symptoms we are supposedly making up? Overwhelming post-exertional fatigue from mental or physical activity; dysfunctional sleep; pain; problems with memory; sensitivity to light, touch and sound; problems with standing and balance; problems with body temperature and weight; and recurrent flu-like symptoms; that persist for at least six months in adults. 

As you can see most of the symptoms are subjective, but that does NOT mean the person isn’t unwell! I have studied nursing and one of the biggest things we were taught is that if a patient says they have pain, you treat them for pain! How is anyone else able to tell you how you are feeling?

As mentioned above no one really knows what causes CFS/ME…most likely from the lack of research by those that should be looking into this, but that’s a whole new post. What the professionals ‘believe’ to be the cause may involve multiple simultaneous factors. ME/CFS can follow acute infection, such as glandular fever and upper respiratory infections; a flu-like illness; exposure to chemicals, environmental pollutants or heavy metals; immunisation; and severe physical trauma such as major surgery or a serious accident. Recent research is finding strong links with food malabsorption, food intolerance and gut dysbiosis.  ME/CFS frequently appears with other medical conditions, the most common being Fibromyalgia, which I will cover in my next post.

I am one of the lucky ones that has managed to find a good specialist (unfortunately I cant say the same of my GP).  Although he is a specialist in Rheumatology, he found more and more patients coming to him with the above symptoms and those of Fibromyalgia and began working with some research teams. Currently I am participating in a second stage of a research study, which involves MRI scans, SPECT tests, psychological testing, general health monitoring and so forth in order to establish if the disease does correlate with the WHO initial classification in 1969. This study is being done to international standards and could be one of the first studies to finally get some answers and relief for us all. Why it has taken this long completely baffles me.

REFERENCE : http://www.mecfs.org.au

 

 

Related articles

• How I was diagnosed with CFS/M.E. – part 2: NHS Consultants (metrostu.wordpress.com)
• Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Social Security Disability Benefits (fightingfatigue.org)
• How I was diagnosed with CFS/M.E. – part 1:GPs (metrostu.wordpress.com)
• Treatment outcome in adults with chronic fatigue syndrome: a prospective study in England based on the CFS/ME National Outcomes Database (scicombinator.com)
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – A Novel Hypothesis and a Potential Early Intervention for a Three Stage Disease (cfsis3sd.wordpress.com)

Health issues professionals don’t want to talk about!

Over the past 8 years I have suffered from three health complaints. All of which have been viewed with skepticism from family, friends, colleagues and worse still medical practitioners. Thankfully as the years have passed awareness and acknowledgement for each of these has improved, but for many of us living with these illnesses it’s another battle we fight every single day.

Over the next day or so I plan to post some information from health professionals, support groups and my own personal experiences on the following:
> Anxiety
> Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME
> Fibromyalgia

If anyone has any questions about any of these or would like to share your story, please comment in the section below.

The Voice Week 1 Finalists

Team Joel and Team Delta going strong, but lost one favourite from Team Seal and two from Team Ricky! (See previous post for my top picks)

The Voice Australia 2013 – Showdowns Week 1

Are you loving Series 2 of The Voice as much as I am?

I was quite impressed this week at the styling choices worn by most of the contestants.  Last year I sat swearing at my TV and sending numerous texts to friends/colleagues about the disgrace of the way the contestants had been presented.  This year The Voice Style Team, who can be followed on twitter @TheVoiceAUStyle appear to have stepped up, although the pink & red dress worn by Jackie Sannia, was an interesting choice.

In my last post about The Voice I thought it would be inevitable that I would change my mind on the Top contestants of each team and I have. The competition is so fierce and some of my initial favourites have been chosen to go up against each other, so I have had to adjust my choices.  Team Joel has been the hardest decisions to make. While I didn’t think Michael Paynter did the best on the night, he is very talented and I believe Australia will get behind him.  Adam Garrett, who was in my initial Top 4 list, did a really great job and his work ethic stated by Joel Madden was heartwarming to hear. However I feel on the night Kiyomi Vella out-did the performances of her fellow teammates and for this reason I have included her in my edited Top 4.  

Tonight’s show gives viewers the first results of the public vote (remembering only 4 from each team have sung this week) who will go straight through to the next round. The artist with the lowest votes is out of the competition and the remaining two battle it out again for their corresponding judges decision to keep them in the team.

As per my first prediction, below are my top 4 on each team, with the top 2 of each highlighted in bold. Fingers crossed for the following artists:

TEAM JOEL 

  Kathy Hinch (Yet to sing in the Showdowns)

  Michael Paynter

Kiyomi Vella

Michael Stangel (Yet to sing in The Showdowns)

TEAM DELTA

  Tim Morrison (Yet to sing in Showdowns)

  Ben Goldstein (Yet to sing in Showdowns)

  Jackie Sannia

  Steve Clisby

TEAM RICKY

  Caterina Torres (Yet to sing in Showdowns)

  Imogen Brough ELIMINATED

  Luke Kennedy (Yet to sing in Showdowns)

Nick Kingswell ELIMINATED

TEAM SEAL

  Harrison Craig

  Jac Stone (Yet to sing in the Showdowns)

Michelle Martinez ELIMINATED

  Nicolas Roy (Yet to sing in the Showdowns)

More information and videos of the performances can be found at http://www.thevoice.com.au/ including each artists’ twitter addresses.

Related articles

• God Bless The Voice’s Steve Clisby (earlythoughtsnow.com)

#CandidlyNicole

If you love Nicole Ritchie as much as I do or just simply wanting some new light entertainment, you need to check out her new web show #CandidlyNicole. The show is based on her ever popular unfiltered twitter account and Nic’s fans can share what’s on their mind by tweeting and tagging #CandidlyNicole, which she states may end up on the show.

In the first episode Nicole reveals her “tramp” tattoo and looks at getting it removed.

Click here to watch: #CandidlyNicole

Famous Failures