SBS PopAsia - Our 1000 song analysis

SBS PopAsia is a program on internet radio and TV that we have become obsessed with. We love the cultural difference of the music, the boppyness of the tunes, and the ability to get some crazy songs.

So yes, THANKYOU SBS POPASIA!

As a result, we decided to undertake a statistical analysis of 1000 songs played on the internet radio station from 17 Feb 2013 to 1 Mar 2013, to see how it worked. We found some things out:

1. SBS PopAsia? Nup, it's SBS PopKorea




Wow do they like K-POP! (We've defined K-POP as any pop by Korean artists) J-POP just edged out C-POP into second, in the latest round of the Diaoyu/Senkaku battle.

But very limited pop from anywhere else! Can we have some more variety, SBS Pop Asia? Or at least some more C-POP and J-POP?

2. It's surprising what's played most..

 
Not Humanoids, I Got A Boy, Break Down or Furisodeshon. Well done to CN Blue! If the survey had started one week later, Gong Gong would surely have won.





3. It's not surprising which singers/groups are played most

So if we were to tell you that K-POP was three-quarters of the songs played, and then asked you to pick which two groups were played the most, what would you say?



Correct! This also shows how reliant J-POP was on Kyary for their plays. How about some more Perfume?

4. They do play a large number of songs.



164 different songs were played, 46 of which were only played once. Some of the more regular songs did seem a little over-played though. Seven songs were played on average every three hours (or more often), which was a bit wearing after a while!

5. Songs come and go



It's interesting watching that some songs like I'm Sorry can keep their popularity throughout the month. Tried to Walk lost their popularity over the period. Crayon had been out for a while, starting slowly in the charts before regaining its popularity!

Exploring in OZ: NSW South Coast

This past weekend saw the celebration of Australia Day – Australia's main national holiday. One of the great things about Australia is that a holiday means a public holiday, even if the day itself falls on the weekend. Andrew and I have been exploring the greater Sydney area over short trips so this seemed like the perfect chance for another part!

For this trip we took the train a couple hours south to the South Coast. We stayed in Wollongong but travelled to several places from Kiama in the south up to Thirroul.

We started our trip with Nan Tien Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere.

Nan Tien Temple was lovely and peaceful – despite the many tourists. It is located in Unanderra, just south of Wollongong. They have a huge tract of land with various rooms of worship, a little museum/shop, living quarters, a pagoda, ponds, and some pretty hills. They also do a very solid Chinese vegetarian lunch. We would recommend this as an interesting and pleasant stop for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.

We also went swimming the evening of our first day. This turned out to be a very wise choice as rough weather would prevent us from swimming again this trip!

The second day we headed off to the Wollongong lighthouses. The lighthouses were nice and their point had a nice view of the waves.

We also went to the Wollongong Science Centre & Planetarium. It seems that a lot of people visit hands-on science centers only when they are children or when they have their own children, and I think that they are missing out. Science centers can be fun and interesting for everyone! Our favorite part was the planetarium show. We also liked seeing a births and deaths map of the world and playing with a big Soma Cube set.

Our third day had continual rain and rough seas, which was perfect for our trip to the star attraction: the Kiama Blowhole! The Kiama Blowhole is a naturally-formed hole in rock by the shoreline that means when a wave is big enough the water is propelled up and out:

The weather was miserable but it was a great sight! Afterward we warmed up with some sandwiches and hot chocolate before dripping our way back to Wollongong.

We checked out the local culture with dinner at the Steelers (local rugby league team) Club. Their Chinese restaurant was great and we had a spicy 铁板牛肉!

On our final day the rain finally broke and we could walk outside without getting soaked! The surf was still too rough for swimming, but we had fun walking along the beaches and seeing what the big waves had done. We had a great time and did not let the rain get in our way!