Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Mistaken identity
There is someone else who works in our office named Darren. Except he spells his name with an extra n. Also, he is Scottish. Because of this the girls think he is adorable. With the accent and all.
Anyway, last week we all got an email with the heading "Social: House for Sale". Now from time to time people in here will send out emails with the word "Social" in the subject line, either to promote some cause (today Darrenn sent us all one trying to get us to save the whales), or sell/give away tickets to an event. However, noone to the best of my knowledge has ever used the medium of internal email to try and sell a house before. Until now . . .
Anyway, this would be mildly amusing on its own, but yesterday I got caught in a conversation in the kitchen with a colleague. It went something like this . . .
Her: "Did you get much interest in your house?"
Me: "That wasn't me. You're thinking of Darrenn in Events".
Her: "Oh" (slight pause). "Where did you and your wife move to?"
Me: "I didn't move anywhere. I haven't sold my house. You are thinking of an email from Darrenn downstairs. Not me."
Her: "Oh, right".
Man sometimes people are dumb.
Anyway, last week we all got an email with the heading "Social: House for Sale". Now from time to time people in here will send out emails with the word "Social" in the subject line, either to promote some cause (today Darrenn sent us all one trying to get us to save the whales), or sell/give away tickets to an event. However, noone to the best of my knowledge has ever used the medium of internal email to try and sell a house before. Until now . . .
Anyway, this would be mildly amusing on its own, but yesterday I got caught in a conversation in the kitchen with a colleague. It went something like this . . .
Her: "Did you get much interest in your house?"
Me: "That wasn't me. You're thinking of Darrenn in Events".
Her: "Oh" (slight pause). "Where did you and your wife move to?"
Me: "I didn't move anywhere. I haven't sold my house. You are thinking of an email from Darrenn downstairs. Not me."
Her: "Oh, right".
Man sometimes people are dumb.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Poker at the Palais
Hadn't been down to the Palais for poker night in weeks, perhaps months, so when the invite came from Muzz and Ando to go last night, how could I say no? The fact that Corey would be there for the first time only sweetened the deal.
We were planning on getting there early for dinner before the game, but some unfortunate tardiness from Ando and Devs meant it was after 7pm by the time we ended up registering. So we ordered our meals, but the waitress says "If we do them now, you'll probably get them before the game starts but you'll have to rush them down - do you want to wait till the first break?" Everyone agreed that this sounded like a good idea, and so I didn't really have a choice, even though I was crazy hungry.
So come 7.30 the game starts, and Murray, Ando, Cors and I all sit in a row on the same table. It's tempting to spread out so you don't knock each other out, but then that kind of takes the fun out of it. For the first fifteen minutes of so I mainly got rubbish cards, so focussed on catching up with Corey. I started to get hands a bit then, and cleaned up a few times without having to show my cards after getting Ace-rubbish.
I spent most of the first session dreaming of my chicken schnitzel in dianne gravy. I've never been so hungry playing cards before, or as relieved when the first break finally came.
During the second session we got split up and I ended up on a table alone. The blinds were starting to knock me out, so down to 1,200 chips I went all in and doubled up. As the final break approached I realised that the rest of the guys were all out of the comp, so decided that I was either going to go out in a blaze of glory on that hand, or come back from the break with a whole lot of chips. I went all in with King - Six, and had a few people call. Despite hitting a six on the flop I was still down until a third six came up on the river, and I cleaned up.
During the break I tried not to get too far ahead of myself. Murray told me there was $500 prize money for first place tonight, and I tried to resist fantasizing about what I'd spend the money on. I was getting advice all over the place - generally the consensus seemed to be play your game, play smart hands, don't try and get too agressive.
When we came back from the break I had about 11,000 chips, which probably put me up in the top 10 of remaining players, maybe higher. As the blinds climbed though, I started to lose . . . I saw two all ins against pocket pairs where I had two overcards and lost the race both times. Down to 2,200, I finally went all in with Jack - Queen suited. Was still in it till the river with an open ended straight draw, but didn't come off. Think I finished about 16th out of 70-odd players in the end, and avoided making any really boneheaded decisions all night, so I can't complain.
A few final thoughts:
It was great to spend the night just hanging with Corey, Murray and Ando. I realised then how infrequently we do that, just the guys.
Some of the players at my table were recounting the game they played in last night, which is held at an Adelaide strip club. I've never been to a strip club, but I would imagine it is not the kind of environment that is condusive to playing cards . . . or concentrating in general.
Some of the guys at my table needed to spend a little less time playing poker, a little more time showering.
There was an older guy there who Murray reckoned looked like Alan Kloot (an older South African guy who goes to our church). Murray explained to the guy who Alan was, and then called him Alan Kloot all night (using both names). Amazingly, the guy didn't seem to really care.
We were planning on getting there early for dinner before the game, but some unfortunate tardiness from Ando and Devs meant it was after 7pm by the time we ended up registering. So we ordered our meals, but the waitress says "If we do them now, you'll probably get them before the game starts but you'll have to rush them down - do you want to wait till the first break?" Everyone agreed that this sounded like a good idea, and so I didn't really have a choice, even though I was crazy hungry.
So come 7.30 the game starts, and Murray, Ando, Cors and I all sit in a row on the same table. It's tempting to spread out so you don't knock each other out, but then that kind of takes the fun out of it. For the first fifteen minutes of so I mainly got rubbish cards, so focussed on catching up with Corey. I started to get hands a bit then, and cleaned up a few times without having to show my cards after getting Ace-rubbish.
I spent most of the first session dreaming of my chicken schnitzel in dianne gravy. I've never been so hungry playing cards before, or as relieved when the first break finally came.
During the second session we got split up and I ended up on a table alone. The blinds were starting to knock me out, so down to 1,200 chips I went all in and doubled up. As the final break approached I realised that the rest of the guys were all out of the comp, so decided that I was either going to go out in a blaze of glory on that hand, or come back from the break with a whole lot of chips. I went all in with King - Six, and had a few people call. Despite hitting a six on the flop I was still down until a third six came up on the river, and I cleaned up.
During the break I tried not to get too far ahead of myself. Murray told me there was $500 prize money for first place tonight, and I tried to resist fantasizing about what I'd spend the money on. I was getting advice all over the place - generally the consensus seemed to be play your game, play smart hands, don't try and get too agressive.
When we came back from the break I had about 11,000 chips, which probably put me up in the top 10 of remaining players, maybe higher. As the blinds climbed though, I started to lose . . . I saw two all ins against pocket pairs where I had two overcards and lost the race both times. Down to 2,200, I finally went all in with Jack - Queen suited. Was still in it till the river with an open ended straight draw, but didn't come off. Think I finished about 16th out of 70-odd players in the end, and avoided making any really boneheaded decisions all night, so I can't complain.
A few final thoughts:
It was great to spend the night just hanging with Corey, Murray and Ando. I realised then how infrequently we do that, just the guys.
Some of the players at my table were recounting the game they played in last night, which is held at an Adelaide strip club. I've never been to a strip club, but I would imagine it is not the kind of environment that is condusive to playing cards . . . or concentrating in general.
Some of the guys at my table needed to spend a little less time playing poker, a little more time showering.
There was an older guy there who Murray reckoned looked like Alan Kloot (an older South African guy who goes to our church). Murray explained to the guy who Alan was, and then called him Alan Kloot all night (using both names). Amazingly, the guy didn't seem to really care.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Friday, December 07, 2007
Today was a good day
Woke up this morning and I was 31. Not sure if that feels old or not, I don't think it does.
I did few odd jobs around the house, then drove to Michella's place. She handed me my gift, and said "don't get excited by the shape, it's not what you think it is". As I unwrapped it I noticed it was a shoebox shape, and so figured it probably wasn't the November Rain limited edition Nike SB Dunks that I had been coveting. Anyway, it was all part of her plan to throw me off the scent, because tearing off the gold wrapping paper I found a gold Nike box with these awesome shoes (or "kicks" as they are otherwise known) inside.
Best present ever.
Anyway . . . after that we drove down to Star of Greece at Port Willunga, where Chella was shouting me lunch.
I'd never been there before, and it was very nice - great views of the coastline, and really nice food. The decor isn't really what you'd expect for the price you're paying, although some would say that's part of the charm.
I had the locally caught squid with lemon mayonaise, and then rump of lamb with purple gnocci, cherry tomatoes and green beans. Perhaps it was because it was my birthday, or perhaps just because she had the same main, Michella mainly left my food alone this time.
After coffee we got up to leave and approached the counter for the bill. When the waitress handed it to me I turned and gave it to Michella, and the waitress reacted with a horrified look on her face, like "You're the dude, you're not meant to do that!" I tried to explain that it was my birthday and not a regular occurence but she seemed pretty surprised still. Ah we still have so far to go in terms of gender equality in our society.
On our way back to town we stopped off at Colonades to try and find a dress for Michella. Unfortunately there was nothing in Myer and the rest of the place seems bogan central so came away empty handed.
We got some alcohol for my birthday breakfast at Dan Murphys there, picking up a slab of Coopers Pale and Coronas. Also grabbed a few bottles of champagne - Michella tried to get me to class it up with the $60 bottles but I figured it was a waste, especially since I don't like champagne and it would just be other people drinking it.
We drove back into town and headed for the markets, looking for food for the next morning. I like the idea of shopping in the markets, but it's just so tiring - trying to avoid people walking too slow, people not watching where they are going, and people with prams who might possibly run all over my new sneakers. Was glad to get away and finally home to relax.
I did few odd jobs around the house, then drove to Michella's place. She handed me my gift, and said "don't get excited by the shape, it's not what you think it is". As I unwrapped it I noticed it was a shoebox shape, and so figured it probably wasn't the November Rain limited edition Nike SB Dunks that I had been coveting. Anyway, it was all part of her plan to throw me off the scent, because tearing off the gold wrapping paper I found a gold Nike box with these awesome shoes (or "kicks" as they are otherwise known) inside.
Best present ever.
Anyway . . . after that we drove down to Star of Greece at Port Willunga, where Chella was shouting me lunch.
I'd never been there before, and it was very nice - great views of the coastline, and really nice food. The decor isn't really what you'd expect for the price you're paying, although some would say that's part of the charm.
I had the locally caught squid with lemon mayonaise, and then rump of lamb with purple gnocci, cherry tomatoes and green beans. Perhaps it was because it was my birthday, or perhaps just because she had the same main, Michella mainly left my food alone this time.
After coffee we got up to leave and approached the counter for the bill. When the waitress handed it to me I turned and gave it to Michella, and the waitress reacted with a horrified look on her face, like "You're the dude, you're not meant to do that!" I tried to explain that it was my birthday and not a regular occurence but she seemed pretty surprised still. Ah we still have so far to go in terms of gender equality in our society.
On our way back to town we stopped off at Colonades to try and find a dress for Michella. Unfortunately there was nothing in Myer and the rest of the place seems bogan central so came away empty handed.
We got some alcohol for my birthday breakfast at Dan Murphys there, picking up a slab of Coopers Pale and Coronas. Also grabbed a few bottles of champagne - Michella tried to get me to class it up with the $60 bottles but I figured it was a waste, especially since I don't like champagne and it would just be other people drinking it.
We drove back into town and headed for the markets, looking for food for the next morning. I like the idea of shopping in the markets, but it's just so tiring - trying to avoid people walking too slow, people not watching where they are going, and people with prams who might possibly run all over my new sneakers. Was glad to get away and finally home to relax.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Darjeeling Limited
This is a bit of a belated review, but I thought it was important that I post it, if only to save other people from watching this film.
Last Thursday night we went to the first night of Moonlight Cinema for the summer in Botanic Gardens. I got some tickets through work, and was looking forward to seeing "The Darjeeling Limited", the new film from Wes Anderson (The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic).
We got there a little after 7pm with our take away Thai food. For me, this is one of the best things about Moonlight Cinema - even if the movie is completely crap, it's a nice excuse to eat great food in a picturesque location surrounded by pretentious yuppies (more on that later). I can't complain about the food, it was great quality. The only downside was that I ordered the Red Beef Curry, and Michella ordered some all-vegetable dish. And then wanted some of my meal too. It reminded me of how when you go to a party and they decide to order pizza, and everyone asks for all of these weird things, and you say you just want a bbq chicken one, and then when it comes everyone just eats your bbq chicken. I hate it when that happens.
Anyway, as we were eating dinner, we noticed a group of young people sitting across from us who looked like they were out at a day at the races. The girls in particular were all dressed up in summer dresses, despite the fact that in about an hour it was going to be freezing cold. There was a photographer for The Advertiser taking photos, and she spent quite a lot of time with this group, getting different combinations of them together. Once she finished up there she walked past us to the next group of people, and started taking their photo. I'm guessing we missed out because a) we were dressed appropriately for a movie in the open air late at night and/or b) we were stuffing our faces with Thai food.
Onto the actual film itself . . . it was preceded by a short movie starting Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, playing two ex-lovers who meet again in a Paris hotel. It was kind of interesting, but nothing to write home about.
The main feature then commenced, with Jason reprising his character, playing the brother of Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody. The movie is basically about three brothers who go on a train journey across India, to "find themselves" or something like that, following the death of their father.
I was talking to Mirjana today who told me that the luggage they all carry throughout the film is meant to signify the baggage we all carry through our lives. That kind of explains the pseudo-depth they're aiming for with this. Mainly I found it boring. There were a few good Owen Wilson lines, but overall it was more of the same from the director - if you've seen any of his last few movies you know what to expect. Lots of quirkly dialogue, deadpan delivery, awkward silences, that kind of thing. I kind of enjoyed it for a while but two hours was way too much. Michella said she liked it but she fell asleep about an hour in so I don't think that really counts.
Last Thursday night we went to the first night of Moonlight Cinema for the summer in Botanic Gardens. I got some tickets through work, and was looking forward to seeing "The Darjeeling Limited", the new film from Wes Anderson (The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic).
We got there a little after 7pm with our take away Thai food. For me, this is one of the best things about Moonlight Cinema - even if the movie is completely crap, it's a nice excuse to eat great food in a picturesque location surrounded by pretentious yuppies (more on that later). I can't complain about the food, it was great quality. The only downside was that I ordered the Red Beef Curry, and Michella ordered some all-vegetable dish. And then wanted some of my meal too. It reminded me of how when you go to a party and they decide to order pizza, and everyone asks for all of these weird things, and you say you just want a bbq chicken one, and then when it comes everyone just eats your bbq chicken. I hate it when that happens.
Anyway, as we were eating dinner, we noticed a group of young people sitting across from us who looked like they were out at a day at the races. The girls in particular were all dressed up in summer dresses, despite the fact that in about an hour it was going to be freezing cold. There was a photographer for The Advertiser taking photos, and she spent quite a lot of time with this group, getting different combinations of them together. Once she finished up there she walked past us to the next group of people, and started taking their photo. I'm guessing we missed out because a) we were dressed appropriately for a movie in the open air late at night and/or b) we were stuffing our faces with Thai food.
Onto the actual film itself . . . it was preceded by a short movie starting Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, playing two ex-lovers who meet again in a Paris hotel. It was kind of interesting, but nothing to write home about.
The main feature then commenced, with Jason reprising his character, playing the brother of Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody. The movie is basically about three brothers who go on a train journey across India, to "find themselves" or something like that, following the death of their father.
I was talking to Mirjana today who told me that the luggage they all carry throughout the film is meant to signify the baggage we all carry through our lives. That kind of explains the pseudo-depth they're aiming for with this. Mainly I found it boring. There were a few good Owen Wilson lines, but overall it was more of the same from the director - if you've seen any of his last few movies you know what to expect. Lots of quirkly dialogue, deadpan delivery, awkward silences, that kind of thing. I kind of enjoyed it for a while but two hours was way too much. Michella said she liked it but she fell asleep about an hour in so I don't think that really counts.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Disappointed
Last night Muzz and I caught Rob Zombie's remake of "Halloween" at Arndale. I was disappointed.
I was really looking forward to this - Rob Zombie has made two of my favourite horror movies, and so I didn't think he could screw it up. But he did, it just really wasn't that scary.
Maybe it's got something to do with the source material - back in the seventies the original Halloween was probably pretty scary, but these days, a big man wearing a mask and lumbering around killing people isn't that terrifying. In fact, he looked more comedic than scary most of the time. There were hints of his earlier movies, in terms of some of the white-trash characters, especially in the first half of the film. But the second half (when Michael Myers is an adult) was just like any other horror movie remake.
Perhaps the best thing about the movie was the casting - Zombie uses the same actors from movie to movie, so it's kind of fun to pick out all of the regulars, sometimes in quite different roles than they usually play. I also enjoyed the doctor from "Deadwood" as the Sheriff, and Ari's boss from "Entourage" as Dr Loomis.
In short, wait for the DVD, or don't bother.
I was really looking forward to this - Rob Zombie has made two of my favourite horror movies, and so I didn't think he could screw it up. But he did, it just really wasn't that scary.
Maybe it's got something to do with the source material - back in the seventies the original Halloween was probably pretty scary, but these days, a big man wearing a mask and lumbering around killing people isn't that terrifying. In fact, he looked more comedic than scary most of the time. There were hints of his earlier movies, in terms of some of the white-trash characters, especially in the first half of the film. But the second half (when Michael Myers is an adult) was just like any other horror movie remake.
Perhaps the best thing about the movie was the casting - Zombie uses the same actors from movie to movie, so it's kind of fun to pick out all of the regulars, sometimes in quite different roles than they usually play. I also enjoyed the doctor from "Deadwood" as the Sheriff, and Ari's boss from "Entourage" as Dr Loomis.
In short, wait for the DVD, or don't bother.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
A few quick reviews
Reign Over Me
Sunday night watched the Don Cheadle/Adam Sandler movie "Reign Over Me". Normally I'd steer pretty clear of Adam Sandler, but this was one of his "serious" movies, and received a good review from Forcey so gave it a go. Basically, Adam Sandler plays a reclusive ex-dentist, who lost his family in the 9/11 plane crashes. One day his old college room mate, played by Don Cheadle, runs into him on the street, and they rekindle their friendship as Cheadle trys to help Sandler deal with post traumatic stress, and face the world again. A pretty good movie, although a little long, and Liv Tyler's role as a psychiatrist is probably the most ridiculous casting since Denise Richards played a nuclear scientist in that Bond movie.
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Wu-Tan Clan's albums have been getting progressively worse since their debut but I downloaded this one yesterday and have actually been enjoying it quite a bit. Especially the song they do where they sample The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
Arrested Development
I borrowed the first season of this off of a colleague and am quite enjoying it. It's not great, or always laugh out loud funny, but it is cleverly written. And for me these days, that's enough.
Sunday night watched the Don Cheadle/Adam Sandler movie "Reign Over Me". Normally I'd steer pretty clear of Adam Sandler, but this was one of his "serious" movies, and received a good review from Forcey so gave it a go. Basically, Adam Sandler plays a reclusive ex-dentist, who lost his family in the 9/11 plane crashes. One day his old college room mate, played by Don Cheadle, runs into him on the street, and they rekindle their friendship as Cheadle trys to help Sandler deal with post traumatic stress, and face the world again. A pretty good movie, although a little long, and Liv Tyler's role as a psychiatrist is probably the most ridiculous casting since Denise Richards played a nuclear scientist in that Bond movie.
Wu-Tang Clan - 8 Diagrams
Wu-Tan Clan's albums have been getting progressively worse since their debut but I downloaded this one yesterday and have actually been enjoying it quite a bit. Especially the song they do where they sample The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".
Arrested Development
I borrowed the first season of this off of a colleague and am quite enjoying it. It's not great, or always laugh out loud funny, but it is cleverly written. And for me these days, that's enough.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Temptation
A couple of months ago I got turned onto something called Chester Slice, that they sell at the "Ned Kelly Bakery" around the corner from me.
I'm not really sure why I chose to try it, because it doesn't look all that appetising. It's basically a vanilla slice bottom with icing on top, but instead of custard in the middle there is a type of dark fruit cake. Anyway, it is delicious, and now I'm hooked.
Until now this hasn't posed a huge problem to my waistline because the only place I could get this item was around the corner from my house, limiting my consumption to weekends. But this week I found out that the Price's Bakery in Southern Cross Food Court sells them as well.
This could pose a problem for me, it's kind of like how Robert Downey Jr would feel if they opened up a cocaine shop next door to his house. I've had two this week already, the most recent one being about half an hour ago. And I think I need to set myself some limits here, or all the trips to the gym in the world aren't going to help me. Why is everything that is tasty so bad for me? I don't understand things like that.
I'm not really sure why I chose to try it, because it doesn't look all that appetising. It's basically a vanilla slice bottom with icing on top, but instead of custard in the middle there is a type of dark fruit cake. Anyway, it is delicious, and now I'm hooked.
Until now this hasn't posed a huge problem to my waistline because the only place I could get this item was around the corner from my house, limiting my consumption to weekends. But this week I found out that the Price's Bakery in Southern Cross Food Court sells them as well.
This could pose a problem for me, it's kind of like how Robert Downey Jr would feel if they opened up a cocaine shop next door to his house. I've had two this week already, the most recent one being about half an hour ago. And I think I need to set myself some limits here, or all the trips to the gym in the world aren't going to help me. Why is everything that is tasty so bad for me? I don't understand things like that.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Songs I love
I've been getting a lot of questions about the playlist for my upcoming 31st birthday party. I wasn't going to release any of the details, but what the hell . . . if you're in my backyard on the morning of Satruday 8 December, you could probably expect to hear a few of these songs . . .
The Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping up to Boston
I first heard these guys when this song was featured in "The Departed". I haven't taken the time to listen to much of their back catalogue since, but this song is a winner. It's got it all - heavy guitars, banjo, some accordion. Basically it sounds like a bunch of pirates getting together to form a punk rock band. From what I can understand, the lyrics are about climbing the top mast. A great song.
The Gallows - Abandon Ship
Because really, you can't have too many punk rock songs about sailing.
The Killers with Lou Reed - Tranquilize
This is the first song off the new Killers B-sides album. I'm not sure about the rest of the CD yet but I love this song, it might be my pick for song of the year. I love the western sounding intro, it kind of reminds me of the Dandy Warhols during their "13 Tales from Urban Bohemia" era. My colleague reckons it reminds her of Jon Bon Jovi during his "Young Guns" era, but I think she's just trying to piss me off. Bonus marks as well for the backing vocals from the little kids, a la "The Wall". I love that The Killers seem to be mixing in these classic rock influences into their sound, hints of Pink Floyd and Queen as well as the eighties stuff. Partygoers will definitely be hearing this one.
Radiohead - All I Need
I kind of gave up on Radiohead after OK Computer, but this song is fantastic. Really chilled out but still with a driving beat. And like, an actual melody, which they don't seem to care too much about these days.
Ryan Adams - Down In A Hole
I heard he was playing this Alice in Chains cover on his latest tour, and was hoping we'd get it in Adelaide. No such luck, as he played the bare minimum before ending the show rather early. Anyway, he's recorded a studio version of this song and released it on a new ep and it's pretty cool. Quite a bit of Alice In Chains' acoustic stuff has a country-ish feel to it anyway, but the slide guitar is definitely a welcome addition.
The Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping up to Boston
I first heard these guys when this song was featured in "The Departed". I haven't taken the time to listen to much of their back catalogue since, but this song is a winner. It's got it all - heavy guitars, banjo, some accordion. Basically it sounds like a bunch of pirates getting together to form a punk rock band. From what I can understand, the lyrics are about climbing the top mast. A great song.
The Gallows - Abandon Ship
Because really, you can't have too many punk rock songs about sailing.
The Killers with Lou Reed - Tranquilize
This is the first song off the new Killers B-sides album. I'm not sure about the rest of the CD yet but I love this song, it might be my pick for song of the year. I love the western sounding intro, it kind of reminds me of the Dandy Warhols during their "13 Tales from Urban Bohemia" era. My colleague reckons it reminds her of Jon Bon Jovi during his "Young Guns" era, but I think she's just trying to piss me off. Bonus marks as well for the backing vocals from the little kids, a la "The Wall". I love that The Killers seem to be mixing in these classic rock influences into their sound, hints of Pink Floyd and Queen as well as the eighties stuff. Partygoers will definitely be hearing this one.
Radiohead - All I Need
I kind of gave up on Radiohead after OK Computer, but this song is fantastic. Really chilled out but still with a driving beat. And like, an actual melody, which they don't seem to care too much about these days.
Ryan Adams - Down In A Hole
I heard he was playing this Alice in Chains cover on his latest tour, and was hoping we'd get it in Adelaide. No such luck, as he played the bare minimum before ending the show rather early. Anyway, he's recorded a studio version of this song and released it on a new ep and it's pretty cool. Quite a bit of Alice In Chains' acoustic stuff has a country-ish feel to it anyway, but the slide guitar is definitely a welcome addition.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Go Sixers!
Saturday night I attended my first Sixers game for the season with a few friends. We've had a pretty terrible season so far, and have now lost Maher, so expectations aren't real high. However, the team has won a few in a row now, and was taking on the second year South Melbourne Dragons, who were one spot below us on the ladder, so I thought we might pull through.
We started pretty well, with new import Adam Balinger doing whatever he wanted offensively. I'm with Forcey on this one, he might be my favourite Sixer ever. He reminds me a bit of Dusty Rychart - a big, fundamentally sound power forward with a nice shot, but a willingness to work hard inside. I wasn't such a huge fan of our other import Mike Chappelle - not sure if I've been scarred by the Willie Farley experience, but I'm not really into import guards who mostly just shoot the ball. And not always well.
Still, the lack of offensive firepower on the team became evident, especially with Maher out - at one point I realised of their 52 points, 27 were from Balinger, 10 from Ng, 10 from Chappelle, and the rest of the team had a combined five.
Anyway, as we went into the fourth quarter up by 20, I started explaining to Michella that if this was the NBA, Balinger would spend much of the final period on the bench, enraging his fantasy owners. Not long after though South began their comeback, eventually cutting a twenty point lead to 1 point. There were a couple of causes - the Dragons played a pretty good trap in the final period, and Davidson had a bit of trouble with it (Maher would have been handy here). Also, Heal and Ingles took over, Ingles in particular hitting two huge step back threes.
It took two made free throws with about 5 seconds remaining from Balinger to seal the deal and give the Sixers a three point win. A great game, and I'm a big Adam Balinger fan now.
A few other random notes:
Nicest jersey I saw - A brand new Boston Celtics Ray Allen
Worst tattoo - The guy who had a tattoo of Ned Kelly on his bicep. You know, the one with the bucket on his head.
Biggest disappointment - The umpiring was horrible, with the Sixers getting tackled a few times in the last quarter. You just knew a Boti Nagy column was coming on Monday.
Worst nickname - The Ninja (Darren Ng) - am I the only one who finds this borderline racist? Why not call him "Fried Rice"?
Postgame
After coffee and cake at Evida's at Henley, we weren't quite ready to call it a night, so went to McDonalds at Fulham for a Big Mac. We talked ourselves into it by remembering that it was McHappy Day, so at least we'd be helping the kids while piling on the kilos. Anyway, the Fulham McDonalds is a hole these days. Not sure if its being remodeled but it was a mess inside. So we grabbed our burgers to go, and noticed that outside there were a whole heap of cars full of young teenage men. Cruising is what they call it. Just driving around, playing music, every now and then yelling at people in other cars. I don't understand the attraction, seems pretty gay to me. But I noticed as we were driving home these people were pretty much everywhere. Mostly driving Commodores and Skylines. It's weird, I don't remember this being a big thing when I was younger. Sure, sometimes, we'd drive down to the Quix to get frozen cokes, but I don't think we ever spent the night just cruising around. Kids these days . . .
We started pretty well, with new import Adam Balinger doing whatever he wanted offensively. I'm with Forcey on this one, he might be my favourite Sixer ever. He reminds me a bit of Dusty Rychart - a big, fundamentally sound power forward with a nice shot, but a willingness to work hard inside. I wasn't such a huge fan of our other import Mike Chappelle - not sure if I've been scarred by the Willie Farley experience, but I'm not really into import guards who mostly just shoot the ball. And not always well.
Still, the lack of offensive firepower on the team became evident, especially with Maher out - at one point I realised of their 52 points, 27 were from Balinger, 10 from Ng, 10 from Chappelle, and the rest of the team had a combined five.
Anyway, as we went into the fourth quarter up by 20, I started explaining to Michella that if this was the NBA, Balinger would spend much of the final period on the bench, enraging his fantasy owners. Not long after though South began their comeback, eventually cutting a twenty point lead to 1 point. There were a couple of causes - the Dragons played a pretty good trap in the final period, and Davidson had a bit of trouble with it (Maher would have been handy here). Also, Heal and Ingles took over, Ingles in particular hitting two huge step back threes.
It took two made free throws with about 5 seconds remaining from Balinger to seal the deal and give the Sixers a three point win. A great game, and I'm a big Adam Balinger fan now.
A few other random notes:
Nicest jersey I saw - A brand new Boston Celtics Ray Allen
Worst tattoo - The guy who had a tattoo of Ned Kelly on his bicep. You know, the one with the bucket on his head.
Biggest disappointment - The umpiring was horrible, with the Sixers getting tackled a few times in the last quarter. You just knew a Boti Nagy column was coming on Monday.
Worst nickname - The Ninja (Darren Ng) - am I the only one who finds this borderline racist? Why not call him "Fried Rice"?
Postgame
After coffee and cake at Evida's at Henley, we weren't quite ready to call it a night, so went to McDonalds at Fulham for a Big Mac. We talked ourselves into it by remembering that it was McHappy Day, so at least we'd be helping the kids while piling on the kilos. Anyway, the Fulham McDonalds is a hole these days. Not sure if its being remodeled but it was a mess inside. So we grabbed our burgers to go, and noticed that outside there were a whole heap of cars full of young teenage men. Cruising is what they call it. Just driving around, playing music, every now and then yelling at people in other cars. I don't understand the attraction, seems pretty gay to me. But I noticed as we were driving home these people were pretty much everywhere. Mostly driving Commodores and Skylines. It's weird, I don't remember this being a big thing when I was younger. Sure, sometimes, we'd drive down to the Quix to get frozen cokes, but I don't think we ever spent the night just cruising around. Kids these days . . .
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Remembering the Spice Girls
So last night I went to tea at Michella's cousin Sharna and her husband Dave's house. After a delicious meal of roast chicken we settled down to a game of "Battle of the Sexes". For those who might not know about the game (like me before last night), it involves teams split by gender being asked general knowledge questions skewed towards the interests of the other sex.
For example, Michella, her sister Rhianna and Sharna got questions about lathes and Rugby Union, while Dave and I got questions about sewing and cosmetics. And the Spice Girls.
We were asked to name all of the Spice Girls, and I took up the challenge . . . and surprisingly I managed to name all five. The names came slowly at first, but as I rattled them off one after the other the impressed gasps turned to laughter. It was an exhilarating and then slightly awkward moment, as I could see the "We're so breaking up after this" look in Michella's eyes.
I actually have no idea at what point I learned the names of the Spice Girls. And obviously it worries me a little that the information is still hanging around in my head. At least I was able to make use of it, if only to amuse my friends.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Inflation
So I stop off at my favourite Vietnamese bakery on the way into work this morning, planning on grabbing one of their sultana muffins.
I request the muffin, count out the $1.40 from my wallet, and the lady responds "That will be $1.95 thanks".
"Huh?"
"$1.95. Prices go up today."
So I stepped back, took a look at the cabinet, and sure enough, prices had gone up. And not the usual amount of 10% or so. Choc donuts - were $1.60, now $2.40. Basically everything had gone up by 50%. It was like someone had told her how much baked goods were currently selling for, and she was unaware as she's spent every day for the past ten years in her little shop from 7am-5.30pm.
The thing she probably doesn't realise is her wares really aren't all that nice. The low price is a key selling point. If she's going to charge the same as everyone else, I may as well go elsewhere. And I probably will.
I request the muffin, count out the $1.40 from my wallet, and the lady responds "That will be $1.95 thanks".
"Huh?"
"$1.95. Prices go up today."
So I stepped back, took a look at the cabinet, and sure enough, prices had gone up. And not the usual amount of 10% or so. Choc donuts - were $1.60, now $2.40. Basically everything had gone up by 50%. It was like someone had told her how much baked goods were currently selling for, and she was unaware as she's spent every day for the past ten years in her little shop from 7am-5.30pm.
The thing she probably doesn't realise is her wares really aren't all that nice. The low price is a key selling point. If she's going to charge the same as everyone else, I may as well go elsewhere. And I probably will.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Gyroscope
So Sunday night I went to see Gyroscope at Fowlers Live, my final concert for 2008.
We (Narelle, Murray and I) arrived at about 8.15pm, and found out it would be another two hours or so before Gyroscope took to the stage. We saw a bit of the first support act, but skipped the second for a trip to the West Terrace Maccas. Murray said he hadn't had tea, so we got some burgers, although I found out the next day he'd actually enjoyed a dinner of fish and chips, but had just forgotten about it. I was shocked to discover that a hot apple pie now costs $2.25. Daylight robbery if you ask me.
We got back to the venue just as the second band were finishing up their set, and waited another half an hour or so as Gyroscope set up. They finally got on at about 10.15pm, and played for about an hour. It was a great show, with most of the hits from their last album, "Are You Involved?"
A few things weren't quite right though . . .
1) It was too loud. My ears were ringing for five minutes after leaving, and I heard Murray's still were the next day. I like loud music as much as the next guy, but if you've got one instrument drowning out everything else it's a waste, I'd rather they turned it down a bit and worked on the mix.
2) It was an all ages show. Kids are more annoying these days than they were 15 years ago. Examples of their behaviour included the guy who was jumping around in the mosh pit, and then coming back to kiss and hug his girlfriend every few minutes, and the two teenage girls next to me who sang the lyrics to each song loudly while staring lovingly at each other. Weird.
3) Sunday nights aren't ideal for a rock concert, when you have a job.
Still, all in all it was a really good concert. The band were a lot tighter than when we saw them at the Uni Bar last year, and they definitely put on a really energetic show. Highlights were "A Slow Dance", "Beware Wolf" and "Snakes and Ladders".
Next up - Big Day Out and Rage Against the Machine.
We (Narelle, Murray and I) arrived at about 8.15pm, and found out it would be another two hours or so before Gyroscope took to the stage. We saw a bit of the first support act, but skipped the second for a trip to the West Terrace Maccas. Murray said he hadn't had tea, so we got some burgers, although I found out the next day he'd actually enjoyed a dinner of fish and chips, but had just forgotten about it. I was shocked to discover that a hot apple pie now costs $2.25. Daylight robbery if you ask me.
We got back to the venue just as the second band were finishing up their set, and waited another half an hour or so as Gyroscope set up. They finally got on at about 10.15pm, and played for about an hour. It was a great show, with most of the hits from their last album, "Are You Involved?"
A few things weren't quite right though . . .
1) It was too loud. My ears were ringing for five minutes after leaving, and I heard Murray's still were the next day. I like loud music as much as the next guy, but if you've got one instrument drowning out everything else it's a waste, I'd rather they turned it down a bit and worked on the mix.
2) It was an all ages show. Kids are more annoying these days than they were 15 years ago. Examples of their behaviour included the guy who was jumping around in the mosh pit, and then coming back to kiss and hug his girlfriend every few minutes, and the two teenage girls next to me who sang the lyrics to each song loudly while staring lovingly at each other. Weird.
3) Sunday nights aren't ideal for a rock concert, when you have a job.
Still, all in all it was a really good concert. The band were a lot tighter than when we saw them at the Uni Bar last year, and they definitely put on a really energetic show. Highlights were "A Slow Dance", "Beware Wolf" and "Snakes and Ladders".
Next up - Big Day Out and Rage Against the Machine.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Rogue Assassin plus Death Proof
I was planning on watching "Rogue Assassin" at the movies. But then I found out I could watch it for free on the internet, and so I just did that.
I reckon there was probably something lost watching it on my laptop, but even still, it wasn't very good. It stars Jason Statham as an FBI agent who is trying to track down "Rogue", played by Jet Li. "Rogue" killed his partner (FBI partner, not the other type) in a flashback at the start of the film, and now Jason wants revenge. There was also a plot about a war between the Triads and the Yakuza in San Francisco, but I couldn't really understand that since they all looked the same to me.
Anyway, you don't watch a movie like this for the plot. The trailer promised lots of shootouts, car chases and kung fu fighting, and it didn't really feel like the movie delivered here.
I like Jason Statham a lot. He was great in "Snatch", and the first "Transporter" film. Most of his other movies have been pretty rubbish though, especially that "Crank" movie, which was just ridiculously bad. Sadly this seems to follow in that tradition. I really wanted to like this, but I couldn't.
I also saw "Death Proof", the Quentin Tarantino-directed half of "Grind House" recently. Again, I wasn't a huge fan. I'm starting to notice a pattern with Tarantino's films. After the masterpiece of "Pulp Fiction", he turned in "Jackie Brown". He followed that with the brilliant "Kill Bill", and now this. It's like he takes every second movie off.
Anyway, this mainly consists of a psychotic stunt car driver (Kurt Russell) chasing down women in his "death proof" car, which he's modified so that he can crash into other cars and still live. It's split into two sections, with each focussing on a different group of girls. Most of the time though is just them talking about girl stuff, and while the dialogue is usually great in his films, it's rather boring in this.
So overall I wouldn't recommend this. Hopefully "Planet Terror" is an improvement, because this was a bit of a let down.
I reckon there was probably something lost watching it on my laptop, but even still, it wasn't very good. It stars Jason Statham as an FBI agent who is trying to track down "Rogue", played by Jet Li. "Rogue" killed his partner (FBI partner, not the other type) in a flashback at the start of the film, and now Jason wants revenge. There was also a plot about a war between the Triads and the Yakuza in San Francisco, but I couldn't really understand that since they all looked the same to me.
Anyway, you don't watch a movie like this for the plot. The trailer promised lots of shootouts, car chases and kung fu fighting, and it didn't really feel like the movie delivered here.
I like Jason Statham a lot. He was great in "Snatch", and the first "Transporter" film. Most of his other movies have been pretty rubbish though, especially that "Crank" movie, which was just ridiculously bad. Sadly this seems to follow in that tradition. I really wanted to like this, but I couldn't.
I also saw "Death Proof", the Quentin Tarantino-directed half of "Grind House" recently. Again, I wasn't a huge fan. I'm starting to notice a pattern with Tarantino's films. After the masterpiece of "Pulp Fiction", he turned in "Jackie Brown". He followed that with the brilliant "Kill Bill", and now this. It's like he takes every second movie off.
Anyway, this mainly consists of a psychotic stunt car driver (Kurt Russell) chasing down women in his "death proof" car, which he's modified so that he can crash into other cars and still live. It's split into two sections, with each focussing on a different group of girls. Most of the time though is just them talking about girl stuff, and while the dialogue is usually great in his films, it's rather boring in this.
So overall I wouldn't recommend this. Hopefully "Planet Terror" is an improvement, because this was a bit of a let down.
Monday, October 29, 2007
TV on the internet
About a week or so ago I had my internet connection upgraded from 256kps to 1.5mbps. The difference seems about the same as when I went from dial up to broadband. Which means it is much, much faster.
The major benefit of all of this speed means I can now watch internet video without waiting for it to buffer. So I've spent a little more time on youtube, mainly checking out basketball highlight videos. This is great, but there is only so much you can take of watching 3-4 minute clips.
However, I've come across another site which I'm loving - www.watchtvsitcoms.com
Basically it's a youtube type page where you can watch entire TV shows in real time eg you don't need to bother downloading them first. There's a limited number of shows up there, but you've got all your major hits - The Simpsons, Prison Break, 24 etc. There's even a few movies, which is pretty cool. I'm looking forward to watching the remake of "Halloween" some time soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if this gets shut down soon, but until it does I'll be a regular.
The major benefit of all of this speed means I can now watch internet video without waiting for it to buffer. So I've spent a little more time on youtube, mainly checking out basketball highlight videos. This is great, but there is only so much you can take of watching 3-4 minute clips.
However, I've come across another site which I'm loving - www.watchtvsitcoms.com
Basically it's a youtube type page where you can watch entire TV shows in real time eg you don't need to bother downloading them first. There's a limited number of shows up there, but you've got all your major hits - The Simpsons, Prison Break, 24 etc. There's even a few movies, which is pretty cool. I'm looking forward to watching the remake of "Halloween" some time soon.
I wouldn't be surprised if this gets shut down soon, but until it does I'll be a regular.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Scrabble, basketball, and weathermen
I've started reading a book on the world of competitive Scrabble playing, called "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis, which I borrowed off Penglis several years ago. It's pretty good so far, although I'm not really learning any special techniques that will help me with my game. It's amazing the difference though between social games and competitive ones - if I'm playing I try to not use words that I couldn't put in sentence. Or at least give a definition for. I can honestly say though that I've never heard of 90% of the words that are used in the professional games described in this book. Words like "fustian", "eloiners", "oxtering" and "filariid".
After my rant about how all music sucks these days, I found something new that I like, an ep from Maynard Keenan's new project Puscifer. It's no Tool, but it's pretty good nevertheless.
If you're looking for quality basketball videos on youtube, check this out. http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=truehoop
This was my personal favourite . . .
Also, Bill Simmons took a break this week from talking about baseball and football on his podcast to talk about the NBA with Charles Barkley. Definitely worth listening to.
I got the first issue in my subscription to "Esquire" this week. I'm really enjoying it so far. There's a few too many ads for $10,000 wristwatches, but it does feature Chuck Klosterman as a regular columnist. And there's a really interesting - and quite lengthy - article on Kobe in this issue. Plus pictures of Charlize Theron. No down side really.
The Kobe story is up online if you want to check it out . . .
http://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/kobebryant1107-2
I got a phone call as I was walking into the office yesterday morning from my old buddy Keith Martin, at the printer with his almanac, checking a few last event dates with me. He asked me when the Barossa Under the Stars and Big Day Out were going to be. I had to fight the urge to say "Are you serious Keith? You don't have your Big Day Out tickets yet? Rage Against the Machine are playing! You can not miss this show!"
After my rant about how all music sucks these days, I found something new that I like, an ep from Maynard Keenan's new project Puscifer. It's no Tool, but it's pretty good nevertheless.
If you're looking for quality basketball videos on youtube, check this out. http://www.youtube.com/groups_videos?name=truehoop
This was my personal favourite . . .
Also, Bill Simmons took a break this week from talking about baseball and football on his podcast to talk about the NBA with Charles Barkley. Definitely worth listening to.
I got the first issue in my subscription to "Esquire" this week. I'm really enjoying it so far. There's a few too many ads for $10,000 wristwatches, but it does feature Chuck Klosterman as a regular columnist. And there's a really interesting - and quite lengthy - article on Kobe in this issue. Plus pictures of Charlize Theron. No down side really.
The Kobe story is up online if you want to check it out . . .
http://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/kobebryant1107-2
I got a phone call as I was walking into the office yesterday morning from my old buddy Keith Martin, at the printer with his almanac, checking a few last event dates with me. He asked me when the Barossa Under the Stars and Big Day Out were going to be. I had to fight the urge to say "Are you serious Keith? You don't have your Big Day Out tickets yet? Rage Against the Machine are playing! You can not miss this show!"
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Is music getting worse?
I think it is.
Over the last month or so, I've aquired new albums from the following bands: R.E.M., Jose Gonzales, Eddie Vedder, Thursday, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey.
From these six albums, I think I really like two songs - Jose Gonzales' cover of the Massive Attack song "Teardrop", and the Radiohead song "All I Need". Not a good success rate. And yet if you were to ask me what kind of music I like, names like R.E.M, Pearl Jam and Thursday would probably get bandied around a lot.
I'm not sure if these bands are getting worse, or my taste is changing. If it's the latter though, shouldn't I be liking new and different music? Probably the only new band that I've added to my listening rotation in the last year has been The National. And that's mainly because they sound like Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, two artists that I've liked for a while.
So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them (Paul, I've heard of the Foo Fighters, and Michella . . . the Michael Buble thing is not going to happen. Sorry)
Anyway, while I'm on the topic, here are a few quick thoughts on the above albums, just in case anyone is interested in checking them out.
Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
This is OK, although not much of a development from his last album, Veneer, which is great background music, and always makes me feel suave and urbane when I listen to it. The best song as I mentioned is the cover. Because he has such a unique style he generally does covers pretty well, his version of Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is the best I've heard.
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
This is a soundtrack to some movie, so it kind of gets a pass, because who knows, maybe it works as background music. But overall I just found this a little dull.
Radiohead - In Rainbows
This is probably my favourite Radiohead album since OK Computer, which isn't saying much. They released it via their website, and told their fans they could pay what they wanted. I chose nothing. But given some of the crap they've released the last few years, I kind of feel like they owe me money. What's even funnier than this sliding cost schedule though is they are also releasing a deluxe copy, with all this extra crap, which sells for $80 or something. So they are simultaneously looking after their fans, and trying to completely screw them over. Weird.
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Instead of playing the guitar, she sticks mainly to the piano on this album. And instead of singing in her normal voice, she sings mainly in an unusual falsetto. Why? I have no idea.
Thursday - Kill The House Lights
This is a collection of live songs, demos and unreleased material. The overall quality seems to be pretty bad - the band broke up earlier this year so I think they just grabbed whatever was still lying around and threw it on here.
R.E.M. - Live
This is a live album from their last world tour (which Alen, Narelle and I took in at the Entertainment Centre a few years ago). I actually quite like their last few albums, so this is OK - the tracklisting includes "Walk Unafraid", "Drive", "I Took Your Name", "Boy in the Well", and of course the hits like "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts". It's just that there's nothing really here to distinguish the songs from the studio recordings - they're not really reworked, and there's not an overabundance of energy. Worst of all, "Country Feedback" is somehow ommitted, which is really inexcusable.
Over the last month or so, I've aquired new albums from the following bands: R.E.M., Jose Gonzales, Eddie Vedder, Thursday, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey.
From these six albums, I think I really like two songs - Jose Gonzales' cover of the Massive Attack song "Teardrop", and the Radiohead song "All I Need". Not a good success rate. And yet if you were to ask me what kind of music I like, names like R.E.M, Pearl Jam and Thursday would probably get bandied around a lot.
I'm not sure if these bands are getting worse, or my taste is changing. If it's the latter though, shouldn't I be liking new and different music? Probably the only new band that I've added to my listening rotation in the last year has been The National. And that's mainly because they sound like Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, two artists that I've liked for a while.
So if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them (Paul, I've heard of the Foo Fighters, and Michella . . . the Michael Buble thing is not going to happen. Sorry)
Anyway, while I'm on the topic, here are a few quick thoughts on the above albums, just in case anyone is interested in checking them out.
Jose Gonzales - In Our Nature
This is OK, although not much of a development from his last album, Veneer, which is great background music, and always makes me feel suave and urbane when I listen to it. The best song as I mentioned is the cover. Because he has such a unique style he generally does covers pretty well, his version of Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" is the best I've heard.
Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
This is a soundtrack to some movie, so it kind of gets a pass, because who knows, maybe it works as background music. But overall I just found this a little dull.
Radiohead - In Rainbows
This is probably my favourite Radiohead album since OK Computer, which isn't saying much. They released it via their website, and told their fans they could pay what they wanted. I chose nothing. But given some of the crap they've released the last few years, I kind of feel like they owe me money. What's even funnier than this sliding cost schedule though is they are also releasing a deluxe copy, with all this extra crap, which sells for $80 or something. So they are simultaneously looking after their fans, and trying to completely screw them over. Weird.
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Instead of playing the guitar, she sticks mainly to the piano on this album. And instead of singing in her normal voice, she sings mainly in an unusual falsetto. Why? I have no idea.
Thursday - Kill The House Lights
This is a collection of live songs, demos and unreleased material. The overall quality seems to be pretty bad - the band broke up earlier this year so I think they just grabbed whatever was still lying around and threw it on here.
R.E.M. - Live
This is a live album from their last world tour (which Alen, Narelle and I took in at the Entertainment Centre a few years ago). I actually quite like their last few albums, so this is OK - the tracklisting includes "Walk Unafraid", "Drive", "I Took Your Name", "Boy in the Well", and of course the hits like "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts". It's just that there's nothing really here to distinguish the songs from the studio recordings - they're not really reworked, and there's not an overabundance of energy. Worst of all, "Country Feedback" is somehow ommitted, which is really inexcusable.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Book review
I haven't been reading a lot lately. In fact, I've always suspected I like books much more than I like reading, and think my recent dry patch has been evidence of this. Back living at home though means I'm back taking the bus to work every day, and so I feel like I should read something during my daily commute.
A few weeks ago I picked up a book called "Freakonomics" by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. You could tell immediately that it was going to be semi-intellectual, given that both authors used their middle inititials, as smart people often do. Flipping through it though it looked really interesting and accessible, so I committed to reading it.
The main guy behind the book - or the ideas contained in it at least - is Levitt, described as a kind of "rogue economist". Which means that most of the writing doesn't apply to what most people would describe as economics. It's kind of more social science really. He uses data to answer a range of questions, which range from "Why do most drug dealers still live with their Mum?" to "What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?"
It's interesting stuff, and makes you think about the world in a new way. Some of their claims can be a little disturbing - like the chapter in which they argue that more than any other factor, the Roe vs Wade decision which legalised abortion in the US was responsible for the drop in the American crime rate in the 90s - but you can't fault their logic.
If you're interested in this stuff the authors keep a blog on the New York Times website here http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ which is worth a look.
I read it over a few weeks, but it only took me a few sessions - it's really easy to read, funny, and you feel approximately 20% smarter after finishing it. So, yeah, I recommend it.
A few weeks ago I picked up a book called "Freakonomics" by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. You could tell immediately that it was going to be semi-intellectual, given that both authors used their middle inititials, as smart people often do. Flipping through it though it looked really interesting and accessible, so I committed to reading it.
The main guy behind the book - or the ideas contained in it at least - is Levitt, described as a kind of "rogue economist". Which means that most of the writing doesn't apply to what most people would describe as economics. It's kind of more social science really. He uses data to answer a range of questions, which range from "Why do most drug dealers still live with their Mum?" to "What do real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common?"
It's interesting stuff, and makes you think about the world in a new way. Some of their claims can be a little disturbing - like the chapter in which they argue that more than any other factor, the Roe vs Wade decision which legalised abortion in the US was responsible for the drop in the American crime rate in the 90s - but you can't fault their logic.
If you're interested in this stuff the authors keep a blog on the New York Times website here http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/ which is worth a look.
I read it over a few weeks, but it only took me a few sessions - it's really easy to read, funny, and you feel approximately 20% smarter after finishing it. So, yeah, I recommend it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Big Day Out 2008
Usually I leave Big Day Out tickets to the last minute. I figure that with the capacity of the Showgrounds and the size of Adelaide's population, there's little chance of missing out.
This almost backfired on me last year, when I delayed getting tickets and the first allotment sold out. We only ended up getting tickets because I waited in line the week of the show for a last minute release.
Anyway, my plan was again to hold back a bit this year, and wait till my cashflow situation improved a bit. But when I heard this morning that the BDO website had sold it's allotment of tickets, I figured I'd better get to it. Ten minutes later I was on venuetix, and had secured tickets for Muzz and I.
Part of me is pumped about the show, and part of me isn't. That's because, despite featuring the reformation of one of the greatest bands of all time (Rage Against The Machine), the 2008 Big Day Out lineup is almost entirely rubbish.
Bands in the first announcement include Bjork (whose music sounds like fingernails on a blackboard), Grinspoon (cliched, plaguarised alternative rock), Arcade Fire (overhyped and boring), Hilltop Hoods (rap music from and for bogans), Billy Bragg and Paul Kelly (is this A Day on the Green?), and a bunch of other bands that I don't know or don't care about. Seriously, outside of the headliner, this has to be my least favourite BDO lineup yet.
Hopefully there is some relief in the second announcement - The National are scheduled to do Brisbane and Melbourne pub shows here in January 2008 so I guess they're a possibilty.
I just hope that RATM can hold it together for a few more months, if they break up again before February I'm screwed.
This almost backfired on me last year, when I delayed getting tickets and the first allotment sold out. We only ended up getting tickets because I waited in line the week of the show for a last minute release.
Anyway, my plan was again to hold back a bit this year, and wait till my cashflow situation improved a bit. But when I heard this morning that the BDO website had sold it's allotment of tickets, I figured I'd better get to it. Ten minutes later I was on venuetix, and had secured tickets for Muzz and I.
Part of me is pumped about the show, and part of me isn't. That's because, despite featuring the reformation of one of the greatest bands of all time (Rage Against The Machine), the 2008 Big Day Out lineup is almost entirely rubbish.
Bands in the first announcement include Bjork (whose music sounds like fingernails on a blackboard), Grinspoon (cliched, plaguarised alternative rock), Arcade Fire (overhyped and boring), Hilltop Hoods (rap music from and for bogans), Billy Bragg and Paul Kelly (is this A Day on the Green?), and a bunch of other bands that I don't know or don't care about. Seriously, outside of the headliner, this has to be my least favourite BDO lineup yet.
Hopefully there is some relief in the second announcement - The National are scheduled to do Brisbane and Melbourne pub shows here in January 2008 so I guess they're a possibilty.
I just hope that RATM can hold it together for a few more months, if they break up again before February I'm screwed.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
What's going on
If you're ever at the video store, and everything you want to see is out, and you see there's still a copy of the new Bruce Willis/Halle Berry movie "Pefect Stranger" in stock, and you think "Hey, it can't be that bad", don't pick it up. Trust me, just walk away.
After a long winter hiatus, I've started cleaning up the garden a bit. On the weekend finished the front yard, although the backyard still needs a lot of work. To call it a jungle would be kind of insulting to jungles.
Some team-specific basketball blogs I've been enjoying . . .
http://3shadesofblue.blogspot.com/
http://bucksfans.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogabull.com/
http://shamrockheadband.blogspot.com/
Two weeks out from the start of the season and I'm already checking our fantasy message board constantly during the day. Not a good sign.
Queenstown crime update: In the past week at 122 Spring Street we've had one bin stealing, and two car eggings. Although anecdotal evidence would suggest 2am burnouts on the street outside my bedroom window are down by 25%, so that's encouraging.
I'm loving the return of Entourage to Foxtel, but am lukewarm so far on Prison Break. First episode was great, second not quite as good, and the third is still waiting on my DVR.
After a long winter hiatus, I've started cleaning up the garden a bit. On the weekend finished the front yard, although the backyard still needs a lot of work. To call it a jungle would be kind of insulting to jungles.
Some team-specific basketball blogs I've been enjoying . . .
http://3shadesofblue.blogspot.com/
http://bucksfans.blogspot.com/
http://www.blogabull.com/
http://shamrockheadband.blogspot.com/
Two weeks out from the start of the season and I'm already checking our fantasy message board constantly during the day. Not a good sign.
Queenstown crime update: In the past week at 122 Spring Street we've had one bin stealing, and two car eggings. Although anecdotal evidence would suggest 2am burnouts on the street outside my bedroom window are down by 25%, so that's encouraging.
I'm loving the return of Entourage to Foxtel, but am lukewarm so far on Prison Break. First episode was great, second not quite as good, and the third is still waiting on my DVR.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Bathroom renovation update
Thanks to Murray Huber, I now have a working toilet in my house. Which means I don't have to pee in the backyard anymore.
A song about Tyson Chandler?!?!
Cool highlights though. And I'm more than a little excited about having him on my fantasy squad this season.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Week in review
It's been a pretty busy, interesting week.
Last Saturday Michella and I left Adelaide at the early hour of 7.30am to travel to Cape Jaffa. We only decided a few days before that we wanted to go away for the weekend, and apparently every caravan park in SA outside of Cape Jaffa was booked. Anyway, it had pretty much everything we were looking for (proximity to beach, cheap accommodation, solitude), so we went for it.
We stopped off in Kingston for lunch, and ate at the pub. I had salt and pepper squid, and it was pretty ordinairy. The plan was to stay and watch the grand final, but there were too many bogans, so we left for Cape Jaffa.
After settling into our budget cabin, we found our way to the common room to watch the game with everyone else. Most of the other guests were Geelong fans, although there was one quite vocal Port Adelaide fan. The game was obviously terrible, but the people were nice, and shared their food with us, including some delicious chicken wings.
At night we tried to go for a walk, but it was blowing a gale, and raining, so that didn't work out so well. We played a few games of Scrabble, and I won. Michella took it well.
On Sunday we drove into Robe for lunch (Cape Jaffa is basically a caravan park and a few isolated houses). This was a much finer dining experience than we had the day before. We travelled back to the caravan park via a couple of wineries, and picked up a bottle to have with dinner.
After tea we had another game of Scrabble (man this rock and roll life I lead is pretty full on). This time Michella won. She figured she might not do this again, so took a picture of the board to remember the occasion.
The next morning we left for home, stopping in Meningie for lunch. Unfortunately, I experienced a horrible pain in my tooth, which I vowed to fix on my return to Adelaide.
We spent the evening at a get together at Murray and Amanda's house. A couple of the hours from the evening are missing from my memory, but apparently I played Taboo (quite badly I presume) and headbanged to Rage Against the Machine (also, most likely, quite poorly).
Tuesday morning was my one day this week in Adelaide, and I rang the dentist first thing to get my tooth taken care of. It was a crown I had had put in only six months ago, so I was surprised I was feeling pain. The dentist tried to tell me everything was OK to start off with, then he realised the crown had broken and was coming loose. He took it out, and promised to put in a new one for free in a few weeks time.
Wednesday I was again up early, this time at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to take a flight to Ceduna for work.
We got in about 9am, and held our monthly Regional Marketing meeting in the Ceduna council chambers.
When we went to America a couple of years ago, Alen told an airline employee at the Seattle airport that her town was a hole. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I'm guessing he wouldn't have said this if he had been to Ceduna.
As we drove into the town we passed six or seven indigenous youth walking along the road. Carrying rocks. This is not a town in which I would feel safe.
After the meeting we went to an Aboriginal art gallery. I'm not really a fan of dot painting, in my admittedly non-expert opinion it seems to be one level up from paint by numbers as an art form. So I didn't like this much. After this we had lunch at the Ceduna Hotel, loaded up on booze and drove to Fowlers Bay.
Fowlers Bay is a weird town. It's kind of an outback town, but on the coast. There's a permanent population of 14 people. And the town in surrounded by these really high sand dunes.
Our host Reg took us over the sand dunes in the back of his 4WD, and it was an amazing experience. I couldn't believe that we didn't roll his car, the dunes were so high and so steep. But I suppose he had done this sort of thing before.
We had a barbecue dinner on the beach which was great, and then stayed the night in an apartment.
The next morning we were up relatively early and drove out to the Head of Bight to see the whales.
Last Saturday Michella and I left Adelaide at the early hour of 7.30am to travel to Cape Jaffa. We only decided a few days before that we wanted to go away for the weekend, and apparently every caravan park in SA outside of Cape Jaffa was booked. Anyway, it had pretty much everything we were looking for (proximity to beach, cheap accommodation, solitude), so we went for it.
We stopped off in Kingston for lunch, and ate at the pub. I had salt and pepper squid, and it was pretty ordinairy. The plan was to stay and watch the grand final, but there were too many bogans, so we left for Cape Jaffa.
After settling into our budget cabin, we found our way to the common room to watch the game with everyone else. Most of the other guests were Geelong fans, although there was one quite vocal Port Adelaide fan. The game was obviously terrible, but the people were nice, and shared their food with us, including some delicious chicken wings.
At night we tried to go for a walk, but it was blowing a gale, and raining, so that didn't work out so well. We played a few games of Scrabble, and I won. Michella took it well.
On Sunday we drove into Robe for lunch (Cape Jaffa is basically a caravan park and a few isolated houses). This was a much finer dining experience than we had the day before. We travelled back to the caravan park via a couple of wineries, and picked up a bottle to have with dinner.
After tea we had another game of Scrabble (man this rock and roll life I lead is pretty full on). This time Michella won. She figured she might not do this again, so took a picture of the board to remember the occasion.
The next morning we left for home, stopping in Meningie for lunch. Unfortunately, I experienced a horrible pain in my tooth, which I vowed to fix on my return to Adelaide.
We spent the evening at a get together at Murray and Amanda's house. A couple of the hours from the evening are missing from my memory, but apparently I played Taboo (quite badly I presume) and headbanged to Rage Against the Machine (also, most likely, quite poorly).
Tuesday morning was my one day this week in Adelaide, and I rang the dentist first thing to get my tooth taken care of. It was a crown I had had put in only six months ago, so I was surprised I was feeling pain. The dentist tried to tell me everything was OK to start off with, then he realised the crown had broken and was coming loose. He took it out, and promised to put in a new one for free in a few weeks time.
Wednesday I was again up early, this time at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to take a flight to Ceduna for work.
We got in about 9am, and held our monthly Regional Marketing meeting in the Ceduna council chambers.
When we went to America a couple of years ago, Alen told an airline employee at the Seattle airport that her town was a hole. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but I'm guessing he wouldn't have said this if he had been to Ceduna.
As we drove into the town we passed six or seven indigenous youth walking along the road. Carrying rocks. This is not a town in which I would feel safe.
After the meeting we went to an Aboriginal art gallery. I'm not really a fan of dot painting, in my admittedly non-expert opinion it seems to be one level up from paint by numbers as an art form. So I didn't like this much. After this we had lunch at the Ceduna Hotel, loaded up on booze and drove to Fowlers Bay.
Fowlers Bay is a weird town. It's kind of an outback town, but on the coast. There's a permanent population of 14 people. And the town in surrounded by these really high sand dunes.
Our host Reg took us over the sand dunes in the back of his 4WD, and it was an amazing experience. I couldn't believe that we didn't roll his car, the dunes were so high and so steep. But I suppose he had done this sort of thing before.
We had a barbecue dinner on the beach which was great, and then stayed the night in an apartment.
The next morning we were up relatively early and drove out to the Head of Bight to see the whales.
It was kind of cool, but I'd be lying if I said I was the kind of guy who gets really excited about this kind of stuff. We then drove out to a Nullabor Roadhouse where a couple of my colleagues went on scenic flights, and I leaned against an outside wall for about two hours straight.
The Roadhouse seemed to have a pretty good deal going. They took whatever the normal price was, and doubled it. You want a coffee? Five dollars thanks. Hamburger with the lot? Eleven fifty. Plus it's mainly a cash business so you pay whatever tax you feel like.
After this we drove four hours or so to Streaky Bay, where we stayed the night.
Here was the view from my room in the hotel . . .
We had dinner at a place called Mocean. I had the squid, panfried in garlic butter, with shaved parmesan on top. It was amazing.
Yesterday morning we spent the morning driving around Streaky Bay in a bus, visiting various beaches. They mainly looked the same. We had lunch back in the town, and Matt told me about a local place where we could get a $25 hamburger than was bigger than the plate it came on. Unfortunately they stopped making it earlier this year though so I settled for a schnitzel.
After lunch we did a tour of an Abalone farm, then an Oyster production facility, and I was bored out of my mind.
Finally, we drove back to Ceduna to get our flight home. At 8pm we were about to take off, but the pilot couldn't get the second engine started. At this point I would have been happy to fly with one engine if we could, I just wanted to get home. He turned all the power off, tried again in another ten minutes, and an hour or so later I was dragging my tired body through Adelaide airport.
It's good to be home.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Hmm . . .
Sting just seems to keep finding new ways to sell out. Supporting The Police on their 2008 Australian Tour . . . Fergie?!?!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Movie reviews
I've been the movies twice in the last few days, and saw two very different films.
Saturday night I went down to Semaphore and saw "Evan Almighty". It was pretty good. Following on from "Bruce Almighty", Morgan Freeman once again plays God, and speaks to Evan Baxter - played by Steve Carrell - telling him to build an ark like Noah did. Which he does. That's pretty much the movie (it's only 85 minutes long), but there's some good stuff in there that makes you think about the awesome size and power of God, but also his personal interest in each of his children. Steve Carell is good as always, and it's rated G, so if you've got kids, you could take them to this without risking scarring them for life.
Last night I went down to Arndale and saw "Superbad", a movie you probably wouldn't take your kids to, unless you had perhaps attended the Britney school of parenting. I wouldn't normally go see things like this (I'm kind of too old to be watching movies about high school) but there were two factors that swayed me towards it. First of all, it was by the guys who did "The Forty Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", two films that I thought were really funny, and quite sweet considering the subject matter. Secondly, it had received really good reviews, which is pretty rare for a film in this genre.
Anyway, it was a good film, and laugh out loud funny in parts. As mentioned, it's not one for the kids though, or even easily offended adults. Everyone else should love it.
Saturday night I went down to Semaphore and saw "Evan Almighty". It was pretty good. Following on from "Bruce Almighty", Morgan Freeman once again plays God, and speaks to Evan Baxter - played by Steve Carrell - telling him to build an ark like Noah did. Which he does. That's pretty much the movie (it's only 85 minutes long), but there's some good stuff in there that makes you think about the awesome size and power of God, but also his personal interest in each of his children. Steve Carell is good as always, and it's rated G, so if you've got kids, you could take them to this without risking scarring them for life.
Last night I went down to Arndale and saw "Superbad", a movie you probably wouldn't take your kids to, unless you had perhaps attended the Britney school of parenting. I wouldn't normally go see things like this (I'm kind of too old to be watching movies about high school) but there were two factors that swayed me towards it. First of all, it was by the guys who did "The Forty Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up", two films that I thought were really funny, and quite sweet considering the subject matter. Secondly, it had received really good reviews, which is pretty rare for a film in this genre.
Anyway, it was a good film, and laugh out loud funny in parts. As mentioned, it's not one for the kids though, or even easily offended adults. Everyone else should love it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
My Tuesday morning whinge
I don't like the new tramline extension. I don't see the point. I haven't had anyone successfully explain to me why we need it. It's kind of like the "why we can't have daylight savings all the time" argument. I've heard the reasons (something to do with farmers I think. And possibly cows). They just sound insignificant when considering the greater good.
I'm not sure if traffic will improve down North Terrace once the construction is over and the trams are in, but at the moment it's terrible. One of the things I love about Adelaide is that I can drive my car through the CBD and not have a nervous breakdown. Anyone who has been a passenger in my car while driving in Melbourne would tell you that's not always the case. Anyway it took me about ten minutes this morning to get from the West Terrace/North Terrace intersection to the David Jones car park. And that's just too long.
If we need a tram extension (and obviously as someone who doesn't take the tram, I don't think we do), I don't know why it has to go all the way onto North Terrace down to the uni. Uni students should be encouraged to walk. Back when I was younger we used to do that all the time. Kids are spoiled these days though.
I'm not sure if traffic will improve down North Terrace once the construction is over and the trams are in, but at the moment it's terrible. One of the things I love about Adelaide is that I can drive my car through the CBD and not have a nervous breakdown. Anyone who has been a passenger in my car while driving in Melbourne would tell you that's not always the case. Anyway it took me about ten minutes this morning to get from the West Terrace/North Terrace intersection to the David Jones car park. And that's just too long.
If we need a tram extension (and obviously as someone who doesn't take the tram, I don't think we do), I don't know why it has to go all the way onto North Terrace down to the uni. Uni students should be encouraged to walk. Back when I was younger we used to do that all the time. Kids are spoiled these days though.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tori and "Pip"
A bit of a delayed review, but a review nevertheless.
Last Thursday Tori hit Adelaide, and of course I was always going to be there. Sure her new album isn't the best, and she has a worldview which could diplomatically be described as "unique", but come on, she wrote "Winter". As if I wasn't going to go.
Pre concert, we dined at the Port Dock Brewery. For the second time in a fortnight I had the beef schnitzel with dianne gravy, and I wasn't disappointed. Alen and Narelle had schnitzels too. I don't know why they bother having such an extensive menu. If I was running the place I would cut it down to schnitzels, salt and pepper squid, and perhaps a salad for the ladies.
We got to Thebby a little after 8pm, and the opening act had already started. They weren't really good. Michella asked if I wanted to go across the road to the BP so she could get something to eat, and that sounded way better than staying and listening to these guys. We got back just before they finished, and then waited another 20 minutes or so as the stage was set for Tori.
She came on at around 8.50 or so, dressed as "Pip". On her latest album, she adopts a number of different personas to sing the different songs, and she's been opening each of her concerts dressed as one of these characters. Pip is obviously the angry one, as she snarled her way through the opening set, and left the stage giving us all the finger. Classy. She did play a few of her heavier songs though which was cool, especially "Cruel" which she opened with.
Several minutes after "Pip" stormed off the stage, Tori appeared, and the second part of the concert commenced. I generally enjoyed it, although she didn't play a lot of the songs I was really keen on hearing, like "Winter", "Iieee", "Josephine", "Playboy Mommy" . . . the list goes on.
She did play "Spark" which I hadn't expected, and this was probably the highlight. Another plus was the length of the show, she didn't leave the stage until just after 11pm, so played for a little more than two hours. Which I suppose you'd expect given that tickets were $120.
Anyway, a solid show, I'd rank it as a B+.
Last Thursday Tori hit Adelaide, and of course I was always going to be there. Sure her new album isn't the best, and she has a worldview which could diplomatically be described as "unique", but come on, she wrote "Winter". As if I wasn't going to go.
Pre concert, we dined at the Port Dock Brewery. For the second time in a fortnight I had the beef schnitzel with dianne gravy, and I wasn't disappointed. Alen and Narelle had schnitzels too. I don't know why they bother having such an extensive menu. If I was running the place I would cut it down to schnitzels, salt and pepper squid, and perhaps a salad for the ladies.
We got to Thebby a little after 8pm, and the opening act had already started. They weren't really good. Michella asked if I wanted to go across the road to the BP so she could get something to eat, and that sounded way better than staying and listening to these guys. We got back just before they finished, and then waited another 20 minutes or so as the stage was set for Tori.
She came on at around 8.50 or so, dressed as "Pip". On her latest album, she adopts a number of different personas to sing the different songs, and she's been opening each of her concerts dressed as one of these characters. Pip is obviously the angry one, as she snarled her way through the opening set, and left the stage giving us all the finger. Classy. She did play a few of her heavier songs though which was cool, especially "Cruel" which she opened with.
Several minutes after "Pip" stormed off the stage, Tori appeared, and the second part of the concert commenced. I generally enjoyed it, although she didn't play a lot of the songs I was really keen on hearing, like "Winter", "Iieee", "Josephine", "Playboy Mommy" . . . the list goes on.
She did play "Spark" which I hadn't expected, and this was probably the highlight. Another plus was the length of the show, she didn't leave the stage until just after 11pm, so played for a little more than two hours. Which I suppose you'd expect given that tickets were $120.
Anyway, a solid show, I'd rank it as a B+.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
What year is it again?
Back in the mid to late nineties, the shaved head look was reasonably popular. In fact, I think pretty much everyone in our posse had one at one stage or another, with the possible exception of Whelie. These days, its popularity as an accepted hairstyle is waning. I'm hoping to bring it back.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Wednesday update
I got tickets to see Gyroscope this morning. Come 4 November Murray, Narelle and I are going to be enjoying the best rock show of the year. Anyone else want to go?
We held our fantasy basketball draft order lottery over lunch today. The lowest possible pick I could have got was 11th, I got 10th. Not good times, although at least I shouldn't hear any complaints this year about the lottery being rigged.
I just made my first purchase yesterday on www.strawberrynet.com. It's funny, I still feel like a man though.
Looking forward to Tori Amos tomorrow night. It looks like she's doing a good mix of her repertoire, and playing with her full band, so I'm expecting this to be a fantastic show.
I didn't see the Emmys, but I heard Sopranos, Extras, Entourage and The Office all won. I love it when my tastes correspond with those of professional critics.
We held our fantasy basketball draft order lottery over lunch today. The lowest possible pick I could have got was 11th, I got 10th. Not good times, although at least I shouldn't hear any complaints this year about the lottery being rigged.
I just made my first purchase yesterday on www.strawberrynet.com. It's funny, I still feel like a man though.
Looking forward to Tori Amos tomorrow night. It looks like she's doing a good mix of her repertoire, and playing with her full band, so I'm expecting this to be a fantastic show.
I didn't see the Emmys, but I heard Sopranos, Extras, Entourage and The Office all won. I love it when my tastes correspond with those of professional critics.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Killing yourself to live (my City to Bay Fun Run experience)
I can now add the "City to Bay Fun Run" to the list of my lifetime accomplishments (right between "Hired 700 movies from Atlantic Video" and "Lived with Paul Force for a year without once suffering from food poisoning").
Waking up Sunday morning I was a little apprehensive. I hadn't had a lot of sleep the last few nights, and I'm not a morning person at the best of times. Nor had I trained much in the last fortnight. Once we got in to town though, I started to feel a little bit better. There was a great atmosphere waiting in Elder Park for the race to start, surrounded by 23,000 competitors. Amazingly, there were 4,000 more women than men (OK maybe it's not amazing, but I thought it was interesting at least).
The elite runners (those expecting to finish the race in less than 50 minutes) went first, we didn't cross the line until about 8.10am. The first km wasn't too hard, but I was surprised that some competitors had dropped back to walking by the end of King William Street.
I decided the night before that I was going to take my camera with me to capture the event. I figured it couldn't be that much heavier than my ipod, which I had to leave behind so that Dad would have someone to chat to during the race. I'm glad I brought it along, it allowed me to take photos like this one, which I took at the 2km mark.
Just kidding, that was just a km or so out from the end, as you can probably tell by the look on my face of exhaustion crossed with pure terror.
There were a heap of interesting things along the way. Probably every km or so there was a band, including one rock band that was made up of 8-9 year old kids. They were pretty good too.
About half way along I came up behind a large woman in a wheelchair. I was rather impressed with the speed she was travelling at, until I realised that she was in an electric wheelchair. So basically she was just going for a ride. The funny thing was, as I passed her I took a look back to see that she was sweating! From just pushing forward the little toggle on her wheelchair that makes it go . . .
The run itself was reasonably difficult, mainly I think because I pushed myself a bit harder than normal. In my training I'd been running at 10km hour, which would have meant a finish in about 72 minutes, but we ended up crossing the line in a little over 65. Once we turned the corner from Jetty Road and we could see the finish line I started sprinting - much harder than normal when you're surrounded by hundreds of other people. I may have pushed someone out of the way as I came through, it was hard to tell.
I read today that the winner ran it in a little over 34 minutes which is a pretty awesome achievement. By my calculations that works out to around 17 seconds per 100 metres, which means pretty close to a sprint the entire way. I kind of wish I could have seen the first two runners come in along the final km, in the end there was only two seconds separating them.
It probably sounds stupid, but it's actually a really good feeling having random strangers clapping for you and cheering as you run past. Normally I would make fun of people who do this (kind of like the woman on Seinfeld who once cheered on the competitors in the New York Marathon by screaming "You're all winners!"), but when you're actually there it makes much more sense.
I'm pretty keen to do the run again next year. I'll see how I go with my running until then, but I'd be happy if I could finish in under an hour next time.
Waking up Sunday morning I was a little apprehensive. I hadn't had a lot of sleep the last few nights, and I'm not a morning person at the best of times. Nor had I trained much in the last fortnight. Once we got in to town though, I started to feel a little bit better. There was a great atmosphere waiting in Elder Park for the race to start, surrounded by 23,000 competitors. Amazingly, there were 4,000 more women than men (OK maybe it's not amazing, but I thought it was interesting at least).
The elite runners (those expecting to finish the race in less than 50 minutes) went first, we didn't cross the line until about 8.10am. The first km wasn't too hard, but I was surprised that some competitors had dropped back to walking by the end of King William Street.
I decided the night before that I was going to take my camera with me to capture the event. I figured it couldn't be that much heavier than my ipod, which I had to leave behind so that Dad would have someone to chat to during the race. I'm glad I brought it along, it allowed me to take photos like this one, which I took at the 2km mark.
Just kidding, that was just a km or so out from the end, as you can probably tell by the look on my face of exhaustion crossed with pure terror.
There were a heap of interesting things along the way. Probably every km or so there was a band, including one rock band that was made up of 8-9 year old kids. They were pretty good too.
About half way along I came up behind a large woman in a wheelchair. I was rather impressed with the speed she was travelling at, until I realised that she was in an electric wheelchair. So basically she was just going for a ride. The funny thing was, as I passed her I took a look back to see that she was sweating! From just pushing forward the little toggle on her wheelchair that makes it go . . .
The run itself was reasonably difficult, mainly I think because I pushed myself a bit harder than normal. In my training I'd been running at 10km hour, which would have meant a finish in about 72 minutes, but we ended up crossing the line in a little over 65. Once we turned the corner from Jetty Road and we could see the finish line I started sprinting - much harder than normal when you're surrounded by hundreds of other people. I may have pushed someone out of the way as I came through, it was hard to tell.
I read today that the winner ran it in a little over 34 minutes which is a pretty awesome achievement. By my calculations that works out to around 17 seconds per 100 metres, which means pretty close to a sprint the entire way. I kind of wish I could have seen the first two runners come in along the final km, in the end there was only two seconds separating them.
It probably sounds stupid, but it's actually a really good feeling having random strangers clapping for you and cheering as you run past. Normally I would make fun of people who do this (kind of like the woman on Seinfeld who once cheered on the competitors in the New York Marathon by screaming "You're all winners!"), but when you're actually there it makes much more sense.
I'm pretty keen to do the run again next year. I'll see how I go with my running until then, but I'd be happy if I could finish in under an hour next time.
In the news today
Boat propeller strikes boy in face
Monday Sep 17 08:30 AEST
A Gold Coast teenager was struck in the face by a boat propellor when he fell out of a dinghy while baring his buttocks at people on the shore.
The 17-year-old boy from Kanimbla was one of three males travelling in a dinghy along a canal off Huon Street at Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast about 4pm (AEST) yesterday.
It is believed all three males stood up to bare their buttocks at a group of people at a waterfront residence, causing the vessel to become unstable, and all three fell overboard, police said.
The engine on the dinghy continued to run, and the teenager was struck in the face by the propeller as the empty vessel circled.
Another occupant of the boat, a 20-year-old man from Rochedale South, in Brisbane's south, has been charged with drink driving.
He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on October 1.
Monday Sep 17 08:30 AEST
A Gold Coast teenager was struck in the face by a boat propellor when he fell out of a dinghy while baring his buttocks at people on the shore.
The 17-year-old boy from Kanimbla was one of three males travelling in a dinghy along a canal off Huon Street at Broadbeach Waters on the Gold Coast about 4pm (AEST) yesterday.
It is believed all three males stood up to bare their buttocks at a group of people at a waterfront residence, causing the vessel to become unstable, and all three fell overboard, police said.
The engine on the dinghy continued to run, and the teenager was struck in the face by the propeller as the empty vessel circled.
Another occupant of the boat, a 20-year-old man from Rochedale South, in Brisbane's south, has been charged with drink driving.
He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on October 1.
Something For Kate
Friday night I attended a Something For Kate concert. I think it was probably my eighth or ninth, I lost track a while ago. They're certainly not my favourite band, but they are local so are reasonably cheap and easy to see so Narelle and I probably see them an average of once a year.
Friday night's show was one of the best I'd seen in a while. Typically when you go and see a band they are touring in support of their new album, so at least half of their set is comprised of new material. Which often isn't as good as their classic stuff. This tour though Something For Kate are promoting their new "Greatest Hits" album, so right from the start, they were just focusing on their best songs. I think they played three songs off of "Beautiful Sharks" in the first half hour.
I think the highlight was their cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2". It's a great song anyway, and they did a fantastic version, with just Paul on acoustic guitar and Pip accompanying him on violin. This is pretty standard for a Something For Kate show - even though I like their original material, the best moments tend to be when they pull out the cover songs. It's probably a combination of the arrangements they come up with, as well as the fact that they pick really great, and well known songs to do - the last few times I've seen them they've perfomed "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie, "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty . . . just a great list of songs.
If I had to rate this amongst the concerts I've seen in the past few weeks I'd say it was my favourite. The venue (Fowlers Live) is a good one, and it's nice to be able to stand in relative comfort four metres away from the front of the stage. The setlist was a good mix of songs from all of their albums, and the performance was very solid. A class evening through and through.
Next up . . .Tori Amos.
Friday night's show was one of the best I'd seen in a while. Typically when you go and see a band they are touring in support of their new album, so at least half of their set is comprised of new material. Which often isn't as good as their classic stuff. This tour though Something For Kate are promoting their new "Greatest Hits" album, so right from the start, they were just focusing on their best songs. I think they played three songs off of "Beautiful Sharks" in the first half hour.
I think the highlight was their cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2". It's a great song anyway, and they did a fantastic version, with just Paul on acoustic guitar and Pip accompanying him on violin. This is pretty standard for a Something For Kate show - even though I like their original material, the best moments tend to be when they pull out the cover songs. It's probably a combination of the arrangements they come up with, as well as the fact that they pick really great, and well known songs to do - the last few times I've seen them they've perfomed "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie, "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty . . . just a great list of songs.
If I had to rate this amongst the concerts I've seen in the past few weeks I'd say it was my favourite. The venue (Fowlers Live) is a good one, and it's nice to be able to stand in relative comfort four metres away from the front of the stage. The setlist was a good mix of songs from all of their albums, and the performance was very solid. A class evening through and through.
Next up . . .Tori Amos.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Rocking out in style
Last night I saw Snow Patrol at the Entertainment Centre, and for the first time, observed the action at a rock concert from a corporate box (thanks Narelle).
It didn't exactly all go to plan, but it beat fighting off the kiddies in the mosh pit - and considering it was free I'm not in a position to complain anyway.
Our tickets said 8pm, so we figured that this meant that either the doors opened at 8pm or the first support act (Iain Archer) went on then. So we turned up at about 8.15pm, and found that dinner (which we were unaware was on offer) was served at 7.15pm in our box, and the first support act went on at 7.30pm. Making things worse, dinner was apparently a few curries, chicken burgers, wedges, and veal, which sounded pretty good to me; and the first support act ended up being Silversun Pickups, who I actually like, rather than Iain Archer, whom I've never heard of (apparently they swapped spots for some reason at the last minute). I'm not sure which was a bigger disappointment, although the fact that I'd already eaten probably means it was missing the band.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Entertainment Centre we were shown to the entrance to the corporate boxes, and then followed a seemingly endless maze of corridors until we got to our box. I quickly lost all sense of direction. We finally got to our box, walked through, and took our seats. The problem was that the seats were just behind the side of the stage, and way behind the speakers, so all we heard was a little bit of vocals and drums. Not good times.
We sat through Iain Archer in this spot, and it was pretty bad. He seemed to be pretty average anyway, so it wasn't such an issue, but I was hoping things were going to improve for Snow Patrol.
At the end of this set we went back into the box, where more food had been brought out - donut holes, and some melting moments cookies. The cookies were pretty nice - nothing compared to the ones Karen Crouch makes but very passable nevertheless. Someone said we had the option of being moved to another part of the arena if we wanted, and I was immediately in. I chanelled my inner George Costanza and stuffed a few last cookies into the pocket of my hoodie, and we followed an usher back through the labyrinth.
We ended up in the first row of seats up from the General Admission floor area, directly in front of the stage, with a good view and great sound. A few minutes later Snow Patrol took to the stage.
The performance was OK. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it was probably about as good as I could have hoped for. I think Snow Patrol are an above average band, with a few really good songs, and a lot of average to good ones. I doubt they'll ever be really great, they're just a little to derivative of bands like U2, or even Coldplay. But they played a pretty tight set, in some ways it was a bit too slick - they rarely deviated from the album version of their songs. They did bring out one of the backing singers from the support band to do the Martha Wainwright part in "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" which was one of the highlights for me.
Anyway, I did enjoy the concert, I just didn't love it. For now it ranks second behind Ryan Adams on my 2007 concert season rankings - where will it rank next week? Check back and find out . . .
It didn't exactly all go to plan, but it beat fighting off the kiddies in the mosh pit - and considering it was free I'm not in a position to complain anyway.
Our tickets said 8pm, so we figured that this meant that either the doors opened at 8pm or the first support act (Iain Archer) went on then. So we turned up at about 8.15pm, and found that dinner (which we were unaware was on offer) was served at 7.15pm in our box, and the first support act went on at 7.30pm. Making things worse, dinner was apparently a few curries, chicken burgers, wedges, and veal, which sounded pretty good to me; and the first support act ended up being Silversun Pickups, who I actually like, rather than Iain Archer, whom I've never heard of (apparently they swapped spots for some reason at the last minute). I'm not sure which was a bigger disappointment, although the fact that I'd already eaten probably means it was missing the band.
Anyway, upon arriving at the Entertainment Centre we were shown to the entrance to the corporate boxes, and then followed a seemingly endless maze of corridors until we got to our box. I quickly lost all sense of direction. We finally got to our box, walked through, and took our seats. The problem was that the seats were just behind the side of the stage, and way behind the speakers, so all we heard was a little bit of vocals and drums. Not good times.
We sat through Iain Archer in this spot, and it was pretty bad. He seemed to be pretty average anyway, so it wasn't such an issue, but I was hoping things were going to improve for Snow Patrol.
At the end of this set we went back into the box, where more food had been brought out - donut holes, and some melting moments cookies. The cookies were pretty nice - nothing compared to the ones Karen Crouch makes but very passable nevertheless. Someone said we had the option of being moved to another part of the arena if we wanted, and I was immediately in. I chanelled my inner George Costanza and stuffed a few last cookies into the pocket of my hoodie, and we followed an usher back through the labyrinth.
We ended up in the first row of seats up from the General Admission floor area, directly in front of the stage, with a good view and great sound. A few minutes later Snow Patrol took to the stage.
The performance was OK. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it was probably about as good as I could have hoped for. I think Snow Patrol are an above average band, with a few really good songs, and a lot of average to good ones. I doubt they'll ever be really great, they're just a little to derivative of bands like U2, or even Coldplay. But they played a pretty tight set, in some ways it was a bit too slick - they rarely deviated from the album version of their songs. They did bring out one of the backing singers from the support band to do the Martha Wainwright part in "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" which was one of the highlights for me.
Anyway, I did enjoy the concert, I just didn't love it. For now it ranks second behind Ryan Adams on my 2007 concert season rankings - where will it rank next week? Check back and find out . . .
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A few quick recommendations
I found a copy of Jose Gonzales' new album "In Our Nature" on the interweb last night. At first listen it's pretty good. There's a good cover of "Teardrop" by Massive Attack which is probably my early favourite. This guy is actually pretty good with covers, over his last few ep's he's covered Springsteen, Kylie and Joy Division. Kind of like Something for Kate, I often end up liking his covers better than his original songs.
This isn't so much a recommendation, as much as a wish list - the new ipods are out, and I want one. Or two.
At the moment I own two ipods - a 30gb black video one, and an orange 1gb shuffle. I can't seem to place the shuffle at the moment, but I'm sure it will turn up (the fact that it's roughly the size of a 50% piece means it's easily misplaced. And my house is rather messy these days). So if you were to rate my need for an ipod, it would be pretty low by any measure you used.
But I saw the new models this week that they're releasing, and they look great.
You've got the new touch screen ipod, which has a full length colour screen, and internet connectivity. Basically it's an iphone without the phone, which is fine with me.
Then the new nanos, which seem like they are smaller than the last model, but now have video screens too. How cool is that?
This isn't so much a recommendation, as much as a wish list - the new ipods are out, and I want one. Or two.
At the moment I own two ipods - a 30gb black video one, and an orange 1gb shuffle. I can't seem to place the shuffle at the moment, but I'm sure it will turn up (the fact that it's roughly the size of a 50% piece means it's easily misplaced. And my house is rather messy these days). So if you were to rate my need for an ipod, it would be pretty low by any measure you used.
But I saw the new models this week that they're releasing, and they look great.
You've got the new touch screen ipod, which has a full length colour screen, and internet connectivity. Basically it's an iphone without the phone, which is fine with me.
Then the new nanos, which seem like they are smaller than the last model, but now have video screens too. How cool is that?
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