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?
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Is it the shoes?
As everyone knows, the last good pair of Jordans made by Nike were the XI's. In terms of comfort, performance and style, some people consider them to be the best basketball shoes ever made. I've always wanted a pair, but never got around to picking them up. Until now.
I got these at work today after winning an ebay auction last Friday I think. Pretty amazing considering the package came from China, must have been a slow mail week.
Anyway I'll give them their first real workout Thursday night. We're taking on the top team so it's probably going to take a little more than great shoes to get us the win though.
I got these at work today after winning an ebay auction last Friday I think. Pretty amazing considering the package came from China, must have been a slow mail week.
Anyway I'll give them their first real workout Thursday night. We're taking on the top team so it's probably going to take a little more than great shoes to get us the win though.
Swingers
So I went dancing last night.
Actually, I took a swing dancing class. I thought it might be perhaps like it Swingers, with Trent and Mikey and Heather Graham. It wasn't, but it was pretty good fun anyway.
The main problems going in were that a) I can't really dance, but also b) I don't have any rhythm (which I think is pretty much essential). I mustn't have been oozing confidence as I was told numerous times that I looked nervous. I guess I was.
I thought you'd just dance with the partner you came with all night, but you actually switched every couple of minutes. That seemed like a better deal for the other guys there than for me, as my date was by far the best looking girl there. Probably the only one with her original hips too. Although it was funny dancing with some of the older women, and have them almost tell me off . . ."You were meant to hold onto me there" or "Don't hold your hand so high". A number of times we would get half way through a routine we had just been taught and I would get a complete mental blank as to what I would have to do next. So I would just stand there as my partner would have a horrified "You're supposed to be leading me" look on her face.
After a while I kind of picked up what I was meant to be doing though. Especially when dancing with the instructor, who made it a lot simpler. Will I be back again? Who knows . . . but at least I can add it to the list of things I've done once. And I now have a new appreciation for Jon Favreau, that stuff is harder than it looks.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Quote of the week
From "The Office" . . .
Michael Scott: A boss is like a teacher. And I am like the cool teacher, like Mr. Handell. Mr. Handell would hang out with us and he would tell us awesome jokes and he actually hooked up with one of the students. And then like 12 other kids came forward . . . it was in all the papers. Really ruined eighth grade for us.
Michael Scott: A boss is like a teacher. And I am like the cool teacher, like Mr. Handell. Mr. Handell would hang out with us and he would tell us awesome jokes and he actually hooked up with one of the students. And then like 12 other kids came forward . . . it was in all the papers. Really ruined eighth grade for us.
Protests are stupid
Walking to my car last night I passed a demonstration in Rundle Mall, next to the Malls Balls. It was comprised of around 25 or 30 people, most of them holding up home made placards. Some of them were "Stop Climate Change" and others "Out of Iraq Now", but most were just generally about how they didn't like George Bush or John Howard.
What was weird (and I'm someone who thinks most protests are kind of a little weird anyway - outside of millions of people gathering together, I tend to think they are a huge waste of time), is that the leader of the protest (the guy who had a small bullhorn instead of a home made placard) was leading the crowd in a "Go home George Bush" chant.
Seeing as the guy is currently 2,000km away in Sydney, that seemed a little futile. Can't really see an aide pulling him aside to say "I don't want to alarm you sir, but there are two dozen people in Adelaide who would like it if you go home. Yes, Adelaide, it's on the other side of the country. Should I fuel up Air Force One?"
What was weird (and I'm someone who thinks most protests are kind of a little weird anyway - outside of millions of people gathering together, I tend to think they are a huge waste of time), is that the leader of the protest (the guy who had a small bullhorn instead of a home made placard) was leading the crowd in a "Go home George Bush" chant.
Seeing as the guy is currently 2,000km away in Sydney, that seemed a little futile. Can't really see an aide pulling him aside to say "I don't want to alarm you sir, but there are two dozen people in Adelaide who would like it if you go home. Yes, Adelaide, it's on the other side of the country. Should I fuel up Air Force One?"
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Best concerts of all time part three
Queens of the Stone Age, Thebarton Theatre, 2004
I used to love these guys. For maybe a year or two they were my favourite band. I'm not really sure what happened, I guess I don't listen to as much heavy music as I used to. And their albums got progressively worse after "Songs for the Deaf", I think I've only listened to their newest one a few times, and wasn't really impressed. Of course this decline in the quality of their music correlates with Josh kicking Nick out of the band, and I think that's probably a big part of it. They were never ultra-diverse, but within the confines of a heavy rock band they did manage to include some variety, thanks mainly to a revolving trio of vocalists - Josh, Nick and Mark Lanegan. Take away Nick and you lose all of the heavy, fast punk songs. Mark has kind of pulled back in recent years too, to concentrate on his solo career and being a drug addict, so they don't do as many of the slower, lower-key songs either.
They were all here at this concert in 2004 though, and it was an amazing show. I'd seen them about a year earlier at the Big Day Out, and they were pretty good there. Unfortunately, Nick had decided that would be one of the shows he would play without clothes, and that put a bit of a dampener on the experience for me. I took Narelle to their Thebby show, and think I may have actually prayed on the way there that Nick would wear pants this time. I'm pleased to report that he did.
They were really tight, even though they spent a lot of the evening performing extended jams. The highlights were the appearances of Mark, every now and then he'd saunter out from backstage, stand in front of a mic for a few songs, and belt out one of his trademark gravelly vocals, looking and sounding like he was going to collapse at any moment.
The support act The Distillers were really good, probably the best support act I've ever seen. Their singer sounded exactly like Courtney Love, and her band basically sounded like a more distorted "Live Through This" era Hole.
I used to love these guys. For maybe a year or two they were my favourite band. I'm not really sure what happened, I guess I don't listen to as much heavy music as I used to. And their albums got progressively worse after "Songs for the Deaf", I think I've only listened to their newest one a few times, and wasn't really impressed. Of course this decline in the quality of their music correlates with Josh kicking Nick out of the band, and I think that's probably a big part of it. They were never ultra-diverse, but within the confines of a heavy rock band they did manage to include some variety, thanks mainly to a revolving trio of vocalists - Josh, Nick and Mark Lanegan. Take away Nick and you lose all of the heavy, fast punk songs. Mark has kind of pulled back in recent years too, to concentrate on his solo career and being a drug addict, so they don't do as many of the slower, lower-key songs either.
They were all here at this concert in 2004 though, and it was an amazing show. I'd seen them about a year earlier at the Big Day Out, and they were pretty good there. Unfortunately, Nick had decided that would be one of the shows he would play without clothes, and that put a bit of a dampener on the experience for me. I took Narelle to their Thebby show, and think I may have actually prayed on the way there that Nick would wear pants this time. I'm pleased to report that he did.
They were really tight, even though they spent a lot of the evening performing extended jams. The highlights were the appearances of Mark, every now and then he'd saunter out from backstage, stand in front of a mic for a few songs, and belt out one of his trademark gravelly vocals, looking and sounding like he was going to collapse at any moment.
The support act The Distillers were really good, probably the best support act I've ever seen. Their singer sounded exactly like Courtney Love, and her band basically sounded like a more distorted "Live Through This" era Hole.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
A few quick things
I used to read a lot of books. For a while I was reading the classics . . . War and Peace, The Grapes of Wrath, On The Road, Catcher in the Rye. Then I went through my crime phase - lots of Elmore Leonard and James Ellroy. The last few years it's been more modern literature - Chuck Palahniuk, Brett Easton Ellis, Jay McInerney, stuff like that. But lately, I've just been reading magazines. There's less words, and usually pictures too. I spent $25 yesterday on a subscription to "Esquire", mainly because Chuck Klosterman is a featured columnist. Also, I have a keen interest in how a $3,000 Italian suit could complete me as a person.
On the subject of Chuck, I finished re-reading "Killing Yourself to Live" for like the third time the other day. It is now far and away my favourite of his books, it seems to make more and more sense to me each time I read it.
Hmm, the Owen Wilson fiasco. To start off with, I kind of blame Kate Hudson. But more than that, I blame Goldie Hawn. Yes that's right, Goldie. As I have an important job with the Government, I was discussing the situation with a colleague yesterday afternoon. And she told me that Goldie has gone on record as saying that she doesn't think monogamy is normal. So you raise a daughter who gets married, leaves her husband for a fling with Owen, then dumps him to shack up with some D-list celebrity. Yeah, it's all fun and games, until someone tries to slash their wrists. So if the world misses out on "Wedding Crashers 2", I'm holding you responsible Ms Hawn.
On the subject of Chuck, I finished re-reading "Killing Yourself to Live" for like the third time the other day. It is now far and away my favourite of his books, it seems to make more and more sense to me each time I read it.
Hmm, the Owen Wilson fiasco. To start off with, I kind of blame Kate Hudson. But more than that, I blame Goldie Hawn. Yes that's right, Goldie. As I have an important job with the Government, I was discussing the situation with a colleague yesterday afternoon. And she told me that Goldie has gone on record as saying that she doesn't think monogamy is normal. So you raise a daughter who gets married, leaves her husband for a fling with Owen, then dumps him to shack up with some D-list celebrity. Yeah, it's all fun and games, until someone tries to slash their wrists. So if the world misses out on "Wedding Crashers 2", I'm holding you responsible Ms Hawn.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Things are looking up
I got an email today from a girl called Olga. She is 26. And from Russia.
It is quite a sad story actually. Turns out she was corresponding with some guy called Kevin, and things got quite serious. She arranged to get a passport and was going to leave her homeland to visit him when he dropped a bomb on her and told her that he didn't want to meet her, and he was actually married with kids. The bastard!
Anyway, now that things aren't going to work out with Kevin, she's thinking maybe the two of us could hook up. Actually, her words were "Probable it will silly sound but if you will be interested in a meeting with the good woman I will like to meet you sometime soon!" No Olga, it does not silly sound at all.
She continues "It would be fine if we could meet, do friendship or more than simply friendship." Whoa, slow down there . . . let's just meet and see how things go, take it easy.
I didn't see this coming at all, it is all very exciting. A big shock that she would want to meet me, and a little bit flattering actually. She didn't include a pic with her email, but in my mind she looks like this.
Normally I'm more of a brunette kind of guy, but what have I got to lose?
It is quite a sad story actually. Turns out she was corresponding with some guy called Kevin, and things got quite serious. She arranged to get a passport and was going to leave her homeland to visit him when he dropped a bomb on her and told her that he didn't want to meet her, and he was actually married with kids. The bastard!
Anyway, now that things aren't going to work out with Kevin, she's thinking maybe the two of us could hook up. Actually, her words were "Probable it will silly sound but if you will be interested in a meeting with the good woman I will like to meet you sometime soon!" No Olga, it does not silly sound at all.
She continues "It would be fine if we could meet, do friendship or more than simply friendship." Whoa, slow down there . . . let's just meet and see how things go, take it easy.
I didn't see this coming at all, it is all very exciting. A big shock that she would want to meet me, and a little bit flattering actually. She didn't include a pic with her email, but in my mind she looks like this.
Normally I'm more of a brunette kind of guy, but what have I got to lose?
Redheads and bad beats
Last night I decided to give the poker tournament thing another shot. Rather than going back to the Port Adelaide clubrooms, we decided to do it down at The Palais at Semaphore.
Before poker came dinner, and I have to say, The Palais put the Alberton Oval to shame. Both Ando and I had the chicken schnitzel, I had it with the dianne gravy, which was delicious, and especially garlic-y. The surroundings were a bit nicer too - it's certainly better looking out over the sea than framed photos of Port stars of yesteryear.
Ando warned me on our way there that the atmosphere wasn't as good at The Palais, and there were quite a few bogans. So I wasn't expecting the best. I was pleasantly surprised though - our table was made up of some pretty friendly people, none of whom seemed to have bogan qualities. The table's main "character" was Ross, an affable redhead who spent most of the night making jokes and trying to get people to loosen up. Possibly a smart tactic seeing as he eventually became the table's chip leader. We had another redheaded guy on the table too, and I learned that only 2% of the world's population are redheads. Apparently this number jumps to 14% in Scotland, presumably it's much lower in places like Sierra Leone and Vietnam. I started wondering if redheads are friendly people in general, and whether I should look to include some in my circle of close friends. I only really know one, and he's a reasonably pleasant fellow, so there may be something to this.
Anyway, for once I had good cards pretty much from the start. I won my first big hand hitting a flush on the river. With two other players still in the hand, I decided I'd slow play things and checked on the final round of betting, hoping I could sucker someone into a bet. Didn't happen, but I took down a pretty nice pot anyway. I won a few more big hands, including a three-way all in with Big Slick, and by about 9pm had turned 1,500 in chips into 5,300.
Ando was doing well too, and had roughly the same amount of chips as myself, when he went all in with A-J. Ross decided to see him with J-3. Even though Ando was the definite favourite, he told Ross before the flop came down "You're gonna win this one". Sure enough, the first card to come down was a three and none of the following four cards did anything to help Andy.
Shortly after we went to a break, and Ando was still seething over the bad beat. He was looking forward to seeing me potentially go all the way though. I wasn't feeling quite as confident. After the break the blinds were up to 500-1,000, and so with 3,500 in chips left I made my move. After getting A-7 suited, I pushed all in. The next few players folded, and then someone with 4,500 called. Ross (sitting in front of a large stack of chips, thanks not only to his win over Ando but a few other lucky wins too), called, and raised another 1,000, putting the other guy all in. So we all turned over our cards, and I had everyone beat pre-flop. Ross had Q-something, the other guy amazingly went all in on 9-6 suited. After what had happened to Ando, I kind of knew how it was all going to go down though. The flop hits the table and of course there's a Queen out there. The next couple of cards do nothing, and Ross adds another 8,000 in chips to his stack.
We left almost immediately, and I think Andy was more annoyed than I was. To both get knocked out on bad beats to the same guy is a bit annoying, but I was left thinking about the way he did it. He seemed like he was getting lucky on the flop, and playing way too many hands, but I've seen quite a few guys do that in these tournaments and consistently do well. Perhaps I'm too cautious with the hands I play, or maybe thesy are just making really good reads. These guys are obviously doing something right though because they seem to consistently do well (I had a look at the leaderboard as we arrived last night and recognised one of these players who was ranked near the top. His name is Matthew Justice. Cool name).
I was pretty happy with how I finished up though. I finished 12th out of 30 something, and even managed to win one pretty good pot on a bluff. I'm looking forward to our next home game, it's seeminly been ages since we last played.
Before poker came dinner, and I have to say, The Palais put the Alberton Oval to shame. Both Ando and I had the chicken schnitzel, I had it with the dianne gravy, which was delicious, and especially garlic-y. The surroundings were a bit nicer too - it's certainly better looking out over the sea than framed photos of Port stars of yesteryear.
Ando warned me on our way there that the atmosphere wasn't as good at The Palais, and there were quite a few bogans. So I wasn't expecting the best. I was pleasantly surprised though - our table was made up of some pretty friendly people, none of whom seemed to have bogan qualities. The table's main "character" was Ross, an affable redhead who spent most of the night making jokes and trying to get people to loosen up. Possibly a smart tactic seeing as he eventually became the table's chip leader. We had another redheaded guy on the table too, and I learned that only 2% of the world's population are redheads. Apparently this number jumps to 14% in Scotland, presumably it's much lower in places like Sierra Leone and Vietnam. I started wondering if redheads are friendly people in general, and whether I should look to include some in my circle of close friends. I only really know one, and he's a reasonably pleasant fellow, so there may be something to this.
Anyway, for once I had good cards pretty much from the start. I won my first big hand hitting a flush on the river. With two other players still in the hand, I decided I'd slow play things and checked on the final round of betting, hoping I could sucker someone into a bet. Didn't happen, but I took down a pretty nice pot anyway. I won a few more big hands, including a three-way all in with Big Slick, and by about 9pm had turned 1,500 in chips into 5,300.
Ando was doing well too, and had roughly the same amount of chips as myself, when he went all in with A-J. Ross decided to see him with J-3. Even though Ando was the definite favourite, he told Ross before the flop came down "You're gonna win this one". Sure enough, the first card to come down was a three and none of the following four cards did anything to help Andy.
Shortly after we went to a break, and Ando was still seething over the bad beat. He was looking forward to seeing me potentially go all the way though. I wasn't feeling quite as confident. After the break the blinds were up to 500-1,000, and so with 3,500 in chips left I made my move. After getting A-7 suited, I pushed all in. The next few players folded, and then someone with 4,500 called. Ross (sitting in front of a large stack of chips, thanks not only to his win over Ando but a few other lucky wins too), called, and raised another 1,000, putting the other guy all in. So we all turned over our cards, and I had everyone beat pre-flop. Ross had Q-something, the other guy amazingly went all in on 9-6 suited. After what had happened to Ando, I kind of knew how it was all going to go down though. The flop hits the table and of course there's a Queen out there. The next couple of cards do nothing, and Ross adds another 8,000 in chips to his stack.
We left almost immediately, and I think Andy was more annoyed than I was. To both get knocked out on bad beats to the same guy is a bit annoying, but I was left thinking about the way he did it. He seemed like he was getting lucky on the flop, and playing way too many hands, but I've seen quite a few guys do that in these tournaments and consistently do well. Perhaps I'm too cautious with the hands I play, or maybe thesy are just making really good reads. These guys are obviously doing something right though because they seem to consistently do well (I had a look at the leaderboard as we arrived last night and recognised one of these players who was ranked near the top. His name is Matthew Justice. Cool name).
I was pretty happy with how I finished up though. I finished 12th out of 30 something, and even managed to win one pretty good pot on a bluff. I'm looking forward to our next home game, it's seeminly been ages since we last played.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Matt Damon goes nuts
I'm starting to consider the possibility I might be a Matt Damon fan. I've never really liked him till now, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the Ben Affleck thing. Maybe it's actually Ben Affleck that sucks and he's just an unlucky victim of guilt by association. I don't mind the Bourne movies (although I don't love them as much as other people seem to), but he was in "Rounders", that has to count for something. And I rewatched "The Departed" the other day and enjoyed that even more the second time.
What I guess I'm saying is that perhaps I judged him too soon. And after finding this clip online, I like him even a little more.
(The clip is a set up, but funny nevertheless)
What I guess I'm saying is that perhaps I judged him too soon. And after finding this clip online, I like him even a little more.
(The clip is a set up, but funny nevertheless)
The Office
For quite a while there hasn't been anything really worth watching on TV. Now with the return of The Sopranos and The Office this week there are two shows. They are both on after 10pm, which is a bit of a pain, but nothing that can't be overcome with some careful planning.
Last night was the series return of The Office, and it was fantastic. I know a lot of people refuse to watch this as it doesn't measure up to the UK original, and I kind of understand where they're coming from. I was one of them for a while. But I gave it a chance, and it has got a lot better after the first few shows.
Last night began with Michael Scott (the David Brent character) being confronted by the company's HR manager Toby about him calling Oscar (one of company's accountants) "faggy". Toby explained to Michael that Oscar was, in fact, gay, and found this extremely offensive. Michael then apologised to Oscar but did it in front of several colleagues, inadvertantly "outing him" to the rest of the office. Sure, doesn't necessarily sound hilarious on its own, but the writing is tremendous. Here's a sampling of a few of the lines from the show:
Michael Scott: Did you know that gay used to mean 'happy?' When I was growing up, it meant 'lame.' And now, it means a man who makes love to other men.
Michael Scott: You don't call retarded people retards. It's bad taste. You call your friends retards when they're acting retarded.
Michael Scott: Can you tell who's gay and who's not?
Dwight Schrute: Of course.
Michael Scott: What about Oscar?
Dwight Schrute: Absolutely not.
Michael Scott: Well, he is.
Dwight Schrute: Well, he's not dressed in women's clothes, so...
Michael Scott: There could be others. I need to know. I don't want to offend anybody else.
Dwight Schrute: You could assume everyone is, and not say anything offensive.
Michael Scott: Yeah. I'm sure everyone would appreciate me treating them like they were gay.
And from perhaps the most awkward scene likely to be shown on TV this year:
Michael Scott: Maybe we could go out for a beer sometime, and you could tell me... how you do that to another dude.
Oscar: (horribly embarrassed) That sounds like a great, wonderful idea. Let's do that.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Basketball links
I've been visiting http://www.basketbawful.blogspot.com/ quite a bit lately, and it's worth checking out - a slightly cynical look at the league, and some good pieces on the culture of rec league and pickup basketball.
Also, if you haven't heard the latest Simmons podcast, it's really good. He talks to Steve Kerr, not so much about being the Suns GM, but more about stories of his playing days. Would there be a better guy to have a beer with than Steve Kerr? Down to earth, funny, owner of five championship rings, and a former team mate of Jordan, Duncan, and Shaq. My favourite part is when they talk about how Steve played for the 02 Trailblazers with Zach Randolph, Ruben Patterson, Rasheed Wallace, and Damon Stoudamire, and Simmons asked him if he went back to his room and wept every night. Probably the best of podcast he's done yet, and you can find it here http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Encore!
Last night was the opening of my 2007/08 concert attending season. So I put on my best cowboy shirt, and headed down to Her Majesty's Theatre with Narelle to take in the sweet smooth sounds of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals.
We got there a bit before 8pm, mid way through the opening act. She was actually an Adelaide girl, who had recently relocated to New York (where she had met Ryan Adams, who had brought her back here). She was pretty good - kind of Lucinda Williams-ish. She was accompanied by another guitarist who was great - the leads he played around her parts fitted in really well, he was melodic without overpowering what she was doing. Anyway I'll probably try and track down her album when it comes out later this year (although first I'll have to find out what her name was).
At about 8.40pm Ryan and his band hit the stage. They played almost the entire show in darkness, lit only partially by washes of purple and blue light. The performance was pretty tight, and the Cardinals are obviously a very talented band. Unfortunately I didn't know a lot of the material they played, although I can't blame that on Ryan, that one's all on me. Because I think I probably own six or seven of his albums, and only listen to one and a half of them. The best stuff he did was the heavier stuff towards the end - he played a fantastic version of "I See Monsters" that was the highlight for me.
At about 10.10pm he left the stage, and I assumed he'd be back in a few minutes for an encore. Within seconds though the house lights came on, and The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" came on the PA. Everyone kind of looked at each other confused - was that it? Until last night I don't think I've been to a concert where the performer didn't do at least one encore.
Anyway, once we all realised they weren't coming back (as roadies pulled apart the backdrop and carried off equipment) we all headed home. I felt kind of stupid getting home from a concert at 10.30pm. Got a good night's sleep at least.
For those of you who are interested (OK, it's only Alen), here's the setlist they played:
Goodnight Rose
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Cold Roses
Dear John
Off Broadway
Mockingbird
Peaceful Valley
Wild Flowers
Dear Chicago
I See Monsters
What Sin
Easy Plateau
Magnolia Mountain
A Kiss Before I Go
We got there a bit before 8pm, mid way through the opening act. She was actually an Adelaide girl, who had recently relocated to New York (where she had met Ryan Adams, who had brought her back here). She was pretty good - kind of Lucinda Williams-ish. She was accompanied by another guitarist who was great - the leads he played around her parts fitted in really well, he was melodic without overpowering what she was doing. Anyway I'll probably try and track down her album when it comes out later this year (although first I'll have to find out what her name was).
At about 8.40pm Ryan and his band hit the stage. They played almost the entire show in darkness, lit only partially by washes of purple and blue light. The performance was pretty tight, and the Cardinals are obviously a very talented band. Unfortunately I didn't know a lot of the material they played, although I can't blame that on Ryan, that one's all on me. Because I think I probably own six or seven of his albums, and only listen to one and a half of them. The best stuff he did was the heavier stuff towards the end - he played a fantastic version of "I See Monsters" that was the highlight for me.
At about 10.10pm he left the stage, and I assumed he'd be back in a few minutes for an encore. Within seconds though the house lights came on, and The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" came on the PA. Everyone kind of looked at each other confused - was that it? Until last night I don't think I've been to a concert where the performer didn't do at least one encore.
Anyway, once we all realised they weren't coming back (as roadies pulled apart the backdrop and carried off equipment) we all headed home. I felt kind of stupid getting home from a concert at 10.30pm. Got a good night's sleep at least.
For those of you who are interested (OK, it's only Alen), here's the setlist they played:
Goodnight Rose
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Cold Roses
Dear John
Off Broadway
Mockingbird
Peaceful Valley
Wild Flowers
Dear Chicago
I See Monsters
What Sin
Easy Plateau
Magnolia Mountain
A Kiss Before I Go
Getting a haircut
I've got a haircut tonight at "Destination for Men". Normally I can't really afford to get my hair cut anywhere that has a name, but I got a voucher in the mail for this place. Besides, it's been like two months since I last got it cut, it's definitely time.
I'm not a huge fan of the whole haircut experience. This place they make it a little better by offering "guy" stuff eg plasma tvs and free beer, but it's still half an hour of sitting there talking to someone who you don't necessarily connect with. I always get the same hairdresser at this place, and I'm not real keen on her. I'm not sure why, maybe it's because I get the feeling she's as bored as I am during our conversations. Anyway, whenever I book in there they ask me if I want anyone in particular. And I say no, and end up with her. I can't bring myself to say "For the love of God, anyone but the chick who normally cuts my hair", so I imagine I'll be getting her again tonight.
I guess I shouldn't complain, I'm not locked into getting my hair cut here. It's just they lure me in, knowing my love of a good discount voucher they keep bringing me back time and time again. I think they're hoping I'm going to relent one day and in addition to my haircut, book myself in for a $500 spa treatment and facial as well. But that's not gonna happen.
The other thing I really struggle with is when they say "So how do you want it?" I find myself unable to give much direction other than "Much shorter thanks, and kind of spiky on top." This has been known to backfire though, and result in me leaving with a flat top (not so much in classy joints like Destination for Men). Sometimes I consider the idea of bringing in a picture of a hairstyle I might like to try, but I can just picture my hairdresser, taking one look and bursting into laughter, saying "This is Brad Pitt! I could spend all week cutting your hair and there's no way you're going to look like this!" (turns to neighbouring hairdresser) "Hey Sharon - look at this guy - think's he's going to look like Brad Pitt! Yeah that'll happen!" while I slink back into my chair.
Anyway, this time tomorrow I will have shorter, spikier haircut, much like my last and the one before that. And I won't look any more or less like a movie star. But it's OK, I'm fine with it. At least I won't have to go through this again for another couple of months.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
R.I.P. Eddie Griffin
Sad news today as it came out that former Timberwolves centre Eddie Griffin drove his car into a freight train last weekend. He was only just identified by his dental records, so it sounds like it wasn't pretty.
I remember when Eddie came out of Seton Hall after one year and it looked like he was going to be a solid pro. The Rockets traded three players to the Nets for his rights (including a pick that was used for Richard Jefferson), and it seemed to me at the time that they got a steal. Now not so much.
Of course Eddie hasn't been relevant in a basketball sense for a while. Other than his ability to occasionally block shots and hit the three (which was usually enough for him to be picked up and dropped between 10 and 15 times a season in our fantasy league), he's been better known for his off court activities. Like shooting at his girlfriend. Or crashing his car, while driving drunk, and um, pleasuring himself. Not the kind of stuff I would endorse, although he's also faced some pretty serious alcoholism and drug addiction problems. When you think about it, it's kind of amazing he hasn't driven his car into a train before now.
I'm not sure if it was deliberate (I'm assuming it was, because from what I know, it was in a pretty barren part of Houston that a millionaire didn't have much business being in) but if it was, it's a pretty sobering (no pun intended) reminder that fame and money have little to do with happiness.
It's back
Looks like the Sopranos is returning to our screens next Tuesday night. At this stage it's on at 10.45pm, but I wouldn't be surprised if they move it past midnight.
Good thing I've got a DVR because no way am I staying up that late. I find these days I'm ready for bed at 10pm. Guess that's what happens when you hit thirty.
Anyway, even though it's like six months late, it will be good to see how the series finishes up. I know a bit of what happens unfortunately, but not the details. And while the show has definitely slipped a bit since it's first few seasons, it's still a great show.
Back in the summer of 69
Tonight I'm seeing Ryan Adams at Her Majesty's Theatre. I have very high expectations. One thing I won't be doing is yelling out requests for "Summer of 69", as one fan once did, referencing the similarly named - but much more rubbish - Canadian artist Bryan Adams. Apparently Ryan stopped that show and said he wouldn't continue until that fan left.
I'm also hoping that he hasn't hit the bottle again. I read a review a week or so ago, where the author recalled a concert of his he'd attended a year ago . . .
"When I saw Ryan Adams last year here in a solo acoustic setting at Seattle's Moore Theatre, the performance was an absolute train wreck. In a weird sort of way, it was actually fascinating to watch as Adams forgot the words to his own songs, and occasionally forgot he had sung them altogether.
But it was also sad, as it became more obvious as the night wore on that - brilliant songwriter that he is - Ryan Adams was far from being, well, you know - "well."
He even "performed" a few of his songs twice - forgetting he had done them the first time around at all. And this was in between slipping behind the amps onstage, to take a hit of whatever "medication" he was apparently taking, only to return to the stage to chase it down with a hit of the wine bottle that he never strayed too far away from."
Word on the street though is that Adams is clean and sober, and performing the best shows of his career. He also seems to be performing exclusively acoustically, which in some ways is a bit of a shame because it means there probably won't be many uptempo songs. If it leads to him playing stuff like "Sweet Illusions" and "How do you keep love alive?" though I'm all for it.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Snow Patrol
Just like the way free food often tastes sweeter, free music sounds better. Which explains my considerable collection of mp3's.
Until now, I've never managed to get free tickets to a concert. I guess it's because you need to be famous, successful, or even lucky to pull that off. But that all changed today, as Narelle secured us free tickets to see Snow Patrol at the Entertainment Centre on 12 September. Sure we have to sit in a corporate box with all of her colleagues, but it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to calling her colleagues "suits" all night, like Billy Walsh's belittling of "E" on Entourage.
I'm pretty excited about this show - I've only heard the latest album, but parts of it are really good. "Make this go on forever" and "Set the fire to the third bar" in particular. Sure you could argue that in many ways they're a U2, or even Coldplay ripoff. And the fact that they are mainly famous for playing in ads for "Grey's Anatomy" doesn't do a lot for me. But you're not going to ruin this for me, damnit.
Until now, I've never managed to get free tickets to a concert. I guess it's because you need to be famous, successful, or even lucky to pull that off. But that all changed today, as Narelle secured us free tickets to see Snow Patrol at the Entertainment Centre on 12 September. Sure we have to sit in a corporate box with all of her colleagues, but it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to calling her colleagues "suits" all night, like Billy Walsh's belittling of "E" on Entourage.
I'm pretty excited about this show - I've only heard the latest album, but parts of it are really good. "Make this go on forever" and "Set the fire to the third bar" in particular. Sure you could argue that in many ways they're a U2, or even Coldplay ripoff. And the fact that they are mainly famous for playing in ads for "Grey's Anatomy" doesn't do a lot for me. But you're not going to ruin this for me, damnit.
Monday, August 20, 2007
I'm a fan
There are a few things I'm a big fan of. Like American-style pork spare ribs, Ricky Gervais, Little Creatures Pale Ale, salt and pepper squid, Donnie Darko, fantasy basketball, the original BBC version of The Office, the US remake of The Office, Ron Artest, Maggie Gyllenhall, Judd Apatow, the Larry Sanders Show, Moe Syzlak, Bill Simmons, Arj Barker, about 35% of Ryan Adams' musical output, the Phoenix Suns, all the major holidays, Nike sneakers, Edward Norton, baggy shorts, Drew Barrymore, NBA 2K7, David Letterman, Taco Bell, Quentin Tarantino, No Limit Texas Hold-Em, High Fidelity, Steve Nash, Karen Crouch's melting moments cookies, BMW cars, Dr Pepper, the movies of Rob Zombie, early Public Enemy, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Frank Kozik, Vince Vaughn, the City X Grille, Elmore Leonard, Coopers Dark Ale, NBA Hangtime, Entourage, Salvador Dali, baked cheesecake, Xavier McDaniel, Las Vegas, chocolate milk, Martin Scorcese, Leonard Cohen, Extras, iPods, sizzling food, the last few Nick Cave records, sunset walks on the beach and the books of Brett Easton Ellis.
Also, Chuck Klosterman, Damien Rice, Smash by The Offspring, Bring the Pain-era Chris Rock, Gerald Wallace, Guns 'n' Roses, Robert DeNiro, Tori Amos, The Usual Suspects, George Costanza, Surf 'n' Turf, Fender guitars, Tony Scott, Cadbury chocolate, Christopher Moltisanti, Aimee Mann, orange flavoured Gatorade, my sister's Rocky Road, The Wire, Steve Carrell, cigars, Jose Gonzales, New York City, Fight Club, road trips, John Steinbeck, Michael Mann (the film director, not the guy with the ponytail who used to come to my church), the first Wu-Tang Clan album, polo shirts, the footlong bacon and egg Subway sandwich with southwest sauce, Kaluah and Coke, Derek Hess, Owen Wilson, Tool, my new laptop, orange juice, John Starks, Gourmet Glaze donuts, The Stand (both the book and the surprisingly good mini-series with Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald), Robert Rodriguez, the world wide interweb, roasted almonds, sleeping in, Malcolm X (the movie and the man), Eli Roth, jetskiing, 80's pop metal, the colours brown and grey, Ice Cube (the rapper, not the actor), Jay McInerney, barbecue chicken pizzas, Grand Theft Auto, Deadwood, Coke Zero, IKEA, Christopher Walken, the number 25, Rome (the TV show, although I'm sure the city is also lovely), American Tabloid and Japanese Maple trees.
Now if there's the chance to combine one or more of these interests (like say a dinner of salt and pepper squid with Maggie Gyllenhall), I'm definitely interested. So I was excited to find out that Nike are going to be releasing a special sneaker commemorating the Guns 'n' Roses classic, "November Rain". Coming out of course in November, just in time for my birthday. Anyone want to buy me a pair?
Also, Chuck Klosterman, Damien Rice, Smash by The Offspring, Bring the Pain-era Chris Rock, Gerald Wallace, Guns 'n' Roses, Robert DeNiro, Tori Amos, The Usual Suspects, George Costanza, Surf 'n' Turf, Fender guitars, Tony Scott, Cadbury chocolate, Christopher Moltisanti, Aimee Mann, orange flavoured Gatorade, my sister's Rocky Road, The Wire, Steve Carrell, cigars, Jose Gonzales, New York City, Fight Club, road trips, John Steinbeck, Michael Mann (the film director, not the guy with the ponytail who used to come to my church), the first Wu-Tang Clan album, polo shirts, the footlong bacon and egg Subway sandwich with southwest sauce, Kaluah and Coke, Derek Hess, Owen Wilson, Tool, my new laptop, orange juice, John Starks, Gourmet Glaze donuts, The Stand (both the book and the surprisingly good mini-series with Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald), Robert Rodriguez, the world wide interweb, roasted almonds, sleeping in, Malcolm X (the movie and the man), Eli Roth, jetskiing, 80's pop metal, the colours brown and grey, Ice Cube (the rapper, not the actor), Jay McInerney, barbecue chicken pizzas, Grand Theft Auto, Deadwood, Coke Zero, IKEA, Christopher Walken, the number 25, Rome (the TV show, although I'm sure the city is also lovely), American Tabloid and Japanese Maple trees.
Now if there's the chance to combine one or more of these interests (like say a dinner of salt and pepper squid with Maggie Gyllenhall), I'm definitely interested. So I was excited to find out that Nike are going to be releasing a special sneaker commemorating the Guns 'n' Roses classic, "November Rain". Coming out of course in November, just in time for my birthday. Anyone want to buy me a pair?
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Best hot dog ever?*
If you're ever in town and looking for a great hot dog, you have to try the City X Grill.
Just finished one off five minutes ago and it was truly amazing - a delicious sausage, grilled bacon, onions and cheese, with tomato sauce. Your standard ingredients, sure, but it was what they did with them. I'm officially a convert.
* Yes, that's right, I'm reviewing hot dogs now.
Just finished one off five minutes ago and it was truly amazing - a delicious sausage, grilled bacon, onions and cheese, with tomato sauce. Your standard ingredients, sure, but it was what they did with them. I'm officially a convert.
* Yes, that's right, I'm reviewing hot dogs now.
Not even close
For the three of you out there who may have been wondering, we didn't win our basketball final last night. Didn't even come close, I think we went down by about 19. The key causes of this, in no particular order, were:
a) Most of us really aren't that tall. I guess Ash is about 6 foot 2, and he's easily our tallest player. The other team had three guys his size or bigger.
b) We're pretty good at shooting the ball from three point range, and that's about it. I think in the first half we scored 20 points, and 12 of those were from threes.
c) The other team was ridiculously on fire - they normally struggle to score 35-40 points against us, last night they had 56. The worst part was they used to have a few guys who were a bit shaky out there - now these guys still look like they can't play but they were hitting almost every shot they took. So when the guys they have who are actually skilled players scored, it was just a nice bonus for them.
Of course, this being social basketball, the new season starts at 8.40pm next Thursday night, so there's not exactly a lot of time for reflection. I'm hopeful we can pick things up a bit last year - whether it's the rest of the league getting better, or us starting to slide, the last two seasons haven't been real great.
a) Most of us really aren't that tall. I guess Ash is about 6 foot 2, and he's easily our tallest player. The other team had three guys his size or bigger.
b) We're pretty good at shooting the ball from three point range, and that's about it. I think in the first half we scored 20 points, and 12 of those were from threes.
c) The other team was ridiculously on fire - they normally struggle to score 35-40 points against us, last night they had 56. The worst part was they used to have a few guys who were a bit shaky out there - now these guys still look like they can't play but they were hitting almost every shot they took. So when the guys they have who are actually skilled players scored, it was just a nice bonus for them.
Of course, this being social basketball, the new season starts at 8.40pm next Thursday night, so there's not exactly a lot of time for reflection. I'm hopeful we can pick things up a bit last year - whether it's the rest of the league getting better, or us starting to slide, the last two seasons haven't been real great.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Darren vs the Big Mac
I was curious how much fat there is in a Big Mac. You know, since 31% of me is comprised of fat. Anyway, Mirjana sent me a link to look it up online. It's 12.7%. So 100grams of Darren contains almost three times the fat that 100grams of this delicious hamburger. That doesn't make me feel great.
My health
This morning I had my health check up at work. I've had a lot of requests for the results, and like I always say, my personal health details are everyone's business. So here goes . . .
Since my last (and first) assessment three months ago I've made a bit of progress.
First up, the good news - my weight dropped from 101kg to just under 98kg, and my body fat from 34.3% to 31.1% (that still sounds like a lot though). I lost 4 cm off my waist, and my aerobic fitness was up.
The bad news was the my blood pessure (120/90) was roughly the same as last time, and my cholesterol (5.6) was actually slightly up. So still got a bit of work to do, mainly in the area of diet. Nigel thought I was on the right track though, and said the progress I had made was good so that's encouraging.
I'm not sure when our next check ups are but I really want to keep improving - especially in the body fat percentage, that's kind of embarrassing.
Since my last (and first) assessment three months ago I've made a bit of progress.
First up, the good news - my weight dropped from 101kg to just under 98kg, and my body fat from 34.3% to 31.1% (that still sounds like a lot though). I lost 4 cm off my waist, and my aerobic fitness was up.
The bad news was the my blood pessure (120/90) was roughly the same as last time, and my cholesterol (5.6) was actually slightly up. So still got a bit of work to do, mainly in the area of diet. Nigel thought I was on the right track though, and said the progress I had made was good so that's encouraging.
I'm not sure when our next check ups are but I really want to keep improving - especially in the body fat percentage, that's kind of embarrassing.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
An underappreciated album
I spent today listening to "Bubblegum" by Mark Lanegan at work. I was reminded once again of what a great album it is, and how I completely don't understand popular musical tastes.
To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person I know who owns this album. And it is brilliant. I'm willing to concede it's not the most accessible thing, but it's not particularly weird. You've got fast paced, Queens of the Stone Age-type stuff like "Death Valley Blues" or "Hit The City", brooding Nick Cave-esque ballads like "One Hundred Days", or RL Burnside blues like "Little Willie John".
Over the past few weeks I've managed to talk Ribar and Mirjana into the new National album Boxer, but I don't think I've ever been able to talk anyone into this. And that's a shame.
To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person I know who owns this album. And it is brilliant. I'm willing to concede it's not the most accessible thing, but it's not particularly weird. You've got fast paced, Queens of the Stone Age-type stuff like "Death Valley Blues" or "Hit The City", brooding Nick Cave-esque ballads like "One Hundred Days", or RL Burnside blues like "Little Willie John".
Over the past few weeks I've managed to talk Ribar and Mirjana into the new National album Boxer, but I don't think I've ever been able to talk anyone into this. And that's a shame.
New treadmills
We have new treadmills at our gym. Not sure why, the old ones seemed fine to me, and not so old really. But when I turned up on the weekend they had replaced them all. Anyway, the new treadmills are not only nice and shiny, they also give you a readout of your heart rate. So I was finishing up last night and I decided to see what mine was, and was surprised to see it was at 182. I don't know a lot about this sort of thing, but that seems really high to me. Like in danger of going into cardiac arrest high. According to the calorie counter I burned almost 1,100 calories during the course of the run, which again, seems like an awful lot. I'm not sure if the machine is lying to me to make me feel good about myself, I would like to think that it has more integrity than that.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Die Hard 4.0
Saturday night went to the movies down at Glenelg with Dad to watch Die Hard 4.0. A few thoughts on the experience:
1. Whoever designed the Glenelg cinema did a terrible job. The main theatre is a giant room with all of the seats in the back half, then a flat floor that takes up the entire front half of the room that is unusable. Then a screen up front that is about half as big as it could/should be. No wonder they're knocking this place down.
2. Phil Smyth and his wife sat right behind us. It's strange seeing someone who is almost a celebrity, but not quite. He looked taller than I thought he would too.
3. The movie was pretty good - much more implausible and ridiculous than any of the other Die Hards, with some awesome stunts, and suitably ridiculous dialogue. Timothy Olyphant was a great bad guy too.
4. Bruce Willis is ageless. I guess he's in his fifties, but it seems like he could make these movies for another 20 years. Its certainly not like Stallone and his surgically and chemically enhanced body doing Rocky at 60.
5. Bruce Willis' sidekick in this movie looks like Justin Mok.
6. I'm a little bit sceptical when it comes to the depiction of technology in films like this. I pointed this out on Friday night watching "The Bourne Identity" with Wheelie - I doubt that someone sitting in a room on a desktop PC can track one person's movements across a city, bring up schematics to buildings in real time, control traffic lights etc. Like Justin Mok said in this film - it took FEMA five days to get water to New Orleans following the flooding there - I really don't think the Government is that efficient (also I work for one, so I should know).
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Best concerts ever part two
Pearl Jam at Memorial Drive, 1995
Went along to this with Gav, and Boris. A number of reasons why this makes the list - it was my first concert ever, and Pearl Jam possibly at their peak as a heavy rock band after releasing Vs and then Vitalogy in 1993 and 1994. I remember standing in line for this one from the early afternoon, and then the mad rush for the gates as they opened. I was excited that we were in great position to see the band, although about 15 minutes after the show started I ran into my cousins, and was slightly disappointed to find out they'd arrived an hour or so ago, and just pushed their way to the front.
I also have vivid memories of Boris crowd surfing into the sealed off area up front. This was well before the concert had started, that's how much everyone loved crowd surfing back in the early nineties. I tried it myself a few times that night, and didn't fare so well, seems Pearl Jam fans aren't the strongest of people (I may have been carrying a little extra weight, I can't really remember).
The highlight of the show was during Blood - a relentlessly intense song, during which Eddie destroyed his mic stand. This was obviously back in the days when he was a little more active, and didn't spend the entire show gradually getting drunk on red wine and mumbling stuff about the President.
I've seen them three times since - once at Thebarton Oval on the No Code Tour (an underrated album by the way) and then twice at the Entertainment Centre. Not once have I been disappointed, and I'm pretty sure I'll see them every time they tour here. And I'm not someone who listens to Pearl Jam a lot anymore either, but live they are always good. If I had to rank the remaining three concerts I'd put the first Entertainment Centre one (attended with Alen) next, followed by Thebarton Oval (Ando and Ash) and then their Entertainment Centre show last year (Narelle).
Here's the guys doing Blood at a different show.
Went along to this with Gav, and Boris. A number of reasons why this makes the list - it was my first concert ever, and Pearl Jam possibly at their peak as a heavy rock band after releasing Vs and then Vitalogy in 1993 and 1994. I remember standing in line for this one from the early afternoon, and then the mad rush for the gates as they opened. I was excited that we were in great position to see the band, although about 15 minutes after the show started I ran into my cousins, and was slightly disappointed to find out they'd arrived an hour or so ago, and just pushed their way to the front.
I also have vivid memories of Boris crowd surfing into the sealed off area up front. This was well before the concert had started, that's how much everyone loved crowd surfing back in the early nineties. I tried it myself a few times that night, and didn't fare so well, seems Pearl Jam fans aren't the strongest of people (I may have been carrying a little extra weight, I can't really remember).
The highlight of the show was during Blood - a relentlessly intense song, during which Eddie destroyed his mic stand. This was obviously back in the days when he was a little more active, and didn't spend the entire show gradually getting drunk on red wine and mumbling stuff about the President.
I've seen them three times since - once at Thebarton Oval on the No Code Tour (an underrated album by the way) and then twice at the Entertainment Centre. Not once have I been disappointed, and I'm pretty sure I'll see them every time they tour here. And I'm not someone who listens to Pearl Jam a lot anymore either, but live they are always good. If I had to rank the remaining three concerts I'd put the first Entertainment Centre one (attended with Alen) next, followed by Thebarton Oval (Ando and Ash) and then their Entertainment Centre show last year (Narelle).
Here's the guys doing Blood at a different show.
Friday, August 10, 2007
One down, one to go . . .
Last night we won our semi final by two points. Not exactly what I was expecting, before the game I remember telling the guys we should focus on winning with a big margin, to give us some confidence going into the grand final next week (not all that cocky, since there wasn't much doubt from any of us that we were clearly the better team). They played well though, and without Jesse we struggled to get much movement in our halfcourt offense. It's a good thing we can shoot threes or we would have been blown away.
One of the highlights of the game was Ando introducing the concept of the "playoff foul" to social basketball. As one of their best players was in mid air attempting to convert a fast break layup, Ando took him down with what could best be described as a combination clothesline/elbow to the eye. He stayed down for a while and it looked pretty bad, but as Andy pointed out after the game, he didn't score again after that so . .
After the game I saw a bit of the other semi final. The team we are most likely going to be playing next week have a guy who looks like an AFL player, but with basketball skills. Apparently he plays in the ABA. As noone on our team plays semi-professionally, I think we're going to be facing quite a challenge.
One of the highlights of the game was Ando introducing the concept of the "playoff foul" to social basketball. As one of their best players was in mid air attempting to convert a fast break layup, Ando took him down with what could best be described as a combination clothesline/elbow to the eye. He stayed down for a while and it looked pretty bad, but as Andy pointed out after the game, he didn't score again after that so . .
After the game I saw a bit of the other semi final. The team we are most likely going to be playing next week have a guy who looks like an AFL player, but with basketball skills. Apparently he plays in the ABA. As noone on our team plays semi-professionally, I think we're going to be facing quite a challenge.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
What goes around . . . comes around
I mean this in all seriousness - this might be the best thing Justin Timberlake has done since "Cry Me A River". OK, that's not convincing anyone, how about this: If I was going to make a "breakup songs" playlist for my ipod (and knowing me, I probably will), this would be the leadoff track, just before "Black" and "Can't Stand Losing You".
Still not sold? Well what if I was to tell you that Scarlett Johansson appears in the video clip? Is that something you might be interested in?
Still not sold? Well what if I was to tell you that Scarlett Johansson appears in the video clip? Is that something you might be interested in?
Health assessment
I just found out today that next Wednesday we are having a three month update on our health assessments for work. I'm all signed up and ready to go.
The last assessment was actually the first I've ever done. In terms of my health, I've always gone with the policy that ignorance is bliss. But now that I'm in my thirties, I'm realising I need to pay a little more attention than that. So I signed up for these optional health assessments. The guy who runs them - Nigel - seems like a pretty good guy. Certainly I remember last time he was way less annoying than my old personal trainer, Serious Scott. Quite an impressive feat actually, coming across as likable while you're telling a guy he really needs to lose weight.
Anyway, the low point for me during my session three months ago was when Nigel did a blood sugar test about half way through, and after noting that my sugar levels were quite high, asked if I'd eaten anything today. And I had to admit that I'd eaten a piece of Michella's mum's sultana cake minutes before the session. I think I might have stared at the ground as I was saying this. So I've learned my lesson - no cake this time until after the session is done.
Seriously I think I'll do a bit better this time. I'm pretty sure I've lost a bit of weight in the last three months, and I've been doing a lot more cardio the last few weeks. Anyway, check back next Wednesday night for an update on the current state of my health.
The last assessment was actually the first I've ever done. In terms of my health, I've always gone with the policy that ignorance is bliss. But now that I'm in my thirties, I'm realising I need to pay a little more attention than that. So I signed up for these optional health assessments. The guy who runs them - Nigel - seems like a pretty good guy. Certainly I remember last time he was way less annoying than my old personal trainer, Serious Scott. Quite an impressive feat actually, coming across as likable while you're telling a guy he really needs to lose weight.
Anyway, the low point for me during my session three months ago was when Nigel did a blood sugar test about half way through, and after noting that my sugar levels were quite high, asked if I'd eaten anything today. And I had to admit that I'd eaten a piece of Michella's mum's sultana cake minutes before the session. I think I might have stared at the ground as I was saying this. So I've learned my lesson - no cake this time until after the session is done.
Seriously I think I'll do a bit better this time. I'm pretty sure I've lost a bit of weight in the last three months, and I've been doing a lot more cardio the last few weeks. Anyway, check back next Wednesday night for an update on the current state of my health.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Thanks EzyDVD
Stopped by EzyDVD on my way back to the car after work tonight and picked up a few bargains . . . grabbed "The Departed" and "The Prestige" for under $10 each, and season six of "The Sopranos" for $30. I was especially excited about The Sopranos - at this price I don't feel like I'm paying for those two stupid dream episodes when Tony is in a coma. Those were terrible.
I also grabbed a DVD player for $30 - that's just ridiculous. They give you a 12 month warranty on those things, I'll be amazed if it makes it to six for that price.
I also grabbed a DVD player for $30 - that's just ridiculous. They give you a 12 month warranty on those things, I'll be amazed if it makes it to six for that price.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Best concerts ever part one
With shows from Ryan Adams, Tori Amos and Something for Kate coming up in the next month or two, I've been doing a bit of thinking lately about the best shows I've seen over the last decade or so. And so you guys get a list. But in the interest of not running out of blog material in the next week, I've decided to break it up. Kind of like Bill Simmons' 33 Best Sports Movies of All Time series, which I'm guessing he has no intention of ever actually finishing. So here they are, the ten best concerts I've ever been to.*
Tomahawk (with the Melvins and Fantomas) at Heaven, 2003
I went to this with Boris, and was blown away. I like Mike Patton, and Tomahawk are probably my favourite of his many bands, but I wasn't expecting anything this good. Part of the appeal I think was the venue - Heaven (now HQ) is easily my favourite place in Adelaide to see bands - the sight lines are good pretty much wherever you are with all the raised areas, and the sound is always great. The sound was spot on for this show, and the guitar tones were fantastic - menacing yet melodic.
This was after Tomahwak's second album Mit Gas had come out, so they didn't have a whole lot of material, but it was a very solid set with hardly any filler. It's fantastic watching Patton perform as well - juggling samplers, a theramin, various microphones, he comes across as equal parts scientist and rock star. After watching this I kind of wished I saw Faith No More live. Mirjana likes to point out that she went to see them when they were in Adelaide at Le Rox, although I think I was in primary school back then so that was probably what stopped me from going. That, and the fact that I preferred the pop-metal stylings of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.
The support acts were OK - Melvins and Fantomas are both bands which I don't mind in small doses, so the 45 minute sets were just about right.
This isn't from the show, but it's a great Tomahawk clip all the same.
* Not in any kind of an order - that would be too hard, and besides, as I think I may have mentioned before, my memory sucks. I'm just happy I can actually recall attending any of these shows.
Tomahawk (with the Melvins and Fantomas) at Heaven, 2003
I went to this with Boris, and was blown away. I like Mike Patton, and Tomahawk are probably my favourite of his many bands, but I wasn't expecting anything this good. Part of the appeal I think was the venue - Heaven (now HQ) is easily my favourite place in Adelaide to see bands - the sight lines are good pretty much wherever you are with all the raised areas, and the sound is always great. The sound was spot on for this show, and the guitar tones were fantastic - menacing yet melodic.
This was after Tomahwak's second album Mit Gas had come out, so they didn't have a whole lot of material, but it was a very solid set with hardly any filler. It's fantastic watching Patton perform as well - juggling samplers, a theramin, various microphones, he comes across as equal parts scientist and rock star. After watching this I kind of wished I saw Faith No More live. Mirjana likes to point out that she went to see them when they were in Adelaide at Le Rox, although I think I was in primary school back then so that was probably what stopped me from going. That, and the fact that I preferred the pop-metal stylings of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.
The support acts were OK - Melvins and Fantomas are both bands which I don't mind in small doses, so the 45 minute sets were just about right.
This isn't from the show, but it's a great Tomahawk clip all the same.
* Not in any kind of an order - that would be too hard, and besides, as I think I may have mentioned before, my memory sucks. I'm just happy I can actually recall attending any of these shows.
Monday, August 06, 2007
A few things
A girl who works at my gym told me the other day I look like a guy from The Cat Empire. Man I hate The Cat Empire.
Speaking of the gym, there's a class they run which is kind of an aerobic type thing but with weights, set to music. The leader looks like a pudgier Richard Simmons, and wears a headset microphone, which he uses to instruct the class. Which is funny by itself. Except every now and again, he gets a little carried away, and starts singing along to the backing music in a horribly off-key voice. This almost always happens during "Addicted to Love".
The new Kevin Costner movie "Mr Brooks" actually looks like it might be OK. Die Hard 4.0 as well.
Just realised today that I'm only about 8 weeks out from my annual fantasy basketball draft. Time to start working on my spreadsheets, and figuring out how I'm going to rig the lottery this year. Looks like I won't be taking Elton Brand though . . .
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AnsNUmd4DFqniwnNMRKR_Ze8vLYF?slug=ap-clippers-brandinjured&prov=ap&type=lgns
The new Smashing Pumpkins album sucks. I haven't made up my mind on the Interpol one yet.
I spent today going through job applications at work. There sure are a lot of "enthusiastic, driven, goal-oriented, motivated, self-starters" out there. Most of them seem to work at Coles. Also, the phrase "submit three copies of your application" is one that is truly understood by very few.
Mike really needs to update his blog more.
Alen still needs his own blog. I think www.myclientsaredrivingmemental.blogspot.com is available.
I rewatched "Hostage" on TV last night. Strangely it was much less enjoyable than the first time I saw it, although it did feature standout performances from Mrs Lanningham from "The West Wing", Aaron from "24" and T-Bag from "Prison Break". Why even bother hiring Bruce Willis for your film when you have those three on board?
Speaking of the gym, there's a class they run which is kind of an aerobic type thing but with weights, set to music. The leader looks like a pudgier Richard Simmons, and wears a headset microphone, which he uses to instruct the class. Which is funny by itself. Except every now and again, he gets a little carried away, and starts singing along to the backing music in a horribly off-key voice. This almost always happens during "Addicted to Love".
The new Kevin Costner movie "Mr Brooks" actually looks like it might be OK. Die Hard 4.0 as well.
Just realised today that I'm only about 8 weeks out from my annual fantasy basketball draft. Time to start working on my spreadsheets, and figuring out how I'm going to rig the lottery this year. Looks like I won't be taking Elton Brand though . . .
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AnsNUmd4DFqniwnNMRKR_Ze8vLYF?slug=ap-clippers-brandinjured&prov=ap&type=lgns
The new Smashing Pumpkins album sucks. I haven't made up my mind on the Interpol one yet.
I spent today going through job applications at work. There sure are a lot of "enthusiastic, driven, goal-oriented, motivated, self-starters" out there. Most of them seem to work at Coles. Also, the phrase "submit three copies of your application" is one that is truly understood by very few.
Mike really needs to update his blog more.
Alen still needs his own blog. I think www.myclientsaredrivingmemental.blogspot.com is available.
I rewatched "Hostage" on TV last night. Strangely it was much less enjoyable than the first time I saw it, although it did feature standout performances from Mrs Lanningham from "The West Wing", Aaron from "24" and T-Bag from "Prison Break". Why even bother hiring Bruce Willis for your film when you have those three on board?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Wisdom from Chuck
Rereading Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself to Live" today I came across the following passage, and realised he'd summed up my attitudes to health and exercise perfectly.
My aquaintances in New York tend to act shocked when they discover I am an avid runner, since the rest of my life skews unhealthy (my cholesterol is 383). But that is why I must run: running keeps me alive. Physically, I almost never enjoy the process of exercise, but I feel mentally tougher when I finish. More important, running lets me eat anything I want, and it allows me to drink every day (if I need to). So I run, and I run fast. I run with focus. In 1989, I could run 4oo metres in 53.9 seconds. And the fact that I can so precisely remember this reminds me why I will never, ever be cool.
My aquaintances in New York tend to act shocked when they discover I am an avid runner, since the rest of my life skews unhealthy (my cholesterol is 383). But that is why I must run: running keeps me alive. Physically, I almost never enjoy the process of exercise, but I feel mentally tougher when I finish. More important, running lets me eat anything I want, and it allows me to drink every day (if I need to). So I run, and I run fast. I run with focus. In 1989, I could run 4oo metres in 53.9 seconds. And the fact that I can so precisely remember this reminds me why I will never, ever be cool.
Bathroom update
Yeah, still working on those damn bathroom renovations. Like most things in life, renovating a bathroom is harder than you would think it would be.
Anyway, as you can see, Team Hunter has made some progress. The new bath is in, and we've built a box for it to sit in. The ceiling is completely painted, and the walls just need one final coat once the tiling is done. The floor is now level, after we spent yesterday putting in a new concrete floor (note: mixing cement and plaster without the aid of a cement mixer is another of those things that is harder than you might think. Much harder.) The next step is to paint on the waterproofing around the shower, and then start tiling the walls.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
My sore toe
As of today I only have nine toe nails. Trust me, you need more than that, it doesn't feel real good. My toe and toe nail related problems go back about a week, I was running on the treadmill at the gym and developed a blister. Rather than resting the next day, I decided to run it out. It got worse. That was last Thursday and other than a brief two minute attempt earlier this week, I haven't been able to use the treadmill since.
As of last night the toe nail was barely hanging to my toe, so I took preemptive action and decided to sever relations with it immediately. I was hoping this would make everything better, and I could resume my City to Bay training. Given the fact that I'm walking today with a Verbal Kint-like limp, that's clearly not going to happen. The frustrating part is that after 30 odd years of lethargy I actually really feel like exercising now but I can't.
I've been told that if it's not better in a few days I should seek medical advice, so that's probably the next step. Or wait for the toe to fall off and send it to a girl as an expression of my love, Van Gogh style. I hope it gets better soon.
Note: I was going to include a picture, but it looked pretty disgusting and I figure noone wants to see that.
As of last night the toe nail was barely hanging to my toe, so I took preemptive action and decided to sever relations with it immediately. I was hoping this would make everything better, and I could resume my City to Bay training. Given the fact that I'm walking today with a Verbal Kint-like limp, that's clearly not going to happen. The frustrating part is that after 30 odd years of lethargy I actually really feel like exercising now but I can't.
I've been told that if it's not better in a few days I should seek medical advice, so that's probably the next step. Or wait for the toe to fall off and send it to a girl as an expression of my love, Van Gogh style. I hope it gets better soon.
Note: I was going to include a picture, but it looked pretty disgusting and I figure noone wants to see that.
New laptop
I have a new computer. A laptop. My old one kept crashing, so I decided to invest in this. When it came time to choose a model, it was an easy decision. A very good friend of mine recently bought an ASUS PRO31F, and I was very impressed, so decided to buy the exact same one.
I made the decision to buy it (actually salary sacrifice it through work) at about 2.30pm Tuesday afternoon, and by 4.30pm, I was standing in JB Hi-Fi at Marion, talking to the sales guy (yes, Tuesday was a work day, that's how impulsive I am, I left work early to buy it).
I was particularly pleased that they threw in a wireless router - no longer will I be chained to my freezing cold study, I'll now be able to blog away and surf the interweb in the warmth and comfort of my own bed. I'm looking forward to blogging about my dreams - the next time I'm attacked by giant turkeys as I sleep, I'll have an outlet to discuss how it made me feel. And presumably I'll save all kinds of money on psychiatrist's bills.
I'm sure you're curious about the many features my new laptop has, so here goes - 120 gigabyte hard drive . . . 1 gig of RAM . . . CD and DVD burner . . . 1.3 megapixel webcam . . . colour screen . . . keyboard. It's got it all. Actually the screen is great - I moved over all of my photos, and realised I'm not the terrible photographer I thought I was, it was (at least partially) my computer screen that was making everything seem dark and hazy. Now my pics are bright, bursting with colour and life, I think it's possible I have real talent in this area.
I made the decision to buy it (actually salary sacrifice it through work) at about 2.30pm Tuesday afternoon, and by 4.30pm, I was standing in JB Hi-Fi at Marion, talking to the sales guy (yes, Tuesday was a work day, that's how impulsive I am, I left work early to buy it).
I was particularly pleased that they threw in a wireless router - no longer will I be chained to my freezing cold study, I'll now be able to blog away and surf the interweb in the warmth and comfort of my own bed. I'm looking forward to blogging about my dreams - the next time I'm attacked by giant turkeys as I sleep, I'll have an outlet to discuss how it made me feel. And presumably I'll save all kinds of money on psychiatrist's bills.
I'm sure you're curious about the many features my new laptop has, so here goes - 120 gigabyte hard drive . . . 1 gig of RAM . . . CD and DVD burner . . . 1.3 megapixel webcam . . . colour screen . . . keyboard. It's got it all. Actually the screen is great - I moved over all of my photos, and realised I'm not the terrible photographer I thought I was, it was (at least partially) my computer screen that was making everything seem dark and hazy. Now my pics are bright, bursting with colour and life, I think it's possible I have real talent in this area.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Eavesdropping
We were heading down to the River Torrens for our semi-daily lunch time walk when we saw them. Two men walking and talking, one wearing a tweed coat with a black beret. The sight of this was enough to distract us from whatever we were talking about (probably nothing important), and inspire Mirjana to ask me if I'd ever wear a beret.
"No, of course not" was my response.
"But what if you lived in Paris?"
"No, and I wouldn't do that anyway".
"What if you were an artist?"
"Probably not".
By this time, we had made up the ground between us (Mirjana likes to claim she is a brisk walker, and she is correct), and we could start to hear the conversation between the two of them. It went something like this . . .
(Guy with tweed coat and stupid hat): "At it's core, large scale esemble jazz is a labour of love, but you've gone and turned it into a commerical concern".
(Other guy): "Now that's not really fair . . ."
We pulled away as they continued their conversation, but I couldn't have been any more delighted with what we heard. It was like walking past two men in army uniforms, and hearing them discuss whether an AK47 is better than an M16 - it just lived up to my expectations in every way possible.
"No, of course not" was my response.
"But what if you lived in Paris?"
"No, and I wouldn't do that anyway".
"What if you were an artist?"
"Probably not".
By this time, we had made up the ground between us (Mirjana likes to claim she is a brisk walker, and she is correct), and we could start to hear the conversation between the two of them. It went something like this . . .
(Guy with tweed coat and stupid hat): "At it's core, large scale esemble jazz is a labour of love, but you've gone and turned it into a commerical concern".
(Other guy): "Now that's not really fair . . ."
We pulled away as they continued their conversation, but I couldn't have been any more delighted with what we heard. It was like walking past two men in army uniforms, and hearing them discuss whether an AK47 is better than an M16 - it just lived up to my expectations in every way possible.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Some great Simpsons quotes
Back from when the show used to be consistently funny.
Homer: Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!
Homer: When I held that gun in my hand, I felt a surge of power…like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.
Milhouse: Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? *Why did I have the bowl?*
Homer: I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman.
Mayor Quimby: I stand by my racial slur.
Comic Book Guy: Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.
Homer: You don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.
Homer: Books are useless! I only ever read one book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin…but what good does *that* do me?
Chief Wiggum: Can’t you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can’t be policing the entire city!
Homer: How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?
Homer: A woman is a lot like a refrigerator. Six feet tall, 300 pounds…it makes ice.
Kent Brockman: …And the fluffy kitten played with that ball of string all through the night. On a lighter note, a Kwik-E-Mart clerk was brutally murdered last night.
Mr. Burns: I don’t like being outdoors, Smithers. For one thing, there’s too many fat children.
Sideshow Bob: Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?
Superintendent Chalmers: I’ve had it with this school, Skinner. Low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children…
Homer: Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.
Ralph: Slow down, Bart! My legs don’t know how to be as long as yours.
Principal Skinner: Fire can be our friend; whether it’s toasting marshmallows or raining down on Charlie.
Homer: Oh, I’m in no condition to drive. Wait a minute. I don’t have to listen to myself. I’m drunk.
Krusty the Clown: And now, in the spirit of the season: start shopping. And for every dollar of Krusty merchandise you buy, I will be nice to a sick kid. For legal purposes, sick kids may include hookers with a cold.
Homer: How could you?! Haven’t you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church? Captain Whatshisname? We live in a society of laws! Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn’t hear anybody laughing, did you? Except at that guy who made sound effects. Makes sound effects and laughs. Where was I? Oh yeah! Stay out of my booze.
Homer: Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!
Homer: When I held that gun in my hand, I felt a surge of power…like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.
Milhouse: Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? *Why did I have the bowl?*
Homer: I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman.
Mayor Quimby: I stand by my racial slur.
Comic Book Guy: Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.
Homer: You don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.
Homer: Books are useless! I only ever read one book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin…but what good does *that* do me?
Chief Wiggum: Can’t you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can’t be policing the entire city!
Homer: How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?
Homer: A woman is a lot like a refrigerator. Six feet tall, 300 pounds…it makes ice.
Kent Brockman: …And the fluffy kitten played with that ball of string all through the night. On a lighter note, a Kwik-E-Mart clerk was brutally murdered last night.
Mr. Burns: I don’t like being outdoors, Smithers. For one thing, there’s too many fat children.
Sideshow Bob: Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?
Superintendent Chalmers: I’ve had it with this school, Skinner. Low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children…
Homer: Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.
Ralph: Slow down, Bart! My legs don’t know how to be as long as yours.
Principal Skinner: Fire can be our friend; whether it’s toasting marshmallows or raining down on Charlie.
Homer: Oh, I’m in no condition to drive. Wait a minute. I don’t have to listen to myself. I’m drunk.
Krusty the Clown: And now, in the spirit of the season: start shopping. And for every dollar of Krusty merchandise you buy, I will be nice to a sick kid. For legal purposes, sick kids may include hookers with a cold.
Homer: How could you?! Haven’t you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church? Captain Whatshisname? We live in a society of laws! Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn’t hear anybody laughing, did you? Except at that guy who made sound effects. Makes sound effects and laughs. Where was I? Oh yeah! Stay out of my booze.
The Simpsons Movie
Saturday night I joined Alen, Jessie, Mirjana and Annaliese at Marion to watch the long awaited Simpsons movie. It was pretty good, definitely a lot better than anything they've shown on TV lately (although you get to see that stuff for free, so . . .)
I did feel like it dropped off a bit in terms of laughs after the first half hour or so. The animation looked fantastic though on the big (wide) screen, and you got to see some things you wouldn't normally see on the TV show (Otto smoking a bong, Bart's penis etc).
As Alen will attest, the sound in the cinema was pretty dodgy, and there were way too many kids, including one group who talked right through it (I think they may have been the birthday party we saw in Spagos at dinner). Overall it was a good experience though, and I'm looking forward to the DVD and all the deleted stuff.
I did feel like it dropped off a bit in terms of laughs after the first half hour or so. The animation looked fantastic though on the big (wide) screen, and you got to see some things you wouldn't normally see on the TV show (Otto smoking a bong, Bart's penis etc).
As Alen will attest, the sound in the cinema was pretty dodgy, and there were way too many kids, including one group who talked right through it (I think they may have been the birthday party we saw in Spagos at dinner). Overall it was a good experience though, and I'm looking forward to the DVD and all the deleted stuff.
Acting my age
Sometimes I feel like a thirty year old. Other times I do not. Walking into the office at lunch time today with a kids meal from Hungry Jacks is one of those times. I bought it because I wanted the toy (a talking Krusty the Clown), and because I think that Hungry Jacks cheeseburgers are delicious. Do they really have to package it in that dainty little box though? I sure felt stupid carrying that into our building.
My friend Maggie
Today I found this pic of my trip to the Barossa a few weeks ago - I'm pictured with Maggie, the blind dog who got me into trouble by encouraging me to throw her the stick.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Day three
Got the new bath all hooked up today, and some undercoat on the walls. Have decided I'm going to go with white walls, a white ceiling, white wall tiles, and brown floor tiles. It's going to look great.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Day two
An even slower day today than day one, but still made some progress. Managed to remove the bath, but needed to make some big changes to the plumbing for the new bath.
Rang a number of plumbers and plumbing companies (quite a few of whom advertised their services to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week) but none were available to help out until mid to late next week.
Finally I got onto James the plumber, who said that he was available to come that day, as the rain had messed up his planned job. He arrived a few hours later, and looked and sounded suspiciously like my old friend Nigel McKenna. Anyway, he took a look at the existing outlet and said the words you never want to hear, "I think I'm going to need my jackhammer". I of course realised this meant more money and more mess, but it needed to be done so I can't really complain.
Nigel, I mean James made it most of the way through, but at 4.30pm realised one of the parts he had wasn't going to fit. He promised to come back at 10.30 am tomorrow morning, so hopefully by lunchtime tomorrow I will have a working bath.
Rang a number of plumbers and plumbing companies (quite a few of whom advertised their services to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week) but none were available to help out until mid to late next week.
Finally I got onto James the plumber, who said that he was available to come that day, as the rain had messed up his planned job. He arrived a few hours later, and looked and sounded suspiciously like my old friend Nigel McKenna. Anyway, he took a look at the existing outlet and said the words you never want to hear, "I think I'm going to need my jackhammer". I of course realised this meant more money and more mess, but it needed to be done so I can't really complain.
Nigel, I mean James made it most of the way through, but at 4.30pm realised one of the parts he had wasn't going to fit. He promised to come back at 10.30 am tomorrow morning, so hopefully by lunchtime tomorrow I will have a working bath.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Day one
Day one of the renovation job is now all done. Today was mainly spent demolishing stuff, ran into a bit of a roadblock though when the bath proved to be a little difficult. We were hoping to be able to use the brick surrounds of the bath again but that's not going to happen, are going to have to build a timber housing.
The plan for tomorrow is to finish removing the bath and enclosure, and build a new casing for the new bath. Oh, and cut myself a little less.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Christmas in July
Today I picked up a copy of "Elf" on DVD, easily my favourite Christmas movie. My plan is to initiate a tradition of rewatching it every Christmas, in much the same way I suppose that my Dad puts himself in a Christmas mood by watching Ray Martin host Christmas Carols.
For those of you who haven't seen this film (possibly everyone other than Michella), it is the story of Buddy (played by Will Ferrell) who, as a baby, crawls into Santa's sleigh, and ends up in the North Pole. He is raised as an elf, but his general incompetence in areas such as toy making betrays his human origins. When his adopted father tells him the truth, he runs off to look for his real father, and ends up (as you do in all Christmas movies) in New York City.
It's actually quite a funny, sweet movie, and Will Ferrell is hilarious as Buddy. The scene where he comes across a midget in a corporate meeting and thinks he's an elf is a high point, as he enrages the little fella with questions like "Does Santa know that you left the workshop?"
I'm not really sure what to make of Will Ferrell. He's carried one of my favourite movies "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", was serious and funny in "Stranger than Fiction", had a few great moments in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and a fantastic cameo in "Wedding Crashers". Add "Elf" to this and you've got a great comedic resume . . . and yet I'm not totally sold on him. It seems like he needs the right material to really shine, and has definitely had a few missteps along the way.
This is a great film though, funny without being dirty. And I'm pleased to say, if there's ever an occasion where someone is perusing my DVD collection and asks "You got anything we can watch that's not going to give me nightmares?" I'll be able to pull this one out with pride.
For those of you who haven't seen this film (possibly everyone other than Michella), it is the story of Buddy (played by Will Ferrell) who, as a baby, crawls into Santa's sleigh, and ends up in the North Pole. He is raised as an elf, but his general incompetence in areas such as toy making betrays his human origins. When his adopted father tells him the truth, he runs off to look for his real father, and ends up (as you do in all Christmas movies) in New York City.
It's actually quite a funny, sweet movie, and Will Ferrell is hilarious as Buddy. The scene where he comes across a midget in a corporate meeting and thinks he's an elf is a high point, as he enrages the little fella with questions like "Does Santa know that you left the workshop?"
I'm not really sure what to make of Will Ferrell. He's carried one of my favourite movies "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", was serious and funny in "Stranger than Fiction", had a few great moments in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and a fantastic cameo in "Wedding Crashers". Add "Elf" to this and you've got a great comedic resume . . . and yet I'm not totally sold on him. It seems like he needs the right material to really shine, and has definitely had a few missteps along the way.
This is a great film though, funny without being dirty. And I'm pleased to say, if there's ever an occasion where someone is perusing my DVD collection and asks "You got anything we can watch that's not going to give me nightmares?" I'll be able to pull this one out with pride.
What a wonderful day
What a fantastic day it was in Adelaide today. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and bees were trying to have sex with one another, or that's my understanding. Went for a walk along the River Torrens at lunchtime and it was like springtime, with heaps of runners out (including one woman whose arms hung motionless by her side as she ran, just like Elaine's colleague in Seinfeld), and people spread out along the riverbank enjoying their lunch.
PS. Mike - how was the weather in smog central today?
PS. Mike - how was the weather in smog central today?
Monday, July 23, 2007
G-Wallace
Found this tonight and suddenly got the distinct feeling I'll be grabbing him in the second round of our fantasy draft come October . . .
Bathroom renovations
As you can probably tell from the picture below, my bathroom could use renovating.
I've put it off for a long time, but I've finally decided to get onto it, and have organised a few days off work later this week to give the room an overhaul.
Check back in the coming days for photographic updates, and if you're lucky, more pictures of me wearing my toolbelt and trying my best to look like a competent handyman (or, more accurately, Al from "Home Improvement").
The Good German
Last night I caught this on DVD. It's set in the 1940's in Berlin, just after the Allied victory over the Nazis, and is basically about a couple of different countries looking for one man - Emile Brandt (aka the Good German), who was involved in the Nazi rocket program. The movie is in black and white, and was made to look like it was filmed back in the 40's. Although with a lot of swearing and sexual content they wouldn't have shown back then.
Unfortunately, like many movies that were made in the olden days (even though this was filmed in 2006), it's a little bit boring. Maybe it was just that I was tired, but it didn't really sustain my interest the whole way through.
The cast was OK. George Clooney is a guy I've liked ever since his Seth Gecko days, and he was pretty good in this. Tobey Maguire on the other hand . . . I don't really get what the appeal is. My friend Mirjana thinks he's great, but he just seems like a weird little fella to me. And not even weird in a good (eg Christopher Walken) way . . . bad weird. Anyway thankfully he dies pretty early on in this so you're not subjected to a whole movie of him. Cate Blanchett is in it too, and does a very servicable German accent.
The movie does look very authentic, and give you an answer to the question "I wonder what it would be like if contemporary actors jumped in a time machine and were transported to Hollywood of the mid twentieth century?", but other than that, I can't really recommend it.
Best schnitzel ever?
Yesterday I had lunch at the Tap Inn at Kent Town. Seeing as I hate golf, I've never bothered going before. But with my love of a good schnitzel, I should have.
The menu said the porterhouse schnitzel was "plate hugging", but nothing could have prepared me for the size of it. I've had the schnitzels at the Earl of Leciester and thought they were big, but I'm sure this was bigger. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so there's no proof this ever happened, but you'll have to take my word for it.
Not only was it huge, but it was also delicious. Served with a mushroom sauce on a bed of chips, it even came with a side bowl of salad, which I ignored completely, saving my energy for this massive piece of meat. I'm proud to say I conquered the meal in the end, although didn't eat again for another eight or nine hours.
The menu said the porterhouse schnitzel was "plate hugging", but nothing could have prepared me for the size of it. I've had the schnitzels at the Earl of Leciester and thought they were big, but I'm sure this was bigger. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so there's no proof this ever happened, but you'll have to take my word for it.
Not only was it huge, but it was also delicious. Served with a mushroom sauce on a bed of chips, it even came with a side bowl of salad, which I ignored completely, saving my energy for this massive piece of meat. I'm proud to say I conquered the meal in the end, although didn't eat again for another eight or nine hours.
More exciting new bloggers
Wow I think I should be getting commission from blogspot. A couple more great young, good looking (well one of them at least) people have joined the team.
You can read all about my good friend Mike's adventures in London here:
http://michaelpenglis.blogspot.com/
and Michella's love of expensive jewellery right here:
http://michellacrouch.blogspot.com/
You can read all about my good friend Mike's adventures in London here:
http://michaelpenglis.blogspot.com/
and Michella's love of expensive jewellery right here:
http://michellacrouch.blogspot.com/
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