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.

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.

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.

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?"

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.

Doing my best Tony Soprano impersonation

Courtesy of Mirjana

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.

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?

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.

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)

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?