farewell 2007

well, 2007's been somewhat a year of contrasts for me. obviously parts of it have been pretty dreadful and have left a pretty deep imprint on my life but there have also been some pretty great parts too. the opportunity to live and work in poland was amazing and something i'll always look back on very fondly. i really love that part of the world and can't wait until i have the chance to travel back there again. it's also fantastic to be living back at home and able to enjoy the lifestyle that perth offers. it's also been the chance to rekindle old friendships that are very valuable to me.

so here's a fond farewell to the good times, a flip of the bird to the bad times and a hope that 2008 is the best year yet.

poignant images

i came across this website which has 33 images that have captured moments in time and contributed to change. it is very interesting to see the photos and click through to the accompanying wikipedia and youtube links which give further background.

click here to go to the site but be warned, some of the images are quite confronting

a new stadium

the new stadium looks like it's going ahead and i must say i don't see the point. there are still memberships available for freo and as far as i'm concerned, the weagles have been around for 20 years so if people are only just trying to join up now then they've got no right to whinge about having to join a waiting list. the fair dinkum supporters of both clubs are already members. as for soccer and rugby, well they don't even sell out the grounds they've got now so why they reckon they need to use a 60,000 seat stadium i've got no idea. i reckon there's far more important things to spend a billion bucks on so they should can the stadium idea and put the money to better use.

but if it must be built surely they can't be stupid enough to build it in east perth. it's gotta stay in subi!

music

i finally picked up my cds and records from sal yesterday and have unpacked them. i file my cds in order of release year and sorting them today yielded some interesting statistics. the year from which i have most cds is 1994, followed by 1991, 1993 and 1996. i have at least one album from each year since 1961 with the exception of 1973 and 1976. and there are a number of cds in my collection that i look at now and wonder what i was thinking. after all, why on earth would anyone buy albums by the spin doctors, sonia dada or extreme??? oh the shame...

smoking banned on beach

in the news today was the story that the city of joondalup has banned smoking on the beaches from marmion to burns beach. now i'm sure that some people will start bleating the usual cliches about us being a nanny state and that they should have the right to smoke wherever they like but i reckon it's a great idea. it's about time that those of us who don't smoke stop having the cancer causing smoke of those who choose to smoke forced on us. this is a good start but i believe it needs to go further. as far as i'm concerned, anyone who smokes around a child is guilty of a form of child abuse. i've said before that i reckon it should be made illegal to smoke around kids and i still believe that. it should also be illegal to smoke anywhere food is served, whether inside or outdoors. it's time to start taking the health risks of smoking seriously and protecting those who don't smoke. if people want to smoke then they are free to do so but there needs to be restrictions on where they do it.

putin - man of the year

time magazine has named vladimir putin as their 'man of the year' which i find very interesting. he's a leader of such dichotomy. on one hand he seems to have put russia back under an iron grip and restricted many of the freedoms we take for granted and which russia seemed destined to embrace. on the other, he's brought economic prosperity to the country and stood up to the multinational oil companies in a way few others would have the balls to do. he seems to have such massive popularity in russia and there's no denying he's elevated the country back into a position of power in the world. i guess time will judge the merits of his time in power.

the greatest band ever?

ok, maybe not the greatest band ever (probably not even in the top 1000 or so) but enough time has passed now to be able to admit that i did really like v capri back in the day. i remember the day in 1986 when they rocked up to my high school to play a lunchtime gig in the gym and i was one very excited bunny even though i did get a certain amount of derision from a number of my mates. i still have my old vinyl copies of the 'in my world' album and 'that's the way' single and have found out that the album was reissued on cd last year so i reckon i'll be adding it to my collection as soon as i can find it.

i don't remember what happened to the band but obviously we all know and love the singer, tod, as the former channel 9 weatherman and he now does an afternoon radio show on (i think) 6PR on the weekends.

"it's been a day, it's been a week but time just looks the same/ i look through my misty window - can you tell me if there's sun or rain?"... indeed!

history repeating

not that many years ago intelligence was coming out that iraq had no links to international terrorism, no weapons of mass destruction and was not a threat to anyone. nevertheless, george bush jnr pressed on with his claims that they were the devil incarnate and had to be stopped before they ended civilisation as we know it. history shows that bush's rhetoric was a prelude to an illegal invasion of the country and the complete mess we see today.

to expect bush to have learned from his past mistakes is entirely reasonable but given the events of the past couple of days it's evident that he hasn't. we now know that iran has not had any sort of nuclear weapons programme in the past four years but this hasn't stopped bush from insisting on further international sanctions or led him to rule out a military attack on the country. it's all eerily similar to the leadup to the invasion of iraq in 2003. thank goodness this amoral warmonger has to leave office next year. hopefully the american people will have learned from their mistakes and elect someone with a decent moral compass... and more than half a brain.

what a fraud

i guess it was only a matter of time but now that it's happened i've gotta say it really stinks. warnie's record has been broken by a charlatan who's built a career on chucking the ball and taking bucketloads of wickets against third rate sides. it's a shame that the ICC has been so terrified of being labelled racist by sri lanka that they've not backed the umpires brave enough to have no-balled him for throwing the ball and nipped it in the bud. instead they've bent the rules to accomodate him and in the process allowed unfairness to flourish. it's a legacy on which they will be harshly judged.

dullsville?

ok.. it's confession time.. hand up whoever coined the term 'dullsville' to describe perth. right.. go stand in the corner for half an hour and stop being so silly. for anyone with even a modicum of initiative perth is far from dull. the fact is there is a lot to keep one entertained. admittedly we don't always have overt passive entertainment shoved down our throats but i reckon there's something lacking in people who aren't able to find their own entertainment once in a while. unfortunately perth is burdened with some exceptionally lazy journalists who latch onto catchphrases and then mindlessly repeat them ad infinitum so it would appear that we'll be stuck with news reports referring to the city as 'dullsville' for a long time yet.... sigh. is it too much to ask for journalists to present reports that are balanced, intelligent and well thought out and to avoid using hackneyed mindless phrases? surely they can leave lazy irrelevant journalism to 'today tonight' so those who want their prejudices reinforced have somewhere to turn. thank goodness for the abc and sbs news services!

old times

looking through some old photos recently has brought back a lot of memories. in 1981 i was in year 5. i'm in the second last row, 4th from the right with a nice full head of hair!! our classroom was located in a demountable building which is no longer there, having been replaced by tennis courts quite a few years ago. year 5 is a pretty good year as you're no longer one of the little kids but don't have the 'pressures' of being in the upper grades. even in those days the trend of banning any activity with even a vague chance of causing injury had started and i remember playing the recently outlawed 'british bulldog' behind the demountable away from the eyes of the teachers. marbles were also a bit of a favourite although i wasn't particularly good at them. i also remember the odd bee swarm settling in trees near our demountable which we would spend play time annoying and then running and hiding under sprinklers so the bees couldn't reach us.

year 5 was also the beginning of my love afair with the claremont footy club as they went on to win their first premiership in my lifetime. since then we've won another 5 and lost 8. it was also the year duran duran released their first single and album. ahhh.. what a good year it was!

politician tells the truth

wilson 'ironbar' tuckey yesterday said "i'm the village idiot.. no one listens to me anymore". never has he spoken a truer word

matt price rip

how sad today to hear today of the death of matt price. he was a great journalist with a fantastic wit. he was also a passionate freo supporter who wrote a really good book on the early days of the club. he'll be missed

the draft

well, the afl draft has happened and i'm still digesting our choices. i'm not sold on the wisdom of picking mark johnson. i think we should have been concentrating on picking youngsters who'll be around for years to come but there must be something that the recruiting panel have seen in johnson so i hope they're right. i am happy with us picking up kepler bradley though. he's young with significant experience and offers a lot. i don't know a lot about palmer, hinkley and mayne but the word is that they have very good potential. i have very high expections for freo in 2008 and hopefully these draft picks will add enough to the mix to tip the balance in our favour.

the pearly gates of kevin

how sweet it is! not only has the worst prime minister in my lifetime been kicked out of office, but it's looking very much like he'll be only the second prime minister in australian history to be voted out of his own seat. there's no doubt that rudd faces some challenges. under the libs interest rates have been continually rising and this is something that mr rudd will have to address. he takes the reigns at a time when the economy is under pressure from the subprime mortgage issues in the usa and inherits an unrealistic expection that the australian economy will forever feature extremely low inflation and interest rates. still, i believe he has the best interests of the country at heart and has obtained the mandate of the electorate without resorting to the dubious tactics of his opponents. let's just hope he can maintain that standard.

tourney no. 1

i've just got home from my first ever live poker tournament and am a rather happy chappy. i've registered with the APL (australian poker league) and wandered down to the contacio pub in scarbs tonight to play my first tourney. given that my only exposure to poker thus far had been online tourneys & ring games and a few games amongst mates at eu-jin's place in london, i found things rather daunting to start with. the first few hands i didn't know if i was arthur or martha but as the game went on i found myself feeling more and more like i knew what i was doing. by the end of the night i ended up in third place which pleased me no end. it was a free game with no prize but still, i don't play the game to win money. it's the fun of poker that i enjoy and i'm pretty happy with my debut. they play every thursday night at the contacio so i reckon i'm gonna be a regular from now on.

the jebs are back!!

well, it's been a pretty good month for me as far as my favourite bands are concerned. first i find out that not only are sugarchild an ongoing concern, but they're back based in perth and playing gigs again. i've not been able to see them yet but there's still one more gig for 2007 at the railway hotel in freo and i really hope to make it down there to see them, even though it's my mum's birthday and all.

now, i hear that the mighty jebediah are back and recording album number five and also touring. i know that some nay-sayers haven't rated the jebs all that highly since the heady days of 'slightly odway' but i personally reckon 'braxton hicks' was just as good an album and i can't wait to hear the new one. my fave memory of 'braxton hicks' was listening to in non-stop during my time in plovdiv (second largest city in bulgaria) and even adding some jebediah graffiti to the various other bands' graffiti under the big statue there.

now the only thing left to make the trifecta for me is if karl, harry and adam join forces to ressurect thermos cardy. ahh.. one can only dream..

politics.. finally

i've avoided making many comments on politics in the lead up to the election but this massive liberal scandal can't go uncommented on. i'd already made up my mind prior to the breaking of the news regarding the latest liberal devious trick but this has really confirmed that voting for labor is the right move to make. the libs are now showing their true colours as they go down swinging low blows. the continual attempts to play the union card were bad enough but to now try and play the race card (yet again..) is completely contemptible. this current government is rotten to its core and it is time we got rid of them.

one thing that has annoyed me from both major parties is the lack of advertising that informs the electorate of their own policies. instead, pretty much all of the advertising is aimed at denigrating the opposition and trying to scare the electorate. surely it's time the major parties started treating the electorate with a bit of respect.

drug cheat?

there's an article in today's west australian in which it is stated that the drugs ben cousins has allegedly been taking are, in fact, performance enhancing. a medical authority is quoted as saying that whilst there is divided opinion over whether cocaine aids sporting performance, medical opinion is unanimous that methamphetamines do enhance sporting performance. now, i don't know for a fact which drugs ben's been on, but should reports be accurate then this adds a new dimension to his drug abuse. after all, the fall back line for weagles groupies until now has been that even if he has been on drugs it's only a personal problem and doesn't have anything to do with his onfield performance. this is now clearly not true and should raise questions about any unfair advantages he had in 2005 on his way to winning a brownlow medal. should he be stripped of the medal? hmmmm... that's an interesting proposition. after all, other sports people are stripped of their medals when they're found to have won them whilst using performance enhancing drugs so why should the afl be any different?

regurgitator at the indi

one of the bands to really hit me at my first BDO many years ago were a young regurgitator. i remember standing with steve carter watching this strange asian guy in a dress making some very loud noises and being quite impressed. well, many years on i headed down the road to the indi bar last night with megan and some of her friends to see them playing and again was very impressed. the indi bar is a pretty small venue but it's only a few minutes walk from home which is fantastic. the gurge played many of the old faves.. everyday formula, black bugs, kong foo sing, the song formerly known as !, i sucked a lot of cod to get where i am amongst them. some of the newer stuff was also pretty good.

also very impressive were the support bands, in particular a band called new pants who have a great synth and sound like some of the great early 80s moments.

this saturday at the indi is the stems so hopefully i'll get down there for that.

murali the chucker

i reckon it's a pretty sad indictment on the ICC that a bloke who seems to me to be clearly a chucker will soon overtake warnie as the world's greatest wickettaker. the guy's built a career on throwing the ball and taking bucketloads of wickets against third rate teams. it's time for the doubt over his action to be settled once and for all by having extensive testing and analysis of his action done during match situations. anyone can ensure they're bowling within the rules when they're tested in a lab but it's a different story in the middle. the tests should also be done on random deliveries so that he's not aware of when he's being tested. until he's tested in match conditions and cleared there will be a question mark over him which is not only bad for cricket but i'm sure is something he'd want sorted out as well. until he's been proved to have a legal action i'll always think of him as a chucker!

rudd showing off?

so kevin rudd's a showoff now? he does an interview with chinese tele in chinese and lexy downer has got his nose out of joint. sounds to me like someone's feeling the heat of an impending election loss and is a bit tetchy. i wonder what language mr downer would expect an english speaking chinese diplomat to use if he was doing an interview with a mainstream australian tele channel? thank goodness it's looking likely that this clown is on his way to obscurity!

just say no to cuz

i know how one could be tempted.. a quick fix and an easy high but harvs, don't do it. we don't need cuz and it will only cheapen our club if we pick him up. as much as i love seeing the weagles drones getting all upset over perceived injustices, i'm sure we can find better ways to bait them than bringing ready made problems into our club. just unleash josh carr on them again and lay off the cuz.

btw.. it's nice to see two guys who'd be in contention for the e-girls captaincy in the news for blueing in the early hours of the morning. well done kerr and embley.. you're keeping the weagles club traditions alive

war torn scarborough

in part of the never ending battle against ending up a total lard arse i've been going for brisk walks after work. yesterday i could've been forgiven for thinking i'm living in belfast or beirut (ok, i may be exagerating a little..) as in a 40 minute walk i passed two burnt out cars. now, this may be normal life for some people but i certainly don't expect to pass burnt out cars when going for a short walk in suburban scarborough.

bad taste chaser

forget the eulogy song which has kevin and lil johnny in such a tizz, the real issue of bad taste on the chaser is surely andrew hansen's increasingly ridiculous haircut. those who watch the show will know what i'm talking about. i'm really hoping that it is an ongoing joke which will have its punchline revealed at some stage in the season cos i really don't see how it can be justified otherwise.

or maybe andrew is trying to compete with such luminaries as russell brand, elton john and all of good charlotte for an entry in the guinness book of records under 'crappest haircut'. he's certainly a good chance of making it there at the moment!

oops he did it again...

yep, benny boy is back in police custody after being pulled over in northbridge today. now, my thoughts on ben are pretty well known so there's not much point in going over old ground.

what i've found interesting are the comments on the 'west australian' and 'sunday times' websites from weagles supporters. given the mentality of their supporters, they should seriously consider changing their name to the west coast ostriches. check out some of the more choice comments below to see the extent to which people can bury their heads in the sand..

Chester Says: October
16th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
What a boring world with all you perfect
do-gooder, bleading heart hypocrites. I bet your little darling sons and
daughters have never put a foot wrong or that you are model citizens for
that matter.
Here’s hoping your little darlings stuff up life big time so
that I can be there having a laugh at them making a meal out of your lives…lol

alana Says: October
16th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Give Ben a break, he has been through a lot
lately. And if you support the Eagles you should not be judging him like
everyone is. And if someone can tell me why a reporter was right there when this
hole thing went down? I still am a big fan Ben and I will not judge
you from this, I will be a fan 4 eva.

Amanda Says: October 16th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Come on People of Perth give him the benfit on the doubt, everyone is jumping the gun here it has not been stated why is was arrested. My question is why did there happen to be a reporter right there at the time of the arrest.
He is being set up.
GIVE BEN COUSINS A BREAK PERTH AND SUPPORT THE WEST COAST EAGLES PREMIERSHIP PLAYER AND BROWNLOW MEDALIST.
WE LOVE YOU CUZ………..

Shannon Says: October 16th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Nothing like waiting for a police report, just like you didn’t bother to wait for the coroner’s report after the death of Mainy. You should be ashamed of yourselves..it’s the media who causes most of these ‘incidents’ in the first place. Get off his back.

i think everyone should shut their mouths. Im sorry but he helped us bring back the cup last year, hes come back from rehab and he's still here taking all of your crap. Dont you people relise. HE DOESNT CARE WHAT ANY OF YOU THINK. GET OVER HIM.
Posted by: PIKEY of perth 4:01pm today Comment 130 of 145

I will be keeping my eagles membership and i know in my heart that Cuz isn't guilty of anything i will always love him.
Posted by: D Vincent of Como 3:52pm today Comment 108 of 145

it's hard to believe that people can be this deluded. how he's supposed to face up to his demons and overcome them when he has thousands of sycophants in perth telling him he's done no wrong and that it's all the media's fault is beyond me. they're certainly not doing him any favours.

the consummate politician

one has to admit that despite all his faults (and i reckon there are a LOT of those), little johnny howard is certainly a master of the art of politics. he knows when, and how, to play an issue with the same skill as peter bell plays footy. just as 2001 was the year of the refugee for LJH, when he used the fortuitous event of the tampa rescuing some refugees (or queue-jumpers as those with limited intellect refer to them) to save his skin, it appears that 2007 will go down as the year that he realised there actually were some people living here before 1788.

now, i hate to cast aspersions (nasturtiums?) at the motives of someone who is superficially doing something to help indigenous folk as they need, and deserve, all the help we can provide.. BUT it does seem rather strange that the timing of LJH seeing the light comes just at the darkest point of his reign. of course we should be protecting aboriginal (and all) kids from sexual abuse and neglectful parenting, but why did it take him a decade to work that out? of course there should be recognition of the original australians in the constitution, but linking this to his re-election seems somewhat cynical to me. like i said, i don't like him, but he sure knows how to play the game!

pete - don't break my heart!

i don't know what to think. for so much of my life peter garrett has been a voice of uncompromising reason. he's been passionate about his beliefs. he's been the champion of the environment, of aboriginal issues and of the fight against the spread of nuclear weapons. he was a man who knew what was right and was prepared to put his balls on the line to stand up for it. when he joined the ALP and people accused him of selling out i defended him, strong in my belief that he was only joining in order to help effect change from the inside rather than battering ineffectively on the walls from outside the establishment. in short, he's been someone i've looked up to as a man of unquestionable integrity and morals...


...until last night that is! to watch him on the news, choking on his words as he gave ALP support to the building of the pulp mill in the tamar valley in tasmania was something inconceivable to me. the peter garrett of old would have stood his ground and fought against this. he would have left the ALP as a matter of principle. i never thought i'd see the day when peter garrett would sell his soul but it seems that that day may finally be here. there's no point having him neutered in the ALP when it's clear he's not able to stop developments as immoral and irresponsible as this. we need him back in a position where he can stand and lead the fight. as much as little johnny howard is a puppet of the bush administration, garrett has become a puppet of the federal parliamentary process.

pete - it's time to declare your allegiance. either stay in the ALP and be their ineffectual token greenie or reclaim your soul and leave if they don't oppose this pulp mill.

stupid arrogant weagles

ok, finding reasons to be critical of west coast is, as they say, like shooting fish in a barrel (although why you'd actually bother putting the fish there and then shooting them is beyond me) but yet again their arrogance is truly startling. here they are, about to lose one of the best players in the afl, potentially without receiving any compensation, and yet they are trying to play hardball with carlton. it has now got to the stage where carlton and richmond are discussing doing a deal whereby the weagles are bypassed completely. from what i've read, it sounds like both carlton and richmond would be better off dealing with each other and if it wasn't for the weagles backing carlton into a corner it's unlikely this avenue wouldn't have been explored. trevor nisbett is quoted in the paper today as saying "if they don't hand over the No1 selection, then he's not at carlton, simple as that" and then goes on to say "i find it staggering that carlton doesn't think chris judd is worth the first pick in the draft.". is the guy delusional or just immersed in the culture of a club that seems to think it can do whatever it likes without consequences? whether carlton think juddie is worth the first pick or not is completely irrelevant. what is simple is that they don't have to deal with west coast if they don't want and it is now very possible that the weagles could lose their captain without any compensation all as a result of their own bloody-mindedness. naturally i find it all very amusing.

haze continues

fantastic news today that paul hasleby has signed a new two year contract with freo. i know he can be a bit inconsistent but he's still a very good player and i'm sure he'll blossom under harvey's new reign of discipline at the club. with the loss of cook and, most likely, bell we need the type of player that gets in under the packs to get the hard ball and haze does that pretty well.

go the cats

when discussing the greatest players ever to have played in the vfl/afl there are four players that generally get singled out, and debated over, as being the best - graham 'polly' farmer, gary 'god' ablett snr, ted 'mr football' whitten and 'lethal' leigh matthews. it's amazing that two of them played for geelong and one of them has produced two offspring that will pull on the blue and white hoops on saturday in what will hopefully be the cats' first flag in 44 years.

personally, i love and admire polly more than just about any other footballer. his life is an amazing story as he overcame being part of the stolen generation to use the talents given to him and make a success of himself. from what i know of the man, he was confident without being arrogant. how many others could single handedly change the face of the game without being arrogant? he's also a friendly bloke. back in the days when i rode my bike to school and uni i used to pass him pretty regularly as he jogged along marmion ave and he always said gday which never failed to make my day. just think, one of the greatest players of the greatest sport invented would say gday to an upstart riding his bike down the road!!

polly reckons he's not well enough to fly over to victoria for the game on saturday so he's just gonna watch it on the tele. well, i hope the cats win and i hope he enjoys every second of the game.. he deserves it!

sofia's law?

it's funny how people are the same everywhere. it doesn't take much to whip into a frenzy the people who rely on 'today tonight', howard sattler and 'the sunday times' for their news and opinion. there wouldn't be a single person in perth that isn't horrified by what dante arthurs did to sofia rodriguez-urrutia shu (yep, one can be compassionate and yet say her name without having to add an adjective such as precious, darling or little). it's the way that people react to that horror that i find bemusing. there is now a push to enact an australian version of megan's law and sarah's law (to be known as sofia's law) and have a publically available database of anyone convicted of child sex crimes. this is despite the fact that even if there was such a law in place, arthurs wouldn't have been on the list anyway. well, at the risk of being stoned, flogged in a public place or, even worse, being accused of being 'soft on crime', i completely oppose such a law. the reason i oppose such lists is that they are largely useless. the majority of people who commit sex crimes will not be on the list as they will not have been caught yet. dante arthurs is a perfect example of this. the only purpose these lists serve is to make the public who fight for them feel good about themselves and for politicians to get cheap votes.

but worse than these laws being useless publicity stunts, i believe they have the potential to do far more harm than good. i say this for the following reasons:

• the debate of them takes time in parliament at the expense of laws that will actually make a difference
• they increase the risk of innocent people being attacked by vigilantes due to mistaken identity - this has already happened overseas
• they increase the risk of convicted child molesters 'going underground' to avoid the chance of being attacked by vigilantes which makes it almost impossible for police to continue monitoring them - this then increases the chance of a repeat offence
• they increase apathy amongst lazy parents who rely on the list as if it were exhaustive
• they undermine the basic principles of our justice system
• they waste valuable resources that could be put to better use

to clarify, i oppose these laws for the above reasons and because they are useless. if they were proved to work i would obviously support them fully. we currently have the list that the unthinking masses are demanding but it is only accessible by police... and that's the way it should stay!!

i reckon there are much more important and useful things we can do to protect our kids. the first thing that i believe should be done is for it to be made illegal (with harsh penalties) to smoke in a car or building where kids are present. there should also be an exclusion zone (is 50 metres far enough?) around kids where it's illegal to smoke. this would actually make a practical, everyday contribution to protecting kids. and how about bringing in some sort of law ensuring kids receive adequate nutrition? this is an area where kids are routinely abused. and if people really want a public register, then how about making one for people who are a real threat to kids (as opposed to a 'today tonight' threat) - convicted speeders and drink drivers! i'd be on the speeders list unfortunately.

it would be interesting to see whether people are serious about protecting kids or just jumping on a populist bandwagon. i have a funny feeling that many of the people who are so quick to demand enactment of 'sofia's law' wouldn't be so quick to support the measures i suggest. i can hear cries of 'nanny state' and 'big brother' already. there's a word to describe these people - hypocrites!!

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22484549-5008620,00.html

small small cox

he may be tall in stature but dean cox is a small, small man. his on-camera reaction last night when josh carr was given 3 brownlow votes for the second western derby was pathetic and completely lacking any degree of sportsmanship. the judges on the day awarded carr the ross glendinning medal as the best player on the ground. the umpires awarded him top brownlow votes as the best player on the ground. it's time for the e-girls players and supporters to just build a bridge and get over it. face facts - carr was clearly the best player on the ground that day and him roughing up druggie cuzzy was just the icing on the cake.

soft tigers

those with even a passing interest in footy will know that the worst insult that can be levelled against a team is that they're soft. it's ok to be crap, as long as you're not soft. well, yesterday's grand final really sticks in my throat as my beloved tigers played as soft as i've ever seen. i hate to admit it but subi were very hard at the ball and put unbelievable pressure on claremont which our players simply couldn't handle. after such a fantastic season and successive wins over subi, to come out and play like that in a grand final is pretty devastating. i'm sure the players and feeling very sore and sorry for themselves today. i do love my tigers and know that they're not an inherently soft team but yesterday's performance was just so disappointing, especially as we've shown during the season that we're a better team than subi. i just hope that the senior players make a pact to continue on next year and make amends as we've now lost 3 of the past 4 grand finals and it's time to realise the potential we have.

still, as i say.. the monts to be great in 2008!

all at peace

ok, i know this is most likely of no interest to anyone but me but i'm gonna post it cos it's my blog and i'll post whatever i like!!

i just had the best lunch break i've had for a very long time. there's a little park over the road from work and i went down and sat in the mild sunshine leaning against a jacaranda tree reading a really good book. the grass was such a vibrant green and the zephyr was taking away the excess heat leaving it a perfect warmth. it's enough to make one sleepy so i lay down on the grass and had a very relaxing rest. even coming back to the office isn't too bad as the swan river is so blue today that it's particularly beautiful.

and it's nearly the weekend.. yay!

keeping up with the joneses

i'm very happy with the result of anthony jones winning this year's sandover medal. he's a claremont boy through and through having come through our junior system and played colts and ressies with the club before going on to play 82 games for freo. it's just a shame that he suffered so many injuries during his afl career as he was a pretty handy player in the backline. these days he's dominating the forward line for claremont and i reckon he must be loving kicking a few goals. as i played most of my footy in the backline i know i'd love to have been able to kick a few myself. AJ's dad, mark, was also one of my lecturers when i was studying for my teaching degree many years ago. now i just hope we can get another win over subi this sunday to claim our first premiership since 1996.

top 5 songwriters

the great thing about having a blog is being able to share my opinions with the two or three people who actually read it. anyhoo, i was thinking recently about who would be my top five songwriters and i've managed to come up with a list. i've cheated a little as i've counted songwriting teams as equal to individuals simply because they sometimes cannot be split up. so here goes (in no particular order)...

1. bob dylan
2. kurdt cobain
3. morrissey/marr
4. neil young
5. lennon/mccartney

as i said, songwriting teams have been put in together. obviously morrissey and johnny marr wouldn't be separated but one may wonder about lennon/mccartney. well, i wouldn't include a solo john lennon or paul mccartney in my list of top five (or ten for that matter). some people like mick thomas, leonard cohen, frank black and bruce springsteen don't miss out by all that much but still don't get a guernsey.

any suggestions of alternative top 5's will be read with interest.

disgraceful

let me preface this by saying that i know quite a few e-girls supporters who are decent people and actually know a bit about footy... it's just that not many of them can have been at subi for the semi final on friday night. i watched the game on tele and was disgusted to hear the crowd booing nathan buckley whenever he touched the ball. now i can understand booing a player under some circumstances (when he's a drug crazed knobend with an oversized ego for example) but to boo someone like buckley who's done nothing except be an absolute champion of the game just shows the mentality of the wet toast members and their lack of understanding of the game. their behaviour on friday night, along with the throwing of pies and bottles at the best player on the ground in the last western derby, is simply disgraceful and is a perfect crystalisation of why i hate west coast so much and have no respect for the bulk of their supporters. they don't derserve to have a player of judd's stature wearing their jumper.

and.. as the old joke goes.. how do you know when a plane load of weagles supporters has landed? the whining continues after the engines have stopped. i can't wait to hear the whining this week as they try to blame everything under the sun for their team's failure to win a final. face facts.. THEY SIMPLY WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH!!

oh yeah, one final thing. to the beached whale who made snide comments to me during the week about it being sad (meaning pathetic) to barrack for a team that's missed the finals yet again.. i laugh in your general direction. i'd retort that i'd rather barrack for a team that misses the finals than for druggie scum that make the finals but aren't good enough to win a game but i reckon that would probably be a bit below the belt.. so for now i merely extend a satisfied grin and await to renew my freo membership

kanye vs fiddy

fantastic news this week for anyone who enjoys seeing third rate 'gangsta' rappers getting their comeuppence. curtis jackson III (aka 50 cent.. cos that's how much his truly dreadful cd's sell for in the charity shops) has said that if kanye west's new album outsells his this week he's gonna retire. from what i've read it looks like kanye is well ahead and hopefully it will be the last we hear from mr cent... although something tells me we won't be that lucky. now if only someone could find a way to get a few other ppl to retire....

2.24 million watch chaser

wow.. about 10% of the australian population tuned in last night to watch 'the chaser's war on everything'. naturally the week's controversy over their stunt at the apec summit (or opec if you're george jnr) drew a lot of people but it's great that a bit of political satire manages to pull a crowd. i really love the chaser's humour which reminds me a great deal of the wonderful 'late show' that screened on the abc about 15 years ago. of course, the guys who did 'the late show' went on to form 'working dog' and have been responsible for such wonderful programmes as 'funky squad', 'the panel', 'thank god you're here' and 'frontline' as well as movies 'the dish' and 'the castle' (which is one of my favourite movies of all time). it'll be interesting to see what the chaser boys do over the next decade or so.

joys of home pt 2

sunsets over scarborough beach

conservapedia

if you want a bit of a laugh along with a fair amount of frustration check out http://www.conservapedia.com/. yep, as you'd guess by its name, it's the reaction by the right wing to what it perceives as 'liberal biases' in wikipedia. as would be expected, the contributors to conservapedia consider the best way to deal with biased, subjective entries in wikipedia is to create biased, subjective entries of their own. the more controversial entries (eg. george bush jnr) are locked to prevent anyone amending the record with a dissenting view whilst anyone, conservative or otherwise, who even asks questions that could lead to dissenting responses is decried as a 'liberal'. there's an area for discussion where one can find such enlightened opinions as the person who stated that most democrats (yep, it's a very america-centric site.. and proud of it!) are atheists and the ones that go to church are just hypocrites.. lol!! unfortunately for a site that is trying to present itself as an alternative online encyclopedia, there is actually very little actual educational value. for example, virtually the entire entry on dinosaurs is devoted to arguing that evolution is wrong and that it can be proved that dinosaurs co-existed with humans whilst very little about dinosaurs is actually included.

anyhoo, if you have some spare time on your hands and wanna check out the effects of lobotomy on the mind's ability to think logically then check out this site. it's a hoot!

has the world gone topsy turvy?

i don't believe it!! in the three and a half years i lived in london the one thing that could be relied upon was that the service provided by the northern line would be crap and certainly the worst by far of all the tube lines. i used to have to take the thing twice a day and it was a truly dreadful service. i had to put up with it being hit by strike, being delayed by 'signal failures' more often than you could poke a stick at, having extended closures, trains terminating unexpectedly and even a derailment. it was usually referred to in the media as the 'misery line'.

now i see that it is one of only two lines not hit by suspensions! what's the world coming to?? how typical that it suddenly becomes reliable once i leave. hmmmph!

bush the bully

thank goodness the reign of george bush jnr is coming to an end. i read with disbelief in the paper this morning that he's planning to attack iran and destroy any military capabilities they may have (the australian - 3/9/07). this will be the third unprovoked open attack on another nation during his presidency and further proof that not only is he one of the worst presidents ever to have been in power in the USA but that he's also a warmongering lunatic and, by many definitions, a war criminal.

when iraq invaded and occupied kuwait in the 90's the reaction of the international community was swift and decisive and yet we have a situation where US forces have invaded afghanistan and iraq and are still occupying these countries without any organised consequences. now the plans are to attack iran. the USA is the nelson muntz of the world community who, along with its gang of bullies, picks on anyone who dares to be different or who has more lunch money than they do... and that's nothing to be proud of!

cheers cookie

"he's played the game the way i expect the game to be played". that's what mark harvey had to say about troy cook on his retirement and i reckon that pretty much sums him up. cookie is one of the hardest players i've ever seen play the game but was always an unquestionably fair player as well. he wasn't the most talented player in the afl (although you've gotta be a lot more talented than the average footballer to play nearly 200 afl games) but he plays in a style built on courage and discipline. i've seen him put his safety on the line so often since he came to freo and no matter how hard he's hit, he goes at the ball just as hard the next time. the guy just oozes guts. i'm really proud of the club for playing him in the last three games to enable him to get life membership. it's something that great clubs do and shows that the spirit of the game hasn't been completely diluted by the big money that the afl revolves around these days.

i'm gonna miss watching cookie play.

six suspended

after a hard year of underachieving for freo the season is ending on a high note with harvs suspending six players for disciplinary reasons. i reckon this really bodes well for the future as we have needed a tough coach for a while now and finally it looks like we've got one. as much as i love chris and damian, they were probably too nice for their own good and the players tended to get away with a lot (at least that's the impression i get from what i've read). hopefully next year there will be a new discipline around the club and we can get on with the business of winning our first premiership.

naturally there's also the added benefit that a sub-strength team going to play port adelaide at footy park this weekend is unlikely to play well enough to give west coast second spot on the ladder. yay

today tonight sucks

anyone who has had the misfortune of watching 'today tonight' will know what a pile of steaming parrot droppings the show is. it's amazing that it hasn't been done for false advertising by calling itself a current affairs show when it's really the televisual equivalent of 'that's life' magazine. well, wednesday night was a new low for this rubbish programme with one of the most self-serving, objectionable pieces of bile it has screened when it responded to the boycott of channel 7 by the AFL players. in attempting to defend the 'journalist' who thought it appropriate to air details of stolen medical records for which the channel had paid, the show proved once and for all that it doesn't have a shred of objective journalistic integrity but is rather just a mouthpiece for spouting the subjective opinions of station management. comparing an outraged brendan gale to a jilted lover and disputing the amount paid for the stolen medical records as if somehow this was important or justified their actions was ludicrous. no one really expects any sort of serious journalism from 'today tonight' but this was really beyond the pale.

says it all really...

farmer judd brown

i've found the workings of the afl tribunal and reporting system to be quite fascinating lately.

first there was the admission from campbell brown that he lied (or fibbed as they put it on the tele.. what exactly is the difference between a fib and a lie and where do they fit in the spectrum of untruths?) to the tribunal when he said that chris judd didn't commit one of the most cowardly acts there is on the footy field in eye gouging. for this moment of honesty he was fined $15,000 by the afl. naturally judd hasn't had any sanction imposed on him. so let's think about this for a moment. by fining brown, the afl is confirming that his original testimony was untrue and, by extension, that chris judd was guilty of eye gouging. yet somehow judd has escaped scot free and brown's ended up with a huge fine. that'll teach brownie for getting his eye in the way of the finger of a clean-cut brownlow medalist.

next came the case on the weekend of jeff farmer's face spontaneously exploding in the game against st kilda. we know it was spontaneous as there was no video footage of baker punching him. the fact that farmer had to be helped off the field with his nose spread across his face and not knowing if he was arthur or martha doesn't prove anything. if there's no video footage then no one can be charged. how ridiculous! it wasn't all that long ago that players were charged and convicted based on verbal evidence alone as there was no video footage to rely on. these days we rely far too heavily on the tele footage. it's a great tool but shouldn't be the only acceptable evidence. i hope baker gets his just desserts but am not holding my breath. i remember only too well when aaron sandilands' jaw spontaneously broke in the immediate vicinity of seaby during a western derby and nothing ended up being done.

postscript:
well, baker got 7 weeks so i guess there is still some chance of justice for victims of gutless off-the-ball thuggery

post postscript:
hmmm.. maybe i was a bit hasty. it's sounding like baker was a tad hard done by so i guess i should retract a bit of my original postscript (but not all..)

joys of home pt 1

sausage sizzle outside bunnings.. yum!!

footy

wow, what a great weekend of footy results. on saturday i drove up to claremont oval for the top of the table clash between my mighty tigers and subiaco. going into the game we were second on the ladder and subi were the favourites to win the clash, especially as they had chad fletcher and shane parker playing. as it turned out claremont were way too hard at the ball for subi and ended up winning by 38 points which puts us equal top on the ladder but with a game in hand. this means that if we win every game for the rest of the season we will end up as minor premiers and earn a home final.

then yesterday freo were fantastic in the second half to crush essendon. our first half was pretty ordinary with a lot of skill errors that a better team would have made more advantage of but after halftime we were brilliant. after spending last sunday arvo sitting amongst the rabble and low-lifes that make up the majority of weagles members, it was nice to be back amongst a freo home crowd who seem to be somewhat better educated footywise. i was particularly proud of the standing ovation given to kevin sheedy before the game and again after the game as he left the ground. there's no doubting that freo's members are more passionate about their team than the weagles members but we're still able to recognise and aplaud someone as central to the success of the game as kevin sheedy.

there's still a very hard run towards the finals for freo but if we make it we will certainly be in full momentum. as for claremont, it may finally be our year after having gone for 11 long years without a premiership. having lost the 2004 and 2005 grand finals will make winning this one even sweeter.

perth

i've been travelling up to work each day on the bus from golden bay where i'm housesitting for my brother and it really struck me this morning how beautiful perth actually is. i've always said it is but sometimes one takes it for granted and doesn't really see the beauty. well, this morning my eyes were opened again as the bus drove along the kwinana freeway towards town and i was able to look out over the river. there were swans and pelicans swimming peacefully whilst cormorants sat on rocks with their wings opened to catch the morning sun. the water was lapping gently against the shore and the boats were bobbing in their moorings and the view across to kings park was stunning. i've been to quite a lot of beautiful towns and cities in other parts of the world and it's true that perth doesn't really have the grand historical buildings of a place like prague or sibiu but the natural beauty of perth is truly unbeatable.

derby 26

what an absolute ripper of a game yesterday. i must admit that i wasn't particularly confident going into the game given what i'd seen last week against geelong but obviously that was the kick in the pants my boys needed because they were brilliant yesterday. their ferocity at the ball and the more direct play is exactly what we need to display on a more regular basis if we want to fulfil our potential. i really love going to the derbys as they're usually a good, close game played with all the hardness that the freo derbies were known for. yesterday was no exception with both teams showing a real aggression. i'm very proud of my boys and hope that they can keep playing this way.

another thing i find with western derbies is that they usually serve to intensify my dislike of west coast and many of their supporters and yesterday was no exception. the booing of josh carr when he went on stage to accept the glendinning medal was inexcusable in itself but the sheer hypocrisy of the west coast members was staggering. it was only last year that they took the moral high ground (a very rare place for west coast supporters to be) when chris judd was booed by freo members upon winning the glendinning medal. at the time i sided with the wce members and said that i was very unimpressed with the behaviour of the freo members. for them now to exhibit what they so recently claimed to be disgusting behaviour is yet another example of how morally bankrupt they are. at least the freo members were booing the decision rather than the player but there was no doubt yesterday that the boos were directed purely at josh carr.

i've now read in the paper this morning that carr also had cool drink bottles and even a meat pie thrown at him by the rabble that pass as wce members and that police had to intervene at half time when a wce moron tried to physically have a go at jeff farmer. these people are the lowest of the low and should be banned from attending anymore football matches.

bring on derby 27!!

update on me

it's been a while since i gave an update on what i'm up to so i figure now's a good time. i'm still homeless at the moment and counting down the days until the tenant moves out of our flat in scarborough so that i can move in... less than a month to go now!! i'm currently housesitting for pete and ali in golden bay which involves a long commute to work and back each day. presently it's taking between 2.5 - 3 hours for each round trip which i can handle as i know it's only temporary. i started working for schlumberger last wednesday and so have now done just over a week. the work is fine and the people i work with are very friendly. i'm working in the payroll dept so it's familiar territory for me. probably the worst aspect of the job is that i now have to wear a suit every day (except for dress down fridays) which is something that i've not had to do before.

i've had the opportunity to catch up with quite a few people since i've been back which has been really enjoyable. corey's new coffee shop (http://www.epicespresso.com.au/) is really lovely and vanessa's coffees are as delicious as ever. i'm enjoying the footy and even got a hug from the elderly lady i sit near at the freo home games. all the crew there seem pretty glad to have me back in my old seat at subi oval although we've lost both games i've been to so far and i have a bad feeling that this could be extended with the western derby this weekend.

so, all in all, it's lovely to be home and it kinda feels like i was never really away.

freo coaching

it's been a huge few weeks in the afl with four coaches now out of a job. what i reckon is pretty significant for freo is that there are now three very experienced coaches available. personally i think we'd be foolish to go down the road of an untried assistant yet again when there are coaches with proven track records available. i reckon our best option now is to approach sheedy to take over as senior coach and do a deal with harvs under which he would be sheeds' senior assistant coach with a view to him taking over outright in three or four years. this way we could have the benefit of a coaching legend to guide us during what is likely to be our best chance for a premiership for a while and in the meantime harvs would know that he will be the heir apparent. this would give him the opportunity to work closely with sheeds and they could gradually bring in the support staff that harvs wants so that his structure is firmly in place by the time he takes over as senior coach.

if we don't offer the job to sheedy then i reckon we should ask either daniher or pagan but should do everything possible to get someone with experience and who can instill a fair bit of discipline.

R.I.P. sodastream

yep, i know it's now quite old news that sodastream have called it a day but it's new to me as i've only been back in perth for the past 2 weeks. i've loved the music of sodastream for a long time and was actually at their first gig (supporting gary wiseman for his cassette launch) when they were a 3 piece and their music was still quite reminscent of the wonderful thermos cardy. they've changed a lot over the years but karl's touching and beautiful songwriting has always remained a constant. they were the first band i saw after arriving in london in 2003 and saw them again in january this year which makes them one of the last bands i saw before leaving london. i just hope that karl still finds a way to put his music out there as it will be a huge loss if he doesn't.

a nice win

well it was a great first up win for harvs and begs the question of why the players didn't play with such desperation under chris. let's just hope that they can carry on like that for the rest of the season and perhaps a miracle can happen with us making the finals. if we did get into the eight we'd certainly be playing with a fair bit of momentum and anything can happen from there.

i've been interested in the debate over the prospect of sumich coaching us next year. i'm obviously no fan of the weagles and would prefer that we didn't get a former west coast player as our coach, but i know that any dislike of him would evaporate very quickly if the team found early success. i remember gerard neesham taking over as coach of claremont from mossie in 1987 and i was very much opposed to him but after a few wins i was glad he was there and now i reckon the man's a saint.. and a bloomin good coach as well. if only he'd had a good list during the early freo days...

jeffrey

to quote the beatles.. "i read the news today.. oh boy". i simply can't believe that the wiz has stuffed up again and at such a difficult time for the club. as if there wasn't enough going on without this to worry about. for once i'm really glad that i'm not in a position of power within the club but rather just one of thousands of members cos i'd hate to be having to make the decision on his future. there is no question that we are very much poorer onfield without him in the side but how much more of this behaviour can be put up with? i've been very critical of the weagles for the amount of rope they've let their players have over the years so i spose the chickens are coming home to roost as some really tough decisions need to be made down at freo oval now. i really don't know the best way to go forward with this and am glad that we've got some pretty bright people in charge of the club.

most importantly, i really hope the club can help jeff address the issues he obviously has and assist him to overcome them in the long term as i'd hate to see him end up going down the same road as jimmy krakouer and ending up in gaol. if this means he doesn't play for us again, then so be it.. as long as he ends up ok in the end.

thank you chris

so the inevitable has happened and chris connolly has stepped down as coach of freo. i know the press are always in need of a good story but they really need to stop and think about what they're doing sometimes. the speed with which they've turned on chris has been despicable and there are a number of 'journalists' in perth who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. the fact of the matter is that my mob were a laughing stock when chris took over at the end of 2001. i still clearly remember that season as i turned up week-in, week-out to watch us lose consistently. the final game against adelaide, which was the only home game we won that year, was a rare treat. the turnaround following chris' appointment was immediate. since then we've made the finals twice, including a preliminary final last season. of course, that's not enough for the vultures in the press who lick their lips at the first scent of blood.

i want to thank chris for all the work he's put into the club, for the humour he's shown and for being a simple, approachable bloke who has more integrity in his little finger than many of the 'journalists' combined. i honestly hope he gets another chance at senior level (melbourne next season maybe?) and proves just what he's capable of.

as for next year, i reckon it's time we went for a proven senior coach and therefore i'd like to see neale daniher appointed. he's been very unlucky this season with the number of injuries at melbourne and he's proven himself by coaching melbourne to a number of finals campaigns, including the 2000 grand final. he's also another coach with a great deal of integrity and knows the culture of the club after being assistant to gerard neesham.

so, good luck chris. thanks for the memories and i hope 2008 proves to be a fantastic year for you.

a little update

hey ho.. i've been home now for a week and a half and gradually things are returning to 'normal'. i'm still at mum's and on monday start housesitting for my brother and sis-in-law down in golden bay. i'm really looking forward to moving into my scarborough unit but it's still a few weeks away. yesterday i bought a car so now i have wheels and today i had a job interview and was offered the position. it's a payroll position for an oil company on st george's tce so is perfect as it will make it easy to catch public transport to work once i get to scarborough. with any luck i can start on monday! it's also been cool catching up with various friends and family. i went down to have tea with trev, ruth and family last night and had a great time catching up. trev would be my oldest friend as we've been mates since i was in primary school.

i enjoyed watching claremont and freo play on the weekend in two very similar games. both games involved a lot of errors and poor play from my teams but fortunately claremont managed to snatch a 7 point win whilst freo went down to nth melbourne by 4 points. barring some sort of miracle i really can't see freo making the finals this year. still, one must stick by the team and keep up the support regardless of whether we make the finals or not.

i'm still having moments of missing london and krakow but i guess that will always be the case. i still haven't found a good polish restaurant here yet but am determined to do so. after all, how long can someone last without a good dish of pierogi z miesem??

another great thing about being back in perth is bumping into people you know just about everywhere you go. there's only been a couple of times that i've gone out since i've been back that i haven't bumped into someone. it used to bug me but now i really appreciate it.

this saturday is the release of the final harry potter book and i can't wait. i've already ordered my copy so i'm guaranteed to be able to pick it up on saturday morning. i think this saturday will be spent by a long time in a coffee shop down at scarborough beach reading the book.

hopefully everyone reading this is doing well and i'd love to hear from anyone who feels like dropping a line.

oh yeah.. nearly forgot.. i've also bought my first concert ticket since getting back for the silverchair/powderfinger show in september which should totally rock. can't wait!

back home

i've had a pretty eventful week. just over a week ago i was in krakow anticipating an extended trip around se asia. today i'm in karrinyup library back in perth. so.. here's how it happened.

i left paris last monday night and headed to bangkok via dubai. the signs weren't good on the leg from dubai to bangkok. i got stuck next one of those prats who whinge the whole trip. the guy was tall.. much taller than me and before we even started moving on the runway he was demanding to be upgraded to business class as his legs were too long for the economy seats. it was pretty obvious that he regularly pulls this trick and i guess it usually works for him. well this time the business class was full so there was no moving for him and he was not impressed. his next try was to ask if someone at the front of economy (where there's more leg room) could be moved for him. thankfully they didn't give into this demand. so he humphed and groaned and started giving me dirty looks as he wasn't able to stretch his legs into my space. after a while the guy in front of him decided to put his chair back which made him even more annoyed and he started pushing the guy's chair back up. eventually they had to call the head stewardess to tell him that he'd just have to put up with it. so he reckoned he was gonna put in a complaint although i really can't see what grounds he has for complaint.

anyhoo.. that was just the start. to cut a long story short, i arrived in bangkok to find my visa card suspended as i'd not told them i was travelling there so i had no access to my account. this problem, coupled with rather severe jetlag and quite a bit of homesickness made me decide to postpone my trip and head back to perth. so after two days in bangkok it was back to the airport and onto a plane to perth. fortunately i had enough cash on me to pay for the ticket or else i would have been really stranded. i arrived at perth airport at 6.20 friday morning after about one hour's sleep and caught public transport to mum's place to give her a surprise.

so here i am back home. i went to the claremont vs sth freo game on saturday with dad and saw a great win by the tigers and went down to pete and ali's for a family lunch yesterday which was also very enjoyable. now i've gotta start getting everything sorted jobwise, carwise etc back here. it's nice to be home but i know it's gonna take a while to fully settle in. i can move into my place in late august and am really looking forward to it. i just hope i manage to find a job soon.

when we left for the uk, the only time i'd been outside of WA was a one day mystery flight to sydney. now i've been to 21 countries (including england and scotland) and had a chance to see much of the world. i never thought i'd get the travelling bug but i guess it's bitten me pretty hard. it'll be strange to live in a place where i can't just pop over to another country for the weekend but i spose there are trade offs no matter where one lives.

homeward bound

well, my time in europe is finally coming to an end and my sights are on my return to perth via se asia for a cupla months backpacking, diving and beaching. by the time i arrive back home i will have been away for four years and in that time i've seen and experienced so much - some good, some bad and some ugly.

i've really enjoyed my time in kraków for the past three and a half months and can say that poland has gotten into my blood. it's a fantastic country that i've grown to love with really wonderful people. also i've been extremely fortunate in meeting my colleagues here who have now become friends that i will really miss when i leave. it's always sad when it comes time to say goodbye but i spose that it's a part of life.

updates to my blog whilst i'm away are likely to be few and far between and depend on how often i make it to internet cafes. i also won't have a phone so will be able to enjoy an extended period of being incommunicado. beaches, massages and relaxation here i come!!

benny boy

now maybe i'm a bit of a cynic but i find it hard to believe that in four months mr cousins has completely overcome his drug addiction and is ready to focus back on football. as i've said before in my writings (rantings?), i really hope ben is able to overcome his problems and get his life back on track. when it comes to things like addiction, even i try not to make cheap shots at the guy. but seriously, i do find it hard to believe that he's beaten his problems in such a short space of time and would really be interested to hear from other people who have suffered similar addictions about how long they took to finally break the shackles. as i said, i may be a cynic, but it does seem rather coincidental that when west coast were travelling well they were saying it was unlikely he'd play this season and may possibly never play again and now that they've lost four of their last six games he's suddenly being touted as looking at starting training on monday. let's hope that the interests of ben cousins the person come ahead of those ben cousins the football genius.

good luck bomber

following in the footsteps of greats such as moloney, neesham, allan and moss, 'bomber' riley takes over at melbourne after this weekend's game against essendon and becomes another claremont coach to also coach in the vfl/afl (with 'bluey' mckenna another possibility next year). i remember well when he took over from neesham in 1994 and that grand final against old easts where we ran out of time (another 15 minutes and we'd have snatched that one!!). i've never heard a bad word said about bomber and it says a lot about him that he's described as a "teacher rather than a ranter" (see the great article about him here). ranters are a dime a dozen in footy circles and i really believe it takes someone with a special character and a deeper knowledge of the game to try and teach and guide players rather than berate them. paul roos is another example of this. so good luck to bomber and i hope he is very successful.

on the note of the coaching roundabout.. possibly connolly to melbourne and daniher back to freo next year? i love chris and really hope he stays on at freo but if he has to move i reckon daniher would be a great choice as replacement. of course, mark harvey might disagree with me!

pearl jam in katowice

wow.. what an awesome night last night. to set the scene, we had a day of thunderstorms with lightning flashing across the south of poland and the deep rumble of thunder crossing the land. it was grey and wet and oppressive and not at all promising of a good night in an outdoor stadium watching pearl jam. to make matters worse, i hopped on the train from work to katowice only to realise one stop down the line that i'd left my ticket in my desk drawer in the office. so, off i had to get and back to the business park to get the ticket and wait for the next train... in an hour. the journey pt 2 wasn't any more promising as it was raining most of the way.. then..

arriving in katowice the rain had finally stopped and the air was still warm. i had no idea where i was going so followed some people who looked like they could be going to a rock concert. sure enough, my pied pipers led me to the stadium in the park in chorzów (i think it's a part of katowice but i'm not really sure) where the sounds of linkin park were already filling the air.

to cut a long story short, i made my way into the stadium and met up with zbyszek and aga from the office and settled into waiting for the band to appear. the sky was pretty clear and the air still and warm.. in short, perfect conditions for an outdoor show. it didn't take too long before the sun had gone down and the boys arrived on stage to launch into 'rearviewmirror'. they played a great set and eddie was in fine form as he interacted with the crowd. someone had written down a spiel for him to say in polish which was quite humourous but, as i don't speak the language myself, i had no idea what he was saying. the set was full of songs that are very well known (set list below) and the crowd responded accordingly. when 'daughter' morphed into a short cover of 'another brick in the wall pt 2' the singing from the audience almost overpowered eddie's singing. it was the first time i've seen pearl jam and can now see why their live show gets such great reviews.

the show finished just after 11pm and zbyszek and aga were kind enough to give me a ride back to kraków so i managed to fall into bed at 1.45am. today i'm tired, but very pleased i went.


main set:
rearviewmirror, animal, hail hail, corduroy, given to fly, worldwide suicide, elderly woman behind the counter in a small town, i am mine, lukin, even flow, comatose, nothingman, state of love and trust, spin the black circle, severed hand
encore:
leatherman, improv/daughter/another brick in the wall pt2, whipping, black/we belong together, jeremy, indifference

the land of the free

i've just been watching a fascinating and disturbing documentary on BBCworld about the CIA using secret prisons in eastern europe and afghanistan to get around their own laws banning the use of torture. the evidence is compelling that this abhorrent practice has been used extensively by the USA and further undermines their claim to be a bastion of freedom to the rest of the world. no-one wants the terrorists to get the upper hand but surely when countries that claim to stand for freedom start using torture to gain (often false) confessions and information then they are no better than the terrorists themselves. after all, how can we ask other countries to behave in ways that we are not prepared to do ourselves?

weekend in ukraine

i thought i'd celebrate my new british passport by heading somewhere on the weekend that i can't get into with my aussie passport without a visa so i headed for the ukraine. last time i was there i only saw kyiv and had wanted to also travel to lviv so, since lviv is quite close to the polish border i thought this would be a good location.

the first lesson learnt is not to enter the ukraine in the car as the border crossing is SOOO slow. on the saturday morning it took about two and a half hours to finally get through. but once through it was worth it as it is a very pretty country (as is much of eastern europe) with the things that make these countries such special places.. horse and carts, little villages with wooden houses, people in traditional dress etc.

i got to lviv and it is a very nice city although it probably would have been helpful if i had a map a bit better than the one in my lonely planet book. eventually i found the hotel i'd planned to stay in and also found secure parking for the car and set out for a bit of sightseeing and some tucker. the food was very nice but the heavens decided to open and there was torrential rain for the best part of an hour. once the rain started to lighten off i headed out with umbrella and saw the sights whilst still managing to get quite wet... my cons won't ever be the same again!! as with many of the towns i've been to in this area of the world, the main sights are a town square, some old and huge churches and various fortifications. this is not to diminish the specialness (is that a word??) of these places as they are certainly worth visiting, just to point out that when the guide books make out as though they're unique, it's usually not quite the case.

anyhoo, the town itself is lovely and not at all what people would picture when they think of the ukraine. it is clean and the historic buildings appear to be in good condition. unlike the people of kyiv who i found to be quite rude and unhelpful, the people i came across in lviv were quite the opposite. i was only there for a short while but enjoyed it very much.. even with the rain!!

sunday morning i got up and did a bit more sightseeing before heading back towards the polish border. arriving at the border crossing i figured it may take a little while to get through but there was no way i expected it to take the 4 hours it ended up. i arrived just after 1pm and finally managed to get on my way just after 5pm. aaarrgghh!!!

kraków 1257 - 2007

saturday marks the beginning of the celebrations for kraków's 750th anniversary. a huge stage has been set up in the square and there are decorations around the city. it's quite exciting to be living here at such a significant time and i'm looking forward to some of the events that are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. who would've thought as a kid growing up in karrinyup that one day i'd be living in poland and celebrating a city's 750th anniversary?? it's funny how things turn out sometimes.

oh the arrogance

so george bush jnr has finally accepted that climate change is a real phenomenon and also that it's caused by human actions. well good for him.. if he truly believes it. i spose it's better late than never. what is truly breathtaking is the arrogance of the man in trying to dictate that america will now take charge of the problem. as one of only two major nations to refuse to ratify the kyoto protocol (us being the other) the usa is hardly in a moral position to start trying to dictate to the rest of the world how the issues facing us will be addressed. to a cynical observer it would appear that bush (or, more likely, his advisers) have realised that the world is going to deal with these problems with or without america being involved on the inside and has decided to try and head things off at the pass. it was clear that the germans were going to take the initiative at the upcoming G8 summit and obviously the americans couldn't allow that to happen so the man who has tried for so long to deny that climate change is a scientific fact or that man is responsible for it has tried to get in first. well, as far as i'm concerned america has had more than enough opportunity to take the lead on this and now needs to demonstrate a bit of humility and learn to follow the lead of the countries that have already started to make changes.

climate change is a reality and we need leadership from people and countries that take it seriously; not from someone who is only prepared to address it for political expediency.

new passport

well, my aussie passport is one happy chappy now as i've obtained a british one to keep him company. yep.. i'm now the proud holder of two passports. it's been a long road to get to this stage but it's worth it as i'm now entitled to travel back to europe any time i like without having to worry about visas etc. hooray!!

1989 top pop

mark edwards posted the top 10 songs of his 18th year (1988) which i found quite interesting so i thought i'd have a look and post the top 10 songs of my 18th year (1989).

in order they were:

1. Like A Prayer - Madonna

fantastic song from when she was at her peak

2. The Look - Roxette

another great song. they were pretty daggy but roxette knew how to put out a catchy tune

3. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

i love this song.. and who hasn't danced to it at some stage??

4. Eternal Flame - The Bangles

hmmm.. yep, another dag classic that i love

5. If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher

i'm on the fence on this one. it's harmless enough i spose. of course the visual metaphor in the video couldn't possibly have been more obvious

6. She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

it didn't take long for this song to drive me crazy. and to think they used to write songs as good as 'blue' and 'johnny come home'

7. Bedroom Eyes - Kate Ceberano

a truly dreadful pile of steaming parrot droppings

8. You Got It (The Right Stuff) - New Kids On The Block

awful awful song. what an amazing collective lack of talent

9. Kokomo - The Beach Boys

a pretty average song from a formerly great band. brian wilson could churn out better songs than this in his sleep

10. The Living Years - Mike & The Mechanics

when asked to nominate the worst song of all time this is usually the first one to come to mind. it is honestly one of the most dreadful songs ever inflicted on the listening public.

if you wanna find the aussie top 10s from past years, the link is HERE

it's west coast, not west australia

i can't believe that west coast have been given permission to wear the 1977 WA state of origin jumper in the heritage round and consider it totally inappropriate. this is not me just being anti-west coast (no, really) as i would also be opposed to freo wearing it. the heritage round is all about celebrating the heritage of one's club and, as such, the former state guernsey has nothing to do with west coast. i couldn't imagine any of the victorian clubs asking, or being given permission, to wear the 'big v' in a club game. freo wear a jumper worn by the original fremantle fc which is fair enough. west coast have plenty of former guernsey designs to choose from and should be made to stick to those. of course, the other question that should be answered is what will happen should freo ever decide to make the same request. surely as a WA based club we should have the same entitlement to the guernsey of our state but of course such a suggestion is ludicrous now that west coast have been given the undeserved rights.

i'm all for the old state guernsey being honoured by being worn in a game but the appropriate forum for this is in a state game by a representative side. if they wanted to revive it they should have worn it in the game against the vics yesterday.. perhaps it may have inspired our boys to put in a bit of a better effort than the embarrassment of a 119 point flogging