seasons greetings

i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and that 2009 is a fantastic year. 

the tragic death of tyler cassidy

no matter what people disagree on, i think one thing we are all in agreement with is the fact that the death of tyler cassidy is very sad.

that said, if you steal two knives and approach police telling them that you're going to kill them, you don't get to whinge about being shot. further, when you add to this that the guy was known for random acts of violence and that he was involved with white supremacist groups one starts to get an idea of what the police were faced with. the police are charged with protecting the public and put their lives on the line every day. i don't always agree with the way they go about things but i have complete confidence that they wouldn't have shot this bloke unless they had run out of options.

i also find it sad that his mother knew so little about her own son and what he'd been up to. to listen to her, you'd think he was a perfect child who had never been in trouble and usually spent his spare time doing bible studies and volunteering with meals on wheels. unfortunately that is completely false. he'd become involved with some of the lowest scum of our community.. the white supremacist movement. these mentally stunted prats deserve nothing more than complete contempt and must accept some of the blame for what happened to tyler.

the australian way of life is one of tolerance and multiculturalism. as the bumper sticker says - if you don't love it, leave.

is 'so what' by pink the worst song ever?

hmmm.. probably not, but it's certainly up there.

speaking of dreadful songs, how bad is that new katy perry song 'hot n cold'? i thought she'd plumbed the depths of bland, soulless dross with 'i kissed a girl' but the aural spam being flogged on commercial radio at the moment proves that her well of mediocrity runs truly deep... as does the well of unthinking simpletons who buy whatever they're told to by the corporate music 'biz'.

and don't even get me started on gabriella cilmi..

arrrghhh.

the dream becomes reality

there's gonna be a lot written about barack obama's ascension to the presidency and most of it written by people far more eloquent and insightful than me. still, i may as well add my two cents worth.

the thing that struck me most today is the sense of history and potential. it was the same sense of awe and excitement felt when nelson mandela was released and also when he was subsequently elected as president of south africa. it was the same feeling of history i felt when the berlin wall was torn down. i felt the same when our prime minister finally said sorry to the stolen generation. these moments are so rare that when they occur they're to be savoured.

george bush jnr has done incredible damage to the reputation of the usa around the world and leaves the country in a mess with a staggering national debt and two unsuccessful wars. barack obama brings hope and a chance for america to rediscover its soul. i only wish martin luther king had lived to see this day.

bring on the change

it's been 8 years since george bush jnr literally stole the 2000 usa election. in that time we've seen the tragedy of the terrorist attacks on the world trade centre and pentagon in 2001 and the moral bankruptcy of the invasions of afghanistan and iraq. we've seen the insidious corruption of the values we claim to hold dear through the evil of the guantanamo bay detention camp and the associated use of torture techniques and incarceration of people without charge for years on end. we've seen the usa using 'black sites' to bypass their human rights obligations. we've seen levels of rhetoric against foreign nations at levels not seen since the cold war.

it's been a tumultuous time and one in which the hope for a return to honourable government seemed a long way off. a year ago we managed to give little johnny garden gnome the arse and all polls indicate the people of america will tomorrow give the worst warmonger in the world today the same treatment. i truly hope america votes in barack obama as the next president. whilst the idea of an african american president is exciting in itself, it's the potential obama brings to the role which is inspirational. he's got a lot of work to do in order to restore the reputation of the usa after the bush years but if anyone can do it i reckon obama can.

little pleasures

how often it's the small things that bring such pleasure. i've just been listening to lou reed's masterpiece 'transformer' and found myself rejoicing in david bowie's angelic 'bom bom bom's in 'satellite of love'. pure brilliance from a musical genius.

my new additions

a little over a week ago the population of my flat tripled when i brought home a couple of cats. they are both from the cat haven and would've been put down if a home hadn't been found for them. they have very different personalities but both are very cute and it's great having them around.

DYLAN

dylan is one of those cats that very quickly makes friends with anyone around. she's not overly clingy and doesn't like to sit on one's lap, but she does like a bit of attention. she was around 10 months old when i got her and quickly established her dominance over oprah. she's gradually accepting oprah's insolence and engaging in some play with her. she also loves spending time out on the balcony watching what's going on in the world around her


OPRAH

oprah started out as a very timid cat who was frightened of her own shadow. she's still quite skittish but not nearly as bad as she was. as i type, she's curled up on the lounge next to me which would've been inconceivable a week ago. although dylan's trying very hard to maintain her dominance through hissing and growling i get the feeling that in time oprah will become the dominant cat. she's already become very cheeky to dylan and is certainly the more inquisitive of the two. she has also developed an unnerving habit of jumping up onto the balcony railing and walking along it.

so, that's my two new housemates. i'm still a dog person but it's not really feasible to have a dog here and mum said she'd look after the cats for me if i ever want to go away so it made the choice pretty easy. besides, cats are a helluva lot easier to look after as they're not so labour intensive and quite happy to amuse themselves... usually by sleeping.

nothing in particular

it's been a couple of weeks since i last posted so i feel duty bound to put something up. life goes on through many little enjoyable experiences rather than any big bangs. tonight is poker night at the stamford arms so i'll be heading off shortly. it's free to play and a pretty good night with a cupla pints and a few hands. i made the final table on tuesday night so hopefully tonight will be another good one.

it was good to catch up with katie, reg, kath, nath and marco on saturday night for a chat, a debate over daylight saving and some poker (hmmm.. do i sense a pattern emerging?). i've also volunteered for a couple of shifts as parking attendant at claremont oval for the show parking. this is the biggest money earner for the footy club each year so i thought it was about time i did my bit as i've been a member for 21 years now and not really done any voluntary work. it turned out to be quite enjoyable as i met some of the club stalwarts and we had some good chats. it was an especially big thrill to have a beer and yarn with john o'connell who is a legend of the claremont footy club.

so, time to head off to poker and hope for that elusive royal flush

well done hawks

what a fantastic win by the hawks today. i decided to barrack for them a week ago when the saints were knocked out as i wanted to see crawf finally get a premiership. it was sad for the cats who such as blake and lonergan who missed out last year but the hawks were the best team on the day. there's no doubt they can improve from here as blokes like buddy, hodge, junior rioli and bateman continue to mature. it's just a shame for them they've gotta overcome freo next year.

chair sniffing inc.

ok.. i'm laughing a lot right now. i'm watching 20 to 1 on channel nine and they're counting down the top twenty 'all aussie scandals' and guess who's come in at number 4? yep, our very own chair sniffing, bra snapping, drunk-at-work state treasurer..

.. TROY BOOZEWELL

whilst it did have me laughing, i realised very quickly that i'll be laughing out the other side of my face when this buffoon gets his hands on our state economy. he's just lucky he's not working in a normal workplace as he'd have been sacked long ago.

graham maybury was asking tonight what we learned from the state election and what i've learned, or rather had confirmed, is that wa voters are not particularly bright.

don't blame me...

so the national party has decided to support a minority liberal government. personally i believe this to be the worst decision that could have been made for our state but i appreciate their reasoning. it appears that the key factor in their decision is that the support of an independant will also be required and they don't want to have to work with the greens as would be the case if they'd supported labor. during the past week, supporters of both main parties have tried to claim some sort of mandate from the people that would obligate the nationals to work with them. this is simply a load of rubbish. neither party won a majority of seats and therefore neither party has a clear mandate.

my own belief is that the liberals have shown in the leadup to the election that they're not even capable of running their own party in a mature and professional manner so they're certainly not in a position to run the state properly. still, they are now in power for at least the next four years so i hope they are able to surprise me and run this state in a compentent manner. still, i may as well say this now as i reckon i'll be saying it a lot over the next four years...

... don't blame me, i voted labor

go the saints

it's finals time and, as usual, freo's started the offseason early so i should nail my colours to the mast for who i'll be barracking for in the finals. i love watching the cats and the hawks play but nothing would give me more pure joy that seeing robert harvey walk off the mcg on grand final day with a premiership/norm smith double. the man is an absolute inspiration and deserves to be a premiership player. obviously it'll take some sort of dramatic divine intervention for anyone to stop geelong and i won't be upset to see them win as they've clearly been the best team for most of the season but my heart is with the saints.

gold coast football club

what an absolute disgrace. not since the west coast eagles slithered forth from the sewers in 1986 has a new team been handed a premiership on a plate as blatantly as the new gold coast footy club. it's been announced that they're to have 9 of the first 15 picks in the 2010 draft, including 4 of the first 5. they will also start the season with 48 senior players (10 more than anyone else) and an extra $1 million in total player payments. the whole idea of the draft and salary cap is to provide an equal playing field for all clubs and for them to be compromised to this extent is nothing short of obscene. it particularly irks me when i think back to the raw deal freo got when we joined.

it's been announced on the footy show tonight that they don't even have a nickname. what sort of club is this? at least their gay lifeguard mascot makes ours look like marketing genius. i'm just waiting to hear their club song now cos i'm hoping like mad it's even worse than ours cos at the moment only the port bogans and e-girls are worse than our dirge.

howard sattler: man of the people

if this was 1992 i'd have added the word 'not!' at the end of that title, but it isn't so i didn't.

it's been reported that poor howard the coward has had to reduce the asking price on his house from the "high $6 million mark" to just $5.75 million. now, i don't have a problem with someone being wealthy and readily accept that many wealthy people have earned their money. howard is different. the man is a parasite who feeds off the misery and dissatisfaction of his listeners. he presents himself as a man of the people when the reality is the only time he's likely to encounter people who fall into his listener demographic is when they serve him his food or service his car.

i've had the misfortune of listening to his malevolent diatribes whilst waiting for the sports programme to come on and it is truly the most base of gutter journalism that shamelessly appeals to the lowest common denominator. the sooner this cancer is removed from our airwaves, the better.

the end of footy

well, it's the last weekend either of my teams are playing this season and it's ended on a high note. i headed to subi oval on friday night without any great expectations given the number of injuries and retirements the club's had. the most enjoyable wins are the ones you don't expect so to see my boys give collingwood a good hiding was very satisfying. it's been a pretty disappointing season (yet again) but the future's looking up. we've got some pretty promising kids who are hard at the ball and prepared to do the gutsy things. we've got a lot of room on the list and an early draft pick. i just hope the club takes this opportunity for a fresh start and plans for the future rather than following our past of trading for a big name.

yesterday was a big day for claremont. we've been anchored to the bottom of the ladder for a lot of the year and were looking at getting our first wooden spoon since i started barracking for the club as a 10 year old in 1981. we were also coming up against the second placed team on their own dungheap so things looked grim. it turned out to be a tight game and my boys acquited themselves very well. the game was up for grabs at 3/4 time and kerry gave a pretty inspiring talk. the last quarter was a see-sawing affair but my boys held their nerve and fought back every time souths kicked a goal. the win lifted us off the bottom and the form of the young players bides well for next season.

so, it's into the finals for the next few weeks and then i'll have weekends all to myself.. and i'll be counting down the days til next season starts.

tigers, a derby and shauny mac

what a great weekend for footy. on saturday my tiger cubs kept alive our hopes of getting off the bottom of the ladder by beating east freo by 64 points. i've been quite critical of roger kerr's coaching this year but i reckon i may have judged him a bit early as his game plan seems to be coming together. we've got a lot of first year players who are starting to show some very promising signs and as long as they don't all get drafted to victorian afl clubs, we should get some great service out of them next year. ian richardson's the pick of the bunch and is a real ball of excitement. every time he gets anywhere near the ball, he draws huge calls from the members' stand and is becoming a real cult hero at tigerland.

sunday was a bittersweet day as we trounced the e-girls but said goodbye to shaun mcmanus. shauny mac is one of those old fashioned players who's not particularly blessed with silky skills, doesn't have a pretty haircut and will never be described as 'metrosexual' but has a heart like phar lap. he's worn his passion for the club on his sleeve and over the past 14 years and has eked out every last bit of ability in his quest to make the club successful. to my mind, macca was part of a trilogy that also contained troy cook and dale kickett. all three were passionate about the freo footy club and they were all hard as nails but exceptionally fair players - the demolition derby of 2001 excepted in kicketty's case (although it could be argued that phil read deserved everything he got and probably more). i'm really going to miss watching macca play. it was always an adventure when he got the ball and i'm sure a small part of my hair loss is his responsibility.

while we said goodbye to an important part of the club's past on sunday, we got another look at the future and it's looking pretty rosy. the new young players are hard at the ball and exciting to watch. palmer is always willing to get under the packs while mayne and ibbotson seem to have no fear. i'm really looking forward to next season as things can only get better.

great win

what a fantastic win! to lose pavlich before the game was always going to put us at a disadvantage and could have been disasterous. instead, i reckon we learned an important lesson about going forward and spreading the goals around. there's no doubt pav is the key forward for us but i feel we often tend to be a bit 'pav-centric' which can be costly. today the young fellas really stepped up and showed that this club has a positive future. we still need to work on our skills as we turn it over a bit too much but hopefully that will get better. now we just need to recruit well in the draft and we can be looking at a spot in the eight in the near future.

bring on the slime next week!

finally a good footy weekend

finally i have a double reason to cheer after the weekend with claremont and freo both notching impressive wins.

my (once) mighty tigers have kept alive our hopes of avoiding the wooden spoon as we're only a game behind east perth but ahead of them on percentage so only have to win one more game than they do for the rest of the year. i've been barracking for claremont for 27 years and in this time we've not finished bottom so it would be great if we could avoid it this year. what made the win on the weekend even more meritorious was that it was over a side that was in the top 4 at their home ground and without browne, mackenzie or wilkes who were all playing for their afl sides.

the freo game was a strange affair. i watched most of the first quarter through my fingers and certainly had my head in my hands at quarter time. we were simply woeful. thankfully harvs performed some magic at the first break and a completely different side came out for the rest of the game. suddenly the boys were attacking the bloke with the ball and forcing errors. this is something the good sides do each week whilst we've been playing a game where we simply run alongside the ball carrier and hope that our psychic powers will make him trip over and drop the ball. strangely our approach thus far hasn't worked. the final 3 quarters were the sort of football i expect from an afl side and if we can continue that level of intensity i'd expect us to win a lot more games.

i was also really happy with the games of some of the younger brigade. ibbotson and mayne played the same way they have all year.. bloody hard. each week they seem more at ease playing in the premier competition and are really showing a great deal of potential. also showing really good signs were browne and o'brien who were both very hard at the ball. o'brien is a player i was hoping to see a lot more of this year as i believe he provides great value for the team in his willingness to get under the packs and do the hard work that we used to rely on troy cook and shaun mcmanus for. speaking of mcmanus; he was fantastic. i'm sure he'd be the first to admit that he's not overly blessed with silky skills but he makes up for any skill shortfall with an excess of heart. his retirement in imminent and i'll really miss him.

courtney love is the devil

i was horrified last night when watching tele to see an ad for the nintendo ds using the song 'breed' by nirvana. now, my understanding is that courtney has control of the nirvana back catalogue which passed into her control when kurdt died and this would mean she has the power to decide how his songs are used. i'm sure kurdt would be turning in his grave (if he'd been buried in one) at the thought of his songs being exploited in a commercial and courtney, more than anyone, should have worked to ensure this never happened. after all, she constantly stymied attempts by krist and dave to release a box set with some unreleased songs and generally was a 'spaniard in the works' so for her to allow 'breed' to be used in this way is unforgivable.

woosha vs brownlow brad

woosha's attack on brad hardie on 6PR last night was nothing short of disgraceful. hardie played in a premiership with south freo in the days when the wafl was as strong as any other competition in the country so for worsfold to denigrate him for not having played in a vfl/afl premiership side was not only uncalled for but also a slap in the face for all the wafl premiership players. great players such as bill walker, haydn bunton, stephen michael, graham moss and 'bomber' peake played in wafl premierships without being vfl/afl premiership players and to now call their status into doubt is simply wrong. still, what should we expect? it was a cheap shot from a bloke who built his on-field career around running past the ball to take cheap shots on opponents who weren't expecting it. why should we expect his off-field behaviour to be any different?

no sympathy for corby

i'm pretty sick of hearing about schapelle corby. the woman's a convicted drug dealer. end of story. in my opinion drug dealers are about as low as people come. unlike the other people generally reviled in our society (murderers, rapists, child molesters, drink drivers etc), drug dealers directly and indirectly impact and destroy the lives of huge numbers of people and they do it with the sole motivation of greed. i don't believe in the death penalty but i do believe in long gaol sentences. corby was trying to make some easy money and got caught and now deserves every day she spends behind bars. there's an inherent racism in the championing of corby's cause. it's a racism manifest in the belief that a white australian girl must be a victim of a corrupt indonesian legal system and incompetent lawyers rather than simply being guilty of the crimes she's been convicted of. well i don't buy it for a second. i believe she's guilty and the media should stop giving her constant publicity. i also believe any money raised by her selling her story when she's released should be subject to the proceeds of crime legislation as she shouldn't be allowed to profit from her crimes.

tanking

so st kilda have dropped del santo and milne for tonight's game against the mighty dockers and replaced them with two debutants. i find this pretty interesting from the perspective of a member of one of the teams already being accused of tanking. tonight's game is a quite winnable one for the saints and being played in melbourne so one would expect them to field their strongest team. i'm sure if freo or the e-girls headed into a home match against low ranked opposition by dropping a key midfielder and their leading goal kicker, the cries of 'tankers' would be deafening. yet, presumably because they're four spots on the ladder higher than us, there's no such slur aimed at the saints. nor should their be. i don't believe for a moment that they're tanking but neither are we. it's time the afl stepped in, preferably today, and announced changes to the way the draft picks are allocated to the bottom teams. i remember a lottery system for the bottom four clubs being talked about in 2001 when we finished bottom and yet 7 years later the problem's still not fixed. i have no doubt that carlton tanked last year and reaped substantial benefits for doing so but i don't believe it's common. nevertheless, the temptation to tank and the opportunity for it to be a topic of discussion needs to be removed by the afl. in my opinion.

i'm back online!!

woo hoo.. i'm finally back online. i've changed provider from aapt to iinet so that i can get a naked dsl line as i only use my home phone very sporadically and reckon the line rental is waste of money. for less than what i was paying aapt for a phone and net package, i'm now getting a heap more downloads and (hopefully) a better service. seems like a win to me. i'll finally be able to start blogging again so i'd better start finding something to say

the eroding of freedom (or the slow road to ruin) pt 3

when the state government brought in legislation enabling it to seize private property that had been acquired using funds raised through the commission of crimes such as selling drugs i thought it was a good idea... and still do. but the latest proposal of the government to move from seizing property obtained using the proceeds of crime to simply seizing the property of people convicted of committing a crime is simply obscene. the courts are in place to impose a sentence and/or fine and that is where the penalty should end.

of particular concern to me is the insidious way in which the government is trying to sneak the laws in. it started as a law targetting bikies and drug dealers and, of course, no one was concerned. now it's trying to extend the scope of the laws and has chosen to apply them initially to sex offenders as, again, they don't believe people are likely to object to the targetting of a group almost universally despised. one has to question who will be targetted next. already the government is trying to seize the property of a man who was accused, but never convicted, of sex offenses. the man is now dead and the property has been passed to his brother. to take a property worth over $1 million from a man who has not been convicted of a crime simply because there were unproved allegations made against his deceased brother is immoral, unethical and wrong.

those of us who work for our possessions should have the security of knowing the law backs our ownership of them.

the eroding of freedom (or the slow road to ruin) pt 2

the term 'big brother' gets bandied around a lot these days and has unfortunately lost a lot of the menace it used to have when it was seen purely in the context of orwell's masterpiece, 1984. still, there are times when it really encapsulates the concept of a government's monitoring of its citizens that's gone beyond what is reasonable and become a serious breach of their right to privacy. the proposal of the UK government's home office to develop a database containing details of every phone call made, every text message sent, every email sent and all time spent on the internet by every individual in the UK clearly falls into the traditional 'big brother' realm. it is an ominous and frightening prospect.

we're all aware of the threat of terrorism but i personally believe that the biggest threat terrorism poses to our way of life and the values we hold dear is the way our governments are using it as an excuse to strip away our freedoms. unless we fight to preserve our rights, things like this will be just the tip of the iceberg.

STORY LINK HERE

я говорю немного по-русски

geez it's hard learning a new language. i've started taking russian lessons and am finding that i'm struggling a bit with it. the first few weeks were ok but the vocabulary lists get longer and the grammar gets more difficult by the week. i'm determined to learn it though so will keep battling through. once i'm a bit more financial i want to go back to eastern europe and spend some time there and i reckon knowing russian will be of use.. especially in the ukraine. i'd also like to learn polish and perhaps romanian and german. i've been told that once you learn a foreign language, it's easier to learn more and i really hope that's the case.

catherine tate: i can do that... translator

pure comic gold!! the catherine tate show is very very funny indeed.

the melbourne debacle (nearly) a week on

i've held off commenting on the game for nearly a week but it's time. i've been a freo member since the inception of the club (i'm member # 2060) and have been through some pretty dark days without my support ever wavering. i've seen some pretty bad performances and have been disappointed, embarrassed and saddened but the game last sunday left me more upset than any other. i'd been worried about the game during the week and had thought it may be a danger game but by half time i was wondering how i could have even considered us losing to melbourne. for us to lose from that position was beyond comprehension but somehow we managed it and i was left feeling quite distraught.

well, there's something about this game that feels to me like no other loss i've seen. it feels like a line's been drawn in the sand and the future direction of the club will be decided now. i really feel that the club needs to decide if we're going to be similar to clubs like footscray, st kilda and richmond that have a stench of failure about them or if we're going to develop the winning culture that clubs like essendon and carlton (before the afl's sanctions hobbled them) have. i'm encouraged that harvs has committed the club to using all our draft picks this year to secure good young players rather than picking up recycled players. for too long the passion and loyalty of freo members has made us accept underperformance that the slime supporters up the road would tear up their membership cards over. well, it stops here!! it's time for this club to cull the players that don't have the heart, hunger or drive that's needed to lead to sustained success. it's time to develop a game plan that cuts out the rubbish and promotes a winning style.

in short, it's time that freo became the club that's always been promised but has never been delivered. i'll remain a member regardless of what happens but i'd rather not spend the next 50 odd years of my life watching a club that never quite gets there.

special k

my how the worm turns. it was only a couple of weeks ago that weagles fans were calling for all sorts of medieval torture to be inflicted on barry hall for snotting staker. now it's daniel 'wayne' kerr's turn to have a 'brain snap', flattening scott west with a headbutt. not only that, but staker's been reported for striking.

i'll be very interested this week to see what slime fans have to say about the ketamine kerr incident. the excuse of retaliation due to being scragged off the ball isn't open to them since they said hall couldn't use it. they called for hall to get 18 weeks (rest of the season) so let's see if they apply the same standard to 'special k' or expose themselves as the hypocrites i suspect them to be.

1 friggin point!!

well, it was hard to take the loss but i was very proud of the boys last night. they took the game right up to geelong and should have won. sandilands played the best game i've seen from him. crowley and carr were as tough as ever. and of course, there was super-pav. hopefully this is the week that the team turns the corner and starts winning a few games. although it's always hard to accept a loss, it's a lot easier when the team plays like they did last night instead of how they did against richmond.

as far as the lost time goes, it wasn't a factor in us losing last night but could easily cost a team the game in the future and needs to be sorted.

half time thoughts

it's half time in the freo vs adelaide match and we're behind. the first half has confirmed two things for me. firstly, our skill level is nowhere near that needed to be successful. the number of times we turn the ball over through a poor handball or kick is completely unacceptable and has to be urgently addressed. it's a problem we've had since the club was formed and costs us a lot.

the second thing is that glen jakovich is a small, petty man who still holds a grudge against freo. it's been a long time since i've heard such blatantly biased commentary. i don't think i've heard him make a single positive comment about freo but he's quick to sink the boot at every opportunity. what a chump!!

a new low in reality tele

i've had the misfortune to catch the end of 'my kid's a star' for the past couple of weeks whilst waiting for underbelly to come on. this is a seriously disgusting show. forget the fact that the kids are mediocre talents at best.. the parents are not fit to have kids. what sort of parent puts their kid in a show like this. the bit i saw of tonight's show involved the kids busking on the streets while their parents ran around hassling the public for money. the attitude of the parents in the debriefing interviews was despicable. one mother (who looks like a transvestite) talked about how she was accosting families with kids and abusing them when they didn't give her money. what a classy piece of work that one is. i guess with the way reality shows were heading i shouldn't be surprised at this steaming pile of parrot droppings.. but it doesn't mean i've gotta like it.

big bad bustling barry hall

so bazza got 7 weeks and the weagles fans are crying the roof down. i get the feeling that even if he'd been hung by his bollocks from a subi oval light tower and left there until the birds had pecked his bones clean there'd still be some footy-ignorant weagles fans whinging that he'd got off lightly. "he should have had to wait til his wrist was healed before being hanged" they'd whine in their posh accents whilst dining on caviar and champagne. i find it very interesting that when steven baker got 7 weeks for snotting jeff farmer behind play last year there wasn't a peep from these people who now reckon it's worth at least 18 weeks (rest of the season). what a bunch of hypocrites. as for their cries for legal action, they should be careful what they wish for as one of their key midfielders is well known for his dirty play and would be a prime target for legal action should that pandora's box be opened.

let's hope we can now get on with the season and have some degree of rationality back.

footy reality

if i ever consider tipping freo, e-girls, adelaide or port bogans again on the weekend after the derby and showdown games will someone please hit me over the head?

what a ripper!!

say what you like about this incident but one thing that can't be denied is that it was a ripper of a left hook and hit staker right on the button. for me, the funniest part of the whole thing is watching hunter's pathetic performance. he comes in to fly the flag for staker, realises he'll get creamed by big bad bustling bazza so takes a dive like a blubbering little girl and hides on the ground. i love that he's gonna see this footage for the rest of his life and constantly be reminded of it.

the quarter time tussle between waters and bbbbh really shows how soft the weagles are. only one bloke had the balls to actually have a go at hall whilst the others just wandered meekly past. how shameful.

v festival

i've just got home from v festival and what a good time it was. i got there fairly late and caught the end of cut copy's set. they seemed pretty cool and i'd be keen to see them again. following them was the legendary the jesus and mary chain who played a good set.

the highlight for me was a brilliant performance by duran duran. i last saw them play in london four years ago and since then andy taylor's left the band again. i'd also heard mixed reviews of their eastern states shows so was wondering how they'd go. i needn't have worried as they were in good form tonight. of course, it's hard to go wrong when you can pull songs such as planet earth, girls on film, rio, hungry like the wolf, the wild boys, a view to a kill, notorious, the reflex and ordinary world from your back catalogue. simon really seemed to be enjoying himself (and the crowd adulation) and regularly broke out into grins. john's bass playing was masterful and had me spellbound. it's the first time the durans have been to perth since 1983 and i really hope we don't have to wait another 25 years for them to come back.

the final act was the smashing pumpkins and they were also good although suffered from being upstaged by the durans. they didn't play a number of their most well known songs but still kept the crowd happy, particularly when the opening notes of 'today' rang out.

all in all it was a very good concert. i think the $130 ticket price may be a bit steep when you compare it to the number of bands you can choose from at the big day out but then again, it's a smaller crowd here so you can actually get a spot at the front of stage for your favourite bands. i managed to end up right at the front for the durans which helped make the show.

derby 27

how sweet it is!! it was a pretty scrappy game but there were still some great individual performances. roger hayden played a blinder, as did palmer. for him to need 20 staples in the head to hold his brains in after a big knock and still go on to play a dominant game is fantastic. pav was his usual magic self and young maynes also showed a lot. there were a few freo supporters sitting around me and we made more that enough noise to drown out the weagles fans for most of the game. having said that, it's not hard to drown out weagles fans since they only tend to open their gobs to chant 'eagles, eagles' (how creative) after a goal's been kick. wirrpunda was pretty good for the losers, as was ketamine kerr and shirley temple priddis. fletcher flatlined (again) and embley and the albino hansen were hardly sighted. lynch saw his goal tally and thought they'd put his IQ on the board whilst selwood spent the day hiding from des.

after the game there was the usual sour grapes from weagles fans after losing a derby - something that happens more often than not these days - with the attempted jibes of "well, it was freo's grand final". personally, if i was a weagles fan i'd be concerned if my team wasn't approaching a derby with the same amount of passion as freo.. but then again we know which activities they've historically had the most passion for.

as a postscript to the game, there was a standing bet between dean 'soft' cox and heath black that the player from the losing team would don a dress and pose as a mannequin in a myer shop window on monday. sadly the weagles have decided to welsh on the bet and reinforce their image as the afl's most unethical club.

wedding

finally michelle and beava's wedding came around on friday and it was a really lovely day for it. rain had been predicted but held off nicely. it was held in the secret garden at caversham house which is a beautiful locations by the river. it was a great time with good food, a few frothies and a bit of a boogie and fantastic to see them tie the knot.

ren and stimpy

ahhh.. this brings back some memories!!

the mighty weddos

i'm a pretty happy camper tonight after having seen the mighty weddings parties anything play down at the freo arts centre. it's the first time in 10 years they've visited perth and they've lost none of the magic in the meantime. here's hoping it's not another 10 years before they come again. it was also great to catch up with tim beeck for the first time in a long long time and finally meet his missus. hopefully we'll be able to catch up more often now.

ahh.. civilisation

i had a hot shower last night. now, most people take a hot shower for granted but that was my first one since early november when my hot water system went on the blink. to put that in perspective, the last time i'd had a hot shower, little johnny was still prime minister. it actually found rather strange on my skin and my face didn't like it at all

it's not that i was broke, i'm just not the most organised person when it comes to getting things like that fixed and in the past hols either arranged things for us or hassled me to do it. now that i'm single again i guess i'll have to actually get my arse into gear and start doing things every now and then.

help me fulfill THE bet

for those who came in late...

in late 2003 there was a sunday night tea at our shared house in finchley. at this tea i made the statement that freo would win a premiership before the e-girls. now, bear in mind that freo had just finished 5th on the ladder whereas the weagles had finished 8th. we had a young, exciting list and we'd also had something of a dominance over wet toast in derbies that year so the statement wasn't as outrageous in its correct context as it obviously became.

at this infamous tea was a certain mr p. munro who is as rabid a weagle as i am a docker and he took exception to my bold statement and decided a wager would be appropriate. for something as important as this, money is not enough of a gamble so it was decided that the person who lost the bet would have to wear the opposition guernsey to the next home & away derby they attended. i have to admit that as i agreed to this wager i was sizing up munners to ensure he'd fit into my vintage (bought in feb 95) freo guernsey.

well, it's now history that a 'high on emotion' weagles managed to snaffle the narrowest of wins in the 2006 grand final and i lost the bet. i did attend the second home & away derby last season after returning to perth but wasn't able to source a wet toast guernsey so i'm yet to meet my obligations.

this is the bit where you, the reader, comes in. i've bought my ticket to the derby on sat 5th april and want to finish off the bet but am still having trouble sourcing a weagles guernsey. i'd be appreciative if someone could loan me a jumper for the day so that i can fulfill my obligations and put this humiliation behind me.

i need to point out that the limit of the bet is the wearing of the guernsey.. it doesn't extend to actually barracking for the hated opposition, driving a 4wd to the ground, voting liberal, sipping chardonnay at the game, sitting silently until a goal is kicked, throwing pies or bottles at freo players, booing the winner of the ross glendinning medal or discussing the performance of my stock portfolio and the destination of my next overseas holiday.

long weekend

wow.. it's already thursday again. it's funny how the weeks just fly by once you've been in a job for more than a few months. it was the long weekend last weekend and really lovely. i managed to catch up with an old school friend on saturday before going out snorkelling near the marmion angling and aquatic club. i took out the camera but there was a swell in so the water was a bit too full of debris to get any good pics. i went in to watch the freo game on saturday night and was suitably disappointed with a pretty poor performance against north melbourne.

sunday arvo i went over to megan's and we put up a basketball hoop for ve.. and then spent time dominating her on the 'court'. after watching a movie it was home in time to catch the end of a programme on abc1 that wasn't as good as it looked in the previews.

on monday i got up relatively early (about 9am) and went back down to the rocky beach to try snorkelling again but the water wasn't any more clear so i headed home, got my gear and walked down to my normal beach for some body surfing.

all in all, a very nice relaxing long weekend!!

i feel like a man with a ticket in tatts...

i'm one happy cookie this sunny friday arvo. obviously, being on the downward slide into a long weekend is good, but what's really put a bit of fizz in my step is that i've just bought a ticket to see weddings, parties, anything on march 28. yep, the weddo's are back together and doing a 10 year reunion tour. those who have known me for a while will know just how excited i'd be by this. i lost count of the number of times i saw the weddo's through the 90's but i never thought i'd see them again after they broke up in 1998. they are one of my favourite bands ever and i finally get to see them again. i'd better start saving up my 10 cent pieces now!

the eroding of freedom (or the slow road to ruin) pt 1

there's an old quote from a bloke called Lao Tzu about a journey of a thousand miles beginning with one step. along similar lines is the saying that one eats an elephant one bite at a time. it's equally true that the road to a state in which individual freedoms are a distant memory happens one piece of legislation at a time. for those with eyes to see, this past decade has been a frightening time for western society as we've seen our freedom constantly eroded. without wanting to go into many of the past excesses, this story caught my eye on the weekend.

under a new public health bill that is set to replace existing laws, people with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) will be able to be detained without charge and forcibly made to undergo treatment. this is a truly horrendous piece of legislation that is wide open to abuse and has the potential to ostracise those who need help the most. i'd hoped leper colonies had finished in biblical times but i guess not.

the link to the story is below. bear in mind that the article was in the Sunday Times; a paper not known for high journalistic standards or even-handed reporting... but still, it's food for thought.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23263652-2761,00.html

sorry day

never could i have imagined an apology of such feeling, sincerity and power. i have rarely felt as proud to be an australian as i did this morning during mr rudd's speech. i arrived at the office at 6.30am to make sure i'd be there in time to watch this historic moment and, in line with murphy's law, found that the tele didn't work and there was no-one else there to get it going for me. so, it was back to the computer to watch it live online. i managed to get the vision streaming from the abc website and sat back with a coffee to witness what i've been waiting many years to see. mr rudd's speech was wonderful and 11 years overdue. it dealt with the past in an appropriate and sympathetic manner and addressed the truth of what happened and the motives behind it.

to give dr nelson the benefit of the doubt, i felt his speech was ill-considered and showed a grave lack of judgement. naturally many will be far more harsh and less forgiving in their assessment. there's no doubt he was under pressure from the redneck elements in his party to justify what happened but all he did was illuminate and magnify the stain on the soul of the liberal party. i should have guessed his speech wouldn't be a pinacle of statesmanship from his visible unease when mr rudd proposed putting aside partisan politics and having the government and opposition join together to introduce sustainable, bilateral policies that will benefit our aboriginal countrymen.

what was completely predictable was the disgraceful behaviour of wilson tuckey in boycotting the apology. in doing so, he demonstrated perfectly just how out of touch he is with modern australia. also predictable, and incredibly sad, was the absence of john howard from parliament house. he was the only living former prime minister not to attend today and i believe history will not be kind to him for this display of petulance.

yes, there were some negatives, but they were merely asides to what was a moving and wonderful day.

an exciting time

it's all too easy to coast through occasions of historical importance. events creep up on us and we get jaded from the media saturation. the lead up to tomorrow's apology to the victims of the stolen generation is one of these events. it's been headline news for the past couple of weeks and the subject of redneck outrage on news forums since mr rudd announced pre-election that he would finally say sorry.

for me, this is an event to savour. a number of years ago i was a member of ANTAR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) and was involved in a Sorry Day event in freo. at the time there was a lot of optimism but the howard government did much to deflate that with their refusal to embrace reconciliation and to say sorry. today's welcome to parliament by a local indigenous elder is a significant move forward and tomorrow's apology is a significant step in redressing the wrongs of the past.

i'm sorry for what was done to our aboriginal brothers and sisters by our governments of the past. i'm sorry for the devastating ramifications of these actions and the results that are still being felt today. i'm sorry that it's still so hard for an aboriginal person to get a fair go in our modern australian society. i'm not personally responsible for the wrongs of the past... but i am sorry.

great lyrics

one of the big highlights of the BDO last weekend was billy bragg's performance and probably the highlight of that was when he sang 'there is power in a union'. it was spine-tingling to see the raised fists pumping the air and a sense of solidarity. i felt so inspired that i thought i'd post the lyrics here. unions have a bad name in WA due to a couple of unscrupulous leaders and a media that will take any opportunity to portray them in a bad light but, sadly, there is a very good reason for us to have them. until business leaders are prepared to fairly consider the rights and safety of their workers as a priority, the unions movement will always be needed.

There Is Power In A Union - Billy Bragg (1986)

There is power in a factory, power in the land
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand
There is power in a Union

Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers' blood
The mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud
War has always been the bosses' way, sir

The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union

Now I long for the morning that they realise
Brutality and unjust laws can not defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organise
When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us?

Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone
What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child
There is power in a Union

The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters together we will stand
There is power in a Union.

nathan bracken

no one can deny that nathan bracken's a pretty talented bowler and his performance in today's game against sri lanka certainly backs that up BUT, fair dinkum, what on earth is going on with that hair? the bloke looks like a big girl's blouse. i reckon punter needs to have a quiet word in his ear and let him know how ridiculous he looks.. or, better still, have a couple of the bigger players hold him down and sort it out with a pair of scissors. what's the world coming to when front line aussie bowlers have girls' hair cuts? even dizzy's mullet was better than this!!

a very musical weekend

what a weekend!

friday night was the first police concert in perth.. and what a great show it was. unfortunately the support act was the decidedly tepid fergie who was as exciting as watching coke lose its fizz. but as dull as fergie was, the police were equal in brilliance. all the big songs were pulled out of the case and they were fantastic. my fave police song is 'wrapped around your finger' and their performance of it highlighted it's brooding menace and intelligent lyrics.

then after a rest on saturday came the big day out on sunday. i rolled up and bumped into hooky who led me over to where beava and pepe were watching gyroscope. i've not seen gyroscope for many years and they were fantastic. from here i headed off to see dizzee rascal. what an amazing performance! even though it was stinking hot he managed to extract so much energy from the crowd. he was one of my two main highlights of the day. following that was highlight number two - billy bragg. his performance was nothing short of inspirational. i have to admit that of late i've lacked the energy to constantly feel like i'm battling against the xenophobic idiots that seem to be everywhere but listening to billy speak for a couple of minutes put the fire back in my belly. he's a guy who is passionate about his beliefs and infuses that into his audience. on top of his brilliant tirades were his wonderful songs - the saturday boy, a new england, sexuality, greetings to the new brunette, there is power in a union and more. i came away feeling energised and inspired and wishing i'd bought a ticket to his solo show before it sold out.

the three reasons i bought a ticket to the big day out were dizzee rascal, billy bragg and, most of all, arcade fire. so far dizzee and billy had completely rocked me and arcade fire was next. well, arcade fire were a disappointment for me. i can't put my finger on it but i really didn't get off on their set. it did get better as it went on but i came away hoping they return to perth soon and do a smaller indoor gig as i reckon they'd be a lot better there. still, as a fat bloke once sang, two outta three ain't bad.

the rest of the night was good. silverchair followed arcade fire and were enjoyable although not as fired up as the many other times i've seen them. paul kelly was fantastic and obviously really enjoying himself and the final act of the night - the stems - were great. i particularly loved when they pulled out 'tears me in two'.

it was a big weekend and left me so knackered that i slept through my alarm on monday morning and didn't wake up until 9am.

goodbye gilly

i certainly didn't see gilly's retirement coming. like many people in perth, i didn't like gilly when he first arrived here. timmy zoehrer was our hometown hero and wasn't about to be replaced by a blow-in from nsw. well, that all changed pretty quickly once he got onto the field and let his gloves and bat do the talking. it also became apparent pretty quickly what sort of person he was and there was no way that you couldn't like him. he's now a fair dinkum west aussie hero and will always be remembered as such.

obviously his amazing talent will always be remembered but the thing that i reckon sets him apart from the rest of the cricket world is his deep-seated dedication to honesty and sportsmanship. he's the only international cricketer to have made a stand on 'walking' when he knows he's out even if the umpire may have missed a slight nick. cricket has always been known as a gentleman's game and gilly is the greatest gentleman of all.

goodbye gilly. i doubt we'll see the likes of you again.

killer sniffer dogs at the big day out

i've just heard on JJJ that a greens senator in the eastern states has said that police are putting the lives of young people at risk by using sniffer dogs at the big day out. now this naturally caused my ears to prick up as i'm heading to the perth BDO in a couple of weeks and i certainly don't want my life put at risk so i thought i should find out more. how exactly are they putting people at risk i wondered? are the normally placid sniffer dogs suddenly turning rabid and tearing people apart? are their fleas spreading a new bubonic plague? are they causing an outbreak of mad dog disease? well... just wait for this... this greens senator reckons they're putting people at risk because if there's sniffer dogs there then people may take all of their drugs in one hit rather than spacing them out during the day. WHAT??? now unless i've misunderstood her and she's actually of the belief that the dogs are planning on forcing pills down people's throats then i can't see how it's the dogs that are putting people at risk. surely it's their own actions in voluntarily taking illegal drugs that's putting their lives at risk.. or have i missed some crucial point here?

no country for old men

bree and i went to see the new coen brothers film, 'no country for old men', last night. wow.. it was a fantastic film. the cinematography was awesome, the acting was spot on and it was a cracking tale to boot. there were two guys sitting behind us who really didn't like it which i found stunning. but then again, i suppose they probably consider 'miss congeniality' to be high art. the fella playing the psycho bad guy was really good and portrayed a really brooding type of menace which i'm sure will stay with me for a long time. i sure would hate to get on the wrong side of a guy like that! if you like films that are chocka with atmosphere, intelligent dialogue and amazing scenery; make sure you see this!

the final word

a lot was said following the test in sydney and, as per usual, most of the vitriol was directed at the aussie team. i guess that's to be expected as people love to take pot-shots at successful teams. what i've found very interesting is the comparison of the behaviour of the indian team following their loss in sydney with the behaviour of the australian team following their loss in perth. one team lost with dignity, grace and a high degree of sportsmanship whilst the other lost with a shameful display of petulance and poor sportsmanship. one team captain congratulated the other team on their win whilst the other made excuses and offered recriminations. all teams lose games due to poor umpiring decisions: it's how they respond to that loss which defines them. those ill-informed idiots who accuse the australian side of poor sportsmanship would do well to step back, open both eyes, and simply look at the facts.

cricket

i had a great day yesterday at the cricket. the highlight for me was seeing a masterful innings from sachin tendulkar in what is likely to be his final test in perth. it was just a shame he was given out with a pretty poor decision as i'd have appreciated seeing him score a century. it was a really nice day of 37 degrees with a breeze all day to keep things cool. it was also pleasing that some of the spite (from both sides!!) that marred the second test was absent and the game was played in a really good spirit.

gram

i've been really enjoying gram parsons at the moment. i love the 'sweetheart of the rodeo' album he did with the byrds but the one that's been getting high rotation (if that's still the correct term..) on my ipod is his solo 'grievous angel' album. the highlight of the album is the cover he does of 'love hurts' with emmylou harris which i reckon is the definitive version of the song. emotion drips from every heatbreaking line and the song is brought to life. gram died of a drug overdose at age 26 but left behind a wonderful body of work. check out the youtube clip below but make sure you have some tissues handy.

only in america

an inmate in colorado is suing because he claims the prison holding him was too easy to break out of and was therefore responsible for the injuries he sustained when trying to escape. in any sensible place this would be laughed out of court but in the good ol' US of A you just never know...

link to the story here

racism is NEVER acceptable

it's been a really sad few days for cricket lovers with all the dramas that have flowed from the 2nd test in sydney. i do feel for the indian team as the standard of umpiring was absolutely dreadful and was most likely the key variable in their loss. this test had it all including a brilliant century from sachin tendulkar who is a marvel on the field and, from all accounts, a true gentleman off it. i admire gilly's stand on walking when one knows one's out but the truth is he's the only player in international cricket who does this. it seems a bit hypocritical to me for the indian team to complain that the aussies don't walk when their own players don't do it either.

but all the issues of umpires, whether players should walk or not, disputed catches etc are really just a red herring to try and take attention off the central issue of the current dispute which is what harbhajan singh called andrew symonds. the treatment symonds received from the crowds in india was disgraceful and, quite frankly, if such overt racism occurred in australia there would be an international outcry and sanctions from the ICC. just look at how murali reacted to calls of 'no ball' from aussie crowds which is tame compared to what symonds has had to endure in recent months.

the crucial principle which the ICC needs to uphold and reinforce is that racism is NEVER acceptable. it must be made clear that, no matter what is said or done, a racist response will always be punished, regardless of which country the offender is from.

2007 JJJ hottest 100

and again we get to that time of year when we vote for our favourite songs from the previous year. in the past two years my choices haven't done particularly well with 5 of my 10 last year and 4 the year before making the top 100. up until now i've been able to blame it on living overseas and having limited exposure to aussie music. well, i've been home for a few months now but my exposure to our aussie product this year still isn't great. nevertheless, below are the 10 songs i've voted for this year:

Arcade Fire - Intervention
Faker - This Heart Attack
Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
Howling Bells - Cities Burning Down
Kings Of Leon - On Call
The Panics - Don't Fight It
Silverchair - Straight Lines
Sparkadia - Animals
VHS Or Beta - Can't Believe A Single Word
Whitley - I Remember

i'll be interested to see how they go.

EDIT: equalling my effort last year, 5 of the songs i voted for made the hottest 100. they were 'straight lines' (#2), 'on call' (#3), 'this heart attack' (#5), 'don't fight it' (#10), and 'chelsea dagger' (#59). i just had a look back at my votes for the 2006 hottest 100 and noticed that i voted for 'chelsea dagger' last year as well so i don't know how that slipped into the eligible song list for 2007. it didn't make the hottest 100 last year so it was second time lucky