cambodia pt1

i've been in cambodia for a few days now and thought it about time i made mention of it here. i arrived in phnom penh on saturday arvo and hopped into a tuk tuk to take me from the airport to my hotel. the traffic here is organised chaos. i thought this was the case in manila but phnom penh really takes the cake. cars, motorbikes and tuk tuks vie for space on the road and basically drive wherever they like. it's nothing to see several motorbikes driving against the flow of the traffic and people just move out of the way. it seems like madness at first but it seems to work very well.

on my first day i visited the former prison of tuol sleng (also known as S-21). prior to the khmer rouge taking over the country in 1975 it had been a high school but was turned into the most notorious place of torture under the regime. many of the people who were tortured and killed were photographed before their ordeal and there's several rooms of photos to take in. i also visited the killing fields were many of the prisoners of S-21 were taken to be killed. to save on bullets, the khmer rouge had them kneel next to a mass grave and bashed their heads in with farming implements. except for the small children. many of these were taken by the feet and had their heads swung into a tree trunk. all in all, they are exceptionally sad places and highlight the brutality of pol pot and his henchmen (and henchwomen). following this i visited the 'russian market' - so called because it was the preferred place for russians to shop in the 1980's. it is the most remarkable market i've ever been to. it's massive and sells nearly everything you can imagine; from food (veg, herbs, raw meat and also meals) to all sorts of nick nacks, clothing, material, motorbike parts, household goods, jewelery, books, cds, dvds and many other things. so that was day one and it was indeed a full one and was concluded with a great massage from the good people at seeing hands. they're a chain of massage places throughout cambodia which train and employ blind people.

day two started with a visit to the silver pagoda which is next to the royal palace. it is called silver as the floor of the pagoda is tiled with squares of silver. it must be the most expensive floor i've ever walked on. i then moseyed over to the national museum and checked out centuries worth of angkor artifacts but i must admit it didn't take long for all the little buddahs to look the same. the afternoon was a fairly quiet affair but did include another massage.. this time for 1 1/2 hours (not bad for $9).

day three was my last full day in phnom penh. i had a moto driver take me out into the countryside onto mekong island where i met a lady named clara and her family. they have a weaving thing (loom?) under their house and weave material to sell in the markets. she was lovely and very welcoming and so i bought one of her products. it was great fun getting out into the villages and riding on the back of a motorbike. of course, being on the back of a bike in the crazy phnom penh traffic took some getting used to but eventually it was more fun than scary. again, the arvo was a fairly quiet affair with a couple of beers at the famed FCC (foreign correspondents club) and another massage. yep, i could easily get used to a life of long, cheap massages. this time my masseuse decided to find every knot in my muscles and knead them fully. it was rather painful but, i guess, necessary.

day four involved and early start as i was to catch the 8.30am bus from phnom penh to battambang. of course, i got there early and, of course, it didn't end up leaving until 9.20am. on arriving in battambang, a tuk tuk driver offered to take me for a drive out to the bamboo train so i could go for a ride on one. for those who don't know, the bamboo train consists of two axles (one attached to what appears to be a lawnmower engine) with the equivalent of a bamboo fencing panel on top. they ride along a small railway which has trains coming in both directions. when two bamboo trains coming from opposite directions meet, discussions are held and in the end, one of the trains is dismantled and taken off the tracks to allow the other to pass. the train is then put back together and the journey continues. needless to say, it was great fun and a very unique experience. by the time i'd finished that, it was nearly dark so i took a quick wander around town before sitting down for tea at the famous 'smokin pot'. the food was great but the three loud obnoxious americans at the table next to me weren't so wonderful. seriously guys, there's no need to swear in such a loud voice in a restaurant and no one really wants to hear about photos of you baring your arse.

so, onto day five: today. the reason for going to battambang, apart from the bamboo train, was to catch the boat to siem reap. i'd read that it is a marvelous journey but it surpassed all expectations. we spent about 5 1/2 hours journeying through narrow passages with bushes rubbing against the boat. we passed numerous floating villages and even stopped at a shop in one. the toilet at the shop was just a drop over the water which makes one wonder how hygienic it is crapping directly into the water your home floats in. of course, they charged like wounded bulls but they have to make a living like the rest of us. there was also much bird life and jumping fish and even a bright orange snake winding its way through the trees. eventually we reached siem reap and a tuk tuk was waiting for me with my name on a card. a quick trip into town followed and finally i rocked up at the lovely guest house i'm now at (with free internet.. yay!!). i've been out and bought my three day pass to the temples and seen my first one which was spectacular. tomorrow i'll be hitting the legendary angkor wat which i'm sure will be mind blowing.

so that's the expurgated version of my cambodian odyssey so far. now it's time for a shower and a cold frothie before hitting the sack.

on refugees

i must say that i have great sympathy for those whose home has become so unsafe and antagonistic towards them that they're driven to the point of giving up everything they have in order to flee their country in search of safety. i couldn't imagine how dreadful life would have to be for me to sell my belongings in order to scrape together enough money to pay people smugglers to get me to asylum; usually in a country that wouldn't really want me there. it saddens me that so many australians lack even a basic compassion for these people. assigning them the derogatory term 'queue jumpers' demonstrates just how little the average australian understands.

now, having said this, the current case of the tamil people presently on a boat in indonesia has me baffled. they claim to have escaped from sri lanka to the jungles of malaysia so i'm puzzled as to why they didn't seek asylum there. they're now in indonesia so i don't understand why they're not claiming asylum there. surely if you're a fair dinkum refugee who had no choice but to flee your homeland, you wouldn't be fussy about where you end up but rather gratefully accept shelter in the first country you get to.

as i said, i have sympathy for genuine refugees and certainly feel that we have an obligation to treat them humanely, especially when they've fled countries such as vietnam, iraq or afghanistan which we've invaded. what does cheese me off is when people claiming to be refugees start issuing demands about which country they will accept asylum from. they should never forget that it is the right of each country to decide on whether they will be accepted; it's not their right to pick and choose.

perhaps there's some crucial point i'm missing here and would be more than happy for someone with greater knowledge than me to set me straight

long overdue update

crikey.. it's been ages since i last posted so i thought i should write a quick update.

flying home was an absolute ordeal. we left manila about half an hour late which is pretty much standard for arvo flights so i wasn't concerned. the dramas started nearly an hour into the flight when the pilot announced over the PA that there had been a power failure in manila which caused the air traffic control to lose all radar and radio so the plane would have to turn around and return to the airport there. groan. so we returned and landed and sat there. and continued to sit there. and then had our tea... and continued to sit there. eventually we were told to buckle up again as we were going to take off... over 3 hours later than our original departure time. of course, this meant we all missed our connecting flights in singapore. fortunately i was flying singapore airlines which is my favourite airline and they had things in hand. when we landed they had tables set up to tell us when our replacement flights would be leaving. ultimately, rather than landing in perth at 11.45pm on sunday night as planned, i landed at 6.30am monday morning.

this then brought on drama number 2... customs!! i was almost out the door to the foyer. almost. that's when a nice gentleman asked me to come with him. really? after everything else? being the compliant, friendly, law-abiding person i am, i complied with his request in a friendly law-abiding manner. he asked to check my hand luggage and proceeded to empty my bag whilst asking about my holiday - where had i gone? did i enjoy it? how was the diving? next it was my backpack's turn. i unlocked it and he proceeded to empty this as well. argghhh!! a lady came and took my cameras and memory cards away to look through whilst another person took away my empty backpack to be x-rayed. now, i'm seen enough episodes of 'border security' to know what was going on - they thought i was a drug mule which would ordinarily be laughable but wasn't quite so funny after the flight problems i'd had. i also had a job interview lined up for 3pm that arvo and just wanted to go home and get some sleep before it. obviously nothing was found so you'd think that'd be the end of the inquisition right? ahh.. you'd be wrong. i was told they wanted to do a frisk search and was given a card to read which explained my rights. naturally i had no objection so my shoes were taken to be x-rayed whilst a customs officer proceeded to give me a frisk search. sure enough, i was clean so i just had to wait for the sheila who'd taken my cameras to return them to me. i grabbed a chair and sat reading a book whilst waiting. eventually she gave everything back and i was told i could now repack my backpack. why is it a backpack which previously fitted everything comfortably is now full to overflowing? i guess that's just one of life's mysteries. i can't complain about the demeanour of the customs agents as they were polite. still, i don't know that i'll be as friendly and effusive if they search me again when i return from cambodia next month. i've a good mind to leave a few notes for them to find giving them a piece of my mind!!

so, once i was released from customs it was time to go home and get some sleep before my interview. long story short - i had three interviews that week and was offered two of the jobs. i turned them both down for different reasons and am consequently still unemployed. it's not a huge drama and something suitable will turn up eventually. i'm not eligible for the dole so am living off savings which don't take long to dwindle.

tomorrow i've enrolled to do the two day senior first aid course with st john so at least i'm putting my time to good use.

hopefully my next update won't be so far in the future

still in the philippines

so i'm now into my second week in the philippines and still having a great time. i'm presently staying at sabang beach in puerto galera which is the diving capital of the country. today i started my advanced diver course and did three dives, including my first ever wreck dive. it was amazing swimming around three submerged wrecks with fish swimming all around me. the second dive i did today was what's known as a 'drift dive' as it was in an area of strong current so we allowed the current to take us along. it's a strange feeling as we have limited control over where we go and the rate at which we go but it's important to learn how to deal with these conditions. again, the views were spectacular and i took a lot of photos. i have more dives tomorrow so it'll be another fairly early night for me. i went out on a dive yesterday but had a lot of trouble equalising my ears which left them quite sore last night. fortunately i didn't have the same problems today. i have also had a pretty sore throat with tender, swollen glands for a couple of days but thankfully this isn't enough to prevent me from diving.

it's still raining most of the time but it's not at all cold so it's not really a problem. the main issue is that the cloud cover makes what we see underwater a lot more dull than it would otherwise be. it's not looking likely that the rain will clear up this week so i'll definitely have to come back another time when the weather is better.

only a few more days to go until it's back to the real world but until then i'll be making the most of my island paradise.

ask the leyland brothers

so, i've been in the philippines since monday evening and am enjoying the place. manila is totally mental in a very asian way. there's people and traffic everywhere and both are very noisy. i've never seen (or smelt) air pollution like this. breathing whilst walking down the street is an experience in itself and akin to standing in a busy indoor bus depot. still, one quickly gets used to it. the poverty is striking with homeless people having set up camp on most streets. in the evening food is cooked on makeshift fires using old tins as pots. in the evening, people scour through the mounds of rubbish on the bayfront that has been brought in by the tide in an attempt to find anything of worth. and, of course, there's a massive amount of begging. then there's the 'salesmen' on every street corner. the usual MO is to first offer a rolex watch for the 'cheapest price'. once that's been declined, out is whipped a box of viagra/cialis and then finally the offer of a 'nice lady'. i've mastered the art of making no eye contact and not breaking stride whilst offering a polite 'no thank you'. somehow all of these apparent negatives add together to make the place intriguing and, ultimately, a place i like.

i'm now experiencing a full on tropical downpour and am expecting the streets to have turned to rivers by the time it's over. of course, it hasn't cooled the place down any. for someone who struggles with humidity as much as i do, i reckon i've done pretty well. still, thank goodness for the air conditioned hotel rooms at night.

so, that's where i'm at. i'm here until sunday week so there's plenty more time to experience all the place has to offer.

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.

i can't help but feel inspired when i hear billy belt this out...

western derby XXX

the final derby of the decade was played yesterday and resulted in another win to my boys. that takes the final tally for this decade to freo 11 vs weagles 9. the first of the decade was the worst flogging we've ever received from the yuppies up the road and was followed by the infamous demolition derby in which filthy phil read got the beating he deserved and we won by a point.

there were positives and negatives in the game yesterday. the clear positive was the continued good form of some of the first year players. i thought broughton, pearce, suban and hill were exceptional. also ballantyne's attack on the ball was very encouraging, especially after the rough treatment he received early in the game. mitch brown's cowardly attack on him whilst he was on the ground was particularly disgusting. van berlo and ruffles didn't have a lot of the ball but both kicked outstanding goals when it counted. of course pav and sandilands were their usual outstanding selves. the fact that there were nine first year players in the side makes the win particularly meritorious.

the clear negative was the injury to tim ruffles and i hope he gets through the rehab well and comes back strong next year. at least he's got palmer and haselby for support as both have been through the same ordeal.

the other huge negative was that this was one of the worst games of football i've even seen. the skill level of both sides was deplorable on a clear sunny day. it was incredible how many kicks went directly to an opposition player and how many handballs were intercepted or missed targets. i don't think it's too much to expect highly paid professional footballers to display a certain level of competence in their decision making and subsequent execution of that decision. i made a comment to the lady next to me that the skills coaches from both teams should be sacked which drew an angry glare from michael prior, who was standing on the other side of me. of course, he's the skills coach for freo and i initially felt bad about him having heard my comment. having reflected on it, i reckon he and the club need to hear more of this feedback from the members. i've stumped up my membership fees for 15 years now, even whilst living overseas, and that must buy me some right to express an opinion.

so, another decade of football is drawing to a close. we started the decade near the bottom of the ladder and are finishing it the same way. we've made the finals twice during this decade and finished bottom once (hopefully). there appears to be better times around the corner with a crop of exciting young players so i can only hope that this time it's not the false dawn we've seen in the past. regardless, i'll continue to pay my membership fees and support the club. it'd be great to see the team be successful onfield but that's certainly not a prerequisite for my support. i'll be dockerdave no matter what happens.

nirvana vs rick astley

ok... the greatest band of all time getting mashed with a poncey 80's one hit wonder should disgust me but somehow i find it rather brilliant. enjoy...

simply incredible

in a few days it will be the 40th anniversary of the first time a human set foot on the moon. as it happened a couple of years before i was born, i've grown up just taking this for granted without any real perspective of what an amazing feat it was but the reality is that this is simply one of the most incredible things mankind has ever achieved. to look at the moon from my balcony and try to understand that a few blokes flew up there, went for a drive and a wander around, and then flew back to earth is mind blowing. it's so amazing that there's still many nutters who argue that it never happened. it's hard to comprehend that we can achieve this amazing feat and yet can't achieve a world in which everyone has enough to eat and access to health care. anyway, i'm sure there will be a lot in the news over the next few days about the moon landing and i'll continue to sit in awe and admiration of the men who took the trip all those years ago.

RIP michael jackson

i suppose i should make some sort of comment about the death of MJ. i wasn't a big fan of jackson and certainly didn't like anything he released in the past 20 years but could still recognise his huge talent as a musician and performer and the massive influence he's had over the music world. his life had such a sad feel to it and he always seemed to be so alone. i guess being a household name from the time you're 5 years old is a pretty good way to ensure a normal life is impossible. hopefully he'll be remembered for the music he made rather than the other rubbish and lies that people made up about him.

the moving earth

i've just been watching a programme i taped off sbs called 'the moving earth'. it traces the astronomical discoveries by people such as copernicus, brahe, keppler, gallileo and newton and has really blown my mind. their findings of a heliocentric universe and how the forces of gravity and inertia dictate the planetary orbits are just accepted as common knowledge now but at the time of their discoveries were not only unknown, but considered heretical by the church. copernicus' book was added to the church's list of banned books and gallileo was put under house arrest.

how unbelievably intelligent were these men that they could have grown up in a world in which the earth was believed to be the centre of the universe and yet they were able to come up with the theories they did. to be able to observe what is occurring around oneself and understand that what is seen proves accepted knowledge wrong is stunning to me. for newton to start from a base of observing the fall of a cannon ball and an apple and from there develop a theory of gravity is incredible enough, but to then relate that to the gravitational pull on planets in their orbit is mind-blowing.

these men are inspirational and true heroes. many were attacked by the powers of the day for their discoveries and yet continued their work. they placed the advancement of science, knowledge and understanding above their own safety. bruno was burnt at the stake by the catholic church for his claim that the universe is infinite. it must have been incredible to have worked alongside people such as this.

JJJ hottest 100 of all time

it's been a while since JJJ did their last hottest 100 of all time. from memory i think we could only vote for one song at that time. my vote went to 'smells like teen spirit' and it came in at number one. needless to say i was a happy camper. it's come time again to vote for our favourite songs and this time we're able to vote for ten songs whilst nominating one of them as the best. obviously narrowing all of the songs ever written down to the ten best is impossible: i find it hard enough choosing a top ten for each year. still, i've done my best and i've no doubt there will be plenty of people who'll disagree with me:

The Church - Almost With You

Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours

The Hummingbirds - Blush

The Killers - Mr Brightside

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil

Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone

Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears

Showbag - Perish Union

i had to nominate one of the songs as my favourite so that went to 'smells like teen spirit'. i should also note that it was very hard cutting 'that joke isn't funny anymore' by the smiths out of the final ten so that was a very unlucky number eleven. we'll soon see how few of my choices make the final cut.

oops...

NEWS ARTICLE

obviously this poor old israeli woman hasn't been seeing muz for financial advice as she'd kept her life savings in her mattress. the ravages of inflation on her savings would've been bad enough but when her daughter thought she'd give her a nice surprise by buying her a new mattress and throwing the old one out things turned really ugly. it turned out that the woman had saved over a million dollars and had hidden it all in her mattress. it's now sitting in a landfill site somewhere with no one yet able to locate it. bugger!

the end of daylight saving time

sigh. i really like daylight saving and hoped it would get through this time. still, i'm happy to abide by the majority decision and won't be losing sleep over it. 

what really bugs me are the people on both sides of the debate who try and claim some sort of intellectual or cultural high ground based on their opinion. i know plenty of intelligent people who are opposed to DST and they all have valid reasons for opposing it. none of them are worried about their curtains fading, increased rates of motor vehicle accidents, confused cows or any of the other ridiculous 'arguments' frequently referred to by the 'yes' crowd. to my mind, it all came down to a personal choice - does having an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day suit my lifestyle? it does for me so i voted 'yes'. for the majority of west australians it appears it doesn't so they voted no. it has nothing to do with being backward or stupid.

so, yep, i'm disappointed but i'm quite happy to abide by the majority decision and i won't be wasting any time arguing or holding grudges. everyone's entitled to their opinion and i'm just thankful we live in a society in which we get to have our say.

freo vs hawthorn

well, i guess the run had to come to an end at some stage and although i'd been hopeful we'd win, i came away from the ground pleased with the boys' performance. given that we're rebuilding and playing a lot of younger players, i don't expect us to win every week (or even most weeks) but i do expect us to show a bit of ticker and put in a good effort. that's what they did on friday night. with a bit better accuracy in front of goal and a bit of consistency in the umpiring we could probably have won the match but there's no point worrying about what might have happened.

so, for me, there were some pretty big positives from the game.  the guts shown by the boys to fight the game out until the very end was encouraging. the form of duffield and tarrant was fantastic. i've been particularly impressed with the way duffield responded to being dropped earlier in the season. pav played a good match and continued his improved form after a poor start to the season. and then there's aaron sandilands! he's clearly the best ruckman in the country at the moment and still getting better. i feel lucky to be able to watch him play each week and his partnership with paul hasleby this season has been delightful. 

i've no doubt there will be plenty of pain this season but as long as the team continues to play hard, accountable footy i'll be happy.

bud tingwell r.i.p.

how sad it is to hear of the death of bud tingwell. the first time i remember seeing him was in the 'charlie the wonder dog' segment of 'the late show'. that such an esteemed actor would relish a trivial sketch show comedy role said a lot about him. along with most people, my fondest memory of bud was his role in 'the castle'. it remains one of my favourite movies and his character of 'lozza' was brilliantly played. 

bud seemed to be such an good bloke who was happy to laugh at himself and he'll be missed.

reflections on the derby

it may have been a game that didn't reach any great heights but a come from behind win when few people gave us a chance before the game was fantastic. i found it interesting that a lot of the dockers players who weren't playing in the game were sitting in the grandstand with the supporters. it's one of those nice touches that freo tend to do pretty well. i couldn't imagine the pretentious e-girls asking their players to sit with the ordinary folk in the outer. 

it ended up being a game of two halves (yes, i know that's a terrible cliche but it fits here). in the first half we played the style of footy we'd played in the first 4 rounds of the season ie. lots of misdirected handballs under pressure, delaying playing on until all options were covered, applying virtually no pressure on the opposition. and, of course, the result was the weagles dominated play. in the second half we played as we did last week against sydney ie. long direct play and intensity at the ball and the opposition ball carriers. and, of course, the result was we dominated play and outscored the e-girls by 6 goals after half time. it seems as though the key to freo at the moment is to keep it simple and play on with long direct play. hopefully harvs can keep the boys focused and the results will come.

as for the stars, i said before the game that if we won i'd expect hasleby to win the glendinning medal and he did. he's having an awesome season and is showing just how much we missed him last year. it's a tragedy that we won't get to see hase and palmer working together until next season. still, we have the joy of watching stephen hill this season as he just gets better every week. some of his play in the derby was simply stunning. he looks like being one of those rare players that is worth the ticket price alone. the other player who's been an absolute highlight so far this season is garrick ibbotson. he played some very good footy last year but so far this season has taken it to another level. 

i was pretty disheartened after the st kilda match but that's turned around. i still don't expect us to make the finals this year but as long as the boys keep putting in gutsy efforts as they have done in the past two matches i'll be happy. i'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

for pete's sake!!

when it comes to my footy teams i'm a very patient man. i have to be. but last night's effort against st kilda was nothing short of disgraceful. people can blame harvey all they like but the fact is if our players can't hit a target with a 10 metre handball we're not likely to win many games. i know we're in a rebuilding phase and i accept we're going to lose more than we win but i still expect some sort of competitive effort. the blokes who've now been around for 4 years or more need to be doing a lot more than they are instead of expecting the few really senior players to carry the side. for too long now blokes like mundy, johnson, murphy, thornton, gilmore, dodd, drum, schammer, duffield and peake have turned in inconsistent performances whilst relying on the older players to form the backbone. well, most of the older players have now left the club and it's up to these guys to become good, consistent footballers or face being delisted at the end of this season. 

still, in a season that has so far been very disappointing, one great positive has been the form of paul hasleby. it's great to see him back in fantastic form and has been one the highlights so far.

as far as claremont go, at least we've put in some good competitive performances apart from the game against east perth. again yesterday we played reasonably well against south freo but still lost. 

so, after round 4 of the afl season and round 5 of the wafl season neither of my teams have won a game. 2009 is shaping up as a long hard season for this little black duck.

beyond belief

along with most people, i'm stunned, angered and distressed that the animals who attacked matt butcher have got away with their thuggery. i can't begin to find the words to express the depth of contempt and disgust i feel for these spineless cowards. 

i just hope that when the angry mob sets onto them with baseball bats that the cops sit back and let them reap the result of their actions.

put them in gaol and then deport them

the trial of the cowards who attacked constable matt butcher started today. the scum on the right of the photo is the gutless wonder who attacked him with a headbutt from behind. he didn't even have the balls to attack him front on. the scum on the left is the one who threatened to kill a member of the public who caught the attack on his mobile phone. 

matt was a man doing his duty, trying to protect the public from these animals as, as a result, he's now permanently disabled. he's newly married and will never have a chance to live a normal life with his bride. he'll suffer for the rest of his life as a result of what was done to him.

words can't describe the contempt i have for these monsters. they are the lowest of the low. the only possible judgement that can come even close to justice is for them to be gaoled for a long time and then deported from australia on release. anything less will be a travesty.

big day out 2009

the moment i heard neil young was playing at the BDO my decision on whether or not to buy a ticket had been made. he's been at the top of my 'must see' list for a while now so there was no way i was going to miss him play. that decision was an inspired move as shakey played a set of sheer brilliance that blew everyone else off the stage. 

but first things first. i arrived at around 3.30 as i wanted to catch lupe fiasco in the boiler room at 4pm. i got up there with plenty of time to spare and his set started. to put it bluntly - he sucked!! i stayed for a couple of tracks and ended up leaving and going to lilyworld to escape his suckiness. 

next up was my morning jacket who were fantastic. the variety of songs was amazing and their presence was something to behold. also very welcome was the seabreeze! i didn't know a lot of their songs as i've only got one album but that wasn't a problem as they were so good. 

following them was old time fave red jezebel. i've not seen them in over 10 years but it was worth it as they were very good. i'd have loved to hear them play 'sail' or 'c is for cookie' but i think i was dreaming. still, they played some of their new classics and put on a really good show. 

arctic monkeys came on and sadly i had to get my spot for neil young so i wasn't able to watch them properly. nevertheless i could hear them perfectly and they were wonderful. i've heard mixed reviews but i had no problems with them. they played the hits and sounded fine to me.

but i was really there to see neil young. i really can't describe the joy he brought me. after all, he played 'hey hey my my' with his second song. when you also add others such as 'cinnamon girl', 'heart of gold', 'old man', 'cowgirl in the sand', 'cortez the killer', 'the needle and the damage done', 'everybody knows this is nowhere', 'rockin in the free world' and a wonderful cover of 'a day in the life' you end up with one of the greatest shows i've ever seen. it was worth every cent of the ticket price and more. his stunning brilliance was simply something that had to be seen to be believed. thanks shakey.. you rock!!

happy australia day?

this is the ugly face of nationalism that seems to me to be on the rise in australia. let no one confuse nationalism with patriotism. let no one confuse nationalism with a love for one's country. nationalism is nothing more than an excuse for cowards to bully and belittle those who are different. nationalism is what swept through germany in the 1930's and ultimately provided the conditions necessary for the holocaust in which millions of jews, gypsies, homosexuals, political dissidents and mentally disabled people were slaughtered.

i hate that the flag of my country and the constellation on it are being used as symbols of hate and bigotry. i hate that the slogan 'love it or leave' have come to mean that if you don't embrace xenophobia you don't have a place in our nation. i hate that others will look at us through the stained glass these reprehensible creatures have thrown up. 

the scum who have disgraced our national day through their mindless barbarism cannot be allowed to win. it's time to reclaim the symbols of our country as representations of the true meaning of what it is to be australian. to be australian is to be tolerant and to give everyone a fair go. it's to embrace people based on their character. it's to value the freedom to be oneself. driving a ute with an aussie flag on it doesn't make you more or less australian than the next person... and it sure as hell doesn't make you superior in any way. for many years i drove a holden panel van and you'd often hear ac/dc blaring from it as i drove by with the back up but that's not what made me a true blue aussie. nor is it my southern cross tattoo. it's my attitude and beliefs that have been shaped by this nation that make me fair dinkum. it's that i'll be mates with anyone from any racial background if they're decent people that makes me fair dinkum. it's that i love this country and desperately want it to reach the heights and glory it's capable of. it's that i despair that these narrow-minded xenophobes and trying to tear us down from within.

it's time for all fair dinkum aussies to stand up and be counted. it's time for us to repudiate hatred, bigotry and divisiveness. it's time to give the bigots the message that we don't support them. i've started by reclaiming the 'love it or leave' slogan. australia is a multicultural, tolerant society. LOVE IT OR LEAVE!

yes we can

well, it's only about half an hour now until barack obama is inaugurated as the new president of the usa and george bush jnr heads back to texas and provides a village somewhere with an idiot. i'm going to be very tired tomorrow but it's worth it to see a piece of history in the making. obama has an unbelievably difficult job ahead of him and i hope people give him the time and resources needed to do it. already he's gone a long way towards repairing america's destroyed international reputation. the future's looking brighter already.

sign o' the times

perth was once a safe town. i remember as a kid we'd sleep out the back on a hot night without any concerns. i don't know how we've managed to sink so far in such a short time. last week in mandurah a cowardly scumbag broke into the home of a 69 year old man in mandurah and killed him in is sleep. that's right.. he didn't even have the guts to face the old bloke awake but chose to murder him when he was at his most defenseless. it's disgraceful that we're reached the point where old age pensioners are not only attacked in their homes but attacked in their sleep. i can only hope the cops catch the animal that did this and put him away for a long time

POSTSCRIPT:

this story was reported in today's (21/01/09) west australian newspaper on page 13!! this demonstrates what i was saying in regards to how far we've sunk. an old man is brutally murdered in his sleep and it only rates a small mention far from the front page. disgraceful!

a good weekend

i've had a really nice weekend and sadly it's drawing to a close. on friday night i went out with bree, megan and vera to the cracovia club for some delicious polish food and beer. i had a hankering for some placki but you need to order that ahead so i had pierogi which was as tasty as always and washed it down with a bottle of okocim beer. 

yesterday i had a refreshing sleep in and popped up to the shops for a while. megan and vera came over in the evening and we walked down to scarborough beach for fish & chips and a swim. even though it wasn't a particularly warm day the water was still lovely. there's really nothing like being able to walk down to the beach and i'm lucky to have such lovely beaches a short walk from my front door. 

today we had one of our regular family get togethers down at matilda bay. it's so relaxing and enjoyable to spend an afternoon with cousins, uncles and aunty where we can sit around on the edge of our beautiful river and catch up with one another over some rather tasty food. i also (finally) got to meet my newest second cousin, cuba, who i've been told oinks occassionally. 

now i'm sitting around with a gentle breeze wafting through my unit watching some tele and feeling quite satisfied. i really don't feel like having to get up in the morning to go to work but am still thankful that i'm fortunate enough to be employed in these tough times. obviously there's things in my life i could complain about but what's the point when there's so much to appreciate?

jb hi-fi innaloo suck

ok, it's time for a whinge. i popped into jb hi-fi on scarborough beach road today to buy a new ipod fm transmitter after my other one got pinched from my car. i selected the one i wanted (which cost $90) and lined up to pay. my first gripe was that even though there were a lot of people lined up, a number of checkouts were closed... no huge problem and quite common in shops these days. what really pissed me off was that i'd been lined up for a while when they decided to just close the checkout i was queued for... with half a dozen people still in the queue!!! i was so disgusted by this extremely poor customer service that rather than join the end of another lengthy queue i put the product down and walked out of the store. i know that losing the sale from one person won't worry them but hopefully others will see this and avoid the place like the plague. it's time to refuse to put up with poor customer service.

my thoughts on the present israel/hamas situation

it's not often that i agree with george bush jnr but i believe his comments on the current breakdown of the peace between israel and hamas are spot on. people can throw up all the red herrings they like but the indisputable fact is that hamas chose to breach the peace agreement through their constant rocket attacks on israel and it's their own despicable actions that are directly responsible for israel's retaliation.

i also find the reporting by the western media to be largley inflamatory, irresponsible and blatantly biased against israel. we never hear about the attacks by hamas yet as soon as israel retaliate it becomes front page news which gives people who don't care to follow events the impression that israel's attacks have just come out of the blue. 

the situation in the middle east is horrific and i feel deep sorrow for the innocent civilian victims on both sides but there's no point for international diplomats to now start calling for attacks to stop. these calls should have been made a long time ago when hamas first broke the peace agreement and should have continued with every hamas attack. they've left it far too late with israel now well within their rights to protect their citizens from the scumbags on the other side of the border. i know that if one of our neighbours was constantly launching rocket attacks on australia i'd expect our government to strike back and protect us. to deny israel the same right would be nothing more than hypocritical.

2008 JJJ hottest 100

and here we are again.. voting for our favourite songs of the past year. i lodged my votes yesterday and will find out in a few weeks how many make the final list. i managed to listen to a lot of JJJ in the early part of the year but unfortunately as the year went on the work radio ended up being tuned into other stations. for this reason a large number of my songs were on high rotation earlier in the year. despite my limited exposure, i still found it very hard to cull my shortlist to 10 songs. the ones i finally voted for are:

Anti-Flag - Bright Lights Of America

Cloud Control - Vintage Books

Cut Copy - Lights and Music

Gyroscope - 1981

Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

MGMT - Time To Pretend

N.E.R.D. - Everyone Nose

Stars - Take Me To The Riot

VHS or Beta - Can't Believe A Single Word

Yael Naim - New Soul

looking back at the final 10 demonstrates my rather strong penchant for pop music. we'll soon find out whether JJJ listeners share that taste.

EDIT: the results are in and i dropped back this year with only four of the songs i voted for making the top 100. they were: Lights and Music (#15), Time To Pretend (#18), Ready For The Floor (#69) and 1981 (#85).

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.

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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!!