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.