Sonny Bill Williams

Much has been said about Sonny Bill Williams and most of it has been along the same lines ie he's a dog and he shouldn't have done that.
I'm not going to disagree with that.

If any of the players from any of the teams that i support did that then i would never forgive them. You don;t walk out on your team, on your friends, on our fans in the middle of the season, in the middle of your contract, especially when it was you who asked for it to be that long and especially when there's no get out clause in it.

Whatever, Sonny Bill Williams is a dog, no pun intended, and is simply after the money that comes from playing in France.

I get that any young boy growing up in New Zealand would want to be an all black, as much as our boys want to be a maroon or a blue or a wallaby or a crickter (they really need a name) or a boomer or whatever, but seriously, he got himself in the position that he had a 5 year contract and he should honor that.

Benji Marshall wants to be an All Black too but you don't see him breaking his contract the moment a deal in union rears its head. He's off contract next year anyway so it's not that bad for him...

But Sonny Bill Williams is a money hungry git and i hope he chokes on his crossiant coz he's acting like a spolit brat, kind of like another over paid sportsman, Christiano Ronaldo... great players but dogs of people and nowhere near men...

supporters

I know i've said it before, but if you support a team, a country,a person, you keep supporting them, through thick and thin.
To desert them ina moment, or moments when they need you most, shows a lot more about you as a person rather than your team.

Just think if they walked off the field early because they were having a bad day. I bet that would get everyone riled up.

I've said it time and time again that i will support my team through thick and thin, until the day i die but it absolutely disgusts me that other people dont feel the same but have the hide to wear thier colours.

And then if things are going their way everything's different, and there's no way that should happen.

You support your team no matter what because in the end, they play for you... unless they happen to be Sonny Bill Williams, but that's another story...

Tour de France

So i watched the whole tour, and may i say that Cadel Evans did an amazing thing, basically coming second without the help of his team that was supposedly made up for him. Well if it was they seriously underestimated his talent and determination.

Seeing him ride on the weekend in the olympics, i think Cadel is happier to ride in a team and be a worker rather than as the lead rider. Congrats to him and Michael Rodgers, Simon Gerrans and Matthew Lloyd, too bad about Stewart O'Grady, he's still a great rider and i'm sure that if he rode for Cadel's team im sure he would win.

There's also a lot of great talent coming up in cycling, and i think that is none more evident than on Sunday with Andy Shleck making a break for the gold medal.
It's a pity that when you see great riders like him, and then you see what Roberto Ricco could have done if only he wasn't stupid enough to fall in the doping hole.
I can't believe that such a talented and promising young rider would ruin his life by doing such a stupid thing!!
The commentators were even talking about him possibly winning the tour, and then wham! What a waste, his name is now worth nothing and probably never will be...

footy fans

Anyone who knows me knows i am a diehard St Kilda supporter, I will live and die by their colours and nothing, NOTHING will get me to ever get me to criticise and not stand by them, as opposed to others....

I was at the Kangaroos/Saints match at Carrara on saturday and sitting next to my mum was a fellow saints fan who given any opportunity would put our players down, who would yell and scream at them and generally be horrible to them.

That's not the way to do it. No matter how bad they were playing, and they did play poorly in the first half(ish), or at least the first quarter, you still support your team.

SUre, some guys were having a rough night, but honestly, watching the game back as I am now, the players she was having a go at were nowhere near as bad as she was making out.

And yes i will admit i was yelling at them, words of encouragment and advice, because i'm like such an afl expert haha, but still i would never degrade them.

I love my boys and i always will and i have never been prouder than when i was when they won on saturday.

Zimbabwe

I honestly don't know what can be done about Robert Mugabe.
Short of assassinating the dude (which i happen to think is a great idea and one very sure way to end things...) i don't think there is much that can be done.

Words won't sway Mugabe, sanctions only serve to hurt the people of Zimbabwe who have already been hurt too much and peace keepers would only meet resistance and possibly even more of incidence of violence.

ANd the worst thing is, Mugabe has won the election but that's not going to stop the violence. He's not going to stop until every member of the MDC is dead or has fled the country in fear of their life.

WHile i recognise what Morgan Tsvangerai did in pulling out of the election, could it be possible that the deaths of maybe, 100 more people would be better than the death of an entire nation?
While I am loath to say it because of how callus it seems, maybe it would have been better, but then again maybe the vote rigging may have been so wide spread it may have made no difference, and even now the violence continues so...

Whatever happens, i think Robert Mugabe is mentally unstable and paranoid and so obviously not fit to run Zimbabwe that the feeling of hopelessness that is sweeping the globe in relation to this situation is so bad that the end seems nowhere in sight...

Jane McGrath

First of all i would like to extend my extreme grief and sadness about the passing of this lovely lady as well as expressing my love and thoughts to Pidge, James and Holly.

I still remember on the eve of a test against South Africa that Pdige had to pull out of a test citing family reasons and the sadness that swept the nation then because we all realised Jane was not well.

She fought so hard and campaigned so well and acheived so much more than she set out to do.

Her passing was so sudden and unexpected and i know the country is much poorer with her passing.

It also serves to remind women that they need to check themselves and at the site of any problems to go and see their doctor.

Breast cancer can affect anyone and as someone who has breast cancer in their family i know how important it is to be checked and to check yourself.

I would also like to say to women how have breast cancer in their family that there is a test you can take to see whether you have the breast cancer gene.
It's something i'm more than willing to take, and regardless of the outcome i won't be afraid, i know it's better to know and be prepared than not to know ane be caught offguard.

So rest in peace Jane McGrath, and Pidge our thoughts and best wishes are with you...

Our troops

I just want to say a thank you to all our troops who are overseas and doing their country proud.

You are braver than i will ever be and i thank god every day there are people like you who did not ignore the call to service and i hope that you return to your family safely...

Im also pissed off that the parade through brisbane is on the 28th of June when there seems to be everything on that night.

I may not support the war in Iraq, but i will always support our troops, they're our own and we are proud.

Hillary Clinton

Congratualtions to her, she ran a good race and has gotten further than any other women in American political history.
And as she said, she may not have broken through the ultimate glass ceiling but it has a hell of a lot of cracks in it and she's inspired not only my generation, but the ones before me and hopefully one or two in the generations following me.

She is a woman with great intellegence, integrity, courage, conviction and passion and i think, when all is said and done teenage girls could have much worse role models.

Sure she didn't make it this time, but who's to say that if Barack Obama doesn't get in, that she won't run next time? If that happens i hope she does run again and i hope circumstances allow to either donate to her campaign or vote for her.

I also don't think Obama will name her as his vice presidential running mate although the ticket would be undeniable. I think he'll go with John Kerry.

One thing that did strike me was the fact that some people weren't going to vote for Obama simply because he beat her in the primaries. Yeah, because JOhn McCain is such a better alternative...

But i think the world is a little bit better off because of her efforts and i hope that we can build on these...

Zimbabwe

What is going on there?
The leaders of the opposition are being arrested, innocent people are being killed, Charities are being told they can't distribute aid, International politicians are being arrested, aid shipped in is being confiscated and given to Mugabe supporters rather than the children it was intended for...

This nation is in serious trouble and what's worse the UN security council can't do a thing about it because South Africa, with the help of Veto holder Russia, has not allowed them to talk about it... as if SOuth Africa didn't have enough problems...

But seriously, the shit is hitting the fan in Zimbabwe and the world is just sitting back and letting it take care of it's own problems the same as we always have adn look how well it worked...
Commentators of the test match in the West Indies were holding bets with zimbabwe currency last night because it would make them an instant billionaire, all for a reasobale sum of their own money...

That's what Zimbabwe is to the world, a joke because everyone knows what's going on there but no one does a damn thing about it and all the while innocent people are being killed, and democracy is not allowed to flourish... not that im all for every nation to be a democracy but seriously if a country decides to be a democracy then it should act like one....

Man drought

In this month's vogue there's an article on the man drought and how women should go about finding 'the one.'

In the article they have 5 criteria a guy should meet which will then determine if he is the one.
If he doesn't meet all 5, the magazine and it's expert says, you should dump him NOW!!

Personally i have a problem with this.
Sure if u're mid 30's - 40's you can't really afford to mess around chasing men that aren't right for you, but by then shouldn't you know what type of guys are right for you and which aren't?

Here's my thing, i belive that not all relationships will end in marriage, i don't think that you have to have that goal with every relationship.
I think sometimes, and as a woman who has spent a lot of time alone, you just need to be able to feel that you have someone, that you can be with someone and that it works, it doesn't necessarily have to end with him getting down on one knee, which lets face it, is the end result.

But to dump a guy because he doesn't meet all 5 criteria seems a little harsh. I would love to see some couples who have been married for a while and see whether the guy meets all the criteria.

And who says that some of the criteria can't be learned or gained on?
I don't think some of the things they are asking can be answered early in a relationship, or even late into a relationship. I think the things they are asking are only learned through time and yeah maybe then u decide you're not right for each other, but it's a learning experience, not a questionaire you can fill out over coffee.

Corey Worthington

Just a tiny note here coz it cold be construed that this idiot is a favoured subject of mine, so totally not true by the way...

So he's making a good go at being a career criminal.
Reccently arrested for assult/affray over 2 seperate incidences, i couldn't write this stuff more perfectly myself...

What he really needs to do is to go home, put his head down and study or work hard and just not be bad, i no that's not that easy, but when temptation is taken away from u things get easier...

Or maybe this one just can't be saved and is destined for a life of crime...

Gambling

So, i read this article the other day about this guy who is suiing westpac or some bank because they made a mistake that gave him $198,000 instead of $18,000. The extra money he then gambled away.

Now this guy is suing the bank because he gambled the money away which is ridiculous.
He's basically saying that the bank, by giving him all this money made him gamble it away which is rubbish.

He had a gambling problem before he was given the money but was obviously made worse because he had more money to gamble with.

What bullshit! This guy should own up to the fact that he has a problem. He had a problem before the money was given to him and he still has a gambling problem now he doesn't have the money.

Mistakes happen and i'm sure the bank wouldn't be happy this happened and im sure they wouldn't have given him that amount of money anyway.

He's also suing a credit union saying they shouldn't have given him a loan when they knew he couldn't pay it back, which is fair enough, but seriously i've heard stories of this happening with quite a few people and they don't go and sue.
I really hope Australia doesn't turn into such a liturgeous society like America.

But this guy should take responsibility for his actions and get help for his problem.

Soccer wrap up.

At the moment i'm watching a replay of the World CUp Qualifier held in Brisbane on sunday night. I was there, the front row in fact, and i have to tell you it was one of the most exciting things to be a part of, simply because of what the socceroos achieved in Germany and because of what the world cup is.

Press reports have said that Australia was lucky to come away with the win, and we were, but because we have an excellent keeper in Mark Schwarzer, who by the way, Fulham bought an excellent keeper in him, but i don't think it was as bad as everyone says.

I guess because Iraq had so many chances it does take away a little bit, but it was a good game, one that saw pretty much everyone say until the end.

One thing i have to say is about the pitch and the pitch invaders.
Where was the security? They just let the guys prance around, attack our players and cause our players to shove them off. In cricket and rugby league that would never happen and security would swarm from everywhere to get them off. At the soccer, we had a security guard in front of us and when informed of what was happening he just laughed. NOT THE RIGHT RESPONSE. especially when time was ticking away and we were in a precarious position. Those guys were lucky we had good defence at the end.
Now to the pitch... I understand it had rained earlier in the day and that caused the surface to be slippery, but that doesn't account for the grass... a simple cut would have been all that needed to be done. The broncos aren't playing there this weekend and would have time to grow before origin next week.

However, we did win and came away with the 3 points and now head to Dubai for the return leg against Iraq and Doha against Qatar where no doubt we will be sorely tested, meaning the return of Josh Kennedy and Lucas Neill needs to happen soon.
I understand both men are awaiting the births of their first (and second) children.
Here's what i say to their wives, Caesar. Get those suckers out, your husbands are needed, do not deprive their (and in the case of Josh Kennedy's wife, your) country for their god-given duty. haha, no seriously ladies now is not the time to be crossing your legs...

It would be great for the Socceroos to get to the next world cup, held just next door in SOuth Africa, although i'm not sure if it would be safe to go.

So i say we love you Mark Schwarzer and Harry is our king.

US Presidential Race

So, the race now has its horses, John McCain on the Republican side, Barack Obama on the Democratic side.

First of all i want to cogratulate Senator Obama on finally gaining the Democratic nomination, although I'm not quite sure whether he will be able to lead America in the right way. FYI i am a deadset Hillary supporter.

However, i guess it is now up to the American people to decide and i hope for the sake of the rest of the world they don't inflict another 4 years of a republican president on us, not that i think John McCain will be another George W Bush, but he is a republican and i don't think that should be forgotten...

I think it's great that the Democrats had a choice between a woman and an African AMerican for their nominee, however i would have dearly have loved it to have been Hillary, purely for the fact that she's been there and done that and is so smart.

But the world is ready for change, i think we need it, simply to sure things up, make things a little more stable.

If only we had the same choice here...

The GCCC and protests

SO the GOld COast City COuncil has banned protestors from protesting in all but 2 of the city's parks.
WHy? because the lack of facilities ie toilets available.

Personally i think it's an attack on free speech, a right we may not have outright, but which is implied in the constitution and has been recognised by the federal government.

And to add to matters, when the councillors voted, half of them hadn't even read what exactly they were voting on... Yeah, and these are the people we reccently voted for. (I didn't i voted for the other guy)

But seriously telling protestors where to protest is ridiculous! And as one of them said a lot of them are old enough to know when they need to pee and where they can do it.

But this attack on free speech is ridiculous and i wouldn't be surprised if the protestors started protesting against the coucil.
Just don't blame me, i voted for the other guys...

Sharon Stone

How on earth could she say that the Earthquake in China is karma?
WHat did the chinese PEOPLE do to deserve that?
The parents who lost their only children, or even one child if they had more, the children who are now without parents, the injured, the ones who have no homes, no work, no hope.
Yeah sure, they deserve it, because of course they tell the government to strip people of their basic rights, because they know what's going on in Tibet...

Based on Sharon Stone's logic we could say that all the tornadoes that are touching down all over America are karma for them invading Iraq and being oil hungry and electing a dickhead as president twice, but it's not.

It's simple geography and a lot of devasation and unfortunate circumstances...
No one, no matter where they or who's in government deserves to be put through what the people in China are being put through, and there's nothing anyone could have done to prevent the Earthquake.

It's simply nature, just like cyclone Nargis, just like the tornadoes in American, the drought in Australia and the famine in Africa....

Kylie Minogue

Why is everyone so excited about her birthday?It's not like she's the only person in the World to turn 40, and it's not like she's the only person to survive cancer as well.

On Music Max this weekend they're doing a whole marathon thing on her.
Now, Madonna has as much talent as Kylie Minogue and is a lot more successful than Kylie and has reccently turned 50, but no one went bananas about her birthday.

Paul McCartney wrote a song about being 64 and not a whole lot of fuss was made about his 64th birthday, although there were passing mentions.

But why Kylie? And it's not like she's in Australia all the time. Her KylieX tour isn't even coming down here! Oh yeah, she's a great Australian, everyone let's party...

Chris Hurley

Well, i would love to know what in his house cost $100,000.
Even if he had high end everything and was plated in gold i don't think you can get up to $100,000 in losses, especially after he only claimed they were worth $30,000 approx. in a claim submitted to his insurance company.

I want to know what this guy has got on the QUeensland Police Force because he is being treated like a god when he killed a man, a man who was in custody no less, a coroners inquest proved it...

SO of course it only makes sense that the police force would want to look after him, i think not, he's no better than the people they lock away...

FOr this guy to be paid $100,000 in losses, that's ridiculous, it's scandolous and it's downright wrong.

Alcopops

A round of applause to the federal government for forcing drinkers to go from alcopops to straight alcohol after raising the taxes on alcopops on April 27.

Now, not only do drinkers get more bang for their buck, they pay less tax on it to and have less portion control and thus no idea on how much they are drinking.

According to figures published today, the sales of straight alcohol are up 20%, with the sale of alcopops down 30% approx.

Well, you've got to say, the got everything right.
Now drinkers are saving money, giving the government less revenue, drinking more and haveing less control.

Mmmm, the tax on alcopops was a great idea...

Iraq Football Association

As one of the 50,000 people who have tickets for the World Cup Qualifier in Brisbane on Sunday I am hoping for a football match to be played, between the Socceroos and Iraq would be nice.

But I get why FIFA has taken a stand against the IFA.
Politics and sport don't mix but they do collide every now and then as we've seen more than once this year.

I don't understand why Iraq would disband it's Olympic Committee, and in turn, their football association, especially as Asian Champs, in a country where football means a hell of a lot to the people of Iraq.

I was heaps excited that Brisbane was the venue chosen for what promised to be the game of the qualifiers, the top ranked side of the group versus the Asian champs.
Plus a chance to see the Socceroos in action in a game that actually counts for something, other than a friendly.

And, just for all you Anna Bligh fans out there, she had to put her 2 cents in and say that FIFA should not ban Iraq. SHe only wants the money that the Queensland Government will get for the hire of Suncorp.
That woman is more of a media tart than Peter Beattie was and she has the gaul to tell FIFA what to do, what the hell is she on?

Anyway i guess by midnight we'll know...

Internet Purchases

I read this article the other day discussing internet purchases and how good they are, namely because :
a) u don't think about what u're doing
b) if u're buying clothes u can try them on in your own homw
c) u can buy things that may not be directly available to u

Reccently i've taken to buying a lot of books online.
Mainly because it's cheaper, i can buy things that aren't available to me in Australia and it takes a lot less time than if i was to order it at a bookstore.

Plus the fact that i don't really think about if i want it, and just do it is a plus... my credit card bill may send me into the negetive though...

Crusty Demons

So I went and saw them on Saturday.
It was one of the best things I have ever seen.
Those guys are so talented! And have amazing bodies!!!

I can't believe the 2 16 year old's they have riding with them! They have no fear and they rip it up just like the guys that have been on the tour for ages.

And Scott Murray with the double backflip, it was amazing, a pity he didn't land it, but he came so close!!!

I can't say that i'm a particular fan of the crusty babes or the pre show entertainment whacking, especially with the girl in her g-string... the announcers couldn't say shit but they could do a close up on this girl's arse... i don't get it.

Aside from that, even though i got tickets late i had a really good seat and i can't wait for them to come back!

Russh and Bill Henson

So lately there has been a rash of cries of "child porn" as artists have been using children under 16 in provacative shoots.

Russh, had a photo shoot with a 15 year old model posing in a bath topless. Now, the way the media played it, it was like the whole shoot was nude and very provacative.
It was only 1 shot. Sure she may be 15 which is still a child and shouldn't have been taken, but i've seen worse photos in Vogue.
I don't agree with using models under 16 at all, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Now for Bill Henson's photographs. Again, using a 13 year old girl was not the smartest thing in the world, and i would like to meet the 13 year old girl who was brave enough to pose nude, but not pornography.
And the fact that Kevin Rudd has spoken out so strongly about it immediately gets people's attention. Last night on Good News Week they said we voted Johnny out, not Kevin in and I think that's exactly right.

In both cases there was bad taste involved and possibly a bit of stupidity, but not pornography...

London Ink - Dan and Louis

I'm big into tattoos and at the moment there's quite a few tattoo reality tv shows which is awesome.

The newest of those being London Ink, set in, you guessed it, London.

The owner of the shop is Louis Malloy, famous for inking the angle tattoo on David Beckham's back.
One of the other artists in the shop is Dan Gold, a relatively young guy who used to own his own shop but like many others fell into finacial difficulty but is nevertheless a talented artist.

But Louis seems to have a very big problem with Dan, not trusting what he does, not liking his work ethic or how he goes with his clients.
Personally i don't really think this matters a whole lot. It's up to the customer to decide on these matters.
Sure Dan is slow, but as long as you're not paying by the hour then who cares?

What I don't like, and as a customer I don't think I could stand it if another artist came over and started to work on my piece.

Customers go to Dan because of Dan, not because he has Louis looking over his shoulder.
If I was Dan I'd tell him to shove it... He'd get offers from other studios and he has a loyal enough clinetelle to survive.

Dan is highly talented, and so is Louis, the whole world has seen that, but not everything has to be done his way... the first thing he did when he opened his shop was to tell all of the artists he employs was that they were going to be doing pieces that weren't their speciality, the very thing that people are coming to them for... it just doesn't make sense to do things that way and you would be hard pressed to find any shop manager forcing artists to do pieces that are way outside their speciality.

Personally, I think Louis wants everything done his way and that's not the way it goes...

American Idol

So, my faith in Americans is kind of restored.
I'm so glad that David Cook was voted the 2008 American Idol.

He has an amazing voice, and is so goddam talent, I sincerly hope that SOny BMG release his album over here otherwise I might have to test my finding skills in order to get my hands on a copy...

I'm more pleased with the fact that David Archelta wasn't named American Idol, not that he's not talented, it's just that he's boring, he ruined imagine and his nose does a flairing type of thing when he sings, and he's so just goddam apple pieish that it's annoying!!!!

Anyway, congrats David Cook, if i could have voted for you i would have, but 12 million votes ahead, i don't think u needed it!

And good on Simon for apologising at the finale, because what he said really was disrespectful...

State of Origin

I'm born and bred in Queensland, so naturally I barrack for New South Wales, I do not lie...

So anyway, taking this into consideration of course I was delighted with the result on Wednesday night, especially after everyone wrote of the New South Wales side.
It was really quite eery, there was no coverage up here of the New South Wales team whatsoever, actually I think that's symptomatic of the Queensland sport media anyway but I'll get to that later - the only team that matters is the Broncos, nevermind that the Titans are top of the table...

Anyway, so the calls, especially on the coast are for Scott Prince to be picked in the next origin side.
I'm here to tell you it aint going to happen.
There is NO WAY the selectors will back peddle and say "we made a mistake in not picking him" there's just no way...

So bring on the next game... I can't wait for New South Wales to be back on top.

Congratulations California

Just a quick line to congratulate the state of California for allowing gay marriage.

All people, no matter gay, straight or bi should be allowed to enjoy the state of holy matrimony.
Now I may be a sort of practicing Catholic but this is what i believe and I believe that God wouldn't want anybody to feel disenfranchised or discriminated against...

Anyway i think it's great and i think the Australian, government's, failure to allow homosexual partners the same financial rights as a hetrosexual partner but not allowing marriage is ridiculous. What is the problem here? If you're going to give equal rights it should be all or nothing, because half way is tantamount to dangaling a carrot in front of them but them always being that little bit too far away to get it...

It has to be said...

So news broke this morning of teenage tearaway Corey 'I'm an idiot and ruining my generation's image' Worthington was attempting to enter a nightclub on the Gold Coast using a fake id.

Now there are many things wrong with this picture.

First of all; who goes clubbing on a monday night? Are clubs even open on Monday nights?

Second; did he honestly think no one would recognise him? He's not exactly the most conspicuous person in Australia, although granted not many people are watching Big Brother...

Third; who did he go with? His agent who seems to be almost like a surrogate father at the moment, that would have been really classy.

Fourth; using a fake id is categorised as FRAUD, so he can add that to his criminal record, i bet it looks lovely next to his charge of producing child porn...

What is with this kid? From what I've heard, he came across on Big Brother as an ok kid who was in a bad situation. Like i said previously i refuse to watch Big Brother.
He can't get away with this by simply saying it was a bad situation that got out of hand because there was obvious premeditation involved...

QUite obviously this kid thinks he's above the law and doesn't give a shit about his future employment prospects, whatever he's out of control and someone, whether it's his parents or the law need to do something in order to put him back in line.

The sound of teenage hearts breaking

Apparently it is official, that on the weekend, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson were married, thus breaking the hearts of thousands of teenage (and not so teenage) girls hearts around the world, and yes maybe mine is a little bruised...

But overall I think it's a lovely thing to have happen, especially after all the shit that Pete has reportedly gone through, and let's face it, he gives Ashlee a little, and I stress little, bit more credibility. Haha.

This union is almost identical to that of Derryk Whibley of Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne, which despote all my reservations has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, call me cynical.

Actually, i have no idea what this blog is about, I just wanted to mention Pete Wentz perhaps? ALthough I must admit it will be weird to think of him as married and i wonder if his stage persona will change much coz as it was he played the part of the flirt and lived up to the admiration of all the girls there.

Oh well, i wish them luck, and if things don't work out, I'm always available...

Foo Fighters.

I was at the Foo Fighters concert they held at the Opera House in October 2006. It was one of the best nights of my life and the best concert I have ever been too.

And yet, this is coming from a band who has made their name on their hard rocking rock shows, a band that is playing in one of the most famous opera houses in the world, that played so softly, gently and beautifully.

Many times Dave Grohl has said he much prefers the accoustic sets to the hard rocking ones.
For crying out loud they even released an accoustic album, and Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace is pretty far from a normal Foo Fighters record.

Yet nobody calls either the band nor Dave Grohl soft.
Yet when Silverchair released Diorama everyone said they were soft, yours truly included.

Now I'm not defending Silverchair, far from it, I really don't like them I just thought this was an interesting occurance.

I guess part of the explaination can come from the fact the Foos are still doing rock sets but Silverchair still play their old stuff too.

I love Dave Grohl, i love all of their stuff, hard and soft and i think he is one of the best frontmen in the world and the last thing i would want is for anyone to challenge his "manhood" and what not, I just think it's interesting a lot of people must think the same thing.

North Korea and Kim Jong Il

I was watching a documentary on Kin Jong Il the other day and it was really interesting.

Yeah there was the usual dictatorship quirks. North Koreans are forbidden to discuss his height, weight or hairstyle, they believe he born by the Gods etc etc.

He also routinely stops all rail traffic for hours, sometimes days at a time because he hates to fly and travels by rail.

But, the most interesting thing to come out of the whole documentary was the fact that he says he only has nuclear weapons so that the United States will negotiate with him, and won't bomb him.
He says all he wants is an assurance the US won't start bombing him if he agrees to some of their requests.
Now, from a man that is happy to see his people starve in favour of his favourite Cognacs and Bourdeaux, he's actually a little bit intellegent.
Except he wasn't counting on the US people to elect an imbocile as President, and re-elect him for that matter.
Since George Bush has come into power in the US all dialogue with North Korea has stopped, and coincidently has coincided with North KOrea's growing aggravation. Coincidence? I think not.

Now I'm loath to say anything coming out North Korea is right, but perhaps old Kim JOng Il is on to something when he says he keeps nuclear weapons for safety. Kind of like keeping a gun under your pillow.

I do take comfort in the fact that soon there will be a new President of the United States, either a woman, a black man, or a crazy Vietnam Vet who is currently looking for the all powerful NRA votes. I hope and pray that whoever it is who is elected in November will recommence talks with North Korea, in an attempt to take steps to creating a more stable Asian region, and world in general.

GC 17 and AFL in general

So my spies at Carrara on Saturday night tell me the ground announcer was spruiking the return of St Kilda superstar Nick Riewoldt to the coast to play for the new team.
As an avid and dedicated St Kilda and Nick Riewoldt supporter I must say I was horrified at the very least. Not only because the announcer (whom I'm informed was Becs from Sea FM's drive time show Ant and Becs the Benchwarmers) would have no idea if that were true, but also because he's misleading the public as well as not knowing what the hell is going on and totally disregarding everything Nick has said in the press.

Nick Riewoldt is contracted with St Kilda until 2010. After that, because he has been playing for 10 years he is considered a vetran player. What that means for St Kilda is they only have to include HALF of his salary under the salary cap. This effectively means that St Kilda can pay him DOUBLE what they are paying him now and it will still count as the same as what they are paying him in terms of staying under the salary cap. Get it? They can DOUBLE his salary. I doubt the GC 17 consortium could afford to do that.
Which means St Kilda can offer him a shitload to keep him.

But we're forgetting one major thing. He has said, on numerous occassions that he wants to be a one club player, and you can't do that playing for more than one team....

So Becs, I suggest you check your facts.

Also, in regard to more general things regarding the GC 17 consortium, they can't play out of Carrara with it being in the state it is. As if the lights going out didn't prove that enough. Coincidently I'm told that the lights went out because a punter turned off the generator that was powering that particular tower, which was not connected to the general supply because the connection was damaged two months ago.
Now our wonderful Mayor (who I didn't vote for) is a Melbournian by birth and one would assume famillar with AFL, and yet, he let's an AFL team play in a dilapitated stadium which can't even get a proper power supply for the lights.
The State Government isn't doing anything to help the situation by refusing to contribute to the upgrade of Carrara, instead insisting that any Gold COast team play out of the Gabba in order to pay off the Gabba's debts.
This move by Ms Bligh and her band of merry men is killing the bid of the GC 17 consortium, as no Gold Coaster in their right mind would travel to Brisbane to watch a Gold COast team play their home games when there's already a Brisbane team playing out of the same ground.
Effectively they're saying Geelong (which is about the same distance out of Melbourne as the Gold COast is out of Brisbane) should play their home games at the Telstra Dome or the G, instead of playing their home games out of Skilled Stadium.
It's crazy and I thought a government as money hungry as Ms Bligh's would be eager to bring more people to the fastest growing area of the state. I guess I was wrong.

And as a side note in the washup from Friday night's game, here's my thought.
It's easy to support successful teams such as Collingwood, who have a famous president and a lot of cash, but to support the least successful team in the league, St Kilda, takes character, guts and a lot of love.
I love my boys and win or lose, we'll always come out on top
xoxo

Australia's Next Top Model

In the wash up from Tuesday's episode, I simply felt that I had to say something about the despicable behaviour shown by Demelza, Alyce and Rebecca to Alamela.

Seriously, it was disgusting, and as the judges said, it was hard to see Demelza's beauty through the ugliness of her behaviour.

And good on the jusges for saying something because it was trylu disgraceful. I'm also glad that Alamela got called out before all three of the girls involved.

All four of them are beautiful girls, but seriously, and this is the first time I've seen someone's beauty be diminished by their actions.

Also, a huge congratulations to Alice Burdeu who has done such an amazing job after last year's show and has been so successful!! The most successful ever, in any country in fact which is awesome because she's such a beautiful girl!

Big Brother

Are they trying to kill off the series? Perhaps they are... It's the only explanation I can come up with as to why they would put such an unobvious mix of people into the house.

Now I must say for the record I have not watched an episode of this year's Big Brother for the following reasons:
1) I refuse to watch something that celebrates anything to do with that brat Corey Worthington,
2) I'm not home at nights to watch it, because unlike some, I have to work for a living.

Now, I don't know if reports that Corey Worthington is worth $200, 000 but if they are, it is truly despicable... This is a boy, and he is a boy, and why isn't he in school may I ask? who openly defied the authorities, who has no regard for the public in general, and more specifically his neighbours and his parents, and who couldn't give a flying fuck about anything...

And as for his mother and the charges see currently faces, well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?

Overall, i think it is plain wrong to give a boy who craves attention more attention, when what he did in the first place to put him in the limelight was something so stupid... He's also giving Gen Y a bad name, and for that, I despise him even more, because a lot of us are actually good people...

Burma

How bad does this situation need to be before the Junta will do something to help their people?
Whoppee, they've let 1 plane in, 1, to help more than 1,000,000 people. I'm sure it's going to go a long way...

What is most heartbreaking is that the people of Burma don't know that the world is ready and willing to help them, if only their government would let us in...

I think China, despite their current issues, needs to step up and tell the Junta that if they just let us in to give their people aid everything will be ok.

And i hate to say it but I will, perhaps China can lead by example by letting the "West" in to help them with the Earthquake that happened yesterday.

All we're trying to do is help, so that people less fortunate than us can experience the kindness of people half way across the globe.

I hope that the Junta do let the aid in, and the aid workers to distribute the aid to the people who so desperately need help...