Get that!

Bugger... my favourite radio show (on Podcast) axed.... :(

Thumbs Up - Californication...

Have developed a bit of a flu... nothing major, just a sore throat, blocked sinuses and an overwhelming urge to sleep... but other than that I feel fine!!  LOL!

 

A few things in general though:

 

Firstly, I watched (on download) the first two episodes of Californication.  The new TV show that has gained so much notoriety.  Yes, it contains the most nudity I have seen on a general TV show, but its no worse than any R rated movie.  But on a plot / acting / directing level, the show is brilliant!  David Duchovny (sp?) is excellent as the lead character and the sex is a part of the show... it really ties the plot together.  However, having said that, I am no longer enthused about TV and its adverts and nonsensical programming.  (Similar views are shared today by Daniel Bowen - creepy).  Now that I have discovered BitTorrent and Podcasting, I cannot stand commercial TV and radio... there are other alternatives!  I got through each episode of Californication in about 36mins each... that is an hour long show in TV land, so you can imagine how many ads are in it!

 

I highly recommend it and I am going to download the rest of the series rather than waiting for it on TV.

 

Secondly, the summer starts this weekend for me with the start of the cricket season.  Yes, I am going around again but I am a bit worried about it this weekend... I played a couple of games of Mixed Netball with my old work about 2 months ago and my left knee has gone bung.  Not sure what it is, but walking down stairs is painfull and crouching absolutely kills.  But being a stubborn man with too many things on, I havent gone and seen anyone about it.  I actually had a dream last night of getting late to cricket, forgetting half my gear and then snapping my leg in two going for a quick single when batting... hope thats not a sign!!

 

And today is the last day of the week due to APEC... hopefully I can spend it at home watching the Christians vs The Lions on tele... sorry, I mean the Feral Protesters vs the Police and their blessed water cannon!  LOL!

 

Lost will end in 2010

I am a huge Lost fan and I sometimes think I am now the only one in the country that still watches it...

Well people, the news out of the States is that there is a plot, that there is an ending and that there is a point... but we will need to wait until Series 6 in 2010.

I have said all along to my friends and family that the show will run for 6 seasons... and it has been confirmed.

Lost will end in 2010: "Author: Michael | Category: Entertainment"

In Pursuit of Happyness

Niki & I finally had our belated and long overdue dinner and movie night....
Had a great meal at the local noodle bar and then saw In Pursuit of
Happyness. Really good movie, highly recommend it and Will Smith is
brilliant in it!
5 stars.

Fired Up

Greetings this morning from the smokey Blue Mountains.  There has been a combination of back burning and a small fire in the Grose Valley that has resulted in the entire mountains area being covered in smoke.  Walked out the front door and the hillside across the valley we sit in was covered in it and when I drove to the train station, in the lower parts of the drive, the smoke was across the road like fog.  At least they’re back burning and its not a real fire…

But what I am fired up this morning about is the ridiculous amount of coverage to the stupid Tom Cruise / Kate Holmes wedding.  Seriously, does it need to be the lead story with live crosses on Monday morning?  In my hungover state yesterday I awoke and Weekend Sunrise just wouldn’t shut up about it and had some “Social Commentator” from Dolly (yes, Dolly!) on the set being interviewed about the whole thing.  Social Commentator… how does one get that gig?  I consider myself a social commentator of a different bent… I’d perhaps commentate that “we should all shut up and forget about what rich people do with their oodles of cash as it does nothing but encourage them.”

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, poverty rife throughout the world, local issues being drought, interest rates and politicians calling each other pedophiles under the privileged of parliament and what do our news reporters give us?  Fucking TomKat.  Ridiculous.  Its about time that people grew up and realised that living your lives vicariously through celebrities isn’t important.  What is important are things closer to home and that we all should be mightily concerned that the weather is swing 10-15 degrees a day and that we can have snow and bushfires in a space of 24 hours. We should be worried about US foreign policy causing friction everywhere in the world and yet we blindly follow. We should be worried about these things instead of what Posh Spice wore to a wedding that was actually not legally binding between a washed up actor more concerned about his cult and an actress so B-Grade that I can’t recall her being in a movie…

/rant off

Slow Driving, Slow Head

It's sunday evening... I have been up for 4 hrs after sleeping all day and I have very clouded memories of last night.

Pete's bux celebrations started with Go Karting at Minto and it was my first foray into Karting, but I was very keen about it. I generally am with new things and this was no exception.

We were split into 2 groups of 6 and each group had 3 ten lap heats in which points were awarded after every race. We did a practice heat first just to get the feel of the track and I must say after this first practice I was surprised how hard it was. The wheel was hard to turn and there were a couple of very tight turns, but it was great fun.

We just went around and around as fast as we could with no idea on placings and I felt like I was flying... but then the race marshal gave us a print out of our average lap times and I was way off the pace... fastest guy was going around in 37 secs and I was back at 43 secs. Six seconds doesn't sound like much but it was a huge gap.

In the official heats, you go out under a pace car for one lap and then fly into it after the pit lane. I was in the middle of the group for the first race, and I was soon swamped!

To cut a long story short, I found that my problem was that I was driving it like a car... accelerator, brake, accelerate again. I didnt know until the end of the heats that I should just have the accelerator down full and brake when I needed to. I tried that better in the Consolation final and came 2nd, but only because I held off Joey and Noyz by blocking them rather than outrunning them... but a wins a win they say (well second).

Then it was onto Marrickville RSL and then the Rocks. The night is a bit of a blur and I recall getting very "emotional" and abusing the bouncers at the Observer (That pub has gone downhill bad!) before we ended up at the Orient. Live band, packed house, much more lively. I lost track of time, the bus picked us up, I reached Pete's house at the end of the line and crashed on his lounge room floor... very messy indeed.

U2

Last night went to see the final U2 show at Telstra Stadium. It was a fantastic show, and Niki and I had a brilliant time. Seats were B Reserve which meant at the far end of the stadium but with elevation. This meant we were able to see the full (read 4 story high) video wall front on and the light show was excellent. Sound was clear with the exception that you had to strain to hear what Bono was saying when he went into his little monologues.

This all was a damn sight better than when Niki and I saw U2 at the SFS during their Zooropa tour (was that 1994??). That day, the sound was crap and the show was ruined. But last night, for the first time ever, I had a good experience at an outdoor concert. We only got the tickets on the cheap after one of the girls at work couldn’t go, so I am glad I went.

The concert itself was excellent with a mix of very old and new songs. In the very old playset was New Years Day; I Will Follow; October; and amazingly the very old B side song Party Girl. It seemed that the only people who knew the words to that song was myself and the guy on the other side of Niki. Everyone else around us was “huh?” and even U2 themselves stopped mid way through when Bono apologised for stuffing up the lyrics and called the band together half way through the song to sort it out.

“I know a girl, a girl called Party… Party Girl!”

Anyways, the night was also excellent on the transport front… drove from the city and parked at Lidcombe (across the road from Rookwood Cemetery – Niki was most impressed) and jumped on the Sprint Train into Olympic Park. Met Niki outside the bar at the Novotel and spent about half an hour inside with a beer and listening to the Rattle And Hum cover band. Then it was a kebab and straight into the stadium with no hassles.

Coming home was easy as well and I was really glad my car was at Lidcombe instead of trying to get a train back to the mountains as it was a pretty late night… the show finished after 11:00pm.

So in short, for those of you yet to see the show in other cities – enjoy!