50 things about me.

 Questions courtesy of http://www.day-and-age-design.com/

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Yeah, I was named after a friend of my father

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Not sure, but the end of the movie “Babe” makes me blub like a little girl.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Yes, and so do most other people that see it.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Ham. Real ham, not those wet pink squres of disgustingness

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

I have three, all girls

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Not sure, maybe

7. DO YOU HAVE SIBLINGS?

One brother, 4 years older than me

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

No, they left the building long ago

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

I have.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

Some sort of muesli - Alpen maybe.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

I don't tie them when they're on, so no.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Physically or mentally? One very much so, the other is a bit vulnerable occasionally. You can decide which is which

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

Vanilla. Or Pistachio if everyone else has said vanilla

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

I try and read peoples body language, so, pretty much everything

15. RED OR PINK?
.
Ugh, not red, so pink it is, unless you mean the singer - in which case neither.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? 

My little squashed nose

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

No-one really

18. WHAT IS YOUR ZODIAC SIGN?

Virgo

19. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PAIR OF SHOES?

No, I'm a man

20. FAVORITE MEAL?

Home meal - veggie lasagne. Restaurant meal - Tournedos rossini

21. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?

I like most stuff that I consider "good", but if forced to choose I'd go for Trip-Hop

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Royal blue, obviously

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Fresh baked bread, coffee, babies.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

My wife

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
.
Depends where it is

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Rugby league, boxing

27. HAIR COLOR?

Black

28. EYE COLOR?

Yellow, like a cat.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

No.

30. FAVORITE HEIRLOOM?

None, I'm not sentimental

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

As long as the film is good, I'm happy either way.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

A new version of Moby Dick, it was unspeakably terrible

33. FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?

Denim Jacket

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Again, it depends where we are, but here-summer, by far.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?

kisses

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?

Lemon tart or Tiramisu

37. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?

Both

38. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?

Computer, and by a long way too

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

I'm not

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

Clouds

42. FAVORITE SOUND?

The Deftones

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?

Neither really, but the Stones if forced to make a choice.

44. WHAT IS YOUR DREAM CAR ?

1928 Mercedes SSK

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I have several

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Australia

47. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?

 Northern Scotland

48. WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR?

I don't really have any fears. I've never been sure if that's a good thing or not

49. WHAT BRINGS YOU THE MOST JOY?

Music, my kids.

50. WHAT PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR YOUNG SELF?

"Don't be such a cock all the time"

Guangdong Museum of Art

I haven't done this sort of post for quite a long while, so if you've been missing them - this is for you.

This is possibly the most remarkable building I've seen this decade - there's no hint of committee designed municipal blandness here - it looks like the brainchild of a demented sci-fi writer come to life. And it's fantastic.

State of Origin

It's the day after the first game in the series, (if you've no idea what I'm on about, it's rugby league played between New South Wales -the good guys- and Queensland -beer drinking rednecks, lovers of pickup trucks and cowboy hats- and it's possibly the most intense sporting contest there is) and with 24 hours reflection on the events at Suncorp, I've come to the following conclusion. We (NSW) can win this series.

Stop laughing at the back.

With a day's worth of objectivism in place it's much easier for me to analyse the game, and  I've come to the following conclusions.

1. Jason King. With a massive 4 hit-ups and 25 metres he must start game 2. Not really. I can't actually remember a worse origin performance than his. Tolman or Galloway in for round 2.

2. Michael Jennings. Made a couple of errors but looked very dangerous with the ball -deserves to keep his spot.

3. Brett Morris, Mark Gasnier, Dean Young, Trent Merrin. All of these guys play their club footy for St George -the club I support- none of them should be picked for game 2. Hayne, Idris, Lewis and Learoyd-Lahrs as their replacements seems to make sense to me.

And yet, despite some poor performances, we were winning with 10 minutes to go.

6 in a row? Not quite time to celebrate yet.

PS. If anyone is going to get pissy about my Queenslander stereotype, be aware that I love all of god's creations. Even the ones in cowboy hats.

New South Wales, yesterday

Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math

Sometimes there are bands that I can't work out why they're not far more popular than they are - Placebo, Lcd Soundsystem, Hot Chip - I'm usually told that they either " look funny", "sound funny" or are just plain depressing.
I'm under no such illusions about the Manchester Orchestra though, I know they look and sound funny, and on occaision they are quite depressing. Happily for us though -and them I imagine- they're also quite brilliant.
Their previous two releases -I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child and Means Everything to Nothing- were good, really good- but never quite reached true greatness, this has.
They're always a heartbeat away from either a bombastic cataclysm or honey sweet crooning, and throughout the highs are tinged with dispair, the lows with hope and all this makes Simple Math an album way, way above most of it's contemporaries.
This will end up in all sorts of year end lists -including mine- and rightfully so. I just hope it brings them a bit more recognition than they've recieved so far.

The Manchester Orchestra looking funny, yesterday.

Short thoughts

Nathan Van Someren, a not particularly well known participant in Australia's 2nd best team sport -AFL- was sent off on saturday. Why am I telling you this? Surely being sent of in the rufty-tufty world of Aussie Rules can't be that rare? Well, no. No it isn't.  But this guy was sent off for having a dangerous haircut. I'm not even making it up. hahahaha

Here's the offending do in all it's dangerousness.

Nathan yesterday, being dangerous.

A man from Brighton has been fined £80 by some particularly joyless bastard from the local council for allowing his terrier to skateboard around the streets of the town -again, I'm not making this up- He was fined for the dog being "Out of control". What, couldn't it land a kickflip properly? Too much rotation on a 360? No, apparently his Lakeland Terrier was a "Risk" because 2 women tripped over his skateboard. Sorry, but if you can't get out of the way of a dog on a skateboard, you should be worrying about other shit before reporting the canine and it's owner to the council.

Not the dog in question, yesterday.

The last week saw the death of Severiano Ballesteros, who I'm shocked to learn, was widely considered "The Greatest" amongst his peers. I'm no golf fan, but this guy's death struck a chord with me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we're the same age -and this has made me think about my own mortality really for the first time- and secondly, the man simply transcended his sport. Even people who have no interest in golf -like me- knew who he was and had nothing bad to say about him -and I have plenty of bad things to say about almost everyone.

Most sports have a star who becomes bigger than the game -Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Don Bradman- in golf it was Seve.

Skindred - Union Black

For those of you who don't know them -and I suspect that that's most of you- Skindred are one of the UK's premier rock bands. But they're a rock band with a difference, seamlessly melding metal, hardcore, dubstep and, most importantly, reggae, into a unique sound which they've dubbed "Ragga Metal"
The album opens with the surreal title track that features a slow build up to a Drum n' Bass version of the British National Anthem (yes, really). Hmmm......this can best be described as "interesting". Not the greatest of starts, but fear not, the boys are back on track soon after with a belting track called "Warning" which is so good not even an unwelcome guest appearance by the singer from Papa Roach can fuck it up. From here, things go pretty much as expected and as a package this is far superior to their previous effort, "Shark Bites and Dog Fights". But this is not an album that everyone is going to fully appreciate first time and that some might not appreciate ever, especially fans of the more straightforward rock songs they have done, particularly on "Shark Bites....." but as you get used to the many twists that the album throws at you it becomes better and better. Union Black manages to be both a painfully relevant state of the nation address and a hugely enjoyable party record, which in my mind at least is no small feat.

 Skindred, Yesterday. Nice.