Sports related: May I just say...

...HOLY FUCK!

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Happy new year!

Captain Obvious says it is fucking hot. In Sydney today, we've just hit 41 degrees which is impossible to escape. I'm currently camped out in my flat eating ice blocks and using a spray water pistol thing to keep myself cool - very elegant. But I feel really sorry for these guys who were celebrating Chinese new year today. I have no idea how they made it up and down Marrickville Road in this heat. Happy new year and see you in the emergency ward buddy...





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And the winner is...

This website re-imagines the ten best film Oscar nominations in a more literal way.

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And Out Come The Wolves...

A couple of years ago I wrote a sitcom with a friend of mine. It never got produced or anything but if anyone's looking for a six half hour sitcom, I might be able to hook you up. Anyhow, in one of the drafts one of the characters has this realisation after watching a National Geographic special that there are wolves in Italy. There's some vague plot line about he cheated death because he went on a four week hiking trip through Italy but wasn't aware of any wolves. To be honest, it wasn't very funny and was subsequently left out of later drafts of the script.

This plot point came from reading an article about wolves in Europe that I'd read. I can't say I think of wolves often but I think they're pretty awesome looking, probably pretty scary in real life and feel they're scariness has been undermined by their constant use in crappy vampire/werewolf movies. When I was a kid I was afraid of dogs, an affliction I have long since over come but when I see wolves I get a distant glimmer of that fear. Let's face it, wolves are like domestic dogs gone postal - they're like the una-bomber of the canine world - all wilderness and anti-processed dog food.

The only reason I mention this is because I read that there is a 400 strong wolf pack roaming the wilds of Northern Russia. 400?! Geez, it's hard to fathom what it'd be like to come across that but I don't think say "nice doggy doggy" would really cut it in that situation. Much like crows, I like wolves because they look kind of vaguely evil but I think even I'd draw the line at 400 of them. At least they're not as crazy as Denis Hopper... or are they?


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Now here's Jim with sports...

Oh my lord - 3-1. That is all I'll say on the matter, my fine fellow Australians...
















...losers.
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Movie reviews...

I saw three films this weekend and here are the reviews:

Black Swan: What the fuck? I thought it was a movie about ballet dancing, not a pseudo horror film... The film is still good though.

Somewhere: What the fuck? Really, a week with your daughter makes you walk away from a life of fame into the distance - I don't buy it. The film is still good though.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: What the fuck? How did that one pair of pants fit all those girls and in what universe is Rory from the Gilmore Girls Greek? The film still exists though.

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Happy new what! Now here's Jim with sports...

Oh hey, happy new year. You know what's strange? If I take an active interest in a sporting team I support, they actively crumble and lose at everything. However, if I miss a sportscast or don't check a team's progress for a while, they seem to do amazingly well.

Now, I know this sounds amazingly egocentric and it is but I have a secret suspicion that my being a fan of a team can be their doom. There are multiple examples I can give you.

NRL: I support the Rabbitohs and the Cowboys and I watched them every week they were on telly and kept up with their scores. Result: Cowboys come second last (the Storm were last and they were disqualified so technically the Cowboys were last). The Rabbitohs came 9th, just outside the final 8 in contention for the finals.

Stoke City FC: When I remember to check the scores they seem to be doing ok but when I finally get to watch a game live, they lose terribly. I managed to watch their last game and they lost 2-0 (both goals scored in the first ten minutes) to Fulham - FULHAM! They are third last in the Premier League.

English Cricket team: You know how they bumbled the Australians out for 98 at the MCG as well as other amazing feats of cricket prowess? That all happened when I wasn't watching. The only cricket I really got to see was Peter Siddle's hat trick and then the Australian team winning in Perth. I did get to see Mitchell Johnson bowl really badly but apparently that's his new style. The English team only seem to win when I'm not watching.

So, this is how I'm going to get rich. I'm going to bet on teams I follow and then not watch a single game. My tip - the Rabbitohs to win next year's NRL. (You might say, hey they've got Greg Inglis now but having good players in the past hasn't stopped them from losing and losing badly).

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Sorry, I temporarily got lost in my thoughts about how my interest in something can influence the success and failure of multi-million dollar sporting organisations. Anyhow, just to let you know, I'm going to try and write about music a bit more this year as part of my attempt to make writing part of my daily routine. As such, I have created a new blog solely for this purpose. No doubt this will fail like most music blogs but oh well, at least I can be an opinionated pig about it and not feel guilty about it (I'll still be writing here though - double the blog). Check out the shenanigans here.

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