Monday Night Fever, North by North North Styles...

November 2007 has sprung up more than it's fair share of surprises- and of course- some not so surprising things if i am to be honest. Australia beating Sri Lanka, me working weekends, Moff selling beer, nick being nick and funkmaster turning the pro evolution 2008 world on it's head by winning 7 in a row. Granted, he is well short of my 12 straight wins, but, 7 is 7 and not to be scoffed at.

In light of this, when the offer came from the moff, which saved me from smids pro evo gravy train, i grabbed it with both hands. After all, it takes 2 hands to handle a whopper.

From this I have concluded the following, dear friends. Monday night fever has hit. Indeed, monday nights are back, with a vengeance not seen since the white fury's legendary replacement.

One of the most eagerly anticipated evenings on the sporting calander came and went, but not without leaving an everlasting impression on all those gladiators present.

The first table tennis tournament was filled with highs,me making the final, and lows,me losing the final 21-13 to the moff.

After some beers we then busted out the darts, aided by some awesome music. I encountered an epic with moff where i won 21-20.. with the funkmaster trailing on 12.. This epic was, however, upstaged by the second game, where i won 21 to moffs 20, to funkmasters 5..

The table tennis interlude which followed, was impossibly dramatic, where i courageously won after smid bravely knocked the moff out with a 11-3 win, to go through by 1 on point difference. He came, saw and went in the final, without conquering, as he was eventully knocked down by an infamous Llyeton Hewitt-esque double handed backhand, made famous in locations such as greenhill road, the Czech republic and poland, with the final winning margin being in favour of me, 21-14..

This drama, however, was only to be eclipsed on the epic-meter by the final game of darts where my michael jordan-esque 3 peat was denied, after i hit the bulls eye on the 2nd throw, by moff hitting it, dramatically, on his first. knees buckled, tears flowed, high 5's were exchanged.

All in all smid walked away winless, I triumphed and moff gave it his all to be pipped at the post. Granted, his emotional, sentimental victory to deny me my 3peat was probably the highlight of the night, but i dare say we will meet again.

In short, the summer of love is back with a mighty vengeance. A vengeance normally only associated with the glory of Lorne. Bring forth the Summer, but more importantly, bring forth the houseboat.

When the whistle blows....

Puke of the Pupil - you have received a yellow card for your failure to contribute after requesting blogging privileges.

I would much rather see you begin to post that be forced into awarding you a second yellow card, which would ultimately be a red card, thus withdrawing the access that you requested nearly a month ago.

I am giving you until midnight Sunday November 18th to jump onboard. After this hour has passed, a red card will be issued. You requested access, now its time to use it!

Yours hopefully,

The Moff
aka The Grandfather of the Blog

Gawd, Why am I soooo good at this game?

The most eagerly anticipated event of 2008 so far, the arrival of everyone’s favourite football game, pro evolution, has been and gone, tears have been shed, speeches made and the confetti is now on the floor. And it’s just the same old shit.

First game with my dear friend Ricardo had me believing that this year maybe there was something different in store. The physics are different and the referee tougher. Could I break the hoodoo that has been going longer than Chelsea’s champions league drought? (Well not really, but seeing as they have never won it, or even been in the final, that would be impossible). Ricardo’s penchant for trying to break the legs of my players was paying dividends for me, with first one, then two, then three players sent off. And finally at 3-1 he cracked the ritz and had one too many players sent off, and the game was forfeited in my favour. I am of the opinion he just didn’t want to lose worse than 3-0, but anyway.

I was almost excited. But then it happened. I should have been warned by Ricardo’s constant use of the new dive function, and a ridiculous penalty against me. But I wasn’t. As the song goes ‘the real troubles in your life are apt to be those that blindside you on some idle Tuesday’, except it was a Monday. That’s right Ladies and Gentlemen, the return of the dreaded chip.

And back it came with a vengeance not seen since I chased Seth Edwards through the corridors of PAC. Suddenly, in game two I was down 5-1, with two of the most gentle, delicate and graceful chips you have ever seen. Oh god what was I to do? I don’t know whether I could stand a return to the dark days of PES 4. I was very tempted to throw my PS3 out the window right there and then, without a backward glance and no regrets. Or curl up into the foetal position and start slowly rocking. But no, I held it together. Just. The type of fortitude I normally reserve for wearing Lime Green suits into Red Square got me through, but I had to call on everything I had.

So it looks like I can look forward to a summer of broken controllers and much angst directed toward my dear friend Ricardo. A return to the times where a goodbye would consist of a barely mumbled ‘piss off’ and a fervent wish that Ricardo’s car would somehow run off a cliff in a flaming ball on his way home to Northgate. Ah well, at least I still have Golf (Thanks Nick!!)

Just to Assuage your fears...

Well I guess the shortest answer is; a little from column A and a little from column B.

I do have a couple of potentially groundbreaking works in the pipeline (a least groundbreaking in the sense that, once published Funkmaster will no doubt come up with a string of similar but lamer knock-offs (UP AND LET'S GO!)) which I am continually polishing. Holding me up is indeed a small case of writer's block, but the most significant thing is unfortunately work, my friends.

Where do these big companies get off thinking that just because they pay me obscene amounts for a megre 37.5 hours a week that I should actually be working for that entire time?

And with no internet (or computer or phone or mobile or electricity or sewage) at home, my only available creative outlets must be tapped into between the hours of 7:30 and 3:30 week days.

Rest assured my cyberspace brethren, that my yearning to share with you again is building at a rate which exceeds your longing for my return.

With great pining, your RE

Two questions that need to be asked

1. Where the hell has RE been? We have not heard from him since September 24. Could he be working behind closed doors on the greatest post of all time and waiting until it’s perfect to post it? Or is it that he went too hard too early and has used up all his mojo? Personally, I believe the latter. Regardless, the clock is ticking you west coast sellout.
2. Will we ever hear from blog rookie Puke of the Pupil? It’s almost been a month since access was granted and still no sign of any material. Remember Pukey, access is not a right, it’s a privilege, and I don’t want to have to withdraw yours! Get posting!

Yours in anticipation,

The Moff

"I'd Be Surprised If You Ever Beat Me....."

Little more than a fortnight ago I muttered the thought that "I'd be surprised If you ever beat me" to one Funkmaster in the form of an email. It was, of course, to do with that wonderfully entertaining sport- Golf. Now Funkmaster is of course capable of playing golf, recording hilarious victories over N dub dub for the past 18 months now, but today it was my turn.

Yes, the strong grip I once had on Funkmaster's mental game disintigrated with nothing more than a whimper. The kid not only showed that he could match what i did, but excelled it on more than one occasion, just to rub salt into my gushing wounds.

Gone are the days of funkmaster looking like a dancing octopus stuck to a windmill, on acid, on a blustery winters day- what we are left with is something that *almost* looks in control. a smooth *almost* graceful swing and temperament t'boot.

This was not a fluke. He beat me. When i holed out from 11 metres for birdie on 6, he holed out from 10 metres.. And so it went. Granted i played a horrendous front 9, but my back 9 was solid and i stil couldn't pull the kid in, such was his dominance. I'm just glad he played well and beat me, as opposed to him shooting 98 and me shooting 99, or something equally shit.

I am known to pull out the well oiled phrase "can't win em all" from time to time and i guess with the form of N dub dub of late, someone else was going to have to step up to the tee to beat me before I was to mutter that favourite phrase of mine.

SO, well done funkmaster. Impeccable golf today. An 85 under extreme pressure is a fantastic achievement- I'm just glad I was there to see you master those greens up at lofty. If i was wearing a hat- I'd take it off to you.

Let me sign off with... "can't win em all" and "I'd be surprised if you ever beat me..... again"

your humbled blogger,

Ricardo Del Sanjay

For Fu*#s Sake Foxtel

Ok, thats it, I seriously had to let this one out otherwise I could be driven to head in to the Telstra headquarters in the city right now and piss inside their glazed sliding door.

For so long I have been annoyed by the ways in which the Telstra Corporation rips off everyday Australians. This annoyance has been fed by the pathetic cost and performance of their cable internet and the frustrations of friends stuck in contracts with their mobile phone division.

My rant today my friends, focuses on fucking FOXTEL.

Now a FOXTEL customer once again after a six year layoff, I cannot believe how Telstra have now cleverly and basically unfairly packaged their ‘package options’ in order to rip off everyone.

My family pays $634.00 p.a. for what is called the ‘get started’ package. This package consists of the most basic channels, many of which you could actually find yourself wishing you could pay NOT to have, due to the annoyance of having to flick through them.

Upon purchasing this package (I must admit without prior review (thanks mum), I realised the only sports channels available within were the FOX SPORTS NEWS, EURO SPORT NEWS and the king of all channels, SKY RACING. You can imagine the taste of disgust that built up in my mouth when I realised there was no live EPL or AFL. These channels (FOX SPORTS 1, 2, 3 aaah fuck off) come at an extra cost of $15.95 per month (or $191.50 p.a.). It was unanimously decided (by myself and no other family member) that the EXTRA sports channels were compulsorily required, therefore we acquired them.

I now sit in a position where I want the Lifestyle Food channel and perhaps some of the Travel channels, as these in fact are the only channels I used to like to (other than the sport channels and occasional news or Discovery), prior to the one month free 'platinum package' offer expiring, but no…. This will cost me an extra arm AND I will be paying mostly for the other shitty channels which come with the ones I want, compulsorily.

I actually wasn't going to blog this, until The Moff reminded me of how we now get advertisements at regular intervals, easily competing in annoyance with free to air television. This broke the proverbial ‘donkey’s back’.

I therefore hope with little faith that FOXTEL, oh sorry TELSTRA, will allow us all to pleeeeaase for the love of god, pick the channels we want at unit rates. I am positive this will still be profitable for the company (how many hundreds of millions?) and will prevent poor souls such as myself, from truly losing their shit.

*Listens to café primo ad in the background “noin nointy”, and signs off.*

Bill Cosby's Rant

A quick ,yet interesting blog for your worktime reading. A rant by none other than Mr Bill Cosby about the current situation African American people today.

"They’re standing on the corner and they can’t speak English. I can’t even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain’t, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be… And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk.
Everybody knows it’s important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can’t be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living.

People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we’ve got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won’t spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn’t know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward: Isn’t that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn’t that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn’t it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles [piercing] going through her body?

What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don’t know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person’s problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different ‘husbands’ — or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can’t write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.
We cannot blame the white people any longer".

I can hear Eddie saying "Tell Bill to have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up!".

Mr Jones - I salute you.

I'm sure most of you would know of by now a man named Mr Alan Jones. For those that don't know Alan, he is Sydney's leading breakfast radio personality and has become one of Australia's most wealthy media personalities. He was also one this nation's most successful coaches of our beloved Wallabies, snagging the Bledisloe Cup from New Zealand in 1984.

Aside from these remarkable achievements, one thing shines through Alan more than anything, his temper. As a true connoisseur of conniption, I can honestly say this man has reached the summit of annoyance that any man may hope to reach in one's life. My annoyances flail in comparison.

To illustrate what this man is like in real life (and how annoyed he gets), below you will find a collection of blooper tapes recorded by his staff, subsequently submitted to and aired on JJJ. I nearly fell off my chair the first time I heard these recordings, I hope you enjoy them as well.

The Closet Recordings of Alan Jones

Part 1 - The right instructions http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj1.asx

Part 2 - Dust in the studio http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj2.asx

Part 3 - Huey Lewis and the corporate world http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj3.asx

Part 4 - Indiana Jones, snakes and the 2nd test against the All Blacks http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj4.asx

Part 5 - More dust in the studio http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj5.asx

Part 6 - Nothing's working today http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj6.asx

Part 7 - Script critique http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj7.asx

Part 8 - http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj8.asx

Part 9 - http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj9.asx

Part 10 - http://abc.net.au/triplej/hack/jones/aj10.asx

Why I Hate 'Climate Change'

Because its propaganda people. Never in the history of man has there been such a committed effort to tell people something is a scientific fact without any real debate or scientific proof (Except maybe the inferiority of the Jews, but that was done by a much better race…). I am sick of the media saying ‘The debate is over’ and ‘Its time to start acting’. When was the last time you heard meaningful DEBATE about climate change? Never? Me too.

How do I know Climate Change is full of crap. I’ll tell you. Because until a few years ago it was called Global Warming. And then someone pointed out that there was a lot of people in the scientific community, including many of those that now supported Global Warming (capitals intended) that said there was a real possibility of an new ice age in the seventies. That’s right people. The seventies were cold. Real cold. So cold the ‘Scientific Community’ (I love those words, what, do they all live together big brother style?) thought it was the start of a new ice age, you know, like the movies.

But then it started getting hot. Couldn’t be natural variations in temperature could it? No, no way, temperature throughout the ages is meant to be constant, always has been right. Ever since the earth was created 6000 years ago by God. Now I understand we have been pumping CO2 into the atmosphere for some time. The thing is, I just don’t think it has done shit all.

Now everyone will tell you that the IPCC (International Panel on the Crock of Crap) will tell you that they have determined that the current temperature rises have been determined by 6000 scientists around the world to be ‘very likely caused by’ humans. What they don’t tell you is that a number of scientists put down as signatories have demanded to be taken off the list because they do not agree at all, in fact they dissent. And when they asked for this to happen they were meet with a stony wall. In other words, god knows how many scientists don’t agree at all.

Not to mention the threat of funding cuts if they happen not to agree with the current mass hysteria about climate change. I have seen an interview with a researcher who said, in order to get money, they just say they are researching climate change. Want to research the mating habits of gnats, he said. Title the grant application ‘The affect of climate change on the mating habits of gnats’ and you get it, get rid of ‘climate change’ and bye bye money. These people need money. They are not going to throw it away for a tiny little thing like integrity, are they?

Anyway, point is, it’s a whole load of bullshit, or at the very least, its certainly not proved. Its just governments throwing money at what they think is the issue of the day, scientists trying to get money by saying it’s the issuer of the day, and dumb fucks believing it, in a never ending cycle. I think it belongs as Number 1 entry in the Encyclopaedia Bullshittia (BullSchmidtia..).

National Bingo Night.. Sunday nights, Channel 7...

For those of you who haven't seen this incredibly shit show, please spend 5 minutes watching it. Some wanker wins money if he gets bingo on stage before the wankers in the crowd.

This cheese dick, pictured below (who just happens to look like an Indian version of mike Goldman from big brother uplate), is the bingo commissioner.. his 'job' is to make sure the crowd laughs when the laugh sign goes up, applauds when the applause sign goes up and schrrreaaams out bingo when they get bingo...

Of course, the tension builds.. "does anyone in the crowd have bingo?" meaning the wanker on stage will lose...

More fake tension- and of course the highly original-we'll tell you after the break routine.. (i know it's scripted, but for the love of god, how to people STILL feign surprise at that? ooohhhh

Once the show returns from 3 hours of ad breaks the wanker below gets his 2 minutes of fame and goes "nnnnnooooo biiinngggoooo"

Nnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bingoooooooooooooo

Now all i need at work is middle aged dickheads coming in and doing their impressions of this guy, just like the bugger ads, the not happy jan ads and all the other shit that has been thrust in our faces. A glassing is on the cards for the first person that tries it.

The wanker also had the audacity to say "My life has been building up to this moment. I feel I am the Tiger Woods of bingo!"

Nah, mate, you're not the tiger woods of anything; you're just the fucking biggest cheese dick in the universe.

For fuck's sake, fuck off channel 7.

I can’t believe it’s not bacon!

OK, it’s about time that your faithful grandfather pulled out an old fashioned rant.

One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen in my life is this bizarre concept of “vegetarian friendly meat substitute products” that you may have come across in your local supermarket, or at a BBQ with your local vegetarian friend.

Yes, I’m referring to bacon that’s not really bacon. Sausages that contain absolutely no flesh whatsoever. In summary, tofu-like substances that are sculpted into the shape of meat products for reasons which, to me, will never be understood.

FOR FUCK SAKE!!!! THIS IS FUCKING ABSURD!!!

Now I’m a staunch carnivore. Always have been, always will be. I fucking love meat, and I believe that it is natural for us to eat it, and our place in the food chain seems to back this up. I mean, could you imagine a shark deciding that due to cruelty concerns, it was only going to eat marine plant life from now on? It would become skinny and emaciated and unhealthy. Now I concede that we have a greater level of autonomous thought than our friend the shark...but if we did not, I believe that we would all eat meat without a hint of reservation, because our inherited instincts tell us that it is beneficial for us, as human carnivores, to do so.

But I digress.

Now I have friends who are/have been vegetarians. More power to them. To each their own, I support them in their choices 100%. But surely, if you have made the decision not to consume animals, why…ON EARTH!!?....would you want to eat something that has been artificially manufactured to LOOK LIKE MEAT???

IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!!!

Wouldn’t you have enough pride in your decision to be happy being seen eating a salad, or a dish including undisguised tofu? What the hell would possess you to want to fit in with a meat eating crowd, when in principal, you disagree with eating meat???

This shits me. If you are going to do something, do it properly, and stick to your guns.

If anyone can enlighten me as to why a vegetarian would want to be perceived to be eating meat, please comment. Otherwise, this will continue to baffle, and ANNOY the hell out of me.

Pleased to be back on the rant wagon,

- Moff

Are you a casual reader of this blog?

This is purely a little experiment which may well yield zero results...but if you are a reader of this blog (and I doubt if there are any outside of the group of ppl that post, apart from maybe you Leezee)...please make a comment to this post and let us know who you are and where you're from. I would be fascinated to know if anyone else apart from us reads this thing, and I'm sure my peers would as well.

Enter comment now,

- Moff

PS - those who post here - please don't try and be a funny bugger by adding some anonymous comment, lets see if there really is anyone else out there who has stumbled across this thing.

Where The Fuck Do These People Come From?

Now im not saying that people should be allowed to break the law, just cos they're on tv....

but...

"Anti-smoking campaigners have asked the BBC to apologise after Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May lit pipes on Sunday's show.

"Smoking in a studio is illegal. We would hope programme-makers make some form of apology," said a spokeswoman for Action on Smoking and Health (Ash)."(courtesy of BBC)

For fucks sake, get a life.

I am utterly dumbfounded

question? what the fuck are you going to do with your apology, if, in fact, you do recieve one?

ironically, this storm in a tea cup is probably going to bring more attention to it, meaning more children will see it, which would probably lead to an adverse consequence as a result....

I hate people.

Episode I: The Phantom Annoyance

Well my dear friends, here it begins. I'm already about to blow because I just wrote all of the below about ten minutes ago, then subsequently lost it by pressing the backspace button one too many times. Oh well here goes:

• The double backspace function in Windows.

• Terry White Chemists: "You really must give it agooooo". Oh my fucking god.


• Dr Phil: walking his ugly fucker of a wife off stage at the end of his show. No, the entire Dr Phil show and all the pathetic husbands that get owned by their wives in front of millions of viewers world wide.

• Mark Holden: need i say more? The recent Idol advert drove me into two levels of annoyance, the first of which was minor (almost used to his annoyance by now) when he yelled "touch down", I could deal with that. The final straw came later in the advert when it cut to him screaming and pulling some fucked up face in a get-up only schmidt would consider wearing. This drove me to scream too. If i could shoot him in the knee and get away with it, I most certainly would.

• The National Bandana Day rhymers: poor taste I know, but for the love of god...

• Nick not having the internet (and the mirriad of excuses which follow).

• The fact that this stupid fucking program will not allign nor space my shit correctly. This has actually annoyed me so much i need to leave my computer and go let off some steam.

Until the next episode,

Sinor S Bean.

Introducing: Sean A Bean

Fellow Bloggers, random readers and FunkmasterD,

Thank you for your kind invitation to contribute to such a distinguished board of discussion, insight and general opinion.

My name is Sean A Bean ('A' used to stand for Andrew, however I recently chose to change this horrid middle name to Arnold for obvious reasons).

You may remember me from such novels as "Fuuuuuck!", "Oh

My Fucking Lord!", or "No Nick..".

I have now enlisted to help contribute in whatever way I can to help make this blog one that will entertain us all through each mundane working day, something that I too hope to experience again in the near future (obvious sarcasm).

As a distant, anonymous and almost silent observer for the past year (bar the occasional "haha', "lol" or "brilliant"), I will now endeavour to share with you on a weekly basis some of my day to day ramblings and/or frustrations or annoyances. I hope they annoy you too. I have a feeling they will.

Kind Annoyances,

Sean A Bean

What I miss about the topmost hemisphere

It’s been 3 months to the day since I got back from my month long European odyssey, and because of this I decided to go back through some of the 1600 photos that were captured during this time. This stirred up a variety of emotions, but most powerfully I found it very interesting to learn that the times that I look back upon with the greatest level of fondness are not the myriad of amazing structures and human achievements that I was lucky enough to be able to see first hand. No, the experiences that really typify the fun that I had overseas are the smallest, most seemingly insignificant events, places, and people.

For example, when I think of Paris, my first thoughts are not of the Eiffel Tower, not of the Louvre, but I remember walking down Boulevard de Magenta towards this tiny little liquor store that we found to buy big cans of Leffe, Hoegaarden, and the infamous Amsterdam Maximator. When I think of London, I smile when I recall walking out of the Bayswater tube station up to street level and seeing my first glimpse of the northern hemisphere from street level on foot. When I think of Rome, I think not of the Colosseum, but of gazing out of the third story window of my hotel after numerous longnecks of Birra Moretti into the hot Italian night, and wondering what the people that I was watching were heading home to.

I could go on and on and list everywhere I went, but I think I’ve made my point. I think the same goes for anything in life. The memories we cherish the most are the day to day things; the things we don’t even give a moments thought to while they are taking place. These are the things that occur while we are on our way to “more important” things, but ironically end up meaning so much more after years have passed.

When I really think about it, the best moments of my life are probably of tiny little things. And I look forward to many more of these simple pleasures.

Satisfied after a pleasant session of reflective gushing,

- Moff

Well It's Coming To That Time Of year Again...

Yes, it's true.

If the well oiled machine that is commericalism has taught us anything, it's that by October, Xmas is literally next week, which, by my calculations, means that 2007 is very close to coming to an end.

It's with great affection that I look back on 2007, lazy days in the northern hemisphere, or indeed the equator, where i spent many a lazy afternoons. I could go on all day (and often do) but the Xmas jingles n my ear are telling me that it's time to look back at the biggest flops of 2007.

I thought i would get in quick before channel 9 thrust the incredibly aged and made up face of Dermott brereton in our faces with a 7 week presentation on a similar subject.

My contender for biggest flop of 2007 is based on the the success of it's sister products in addicting us and making us crazy. no, not drugs. not this time.

STICK BASEBALL....

I found out about this from the moff via msn with "oh no, here we go again" When i heard this i knew what was coming, just like when the Americans came out with the Hollywood blockbuster line "ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

As i opened the window i was gripped with "the fear"... the fear that i would be as hooked, frustrated and enraged as i, and many others were, with stick cricket.

alas, the addiction lasted less than 48 hours.

Stick baseball, you came, you saw, you fell to pieces like a poorly manufactured imitation Rolex that you can pick up from any third world Asian country for less than a tenner.

Ice, Ice, Baby

A rather amusing little story that has come out of channel V today that i felt was worthy of a laugh or 2.

When asked, in reference to Will Ferrell's Blades of Glory, what viewers "favourite memories on ice" were, the answers ranged from, i suppose, the general ice skating bullshit to the highly amusing, "lots of sex", "everything's great on meth" and "too many to name".

Brilliant.

You have to wonder, firstly, how someone allowed those responses to get on the air and secondly, how long it would take that person to find employment in the industry again...

"Reason for leaving your last job?"

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Well, after parting with a hard earned $0 for the new Radiohead album via their website (dont worry, I am going to buy the hard copy when it hits stores), I was jumping out of my skin to burn this free download onto a CD so that I may let the sound flow through my stereo and into my ears. Its not every day you get to listen to a brand new album from a band that has truly been one of your favourites for a huge chunk of your life. So I was savouring this moment.

Cracked open an beer, dimmed the lights, threw it on, and lay down on the couch with open ears, lapping up what was being offered to me.

First impressions: I love it.

I was very mindful of the fact that the majority of RH albums have taken AGES to grow on me, so I was prepping myself for a tough digestive effort for this one. I thought that, as with previous offerings, I would be left after the first listen wondering what the hell I had just heard, and trying to make sense of it.

Not this time. Loved it from the first listen. Drew me in from the first song.

Lots of string section parts on it...all in all a fairly chilled album, very atmospheric, probably more accessible than Kid A or Amnesiac. Love the general tone and vibe of the sound. Love the fact that these are 10 songs, separated by silence...its not like they are all joined together with little interludes, this is an album of songs. And damn good ones at that.

Radiohead have successfully defended their title as heavyweight champion of the world. I am looking forward to a beautiful and ever-developing relationship with this album.

Before one of you dickheads comment that I have already emailed most of this blog to you, I KNOW THIS, AND I DONT CARE. Lets all work together to change the climate of this blog and make it a much more positive and constructive place, because I for one am getting pretty sick of all the whip-down posts that have been appearing of late. So before you comment, take a moment to consider how you can help swing the mood of the blog around.

Radiohead - how are you still so goddamn amazing, after all these years.

Looking very forward to listen #2,

- Moff