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June 29, 2006
Danny Katz is magnificent today.Posted by Peter at 03:45 PM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2006
From The Mother Country
A selection of text messages and emails I received from my italian friends before, during and after our 1-0 loss to them:
BEFORE
HERMES: We ll own u
FEDERICO: cmon peter, we all know that italy sucks, but don't
get too excited about that, it's just a blody game. I
support Australia anyway. Aussie!!Aussie!!Aussie!!Aussie!!Aussie!!Aussie!!Aussie!!*
DURING
SARA: Aussies seem really angry during the anthem or is it the sun in the eyes? in bocca al lupo!**
SARA: De luca (I think she meant Viduka - ed.), bresciano, grella... Is it Italy vs Italy?
AFTER
SARA: I can only say, "che culo"!***
FEDERICO: we cheated again, didn't we? That's Italy, our politicians are cheaters, so what would you expect from the rest of the population? Cheaters!
HERMES: The 8th king of Rome.
We'll get them in South Africa.
*Federico has a penchant for repetitive text messages. He has been known to send one consisting only of "VIDEODROME. VIDEODROME. VIDEODROME."
**Good luck. Lit: "into the mouth of the wolf".
***Fluke! Lit: "arse".
Posted by Peter at 09:57 PM | Comments (7)
It appears from the comment
It appears from the comment spam with which I'm being bombarded that it is essential you all know the following: Edmonton dominated the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night and the 4-0 margin in Game 6 makes it hard to imagine the Oilers not hoisting hockey's Holy Grail above their heads in less than 48 hours. And it would not come as any shock to see defenseman Chris Pronger, who had another 31-minute night, take the honors for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.Posted by Peter at 08:00 PM | Comments (47)
Horrible Truth?
It pains me, but in the interest of balance, I've been looking around at AppleDefects.Posted by Peter at 06:17 PM | Comments (4)
June 24, 2006
Why I Have Been Away #2
I have been writing a play.
One of the (very many) things in my life that suffered when I took on a very demanding writing job was the amount of time I could dedicate to personal projects. In an attempt to remedy this, I took a week off work in March to give myself the concentrated block of time necessary (for me) to punch out anything of any worth, and I loved it. So any spare time I had in the following weeks went on this play, and Glutbusters suffered as a consequence. Such is life.
This play is about sexual assault in football and the surrounding issues. The challenge is keeping up with the offences that players keep committing. Since I started writing:
- Dean Brogan (Port Adelaide) has allegedly snapped a bloke at the airport;
- Brodie Holland (Collingwood and Neighbours) and his fiancee have been charged over an alleged assault at a Melbourne nightclub;
- Heath Scotland (Carlton) is facing possible assault charges after allegedly slapping a woman at the Next Blue Bar at Southbank;
- Heath Black (Fremantle) has been fined for an assault at the Perth Cup;
- Ashley Sampi (formerly of West Coast has been fined over a domestic dispute that involved a knife and the speculation of self-harm;
- Colin Sylvia (Melbourne) has been ordered by a court not to assault his girlfriend after a drunken incident that may or may not have involved threatening murder.
Posted by Peter at 08:27 PM | Comments (54)
AussieRulesChina.com is a site run
AussieRulesChina.com is a site run by my brother, in China spreading the AFL word on behalf of the AFL, the Melbourne Footy Club, and the Melbourne City Council.Posted by Peter at 08:01 PM | Comments (4)
Liz Stringer
Liz Stringer plays the Northcote Social Club on 29 June. You should go. I first heard her play at her brother's 21st and she was magnificent then singing a wonderful song he had written. That was seven-odd years ago, and she has only got better in that time.Posted by Peter at 05:18 PM | Comments (9)
June 23, 2006
How Happy Am I?
Very happy indeed.
Posted by Peter at 08:21 AM | Comments (11)
June 22, 2006
Flying The Flag
Over at BoltWatch, MrLefty is on fire over Bolt's anti-gay marriage tirade. Bless.Posted by Peter at 12:27 PM | Comments (4)
Full House Fans
Thank you Virginia for this video of dedicated Full House fans reproducing not one but two of the show's opening credit sequences. To me, this sort of stuff is the essence of the internet - "it'll take us days, we'll get nothing out of it, but someone out there will think it's kinda cool". Unreal.Posted by Peter at 11:52 AM | Comments (8)
Italian Engineering
I have bought a Bialetti MokaEasy, an electric version of the famous Bialetti caffettiera, for my office at work. It has changed my life immeasurably for the better.Posted by Peter at 11:43 AM | Comments (6)
World Cup Blog
And while we're on the World Cup, the World Cup Blog is terrific.Posted by Peter at 10:21 AM | Comments (6)
A-Lister
Being a glamorous A-Lister, I was at the opening of ACMI's TV50 Exhibition last night. We should all go and celebrate 50 years of television.Posted by Peter at 10:15 AM | Comments (5)
All the goals
My friend James sent me this awesome site that allows one to see every World Cup goal so far - just click the match score then the goalscorer. Brilliant.Posted by Peter at 10:14 AM | Comments (4)
Why I Have Been Away #1
I have been watching a lot of the World Cup. And it has been putting tremendous demands on my time.
As that previous post shows, I am not from a soccer family. But like so many others, we were always a World Cup family, starting with my Dad shaking me awake in a motel room in Healesville to see Cameroon beat Argentina in the opening round of Italia '90. Because of our heritage, our team was Italy, which is kind of like barracking for Richmond. They often show a lot, but they are more often cruelly denied.
So it is magnificent to have my own country there. I've always found it fascinating the way national characteristics are played out in national football teams. Traditionally, the Brazilians are flamboyant, exciting, attacking; the Germans are defensive, well-organised, efficient; the Italians are passionate, but prone to falling apart under pressure; and the Japanese are industrious without being spectacular. Gross generalisations, all of them, but I loved the way they played out.
It's been ace for me to see Australian national characteristics coming through in our national team. We're determined, we're hard-working. We're physical, and we don't dive. And we absolutely refuse to give up until the very end. These characterstics got us through the Japan game, and prevented us from falling to pieces against Brazil (as Australian teams of old might have done).
Times like this, when I am filled with the good side of Australian spirit, I get depressed that Australian nationalism has in many ways become associated with things like Cronulla. So it's nice that we're having a little bit of success in something that is truly international - hopefully it will remind us that we are just an island at the bottom of a very big world after all, and go some way to breaking that association.
Posted by Peter at 09:55 AM | Comments (9)