Super Saturday

With a big day of sport watching planned, the morning was going to be dedicated to the fam.

Started off by getting Isaac up and hanging for a bit while wifey and Elijah had a sleep-in. When Tara got up it was pancakes time. Extremely hearty ones today, filling my belly for the morning. After this we headed to Ringwood Lake for duck feeding, playground action and even some kite fun. Here's some pics.

Came home after this and got on the couch with a leftover roast sandwich to watch the Spurs v Suns Game 3. I was very excited about this game. Sadly, it turned out to be a fizzer. Some thoughts.

-That Shaq trade ain't looking like genius now. Shaq was just terrible. He may be injured or something, but he just showed no fight or passion.
-The Suns defending of the pick-and-roll was laughable. Nash and Shaq had no idea and just kept leaving guys open. Shaq made the wrong desicion about 95% of the time in the game.
-I thought the hack-a-Shaq was hilarious. Should humble Shaq a bit (if that's possible). He was made to look ridiculous.
-Something was up with Nash too. He just looked terrified for most of the game. Bowen played him well, but he just gave nothing.
-The Suns should have gone to Amare 80% of the time in offence. He was unstoppable. For some reason though the Suns kept going to Shaq, who was just throwing up weak baby hooks.
-TP and Manu played awesome. Manu is a freak. Tough as hell.
-Bell and Hill gave nothing. Hill was a bit injured, so why even play him? He'd struggle enough with Manu or TP as it is, let alone with a sore groin.

After the game flicked to the Crows v Blues. Nothing brilliant, but the Crows just had too much experience and class in the end. Speaking of class, Jarrad Waite doesn't seem to have much.

After this game did some home duties, activities with the boys, then prepared for a quite night in. Did some fruitful things, such as clean the kitchen and write a complaint email to Foxtel about their NBA coverage.

TOP 10 BEVERAGES

As mentioned in the blog below, a while ago I did a controversial "Top 10 Beverages" article. Now that I've tasted the McDonald's Caramel Frappe, one unlucky beverage must make way. After much consideration, I've decided that "Sars" must make way. Here's what i wrote previosuly about "Sars", then listed is the updated Top 10.

SARS
Came across this at Coles. It comes in little 4 packs (bottles) and is the best sasparilla around. It comes in beer-like bottles, so it looks cool when you drink at work. People come up and look funny at it and go "I thought you were having a beer" and I go "nup, sasparilla."

REVISED TOP 10 (in no particular order)

7 ELEVEN COLA SLURPEE
Amazing drink. Cheaper and often a better consistency than Frozen Coke. Great anytime, especially when watching sports.



LIME MILKSHAKE (pictured)
My favourite beverage of all-time. Sadly, getting increasingly hard to find. Can't make your own anymore as they don't make the 1L bottles and even the dispenser size are hard to find. The main evil treat I get cravings for.

FARMERS UNION ICED COFFEE
Living in Melbourne now, this drink goes up higher in my estimation. "Big M" is the drink of choice around here and their iced coffee tastes like old cream and International Roast. I've found a deli on the way to the office that sells it (by trying about 10 delis on the way) and Safeway have lifted their game and now carry good stock of it. Best in the morning.

COKE
Several billion people can't be wrong. I've cut down on it a lot these days, now mainly drink at restaurants only or when I have the flu (I think the acid kills the germs).

MAP COFFEE
I'm no coffee conisseur, but this is my favourite.

MELBOURNE WATER
The beverage I drink the most of, so must get a mention.

A&W ROOT BEER
The best American drink going around. Available in a few specialty stores here, but for about $3 a can, which is mental.

GJ's ICED CHOCOLATE
The best commercial iced chocolate going around. Delicious.

ICED CHOCOLATE (That place on Glenhuntly Rd)
It's got everything, including choc shavings and a good serve of ice-cream. The best part is they pour it into a mug out of a big jug and give you the leftover bit. God bless them.

CARAMEL LATTE FRAPPE (McDonald's)
It took me a while to get the name right, causing some confusion with staff and making me sound like an old man, but now when I say "Caramel Frappe", they know the score. Delicious, hearty and delicious- this drink has it all. Caramel, milk, ice, cream, caramel syrup.......it's fast becoming a favourite beverage. Generally I get one every Wednesday morning when our men's group meets up, and occasionally other times when i just happen to pass by a McDonald's. Check it out.

ANZAC DAY

Started the morning with a lovely McDonald's breakfast. I went for the Bacon and Egg roll and a Caramel Frappe, which would have to now be in my top 10 drinks of all time (actually I might update this in my next blog). The lines were mental and it took about half an hour for our drinks to come. When they did come they'd stuffed up my order and given me a small frappe instead of the tall. Understandably, I was livid. I wasn't going to let this event bring me down though.

We moved onto Lilydale Lake after this and let Isaac have a run around. We fed ducks, played on the playground and had a run around. Here's some pics.








After we finished here it was back home for a nap and chill out. Later we went to Eastland, which only opened at 1pm in honour of the Diggers. We ate, shopped and grabbed a few small things.

When we got home I watched the end of the footy, read the paper and pottered.

Had a succulent roast for dinner, then watched "The Nativity Story". Here's my IMDB.com review.

"The Nativity Story" is, surprisingly, the story of the birth of Jesus. Normally when you think a Christian film, you think bad acting, cheap sets and average directing. This was refreshingly different. The cast did well with what they had, except maybe the Three Wise Men, generally the sets were good and the directing was solid. The main thing separating this and the many previous versions of this classic story was that the cast was generally Middle Eastern (except the Kiwi playing Mary) and the movie had a much more authentic feel about it.

It was obviously not as ground breaking as "The Passion Of The Christ", but this movie did cast a new light on several of the events surrounding Jesus' birth and therefore gave a new perspective eg the engagement of Joseph and Mary and the turmoil the pregnancy would have caused, the revelations given and most of all to me, the awesomeness of Jesus coming to earth in the form of a baby.

Not a Hollywood blockbuster, but not too bad at all.

After this wifey hit the hay and I watched the last 3 quarters of the Cats v Freo game. When I turned on amazingly the Dockers were in front. Just earlier that day I'd thought that this would be a classic game for Freo to win. No-one gave them a chance, plus Geelong had been pumped up in the media here all week about how players would be taking pay cuts because the team was so awesome and they'd probably win the next 5 premierships. The Dockers got out to a really big lead on the back of some great defensive work, the play of Pav and Bell and the fact that Geelong were stinking it up. Some how Geelong clawed their way back and ended up getting the win. Amazing team, I can't see anyone else who'll trouble them except maybe Hawthorn. That will be 1 footy game I get to this year.

What happens when your 2yr old gets to the 100's and 1000's

My weekend

Had a big weekend in. Here's how it went down.

Started my weekend Friday night with a trip to Knox for dinner, a quick shop and then some Bubble -T with the family. Finished it up watching the end of the footy (a new Fri night tradition).



Saturday morning started with some panckaes and a read of the paper. I was sat there thinking "how good is this" when Isaac threw a flannel at me, knocking my home-made iced coffee all over the paper and then all over me and the carpet. Paper ruined and I needed to get changed. Great.

Pottered around for a bit, then decided to take the boys for a walk to the shops to grab a few things. On the way back decided to treat myself and Isaac to a "Subway". I got a copy of the "Herald Sun" they had and started enjoying my sub and some redemption for the morning incident. Things were going great until Isaac tipped my large Fanta all over the paper and then me, ruining that paper, my clothes and creating a nice mess on the floor. I was crestfallen. We walked out, me looking like an absolute mess, and came home.

In the arvo Tara's mates Lisa and Louise came over and we hung out, ate and watched the Crows (it was mostly me watching the Crows). Lovely afternoon.

At night we watched "Amazing Grace" (see below), then Tara hit the hay while I watched the very end of the Collingwood/Nth Melbourne game. I cracked up when Didak missed that goal. One of my favourite footy watching moments ever. After that watched a bit of IPL before going to bed.


Sunday morning started with church, then home to watch the basketball (see below). Pottered in the afternoon, made some calls and watched some footy.

Great weekend.

Go Jazz

Got home from church and sat right down to watch the Jazz v Rockets game. Some thoughts.....

-To my surprise Okur did little and AK47 (pictured) was great.
-Mutombo sure played a lot (27min all up- felt like a lot more). Did a decent job though with 9 boards and 3 blocks, although his boxing out early was poor.
-Houston had some pretty ordinary lineups out there at times, while for the Jazz every player contributed.
-Scola is much better than i thought. Finished with 14 and 13. Not doing the Argentinian basketballer stereotype much good though. I like Harpring matching up on him, hope to see more of it in the series.
-I love Paul Millsap
-Deron is a gun. Started shooting more in the 4th to put the game away. Good sign. My only issue with D Will and Stockton before him was sometimes they just keeping pumping it inside to struggling big guys when they are good enough to put the game on ice.

Amazing Grace

Had been interested in seeing this for a while, but wasn't in a big rush. When a movie is set in the 1800's, it's hard to get excited about it. I'd been let down by "Picnic At Hanging Rock" and that was in the 1900's, so this was even older. Anyway we got it out last night- here's my IMDB.com review.

"Amazing Grace" tells the story of William Wilberforce's push to abolish slavery in Britian. It's based upon a true story and follows his life from when he first entered politics through to when he finally oversaw slavery's downfall (sorry to ruin the end for you if you didn't know this).

It's not overly enthralling, but does pretty well for a movie set in the olden days. Gruffud does a solid job as Wilberforce, and the rest of the cast is pretty good and it's probably a little better than I imagined, but I won't be rewatching it anytime soon. There's good insight into his battle with working his faith with his career, plus the battles he faced along the way. Some inspiration to be drawn from following through on his believed calling in life and how to carry yourself in an uphill battle.

NBA Playoffs Rd 1 Predicitons

The NBA Playoffs 2008 looks to be the most exciting in years. My beloved Jazz have a decent shot at it and I think they are a strong chance to make it out of the West. During the playoffs I'll make some series predictions. Here's them for Rd 1.

HAWKS v CELTICS
The Hawks team should be good to watch, but they will be totally outplayed by the Celts. Boston will get a nice ride to the second round.
Prediction: Celts 4-0

PISTONS v SIXERS
The Sixers should present a few headaches for the Pistons (Iguodola, Dalembert) and should be able to sneak a game, but the Pistons know they need to get their game on in prep for the inevitable Boston matchup.
Prediction: Pistons 4-1

RAPTORS v MAGIC
Should be a tough series. The Raptors pose some big problems at PG for the Magic, but the Magic throw them some major issues with their versatile frontcourt of Lewis and Turkoglou. The Raptors have some shooting coming off the bench, but these guys are extremely streaky.
Prediction: Magic 4-2

WIZARDS v CAVS
The Wiz did a good job holding together with Arenas out and he got in just enough games for them to get used to him back in the team, albeit off the bench. The Cavs haven't meshed well yet, but they have Lebron, which fixes a few issues.
Prediction: Cavs 4-2

JAZZ v ROCKETS
Biased obviously here, but with Ming out and the recent injury to Alston, the Jazz should be way too strong. Okur has been awesome lately, which helps as he single handedly killed his own team in last year's playoffs, plus he'll have Mutombo guarding him outside. Jazz too strong and too hungry.
Prediction: Jazz 4-2

SUNS v SPURS
Stud's defence last year in this series was putrid, so getting 25min of Shaq on Duncan instead will be a major help. San Antonio can't cover Shaq and Stud on the floor at the same time, plus Hill's veteran savvy will be a major boost. Here's where the Spurs slide begins.
Prediction: Suns 4-3

MAVS v HORNETS
Should be an interesting series. I'm predicting Paul to play like an absolute freak in the playoffs, but who knows what you'll get from the rest off the relatively inexperienced playoff squad (excluding Peja). Kidd and Dirk will be playing with a chip on their shoulder...this should be a classic.
Prediction: Mavs 4-2

LAKERS v NUGGETS
The Staples centre will be rocking and Pau and Kobe will be hanging out to show they are a title threat. The Nuggets are wildly unpredictable and for this reason should steal a couple. Kobe will be smelling blood though and won't let his team go down.
Prediction: Lakers 4-2

Things that happened this week

BARRY HALL
You know it's big when it cracks the news in the US. This was written in the Basketbawful email I receive daily

Barry Hall: Watch this video of Barry Hall punching out Brent Staker and then throwing up his arms in that "What? I didn't do anything?" way we all know too well and then tell me that the first name that popped into your head wasn't Bruce Bowen.




TASMANIA
Made another trip down to Tassie this week. The main highlights were...

-Getting to roll out some new Tassie jokes eg "so did people down here watch that incest story on 60 Minutes and go 'what's the big deal'".
-Discovering the Cream Bun at "Banjo's". Awesome.
-The motel we stayed in. We'd been jokingly told we were staying at a backpackers as all the motles were full due to the TARGA race. We ended up staying at a beautiful resort that was really cheap. One of the best parts was my dinner- fish beer battered in james Boags plus country style chips. Breathtaking.



FANTASY BASKETBALL
The season is now over, meaning over the next 6mths I'll be on the computer a lot less. Luckily we still have 2mths of Playoffs to watch, which should be the best evrr. Even though the Foxtel coverage is poor, still should get to see lots of Jazz/Suns/Celtics games. Some exciting teams in there such as the Hawks and Sixers, but probably won't see much of them.

More Cowbell!

This clip is continually removed from YouTube. Check it out while it's alive!

Comedic genius

The weeks that were

Apologies to my loyal readers for the lack of blogs recently. Been away a bit, plus really busy this week for work, so blogs have been low on my priority list. Some random thoughts and highlights.

FOOTY
Watched a lot of it this weekend. Man Port stunk it up big time. Didn't get to see much of the Crows, which sounds like it was a good thing.

TV
Besides sport, doesn't seem like there's much to watch these days. Looking forward to the return of "Prison Break", hopefully in the next month or so. "Fatties" (Biggest Loser) got a bit boring during the "confront your fears by jumping off a cliff" week, but caught enough tonight to see Michelle get eliminated. She must be annoyed.

FANTASY BASKETBALL & FOOTBALL
In basketball am looking at best a 5th place finish. Have had some good results recently, but too far behind in some cats to make a decent ladder move.

Getting more into the "Supercoach". Have a decent team and picked well from the first week. Just a shame you can't update your team more frequently than in basketball.

HOLIDAYS
Just 3 weeks to our QLD holiday. Should be great. Finish off our bookings and plans this week.

Lucky You

You'd think a movie based upon poker featuring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore couldn't miss. You'd be wrong.

"Lucky You" stars Eric Bana as Huck Cheever (another dumb character name), a down and out poker player who always just goes too far with his bets. Huck lives in the shadow of his father, LC Cheever (Robert Duvall-showing up the rest of the cast), a champion poker player. One night while out at the casinos, Huck comes across Billie Offer (an even worse name, played by Drew Barrymore),who intrigues him. They soon go out on a date and Huck treats her to watching him play poker with her money. She has a great night and they spend the night together. It looks like these two will start a nice little journey together, until Huck steals some money from her. She finds out and is livid and decides to end their brief courtship. Huck keeps bouncing around the casinos, trying to get an entry into the World Championship. After several failures and discouragements, Huck ends up getting a backer and gets his dream.

Will Huck win the Championship?
Will he sort out the issues for his father?
Will Billie decide she was a bit harsh on Huck and give him another chance?

I won't answer these questions, for you, but I'll share the following....

-Eric Bana was not convincing at all as a poker player. Not sure if it was a bad script or he was just mailing it in, but he was pretty average.
-The poker stuff was pretty lousy, especially Huck's speech about how poker is so pure because when you get to a table you're all even. Um, no you're not. Some are better at it, some have massive gambling problems and some are major hustlers.
-Drew was pretty poor too. She wasn't given much to work with...actually her character had no depth and shouldn't have even ended up in the movie. The relationship had about 20min screen time I think and wasn't key to the movie.

Summary: you won't feel "lucky" that you spent $3.95 on this at the end of the movie

Great Tom Cruise Impersonation

For the upcoming "Superhero Movie"