Eden Park redvelopment

The redevelopment plans for Auckland's Eden Park were unveiled today and I have to say im mighty impressed!


As part of the bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Govt and NZRU guaranteed to expand Eden Park to at least 60 000 (up from the current 45 000).

Now if youre not familiar with Eden Park - it basically developed like a monster - building new stands one at a time - so basically its awful and an embarassment - certainly not in the same league as Twickenham, Ellis Park, Stade de France or Stadium Australia.

Basically what they are going to do is demolish the South West, South, and Panasonic Stands along with the archaic Eastern Terraces. They will be replaced by a three storey stand, and an extension to the 1999 built ASB Stand. Only the ASB Stand and the West Stand will remain - fantastic!. The facade of the new stand will be transparent too - so it should look cool too.

Its great to see that we're actually doing this right (i had heard rumours that temporary seating was to be added around the perimeter!?!?!?)

Plastic Surgery

Well today I checked into my second bout of cosmetic surgery.

Now that everyone's either saying "Oh My Gawd!" or "Mmmm Yeah its about time" - ill explain. I went in to have a sty removed from under my eye - which you had probably noticed, and were just too polite to say anything. Only thing it turns out it wasn't a sty after all, it was a cyst.

So anyway my Plastic Surgeon - Mr Adams, injected a local anaesthetic into my lower eyelid in three places. This stung. Three times. Then using a scalpel, cuts it off, stiches my eyelid back together and we're done. All up it took half an hour.

Only slight issue (which they explained would happen in advance) is that I now have a black eye. When they told me it would happen - I said "fantastic, that'll do my street cred wonders".

So yeah im well hard. As I said to one of my colleagues when he said "What does the guy look like? ha ha" - Watch it son.

PS Whats my other bout of cosmetic surgery you ask? I was counting braces on my teeth! which is technically cosmetic surgery - just makes that opening line a little more shocking!

Burnt

I had a really good feeling about the Socceroo's, there was a romantic quality to their story - having the curse lifted by John Safran (i kid you not), actually making it to the round of 16 from a pool - in which to be fair they shouldnt have won a game, and going up against a thus-far woeful Italian team.

But my gut feeling has let me down for the first time in this virtual comp. I scored 0 this morning - zip, nada, nothing. And I blame Australia, and its people. Well them and the Swiss (I should have known better than to back that crowd - get off the fence! Nazis)

On the bright side, I still lead Angus (or "Cosby"as he likes to call himself - I know WTF?) by 20 points, Nath has now passed me, but considering he always beats me at these things - I can handle that, also Karen has extended her lead - but I just take comfort in the fact that she too is beating Angus.

Spain play France tomorrow and Brazil play Ghana. Hopefully I can pick up at least some points there!

PS. How much did England miss Peter Crouch and his wicked robot dance???

Movie: Munich *****

And rounding out my freezing night in, Steven Speilberg's Oscar nominated, Munich.

The 1972 Munich Olympics are remembered for many things - US Swimmer Mark Spitz won a record 7 gold medals, New Zealand's rowing 8 won gold, and as a result the world heard God Defend New Zealand for the first time (before then God Save the Queen was played). But of course the event that cast the greatest shadow was the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes.

A group of Palestinian militants called Black September broke into the athletes village and took the 11 athletes hostage, before murdering them all - all the hostage takers were later killed by German police.

Speilberg's film basically covers what happened next.

Mossad (the Israeli secret police) were then ordered by Prime Minister Golda Meir to hunt down and assasinate the 11 people who were behind the attack.

This is some of Speilberg's best work if you ask me, he goes to great length to not condemn either people, pointing out that theyre both as bad as each other. While the group of Eric Bana led Mossad agents are hunting down everyone and anyone, we're continually being told of the revenge attacks by the Palestinians - which are in response to the Israeli revenge attacks, which were in response to....and so on.... You see Speilberg's point.

This is also some of Eric Bana's best work - the key thing is that he comes across as human - bursting into tears when he talks to his newborn daughter etc.

If you ask me Speilberg was robbed. Crash who picked up the Best Picture Oscar, while quite good - isn't a patch on this. The problem of course is that this film is waayyyy too political for the Academy. Also as New Zealander I guess I do look at this from a neutral perspective, and go into watching it with no particular agenda - completely generalising but you could imagine how an American audience would see nothing wrong with Israel's action in taking revenge for an act of terror - not seeing that there would be implications.

I fully recommend this, it gives a new perspective on terrorism, and how nations should react. As the saying goes - an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

Movie: Thumbsucker ****

You know its bloody cold when you drive to the Lyall Bay Warehouse to buy another fan heater (for only $12 too I might add).

So what better way to spend a cold saturday night than sipping merlot, eating fish and chips and watching DVDs?

I just watched Thumbsucker, it's about a 17 year old - Justin who funnily enough, sucks his thumb and is basically a coming of age tale.

Justin's buddhist orthodontist - Perry, played by a hilarious Keanu Reeves, hypnotises him and tells him he needs to find his inner animal (which is a deer btw) to stop his thumbsucking. Instead Justin finds prescription drugs (which enables him to become a champion debater), then pot, then sex to take his mind off his problems, before realising that everyone has their skeletons and issues.

Lou Pucci is stand out in his role as Justin, picking up Best Actor gongs at both Berlin and Sundance film festivals, and there are great turns by the odd debate coach - Vince Vaughn, and his mother Tilda Swinton (White Witch in Narnia).

This is a fantastic film in much the same style as Garden State, Donnie Darko etc. Thumbsucker makes it points well and and is very humourous along the way. Great first film for director Mike Mills.

Los Pumas

The All Blacks play Argentina in Buenos Aires this weekend. Naturally the largely arrogant NZ public are expecting a thrashing.... but im not so sure.

I expect the ABs to win, but we have never, and I mean never, played well in Buenos Aires. In 1986 we drew with Hugo Porta's side (the Maradona of Rugby in Argentina) and the last time we were there was in 2001, where only a last minute Scott Robertson try saved the ABs.

This time around the selectors have continued with their rotation policy, by selecting an entirely new starting 15 from the series against Ireland. Big Jerry will captain the side, and Dan Carter plays his first test this year.

The media are also saying we should only play our top 15 - you only have to look back at the 99 and 03 World Cups to see that doesnt work - both times we had players forced to play out of position to cover injuries - Cullen at Centre in 99 and MacDonald at Centre in 03 covering Umaga.

Personally I think its fantastic that we can effectively field two world class teams and expect to win. This doesnt devalue the jersey, it gives us the depth to have the best possible crack at the World Cup next year. Henry and Co are working on the assumption that we are going to probably lose one of our top line players, so its important that other options are there. Who's to say Carter or McCaw wont break a leg or pull a muscle the week before the final? At least we will be prepared.

So this weekend, given the ABs will be trying new options, and the intense nature of a game in South America - dont expect a thrashing.

For the record - My pick for the AB team that will win the Cup.
15. MacDonald, 14. Gear, 13. Muliaina, 12. Mauger, 11. Sivivatu, 10. Carter, 9. Weepu, 8. So'oialo, 7. McCaw (c), 6. Collins, 5. Eaton, 4. Jack, 3. Hayman, 2. Oliver, 1. Woodcock.

Reserves: Sommerville, Mealamu, Flavell, Lauaki, Kelleher, McAlister, Nonu.

UPDATE: Final score All Blacks 25, Los Pumas 19 (3 tries to 1). Referee was a disgrace, way out of his depth.

A wins a win and as captain Jerry Collins said during his post match interview - "Its not the sort of game people want to see, but ff oh ah who cares"

Gingers

Check out this site, its about promoting the rights of the souless ginger kids.

Keane, Under the Iron Sea ***1/2

Bought Keane's new album late last week, and gave it a listen over the weekend.

Their last album - Hopes and Fears was fantastic, but it did have a problem, 90% of the songs were played with the same instruments, at almost exactly the same tempo, meaning it could get just a little tedious (although we're not talking James Blunt tedious).

The new album, Under the Iron Sea is good, but given they are trying new things, some parts just dont come off. The first single, Is it any Wonder, is loud, brash and and fairly rock n roll - its only ok, and already im a little over it - as its just not very Keane.

Stand out tracks for me, is track 10 - Try Again, which is a stunning quiet track and tracks 3 and 4, Nothing in My Way and Leaving So Soon? which are classic Keane.

Oh the whole though there are way too many holes for me to rate this. Hopes and Fears was a better alround album, but this still has some great tracks and is definitely worth a listen.

You can listen to track samples here

Would you have invested?

This is an actual photo of the staff of Microsoft in 1978, note Gates at bottom left. Question is - would you have invested? You would be a millionaire now, but hmmmmm Im thinking not.

Japan wins whaling vote

Japan gained a majority at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) for the first time in 20 years.

Japan passed a resolution saying the the Whaling moratorium was no longer necessary by 33 votes to 32. Included in that 33 is the Solomon Islands where Australia and New Zealand both have large contigents of troops restoring the governments authority, and land-locked Mongolia and Mali, full list below.

All is not lost - for Japan to re-start commercial whaling, they would need a 75% majority. this resolution basically says that the commission (world) will turn a blind eye, by saying that whaling isn't wrong.

I think the Japanese need to be shown an economic argument - such as the amount of money that could be made through tourism etc.

Shame Japan.

Full voting as follows
(NZ and Japan are first in each list so you can pick the goodies from the baddies easily!)
AYES
JAPAN, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Denmark, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea, Iceland, Kiribati, South Korea, Mali, Marshall Isl, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Russia, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & Grenadines, Senegal, Solomon Isl, Suriname, Togo, Tuvalu.

NOES
NEW ZEALAND, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Czech Rep, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Oman, Panama, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America.

Abstentions
China, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Kenya.

Just a glance at those lists makes you realise its basically two groups - Whaling nations (Japan, Iceland, Noway Denmark) and the third world, versus the developed world. With all due respect, who has heard of Suriname?? Japan has poured aid into these countries (estimated $400m) and got them to join the commission, and vote for their outrageous resolutions.

PS. On the bright side, Japan did lose the vote to be able to hunt Dolphins and Seals - "for science".

Home renovations

Well kind of anyway, the weather has been just awful for the last fortnight. Freezing, raining/hailing etc.

Now the window in my bedroom had a rusty hinge, now it has a broken hinge, and was flapping in the gale-force winds last night. Naturally, being the home handy man that I am, I just had to fix this.

So ive nailed the window shut, and taped up the gap around the window (where the wind was blowing through) with duct tape. Hell yeah.

So I spent $8000 doing the bathroom up, and used nails and duct tape to fix the bedroom.

Bloody hell

WARNING: Content is a tad disgusting.

Not sure how widely I had told the story of my blocked drain earlier this year, and you need to know the backstory to frame todays episode- so heres a little background.

Earlier in the year I heard a gurgling sound, went into the bathroom and found the bowl full - so i flushed and it went away - later that night there was more gurgling - but this time not just water was returned - in fact not too much water at all! This time the returned goods couldnt be flushed however, so I had to use a tupperware container (bucket wouldnt fit - so it was that, a dessert bowl, or a saucepan) to pitch the water - out the window. Now while i was scooping this out, I was recalling my recent "stools" and thinking that there was nothing that could have caused this level of blockage?? And then it appeared. A fucking tampon (hence the name of the article). You see my drain is shared with the flat above. So I got the drain unblockers around and they fished out all sorts of goodies including two, yes two maxi pads. Lovely. So that was sorted, toilet flushed again, we got on with the refurbishments etc.

But, this morning..... gurgling. So I yell (while in the shower) you fucking dirty bitch! Not my finest moment. Anyway so I get some more drain people around - these guys were the real deal with a camera and big machine thing. The only problem (well aside from the cost this time - $700) was these guys were so good they found that the bloody maxi pads werent the problem (though they didnt help). No no, it turns out roots have invaded the pipes and are blocking the drain - catching all the toilet paper, tampons etc.

So, now we (me and the owner of the flat above) have to replace the pipes in the ground. Luckily the City Council at sometime had replaced two thirds of it. If they hadnt the estimated cost was approx $17-19 000. Since they had though its only gonna cost $4000.

On a lighter note - their (the drain guys) slogan is "Our business is in the shit". Fantastic.

Anyway - so now not only do I have to fork out $2000, I now have to avoid my neighbour after calling her a fucking dirty bitch. Cue the Curb your Enthusiasm theme!

Elephants flatten Bangladesh village

Another odd spot - (this week has been great for them) A Bangladeshi village has been flattened by a herd of elephants for the last few nights - apparently eveyone is living in boats now as the "beasts" (as the article calls them) come back every night to smash shit up.

Now, elephants have a really long memory and are reknown for holding a grudge - so what the hell did these villagers do?

Back of the net

24 points there today.... not that Im one to gloat - but that is the perfect score. Thats first class.

Ive now stormed up to third in our office comp, and second in hamedom's challenge. In fact the two people who arguably know the least about football are leading! Id be embarassed.

Angus is still last. As Cartman once said - Can I taste your tears? they taste so good!

1939 all over again!

Tomorrow will be pun overload! Germany play Poland tomorrow - only this time its the Poles invading Germany. For those not up on their history (yes im talking to you Mr Whats Galipoli? (pronounced Galy Polly by this serial offender) the Nazi's invaded Poland in 1939 to kick WW2 off - yes yes this is a sick line of jokes and I probably will burn in hell. But im sure the Polish will be starved of possession.

Anyway in other footballing news - Angus is letting his family, country(s)... frankly everyone down with his performance in the virtual - this quote from the lad himself sums it up -

"whos idea was this fuckin gay virtual football thing anyway?.... fuck, fuck, fuck.... "

The language shocks me to be honest.

PS I get the feeling the German defence will suffocate the Polish tomorrow. Ok ok thats the last

Police mistake rugby match for a brawl

An oddspot - A group of guys were playing a game of footy in some Russian city, only to be arrested - as the cops thought it was a brawl!

I guess to the un-trained eye rugby could look like a brawl??

Bathroom nearly finished

Well given how shocking I did this morning on the virtual - we'll turn our focus to other things!

First pic is the before, and the others of course are as it looks today - all thats left to do is the tiles around the wall (which are the floor tiles cut horizontally in half - they will measure 60cm wide, and 15cm high once ive cut them). and then the grouting - which happens tomorrow and Thursday. The second pic shows the wall colour better - you'll note the new bath mat - and matching towels on the ladder heated towel rail.

Go you good thing

Well after my weekend despair over the football shirts - Monday has delivered. Lifestyle sports (whom I wrongly crticised in the earlier article - it wasnt them it was footlocker) delivered big time.

They stock the shirts of most of the teams - not Cote d'Ivoire but hey who cares as long as they have something other than england and brazil.

But I decided against a shirt in the end - and I went for a addidas tracksuit jacket (you know the ones with the stripes down the sleeves). And which country you ask?

Argentina. They beat Cote d'Ivoire - and looked good in the process - theyre exciting to watch, theyre not England and frankly from what Ive seen so far - are probably the only team who might be able to take Brazil (granted - still a long shot - they beat them 3-1 from memory in qualifying). And the final reason for putting my lot in with them - the words across the shoulders. HAND OF GOD. Any who celebrates cheating to beat England - has my support!

There's a World Cup on?

This years FIFA World Cup has actually got me quite excited, I got up this morning and watched both games - in full.

After that - and seeing that I was beating Angus "i couldnt pick a winner to save myself" white in the virtual, I thought I would go and buy a football shirt - to show my colours and all that.

Of course I used to own a Nederland shirt, which got stolen because Chris left the window open - if he had've closed the window of course, I wouldnt have needed to go buying today.

I stupidly thought that since the World Cup at just started that Rebel and Lifestyle etc would have shirts all over the show.... apparently not. Youre in luck if you support Brazil or England... anyone else - forget it!

There were a lot of All White shirts about too - which I guess is a pretty good thing, if only the Knights/Kingz werent so hopeless, football could actually grab this current momentum.

Btw I was of course looking specifically for Cote d'Ivoire - but considering that was unlikely, I had Portugal, Spain and Nederland again in mind.

UPDATE: My Rebel Sport contact (Boyo) tells me theyre slack and dont really do team shirts anymore. So ill have to turn to the internet. Also while chatting we discussed the football - how; boring England was/exciting argentina was/innevitable a brazil win is..... and also the looks on Angus and hamish's faces when theyre knocked out.... again.

Of course I know what im talking about

Virtual World Cup Football has started, and just like NPC and Super 14, half the world has signed up- which means its time to talk football.

Anyway I was wearing my Man U hoody the other day, and a guy from our office starts going on about Man U, how wonderful they are etc, as though we're kindred spirits.

So do I admit to only buying the jumper cos I thought it looked cool? Hell no, I start on about them as well - Alan Smith was a rubbish buy - or so I say!

The problem is - now everytime we chat - its about football! I only know so much! Now its just a matter of time before the whole sham is exposed!

Go Cote d'Ivoire!

Anti Clarkson bollocks

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson has been called an "outstandingly bigoted petrolhead" by Sir Jonathan Porritt, a British environmentalist.

Porritt came out with this because of Clarkson's dismissing of global warming - after he said something like, people like warm weather - so we should all drive big SUVs to encourage global warming.

Now its obvious he is saying this with tongue in cheek, bloody pathetic though to criticise him like that, and blaming him for people not taking global warming seriously.

Brazil 4 All Whites 0

The All Whites went down 4-0 to a star studded Brazil side this morning, in a World Cup warm up match (for Brazil).

It was less of a thrashing than everyone was expecting, mind you the NZ keeper stopped about 20 shots on goal!

Great experience for the All Whites though - playing Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Kaka etc etc.

Ridiculous

I wasnt gonna blog about this - but its got out of control! In case you hadnt caught up - a couple of Hurricanes got into a bit of strife after the Super 14 final.

Basically Canes flanker, Chris Masoe tripped over a guys leg at a bar after the game, thought the guy stuck his leg out - so he punched him. Tana Umaga grabbed Masoe, pulled him aside then while berating him, grabbed the closest object he could find - a womans hand bag which he repeatedly belted Masoe with. Reportedly Masoe then cried.

As it turns it turns out the mobile phone which was in the bag got broken, which Tana has paid for, and Masoe was fined $3000.

Now, the owner of the bag, bless her, has put the bag on Trade Me. They are keeping an eye on it, and removing daft bids (it got as high as $100million). I was shocked when the proper bids went past $2000, but at the time of blogging, its just on $55 000!

Apparently this is a genuine bid - Who the fuck would pay that??

I wouldnt pay more than $50 for that.

Somethings I just dont get!

PS in the three lines since I wrote 55 000, it has now got to $61 000!