tipping comp

So with a colleague I have started a workplace tipping comp for the world cup and I thought I'd post my picks here.

We have broken it down so you do your picks for the first 20 games as well as naming your picks for who will make up the final four and who will win. We are giving 1 point for each right guess during the round robin and the 2 points from the round of 16 onwards. Its 25 bonus points for correct winner and 5 for each of the final four you guess.

So here goes - i will put my pick and then the actual result.

Sth Africa v Mexico - Mexico (Draw)
Uruguay v France - Draw (Draw)
Argentina v Nigeria - Argentina (Argentina)
Sth Korea v Greece - Draw (Sth Korea)
England v USA - Draw (Draw)
Algeria v Slovenia - Slovenia (Slovenia)
Germany v Australia - Germany (Germany)
Serbia v Ghana - Draw (Ghana)
Netherlands v Denmark - Netherlands (Netherlands)
Italy v Paraguay - Italy (Draw)
New Zealand v Slovakia - Draw (Draw) FUUCKKK YEAAHHH
Cote d'Ivoire v Portugal - Portugal (Draw)
Brazil v Nth Korea - Brazil (Brazil)
Honduras v Chile - Chile
Spain v Switzerland - Spain
Sth Africa v Uruguay - Uruguay
France v Mexico - Draw
Greece v Nigeria - Draw
Argentina v Sth Korea - Argentina

I will add the next 20 odd games when we do those.

Now my top 4 is based on who should roughly win the anticipated head to heads during the round of 16 and quarters.
My top 4
England
Brazil
Spain
Argentina

Winner - Argentina

Full House in the Ring of Fire

Phoenix v Newcastle Jets in the Minor Semi Final

Now for Sydney FC

One more week

Video below of the goals and that penalty shoot out from last weekend - my voice has now recovered!

It's amazing that in the last 18 months or so the best events at the Stadium have been two football games (NZ V Bahrain and the Phoenix v Glory play off) and the first ACDC concert - not one of the rugby games, including the Bledisloe Cup game in September come close.

An oldie but a goodie - orlando

This still makes me laugh


Fuck You Orlando music video

Dean | MySpace Video

How to make a hollow book

Don't say this blog isnt useful!

How to guide to TV News

Bus crash causes major slut spill

E30 vs 190e

So on day one of the E30, Costa and I had a bit of a battle royale on the highway between Otaki and Wellington.

We were basically re-enacting the famous German touring car battles of the 80s when Mercedes tried to challenge BMW's E30 dominance by building the 190e with Cosworth Engineering.

Fair to say the E30 took line honours despite the smaller engine - it's all about the tactics hehe.

Also while I think of it you can actually buy the Cosworth.

Holiday fun!

I had loads of things to do these holidays - buy a new car, check, sweep stairs, check, buy some other unnecessary shit, check, have a suitably disastrous new years eve involving taking people to A&E following juvenile pranks, check. But one thing remains - its time for a physical challenge kids.

Learn the Beat It dance and break that shit out on the first day back in the office.

The new addition - a dirty E30

So I went and bought myself a motoring classic today - a BMW E30 coupe. The beauty of the E30 is its simplicity - ie the electrics cant shit themselves like they did in the Peugeot because there aren't really any. But the main reason I bought it is because they are wicked to drive and relatively low cost.

It's NZ new - still has the original Shelly BMW label. Rock and Roll. This here is an artists impression of what me driving it up my windy/hilly road could look like.

Funny ad

At this time of year I really have fuck all to say - so here's a funny ad

Christmas greetings

Xmas with Sufjan Stevens... (who you will know from that song in Little Miss Sunshine)

I love peter kay

I was feeling really shitty last week and was off crook for a couple of days so I watched every episode of Phoenix Nights - seasons 1 and 2 back to back and then backed it up with Peter Kay's stand up from Bolton. I fucking love Peter Kay, I think he's brilliant - anyway, he made me laugh so I thought I'd share

Everyone's a little bit racist

Some friends of mine just got back from New York and while there they checked out Avenue Q the musical - it's basically a pisstake of Seasame St.










I cracked up listening to the soundtrack, so I thought I would share my favourite track - Everyone's a little bit racist.

A desk with a view

Ok so I'm writing this at my desk which isn't so good (if you notice the time), but I can't really complain about my view tonight.

The picture doesn't really capture the brightness of it, but hey, if you want to assist in my entertainment you can do your own tree design here.

Some things

Does anyone else really not give a fuck about Tiger Woods crashing his car? Or whether or not he was shagging around? I just don't really care, so I'm not sure why so many column inches have been dedicated to it.

Also, in the last week I have learnt that Star Wars Lego is badass and I really, really want a motorised Lego AT-AT. This came up because one of my colleagues found out that her husband has a secret collection at work - including a Death Star.

Some quality in the form of a slightly incendiary opinion piece from Mike Moore on how green politics has become a religion. I do like his style at times.

And finally, I sitting here wondering what I am doing awake and more importantly what the hell I am doing watching English Premier League... of Darts. In what other country would you see 8000 people turn out to watch a game of Darts?

Supporting a culture of death

I'm not going to link to it, you can google and find their site if you must, but Right to Life are calling for a boycott of Telecom since it "supports the killing of unborn children."

Of course this is in response to the Family Planning Association being part of the community sponsorship programme.

From Right to Life's blog post:

Right to Life is disappointed that Telecom New Zealand has been supporting a culture of death by making annual grants to the New Zealand Family Planning Association of $50,000 for 2006 and 2007.

Right to Life is totally opposed to grants being made to this controversial Association. We know that the Family Planning Association is strongly pro-abortion. The Association is the major abortion referral agency in New Zealand; it believes that we need abortion as a back up for so called failed contraceptives.

What pricks.

Intercollegiate Quidditch

I chucked this on the facebook a while ago when I wasn't bothering posting on here.

But anyway, did you know there is an Intercollegiate Quidditch league in the US? How awesome/dorky is that? It's a whole step up from US Civil War re-enactments and medieval jousting contests... at Manakau.


That's some logo huh? But the best bit has to be running around with a broom like a six year old. I think you know you've hit rock bottom when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, dressed up in your quidditch gears holding your broom - you would just think to yourself; 'what the fuck is wrong with me? what the hell am I doing?'

Anyway, check it out, I'm sure it will catch on...

Christmas tree

Shameless promotion really, but this is pretty cool I think - I'm off to Auckland today for the launch of our Christmas tree. Wellingtonians will have also noticed that one has popped up in Frank Kitts Park as well this year which gets switched on from Tuesday night. (hard not to notice a 30m or seven storey tall tower)

There a phone boxes at the base of the tree for kids to call santa from - their wishes shoot up the tree to the star. For the older kids you can just sit on the beanbags underneath it and gaze at the lightshow.

So check it out - Western Park, Ponsonby Rd Akld or Frank Kitts Park, Jervois Qy Wgtn.

Vid gives you the idea

Looking for Eric

Tonight I went and watched the very good comedy drama, Looking for Eric at the Lighthouse. It's about a middle aged guy named Eric from Manchester who has hit rock bottom in his life. He is bringing up two little shit teenage boys who both hate him and a daughter (and grand daughter) by another woman whom he still longs after. Basically, Man U legend Eric Cantona appears to him as a hallucination, acting as a desperately needed life coach and personal trainer.

It's essentially like mixing the Premier League with the Full Monty - along the same lines as numerous other gritty British flicks, but still very funny and definitely worth checking out. The strong cast is made up of several well known faces from shows like the excellent, Shameless, but Steve Evets is particularly strong as Eric.

Oooh ahh Cantona! Check out the trailer.

So anyway, while we're on Cantona - here are a few highlights (all of which are of course referenced in the film). The amazing goal from the 1996 FA Cup final against Liverpool that he powered into the net off a Beckham corner that rebounded off the keeper. The kung fu kick against a Crystal Palace fan (which was later used by Ash as the cover of their single 'Kung Fu'), and lastly the subsequent press conference where he blew everyone away with his genius philosophical insights.

The goal


The kick


The press conference