Friday Challenge: Worst. Outfit. Ever.

This isn't really a fair challenge, since I've already found the most horrendous image that has ever contaminated the internet. Behold the tightest jeans ever worn (click the picture to zoom in for the full eye-bursting impact of what he is wearing):

Enormous baby!

Buggered mummy.

Bon anniversaire Jenny!

Happy Birthday Bron!

Farewell Lana, or Australian Idol: Sausage Fest 2007

Three weeks, three ladies leave the Australian Idol stage. When the final 12 had a gender imbalance to begin with (7 - 5 to the blokes), this years competition is making it pretty clear what the average female teen voter wishes to see... boys!

Lana has been on the chopping block every week, and with good reason. She was a weak singer and chose boring songs (or made interesting songs boring). I'm not surprised she has been voted off, but I really thought Marty was going this week. He has also been in the firing lines, and produced probably the worst butchering of a song in Idol history (you should check out his rendition of You Sexy Thing, I fully expected the earth to open up and swallow him whole for his crimes against nature).

There are just so many average singers this year, it's hard to predict which one of them will get the chop each week. So far the handful of decent singers have escaped, but it can't be long before they start going in favour of the "cute" boys. And that brings me on to a little rant...

Why is it that last week a few people got slammed for not playing enough of a "rock" song on rock night, but this week Matt Corby scores a touchdown and zero negative feedback for singing a Beatles song on Disco night?? I know "Got to get you into my life" was covered by Earth, Wind & Fire, but what exactly was it about his version that made it disco? And of course the teenie boppers (i.e. people who vote) love the way he looks enough to vote for him if he beltched the national anthem rather than singing, so he is pretty safe doing whatever the hell he feels like. Bah I say... Bah!

Happy Birthday MATT!!!

Hope that it's a rip-snorter!

And here are some more...

Perhaps one for Herky and Altro together?
..or the more military inspired dog...
...do we have any pirate guessing games? (I just love how huge his head looks!)

Challenge Accepted!

Some ideas for Herky's next outfit?

The challenge is set for Friday afternoon....


....awesome Dog outfits!

Glod Bless America, the land of freedom.

Nick's funeral preparations

Nick mentioned some time ago a list of songs he wants at his funeral, so I've been doing a little homework. Check this out.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y !!!!

...was the chant from the side line as Lady's team, Gordon, took on Mirrabooka (sic) at Pennant Hills oval on Sunday morning. We got up bright and early...which was easier for some than other (hey Nick?)..and headed out west (ish) to cheer on the Mighty Gordon!!!The team was in full flight. Luckily we had the guys next to us to tell us what that meant and what Gordon was doing so well...and not so well. We managed to follow the score at least and made appropriate "boo" and "yay" sounds when the rest of the spectators did. We shouted for GORDON! and shouted louder anytime a mirrabooka spectator dared to show any team spirit. I think we did our job damn fine!
The AWESOME cheer squad (or at least some of it)......The AWESOME Winning team!...and the rest of the AWESOME cheer squad (except the most awesomest who was behind the camera!)And finally the AWESOME lady herself! Well done Gordon! you did us proud, and made getting up early worth it!

Deaf in one ear... it explains a lot.

I don't have time for a full length rant today (sorry Matt, I know you love them so), but it would be a sad state of affairs if I can't manage to do my Idol update two whole weeks in a row!

Anyone who watched the excruciating Rock Night on Sunday will probably be surprised that Brianna Carpenter was voted off. I mean, because the rest of them should have been voted off alongside her. I actually missed the show, but in my DEDICATION I went to the Idol website and suffered through all of the horrendous performances for the sake of "journalistic integrity" to this most fascinating of blog updates.

They were all awful, but sad to say Brianna managed to take it to a new level with The Logical Song, where she managed to miss as many notes as she hit. It came out that she has trouble because she is deaf in one ear.

I would have preferred it if Carl "I think Rock = a lame jazz version of Coldplay" Whateverthehellhisnameis had gone, but there is no question that Brianna also deserved to go.

The wait is nearly over.

Disclaimer: Matt is a fat bastard who may have previously mentioned they were doing Futurama movies, but I have an actual release date and box art so he can go to hell.


For those amongst us that enjoy awesome things, you will be pleased to hear that the first of four planned Futurama DVD Movies is due to be released on the 27th of November, 2007 in the US. It is called "Futurama: Bender's Big Score", and will be followed at an unspecified time in 2008 by "Futurama: The Beast of a Billion Backs" and "Futurama: Bender's Game" and finally "Futurama: The Wild Green Yonder" in 2009.

And the plot I hear you ask? "The Planet Express crew fights to save the world from nudist alien internet scammers, who send Bender back into the past to steal the world's greatest treasures. The secret to time travel is tatooed on Fry's buttocks, Leela finds true love, and Fry learns a terrible secret about his destiny and his buttocks." God bless Wikipedia and it's stellar quality control!

Much like the Family Guy movie, each of these movies can be chopped up into several linked episodes, and I believe the plan is to release them as a new series of 12/16 episodes on TV once the final movie has been released.

The Greatest Hero of them All

I thought people might enjoy some random superhero goodness...

Meet Arm-Fall-Off Boy, the possibly the greatest hero of all time! Any guesses as to his secret power?


For those that can't read what he is saying properly, it's "My power will astonish you! Observe as I detatch my limb - and transform it into a deadly weapon! DIE VILLAIN! HA-YAAAA!"

So in the spirit of competition, anyone care to attempt to top this and show me an even more awesome comic book moment? Check this out if you need a place to start... Superman is a Dick, home of awesome (and real) Superman and other comic moments such as this:

Next SMF event

What: my hockey grand final
When: This Sunday morning, whistle blows at 10am. All over by 11:15.
Where: Pennant Hills Park hockey field.
Why: A nice morning out in the sun, a deserving team to support, a nail biting game to watch and as we're playing the same nasty team as in the semis, we'll need a bloodthirsty army that can wreck their putrid imbecile supporters once the rioting breaks out...



How:

Turn off Pennant Hills road onto The Cresent (street opposite the turn-off to Pennant Hills station), take first left then right onto Britannia St. Turn left at the roundabout to turn into Pennant Hills Park.

Follow the road all the way along past tennis courts on the right,

past the blue and green hockey turf (shown with the big red star below) on the right and find the carpark near toilet bloack, with archery targets behind. You'll find the turf just past the toilet block.

Farewell Holly or The Return of Richard's Australian Idol Report

First off I should apologise. I did try and find a picture of Holly's awesomely bad/big hair from the Sunday show, but it wasn't available via google within ten seconds so I went with Plan B (being, whatever came up first).

So, I don't actually have much to say about this decision... I think Holly would have gone sooner rather than later anyway, but I didn't think she was anywhere near the worst on the night. That idiot Mark De Costa who sang Vertigo and dancing like a chimp with parkinsons probably should have gone, or perhaps the extremely boring Marty Simpson... but they weren't even in the bottom three!

Lana Crost (she with the widely spaced eyes) and Brianna Carpenter (she who has a hairdresser with one leg shorter than the other) joined Holly in the shit seats, with Brianna being sent back immediately. I doubt Brianna has long in the competition, because she is doing the cutesy/quirky thing without actually being that cute, so unless she pulls something "normal" out and blows everyone away I think people are going to get pretty tired of her pretty quickly. Lana is just so boring that I just don't think people can sum up the enthusiasm to vote for her.

The judges are more irritating this year than ever... Kyle is perhaps even more dead inside this year than ever before. If you want to see something spooky, try to catch him blinking, he just doesn't. I like that Dicko is back mostly because he doesn't have his head firmly up his arse, but I am just filled with rage any time Marsha or Kyle open their mouths. Why oh why couldn't they both have been sacked in favour of better choices?

Toys in Tumut

APEC was a blessing! How else would we have gotten a long weekend in September to head down to Tumut for some fun on the big tonka toys?...oh and of course to eat our body weight in fine home cookin' and laze in the sun amidst gorgeous green rolling hills and gently lowing cattle!

Arriving late Thursday night to a warm fire and freely flowing wine was a fabulous start. Then to a bright sunny Friday morning and a trip into town for some coffee and supplies while the Franklin family headed to Wagga to farewell their beloved Granddad.

Friday night saw a Nick and Margaret Feast of epic proportions (scaled down to just 4 courses in the end for practicality sake) and a tired but enthusiastic bunch looking forward to our Tonka toy day the next day.

Bright and early Saturday morning while Nick, Sarah and I headed into town for some last minute purchases, the boys took to the Excavator (you're not allowed to call it a Digger apparently or you won't be allowed to have a go on it!) and knocked down some huge pine trees that were irritating Miles. On our return we headed out to find the ute, which brought a whole new bunch of problems with it. We couldn't find the key, then we couldn't get it started, then when we got it out of the shed we found the trailer attached (a good thing) but full of hay (a bad thing). Of course the only solution worth contemplating at Quidong is to pull out a few large tonka toys to sort things out. We all pondered on what a normal farmer might do who doesn't have access to large earth moving equipment?? Anyway, with Sarah the Bacco Whiz fixing the situation we were at least ready to start getting the Ute in working order.

Sarah the Bacco Whiz!

With the trailer empty, the Ute jump started (with a tow from the Bacco), ....and some scary looking chain saws loaded in the back, we headed for the hills and some logging activities while G'Nick stayed home playing on the excavator (much to Sarah's concern) and mowed like a madman!

Nick on the Excavator

Nick the Mowing god!

Since utes have limited cabin space, Sarah and I sat in the trailer...what a view! And such a different colour from the brown dry land pre-wedding!!
Miles took the lead in yet another toy...
...until we found the perfect tree. Miles needed a new telegraph pole so a straight sturdy tree needed to be brought back with us.

I did my bit(e)!

We chopped and we carried and we loaded the Ute full of firewood

With Flit driving the ute, Sarah and I holding on and freezing in the back, Matt and Miles drove the tractor and dragged our new telegraph pole home. There were a few hairy moments going around corners where the log threatened to roll off the side of the hill or get stuck in a pesty blackberry bush, but we were triumphant in the end! Even Noodle (who had stayed home studying Med Chem all day) came out to see us parade through the gates!

Matt in the tractor leading the parade home.

After some yummy scones and jam, and a quick look at the handy work of mowing man Nick, we headed out for one last go on the yellow toy. The trees the boys had knocked down earlier in the day needed to be pushed into a pile for our giant bonfire!

Sarah showing me how to drive the excavator out to the bonfire! SOOOO much FUN!!

Sunday brought more sun and a relaxing breakky.

One of Noodle's rare appearances.

MMMMM...pancakes and ice cream for breakfast!

We left early (about 11.30am) after breakfast to avoid the holiday traffic. After many visits out this way Flit finally won the battle and was allowed to visit the Dog on the Tuckerbox. Happy as a pig in mud!
....Not really sure what happened to the holiday traffic though...we got home in record time!

A brilliant way to spend a weekend and a first wedding anniversary to boot!

Hockey Semi Final

It was a nervous Gordon team that took to the field at 8 am this morning. A few changes to the lineup and only 1 sub to the opposition’s 3. Our long weekend was on the line - a win and we’re straight through to the Grand Final on September 16. A loss and we’d be cancelling our long weekends away for APEC to face the other semi-final looser.

Mirrabooka, one of only two teams to ever beats us, won the toss and the game was kicked off with a strong break from them before the Gordon team settled into our rhythm and played our game, dominating the first half, setting up a handful of goals but failing to convert. Until the first thud into the back of the Mirrabooka goal. Gordon finally turned our lead into the first goal of the game.

Mirrabooka’s half time pep talk must have been sensational because after changing ends, they came out harder and more determined than before. The game started getting messy as both teams reverted to directionless whacks that saw free hit after free hit swapping from one team to the other. Gordon worked hard in the fray of the fresh Mirrabooka faces circulating onto the turf but after a bungle by the Gordon back, a sudden break saw us on the back foot and our goalie, Gracie, was no match for the three players that saw the first Mirrobooka goal scored half way through the first half.

From there, the game belonged to Mirrabooka. They were pumped, they had a crowd of vocal supporters on the sideline and still had three fresh subs. We shut down break after break and cringed at a half dozen short corner penalties awarded against us but our defence held out. That was until our Centre Half got smacked in the arm (by our own back) and had to go off. The panic in our coaches voices could only be detected by us as they ran our only sub on into wing, shuffled a wing into inner, inner into half, half into back and another back to cover the new Centre Half hole in our lineup.

We were scared. We could see our long-weekend melting away before our eyes. Mirrabooka seemed to grow in height and bulk, started making smug comments and reeled in any usual gestures of a friendly game. When we won free hits, the Mirra girls close to the ball refused to pass it back to us and made Gordon players run over to get it so we could line up to take the free hit. They showed no signs of lagging and their supporters were bellowing from the sideline. Our confusion continued as our coaches made more changes to our positions from the sideline. No subs now and we ALL needed a breather.

And then a change blew through. A sudden break from Gordon, the Mirrabooka goalie came out to kick it but a quick pass off saw a Gordon player with the ball, a clear 2 m shot at the goal, and took it! The Mirra girls could hardly believe it and pounded back to the half way, ready for revenge. They started with the ball and were just setting up their usual V formation down to the Gordon goal. We were pulled back, ready to defend our 1 goal lead by any means possible when…

WHISTLE! Full time and a Gordon win! The Mirrobooka supporters fell silent for the first time. Our coaches were shaking, the injured player was almost beside herself on the sideline, the waning Gordon players struggling to believe how their luck had changed! The Mirrobooka girls bitterly shook our hands and threatened to meet us in the Grands in two weeks time…

Happy Birthday Richard!