Budget airlines

They aren't always what they are cracked up to be.....this Adam Air flight in Indonesia fell to bits while landing, talk about crazy, an assortment of nuts and bolts that happen to fly in formation! But a slightly better result than the plane Adam Air completely lost with no trace last month. So think carefully next time you book the budget online with an airline you don;t know about.

Full article on Stuff.co.nz here....http://www.stuff.co.nz/3970887a12.html

Chappell Hadlee win

You can re-live the end of the 3-0 winning effort on You Tube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6sdaCSiZsU

For the non-cricket fans....

Who says cricket is boring...indeed!

Proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWQV1xs8vq4&NR

Chris Martin Batting Clinic

For gods sakes Bracewell, pick this bloke before he makes any more batting programmes....otherwise were in deep trouble!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qu4oVX-YHE&eurl=

Homoerotic Speights Ad

Mr Smoothfluid had an idea along these lines a while back I recall....this is just outright hilarious!

http://www.spareroom.co.nz/2006/06/11/its-a-hard-road-finding-the-perfect-parody/

Auckland Shaken and Stirred

Imagine my surprise to pick up the paper this morning and hear the Jaffabowl was rocked by three pretty rare earthquakes last night. None of which I felt. I blame the Shiraz that I was drinking at the time. Worst one in the region for 117 years they say.

The NZ Herald ran a typically pathetic tabloid sensationalist headline suggesting Aucklanders ran from their homes and into the streets during these small tremors, the type of which occur every few days over the rest of NZ.

The funniest line I heard was that someone from Wellington suggestion it was somehow appropriate and even poetic that the quakes in Auckland were "shallow". Haha provincial bias in NZ is alive and kicking! 1500 people contacted the authorities over the Auckland quakes, a similar size one in Wellington yesterday attracted 4 comments to the authorities. That about sums it up really!

Bring on a new volcano in the Hauraki Gulf I say, we could use another island or two out there!

You're Cinematic Razor Sharpe

Well seeing Snow Patrol on a hot balmy summers night seemed a funny little juxtaposition of nomenclature. The Razor Review rates it a 7 out of 10, solid and crowd pleasing and high in energy. Having said that though I may be a harsh critic, having had the bar for Irish rock bands set pretty high at U2 last year....still had a great time regardless!

There seemed a very high female ratio in the crowd for a rock concert, and no doubt many of them were hacked off the gig clashed with Grey's Anatomy. And going by the energetic reactions of many of the women theres every chance that Gary Lightbody is going to evolve into the new Tom Jones! An energetic and engaging frontsman.

The band have enjoyed Auckland so much they are jumping off the Sky Tower tomorrow.

Nice warm up by Evermore too. Next gig is a freebie on Sunday- The Feelers, Eskimo Joe, Donald Reid and Evermore (again) at Three Kings Reserve.

And the Chilli Peppers are confirmed for April- their last gig in Christchurch is in there with my top 5 gigs of all time.

And the top 5 I've seen is:

1. U2 2006

2. David Bowie 2004

3. Guns N Roses 1987

4. Radiohead 1997

5. Red Hot Chilli's 2003

As an aside.... I am eagerly awaiting Chinese Democracy, the most expensive and gestated album in history, by Guns N Roses is due for release on March 6....believe it or not 13 years after they started making it. Heres a link to the video for the first single off it .....'T here Was A Time' http://www.gunsnroses.us/

BLACKWASH

Unbelievable but true....we just beat Aussie with 3-0 in a bloody amazing cricket series. Life is sssswwweeeeetttttttt!!!!!! Bring on the World Cup in one months time in the Caribbean....anyone want to sponsor me for a trip there to report back with all the news as it happens? haha I thought not....

Craig McMillan.....ALL is forgiven!

Anyway, saw this on an auction today:


For Sale: One cabinet

One Australian Trophy Cabinet for sale, ......no Bond required. Haha!

The Sydney Morning Herald held no punches in its assessment:

"Cue the blood-curdling scream. Australia's horror tour of New Zealand ended in a violent blur of batting and human suffering last night."
The paper went on to note that it was "not so much a wake-up call as a runaway road-train barrelling through the bedroom wall of Australia's World Cup planners".
For good measure it added: "Every Australian loss on this tour was record-breaking in its own, depressing way."

She's Gonna Blow !!!!

According to the scientists it's a hard out race between the Lahar at Ruapehu and White Island blowing its top now, the Shakey Isles are alive and seriously kicking ass, as Micheal Hussey and any team facing Richie McCaw will confirm:


From Stuff.co.nz.....

White Island might be close to some kind of eruption – but Dino heroically stands defiant.
Scientists have warned White Island in the Bay of Plenty is heating up and experts are closely watching events on a webcam installed in the crater.
Its one of the world's most watched webcams http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcanocam.html but not for the steam, but for Dino, the diminutive dinosaur.
He has made it into the New York Times and on CNN – and might be about to face his greatest moment.
It first appeared in the camera shot in May 2004 and quickly became an Internet hero.
Geological and Nuclear Sciences provide on their site a "before" picture of Dino in the crater – he looks a bit tattered now.

Ten Green Aussies Hangin' By Their Necks!

Its what George Bush must have felt like watching Saddam hang. (The CIA are definetely watching me now!)


Tonight was one of the most memorable sporting achievements in NZ cricket history. We completely annihilated the Australians by 10 wickets. Lou Vincent (pictured), Shane Bond and Stephen Fleming were the stars in the cricket equivalent of a down trou! We closed it out with more comfort than a Fujitsu Air Conditioning system pumping Rexona Antipersperant at the Yellow Pajama mob haha

A few observations:

• Shane Bond has 33 Aussie wickets in 10 matches at 13.12 a piece, including 3 five wicket bags and a hat trick.



• First time in HISTORY that Aussies have lost by 10 wickets



• Stephen Fleming is still the best captain we've ever had



• I hope Jacob Orams finger heals in 4 weeks!



• While the Aussies are understrength, all we hear from them is how much depth they have and how much talent is coming through. Simple fact is they have lost 4 in a row to England and NZ now. And South Africa are waiting for them in pool play at the world cup next month.



• If NZ win either on Sunday or Tuesday, for the first time in official rankings history Australia will not be number one in the world, they will be overtaken by...none other than South Africa....see above point!
  

Sad Day today

Those of you who are in the loop will know what this is about. Not really sure what to say, very little here anyway, other than it would seem appropriate to direct traffic to the Cancer Society website for donations if you are that way inclined.

http://www.cancersoc.org.nz/

Kia Kaha all.

"I Wrote This Song For You....

....But it took a while to get it right"

Yup, Sunday in the sun at the BFM Summer series was a mint way to get recalibrate the amount of blood in my alcohol system after a busy night at Weddingville. Congrats to Nick and Sophie, a wonderful day. You have to watch the little ones at weddings these days...the kids of today are far too knowlegable about the important things in life....

As for the Summer Series gig, the highlight was SJD, complete with NZ's hardest working musician Mr Don McGlashan. Lots of new songs....including the carefully selected post title here.

Has NZ music ever been in such good shape?

Russell Crowe is DEFINITELY Australian

A strange breeze of change is blowing though Australia. That country formerly known as the Liberal Mob has first of all banned the Mexican Wave, and now the Aussie Iconic Male Russell Crowe has escalated the fun police component by banning cheerleaders.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10423146

If you had been at the Kingslander tavern last Friday night you would agree with me that this is an outrage, although it is kinda funny that the Aussies have gone so limp-wristed.

To Beard or Not To Beard

There have recently been unconfirmed reports that a pair of scissors and razor blade my have been utilised to confirm the end of Bearduary. However to counter the rumours a grainy dodgy looking image of someone who could answer the the name of Saddam or Osama have surfaced

At the very least this post will ensure that the CIA will now be reading my blog.

The Weekend's Sport

Some observations:

• The Crusaders have enough depth to limp through to when the 7 'reconditioned' All Blacks return, who will see them into the playoffs. And we know what usually happens from there.
• Hats off to the Jaffa's for turning up in droves to Eden Park for rugby this early.
• How will Australia perform if Ricky Ponting gets injured? Did England give us a clue on that the other night?
• What have Lou Vincent and Jacob Oram been taking?
• Is Sevens a sport? Or something altogether different?

Don't play with matches kids

Bit of a scare....

Was driving home late last night and was one of the first on the scene to house that was well and truly on fire. A pretty frantic few minutes was spent waking neighbours in adjoining flats etc and getting them to get out until the professionals arrived and took over. Hats off to the firemen, and apparently despite worries at the time no one was inside.

Check your smoke alarms folks....I could not believe how quick this place went up in flames.

Grainy cell phone pic .....

The Definition of Public Humiliation

This is up there with David "Can I buy a vowel..." Tua for gameshow embarrasment

2007- Wedding Season?

Just been invited to wedding number 7 for this year! What is going on, is there something in the water?

Congrats to Silverback and Natasha, but sorry guys cruising over to Italy for your wedding is a bit beyond the budget at the moment, unless some kind blog-watcher out there would like to sponsor me!

The good news of course is all these weddings means there will be a rich vein of stag do's this year :-)

Not To State The Obvious....

...but sometimes human nature just can't resist danger huh? It's called "Summit Fever"

For those not in the know, Mt Ngauruhoe has been showing significant signs of volcanic tremor for the past few months. Maybe theres something about to happen...its been a while for this mountain- 1975 was the last big blast there. Look out for volcanic activity here:

http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcanocam.html

....but beware of the White Island Dino-saur.....

Anyway, back to the matters at hand... on our way up to Not Entering Said Crater we passed several unique lava flows, with some funky shapes, including this - the Hound of South Crater anyone?