Hasta La Vista El Paulo!

I can now have a much needed a dry out period from the juice for a while. In the vernacular of Lindon, Its Been Really Real Mate.

Travel safely!

Razor Review- Bon Jovi in Christchurch

This was probably the biggest gig I've seen in ChCh. 30,000 punters, many of whom were reliving their teenage years from the 1980's, packed into the half renovated Lancaster Park for two and a half hours of classic rock from one of the biggest acts on the planet.

Local band The Valves opened up and sounded highly proficient on the big stage. Brent Black is a dynamic frontsman, with shades of Jon Toogoood and the crowd seemed highly receptive to their short set. I'm expecting big things from these guys in the coming year or two.

It was still broad daylight as Jon Bon Jovi hit the stage and grinned like a teenage boy at the crowd. I'm pretty sure in another life he could be a televangelist.... complete with all American attitude and yes girls, those perfect teeth. Its no surprise to hear he's interested in running for public office in the future. Imagine the circus, Jon Bon Jovi vs Arnold The Governator anyone?

They opened the set with one of several new songs that they played from The Lost Highway album over the course of the night, each of which sounded solid enough, despite having received a few terrible reviews when the album came out. They stacked up well live.

The crowd participation began in full earnest second song in with "Shot Through The Heart", and in fact on many of the anthematic hits played the crowd sang so loudly it was hard to hear the band.

My personal highlights were a stonking version of "Runaway" from their first album, and a fantastic solo Richie Sambora rendition of "I'll Be There For You". Sambora may have an extra chin or two these days, but he reaffirmed my suspicion that he's one of the finest guitarists on the planet.

Pretty much all the Greatest Hits were played, with perhaps the exception of "Lay Your Hands On Me" and "Bed of Roses". Surprisingly a number of covers got thrown in, including "Knocking on Heavens Door", "Dancing in the Streets", and the final number "Twist and Shout". Some intriguing choices but all in all a fantastic gig.

And Jon Bon Jovi really suits the Crusaders jersey, which he wore for the encores (including "Wanted Dead or Alive"), and I understand it was presented to him by Richie McCaw himself. I'm sure theres a few ladies who would have liked to be in that room!

All in all I'll give it a 7.5 out of 10.

A new outlook on life

It would appear that like Rattus I have begun 2008 viewing the world though rose tinited glasses. Its not all that bad actually!

Razor Review- Lindon Puffin at the Dux

Ahh the mighty Dux De Lux. The old institution. And who better to see in my first live gig for 2008 and Lyttelton's own Show Pony Lindon Puffin.

As always Lindon played an entertaining and endearing set of folk-rock driven music, interspersed with anecdotes and extended chats between songs. Tonight was particularly good- Lindon is excited about life and about to head off on a world tour, which he will chronicle on film along the lines of the magnificent Figure 8000 documentary that he did around NZ a few years back.

Mr Smoothfluid- look out Lindon is coming to a tavern near you!

Part music, part standup comedy, and with a unique interpretation on what many of us call the mundane, Lindon is somewhat of an unsung hero on the NZ scene. Those of us in the know believe he's destined for big things. And so does Mr Coast-to-Coast Robin Judkins, who is stumping up sponsorship for the world tour.

Show Pony was one of my top ten albums last year, and this neat little gig at the Dux was a worthy showing.

8 out of 10.

Bearduary Returns?

It looks like Jason Eaton of All Blacks and Hurricanes fame has heeded the call, and noted the loss of mana when Haymans Beard came off before that fateful game vs France.

Sustained and prolonged round of applause for this man!

(Photo and article found on here Stuff.co.nz)

A Sad Day

The greatest New Zealander of all time has died, at the age of 88. Rest in peace Sir Edmund Hillary. I have a tear or two in the eye today.

Its been said before, if you must bow your head then let it be to a lofty mountain. Sir Ed is such a mountain.

Todays News Wrap

Click them for the full story links

• German wife flushes husband down the loo

• And while on toilets... some looney got married in a loo dressed in toilet paper
• Australian and Indian Cry-Babies go running to mummy

• The Worlds Dumbest Criminal of the Day award goes to....

• "Hatebook" up and running for those bored with "Facebook"

New Sports Blog

Well most of you know I have a tendancy to prattle on about sports too much, and therefore I do make a conscious effort not to innundate this site with too much sportstalk.

However, for those of you who are keen...I draw you to the attention of Mr Martin Devlin's 'newish' blog. To the great unwashed, Devlin is the former sometimes outspoken breakfast host of Radiosport- and many of us wish he would go back there to his old seat.

Enjoy..the way to Devlin Does Sport is: here
and I'll stick it on my bloglinks also for easy peasy reference, in place of the much missed and sadly cropped Haymans Beard

The Brain Gain?

They say Kiwi's are reportedly fleeing the country in droves and taking their skills with them. More room for us I say, thats great. At least however there is a net migration gain, as we are now bringing 102 years olds in to replace them from the UK.

In all seriousness, hats off to the bloke though...he says he's wanting to move here now because when he's 105 he doesn't want to look back and wish he'd moved to NZ when he was 102! And he's coming over the old fashioned way...by boat.

I sincerely hope Mr Smoothfluid doesn't take that long to come back!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4344602a10.html

How was your New Years Eve?

Mine was soaked in Sake, beer and wine...but not so much that I made a mess of myself.

Welcome to 2008!

Happy new year everyone...2007 is over. It was a year of many highs and lows, and things are set up now for a rollicking good 2008. I shall endeavour to get on here from time to time as usual and hopefully not bore you to tears too much. As long as The Idiots Who Have Looked counter keeps going up I'll keep posting , so thanks for reading!

Anyway it wouldn't be a new years post without Razors top 10 albums from last year. In no particular order of course...and please let me know the great ones I've missed so I can have a listen!

Top 10 CD's for 2007

• Liam Finn- I'll Be Lightning
• Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
• Radiohead- In Rainbows
• Grinderman- Grinderman
• SJD- Songs From A Dictophone
• Manic Street Preachers- Send Away The Tigers
• The Phoenix Foundation- Happy Ending
• White Stripes- Icky Thump
• The Feelers- One World
• Lindon Puffin- Show Pony

Top 5 Gigs 2007

• The Cure at Vector Arena
• Liam Finn at the Kings Arms
• Muse at Christchurch
• Snow Patrol at Christchurch
• Kasabian at the Big Day Out

Xmas in Wellington

Have had a couple of very relaxing days catching up with the whanau in Wellington. Weather hasn't been so great but Xmas dinner was fantastic, as evidenced by the attached pic of my placemat. I hope the rest of you have had an equally satisfying festivity. One more day in Wellington, and then its back home to the new pad!

I have eaten so much I'm going to explode.

And Santa was very kind to me, I'm currently simultaneously drinking and eating, wearing, and listening to all my presents...I am a very lucky man!

Razor Review- The Feelers at home in ChCh on Xmas Eve

Right, I will keep this brief because its all it deserves.

For one hour on Xmas Eve night at The Civic James Reid and the boys (including the talented Andy Lynch from Atlas) played a solid if unspectacular set of Feelers classics.

For the next half hour (or was it longer- it sure seemed like it?) they descended into a pit of complete and utter stupidity. Ok the Bowie cover was cool, sampling Killing an Arab by The Cure was neat...but the 10 minute utter mindless masturbation that they put their increasingly frustrated fans through on the pointless "In The Air Tonight" Phill Collins cover was ugly.

If it hadn't have been for the fine company at the gig I would have for the first time in my life left a Feelers gig early. Very unhappy.

First hour- 6.5 out of 10
The rest- 0 out of 10

Competition: Name the drink

As per every game of cricket we play, the Merivale- Papanui 4B's meet at the pub for a jar before hitting the field on Saturday afternoons. While we won't mention the score in yesterdays game (not so good) we can show you the "Bar Cat" who quite happily curled up on the stool next to the bar.

Now, your challenge is to suggest what drink the cat might order if it were able...







Cheers (and Merry Xmas!)

Razor

Kepler Challenge Report

Well the training had gone well, in fact it was perfect. Race day arrived and it was a stunning day, hardly a cloud around but the usual cold crisp start you get at 4am in Te Anau- and straight into carb loading for the 6am start. In fact Glenn and I got so ensconced in stuffing our faces we nearly missed the bus to the start line...typical boys, always thinking of their stomachs

Anyway, never fear it was off to the Control Gates at the lakeside for us and 400 other lunatics for the 6am start. Ran into Janine at the start, and Richards bro Graham- although in the murk had trouble with recognition! And off we went, the first 6.8km round the lake flew by in just half an hour, before heading into the slog up the hill. Once I worked out the controls on Lisa's flash harry MP3 player I was off like a rocket, I have to say events like this are so much better with music- I'll revisit this.

I reached Luxmore Hut after 1hr45mins, a personal best. It was cold up there but was feeling good. Stunning views as the sun came up, very very cool I don't think there is anywhere prettier in NZ than Fiordland- my ashes are going there one day- but not for a long time I hope.

After the tops section reached Iris Burn Hut- and the half way point after 4 hours, coming down the last of the zig zags with "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" in the earflaps- it seemed ironically appropriate and soon morphed into "beat it" as the17km drag race section down the Iris Burn got going. As always it was half way down here when the wall gets hit, and Lake Manapouri is a very very relieving sight at the 6 hour mark.

The last 17km for there back to the finish was a real grind this year due to the tendons on the front of my ankles swelling up. And it was hot, man it was hot- but the dude in full Army fatigues still got round, and only half an hour slower. I tip my hat to that man, apparently he had to apply to Wellington to get permission to race in the gear. As if a 60km mountain run isn't hard enough!

So I crossed the finish line after 8hrs and 42mins and beat my best time by 4 mins. Glenn turned up 45 mins later looking spritely and fresh, an inspirational effort for a bloke who practically had two broken legs for the most of November!

The Kepler continues to be the biggest challenge I've encountered, and the most rewarding finish line. Problem is now I've done 4 I have to go back again for the 5 year medal...dammit. Oh well, a few Xmas spirits will dull the pain and charge the motivation again I'm sure.

Huuuuuuge thanks to Lisa for being essential support crew for me and Glenn, and for putting up with our "Ministry of Stupid Walks" routine around Te Anau the next day

Sheep turn the tables

Who'd be a sheep farmer in the current economic climate? Dairy receiving gigantic payouts, the high dollar, declining wool prices, drought, high country politics, the list goes on.


And now a new breed of supersheep is emerging, deeming dogs inadequate for mustering purposes.

Kepler article on TV3

For those of you who missed it, TV 3 had some great coverage of the Kepler this year.

You can watch it here.

I'll have my write up here soon...had a great time, hurt like hell afterwards, but got my best time so all was worthwhile!

Movember results...Hats off to you guys!!!!

Yes I found a razor. Congrats and a huge and very appreciative round of applause to all participants and sponsors.

I also raised $205 for the charity cause thanks to all you superstars who sponsored. Such a great cause- last time I looked they had raised over a million bucks nationwide, and even Spain had a group going, which was surprising as the way I understood it all Spanish kids were born with Mo's? Who knew?!

Anyway, some of you wanted photographic evidence or some bang for your buck so here goes...have to admit that it was very tempting to keep it!!!

What a bloody poser...must have been all that time in Auckland ;-)

What Were The Odds?

A light plane flipped on the Wellington Airport runway yesterday, as pictured from Stuff.co.nz

Now the scarcely believable bit about this is that they claim a freak gust of wind caused it. In Wellington? No, surely not!

Actually the really cool thing is the passenger filmed the whole crash... it was on the news last night but I can't find a video link. No one badly hurt, by the way. Although the plane may need a panel beater

Kepler Update

Well, 13 sleeps to go and its getting into crunch time. Training has been a bit interrupted this week with a massively crazy week, and on top of all that theres a wee niggle in the calf muscle now which has necessitated a layoff over the weekend. Not so happy :(

However, overall I'm looking forward to the event this time and expecte a decent crack at beating 8 hours. I've managed to shave 14 mins of my best half marathon time, win the workplace 4 week pedometer challenge, nail a 30km race in the Port Hills in really ugly conditions, and last weekend did 30km on the Routeburn and didn't keel over at Chris and Stacey's wedding afterwards. So all is good really!

One more week of hard out training now, then tail off into the carb loading and the long drive down.

And then we all get to enjoy the Xmas party season- hard earned!