Well, it looks like the excessive experimentation by Marc Lieveremont has cost the French side and handed them a right royal thrashing at the hands of England. Four tries to nil, 34-5 ... and no sin binnings! All in front of 82,000 Hackett wearing, Pimms swilling, Chariot Singing happy Toffs.
This means England should get third this year now, providing they beat Scotland at Twickers on the final weekend - the thrashing of France gives them a points difference edge over Les Bleus. To be sure, most people will be watching Ireland play Wales in Cardiff, to try and get their Grand Slam win. Hell, I know I would ... if I could afford Sky and find it tucked away on the Rugby Channel.
In the meantime, I have to read the UK press and scour for video clips on Auntie, to watch it. Looked like a cracking winters day, and within minutes England started their (first half) romp, which led to endless punches of the sky and pile ups of unrestrained man love. God, you’d think they’d actually won the World Cup! Again.
Standout player? Looks like that Maori fellow they all said should not don the Red Rose because he is not an Englishman. Today it was Champagne Flutey ... shit, I should write for The Times.
And you’ve gotta love The Times really - I mean, they truly get acknowledge the spirit of this wonderful sport’s multicultural nature ... every time they refer to a black player as ‘dark’.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Thursday, 12 March 2009
It’s a Draw
The RWC 2011 draw is out and can be downloaded from here. Obviously Martin Snedden will be pleased with getting the Buffet Kings of the IRB to agree to 16 venues around New Zealand. This really is great given the provincial spread, and it does fulfill in the NZRU’s pitch of a “stadium of 4 million” ... but have you been to a game lately? Its more like a stadium of 10,000 if you’re lucky.
The best way to fill a rugby game these days is to tell the local Indian community their cricket heroes are playing - the atmosphere on the Indian tour has been lively, good humoured and vocal ... and I can’t wait for the Tests. Has cricket supplanted rugby here? NZC has full coffers, and now our players’ IPL pay packets put them beyond All Blacks for income.
One thing not clear yet is when the games will be played; both Kiwis and visiting fans should be prepared for some very late games. Snedden did admit a while back that to get this many venues he may have to concede on late local kick-off times so that the Pommy fans can get to the pub in their mornings for a Full English and Low Chariot sing-a-long. A shame: real rugby fans will watch whenever (NZers have always had to get up at 3am), all this ‘growing the game’ nonsense doesn’t wash. Its all about the IRB maximising the TV audience and revenue, and hence they came down hard on TVNZ, Sky & TV3 trying to mount a joint bid to broadcast it. The networks may well have been trying to pull a fast one to keep costs down, but it surely is not hard to imagine that this event is possibly beyond the resources of any individual network’s resources? Dunno.
Anyway, Whangarei, North Shore, Rotovegas, H-Town, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson and Invergiggle are all getting a slice of the pie and that is cool.
If I was Sneddo though, I’d make sure that he has a few spare balls on the touch line at those Palmy games ... the ‘tea leafing’ locals have form in League Tests.
And in Northern Hemisphere happenings, I’m with Ferdy on this: no Six Nations coverage here in NZ is embarrassing. It remains one of the few free-to-air sporting events on telly in the UK, with the BBC showing all games, so for even TVNZ not to get some sort of highlights basically demonstrates our ‘heads up our arses’ approach to everything that side of the equator. Its England v France this weekend, at Twickers! You won’t see more pomp than that - and I’d love to see big Seb Chabal playing off the back instead of at lock wher Bernie La Porte kept him.
Ah, Britain ... at least when they play, they kick-off in the afternoon. “Pint of Best, thanks luv”.
The best way to fill a rugby game these days is to tell the local Indian community their cricket heroes are playing - the atmosphere on the Indian tour has been lively, good humoured and vocal ... and I can’t wait for the Tests. Has cricket supplanted rugby here? NZC has full coffers, and now our players’ IPL pay packets put them beyond All Blacks for income.
One thing not clear yet is when the games will be played; both Kiwis and visiting fans should be prepared for some very late games. Snedden did admit a while back that to get this many venues he may have to concede on late local kick-off times so that the Pommy fans can get to the pub in their mornings for a Full English and Low Chariot sing-a-long. A shame: real rugby fans will watch whenever (NZers have always had to get up at 3am), all this ‘growing the game’ nonsense doesn’t wash. Its all about the IRB maximising the TV audience and revenue, and hence they came down hard on TVNZ, Sky & TV3 trying to mount a joint bid to broadcast it. The networks may well have been trying to pull a fast one to keep costs down, but it surely is not hard to imagine that this event is possibly beyond the resources of any individual network’s resources? Dunno.
Anyway, Whangarei, North Shore, Rotovegas, H-Town, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson and Invergiggle are all getting a slice of the pie and that is cool.
If I was Sneddo though, I’d make sure that he has a few spare balls on the touch line at those Palmy games ... the ‘tea leafing’ locals have form in League Tests.
And in Northern Hemisphere happenings, I’m with Ferdy on this: no Six Nations coverage here in NZ is embarrassing. It remains one of the few free-to-air sporting events on telly in the UK, with the BBC showing all games, so for even TVNZ not to get some sort of highlights basically demonstrates our ‘heads up our arses’ approach to everything that side of the equator. Its England v France this weekend, at Twickers! You won’t see more pomp than that - and I’d love to see big Seb Chabal playing off the back instead of at lock wher Bernie La Porte kept him.
Ah, Britain ... at least when they play, they kick-off in the afternoon. “Pint of Best, thanks luv”.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Getting older ...
If fans are voting with their feet about Super 14, and rugby in general, because of its blandness and lack of variety ... what’s up with NZ music?
I gotta admit, that since I have been back here, the incessant jazz-skank-dub vein that seems to permeate almost all NZ musical output (and the summer’s festivals) at the moment has struck me as boring and unimaginative. I know reggae has always sold phenomenally well here, and like a lot of Kiwi music lovers, dub & roots does constitute a chunk of my music collection - but is it all we can come up with at the moment?
I read Simon Sweetman’s blog today, and I had to nod a little in agreement. I felt a little vindicated, having been dragged across to West London more than once in the last 3 years for some Black Seeds, Fat Freddy’s, or Pitch Black gig only to be left bored and hating the sheep-like Kiwis who will turn up, pay at least £20 ... and then talk loudly all through the gig.
The pinnacle was seeing the Phoenix Foundation at Islington’s Carling Academy 2 or 3 years ago. Not only were the band pissed, shambolic and disinterested (which is not necessarily ‘un-rock and roll’), but I could not even hear the songs due to blonde sheilas loudly discussing their preferred public transport routes they took to work each day. A shame, as I used to rate those guys - maybe I still do, not sure.
I am having to look for the good Kiwi stuff at the moment, and unfortuantely the continued existence of The Feelers, Elemeno P and Op Shop leaves me cold. It does not help that I live in Wellington, where you are expected to drink short blacks, wear a ‘jazz hat’ and harbour openly a love for epic 5/4 skat workouts. And this month its Wellington Jazz Fest; it’s like being trapped in a room with Howard Moon for a fortnight.
There is clearly loads more Kiwi music around now - on radio, in ads, on telly and up the charts. It is just that this makes my patented Quality Pyramid bigger ... there will be a small, higher class, ultimate peak of artists doing their own thing, but that will be held up by a solid foundation of complete shit. It sounds a bit Darwinian, but in our case the finches are developing tertiary degrees in songwriting.
Where’s the beautiful noise? Where’s the variety? Where’s the originality? (Please don’t answer “Ladyhawke” otherwise I will scream). Where’s all the good music that a recession is supposed to produce? Didn’t Martin Phillips acknowledge that one of the main reasons behind the Dunedin thing was ... the dole? I blame the internet.
Rant over. Got to go and put another CD on - that Salmonella Dub album has finished ...
I gotta admit, that since I have been back here, the incessant jazz-skank-dub vein that seems to permeate almost all NZ musical output (and the summer’s festivals) at the moment has struck me as boring and unimaginative. I know reggae has always sold phenomenally well here, and like a lot of Kiwi music lovers, dub & roots does constitute a chunk of my music collection - but is it all we can come up with at the moment?
I read Simon Sweetman’s blog today, and I had to nod a little in agreement. I felt a little vindicated, having been dragged across to West London more than once in the last 3 years for some Black Seeds, Fat Freddy’s, or Pitch Black gig only to be left bored and hating the sheep-like Kiwis who will turn up, pay at least £20 ... and then talk loudly all through the gig.
The pinnacle was seeing the Phoenix Foundation at Islington’s Carling Academy 2 or 3 years ago. Not only were the band pissed, shambolic and disinterested (which is not necessarily ‘un-rock and roll’), but I could not even hear the songs due to blonde sheilas loudly discussing their preferred public transport routes they took to work each day. A shame, as I used to rate those guys - maybe I still do, not sure.
I am having to look for the good Kiwi stuff at the moment, and unfortuantely the continued existence of The Feelers, Elemeno P and Op Shop leaves me cold. It does not help that I live in Wellington, where you are expected to drink short blacks, wear a ‘jazz hat’ and harbour openly a love for epic 5/4 skat workouts. And this month its Wellington Jazz Fest; it’s like being trapped in a room with Howard Moon for a fortnight.
There is clearly loads more Kiwi music around now - on radio, in ads, on telly and up the charts. It is just that this makes my patented Quality Pyramid bigger ... there will be a small, higher class, ultimate peak of artists doing their own thing, but that will be held up by a solid foundation of complete shit. It sounds a bit Darwinian, but in our case the finches are developing tertiary degrees in songwriting.
Where’s the beautiful noise? Where’s the variety? Where’s the originality? (Please don’t answer “Ladyhawke” otherwise I will scream). Where’s all the good music that a recession is supposed to produce? Didn’t Martin Phillips acknowledge that one of the main reasons behind the Dunedin thing was ... the dole? I blame the internet.
Rant over. Got to go and put another CD on - that Salmonella Dub album has finished ...
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
The Brain Gain
All this talk of McAlister coming home ... what about me and my un-sports hero ilk? I did not come back to NZ because my lucrative egg ball contract came to an end; I came back to New Zealand because it is my bloody home, because I wanted to be back in the same country as my family, and because when I want to eat fish n chips I want it to be freshly cooked in front of me, by a smiling cook ... not stewed by some hunchbacked illiterate Limey, in oil brought back from Dunkirk, and left for three hours under a sun lamp. Sheesh.
Even The Listener was getting in on the act with its cover story this week - High Flyers. What a load of old arse. If they were such high bloody flyers they would be able to ride things out over there, instead of coming back here like prodigal sons & daughters, attempting to multiply economic activity merely by wafting their Air Points cards across the great unwashed.
Sample of the ‘typical’ Kiwis the Listener says are coming home: a journalist, an IT specialist, a research scientist, a global marketing project manager, and a cardiologist. What about all the call centre workers, accountants, landscape gardeners, lawyers, plumbers, admin staff, marketers, drivers, teachers & nurses? I get that the article is aiming at the so-called best and brightest, but it actually ignores the lesser twinklers, people like... well me.
I have got 15 years experience in the graphics/advertising industry - I’m looking for a job, and finding it bloody hard. I am stoked to be back here, but its going to take me a while to find work. I left a very enjoyable (and safe) job in London to come home, and I knew it would be a lot harder to find work once I got back here - no illusions. I just think that the Listener article should have focussed on common reasons why average Kiwis were coming home, and what their hopes were. Instead it looks like it was done via Facebook asking disparate friends a few Twitterish questions, and the journalist the story opens with never even bloody left the UK! What a twist!
Jesus, you can see why I have The Guardian’s website bookmarked if this is the sort of tosh you have to pay for here.
And if anyone out there knows what a ‘global marketing project manager’ actually does, feel free to let me know. It sounds like the sort of role you would put on your application for The Apprentice ... but then again, I’m looking for a new job.
PS In regards to the bankers & The Crunch though, check Boon out. Ditto.
Even The Listener was getting in on the act with its cover story this week - High Flyers. What a load of old arse. If they were such high bloody flyers they would be able to ride things out over there, instead of coming back here like prodigal sons & daughters, attempting to multiply economic activity merely by wafting their Air Points cards across the great unwashed.
Sample of the ‘typical’ Kiwis the Listener says are coming home: a journalist, an IT specialist, a research scientist, a global marketing project manager, and a cardiologist. What about all the call centre workers, accountants, landscape gardeners, lawyers, plumbers, admin staff, marketers, drivers, teachers & nurses? I get that the article is aiming at the so-called best and brightest, but it actually ignores the lesser twinklers, people like... well me.
I have got 15 years experience in the graphics/advertising industry - I’m looking for a job, and finding it bloody hard. I am stoked to be back here, but its going to take me a while to find work. I left a very enjoyable (and safe) job in London to come home, and I knew it would be a lot harder to find work once I got back here - no illusions. I just think that the Listener article should have focussed on common reasons why average Kiwis were coming home, and what their hopes were. Instead it looks like it was done via Facebook asking disparate friends a few Twitterish questions, and the journalist the story opens with never even bloody left the UK! What a twist!
Jesus, you can see why I have The Guardian’s website bookmarked if this is the sort of tosh you have to pay for here.
And if anyone out there knows what a ‘global marketing project manager’ actually does, feel free to let me know. It sounds like the sort of role you would put on your application for The Apprentice ... but then again, I’m looking for a new job.
PS In regards to the bankers & The Crunch though, check Boon out. Ditto.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
New IRB Rankings
It feels like this is turning into an England bashing forum, but I am not making any of this up - rather it illustrates their slide. The new IRB rankings are out, and they have slipped to 8th ... their lowest ever.
Look at the graph below and this charts the four semi-finalists from RWC 2003 (which England won) from straight after the tournament until the end of 2007 (beyond which the IRB website AnalyCon won’t go past).
Besides the Red Rose plummet, it also shows that the pesky Wallabies and Les Bleus are always sniffing around the podium, and that New Zealand is consistently No. 1 in the world... bar for one week every fourth November, eh. Go Adidas!!!!!
For editorial balance I have stuck in South Africa as well - separately, as the chart only dies 4 years at a time. In a way it shows they have come the farthest - could be an interesting Tri Nations.
Look at the graph below and this charts the four semi-finalists from RWC 2003 (which England won) from straight after the tournament until the end of 2007 (beyond which the IRB website AnalyCon won’t go past).
Besides the Red Rose plummet, it also shows that the pesky Wallabies and Les Bleus are always sniffing around the podium, and that New Zealand is consistently No. 1 in the world... bar for one week every fourth November, eh. Go Adidas!!!!!
For editorial balance I have stuck in South Africa as well - separately, as the chart only dies 4 years at a time. In a way it shows they have come the farthest - could be an interesting Tri Nations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
