TaggedAha, I've been tagged by Well Urban

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. Which (if any) have you broken? Give examples.

Lust: I've always found it hard to believe the lust was a sin. I spent my entire teenage life in a constant state of lust. And then some.

Gluttony: There's probably a difference between gluttony and just being able to eat a whole lot without exploding, but back in my teenage years, when I was an uberfit fast-growing basketball-playing young giant, I could pack away a dozen or so cheeseburgers without too much effort.

Greed: Actually, not too much.

Wrath: Only towards bad drivers.

Envy: I'm envious of people with 20/20 vision.

Pride: Only the good sort for my family. Oh, and noizyland and bizgirl, I suppose. They've been up for and won various awards, didn't you know?

Okay Wellingtonistas - your turn: Llew, Alan, Emily (but not Jo, because that would be asking for trouble - unless she wants to) and especially Jo.
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Metal Man Constable RigelFrom the NZ Herald...

Police are looking into the employment of a constable who is frontman of a thrash metal band which calls for the eradication of the "weak and inferior".

By day the heavily tattooed Rigel Walshe works as a court escort in the Counties Manukau police district.

In his private time he is lead singer and bass guitarist of the band Dawn of Azazel.

Funnily enough, my first thought on reading that was 'are Dawn of Azazel really a thrash metal band?' I popped over to nzmetal.co.nz to see that the denizens of those disussion boards had to say on the matter. Here's some of the choicer comments (from here and here)...

Bernie: yeh, they were calling it DEATH!!! thrash. I think I've been desensitized, as I didn't think of something's "deathness" as a measure of intensity.

sacarna: why dont they just say extreme metal it would be a lot easier.

DonavanKILLS3: Atleast hes not catholic.

E.S.C.: Or a jew.

Subcide: Does anyone here think there might be anyv alue in putting together a press release from NZmetal supporting Rigel and countering the situation?

Maleficent: hahah oh gawd you DON'T want the media reading the shit here hahahaha

Errr, yes.
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how to......pick your nose inconspicuously.

...get a girl's attention.

...make an ugly guy hot.

...be a true punk.

...be emo (complicated, requires a phase 2)

...take a punch.

...look hot and be popular with guys.

...and my favourite...

...be the best you.

(Which suggests going shopping with your mother, and getting that self-help book from the library - what's it called? Oh yeah, the Bible).
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The saga of A. J. ChesswasI mean, really, with a name like that, if someone told you it was a hoax you'd believe them.

And so many people believed the other day, when the About Town mob revealed that they were the perpetrators of the A. J. Chesswas persona, who, over the course of the year, has had his own blog, and been a regular commenter on various other NZ blogs.

The story was reinforced by an admission on Chesswas's own blog...

We at About Town are saddened to make the following announcement. This morning, in a moment of weakness, Paul Litterick took it upon himself to unveil our best kept secret to the rest of New Zealand. Given that the news had spread like wildfire, there seems little point on continuing the facade of A.J. Chesswas any longer. Nonetheless, we feel Chesswas has achieved his purpose, of testing the limits of the so-called 'liberal intelligentsia' of the blogosphere. Those limits have truly been found, and it can only be considered there is no longer any need or purpose for this blog.

But, it turns out it's not true. The hoax was a hoax. Chesswas was just playing along with the above post. Ah, the internet - so much fun to be had...
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2Pac v. Barney Hilarious stuff, with whatever twee tune Barney was actually singing having been replaced by a typically foul-mouthed invective laden rap from the dearly departed 2Pac.

What's particularly good about it is the fact that the beats match up, and the guest MCs on the 2Pac track have their parts done by the kids and other puppets.

[via Busytown]
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Japan and the 2011 Rugby World CupWould it be the worst thing in the world if Japan hosted the 2011 Rugby World Cup?

I mean, really, unlike South Africa, if Japan host it they don't have a hope of winning it, so there's no hometown advantage. And of all the other teams the Japanese might throw their support in behind once their local lads are out, who's it going to be: England, Australia, France, South Africa or the All Blacks? Betcha anything they get in behind the All Blacks in a big way. When it comes to picking a third party to win any competition, you either pick the rank outsiders, or the team that plays the most exciting version of the sport at hand. In soccer it's Brazil, in rugby it's the All Blacks. Thus, once Fiji and Canada go out in the quarter-finals, the All Blacks will be the obvious team for the non-involved to support.

And then, in my ideal world, having won the World Cup in 2011, New Zealand will get the hosting rights in 2015, meaning, naturally, that we'll end up having won the cup three tournaments in a row: 2007 (France), 2011 (Japan) and 2015 (NZ).

Viewing times are pretty good too. A 2pm afteroon kickoff in Japan is 5pm NZ Time, and a 7pm evening kickoff is 10pm. We get to see pretty much every game live, after work.

Ahhhh, these are the sorts of thoughts I have on the bus on the way home...

UPDATE: Although I see now that the NZRU's Chris Moller has said they 'definitely' won't make a bid for the 2015 Cup, so my dream scenario is moot. Dammit.
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For the man who has everything...Potentially NSFW.

These can't be comfortable. Yowzer.

And live action modelling!

[via BoingBoing via Buffoonery]
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Some things to check outThe NZBC have another excellent five-minute conversation, this time with NZ musician an songwriter extraordinaire Don McGlashan.

The Volvo Ocean Race is under way, and every single yacht in the race has at least one, and in most cases two or three kiwi sailors on board (with ABN Ambro One being captained by New Zealander Mike Sanderson). Watch the race's progress with the very groovy (and free) Virtual Spectator. Wellington gets to see the yachts up close when they arrive in town for a pitstop in February of next year.

And farewell to Ms. Vile! One of the kiwi blogosphere's better writers has called it quits after a year of funny and entertaining posts.
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Quicktime 7 without iTunesMan, it kinda sucks that Apple now try and trick you into downloading iTunes as part of a bundle with the latest version of the Quicktime Player (now up to version 7). If you want the standalone player, you have to spot the simple text link at the bottom right of the player download page, amongst a bunch of options.

I mean, for starters, I don't want iTunes - good ol' Winamp (v.3, thank you very much) has been doing the job for me on that front for over half a decade now. And it's also a 32mb v. 18mb download difference for the iTunes bundle compared to the standalone player. Some people (ie. most NZers) still have to worry about their monthly transfer totals. Sheesh.

Anyway, if you're looking for Quicktime 7 without iTunes (standalone player, windows xp/2000 or Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later), then go here.
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Gooooaaalllll!!!!One of my great pleasures of getting home on a Friday evening is asking my 5yo old son how his indoor soccer game went. Today, for example...

"How'd ya go?"
"We won, 10-5!"
"How many you'd get?"
"Ten."

Every week is the same. Unless they get thumped by a team with some older kids in it (which they have done twice, 0-13 and 0-11), it seems to be a case of noizy jr getting the ball, evading the various enthused and not-so-enthused defenders, and putting the ball in the back of the net. Of the 60+ goals scored in the eight or so games played so far this season, my boy has scored all but three of them (one was an own goal by the opposing team, and one each to two other team-mates). The funniest moment was coming home the evening after his second game...

"How'd ya go?"
"13-0"
"How many did you get?"
"All of them."
"No way."
"Yes."

I had to confirm with the wife. Indeed, he had scored all of them.

It warms the cockles of my paternal heart.

Watch the wee lad in action (5mb - mpg).
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The 2005 Fighting Talk Power ListThe Listener published its 2005 Power List this week, with, no surprises, the PM and various politicos and rich people dominating the list. Hamish McKenzie over at Fighting Talk has a few reservations over the list...

[A]ll they've managed to come up with are a bunch of dirty old worms. Their list is riddled with inaccuracies, poor judgment calls, and other credibility-destroying faux pas, none of which I'll deign to mention.

Lucky for you, then, that Fighting Talk (in this case represented by a PowerPanel of one -- me) has taken on the task of producing a more authoratative and altogether less retarded power list.

Not only is our list a better reflection of where power lies in this country, but it is also more diverse than the Listener's soon-to-be-infamous white-bespectacled-male-dominated effort. Our list is made up of actors, writers, bloggers, politicians, retired sports stars, and even a warrior princess.

And, indeed, any list that includes Sir Humphrey's Antartic Lemur ("Considered, reasonsed, logical, amiable, and probably very handsome. A power blogger from an incomparably powerful blogsite"), PublicAddress's Russell Brown ("The hardest-working journalist without any discernable audience" ahaha!), and the Flight of the Conchords ("They're talking about the issues but they're keeping it funky.") is a list worth checking out.
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Bad Taste: 11th Greatest Indie Film of all timeEmpire Magazine has recently published its 50 Greatest Independent Films, and coming in at #11 (and the only NZ-related entry in the list), is Peter Jackson's directorial (and acting, and probably every other job on the set) debut: Bad Taste.

I remember going to this with a friend when I was about 15 or so, not long after it had been released. I had seriously never laughed so hard in all my life, and decided that whoever had made it was a genius, and should win an Academy Award or something. 'Tis good to have your 15yo musings vindicated in later life. Ahh, alien vomit - delicious...

And coming in at #1 is ... well, click here to find out.
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