On vacation.....

The Other Guys

Here's the trailer for The Other Guys. Not as funny as I had hoped, but the premise seems strong enough. And you gotta love Michael Keaton having a bit role.

Footy!

Inspirational skipper.

Trading Cards

When I was a kid, I saved all my money for NBA trading cards. And at $5 a pack, you had to perform a lot of chores to feed your card addiction. I was eight years old and this was the nineties. No minimum award wage for me. Funny thing is, all of my friends were in the same boat. If you worked your butt off, you could afford the Upper Deck or the Skybox. If you scraped together some loose change, you could get yourself a packet of Topps. But Topps were shit, and everybody knew it. Nobody wanted to trade cards with the 'Topps' kid. So most of us went with the middle ground. This was Fleer and NBA Hoops.

What was so great about NBA trading cards was the variety of characters you'd find in your pack. Forget MJ, Barkley, Malone, or Mutumbo (Dikembe!). I'm talking about the guys who weren't so great, but had awesome names, crazy haircuts, or standout features like a pair of goggles. Names like Pooh Richardson, Horace Grant, Hersey Hawkins, and Acie Earl. And what about God Shammgod! My god! Maybe the most amazing name to ever hit the timber. It's so much fun looking back and remembering these names and faces, because at the time, these guys were my heroes. I know a lot of dudes out there who have held onto their trading card albums and refuse to part with. I'm one of them. So I wanted to start posting a few cards of what I consider to be the 'marquee' players during the greatest period of NBA history - the nineties.

To the trading card junkies, please don't ever sell your albums or throw them away. You can't put a price on this stuff. But if you ever do wanna trade, you now know where to find me. Here's one of my favourite marquees and NBA Hoops regular (there are three things certain in life; death, taxes, and this guy in your fresh packet of Hoops) - the Dallas Mavericks' own Popeye Jones!

Dinner for Schmucks

Been waiting for this one for a while now. I've become a big fan of Steve Carell just from his work on The Office. He really made that series his own after being lambasted by critics during the first season. Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet the Parents) directs this, with seven different writers taking the screenplay credit. That's a bit concerning, no? Had high hopes for the trailer, but it looks kinda stupid. Then again, I did laugh my ass off at Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. So don't take my word for it.

Nerds

I don't wanna sound like some kinda sports jock, but what's with our world leaders and their hopeless attempts at throwing a ball? It's not hard. Check out Obama's opening pitch for the new MLB season.



I don't wanna single out just Obama. Check out these clips of our own John Howard and the little turd who took his job; Kevin 07. It's embarrassing.





I'm still shaking my head in disbelief. Can we not vote for a pussy at the next election? Stop spending money Rudd. Douchebag.

Nolte

This mugshot of Nick Nolte makes me laugh my butt off. It'll appear on TV once in a while and it still gets me every time. I don't know if it's the hair or the shirt. You kill me Nick Nolte!

New MGMT

Jesus! Flash Delirium.

Wild Beasts. Pretty cool name for a band if I may say so. And a pretty cool clip to boot.

Dead Weather: You Just Can't Win

I finally saw these guys play at the Tivoli Theatre in Brisbane last Tuesday. I was so pumped to catch this gig. The set was short (maybe 9 or 10 songs), the stage was minimal, and all four musicians were dressed in black. Basically that means there was nothing to distract you from the music, clearly the strong point of any band with Jack White as its director.

I was lucky to be within a few metres of the stage at one point when Jack took the mic for himself. Close up, in the flesh, I was in awe of this man. The bass guitarist is kinda cool when he's jivin' about, but you just can't divert your eyes from Jackie White (as he introduced himself). When he's drumming, when he's strumming, when he's throwing down vocals, you're completely transfixed. Here's a guy who's completely devoted to music and not the bullshit that comes with it. I know he brawls with other rockers occasionally, but whatever. It's probably still related to music. The point I'm making is that the Dead Weather really needs nobody else. Alison Mosshart is great, but I was still looking over her shoulder at Jack on drums.

Just take a look at the clip below of their performance at Austin City Limits. The song is a cover of You Just Can't Win, originally written and performed by Van Morrison during his time with Them. At the Tivoli, Dead Weather played this cover third or fourth song in and at that point, I knew I'd got more than my money's worth. We know he has a solo album coming out and it'll be interesting to see what, if any, covers he includes on that album or in his future live performances.

Mona Lisas

And Mad Hatters. Bernie Taupin might just be the greatest songwriter of all time. Elton John was a lucky man to have such great lyrics.