Here we go again...
Time to get your chequebook out, 60 Minutes.

Congrats Molly
I had planned to watch Secret Life at 8:30 last night (taped 24, naturally) but after hearing that good old Molly would be on Millionaire, I couldn't resist.

And what an enthralling hour of TV it turned out to be. (I heard it went for another three hours after Molly - but I had fallen asleep by then)

Molly is a great bloke, but maybe he should deal with his alcoholism, because it looked like he was having withdrawal symtoms last night. I hear the orange liquid he was drinking after the first ad break was in fact a UDL.

As for the million dollar question, I just can't believe Molly had been to all of the four countries...Have Madonna or Elton John ever played a concert in Oman, Yemen, Somalia or Djibouti?

Fast food invades Iraq
Remember all those jokes about McDonalds and Starbucks popping up on every corner in Baghdad? They actually weren't far from the truth.
Sometime last week when my attention was elsewhere, Pizza Hut and Burger King went and set up their first franchises in Iraq. Free upsizes on the house, not valid with any other regime.

It starts again...
Now Blogger has finally decided to let me post, I can get a plug in for my new Big Brother blog, the imaginatively titled Blogging Big Brother.

Also worthy to note is that when I started the new blog today, Blogger let me beta test a new interface that they are planning to roll out in a month or so: expect some changes, Blogger users. And from what I've seen, it's mostly good, but of course there are still a few bugs to iron out: I guess that's my job to help with.

Matty says:
damm cashman
he pretends to be a good bloke
but he really just takes your money

Inaugural Anzac Eve Pub Crawl
Last night I did just about the right amount of drinking, but way too much walking. Taking in a bit of Melbourne's nightlife on foot, Tony, Fozzie and I travelled from Collingwood, through Fitzroy and Carlton to the city, and later from Heidelberg to Greensborough.

The game plan was to travel the length of Johnston Street, from Fitzroy through to Carlton, and stop in every licenced establishment, to consume a beverage (or two if the price was right). Of course, if a pool table was available, we had a game. Only twice did we walk out after not buying a beer: there are some strange places on that street.

Here's a brief review of the pubs we visited, in approximate order:

•first pub (its name escapes me)
front bar was filled with bums. pool room was empty, so had a game. "the simpsons" was on high volume in the next room on a TV from the 70s. beer tasted like shit. floorboards were broken with a pool cue due to fozzie's rage at a missed shot.

•the tote
$2 pots. "is your hair thick or thin?" guy not sighted.

[detour: KFC]

•rochester castle hotel
cool place: the front bar decked out with furniture from the 60s. Red Bull & Vodka: $6.50.

•purple turtle
$2 pots, $4 spirits. my first beer had absoultely *no* head. never seen anything like it. much mirth was made of the fact at the bairmaid's expense. watched some "charmed" with subtitles.

•the birmingham
tried to play pool, but one of the drinkers left a bicycle in the way making some shots difficult. Red Bull & Vodka: $5.50.

•? (bar on the corner of brunswick st, opp. 7-eleven, name escapes me)
funky place. only i had a pot of beer (tooheys new), but as there was nowhere to sit we left quickly.

•the old bar
poem graffitied on wall:
"fitzroy bums
i like bums
i look at bums
i kiss bums
i am a bum."

•the tankerville
return of the evil cashman. pool on a fluro purple table was interrupted when fozzie pulled the plug.

•pugg mahones
our table was in a weird cave-like alcove.

[pizza]

•percy's
bar of former carlton footballer. hilarious sloshed guy approaches us and started an interesting conversation about politics. he suggests folwell run for prime minister as he was more charismatic than simon crean.

•the clyde
game of pool: there was already a hole in the wall from a previous cue.

•prince alfred
last port of call before melbourne central. place was full of partying uni students.

•old england
our spiritual home. frank wasn't there: other bouncer said he was injured!?

I probably missed a few, but a good night was had by all (minus the 2+ hour walk home from the O.E.).

Comment count
Back in business.. woo-hoo!

Holly to play Buffy?
Interesting... But it'll never happen.

Before Iraq,
Anyone remember the last time America "liberated" a country?
Don't hear much about Afghanistan in the media these days... I wonder how it's going?

Delicious tabloid juxtaposition d'jour
Publication: Herald Sun online.

Top headline: Telstra hires cheap foreign workers

Feature sidebar: Hula hopes: As a sales specialist at Telstra, Isil Aksac is more accustomed to keyboards than catwalks. But this weekend Isil, 26, will show off another side of her life when she represents Australia in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic world final, which attracts entrants from 75 countries.

Nostalgia: Aussie Rules Football
Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. Despite the fact I play little to no video games these days, many memories of my teenage years consist of sitting in front of a glowing screen for hours on end playing the latest in video games. Reading Adam's recount of the Aussie Rules Footy game on the NES brought back some fond memories. Not owning a NES of my own (I only had a Sega Master System), I was content to spend weekends at a neighbours' place playing game after game. Here's what I loved about the game:

1. The fact that you could choose the teams' jumper colour. There was nothing better than choosing pink for Carlton: although in retrospect, it's not that far-fetched considering marketing ploys such as the M&M's Blues and Orange-roos.

2. The inclusion of Darwin, Canberra and Hobart. I was pissed off that they used "Perth" instead of West Coast, particularly as there was an Eagles player featured on the game's cover. But as I saw it, they were forecasting the national expansion of the game. I even made up my own nicknames for the teams: Darwin Crocodiles, Canberra Cheetahs, Hobart Devils (original, hey).

3. The boundary umpire. "Out of bounds." "Out of bounds on the full." Back in those days, having an actual voice recording in a video game was fairly unique. Also I loved the boundary umpire's haircut - it was perfectly square.

4. The commentator's one line comment that appeared on the screen after each quarter. The guy, with a 70s haircut and moustache (I refered to him as Dennis Cometti) came up with such gems such as "Collingwood certainly look finals material here today," "This looks to be anyone's game," "Darwin have got what it takes to claim victory," and "Essendon are in control of the game at this point." These bold statements usually contradicted the game scores at the time and were a possible precursor to the Iraqi Information Minister phenomenon.

5. The still image of distraught players in the locker room after a loss. It's still tattooed in my mind and comes back to me at times of extreme disappointment.

6. Before the Grand Final, your team got to run through a banner with NFL-style cheerleaders waving pom-poms on each side. Despite the fact that the banner was only one colour with a simple slogan such as "GO RICHMOND", it was cool.

7. After the siren went, you had roughly half a second to score, whether or not a mark had been taken.

8. The sound effects. Complete silence during the game, a distinctive "punt" sound when you kicked the ball. A recording of couple of seconds of cheering when a goal was kicked, which started and stopped suddenly. Sounds crap, and it was, but it made the game fun.

9. The crazy system of aiming for goal, which involved a white line swinging from side to side. The closer you got it to the middle, the more accurate the kick would be. However, certain areas on the field (the 50 metre line near the boundary line, for example) made it much easier to score than it should have been.

10. "Speed games." That is, setting the time to 1 minute quarters. Made for some tense encounters.

Memories. In fact, I think I might just dust off the old NES console and have a game tonight...

Oh, and I do have a copy of AFL Finals Fever lying around somewhere. The thing I liked most about the game was the fact you could edit the sponsor logos using Paintbrush, so I used to try to recreate the actual fence sponsors on the MCG at the time. Unfortunately, toying round with the colour palettes made the game colours go a little haywire, but it was worth it.

Happy Chocolate Day!

البحث في الفئة العربية
Well, my first perverted search relating to the topic below has come from Saudi Arabia. Who knows, it could even be one of Saddam's men...

Show me p0rn
Oh, dear. Seems t.A.T.u are looking for naked young girls to pose in a mass photo shoot for their new album cover. The Sun claims they want female fans as young as 14 to take part, as 14 is the age of consent in Russia. But in the UK, it's 16.

Seeing as t.A.T.u are now 18, it seems they need new ways to market their lesbian teen sex image through underage controversy. But this sort of publicity in Western countries at least, I'm not sure how Russian culture sees it, will do them more harm than good. Concentrate on your music, girls.

I'm awaiting the massive flood of Google hits from this post already...

Sherry Shafted
Nine has shafted James Sherry, after luring him to leave Seven join the network to host a new version of The Price is Right. Nine has instead chosen to stick with the host of its most previous re-incarnation, Larry Emdur. Price and a new Sale of Century - minus Glenn Ridge are slated to return around July.

The whiny-voiced Sherry still has a gig MC'ing at MCG AFL games and Melbourne Storm home games. His career achievements have included hosting kiddie shows Saturday Disney and A*mazing, as well as acting like a dick to Melbourne public transport staff.

An essay in progress...
It's tough work pulling an all-nighter in order to complete a dreaded Pol Sci essay. Here's a brief rundown of what it involves:
Read some articles.
Study break: Lamb's for a souvlaki.
Down to work.
Read some articles.
Type a sentence or two. Word count.
Coffee break.
Type a sentence or two. Word count.
Coffee break.
Type a sentence or two. Word count.
Coffee break.
Type a sentence or two. Word count.
Read the daily papers online.
Read some articles.
Type a sentence or two. Word count. x4
Listen to some music.
Type a sentence or two. Word count. x4
Snack time.
Watch some Foxtel.
Type a few sentences. Word count. x4
Blogging break.

So it's come to this.
I've had just about enough of the Internet.

Sitting on my computer this morning contemplating starting the essay I have to write, a Windows Messenger window pops up. Nothing strange about that, except for the content of the message and who it is from.

Advance Your Life! djanetc008j@hotmail.com
Advance Your Life! says:
Increase Your Earning Power With A University Degree!
There are No Required Tests, Classes, or Interviews and no one is turned down!
Call Now For Free Information!
1-305-418-7388
You can be on your way to a better future!

Fucking hell! Spammers have somehow made their way into Messenger. It's bad enough I have to filter my e-mail through 75 different spam flogging p0rn, viagra, debt removal and university degrees. Methinks anyone who sends money to these people won't be coming across a university degree anytime soon.

Is there no escape?

Review: t.A.T.u - 200 Km/H in the Wrong Lane

So maybe they aren’t really lesbians. Sexual preference and cynical marketing tactics aside, t.A.T.u titillates the ears of those tired of formulaic Western pop music.

This year Russian teen duo Lena and Julia blew life into the bubblegum pop scene with their infectiously catchy breakout hit ‘All the Things She Said’. The track, a well-crafted mix of euro-dance and magnetic vocals went to #1 in most of the Western world, two years after topping the Russian charts. On their debut English album, we get eight ‘new’ tracks, a couple of the original Russian versions, plus a few remixes.

‘All the Things She Said’ in Russian (‘Ya Soshla S Uma’) sounds a lot more genuine, as the girls are consciously aware of the lyrics’ meaning, and can play their roles more convincingly.

From the dramatic beat-fest of ‘Not Gonna Get Us,’ to the chilling keyboards in the ballad ‘30 Minutes,’ t.A.T.u have several potential hits here that make for addictive listening. The standout track is ‘Malchik Gay,’ where guitars perfectly complement the high pitched-vocals and hypnotic rhythm.

It's not the deepest album out there, but after listening to '200 km/H' a few times, you'll be craving more of t.A.T.u's aural candy.

GNf Flashback: 6 Months Ago
Okay, so I've been blogging a fair bit about the War lately, which a lot of people are probably sick of. So let's step back six months in the blogging time machine and see what I was up to back when I was a little younger and a little less cynical...

Wednesday, October 16 2002

The chase for the elusive energy drink

As I approach the English building this morning, I notice some people handing out pamphlets. My first automatic thought is, bloody left-wing hippies with their usual "Free The Refugees," "No War On Iraq" and "Fuck Capitalism" propaganda. But, no. Vouchers for "One Complimentary Icy Cold Red Bull." BONUS! :) And this in addition to a free yoghurt upon arrival at Melbourne Central station.
The voucher says to collect the Red Bull "from our Mobile Energiser Team" at Shell Select, between 2pm-4:30pm today, 31 Elizabeth Street. So during a long day of snooze-inducing lectures and tutes that aren't much better, I constantly look forward to my free hit of caffeine and taurine laced sugar water.

Finish my classes at 3:15pm. Perfect Timing. Two Trams to 31 Elizabeth Street. WTF. No Shell Select here. Nothing but a liquor store at that particular address. So I enter anyway and show the woman at the counter the voucher and ask what is up. She shrugs and suggests, "Maybe it's a different Elizabeth Street. In Sydney or something." Fuuuuuuck!!!
So anyway, desperate for that free Red Bull I head down towards Swanston Street, where the only CBD Shell Select I know of is located. Travelling in the tram along Swanston, I notice out of the corner of my eye one of those bloody Red Bull cars amongst the traffic heading down Collins. But the tram doesn't stop until Bourke. Fuck!!

Thirsty and suffering caffeine withdrawal symptoms, I get off the tram and run back down to Collins St where I think I see the Red Bull car in the distance. I try to get a tram to catch up to it, but the traffic is hopeless. Once the bloody tram eventually gets there, the Red Bull car is nowhere to be seen. The tram ride all the way to Spencer St Station is futile, with my sleep-deprived one-track mind hallucinating so there is a giant Red Bull can on top of every blue sedan I see.

Suddenly I realise the stupidity of it all. I've been taking trams from here to there to everywhere and running around in circles around and around the fucking city for the last 45 minutes all for a product that's worth $3.15. Stupid fucking marketing scams. The Moral of the Story? Fuck Capitalism.

Oops, wasn't this was meant to be an example of an apolitical post... Anyway, I think the scariest thing about this flashback is the fact that I've been blogging for over six months now.

It starts again: "Operation Syrian Freedom"?
First it's the saviour of the world, George Dubya Bush, God bless him, warning the country in question not to harbour terrorists, or in this case, Saddam and his buddies.

Then it's the old good cop-bad cop routine. All-round good-guy Colin Powell says look, we won't hurt you if you co-operate, but if not, we may have to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions. It's a safe bet Rumsfeld will be next up to the plate eager for some (military) action.

Not another inane Quizilla quiz!
You've probably seen this before, but what the hell. Where do you fall on the (US) political spectrum? According to this chart, I'm a liberal. Personally, I think i'm probably somewhere between liberal and moderate, presuming I even subscribe to the straight-line model of polarised political categorisation. Let me know what you got in the comments section.

National Blogging News
With all the originally of a television clip-show, here's another look at some of the amusing nonsense other bloggers been dribbling of late:

In blogging news today,...

Forget "Where is Raed": the big question around the local blogging community this week has been: "where is Frank?" Damo suggests: "Maybe I should put an advert on some milk cartons..."

Now over to our political correspondent Beth, in Canberra: "20 hours and 15 minutes... madness is kicking in!!! Withdrawals!" Er... thanks for that, Beth.

In world news,

Kyle reports from the land of the Asahi: "The sun was shining, the sakura were blooming, and about 20,000 people lay down in the grass around the castle moat and drank themselves silly." Kampai!

Meanwhile, over on the lifestyle channel,

Kate reviews a Collingwood nightspot: "The "bar" was red in decor and smokey in atmosphere, though the music was good and the drinks were cheap."

Sarah reveals one of her innermost culinary desires: "At the moment I can't get enough of wholegrain mustard!!"

Korgy admits "I won't deny for a second that I've felt great after trying a wheatgrass shot." Fair enough, if can you deal with the taste of putrid vege-slime trickling down the back of your throat for the next 48 hours.

Now with today's sporting news,

Here's Adam with a startling revelation: "I'll never get burnt by tipping the Fremantle Shockers in Melbourne ever again." Don't tip against them in Perth, either.

Finally with the weather forecast,

Me. While American cyclone "Bomb the fuck out of Baghdad" seems to have dissipated for the moment, the forecast calls for possible bombing over Syria within the next few weeks, with a long-term chance of shrapnel showers in North Korea. And on the home front: don't throw out your fridge magnets just yet.

Thanks for joining us, now here's the obligatory feel-good story:

From Hevin: "Goats would be well-served by learning to relax and let others run the show from time to time. Once they can be certain that their friends and lovers won't be gone when the Goat returns from its daydreams, life will be a field of daisies. The most compatible match for a Goat is the Pig or the Rabbit."

And coming up next on your top-rating current affairs program,

...

Cometti-isms of the week
Starting this week, I'll be publishing a selection of Dennis's commentating gems over on my sports-related blog, Sports Review.

Blogger finally working again
About time too...

Tony Blair to star in Simpsons episode
Tony Blair is appearing on The Simpsons. Now c'mon George W, be a sport and follow his lead. They could have a "revenge" episode following up on the rivalry between Homer and Bush Sr.

But hopefully that pic of Blair posing with Homer and Marge is just a mock-up. It looks nothing like a classic Simpsonised celebrity.

Saddam a Britney fan?
Maybe he did have a soft spot for American "culture" after all?

Iraqi Ministry for Information bombed,
www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com is down.
According to the site owners:

The site was so popular that 4000 visitors per second showed up from around the world and overwhelmed this shared server for over 8 hours until we turned it off in self defense. It basically put a 100 other businesses out of business for a day. If we had known it was going to be this popular we would have put it on it's own server from the beginning.

What started out as a private joke to be shared by a small group of friends has turned into a hit.

(runs calc.exe) 4000 visitors per second for 8 hours eqautes to 115 million hits. Is this guy popular or what?

Cheers!
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.

Frank on the door, Jimmy behind the bar, Beano on the piano: what more could I ask for?

Site of the Day
www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com. 'nuff said.

Saddam is dead (symbolically at least)
For over an hour now I'm been watching the U.S. marines along with the Iraqi people topple a 20-foot statue of Saddam in the heart of Baghdad. It's just come down.
History in the making, live on TV. 25 years of his oppressive regime now crumbling in ruins...

And another thing,
Who'd want to be a journalist?...

Move over Red Bull, Naughty Boy with Opium is coming
A new energy drink is on the market containing Opium. It's called "Naughty Boy" and is apparently making its way into clubs and raves and is trying to break into the retail market.

Of course while the authorities are analysing the product to see if it should be legal, the usual groups are complaining that marketing a drink using the word "Opium" promotes drug use and is bad for kiddies. Well, Mr Tony Gentile, Chief Executive of the Australasian Soft Drink Association: have you heard of a popular soft drink by the name of Coca-Cola, commonly known as "Coke"? If you're going to be consistent, try banning that.

More lunacy...
Here's a report I managed to track down regarding the Melbourne teacher who claimed to be Hitler's illegitimate son. Not bizarre enough for you? Read this. Ouch.

That 'chemical weapons plant' near Najaf
Oops. Weapons of mass destruction? For insects, maybe. Why hasn't Saddam used any of these so-called WMDs yet? Maybe he likes his fruit and vegetables organic?

Flash animation of the day
Is he dead yet? Speculation is growing... While waiting for reports to confirm it have a good laugh with this Disney-style song: Bomb Saddam.

I may not be able to buy hot cross buns, but at least I can get the oil changed
Phew! I was getting worried for a minute there.

Piggins is outta there!
About time too. The way Piggins handled the Coleman sacking (hang on, did you want us to win those practice games?), I doubt he could run a chook raffle properly. Why can't this club just accept that its time is over and drop back into the NSWRL like the Newtown Jets (whatever happened to "Norths Bears") did?

As much as I sympathise with Souths supporters (yeah, right) about the plight of their embattled club, if they were kicked out of the NRL we would be back to 14 clubs, meaning each team plays every other team twice. As it is, we have this farcical situation where the Storm play the Sharks this Saturday (Round 5) despite having played them a month ago in Round 1. We just played the Newcastle Knights, but play them again in three weeks time.

Laughable
Just how much do the American military value Australia's contribution to their war? This 50-second video segment taken from Fox News says it all really. Why don't they play this on National Nine News instead of airing a whole two minutes of "reporting" every time little Johnny gets a friggin' phone call from big brother George Dubya?

WTF?
Ten News just aired a brief image of the Jewish Defence League website, during a story about a teacher who was sacked after telling his class that he was the illegitimate son of Adolf Hitler*. Anyway, take a quick look at the JDL site... Can anyone explain why the hell they are using the Kangaroos logo? I just can't see the connection. (The only prominent Jew who's had an association with an AFL club as far as I know is Joe Gutnick.)

*I searched long and hard for a web report on this amusing story. If anyone finds one, let me know. Maybe it'll be in tomorrow's papers.

Hey Mr and Mrs Iraqi citizen, wanna flyer?
Take a look at the propaganda the U.S. is distributing to the Iraqi people. I particularly like number 15. "Do not use weapons of mass destruction." Are these glossy, informative leaflets are really going to convince any of Saddam's fanatical supporters not to (excuse the cliche) "go out with a bang"? Ask yourself: what percentage of leaflets that you come across each day do you take notice of?

Enjoy a daily blog...
The Americans might have bombed and seized control of Saddam's Presidential Palace, but in the world of blogging, Saddam's Cyber Palace remains intact. Here's a taste:

So they've captured the airport. Big deal. I hate that place. The damn economy parking lots are almost all the way over in Egypt... Literally!!! Then you have to catch one of those open air cargo trucks packed with refugees and all their personal belongings just to get to the terminal building. Whoever designed that place should be shot. Or did I already do that?
And don't EVEN get me started on the airport cops! They are all a bunch of pricks. I remember one time I left my tank parked unattended in the white zone, and they towed it!! I wasn't inside even a minute!!
I tried explaining to the officer that I had just dropped off my cousin, Chemical Ali, who was catching a flight to North Korea on an important sales trip. But he accidentally left his nerve gas samples in the trunk, and I needed to catch up to him before he got on the plane. Sounded perfectly reasonable to me!

Comic gold. Whoever writes this blog needs his own segment on Letterman.

American Life
I'll spare anyone interested in the topic from watching the Richard Wilkins special tonight. (Nobody should be subjected to one hour of that 'Dick': Why couldn't Molly get the gig instead?) Here's the video clip Madonna doesn't want you to see. It's a low quality RealMedia bootleg.

Cometti-isms of the week
Round 2: Carlton v Collingwood

After Leon Davis boots a goal and lets the Blues know about it, a minor scuffle ensues:
"It almost turned into a peace rally."

Darren Hulme is having a shocker, his opponent Davis kicking 2 goals in two minutes:
"Thats Hulme-ilation."

Anthony Rocca is backing up, about to kick for goal from a set shot:
"When he backs up, he beeps!"

Hawthorn v West Coast

Brereton: "He's an accurate kick, Adam Cox.
Sorry... this is Simon Cox - Adam is on the bench.
Actually, it's not Adam Cox on the bench, it's Adrian."
Commetti: "It's become a bit of a Cox-up."

Shane Crawford, in an Eagle tackle, has his shorts pulled down:
"This is a 'brief' tackle."

On Troy Wilson's playing style:
"If it ain't broke, break it."

David Loats takes a strong mark in the forward line in front of a few Eagles' defenders:
"Loats....like a butterfly!"

"The Hawks play modern football, with 60s haircuts...they're my kind of team."

Meanwhile, GNf's domination of the freaky web searches continues...
I'm now the Number 6 site for the disturbingly common "nude pics of saddam" search through Yahoo. It seems sex kitten Delta has some competition over in Baghdad.

Showdown at Souths
Forget Iraq, war broke out in Sydney yesterday. Okay, so maybe the hyperbole is distasteful while the corpses are piling up in Baghdad and Basra, but the management of the South Sydney Rabbitohs is undergoing a civil war. The reign of Souths Chairman George Piggins, who brought the club back from extinction last year, is under threat from a new ticket. This "coalition of the willing" is led by a host of high-profile personalities, including Andrew Denton, Ray Martin, ex-NSW premier Nick Greiner, former Test cricketer (and one-time Who Dares Wins host) Mike Whitney.

The first shots were fired on Saturday when Denton and Piggins went head to head on an obscure Sydney radio show. Listen to the ten-minute argument here. Very compelling listening: Piggins threatens Denton with physical violence Springer-style without the visuals. Piggins says that someone like Kerry Stokes wouldn't want to meet a bum like him. Craig Coleman must have pissed himself laughing listening to this interview.

Piggins might be seen as the "saviour" of the Rabbitohs, but if the club is in 15th place (with no wins) and the sponsors are leaving in droves, what future does it have in the NRL? Denton & Co. deserve a shot to turn it around.

No comment
As you have probably noticed, the number of comments is not appearing throughout recent entries to this blog. However despite this minor annoyance, the commenting system is otherwise fine. Kris Klink assures me that he's working on the problem so hopefully it should be rectified shortly.

All the links he clicked
A cheerio out to the Sydney iPrimus user who did a search for music clip two 13 year old girls kissing and ended up here. Hope you found what you were looking for!

Keep those misguided hits coming, Google! Oh, and by the way, Delta Goodrem Neighbours star nude sex orgy Born to Try video clip naked porn pics.

BB3? 'yes'
Optus have signed on as official ISP for this year's season of Big Brother (which starts in May). This means that for Optusnet Cable customers, viewing the site and live video streams will not count towards download limits! Woo-hoo!

Tonight at the Valley: blogworthy moments

1. While in the mounting yard watching the horses parade before Race 4:
Damo: Grey horses shouldn't be allowed to race.
Fozzie: Don't be racist.

2. Folwell's comment on the late betting plunge on Real Dragon in Race 6:
That's 'cause they don't bet with their head, they bet with their cock.
For the record, Real Dragon stormed home to victory while short-price favourite Don't Tell Tom failed to place.

3. Pumpa! Jockey Matt Pumpa winning three races. His rides were: As Requested, Twilight Rose and Real Dragon. And I was on all three of them. Greg Childs also won three, but as I didn't bet on his rides... who cares?

Tonight
Damo, Fozzie and I are off to the Valley of excitement. Hopefully some of these nags get up! (My tips for the meeting are on Sports Review - sorry, permalink not working properly)

Australians in Iraq
Surprisingly, a lot of American bloggers seem to be unaware of or unclear about Australia's role in the war in Iraq, probably due to the fact that it recieves little to no media coverage on the U.S. networks.

Here's a few recent articles from Australian media sources about Australian involvement in the War:

+Australian divers need more time to clear port (Sydney Morning Herald)

+Australian troops change tactics (The Age)

+Australia left in the dark, say reporters (The Age)

+Australian journalist mourned (The Age)

+Prime Minister John Howard explains his decision to commit Australian troops to the war against Iraq. (RealVideo) (ABC)

As for the question of why Australia has become involved as part of the so-called "coalition of the willing", I'm reading a lot on the matter for my Foreign Relations class. The Howard Government values our relationship with the U.S. above all others, to the detriment of our relationships with our regional neighbours (Indonesia, S.E. Asia and the Pacific). An unwise move? Time will tell.

No sex please, we're Arabic
"Al-Jazeera" was the top search string on Lycos last week, getting three times the amount of searches that "sex" did.

Fuck Saddam, his wife and daughters
I received a free copy of The Guardian yesterday when its editor came to speak at uni. Never read it before, but it's quality journalism.

Luke Harding reports on a group of Iraqi actors satirising Saddam's government Cabaret-style: (full article available here)

In the rest of Iraq nobody jokes about the president. To do so would be to invite arrest and execution. "Traditionally, the only place where we have been free to express our ideas has been the toilet cubicle," Hassan explains. "But if you walked into a cubicle and found a piece of graffiti that said, 'Fuck Saddam, his wife and daughters,' you left pretty quickly." If the Mukhabarat (Iraq's intelligence service) came in next and found you there, they would arrest you."

I'm glad I live in a country where people are free to write "Fuck Howard" on a toilet cubicle wall without being turned into soap. Not that I would, but some of the politically motivated toilet wall graffiti around campus provides quite humourous reading while one takes a dump.

Just kill 'em all and let God sort it out
U.S. troops murder seven Iraqi civilians. Sounds like a bad April Fool's Day joke, doesn't it. Unfortunately, it's not.