Hot ('n' spicy) Dog
Okay, so this isn't primarily a greyhound racing blog, but this dog is too good to keep quiet. ZINGER has won four of its last five starts (the other being a 2nd). Look out for it Mondays and Thursday nights when it runs at Albion Park.

Last night it saluted much to the delight of several punters on course at Moonee Valley. And it paid $4.20 the win, which is roughly the price of that burger of the name same the Colonel flogs.

The other highlights/lowlights of Irish Night at Moonee Valley were:

- Nothing Irish being sighted all night
- The return of the long-haired hottie in the denim shorts
- Race 5: Brilliant Jewel breaking the barrier jockeyless, and running the 1000m in record time, and receiving a huge cheer from the crowd as it past the finish post
- Someone's Quaddie going bust in the first leg (not again!)
- Lots of talent on-course... and I don't mean Danny Nikolic
- Shane "Hank Bulger" Crawford sighted wandering around the stables
- The purchase of a pink "Lonhro" cap
- And finally, the Zinger that Zinger paid for

Mindless, yet addictive flash game of the day
Camera Killer: Ever wish you could speed without getting caught by speed cameras? Solution: shoot them!

Note: GNf does not condone speeding or shooting speed cameras. Wipe Off 5 or wipe out lives.

Big Dubya comes to Melbourne
No, not George W. Big W, Woolworths' discount department chain that is somewhere between a Kmart and a Target. There's also now a full-sized supermarket in the CBD, which is a huge plus, even if it is only a Safeway.

While the QV building on Swanston Street looks largely like an empty concrete labyrinth from the outside, apparently a new Big W and Safeway have opened underground. Seeing as I turned up to my scheduled lecture to find an empty lecture theatre, I think I'll go explore this new underground consumer haven in the heart of the city.

Tunes: What I've been listening to lately...

SOLITAIRE - I Like Love
Can't get enough of this feelgood tune. If you haven't heard it yet, switch onto Nova and chances are you will hear it ... they're playing it once an hour. Not that that's a bad thing.

ATB - I Don't Wanna Stop

MOGUAI - Get On

TIGA - Hot In Herre
Respectable cover of the Nelly hit.

THE BOOGIE PIMPS - Somebody To Love '03

BENNY BENASSI - Able To Love
He's baaaack ... Deep bass beats, Stephen Hawking-style vocals and all.

JUNIOR SENIOR - Move Your Feet (Various Mixes)
Surely the dance hit of the year.

TIM DELUXE - Less Talk More Action

LEXY & K-PAUL - Dancing
More Eurotrash bliss.

BOB SINCLAR - Kiss My Eyes

MILK & SUGAR - Let The Sunshine In

BASEMENT JAXX - Lucky Star
More sensual, manic Jaxx carnivale dance beats.

BLIND MELON - No Rain
Just had this in my head one day, Googled the lyrics and voila.

"WTF?" Moment of the Day
Went to Fungry Jack's today to redeem a free sundae I won in their Rugby World Cup competition.

The guy serving tells another guy to make the sundae, which he achieves after they both co-operatively tinker with the soft serve machine for two or three minutes. He puts it on the counter, then fidgets around under the counter in about five different places, goes out the back and returns with a confused look on his face.

He hands me a small package which contains a napkin and plastic knife and fork.

Fast Food Worker: "Sorry, we're out of spoons. I don't know how you're going to eat that."

Me (WTF?): "What? You're out of spoons?"

FFW: "Yes, we had a lot of sundae orders today."

Me: "Erm, okay."

FFW (concerned voice) "Don't know how you're going to eat that..."


(So I managed to eat it with a fork, which actually turned out half-okay as it was sporkish in shape.)

The Buzz Official Launch
Today I officially launch The Buzz, an interactive portal to Melbourne's livliest bars, pubs and clubs.

Right now there's about ten complete reviews, but more will be added over the next few days. I invite everyone to check it out, comment on the venues, get some discussion fired up on the forum and enjoy! (Maybe even write me a few reviews if you think the places I write about suck).

It's that time of the month
Time to blow all my remaining bandwidth. I thus present a photo essay of my week.


I wonder if this is what Klinger was refering to when singing about "bright lights of Greensborough"?



Just goin' for a cruise.



Bright lights of Melbourne. Love the new 7 News ticker above Young & Jackson's.



Cleaning the ol' Fanta cans...



For non-Melbournians, this schizophrenic structure is known as Federation Square. It grows on you.



The big screen at Fed Sq. Showing some weird video clip or possibly an SBS movie.



Another angle of Fed Sq. I bet the guy who designed this wall was into abseiling...



Either the set of a sci-fi movie or the interior of the glass palace at Fed Sq.



Construction continues on the 'G under an overcast Melbourne sky.



In Melbourne, all roads lead to Flinders Street Station ... especially Flinders Street.



The daily assortment of businesspeople, students, punks, beggars, protestors do their thing outside the station.



The remains of a meal consumed at the fast food outlet formerly known as Burger King.



The car park behind Crazy John's Hawthorn. Apparently they "do One.Tel deals". Consumers, prepare to be screwed.



The divine courtyard at Swinburne TAFE.

Week without sleep = 2004 reality hit
Interesting news from everyone's favourite UK tabloid The Sun:

THE brains behind Big Brother have dreamed up a new reality show where contestants have to stay awake for a WEEK.

Forty members of the public have to brave fatigue and compete in a series of gruelling challenges over seven days.

The last person standing scoops a big cash prize — possibly £50,000 — if they survive the ultimate endurancve test. TV company Endemol is thrilled with early trials it is convinced it is going to be a hit.

An insider said: “Viewers are literally going to see people dropping like flies.

“There are going to be a lot of very fit people and complete insomniacs trying to stay the distance on this show.

“It’s unlike any other programme that will be on TV — it’s like Big Brother meets It’s A Knockout meets Touch The Truck.”

The show, called Endurance, should go out next year.

The most I've gone without sleep is somewhere around the 55-60 hour mark. Looks like I'm going to have to raise the bar if I want to comepete in the Australian version of this series, should it eventuate...

The Friday Five (One Day Late)
1. Name five things in your refrigerator.
Cask wine, mayonnaise, water, roast beef, apricot jam.

2. Name five things in your freezer.
Peas, passionfruit Frosty Fruit Splits, chicken drummos, So good 97% fat free ice confection, Lean Cuisine Thai style chicken with rice

3. Name five things under your kitchen sink.
Dry dog food, vanilla fridge wipe, sponges, vase, sandwich maker.

4. Name five things around your computer.
TV remote control, Diet Coke can, stapler, mobile phone, printer cartridge container.

5. Name five things in your medicine cabinet.
Hair gel, Mylanta, Band-aids, shaving cream, shaving gel.

Caulfield Cup
Catch my tips for Cup Day on Sports Review.

Best Music Video Ever
Big call, but the video to Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet" would have to come close.

Animated with glorious 256-colour EGA graphics, it features memorable characters such as a drink-driving squirrel and an injury-prone horse, as well as the obligatory singing pineapple and hot dog, all which dance to the beat. Hypnotic. Video made by Shynola.

See it in QuickTime here.

The Friday Monday Five

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
Yep, many! In season, I follow Australian Rules and Rugby League with a keen interest. Right now I'm watching a bit of the Rugby World Cup, Horse Racing of course and bits of Cricket. Occasionally, I'll watch some Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer or American Football.

2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
By league and rough order of interest, I follow the fortunes of:
AFL - Collingwood (Nathan Buckley)
NRL - Melbourne Storm (formerly Marcus Bai)
VFL - Williamstown
NBL - Victoria Giants
NFL - Green Bay Packers
NBA - Los Angeles Lakers
EPL - Manchester United
MLB - New York Yankees
NSL - South Melbourne
Super 12 - ACT Brumbies
SANFL - Port Adelaide Magpies
TAC Cup - Northern Knights
J-League - Jubilo Iwata
JPB - Chunichi Dragons

3. Are there any sports you hate?
From a spectator's perspective, golf and motor sports (apart from the occasional F1 GP) don't really interest me.

4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Of course! I live in the sporting capital of Australia.
I've been to:
- Australian Football (AFL Pre-Season Matches, Pre-Season Cup Grand Final, State of Origin Matches, Premiership Season Matches, Finals Series Matches, 1990 Grand Final)
- Rugby League (NRL Premiership Season Matches, Finals Series Matches, 1999 Grand Final)
- Basketball (NBL Regular Season Matches, Grand Final Series)
- Cricket (One-day internationals)
- Horse Racing, Harness Racing, Greyhound Racing (various tracks/meetings)
- Soccer (J-League Match)
- Baseball (Japanese Pro Baseball Matches)
- Tennis (Australian Open)

5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
My brief sporting career started with a two season basketball stint with the Briar Hill Tradition playing in both the inter-school sport and Eltham Wildcats League. I also made a few cameo appearances for Ivanhoe Grammar School Whites before retiring from the sport at the age of 12.

Aussie Rules Football: Played one season with the Briar Hill Demons? (Well, we wore the Melbourne FC jumpers), losing all eight or so games and tasting various varieties of mud in the process.

Rugby (Touch): Age 16. Played about half a season in the Eltham league (don't think our team even had a name - if it did I can't remember it).

That's about it. I'm thinking of joining a Rugby League club next year, but the odds of it eventuating are similar to that of Yakama winning the Melbourne Cup.

Monday afternoon yada yada yada
Okay, so it's dead obvious - I haven't done a decent update in ages. Here's my 5 minute attempt to synopsize the events of the last few weeks in point form:

* Collingwood's VFL protege Williamstown won the flag, but the week later the Pies themselves were killed in their second consecutive Grand Final against Brisbane.

* Settling in well to my new job. Sure, it's a temp thing but it's nice to have income after such an extensive period of slackness.

* Spent Grand Final Day working - only hearing occasional score updates. Got to see the 15 minutes of the 3rd quarter where Akermnanis went crazy. After hearing the final result, never got around to watch the full game on replay...

* Saw an inebriated Norm Smith Medallist (yes, Simon Black) meander into Heat, snubbing a group of Lions supporters on the way, and walk out with a blonde on each arm.

* Did the party-all-night, first-train-home thing for the first time in over six months.

* Visited numerous pubs and clubs, some new, some old favourites. But despite the drinking and revelling this involved, I'm yet to make any progress on the web project I'm meant to be developing. Those of you that have promised to contribute reviews (you know who you are), I'm calling them in!

* Visited the Valley of excitement on their first night meeting of the year. Certain punters weren't too excited with the results...

* Spent the time in between getting copious amounts of sleep.

That's all I can come up with for now, more enthusiastic updates to follow...

Confession
Bulmer's apple cider = liquid bliss.