Hydrogen Heads

Given how expensive petrol is these days and the high level of pollution it causes, alternative fules have started to arrive on the scene. THese have been around for a while, but there becoming slightly more viable. Apparently, Arnie Swarnezegger (the terminator) recently got a hummer which takes only hydrogen as fuel. I'm not sure of how it works, having not done any science after year 10, but apparently its full heaps expensive as there are only 12 hydrogen stations in california.

So what does Arnie decide to do? He spends $134 million on building hydrogen stations so that by 2014 they will be a viable resource. Good idea? NOt sure. I think that's a lot of dosh plus you have to fill up every 80 KM.

Another alternative resource is natural gas. French car maker Citroen and some gas company have managed to make a car which can be filled up at home via natural gas. HOw cool is that? You drive up to your natural gas tank at home, hook up the hose, and fill'erup. No more trips to the petrol station, waiting in lines, paying 109 cents for a litre of petrol. There's heaps of natural gas around and its much cheaper. So instead of being petrol heads we'll be calling those maniacs on the roads " natural gas heads".


Roll over

I had my eyes set on getting a 4WD as my first car. THey are obvious disadvantages,
- being much bigger and harder to park
- consuming more petrol (or natural gas in the future)
- more dangerous in crashes for the other side.

BUt the upside is that you look cool and rugged. I want to have leather interiors and DVD/playstation like Stephon Marbury and Stromile Swift.

However new studies have shown that 4WD are more likely to result in serious accidents than normal cars. WHy? I thought they'd be more safer, given their size and weight. But their higher center of gravity means that in a crash your more likley to roll over and get into more serious trouble. The study was quoting all these crazy stats after analysing thousands of crashes and basically 4WD are more dangerious to drive. Kinda makes me think twice about getting one.

Looks like I can't cruise around and play R Kelly's song "You Remind Me of my jeep".


12 Angry Men

I saw a poster advertising the play "12 Angry Men" and was very excitied. THis was a book which I had studied in high school and it's about a murder trial involving a young man accused of murdering his father. He's from a poor background and lives in the slums of new york and is an immigrant. It unclear if there is any evidence against him as no-one saw him do it, but everything sorta points to him.

What makes the story interesting is that there are 12 jurors and 11 of them are ready to convict him. It's the first day after trial has finished and has been a long day for them, it's a hot afternoon, many of them want to get it over with, there's the world series baseball to watch (not the Red Sox win as its set in 1950). One of the jurors, number 8 isn't willing to convict and thinks there isn;t enough evidence. He attempts to convince the other jurors and counters some resistance. We get to see the prejudices that people have, their willingness to convict someone, their other priorities in their life and how they reach their decison. What i think is cool is how they don't have names, but rather the book refers to them as their jury numbers such as " number 8", kinda like Antoine Walker's "employee No. 8".

Having done a mock criminal trial the other day, it dawned on me how much easy the defence has to prepare their case. Because to convict someone of a crime, you need to prove they did it at a level known as "beyond reasonable doubt". As in, you have to be ABSOULTELY CERTAIN they did it. Kinda like 100%. I was talking to this guy that was on the prosecution side, and it said how easy it was me (the defence) cause all i had to do was cast some kind of doubt...i.e possibilities that he didn't do it such as mistaken identity, technicality or can't prove all the elements of the offence.

I hit back with "if your going to convict someone of a crime and possibly send them to jail/or even fine them you've got to be 100% sure. You could be sentencing them to a crime which they did n't commit and taking away their liberty. That's why the law has such a high standard".

After pondering Justice Ho's comments, he agreed. Whenever you quote a judge you refer to them as Justice or honour so I always wanted to say that: "Justice Ho" or even "His Honour, Ho J".

The other day, I played the magistrae (local court judge) in this court room simulation. Basically, I didn't want to do anything in class and just wanted to watch. SO i thought i would sit on the judge's seat and just watch. After hearing arguements from both sides, I had to hand down a decision and I attempted to come up with some words of wisdom when I was handing down the decision.

I had no idea what was going on because i was reading the BRW whilst I was up there (but you couldn't see that as it was under the table). So i was going to motion to the court officer (my mate Mark who was sitting nearby) for some adivce. Then I thought that just looks heap dodgy, since when does a judge asks the court officer for advice - unless its judge judy and that black guy. So I tried to conjure up some magic line: " Given the arguements from both sides, and weighing in the evidence, I have to give it to........er...... (I was stuck at this point for like 10 seconds and the whole room is just silent)..............................them". I just pointed randomly at the defence. I'm sure that's not how they do that in court, but it worked because the class agreed LOL. After walking out, one of the sudents laughs at me and yells out "Magistrate Ho".

Possible career path? I can just imagine it, the first Asian judge on the High Court, looking absolutely ridiculous with the white wig on, reading the BRW whilst handing out random justice.

Cumbria?

Have you ever heard of a place called CUMBRIA? I just find this absolutely ridiculous. The australians just annhilated Cumbria 64-12 in the rugby league. Firstly, why are they playing Cumbria? Cumbria apparently is "a county of northwestern England". i don't understand why the aussies have to warm up against a district side.

When Mark O'Meley score three tries in the game, you know your in trouble. THis game was equivalent to the USA dream team playing the Bankstown Bruins in basketball. There's just no competition.

Furthermore, I have to get something else off my chest. Why are the Australians worrying about not having Craig Fitzgibbon and Shaun TImmons for the England v Aust. game? There is just so much depth in the NRL, there would be plenty of replacements. They could take Ben Roarty and Dene Halatu and still win (who in fact they did play for australia against cumbria).

Wayne Bennett the austrlian coach was full talking up the English side saying their the equivalent of our side. I haven't any super league games this year, but judging on past performance, I'm sure they can't be any better than the South Sydney Rabbitohs. I just think its utterly ridiculous how they pump the opposition as if they even have a chance. It totally reminds me of the Australia v Fiji test a few years back, when in the Fiji side there was like only 1 NRL player suiting up for Fiji. It's just stupid. It's like me going up one on one against Kevin Garnett. Garnett would get slaughtered lol.

And what 's the deal with the Waratahs still chasing Braith Anasta for 2006? I think that's going a bit too far. Seriously, he's not that good that he will singlehandly turn their side around.

Other ridiculous one one matchups:

1. Me v Aadesh: I just get taken to skool (i.e beaten very badly)
2. KG v Rick Rickbert: KG gets skooled, forced to punch Rick in the head.
3. Me v Ashby: I can score anytime, Ashby can score anytime.
4. Me v Dawen: Again, I get taken to skool.
5. Me v Any guy in the bankstown league in 2003: HO goes 0 for 10, 5 turnovers, and 4 personal fouls, collects team fees.
6. Shaq v Danny fortson: Danny - "i can give shaq a hard time". Shaq's reply "He's a tree stump".
7. David Tua v Lennox Lewis: Lewis goes "you need to come at me with more than a right hook and a haircut" hahahaha.

WHo will win it all?

After checking the idol betting, I noticed there were odds from basketball. ANd being the non-betting man that I am, I had to check out the odds on some of my favourite teams to win the NBA championship.

For a $1 bet, this would be the payout:

Chicago Bulls - $ 251

As much as I am a bulls supporter, something tells me they won't win this year. For all you basketball fans out there, I have listed someother interesting odds. For $1 bet, odds are:

Spurs - $5
Pistons - $7
Mavericks - $11
Lakers - $16
Cavs - $51
Boston Celtics - $51
utah jazz - $67
Bobcats - $1001

See ya later Chanel No. 5

I was so happy to see Chanel Cole get booted out from idol. I don't think she was that great. Sure she had some orginally, but her act was getting old. I'd compare her to Bjork......a comparison which she dreaded. She was quirky but in the end there was no way the public would buy her stuff. She's just too weird.

The current idol betting odds from Centrebet are as follows:

To win idol

CALLEA, Anthony: $1.45
DONOVAN, Casey: $5
MURPHY, Courtney: $5
JENSEN, Hayley: $13

My head says that Anthony will win. However, I will make a very bold prediction. Hayley Jensen will win idol. She is the least talented and most boring out of all of them. However, they just can't seem to get rid of her, despite her obvious lack of ability. She reminds me of that old lady that won Survivor 2, despite Colby (the young strapping male) who was superior physically and mentally. You heard it here first: HAYLEY JENSEN WINS IDOL.

Post Mortem

We had the fantasy nba draft yesterday and it went pretty smoothly. i'm very satisfied with my team. i felt pretty giddy at the start of the draft, running around madly a few minutes b4 the draft started, trying to find my list of "steals", printing out the yahoo list, and making sure everyone knew the draft was on.

My strategy going in was to take the best players available and then build around them. I picked last (7th) in the first round and then I got to pick 1st in the second round (8th). For my first pick, I couldnt' believe T-Mac was still available at pick 7, so that was a good pickup. THen with the next pick, i had a bit of trouble deciding: Elton Brand/Peja/Kirilenko/Ray Allen. I was leaning towards Peja because of the shooting % and our league has three of those cats. However, I thought Kirilenko would fill up the stat sheet in steals and blocks. In the end I went with the solid but unspectacular Elton Brand. He's 20/10 player and throws in 2.2 blocks per game. I deliberately went big even though I originally set out to draft regardless of position for the first couple of picks. I might regret not taking one of the other two.

For my next pick, I also couldn't believe that Baron Davis fell into my lap with the 21st pick. He's ranked 15th but I thought he's going to western conference, he has to do to much on this team, sometimes injured. But i thought last season he was just a fantasy beast at the start. He's one of the multi cat players that I drool over.

I guess my strategy going into the draft was to take guys that could contribute in a lot of differnt categories. So my first three picks were pretty consistent: T-Mac, Brand, Baron Davis.

My next pick was kinda unexpected by most people i suspect. I really wanted zach randolph even though he's not rated highly amongst the autoranks. I felt that he was a solid 20/10 guy that shoots 50%. He doesn't do that much more but I just like him. He's just very consistent. Plus I feel that he still has the potential to improve. I took him over amare stoudemire/pau gasol/kenyon martin/walker. it was like a smorgasboard of PF but each one had their weaknesses. Stoudemire might play centre, plus he's a little raw. Gasol doesn't get enough minutes to be real effective but is very efficient. Martin is on a loaded frontcourt. Walker has terrible shooting percentages. In the end I went with one of my favourite players.

With my fifth pick, I kinda remeber taking a look at what's left and remembering that I wanted Donyell Marshall pretty badly. Last season he just killed it and yahoo calls him the "most underrated fantasy player". I wanted to take Michael Redd, but hoi took him (prolly on the advice of that stats book he has). Donyell was typical of the kind of player that i wanted. can shoot 3's, score in the high teens, rebound feriously, blocks, steals. He's one of the best pickups i had all nite.

At this point, i thought what are my other needs? I've got a top flight backcourt with B Diddy/Tmac, loaded at the PF spot with Brand/Z-Randolph/Marshall. I figured, i'd take the next best player and wanted to fill a SF/SG spot. So I took Corey Maggette. I like him as a player and he gets 20 points/6 rebounds/shoots a ton of free throws. but the problem is like randolph, he doens't do much else. But hoi had him last time, and i remembered that Corey went quite well. See Maggette and Brand were overlooked by a lot of people because they play on lesser known team: the clippers. Their points and stats should increase with Q-Rich gone to the suns.

By this point, i thought "crap, i need a centre". I had two consecutive picks, so i figured I'd take the best center availabele. There wasn't much choice as Shaq was gone in the first round (by Ken), brad Miller was taken (by Bucky), Yao Ming (by someone). the next best was jamaal Magloire. I wasn't keen on this pick, but i thought i don;t want to be screwed with a crappy centre like dan gadzuric. So i deliberately avoided the Big Z and I feel that I mgiht also regret this as well. I had him last time and just wsn't too impressed. but the thing is he might play better this semester with Lebron and two point guards starting...essentially there are three PG's on the squad, so there's gonna be a lot of sweet passes to Big Z. But i thought i'm gonna try something different and take J-Mag. But he's going to western conference, so not sure how this will pan out.

With the very next pick, I thought, might as well get another centre b4 they all dry up. so i went hmmmmm...who's left, and took Marcus Camby. Still, maybe i should have taken Big Z. But I like camby but he's often injured and with Kenyon martin, a lot of his rebounds are gonna get soaked up. But camby contributes in blocks and steals as well as rebounds. Still, can't really justify Camby over Big Z.

By now, the top 30-40 players was pretty much gone. I reverted back to my original strategy of taking the best players available combining with a need to fill up the guard spots. I didn't want to end up like last time when I only took bigs and had no guards except for P squared and Mike Bibby. I really wanted to fill a need, so I took Brent Barry. What???? He only scores 10 points. But he's a excellent three point shooter, and he's what I wanted because he also contributes assists, and steals. I figure with tim duncan throwing out of double teams, he'll only be more accurate and garner more assists and points. Barry is very underrated as a fantasy player but he contributes to several important cats.

Next pick, I went with Jamal Crawford. I like him except he's got a terrible shooting %. I figure the change to NY should do him some good and Houston not coming back soon anyway. Not too sure about this pick, but i figure i could trade him if need be.

At this point I dragged several players into my queue box, which allows you to select several players your interested in. but something happened and my computer froze. I was panicking and tried desperately to log in, but to no avail. But because i had a queue box thingy going, I got who I wanted. well sort of. I got carlos arroyo and jalen rose. Arroyo i like , because of the olympics play. But rose? Not sure. He's pretty much the same as crawford and Arroyo combined, except for the rebounds. I actually wanted to take Grant Hill but it wasn't to be. But in the end, i predict grant hill will at best average jalen rose type numbers - 16 points/5 assists/6 rebounds. so either way, it's not too bad and rose is proven. With Hill there's a massive question mark.

For my last pick, I realised that there was so many quality players left over, hence the advantage of being in a 7 team league. I wanted to take a risk on an unknown player, a gamble, a roll of the dice on someone. There was one player that i was sweating over all night but wanted to take at the the very end cause i figured most people didn't know about him and his pre-season emergence. I had read up heaps on fantasy Bball and checked out preseason stats and knew this guy stood out. Who was this blockbuster player? PRIMOZ BREZERC!!!!! Everything indicates that this guy will blow up. I was so delighted that no one had touched him and was the very last pick in the whole draft. Primoz Brezerc, welcome to Ho's Allstars. He's a centre with the Bobcats, and was killing the preseason with 15 points and 8 rebounds. I'm predicting that this continues. THe only problem is, i have 3 centres on the team now, bit of an overload. I might trade one of them, but i want to keep this guy, because he's my "project". I want him to pan out, so I can saying something similar to "who's your daddy?" , but twisted into this "who's the GM?".

China here we come!

Spent all Saturday organising a trip to China. WHoever thought that going to a travel agent and asking about a 9 day tour would be so difficult? Also found out that airfares are pretty steep around Christmas and New year, like around $2K to fly to Beijing, with stopover in HK. It'll be worth it though! Kind of wish that I could spend more time overseas b4 i start work, but:

1. I don't have the $$$
2. I don't have the $$$
3. I don't have the $$$
4. I will miss my dedicated readers :P (but more so the first 3).

What i need to do is work for like a year or two, save up money and take a much needed holiday for like 3 months. Just drop off the face of the world for a while, not worry about studying/ working and just bum around the world. AHhhh if only.

Study?
So much do to, so little time. Got like 10 billion things to do for my litigation practice file and my finals in 3 weeks time. THe short of it - I'm screwed? Well not really. I've been through like what 10 examination periods from 2000 to now.....i've survived each one with flying colours..so fingers crossed.

Your Drafted !
The day has almost arrived. Exactly 24 hours b4 the draft. I have been anticiapting this for a while. It 's like the most exciting day for fantasy basketball. POssible issues to ponder:

* KG first or Tim Duncan?
* Do i take a risk on grant hill? will the ankle hold up
* what's my strategy? build up a good rotation first or take bigs first?
* Shaq FT% ?
* J Kidd - 2/3/4 round? will be interesting.
* who are the steals in the later rounds?
* will someone pull out and ask to change the date (yet again) and drive me insane?

Shout out to Hoi! COngrats on your graduation from your marketing degree. I heard that there was a distinct lack of FOBS at the graduation, NOT!.

Law Ball
had heaps of fun ......felt good mixing with people in a social setting who i have been intensely studying with all year. Quite a few drunks around as well (you know who you are) and a few dancing queens amongst us (Alex).

Gotta go back and study,
Matt.

models v ball boys

Another interesting article which deserves mention:

Models to replace ball boys

From correspondents in Madrid, SpainOctober 16, 2004

FASHION models will replace volunteer ball boys and girls at the Madrid Masters tennis tournament starting this weekend. Tournament organisers today confirmed a report in the sports daily newspaper As, but declined to give details. As said 25 women aged 19 to 27 had been hired to spend a week chasing stray balls for 900 euro ($1530) each under a scheme devised by fashion designer Hugo Boss.

The paper quoted Julio Nieto, identified as the women's coach, as saying the biggest challenge was teaching the game to the models. "How it is played, what a set is, what a game is, when to toss the ball," he said.

My thoughts: Somehow me thinks the biggest challenge will be to get the players to concentrate on the game and not get distracted. Should increase TV ratings though. Tennis might suddenly become interesting to the male population. I think you'll see quite a few camera closeups when the models pick up the balls.

New balls please?

You pay for what you get

I read this article today and felt i had to post it up in its entirety. It's hilarious.

Dozens of penis ops go wrong

From correspondents in Chaiyaphum. October 19, 2004

DOZENS of Thai men have been treated in hospital after having a suspected paraffin mixture injected into their penises during botched enlargement attempts, a hospital official said.
Most of the botched ops have been undertaken in one rural Thai village.

At least 48 men have each needed two months of treatment at a single hospital for inflamed penises after paying for syringes of blue liquid administered by illegal backstreet doctors.
The cases were reported from a single hospital in the rural northern province of Chaiyaphum since January. It was not clear if the men were from the same town or village.

All of them made a full recovery after treatment, according to a spokeswoman at the state-run Chaiyaphum hospital. Unlicensed cosmetic surgery carried out by unqualified practitioners is a problem in Thailand, particularly in rural areas.

Agence France-Presse


My thoughts: All I can say is blackmarket surgery is dodgy. I'm sure this stuff won't be on that RPA tv show. Moral of the story - don't get surgery done in Thailand (LMAO). It'll prolly cause more harm than good.

Another one bites the dust

I'm overjoyed that Marty got kicked out of Australian Idol. This guy had so limited potential and never lived up to the hype. I mean he had a couple of alright songs but in the words of Mark Holden he never "squeezed any sparks". As in he never really raised the roof. I think this guy is better off as a front man for a rock band than a solo signer. He never shone and every week I was expecting him to get knocked off.

Let's get retarded

The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) concert on Sunday nite was mad. I loved it. It was at the horden pavillion, and the place was absolutely packed. Musta been like 5000 people in there. As soon as i went into the concert hall (300 metres from the stage), the music was so loud, I could feel my body trembling slightly. Seriously, i think they should have turned the volume down.

BEP came out first song slightly disappointing becoz it wasnt one of their huge hit songs. I reckon they should have started with something which everybody knew. Then they went into that "hey mumma" song. The biggest cheer of the night when they first came out went to Fergie, the female vocalist. I reckon half the audience came to see her.

Interesting side note: half the audience musta been aussie blonde females. As in jerry seinfield's words "not that there's anything wrong with that!". i think there must have been quite a few 5'11 blondes :P. Also, whenever someone put a girl onto their shoulders so that they could see better, it started raining down plastic bottles. Why? Cause some poor sap behind them couldn't see and you can't walk thru the crowd, tap them on the shoulder and say "can you please get down?". Apparently, the proper procedure is to dig around on the floor for some empty bottles and hail them directly at the offender in front. So when this girl next to me got up on her boyfriend's shoulder, I instintively tilted my head away from her to avoid the plastic bombs.

Getting back to the music, as I predicted, BEP came out with a lot of energy and hype. These guys are real entertainers. They did some exclusive tracks from their upcoming album such as "pump it" but these sucked. BEP then proceeded to all walk off the stage after a couple of songs. i thought what was going on???. But it was like one of the highlights of the show because then each one came back one at a time and did a solo performance. They each did freestyles and I was quite impressed with their flow, ability, and creativity. However, Fergie came out crooning ( i wanted a freestyle but it was not to be) and started making all these unintelligible weird sounds kinda of like Scatman.

There was also an instrumentalists section where each of the band members got their chance to shine. Some of these dudes are pretty talented but I think it went a bit overboard. Then William Apple.De.App (i think that's his name) came out on the drums and started banging away. Then he rapped the lyrics to Kelis "Milkshake" over it. Definite highlight. He further showcased his talent by then playing the piano, jamming with the other band members. he's prolly my fav rapper in the whole group.

The crowd was fully hyped when they did "where is the love" and "shut up, shut up". but the climax was left at the very end. They started playing the instrumental to "let's get retarted" for a couple of minutes and you could feel the excitement in the crowd building up. BEP members started running back and forth across the stage. You could just feel the tension in the audience. Then it just absolutely exploded when they screamed "let's get retarded" and everyone starts jumping up and down like crazy (including yours truly). But they did end right there, and stretched out the end of like a couple more minutes. That was prolly the best part of the show.

Side note 2: There was a guy rocking a BEP basketball style singlet in the colours of the chicago bulls. i got one word for you buddy, "gay". lol. I don't think I'd be caught dead wearing it. Street cred factor: zero.

Lastly before I sign off and do my litigation assignement, it was absolute hassle to get out of the car park. We were lined up in the car park for like 5 minutes, and there were all these idiots incessantly honking their horns. As if that achieves anything. Feeling frustrated, we parked the car and went elsewhere. Walking down the flight of stairs, the honking only multiplied and became more furious. Laughing at these suckers trapped in the car park, I said to Tim:

"Where is the love?".

Intruder

This is a cut and paste of a message board I set up on the Australian Idol website.

Ricki Lee come back as an intruder
Djhomixes (me): The competition needs someone like RLC (Ricki Lee Coulter). She bring a certain vibe, energy and is just so talented. They need to bring her back. Perhaps what they should do is bring RLC as an intruder, like they did on Big Brother. Or have another wildcard tryout, to try to bring her back. What does everyone else think?

Here are a selection of responses:

jb928s4: Good idea... just make it quick!!

krtgoldcoast: That is quite stupid, Get over it she is out.

idolwatcher: i think thats a stupid idea djhomixes..thats is the dumbest thing ive ever seen written on these threads...plus it wouldn't be fair to other idols who have been voted out...

allsystemsdead: I am a fan of RLC but I do agree with ktrgoldcoast. She's out so ppl should learn to deal with it. And having a wildcard, thats just stupid! That will show that Idol seems to favor RLC, don't you think?

My thoughts
Hmmmm...seems everyone doesn't agree with me. I agree that it might not be fair on the other idols, but to call it the stupidest idea? I have seen more outrageous suggestions. Not that I read the message boards or anything :P.

Representing

Just want to make a quick note that the Bliss N Eso CD, "Flowers in the pavement" was playing yesterday at General Pants in Market City. In case your not aware, they are an AUSTRALIAN rap group. Wow, first time I've heard Australian rap in a store. Usually that store plays a hip hop/rnb mixtape. I think they must have read my rave review on my website.

Arriving home, I put the CD in my player to confirm it was the same CD and tracks that I heard. And then I thought, this stuff is da bomb. Maybe General Pants will start selling Bliss N Eso t-shirts. there seems to be a market of two people out there

What's your fantasy?

The fantasy NBA draft is coming up on tueday at 11pm for the fantasyflavo's league. In case you don't know Fantasy NBA is a game played based on the statistics of NBA players. In our league of 7 players, particpants will choose the players through a live draft system, with the order of drafting determined randomly.

The draft is crucial to the success of your team. It could make or break you for the rest of the season. Previous busts that I have drafted include Eddy "I'm worth 80million" Curry. Players can adopt different strategies in the selection of their team. Some people like to choose the best players first, and then build the team around them. Others prefer to select the best big players as there are less of them eg centers and power forwards, then go for the glut of small forwards/shooting guards in the next couple of rounds, then make a run for the point guards in the later rounds.

A lot of this depends on what happens on the draft day. You may have a player who you want really badly but someone else may happen to snap them up before you do. My tip is to focus on guys in the later rounds. Everyone pretty much knows which players are in the top 20's to 30's but its the players in the middle round and last couple that could really make a difference. It's where the true gm's really stand out. Guys like me attempt to study statistics of players, read up on injuries, latest news, fantasy draft analysis. I don't do it specifically for fantasy NBA, I just to it cause I'm obsessed with basketball.

I don't know if you can tell, but I've been really looking forward to draft day. It's really fun and I love just figuring who I want to take and who everyone else will take. The post-mortem is also quite fun, admiring other people's shrewd selections. Or just laughing at the justification of why Ashby drafted a certain player in the hope of stuffing everyone else up.

Pain in the ass

Apologies to everyone in my league for changing the draft time several times. It's a very long story, but because its in US Central standard time I had to convert it to Australian Sydney time. It wasn't easy. Ashby, Tim and I counted backwards 16 hours and verified it. However, when I checked up several online world clocks, it was one hour different.

THEN, one of our particiapants, couldn't make it at that time, so i had to change it. THEN, I emailed another manager of another league, to confirm the time as we had set it for the same time. However it was totally different. I wondered why, and checked the countdown clock for the draft. To my shock and amazement, the countdown clock was running at a different time to central standard time. So I had to recalculate the time and double check with another league.

To just triple check, I set up another league to test run the time set for 11pm last friday. The countdown clock ran perfectly. However, I couldn't draft as I set up a head to head league and I didn't have enough players to run it. But the timer worked!

In short, 11pm tuesday night. It's set in stone, I'm not changing it again otherwise I will go insane.

There's a hair in there

I need a haircut very badly. My side burns are huge. I would make Elvis Presley proud. The thing is I'm the type of person that doesn't get a haircut until it's absolutely necessary. Kind of like not mowing a lawn until the grass is 15cm high. Or not cleaning my car window until it's absolutely necessary.

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but I have had the same haircut for the last 5 years. Short, spiky hair. NO variation. My hair gets longer but I try to do the same thing with the hair as if it's short. Only until I can't spike up the front anymore, I realise that it might be time to get a haircut.

Hmm I'd like to get another kind of haircut, but what would i get? Maybe I'll shave my heads and get some lines across the side of my head ala Willie Tonga style. It seems popular amongst some young NRL footballers. Not sure how good that would look on me though.

Maybe I should dye my hair. Do something different. It's always been my natural colour - black. How would i look with orange hair? Or as a blonde. I wouldn't go that drastic, but i'll experiment a little in the future. But you know what, I'm pretty conservative kind of guy so I prolly never will. back to the same old haircut.

The other issue is where do I get my haircut? I usually go to hurstville where I pay $7. It used to be $6 when I went to "666", this haircut salon run by some Honkies/Mainlanders. But they didn't treat my head right last time I was there. It was like some kind of supermarket and the job was finished in less than 5 minutes. That doesn't really bother me as long as it looks alright.

But the hairdresser was treating my head very roughly. I mentioned to him several times that the bib was too tight around my neck and I think he got slightly pissed. SO he decided to brush my hair rather roughly and seemed to be applying slightly more than reasonable force. In short, I felt my hair was getting violated. I should report him to like the hair dressers association or somethign and get their license revoked.

Instead, i have decided to take my business elsewhere (i.e. around the corner, about 5 metres away) and i feel that this hairdresser is a lot better. He takes his time, has a chat with me about the weather and about my trip to the blue mountains and the snow. It was a much more personal experience than the factory process job at 666. It must be noted though that it wasn't a busy day. Very late Sunday afternoon.

But I feel that the $1 increase in fees ($7 total) was worth the investment. A new haircut is important to people. It refreshes your appearance and gives you a cleaner look. But then again, if it's done badly, it could ruin your day (eg. at 666 haircut salon).

Hot in herrrrrrreeee

The day after tomorrow
So hot, so hot, in herrrrrrrreeeee! That Nelly song is right on point about yesterday's weather. 38 degrees, it was like a furnace. I felt like I was in the sauna all day. Prolly more so, becoz I had decided to rock my new Dr J jersey but foolishly decided to wear a t-shirt underneath (cause I don't want to show off my beefy arms). So I was sweating like a pig. THen I had to walk home from Revesby station as I had decided that I couldn't wait at Central any longer. Revesby is like 20 mintues from my house and wearing two layers (t-shirt and jersey) didn't make it any better.

Can you say global warming?

Reviews
Also listened to the Bliss N Eso CD about 4-5 times. It's pretty good. Got some tight tracks on there. It's not really a CD, rather a mixtape and it uses a lot of famous beats like DR dre, Missy Elliot, Mobb Deep, Jay Z. It's quite smart really, because many people like to listen to music with good beats, especially ones they have heard. I really like the song "O-ish" because it's really personal describing where they are from.

I bought this Dr Dre DVD the other day too from Virgin Megastore for $9.95. Its meant to be the unauthorized biography of Dre. I popped it into the DVD player and turned out to be quite different to my expectation of a DR Dre biography. Firstly it has this female english chick in her 40's doing the commentary ala David Attenborough (the nature dude) style. eg. here we have a young Dr Dre in his natural habitat "the hood". I would say it's more in the style of a doco with comments from a white dude rap historian, Steve Yano (the original seller of the mixtape), CEO of some crappy record company and so on. I'm not sure how authoratative some of these guys are.

Eg that CEO dude goes " the Chronic changed the whole WEst Coast Sound. It changed the whole rap game to another level. From East to west. It changed the whole industry. It changed the whole world. It changed the whole universe". Hmmmmmm. Some how I wouldn't compare The Chronic to Einsten's theory of relativity or the invention of sliced bread.

Study habits
I also come to the realisation that I am screwed for my study for the next month or so. Got final exams coming up and the dreaded "litigation practice file" worth 30% of my assessment. Gotta get my act together and just hammer this assignment. On a good note, I got my property transcations assignment back, and I acheived a grade of 28/30. Not bad, second highest in the class. WHO AM I KIDDING? IT'S KICK ASS!.

True to the game
Apparently the Harlem Globetrotters are coming to Sydney. If you don't know that much about them, they are like a troupe of basketball players that travel around the world playing to crowds. THey are more like entertainers, doing tricks. But not AND1 style, they don't keep it street. I considered buying a Meadowlark globetrotters jersey the other day, but I tried it on and realised it was XXXL. Somehow, that's a bit too big, even for me.

For the love of the game
Michael Clarke's the australian cricketer's 159 score the other day was brilliant. Not just because its an outstanding score, but more so because he was on test debut. What a champion. THere are only 11 players that have done this in australian history. i watched him when he was on 95 and it took him 15 minutes to get to 97. but then again, who wouldnt when your on the verge of a test debut century?

I am quoting a good source who told me that this guy sleeps with a cricket bat in his hands. He trains like crazy and coaches my friend's team, and he says he makes'em train so hard. This dude is so dedicated to his sport, because everything that i have read from people around him say that he was destined for greatness in cricket. THis guy quit school so he work for the cricket store and practice on his game more. What an inspiration for people like me that want to improve (except i don;t have his natural talent or intense desire).

Law Ball pub crawl
I am going to this UTS pub crawl, except the thing is I don't really drink that much. In fact, I don't really drink at all except when I am at work function where I have the odd beer or two. Hmm should be interesting.

I helped set up the website for the pubcrawl today, except where's my shoutout? :P

PLT

Pub crawlawnfawerilfhwe

OZ

I watched this show the other day on SBS called OZ, and it's so good. It's set in a prison and the story revolves around prison life. There is a lot of acting talent here and its portrayal of prison is brutal and honest. I read a couple of reviews and I agree that the show is "gritty".

What is really cool is the weird cast of characters. You have black muslims, latino's, white KKK guys, homo's, drug dealers, italian mob, dude in a wheel chair who narrates parts of the story. AFter a couple of minutes of watching, it was immediately hooked. I just kept waiting for the next scene.

I think this must be the only TV show that is about prison life. What makes the show interesting is seeing how the different characters form alliances, who their enemies are and how they backstab each other. It's like survivor, prison style. It's mad just seeing how the characters interact with each other and with the prison guards.

Apparently, its in its 4 th season, has a DVD series and has won a host of emmy awards.

If you have nothing better to do on a monday night at 10pm, switch onto SBS for a mad show.

House of horror

The house where Sef Gonzales killed his parents and sister was recently sold to an asian couple. When they found out about the history of the house, they refused to go through with the transcation and eventually were able to get out of the deal.

This is a post which I put on my UTS discussion board topic: Is there a duty on the vendor (seller) to legally disclose the history of the house? My response is below.

I agree that legally the agent did not have to disclose. But ethically they should have. I just think that's the right thing to do. If the agent was in the purchaser's shoes, I'm sure they want to know as well. Personally, I would not live in the "house of horrors".

Although you claim that the purchaser should have heard gossip about it/read the news, I think the average person would know that Sef Gonzales committed a murder in his house, but no one would know what the actual address was. Furthermore, I don't think it's likely you would ask prospective neighbours "was a violent triple murder committed next door?".

On a comparative note, in America, there is a duty to disclose the 50 year history of the house. Perhaps something similar should be instituted here. The agent could have said "do you know the history of this house?".

But one of the main reasons why the couple wanted to back out of the deal, was because they were chinese and held strong buddhist beliefs. They believed that the feng shui of the house was bad and that there were evil spirits there. I think that the agent should have been more culturally aware of these issues. I'm not saying that entitles them to cancel the transcation, but should have been a factor for the agent to disclose the history of the house.

That's my two cents, what does everyone else think?

Music makes me high

Ricki Lee gets booted out
All I can say is "WHAT HAPPENED?!!!!!!". How does the number one performer every week, with the potential to see records, a natural entertainer, with touch down potential get evicted? Seriously, what is going on? I don't understand how Marty got to stay, as did Hailey. I'm sorry, I'll give credit where credit is due, and Ricki Lee deserves to stay over these guys.

The message boards on the idol website have been going crazy since Ricki got voted off. My theory is that everyone knew she was number one and expected everyone else to vote for her. I think the series will be much worse without her. Who do i blame for this? You and me. Why? Because the majority of us watch the show yet don't vote. I'm as big as fan as any, but I don't want to waste my money voting and I also can't be bothered. All I can say is, we have to suffer the consequences.

New prediction: Mr Plastic, Anthony Calleas will be Australian Idol.

On a side note, Guy Sebastien will be touring in November/December and will be at the State Theatre on 4th December 2004.

Competiton for my dollars
I loooooove watching live music. It's get my head nodding and adrenalin pumping. I always have a good time at concerts (exception: only when main act doesnt arrive - Busta Rhymes). There is too much good upcoming concerts coming up, all competing for my limited money and my limited time. Details as below:

Concert: date, cost, sale date, venue.

Pharcyde: 16th October 2004, $50, now, Metro.
Brief summary: old skool rap underground , good reputation amongst knowledage hip hop heads (i.e. Tim), group consists of MC/drummer, keyboard player.

Alicia Keys: 28 October 2004, $91!!!!, now, Enmore.
Brief: excellent singer, superb instruments player, writes her own song, international superstar, grammy award winner. Not sure if great if live performance, more a studio person.

BlackEyed Peas: 18 October 2004, $75, now, Hordern Pavillion.
Brief: Just shut up, Just shut up! Commercial sellout or broadeing their target audience? I wanted to see this two years ago when they weren't so big (and commerical). It'll be a hyped up, lively performance, with plenty of teenyboppers. In short, I'm going! They have nice commerical feel good songs, changed from underground rap days eg. the weekend. Their whole sound has changed and they got this female vocal singer now.

Cypress Hill: 11 December 2004, cost NOt released yet, sale on 13 October, Hordern Pavilion.
Brief: Insane in the Membrane! These guys have been around for ages. They were really popular in early to mid 1990's. Bunch of latino rappers, have their own unique twineny sound. Can't explain, you have to listen to it. Not sure if many people will like them.

Big Day out: 26 January 2005, $103, 15 october - sale date, Olympic Park.
Brief: HELLO NASTY!Event of the year amongst rock fans. Why am I considering going? Because Beastie Boys are the headline act. It's got a decent line up (despite what Ashby thinks) that I'd like to see: Chemical Bros, Powderfinger, Grinspoon, the streets, freestylers, I want to go simply because I hvaen't been before and it should be an enjoyable event. Has the event sold out commerically? Not sure, perhaps becuase they are trying to cater for a wider audience.

Swingers

As you all know, John howard once again became prime minister. Everywhere I go, people are like what? How did this happen? Most people that I speak to say that they didn't vote liberal. But the thing is, someone must have voted for him, cause he won by a landslide!. He actually won more seats for the government than last time.

To be honest, I really don't care too much about last weekend's voting. When I went to the polling booths on saturday, I had no idea who I would vote for. I seriously was thinking about voting Greens/Liberal/Labour/Democrats/Christian Democratic Party. Simply put, I don't think my vote counts that much and I deliberately avoid reading about state/federal politcs in the newspaper.

I'm really one of those swing voters and as I was running through the gauntlet (walking up the footpath to the polling booth where they shove how to vote cards in your face) I decided to vote labour. My logic was, I'm working class (I don't consider myself upperclass), live in the Bankstown area, and don't like the fact that Howard lied about the whole iraq affair. But then I thought what about the status quo? I like the way things are, the economy is in good shape, and that Howard's more experienced.

Ultimately, my final vote for the election (the green paper) was:
1. Labour
2. Liberal
3. Greens
4. Christian Democratic Party
5. Family first
6. Democrats
7. One nation

By the way is it wrong to ask someone how they are gonna vote? I was waiting in line, and I turned around and asked the people behind me who they were voting for. They had this look on their face of shock, as if they had seen as ghost. I'm not sure if they were shocked by my question or the fact that my new hat was too big. Somehow I think it was the former.

Also, do the people that handout these votecards think about who they are handing these things out too? My grandma takes every single leaftlet because she thinks its necessary, and a One Nation supporter handed one to her. If you didn't know my grandma, here is a brief demographic: she's Chinese, aged 80, has no idea about politics and doesn't read english. She takes it, and then I start laughing. Then this interesting exchange happened:

Labour supporter nearby handing out votecards: Mate, you know who they are right?
Me: Yeah I know
Labour supporter: They are trying to kick you out of the country
Me: (laughs) Yeah I know
Labour supporter: Remember Howard tried to do it in '85. Vote labour!
Me: (still laughing my head off).

The moral of the story is, know your audience. Don't be wasting One Nation leaftlets on Asian voters. You dont have to be Einstein to work out that its a waste of paper.

To death do me part

As part of my legal training course, I'm learning how to draft a will i.e. a formal document which states who you will leave your posessions to when you die and who will take responsibilty for your kids etc......

Without further nonsense, here is my brief and probably not legal binding will.

I, Matthew Ho, leave the following items and responsibilities to the following individuals:

Basketballs: Donate to UTS sports centre, because all your basketballs suck!

All my Deloitte Gear: Dawen. I wouldn't leave it to AI, because he'd prolly sell it on ebay :P

Deloitte graduate position: Dawen. I'm 100% sure I can't leave this to anyone, but I know you want to work there very badly!

Rosa soft toy: Dawen. So you can reunite it with detlef!

Karaoke DVD: To the HEWSO group cause we need to practice b4 we go to K world again. Some of us aren't in tune eg. me.

CD collection: Tim and Hoi can split the hip hop ones, Dawen can take the rnb ones, and Ashby can sell the rest on Ebay.

My study notes except for professional accounting: I leave this to Catherine, because I know you will need it.

Professional Accounting notes: To my two students (you know who you are).

Bible: Leave this in the hands of the church.

Stereo: Dawen, because I know you want one!

Business books: Ip, because I know you will read them. I have quite a good collection, ranging from the Mind of the CEO to International Relations in the 21st Century.

Concert tickets: If I go before i see AND1/Black eyed peas/Big Day out, may all this pass to Ashby. I know you want to see Black Eyed peas, but you just dont want to admit it!.

And finally my most prized possessions:

My basketball jerseys!
Garnett: AShby
JOrdan retro: Tim
DR J: Hoi tak
East Nike: Aadesh
Jordan: Brett (for all the discounts you have been giving me!)

Shoes: To Hoi, so you can add to your ever growing collection

If I could leave my basketball game (i.e my skills, abilites, desire to improve very badly): i'm not sure how i could pass on my so called and abiliites but I would leave them to Jerm.

Funeral wishes: To be cremated and have my ashes spread over Rucker park.

A star retires, a new one emerges

The Chicago Bulls basketball team has been my favourite team for the last 10 years. I have been a loyal follower since year 7 and my support for them has never wavered. Two events occured recently which i have to get off my chest:

1. Scottie Pippen retired

Scottie will always be one of my favourite players. In fact, I still have a poster of him on my wall (the other one is Michael Jordan). To me, Pippen will be enshrined in my mind as one of the greatest players of all time. He was a defensive wizard, capable of disrupting the other team's offense and a deadly slasher to the basket. Pippen was just a great around player. Sam Smith (from the Chicago Tribune) argued that it was Pippen that made Jordan great, not the other way around (that Jordan made Pippen great).

I just think both players complemented each other. Pippen defended the other team's best perimeter player every night and was basically Michael's sidekick, like Batman and Robbin. it was Jordan that gave Pippen that intensity and will to win, and by practising with Jordan, it greatly enhanced his game. Pippen tried to be the man in '95 and did an admirable job, but he never had all the offensive skills that a superstar needed to carry his team to a championship. He needed Jordan badly, much like Kobe needed Shaq to win.

When Pippen left the Bulls, he career went downhill. He just never was the same player again. A combination of new teammates, new offense, and injuries just meant that Pippen wasn't as effective as he once was. However, despite this blip in his career, he will always remain one of all time favourite players. I still remember the Bulls trade for Roy Rogers and a second round pick and was like what?????

2. Eddy Curry asks for a maximum contract extension

When a player asks for a maximum contract extension basically they want all the money they can be possibly entitled to. It means they want a contract in the ranges of at least $10 million a season for prolly 6 years or more. When i think of maximum contracts I think of $100 million contracts. I just think there is no way on this earth that ANYONE would pay Eddy Curry $10 million per season. Quoting dimemag.com this guy must have some balls asking the Bulls for this.

I'm sorry, but this guy has not achieved anything significant in his whole career. He has averaged like 12 points and 6 rebounds last semester. This guy has potential but has only shown brief flashes of brilliance. He has underachieved and I was expecting him to break out last year and average like 18 points and 9 rebounds. This guy has entered the league from high skool with all this hype, they don't do jack all, his overweight but now slimmed down apparently, has a new nickname "E-City", been in the league 3 seasons and all of a sudden is expecting a maximum deal? That's just crazy. he doesn't deserve it.

The NBA has just gone topsy turvy and is handing out money like crazy. E City is only demanding this because guys like Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer, and Eric Dampier had been able to land pretty sweet deals. None of the above guys has been the playoffs (Gasol has been once). Curry has proven nothing and hasn't even made the all star team. NBA teams has set a dangerous precendent by paying guys like Pau Gasol and Dampier huge money who aren't even proven. Maybe Gasol may be justified but Derek Fisher, Adonal Foyle, Dampier - these guys are merely role players and are getting paid like crazy.

Seriously, I don't think that max deals should be handed out to anyone. i don't even think guys like Baron Davis are worth the max. My criteria to qualify for a max deal would be to be a bona fide franchise player with all star credentials, capable of drawing in huge crowds, be like the top 2 players for your position and be extremely marketable. A guy like Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett would easily qualify.

But you know what Curry much actually get it because they aren't many decent centers in the league, and the bulls have only 4 players under contract. If they sign Curry and Chandler to $10 million deals, they'll still be able to chase premium free agents next year. It will be a shame for basketball fans everywhere if Curry signs a max deal.

Extremely frustrated with Aust. idol tickets.

I just want to post up a comment which I put on the Australian idol website's discussion board. I set up a new discussion board and is shown below:

Extremely frustrated with tickets
Hi everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone has had any success in getting tickets to the show. I've applied 6 times and have not heard anything back from the show. Each application has been successfully recieved and I do it early each week, straight after they announce who's been kicked out.I'm extremely frustrated and losing patience with this ticketing system. I was hoping to see go at least once, but it has been a very disappointing experience with the tickets.

I want to write a written complaint, but there's no contact information. The website has no info available as to who to contact. Please tell me what you guys think.

Exciting new features!

Comments section
I've just recently installed haloscan, which allows people browsing the website to leave comments. Please feel free to post a comment. Quoting from Hoi's blog "Write something, anything - in here, nothing is boring, everything is interesting."


Get a job! New careers feature planned
I am planning to introduce a new section/link into my website in the near future about careers. Careers is a topic I am passionate about and I like talking to people about it. This brainwave came to me about a two years ago when I was surfing the www.seek.com website, where they interview people that work in various industries about their jobs, what they do on a typical day, and they like/dislike about their jobs etc.... I found it highly interesting and graduate career informatoin is something that I am constantly reading up about. Sometimes you can find me at the careers office chatting to Marijke, the UTS careers counsellor about random things, or reading a catologue about how much pshychometric testing packages cost, fixing up a friend's resume, in conversation with a fellow student about their job prospects, or reading the Sydney Morning Herald's careers section.

I love hearing what people do because I believe to some extent, work defines who we are. When we meet someone, one of the first questions that we ask is " what do you do?". eg you want to find out if they go to uni, where they work, what their job description is and so on. In our lives, a large part of it involves working. We probably spend more time at the office or wherever you work than at home. The people that you socialise with on a day to day basis reguarly will be your work colleagues. Your at work 9 to 5 and you see your colleagues more than your own family members. I remember hearing a conference where the CEO of deloitte said "I don't believe there is such thing as work/life balance, but rather life balance". Work is an integral part of our lives. However, you don't want to get too obsessed with work though!

So what are my plans for this section? I was planning to concentrate mainly on graduate careers and to have interviews with various people. These would comprise of friends and associates. I want to sit down with them for 1/2 an hour to an hour and ask them questions about their work eg what they do, who they work with, industry news, how they got their jobs, a typical day, and where they see their career headed. It won't be anything formal.

I think I have a pretty extensive network of people around me who would provide some excellent interview material. All interviewees could use their real name or a code name and I could change the company name or use something generic if that is what they requested.

I'm planning to interview people that I know that work in the following fields:

- Accounting firms: big 4 (eg. PWC) , mid tier and small accounting firms. Focusing on tax/audit/insolvency service lines.

- Banks: bulge bracket investment banks(eg. goldman sachs, deustche bank), retail banks (eg. Commonwealth), and finance companies.

- Law firms: Mega law firms (eg. Mallesons), mid tier (eg. gadens), small, non-profit.

- Academia: mainly in the fields of Business and Law.

- Commerce Industry: consumer goods (eg. Proctor and Gamble), market research (eg. Roy Morgan).

- Engineering: R&D, mining, quality control, design.

- Government sector: regulatory agency (eg. ASIC), goverment deparment (eg Dept of finance), ATO.

- Entreprenuers: My favourite. Guys that have gone out and done their own thing.

- Consulting: Strategy consultants (eg. BCG), IT operations (eg. Accenture), boutiques (eg Port Jackson partners).

Obviously this will take some time, and I will post them up as I complete each one. It will be something that I will do over my lifetime.

In addtion, besides interviewing people that work at these places, I want to interview people that went for interviews for these places. This should give other people an idea as to what to expect. Also, I will post up conversatoins with job seekers to see the state of the job market and the latest interview techniques used. Furthermore, I will post articles that I plan to write on stuff like psychometric testing, assessment centres, generation Y, employer branding, what I think about certain industries, employment agencies.

My aim: To be the pre-eminent careers website on the planet! Well maybe not that far, but this careers feature is something that i have been thinking about for a long long time. I think I can do a better job than Seek.com by focusing soley on graduate careers, so I've got my little niche on the web.

Random basketball points

taking a leaf out of hoi's blog, i'm gonna post some random points:

* NBA fantasy season is gonna start soon. If you want to join my league, email me on djhomixes@yahoo.com.hk . I have carefully set up the league with Ashby and Tim, taking into consideration the various categories and so on. I'm the commisioner and bascially organise the game.

* I also bought a julius erving retro nets jersey, I'm so stoked. It's fake and I got it at the markets for $30. It has this minor stain on it that I didn't notice because the market has poor lighting but other than that, I've very happy. My other purchase was a fake new era New York knicks hat for $17. They are normally like $20, but i managed to talk the guy down cause I claimed that i was a good customer. When I first tried my bargaining skills, i asked the dude to reduce the jersey to $25 because i claimed i saw it somewhere else (but was lying) but he stormed off with the jersey with a full pissed off look lol.

DPLAYGROUND
There this store called dplayground in Parra, and its like a basketball concept store. It's got two levels, with the bottom level being the main area of the store. This level is stocked out with NBA jerseys and AND1 shoes. It's like a baller's paradise. Be warned though: everything is priced pretty expensive as its all imported from the US. This is the only dedicated basketball store in all of NSW, and possibly Australia. When you walk up the upperlevel, there's like this cool graffiti on the wall and monster posters of Tim Duncan and AI. Hanging on the upper level is a cabinent, which is a shrine/Tribute to Jordan. It has several pairs of Jordan shoes, basketball cards, magazines which Jordan has graced, DVD's. You can tell whoever owns this store is a huge basketball fan.

I must admit that I visit their website http://www.dplayground.com/ at least once a day. It's just something that I do reguarly because they update which new stock they have. THey have pics of the latest shoes eg. Nike Hurache, K1X. THese guys sell everything b-ball related including figurines, armbands, basketball. I am confident in saying that they carry the largest stock of AND1 shoes, as they get different styles every week. The majority of their shoes are AND1. They don't carry much Nike or Reebok and have the latest k1x (Rucker Park) shoes - the Bobito.

WHen I went last week, they had an instore signing with two stars of the AND1 show - AO and the Professor. The line was huge, with approx 100 people waiting for signatures. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd buy anything from the store cause it seems to be cool place to visit and see the latest clothing. I saw a lot of kids just hanging around the store as well, heaps of ballers (you can tell cause they carry basketballs and rock headbands) checking out the lastest new era caps.

The staff are very informative, cause the store used to be a footlocker and then branched out imdependently, called up their shoe supplier contacts and created their own bball store. I have some very good sources that tell me this - shoutout to Jay who works there and gave me the 411 about the store and Brett who works at the Nike store who's always telling me about the latest happenings. I even spotted a footlocker employee who was promoting the Dplayground store whilst I was in footlocker! Later i saw him hanging out at the dplayground store!.


Ballin'
Been playing so much basketball lately. 4 hours on Tuesday, 4 hours wednesday, 2.5 hours thursday and 1 hour friday. That's a lot of ball. I just love to ball and feel my game is improving (slightly , step by step). Today, I just practiced with myself - as there was no one else there. But that was fine, and I worked on my post moves. Particularly my left hand, which I don't use much. I have been trying to develop a left handed hook shot and also worked on some of my fakes.

i've also become a lot more aware of where players are on the court as well. knowing when someone is open, hitting them with a sweet pass when they are cutting and understanding to pass it to them when they in their favourite position. Also, if a guy is on fire, I recognise that you got to keep feeding them.

Another thing that I have picked up, is moving away from contact. There was this dickhead who doesn't know how to play and was guarding me in the post, on the left side of the key. He just constantly pushing me. I had the ball and gave me a light push in the back so I spun base line and hit a baby hook shot. In additon, there was another dude who was just all up in my face. He was constantly intiating physical contact which was fine and banging me. Whichever way I moved, there was contact. So I took the ball, spun right to avoid the contact and hit my patented turnaround jumpshot.

I also feel that my rebounding has improved over the last couple of months. I'm constantly crashing the boards and grabbing rebounds over bigger players. To me, its all about position, and desire. The other day I was playing against some skinny Asian guy that was 6 foot 4 but had only limited game. He had a natural height advantage over me, but i feel like i grabbed like 70% of the boards. I just dominated him on the glass because I knew how to box out and quickly move into position. In addition, I just wanted the ball more than he did. Furthermore, I figured out his game, which was to drive right most of the time or spin right and try a jump shot and I must have shut him down more than a few times. I'm no Ben Wallace but maybe Dan Gazuric?

Mighty Bulldogs!

I am so happy that the bulldogs won the NRL premiership. All I can is, we deserve it. For everything that we (the bulldog fans) went through, we stood by them through thick and thin. I never believed that the bulldogs were rapists, and so what if we overpaid the players?We copped the penalty on the chin and it's all in the past.

The game was good but not great. I wasn't all that confident going into halftime as the boys from belmore were down. But the typical Canterbury fightback ensured and we were ahead. however, the last 20 mintues had me very nervous even though the dogs were in front. I just kept thinking "hold on boys". When Michael Crocker broke the line, I thought that was it. But Superman aka Andrew Ryan came swooping down and ankle tapped him and saved the day.

Sonny Bill Williams (SB) hit on Chris Flanner was a ball breaker. In case you didn't know, Flannery came into the game with an injury cloud, specifically a ruptured testicle which had been "repaired" through surgery. Flannery's first hit up was cut short by the kid with the iron shoulder (Sonny Bill). Flannery did a step and had Sonny slight off balance, but Sonny just whacked him with his right shoulder and loose forearm. The impact knocked Chris into a spin, and flipped him 180 degrees. Then to add rup salt into the wound, Sonny then jumped on him and tackled him. The hit was just AMAZING. The collision was colossal. I thought this dude only hit with his left shoulder, but his right was just as effective. There's no technique in the move, just sheer brute strength and timing.

Flannery actaully said, if SB hit him a bit lower, his testicles might have been gooooone. I think SB served notice to rest of the world that if you run at him, your gonna get smashed. In this interview with Andrew Johns, he asked SB if he only did hits with the left shoulder, but he replied that he could do it with either one, it just depended on where the other player was. Andrew Middleton (the commenator on the footy show) said it best "I'm not going anywhere near that number 17 (SB)".

In other news, I'm gonna get a Canterbury jersey. It's about $150 - $180 depending on which one you get. I was at the Peter Wynn store in Parra, and they were selling like hotcakes. I don't have the money to get it right now, but I will be getting one!. I really don't want the one they are selling now, but rather a retro one that they were wearing in the early 90's. I'm not a big fan of the shiny nike one, rather the rugged white jersey with the blue v-neck is more my style.

busta get busted

THe busta rhyme concert sucked big time. WHy? because busta (the main act) didn't show up! I paid $85 and stood for four hours in the concert hall, and he cancelled on us. What a rip off. I will be getting a refund but seriously, it was so bad that nite. I knew something was up when the support acts went for ages. Usually support acts don't got for that long, but the last support act Bliss N Eso went for like 40 minutes and I heard from people that Busta Rhyme was held up at the airport. The Host (Mya Jupiter) came on stage and said that the show would be delayed for 20 mintues, but after 25 minutes, he still didn't show up. The crowd got pretty testy and started chanting "Bullsh*t". Furthermore, a few people started chucking plastic bottles and then it escalated, with everyone chucking stuff. It was raining plastic beer cups and water bottles.

In the news, it reported that there were several fights and that chairs were being thrown. THe only thing i saw was a fight between some islanders, but it was quickly broken up by their own peoples. I never saw a chair being thrown and the only chairs were like 300metres outside, near the reception/bar area. I don't think even the most pissed off busta rhyme fan/hardcore homie would drag a lounge chair 300 metres through a hostile crowd and throw it at an empty stage.

All I can is that I was extremely disappointed and frustrated with the whole night. I will never buy a busta rhyme CD, and have pretty much stopped listening to his music. Although I must admit, I did put on "woohah, got you all in check" single the next morning.

On a side note, the local australian acts were actually entertaining. Well maybe not the first two. USO performed, and they were a bunch of Samoans rapping, but I didn't really feel their style. They just seemed to be screaming a lot. The beatboxer was actually quite good though. MC Trey (a female MC) and her group were nice. They were in rhythm and had some excellent lines. i was really feeling them and so was the crowd. Bliss N Eso, a group of 2 MC's were aiight. Why? Cause I got a free copy of their sampler! Honestly, they had some good songs and had some crowd interaction. Their freestyles were flowing well and they had a crowd following as well, cause i noticed some people wearing bliss n eso t-shirts.

I still have that live hip hop itch (Bliss N Eso and USO didn;t do it for me) and will be going to see Pharcyde soon, a rap group from the US.