il rated v shiekn & stirred

Il Rated (The Kim Jong remix)

Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator is a huge............Chicago Bulls fan? Get out of here, I hear you say! Well according to the San Diego Union Tribune:

"While the rest of the world watches Kim Jong Il, fearful of North Korea's nuclear threat, the dictator often can't take his eyes off the NBA......."

"By most accounts, Kim is a totalitarian despot who is hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons to gain diplomatic leverage against the rest of the planet and who may or may not sell that technology to raise cash for his impoverished nation. But he also is an avid basketball fan, experts on North Korea say, so much so that he is said to have regulation courts at most of his palaces plus a video library of practically every game Michael Jordan ever played for the Bulls."

“Kim doesn't want to die,” Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said a few years ago after one of Kim's missile tests sent waves of fear across the globe. “He wants to watch NBA basketball.”

Think the Miami Heat will win again this year? I might get Kim Jong to nuke you!

Shiek(n) and stirred


Yes, I'm glad Shiek Hilaly stood down (DJ Ho edit: Apparently he hasn't stepped down, only because of his illness). You can't blame women for getting raped for wearing skimpy clothing. In the one speech he said the following stuff below. I've paraphrased but if you want the full english translation click here.

"But in the event of adultery, the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time with women not men. Why? Because the woman possesses the weapon of seduction."

No! Men and women are equally responsible for their actions. Men also posses the weapon of seduction (well, we think we do!). That statistic is hugely skewed.


"She is the one who takes her clothes off, cuts them short, acts flirtatious, puts on make up, shows off and goes on the streets acting silly. She is the one wearing the short dress, lifting it up, lowering it down, then a look, then a smile, then a word, then a greeting, then a word, then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, then Long Bay Jail (laughs), then comes a merciless judge who gives you 65 years... "

I'm not even going to comment on this one. That is just wrong. I can't even fathom how he could even say that stuff.

"If one puts uncovered meat out in the street, or on the footpath, or in the garden, or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover and then the cats come and eat it, is it the fault of the cat or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem. If it was covered the cat wouldn't have... it would have circled around it and circled around it, then given up and gone."

What an idiot! This analogy is degrading to women. He is squarely putting the blame on women that get raped, not the sexual predators themselves. A woman should be able to wear whatever she wants without feeling a shred of guilt. They should not be held accountable for the reactions of men. Being "uncovered" does not invite the unwanted sexual advances of men. It might encourage it but a woman should be able to refuse it if she so desires.

I am suprised that the Muslim community has put up with his views for so long. The current comments outlined above have marginalised and divided the Muslim community. And I would think, based on what I have been reading in the newspaper by other prominent Muslims, that the majority do not agree with what he has said.

I'm out like Kim Jong Il's Michael Jordan video collection,

DJ Ho

Music Recommendations

Yo, what up punks?! I haven't blogged about music in a while or gone to any concerts recently. Been caught in the 9 to 5 work game for too long. Here are two music recommendations for y'all.


Dance with Me debuts on 96.1FM

A good mate of mine Bosco aka 2Bsharp is a fledging producer and has made his first radio debut. The Edge 96.1 FM featured his hot new track "Dance With Me" in its rotation yesterday. The track features 2bsharp laying down a soulful speedup beat with OnlyKC supplying the buttery smooth vocals. You can check out his music on his myspace page. The song has a really catchy chorus and we'll soon be singing "What up Ma, come and dance with me " in da club.


Jesus Signs

Wow, this a piece of genius right here. It's an excellent parody of the Snoop Dogg/Justin Timberlake song "Signs" remixed into a Christian song. When you first hear it, it sounds a bit lame but trust me its really good. Even if you ain't religious, you should check it out cause its funny and just amazing how they actually put it together. Props to Howard for giving me the heads up. The video is produced and features a dude called Joseph Smith, who was a few grades above me in high school and might have been the school captain.

What's your fantasy? (NBA)

It's NBA season soon and of course that means Fantasy NBA season is on. I'm in 2 Fantasy NBA drafts at the moment. These are my random points for this season:

- I hope Darko Milic becomes the player we all want him to be. To realise his potential and put to bed those ideas that he was a bust. Redemption baby. I believe this guy has talent but didn't have the confidence or opportunity with the Pistons. In a way, I'm rooting for him cause he's kinda reminds me of myself.

- Rajon Rondo v Sebastian Telfair: Unfortunately, I didn't stay up for the 11pm fantasy draft on sunday so i got auto picks. I didn't get a decent point guard, so I had to take a free agent gamble. I picked up Rondo and I know this sounds bad - but I'm banking on Telfair going to jail over his involvement in shooting the rapper Fabolous.

- Somehow I managed to pick up 3 triple double threats: Lebron James, Lamar Odom, Boris Diaw. Luck or genius in letting the computer pick for me?

- J.R. Smith: Again, I hope he does well. The Hornets traded him, and the Bulls basically gave him away to the Denver so they could acquire Adrian Griffin. You never like to see a young player with loads of talent get labelled with a attitude problem. Play some D son!

- The darkhorse this year I reckon will be the Orlando Magic. Dwight Howard is low post monster and is a beast. Once he refines his offensive game and meshes with Darko Milic - who complements him quite well with his shooting, they will be unstoppable. Add in the improving Jameer Nelson and the so called "best shooter in the world" JJ Reddick, they should make some noise. And they have this guy called Grant Hill on the team?

- Will the three headed monster of Jason Maxiell/Nazr Mohammed/Dice be enough to replace Ben Wallace?

- Will the game change with more uptempo style with skilled smaller players ala Phoenix Suns/Mavericks? I reckon its awesome how the Suns force other teams to go with smaller lineups by using Boris Diaw at centre. Now with Amare back will that change their style?

Only time will tell.

I'm out like the NBA off season,

DJ Ho.

I wonder where my life will take me. What is to be and what is to come. At the moment I have some idea where I want to go. No definite ideas, perhaps a few dreams. Are they real, will they ever come to fruition?

I just want to be successful in life. Is that asking too much? Perhaps we should be striving to be satisfied in life. Not meaning that we should be content to be happy with what we have (and that's perfectly fine) but looking to obtain a good quality of life. It's hard to express what I really mean, but I don't need to be filthy rich (though that'd be nice!) or the CEO of a fortune 500 company (yet!)

I want to be satisfied that I've achieved the goals that I've set for myself, have a healthy work/life balance, to grow as a person, to have good friends that I can laugh with and occassionally bitch to when things aren't going so well.

My career is important to me, and a lot of times I put this above everything else. I've worked my whole life for this. Or perhaps its that my parents worked their whole life for my career. Everything has been a stepping stone and a sacrifice. From the moment I entered primary school, then high school, uni and now the workforce. Working is just the next phase of my life - well for about 40 years or so.

I gotta find some things that I'm really passionate about and to really go after it. Unfortunately, there aren't many jobs for full-time bloggers. Or basketball players that are 6 foot that are slow, unfit and don't have a consistent jumpshot.

Bob's Your Uncle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Bob's your uncle is a slang expression in British English meaning "no problem" or "the solution is simple", as in: "insert the plug, press the switch, and Bob's your uncle."

Is it not an outrage that Bobby Flynn has been kicked out of Australian Idol?

With a voice that is so calm, relaxing and soulful. A voice that hails back to an era long gone. The guy that stunned the nation with his remake of the Rick James classic "Superfreak". Bobby is just so easy to listen to. If he releases an album, i'll be the first to download it.....oops I meant buy.

It's typical of these so called fans that vote on Australian idol to go for the hot guy, the young girl that they can identify with, rather than someone with true talent. Yeah, he has an afro. He can't dance. He's been called a "full mong" by one of the judges. He's not your conventional pop star. His hand shakes uncontrollably when he sings.

BUT HE'S GOT TALENT!!!!! HE CAN SING!!!!

Bobby Flynn should be in Australian Idol. And Bob's your uncle.

Hot Off The Press

Didn't I tell you two weeks ago? Yes, Aleks you read it here first!

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Private equity squeezes $202bn profit from an increasingly sceptical world

The Australian
Tom Bawden, New York
October 17, 2006

PRIVATE equity firms have earned worldwide profits of $US152 billion ($202.5 billion) in disposals made in the past year, a figure that will fuel the backlash against the industry's rapidly growing economic power.

Firms including Permira, Blackstone and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) jointly returned $US130 billion of profits to investors and retained a further $US22 billion themselves from sales, floats and refinancings, according to Private Equity Intelligence, a research group.

Bain Capital, Texas Pacific and Goldman Sachs are expected to net about $US2 billion in profits by the time they finish divesting their stakes in Burger King, which they floated in May after three years' joint ownership.

Debenhams, the chain store, which also floated in May, is on course to yield CVC Capital Partners, Merrill Lynch and Texas Pacific more than pound stg. 500 million ($1.24 billion).

The bulk of private equity profits are made from the sale of investments that are between three and seven years old - the typical period of ownership. (DJ Ho - I quoted approximately 5 to 10 years)

Last week, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into possible collusion among leading private equity firms to keep down the prices they pay for companies. The buyout firms KKR, Carlyle Group and Silver Lake Partners are understood to be among firms from which the department has requested information.

Institutions have argued that management buyouts - as distinct from those private equity deals not involving the target company's executives - are an area of particular concern to institutions because, they say, these deals pose significant conflicts of interest.

The managers had a fiduciary duty to get the best possible price for their company, but, on a personal level, the lower the price the greater their potential payout when the business was next sold.

Survivior: Race Wars

I've had a really busy week. Been putting in the long hours. Went to work on Saturday, clocked in at 11.30am and left at 11pm. Then went to Martin Place Bar and went clubbing til 3am in the morning. Was going to leave at 1am but then I met M* (see footnote).

Outwit, outplay, outlast , ............outrace. This year's Surivor: Cook Island series is very interesting because they included players reppin' 4 different races and divided up the tribes into racial groups. It's sparked a whole new level of interest in the show. And controversy. But hey, controversy has always been good for ratings right?

It's no longer just a match of brains v braun, young v old, male v female. It's race against race, player. African-American. Asian. Caucasian. Latino's.

So far, the Asians have been kicking ass. REPRESENT! But honestly though, I think it's good how they have done this way. It's a social experiment so see how people perform when they are put into their own racial groups and unite against other races. And it's also interesting seeing how even within the racial groups, there are similarities and differences. Take the Asian group for example, you've got Koreans, Chinese (I think), Viet, and a Filo.

Sure it creates controversy and I'm sure the viewers make a lot of inappropriate racial comments when watching the show - it's a natural reaction. But who cares? It's entertaining TV!

Do people perform better when they work with others of similar racial backgrounds?

I work with a lot of Asian people but I'm not sure how to answer this question appropriately. I believe that some people would feel more comfortable working with others of similar cultural/religious descent. Sometimes at work, I might be more comfortable bringing up a issue with another person of the same background. But that's just natural. You are going to more likely click with people of the same race because you have something in common.

Maybe an alternative question could be put this way: If you could choose to work with people of the same race, would you choose that option?

$64 million dollar question: Where did they get those Asian guys in the show from?

These guys are like....really built. Cut. With 6 packs. I've never come across any Asian guy that have bodies like them. Of course, these guys are not representative of the stereotypical asian male. I'm sure there was some underlying factor why they chose them i.e. to assist the Asians to win some of the more physical challenges.

I'm out like Surivior race wars,

DJ Ho.

*You'd like to know more wouldn't you?

Sneaker Pimps

Air Jordan 11

"The first thing people notice about you is your shoes"
- Anonymous

There's something about walking into a sneaker store. Scanning your eyes from the top to the bottom of the racks to check out the latest kicks. You grab one off the wall, check out its exterior, rotate it, flip it, peer inside, examine the price tag, and admire it in all its glory.

When I was in primary school, I was one of the first kids to be rocking a pair Nike Air Force. Kids would be staring at my kicks and whispering "where did you get them from?". I was quite lucky - a relative in Hong Kong had sent me a pair as a gift. I had no idea the ripple they would cause in the ashphalt playgrounds of primary school.

Soon I graduated to High School and also graduated to Converse. Although Nike was dominating at the time, a kid had to roll differently. Somehow I convinced my mum to buy me a pair of Kevin Johnson Converse React's. Black with blue wavy stripe down the side, the sole contained a yellow blob of react juice. It was supposed to make you jump and play like KJ (that obviously didn't happen).

After the react juice blob fell out of the shoe's sole, I desperately took it to the shoe tailor and pleaded with him to repair it. Unfortunately, I was told it was too expensive to repair and was better off buying a new pair.

Sole to Sole

Distraught from the Converse experience (How could a shoe made in China fall apart like that?), my love affair with Nike was rekindled as I remained loyal to the brand for the next decade. The Nike Air Max shoes had come back into vogue and I must have gone through 3 or 4 pairs of them in high school. You see a kid had to upgrade each year. With each pair, the bubble extended further to encompass the length of the shoe.

Graduating high school, I then moved onto uni and my Nike collection again expanded to include my first pair of casual low cut Nike sneakers: Nike Air Cortez which I still wear today. I could have gone with the Adidias Superstars, but hey I was a Nike man and I was going to stick with them.

Only recently, I have bought my first pair of sneakers that haven't been Nike. A flashy pair of And1's, the new shoe for wannabe ballers.

Even though I don't have an extensive collection of sneakers, I still love the smell of fresh sneakers, reading about them, visiting the old Nike factory at Petersham (RIP), and now the one in Auburn. There's nothing like the feeling of walking into a store searching for a pair of cheap kicks.

Pimp my sneaker

I've spent most of this Sunday afternoon checking out various sneaker websites. I started watching a couple of videos of the top sneaker stores in New York (if you click on the link - scroll down to the bottom and click on the picture of Flight Club, Dave's Quality Meats or ATMOS). The Dimemag crew go to Flight Club in New York, which is a store that sells sneakers on a commission basis. Members of the public bring in their shoes and split the proceeds 80/20 in favour of the seller, so the store keeps 20% of the sale price. The sell their shoes through the vintage kicks website.
Air Jordan 1 Retro

Then there's Dave's Quality Meats, which is a store in New York modeled on a butcher shop style concept. The sneakers are like the prime Cuts, and the t-shirts are on a meat rack. Just watch the video, it explains it better. Of course, Japs do it better with ATMOS. I also came across this store in Boston called Bodega, which is just unreal. The shop front is like a convenience store but hidden in the back is a state of the art sneaker store complete with DJ Booth!

Keeping with the food concept, check out Pharrell's Reebok Ice Creams. You know that line in Drop It like It's Hot where Pharrell says: "Uh! I'm a nice dude, with some nice dreams/See these ice cubes, see these Ice Creams?". And I gotta mention the BAPE shoes (A Bathing Ape). It's a popular Japanese streetwear lable and now mainstream in the US. All the shoes look like they are very similar to Nike Air Force 1's - check'em out.

I'm out like Ice Creams,

DJ Ho.

Barbarians at the Gate

It's Private

One thing that I've been interested in lately is an industry known as "private equity". I must say that its been in the news a lot lately. Especially after the biggest private equity deal in Australia with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) buying a part of Brambles. There has also been rumours that the Coles supermarket might also be bought by KKR.

Everytime I pick up a financial newspaper or a business magazine, the phrase "private equity" is coming up more often. I'm not sure why I'm interested in it, but its definently more than a trend. It's becoming a lot more prominent in the business world.


I guess the starting point is - what is private equity?

A lot of people get it confused with the term "venture capital" and perhaps even "hedge funds".

I would argue that private equity is a form of financing. It is commonly used when a company (typically an unlisted company) is seeking finance but might not be able to go down the traditional route and obtain a loan from a bank. What happens instead, is that a private equity firm would provide the finance in exchange for a controlling stake in the business. It might even buy 100% of the business and gain control of it.

The private equity firm would seek to shake things up in the company by streamlining operations, making the business more profitable, installing more appropriate management, basically restructuring the business.

The aim of all this is simple: it is to invest in the business for the medium term and exit in 5-10 years. Exit typically happens via:

- IPO (initial public offering),
- sale of the business to someone else e.g. management, another company, or even a another private equity firm.

To analogise, private equity (PE) is similar to a property investor who buys a bargain house and renovates it, hoping to resell it at higher price in 5-10 years. The difference is that your buying a business instead of a house. Private equity houses usually seek to buy an underperforming business at a discount, pump it full of debt finance, renovate and resell.

The reason that they have to resell in 5 to 10 years (or a similar approximate timeframe) is that they raise the money via funds from investors and must return the money to the investors in 5 to 10 years. Hence they must "unwind" all their investments after 5 years.

Private equity firms sometimes concentrate on a particular industry sector while the bigger ones simply buy any kind of business from health care, transport, consumer goods, etc... Half the time is spent looking after their current investments and the other half in originating new deals (e.g. scouring for new investments).

Venture Capital

Private equity is to be contrasted with venture capital (VC's) which typically seek to fund businesses in the earlier stage of the life cycle. You often hear about entrepreneurs going to VC firms to finance new business. I guess you could say that venture capital is a form of private equity aimed at start up businesses.

Usually these businesses backed by VC firms are in IT companies, biotechnology, health care or have higher risk profiles than your normal mom and dad type business. The reason is that your normal bank is not going to touch these types of businesses with a 10 foot pole. Financial institutions typically look for stable businesses with predictable returns. VC's and private equity houses are have a bigger appetitie to take on more risk for higher returns.

What makes VC's and PE finance attractive is the people that supply these finance offer more than just money. They are willing to get involved in the business and offer their expertise in finance, strategy, marketing or general business nous. That is why you find VC's and PE houses stocked with ex-investment bankers, strategy consultants and people with expertise in the fields that the houses specialise in (i.e. health care business managers in health care VC's).

The Major Players

The big US firms (i.e. the major players) in private equity are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Carlye Group, Blackstone, Texas Pacific Group and Bain Capital. In Australia, we have firms such as Ironbridge Capital, Allen & Buckeridge, Private Equity Partners, and Champ Ventures.

The biggest and most famous private equity buyout was by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, who paid $33 billion dollars for the biscuit company RJR Nabisco. It is by far the biggest amount of debt paid by a private equity firm which is never to be repeated again. They even made a book and a movie about it titled "Barbarians at the Gate" to emphasise the corporate greed of the 1980's.