Woo hoo! Tonight is the opening game of the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League; Australia & New Zealand's national Soccer/football league.
Finally actual Football to watch, not Rugby, not Footy, not Cricket but Football!
Melbourne Victory (reigning champs) take on The Central Coast Mariners in what promises to be an awesome spectacle.
Sadly i can't watch it because you have to have cable TV, so it's a bit similar to England then. great.
Seriously though, i'm really looking forward to this season, i completely missed the last one due to having just arrived in the country and no one likes soccer over here. Plus Melbourne might become the first team in the history of the league (all 5 years of it) to win back-to-back titles. exciting stuff!
So yeah football woo! I'm pretty keen to catch a live game was well (especially as their building a brand new stadium for Melbourne Victory this season) so if any of my aussie friends want to catch a game with me that would be awesome.
Here's a taster of what you can expect:
8/6/09
7/30/09
Mispronunciation Emancipation
Australians are on the whole lovely people with their hats lined with crocodile teeth and hilarious knife based confusions. The only thing that drives me crazy is the truly bizarre pronunciation of certain words.
#1. Debut: For some unknown reason is pronounced as 'da-boo'.
#2. Maroon: Is pronounced 'ma-rone'. Know one knows why.
#3. Yoghurt: The tasty milky treat is known as 'yo-gert'. The shame.
#4. Pasta: Even the humble spaghetti can't escape and is known as 'par-sta'.
#5. Data: Dar-ter, no! it's day-ter!
There are more but it it's too distressing to type them.
#1. Debut: For some unknown reason is pronounced as 'da-boo'.
#2. Maroon: Is pronounced 'ma-rone'. Know one knows why.
#3. Yoghurt: The tasty milky treat is known as 'yo-gert'. The shame.
#4. Pasta: Even the humble spaghetti can't escape and is known as 'par-sta'.
#5. Data: Dar-ter, no! it's day-ter!
There are more but it it's too distressing to type them.
7/20/09
Australian Song of the Day # 11
Although not technically a fully Aussie band (half the band is from America) it's an awesome song so i don't care:
7/16/09
Walk Hard
Australia is massive.
I know that seems obvious but it really wasn't that obvious to me until i decided to walk to the 'local' post office depot to collect a parcel.
I went on google maps to see where the depot was, it seemed to be in roughly the same area as where we live, just a few blocks south east. Althogh intriguingly Google said it was a 3 hour walk away, "doesn't look to that far to me" I quipped. "I have long legs i'll probably walk it in half the time."
Sadly Google was correct, it took bang on 3 hours. 3 Hours of walking in the midday sun through endless Melbourne suburbs, by the time I got to the depot I was drenched in sweat and my feet felt like they'd been sawn off at the ankle. I elected not to walk back and had to fork out for a cab instead.
Although i know i'm in the wrong in questioning the all-knowing might that is Google, I swear that the scale was all wrong and Google decieved me with some sort of trickery. I guess coming from London where nothing is more than an hours walk away i was fooled by an apparant 'couple of blocks'.
Note to self, next time catch a bus.
I know that seems obvious but it really wasn't that obvious to me until i decided to walk to the 'local' post office depot to collect a parcel.
I went on google maps to see where the depot was, it seemed to be in roughly the same area as where we live, just a few blocks south east. Althogh intriguingly Google said it was a 3 hour walk away, "doesn't look to that far to me" I quipped. "I have long legs i'll probably walk it in half the time."
Sadly Google was correct, it took bang on 3 hours. 3 Hours of walking in the midday sun through endless Melbourne suburbs, by the time I got to the depot I was drenched in sweat and my feet felt like they'd been sawn off at the ankle. I elected not to walk back and had to fork out for a cab instead.
Although i know i'm in the wrong in questioning the all-knowing might that is Google, I swear that the scale was all wrong and Google decieved me with some sort of trickery. I guess coming from London where nothing is more than an hours walk away i was fooled by an apparant 'couple of blocks'.
Note to self, next time catch a bus.
6/12/09
Chk, Chk, Boom
Just for the English types who might not of heard about this story. A brilliant 'eyewitness' account from some bogan in Sydney:
6/9/09
6/7/09
Pub faux pas
D'oh, egg on my face this weekend.
I'm down the pub with friends on a Friday night and it's my turn to get the drinks in, off i trot to the bar happy in the assumption we are drinking pots (half pints). I return with said drinks only to be greeted with cries of "you tight-fisted pommy bastard' and the like because we were actually drinking schooners (3/4 pints). The shame.
In my defense i get confused by anything smaller than a pint.
Here's a handy reference guide to prevent anyone making the same mistake:
I'm down the pub with friends on a Friday night and it's my turn to get the drinks in, off i trot to the bar happy in the assumption we are drinking pots (half pints). I return with said drinks only to be greeted with cries of "you tight-fisted pommy bastard' and the like because we were actually drinking schooners (3/4 pints). The shame.
In my defense i get confused by anything smaller than a pint.
Here's a handy reference guide to prevent anyone making the same mistake:
see, how could anyone get confused by this simple system?
6/3/09
The Green Green Grass of Melbourne
I've been helping Bec's step-dad as a landscape gardener the last few months (just to make ends meet); cutting down trees, digging holes and the like. It's good honest graft and I get to wear a dirty vest and look sweaty like Bruce Willis in Die Hard (which is fun).
Anyhoo, just thought i would mention some stuff that i've noticed while being a part-time gardener in Australia:
Melbourne has a lot of shit drivers (not indicating, not letting you into traffic, dawdling at lights, etc). They're not necesserily bad just really inconsiderate. Example: One lady waited for the lights to go green before doing a u-turn in the middle of the road and holding up 4 lanes of traffic. Unbelievable.
Some of the houses in the South Melbourne suburbs (Toorak,Richmond) are massive, there is some serious cash being thrown around and that's not good because their lawns are huge and they need mowing.
Macdonalds breakfasts aren't actually that bad.
A vest tan does not look good.
Those big trampolines have become quite popular.
Chainsaws are cool.
There isn't a Black Widow spider hiding under every rock/in every tree (infact i have seen no massive spiders at all).
Everyone has GIGANTIC bbqs, i mean seriously huge, like space stations that smell of sausages.
that is all.
look at the size of this thing, it has spotlights and wings!
Anyhoo, just thought i would mention some stuff that i've noticed while being a part-time gardener in Australia:
Melbourne has a lot of shit drivers (not indicating, not letting you into traffic, dawdling at lights, etc). They're not necesserily bad just really inconsiderate. Example: One lady waited for the lights to go green before doing a u-turn in the middle of the road and holding up 4 lanes of traffic. Unbelievable.
Some of the houses in the South Melbourne suburbs (Toorak,Richmond) are massive, there is some serious cash being thrown around and that's not good because their lawns are huge and they need mowing.
Macdonalds breakfasts aren't actually that bad.
A vest tan does not look good.
Those big trampolines have become quite popular.
Chainsaws are cool.
There isn't a Black Widow spider hiding under every rock/in every tree (infact i have seen no massive spiders at all).
Everyone has GIGANTIC bbqs, i mean seriously huge, like space stations that smell of sausages.
that is all.
look at the size of this thing, it has spotlights and wings!6/1/09
Blues Control
A weekend of sporting triumph for the Blues; Carlton smashed the East Coast Eagles and Chelsea won the FA Cup.
The Carlton game was on Friday night so watched that with a few beers, pretty straight forward stuff. 18 points up in the first 2 mins and never looked back, ending up 111 to 70.
The Chelsea game had a midnight kick-off over here, but luckily i was at houseparty so got to watch it live with many beers. Missed the first goal (there goes Di Matteo's record), but we played well for the rest of the game and won it with a screamer from Frank. And what's with the lack of goal-line technology? That Malouda shot was clearly in. This is 2009 not 1909 why isn't there a sensor in the goal it's getting ridiculous, surely it can't be that hard to implement.
Anyhoo, a good weekend was had by all :)
The Carlton game was on Friday night so watched that with a few beers, pretty straight forward stuff. 18 points up in the first 2 mins and never looked back, ending up 111 to 70.
The Chelsea game had a midnight kick-off over here, but luckily i was at houseparty so got to watch it live with many beers. Missed the first goal (there goes Di Matteo's record), but we played well for the rest of the game and won it with a screamer from Frank. And what's with the lack of goal-line technology? That Malouda shot was clearly in. This is 2009 not 1909 why isn't there a sensor in the goal it's getting ridiculous, surely it can't be that hard to implement.
Anyhoo, a good weekend was had by all :)
5/29/09
Aussie Slang Guide Part 2
Snag = Sausage
Wog = Someone of Mediterranean origin. Nowhere near as offensive as it is in America and Europe, in fact it's almost endearing although you wouldn't call someone a Wog to their face
Rage = To party
Bashed = Used instead of 'assaulted', even on news reports and other serious programs
Crack the shits = To get really angry and shout at someone eg. "Bec just cracked the shits with me"
Ranga = Someone with red hair, after Orangutan (i should be offended but the Orangutan is the noblest of all the great apes so i'll let it slide)
Wog = Someone of Mediterranean origin. Nowhere near as offensive as it is in America and Europe, in fact it's almost endearing although you wouldn't call someone a Wog to their face
Rage = To party
Bashed = Used instead of 'assaulted', even on news reports and other serious programs
Crack the shits = To get really angry and shout at someone eg. "Bec just cracked the shits with me"
Ranga = Someone with red hair, after Orangutan (i should be offended but the Orangutan is the noblest of all the great apes so i'll let it slide)
5/26/09
5/25/09
Moatgate: A very British scandal
I've been out of the loop in regards to UK news, but it appears there has been something of a scandal regarding MPs using public money to claim expenses on things like (i kid you not): manure, pornographic films, and moat cleaning services!
This related clip from The Daily Show is pure brilliance:
This related clip from The Daily Show is pure brilliance:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Scamalot | ||||
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