Et tu, Rusty?

I’ve got a bad habit of making blog posts where the title, video clip, and opening sentence are all complete non sequiturs.  So again today, I’m ticking those boxes.

As anyone in Australia should now be aware, former Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard is running the show after a bloodless coup against the David to John Howard’s Goliath, Kevin Rudd.  And of course, we’re all firmly entrenched in the honeymoon period right now.  Much has been made of the “I-didn’t-vote-for-her vs. Yes-you-fucking-did-because-you-voted-for-the-party-and-it’s-policies” debate, but I don’t really care about that.  Both arguments have their merits.  Who can really say they vote for a faceless set of policies?  Who can really justify getting pissed off when they throw their vote behind the cult of personality with little-to-no knowledge of the policies, and then the talking head they picked gets bounced?

Whatever.  I was no fan of Kevin Rudd, I was just elated when John Howard got knocked out of the box.  In fact, I’m not a fan of any politician, barring two unique exceptions: Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam.  The rest suck.  And leader of the opposition Tony Abbott sucks in a mighty way which few before him can match, so for that reason I hope the red head gets it right in the months to come.  But the knife in Rudd’s back seems to be a massive overreaction to me, however necessary some power brokers who were nervous about the whole “middle finger to the mining industry” thought it to be.

Moving on to David Villa’s delightful long-range chip in the clip above, how about that shit eh?  You’ve gotta question the goalie’s decision-making, but take nothing away from the diminutive Spaniard.  Great goal.

I realised I haven’t written a blog post since the World Cup started, and that probably says it all about how I’ve been spending my time.  Australia’s campaign has ended, but happily they took it right to the wire and beat a very good Serbia team in what would be heralded as a fantastic result were it to stand in isolation.  As it is though, the 4-0 pantsing by Germany has cast a shadow (albeit a shrinking one in the face of consecutive sterling performances against Ghana and Serbia) over the whole campaign.  So many ‘what-ifs’ and ‘coulda beens.’  Let’s just say I’m glad to see the back of Pim Verbeek, and super hyped for the Asian Cup in 2011.

I haven’t been a complete couch potato during the World Cup though, I’ve been working on tracks for a mixtape you’ll soon be hearing more about.  But let’s just say I was working a little bit harder on it before the World Cup started than I am right now.

And on that note, I think there’s a replay of Switzerland vs. Honduras about to start……

A World Cup 2010 Primer: The Best Goals from 2006

Holy sh*t, I’d forgotten about most of these.  Everyone remembers the Argentina goal (technically scored by Esteban Cambiasso, but f*&k that, it has to be referred to as the Argentina goal) where they composed a series of patient pinpoint passes like a god damn symphony , but I’ve gotta say for my money Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez are the standouts.

The ill thing about the beginning of this highlight reel is that the first two goals, scored by Ze Germans, were both in the first match of the tournament.  That’s how you knew we were in for a great World Cup ’06.

This piece where Les Murray runs down the most infamous moments in World Cup history is pretty cool, especially for his description of the France ’98 Final:

Ronaldo did take the field, but he and Brazil played like crap and lost 3-0.

Brilliant, Les.

Masturbation: a Scottish Rite of Passage

Just excellent.  Poor Stevie, they’re all so proud of him.

I can confirm that none of my Scottish relatives would have been so supportive.

Nike78 Project – Reinterpreting Classic Sneakers

The Nike78 Project is the brainchild of a dude called Paul Jenkins, and it consists of various artists reinterpreting a bunch of shoes.

You can check some of the cooler ones here.

Tony Easley’s feathered joints are outrageously awesome.

Excuse me, have you seen my pants??

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has been in the news recently due to the fact that he very publicly quit the Liberal party for pretty f*&king compelling reasons, if you ask me.  Not that you did.  Not that I would ever be a member of the Liberal party in the first place.

But it pays to look to history for context, and as far as entertainment value goes, it’s not his best work.

Malcolm Fraser, prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983, would later tell a reporter that he had no idea how he’d come to be at this place, this Admiral Benbow Inn, on this night in 1986. He had given a talk at the Economic Club of Memphis, taken a cab down to Beale Street from the Memphis Country Club to see the sights, and then he’d strolled over to The Peabody. Then, whammo, he woke up early, minus pants and passport.

I was talking about this with some friends the other day, and quite apart from the hilarity factor (which is high), it demonstrates how much we all love a politician who slips up and lets their raw humanity show.  Bill Clinton’s philandering is almost revered in a warm, affectionate and nostalgic way.  Kevin Rudd’s popularity shot up (pun intended) when it was discovered he’d spent some time in a New York strip club.  And Malcolm Fraser seemed to be perceived as a bit of a crusty old fish until he lost his pants.

Don’t Forget to Feed Your Pets During The World Cup

Pretty good.

While we’re on sports matters, it was very interesting to see Chris Bosh’s alleged ‘wish list’ of NBA teams he wants to play for now that he’s an unrestricted free agent.  It’s a really curious situation, where everybody’s dream recruits (LeBron, Wade, and Bosh) are talking about getting together during the off-season and discussing their possibly overlapping playing futures.

It says it all about being a Knicks fan that this is the most exciting eventuation all year.  The only way New York is gonna see any of these dudes strutting atop Madison Square Garden parquet is if the front office folks put together an airtight plan that they can show to at least two of them, to prove they won’t be lonely.

What World Cup? The Special One is not for South Africa

Jose Mourinho is, basically, the personification of ‘polarizing.’  Personally, I f*&kin’ love what he’s doing.  How can you not laugh out loud at his demeanour in this clip?

The thing about believing your own hype is, most people in that category only kinda believe they’re infallible.  And those people are easy to hate, because although their words and manner of being throw confidence and ego in your face, you can always sense the insecurity that it’s all founded on.  And that makes them shit.

Occasionally you meet people who aren’t putting on an act.  They have complete, unshakable, resolute faith that they are everything they say they are and want to be.  Could be a toilet cleaner, a fluff girl – anyone.  That doesn’t mean you’d want to have a beer with them.  Probably the opposite, in fact.  But they’re authentic and entertaining.

So when Mourinho refers to himself as The Special One, and you know he believes it, it’s just amusing.  I can’t wait to see what he comes out with if his Inter Milan side beat Bayern Munich in The Champions League Final tomorrow.

The Most Dangerous Posse in The World

Last week The Kid sent through this LA Weekly piece about the various fates and ‘where-are-they-now’s’ of all these random dudes who, unbeknownst to them, were the jump-off point for a cultural phenomenon, musical juggernaut and revolutionary period in music industry history.  It’s a fascinating read which provides such insights as Ice Cube being ‘the most image-conscious member of the group,’ and one-hit-wonder (and dude you’re least likely to have heard of unless you geek over late 80’s/early 90’s West Coast rap like I do) Candyman being almost universally despised by the other dudes in the photo (“Candyman always kinda thought his shit didn’t stink”).

Random circumstances throwing random dudes together, a little musical Darwinism separating the wheat from the chaff, social setting that was fertile for subject matter, and a musical nucleus of  Dr. Dre working his sound out while Ice Cube (in ultimate ‘baddest motherfucker in the world’ mode) wrote raps for everybody.

Magic.

The Glitch Mob, and Bukowski vs. Mickey Mouse

I can’t wait to Drink the Sea.  I’m a real Johnny-come-lately with these guys (The Glitch Mob), but now that I’m on board with their addictive West-Coast-funk-electric-eclectic (thanks to Mr. Karl Lurman), I’m gonna head to the studio today with Detect and lay down an interpretation to their new joint ‘Beyond Monday.’  I’m pretty hyped about seeing how the track turns out, coz lyrically it’s also a kind of homage to Charles Bukowski, who you can see in the clip below.

For some reason, Bukowski’s hatred of Mickey Mouse has always resonated strongly with me.  Some people might think it sounds like the insane ramblings of a hedonistic loon, but I feel like it’s a valid point.  The notion that such happy-happy-joy-joy one-dimensional crap is all surface and smile, no meaning or substance (“Not even good,” as his widow states),  akin to Marx’s ‘opiate of the people’ barb against religion – I think I agree with that.

Anyway, that’s basically the inspiration behind the track that I’m gonna record today and hopefully have up on the blog for download within a week.  I’m thinking I’ll call it, “Spukowski.”  Or maybe I’ll just keep the title as Glitch Mob originally intended it.  I probably should do that, it’s the least I could do, no?

But I like, “Spukowski.”  I dunno, we’ll see.

The “Three ‘S’ Man,” Doin’ it tough

Kenny Anderson is a New york City legend.  Unfortunately, he’s also one of the best examples of unfulfilled potential and squandered opportunity that the NBA has produced.  But, ultimately, he was able to do things on the basketball court that no one else could do (see clip, where longtime basketball analyst/announcer Dick Vitale almost messes his undies over Kenny’s handles).  And if that’s not a life well-lived, I don’t know what is.

I just wish I could’ve found the extended version of the clip, where Mr. Vitale dubs Kenny A, “The three ‘S’ man – he’s superb, he’s spectacular, he’s *some other superlative that begins with ‘S.’*”  I can’t remember what the third ‘S’ was.  I guess we can say it’s for ‘Studious’ now that he’s gone back to school and graduated.