Question...

so, I want to vote. But...
Do I vote now on gut instinct? A lot can happen in a week. Should I hold off and wait for the rest of this week and then vote? What's a lad to do?
What would you do IF you watched the show?

Frankly, I don't care if you don't watch it or why you don't watch it. But if you do, what do you think? Wait or go with your gut feeling Monday night straight after nominations?

May...

I know I'm a day early, but I just can't wait to get this month started. May is going to be by far the most expensive month of the year for me. I have way too many friend's and family birthdays coming up, a visit from my big sister, throw in Mother's day and an overseas holiday and we've got one costly month ahead. But it's all good stuff.

The header I've come up with this month is also my favorite one for the year so far. It's Tim Burton inspired. Not too convinced on the background colour for the content, so that may change, but for now we're putting up with the deep rich colour of purple.

Da posse...

Ok, sure there was just the three of us today in "da posse", but... Judo, Scarface and I went riding and enjoyed, what would have to be, one of Sydney's most spectacular days this year.
The temperature was perfect, the skies were deep blue, dotted with some high contrast white fluffy clouds and the mood was playful and mischievous.

We started bright and early, meeting out the front of mine. Up the pacific highway we rode and then weaved our way through some of Sydney's more green and hilly suburbs to the Berowra turn off onto the Old Pacific Hwy. First stop was the Road Warrior's cafe at Mt White. "The" bikers hang out on weekends. After a massive bacon and egg roll we headed through the back way, via Peats Ridge, to Wiseman's Ferry. This road would be a fantastic ride if it was in good condition. It was bumpy, stupid black hatchbacks took corners too wide and my kidney's felt like they had been king hit by a boxer. This made stopping at Wiseman's for lunch an even more enjoyable option... despite the lone solo singer at the pub who was more loud than enjoyable.

Sydney is truly one of the best cities in the world. On days like today you can't help but be thankful for what we've got. I think of today and I just smile. (Judo, yes, I'm pulling my "rat face" smile right now!) Thanks lads for a great day.

Root, shoot or marry...

This week I have some tasty treats for you.
The Men...
Jamie Oliver: The 31yo chef with a big ego, and a just as big heart. Never far from the publicity band wagon Oliver has used his wealth and fame for good and started the Fifteen Charity. A charity designed to train disadvantaged kids in the hospitality industry and give them a chance at making something of themselves. It also made for a good TV show apparently.
Curtis Stone: Another 31 year old chef. Listed in 2006 People magazine's sexiest men alive, Curtis has shown his passion for food and the outdoor lifestyle on the popular ABC tv program Surfing The Menu.
Ainsley Harriott: Aptly described as "happy-go-lucky" this TV chef has made his mark in cooking game shows. He has a knack of persuading reluctant members of the public to bring out their best (or worst) and cook in front of a live studio audience.

The Ladies...
Nigella Lawson: Restaurant owner, television show host, journalist and writer. You can find her listed in Wikipedia listed under "Domestic Goddess".
Kylie Kwong: The Sydney cook with style and vibrance. Kylie studied her trade in The Rocks at the world renowned restaurant Rockpool. She had a small run-in with the police in 04 when she ran a red light in Darlinghurst and lost her licence for 3 months for drink driving.
Giada De Laurentiis: The Italian chocoholic. Her killer looks caused some controversy during her TV debut when the network was accused of hiring a model to pose as a cook to host Everyday Italian. She of course is not a model, but a Cordon Bleu chef trained in Paris.

So, this week which one are you going to whisk in for a quick bite? Which one are you going to bake a fresh batch of arsenic cookies for or which one will you stand together atop your wedding cake with?

Jamie Oliver :: Curtis Stone :: Ainsley Harriott

Nigella Lawson :: Kylie Kwong :: Giada De Laurentiis

I'm loving this right now...

Quote from a movie (The Science of Sleep):

"Tonight I'll show you how dreams are prepared. People think it's a very simple and easy process, but it's a bit more complicated than that. As you can see, a very delicate combination of complex ingredients is the key...
First... we put in some... random thoughts. And then we add a little bit of reminiscences of the day mixed with some memories from the past. ... It's for two people.
Love... freindships... relationships... and all those ships..."

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Found :: alive
2. Male :: desire
3. Spoken :: aloud
4. Life ::, love and the universe
5. Tonight :: I'm enjoying a few beers.
6. Fingernail ::s down a black board.
7. True :: love never dies.
8. Give up :: Don't
9. Shining :: the light on broken dreams.
10. Everywhere :: I go, everywhere I go you're there.

Good news everyone...

The young Australian rider Casey Stoner won last night's MotoGP. Prior to this race he was only 1 point behind Rossi on the leader board. This win puts Stoner 10 points ahead of Rossi. If Rossi doesn't finish in the Top 6 in the next race (China) Stoner will maintain his position above him on the table.
My other favorite rider, Melandri, is currently sitting in 5th position.
Only two more races to go (China and France) before I hit the track in Italy and with any luck see my dream finish: I'd like to see a Stoner, Melandri, Rossi finish in that order. Why?
Stoner because he's our Aussie rider.
Melandri... well here's a picture... just because he's my favorite rider and Rossi because he's a Yamaha rider. Plus it'd be good to see the Italian home crowd go nuts when an Aussie beats the two Italians.

Uninteresting...

... that's this weekend. But I did have fun.
I went for a ride this morning, very early. I couldn't sleep in so I jumped on the bike and visited one of my fave places in Sydney. I rode over to Port Botany and sat on the cliffs and just chilled out and watched the divers and ships pass by, pondering life, love and the universe.

I also managed to ride down a street 3 minutes before the police decided to pull me over and make me wait for an hour or so until a protest march passed. So I sat there in the gutter next to my "impounded" bike while the marchers passed by pondering life, love and the universe...

Root, shoot or marry...

We’re getting kinky this week.

You have the chance at a ménage à trois with some of the world’s most famous couples. This week it’s a package deal. Nothing really needs to be said about these couples, because it’s all been said before. They have become a singular identity.

So, whose meat in the sandwich are you going to be? Which two birds are you going to kill with one stone? And which dynamic duo will you join to become a tremendous trio.

Remember, if you only want to go for one of them the partner’s coming along too.

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

David and Victoria Beckham

I'm loving this right now...

The clip is beautiful, the album is equally as beautiful... and the lyrics...

Hearts A Mess
- Gotye

Pick apart
The pieces of your heart
And let me peer inside
Let me in
Where only your thoughts have been
Let me occupy your mind
As you do mine

You have lost
Too much love
To fear, doubt and distrust
(It’s not enough)
You just threw away the key
To your heart

You don’t get burned
(’Cause nothing gets through)
It makes it easier
(Easier on you)
But that much more difficult for me
To make you see…

Love ain’t fair
So there you are
My love

Your heart’s a mess
You won’t admit to it
It makes no sense
But I’m desperate to connect
And you, you can’t live like this

Love ain’t safe
You won’t get hurt if you stay chaste
So you can wait
But I don’t wanna waste my love

Flirt!

Pink Shirt Thursday.

Bad mood Wednesday…

This morning I didn't get out of the wrong side of bed, but when I left for work something wasn't quite right.

I almost lost it at work this morning and was close to chucking a "designer's" tanty. I mean really, how many times can you change a straight line for someone before you go "Oh for god's sake! It's a line, it's this long and it's grey! What more do you want? What? Another 2 pixels!?!?!" And so I calmly stood up from my chair and walked out. I needed some fresh air or I was simply going to loose it. I walked around trying to gather my thoughts. I was puzzled. I couldn't think of a reason for my foul mood. Why was I cranky? Why the short fuse today? I had no idea. That just added to my frustration.

And then it dawned on me: I was wearing the shirt I hate the most. Yes, that was it. How shallow. I have not managed to get my work shirts cleaned for a little while and was down to two shirts to choose from this morning. The one I'm wearing and a pink one. Tomorrow being "Pink Shirt Thursday" the choice was easy. Today - The horrible white one. I just can't stand business shirts that are not tailored and bunch around your waist like some horrible women's 80's bubble skirt. Not a good look on a male! So that prompted me to go and do something else I really don't like: clothes shopping in the city. But I now have two new shirts that will be cleaned tonight along with the rest of my shirts so I can destroy this ugly white one and my ugly mood along with it.

Oh, what a surprise...

yes, I'm eating at Yoshinoya again. Those people who understand me know that I'm a little bit of a creature of habit. However, a little known fact about me is that I like to spice things up occasionally and take a risk. Well, tonight was one of those nights. As you can see from the picture: I added a fresh egg!
*dramatic music * Dunt dunt dahhh.

AND, not only was it something new for me, it was a taste sensation!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Freeze :: Mofo
2. Naturally :: is not always the best way
3. Painting :: oil
4. Merits :: Good on you
5. Ironic :: Isn't it?
6. Survival :: of the fittest
7. Cow :: Don't have a ...
8. Anchor :: around my neck
9. Sisters :: are doin' it for themselves
10. 70 :: 30

I'm loving this right now...

Saturday night I went to the rugby to see the Waratahs V Reds. It was probably one of the sloppiest games of rugby I've seen ever. Anyhoo, after the game I went for a few drinks at a pub/bar that I hadn't been to on a sat night before. Well, it was great. The crowd was very understated cool and I loved the music. It was very 80's indie influenced. Very much my sort of sound. I was introduced to one of the Dj's, Chloe, she was one of the spunkiest chicks I've met in ages. Very sexy. In fact most of the crowd there were very spunky. Although, there were a couple of emos in the corner and the phrase "What have you come as?" was uttered by my mate... For the past few weeks I've been re-discovering some tunes from my past including early Kate Bush and some Morrissey and The Smiths. When this song below was played on sat night over the decent sound system it brought back some beautiful memories and this song has been on high rotation in my brain ever since... One of my all time faves.

The Smiths - "There is a light that never goes out"

Beautiful storm.

This afternoon this storm blew in from nowhere and it left with the most amazing fresh smell of rain. Very beautiful.

Tonight I caught up with two of my mates for dinner. I took the advice of another friend and we tried a Mexican restaurant in Crows Nest that none of us had been to before. It was great. Really enjoyed the company and the fajitas were "make your own" and the tortillas were just melt in the mouth. MMMMmmmmm. Very tasty. Not too sure about the Mexican beer though.

Root, shoot or marry...

Be a good sport and take part in this week's RSM. We have a distinctly Australian feel (Sorry international guests, but if you’re a sports fan you might know these names anyway).

The Men:
The Thorpedo, now retired from swimming, has recently been grabbing headlines after a French newspaper reported he gave a sample during 2006 that showed abnormally high readings for testosterone. "Sacre Blue" cried Ian Thorpe as he proclaimed his innocence and vowed revenge on the source of these reports.

Mr Humility, a former World #1 tennis champion. Pat Rafter is well known for his freakish ability to return serve and his good nature both on and off the court. A very modest and religious man he remains one of Australia’s top tennis legends.

What can I say about Mr Txt? Love him or loathe him, Shane Warne has become THE greatest bowler of all time. He invented a new bowling technique called the “flipper” and taught the country that phone sex was not just limited to voice conversations. His antics off the field have given him a reputation for things other than his bowling techniques.

The Ladies:
Layne, general top sort and regarded as the best women’s surfer of all time. She has recently won her 7th World title. She founded Aim For The Stars Foundation to financially help girls and young women achieve their ambitions.

Madame Butterfly. I remember going into a chemist one evening in my old hometown and the women behind the counter said to me "Do you know who I just served? It was that lovely Susie O’Neill". She is one of this country's greatest swimming stars, a great sports commentator and a "lovely" lady.

The girl from Queensland with a big heart and strong determination is regarded as a role model by many and as a symbol of national reconciliation. Cathy Freeman managed to create great debate and controversy by breaking protocol and waving both the Aboriginal and Australian flags after winning the 400m at the 1994 Commonwealth games.

So this week: Who will you pick to share the shower in the locker room with, load the starters pistol with real bullets and aim it at and who would you want to run that race of love with to the end?

Ian Thorpe :: Pat Rafter :: Shane Warne

Layne Beachley :: Susie O’Neill :: Cathy Freeman

Pink Shirt Thursday...

Along with some fellow bloggers, I took up the Pink Shirt Thursday option. It seems that Thursday has been deemed the day that pink shirts can be worn without ridicule or being shunned from the general populous.

Inspiration strikes...

and you just have to run with it sometimes. I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. Tim Burton is visually a creative genius and Danny Elfman is audibly a creative genius. I watched Edward Scissorhands tonight for the first time in over 10 years. It amazes me how beautiful this film really is and how I'm re-discovering it and it's meanings. Danny Elfman creates the most beautiful musical score to accompany this film. In fact, every piece of music he composes has a quirky surreal quality to it. He has created music for a lot of Tim Burtons films and this adds to their fairytale beauty.

Over the long weekend I dug out a score of music which has been a favorite of mine since I played it on the piano way way back in primary school. I sat down in front of my mac and decided to create my own Elfman inspired Muzbot orchestrated version. The original score was written in 1895 by Sir Edward Elgar and he could have never foreseen that his score would ever sound like this... It's a little rough around the edges and I haven't finished it yet but I hope you enjoy:

I call my version : "March of The Muzbots"
The Snow - Sir Edward Elgar

The edge...

is where I spent a bit of the long weekend. Both physically and emotionally I think. There's a bit going on in this lad's head at the moment about life, love and the universe. I went looking for a few Geocaches yesterday with my mate Judo. Two of them were located very close to the edge of cliffs. I really enjoyed being right on the edge of the one at Oxford Falls, but after all the rain we've had the night before it was a bit slippery and I think Judo wasn't too keen on me being that close to the drop. I think I was nearly roused on at one point for being a little to careless close to the edge. I have a lot of faith in my bush walking shoes. (Sorry Judo).

The pic is the location of one of the tricky Geocaches. I've walked to find this one once before and was on the other side of the wall and realised that to get to the cache I would have to walk around the edge of this to get to it. Nope, that was not going to happen. This time the idea was to approach it from the same side as the cache, but we were foiled because the gates were closed for the public holiday. Better luck next time I guess.

I was a little bored during our CEO presentation at work, so I doodled this. I then cleaned up the pencil drawing in Illustrator. I love cartoon rabbits.

Why was the Easter Bunny angry?
Because he was having a bad hare day.

Our nation's capital...

and me, getting close and personal. I love Canberra. It's one of the places in this country that I'd be happy to live in.
It's been a good long weekend so far. Here's some pics.

Root, shoot or marry...

Stuff you all, I'm going solo...

As we know, vocal harmony within a group does not always mean there is personal harmony within the group. This week's RSM is a tribute to those who have had the courage to stand tall and say "I'm better off without you".

In 1995 Robbie Williams made known his dislike for fellow Take That band members. He was tired of his clean cut image and decided that jumping ship was the only option to prove that his ego was larger than not just his fellow band members, but everybody in the British Music Industry.

In 2001 N Sync hit their peak with an appearance on The Simpson's. Surely this proved they had finally made it. They had nowhere to go and nothing to prove. Could they be the most popular band since The Beatles? The heat of the spotlight burned intensely for the group, however, they weren't seeing any money... their manager was. It was time to have a break and assess the situation. Timberlake saw his chance to work on a solo project and reap some rewards.

In the year 2000 the Irish born singer Ronan Keating stepped out and onto centre stage from the group Boyzone and released a solo album cleverly called "Ronan". 7 years later he has had 14 top 10 singles in the UK charts. Boyzone have never officially disbanded so maybe they'll live again or just disappear into the wasteland that is occupied by so many other so-so boy bands.

The queens of pop marketing, The Spice Girls, produced another product: The solo career of Geri Halliwel. There has not been fantastic music success for this ex-Spice Girl, but when ever there was a magazine or media opportunity this girl seemed to be there and lap it up. She has even done a "fly on the wall" type reality special called "Geri".

Back in 1985 Belinda Carlisle left the all girl group The Go Go's on a sour note to embark on a solo career. Sporting an 80's blonde bob for her first solo release "Mad About You". In 1987 she scored her only #1 hit single with "Heaven Is A Place On Earth", a song that is the soundtrack to a great part of the 80's for me. Going solo was probably a good move for this singer and since then she has released 7 Albums. The most recent album sung in French.

Beyonce went solo by stealth. Destiny's Child were riding the crest of a wave of success with Grammy Awards being thrown at them. Beyonce didn't go outright solo initially, but instead appeared as "featured" vocalist on a couple of projects with Jay-Z and Luther Vandros. She finally released her solo debut and the album and single rocketed to #1 simultaneously in the UK and the USA making Beyonce the only solo female artist to achieve such an accolade.

So, who are you going to: make sweet music with, help die a death like disco or live on together in song.
The Men:

Robbie Williams - Take That
Justin Timberlake - N Sync
Ronan Keating - Boyzone

The Ladies:

Geri Halliwell - Spice Girls
Belinda Carlisle - Go Go's
Beyonce - Destiny's Child

Just briefly...

Ok, I can't mix it with more serious runners, but I gave my run home from work a serious go today and did a personal best. The aim is to be a little competitive in the next AROC adventure race at the end of this month.

- - - - - - - - - -

I'm heading off to Canberra for a couple of days on my bike tomorrow. I hope to take my time and capture a few nice images on the way. But before I go I'll put up this week's Root, Shoot or Marry. It'll be a day early, but that will give you a little bit of time to think about your choices this week... and it may be difficult.

Contrasts

My walk home today was full of visual variety. This is what I love about where I live.

You can see some more of my walk home here on Flickr.

Festival of the boot...

The weekend seemed to go very quickly. One minute it was Friday afternoon, the next I'm sitting back at work on Monday morning.

Saturday was a bit of hard work but I finally removed all my stuff from my old address and had the place cleaned. It's such a relief to be away from that place.

Saw two games of footy on the weekend too. Two different codes. I saw a great union game between the Waratahs and the Crusaders. It came down to the wire and unfortunately the 'tahs lost by one point. The other game I saw was a league game between the Bulldogs V Titans. This too was a good game. There were very few mistakes in this game and it was a very enjoyable game to watch. The Titans went down. Looking forward to seeing a few more home games this year if I get the chance. I'm not a fan of the Doggies, but I think if they keep this sort of play up then I might just start to follow this code a little more.