Sunday, February 25, 2018

Jessibill: Death By Multimedia. Episode 13.


This week on Episode 13:

There’s Something on the TV! – It's Japanese anime time in Jessie's headspace, as she has started checking out the 2003 hit FULL METAL ALCHEMIST, while Bill has been lost with no sport and The X Files on a mid-season break, so for him it has been the lifestyle stylings of LOVE IT OR LIST IT AUSTRALIA that has filled his hole.

Crap Movies Bill is Forcing Jess to Watch! – After some rich comedies in recent weeks it was time to go for something a bit more cerebral for Jessie's movie of the week, so we have checked out the brilliant acting, writing and directing that all came together in 1995's superb THE USUAL SUSPECTS, where you won't know what has happened even after the movie is finished.

Album Review Switcheroo! – With Jessie's albums having dried up it's time to go in a new direction, and so we present to you our weekly playlist of ten songs, five from each of us, and we give you a run down on why we like them, and even give you a chance to experience it yourself!

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/jessicaher13/playlist/7zEeeGu0nn4Pso5kZ7xeTB

Crap That Jess Has Been Watching On YouTube! – So if you animate songs from bands that Jessie loves, and even do kazoo cover versions of them, you too can have your own YouTube Channel. Apparently, Jess gives us the run down on not even dust like wtf which is apparently HILARIOUS! Meanwhile, Bill has been tracking down the 'shittiest band in Newtown' called Scabz after seeing them at the SLF concert in Sydney.

PODCAST!



PLAYLIST!



not even dust like wtf @ YouTube


Scabz live at the Marlborough September 2017


The Usual Suspects


Full Metal Alchemist


Love It or List It Australia


Saturday, February 24, 2018

APCC Under 11 Golds: Round 16 vs Kookas Maroon

After such a lengthy period of success, there always comes a time when perhaps you take it for granted, and ease off thinking it will always just happen. To an extent that happened today for the Albion Park Under 11 Gold team, who through the heat of the morning and the dropping of their high standards of recent weeks found that cricket cannot be won just by turning up and expecting the opposition to roll over for you.

The opposition, the Kookas Maroon team, won the toss and elected to field, and the eagles took to the batting creases this week with just the six players. And apart from a couple of moments, the kids batted well and pushed hard. The calling and running between the wickets was excellent, with several singles turned into twos this week by better running. Success was found by those that didn’t try to hit the cover off the ball, instead using the pacey leg side of the ground by timing the ball along the ground.

Charlotte Rodda hit some excellent strokes again today, but the all went straight to the fielders which stifled her run scoring. She is improving every week, and also called well today. Kane Rex played perhaps his best innings of the season today n the opening partnership, striking two perfect pull shots along the ground for boundaries in his innings of 14, his highest score this season. His hard work in working on his batting is paying off. Well done Kane. Blake Ison once again make a statement with the bat, stroking four boundaries in his score of 21 with the emphasis again of the ball along the ground. Bodhie Rodda also made his highest score today, including a lovely pull for four that brought cheers from the crowd. His 7 was another excellent innings and he called and ran well again. Great improvement from Bodhie.

Josh Peters played perhaps his three worst deliveries of the season to start his innings, which included being bowled off stump trying to whip to leg with his head in the air. It would have been a sad effort for him, but the opportunity to stay at the crease with the current rules allowed him to redeem himself, finishing with 25 runs including four boundaries. Lucas Brown concluded the innings with a fine display of sensible shots and good running which left him unbeaten on 9 runs, though he still has this inclination to try and work a ball a foot outside his off stump into the leg side.

At the conclusion of their 20 overs, Albion Park had lost two wickets and scored 121 runs, which included 76 off the bat, comparable to last week’s effort.

Despite the coach asking his team to ignore the heat and stay up and bright in the field, it didn’t really go to plan. The heat caused a few tempers to fray and a few heads to forget what they should have been doing, and the batsmen from the Kookas team played well and made it difficult for the Eagles kids to go well. After seven overs the Kookas were 1/43 and flying, and it appeared that the Eagles bubble was finally going to burst. The only wicket to fall had been from a great piece of fielding from Lucas once again, who threw to Kane at the bowlers end who found the batsman short of his ground. Just before drinks though the balance was restored. Lucas had bowled too much down leg side, but a straight ball found a top edge which he caught off his own bowling. Then with Charlotte bowling, the batsmen dared to take a single when the ball fell to point, where Lucas swooped in, took aim, and threw down the stumps at the bowlers end with a direct hit. Brilliant fielding from Lucas who does this every week. Two balls later, Charlotte sent down a rocket to bowl the facing batsman, and despite some lacklustre bowling and fielding the Eagles were back in the match.

The scoring stalled in the second half of the innings, while Blake was rewarded with a caught and bowled of his own after some close calls with his bowling, and Lucas picked up his second wicket with the perfect fast full yorker that cartwheeled middle stump. The last two Kookas batsmen batted well and were looking to attack, so I will make mention of the final over of the match, which Josh bowled. He was unfortunate not to pick up three wickets in the over, two that bounced half an inch over middle stump and had a catch dropped at mid off. Against two good batsmen on the rampage, Lucas and Josh bowled terrific final overs.

At the end of their innings, the Kookas had lost 6 wickets for 93 runs, with 51 coming off the bat.

The bowling and fielding overall today was a drop down on recent weeks. The heat had something to do with it, but it did appear that the team felt they just had to turn up to win, which certainly was not the case. Given their high standards of recent weeks they can be forgiven for this. Charlotte, Kane and Blake have been great, but today reverted to a lot of no balls and wide deliveries down leg. Charlotte for the sixth game in a row took a wicket again, finishing with 1/16. Kane took 0/20 while Blake finished with 1/9. Bodhie did well again but was unfortunate to go for a couple of boundaries in his second over which blew his figures out to 0/20. He bowled better than that suggests. Josh, after a slow start, finished with 0/10 from four overs and also bowled far better than those figures suggest. Lucas bowled like a demon at training on Wednesday, but didn’t quite get it together today. He was still the best performer today with 2/5 from four good overs, but it could have been so much better!

After wicket penalties were added, the Albion Park Golds ran out winners by 145 to 102.

With three weeks remaining, the Golds play Gerringong Green (2nd), Albion Park Green (3rd) and Oak Flats Blue (1st) in our last three games of the season. The kids are focused on putting their best cricket on the park in those three matches, to push those teams as hard as possible to finish off the season. Win or lose, they want to be able to show how much they have improved this season and that they can compete with any team on their day.

Metallica: The Call of Ktulu (MetOnTour - Copenhagen, Denmark - 2017)



The other brilliant Metallica instrumental of this era. What a superb song.

Metallica: Orion (MetOnTour - Turin, Italy - 2018)



Back in the band days... back in 1863... this was my favourite song to play on the drums. Ironically it was probably also my favourite song to sing \m/

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Jessibill: Death By Multimedia. Episode 12.


This week on Episode 12:

There’s Something on the TV! – Jessie has gone retro this week (well, as retro as you can when you are 14 years old) and rediscovered the wackiness of the sci-fi animation of ADVENTURE TIME, while Bill has been throwing himself into the bleak and dark tales of Season 4 of BLACK MIRROR.

Crap Movies Bill is Forcing Jess to Watch! – When it comes to inappropriate humour and unadulterated genius, there is only one film that you can turn to. This week Jess finally gets the chance to watch Mel Brooks' amazing and brilliant BLAZING SADDLES, complete with the greatest campfire scene ever filmed.

Album Review Switcheroo! – We enter both ends of the music spectrum this week, as Jess decides to pass on to Bill the modern pop styling of ELLIE GOULDING and her hit album DELIRIUM, while Jess gets a real treat by getting to experience the legends that are DEEP PURPLE and their finest hour, and one of the most important albums in music history, MACHINE HEAD.

Crap That Jess Has Been Watching On YouTube! – This week we discover that apparently you can take videos of yourself playing video games, put it on YouTube and get 60 million followers. FFS. Jess fills us all in on the YouTube user PewDiePie.

PODCAST!



Saturday, February 17, 2018

APCC Under 11 Golds: Round 15 vs Jamberoo

Are coaches supposed to suffer from constant heart palpitations? Is this the kind of thing that always happens? I’m not sure, and it doesn’t help when you have no idea of the score. But simply put, the Albion Park Eagles Under 11 Gold team took on Jamberoo at the picaresque Keith Irvine Mini Oval this morning, and the match was filled with magical, comical and exasperating moments.

First time captain Bodhie Rodda won the toss and elected to bat on a muggy morning, and the Park team changed the batting order around slightly to see how everyone would play in a different position. It was another solid opening from Charlotte Rodda and Max Sciberras who saw off the opening overs without losing a wicket in their partnership. Charlotte held her wicket intact once again, and once she learns to get that pull shot in order she will be scoring plenty of runs. Josh Peters came in at three, and promptly called Max through for a single, but an excellent piece of fielding from the Jamberoo fieldsman saw a direct hit and leaving Max about five metres short of his ground. Max played well again today, and just needs to work on getting his front foot to the ball to improve his run output. He finished with 2 runs today. Kane Rex joined Josh, and both took a liking to the short leg side boundary. Josh hit a six and a four in his 17, while Kane hit the ball particularly nicely today, with two boundaries in his 13. Both need to realise there is an OFF side to the cricket field.

Bodhie hit a terrific boundary with his favourite pull shot and was a little unlucky to bowled by one of the best balls of the innings. He ran hard when prodded and was excellent in both of his partnerships. His 6 runs was an important innings in the middle order. Lucas Brown played well with Bodhie, and only through trying to hit the ball too hard did he fail to capitalise on scoring more runs in his innings. He finished on 9 with one boundary but will feel as though he left a few out there. However, he was basically the running partner for last batsman Blake Ison in the final three overs, and his efforts there with his good calling and running between the wickets should not be overlooked. Well done Lucas. Blake himself played extremely well, hitting three boundaries and a six in his innings of 30, his highest score. He played the ball for the most part along the ground, and only failed to score more runs by not utilising the off side more. Despite this, it was a very good innings once again from Blake.

After their twenty overs, Albion Park had lost only two wickets – a season’s best effort – while scoring 113 runs – a season’s best – with 77 of those runs coming off the bat – a season’s best. Well done Gold Eagles! All this was achieved against a Jamberoo side that was fabulous in the field, with a number of stunning efforts by their players, and some good straight bowling.

Fielding has been the focus for the Gold team in recent weeks, and today it was shown once again to be the winning of the game for them. In the very first over, with five runs already on the board, a straight drive went to Bodhie at mid-off, and his return to Lucas at the bowlers end was straight and true, and Lucas lifted the bails for a run out. The jubilation of the team as they ran to Bodhie to celebrate his effort was terrific. Three overs later a ball was hit to mid-wicket where Lucas was fielding. He was at the ball quickly, looked up, and summed up the situation perfectly, picking the right end to throw to (the keepers end) where Blake took the ball and the stumps with the batsman meters short of his ground. Superb from the boys, just as they have been training for. The following over Lucas was at it again, getting the ball to the bowler Kane who had done well to get back to the stumps to take the return. The throw was not the best and it looked as though the chance had been lost, but the ball bounced off Kane’s hand and fortuitously fell on to the stumps to pull off the third run out of the innings. In the same over Kane’s straight bowling brought him another wicket for his season’s tally. This was followed up by Lucas in the following over with a straight full ball. It was excellent all round form the Eagles. Two overs later Charlotte again beat the batsman to comprehensively bowl him, and in seven over the Eagles kids had picked up six wickets. It was inspirational stuff.

The wickets dried up, but the bowling was tight and kept a close rein on the Jamberoo scoring. It wasn’t until the last batting pair were at the crease that the scoring took over, with some lovely shots by both batsmen finding the boundary regularly. While attempting quicker singles, the batsmen found themselves short to yet another super piece of fielding by Lucas, whose direct hit at the bowlers end found them short by inches. It was a super day in the field by Lucas, with a hand in three separate run outs. In the same over the batsman skied a ball to leg, where earlier Josh had dropped a chance that was going at some pace. This one swirled over his head as he ran backwards, but he never took his eye off the ball, and he held on to the tough chance over his left shoulder. More ticks for the fielding practice on Wednesdays.

There was entertainment and fireworks still to come though. Lucas bowled the penultimate over to the young Jamberoo left hander and was swatted for three boundaries and three singles in the over. Each ball he was implored by his coach to pitch the ball right up to the bat, but each ball just seemed to get shorter, and found its way to the boundary faster. To his credit, Lucas never dropped his head and kept a grin on his face. Good stuff Lucas. Blake was asked to bowl the final over, even though he had done about 10 kilometres running in the field for the left/right hand combination, and despite going for two boundaries he bowled a beauty, pulling off a run out at the bowlers end as the batsmen tried to sneak a second run, and also picking up a caught and bowled off the final delivery. It had been an entertaining innings from the two young Jamberoo batsmen, terrific stuff, and an important lesson for the Eagles kids that when things aren’t going your way, you have to find a way to combat it. Which they did very well under the circumstances.

After their twenty overs, Jamberoo had lost ten wickets while scoring 88 runs, with 62 of those off the bat.

Once the bowling penalties had been added the Eagles had run out winners by 153 to 96.

Lucas and Blake, despite getting some tap in the last two overs, were good once again, but just need to be fuller and straighter with the ball. Lucas finished with 1/26 from three overs, and Blake with 2/16 from three overs. Kane and Josh were their economical selves, Kane taking 1/9 from three overs and Josh 0/6 from three overs. Charlotte was again very good today, taking 1/14 from three overs, and has now taken at least one wicket every match for five games in a row. Super stuff from Charlotte!

Today though was about Max and Bodhie. Max bowled his best spell for some weeks, conceding only seven runs from his two overs and was very unfortunate not to pick up at least one wicket, with the ball beating the stumps by a coat of varnish, and also getting two edges that didn’t carry to the keeper. He also kept very well today. Well done Max. Bodhie must have felt as though he had captaincy responsibilities today. He batted well, and fielded well as already noted, but his bowling was great. He bowled two overs for 0/7, and with only four no-balls – Bodhie’s best ever effort. It was terrific to watch, and the beaming smile after the match was the highlight of the day. Well done Bodhie, great to see!

These kids continue to amaze, and their improvement and efforts every single week are a joy to behold. Seeing and hearing their parents support on the boundary is also fantastic, and it is a pleasure to come together every Saturday to be a part of it. With four games to go, the Golds are looking to make it as hard for those teams above them in the coming weeks. All of the teams looking to finish first in the Under 11 A competition have to play the Albion Park Golds in the final rounds and will have to beat them to do it. I can assure you that will be a very tough ask for those other teams.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Jessibill: Death By Multimedia. Episode 11.


This week on Episode 11:

There’s Something on the TV! – Two weeks in, and Jess is still falling behind in the old TV watching, so instead tells us about a series she watched in the holidays called "The End of the F**king World", while Bill revels in the return of the Red Dwarf crew with a couple of viewings of the most recent Series 12.

Crap Movies Bill is Forcing Jess to Watch! – The 80's continues to rule the movie world, and this week it was time to introduce Jess to one of the biggest stars and movies of that time, Eddie Murphy's terrific portrayal of Axel Foley in BEVERLY HILLS COP.

Album Review Switcheroo! – Jess knows where to hit where it hurts, this week enticing Bill to quell his feelings for rap music by listening to NF's debut album MANSION, while Jess gets to relive last week's movie by enjoying the QUEEN album that acts as the soundtrack to Highlander, entitled A KIND OF MAGIC.

Crap That Jess Has Been Watching On YouTube! – As Jess rediscivers a love for the band My Chemical Romance by burying herself in their YouTube Channel, Bill has been checking out all of the new movietrailers that have surfaced from the Superbowl this week, as well as remembering a great short film in Steve Martin's THE ABSENT MINDED WAITER.

PODCAST


Saturday, February 10, 2018

APCC Under 11 Golds: Round 14 vs Gerringong Gold

Another humid and sweltering February morning greeted the Albion Park Under 11 Gold team at the beautiful surrounds of Albion Oval South, where they took on the visiting Gerringong Gold team in this week’s round of park cricket, and the opportunity to show off their improving skills once again to their families.

Skipper Charlotte Rodda won the toss and elected to bat, a move straight out of the Richie Benaud playbook. The Gerringong bowling and fielding was excellent. They were quick in the field and good with their throws, and importantly bowled straight, conceding only 20 no balls which meant the batsmen had to keep their eye on every delivery.

Kane Rex and Blake Ison opened the batting and made a good start. Kane’s calling was excellent, and he played one terrific stroke over mid on that flew away for four runs. He finished unbeaten on 7 runs, a good innings from him. Blake likes to go deep in his crease to pull the ball to the boundary, and often goes scarily close to his own stumps. Today his luck ran out when on one of these shots he did indeed hit his own stumps to be out hit wicket. His innings included three good boundaries, and he looked to find the gaps as well. Despite getting out once, his 15 was another good innings from him.

Charlotte Rodda played her best innings of the season. She called well, and she found a way to start hitting the ball into the gaps. She is improving every week which is wonderful to see. Her 3 runs was a good reward for hard work. Brother Bodhie Rodda was a bit unfortunate today, with the ball twice bouncing over his bat to find the stumps, for which there was not much he could do. He wasn’t able to produce his free flowing hitting today, but we look forward to seeing it next week. Max Sciberras was undefeated again, and received the best of the Gerringong bowling. His defensive technique today was excellent, and once he gets his drives going again he will get the scoreboard ticking over as well. Lucas Brown hit one very nice boundary today and ran hard and called well looking for runs for his partners. He finished unbeaten on 8 runs, and just needs to adjust his bottom hand to get better value for his shots. Josh Peters finally fell foul to pulling off his stumps, being bowled middle stump while looking at the sky in the third ball of the final over. The in-your-face celebrations that followed his dismissal weren’t endearing to him, and so he took the final three deliveries for a pulled four, a huge pull for six and a punched single to mid-wicket as a silent but effective response. He finished on 23 runs.

After their 20 overs, Albion Park had scored 82 runs for four wickets lost, with 56 of those runs coming off the bat.

The Eagles had to field and bowl at least as well as their opponents if they were to stay in the game, and to their credit they took their training efforts into the game. The skipper Charlotte opened the bowling and got a wicket with her fifth ball, a good catch by the keeper Josh from a top edged pull by the batsman. Max went one better, bowling the batsman with his first ball of the day, much to his delight and that of the crowd watching. Lucas then joined the party with good straight bowling and picked up his own pole with a fast full delivery. Then Max came to the party again, picking up another bowled in his second over which was a great reward for an excellent bowling effort. In the final over before drinks, Kane Rex then continued his great form when bowling straight and full by getting another batsman bowled. It was great to watch.

Four further wickets fell in the second half of the innings. Blake Ison deservedly picked up a wicket when he bowled the facing batsman in what was a great spell of bowling. Josh came out from behind the stumps, and picked up two wickets of his own, one bowled through the batsman’s legs and another a great diving caught and bowled, while Josh also fielded and threw the ball to Kane at the bowlers end to effect an excellent run out.

The bowling effort today was excellent, though again there were 33 no balls which the team is still having trouble eradicating. Bodhie bowled three overs today and is getting the ball on a good length now, he just has to get the ball straight and he will be right in business. Charlotte was solid today, and perhaps got a little too excited with the early wicket and tried too hard. Her three overs brought her figures of 1/12. Both Kane and Max showed when they bowl straight they can get wickets, they just need a bit more consistency. Kane’s three overs finished with 1/10, while Max was excellent with 2/13. Lucas only got two overs today due to the coach’s stuff up, but was again constantly dangerous, finishing with 1/3, while Josh again was terrific with 2/3 from three overs. The star today was Blake Ison, whose rhythm and action was spot on, and he bowled brilliantly as a result. He stood tall, bowled straight and full and if not for the excessive bounce of the astro could have finished with anything. His three overs for 1/2 was his finest of the season. Well bowled Blake!

The fielding was outstanding today, apart from a couple of over-excited throws. Everyone moved in with the bowler, they got to the ball quickly, they returned to the keeper or bowler, and they did their best to get to balls in the air. Both dropped catches were difficult ones that would have been brilliant if they were taken. The encouragement was great, and it was especially pleasing to hear Charlotte as captain every ball of the day. The kids are learning that fielding can be fun if you are good at it and work hard at it. This is what again set their game up today.

After their 20 overs Gerringong finished with 9 wickets for 68 runs, 32 of those off the bat.

With the wicket penalties taken in, Albion Park Gold ran out winners by 118 to 84, a well deserved win in a match that was played in good spirit and fun by both teams.

This team lost their first three games of the season. Since October 28, they have not been beaten, having won seven games, had three wash outs and a bye. It has been a terrific effort from all seven of these kids, and the efforts of their parents who have not only been there to support them on weekends but having been putting in the time with their kids to get them to improve. It has been a wonderful effort from everyone involved. The support on the sidelines is invaluable.

With some tough matches to come against the highest ranked teams, the opportunity for these kids to test themselves further is what they are setting up for in the coming weeks. No matter what the results may be, the APCC can be very proud of these kids in their Under 11’s teams.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Jessibill: Death By Multimedia. Episode 10.


This week on Episode 10:

There’s Something on the TV! – Jess claims she has 'not been watching much TV' which given the amount of time she's been staring at a screen seems unusual. Bill mean HAS been watching good stuff, and gives us an update on The X Files Season 11.

Crap Movies Bill is Forcing Jess to Watch! – There can be only one, and it's better to burn out than to fade away! We're reaching back into the mid-1980's once again as Bill brings out another classic film for Jess in the form of Christopher Lambert's greatest role of Connor McCloud in HIGHLANDER.

Album Review Switcheroo! – There's plenty of music around, and Jess is gearing up for the tour in march of one of her favourites by giving Bill the brand newie from FALL OUT BOY called MANIA, while Bill goes back in time again to give Jess a lesson in hard rock harmonies with DEF LEPPARD's awesome sophomore album HIGH N' DRY.

Crap That Jess Has Been Watching On YouTube! – Jess still claims to be not watching much on YouTube (which still seems slightly unusual) but she gives us a review of jacksfilms (or something like that) for everyone to have a bit of a look at, while Bill obsesses with finding the perfect metal cover of classic 80's pop songs.

We also have the result of our poll from December, being 'is Die Hard a Xmas movie".




Saturday, February 3, 2018

APCC Under 11 Golds: Round 13 vs Shellharbour White

The two greatest words in cricket - wash out. Rain rendered Dawes Park too dangerous with the concrete wicket, and further downpours left the game being called off.

Huzzah!