Saturday, July 15, 2017
#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day15
Albion Park JSC Under 10 White vs Albion Park Green
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| Ky streaks through the defense on his way to the goals |
Sooner or later you get to wondering just how much of the game of soccer the kids you watch every weekend are actually learning, and how much they are just running through the motions and listening to what the parents are yelling on the sidelines. This morning the Albion Park Under 10 Whites showed just how much they have learned in their local derby clash against the Albion Park Under 10 Green side.
It was a dire period to start with, as once again the Whites were faced with playing a match short. Starting the game with only seven players against their opponents nine meant that there was going to be a lot of running around for the team, as nominated coach Dan Kadwell went with a 2-2-2 formation. Fortunately a late arrival meant that just before half time the Whites had a complement of eight players against nine which eased the burden a little.
And yet, the Whites were quote magnificent. Despite the numbers being against them, the Whites dominated the first half of footy, able to have half a dozen good strikes at goal without being able to convert. The numbers told against them at the other end, when the Greens had only three shots at goal, but were able to convert two of them. It was a tired team at half time, but they were coerced to continue their excellent efforts.
Two further goals left the score at 4-0 to the Green team, but once again the second half belonged to Albion Park White. Indy Middleton held sway as custodian, and Jack Tate was a live wire from fullback, doing a great job in harassing his opponents and constantly getting back to clear the ball. Brock Young worked well with Josh Peters in mid-field, and Jack-Ryan Eberwein was forceful up forward. The stars of the morning was the left side of the park, with left back Belle Kadwell terrific in defense, Claire Kadwell at left centre being the perfect distributor to Ky Van Helden up front. The Whites scored two brilliant goals through that combination, with Belle winning the ball in the backs, passing beautifully to her sister Claire in the midfield who then did the same to Ky up forward, who ran through to score two goals with his great left strike. No team of any age group could have hoped to score better goals from better play. It was fantastic to watch.
The Whites completely dominated the play, and it was only the Greens goal keeper who won them the day. Ky, Jack-Ryan, Claire and Josh all had numerous shots at goal, all of which either scraped the post or were saved wonderfully. The final score of 4-2 to the Albion Park Green team was not a true reflection of how the game went, and the Whites should be wonderfully proud of their efforts in once again playing short but never giving in.
Player of the Match was awarded to Belle Kadwell who was superb once again, getting in the face of her opponents to take the ball off them, and then combining brilliantly with Claire in getting the ball to her midfield time and time again. Special mention to Claire for her role, as well as Ky who could easily have had a dozen goals today. When he is on the run with the ball at his feet he is wonderful to watch.
I started by saying I wondered how much our kids were learning. Well the answer is, quite a lot. As Dan rightly said, there was very little instruction needed to come from the parents on the sideline today. The kids knew their positions, they held their formations, and when the break in play came they knew where they had to be. They did a tremendous job today under tough conditions with less players than their opponents, and yet it rarely appeared that this was the case. It was great to watch again, despite the result.
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| Ky's shot at goal was brilliantly saved by the Greens goal keeper |
Friday, July 14, 2017
#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day14
Five weeks to go. The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed... #31DaysOfScotch #Day14
Peever's Rant Again Highlights Cricket Australia's God Complex
If you weren’t wondering about it before now, you can start immediately.
What the hell is Cricket Australia playing at?
We are now fourteen days in to a period where all of Australia’s cricketers – male and female – are no longer being paid. The current Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which expired on June 30, had been in place for five years. For twenty years, since the players formed their collective Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) and negotiated the first MoU, Australian cricket has enjoyed its most prosperous period both on the field and in terms of the money flowing into the game. Any independent observer could only come to the conclusion that this agreement was a success, and having observed this would conclude that there would be little need to change the setup of the agreement. Sure, there could be tweaks one way or another in order to help certain areas, but the agreement in itself should surely be kept given the success it had achieved.
The board of Cricket Australia disagrees.
The differences and general differences have been well documented – I made my own thoughts on that here - http://westkiama.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/cricket-australia-stand-off-reaches.html
The board of Cricket Australia disagrees.
The differences and general differences have been well documented – I made my own thoughts on that here - http://westkiama.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/cricket-australia-stand-off-reaches.html
Last week the ACA announced that the players had decided against touring South Africa as part of an A Tour as there was no MoU in place. Furthermore, they announced that no players would be available for any tour until an MoU was negotiated. Cricket Australia (CA) noted its disappointment that the players would not agree to tour, considering the negotiations that had been occurring behind closed doors since June 30. CA suggested that with the ‘progress’ that had been made, the players should have agreed to tour. Of course, there was no mention of what progress had been made further to the same stumbling blocks that had been in place since this whole business began. In essence, CA expected the players to blink, and still they refused.
In the past week, discussions between the two parties have supposedly continued out of the public glare. No mention of progress has occurred, but both sides are aware of the need to come to a somewhat satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible, in order to allow the upcoming tours of Bangladesh and India to go ahead. With no bantering going on in the media, cricket lovers were hopeful progress was being made.
So what possible purpose could be served with the article released yesterday in the Australian newspaper by CA chairman David Peever, except to again antagonise the due process of negotiations? What did he hope to achieve? Its publication only served to throw petrol back on the fire that had hopefully begun to die down.
Anything I could say here has already been said better by Gideon Haigh in his column in the same newspaper.
The best points from Haigh are as follows:
Finally, who did what to whom? For even if one accepted every other aspect of Peever’s position — and of his commitment to grassroots cricket I would never doubt his sincerity — it is CA that has kept turning up the dial in this dispute. It is CA that attempted to turn the top international cricketers against the rest by seeking to buy the former off with turbocharged rewards.
It is CA that has tried to turn female cricketers against male, with, among other things, an attempt last week to make a big deal out of the last adjustment ledger that was lamer than a three-legged dog.
It is CA that has sought to turn grassroots cricket against elite cricketers — an entirely bizarre gambit when the success of both are so strongly linked.
And in the end it was CA that walked away from the cricketers, not the other way around, that terminated their relations with extreme prejudice, that isn’t paying them now, that won’t backpay them ever, that opposes them pursuing their livelihoods anywhere else.
In instituting the lockup, CA also caused the players’ intellectual property to revert to the ACA. Yet Peever now criticises the ACA for its decision to “lock up player IP into its own business ventures”. Precisely what was the ACA meant to do? Put it in the fridge?
To surrender something so valuable was the very definition of a “reckless strategy”. And CA’s commercial and broadcasting partners will, one imagines, be letting it know."
CA belligerent approach is obviously working towards one goal - that the players will not allow this to continue much longer because a) they need to earn money and b) they want to play cricket, especially with big series coming up. This is their fallback position, that the public will turn on the players, that the players will cave and CA will get what it wants.
Once again, it would appear that they have misjudged the situation completely.
Medium is the message for cricket boss David Peever - by Gideon Haigh @ The Australian
I have cut and pasted this article here so everyone can read it, who doesn't have a subscription to The Australian. It is well worth the effort.
By Gideon Haigh.
Marshall McLuhan’s contention that “the medium is the message” remains so beloved of opinion page pundits that it’s overdue a run in the sports pages. And this week’s contribution to the game’s pay dispute by Cricket Australia chairman David Peever could hardly be improved on as an illustration.
For those who dimly recollect a McLuhan bowling seam-up for Western Suburbs or playing on the half-forward flank for Carlton, he was a Canadian philosopher who argued that the form of a message is every bit as significant as its content.
And that, in a dispute as much about authority as it is money, should guide our interpretation of Peever’s having his say via a column published in this newspaper yesterday: that is, he chose not to appear, not to answer questions, not to incur the risk of interruption or contradiction, but simply to publish, in order to control.
Peever said some things — we’ll get to those. Yet the step itself was almost as self-revelatory as the moment a couple of months ago when CA condemned the Australian Cricketers Association for issuing a press release by issuing a press release.
So what did Peever say? Alas, not much. The first four paragraphs foamed with indignation — “most tawdry”, “complete myth”, “deeply insulting”, “deliberately fabricated”, “disrespects all those involved across the cricket community” — about the role of ACA adviser Greg Combet in portraying cricket as “an industrial relations battleground”.
Well, heaven forfend that one should perceive a collective bargaining agreement as having anything to do with industrial relations. But to quote Peever: “The suggestion that CA’s push to modify the player payments model has nothing to do with genuine issues facing the game is an insult to everyone involved at CA, including other members of the board. It is also an insult to all those from across the state and territory associations who understand and support the need for change.”
Goodness me — everyone’s so insulted. But this is the vigorous threshing of a straw man. Precisely nobody says the dispute has “nothing to do with genuine issues facing the game”; they merely sniff the unmistakeable bouquet of bullshit when CA insists that this is all the dispute is about.
“I recognise the place of collective bargaining,” Peever continues proleptically, “and I accept the industrial relations framework in Australia.”
Yet this is a bit like saying that he recognises the place of the speed limit and accepts the custom of driving on the left-hand side of the road.
All anyone worth listening to in this debate has argued — as my colleague Peter Lalor did recently — is that the relationship of the professional athlete to modern sport makes a problematic fit with the conventional relationship of employee to employer because the athlete represents both producer and product.
It’s a simple enough idea. CA has acquiesced in it for 20 years by paying cricketers out of a share of revenue. Those cricketers are entitled to ask what has changed, especially when they see athletes in other competitions, rightly or wrongly, agitating for similar status.
In one respect, I’m inclined to agree with Peever. His merely having worked for Rio Tinto should not make of CA a “union basher”. But what CA is doing is behaving as a monopoly. And of monopolies a wariness is always justified, especially when they assert their market power, as CA has in escalating this dispute.
Not that you’d guess this from the victimhood that oozes from Peever’s screed. By his account, CA has always respected the ACA; it has been “very generous”; it has endured a campaign against it of “sustained ferocity” waged by others with a “reckless strategy”.
Yet an express principle of CA’s proposal, unchanged from the very beginning, was that it cease to provide funding for the ACA — a hitherto uncontroversial convention, in recognition of the union covering 100 per cent of Australia’s male and female international and domestic cricketers. What could have been more adversarial?
As for CA’s generosity, its proposed package, stripped of payroll tax, rolled-over adjustment ledger and pie-eyed prizemoney projections then stretched across a greater number of players reflecting the inclusion of women, actually looks a bit parsimonious.
Finally, who did what to whom? For even if one accepted every other aspect of Peever’s position — and of his commitment to grassroots cricket I would never doubt his sincerity — it is CA that has kept turning up the dial in this dispute. It is CA that attempted to turn the top international cricketers against the rest by seeking to buy the former off with turbocharged rewards.
It is CA that has tried to turn female cricketers against male, with, among other things, an attempt last week to make a big deal out of the last adjustment ledger that was lamer than a three-legged dog.
It is CA that has sought to turn grassroots cricket against elite cricketers — an entirely bizarre gambit when the success of both are so strongly linked.
And in the end it was CA that walked away from the cricketers, not the other way around, that terminated their relations with extreme prejudice, that isn’t paying them now, that won’t backpay them ever, that opposes them pursuing their livelihoods anywhere else.
In instituting the lockup, CA also caused the players’ intellectual property to revert to the ACA. Yet Peever now criticises the ACA for its decision to “lock up player IP into its own business ventures”. Precisely what was the ACA meant to do? Put it in the fridge?
To surrender something so valuable was the very definition of a “reckless strategy”. And CA’s commercial and broadcasting partners will, one imagines, be letting it know.
In the meantime, players have demonstrated their good faith by continuing to train, keeping their own counsel, and hoping for resolution, while CA have gone on blaming everyone but themselves. And while the message of Peever’s communique yesterday may have strained for the odd conciliatory sentiment, the medium tells otherwise — that CA remains no closer to understanding how clumsily it has gone about its work.
1008. Halford / Resurrection. 2000. 5/5
While there were differences in the music produced in his other projects before this one, Resurrection immediately feels like it is a return to the heavy metal that Halford was renowned for in Judas Priest. In the main, this can be attributed to the presence of Roy Z, who not only produced the album but co-wrote the majority of the material that was recorded. Z had previously performed a similar ‘second coming’ for Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, whose off-the-rails solo career was revitalised and reborn under Roy Z’s watch on the albums Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding. It had propelled him not only to being the solo star he deserved to be with his talents, but also back into the Iron Maiden fold. Here on Resurrection, Z does a similar thing, taking a man of unquestioned talent and a vocal range that was considered one of the best in all of the metal genre, and putting together a package that returned him to the top of his profession by writing songs that appealed to his main market. Along with Halford and Z, the songs were written in the main with the help of the album’s two guitarists, Pat Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, and their contribution both to the writing of the songs and their instrumental performance should not be overlooked.
Having everyone on the same page, in order to produce an album that best summed up the times in heavy metal and giving their leader the platform to sell it was massively important. This is an album that helps to slam the door on the previous decade, figuratively for Halford himself and on the slumber and increasing variety of music under the ‘metal’ banner. What Resurrection does is show that traditional heavy metal music was not dead, it had just been on hiatus, waiting for men such as these to bring it back to the surface once again.
This album has all of that, and more. The opening tracks are full of autobiographical lyrics brought forth with the energy that they deserve. Halford’s scream to introduce the opening title track is what punters had been waiting for, along with the squealing guitars, flying drums and fast paced track. “Made in Hell” followed this up with the same amazing energy pumping out of the speakers. It’s a great way to start the album, and it immediately draws in all of the naysayers.
The song output on the album does have a lovely contrast about it. Songs like “Silent Screams” and “Temptation”, where the tempo might be tied back a little but the intensity of the vocals certainly isn’t, “Twist”, which again bends and rearranges the tempo and sound of the song such that it isn’t traditionally metal but retains all the characteristics, and “Slow Down” all help to strengthen the show of versatility that Halford has in his music without compromising any of the characteristics that he is looking to reinforce here. Then you can concentrate on the faster, heavier songs that dominate and bring back the masses, songs such as “Cyberworld” and the album closer “Saviour”, and the duet/duel with Bruce Dickinson on the song “The One You Love to Hate” which mightn’t feature anything ground-breaking in the way of riffs or chords but still highlights the album because of the two vocalists involved.
It may be too simplistic to suggest that this is the album that Judas Priest should have followed up Painkiller with, apart from the fact that it is almost a decade on from that album and metal had been through some tough times during those years, and the fact that it contains different musicians and writers. That is also not to completely diss Priest’s Jugulator album, as it had similar differences. Looking back however (and again not trying to be detrimental to the other material) this album is better than anything that has been released by Judas Priest since Painkiller, though nailing down a reason for that would be difficult. Even my well-worn theory of the heavy involvement in this album by Roy Z doesn’t completely answer the question. In the end, we can simply be thankful that it not only revitalised Halford’s career and standing, but hastened his return to Judas Priest and the further works that band has done since. Even though, as expressed, they don’t match up to what he did here.
Rating: “Here I am now, I’m your Saviour, there can be only one”. 5/5
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E28: Caesar and Me
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E28: Caesar and Me
Haven’t we already had an episode about a talking ventriloquists doll? Yes! Indeed we have, in the episode “The Dummy”! So, what the hell are we revisiting that stream of consciousness for? Surely the similarity in the scenario should have been enough to have Serling steer clear of producing this episode? Or was it done without his say so?
Watching Jackie Cooper go about his work is some consolation for what is happening. As the down and out unemployed man who is looking to find work with his ventriloquist dummy, he plays the kind but eminent loser well. While we are made aware early on that Caesar can talk, it isn’t until all hope seems lost that Caesar is able to convince his living partner that robbery is the one way that they can escape homelessness and hunger.
OK, so I’m a bit disappointed that we seem to be recycling stories here as we come close to the conclusion of the series. But the story does enough to make you care about Jonathan West – or perhaps it is just the wonderful acting from Cooper in the role that does that – and makes you want to strangle the little girl Susan who is a little know-it-all. By the conclusion of the tale, for which there was only ever going to be one winner, the feeling of disappointment over the story as a whole is lifted by the performance of the actors.
Rating: It feels a bit wooden. 3.5/5
Thursday, July 13, 2017
#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day13
153. Dokken / Breaking The Chains. 1982. 3/5.
The album was initially released as Breakin' the Chains under the moniker of Don Dokken in Europe. When it was eventually released in the US it was marketed under the Dokken banner as Breaking the Chains, with completely changed cover art, as well as having some of the songs remixed and even re-ordered on the album itself. It also managed to change the title of two of the songs. “We’re Illegal”, which initially was the closing song on side one of the album was rebranded as "Live to Rock (Rock to Live)" on the US version, though it retained its position as the end track of side one. Also the opening track to side two on the original release was “Paris”. However, on the US release, not only has it been moved to be the final track, it is also a live version of the song recorded in 1982, and is now titled “Paris is Burning”. This is actually one of my favourite songs from the album, and it is an improvement on the studio version of the initial release, most likely from the extra energy it gains from the live setting.
“Breaking the Chains” is a great opening song to the band and the album. It highlights most of what makes Dokken the band they became. A solid rhythm of drums and bass provided by Mick Brown and Juan Croucier, Don Dokken’s terrific vocals and George Lynch’s outstanding individualistic guitar work. It’s easily catchy and makes an immediate impression.
As for the rest of the album? In the main, apart from the title track and “Paris is Burning”, this is a straight up hard rock album that does the good things well without as much flash and glint as you might expect listening to the albums that followed this. “In the Middle” and “Nightrider” and “Seven Thunders” are all good songs, but there is nothing that jumps out at you and grabs you about them. The beat and rhythm stay intact, and the lyrics are simple but effective. George does a great job, but there is certainly none of the amazing stuff that he produced later on. It’s all very straight forward, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just makes for an average album rather than a great album.
Rating: “Take a good look around you”. 3/5
As for the rest of the album? In the main, apart from the title track and “Paris is Burning”, this is a straight up hard rock album that does the good things well without as much flash and glint as you might expect listening to the albums that followed this. “In the Middle” and “Nightrider” and “Seven Thunders” are all good songs, but there is nothing that jumps out at you and grabs you about them. The beat and rhythm stay intact, and the lyrics are simple but effective. George does a great job, but there is certainly none of the amazing stuff that he produced later on. It’s all very straight forward, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just makes for an average album rather than a great album.
Rating: “Take a good look around you”. 3/5
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E27: Sounds and Silences
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E27: Sounds and Silences
Whether the basic plot of this episode is believable or not probably becomes the hinge as to whether you enjoy it or not greatly. Because to be honest, if you had been forced to be quiet in your home as a child I can’t see that you would then surround yourself around such noise that you can’t hear anything else going on around you.
Anyway, that’s the premise, that our protagonist is so loud, and has such noise so constant that his wife leaves him (but really, would she have put up with this for twenty years? I can’t see it). Of course, as soon as she leaves, every little sound around him, such as a dripping tap, now sound like cannons. Eventually, he goes to a psychiatrist who says that it is all “mind over matter”, and that he can will the sound away, which he duly does. Regaining his pompousness he mentally tunes out his wife’s returning salvo, until he realises he’s gone too far, and he has tuned out the world and is unable to recover it. Which, in its own way seems a little convenient, because if he is able to tune the world down through “mind over matter”, surely he can tune it back in again…
While the episode is interesting enough, John McGiver as the bellowing Flemington is perhaps just a bit too belligerent in the role, over stating the character to such a point that none of it is really believable. It’s a reasonable premise but for me it just doesn’t have a solid enough base for the story to be as enjoyable as other episodes.
Rating: Hearing problems aren’t the only problems here. 3/5
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
#31DaysOfScotch #2017 #Day12
Ready to claim the cash in the State of Origin thingamewhatzit match. In the Cavern, scotch will be the winner #31DaysOfScotch #Day12
1007. Van Halen / Van Halen II. 1979. 4/5
As with most first albums, there was enough left over material from the band’s work to stretch into the second album, and I suspect mostly for this reason it does come across as a sister act with the debut release. I’m not sold on the cover version of “You’re No Good” that opens up the album. I’ve been spoiled by the version that is in the cult movie classic “House” for years, and this doesn’t do enough to top that. The first single from the album is the classic “Dance the Night Away” which harbours all of the great things about this band in one song. It may not be the most energetic of the songs here but given its exposure it is the most well-known.
For the majority of the album it’s an upbeat jaunty exercise, mixing the jive drum beat of Alex and funky bass of Michael along with the ridiculous guitar skills of Eddie and the athletic vocal chords of Dave, which are also packed in support by the other members. Each song is short and sweet, and action packed. When an album only stretches to 31 minutes you’re going to get that. Songs like “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” and “Bottoms Up!” and “Outta Love Again” all have that upside joyous vocal quality backed up by Eddie’s wonderful guitar licks. “Light Up the Sky” really does light up the sky, with Eddie’s flying solo and even a solo drum piece for Alex to get his chops around.
Whereas the first album had Eddie’s “Eruption” to listen to with mouth agape at his skill, here we have “Spanish Fly”, a one minute instrumental piece with Eddie again excelling on his instrument in a different form. It’s still great to listen to. This is followed by the straight up rock guitar stylings of “D.O.A” which still does most things right.
The final two songs on the album slow back down to a different tempo. “Women in Love…” and “Beautiful Girls” both go for a more reflective, less urgent style, and while others may enjoy them, for me it comes as a slightly disappointing end to the album after what has come before this.
This album feels like the band is having a party in the recording studio. The whole vibe is fun and fantastic, with all four members at the top of their game and sounding like they are having a great time. This moves away from the blues base of the first album and tends to take on the live sensation they must have been channelling at this stage of their career. Comparing it to the debut release, there are positives and negatives against both. In the end, on a comparable scale, I probably prefer I to II, but there’s not a whole lot in it.
Rating: “I heard the wind a whisperin', strong magic comin' on”. 4/5
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E26: I Am the Night – Colour Me Black
Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E26: I Am the Night – Colour Me Black
Here is another of Rod Serling’s thought pieces, where he takes those darkest parts of human nature, rolls them into a story and then throws it back at you and hits you between the eyes with it. You can imagine that these types of episodes caused him all sorts of headaches with the networks back in the early 1960’s, but it didn’t seem to stop him doing them anyway.
Is it a take on prejudice, or is it a take on injustice, or is it something else? It’s probably a touch of everything, but it is up to the viewer to decide. In a small, nondescript town, a man is about to be hanged for the murder of a bigot. The man’s guilt or innocence is still ambiguous, but the hanging goes ahead anyway. However, what has been unusual on this morning is that the sun has not risen, and the town is still dark, despite the time reaching the time of 9.30am. The episode spends most of its time with barbs being traded back and forth between many of the town’s residents, each with their own feelings on the subject of the man to be hanged and whether it is correct or not. The prejudices from all sides, including the convicted man, is apparent. It isn’t until after the deed has been completed that town reverend suggests that the darkness signifies the hatred of those within the town, at which point the light becomes even darker. The radio broadcast to complete the episode suggests that this phenomenon is occurring at other places around the globe.
Serling sets this piece up well, and for the most part it is played out by the actors well. Apparently Serling wrote this in reaction to President Kennedy’s assassination, which is referenced in the radio broadcast as “a street in Dallas”. It again prefaces his own attempts to highlight these kinds of themes in his work, and have them faced by those that watch. It is something he generally did extremely well.
Rating: I wear my sunglasses at night. 4/5
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