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Showing posts from April, 2016

New Zealand Herald: 'Shes Got Game' Series

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The New Zealand Herald, New Zealand's leading newspaper is doing a series of reports on Women's sport. This blogger thinks its about time too. Women's sport doesn't get a  fair deal in this country, unless you play Netball or Rugby Sevens or your name is Lydia Ko. There is one sport that is the second most competitive team sport on earth, and we have our National Team in that sport about to try and qualify for the Olympics, they've never gotten any amount of significant coverage from the  media, they're the Tall Ferns and they play, Basketball. I find it quite ironic, that the New Zealand Herald's piece is called 'shegotgame' a saying taken from Basketball, yet that is a sport that our Women's team has had such an obscene lack of coverage. There is hope, a  tweet sent out from a  NewZealand Jounro on Twitter said the Tall Ferns will be part of the agenda, and I should hope so. It's hard to explain to non Basketball people, how huge the sport

Beyonce & Garth Brooks: Two Different Approaches from the Album Artists

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Let me make one thing clear. In music the Album is king. Nothing comes close to the Album. No matter what Technology there is out there, nothing is better than holding a physical copy of a album. Justin Bieber may have the most followers on youtube. One Direction may have the most followers on Instagram. Taylor Swift may have the most followers on Twitter. But it's the Album that Matters. Two artist's have always respected the Album, those artists are Beyonce and Garth Brooks. One is taking the Right approach in terms of an Album, one is making many mistakes and seems to be stuck in a time wrap. What Beyonce has done is nothing short of Brilliant, it's on a level with Bowie or Prince. It's not just the whole concept of the album, it's her teaming with the right Partners, it's having the foresight to know that you don't do  a cheap public buildup, you can just drop an Album on the public, without them knowing one was coming. You have a TV special that isn'

'Nelson Giants' Lose to 'Canterbury Rams'

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The Nelson Giants have lost to the Canterbury Rams by 96-85 after one of the worst coached Third Quarters in NBL history. The Nelson Giants are now 6-6 and struggling to be in playoff contention, while the Canterbury Rams move to 7-4 and are looking good. Make no mistake, the game was lost for four  reasons. 1: Coach Tim 'Ten Hands'  Fanning who decided the best option in the third quarter would be to make sure all five players touch the ball, and no one would shoot until there was four seconds left on the shot clock. Well a shot clock anit compulsory Tim. You dont have to use all 24 seconds before you shoot. 2: Transition Defense. Ya Gotta get back, so many layups for the rams was because no one got back on D. 3: Raymond Cowels 111  was amazing, 34 points, he was all heart, but with around 2.30 on the clock when Nelson had cut it to six, he hesistated and didn't shoot for three. That moment ended Nelson's comeback. 4: Nelson played with heart for the first half, but wh

'Line of Duty' Season 3: 'Episode 5' Review

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No need to lose your head over things, Lindsay Denton. The most hated woman on TV has been killed off. Denton is one of those characters that you don't love to hate, you just hate. Sure the money was going to be used to catch the bad guys, but she still is a cold calculating witch.  Thanks to the  Caddy, 'Dot Cotton' who decided for once and for all he better stop Denton before she can hit send on her cell phone and send the list to 'AC-12' Just a split  second too late, Dot, just a split second to late. Now we have young 'Steve Arnott' being fitted up as the Caddy, we have 'Ted Hastings' who seems to be in trouble thanks to a couple of handshakes and the only person who can piece this all together is the ever composed 'Kate Fleming' It also appears fans of the first two seasons will get the wrap up they want from season three. Not sure what Dot Cotton's best course of action will be now? First he has bits and pieces from the ruthless, Li

New Zealand: How we do 'The Big OE' Wrong

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Kiwis are often told, that we are the World's best travelers, mainly by our own media, report after report in the print media, in  the online media and on Television and Radio all say the same thing, New Zealander's are the world's best travelers, and no one does 'The Big OE' like Kiwis. Well I tend to to disagree, I think Kiwis are the world's worst travelers, not all Kiwis of course, but the ones who tend to mouth off the most about how they are so well traveled, but when you hear their stories, it doesn't seem like they traveled at all. I'm not of course talking about Kiwis who may spend a year or two traveling thru Africa thru various organizations, or going to college in the USA, or tramping thru South America, or getting cultured in Asia or the Middle East. I'm not talking about the Kiwis who may spend thier time working their butt's off in Europe somewhere and on their days off, going where the Euro rail will take them, having experiences

RIP: Gazza

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RIP Gazza. The New Zealand police dog who was shot by the Fugitive Peter Rangi Keri, has now died. Gazza hasd spent three years with the NZ police, and last year caught a burglar who tried to strangle him. Thoughts are with Gazza's handler, and the NZ police force. Dogs are truly man's best friend, extremely loyal and will protect those who need to be protected. A sad day for the NZ police, and a sad day for animal lovers everywhere. :-(

Southland Sharks: Do the walk of life

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Make that the Travel of life. Worst performance by any NBL ref in History. How the Southland Sharks were allowed to travel for the whole game is beyond me. In future hope the refs know you cant dribble the ball on the ground and then pass it, I hope the Refs know you cant pass the ball in the air and catch it yourself and you certainly arent allowed to run with the ball to the bucket. How did they miss this? What were they thinking?? The Nelson Giants season is now on the line, thanks to the pathetic display by the refs. Sure Nelson turned the ball over a few times, and sure they tried to shoot over Seven Foot Pledger, but any team in any league in the world, will have there heads drop if a team is allowed to travel the way the Southland Sharks did. The Giants now have to regroup, for the Canterbury Rams, a team that dominated the mid 80's to early 90's. Heres hoping  They can bounce back because what happened to them tonight was criminal.

Steven Adams Will Bounce Back

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0.1 of a second. That is what stopped Kiwi Basketball player Steven Adams from getting the game winning shot against, the Dallas Mavericks. How heart breaking is that, it would've been his first buzzer beater of his NBA career, the ref's counted at first, then after checking the video reply he was denied in the most cruelest  of fashion. Steven Adams will bounce back though, he is one hell of a player, there is a reason he was drafted in the number ten spot after playing a season for Pitt. All kiwis should get behind him, he is playing the second most competitive team sport on the planet, all other sports are light years behind, despite what the New Zealand media may think. So what does the Thunder have to do to win game three on the road. Well Durant has to shoot well, he wont repeat the horrible performance of game two. Adams himself will be so fired up, I'm expecting a lot of boards from  him in game three, I think it's a safe bet to say a double double may be on the

Better Call Saul: Season 2 Finale

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There is a reason why Slate Magazine called Better Call Saul a better show than Breaking Bad and that is because it's a better show. The Finale lived up to what I expected, no one glued to their tv sets would've been disappointed where to begin? Well let me just say. Fuck Chuck. You egomaniac, it's always been about you, and you proving that your superior than your little brother, you acted nuts and fooled Jimmy, not because of what's right, but so you could justify how brilliant you are, you conned the con man huh, and not only are you going bring Jimmy down, but your going to destroy Kim also. I don't think there has ever been a better TV villain than Chuck McGill, you don't have to be over the top to be a villain, you don't need a great catchphrase, you don't have to be ultra violence to destroy someone's inner soul, and this is the type of person, Michael McKean has played so perfectly. Moving on to Mike Ehrmantraut, so cool so collective, but wh

Laureus Sport Award: A Disaster for New Zealand Sport

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The New Zealand rugby team. A.K.A  the All Blacks for the color of their uniform, won team of the year at the Laureus World Sport Awards. This is the worst possible thing that could happen to New Zealand sport. What this is done, has given false credence to the myth that Rugby and the All Blacks are this global sporting Giant that the world loves, admires and has even heard of. What the New Zealand sporting media hasn't told the public, is that a good majority of the Judges are Ex Rugby Union players based in Europe. They also haven't told the public that, previous winners have included  The South African Rugby Team and The English Rugby Team, and previous nominees have included The Australian Netball Team, The Australian Cricket Team and The Australian Rugby Team. So why is bad?? It's bad because the media in New Zealand will now absolutely rammed down the public's throat that the All Blacks are known as the greatest sporting team on the planet, that supersedes any oth

Line of Duty: Prediction

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Two episodes of the BBC drama, Line of Duty to go. I have a major prediction. Everybody's  favorite little man child will team up with everybody's favorite psychopath, Lindsay Denton. It will be like some bizarre version of The Odd Couple. Dot Cotton is going down, I don't think he is a pervo, but he has certainly covered up the crimes of officers and councilmen that are. As for Ted Hastings and his cheeky handshake, well that my friends, is one big red herring. It means nothing, he is just an old friend. Line of Duty has been by far the best police show on at the moment, its like the Anti Blue Bloods. Not many shows have you counting down the days till the next episode, apart from Better Call Saul. Just hoping that Denton somehow becomes good, and we get to find out what the heck is on her cellphone. Time will tell.

Jeff Green and the New Zealand NBL

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Jeff Green is the Rangers coach and he hasn't changed one bit since he was the Hutt Valley Lakers Coach in the mid 90's. He loves banter with the crowd, he also loves to take the p*ss out of the refs, like he did last night at the Nelson Giants versus Super City Rangers game. You see Jeff loves to walk on the court, and not  just one step over the yellow line, he really loves to walk on the court, I mean walking towards half court, now normally you would think a Ref with half a brain would call a tech, but it doesn't seem to be the case when it's Jeff Green. Towards the end it got to the satirical stage, the crowd was screaming at the Refs to get him off the court, he turned around and mocked the crowd copying them  chanting "Get off the court Jeff". He then did a little dance, all in front of the Refs. The Ref decided his best course of action would be to wet himself  laughing. There's been talk about the standard of the Refs in the NBL, and this proves a

An Open Letter to Modern Family

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Why? I just don't get it. Why has the once Brilliant Modern Family fallen into the Disney trap with how it handles relationships of it's teen/20 something actors and actresses. Nearly every Disney movie or TV show will do the same, Modern family was different though, well different early on and in the seasons  3-5. What I'm talking about is what they deem to be success for a young male and for a female in search of love. Luke and Manny are nerds, they arent attractive, yet it would appear they always get the hot girl, and the hot girl is always good for them, the stories are written like, this is what success should be for a young teen male. Yet the two main young female actresses, well success for them is to not to date the hot guy, but to infact date way way below their league. So why is Modern family doing this? Why are they falling into the kinda creepy Disney trap of making boys being more successful and making success about how good looking your girlfriend is, but doi