Market

Weekly market on Saturday morning in Parramatta

Can't have a market without an ice cream truck


And then, there's coffee

James Ruse Drive

James Ruse Drive, North Parramatta. Friday, just after 5 pm.

Party spoilt

That's right; we may have lost the first 2 games, and therefore the series; but with a comfortable 28:16 win, the Blues have avoided complete humiliation. The Maroons might be celebrating the series win, but the whitewash predicted by many did not happen.

Congrats NSW; and remember, State Of Origin 2010 (aka revenge) is less than a year away!

Tsunami

... is not only the right word to describe what the Blues are doing to Queensland in tonight's State Of Origin game, it's also what the Australian east coast is looking out for after an earthquake in Kiwiland.

On some days, it's good not to live in one of the posh seaside suburbs.

For the pride ...

... and honor! The series might be lost, but now that we're sufficiently far behind, nothing is going to stop the Blues from not just catching up, but obliterating them unbearably smug banana benders in what will be the most spectacular thrashing since ... well, since ever, really.

Ok, so the Maroons get to play at home, which might make things slightly difficult; but even so, they shall go down in history not for winning all three games in the first time for 14 years, but for losing to a massively underrated NSW side.

Let the battle begin!

Smokey and the Bandit

It was Saturday afternoon, the weather was about as crappy as it gets around here, and I don't really need an excuse to indulge in what must be one of the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

Watching Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason in what is essentially a 90 minutes car chase is still good fun; despite the fact (or perhaps because) there's no storyline of any significance, or any character development worth mentioning, interfering with the plot of one car chasing another from Texarkana, Texas to Atlanta, Georgia for the flimsiest of reasons.

Burt Reynolds never seems to hesitate to make fun of himself, as he's introduced in the opening scenes not as a heroic daredevil racing driver, but as a has-been who is being paid to hang out at the local truck race (the movie wastes no time establishing itself in the world of redneck hillbillies) so "people can look at the legend".

Country singer Jerry Reed, as Reynold's truck driving buddy, adds a few dry one-liners and also supplies the embarrassingly catchy theme song. And Sally Field, with her best roles clearly still to come, may easily be out-acted by Fred the Beagle, but she does bring, as Cledus mentions so subtly, "a nice ass" to the mix.

The movie certainly takes us back to simpler times, to times when seatbelts were for wussies, the good guys were allowed to smoke, GM was still making cool cars, and movie stunts were done for real, without the "help" of some sterile CGI effects.

While the cars are clearly the stars and the various chases, crashes and heart-stopping near-misses are the highlights of the film, Gleason's Sheriff Buuuuuuford T Justice clearly stands out among the actors' performances. Gleason brilliantly portrays this caricature of a Texan law enforcer, incorporating every cliché ever conceived about this particular breed of humans.

Truth in advertising?

You gotta love a good acronym in the morning ...

Concert

For this week's Friday night entertainment, we shall gather in the park

Kiwis getting your attention

On all your air trips, have you ever paid attention to the safety video? Well, if you're going to catch a domestic flight in NZ, it might just be worth glimpsing at the screen:

An Angel's wish

When Farrah Fawcett arrived in Heaven, St. Pete informed her that she'd be granted one wish. Even after having suffered so much, Farrah wasn't concerned about herself, but about the world she had left behind. "Keep the children safe" she responded without hesitation.

And the clouds parted, giving way to a beam of warm, bright, light; and a resounding voice could be heard all thruout Heaven:

"It shall be done"