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Bill Collins
"Hi, I'm Bill Collins"


Once I had to 'train' a new guy at work. This involved me letting him do all the work and giving him encouraging tips every now and then. We talked about music for most of the time he was there.


And then I served this guy. I'm looking at him, going 'Wow, that looks like Bill Collins...' and then he gives me his credit card to buy these two books and I look at the name - it's Bill freaking Collins! He starts whinging about how the pen doesn't work when he tries to sign the eftpos slip and I'm just staring at him and grinning. Then he walks off, grumbling. I almost told him I was a fan of his reviews in Empire Magazine and that I used to watch him all the time when I was a kid, but I wasn't sure how he'd react.

I later told one of the girls at work and she goes "I hate him! He always comes in, he's such a frigging cheapskate!" AHAHAHAHA, she then adds, "You didn't tell him you recognised him did you?"
"Um, no, why?"
"Once this girl who worked here ran after him and got an autograph off him".
"And...?"
"He loved her for it. I don't want him to get a big head!"

Later, on my break I went to Best Less to buy another business shirt and I hear this kid in the line go "Mum just farted and tried to blame it on me!" And the mother says, embarrassed and laughing nervously, "I did not!" And then the lady behind me starts pissing herself with laughter!

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A special guest entry today from my friend Stu Kicks...

Sup, my name is Stu Kicks and I thought I'd write a guide to mad Kung Fu and martial arts movies for all you know-nothings out there. Me and my friends watch heaps of this shit over and over and we don’t let no school get in our way so you know I’m straight up.

The King of Kung Fu
Most people will try to tell you that the King of martial arts movies is Bruce Lee… well I ask of them, if he’s so good how come he never did another movie after the 70s? I saw Game of Death 2 and it was fucking shit. Obviously, the true king is Jackie Chan. Starting with ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Shanghai Noon’, Jackie Chan has dominated martial arts films ever since – his recent benchmark being ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, which has some tops fight sequences. For more obscure Jackie Chan films, check out ‘The Tuxedo’ and ‘The Medellion’.



The Karate Kid
Many people remember ‘The Karate Kid’ as the moment when screen legends Ralph Macchio and Elisabeth Shue first erupted onto our screens, but for martial arts fans it is best remembered for being the first great martial arts movie. The sequel was pretty good, but it wasn’t until the third film and the much anticipated ‘Next Karate Kid’ that the full potential of martial arts in film was realized. True fans still clamour for a fifth Karate Kid film that would see the next Karate Kid and Ralph Macchio reunite. Rumour has it that the Academy Awards will give Ralph Macchio an automatic Oscar if this happens.



Steven Seagal
Seagal is currently the greatest non-Asian and non-Italian working in martial arts film today. In true testament to his abilities, he manages to put out at least two films a year that are so good they can’t even wait for the big screen. Us kung fu fans are so desperate for his films that they come straight to DVD, they don’t even bother putting them up on the big screen! Cause they know we NEED to own it straight away! Highlights of Seagel’s astonishing career include ‘Under Seige 2’, ‘The Glimmer Man’, ‘Today You Die’ and ‘Exit Wounds’.

The Matrix
The Matrix is the best example of good martial arts movies being made today. The plot is a bit garbled and confusing but excellent and memorable dialogue such as ‘Not like this, not like this’ and ‘I know kung fu’ help pep up the slow sequences between the great and many fight scenes. Keanu Reeves looks set to take over the mantle once held by Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal and Ralph Macchio.



Elektra
One film that I found to be very underrated by the critics was ‘Elektra’. Then again – when have the critics ever shown any respect for good martial arts movies? I wouldn’t be surprised if Jennifer Garner goes on to have a solid career in kung fu movies. Some great fight sequences here.

Jet Li
Jet Li is commonly known among kung fu fans as the ‘Actor’s Kung Fu Actor’. Jackie Chan has his comedy, Ralph Macchio has his intense screen presence, Steven Seagal has his inhuman skills of fighting… Jet Li has the acting ability – some even contend that he is even better than most non-Kung Fu practicing actors, hence their unwillingness to appear on screen with him. Jet Li got his start as the Asian kid in Goonies and Indiana Jones 2 and eventually moved into great martial arts-orientated films like ‘The One’ and ‘Unleashed’.

Anyways guys, that’s a good start and if you manage to track down all these gems I reckon you’ll be on your way to be a true martial arts film fan like me. Peace out. Stu.

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Six & Out

January 28th 2007 11:12


I picked up a cassette tape of the album by Cricket's premier band (Six and Out, featuring Brett Lee on guitar and vocals, along with about four other moderately well-known cricketers) for only $1.30 at work a few weeks. It's fucking terrible and hilarious at the same time. More than half the album is covers (‘eagle rock’, ‘psycho killer’) yet they still have the lyrics for every song written up in their booklet. Anyways, they do a version of 'Howzat' (Daryl Braithwaite does some mean backup 'yeah-heeeehs' towards the end) and they all rap in it and it's atrocious, here's the lyrics...

In our game we got spin and swingers
Hot leg breaks and 'wanna-be' singers
We're high on rock, where egos fly
And we thought we'd give a little rap a try
With our baggy greens on back to front
We're in the groove now stump to stump
When a wicket falls we give a cool low 5
All the girlies say we're pretty rad for white guys

With our gold chains on we strut to the crease
No need for a helmet, got hair full of grease
We're master blasters, number one
Let's get, let's get, let's get it on
Check my shades and my bag of tricks
Step back and hit that rock for six
With a hip hop, big slog, give it all I got
All the girlies say what a whack, what a big shot, big shot, big shot, big shot

Now under the lights in one day drag
Bet ya all (yeah) wanna see the tail end wag
A nick through the slips and there aint no catch
Took the tun and we stole the match
We're Six & Out and we've got no shame
We dig the music and we love this game
We're in the charts with a Howzat mix
All the girlies say we go real big, real big...

For more Brett Lee musical-hilarity, check out this - Brett Lee goes to Bollywood
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Bruce Spence
I saw Bruce Spence, that great Australian (New Zealand) character actor who has appeared in Return of the King, Revenge of the Sith, the Matrix Revolutions and Mad Max 2 and 3. He was walking through Town Hall square, he's pretty tall and looks like he's getting old. He saw me staring at him but he didn't seem to mind. He went into a classical music CD store.

I also rode the train home at midday today and this guy sits down next to me and notices that I'm reading 'Catcher in the Rye


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Bob Car Takes out the Trash

January 11th 2007 11:11
This is barely relevant to anything anymore, but I'll post it anyway... it's in reference to a comment to Bob Carr once made, "Obey the law, or leave the country"


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Brett Lee loses the plot

January 9th 2007 12:46
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Cat Stevens Goes Wild

January 8th 2007 05:27
NEWS
Yusef Islam, the artist formally known as Cat Stevens, was arrested today after vandalizing a synagogue in Jerulsalem. The Islamic one-time songwriter was protesting against anti-Muslim cartoons in the media. He was arrested after spray-painting the outside of the synagogue with lyrics from his hit song ‘Father and Son’. He was up to the second verse when he was stopped.

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Charles Bronson Brand Shampoo

January 3rd 2007 06:51
And now, a word from our sponsor...

BRONSON AND BRONSON SHAMPOO

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John Howard 'rooting' for Stan Zemanyk

December 29th 2006 03:18
Stan Zemanek


A link to the news story in question - John Howard roots for Stan
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-------------------------ROUND ONE------------------------


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Interview with Jim Corr, or the CORRS

November 30th 2006 09:40
METAL MAX INTERVIEWS JIM CORR, of the CORRS

Jim Corr, of the imaginatively named 'The Corrs'.

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Metallica... Shittest band ever?

November 23rd 2006 03:40
St. Anger - the only album of original material that Metallica have released between 1997 and the present time (2006). Pretty lazy for a bunch of dudes who don't do anything else.


Okay, this is regardless of whether you actually like Metallica’s songs or not. Forget all that stuff. As far as genre goes, each to their own. My argument for proving that Metallica are the shittest band ever has nothing to do with their music… it does however have everything to do with their lack of music releases. Check it out, between 1998 and 2003 they released


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I was walking out towards George Street in the city (Sydney) to drop off some banking from work when I came across the cordoned-off street. All the traffic had been blocked off and a few thousand people were congregating up and down the sides of the street. The police were scurrying back and forth through the intersection… some sort of parade was imminent. I quickly ran across to the other side and into the bank, which was empty


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Lisa McCune is really hot.

October 19th 2006 12:27
Is it just me, or has Lisa McCune suddenly gotten really hot in the last year or two? I never really paid much attention when she was shooting parrot smugglers and arresting drug smuggling cartels on Blue Heelers, but those Coles Ads… HUBBA HUBBA. Seriously though, if Lisa ever gets in trouble I would like to make it known to anyone out there who knows her that I will gladly look after her and make sure she is okay and I would warm up milk for her in the microwave and boil cabbage and whatever else she might like and I promise I wouldn’t take advantage of her (unless she wanted me to, and even then I’d be gentlemanly and mature about it, unless she wanted to get kinky and stuff, in which case I would oblige unless it involved donkeys or anything like that because that doesn’t really do anything for me but I doubt it would for Lisa either, but now that I think about it I could probably compromise because that’s what a lasting relationship is all about right?).

You can arrest me any day Lisa!

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