The world adores matt hayward

Broadworks Pty Limited are now live with a brand new web site. This web site is based around the latest version of the Wordpress Content Management System (CMS) that this very blog is based on.

For a low cost and quick lead time, Broadworks now have a web site show casing their latest projects. Particularly important with property development. The CMS means that Broadworks aren’t dependent on me to make trivial updates. With a few clicks, they can do it all themselves. Meaning they take care of their own business, and I’m only involved with the technical stuff (adding functionality, look and feel etc) - as it should be.

Broadworks specialise in consultancy and project management for construction and tele-communications projects.

If you’d like to find out more about getting your own web site using the Wordpress CMS, please get in touch with me.

Last night I was having dinner when there was a knock at the door. A very skinny, dark skinned kid about 20 was at the door. He claimed to be an Israeli art student (from Tel Aviv university. But that uni doesn’t offer art on it’s curriculum page) selling paintings, only ‘he wasn’t allowed to sell his own work’. His English wasn’t too bad.

Strangely for an Israeli guy he didn’t seem to know about Caufield and Balaclava - two of the biggest Jewish areas in Melbourne. He said he was staying outside of Melbourne.

The whole time he was showing us his paintings, it was in the back of my mind that I’d heard this story before. Then I found this link from 2004. The elephant painting in this article was in this art kid’s portfolio. Small co-incidence? There are a whole bunch of articles about possible Mossad spy activity in the US and a bunch of Israeli art students being deported. Some were caught at DEA building and military areas. Very, very suss.

Like the link above, the guy told me someone would be in touch about having it framed. This is not something i’m looking forward to.

If any of you guys here of Israeli art students going door to door in Melbourne, please comment here. I am dying to find out what is going on. Because clearly they’re not art students. But why would they be repeating this scam in Melbourne?

At best it’s second-rate art sold at a premium. At least according to this New Zealand article again from 2004, suggesting there’s nothing more sinister than that. I suspect as they’re suggesting, it is simply art of no value mass produced in China. Mostly copies of the real deal.

Would be very interested to see if there are any more occurrences of this…

Follow up 11/02/08: after 8 comments, 1 email and a link to this page from a Russian site, this is a proven scam. Even the Northern Territory Police have issued a warning. This scam is being worked from Russia, to Arizona, to Auckland and everywhere in between. Thanks all for the continued feedback. Please keep it coming!

Welcome back to wacky moment of the week! Ages ago, I saw Slayer playing born to be wild on some stupid American sport show. The sound levels were all wrong, the show as all white bread and it was just plain wrong. That was going to be moment of the week until I found this little gem.

In this vid, someone’s grabbed an original Ed Sullivan Show appearance by Steppenwolf playing born to be wild. Sounds normal enough, but they’ve overdubbed the studio version of Slayer’s cover version. And the results are plainly hilarious.

Watch the vid at youtube here.

I bought this book to read on the plane to Croatia. It’s probably perfectly suited to flying reading, but unless your plane has been delayed 3 hours don’t bother!

May’s quirky style means each rant, or chapter, is no longer than 5 pages. While I find him hilarious on Top Gear, I only got about two giggles out of this book. What really irritated me was not the lack of consistency between topics, but the continuity. Some ramblings were written 2 years ago and others 2 days ago. So one minute he’s talking about a Top Gear episode in 2004 he mentions is soon to be airing, the next something that hasn’t aired yet. Surely a good editor could have smoothed out these bumps?

If you like short, witty ramblings, you may (no pun intended) enjoy it. If not, you may as well spend your $20 down the pub. At least you’ll get a drink out of your hard earned.

Seldom do cook books truly overwhelm, but I am in awe of this one. The Curry Bible is nothing short of brilliant. Not that it’s hard covered, or 800 pages (it’s probably 150 odd). It doesn’t need to be. If the house was burning down though, this would be the one cook book I’d take with me.

Chapman is an English lad (presumably half caste) with a great insight into the methods and traditions of the curry. He lists the top 20 curries of the UK, each with its own story of how it came to be. These stories are worth the price of admission alone. For example, one curry that was invented by irate curry shop owners when pissed, racist Pommies would come in asking for something extra hot.  Kind of like a curry shop owner’s revenge!

Each of the curries has variations too, e.g. restaurant style, or traditional, vegetarian, you name it.  Each recipe is also broken down into its elements and nothing is left out. For example, how to make ghee, garam masala, a good curry ‘gravy’ etc. So after a few recipes you can start making your own variations.

Also handy is the A-Z of spices scattered throughout the book. Again explaining the etymology and how to use them. Chapman has truly left no stone unturned.

You don’t have to be a great cook for this. But the results will make others think that you are. Look at any other curry recipe in isolation and you’ll feel overwhelmed. Chapman has succeeded in making a book that’s both enjoyable readable and simplifies the art of curry making. Brilliant stuff.

Well I’m now back in civilisation after Christmas with the family. Just wanted to say a belated merry Christmas to all. Thanks to all who sent cards and text messages on the day.

Special shout-outs to those who supported us in Movember this year (especially one very generous person), and the Herald Sun for publishing our pic the day after. Our group raised twice as much money as last year, for diseases described by Al Pacino in Donny Brasco as ‘cancer of the cock’.

2008 will bring some challenges. Extra special shout-outs for those having kids (you know who you are!) or buying houses in the new year. All the best and good luck for future challenging times.

To all the player haters doing MBAs, you’re not automatically MVPs. Please for the love of god, DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL! Remember when the objective of post grad education was to learn something to better yourself, not instant career gratification? To learn something you may apply one day, not just because everyone else in your department is doing it?

If you’re doing one, or some other high falutin post grad that you think earns you wanker points in conversation, in the words of Johnny Rotten ‘how lovely for you’.

Nonetheless, the best of luck to even the player haters anyway.  Thanks to Ice T for the ebonics!

Anyways, as the years get quicker and tougher, all the best and good luck. Happy 2008 to all from the dodgiest blog in town! Shalom! Peace!

This year it was a big call for what to match to the Christmas turkey. There were a few cherryish pinots from the Yarra Valley which i’ve grown fond of, but they’re nowhere near ready yet. There are big cab savs, but you’d need a really old one that had a bit of grace about it. This was the year for an odds on bet. I took out a 2002 Petit Verdot.

Make no mistake this is not a trendy wine. For a start it’s from the Murray Valley region, not some glitzy South Australian region. It’s also worth saying that despite the five gold medals on the label (not like the bottle pictured), it cost less than twenty bucks in a corner store. What it was, from this winery and in this vintage, was a sensation.

This verdot, with five years in the bottle, had been aged properly and had lost its harsh tannins. It had a very luxurious fruit/acid balance, with a subtle tinge of cranberry that suits roasted turkey. Mouth finish was viscous and bang on perfect.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen verdot anywhere it’s simple. It’s not cool. It’s been an anonymous blender in Bordeaux blends since Adam was a boy and the vine looks like brambles in full bloom. When most wine makers will only mix about 4% of petit verdot with a Shiraz or something red, you get the idea how hard it is to make 100% of it taste great.

So my advice to you is this. If you see a 2002 Trentham Estates verdot, just buy it and drink it now. Don’t go pass go, don’t collect $200. Just get the corkscrew and a nice looking woman. After the requisite five years it’s sublime. You won’t find one. But if you see a 2004 or 2005, I reckon it would actually be better.

If you drink it before hand, it will be a bit more gruff and in your face. But if you’re patient it will royally award you with something very special at a very bargain basement price.

If you’re like me you don’t like snow domes and kitschy spoons as souveneirs. You’d rather bring back something genuinely local from that place, like a CD, even if it’s never listened to. So what a surprise when it turns out to be pretty listenable.

Hladno Pivo is Croatian for ‘cold beer‘. Like a lot of punkers, they’ve come from rock bottom (paricularly in the post war years) to doing pretty well for themselves. This 2006 CD ‘Knjiga Zalbe’ looks like no expense was spared in its packaging or production. So resting on their laurels a bit, this is not hard core skater punk, it’s a lot more polished than that.

What Hladno Pivo are all about now is a more pop-punk tinged with blue collar acoustic ballads. Imagine Jimmy Barnes as a Croatian drunk and not a Scottish drunk. There’s a lot of pop punk riffage, and even the odd death metal departure. Bioloski sat even has some electric blues harp. Fortunately, it’s all cohesive and all sounds pretty good. If these guys weren’t so good, it would sound a lot worse. Although you can imagine a bunch of dissapointed Croat punkers longing for the old straight up punk stuff.

And no I can’t understand a single word of Croatian. But this is still bloody enjoyable! And let’s face it you can’t get more punk rock than calling your band cold beer.

On a completely separate note, the CD packaging itself mocks a Soviet complaint book. These are a communist artifact still mandatory in pubs and clubs in Croatia. Basically the owner of the place has his complaint book reviewed by the government at the end of the year and pays a fine according to the condition of his book. So despite looking very posh, this cover is the ultimate in punk rock, as each page is a complaint about a member of the band!

Go on! Sponsor a mo! Sponsor mine! Here’s a link. You know you want to. Movember is raising money this year for mens’ depression (Beyond Blue) and prostate cancer.

All you have to do is click on http://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-search.php and specify mo bro number ‘64808′. It’s totally tax deductible and it justifies this manifest of sleazy facial hair.

To be truly honest, this is almost the solo album that I didn’t buy. There was lots of talk of orchestral arrangements and the dreaded ‘conceptual’ album. It didn’t work for Kiss (Music from the Elder), the Ramones (End of the Century) and I didn’t want to see Timmy go down a similar path. Before you get delusions of Phil Spector moments , like getting Timmy being made to play the intro chord 500 times, don’t stop reading just yet. Well Timmy’s solo efforts take a while to grow on you. But thankfully I am here to say, The Luxury of Hysteria is an absolute corker.

Gone are the melancholy moments of Ghost Songs (an album to shoot yourself to) and the guitar sleaze of Dirty Ron and Spit Polish. The Temperance Union are still there but used sparingly. At the forefront are some brilliant orchestral arrangements. They add so much more texture and dynamism to a very familiar and rocking Rogers vibe.

I’d almost go out on a limb and say that the orchestral arrangements are far from classical, far from contemporary. They almost remind me of Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys went he started adding orchestras - yes to me at least this album is that good (I’m not a huge Beach Boys fan so please spare me the emails).

Most tracks feature Rogers’ trademark half flamenco, half steel string sounding guitar work. Definite highlights would be When Yer Sad and James the Second. But there’s no dead weight on this album. No flabby bits whatsoever.

5 out of 5 Mr Rogers. Perfect songwriting, perfect tunes. A truly stellar album. Just don’t scare us with a concept album ever again. Fingers crossed the next You Am I album is this good.