Sport shorts - June 25

NRL

• Perhaps the game of the round was the Melbourne Roosters clash in Adelaide. The Roosters won 25-24 against an understrength Melbourne (who lead most of the night)
• The Warriors won again at home, which means they're still in touch with the bottom of the eight.  I still maintain they are most likely to finish ninth. 
• On Origin.  Impressive win from Queensland, especially with Thurston playing with basically one shoulder. That and the comeback from 6-16 says it all really.  To me, Thurston is the next immortal and one of the greatest to ever play the game.  Sad to see him out for the rest of the season. 
• Does it surprise anyone else that you get points for the bye rounds?  I'd love to see a change to the points system... 2 points for a win, 1 point for a golden point loss and bonus points for a loss by 6 or less and scoring more than 4 tries and of course remove the points for the bye.

AFL

• Still don't know how the Swans won on Friday.  They made almost all the right choices in the last two minutes, and also had a little bit of luck.  It was great to see Longmire's face at the siren, which almost said How did we do that?  It was impressive to hear him mention that luck played a role in the outcome. The Swans are now 6-7 and now one game outside the eight. Needless to say all of their games from here are pretty big.  They've got tough games against Melbourne, the Giants, Hawthorn, Geelong and Adelaide to come. If they keep winning they might just sneak into the eight. 
• We had some great finishes this week - Swans and Western Bulldogs won by a point, Geelong by two, Melbourne by three, certainly one of the better rounds with some great quality football played.
• Hats of to Melbourne, first time they have beaten West Coast in Perth since 2004, and coming from 16 points down in the final quarter. 
• The Giants are sitting a game clear on the top of the leader.

Rugby

• At the beginning of the weekend, the game the matter most to me was the All Blacks - Lions test. It didn't disappoint.  Thought the All Blacks were good but there's room for improvement. They certainly have a stronger bench than the Lions.  Sean O'Brien's try was impressive. Hoping the injuries are not too serious. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the game live next weekend. 
• Wallabies had another uneven performance against Italy. The 40-27 scoreline may have flattered a little. I'm not reading too much into it in terms of how they will go in the Bledisloe Cup later this year.

Other

• Confederation Cup: Not surprisingly NZ left the Confederation Cup without winning a game, Their first half against Mexico was impressive but not much else to celebrate, Australia was slightly better, aside from the first half against Germany they played reasonably well.  They were impressive last night against Chile, but didn't make the most of their opportunities. The semi finalists are Mexico, Portugal, Germany and Chile.
• Cricket: Stoked that Afghanistan and Ireland now have test status.  Here's a video on Afghanistan's journey from an Associate to Test Playing nation.
• Tennis: Hats of to Ash Barty, she played in two three set finals at the Birmingham International. She won the doubles with Casey Dellaqua, and lost to Petra Kvitova in the Singles. Kvitova winning is a great story too, its only 187 days since her hand was sliced in an attack. 
• I admire Ange Postecoglou and Michael Cheika, they're great coaches who have a great sense of their place in their sports and have a philosophy of how the game should be played.

OK Computer - Radiohead

It's hard to believe it but Radiohead's OK Computer just turned twenty. It was released on May 21 1997.  The first I heard of Radiohead was their 1993 song 'Creep' which I don't recall thinking much of at the time. I completely missed their second album 'The Bends', though looking back I recall 'Fake Plastic Trees' which was on the soundtrack to Clueless.

OK Computer came out at just the right time for me, I was at Uni and my classmates were introducing me to a range of artists I hadn't heard before and I was looking exploring new music.

I loved the album on my first listen, I remember it being an album that was best listened to with headphones as there was so much going on with both Thom's voice and the band playing behind. I loved Thom's voice which was so unique, and I loved how it changes within and between songs.

The highlights for me back in 97 were Paranoid Android, Exit Music (for a film) and Let Down. Radiohead still have a knack for putting out albums with bleak lyrics, and probably are one of the few bands I listen too were the sound gets me more than the lyrics.

It is an album that hasn't aged, each of those tunes sounding as fresh now as in 97. It was their 1998 live show which really cemented to me how great the band is.  I just remember being stilled by the music, the performance was almost note perfect.

Worth reading this Rolling Stone piece about the album ahead of Friday's release of the anniversary issue.

Sports shorts - 18 June

I've skipped a week, but bye weekends are not so much fun, I want more games not less.

NRL

• Anyway, Rugby League is dominated this week by the build up to State of Origin II.  Seems strange this year with NSW settled and Queensland having selecting dramas.  With the game in Sydney, NSW might not get a better chance to wrap up the series
• On the field this weekend wins for Souths, Melbourne (in a great game against the Cowboys) the Sharks and Eels. Maybe just maybe we'll see the Sharks and Storm face off in the Grand Final again this year.  If so, I'll be on the Storm. 

AFL

• Another win, and the Swans improve to 5-7. Hard to know if the win should be down to great effort from Sydney, or Richmond being 'Richmondy'. Just one win outside the eight. If they make the eight, they'll be the team noone wants to play. Next week will be another tough test against the Bombers. 
• Great to see Melbourne doing so well this year- just percentage outside the top four. 
• While its true the competition has been even this year, has it been good footy? I don't remember many standout games from the season so far.

Rugby

• The Lions tour is heating up, the Lions split their games this week losing to the Highlanders before a much better performance and win against the Maori.  The first test is next weekend and for me is shaping to be a good contest. 
• The All Blacks has a 78-0 win over Samoa. They looked good in patches, but have some improving to do still. 
• In other results, Scotland upset Australia 24-19. 
• The future of NZ Rugby looks good with the U20s All Blacks winning the final of the World Cup 64-17 against England. England's women team reversed that result beating the Black Ferns 29-21 in their four nations match. 

Other

• Forgot to mention last week, the Warriors won the NBA title with a super performance against Cleveland. 
• Watching the America's cup - NZ lead 3-0 but memories of losing after leading 8-1 last time are still fresh in my mind. 
• The Confederations Cup started, interested in it to see how the All Whites go, against Russia, Portugal and Mexico a point might be a stretch but we'll see.  Australia's group isn't much easier with a young German side, Chile and Cameron awaiting them. 

Sport shorts - June 4

AFL

• The Swans had a bye this weekend. I guess that is a good thing. They've got a tough game against the Bulldogs on Thursday night.  After the last up loss to the Hawks, they do need a win. 
• On the field, West Coast were disappointing in another away loss (this time to the Gold Coast).  The Giants are now on top of the ladder after an impressive win against the Bombers. 
• Unlike last year, I think we still may see movement in the top eight, though the top four are slowly becoming more fixed. I suspect Richmond will swap out for Port Adelaide, but GWS, Adelaide and Geelong look fairly settled. 

NRL

• Another week and another loss of the Warriors. The Warriors still have yet to win a game outside of New Zealand.  
• On the Origin, was surprised by the performance of New South Wales. Will be interesting to see how they go in Sydney in the few weeks, and it will be intrigued to see how Queensland approach selecting the team for game two. 

Super Rugby 

• Not much has changed in the playoff picture.  The Crusaders remain unbeaten and are probably favourites for the title now. 
• Australian teams are 0-23 against their NZ opponents this season. Not that I'd read anything into that, but its an interesting stat.
• The Lions have touched down in New Zealand and won their first match 13-7. Hard to read much into that seeing as they virtually went to the ground from the plane.  Tomorrow's game against the Blues will be more revealing in terms of how the Lions are travelling. 

Other

• The Stanley Cup final series is underway with Nashville taking on Pittsburgh.  Its now level at 2 games a piece.  Hoping to see Nashville win, but we'll see
• The NBA finals are also on with the Golden State Warriors 2-0 leaders at the moment in a best of seven series.  The Warriors are one impressive team, will be interesting to see if they close the deal this year. 

What I'm in to - May 2017

Its hard to believe another month has been and gone, and we've now hit winter.  So its time for a post about what I've been reading, watching and listening to the past month.

Reading: It has been a quiet month for reading.  I only managed to read one book. I finished off 'Finding lost words: the church’s right to lament'. I found it to be a really important book highlighting the place of lament in the both the church and individual believers life. There was a great resource about planning a lament service and a couple of great sermons on Psalm 13 and 88; a few of the lament Psalms in the bible. Really recommend getting a hold of the book and reading it.

The goal for June is to read more than one book.  I've just started Susan Carland's book: Fighting Hislam, talking about women in Islam. So far it's been a really interesting read. Telling the story of women fighting for equality in Islam from within.

Watching: Mostly I've been watching the Voice.  They are now into the battle rounds, and to me at least there's no one who is really standing out. I suspect its more taste than talent that is making me make that call.  The moments of the show for me were ones that didn't come with a chair spin.  Boy George paying for a country singer to go to Nashville, and a female duo Mercy and Mia who sung 'You Are My Sunshine'.

I've always thought that the best battle performances are the ones that seem like a duet. This one from season three between Annabelle Eve and Talia Gouge is still my favourite.

Other than The Voice I haven't been watching much, though I'm keen to start Nashville, Suits, 13 Reasons Why and House of Cards.

Listening: Here's a list of the songs that have been on heavy rotation during May. Fair to say some of these songs I'm listening to because of the U2 tour, others because of the season of life I'm walking through.

The Pogues - A Rainy Night in Soho

December - A Sort of Homecoming

Simon & Garfunkel - America (Live)

December - Where the Streets Have No Name

Charles Esten and Sarah Siskind - When Trouble Comes

Katie Herzig - I Want to Make You Proud

U2 - Miss Sarajevo (Live, from Milan 2005)

Casting Crowns - Oh My Soul

Lara Landon - Give me Jesus

Joe Grushecky & Bruce Springsteen - That's What Makes it Great

U2 -The Little Things that Give You Away

The Frames (w/ Holly Throsby) - New Partner (Live from Sydney 2007)

The other music adventures during May were catching the Vivid shows from the Fleet Foxes and Lisa Hannigan. The thing that struck me about both of the shows was how quiet the audience was during the shows. Lisa Hannigan just has one of the more beautiful voices you are ever likely to hear. Her absolute delight in playing the Opera House was infectious. 

The striking thing about the Fleet Foxes were the harmonies between the singers.  It was a different show as they performed a lot of material from their soon to be released album 'Crack Up' so I didn't know many of the songs. It was a relief they also played some of the better known songs from their earlier albums too.

I've also been following U2's tour of the Joshua Tree. It was really interesting to see what songs they chose to book-end the full performance of the Joshua Tree album, and also the snippets of songs they included. The two that stand out are Simon & Garfunkel's 'America' and the poem The New Colussus (by Emma Lazarus). Both snippets add to the narrative of the show of the two Americas.

In terms of the show, the highlights for me are Red Hill Mining Town, Exit, Miss Sarajevo and the new song The Little Things that Give You Away.

The shows from Lisa Hannigan and the Fleet Foxes are the last ones I have planned unless U2 surprise us all and announce a tour of Australia & New Zealand.

In terms of other music on the horizon it is a year of re-issues - along with U2's Joshua Tree 30th Anniversary reissue, REM are releasing a 25th Anniversary version of Automatic for the People and Radiohead are releasing a boxset for the 20th Anniversary of OK Computer.

Other

Another two highlights for the month of May were going to QandA and Vivid.  It was the first time that I had been to QandA. The one I went to was part of the Sydney Writer's Festival so while politics did enter the discussion it wasn't the centre of it.

The panel for the show was Niki Savva, Journalist and author; Lawrence Krauss, Theoretical Physicist & Cosmologist; Mikhail Zygar, Russian journalist and writer; Mona Chalabi, Data editor of The Guardian US; and Paul Beatty, Author, The Sellout.

Lawrence Krauss dislike of religion annoyed me, as did the 'ganging' up on Trump. I'm no fan of President Trump but you do have to wonder what purpose it serves (and whether or not its counter-productive).

Viivid was great.  I really enjoyed the installations at the Botanic Gardens, especially the sunflowers and Kiwis and the Zoo was spectacular as usual, I loved the Tigers, the Bilby and the Port Jackson shark you could walk through. 

Update

Time for a little update on how I've been travelling. The last scan I had showed slight growth in the tumors in my pelvis. As a result I will have Radiotherapy targeting these tumours specifically. The treatment is likely to start on the 4th July and run for four weeks. I will have treatment each week day during this period.

Please continue to pray for effectiveness in the treatment, that I manage the side-effects well, and for Fiona, the kids and I as we continue to live our lives. Thank God for the wonderful Doctors and nurses who look after me.