London 2012 Closing Ceremony.

Or as I like to call it, the Greatest Gig That Ever Was, And Ever Will Be.

Yeah, almost as catchy as the Olympic Anthem.

As I was saying, best gig ever.

At which other gig would you get most-of-Oasis, most-of-Queen, The Spice Girls, Taio Cruz, Jessie J, The Who, David Bowie, George Michael, Take That, One Direction, Beatles songs, Russell Brand singing a Beatles song, and more besides?

None other, that's right.

I don't even like half those guys that I just listed, but other people might. And thus, it adds to a cumulative awesome. If you know what I mean.

And yes, they only had three-quarters of Oasis. They were only missing THEIR BEST QUARTER. And yes, Liam's voice is incredibly nasally now. But whatever. They sang Wonderwall, and if I'm not very much mistaken, it got the biggest cheer/singalong of the night bar Spice Girls. Or at least, the biggest singalong. Such a stadium song.

Obviously, the spectacle wasn't as OMG amazeballs at the Opening Ceremony, but whatever. I'm in it for the music, man.

Seriously. I actually watched 0 minutes of sporting activities.

But Opening and Closing Ceremonies, I'm there. Especially if they're British.

Brazil 2016 should also be a riot. I don't know what it is about samba music, but it makes me want to move.

So goodbye London. I liked you. You have a certain charm about you that I can't quite attribute to one particular feature about you. I'm gonna be deep and say it's your soul and personality that I'm attracted to.

Back to news from Andrewland.

As usual, nothing overly exciting to report. Just finished off my major essay for the Holocaust unit that I went to Europe for. Yes, there was work involved for that.

Also, I'm kind of starting to make a mini-breakthrough with my thesis. Don't tell anyone, but I think how breakthroughy I get with my thesis, and work in general, may be positively correlated with me actually working on it/talking to people that know more stuff about it about it (yeah, repeated words no typo!)

PS. What's with people calling it the 'Closing Ceremonies'? I noticed it with the Opening Ceremony as well. They were trending on Twitter and all as well. It drives me mad. It's almost as annoying as 'Daylight savings'. Urgh.

There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how.

Word of the Day: Andrewland

It was a jolly good show, wot.

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games was fairly amazing.

Yes, I realise it was almost a week ago. What of it?

It was just an epic bombardment of English cultcha. Which I love.

English music, English people, English history, English literature, English language, James Bond and David Beckham (yeah, that's right, separate category for them). Love it all. And most of it was there. Except for the medievalness and stuff.

The pyrotechnics were also pretty amazing. The Olympic Rings dripping gold, the genius of the cauldron lighting, the fireworks spray. The lighting of the cauldron was a bit anti-climatic, however. I kind of didn't realise it was happening until the cauldron caught on fire.

Dripping fiah.

The only part that was really bad was the absence of any reference to Oasis. Like, what. At least they atoned by putting Paul McCartney and Arctic Monkeys in.

I also did really like the literary references though. Dickens, J. M. Barry, J. K. Rowling.

Conclusion: did not feel like a drag, creative, fresh, and full of stuff that I love. Good stuff.

So what of the Olympics themselves?

I'm kind of in the non-caring boat, uncaring away. I've taken a morbid curiosity in the controversies - you know, the alleged drug taking by Chinese swimmer, badminton game throwing - but apart from that, not much interest.

The whole Chinese swimmer thing is a farce. I think she's taken drug tests, etc. There's no need for all this slander and accusation. The Americans and the British should never have started it, the Chinese should never have responded in the way that they did.

The badminton involves the Chinese as well. This time, deservedly so. If you're going to throw the game, at least make it subtle. The manner in which they did it just smacks of sheer arrogance.

Not only do they want to throw the game, but they want to throw it in such a way that everybody knows that they're not trying. So they want the practical advantages of throwing a game, without losing any face. That's not the way it works. People pay and give up time to watch these games.

It's also arrogant because of the fact that they assume that both Chinese teams are a shoe-in for the final.

In sum, it's disrespectful to everyone. The paying public, the game, the Olympic spirit (not that I'm a big believer in that anyway).

So what am I actually going to watch? Maybe the football final. Not predictable at all, me.

Word of the Day: Jolly.

Surprise Song Sunday: Don't Look Back In Anger - Oasis.

To make up for the lack of Oasis at the Opening Ceremony. 60 years of English music history, and no Oasis. I ask you.

Word of the Day: English

These could be the best days of our liiiiives.

The more astute of you would have realised that I have been back home for a while now. Up until now, I haven't really found the effort to write about it. But here I am, backstory and all explaining why I've taken so long to do what I'm about to do.

Right into it then.

Hong Kong was fun. Saw some relos, which is always a good experience, given that I see them about once every half a century. Or something. I also bought far, far more than I should have, mostly because stuff is so cheap there, but also mostly because stuff is a lot more cooler over there.

By stuff, I mean clothes and stuff. Hey, I never claimed to be a wordsmith.

The trip as a whole was absolutely amazing. Yes, there were difficult moments. Yes, it was a long time to be away from home. Yes, it did cost me a fair bit. But you know, it was all in the name of learning and having fun. And all of the experiences I had, all the stuff I learnt, all the places I visited, all the sights I saw, all the fantastic people I met, all the tan I got, made all the minute difficulties worth it.

I am, however, glad to be home. There's nothing quite like going overseas to strange countries (I'm looking at you, Poland and Lithuania) to make you realise how great Australia really is. I also got a bit sick of living in hotel rooms, not driving myself around, and just generally being semi-beholden to what fate/mischance had in store for me.

I also missed people back home. Friends, family, etc.

And Melbourne water. That stuff is heavenly. They should export that stuff. Especially to Poland, where the water is acidic and filled with mercury. Or something.

Coming back home, however, means dealing with all the homie stuff. You know, assessments, thesis, losing my tan, readjusting to actually having to do work, remembering to not start speaking Polish to people (I'm pretty much fluent in Polish now, it's kind of like my mother tongue, except my mother isn't from Poland), readjusting to the fact that people aren't surprised at the fact that I speak English, and reverting back to not enunciating clearly when speaking with strangers. Not all of that is necessarily bad, but I'll let you sort out which is which.

Thesis is killing me a little bit. I'm still trying to figure out which direction I'm going to take it in. Urgh.

And because I didn't get enough of England (or lack of sleepness) on my trip, I'm going to do a pre-dawn wake-up to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, which, for my friends who dwell under rocks, is in England this time around. I'll see you online tomorrow morning then.

Word of the Day: Back

What she order, fish fillet?

The more astute of you will have picked up from the title that I am blogging from Paris.

Paris, the city of romance, beauty, art, fashion, French, and incredible rudeness.

To be sure, it is a nice city (no idea why I'm coming over all Irish and stuff). It's beautiful, in fact. Well, the good parts are anyway.

But it's like kind of like a gorgeous girl who knows she's gorgeous, and acts accordingly. Externally, architecturally, and artistically, it is probably close to being without compare. It has a kind of beauty that cannot be matched by anything made by modern man. The level of care, meticulous attention to detail, and scale of many things in this city are amazing.

For this reason, it would be one of the greatest cities ever. However, there's one thing that severely, severely lets it down.

Yes, the people. I know, I know, people say it's exaggerated, and they're not that bad.

From what I have seen and experienced, it is that bad.

First day I got there, I ordered a fillet o fish at Maccas. The attitude of the guy, who knew very clearly that I was speaking English, was one of "Oh my god, this guy speaks English. Why do people have to speak English?". He sighed, and proceeded to speak in French with sign language. He was about 16 or 17 years of age. Surely he knows rudimentary English?

The next day, at the Eiffel Tower, the security dude started speaking to me in Chinese. Bad Chinese, because he wasn't actually Chinese. Not that I would have understood. Which is my point exactly.

However, although it was unnecessary, as the question I was being asked was not being asked of anyone else there, it was sort of understandable, so we'll let that one slide.

Other stuff happened in between, but I've forgotten now. Anyway, that night, we went to buy something at the supermarket. Assistant was all friendly and chummy with her French mate, then threw our stuff on the counter and got us to bag it ourselves. The difference is quite startling.

Today, I tried to put credit on my phone. The woman could speak English, knew full well that I spoke English, and still spoke very angry and frustrated French with me.

A bit later, I got laughed at the bakery because I spoke English. Once again, they knew I spoke English, and still insisted on speaking French with me.

I hate to stereotype, but most of the positive experiences with French customer service has come from black people. The taxi driver who drove us on the first day, very well spoken and very happy. The guy in the phone store today, who explained things to me in English after ascertaining that I didn't speak French. Another phone store guy today, who after not understanding me initially, got me to speak slower, and gave me directions.

The worst seem to be guys and middle-aged women. Most of them act as though you go into their store asking for money or something.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a Paris hate-fest. Again, it is a very nice city. While public transport is quite old and in need of sprucing up, it is very efficient and convenient.

While we did the Eiffel Tower, the Musee D'Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame yesterday, I enjoyed today much more. We went to the Louvre and the Luxembourg Gardens, and I went to Sacre-Coeur by myself today.

The Louvre has been my favourite so far. Absolutely amazing place. The building itself is a work of art comparable to the masterpieces that it contains. While waiting in line for an hour (because we got there at 8 in the morning), we started talking to these Canadians who were quite cool and nice. In hindsight, a good start to the day, and pretty much set the tone.

The Luxembourg Gardens come a close second. Beautifully natural, and lacking in massive crowds.


The Sacre-Coeur also had no lines. While inside, there was this moment that I would've loved to have captured on camera, but was forbidden by the no photography signs. Well, I could've, but disrespect and all that.


Anyway, it was the sun streaming in from the windows at the top, and it looked like sunlight that filters through a gap in the clouds sometimes. Beautiful. 


Speaking of lines, they're ridiculous. Everywhere. Which is also another annoying aspect. 


Backtracking a bit to London and England. 


People over there were more or less quite friendly and nice. Although quite a few of them started speaking Chinese and Japanese to me, or speaking English to me as if I were a three-year-old, it's not entirely unexpected when most of the Asians I saw (which were few and far between) were international students or tourists. 


The first day we got there, we pretty much only went to Emirate Stadium.

What an amazing stadium. Aesthetically beautiful, and so grand.

The coolest thing happened there as well. We were trying to get in an do the stadium tour, when the guy was like, "Sorry, the Legends Tour is about to start, so you'll have to come back at 1:30."

Charlie George, the legendary Charlie George, stood up for us, being all like "Oh, let them through." Then started conversing with us about where we came from, and how the football there was progressing. Apparently he'd played at some now-defunct Melbourne football club. Amazing.

What also amazed me was that the girl who sold me the Arsenal jersey actually knew about football. It's a feature that I've found with sales assistants in England. They're usually quite approachable and know what they're on about.

That night, I decided to go for a wander to London Bridge, because I thought it was the Millenium Bridge, because an alternate universe operates in my brain. Anyway, I got there, and was slightly disappointed, because there is essentially nothing there. It barely even resembles a bridge. However, it did give one a rather nice view of Tower Bridge (the good bridge). After taking some photos for a Swedish couple, I got them to do the same for me, and everyone was happy and stuff. (I later pulled this stunt off again at the Sacre-Coeur). Whilst there, I also saw the Monument, which is essentially a pole in the ground. And because London public transport is also quite efficient, I just jumped on the tube and went home.

So the next day, we went on a tour to Windsor Castle (cancelled because it was closed or something) Hampton Court Palace (because that's what they do when Windsor is closed), Bath (as distinct from bathing) and Stonehenge. Hampton Court Palace was massive and quite pretty inside and outside. Bath was stunning. The town planning restrictions - only limestone allowed in buildings - is pure genius. Stonehenge was what it is - a pile of rocks. It was absolutely freezing there too. While London was rainy, it wasn't as cold. Great tour.

We visited Buckingham Palace after the tour. Yeah, cool story.

The next day, Kenny and Cloris took us around London and efficiently and effectively took us to visit all the main London attractions. (We also visited the actual Millenium Bridge). We spent an inordinate, but very enjoyable, amount of time at Harrods, which is pretty much a museum of cool and expensive stuff.

I think Kenny worked it out to be roughly 6000 quid a pop. That's British Pounds. Not dollars. Not that 6000 dollars is exactly cheap.

Lol Harrods Wine.

A fun 'game', where we sniff different bottles (nothing suss), try and guess what we're smelling, and confirm our suspicions. Fun times.

Afterwards, Kenny and I headed to a bar to watch the football and catch up on various goings on. Overall, an awesome day. It was great having very amicable and knowledgable tour guides taking us around London town.

Tomorrow, we head to Versailles for a bit of opulent, decadent sightseeing. Should be good. 


Word of the Day: Paris

London burns

People, families, and communities have their possessions, their jobs, and their loved ones destroyed and ripped apart by natural disasters. Most of the time, we can't avoid this. We do the best we can to prevent this from happening, but more often than not, we end up directing all of our efforts to recovering from it.

The London riots are similar in their result, but not in their origins. The carnage is completely man-made. I am astounded by the sheer stupidity and thoughtlessness of the people rioting.



Photo from The Australian

I understand that some of them feel oppressed, or hard done by by the government. How is burning down the neighbourhood grocery, or the barber next door, or bakery, or the school, going to improve their plight? They'll wake up from this madness, and realise that they have destroyed the house of their neighbour, the shops that their friends owned, schools that their siblings attended.

Looting shops is not fighting oppression. Burning property is not fighting oppression. Throwing petrol bombs at families, with parents who have come home from a long day of trying to do what's right by their families, that isn't fighting oppression.

There are also idiots that run around setting fire to things, looting shops and assaulting people because they think it's fun. Or something. I have no idea what's going through their minds, to be honest. That's all they are. Idiots, and probably cowards as well, who wouldn't even think of doing something like this if they didn't have a mob behind them.

The saddest part about all this is that it's caused by people. Not a cyclone. Not a tsunami. Not an earthquake. All this carnage is caused by individuals who think they have the right to destroy the livelihood of people who are actually trying to do the right thing, and barely getting by as it is.

I'm not going to tell them to stop in this post, because I know they won't see it. I know that even if they do, they most likely wouldn't care about it anyway. If they did, they wouldn't be doing what they are now. I guess what I'm trying to say is, before doing something destructive, think of the lives that you're destroying. Because life for many people is hard enough as it is, and destroying them isn't going to make it any easier.

Word of the Day: London

Le Coupe du Monde

So, like, I'm all done with exams. Man, it was exhausting. I'm 99% sure I failed Accounting, and I'm trying to work out how to work around it.

The hardest part was telling my parents. They reacted surprisingly well to it (well, I only told mother). Once that was over, it was alright. I wouldn't say their opinions are the only ones that matter, but they're definitely up there.

So I've been mentally beating myself up, and resolving to work a lot harder. I guess I'm just frustrated that I'll have to go through that living hell again. Ah well. What's done is done.

I've now moved on to vegging in front of the television.

"What? You don't watch TV!" I hear you exclaim.

Let me clarify that.

I watch Man vs Wild, Flight of the Conchords, and football.

The reason for my vegging is because of the latter.

Yes, after four years of waiting, the World Cup is back. Yes, I watched Australia lose this morning. It was embarrassing, to be honest. I don't know what happened to the Australia of four years ago. We had more fire back then. I'm afraid to say it, but I don't see us getting out of the group stages.

That red card against Cahill was very harsh. He was pulling out of the tackle, and hit the guy with his thigh. Surely a yellow would've been more than enough. Stupid card-happy ref.

Other matches...hmm. Let's do a list.

South Africa 1 : Mexico 1
Surprisingly impressive. Both were trying to go for each other's throats, and played some great attacking football. A very enjoyable opening game, marred slightly by the fact that South Africa almost won but didn't.

England 1 : USA 1
Another draw, this one much, much less entertaining, apart from England keeper Robert Green throwing the ball into his own net. Didn't help that I missed the Gerrard goal that happened in, like, the first five seconds of play.

Australia 0 : Germany 4
The less said about this game the better I think. Australia were lacking in attack, lacking in defense, were missing star players, getting sliced apart by the German machine, and generally doing a really good impression of fish milling around in a bowl of water. Fish that were completely out of their depth. I don't think anybody played well. Lucas Neill was calling non-existent offsides. The offside trap was clearly not working, because they were continually failing to pick up the man who was not offside making the run from deep. Fairly rudimentary schoolboy errors, like not playing the ref's whistle, like Neill and his shadow offside call. Yeah. That's about it really.

Netherlands 2 : 0 Denmark
Was really, really looking forward to this one because a) it's the Netherlands and b) it was an early game, and I really needed one just then, because I am slightly tired from having a total of eight hours sleep over two nights. Anyway, what a game. Certainly didn't disappoint. The movement, passing and vision of the Dutch team is just magnificent. What a joy to watch. Their ball control is also sublime. The way they play is a thing of beauty. They may just be my next favourite outside-of-Australia team, the top one being Spain. I'm still trying to decide whether to buy a Spain jersey or Australia. Perhaps both, perhaps neither. Perhaps I need more money. It's just that, if Spain win this cup, it will be the crowning moment for one of the greatest, if not the greatest, national football sides of all time. I mean, Fabregas and Torres are on the bench for them. That says enough.


And that's mostly it for now. Watched a bit of Greece vs South Korea, got bored so kept playing monopoly.

Just to finish, a comment about the match ball. The scientists and whatnot who designed/engineered/lovingly handcrafted these balls are coming out and defending it, saying things such as "it flies the straightest out of any ball" and "the players just aren't used to it yet." They use these as defences and justifications for why players are complaining about it.

I don't know about you, but I have never heard this many players complain about a World Cup match ball. At the end of the day, if the players, who have spent the better part of their lives playing this sport, say that it doesn't feel right, no matter how perfectly round the ball is, or how aerodynamically awesome it is, the fact remains that the players don't enjoy using it, and engineers and such cannot claim that technological perfection in a ball equates to something exactly the same as balls that these guys have been using since they've been kicking balls.

I also don't understand why they have to keep changing the ball. It's not exactly like loads of people were demanding a massive overhaul of the football. Clearly the ones they use every day are just fine. Maybe their imperfections are what makes them a true football. In a sense, they're used to their imperfections, and have already adjusted to them. What does the new ball add anyway, apart from an alarmingly high frequency of over-hit passes, and ridiculous keeper fumbles? What's it's purpose? Greater speed? Because that's the only thing I can see it maybe doing better in.

Anyway, sleep beckons. Got a big day of buying stuff tomorrow.

Word of the Day: World Cup