Trickling trinkets

I love this time of year. Like the changing of the seasons, August / September (although it seems to get earlier every year) herald the annual release of new trick trinkets and shiny bits from the bicycle industry. It allows us to indulge in that other, less spiritual, side of cycling – gear!

But bike companies don’t just put all their cards on the table at once. They love to watch us clamber for crumbs whenever they choose to drop them, working us into a drooling, materialistic fever. It is a flurry of sneak previews, early releases and internet leaks.

It’s totally addictive, but the first step is admitting it. C’mon, don’t leave me out here by myself……

Jet fighter

Not so much a movie review as a demand; but in the words of one M. Meldrum “Do yourselves a favour” and go see Jet Li’s “Fearless”.

Not quite “Hero”, but bloody good. A Chinese period piece telling the true story (loosely) of Huo Yuanjia. Well structured story and fantastic fight scenes. You even learn how to plant rice. What else do you want?

Subculture in a spectator sport

Take girls in crazy outfits with crazier names going fast on old-skool roller skates. Throw in some strategy, showmanship and a good dose of violence and you have rollerderby.

Saw our first round on Saturday and we’re hooked. Once I had a handle on the rules, it was easy to see the skill through all the chaos. We saw an interstate league match between the Carolina Rollergirls and the Sin City Rollergirls (Las Vegas), otherwise called the “Inaugural Brawl”. Carolina clobbered the visiting team.

A punk band played between periods and “Cheerbleeders” got the crowd fired up. The rollergirls have names like Penelope Bruz, VanDamsel and Trudy Struction (my hairdresser & the whole reason we even know what rollerderby is). One of the referees was Colin Foul.
It was a great night with a cool (and redneck-free) crowd. Our first taste of Raleigh subculture.

Catching the Cab up north…

This post could very nearly have been a rant.  After whinging about Death Cab finally heading back to Melbs while we’re over here, they have since announced their US and Canadian dates for a Fall tour.  Awesome, except that there is apparently an invisible force field around NC as they are only playing in the surrounding states.  Bugger.

Determined not to be held back by an arbitrary boundary, we’re heading across state lines to see them.  We chose Norfolk, Virginia.  Thanks to some handywork by Mrs Antman, we got tickets (which sold out in 9 minutes).

Close to Virginia Beach, this has all the makings of a great long weekend.  Three words: Road. Trip. Sweet.

A bit o’ sunshine

If you get the chance, go and see Little Miss Sunshine. Have a laugh, learn a novel way to cope with a faulty clutch & enjoy the enormous heart with which a family’s dysfunction is portrayed.

The climax is a little Napoleonesque and a little creepy when you think about how it developed, but damn funny.

The home game advantage

10 years after seeing them play The Corner in Melbourne, I got to see Superchunk play their home town of Chapel Hill, NC. Melbourne Bitter was replaced my a Carolina amber ale. It was a reunion show of sorts as this particular arm of their musical careers has been slow of late. But what they lack in current releases, they certainly made up for in enthusiasm and proved that home town support can help crank it up a notch. It was evident that they knew a good portion of the audience and simply put……they rocked.

Khakis at half mast

Got up and started making lunch for the work day. TV news on. Heard “Australia” in an American accent and of course they had my attention. Saw Steve Irwin and heard “…survived by wife and two children”.

Couldn’t help but feel sad every time it crossed my mind today. His ideaology has always been in the right place, but what used to be a cringe-worthy caricature, has been a taste of home while we’ve been in the US. It is so weird because he has always been larger than life