Movies: Abduction, Cowboys and Aliens, Billy-T

Been a while since posting movie reviews, but not to say havent been going.
Abduction's a ripper, starts off seeming tedious American family ho-hum, then drops into a hold your seater.
Dont think the plot's got holes in it, the pace of the movie keeps the mind off such things.
Six-packer Taylor Lautner stars, is he the bloke played the were-wolf in the Twilight series?
Little bit on the corny side for a lead, but the whole effect of the movie is the lurch from normality to mayhem, and a teenage couple coping with the unknown.
Well done... I'll give this one 10 out of 10.
And Sigourney Weaver plays a cameo hutch-mother, bit like when Sean Connery pops up, oh... there's mum and/or dad!

Cowboys and Aliens was an 8 of 10 for me, not to say it wasnt a barrel of entertainment, Daniel Craig's the ultimate action hero.
Several reviewers panned this movie saying the attempt to mix genres didnt work, but there's no accounting for taste, I thought it did. We've had sci-fi/western mix before in Back to the Future, I think its fun to stretch your mind a bit, and clever how film-makers can concieve and pull it off.
The only thing that gets me about alien movies is the life-forms chucked at us, fair enough in comedies or tongue in cheekers like ET, Paul, or Independence Day, they can assume the ridiculous, but in action thrillers they need to be a little more believeable than they were in Cowboys.

Billy-T..., cant put a score on it really, its a 9/10 doco on someone who meant a lot to most of us Kiwis, the last hurrah of a time when race relations weren't a worry to us, mainly we could laugh at ourselves without fear of rancour, or how its so aptly put by others, 'the tyranny of umbrage'.
Those close to the man through his career speak of their times with him, through his rise and fall. There's no doubt his career started its belly up journey after the PC brigade wreaked their havoc.
Most of us weren't aware of what was happening behind the scenes.

We're a sporting nation out here..... aren't we?

Good job that pimp who shopped the Mike Tindall pics got his beans, and got the sack.
He should get a lot more.
Apart from farting in the church of a security firm supposed to be being just that, secure, he's gone and upset those of us who take pride and enjoyment in hosting visitors, and in particular the players, wherein we hope the stars of the game, or of any calling for that matter, can relax in the knowledge they're among friends.
The bloke who did the pimp said he did it because he thought the behaviour disgusting.
What bullshit.
He did it because he wanted the instant fame that goes with airwave sensation, but the irony is he'll be forgotten in just as quick an instant, but his offence will last forever.
He's pricked our angst in the same way Quade Cooper stirs the hornet nest with his sledging and provoking of our favorite son Richie (McCaw). Every show has a villain, single-handedly he's gone and made the Wallabies it for RWC.
There was an amusing pic in the paper a couple of days back, some Auckland wit had sign-writ his/her car with "Quade Sucks".
As for Zara.....
its a pity their relationship's become NZ derived tabloid fuel..., I'm sorry it happened here and hope the media let it go quickly.

Smash Safety

When you were a kid, playing games in the car helped to pass the time of the journey, I Spy, Beaver, spot the horse, etc
Now, on the bike, the name of the game, aside from enjoying the ride, is staying alive.
Good article in yesterday's DomPost summarising road accident stats in the lower NI region.
21%, one in 5, of fatal and serious accidents involve motorcycles and mopeds, and the proportion is picked to grow with the increase in interest in 2 wheel transport.
The article lists the dangerous scenarios.
1. Riders aged between 19 and 24 are over-represented in the stats
2. A quarter of the crashes happen at night
3. 11% involve travelling too fast for the conditions, not necessarily faster than the local speed limit either
4. 14% ditto on the open road state highways
5. Crashes on local roads most commonly occur when crossing and turning, and on open roads, losing control and crashing on bends.

Obviously, continuous care and judgement are the necessaries, I enjoy the challenge of having to keep mind on the job, and am sure my car-driving has benefitted from the motorcycling experience.
I avoid biking at night too.
Wearing fancy protective clothing and helmets, are only ambulance at the bottom the cliff measures, not a license to hoon around at what one considers normal pace.
Making us farmers wear helmets at all times on the farm, wont reduce serious accidents significantly either, I bet.
Generally, I think there is a noticeable difference in the way people are driving more carefully on the roads these days, but there's still a gulf in awareness and acceptance of motorcycles compared with USA, and even Europe. For some reason the NZ motorist has got into a very arrogant position regarding his/her place in the sun.
I dont think our no fault accident compensation system, and social welfare in general, does us any favours in the responsibility department. Bowl a pedestrian or a child in USA, or a motorcyclist for that matter, and see where that gets you.
In the old days here on this rural road, if your dog got bowled, the motorist offered to pay for a replacement, get in the same situation now, you'll just as likely get sued for damage to the car.

Fantastic Rugby

Here we are 2nd weekend of RWC, the stand-out observation being the quality of the northern hemisphere play.
Ireland have just beaten Australia, Wales pushed South Africa to within one point, and, as inferred last blog, England looked formidable in their opening game.
The atmosphere round the country is fantastic, hosting towns turning out in their 1000's to welcome the teams, visitors flying the nation's flags from their vehicles. Its great to be hosting them, and I hope they're enjoying themselves.
After tonight's match O'Driscoll said it was like playing in Dublin, such was the green around the stadium.
Last weekend a Wellington Welsh bar owner said they were still roaring at 5am the next morning, following the match against South Africa.
The All-Blacks scored a heap of points against Japan, but are yet to convince of the necessary to beat the Tier 1 sides. Ditto Sonny Bill.
There's a bit of angst round the country, about the lack of settling on an A side and staying with it, actually mainly with that dork Deaker who seems to have it in permanent for coach Henry. After the last RWC failure, Deaker ran hot on his Sports Talk, bad mouthing the coaches. One poor customer phoned in to say hey lighten up, and Deaker bit his head off, saying if he didnt like what he was hearing then don't tune in.
A little while later, Deaker says every call coming in supports his view, this is after inviting anyone who didnt, to turn their radio off.
What a joke.

Travesty at Stadium Otago, that Black Shirt

The Rugby World Cup's off to a fantastic start.
Last night's first up for England and Argentina in front of a full and party-mode stadium was a gripper.
Argentina laid their lives on the line, and England...... played like pugilists, (Johnny Wilkinson apart).
The way a rib injured and just taped up Contepomi was smack tackled mid-riff was some distance from the gentlemanly manner England claims is its province.

And what's more they flogged our jersey to do it in.
How on earth the world body of rugby let a team get away with strategic crap like that I dunno.
They did it to us last RWC making the AB's play in some non-descript strip against Scotland.
Its time some Europeans got displaced from the international board.

Its great how "sporting" teams reflect national character.
In England's case, getting themselves a black strip was a great way to unsettle NZ, bit like Quade Cooper's constant needling of Richie McCaw conveniently assumes an unsettling role.
I had a laugh that Cricket NZ ignored the experience of 138 tests held by Turner, Greatbatch, and Rutherford to appoint Bowl's Australia's high performance manager (with little more cricket experience than club "hack"), to the newly formed post of national selection manager, inferring we need to add the something at the top that we're missing, and what makes Aussie a great sporting nation.
Well..., have to hand it to them, they are, and it might help overcome our in the shade attitude, but I hope we dont get some of the "rub it in" that goes with losing to the green and gold.
I dont think we need it.

The AB's got through their first encounter, against Tonga unscathed. I dont think the accolades over their win, are entirely warranted, Tonga just didnt come to the party like they normally violently do, that was England's domain on the night.
SBW? Well, I dunno just yet, certainly his best AB performance this season. I'm just a Ma'a fan that's all, and haven't seen anything convincing enough yet to ring in substantial changes.

Win, lose, or draw, I just want to see the AB's play fast, creative, and entertaining rugby and I'll still love them, even if they dont win the Cup