cornelius_sulla

Right this minute I'm listening to Vote WIth A Bullet by Corrosion of Conformity.

We punch above our weight down here at the bottom of the world. We are the rugby champions of the world; the rugby league champions of the world; we make it to the World Cup of Association Football with a pool of 22 players to choose from (and then draw against the current world champs) to name but a few of our many sporting accomplishments. A couple of days ago the New Zealand cricket team (The Black Caps) beat the Australian cricket team. In the bigger scheme of things, this is not earth shattering news. But in the context of the peculiarly cut throat, competitive relationship that we Kiwis have with our Kangaroo cousins across the ditch, THIS IS MASSIVE. Why, I hear you ask with baited breath? I'll tell you. Us (NZ) beating them (AUS) in cricket is like a penguin beating a killer whale in a fight to the death, and then flipping it around the ocean playfully for a bit before devouring it piecemeal. IT JUST SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. But it DID. We ripped them a new bum, and they weren't (aren't) happy. I won't bore you with the details of the game; I'm a cricket fan and even I concede that watching your cat defecate is more exciting than reading about the nitty gritty of a cricket match. Suffice to say that New Zealand should NEVER beat Australia. We are the equivalent of a cricketing amoeba, they are a cricketing red giant sun. It's their national game and the only one of the many sports in which they excel that unites the whole Australian sporting public behind it. Like Rugby in New Zealand, cricket is an integral part of the Australian national identity. They go into mourning whenever they lose. They go into absolute writhing apoplexy whenever they lose to US!! The last time that we had a victory over them in their own country was around 1984. That was 27 years ago - a very long time between drinks. I was still wearing short shorts and sandals to primary school, and my mum was making my lunches. In the time that has elapsed since then, they have whipped us like curs with depressing regularity. Until now. Kiwi cricket fans, like myself, have to crow loud and long whenever we experience the giddy heights of a win against the Ockers on their own turf because it could very well be 27 more years before we get another. You have to be ungracious and rub it in as much as you can, much like an Australian would. So here I am, doing just that. Haha Australia, you suck. If there are any Australians reading this, feel free to make excuses or abuse me roundly. It can't change the fact that you lost....to US!!!!

Cheers Viggen, wasn't sure how it worked - I've been absent from this site for a long time and obviously my memory is failing me . I see we're now friends

Can people become your friends now on this site without needing your approval?

Typical Australians, blaming it on wallabies. It was Tasmanian druggies for sure!

Led Zep, fuckin' AWESOME. This and Achilles Last Stand are my faves.

I initially couldn't get past Anna Paquin and her ratshit acting. But now I've watched a few episodes and managed to filter out Paquin, I quite like the series. I had also lumped it in with Twilight and all of those teenage type vampire melodramas, but after watching True Blood for a while, I realised this was unfair. I'm not exactly hooked, but it's growing on me.

Thanks Melvidius, was a bit worried something might have happened to her. That's that cleared up then!

I've only just come back to UNRV after a long absence, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if Nephele is still active on the site. She was one of the first to befriend me here. Not sure if this is the correct avenue to take to find out, but it's the most expedient. HELP A BROTHER OUT!

It's been a while, but I'm back having a nosey around UNRV to see how everything is hanging. Since my last blog I have discovered a new passion; FISHING! I'm fuckin' HOOKED on it, pun completely intended. A close friend gave me a fishing rod and reel and then sat back to watch my too-cool-for-school indifference turn into complete and utter obsession in seconds flat. I'm absorbed completely by this pastime; it has outdone reading, rugby league and music in the interest stakes. I don't know what's going on in the world anymore because I am generally somewhere by or on the ocean trying to hook up on a big snapper. (For instance; we had a massive oil spill in New Zealand a few weeks ago. It was three days before I knew anything about it because I was out camping by the sea, intent on watching my fishing line for bites!) From knowing practically nothing about how to fish and actively dissing the hobby as being inferior to diving, I am now a walking encyclopaedia of knots and a zealot when it comes to defending the merits of fishing. SO! That's me at the moment. Oh, and I met a lovely lady who I also turned into a fishing fanatic. It was our one year anniversary on Monday just gone, and we are very happy. To all my UNRV friends; get out from behind your computers, get your noses out of your musty textbooks and go for a fish!

Scarrow is a wonderful as an escape into the imagination - kind of like the Sharpe books are. Big on high adventure but skinny on dates and facts. I like his books, and I read a lot of historical fiction. But I make sure to try to separate fact from fun fiction. Livy he is not, but Scarrow's a bloody good read.

Marcus Aurelius; A Life - a bloody good book that got me interested in a Roman epoch that held no interest at all until picking up that book. I recommend it to all.

But check out our mate Maty too! And Goldsworthy, and H.H Scullard, and Gibbon. Here's a plan; read the Scullard and the Gibbon for an old school kind of feel (and the classics ie Tacitus, Suetonius, Polybius, Livy etc for an authentic Ancient School kind of feel!) and then reconcile these to the modern wonders of Matyzak and Goldworthy for a contemporary take on things. I think our friend Maty is just being modest. He has written some very, very informative books on Rome and her notables. For a laugh, check out his Rome on 5 denarii a day. Just like being there!

Mate, if you're going for historical fiction, check out McCullough if you haven't already. Take no notice of the naysayers, they are bloody good reads! First Man In Rome, Grass Crown, Fortune's Favourites, Caesar, Caesar's Women and The October Horse.

Take Suetonius with a grain of salt, and Tacitus with a grain of sugar, and you should be fine. Tacitus for me though: old Suetonius is just a bit too gossipy and waspish. I like my character assasinations dry and on the rocks, thankyou!