Tuesday Tunes: Mixtape Vols. 1-4

On Facebook, I linked songs every Tuesday throughout 2017.

Here's the full playlist - burn it onto four CDs and put it on high rotation in your Discman immediately...

All The Hats I've Eaten - 2017

The release of the 2018 Good Food Guide in mid-October means it's time to tally up All The Hats I've Eaten.

Last year the tally was 21 hatted restaurants. This year I've got to...

The Art Gallery

In the last few months, my twin boys have started drawing things that actually look like what they are supposed to be. Here is a selection of the best and most interesting...

Review: Cost-Co

This is the blog that reviewed family trips to Taronga Zoo, the Easter Show, Big Bash cricket, and the Footy. Yet nothing prepared me for the toughest and most ambitious adventure yet.

On a Saturday afternoon, just before Christmas. Pray for me.

Rugby League World Cup - Earth Team

Possibly the longest rugby league season in history just ended at the start of December (!), with Australia defeating England 6-0, a result that might be mistaken for a soccer scoreline except that the Socceroos rarely keep a clean sheet.

Anyway, back in May I named a hypothetical Earth rugby league team. The end of the tournament presents a good opportunity to update this side.

So here is the EARTH TEAM v2.0...

Ranking Some Of The Australian Cricketers, 2017-18

Two years ago I ranked all the current Australian cricketers, following the 1st test of the summer.

Last year, I did it again.

This year, I just couldn't bring myself to do it a third time.

It just didn't seem fun. And I didn't start writing things of very limited appeal for a tiny audience with no monetary reward to not have fun.

I think the main reason it was no longer fun lies in this question: how can you make sense of Australian cricket currently? 

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Nine

This edition includes takes on comedy, fish, home design and footy teams, amongst other hot topics.

Older stuff my kids say is here.

My kids, from left to right: J, O, and R.

New stuff below!

Melbourne Cup Bets 2017: A Post-Mortem

This is the short version of my Melbourne Cup betting:

And here is the slightly longer take:

Melbourne Cup: Understanding the Odds

If your betting experience for The Race That Stops A Nation involves picking jockey colours, lucky numbers, or funny horse names, you don't need to read this.

Actually, read it anyway. I need the hits.

For everyone else, this is basically how it all works.

Also how it works.

Official Unofficial Rugby League World Cup Predictions

International rugby league gets a bad wrap. And you can see why...

What if I told you an Australian national team had won 10 of 14 World Cups outright, never finished lower than 2nd, and in their last tournament success beat teams by 67, 65, 55 and 37 points. Also their main rivals New Zealand had never finished lower than 3rd, and the other major power in the sport England had never finished lower than 4th. Two other teams had never finished lower than 6th.

But enough about netball, let's get back on topic and into the Official Unofficial Rugby League World Cup Predictions!

With news this week that rugby league is not a sport, but pole dancing and foot golf are, there's never been a better time to be a fan of international rugby league!

Where I predict teams to exit at the same stage of the tournament, I have ranked them by who I think will perform better at that stage. For example, I think that Italy are more chance to win Group D than the United States, so they are ranked higher of the two. Sorry about the spoiler there.

Here are all the other predictions...

A Quick Note on the Legacy of the ex-Prime Minister of New Zealand

This is actually not about politics.

Instead, it is about food.

Tinned spaghetti pizza. With pineapple.

NRL Grand Final 2017

The NRL Grand Final this year wasn't an all-time classic like in 2015, nor did it come down to the wire and deliver a fairytale ending like 2016.

The best team all season clinically beat the outsider that had defied the odds to get there. There were no surprises.

In that sense, it reminded me a lot of the 1994 Grand Final, where Canberra beat Canterbury. Also the 1998 Grand Final, where Brisbane beat Canterbury. And of course, the 2014 Grand Final where Souths beat Canterbury.

That isn't to say there weren't some memorable moments in the game. My favourite moment from the 2017 Grand Final was this...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Eight

An update on the twins R & J, doing and saying more funny stuff. They are pictured below:

From when they went to outer space.
You've never been?

NRL Ladder Prediction 2017 - Revisted

It's time to have another look at my NRL predictions for the ladder.

I do not have a very good track record at this: 2016, 2015. Here are the results...

I Hate Your Footy Team

This is a ranked list of how much I hate all the clubs from the two major footy codes in Australia* and why.

The original title for this column.
But it turned out it was already taken.

Footnote:
*Sorry, rugby and soccer, you aren't major in Australia - come back when you get some commercial free-to-air coverage.

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Seven

This is the continuation of the series where my twin boys sometimes say and do funny stuff. Their names are R & J, and here's a picture of them with their mum:

(Seriously though, did they name one of them Sir Carter Carter?)

(CARTER CARTER. Did this really happen??)

(Rich and famous people are the best.)

R & J just turned four years old. We got them walkie talkies. The recommendation on the box was for ages five and up.

We should've listened to the box.

They were incapable of holding down a button and talking at the same time. It was bewildering.

But there are other things that mark being four years old.

Peppa Pig

We are big fans of Peppa Pig in my household. It even finished in first place in the Official ABC4Kids Power Rankings a few years ago.

Peppa, accepting the trophy
for top power ranking. 

I find it interesting that online Peppa Pig appears to be a polarising figure. Peppa is making your children naughty. She is teaching them how to swear. And guilty of fat shaming. She is also a left-wing feminazi. And so on.

I think Peppa is a fairly accurate portrayal of a pre-school aged kid. Nothing more. Expectations beyond that are unfair. Perhaps even ridiculous.

Especially as the main pig role model of my youth was Porky Pig. Now there's a bad influence! Oh, and the Three Little Pigs too - a story where two pigs are killed due to low availability of quality construction materials (and perhaps no council approval), before the third reaps vengeance with a torturous retaliatory murder involving boiling water.

But no, it's a whiny four-year-old pig that's a terrible influence on your whiny four-year old child.

Anyway, here are my top five favourite moments from the show...

The Population Race

There was a wealth of interesting information in the Census release yesterday. The snippet that caught my eye was the population race between Sydney and Melbourne.

Review: Going to the Footy

A few weeks ago I took the twins to a blockbuster match between a team in blue jerseys starting with 'New' and a team wearing a shade of red.

New South Wales also played Queensland in State of Origin the following week. We went to Newtown Jets versus Illawarra (not) Steelers at Henson Park instead. 

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Six

So the other day J stopped playing, walked up to me, and said this...

Hot NRL Newz~! May 2017

All of the hottest takes on State of Origin selections!

Pictured: Classic Origin moment of Sam Thaiday running faster
than for any of his hit-ups to make the fight numbers uneven. Could be
from literally any Origin he's played in.

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Five

My twins boys R and J are almost four years old. They say stuff. It's sometimes funny. Here's a picture of them:

There is also a ten-month old named O. He doesn't do much yet, but he does make a cameo appearance in one story here.

NRL Representative Round - Earth Team

With four mens rugby league Test matches on in 24 hour period this weekend, I thought I'd name my Earth team, for a hypothetical game against some other planet. Probably Uranus, for the LOLs.

LOL.

My alternate column idea to mark the representative weekend was trying to guess the 50 or more players that withdrew due to "injury" from City v Country consideration, almost all of which will make a miraculous comeback for their next club match. This debacle, on top of four clubs overtly banning their players from playing in the fixture, is further proof that it is coaches that run the game, entirely to benefit their immediate narrow interests.

City vs Country is dead. The international calendar is diluted. Club coaches would block players from playing State of Origin if it they thought they could get away with it.

Fortunately they can't influence selections for the Earth team either.

Planet Earth is the only object with
more power and influence in RL than
Des Hasler and Ricky Stuart.

Here is the side...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Four

I usually keep the story count between R & J even. I don't want them thinking I play favourites when in the future I humiliate them with all these stories.

However, it is getting increasingly difficult to keep things the same. They may be twins, but they are also individuals. They are different people.

Some differences are obvious.

One difference is that R talks all of the time, including whenever J tries to say anything. This is how I end up with four long stories involving R, and four short stories involving J. There is little opportunity for J to speak much more than one-line at a time.

History of Rugby League and the Championship Belt

Melbourne are currently the 126th holder of the Rugby League Championship Belt.

This Sunday, they will defend the title against Cronulla. The Sharks get their right to challenge through winning the 2016 Grand Final. Can they simultaneously hold the premiership trophy and the championship belt?

Here is a look at some of the most notable champions through the 108 year history of the belt.

Hot NRL Newz~! 05/04/2017

I'm now a freelance blogger, as I wrote this as a fill-in for my work tipping competition email.


The only amendment to the original copy here is the removal of one inside joke at the tipping competition administrator's expense.

So here's an NRL Round 5 recap, plus a bonus hot tip for Round 6.

The Rugby League Championship Belt

The Melbourne Storm lost the 2016 Grand Final. But they are still the holders of the Rugby League Championship Belt, and will aim to successfully defend this title on Thursday night against the Brisbane Broncos.

It's a very prestigious title.

Random Facts

A few weeks ago at a work conference, I was asked to provide a "random fact" about myself for some getting-to-know-your-colleagues exercise.

I wrote back with two random facts. The first was that I have a blog, on the long shot that I might go viral via the public service, like those budding actors from the Department of Finance. Then I also added that I once shared a lift with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, back in early 2008. Not talked to him. Just was in the corner of what his security detail thought was an empty lift.

Up there with my life story.

The conference organiser went with Rudd. I shouldn't have been surprised. History has shown the Australian people always go with Rudd, even when it is repeatedly the wrong choice.

Anyway, here are some other random facts about me:

NRL Ladder Prediction 2017

This is my third year attempting to predict at the start of the season how the NRL premiership ladder ends. So far I've got it horribly wrong each year, but at least I'm transparent about the results.

2016: 5/16 correct
2015: 6/16 correct

Anyway, I'm quite confident this is the season where I get everything correct. EVERYTHING!

Let's have a look at the predictions...

Stuff My Kids Say, Part Three

This is the funniest stuff my two oldest boys, a.k.a. the twins, a.k.a. R & J, have done in the last couple of months. They are three-and-a-half years old.

Pictured: R&J - come laugh with them, forever and ever and ever...

Previous funny stuff is archived HERE.

Top Ten Dragons/Steelers Players Ever!

There's no doubt that the St. George-ILLAWARRA Dragons are one of the top two most successful mergers surviving in the NRL today. 

This list celebrates that accomplishment by recognising, completely without bias, the ten greatest players to have ever pulled on a red and white jersey in Australian rugby league history.

BBL06 Best XI

Presenting the Rob's Blog official unofficial BBL06 Best XI. As with BBL franchises, I can only pick a maximum of two overseas players. The BBL05 Best XI is HERE. Here's the BBL06 Best XI...

Review: An Evening at the Big Bash

My Facebook feed on 28th December 2016: 

BBL Thunder v Heat - look for me on TV. I'll be the one regretting taking 3 kids under 4 to a cricket match. 

Attached to this status update was a photo, just taken at the ground.

On the left, R with a KFC bucket on his head, courtesy of the major sponsor. Not one that had housed The Dirty Bird in it, but a clean one they handout at the gate. He is waving a Sydney Thunder flag - another entry giveaway - while the bucket covers his eyes.

Then my wife, with baby O in a baby carrier on her chest, in the middle.

Finally on the right of the photo, J is watching intently. He is watching an empty field, as the game hasn't started yet. This is the most attention he'll pay to the middle all night.

The Best Performances in Test Cricket 2016

This list is an aggregation of the best performances from around the world of Test cricket for 2016.

The best performances, so no Australian players made the cut.