Hi everybody! (Hi Dr Nick!)

I've been away having a more regular sort of life - offline - enjoying the cricket, hanging out with mates in the evenings and working for the man. Allow me to fill in a few more gaps ("random briefs" as the Wood-O-Sphere would acknowledge).

I have comfortably passed uni and will graduate in a few weeks. Good riddance!

I went to the MasterCard Masters golf. It's terrific if you love watching sports up close. I can't think of any other sport that lets you get within spitting distance of guys (who are so good that they can walk away with a million dollars for four days work!) Seeing Stuart Appleby's bunker work got me thinking about my own game. In fact, last Thursday, I hit the most good shots on the course (Ringwood back nine) in a single round that I can recall. I recommend any golf fan (particularly anyone with a MasterCard, who gets free entry) check out the golf on a Saturday next time it's in town.

I saw the Borat movie. Permit me to square the ledger: it's a good movie, with at least one hilarious sequence, but it's no classic. I've seen Borat's antics in Da Ali G Show and while it's got terrific shock value (you simply don't expect some of the responses), that's pretty much all there is. I'm looking forward to Casino Royale, the new Bond much more. I actually read Ian Fleming's original earlier this year and that was pretty decent - and I'm not normally a book reader. One thing struck me: the book describes Bond's food selections and his constant smoking meticulously and often. The 60s and 70s must have been a real "time to be alive". I expect the movie to concentrate more on the card playing and French speaking - both fine with me. In other movie news, I will soon achieve a 3-year goal of finally seeing Old School, as I now own the DVD.

I went to a wedding on Saturday. I couldn't help sitting, waiting for the bride to arrive and thinking that the groom had better get used to hanging around waiting for the woman to get ready. Then of course came the mass of camera flashes. Do epileptics ever get married? Because they'd be in trouble. It was all in all a very nice event and the first wedding I've been to. It's true that I'm no Hugh Grant - my attendance count is closer to four funerals and a wedding rather than the other way round.

Well past 1am and inspired by BASEketball, one of my favourite movies, I devised a game which is essentially "Rock Paper Scissors" with American Football rules. Even more inventively (!) I call it "Rock! Paper! Football!" I might run the idea past Dean, who's funnily enough both the biggest NFL and Rock Paper Scissors fan I know, but after seeing a documentary about Finnish mobile application creaters who based most of their games on Rock Paper Scissors earlier this week, I don't think much of my late-night creation.

In music, I've been impressed by The Rapture's Pieces Of The People We Love record. Part indie, part electro-dance, part shriek-singing, I'm calling it a great Summer play. Little Birdy's Hollywood slightly disappointed me, as they've gone keyboard overboard and lost the rock edge. The first half of the CD is pretty good though. I also saw U2 at the Telstra Dome, which was pretty cool, simply due to the mass of people who sang along.

What else do I like that I haven't covered? Oh I know, beer! The devil's mouthwash. Yep, since my last post I've finally sampled arguably the two leading Aussie "boutique" beers, Beez Neez and Redback. Both very decent, but I wasn't wowed. The honey in Beez Neez was too subtle, admittedly after I'd already had two other beers first. I also tried out Singha (which was heavy at 6.5% "alcavol" and had an aftertaste just like it - 2 stars of 5), El Salvador's Cabaña (so I wasn't sucking on a cabana) and I got some more Hoegaarden, as I'd only had a few sips of it. It's the most unique beer I think I've tried; I'm still getting my head (via the tongue) around this white beer, but it deserves props. Even if it looks like sperm. What a terrific note to leave you on.