MasterChef Australia

I'm a closet chef... somebody who loves to create good food but doesn't because I don't enjoy cooking just for myself and don't stock up on ingredients because half of them usually end up in the bin. (I really HATE seeing food wasted - there are too many starving people in the world so it's objectionable to me that the Western world discards so much with little thought.) So I really like this TV show, both as "entertainment" and as somebody who simply enjoys food. I get to soak up new gastronomy ideas, the majority of what gets cooked is done as something resembling an individual portion and because I learn by observing/doing the show (Ready Steady Cook is another example) particularly resonates with me. I'm so much more likely to experiment myself... and do.

Masterchef Australia gives cooking/cheffing the reality TV treatment and it WORKS. Take twenty aspiring and talented amateur chefs - regular people with regular jobs and no professional cooking experience but hold dreams of breaking in - put them through a series of group and individual challenges as well as professional "master" skills classes with two of the Australia's top celebrity/executive chefs as mentors and gradually whittle them down to one.

It's SO much better than it's British ancestor - three people cooking in a quiet studio kitchen with judges watching (and occasionally interviewing) quietly - admittedly good for the audience of its time but lacks variety in today's market. I don't know if the show still runs and/or if they've updated the concept. Admittedly I'd also rather watch Sarah Wilson over Lloyd "we've ruminated, cogitated and digested" Grossman any day. As with many of these type of shows today, she's simply the host with the pretty face who makes cameo appearances come challenge or eviction time and has variations of about 4 scripted lines to speak - that's it - and it's a good thing because it keeps the focus on the cooking.

The other reason I like Masterchef Australia better than almost any other show in this genre is the elimination guidelines. In other shows, for example The Biggest Loser, contestants are invited to vote out the person "they'd like to see go home" or words to that effect, the result being tactical voting, alliances and betrayal. In Masterchef Australia, the contestants are repeatedly reminded to cast their vote for the person "who contributed least to the team" or "performed the worst"in the relevant challenges, and as Gary Mehigan (one of the celebrity executive chefs mentoring the contestants) advised last night:"You've got some hard decisions to make... think carefully... we want the right people to stay in this competition."

I do wonder though, why the producers use Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold" (great track that it is) as the show's theme music. I mean, aside from that food can be hot or cold, what's the connection? Perhaps a thinly veiled reference to stereotypical chef temperament?


 

Leinster for the Heineken Cup!

 
In about an hour, Leinster will contest the Heineken Cup final for the first time, having smashed Munster off the park in the semi-final 3 weeks ago - something that gave me much satisfaction. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Munster at all. Munster is the heart & soul (not to mention proclaimed/propaganda crown jewel) of Irish rugby and I will happily and passionately support them, and Ulster & Connacht for that matter.

But many Leinster folk have morphed into fairweather supporters of our own provincial side, instead jumping on the winning bandwagon, claiming Munster is "their team", which bothers me. I'm confident those people will be back wearing blue today and it gives me satisfaction to say truthfully that blue was always my primary colour.

Allegiances aside though...

Ireland are Six Nations champions and Munster recently took the Magners/Celtic League (claiming Leinster's crown). It would be just FANTASTIC if Leinster could win the Heineken Cup (claiming Munster's crown in return!) to complete a clean sweep for Irish rugby and cap our greatest ever season.
 

Anti-speeding advertising campaigns

 
For years, road safety authorities in Ireland and UK have attempted to use "shock" tactics in advertising campaigns against speeding and drink-driving, displaying graphic images of destruction and painful injury. In the new age of digital special effects and reality TV though, people have become desensitised to these types of visuals. I reckon the Aussies have cracked it though, particularly when it comes (as these campaigns often do) to targeting the young male demographic.


 

Adventures in Aussie Touch Footie Part 9 - Recognition I never saw coming

 
I've talked before about the genuine recognition culture that exists within the Touch Football community here in Australia. Tonight I was a recipient of it - I just arrived home from the Sydney Rebels AGM where I was presented with a fabulous Kooga over-jacket with Rebels referee branding.

The following is an excerpt from the Regional Director's report:

"There has also been a new initiative launched this year aimed towards our graded referees. This year has marked an emphasis on referees being more proactive to "put back" into their region. This can include actions such as:

• Senior referees presenting their own refereeing courses at their affiliate or better yet in neighbouring affiliates
• Assistant to a presenter in refereeing courses at their affiliate or better yet in neighbouring affiliates
• Being available for inter regional trial matches
• Refereeing in smaller affiliates from time to time to assist in development
• Attending NTL

It is my view that less experienced referees benefit from watching, talking to and ultimately work towards advancing through the system as the senior referees did before them. The following referees have not only met the above criteria but have excelled at it. Rebels Touch thanks you for your efforts."

I'd been doing this stuff because I got enjoyment, learning and satisfaction from it - certainly never saw this coming so am really quite chuffed :-)
 

Monday morning

 
Last night I moved house out to a Sydney coastal suburb called Clovelly. I'm also not working after wrapping up my most recent "temp" assignment on Friday.

I got up today and sat on a cliff face for 2 hours in the sun & sea breeze... just reflecting, listening to the waves & on occasion singing like nobody was there to listen.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday morning...



 

Keeping the air fair - part 2

 
Sometimes I wonder how certain people manage slip through recruitment filters undetected.

A six-year-old girl was recently banned from taking her teddy bear (wrapped in the plastic bag to keep it dry from the rain) aboard an easyJet flight in the UK after a check-in clerk deemed it "excess baggage". Tearful Alba Apreciado-Peris was told by the clerk that Bebe the bear was too big to join her in the cabin on a flight from Glasgow to Stansted. The female clerk then told Alba's stunned mother she would have to pay £9 (€12/AU$20) to put the teddy in the hold. She ended up posting the bear home.

Are you fcuking KIDDING me? I can appreciate that the employee was following company policy but it's a six-year-old child and surely common sense should have prevailed here. This is a perfect example of what's wrong in the world and I'm stopping before I get started. Jeez...

Addendum:
Full article from the Daily Mail.
 

Tweeting for Godot

Edited excerpt from an article that appeared in MX, a free commuter newspaper distributed in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane.

Twitter-savvy bookworms are reducing classic literature to 140-character "tweets".

Samuel Beckett's bleak play Waiting for Godot has been shortened to "Vladimir and Estragon stand next to tree and wait for Godot. Their status is not updated."

Classics by Charles Dickens, JD Salinger and Jane Austen are among other novels boiled down to a sentence on the micro-blogging site, with modern books also being given a workover. Here's a selection:

Lady Chatterley's Lover – DH Lawrence
"Upper class woman gets it on with gamekeeper."

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
"Professor of symbology tries to solve a murder by following clues around touristy locations in Europe. Very few paragraphs are longer than tweets."

Ulysses – James Joyce
"Man walks around Dublin. We follow every minute detail of his day. He's probably overtweeting."

Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
"Orphan given £££ by secret follower. He thinks its @misshavisham but it turns out to be @magwitch."

The Catcher In The Rye – JD Salinger
"Rich kid thinks everyone is fake except for his little sister. Has breakdown. @markchapman is now following @johnlennon."

Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
"Woman meets man called Darcy who seems horrible. He turns out to be nice really. They get together."

Briget Jones Diary – Helen Fielding
"Woman meets man called Darcy who seems horrible. He turns out to be nice really. They get together."
 

Penalty shootouts

 
The penalty shootout has finally managed to blight itself on rugby. Damn.

Last weekend saw one of the (Heineken) European Cup semi-finals decided on a penalty shootout. This was certainly the first time in this has happened in Heineken Cup history and possibly rugby history. I've struggled to find another game that has been decided like this (the 2003 World Cup Final came within seconds of it) and unsurprisingly it's given rise to much discussion & debate.

It is a LOUSY way to decide a game... and I've always thought so.

Penalty shootouts are most commonly seen in football, generally follows a dour period of extra time (which has often itself followed a 90-minute snorefest) where teams have decided to sit back and take their chances with the penalty lottery. FIFA, to their credit, did attempt to experiment with alternatives such as "golden" and "silver" goal: golden was sudden death, i.e. first team to score won, while silver gave the team who conceded until the end of the half to equalize otherwise the game was over. But both concepts failed due to teams more concerned with "not losing" the game rather then winning it. How often do you hear post-match reaction fob off the shootout inferring it's a lottery? The game wasn't really lost and I'm sure that's saved many a coach/manager job in the past.

At least in football all the players are (loosely) doing the same thing - attempting to kick a ball through a target - so it can be argued there isn't much different about what they're trying to accomplish with penalties.

Rugby union is completely different - yes there is kicking involved but it's not the core of the game nor core skill for every player. Rugby union is incredibly specialised - players need have a very different physiology and skill set depending on the position they play. A winger doesn't pack down in the scrum and you don't see a front row forward punt the ball 50 yards down field and chase down the catcher (Keith Wood being the exception). Martyn Williams, one of the greatest back row forwards to ever play the game, missed what turned out to be the decisive kick and I feel for him - he's there to win ball and be creative with it in hand, NOT to kick goals.

Peter Wheeler, Leicester's chief executive, summed it up well: "Let's not get involved in the blame game here because this was unchartered territory for rugby and we are all learning, but I found that very uncomfortable to watch. Just imagine if it had gone on for a couple more kicks. For all I know Martin Castrogiovanni or Gethin Jenkins might be useful goal-kickers, but almost certainly not, and how humiliating and illogical it would have been for two of the best in the world at what they do, having to decide a European Cup semi-final by attempting something that they never do."

Rugby union continues to have an ethos/code of gentlemanship, respect and honour about it. Players will pummel each other on the field and occasionally things flare up but generally once it's all over they will shake hands and say "good fight" regardless of winning or losing. Most if not all post-match reaction from Leicester (who won) conveyed a message of "we didn't want to win it like this." So Wheeler's choice of words - humiliating and illogical - is pretty appropriate.

Solutions? Let's look at some other sports.

In basketball and ice hockey, the concept of a tie game doesn't even exist. Extra time periods are played (as many as are necessary) until the game is decided. In basketball this is determined by the score at the end of each period while in ice hockey it's sudden death, first goal wins.

In the sport of Touch (Touch Rugby / Touch Football) an elimination game is decided by a "drop-off." It's still plain ol' extra time but each side plays with a player less - that is instead of 6 players they play with 5, with a further player from each side dropping every 2 minutes until it's 3-on-3. Meanwhile it's sudden death rules - the first team to score a touchdown wins but both must have had possession before the game can end. (I should probably mention though that in Touch unlimited rolling substitutions are allowed - thus teams can continually get fresh legs on.)

I love the drop-off in Touch and think it's a brilliant way to decide a game. There is no difference between normal and extra time in what a team has to do to win the game, i.e. score touchdowns. It's urgent and exciting: teams know that there is an increasingly higher chance they will concede that sudden death touchdown - fewer players, same size field - so they go out gung-ho to score it themselves. You always know when and where there's a drop-off at a Touch event because spectators and players who've only just finished their own game literally flock to that field - and the atmosphere is always, ALWAYS electric.

I can accept that maybe the drop-off maybe doesn't directly translate to rugby but I can certainly see a variation of it being a viable solution - after all, the Sevens version of the game is established and strong. With football too, there is 5- and 7-a-side, albeit on a smaller playing field. So we're not talking about breaking new ground here, just applying modifications of pre-existing concepts. Drop some players off, say down to 10-a-side, disallow all kicked goals and make teams score a TRY to win.

Ultimately, games should be decided though by playing the core of that game. Anything that gets closer to that - even if it's still imperfect - surely has to be a good thing?
 

Adventures in Aussie Touch Footie Part 8 - NSW Referees Grading Night (30th Anniversary Dinner)

Grading Night is the annual dinner on the NSW Touch calendar where the successes and achievements of referees - some of the most important people in the sport - are officially recognized, including:
- Elevation to the ranks of a State Referee (level 4 or above)
- Length-of-service awards
- Selection for the TRYS program (Talented Referee Youth Squad)
- "Matthew Medal" (referee of the year)

I actually worried (excessively) whether or not I should attend, if it was my place to be there. I do like to consider myself a part of NSW Referees and also as having contributed back to the sport, but in the back of my mind it's also never been lost on me that I am "guest". Fortunately a few people helped me come to my senses because I'd have been pretty dirty with myself had I elected not to be there, now that I actually have. It was simply a wonderful evening - classy without being overly flashy, if you get my meaning. I think the keyword I'm looking for here, is "genuine".

NSW Referees doesn't feel like an organization to me anymore, it feels like a community - friends and family. I didn't recognise half the people in the room but knew I was looking at multiple generations of retired, active and upcoming referees and coaches and that having everybody together, even for one evening, was something special. Guest speaker Peter Fitzsimons, an "outsider" to Touch Football, even sensed this and remarked on it. Throughout the entire evening I witnessed sincere recognition and gratitude of people and their efforts, everybody who graced the stage thoroughly deserving.

Teenagers being inducted into a "talented youth squad". I've refereed with some of them and to see, for example, them holding their own in fast, intense games and not being intimidated by players & coaches many years older than them, has taught me a thing or two.

Long service: 5, 10, 15, 20 and, in the case of Paul Cini, 25 years service to NSW Touch. The game has barely been around for 40 years. I turned 30 last year so Paul has been doing this since I was 5 and that's amazing to me.

Referee of the year - Adam Foley & Sam Clark (joint), currently the #1 male and female referees in the world.

Then there's that blue blazer awarded to "State Graded" referees, that is those who attain Level 4 standard. People joke that the blazer is an awful colour but for those wearing it who genuinely "get it", I could see a sense of pride radiate from them. It is a WONDERFUL tradition - there's not enough of stuff like this left in the world - and I hope some day in my own refereeing career to be part of something like it.

At the last European Championships (July 2008), Matto planted the idea in my head of spending some time in NSW. He told me "I had talent", which I recall taking rather lightly as a cordial compliment - as I had no concept of his basis for comparison. So I found myself glancing around the room at people I've refereed with, travelled with, been coached by, studied - and in some cases look up to and consider mentors (regardless of whether they either realise or might want it). You don't have to look far...

At the recent Trans Tasman games, a member of the Panel joked that someday I might be refereeing a game like this rather than watching it... I think unaware this was something I already considered and wanted. It is amazing, as people, how our goals adapt over time. Last year I was content to be a "good" referee. Since I came to NSW I've wanted to become a "great" referee. Now it these people who are the standards to which I aspire.

The night is about reflecting on achievement and so I find myself thinking of my own. It's never been lost on me that I came from nowhere in terms of the greater Touch scheme of things, so the extent I've developed is due to having the company of the very best in the world... and I am so very grateful for that, even if it will only be for a short time.