"Namaste, Mate!"

I signed up with some friends on a trial membership at one of the yoga studios in Manly. What a great way to find out how inflexible I am! This is my first time doing yoga, so I haven't been able to focus on the breathing part since I'm trying to learn all the different poses. I signed up to take yoga for credit at Elon, but had to drop it as it conflicted with my Corporate Finance class (sweet tradeoff, NOT!).
Maybe I would have been better off taking it to balance out my heavy course load last semester senior year with Golf, Guitar, and Baseball Statistics (only semester where I pulled off a perfect 4.0 GPA!).

I definitely enjoy it, and hope to continue it once I'm back in the US (which isn't very long now). I wouldn't recommend yoga as a hangover cure. Especially when said hangover was caused by quite a few pints the night before at a rugby game.

I went with a couple of co-workers to Allianz Stadium to watch an NRL (National Rugby League) game of the South Sydney Rabbitohs (tied for 1st place) vs the Wests Tigers (2nd to last place).

 VS

This is the same stadium I saw the other rugby game a few months ago (British and Irish Lions vs NSW Warritahs) but a different form of rugby (Rugby League instead of Rugby Union).

The main difference is that in League, each team has 6 tackles before turning the ball over or kicking it away. This is basically their version of the 4 downs in American Football. The other main difference was that the 1st game was a full house and pretty raucous atmosphere. Not so much last night:

One of the guys from work is an avid Rabbitohs supporter so that's who I rooted for. Unfortunately the Tigers started off on fire scoring the first 18 points of the match: 3 tries (touchdowns) worth 4 pts each followed by the 3 field goals (extra points) worth 2 pts each.

Wests Tigers kicking a field goal

Not to worry though as the Rabbitohs coach lit a fire under them for the 2nd half and they ended up scoring 32 unanswered points to win 32-14. You can read the roundup clicking here

I may try to snag some tickets for next week's Rabbitohs vs Roosters match deciding the league's minor premiership (championship), as it should be a more lively crowd. All in all, had a great time and it made me look forward to the start of the NFL next week, which I'll watch Monday morning in the office.

Speaking of the NFL, last weekend I skyped into one of my Fantasy Football drafts on Sunday morning Australia 2am-5am, and afterwards headed out to the Castle Hill Showgrounds for the 2013 New South Whales Homebrew Competition. My mate and I were stewarding (volunteering) to help out the judges and got to taste most of the entries. Unfortunately, the beers I entered did not do so well, but my mate got 6th place in the Australia Pale Ale category. Still had a lot of fun and got to meet fellow homebrewer's and got to learn a lot.

In case you were expecting the competition to be a big festival, it's not. Just a couple of beer nerds tasting over 500 entries:

It's crazy how fast this year has flown by. Before you know it, i'll be back in Boston. For preparation, this week I watched The Departed. Seemed to be good timing with the recent Whitey Bulger verdict

THE DEPAHTED - 2006 (points for Boston accented title)

An undercover state cop who has infiltrated an Irish gang and a mole in the police force working for the same mob race to track down and identify each other before being exposed to the enemy, after both sides realize their outfit has a rat.







Starring Leo (so redeeming to see him in this after the garbage that was The Great Gatsby), Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Jack Donaghy Alec Baldwin, Mark Walhberg, Charlie Sheen's dad, and directed by Martin Scorcese. Oh yea, it also has Vera Farmiga, but I haven't seen her in anything else, and usually refer to her as 'the woman from The Departed'.

I actually find this movie a little overrated with all the hype with the cast when it came out. I thought Nicholson was pretty weak, and Baldwin's accent is horrible (sounds more like Mayor Quimby from the Simpsons). Wahlberg's character is hilarious, but wasn't in enough scenes. Plus some of the 'Boston' scenes were actually shot in Brooklyn. 

Score:

Mote's Reunion countdown: 21 days! 

"Winter"

Can't believe I only have just over a month left in Australia. Sometimes it feels like I just got here. As excited as I am to return to the US, there are some things I will miss about Australia.

Including the weather. I put winter in quotes in the title because we are technically still in winter (June-August) but you wouldn't think so today:

 A brutal 75 degree (F) day at Manly today. I dusted off the surfboard and caught some waves this afternoon. Soooooo not looking forward to trading in the winter surfboard for a snow shovel next year

With Mere back in the States, I don't have anyone to weekend bully - basically harass her to do things during the weekend. At least I'm not as bad as this guy:



So, I'm left to bully myself. Before surfing, I headed up to the International College of Management in Manly...otherwise known as Gatsby's mansion in the remake of the Great Gatsby. Unfortunately, it was under construction, so it was a little disappointing. Much like the remake. Bazinga!

I met up with some friends for Pizza on Sunday night. For those who don't know, I loooooove Pizza. It's like a drug for me (making the below picture I took in Wellington irrelevant)

The one food I miss most is American pizza. It isn't easy finding many places that will sell pizza by the slice, let alone a decent pizza by the slice. Mere and I tried every pizza place near us in Manly and were underwhelmed. Well, almost every place. We hadn't been to Manly Pizza and Wine, which I tried tonight. Now, we are pretty picky when it comes to pizza. Our go to pizza is grilled chicken, spinach, feta cheese, and pineapple. When we would order this back home, a lot of places would ask if Mere was pregnant b/c of those toppings. So, you can imagine my surprise when I get to Manly Pizza and Wine (a place we hadn't been to) and look at their menu:

Literally, the 1st pizza listed on the menu!!!! And the pizzas turned out to be the best I've had in Manly (sorry Mere)

Boston Movie Review
Click to see my past reviews (reviews typically towards bottom of entry):
1.The Friends of Eddie Coyle
2. The Verdict
3. The Thomas Crown Affair
4. Ray Donovan

This week I watched probably the only non-crime related Boston movie:

Next Stop Wonderland (1998)

An unlucky in love nurse finds her life taking a detour when her mother places a personals ad in the paper, while on the other side of Boston, a plumber is trying to change careers.







This movie was very 90's - it felt like an extended episodes of Friends if it took place in Boston crossed with the movie Serendipity. Complete with the hopeless romantic with a burdening mom (Hope Davis also known from The Newsroom), the wannabe activist ex-boyfriend (Philip Seymour Hoffman!!!!!!! Really!!!), and the love interest - a plumber trying to become a marine biologist (some guy I've never even heard of). Great cameos from the Boston comedy scene: John Benjamin - the voice of Archer on FX), Richard Klein, Jimmy Tingle, Steve Sweeney. It even has Lyn Vaus (DeAngelo from The Wire).
Most of the movie takes place in the Aquarium, the South End, and The Burren in Somerville! Have had many a great nights at the The Burren.
This movie is a typical rom-com, and feels really dated. Didn't do much for me other than the locations and the fact that it holds the record for most Sam Adams drank on camera throughout a movie.

Rating:

Motes Reunion Countdown: 32 days!

-Note: for those who don't know, the 'Motes' nickname is a derivation of Mota (combination of Meredith-Ota) which we then turned into Mot-ski's, and then shortened to Motes. Beats my nickname from Mere, which was Marky-Poo and luckily shortened to Moopy/Moops - which Mere has apparently been tagging on the trains in Sydney:

Return to the Shire and reaching Beervana

After 10 years, I made my return to New Zealand. I spent a month in NZ my sophomore year of uni college and absolutely loved it. Most of that trip was spent risking my life in every extreme sport imaginable. This trip was a little less intense.

Being so far from home, the world can seem ginormous at times. Not so this weekend. My buddy from work and I booked our trip to Wellington (the capital of New Zealand) in order to attend the beer festival known as Beervana. I figured I'd wear my Elon t-shirt as a tribute to the institution that exposed me to this great country, and gave me the travel bug-which was a factor in my move to Australia for the year. While in line at one of the bars, I met a kid who didn't go to Elon, but actually grew up in the town of Elon (which I think has a graduating high school class of about 50 each year). What are the odds?
Here is where the world gets even smaller. One of our good friends from Elon (who is also married to one of my best friends from Elon) went on the New Zealand trip with me 10 years ago. This year, her sister is traveling New Zealand through a work grant, and just so happened to be in Wellington this weekend as well. Her trip through New Zealand is a little lot more noble than mine was (beer). You can read about her adventures here: http://adventuresofkiwilife.blogspot.com.au/

 Probably my favorite brewery in OZ/NZ. They had huge lines the whole time and a 'workshop' serving a beer slushy, beer jello, and...

Their porter (Cockswains Courage) topped with sugar and caramelized with a fire poker

My mate posing with 2 Fräuleins

Wellington is such a cool city, with more bars and restaurants than New York City! (Ok, more bars/restaurants per capita than NYC, but still). Everyone was super friendly all weekend as well, something I remember about the Kiwis from my first trip. Well, almost everyone. There was one guy at a bar who told us why he didn't like the US. He was wearing a Yankees hat (figures), so he immediately lost all credibility.

From a recommendation we stumbled upon Viva Mexico!  - this awesome little mexican joint that could've been in a strip mall in Arizona. So good!

A picture of Cuba St with shops/cafes/restaurants on both sides. We saw a guy juggling fire here the 1st night. (10 years ago I saw a guy juggling chainsaws on this street, so clearly not much has changed). This is also the street where I called my folks from a pay phone to tell them I had successfully bungee jumped and sky-dived (or should it be sky-dove?) because I didn't want to tell them before and freak them out

We were able to squeeze in about 5 minutes of culture driving up to the top of Mt. Victoria for a 360 degree view of Wellington. The surrounding greens below the mountain were used for the first scene in The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy, but the views were still amazing from the top. (Of course, it was absolutely gorgeous out when we were inside drinking all day durning Beervana)

Left: A view of the harbor

Right: I remember the cricket pitch (field) in the middle from a picture I took on my first trip 

 A Maori totem pole on the top of the mountain

It felt like an entire weekend of deja vu. There were some things I remembered distinctly from my first trip to Wellington. I wish I could've have spent a little more time in Wellington and actually the rest of New Zealand. Maybe it's because it was my first international experience (sorry Canada, you don't count), but I hold a special place for New Zealand in my heart, and will try to get back there agains some day.

More monopoly money, just like Australia. Only they have birds on all of their bills. 

 One of my favorite parts of New Zealand...the ice cream! Can't go wrong with Tip Top!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time this week to review a Boston themed movie. Part of the reason is that I've been watching Showtime's new series: Ray Donovan. The main character, Ray Donovan (I know, so shocking!) played by Liev Schreiber, is from Boston, and the show has enough 'Boston' in it for me to include it in here.

Ray Donovan, a professional "fixer" for the rich and famous in LA, can make anyone's problems disappear except those created by his own family.

First off, this is the new show from the creator of Southland - another great recommendation by my twin brother, John - but to be fair, for every great show he's recommended, there are 5 terrible ones he recommends (see Burn Notice) He's like an 80's/early 90's power hitter in baseball. Not a great average, but when he hits one, its out of the park. John is the Rob Deer movie recommendations.

Southland was one of mine and Mere's favorite shows. Unfortunately Southland was cancelled after its 5th season a couple of months ago - and Mere swears the Nielsen Ratings people are specifically targeting her shows to cancel (Southland, Perfect Couples, Happy Endings). It starred one of her 3 tv 'boyfriends' - Ben McKenzie as Officer Ben Sherman. The other 2 (since you're obviously curious) are Timothy Olyphant (pronounced by Mere as 'Olympic Elephant' for some reason) as Raylan Givens on Justified, and the amazing Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.....

Wow, talk about a tangent. Back to Ray Donovan. The show has some great characters with a mix of good and terrible accents. John Voigt plays the patriarch of the Donovan family, Mickey and has some great lines. One of which he quotes the great Mike LaPierre (my dad) when saying: "Smile and the world smiles with you". Granted my dad may not have come up with the saying (blasphemy!) but he said it to us every morning dropping us off at school. And would only drive off if we gave him a smile. Otherwise, he would lean on the horn until we did (which isn't the coolest way to start high school).

Rating:

I like it, but it has too much of an LA/Entourage influence for me.

Official Mote's Reunion Countdown: 37 days!

4 Pines and the Manly Spit Walk

In between almost burning down my balcony due to a grease fire in my barbie (grill) I was able to knock off 2 bucket list items this weekend:

1. Do the Spit Bridge to Manly walk
2. Volunteer at 4 Pines Brewery for a brew day

Since we moved to Manly, everyone told us we had to make the Spit Bridge to Manly hike along the coastline for the amazing views. I figured I'd better go this weekend, because if I put it off any longer (as I have been for the past 10 months), I wouldn't do it. Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day to make the 3.5hr, 10km coastal trek, and I was able to convince a couple of friends do it with me.
I think Mere attempted to do the walk while she was over here, but I think she said she got lost at some point - so I tempered my expectations.


Well, the dividends paid off pretty quickly as we passed Clontarf beach - a dog friendly spot that had a bunch of them running and swimming.

It reminded me of this guy:

The hike is littered with beaches and inlets along the coast. We found a nice rock cliff to stop and have lunch

A panoramic of the harbor

Overall, a nice way to spend a Sunday

Also this weekend I went to 4 Pines Brewery in Brookvale (a suburb of Manly) to help out on a brew day. 4 Pines has a restaurant in Manly where they still brew small batches. Their production brewery is in Brooky (local slang for Brookvale) which opened last September. Fun fact on how they chose the name 4 Pines:

During WWII, 4 pine trees were removed from the Manly shorefront to install machine gun emplacements. A plaque on the stump of one of the 4 pines read:

“This and three other trees were removed for defence purposes in December 1941 when these shores were threatened with invasion. Their absence is a reminder of the many greater sacrifices made to preserve this fair land for the people of Australia”.

I joined the head brewer and an assistant brewer at 6am to brew 6,000 Liters of their Kolsch (a German pale ale). It was a pretty hands off experience other than emptying some grain sacks and measuring out the hops, but all of the brewers were super friendly very helpful explaining all of the processes and equipment.

Picture of the Kettle where the grain goes to boil after stops in the Mash and Lauter Tuns.

My joystick for the day...just kidding. Obviously they wouldn't let me touch any of the buttons for good reason

A view of the Brite Tanks where the beer conditions for a couple of weeks before it is bottled/kegged

In further preparation for my return to Boston, I watched the original Thomas Crown Affair (not the one with James Bond Pierce Brosnan) because the original took place in Boston.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

A debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with a sexy insurance investigator who will do anything to get her man.









Starring the badass Steve McQueen himself (from such masterpieces as Bullitt and The Great Escape) as Thomas Crown. Also starring Faye Dunaway (of Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown fame) and some guy named Biff McGuire who I wouldn't know from anything, but wanted to point out his actual name is Biff. A name made popular by a chum of the Hardy Boys and nearly destroyed by Back to the Future.

I'd like to give this movie a higher rating, but it is extremely outdated. The music, especially the opening song, is terrible. Wait, what's that? It won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and nominated for Best Original Score?????? (not making this up) Click this link if you want to make your ears bleed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAGGTVft5Lk

Even with all of the great shots of 1968 Boston - which especially hit close to home (Mass Pike, Beacon Hill, the North End, South Station, The Charles, Mt Auburn Cemetery, BELMONT COUNTRY CLUB!!!!!!!), I liked the remake better, which, ironically, had great music. Maybe it's because Talib Kweli used it in his hit Get By :http://vimeo.com/63362637 (editorial note: I was still into my hip-hop phase when that album dropped).

Countdown to Mote's Reunion: 47 days