A harrowing week makes you wonder

I DON’T know about you, but I really enjoyed watching the Wests Tigers v Parra match on Friday night.

But it wasn’t just the action-packed on-field drama that had my sons and me on the edge of our seats. [Read more]

Watch out! The wild things are coming.

Many adults have fond memories of Maurice Sendak’s wonderful book for kids, Where the wild things are.

Younger adults remember having it read to them; older people remember reading it to their kids.

Published in 1963, this imaginative book with beautiful, evocative illustrations won a book of the year award and has become a much-loved classic.

A movie based on it will be released in December. [Read more]

Aussie pride perverted? – Cronulla riot YouTube videos

If you live in Cronulla and care about how the world sees your locality you may wish the video sharing site www.youtube.com didn’t exist.

Thirty seconds into the top rated video that appears when you type “cronulla” into the YouTube search engine you hear a female voice saying: “…we fought the Japanese, we will fight the Lebanese and we will take our country back,” and it gets worse.

The video, titled “The Truth About Cronulla Part 1″  is the first of 11 “Cronulla riot” related videos which constitute half the total number of videos on the first search results page.

Related videos on the YouTube site include titles such as, “Aussies Fight Back”, “Armed MC – Cronulla Riots New World Order in Australia” and “Cronulla OI (Australia) – The Showdown”.

Search for “cronulla” using the Google search engine and the top result is a fairly innocuous looking Wikipedia entry containing historic and geographical notes relating to Cronulla, however the second result is titled “2005 Cronulla riots” (link here) and contains detailed accounts of the riots that made news around the world.

Is this the face of Cronulla we want the world to see?

Should YouTube be asked to take down these and other similar videos?

Do these videos incite racial hatred?

Let us know what you think below.

Note: TheSauce understands that the mere mention of these YouTube videos and the so-called Cronulla riots is providing public exposure for the people responsible for uploading the videos in the first place. Our intention is not to inflame racial hatred, but to draw our readers’ attention to material that is already in the public domain and being seen by tens-of-thousands of people around the world: People who, along with many thousands of Sydneysiders have no way of gaining a realistic perspective on the issues portrayed in these videos by people pushing their own (self-serving) agendas.

Links to stories related to removal of YouTube videos:

YouTube declines request to remove Terrorist-produced videos

YouTube to comply with request to remove Viacom videos

Erie police try to remove video from YouTube

YouTube asked to remove dissident republican videos

Prove me wrong, I dare you… hello?

UNFORTUNATELY, I don’t always make the best choices when it comes to men.

You name a type of unavailable guy and I’ve been there.

The One who did not want a girlfriend … the One who decides to go for round two with their ex … and worst of all, the One who already has a girlfriend. [Read more]

Regular exercise, $100 Nikes and a big stick

Vowing to exercise regularly has become a cliche. I revisit the idea at least once a month.

It’s featured as part of my new year’s resolutions, columns about my ever- growing to-do lists, about hiring treadmills, and let’s not forget my little series re: getting up at the crack of dawn and pounding the pavement in my post-Easter 2008 columns.

(I’m counting on no one remembering what I write from one week to the next, let alone from two years ago).

So far my resolve lasts about as long as it takes a newspaper to get to print. This time is different though. This time I have bought the right shoes.

“Apparently 12-year-olds only respond to cash, not emotional blackmail. Particularly when he hates getting out of bed in the mornings as much as I do.”

Now that I have the cutest pair of pink and grey Nikes imaginable, I’m sure I’ll be able to stick with a regular program.

I saw them when buying soccer-related paraphernalia for the kids last weekend, and the minute I tried them on I felt all sporty and athletic.

Trust the hubby to point out the absurdity of paying $100 for a pair of running shoes when I haven’t run anywhere since the 1980s.

He’s missing the point entirely. It’s like one of those chicken/egg arguments. The shoes must come first. When I’m wearing them I can just picture myself bounding along on an early morning jog before my breakfast of wheatgrass and ginseng-infused something-or-other.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. First I have to wear them outside of the house (unless it’s raining; they’re too pretty to get wet).

I’ve asked the first born to help me get motivated. I’ve suggested his job could be shaking me vigorously at 6am and then chasing me down to the park with a big stick.

When I asked if he knows what a personal trainer does, he replied: “Make lots of money?”

Turns out he’s only willing to help if he’s remunerated accordingly – as if potentially adding years to his mother’s life wasn’t reward enough.

Apparently 12-year-olds only respond to cash, not emotional blackmail. Particularly when he hates getting out of bed in the mornings as much as I do.

Not to mention that he and his siblings benefit from the status quo: at the moment they can outrun me when required, so it’s in their best interests to keep things that way.

Shell’s Clyde oil refinery is an industrial symphony

Smack bang in the middle of Sydney is Shell’s Clyde oil refinery.

I know this is sad, but the place fascinates me. I stare from my office window at its tall exhaust stacks, one or two of them always throwing a giant flame. Are they western Sydney’s tallest objects?
[Read more]

Cahill to miss Korean clash

Midfielder Tim Cahill and captain Lucas Neill do not feature in Pim Verbeek’s 24-man Socceroo squad for the upcoming international friendly match against the Korea Republic in Seoul on September 5.

Cahill has been given a break from international duties by Verbeek while doubts have been raised over the fitness of Neill who has had an extended off-season and remains clubless. [Read more]

The Surf Report 26/08/09

It’s a massive, heaving mass of flatness. 0ne foot and cranky, but extremely clean.
The howling norwester that hit early this morning has passed and conditions are perfect….for skimboarding.

The forecast for the week coming isn’t good either, with one to two feet all that we can hope for. [Read more]

Baulkham Hills Falcon wins Hawks scholarship

JACKSON Dwyer, 15, is the latest player to land himself a scholarship with an elite AFL club.

The Castle Hill High School student has signed for three years with the Hawthorn Football Club, now his favourite club.

“I was pretty shocked. It’s so exciting,” he told the Hills News. [Read more]

Winning Parramatta Eels are far from a one man show

IT’S the players Parramatta rejects that make it the best. Well, that piscatorial plagiarism isn’t quite right.

Parramatta aren’t yet the best and there haven’t been rejections, yet, but the theme is right.

Despite the wonders he now weekly performs in mysterious ways, Jarryd Hayne isn’t Parramatta.

Their best has seen the Eels win five straight games but that best has depended on Hayne + 16. [Read more]

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