Imported Beer Lies!!

Its been a long time between posts I know. I guess I lost faith in blogging for a little while, but now I am pissed off again and need an outlet to vent my frustration. So here goes:

I was down at Dan Murphy's bottle shop this weekend and decided I was going to splash out a bit and spend the extra $15 or so to buy my favourite beer in the world - Asahi Super Dry. It's around $56 a case compared to around $40 for good local beer. Shit local beer like VB and Tooheys New is around $30 a case. Anyway, just as I was about to pick up the case of Asahi, my wife tells me its made in Thailand. WHAT!!! THE!!! F**K!!!???

I check it and she's right - it says "Product of Thailand" on the bottles and cans. The carton also has "For Export Only" written on it. I am completely stunned and shocked. I knew that many European brands were now brewing their beer "Under strict supervision" (bullshit) in Australia, and some even in Canada (just so they can still claim its "Fully Imported"), but I thought Asahi were different. I was wrong.

A few weeks ago I bought a case of Kronenburg 1664 from the same Dan Murphy's. I was very happy to get it for just $42... until I got home and drank it. The first sip tasted very plain, and very familiar. I tasted it again. It tastes exactly like Crown Lager. Maybe a little bit more stale. I check the bottle. OMFG - its brewed in Australia by Fosters. That to me makes it Fosters, not Kronenburg.

The reason is in the ingredients. What is the main ingredient in beer? Water.
Does water from Melbourne taste the same as water from the French Alps? No.
Does water from hot humid Thailand taste the same as water from the Japan Alps? No.

Heineken, Stella, Kirin, are all doing the same thing. I believe Becks is still made in Germany. All tragic victims of globalisation. But at what expense? I don't know about anyone else, but I for one will not stand for it. I will no longer buy a beer unless it is genuinely brewed where it originally was brewed.

So I bought my second favourite beer - James Boags Premium. A wonderfully flavoured Tasmanian beer. Made with Tasmanian spring water, hops, barley and all local fresh ingredients. A good honest beer. If I ever drink Asahi again, I guess it will be in Japan.

Here is a list of beers brewed in Thailand: http://www.pattaya-food-drink.com/beers.htm
This blogger says the Thai beer is much worse. Lucky I didn't buy it.

NRL August

The big news in the last couple weeks has been Sonny Bill Williams and his sudden departure to play rugby union in France. Although this is big news in itself, what it has done is highlighted the underlying problems of the NRL and of the sport of rugby league in general.

There are just so many problems with the game, I don't know where to start. Due to the controversy surrounding Sonny Bill's departure, many people were made aware that the NRL is actually owned by News Limited, which owns the Brisbane Broncos. That was a surprise to me, but it explains why the Broncos match is always shown on tv. News Limited owns channel Nine and Foxtel!! Is this true? I should verify, but can't be bothered.

Anyway, the reason I bring up the Broncos is because of an argument I heard from the NRL CEO about the salary cap. He claims it is needed to keep the teams even. If thats the only reason for the cap, then it should definitely be abolished, since it is obviously not working anyway. You have the same two teams dominating the league and taking the best players for many years. Look at the Broncos, who have somehow been able to acquire 10 State of Origin players, and Melbourne Storm, who have about 12 Origin reps.

Not only that, but it seems these two teams are above the law. Watching the Storm match last week, they seem to be allowed to slow the ruck down every time and not pay the penalty. Likewise, the Broncos are allowed to be offside when near their own tryline and committed professional fouls at least twice against the Raiders but were only penalised.

I have to commend the Raiders on their spirited performance against a biased referee and a far superior team. The number 15 for the Raiders is the man of the match so far. However the Raiders are stupid. There were so many good chances gone begging because they passed the wrong way.

Rocket Car Race Day 9 Marrickville

There were thrills and spills in the 9th Rocketcar Race Day in Marrickville. In this event, people bring their homemade rocketcars and the winner is the one whose rocket goes the furthest, although there were also awards for coolest rocketcar and most dangerous rocketcar. The rules are pretty simple, the car must be propelled with just one rocket. Thats about it. Although just for fun, there was one ultra supersonic rocketcar (pictured above) that had three rockets!! It was awesome!!!

There was also a car, or should I say a rocket, that was propelled by a fire extinguisher. This was also awesome!! In between the action of the rocketcars there were also jumbo jets flying very low over our heads and the occasional semi-trailer. All in all it was pretty cool to see. I believe the official website is here
Check out the videos!! Yeah rock on!!

Sushi Tengoku - not any more

Thursday night, I was craving sushi. There was one condition: it had to be BYO, because I had in my possession a killer bottle of Eden Valley Reisling. James Busby I believe, but I can't remember the exact name. Anyway, I know that this wine goes very well with sushi.

When I was attending university at UNSW back in the day, I remember going to a little hole in the wall on Anzac Parade, Kensington called Sushi Tengoku. This literally translates to "Sushi Heaven". From my previous experience I remember they had a very good pipi miso soup and also that the sushi was delicious, made with generous large pieces of fish.

I was excited to go back, alas I was to be disappointed. First of all, as my friend and I entered the restaurant we were greeted with stares from hungry looking customers, but not a single waiter or waitress in sight. The decorations were non-existent except for some soy sauce stains spattered on the walls.

The decor was horrible and the table was sticky. Ambience: minus 20.
The only waiter in the place finally emerged but did not acknowledge us. Finally, I found what was supposedly a menu, but was actually a piece of paper that we were supposed to fill out with the number of each item we wanted. My friend and I were trying to contain our disgust so we decided that we should at least try what we came for: the asari miso soup (pipi or vongole inside). I searched that list, but to my horror, I could not find it. That was the final straw. We got up and left...for Sushi Suma!!

When we arrived at Suma (http://www.sushisuma.com/), we were so relieved to be acknowledged by a waitress, who asked us politely to wait in the waiting room upstairs. We didn't mind this at all since the ambience and decor was two hundred times better than Sushi Tengoku and we could order from a proper menu. We were even given clean wine glasses so we could start drinking while we waited.

It didn't take long before we were seated downstairs and our food was immediately brought to us. Compared to this, Sushi Tengoku could have been called Sushi Jigoku (hell).
The food was great here, I loved the sushi, but the Crab Croquette is my personal favourite. The wine went well with all the food here too and the corkage was ridiculously cheap.

At the end of the night I was again pleasantly surprised. This time by how reasonable the bill was. As I sit here writing this review, I can't help but feel disappointment for Sushi Tengoku. The place had so much potential, but it's as if the owner has just given up and lost inspiration. They could really use some help. I want Chopping Block (I think thats what its called the restaurant tv show), to help them out and really kick their asses. And bring back the miso soup!!

Hitman the movie review

I've played the hitman game before on PS2 and wasn't too impressed. I might like it better on PC.

So I just finished watching the Hitman movie and since I was expecting it to be utter shite, I wasn't too disappointed. There were some good action scenes, cool weapons, a somewhat suspenseful plot and as a bonus some nice T & A.

Oh and some nice cars too. I noticed Audi were a sponsor of the movie and there were some sweet Audi cars used throughout the movie.

I found a few things annoying, like the way the hitmen walk around with bald heads and a big barcode tattooed to the back of their heads and nobody seems to think this is strange... and the ugly red tie - whats with that? Can't a hitman have some fashion sense? I thought the whole idea of the hitman was that he is a master of disguise. Also, the hitman guy doesn't even let the hot Russian chick f#*k him. Is he gay? The chick has a great body, I liked her and I'm glad she didn't get killed. I wish they'd shown more of her torture scene though.

I realise that they tried to be true to the game, but if so why did they use such a pissweak actor to be Agent 47. He had a gay American accent and his face was weird. If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about - for example, the scene in the car where he's supposed to be angry at the russian chick: he just seemed like a confused homo, not a coldblooded killer.

The action scenes were pretty cool. Hitman really knows how to kill people good. All in all I give the movie 7/10. Would I recommend watching it? Nah.

Mardi Gras : Gay

Went to see the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade last night. I wasn't going to go since I've already seen it a hundred times, but a Japanese friend of mine had never seen it so I went with her. Pardon my French, but it was the same shite as last year and the year before that. My Japanese friend loved it and had a great time. Although I watched until the end, I wasn't all that thrilled about the parade. There were the same old characters and no real entertainment value. The most interesting part of it was watching the people in crowd who were mostly drunk, and also some young people who were obviously on ecstasy or weed or both.

Gay friends of mine tell me the real party starts after the parade, but even if you're gay or lesbian, the tickets are hard to come by and you have to be super good-looking to get into the best parties.

I don't think I'll go to Mardi Gras next year. First of all I'm not gay. Second, its just going to be the same old shit. Seeing men dressed in drag just doesn't do it for me. I guess I'm getting old, but I'd rather watch men dressed in Armani or Hugo Boss showing off the latest fashions.

Anyway that was my rant on the Mardi Gras.

Why Airsoft guns are illegal in Australia

When I was in Japan, I used to love playing with Airsoft guns. Indeed in the short time I was there, I amassed a small arsenal of guns. My favourite was my XM177 "Colt" rifle. Anyway, time came to come back to Australia and I brought a bunch of my guns back with me. I just couldn't part with my babies. In Japan I had shot pigeons and even had full-on "wars" with my friends there, but we all wore face protection and were generally pretty responsible. However, when I showed my guns to my friends in Australia, they went ballistic and just the first thing they did was run around shooting each other, aiming for their faces! Within two days, the guns were all broken, there were BBs all over the house and it was a miracle that nobody was blinded. I even had classmates come and ask if they could "borrow a gun to hold up a petrol station."

Luckily I didn't show them my fully automatic guns, but these eventually broke down due to aging rubber parts within.

The point I'm trying to make here is that most Australian teens are incredibly irresponsible and I am really glad they don't have access to these guns. Its really unfortunate because I love those Airsoft guns. Totally different to a real gun, because first of all, they aren't loud, so I can shoot them in my backyard. Second, they don't kill. Third, they just look and feel awesome!

So thats why I didn't sign the petition to legalize Airsoft in Australia. That said, if I ever go back to live in Japan, I will begin collecting again. First purchase will probably be a nice Glock pistol, and then probably one of those battery powered fully auto Mp5s. What about that M134 minigun!