Thanks Russell

Introducing Bellatron

Bored of Life? Tired of watching Reality TV? Check out the adventures of Bellatron as she takes on the world one slug of vodka at a time! Infamous for her battles with the evil Decepticons such as Starscream, she'll take on any one, even an entire race of Kali Ma! When Bellatron is not leaving a sea of broken hearts in her wake, she's been known to give Superman a hand fighting the good fight, heck she's had plenty of Kills, Spills and Thrills!

Bellatron's most recent project has been to produce U2's new album, Cyber Love. 

There and Back Again - Peter Jackson back in Hobbiton

Today the filming of the Hobbit began and NZ's greatest film maker put a picture of him up on his Facebook page - looking much more trim than when he first filmed the originally LOTR Trilogy.

Nice work !

Show's you what a healthy diet can do for you eh?

The two shots are of the same stage setting for the Hobbit (well same same but different)  - It's where Bilbo Baggins lived in Hobbiton.

I just love how Peter appears to be wearing the same boots and thought to use the pipe again for the photo reshoot. Let's hope whatever is in the pipe has helped him dream up some fantastic adventures for the Hobbit characters!

Fill the Basin, they said, so that's what Wellington did

Basin: Filled

I was lucky enough to go to the Christchurch Earthquake Support Cricket Match at the Basin Reserve today. Billed as 'Fill the Basin' it was a classic Wellington crowd, there to show their support for the Canturbury region and maybe to see a few living legends of New Zealand cricket hit a few sixes.

Nathan Astle showed us how it was done with a smashing half century, well partnered by one of the original brigade of one day big hitters, Mark Greatbatch.

Sitting in the sun, having a cold Steinlager watching Martin Crowe, Ewan Chatfield and one of my favourite players of all time Andrew Jones have a slap around the pack was a real treat.

The Prime Minister, John Key, turned up as he was offered the chance to face an over off Shane Warne, and if he did, Fujitsu would donate a $100,000 to the Christchurch appeal fund. After bowling a cheeky underarm ball first up, Shane threw John a pie which was duly hit through square leg for a four. And then took him for more runs. The PM was a bit brave doing all this as he could have looked a bit stupid if he fucked it up, but he came off well and possibly won over a few new fans. I'm sure Phil Goff was green with envy he couldn't be out there....

Shane Warne, Sir Paddles and a visitor from Hawke's Bay

Sir Ian McKellen, known to millions as Gandalf was on hand as well performing match referee duties. Mauled by fans, he spent the entire second innings out on the Embankment with the happy punters collecting donations and having his photo taken by everyone. He seemed bloody genuine and it was nice to see a see an A lister in town. The same should be said of the Gladiator himself, Russell Crowe who had also flown out to show his support. Turns out his dad was born in Christchurch.

I think the day's honours should go to Shane Warne. I've given the man a lot of shite in the past but he flew over and did his thing for free (like everyone else involved with the day). He was a legend with the kids from his place on the boundary line. He signed a million autographs and at one stage had a line of kids taking turns to 'walk in' with him for each ball bowled. Sometimes he was so busy he missed some of the action. The ladies sure loved him and his white teeth!

Somehow (I suspect Greer was involved) my tweet about Shane managed to make it on the the Stuff page Apologies for bad spelling and punctuation :

In the end, despite some big hitting by the crowd pleasing Tana Umaga, the Wellington Legends team fell slightly short of the total required but I'm pretty sure no one cared. It was a great afternoon of cricket, serving up a good dose of fun and cheer following the shit few weeks Christchurch has had.