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Prize drives Kurtley crazy

KURTLEY Beale is the proud owner of a $45,000 luxury Mazda. It’s just a shame he doesn’t have a licence to drive it.

As the outstanding player of the Australian Rugby Championship this season, the 18-year-old Western Sydney Rams five-eighth was handed the keys to his flash new set of wheels at the Australian International Motor Show at Darling Harbour yesterday.

But sitting in his new CX-7 is all the teenager can do for the time being.

Last January he was banned from holding a licence for nine months for drink-driving while unlicensed in Mt Druitt.

Beale said the incident was a real wake-up call and believes it helped him focus on his rugby.

“That was just a silly thing I did,” Beale said as he beamed like a kid who had just opened his Christmas present.

“I did wrong and learnt a lot and won’t do it again.”

Being unable to drive made life very difficult in Beale’s first year with the NSW Waratahs.

“At the start of the year I was catching trains in from Mt Druitt to Central. If I got the slow train it would take an hour and a half,” Beale revealed.

When the licence ban finished last week, Beale started studying for the multiple choice exam to get his L-plates, unaware he was about to win his first set of wheels.

In his first year out of school, Beale made his Super 14 debut with NSW before turning in some brilliant displays for the Rams.

An excited Beale had difficulty unlocking the door before sliding into the driver’s seat of his prize yesterday.

“It’s awesome to receive such an award just for playing rugby,” he said.

But now the hard work starts before he can start enjoying the fruits of his labour.

“It’s like going back to school, I’m sick of studying. But if I get them (L plates), I can practise in this,” he said, looking proudly at his new car.

“I think you pay 30 bucks a go, so I want to get it all right on the day.

“I have to get my licence to be able to drive it around so that may take a couple of years - I might have to lock it up,” he laughed.

Receiving the award was also a chance for Beale to remember his grandfather Raymond Beale, the most positive influence on his life, who recently passed away.

“I’m sure he’s here now looking down on me,” Beale said.

“This is for him right now. It’s been a pretty amazing journey - a long journey, hard and intense.”

The good news for Australian rugby is that Beale believes he will be a far better player next season.

“I say that with a lot of confidence, not arrogance,” he said. “I’ve really developed my game pretty strongly over the ARC and learnt to control the game and guide the boys around the park,” he said.

With Steve Larkham now retired, Beale is ready to stake his claim for the Wallabies’ No. 10 jumper next year.

“The door is open, so anyone can go and have a dig at it,” he said. “I just don’t want to focus on it too much because you will just get overawed and your mind might go a bit silly.”
Original

Hugh II: The Nedessey Continues… Part 1

We’re reaching halftime in the early games and the instant messages are really starting to pile up, this means it’s time for your first dose of the Hugh! Illinois and North Carolina are winning big over Wisconsin and and Miami respectively and everybody’s a bit freaked out. Let’s all just take a big deep breath while we wait patiently for LSU/Florida. Thanks to Awful Announcing for snagging the screen shot from ESPN’s Gameday. Even LSU fans are gay for the Gainsville Superman!I don’t know if anyone mentioned it yet but the funniest sign (for shock value) was “Tebow (heart)’s Coach Urban Meyer”. The only problem I, as a Gator fan, have with that sign is the C, U, and M were bigger than the other letters. Bastard LSU fans… -TattooedMess(iah)

That picture of the badger poon you got up for the bets o the week, has Donovan’s girlfriend in it, far right blonde in the middle, this is not a joke, just a fact. -dbach, oregon, WI

My cousin Mose calls Eastern Michigan University “Garbage” because they play like garbage. But they’re playing Michigan on the Big Ten Network, so they’ll probably win. Thanks a million, Lloyd Carr. -goathair

17-0 Illinois, 27-0 UNC…. the best football on right now is Friday Night Lights on USA. Coach Taylor will make for one helluva coach at TMU. -USCKB

i am a wisconsin student who got a flat tire and got stranded in the middle of nowhere in illinois last night and now wisconsin is shitting the bed against the illini…at least im not a notre dame fan. -Nebagamon4Life

The shirt that Coach Zook is wearing is showing his man-nipples. That’s going to replace Charlie Weiss mudwrestling in my nightmares. -Jame815

Badger fans, don’t worry just yet. Ron Zook will arrive soon enough - I Heart Poop

I can’t shake this disliking J Leman thing — not only for that painful “We put the Pain in Champaign” stuff, but because he just looks like someone who would own the customized “Pussy Wagon” truck out of Kill Bill and pump Winger full blast out of it. -Signal to Noise

Ron Zook is up to a 17-0 lead over Wisconsin and I’m just wondering how much money he slipped into Arrelious Benn’s and Rashard Mendenhall’s lockers prior to game time. -Signal to Noise (ed. note: Arrelious Benn’s integrity is beyond reproach.)

I think the ranks of Illini faithful have been swelled by everyone jumping off the Cubs’ bandwagon. -Zombie Jesus X

The commentators for K-State vs. Kansas were talking about how the strong winds might blow the players around today. One promptly deadpanned: it would take a hurricane to move Mark Mangino.-Chilltown

I would like to remind ESPN that LAST weekend with four Top 10 teams getting upset was more of a “Gut-Check Saturday” than this weekend could ever be. -Signal to Noise

Gut Check Saturday? Lame. ESPN must be punished. And is it even possible to have a gut check if you play in the Big 10? - Yunibomber

SU radio color guy and alumnus Chris Gedney: “Vincenzo Giruzzi should have made the tackle, but Pat White just outathleticised him.” That’s the power of an SU education — when you freely convert nouns to verbs. -bona1999

Boston College is up on Bowling Green 38-10, partially because Andre Callender has exploded for three touchdowns. And here I thought BC wide receiver Kevin Challenger was the explosive one. — Suss

Original

Gleams Theatre and Diamond Bookstore offer a new expression of live drama

Gleams Theatre and Diamond Bookstore will soon be offering a rare experience for theatre-lovers — contemporary plays performed in a cozy and intimate venue. Westmounters are being offered the thrill and fervour of live theatre in the warm and friendly atmosphere of a neighbourhood bookstore.

Gleams Theatre and Diamond Bookstore will celebrate their partnership with an opening and launch party on Sept. 7 at Diamond Bookstore. This fledgling collaboration, Gleams and Diamond Bookstore Theatre 21, will offer four productions per year, every Friday from September to June.

The first production, ‘Misreadings’, is composed of two short contemporary plays, and original music written and performed by Ira Sokolova.

Sokolova said the theatre group has often been described as having a distinctly “European flavour,” but points out that it actually incorporates many different approaches to drama. “Gleams Theatre is connected to theatrical art, philosophy and spirituality of drama,” she said.

Sokolova also refers to Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski, whose idea of drama was, as she put it, “to find the best representation of a play onstage… ways for actors to look natural onstage by finding the emotional and psychological truths hidden within the lines of a text.”

Sokolova has been involved in the performing arts since childhood. “It’s a rich life,” she said, “with many changes since I was a young girl, between acting, music, singing in night clubs, I can say that I have worked in every single job connected to theatre.”

Constantin Sokolov, Gleams Theatre director, is also a widely talented artist who draws, writes as well as being a gifted cameraman, director and photographer. Sokolova spoke with admiration about Sokolov’s scope of ideas and philosophy. “That doesn’t mean we don’t argue,” Sokolova said, “we will never stop arguing, but as an actor, I would never put myself in the hands of any other director.”

As Sokolov describes his work as a director, “it’s my own way to express myself to the world.”

Nina Youssefi, who bought Diamond Bookstore in 2004 with her husband, has realized a dream through the partnership with Gleams Theatre. They pride themselves on being an independent bookstore that caters to a vast range of literary needs, at the same time placing emphasis on promoting the arts. “We don’t turn anyone away,” says Youssefi of the atmosphere of Diamond Bookstore.

Youssefi also said “music, art, theatre, poetry, they all go hand in hand.” Of the collaboration of theatre and bookstore, she said “it’s much more moving, interesting and stimulating in a smaller context.”

Diamond Bookstore has seating for 21 audience members. Price of admission is $12, including refreshments. Performances begin this Friday, Sept. 7, along with the opening launch party at Diamond Bookstore, 5035 Sherbrooke St., W., corner Grey Avenue.

For reservations, call Diamond Bookstore at 514-481-3000; for more information on Gleams.

Original

‘I always support the lower classes’: Jimmy Cliff’s response to his adoption by Cameron

As David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, stepped off the conference podium at Blackpool on Wednesday to the strains of “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and the applause of the party faithful, their status as the first couple of the Conservative party was secure.

Even those who had doubted their leader now seem convinced that he is the man to lead them back to power. The Tories are so excited that they have even posted a film of the party leader’s moment of glory on their website, citing the song as part of the success of his closing speech.

But the reggae classic has roots that would drain the blue rinse from those who chanted along so chirpily; roots more associated with drugs and violence than the values that Conservatives hold so dear.

Jimmy Cliff’s song was the main score of the soundtrack to his film The Harder They Come; a Jamaican exploration of marijuana, gun crime and gang violence. The psychedelic poster for the film gives a hint of what is to come: a gun-toting gangster straddles a car, dressed in bling jewellery, sunglasses and a leopardskin shirt, he points the barrels of his shot guns menacingly in the air.

And no one is more bemused by Cameron’s song choice than Jimmy Cliff himself – or Dr Cliff, as he now likes to be known. “I’ve never voted in my life”, he said by telephone from the Jamaican capital, Kingston, yesterday. “But I’m from the lower class of society and I tend to support them rather than the upper class. It’s not that I don’t have friends or family in the upper classes – I do – but I always prefer to support the lower classes.”

The singer had just been told of his song’s political use, and made it clear he was no Cameronian. “One of my band mates called me this morning to tell me the news. I can’t stop them using the song, but I’m not a supporter of politics. I have heard of Cameron, but I’m not a supporter. I don’t support any politician. I just believe in right or wrong.”

Cliff makes an interesting choice for the Tories. Last night, a party spokesman said: “The song makes a good point, which echoed the theme of the conference: that if the public really want change they can have change.”

But, when confronted with some of the Conservatives’ policies – in particular their hardline stance on drugs - the singer said: “I’m not for hard drugs, but I don’t think marijuana should be against the law.”

Cliff has been outspoken in his songs, in particular using them to campaign for freedom and human rights. It is unlikely that the he will want his song to be a soundtrack for the establishment if it becomes the Tory election anthem.

Although Cliff has reservations about the use of the song on the political stage, it isn’t first time it has been used in a bid for power; for it was also the choice of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua.

Certainly the imagery of the The Harder They Come is a far cry from the meek oak of the rebranded Conservatives. Directed by Perry Henzell, it has been credited with the emergence of reggae culture in America – a movement that was about much more than music.

Drugs feature heavily in the film, which follows the character Ivan O Martin, played by Jimmy Cliff himself, and based on the notorious Jamaican outlaw Ivanhoe Martin. The soon-to-be notorious Ivan heads to Kingston to find fame as a reggae star, before getting sucked into a world of drugs and crime. The film’s scenes of violence and drugs still shock modern audiences. But graphic knife fights are just the beginning for this ground-breaking film, which showed that dealing in ganja was far more profitable than the record industry for an up-and coming artist. The film ends in a showdown of bullets, but does not really come down on the side of the police: hardly a conclusion that would find favour in Conservative ranks.

But ever since Tony Blair proved the power of pop in politics by embracing the D:Ream song “Things Can Only Get Better”, and making it the anthem of New Labour in 1997, British politicians have come to realise the importance of a strong soundtrack. The reggae anthem of Jamaica of the early Seventies is Mr Cameron’s first such attempt to rally the faithful.

The power of the rousing political anthem has long been harnessed in the United States, where politicians have unashamedly embraced the idea of musical branding. But the songs are usually far more predictable; so much so that some have come around more than once. Randy Bachman’s rock classic “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” has been played on the campaign trails of both Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Al Gore in 2000.

But from across the Atlantic comes a warning that campaign songs can be as embarrassing as they are rousing. In 1996 Bob Dole had to stop using his version of the Sam & Dave classic “Soul Man” (which he had adapted as “Dole Man”) after the copyright owner sent him a threatening letter.

Jimmy Cliff won’t try to stop Team Cameron using his words and music. But whether it will have the same impact in the Home Counties as it had in Jamaica, remains to be seen.

Original: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3033331.ece

Ideal conditions for the new wheat herbicide SumiMax

Wheat growers have held back on their pre-emergence herbicide treatments as seedbeds have been so dry and cobbly and they are waiting until conditions and soil moisture in particular improve. This scenario plays right into the hands of the new residual and contact-acting herbicide SumiMax, as its optimal performance is early post-emergence when weeds are between the one and three-leaf stage, says Interfarm UK Ltd.

“Farmers don’t want to commit to the expense of pre-ems under adverse dry conditions, particularly when grass-weed germination is so protracted. It is fortuitous that the new herbicide SumiMax, which offers excellent control of broad-leaved weeds and valuable control of annual meadow-grass, rye-grass and black-grass, works best when applied early post-emergence. This would normally be from the beginning of October up to around the end of November. It also offers excellent residual activity which will cope with the extended weed germination this autumn,” says Dr David Stormonth, Technical Manager for Interfarm UK Ltd.

He explains that flumioxazin, the unique active ingredient in SumiMax, works in a different way from all other herbicides currently in use in winter wheat. “In trials, applied early post-emergence at 100ml/hectare when weeds were between the one and three-leaf stage, flumioxazin gave 100% control of charlock, chickweed, fumitory, groundsel, field pansy, red deadnettle, ivy-leaved speedwell and mayweed, 99% control of cleavers, common field speedwell and Shepherds purse and 98% control of poppy. In fact in over 80 trials we never had to overspray in the spring for broad-leaved weeds, even those weeds that are regarded as difficult to control,” claims Dr. Stormonth.

“Flumioxazin also gave up to 90% control of annual meadow-grass, 80% control of rye-grass and 65% control of black-grass, applied early post-emergence,” he says.

This year David advises growers to wait for the optimum timing for SumiMax and not waste their money on applying a pre-emergence herbicide when conditions are not optimal for their performance. “For optimal performance of SumiMax, weeds should be 1-3 leaves and the crop should be hardened off by cooler weather. Ideally the soil should be moist. As is the case for most post-emergence herbicides, it is best to avoid soft or lush crops, waterlogged crops or crops under stress. The use of a tank cleaner is recommended after spraying.”

“SumiMax fits into most weed situations either alone or as the foundation product in a herbicide programme. In non-black-grass situations, it is already being seen as the advanced solution for the non-IPU era, offering season-long and consistent control of Annual Meadow-grass and a wide range of broad-leaved weeds,” says Dr. Stormonth.

For black-grass situations, it is helpful for growers that SumiMax can be tank mixed with a range of grass-weed herbicides and that it can be sequenced with any other herbicide or group. “In black-grass situations flumioxazin fits in very early post emergence when black-grass has 1-2 leaves. Here it can be mixed with other partner herbicides such as Liberator (flufenacet and DFF), Defy (prosulfocarb), chlorotoluron or IPU. It can then be followed up by Atlantis (mesosulfuron-methyl and iodosulfuron-methyl-sodium) later in the autumn. Alternatively it can be used with Lexus (flupyrsulfuron-methyl) early post-emergence. Having no following crop restrictions or following cultivation issues makes SumiMax a very flexible herbicide to use in any weed control programme,” says David.

SumiMax contains 300 gms ai/litre flumioxazin formulated as a suspension concentrate and is packed in a 500 ml pack. Recommended on all varieties of winter wheat, it is recommended pre or post-emergence up to before GS 15 for the control of a wide range of broad-leaved weeds and grass-weeds. It is recommended at 100ml/ha in 200 litres of water, with one application per crop. It has both residual and contact activity, affecting weeds via leaves, stems and emerging roots and shoots. It is compatible with a wide range of relevant autumn products but should not be used with any adjuvants. It can be sequenced with any product including sulphonylureas, but allow a 14 day interval. The use of a proprietary tank cleaner is recommended immediately after spraying to thoroughly clean all spray equipment, including booms, pumps, filters and lids. Flumioxazin is also available as Digital and Guillotine.