Can you guess who this is?

This is one of the most famous people in the world.

Can you guess who it is?

I’ll provide the answer later in the week if no-one guesses correctly.

Emma’s answer in the Comments section below is correct. (See how smart my fellow CAE students are?)

The photo is in fact a computer-genereated image of how Michael Jackson would have looked on his 50th birthday if he didn’t have that awful skin condition and all of that plastic surgery. Check out this site for more details, including a before and after shot.

Guess what my middle name is???

From today’s Age:

A Fitzroy man who allegedly made 900 dirty phone calls in a week has been charged with being a serial obscene caller.

Police have appealed for further alleged victims of the 52-year-old to come forward after he was today charged with nine counts of using a telecommunication service to menace.

The man would allegedly breathe heavily into the phone and refer to himself as Bruce or David during the calls to businesses that he had randomly picked from the telephone book.

It’s not me, I promise!

Can of worms

A recent post of mine sledging Olympic rowing commentator, Nick Green, ended with the Iine, ‘Special = Retarded”.

Little did I realise that my comments would create a stir in Los Angeles – the next day activists protested against depictions of developmental disability and the use of the word “retarded”.

Or maybe they were referring to Ben Stiller’s latest movie, Tropic Thunder?

Speaking of Ben Stiller, he’s the subject of one of my favourite ever comedy lines, courtesy of Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the classic TV series, Extras.

Ben Stiller: And who are you?
Andy Millman: Nobody.
Ben Stiller: What?
Andy Millman: Nobody.
Ben Stiller: Exactly. And who am I?
Andy Millman: Either Starsky or Hutch, I can never remember.
Ben Stiller: Was that supposed to be funny?
Andy Millman: You tell me, you were in it.

And while we’re on the subject of comedy, and retards, here’s another classic, from Borat:

Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): I’m, er… recently retired…
Borat: You are a retard?
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): Er… yes…
Borat: Er… physical or mental?
Bethany Weston (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): [to Jared] Retired…
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): RETIRED! I don’t work anymore…
Bethany Weston (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): Stopped work…
Mike Jared (Magnolia Fine Dining Society): STOPPED WORKING!
Borat: [quietly across the table] Is very good you allow retard to, er…
[mumbles politely]

Management training meets the kitchen

Yeah, I know, I’m not a very handsome bloke.

Still, I fancy myself as an amateur chef, which is why I enjoyed the opportunity I had recently to cook in a commercial kitchen as part of a team-building exercise we did at the Valley.

I wrote an article on my experiences, Management training meets the kitchen which was published in the latest edition of the Australian Institute of Training & Development journal. Looks pretty good, huh?

Thanks to Vin Lowe for his great photos.

The bloke on the left wins gold

Sports Illustrated has an amazing sequence of photos showing the miraculous escape by Michael Phelps in the 100 metres butterfly.

Do you think Silver medallist Cavic will be haunted by this photo for the rest of his life?

Conspiracy theories abound but Photo 5 from the Sports Illustrated sequence almost convinces me…

Maybe Phelps has hidden propellers in his ears.

Proof I’m not the nerdiest one in my family

These are my two brothers, circa 1990.

They still dress the same way.

Push Up Challenge – Progress Report

I’ve got to say, I’m well and truly over push-ups at the moment.

I gave myself a decent couple of days rest before attempting the Maximum Test at the end of Week 5 today. Unfortunately I only managed to equal my PB from a few weeks ago – 78. It doesn’t give me much confidence that I’m going to be able to get to the magic three figures.

I struggled a bit with the sets in Week 5 – I had to complete the required minimum 40 reps at the end of Week 5 Day 1 as 2 x 20 rather than a straight 40. I completed Days 2 & 3 satisfactorily, but it was a big struggle at the end to get the required minimum 40 reps and I fell in a screaming mess on the floor both times

I go to a trainer in the days between my push up days, and often we do quite a gruelling upper body set, so I’m probavly not giving my body sufficient rest between push-up days either.

Looking ahead to Week 6, I’d have to say I’m no chance to complete Day 1, and very unlikely to complete Days 2 & 3.

I’ll probably repeat Week 5 again and see whether I can get through all three days in entirety. Then do the max test again next Saturday and make a call from there whether it is worth continuing with the program.

Details of the One Hundred Pushups challenge are here if you’re interested.

Our rowers are … flying?

How about this classic commentary during the Olympic men’s fours rowing tonight?

“Here come the Aussies. They’re absolutely flying … The French are tiring … At the top of the screen the Americans are also flying … the New Zealanders are flying as well … and the Irish, they’re coming home strong … and in the Aussies in lane 3, they are flying home.”

Nick Green was a brilliant athlete as a member of the Awesome Foursome, but as a special comments man?

Special = retarded.

Leapster take a bow

The weekly column by Sunday Age writer Leaping Larry is one of the highlights of my week.

How’s this for a great line today on the Shaw/Didak/Shaw/McGuire farce:

You’d think that footballers + alcohol + cars was about as well-established an equation for disaster as monkeys + matches + dynamite.

Keep up the great work, Leapster.

A new entry for My Most Memorable Sporting Moment

LLLLLOOOOOYYYYYDDDD!!!!!