Well it’s mid-June and the Tithbits are back after they had to be cut for time last week, and not many of us noticed this because there were more important things on at the time…

But Saturday marked 40 years TO THE DAY that Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, completely redefining the adventure film genre, and looking back all these years with the benefit of hindsight, out of every iconic scene in that film, the one that I now get a good enjoyment out of is the introductory scene to the Harrison Ford Indiana Jones character in South America, because it sets him up perfectly.

In short – Indy doesn’t say a word, you don’t even see his face until 3 minutes in, and the moment he hears that cocked gun being aimed at his person, the iconic bullwhip makes its debut and disarms the traitorous Barranca, John Williams’ once quiet score comes to life, and at that point you know Indy means business.

Perhaps the greatest odd fact about Raiders is that it was effectively born when George Lucas pitched the idea to Steven Spielberg in May of 1977, after Lucas invited Spielberg to join him on vacation in Hawaii, as Lucas got away from the impending flop of a certain film called Star Wars, only to find out it was the hit of the century:

I remember George got word that all the 10-o’clock-in-the-morning shows had sold out all across the country. And at that point George was the most giddy I had ever seen him in all the years prior to that that I had ever seen him. He was just beside himself, with relief more than anything else. He had been inward for a long time, waiting for those numbers, and then he turned to me, he said, “So what are you going to do next?” And I told him that I wanted to, for the second time, approach [film producer] Cubby Broccoli, who had turned me down the first time, to see if he would change his mind and hire me to do a James Bond movie.

And George said, “I’ve got something better than that. It’s called Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He pitched me the story, and I committed on the beach.”

Steven Spielberg’s interview with Vanity Fair, January 2, 2008

I’m not sure which Craig Bellamy looks funnier when you don’t understand the context

Craig Bellamy dressed as Elsa from Frozen on the Sunshine Coast:

Before he took part in yesterday’s FightMND Big Freeze, with help from his Melbourne Storm disciples:

Or Bellyache dressed as Beetlejuice, preparing to dance to Harry Belafonte at the Dally M Awards in 2019:

For a bloke who can explode like a nuclear bomb in the coaches box at the slightest hint of an error, Bellyache is actually damn funny, even if he sometimes doesn’t realise it.

The dumb reason I completely forgot to post the Random NRL Picks on Friday

Que the music:

So it was about 2:30pm on Friday afternoon, I had been well behind all week due for various reasons, and for some reason WordPress decided to lose connection to my social media feeds, so I tried for a couple of minutes to sort it out, it wouldn’t budge, and being pressed for the time getting Crazy Colin’s tips published at a reasonable time, I pretty much focused on that and got it up as per usual, by which time Facebook decided to start working again, and after thinking I’d done the same for the Random Picks, it took me until the end of the Sharks-Panthers game to realise “Crap, I knew there was something I forgot.”

It was a silly error on my part, because I noticed Gladys Berejiklian was waiting from midday for me to put them up:

So that’s the dumb reason I forgot to do it, and for the record, I buggered up both the Friday games, plus the Berries knocking off the Dragons, so I ended up with 5/8.

Yes, you read that correctly, I thought the Sea Eagles would lose with Tommy Turbo being rested, only to watch as they put the 50 point premiership curse on the Cowboys, who weren’t winning anything this year anyway.

Luke Travers blocking a shot, running the court and dunking over four Illawarra Hawks to send them out of the NBL playoffs

9 NBL Grand Final appearances in 12 seasons for the one and only PERTH WILDCATS.

The shame is most Wildcats fans have never heard the masterpiece that is the Wildcats Rap.

Typical umpires, giving dodgy decisions to West Coast at home to get them over the line

Still, with some puny kicks that have been paid as marks this season, 14.5 metres out of a required 15 is more than enough.

I was lineball on this, but as of Sunday night, Novak Djokovic has now utterly destroyed the GOAT debate

The only player in the Open Era of tennis to win the career singles Grand Slam twice over, joining Rod Laver and Roy Emerson as the only players to ever achieve it full stop.

THE ONLY ONE of the Big 3 players to come from 2 sets down to win a Major final.

Sits alongside Laver as the only players in the Open Era to hold all four Major titles at once (2015-16), and the only one to do so on three different surfaces.

The only player to appear in the Final of every Major at least 6 times.

A record 9 Australian Open singles titles from as many finals, and a record 12 Hard court Major titles.

The only player in the history of the ATP Tour to win all 9 Masters titles at least once, and he’s done it TWICE over already, and will have a shot at making it 3 times in Cincinatti in August.

The only player in men’s tennis history to complete the golden trifecta – Career Grand Slam in singles, win every Masters title, and the ATP Tour Finals, which he’s also done at least twice.

Has a winning record against both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Holds the record for the most weeks (325) at World No.1, a record that’s only going to keep growing.

Holder of the most ranking points ever held by a player at one time – 16,950 after winning the 2016 French Open (6th June 2016).

One of only 2 players (Robin Soderling in 2009) to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open from Rafa’s 108 matches at Roland Garros, with Novak being the only player to do it twice.

I couldn’t give a rat’s clacker if Nole is on 19 major titles and Rafa and Roger are on 20, or if he hasn’t won an Olympic Gold Medal, those achievements, especially in the most dominant era of men’s tennis, are more than enough for me.

Emily Seebohm picked an ‘unfortunate’ moment to qualify for a fourth Olympics, considering Emma McKeown bested the 100m Backstroke World Record AT THE SAME TIME

Seebohm making it to four Olympic Games on end, the first coming in Beijing 2008 at the age of 16, is just another fantastic achievement from one of Australia’s most successful swimmers in history, who won’t just be remembered for having a surname that sounds like a Scotsman’s favourite curse word.

Positive story – I made my Saturday pairs bowls debut at Manning on the weekend

So there I was thinking the only highlight of my Saturday would be a cultural trip through Northbridge that evening, which was another story in of itself, when on Friday afternoon, Perth Scorchers cult hero and 2-time World Cup winner Brad Hogg drafted yours truly in to play the Winter three bowl pairs comp after a vacancy opened up, and you can definitely tell when Hoggy’s bowling, because he’s got a very unique set of bowls to remind everyone of his accomplishments with Australia:

Anyway, myself and G.B Hogg had a good character building experience against some very esteemed company, getting soundly knocked off 16-4 over 13 ends in both games on the minefield that is Rink B, and in addition to losing a couple of holds after the opposition nailed us in the final pairs, a memorable moment was when Hoggy bowled a pair of trademark Wrong ‘uns in both games….

That accidentally hit me/us out of holding shot, but I can honestly say I had fun, especially as we didn’t get shut out in both games, which meant Hoggy could produce his trademark tongue wag as we celebrated not being totally disgraced!

On a similar note, my new set of lawn bowls arrived yesterday!

Sure, people are going to think I’m a Richmond supporter seeing the spotted black with a yellow stripe, but once you look closer, everyone in Australia shall know which state I come from:

THE SANDGROPER BOWLS.

Yes, the Marijuana bowls served me very well, especially on Tuesdays against Half Price, Dymmo and Chocco, and if things get desperate and if I never need to bowl out via the cape on an end, I’ll bring them back:

And finally, this would be another fantastic out of context photo

So if you want to know why Police Minister Paul Papalia and WA Police Commissioner Chris Dawson look like they’re about to attack a bikie clubhouse, WA is banning gel blasters from July 3 , because apparently 147 incidents in 2020 were just one too many.

In the meantime, somewhere in the United States, someone staring at that photo is salivating like Homer Simpson thinking about a doughnut.