Faded/Paralyzed: My 29th blog of the year 2025 (AKA the untold tariff trade war truth)

Well, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger, but first in the United States is all about tariff city as US president Donald Trump (Well, I don't trust him all the time as of today since I'm an anti-Trump type of person) announced a 10% tariff on all goods coming into the country & 104% on levies on China starting on the 9th of April as the American stock markets crash (Including Dow Jones & NASDAQ for the first time since the beginning of the global COVID pandemic in 2020) following Trump's tariff policies that he's always setting up during the global trade war which resulted mass protests in all 50 American states, even though that the protesters who voice their disapproval of their leader implementing such tariffs & their pro-democracy stuff in which they labelled as a hostile takeover (While I label it as a national tragedy, but these things have still gone wrong in the 2020's decade (Which is easily the worst since the 1930's in which the end of the decade was marred by the war when the Second World War began in 1939 where Germany invaded Poland which allowed France & the UK to declare war on the Germans (And World War III could be on the cards with peace likely to end, even though I asked Pops about it on the 5th of April (And I remember a story vividly from Pops about the late Ronald Christie that he hates German people because of him being a prisoner of war during his time at a concentration camp, & even invited German people for a meal after the war, but he has a strong dislike about it because of his fear of German people who were once our enemies on the battlefield like the first & second world wars) such as COVID first, then a spate of both invasions such as that dreadful invasion which had been going since 2022 (And Pops told me not to post anything about it since its objectionable & sensitive to the country who started it to avoid backlash for which I originally mentioned about it, but somehow I've got to refrain it from doing that) in which the world is stunned as well as Israel's invasion of the Iran backed Hamas in Gaza which has been going since 2023 (And there could be World War III on the cards if things spiral out of control, but if New Zealand is involved, it looks like I fear that my Dad might be enlisted into the military mainly because to his age at 55 (He's due to turn 56 in June this year, but he might be too old if a world war could start in 5 to 10 years), but it seems unlikely that World War III would definitely break out (And at least we're safe, even if we survive a nuclear holocaust because of the fact that we are not in danger, even though we managed to survive the COVID pandemic as well (And I never seem to have COVID throughout my entire life along with both Pops & Carole) just like Dave Gallaher (Who was the original All Blacks rugby team captain when they toured Britain, France, & North America for the first time in 1905-06) twice in the Boer war in the 1900s, & then World War I in which he got shot dead of his wounds, specifically in the head by an enemy troop who fired his gun during the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in Belgium in 1917) also in which the world is stunned again (Oh hell, not once but twice, but they'll certainly be a dark future being signalled as most predict about it due to both invasions they're currently having for which is a stark reminder), & now, the trade war between the US & the rest of the world which resulted in a higher inflation to all imports (And why the hell will there be a price hike on goods being imported into America? Because of everything being dear at the moment like the PS5 Pro for example in which most American gamers are livid & a bit upset about the high price, as well as Chinese made phones, tablets & laptops included as part of the most expensive list), that hurt (And what is my reaction about the tariffs Trump has imposed? Well I'm gutted, absolutely gutted because of America being turned into a Trump steak according to these tariff policies being introduced right there that has happened (And at least we're not Americans because of the United States betraying against the rest of the world including China since 2018 with that ongoing trade conflict which everybody hurts them people that I'm getting sick, tired & in disbelief about the tariff chaos stuff which actually makes sense for which the US President (Who actually has a plan about the big picture) who I labelled him as a diabolical human being (And America is robbed as most people in their country there are stunned about it all according to plan, but there was a presidency that no one won I believe due to their issues/problems on both crime & the economy for which is a farce that I'm getting fed up (For which I label the US as a dread & wretched country) needless to say (In which the American people have gone crazy/insane, & are having less charitable memories towards Donald Trump (And it could get messy with the far left wing liberal supporters, with bloodshot eyes & flared nostrils, could lose their rags, while the best way/solution for Trump to make friends is to introduce tariff policies to win the heart of his loyal far right wing conservative supporters who are always legislation abiders, & they already did since he won the election again last year (2024) by beating Kamala Harris to take back the presidency for what is his, which is depressing, but, oh god I hope they get sued, because it is such a ripoff, it's a shameless ripoff, oh shameless, maybe that's a slap on the wrist for that) but I don't trust him because I'm getting intolerant to Trump, & there's only two things I hate in this world: people who are intolerant to other people's cultures, & the Americans (And the Americans under Donald Trump, they made them so damn evil...And of course, they share a border with the Canadians), is laying down the legislation during the tariff event that he was holding, is known as 'Liberation Day' which was the most unique event of modern times - & a complete fiasco (Well, I wasn't paying attention for that, however many Americans don't know just how upset they were about the tariff chaos on Trump's botched tariff rollout & the meltdown on the stock market, well I'm bitterly disappointed with that (And I have no clue or idea what is going on with their minds), even though the Chinese are fighting Trump's tariffs during the American trade war (And they could declare martial law which cracks down protests & free speech being delivered on the 20th of April if they turn themselves violent which is going to spread nationwide, or an insurrection legislation act that they're going to have to send military personnel to restore order, just like in the 1992 Los Angeles riots for which I haven't mentioned in my blog before), but I managed to start booing about Trump every damn time I see him on TV or online on the internet (And I haven't watched CNN or Aljazeera since I infamously booed & jeered the current US President about his tariff policies that signalled the beginning of the trade war between the US against China) because of me showing signs of hostility towards him who is on self-destruct mode at the moment as the rest of the world is on the brink of a tariff war against the United States therefore possibly cause a recession in which the entire economy fanbase is devastated & shattered (It could be 5 years to a decade prior to the world tweaks Trumps tariffs, according to the former Reserve Bank governor here in New Zealand, then the high amount of tariffs may have stopped the Great Depression (For which lasted for a decade from 1929 until 1939 when World War II began, & it remains the longest & most severe economic downturn in modern history for which the Smoot-Hawley tariff act (For which the law is named after both politicians of the late Senator Smoot & also the late Congressman Hawley) which was passed in 1930 that it raised tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods in an effort to safeguard American farmers & industries during the Great Depression (And I fear it might be a new Great Depression which will happen in the 2030's decade for several years meaning that there will be a high inflation price hike because everything will be expensive as well as more trade wars & a geopolitical instability while the effects of a new Great Depression could be long-lasting, impacting generations to come (And there was a book that argues about the COVID pandemic has created conditions for a major economic crisis that is potentially worse than the Great Depression in the 1930's (While people are deciding what to call the next Great Depression which is the New Great Depression, because mine would probably say Great Depression 2.0, then the American tariff rates under Trump could be higher than the Smoot-Hawley levels taken from the Great Depression era, but Pops alluded to me that the 2020s decade isn't worse than the 1930s because of the Great Depression in which many people were unemployed & couldn't get enough food to eat until they were enlisted to the military when war began again in 1939 with World War II which was true that signalled the end of the Great Depression, but now the United States is on the brink of the new great depression because of the US President Donald Trump implementing such tariffs like that which will harm the economy once & for all) history says while Trump's claim that low tariffs caused the Great Depression is false, according to the economist, & Trump said that the Great Depression would have never begun if tariffs continued) but Pops alluded to me before on the 8th of April that it's a decent idea, meaning that he liked it indeed in which I thought it was a strange noise being made, even though the entire world is ruined with tariffs all over the place meaning that the stock market came crashing down to earth, therefore triggering an economic collapse just like the global financial economic crisis or recession should I say that they once had way back in 2008-09 in which the world has gone volatile (And even though that liar of Trump who is an abysmal leader that I'm always biased about that rhetoric stuff, absolute rhetoric stuff (Wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong, I've calmed down now, I was absolutely livid, it's wrong, he's killed their society, I mean Donald Trump is by far one of the worst leaders of the world of our generation, he's killed their society for them, I'm livid), but I fear it might be the end of the world as I know it (And this trade war stuff sucks like hell, for a change which is really that severe (And the headlines would prolly be: HEY MR PRESIDENT, DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT, & I was like, oh my god! Holy smokes! What the hell! But that current tariff trade war thing is killing me, especially in terms of our generation as the American stock market has been crashing recently which triggered a collapse that would be their downfall (But Pops told me on the 9th of April thinks that is not because I'm very lucky to be here in New Zealand for which is fine), & I mean, Trump really is to me, a crook (A senseless crook I should say, because he's acting like a damn fool, I think he's bluffing like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies, well, that was exactly a constructed discussion, but that'll do), unlike the late Richard Nixon (Who famously said "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook, well, I'm not a crook" about Watergate that shocked America in the mid 70's that would define his legacy as he defended himself against serious allegations).

And secondly onto the rugby stuff in Super Rugby Pacific as here are the results that they had in round 8 of the southern hemisphere's biggest club rugby competition (Well, the quality of the rugby may be good but the tariff thing imposed by Donald Trump is bad):

Chiefs 27 - 15 Queensland Reds (It was the Chiefs night as they stymied over the Queensland Reds (Who had Reds prop forward Jeff To'omaga-Allen being given a card under review for dangerously cleaning out a player in which they stayed it as a sin binning offence for which I thought was controversial) in the wet at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton to retake the lead on top of the standings)

Moana Pasifika 45 - 28 NSW Waratahs (And it was Moana's day as they stunned the Tahs to bits after coming from behind or trailing should I say at halftime, at North Harbour Stadium in Albany to win 2 in a row for the first time in the club's history, therefore following up from a historic win against the 12 time champions (And twice Super Rugby Aotearoa champions) the Crusaders in Christchurch in one of the biggest upsets in Super Rugby Pacific history, including a hat-trick from starting tighthead prop playing for Moana of Feleti Sa'e-Ta'ufo'ou (And I remember at one point that referee James Doleman had awarded the penalty to Moana against Waratahs reserve prop Taniela Tupou for illegally using foul language towards an official because of Tupou who abused Doleman (A New Zealand referee) which is a big no-no in the game of rugby, moments before Sae-Ta'ufo'ou scored a hat-trick)

Fijian Drua 14 - 31 Crusaders (It was the Crusaders day as they had a emphatic victory over the Fijian Drua at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva)

Blues 19 - 18 Hurricanes (And it was the Blues night as they cling on to win against the Hurricanes by the barest of margins at Eden Park in Auckland despite a card under review against the Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu for a dangerous hit on a Hurricanes player, in which they remained it a yellow card that caused a bit of controversy)

& Western Force 29 - 20 Highlanders (And finally it was the Western Force's day as they knock over the Highlanders at HBF Park in the west in Perth which was marred by Highlanders blindside flanker Sean Withy who had been shown the red card for taking a Western Force player of Harry Potter (Not a famous wizard straight out from JK Rowling, but a rugby player) out of commission during the 1st half by deliberately kneeing him straight to the head after the try had been scored by Potter in which the referee had shown a card under review against Withy for a cheap shot, then Jona Nareki (One of Pops old students from Aramoho School) got yellow carded for repeated violations such as never onside that ruined the Highlanders chances of winning after they had a promising fast start to their game in which their coach Jamie Joseph (Dad of Otago, Matatu & Black Ferns female rugby player Maia) will be gutted about the result)

And thirdly in motor racing related news such as in the F1 as defending 4 time world champion racing for Red Bull of Max Verstappen, clings on from the hard charging pair of McLarens to pick up his first win of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Japan (And his first since Qatar last year in which Verstappen's last win came in Lusail at the Qatar Grand Prix), therefore ending McLaren's 3 race winning streak dating back to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year & their quest of remaining undefeated this year, but Lando Norris (Who finished 2nd behind Max, but ahead of Norris's Aussie teammate of Oscar Piastri who rounded out the podium, but our own Kiwi Liam Lawson has had a difficult weekend that he endured since his demotion from Red Bull Racing to Racing Bulls lately, while the grand prix was marred by Aussie Jack Doohan who escaped injury in which he kept it secret since his Alpine car failed to close the DRS that triggered a horror high speed accident during the 2nd Free Practice session, but he was struggling to get out of the car after the race because of him experiencing soreness from the impact in which the drivers who are urging the FIA to make a serious loophole alteration (And if Doohan was ruled out, why not an Argentinian of Franco Colapinto replace him?) remains the championship leader after 3 races ahead of Verstappen by a whisker, but last year (2024) marked the 30th anniversary of the tragic events as well as Formula One's darkest weekends at Imola in the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, in pair of horrific but fatal crashes which took the life of legendary Brazilian F1 star Ayrton Senna (A 3 time world champ) during the race as well as fellow racer of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger during qualifying before that which shocked the F1 world, & it's been 20 years since the most controversial Grand Prix in history took place at the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, Indiana in America for which I've mentioned a story before on my blogs not once but twice in both 2023 & this year, where only six cars with Bridgestone tyres ran at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Home of the annual Indy 500 IndyCar race) in which the race was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (The man & the team he races for who ruined F1 which turned fans away due to the utter dominance of him & Ferrari from 2000 to 04, but his only win came way back in 2005 in which he was booed by the hostile but unhappy American crowd (Whose tickets have been refunded (And they were demanding a full refund when they confronted these people at the ticket office, but the cops were able to step in as the peace makers which are being kept for crowd control), but they got free ones for the following year's race also way back in 2006 & also the Burke Lakefront Airport Champ Car race took place at the neighbouring Ohio state) who don't appreciate him as well as the pro-Michelin supporters which hurt them ruining a great Grand Prix it was) following the Grand Prix in the aftermath of the drivers ran with Michelin tyres including eventual champion Fernando Alonso (The only active driver from the 2005 season to compete in F1 as of today who was the world championship leader at the time, but his race engineer told him that he knows what their plans there for the start, is to head straight to the pits please mate, along with 13 others with Michelins which triggered 6 cars with Bridgestone's who were racing) in the Renault were robbed in which the race was nobody won, while Tiago Monteiro was the only one who was cheered by the fans when he finished on the podium in which he became the first & only Formula One driver from Portugal to do so (And he was happy to be there while for both Michael & Rubens Barrichello (Who finished 2nd) left the podium shortly while the fans were absolutely gutted as Tiago celebrated the last podium finish of the Jordan F1 team to date (Which was Portugal's finest but proudest sporting moment along with their football/soccer team's Euro 2016 triumph against the hosts at the time of France in the final at the Stade de France in Paris as the multi-millionaire mega sports star of the Portuguese captain, Cristiano Ronaldo (Who was subbed off with an injury during the final) lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy aloft (That was 4 years after Spain had a successful Euros glory again back in 2012, & 5 years before Italy triumphed at the delayed Euro 2020 which was played in 2021), while his Jordan teammate at the time of Narain Karthikeyan (One of both Indians who competed in F1 along with Karun Chandhok) who finished 4th which is a best result for a driver from India, while both Minardi drivers of Holland's Cristjian Albers & Austria's Patrick Friesacher finished 5th & 6th respectively (And both expected not to score points just like the 2 Jordan drivers of Monteiro & Karthikeyan before the GP, but they did) & the reason why? Is that the Michelin runners withdrew from the Grand Prix, even before the race began in which they barely took a lap due to a tyre failure during Friday practice that caused the accident by German Ralf Schumacher (Who was racing for Toyota at the time, then he got injured in the process as Brazilian Ricardo Zonta drafted in for him who suffered a crash just like Ralf (Who was ruled out for the race on Sunday through injury, but under those loopholes that no tyre changes are required to be made during a race (And there was one option which is refuelling, but they abolished the tyres that last the whole race that ruined Michael Schumacher & Ferrari's continuation of world championship dominance once the 2005 season had concluded) because it had been brought into play after Ferrari effectively nailed their pit strategy en route to the title in the previous year, but it had its downside as 'The Iceman' Kimi Raikkonen on his way to victory during the European Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring circuit in Germany, suffered a flattie that caused a tyre delamination therefore missing out on a chance with one lap to go (He should've pitted, but no because that would've been a penalty back then for an illegal tyre change, & following Ralf Schumacher's accident due to tyre failure which resulted in an injury that they should suggest adding a chicane to slow the cars down just like in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix in the aftermath of the Senna tragedy, but they refused so Michelin warned its 7 customer teams that the tyres would just be safe for 10 laps with full speed for which a tyre failure that Michelin had fallen foul like that at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, in one of the largest non-fatal race debacles in Formula One history while during the practice sessions, there were already crashes caused by tyre damages following 14 F1 race car drivers pulled out as a result of safety concerns for which was an absolute shocker that turned into a farce as well as a fiasco like that when both Ferraris, a pair of Jordans & the 2 Minardi's raced altogether with the fans who turned up to watch cars race for 73 full-on laps, left in protest as a chorus of boos rang when Michael Schumacher won the most shocking Grand Prix in history) did) was to blame (And there was no social media like Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok & Snapchat to start with back in the day, & it must've remained silent for the matter, but the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix had since been taken over from the 2005 US GP as the strangest race ever with the race beginning under the safety car during the treacherous conditions & then the next minute as 2 laps into the Grand Prix at the Spa circuit that they would finally call off the race fearing further inclement weather which resulted victory to the eventual champion Max Verstappen (Who is a bit of a slight lookalike of the French rugby player (And Olympic champion in men's rugby sevens for his country of France during their home Olympics last year in Paris) of Antoine Dupont, compared to Rey actress Daisy Ridley being a bit of a Michaela Brake (The Black Ferns sevens player who is a double Olympic champion) lookalike).

And finally that it's been 20 years since I saw that Campbell's chunky soup ad way back in 2005 featuring our own sports stars of league's Ruben Wiki (The Warriors & Kiwis captain at the time who once played for the Canberra Raiders in which he won an ARL Premiership, even in his first year at the club before making his high profile move to the New Zealand Warriors in 2005 (A year before they were deducted 4 points before the season started for breaking the salary cap also way back in 2006, just like the Bulldogs 4 years earlier way back in 2002 in which they did not make the playoffs) before retiring also way back in 2008 after a 14 year career, but his daughter McKenzie plays for the Canberra Raiders women in the NRLW competition) & rugby's Jerry Collins (A Wellington, Hurricanes, All Blacks, Ospreys, Yamaha Jubilo, Toulon & Narbonne player as well as Tana & Mike Umaga's cousin & uncle of Jacob & the Umaga-Jensen twins of Peter & Thomas (Twin sons of Mike & Tana's sister Rachael (Wife of former club rugby player Tony Jensen) who unfortunately passed away a decade ago back in 2015 due to a crash in southern France that took him & his Canadian wife Alana Madill but Ayla (The late couple's daughter who is currently raised in Canada by her relatives) managed to survive the impact caused by a Portuguese bus which carried 19 passengers travelling from Lisbon to Monaco) in which the ad (Narrated by the famous Kiwi actor Tim Balme of Shorty Street fame) is about both Ruben & Jerry who are great mates before debating whether in an arm wrestling contest that it should be eaten with a spoon that it's a soup, or a fork for which it's a meal, but the debate is over at the end of the ad that Campbell's chunky soup is a soup that eats like a meal, right guys? But onto the rugby sevens stuff as the reigning Olympic champions of the Black Ferns Sevens (Which features the likes of captain Sarah Hirini, speedster Michaela Brake, Risi Pouri-Lane, young Jorja Miller & Stacey Waaka (Who decided to come back to rugby this year (2025) after spending a season in the NRLW women's league competition last year (2024) which ended in injury following her gold medal triumph in Paris) retain the women's SVNS crown following their win in Singapore in the women's Cup final against our main rivals Australia in a winner takes all contest which was a tussle between both sides (And the men's SVNS event in Singapore goes in the way of Fiji who trailed 7 - 0 at halftime to overturn a deficit to dispatch Kenya (While the SVNS league championship, remains in Argentina's hands following a Cup semi final appearance to clinch the title), but an unfortunate ending for the All Blacks sevens sees them being crushed by Ireland in the 7th place playoff for really is a tragedy for New Zealand, especially in the men's department (And their coach Tomasi Cama needs to be fired due to a spate of recent poor performances lately).

So that is my 605th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 29th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

Deeper Underground/Mean to Me: My 28th blog of the year 2025

Well, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger, but first that the war between Israel & Hamas in Gaza continues as there were 24 casualties according to the death toll when the Israeli forces launch a new ground assault on Gaza's capital of Rafah, but the ceasefire plan is back on the table according to Egypt last Thursday with the remaining 65 hostages (Just 5 of them will be released for the truce) urging Israel (Who broke the ceasefire deal to start invading Hamas again) to stop the war already (And there's growing protests already in Israel urging Hamas to release all 65 hostages being held in captivity by Hamas, but that's not going to happen until the war ends).

And secondly that there's something sombre as an earthquake which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale has struck in Myanmar (Which is one of the world's most poorest countries at the middle of a civil war in which they agreed to make a partial ceasefire according to the resistance movement in light of the powerful earthquake in an impoverished nation being piled by fresh misery), especially killing 1,644 of them (Compared to 11 in Thailand when a building under construction in Bangkok had been collapsed) & there were 3,408 people who suffered injuries according to the military rulers on state TV, meanwhile rescue workers who battled for a second night are searching for survivors (Then dozens remained trapped in the rubble) in a race against time in which tremors felt across Thailand & in nearby Chinese provinces, but all condolences go to their loved ones who lost in this dreadful disaster situation over there, as well as the victims of Palestinian people trapped in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war over there.

And thirdly in rugby related news such as in the sevens as the defending Olympic champions the Black Ferns 7's of New Zealand piled on the pressure against the Wallaroos 7's (Which featured the likes of the danger person of defending World Rugby women's 7's player of the year, Maddison 'Maddie' Levi) as they overcame the yellow card against Jorja Miller (The women's sevens rugby player of the year at the NZ rugby awards back in December last year who later bagged in for a double, but could be in the frame of joining the Black Ferns squad for our road to England which starts at the upcoming Pac 4 series alongside her Black Ferns sevens teammate, Risi Pouri-Lane) for a tip tackle on a female Aussie sevens player to win the Hong Kong sevens at the brand spanking new state of the art venue of Kai Tak Sports Park (In which they're preparing to host a concert by the UK rock slash pop band Coldplay (Who had performed sold-out shows just like Oasis there at Eden Park in Auckland in November last year) due on the 10th of April), while in the men's section as Argentina dominate the reigning Olympic champs France (Who had their player conceded a penalty on halfway for a cheap shot on the try scorer ala Rob 'Gronk' Gronkowski after a certain Argentinian try had been scored that ruined their chance of winning the Hong Kong sevens event during the men's cup final) to remain on top of the table with 1 round to go which is the next one in Singapore (And there is the equation that if Argentina need a favourable result, the men's SVNS league title is still theirs, just like in the women's section that if New Zealand require a chance of a strong showing in Singapore, the women's SVNS championship remains ours), meanwhile in Super Rugby Pacific as the Hurricanes outmuscle the NSW Waratahs side who lost 3 backs such as Wallaby Max Jorgensen early with injury at Sky Stadium in Wellington during round 7 of this years Super Rugby Pacific Competition in a comprehensive thrashing, but a day later that there was much better news as Moana Pasifika (In just their 4th season altogether) led by its inspirational captain of incumbent All Black Ardie Savea (The one who got a double during the upset of the ages for who I thought was the standout performer of the game, but I also thought that his move to Moana would eventually destroy his career, & he didn't as Savea (Who is maybe an apparent heir of Richie McCaw in which the headlines would possibly say: RICHIE WHO? MOANA STUN CRUSADERS IN EPIC SRP GAME) got his act together when they notched up just their 2nd win of the season just to complete the impossible mission) who pulled off the Christchurch heist with an incredible victory against the Crusaders (Who were missing their skipper David Havili with an injury just moments prior to kick off, but coach Rob Penney had opted to rest the quartet who were always their best performers of lock forward Antonio Shalfoon (Who plays for the Tasman Mako in the Bunnings NPC competition), number 8 Christian Lio-Willie (Who was the key signing for the Crusaders in 2023 following the departure of Los Pumas player Pablo Matera who spent one season in 2022 with the most successful Super Rugby franchise in history), first-five eighth Taha Kemara (Always the first choice first five for the Crusaders as he is first in line in the Crusaders first fives pecking order ahead of former Wallaby James O'Connor), & winger Sevu Reece (The speedster who is always the danger man in the Crusaders team) for that game (And they would've gone on top of the table if they beat Moana (Who were the underdogs for that game against the overwhelming favourites of the Crusaders in terms of the bookmakers), but now that the Queensland Reds have taken over on top of the table after the 7th round of the competition following their win against the Western Force (And that is the first time that an Aussie side had taken the lead in the standings since 2014 (The year that the NSW Waratahs was the last Aussie side to win a full Super Rugby competition, & the last time that Australia had hosted a full Super Rugby final when the Tahs hosted it in the same year against the Crusaders in Sydney when they eventually triumphed in front of their adoring home crowd), but it looks like the Aussie sides have been improving by finding their competitiveness (Especially in the competitive edge department should I say) after the Melbourne Rebels pulled out of the comp last year due to lack of funding to keep operating, quite frankly) for the first time at the Apollo Projects Stadium in the garden city for a visiting team which is much hard to beat against the 14 time Super Rugby champs, in one of the biggest boil overs (And if not one of the amazing upsets ever, while April fools day hasn't even started yet which is not due on the 1st of April) in Super Rugby Pacific history (And what a match that has been for Moana Pasifika who were riding high after their win against the Hurricanes again before losing to the Chiefs in Pukekohe, & to cap off something special in one of the giant killing moments of all time in SRP, in akin to a David against Goliath battle like that, & what a beauty it was (And one of the first fives for Moana of Patrick 'Patty' Pellegrini (Who is Aussie born, but of both Italian & Tongan descent) would've played for the Wallabies later this year should he been uncapped for Tonga earlier), in one of the landmark achievements for Moana has ever witnessed in their 4th year of competition altogether), how about that! (Great work guys, thank you, you & your men deserve it (Nice one uce, CHEHOOO!!!).

And finally that I wanted to give a shout out to my dear cuzzie, as well as my honorary sister & bestie who is a lovely girl/lady/woman of Paige Ahearn (Who is a millennial just like me as she is best known as Cathey Middelplaats's daughter, Luca & Nico's sister, as well as Jarrod's wife & Norah's mum who I have not seen her since 2016 (That was the day after me, Pops & John Coburn saw an AB's test in Welly against Wales for which was my one & only live All Blacks rugby test that I have ever been (That was 4 years prior to COVID (The one serious disease that I never had before in my whole life along with Pops & Carole, but if I'd wish I remained at Dad's place when COVID had been around, I would've got it, but luckily I didn't since I made my decision to live with Pops back in 2017, 3 years before the world changed everything, again (Which was in 2020, but now we're this year (2025), & it's been 8 years since I lived at 15A Kells Ave where I've been lucky to be here since, so here I am) for which I was willing to meet Paige (The one fave person who I'd like to have dinner with & the one favourite person who I'd like to have a selfie with (Even if I have a cell phone) again one day along with Cathey (My biological aunty who could be both my honorary mum & my old bestie) & Norah (My first cousin once removed who could potentially be both my honorary niece & god daughter, duh (And she was conceived in April 2022 after her parents of Jarrod & Paige who were having an intimate affair with each other like a love scene, so that's why that Paige revealed that she was pregnant at the time, in due course) next time when I go to Wellington with either Dad (He's got 9 years left of his teaching job before his retirement compared to Aunty Tan who has got 6 years remaining because of the retirement age there in Canada is 63 (And Rejean has recently retired from his work when he turned 63 recently on March 31st) while here in our country of New Zealand is 65) or Pops (Whether he wished to either go or not to go regardless of his old age as well as the price hike regarding to travel costs during this cost of living crisis that we're currently having, or if the weather is decent), but I first met her when she was a little girl in 1999 here in Whanganui were she was with Cathey when I was with Dad at the late Nan & Pops place which is me & Pops place now as of today that used to be my school holiday retreat during my both Raetihi Primary School & Ruapehu College days when I was a kid & in my early to mid teens, but now that she's a grown up now when I met Paige compared to Dad's fave person who would likely to have a selfie with which it's Jans as Dad told me before) again along with Cathey 17 years later back in 2016 (And she was 22 at the time (Compared to Cathey who was 49), but Norah had not been around where she wasn't born until January 26th, 2023) 7 years before becoming a full time mother (I heard that she's always busy looking after a child like that, as well as her job that she works in Wellington that Paige still lives as a business development manager at 2degrees according to Dad last year while me & Pops was at the Cobb with him for dinner) as she gave birth to her daughter of little Norah in January 2023) wishing her a 31st birthday so best wishes, xoxoxoxoxo.

So that is my 604th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 28th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

P.S. And the entertainment world is in mourning as Hollywood movie star & A-lister Val Kilmer (The man who appeared in famous films, such as Top Gun with Tom Cruise, Batman Forever with Nicole Kidman, Jim Carrey & Tommy Lee Jones, & MacGruber) has recently passed away, but all condolences have being sent to his loved ones in the United States, especially for his family for that sad but emotional & hard, difficult time, rest in peace (RIP), meanwhile the motor racing community is also in mourning as Irish former F1 team owner & businessman Eddie Jordan (Who was once dubbed as the rock'n'roll team principal, in Formula One history (Their first win in Formula One for Jordan came way, way back in 1998 after former world champion Damon Hill won in a rain sodden Belgium (Which was marred by the huge accident that took Michael Schumacher (Who made his F1 debut in Belgium also way, way back in 1991 after Bertrand Gachot was sent behind bars for the assault on a London taxi driver a year earlier, but had to retire due to a clutch problem), David Coulthard & 11 others out during the Grand Prix that caused a big pileup) in which he beat his teammate at the time of Ralf Schumacher (That was the year before way, way back in 1999 (Their most successful season to date with a 3rd place finish in the constructors championship behind McLaren, but ahead of Stewart (Who had gone on to become Jaguar from way back in 2000 right through to also way back in 2004, until Red Bull took over since 20 years ago way back in 2005 in which they won 6 constructors championships & 8 world drivers titles with German Sebastian Vettel & Dutchman Max Verstappen having won 4 world championships each) they would secure another victory in France also under the wet weather conditions with German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, & Italy for which was their only ever win in the dry), but their last win was way back in 2003 in another race affected by the wet weather in Brazil after who I thought McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen won, but it went to an Italian of Giancarlo Fisichella (The man known as Fisi or Fisico who comes from Rome) who was declared the victor instead) has recently passed away aged 76, but all thoughts & prayers go to the family of Eddie in this toughest of times, requiescat in pace.

Val Kilmer

1959 - 2025

& Eddie Jordan

1948 - 2025

All I Want is You: My 27th blog of the year 2025 (AKA in memory of the great Leon 'The King' Benbaruk)

Well, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger but first in the football such as the All Whites are one win away of securing a place in the Football/Soccer men's World Cup next year in North America after our victory against Fiji in Wellington by 7 goals including a hat-trick from our in-form skipper Chris Wood (The one who plays for Nottingham Forest in England in the Premier League & is the one of both survivors along with his All Whites teammate Tommy Smith from 2010 which featured the likes of Ryan Nelsen (Who was our captain back in 2010 who once played for English clubs such as Millwall & Blackburn Rovers FC), Ivan Vicelich (A Kiwi who is of Croatian descent who rubbed shoulders with the likes of Real Madrid players such as Sergio Ramos & Cristiano Ronaldo when the club he once played for, of Auckland City FC shocked the football world with a 3rd place finish at the Football/Soccer men's Club World Cup), Winston Reid (A Maori footballer who is a good Danish speaker in which he spent time at a Danish football club of FC Midtjylland before playing in the Premier League for the Hammers of West Ham before retiring internationally in 2022) & Shane 'Smeltzy' Smeltz (A German born New Zealander who was once a Wellington Phoenix player before he played for Gold Coast FC (Which is no longer in existence), Perth Glory & Sydney FC in the A-League) in the OFC World Cup qualifier semifinal to make the trip to Auckland for the final, therefore we're locking horns against New Caledonia who beat Tahiti in the other semi for which will be our biggest international football match of our country's lives since against Bahrain way back in 2009 in Wellington to make it to South Africa 2010 (Including a goal scored by the son of former coach Kevin of Rory Fallon, then a save by 2nd string goalkeeper filling in for the suspended Glen Moss of Mark Paston who denied the Bahrainis a certain equalizer), as well as our toughest test since against Costa Rica in 2022 in which they mesmerized us by the barest of margins in which the Costa Ricans made it to Qatar after their victory (Including an early goal by Costa Rica that put them in front, & maintained their lead until the final whistle which was marred by a red card to one of the All Whites players of Kosta Babarouses (One of the goal scorers in the game against New Caledonia who just come on for the injured Wood (Brother of former female footballer/soccer player Chelsea) along with Michael Boxall & the young Elijah Just who is a relative unknown to the football scene) who after the game had to be suspended for both games against the Socceroos in a 2 game series), but there has been an update as New Zealand have qualified for the World Cup in North America next year after securing a 3 - 0 victory over New Caledonia at Eden Park in Auckland, therefore witnessing history as we joined Japan & the 3 co-hosts of the United States (Coached by former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino), Canada (Who are in their 3rd Football/Soccer World Cup appearance after previously appearing in 2022) & Mexico (And IR Iran, then defending champions Argentina being the latest sides to make it to next year's tournament), but unfortunately we lost Chris Wood in the process with a hip injury, therefore he could be ruled out of Nottingham Forest's key matches in the Premier League, but there was once a football related story of Argentinian footballer Emiliano Martinez who is established as one of football's best goalkeepers in the world where he started out at the bottom as a back up goalie for Arsenal where his side won the FA Cup against Chelsea in 2020 which was ruined by the global COVID pandemic, before moving to Aston Villa where he worked his way up as the first choice goalkeeper known for his ability of saving certain key goals, then called up to the Argentinian squad for Copa America in 2021 in which they eventually triumphed after an impressive domestic season, before 1 year later when the World Cup came around in which they had a successful Football/Soccer men's World Cup glory despite dropping a game against Saudi Arabia in which they became the 2nd side to do so after Spain in 2010 (2 years after they won & 2 years before they retained the Euros) before winning all their remaining games, including the final against France in which he made a great save off a shot from Frenchman Randall Kolo Muani during the dying seconds during extra time in the final which was the game changer that Martinez was the one who saved the Argentinian captain Lionel Messi's blushes as well as Leo's career, forcing them into penalties in which Argentina who later would gone on to win the World Cup as well as being awarded the best goalkeeper of the tournament as well as picking up goalkeeper of the year award in 2023 & the Lev Yashin award winner for the best performing goalkeeper on the planet (And just like South African hard man Deon Fourie who saved Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi's blushes as well as also saved South Africa on the brink of defeat as he came on for the injured Bongi Mbonambi that retained the men's Rugby World Cup in 2023 (Same year that Travis Head (Who had taken the catch to dismiss the Indian captain Rohit Sharma off the bowling of Glenn Maxwell which was another one of their turning points that was shades of Madan Lal who took a superb catch to also dismiss West Indian Viv Richards off the bowling of Kapil Dev that secured India their first of 2 men's Cricket World Cups long ago in 1983 in what was best described as the greatest day of Indian cricket at Lord's in London, compared to last year (2024) when Surya Kumar Yadav took an excellent catch for which I thought was questionable to dismiss a opposition batter during the final against South Africa of the T20 World Cup, ensuring that India had achieved immortality after 17 years) did the similar thing as he had saved the Aussie cricket team captain Pat Cummins's blushes of saving Australia also on the brink of certain defeat in which he scored a century that secured Australia their record breaking 6th men's Cricket World Cup by pulling off the Ahmedabad heist) for South Africa (The most successful rugby playing nation at the MRWC with a record 4 times) according to twice men's Rugby World Cup winning lock of Eben Etzebeth, & it's October, 2023, it's South Africa against New Zealand in the World Cup final, the Springboks maintain their lead & it's a game close to call, until that happens. As New Zealand captain Sam Cane delivers a tackle that slipped up high on Jesse Kriel, as it in the past standards that it was always considered a dangerous tackle, with no hesitation, but remember in 2023 the legislations were tough & strict, & that type of tackle was not common, as Cane receives a yellow card & an off field review, & first the referee actually thinks that the yellow card would be upgraded to red, & when the New Zealand fans, as well as the commentators on TV reacted when they realise that there was a high degree of force without mitigation, as the Springboks went on to win that game 11 - 12 against 14 players for the rest of the match, & retain the men's Rugby World Cup (And for the record 4th time that they won rugby's global showpiece event) which was dramatic, but a World Cup the All Blacks surely would've won if it wasn't for the red card (Just days before Wayne Barnes retired from refereeing as he able to step in to curb online hate which is deemed to be tyranny & discriminatory like giving someone a black eye or a slap in the face in rugby (Foolish!), in the aftermath of his poor decisions that let our greedy AB's fans down, just like that platforms are struggling to stamp out on online abuse amidst the war in both Israel & Gaza, in the aftermath about the rise of both antisemitism & islamophobia as they addressed online hate speech as consequence of the genocide among topics discussed at EuroDIG as in America, President Donald Trump has issued a clamp down on anything considered "woke", while the term is also denigrated by many in Germany).

And secondly here in New Zealand as the leader of the New Zealand First party & ageing politician Winston Peters (Who is due to turn 80 in the coming weeks) begins his election campaign which is due next year (Well, let's hope that former PM & Labour party leader Chris Hipkins is in because it won't definitely be Christopher Luxon, that's for sure) by addressing to the people about the crack down on wokeness in which he was heckled so many times about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza (And the resulting casualties during that invasion has reached up to 50,000, oh dear god, I hope they get sued (And there were 26 including a senior Hamas leader which was marred by ground operations therefore triggering evacuation orders by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza's capital of Rafah (Which is like Kyiv) that had been escalated upon them, while foreign journalists are being targeted by Israeli soldiers who murder them, in which they did that according to the comment I remember from Carole who was outraged about it, especially the current Israel-Hamas situation in Gaza whilst on our way to Spice Guru on the 27th of March (I'm unhappy about both invasions that they're currently having, but this lust of pro-far right wing conservative politics sickens me), & the US president Donald Trump (Who is outraged about so much levels of misbehaviour there as the officials of the US president (Who had announced that there'll be automotive tariffs including parts in a bid of an automated counter measuring system which includes foreign goods being brought into the country regarding to high levels of inflation & price hikes all over the place recently are being changed for the matter, but there has certainly on the rise during the 2020's decade for both things, the utter dominance of pro-far right wing conservative politics mainly because of Trump who first became president in 2017 until 2021 & is the US president again since this year, & the fall of pro-far left wing liberal politics) being torched over a 'Train wreck' war plan being leaked with the journalist who inadvertently snuck in to a top secret meeting about the US invading Yemen against those Houthi rebels who just keep attacking non stop (And that journalist who broke in should not been given permission to enter a top secret facility which triggered a security breach like that) that resulted 10 of them who had been protesters had been ejected from the venue by police who had to combat & ward off protesters by escorting them outta here (And I reacted to about that heckling situation towards Mr Peters that I was like "Oh damn this!" (And there was David Seymour beginning his election campaign for the ACT Party as well as he starts his duties as Deputy Prime Minister under heightened security that resulted in a clamp down of hecklers trying to heckle Seymour just like they did to Peters in which they granted a security boost of protecting a certain politician which cut the likelihood of an incident to 95%).

And thirdly that if World War III breaks out (It could & might be imminent you know that there is a likelihood of triggering a global conflict, just like in 2020 that they once had the global COVID pandemic had been triggered), the fact is that our country of New Zealand (Well, my fave part of my country that I was born is both the All Blacks rugby team & the Lord of the Rings films) won't be in danger, especially us meaning that we're at least safe (Both the Kiwis & Aussies have been spotting multiple Chinese boats, but at least the Air Force is keeping an eye on/monitoring them) as Dad alluded to me before (And a war could break out between China & the US if the Chinese are eager to invade Taiwan in 2 years time which is in 2027 (And that is a year to 3 years that a world war could start between 2028 to 2030 with peace likely to come to an end since World War II had finished in 1945), while the United States could invade Canada by taking over as the 51st state (But Aunty Tan could even be worried if there's an war in Canada in the hands of the US, & if they do, Rejean could even be drafted in to the armed forces to serve & protect the country of birth that he always loves, but he might be too old to join them because of his age in the near future), in case if there is a nuclear holocaust unfolding there.

And finally onto the rugby stuff in Super Rugby Pacific as here are the results that they had in round 6 of the southern hemisphere's biggest club rugby competition:

Moana Pasifika 35 - 50 Chiefs

Highlanders 23 - 29 Queensland Reds

Blues 19 - 42 Crusaders

NSW Waratahs 28 - 23 ACT Brumbies

& Western Force 52 - 15 Fijian Drua

So that is my 603rd blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 27th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

P.S. And we've just heard reports in Nottingham in the UK that our good Moroccan Jewish mate & my old mentor of Leon Benbaruk who sadly passed away recently due to health issues that he had before according to Pops who alluded to me on the 27th of March from a Messenger text taken from Pascal's Kiwi wife Gina Guigou, but I would like to send all condolences, prayers & thoughts go to the Benbaruk whanau, so rest in pieces (Rest in paradise, but I did have a moment of silence on March 27th in honor of him) to the great humble man who lived life on the full (And I last seen him in 2023 (That's 19 years before I had the privilege of first meeting him way back in 2004 on New Year's Eve when I was in my early teens at age 13 throughout his inner sanctum (And we played table then air hockey together back in the day), but the last time I saw him was in 2023 on the last day of July where he picked up by one of his mates Maurice Takarangi, meaning that he left to go to Wellington before heading over to the UK to live over there until his passing) a year prior to his marriage with Michelle & had lived in the United Kingdom for just 2 years because he used to live here in Whanganui, New Zealand (He once lived in Wellington before that), & he was an avid Liverpool FC fanatic (He was mainly a football follower just like Carole's bro Martin (Who is a Man United follower just like Leon's honorary daughter from Malaysia, Sophia Ong), meanwhile another on of Carole & Marty's bros of Zaki is always being a loyal rugby follower just like me & Pops as well Dad (Who is a league fan) & Carole who is mainly into tennis a lot) & a loyal follower to the famous British rock band Pink Floyd (And my last thoughts about Leon? Well, I can't believe he's gone now, that's pure emotional right there, how sad (For Leon, thanks, your infernal majesty, farewell my dear friend (And I've decided to listen to the Pink Floyd song 'Time', in honor of him on March 27th (March 26th in the UK, the date that he passed away), adieu).

Leon Benbaruk

1948 - 2025

Save a Prayer: My 26th blog of the year 2025

Well, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger but first in the Six Nations rugby as France win the title after their emphatic victory against Scotland (For whom I was rooting for due to our family being of Scottish descent) in that epic round 5 finale with French second five Yoram Moefana scoring both tries at the Stade de France in Paris that set the tone of going into their 3 match test series against the All Blacks in July, with a Six Nations championship for the first time since 2022 (While Ireland & England win both of their matches against Italy & Wales, but they could not catch France of securing the crown) & for the 7th time overall during the Six Nations era (They joined England with 7 Six Nations titles (France won it in 2002, 2004, 2006-07, 2010, 2022 & this year (2025) while England became champions in 2000-01, 2003, 2011, 2016-17 & 2020) apiece, then Ireland who won it 6 times (2009, 2014-15, 2018, 2023 & last year (2024) along with Wales (2005, 2008, 2012-13, 2019 & 2021), while both Italy & Scotland (Who last became champions way, way back in 1999 which was during the Five Nations era) have none), but they had to do it without one of their main man of Antoine Dupont who was ruled out of that game altogether through injury sustained in the Ireland test (And he could possibly miss that 3 match test series against New Zealand in an effort to take his time of recovering that injury), but there has been similarities between both of the Super Rugby games with last year's Northern Tour & a men's Six Nations matches respectively such as Sam Gilbert having the chance to win the game for the Highlanders against the Hurricanes (Who clinged on to the end, but there was controversy whether Umaga-Jensen's tackle had slipped up or should I say, crept up high on a Highlanders player, but the ref says that there was no foul play to start with, while there was Ngane Punivai who thought he got away with a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Highlanders captain Timoci Tavatavanawai (Who is described by former All Black turned commentator Justin Marshall as Ma'a Nonu on steroids, but he argued with referee Angus Mabey after the game whether he was asking for a yellow card against Umaga-Jensen, but that's not the case even though with the TMO who couldn't afford to intervene about the foul play incident (And during the game that one of New Zealand's best halfbacks of Cam Roigard (The Hurricanes star man) did an evasive pick & go move during the game which is inspired by the Frenchman of Dupont (One of the world's best rugby players as of today) & his maneuvers of sniping past the defence in which he always does that a lot) in which Punivai had asked to leave the field to get checked for a head knock according to the protocols whilst being sin binned in which was one of the most controversial decisions in the history of Super Rugby Pacific, & I believe so) in Dunedin not once, but twice with a missed penalty & a missed drop goal which was shades of Englishman George Ford missing both a penalty & a drop kick against the All Blacks (Who just had to win) last year in November in which me, Pops & Carole were at least holding our breaths according to the previous blogs that I did, while Xavi Taele's missed conversion that sailed wide which would've put the Blues in front against the Chiefs (Who won anyway by a whisker, but the match had taken place after the Crusaders had a convincing win over the Western Force in Christchurch which is during kids round after Marvel Comics had recently signed a partnership with New Zealand Rugby to make superhero type kits that is appealing to the children who watch comics & stuff, with Sevu Reece getting a hat-trick, & Macca Springer becoming the 2nd player to score 5 tries in a Super Rugby game in which he equalled the all-time record along with the late Sean Wainui who was the first Super Rugby player to dot it down, & score 5 tries which was against the Waratahs for the Chiefs in 2021) in Hamilton that was reminiscent of Finn Russell & that unsuccessful conversion that would've put Scotland in the lead against England (Who ended up winning of course) during a Six Nations test in London, meanwhile that there's 11 teams in the Super Rugby Pacific competition now (And is it good for the Aussie teams to start finding their competitiveness? They hope so according to the rugby followers in Australia) since the Melbourne Rebels left last year (Compared to 17 in the NRL since the Dolphins joined the comp since 2023, but me & Pops aren't always league followers because it is stop start (And we're mainly rugby (Which has rucks & mauls) aficionados, but we support 3 teams in Super Rugby Pacific such as the Hurricanes (Our main franchise here because of Whanganui (In which me, Pops, Carole, Dad & Raewyn still live) being part of the Hurricanes region as well as Jansen (Jansi Jans) who still lives in the Hawke's Bay province with Bernard (Bernie), & my biological aunty of Cathey Middelplaats, my cousin Paige Ahearn (Whose birthday is coming up on the 5th of April as she turns 31 & she wasn't married when little Norah was born, even though Paige has since been married to her husband Jarrod, then they went on a honeymoon to Japan like last year (2024) as I saw a picture from Pops phone), & my first cousin once removed of Norah who are living in the Wellington province), the Highlanders (Mainly due to one of Pops old pupils during Aramoho School days of Jona Nareki playing for them, but I have been to Southland & Otago provinces before back in 2019 with Pops, Aunty Tan & Rejean, & I have never been to Dunedin for my entire life (Pops went there once also back in 2014 with the late Nan) & the Blues (Also mainly because of Stephen Perofeta who was an old boy of Whanganui City College here in Whanganui, as well as Pops who once lived in Waiheke Island & of course, Kathryn who currently resides in Northland with Ken as well as Andy who currently lives in the North Harbour province with his wife Kelsey, but they failed to get a new house when they attended the auction because the price was set higher recently), only Dad is since he is a die-hard Warriors fanatic).

And secondly onto the political stuff that things have still gone wrong in the 2020s decade such as COVID first, then the Black Lives Matter protests, followed by the riots on the US Capitol buildings, then that dreadful prolonged invasion that has been going since 2022 that I'm still not mentioning it because of Pops wishing me to keep it clean, followed by there used to be that horrendous war between Israel & Hamas in Gaza which lasted 15 months from October 2023 until January this year (And now the war has been restarted in Gaza between Israeli & Hamas forces with 60 Palestinians being reported as casualties, 60! And I mean, this is disheartening & saddened by it, especially for Carole who always watches Al Jazeera, is getting sick of this invasion (And the 1st Israel - Hamas war is bad, now the 2nd one is about to get worse) just because she's mainly a bit upset about it due to the fact that the war is back on (And the police shooting (Or police shootout I should say) stuff that I mainly do in either the GTA IV or GTA V games that I always play, reminds me of both terrible wars such as the one that has been going since 2022, & the second invasion in Gaza between Israel & Hamas forces (They used to have the first) that they're currently having for, is known as Israeli Protocol 66 which is one of the top-secret contingency orders that identified all Gazans as traitors) since the Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu who is dissatisfied of not trusting about Hamas for failing to release the remaining 65 hostages (Who all of them demanded the invasion to stop whilst in Hamas custody), although it looks like the ceasefire deal has been backfired & fallen through), then Trump surviving a certain assassination attempt not once including at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, but twice, & now the trade war between the United States that the current president Donald Trump (I think he is still, a flop & a disaster should I say in terms of his leadership about the tariffs had already been in effect as of today (I'm absolutely sick of this tariff stuff because tariff is the word that Trump loves to trend about it especially his right wing supporters, but I still haven't watched CNN (Which is the left wing news channel compared to Fox which is usually a right wing news channel) & Al Jazeera since Trump took charge as the US president again), resulting in a price hike to foreign goods, especially from my point of view, but I'm still voicing my disapproval by cringing about Trump who I described him as a greedy man by mainly criticizing the President of the United States a lot, just that the fact he is an idiot, lame!) is currently using against the rest of the world such as Canada, China & Mexico in a bid to stamp out the immigration & prohibited drug stuff in which thousands protest against the US President, as well as especially his biggest supporter of South African born American Elon Musk (The world's richest person who I thought I once was telling Carole that he only had sons, but he has adoptive children such as girls that he's having) & his Tesla electric car company that he founded in which the stocks had gone down recently due to the protests that they're currently dealing with, had been worked (And Tesla has recently is about to pull out of the auto show in Vancouver, fearing for its safety towards the attendees).

And thirdly in the rock music industry such as legendary NZ rockers Shihad performing their final ever concert at Homegrown in the band's hometown in Wellington before sadly, that they had to retire from then on following that gig (And the first song I heard since their retirement was 'Everything' that I heard on Brian on the 16th of March), but I started to follow Crowded House (Which is an Aussie rock band, but the lead singer is a Kiwi of Neil Finn (Formerly from Split Enz which is easily one of our country's best bands ever, damn that, they do it all) who has his sons Liam & Elroy are in fact band members still) now (However it is not one of my main rock bands & musicians list that I follow because it's still Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Evanescence, Linkin Park, U2 & last but not least, Nickelback (And it used to be Red Hot Chili Peppers as well as the Foo Fighters, Incubus, A Perfect Circle, Shihad & Filter) because it is my fave New Zealand rock band from now on since Shihad called time on their career which lasted 37 years (And they have released 10 studio albums that they had during their career, but I own 6 out of the 10) while the band had humble beginnings in 1988 where the lead singer Jon Toogood & drummer Tom Larkin were both AC/DC & Metallica fanatics back then (And the highlights of their career were playing in front of 60,000 people opening for AC/DC at Western Springs Stadium in Auckland back in 2010 for which I have not mentioned in my blogs before, up until now compared to changing their band name to Pacifier following the 9/11 tragedy way back in 2002 which was their low point as I twice mentioned a story about it on my blog).

And finally that the brand spanking new Formula One season is underway as the clear favourite to win the world championship this year of McLaren's Lando Norris, has taken the victory to open proceedings down under at the season opening race of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia (And it has been all McLaren so far as they dominated qualifying, then they had converted from a pole, to a certain race win with Norris crossing the line (And it just had to be), to be on the top step as Lando draws first blood of the first Grand Prix of the year, meaning that for the first time since 2012 that a driver racing for McLaren takes the lead of the championship after the season opener, & it was Jenson Button), therefore setting the tone with his chance to dethrone the defending 4 time world champion Max Verstappen on top of the F1 world, is well & truly on (And there has been an update as one of Norris's McLaren teammates of Aussie Oscar Piastri who had taken victory at the most recent Grand Prix in China (While the sprint race went to multiple world champion of Britain's Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari) to go 2 & 0 this year for McLaren who remain undefeated (And it's one wins apiece for both Norris (Australia) & Piastri (Who dominated China), meanwhile our own New Zealander Liam Lawson has lost his race seat at Red Bull after 2 races in which he had a mediocre season that he is having since being promoted to the main team this year (And Dad was telling me about it during our phone conversation on March 27th when Lawson had been given the sack from Red Bull) from RB (It's Racing Bulls as of today).

So that is my 602nd blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 26th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.

P.S. And also that the rugby community is in mourning as former New Zealand rugby player & coach Alex 'Grizz' Wyllie (The one who was born during the war which was World War II making him as one of the wartime babies being born (Compared to Pops who was born 2 years following the war had been complete in 1947) who played for both Canterbury & the All Blacks as well as he coached both of these sides that he played as well as he was once the Argentina rugby team coach way, way back at the 1999 men's Rugby World Cup, has passed away, so all thoughts, prayers & condolences to his loved ones for this emotional but difficult, tough time, rest easy.

Alex 'Grizz' Wyllie

1944 - 2025

Execute the Sounds/Find My Way: My 25th blog of the year 2025

Well, hey everyone as always, welcome to all our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu Ngapo & you're tuning in to my KiwiAvenger blog here on blogger (And a gigantic shoutout to Pops for wishing him his 78th birthday today on the 5th of July, so best wishes to my fave person in the whole wide world along with Dad) but first in the cricket news department such as the Black Caps are into the final of the Champions Trophy against India (Who had to beat Australia (Who thought that they got their man of Indian captain Rohit Sharma, but the catch was put down by Cooper Connolly (Who was targeted by unhappy Aussie fans on social media after the game) anyway that hurt their chances of reaching the final, & also Glenn Maxwell who tried to get Virat Kohli (Who scored 84 during the semi) out, had dropped a sitter in which the Aussies have been stunned, they'll be gutted that they fell short just like the Blues did in which they didn't get the result against the ACT Brumbies on the 7th of March during Super Rugby Pacific as the men from Canberra brought them home with a match winning penalty goal to break the 12 year Eden Park curse (That was a day before the Drua ended the Chiefs (Who were without the injured Damian McKenzie (Who is one of the Chiefs main players) quest of remaining undefeated in this years competition when the match was played at the Drua's fortress which is Churchill Park in Lautoka (But the Drua-Chiefs match was similar to the ACT Brumbies-Hurricanes one in Canberra last year & the Chiefs-Reds encounter in New Plymouth in 2023) & also Moana Pasifika led by it's inspirational captain Ardie Savea, had caused the biggest upset in this years competition in which they rolled over the Hurricanes (The team that Ardie used to play with) at North Harbour Stadium in Albany for Moana's first win of the season, & the 2nd time that they have beaten New Zealand opposition in history), just a day right before normal service has resumed for the Crusaders as they produced an emphatic win over the Queensland Reds as they gained vengeance following last year's result which had gone in the way of the men from Brisbane, but the latest in the Six Nations as France (Who had beaten Ireland which was marred by Antoine Dupont's horrific injury in which the referee should've checked it for foul play (And the ref said that it was a complete accident meaning that Tadhg Beirne who inadvertently took out & injured Dupont won't get cited by the citing officer) that was shades of Darcy Swain who illegally clobbered Quinn Tupaea's limbs during the 1st Bledisloe Cup test in Melbourne in 2022 which resulted in a yellow card before he got suspended for a lengthy amount of time) lead the standings by a single point ahead of England (Who'll require a win against Wales in the final round should France lose to Scotland, & the Six Nations Championship is theirs) in the other semi in Dubai in the UAE) after beating South Africa in the 2nd semi at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore (In which the venue had been suited for ideal batting conditions compared to the Dubai pitch which suited the spinners, especially the Indian point of view consisting of the spin quartet of Ravindra Jadeja (One of the elder statesman of the Indian bowling attack), Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel & Varun Chakravarthy) after a dominant batting display from both Rachin Ravindra who top scored 108, then Kane Williamson who posted 102 (And there has been an update in the final that India lift the Champions Trophy for the record 3rd time off the back of their dominant performance against the Black Caps (Who narrowly missed out, yet again) in Dubai including the Indian bowlers, especially the spin department who got rid of both our danger men of the New Zealand side such as Rachin Ravindra & Kane Williamson early which was the turning point, along with Indian captain Rohit Sharma's fast start to the Indian innings in which the men in blue (Who took advantage of winning the Champions Trophy mainly for their refusal to play in Pakistan due to political tensions between the 2 countries, & especially for the Dubai pitch which is spin friendly conditions that suited the Indian spinners) dominated from start to finish, for the entirety of the final in which we were stunned but gutted about the result).

And secondly that shots were fired in Castlecliff here in Whanganui on March 12th which resulted in arrests to a couple of perpetrators who caused a certain crime as the school went into lockdown until before 3pm, according to the story from Carole during our roast pork & vegetable dinner at her place that me & Pops went that the cop chopper had arrived, responding to a call along with police K9 units & the AOS (Armed Offenders Squad which is New Zealand's equivalent of America's SWAT) squad being brought in to bring those criminals who are caught red handed to justice, but these dreadful scenes remind me straight out of GTA game that I always play (And I'm now doing the main GTA IV game story mode that I'm playing because I'm attempting to clock the game by completing all missions as possible, but I managed to complete it just before midnight on the 12th of March), duh! That's right sucka! Ugh...As if (And I now have been using the famous line which is inspired by the 1995 coming of age teen comedy film Clueless that featured the likes of Alicia Silverstone (AKA Batgirl from the Batman & Robin movie which came out way, way back in 1997 & from the Brendan Fraser movie released in 1999 called Blast from the Past) who played Cher Horowitz, but was I talking like a Valley girl like that, it's like but it is so like, anything you want right there).

And thirdly that it was on either Tuesday on Wednesday that I brought a Chromebook to start with for I thought that was a laptop (For which I haven't owned for 16 years, but this time I'll never gonna break it just like last time way back in 2009 (That was a year after Dad bought me a laptop at the time) but I got it wrong that they never do PlayStation remote play, before I came back to the Warehouse + Warehouse Stationary with Dad to ask for a refund of getting a replacement laptop that suits me for which was the right one (And I hope that I was going for broke when I bought a new laptop, but Pops said to me that I wasn't, & it is a good idea to spend instead of saving a whole lot) before Pops took me to Momiji where we had a chicken katsu bento box for dinner (And I've gotta start saving money from now on since I read my bank statement lately on the 31st of March).

And finally that there was Cyclone Alfred in Queensland, Australia as many thousands of people are without power while the premier of Queensland was saying that they have a heap of jobs to do as clean up taken from the cyclone continues as they dropped 15 inches of rain which resulted in a coastal erosion on beaches, especially on the Gold Coast as their beloved beaches were washed offshore by gouging millions of cubic metres of sand from 500km gusts of wind (And people before the cyclone have been told to evacuate, but I hope that Hera, Brendon & Willow are OK from the cyclone just like that).

So that is my 601st blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 25th of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. And it is my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats (Paige's mum & Norah's grandmother who could be potentially my honorary mum for who I would like to still see her one day along with my honorary sister as well as my dear cuzzie Paige (Whose having her 31st birthday on April 5th) & my honorary niece as well as my first cousin once removed & my possible goddaughter Norah (I once had a god cousin, & her name was Sherylle-Anne) next time I go to Wellington with either Pops (Regardless of his old age as well as the travel costs) or Dad (Unless he retires from his teaching job, but I would have to wait for many longer to have that opportunity before I pass away) who is having her 58th birthday on the 16th of March, but I wanted to give a shoutout to her so best wishes, xoxo.

A Rebellious Hellraiser: My 600th blog special (AKA my 24th blog of the year 2025)

Well, welcome to all of our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu here & you're tuning into my Kiwiavenger blog (And welcome to my 600th special, but it has been 13 years since I started blogging back in 2012 where it was my first one, but now here I am doing my 600th this year), but first as February 24th this year marks 3 years since that brutal invasion began in which I have not fully mentioned since Pops told me not to post stuff on my blogs by still keeping it clean to avoid being deemed objectionable & sensitive to the country who started it, even though with US President Donald Trump is going to be the one that'll stop that dreadful war that has been going since 2022 (And he's not going to since the United States has switched sides by turning into the country who started it, but I heard about the latest update is that about the Ukrainian president got into an argument with US President Donald Trump (Who the British PM Keir Starmer labelled him as by far, a laughing stock worldwide amid a tariff debacle, therefore Trump (Whom he labelled the United States as a disaster & a flop as he blasts 'open borders' & 'weak leadership' in the aftermath of a pair of attacks in New Orleans & Las Vegas) has been humiliated once more on the world stage about himself with foolish statements ill-considered ideas as he made ridiculous comments about Democrats & the FBI following deadly mishaps sent shockwaves in the US following the French president Emmanuel Macron, & I mean, that is embarrassing & disgraceful, nonetheless (And Trump should never serve his third term as President of the United States, this is ridiculous! Come on!) by hurling abuse at him (I don't know that Volodymyr Zelensky had illegally used foul language towards Trump (Who sides with that lunatic who started that unprovoked invasion) during a heated argument that escalated upon which was a shouting match before he got thrown out at the White House by the US Secret Service who escorted Zelensky outta here for showing dissent towards the US President (And why the hell did the US President's security want to boot the Ukrainian president out of the White House like that by asking him to leave? Because of that Zelensky who showed signs of anger by getting aggressive as he misbehaved like a person who has TS & was having a bit of anxiety in front of Trump, if you know what I mean).

And secondly in the Six Nations news department so here are the results that they had in round 3 of northern hemisphere's biggest rugby competition around:

Ireland 27 - 18 Wales

England 16 - 15 Scotland

& Italy 24 - 73 France

And continuing onto the rugby stuff in Super Rugby Pacific as here are the results that they had in round 2 of the southern hemisphere's biggest club rugby competition around:

Chiefs 49 - 24 Crusaders

Queensland Reds 56 - 36 Moana Pasifika

Hurricanes 38 - 34 Fijian Drua

Highlanders 29 - 21 Blues

& ACT Brumbies 42 - 45 Western Force

Bye: NSW Waratahs

And thirdly in the gaming department as Jonah Lomu Rugby had arguably by far, had the best commentary in the video game so far compared to other rugby games according to Dad who alluded to me as revealed on a comment that he made on the 23rd of February, including digging like a demented mole there according to one of the announcers of the late Bill McLaren (While the others that I like are "It's like cattle trucks in a shunting yard", & "There are a bunch of Sherman tanks, going up the field there") while my fave commentary line would have to be the Ward 4 one where I always say the famous quote every time a player does a big thumping tackle during a rugby game shown on TV as Bill would say "Mercy me, that could've put him in Ward 4!", then one of the English rugby announcers of former rugby player as well as ex-president of World Rugby (And grandfather of current player Josh), Bill Beaumont responding "I hope not Bill, that's a maternity ward", but there was once a story about the late Jonah Lomu that he endured a tragic life as a professional sportsman as he escaped the clutches of gang violence when he was young just like 2023 men's Rugby World Cup winning Springbok player of Canan Moodie that he went to Wesley College to establish himself of learning the game of rugby, & he did, then after he left school that he signed a NPC contract with Counties Manukau where he was a relatively unknown at the time before making the AB's at 19 years of age for the 2 match test series against France way, way back in 1994, then he was dropped from the test side until he was impressed by the selectors during a North-South game in 1995 to make the men's Rugby World Cup squad for New Zealand before scoring his first 2 tries against Ireland in a pool game before beating both Wales & Japan (In which Lomu didn't play) in a record comprehensive score, then embarrassed Scotland in the quarterfinal scoring a try, then something happened in the semifinal as he would race in to score four tries, including running over the top of Mike Catt by trampling him, all the way to the try line in one of the men's RWC most iconic moments (Then we narrowly missed out against the Springboks (The team that Lomu had never ever scored a try against throughout his entire career) in the final therefore uniting the host country under the late president of Nelson Mandela who was in charge as I mentioned in my previous blogs), a year before he had a decent Super 12 for the Blues during the inaugural season in which they triumphed, then a year later in 1997 that he was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome which is a rare & serious kidney disorder which kept him out of the game, before a year later that he made a comeback to the sport (Although his appearances for the Blues had been limited due to chronic health issues) as he secured a gold medal in rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then in 1999 (He played just the one season for the Chiefs) which came around during the World Cup as he scored tries against Tonga, England & Italy in the pools, then Scotland in the quarters before eventually falling short against France in the semi despite a double from him, then in 2000 (The year that he joined the Hurricanes until he left in 2003) as he scored the winning try against the defending world champions at the time of the Wallabies in Sydney in front of a world record crowd in Sydney during a Bledisloe test, then he won an NPC crown with Wellington in which he joined from Counties Manukau where he played the likes of Tana Umaga, Christian Cullen, Rodney So'oialo & the late Jerry 'JC' Collins in which the 4 of them were great players, then a year later that he was a men's Rugby Sevens World Cup winning player when the All Blacks Sevens triumphed in La Plata in Argentina when he got called up as an injury replacement for his good mate on & off the field of Eric 'Rushy' Rush, a year before his international rugby career had ended in which the Wales test, was his 63rd & last game (His last test try was against England in which he crossed over for his 2nd try (His 37th of his career) after scoring the 1st which was his penultimate of his test career), then 13 years later, he passed away due to a cardiac arrest relating to his kidney disease that he had been haunted throughout his life (And Lomu to me was one of rugby's greatest ever players of all time so he was like a complete package to start with if not one of the best operators & iconic legends of the sport in which he was established as the first true global superstar of rugby (But no other rugby players would emulate them of course, but Lomu (Who terrorised his opponents trying to tackle him every time he got the ball left, right & centre as well as his skills that he endured such as scoring tries, line breaks, big tackles, fends & bump offs but he was big for his size because mainly he was a power winger just like the late Inga Tuigamala & now Caleb Clarke, but boy he can run) was once my rugby idol since I was mainly a Michael Schumacher (The highly controversial German Formula One legend who was a multiple world champion just like Britain's Lewis Hamilton) fanboy back then according to the previous blogs that I did), but they recently remade a rugby computer game called Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 as a tribute to the late humble man to rival against Rugby 25 which performed poorly in terms of the gameplay), but I have revealed a news report that he was broke mainly due to financial problems meaning that Lomu (Who is survived by his wife Nadene & his 2 sons of Brayley & Dhyreille (His middle name is Jonah which is named after his famous father while his nickname is 'Frenchie' due to him being born in France) who wished to play for a Six Nations team of France because he was born there whilst his famous dad spent time playing for Marseille therefore due to his eligibility criteria) ran out of money just right before he passed away at age 40 back in 2015 (The year that the All Blacks last triumphed at a men's Rugby World Cup just coming up to a decade ago by retaining it after our victory in 2011, right before the Springboks had their turn of dominating the last 2 Rugby World Cups in also back in 2019 in Japan & the most recent one in 2023 in France in which they became the most successful with 4 (And every time they appeared in the final, is that South Africa would always going to win, but at least our own Emirates Team New Zealand had dominated the last 3 America's Cups such as the one in Bermuda in 2017 (Once again! The America's Cup is, New Zealand's Cup!) where we emulated our 1995 triumph in San Diego, then Auckland 2021 where COVID had been around (The America's Cup, remains, New Zealand's Cup!), in a repeat of the successful 2000 defence & last year in Barcelona, Spain that we produced a Mediterranean masterclass (The threepeat is complete! And Emirates Team New Zealand, win, the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup!) to finally win 3 America's Cups in a row in modern history), especially the Bomb squad that made them the difference of winning the World Cup which is their main WMD (Weapons of mass destruction) in order to terrorise opponents as I also mentioned in my previous blogs last year (And the Springboks employing the Bomb squad, is like La Furia Roja doing their tiki-taka that they once had to win both Euros in 2008 & 2012, & a single Football/Soccer men's World Cup in 2010 for the Spain men's national football team), but the South Africans (Who became just the 2nd side to defend the men's Rugby World Cup in 2023 after our own All Blacks did it back in 2015) have always been tough to beat in rugby against from our NZ point of view according to the comment that Pops alluded to me on the 20th of March this year (Compared to in the sailing that Team New Zealand who beat the Americans (Who ran with the all-Aussie crew) first, then the Italians (With an Aussie helmsman) next time round followed by the British the last time we raced against (And at least our Taihoro boat was reliable last year, compared to NZL 82 in 2003 in which was unreliable, therefore we suffered our loyal defeat in the hands of the Swiss syndicate of Alinghi which lured key Team New Zealand personnel prior to the Cup which was the most controversial ever according to the previous blog that I did, statistically speaking).

And finally in the Champions Trophy cricket as New Zealand got off to a flying start against hosts Pakistan at National Stadium in Karachi with a 60-run victory all thanks to a ton scored by Tom Latham who posted 118 not out & did get player of the game openers while Black Caps opening batter Will Young got a century as he scored 107 (And there has been an update as the Black Caps march on to the semis of the Champions Trophy following our win against Bangladesh for which I thought was a tough side to start with, but our next match is against India (Who haven't got Jasprit Bumrah who is by far the best bowler in world cricket through injury, but they have a danger man in the Indian pace attack of Mohammed Shami (Which is going to be a gigantic problem for the Black Caps (Who are still sweating on the fitness of the injured 'Chinny' Ravindra (The one who got a ton against Bangladesh) who hasn't played since he badly hurt his eye whilst attempting to make a catch during the Tri-Series match), especially our batters point of view facing him) who won of course in which we did not get the result after the Indian spinners who were overwhelmingly dominant from start to finish who had embarrassed our batters in which we struggled to contain against even though we had encountered the toughest of matches to start with, therefore we avoided Australia by squaring off against South Africa in the semi instead (And are we reminiscing about 10 years ago that Grant 'Jav' Elliott's heroics with the bat which put us through to our historic first ever men's Cricket World Cup final following our victory in the semi against Elliott's country of birth of South Africa who posted a bigger score? But it became low when rain shortened the innings, especially the target score (And I remember that now that it would be impossible to win should rain had not happen, it would've been a bigger score anyway) while India lock horns with the Aussies in the 1st semifinal of the Champions Trophy taking place in Dubai (And facing off against South Africa (Who haven't been to a final since 1998 during the inaugural competition that they've won) could even be tougher than India (Who are seeking their 3rd straight appearance in the final (A win against England back in 2013, then a loss against their rivals Pakistan also back in 2017) in which we haven't reached a final since 2009 (In which the last time Australia had contested a Champions Trophy final in which they were successful against us to claim the white jacket) who returned from injury when he missed the Border-Gavaskar series which resulted in a series win for Australia, but they still have the most followed cricketer in the world of Virat Kohli (Just like both Kapil Dev first, then Sachin Tendulkar who were both India's iconic cricket legends before Kohli) who retired from the T20 format last year when his country triumphed for the 2nd time in the men's T20 World Cup against South Africa in the final at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, therefore ending a long overdue wait of winning ICC sanctioned tournaments after 11 years where they became title winners of the Champions Trophy 2 years after winning their 2nd men's Cricket World Cup back in 2011 (That was 4 years after winning the inaugural men's T20 World Cup way back in 2007), to add to their title long ago in 1983) in Dubai, UAE which is going to be a much tougher assignment than both the host nation Pakistan & Bangladesh).

So that is my 600th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 24th of this year, viva Ukraine (On behalf of myself, bye for now).

P.S. And there has been an update in the rugby department as here are the results that they had in round 3 of the southern hemisphere's biggest club rugby competition around:

Moana Pasifika 29 - 31 Highlanders

NSW Waratahs 29 - 24 Fijian Drua

Chiefs 49 - 24 ACT Brumbies

Hurricanes 29 - 33 Blues

& Western Force 24 - 28 Queensland Reds

Bye: Crusaders

The Fly/Elevation: My 23rd blog of the year 2025

Well, hi & welcome back to another blog, but welcome to all of our readers here in New Zealand & around the world, I'm Whetu here & you're tuning into my Kiwiavenger blog (And a shoutout to Carole (Who I first met her back in 2017, a year before she would move here to Whanganui also way back in 2018 (That was 2 years before COVID in 2020 where they once had the pandemic), & she has been here since) for her belated 73rd birthday on the 17th of June this month, so best wishes but we've already headed to Mint Cafe like yesterday for lunch 3 days after her actual birthday), but first in there was once a motor racing related story as 2001 wasn't even a great year in terms of motorsport standards such as the tragic passing of NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Sr (AKA the Intimidator who was Dale Jr's dad & was a champion long ago in 1980, 1986-87, 1990-91 & 1993-94 as well as a Daytona 500 winner way, way back in 1998 as well as he won 76 NASCAR races, his last was in Talladega way back in 2000) in Daytona Beach, Florida during the Great American race of the Daytona 500 (The pinnacle event of the NASCAR Cup Series) earlier in the year in which the HANS device had been mandated following the tragedy, then twice CART Champ Car champion from 1997-98 of Italian Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi (Who had to win gold in the hand cycling event in London during the Paralympic Games back in 2012) had lost both limbs that ended his open wheel racing career in a huge accident during a CART race in Lausitzring, Germany which took place after the 9/11 tragedy (Even though with the 2001 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course marked the first time an major international sporting event had to be held within American boundaries in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th according to the Grand Prix circuits book that I bought from the Warehouse in Palmerston North back in 2017 in which they gave them their seal of approval, compared to 2005 where it was a farce 20 years ago where the constructors ran with Michelin tyres opted to pull out following an accident by Ralf Schumacher (The one who got injured before Brazilian Ricardo Zonta drafted in as replacement for the injured Ralf Schumacher before all hell had broken loose as Zonta was one of the 14 runners alongside the eventual champion Fernando Alonso (Who was a Renault driver at the time) & one of the championship contenders of McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen withdrew as 6 cars lined up on the grid were racing just like in the old Gran Turismo games from the 1st one until the 4th, & it was during the Grand Prix that Michael Schumacher won the most controversial race in F1 history which was an unpopular victory for the multiple world champion while one of his teammates of Rubens Barrichello finished in 2nd ahead of a Jordan driver of Portugal's Tiago Monteiro who was the only driver of his country to appear on the podium as he celebrated with a champagne spray in the aftermath of Michael & Barrichello leaving the podium early much to the disapproval of the race fans who were supporters of the constructors who ran with Michelin tyres such as Renault (Currently Alpine), McLaren, Toyota (Who departed after the 2009 season), Williams, BAR (Now Mercedes-AMG), Red Bull & Sauber (Kick Sauber F1 Team as of today) in the Toyota during Friday practice by allowing the constructors fitted with Bridgestone tyres ran the whole 73 lap race meaning that the crowd were stunned by giving them raspberries according to the story that I did on my blog in 2023), & then the CART Champ Car movie called Driven starring Sylvester 'Sly' Stallone (AKA that Rambo & Rocky Balboa guy who played that legendary race car driver as well as former champion of Joe 'Hummer' Tanto who tempted to come out of retirement to help by mentoring a young hotshot rookie named Jimmy Bly (Played by American actor Kip Perdue) in order to beat Beau Brandenburg (With German film star Til Schweiger portraying the role of him) of winning the championship, just like British motor racing legend who was the 1992 Formula One world champion of Nigel 'Nige the Lion' Mansell who beat his main challenger of 2 time Indy 500 winner who is also a motor racing legend of Brazil's Emerson Fittipaldi (The man who was a twice Formula One world champion way long ago in 1972 (In which he claimed the then record as the youngest driver to achieve the feat before Spain's Fernando Alonso took over 2 decades ago) & 1974 who dominated the Indy 500 twice long ago in 1989 then way, way back in 1993 in which he beat Mansell who embarrassedly got beaten by Fittipaldi (Who had to retire way, way back in 1996 due to injuries sustained in an accident at Michigan Motor Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, a year after Danny Sullivan retired through injury also way, way back in 1995 at the same venue) during the restart in which he struggled) did way, way back in 1993 where he won the IndyCar title as well as the rookie of the year honours, followed by a Colombian driver who was a future twice Indy 500 winning driver of Juan Pablo 'JPM' Montoya also way, way back in 1999 who did the same as Mansell, win the championship when he outperformed his main challenger of future 4 time IndyCar champion & twice Indy 500 winner just like Montoya, British driver Dario Franchitti (Whose career ended with serious injuries sustained in a wreck in an Indycar race on the streets of Houston back in 2013), then become the best performing rookie for the entire season) that came out in cinemas which was considered the worst Hollywood sports movies ever made, mainly because of the use of computer generated imagery (CGI), but they're about to release the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt (Fight Club, Troy, Mr & Mrs Smith) & featuring Spanish actor Javier Bardem (3:10 to Yuma, Skyfall) which is due in cinemas this month in June this year & the F1 movie is about a ageing former driver named Sonny Hayes who competes in IMSA as he mentors a young gun named Joshua 'Noah' Pierce (Played by British actor Damson Idris) who is willing to win the Formula 1 World Championship crown in a backmarker team called APX GP Team which is the 11th team on the F1 grid & it is set during the 2023 season, but the plot is similar to Driven & other motor racing related movies such as the 1990 NASCAR movie starring Tom Cruise (Of both Top Gun & Mission Impossible fame), Days of Thunder as well as the 1970's Formula One film about the Hunt-Lauda rivalry called Rush that came out in 2013 (And I've seen the movie like twice before which features the likes of Aussie Chris Hemsworth (The one who played the Norse god of thunder of Thor in the Marvel comics movies such as both Thor & the Avengers) who played the famous racer of the late James Hunt & the movie that came out in 2023 that I've got on Blu-ray, but never seen the whole movie of it of Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story which is about Jann Mardenborough's pathway from gamer to racer.

And secondly in the cricket that the history of the Champions Trophy (For which I label that tournament as a mini-World Cup with the top 8 teams from the previous men's World Cup, qualify for the Champions Trophy) cricket takes it all back to 1998 where South Africa (Who were fresh off from their Commonwealth Games gold medal triumph in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) triumphed in Bangladesh (Who were once a football playing country until they converted it to cricket as their main popular sport there in the country) to claim their one & only major international cricket tournament, then our own Black Caps of New Zealand went on to become champions of a limited overs tournament for the 1st & only time following our victory against India (Who had Sourav Ganguly scoring a ton during the 1st Indian innings) in Kenya with Chris 'Cairnsy' Cairns (Son of famous cricketer Lance) also scoring an unbeaten century that proved to be the game changer in which he had been awarded player of the game honours by getting the Knockout Trophy final MVP (Most valuable player), but the player of the tournament went to English born who plays for New Zealand of batter Roger Twose (Who after the tournament had decided to move on from representing his adopted country a year later due to a form slump), then fast forward to 2002 where India (Who beat South Africa who should've won in the semi, but a hamstring injury by batter Herschelle Gibbs had derailed South Africa's chances of making the final according to the comment I remember from former South African bowler Shaun 'Polly' Pollock) & hosts at the time of Sri Lanka shared the trophy apiece as co-champions after the final as well as the reserve day got rained or washed out but abandoned without a ball being bowled before the West Indies went on to win the tournament way back in 2004 against hosts at the time of England in the final, then Australia won in 2006 against the defending champions at the time of the West Indies in the final when the tournament was held in India before retaining it in 2009 in South Africa against us (Who had before the final that our own skipper at the time of Daniel 'Dan' Vettori who had to pull out at the last minute which proved to be the turning point even though with the Aussies thinking that they have a better chance of becoming the first & only side to retain the Champions Trophy also according to the comment that I literally remember from former player Shane 'Watto' Watson, & they successfully did to claim the white jacket which is awarded to the winning players of the winning team) in the final in South Africa, then 4 years later in 2013 that hosts at the time of England (Who had their best chance of winning the Champions Trophy which could've gone either way) made their 2nd appearance of a Champions Trophy final, in which they fell short against India who prevailed in the final which was reduced to 20 overs a side because of the rain had fallen at Edgbaston in Birmingham before 4 years later in 2017 where Pakistan (Hosts & defending champions of this year's tournament who won their first major cricket tournament in the ODI format since 1992 (And we already heard that story before according to the previous blogs that I did) eventually triumphed over arch-rivals India (Whose chances of retaining the Champions Trophy proved costly due to a no ball by Jasprit Bumrah who thought he got a wicket of Zaman who eventually survived when he eventually posted 114 which proved to be the winning knock), but there has been an update in the cricket as the Black Caps win the Tri-Series against Pakistan in the final which was marred by a bizarre incident overshadowing Pakistan's last match prior to the mini-World Cup tournament which has taken a dramatic turn when a black cat that stormed onto the field causing chaos, therefore setting the tone before both sides square off once more, in the opening match of the tournament, but I fear it might be an India-South Africa final (Although Australia might not make the semis due to their 3 frontline seamers unavailable such as Mitchell Starc (Who withdrew through personal reasons), Josh Hazelwood (Who is currently out with an injury) & regular captain Pat Cummins (Who is injured just like Hazelwood as Steve Smith assumes the captaincy duties for the whole tournament) according to former South African cricketer JP Duminy, just like last year at the men's T20 World Cup when Suryakumar Yadav took a catch during the last over of the T20 international game that won them the final of course at Kensington Oval in Georgetown, Barbados, in the West Indies that was questionable which broke South African hearts) in the final at the Oval in London courtesy of a ton by Zaman where the tournament was held in England again.

And thirdly in the rugby as the new season of Super Rugby Pacific gets underway with the Crusaders bid of completing the greatest sporting comeback in history starts with the opening win over the Hurricanes (Who had to lead at halftime, but they fell short in the end) all thanks to a hat-trick to Wellington player who plays for the Crusaders of Kyle Preston (The hero of that match who is a relatively unknown but new to the rugby scene as the man who used to back the Hurricanes as a young kid, played for Wellington in last years National Provincial Championship season that they eventually triumphed, but he could be the next big thing in New Zealand rugby as he was called up to the Crusaders by coming into the squad as replacement for the retirement bound former English international halfback Willi Heinz to join both other halfbacks in the team, fearing that he might not get any game time for the Hurricanes behind Cam Roigard, such as Noah Hotham (Who suffered an injury early during the game, & then hey presto! Enter Kyle Preston) & the wily old veteran who is experienced of Mitch Drummond) before the New South Wales Waratahs break Highlanders hearts with the winning try scored by reserve prop Siosifa Amone, then the ACT Brumbies did the same thing as the Waratahs when they beat the Fijian Drua with starting loose forward Luke Reimer (Who could even be a Wallaby in waiting, in the coming months) providing the match winner when he scored a try off a rolling maul seconds until full time, then the Blues (Who were without Sam Darry for the whole season due to injury suffered during the pre-season) would gone on to lead at halftime, but the bench by the Chiefs (Who were without Wallace Sititi through injury that ruled them out of the entire season just like Darry) made them the difference of securing the win during the battle of the Bombays thanks to a double by one of their star men of Damian McKenzie, & to exact vengeance following last year's result in the final, before the Western Force break Moana hearts with a stunning try at the death to tie the game by Ben Donaldson who would run all the way to the try line (Even though Moana player Ardie Savea tried to catch him, but failed) then he would gone on to seal the match winning conversion much to the delight of the Force fans who were in a frenzy when Donaldson scored then converted his own try that won them the match.

And finally in the gaming department such as the Rugby 25 game (Which features the internationals (With rugby playing nations making an appearance such as New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, France, England, Australia, Argentina, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Fiji, Japan & others) as well as Super Rugby Pacific (Which features sides from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand & the Pacific Islands), Gallagher Premiership (An English club competition), Top 14 (It's a French domestic competition), URC (United Rugby Championship featuring teams from the 3 Celtic nations of Ireland, Scotland & Wales as well as Italy & South Africa) & MLR (Major League Rugby which is an American comp) that came out digitally on the 13th of February (20th for the physical version that I pre-ordered at EB), & the gameplay to me was dreadful but most disappointing & below par (And I should've sticked to Rugby Challenge 4 due to the woeful gameplay that they're having to deal with in the Rugby 25 game), but I manage to unveil my new secret tactic of getting past the defence by utilising the pick & go when I play on the Easiest difficulty until the team that I play scores a try (And I've got to watch the cleanouts from the opposition as they may intend to strip the ball in possession), & man I should really start using that (And an international rugby test is like a war to start with, compared to a domestic rugby game which is similar to a civil war), but I always struggle in the scrums as I would always concede penalties for certainly collapsing the scrum, but I need to improve by working on it in order to win scrums like that (And I always put my blogging skills to the test (And the blogging stuff is like being a news or sports columnist of a news outlet because I'm an expert on this) compared to my computer game skills that I always have, but I've managed to clock GTA V especially all of the 75 missions that I've completed (And I've achieved 20 gold medals in the missions department in the game) but I'm now doing the money investments stuff (And both of the 3 protagonists of the Grand Theft Auto V game of both 'Frankie Frank' of Franklin Clinton & Michael 'Mikey Mike' de Santa (Formerly Michael Townley) are up to a billion dollars except T-rev Trev (Trevor Philips) who remains as a multi-millionaire, but I'll still be doing it in both the afternoon & evening sessions on the 27th of February this year (And I got a keep an eye of investing on Merryweather which is a private military & security firm as well as the antagonistic faction in the GTA V game (For which I first played in 2023 (I thought I wasn't so keen on the game, until now), but now I'm starting to master it as of this year as all 3 of the protagonists are now billionaires), but I now establish the passing game as part of my new tactic since the update had already been dropping in.

So that is my 599th blog of the year 2025 (MMXXV) & my 23rd of this year, viva Ukraine.

P.S. I went to Palmy with Pops & Carole about going to Palmerston North that we visited Mobility Manawatu to get her new shower chair for her as well as pumping her wheelchair's tyres, then we headed off to the Plaza to get me both $100 PlayStation network cards at EB (I've got lots of them, but I really need to use them up before both Aunty Tan & Rejean get here in possibly December this year), then the 2 Fast 2 Furious (For which I have not seen the film for a very long time which starred the late Paul Walker (AKA that Brian O'Conner guy who tragically passed away in a crash back in 2013 whilst he was in the passenger seat), Tyrese (Roman Pierce) & Eva Mendes (Monica Fuentes), but the first time I watched it was way back in 2004 on Sky Movies (And the entertainment world is in mourning as retired American Hollywood film star of Gene Hackman (Whose last movie appearance was Welcome to Mooseport in which the movie came out way back in 2004 where he starred along with Everybody Loves Raymond star Ray Romano) has tragically passed away at the age of 95 according to the comment that Carole alluded to both me & Pops while we were at Little Savannah restaurant in Palmy so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the loved ones of Hackman & his wife who believe that they were eventually murdered by their daughter who is sentenced to life behind bars in this sad, difficult but tough time, RIP) Blu-ray movie that I purchased at JB Hi-fi that I watched late at night on the 3rd of March (A day after 25 years since the America's Cup was still, New Zealand's Cup, in the aftermath of Team New Zealand (Skippered by Dean Barker who raced in race 5 with Russell Coutts opting not to race just before he left TNZ (But he would've in order to break the all-time record for most consecutive wins as an America's Cup skipper in the finals of the Auld Mug because of the current record being set by 9 with Coutts & alongside him, the late American Charlie Barr) which set the tone for the 2003 America's Cup which was embroiled by controversy, therefore we suffered our loyal defeat in the hands of the Swiss syndicate Alinghi (Who lured many of our Team New Zealand personnel, especially Coutts, Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney & Murray Jones to sail for the Swiss in which they manage to pull off the Auckland heist) of bringing the Auld Mug to Europe for the first time in which our NZL 82 boat wasn't reliable (Compared to Taihoro last year for which was most reliable (Although it had some damages in which we overcame the disaster just like in Bermuda back in 2017 in which we had a frightening pitchpole during the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal race against Land Rover BAR) compared to NZL 82, in which we successfully completed a America's Cup threepeat in modern day history) pulled off by completing the first successful defence of the Auld Mug outside of the United States against the Prada Challenge of Italy) before heading to Little Savannah's which is a South African-Kiwi hybrid restaurant where I had a prawn pasta, but during that we got back that I thought I lost both of my passport & wallet, & it fell down from my pocket but I found them on the bottom of the seat (Just like Pops left his cell phone behind at the Commercial Motel after he went to the toilet a day earlier until a cop/police officer had found it therefore handing it in to him late at night, a day before he got a new purple coloured cellphone cover to replace the old brown/tan one) to end an incredible day it was (And I went to Fielding for the first time just before we went to Palmy).

Gene Hackman

1930 - 2025