THE WEEK THAT WAS

SATURDAY: You can stack it anyway you like, but Melbourne Victory defender Adrian Leijer got to the nub of it. "A penalty shootout is a crap way to lose." Striker Archie Thompson might have chimed in with: "Try watching it with your knee in ice after doing your ACL inside 20." Kevin Muscat might have added: "Try being captain and missing in the penalty shootout." Such was the tale of the Victory's A-League grand final loss to Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium. Victory's solace? Boarding a plane to Japan three hours later for an Asian Champions League game. Flight attendant, make mine a double.

Dreams of peace and hope

THE KITES ARE FLYING By Michael Morpurgo Illustrated by Laura Carlin Walker, $16.95 Elisabeth Tarica Reviewer

Openers forging a partnership to savour

SHANE Watson and Simon Katich both know how it feels to see a bugbear lurking in the shadows when they approach a Test century.

Tyros take a fresh look at the core of religion

ONE IS WARM IN WINTER, THE OTHER HAS A BETTER VIEW By Adam J. A. Cass, Platform Youth Theatre, fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, until December 13 Cameron Woodhead Reviewer

Faith

AS END-OF-YEAR deadlines rise on the horizon like mercury in summer thermometers, so do our anxiety levels.

Sachin breaks the shackles but 175 still not enough

"We've kept Sachin in check so far. His scoring rate hasn't been too extravagant." Ricky Ponting, November 2

Movies

Quantum of Solace (2008)

REVIEW OF THE WEEK

THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD Margaret Atwood Bloomsbury, $45

Measuring Up

Measuring Up G. J. Stroud Scribe, $19.95

Still sharp but not so short

A prize-winning writer has plunged into new territory with a novel about family conflict.

Innings make an outing

Amid thousands at a supersized stadium, Rob McFarland tries to get a grip on a national pastime.

Man jailed for 28 years for filmed rapes of drugged women

JOHN Xydias drugged various women and graphically filmed his sexual attacks on them. He made himself the star of his own pornographic movies, directing crude remarks at his unconscious victims and occasionally bringing his face in close and leering at the lens.