Joel Veitch does the business, yet again.

For some reason which escapes me now, I was posting on the unofficial Birmingham City site Singing The Blues about my love for America and Americana. The good thing about the U.S is there is always something new to explore, like this view of an afternoon in Queens. Lifted from the brilliantly consistent Plep

The Queens link above wasn't quite right, this is the one It will take you to the same place eventually but there is a picture on it. I swear it is the well known Blues fan and chitterling eater BobHarford, in Balsall Heath circa 1963.

It appears I am 26% gay, how gay are you? (via Miguel Cardoso on metafilter)

Well, the Blues scored their first goal and got their first point against Everton on Wednesday. I suppose we should be gratified that we all all ended up disappointed not to have won (away) against an established Premiership team. The game and subsequent comments leave all sorts of questions. Although we scored it was from a penalty. We do not look very dangerous in open play and as ever, as I have mentioned before, our strikers are brilliant at being "unlucky". Also we lost the equalising goal in the 4th minute of injury time, having played most of the second half against ten men. We were faffing about trying to frustrate Everton at the corner flag with 11 minutes to go. That really is timid football and the premier league is no place for the timid or the polite.
To our managers credit he has since said we were asking to be punished and should have taken the game to them. Initially, I thought big up to the Bruce but recalled that it is characteristic of our play. We could say it is a legacy of the previous managers over cautious approach, but I don't think so. Many of the team are new, and Glenn Roeder of West Ham has said he learnt from watching us against Arsenal; he couldn't believe the respect we gave them. Subsequently West Ham got in amongst them very quickly and were very unlucky not to win. They at least got a point. I also recall the run that got us to the play offs last season, which was not characterised by adventurous, free flowing and fearless football. Of the 3 actual play off games we managed only 1 win. So young Steve has to accept some responsibility.
Tomorrow we have Leeds, who have just got rid of Robbie Keane because he was deemed surplus to requirements. Puts it all in perspective a bit. I believe we can win this for the simple reason I believe we can win any game, which we can. I saw a very poor Blues team beat a very good Liverpool team at Anfield in about 1976 or 77. There could not have been more than about 20 Blues fans there. Most people I know said I was stupid to waste my money going, we had no chance. But that was in in the days I used to go to every game, home and away, regardless. Odd that I now get mocked as a part timer by fools who have known nothing but relative success. Cést La Vie. Liverpool were in their heyday at this point, and we were 3-0 up inside about 20 minutes. Never discount any team, ever. Having said that such days are very rare indeed.
I find it quite gratifying that tomorrows game is not a sell out and that tickets are available on the day. Leeds are out of the top drawer and definitely one of the major attractions of the season. We were told that the price hikes were justified because every game would be a sell out and that that was the price of being in the Prem. Like it or lump it. Well for the second week running , if you want to get in you will. Not everyone is a mug it seems. It's not so much a case of can't afford it as won't afford it seems, to me. If I were to take my Mrs, the 2 nippers and the babby I would have to shell out in excess of 100 quid even for poor seats. Add to that a 200 mile round trip and all the garbage the kids would demand and at least 2 decent meals out plus parking and that price is near enough doubled. Plus I like a pint or three.
It has been suggested that if you were a true supporter you would go without and make sacrifices. Fuck that for a game of tin soldiers. Why should anyone go without. If the market decides the price is too high the club can still be grateful to all the santimonious mugs who will keep shelling out anyway, then squeal like stuck pigs when the market decides it might be an idea to introduce kids for a quid.
Anyway, season tickets are still available and tickets are easy to come by. In my youth I travelled the lentgh and breadth of the country, every week. Often it would feel like the 4 or 5 of us who went were the only Blues fans there. It's time people realised we don't have the fantastic support base people assume we do.
The transfer window has closed today and we signed no one. It's obvious we lack quality. Why should fans sacrifice anything if the club are unwilling to take a chance? The mantra is 4th from bottom will be a triumph. Will it bollocks. I do not suppose Chievo or Alaves started with that attitude when they came from nowhere to storm the Italian and Spanish leagues. I suppose the hard working joe blows will take their cue from our board and keep their money in their pockets.

It aint the heat: it's the humility

Aki Rihiilahti is a footballer in the English first division. His website has become something of a cult and is worth reading regardless of any love for football, it is very off the wall and very far removed from the usual footballers claptrap (see any Icons site). His updates seem to have become somewhat sporadic and the latest is dated 8 August, though it has only just appeared. It's worth the wait anyway.

Photos of the Notting Hill carnival

Don't know quite what to make of this football news thingy, maybe it's a good thing, maybe not. I shall give it a whirl.

I'm all for a bit of tolerance.

All you never wanted to know about American Pie

Caves of the Thousand Buddhas

A guide to America from modern humourist.

Build yourself a chuffin city.

Lord love a duck. I really like this music site, the radio show is just the chuffin job, depending on your mood.

Bush reads a book

Here I am with another list. This time top ten movies. It's a very serious list and again a movie list makes me feel like a philistine. In certain circles, I'm considered something of a movie snob, and I wouldn't neccesarily disagree with this list, certainly not all of it. Citizen Kane though, please!. It is chuffin boring. A Space Odyssey, its boring. La Règle du jeu ? boring. Sunrise I have never heard of . 8 and a half is unwatchable. I think these lists are compiled or voted for by middle class fools eager to display their credentials, for the average joe blow they must be meaningless. See? I am a philistine.

Getting out of the Bronx (NY Times)

It now seems inevitable that the US will attack Iraq. Young Bush is likely to go ahead regardless of the view of Congress
Lets have a debate.
A useful page of war related links.
Hmmm
More war stuff

Cardiff Bay, as it was.

Punch and Judy. There is some brilliant stuff here.

Another article on punk, specifically the Sex Pistols, who have never been favourites of mine to be honest. Oddly this was found on the Dr Martens site, by none other than Ragamuffin. There is plenty else on that site for the discerning surfer.

Down at Cardiff Bay yesterday there was a little festival on, very good it was too. There was a French street theatre troupe on who were very weird. All the little tots sat cross legged and full of anticipation at the front, expecting something like punch and judy. There then appeared a very loud and (apparently) pissed off Frenchman bellowing through a megaphone. It was clearly a joke, but not what the nippers expected. The first "act" was a 3 legged man, who was introduced thus: Now we have a man with 3 FUCKING legs. The man appeared, did nothing, went off. We were told, that was the man with 3 FUCKING legs .
Well I thought it was a bit off in the context but didn't mind too much, it was delivered in a fairly impenetrable French accent. There were more righteous, upright citizens about though. One of them picked his way drunkenly through the crowd in very close proximity to the nippers, waving a very lage bottle of Stella about. He then started pushing the guy around, very drunkenly and told him to stop swearing as there were kids about. He was very aggressive. Some people applauded. So there was the Sunday lesson for the nippers, don't swear but it's ok to behave like a violent drunken thug. Only in Britain.
Cardiff Bay Webcam
Norwegian Church

So the long weekend is over, thank Christ. I hate bank holidays. All manner of moron seems to think they have carte blanche to behave like pricks. Aside from that everywhere you would consider going is packed, so it's best to stay at home. Where I live, we have social housing one side where the ritual is for everyone to get their cheap, nasty, Aldi music centres out and play their cheap nasty music as loud as they can. Of course this means they cannot hear themselves think so they have to SHOUT very loudly, they have to laugh, raucously and aggressively, their nippers have to squeal and shriek, endlessly. The other side is a bit posh, so its just a bewildering array of power tools that contribute to the general ambience.
Nevertheless, staying put is the best option. Out is crowded and full of drunks, and for some reason, gangs. People do not seem able to socialise in groups of less than ten, not round here anyway. Today, I broke my rule. The nippers were getting fractious, despite the efforts of the entire neighborhood to entertain so we went out. My plan was Goytre Wharf, LLanbaddoc Island a couple of hours in a pub at Monkswood where there is usually a cricket match on, then home.
We go to Goytre Wharf a lot. It's a nice place, nothing special but there are usually only a handful of people around and there are woods and stuff that the kids can run around in without disturbing anyone else. Some amazing fish reside there too. Today you couldn't get near the place. So we hotfooted it to Llanbadoc island. Its very rare to see anyone there despite it being extremely beautiful. When we arrived there were 3 old geezers looking at the river, lost in their memories, and a youngish extended family, apart from one guy excavating his nose at length, it was ok. Then a red van arrived.
At least a dozen good and stolid citizens tumbled out of this thing, clearly pissed. They were accompanied by a boisterous rottweiller and a bull mastiff, off the lead of course. They set down a blanket and unloaded some food and much beer, all the while making a lot of racket. They kindly entertained everyone else with their music. We left. We didnt bother with the pub, it was time to go home.
Home was good, knocked up some nosh and got stuck into some decent white. 2 youngest soon fell asleep so enjoyed some quality time with the seven year old. Ended up sitting out till dark like 2 old dudes, watching the bats flit about and the stars appear until he drifted off.
3 things spoilt it, though not much, really. I trod on something large and slimy lighting a candle at the bottom of the garden. A bottle was corked. The Clampitts from 4 doors down arrived back from whatever shithole they had spent the day in and decamped noisily into the garden. The miserable fuckers are still there, still shouting, swearing and laughing in that obnoxious way peculiar to the self obsessed. But I'm happy.


I feel a bit bad now about suggesting the Notting Hill carnival would end in tears, the police clearly knew better than to clampdown. In the event there were only in excess of 100 arrests and only 2 of them were for firearms offences. Peace Love and 'Appiness, man!

The Notting Hill carnival starts tomorrow,, whoops, today with all the glad handing photo opportunities that go with this massive corporate event. No one with any sense thinks it is a multicultural peace fest and why should it be. It's an expression of self by the West Indian community who no doubt felt compelled to assert themselves after events in Notting Hill in 1958 . It seems the police will be cracking down on 'erb smoking and general behaviour of the black kind. No softly softly this year. It will end in tears, mark my words.

A high falutin article on punk

Found on metafilter, a brilliant piece on black okies and what they found when they reached California. Mefi offers rwalks rwalks as password and username, so I'm passing it on.

Big sigh. Here we go again. Their keeper plays a blinder, our strikers are unlucky, we played well, life is unfair. We have been saying this for years, it's amazing the way otherwise mediocre keepers come to St Andrews and play absolute blinders, while we come away thinking we could have scored, well, several. It's not luck, it's incompetence, we lose because we deserve to. Our strikers go close because that is all their talent allows. We need more quality, it's a simple as that.
The game was better than I predicted and we gave it a good old go, which is only fitting. First game at home, massive media hype, big crowd giving it everything, fireworks, everything. And we lose. Blackburn have some good players who tested us severely throughout, but they are not out of the top drawer, given the circumstances, it is a bit worrying not to have got a point, or even three. The noise and stimulation won't be there on dull November days and the place is likely to become very quiet if we have a bad run, but Savage will return onWednesday. We are saved. Morrisons pies come highly recommended.

Talking of pie.

Everytime my brother, the pie eater, goes to Brum he comes back waxing nostalgic. Today it was Kunzle cakes, so of course I had to find what I could on the delicate little things. I didn't find much, but came across this memoir from a brummie geezer. It's alright.

A couple of articles from The Atlantic on Elvis Presley.
Another one, from Spiked.

I like this, well, it's a list isn't it. Lots of peoples favourite lyrics. Some of em are barking.

Talking of barking....Burning Man

There has been a bit of a hoo hah this week about class and how we define ourselves. It seems lots of people define themselves as working class even though they are not horny handed sons of toil, nowhere near in fact. For years I have heard people say there is no such thing as class, but in Britain notions of it seem to be ingrained deeply into ones psyche. Most people who claim a classless society have never suffered ridicule on account of poor confidence and an incomprehensible accent I imagine.
In terms of education, I suppose I have moved away from my class origins; in terms of income and geography I haven't. I earn about the same as a postman and significantly less than a train driver. Most people of my aquaintance consider me a snob though, mainly because I don't shop at ASDA and I read the Guardian. Mind you back in Brum I was the same but without a degree and post grad and vocational qualifications, and no one thought I was a snob. They just thought I was a twat.
Anyway, Roy Greenslade writes well on the subject. I find the bit about not being accepted by the working or middle class quite resonant. Not that I would want to be accepted by the middle class; I despise the bastards, but his general point is good.

Postcards of American Motels. Beautiful.

Birmingham v Blackburn tomorrow. Our first home game of the new era, but I cannot get very excited and I don't know why. Lots of people are assuming we will win and I can't figure that out at all. Last time we were in the same division they beat us twice, the second time in an absolutely vital game and they did us basically. I think they have moved on apace since then, I am not sure we have, even though the team and management have changed. Good news for us that Jansen is crocked; that only leave the likes of Cole, Yorke, Tugay, Duff, Dunn, Hignett, Mahon and Grabbi to worry about, not that they will all be playing, but you see my point. I suspect that Berg and Short spent their formative years having wet dreams about the prospect of facing someone like Horsfield in the premier league. I expect it to be quite dull, roll on the half time raffle.
I should have a soft spot for Blackburn but I haven't. For a start it's not Manchester. Moreover we have them to thank for Howard Kendall (sort of) our greatest manager, Jim Smith and Mick Rathbone (they took him off us). There is Alan Ainscow as well, but I think he might just have a sort of north west thing going. Not forgetting Howard Gayle whose greatest achievement was very bravely shagging the daughter of Ron Saunders (our worst ever manager), he was involved with Blackburn somewhere along the line. My gaffer is from Blackburn and I hate the fucking bitch, so I suppose we will lose so she can carry on with the ritual humiliation.

For such a big and important game many people were surprised that yesterday 2000 tickets were still on sale. I wasn't. Days after our play off win new prices were announced which were surprisingly high. There was some debate on the message boards with the consensus being we were now up among the big boys, mixing with a better class of person and would have to pay. That's supporters with internet access for you, money no object. The consensus was, if you are not prepared to pay, fuck off, regardless of maybe decades following them through thin and thinner; the market rules and if you can't afford it you don't belong anyway.
Some good people tried to argue that familys with kids would struggle, anyone on a low income would struggle and that some compassion might be in order. But no. Especially on Planet Blues which used to be the best of all message boards regardless of team but is now populated by shallow office workers indulging in poor parodies of Ricky Gervais banter. Our loyal and articulate internet supporters said fuck the hoi polloi, we don't like em they stink the place up; we like the new prices, keeps the place clean for the likes of us. Let the market decide.
Well the market is thinking about it. I have no doubt the game will be sold out tomorrow. I also have no doubt there will be empty seats, left vacant by season ticket holders who will be there when we play Manchester United or Chelsea or Arsenal.
I wonder how the market will respond if we lose a few. As suspected all along, tickets are going to be easy to get hold of outside of about 6 games.

If you take a walk around any of the public parks around here on a Saturday or Sunday morning you will see dozens of football games going involving nippers from little tots to teenagers. Loving football as I do this should be a scene to gladden the heart, in fact I should be involved as an active parent, but I'm not. The scene is invariably depressing and I will not let my nipper participate in organised football. Invariably, inevitably, the pitches are surrounded by assorted parents and coaches in ridiculous coats. They shout, cajole and exhort the young players: "CLOSE HIM DOWN! KEEP YOUR SHAPE! PUSH UP! HOLD THE LINE! GET INTO HIM! DON'T BE A FUCKIN FAIRY!!.
All uttered with maximum spite and aggression by people who look like they have never kicked a ball efficiently in their lives. They have certainly never heard of the Dutch model which has worked for generations and centres on encouraging kids to enjoy the game and learn technique. Competition is regarded as superflous and it seems to work for them.
The FA seems to be aware of this and has launched a website designed to encourage parents and coaches to think a bit more about how they encourage the nippers. It's pretty good, if a bit simplistic

How do you measure up? It's all cobblers if you ask me.

I have to be hoest and confess I thought Chatanooga was famous only for its choo choo. Now, thanks to a link found on metafilter, I know a little of the bloody history.

Neil Lennon was looking forward to captaining Northern Ireland tonight. That was until he received a death threat which forced him to withdraw from the squad and return home. He has had merciless abuse in the past for the sin of being a catholic, but thought it had all gone away. Clearly it hasn't, the bloke must be a gibbering wreck. I await the response from the FA of Northern Ireland with interest. I also look forward to seeing what his team mates have to say. I don't think I would have turned out if I had been involved, but then that's easy for me to say.

Jeff Bridges has been in some of my favourite films. Hardly classics but nearly always solid , watchable and intelligent. Usually funny too. The Dude, the Fabulous Baker Boys, and Thunderbolt and Lighfoot spring to mind. Now he has written one of my favourite blogs, which is being linked to all over the place. Some are being a bit sneery about it but I love it, and anyone who can stay married for 25 years in that business is o.k in my book.

The New York Times attended a course which is run for the benefit of NFL rookies. The article is brilliant, sometimes hilarious, sometimes downright worrying, but well worth a look. Found on Sportsfilter

The fat being better for you than carbs story is old I know, this is a good article on it though.

Bleeding Nora, there's a spooky coincidence. No sooner do I mention Lemony Snicket and the Guardian publishes an interview with him.

Sammy the Sperm

The public proves itself cleverer than the DVD manufacturers would like, Now it appears region coding might be on the way out. Very good news.

I love a list, this one is novelist Mike Gayles idea of the top ten male confessionals. Round up the usual suspects. "All Points North" by Simon Armitage should be in there, although I suppose it's a memoir rather than a novel, but then so is Hornby.

Another list. This time the Booker longlist. I can't say I am inspired, how did Zadie Smith get on it, her new work hasn't been published yet has it?. The final 6 will be interesting.

Pull the finger, it cracked me up.

Intellectualising about football. It is just a game

Cult Telly. You could lose yourself for hours here.

A Peter Kay "John Smiths" advert which you are unlikely to see on the telly, and other uncouth stuff.

Football message boards seem to have their own etiquette, help is at hand, however.

Using this cool calorie calculator (via eclectica) I discovered that if I clean my teeth for 15 minutes I shall burn 36 calories. Who needs a gym membership?

An account of male sensibilities in the kitchen, although being of the just chuck something together school I don't happen to agree with the guy.

Talking of chucking things together, this article, which is diverting in itself, contains a recipe for pasta and chickpea soup. Now there are many variations of this, but I would never have considered doing it like this. It looked so easy I gave it a try. It was easy and chuffin delicious, it will become a staple in our house.

Anyone fancy a curry?

An LA Weekly interview with Tony Wilson, self styled "biggest wanker in the history of Manchester"

My eldest nipper loves the books of Lemony Snickett, the website is ok too, for nippers. The guy appears to cultivate an air of mystery about himself, but it turns out he palys accordian for The Magnetic Fields who are responsible for one of the best albums of the last decade or so. Stephin Merit contributes a song to the website

A very timely, important and thoughtful article on differing reactions to new albums by Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle.

So, as expected we start with a 2-0 defeat away at Arsenal. Not too bad all things considered, particularly as Arsenal were winning their 14th game on the trot, which is an all time record in the top division. It could have been much worse, Arsenal played with incredible speed and wit and carved our 5 man defence apart almost at will. They looked like they could have stepped up a gear and scored again at any time if they had needed to. Not that they were ever likely to need to.
The first goal was due to a bad mistake from our keeper. I don't mind keepers making bad mistakes, they are inevitable so wouldn't call for his head, I have been saying for ages though that neither of our keepers are good enough and that we need a big commanding scary bleeder. Someone like Flowers for instance, who has just gone on loan somewhere or other.
This time last season I got a bit of flak on a Blues message board for suggesting we should cash in on our left back Martin Grainger. He is a bit thuggish and has become something of a cult. I said then that his aggression was a liability and that in any case he is a mediocre player. Today he looked very mediocre, and was made to look a bit of a mug quite frankly. The rumour last year was that Blackburn had offered 3 million for him. Laughable. Even allowing for the speed of thought and feet he was up against today, he is not good enough, he should be replaced very quickly. He also made some very disparaging comments about supporters so can sod off anyway as far as I am concerned.
Our midfield, as ever, looked prosaic and I wonder where the spark of imagination is going to come from. Huff and puff just isn't going to be good enough at this level, although Cisse looked very useful and will be a major player for us. Johnson had a couple of goodish runs without threatening to actually do anything and Hughes was largely anonymous. Carter impressed once again when he came on, but again, he is hardly likely to unlock mean spirited Prem defences.
John and Horsfield struggled manfully without ever looking like they had Campbell et al worried. Lazaridis put one superb cross in and I would like to see him start in a 442.
Our central defenders, particularly, Purse did ok, but I am far from convinced that 3 centre backs is the way to go. Tebily and purse with 2 decent full backs is preferable I think. With Johnson, Cunningham and Vickers available we are not short of quality at centre back. I wonder if we should try Cunningham at right back, which would of course mean dropping our captain.
Overall I think we did enough to suggest we can do well enough against our fellow mediocrities, I would hope against lesser teams we show a bit more purpose though. For me we need to revert to a 4 man midfield , with Cisse and Savage sorting out the middle and Lazaridis and Johnson rampaging down the flanks. We need a new left back, badly.

Savage was on the panel on sky and proved himself to be a bit dim, which doesn't make him a bad person. David O'leary seemed to look after him a bit which was nice . The first question he was asked was wether he wanted to use the toilet, which tickled me. According to The Observer today re the toilet incident it wasn't the ref, Graham Poll, who complained, but the referees assessor. Apparently Poll was laughing about it, but Savage left the door open, made rude remarks , failed to wash his hands and then wiped them on the assesors clothes. Personally I like to take a shit in private, but there you go.
Another reason to like O'leary was he stated that Cisse was unlucky to be sent off, not only that but Cole had conned the ref and was basically a cheat. I have read that he is a bit of a prick, but he always comes across like a nice guy on the telly.

Calm your mind

The premiership finally got under way and it was extremely satisfying to see Manchester City get well and truly stuffed. They are much more likely to go down than us, in my hapless opinion. Tomorrow is D day for us and I am getting somewhat excited by the prospect. Everyone has written us off but I think we prove to be solid and dependable, if unexciting. It is well within our reach to survive, although I would like to see us aim higher. Teams in France, Spain and Italy have shown in recent years that there is no need to be overly deferential to your supposed betters; with the will, the organisation , talent and luck you can go far. Our owner paid himself a salary of £7 million last year and his co owners trouser similar amounts, so we are not short of resources. Our stadium is pretty poxy really but holds about 30,000 and our fans are as passionate as they come, we should not approach the enterprise timorously, I believe we are where we belong and we should go out and show the bastards we have finally come home and not be apologetic about it.
Its a bit of a pity in one way I suppose that we not only have to play the champions but we have to play them away as well. Nevertheless, it may be to our advantage. I remember 1972 when we were promoted after a similarly lenghty absence, (it was a better team I think) and something like 40,000 people poured into the ground, full of expectation and very confident of an easy win. We were well beaten by a fairly prosaic Sheffield United. As wake up calls go it was pretty loud and quite rude. It cast a pall over proceedings which took some time to get over. Tomorrow is likely to represent a steep learning curve and it might do us good to experience it away from home at a ground where we can realistically expect nothing. At the end of that season in 1972 we finished 10th, which is their highest placing in the 36 years I have been supporting them, so there will be no need of despair if we are stuffed.
A tenner says we we will win though.

The struggle continues . I don't really know what to say about this. I found it on metafilter and if you have delicate sensibilities you should give it a miss. It's about love, sort of.

I knew Ragamuffin would find something on John King. This interview from 1996 is about the best. So far.

A Telegraph article on Blues and West Brom. Clearly biased towards the baggies and with a blatant misrepresentation of the facts regarding shit on the Villa at the Millenium stadium, it's worth a look anyway.

More stuff on ours and our nieghbours prospects here.

This spellchecker is a handy little thingy; it recognises bugger.

That previous picture is cobblers, It is supposed to be Newport Sands in Pembrokeshire but clearly isn't. Newport is very impressive, however I spent more time at Poppit which for nippers is paradise really with its miles of sands, dunes, rockpools and very shallow water. My 7 year old nipper bought himself a bodyboard and the waves there were just perfect for him.
Far from shivering in the rain I am severely burnt and look like something from a Wes Craven movie; the neighbours all ran in their houses and locked their doors when I returned, mind you they do that anyway.
The place we stayed at was in Dinas Cross and was called Maengwyn. It is without any shadow of a doubt the best place we have ever stayed. Beautifully well equipped, with a full size table tennis tennis table in the garden, a shed with all sorts of outdoor paraphenalia, including mountain bikes, a little games room for the kids, hundreds of books all over the place, very spacious and extremely comfortable with nooks and crannies everywhere. The nippers absolutely loved it.
Locally there was a very good chip shop and within 3 or 4 minutes drive 2 beautiful beaches, one which seems to be a very well kept secret, with a little caff knocking out crab sandwiches and cream teas. Beautiful walks either side if you get bored of arsing about with the nippers on the nearly deserted beach, not to mention the rock pools. Inland was equally beautiful and impressive and outside the front door there were at least 3 walks down to yet more beaches, one of which was just stunning, taking you past an impressive waterfall down to a beach which doesn't seem to be on any maps. Within twenty minutes drive you have St Davids which should have been on that recent wonders of Britain list and hundreds of beauty spots in between; twenty minutes the other way offers a not dissimilar scenario.
Unbelievably, even in the middle of August the whole area remains uncrowded: were any of the places we visited in Cornwall you would not get near them. Long may it be the case, it really is a little slice of paradise , and ideal for nippers. Suffers a bit fom middle class blight though, but there is plenty of room and you can easily avoid them.
Which brings me to a book I read, and which kept me up far later than was good for me every night. It was recommended to me by my good friend Colin Bumstead, whom I have never clapped eyes on. He is the wittiest poster to any football message board but the boards he contributes to in particular are related to Birmingham City, and he never fails to improve the tone and the mood and the laugh quotient. I can be a bit of a miserable git, but he has me laughing out loud regularly. This is the second book he has recommended to me and both have been excellent, if you come across him listen to what he says, the man has class.
The book: "Human Punk" by John King is flawed in many ways but worked for me on several levels. First it is a really accurate description of working class malehood, which is something I know a little about, and it is gratifying to see a warm but realistic depiction of said species for once. Also it depicts the punk era brilliantly, again, from the perspective of a young working class male, rather than middle class art school types. It is punk as I remember it, rather than as it has become depicted by the London tourist board and media lovies who either came late to the party or who were never there in the first place. And I sincerely hope that another brilliant poster to message boards and Blues fan, Ragamuffin agrees that punk was raw dirty and full of energy and had nothing to do with spiky haircuts or delicately ripped jeans. King points out Mclaren and Westwood for the tossers that they are and it's about time too. Three cheers for the scruffy Herberts.
King seems to have grown (sorry but I cannot help but think of the main character as King himself) from a disaffected youth into a seriously disaffected adult, which I applaud, why should we mellow just because we are old and boring? Having said that in the latter parts of the book he overdoes the sloganeering without offering any real analysis.
The two main points of interest to me were the juxtaposition of this novel with Jonathon Coe's "The Rotters Club" and also King hImself.
The Rotters club was set in the seventies in the suburbs of Birmingham, its (anti) hero was about my age at that time. I know, intimately, all the places that Coe describes but the world he lives in is totally alien to me, yet I seem to know every piss stinking subway and have shared every curry in King's Slough, a place I have never visited. Coe is clearly the more literate writer, but does that make his work intrinsically better? I don't know; I do know it is very difficult to find a review of King on the web. Perhaps it's a class thing, something else King is very bitter about. Rightly so, in my hapless opinion.
King himself appears to be something of an enigma. All the way through, I wondered, just who is this guy? the blurb in the book tells you nothing and I can find nothing on the web about him. I hope he doesn't turn out to be some middle class social anthropologist or I will look a right berk. I don't think so though, his voice has the smack of authenticity, unlike Keith Talent in Martin Amis' "London Fields" for instance. I am going to have to ask Ragamuffin to do his oracle bit for me.

I have been presented with an interesting little quandary this evening. Having assured my Mrs repeatedly that I hadn't given a second thought to my blog, or the Blues message boards or metafilter, how long should one decently leave it before diving back in?

Blues ridiculously coiffured new midfielder, Robbie Savage, has been fined 10000 English pounds for improper use of a toilet. Just how improper was he being?

All sorts of stick figures, doing one another damage.

The Times analysis is a relevant as you want it to be. 9-1 in a two horse race though; one would be a mug not to. Blues fans , bet like men!

This blog will be sitting, no doubt shivering in the rain, on this beach for the next week.

A very interesting article on a couple of riots in the USA.

In India Sachin Tendulka inspires reverence. Find out why.

Theban mapping project is important, huge and bloody interesting

Springsteen: here, here , and here

Music of the Calabrian Mafia is definitely worth getting hold of. This chap seems to agree. It all seems a bit controversial, very listenable though.

A gruesome little game involving monkeys diving off a cliff. If you don't time it right they get splattered. I have been responsible for many monkey deaths.

The war on terror continues: Robert Fisk provides a timely and disturbing account of what this means in the Afghan hinterland.

There is supposed to be a webcam of 3 painters knocking about somewhere. I have found plenty of references to it but not the thing itself, perhaps it is some sort of arty wind up. I did find absolute arts though and managed to waste a couple of hours there, without even touching the surface I don't think.

Thousands and thousands of bikers fell upon the small town of Hollister last month. The New Yorker was there.

Janis Ian muses some more on copyright and such like.

I don't know if there is any accuracy in the numbers here, but it's a bit spooky anyway.

Mr Bellers neighborhood is New York, and he details it and its characters in all its unique glory.

I have a brother in law called Chris, he visited with the sister this weekend. He snored very loudly and fixed one of my stereos, he always fixes something because he has a very large brain. So why the hell he is sending me links to a sick bag museum gawd only knows.

Stoke City 0 Birmingham City 2 (Sunday Times link reg required, not really worth it in this particular case, unless you are a Blues fan, generally, though, you might as well, unless you live overseas)

Rumsfeld, Iraq, Kurds, Chemical Weapons. You really couldn't make it up.

All you could possibly wish to know about Swamp Soccer

Old maps

Paul Kimmage wrote a great book on life as a domestique in cycle racing, he also ghosted the Tony Cascarino autobiography(extract here). Now he has published a very brilliant interview with Irish football legend Paul Mcgrath. Since Ian Ridley ghosted autobigraphies by Paul Merson and Tony Adams, highly confessional pieces, detailing the flaws of our heroes have become de riguer. Kimmage really seems to have his finger on the pulse of human frailty though.

Being around my eldest, who is seven, is like having a little American creature about the place, I think I will have to start rationing Disney and Cartoon Network. He eats candy, the mailman delivers mail, we go to the store, and on it goes. He prefers baseball to cricket for gawds sake.

Lactating elephants.

A review of Wilco in Atlanta

From b3ta: motorbiking, politically incorrect but hilarious.

Steve Earle wrote a song attempting to examine what may have motivated John Walker, the "American Taliban". He has incurred the wrath of the right, but it's not as simple as they would have you believe.

More lunacy from Joel Veitch

They take their comedy seriously at some of the corpses are amusing. Seriously enough to have unearthed a transcript of a pilot for Brass Eye.

Talkingcock contains poems, funny bits and a questionnaire the like of which I have yet to see on the Friday Five.

Talking of which:
1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
Fathers side from Irish tinkers who settled in Manchester, apart from the old man, obviously. Some Welsh and Irish on mothers side, but way back.
2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
I forgot to mention a great aunt twice removed from Tahiti, so I will go there.
4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage
I get drunk frequently.
5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?
Gawd knows.

The legendary Half Man Half Biscuit are live on Andy Kershaw tonight. As ever it will be archived for a week.

As meaningless as I believe IQ tests to be, I am extremely chuffed to have scored 123 on the 5 minute IQ test

Bloody Bleeding Nora! is it the heat? I was thinking on another airless and sultry night that it is days like these that riots occur; it is weather that tends to make the already surly even more mean and sullen. Now everywhere I visit on the web there seems to be some irrational and terrible violence going on.
Monks fighting on a roof is not without comic potential. Two guys getting dragged out of a van and murdered by a mob is just horrific

I know I said friendlies were meaningless, but a 7-0 win away is bloody impressive.

Found on mefi, Japanese prints

The anniversary of the planes smashing into the world trade centre is nearly upon us and forests will be felled to remind us of it. Like this guy, I hope it doesn't get too mawkish.

I hadn't realised get your war on was still going.

Yoga, farting and Bruce Springsteen

Alan Duncan outs himself

The world looks different from a freight train. A great article on latterday hobos in the U.S.

The Mercury Music Prize shortlist has been announced. What a dismal selection it is, Bowie?; for gawds chuffin sake. It seems like these days if ageing rockers put something out that isn't completely embarrassing it is hailed as genius, rather than the overblown AOR it usually is.
If The Streets doesn't win I shall eat my lucky hat. It is very far from being the best album released this, or any other year, but it as least fresh, witty and playful. Some samples are available on the website, not the whole album though, as was the case until recently. There is an album of mixes on there though, look under sneak previews

Shameless and inveterate seeker after plugs that I am, I have now signed up with Blogsnob

Christ, it's hot.

The BBC has put loads of gigs from WOMAD online, in their entirety. Ozomatli is up, as is Orchestra Baobab. Little George Sueref is definitely worth a listen, and pretty soon the absolutely stunning Mariza should be up. There are many others.
For one week only, the BBC has made all 4 of their WOMAD broadcasts available online.

Fuck

Bloody Bleeding Nora! West Brom having surprised everyone, themselves included, by getting promoted to the Premiership last year should be enjoying a golden age. All should be warm, everyone should be aglow. They should be looking forward to the new season like no other. But no. First their chairman was pretty much forced to resign, after falling out with the manager, then the manager messed about before signing a new contract. A middling division one player declined to sign for them (thus passing up the opportunity to play in one of the 3 greatest leagues in the world) because he didn't want to take a pay cut.
Now it looks like the players may be going on strike. I have a massive soft spot for West Brom. Nevertheless, I am chuffin pissing myself.

The Cannibal Manifesto

When I was a nipper I loved the novel, The Graduate and would read it ceaselessly. Growing up in a pretty impoverished part of Brum in a family that seemed pretty normal to me, but these days would probably be described as dysfunctional, that whole Californian lifestyle was immensely appealing. I could appreciate even then that Charles Webb was railing against that lifestyle, but I saw fit only to soak up the imagery of lounging around a pool on endless hot summer afternoons, enjoying effortless affluence and it seemed pretty idyllic to me.
I read Webbs other novels and didn't think much of them, then he seemed to just disappear, until the publication of New Cardiff a couple of years ago. It turns out he and his Mrs have led an extraordinary life, giving up all their money and taking pretty shitty jobs to get by. It all seems a bit barking to me, but fair play to them, they are living by what they believe. (Oh Dear, it's the Guardian again)

The U.S shoots itself in the foot again in the battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan.

Bleeding Bloody Nora all over again. Came across this N.Y Times editorial on Mefi, you would think it was an archived piece from the 50's, but it isn't. It is truly scary that this can still happen. Also courtesy of Mefi is this much more in depth account of events.

All night I have been listening to Village 900 am, which I think comes from Canada. Just the job for a mellow Monday evening. If you like the folksy rootsy world music type stuff, I recommend it. It has news from the BBC world service, which strikes me as a bit odd, welcome though.

Mike Brearley is an acknowledged master of psychology in sport. Here he expounds on how to be a good umpire, it is a lesson on how to behave generally, I think.

"Rise up against your oppressor", George Bush told the Kurds in 1991, then pissed off out of it, leaving them to their fate. Not without a little help from U.S and British warplanes, they have established a sort of mini state in Northern Iraq. It seems to work well, with a free press and open opposition. But now the younger Bush is coming a calling. There goes the neighborhood. (NY Times link, reg required)

The School of the Americas. This piece of journalism has won an award from Amnesty International. It is a fine piece. How come all the worlds bad guys were once clients of the U.S?

This online music station is worth exploring before the whole streaming thing goes tits up

The Sacred Text Archive is awesome and important.You will find information on just about any religion or belief system you can think of.

Images of the Vietnam war, taken by the other side.

Bleeding Nora, it's all a bit serious today. Thanks to Ragamuffin for this Ice Cream Sundae collecting car crash type diversion, at which I am not very good.

A nice spud recipe

Dissect a frog

As I suspected, a rolled up newspaper is no use against a running bull. I am crap at this game, use cursers keys to manouevre and space bar to whack the bugger.



The website of the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is well worth a few minutes of anyones time.

Buy a second hand book.

Thanks,yet again, to Plep, for alerting the world to some classic pictures from Life magazine

Courtesy of the BBC at Womad, I have been introduced to something else beautiful, that I had previously been unaware of. Fado is described as Portugese blues, but I think it has more to it than that. Radio 3 and BBC 4 provided us with snippets of a performance from Mariza, who both looks and sounds extraordinary.
There is an interesting account of its history and traditions here.
This poem is rather good, its relationship to actual Fado I cannot comment on, it's a bloody good poem anyway.

More Big Brother stuff.

The Friday Five

1. How long have you had a weblog?
About a year, though I've ony took it anything like seriously in about the last 2 months.
2. What was your first post about?
Dunno. Birmingham City F.C probably. I can't bring myself to look.
3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one?
None.There is another blog out there somewhere which was supposed to be work related, a sort of very honest diary at a time when things looked a bit bleak.It named names. Set it up when I was pissed though and have never been able to find the bugger.
4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else?
er...beg pardon?
5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Or do you prefer to read people who have all of their writing in one central place?
I don't read anyone religiously.There are a few blogs I visit very regularly and I will look at homepages from mefi and spofi profile pages. It's all the same really innit?




Womad has begun today. Much of it will be available on the Radio 3 website

Even at my advanced age it is still possible to get excited about music. Not long ago I discovered Manu Chao and bored everyone rigid about him, and he is still blasting out of the car almost daily. Tonight, courtesy of BBC 4 at Womad, I have discovered, no doubt long after the rest of the world, Ozomatli. I have since done a google search on them and find they excite the rest of the world as much me. Christ knows what it was like to have been there, I am absolutely abuzz just from watching on the box.

Six Feet Under has been nominated for many emmys. I have tried hard to like this programme in my Sopranos deprived state, but I can't. It's issue driven rather than character led and therefore jumps the shark several times each week. This fine Slate article refers to a series I have not seen, but is pretty bang on anyway.

An Indian hangs himself in Guatemala , which goes some way to explaining the need for Robin Hoover to leave his water butts in the desert.

An Afghan family is removed from a Mosque by riot police

Some photos of Afghan refugees at a camp in Pakistan

14 million face starvation across Southern Africa

Please click on The Hunger Site

Is your blog hot or not

See how stressed you are at Hello Kitty.

Another Guardian link. This is a fascinating account of the Iranian embassy siege which was ended by the SAS, whom few had heard of at the time.

The eldest nipper is seven so the politics of parenthood and childhood and friendship and relationships are becoming increasingly fraught and complex. This article hasn't helped much.

Is Norwegian difficult to learn?



Unbelievably, someone has nicked Bungle, Zippy and George

Would be economic migrants into the U.S from Mexico are having to take ever more hazardous routes to avoid detection. Robin Hoover tries to make it easier for them.

An incredibly hard days racing in the tour, with 3 massive climbs, not much of interest overall though, with Armstrong consolidating his position. The finances inolved in the thing make interesting reading.

I really have no clue how to begin describing, this funky, animated thing, with a groovy tune attached. It's a bit wonderful.

In the interests of balance I suppose I should mention that the Blues good run has ended, with 2 successive defeats on their Scottish tour. Friendlies are meaningless, really.

Have you had your yatta today? (via mefi)

Every time we go abroad I spend the whole time boring the Mrs by wondering aloud about the cost of food. Day after day we eat as a family in unpretenious but very good cafes, bars and restaurants. We don't skimp, we eat what we fancy and have plenty of drinks and are always surprised by the quality of what is put in front of us, and by the price. What, I demand, stops British caterers from providing similar quality at a similar price? And that's before I start on the ambience. We hardly ever eat out at home, because the experience, for one reason or another, usually to do with the nippers, always ends up disappointing.
This goes some way to explaining why.



Botero finally has a good day

This Steve Bell cartoon brought a smirk to my face.

Eat less saturated fat and salt, or you will go barmy

This story referring to telephone conversations between stewardessess on one of the planes that flew into the world trade centre, and a flight controller seems to be appearing everywhere. It is very distressing even at this remove, but begs questions. What was the bomb like thing and what were they spraying ? I thought the hijackers were unarmed apart from knives. Also, why has the FBI suppressed the first 4 minutes of one of the conversations?

I cannot recommend this website highly enough. It is beautiful and stunning.


David Millar, not previously known for his sprinting ability, won todays stage. Zabel and McEwan are now dead level on points for the green jersey. Ventoux tomorrow. A more pertinent Ventoux link

Hah!

Is it too early to start getting excited about the upcoming football saeson? I think not. Blues followed up Wednesdays win with a 6-0 victory today. You can tell we have hit the big time because the BBC are putting up match reports of our friendlies, for gawds sake.
One of the joys of the football season used to be Danny Bakers post match phone in on 5 live, at least in its early days. I know he has graduated into a first class pillock, but at least he used to bring a bit of passion into it, and had heard of some of the teams outside the prem. He would never have allowed clueless women or nippers to monopolise valuable whinging time either. How they could have replaced him with the clueless and clearly ersatz Mellor is beyond me. And Littlejohn! Christ on a chuffin bike. The part timers are equally irksome. The fat baggies fan is becoming ubiquitous across the airwaves, so is irritating by dint of that. At least he knows who the real Blues are. Steve Cram is very, very boring and interested only in Sunderland. I think they should get me on.
I only mention it because i found a pretty good interview with Jon Savage on punk and fanzines and stuff. I have mentioned before that Savage is an irritating twerp, (any John without an H is a twerp, by definition) but it's a decent enough article. Anyway he slags Baker off in it, clearly he thinks he is an undereducated oik, which is the problem with Savage.
To the point, there is a link to a Danny Baker page, which in turn contains a link to a download of Baker insulting a caller, which led to his sacking. There are many reasons that could be found to end Bakers disasterous second stint on 606, but that isn't one of them. It is a classic piece of broadcasting and illustrates why the C list celebrities they insist on putting on the show are part of the dumbing down of the BBC. I urge you to click that link and even if you don't read the page, which isn't very interesting, scan through for the "insults a caller" link.

Corporate scandals? It's all to do with penis envy. This is very lengthy and not amusing in the slightest. No pun intended.

While I'm at it, I may as well link to this article about the US anthrax attacks. If true it's very worrying.

I am beginning to feel somewhat assailed by "The Adverts", they were mentioned twice on "Never Mind the Horlicks" tonight, and also put in appearance in the previously linked Savage interview.
Savage has plenty to say on "Horlicks" too. In that interview, he dismisses the fact that he is an able scholar who attended Cambridge and stresses his West London roots. Well, his plummy vowels are hardly the sound of the westway.

Talking of penis envy

Its my birthday tomorrow. Like a big kid I have been waiting for months just so I can post the Bukowski poem,"On Being 43".
But I can't find the bugger. This is much better anyway. Much, much better.

.

This little rabbit game is popping up everywhere. I am crap at it.

An interesting article on Big Brother, which says more about the psychology of the media in general really.

Last night I finished "The Ice Harvest" by Scott Phillips. Very good, very enjoyable, moved along very nicely, just the job for bedtime. It doesn't insult the intelligence isn't moronic but doesn't require too many brain cells. Perfect, I look forward to reading more of his stuff.
Almost perfect I should say. While I was about half way through, I read a review of the follow up, "The Walkaway". In the first sentence of the review the reviewer gave away the denouement of "The Ice Harvest". What kind of a smug, self satisfied, ignorant berk would do such a thing? I can't remember where I read it but I think it was the Sunday Times. I hope the guy never gets another commission. The editor of the page could give himself a stern talking to also.

Like a greatest hits collection, this list of 100 albums you should throw out is a bit variable.However it gave me many genuine laugh out loud moments. It is probably the funniest and most astute thing I have seen for ages. I'm going to post it everywhere. They should kick Maconie off the critical list and get this guy in, whoever he is.

The Friday Five
1. Where were you born?
Birmingham UK ,Balsall Heath, to be exact, which is like being born within the sound of bow bells, in my hapless opinion.
2.If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
That's a very difficult question. I haven't lived there since 1986 but still consider it home. I have a very young family and they are very well settled, so it's unlikely we will move back. It's an alien place to them and they would find the sheer size and pace of the place bewildering and frightening. By the time they flee the nest I will be ancient and if not dead heading for the coast.
3.Where in the world do you feel the safest?
Wrapped up warm in the arms of my wife.
4. Do you feel you are well-traveled?
Not really, although I have stopped and sniffed the flowers wherever I have been rather than passing through. Socially and educationally I have moved onto another, very strange planet.
5. Where is the most interesting place you've been?
Bloody Nora, that's a hard one. I think, possibly, St Davids, because I cannot understand why they built such an enormous great bloody church in a tiny place in the middle of nowhere. It's also very beautiful. I will have changed my mind on that in 5 minutes.

I am not sure I can be arsed with "le tour" anymore.

Competition for British Bloggers



Spooky Spooky Spooky. Things like this are always happening to me, but not with lottery numbers, funny enough.
Last Saturday, going for a family tootle, as you do, I picked up a compilation of Stiff records greatest songs (hits would be something of a misnomer) to play in the car. Now this CD is just a bit of memorabilia really and of no consequence at all, moreover it's not something I would generally choose to keep the nippers quiet; it's not chuffin Shrek for a start.
Anyway, out of its 18 or so tracks, "One Chord Wonders" by The Adverts was the only one that I chose to explain anything about to a now disgruntled family. Then, much later, on some history of punk thing on Radio 2 they played......you guessed. I have never heard that song on the radio before and it's never been a particular favourite of mine, then I hear it twice in one day.
It doesn't end there though. Just idly surfing about tonight, looking for nothing in particular, I came across a website for the chief Advert TV Smith, who still performs, though it all sounds a bit sad really.
The punk programme was called Never Mind The Horlicks and is available online, only till Saturday though, I think. It was pretty good, but had some terrible omissions; some terrible inclusions too, come to think of it.
I am concentrating very hard on the lottery numbers.



My analysis of "Le Tour" proved a bit curates eggish, although I have to concede I got it hopelessly wrong. Armstrongs performance today was astonishing. I did say that he was expected to attack and that it would be unmissable, I did not expect him to be quite so strong. There are many hills to climb in this race yet and anything can happen; it probably won't though.
Botero may still do something impressive, I haven't given up on him.

Finding myself in almost total agreement with Jonathan Freedland on the issue of various public portrayals of sexuality, I must conclude I am getting old.

I can't remember if I posted this mini golf game before, anyway, it's a new version.

If you are still upset that the Sopranos is to finish, uplift your mood with a visit to the now returned Mefi .
The news is never all bad.

There is a job going as British Ambassador to the United States. The Guardian has thoughtfully published an application form. Their version of it anyway.

According to this in the New Statesman, psychology and psychiatry don't work, This is something I bang on about at work all the time, to much derision. I don't elucidate my argument quite as well, or as politely, it must be said.
Perhaps we should stick to mind altering drugs and Buddhism.The "semen makes women happy" story has been around for a while now, and I have tried to resist it, but I can't.

Many thousands of local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be on strike on Wednesday. This is why.
If the unions win this my gob will be smacked, most people of my aquaintance view it as a welcome day off (albeit unpaid) but are not unduly vexed one way or another. I very much doubt if many would be willing to lose another days pay. I know very few people who actually had a chance to vote in the ballot, and it was a very narrow vote in favour of the strike in Unison. If it happens again more fuss will be made.

Joel Veitch animation

A very interesting day in the tour. Todays time trial was won by Santiago Botero and the cat is now well and truly among the among the pigeons. The mountain stages are going to be unmissable.
Millar did well and is now seventh.

Metafilter has been down a very long time. Scary.



Oh dear. I know many who will be bereft at the news that the Sopranos 5th series will be its last. I have not seen the 4th series yet but I am assuming it and the 5th will be the usual high quality. Although I will miss it at least it will depart never having jumped the shark (I hope).
More Sopranos stuff here.

I love this picture.
The race will hot up next week. Time trial tomorrow, which should sort the men out from the boys, then they head towards the mountains. Ventoux is next Sunday I think, even if you have no interest in the tour at all, this will be great television, pure and simple.
Congratulations to David Millar for managing not to fall off.

I decided to Blogchalk. Don't know why, but it feels a bit shameful, but as I have no shame : Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, United Kingdom, Cwmbran, Ty Canol, Pete, Male, 41-45!

Pitchfork has named Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as one of the top 15 albums of the second quarter of 2002. Just thought I would mention it, even though it seems a pretty silly concept.

I have never bought into notion of Wimbledon football club being a bunch of happy go lucky chancers who achieved success simply through hard work and team spirit. A romantic myth has been put about that in the days of Sam Hamman they were a charming family club living on their wits.
There was nothing charming or romantic about Vinnie Jones or John Fashanu, and Sam has since shown us how charming he is with his hooligan loving ways at Cardiff. Running off with the cash and leaving the club at the the tender mercies of Norwegian businessmen was hardly romantic either.
I wish the new club nothing but the best however. They are true football fans rooted to their club and their community. They have told the monied classes and the interlopers to bog off and are having a real go at setting something up themselves. There could be a lesson there for us all. Not all of us have been shafted in the same way but it is undeniable that football has lost its soul in recent years. These guys are trying to find it, in fact have found it and are trying to reclaim it. The best of bleeding British to them.

Talking of football fans, I came across this New Yorker article by Nick Hornby on Sportsfilter. There is something about Hornby that really gets my goat. He comes across as this real regular guy who just happens to love Arsenal. First off there is nothing regular about him, he was very well brought up, in Reading, and went to Cambridge; few are so privileged. Whether or not his estuary English is affected, it is very irritating. Plus he portrays all his male characters in his fiction as utterly selfish bastards, which appeals to his core constituency, which of course is women. Nothing wrong with that, but the blokishness he affects is a middle class media construct, which bears little resemblance to reality.
All of which is beside the point. His real crime is that he supports Aresenal, not his hometown club, all the while passing himself off as the voice of the true fan. He compounds this by devoting much of Fever Pitch to moaning about how unsuccessful Arsenal are and how difficult and humiliating it is to support such a crap team. He measures failure by an inability to win league titles. Never mind league and F.A cup wins and consistently finishing high enough to compete in Europe.
He knows nothing about the experience of the majority of football fans, for whom gaining a place in Europe would be a major achievment, not to mention the delirium that would ensue if say, Reading, even appeared in a cup final, never mind won one.
His is the voice of the middle class spoilt brat who wants what he wants and he wants it now. He supports Arsenal because they were successful at the time, much as people in Cornwall or Wales support Man Utd now. His grievance is / was that they were not succesful enough. Poor diddums.
Article is worth a look though.

Thanks, once again to Ragamuffin. I only asked if Ricky Cool was still knocking about and seconds later a pic appeared.
Ricky Cool is a Brummie artiste who swaps genres more often than some change socks; if he is as good as he was when I used to see him on a weekly basis he is brilliant. If he comes to your town, treat yourself. Nice guy too, or used to be. More Worcester than Brummie. I think.
Had to lose the photo, it had caused a certain amount of craziness.

This is fairly interesting stuff on elitism. Raises all sorts of questions that I could happily comment on all night, but the night is nearly gone, and my bed is calling.

Apropos of nothing; The Chelsea Hotel.

All sorts of games and other things to do here, mostly very high quality.



I have been seeing links to Roadside America for ages, but only visited today for the first time. It's worth a detour.

You can do caricatures of yourself or anyone else here.

Bloody Nora. Just listening to the archived Andy Kershaw show at the BBC and he introduced a track from John B Spencer, whom I love(d). I thought I heard him refer to his demise and not quite believing my ears, did a quick google search and found this.
It's ironic that his obit is on the books page, he was a brilliant songwriter and a performer of real charm and wit. I first saw him at the Junction in Harborne in about 1985 or 6. In truth I had never heard of him but at that time The Junction ran a folk club on Thursdays that was just brilliant, and rarely did the performers have anything to do with folk. Anyway I went along just because I aways did. The guy blew the fucking house down, he was absolutely brilliant. How he remained unheard of is a complete mystery, he was a songwriter of the highest class.
Hearing of this has genuinely left me feeling a bit pissed off and fed up, much more so than other recent celebrity deaths. Probably because he was not a celebrity but deserved to be, much more so than the likes of, well, anyone really. Also It was a hot summer night and a brilliant night and I was still young and happy (not that I'm not happy now) and carefree and had no responsibilities to anyone but myself. It was just before I left for Cardiff, never to return, although I didn't know it then. His music reminds me of a lost home and lost youth, and his death has affected me.
Mind you he looked about 75 back then I could barely believe he was only 57. Kershaw is playing a session tonight, which of course will be archived for a week from tomorrow.
Some more on Spencer.

More photos from todays stage. Another sprint finish with Zabel winning. David Millar has now crashed 3 times in two days. Just thought I'd mention it.

I have had to work uncharacteristically hard and uncharacterestically late this last couple of days. It has taught me that even if I don't spend hours every night posting cobblers all over the web, the sun will still rise the following day.
Pearls before Swine. I am astonishingly bad at this game.

The Guardian the other day mentioned the newish BBC radio player. I log into it before anything else now and have been doing for a couple of weeks. It plays archived programmes across channels and genres for the previous seven days. I am listening to Wednesdays "Late Junction" as I type. It is a godsend for those of us who live up mountains and can barely recieve F.M, particularly in summer. Go here and click the link on the top right of the screen. Real Player required.

Every day PLEP finds brilliant link after brilliant link. I love this photographic history of Chinatown in New York.

It would appear that I live in an area which is in the vanguard of a revolution in education. I wish someone would inform the jumped up twerp who runs my nippers school like an outpost of the Branch Davidian.

Not having had much of a summer it might be nice to sod off to the U.S or some place where you can earn a living getting tanned and living the outside life as a pool guy. Or maybe not.

Finally the Senegal Captain Cissé signs foir the Blues. He might be joined by the Polish striker Olisebede who is supposed to be a bit special. We could end up with Lech Walesa knowing Blues.
Late news courtesy of Singing the Blues, we have appointed John Brierley as part time fitness coach. He has experience with West Ham and Palace and has been involved with English athletics at various levels. Is it a good thing? Well it certainly isn't a bad thing.

Thanks to Ragamuffin star contributor to the Singing The Blues messageboard (amongst others) for this operation style shockwave game.

It's national vegetarian week, though I would like to know who decides these things. I declare that next week will be "give all your money to Fat Buddha week". Is that sufficient, I wonder?
I like this quiz mainly because I got all ten right at the first attempt. My subsequent gloating when the Mrs didn't got me a substantial whack, however.
Vegetarianism looks increasingly attractive after reading this article on chicken nuggets. I don't believe I have ever eaten a chicken nugget although the kids have. I am careful to read labels to ensure there is no mechanically recovered meat, but the whole business looks unappetising. Reading this article puts you off the whole thing. And thats just chicken. I don't even want to think about the inhumane ways in which we treat pigs and I don't believe I will ever eat anything bovine again. Pass me a falafel.


There was an exciting bunch finish in Le Tour, which is always a great spectacle. Bertogliati retained the yellow jersey, it still has something of an air of phoney war about it though.

The Blues continue to be linked with players from around the world that nobody has ever heard of, no more new signings yet though. It apears that there are at least 3 players called Cissé earning a living in France. Who would have thought it?

I really like this review of Wilco

Mr Stabby

San Fermin began today, with, as usual, several roisterers getting themselves gored. Shame. This site tells you all you need to know about its history and traditions and has some stunning photos. Although it began as a religious festival it now regarded as "must not miss" event on for party animals the world over.

There was a very good stage of Le Tour, which was won by Rubens Bertogliati , who also takes the yellow jersey, for one day only I suspect.

Relive all your childhood games.

Take on a celebrity at Paper Scissors Stone

Even though it's Saturday, and much nearer Sunday than Friday, I shall have my first go at the Friday 5.
1 Where are you right now ? : Sat at computer drinking wine, listening to Pernice Brothers while the Mrs sorts the nippers out.
2:What have you lost recently? Every last drop of goodwill I ever had for my employer.
3:What was the first CD you ever purchased? Does that embarrass you now? : I was late coming to C.D's. The first one I ever bought was "The Best of Crowded House". God knows why, I had never been a fan of theirs, although I like Tim Finn and was a massive fan of Split Enz, particularly in their early days. "Dizrythmia" is a neglected classic. I never listen to the Crowded House thing now, in fact I hardly listened to it at all, but it doesn't embarrass me. The first record I ever bought was "Hippy Hippy Shake" by the Swinging Blue Jeans .
4: What is your favorite kind of writing pen? Any sort that doesn't empty its ink into my pocket.
5:What is your favorite ice cream flavor? My very own home made chocolate, made with many egg yolks, Jersey milk, double cream and the coup de grace; creme fraiche. Sometimes I add a little Madagascan vanilla, not often though, wouldn't want to over egg the pudding, as it were.

Typically barking animation from B3ta

Down at the park this morning with the 3 nippers I noticed two elderly guys wandering around with a camera equipped with a zoom lens.
Initially I thought they must have grandchildren with them, but clearly they didn't. So I thought they must be keen photographers taking pictures, generally, of a playground on a summers day, even though the day was barmy rather than balmy . Then I noticed the guy with the large lens was taking pictures of individual kids, and my armpits started to prickle. No one else seemed to notice or be particularly bothered, apart from my Mrs as it turned out.
We left them to their art and carried on around the park. The eldest who is seven went on a boat. We then noticed the two geezers rambling around the lake, looking a bit shifty, in my cynical view. At the playground my Mrs had been miles away from me, entertaining the youngest, but she now said I don't like the look of those two, they haven't any kids with them but they have been taking close up photos of individual kids, they better not try it with our nippers. Whereupon the long lens dude crouched down and pointed his lens at our nipper in the boat. There was no- one or nothing else around, he could only have been focussing on the nipper.
My Mrs yelled across, "NO, DON'T TAKE A PHOTO OF MY SON". They looked irritated rather than embarrassed, and headed for the car park quite quickly. Another family told us they had been uneasy too, most looked away. I am unutterably proud of the Mrs. The old blokes may have been entirely innocent, but it strikes me as an odd way to spend a Saturday, taking furtive pictures of extremely young children.The police were informed.
Anyway, I only mention it because I happened upon this Hitchens article at Arts and Letters Daily.

A 1934 article from the New Yorker on John Dillinger. Absolutely fascinating.

At the risk of appearing repetitious, a June Jordan obituary.

I heard Simon Armitage on the radio this morning, which reminded me of this poem.

What I want for my birthday

Another Guardian article on the Tour de France. There is a link to an interactive guide on the race at the end. Highly recommended.

Bluegrass seems to be the Buena Vista Social Club of the moment. It's not without its malcontents though. Gillian Welch is a New York girl, although her antecedents allow her leeway. They also provide material for spiritual speculation. Theres nothing like a guy who resents that others have muscled in on his private obsession

Tim Parks wrote an acclaimed book on his experiences following Hellas Verona over a single season. Many argued that his stance towards the more lumpen of his fellow Verona fans was a little too sympathetic, still an excellent if slightly irritating book though.
Now he has written an excellent, if slightly irritating piece for the New York Review of Books (found on PLEP). He adopts Orwells view of serious sport being war minus the shooting to analyse the World Cup. Despite a couple of discrepencies it provides much food for thought and I recommend it. It's very long.



Janice Ian articulates what I have always thought about downloading music, much better than I ever could. Being an artist she also speaks from a position of moral strength.
Following the demise of audiogalaxy, a useful guide to potential alternatives

I love the idea of book crossing although it might seem a bit stupid. My Mrs is always going on at me to get rid of some books as she reckons we don't have space for more bookshelves. Well, although it seems to be a U.S thing, I'm going to register and give it a go, see what happens. I will leave some of my Laurence Shames books at St Andrews come the new season hoping they will find a deserving home.



"Le Tour" starts on Saturday. The greatest and most arduous sporting event there is. It has something for everyone, beautiful photography, bucolic images of France, mad and dangerous mass sprints, the solitary suffering of racing against the clock in time trials and the glorious savagery of the mountain stages, not to mention the gut churning descents. And that's just watching.
Two recent articles in the Guardian by William Fotheringham provide a brilliant overview of what it's all about.
The first is really a travellogue; an account of the author undertaking a stage, along with thousands of others. The second is an interesting account of the infamous Ventoux stage and the death of Tom Simpson.

Play battleships

It would appear the sun is feeling a bit gaseous.

Johan Cruyff has been a bit sniffy about Brazil. His view is countered here.
Simon Kuper provides a thoughtful analysis of Ronaldo's recent past. Paul Hayward does likewise.

Brazil won it, I don't think I was alone in being past caring by the end. I found both finalists particularly charmless, and despite having its moments, the whole tournament was somewhat sullied by various controversies, which I can't be bothered with now.

Just discovered Piano Magic. There must be loads of stuff like this about that just doesn't get heard. 4ad helpfully provides some snippets of reviews and a downloadable track from "Writers without Homes" and a couple of of other, earlier things.

Also discovered, long after the rest of the human race ,it seems, Asa Chang :Hana. This is music to both stir and calm the soul. I have never heard anything like it. Some information and a downloadable video of "Hana" can be found at his record labels website. He seems a bit of a character.