Friday 31 August 2007

Arseki? No Thanks

Obviously the sale of shares by David Dein to a not very nice Russian is a matter for concern. As Henry Winter says:
The battle for control of Ashburton Grove is officially under way. All eyes are now on Danny Fiszman, Arsenal's majority shareholder, to see how he reacts to Dein camping on his lawn and firing 50-rouble notes at him.
I'm with Arseblogger. Yes, I know it's not the 1950s; yes, we have a stadium sponsored by an airline; yes, we have to compete with the other clubs bankrolled by fat cigar-smoking fraudsters. But it will pain me to see all our tradition go to the highest bidder when in Arsene Wenger we have a manager who would rather use his considerable intelligence to draw together seemingly disparate elements into a team that can compete on the pitch, rather than be a puppet in a global money pissing contest .

(And if Dein can't get control of Arsenal, do you know what he wants to do? He wants to be Head of the FA....)

UPDATE: Very good precis on Gunnerblog

Thursday 30 August 2007

A Broad Grin

I know I have been banging on about him for ages but finally the England selectors gave Stuart Broad his chance in the ODI series against India. So how did he do, I hear you cry? Only career-best figures of 4-51 with the ball, followed by a match-winning 45 not out in an English record 8th wicket partnership of 99 with Ravi Bopara. England were reeling at 114-7 but eventually won by 3 wickets and take a 3-1 lead in the seven match series. Bravo!


Maybe I should run a cricket team or something...

UPDATE: Highlights of the match-winning partnership HERE

Wednesday 29 August 2007

RIP Puerta

Sad news today - Antonio Puerta, who I wrote about as a potential summer signing for Arsenal, has died after suffering a heart attack playing for Sevilla against Getafe on Saturday night. Apparently, he had an incurable, hereditary heart problem (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy) and was only 22 years old.

We do come to see our football idols as superhuman and this just serves to bring it back into perspective somewhat. Hopefully some of the bitching and mind-games might ease this weekend as people remember a talent prematurely cut short:

Tuesday 28 August 2007

I'm A Slave 4 U(kulele)

So, back from our summer holidays, what do we fancy listening to as we lurch back to work?

Awesome. And England are leading the ODI series, Arsenal are unbeaten and I found twenty quid in my suit jacket this morning. If I wasn't so stiff from playing cricket at the weekend, I'd jump for joy :)

Sunday 19 August 2007

Paint It Black(burn)

Can Blackeye Rovers (as The Fiver famously tagged them) continue to kick lumps out of other teams and pretend that it is Premier League football? The display at Ewood Park was disgraceful - yes, it's a man's game, blah blah blah, but if I remember correctly the point is to pass the ball from player to player and try to create a scoring opportunity; not to see how brutal a challenge you can get away with, before the referee remembers that there are assessors in the stands and brings out the yellow cards. And they only had ONE player sent off (their captain, if that is any indication of their utter shamefulness). It's a disgrace and this picture sums it up:


One of these players is a skilful top-level international midfielder attempting to reach the ball* and the others play for Blackburn Rovers. As Cesc asked of Mark Hughes last season:
Didn't you play for Barcelona? Because that's not Barcelona football.
Yes, I know we only managed a 1-1 draw because Crazy Jens made his second successive bizarre error (three and you're out?) but I imagine we might have scored more goals had we realised it was actually hurling/Aussie rules/WWF.

Tsk.

UPDATE: Goodplaya agrees with me

* for those of you wearing blue/white, that's the round thing that the other team are attempting to pass around, but don't worry yourself with technicalities; ankles and knees look awfully similar when your hair flaps in your eyes...

Saturday 18 August 2007

More! Proof! Of! Youth!

Exclusive! last.fm! preview! of! more! tracks! from! The Go! Team's new! album!

Click to play >>> <<< Click to play

23! days! and! counting!

Twist Your Arm(ando)

Just finished listening to the first in the excellent new series of Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive:


Highlights were the discussion about how many ketchup sachets David Attenborough stole from the café at London Zoo ("easily more than five"), the Mastermind general knowledge round ("What is the opposite of placard?") and the Robert Ludlum novel title generator ("The Byzantium Potato").

Highly recommended (and you can listen again here)

Friday 17 August 2007

I'm Just A Lush

OMFG - this could absolutely 1000% so easily be me:


"...is about indie bands. Proper indie bands from the later 1980s and early 1990s. When indie bands were real indie bands, and when they released their music on big lumps of vinyl; like God intended."

Of the 27 bands currently on the site, I own 9 CDs, 12 vinyl LPs, 17 12" vinyl EPs and 4 limited edition coloured vinyl 7"s. I have also seen live gigs from Dr Phibes (forgettable), World Of Twist (mental), Teenage Fanclub (amazing), Jesus Jones (overrated), Ride (noisy), New FADs (moody) and Ned's Atomic Dustbin (silly) as well as the wonderful Lush, from whom lead-singer Miki signed my T-shirt (much to the chagrin of my friends on the night, who had to wait for me hanging round the side of the Newcastle Mayfair stage like a lovesick puppy until the diminutive Japanese/Hungarian beauty found her magic marker...)

Now, bring on The Wedding Present, please...

Coffeeside, Ref!

This would look good in my (as yet still imaginary) shed:

"Manufactured from Solid Oak with a Stainless Steel frame and a glass top to protect the mirrored football pitch underneath, this table is superbly built and would make a perfect addition to any living room or bar."

Or shed...

Cat Sheet?

From the always intriguing strange maps comes:


(for Antonia, mostly)

Wednesday 8 August 2007

Footing The Bill

Here's another quite cool Google maps app - type in a street (although postcodes work better for the UK) and it will give it a walk score based on how 'walkable' local amenities are:

Obviously it can only track locations and businesses that show up in Google Maps (it didn't pull in our excellent local Thai place) but anything that helps me avoid the fuming logjam of chaos which is London's South Circular is a boon - we scored 62, what about you?

Friday 3 August 2007

Toxic Mash(up)

Nothing to do with green potatoes, this is another really polished album of pop mashups. So far; so last year. However, they're all based around tracks from a long-forgotten LP called 'Hot Boppin' Instrumentals', lending a rather pleasant 'lounge' feel to recent chart smashes from (amongst others): Spears, Aguilera, Stefani and even The Jaxx:

Check it out and let me know your favourites...

How Many Does Ben Make?

This is like way so 80s old skool cool:

And a prize* for the person who deciphers the title of this post...

* may not contain actual prize

Thursday 2 August 2007

Take A Pig, Miss Jones

Fed up with email? Cheer them up with a hand-written missive on one of these animal-shaped airmail letters :)
The pig is great. I like the rocket too. And the bat. Actually the pterodactyl is...er...anyway. Yes!

Available soon, apparently.

Overheard #19

A short hop back over the pond, to the workplace once again:
"I'm getting no love from those people. They bring me this stuff; you can't drink algae. It's like some funk from Russia, or something."

*taps side of head*