Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
I'm so proud...
I'm no.21 on a Google search for Judy Finnigan cleavage - it's good to know I've achieved something worthwhile with my life after all...
Friday, November 25, 2005
Media Grotesqueries and a Drawn-out Death
A man has died after a long illness. Meanwhile a salacious media has been camped outside his hospital, desperate for hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute health details, and quotes from visiting friends and family.
No-one needed this coverage: there was no public clamour for constant updates, no major developments, save the release of harrowing photographs intended to show the world the effects of his long-term alcoholism. All the frenzy has achieved is to remove what little dignity remained in a life which had sadly lacked that quality.
To my generation while growing up, George Best was not a world-class footballer. He wasn't even a world-class womanizer. All the name Best represented was that sad old drunk who turned up worse for wear on chat shows, a demonstration of a talent thrown away, squandered for the lure of addiction (there were two such figures at the time: the world of acting was represented by Oliver Reed). Even though he was still relatively young at this point, you wouldn't have known it to look at him - years of boozing aren't kind on appearance.
Such was the level of his addiction, even a new liver couldn't make him turn his back on the bottle for long. And all the time, the press were delighted to report on failed marriages, family troubles, health problems, and unfortunate booze-related embarrassments. After all, a decline and fall is far more juicy than glittering success. There's more sleaze for one thing.
Maybe it's the 24 hour nature of modern media coverage that creates a need amongst journalists for the levels of intrusion witnessed in the past week. Maybe hourly bulletins make it easy to forget that at the centre of a story there is a real human being, with a real family, and a right to some degree of privacy. Or maybe we all demand too much of our celebrity culture these days: limits are forgotten, with our right to information taking precedence over basic decency.
Whatever the cause, it has been unseemly, and an unpleasant atmosphere in which to mark the passing of someone who once had the world at his feet. He deserved better.
No-one needed this coverage: there was no public clamour for constant updates, no major developments, save the release of harrowing photographs intended to show the world the effects of his long-term alcoholism. All the frenzy has achieved is to remove what little dignity remained in a life which had sadly lacked that quality.
To my generation while growing up, George Best was not a world-class footballer. He wasn't even a world-class womanizer. All the name Best represented was that sad old drunk who turned up worse for wear on chat shows, a demonstration of a talent thrown away, squandered for the lure of addiction (there were two such figures at the time: the world of acting was represented by Oliver Reed). Even though he was still relatively young at this point, you wouldn't have known it to look at him - years of boozing aren't kind on appearance.
Such was the level of his addiction, even a new liver couldn't make him turn his back on the bottle for long. And all the time, the press were delighted to report on failed marriages, family troubles, health problems, and unfortunate booze-related embarrassments. After all, a decline and fall is far more juicy than glittering success. There's more sleaze for one thing.
Maybe it's the 24 hour nature of modern media coverage that creates a need amongst journalists for the levels of intrusion witnessed in the past week. Maybe hourly bulletins make it easy to forget that at the centre of a story there is a real human being, with a real family, and a right to some degree of privacy. Or maybe we all demand too much of our celebrity culture these days: limits are forgotten, with our right to information taking precedence over basic decency.
Whatever the cause, it has been unseemly, and an unpleasant atmosphere in which to mark the passing of someone who once had the world at his feet. He deserved better.
Tache-o-rama
So I was trying to watch Question Time, the UK's premier weekly "grill the panel of politicos" show, but something was distracting me. The same something has had this effect before, leaving me incapable of following a word that was said. It was this:
Or to be more precise, it was his moustache. This is Lord Thurso, Liberal Democrat something-or-other. He could be the greatest orator of the modern era, or a hate-filled harbinger of evil, but I'd be none the wiser - the tache gets all the attention.
He always reminds me of this fella -
Francis Tumblety, one of the many suspects in the Jack the Ripper case (more about that here). I've always had trouble taking him seriously as a suspect: it seems ridiculous to suggest that a gent with his frankly ludicrous facial adornment could meld into the background successfully enough to avoid detection.
Of course if you should happen to find yourself in need of hiding for years on end after accidentally killing your children's nanny (no need for an allegedly here, methinks), then a distinctive tache like so
could be quite handy. Just get rid of it, and the world at large will be none the wiser. Anyone seen Lord Lucan lately?
Or to be more precise, it was his moustache. This is Lord Thurso, Liberal Democrat something-or-other. He could be the greatest orator of the modern era, or a hate-filled harbinger of evil, but I'd be none the wiser - the tache gets all the attention.
He always reminds me of this fella -
Francis Tumblety, one of the many suspects in the Jack the Ripper case (more about that here). I've always had trouble taking him seriously as a suspect: it seems ridiculous to suggest that a gent with his frankly ludicrous facial adornment could meld into the background successfully enough to avoid detection.
Of course if you should happen to find yourself in need of hiding for years on end after accidentally killing your children's nanny (no need for an allegedly here, methinks), then a distinctive tache like so
could be quite handy. Just get rid of it, and the world at large will be none the wiser. Anyone seen Lord Lucan lately?
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Crappy picture, fabby gig
...and the award for Best Gig I've Ever Seen goes to...... the Decemberists, in Glasgow, last night, with a quite spectacular Mariner's Revenge Song for a finale. It were reet grand, so it was...
Monday, November 14, 2005
Where do I live again?
You would think that, if you were to take a few citizenship tests, you might score best in the one for your own country, right?
Well not if you're me - on a BBC mock-up of the British one, I scored a slightly pathetic 8/14 (about 57%), on a USA version I made it a little higher with 60% (though not high enough to be let in apparently), but on the Canadian test I romped home with 85%!
I guess I'd better start packing...
Well not if you're me - on a BBC mock-up of the British one, I scored a slightly pathetic 8/14 (about 57%), on a USA version I made it a little higher with 60% (though not high enough to be let in apparently), but on the Canadian test I romped home with 85%!
I guess I'd better start packing...
Friday, November 11, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Dorothy Parker - Resumé
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
solipsistic
I don't have the faintest idea what this is all about, but it's rather fascinating. And there's a bit of silent film appreciation going on, which is always a good thing
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Buy Buy Buy
It's blatant plug time again (yes, I know, but it's not my fault, they made me do it). Now available from assorted fine online retailers, it's the long-awaited Sweet Billy Pilgrim album! Oh the excitement! Oh the joy! Oh the lovely melancholy!
And my other purchase of the week (because everyone wants to buy whatever I buy, don't they?) is the latest from Elbow. I'm slightly slow on the uptake here, but I was poverty-stricken when it was released, and better late than never, eh?
Thanks to the marvel that is google, I now know the exact date I became an Elbow fan: Friday 26th January 2001. It's good to know these things, isn't it? Completely useless information, but then so are most things on this here blog, so why break with tradition...
Monday, November 07, 2005
Ra Big Gemme
How's this for glamour? Saturday afternoon, myself and the Young Man trotted off to McDiarmid Park for the thrill and excitement of St Johnstone v Airdrie Utd. But not for us the luxury of a plastic seat in a stand, oh no (well, not at £16 a throw for first division football, that's for sure). Why pay when you can, instead, repair to the rear of the stadium and peer over the wall? That's far more sensible surely...
Team Info
Saints: some numpties in blue
Airdrie: some numpties in white
Match Report
The official Saints site is here, and here's a match report from Temple of Saints
Team Info
Saints: some numpties in blue
Airdrie: some numpties in white
Match Report
- I can exclusively reveal that the brick wall had a superb defensive game, successfully preventing any goalmouth action
- The scoreboard is quite big, but not very informative from the back
- The cumberland sausage bought from Tesco on the way was very tasty, thanks
- Saints haven't bought a new CD since approximately 1992
- There was a goal in the first half. For Saints apparently
The official Saints site is here, and here's a match report from Temple of Saints
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
They'll be crying into their 10 for a quid hankies...
I'm sorry to have to break this to you, bargain hunters of Britain, but the newly crowned King of Cheaply-Priced Tat, Primark, was up in flames last night.
I've held a grudge against the place since I was told off for losing a newly-bought padded pink glove there aged eight, but maybe I should keep quiet about that for now - I wouldn't want to be framed for arson after all...
I've held a grudge against the place since I was told off for losing a newly-bought padded pink glove there aged eight, but maybe I should keep quiet about that for now - I wouldn't want to be framed for arson after all...
Yeah, right...
I really should avoid doing these damn things...
| Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
But I don't do anal...
| Freudian Inventory Results |
| Oral (30%) you appear to be stubbornly and irrationally against receiving help even when it might be the more intelligent option. Anal (16%) you appear to be overly lacking in self control and organization, and possibly have a compulsive need to defy authority. If you are too scatterbrained, you will not develop much as a person as you will habitually switch paths before you ever learn anything. Phallic (46%) you appear to have a good balance of sexual awareness and sexual composure. Latency (50%) you appear to have a good balance of abstract knowledge seeking and practicality, dealing with real world responsibilities while still cultivating your abstract and creative faculties and interests. Genital (53%) you appear to be somewhere between a progressive/openminded and regressive/closeminded outlook on life. |
personality tests by similarminds.com
I simply don't know what they mean...
| Personality Disorder Test Results
|
personality tests by similarminds.com
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Hearts on the line
Well, whadda you know, having a Lithuanian millionaire take over your football club, wave the cash around, and exert more and more influence over decision-making isn't necessarily a good thing.
Heart of Midlothian FC (one of the clubs in Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, for the uninitiated) have had a traumatic fortnight: losing a manager in unclear circumstances involving a confidentiality clause; ending a long-running unbeaten spell against their traditional city rivals and dropping from the top of the SPL in the process; and chief executive Phil Anderton and chairman George Foulkes both being sacked at the behest of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.
Now Romanov has installed his son Roman as successor to both sacked men, has been branded a dictator, the fans are starting to panic, and the nay-sayers have begun with the "i told you so"s.
I hope for Hearts' sake, and that of Scottish football generally, that there is some kind of happy ending to this tale of woe. The emergence of another team to threaten the hideous dominance of the Old Firm has been a joy for all those not in the thrall of the Glasgow duo. Not since the short-lasting "New Firm" Aberdeen/Dundee United heyday of the early to mid eighties has there been such a viable possibility of a change of command in the Scottish football firmament.
I don't hold out much hope though. There in an air of impending doom surrounding the whole affair, and the involvement of rich businessmen in football doesn't have the best of track records.
Having said that, if any Eastern European multi-millionaires happen to read this and are looking for a club to invest in, feel free to give St Johnstone FC a ring - a short-term flurry of excitement and success would be quite welcome thanks...
Heart of Midlothian FC (one of the clubs in Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, for the uninitiated) have had a traumatic fortnight: losing a manager in unclear circumstances involving a confidentiality clause; ending a long-running unbeaten spell against their traditional city rivals and dropping from the top of the SPL in the process; and chief executive Phil Anderton and chairman George Foulkes both being sacked at the behest of majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.
Now Romanov has installed his son Roman as successor to both sacked men, has been branded a dictator, the fans are starting to panic, and the nay-sayers have begun with the "i told you so"s.
I hope for Hearts' sake, and that of Scottish football generally, that there is some kind of happy ending to this tale of woe. The emergence of another team to threaten the hideous dominance of the Old Firm has been a joy for all those not in the thrall of the Glasgow duo. Not since the short-lasting "New Firm" Aberdeen/Dundee United heyday of the early to mid eighties has there been such a viable possibility of a change of command in the Scottish football firmament.
I don't hold out much hope though. There in an air of impending doom surrounding the whole affair, and the involvement of rich businessmen in football doesn't have the best of track records.
Having said that, if any Eastern European multi-millionaires happen to read this and are looking for a club to invest in, feel free to give St Johnstone FC a ring - a short-term flurry of excitement and success would be quite welcome thanks...
I have to stop browsing on Ebay, or I'm in danger of finding myself bidding on beauties like this - the perfect accessory for any home, I'm sure you'll agree...
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