Chemical Brothers

This week’s album recommendation is the new one from the Chemical brothers “We Are The Night”, Classic Chemicals including a few collaborations with the likes of the Klaxons amongst others, plus a nice selection of instrumentals.

1. No Path To Follow – Short opening track (it gets better)
2. We Are The Night – Techno, Electronic, Superb.
3. All Rights Reversed (Klaxons) - Could be a single, not the strongest track though
4. Saturate - Instrumental, will go down well in the clubs.
5. Do It Again (Ali Love) - Reminds me of Godley/Crème 10cc, not a bad thing.
6. Das Spiegel - Another instrumental, Ok but filler.
7. The Salmon Dance (Fatlip) - Stand out track for me, which is classic De La Soul style hip hop.
8. Burst Generator - Instrumental again, will probably find it’s way on to an advert.
9. A Modern Midnight Conversation - reminds me of Depeche Mode for some reason, very 80’s.
10. Battle Scars (Willy Mason) - Interesting vocal, nice tune.
11. Harpoons - Short chillout instrumental
12. The Pills Won't Help You Now (Midlake) - Laid back almost Floyd like.

28 Weeks Later

Have now seen this and would recommend it to everyone.

Bigger budget than the original and has some great scenes.
Certainly worth a night at the pictures.


Downside - Personally I preferred the original film "28 days later" although cheaper it had a better atmosphere and more likeable characters.
My favourite bit of music from the original "East Hastings by Godspeed you black emperor" is re-used several times in the new film, but suprised that they didn't come up with a completly new soundtrack.

London Pubs

Don't often go drinking in London these days, but had a night out there last weekend at "The Liberty Bounds" pub near Tower Hill tube.

Very pleasant and a nice atmosphere, made a nice change from Southend pubs.

One thing that struck me was that despite being slightly worse for wear after leaving, I didn't have to run the gauntlet of east European muggers and teenage 'hoodie' gangs that are usually encountered after a nights drinking in Southend.

Went for a burger and took in a few sights while waiting for the last train and all the people around seemed happy despite the lack of police presence that is common in most Essex towns after closing time.

Maybe CCTV really does work?

Cutty Sark

The Cutty Sark destroyed by fire at Greenwich this morning.

Sad news for anyone who has been to see this piece of Britain's history.

Although it can possibly be rebuilt, it is likely to take many years.

Madelaine

Whatever your views on the parents leaving her alone, it's not the little girls fault some sicko bastard has taken her away, let's all hope she's alive and well and is returned soon.

..

(I've removed that newspapers name as I always get the feeling they don't care and are just using it as an excuse to sell more papers).

The Gambling Thread (Part 3)

Yesterday's bet was a goodie :)
4 horse EW Yankee cost £22, 3 wins and £103 profit :)
Finally getting the hang of this, overall I'm in profit shame the football seasons nearly over.

Luckily avoided betting on the Nottm Forest v Yeovil game due to very poor odds.
Forest 2 up from the first leg, playing at home lost 5-2.
Was planning a win double with the MK Dons (who also lost), but decided against it as it was going to be a poor return for major outlay. Lucky me.

Sinking Boats

Just watched some old film called "the last voyage" another sinking boat drama.
It occured to me that why don't they put a giant lifejacket around the boat?
When the boat is sinking just inflate a load of huge balloons all attached around the outside of it, and surely this would prevent it sinking and save lives.

Can't believe no-one has thought of this.
If no-one has, don't forget where you read it first, and I want 50% of all profits :)

Ripped Off?

Following on from the gambling thread earlier.
I had one bet today, a tenner each way on a 9/2 nag.
It won :) but then checked my winnings on Wm Hill expecting £74 and found they've only given me £46.50?
So gotta wait for them to get back to me after I complained.
Wonder how many people they do this too, who don't notice.

Edit: Apologies to my lovely honest bookie, I cocked up it was a dead heat and I was wrong (helf odds for dead heats).

Reminds me of some bank statements I used to get when I used to be with Lloyds,
every 6 months or so they would pay my bank loan twice to themselves in the same month!!
Of course they always apologised and said "I'm not sure how that happened" or really meant "damn he checks his statements and we've been rumbled".

Gambling (a mugs game?)

I set up an Internet gambling account 2 weeks ago (after years of avoiding gambling, due to losing lots years back).
Still got some of my £100 stake left, but cannot make a profit from the horses :(
Luckily my football bets have kept the money coming in to pay for the horses failure.

Today 6 horse bets lost me £42, but one footie bet recouped £30 (and if I'd been a bit braver I would have been £120 up).
William Hill were offering 7-1 on Kevin Phillips scoring first, I set up my £20 bet but didn't click "bet now" after my earlier losses :( (no bottle).

Album Of The Week

Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock

Well worth listening to.

Drunken Injuries

Been a while since I got injured while drunk, but managed it at the weekend.

Lesson - try not to get falling down drunk.... it hurts.

Although only flesh wounds to elbow and knee, the fall jarred my shoulder and now it hurts like hell to lift my arm, also the elbow scar is badly placed for anyone who uses a PC (I keep knocking the scab off).

Lesson will be remembered :(

Best Of You Tube

You Tube Links Worth Watching

Killer Tortoise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul0gfCyeiyM

Water To Whisky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_snBMLwnWcM

Prejudice and Misconceptions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76BboyrEl48

Reversed World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0rbkSDGPuM

Chaos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIxvpjREwyI

Staying Up

Well done the Hammers

Beer Test

Have tested a few ales recently (see picture)
Early findings have this top 3

1. Theakston's Old Peculier 5.6%
A lovely tasting dark ale, brewed in Masham North Yorks
Classical beauty.

2. Adnams Broadside 6.3%
Deceptively strong, crisp ale, from the Solebay brewery
in Southwold Suffolk

3. McEwans Champion 7.3%
Strong dark ale, good for getting drunk quickly

Eurovision

Oh well, as usual the songs I least liked finished 1st and 2nd?
Obviously Eastern Europe loves fat ugly transvestites who can't sing.

Anyway one bright spot was Georgia's entry
"Visionary Dreams" by Sopho Khalvashi

Enjoy....

Eurovision Guide

8pm tonight BBC1 - Eurovision 2007
I know everyone takes the p out of it, and most won't admit to watching it, but I've always found it good entertainment
The tactical voting is criminal Britain don't stand a hope in hell even if we did manage a good song / artist combination.
Just don't take it seriously (turn the sound down and just look at the birds )
I thought the Poland and Swiss entries were best, but they got knocked out in the semi's?

Anyway here's my guide to tonight's show
(if you really have nothing better to do )

1 Bosnia Herzegovina - Maria ŠESTIĆ - Rijeka Bez Imena - Quite like this, won't win
2 Spain - D'NASH - I Love You Mi Vida - Spanish boy band, not a hope
3 Belarus - Koldun - Work Your Magic - Soft rock, like Bon Jovi in a Belarus style
4 Ireland - DERVISH - They Can't Stop The Spring - Typically Irish, not this time
5 Finland - Hanna PAKARINEN - Leave Me Alone - Sexy singer and rock music, OK by me
6 FYR Macedonia - Karolina Mojot - Svet - Girl singer totally unmemorable
7 Slovenia - Alenka GOTAR - Cvet Z Juga - Operatic nonsense
8 Hungary - Magdi RÚZSA - Unsubstantial Blues - Gravel voiced female singer, awful song
9 Lithuania - 4FUN - Love Or Leave - Pleasant enough, no chance of winning
10 Greece - Sarbel - Yassou Maria - The Greek Ricky Martin, outside chance?
11 Georgia - Sopho - Visionary Dream - Excellent singer, not catchy enough to win
12 Sweden - THE ARK - The Worrying Kind - Swedish glam rock, should do well
13 France - LES FATALS PICARDS - L'amour À La Française - Nil points, worst song of the competition
14 Latvia - BONAPARTI.LV - Questa Notte - 6 guys in jeans and top hats? sort of G4 awful
15 Russia - SEREBRO - Song 1 - My favourite, Tatu meets Girls aloud, worth watching
16 Germany - Roger CICERO - Frauen Regier'n Die Welt - German swing!! not that bad, but no chance
17 Serbia - Marija ŠERIFOVIĆ - Molitva - God I hate this, ugly fat bird, no idea why it's one of the favourites?
18 Ukraine - Verka SERDUCHKA - Dancing Lasha Tumbai - Ugly drag queen, terrible and yet it's favourite
19 United Kingdom - SCOOCH - Flying The Flag - Tacky horrible, would have won 30 years ago
20 Romania - TODOMONDO - Liubi Liubi I Love You - Catchy little tune sung in different languages, no hope
21 Bulgaria - Elitsa TODOROVA - Water - Weird, nice girl, moody lyrics, outside chance
22 Turkey - Kenan DOĞULU - Shake It Up Shekerim - Europop song, will appeal to some, not me
23 Armenia - Hayko - Anytime You Need - Nice enough male ballad singer, will get some votes
24 Moldova - Natalia BARBU - Fight - Violin playing Rock chick, not a chance

Betting
5/2 Ukraine
5/1 Serbia, Belarus
6/1 Latvia
9/1 Sweden
10/1 Russia
12/1 Bulgaria
20/1 United Kingdom
25/1 Turkey, Slovenia, Greece, Germany
33/1 Romania, Hungary
40/1 Moldova, Ireland, Georgia, FYR Macedonia, Armenia
50/1 Finland
66/1 Spain, France
100/1 Lithuania, Bosnia Herzegovina

Personal favourites are Georgia and Russia but don't expect them to win.
My money went on Sweden at 9/1 EW, don't really like it, but hot tip
The Ukranian, Serbian and Latvian songs are all highly fancied, I think all 3 are crap so I'll never understand the logic of this competition

Football Hooligans

My experiences of football trouble
I'll start by listing the 5 worst things that have happened to me at football matches.

1) Having a petrol bomb thrown into a crowd of us (West Ham fans) by a Newcastle fan at St James park in the late 70's
2) Narrowly missed being killed by Liverpool fans throwing lumps of concrete from a bridge onto us while walking towards Anfield, again 70's.
3) Having my head split open by a full beer can (beer? or piss?) lobbed from the Liverpool side of the Holt End at Villa park during the 81 League cup final replay.
4) Being run over after the same match by a Liverpool fan who just drove his car at about 20mph into a crowd of Hammers fans, luckily no one was seriously hurt except maybe him after his car was turned over.
5) Being punched in the face by a Liverpool fan outside Upton park, just for asking him if any gates were still open, as I'd arrived late for the match.

I've been to a lot of away games at places like Millwall, Old Trafford, Leeds, White Hart Lane, Stamford Bridge and others who get tarred as having bad fans, so this is my top 5 list of places not to go.
1) Liverpool (see above)
2) Stoke (rock throwers and mobs of angry kids)
3) Newcastle (mainly because of the petrol bomb incident)
4) Portsmouth (lots of abusive drunks)
5) Spurs (police policy of keeping you back after the game, causes aggro)

Been to Millwall 6 times (including 3 games against the Hammers) and not been involved in any trouble, tabloid hype builds that one up, although we do hate each other.

Kung Fu Coker

Impressive

Hammers

Might be able to throw this away now (hopefully)

Today's Thought

Kids

Think seriously about ever having kids.
In the olden days, you only had to worry about them till they were old enough to leave home (late teens, early twenties), now it's a lifetime commitment.
Spiralling house prices mean they might never leave, and if they do they get into a mile of debt and want to come back.
Don't think it's just mine, they all seem the same.
Want everything now, and don't think of future consequences.

Insane Virtuality

JK Parody
I'm easily pleased.