Rich ***really*** dancin'.

or is it Bez?

I put this up for lots of reasons... because he has a lovely girlfriend, a new job, because he can't make the Hives, because he can make Snow Patrol... and because who needs an excuse to share this photo with the world?  

How to not do any work all morning on a friday.....

managed to get hold of some Snow Patrol tickets for their gig at the Birmingham Academy in November... they don't go on sale until tomorrow morning, but I remembered seeing something on their website about it and sure enough they had a link from there to the tickets.  Did some rounding up of the usual suspects via text (Mik doesn't have access to a PC, and the 2 John's are at the Big Chill all weekend - watching people like Lemon Jelly, Coldcut and er... Crazy Penis).  

It's a very annoying flash based site, and the link to the tickets was (apparently) via a popup.  One of my work laptops doesn't have flash on and I don't have the admin rights to download, and the other has some sort of popup blocker that I couldn't find to switch off.  After much frustration I found the link and was about to buy tickets for the saturday when I had a text from Mik... telling me he couldn't come because that was the day of his wedding.  Ooops.  Narrow escape there, so we're going on the sunday instead.  6 tickets thank you very much! (and the added benefit that the guys will probably be up in the midlands already for the wedding)

and then I just gazed out of the window (only kidding)

------------
Off to Hay-on-Wye tomorrow with Dave C and his wife Jan (a vicar, no less).  Weather looks good.  Perhaps I'll come back with some more Wisdens.....?  (must make a note of the years I already have, must recharge the ipod, and must change the CDs in my car cd wallet...)

------------

If we didn't already know it, Freddie Flintoff is a legend.

 

I just caught the end of the Stallone opus "over the top" (why have there not been many other great films about arm wrestling?).  I came to a shuddering realisation that I must have been to see this in the cinema... I had a sudden vivid recall of a scene of Sly in his truck, driving along the freeway, exercising his wrestling arm with a sort of in-truck weight-training type thing.  Nice.  The soundtrack was pretty excellent MOR soft rock as well - wonder if you can get that on Ebay?

Also made me think of "Touch the Truck" for some reason.

When did 'frogmen' become 'divers'?

Do they still wear aqualungs, or is that called something else now as well?

I've just been looking at some of my old posts and realised that at one point I call my two brothers' fiancées "financees"...  a much better word for it and quite funny, so I'm going to leave it.  

--------

I signed my T&Cs, by the way.  Has nothing to do with the grading or anything like that, and that can all be looked at separately.  It's not like I was going to appeal or anything, but I was (and to a certain extent still am) disgruntled by the way that they had chosen to grade me.   We were also all expecting some kind of incentivisation to sign onto the new T&Cs, and nothing was forthcoming.  I don't think that's too unreasonable (although it looks like I won't be getting any kind of a payrise now until November 2005, which is a bit depressing).  It did make me wonder where the expectation came from though

Pah.  Some people are never pleased.

Me moaning about my job probably doesn't make riveting reading though, right?

How about a quick insight into my job?  Just a little snippet?

I work on a massive industrial site owned by a large and well-known British retailer.  The site has things like warehouses, factories, a power-station (yup) and is about the size of Monaco.  I work in the main Head Office building that has a few thousand people in it.   [I'm getting bored now... God knows how you feel, dear reader...]

My desk has a few things on it:
 - a couple of laptops (old company laptop, new company laptop - I still need both)
 - phone
 - piles of paper
 - some cinnamon altoids
 - a medal/mousemat showing I was champion of the office Fantasy Football League 2002/3
 - A little Darth maul Beanie
 - my Ipod and sennheiser headphones (kills the background noise)
 - a baseball (got given it about 10 years ago by a friend on his return from Virginia)  It has a puncture mark in it from a biro nib)
 - a clever coffee mug/cafetiere thing
 - a postcard from Kata Tjuta (sent by me to the office, but I like the picture and it reminds me of a great holiday)
 - a little voodoo doll full of pins
 - an Ipod postcard
 - a picture of Ranji, sent to me by semioticghost, a german bookcrosser who knows I like cricket and saw the photo at an exhibition and thought of me.
 - an assortment of name badges and ID cards, business cards
 - my phone charger
 - clutter....

hm.  too much crap.

And my day consisted largely of doing things that are definitely pointless in the grand scheme of things.  As days go, it was ok.  I had a chicken caesar sandwich and some salt & vinegar squares for my lunch, and it's soup for tea!

rock on.

 

After watching Wife Swap, I have decided that they are definitely pushing some sort of agenda out into the world.  There's always one couple who we are meant to see as 'nice' and another couple that are 'nasty'.  The way they portray it, there's always one couple (or certainly one woman) who comes off worst.   So what's the ideal family according to wife swap? 
fast food = bad / organic food = good
fat = bad / thin = good
higher class = good /lower class = bad  (although nouveau riche = VERY BAD)
etc.

Or am I reading too much into this?  Stupid programme - why would you ever want to volunteer?  Actually, perhaps it says a lot about the type of audience channel 4 try to pull in... they try and cover it up with all that opera and arts programmes and stuff, but basically all your smart, intelligent 25-35 year old wants to do is read Heat and watch Big Brother, right?

-----------------

Frankly it's amazing -- and yet oh so inevitable -- how people choose to make use of mobile phone camera technology.  Guess what the most popular pictures are of?  And what it is about guys that they think we want to look at pictures of that (and no, I'm not putting a link up to that - you can damn well find it for yourself) 

C. has just told me that this is like the photocopier - so many useful functions, and best known for people copying their arse.

------------------

On a completely different note........ love the new Hives album and have just bought tickets for their Nottingham show on 22nd September.  It's a Wednesday night, but I'm pleased to say that JVP and Scat will be travelling up for the gig.  Nice work boys, nice work.

Poker as an Olympic sport anyone?  (mac sent me the actual link to this to sign the petition, but I have lost the damn thing - and the BBC are too chicken to put it on)

and I haven't played Spider-Man today either - woo hoo!

I'm supposed to have signed my harmonisation of terms & conditions paperwork by last friday and returned it to personnel.  Under TUPE law, my new employer basically matched the T&Cs offered by my old one, but they look to get you onto their own as soon as possible (easier to look after.)  In theory this means you are incentivised so that you have a reason to sign.  I've got nothing - signing means basically nothing to me.  Same job, same salary, same everything.  No need to hurry then, huh? 

Had a test-drive in an Audi A3 this evening - frisquette is thinking of getting one as a company car (hey - don't get me started... see T&Cs above).  Seemed okay, with a surprisingly throaty 1.6l engine, but not as nice as the Golf she tried last week.  Both would be fine though, I suppose.

Still lost deep in Spider-Man 2 world, by the way.

Loving the interpol album........

As we're talking about cricket... here's a shot taken by me from the top of the Radcliffe Rd stand at Trent Bridge on the 4th Day of the 3rd Test against New Zealand. England won this game and completed a 3-0 series win. As is traditional, we went to the saturday of the game in fancy dress - the flintstones this year. It's a lovely ground, isn't it? 

I've just spent the morning watching the 4th day's play of the first test between England and the West Indies at Lords.  England have been batting to a declaration and once again, Freddie Flintoff has shown what a legend he is becoming.  First there were his wickets yesterday, but not there as his quick-fire 50.  Best innings I ever saw was Fred batting at Lords v the South Africans last year.  Mind you, the second best was Michael Vaughan at Trent Bridge against the Indians in 2002, and the skipper has done us proud again with a century in each innings of this match.  He is such an elegant player, and he looks to be coming back to something like his form of a couple of years ago.  Let's hope it all hangs together for the Australians next summer.

Nice to hear Geoffrey Boycott back on the box as well, although I have severe reservations about the qualities of Vivyan Richards as a summariser on TMS.

Spend the evening round at a friend's house.... and my conclusions?  Aren't kittens adorable? (she has two).  Not a profound insight, I grant you, but there you go.

Only bought Interpol and The Hives, by the way (couldn't find American Music Club and bottled buying the Futureheads, although I did consider a Radio 4 album instead... this  one, not this one, obviously)

By the way, I think this is a load of crap - but probably only because I have an EI rating similar to that of a Tsetse fly

oh, and finally, damn you Quentin Beck!

I guess you'll have seen the news about the new 4G ipods? Well here's a side-by-side. I've got a 30Gb 3g (on the left) and have had it for about a year now. I'm possibly therefore a bit biased, but I have to say I think it looks a little bit sleeker?? The main changes are cosmetic - the scroll wheel being the most obvious, but there are also some firmware changes to make the battery life a little bit longer and they've dropped the price point. I don't know if it's just me... but I seem to have been asked by LOADS of people recently what they're like, which makes me think lots of people are thinking of a purchase. This could be the push they need. 20Gb for £219? 

Did you know that Ray Charles used to fly a plane?  Now that's a scary (but interesting) fact.

I've been listening to BBC 6 Music this morning, and I've been busy making a shortlist of things that I need to check out when I'm in town.....

Interpol - Zane dooberry-whatsit played "Slow Hands" from their forthcoming album "Antics" (out on Sept 27th fact fans)when I was driving home from work.  I like it and I think I'm going to explore their back catalogue when I'm in town.  Their debut was "Turn on the Bright Lights" so I reckon I'll start with that.

The Futureheads - this lot were on Andrew Collins' review type show this morning, and they sound pretty good, so I reckon I'll give their self-titled debut a crack.

[I'm still listening to 6 Music actually, before I go on my run, and they've just played Suede - 'trash' and reminded me what a good band they were]

Andrew Collins also played some American Music Club - they're Mark Eitzel's band, and although I've not heard much of their stuff, they sounded pretty good.  Guest panelist and co-author of Jerry Springer: the musical, Stewart Lee was on, and he heartily recommended their album "California" as being the best place to start.  Right you are then.  Coldplay have been taking notes, apparently.

I've also decided to cave in and get Tyrannosaurus Hives after they announced a UK tour including Rock City.  Yay!  Trying to persuade Rich to come up from Oxford, even though it's on a Wednesday night... not the best for a gig, eh?

ah dammit.  forgot the cricket is on.  Guess that settles what I'm listening to on my run.  Was just charging up the ipod too.... Test Match Special it is then.

 

New York - I've been swinging around here quite a bit in Spider-Man guise. I've just mastered the web-zip, and also just realised how geeky that sounds. Ah - what can you do? 

Ten Pin Bowling is a fine sport, and "Bowling Warney" are a marvellous team.

That's all I wanted to say.

thank you.

Just a quick post (I'm at work having a quick lunch break) to say that whilst at Sainsbury's last night, I picked up a couple of prezzies for myself after a crappy day at work:
 
The "Starsky & Hutch" DVD - g'f and I enjoyed this hugely, especially the "do it" guy with the badger wig.  Not high concept art, but funny nonetheless
 
"Spider-Man 2" for my Playstation 2 - obviously there is a plot in this, and some missions and stuff, but basically the major selling point of this is that you get to be Spidey.  I spent a happy couple of hours last night swinging madly through the streets of Manhattan, swallow-diving off skyscrapers, climbing up walls and beating up bank robbers.  It was BRILLIANT - especially the swinging through the streets bit... jump off a building, do a bit of freefalling, fire out some web, swing, let go and at just the right moment, fire another web out and keep swinging.  Fantastic.  Really well realised.  I think I'll start again tonight and pay a bit more attention to the plot.
 
listening
Keane - "Hopes and Fears" (album).  Not the new coldplay, but the boy can certainly sing
Kings of Leon - "Youth and Young Manhood" (album).  Great hair boys.
 
just discovered...
... that as well as the 100m final at the olympics, the rowing finals, some beach volleyball, some footie, some badminton, some weightlifting etc. etc....  I will be in the stadium for the decathlon too.  Go Dean Macey.. Go!  Must get some GB merchandise.
 
annoyed by...
... the grading process at work
 
Oh, and by the way - hey Deb...!

I've been talking about bookcrossing a fair bit in the last couple of days, and in case I hadn't seen enough evidence of what lovely people bookcrossers are, I got home from a rubbish day at work yesterday to a package containing a couple of tins of cinnamon altoids from Spedbug in the USA.
 
Turns out that I had been on the bookcrossing forums and added to a thread on ginger altoids by saying it seemed impossible to buy cinnamon altoids in the UK (which is odd, as in the USA they make a big thing about being made in Great Britain).
 
Anyway - Spedbug, I saltute you and will be reciprocating... I was thinking if I could find a book on the great mazes of the UK?

Evening - just a quick one to say that the BCUK convention was marvellous fun on Saturday and that I picked up or was given a handful of books....
My Legendary Girlfriend - Mike Gayle
Showbusiness: the diary of a rock and roll nobody - Mark Radcliffe
Boule de Suif - Guy de Maupassant
War Minus the Shooting - Mike Marqusee
The Sportswriter - Richard Ford
The Nation's Favourite: the true adventures of radio 1 - Simon Garfield
Timequake - Kurt Vonnegut
John Arlott: a memoir - Timothy Arlott
Opening Up - Mike Atherton
Powder - Kevin Sampson
 
I think that's fewer than I went with, so that has to count as a result.
 
Also had a nice lunch with my ma and pa and my 2 brothers and their respective financees.
 
OOooooh.  And the golf was excellent and had a worthy winner - Todd Hamilton, I salute you.  Talk about calm under pressure.  No one can say you didn't deserve it.

me & frisquette at the first Nottingham bookcrossing meetup 

righty.  Bookcrossing unconvention thing tomorrow, so thought I'd give you a list of the books I'm taking to release there.  You know - in case you're interested.
 
'Titus Groan' - Mervyn Peake.  Yeah, I know it's a classic, but I just couldn't get going with this and so I've decided to let it go.  I've just picked up copies of all 3 of the books in the trilogy at Oxfam, so I'm planning to read it at some point.  Honest...
 
'The Caine Mutiny' - Herman Wouk.  More famous as a film starring Bogart.  I had to read this when I was at school.  It's surprisingly good actually.  Surprising to me anyway.
 
'Acts of Betrayal' - John Trenhaile.  Never read this, but I delight in the knowledge that I stole it from my old headmaster.  Looks shit.
 
'Sabbath's Theater' - Philip Roth.  My first Roth and I picked it up on a whim.  It's brilliant and disgusting.  Sabbath is such a vivid creation that he practically crawls of the page into your lap.
 
'High Fidelity' - Nick Hornby.  My favourite of his books, and a half-decent film. 
 
'Fever Pitch' - Nick Hornby.  About the best book ever written about Arsenal, although that's probably not saying all that much, is it?  Not really about football at all.  Crap film.
 
'It's Not About the Bike' - Lance Armstrong.  He doesn't seem like an especially nice guy to me, but he's undeniably a brilliant athlete in one of the toughest sports in the world and this is quite an inspiring story.  I want him to win his 6th Tour this year.
 
'Persuasion' - Jane Austen.  A bit dull and certainly not her best.  Follows the usual formula.
 
'Good Omens' - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.  Very funny indeed.  Or at least it was when I was 16.
 
'The Lost Gardens of Heligan' - Tim Smit.  Nice gardens in Cornwall, but crap prose style.  Unreadable, even.
 
'Sense & Sensibility' - Jane Austen.  More of the same from JA.  Quite good, as it goes.
 
'Northanger Abbey' - Jane Austen.  JA does satire, the cheeky scamp.
 
'Notes from a Small Island' - Bill Bryson.  Funny.  He has a soft-spot for us brits, you know.  He's practically one of us.
 
Not sure how many books I'll be bringing back.  Hopefully less than I take - I've got bloody hundreds of the things to read as it is.  Should drink some beer though, eh?
 
Have been working at home today.  I got what I wanted done, but it's pretty hard you know.  It's easy to waste away the day when you are in the office... that's allowed.  But when you are at home, there is so much other stuff you can be doing that I am just overwhelmed with guilt and work harder.  Ah well.  Had the Open on the radio anyway.
 
Right.  Sun's making a rare appearance, so I reckon that I'm going to try and make it out for a quick jog.
 
toodlepip.
 
 

Stumbleupon - my new friend and websurfing companion.... 

Howdy. I've been surfing the web and have discovered some new things:

Stumbleupon - a different way of scooting about the web. You fill out a few preferences, and then hit a button and sort of ramble your way around the web to pages recommended by other people.

In 30 minutes this has taken me to:

Exploding Dog - you submit a phrase and get a picture drawn. I put in "when your mentality catches up with your biology. Now the wait to see if he bites!

BBSpot - very funny blog-type site with lots of lists about being a geek, which obviously I can relate to.

SnipThis - one of those "make a URL manageable" type sites - this one has a little widget you hang on the tool bar which adds the link into your clipboard. Cool huh? (GEEK!)

Nick Denton's blog

Which led to...

Fleshbot - the geeky porn review

Which led to...

The Sex Position Finder

but you get the picture.

Man. It's after midnight on a school night and I'm still up.

grrr.

and I bummed out on the Predator again in Tiger Woods Golf 2003. I finished thirty-something-th, although at least I was under par this time (by one shot!)

toodle pip!

Hey - better late than never... I've discovered the profile settings on blogger...

check me out!

good grief - can that really be me? 

Just a short post (to help me get into the habit of posting more regularly and so I can brain dump what I have been thinking and listening to today....)

Work was tolerable today, and somehow managed to still be there after 7pm AGAIN (they don't pay me overtime you know... I must be doing it for the love). It was a lovely evening though, so I popped out for a 4 mile run, and now I'm kicking back with a cool Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in a Billy Bragg 2003 Australian tour stubby holder as g'f whips up a chicken and cashew nut stir-fry for my tea. Mmmmm. I'm a lucky man.

Still in the grips of the re-awakening of my Morrissey obsession.

I'm still reading Saint Morrissey (see below) - it's quite interesting, although the author has the really annoying habit of dropping little references to smiths lyrics into his prose. Mind you. Not untypical of many fans though, judging by some of the nonsense I have seen on Morrissey forums whilst I was looking for reviews of his appearance at Move on sunday --good decision not to go, I think, he only played for 1hr 15mins and he is rumoured to be doing a proper UK tour in the Autumn. Hurray--

Listened to some Sandie Shaw at work today, as well as Louder than Bombs. Did a load more ripping last night (well, 6 CDs or so) and put a load more of my Morrissey albums on, as well as Patti Smith "Horses", Sandie Shaw and the acoustic hits bonus disc I got with my Cure album. That's a bit of a discovery actually... I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it's FANTASTIC!!

Also registered a pile of books for the Bookcrossing meet on Saturday.

Right... tea is beckoning and I haven't yet got changed after my shower, so I'm sat here in a towel that is more than a little damp.

toodle-pip.

Isn't Ghostbusters a brilliant film? Made in 1984, and about the only thing that's dated is the dog-like things done in Ray Harryhausen-esque stop animation (wait for this link to load and get going - very funny). Bill Murray is obviously a god... such a funny guy. How has he not been in more good films than he has (although frankly how many others would kill to have been in Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, Kingpin, the Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, Lost in Translation and (above all) Caddyshack?) Okay, maybe he's been in a few then. I even like Quick Change. Oooh, and Ed Wood and Scrooged.

I've also re-discovered Tiger Woods Golf 2003 on my Playstation. I'm busy working my way through the tournaments - very frustrating. I love the fact that on the one hand I can zoom around some courses with a 55 and then suddenly get bitten on the arse by a six over par 17th that completely throws a couple of hours hard work out of the window. Stupid game!

Tomorrow I go pick up from the framing guy my Morrissey/Marr shot by Stephen Wright - the photographer most famous for the shot of the band outside Salford Lads Club. It's a lovely photo, and although it set me back £45, I think it was well worth it. And I'm also very aware that someone coming cold to this blog probably thinks I'm obsessed with Morrissey. I discovered The Smiths through the song "Half a Person" when I was 18 and in my first year at university. Possibly a little late... (I remember watching Top of the Pops when Billy Joel was number one with "Uptown Girl" and I only now know that his also featured The Smiths doing "What Difference Does it Make"... funny huh?). Anyway. Been into Morrissey a lot since then, including reading things like "The Severed Alliance" by Johnny Rogan. I suppose the publicity around the new album and the tour have brought it all flooding back for me(Q have done a brilliant special edition on The Smiths and Morrissey which is well worth a read by the way). In the last couple of weeks I have
1) Listened to several Smiths albums I haven't heard through for ages (like "Meat is Murder" which is fantastic)
2) I have seen the man himself playing at Glastonbury... the first time I have seen him live.
3) I've dug out several solo albums to have a listen... not so amazing with albums like "Your Arsenal" and especially "Vauxhall and I", but today I even had a go at "Maladjusted" for heaven's sake... Roy's Keen anyone?
4) I'm thinking of buying the book "Saint Morrissey" because it looks interesting and intelligent
5) I'm sorely tempted to take up a last minute ticket to see him headlining at the Move festival in Manchester on Sunday. Did the same with REM last year after seeing them at Glastonbury, and they were brilliant. Truth is that if someone would come with me, I'd probably be there like a shot, whatever the hassle.

It can't be healthy. I'm 30 years old for heaven's sake! and I have a girlfriend!

Right. Off to bed and my book.

READING
"Hatful of Sky" by Terry Pratchett
(still). Just getting into it now (despite the pages all falling out of the binding) and need to get it finished so I can pass it on.

LISTENING
had a go at "Maladjusted" on my PC at work this afternoon. Better than I remembered, to be honest, but the cover is just awful.

Had James on in the car this week too - their "best of" collection is a great car CD. Shame I couldn't go and see Tim Booth at Glastonbury... saw James several times and they were never less than cracking, and on one occasion (Oxford Poly in about 1998 the day before they played Glasto, actually) they were sensational. Good band - very underrated and now sadly no longer with us.

DREAMING:
woke up this morning and realised I had been dreaming about being on death row and dubbya wouldn't pardon me. Someone in the office pointed out that this probably meant my psyche was in a terrible state. I think I agree.

Bookcrossing Convention next week. Should be good!

Well. Euro 2004 worked out ok in the end then. Those guys failed to make the grade at places like Leicester and Sheffield Utd, and yet the picked up a trophy that the rather better paid and more celebrated show ponies like David Beckham can only dream of. Big up to the Greeks! I bet that was some party in Athens.

That's a bit of a worry though, really. Just as the "Athens won't be ready" stories were starting to die away... the celebrations of the Greek win in Euro 2004 will no doubt have set the whole thing back (are you telling me that not one single construction worker called in sick on Monday morning?? My arse!

37 days to go!

JVP described our forthcoming trip to Athens as his "sporting Everest" this evening. It's certainly been some feat to organise 8 fairly hopeless blokes into getting a set of decent tickets more than a year in advance. Bear in mind that you can only get 2 tickets for each thing, so there was quite a lot of coordinating to do. How excited am I? We have got a load of tickets to things like:
--> the stadium athletics
--> the rowing finals
--> some football
--> some badminton
--> the triathlon
--> weightlifting (yay!)
--> beach volleyball--> some other stuff!
all in all it's a bloody good effort, and I'm really looking forward to it. 6 weeks to go....
I decided that I should show JVP how much I appreciate his efforts (and it is after all a pretty thankless task). As a man of Dutch forebears (although quite distant, if I remember the family tree he used to have on the wall at his parents' house), I decided that one of those lovely fluorescent Dutch shirts with his name on the back and the number #14 on the front and back (homage to the immortal Johann Cruyff) was just the ticket. Order has been duly placed, and I guess I will hand it over at Scat's birthday bash, if I don't see him before... just a couple of weeks before we go. Speaking of - need to get some massive union jacks to support our boys.

Speaking of Scat - sorted out his birthday prezzie as well. 1960s/70s Hammers shirt with a number 6 (for Bobby Moore) on the back. He knows about it, as I had to tell him... but I think he's quite pleased. Personally, I'm looking forward to telling him that it is identical in every way to the one that the ridiculous Alfie Moon wears in 'enders from time to time.

LISTENING:
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (still). Best thing I saw at Glasto and still thrilling. I have to listen to something else in case this goes stale

Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart. Bought this on saturday on the strength of seeing them live at Glasto, and it seems to be an album that really rewards listening through headphones

Stone Roses - Stone Roses. This was recenty voted the best british album ever, and normally I would agree. The songs are there for sure ("I wanna be adored" alone - best track one side one ever?). I was just struck in the car as I drove to work that the production is a bit limp. Ah well. I hope it's a feeling that wears off soon.

READING:
Just finished "Sabbath's Theater" by Philip Roth. It's a pulsating novel. The character Mickey Sabbath is so vibrant that he practically crawls of the page (hm - sounds like I read that somewhere... my plagiarism sensors are going off). It's quite an unsettling read, took me a while to get into, and it ended fairly abrubtly... but I have to say that it sucked me in. Will register it on Bookcrossing and take it to the National Meet in Birmingham in a couple of weeks (sorry, but this is a great review!)

"A Hatful of Sky" by Terry Pratchett. This is another Bookcrossing book, this one a ray of an advance reading copy. I love TP's books and I've been an avid reader of his discworld stuff since about 1988 I think. "The Wee Free Men" is the one just before this, and although ostensibly a kiddy book, it's very good. Early days yet, but shaping up nicely.

"Emma" by Austen is up next, and I have to say I'm not overly looking forward to it. Another bookring. This one coming to me from an impatient bookcrosser from Iran.

WATCHING:
Big Brother 5. It's shit and not very interesting, but I can't seem to help myself. I am weak.

EXERCISING:
45 minute run this evening in the fading sunshine. Bloody hard work! rest tomorrow, and stir fry!

Big Plus of the day:
My piddly free share things that got sold on my behalf when I was outsourced came in this weekend and I got a cheque for £200-odd quid. Even better was when I realised that I had some other index-tracked oojits sitting around at work as well. Checked with the department in question, and yes indeed, they owe me £500. Nice!

Random Thought:
The pictures of Andy Rourke, taken at the High Court case between Morrissey/Marr and Mike Joyce, make him look really weird. I think he's chewing gum, and is caught mid-chew. On the other hand it could be his stupid shades and shit haircut. Not a good look. And taking that £80,000 settlement in the 80s looks a bit daft now, eh? (Joyce got £1.2m)

Missed off a couple of bands that I enjoyed at Glasto:

The Kings of Leon - they played a lot of new stuff, and Caleb has both shaved off his beard and looked bothered by the onstage sound, but it was good to see them live.

Keane - no guitar, and they played in the rain of the afternoon on Saturday, but they were really really good. Damn that boy had a good voice.

Oh, and Scat's phone was handed in!

Glastonbury is a brilliant place - thanks Mr Eavis and hopefully see you all there next year (rumour has it U2 are on board).

oh, and I love this website - popmatters....

2 posts in as many days -- oh! the excitement.