or whatever

Nov 07 2009 ∞

Apparently Sylvanian Families are one of the hot toys for Christmas this year, so my local specialist shop might be due a windfall

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Nov 02 2009 ∞

The author, by Neato’s eldest son Alfie (aged 4).

I think he’s captured the essence of my joie de vivre; maybe overdone it slightly on the boggly eyes, and over-represented the extent to which I am receding, but all in all, bravo benjamin.

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Oct 31 2009 ∞

6 classic north London derbies

*edit* I take literally no pleasure in being 100% spot on with my game prediction (apart from there not being any time for anything contentious to happen at 0-1, since 0-2 arrived 15s later)

This is a good Guardian article about 6 classic Spurs-Arsenal games. Predictably they pick out 3 victories each (including some praise for the much overlooked Peter Shreeves); I’ve quoted some excerpts from the final one for Arsenal below though, which adds a bit more flesh to the oft-quoted story about why Spurs fans will always feel that little bit morally superior to the dirty goons. Despite Highbury being a far nicer area than Tottenham. And Arsenal having been much better than us for the last 20 years. Today’s game - as with any NL derby where we go away with realistic hopes of a result - will finish in a 0-3 defeat, with some crucial incident going against us whilst we’re 0-1 down. Basically the Chelsea game again.

After the first world war a proposal was made to increase the size of the top two divisions from 20 to 22 teams. The obvious solution was to promote the two top teams from Second Division in the last pre-war season – Derby and Preston – and either keep the two relegated sides – Chelsea and Tottenham – or promote the third- and fourth-placed teams in the second tier – Barnsley and Wolves. But somehow Arsenal managed to wrangle their way into the top flight, much to the disgust of Spurs fans now and since.

In the run-up to the league meeting it was reported that Chelsea were certain to retain their place in the top flight “because the manner in which they lost their position before war interfered with the game is generally regarded as unsatisfactory” – Manchester United had finished one place above them in 1915 after fixing a crucial encounter with Liverpool. So… that left one place to be awarded. Spurs or Barnsley were considered the most likely to get it, but behind the scenes, Arsenal’s chairman Sir Henry Norris was working like a busy little beaver. His side had finished fifth in the Second Division in 1915, but he reckoned they deserved some reward for their loyalty, having been the first southerners to join the Football League.

A tense day ensued. Only six clubs voted against the league’s extension to 22 clubs, and Chelsea’s return was passed unanimously. Then came the vote for the second bonus slot. The results were as follows: Hull City: one vote. Birmingham: two votes. Nottingham Forest: three votes. Wolves: four votes. Barnsley: five votes. Tottenham Hotspur: eight votes. Arsenal: 18 votes.

It was a glorious, if illogical, victory for The Arsenal (as they were known) and one that quite understandably enraged their local rivals, who were promoted a year later as champions [my emphasis]. Norris, an estate agent and sometime Conservative MP, was quite the character. He had also been among the founders of Fulham, and the borough’s mayor for over a decade. But it turns out MPs knew how to scam expenses even then: he was expelled from football for good in 1927 after it was discovered that he had been using club funds to pay a business called Queensborough Motor Company for his car and chauffeur. Said company turned out to be based at his house and run by him, with no employees. SB
Posted by Rob Smyth and Simon Burnton Friday 30 October 2009

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Oct 29 2009 ∞

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-10-18)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

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Oct 14 2009 ∞

Pre-Spiritualized gig conversation with my +1

+1: So, I don't really know much about Spiritualized- tell me some background.
Me: Well; in the mid-80s, in Rugby, there was a band called Spacemen 3. Spacemen 3 were made up of Jason Spacemen (Jason Pierce), Sonic Boom (Pete Kember) and Pete Bassman (not sure). They were signed to Fire, and they started out with pretty lo-fi, heavy-distortion led songs about jesus and heroin and love, before moving on to slightly more groove/ dance led songs about jesus and heroin and love. Then, around the end of the 80s, Jason and Sonic fell out. Jason went on to form Spiritualized, with his then girlfriend Kate Radley, a guy called Mark Refoy on guitar, who later had a solo side project called Slipstream, signed to Che, actually I once met the guys from Che after an Urusei Yatsura gig but anyway, back to Spiritualized- they had an absolutely amazing first album (Lazer Guided Melodies), and an ok second album (Pure Phase), containing songs about drugs and love and jesus. Some of them are slow songs, generally using only major chords, some of them are faster and more blues based. I think of Spz songs as round shaped (slow/major) or square shaped (fast/blues). I usually prefer the round ones. Then, possibly on account of the amount of heroin he was mainlining, Kate left Jason, and married Richard Ashcroft, the living epitomy of a northern monkey. Most of the Ladies & Gentlemen... album is about that breakup. And drugs. And jesus. Kate still appears on it, it's her voice that you hear starting the opening (title) track, for example. L&G is be far the band's most critically acclaimed album, and brought the band to prominence in 1997/98. It's still sold under 130k records in the UK though. We [Sony] are releasing a 10th anniversary edition of it. 12 years after it was first released. I got to work on 1 Spz album while they were still signed to BMG (Let It Come Down), which was great. I built the best website ever and bought up all the gaps in my personal 12" collection from ebay. Jason was really nice to deal with. After they left BMG for Sanctuary, and then Universal, he got very ill (pnuemonia possibly), but is better now, and the gigs have been back on form over the last 18 months. I went to see them on my own at the Roundhouse last year, it was phenomenal. I even bought a t-shirt. Right; shall we go in?
Editor's note: I have been waiting literally 15 years to have that conversation. I realise it's not really a 'conversation' as such, more a human wikipedia recital (this also means some of the detail may require citation).

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+ ∞