The music festival circuit has effectively kicked off for the summer with Glastonbury starting. Seemingly it is the 40 'edition' which is a bit of a faff really despite starting 40 years ago, it hasn't taken place each year. It's all marketing!
Anyway, headliners are somewhat underwhelming. U2 were meant to play but pulled out. It might have been good to see them play - they certainly would have put on a show but i'm not sure that they represent a typical Glastonbury headline act. I some ways, I'm 'glad' they aren't there. But, in there place Gorillaz. Interesting choice. I quite like some of their stuff but I'm not hugely into it. The early reviews suggest they weren't that great. Muse are up next tonight. Not really a huge fan of them earlier. It's all a bit of a mixture from them and it seems that sometimes they don't really know what they want to be. Sometimes they want to be rock-opera other times they want to 'rock'. Not my cup of tea, I think I'll simply say. Stevie Wonder closing tomorrow. He's one of these artists that perhaps you need to see once in your life. However, he's not really done anything of note, basically, since the late 70's. But he's an icon of sorts and you can't really argue with him.
The most exciting artists are often the ones on the other stage or in the tent. That would be more my thing. That said, I'm not all that sure who is playing. I'm getting into the XX, so that would be something to see. Two Door Cinema Club and Delphic would be the 2 Kitsune artists I'd like to see. I'm sure a few other bands will blast away the 'competition' and come of age. We'll have to wait and see who does and who doesn't.
Then there is the usual splurge of other Festivals. There are too many and mostly they are the same. A much of a muchness. But, it's all marketing and bands need to sell records.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
fragments
Oh England, how lucky you are. I mean, really lucky. We all thought you were on the way out of the World Cup after 2 pretty shockingly bad performances. I would have loved it, loved it, had Don Fabio and the boys went the way of France and now Italy. Oh how we would have laughed. The £6 million a year coach who couldn't get them out of the group stage. The Sun would have called it a national scandal. PM Question Time would have been filled with, well, questions, on it all. Who would have been the fall-guy this time?! Who cares, England out.
Alas, it wasn't to be and they managed to win by the slimmest of margins. Thankfully though, so it the USA in the last minutes to top the group. Brilliant. And now England must face Germany. Even better. If they survived the group stage, then there would be only 2 teams who would give us Scot's delight in seeing them lose and that would be against the German's, hopefully on penalties or Argentina.
But that is another day...
Glad that France are out. What a farce that bunch are. Player power, weak coach and the President on the phone. You couldn't make that up. They got what they deserve and good riddance to them. The same could be said of Italy. They are crap and picked too many players over 30. It's that simple. God, even Scotland could have qualified from that group.
Up next, the 2nd round - what's all this 'round of 16' all about?! It's the 2nd round, get over it. Let the World Cup begin.
Alas, it wasn't to be and they managed to win by the slimmest of margins. Thankfully though, so it the USA in the last minutes to top the group. Brilliant. And now England must face Germany. Even better. If they survived the group stage, then there would be only 2 teams who would give us Scot's delight in seeing them lose and that would be against the German's, hopefully on penalties or Argentina.
But that is another day...
Glad that France are out. What a farce that bunch are. Player power, weak coach and the President on the phone. You couldn't make that up. They got what they deserve and good riddance to them. The same could be said of Italy. They are crap and picked too many players over 30. It's that simple. God, even Scotland could have qualified from that group.
Up next, the 2nd round - what's all this 'round of 16' all about?! It's the 2nd round, get over it. Let the World Cup begin.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
real
Almost a week of the World Cup over.
Number of games played - quite a lot.
Number of games actually watched - nil.
I'm surprised at myself at that last statistic. It's not as if I don't have access to games, it's just that I have no great compulsion to sit and watch them. Perhaps it's the 'group stage' syndrome in which there are a number of pretty rank games. Is anybody really going to sit through Chile against Honduras? Slovenia (or was it Slovaka?) against New Zealand? I don't think so unless they are seriously hardcore and/or from those particular countries. Not only that but no team wants to lose the 1st game and due to that, games have crap.
The 'real' action will surely begin once the knock-out stages have begun. The question is, will I get round to watching them. I'll definitely be looking forward to the game in which England get knocked out. On penalties. Again. With a bit of luck that will be against 'old foes' so that we will see the newspaper headlines in the morning urging retribution on whoever or whatever prevent England winning. That might well be the adidas ball that is being used at this World Cup. Of course, this is all in jest, to wind the English up. I don't much care how they lose.
Anyway, what was with this Holland game in which 20 hot ladies in orange we were spotted in the crowd and were 'supposedly' undertaking a bit of guerilla advertising for some beer. Quality, if you ask me. They certainly got the exposure they were looking for and some. Well played that man. It appears that FIFA aren't too impressed and have arrested those involved. What a farce that is. Football is for the people, by the people. It is not at the beck and call of sponsors or anyone else. Can we have a bit more of this kind of thing please, again just to annoy those in 'power'.
But week 2 of the World Cup ahead. Can we have some goals please?
Number of games played - quite a lot.
Number of games actually watched - nil.
I'm surprised at myself at that last statistic. It's not as if I don't have access to games, it's just that I have no great compulsion to sit and watch them. Perhaps it's the 'group stage' syndrome in which there are a number of pretty rank games. Is anybody really going to sit through Chile against Honduras? Slovenia (or was it Slovaka?) against New Zealand? I don't think so unless they are seriously hardcore and/or from those particular countries. Not only that but no team wants to lose the 1st game and due to that, games have crap.
The 'real' action will surely begin once the knock-out stages have begun. The question is, will I get round to watching them. I'll definitely be looking forward to the game in which England get knocked out. On penalties. Again. With a bit of luck that will be against 'old foes' so that we will see the newspaper headlines in the morning urging retribution on whoever or whatever prevent England winning. That might well be the adidas ball that is being used at this World Cup. Of course, this is all in jest, to wind the English up. I don't much care how they lose.
Anyway, what was with this Holland game in which 20 hot ladies in orange we were spotted in the crowd and were 'supposedly' undertaking a bit of guerilla advertising for some beer. Quality, if you ask me. They certainly got the exposure they were looking for and some. Well played that man. It appears that FIFA aren't too impressed and have arrested those involved. What a farce that is. Football is for the people, by the people. It is not at the beck and call of sponsors or anyone else. Can we have a bit more of this kind of thing please, again just to annoy those in 'power'.
But week 2 of the World Cup ahead. Can we have some goals please?
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Clarion
Oh summer is here. Not just a little bit but a big bit.
35C at night tells it's own story. Was it like this last year? Not quite sure but yes, it probably was. It's really dusty of late as well which probably doesn't help. Just need to get on with it however. Needless to say, football will be off the menu until September at the earliest. So long as the air conditioning continues to work then no complaints will be forthcoming.
I continue to read this Gulf News 'newspaper'. I really don't take any of it seriously in the slightest and everything I read in it, I take with a huge pinch of salt. I think part of it is the way it's written. It's not written well at all, not is a U.K newspaper 'style'. Words are missing from sentences and given that I've been around people from the sub-continent since I arrived here, it's fair to say that a lot of Indian-English has somehow made it's way into the stories, which isn't a glowing compliment.
Not only that, but it's the content itself. Last week there was a report that some Irish woman was being sentenced to 7 years in prison because she threw the Qu'ran to the ground. She maintains that it fell from her hand. Either way, 7 years in prison seems somewhat harsh. I doubt a reckless driver who speeds and crashes into someone and injuries or even kills them would even get 7 years in prison. Again, there was another story which highlighted that 'rich' Dubaian's (is that even a word?!) are forgoing their 'luxury' cars in order to walk to the bus stop which then takes them to a nearby Metro Station and onto their destination. When I was reading all this a great big 'AYE RIGHT' suddenly appeared from nowhere. There ain't any chance that something like that happens in large numbers and it certainly wouldn't warrant a full page spread in the newspaper. Another example of propaganda and/or trying to make it sound as things are really great in Dubai.
Don't you just love it.
35C at night tells it's own story. Was it like this last year? Not quite sure but yes, it probably was. It's really dusty of late as well which probably doesn't help. Just need to get on with it however. Needless to say, football will be off the menu until September at the earliest. So long as the air conditioning continues to work then no complaints will be forthcoming.
I continue to read this Gulf News 'newspaper'. I really don't take any of it seriously in the slightest and everything I read in it, I take with a huge pinch of salt. I think part of it is the way it's written. It's not written well at all, not is a U.K newspaper 'style'. Words are missing from sentences and given that I've been around people from the sub-continent since I arrived here, it's fair to say that a lot of Indian-English has somehow made it's way into the stories, which isn't a glowing compliment.
Not only that, but it's the content itself. Last week there was a report that some Irish woman was being sentenced to 7 years in prison because she threw the Qu'ran to the ground. She maintains that it fell from her hand. Either way, 7 years in prison seems somewhat harsh. I doubt a reckless driver who speeds and crashes into someone and injuries or even kills them would even get 7 years in prison. Again, there was another story which highlighted that 'rich' Dubaian's (is that even a word?!) are forgoing their 'luxury' cars in order to walk to the bus stop which then takes them to a nearby Metro Station and onto their destination. When I was reading all this a great big 'AYE RIGHT' suddenly appeared from nowhere. There ain't any chance that something like that happens in large numbers and it certainly wouldn't warrant a full page spread in the newspaper. Another example of propaganda and/or trying to make it sound as things are really great in Dubai.
Don't you just love it.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Offers
Pop-quiz, of sorts.
I quite like CSI. The original. The Las Vegas one. It's by far the best one and the one that I would definitely watch if it came on the TV. The other 2 are OK but I wouldn't particularly go out of my way to watch them.
We have Grissom, Catherine, Sarah, Stokes, Browne and the police guy who's name I can't quite remember and the youngish wannabe CSI with the million different haircuts - what's he called again? Then you have the other guys like the bullets guy, the chemistry guy, the audio guy and in later series, the head guys who want to bring the team down.
Anyway, this might be totally sad but my goodness, the whole lot of them were in other TV programs before CSI. They keep popping up. Sarah was a doctor in ER and a feisty, short tempered on at that. She kicked Carter's ass and that's just not on. Also in ER was Catherine as - believe it or not, Dr Ross's aka George Clooney boyfriend and his on screen dad's girlfriend. What a floosie. And, not only that but Catherine was also in Frasier. Frasier was trying to hit on her!
Ok, so that's the 'ladies'. Now the guys. Grissom was in Manhunter which was the one before Silence of the Lambs which was then remade under the name Red Dragon. Grissom was the man! And still is because Ed Norton wasn't all that great in the remade version. Anyway, he was in that. Stokes and Browne I've yet to see in anything other than CSI which is probably a good thing. Then, there is the chemistry guy. You know, the grey haired guy who looks a bit bemused and usually comes in with good one lines. Anyway, he was also in ER for an episode. How weird is that. It's probably weirder that I know that but there you go. He was in the one in which Carter had just become a full doctor. The chemistry guy was warning all the new doctors about how much of a sh*t Benton was as a boss.
Eh, yes, OK, I'll shut up now.
I quite like CSI. The original. The Las Vegas one. It's by far the best one and the one that I would definitely watch if it came on the TV. The other 2 are OK but I wouldn't particularly go out of my way to watch them.
We have Grissom, Catherine, Sarah, Stokes, Browne and the police guy who's name I can't quite remember and the youngish wannabe CSI with the million different haircuts - what's he called again? Then you have the other guys like the bullets guy, the chemistry guy, the audio guy and in later series, the head guys who want to bring the team down.
Anyway, this might be totally sad but my goodness, the whole lot of them were in other TV programs before CSI. They keep popping up. Sarah was a doctor in ER and a feisty, short tempered on at that. She kicked Carter's ass and that's just not on. Also in ER was Catherine as - believe it or not, Dr Ross's aka George Clooney boyfriend and his on screen dad's girlfriend. What a floosie. And, not only that but Catherine was also in Frasier. Frasier was trying to hit on her!
Ok, so that's the 'ladies'. Now the guys. Grissom was in Manhunter which was the one before Silence of the Lambs which was then remade under the name Red Dragon. Grissom was the man! And still is because Ed Norton wasn't all that great in the remade version. Anyway, he was in that. Stokes and Browne I've yet to see in anything other than CSI which is probably a good thing. Then, there is the chemistry guy. You know, the grey haired guy who looks a bit bemused and usually comes in with good one lines. Anyway, he was also in ER for an episode. How weird is that. It's probably weirder that I know that but there you go. He was in the one in which Carter had just become a full doctor. The chemistry guy was warning all the new doctors about how much of a sh*t Benton was as a boss.
Eh, yes, OK, I'll shut up now.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Kept
New post, new post, new post. And about time too.
Been busy. Honest.
I can definitely say that summer has arrived. Hot, and hotter are about the only ways to describe it. That and hazy. Yes, definitely hazy. I drive to work the other morning. I parked and got out and as soon as I did, my glasses steamed up. It's not meant to do that. And that was at 6 o'clock in the morning. Ouch. Seemingly there was a cyclone over the Indian Ocean which hit Oman which isn't too far away. I guess we are seeing the tail end of that.
What else has been ongoing? Oh, the massive and frankly ludicrous profit that Emirates has posted. A billion dollars. Profit. I'm not quite sure how many zeros that is but it is a lot and I still can't quite get my head around those kinds of figures. How the heck can we be doing that when the airline industry is meant to be in 'turmoil'. Goodness, BA posted a loss of £500 million. They are either totally crap or we're spectacularly good. Also, we've just announced that we're buying another 32 Superjumbo's at around a cool $41 billion. Double ouch. That's on top of the 50 odd that are already on order. As a certain Boss of mine pointed out, how can the group be doing that yet not give it's staff any kind of pay rise for the last 3 years? I could go on a diatribe about that but I'll leave that for now.
Footy happening soon. Only 3 hours of a time difference. Not too bad. My prediction would be anyone but England. Clearly. On a more serious note, I don't believe that they will win it in any case. They are just lacking something. I would expect them to get to the Quarter finals, perhaps Semi's but winners? There are better squad's in the tournament and all things being equal, the cream will rise to the top. On paper Spain are very, very strong. The thing is, it's essentially a game of luck. Some teams just seem to click and it happens for them. Just look at the Italians last time; I'm not sure many tipped them but it all suddenly went right for them and they got stronger as things went on. I suspect it'll be a European team that wins, simply through weight of numbers. Argentina might be there at the death but with Maradona on the sidelines, they could be brilliant or otherwise. Brazil can't be discounted at all. I recently saw their 4th goal in the 1970 World Cup against Italy. It's the one where, essentially at walking pace, they pass the ball from back to front, then Pele passes it out to the right. From the location of the camera you don't see the full back scappering up and you think it's a misplaced pass. Suddenly the full back appears at pace and shoots across the goalkeeper. Fantastic. Though on this occasion it was another view of it, this time from the opposite side of the pitch and you can see the full back (he's now closer to the camera) running and shooting. Brilliant. Can we see something like that this time? Perhaps not. Football is more regimented these days. Defensive in many ways and less free flowing. Who knows however, who knows.
Alas, the phrase of the moment seems to be 'all is well', and really, it is!
Been busy. Honest.
I can definitely say that summer has arrived. Hot, and hotter are about the only ways to describe it. That and hazy. Yes, definitely hazy. I drive to work the other morning. I parked and got out and as soon as I did, my glasses steamed up. It's not meant to do that. And that was at 6 o'clock in the morning. Ouch. Seemingly there was a cyclone over the Indian Ocean which hit Oman which isn't too far away. I guess we are seeing the tail end of that.
What else has been ongoing? Oh, the massive and frankly ludicrous profit that Emirates has posted. A billion dollars. Profit. I'm not quite sure how many zeros that is but it is a lot and I still can't quite get my head around those kinds of figures. How the heck can we be doing that when the airline industry is meant to be in 'turmoil'. Goodness, BA posted a loss of £500 million. They are either totally crap or we're spectacularly good. Also, we've just announced that we're buying another 32 Superjumbo's at around a cool $41 billion. Double ouch. That's on top of the 50 odd that are already on order. As a certain Boss of mine pointed out, how can the group be doing that yet not give it's staff any kind of pay rise for the last 3 years? I could go on a diatribe about that but I'll leave that for now.
Footy happening soon. Only 3 hours of a time difference. Not too bad. My prediction would be anyone but England. Clearly. On a more serious note, I don't believe that they will win it in any case. They are just lacking something. I would expect them to get to the Quarter finals, perhaps Semi's but winners? There are better squad's in the tournament and all things being equal, the cream will rise to the top. On paper Spain are very, very strong. The thing is, it's essentially a game of luck. Some teams just seem to click and it happens for them. Just look at the Italians last time; I'm not sure many tipped them but it all suddenly went right for them and they got stronger as things went on. I suspect it'll be a European team that wins, simply through weight of numbers. Argentina might be there at the death but with Maradona on the sidelines, they could be brilliant or otherwise. Brazil can't be discounted at all. I recently saw their 4th goal in the 1970 World Cup against Italy. It's the one where, essentially at walking pace, they pass the ball from back to front, then Pele passes it out to the right. From the location of the camera you don't see the full back scappering up and you think it's a misplaced pass. Suddenly the full back appears at pace and shoots across the goalkeeper. Fantastic. Though on this occasion it was another view of it, this time from the opposite side of the pitch and you can see the full back (he's now closer to the camera) running and shooting. Brilliant. Can we see something like that this time? Perhaps not. Football is more regimented these days. Defensive in many ways and less free flowing. Who knows however, who knows.
Alas, the phrase of the moment seems to be 'all is well', and really, it is!
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