Monster

Well, pity poor old David Moyes. Not only is he manager of a crap club, he has a crap team as well - and pretty clueless players. The passion of the Merseyside derby kept Everton in it at 1-2, and even at 1-3 - but 2 players get themselves sent off for stupid pointless tackles. All adds to the fun!

So, pretty good so far this Christmas - just wish Chelsea would stop having the luck of the referees. Joe Cole should have been sent off, and so not able to set up one winner and score another. That could have been 4 points dropped. But so it goes.

Meanwhile, the breadcrumbs are getting sick of Daddy Day Care as Mrs Breadwinner goes off to get paid for eating biscuits with her mates. They keep asking if they can go to nursery. No, you can come with me to PC world to buy a wireless router. What more top entertainment could they ask for?

Inbetween times we watch Monster Inc. Pretty good the first time, ok the second time. It is the realisation that we will be watching it the hundredth time that gets to me. At least they have bored of Monkey Story (Tarzan) at last.

Anyhow, thought you might appreciate a cool car...

Top entertainment

We were great, they were crap and Lee Bowyer got sent off. Again. Who could ask for anything more? Liverpool 2, Newcastle 0. And they were lucky to get nil. We on the other hand should have had 4 or 5.

Bring on the Toffee men.

Merry MFing Christmas

as the boys from South Park say.

Today's spam includes - Insane Daddy Assrammed.
Not quite Dead Nigger Storage, but an interesting band name anyhow.

and what have we done?

I've fallen over the finishing line of the year, rather than breasting the tape with aplomb. But who cares. Another year over - the new one a week away.

2005 will not be missed in my house - and the work year ended with being rejected (for more work - not at the Christmas party). No worries - enough to do in 2006. About which I foolishly feel more positive.

There is the return of the prodigal to look foward to on Boxing day when Newcastle come to play.

And my in-laws come today - so better get tidying up.
Meanwhile the breadcrumbs are almost glowing with excitement. Which means we are up to 8 on the tantrum scale. It is going to take a week to calm them down. Make that a month.

More from Tom R on giving away free tracks

" the record companies would have paid me so little (and
so late) for each record sold that it makes absolutely no difference to my
financial situation whether these downloads are sold or given away. Whereas
artistically I'm delighted every time they reach a new listener. No contest
really. have a good xmas..."

still remarkably generous of him. Kudos to Tom Robinson.

free music

A gift from the talented Kristin Hersh. My pleasure to promote.

The accompanying text says "With "Free Music" 50FootWave is seeking new earballs. We thought it'd be interesting to ask for your energy & enthusiasm rather than your money and see what happens. To that end, please share this music in any and every way you see fit. Burn CDs, post the mp3s, seed Torrents -- whatever's comfortable for you.
It's an experiment. Who knows how it will go? Wheee!"

I was alerted to this by Warren Ellis on his site, which also has a link to his Apparat Podcasts. I recommend number 8 featuring the wonderful Elephant Thursday. Who they, I hear you ask?

More free music courtesy of Tom Robinson - mult-talented performer, broadcaster, writer etc. etc.

http://www.tomrobinson.com/records/downloads.htm

Pretty good of him to make this out of print stuff available for free.

Merry Christmas

I'm off to see the Bootleg Beatles - as the bootleg Mark Chapman

Thank you to Half Man Half Biscuit for putting things into context.
25 years ago John Lennon was shot - and we haven't heard the bloody end of it yet. No wonder Paul is so pissed off.

John Lennon was a wonderfully talented, and deeply flawed and damaged man. I dare say the years of heroin addiction didn't help, and I know something about pissing your career up the wall myself. However, he was not a god. The current wave of remembrance is getting on my nerves.

Calling an airport after him seems reasonable - and Chapman is obviously a nutter who should spend the rest of his life locked up. Can we get back to listening to the records now? And forget running 35 year old interviews with a man deranged with drugs, a mad new wife, and breaking up the best thing he would ever do?

Word magazine just called Imagine the worst song ever - I wouldn't go that far.
But please not again. Howabout Instant Karma?

Talking of which, nice to have a boring draw with Chelski and come top of the group. I just hope that UEFA do keep us apart in the next round. And even nicer to see that Essien is likely to get his for his attempt to break Didi Hamann's leg.

In commemoration, here is a picture of my favourite moment of the Champions League - the running to congratulate Dudek as they realised they had actually done it.

the fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars but in ourseles

Ain't that so. Another waste of time, and my life passes me by as I carry this monkey on my back.
Anyway, on with the motley.

Great CD with Uncut this month, featuring some of fun loving Johnny Plee's favourite tracks. Actually just as good as the official double CD in my opinion. And a source of legit copies of some tracks I had downloaded from "inofficial" sources.

Meanwhile, the mighty reds prepare to take on Chelski. Again. And I don't know whether to care or not. Saturday was great as Crouchie got off the mark. Twice. Don't argue! Twice. The whole ground erupted in laughter as well as cheers. After all that time, it had to be a ridiculous fluke.

I have to miss the Middlesborough game on the basis of still being married to Mrs Breadwinner who thinks that 4 home games in one month is unreasonable. Can't disagree really.

I think that in practice I would prefer us to win in Japan. World Champions has such as nice ring to it, don't you think?

Grow'd up

Breadcrumb no2 is growing up fast. At the weekend she took Mrs Breadwinner into the utility room (aren't we posh) and told her she knew a secret. That Daddy didn't call her Mummy - he has a special name for her. No 1 son looked on frankly disbelieving his sister's stupidity. He'd never heard anything so daft. Of course our names, and indeed job descriptions, are Mummy and Daddy.

Its awful quick that they grow up. They are now awaiting the arrival of Auntie Claws. Who brings presents apparently.

Meanwhile, I feel on the edge of not being ill for the first time in 2 months. It could be good. Will take a while to get used to. On the plus side, the soon to be patented "illness diet" has done both me and Mrs Breadwinner the world of good on the slimming front.

Oh, and a word to the wise - she tells me that her bosses (who just had dinner with Gordon - yes, that Gordon) expect a recession starting oooh, about now. You have been warned. Pray for a mild winter.

Mark E Smith reads the football scores

And this you didn't know you needed to see. Honest. M E Smith reads the football results on Grandstand. Cue Theme from Sparta FC

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/s.bending/index.html

Time is the fire in which we burn

As Dr Soong says in Generations. And it is true. When do we get enough time? When we retire? When the kids grow up? When we die? When we are in a Vietnamese gaol facing a firing squad (hello Gary Glitter)?

Wrote a long post from the Gulf, which was swallowed by the ether. And is lost, like tears in rain...

what the fuck is it about mornings?

I mean why do people who like them think they are morally superior to people who don't? Like me. So I am currently in a differnent time zone so technically getting up half an hour before I go to bed (copyright Monty Python), and it is not making me a better person!
QEFuckingD, as they say.
I am not sure where I am, as if I ever am. Well it isn't the first world, because there are too many poor people, and it isn't the new world and the third world does not have Ferrari showrooms. Does this make it the zeroth world?
What it does is make me want to be rich, because it would be so much nicer. I mean the money and stuff would be great, as would the not working, but the rich get to make and stay in such nice environments. Bit Disney, but I have no problem with that. It is like real life but nicer, easier and bloody expensive. Ah, Richworld - that's where I am.

blessed st michael

2 goals in 5 minutes to beat the Argies. THAT is why we needed Michael Owen back!

The Fellowship of the Sins

A Martin Scorscese adaptation of Tolkien, where a bunch of young seminary students go on a long trek to return a piece of the true cross.

Well it could happen.

Apparently this blogging larke ain't making me money.

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

The Mighty Reds triumphed 3-0 over Anderlecht. But I can't help thinking that Chelsea lost out of spite. Now we have to take a point from Real Betis to go through or face having to get a result at Stamford Road. Bastards. I can't even be happy when they lose!

The Habit

In a hole in the ground lived a Hobbit. Someone must have been telling lies about Bilbo B, because one fine day, without doing anything wrong, he was arrested.

Just testing out a new form of literary mash-up. Looks rather promising to me. Future titles will include the Two Towels, in which Bilbo B stakes his claim to a position on the beach.

One goes out, one comes in. Friend of a Friend (Friend^2?) has just died of alcoholism, and another friend has brought a new flower into the world. So it Goes.

Reminder of the damage of addiction, and the Habit. So, we start again with a day 1 and keep striving for the path.

Cameron or Davis? The young Tories all muttered Cameron...

No terrorist attacks in this country for ages. Obviously our governments totally paranoid attempts to make us all carry identity cards (which the bombers would have been entitled to), produce 40 different types of ID to open a bank account (which the Economist points out is then never studied because there are too many financial transactions to track, and besides terrorism is low cost) is having an effect. Not by detecting terrorists as such, but they are spending all their time filling in bloody forms.

So, let's have the Daleks view of this. Or possibly the new Doctor Who.

Pete and Me

Well, we're both addicts. That's what we've both got to face up to, and work out.
Both of us will cause lots of problems for ourselves until we sort it out.
But he is sleeping with Kate Moss.

Whereas this has just been a bad week for me. Relapse, don't do it. Got excuses but they don't count. Anyway on holiday for a week or so, which is a good chance to work on my next stretch of 10 - one day at a time.

As soon as this pub closes, the revolution starts.

I am Jack

The voice is still chilling after 25 years. For a long time we thought it actually was the Ripper, and so Peter Sutcliffe was left free. Free to kill Jackie Hill. I was about 50m away at the time, watching Not the Nine O'clock news if I remember correctly. Of course we could have gone to the pub instead, and then she would have been alive - but none of us would have known a thing and it would have been a lost memory.

The next day I walked 2 girls home, and slowly put together the massive Police presence and news of the death of a girl. "You don't do that for a stolen bike" someone said.

Who knows whether the hoaxer really lead to 3 more deaths. The real blame is of course with Sutcliffe who could have stopped, or never stated, anytime. But I think they will throw the book at this guy. He would have been in his early 20s. Maybe it was a joke. Maybe it was a way of making himself feel important. Given that he seems to be an unemployed drunk that is quite likely.

I don't want vengence or disproportionate punishment. What is an appropriate punishment? I hope it has been 20 years of guilt

Don't have a GOW man

GOW standing for Grumpy Old Woman, a companion programme to the Grumpy Old Men programmes that the BBC showed last year. The problem was that the men complained, whined and bitched about all sorts of stuff - baldness, thongs, parking attendants, young politicians, teen magazines, rock music - whereas the women had only one topic - Men. And apparently all men are the same - uncaring, undomesticated, incapable of multi-tasking, and a burden to women. So I switched off, went upstairs to give my ill wife her medication, changed my son's nappy, and went to bed in a grump.

As they said on the Arab conflict earlier, "I joined the Pissed off club".
And what a depressing programme that was - both Israel and Palestine are ill served by their leaders. The USA too it seems. Colin Powell was a rare noble man trying to do something for the greater good rather than immediate political advantage and/or revenge. Arafat is dead now, and clearly the wrong man to lead a nation - though he may have been suited to the struggle. Sharon is mendacious and old - younger men pay with their blood for his ego and fanaticism.
Hard to see a good outcome, or any other outcome than more death and destruction.

Tramp the dirt down

So, John Peel Day was the same as Margaret Thatcher's 80th birthday. The Good die young it seems. Though we can but hope that she lives everything she did brought down to ashes.

Not a big Elvis Costello fan. Like Ben Elton I liked him "back in the day" but somehow the 80s just seem so long ago, and he never translated. Still, better than Ben Elton who I now think is just short of the anti-Christ of humour. How can the man who co-wrote BlackAdder write such turgid dross. With thinly veiled misogyny and a Islington sneer about anything and anyone not rich, in the media and living in London.

But, Elvis did write Tramp the dirt down on Spike about Thatchers grave. I shall take myself off to do that when the blessed day comes. And Rejoice.

Though I expect there will be a queue.

John Peel Day

And it should be an annual institution too. Apparently Sheila comes from Shipley. Always thought it would be Norfolk.

I can still hear JP's voice, and always the music.

Thanks