Amsterdam

In Amsterdam for a week. Wondering round I am coming to the view that Amsterdam is in fact a massive trick played on the stoners, tokers and nere-do-wells by the strict and Presbyterian Dutch - who do not partake, but do take the rent, and the taxes. The smokers and hookers and visitors are all non-Dutch, while the Dutch seem to exist in a parallel world of books and high design.

Sadly, I am now old and reactionary enough to side with the Dutch. I find myself wandering past yet another "coffee" bar and thinking "don't you have anything better to do?" Suddenly Bohemanian just seems to mean not working hard enough. What a difference 20 years makes - not in the city but in me.

LFC again

I’ve just been reading Michael Lewis’s Moneyball. Tom Hicks and John W Henry both crop up in it as baseball club owners, which is relevant to their battle for LFC. Moneyball is about the way the Oakland A’s baseball club overachieved for their budget, because their General Manager worked out ways to value players in a different way to other clubs. Hicks appears a couple of times in a generally negative light as someone who overpaid for underperforming players. Henry appears as a club owner open to new ideas, and willing to learn and change to become more successful. If those are accurate representations, it would be a good sign for LFC.

Make or break

I was a supporter of Roy Hodgson becoming manager at LFC. Now I think he is at make or break point. A defeat to Everton in the derby game and I think his position will be unsustainable. LFC in the relegation zone until November would be unacceptable to the supporters and club. Personally I hope he makes it.

this week's blasts from the past

Johnny Cash and Scritti Polliti. Odd combination I know.

So tired

A month of deadlines, many of which are making Douglas Adam’s famed whizzing sound as they go past.  There is something incredibly disspiriting about getting up tired and dragging myself down to write.  At least I have something to do, so I should be grateful.

Onwards and upwards – or at least sideways.

October looms.

Thin margins

My life is getting run on ever thinner margins. The global slowdown and recession took away all my room to manoeuvre, and any room for error. Like many people I am in daily worry about letters from the bank and credit cards. In theory I am a lot better off than many people. I worry for them.

These are hard times. Which is a cliche, and easier to say if you are the multi-millionaire, Eton educated son of a multi-millionaire. Harder for those of us with no safety net. The people that the banks, in their wisdom, are now screwing with high interest rates and no opportunity to change to another provider because of their tightening of credit controls. We are paying interest rates that are double what they should be realistically. They rebuild their profitability, and the rest of us cannot sleep.


Things are scheduled to be brighter. But I worry about rain.

A joy for ever

Groove is in the Heart. Deee-lite.

There has never been a time in the past 20 years (it was released in 1990) that this song has not been a real joy to listen to. If you haven't heard it - go buy now.

Planetary

I have at last finished Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Casaday (and Laura Martin). And I mean at last. I first came across it on a newsletter from those nice people at Page 45 in Nottingham (a recommended comic shop). Probably 5 years ago. I read the first compilations and then waited. And Waited! But not as long as the people who started at the beginning. These meagre 27 issues took more than a decade to be delivered (really - 10 years). And then I decided to wait for the Absolute edition rather than read it piecemeal.

It was worth it. If you love comics, and for some reason have not read this - go buy it now. If you don't love comics, you'll probably enjoy it but it will not mean the same to you. Just at the moment, think it is better than Watchmen.

The Absolute editions are worth the money, because the artwork and colouring need to be seen. Bright lights, flat pages, clean hands, full attention. Beautiful. And the homages to all the other comics add something rather than being pastiches. You seen how things could have turned out differently.

Now off to read Locas II, a compilation from my all time favourite Jamie Hernandez

Latitude

I didn't think that Belle & Sebastian would be suitable headliners for Saturday night.
I was wrong. They were excellent. They created a real family party atmosphere, and Stuart is really funny. Their off the cuff version of Jumping Jack Flask should be the stuff of legend. As was their stage full of dancers for Boy with the Arab Strap.

Overall Latitude was brilliant, though the organisational aspects were down on last year, and there were 2 terrible incidents.

Holland or Spain

If it can't be England, I shall settle for that choice. Either really. But for different reasons.
And then I think I shall forget about football for a long, long time.

King Kenny

The Mighty Reds are in a fine pickle. Rafa Benitez is now at Internazionale with a salary probably bigger than our transfer budget. We have no manager, and our 3 best players all in play for transfers.

Dalglish is helping pick the manager, but has indicated he would be willing to do the job himself. It is a fine gesture, but I hope it does not come to pass. The risk is too high, the likelhood of failure too great, the threat to his legendary status very real. Maybe that is the appeal.

Good advice, is "you can never step in the same river twice". Liverpool fans are sentimental and nostaligic, but I fear this could damage rather than help. I would be pleased to be proven wrong.

7lbs

Is what I have put on in 6 months of not going to the gym.
Ouch.
And now it has to come off again. Not pleasant.
Times have been hard, and I have been punishing my body by not taking care of myself. Things are still tough, but it is time to get fitter and not so depressed.

Here comes the summer.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

God knows what the movie will be like, but the trailer is funny. Mind you, given it is from the director of Shaun of the Dead it should be good.

Dollhouse

Just watched episode 1 of season 2 of Dollhouse, one of a couple that I missed. Has there ever been a darker tv series? It is presented lightly with lots of explosions and surface glamour, it could almost be the heist of the week show that Fox probably thought they were buying. But it is dark, dark, dark. Every episode shows nice people struggling with moral dilemmas and failing utterly, while subjecting other people to unimaginable but all too believable abuse. Eliza Dushku is terrific as the lead character, but like so many of Joss Wheedon's shows this is an ensemble piece. Overall the guy who plays Victor is incredible - playing a huge range of roles and being totally believable in all of them. To be watched.

An odd sense of achievement

A while ago I had to change my i-tunes library from the PC to external hard drives. In doing so I ended up resetting the play status of a lot of songs. Coupled with quite a lot of ripping from CDs, I ended up with over 2100 songs marked as unplayed. Following a quite dedicated programme of only playing "unplayed" songs, I have got that down to below 500. (Which is still about 50 albums worth). It has been enjoyable, but not always as easy as you might expect. Crossing the broad steppes of Radiohead took forever, no matter how brilliant they are. The mountain range of Kristin Hersh and 50ft wave were full of highs and lows. The slough of Leonard Cohen takes self confidence. Still to come are the fields of Joy Division.

It gives me a rather odd sense of achievement.

Vote, vote, vote

Today is likely to be a big change in the country. Obviously. It is election day. The signs are not good nationally and although I have some hopes locally, the reality is that the damage has probably been done and we will be lumbered with our incombent MP for another term. Which is depressing.

The best we can hope for is a hung parliament with "call me Dave" denied an absolute majority. Which is a shocking performance on his part. In the teeth of a once in a century recession he has failed to make the case for the Conservative party. And his call for change failed to consider that people could also change to the Liberal Democrats... oops.

limping to the end

A tame and lacklustre end to a terrible season. The Europa cup would have been some return, but we didn't deserve it. Good luck to Fulham - hope they can do it and Roy Hodgson gets the recognition he deserves. The rumour is we are looking at him to replace Rafa.
To be honest I fear a firesale before Hicks and Gillette sell up - cashing in on Torres, Gerrard and Mascherano might net them £100m, and would it change the value of the club? Their strategy has failed though - now we cannot finish in the top 4 and are out of the European Champions League, will we ever regain that position? Will we now slip down to take the traditional Spurs role - pretty good, may win a cup, but can't attract or keep the strongest players and so cannot crack the top 4? It is an ominous thought.

Still there is a perverse pleasure in our feeble performance almost certainly denying the Premiership to Man Utd. But that is a pathetic way to go.

Sleeping with a Bear

The Breadcrumbs identified something that was missing in our lives. They recognised that Mrs Breadcrumb and I share a room and a bed, which is obviously nice and fun, but oddly we did not have any cuddly toys in bed with us. Everyone needs a toy to cuddle. So they gave us a bear to share in bed. And oddly enough they were right.

busy busy busy

Which makes a change.
Phrase of the week: Context is for the weak.

Meanwhile, 2 good wins in a row but Man utd on Sunday. Oh well. Roll on next year.

Sutcliffe

I have a personal connection to the Yorkshire Ripper case. His last victim, Jackie Hill, lived in the same group of flats, and at the time of her murder I was probably less than 50m away.
The debate over whether he should be allowed to appeal for parole seems based on the idea that he would eventually get out. The subsequent furor over James Venables raises the pressure even higher.

I always felt that the Ripper trial was something that was done to please the public. He was judged sane to stand trial, but my definition of sanity does not encompass what he did. However we tried him as a sane man, and decided that he was insane later. With that background he is entitled to ask for a parole hearing. Justice should be seen to be blind in these things. He should be allowed his hearing - and never, ever let out. This is surely a case where life must mean life. But even monsters are entitled to a due legal process.