Random thoughts on a Monday mourning
When the hell did Paul Sturrock become manager of Swindon Town?
The Smith/McCoist dream team? Three words: Barnes and Dalglish
Why does wikipedia insist that Steve McMahon won 17 caps for Scotland?
Downloaded 'This Life + 10' off the internet but I can't be arsed to watch it.
Should Hackney and Williamsburg be twinned?
A comrade told me yesterday that the SPGB was recently referred to as 'Cafe Radicals' on an internet discussion list. Don't know how to respond to this. Have I suddenly been teleported back in time to Greenwich Village 1915?
About six months ago I was listening to wall to wall Maximo Park. What was I thinking?
Spotted via various Brit blogs that 'Ugly Betty' has just debuted on British tv. Before it gets dismissed as nothing more than a piece of fluff - and what's wrong with fluff, btw - please check out this canny article that was published on Salon.com a few months back, and makes the case that: "those who have taken the title's bait and examined only the aesthetics of the show have missed the point. "Ugly Betty" is not about being unattractive, or at least not simply about being unattractive. It's about class. And ethnicity. Its smart take on cultural and economic differences, enmeshed as it is in a fresh, funny package, makes it positively subversive television."
Ever wondered why Fabio Capello has it in for David Beckham? Wonder no more: it turns out that Cappelo was part of the Roma team spanked 4-0 by Swindon Town in the 1969 Anglo-Italian Cup. Beckham reminds him of a tattooed - but not as talented - Don Rogers.
The first five seconds of Jarvis Cocker's 'Fat Children' is a rip off of Bikini Kill's 'Carnival'.
Dennis Kucinich will not be the next President of the United States.
Despite their outward appearance, calzones taste nothing like cornish pasties.
The second grumpiest man on the UK Left Network now has a blog.
iTunes keeps insisting that I listen to Kingmaker when I put it on shuffle. I don't want to.
The consistently excellent Commie Curmudgeon blog has a (not-so-recent) post on James Brown and "black capitalism" .
9/10 anarchists still annoy me.
. . . but at least they are not as irritating as teenage maoists living in AmeriKKKa.
New York now has an Anarchist Bookfair. Can I face rejection on two continents, if and when I try to book a table for the WSPUS?
'Little Miss Sunshine' is a sweet film, but in no way does it deserve the Oscar buzz currently surrounding it.
I wish I could cook bake.
I think I'm a 'climate canary'.
The blog reached 140,000 page views yesterday.
Top Chef's Marcel is misunderstood.
Michael Howard has a MySpace music page. Check out the acoustic version of 'Spanish Bombs'. I think it's sweet.
If I could visit anywhere in the world, it would be Stockholm. Don't ask me why.
With regards to blogging, I'm still officially on hiatus . . .
It's January and people in New York are wearing shorts. It'll be sunglasses next.
If Tony Benn tells that anecdote about Ramsay MacDonald and the chocolate biscuit one more time . . .
I really want to read this novel.
. . . and this one.
Final thought for the post and to return to the whole 'hiatus' business. Though I know that I won't follow through on her wise advice, I know in my heart of hearts that 'Boynton', a blogger recently profiled at Normblog, hit the nail on the head when she wrote: "it's worth seeking out new pathways and it's easy to become beholden to posting rather than to reading . . . If ennui strikes, take a break from posting and read." That's me and blogging in a nutshell.
10 comments:
Hee. I'm gonna have to listen to Bikini Kill again. Although I was wondering if/why Fat Children sounded a bit familiar...
Maximo Park is a tricky one, since I will maintain for quite some time to come that "Going Missing" is a cracking little track. Mostly for that great opening/closing line. But you're right; overall that blip you had six months ago was just wrong.
We all know iTunes shuffle doesn't do random as most people know it...
I hope I'm the 1/10.
Then again . . .
Now I think of it, 9/10 anarchists annoy me!
Great thoughts, whether random or not.
Benn - I love his socialist train anecdote (when I say love, I really mean "cringe when he starts").
Ugly Betty - I mentioned that I didn't laugh once, but I still really enjoyed it! And I intend to watch every episode.
Walter Smith - has shown himself to be a traitor to the nation cause as he would much prefer promoting sectarian bigotry rather than national unity!
Darren, where the hell did you download this life from, the dvd recorder recorded a big zilch and I did want to watch it.
Jim,
I downloaded it from the UK Nova bit torrent site, but you'll have to get it quick 'cos they have a policy of not uploading programmes that are available on DVD or video, and I understand that a DVD of 'This Life + 10' is being rush released.
Rosa does sound very interesting. I wouldn't might getting hold of a copy of it. (Often whistfully think what might-have-been had the German revolution been successful ...).
Also if MP is the 2nd grumpiest man on the UK Left Network, who's the first???
Phil,
The grumpiest man on the UK Left Network has to be TG.
However, the way some of the more recent exchanges on the UK Left Network are going I think various individuals on opposing sides of the SSP/Solidarity bun fight are collectively staking a claim.
Lisa,
I'm not totally denouncing Maximo Park, but it was the case that I was listening to them non-stop about six months ago, and apart from the odd track, such as 'Limassol', I can't listen to them at all nowadays.
Thanks for the tip about iTunes. I was starting to think that the business of the Kingmaker tracks cropping up again and again on shuffle was some sort of Manchurian Candidate moment for me.
John,
Of course you are that 1/10 . . ."just a number on a list."
I mean those fashionista anarchists who couple their close minded attitudes with their oh so superior air, who you just know would have been members of the WRP 25 years ago, cos that was that year's political fashion . . . erm, wait up where's the edit facility on this comment?
Reidski,
"socialist train anecdote . . ."
Trust you to mention the one Tony Benn anecdote that I've never heard before. And I thought I'd memorised by heart all four anecdotes that he has using in that same speech he has been giving these last 20 years.
ha ha ha. I don't know anyone who'd join the WRP as a fashion statement. It was always a case of "bring your own parka and thermos flask."
Now, the RCP, on the other hand . . .
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