Ally

Today's favourite is Willy Nelson's "oxygen", although I think I could get tired of it pretty quickly.

Why on earth would I want to do a thing like that?

"Has anybody got any Vera's? Looooovely.... AH HA HA HA HA HA!" Sorry. Had a sudden and unexpected Shamen "Ebeneezer Goode" turn there, which has now passed. Yeah, drugs = bad, etc. Not sure I can stay up until 8am new years day on my own steam at my age though...

Tricky one that. I've never been to any real stinkers. I saw the Stone Roses final gig at the reading festival that was notoriously slated, but I was so in awe at seeing them that i wasn't really that disappointed with their performance. I've seen bands i dislike at festivals, but that's more to do with my prejudices than a particularly bad performance (starsailor, for example). erm... let me think about this one...

Watched the "catchup" then the 2 new series 3 episodes on sky yesterday. Right back into it now, after loosing interest mid-way through series 2. Funny how they managed to avoid several sub-plots in the condensed series 1/2 episode. Love the show again now, but there was def some padding going on there.

I hate the ad for Picture, the loans company. It features this oafish, faux-man walking around his house talking about football & the weather, whilst simultaneously trying to secure a 20-grand loan. Meanwhile, his daft wife records him on their camcorder for no apparent reason. Crapolla!

Riga in Latvia is really good, although maybe not such a "coupley" destination - are you taking the missus or going by yourself/with friends ? A bunch of us are going to Poland (Krakow) on Thursday - will let you know if it's appropriate!

I fail to see how knocking an edinurgh-based music bar's inadequate PA system can in anyway equate to not supporting Shetland music. I like what I've heard of LGM and wish them the best of luck with the EP. The response i gave to your initial post was just meant to be a light-hearted gibe to the fact that they're evidently mates of yours and, naturally, you're bound to be a wee bit biased!

A fine drunken rant there from myself! I need a drink...

wrecked... just got back from a random party that we bumbled into. totally mental : some super-rich ed uni kids have apparently got the use of almost an entire tennament as their pad, thanks to daddy, naturally. Drunk posh kids are so ridiculous. they fill me with a bizzare fushoin of anger/jelously/contempt/bewilerment and general dismay. In edinburgh it's mesed up sometimes. reminds me of this story a mate sent me : 'So you're a poet? How fascinating!' squeaked Seraphema. 'Should I have heard of you? I'm reading English Literature at Edinburgh Uni you know.' 'Well, what else would you do with literature?' said Sylvester as he dunked another Jammie Dodger into his glass of Talisker. He sucked the resultant soggy concoction with vigour and, indeed, panache. 'Shouldn't you be doing Scottish Literature as well? Not reading it, mind - doing it.' 'Em, well I think there may be an element of it in the first two years. I'm not that sure to be honest. I'm mainly here for the experience you know?' 'Ah,' sighed Sylvester. He offered Seraphema a Tunnocks Tea Cake, which she refused. 'Do you have a favourite Scottish town at all?' he asked. 'Well. I'm not awfully well acquainted with the north as such. I have heard of Glasgow though.' Sylvester rummaged around the pile of papers scattered around the living room floor and emerged with a scrawled lament. 'Glasgow oh Glasgow, where all of the bars go that Leith used to have but where now all the Yahs go.' Seraphema looked puzzled. 'What are Yahs?' she asked. 'The Yahs, my dear, are the tribe commonly known as the upper middle class English who have seen fit to colonise this fine district of ours,' began Sylvester. 'While they chip away at the environment and heritage they pollute the air with loud, long vowels in swanky restaurants and soulless pubs.' Seraphema suddenly shivered self-consciously and hurriedly changed the subject. 'So, erm, what are the rest of the neighbours like here then?' she chirped. 'Well,' began Sylvester. 'There's auld Jessie Kelso on the ground floor. She's a wise old bird in many ways but there's not many folk around who understand her nowadays.' 'Who lives in the other ground floor flat?' asked Seraphema. 'I heard some strange noises coming from there.' 'Good question, ' said Sylvester. 'I have never seen anyone enter or leave that flat since I moved here ten years ago.' 'How rare,' said Seraphema. 'In 1f1,' continued Sylvester, 'live Davie and Eddie. Now, Davie's a jambo and Eddie's a hibbee.' 'You've lost me again,' said Seraphema. Sylvester clarified: 'David supports Heart of Midlothian - an Association Football Team, whilst Eddie's allegiance, like the majority of folks around these parts, is to Hibernian F.C. Why they choose to live together is a mystery, as they have partitioned their flat so they rarely have to come in contact with each other. I don't know if you've ever seen the episode of Steptoe and Son where they divide their house to avoid each other's company, but it's a bit like that...'

So we're agreed - a truce then! "Then from both sides men came running, crossing into no man's land Through the barbed wire, mud and shell-holes, shyly stood there shaking hands Ally he brought cigars and brandy, DeMascus brought corned beef and fags And as they stood there quietly talking, the moon shone down on no man's land Then Christmas Day we all played football in the mud of no man's land Ally brought some Christmas pudding, DeMascus brought out a German band And when they beat us at the football we shared all our grub and drink Then DeMascus showed me a tattered photo of a brown-haired girl back in Berlin For four days after no side fired, not one shot disturbed the night For old Ally and DeMascus, they'd both lost their will to fight So they withdrew us from the trenches, sent us back behind the lines They brought fresh troops to take our places and told the guns, Prepare to fire The next night in 1914, flak was beaming, beaming bright The orders came, Prepare offensive! Over the top we go tonight And men stood waiting in the trenches, gazed out across our football park As all along the Western front the Christmas guns began tae bark" *http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/c/christma.html (with a few subtle changes). Sorry DeMascus, I took the liberty of making you the German

You're bummed that I mocked the "Boycott Xmas" thing aren't you? Go on, admit it! It wasn't an attack on you, bud - I just get a bit tired of the old "Xmas is too commercial these days" thing that everyone's been saying every Xmas for as long as I can remember. I completely agree with the statement, it's just that to me it's a given. Fibreglass dwarfs and plastic trees I can handle. That guy who lives near the skippydock who goes way over board every year with the garden decorations, for example. It may be garish and tacky in the eyes of many, but I can't help but like it. All I was trying to say was that yes, Xmas is ridiculously commercialised, but instead of getting bitter about something you will never be able to control, you can just take it as a daily reminder that yes, xmas is coming and yes, it should be a good one. The rest is just crap - certainly not worth feeling pressured about. What do I want for Christmas? A millennium falcon and an A-Team van. I saw them on the telly.

I got that every year growing up, found it really annoying. Now I'm older and could certainly benefit from new clean underwear and some fruit in my diet, no sausage'll come we it!

Boycott Xmas is the kind of mildly irritating political sloganeering that I'd have happily engaged in when I was 18, oblivious to that fact that I was annoying the hell out of everyone else with my holier-than-thou chat... 10 years later (ok, eleven years later) I'm a little more comfortable with the whole thing. Yes, it's not eco-friendly, yes the corporate machine lurches into overdrive with it's offensively cynical attempts to convince us that we need to buy happiness at a premium. True, the whole think stinks of rampant capitalism at its worse... However, if you take a step back and ignore the hard sell, then the cheesy adverts and company sponsored Xmas lights can serve as a pleasant back-drop, an inoffensive reminder that we're approaching one of the happier dates (for many of us) in the western calender. Xmas to me is an opportunity to go back home and spend the day mildly drunk in the company of people I actually like, rather than being at work. It's something I look forward to and appreciate, despite the associated garbage surrounding it, corporate, religious or otherwise. So there.

Did anyone see the Arena documentary about Pete the other night? I thought it was quite an eye-opener - It certainly painted a different picture to that of the junkie idiot that the tabloid press portray him as.

21.531 first time. Spent a further 10 mins trying to beat the score, but barely made it past the early teens. If I'm never seen outside again I shall blame you, Twerto. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a score to beat...

"Everyone seems to be forgetting the main point about smoking, which, of course, is that it looks cool", rasped Ally, before hacking up a sizable portion of his left lung...

Well, bands have to start somewhere i guess. Nirvana famously played a venue in Edinburgh that was little more than a pub with a PA... We've played bannerman's 3 times now and the sound has always been crap compared to cabaret Voltaire or even subway cowgate. The PA is on it's last legs and, although it does have a certain character to it, to me its the venue equivalent of the old color sound studios...

I think you're right, maybe it's the cable. I can't be arsed to go and buy another one just for it not to work though, and it doesn't change when i wiggle it (sorry to get technical on you there guys...) Like I say, i've tried all the settings, from NTSC through to the many flavours of PAL. Ney joy

Alright techy types, here's one for you: I've got an laptop with an S-video out, so I figured I'd get a wireless card for it and just have it in the living room connected to our big TV for watching DVDs, Divxs and the like, plus a sneaky dowloaded movie or two... So, I bought an s-video cable and tried setting it up last night. The picture is fantastic, but it's in Black and white! I've tried everything i can think of (updating drivers and tinkering with the myriad settings available), but still no colour. I even tried plugging in an old VCR using the s-video out on it, but the picture remains black and white. Dead annoying. Any ideas folks?

Pretty impressive this... "Mobile phone tracking technology relies on the use of triangulation - taking the signal strengths registered from your mobile phone at a minimum of three nearby GSM receiver masts. As the mobile phone companies know the position of each mast, and can tell the signal strength of your phone at each of these nearby masts, they can use this to calculate your position to a certain degree of accuracy (within about 50 to 100 meters)..." http://www.geomobiles.net/en/index.html

I thought you might! J "promoter, supporter, publicist, fan and probable member of LGM" A Stewart! Good luck with the EP guys, and enjoy the Bannerman's gig. sharn venue with crappy sound, but if your drunk enough it can be ok, as you'll have no doubt discovered...

While to us they may seem like two sides of the same coin, to many Americans the difference between Democrats and Republicans is quite stark. A cursory glance at one of the political forums i sometimes read illustrates this. http://www.perspectives.com/forums/view_forum.php?id=4 One need only compare the foreign policy of the Clinton administration with the current one to see how different the two parties are. Can you honestly claim that an America run by, say, Hilary Clinton would have the same world view as one run by Bush?

How about this one?

Boo! Well deserved a thread of it's own!