Deal or no deal?

Tonight i've been sitting online on Eurosport website to see what's going down transfers wise for Arsenal.

West Ham have signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. United, Chelsea and Arsenal were after these guys too! Ah well.

We have however, gotten rid of homesicker Reyes. Glad to see the back of him, biggest waste of £22mil (or whatever it was) ever. And he actually seemed like a decent player at times, his first goal against Chelski for example was a corker. but i really hope he follows the trend of all the other Arsenal players who have left to 'better their careers'. Like Manu Petit and Marc Overmars who both left for Barca and never achieved the same success at Arsenal. Vieira anyone? Yea, we knocked them out of the Champions League last season, and now the club's in complete disgrace over this match fixing thingy. Then there was Anelka, who went from Arsenal to Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbahçe, to Bolton Wanderers. Anyway, in return we've got Julio 'the Beast' Baptista. Let's compare. When Gary Neville hits Reyes with a cruncher Reyes cries and tells the press. When Baptista gets tackled by Gary Neville, Baptista will eat Gary Neville. Good deal if you ask me.

"I eat players like Gary Neville for dinner..." Julio Baptista

There's still just over 2 hours for us to get rid of problem child #2, Ashley Cole. Hopefully he goes, although it's looking less and less likely. Ah well, it's better having only 1 player that doesn't want to play rather than 2.

So that's it then. So far this season we've lost Pires, Bergkamp, Reyes, with Larsson, Bendtner, Lupoli and Gilbert all out on loan. We've got in Rosicky, Baptista. I fear for this season i really do, the youngsters coming through don't really have the experience i feel to do much this season but we'll see.

Update 10:01pm - Pascal Cygan is away to Villareal. He's pish, but who's gonna play in his place? We're so so slack for cover in midfield and defence. Screwed. Need something BIG to happen in next two hours, apart from Cole going for £30m. Argh!

Beck puppets

Here's the URL for the actual video we saw last Thurs at Dublin, tho due to the dodgy Stevie Wonder camerawork and the plethora of obscenities contained, viewer discretion is advised.

Beck Puppets @ Dublin (don't be offended, I did warn you!)

:)

Music and more music

So, Bebo is gone, still, and I'm coping ok. But I've been busy this week maybe that's why. People keep talking about it, but I choose to ignore them, a bit like when Gayle's great uncle Joe or Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door. Although none have visited since I got married, either that or Waringstown is their target for the next 10 years.


I'm waffling. I went to see Snow Patrol @ T Vital in Botanic on Wednesday night there, and to be honest I wasn't too impressed. For a band who've released 4 albums and to play nothing but the most recent 2 was more than disappointing. But then again what do you expect when they're playing to a crowd of people who are just there cos they've just bought a house in Belfast and fancy getting wrecked, paying £7.50 for a burger meal and pissing up the side of portaloos instead of in them. But anyway, I was there for Oceansize. Great band from across the water (that's England), who are very loud on CD, and even louder live. The wife didn't enjoy it too much, but I did. It's in my I'm listening to, so check it out on Amazon or summat.


Anyway, then came Thursday, and my matey John Boy 'the drummer' McMullen and Rob 'the robber' Freeburn headed down to Marlay Park to catch some Beck and Radiohead. Beck were absolutely awesome and have since placed a number of bids for a few cds on my beloved eBay. They were also playing at V Festival at the weekend and I'm informed by Rabert they were great there too. I was under the impression they were a rock band, but they play everything from blues/country/folk to the soul, funk and hip-hop! Tho I've heard they're a bit wierd on the ole religion front but I'll have to check that out. Flaming Lips wrote a song bout them too called "Free Radicals", must try and get this. Anyways, they had these puppets on stage, behind them, and they mimiked (*sp) everything the band did. Great show. Here's a wee vid, this is from Amsterdam so substitute the prostitutes and smoking weed for drinking beer, dancing riverdance style, trashing Radiohead's dressing room and pissing over their clothes.



Then came Radiohead (cool website check it out). I didn't really know how to feel about this gig. Before this most gigs I'd went to were either ones were I was definately gonna mosh (Manics, Metallica, Maiden etc) or actually buy a seating ticket and lie back and enjoy it (Counting Crows, Jamie Cullum, Jools Holland). This was sorta inbetweeny cos there ain't much dancing goes on to Radiohead songs. More like finding the nearest kitchen knife... and you know the rest. But nevertheless we perched ourselves right in front of the sound desk for optimum sound. To be honest I didn't know a lot of the stuff, I really only am familiar with Bends, Computer and would recognise tracks from Kid A. Anyways, they played what I really wanted them to play, Paranoid Android. But the best song of the night for me was Just. Was always one of my favourites of The Bends and didn't disappoint. Anyway, the gig was great, one were you stand mesmerised at the talent shown by all members of the band, and how they've had an impact on people's lives, whether they relate to the music, or it makes them feel happy that no matter how unhappy or depressed they are, they're not as depressed a big ole Thom...


And again, on Friday night the mighty reedstar tour continued in Newtownards. It's a crap photo I know, but it was with my phone and was the only one I took. If you look closely you can see Philly's new mascot Daffyd Thomas from Little Britain. Was a cool gig nonetheless, but more of a practice session. We rocked it out anyway. Think there were about 9 people there, but that included the sound men so that brings it down to 7. But as Neily said, be faithful in the small things, get ready for the big!

The person who is trustworthy in small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.. Luke 16v10

So We've just gotta trust in God, and that how ever WE felt about last nights gig, that it was part of God's plan. Who are we to argue?

That's all for now, I'm pooped.

Bebo begone!

Start of the Premiership yesterday and Arsenal manage a draw against the mighty Villa. Not too disappointed, as I see Villa as a decent mid/top half finish this season with Martin O'Neill at the helm. He's a great manager, focused on solid defence, and hitting teams on the break and from set pieces. And that's what they did to us yesterday and it worked well. Arsenal these days are always looking for the perfect goal, to let everyone in our team touch the ball before Henry handstands and cartwheels the ball into the top corner, off the crossbar. But never the less, a good start. Walcott also got part of a game, coming on and setting up the equaliser, which was nice to see and from what I saw on the highlights, if he gets a chance this season he could be like Fabregas and Eboue who really came into their own last season.


Like the rest of the world, and other planets in the solar system with internet access, I succumbed to the pressures of joining bebo. For months now I have been addicted to this phenomenon, which has been the vein of my existence i am ashamed to say. It has been just another one of those distractions to keep me back from God, my wife, pro evo, friends... in that order. So today I made a massive step, and deleted my account. It's unbelievable, but I could have spent easily a couple of hours, browsing through friends pages, to see what photos they'd uploaded or what comments people had left for them. So this is Day 01 without bebo, you will be updated with my progress.

Anyway, that's enough for now, have got a Snow Patrol gig on Wednesday, Radiohead on Thurs and reedstar on Fri, does it get any bigger?

Reedstar on tour

So I'm back to work after the whole broken toe and the scoots escapade (sp?) and back into playing bass in some shape or form most nights of the week. Getting back into wedding practices and also reedstar practices too. The lads have set up a myspace page, which at the minute don't really have much on it, but now big Neilly's got t'internet in it'll be packed full of goodies in no time.

So our next gig is this week, just out near Gilford there in Newmills Presby. Should be cool, will be good to get back on the road...

Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós hail from Iceland, and rightly claim to bring you the beautiful landscape of their homeland with their music. It's impossible to fully justify it with words, so the best advice would be to check out their astonishing back catalogue. The video below is from their latest album 'Takk...', the song is 'Hoppípolla'.



Good band, great song. buy all their albums. Or download them. From iTunes.

Reyes to Madrid?

So, Arsenal play Dynamo Zagreb tonight, and there is more than a Champions League spot at place. Firstly, Ashley Cole hasn't been named in the squad, which just adds to the speculation that he'll be sold to Chelski PLC by the weekend. Although it would have been great had Wenger named him in the squad so he'd be cup-tied, but that would probably take £5m+ off his value.

In addition to this it's been said on the BBC website that Reyes future at Arsenal will depend on whether or not he plays tonight. Though one thing did puzzle me,

"It's an open secret that Jose Antonio wants to play for Real Madrid."

An open secret eh? That's not really a secret then. In fact the rather damning image above right suggests that it's a little more than an 'open secret'. He has denied all interest in Real so far, but he can't have much of a comeback for this me thinks.

Ah well, understrength team for tonight, but hopefully the youngsters will come through. Bye bye Cole, and bye bye Reyes.

EDIT: 10:24pm - Who needs Cole, who needs Reyes. 3-0 to Fabregas. Great display with Adebayor, Hleb and Rosicky shining.

I do my bit for renewable energy?

In my work I mostly deliver furniture goods, but now and again I get the hand took out of me and get asked to design logos. For free. Bargain, and I love it. Anyway, the logo/business cards/letterheads were for a new company specialising in solar panels for businesses.

Sun Renewables is all about "clean and sustainable power" and makes for interesting reading. Apparently "the sun transmits more energy to the earth's surface in just one hour... than the whole of mankind uses in a year". So SHARP are guilt tripping businesses into investing in solar panels for their lighting and overheads. Not a bad idea, and has the potential to catch on if you ask me. Bout time too.

Anyway, the website is here read more bout it. Logo design above, took me all of about an hour. Still think I should get paid. Anyone wanna give me a job? A chance? :)

Uganda '06

Well, I'm a week back from Uganda, with a dose of the scoots and a broken toe. The trip was an amazingly fulfilling experience, however I left feeling I had more to give. So in a way it's reassuring to know that this trip didn't come to an end of sorts, it just took a break. Hope to be back someday soon to reunite with brothers and sisters in Christ.

This pic is outside their church, it was so packed there were kids who could not get in. If only the kids back home had the same passion for God's word. In fact, sometimes I wish I had that passion. If I wasn't guaranteed a seat in church at home would I happily stand? Or would I turn and go home? I wonder.

I'm still gathering my thoughts on the whole trip, but i know for a fact that there is something big going to happen in Jandira. With or without Emmanuel. With or without Team 1 and Team 2. With Pastor Richard. With God.