Why do they bring trailers out so far in advance these days?

It just promises something that will not be delivered anytime soon!

Click here or on the picture for the trailer

The first two were good and this one shows promise with the Sandman and a load of black liquid moving around....

The trailer for Transformers is up on the web too, although it shows little and not quite as excitement inducing as Spidey

I am quite excited by this prospect

My brother used to own the video of this and it was amazing. Its a band at their peak in performance and creativity. I think people forget how big of a risk and a departure that U2 took to go this direction from where they were at come the end of the Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. My oldest brother queued up at midnight for the release of Achtung Baby and said that when he put it on the first time he thought that the cd was broken. Roll on September release!

From u2.com


ZOO TV On DVD

‘Zoo TV Live From Sydney’ is set for DVD release in September. As well as the legendary live show, now digitally remastered, the new release comes with a bonus DVD of live tracks, mini-documentaries and the inimitable ‘Video Confessional’. Details here.

Filmed at the Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia, in November 1993 - and now only available on something called VHS – the film is directed by David Mallet and produced by Ned O’Hanlon and Rocky Oldham. More on the background to the DVD release in the next few days, meantime, here’s the running order.

Disc One

Show Opening
Zoo Station
The Fly
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
One
Unchained Melody
Until The End Of The World
New Year’s Day
Numb
Angel Of Harlem
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Satellite Of Love
Dirty Day
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Where The Streets Have No Name
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car
Lemon
With Or Without You
Love Is Blindness
Can’t Help Falling In Love

And from it here is a brilliant version of "Running to Stand Still" that shows how U2 can change the already great recorded versions of songs into sublime moments

Pictures from my computer No. 12

This is just up the road from where I grew up and where my parents still live. Everytime I see its picture it reminds me of home.

The Phenomenon

I was really glad to see Ronaldo score yesterday, his 15th in the World Cup, meaning he is the top goal scorer in World Cup history.



He has been at the top of the game all through the time I have been watching football and he is a great player.

He was brilliant in France, right up to the final, and his performance 4 years ago, after having injury worries for almost all the time between the two World Cups, showed immense talent and character.

Although, as he ran through on goal, looking twice the weight he used to be, with half the pace, I couldn't help lamenting and pining for the Ronaldo that I remembered from a few years ago.



And I thought I'd leave you with a little compilation of proabably his peak period in club football. He came to Barcelona from PSV and was in top form for a season before transfering to Inter Milan, where it seemed to start going downhill from then on. The Barca shirt from this season is the first one I ever bought. I should wear it next week in football as a tribute.



(Sorry about the music in this video, not my fault!)

Premium, premium, premium....

Lahm is first in the agenda of the Barça

The main objective of the azulgrana club is Philipp Lahm, lateral the left one of the German selection that is dazzling in this World-wide one, although Txiki Begiristain has not discovered it now. For a long time that the club already had put the sights in this lateral one of 23 years. Great defender, with offensive projection, knows to use the two legs, which turns to him a multipurpose player who can act in the two bands. In addition, chut has a fort since it has already demonstrated in this World-wide one. In fact, Lahm was the player who obtained the first goal in Germany with an extraordinary firing from outside the area.

Yet more premium translation

I may be having too much fun in doing this. It may wear off soon but, for the minute, it is making me laugh a lot:

Neeskens recommends to the Barça the draftee of the Australian Lucas Neill

Johan Neeskens is in Germany, where it is the second of Hiddink in the Australian selection, the Dutch signed two weeks ago like assistant of Rijkaard in the Barça and, so far, he will have to hope to begin to exert because its selection, Australia, gamble spends to quarterfinals before Italy Monday. Even so, Neeskens already is thinking about the Barça and, in declarations to the newspaper `The Sidney Morning Herald', has recognized who Lucas Neill, the defense `aussie' that plays in the Blackburn Rovers, would be a good reinforcement for the Barça. “Lucas has demonstrated that she can act at a great level. He has demonstrated in his equipment that can play in the best clubs. So… So that no?

More premium translation

The Espanyol does not discard the draftee of Saviola

Javier “the Rabbit” Saviola, Argentine player who has played this season in the Seville yielded by Barcelona, returns to enter the plans of the Espanyol. The international Argentinean was on the verge of the past filing by “the perico” set summer, but in the end its incorporation remained in “water of borrajas” and ended up playing in Seville.

Premium translation

I thought that I would take advantage of the translate tool that is in Firefox to have a look at the Spanish paper Marca's website. This is what I got from one of the stories:

The father of Messi discards that his son goes to Real Madrid

Jorge Messi, father and representative of Leo, reiterated that the Argentinean will follow in the Barça and discarded that he could go to Real Madrid. “Each one will know what does but that cannot be done to him to the Barça. Leo is a boy very wanted by all the liking and insurance that will not make a treason of this type”, explained. Messi has appeared in the list of the candidates to the presidency of Madrid but the ancestor of Messi made clear that he has not connected with any of them. However, he understands that the soccer player can become an electoral weapon: “In these cases always he happens the same and he is used players who are responding”.

Pictures from my computer No. 11

(Why can't movies based on comics be better than they turn out to be?)

Goooooooaaaaall de Brasiiiil!

How do you make football even more exciting than it already has the potential to be?

One way is if all the TV networks across the world employed commentators from Brazil. I would much prefer listening to this than John Motson or any old duffer that ITV choses to put on. I especially like the "Brasil!" after Ronaldo's second goal, as it sounds like its introducing a fighter in Street Fighter 2

Suburban Homesick Alien

An alien spacecraft landed in the university campus near where we live last week, so my wife and I headed down to have a look round inside and take some pictures:

Picture from my computer No. 10

What a shame this awesome character was wasted in such a terrible movie

New Shoes

Does anyone rememember the character from Twin Peaks who only ever said "New shoes..." after a while?

Anyway, I bought new shoes for football today. A bit blue but I'm taking a chance and I like a bit of Puma action in my shoes. They are the coolest sports manufacturer in the world of football boots, in my opinion

First comments left

I've had my first comments left on my blog. Hurrah. In some ways I would probably just write this if no one else was looking as it provides me with something to do and to somehow formulate my thoughts into a coherent package but its nice to have people looking.


Someone for New York commented on the football/christian post below.

Hello Nu Yoik!

Pictures from my computer No. 9

During the course of the Brazil match last night the cameras kept showing Pele sitting watching the match. We've also seen Beckenbauer at pretty much every match, Cruyff at the Holland matches and Maradonna acting like a complete loon during the Argentina matches.

It struck me that the from the collection of "Greatest Footballers Ever" that George Best was the first one to go. He didn;t quite have the global impact of some of the others, as being from Northern Ireland you don't get to play in many World Cups.

The others have driven their teams on to at least the final and, apart from Cruyff, have lifted the World Cup themselves once or twice. In Maradonna's case he almost singlehandedly delivered the World Cup with some of his performances in '86.

Despite this there was a lot of reaction to Best dying and a lot of plaudits from round the world. It will be strange when the rest of them start to shuffle off the planet, as they inevitably will, and to see the tributes that will be paid to them.

I've been lucky enough to see Ronaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho at their best and it has been thrilling and a delight but imagine what it must have been like to watch some of the fellows listed above...

We're Ghana Win!

I think I'll start supporting Ghana in the World Cup after seeing them beat the USA to go through to the next round.

One of the main reasons is that when they blew the final whistle there were shots of the players praying on the pitch together, one of who got up to show a t-shirt under his top proclaiming "Wonderful Jesus". The back of the shirt said "John Mensah, The Rock of Gibraltar"...slightly less edifying but good for the comedy value.

What might cause a problem with the supporting of Ghana for these reasons is that they are through to the next round to possibly play Brazil, who should beat Japan later on today.

This is because of them having Kaka and Cafu (along with a few others) who are proud to ally themselves with Christ in the world of football.

When Brazil won the World Cup four years ago, Cafu went up to collect it after having "100 % Jesus" written across the front of his football shirt, ensuring that the message would reach the millions watching around the world.


I've already drawn attention to Kaka with an earlier post showing the embroidery on his boots, proclaiming "I Belong to Jesus". He also got married to his childhood sweetheart and was proud to tell people that he was still a virgin when he did so. How often would you find that in the world that the footballers of today inhabit.

This fact about his marriage, and through it his faith, has popped up in a lot of the articles that have been written about him leading up to the Wolrd Cup. He is tipped to be the star of the team, adding consistency to the Brazillian flair.

SO I'm behind Ghana, but also behind Brazil, most of all I am behind Christ and the Christians across the world, including those who are appearing in the football.

Brazil seem the most likely to come through the next round but you never know. If the Ghanaians can keep their enthusiasm and energy it could be an interesting match in prospect.

Pictures from my computer No. 8

Pictures from my computer No. 7

Big Bad Boba Fett

Pictures from my computer No. 6

Victory for the Comic Muse

The Divine Comedy release their latest album this week. I have it sitting beside me on my desk but am waiting for the OK to open it from my wife (who is the one who ordered it, so its only fair she gets the say)

What I've heard of it is promising. I'm a long time fan of the band/collective/Neil Hannon and he is one of those guys who you just will to keep being good. Not all the Divine Comedy albums have been brilliant but they always have a redeeming wit and intelligence that shines through. The last effort, Absent Friends, was half a brilliant album and had loads of great song writing contained within it but some of it was unfortunately hidden behind over complicated and ambitious musical arrangements. I'm not against ambition in music and seeking to do something new but sometimes simplicity is the best way to go.

I don't know whether "simple" could apply to any of the DC albums but this one seems to return to a more tightly contained musical canvas to paint the songs on and it benefits from it.

The video for the latest single, "Diva Lady", shows Neil's sense of humour and you can watch it below, courtesy of You Tube

Big in Germany

In this month where most of the world's attention is hooked on Germany, with the BBC's studio overlooking the Brandenburg Gate it seems apt to post about The Hoff.

This little delight appeared in Pitchfork's Top 100 Videos and is potentially possibly the worst and the best thing ever at the same time.

I give you The Hoff

Pictures from my computer No. 5

A little memory of one of the best football matches I have ever seen

Pictures from my computer No. 4

The Hoff

Quote:

"I have left him to boil in his own soup. He's a fantastic guy, but he must change his computer chip."

Italy coach Marcello Lippi after Daniele De Rossi's sending off for elbowing the USA's Brian McBride

Pictures from my computer no.3

Pictures from my computer No. 2

Kaka's Boots

DJ Joe Bloggs

One half of Portished is also a DJ and a DJ with a very normal name. No "Danger Mouse", "Shadow" or similar, he simply goes by the name DJ Andy Smith.

I remember years ago that my brother bought his mix cd, the Document, which was cool mix of hip-hop, funk and soul (including a fine Tom Jones song)

Its nice to find out that he is one of those decent fellas who gives people a chance to hear what he is like on his website through some free mp3s. There are a couple of mixes he did for Radio 1 and a few other live things that are worth checking out.

Radio 1 Essential mix part 1

Radio 1 Essential mix part 2

Picture from my computer No. 1

Pictures from my computer - intro

Before you run for the hills over that post title I should start by stating that I am no dodgy, Garry Glitter type, figure.

Over the years I have picked up the habit of just saving pictures to my computer when a ool one pops up on a website that I am looking at. I thought that I would take advantage of the ability on this blog website to upload them that I didn't have over at Livejournal.

I may add a little explanation of them but mostly I will probably just stick the picture up, with maybe a name of what it is.

Football, football, football

I have been watching loads and loads of football over the last week due to the wonderful World Cup being on and me being in the alright position of being around at home all day. I have finally seen the up side of writing up a PhD, namely the loads of free time that is potentially afforded to you being used for something that you enjoy doing and not feeling guilty or crap about doing it.

People may disagree, but I think football is a great thing both in terms of the game itself and also for it ability to bring men together and have something common to talk about.

Men are often closed and emotionally deficient souls, who sometimes struggle to talk to anyone in a relaxed manner but the common ground for discussion that is the World Cup breaks through that somewhat.

I have been in a few countries in the world and talked to many people from many countries here in England too and you can bet that if you need something to have a way in and talk to people, the subject of football will be the key.

In Romania 6 years ago we ended up playing football against some guys who lived in the town we were staying in. It didn;t matter that we couldn't speak Romanian at all and they had very limited English, we became friends by kicking a small, white, leather bound object around a pitch for a while every night.

Then, in Durban a couple of years ago, my limited knowledge of the Kaizer Chiefs (not the band! The Jo'burg based football team) made getting to know the guy we were working with, Amon, so much easier. Conversations about "Shoes" Mosheeau, the Chiefs midfield maestro, broke the ice nicely and created an ease of conversation that may have taken too long to get to.

Also in Durban I spent a time one afternoon kicking a football around with a young guy from the site we were working on. Again there was a complete language barrier that was smashed with a well placed right foot shot.

Those who complain at this time of year shouldn't be too quick to criticise and just drink in the atmosphere and a bit of the play. Its been a great tournament so far this year, with goals and great play in almost every match that has been on and Brazil are still yet to get to where people know where they can get.

So watch a few matches, enjoy the spectacle and try and file a few of the names and big results away in your memory. You don't know when you'll find yourself sitting beside a Ghanaian and find that bringing up Gyan's goal against the Czech Republic opens so many doors.

Hello

I decided to hop over to the Blogger website from livejournal, as all the blogs I see here look better and more polished than the ones at LJ.

We will se how it goes. I wasn't too excited by the whole blogging thing there for a while, and to be honest, I'm not too excited by it now but I just can't quite shake it off.