First To Wear The Green

Do Celtic actually want to be Hibs?
Are they going to change their strip to all green with white sleeves?
Will their ground be renamed to New Easter Road?

The way Celtic are going, Hibs won't exist in 10 years time as all the players and staff will be through in Glasgow.
It's like 1888 all over again.

Ring Of Fire

I'm glad to see that Johnny Cash is still as relevant today as he has ever been. I was in the pub on Friday night and karaoke was on. I'm not a big karaoke singer (only ever done it once before) but myself and 2 others guy decided we would give Ring Of Fire a bash. We weren't sure if it would be that popular a choice but as soon as we started the whole pub joined in! Admittedly most people just wanted to bounce around and sing Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da. However it made for a great atmosphere (and helped to drown out my singing which isn't a bad thing.)
I'm really glad to see JC is still gaining new fans, just goes to show he really is a legend.

If you would like to see one of the reasons for his legend status then watch this.

Avalanche

When I was young and discovering music for the first time it took a few years to discover what genres I really like. A big influence on my own tastes was Avalanche Records on West Register Street in Edinburgh.
Before discovering this shop I was quite often influenced by the mainstream which was reflected in my first few albums being the kind of manufactured pop acts I hate now. I did enjoy these at the time but it's almost as if I wasn't fully in charge of making these selections.
However Avalanche Records changed this. It allowed me to define my own tastes through stocking the kind of obscure and random cd's the high street shops didn't. There was a great selection of cheap second hand cd's which meant I could take a chance of artists I had only vaguely heard of. There was always something exciting about buying a random album on a whim, going home and listening to it for the first time. Admittedly there were some disasters but quite often the albums turned out to be really good, almost as if I knew I would enjoy them.
I used to love browsing in the shop for ages even though it wasn't very big and listening to the music that was being played. It was a fairly safe bet that it wasn't top 40 music.
In short I owe some of my love of music to Avalanche Records (along with friends to discuss it with) so I was quite upset to find out on Saturday that the shop has now closed.
I hadn't been to visit it for a couple of years mainly due to the fact that I don't find myself in Newington very often these days but I just assumed that it would still be there helping to shape the tastes of the latest generation of teenagers. Guess I was wrong and that is a bit sad.
The advent of mp3 music and itunes probably contributed to it's decline. It is easier to purchase music over the internet but for me you can't replicate the good times that you could have in a proper record shop.

Lemon

Scottish Football Frustrations

The Old Firm buying up the best players from other Scottish teams and then complaining about the lack of competition. Gordon Strachan is the latest culprit. He has spent the past couple of years buying the best players from Hibs & Hearts and he then has the cheek to say there isn't enough competition in the SPL. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why.

Managers from clubs spending time talking about other clubs. Jimmy Calderwood is a good example but the latest culprit is Stevie Frail who has developed an obsession with Hibs. He has spent a lot of time trying to talk them down, the latest claim was that Hearts have a better squad than Hibs, he doesn't rate the young Hibs players and he thinks Hearts had a better season than Hibs. Now I happen to disagree with all these points (Hibs won a cup and Hearts won ......... nothing) but it annoys me that Frail thinks he can comment on Hibs. He has no idea what goes on at Easter Road so he isn't qualified to make any announcements. He should follow the lead of John Collins and stick to talking about his own club.

Celtic's insistence of effectively taking over the Scottish Cup Final and turning it into a farewell party. They did it in 2004 for Larsson, in 2005 for Martin O'Neill and this year for Neil Lennon. It devalues the Scottish and isn't fair on whichever team Celtic happen to be playing in the final (Sadly this is never Hibs). I can appreciate Larsson and O'Neill deserved a send off for their achievements but don't make it the cup final. The less said about Lennon the better, he really isn't a good role model and doesn't deserve to be canonised in this way.

Every Scotland manager who picks on Old Firm youngster after he has played a couple of good games. This despite the fact that there are players at other clubs who have been playing consistently well for a number of season yet are overlooked as they don't play in Glasgow. The latest example of this is Alan Hutton (who it was generally agreed was mince until he had some good games) being picked ahead of Steven Whittaker despite the fact Whittaker has been one of Hibs top players for the last 3 years.

Chump

Liverpool were unlucky to lose the Champions League final last night as they were probably the better team. The media seem to be focusing on Liverpool lacking quality in the final third or not quite having the creative spark required to break down the Milan defence.
This seems to miss the real reason for the defeat which was in fact Bolo Zenden or as I was calling him last night Bolo Fucking Zenden.
The guy is terrible and he should never have been anywhere near the pitch last night. I don't understand how he gets selected as I have never seen him play well in a Liverpool jersey. I thought that Benitez was a master tactician but perhaps Alex Miller has more influence than we think.
Every time the ball went to Zenden last night he lost it either through poor passing or being tackled. Every good Liverpool move broke down when the ball reached him. He was also responsible for one of the worst shots I have seen since Sam Morrow graced a Hibs jersey. His shot from the corner of the 18 yard box effectively went right along the edge of the box going further and further away from goal. He was so bad he made Harry Kewell look good when he replaced him in the second half and that is some feat.

I'm dumbfounded that this guy has played for some of the top clubs in Europe such as PSV, Chelsea and Barcelona along with playing in World Cup's. Fair play to him for making the most of his lack of talent I guess.
If Benitez has any hopes of mounting a Premiership title challenge or winning the Champions League again then he needs to get shot of Bolo pronto.

Line Rider

Do you like lines?
Do you like sledging?
If yes then click here

At first this game doesn't seem like it will be much fun. All you are really required to do is to draw some lines and watch a little guy sledge along them. However once you start to master jumps, backflips and loops then it becomes quite addictive.
Check out the videos of the course some other people have created, they are pretty special.

Decision Made

I've finally made my Uni decision and I will be going to Robert Gordon in Aberdeen. The decision has been hanging over me for a while so I thought it was about time I chose one so that I can start getting organised. It's a bit of a relief to have settled it and to know where I will be spending most of the next 4 years.
I had a good feeling about Robert Gordon when I went there for my interview, it was certainly a lot better and more professional than the one at York. It's also going to be easier for me to retain my life in Edinburgh while I'm at Aberdeen and I can keep my season ticket for Hibs!
All I need to do know is arrange accommodation, sort out the payment of fees, complete grant forms, buy relevant books and uniform etc. Looks like I'm going to be busy.

The "New" Golf Tavern

The Old Golf Tavern next to Bruntsfield Links used to be one of my favourite pubs to visit. There was a sense of history about the place which was good, the name was taken from the pitch and putt course on the links which I believe was one of the oldest in the country. Understandably the pub liked to play this angle up and did it well. They also had a number of leather sofa's which were great for relaxing in while having a couple of beers. It was a proper Edinburgh pub and everyone that I know who went there liked it.
I hadn't been there for a couple of years due to the fact I don't really find myself in Bruntsfield these day. However I was up that way at the weekend and decided it would be good to pop in. Much to my dismay there has been a refurbishment and it's now terrible.
Gone is the nice relaxing vibe and the sense of history. In it's place is a lot of metal furnishings, uncomfy seats, blaring music (bear in mind this was a sunday afternoon) and big tv screens everywhere. What makes it worse is that it still looks the same inviting pub from the outside! The full horror is only revealed once you are in. There is a half hearted attempt to live up the name with some golf memorabilia on the walls but it doesn't fit in with the new decor. Obviously they have decided to target the student market but I really don't understand why they have attempted to modernise it. I can understand that some pubs need to revamp themselves especially if they aren't making money or the place is looking tatty. However I don't believe either of these apply, it appears to be modernisation just for the sake of it.
This was a proper Edinburgh pub but now it has lost its soul. If you were a fan of the Old Golf Tavern then I'd recommend you to stay away to prevent disappointment.

Novel Idea

If you like books and are in Edinburgh this week then I'd recommend going to the church at the east end of George Street. There you will find the Christian Aid second hand book sale and it's book buying heaven! It's certainly the highlight of my book buying year.
I look forward to this every year as there is thousands of books to browse ranging from new releases to classics. They also have a lot of non fiction on a variety of subjects.
I love spending my lunch hour browsing through all the stalls trying to find some bargains, it's a great opportunity to try books you perhaps wouldn't buy at full price. I went on Monday lunchtime and came away with 7 books, some of them for only 50p. I was very pleased to get the new Don Winslow for £3 as it has just been released at £11.99.
My only problem now is that I have far too many books to read so I may have to try and avoid the sale for the next couple of days especially as I'm supposed to be getting rid of some of my books. Not sure I'll be able to resist the lure though.

Stitch Up

The English Premiership season finished yesterday with some exciting games. The biggest game was probably Sheffield United against Wigan as it was likely that one of these teams would be relegated. It ended with a 2-1 win for Wigan which meant that United got relegated by 1 goal.
However, it's a complete travesty that West Ham United got to stay up at the expense of Sheffield United. Earlier in the season West Ham signed two big name players in Carlos Tevez & Javier Mascherano. Both players are very good and had starred in the last World Cup, eyebrows were certainly raised when they signed as no-one was really sure how West Ham had managed it. As it turned out, they did it illegally as neither player met the registration requirements for the Premiership. It was widely expected that this breach of the rules would result in a points deduction as that was the standard punishment. To make it worse West Ham seemed to deliberately mislead the initial inquiry. However they received a fine of £5.5 million which may sound a lot but staying in the Premiership could be worth over £30 million. The head of the inquiry then said that due to the fact West Ham were in relegation trouble it didn't seem right to deduct them points although it may have been different if they were mid table. That is a shocking statment as their position should have nothing to do with it. Bear in mind that Middlesbrough were deducted 3 points a few years ago for cancelling a fixture due to a sickness bug leaving them with only a handful of players. They were then relegated by 2 points. Surely this and other cases had set a precedent.
Ultimately West Ham were fielding illegal players and Tevez especially helped them avoid relegation. If the Premiership had done their duty and deducted 3 points then West Ham would have been relegated.
West Ham keep saying that it is right the relegation issue was decided on the pitch but this misses the point. They broke the rules and should have been punished accordingly. Ultimately the rule break affected what happened on the pitch as they won points with players who shouldn't have been allowed to play. They also scored the worst goal of the season in which there were 3 reasons not to give it. In the build up a West Ham player handled the ball before a shot was taken. The shot that resulted then hit Tevez on the line so it never crossed the line and Tevez was in an offside position. How this was awarded I do not know.
There is talk that Sheffield United and the other teams who avoided relegation are going to challenge the decision. I really hope they do as at the moment the Premiership have effectively said that it is ok to break the rules as long as you can buy your way out of trouble. There is nothing like looking after the big clubs.

Dull

It's going to be a long three and a half months at work until I can leave and go to University. Ever since I advised the managers of my plans, I have become increasingly marginalised in the office. There has always been an issue with communication and not being included in certain projects but it has been getting worse to the point were I actually feel I'm being deliberately excluded. I only get given work when there is no one else available to do it and when I'm involved in projects I never get told the full story. It's very difficult to remain motivated and to do a good job in these circumstances. It probably doesn't help that I'm still sitting in the corner facing a wall. They may as well just stick a dunce's cap on me and tell everyone not to talk to me.
Ultimately I shouldn't really care as firstly I'm leaving anyway and secondly I'm getting paid a decent wage for not doing very much. However it is very frustrating when you feel you are being excluded and the day drags by when you are bored. I'd rather be involved and be busy because then you at least feel useful and have an improved sense of fulfilment.
I can't wait to get to Uni so that I'll be challenged and actually be able to learn.

Spider Sense Tingles

I'm concerned that the Spiderman film series is going to follow the Batman equation:
Another Sequel + Increased Number of Villains = Poor Film
With the Batman series, they started off really well and the first two concentrated on one main villain. However by the third film they started throwing in more villains so there was usually 2 or 3 and as such, the films became confused. This meant the films weren't as good and this was shown in the box office.
I've been a big fan of the Spiderman films but I felt the third one wasn't as good. Don't get me wrong, I did really enjoy the film but I just felt the first 2 were better and I think the problem stems from the fact that there were 3 villains for Spidey to face. This included the return of the Green Goblin, Venom and Sandman. This meant that there was sometimes too much going on in the film and that certain things just fell into place too easily. Characters such as the Stacey's were introduced and then just discarded when they probably should have had more focus in the film. I feel that it would have been better to concentrate on one villain per film, possibly even 2 at the most and I hope this is a lesson learned for the fourth film.
I was also amused by the "How can we make Peter Parker show his dark side" quandary. Apparently the answer is to turn him emo. Just comb his fringe in front of his eyes and give him dark eyeliner, that will do the trick.
Despite the faults it still was a good film. The action sequences were good, the acting (apart from James Franco trying to look mean in a mirror) was good and they do try to stay faithful to the original comic book story lines despite some revisions. I just hope that the danger signs I noticed don't indicate that the series is starting to head downhill.

I also watched Marie Antoinette over the weekend. For anyone planning on watching this, the only advice I can give is don't. It's utter pish, nothing actually happens. Even the presence of Kirsten Dunst (and her partial nudity....) can't save the film. It looks really good and obviously a lot of effort has been made in ensuring costumes, make up, hair and sets are as historically accurate as possible. However this seems to be at the expense of the script. Basically what happens is Kirsten becomes a French princess & her husband doesn't want to buff her for some reason. They become King & Queen, finally have sex and have kids. Kirsten then stops a revolution. That's it. It took me about 2 minutes to write what happened but for some reason this was stretched out over 2 very long and dull hours. Wish I had just watched the snooker, at least that had drama and excitement.

Winds Of Change

The Scottish election results on Friday have potentially heralded a new era in Scotland.If you don't know, the SNP won the election by one seat from Labour. In fact you could say they won by 50 votes as that was the winning margin in one of their seats. It was certainly very close but I think the SNP did deserve to win based on all of the campaigns and overall they did get the highest number of votes. For the first time I actually quite enjoyed watching the results come in during the day. Labour had the lead for most of the day but the SNP started to gain and then pulled ahead right at the very end. We needed a change from Labour so that the ruling party is different from the party in charge at Westminster so I was pleased the SNP managed to clinch it. I appreciate the fact that the SNP have a lot to prove, many people have doubts on whether they can actually run the country but there is really only one way to find out. Labour have ruled in Scotland for the last 8 years and that wasn't really much of a success so it was time for a change.
However this being Scotland, the election didn't really go according to plan with over 100,000 spoiled ballot papers being discounted. This equates to roughly 1 in 20 votes not being used which is a farce. When voting in an election you would expect to put one cross against one name before putting the vote into the ballot box. However this would have been too easy so the Parliament decided to needlessly complicate matters by having 3 different votes on 2 different papers, some of which required X's and some which required numbers. Whilst it wasn't rocket science, the spoiled papers showed that people did have problems understanding the system and this could lead to challenges over results in court. In 10 seats, the majority was exceeded by the number of spoiled papers which could have had a massive effect.
The next problem is how the Parliament is going to be run. As the SNP won they have the moral right to lead but in order to have a majority, they need to form a coalition with the Lib Dems & the Greens. This isn't going to be easy to achieve as the Lib Dems have already stated they won't even hold talks if the SNP intend to hold a referendum on Scottish Independence. This seems to be stalemate as I can't see either party willing to compromise on this point. If this is the case then the SNP would have to try and rule with a minority government which is unlikely to go well.
In my opinion, for Scotland to move forward we need to have a Parliament with majority rule. Both the SNP and Lib Dems have a number of policies which are very similar so from that point of view it would make sense for them to form a coalition. The danger of minority rule is that no policies will ever get passed due to the fact that all the parties will bicker and vote against each other. This would turn Holyrood into a joke and alienate the electorate even more, bearing in mind voter turn out was only 50% on Friday. Let's hope for the sake of Scotland that talks for the coalition prove successful.

Negative

I know I've written about this before but I am getting very hacked off with Labour's continual negative campaigning in the Scottish Elections. I watched the leaders debate on TV on Sunday night and while it wasn't the most impressive performance from Jack McConnell at least he was focusing on what Labour can do. I thought at last Labour had a change of heart but it seems to have been a temporary blip. It's the last full day before the elections and they have launched yet another attack on the SNP. Their main message this election seems to be don't vote for the SNP otherwise the world will end. I may have taken some artistic licence there but it's not that far from the truth.
Labour seem to be bullying people into voting for them and trying to play on voter's fears of what might happen to Scotland if the SNP get in. Surely this isn't the way to run an election campaign and to inspire confidence. Have Labour been studying the style of the BNP who play on people's fear of immigration? A party who wants power should be forward-thinking, positive and proactive, I'm not sure Labour have demonstrated any of these qualities so far.
The latest blatant electioneering gambit is for Tony Blair to come up to Scotland to announce for the first time that it's likely that a Scot will be the next Prime Minister of Britain. For me this is an insult to the Scottish people. Firstly it's common knowledge that Gordon Brown is the favourite to take over and for Labour to think that this may sway voters to chose Labour is naive at best. Secondly Tony Blair himself is a Scot, a fact he likes to forget. He was born in Edinburgh and went to school here, that hasn't done Scotland any favours so why is Gordon Brown going to be any different. I would like to think Scots are more intelligent than Blair seems to be giving us credit for.
The most concerning aspect of this campaign is the fact that it may well succeed. SNP are ahead in the polls but the gap to Labour seems to be narrowing as we get closer to election day. It seems the final result will probably be very close and the Lib Dems may well be the party which helps decide the future of Scotland by forming a coalition with either Labour or the SNP. Voters do seem very disillusioned with Labour and Tony Blair in particular especially over the Iraq war, this could prove to be very significant.
I personally think the best result would be a coalition between SNP and Lib Dems. Whilst their campaigns haven't been without problems, at least both are focusing on what they can do for Scotland. I'm not sure the SNP are ready to run the country on their own especially if they start pushing for independence and picking fights with Westminster. Having the Lib Dems there will help to ensure the SNP focus on what's best for the country.