Catching up...

Happy zombie Jesus weekend!

It's been a while and much has transpired. None of it is particularly important though and can be summarised thusly:

Football: The long and short of it, after 32 games this season is this: If Hibs dont beat Rangers and we can beat St Mirren away then we'll have sneaked into a top 6 place by a short nose and can concentrate on clawing back the gap to the euro places in the last 5 games. Draw or lose, regardless of what happens with Hibs and our season is effectively over with nothing to play for. We're completely clear of the relegation zone so the last 5 games would simply be a chance for McGhee to blood some youngsters and/or begin to organise the team for next season. To not make it now would be disappointing, to say the least, even with the horrendous time we had with injuries just before Christmas. The whole season comes down to this one game. If the players need any more motivation than that simple fact then there is something seriously wrong at the club. I know we can do it! As a 'Well fan for all this time though, you get used to disappointment...

Fantasy Football: It's two bad weeks on the trot and I'm languishing down in 7th again. Man Utd's decision to "rest" all three of my players didn't exactly make me grin and it seemed everyone around me had at least two scorers this week. By keeping Lamps as captain this week I've avoided being really finished off, for now. As it is, it looks like H is going to take it (something I will no doubt never hear the end of... "Next time, Gadget, *shakes fist* Next time!!!") but I think I'm looking at a disappointing end to the season. Oh well. Part of me wonders what might have been if I hadn't partially given up for 10 weeks and made no transfers. No excuses though, I've just been owned at every key point this season by what clearly must be more astute managers than I.

Star Wars: A Musical Journey was frankly amazing. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are note perfect (as you'd expect) and hearing those familiar themes from the Fox fanfare to the Imperial March live, in front of you, with THX super sound booming throughout the O2 was something pretty special. Best. Birthday present. Ever.

The rest of the long, long weekend consisted of the usual combination of partying/gaming/chillaxing and recovering. If you're reading this you were probably there for most of it, so I wont bore you with details. It all went better than expected though, so that's always good.

Played a fair bit of Resident Evil 5 over the weekend. I've been disconnected from the series for a while now (I think the original is the only other one I've played) and... it's changed... a lot. Co-op mode is great fun though (much prefer this mode to single player in my shooters these days, partner can cover up my glaring inadequacies in this genre!) although a frustrating bug meant my character lost all the cool weapons I'd bought/upgraded from the first few levels we'd played together. Oh well. Nothing like headshotting one of our infected African brethren to soothe your frustrations. Hmm, I smell a "5 things I hate about..." coming on...

Almost finished Preacher now. It's simply amazing. If you haven't read it and you're not a comic book geek, yet you like your material dark, humorous and razor sharp then you could do worse than starting here. Transmetropolitan is lined up for dessert. Yummy.

Last but not least I have a massive rant welling up about the G20 death, the police state, faux-democracy and all sorts but I'll save that for later (or just internalise it and go nova with a .45 one day on the bus to work, either/or.)

Stay frosty.

Some people are on the pitch...

Scotland 2, Iceland 1. Not amazingly convincing but it really is the result that counts at the moment. Job done. I think qualifying for the Finals is still something of a long shot because if you look at some of the teams currently in second place in the other groups... Well, let's just say, I wouldn't fancy our chances over 2 legs against too many of them... We don't play another competitive international now until August so attentions can once again turn to domestic matters (and fantasy matters!)

Big week in fantasy land. Only 8 rounds of fixtures left and following the disaster I had last time (curse you Gerrard and curse you no clean sheets for Man Utd and Chelsea) I find myself again with a lot of ground to make up. I've studied the fixture list quite extensively looking for opportunities to milk every last point I can in this run-in so hopefully I can make it back into 4th (or even 3rd) before the end.

The 'Well are at home to Aberdeen tomorrow in what is yet another must-win game. With Dundee Utd and Hibs facing each other at Tannadice (draw please!) it's a chance to move into the top 6 again and close the gap to the European places in preparation for the split. Hopefully McGhee has had the lads working hard this week as not too many of them will have been off on international duty (Clarkson is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, as Craigan didn't figure for Northern Ireland due to an injury). 3 points please lads. Nothing less will do.

Shearer takes over at Newcastle. I have to say I really didn't see that coming. I mean, obviously if you cut him open his blood is black and white but he has always stated he'd move when the time was right, both for him and for Newcastle. I'm not so sure that time is now. We shall see. It's hard to imagine a club of the stature of Newcastle being relegated from the EPL but when you take a glance at their remaining opponents there's not much comfort to be found for the beleaguered Toon army. Can their next Messiah lead them out of danger?

Friday drinks tonight, undoubtedly, then more drinking tomorrow (in the name of charity) and a haircut on Sunday. Rock. On.

Played some of the new Rock Band DLC last night. A couple of tracks from Offspring (moar plx!) and Get Up (Sex Machine) by the godfather of soul. Funking it up with JB on Rock Band is pretty f'n cool!

Have a good weekend folks.

Bright, bright, bright, sunshiny day.

Greetings loyal readers! What a lovely day it is (where I am at least). Inverse seasonally affective disorder it may be but there's something about the sunshine that puts a big dumb grin on my face. I even managed to sit in the beer garden of a pub at the weekend wearing nought up top but a t-shirt. Hailing, as I do, from the frozen north, this is something of a new experience for me and one I'm really looking forward to repeating over the coming months. When I moved down here the improved weather conditions were something I was really looking forward to and while the summer of 2007 was, I'm assured, somewhat disappointing (by my standards it was positively lovely), 2008 was much more promising. Hopefully this trend continues and the summer of 2009 is an absolute roaster.

The Mighty 'Well lodged a crucial 2-1 win against the Arabs at the weekend. Somewhat fortunately, by all accounts. Dundee Utd were denied what looked to be a good shout for a pen and had salt rubbed in the wounds as the 'Well broke up the park and nicked a winner. Harsh times for Craig Levein and the old cliche about these things evening out over the course of the season will be scant comfort to a team who have hit a sticky patch just as the season reaches crunch-time. Not that I'm crying into my porridge for them... Hearts did us no favours by losing at home to Hibs so we're still sitting in 7th for the moment but if we do make the top 6 I'm really confident we can take that 4th spot.

In fantasy land my tactical decisions paid off handsomely. Benching Van der Sar for Schwarzer was an obvious move which most of my rivals replicated, so was less effective than I'd hoped it would be but the rest of the lads did well and I was equal top scorer for the gameweek, moving quietly into 4th spot in the league and now focusing on Mr Bishop, sitting only 20 odd points ahead. I think 3rd is all I have left to fight for as 2nd is over 100 points ahead of me with only 9 (or 10 in Man Utd's case) games to play. There would have to be some utterly amazing results to haul back that much of a deficit.

It's been a while since i dropped a video in for your viewing pleasure, so here's a funky mash-up I've been listening to a fair bit lately.



Stay safe kids.

It's Monday, bloody Monday...

Wow, Monday comes around fast doesn't it? I had a wicked weekend of doing very little in the way of anything other than chillaxing with my favourite munchkin. I did introduce her to the joys of Rock Band though which was jolly good fun! I think the Hot Spring Perverts have a potential new lead singer...

On Friday I saw Watchmen. Quick capsule review: Not terrible, not amazing. A bit overlong at 2 hrs 45 but otherwise, nothing to write a blog about. I hadn't read the comic first so can't really join in on the debate raging about the ending, or Alan Moore's disassociation with it. I can only take it as I saw it. Distinctly "OK".

No game for Motherwell this weekend due to the cup matches. We lost in midweek to Hearts despite dominating them to bring to an end our 9 game unbeaten run and effectively put to bed our hopes of finishing third. Guess it's between us, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Hibs for the final Euro place and we're far from in the driving seat there. On current form, I'm fairly confident we can do it though.

Not much to talk about in fantasy land either. Sneaked up into 4th place in the league, level on points with 5th. REALLY need Blackburn to score on Wednesday night, preferably about 13 goals please, thanks. An Andy Johnson hat-trick wouldn't go amiss either.

Played some live poker last week which was really fun. It's been ages since I've played either live or online and it was good to be flopping cards again. Finished in the money on one and narrowly missed out on the cash places in the other so I'm not too rusty it would seem! Might take a wander up to the casino tonight for a game...

Stay frosty people.

And the 'Well roll on

It would appear this blog is turning into one almost solely focused on Motherwell Football Club but there is a school of thought that says if you write about what you know and love then your writing will be all the better for it. Perhaps it's just because we're in the middle of such a good run and once we start to lose again I'll switch the attention of my blogs to happier things but for now, the 'Well are on a storming run which has taken us from the brink of the relegation zone to genuine contenders for a second successive season ending with a European place.

On Friday you may recall I tipped Cillian Sheridan to score first in the match and his first for the 'Well. I was half right, with the loan-man's winner in the second half enough to see off a spirited Inverness side 2-1 and consolidate our position in 6th place. It was the first defeat inflicted on Terry Butcher since he took over the reins at Caley Thistle and makes it 5 wins and 4 draws in the last 9 league games for the Steelmen. Aberdeen must be looking nervously over their shoulders now, with the gap at only 3 points after the Dons drew 0-0 at home with Kilmarnock. With only 6 games left to the split, Motherwell seem to have a somewhat tougher fixture list than the teams above us but with the unique way our league works in Scotland, just getting into the top 6 will mean that the last 5 games of the season will undoubtedly decide everything. If we win half of the games before the split I think that will probably be enough to ensure top 6. Failure to do that now would be devastating after such a poor start to the season, where at times we had 12 fit first-team players. Now that we have the full complement again (including Brian McLean who has recovered from his horrendous injury and started at the weekend in the absence of the supended Paul Quinn) McGhee can put the same team out, more or less, every week which is really helping the team maintain the consistency which was the bedrock of our success last season. Next up is a tricky tie away to high-flying Hearts in midweek, who themselves consolidated their grip on third spot with a crucial away victory to rivals Dundee United on Saturday. It wont be easy, that's for sure, but with a little luck, who knows? I'm tipping the 'Well to sneak a point with a late penalty.

Fantasy football was a mixed bag. My super secret star signing was Lampard who, as captain, netted me a fat 20 points. The only problem being it would seem my fellow managers also had the same flash of inspiration with Lampard suddenly captain in half a dozen teams, and pretty much all my rivals for 4th spot. Still, some daylight is appearing between myself and the teams below me which is encouraging given that 6 of the 15-man squad were either injured, suspended or on Carling Cup duty. With at least 4 of that cadre due back for the midweek fixtures things are perhaps looking up...?

I'll post later regarding my weekend experiences with GTA4: The Lost & The Damned.

Jode out.

Ball Ball Ball, Footy Footy Footy

Here we are once again. The weekend is just a hangover away and my team travel to face bottom-of-the-table Inverness on the back of 8 unbeaten in the league. We're in great form but will have to be to beat a resurgent Inverness who look a completely different side since former 'Well managers Terry Butcher and Mo Malpas joined forces again to take over at the Highland side. Nevertheless, I'm quietly confident (which usually spells disaster). If I was a betting man, I'd also be following my hunch and putting a cheeky fiver on Cillian Sheridan scoring first. He's due, or something like that.

In fantasy land, Man Ure are on Carling Cup duty meaning I've got two guaranteed non-starters over the weekend. Injuries and suspensions have ravaged my side which basically means my new star signing (who will also be my captain this week) better have a stormer or I could be falling behind again after a big move up the table last week. We shall see!

Just a wee one today as it's rapidly approaching pub time and if I didn't post now the chances are good that I wouldn't at all or that it would be drunken rambling (as opposed to regular rambling).

Hope you have a great weekend.

Couldn't embed today's video but do click and check it out.

Catching up

Wow. Quite a lot has happened since my last post, despite it being but two short days ago. So let's start in order...

Motherwell lost. 1-0. To St Mirren. *sigh* Mark McGhee described it as one of the "worst experiences and disappointments of my managerial career". We were shite. St Mirren's new stadium has a lovely pitch which I'd hoped would be ideal for the style of football the 'Well have been trying to play ever since MMG took over but alas, the players didn't live up to it and there should a few of them looking at each other and asking questions. Once again our man of the match was loanee Cillian Sheridan. The rest of them need a kick up the arse. Tomorrow we play Sheridan's parent club (Celtic) which means the boy wont be allowed to play so we're really screwed for that one! With Hibs going down to bottom of the table Inverness today, a point against Celtic would move us above the Edinburgh side. We can but hope.

Thursday night was also the launch party which was a brilliant night. There's always something added to a night on the piss when people you never get the chance to see smashed (particularly your bosses...) are there and having a right good time. The food was good, the drink was free (thank god, £6.50 a tequila!) and the casino was good hearty fun (and more than a little competitive given that there was an iPod touch for the overall winner). As it was, it all came down to the last spin of the roulette wheel and my number just didn't come up. I had to make do with the "That's how I roll" prize (a bottle of nice champagne which I dutifully drank from the bottle) for my scrupulous honesty when it seemed everyone else was pooling winnings or colluding in one way or another. The irony of it all is not lost on me... Afterwards a party set out to go to Reflex, which was sadly closed. We ended up in the real casino where I placed one bet, won £100 and cashed out. All in all, Thursday was great.

Friday I had booked off for the inevitable hangover (which wasn't as bad as I anticipated) and spent most of the daylight tucked up in bed watching DVDs. At night I rolled down to Matt's for GTA4 goodness only to find he had loaned the disc for the original game to a friend and couldn't get it back for a few days. Bummer! We played some Tony Hawk and the new Street Fighter game along with some Rockband well into the early hours. The new White Zombie DLC for RB was good fun to sing! Finally we learn the lyrics of More Human than Human! Fun.

Saturday was spent meandering around the shops, contemplating whether to buy Dawn of War 2 or not. Decided against it on account of buying the complete edition of the first game just two weeks ago. I have a bad habit of doing that. Got home and checked the football scores and to my delight Beattie had grabbed a late double for Stoke against Pompey. Yes, of course he is in my fantasy team. All in all it was a pretty good day actually and I climbed to 4th place in the league ahead of tomorrow's matches. I'll not be in that position after tomorrow because most of my team has played where my rivals haven't but I'll be a pretty happy man if Everton and Liverpool dont keep clean sheets tomorrow. Ronaldo scored again, although he did get booked for diving, the cheating bastard. I watched it on Match of the Day and the gelled tumbler wasn't even touched. Honestly, it almost hurts to put aside my personal feelings in the hunt for more fantasy points where this twat is concerned.

One last thing of note about the football today which highly amused me is that Man United finally conceded after, wait for it, 1337 minutes of league football. Ho ho ho. (Half you are scratching your head going 'wtf?' right now I know, so allow me to link...)

So I wrote quite a lot today to make up for the day (and a bit) of radio silence. Well done if you made it to the end of this pointless drivel. I see my musings here have (at least partially) inspired a couple of you to start/pickup blog writing of your own. I look forward to reading your pointless drivel too. ;)

Jode out.

LC DLC FTW!

GTA 4 gets its first DLC on xbox

Back in July last year when I split up with the ex and moved in with my mate, GTA 4 filled many many hours of fun for more or less a complete month as we systematically took the game apart. It was pretty much my favourite game of last year (although my 2 month love affair with WAR comes close but once again, I was left disappointed with an MMORPG). The new episode, which Matt downloaded yesterday is finally here and once again we are getting ready to tear Liberty City a new one. I'm kinda sad that Niko Bellic isn't the protagonist this time around. I've not paid too much attention to the build-up for this so know very little about it but nevertheless I'm really looking forward to playing it. With conflicting schedules, it seems the first available window to try it out will be Friday, which coincides with an online event that will let you play against the developers. I'd really liked to have got some practice in beforehand but meh, what can you do? I'm sure much carnage will ensue.

In other news, this evening sees Man Utd play Fulham in an outstanding fixture that will hopefully see me jump a place in the fantasy league. Most people have Man U defenders and a fair few have the "gelled tumbler" as Captain so there is not too much potential for change in the league but you never know. I could really do with Ronaldo repaying some of the faith I put in him when I savaged my team to afford his exorbitant price, right before he went on a Nani-esque run of doing hee-haw. Things are really tight in the league around me at the moment and a goal or two could see me move up to 5th or 6th, which given I was down in the bottom half before an excellent January would be a decent achievement.

In real life football, it's the 'Well vs St Mirren in the cup replay tomorrow, with Celtic awaiting the victors in the next round. Bit bummed with the draw to be honest but I suppose to win the thing you have to beat at least one half of the Old Firm along the way (usually). That's exactly what happened in 1991 when we beat Celtic 4-2 in a replay at Hampden with Colin O'Neil scoring a wonder strike.



I remember it so well. What a strike! Could this be our year again? We need to dispatch the Saints first which wont be easy by any means. Mon the 'Well!

It's all just fantasy

So my Fantasy Football team had another decent week and yet still I slip a place in the league and lose ground on my rivals. Somewhat annoying. Hopefully the decision to weight the team with Man U and Man City players (both have an extra game this gameweek) will pay dividends and I can climb into the top 5 for the first time this season.

On the plus side, the strong January performance has at least put me in the mix for the top 4. 3rd is maybe a little bit too far ahead to catch by the end of the season. We shall see...

EDIT: Sean Wright-Phillips slapped with a three match ban for his petulance. Oh well, he'll miss that extra game then. Time to ship him out methinks. He's been a poor performer anyway. The good news is I have over 3 million in the bank with which to turn him into someone excellent (although I was contemplating picking up Vidic and/or Terry to try and squeeze a little more joy out of all those clean sheets). Ahh, dilemmas.