Last Night/Amanda Palmer

I wanna tell you a story. About my day yesterday. I went to see Amanda Palmer perform in Manchester.

It started with my friend cancelling on me at the last minute, so I had to go to Manchester alone. So I have a wander round, get some food at a noodle bar, a drink down me, and go to queue up at the Academy.

There's a couple of other guys there, and a couple of girls soon join us. Then maybe 30 minutes later, we're informed we're at the wrong venue. So good start I feel. We wander to CLUB Academy, and fortunately, we're still not that far back. In the mean-time, I still have a spare ticket, so after trying to find someone who needed it, I ended up having to sell it to a tout for £6.

So we queue up and get in, and watch everybody perform an absolutely amazing show. Seriously, they blew just about everybody else I've seen away. Queueing up afterwards for merchandise, the people I met earlier depart, and some guy congratulates me on MY singing. Which is nice, but odd. I pick up WKAP, (Amanda's CD), and head out for the walk to the train station.

In which the last train has already gone. Obviously. Anyhow, I meet a couple of girls who suffered the same fate, and knowing my next train isn't till 1:40, we all go out and wander round Manchester till we find a nice looking Chinese restaurant. 3 plates of sweet and sour chicken (probably the dullest order they ever received), rice and Coke later, we depart, and head back to the station. Where a large area is police taped off in the approach, and a bodybag is laid in the middle of it.

Yeah.

We stop and gawp for a minute at the police presence, make the customary "It better not be Amanda" jokes and then wander bemused into the station. Which tells me I missed my train about a minute before.

So the 3 of us resign ourselves to staying till about 5 AM when tomorrow's trains start. And we wander off again looking for somewhere slightly more comfortable to doze, after realising train station seating isn't all that comfy and buying a bottle of Coke from the 24 hour shop. Bodybag is still there, and after trawling a few hotels, we find a Hotel/Bar near the station, some really expensive looking place filled with what looked like music industry types still drinking and looking far too middle class.

We sneak in through the revellers, have a quick wander and find the breakfast bar which looks comfy. It's dark and nobody's around, so we get... nearly out of sight, drink Coke from their coffee mugs and try to doze off. An hour or so later, I hear someone say the word "Breakfast", and that gets us jittery. Which isn't helped when we see someone wandering round looking like staff, but missing us. So we make a hasty retreat back to the lobby, where people are still hanging around, though the bar has shut, having gone about 4 AM. We find a comfy looking couch, doze and chat a little more like we're supposed to be there, and are just tired, then at 5 we take our leave, despite a few odd looks and comments from the music types.

As we go, we thank the guy on the desk and he thanks us back. Then I thank him for turning a blind eye. He looks very confused as we leave.

We head back to the station. Body is gone, but something is there in its place- we didn't feel like looking too closely, and finally, luck has gone my way. The 4:58 had been delayed, and I can catch that in 15 minutes, wheras the girls' train is about 30 minutes later. Mine comes, we exchange numbers and I leave. Then the ticket guy (WHY THE HELL ARE THEY WORKING AT THIS TIME!?) asks me for mine. Which... is my return from yesterday. I plead my case and he lets me off. Probably because my station was the next one anyway, so he couldn't kick me off before.

But yeah. Finally I get back and get some sleep. But yeah, what an amazing fucking night. It may have cost me FAR more than intended (£20 of gig ticket, £10 of train fare, £25 of Chinese food and £15 of CD is far more than I should have spent!) But I wouldn't change a damn thing. Wonderful experience, and I had to share.

A cowboy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Curry

I'm easily amused.

But this guy is well cool. He hunted and shot the people that killed his brothers- mainly in gunfights.

And Sundance Kid was given his reputation by mistake, it seems.

The England match

GYAH!!!

Someone fire Steve McClaren. PLEASE.

People say 'blame the players, they have no passion' and things to that effect. BOLLOCKS.

They don't run about like madmen because they are trained professionals who play to a tactical system. England ave players that are good enough to beat Croatia, and every other team in that qualifying group. It's Steve McClaren's fault that he failed to select the right players and/or play them to the right tactics.

Yes, some players underperformed on the night. Wayne Bridge made mistakes, but that's bad luck. Frank Lampard did fuck all, but that's because of the tactics. If we hoof it out wide to 2 wingers who dribble very well but can't really cross that well (especially when one has to cut back or cut inside before he can even put in a mediocre at best cross Joe Cole...), Lampard and Gerrard won't get the ball much.

As for squad selection... 3 leftbacks and only 4 other defenders? 3 right wingers?

I'm not gonna sit here and explain how I'd do it better, (not with this anyway), I'm just pointing the finger where it should be pointed.

McClaren has said he won't step down. The FA need to fire him, and employ someone who's top class at that job. If we want to get into World Cup 2012 anyway.



Edit:

They fired him.

My rant clearly did the trick!

TNA Rants- mainly to save them.

This is/was my response on GameFAQs to the thread "Who should be TNA World Champion"

"Samoa Joe.

It seems cliche, I know, but hear me out.

The man is one of, if not the biggest face in the company. He's also NOT a WWE or WCW cast off, nor is he unskilled or underserving. He is capable of showing the company as a presence in its own right without floating on the likes of Sting, Nash, Hall etc- they just make the company look like a 2nd rate WWE.

They are AIMING for the WWE audience, but why are they going to tune in to TNA when they're a just a second rate version of what they have already got? With Joe as the champion, PPVs would be main evented by GOOD and lengthy wrestling matches. He is also a good mouthpiece, and when the time comes, he would be more than capable of turning heel again.

In addition to that, the likes of Styles, Daniels, Cage, Abyss and Angle are all very much capable of putting on good to great matches with him, and they would all be credible and talented enough to take the belt when the time comes, if booked appropriately.

With those guys as a top 6, then the likes of James Storm and Alex Shelley (maybe with Nash as a bodyguard?) would be good to head to the upper midcard in the mean time, given real feuds and pushes that don't lead to nowhere, in preparation for future main event runs.

I'd also have a proper mid-card heavyweight belt- it's sorely needed."

As a follow up, I also posted how I'd book the next few months of TNA in theory.

"Given the booking sheet for a few months I would

Have Sting vs Angle one more time, Angle winning- Sting going to feud with and put over Daniels (Properly, and break up XXX, they're wasted), and Angle going on to defend and then lose to Joe after he dismantles Roode (who can use it to fire Brooks and bring in Rain or whatever).

MCMGs to beat Team 3D in their feud, and to take the titles from a distracted/weakened AJ/Tomko (have an Ultimate X match after Christian/Abyss- see below) before moving onto a re-focused and fully heel LAX.

Christian to feud with Abyss for a month or so and have Raven take Abyss as a protege. During this, AJ keeps ending up bloodied and beaten doing the run-ins for Christian and he face turns eventually, given a month or 2 to build it up. When he does so, have Tomko look to do the same, then kick AJ in the head. Tomko to be Christian's lackey again, AJ to have a long feud with Christian and eventually go over him- hopefully push him back into the main event picture as a big face.

Abyss/Raven can go back to feuding with Judas Mesias and James Mitchell once he returns, and slice and dice his way to victory.

X-Division- have Lethal feud with (and lose to) Senshi and then have him face Kazarian as a main opponent.

I dunno, it's all still sketchy in my head, but I reckon that would do fine as the top few feuds in the next few months."

It's not hugely entertaining reading material, I know, but it's not been cut down yet, and I'd like to keep hold of it in case I need to use it again like my Cena rant which started this whole blog off.

More band stuff

Well we now have a drummer (Welcome on board Jess), and we have plenty of lyrics- which is good.

We're still lacking rehearsal space though, and till we get that, we're not able to practice with Jess, so we're on a stalemate.

We have a myspace though- despite a lack of recorded material. So we're well cool, obviously.

www.myspace.com/heathendreammusic

Add us if you like. Point and laugh at the black and white pictures if it makes you feel good! Cheer up, kiddies.

Heathen Dream

It's the name we've come up for the band. I like it.

For those that don't know, myself, Danbob and a bassist mate of his named Alan are starting up a band. Still need lyrics and a PA and a new drummer, so don't be expecting gigs soon.

Aside from that, last night's Raw was the worst I've ever seen.

Unfunny angles, little wrestling- all of it bad, and a total lack of sense. It was horrid.

Oh well.

Toothache. ARGH!

So, I'm rather suffering with toothache

Trying to avoid numbing it with water again, did it with orange cordial for a while and I think it's damaged my teeth >_>.

Went to the detist on Thursday- they did a deep filling. I didn't sleep that night because of the pain, and phoned 'em again the morning after- they told me it would take time to settle and to hold out. Paracetamol, Ibuprofen and Paramol all did nothing.

Went to the emergency dentist yesterday evening, he gave me stronger painillers and antibioitics. And after taking them with some chcken soup, I threw up fairly consistantly for the next 4 hours. Mainly my stomach acid.

So then I went back to hospital, sitting around for 2 or 3 hours with occasional heaving till the doctor finally saw me and changed my antibiotics as he thought it was an allergic reacton (rather than the 90mg of dihydrocodeine in the last half a day).

Managed to finally get about 6 or 7 hours of sleep, for the first time since the pain started, and now it's back again. Just hoping that the strong dihydrocodeine tablets and antibiotics manage to do something.

>_<

Update. Pain means no sleep.
The 30mg dihydrocodeine tablets do nothing, but I fear to take anything more in case I start throwing up my stomach lining again.