saintbletch

Couldn't agree more pap. The single most annoying male on UK TV. errrr it's O'Briain and errrr I think he's quite errrr brilliant but there you go. One man's meat... While we're on the subject of annoying vocal tics. Graham Norton does the Dara O'Briain errrr thing except his are short and high-pitched 'eh' affairs normally delivered after his 'punchlines' as he tilts his head, grins inanely and looks at camera 2. I think he's actually quite clever but the problem with these things is that once you notice them you can stop focussing on them.

Saw Van the Man at Broadlands a few years back. A disappointing gig made bearable by a fantastic horn section. He seemed to be in a mood with the audience. Hardly spoke a word. Apparently he's renowned for either being truly fantastic or the complete opposite and nothing in between. Would love to see him on a good day but can't take the risk. Saw R.E.M. around '95 at Milton Keynes bowl. They were terrible. No energy and didn't seem like they wanted to be there. I'd been a fan for years and it really lowered them in my eyes. Blur, who opened for them were superb. R.E.M. played the MKB the next night too and that was broadcast live on Radio 1. Despite my disappointment from the previous night I tuned in and Michael Stipe opened up by saying something to the effect of "We were s*** last night, we're going to be much better tonight"!

Another coping mechanism alpine_saint?

That's quality debate there moon monkey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. All of them. I can see that point of view dingbattigger and part of me shares that view. But his last club didn't agree with you though. They issued a statement full of warmth, wishing Dan well. Their DoF also felt able to provide quotes to the press. And yes I'm sure that the club is doing everything it should, and more behind the scenes for one of its own. Having had little support for my thoughts on the subject it looks like it could just be me looking too far into this. But I still feel that if I were drafting the official statement from the football club to its supporters, the as yet one and only statement on the health and well-being of one of the players, I would really struggle NOT to put one or all of these sentiments in there. - We hope he'll pull through - We hope he continues to recover - Our thoughts are with his family - We hope he returns to work soon - We hope he's in the first team again soon Something would have to stop me from instinctively putting those things in there. But I realise that if I keep on about this I will be accused of being pointlessly-negative, or god-forbid a moron. Despite in my original post trying to make it clear that I'm not looking to be negative about the club when I stated. So I'll leave it at that and once again wish Dan all the best and a speedy recovery to the first team.

I didn't realised that you'd carried out such thorough research PhilippineSaint. Thanks for sharing it. 99.9% of COMPANIES might distance themselves from any involvement of an EMPLOYEE being involved in this sort of incident. Just wondering whether the percentage of football clubs might be different from the percentage of all companies. And I don't mean to doubt your research into this but I do wonder if only 0.1% of all companies would issue a statement when one of their employees had sustained a significant head injury without saying something like they hoped he'd be OK or that their thoughts were with the lad and his family or that they hoped he'd make a speedy recovery and perhaps a return to 'work'. I'm not saying that I can't think of reasons why the club MIGHT distance itself from one of its employees. I can think of many reasons why a company might do this. In fact I'm suggesting that by not commenting in a personal way it COULD suggest that they are distancing themselves from their employee.

Yes I saw that in The Echo dinger. A really nice touch. But I think you might have missed my point. I'm not suggesting that members of the club's senior management don't care. It's clear from the apparent togetherness of the squad that they're a close group. I'm questioning why that caring hasn't been shown through any formal communication from the club. Given that it's clear that the club does care about one of it's young charges, it appears odd to me that as a club we haven't seen fit to say something less corporate - more human, more personal. The official statement on the OS reads a little like a corporation commenting on one of its assets. Something like this would do the trick.

I don't want to appear churlish or unduly critical of the club at a time like this, and perhaps this thread is not the right place to raise this but, unless I've missed it I haven't noticed any form of 'human' comment from the club on Dan Seaborne's plight. I've seen lots of quotes from Exeter. Just like our own fans, theirs seem to have been moved. Even Steve Perryman their DoF has commented on what a lovely lad Dan is. But I've not noticed anything from the club outside of the statement on the OS and individual player's tweets. Can't help thinking it's unusual that OUR player gets injured and the journalists run with quotes from his ex-club. Perhaps the club has been advised to not make any comment? Perhaps it's as simple as key people being on holiday. Perhaps it's come in an interview that I haven't heard or seen documented. Anyone? Just feels like someone at the club should have spoken about their feelings on a human level. No agenda. Not looking to criticise the club. Just pointing out that it appears odd. Here's to a speedy recovery and one that sees him able to play again.

Saw him after they just lost 4-1 to West Ham at home. He seemed at a loss to explain what he thought had gone wrong. He settled on the fact that they couldn't defend very well and said that the board now had to show some ambition and buy him some new players as his current lot weren't good enough. I thought at the time that he must be planning a lot of activity in the transfer window and that if he didn't he would have alienated his current squad. Looks like he's alienated his current squad.

Is "throwing yoghurt" a euphemism?

It didn't matter that the Siamese twins shared a body and a pair of legs. It didn't even matter that they supported different teams. But Dan did think that it was a shame that Darren always got to choose the shorts and socks just because they were HIS legs.

Absolutely, but another Bragg song would keep me company during those long days alone on the island. 1. Saturday Boy - Billy Bragg 2. Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies 3. Two Headed Boy - Neutral Milk Hotel 4. Switching Off - Elbow 5. The Blowers Daughter - Damien Rice Book - Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Luxury - iPhone with data contract and Spotify, Amazon Kindle app and Saints Player subscription! That's a tough exercise and I'm obviously in a contemplative mood. if I wrote this in half an hour after my first cup of coffee it'd change dramatically.

Yes I saw that Durleyfos. Utter madness. Lee Child describes Reacher as 6' 5" and 225-250lb. His size is absolutely central to the allure of the books and the credibility of the plot in my opinion. You imagine him as invincible. He never loses a fight which stretches credibility as it is but without his size then it's just unbelievable. Tom Cruise is tiny, he'd be too short to play Bergerac let alone Reacher. Even in his Cuban heels. And his whiny high-pitched voice is too annoying. Mind you as Child's favourite line is "Reacher said nothing" then perhaps that won't be a problem. Actors that could carry off Jack Reacher's size / loner personality. - Idris Elba (my choice - setting aside the colour of his skin) - Gerard Butler - Joe Manganiello - Verne Troyer?

WHOIS it? My guess would be Ben.

When does anecdotal become a trend? OK, OK, it sounds like Rankin has to be on the list. I had a problem with Tony Parsons. I really enjoyed two of his books. Man & Boy and Man & Wife. Anyway, I also used to read his column in the Daily Mirror (when it was a good newspaper) and then he wrote this about John Peel. And I decided I'd ignore him from then. A petty and classless 'tribute' to a great bloke. That said the two books I read are very good. He's unusually in touch with his emotions for a male author.

I agree revolution saint. I read The Given Day by Dennis Lehane a few years ago and thought it was a wonderful read. It's set against the Boston Police Dept. strike around about the time of prohibition and tells the story of the struggle within the Police Commissioner's family when his son (also in the police) becomes a union organiser. Powerful, emotional stuff. I must go back and read some of his earlier stuff. Is the Kenzie & Gennaro series good? Mystic River is a stunning film, I wonder if I could read the book after enjoying the film so? Absolutely right re Conan Doyle Chapel End Charlie. Have you seen the recent BBC re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes. I actually quite like it. Re Rebus, I think because it was on the TV I sort of dismissed it as I've got images of the actors in my mind. But he is very popular. Perhaps I'll try one and see how I get on. Didn't I see that Rebus has now retired? I bought my Mum the latest from Ian Rankin a couple of years ago and he had moved on to write about the Police internal investigations but Rebus was not part of that series. She is a real fan and wasn't best pleased. I can highly recommend Stuart MacBride's series about Aberdeen-based policeman Logan McRae. Very, very dark but very funny. The dialogue is wonderful. Very blue, very creative workplace humour. He has two bosses; a fat, sweet eating male superior who never stops shouting and a complete ***** of a lesbian who gets him to do all the work and has some of the best lines written for her I've ever read. Her language would make you blush.

It's very good. Very creative. I feel like setting fire to this dressing room and watching these useless bastards squeal like terrified orphans. f***ing furious. Team tactics... "What are our tactics for Sunday, boss?" asked Matty T. "These are our tactics," I replied, thrusting my pulsating gentials into his face. I then got the entire squad to stare at my cock & balls for a full 11 mins. "Stare at it!", I roared. "Stare at it and feed off its power." By the end of the 11 mins, the lads are in some sort of voodoo trance. Jimmy Tompkins is levitating and Ruud Boffin is foaming at the mouth. Then we sang 'Debaser' by Pixies & went off for a relaxing Jacuzzi. I've never known lads to be so ready for a game. It's gonna be carnage.

I can find no hint of irony in your reply there so I have to ask you Matthew Le God, if you realise that you're currently posting on a Southampton FC-focused football forum and not prosecuting a case in the high court. Opinion is as equally valid in this place as precision, surely?

I really enjoy this forum when there is more traffic on the 'what are you reading' thread so in an effort to get some more discussions going... Brilliant indeed Suhari. I keep trawling the author's web site looking for a follow-up but in vain. He's a prolific blogger and twitterer(?) and about 9 months or so ago I'm sure I read that he'd handed in a draft of the second book manuscript. But I've not seen anything concrete since. Not sure how you can really follow-up a first novel like that. Best debut novel you've read, anyone? Cock and Bull is on my long to-read list but I only read on my Kindle now and as Cock and Bull isn't available I'll either have to wait or go back to the paper world. I've never worked out whether Will Self is brilliant or, somewhere far short of that. I've read The Butt and was struck by how he manages to disorientate you by painting a world that is so similar to the world in which we live but subtlely different enough to make you feel uncomfortable about the assumptions you've made. It permanently keeps you off guard. Clever. I think. Best Dystopian, alternative reality books, anyone? This got a mention lower down in the thread and I really enjoyed it. I don't have the type of brain that easily accommodates weird concepts like this but it fascinates me. So over the years I've masochistically read lots of books on the subject. As I said below Schrodinger's Kittens and QED - The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard Feynman have both done a great job in firing my imagination and explaining complex concepts. I have to say that whilst reading Schrodinger's Kittens and whilst contemplating the unbelievable behaviour of electrons it did make me wonder for the first time in many years about the existence of a God. A very spiritual read (for me). I'd also add Simon Singh's Fermat's Last Theorem to my list of books that made complex subjects accessible. Great books that made complex subjects accessible, anyone? I used to be very snobbish about the types of books I read. I considered 'cop fiction' a little demeaning for fictional literature and indeed literature in general. I was wrong. I heard Robert Crais interviewed on Radio 5's old Simon Mayo Book Review program a few years back and I thought I'd give it a go and now I'm hooked. Good bedtime reading as you say Durleyfos. I still like to weave some 'proper' literature into my reading fix but I read a lot of this sort of book. I actually like to read series from start to finish. So off the top of my head I've read all of the series from the following authors. Robert Crais - Elvis Cole/Joe Pike Lee Child - Jack Reacher Stuart MacBride - Logan McRae Peter James - Roy Grace Harlan Coben - Myron Bolitar (only read the for 3 or 4 - not completely sure about them) C J Sansom - Matthew Shardlake (Brilliant historical fiction a recommendation from here) Rory Clements - John Shakespeare (just started) Best investigator / legal / police procedural series you're read, anyone?

Not read it myself but it's on my reading list. It's very highly rated: Tony Cascarion - Full Time Secret Life

Can I ask you a hypothetical question Thedelldays only you seem to have ignored my question on the Tottenham thread. Would you rather have a beer with a rioter (of non-specified skin colour or ethnic background) or someone who plans revenge attacks on a woman? Also I don't believe a word of your description of your difficult early life. None of it happened did it? You had a comfortable upbringing. It's a total work of fiction.

Just finished Great Expectations by Dickens. Never read it before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great language and character development but probably about 30% too long. He'll have to try harder if he's going to make it as an author! Now reading Sentry by Robert Crais the latest Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novel. Good, non-taxing police procedural fiction.

A classy handling of a class-less post.

Assuming that you're not just on a wind-up. I think you're missing the point. Not wanting to speak for OldNick but I think he's saying that in the cold light of day HE, PERSONALLY felt it was wrong to have taken his seat in front of his daughter - according to his own moral compass. I don't think OldNick is moralising or sitting in judgement about other people's behaviour. What you, Sour Mush or I think about taking seats from a defunct stadium isn't important to Nick's argument. He's talking from HIS OWN PERSPECTIVE. Now, looking back I think OldNick is saying that something in the moment overpowered what HE, PERSONALLY would have done if others weren't also doing the same. I also think that OldNick is suggesting that in some way the rioters, at least those that weren't completely hardened criminals, may have gone through a similar change of moral perspective.

Thanks for sharing your own thoughts OldNick on the Dell 'looting' and your rationalisation of what was 'technically' theft. It's not the same thing as the rioting at all, but I suspect some of the same rationalisation processes are involved with some of the youth. That is an interesting view from Hazel Blears - who I suspect I have even less time for than you. But for those that are not completely committed to a life of crime, and are just on the cusp, who do have parent(s) who are strong enough to control their kids, that might just have an impact.

Good points dubai_phil. I agree that it is a complex issue and that sound-bite solutions on both sides of the political divide are just that.