Christy

Both bands have a lot of pretty good songs, but a couple that are WAY ahead of the rest imo

Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbour Death Cab - 405 and We Laugh Indoors Wolf Parade - Ill Believe in Anything

A nice way to avoid the issue at hand, and a meh way of taking the piss. In future I will say 'disappointment' and 'embarrassment' or something similar. The point(s) remains

More like a fluffer amirite guise?

They are a disgrace, and an archaic throwback to a less enlightened time. I have nothing particularly against William and his burd but the very concept of Monarchy tilts me hard. The fact that their wedding is funded by the general public (who are supposed to be grateful for a day off work in return) is embarrassing. It is over issues like this and the fact that we in Scotland have to stick a Consevative government because England is fucking stupid and voted for one once again underlines my point from the other thread about how I have no connection with Britishness, beyond geography. The Queen can go suck a fuck too.

Watched Prison Break right the way up to the last four episodes of series four, by which point it had become so Goddamn unbearably terrible that I stopped. One day I will revisit it, though, so please use spoilers for any giveaways. Nice one.

One thing is for certain; no headliner has been booked as yet for the first night. Any talk of Ian Brown is incorrect or at least premature.

English people ensured that we have David Cameron as our PM. I try to avoid associating myself with them. I am, of course, joking. In part. I have never referred to myself as British outwith filling out forms. Over the years I have spent heaps of time in Norn Arn, Wales and England and I have loved all of them for different reasons; however, I don't feel an intrinsic bond with the countries. In this day and age (I hate that phrase but it is fitting) the idea of nationalism is pretty much outdated. People live everywhere and anywhere, people the world over support foreign fitba teams...in fact, fitba is pretty much the only scenario in which I consider nationality.

it would have been lol if he weren't playing for my team

Not online yet. Sunday will be The First Play.

Last week called etc etc

The thing is, it is not necessarily the case that referees are going onto the park with the conscious intention of aiding whichever cheek of the Old Firm arse is playing that week; more likely, the crowd's response, 'wily old pros' (read 'cheating scumbags') like Weir and Brown being in their face at any opportunity, and the fundamentally flawed (albeit somewhat understandable) unconscious belief that every decision matters more when it involves Rangers or Celtic. Because the media scrutiny will be intense, because there will be phone-ins and articles and messageboard meltdown and, in Dougie McDonald's case, a concerted attempt to punt the ref out of his job, the decisions seem to carry more significance. Nobody wants to be the official who denied Celtic the penalty that cost them the title, or who sent off the Rangers player at Tynecastle in a must-win game. The evidence bears this out, in my opinion. It is all very well saying that Willie Collum got most of the decisions right yesterday; good! That's the least that is expected of a referee! When I was a ref I knew this; Willie Collum must know this. However, you must get the BIG decisions right, and he has now awarded five penalties and four red cards in favour of the Old Firm teams in two matches; can you hand on heart say that even 6 out of those nine decisions were justified and correct? I certainly couldn't. He and most of the other referees in this country are predisposed towards bottling key decisions when the OF are involved, because the stakes are apparently so high in their games.

So fucking standard...Celtic fans will think that Collum favours Rangers because of this; Rangers fans will think that they deserve this because collum made such a fuckup on Sunday, and meanwhile all fans of us diddy teams won't give a fuck because yet again we are getting shafted. It is embarrassing. I spent years defending the officials because it is an incredibly tough job. However, it is not about evening things up between Celtic and Rangers; it is about ensuring a level playing field for the WHOLE league.

No one is accusing The Little Kicks of getting preferential treatment. I think there has only been one comment suggesting that the 'higher profile' Aberdeen bands will get favoured, but the fact remains that they should get favoured. These bands tend to be good and have a national profile, all of which is good for the festival. No need to justify yourselves imo.

The problem with putting on live artists of te singer/songwriter sort is that so many are really bad. And most artists are not really interested in being background music so to speak - they want to perform (quite rightly), and so you will be alienating plenty of customers who have no interest in hearing another forgettable guy with a guitar. JJ is great, but imo he is in the minority. But yeah, as mentioned, Kilau already has the mellow indie music side covered, so a licensed cafe-bar with good DJs would surely be the path to take.

There will be bitching and accusations of bias with or without the showcases. However, as mentioned before, at least the showcases will allow some bands to impress and get booked. There are some bands who deserve to play this festival and more who don't. The criteria, I presume, will be profile of the band and their quality. These bands will be booked outright, or so I would expect. The city's best bands with a strong profile would be a good addition to the bill, and Jamesy, Ross and Hen are in a better position to judge than most. However, there is a level playing field for plenty of other bands to impress via the showcases. Presumably the judges will be reputable and will have no agenda, beyond trying to make their project (ie. the festival) a success. I doubt that 'length of time a band has existed' will be given much credence in terms of criteria; what they have achieved probably will. This seems very fair and reasonable, imo. I see it as a freeroll for bands; what's the worst that could happen? You get rejected? Big deal, so will most of the prospective acts. The upside is far greater than the down.

If a band has already been confirmed for the festival, why would they play the "audition" (I use that term loosely, just can't think of a better one)? The people involved in booking the bands thus far have been Jamesy, Ross and Hen; these three guys are probably the most prominent music promoters in Aberdeen. They have their collective finger on the pulse and are in a good position to judge which bands warrant a place at the festival. I suspect that a limited number of spots will be allocated to the best bands in the city (in terms of profile and actual quality, in their opinion), and then they will award the remaining slots to the most impressive applicants, based on their performance at the showcase. This is how most, if not all, festivals determine their local/smaller acts lineup, and seems very fair and reasonable. BTW this is my take on it, and might be miles away from the truth!

I am just out of shot

It has been going on for years; however, the Dougie McDonald incident proved it beyond reasonable doubt imo. I am sure we won't agree on it; however, your rebuttal seems to be little beyond 'you would say that, you're a Dons fan'. But then I would expect that, you are a Celtic fan. FWIW I had a fair bit of time for Celtic in the MoN days. I thought they played good football and were honest and well-run. My view since then has changed beyond belief.

We will have to agree to disagree on the Considine incident. IYAM, the awarding of the penalty is (although incorrect) understandable. The red card is not; Hooper was not denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. I might sound like an embittered football fan, but that doesnt mean that my points are invalid. Simply, this stuff does not even itself out; if that is the case, then most SPL teams are in for some gargantuan luck headed our way. It is the same in most major leagues; the big teams get more crucial decisions because, frankly, there will be MAJOR scrutiny of the officials in the media and by the bigwigs if they dont. We are patronised, told to be patient and it will even out without seeing any evidence to suggest that this is true. We have had two red cards in crucial games vs Celtic this season that have been incorrectly awarded. At best, the officials are incompetent. But having seen us brutalised by poor officating in the big games this season, I am not so sure. Perhaps it is unconscious, but since Lennon and his board's disgraceful handling of the Dougie McDonald situation and the huge fallout thereafter, officials have been absolutely shitting themselves and the decisions have gone for both Rangers and Celtic at the expense of (amongst others) Aberdeen. I am thoroughly sick of it, and I am not the only one.

Notsureifserious.jpg But if you are, you are not really the best person to judge the potency of your own parps. Independent adjudication required.

Actually that is almost all untrue. I love a rant about the Old Firm because (and as a blinkered Old Firm fan you might find this tough to believe) Both halves of the Old Firm have been by favoured the the establishment, the media and the officials for as long as I can remember However, if you actually care to look back at my posts you will see that most of my anti-Old Firm ranting has had NOTHING to do with Aberdeen at all. I highlighted the despicable conduct on display in the shameful OF match a couple of months back, and the sickening behaviour of Rangers fans in Europe around the same time. The fact that I am a Dons fan is 100% irrelevant; I see an injustice and I highlight it. I am not the only one; believe it or not, most fans of non-OF teams are repulsed by your tit-for-tat bullshit, your harrassment of the refs, your bleating in the media and your (actually mainly Rangers') repeated bringing of Scottish football into disrepute on a European level. I will give you this though; you are well-versed in deflecting the actual facts. WRT the Considine incident - no, Considine did not make contact with Hooper. Google search for images of the incident and this becomes clear. Somebody has done a frame-by-frame analysis from two separate angles and no contact was made. Hooper took the ball away, Considine over-reached, Hooper 'read' the challenge and went down. FWIW I don't think Hooper dived, but he was not touched by Considine. You could argue for a penalty due to the fact that Consi's challenge got nowhere near the ball and it prevented Hooper from attempting to reach it. Your constant claims of 'you would be screaming for a penalty if it happened at the other end' are laughable. Of course I would. Like most football fans, I scream for handball if our shot hits a defender's body. I would scream until blue in the face, and it have no bearing on whether or not the incident warranted a penalty. So for God's sake, give up that non-argument. WRT the second bolded passage (and I don't even know why I'm bothering to answer this part); yes I considered that. And no, I don't agree with it. I have seen the incidents, and not all should have ben penalties. Likewise, of our three red cards, two were poor decisions. Both involved Considine. The Derek Young incident was not, and never will be, a penalty (as I explained earlier). If I were a Celtic fan I would have screamed for a penalty (because that's what football fans do), and then I would have felt very emabarrassed by Stokes when I saw a replay. If you think I am the most tunnel-visioned football fan you know, you evidently don't go to Celtic Park very often. Some of your fans genuinely don't believe that you get favoured, because, wait for it, Rangers get favoured too! That is how propesterous your belief is; 'if we are favoured, how come Rangers always get the decisions too?!'. Try supporting another team, try seeing how many ludicrous decisions get awarded against you when playing Rangers or Celtic; try being a referee who argued for years that the officials are not biased but simply cannot any longer because the evidence is so overwhelming. The Old Firm get more signifcant, game-changing and fundamentally incorrect decisions awarded to them than any other team, and that is because the officials and the SFA/SPL are shit-scared of them.

Just remember (like REALLY bear it in mind) that Vegans stink like no other people in the world. Do not think that you can drop out a silent parp while in the company of others. They will know that it is you, because nothing honks like a Vegan trump.

Stopped reading there. Celtic have had SEVEN penalties vs Aberdeen this season, and the Dons have had three red cards in the same fixtures. Celtic, of course, do spend more time in our penalty area, but these figures are absolutely ludicrous. Considine did not make contact with Hooper yesterday - this much is clear, yes? Hooper did not have clear control of the ball - can we also agree on this? These are the facts and as such, a penalty and red card seem ridiculous. Last time we played Celtic at Pittodrie, the exact same situation happened, although in that instance it was a clear penalty. The red card (90 seconds into the game, not that that matters) was laughable. And this does not take into account the clear foul on Vernon in the buildup a mere few seconds before the penalty, that seems to have been conveniently ignored by most. Celtic's second penalty yesterday was not just 'soft', it was also wrong. Stokes stood there, awaiting the slightest bit of contact from a player whose momentum was taking him towards the ball. Contact inside the box != penalty. An absolute farce of a decision. The standard line from OF fans is 'but what about the penalty he gave against us in the last Old Firm game?' or woteva. You conveniently ignore the other 34 games in the season in which you get everything. Fucking everything. I am aware of AFC's shortcomings, and I am aware that 11 vs 11 we would have probably lost yesterday. This does not address the issue at hand, though; we have not been dealt with fairly by the officials in our matches vs the Old Firm this season.

Greatest thing on the internet. Ever. YouTube - Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit