davidm

It looks like the missus and I have just bought our first flat together, hooray! It's going to have a music room and everything. Delighted.

congratulations! I have put aside money for the pint of Tennent's that I'll be getting you after Stewart Lee. And the pint of wine for Claire.

I'm quoting this again just because it's so good and I didn't want it to get lost among the 2 pages of shite that surrounded it.

ha, maybe it needs to be brought back on a regular basis in that case.

Guy plays the whole of Mastodon's album Leviathan on the piano, in one take. Amazing.

Napalm Death on Match of the Day, obviously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olelvRKSpG8

Rivalry!

Bilbao vs. Sporting is a very enjoyable game so far. All square just now, sets it up perfectly for the second half!

http://twitpic.com/9dwr2a

Won't link directly, but this might be one of the best personal ads I've ever seen. NSFW!

I love penalty shoot outs more than life itself.

Seeing these dudes live next month. Very excited.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-17789049

"Academics concerned about high tuition fees are setting up a university where students can learn for free." Ace.

Not yet, i've got a bunch of his standalone books on my kindle though. I would definitely recommend giving the trilogy a shot to start with as it flows really well and his writing style in it is pretty enveloping. I'd always heard good things but was initially put off with the political aspects of his writing, but glad i gave it a go.

cool, the trilogy has been put on my list of books to buy. funnily enough the political aspects of his writing are one of the things that make me even more interested in him, ha.

I've just finished the Bas Lag trilogy by China Mieville which has been a great read. Each of the books were good in a standalone way but all were linked in interesting ways as well. Thoroughly recommend them to steam-punk/sci-fi/fantasy enthusiasts.

have you read anything else by him? would you recommend starting with that trilogy? he's an author that's intrigued me for a while, but i've been trying to restrict my book-buying until i get through books that i already own which i haven't started yet!

finished Philip K Dick's "Flow, My Tears, The Policeman Said" today. it has now, quite easily, become my favourite of his works - the most gripping book i've read in months.

well that makes it alright then

apparently it was about a friend of his who was diagnosed with depression as opposed to him defending a rapist, so there you go.

oh, he's retracted it now.

i don't get it

Ched Evans, Sheffield United striker, was jailed for five years for rape today. That was Kyle Bartley's reaction.

https://p.twimg.com/Aq78XEjCAAAodkK.jpg

Fucking hell, what a cunt.

I just finished Petroleum Economics: Issues and Strategies of Oil and Natural Gas Production by Rognvaldur Hannesson. It is a short, concise book on exactly what it say in the title, written in plain english, with a sprinkle of technical jargon. I actually found it to be quite out of date, despite only being written ~15 years ago, but it did teach me a couple of things I didn't already know. I chose it out of a list of recommended books because it was short and the text was large. I'm really professional.

I get no pleasure from reading these days. One in every eight books I read actually grabs my attention and I only ever finish them because I feel like I have to. Which leads me to the point of this post. I want to get back into reading like I was a few years ago, but I keep picking massive, arduous books that take ages and I leave them for a few weeks and forget what was happening. List a few great short books I can read and enjoy that won't take me long to read. I just want to finish a fucking book, for once, and hope that it gets me back into the swing of things.

I finished An American Dream by Norman Mailer last night and it was very, very enjoyable. 230 pages or so. The first half is a bit slow, but the build up makes it worth it for the finale! Anything by Philip K. Dick is worth a read as well, I started another of his books last night as well. I'd recommend The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch or A Scanner Darkly as good places to begin with him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/19/metropolitan-police-accused-racism-firefighter

"I couldn't say he was anything to do with the party. The party was all black. He was black. He had driven through the cordon. I had to do a quick risk assessment."

yeah, I'll definitely be there as I'm only a 45 minute train journey away. I'm preparing myself for it already.

What the fucking fuck?

Yep! What a day this is. I vote we all go to it and we all do this in unison:

Unsane are playing in Glasgow at the start of July. With Big Business supporting! Oh yeah!

Why are the band "You Slut!" so good?

EVIDENCE:

You Slut! – Medium Bastard

New You Slut! album. Get the fuck in:

http://stressedsumorecords.bandcamp.com/album/medium-bastard

I can't decide which one I like the best. I think at the moment "Elton Chong" is winning.

I gave the support band for Andrew WK in Glasgow tomorrow night their first ever gig in Scotland three years ago. I am going to claim to anyone who'll listen to me that I gave them their break.

thanks for the responses! it's for a train from edinburgh-london, so maybe the rules are different? either way, i plan on taking everything i can get my hands on.