Mr Owl PhD

Here's a clinical finish: BBC Sport - Football - Burrows goal on Fifa shortlist

Still lots of Waxwings around. Yesterday folk were putting colour rings on them in Allenvale to help track where they go. A few years ago a Waxwing ringed in Aberdeen was found (I think brought in by a cat!) in central Russia.

I think they like Kincorth because there's lots of rowan trees there, so lots of berries. Aberdeen is probably the best area of the UK for them maybe because it's closer to their breeding areas (northern Scandinavia, Russia) and they tend to come in from the north. They congregate in cities (maybe because there are lots of berry-bearing trees in cities) so northern cities always tend to do well. The best numbers at the moment are in Aberdeen and Inverness, although they're spread through much of the country in smaller numbers.

I know a few folks here are interested in birds and so you might like to know that this winter looks like being particularly good for Waxwings. We usually get a few each year but already there are hundreds around town. Here are some of the 700 I saw in Kincorth today.

The White Birch is a bit of a classic. I think it's the album where they really nailed the 'Codeine sound' and has some amazing songs like 'Tom' or 'Sea'. Barely Real is good too - it's more varied but perhaps they try to do too many things on it. I reckon they're best just being really slow and bleak sounding.

A while since I listened to that one. I listen to the White Birch quite often, which isn't too cheery either.

'Ave it: YouTube - Michael Stahl INCREDIBLE 61 Meter Goal Koblenz - Hertha DFB Pokal 2010

The Cool Ruler, which is a shame. BBC News - Night Nurse singer Gregory Isaacs dies aged 59

Spacemen 3

BBC Sport - Football - Wayne Rooney wants to leave Man Utd - Sir Alex Ferguson

I like it but maybe haven't listened to it enough. That said I was a bit unsure of them from their first album but am definitely keener on this. Good shimmery pop as you say.

I left school an alarming 21 years ago and still have some contact with a couple of people, although not on a regular basis. Most other people I went to school with I'd be pretty alarmed to meet these days. One of the perks of living 500 miles away from where I grew up is that I'm unlikely to bump into any of them most of the time.

Dark, Dark, Dark 'Bright, Bright, Bright' Sharon van Etten 'Because I was in love' Lonelady 'Nerve up' Forest Swords 'Dagger Paths' ... and anything else Tom Ravenscroft tells me to listen to...

Bit of an odd feeling this evening. I'm a Liverpool supporter but my other team is the Cobblers, who didn't live up to their name tonight.

But it's only by paying that sort of salary that you can get the most talented people to do the job. Well, at least for a bit anyway, until the greedy mercenaries get a better offer somewhere else.

I went to see this film this evening and completely agree - really wonderful.

Although Misty's have it on their myspace still: Mistys Big Adventure on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

I guess it might be possible to catch Misty's first and then Port-Royal? Seem to be a lot of tricky clashes at the moment, although it's better than no clashes at all because there are no good gigs I suppose.

Having thought about this more than I really should, I only partly agree. People obviously get nostalgic about music from all kinds of times (even if they don't remember it) but I don't think anywhere near as many people will say they're fans of '90s pop' as say they are fans of '80s pop' (or 70s pop or 60s for that matter). 80s pop is much more clearly defined as a kind of style than 90s pop because pop music became much more fragmented and, in some ways, less significant in the 90s because of the decline of the importance of the top 40 singles charts and Top of the Pops and the breakdown of the boundaries between pop and other, more 'alternative' kinds of music. 80s pop has more clearly defined characteristics and so I think people latch onto it as a sort of 'genre' to an extent that they never will with 90s pop, whatever that is. Any 'rehash' of 90s music is always likely to be a lot more fragmented because that reflects how mainstream music went in the 90s. Lots of people will be nostalgic for 90s music of all kinds but not that many for 90s pop. None of this stops most 80s pop being cobblers of course.

Yeah, that's true. 80s pop seems to be lauded a bit more though, for some reason.

Yeah, I guess she was fairly clean shaven. If she shaves, which she probably doesn't. Although you never know...

80s pop is pretty terrible by and large. Here are two that I quite enjoy though: YouTube - Propaganda - Duel (HQ) Trevor Horn was 'the man' in the 80s.

Very much enjoyed the show and, the one person aside, the audience was pretty well behaved and quiet for both bands. I like that each member of the Low Anthem has a different arrangement of facial hair - something for everyone there. The only thing missing was that I was hoping they would swap hats when they swapped instruments. That would have been a nice touch, but you can't have everything.

Here's a review of a Mountain Man show I just read: Mountain Man - Caught by the River They were very good at Green Man last weekend too.