Mr Owl PhD

I'm not too sure what will happen - I can actually see the remaining two tests being draws, especially if the weather's bad. England's bowlers need swinging conditions and Australia's bowlers need England to bat badly (which they might yet do, as they did in the 1st test). Australia have more selection problems. I find it strange that they've not picked Stuart Clark yet and their side looks a bit unbalanced. I think McDonald would offer more as a bowler than Watson (it was more-or-less Northants 2nd XI he took those wickets against though!).

As this is all rather 'rock' I reckon the best pop intro is to 'Move on up' by Curtis Mayfield.

I'm not that big a fan of them but the intro to 'Transmission' by Joy Division takes some beating. I've always really liked the intro to the Peel session version of 'New Town' by the Slits too.

Thoroughly excellent news.

I've recently done some refresher lessons with Andy Cunningham and thought he was quite excellent. Good guy too.

It's there now:

I think a few folks are getting carried away with a couple of wins against a weak West Indies team, who didn't really even want to be playing anyway! England's seam bowling attack has some promise but, like the Australians, is largely unproven at international level. I'd agree that the most interesting thing about the series, and perhaps the key issue, is which of these two attacks will come out on top. The advantage the Australian bowlers have is that they'll be bowling at a weaker batting side. I hope the Australian batsmen underperform as they did in 2005! As for Lee, he's an expensive bowler but he gets wickets. I think whatever can be said about him coming back from injury also applies to Flintoff, who's a better defensive bowler but he doesn't take as many wickets.

I hope you're right, especially as I shall be in Australia at the beginning of the Ashes. It would be helpful to be able to dish out some stick rather than being on the receiving end!

I'm not too optimistic about England's chances. I think if the wickets are spin friendly and if the Aussies get off to a poor start then there's maybe a chance. But, as in 2005, I think England will need to be at their best and still hope the Aussies make a few mistakes. Their batting is clearly better than England's and I think their seam bowling is quite a bit better too, particularly with Clark and Lee coming back in. They may not be the team they were but they've just beaten South Africa away, which I think is a better indicator of form than England's recent wins against West Indies.

I thought Alasdair was great last night - probably the best I've ever seen him. He was really 'rocking out' at times.

Or Chigley even... Enjoyed it last night - always an entertaining band. Nice to know there were some Forres Mechanics fans in the audience.

Really enjoyed this gig. Here's the tour diary video for Aberdeen, which includes some of Sarah's startling rendition of 'Flight of the bumblebee'.

I actually sort of enjoyed it a bit but I think it's very limited as a film. The original series was fun but was also a bit more imaginative and had more ideas. And Zachary's Spock seemed just like some whiney emo kid to me!

It's Wales isn't it?

I went to see Star Trek last night. I suppose it was mildly entertaining for an hour and a half with some amusing touches. Having said that, it was pretty dire. I like the way they combined the characters of Star Trek with the plot of the first Star Wars film (big planet-destroying spacecraft that can be attacked by hitting it in the right spot, mystical wise man and quasi-religious culture with young but conflicted acolyte etc.). Or maybe that was just lazy and cliched. It suffered from the same problems as the recent Dr Who revival: no imagination, no new worlds to explore (except as the occasional backdrop) but all about the tedious 'inner turmoils' of the characters. Maybe this was interesting once but now it's very boring. I suppose this is what happens when they let soap-opera writers like RTD and Abrams take over science fiction. Zachary Quinto was pretty bad as Spock too, although it's probably the hardest act to follow. Philip K. Dick once said that God spoke like Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy still does speak like God but I don't think Quinto ever has or ever will.

Talk to her, which you've already got, is fantastic. Volver is also great, as are most of Almodovar's films. I like Julio Medem's stuff, although they've been getting harder and harder to follow. Vacas is a big favourite but The Red Squirrel and Lovers of the Arctic Circle are wonderful too. Quite enigmatic films.

One of the best shows I think I've seen in Aberdeen - thanks to Jeffrey and IMP. And I learnt a lot about North Korea.

Maybe in a future episode, the midget will do a cover of 'Midget' by Devo. That would be good.

I once spent a summer living around the corner from that street. Which was handy.

At the Belmont. I think they've put it on there a week earlier than previously advertised.

I just went to see 'Let the right one in' and I'd agree with its general greatness.

I really enjoyed it. It was my first Homegame and it was good being back in Anstruther (where I lived for a while, before it got hip). In addition to the folks I bought stuff by I particularly enjoyed Slow Club, David Thomas Broughton (both sets), Malcolm Middleton and Alasdair Roberts. It seems like there was lots of good stuff I missed too!

Some other stuff from the Homegame merch stall: Little Ray Love.Stop.Repeat Panda Su Rachael Dadd WiQwar

I went to see 'In the Loop' last night. It's possibly the funniest film I've seen for several years.