Murrr

If Ryan Jack leaves Aberdeen, I will cry so many tears that I'll be hospitalised through dehydration. Lovely, lovely footballer.

Cleveland have improved immensely with the pieces they've added. Shumpert gives the perimeter defence they were sorely missing, Mozgov is a capable defensive big man, and Smith, though streaky, at least gives them a scoring threat beyond the arc. I still think they're a bit lacking in interior defence, though, and LeBron has looked strangely lethargic on D this season. I'm not sure if he's trying to prove a point to his team-mates or what, but it's weird. My money's still on the Warriors for the title, though the Hawks have been great. If D-Wade drops-out of the All-Star game, I'd love to see Korver get the slot: he's having an unprecedented season. How wild is this Hassan Whiteside guy though? Plucked right-out of the D-league and scooped a triple-double with zero assists the other night. The Magic appear to finally be pulling the trigger on Jacque Vaughn too. I'm pleased with this: nice guy, but regularly perplexing in his decision-making, to the point where it's costing us wins. We have a very talented young team and it's vital that we replace him with a development-minded coach.

Has anyone ever had a smartphone repaired by a third-party shop in Aberdeen? My network can't repair my destroyed screen, apparently, so I either have to go straight to the manufacturer or a third-party. I'm pretty wary of these joints on George St., etc., but I figure they'll be a lot cheaper, and maybe some of you have some good/bad experiences you could share?

I don't think I'll be able to review these records, unfortunately, as I (accidentally) chokeslammed my phone into a pavement earlier and I have no other way of listening to music on the move. I'll hop back in for the next round.

Hayes can do a job at LB but it's such a huge waste of his talents. Don't know anything about this new lad but I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see him start. Logan was thrown straight into the fire in last year's semi after all...

Nah. Off to Palace, apparently...

TalkSport?! TalkShite MORE LIKE! #banter I'm choosing not to believe it, because it's far too good to be true. Fuck all of this. Has Shola got a club yet? Big Sho' for manager.

I dunno. The guy's picked-up a grant total of one point in his trial period and we've won 1 in 8. It just reeks of our previous relegation season (managerial changes, "safe in mid-table" halfway through the season) and there's little chance we'll address our chronic lack of centre-backs in this transfer window. It's going to be incredibly difficult. Of course, the media will be rife with such uninformed shite as "shouldn't have let Pardew go," "grass isn't always greener," "this is what Newcastle fans wanted," etc. Unless a blockbuster end-of-season appointment is round the corner, the rest of 2014/15 could be unbearable. Meh. At least I have my Aberdeen season ticket.

John Carver 'til the end of the season. This probably means we'll be relegated. Think it's time I took a break from this nonsense. I'm going into hibernation, and I'm not waking-up until a permanent manager is appointed. Then, if he's a bastard, I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up when we're in the Championship.

Watched yer Royal Rumble. Bad News Barrett did not win. Bucket 'o shite.

This was ace. It made me listen to two albums I wouldn't have otherwise touched, and it was enlightening to read a variety of different opinions on the same three records. Very engaging thread -- long may it continue. I'm pretty shitty at coming-up with themes though. Soz m8.

Did you guys really think "Lese Majesty" was a bit on the long side? Its runtime is only 44 minutes. Probably says a thing or two about the album's pacing that peoples' interest started to wane towards the end.

You're obviously forgetting about the time he accidentally scored a hat-trick against Reading. It was the most glorious day of my life. Bloody love a bit of Shola, like. How much does a West Brom shirt go for?

I will be pretty delighted if Arsenal give us money for Tiote tbh. He's been nothing short of abject for a while now.

Water Torture - "Pillbox" I grew up on punk and thrash and have a strong affinity for fat, sludgy grooves. Unfortunately, these guys combine elements of all three in a way that just doesn't appeal to me. This is straight-up savagery from the first second, but I don't like the music and can't stand the production. That's all I can say, really. I won't pick it apart because this is my first exposure to power violence and I really wouldn't know where to begin. Not my bag. This Will Destroy You - "Another Language" I always thought that these whappers had a stupid fucking name. If you're going to call yourselves "This Will Destroy You," I want you to crush my earlobes with THUNDER, not hypnotise me with swathes of dreamy post-rock. I want a band called THIS WILL DESTROY YOU to blow my headphones at the first crescendo, you gaggle of gits. Enough of this fuckery. Anyway, I had this band's first two albums for a while but found them pretty dull, and flogged both to Music Magpie for a handful of bottle caps. I, too, am very particularly about my post-rock, because a lot of the genre's most prominent bands don't do enough to differentiate themselves. The genre is crammed with Explosions in the Sky soundalikes, and that's cool for a while, but there's only so much I can take. I was pleasantly surprised by the subtle changes they've made to their sound since I last listened. There's a warmer, fuzzier quality to the music that wasn't there before, and they've incorporated more ambient and drone elements. Unfortunately, that's where my interest ends. Like the majority of their peers, TWDY's build-ups are tiresome slogs, and their crescendos aren't even remotely satisfying to me. Very well-executed, and I can imagine post-rock nuts really digging this, but I can't shake the deja vu. Shabazz Palaces - "Lese Majesty" Often when I don't "get" an album after the first couple of listens I decide that it's "too smart" for me, and I'm not listening closely enough to fully appreciate its "genius." Sometimes this means I waste a good 20-or-so hours of my life persisting with muck that I'm never going to enjoy anyway. This almost happened with the group's previous release, "Black Up," before it eventually won me over. That album dense enough to reward repeat listens but head-nodding enough to just throw on on my way to work or whatever. This one's a little different. I found "Lese Majesty" a lot easier to get into, but it's definitely not the most immediate album in the world. I think this thing is great. They've dropped a lot of their jazz influence and adopted this vast, stratospheric, programmed sound that envelopes me like a huge cosmic hug. Lyrically, Ishmael's in a completely different solar system to most other rappers, and his flow is effortlessly on-point. I can't lie and pretend I know what he's even trying to tell me half the time, but every now and then I'll be listening to this album and a line I've heard 15-20 times will suddenly click with me, and that's incredibly rewarding. "#CAKE" is just about the most perfectly-executed potshot at generic, entry level hip-hop I've ever heard. These dudes are making gigantic hip-hop soundscapes that sound unlike anything else in the genre. I adore this release, I think that Shabazz Palaces are among hip-hop's most important envelope-pushers, and I think this is one of the best albums of 2014.

There was a great article about them in The Blizzard a few years ago (think it might have been Issue Zero, actually) that basically said the same thing, and there's a growing sect of old crusties in their support who are raging because "IT JUST ISN'T AS GOOD AS IT WAS IN 1872, DAMNIT." Really great read -- I'll probably pick this book up as well.

Yeah, Newcastle game was rancid. It's pretty clear that John Carver isn't cut-out for this, and I sincerely hope that he isn't given the job. It'd be nice to be able to enjoy the team again.

That was the most I've celebrated a goal since the winning penalty in the League Cup final last year. So much joy. I even gave the guy who sits beside me a massive hug, and I don't even like that fanny.

I thought that game was fucking ace and I don't even really care that we didn't win. My throat is absolutely red raw. Some super-shitty defending from Aberdeen, and the referee was utterly honking in the second-half, but holy shit when Jack's goal went in... NYYYYYUUURURRRRGGHGHGHGHGHGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

It'd probably save a lot of maddening copy/pasting for you if we posted our own.

I watched the first season of Mad Men about six months ago and just haven't been arsed to start the second yet. Do the characters get any more endearing as the show progresses? Don has a lot of charm, but the rest are completely obnoxious arseholes with no real redeeming features. I don't have any real desire to watch them any more.

Pretty buzzing about today's football like, especially if results pan-out well. I live 5 minutes from Pittodrie, so I'll be watching Hamilton snake Celtic before hopping along to The Pitt to see Aberdeen dish out another 2-0 shellacking and go 7 points clear at the top, then home to watch Newcastle, which will undoubtedly be the day's low point. COYR, etc.

This is a fuckin' wild mix of albums, I'll say that. Great thread idea, Jan. You've made me listen to grindcore while enjoying my Sunday morning coffee and granola.

First time? Wear at least two more layers than you think you'll need. Pittodrie is its own biome, and the winter temperature can range anywhere between BASTARD COLD and "oh shit, my thumbs just fell off."