ca_gere

Why oh why wasn't it Scott Baio instead?! aside: when did he turn into such an asshole?

sky sports and half my facebook feed

just learned of Simpsonwave i'm totally fine with such a thing existing there are tonnes of videos

A few things I've been watching: sopranos from the beginning - finished it the other day. Got pretty addicted to the point I was getting up early to watch an episode before I left for work. I hadn't seen the last... Maybe 3 seasons when I watched it on tv. Great from start to finish. The wire is better but sopranos comes close. Rightfully lauded as one of the great series'. It's taken on a slightly different meaning now I know all the places they talk about. I'll never look at Montclair NJ the same again. its always sunny - I used to get irritated by the shouting and semi gross-out nature of this show but once you just surrender to the fact the characters have zero morals and that's what's so good about the show you begin to enjoy it. I'm absolutely hooked now (up to about season 7 although it all merges into one). Some moments have had me laughing harder than any show I can remember. When it's good, it's one of the funniest shows there is. Scream - mean girls meets gossip girl meets... Well, Scream. Total nonsense in the best way possible. It's pretty great and everyone is hot. Exactly what you want from a slasher tv series. OJ - can't remember the full title. The drama one with Ross from friends. So good. There's an ESPN documentary series that followed it I'm gonna jump into. I have vague memories of the case but the gravity of the wider issues it brought to light are really brought forward well and it has gotten me really interested in the entire story. A lot more to it than 'did he do it?' Marseille - French drama on Netflix with Gerard depardieu. Really really French in everything from the conversation to the personalities of the characters. They all smoke, fuck people other than their wives and eat good food. There's an interesting story in there somewhere but it's all about the Côte d'Azur vibes. Bloodline - STILL one of the best shows knocking about right now. If you haven't gotten involved, get on it. Second season takes off right where the first leaves. Coach Taylor is awesome in it.

a 'good record' was probably overstating it I admit, but for his first coaching role I don't think too much blame should be put on his shoulders for relegation. Is it just my odd memory or was the signing of Macaroni the start of the downfall? Never sign a pasta. It was as if to say 'nope we're not gonna get over Ravanelli and Juninho', we need some foreigners with funny names.

Mid table premier league, one relegation year then sacked when within one point of the league leaders. Do fans really blame Southgate for relegation and ongoing championship status?

The fact Southgate is getting laughed at for being the bookies favourite tells you everything about the expectations and delusions of grandeur around the England team. Do people not realize how good a job he's doing with the U20s and did with the U21s? Won one tournament, final of another. Yet, people are calling for Blanc who doesn't speak English, has probably never managed an English player (beckham aside who manages himself, I think I'm correct in saying) and has only managed in France. Even Southgate's record at boro was good.

I can't get over how bad that performance was from England. As overpaid as he is (as are the entire team) I can't help but feel sorry for sterling being used as a scapegoat the whole tournament. When there's no one near him to collect a pass and a slow build-up has meant the entire opposition team is ahead of him with 10 yards to the touchline he's bound to lose the ball or get his cross blocked. Added to by the fact the equivalent position on the other side was either filled by a marauding Kyle walker (this tournament's Ashley Cole - I.e. The only player who turned up) or a dragged-wide Sturridge who should be the one coming close to sterling to collect passes. Total imbalance to begin with, and that's down to the team organization. Obviously his bad touches didn't help but once teams started closing down the right side to snuff out the threat (as happened every single game he played) the onus should have been on other players to step up and nobody did. Iceland should get all the praise - they nullified the England attack without resorting to last ditch defending or playing like Greece. Where do England go from here? I think it'd be a mistake to appoint another big name (foreign or otherwise). As much pressure should be taken off as possible - pressure to play certain players and pressure to perform. They should play a formation where players aren't out of their normal position and smaller names who do the job for their team each week considered. That means no Eric Dier in a role he's taken up last year, no Wayne Rooney at all, no Kane in a front 3, no smalling in a back 3, no Hart without line hugging wing backs even. Lift an entire midfield from one team if needs be - players who are used to playing around each other not big names that kinda fit together.

The fishing industry one is a head scratcher - overfishing will kill it. That's just plain science. I admittedly know nothing about what fisherman think other than anecdotal evidence (having grown up around a lot of fish folk) but it seems that they don't care there will be no fish left to catch in however many years. Added to that is the fact, as you say, they won't get free reign of the seas anyway. They all trot down to Brussels to broker deals right now with EU countries. Do they think suddenly the British public will value langoustines and monkfish as much as the French? We just don't like fish as much as the rest of the world. Brexit isn't gonna change pallets.

This is literally the only thing I've seen Leave voters say today. A strange reaction indeed.

If you're white middle class, in a stable job etc you'll see very little change most likely in the coming years but for a lot of other people the uncertainty is going to be hard to deal with. Foreign nationals living in the UK, Brits living abroad, dual citizens, etc. Their status is up in the air for the time being. The EU provides lots of funding in areas the british govt doesn't give a shit about - science, environment, farming etc. That'll all go Fuck knows what'll happen to the fishing industry? - scottish fish and seafood will probably still get mostly shipped to spain/france but no doubt it'll take a hit in terms of tarriffs (which will no doubt take years to put in place but still) A lot of what will happen depends on the agreement reached when we actually pull out. We may be bound by a lot of the same 'straight bananas' laws that caused Farage so much grief. If we slide further down the prosperity ladder, foreign investment will decrease. Big banks and such will look at other options as their gateway to Europe. Right now the trend is US business investment growing in the UK, fuck knows if that will continue. In more symbolic terms, our 'voice' on the world stage is greatly reduced. We'll be on our own in terms of brokering deals, reaching agreements with international organizations/governments. One thought I just had - Eurostar will maybe struggle. It's one half Brussels - london business trips and one half disneyland tourists. It's not just MEPs who work in the EU, it's everyone from interpreters to assistants and fuck knows who else. EU member states get preferential market access in a bunch of non-EU countries. Basically meaning we get first dibs and wholesale prices on a lot of stuff from e.g South Korea. We'll have to stand in line like everyone else now. The EU is currently the UK's largest trading partner (i.e. we got a lot of shit from the EU and sell a lot of shit to it). That's partly because the UK is in the EU. No guarantee that'll be the case if we leave. i.e. germany and co might be all 'get to fuck' but yeah, day to day you're probably not going to notice much. In 10-15 years time though, the country could be a very different place. Probs a war here or there and most definitely some kind of triple dib dab recession. One of the most worrying part for me is the indisputable fact that xenophobia played a large part in this result. I don't want to be part of a country who risks their economic future because they can't find a hairdresser that doesn't speak lithuanian.

Granted my social graph swings to the left and I don't hang out with pensioners from provincial towns in England but I only came into contact with one Leave voter and his basis for voting so was 'I'm just not sure'. never felt so adrift from the populace yet so proud of Scotland

HUN/POR was a weird game. It just kinda popped into life, shit tons of efforts and goals and no defending, then went back into its shell when the job was done. Folk jumping on the slag Ronaldo bandwagon is annoying. The man wants to win, end of story. He's surrounded by lesser players and it must be frustrating. At least he's not trying 50 yard overhead volleys and shrugging when they don't go in like Zlatan. I'm finding it hard to get that excited for the likes of Iceland, ROI, NI and Albania making it through to the octo-finals. It's not a minnow story if there's a whole school of minnows making it into the big pond, or whatever that metaphor is meant to mean. If only one of those teams made it through i'd be happier. That said, it's pretty cool seeing all the 'home' nations get through.

Do any teams actually get punted out of this tournament or does everyone get through regardless of results? Shit new format. Top 2 through, bottom 2 go home is how it should be.

Once witnessed a friend run up full pelt to kick a penny floater that was sitting in my garden. Turns out it was a well-disguised buoy. One of the heavy water-logged ones. Broke all but one of his toes. Every time I see a penny floater I recall that memory and wince.

great film

8...9...10

between-bath-and-Bristol-bit-closer-to-Bath-music.com have inherited a solid new member

I've dipped in and out over the years. Never really made it an integral part of my routine but often wish I did. The Headspace app is great. A bit steep so I only used the free trial but it was a great way to start the day. Meditation is really hard to 'get into' and there seems to be a few different 'styles' (I know nothing about them but wish I did). The benefits are almost instantaneous though, even for someone doing it for the very first time. Any good reading recommendations?

mental

When I was in 5th year I coached the school's 1st year girls fitba team. One of the players was just named BBC women's footballer of the year. Coincidence?

Eww gross

Marc Maron is pathetically unfunny. Without doubt the most over-rated comedian around just now. I can't think if I've laughed at anything he's said. There are still a few golden comedian/comedian podcasts. Fitzdog Radio is always good, although that might just be because i've listened to him for so long it's like an old friend. I like that he's genuinely self-deprecating rather than the usual thinly-veiled humble-braggery that makes up most of these pods. The Cracked podcast is surprisingly good. I also listen to Slate's the Gist, Good Job Brain, No Such Thing As A Fish, Radiolab, Stuff You Should Know, Note to Self

Absolutely loving You Must Remember This (which ironically is a really difficult title to remember). It's about Hollywood myths/stories from the last century. There's a 12 part series about the Charles Manson murders which is as good as anything out there. Not comedy though. Other than that, been listening to Buckle's pod (always excellent), Bill Burr's, Michael Rappaport's, Pete Holmes. A lot of the solo male podcasts seem to have weird misognyst undertones which, even when tongue-in-cheeck is putting me off a lot of people. I find a lot of comedian-talking-to-other-comedian podcasts way too "L.A" with all the self-reflection and neuroses. Then the ones that are 'about' something are often too boring. The NPR/talk radio ones are always good but for comedy, i'm struggling to find anything that hits the mark right now. I'm giving Scroobius Pip's a go just now. OK so far. I'm gonna give The Dollop a go too (mentioned above)

POINTS!!! also sad