November 18, 2009

Behind...

Is it really nearly two months since I last updated my blog?!

I’m afraid I’ve fallen behind in this aspect of my life as other things have taken precedence.

I lost my job on August 15th and a lot of the time since has been spent in a (for the most part) happy blur now that the pressure of being “A Responsible Person” has lifted.

Anyways, I will start catching up over the next few days. If I don’t I fear this blog will go the way of so many lapsed projects and stutter to an end with a comma and not a full stop.

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September 28, 2009

This takes me back to Kazakhstan in 1997…

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September 16, 2009

Jeb Corliss at work (or should that be play?).

And I quote: “Life is a bunch of experiences you have until you die.”

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“ Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C Clarke, Profiles Of The Future •
September 7, 2009

This will end up in my top ten for the year.

Strange and stirring stuff…

And suitably epic.

“And the thought and the thought and the thought of you

I thought we’d be doing the fateful few together, together

And I’d thought that you might feel the same

With your insect skin and my lions mane

And be you

To be you”

Superb.

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Inverting The Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson is not quite the best book on football that I’ve ever read (that accolade goes to David Winner’s Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football) but it has definitely taken one of the automatic spots for the Champions League. Subtitled “The History Of Football Tactics” the book charts the development of tactics from initial formations of 1-2-7 and 2-2-6 right through to the modern game’s increasing preference for shapes like 4-1-4-1, 4-3-2-1 (the oft-mentioned Christmas tree) and 4-2-3-1. Wilson charts the development of football tactics across the world as a product of diverse histories and compelling individual thinkers. It’s clear that football’s development would be different these days (shaped by global media and the dominance of the major leagues) but the tension between beautiful football and the drive to win remains. It made me realise how little I know about football tactics (I’m guessing the same applies to 99% of “fans”) while not making make me feeling bad for admitting this. The biggest surprise? That my favourite Brazil team (from the 1982 World Cup) was actually playing 4-2-2-2 with Zico and Socrates playing as trequaristas (I’d always thought of Socrates as a free-spirited centre back) and Eder (one of my favourite ever players) up front (and not on the wing). They should have beaten Italy. Paulo b****y Rossi. I might now give Alex Bellos’ Futebol (the story of Brazilian football) a go. It’s been sat on my shelves since a friend bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago. Whet your appetite here.

Inverting The Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson is not quite the best book on football that I’ve ever read (that accolade goes to David Winner’s Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football) but it has definitely taken one of the automatic spots for the Champions League.

Subtitled “The History Of Football Tactics” the book charts the development of tactics from initial formations of 1-2-7 and 2-2-6 right through to the modern game’s increasing preference for shapes like 4-1-4-1, 4-3-2-1 (the oft-mentioned Christmas tree) and 4-2-3-1.

Wilson charts the development of football tactics across the world as a product of diverse histories and compelling individual thinkers. It’s clear that football’s development would be different these days (shaped by global media and the dominance of the major leagues) but the tension between beautiful football and the drive to win remains.

It made me realise how little I know about football tactics (I’m guessing the same applies to 99% of “fans”) while not making make me feeling bad for admitting this.

The biggest surprise? That my favourite Brazil team (from the 1982 World Cup) was actually playing 4-2-2-2 with Zico and Socrates playing as trequaristas (I’d always thought of Socrates as a free-spirited centre back) and Eder (one of my favourite ever players) up front (and not on the wing). They should have beaten Italy. Paulo b****y Rossi.

I might now give Alex Bellos’ Futebol (the story of Brazilian football) a go. It’s been sat on my shelves since a friend bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago.

Whet your appetite here.

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September 5, 2009
I was particularly taken by the first few images in the "Fantasy" category...
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September 3, 2009
After The Pearl I moved on to We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. An influence on Orwell and Huxley, this dystopian science fiction, which was written towards the beginning of the last century, has been on my shelves for quite time and, in fact, has been started a few times too. If I’m honest I just couldn’t get to grips with it. The story was strong enough but the style of writing (or at least this translation) just left me cold and, at times, wishing the pages away. I’ll keep it (I don’t like throwing science fiction away - don’t ask me why) but I doubt I will reread it anytime soon. Interesting cover though. It reminded me of my dad’s drawings of Flash Gordon-esque spaceships when I was a kid (he also draws a mean bicycle and not much else).

After The Pearl I moved on to We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

An influence on Orwell and Huxley, this dystopian science fiction, which was written towards the beginning of the last century, has been on my shelves for quite time and, in fact, has been started a few times too.

If I’m honest I just couldn’t get to grips with it. The story was strong enough but the style of writing (or at least this translation) just left me cold and, at times, wishing the pages away.

I’ll keep it (I don’t like throwing science fiction away - don’t ask me why) but I doubt I will reread it anytime soon.

Interesting cover though. It reminded me of my dad’s drawings of Flash Gordon-esque spaceships when I was a kid (he also draws a mean bicycle and not much else).

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The Pearl is (I am ashamed to admit) the first book by Steinbeck that I’ve ever owned, let alone read. It was bought for me one December night a couple of years ago by a dear friend and I’ve been holding back on reading it until the time was right. It’s a short and simple parable about wealth and the evil it can bring about. Despite the complexity of the subject matter it is very simply put - a charcoal sketch of a book rather than an oil painting but no less artistic for that. My sense of dread - and rage - grew as the book went on but the ending, while inevitable, brought a sense of relief if only because Kino (the principal character) casts out the evil (albeit it, at a cost) that others would have succumbed to. I’m not going to be rushing on to Of Mice And Men or The Grapes Of Wrath but I feel sure I will someday.

The Pearl is (I am ashamed to admit) the first book by Steinbeck that I’ve ever owned, let alone read.

It was bought for me one December night a couple of years ago by a dear friend and I’ve been holding back on reading it until the time was right.

It’s a short and simple parable about wealth and the evil it can bring about. Despite the complexity of the subject matter it is very simply put - a charcoal sketch of a book rather than an oil painting but no less artistic for that.

My sense of dread - and rage - grew as the book went on but the ending, while inevitable, brought a sense of relief if only because Kino (the principal character) casts out the evil (albeit it, at a cost) that others would have succumbed to.

I’m not going to be rushing on to Of Mice And Men or The Grapes Of Wrath but I feel sure I will someday.

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August 2, 2009
Top 10 Comic Book Cities
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