JMDP

Norwegian Wood. Went to see this at the cinema the other day. I'd read mixed reviews, which was worrying as it's one of my favourite books, but I was pleasantly surprised as I thought it was really good. Hard to judge it given how much I love the book, but I'd probably give it: ****

People who refer to their son "ma bhoy" on Facebook. f**k sake.

Massive hangovers

I saw The Crookes at King Tut's on Tuesday night. An excellent set, am looking forward to their debut album.

Stella 4%. So much better than the normal Stella pish.

Says me. There is such a thing is worthiness, you just don't seem to understand the concept. I have no problems with people reading for their entertainment. Indeed, that's why I read. It's just funny to try and watch people become defensive about their choice of reading and dress it up as something it's not. I know people who love Transformers 2, but to say it's as worthy a cinematic adventure as, say, Hotel Rwanda or Frost/Nixon wouldn't be true. It's throwaway tat. And that's fine, it serves it's purpose. Also, if someone put it in their top 5 films, fair enough, that's their taste but I'll still have a good chuckle at them. Anyway, "Tender is the Night" was excellent. Not as good as Gatsby, but what is? I will be moving on "Facing Tyson" by Ted Cluck at the weekend. Purely for entertainment, of course. ETA: I agree with WendyWho's post above with regards to his horses for courses point.

British Sea Power - Please Stand Up Alright, I will.

You must have read "a few thousand" awful books if they are anywhere near your top five. .

Yeah, I "slated" it because it's fashionable to do so.

Totally agree, absolute garbage. Writing by numbers. I just finished "Human Love" by Andrei Makine. The latest novel by the Russian author is another belter, which can be loosely described as charting a relationship between a Russian woman and Angolan revolutionary. There's no point in going into any more details as, like with most of Makine's work, it would be impossible to do it justice. It's not quite as good as "A Life's Music" or "Requiem for the East" but it's stunning all the same. With the exception of Haruki Murakami, Makine is my favourite living novelist. Now on to "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Agreed, Murray isn't the brightest and relies on bile, bluster and whataboutery whenever he's on QT. He's a perfect example of smear and sneer debating.

Good 170 from Adams there, would love Chizzy to make it 3-3 at the break though.

I thought he was excellent. Ludlow St was a strange opener but River of Brakelights really kicked things off before an excellent version of album highlight Out of the Blue. As ever, his voice was excellent live although I felt it got swallowed up a little bit on occasion by the two drumkits. Strokes cover I'll Try Anything Once was a nice touch as was his Christmas song and Glass the perfect ending. All in all, an excellent gig and am now very excited about The Strokes return next year.

Julian Casablancas at the abc this Saturday, should be awesome. Still don't know who the support are though. On a related note, The Strokes have just been announced as headlining Rockness next year so I will deifinitely be going up for that too.

Goodbye Lenin - Set in East Berlin 1989-90, Alex's mother has a heart attack which leaves her in a coma for 8 months as the Wall falls and everything she ever believed in disappears. As she wakes from the coma, he is told by the doctor that any excitement could kill his mother so Alex, realising that recent events would be too much for her, attempts to maintain the pretence that nothing has changed in the world around her. I enjoyed it, some pretty funny moments so would give it 8/10.

Made some coq au vin with garlic bread. Yum.

I watched 2012(*) on Saturday, utter pish. Didn't care if they survived or not, it was just really boring and brainless. The only upside was the police coming into the cinema about an hour into the film to throw some people out. My girlfriend is never getting to choose which film we see again. Yesterday, however, I watched A Serious Man(****) and thoroughly enjoyed it. A clever, thought-provoking film that kept me interested throughout. Another winner from the Coen brothers.

Just bought tickets for Julian Casablancas, ABC, Dec 12th. Can't Wait!

Was at the Levadia Tallinn - FC Flora derby a few weeks back whilst doing some travelling in the Baltics. The game was played in the Kardirou Stadium(where Scotland once kicked off against no one after Estonia never turned up) and Levadia won 1-0 despite being reduced to 10 men after a few minutes. A decent enough game, shame that Levadia were so far ahead in the league(they are now 59 matches unbeaten) as neither set of fans really seemed up for it, especially given that it was a derby match. Hoping to get back to Prague in a couple of months for another Slavia game and will try and catch PSG when I'm over in Paris too,

Next on my list. I read "The Gum Thief" by Coupland a few months back and thought it was a great read. Very funny.

Just about to go for a subway at lunch, think I'll go with tuna on italian herbs with cheese bread, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, jalapenos & chilli sauce.

Been running about 25 miles a week in preperation for the Glasgow half marathon, probably should be doing a little more. Nine miles yesterday in the wind and rain, didn't feel too bad after it. I'll probably try and do a 15 mile run by the end of the week before easing down the the week after in the lead up to the race. The Stirling 10K is only a couple of weeks after, enjoyable race that and a good course for a PB. Has anyone ever ran a marathon, half marathon or 10k on the continent? Myself and a couple of friends are looking to go away next year to run and any recommedations would be welcome. I'd be looking to run my first marathon whilst the others would probably be doing a half or 10k so any that organise these on the same day would be ideal.

Beerjacket - The Phantom

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami. Classic Murakami, absolutely raced through this book and it's amongst his best work. 9/10.

Somers Town - 8/10 The latest film from Shane Meadows about a teenager from the midlands who runs away to London and the friendship he strikes up with a young Polish immigrant. Different from Meadows previous films but I found it pretty enjoyable and easy watching.