Playmobil Joy Division – simply fantastic

With this blog having the address it does, I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to link to this

In praise of: Celtic’s performance today

Scottish Cup 5th round

Ibrox stadium, Glasgow

6 February 2011

Rangers 2 Celtic 2

 

It’d be a long and largely uninteresting story to explain why I’m a Celtic fan, but today’s performance left me proud to call myself one. So often, Old Firm encounters are characterised by passion and aggression, and whilst today’s match contained plenty of both, unusually there was also an excellent display of football on show.

As a team, Celtic have started to gel nicely at just the right point in the season. Too often have I witnessed Celtic sides struggling through January and dropping far too many points, however recently we have looked hungry and sharp, picking up points whilst playing attractive football.

Key to this is the way the side keep hold of the ball. For me, Neil Lennon’s best signing has been our cultured left-back Emilio Izzaguire. A troublesome role for Celtic for many years (possibly right the way back to the days of Dariusz Wdowczyk), Izzaguire has looked composed and in control throughout the season. He is comfortable on the ball, and allows Celtic to build from the back with attractive passing football. This confidence seems to have spread across the back four and today’s match saw very few panicked clearances from defence.

Sitting in front of the back four is another superb signing, Beram Kayal. Adding a bit of dig to our midfield, he is a fantastic passer of the ball and this was witnessed again today. A more creative Neil Lennon if you will. At 22 he surely has a fine career ahead of him.

Moving Scott Brown to the right side of the park has brought the best out of him. Like many fans, I have been frustrated with Brown, but his contribution to the side has been invaluable this season. His drive and vision were clear to see again today and his goal was a fine strike. It was pleasing to see a lack of silly reactions that have characterised his time at Celtic Park, and hopefully he has realised that he is much more useful to the team when he is not picking up silly bookings.

Despite being a man down for the majority of the second half, Celtic remained in control, keeping possession and looking to cut open the Rangers’ defence with incisive passing. Gone are the days of “lump it up to Samaras and hope the daft sod can do something with it”. This was a much more probing approach which paid off with Brown’s equaliser.

Going forward there are still areas for Celtic to improve. We need a quicker, more solid defensive partnership in the middle as the bulk of Rangers’ chances came from splitting the central 2 with quick reverse passes (case in point, the build up to the penalty). We should also be looking now to replace Izzaguire as I am certain that a big money offer will come in for him that we just won’t be able to turn down. Whilst I was apprehensive about Lennon’s appointment due to his lack of experience in the transfer market, I’ve seen enough to feel confident that he can bring in the players needed for the club to go forward. As long as the side can continue to play the way we did today (and indeed for the last few games) I feel optimistic for the future of Celtic.

 

Now that is a worrying sentence.

In praise of: Loveless

Recently I’ve fallen back in love with a flawed masterpiece that saw me through, ooh I dunno, 2004 and 2005. Back then, I needed an escape, and nothing could transport me to an ethereal world better than “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine. Now, I can appreciate the album without recourse to its salving qualities and boy, it is all the better for it.

Listening to it, I still feel like I’m floating in a magenta cloud with angels kissing away the worries from my head. (Why magenta-tinged? Look at the album cover. Oft-criticised, I think its a thing of beauty, and I can’t picture anything that would fit better with the music.) With age (mine and its) it has matured fantastically, layers upon layers that bring to mind the most wonderful of images, that fill my veins with pure joy and that are more warming than a log fire.

A stellar leap from their previous “Isn’t Anything”, tracks such as “Blown A Wish” and “Come In Alone” are sensuous beauties that enter one ear, gyrate around the pleasure centres of the brain before exiting the other smoking a cigarette. “What You Want” is a driving beast, matching half submerged vocals with an almost Krautrock-esque motorik beat (not something I’d have ever associated with shoegazing) and “Loomer” takes you fully in its arms whilst whispering sweet nothings in your ear.

Best of all is “When You Sleep” which is a joyous romp through a field in the summertime. If you listen to nothing else from this album, listen to this.

Not “Only Shallow”. Conveniently placed at the start of the album for easy skipping, it is the only downside to the album. But as has become apparent, I prefer flawed genius to perfection anytime.

In praise of: Douglas Coupland

Or should I say – curse the day I ever learned of his writing.

On the one hand, his writing has given me such wonderous pleasure. “Generation X”, “Life After God” and my personal favourite, “Girlfriend In A Coma” sing out with beautiful clarity that they still seem to me to be more crystalline artefacts than mere books. Each of them seem to create an image in my mind of the world as it should be.

This is partly why I dare curse him.

“Shampoo Planet” did it for me. The main character, Tyler, is not especially likeable, being primarily concerned with hair products and scoring a good job with a big corporation. Yet as I read on, I inexorably found myself comparing my life with his and finding it lacking. Partly due to how things were going for me at the time (and I’ve noticed my love of all things Coupland is tied up with that time) but no other author managed to affect me as much as he.

This has been brought into sharp relief through reading Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” recently. Whilst stylistically very different from Coupland’s work, the feeling that I am reading something that will change my worldview is taking me right back to when I was 20. At 27 some will undoubtedly say I am too young to be set in my ways, that I should still be able to feel my world reshaping with every new piece of art I come across (although I do no longer trust the NME to assist with that quite reasonably).

 

I do so hope that they’re right.

coming soon – in praise of Scottish fiction

Iain Banks, Alan Bissett, Christopher Brookmyre, Janice Galloway, James Kelman, A.L. Kennedy, Ali Smith, Alexander Trocchi, Alan Warner, Irvine Welsh, Louise Welsh

and more (most?) importantly

Alasdair Gray

I’ll work hard to not plagiarise.

In praise of: Belle and Sebastian

Pedalling along the leafy wide lanes of Queen Street today, with the sun glinting off parked cars and manhole covers, what should come on my iPod? None other than “String Bean Jean”. In an instant I wished I was back in Kelvinbridge, sitting by the river, perusing my latest purchase from Voltaire and Rousseau.

However, I am certain that that is a quirk of the weather. Had it been dull, grey and miserable then no doubt I’d have imagined myself in Missing Records. For it was there I fell in love with a quirky band who had a great line in lyrics and titles. Posters of  ”If you’re feeling sinister” and “Fold your hands child you walk like a peasant” seemed ever present behind the counter and their impenetrable titles eventually wore my curiosity down.

The liner notes just served to deepen the infatuation, hinting at a mythical existance, like they were a band out of a novel. Reminiscent of the Coupland-penned notes for Saint Etienne’s “Good Humour”. This literary bent seemed to extend to their lyrics, with every song seeming to be another Scottish classic, a more refined Kelman perhaps, swapping coffee shops for greyhound tracks.

Few surely could listen to “This is just a modern rock song” without smiling at “we’re four boys in our corduroys/We’re not terrific but we’re competent” (and no doubt some of my friends may see some of me in “Stuart’s staying in and he thinks its a sin/That he has to leave the house at all”).

“Expectations” and “Seeing other people” take me back to a bittersweet time, growing up and wishing for more. “Stay loose” is the sound of a sepia photograph and “Photo Jenny” never fails to raise a smile.

Belle and Sebastian are a flawed bunch of Scottish geniuses. The flaws serve to make them better, we dislike perfection. And like some of my other favourite flawed artists, I have trouble with endings. Please forgive me for this one.

Doctor Who: “Planet of the Dead”

Michelle Ryan – always has been annoying, always will be

The re-appearance of UNIT – air punching-ly brilliant

Lee Evans as mad scientist – worked surprisingly well

Otherwise, a pretty enjoyable romp and far superior to the weak Christmas specials we’ve had to endure.