Big Diamonds, Happy Flower Children- Best of 2007

The 100th Walking on Snow post. Test centurion indeed.

The best of 2007- t's all girls, as it will be at the end of the world...

Best single of 2007

...oh, my gosh...


Honorable mention to this stunning Long Blondes song


Best Album of 2007

Sahara Hotnights- What if Leaving is a Loving Thing


Best Film of 2007


Sigur Ros could have won all three, and Britney nearly won album of the year. Seriously. Blackout is as strange and surprising as anything you'll hear...

Do You Believe In Magic?

...it makes you feel happy,/ like an old time movie...


One year and one week exactly on from the craziness of the game against Man Utd, came last night- the earth shifting a little bit more on its axis when Donati wrought retribution on a Shakhtar team who refused to play the game, and you know when they were all lying down on the pitch after Donati scored? That wasn't tiredness or disappointment that made them lie down- it was the heavy hand of justice from God, telling them they'd got what they deserved...

Soaked, Completely Drenched...

The night may be starless and dateless, but it's far from pitiless.

Here's the trailer for the new Sigur Ros film- it is called Heima, which means At Home...


Sigur Ros- they could be the best band in the world, you know. Icelandic majesty. This one is probably their biggest hit, 'Hoppipolla'...



While we're on unearthly electric beauty- the new one from Jim Noir...

Wrestling Bears

REM with Bruce Springsteen- Man on the Moon

Drive Like A Car- Henrik Larsson in Europe

Worth a new post for this- my first ever film.

Well... everybody starts with a film about Larsson, don't they?

Walking on Snow presents:

Henrik in Europe

Where I am with Celtic right now...

The summer song
Fades to memory

I knew you when
I loved you then
The summer's young and helpless.

You laid me bare
You marked me there
The promises we made...

You cling to this
You claim the best
If this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain...


Anyway- who's up for more Chinese pop at half time during games? This band's called Cookies- the song is great...



All nostalgia is decadent anyway, I think- we can afford lashings of it if we win a double and are not fully satisfied. The word nostalgia actually means the same as 'homesickness' (νόστος = nostos = returning home, and άλγος = algos = pain/longing), and we're scared, a bit, that we might not see home again, but come August, we'll be there again. The end of a season is also a beginning.

Bring on the transfer rumours to cheer us up!

'Back to Elvis, and Marilyn'- Transvision Vamp and the Unsought Recompense of Nostalgia

How happy was I, when I stumbled across this earlier on tonight? Very happy indeed, very very happy indeed.

And hear ye- the same amount of time has elapsed since this song was released, as had elapsed back then since Elvis Presley had died.

Now and zen, we might profitably ponder such mysteries, as we gaze and hazily smile at Wendy James and what might have been...



Fantastic song!

Sunlight Bathes The Golden Glow

The game on Sunday: it took (I'm sure) everyone by surprise, certainly me, not the fact that there was a last-kick-of-the-game winner involved, but that everyone was SO excited by it. Something was unleashed, it felt- I thought it was incredible, and Nakamura's, and Strachan's celebrations were something else. And Strachan played Riordan and Gravesen- refreshing in itself, although he took Gravesen off. Again, Celtic looked better with TG on the park. Pandaemonium in Japanese below:



Best news report here.

Anyway- the only big remaining questions for the season are:

1) Who will present the trophy?

2) Will Neil Lennon get a goal at Ibrox on the 5th?

3) Will Celtic win the double?

Hopeful answers as follows:

1) Rod Stewart.

2) I will pay my next month's wages into any given bank account for a YES.

3) Yes, indeed, indeed, on a sunny day in May, singing about the Lisbon Lions.

Past the Last Exit

Went to see Herman Dune this week. This song, for instance, is an instant classic- great lyrics, cracking tune, good indie music.



However, I did not know when I went to see them that every other Herman Dune song, aprt from one, sounds EXACTLY this one- same chords, same tone, same tune, same type of lyrics. I had heard two songs before I went- this one, and the only other one which doesn't sound like this one. And they played for almost two hours. The same song, never breaking out of the same vocal range, same story...

Sometimes you have to go back to what you know- if this isn't the most passionate performance of a song on the whole internet, I want to see the one that beats it.



The Mountain Goats- No Children (Live)

Things Fall Apart, the Centre Cannot Hold

Far be it from me to advocate panic, but it's not difficult to see that Strachan now seems to have lost the necessary focus and urgency for the Celtic job: that is, Celtic seem to have lost focus and urgency, and there is only one person to blame for not changing the strike force when they're not scoring goals (Riordan in the stand the last game, unused on the bench this time), the midfield when they're not influencing the game (Gravesen disappearing off the face of the Earth- he is CLEARLY the type of player we need at the minute, even just to urge on the other players, to show a bit of confidence).

I could mention the defence- has Naylor played every single game since he signed? Not sure about that statistic, but until recently it was certainly true. Give him a rest. Play Doumbe- move it around, freshen it up. Nakamura never gets a rest either- and today- what would have happened if he had been injured? Would we have scored?

Every team can have bad days- the Milan game, I think was unlucky, and I'll ignore the Rangers game for now- but how can it be acceptable when the same issues that affected the defeat at Falkirk are not addressed for a draw at Tannadice?

Things are falling apart- Riordan should be given a chance, Gravesen should be given a chance: they are both obviously good players. The centre will not hold if this continues...

Safe to say, Jock Stein would not have finished a league procession like this. Not that I'm expecting another Stein, but we have to look at what we learned when he was here...

Little Holes

Only a non-native speaker of English would write words so sad and unsettling as

...this is an invitation
It’s not a threat
If you want communication
That’s what you get
I’m talking and talking
But I don’t know
How to connect
And I hold a record for being patient...
With your kind of hesitation


The Cardigans- Nina adds the star quality, but no-one ever seems to talk about them, but they are so good, such beautiful music...

A Different Coin

On 21 November, Michael Collins ordered the IRA to execute known British agents living in Dublin- fourteen were killed. Collins said of it, "My one intention was the destruction of the undesirables who continued to make miserable the lives of ordinary decent citizens... By their destruction the very air is made sweeter... For myself, my conscience is clear. There is no crime in detecting in wartime the spy and the informer. They have destroyed without trial. I have paid them back in their own coin."

That afternoon, Crown Forces went to Croke Park, where Dublin were playing Tipperary in a Gaelic football match. They broke into the stadium, firing shots into the crowd, and onto the field, without giving any warning. Fourteen people, who had gone to watch a football match, were killed, including two boys aged 10 and 11, and one player, Michael Hogan, captain of the Tipperary team. It is one of the most shameful atrocities, though certainly not the last, carried out by British forces on innocent civilians in Ireland. 'Bloody Sunday', as it became known, made world headlines, and helped further alienate the Irish people from the British Crown.


After the establishment of an Irish Republic, it was decreed that no 'foreign' games (effectively referring to soccer or rugby) would be played at Croke Park. Times have moved on sufficiently to allow the Irish rugby team to play the 2007 Six Nations campaign at Croke Park, but that did not diminish the significance of hearing 'God Save the Queen' played today on the very pitch where Crown Forces opened fire on civilians eighty six years ago. Watching the opening ceremony, though, I have never seen a team so physically moved on hearing their own national anthem- literally, there were tears in the eyes of some of that team.

They played one of the finest games any Irish team has played, including the scoring of one try as sublime as any goal scored by the great Kerry Gaelic teams of the 1980s. The result, 43-13, was by far the biggest ever victory by an Irish team over England. The fans in the Michael Hogan Stand in particular, must have felt the chill of history- the result was an outstanding performance and achievement.

Bona to Vada

Took these yesterday in London, with my camera- which is also a telephone!

One, of the beautiful St Paul's, looking ugly and symmetrical with the Swiss Re building.


One of the London Eye bending uneasily over the Thames.


And this, of a pigeon's ambiguous undulations over Parliament...

...the pain killers make the pain even worse...

'Chips Ahoy', by The Hold Steady.

Top class American indie rock. Or is it indie? Sounds kind of like Bruce Springsteen in parts- although this one crystallises what the Killers have been doing for the last few years. Although they sound kind of like Bruce Springsteen, I suppose.

I like the girl and the pool cleaner. A good fun video. They're playing the Cathouse on Valentine's Day.

When The Deal Goes Down

Transfer deadline day, eh? It's football porn- entertaining frustration.

Anyway- this is better. Go to Live Footy, to watch just about any game of football you like, live on your computer. As I type, I've got Arsenal v Spurs open in one window, and AC Milan open in another.

You need to download some software: SopCast, PPStream, and PCast. This can seem fiddly, but it seems to have worked fine for me.

Meantime- the other great event of 2007 is Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio. It turns out he's not only the single greatest songwriter of all time, but also the greatest DJ of them all- go here to listen again to the latest show, or listen live on Fridays at 9pm on BBC 6 Music.

To clelebrate which- here's one of Dylan's most beautiful recent songs, starring Scarlett Johansson in the video...

Thommo

Celtic Career (1/9/00-12/1/07)

227 Appearances
51 Goals (including 6 against Rangers)
4 SPL Championship Medals
3 Scottish Cup Medals
1 UEFA Cup Vice Champion Medal

Thank you so much for the memories, Alan- fare thee very well!

Guided by Voices

14 Cheerleader Coldfront