November 2004 Blogs
29th November 2004 - 22:55 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I’m in a bad mood tonight! Leeds lost 1-0 to Rotherham who haven’t won all season!
Members of WACCOE will know that I actually predicted a Leeds defeat this evening. It’s so frustrating! I’ve seen it too many times before. Leeds play well against the good teams and lie down against the ones lower down in the table.
A shocking performance and the striker Michael Ricketts was just dire. He was given many chances to score and just missed or failed to make contact with the ball. I know he’s only a young player but he is past it. He should be taken to the glue factory as that is all he is good for.
Continuing with the ranting theme, I saw the 2nd episode of the new season of The Simpsons on Sunday. What a crock of crap!
The episode focused on Marge befriending Nelson Muntz (yawn, seen it all before) while Lisa got concerned about her weight and refused to eat (I see the creators have stooped to using serious topics such as eating disorders for storylines).
Ralph featured in the episode. In the past he has been able to bring many laughs whenever featured, but in this episode where he played the “Duck – Goose Game” or rather “Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck…” was just embarrassing and made him look too stupid, even for Ralph. I felt awkward watching it.
They should just have shut up shop after Season 12 and maybe finished on a high with a movie. All I can think is that the evil powers who are Fox just kept throwing money at Matt Groening, forcing him to do more and more seasons, each getting worse and worse.
I’ll probably get Sparkster.net taken down for this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Fox are a bad, bad company. They steal from the poor and give to the rich, they are the Anti-Robin Hood. They steal candy from babies and wear seal fur coats. They… <this blog entry has been removed by Fox Security Inc.>
28th November 2004 - 00:56 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
A very late blog tonight…
After hearing the new Band Aid single for Christmas earlier in the week it got me thinking into how many copies would actually be sold in the week up until Christmas to get a single to the No. 1 spot (presuming the bookies are correct and it gets there).
I then begun to wonder, what would happen if Leeds fans managed to get the clubs song ‘Marching on Together’ to the No.1 spot, obviously not this year, but maybe in 2005 after getting the song re-released.
If each fan from the 500-1000 regular posters on the WACCOE forum as well as the tens of thousands who attend Elland Road each week bought as many copies as they could afford, solely in the week before Christmas, then they could cause a major shock in the music world and bring the great club’s anthem to fame.
If the Leeds fans did manage to pull it off, the tabloids who are well known for hating Leeds United would have a field day and really slam the move. Here’s an artists impression of what a typical newspaper would read December 2005.
Of course the topic of “Where the money goes” would come into play. Charity is always a good idea, so all profits should go straight into Leeds United Football Club, after all, their debts probably exceed those of a third world country! :o)
Something to think about for next year! In the meantime, any Leeds fans in charge of music for a Christmas party for friends, family, the office, etc should check out the “Leeds United Greatest Hits Vol. 2” CD (available from Official Leeds United retailers).
The last track on the album is “White Xmas”, starts off like the Christmas Classic but has a Leeds United twist – a great track to play at a party, especially if the unsuspecting Man Utd fan is there!
That’s the lot for tonight, sorry for the early talk on Christmas, I hate it when shops, TV shows, etc make a fuss too early on so it’s a little silly making this blog entry! I promise there will be no more Crimbo talk until at least Wednesday 1 st December.
27th November 2004 - 18:46 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
A good evening last night, firstly going to The Globe Inn, just outside of Bath. I had Hunters Chicken which is just delicious, by far the best dish on the menu. Chicken, wrapped in bacon, in a creamy barbecue sauce served with cheesy potato. If you live in or are ever in Bath, I highly recommend it!
After that I was off to the cinema last night to see the highly anticipated movie The Incredibles, which I have been looking forward to for ages.
Being it was no ordinary film, I pushed the boat out and got “Premium Seats” for around £10. For that you got some great seats – almost like sofas, a side table and Pepsi and Popcorn, a very good experience and worth the extra few pounds. The only disadvantages were that I felt the seats were a little bit too low and the wall cut off the bottom of the screen a bit, you also were not allowed to swap the Pepsi for an Ice Blast, even if you paid the difference.
Like Shrek 2 and Shark Tail, The Incredibles is totally computer animated, which seems to be the way nowadays for animation, no more cartoons.
Mr. incredible, may I suggest changing into a white Leeds United shirt.
Red doesn't suite you.
The film follows the story if Mr. Incredible a retired superhero who is married to a female superhero who is also retired. They live normal lives and have some freaky children who also have special powers. Mr. Incredible is then brought out of retirement and sent on a mission, his family get dragged in and there you have the movie plot…
Sadly not as good as I was expecting, but I was so much looking forward to this title, maybe I expected too much? That said, the film is certainly worth seeing with or without kids.
I was dragged out again this afternoon to go to the pub to watch the England Rugby game, or as I refer to it “egg chasing”. England lost to Australia, which was a shame. Even though I don’t really like the sport, its always good to see England win – you don’t see it much. Whether its rugby, football, F1 racing or cricket, England promise so much but rarely deliver.
Talking about things that don’t deliver… Tesco Online. I’ve been shopping with them for almost a year now and have been very happy overall. They are always well stocked, reasonably priced and on time. Until today! My groceries were supposed to come this morning. I got a call around 2 this afternoon to say there’s been a delay (fair enough, these things happen) and it won’t be here until 5.30pm. It is not 6.41pm and do I have the groceries, do I F***! There’s no food in the house, I’m hungry. Maybe I should call for a Dominos and charge it to Tesco?
24th November 2004 - 23:00 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I got my TV back from the repair shop yesterday. After using the PC Monitor and a portable TV for my viewing for the last 2-3 weeks, it’s surprising how big my 28” Widescreen actually is, sitting on top of my cabinet.
Anyway, I made full use of it this evening, watching the PSV-Arsenal game on Sky Sports while listening to the Leeds-Watford game on Radio Aire.
Leeds drew 2-2 with Watford and although were able to come from behind twice is still a little frustrating. Earlier on in the season they were solid in defence but had the problem of lack of goals. Now they’re scoring for fun but in defence can be as loose as the bowels of a dysentery sufferer. (Apologies for the comparison)
Arsenal are also a team who could be doing far better. They have one more group game of The Champions League and if they fail to win, it could see them fall into the Uefa Cup. Now I like Arsenal, I think they play some good football (well, not much lately) and are a major threat to Man Utd (whom I dislike) but as a neutral I think it would be interesting to see how they fair in the Uefa Cup, although it would still be a shame to see them be knocked the CL early on.
One team, I won’t miss in The Champions League is Liverpool. They lost yesterday and must win their next game to even think about staying in. They’re an alright squad but have no strikers at the moment! They’re all out injured! What a shame!
One last topic for tonight (sorry if you don’t like football), WACCOE was running a discussion on ugly players who have played for Leeds. Now, I know John Hartson of Celtic has never played for Leeds (I wish me would, he's very good!) but take a look at him on Sky Sports this evening.
I ate a baby!
A face only a mother could love and bearing similarities to Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies.
22nd November 2004 - 23:19 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
Another update for the evening. There have been lots of requests on WACCOE for members to upload video clips of the goals from Saturday’s game against QPR. This is a big “no no” and the English FA have cracked down hard on websites doing this. For that reason I cannot host them. What I can do though is offer the goal montage played on The Chris Moyles show this morning on Radio 1. Download the MP3 here and enjoy! If yu want to view the goals, check out LUTV.
One thing on the above download and indeed any downloads on this website. I don’t use anti-leech technology on the webserver. Anti-leech is there to stop people linking to files directly from external websites. There are flaws in this though and genuine site visitors can have trouble accessing the content. Therefore instead of using this I ask you, please do not directly link to these files on your website or web forums. Please link to this webpage hosting them, but NOT the files themselves. I can find out if this is being done and if necessary (sadly) I’ll have to take the files down. Please be respectful. Thank you.
Lastly, on the topic of the QPR game, the QPR manager Ian Holloway was admitted to hospital suffering stomach problems. He wasn’t at all well at the Leeds game and was ill last week. I wish him a speedy recovery and will leave you with this marvellous quote he made last year comparing winning a game to meeting a lady…
"...To put it in gentleman's terms, if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, you've done what you set out to do.
We didn't look our best but we've pulled. Some weeks the lady is good looking and some weeks they're not. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird, but at least we got her in the taxi.
She may not have been the best looking lady we ended up taking home, but it was still very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much and let's have coffee..."
A very funny and good man and by his rules, Leeds must have pulled a cracking bird on Saturday!
22nd November 2004 - 22:14 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I heard some good news today; there will be a Christmas single from Avid Merrion – start of the brilliant Bo Selecta! Last year of course was the excellent Proper Crimbo. This year the new single will be the American flop ‘Soda Pop’ as featured in Series 3 of the hilarious television series. Pre-order your copy now, it’ll be “Proper Bo” I tell thee.
In the cinema this week, The Incredibles will be officially released on Friday. It looks soooo funny, I’ve been looking forward to it since seeing the trailer back in August when I went to watch Shrek 2.
More on my visit to see Super Leeds United, I know I’m not the only one but I find the announcer at Elland Road extremely annoying. He was trying (badly) to get the crowd excited but they were silent. They only started making noise when he walked off the pitch!
I have an idea for a great announcer… Peter Kay! Sure he’s from Bolton, but he’s not a Wanderers fan. How about this as a pre-match crowd warm up…
Peter Kay: “How’s you all doing?”
30,000 Leeds fans: “Were doing fine!”
and when Leeds score
“Av it!”
and finally advertising away tickets
“You wanna get on that t’nternet. Get on Leeds United.com and get your tickets. Booked it, packed it, fucked off!”
Well, I’d find it funny…
One last thing for tonight. You'll hear nothing about that awful show that is I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here on this website. I like Big Brother, but I'm a Celebrity is just awful and I refuse to watch or comment on it.
Good bile!
21st November 2004 - 15:52 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
What a brilliant day yesterday! I joked about an 8-0 score for Leeds on Friday and it almost was! 6-1 against QPR is the best result Leeds have had in over 18 months and to witness it at Elland Road was just a marvellous experience which I will remember for the rest of my life.
The game started off very badly with QPR scoring in the first 100 seconds. For the remaining 88 minutes though Leeds were superb and were 2-1 up within 10 minutes. This lead to chants of “You’re not singing anymore” from the Leeds fans.
When the third goal was scored the QPR fans went all quite but were reminded where they were by the Leeds fans shouting “Shall we sing a song for you?”
Brian Deane, aged 36 and previously thought of as “over the hill” by most Leeds fans (myself included) got four of the six goals for Leeds! “Deano for England!”
All in all a brilliant game and one which reminds me why I am a Leeds fan.
19th November 2004 - 08:05 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
A bit of an early blog from me today. I’m off to work soon, but just for the morning as at 12.30 I’ll be heading up to Leeds for the game tomorrow. I haven’t even packed so that’ll be a five minute job when I get back from work!
While there, I won’t be able to update the site so you won’t see anything new on here until Sunday evening – at the earliest. I’ll try to make a few posts about the game on WACCOE so if you miss my comments that much you can always find them there (under the username sparkster).
Anyways, good luck to Leeds tomorrow. My serious prediction: 1-1
Leeds at home where they normally play well, QPR having a great season so it’ll be hard for all 3 points.
My ideal predication: 8-0 to Super Leeds
18th November 2004 - 18:42 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
Noooooooooo! Turned on Sky+ ready to watch Neighbours and noticed it has failed! This is the replacement box! It should work! Looks like the engineer is needed again! Me not happy.
18th November 2004 - 17:41 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
A large blog update today, so let the cat out, take the phone off the hook, boil some coffee and sit back, theres a lot to go through.Last night I went to see Alien vs. Predator at the cinema. I’ll start by saying so NOT believe the negative reviews! It was by no means a classic, but has to be one of the most underrated films of 2004.
I think the negative comments must come from critics comparing the film to the excellent Alien, Aliens and Predator which are three of the best films ever made.Going to the cinema of course meant I missed the football game between England and Spain. From the reports in the media today it sounds like I didn’t miss anything in what was a dire performance by England.
Rattle for Rooney!
The game was supposed to be a friendly but from the reports, it was far from it. The Spanish fans behaved in a disgusting manner, racially abusing Shawn Wright Phillips and Ashley Cole. The England players also disgraced themselves. Wayne Rooney was almost sent off and when substituted threw his black arm band (worn as a mark of respect) onto the ground. Shameful.Some good TV was on Tuesday.
Little Britain as good as always, I’m sad to say though that it is the last episode in the current series next week. Tuesday nights will never be the same again.I’m off to Leeds tomorrow afternoon to watch the game against QPR on Saturday. I’m hoping for a good game, it should be evenly matched.
Leeds are at home and QPR are doing well. Hopefully Leeds will put out a brilliant performance and win 8-0. Maybe not…
17th November 2004 - 20:49 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
It seems that I have made a massive blooper on my website!Scroll down to Saturday’s news regarding the rugby league match…
Look at the bit where I mentioned where it was played…
Notice I said Elland Road…
It wasn’t, it was played at Wigan’s JJB Stadium!!!
How did I not realise!!! ???
In my defence I will say I wasn’t really watching it – HONEST and was really making a note of what was mentioned on the WACCOE forum by some member who also thought it was being played at Elland Road.Still, I hang my head in shame and well done to the members on Total Rugby League for pointing it out (I noticed I was getting a lot of hits from their site).
Glad I could amuse lads; I tried to register on your forums to reply to
the post but was told I need to pay £10.00 to join. Now that really is funny! Thanks for pointing the massive blooper out.
14th November 2004 - 15:58 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I had the Sky engineer round this morning, he swapped my dodgy Sky+ box, so hopefully the replacement will be more successful, only time will tell but as there is only four weeks left on the warranty, I’ll be doing lots of test recordings in order to identify any possible faults.
I’ve made a few slight changes to the site layout that you may have noticed. Firstly, note the removal of Wayne Rooney from the blue banner across the top of the page.
As he plays for Manchester United, I felt it inappropriate as a Leeds fan to have him on my website. The players replacing him are Danny Pugh and Michael Ricketts.
Also, I’ve added an icon for my website, so when you bookmark it (or add it to your favourites) a little star represents the link instead of the standard browser one.
To do the same on your own webpage you need to put this line of code in between your <HEAD> </HEAD> tags…
<LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="http://www.your-domain.com/icon.ico">
(of course replace http://www.your-domain.com with your site's URL and icon.ico with the icon name)
I have uploaded a RAR file full of 100’s of icon files for you to use. Download it here.
13th November 2004 - 19:51 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
Just turned on Sky Sports and noticed they’re playing some international Rugby League (egg chasing) game at Leeds United’s ground, Elland Road *All those big rugby players jumping all over each other are tearing up the pitch! They’re breaking it! "Get off! Get off! Get off!" :o( :o(
* OK, before you e-mail me, it’s not officially Leeds United’s ground as they sold it, but they still play there
What a mess!
13th November 2004 - 18:20 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
So, as predicted the Leeds United takeover fell through and Elland Road was sold (although they can still play there indefinitely – I hope). Just another day in the farce that is Leeds United Football Club. I won’t even mention the defeat to Ipswich today, except to say Leeds were very unlucky not to draw.
Some good TV last night, I was out but luckily my Sky+ recorded it, it’s been very temperamental lately.Firstly Little Britain (originally shown Tuesday but failed to record). Another funny episode, highlights included Lou and Andy in church and up a tree as well as the Fat Fighters going out for a meal.
I look a pillock
On Channel 4 there was the new series of the Phoenix Nights spin off Max & Paddy by Peter Kay. Some spin off shows are awful, but this was funny (Peter Kay's a genius), very much looking forward to next weeks episode.
Lastly, I finally managed to persuade Sky that my Sky+ box was well and truly f**ked. They are sending an engineer round tomorrow. I’ll give it to Sky on this occasion, a weekend call out at short notice is good service.
12th November 2004 - 11:25 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
It’s been a few days since my last update and quite a lot has happened during my week off work.Firstly there has been all kinds of controversy surrounding Leeds United. The message board WACCOE was always the first with the information on the proposed takeover.
One minute the takeover was on the next it was off. At present it seems it’ll fall through and the Elland Road stadium may be sold. The next 6 hours could be very good or very bad for the club, worrying times indeed.We should know more at 1.00pm today about what is going on, not long left now...
Leeds United - half bust?
I attempted with success to do my Christmas shopping this week. I can’t stand shopping when it is busy so really wanted to avoid going to town in December where it would be manic, people seem to go crazy at that time of year.
Even going Christmas shopping in November had its stressful moments, most notably in The Disney Store. I was only in there for less than five minutes but the incessant, awful music they were piping out into the store was enough to make one kill themselves with a Mickey Mouse pencil, I’m sure the poor staff who work there must be deaf or robots.
The other day my Argos order for DVD shelves and a coffee maker arrived. Both were very good buys as the organisation of my large DVD collection has been greatly improved. The coffee maker makes some lovely fresh coffee as well although it has made my room smell like a Starbucks.
I went to see Bridget Jones 2: The Edge of Reason at the cinema last night. Good film, although I don’t think it was as good as the first one. Highlights for me included the parachuting scene at the start (watch out for the James Bond reference) and the fight between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth at the end (so everything but the staff in the middle!). At least I was able to enjoy the film without sitting on the edge of my seat like with The Grudge.
My TV is now in the hospital and the good news is that it can be repaired for under £50, I’ll be without it for a week or so, but I can always run it via my laptop so some good news there.
Finally just after my TV starts playing up, the Sky+ box seems to be on its last legs with only four weeks left on the warranty. I keep getting FAILED recordings which is very annoying especially as it meant I missed Little Britain, it had better record the repeat tonight as well as Peter Kay’s Max and Paddy on Channel 4
7th November 2004 - 18:31 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I was watching the local HTV West news this afternoon and coverage of the weekend game between Bristol City and MK Dons came on. I noticed a player for City called Leroy Lita who is now the top scorer in all English leagues this season, grabbing 15 goals so far!
The news report also said that the Bristol City manager is concerned about keeping Lita as other clubs are sure to come in with offers for him. I instantly thought what a great player he would be for Leeds United.
Unless Lita is loyal to his club, (which is honourable) a move to Leeds United in a higher division would be a great move. I mentioned Lita on the Leeds United forum, WACCOE and he got a good response.
Therefore I went ahead and sent a message F.A.O. Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell via the LUFC website mentioning Lita. I doubt anything will come from this
a) because Leeds simply don’t have the money, even for a League One player.
b) Lita is probably loyal and won’t leave
c) Bristol City would be mad to sell him
d) Blackwell probably has his own ideas
But if you ever see Leroy Lita playing for Leeds United in the future, just remember who brought him to Blackwell’s attention, unless you’re a die hard Bristol City fan, in which case I had nothing to do with it - HONEST!
As for my TV, it is now in the Bath & North East Somerset AV Hospital being treated for a bad case of “StandyByism” (a medical term). The bad news is that it was made by Goodman’s. There is a national shortage on organs (TV parts) for some models, so unless it is a universal part that needs fixing it may have to be put to sleep and taken to the tip. T
he TV is in my prayers.I know this is morbid as the bulbs inside are still warm but if it does die it’s not the end of the world, it’s a great excuse to buy a bigger, better model.
7th November 2004 - 12:53 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
I keep seeing the advert for the new Siemen’s SL65 on TV and in the cinema. The music used in the advert is starting to annoy me. I am almost certain the same or similar piece of music has been used in a film (possibly a recently released one) but I can’t for the life of me work out what!
I’ve uploaded the advert here. Anyone who can work out, please e-mail me and let me know!
6th November 2004 - 22:21 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
Saturday was a brilliant day. It started off great with Super Leeds United beating Preston 4-2. How on earth they managed to score four is a mystery to me, but they did and won in some style!
The result was somewhat spoiled by a post-match interview between the Sainsbury’s guy who wants to buy Leeds United and a board member. They conducted a meeting/argument on the radio (which is broadcast over the Internet) in a completely unprofessional and childish manner. You have to hear it to believe it, which is why I’ve uploaded it here.
The writers of Sky One’s Dream Team must have been having a great time listening to it. I’m sure we’ll see an episode soon where a man from Asda decides he wants to buy Harchester United and plans the whole deal on live television.
I later went to the cinema to see The Grudge. Good film, but very, very scary. There were far too many moments which made you jump out your skin. Midway through the film, I needed the toilet (it wasn’t so bad I was shitting myself, I had to go as my Ice Blast had gone straight through me and I needed a piss).
While I was using the facilities I heard a gurgling sound just like the ghosts made in the film. It turned out to be a dodgy urinal or sink but that was scary! When I was bending down to wash my hands, I half expected to look up into the mirror to see the ghost of a Japanese Woman standing behind me! A film worth seeing, but one you will only get the full benefit from in the cinema.
Today wasn’t so great. I got up to find my TV isn’t very well. There is a problem with the Power On/Off switch. The TV can either be ON or in STAND BY mode. The only way to cut the power completely is to rip the plug from the wall. I’ll be ringing the TV repair people tomorrow.
3rd November 2004 - 23:23 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------
Tonight I am seriously pissed off…
Reason #1
I went to the dentist on Monday. It was cold in town, had to catch a dirty bus with dirty people after waiting at a dirty bus stop. I got seen and my dentist took a precautionary X-Ray. I was told to ring up today to check everything was ok, I was only told to come back as he hadn’t taken it properly! He should learn how to use his equipment. I know they put monkeys in space, but really shouldn’t have them as dentists!
Reason #2 and more importantly
Sticking with the monkeys, not only are they putting them in space, at my dentist surgery, in the White House (there’s my topical blog for the year) but they’re still running around the football ground at Elland Road. Leeds lost AGAIN, this time to Burnley. I keep saying it and I’m afraid I’ll say it again “This is the worst performance I’ve ever seen Leeds play”They’re still being liked with that Sainsbury’s character in a takeover. I thought Leeds United had been linked with Sainsbury’s for the last three years, after all they followed to motto “Where Good Players Cost Less”.
|
