Post Recycling – August 2009

August 31, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

Last month I gave the impression that writing Post Recycling was a chore and that I was happy there were only 4 posts to review as it would make my life easier.  I do realise that this makes me sound a bit mental, as if I’m only continuing to write this feature because I’m somehow forced to.

I do enjoy PR because it’s interesting to look back over stuff that you wrote a while ago and to see what you were up to, what your state of mind was and how your writing has developed (or hasn’t developed).  The only downside is that it’s quite time consuming (to do it properly) and I’m very lazy.  They’re not ideal bedfellows.  Anyway, that’s my excuses out of the way and it’s time to look back at what I was writing about last August.

In Icke, I talk about an interview I stumbled across on TV with David Icke.  I try and be a bit clever and draw parallels with Icke’s nonsense and religion, but I’m not really good at that sort of stuff. I’m better when I stick to crap jokes.

I wrote quite a lot about Liverpool FC this month.  It’s not surprising as you were still able to be optimistic about the Reds this time last year.  Strangely, though, my first football post, Season’s Greetings, starts with me stating how apathetic I was feeling toward the impending season.  This makes me feel a bit better about being indifferent later on in the season when we were doing crap. I also point out that Arbeloa would be a loss for the Reds’ squad and I don’t think this has been picked up on enough by the media.

My next football post, Piss Poor Punditry, slags off the press for writing off Liverpool’s chances.  I can only apologise to them for my idiocy.  I clearly know nothing about the beautiful game.  That said, I think a lot of the points are valid.  Maybe the pundits just got lucky in predicting Liverpool’s demise.  Anyway, I do redeem myself somewhat by pointing out the Football Fan Hypocrisy.

I mention the post Gone West (Wing) only because it’s quite long and so it’s worth a re-read.  It’s my thoughts on The West Wing after watching the final ever episode, but I also manage to slag off Star Trek: The Next Generation in the same post, which really seems quite a feat.

Remember when I actually used to read books?  So do I (just about).  This month saw me write the post Reading Habits – An Introduction in which I explain the rules I employed when selecting books to read.  Yes, I really did have a set of rules. I know. I’m a loser.

Ah, happy memories as I share some of my photos of Wire @ Wembley (Warrington Wolves winning last year’s rugby league challenge cup).  I ended the post hoping that it wouldn’t be another 20 years until we got to Wembley again.  Well, my dreams came true and we also went this weekend.. and we won again!  I also published some photos of the Warrington Wolves Homecoming.  I went to this year’s homecoming too, but I didn’t take any photos as they would have been identical.  Just look at last year’s and use your imagination.

And that’s all I have to say about August 2009.  If you’d like to read all the posts then click here.

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To LFC Blog or Not To LFC Blog

August 23, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about Liverpool (the football club, not the city).  Strangely, the last game that I wrote about was the corresponding fixture to tonight’s match, an away game against Manchester City (it ended 0-0, stats fans) back in February.  Part of me thinks that I should start again.  The cynical part of my brain thinks that Liverpool are a good subject for attracting visitors to this humble blog.  The other part of me thinks that it would be a dreadful idea.

My enthusiasm for the task certainly wasn’t helped by my insistence on forcing myself to write a “match report” about every single match, regardless of whether I had seen it or not.  Combining this with the many frustrating, wasted afternoons spent attempting to watch matches on dodgy internet streams and the enjoyment was soon drained from the writing process.

The logistics of the process were, of course, only part of the tale.  My apathy was largely due to the horror of watching a team in decline and a club in meltdown.   The press only seemed capable of filing negative stories relating to Liverpool last season (not that there was much to cheer about) and it all took its toll on me.  With a torrid season finally over, I contemplated writing an overview of the campaign, taking a look back on where exactly things had gone wrong.  In the end, it seemed like it would have been a punishment that I didn’t deserve.  I’d just wait until things got a bit more positive at Anfield.

Well, with Benitez inevitably gone and a new manager in place, it seems like the Reds may have finally turned a corner.  The signing of Joe Cole brought the rarest of things: a positive news story and a sense of optimism.  Now, last year’s beleaguered squad somehow looks quite useful, with just a handful of modest signings.  It’s amazing (not to mention inexplicable) how things suddenly seem so different after the summer break.

So, should I start writing about football again?  It’s currently half-time against Man City and Liverpool are behind to a Gareth Barry goal and were completely outplayed for the bulk of the opening 45 minutes.  Although I’ve by no means given up on the match, it really hasn’t put me in the best frame of mind to publish a match report.  Of course, we could score a shed-load of goals in the second half and then I’d be loving it.  Such is the lot of a football fan and blogger.

Perhaps this emotion shows that I shouldn’t be tied to just writing about the matches.  Perhaps I should just write about LFC in more general terms and not be tied to the roller-coaster that is a football match.  It also means that I don’t miss half the game by making tedious notes about what has happened.

Anyway, I’m off to attempt to enjoy watching the second half. Come on, you Reds.

P.s.

Just as I was about to publish this post, City scored a second goal.  It’s official: I hate football… for now.

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Norway Conclusions

August 18, 2010 by sherby57 4 Comments

Well, I’ve been home from my sojourn to Stavanger for two days now, and after 11 posts while I was away, it seems only fitting for me to write some sort of conclusion to my Norwegian adventure (although the word “adventure” is being a bit dramatic).  My conclusion is that it was great.  Do I really need to add any more?  OK.  I suppose I do.

The scenery was stunning, the standard of living is extremely high, the town was picaresque, the night-life was lively and most of the population support Liverpool.  What more could I have asked for? Oh, well in some of the bars I saw a higher concentration of beautiful women than I ever thought possible.  Yeah, that just about seals it as a perfect location for a long weekend break.

I am lucky that I don’t drink, though.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, bottles of Magners cost over £9 each, but the average cost of a pint (that was actually only 400ml) was about £7.  To be fair, a soft drink cost £3-4, so it wasn’t that cheap for me, either.  Pretty much everything you find in a supermarket seemed to cost twice as much as it does in the UK, so it’s not just alcohol where you get stung.  It cost £10 for fish and chips from a chip van, which is just completely insane.  I suppose the high prices are worth it to have such a high quality of life.

Anyway, the best thing about the weekend was being able to spend time with one of my best friends who I really don’t get to see often enough.  I also got to meet his lovely fiancée (a very talented artist – check here) and her son.  What could be better than finding your friends happy? Not a lot.  Especially when they make you very welcome, feed you with enormous fry-ups and suspiciously moreish crisps, and play you all of their favourite songs at 5 in the morning.

They’re all the ingredients of a perfect weekend.

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Home Away From Home

August 14, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

SSometimes you go to a place and you just immediately feel at home…

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Post Recycling – May 2009

May 29, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

After 3 months of nothing, I finally I have some posts to write about in a horribly self indulgent manner.  Yes, welcome to Post Recycling, where I take a look at the blog posts that I published a year ago and try and get you to read them.  To be fair, it’s not entirely about me pimping my old posts.  It’s quite an interesting experience to go back and see how your life and writing has changed in the previous 12 months.  Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

May 2009 saw my blogging drought come to an end, and also saw PSGOM transfer from Blogger to here on WordPress.  I explain this move (not very well) in the post Welcome to WordPress.  It’s not very exciting, but it has such historical significance that it’s worth reading just so you can tell your grandkids that you did.

I guess I was still working out what I should be writing about on PSGOM, at this stage, which probably explains the post Holy Gravy?.  In it, I describe how when I tried to go to my old blogger address it took me to some kind of wacko bible web-site.  Maybe it was just God sending me a message.  Or maybe not.

May 2009 also saw me start to write about football, a practice that I’ve now stopped.  What a difference a year makes.  The post A Prayer saw me asking my old friend God for some help in Liverpool winning the league.  Sadly, the very next post, Gravy 1 God 0, saw God disprove his existence as Manchester United won and all but ended Liverpool’s chances.  Ah, how I wish I could return to those days of narrowly missing out, rather than the complete and abject failure of the Reds this season.  At some point, I should really write a post about their demise, but it’s going to take an almighty effort.  Anyway, I discuss the end of last season’s title race in the post It is Now, in which I urge Manchester United fans not to gloat for the sake of their own existential well-being.

Looking through your old posts is a good way of bringing back some happy memories.  Firstly, there was Blumen’ Marvellous which describes Team Extreme’s Goot’s proposed starter for his Heston Blumenthal-style (Blumenstyle) feast.  Sadly, Goot never got around to scheduling the dinner party and we’re all still sat around exceedingly hungry for his pony-tail based delights.  Secondly, there was my Wall of Wonder, which documents all of the pictures that I had stuck on the wall next to my desk in work.  Sadly, I’ve since moved desks and it’s all come down, but I’ll always have this post to remind me of the glory days.

The final post of the month was Previewing My Reviews.  In retrospect, it’s an interesting post as it’s basically me apologising for being crap at writing reviews because I was so nervous about writing any that I felt I had to pre-empt the criticism I was sure to get for their crapness.  I wouldn’t necessarily say that I’ve gotten any better at writing reviews, but I’ve published loads of them now, so at least I no longer feel funny about doing it.  There’s definitely a lesson to be learned for any fledgling bloggers: just write it.

You can read the rest of my posts from May 2009, here.

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Just to Say Hello

April 29, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

So. Another day goes by without me having chance to blog properly. In theory I could get my laptop out and write something now. There’s just two problems with this: football is on, and I can’t be arsed.

I thought I’d say hello, though, so I’m writing this on my phone. Just think of this as a long text message. That’s on the Internet. It’s actually nothing like a text message, so forget that I mentioned it.

In many ways, there’s no good reason for me to write this post. I just like to let you guys know that I’m still around.

Boo.

I’m still around.

Erm. I’m struggling a bit now. I’m watching Liverpool as I write this. They’ve made a good start but I just have a bad feeling about the result. I hope I’m proved wrong. We’ll see what happens in 80 minutes time.

The only other thing that I can think to tell you is that I have a cat sniffing my hair. It’s cuter than it sounds. She’s not a pervert or anything.

Anyway, I’m getting a bit sleepy, so I’m off. I’ll speak to you properly very soon.

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Duvet Covers and Post Apocalyptic Football Stadia

February 28, 2010 by sherby57 2 Comments

Question of the Day:  How is it possible that an intelligent man, highly educated in the physical sciences, is completely incapable of hanging a duvet cover over a washing line?  No, it doesn’t make sense to me either.  I’m staring out of the patio windows and weeping at my own ineptitude.  Does anybody know of any washing line based courses that I can go on?

Anyway, I’ve gone a whole two days without posting and it feels like a lifetime.  Of course, it doesn’t actually feel like a lifetime, but a nice bit of hyperbole jazzes up any situation.  Two days is definitely long enough for me to feel the pull of ‘can’t be arsedness’, so it was important for me to post today.

Under normal circumstances, I would have done some kind of post about Liverpool’s match on Thursday.  However, I’ve decided to end the madness of writing about football matches that I’ve not even seen.  It can’t be healthy.  All I will say is that I’ve gotten over being in the Europa League, but having a match kick-off at 6pm and shown on ESPN is positively uncouth.

One football match that I did watch was yesterday’s League One game between Oldham and Norwich (I was in the Norwich end).   In the absence of a match report, I will share with you the following things that I learnt:

  • Oldham is infeasibly cold.  It must be dragging the average temperature of the country down by at least 5 degrees.
  • Oldham’s Boundary Park looks like a nuclear wasteland and should be hired out to Hollywood producers as the set for any upcoming post-apocalyptic thrillers.
  • League One football is so heartbreakingly real that it is the sporting equivalent of a kitchen-sink drama.

Anyway, Liverpool are playing this afternoon and it’s not on the telly.  This leaves me wondering if I should try and get an internet stream or if I should do something productive instead.  Answers on a postcard please.

UPDATE:

Before I had chance to publish this post, I was visited by my Gran, my brother and my nephew.  They are a trio that are easily capable of filling anyone’s afternoon.  Luckily, Liverpool won anyway.

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Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0

February 21, 2010 by sherby57 1 Comment

Surprisingly, this wasn’t one of the two televised matches this afternoon.  Even more surprisingly, I was able to get a decent internet stream to watch it on.

Well, I say that I watched it.  I forgot that the match was on, and by the time I found a decent stream about 30 minutes had gone.  Then my parents came round for a visit so I was only half watching until about 75 minutes in.  Then the stream went squiffy and it took me about 10 minutes to get another one.  But, I definitely got to watch the last five minutes and stoppage time.

I didn’t miss much.

From what I saw, both teams were pretty awful.  The ‘race’ for fourth place looks set to be an exceedingly tedious one.

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Liverpool 1 Unirea Urziceni 0

February 19, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

It’s Thursday. It’s Channel 5. It’s the Europa League. It’s…not where Liverpool want to be.

Oh well, you just have to get on with it, don’t you?

This wasn’t exactly the most inspiring of fixtures, against half-fit Romanian opposition, but at least there was an opportunity to put in a good display and get a comfortable victory. Well, that was the theory.

The reality was somewhat different. God, it was so boring. Liverpool had almost constant possession, yet rarely threatened. It was practically a training exercise. Humiliation was avoided when Ngog scored a tap-in, in the 81st minute. Phew.

I’m glad that I didn’t pay to watch it, but I suppose that a win’s a win.

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Arsenal 1 Liverpool 0

February 11, 2010 by sherby57 Leave a Comment

On the whole, I’m not a superstitious person, but there’s one spurious belief that I have:  don’t tempt fate.  One specific sub-set of this rule is that you shouldn’t record Match of the Day before your team play, just in case they don’t win.

This is an unnecessarily obtuse way of saying that I missed the match last night and I’ve not seen any of it.  Under the circumstances, this is a good thing.  On the back of two bad losses, to Man United and Chelsea, it’s not entirely surprising that Arsenal pulled out the win.  I can’t comment any further than that really.

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