Jump by Van Halen. Among the very toppermost of the pop-metal-most. Love it to bits.

Any other suggestions of songs that pop into your head in routine work or domestic situations welcome…

Can’t remember where I read this article recently* but the general thrust of it was as follows:

The massive injection of TV cash into the EPL in the last couple of years has led to the success of such as Leicester, Spurs, West Ham, Southampton et al.

This, gloriously, runs counter to the seemingly inevitable ‘rich getting richer’ narrative to which we’ve become accustomed.

Idea runs thus: there are only so many ‘galacticos’ the hitherto ‘big beasts’ can buy, there being only 11 places to fill at any one time. Virtually all of the ‘smaller’ clubs have been able to buy, if not a Messi or Ronaldo, at least one player of significant quality who has made the difference between them being perennial strugglers to potential challengers.

*might have been an interview with West Ham’s excellent and perceptive manager Slaven Bilic

Helluva coup for Newcastle getting Rafa in. If he can keep them up he’s another heavyweight managerial name to add to what is already shaping up to be a fascinating battle next season.

A Princess Di-like performance.

I tend to the view that the task of the anti-doping agencies is Canute-like. Maybe we should simply accept that athletes (and, perhaps more to the point – their coaches/managers) will always attempt to gain an advantage and any transgressions should be handled purely on a criminal basis (if found to have handled illegal substances) rather than on the grounds of sporting advantage.

That said, considering the current sporting / legal situation I felt Maria was not altogether convincing…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2016/03/08/why-maria-sharapova-does-not-deserve-sympathy/

Hugely enjoyed Richard Hawley’s gig at the Baths Hall in Sunny Scunny the other night. A pretty much perfect mix of songwriting craft, musicianship and top banter.

This was the stand-out for me and others though. Spellbinding, not to say somewhat eye-moistening.

The passing of the Chief Tog prompted this thought.

Simply that it’s remarkable how many examples there are of Scots, Welsh, Irish becoming somehow more middle-England than anyone actually middle-English could ever hope to be.

Some will see a sell-out of national or regional identity but I view it as a largely positive phenomenon.

Here’s Connery as Bond for a kick-off.

Hair apart – the ‘ammers admirable manager is a Locatelli looky-likey, no?

Feeling flushed with pleasure after clearing a particularly stubborn obstacle in the smallest room in the house, CCR’s fantastic Up Around the Bend sprang to mind.

Please submit alternative suggestions at your, er, convenience.

https://youtu.be/hEeOX8fG-_c

Of course they’ve had many humongous hits and have added hugely to (sorry!) the gaiety of the nation, but I’ve always felt the secret of their success, as with Abba and The Carpenters, lay in their genius in combining euphoria and melancholy – the twin poles of all great pop music in fact. This fairly recent track is a prime example. Gorgeous stuff.

Other lesser-spotted Tennant-Lowe recommendations welcome…

…and I know that this was, is, and shall remain, an absolute belter of a record. More hook-laden than a prize marlin.

Badly Drawn Boy – Once Around the Block

My current Best Song Of All Time. Two and a quarter minutes of utter gorgeousness.

John at the absolute toppermost of the poppermost but it’s his, Paul’s and George’s voices together that are just wonderful.

https://youtu.be/O_vqE2hBWkg

Not convinced about the need for the streaming service itself but I have to say their Beatles Experience promo is a sumptuously designed delight.

http://thebeatles.tidal.com/

‘Chronic underachiever’ Wayne Rooney scored the best type of goal this afternoon – both beautiful and significant – taking him into second place in the all-time premier league scoring charts (behind Shearer) and second place in the all-time Man Utd scoring charts (behind Charlton).

As we reach that time for reflection, regret and resolution, via Lifehacker, I found this great New York Times article on The Financial Benefits of Buying What You Love.

In his case, it was spending $5k on a hand-built road bike a decade ago that he has loved, cared for and used exclusively ever since.

I know some will say ‘fine if you have the cash’ but from my own experience, I’ve continually made the mistake of buying a mediocre product because it was what I could afford at the time, when if I’d waited as little as a few weeks I’d have had something far superior that I’d have cherished. In my case it wasn’t ‘affordability’ per se but the desire for instant gratification that proved my undoing.

What ‘expensive’ things have you bought that still keep on giving?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/your-money/the-financial-benefits-of-buying-what-you-love.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Well – season’s halfway point reached and LC are joint top.

Watched the game on BT last night and Robbie Savage and Steve McManaman both felt they wouldn’t have enough strength to win the league. Savage rightly pointed out that finishing fourth, or even sixth, would still be a remarkable achievement.

It’s a safe enough thing to say, and yet, to hold Man City and be disappointed they didn’t win spoke volumes. Yes, MC were not at their best but I think setting out LC to be a tad more cautious in this game, following the narrow defeat to Liverpool, was a good move by the wonderful Claudio Ranieri.

Time will tell, but it’s been one hell of a ride up to now and can no longer be written off as a freak.

It’s the way of the world of course, but I’ll be hugely disappointed if Vardy or Mahrez go to one of the EPL ‘big guns’ in January. Summer is a different story, but to leave in January would surely be a mistake, even given the shedloads of moolah they’d be offered.

Good to see that times have changed and those non-elite clubs are able to resist moves » Continue Reading.

Interested to hear from any self-employed Massivistas.

Had fingers badly burned by an ill-advised self employment venture a few years ago – a nightmare from which I am only now emerging. Key problem was to do with the economic viability of the venture I chose, but this was exacerbated by my dealings with Her Maj’s Revenue and Customs. Dealing with them was torturous, and significantly worse than when the GLW was self-employed about ten years ago.

I’m now safely ensconced back in a steady job and (midlife crisis hopefully now ticked off) have no wish to leave this for the choppy waters of total self-employment again.

However, there’s no doubt that I have a feeling of unfinished business about What I Really Want To Do With My Life and would like to do graphic design as a sideline.

But HMRC are a major stumbling block. Don’t get me wrong, this is not about wanting to avoid tax but about the fact that simple queries take literally months to resolve.

Thoughts most welcome.

For this, I can forgive CdB everything, even the song whose title we must never again utter aloud – the one about the female who wears scarlet…

Great Speccy piece by Stephen Bayley on The Rise and Fall of Sony.

To say they were the Apple of their day is right. We only said goodbye to our beloved two-ton Trinitron quite recently. I worked in an electronics retailer in the goldrush years of the 80s and Sony were definitely the dog’s danglies.

Here is a Japanese fairy tale for Christmas. An allegory of insight, opportunism and a fall from favour.

It is 1945. Japan is devastated and disgraced, but two bright young men, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, the first a salesman, the second an engineer, have a plan to turn toxic ashes into precious metal…