UniS

I'm currently using "teach yourself" Danish - it's a book/cd thing which gives you a good grounding in the grammar as well as the phrases. And for my Faroese I've got a thing by 'EuroTalk' - it's a computer program that is very good if you just want to know some basic phrases and words to help you around...

I apparently have 44, of which only 17 are current Football League sides.

Southampton haven't lost in the first round of the FA Cup since 1913 when we were beaten 3-0 away at Wolves. Apologies for being pedantic.

Ha, I did wonder if it was meant to be satirical when I read it. I just assumed it wouldn't be - it's not a concept understood too well in the USA. I feel so... American... for not getting it.

That has made me want to cry with pity for the idiots who wrote it. The article spends four paragraphs going on about opposable thumbs... it's not a very strong argument. Next time the USA get a gold in a track event at the Olympics, I'm sure they'll give the medals back as they didn't have to use opposable thumbs to win - right? I wish I was awake enough to explain quite how angry that has made me... it's the unashamed ignorance taht riles me most. I bet they think they've made a very reasoned argument, when it's just absolute cr@p. Like RAW91 says above, the defence "it's someone's opinion" is rubbish. it's highly misguided. Imagine justifying racism by saying "it's an opinion"? And they wonder why the rest of the world hates yanks?

Agree, ID was subtle and quite clever. It's a shame that people often can't see past the bits showing blokes hitting each other.

I forgot to give a mention to the stupid plane sound effect after the stupid Collateral Damage thing. Muse, listen to me. Stop it. First you had horse noises and sirens in Knights of Cydonia. Now you have the sound of a plane taking off after murdering a piece of Chopin. You're not 10 anymore. It's not acceptable.

Absolution was brilliant, in my opinion it was pretty much perfect and is my favourite album to this day. Black Holes and Revelations was a let down - it sounded like someone had been given a synth and an effects box for Christmas. There are still two or three decent tracks on it, just about. I've listened to this new album a few times now and it's definitely better than the previous dismal effort. But it doesn't really fit together... 'Uprising' is a bit tacky, with all the 'Come on's etc. Thankfully it's not as terrible as Supermassive Black Hole. I like how 'Resistance' begins, sort of goes back to the quiet bits from Citizen Erased which is a good thing. But then it all gets a bit lovey-dovey which Muse have never done well, but it's got a decent tune to it. I hated 'Undisclosed Desires' on first listen, but it's grown on me. Not a classic by any means however, but one of the better tracks and is quite interesting. 'United States of Eurasia' is a pretty decent song. Nice structure to it, but they fall into the cliched lets-have-a-rebellion teenage nonsense, and then it chops (hehe) to the Chopin at the end. It's a poorly played excerpt from a mediocre piece of Romantic period piano - and they rename it 'Collateral Damage'. Why? What's the point? 'Guiding Light' deserves to be deleted from the world. It's Muse trying to be Queen and it's like listening to a camel vomiting it's own faeces through its nose. But then 'Unnatural Selection' goes back the Origin of Symmetry-esque energy and it works quite well, one of the highlights of the album that is let down by a dull interlude section and a cheesy synth-organ intro. 'MK Ultra' - apart from the silly name - is fairly decent, but they seem to run out of ideas of what to do with it and it peters out a bit. 'I Belong to You' is good. It's a bit unusual and they integrate the French thing into it quite well. The bass clarinet solo takes you by surprise a bit but it kind of works... Then there's this 'Exogenesis Symphony'. For a start, it's not a symphony at all. Secondly, it's got a stupid name. And thirdly, the string arpeggios in the first one sound like they were done for someone's GCSE Music Composition. It doesn't fit into the album at all. Muse used to integrate the classical influence so well, but now it seems like they're trying to say "Hey, look at us, we can write for orchestra!" but they can't. The strings worked well in Absolution because they were arranged by a professional string composer - Audrey Riley (who conducts the orchestra on The Resistance, but seemingly didn't have any input into the arrangement as it sounds like it was done by a child) The second track of it is just a pile of typical Muse w@nkery. And then the final piece is a bit of a damp squib, more basic string chords and generally a bit flat. The ending still sort of works - but I agree with the above that they should have released the stronger tracks as an EP, then had the Exogenesis seperately. One thing I noticed from a technical point of view, and I think this may be down to the lack of a dedicated producer on the album (and in the mastering stage), is that the vocals are set far too forward in the mix. In MK Ultra it is very noticeable that the vocal has been processed with a different type of reverb from the rest of the track... a poor error that a real producer wouldn't have let slip. Even if they were trying to do it consciously as some sort of musical statement, it still sounds rubbish. The secret to mixing and mastering is what you don't realise you are hearing unless you really listen to it (if that makes any sense... kind of putting little finishing touches without people really noticing), but Muse have put all these silly effects into the foreground and it detracts from everything else. It's probably about on a par with Showbiz for me (albeit not because they are a similar style) but because it has a couple of standout tracks, a few listenable-above-average songs, but let down by the pointless, pretentious stuff of Muse trying to pretend they are super clever. Anyway, they're my thoughts if anyone is vaguely interested! I know I wouldn't be.

Monkey Dust was absolute genius, but barely anyone has heard of it!

I used to live just round the corner from the stadium and have been there four times (travelling from Southampton, Guildford and umm... Wembley!) If you want to drive up there, but don't want to get ripped off for parking - I advise going to Perivale (it's on the A40) and park along Bilton Road (or in the side streets nearby). It's free parking and the bus to ground takes about 30 minutes... just get the 297 bus towards Wembley and it'll take you pretty much past the stadium! Alternatively, find your way there on any of the numerous Underground/Bus routes... All the pubs in the area put their prices up on matchdays, and they're all of a similarly terrible standard. Everything inside the ground is stupidly priced as well - I mean... really stupid! For some decent London beers, stop off at the Black Horse in Greenford - it'll take you a little bit out of your way but they do good food in there as well. Unfortunately it's not exactly en route, but it's about the only half decent pub in the area.

Agree... Pro Evo on the Wii is actually very good. It's a totally new way of playing a football game so it takes a bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of it it's brilliant.

I know that Guildford City are offering something this season, but it's as local as Eastleigh/Winchester... but it's not too far away either! http://www.guildfordcityfc.co.uk

Was it Sunday today? Bugger...

I'll probably be there!

A new club would not start in Step 4 (Isthmian/Ryman Div 1, Wessex, British Gas etc) AFC Wimbledon started in the Combined Counties League (Step 5). At the end of the day, it's up to which league will accept you and as all the fixtures for Step 4 upwards are pretty much finished, it's unlikely they'll fancy redoing that this summer. As for Godawful Town, you think THAT's bad? Try supporting a club in the Combined Counties... And of course all this assumes that someone is willing to set up a completely new football club from scratch in under two weeks. Not going to happen this year, sorry.

Can't make it now due to some family thing, but I'll be there next week with a couple of mates for sure!

Bargain

you know... I haven't been for about a year and a half but now I'm back down south and trying to get fit... why not? How much is it these days?

I had a chat with one of Girls Aloud about pie. She wasn't wearing very much. Then it got a bit embarrassing because I don't know any of their names. I accidentally went on stage with U2, I don't think they noticed. Then I tripped up that idiot Brandon Flowers and he got a bit moody. It was a fun day, even if it didn't make me famous. But if you ever find yourself listening to a Brit Awards show and thinking "that crowd noise sounds amazing" - that's down to me By the way, the 'music industry' is w@nk and not worth the hassle.

Park in Perivale and get the 297 bus. Easy. The roads are pretty mental up here as it is, so tonight will probably be even worse.

I know you did. Creepy or what

I met him once on a crowded underground train leaving Wembley after an England match. He heard me talking to a mate about Southampton, introduced himself as BadBoySaint and then started singing a song about raping grandmas. Needless to say, we changed trains at the next station. Agree with the above... complete and utter c*nt.

Wondered why I had nowhere to park... No problem, hope it all worked out alright!

I'm not in Guildford at the moment... There are plenty of spaces along the road in Perivale (try Bilton Road for a start), and the 297 bus goes along there every ten minutes and can drop you almost right outside the door. It's a pretty quiet area here, and there's plenty of street parking. The 'clever' bit is basically fare dodging, but it's only 90p or whatever with an Oyster card anyway so not really worth the hassle...

You can park outside my house if you want. It's a 40 minute walk though. Or the bus can be free, if you're clever.