the stain

I've always thought it was a bit bum, but have had to pretend to like it to maintain friendships with people who are as hardline as St L. They did come up with a few decent sci-fi concepts, but it was always let down by the "we're trying to be hilarious" acting. Craig Charles has found better homes for his genius on 6 Music's funk show, and on Takeshi's Castle, where he can get away with shouty playground innuendo in the early afternoon.

3:10 To Yuma - watched this last night. Enjoyable if resolutely generic 'gritty western'. Cracking performances from Crowe and Bale and looks amazing (although the landscape does the work there). Really made me want to watch The Proposition again. Tonight, either Lust:Caution or Atomised, depending on how arty I fancy my sauce.

When I think of Robinson Crusoe, I think of an old audio tape version we had. It always reminds me of having a particularly hallucinatory fever and being sick in my sleep, on my parents' bed. Great days.

I'm reading Great Expectations, because I never have before. It's one of those books that gets referenced in other works all the time and it'd started to bug me that I was missing something. Have the same problem with a lot of Shakespeare; really should get round to watching more of his sh1t.

Pretty soon they're going to be as offensively arrogant and plastic as Chelsea. But for yesterday's shots of incredulous Citeh fans going mental because their club is suddenly minted, for sticking one up Peter Kenyon, and for forcing Manure to pay an extra £10m for Berbatov, thankyou. But yes, pretty soon the Premier League is going to become a closed shop with no relegation and portable franchises. And frankly the sooner the better and we can all give up the charade.

It's a shame. Cricket's going well though.

Precisely. Good news. Maybe not the goodest. But gooder than bad.

pedg - are you pedg as in "hedge", or pedg as in "Warren G"? I've been meaning to ask...

Friday: Thought I was going to a festival, turns out I'm playing at a festival. So... Saturday: Can't go to the match as I'll be at a festival. But recording the game off the telly. Sunday: Watching the football and pretending it's live.

It's a crying shame

What was his goals per game with Saga and without? I can't be ehrsed to look it up but it would probably be the more enlightening stat...

Anyone else going to this? http://www.woolfirefestival.co.uk/ I went along last year. Very friendly little festival indeed. Last time out I saw a couple of new bands (F**K Buttons, UpCDownC...) who went on to become favourites. This year I very much recommend Skitanja, Stig Noise Sound System and JayetAl.

Really? I couldn't believe it was possible to be that bored by a film with so much knobbing.

You should see my collection of old Skint 12"s

Bad scene. Get well very soon, Mick.

W00T! That whole series was great larks

I finally paid my fiver today. Reading this thread has made me doubt the wisdom of my choice

Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf. This book comes with a lot of baggage, as I hated Virginia Woolf at school and this was given to me as a Christmas present by my girlfriend, who then savagely dumped me on Boxing Day. People keep telling me how great it is though, so here's hoping.

I hope there'll at least be some highlights left to watch, if Broad's bowling has been as good as it reads on the commentary.

You give yourself too much credit.

I did the same. It's a frightening experience. Watched another of Shane Meadows' films the other day, Once Upon A Time in the Midlands. Really enjoyed it. It's got a touch of the Mike Leighs about it, red-nosed comedy with a slightly desperate edge. Rhys Ifans is excellent as an awful wilting stringy man who needs a hug. Yesterday I watched The Time Machine (60s version) which plays fast and loose with the classic story, turning it into a slightly cheesy anti-war film. Good entertainment though. Tonight, if I've got the time, I may well watch Re-Animator, which I recorded off the telly the other night.

Fair enough mate, I'm not trying to rile you. Many of us are calling this a great signing because we have seen him play and think it's a great signing in, as I mentioned, a problem position. He may have "helped S****horpe get relegated", but he was their player of the season and played quite excellently against us. When we got relegated we still had players in the team like Niemi and Crouch who hadn't become sh*t by association. When we sign a player many of us know to be good, surely we can be allowed the space of a thread to be happy about it? Sure, he might do terribly for us, there's never any guarantee. We could sign Messi and he might not hack it in the CCC. But we've signed a good player. One man's public "refraining" from celebration is another man's p1ssing on good spirits.

Erm, it's excellent news because he's a quality young player who has already proven his worth at this level, signed in the face of competition from our peers, to play in a position where we've just lost a good player. Can we not celebrate that, or do we have to wait until he leaves, when it will be bad news...? (Well done Saints, good signing)

Right, while I remember I'm going to have to recommend this last one to absolutely everybody. One of the best things I've ever read. It's about a Portuguese Catholic missionary in 17th century Japan, a time when Catholics were being systematically tortured and killed. Deals with massive themes like the possibility of faith, the possibility of truth and the pressure of humanity, but in such a quiet measured way. It's quite beautiful and will alter how you think. Apparently Scorcese is making a film of it; I can't wait! After something that good I worry that the next thing I read will be a let down. So I've turned to Iris Murdoch, who's never disappointed yet. The Black Prince, which so far seems to be up with her finest (The Sea, The Sea; Under The Net; A Severed Head) Can someone who's stumped up their fiver possibly start a What Films Are You Watching thread so I can have a rant on there too? I'd be much obliged...