I have made my Spotify playlists public

Enjoy….

So….Giles Peterson is DJ’ing in the pool this weekend

 

http://www.outlar.com/event.php?event=4188&name=GillesPeterson

Since Giles is rocking The Shipping Forecast on Sunday I thought i’d post this video of Giles engaging in one of my favourite activities….BEAT DIGGING in Cuba!!!

Grandwizard Theodore demonstrating his DJ skills

 

Oh good lord, the needle drops on this are RIDICULOUS….

http://vimeo.com/11901832

Disco Noir

A heads up for those lovers of underground Disco and House. Gareth Cheshire is a resident DJ at Circus and Peacock and is one of the best DJ’s i’ve ever come across. Consistently he drops excellent mixtapes via Soundcloud and MP3. He’s started a fine blog highlighting these mixes plus loads on clubland Liverpool and fellow DJ’s.

http://garethcheshire.blogspot.com/

Highly recomended.

The greatest character in any film, EVER (well….since Ferris).

 

This is my new HERO….

“Ok you cunts….let’s see what you can do now!”

 

“SHOW’S OVER MOTHERFUCKERS!!!”

Interesting insight on the design brief for New Anfield in Stanley Park

 

Recently I was blown away by figures from Liverpool City Council estimating Everton FC’s ecconomic impact to the Liverpool ecconomy is as much as £50 million in additional revenue to the city, per annum. As a die hard Evertonian it pleases me to know that the club brings in so much income to the city I love, which in turn is a jobs and wealth creator. I feel so strongly and passionately about this sporting heritage and worth to the city, that it really shook me to the core when the board of Everton FC foolishly attempted to take the club out of Liverpool to an out of town retail park in Knowsley. As we now know, that groundmove never came about due to it being called in for government enquiry and then later, declined permission. Can you imagine the ecconomic catastrophy it would have caused in Walton, down County Road and for all of the businesses in north Liverpool that rely on the regular matchday income coming from 40,000 fans being in the area every other week!? It would have destroyed Walton.

If you truly love the city you live in, then sporting rivalry must take a backseat on occasion. When one considers the ecconomic impact of both clubs and the absolute neccesity for this city to have the greatest sporting fascilities, it would be churlish to put footballing rivialries before the ecconomic need of the city. I know that when the Kirkby situation was still ongoing, many, many Liverpudlians described the potential move out of the city to be a great shame and very bad for the city. Similarly, if you truly love the city of Liverpool, I believe it should be seen as an absolute catastrophe, that the current boardroom situation at Liverpool Football Club is risking the delay and possible even cancellation of what could and MUST be, the construction of one of the greatest footballing stadiums of the world, in New Anfield.

If Everton bring in £50 million annually to this city, Liverpool FC with (all jibes aside) it’s multi national fanbase and worldwide popular brand, must surely bring in two to three times that amount. This in real terms is hotels full on matchdays, resturants, bars, coffee shops, sports stores, taxis, pubs all doing a roaring trade on matchdays.  An international fanbase coupled with a tourist attraction in Anfield itself further increases footfall simply by the fact that Norwegian ; ), Irish and Spanish visitors will stay in the city longer than just for the duration of a match. They will stay often for the weekend and while doing so will be spending serious cash in Liverpool city centre.

Jobs, employment, WEALTH. The three things we desperately need in this city.

Tom Hick’s may be a folk hero to many Evertonians for what he’s done to Liverpool FC (and I will admit to the odd chuckle at the red’s current crisis myself!)….but what he’s doing to Liverpool the city by crippling one of it’s biggest institutions, is absolutely criminal.

Manchester, a city that has a fraction of Liverpool’s sporting heritage or honours, particularly footballing (27 league titles between Everton and Liverpool, before getting on to other honours), has 2 world class footballing stadiums in Old Trafford and Eastlands City of Manchester Stadium. By world class I mean not only that they are top clas fascilities, but also they have the capability and liscences to hold major European finals and potentially World Cup games. If they are deemed important enough to deserve 2 cracking stadiums, surely Liverpool, the most succesfull footballing city in Britain, deserves 2 world class stadia also!? Yet 20 years into both Liverpool clubs searching for a new ground, we are still in antiquated stadiums that are not fit for purpose (either a decrepit stadium with ancient fascilities at Goodison….or capacity restrictions at Anfield). We could find ourselves in a situation where Everton and Liverpool are STILL searching and waiting to get the money together, in the next decade….meanwhile Old Trafford have planning permission to build over the railway behind their south stand to take their 75,000 seater stadium to a staggering 95,000. Rumours abound in the national press that the Arabs who own city are looking to expand Eastlands to 65-75,000, by building another teir of seats on top of what they have now….and almost 50,000 seat state of the art stadium.

We both, Liverpudlians and Evertonians, deserve better than this!

Everton’s stadium problems have been well doccumented and I will not go into them here and now, partly because I find it so fucking frustrating, but also because this particular post is specifically in relation to New Anfield. I bring this to you as an interested Evertonian who cares deeply about the city and has a huge interest in design and Liverpool’s current buildings rennaisance. Liverpool’s proposed New Anfield is a 60,000 seat superstadium, built specifically to be extended at a later date to 75,000 seats. It is (hopefully) going to be built on Stanley Park and it will feature a 20,000 seat single teir Spion Kop….

Recently I came across this youtube video of the head designer for the New Anfield stadium, Brian Trubey. This is the guy who has designed Cowboys Stadium in America and in the vid he’s talking to some American students. Liverpudlians, people interested in urban, functional design, folks interested in world stadia, and even some Evertonians ; ) might be interested….

A few things that I found very encouraging where the recognition of the Kop, particularly the decision to show “reverence” to the Spion by not having tacky advertising on the Kop, which is the usual American way (see any Grid Iron end zone or baseball park!). It must have been such a HUGE temptation to have a large advertising hoarding and video displays in the actual Kop itself to increase revenue. I must say I am impressed that the designers refused this. Another plus point for me is the reverence shown to the park and it’s interesting to hear an American’s take on the history and importance of the park in a worldwide context. As he says in the video, this wonderful Liverpool gem was created by the mentor of the designer of NY’s Central Park.

A final point that impressed me was the intention by the designer to open the ground up and make it “transparent”. By opening up the corners this creates a sense that the stadium is part of the actual park, rather than a closed off, wrapped around fascility thats screams “KEEP OUT!”. While the stadium will obviously be closed off to the non-match ticket buying public….the interior and impressive sight of the crowds inside will still be visable to anyone using the park. The Kop being seperate from the rest of the ground also, for me creates a situation similar to Dortmunds fantastic ground, where the Kop becomes the focus point of the entire stadium, creating a unique atmosphere and identity.

For me….as a lover of the city of Liverpool, this stadium MUST be built. Liverpool and Everton MUST build 2 world class stadiums of over 55,000 seats, capable of hosting major tournaments and European finals. This would bring in hundreds of millions of pounds into the city and if need be, the Northwest Development Agency and Liverpool City Council MUST pull their fingers out and help both clubs. This is not the case of two private businesses profiteering….this is a case of hundreds of millions of pounds of investment that must be encouraged, creating thousands of jobs and increasing local wealth. Higher capacities at Goodison and Anfield (or elsewhere in the city) would mean thousands more hotels, taxis, pubs, shops, etc being used every single week. It would mean prestige and increased tourism for the city. It would provide revenue for this city that is currently unimaginable.

The owners of Liverpool football club must sell up as soon as is possible for a reasonable price, so that new owners….who MUST be properly screened this time and only allowed to purchase the club if the credit is there imediately to beging building New Anfield….can get started on this much needed city fascility.

Tories = full of SHIT!

 

Ahhhhh David Cameron, you are fooling nobody!

Just once i’d love this slimey, lying, puffin faced, cunt to come out publicly and say the truth, which is “if you vote for us it’s every man for himself!” I would actually respect him for that and give him much kudos.

Gideon is particularly NOT fooling anyone, as far as I can see. He is totally inept and has no experience of running the books anywhere. In his private work he specialised in communications. In other words proffesional lying. No ecconomics experience whatsoever! One would have to hope that if he gets into power he gets quickly shovelled over to one side in favour of someone like Hauge, or even dare I say it, Ken Clarke (!!!).

Gideon is for me the most interesting man in modern politics. I see him as a Dark Sith, Emperor Palpatine type character, hiding in the shadows, manipulating events for evil purposes.

It is so interesting to me, in a media age where every politician must be a pretty boy who exudes likeability at all times, that a guy who has such an unfortunate sneer about him, is allowed anywhere near the front benches. There is no doubt in my mind that this guy is a New World Order Illuminati lizard!

I am sure his awkward look of distain whenever those horrible wasteful public services (that the rest of us poor cunts happen to rely on George) are mentioned is the reason why he has not been visable during this election campaign. Has anyone else noticed how he has been kept in the background during this election? No doubnt due to his EPIC fail during the chancellors debate where he came across as the least turstworthy on the ecconomy in public reactions to the televised debates. I believe most people polled the day after said they would actually place him 4th in a list of people they would trust to run the ecconomy BELOW ken Clarke….the guy responsible for boom and bust in Britain in the 1990’s.

I am sure the Tories are keeping him out of the limelight (until the election is over anyway!) because his sneer and general facial expressions resemble that of an Aristocrat who has just been told that his daughter is marrying a docker.

….and that aristocratic sneer of distaste towards the average pleb does have a a certain pedigree, what with him being of the landed aristocracy. You see George Osbourne is heir to the Osbourne Baronetcy of Ballentaylor in the County of Waterford. This makes him a part of what is known in Ireland as part of The Ascendancy. In other words the old Anglo-Irish Aristocracy who ruled the roost over the host Catholic Irish population and effectively caused the majority of the shit that caused the irish uprising and eventual war with the IRA. 

Lets take a quick look at just SOME of the shit Gideon’s ancestors dished out to the Irish….

• Exclusion of Catholics from most public offices.
• Catholics barred from holding firearms or serving in the armed forces.
• Bar from membership in either the Irish or British parliament
• Exclusion from the legal professions and the judiciary; repealed (respectively) 1793 and 1829.
• Bar to Catholics entering Trinity College Dublin; repealed 1793  
• Ban on converting from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism
• Ban on Catholics buying land under a lease of more than 31 years.
• Ban on custody of orphans being granted to Catholics
• Ban on Catholics inheriting Protestant land
• Prohibition on Catholics owning a horse valued at over £5 (in order to keep horses suitable for military activity out of the majority’s hands)
• Roman Catholic lay priests had to register to preach.
• When allowed, new Catholic churches were to be built from wood, not stone, and away from main roads.
• “No person of the popish religion shall publicly or in private houses teach school, or instruct youth in learning within this realm”.

 

Now of course poor George cannot and should not be held responsible for the crimes of his ancestors in the landed aristocracy of his estate (directly responsible for the ascendancy and all of the above). George wasn’t even born then!

No!….but don’t forget one of the first peices of policy Gideon put forward and is a centre peice of Tory policy.

YES! THE ENDING OF INHERITENCE TAX!

A boss article by Henry Rollins regarding working out (I found particularly inspiring).

 
I saw this on Neil McT’s blog and thought I would simply cut and paste the fucker on here as I found it so interesting and it contained a number of opinions I agree with wholeheartedly, because of recent experiences in my own training. Henry Rollins is an individual who’s general attitude and intelligence I admire greatly, but have a read for yourself and see what you think. I have highlighted in bold the quotes I liked and found to be particularly true. 

 

Iron and the Soul – By Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Everton: 5 slightly amusing things from this season

1. A lad sat behind me in the Glwadys berating Heitinga with this….”HEITINGA!!! HEITINGA!!! YOU ARE SSCHHITT YESSH!?”

2. Blackburn fans in the away end urging us to “sign on with hope in your heart” (always hilarious….but from BLACKBURN fans!? Are you sure lads!?)

3.  Lescotts face when we went 2 up at Eastlands.

4. Leighton Baines’ general 1940’s impoverished street urchin looks.

5. Rafael Benitez.

More pics from today: Mann Island apartments and new Merseytravel HQ.

 

More pics from today of Liverpool’s Mann Island luxury apartment and Merseytravel’s new  headquaters.

Black granite apartment blocks….

Merseytravel HQ block….

Again….the Mann Island luxury apartments….

Love the black granite cladding on this building….