Seven games to go and all is still to play for in Saints return to the Premier League. Mathematically we can still qualify for the Champions League but to be honest mid-table mediocrity will do very nicely thank you.
As I write this we sit 12th in the League, which is our highest position all season and bodes well for the remaining games. Our last two games have given us home wins over Liverpool and Chelsea (reigning European Champions!!) and we have been recognised for playing "good" football in both games.
Next up comes an away game against Reading, who were promoted with us last season. They currently sit bottom of the table 11 points behind us, so they need to win fairly desperately to have any chance of staying up. They recently sacked their manager and appointed ex Saints manager, Nigel Adkins, in his place, so this game now has lots of extra significance. It's rare as a sacked manager, that you get to shake the hand of the guy who replaced you, but that will happen on Saturday. It's also an oddity for Saints fans as they never got the chance to say goodbye to Adkins, so the pre-game chanting of his name may well be from all round the stadium. Finally it's a chance for Mauricio Pochettino, to show that he was the right choice to take over from Adkins, by his Saints beating Reading and beating them well. Last season's game at Reading ended 1-1, I think that this game will end the same.
After Saturday these are our remaining fixtures and my predictions:-
West Ham (home) - 3-1
Swansea (away) - 0-0
West Brom (home) - 2-1
Spurs (away) - 3-1 (though I really really want us to win this game, given the number of people that I know who follow Spurs)
Sunderland (away) 0-1
Stoke (home) 3-0
If I'm correct with my scores above that will see us finish with 48 points and end somewhere in mid table.
Of course we are only 4 points above the relegation zone, so a couple of losses and we could yet end up playing Stoke needing to win to stay in the Premier League, but my instinct is that we'll be safe by the time we go to Sunderland.
Come on you Reds!
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Monday, 1 April 2013
In through the out door
I was walking last summer with my friend Steve when we fell into a conversation about Led Zeppelin. He had been involved in the music industry for most of his working career and he confessed to me that he only really "got" Led Zeppelin fairly recently. That got me thinking and If I'm honest that's the same for me.
I think the reason for that is that I never saw them live. By the time that I was fully appreciative of their music, John Bonham had passed away, and in effect the band was over. While the albums were great, similar to many bands today such as U2 and Muse, it was the live experience that took them to another level. it wasn't until last year that I had the chance to experience some of what that felt like.
Last year they released "Celebration day" a film and live album of a concert they performed in 2008 at the O2 area in London. As part of the launch it had a cinema release and I went to see it with another friend. It was wonderful! The three surviving members all looked fit, healthy and younger then their years. Jimmy Page in particular defined cool, starting the gig in frock coat, shades and with his grey/white hair styled to look like he could have been an 18th Century highwayman!
The concert rocks! Pure and simple it shows a band (that hasn't played together for nearly 30 years) at the height of it's powers. They play all the songs that fans would have demanded, but the power and downright size of the performance is breathtaking. Robert Plant's voice is exactly as it should be for music on this scale, but bearing in mind that he's a man in his 60's, it puts to shame contemporaries such as Knights of the realm, Elton John and Paul McCartney. Besides looking as cool as, Jimmy Page's guitar playing reminds everyone why every spotty teenage guitarist growing up in the 70's wanted to be him.
The real revelation, however, is John Paul Jones. Having thought of him as "the bass player", it was a real surprise to see and hear exactly how much of the "sound" of Led Zep actually emanates from his performance. The keyboard parts to "Trampled Underfoot" & "Kashmir" are the centrepieces around which the vocals and guitar parts build the monuments they become.
Underpinning all of this are the drums, played by John Bonham's son, Jason. His dad would be very proud! Much of my favourite moments on Led Zep songs have been the drums (the intro to "When the Levee breaks for example) and Jason Bonham replicates the sound and power as if it was his father sat on the drum stool.
As a record of that one night, this is as good as it could have been. As a demonstration of why the band were so revered, this is as good a testimony as you could find. As a line drawn under the Led Zep story then this is the perfect ending.
The trouble is that it is so good, the management must have seen the ability to tour and wipe out all top grossing records. Plant says that he's not interested but then hints that he's not up to much in 2014! This story may not yet be over.....
I think the reason for that is that I never saw them live. By the time that I was fully appreciative of their music, John Bonham had passed away, and in effect the band was over. While the albums were great, similar to many bands today such as U2 and Muse, it was the live experience that took them to another level. it wasn't until last year that I had the chance to experience some of what that felt like.
Last year they released "Celebration day" a film and live album of a concert they performed in 2008 at the O2 area in London. As part of the launch it had a cinema release and I went to see it with another friend. It was wonderful! The three surviving members all looked fit, healthy and younger then their years. Jimmy Page in particular defined cool, starting the gig in frock coat, shades and with his grey/white hair styled to look like he could have been an 18th Century highwayman!
The concert rocks! Pure and simple it shows a band (that hasn't played together for nearly 30 years) at the height of it's powers. They play all the songs that fans would have demanded, but the power and downright size of the performance is breathtaking. Robert Plant's voice is exactly as it should be for music on this scale, but bearing in mind that he's a man in his 60's, it puts to shame contemporaries such as Knights of the realm, Elton John and Paul McCartney. Besides looking as cool as, Jimmy Page's guitar playing reminds everyone why every spotty teenage guitarist growing up in the 70's wanted to be him.
The real revelation, however, is John Paul Jones. Having thought of him as "the bass player", it was a real surprise to see and hear exactly how much of the "sound" of Led Zep actually emanates from his performance. The keyboard parts to "Trampled Underfoot" & "Kashmir" are the centrepieces around which the vocals and guitar parts build the monuments they become.
Underpinning all of this are the drums, played by John Bonham's son, Jason. His dad would be very proud! Much of my favourite moments on Led Zep songs have been the drums (the intro to "When the Levee breaks for example) and Jason Bonham replicates the sound and power as if it was his father sat on the drum stool.
As a record of that one night, this is as good as it could have been. As a demonstration of why the band were so revered, this is as good a testimony as you could find. As a line drawn under the Led Zep story then this is the perfect ending.
The trouble is that it is so good, the management must have seen the ability to tour and wipe out all top grossing records. Plant says that he's not interested but then hints that he's not up to much in 2014! This story may not yet be over.....
Monday, 4 February 2013
Anyway anyhow anywhere.
1 February marked a potential turning point in broadcasting. That may sound a very grandiose statement but history may show it to be true. That day, Netflix the video subscription service, which up until that point had only broadcast films and old TV series, put on it's service a brand-new political drama series "House of cards' on which it is reported it cost $100m to produce.
House of cards was originally a BBC TV series which starred the late Ian Richardson. In it he played the role of the government's chief whip, Francis Urquart, whose Machiavellian manipulations of the government served his political purpose. His character became best known for his Catchphrase "you might say that, I couldn't possibly comment."
Netflix have transferred it to the American government and it stars the US actor Kevin Spacey in the lead role. It's directed by David Fincher, best known for his film work and besides Kevin Spacey has a host of well-known American actors featured in it. The script is very sharp but surprisingly Aaron Sorkin's not involved despite his working with the Director on The Social Network. It is beautifully filmed and one of my friends has already referred to it as being the best TV programme is since The Wire.
That's the main point though, is it a TV program? It isn't actually being broadcast on any TV channels (yet) as it's only available through the Internet via Netflix. What's more they've made 13 episodes and all 13 are readily available now. So this also takes away the "waiting until next week to see what happens" syndrome. As long as you have 13 hours readily available you can watch the whole series in one sitting!
This is the next stage In being incomplete control of what you watch and when you watch it. While many of us either record items to watch when we choose to or use catch up services to watch things at a time that suits us, this takes things to the next natural stage of just being out there on the Internet for us to pick up when we want to. Do programmes actually need to be broadcast?
Netflix are rumoured to have five original series to be released this year and this is a fascinating development in "How we watch, what we watch and when we watch it."
I suspect in no time at all, a growing percentage of what we watch through our TV, may come via the Internet and not have been shown first on a TV channel.
House of cards was originally a BBC TV series which starred the late Ian Richardson. In it he played the role of the government's chief whip, Francis Urquart, whose Machiavellian manipulations of the government served his political purpose. His character became best known for his Catchphrase "you might say that, I couldn't possibly comment."
Netflix have transferred it to the American government and it stars the US actor Kevin Spacey in the lead role. It's directed by David Fincher, best known for his film work and besides Kevin Spacey has a host of well-known American actors featured in it. The script is very sharp but surprisingly Aaron Sorkin's not involved despite his working with the Director on The Social Network. It is beautifully filmed and one of my friends has already referred to it as being the best TV programme is since The Wire.
That's the main point though, is it a TV program? It isn't actually being broadcast on any TV channels (yet) as it's only available through the Internet via Netflix. What's more they've made 13 episodes and all 13 are readily available now. So this also takes away the "waiting until next week to see what happens" syndrome. As long as you have 13 hours readily available you can watch the whole series in one sitting!
This is the next stage In being incomplete control of what you watch and when you watch it. While many of us either record items to watch when we choose to or use catch up services to watch things at a time that suits us, this takes things to the next natural stage of just being out there on the Internet for us to pick up when we want to. Do programmes actually need to be broadcast?
Netflix are rumoured to have five original series to be released this year and this is a fascinating development in "How we watch, what we watch and when we watch it."
I suspect in no time at all, a growing percentage of what we watch through our TV, may come via the Internet and not have been shown first on a TV channel.
Sunday, 20 January 2013
A change is gonna' come.
Some of my best football related moments in the last two years have come courtesy of Nigel Atkins. He took over my football team, Southampton, when they were near the bottom of League One. First season in charge, he got them promoted to the Championship. Next season in charge he then got them promoted to the Premier league. "Back to back" promotions, no other Southampton manager has ever done that. In fact very few football managers have ever done that!
On Friday, because of the snow, I was working from home. During a break for coffee, I briefly checked Twitter. This tweet popped up. "Southampton Football Club has appointed Mauricio Pochettino as First Team Manager having relieved Nigel Adkins of his duties." My jaw dropped and and I mouthed "what!!!!!" I stared at the screen unable to take what I was reading in. On Wednesday night we had gone to the home of the European Champions (Chelsea) and having gone 2-0 down came back to earn a 2-2 draw. To me that was the night I felt we could rightly sing "We are Southampton, we're Premier League" and get taken seriously.
Now Saints Chairman, Nicola Cortese, has form in sacking managers. Adkins predecessor, Alan Pardew, was sacked after winning 4-0 away from home! That had been a shock, but worked out very well by his appointing Adkins. This was worse though, we had only lost 2 of our last 12 games and were 15th in the League.
Reaction to the sacking has been generally appalled at what we have done to a "good and honest manager". That's from the media and from fans of both Saints and other clubs. Everyone wishes Adkins all the best in the future and he will always be greeted like a hero at St Mary's, even if he turned up as Pompey manager.
Thank you Nigel for all the happy moments that you gave me and all other Saints fans.
On Friday, because of the snow, I was working from home. During a break for coffee, I briefly checked Twitter. This tweet popped up. "Southampton Football Club has appointed Mauricio Pochettino as First Team Manager having relieved Nigel Adkins of his duties." My jaw dropped and and I mouthed "what!!!!!" I stared at the screen unable to take what I was reading in. On Wednesday night we had gone to the home of the European Champions (Chelsea) and having gone 2-0 down came back to earn a 2-2 draw. To me that was the night I felt we could rightly sing "We are Southampton, we're Premier League" and get taken seriously.
Now Saints Chairman, Nicola Cortese, has form in sacking managers. Adkins predecessor, Alan Pardew, was sacked after winning 4-0 away from home! That had been a shock, but worked out very well by his appointing Adkins. This was worse though, we had only lost 2 of our last 12 games and were 15th in the League.
Reaction to the sacking has been generally appalled at what we have done to a "good and honest manager". That's from the media and from fans of both Saints and other clubs. Everyone wishes Adkins all the best in the future and he will always be greeted like a hero at St Mary's, even if he turned up as Pompey manager.
Thank you Nigel for all the happy moments that you gave me and all other Saints fans.
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Madman at the screens
Like thousands of others, maybe millions, this Christmas has bought me an iPad mini.
My eldest son, Matthew, bought one on the day that they were released and yes he did queue up outside the Apple store at 7 o'clock in the morning! Seeing the joy that he has got from his, made me convinced that this was the next addition that I needed to my gadget life.
My first impressions are very favourable. I've rarely turned on my laptop since I've owned it and can see that remaining the case. The screen is big enough to see almost every website very clearly and apps designed specifically for it are generally very impressive.
I also have an iPhone so a bit of the "Wow" factor was reduced, some of it is just what I've experienced on the iPhone on a bigger screen.
So what is different?
Firstly the newsstand app. I now read the Guardian on a daily basis, have a free copy of Stuff magazine and I'm considering subscribing to GQ again. Reading a newspaper or a magazine on a tablet is a very different but fun experience.
Next is the improvement in using the Apple browser, Safari. It's always been difficult on my PC, let's remember is not designed for a PC. It's fairly basic on an iPhone, but it is excellent on the iPad. It also means that through iCloud, articles I've read on my iPad I can also carry on reading on my iPhone if I don't get a chance to finish them.
The final initial benefit I've seen of the iPad is reading books. I have a Sony e-reader and that's been great but let's be honest, it's limited to just reading books. It's also very slow. If you copy a PDF onto it to use that in a meeting, it better be a very slow meeting, otherwise you'll be way behind. Through differing apps the iPad allows you to read PDF's, Kindle, iBooks and EPUB books.
So, so far so good. A very good investment.
PS this blog was mainly dictated using Siri!
My eldest son, Matthew, bought one on the day that they were released and yes he did queue up outside the Apple store at 7 o'clock in the morning! Seeing the joy that he has got from his, made me convinced that this was the next addition that I needed to my gadget life.
My first impressions are very favourable. I've rarely turned on my laptop since I've owned it and can see that remaining the case. The screen is big enough to see almost every website very clearly and apps designed specifically for it are generally very impressive.
I also have an iPhone so a bit of the "Wow" factor was reduced, some of it is just what I've experienced on the iPhone on a bigger screen.
So what is different?
Firstly the newsstand app. I now read the Guardian on a daily basis, have a free copy of Stuff magazine and I'm considering subscribing to GQ again. Reading a newspaper or a magazine on a tablet is a very different but fun experience.
Next is the improvement in using the Apple browser, Safari. It's always been difficult on my PC, let's remember is not designed for a PC. It's fairly basic on an iPhone, but it is excellent on the iPad. It also means that through iCloud, articles I've read on my iPad I can also carry on reading on my iPhone if I don't get a chance to finish them.
The final initial benefit I've seen of the iPad is reading books. I have a Sony e-reader and that's been great but let's be honest, it's limited to just reading books. It's also very slow. If you copy a PDF onto it to use that in a meeting, it better be a very slow meeting, otherwise you'll be way behind. Through differing apps the iPad allows you to read PDF's, Kindle, iBooks and EPUB books.
So, so far so good. A very good investment.
PS this blog was mainly dictated using Siri!
Monday, 31 December 2012
Don't look back in anger
So as another year draws to a close, it's time to have a look at what music I enjoyed this year. These are in no particular order.
The Alt-J album "an awesome wave"won the Mercury music prize this year and quite rightly so. To be honest it was my eldest son Matthew that got me into this album and I'm very glad that he did. It's different, a bit hip-hop , a bit acoustic but generally a really lovely album.
My prog rock collection has grown this year with new albums from Neal Morse and Marillion. Both are probably each artists best album for a while and were both welcome additions to my collection.
2012 was also the year of prog rock artists re recording some of their finest works. Steve Hackett decided to do a second album of Genesis revisited where he takes some of his former bands finest songs and rerecords them. They're pretty faithful to the originals to be honest but his choice of vocalists to replace Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins are well chosen and the overall result is a really high-quality album. His version of "The Lamia" from The Lamb lies down on Broadway album with Nick Kershaw on vocals is inspired!
Rick Wakeman also decided to do a studio version of "Journey to the centre of the earth" the original album having been a live recording. He's added extra music to the original version as well and a mighty fine album it is too.
This was also the year that Ben Folds put back together the Ben Folds Five (the joke being that there's only three of them) and released a new album. His last couple of studio albums, released under his own name, have not been as good as previous recordings but this is a real return to form.
Other albums I've enjoyed this year were the Bruce Springsteen album which was Bruce at its finest, he's angry and when he's angry he always writes good songs.
Muse's album "the second law" was also released this year and continued their excellent work. A bit more funky in places nonetheless it still rocked when required!
Finally I can't let this post go without mentioning Led Zepplin's "Celebration day'. This is a live album recorded back in 2008 when they reformed for one off concert at the O2 arena in London. It's immense and truly acts as a wonderful epitaph to the band.
The Alt-J album "an awesome wave"won the Mercury music prize this year and quite rightly so. To be honest it was my eldest son Matthew that got me into this album and I'm very glad that he did. It's different, a bit hip-hop , a bit acoustic but generally a really lovely album.
My prog rock collection has grown this year with new albums from Neal Morse and Marillion. Both are probably each artists best album for a while and were both welcome additions to my collection.
2012 was also the year of prog rock artists re recording some of their finest works. Steve Hackett decided to do a second album of Genesis revisited where he takes some of his former bands finest songs and rerecords them. They're pretty faithful to the originals to be honest but his choice of vocalists to replace Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins are well chosen and the overall result is a really high-quality album. His version of "The Lamia" from The Lamb lies down on Broadway album with Nick Kershaw on vocals is inspired!
Rick Wakeman also decided to do a studio version of "Journey to the centre of the earth" the original album having been a live recording. He's added extra music to the original version as well and a mighty fine album it is too.
This was also the year that Ben Folds put back together the Ben Folds Five (the joke being that there's only three of them) and released a new album. His last couple of studio albums, released under his own name, have not been as good as previous recordings but this is a real return to form.
Other albums I've enjoyed this year were the Bruce Springsteen album which was Bruce at its finest, he's angry and when he's angry he always writes good songs.
Muse's album "the second law" was also released this year and continued their excellent work. A bit more funky in places nonetheless it still rocked when required!
Finally I can't let this post go without mentioning Led Zepplin's "Celebration day'. This is a live album recorded back in 2008 when they reformed for one off concert at the O2 arena in London. It's immense and truly acts as a wonderful epitaph to the band.
Saturday, 22 December 2012
Experiments in Mass Appeal
For the last 22 days I've been carrying out an experiment on Facebook and Twitter. Each day I post a Christmas song in what is wittily entitled "Mark's musical advent calendar".
It gave me a chance to share with my friends, some of the music that I like to listen to around this time of year. I have an extensive Christmas playlist that I like to listen to mainly as I drive around and I thought that it would be an opportunity to share some of these songs with my friends, mainly via YouTube clips.
It's gone fairly well and certainly on Facebook I've had lots of comments and "likes". Every day has resulted in some kind of response from my friends. That has made it more fun for me and inspired some of the music posted.
The response on Twitter however has been completely different. It's been the social media equivalent of tumbleweed blowing down the deserted high-street! I think I've had one, response may be two?
What does that tell me? Well I think maybe it just reflects the fact that on Twitter you can follow anybody whether they know you or not. That means that my Twitter feed is full of posts from people that I don't really know and can skip over if I'm pressed for time. Clearly my posts get read that way too!!
On Facebook however my timeline is full of posts from closer friends and I'm therefore more interested in what they're saying and I take more time to read them. That seems to work for my friends as well bearing in mind their reaction to my posts.
Not an earthshattering discovery I know, but I did expect a bigger response to my twitter posts.
It gave me a chance to share with my friends, some of the music that I like to listen to around this time of year. I have an extensive Christmas playlist that I like to listen to mainly as I drive around and I thought that it would be an opportunity to share some of these songs with my friends, mainly via YouTube clips.
It's gone fairly well and certainly on Facebook I've had lots of comments and "likes". Every day has resulted in some kind of response from my friends. That has made it more fun for me and inspired some of the music posted.
The response on Twitter however has been completely different. It's been the social media equivalent of tumbleweed blowing down the deserted high-street! I think I've had one, response may be two?
What does that tell me? Well I think maybe it just reflects the fact that on Twitter you can follow anybody whether they know you or not. That means that my Twitter feed is full of posts from people that I don't really know and can skip over if I'm pressed for time. Clearly my posts get read that way too!!
On Facebook however my timeline is full of posts from closer friends and I'm therefore more interested in what they're saying and I take more time to read them. That seems to work for my friends as well bearing in mind their reaction to my posts.
Not an earthshattering discovery I know, but I did expect a bigger response to my twitter posts.
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