Delphouneso

Went to see Boyhood last night, thought it was brilliant. However one thing I would say is I don't think it's much of a cinema film, might just be me but I think I would rather have watched it at home. And saying that I can't imagine watching any of the Before films at the cinema either.

Finally got round to reading Murakami's 1Q84. I'm a big fan of Murakami and I think that's what made me hold off on reading this for a while, it's a huge book, both in size and in importance to him as a writer, and I didn't want it to be a disappointment. It's fantastic. I've read a few reviews about it being unnecessarily long, or too repetitive, and to a certain extent I can understand some of this criticism. The book is repetitive in parts, but it's told from the perspective of more than one character and so the repetitive parts are generally the re-telling of an event from a different perspective, and they are a different perspective, and if you pay attention there are subtle differences. One of my favourite things about Murakami as a writer is his ability to make the mundane seem so poignant, despite his novels being full of long descriptions of people ironing or preparing food you never feel like these episodes are unnecessary because they're so well written. There is a little less of this in 1Q84, not everything feels absolutely necessary, however for me it never dragged. I was absolutely absorbed in this novel for eight days straight, and if afterwards I'd have been asked what I'd done for the last week part of me would have been sure I'd spent the week in 1980s Japan.

Stir-fried Pork with Beans and Green Peppercorns Don't be fooled by the term 'Stir-Fry' this was anything but quick and easy, it took me a good hour and a half just to pound the paste. First time I've ever eaten fresh green peppercorns and I have to say they were a nice addition to the dish. Shame I overcooked the rice!

Arcade Fire stole the show. Anna Calvi, De La Soul, St. Vincent, and Bonobo (despite missing the first ten minutes running down from St. Vincent) were all fantastic. Special mention to the Daptone Super Soul Revue, it was like going back in time. I'd planned to watch it anyway but only found out whilst at the festival that Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley were playing. It's a bit of a disservice to compare them to Aretha Franklin and James Brown because these guys aren't just copies, but they were that good. Only real disappointment was not being able to see Four Tet, but there was no way I was skipping Arcade Fire. Moment of the festival? Watching Interpol playing NYC, after a day of torrential rain the sun coming out just as Paul Banks sang 'turn on the bright lights' was almost biblical.

I'd like to see Helenius on for Holt at some point and move Andi up top, we could nick another on the counter here but Holt is doing nothing but slow us down.

Finally got round to picking up the game. Started as Villa, got rid of some of the dead wood and brought in a cheap MC, also got Honda on a free (arrived in Jan): Had a good pre-season but a dreadful start to the PL, understandable given my first four fixtures were Manure, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverplop. I was bottom of the table after eight and out of the League cup to Burnley. Switching between a 4-3-3 and a 5-3-2 (I know, but it's working..), brought Helenius in up top with Benteke in the 5-3-2 and all of a sudden things started to click, Helenius went on to score 3 and assist 3 in four games and I'm now on a run of one loss in ten, including a win at Manure: Now up to 8th in the table and only three points off 2nd! Seem to be getting a lot of injuries though. Also seems to be some sort of bug with Tony Moon, he's getting a rating of 8+ in pretty much every game, even when we lose, he's got the highest average rating in the league! Not going to complain 'cause his value is going up!

Kiyotake with an 89th minute equaliser for Nurnberg.

WhoScored.com

My current watch: Although I'm currently wearing it with this strap:

Just spoke to my little brother who's mates with Liam Prynn and played in the same team as him a few times for Cornwall and he claims we've got a quality player on our hands, so here's hoping.

FFS Sunderland winning aswell.

Stoke winning.

Nearly lost my head with that last level, took me about 15 attempts to complete it.

Have you tried putting match focus training on defending set pieces?

The issue over taking pictures of something like this is a difficult one for me. I completely agree with Stevo that this kind of thing shouldn't be censored, but at the same time I just can't put myself in the mindset of a person whose instinct reaction in a situation like this is to take photographs.

Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres When it comes to jazz I'm a little bit stuck in my ways, I love my Mingus, Dolphy, Davis, Coltrane, Blakey etc and don't often venture into the contemporary, however I picked up this album last year and haven't really stopped listening to it since.

Beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the home leg to qualify for the semis. Two first half goals, switched to contain at 60 mins, don't usually risk going so defensive that early on but I was determined not to be knocked out of the Champ's league by the same team three times in a row! Next game in the league I lost to title rivals Saint-Ettiene who overtook me and went into 1st place thanks to a calamitous own goal, one of my defenders played a simple pass back to the keeper who just stood there and watched the ball go through his legs into the net.

Cisse onside there.

Carlos really should have scored there, thank **** he didn't.

Into my 5th season with Toulouse now, and my 3rd season in the Champion's League. Been knocked out of the previous two by Real Madrid both times, made it to the quarters this season and was drawn against.. Real Madrid. Lost the first leg 1-0 away, massive home leg coming up now as I'm determined not to be knocked out by Madrid three times in a row. On expensive youngsters as others have mentioned if you get in there quick (within 1-2 days of the youth intake) you can approach to sign players before they sign a contract and just pay the compensation. Youngsters do seem to be a lot more expensive this time around though, I've just paid £20m for a regen CB. I make a decent amount of money off Brazilian regens though, as I'm only allowed four foreign players in my squad for Ligue 1 I can't make full use of the South American market so I take advantage of their low release clauses and buy up quite a few decent looking regens from Brazil every year, let them develop for a couple of seasons in my youth squad then keep the best of the bunch for my first team and sell the rest on for a profit.

Was really hoping for three points today to take some pressure off the Sunderland game as I'm going to be flying back to England when we're playing Sunderland, might have to have a word with the pilot see if he can get me updates.

Need to put our chances away, plain and simple.

fuuuuuucccccccckkkkk.

Bennett having a good game.