Jimmy

It makes perfect sense. The schedule is insane this year, so rotation is key. There was plenty of times last year Conte looked to the bench and felt he couldn't change things. We've now got a PL proven player, who starts for Brazil, who covers all 3 positions who can come on and change a game or rotate. He played through the middle a lot last year, so he can also cover Kane, which is something we haven't got right...ever. He makes far more sense for us than those two, partly due to his versatility, partly due to he seems like the kind of player Conte would love. Raphinha plays predominantly where Kulu plays and I feel wouldn't cover Kane at all, Jesus is leaving City to be the big dog at a club, something he wouldn't get here, so Richarlison makes a lot of sense. Honestly, if he turns out to be our equivalent of Jota, that would be amazing. City, Liverpool and even Chelsea have so much depth up front, we absolutely need someone like Richarlison - and we've paid a premium to avoid any settling in period, which would be tough for a striker from another league, because they're realistically not going to get a run of games to kick off with as Son, Kane, Kulu is a pretty strong front 3. It's honestly really weird watching Spurs going about their transfer business quickly and decisively, in hope of building a squad that can compete on all fronts. We've seen Conte's Spurs can go and beat City at the Etihad, get a point at Anfield, thrash Arsenal...and also limply lose to Wolves, get outdone by Southampton, bullied by Burnley, outclassed by Brighton. It was clear we struggled every time we played twice in a week and Conte didn't trust more than about 13 players, this transfer window seems very much based around a player or two to improve the XI, and the rest to create genuine competition and depth. It feels like we're finally operating like a serious club, so I fully expect Kane to do his ankle in October and Conte to quit in November.

Sherwood on BBC is one of the best things I've watched in ages. It uses a murder mystery as a backdrop to investigate the conflicts of the miner's strike in a contemporary Nottingham. We're going to do the last two episodes tonight, but it's been outstanding TV. Trying to watch a few more British shows and enjoying The Lazarus Project by Giri / Haji writer Joe Barton. I think Paapa Essidue is one of the most exciting actors working at the moment, so very much rooting for it, but it's definitely a bit imperfect. In general, I find Sky Originals just aren't very distinctively shot, they are look very generic and it stops them building atmosphere in the way a lot of American genre TV did, or even something Utopia. Oh and I think Hacks is great, Jean Smart is an icon. Atlanta Season 3 finally dropped over here and can't wait to get stuck into that.

I would agree with this, but still enjoying because of style, distinctiveness and the charm of the cast. It's still one of the better Marvel TV shows and they have a lot of scope for where it can go, which I find exciting and is very much keeping me in.

This is more what I was thinking. Surely he's worth more to you, then he is to us? I can't see us wanting to pay big money for him, so I don't get why it'd happen.

Apparently we're preparing offers for Richarlison and Anthony Gordon - can't see both happening.

Bill Hader directed the shit out of Barry Season 3. It might be recency bias, but I really feel like he visually took the show to another level. There was so much filmmaking flair that elevated this season as it got darker and darker. I was so into it that I binged the whole thing in a day, which I don't usually do - I couldn't get enough of it.

loooool nice Last year we got knocked out of Europe by a team whose manager was in prison. We know what we're about.

...what are you on about?

no you wouldn't

Audi Cup Winners, you'll never sing that!

Semi-finalists Villarreal notoriously flush with cash

Liverpool getting a favourable decision in a CL final? Well I never.

Watched Top Gun: Maverick and thought it was great. Non-spoiler review in spoiler tags just cos it's a bit tl;dr tbh.

Romero will be in instalments as well & yeah supposedly Kulu stays on loan for a bit longer. I doubt Forster is gonna cost us much either. I've read we're in for Kostic for 12mil. Bastoni seems to be our no.1 target to splash on. Thing is, maybe a few summers ago, but also I think we'll be smart in the window and a lot of the foreign clubs are still hit financially by the pandemic. Forster as back-up HG GK. Kostic as a specialist LWB. Potentially Eriksen on a free. That's two areas of the squad upgraded for 12mil transfer fees plus wages. Leaves a tasty amount to try and get 3-4 more players through the door. We should also make some money off any of Lo Celso, Reggy, Winks, Rodon or Sanchez, Bergwijn (). I'd also 100% sell Lucas if the opportunity came up. Fuck knows what will happen with Ndombele. Right now it feels like it could be a defining summer for us, which probably means Conte will resign August 1st.

Loved everything about that mid season finale. Their commitment to the slow burn makes every single pay-off so satisfying, without it ever feeling like Breaking Bad, which was admittedly one of my worries as the show began to approach its end during the previous season. I love it so much that it's making me want to go into a Breaking Bad re-watch as soon as I've finished just to have more time in the world and I'm usually awful at re-watching anything because there's always something new to watch.

Oh it's so perfectly poised. This season has been beautifully paced, the emotional stakes are creeping up in each episode, I am hooked.

Oh yeah, this totally lived up to the hype, deserves to be seen on a big screen.

Just for balance, I think it's better than Breaking Bad. The slow burn and the evolution of characters has been so satisfying and engrossing.

I objectively have no idea if it's any good but of course I love it

I'm glad I ended up sticking with it because episode 5 was great and distinctive, it had this urgency that made it gripping and felt like what a Moon Knight series should've been about. Honestly, think this should've been a movie, or a shorter, more focused series. I think it only remotely starts to pick up around episode 4, then it peaks with ep 5 and the finale is standard fare. Oscar Isaac is obviously great. I'll look forward to him turning up in the future. Overall this felt pretty uneven, but at least there was a standout episode in there, which hasn't always been the case for the other shows.

Been burning through books recently, which has been a super nice feeling. I just finished Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow, which at its best, gave me Homegoing vibes. I thought it weaved tragedy and beauty together in such a poignant way, I was beaming and plagued by heartache throughout. I really enjoyed Tunnels by Rutu Modan and The Earth Wire by Joel Lane. The former is a graphic novel about an archeological hunt that investigates the relationship between Israel and Palestine, while the latter is an eerie collection of short stories, mostly set in Birmingham, by a writer who was clearly deeply disillusioned and disturbed by Thatcherism. Infux have just published one of his novels, which I picked up. Currently reading Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, which is her second novel available in English. I absolutely loved / loathed Hurricane Season, which was the first available.

my thoughts on Doctor Strange that I'm just gonna c&p from Letterboxd, sorry about the weird formatting but not sorry enough to do anything about it

I can't overstate how much I appreciate the pacing of the final season so far, which is totally in keeping with everything they've done before, but I think there's always the fear that the road to the end can be patchy. The slow burn has always been one of my favourite things about the show and I enjoy episodes like this week as much as I do the much flashier episode 3. I really hope they can keep this up, it's completely gripping and absorbing.