Ben E.

Couldn't get to the thread at all yesterday with the driver errors and all, but a great win over Wolves in a very important match. We've got a lot of difficult games left to play so to be right around the 40 point mark now is good. I might try and make it to the Liverpool game now. I've always wanted to go to Anfield, too.

A bit disappointed with the new Strokes album.

Saw Mogwai and the Twilight Sad at the Sage last night. Both were amazing, despite some microphone problems during a few of Twilight Sad's songs. The crowd loved 'I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead' and Mogwai really went into a different gear after that. My highlight was 'You're Lionel Richie' off of the new album, though. Deafening is the only way I can describe it when it kicked in, but in the best way possible. The sage was the perfect venue for them too. I sat on the second level balcony almost right in the middle facing the stage and don't think I could have picked better seats. There was something about being able to see the crowd react to the music as well as a great view of the stage which made it better. I haven't been to that many 'bigger' gigs, but Mogwai was my favourite by far.

Yeah I wasn't too impressed with Computers and Blues. It had been built up as something big and I thought due to it being his last, it would be something good. Everything on it ranges from decent to a bit poor and there isn't anything really memorable. I'm not sure how new it is, but a band called Dumbo Gets Mad have released an album where you pay for it via a tweet or a facebook status update. It's a nice idea to spread the word about the album. As for the music it's self, I like it. It's a bit weird, not normally what I'd listen to but I enjoyed it. Here's the link to the download info and they have a few songs up on youtube, obviously.

Newcastle. I do support them, although I mostly just complain about them in the Premier League thread. My soft spot team would be Nottingham Forest. I have no idea where it came from, though.

Aaaaaaannnnnd Newcastle have accepted Carroll's transfer request.

35 Million is excellent money for Carroll. The problem Newcastle will have with selling him is that he's been built up so much by the media, talking about him being much better than I personally think he is. It means the gremlins that crawl out from underneath the Strawberry at any sight of a camera will be out in force. Plus it's deadline day and we haven't got enough strikers as it is. Not sure if it's been posted, but Spurs are in with a 17 million bid for Forlan according to Sky Sports.

I have the same problem with strikers. It's persisted since I mentioned it in an earlier post. A few games on, my only fit striker is Nathan Tyson, who has never scored in the Championship for me. Lovely.

I like the new Joy Formidable album, but I'm not blown away by it. Maybe my expectations were too high. I agree about the Greatest Light, although I'm not sure what it could be replaced with. Cradle, maybe? I'm going to see them next month, hopefully they're good.

I bought this yesterday after waiting a few days for HMV in Newcastle to get it back in stock . Thanks for the replies to my earlier post by the way, turns out my laptop can run the 3D match engine fine. It's so much better in 3D. Started a game with Nottingham Forest and was immediately disappointed by the lack of transfer budget. This got worse when the injuries struck and left Dele Adebola as my only fit striker. Franco's agent was a wanker, so I can no longer negotiate with him either. Jerome Rothen seems like a decent signing in my early games. Drew 1-1 with Derby in my first league game, beat Bury 4-0 in the League Cup, then beat Preston 1-0.

The new Cold War Kids album is out there. I'm listening to it now and really enjoying it. It's making it more and more disappointing that I'm unlikely to be able to go and see them in Manchester next month.

I personally find the concept of a music "elitist" comical, because music is so subjective. A lot of people just express their opinion as fact.

I've looked around the area and there's two pools of lava, but they're both sort of underground. There's no way of it getting to trees.

I started up a new game on Minecraft. I have a little look around and this seems like a good place to start. I start to collect some wood and I notice something in the corner of the screen... The trees are on fire? THE TREES ARE ON FIRE! EDIT: Sorry about the big images, I've put them in spoilers.

So, I have finally bored myself of Football Manager 2007 and I'm thinking about buying this. I've tried the demo and it runs great on my laptop and I'm liking the game so far. I was wondering if anyone has experienced a real slowdown in gameplay moving from the demo to the full game? Obviously there will be if I selected a lot of leagues, but I tend to only have England and Scotland playable anyway.

Just discovered Ghostpoet, and... wow. I didn't really 'get it' untill I listened to this His new single, due out on the 23rd according to itunes. Must have listened to this like 20 times since last night.

Couple of bands from Newcastle: Let's Buy Happiness' new single called Fast Fast, due out in March I believe, is up on SoundCloud. Big fan of these. Grandfather Birds have also put up a recording done for Amazing Radio free on their Band Camp. First heard these when they supported Let's Buy Happiness in November, I think. They especially stood out because the other support, a band called Trapped in Kansas, were shite. Just had a listen to the other WORSHIP songs on their Myspace. Fantastic stuff.

Ventured 'out there' and have listened to the whole thing now, and it's definitely an album I'll buy as soon as it comes out. On first listen through I think it's fantastic, but that may be because both Too Raging to Cheers and You're Lionel Richie end the album so strong that it's stopping me from judging the whole thing fairly. I think I'll keep an eye out for the extra standing tickets, thanks for letting me know. I've never been to the Sage before, but I thought for music like Mogwai's it'd be just as enjoyable in the seats. I'd much rather stand though.

Is the whole new Mogwai album out there, YI? I heard Rano Pano and White Noise on youtube, but haven't come across anything else yet. Can't decide whether I want to go and see them at the Sage or not. There's still tickets available but for some reason I'm stopping myself from getting one. There's only seating left I think, but it's the Sage, so I doubt it'd matter.

Utterly disgusted with this chain of events, culminating in the probable appointment of Alan Pardew. Alan fucking Pardew. I think I've finally stopped caring.

Fantastic result for Newcastle. Nolan will get the praise no doubt, but it was a really good team performance. Defensively that's the best I've seen us play in ages, to keep Bent and Gyan that quiet. Lovely to see Bramble sent off too.

Boyata sent off within 5 minutes. At this point it's really a risk having De Jong on the pitch for Man City.

Most Spurs fans I've met seem to hate Newcastle, although that's probably true of most football fans. Their team is fantastic though, it's hard not to like them.

Bit disappointed that there was nothing from Newcastle today, I wouldn't have minded a striker. Robbie Keane would have been lovely but it was always unlikely he'd move here I reckon. Gyan should be an interesting player to watch for Sunderland given the price they've paid for him.

I'm happy that Newcastle managed to get Gosling, hopefully the move doesn't ruin his career like it has lots of other young players. I hope Bramble fails miserably at Sunderland, but Bruce was able to get something out of him before so it could well happen again.