That Night in May.....

A friend of mine, Scouse Andy, recently acquired a number of photographs taken by a professional pitch side photographer from the Champions League Final from Istanbul. I've had them all scanned on to a cd, and I thought I'd share some of them with you all - I think they're great pictures, but then, I'm a bit biased. If you, or anyone you know might want some (there are 137 in total,) drop me a line and I'll see if I can sort them out!




Rafa Benitez playing keepy-uppies after training on the pitch inside the Attaturk stadium. Apparently he often does this after all of the players have gone off to the changing room, and from all reports is pretty good at it.




The Liverpool and Milan players entering the field of play, none has any idea what is about to transpire over the next 2+ hours, and I doubt they'd believe you if you told them!




The Kop travelled to Istanbul en masse. This is just an impressive picture, regardless of the team. The stadium was Liverpool on 3-sides, and if I wasn't so poor, I'd have been there!




The much-maligned Vladimir Smicer wheels away after scoring the second goal in "the comeback" - this was the exact moment where Liverpool fans everywhere began to believe.




Didi Hamman scores the first Liverpool penalty during the shootout, and from this angle, it looks as if he only just managed it!




The bus passes in front of Anfield on its lap of honour around the city. This is a great picture, and reminds me of the day I spent in the Liverpool sunshine, up a lamp post.

Sorry for all of the football related posts recently, I know that only Steve appreciates them, and seeing as they're about Liverpool, even he doesn't care that much! I assure you that normal service will resume soon, and that means not updating at all ;)

This entry was brought to you by:
Portishead - Glory Box
Oasis - Songbird
The Distillers - For Tonight You're Only Here to Know
Billy Talent - Standing in the Rain

Are you Red or Blue?

Tomorrow is one of the most exciting weekends on the Liverpool city calendar. It happens but twice a year, and is met with expectation and excitement by all. It's Derby Day! For those who don't know Liverpool has two football teams, Liverpool and Everton - and twice a year they play. Liverpool are by far the more successful of the two, but Everton have just as big a fan base. Tomorrow, everybody will care about football!

This afternoon I found myself at Anfield again - a friend from class had her brother over from Belfast, and as he was a massive Liverpool fan, we took him down to the ground and around the museum, as the tour was once again, sold out.
Anfield still excites me, which I suppose is a good thing, seeing as its the reason I moved here. We went around the museum, and I saw the cup, the REAL cup for the first time since it went past me on a bus, while I was clinging to a lamp post and craning for a view.



Here I am, outside the club shop at the Kop end of the ground with a statue of Bill Shankly, the most influential manager in Liverpool's history.



There it is, *THE CUP!* Looking at it closely there are lots of finger and lip prints, left over from the celebrations. Standing this close, you just want to smash the glass and hoist it over your head!



Words of Scouse wisdom....at least you can understand them written down, if a Scouser actually said it, you'd have no clue!



The Shankly gates, with the motto of Liverpool football club - call me a loser, but they give me chills.


This entry was brought to you by:
Damien Rice - The Blowers Daughter
Deftones - Elite
Arctic Monkeys - Dancing Shoes

Waste of Bloody Time...

Just got home from seeing Hostel...what a waste of time. For the uninitiated, its about a gang of dudes that are backpacking and sleeping their way across Europe, they hear that there are easy girls in Slovakia, so off they go! Just outside of Bratislava, there's a hostel where they stay and pick up chicks. Then they start to disappear and die. Yawn. From the reviews I've read, I was expecting buckets of blood, gore and scares....instead, I was just a bit bored. The movie felt like it was trying to build up, but by the end it just seemed a little rushed. I won't give away any of the gorey details, just in case you want to waste your money....I will say, the only part that did make me wince was the lad getting his Achilles tendons slashed - now that would hurt!
If you do find yourself at the multiplex, do yourself a favor, go see 'V for Vendetta' instead. Even if you hate the movie, at least you've got Natalie Portman to look at!

My name is Cuban Pete, I dance to the Samba beat....

My friends from uni look for any excuse to have a night out. So when one of the guys from my class told us that his Samba Club were organising a Carnival/Ball, we were always going to be there weren't we?
It was in quite a posh restaurant, so I had to bust out the tie, which also means I had to bust out the tie tying web site - terrible that isn't it? A guy my age not knowing how to do a Pratt knot...disgusting!
The Carnival itself was quite good, lots of people dressed up in feathered outfits, and quite a few drumming demonstrations - the drums were so loud you could feel your lungs rattling against your rib cage, which was kinda cool, I guess.



Here's a picture of me and the lads from uni, its too bad you can't see my fantastic tie knot, but take my word for it, its there!

After the Carnival, we headed out into town, where we went to a bar called "Reflex," which is pure 80's - retro shite everywhere, Tom Selleck and David Hasselhoff adorning the walls, nothing but 80's music, it was sweet- In this bar two things happened to me that have neve ever happened before:
1) I saw my first bar fight. It all started kicking off for no apparent reason. These lads just started wellying each other - so security waded in and broke it up, beating the crap out of those involved - it was all quite exciting, mainly because I was far away and had a good view!
2) I got hit on in the bar! It only took 25 years! Some girl came up to me and asked if her friend could have my phone number! I had to respectfully decline, but still - how weird is that? It must have been the tie knot - no woman can resist a well tied tie!



This blog entry was brought to you by:
Hard-Fi - Better Do Better
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
Marilyn Manson - Mr. Superstar

Fighting in Built Up Areas

Having connected friends can have its perks! Lori has a friend who has her finger firmly on the pulse of everything remotely rock going on in Liverpool. She finds out which bands are coming weeks in advance, works at a number of venues, and even dated the lead singer from Hard-Fi! So when Ladytron announced they were playing two North America warm up shows in a tiny little club, we went straight to Eleanor to hook us up! And she did, for the first time in my life I was able to walk up to the ticket seller and be all like "I'm on the list" and actually have them let me in...booya!
Anyway, Ladytron are great, I'm in a bit of a Anglo-centric bubble, so I have no idea if anyone's actually heard of them - they play a similar style to Metric, electronic soundscapes backing normal guitar, drums etc. They're a little more electronic and European sounding than Metric, but still quite good - even Lori likes them, so they must be awesome ;)

The club we saw them play in was called Korova and it literally held 80 people. Lori and I were right up at the front, and if it weren't for the jackasses doing poppers right in front of us, we'd have had the perfect view! Here's a couple of pics to show how small the stage was, cause it may give you an idea of the size of the venue.








The set they played was heavy with their new album - I'm pretty sure their single is "Destroy Everything You Touch" although, not having any sort of rock radio, I could be way off! It wasn't a concert for serious rocking out, but it was well worth going. In fact, as Lori's friend is good friends with one of the guys in the band, we got talking to them afterwards - Lori got a signed set list, which made her night - They have a show in Toronto coming up April 20th, when we're both home, but unfortunately, its sold out.....to normal people! We chatted with them for quite a while, and they told us to e-mail a few days before the show when we're at home and they'll put us on the list to get in, how cool is that?
Anyway, enough of my rambling review, everyone check out Ladytron's album 'Witching Hour!'

This post was brought to you by:
Oasis - Part of the Queue
DFA 1979 - Black History Month
Ladytron - 17
My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell Kid

And the survey says.....

I booked another ticket home the other day - I'll be home over Easter, I arrive on Good Friday infact, just for a week - its nice to have something to look forward to, and nice to get away from Liverpool for a little bit. As much as I do like England, and love Liverpool (the football club), its quite isolated over here. Lori and I are islands unto ourselves, jabbering away to volley balls, dancing around driftwood fires, and dodging mobs of track suits. So in that vein, I present, in no specific order.....

THE TOP 25 THINGS I MISS ABOUT CANADA:

1. Hockey night in Canada
2. New York Fries poutine
3. 102.1 The Edge
4. Sportscentre
5. Cinnabon
6. Malls with proper food courts
7. Union station
8. Wide aiseled grocery stores
9. "The Insiiiiiiiide Edge!"
10. The Tragically Hip
11. Chlorophyll gum
12. Peeps (it is nearly Easter, afterall)
13. Tim Horton's commercials
14. The smell of Zellers
15. BBQ Doritos
16. 5-second bacon
17. Bacon double cheeseburger Pizza Pizza pizza
18. Cripsy Crunch bars
19. Maple Dip doughnuts
20. The World's Biggest Bookstore
21. Movie popcorn with butter
22. Winners
23. Movie Theatres with a later show than 8:20pm
24. The Ongoing History of New Music
25. Most of the people actually reading this list


This blog entry was brought to you by:
Dresden Dolls - Mandy Goes to Med School
Orson - No Tomorrow
Ladytron - Destroy Everything you Touch

Its not a Fashion Statement....

The iTunes Top 5 seems to have fallen out of fashion recently, but let me be the first to bring it back.

1)Fake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys
2)Tied up Too Tight - Hard-Fi
3)Local Boy - The Rifles
4)Dirty Business - Dresden Dolls
5)You're Gonna Lose Us - The Cribs

Plenty of good English stuff there that you won't hear on the Edge, so have at it, yo.

Living for the Weekend

Anyone that may read here probably knows that HLP Steve visited Lori and I in Liverpool this past weekend -- for a full rundown of what happened, you can check out his review of Liverpool, complete with pictures of our absinthe bender here.

This picture wouldn't have appeared on his blog, so I thought I'd post it here - its just a nice picture of Lori and I pre-absinthe at the martini bar.




I also thought that I would include a picture of Lori's dog, Dante, just for fun. He's the best dog in whole world - he gets so excited when he sees me that he pees a little. All he wants to do is get hugs and chase a laser pointer all day. Brilliant. Super affectionate and easily pleased, everything a dog (or girlfriend for that matter) should be!

Everything you ever wanted to know....but were afraid to ask.

This is a complete rip off from Bri, and her fantastic blog that can be found here. I thought it was pretty neat, and quite different from all those random surveys that you get sent by e-mail.

THIRTEEN Random Things I like:
Penguins
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Super Mario Brothers 3
Pink shirts
Scoring Goals
Beanie Hats
Long Naps
McDonalds Milkshakes
Mosh Pits
Elephant Shoes
Penny Candy
American Idol
Singing at Football Matches

TWELVE Movies That All My Friends Should Watch At Least Twice:
Fight Club
The Nightmare Before Christmas
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Monsters Inc.
Dawn of the Dead (the original)
Napoleon Dynamite
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
Mary Poppins
Requiem for a Dream
Seven
Stars Wars IV: A New Hope
The Professional

ELEVEN Random Thoughts:
"10 more minutes"
"This would have been better if it had more cheese."
"Why is this song on my iTunes?"
"What if I end up killing someone?"
"Why do I even own this?"
"Whoa, that stinks."
"I'm so sick of shaving"
"I don't believe it"
"I wonder who's thinking about me right now?"
"Let me just see the replay"
"Not now, I've got a headache"

TEN Random Things about Me:
I'm left footed, but right handed
I have a scar on my lip where I was kicked in the face with a roller blade when I was playing street hockey
I had braces for 4 years, including night-time headgear
Both of my arms are double-jointed
I'm claustrophobic
I had a mullet from 1986-1988
I broke my leg in two places and ruptured my ACL playing soccer
I've never been in a fist fight
I learned to surf when I was in Hawaii

NINE Ways to Win My Heart:
Kiss me often
Whisper that you love me
Never turn down a cuddle
Laugh
Even if you don't care about something I love, understand why I love it
Take care of me when I'm sick
Hold my hand
Take me Christmas shopping
Watch football with me

EIGHT Things I Want to Do before I Die:
Go on safari
Own a Pug
Go to the World Cup Finals
Own my own home
Fire a gun
Learn to play snooker well
Repay my parents for all the money and faith they've put into me
Marry Lori

SEVEN Ways to Annoy Me:
Be a slut
Hit on my girlfriend
Lie to me
Blow smoke in my face
Try and sell me a 'Big Issue'
Insult something that is important to me
Have rank B.O.

SIX Things I Believe in:
Everybody lies
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Love at first sight
You can't have too much of a good thing
Miracles
What goes around comes around, but never fast enough

FIVE Things I am Afraid of:
Rats
Enclosed spaces
Losing Everything and Everyone that means anything to me
Dying alone
Clowns


FOUR of My Favourite Items in My Room:
My blanket
The picture of my parents, sister, Lori and I at my sister's wedding
The picture of me and Lyn-Z from Manchester
My football boots

THREE Things I Do Everyday:
Moisturise!
Check Steve's blog
Make sure I give Lori a kiss good morning, and goodnight

TWO Things I Want to Do Right Now:
Sleep
Take Lori home

ONE Person I Want to See Right Now:
My parents - I know that's two people - but they are one entity