I think that this site may well be the first Italian QPR fan site. Good work fella. And I was kind of thinking of saying that in Italian. But luckily I remembered Babelfish is pony. So I didn't bother.

So I rather boldy set and made public my goal. I thought it was about time for an update. So how have I done? Well, the good news is that I have lost weight. And apparently it shows as a friend of mine did say I looked skinny the other night (bless you, you know who you are!). And I'm ahead of my schedule. Which is great.

On the other hand - I haven't been quite as good as I'd set out to be. I've had a few beers. But not quite as many. And I've had crisps. But a lot less. And there's been other times where I've just caved in, like the day we decided we'd all cook some nice food for work. I of course didn't cook healthy stuff (and rather unexpectedly realised that cooking tasty buttery biscuits is splendidly easy). And nor did anyone else. But I have been eating and drinking a lot better on the whole and I have lost some weight. Trouble is, we all know that I'd be expecting to lose more at the start and less at the end. Which probably means I can't be complacent. Which probably means that those roast potatoes I cooked on Sunday need to be the last for a little while.

So how much more do I need to lose to meet my target? 30 of your English pounds. Will I make my target? Place your bets...

I got one of those Royal Mail "sorry we missed you" things through the post on Friday. I got a bit excited then remembered I'd bought those Archie Bronson Outfit tickets. So I thought. But when I got to the post office I opened the envelope and discovered it was Emmy the Great. Now I knew that she was playing tonight. And I knew there was a QPR home game against Coventry. I hadn't planned on going. So I'm only guessing I must have been pissed when I booked them. Dammit.

So - after I picked up the tickets off I went to football to see us win 2 nil against Hull. We were so excited about it I huffed and I puffed about whether to go to the coventry game. I decided eventually not to. But when I discussed this with a hammers fan and a music fan at work he couldn't understand. I explained I had tickets for Palace on Saturday and that 3 times in a week to see my team play might be a bit excessive. It didn't compute with him. Not one bit.

I digress. I went to the gig. I arrived early. And I so regret doing so. Last time I say Emmy the Great play it was at the Boardwalk. I went on my own but that wasn't a problem. I got there for all the support acts, and frankly it all seemed very friendly and close. Everyone on stage knew each other. And Emmy played up to it all very well. Her between song chit chat just added to the warmth of the whole gig. Even her mum turned up.

But tonight, was not so great. I'm not going to waste too much time with the support acts. Other than the first band was tedious and frankly forgettable. And the second, well at least they had balls. Which was strange for a band of women. But not enough for me. I fantasised about Polly Harvey jumping on the stage and socking the lead singers jaw and showing her how it should be done.

So anyway on to the main act. But no we weren't. Where was she? Someone else came on who wasn't bad to be fair. But by now it was coming up 10. And my friend needed to get home at some point. And we were all getting impatient, so when Emmy did actually show up I and my friend (and I suspect a reasonable number of the audience) were a little fed up. And then she announced that she'd have to play a shorter set.

Now - don't get me wrong. I love Emmy. A lot. But come on girl. I payed for my ticket. At least show up on time.

So she started playing, and I'm not sure if it was me being jaded or not, but she seemed just a little tired. And maybe a bit fed up with the material. I don't know. Because there was nothing obviously wrong with the performance by her or her band. She sang well. She played well. The band sang and played well. But the atmosphere was so so flat. But this is a woman who's talent can really cut through this sort of problem, and at times she did. I quite lost myself in the magic of her voice and her song writing at times. And what magic she weaves. I was first attracted to the sheer beauty of her music and her voice, but there's a deeper acerbic note to a some of her songs:

"They pulled a human from my waist, it had your mouth, it had your face, I would have kept it if I'd stayed."

This caught me quite off guard. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. And then. And then... it was time to go. I missed the encore. I hope it was good. I want to see Emmy again. I hope it's better. Because even on a poor night she's pretty good. Which is quite an act to pull off.

Oh and in case you were wondering. QPR lost tonight 1-2 against Coventry to a last minute goal. We'll win at Palace. For sure.

I made the short trip over to Chartlon today and boy was it worth it. Harford picked an unchanged team from the one that drew at Preston, which I like. The early stages of the match were largely dominated by Charlton, but the defence stood up well. Barker had a good game for his standards, but it's clear he's not in the same league as Cranie and Mancienne. What a pity they're loan signings and not permanent fixtures. Stewart had a poor first half, but he did constantly seem to take every opportunity to be stretching. I suspect that this may well have been hindering him.

The first half ended 0-0 which was fair enough, but Charlton shaded it. However, the story was much much different in the second half. The team played in a manner that seemed at odds with our position at the bottom of the league. A real passing game was being played, with Vine and Ephraim (loan signings again, *sigh*) combining well to cause constant problems to the Charlton defence that's clearly lacking in confidence. Leigertwood continues to impress, and had a great chance that he put wide. But that's not the key part of his game. Together with Bolder, we're starting to see a midfield that's beginning to win the ball from the oppostion regularly and then play the ball on the floor. When there's talent like Vine up front that often means that chances will be created. And that's what happened when he was brought down in the box for a penalty. Rowly stepped up and struck it low to Weaver's left, but the ball rebounded off the post. "That's why you're going down" the home support piped up. Which was unusual because we'd not heard much from them all game.

Rangers continued to press forward and the goal arrived in the 72nd minute, with Bolder taking advantage of Weaver being tangled up with Nygaard. We went wild. Could we really do this? "That's why we're staying up" we taunted the stunned home support. Speaking of Nygaard, he had a good game. I'm really beginning to take him to heart. He may not be the best technical player, but he always produces the goods. And a special mention for Stewart's near goal off a corner, when he nearly backheeled it in to the Charlton goal. Simply superb. Time and time again Rangers swept forward. Passing and moving. "It's just like watching Brazil" we sang. And for us it was. How long has it been since we've seen such a solid performance from our team? Every man played their part. Camp in particular did well once again making some fantastic saves. Even the fans (about 2000 of us) played our part. Some fantastic singing and banter. "Can you hear the Strawberry sing?" being a memorable one.

So we counted down the minutes until our moment arrived. Our first away win since April. Fantastic. Bottom of the league? You're having a laugh. We're on our way out of the mess. And not a moment too soon.

It's a bit of an obsession of mine at the moment, listening to Bombshell, but what the hell. It's my blog and I can do with it whatever I like (apparently not - I can't libel of slander someone, or commit any criminal offence online but I'm just being pedantic now).

Anyway, back on the subject. Lyrics are important to me when I listen to music. Often they can just be filler, but I really think it enhances the music when the words are as beautiful as the music itself. The words to "And the Racket they Made" by King Creosote are I think words of real beauty. Poetry. For me at least. You decide for yourself.


And your words chased round and round in my head last night
they chased their own tails
and your words jigged round my mind all night
to look at me now I'm quiet as sand
and the tide shrinks back into it's womb
and I hope the empty shells and bones of your stories
will litter and clutter the shore
and I hope that when I find them
I'll remember how they danced
and the racket they made
when they were alive

(c) King Creosote 2007

It's been a bit of a good weekend all told. Friday was spent with the boys playing poker, and I only sulked a little bit as I parted company with 40 quid. I obviously played well but the cards were against me. Honestly.

And then on the Saturday I went to an old university friend's wedding. I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to it. I was going on my own, and I only knew the bride and the groom. And I was going to miss a home game against Ipswich, and also (shock horror) the rugby final. But, as with most things, the reality was much better than I hoped. I had a great time and met lots of nice people. Most of them married (sigh) but you can't have everything. The venue was also amazing. It made me want to take up golf.

As for sunday, I thought I'd take a different walk instead of the usual one, so I went to see how long it would take me to walk to Charlton. And I actually enjoyed the walk. I walked under the thames through the Woolwich tunnel, although it's actually quicker to take the ferry. But it was a lovely day and I'm glad I got out. But the really interesting thing is that doing this blogging and walking has reminded me how much I enjoy photography, so I'm going to get a new camera at some point (or dust off my old film slr). My current digital camera's broken, but I'm feeling the need to take some photos. I've put a couple from woolwich in my photos section.

I ended up getting to Greenwich, so I popped into Chris's new place there. And they kindly fed me Roast Lamb. And then I had the most amazing surprise. I had peas with my dinner. And they were tasty. I had seconds. For anyone who knows me there's not much I don't like, but nuts and peas are the things I don't like. Until now.

So what's the magic? Well, the secret is to cook them with Leeks. Butter. Leeks. Fry. Add frozen peas. No water. Cook. Serve. Watch Rob go back for seconds. Be amazed. I know my family will.

I went on a walk today on my usual route to Epping. I usually go on a Sunday, so the mix of people out in the Forest was a bit different to what I was used to. The usual mix is families out for a walk or on their bikes, or couples taking a stroll. On a Monday, the place is taken over by dog walkers. Lots and lots of dog walkers.

Anyway - that's not the point of my post. I'm sick and tired of hearing about how unfriendly London is. What utter tosh. It's impossible to say hello to everyone you meet in the course of one's day in London. No matter how much northerners think they can. But I really don't think people are any less friendly here at all. Just go regularly for a walk in Epping. There are people there who always say hello. It's simply because there's just more time and space between each hello. Otherwise we'd be saying "Hello" and "Goodbye" like Frank Spencer in that Scottish dancing scene from all those years ago.

And while I'm on a rant - I couldn't believe that Newham is the 3rd worst place to live in in the UK. I admit that I wouldn't mind moving at some point. But to tell the truth the more I think of it I wonder why. It really isn't that bad here at all. If only that refurbishment next door would end I might actually like it. And besides. How many people can walk up to Epping from their doorstep. Channel 4 can preach all they like. Newham isn't as bad as the figures would suggest. So there.

In fairness, I always new that I'd be hanging out with the kids tonight as Hadouken! are a bit of a favourite with the kids. But boy oh boy was I in for a surprise when we turned up to find that they'd shut the downstairs bar completely as the average age was considerably less than 18.

But hell - i came to see the band, and it doesn't matter how old you are right? But we headed dutifully up the stairs to the "adult" area - ie - it had a bar that was open. Still, there was a veritable flurry of passports and driving licenses up there as well. So with our surprisingly quickly served drinks we headed upstairs. I've never been up there. It's pretty good - as you can actually stand. And the view's pretty good as well. So we settled down with some drinks and waited for the show to begin.

And so The Whip started. I've seen them at the Astoria before, and to be honest they're not really my thing but I really enjoyed it. And the kids and their glow sticks loved them too. They ended up with Trash as they always do, a fine song with robotic rhythms and grinding synths. Bouncy bouncy kids at the front yelled their support. We all thought that in fairness they should have been after the next band - Late of the Pier. But they pulled off some rather resounding performances of their songs. Great fun to watch - especially in their more shambolic moments. I was particularly impressed with their use of planks of wood as instruments.

And then on to Hadouken! Are they grime? Are they indie? Are they Grindie? Who cares? Well - I do to be honest. They were fantasticly energetic when James was doing the grime thing, but less convinicing when he was doing the indie thing. There's something almost punk about the way he delivers songs with his short stabbing vocals that can be suprisingly serious:

"here's a story about a girl named Kate
got wasted and got date raped
when they told the doctors she'd sued
the found no chemicals was in her bloodstream
''well nothing malicious, but the alcohol levels were suspicious!''
when asked who had hurt her
poor old Kate couldn't remember.

our liquid lives this is how we all survive
and my heads in pain, next weekend lets do it again"

Quite inciteful for a band so young - and you get the feeling that this maybe is a better way to deliver a message to the kids than any government leaflet ever could.

But in the end for me it was all about "That Boy That Girl". The crowd bounced and jumped like they'd not done before. I commented to my pals that I'd love to be down there, but suddenly felt old and from a different generation. Which of course I am. It's nice that they let me come and watch though. Even though I was 30ft above them feeling like a parent at a school disco. But that's not going to stop me seeing them again. .

Well, it's been a long time coming but the super hoops finally managed a win tonight. Having forgotten about it being moved to a Monday for Sky, I turned up with a hangover on Saturday. But that was all forgotten tonight when we took all 3 points.

In fairness, this wasn't play off form for Rangers as frankly Norwich were awful. It's now been 9 hours since they scored and it showed. Simply abysmal. But at least that allowed QPR to actually play. And after a pretty dull first half that's exactly what we saw. Although Ephraim, Leigertwood, Vine and Rowlands all came close (Rowly bizarrely was playing at Right back but stormed forward for a 20yd shot that hit the post) it was a penalty that separated the 2 sides. But it was a much better display from Rangers generally. Cranie looked fairly solid, and Legs of wood seemed to play well - although I hope it wasn't just because it was live on sky. But Ephraim was constantly causing the Norwich defence problems. I hope we've got him for another month.

So - who was there tonight? Naomi Campbell and Tamara Beckwith apparently with our Flav in their scarves. Interesting times.

I wasn't actually planning on seeing the Mondays when my friends got tickets, but I saw them at V this year and I have to say I thought they were superb, so I bought tickets to see them on my return. It wasn't a choice I regretted, although it has to be said it was a bit of a strange evening.

The ticket said that it would go on until 2am, but I kind of assumed that would mean they'd be a DJ set for a couple of hours. And in any case, I really wanted to see The Sunshine Underground again. So I turned up at about 8.30. My friends weren't there, so I popped into the stalls. And it was almost completely empty. Which was a bit strange I have to say. Well, the Sunshine Underground came on at about 10ish I think. And the place wasn't really full then. But SU were up to their usual standards, with Craig the frontman giving it his all with his cowbells which are becoming somewhat of a trademark. But I do think they were let down by the traditional dodgy sound that the support bands have to put up with. But a great rip roaring set it was, with the band playing about 50/50 new and old stuff from Commercial breakdown.

Well, then there was a wait for about an hour for the Mondays to arrive. It's well known that Shaun Ryder doesn't like playing all the old favourites as he thinks it's just Karaoke, but they were there with Hallelujah, Step On and Kinky Afro all present and correct. There was also a sing along rendition of Reverend Black Grape. Bez did, well, what Bez does. And the crowd lapped it up. And then the set just kind of ended. There was an encore, but it wasn't exactly heart felt, and by this time (1 am) the venue was only half full anyway as a lot of people headed for the last tubes out of Brixton.

So was it fun? Hell yeah! But I've still got a strange nagging thought at the back of my mind it could have been just a little bit better. Maybe it was just me, but it actually did sound a bit like Karaoke from where I was standing. Could it be that Shaun Ryder talks a bit of sense?

I've been told that the best way to achieve something is to do 2 things.

1 - Set a target that's both challenging but achievable
2 - Tell people about it.

So, here it is - my target.

Lose 3st in 6 months. Yes. I want to be 3st lighter by my 36th birthday. That's half a stone a month. Which is possible. I think I can do it.

There will be 3 simple rules

1 - No booze
2 - No crisps
3 - Much reduced (but still some) carbs.

OK - and no other unhealthy stuff, but you get the picture.

I'll record my progress over the coming months. Should be interesting.

Well, I actuall can't remember the last time I went to the dentist, so I thought I had better see one. So I registered at the local one on Tuesday. Now, it's fair to say I haven't really had a problem with my teeth, but would you believe it? The very night that I had registered a crown came out! So lucky I could go to the dentist today and have it put back in. I don't know how long it will last for though.

Still it was nice to have no problems getting an NHS dentist.

Oh - and one filling required. Not bad I suppose.

Well, since I've been playing this pretty much continuously since I bought it so I thought I'd write up a review of it.

I'm actually quite new to King Creosote (aka Kenny Anderson). I was taken along to a gig by a friend without knowing much about him in Hoxton. And what a gig it was. My friend pretty much knew this was going to be up my street, so I went out and bought his album "KC Rules OK" which is superb. But I'm not reviewing that one today, so I'll leave that one for later.

As to Bombshell, it's a album of great variety and of many styles. From the skiffle influenced "Cowardly Custard" to the delicacy of the opening track, Leslie to the barely restrained fury of "At the W.A.L.", this album simply takes my breath away. For those not familiar with KC's material, his music is accompanied by some rather brilliant lyrics. The words of "You've no clue do you" are themed around the characters of Cluedo, and describe varied human traits of which Anderson gets frustrated with. And then there's the stinging opening lines of "Theres none of that" that are only the start of a song all about being in a poor relationship.

For me the obvious highlights are the songs Leslie and "Church as Witness" which tells the story of Anderson teaching his daughter to ride his bike. The Scotsman records Anderson's thought's on the song

"We had a fall-out that day, which happened to be in the church yard in Crail," he recalls. "So we had this major row right on the spot where my mum and dad had their wedding photos taken, which was quite bizarre. It was a genuine moment, and after I explained to her the history of where we were having this fight, she was on the bike, off and away!"

There are weak spots - the title track "Now drop your bombshell" and "Nooks" aren't bad songs. But compared with the rest, they fail to shine. But put all the songs together and you have one heck of an album.

King Creosote is heading for great things. This album looks like it could kick start the way to the recognition he so richly deserves.

Well it's been a bad start to the season at loftus road. We're the only league team not to have won this season and we're already out of one cup competition, losing at home to Orient. And looking at the tables they could very well replace us next year.

So on to this weekend - lost 5-1 to West Brom. I personally couldn't bear to watch it on TV so I stayed at home and listened to it on the radio. I was so depressed, and it seemed like the entire Rangers community was with me. By all accounts we were deeply tragic. Moore was useless, Rehman was useless. And I can't be bothered writing more on the subject. But Tracy Stent wrote a typically depressing match report here. But if there was a great summation of how woeful we were then this (taken from qprfc@yahoogroups.com) sums it up.

"I love our zonal marking system, provides great entertainment. Yesterday at a corner we were all marking space and it was if time had stopped like in the end of Police Squad when everyone stood still apart from the criminal who made a run for it".

So anyway Gregory's got the boot. And sad to say I haven't heard one person who thinks it's too soon. We really have been that bad. And we need to do something about it as soon as possible. So he had to go.

But here's the thing. There's talk of a director of football. Who's italian. A new manager. Who's italian. And even a new defender. Italian. Who's going to work for a chairman. Yep. Italian. And his boss. The italian.

So - it looks like it's going to be 1-0 results at loftus road soon. And I tell you what I'll settle for that. And if they serve Osso Bucco at half time then so much the better

Ciao.

Well it was good to get back to going to the London DotNet User Group. And I picked a really good meeting to go to. Dino Esposito gave a really cool talk on Partial Rendering on Ajax. Apart from giving the best introduction to Ajax I've heard, he introduced me to this rather nice technique that leverages some of the Ajax bits and pieces such as the script manager and by hosting your ASP controls in UpdatePanels. By using these techniques you can produce some rather cool Ajax like results.

More on this can be found here

I'm going to enjoy impressing Rob with this stuff in the morning.

One of the reasons I thought I'd start this was to write about music and the like, so first off I'm going to write a few words about the gig I went to last night.

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip are 2 Essex geezers who met on MySpace. One is a poet, or spoken word if you will and the other plays breakbeat off his laptop. To tell the truth I have no idea who is who. But the poet has a great looking beard which I'm quite jealous of. But enough of my childish beard envy.

Scala is not my favourite venue - and it unfortunately let the lads down. Not much can go wrong with performing from a laptop, but the spoken word was all live. But the sound was crap and you couldn't really make out the words at all. So I missed most of the (cough) artistic value of the performance.

But what the hey - the beats were cool, and the crowd responded well to the more popular of their tunes. Though shalt kill was performed well, but by far the last song was the fans favourite. It was their recently released single Beat That My Heart Skipped and the crowd lapped it up Even one of the people I went with had a great time at the front even though she doesn't like crowds much. So they must have done something right.

So - is this eveyone's cup of tea? Nah - too poncy for some, too weird for others. But if you're in the mood for learning some wisdom from the bearded one make sure you hear them at a venue with decent sound.

OK so in my last post I said I wouldn't go to the pub. But the very next night I did. Then I went to the pub and then on to a gig. Many beers then missed the last tube home. And true to form I've eaten badly again. Dear oh dear.

Better luck tomorrow hopefully - It's Ruth's leaving, but I'm going to a DotNet London User group meeting for the first time in ages. Dino Esposito is speaking about Ajax. I'm looking forward to it. Then I'm going to try and hot foot it over to the pub for Ruth at about 9 I think. And no beer.

It's not that I'm unhappy - far from it. In fact I'm reasonably comfortable with life, but here's the thing. ...   more »

It's just like me to arrive at something that was once fashionable and cool just after it becomes a bit ...   more »